Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / This Caffeinated Life - Minister Max Lucado

Transcript

This Caffeinated Life - Minister Max Lucado · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

0:00
Speaker 1: You know, if only we could order life the way
0:03
Speaker 1: we order gourmet coffee. Wouldn't we love just to mix
0:09
Speaker 1: and match all the ingredients of our life? I would
0:16
Speaker 1: like a tall, extra hot cup of adventure, cut the danger,
0:19
Speaker 1: and two shots of good health. I would like a
0:24
Speaker 1: decaf brew of longevity. please, with a sprinkle of fertility, please,
0:31
Speaker 1: go heavy on the agility and cut the disability, please.
0:37
Speaker 1: I'll go with a grande happy latte with a dollop
0:40
Speaker 1: of love sprinkled with a Rocky Mountain retirement. Take me
0:46
Speaker 1: to that coffee shop. Too bad it doesn't exist. Truth is,
0:53
Speaker 1: life often hands us a concoction different than the one
1:00
Speaker 1: we expected and certainly different than the one we requested.
1:07
Speaker 1: Joe Jones, enjoy your early retirement. It looks like it
1:11
Speaker 1: comes with marital problems and inflation. Mary Adams, you put
1:18
Speaker 1: in an order for four years of university and then pregnancy.
1:25
Speaker 1: Now you're pregnant. We'll see about the university. Gateway Church.
1:34
Speaker 1: How about a summer-long ride on a roller coaster? Life
1:40
Speaker 1: comes caffeinated with surprises, modifications, transitions, alterations. Some changes welcome,
1:51
Speaker 1: some not. And in those seasons in which we think
1:55
Speaker 1: we know what's about to happen, we're surprised, right? Just
2:00
Speaker 1: driving down today from, driving up today from San Antonio,
2:05
Speaker 1: we stopped at a little cafe in Waco. Next to
2:10
Speaker 1: the cashier's table was a box that said, if you're
2:17
Speaker 1: tired of change, just put it in here. Well, we're
2:25
Speaker 1: all a little weary of change. You certainly had your share.
2:31
Speaker 1: We're in a changing country. We have one presidential candidate
2:40
Speaker 1: who got shot at. We had another presidential candidate who
2:45
Speaker 1: bailed out. And now we don't know what's about to happen.
2:50
Speaker 1: And then you're going through change in leadership at church.
2:55
Speaker 1: We just don't know what's going to happen. We might
2:58
Speaker 1: request a decaffeinated life But we don't get it. The
3:04
Speaker 1: disciples didn't. Jesus got into a boat and his followers
3:09
Speaker 1: went with him. A great storm arose on the lake
3:14
Speaker 1: so that the waves covered the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.
3:21
Speaker 1: His followers went to him and woke him saying, Lord,
3:25
Speaker 1: save us. We will drown. Jesus answered, why are you afraid?
3:33
Speaker 1: You don't have enough faith. And then Jesus got up
3:37
Speaker 1: and gave a command to the wind and the waves
3:40
Speaker 1: and it became completely calm. And the men were amazed.
3:45
Speaker 1: And they said, what kind of man is this that
3:48
Speaker 1: even the wind and the waves obey him? At first blush,
3:56
Speaker 1: we think Jesus is kidding with this question. Why are
4:00
Speaker 1: you afraid? Surely he's teasing. right? Surely he knows, correct?
4:08
Speaker 1: Pulling a quick one, isn't he? It's kind of like
4:11
Speaker 1: one swimmer asking another, why are you wet? I mean,
4:15
Speaker 1: it's pretty obvious why they're afraid, but Jesus doesn't smile.
4:20
Speaker 1: He's dead earnest, and so are the disciples to whom
4:24
Speaker 1: he asked the question. I mean, a storm has turned
4:27
Speaker 1: their Galilean dinner crews into a white-knuckled plunge. I mean,
4:33
Speaker 1: look again at Matthew's question or description. Jesus got into
4:38
Speaker 1: a boat. His followers went with him. A great storm
4:44
Speaker 1: arose on the lake so that the waves covered the boat.
