Trusting Jesus in the Storm - Matthew S3E2

Welcome to Deepin with Pastor Jobe Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all

people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ and we're

praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive

in. All right well welcome back. Hello pastors. What's up? No. Season 3 of Matthew

and we are barreling towards Holy Week, barreling towards Easter.

And Pastor Jobe, this was quite a word, fear over faith. I want to start by, you know, these

headings, you've pointed out many times, these headings over the sections in your Bible. They're

not part of the text. They're added by the translators, right? And the one says, you know,

in verse 18, it says, the cost of following Jesus. And so when that scribe comes to Jesus and

ask that question, why would you choose to put that as the heading? I mean, like, what's his answer

to tell us about that? Well, Jesus, he done do the secret sensitive thing very well. You know,

he doesn't give him all the short, easy steps of, you know, he doesn't say, oh, you want to follow

me? Well, good. Well, I've got a class for you and it doesn't take that long and it's not going

to be very inconvenient. He doesn't. He just said, all right, it's going to cost you everything.

And I'm homeless. I got nothing. I'd say it, no recruiting. He just lays it out there.

The next one's worse. Yeah. I think I've read that, I mean, I don't know if you know this, but

when he says, I need to bury my father, does it mean wait till he dies or maybe? I think that's

what the commentators are trying to do because they're trying to soften what Jesus is saying. I mean,

every commentary I read was making excuses for Jesus to not make it sound so harsh. And I

don't think that's what it is. I'd be very careful about trying to tone down the words of Jesus.

Yeah. I think it's just simply about first. If you've got about first in your life, then Jesus

is not first. I mean, he doesn't hold back with the scribe at all. I mean, this is,

this is Jesus. If we, you know, we see the title, Son of Man, so when's this Daniel 7? So he's,

so we're being told here that the one who rides on the clouds now doesn't have a place to lay his head.

And so he says, this is what's going to cost you. Like, if you're coming to me and hoping that

it's going to make you famous, you're going to get a platform, you're going to do this,

you're going to do this. It's going to be a soft landing. It's like quite the opposite.

And so it is, it's putting to test the call to follow Jesus that it is no, it is no easy thing.

It is no simple thing. It is no, it's like, this is going to cost you something.

Even the word follow in the text is, it's both follow, but it's also behave like me.

Come and behave like me. So the cost is high to follow.

Now the reality is, is you give up your life and you get life. I mean, but that's not what he,

he doesn't. He doesn't talk about heaven. I don't talk about eternity. He doesn't talk about

forgiveness. He just says, yeah, it's going to cost you everything. Especially the scribes,

the scribes should know better. He is. He's a professional Bible person.

When you're preaching, I thought about that great prophet of our time, Kenny Chesney,

who said everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to go now.

Wow. You know, the butt first, I think there's two versions of the butt first. Like,

and you mentioned them, clean up my act first, and then I'll come to God.

And that's maybe one version of it. And then the other version is, let me get some stuff out of

the way first. And yeah, to your point, it's like, that's not how it works. Yeah, Jesus is,

you know, he's the shepherd. The sheep don't direct the shepherd. If you want to be as

followers, then you follow him. And he is first. That's the thing. He doesn't do second.

Like he is preeminent. Just like he's not confused. Just like he's all powerful. Just like he's

all knowing. He's never surprised. He doesn't do second. He is first. And this guy was like,

you're going to be second to what I need to do with my dad. I honestly think if the guy come,

came to him and said, you are my Lord help. I need your help here. My father has died.

What do I do? Yeah. There's probably a different answer, you know. But I love that you said it that

way because what it does is it communicates that I am aware of who Jesus is. And so we've culturally

have created the scenario where it's like, if I get Jesus, it's like an add-on to my life. And

and that's kind of what the scrap is doing here. And he's like, no, no, no, no. I'm not just a teacher.

Like it's no small thing that, you know, sort of man is there. Like I think Jesus is really

pointing to something. He's going, I'm more than what you think. And this is a big deal.

But culturally, we don't do that. We're not in awe anymore, especially how the sermon ended

this week or the tonight. It was like, we're not in awe of who Jesus is.

And so we've lost that reverence. And so it's like, well, if you if on my schedule,

yeah, the guys in the boat are. I mean, that's why they, you know, they're like, whoa,

who is this? That even the wind and the waves obey him. Yeah. I mean, I do agree. We have

in our attempt to even if even if you, you, if it's a purehearted attempt to try to

help people kind of ease their way into the church. I get all that, you know,

accidently, why would you make it difficult for the Gentiles who are coming to the Lord? So you

don't want to make it unnecessarily difficult and add things that that Jesus doesn't add. But

you cannot like, you don't need to feather the hair of Jesus. He does not need a makeover

to make him relevant to today. That's so good. He is Lord.

