Well, good morning, friends. Happy Mother's Day.
We have the most incredible moms here at Springhouse, do we not?
Who believes that? Yes. Amen.
Amen. Most incredible moms in the house. We are so
grateful for our mothers.
A couple of things before we get continue to
roll here. First, you may notice there were some
baked goods outside. The youth are going to be doing
a camp. And here's the deal.
They're selling those baked goods. But I'm believing a bit
more in faith for this trip.
Guys, we need 40 people to sponsor 40 teams.
That's really what we need. We need 40 people to sponsor. So if you're looking
for a way, and some of you, as of this week came to me and
said, is there a way that we could sow somewhere?
I'm letting you know we got 40 teens who would like to go to camp.
And if you'd like to sponsor a teen, you can see Pastor Doug
back there in the back. Pastor Doug or Jody, and they will get you
connected and get you all that information. And that's what that's for out
there. And you can spot your team and walk away with some cookies today. Okay,
so there's some. There's benefit there. And
then also VBX registration is now open.
And so if you have a child that would want to participate
in that, you can scan that code or go on our church app and
register for that. Okay. All right, so we're gonna continue along
in our Arise series. And man, I
am just growing just each day. I'm growing each
week. As we are continuing to go forward in this. Would you guys
stand with me? We're gonna read what I hope to be a familia story
in scripture from the book of Mark. And
we're also going to read a verse from Psalm. Now you're going to see in
Mark 4 that there is this term furious squall.
And I think that's fitting for Mother's Day. I
would like you to read as if you're crying out for your mama. Okay, here
we go. That day, when evening
came, he said to his disciples, let
us go onto the other side. Leaving the
crowd behind, they took him along. Just
as he was in the boat, there were also
other boats with him. A furious squall
came up and the waves broke over the boat
so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was
in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The
disciples woke him and said to him, tell teacher,
don't you care if we drown? He got up,
rebuked the wind, and said to the Waves. Quiet,
be still. Then the wind died down and it
was completely calm. He said to his disciples,
why are you so afraid? Did you still have
no faith? They were terrified and asked each
other, who is this? Even the winds and
waves obey him. God is our refuge
and strength and ever present help in trouble.
Father, I thank you that you are an ever present help in times
of trouble. And I just pray, Lord, today, that your Holy Spirit would
speak to our hearts, that you would transform us from the
inside out. And Lord, that we would surrender what we brought into this place
to you in Jesus name. And everybody said amen.
Well, yes, it is
Mother's Day. And you know, there's something
uniquely powerful about a
mother's presence. A mother carries
storms. A mother carries storms different than
the rest of us do. And I feel like I've got some authority to
speak about mothers because I've had one for over four
decades and I've also lived with one for 16.
So I am not a mother, in case that was a question. I'm not a
mother, but I feel like I've got just a little bit of authority on
watching mothers do that mothering thing.
And mothers carry storms differently than the rest of us do.
Mothers often carry pressure nobody sees. They
hold families together while quietly carrying
burdens themselves. They pray while exhausted,
nurture while hurting, continue showing up even when
their tank is empty. A mom never
stops being a mom. A
mom never. I see a lot of nodded heads. A mom never stops being
a mother. Can be carrying internal storms very
simultaneously becoming peace for
everybody else in the house. And most of the time,
and most of the time, what they've got going on as
they juggle their own life is they've got the lives of
bunches of other people in their life. And
for most people, it's not just the children, it's that person
she's sleeping next to as well.
A mother can be carrying internal storms by simultaneously being peace for everyone
in the house. And for most of us, mom taught us something very
foundational, and it's this, that safety
comes from presence. Safety
comes from presence. Children may not understand
how to fix it, where to go, what to do,
but they understand presence. Many of you know that
Shari and I operate a school down the road. And you know,
when our kids started going through and they were school age, I carried
initially this mentality that our kids are gonna obey all
the rules. Like, we're not gonna be like this exceptional
thing to the rule. You know, they're gonna. The kids are supposed to be in
line they're gonna be in line, et cetera, et cetera, and on the cuff. That
probably seems like a right vein, but the Lord really convicted my heart
about two or three years in because my kids would wanna break line and
give me a hug, and I wouldn't let them. And the Lord
said, the beauty about where I've placed you is that your kids get to be
in your presence. And so I remember going to the faculty and
saying, here's the deal. I know that you all don't see the late
nights, the sacrifices, all of the things that happen to make this thing go.