4:51
Speaker 1: Years later, when he wrote these words, he remembered that
4:56
Speaker 1: pouncing tempest and that bouncing boat. And he was really
5:00
Speaker 1: careful about in selecting the right word. In my imagination,
5:05
Speaker 1: he pulls a Greek thesaurus off the shelf, and he
5:09
Speaker 1: goes looking for the right word to describe this storm.
5:15
Speaker 1: He bypasses summer squall, rainfall, that's not enough, spring shower,
5:21
Speaker 1: that won't do, that won't capture what he saw and
5:25
Speaker 1: what he felt that night, which was a rumbling earth
5:27
Speaker 1: and a quivering shoreline. This was more than just Winds
5:32
Speaker 1: and white tops. He keeps looking for that right synonym.
5:36
Speaker 1: And finally he finds it. It's that Greek word. S-E-I-S-M-O-S. Seismos.
5:46
Speaker 2: Seismos.
5:49
Speaker 1: We recognize the word, right? A seismologist measures earthquakes. A
5:59
Speaker 1: seismograph measures measures earthquakes. And Matthew, in reflecting back on
6:07
Speaker 1: what that day was like, uses a word that he
6:10
Speaker 1: only uses two other times in his gospel. And the
6:15
Speaker 1: other two times is when he describes, one, the ground
6:19
Speaker 1: shaking at Calvary when Christ was crucified, and two, the
6:25
Speaker 1: ground shaking when Christ was resurrected from the dead. So
6:30
Speaker 1: apparently this miracle deserves a spot in the trilogy of
6:35
Speaker 1: the resurrection and salvation and now the defeat of fear.
6:41
Speaker 1: This was a seismos. It was sudden fear. We know
6:47
Speaker 1: the fear was sudden because the storm was. An older
6:50
Speaker 1: translation reads, suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea.
6:57
Speaker 1: Not all storms... come suddenly, those of us who grew
7:02
Speaker 1: up in the flatlands of West Texas, as I did
7:06
Speaker 1: in the Permian Basin, we could see a storm coming
7:09
Speaker 1: when it was all the way up in Amarillo. It
7:12
Speaker 1: was so flat. But this storm came out of nowhere.
7:18
Speaker 1: It barreled out of the Golan Heights and it turned
7:21
Speaker 1: the Galilean Sea into a teapot. And all of a
7:25
Speaker 1: sudden the boat in which the disciples were riding was
7:29
Speaker 1: popping like popcorn in a popcorn popper up and then
7:33
Speaker 1: down and then up and then down. It sprang like
7:36
Speaker 1: a lion out of the grass. One minute the disciples
7:39
Speaker 1: were shuffling cards for a pre or a mid-journey game
7:44
Speaker 1: of hearts. And the next minute they were gulping Galilean
7:49
Speaker 1: sea spray. Peter and John, they were seasoned sailors and
7:54
Speaker 1: they struggled to keep down the sail. Matthew was a
7:59
Speaker 1: confirmed landlubber and he struggled to keep down his meal.
8:04
Speaker 1: The storm was not what he bargained for. Do you
8:08
Speaker 1: sense surprise in the way he linked these phrases? Look
8:11
Speaker 1: at this. Jesus got into a boat and his followers
8:15
Speaker 1: went with him. A great storm arose on the lake.
8:22
Speaker 1: All the disciples did was what Jesus told them to
8:24
Speaker 1: do and a storm showed up Wouldn't you hope for
8:28
Speaker 1: a happier second sentence? Jesus got into a boat, his
8:33
Speaker 1: followers went with him, and suddenly a great rainbow arched
8:38
Speaker 1: in the sky. Jesus got into a boat, his followers
8:42
Speaker 1: went with him, and out of nowhere there was a
8:46
Speaker 1: covey of dove in the sky. Jesus got into a boat,
8:53
Speaker 1: his disciples follow him, and the Water was like glass
8:59
Speaker 1: reflecting the mast. This story sends a not so subtle
9:08
Speaker 1: and not too popular reminder that disciples get caught in storms.
9:17
Speaker 1: You can do exactly what Jesus told you to do.
