Latest / Max Lucado Daily Sermons / Max Lucado – This Caffeinated Life: Finding God in the Middle of a Busy World

Transcript

Max Lucado – This Caffeinated Life: Finding God in the Middle of a Busy World · Max Lucado Daily Sermons

0:01
Speaker 1: You know, if only we could order life the way
0:04
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
0:25
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,
0:54
Speaker 1: Life often hands us a concoction different than the one
1:01
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
1:23
Speaker 1: pregnancy 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,
2:06
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
2:16
Speaker 1: tired of change, just put it in here. Laughter Well,
2:25
Speaker 1: we're all a little weary of change. You certainly had
2:29
Speaker 1: your share. We're in a changing country. We have one
2:36
Speaker 1: presidential candidate who got shot at. We had another presidential
2:44
Speaker 1: candidate who bailed out. And now we don't know what's
2:48
Speaker 1: about to happen. And then you're going through change in
2:52
Speaker 1: leadership at church. We just don't know what's going to happen.
2:58
Speaker 1: We might request a decaffeinated life, but we don't get it.
3:04
Speaker 1: The disciples didn't. Jesus got into a boat and his
3:08
Speaker 1: followers went with him. A great storm arose on the
3:13
Speaker 1: lake so that the waves covered the boat. But Jesus
3:18
Speaker 1: was sleeping. Sleeping. His followers went to him and woke
3:24
Speaker 1: him saying, Lord, save us. We will drown. Jesus answered,
3:30
Speaker 1: why are you afraid? You don't have enough faith. And
3:36
Speaker 1: then Jesus got up and gave a command to the
3:39
Speaker 1: wind and the waves and it became completely calm. And
3:43
Speaker 1: the men were amazed. And they said, what kind of
3:47
Speaker 1: man is this that even The wind and the waves
3:52
Speaker 1: obey him. At first blush, we think Jesus is kidding
3:58
Speaker 1: with this question, why are you afraid? Surely he's teasing, right?
4:05
Speaker 1: Surely he knows, correct? Pulling a quick one, isn't he?
4:10
Speaker 1: It's kind of like one swimmer asking another, why are
4:14
Speaker 1: you wet? I mean, it's pretty obvious why they're afraid,
4:18
Speaker 1: but Jesus doesn't smile. He's dead earnest. And so are
4:23
Speaker 1: the disciples to whom he asked the question. I mean,
4:26
Speaker 1: a storm has turned their Galilean dinner cruise into a
4:30
Speaker 1: white-knuckled plunge. I mean, look again at Matthew's question or description.
4:37
Speaker 1: Jesus got into a boat. His followers went with him.
4:42
Speaker 1: A great storm arose on the lake so that the
4:47
Speaker 1: waves covered the boat. Years later, when he wrote these words,
4:55
Speaker 1: he remembered that pouncing tempest and that bouncing boat. And
4:59
Speaker 1: he was really careful in selecting the right word. In
5:04
Speaker 1: my imagination, he pulls a Greek thesaurus off the shelf.
5:09
Speaker 1: And he goes looking for the right word to describe
5:13
Speaker 1: this storm. He bypasses summer squall. Rainfall, that's not enough.
5:20
Speaker 1: Spring shower, that won't do. That won't capture what he
5:24
Speaker 1: saw and what he felt that night, which was a
5:27
Speaker 1: rumbling earth and a quivering shoreline. This was more than
5:31
Speaker 1: just winds and white tops. He keeps looking for that
5:35
Speaker 1: right synonym, 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 earthquakes. And Matthew, in reflecting back on what
6:08
Speaker 1: that day was like, uses a word that he only
6:11
Speaker 1: uses two other times in his gospel. And the other
6:16
Speaker 1: two times is when he describes one The ground shaking
6:21
Speaker 1: at Calvary when Christ was crucified. And two, the ground
6:25
Speaker 1: shaking when Christ was resurrected from the dead. So apparently
6:31
Speaker 1: this miracle deserves a spot in the trilogy of the
6:35
Speaker 1: resurrection and salvation and now the defeat of fear. This
6:42
Speaker 1: was a seismos. It was sudden fear. We know the
6:48
Speaker 1: fear was sudden because the storm was. An older translation reads,
6:52
Speaker 1: suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea. Not all
6:58
Speaker 1: storms come suddenly. Those of us who grew up in
7:03
Speaker 1: the flatlands of West Texas, as I did in the
7:07
Speaker 1: Permian Basin, we could see a storm coming when it
7:10
Speaker 1: was all the way up in Amarillo. It was so flat.