But I get to be around my kids and so do some of you. If
my kid wants to break the line, give me a hug. I'm giving my kid
a hug. Okay? And I still
expect my kids to obey the rules, right? But I'm not gonna
negate the fact that I'm. They're in my presence. That they're
in my presence. Presence is powerful. Presence
is powerful. God's greatest promise
to us was never the absence of
storms. His greatest promise was that he would
be present in the midst of our storms. And so where I
want to start today is peace is found in the presence
of the Lord. Peace is found
in the presence of the Lord. And some of you this
morning are looking for peace. That's where you find
it. That's where you find it.
And now, presence isn't just about peace. Peace is what is found
in presence. But presence also will
mature us, especially God's presence. It will mature us. And I think
about my mom and her presence in my life. She didn't just bring me
peace. My mom also matured me. So I told the story a while ago,
but I'll tell it again. You know, when I was in third grade, I was
learning how to jump into the pool. All my friends were jumping into the
pool. And I just couldn't. I couldn't muster up the strength or courage to do
it. But I would get to the edge of that pool and I was like,
mama, watch me. I'm gonna jump in the pool. And I would go, 1,
2, 3, 4.
And I wouldn't do it. And I'd get back at the edge and I would
go, one, two. I'm gonna do it this time.
No, I wasn't going to do it. And I went back up there again, and
I was trying it maybe third or fourth time, and just like a great,
comforting, wonderful, sensitive mother, she runs
up behind me and pushes me in.
Now, here's the thing. I got up out of that pool.
And guess what I could do immediately jump in.
I could jump in sometimes, Mamas.
I mean push
in times when pushing is needed.
Many of us are familiar with this story. Mark, chapter four. The
disciples are in the boat. A big storm
comes. Jesus is sleeping. They wake up. Jesus,
Jesus, don't you care about us? And he says,
peace, be still. And we know that story and we've related it to storms.
But, you know, as much as we think we know about this on the service.
I want to go to four places here today, quickly, this morning
that I believe would be things that maybe we miss when we skim
over this story. So the first thing I want us to notice is
this. Jesus said, let's go over
to the other side. Let's go over to
the other side. I think one of the first things we have to notice
in this story is that the storm came
after an act of obedience.
The storm came after an act
of obedience. Jesus said, let's go to
the other side. The disciples said, yes, sir, they
got in the boat, they were doing everything that the Lord had
told them to do. And then the
storm comes. In other words, we have got to get
out of our mentality that every time a storm comes,
it must mean that God is not in what we're doing.
The first thing that we've gotta eliminate is understanding that
storms at times are indicators or
revealers in our life of not only God's mercy and grace,
but of things that he's trying to illuminate in us. Especially
when it comes to issues of trust.
Many of us wrongly assume that storms mean that we missed God.
And sometimes storms are not evidence that you're outside of the will of God.
Sometimes those storms are evidence that you're smack dab right in the middle of where
God wants you to be. So some of you
today are walking through a season of disappointment and discouragement.
How do I know that? Because some of you emailed me this week. You talked
to me in the foyer. I know that there are people here that are struggling
this morning. Some of you walked in struggling with a smile on your face,
and you didn't share the struggle that you had. But you're struggling this morning.
Here's the reason why I share that. Everyone in this room
is either going through a storm or you will go through a storm
at some point. So this message is really for everyone. Look at
your neighbor say, this is for you.
When you face hardship, uncertainty, loss, exhaustion,
and maybe even warfare, the temptation in those
storms is to assume that God abandoned us.