9:21
Speaker 1: Follow him. Exactly where he went and look up and
9:25
Speaker 1: see the waves are churning and the wind is blowing
9:28
Speaker 1: and you're wondering, wait a second, all I did was
9:30
Speaker 1: do what he told me to do. Christ's followers battle cancer.
9:38
Speaker 1: Christ's followers bury children. Christ's followers wrestle with addictions. And
9:45
Speaker 1: as a result, face unexpected and unrequested, highly caffeinated, Events.
9:55
Speaker 1: Like this one. It's not the adversaries. of storms that
10:03
Speaker 1: sets believers apart. It's whom we discover in the storm.
10:11
Speaker 1: An unstirred Christ. Oh, you're going to love this. Verse 24.
10:17
Speaker 1: Jesus said, What's the word, church? Sleeping. Jesus was sleeping.
10:26
Speaker 1: There's this thing. The disciples scream and Jesus dreams. Thunder
10:35
Speaker 1: roars and Jesus... You got it. Did you ever imagine
10:41
Speaker 1: that God on earth could be heard going.
10:46
Speaker 1: In a storm. In the midst of a storm. Who
10:51
Speaker 1: could sleep in a seismos? Who? Could you? Could you
11:00
Speaker 1: sleep on a roller coaster ride? Could you sleep at
11:05
Speaker 1: a kettle drum concert? Could you sleep in a wind tunnel?
11:12
Speaker 1: And yet Jesus slept in the midst of all three.
11:16
Speaker 1: What a Savior we serve. that what stirs our fears
11:21
Speaker 1: does not stir his. When we are stirred, he is unstirred.
11:29
Speaker 1: In Mark's gospel, he adds two wonderful details. Jesus was
11:35
Speaker 1: in the stern, asleep on a pillow. In a stern
11:43
Speaker 1: on a pillow. Why the first and from whence came
11:47
Speaker 1: the second? First century fishermen used large, heavy, sane nets
11:56
Speaker 1: for their work. And when they weren't using the nets,
12:01
Speaker 1: they stored them in a nook built into the stern
12:07
Speaker 1: for this purpose. So those nets wouldn't trip up anyone's feet.
12:13
Speaker 1: Sleeping upon the stern was impossible. It offered no protections.
12:20
Speaker 1: It didn't have enough space. But right beneath the top
12:27
Speaker 1: of the stern was just enough room for somebody, if
12:30
Speaker 1: they wanted to, to pull out the net and crawl
12:34
Speaker 1: in and catch some Zs. And that's what Jesus did.
12:42
Speaker 1: He rested his head on a pillow. Not a fluffy
12:47
Speaker 1: pillow that you're already thinking about. using at some point
12:52
Speaker 1: when you get home. But this was a ballast bag,
12:57
Speaker 1: a leather bag that literally was a ballast to the boat.
13:01
Speaker 1: It weighed as much as 100 pounds. Fishermen in the
13:05
Speaker 1: Mediterranean used them to this day. And so Jesus just
13:11
Speaker 1: used the ballast bag. Now, did Jesus take the pillow
13:17
Speaker 1: into the stern? Or was he asleep in the stern
13:21
Speaker 1: and someone rustled up the pillow? I don't know. But
13:25
Speaker 1: I do know this was a premeditated slumber. He didn't
13:29
Speaker 1: just doze off. He wasn't sitting there and just... He said,
13:34
Speaker 1: I think I see a storm coming. A good time
13:36
Speaker 1: for me to take a nap. The view our God
13:42
Speaker 1: has of our storms is entirely different than the view
13:47
Speaker 1: we have of them. Amen? Do we not need a
13:51
Speaker 1: God who is unstirred by what stirs us? Do we
13:57
Speaker 1: not need a God who looks at the storm and says,
14:02
Speaker 1: I'm in charge. I can manage it. Do we not
14:06
Speaker 1: need a heavenly father who, when our world gets turned
14:10
Speaker 1: upside down, says, oh, I can set it right side up.
14:14
Speaker 1: That's my job. And so this story is in the Bible. Now,
14:19
Speaker 1: this nap really ticked off the disciples. I mean, it
14:23
Speaker 1: really did. Matthew and Mark record their response as staccato commands.
