I Told the Storm

What's going on, family? How y'all doing? It's good to see y'all. Listen, I'm Pastor Ricky.

I'm a Durham boy, so I left this morning at 2 a.m. to get here at 11. So it's all good. Thank you, John.

I appreciate it. Last time, John forgot. I just had to hold my Bible like this the whole time. So thank you, John. Listen, I believe God has a word for us today that's in season. Every season is God's season. And so I would love to pray and ask God to meet us here.

Is that okay? Let's pray. Father God, thank you that you are holy. Father, I pray that today someone will not only come to know you care about them, but also come to salvation. God, that we as your people can trust that even in the dark times, you are still good. And for those who are watching online, I pray that they will be ministered to and cared for because of the gospel preached today. Father, help me glorify your name. Help us honor you today. In Christ's name, we thank you and pray.

Amen. I want to remind us of what we have conveniently forgotten and deliberately ignored, which is the necessity to step into the lives of the characters we often glance over. Ever wondered what it would be like to be a disciple of Jesus?

Not the large crowd, but the one to twelve. Imagine Christ calling you to himself. You feel his strong arm rest on your shoulder.

The hand that holds the world in his palm. You look into his eyes and it's as if there are time capsule recording history from end to end. You feel the warmth of his breath as he exhales life into your weary soul. And with the eternal frequency of his voice, he says, follow me. Every step he takes has purpose. You look down and you see his footprint in the earth's floor. There they are, the very footprints of God.

Yes, the creator is now in step with his creation and even the particles of dust are now considered hollow and holy ground. And he says, follow me. He leads you to his healing session with the leper.

As he extends his hand, it's as if you can peel flesh from a dead corpse. He invites you into his house party which is standing room only as he displays the powers to make a lame man prance like a deer. He invites you into his theological debates with the Pharisees.

Even behind the scenes access to the unfiltered, uncut truth of God. Yes, there is nothing like walking with Jesus. There is nothing like being on his side. And he says again, follow me. But this time, he leads you into a boat which leads you into the sea which leads you now into a storm. Now what just happened here? Life was all good. What do you do when following Jesus makes sense and everything is lining up all up until that day? What do you do when life hits you unexpectedly so much that it knocks you off your feet? Ricky, I've been there. I was just going for a routine appointment when I overheard them say cancer. Ricky, I was just checking my work email when the subject line said cutbacks.

Ricky, I thought he was the one until he tells me that he needs more time. What happens when your foundation is now crumbling under your feet? Can I invite you into this story? Because most of us are there. The disciples are there.

I'm there. And all of us will ask this question at some point in our life. Jesus, where are you? This situation happens in Luke chapter 8 verse 22 to 25. And though it's a perilous situation, the disciples will still show us two important things about Jesus. First, they will show us what it means to have timely faith that I can trust in God even in the most peril of situations.

And secondly, they will show us who Jesus really is, who the power of God really is. I haven't told this message. I told the storm.

Now to appreciate this, you've got to approach it slowly. Christ has been preaching all day. Crowds are growing by the minute. The magnetism of this wonderful Jesus. For he was speaking in plain language. You and I will call it parables. Children's eyes would widen with excitement of hearing this.

The elderly would lean forward as if to communicate, we understand. For Christ was brilliant in this fashion. For he could take a natural situation and turn it into an illustration of God. And now all of a sudden all this complex theology was beginning to make sense. He taught of the parable of the sower and how good faith is to be sown in fertile soil. Or the parable of the lamp on the jar and how biblical knowledge and faith is not just to be thought of but actually to be lived out. And it's at this moment when Jesus' eternal stopwatch goes off and he turns to his disciples and he says, speaking of faith, let's get into a boat.

Pick me up Luke chapter 8 verse 22. It says this, one day he got into a boat with his disciples and he said to them, let us go across to the other side of the lake. So they set out and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him saying, master, master, we are perishing. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves and they ceased and there was a calm.

And he said to them, where is your faith? The Sea of Galilee was picturesque. Man, it was beautiful.