And you said often, the thing that you need is need. And we live in a, we live in an affluent

time in an affluent country. And so sometimes it seems like when you're trying to tell someone

about Christ, it's like, come to Christ. And they're like, well, why would I do that? You know,

I'm not sure if other times or other places, it's more like an obvious choice that improves your

life. But I do think, and I want to ask this question, you know, contemporary examples of a

wrong motivation, someone coming to the Lord, because they think they're going to get some kind of

benefit, like describe, because it seems from Jesus's answer, he's saying, this is not about what

you're going to get out of it, like some kind of big palace or some kind of, you know, so what

would be some of those, you know, more familiar examples of somebody coming to the Lord thinking,

oh, this is, I'm going to get something for me. Well, there's a lot. I mean, you see,

financially, a lot, you know, I mean, this is the, the hearsay of the prosperity gospel that

I am preeminent. And so if I give God owes me 10 fold or 100 fold, I do think we, as we've

worshipped at the altar of family, then I think there's a lot of folks are like, oh, we need to start

going to church because we need to raise our kids in this because we want to have a better family.

Now, quite honestly, that should be a result. If you do life God's way, it tends to go better,

but God doesn't play well with idols. And especially if you're trying to use him to get what you

want, then what you want is actually your God. And he is not a means to an end. He is the end.

Yeah, it's like we talked about with the sermon on the Mount that the motive of the heart matters

is everything. You know, he can't be anything but first. The, the sea of Galilee,

and this is, you know, as he moves into this calming the storm account,

you know, have you been, you've been there? I have not. Oh, wow.

But it literally is like inside of a bowl of all these hills. And so I want to ask,

do you just talk a little bit more about how those storms come up so big? But also,

I've read many commentators say that sea and storm are very much, they would very much be figures

of chaos inside of a Jewish perspective. So let's talk a little bit more about that.

Yeah, that's all the way back to Genesis 1, you know, and God created the heavens of the earth.

The earth was formless and void and the spirit hovered over it. And so

he's going to take disorder and make it order. This is why there is no sea in heaven,

that really means there's no chaos in the new heavens and the new earth, you know.

There's also a lot of superstition in 1st century Galilee, lots of people drowned in the sea

of Galilee. And they believe that ghosts would be there. This is so in a couple chapters.

When they see Jesus walking, they're like, oh, it's a ghost because they're believing the

superstition of the moon. Yeah. And then God comes and brings order where there is disorder.

Also, depending on how big the open wood is, it's, you know, land. When you come to the end of

the land, it's almost the end of the known. And now I'm staring into the unknown. And so there's

chaos, but there's also, I have no idea how far this goes. I have no idea what's beyond that. So

it's, it creates that uncertainty and that anxiety that a lot of us carry.

And they, but having grown up on this, they don't you think they would have been familiar

with these storms if they were common? I do, but it's easy to be on the land and think

that storm is not that bad. I mean, that's what I was saying. We can all become drama queens.

You ever overestimate the situation that you're in? I mean, think about whatever your worst day

was like when you were in ninth grade or something, like some girl broke up with you or, you know,

and you're like, oh, this is, my life is over. And you're like, is it? I don't think it is.

Because Jesus is napping. So how bad could it actually be? Yeah. And, and maybe this is speculation,

but you know, your point was when Jesus says we're going to the other side, it's a done deal.

Correct. And what if they were like, whether they don't look so good?

Correct. But he was like, we're going, you know, so they may have even thought before they got

out there. There's a storm coming, you know, but you may have a point about, I mean,

these cats were some of them were fishermen. They were familiar with this terrain.

And so there was, it can be a tendency to lean into your competency to be like, we've done this

before, you know. And so we, even if it gets a little bad, you know, because it doesn't,

I don't think the storm is like, you know, it's switched from great to like it starts off and you're

like, okay, this is some wind, you know, it's getting a little, it's getting a little bad. I think

I can lean into my competency. And a lot of us do that. I do that. It's like, no, I've done this

before. I think I'll be okay. But I'm not the me show. And it quickly turns bad. So, so there's

that reality as well that like, yeah, they may have, they may have been familiar with this, but

that's not, that's not what you put your trust in. Ever.

Yeah, I said it last week, but I'll say it again. I kind of see it in the Roman centurion, man.

It is not until your need exceeds your ego that you will be in your need of Jesus.

Because if you think you can handle it, and then you'll handle it.