14:31
Speaker 1: You know, the Bible was, New Testament was written in Greek.
14:34
Speaker 1: Forgive me for being a bit of a nerd here.
14:36
Speaker 1: But this is really just three Greek words in the original.
14:40
Speaker 1: And it reads like this. Lord, save dying. That's it.
14:48
Speaker 1: I mean, they're about to go down. They can't even
14:51
Speaker 1: get a sentence out. And what the gospel writers remember
14:56
Speaker 1: are these three commands. Again, they are commanding Christ. And
15:04
Speaker 1: then they have a question. The question, teacher, do you
15:12
Speaker 1: not care that we are perishing? How do you process
15:20
Speaker 1: that question? Do you not care? They don't question his strength. Jesus,
15:29
Speaker 1: can you manage this storm? They don't question his know-how.
15:35
Speaker 1: Do you have any experience with this storm? They question
15:42
Speaker 1: the character of Christ. Don't you care? When we think
15:50
Speaker 1: that God is not paying attention, do we not tend
15:54
Speaker 1: to do the same? Do you really love me, God?
15:58
Speaker 1: If God really loved me, if God really cared, he
16:04
Speaker 1: would not allow this to happen. We would question the
16:13
Speaker 1: very character of Christ. Friends, fear does this. Fear does this.
16:21
Speaker 1: Fear corrodes our confidence in the goodness of God. And
16:29
Speaker 1: we begin to wonder if love lives in heaven. I mean,
16:33
Speaker 1: if God can sleep in my storm, if he can
16:38
Speaker 1: appear inactive when I'm in a hospital, or if I
16:44
Speaker 1: hear nothing but silence when I'm asking hard questions. I
16:49
Speaker 1: begin to wonder, does he care? And fear can stir
16:54
Speaker 1: a flurry of faith-robbing doubts. Fear does this. And fear
17:04
Speaker 1: also turns us into control freaks. Do something about the storm,
17:10
Speaker 1: the disciples are saying. They don't say please. They don't
17:14
Speaker 1: say Lord. They don't pray. They Isn't there something stunning
17:26
Speaker 1: about the fact that they are commanding God? Do something
17:31
Speaker 1: now or else fear does this. Fear at its core
17:41
Speaker 1: is a perceived loss of control. It's a perceived loss
17:47
Speaker 1: of control. Life begins to spin wildly and we grab
17:52
Speaker 1: for something that we can control, right? We grab for
17:57
Speaker 1: a component of life, something that we can manage, maybe
18:01
Speaker 1: our diet or the tidiness of a house or even
18:03
Speaker 1: the armrest of a plane. Do you ever think it's
18:05
Speaker 1: kind of funny how we grab an armrest of a plane?
18:09
Speaker 1: Is that really going to keep the plane in the air?
18:10
Speaker 1: Hang on there. I've got it. I've got it. But
18:15
Speaker 1: we want to control something, right? We want to grip something.
18:18
Speaker 1: It brings a false sense of security. The more insecure
18:23
Speaker 1: we feel, the more we control. And hang on, you're
18:26
Speaker 1: going to get mad at me. But the more insecure
18:29
Speaker 1: we feel, the more demanding we become. The disciples demanded,
18:35
Speaker 1: not requested. They demanded. We bear our fangs. We shake
18:40
Speaker 1: our fists. Why? Because we're bad? Not really. But because
18:44
Speaker 1: we're cornered. We're cornered. We feel trapped. And so we
18:50
Speaker 1: lash out. We're not always the easiest to get along with.
18:56
Speaker 1: Fear does that. And you know what fear also does?
19:00
Speaker 1: It deadens our recall. It deadens our recall. The disciples
19:06
Speaker 1: had reason to trust Jesus. I did a little research.
19:10
Speaker 1: By now, they had seen him heal all kinds of diseases.
19:15
Speaker 1: and all kinds of disease among the people. They had
19:18
Speaker 1: seen this. They had seen him heal a leper with
19:21
Speaker 1: the touch of a servant. They had seen him heal
19:24
Speaker 1: another person with just a command. Peter saw his mother-in-law recover.
