[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to the Message podcast of High Ridge Church, Longview, where our vision is to help you know God, find freedom, discover purpose, and ultimately make a difference. We are so glad that you're here and we pray that this message impacts your life as you apply the spiritual truths from God's word in practical ways.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Let's listen in. Hey. Welcome everybody. I am so glad that you're here today. If no one else has told you, I am glad you came to church. I'm glad you might be watching from wherever you're watching from. I'm glad you're here today. I think God's got something incredible to show you. I think the more time that you spend digging into God's word and being surrounded by healthy and godly community, it only pays off in good things. So kudos to you. You're in a good place. God's going to show you some things today, so grab your Bible if you would. We're going to spend some time in the book of Mark Mark, chapter four, to be more specific, as we continue on with our moments series and we've been studying about how life happens in moments. You might not remember all of your life, but you have some specific moments that were defining moments, powerful moments that kind of just, they shape your worldview, they shape the way you interact with people, they shape the way that you talk and the way that you walk. And the, the life that you've, you've lived is shaped by some defining moments. And there's also those divine moments with God as well where God has supernaturally given you these amazing moments to show you how good he is, to show you future, to show you purpose, to show you exactly what he has for you.
Here's the thing. I know that God, sometimes he even uses the crazy moments of life. As a matter of fact, a lot of the things that we go back and look at, the kind of, the crazy moments of life, aren't they the things that stick in your mind, the things that you go back and say, wow, that was, that was kind of crazy. I remember a very particular moment where, where I learned something, a crazy moment in my life. We were in a, on a youth trip one time in Colorado and we were in a 15 passenger van. For those of you that remember growing up in youth groups with 15 passenger vans and you cannot imagine the smell of sixth grade boys in a 15 passenger van. It's, it's always wild how the sixth and seventh grade boys have their own van. And until you've been in youth ministry or Served there. You have no idea what we're talking about. But if you've got 6th or 7th grade boys living at home or you're a parent, you know, it was bad.
And I remember on this particular trip we were, we were in Colorado and, and we were going up the mountain on Pikes Peak to kind of look around. And I remember on the way back down the weather had changed and, and it had started to, to get a lot of ice and snow accumulating on the roads. And as we're coming down, it got really, really difficult on the roads. The roads got crazy. And so we're going very, very slow. And of course, as, as kids, we don't know that there's incredible danger happening all around us. But one of our chaperones happened to be, there was a friend of mine's wife and, or a friend of mine's mother and, and, and as we start going down that road, you know, we can, we can kind of sense that there's getting, things are getting more tense. And so as, as, as we're coming down the, the road from the top of Pikes Peak, some of you have been there and you, you know, it, it's, it's pretty precarious. And the van starts sliding and for us, you know, sixth and seventh grade boys, not a big deal. This is just like a roller coaster. Cool. We're sliding across the road and.
But for the adults that were there, this was the moment that, that they went, they went to a different place than I had ever experienced in prayer. And they, as this thing starts sliding off the road towards the side of a cliff, we're having a great old time. And one of my friends, mothers just starts saying, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Father, Father, Father. And she just, I mean, she goes to the holy of holies, like instantly she is like right there in prayer. And, and we, so we started making fun of her for, for praying. We're like, that's his name, don't wear it out. You know, we kind of, we had a. Made a joke of Jesus, Jesus, Jesus forever. We would make fun of that. But I didn't realize till later, like there was some real craziness happening in that moment, like some real danger, real fear and we just kind of laughed it off. Not a big deal.
But for those that knew the real danger, they went immediately to the presence of God. And, and I learned something from that, that life can get crazy. Life can get crazy really quickly and you might not realize how, how dangerous, how precarious life can get. There's there's storms, there's things that happen in our lives that in the process, God is longing for us to reach out to him. God is longing for us to call to him. And he says this in Jeremiah 33, one of my life verses, one of the verses I love so much. I want to put this on the screen for you to see it. It's an important verse. It says this, call to me. God says this, call to me, call out to me. And here's the promise, I will answer you.
God says, you call to me. I'm going to answer. And he says this, I'm going to tell you great and unsearchable things that you don't know.
Believe it or not, there are things that you don't know. There are things that God wants to show you. There are things that AI and ChatGPT can't help you with. There's things that Pop Pop and Meemaw that. That their wisdom can't help you with. There are things that only God knows that he wants to speak to his people. God wants to show you things that you need to know, things that no one else can show you, things that are important. God says, call to me. I want a relationship with you. Call to me and I will.