Yeah. I was talking to somebody in my disciple group about like,

hermeneutics. And when you read the Bible, when do you go from meaning,

interpretation, application, like that kind of stuff? So, this storm, we talked a lot about how

this storm can be a figure for things in our life, you know. So before we talk about those

specifics, is there any insight you could give for when, when to and when not to, you know, use

that figurative picture? Because I've heard, I've heard some preachers where it's just like, yeah,

you're really riding that one. So, how do we know when reading the Bible, when to take those as

like a figure? The storm represents the thing in my life, you know what I mean? First and foremost,

you just need it for read it for what it says, you know. So just because something can also be

allegorically true, doesn't mean it wasn't actually true. So a good example of this, what is it?

Galatians 4 where he's like, let's look at Sarah and Hegar allegorically and he uses it as a picture

of the law in grace. Paul does that. That doesn't mean there wasn't actually a lady named Hegar

and a lady named Sarah and they had a baby of the promise and a baby of their own doing, you know.

So the Bible does give us room to do that. I think three great questions to ask every time

you do Bible study, it's just simply what happened. So Jesus calmed the storm. That's literally what

happened. And then so what? And then you begin to make all the applications and implications of,

so what does it mean that Jesus can calm storms? And then the now what? So now what do I need to do

about it? And if you if you answer those three questions, then it's not enough to just

have the commentary of what happened one day, but this is the living word of God that is

applicable to our lives. It's not just it doesn't just tell us what happened. It tells us what

always happens. And it's living and active. And so how is it living and active and applicable in

my life? Yeah. Yeah. It's dangerous to start there. I remember as a 12-year-old in English class

and our teacher got up and read a poem and then looked at us and said, so what do you guys think?

It means. And a bunch of us put our hands up and he was he was for I think he was Scottish.

And so he's a Scottish where he threw the book out the window and said it doesn't matter what

you think about it. What matters is the intention of the author. And it just that stuck with me to go,

you know, we've taken the way that we interpret the arts today to interpreting this by starting

with, well, I wonder how this makes me feel like what do you think? And it's like that matters.

Well, what is God communicating to us? Like what is he saying? And so we just need a reorient that

because if when we do it that way, we see so much of God's goodness in here. But when we don't,

we completely miss. Then we're like the scribe. We come with, well, I think to me,

he's teacher and he is. But it's like, hey, there's so much more there. What is God saying? So

the order matters. And you mentioned several examples of what that storm could be, you know,

and also that it's it could be external or internal. And sometimes the internal.

I mean, that's really the realm of it, right? Because we've seen people go through external

things and they're, they're okay because something's okay inside, you know, so the inside is,

but finances, relationships, sickness, setbacks, caused by us. Here's the crazy thing,

caused by us or caused not by us, you know, but it still feels like that chaos. It feels like

that unknown. It feels like I'm going to die. And it just changes so much to go back to the

the point you started with. Jesus said, let's go through it. Yeah. He is not called off guard. He

is not surprised. Yeah. So he intentionally set sail into the storm. Yeah. He's also building the

crystallological understanding of his disciples. So at the end of this calming of the storm,

they say, who is this? That the wind and the waves obey. Yeah. The next time in Matthew 14,

they're going to be like, surely he is the son of God. This is the second time they've seen him do it.

Oh, wow. Yeah, we'll get to that with the what's what sort of man is this? That question.

So it's still with me. Well, what's the significance of Jesus being asleep? I mean,

Pastor, but you've said you have the gift of sleep. You can sleep in many, many different scenarios.

I don't have that gift. Oh, do I? It's recently on a plane and I was like, I would love to sleep right

when I can't just relax. So what does it mean that he was like, I don't know how he was asleep,

because if the boats being swamped, have you ever been sleeping while you were wet? That's terrible.

I mean, remember, I think of it this way, that he is the creator of everything that we see.

And so the way that a baby is cradled, every time I've read this, I've asked the same question,

like, how on earth is he sleeping? Well, it's like he's the creator of everything.

This is just cradling him to bed. And he knows, he knows, like you said, he's like,

guys, we're going to the other side. We're going to make it. So we're going to be okay.

But I do the same thing that I go, well, it's because he doesn't care.

He's just given up or he's not in control. We run all the lies that Satan whispers in our years

and that we believe, instead of looking at him and going, I believe who he says he is.

And if that is true and it is, then I should get a pillow and lie down and go to bed.