7:15
Speaker 1: But this storm came out of nowhere. It barreled out
7:19
Speaker 1: of the Golan Heights and it turned the Galilean Sea
7:22
Speaker 1: into a teapot. And all of a sudden the boat
7:27
Speaker 1: in which the disciples were riding was popping like popcorn
7:31
Speaker 1: in a popcorn popper up and then down and then
7:34
Speaker 1: up and then down. It sprang like a lion out
7:37
Speaker 1: of the grass. One minute the disciples were shuffling cards
7:41
Speaker 1: for a mid-journey game of hearts. And the next minute
7:47
Speaker 1: they were gulping Galilean sea spray. Peter and John, they
7:52
Speaker 1: were seasoned sailors and they struggled to keep down the sail.
7:58
Speaker 1: Matthew was a confirmed landlubber and he struggled to keep
8:02
Speaker 1: down his meal. The storm was not what he bargained for.
8:06
Speaker 1: Do you sense surprise in the way he linked these phrases?
8:11
Speaker 1: Look at this. Jesus got into a boat. and his
8:15
Speaker 1: followers went with him, a great storm arose on the lake.
8:22
Speaker 1: All the disciples did was what Jesus told them to do,
8:25
Speaker 1: and a storm showed up. Wouldn't you hope for a
8:29
Speaker 1: happier second sentence? Jesus got into a boat, his followers
8:34
Speaker 1: went with him, and suddenly a great rainbow arched in
8:38
Speaker 1: the sky. Jesus got into a boat, his followers went
8:43
Speaker 1: with him, and suddenly Out of nowhere, there was a
8:47
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.
9:18
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 absence 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 a scene. The disciples scream in Jesus' dreams. Thunder
10:35
Speaker 1: roars in Jesus. You got it. Did you ever imagine
10:41
Speaker 1: that God on earth could be heard going... In a storm.
10:48
Speaker 1: In the midst of a storm. Who could sleep in
10:54
Speaker 1: a seismos? Who? Could you? Could you sleep on a
11:01
Speaker 1: roller coaster ride? Could you sleep at a kettle drum concert?
11:08
Speaker 1: Could you sleep in a wind tunnel? And yet Jesus
11:13
Speaker 1: slept in the midst of all three. What a savior
11:17
Speaker 1: we serve. that what stirs our fears does not stir his.
11:26
Speaker 1: When we are stirred, he is unstirred. In Mark's gospel,
11:31
Speaker 1: he adds two wonderful details. Jesus was in the stern,
11:38
Speaker 1: asleep on a pillow. In a stern on a pillow.
11:45
Speaker 1: Why the first and from whence came the second? First
11:50
Speaker 1: century fishermen used large, heavy, sane nets for their work.
11:58
Speaker 1: And when they weren't using the nets, they stored them
12:02
Speaker 1: in a nook built into the stern for this purpose.
12:08
Speaker 1: So those nets wouldn't trip up anyone's feet. Sleeping upon
12:14
Speaker 1: the stern was impossible. It offered no protection. It didn't
12:21
Speaker 1: have enough space. But right beneath the top of the
12:27
Speaker 1: stern was just enough room for somebody, if they wanted to,
12:33
Speaker 1: to pull out the net and crawl in and catch
12:36
Speaker 1: some Zs. And that's what Jesus did. He rested his
12:43
Speaker 1: head on a pillow. Not a fluffy pillow that you're
12:48
Speaker 1: already thinking about. using at some point when you get home.
12:54
Speaker 1: But this was a ballast bag, a leather bag that
12:58
Speaker 1: literally was a ballast to the boat. It weighed as
13:02
Speaker 1: much as 100 pounds. Fishermen in the Mediterranean used them
13:07
Speaker 1: to this day. And so Jesus just used the ballast bag. Now,
13:14
Speaker 1: did Jesus take the pillow into the stern? Or was
13:20
Speaker 1: he asleep in the stern and someone rustled up the pillow?
13:23
Speaker 1: I don't know. But I do know this was a
13:26
Speaker 1: premeditated slumber. He didn't just doze off. He wasn't sitting
13:32
Speaker 1: there and just... He said, I think I see a
13:35
Speaker 1: storm coming. A good time for me to take a nap.
13:41
Speaker 1: The view our God has of our storms is entirely
13:46
Speaker 1: different than the view we have of them. Amen? Do
13:50
Speaker 1: we not need a God who is unstirred by what
13:55
Speaker 1: stirs us? Do we not need a God who looks
14:01
Speaker 1: at the storm and says, I'm in charge. I can
14:04
Speaker 1: manage it. Do we not need a heavenly father who
14:09
Speaker 1: when our world gets turned upside down says, oh, I
14:12
Speaker 1: can set it right side up. That's my job. And
14:16
Speaker 1: so this story is in the Bible. Now, This nap
14:20
Speaker 1: really ticked off the disciples. I mean, it really did.