Because difficulty arrived. But
the presence of storms does not mean the
absence of God. The presence of
storms does not mean the absence of God. The disciples were
exactly where Jesus told them to be. And
here's the remarkable thing. He got in the boat with
them. He did not send them out
alone. And if you decide to click, clock out
or think about lunch and you don't want to listen to anything else in the
message, I'm going to tell you, this is what I want you to walk away
with right here. It's much better to be in the
storm with Jesus than to be in the calm without Him.
It is so much better for you to contend with
the waves and the wind of life with
Jesus on your side, beside you, walking with you,
than you to think that everything's okay because it's calm and
want nothing to do with Him.
I have been paying attention to over the last several months
the thread of the Lord. Do you know that the Lord is
always actively moving in your life?
If you did not know, let your revelation be today that the
God of the universe is moving in your life.
And he has opened my eyes to see a thread
of his steady, faithful hand in my life through people,
through messages, through interactions, circumstances. I have
seen how this connects to this, this connects to that. And he will
do that by his grace, if you'll let him. So this past Thursday
night, Pastor Jonathan started a new series here and I
so encourage you to go back and listen to his
message on Thursday night. It's one of four parts. And I encourage you to come
this Thursday at 6 if you have the capacity. Such a powerful
message. And I knew that this Sunday we would be talking I knew this Sunday
we'd be talking about storms months ago. And here he comes and
gives a message talking about the presence of. And
I'm going, Lord, as many people as I talked to
somebody real late last this past week going through a storm, I
visited somebody in a cares facility going through a storm.
So many people going through storms. The Lord knew for this
time, at such a time as this, that he would bring a message about where
do we run in the midst of suffering and storm. And it is always going
to be to his presence. It's always going to be that his presence
is where we need to be. And so Pastor Jonathan shares in
this past message and I'm not going to share his message with you. I want
you to go back and look at it. But he shares about his time of
sabbatical and he shares about this thread that God is weaving that he
didn't notice until he got into God's presence. And God
revealed the reason why these things were happening to him. It was a
phenomenal story. You should go back and listen to it. I also went on a
sabbatical last year. And in my sabbatical and in the
presence of the Lord, when I sought the presence of the Lord, what the Lord
did to me is he revealed sin in my life. Do you know
that the presence of God will illuminate places in your life that you need
to change? And so he illuminated sin in my
life on my sabbatical. And here was the sin, the specific
sin that I was grappling with
was that I was making people and other things my source
and not Him. Now, guys, that was not a mistake.
That wasn't a misstep. It was sin. Sin
separates us from God. And anything that is your source outside of
God is sin because it's an idol. And I
had taken up and placed some people and some things
in a position where I was drawing from them rather than
drawing from the source of the God breather. And that is sin.
And what sin does, in addition to separating us from the
Father, it also has ripples of consequence. And those
ripples of consequence can cost you resources, they can cost you time,
and it can cost you relationships. But here's
the neat thing about God. When I went into God's presence and he
revealed that to me, it wasn't God saying, because you left me, I left
you. He was saying, I've been here the entire time. You're the one who walked
away. He said,
kevin, I want to be your best friend. I want to be the
source of your life. And I just walked in a month of repentance.
And I said, God, I am so sor. Because he had always been a
sufficient source. But I walked away from the source. And I
wonder today if any of you are drawing from other wells and other
sources than that of the Lord. He is a
constant, steady source for you.
So this brings me to the second place that I want us to go
in this passage that you may not get on the cuff. And is this.
There were also other boats with him. I
didn't notice this. I don't think I've ever really paid attention to this until
I was preparing for this message.
It's significant because storms are rarely
isolated. The storm was not
isolated to just one boat. Sometimes we think we're the only
ones struggling. My marriage is
the only one carrying tension. My
family's the only one that's fighting fear.
I'm the only parent on the planet that's overwhelmed. Good
grief. I'm the
only person battling anxiety.
I'm the only believer trying to hold on to faith. But I
want you to know this morning that there are other boats, too.