You know how your kids are like scared of thunderstorms, but then as you get older, it's like,

oh, it's going to be a good nap. I wonder if he was like, oh, yeah, this is good. He's kind of

enjoying the way that I go. The peace that you experience is directly related to how much you trust

God. It's good. Yeah. And so he knows the will of his father. He knows, I mean, he trusts God

completely. So he is that complete peace here. It's something I wrote this down. Christ being

at peace does not indicate indifference. Correct. You know. And sometimes when we're freaking out

and losing it, we want other people to like join us because it makes us feel like empathized with

or something or cared about, but he's never going to do that. Like he's never going to join you

in your freak out, not in that way. You know, he's going to help you come out of it.

Well, this when they when they wake him up, he gives this interesting response to them,

why are you afraid? Oh, you have little faith. And it just makes me think of how you so often,

Pastor Joe, we talk about the opposite of faith is not doubt. Right. Like so often we think,

oh, if faith is something I believe in, then the absence of belief or a doubt is must be the

opposite. No, no, it's actually fear. So is this is this the place where you primarily get that from?

I mean, all over the place, you know, John 6 is my favorite place to go when they don't understand

what Jesus means by email, registering my blood and what he and he doesn't explain himself.

And then Peter's like, but where else am I going to go? You're the only one that offers eternal life.

So the opposite of faith isn't doubt. If you've got doubts and unnecessary questions, just pick

them up and follow after Jesus by faith. The opposite of faith is fear because faith always produces

action and fear paralyzes. The caveat though is you do have this feeling of, so we kind of

interchange like fear and scared, but for this teaching purpose, I would differentiate and say,

scared is a feeling, no problem. So just do it scared. Be scared and by faith, do what Jesus says,

that's called courage and we need courage. And that's the difference. But fear paralyzes and faith

produces action. And so an actionless faith is worthless. That's kind of what James says,

faith without works. There's no faith at all. But our emotions get in the way. Like I'm hearing

you say that and I, but you say it all the time, you know, we've got emotions, emotions are great,

they're pretty good consultants, they horrible CEOs and and too often we put them in that

position to be able to make the decision. But doubt, I love it. I love Matthew 28. This is how it all

ends. Even after all of these things, they're disciples who still had doubt. I mean, the text says that

they showed up before, you know, Jesus is about to give the great commission and they worship and then

says, some doubt it. And then Jesus goes, okay, cool, but I'm still going to give you the great

commission. Like we're still carrying on. Yep. So it's a big deal. And I never, I don't think I've

ever seen it before the way that you said it went their response. It's, it's irrational, right?

Save us, Lord, we're perishing. But yet you can wake him up and you're having a conversation

with Jesus, you know, I'm pretty sure if you're perishing, you're like under the water or struggling

for breath. And so that just tells you that he's, he's pointing at this, I'm like being overcome

with that emotion in that moment because of the circumstance. He's saying, no, no, you're,

you're letting that thing run, run wild on you. So scared. You said that fear and worry

actually don't add to your life referencing, you know, from Matthew six. And, you know,

have you ever studied the way that stress and anxiety shorten your life? Tell us more.

So your, your, it has to do with your fight or flight system, your nervous systems in your

body. So when you have that fight or flight response, it's adrenal. And so it's hormonal and

glandular and all this kind of stuff that happens in your body. And when you, it's supposed to act

very quick and it produces amazing results, like being able to run fast, lift heavy things, fight,

all that kind of stuff. But it's just like all these other different chemical processes in your body.

It can't go on indefinitely. And so it does produce all these byproducts in your body and it needs

to be replenished. It, it increases your need for rest to rest and restore and to reestablish

that stasis. And so if you are in this fight or flight state for too, too long, it, it does,

it just wreaks havoc to your body. It, it, it, it makes it impossible for you to replenish and repair

cells, which causes them to break down because heart failure, cancer, all that kind of stuff.

And get rid of waste and you'll just be exhausted. So

whether it's in our minds or just because of this, the state that we're in with so many of our modern

stimuli, we live in that state of like constantly on edge, constantly on alert.

And you can see it on people's bodies and their faces. It's like, you know,

somebody, how you doing? And they're like, I'm fine. It's like, oh, your, your body's not saying

that your face isn't saying that. You, you, you're, you're gripped by fear. And so it's, it's like,

how do you get, that's the question I'm always wondering, how do you get someone to that place

where they're aware that fear has got to hold on them? Because those say all sorts of things.

They'll say like, well, no, it's this or I'm being wise or I'm discerning or I'm, you know,

and it's like, no, that's not what's happening here. Somebody's like, how do you, how does one

get to that place of realization that this, this is, I am now in the realm of fear being gripped

by fear? I think one of the things is to check your prayer life like, it's good.