14:26
Speaker 1: Matthew and Mark record their response as staccato commands. You know,
14:31
Speaker 1: the Bible was, New Testament was written in Greek. Forgive
14:34
Speaker 1: me for being a bit of a nerd here. But
14:36
Speaker 1: 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
15:05
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
15:21
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?
15:41
Speaker 2: They question the character of Christ.
15:46
Speaker 1: Don't you care? When we think that God is not
15:52
Speaker 1: paying attention, do we not tend to do the same?
15:56
Speaker 1: Do you really love me, God? If God really loved me,
16:02
Speaker 1: if God really cared.
16:04
Speaker 2: He would not allow this to happen. We would question
16:13
Speaker 2: the very character of Christ.
16:16
Speaker 1: Friends, fear does this.
16:19
Speaker 2: 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. Now,
17:33
Speaker 1: or else fear does this. Fear at its core is
17:41
Speaker 1: a perceived loss of control. It's a perceived loss of control.
17:49
Speaker 1: life begins to spin wildly and we grab for something
17:53
Speaker 1: that we can control, right? We grab for a component
17:58
Speaker 1: of life, something that we can manage, maybe our diet
18:01
Speaker 1: or the tidiness of the house or even the armrest
18:04
Speaker 1: of a plane. Do you ever think it's kind of
18:06
Speaker 1: funny how we grab an armrest of a plane? Is
18:09
Speaker 1: that really going to keep the plane in the air?
18:11
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 demand.
18:37
Speaker 2: We bear our fangs. We shake our fists.
18:41
Speaker 1: Why? Because we're bad? Not really. But because we're cornered.
18:46
Speaker 1: We're cornered. We feel trapped. And so we lash out.
18:52
Speaker 1: We're not always the easiest to get along with. Fear
18:57
Speaker 1: does that. And you know what fear also does? It
19:01
Speaker 1: deadens our recall. It deadens our recall. The disciples had
19:06
Speaker 1: reason to trust Jesus. I did a little research. By now,
19:11
Speaker 1: they had seen him heal all kinds of diseases. and
19:15
Speaker 1: all kinds of disease among the people.
19:17
Speaker 2: They had seen this.
19:19
Speaker 1: They had seen him heal a leper with the touch
19:22
Speaker 1: of a servant. They had seen him heal another person
19:25
Speaker 1: with just a command. Peter saw his mother-in-law recover. They
19:29
Speaker 1: 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? 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?
20:08
Speaker 3: 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'd 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
22:06
Speaker 1: the people in your circle were came to expect that
22:10
Speaker 1: you're 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.
22:20
Speaker 1: What if fear was placed in the back seat and
22:25
Speaker 1: faith was placed in the front seat? What if you
22:31
Speaker 1: could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract
22:35
Speaker 1: every last shaving of dread insecurity, and doubt. What would remain?
22:45
Speaker 1: Imagine a day, friend, that just one day, absent a dread,
22:52
Speaker 1: absent a dread of failure, absent a dread of calamity,
22:57
Speaker 1: no worst case scenarios. None. Just, okay, it's a tough time,
23:07
Speaker 1: but our God can talk to wind Our God can
23:10
Speaker 1: talk to waves. I've seen him do it before. He's
23:13
Speaker 1: going to do it again. This is the possibility behind
23:26
Speaker 1: the question. Why are you afraid?
23:31
Speaker 2: Jesus asked.
23:32
Speaker 1: Now tell me again. Why are you afraid? I haven't
23:37
Speaker 1: shown you enough. Now why are you afraid? You need
23:41
Speaker 1: me to do what?
23:42
Speaker 2: 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 afraid.
24:26
Speaker 1: 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
24:36
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
24:53
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
25:00
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.
25:12
Speaker 2: The sky is dark.
25:14
Speaker 1: The lightning zigzags. But you've got a king of kings
25:19
Speaker 1: who is so calm and comfortable that he can take
25:22
Speaker 1: a nap in this storm. And you don't belong to
25:24
Speaker 1: the storm. You belong to the storm stiller, right? He's
25:29
Speaker 1: the one who is in charge. By the way, don't
25:34
Speaker 1: you want to be a person with less fear? Don't you?
25:38
Speaker 1: Down deep, do you really enjoy a life that's marked
25:43
Speaker 1: by anxiety? How many of you have ever... said words
25:47
Speaker 1: like these oh my phobias just put such a spring
25:51
Speaker 1: in my step or i'd be a rotten parent if
25:56
Speaker 1: it weren't for my hypochondria oh thank god for my
26:01
Speaker 1: pessimism i've become such a better person since i lost
26:04
Speaker 1: hope my doctor says if i don't begin fretting i
26:10
Speaker 1: will lose my health we've learned the high cost of
26:15
Speaker 1: fear That's why the question of Jesus is a good one.