19:29
Speaker 1: They all saw demons scatter like bats out of a cave.
19:35
Speaker 1: He cast out spirits with the word and healed all
19:38
Speaker 1: who were sick. Where is the disciple who's going to
19:41
Speaker 1: raise his hand and say to the others, hold on
19:43
Speaker 1: a second, guys. Don't you remember what we saw him
19:47
Speaker 1: do a month ago, three months ago, a few weeks ago?
19:52
Speaker 1: Don't forget his track record. Where is the disciple who
19:55
Speaker 1: raises their hand in the midst of a storm and says,
19:58
Speaker 1: we've seen God do this before. We know he'll do
20:01
Speaker 1: it again. Where was that disciple then? And let me
20:04
Speaker 1: ask you, where is the disciple now?
20:06
Speaker 2: Hmm.
20:10
Speaker 1: Where's the disciple now? Fear has a way of deadening
20:15
Speaker 1: our recall. We forget. And Satan sucks us into this
20:21
Speaker 1: lie that says, oh, this is too big even for God.
20:24
Speaker 1: He never seen anything like this before. Oh my goodness.
20:30
Speaker 1: And our memory goes dull. Fear makes us forget The
20:40
Speaker 1: character of Christ makes us forget the power of Christ.
20:45
Speaker 1: And you know what else? Fear makes us feel yucky, right? Dreadful.
20:54
Speaker 1: It sucks the life out of the soul. It curls
20:57
Speaker 1: us into this embryonic state. It drains us dry of contentment.
21:04
Speaker 1: You know, fear never wrote a symphony. Fear never wrote
21:09
Speaker 1: a poem. Fear never really loved a church. Fear never
21:19
Speaker 1: pulled a family out of poverty or a country out
21:21
Speaker 1: of bigotry. Fear never saved a marriage or a business.
21:28
Speaker 1: Courage did that. Faith did that. Hope did that. Belief
21:34
Speaker 1: did that. But fear, fear herds people into a prison
21:41
Speaker 1: of unlocked doors. Wouldn't it be great to walk out?
21:50
Speaker 1: Imagine your life wholly untouched by angst. What if faith,
21:59
Speaker 1: not fear, were your default reaction to change? What if
22:05
Speaker 1: the people in your circle came to expect that you're
22:10
Speaker 1: the one who's going to say, oh, God's got this. Oh,
22:15
Speaker 1: I've seen him do it. Oh, let me tell you
22:17
Speaker 1: about the time he... What if fear was placed in
22:22
Speaker 1: the back seat and faith was placed in the front seat?
22:30
Speaker 1: What if you could hover a fear magnet over your
22:33
Speaker 1: heart and extract every last shaving of dread insecurity, and doubt.
22:43
Speaker 1: What would remain? Imagine a day, friend, that just one day,
22:50
Speaker 1: absent a dread, absent a dread of failure, absent a
22:55
Speaker 1: dread of calamity, no worst-case scenarios.
23:02
Speaker 3: None.
23:03
Speaker 1: Just, okay, it's a tough time, but our God can
23:08
Speaker 1: talk to wind Our God can talk to waves. I've
23:11
Speaker 1: seen him do it before. He's going to do it again.
23:23
Speaker 1: This is the possibility behind the question. Why are you afraid?
23:31
Speaker 1: Jesus asked. Now tell me again. Why are you afraid?
23:36
Speaker 1: I haven't shown you enough. Now why are you afraid?
23:40
Speaker 1: You need me to do what? Now, why are you afraid?
23:44
Speaker 1: Did you know that the most common command of Christ
23:50
Speaker 1: emerges from this theme, this genre of fear not? He
23:56
Speaker 1: issued 125 commands. as recorded in the Gospels. By far
24:03
Speaker 1: and above, the most common sounded like this. Fear not.
24:08
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid. Here's a few. So don't be afraid.
24:11
Speaker 1: You are worth more than many sparrows. Don't be afraid.
24:14
Speaker 1: Just believe. It's all right. I'm here. Don't be afraid.
24:19
Speaker 1: Do not fear, little flock, for it is your good
24:22
Speaker 1: father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Don't be
24:25
Speaker 1: afraid or troubled or afraid. Arise and do not be afraid.