I will answer you. Here's what we know is that you are as close to God as you choose to be. And God is inviting us to call to him, especially in life's crazy moments. Here's what we know is that God loves to show his people things that we need to know.
There are things that we need to know.
And he'll often use the crazy moments of life to reveal some things that you need to know. So, case in point, Mark, chapter four. If you've got it open in your Bible, turn along or follow along, if you would.
And we're going to start. We're going to start in verse 35.
Yeah, verse 35. And it says this.
That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. It's important to know those words are in red. Jesus is speaking. We're going to go over to the other side. And so it says, leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, him being Jesus, just as he was in the boat.
It goes on to say, a furious squall came up. We don't use that word a lot, do we? A furious squall. But it means a severe storm came up out of nowhere, like a sudden storm. It just hit.
And it says the waves broke over the boat. So that it was nearly swamped.
And look at Jesus. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
The disciples woke him up and said to him, teacher, don't you care that we drown?
You ever been there?
Pause for just a moment and think about moments of your life where you wondered, did God even care?
God, are you here? Do you see what I'm. What I'm walking through right now? Do you understand the danger that we're surrounded with? Do you have any clue what's going on? You ever been in positions where you felt like maybe God wasn't there?
So they wake Jesus up. Teacher, don't you care if we drown? Don't you care about me? Look at this. Jesus got up, rebuke the wind, and said to the waves, quiet, be still. I love the exclamation point that's there in scripture. Jesus got.
It's obviously not one of those people that just springs up, you know, so happy, like he was super tired. And he gets up and he just.
Quiet, shut up. Be still and notice what happens. The wind died down, and it was completely calm.
And Jesus said this to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?
It's interesting, the question that Jesus says there, why do you still have no faith?
And it says this. They were, look at this next word, terrified.
And asked each other, who is this?
Who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him.
What a powerful, powerful scripture.
Even the wind and the waves obey him. Here's what we know is that this isn't a story about weather. This. This is a revelation of authority.
Who is this that the wind and waves obey him? They're underneath his authority, his word.
It's not weather.
It's not a storm. It's not about the boat. It's a revelation of authority. And there's a divine moment that happens in each of our lives when we start having a revelation of where real authority comes from, where our authority ends, and where Jesus authority begins.
So as we're digging into God's word this week, I want to take you into a couple of things that I think are so important. Some things that jump out of the scripture. And we could go a million different ways with this. This is a very common scripture that's been preached a thousand ways. I want to do some things that I think might help you see it from a different perspective and hopefully maybe challenge you a little bit in the way that you've read this story. And for those of us that. For those of us that have been raised in church, you know, you've, you've been taught this a lot of ways. And so it's easy for us to kind of say, oh, I know this story. You know, Jesus fed the 5,000. Jesus got up out of a grave. I get it. I understand. But there's more to this story. And I think if, if we look back at Jeremiah, God says, I'm going to tell you some things that you didn't know. I'm going to tell you some things that you need to know.
There's some things that you might know, but you need a good reminder of. There's some things that you need to tell yourself. Like, ah, that's what the Holy Spirit was saying to me today. I want to give you three things that I think are really important. And let's approach this from a different perspective. Here's the first thing I want to share with you. If you're a note taker, you might want to write this down. Number one. Following Jesus means I will leave some things behind.
Following Jesus means I will leave some things behind. Notice at the beginning of this scripture, it says, and leaving the crowd behind, you know, that's, that's, that's literal. They literally left the crowd behind. And it's also symbolic because at some point you're going to have to do that too.
There are some things you're going to have to leave behind.
There are some people in your old life that are not going to make the leap. When you determine that you're going to follow after Christ, when you're going to get into the boat, when you're going to take the journey with Jesus, you.
Some people aren't going to understand, and some people you're going to have to leave behind.
There are some things that come along with crowds that you have to leave behind. People's opinions, people's approval, that desperate need for people to approve. It says, they left the crowd behind. They left the safety of the shore behind.
Here's the thing. When Jesus calls us to get into the boat and to follow after him, what he's leading us toward is not safety in a life full of rainbows. None of that comes. That comes later. That's heaven. The this is not heaven. What comes next is trust.