Fertile soil, calming temperatures. It was the perfect atmosphere for a man who's been preaching out of his soul all day to get some rest. So Christ now, as they sail, he falls asleep. And that's when a windstorm comes down upon the lake and terrorizes the sea.

Now even though the Sea of Galilee is picturesque, it's surrounded by mountains. And so oftentimes cold air will rush over those mountains and begin to mix with the warm air coming up from the sea causing unexpected violent storms. These winds could blow between 50 and 100 miles an hour. In fact, 74 mile an hour winds are considered a hurricane. So in case you were thinking they just were tripping over a little bit of breeze, no sir. This is a full out hurricane. Now here's my question. Why are you out there? I mean, whose bright idea was this to go into a hurricane? The disciples just follow what Jesus asked them to do. They just obeyed him.

Let me see if I can make an application. You can be walking with Jesus. You could be dancing in his perfect will and still find yourself in a storm. You can be walking with Jesus and still find your health breaking down. You can be walking with Jesus and still find your bank account at zero. You can still be walking with Jesus and still have drama all up in your life. This whole situation of following God as always, sunshine and rainbows is not found in the Bible. And hear me, hardships don't always come because we're outside of God's will.

But let me encourage you to walk with the Lord and realize that it does rain in the perfect will of God. But the disciples are fishermen, right? They fished. They would have sailed in this sea hundreds of times.

They would have encountered many of the storms. What's so unique about this one? Well if you ask me, what's unique about it is it's ordained by God.

Ricky, how do you come up with that? Well, as my boy Black Waggon says, nothing happens under heaven without the king's permission. Let me just remind you of this, that even though you may be going through a hardship, God has not forgotten you. You are not left by yourself.

God is exactly where you are and just because you are going through hardships, they must go to heaven and ask God, is it okay to affect them now? Nothing happens under heaven without the king's permission and that should give us joy that nothing is just happening to us by random sake. But what also gives me the text is Christ and his disciples, they all seem to be going on the same direction until Christ falls asleep. They seem to be having the same heart, same mind.

They seem to be on the same track, right? If you don't believe me, let's look at the text. Verse 22 and 23, just look at the wording here. Christ says his disciples. He then says, let us go across. He then says, so they set out. He then says, as they sailed, but once he falls asleep, there is no more they, there is him and them.

Why? There's a separation now in the party. One party is able to sleep during the storm because they trust God. The other party is not able to sleep because they believe that God will not protect and provide for them. Hear me, for those of us who really walk with God, you will go through a valley, but you will be able to walk through it. I've seen it a thousand times. I've seen people go through serious hardships, serious situations and still be able to put one foot in front of the other when they should have lost their mind a long time ago.

I've seen people be able to have peace beyond all understanding when there's a real storm facing their life. In fact, it reminds me of my grandmother. It was said of her that when life would hit her unexpectedly, she would stand in her kitchen sink, look out the window, and hum her. She would face injustice living in the Jim Crow South. But bills would pile up on her dressing.

And she would have drama in her life. It's as if she was humming her way back to Jesus, reminding herself that though what faced her was peril, she never forgot who was beside her. That though what she faced was crippling her, she never forgot the one who controls the wind and the waves. Let me remind you that some of us need to hum scripture back to ourself when we feel like we cannot trust God. See, the disciples, as long as Christ was awake, they didn't need faith. As long as Christ was awake in the boat, they didn't need faith. But once he went to sleep, their faith was tested. Faith that is not tested is no faith at all.

I'm saying it again because it's hard to hear. Faith that is not tested is no faith at all. For those of us who walk with Christ, and I mean really, really, really walk with him, you will go through the valley. Don't believe me? But as James chapter 1 says, consider it pure joy when you face when you face, not if you face when you face trials of many kinds. Ricky, that makes no sense. How can I have joy in the midst of hardship?

Well, it's because you're missing the overarching theme here. Christ uses hardships to draw us to himself and to increase our faith. Hardships are a deposit into your spiritual bank account.

They are not withdrawals. God uses hardships because when I'm flat on my back, now I realize that my help comes from the Lord who makes heaven and earth. Only until I'm flat on my back do I realize I need Jesus. You and I will never graduate from needing God.