24:30
Speaker 1: And we could go on and on and on. The
24:32
Speaker 1: bottom line is this, dear friend, dear son or daughter
24:35
Speaker 1: of God, God does not want you to live a
24:39
Speaker 1: life that is sucked hollow by fear. God did not
24:45
Speaker 1: give you a spirit of fear. That comes from the devil.
24:49
Speaker 1: God gave you courage. God gave you the very mind
24:52
Speaker 1: of Christ. And you are one choice of faith from
24:56
Speaker 1: becoming a person who puts his or her shoulders back
24:59
Speaker 1: and takes in a deep breath of hope and faith
25:03
Speaker 1: and presses into the wind. The storm is coming. The
25:09
Speaker 1: waves are bouncing. The sky is dark. The lightning zigzags.
25:17
Speaker 1: You've got a king of kings who is so calm
25:20
Speaker 1: and comfortable that he can take a nap in this storm.
25:23
Speaker 1: And you don't belong to the storm. You belong to
25:26
Speaker 1: the storm stiller, right? He's the one who is in charge.
25:32
Speaker 1: By the way, don't you want to be a person
25:35
Speaker 1: with less fear? Don't you? Down deep, do you really
25:40
Speaker 1: enjoy a life that's marked by anxiety? How many of
25:45
Speaker 1: you have ever... said words like these. Oh, my phobias
25:50
Speaker 1: just put such a spring in my step. Or I'd
25:55
Speaker 1: be a rotten parent if it weren't for my hypochondria. Oh,
26:00
Speaker 1: thank God for my pessimism. I've become such a better
26:03
Speaker 1: person since I lost hope. My doctor says if I
26:08
Speaker 1: don't begin fretting, I will lose my health. We've learned
26:13
Speaker 1: the high cost of fear. That's why the question of
26:17
Speaker 1: Jesus is a good one. He lifted his head from
26:23
Speaker 1: the pillow and he stepped into the very storm. And
26:27
Speaker 1: he said, now why are you fearful? Oh, you have
26:30
Speaker 1: little faith. And what he said then, he says still today.
26:35
Speaker 1: Now to be clear, a fear serves a healthy purpose.
26:41
Speaker 1: It's a canary in the coal mine. Fear in limited
26:45
Speaker 1: doses does us good. Fear can keep a child from
26:52
Speaker 1: running across a busy road or an adult from smoking
26:55
Speaker 1: a pack of cigarettes. Fear is an appropriate reaction to
27:00
Speaker 1: a burning building or a growling dog. Fear can help
27:06
Speaker 1: us in limited doses. And fear in and of itself,
27:12
Speaker 1: my friend, is not a sin. It's an emotion. It's
27:17
Speaker 1: not a sin. So don't beat yourself up for these
27:21
Speaker 1: surges of fear. They're healthy. They're good. They're necessary. Fear
27:28
Speaker 1: will knock on the door. The key is to not
27:30
Speaker 1: invite fear in for dinner. And for heaven's sake, don't
27:35
Speaker 1: invite fear to spend the night. You see, if we
27:39
Speaker 1: treat our fear with angry outbursts, or drinking binges, or
27:44
Speaker 1: sullen withdrawals, or self-starvation, or vice-like control. What we're doing
27:48
Speaker 1: is we're excluding God from the solution. We're looking for
27:53
Speaker 1: a short-term solution to what is a deeply rooted problem.
27:58
Speaker 1: And we subject ourselves to a position of fear. We
28:04
Speaker 1: allow fear to dominate our lives, to define our lives,
28:09
Speaker 1: to sap our joy. To petrify us. To sour us.
28:16
Speaker 1: And sometimes to turn us into mean people. Again, 2
28:21
Speaker 1: Timothy 1, 7. For God has not given us a
28:27
Speaker 1: spirit of fear. Fear may fill your world. It may
28:32
Speaker 1: fill our world. But it doesn't have to fill your
28:35
Speaker 1: heart or my heart. How many of you would like
28:40
Speaker 1: less fear? Less anxiety, less dread. Two ideas on how
28:46
Speaker 1: to do this and then I'm done. Number one, recall
28:49
Speaker 1: the faithfulness of God. Just recall the faithfulness of God.