Some things we have to leave behind.
Look at this scripture. In Luke 17, it says, Even so, it will be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Jesus said, at the very end of things, when the Son of Man is revealed, when Jesus comes back, it's going to be just like this. People are going to Be doing all these things. And then he says these amazing words, remember Lot's wife.
So when Jesus shows himself, he says, remember Lot's wife. What is Lot's wife? What is that referring to? For those of you that know the story, know that there was a time where. Where God called his people out of the city that he was determined to destroy.
And as a woman named Lot was leaving with her family, she turns around and the angel told her, don't look back at that city. Don't look back at that old way of doing things. Don't crave the world. Don't crave the things that it has. It says, you. You fix your eyes on. On this. You. You fix your eyes on what's ahead of you. But she turns around and she looks back, and Jesus says, don't be like that person that's looking back craving what the world has. Craving what. What they. What they're walking through, how they're dealing with things. Now Jesus says that. Remember Lot's wife.
Jesus is revealed when he begins to reveal things to you. Don't. Don't look back.
Don't be longing for the world. Don't be attached to the past.
Step into the boat. Follow Jesus. Be willing to leave some things behind. I wonder what is. What is that? What is that to you?
Are there some things that the Lord is asking you that the Holy Spirit is dealing with your heart over the past few weeks to say, it's time to leave this behind? Could it be a habit?
Could it be a way of talking or a way of arguing?
Could it be a relationship? That it's time for a new season, that the Lord's dealing with your heart, saying, hey, that's not right. There are some things, when you decide to follow Jesus, there's some things you have to leave behind.
Here's what we see is that you can't make a lot of progress driving while looking in the rearview mirror. You are destined for a crash if you try to use the rearview mirror as your. As your main source of vision.
Don't look back.
Leave the crowd behind.
Here's another amazing scripture, Ephesians 4. The apostle Paul tells this to the church. He says, put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires. Don't look back, he says, instead, put off that old self that's not you anymore. You are a new creation in Christ. There are some things that we leave in the past. We leave shame. We leave guilt. We leave people's opinions. We leave those habits in the past. When I First committed my life to Christ. When I got serious about following after the Lord, the very first thing I determined to do was, Lord, I'm going to do. I'm going to give it my all. I'm going to just. I'm going to give it the old college try. I'm going to do the best I can to do everything I knew how to do, to just get closer to you. And so I began to read. I began to read this Bible every single day. I'd read without fail, every single day, a minimum of three chapters. And whether I understood it or not, I would just go chapter by chapter, put a little marker in there, and I would just read the next day and the next day and the next day. And there's a lot of this I didn't understand. A lot of it was. Was Greek to me, literally.
But it began to develop some habits in my life. It began to wash away some things and help me to say goodbye to the things of the past. When I began to pray every single day to really talk to the Lord, didn't feel like at first, like he was saying anything back to me or like I really understood much. But I made a commitment to do that, to not just read God's word, but to begin to pray. And then here's the thing. When I would come to church, I started when. When the band would start worshiping and people would. Would start worshiping, I started joining in. Instead of just watching, I started lifting my hands. And that was.
That was something new for me. I started clapping my hands. Why? Because, like, at that point, it was like, well, when in Rome, like, let's try this. Let us determine, like, if.
If this is. If this is what it means, then I'm going to try something new. I started singing out the words and I started closing my eyes and trying to internalize, like, what I was seeing and. And actually worshiping the Lord. And I was shocked that just reading the word, just praying a little bit, just starting to worship began to have a profound effect on my maturity.
God helped me to leave some things behind. When I started embracing things that I didn't quite understand them at the time. I'm just trying. Then it moved into tithing for me. That was a. That was a big thing for me. I didn't have a lot of money. I wasn't sure if I could trust the church or I'd seen people do some crazy things with in the name of Jesus. But I just said, you know, Lord, that. That's between them and God. I'm Going to be responsible for myself. And so at the beginning of, of every single pay period, when I would get my check, I would take 10% of what I made and I would bring that to the church first before I paid any bill. I just determined I was going to honor God with the very first and the best. You know what that helps me to do? It helped me to say goodbye to greed, to leave greed in the past. If you're going to follow Jesus, some things you have to leave in the past, and one of those is greedy.