Other people are fighting unseen battles. Other
mothers are carrying invisible burdens. Other families are trying to
stay afloat spiritually. Other believers are learning to
trust God in rough waters. Sometimes we feel isolated in our
struggles. But there are other boats fighting the same
waves, too. But here's what I want you to understand.
The presence of Jesus in one boat
affected all the boats. The presence of
Jesus and his power in one boat affected all the
other boats that are out there contending the waves. And let me tell you something,
those of you who will remain faithful in the midst of the storm, that
your faith will ripple into other people's lives. In other words,
your faithfulness in storms will impact those around
you. Your faith, your
decision to lean in to the peace and
the presence of the Lord will impact those around you. I remember
when Covid came around, everyone was looking
for leadership. Now, many times we look for the leadership that's gonna
say the things we want them to say. But nonetheless, we're all
looking for some type of leadership. When things get rocky, when things get
scary, we're looking for leadership. And I certainly didn't nail
it bat a thousand in that timeframe. But there were some
places where I really felt like I heard from the Holy Spirit. And I remember
people coming up to me way after Covid was over
and saying the way that you handled yourself in the midst
of that whole thing really ministered to me.
And I'll tell you right now, I didn't make those decisions because I thought they
were watching, but they were.
When you have a storm in your life, people are
evaluating how you're going to respond. Now,
we don't respond based on fear of what other people think, but we need to
be aware that there are other believers watching how we
walk these things out. In other words, when I say I believe something,
do my actions and my words actually match it when the rubber hits the road?
And we're going to visit that point again in just a moment.
Your stability affects others. Your obedience affects others.
Your peace affects. Your worship affects others. Guys,
I'm down here in this seat many times on Sunday morning. You may have not
noticed, but you're going to notice it now that I'm going to tell you about
it. But you'll see me turn around and I'll look and I'LL you see? Scan
the room multiple times during worship. I do that for two reasons. One, I want
to know if you're here and in the room.
I'm taking attendance. No, I want to know if you're here and in the
room. And when I say here in the room, I don't mean here in the
cafe. I mean here and in the room. Second.
Second, I'm looking across the room because some of you have shared
personal, intimate details with me or a member of the staff.
And then we will sing a song that ministers right to your heart.
And I will look and I will see you worship.
And let me tell you something, boy, that grabs my heart when the
Holy Spirit of God has orchestrated something so wonderful
on your behalf. When you come and receive a drink from his source
and his well, man, that's supernatural things that I love
to see that in people's lives. Your
worship affects others. A faithful
believer who weathers storms becomes proof to others
that God is still faithful.
The third thing I want us to see is this. The storm
comes and the disciples are scared. Jesus is
asleep. And I want us to understand that these
disciples, they were fishermen. These
fishermen were not brand new. They didn't arrive on the scene, like three days before
they encountered Jesus. I mean, this was by trade. They were familiar
with what it would have been to handle a storm.
This was not their first storm. Which means that the storm
illuminated something much more than bad weather.
The disciples wake Jesus up to ask a very
specific and revealing question. Now, it
stands to reason that when they wake Jesus up, they would
say, jesus, would you stop this storm?
But that's not what they asked. That's not what they
asked. We infer that from the story, and we see that Jesus
did that in his grace. But that was not the question they asked. Here's
what they asked. They said, teacher, don't you care if
we drowned?
When life becomes difficult, the first thing many people question
is not God's power, it's God's heart.
Do you care, God? Are you there,
God? Do you see me,
God? Have you forgotten me,
God? Anybody ever asked one of those questions before?
I know I sure have. And
I think one of the greatest lies believers battle in storms is the
fear that God has abandoned them.
Here's the thing. Storms expose trust issues.
A good storm will expose trust issues
in your life because they
reveal who and what we trust most. Now, here's the
deal. Most people are not living In a Category 5 hurricane all
the time. We are contending with those smaller
daily storms. Most Storms are financial pressures,
miscommunication, fatigue, fear,
comparison, disappointment, uncertainty,
relationship tension, raising children, raising
children, raising children,
mental exhaustion, feeling spiritually dry,
carrying invisible burdens. But not every
storm is massive. But some storms just
slowly wear you down. Can I get an amen
from the moms?