28:53
Speaker 1: Has he not been faithful to you? Has he not
28:56
Speaker 1: been faithful to us? Has he not been faithful to Gateway?
29:00
Speaker 1: Has he not been a faithful, good God? The Old
29:04
Speaker 1: Testament says, remember his marvelous works which he has done.
29:10
Speaker 1: Here's your homework assignment. Catalog God's successes in your life.
29:16
Speaker 1: Just make a catalog. Make a list of them and
29:20
Speaker 1: rehearse them. Rather than rehearse your woes, rehearse his accomplishments.
29:26
Speaker 1: I mean, you're going to think about something. Might as
29:28
Speaker 1: well think about how good he is as opposed to
29:30
Speaker 1: how tough life is, right? Has he not proven to
29:33
Speaker 1: be faithful? Have you not known his provision? How many
29:37
Speaker 1: nights have you gone to bed hungry? How many mornings
29:41
Speaker 1: have you awakened in the cold? Has he not made
29:45
Speaker 1: roadkill out of the demons that came after you? Has
29:49
Speaker 1: he not sent Satan? With Satan's little tail tucked between
29:53
Speaker 1: his legs? Has he not delivered you from... Do you
29:57
Speaker 1: not have a testimony of how good he has been?
30:01
Speaker 1: Then why would we focus on the tough times when
30:04
Speaker 1: we can focus instead on our good God? Write today's
30:14
Speaker 1: worries in sand. Chisel God's accomplishments in stone. And then
30:22
Speaker 1: number two, pray first. Pray most. Pray first. Pray most.
30:30
Speaker 1: Don't pace up and down the floors of the waiting room. Pray. Pray.
30:33
Speaker 1: Pray for a successful surgery. Don't bemoan the collapse of
30:37
Speaker 1: an investment. Just ask God to help you. Ask him
30:39
Speaker 1: for wisdom. Ask him for strength. Don't join the chorus
30:42
Speaker 1: of co-workers who endlessly complain about work or the boss
30:47
Speaker 1: or the environment. You be the one who wears them
30:50
Speaker 1: out by so often saying, well, let's just pray about it.
30:53
Speaker 1: You be the one they see coming in and they say,
30:56
Speaker 1: oh no, she's going to want to pray again. That's okay.
31:01
Speaker 1: Inoculate yourself inwardly to face your fears outwardly, casting the
31:07
Speaker 1: whole of your cares, all your anxieties, all your worries,
31:13
Speaker 1: all your concerns once and for all on him. When
31:19
Speaker 1: I was six years old, my dad let me stay
31:21
Speaker 1: up with the rest of the family and watch the
31:25
Speaker 1: movie Wolfman. Boy, did he regret that decision. The film
31:32
Speaker 1: left me convinced that Wolfman lived in our living room,
31:37
Speaker 1: right behind the couch, and that every night he was
31:41
Speaker 1: awaiting his preferred meal of red-headed, freckle-faced, six-year-old boy. That
31:48
Speaker 1: proved problematic because in order to reach the kitchen from
31:53
Speaker 1: my bedroom, I had to walk right past the couch.
31:58
Speaker 1: And so I would awaken in the middle of the
32:00
Speaker 1: night and I'd want a glass of water. I'd want something.
32:02
Speaker 1: And then I'd get up and I'd start walking. And
32:04
Speaker 1: then I would remember Wolfman's in there. And I would
32:09
Speaker 1: step into my father's bedroom and I would shake him.
32:16
Speaker 1: I would get eye level with him. And I can
32:18
Speaker 1: still remember he would open one eye. What do you want?
32:24
Speaker 1: A glass of milk. You know where the milk is. Yeah,
32:26
Speaker 1: but dad... Wolfman. And he would sigh and he would
32:36
Speaker 1: climb out of bed and he would take my hand.