I started serving, just trying to volunteer and just serve so I could leave selfishness in the past. Some things you're going to have to leave in the past. If you determine it, you're going to follow after Christ, you need to know there's a price tag attached.
And it's about following after Christ.
It's interesting that it says, and they took him along just as he was.
You know, it's a scripture that if we, if we look into the original language, what it means is that Jesus was tired, that he didn't go home to take a shower. He. He didn't go change clothes. He left just like he was. He was sweaty, he was tired, and he goes to the boat immediately falls asleep. I get that. I understand it. But I think it's important to not just look at it the way that we've preached it before, but to just look at the words by themselves, just as he was.
Want to make sure that you see this. We must take Jesus just as he is, not as who we want him to be, just as he is, not as who we want him to be. We want a Jesus that encourages us but doesn't convict us. We want a Jesus that will heal me, but don't change me.
He'll take a hold of my situation and make it better, but don't confront the sin in my life. We want a Jesus that we can take him as we want him to be, not as he he is. But the disciples took him as he is.
And I want to encourage you to do the same. Take Jesus as he is, not as who you want him to be. We don't. We. We have a hard time taking Jesus as he is. We want to. We want a prosperity Jesus. We want the. The private Jesus where I can just keep it private and don't have to really be a Christian weirdo. I don't have to tell anybody about this stuff. Want that prosperity Jesus. We want the private Jesus. We want the political Jesus. Oh, Jesus. As long as you fit into My political views. That's the Jesus that I want. That's the scriptures that I want to use. We want that kind of Jesus. We want that positive J that everything's about encouragement and everything's about what's cool and what's right and you're doing a great job. Let me just tell you, take Jesus as he is.
Take him as he is. Mark, chapter eight. A few chapters later, Jesus says this about himself. If anyone would come after me, he's going to have to deny himself.
You have to deny your version of Christ.
You have to leave some things behind.
Deny himself. Jesus says, if you're going to fall after me, you have to deny yourself. And it says this. Take up your cross and follow me.
Following Jesus means I've got to leave some things behind and take him just as he is.
Let me say it this way. We submit to Jesus's leadership instead of asking him to follow ours.
It's a great way to get you started in a relationship with Jesus or if you're coming back to Christ, if you're in a place where you're embracing Christianity for the first time, keep. Keep that in mind. It's going to cost me something. Here's the thing. It's worth it.
But there are some things that the Lord will help you to leave behind and to accept Jesus just as he is.
Here's the second key that I think is so important in this story as we're digging into what it means to follow Jesus and to embrace this divine moment of revelation that he has for us. Here's the second thing that we need to see. Following Jesus means he will use storms to reveal things.
He will use storms to reveal things.
I don't know if you've ever seen, but when a storm comes through and, and it finally passes, it'll. It'll turn up the dirt underneath the river or it'll bring things to light that, that were previously covered up. And it reveals things. Storms still reveal a lot of things. And here's what we know is that Jesus says, let us cross over to the other side. The words that Jesus speaking there in, in theological terms, we call that prophetic foreshadowing.
Prophetic foreshadowing. Jesus is showing something that's going to happen on the other side. It's prophetic foreshadowing. And here's what we see is that Jesus led his disciples into a storm on purpose.
That should mess with your theology a little bit. For those that have been surrounded by Christianity your whole life, we've been taught wrong Jesus led his disciples into a storm on purpose. Why? Because they needed it.
They needed to go through that storm for several reasons. For God to show them some things, for him to reveal himself, for him to reveal his authority. They needed the storm. And you need the storm too. Storms reveal things and God will use those storms to reveal things in our life. Here's what we know. Storms aren't detours. They're the necessary space between where we are and where God wants us to be.
Know this, that sometimes if you're in a storm, if you're in a difficult place, that could be exactly where God does his best work in your life. Don't be afraid of it.
If Jesus is in the boat, if you've left some things behind, if you're willing to go all in with God sometimes that doesn't mean towards sunshine and rainbows, it means towards storms. And that is exactly where God does His best work. Don't be afraid. He's showing you things. Storms reveal things.
So when Jesus says, let us cross over to the other side, I don't know if you know this, but what is on the other side is Gentile territory.