He uses hardships to draw us back to him. Now, Matthew 8 says it's dark. That's how. You can barely see your hand in front of your face. Rain feels like needles piercing your skin. Your shouts for help are now thrown off into the sea. You're about to die. And Jesus is over there taking a cat nap. Get up, Jesus.

And in your last effort to save your life, you stumble upon him and say, Master, Master, we are perishing. Now, Luke makes this out to be a statement. But I like the way Mark 4 says it.

Mark 4 says the question that you and I have always asked. Jesus, you see me struggling. Do you care?

You see me lonely. Do you care? I prayed and I prayed and I prayed.

Still, no answer. Do you care? I went to small group. I talked to our pastors. I've done everything I know to do to receive comfort and care. Do you see where I am and do you care?

But can I tell you something kind of awkward? Christ actually welcomes that question because he always answers his children. Christ is asleep. The disciples say, Master, do you care? And Christ answers their question not with a worry but with a gesture. Matthew 8 says that when he asks, do you care, he says he rises.

Oh, I got to go here. This is not the first time God has risen for his people. Does your mind not go to when your sin reached heaven and Christ would rise from the throne and walk down heaven's stairway and put on flesh that you and I may have life? Does your mind not go to the Jordan River when he rose from being baptized and would walk in the wilderness just to make sure that he can live the life that you were supposed to live? Does your mind not go to when he realized that there was no way back to heaven and yet Christ would ascend on a cross? They would hang him high and stretch him wide and the thief on the cross said, if you be the Christ, come down from the cross and save yourself. And to that mumbling taunt, Jesus never said a mumbling word.

But the silence seemed to have said, you just wait until Sunday morning. And I show you that it's better to rise from a grave than to come down from a cross. And early on the third day, he rolled the stone away and got up with all power in his hand. Jesus Christ is Lord and he stands up for his children. Don't you let somebody tell you that God is watching you suffer and he don't care? God stands up for his children. So now you are a disciple.

You've just awakened God as if he was asleep. And Christ tells a storm, shh, shh. Be quiet.

First of all, that's dope. Shh, shh, shh, shh. Ah, ah, shh. And uh, where was I going?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And they just witnessed his power and he says to them, he looks at them and says, uh, where was your faith? When Christ talks about faith, most times in the Bible, I often see him say, oh you of little faith. He says, where is your faith?

As if they left it. It said, are you in the baggage claim? He says, where's your faith? Uh, one of our pastors, Rich Bowman at downtown Durham campus, he said, Ricky, at his core, faith is taking God at his word. Whatever God says he is, he is.

Whatever God says he can do, he can do. Faith is putting all my weight on God. I am not leaning on anything else.

I am leaning on the solid rock of my foundation. Faith means I put all my weight on the Lord. Some of you have forgotten that faith is not straddling the fence, but faith is going, I put both feet on my Savior. So what's the point of faith if you can't use it when you need it? What's the point of believing in God if you don't believe he can actually protect you?

The temptation, the text is, the disciples didn't believe that even in the most perilous situations, God will protect them. Let me just remind you of who God is. God stacks the deck against himself. You're out in a boat, small boat. There is no plan B. You're in a storm. You have no help.

I'm the only help you have and I'm sleep. I'm stacking the odds against myself just to show you that I am God. But, but I get it. I get it. I got stuff in my life man that just, just blinds me to God's voice. I've been there.

I am there. The temptation here is to focus on what you see and forget who's beside you. That's a temptation in the text. And sometimes what we see and what we feel make us poor theologians. Don't let what you see dictate what you know. Don't let what you see change what you know about your God. Because what you see will change, but your God is the same yesterday, today, and forever more. God does not change.

And I love the Bible because it never skates over my pain. It just says look at me in the storm. So man, 2014 I was taking some kids to Honduras, to Guzigalpa. I know I said it wrong. I'm from Durham, so whatever. And so we're on the plane man stuff is going great. And so I'm sitting beside a pilot. He's the actual pilot. He just happened to be on a flight. I'm a pilot man. We're talking.