26:21
Speaker 1: He lifted his head from the pillow and he stepped
26:25
Speaker 1: into the very storm. And he said, now why are
26:28
Speaker 1: you fearful? Oh, you have little faith. And what he
26:32
Speaker 1: said then, he says still today. Now to be clear,
26:37
Speaker 1: a fear serves a healthy purpose. It's a canary in
26:42
Speaker 1: the coal mine. Fear in limited doses does us good.
26:49
Speaker 1: Fear can keep a child from running across a busy
26:53
Speaker 1: road or an adult from smoking a pack of cigarettes.
26:58
Speaker 1: Fear is an appropriate reaction to a burning building or
27:01
Speaker 1: a growling dog. Fear can help us in limited doses.
27:11
Speaker 1: And fear in and of itself, my friend, is not
27:13
Speaker 1: a sin. It's an emotion. It's not a sin. So
27:19
Speaker 1: don't beat.
27:20
Speaker 2: Yourself up for these surges of fear.
27:23
Speaker 1: They're healthy. They're good. They're necessary. Fear will knock on
27:29
Speaker 1: the door. The key is to not invite fear in
27:32
Speaker 1: for dinner. And for heaven's sake, don't invite fear to
27:36
Speaker 1: spend the night. You see, if we treat our fear
27:40
Speaker 1: with angry outbursts, Or drinking binges. Or sullen withdrawals. Or self-starvation.
27:46
Speaker 1: Or vice-like control. What we're doing is we're excluding God
27:50
Speaker 1: from the solution. We're looking for a short-term solution to
27:55
Speaker 1: what is a deeply rooted problem. And we subject ourselves
28:00
Speaker 1: to a position of fear. We allow fear to dominate
28:06
Speaker 1: our lives. To define our lives.
28:09
Speaker 2: To sap our joy. To petrify us. To sour us.
28:16
Speaker 1: And sometimes to turn us into mean people. Again, 2
28:22
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
29:05
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 of them. Make a list of
29:19
Speaker 1: them and rehearse them. Rather than rehearse your woes, rehearse
29:24
Speaker 1: his accomplishments. I mean, you're going to think about something.
29:28
Speaker 1: Might as well think about how good he is as
29:30
Speaker 1: opposed to how tough life is, right? Has he not
29:33
Speaker 1: proven to be faithful? Have you not known his provision?
29:37
Speaker 1: How many nights have you gone to bed hungry? How
29:40
Speaker 1: many mornings have you awakened in the cold? Has he
29:44
Speaker 1: not made roadkill out of the demons that came after you?
29:49
Speaker 1: Has he not sent Satan? With Satan's little tail tucked
29:53
Speaker 1: between his legs? Has he not delivered you from... Do
29:57
Speaker 1: you not have a testimony of how good he has been?
30:00
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.
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.
30:54
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
31:08
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
31:54
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
32:54
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
33:25
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
34:16
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 3: You don't have to stay close. As long as you're
35:16
Speaker 3: somewhere out there, that's enough for me.
35:25
Speaker 4: I don't need to hold you near me Don't need
35:29
Speaker 4: promises to keep Just the thought that you are breathing
35:35
Speaker 4: Somewhere in this world I see Even if I'm not
35:40
Speaker 4: beside you Even if you never know There's a quiet
35:46
Speaker 4: kind of comfort Just in knowing you still glow.
35:53
Speaker 3: I don't need forever.
35:59
Speaker 5: I just need you to exist.
36:04
Speaker 6: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
36:08
Speaker 6: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
36:13
Speaker 6: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have.
36:18
Speaker 1: To look my way.
36:20
Speaker 6: You don't have to be my home It's enough to
36:25
Speaker 6: know you're living here In a world I'm not alone.
36:34
Speaker 3: I won't chase you through the.
36:35
Speaker 6: Distance Won't disturb your chosen life I'll just keep you
36:42
Speaker 6: in my silence Like a star that shines at night.
36:48
Speaker 5: Through the dark and through.
36:49
Speaker 3: The blue I still think of you.
37:03
Speaker 6: You don't have to feel the same Just as long
37:07
Speaker 6: as you're still out there Calling softly through my days
37:13
Speaker 6: You don't have to look my way You don't have
37:17
Speaker 6: to be my home It's enough to know you're living
37:23
Speaker 6: In a world I'm not alone.
37:41
Speaker 5: I don't need to be your light I don't need
37:45
Speaker 5: to cross your mind All I need is just the
37:49
Speaker 5: truth That you're somewhere Still alive.
37:57
Speaker 7: You don't have to stay with me You don't have
38:01
Speaker 7: to feel the same Just as long as you're still
38:06
Speaker 7: out there Calling softly through my days You don't have
38:11
Speaker 7: to look my way You don't have to.
38:15
Speaker 6: Be my home It's enough to know you're living
38:23
Speaker 5: In a world I'm not alone