And that prophetic foreshadowing that Jesus is giving is saying that I'm not just letting you be comfortable with your people, but the rest of your life will be spending going after those people, those people on the other side that you're not comfortable with. Those people on the other side that don't understand my ways. God was calling them out of just ministering specifically to the Israelite and the Hebrew people, to the Gentile people, to those of us that are on the outside, to those that were lost and those that were broken. We know that on the other side is a demon possessed man. And God is leading them through the storm to the other side and giving them a prophetic foreshadowing of where the rest of their. Their ministry would be spent focusing on leading people that were far away from the gospel, far away from God, into a relationship with the Lord. And God will do. You use storms to do the exact same thing for you, Jesus. Jesus pulls them out of their people and points them towards those people. Here's what we know. God will use storms to teach us how to reach the lost.
I don't know if you've ever thought about the crazy moments of your life that you've had to walk through as a tool for evangelism, but they are. This is where your greatest stories become authenticity. This is where they become your testimony.
This was where God takes those moments of your life. Crazy moments where God stepped in. He redeems them and begins to use them to give you a story that nobody else can tell.
And the storm reveals those stories to help people reach the lost.
God has called you and multiple scriptures tell us this, that you have a ministry of reconciliation. Every believer that God has ever called has given him the ministry of reconciliation. That means people that need to be reconciled to Jesus are our mission. That's our purpose.
We're called to help people be reconciled to God. So God will use storms to teach us how to reach the lost. And I believe that the world needs your testimony. It needs that authenticity. It needs your story. Tell your story.
Look for opportunities. Look for divine moments during your day to share with people the stories that you have. They're looking for that. It's AI can't do that. It can't tell your personal story. ChatGPT can't do that. And people were looking. They're looking for something that's real. In a world full of fake and canned and professional and polished, people are looking for what's real. It's attractive. Don't miss that opportunity. It's exactly what God has brought you through that storm to reveal in you. There's your purpose, and God will use that storm for that. Here's something else that we that we see. God will use storms to reveal how much we need him.
God will use storms to reveal how much we need him.
Think about this.
I lived in North Texas for a long time, and they're really famous for tornadoes. And there were several times that we had to face tornadoes. Some of you may never have seen that. I remember one time taking a bath. I just come in from work and sat down the bathtub and just had a hot bath going and had the door open because I was just living there by myself. And I remember the light that was coming in from the blinds turned a weird green color. And so I was like, well, the atmosphere has completely changed. So I get up out of the bath, wrap the towel around me, and go to the window and crack open the window and see that everything had turned a weird green.
And so knowing this is probably tornado weather, everything kind of changes colors. It's a really weird thing. And so I open up my patio door in my little apartment, and as I open up the patio door, there's a tornado right in front of me. I mean, probably less than a quarter mile from me. This whole thing was moving. And for those of you that know the history, like downtown Fort Worth had a major tornado. I was right there. And I saw that thing up close and personal. And let me just tell you, facing a tornado and nothing but a towel, I would not recommend that. But, you know, go to an interior room, put a mattress over the, over, over the bathtub, or, you know, get out, get away from windows. That's what they tell you to prepare for those storms. And you know, in East Texas, we, we, we know that you're going to have power lines that, that go down every storm that comes along. Power lines come because we have huge trees out here and trees hit power lines. And so if you've been around East Texas for very long, people will tell you, you better have a generator because you're going to lose power at some point during the year. We know this. Not that big a deal. We prepare for it. We are used to storms. Think about this, though, when it comes to Mark, chapter four. These people that are in this boat in the middle of the storm while Jesus is sleeping, what did most of them do before Jesus called them into ministry?
Yeah, they were fishermen.
They were sailors.
Their dads were sailors. Their grandpas were probably sailors. They had done this their whole life. It's in their blood. They have literally fished on this sea all their life.
But this storm was different.
It says a furious squall came up. What would it take for fishermen for sailors to have to ask a carpenter for help?
And that tells you the kind of storm that was here. But I believe that storm was intense.
And I believe it was just as strong as the Lord needed it to be to bring those fishermen to, to the end of their expertise.
And God will use storms to show you how much you need him and not how smart you are.
I believe some storms last just long enough for us to come to the end of our expertise. This is not some normal storm.
I wonder what are you walking through today? And could it be that God is allowing this storm that you might be in to bring you to the end of yourself so you'll start having a conversation with Jesus? Lord, I don't know what to do. I can't fix this. I can't make this happen.
This storm brings them to the end of themselves. And here's the point I want to make. God doesn't mature you into independence, but into God dependence.