The first pastor I worked for out of seminary, he would say, if you pray, why worry,

and if you worry, why pray, that worry is just misplaced prayer because they're both, you have,

with both of them, you have a problem, you have a thing. And with worry, you're trying to control it.

You know, you're taking the, the faith that God has given you and you're putting it in your

circumstances. And prayer is the opposite of that. You're taking the trust the faith that God

has given you and you're bringing it to him, the king of your circumstances. And if you're still

worried about it, you're not done praying about it. So I think Paul and Philippians four is

basically saying, when he says, me anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication with

thanks, giving, make your request on to God, it says the four times. I think what he's saying is,

so when the enemy tries to get you with anxiety, why don't you use that as a reminder to pray

all the more? And then the peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your heart,

mind and Christ Jesus. That's why I love like, what about responses here is, you know, after every,

every service is come, come and pray, come and pray. I mean, the, you know, sometimes the most

courageous thing you can do is just confess that, hey, man, how I need help. I love it. I was thinking

about that because I was thinking about one of our codes of conduct at the church as we pray first

and decide second. And one of the marks, what's the, what's the mark of somebody who's who

prays a lot, you know, I think it's Pete, one of his peace. And it's like I was challenging myself

internally as I was thinking about it, like, okay, is it, I know it's not like a formula because

sometimes you pray or is it, you know, like, can you pray and still not have peace? And maybe I

think what you just said is you're just not done praying, you know, I mean, like what, but like,

what, what about the person who's like, no, I am really praying, but I can't find peace. I really

am still struggling with anxiety or really, I'm still struggling with fear, even though I really,

I think I feel like I'm praying a lot. What do they do? Then you might want to dig into tell me what

you are talking about when you're praying. I mean, Jesus is not at peace when he is in the garden

of Gethsemane. He's sweating drops of blood, but he does get to the place where he says,

not my will, but that will be done. So he has resolved to be about his father's business.

So his feelings might not be, that's the thing. When we say peace, what in America we mean,

I feel comfortable, you know, and what does that have to do with anything?

But he was at peace with the will of the father. He knows that he is going to be crushed at the

pleasure of his father for the redemption of the world. And he goes, okay, I'm in. That's good.

But it was a struggle fest, his prayer time. It was not a peaceful, easy feeling.

You got to use the Bible's definition of words when we're thinking about what the Bible says.

Sure. Can you either be think of a time in your own life when that was you in the boat?

I'm like, I'm overcome by fear. Lord, Lord help me. I'm perishing. And he would have said to you,

why, oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? Or why are you afraid?

Yeah, I think of, I mean, one of our girls went through some really, like a really tough sickness

and I wrestled. It was like I was in the boat. And it was getting to that point where I had to

realize that God loves my daughter more than I do. I keep just coming back to who he is.

The moment I take my, and you pointed us to it, the moment I take my eyes off Jesus as the

author of our faith is then everything goes out of control, everything. And I need to fix it.

I need to find a solution. And he's going, it's me. I am your only solution. And so,

and so it's in that moment, just I'm crying out to God and saying, she's yours, she's yours,

she's yours, she's yours. And there's overwhelming sense of peace. I'm still in the chaos.

I'm still in the crisis, but that's the difference. We think peace is like, well, okay,

everything is fine. I'm removing whatever you're facing. It's like, no, no, no, peace is this idea

of wholeness and sometimes even in the mists of the crisis that like, no, I'm okay because I'm

with my father. I'm okay because I'm with Jesus. That's a thing that people look to and they go,

they summing radically different about this individual. What is it? And you go, it's not the

resources. It's not my intellect. It's not, it's, I just, Jesus is right here with me.

And so I'm just experiencing this, this peace, this wholeness.

There's another, I forget where there's another gospel where they're

immediately at the other side when he calms the storm. But it doesn't say that here. And so

if we're talking about like kind of interpreting some, some figurative things here, it makes

people think of what you just said. They were still out in the middle of the water. You know, so

sometimes in, when he calms the storm, you're immediately through it. But sometimes it's still

got a little ways to go before he gets to the shore. But he's doing a work in you. I think that's why

he rebukes them in the boat first and then rebukes that which is outside. He's, I need to deal with you

because even if I, if I don't deal with you first, I can change all the circumstances outside

of the boat, but you're still going to be in the same situation. So the rebukes in the boat first

and then it's like, okay, now let's deal with what's outside. It kind of goes back to the

but first thing. You know, it's like anybody who says, well, but first and then it's really

fooling themselves, right? Because they're going to get to the, they're going to get past whatever

the but first is. And then there's going to be another thing, right? It's not going to nothing

internally will have changed. Yeah. Well, the person that comes to Jesus and says, if you'll

calm the storms in my life, then I'll follow you. They actually have the same attitude as the

the other guy on the cross, not the one that comes to heaven, but the guy that says,

if you are the son of God, save us and us with you and save yourself and us with you,

like they come conditionally. Yeah. Like if you'll do this for me, then I will follow you.