Motherhood is often not one giant dramatic
storm. It is thousands of
unseen moments, Late nights, constant
responsibility, emotional labor,
worry, prayer, sacrifice,
everyone else being carried while quietly carrying yourself.
And I didn't realize that moms really were weathering all of
this with my mom because I was a benefactor of her
shielding me from what she was doing. I was a benefactor of the peace
that she rendered. But I sure did see it by marrying my wife and having
kids.
And the number one thing I think moms contend with is I'm a
failure. And I want to tell you
today, moms, you're doing a great job.
Moms, you're doing a great
job.
For every unseen moment, for
every ungrateful heart posture, I want
you to know that the Lord carries you because the
word tells us that when we are weak, he is strong.
And I understand for the others of us,
when we get to compartmentalize our life, you are mom
24 7. You don't hang that title up,
and you're doing a great job. I want to encourage you to
persevere, to keep on going, to keep running the
race. I talked to a mom. I had an interaction with mom when I first
walked in, and she said, well, my kids are much better than the mom that
they had. And I said, well, isn't that the hope of all parents, that
their kids would outrun them and do better than them? And that is a mark
of an exceptional mother.
Mom never clocks out. A mother carries the weight of
storms, even when making the room feel safe. This is my mom.
Moms have this way of
letting you know, I'm not going anywhere.
I remember a time in my life where I got incredibly
sick. It was the sickest, I think, I've ever been in my life.
And I didn't know what to do. I mean,
I'm pretty strong. The O days are pretty strong when it comes to sickness. I
mean, we're going to work. We're in it. I mean, all this stuff, but this
took me out. I could barely lift my leg, and
all I could do, I just started crying in the car. I literally couldn't
even barely drive my car. And I just knew if I to my mama,
if I could just get to mom. And I got home, and I
drugged myself on that sidewalk. Up the stairs and I just collapsed in the
stairs. Do you know that in my mind I didn't think about what my
mama had going on. I didn't think about her calendar, I didn't think about the
storms that she had. I didn't think about her schedule. I just knew that if
I got to my mama, she would take care of things. And boy
did she ever. She picked me up off that floor, got me in a bed,
got me the medicines and the food that I want because she's mom.
I could count on my mom. Guys, can I tell you something?
If you can count on your flawed mother, you
can count so much more on Jesus Christ. You can
count on the Lord, this star
breathing God. So when you get right down
to it, the question we're really grappling with here in this Arise
section of this series is this. Do you believe
what you say you believe? Do you
really believe what you say you believe? Because it's easy to talk about faith
when things are peaceful. It's easy to talk about
trust when there's not really an issue to deal with.
Trust. It's easy to quote scripture when life feels manageable. But
storms expose the authenticity of our
dependence. And so this is why we can't
jump from abide to advance. We've got to remain in this arise
because we say we confess with our mouth and our heart.
I want to depend on you. I'm going to abide in you. The Arise
section is testing all of that. It's saying, are you really depending on
him? And here are the ways. Kevin, Barbie,
Keith, Justin, Eric, these are the ways you're not depending
on me. And if we can get these non dependent or let's
say independent areas cleaned up with dependence, then you'll be ready to
fly when it comes to advance. You'll be ready to fly when it's
time, when it's time to run. Jesus was
not nervous about what scared the disciples.
We often pursue explanations over
presence. We want God to explain the storm
and God wants to reveal his bigness
within our storm. Josh, would you just come down front here and just share?
Josh shared a dream with me maybe a year ago. I'm not sure, but I
just wanted you to share because I thought it really related.
You have this microphone. I wore this
shirt today and I really don't like this shirt and it just doesn't
fit exactly right. And so then Kevin is like, hey Josh, I want you to
share something today. I'm like, oh, you should have asked mom, I got the wrong
shirt. I should have asked Mom.
It was probably 10 years ago when
I had a deep concern for a friend of mine who had an
addiction. And the addiction was long
standing. It didn't seem
very hopeful at all for my friend.