Things are going great. And then I hear the boing. You know when you hear that airplane it's like be quiet. And the captain was real smooth. Boing. This is your captain speaking. Brendan, Octavius, Gerophilus, Ocephalus, Randolph Harris. What?

What name is that? First of all. He goes we are approaching the landing site and we will have some turbulence, but relax, buckle your seat belts, and stay calm.

Boing. And so now, you know, listen to this. In the Guzigalpa it's one of the most dangerous airports because it's surrounded by mountains. And so you literally have to drop out the sky and on a short runway. So man, this plane is shaking man.

Kids are screaming. I saw a cat fly by me. I'm like ah. I'm like Lord don't take me now.

I'm afraid myself. But then I see the pilot beside me. He's calm. It's as if he was telling me this is my job.

I understand that on these types of flights turbulence is expected. Do you not see Jesus in the boat? Reminding you and I that this is what I do. And on a flight called life, hardships, pain, and loss are expected.

But your job is to look at me. Isaiah 26 three says he will keep me in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on him for he trusts in him. The disciples believed that God would not protect them in this situation. And Christ says I will put you in the worst situation. You're about to lose your life and I still can't be trusted. It's called timely faith.

You want to know why? Because I can believe God in my time of need. I can't control the future. I don't know what the future may hold. But I've been walking with Christ long enough to know that even though I can't control the future, I have faith that he will protect me and provide for me. I don't know what tomorrow may hold, but I do know this. I know the one who holds tomorrow. I may not know what tomorrow may hold, but I can walk with Christ long enough to know that I will never be forsaken.

I will never be left out. I will always have my Savior. That is what it means to have timely faith.

So pray that God will build that type of faith in you to say, God I don't know literally what I may face when I walk out of this building, but I do know who you are. So now the disciples are going to teach us who this Jesus really is. Look at it with me, verse 25. It says this, He said to them, Where is your faith? And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, Who then is this that He commands the wind and the waves? And they obey Him.

So you are a disciple. It's been a long day. You started off on a nice cool little breeze. Life was going good. And then you ended up almost losing your life. That's a rough day, right? I would have been like, I'm done. Lord, drop me off with the next situation.

I'm good. They just seen Christ calm the wind and the waves, and now they're afraid. Interesting. At one point, the fear was outside the boat. Now the fear is inside the boat. But they know Jesus, right? They walked with Him. They didn't miss you with Him.

They ate at His table. They know Him, right? To know God is to know His benefits. To know God is to know His goodness.

And they question. Interesting here, and so the disciples are afraid because Christ did something that only God can do. He controlled the wind and the waves. In the Old Testament, it was believed that only God could control the wind and the waves. Psalm 65 says that only God could do that. And Christ has just done that. Let me just remind you right quick that Christ calmed the winds and the waves by speaking to it. God has that kind of power where He speaks to things and they are done. God does not need to do a magic trick.

He needs not to jump up and down and ask the sea to stop. God has the power to say, shh. For those of you in here who are wrestling with faith and you are questioning if God has the power to actually protect me and guide me, let me just remind you that when Christ speaks, things change. He spoke the world into existence.

Didn't lift a finger, just opened His mouth. If you have a broken marriage, God can speak to that, shh. You have anxiety, God can speak to that, shh. You have doubts, God can speak to that, shh. God can speak to our situations and change them on the spot. He does not need your help. See the disciples, they didn't need Christ to stop the storm. They needed to hear His voice. I'm sorry, but God does not need to take away all your pain.

You just need to be reminded of who He is. My favorite preacher is a little short black guy named Robert Smith Jr. Don't tell everyone the risk of that. Anyway, and so he always says, he says, it's not about getting out of trouble, but what do you get out of trouble? It's not about getting out of trouble, but what is God teaching you in the hardships? Some of you are so quick to run, God is going, I'm not letting you pass go because you haven't learned what I'm trying to teach you.