And storms are designed to get us to depend on God to call out to him so that he will tell us things that he says are unsearchable. Great things that you don't know.
These sailors had to understand after this storm, there were some things about that sea, that storm.
I didn't know.
Here's the final thing I want to share with you as we finish up today. Number three, Following Jesus means my fears will get a reset.
My fears will get a reset. Here's what I can guarantee you. You follow Christ long enough, you're going to have to walk through major times of fear where your faith has to come into a place where you. Where you really do start to put some weight on that faith. And your fears that you've been led by all your life, the things that you're afraid of are going to need a reset.
As we're digging into the scripture, it reminds me about some things that, that I know I need to have a reset on. We have an old television in our house, Tina and I do. And we got it right after we first got married. So it's been, you know, multiple years ago. And it has a great picture. There's nothing wrong with it, but it does need to be reset every time we watch a movie. About halfway through the movie, this thing will just freeze and we have to go there and unplug it and wait about 10 second and plug the whole thing back in. Just because it's old, it needs a reset. And hey, times is tough. I'm not just going to buy a new tv. Come on, it works just fine. You just, you can't be lazy, you know, you got to reset it every once in a while.
Actually, every time you watch it, you have to reset it. So I'm going to take up an offering today. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. But it needs a reset, and your fears need a reset, too.
We get some old fears.
We get some things that stick in our minds. And following Jesus means my fears will get a reset.
And we see this happening in this story. So Jesus stands up after they say, jesus, don't you care if we drown? He stands up. And notice his words. He says, quiet, be still.
It says, the wind died down. And the disciple says, who is this? Even the winds and waves obey him. And it says this. They were terrified of him.
So important to me because I hadn't seen this before until I was reading this story this past week. You see, at first, the disciples were afraid of the storm, but after Jesus rebuked it, they were afraid of Jesus.
Their fear got a reset.
Why? Because something greater was in the boat than what they were afraid of outside of the boat.
And that's a big deal for those of us that determine we're going to follow Jesus for the rest of our life. We need to recognize where real authority comes from. These guys knew Jesus as teacher, and they said, teacher, don't you care if we drown? But they encountered him in that moment as Lord. That's a question of authority.
Jesus took authority. Notice it says, it's a. It's a fantastic word, Epitomize where Jesus. It says, that's the rebuked word. He rebuked it. And we only see that word when Jesus is confronting demons and things of a spiritual nature. He rebukes those things. But notice this, he treats it like a spiritual thing. It's there to cause them to panic and to fear and to come to the end of their own expertise and bring them to a place of where their fears bowl to the surface. And then Jesus doesn't negotiate with it. He commands it. He rebukes it.
Something greater encountered that storm, Something greater than the storm was there, and their fears got a reset.
For those of you that ever had a sleepover with your friends when you were little or you ever, you know, hung out at somebody's house and, you know, you get louder and louder at night. You might be telling ghost stories as kids and you know, you get work worked up and get all freaked out and then you get louder and louder. But then, you know, I remember, like, specifically for us as kids, and we get louder and louder at night. Maybe two or three in the morning on a summer night. Then there would be that point where dad would get up from. From his sleep, walk in that room, throw open the door and said, shut up, everybody go to bed. And we would immediately just panic, you know, jump into bed, grab the covers, and pretend like we're asleep. Why? Because some. Something greater walked on the road. Something with real authority walked in the room.
Here's what we see from this story that encountering God's immense power will turn the tide on where your fear really needs to be. Not that we're afraid of God, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Learning to put your fear into perspective, that he is greater than anything that I'm facing. He is greater than anything I'm walking away from. He is greater than anything I have to say goodbye to. My God is greater than my fears. He's greater than my pain. He's greater than my past. He's greater than my shame. His authority matters, not mine. In those moments, we see that God uses storms to change my perspective on fear. And when they had faced that storm, here's the thing. They were no longer afraid of what was Ahead.
If you know the rest of the story, you know that when they reached the other side, what was waiting for them is a demonic man that had been sleeping in the cemeteries that was screaming. It was cutting himself with rocks. And that person that could not be bound by chains, the entire place was in fear because of this man that had a demon, you know who wasn't in fear? Those disciples. Why?
Because they'd already faced the storm. And I gave them courage for what was ahead.