And I was praying for them fervently. And I think I was
fasting, I was praying. And one night
in the middle of the night, I had a dream. And I
was standing, like in a room, and it was like a really big
room. And in this room there was a demon
that was the most terrifying thing that I had ever seen. And
it had wings and it was evil, and it was
humongous. It filled the entire room.
And I was just terrified. I was like, God, what?
Like, this is the thing that I'm praying against. I am not big
enough for this fight. This is an unfair fight. I am terrified.
And for whatever reason, in my dream, I turned around,
and when I turned around, I saw like a boot.
And I looked at the boot, and the boot was connected, like to a
leg. And then the leg looked up, and I looked up and there was like
a skyscraper sized angel.
And in front of me was this demon that was the size of a room.
And on this side there was a skyscraper side
angel, and it was bright white and it had a huge
sword. And then it panned out and I
saw thousands and thousands of
angels. And I looked at this
thing compared to what was behind me,
and a voice said, greater is he who is in you
than he who is in the world.
And I woke up, and I was
actually, I woke up laughing. I was
laughing like I woke up. My wife must have been like, what the heck?
I woke up laughing. And I said, God, why did
you show me this dream? And God said, why do you think I gave you
prayer? We are.
We have an unfair fight against
the evilest, worstest, terriblest, biggest storm,
most devastating. Addiction,
brokenness, sinfulness. We are in an
unfair fight. But it's not that that's unfair. It's
he who is in us that is the unfair battle. And all
we have to do is pick up prayer and
believe in the one who is greater than whatever obstacle is there.
Amen.
This is what Psalms tells us. God
is our refuge and strength and ever present
help in trouble. Not distant, not disconnected.
He's an ever present help. In the book of Isaiah, it says this.
When you pass through the waters, I will be.
What's the first word? What's the first word
when? Not if. When you pass through the waters,
guys, you're guaranteed to have storms. Jesus, even said this, in
this world, you will have trouble. But aren't
you glad that's not the end of the verse. But take heart,
because I, Jesus, have overcome the world. And let
me tell you guys, if we will cling to the world overcomer,
the star breather, the one who has army angels
out the wazoo on our behalf, then we will
overcome the greatest storms in our life every
single time. Amen. He is such a faithful
God. He's such a faithful God.
The promise isn't that you're not gonna have storms. The promise is his presence.
And so this arise section is us
preparing for storms. Guys, I don't like
preparation. I don't like. Have you ever been on a cruise?
Who's been on a cruise? I've been on a cruise.
And you know, the worst moment on a cruise for me is when
I have traveled all day and we are getting on the cruise.
This is such a first world problem right here. This is just. Lord,
just forgive my stupidity. I
get on the boat and I'm so worn out from traveling. And they've got the
most magnificent buffet ready for you. Sushi,
everything you could want. And you go up there and you make this play. All
you want to do is sit down and just glut. Just sin. Just such a
sin, you know? And they sound this alarm and they say,
you've got to stop what you're doing and you've got to go dawn. Those
dumb little. What are they called? Life
things. And you go and you stand there for 20
minutes in the hot sun and you're like, here I am. So they can count.
Okay, again, I'm so sorry. It's first world problem. I'm just so. I can tell.
Okay? I can't stand it. But here's the thing. Preparation feels
unnecessary until survival depends on it.
Until survival depends on it. Let me tell you, if I step on the Titanic,
I need to know where those life vests are and where the safety
boats are. Okay? I need to know the information. Okay,
here's the deal. We don't wait until the storm comes to
prepare for the storm. Prayer matters.
Worship matters. Repentance matters. Reading the word matters. Learning the
voice of God. It all matters. Jeremy and Arwin
Jones have this saying in their home. It goes like this. It says this.
They say if the world around us is going great,
great. But the two of us are not okay. It doesn't
matter what's going great in the world, but if we're good
and everything around us is spinning out of control, we're going to be just
fine, guys. That's the same thing with our
God. Everything in your world could be going
absolutely in your mind, wonderfully. But if your connection with
God is off kilter, that doesn't matter.