Man, my wife, my chocolate queen, that's my baby girl right there, she always says, and it just makes me so mad, she says, Ricky, God is not in the business of skipping grades. God will bring something back to your life and again and again and again until you get it. God will bring something back in your life again and again and again until you understand that He can be trusted in all things. Don't believe me? This is not the only time the disciples would meet Christ on the Sea of Galilee. This is not the only time He would see their power on the waves. But the second time, Peter says, you are the Son of God because he saw Him moonwalk across the water. The first time, Peter says, who is this? But it's the second time when he sees God's grace and power, he goes, you are the Son of God. This is my prayer, that every time God redeems you and saves you from your situation you may say you are the Son of God.

I can have faith in you because your track record is perfect. So now we find ourselves here. The disciples say, who is this? I think in my opinion that's a two-fold question.

One side is it's rhetorical. I just showed you who I am. I just showed you that I'm God.

But the second part of it is it's human. All of us in here love Christ but we don't always fully comprehend who He is. All of us in here want to follow Him but we don't fully understand all of His power.

That's a legit question. Who are you that even the winds and the waves? But can I just ask a question? Can you let me remind you of who your God is?

Anyone in here struggling with faith this morning? Anyone? Thank you for being honest. Two of y'all.

I'm three, four, five. Okay. Thank you. Amen. Amen. My guy. Amen.

My brother. I see you over there. Amen. Amen.

Online, raise your hand. Let me just remind you of who your God is because I've been wrestling all week with having to remind myself of who my God is. Who is this Jesus?

He is a sinner savior. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He's unparalleled.

He's unprecedented. He is the loftiest idea in literature. He is the essence of amazing grace, how sweet the sound. He is everlasting mercy and unspeakable joy. He is the Lord of Lords and the Prince of Peace. He is the one who looks at the captives and says, break your chains and let me set you free. He is the one who sees the oppressed and says, let justice roll down like the raging waters. He is the one who lifts every valley and brings low every mountain. He is the one who makes the crooked places straight and the rough places smooth. He is the one who holds the waters in the hollow of his hand and meets out the heavens with a span, who comprehends the dust and weighs the mountains on a scale and a hill in the balance. He is the one who stepped out on the brow of nothing and with the gesture of his hands, words were formed, scooped out the sea with the palm of his hand, dug deep the gorgeous, piled up the hills and propped up the mountains by his will.

The moon and stars lean on his arm. Who is this Jesus? He is the one that David said in Psalm 23 that he is my shepherd and no matter what I go through, I can trust in him. David says that the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. I shall not want for rest, for he maketh me to lie down and bring pastures. I shall not want for refreshment, for he leadeth me beside the still waters. I shall not want for forgiveness, for he restoreth my soul. I shall not want for guidance, for he leadeth me in the path of righteousness, for his name's sake I. I shall not want for companionship, for yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for thou art with me. I shall not want for comfort, for thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. I shall not want for provision, for thou put past the table before me and the presence of my enemies. I shall not want for joy, for thou anointed my head with oil, my cup overflowing. I shall not want for anything in this life, for goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And I shall not want for anything in life to come, for I will dwell in the house of the Lord.

Don't you forget who your God is! So what storms are you going through? What's that thing that just keeps you up at night? What's that thing that will not let you rest, will not let you have peace?

What's that thing that seems more real to you than God? I call this message, I told the storm from an old gospel song that says, we've got to start telling our storms who our God is. So do this for me.

Go home, get a sheet of paper. I want you to write out God's resume, how He's protected you, how He's walked with you, how He's guided you. And I want you to take another sheet of paper and write down your storm, what you're going through.

And I can guarantee you this, that when you read God's resume and what He's protected you from and walked you through, you will have faith to trust Him in your storm. And share it with each other. Share it. I need to hear what God has done for you because I myself am struggling.

Share it. I've had something this week that has just wrapped me up with fear and wrapped me up with doubt. And I had to make a decision that I will tell that thing who my God is. And I will not be left alone forsaken. I will not be in the dark by myself for my Savior walks with me and talks with me along life's way. I, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil for thou, thou, thou is with me. So church, learn how to tell your storms, who your God is.