Let me just remind you of that simple fact. We do not have to live paralyzed by what's happening around us. We don't have to live paralyzed by what's gonna happen in the future. Why? Because we know who is with us.
I want you to take comfort in that fact.
God's with us, and if he's with us, what can stand against us?
That's the divine moment that changes everything. As we finish up right there, I want to give you a chance to maybe respond to the word that you've heard. And if you're watching this online today or if you have a social media platform, you would. You would do us a huge favor if you would consider sharing this message with our world. I think our world needs to hear this.
Our world needs sound biblical teaching. Many people don't have churches. Many people don't have what we have. Just to be able to sit here and discuss the word of God and learn and grow. Lots of people around the world don't have that privilege. But when you use your social media influence to share this message, it's making a big difference. I'm so grateful for those of you that are willing to do that and to use your resources to help us fund this ministry and to continue to help us push it out to the ends of the earth. It's a good thing that you're doing, and I appreciate it so much.
So would you bow your head and close your eyes with me?
I want to finish up by giving you a chance to respond and just simply say, holy Spirit, what are you saying to me? Are there some things that I need to leave behind? You might want to write those down because the Lord will show you.
Are there things I need to leave in the past? Or maybe there's some things that the Lord wants to reveal to me through the storm that I'm walking through. Lord, what do you want me to see?
Maybe it's an authority issue. Lord, I need to come to the end of my expertise. I don't know how to fix this, but I'm going to ask you to step in for others. Maybe it's a discipline thing. You've not disciplined yourself to really go all in with Jesus.
I want to encourage you, man. Go all in. Read your word every day. Spend time in prayer. Spend time really worship and trying.
Give it all you got.
For those of you that need to take a step with, with your finances and tithing and learning how to honor the Lord with the first and the best of what you receive from your job as your paycheck, that's a big step for some people to take. It's a good step. It's a necessary step for others. It's time that you start serving. You sat long enough.
It's time to move from consumer to contributor. Then God is calling you to step into the boat and go to the other side to launch your ministry, to share your story.
Holy Spirit, speak to us.
And now, with heads bowed and eyes closed, I want to just ask you a simple question.
Do you know for sure that you have a relationship with Jesus?
Some of us might say, pastor, if I'm going to be honest, I don't know if I have a relationship with Jesus. I. I don't know if I've ever really asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins. My friend, you're in the right place.
God led you here for a reason. And if you want a relationship with Jesus, a real relationship with Jesus, I'm going to ask you right where you are to pray with me out loud.
As a matter of fact, all of us that are watching this video are going to pray out loud together so that you don't feel like I'm trying to embarrass you in any way or single you out. I would never do that. But with heads bowed and eyes closed, I'm going to lead you in this prayer. And I want to invite you pray this prayer with me. Come on, family, let's pray this out loud together. Say Jesus.
Come on, say it like you mean it. Jesus, I believe you're the Son of God.
And I believe that you came and died.
I believe that you rose from the grave so that I could have life and a forgiveness for all of my sins.
Please forgive me.
Now say this, my friend. Jesus, I give my life to you and thank you for loving me.
And with heads bowed and eyes closed, if you prayed that prayer with me, perhaps you're even watching this online. I want you to know that there's a phone number that's going to appear on the screen behind me or on the screen that you're watching me on. Would you text me, text that number on the screen, text the words I pray to that number. What's going to happen is I'm going to send you the link to some things that will help you understand what just happened inside of your heart and what to do next. It's the greatest honor of my life to help people meet Jesus, and I'm so proud of you and those that did that. Would you do that for me? Would you? Would you text me, let me know I prayed that prayer, help me to take the next step. That's a big deal.
And for everybody else, go ahead and look up at me if you would. Let's stand to our feet together and I'm going to invite your host to come back to the platform and finish out the service. I love you. I hope you have an amazing day.
[00:35:38] Speaker A: Thank you so much for listening in today. Our prayer is that you are encouraged and strengthened by the message. If you haven't done so yet, be sure to subscribe to this podcast and leave us a review wherever you're listening. If you want to be a part of our online community, connect with us through Facebook or Instagram with the handle hyridgelv. Or you can check out our
[email protected] lastly, if this ministry has impacted your life and you'd like to support its work, visit highridgelv.com give we appreciate your support and we're believing with you today for God's best in your life. Have an incredible week and we will.
[00:36:15] Speaker B: See you next time.