And you know, nobody is a big fan of that guy on the cross. We're a fan of the other guy that

says, Hey, we do me a favor. You don't want me anything. Well, will you remember me? And yet

so many times we come to church and say, if you'll heal my marriage, if you'll save my kid,

if if you will calm the storm and demonstrate your power, then you will have earned my approval.

And I will submit to you. And the Pharisees say that to him once, at least once, they say,

if you truly are a proof it, you know, and he doesn't play that game.

Nope. Yeah. Well, you mentioned this also, but I noticed that they marvel, you know,

and it's like, I think they're maybe more afraid when he calms the wind in the waves than they were

when it was when it was going, but it's different kind of fear, right? Like it's it's it's reverence.

Yeah, the fear of God brings freedom. And fear of circumstances brings terror.

Yeah. Yeah. But I think we talk about this recently, it is still kind of a holy terror when you

when you feel when you feel like you're kind of coming to that edge of experiencing the holiness

of God. It's not a it's not a terror like horrible terrible terror, but there is something terrible

about it. It's a terrified terrifying about it because you because it's just like raw power. Yeah.

You know, and raw otherness following Jesus. It just simply means that you are always constantly

coming to the edge of who he is. Like every time you think it's like I figured I figured him out.

He goes, okay, let's take another step and you're like, okay, wait, okay, now I'm in awe again.

I'm in awe again. I'm in awe again. And that's that's the nature of following Jesus.

When we're no longer in awe of him, big is the question, are you still following him?

You know, and we'll just never come to the full realization this side of heaven,

who he is. It's just he's constantly making himself known. So I think it's I think it's just

you're right. Like when the next time this happens, it's like, oh, we're getting to know him a little bit,

oh, and a little bit more and a little bit more. And that's that's the nature of following Jesus.

I thought about another thing while you're talking, there's something called exposure therapy.

Right? So it's like if you're a phobia of something, they say, well, get, you know,

get it exposed to it a little by little and then more and more and then that fear will go away.

And since he says, why were you afraid? I was like, is that kind of how God builds our faith to?

You know, like we're afraid of some circumstance so we see it in obstacle and then we see it overcome.

Does it work in a similar way, you think like incrementally or yeah, I mean, I think so.

And we live in a world right now that says avoid everything hard, avoid anything that triggers you.

You need a safe space clinically speaking. That's the worst thing you can do.

That if you don't face these things, you'll never grow the fortitude to be able to walk through them.

So what we call mental health today, oftentimes is actually mental fragility

because we avoid all things that are hard. And that does not mean a person is mentally healthy.

That means they're very fragile. And so, I mean, Rebecca Maxwell is sitting on the front row.

She would be the first one to tell you as a therapist is that you're not just trying to avoid all the hard

things in your pursuit of comfort that you have to walk through hard things to develop that muscle

so that you can be mentally healthy so that you can face the next hard things. In this life,

we will face trouble of all kinds, but we take hard because these overcome the world.

And there's this phrase about being bold. It's like, why not try it and give God the opportunity

to prove himself? Give God the opportunity to show His faithfulness there.

You've talked about that a lot of passage. I'd be like, what lies in the balance? Maybe,

are you stepping out, taking that step? What's the guideline for wisdom in that? Let's just say

I'm going to give God the chance to prove himself and it's foolish. Where's the foolish line?

Or reckless? Well, the best advice is John 2.5. Do whatever he tells you to do. He's never going

to tell you to do something that's not in his word. You should also look around and have

some wise counsel around you because both fear and courage are both contagious.

If you've got some godly people around you and it's an alignment with God's word

and he told you to do it, then you should do it and trust him with the consequences.

Yeah, it's good. It makes me think also of when the devil is tempting Jesus and he says,

why don't you throw yourself off there because the angels will catch you and he says,

you don't put God at the test like that. I really love as you ended the looks,

look up, look around, look ahead, look back. I'm curious. I can't remember if I've heard

you give those before. We just see that for this text and how.

But also, sometimes I think about this idea of spiritual looking.

What are you looking at? We have our physical eyes and we have things that we focus on throughout

the day. It can be so automatic or maybe even unintentional that we're just thinking about

all these different things. So myself included, a lot of us don't think about

where are we directing our focus. So is that unique to the faith walk that we say,

I grab a hold of where I look spiritually?