On the same token, if everything in your world's spinning out of control
and your relationship with the Lord is intact,
you can weather every single storm that comes your
way. Preparation produces peace because you know the one
who holds it all together. The last thing that I want us to see
is Jesus stands and he rebukes the winds and waves and he says,
peace, be still. Let me ask you a question.
At what point in this story were the disciples most
terrified?
They were scared when the storm was there. But the Word says they were
terrified when Jesus calmed the storm.
Our fear has got to
supersede our fear of the storms in our life.
They were terrified and asked each other, who is this? Even
the wind and the waves obey him. There is this
awe, reverence
that we should have for the sovereign star breather.
This awe reverence that. This little thing. Listen,
that little demon that Josh talking about that's messing with me, you
ain't got nothing on this God.
In fact, not only that, he's not just gonna be there to protect me.
Let me tell you something, demon. You're gonna. You also are gonna bow at
the feet of Jesus. This God is magnificent. He is
huge. He is mighty.
They assumed the disciples, that calm water equals safety.
You guys can come back if you're back there. Jesus was
teaching his presence. His presence was
safety. So we think financial security,
predictability, comfort, clarity, control,
health, ease, stability, absence of conflict.
We think all of those things are where we put our
trust. But Scripture consistently teaches us
that true peace is not the absence of storms. It's the presence of
God. Psalm 46, 10, if you're
reading in our reading plan, you will read today, says,
be still and know that I am God.
Now we like to apply that to our lives. And you
can. That's appropriate. Be still and know I'm God. But when
you actually take that verse in context, what's
happening in that passage is the nations are at war
and God is saying, be still. I'm
God. He is so much larger.
See, when I'm in the middle of a storm, it's like that's all I can
see. I mean, if I look left, right, up, down, all I see is this
storm in front of me. Do you know how small that storm is to the
star breather? He is a God who can
hold you and hold it all together. And when you
truly understand who Jesus is, every other fear begins.
Shrink if he commands the wind,
if he commands the waves, if creation
obeys the Lord, then we must ask ourselves this question. Why
would I allow lesser things to own my heart?
Grab this. Today, your storms do not
have the final say.
Whatever it is you're dealing with today, it does not have the final say. It
has no authority. It has no authority. The
disciples thought they needed calmer waters. But what they needed was a
revelation. And if you're here in the middle of a storm, I invite you to
ask yourself this question. Is Jesus in the boat with you?
Are you out there trying to fend for yourself in the midst
of the storm? Would you stand with me this morning?
I don't know where he has the trajectory of your life.
But for the disciples, he said, we're going to the other side. And
going to the other side is what they did.
The answer to your storm is
his presence. That's it.
And so this morning, we're going to do something a little different. I would like
to ask if you are here this morning
and you're going through a storm.
If you're here this morning and you're looking for the
Lord in the middle of your storm, you're saying, lord, where are you?
If you're here this morning and you realize today
I've been weathering a storm without the Lord and
I need to invite him to be in it, those are
you. Those three things. I want you to come down front. And in
addition, one last thing. If you are a mother and
you are weary right now, you are tired,
you are worn out, you are depleted, and you just need the strength, strength
of an almighty God. I want you, any of those four things, I want you
to come right now. Come on down to the altar space.
I want to read this scripture to you as you
come.
In Exodus, chapter 33,
Moses is having an interaction with the Lord.
Moses said to the Lord, see, you say to me, bring up this people.
But you have not let me know whom you will send with me.
Yet you have said, I know you by name, and you have found
favor in my sight. Now, therefore, I
pray to you, Lord, if I have found favor in your sight,
Moses is speaking, let me know your ways that I
may know you. The amplified version says
this. It continues. He says, I want to become
more deeply and intimately acquainted with you,
recognizing and understanding your ways more
clearly, that I may find
grace and favor in your sight. And consider
also that this nation is your people. And here's what the Lord
said to Moses. Prayer. My presence
shall go with you, and I will
give you rest. Everybody say rest.