32:40
Speaker 1: And you know what? He would walk. I mean, within
32:43
Speaker 1: a few feet of Wolfman. I mean, he would walk
32:46
Speaker 1: right past him. My little heart was pounding in my
32:50
Speaker 1: chest and he was not even afraid. And he would
32:53
Speaker 1: walk me right into the kitchen. And he would pour
32:56
Speaker 1: me a glass of milk and I'd look up at
32:58
Speaker 1: my father and I would think to myself, what kind
33:01
Speaker 1: of man is this? That not even wolf man scares him.
33:10
Speaker 1: The disciples looked at Jesus after Jesus spoke to the
33:14
Speaker 1: wind and the waves. And they asked one of the
33:17
Speaker 1: great questions. What kind of man is this? Can I
33:22
Speaker 1: tell you what kind of man this is? This is
33:24
Speaker 1: a man who is alive and well at the core,
33:28
Speaker 1: at the center of the universe right now. And he
33:32
Speaker 1: oversees all the details of your life and mine, this
33:36
Speaker 1: church and the church where I serve in San Antonio
33:39
Speaker 1: and the church universal. This is the kind of Savior
33:43
Speaker 1: who has already circled the date. He's got that return
33:46
Speaker 1: on the calendar. And it's just a matter of staying
33:49
Speaker 1: faithful until he returns. He can turn a typhoon into
33:59
Speaker 1: nap time. He did then. He does still. Let's stand
34:06
Speaker 1: and pray. As we pray, I'll pause for a few
34:15
Speaker 1: moments and let you talk to Jesus. And my desire
34:20
Speaker 1: would be that you just tell Jesus whatever fear you
34:22
Speaker 1: have and you give it up to him. Oh, great
34:26
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, we thank you for this reminder of your goodness,
34:29
Speaker 1: how faithful you are. Father, we know you love this church.
34:37
Speaker 1: And we know that you are mighty and strong. And
34:42
Speaker 1: that at those seasons in which we feel a seismos
34:46
Speaker 1: has come our way, all we need to do is
34:49
Speaker 1: turn to you. We beg you, Lord, to speak to
34:53
Speaker 1: the wind. Speak to the waves. And now hear our
34:58
Speaker 1: personal fears as we lift them up to you.
35:03
Speaker 4: You don't have.
35:04
Speaker 5: To be new.
35:09
Speaker 4: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
35:16
Speaker 4: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
35:25
Speaker 6: I don't need to hold you near me Don't need
35:29
Speaker 6: promises to keep.
35:32
Speaker 4: Just the thought that you are breathing Somewhere in this
35:36
Speaker 4: world I see.
35:38
Speaker 6: Even if I'm not beside you Even if you never
35:43
Speaker 6: know There's a quiet kind of comfort Just in knowing
35:49
Speaker 6: you still glow.
35:53
Speaker 4: I don't need forever.
35:59
Speaker 2: I just need you to exist.
36:04
Speaker 5: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
36:08
Speaker 5: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
36:13
Speaker 5: out there.
36:14
Speaker 6: Calling softly through my days You don't have.
36:18
Speaker 5: To look my way You don't have to be my home.
36:24
Speaker 6: It's enough to know you're living In a world I'm
36:29
Speaker 6: not alone I won't chase you through the distance Won't
36:37
Speaker 6: disturb your chosen life I'll just keep you in my silence.
36:43
Speaker 2: Like a star that shines at night Through the dark
36:49
Speaker 2: and through the blue I still think of you.
37:01
Speaker 6: Me you don't have.
37:03
Speaker 5: To feel the same just as long as you're still
37:08
Speaker 5: out there calling softly through my days you don't have
37:13
Speaker 5: to look my way you don't have to be my
37:18
Speaker 5: home it's enough to know you're.
37:22
Speaker 2: Living I don't need to be your light.
37:45
Speaker 6: I don't need to cross your mind All I need
37:48
Speaker 6: is just the truth That you're somewhere.
37:53
Speaker 2: Still alive.
37:57
Speaker 3: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
38:01
Speaker 3: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
38:06
Speaker 3: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
38:11
Speaker 3: to look my way.
38:14
Speaker 2: You don't have to be my.
38:16
Speaker 6: Home It's enough to know you're living
38:23
Speaker 2: In a world I'm not alone