Yeah, I mean, I think of a lot of verses. I think of Hebrews that we should fix our

as well, Jesus, the ultimate perfect of our faith. I think about we walk by faith and not by sight.

Again, the next time they're out on the sea and it gets crazy and Peter's out on the water,

we're going to talk about this that as long as his eyes were fixed on Jesus, he was good when he

got fixed on the circumstances and went bad. I mean, this is it. We get so focused on our

circumstances instead of the sovereign king over our circumstances. That's where the looking

came from. Look up and look around and look forward. But always, this is always in light

of looking back to the cross. So we do have an advantage. We don't ever have to ask,

do you even care? We know that he cares because of the cross.

I love the look around. You know, one of the intentional ways that we do that here is through

the telling of testimonies is every week, just hearing testimony after testimony after testimony

of what God is doing in people's lives. I mean, we see it here in the text that the same

intensity that defined the storm defines the peace. And it's powerful. It's powerful to hear.

Here's what I was going through. This was what my life was like. And then Jesus comes and gives

peace. He gives this wholeness. And so I love that. And we don't do that enough. I think of so

many churches that actually don't do that. So you have no idea of what God is doing in the community.

No wonder, over time, you just kind of think, well, nothing's really happening now.

And it really does. It's like borrowing faith. It stirs your faith. We are with this group of

bunch of people who are involved in church planting. And there's this one

session where people were just sharing things going on in their churches. And it was like

at the end of it, it was like, wow, God is doing amazing things in the world.

And it was all through these testimonies. We met these guys from Germany,

and they go, you know, Pastor Toby Martin, we just started his book study.

Stand firm and act like men. We love it. So that was pretty cool.

Yeah, because if you're at the center of your own universe and God's not doing what you want to do,

you'll ask, oh, are you God? Where are you going? But when you're surrounded

by a faith community, you'll continuously say, there you are God. And there you are God.

And he may not be doing what you want him to do in your life right now, but you see

evidence of him at work all over the place.

And you know what's not on your list? Look in word.

No, which is the world's answer so out like you got the answer inside of you, you know,

and you said before the Jordan Peterson thing about when you, like, over self-reflection

is the same as depression, you know. So I'm thankful that these are the antithesis to that,

yeah, right? Look, something looks some other direction besides yourself.

Yeah. I mean, if I, whenever I do that, it results in this. If I look, if I'm honest and I look

inward, I just end up here. We're a crowd to God and say, Lord, save me.

Have mercy on me. Yeah, if you look in word, you'll just get more afraid because this,

looking in word is the same as looking into the future and seeing you as in control of it.

You'll be great with fear because you know, you don't have what it takes. Yeah.

Yeah, that is so, it's so empty, you know, and you hear it a lot if you're looking,

you know, you got, you got it inside of you. Valk out the answers. I just,

there's nothing good inside apart from Christ. Yeah.

I wanted to point out this Psalm because when you talked about looking back, there's a Psalm just

to read, you know, you want to do a little homework later. Psalm 77 because it starts off with like,

he's really depressed. He's talking about being just like, oh, man, this is terrible,

this terrible. And he starts saying, is God just help me help me help me? I'm suffering.

Has God forgotten his love. And then in verse 10, Psalm 77, 10 says, then I said, I will appeal to

this to the years of the right hand of the most high. I will remember the deeds of the Lord,

your wonders of old and ponder all your work. And so the antidote to his sorrow and his feeling like

maybe God's abandon me was to look back. Yeah, in the Old Testament, when God would move in a

mighty way, he would always tell them to build an altar. And then he would say, so that when

your children ask, you could point to the faithfulness of God. And oftentimes we've lost that

in the modern individualistic, it's all about me and my personal relationship with Jesus kind of

thing. So it's bad to what you were saying about the strength of testimony. It's just giving

testimony to the faithfulness of God over and over and over. I also think that kind of the thing

you were talking about about stress and anxiety, it's virtually impossible to simultaneously feel

stressed and blessed. Like gratitude and anxiety cannot coexist. This is where things like a

gratitude list can be very, very helpful. And what you're doing is you're just looking back at

your show over your shoulder. And you're seeing the faithfulness of God and you're being grateful for

all of God's goodness and faithfulness in your life. And it's really hard to simultaneously

be anxious while you're being grateful. Yeah, and there's something to be learned from

you know, God's already approved His love, you know. And so if you're looking for things to be

grateful, if I'm looking for things to be grateful for, even if I can't see anything in my life right