You can rest in the arms of the
almighty God, in the shadow of his wings.
You can rest right there. Now, here's
the deal. Before I say that there are about.
Come on up here, guys, because there's people in the aisle, and I don't want
you to only halfway get God. Let's go. Come on up here.
Here's the deal. All of you out there.
Doesn't mean you're not going through a storm. Some of you are too afraid to
come up here or whatever it is. Some of you are in a good place
right now because Jesus is in your boat navigating things.
You've been in this position. One of the greatest things for
people that are in this spot to know is that they're not alone. So I
would like. I really would like every one of these people to have a
connection with. With somebody else. So if you're back there, would you come and find
somebody? Maybe you came with them, Maybe they're a friend or
somebody. But I don't want anybody left out. So come on down.
Come on down, guys. Make space. We're just gonna make a mess of things up
here. I'm good at that.
So everybody gets someone because we care about you.
But more importantly, the God of the universe cares about you. He sees you in
your struggle and your storm. Everybody has some. If you don't have somebody,
raise your hand. I want to make sure everybody's got a connection. There's some people
down here. Come on. Come on. Who doesn't have somebody to connect with
down here? Front. They're still coming. They're just blocking the way. Move forward a little
bit.
It's Mother's Day. Everybody wore deodorant. So get closer. Come
on. Okay,
okay, now look up here. If you're one of the ones that came up because
you're weary or one of those things, give me your eyeballs for a second, I'll
give them back. Look up here. My daughter Eliana
is five months old, okay? And I've had four
other children go through a stage where they're going to sleep in a crib,
okay? They're going to sleep in a crib. And my kids, when they're in
that crib, they speak the most.
It's gibberish. I don't understand what they're saying,
okay? I don't know. And, guys, sometimes what you're saying out loud
over your storm, it's gibberish. It's gibberish.
But, you know, for my daughters who are in the crib,
there's one thing that happens that is
undeniable. Unmistakable. I know
exactly what they mean. And it's when they look up at me and they do
this, because this communicates.
Daddy, get me out of here. Now.
You have a heavenly father who's willing to pick you up
right where you are. Would you, as a step of faith in your
situation, just lift your arms to a dad
beyond dads, a heavenly father who sees you,
and guess what? You might be here and not believe it. Do you know there
are moments in my life where I don't believe that this God really cares about
me because I'm human. That's my mind goes in places and the enemy lies to
me and tricks me. But by faith, you can lift your arms and he can
handle it. He can handle the gibberish.
But, God, get me out of this. Get me out of this emotional situation.
Get me out of this circumstance. Get me out of this weak
moment in my life. I need your strength. The
answer is his presence, and he will hold you. So with hands raised,
we're gonna do this song. And the people that came and joined with you,
it's not that they got something special. They just know who to point you
to. And they're gonna pray over you as we worship
right now. So let's go ahead and do this song. Brittany,
allow me to render one more
grace scripture to you. As some of you are
in tears. Maybe you've released something. Maybe you've
invited him. Maybe you don't feel any different. But you took a
step of faith. Sometimes, you know, you don't feel it. You just have to say,
I believe it. Right? Okay, here's the thing. There's another scripture,
and it says this. In his presence
is the fullness of joy.
In his presence is the fullness of joy. That
means if you're in the middle of the storm and he's
there on the boat with you, you get to experience
and tap into joy. You can tap into joy. You
can choose to have joy in the middle of every
circumstance and situation because of his
great presence in your lives. And
so raise your hand, Let me give you a blessing. Today.
You choose how you walk out of here, with or without his
presence. But, man, it's so much better when he's walking
with you. May the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ be present in our choices and our actions, in our
words, in our coming and going, and in the middle of every single
storm so that we can become more like our. Our Savior.
And we can experience incredible, everlasting,
eternal joy in the midst of it. In Jesus name. And the church
said. Amen. Happy Mother's Day. We love you, Springhouse.
Have a great afternoon.