now, you know, I can be grateful for who God is and for what He's done because that exists

outside of my circumstances. And oftentimes that's got more juice for my gratitude than thank you

for that beautiful sunrise today, you know, or that I slept good, you know. I also think you can

be grateful that none of the suffering that you are enduring is meaningless. It is light and

momentary and He is preparing for you an eternal weight of glory for you. That glory, I mean,

it gets kind of like, I almost feel like I have to tiptoe around these words because anytime I

use the word glory, I want it only to be for Jesus, but He's like, well, actually, somehow

this suffering that you're going through, this pain, this storm, whatever, I am using it to prepare

for you something in eternity that will be so glorious that you will look back and no matter how

horrendous it is and go, that was light and momentary. And that's not to diminish the suffering.

It's to expand your view of what the fully realized kingdom of heaven will be.

The glory is so good. So I can't get over that. The fact that Jesus calls us cohes is another

way of what? And so the glory, but then eternity, we get stuck on the now. And again,

it's not to make little of, hey, I got to wake up tomorrow and do life.

I will read sometimes the scriptures and I'll go, because of sin, you know, even the people

that lived to 100, 800, like that was so short, like heaven looks and goes, oh, your time was cut

short, that there is eternity waiting where I will spend, where we will spend time with the father

and the glory. It's, it really does put a ton into eternal perspective. And the

plan words is really big there. I think glory just means weight. It's like the weight of the weight.

And the thing that's producing the weight, he says, is light. And so if you think about weight

lifting, you know, a lot of my weight lifting, light doesn't produce heavy, you know, heavy

produces heavy. But if you could figure out a way to lift light and get the result of weight

upon weight, you'd want to do that, right? That's like those gimmicks of those TV things that do

your ab crunches for, you know, I don't think they work. But he's saying that this light, it's

light compared to what he's going to get. So it's almost like, hey, if I told you you could put

a dollar in this investment account, it turned to a million in 10 years, you'd be like, yeah,

that sounds good. You know, that's amazing. Well, we are, are entering into holy week. And so I

want to just spend the last few minutes talking about how to prepare for Easter. And I don't know

if we just talk about this or not, but we're not in the end of Matthew, you know, we're not in

the section where he's going to, you know, so how should we be thinking about where we are in the

journey and just Easter in general? Hopefully you're praying and fasting on Wednesday, come to the

Passion Service on Tuesday. Technically, every Sunday, when you come to worship, you're

worshiping on the resurrection day. And we worship a living Christ. And so Easter is just the

that the church picked that we would really focus on the empty tomb. But

I mean, we're going to be tearing off the roof. But be prepared because the reason that we worship

is because the tomb is empty here. Mm hmm. Yeah. Anything you'd add about preparation for Easter,

what have you learned is like most helpful. I mean, I just look back to the disciples what they

cried out is come with a posture of desperation. We are all in desperate need of a Savior and His

name is Jesus. And our salvation is like, it flows from desperation that I can't, I save me.

So is our sanctification that he is as he continually works in us. So we're Easter, we're crying for

God to save many people. And at the same time, we're crying that people will continue to keep their

eyes fixed on him. And that just requires just the posture of I am desperate for the Lord.

And so when we pray, when we fast it, that's what we're doing. We're saying more, more of you,

Jesus, less of us, come Lord Jesus, come. And so if, if, if, when we do that, I believe the,

I mean, the Lord loves it. The Lord loves it. He wants to be where He's wanted. And,

and so we should never take this for granted. And oh, it's Easter again, you know, we're going to

do the same thing. No, no, every Sunday, I love that every Sunday. And so that, that's how we,

we prepare and posture ourselves. And, and Pastor, we kind of did a recapitulation of the,

if the tomb is empty, anything is possible. Right. It's like, if you believe all this stuff,

if they, Jesus can come out of their grave, then what can He not do? Amen. You know.

And so, yeah, I'm certainly praying for the people of my life to, and want to invite them. And,

and I love celebrating Easter. I think it's awesome. Well, any, any of the other closing thoughts,

Pastor, we pray before we pray? No, let me pray. Father in heaven, Lord, I pray specifically

right now. There are some folks that are going through a storm. And you know it. You're not

surprised by it. It actually passed through your sovereign hand. And so Lord, they feel like

they're perishing. And they may, they may even wonder if you care. Lord, I thank you that you

have demonstrated your love for us fully and finally and completely that while we were still

sinners Christ died for us. And Lord, I pray that through Christ, these folks could experience

your peace, pray in Jesus. Thank you for listening to the podcast. The end.

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