Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Christmas. I am one. I'm gonna be honest with you. Many of you will know I love Christmas. I love. I love Christmas. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. My mom is an absolute lover of Christmas.
[00:00:18] She still does go all out for Christmas. And for me, my childhood is wrapped up in how my mom did Christmas. She was full of surprises, full of fun, and I absolutely loved it. There was one moment specifically I can remember at Christmas what we used to do in our family. As my mom said to all of our kids, you can have one main present, and then you can have some small presents. Did anyone else get one main present growing up? There's a few of you, one main present now. I was 16 years old, and there was one main present that was clear that I wanted this year. It was coming up, and within the years prior to this moment of my 16th Christmas, I'd fallen in love with the sport, football.
[00:00:55] And there was one team that I was desperate to go see for the first time, and it's the team that I support, and that team is Stoke City Football Club.
[00:01:04] Now, if you don't know, Jesus also supports Stoke City Football Club. So you may want to repent of those boos.
[00:01:13] And I was asking pretty much all year, mom, for Christmas, can you get me tickets to go watch Stoke City Football Club? So my mom didn't say yes or no. She kept it to herself. Lo and behold, the day comes, Christmas Day, and we got up together as a family. We came downstairs in the front room, there was the tree with some presents underneath. And it's the first time in my life, at this point, I was looking for the smallest present, not the biggest present, because I was looking for some tickets. Now, I started opening up every card, and I don't normally like cards at Christmas, but here I am getting into all the cards. First, no tickets. I go through every present, and we get to the last one, it's a soft one, and I open it up, and there's no Stoked City tickets in there. Now, at this point, I started the morning on cloud nine. And at the end of my last present, as thankful as I was, my mood just hit rock bottom. Like, I was thinking, they forgot. They forgot about these tickets that I wanted. Now, the day continued. I didn't complain because I was thankful for what my parents got me. We went for our Sunday dinner and we had a wonderful, wonderful Sunday lunch. And at the end of the Sunday lunch, as we ate through, my mom said, sean, I forgot. There's one more present for you. Now, at this point, hallelujah, Faith started to rise again.
[00:02:31] And I thought, Jesus is on the throne.
[00:02:35] Thank you, Lord. And I knew she was going to bring out these tickets, so she went outside into the other room and she came back in, no joke, with this massive box. Now, normally, I'm really thankful for big presents, but I looked at this and I thought, oh, no.
[00:02:52] She put it in front of me and with this, like, forced smile, I was like, oh, thank you, Mom. I opened it. Cardboard box. Went inside that cardboard box. Lots of newspaper and a shoebox went inside the shoebox. More newspaper. And lo and behold, the glorious Stoke City football tickets.
[00:03:17] You'll be really, really impressed to know that I went to watch the game and we lost three nil.
[00:03:23] That's a common reality of being a Stoke fan. Let me tell you that Christmas is a season full of joy and celebrations, but also it can be an up and down life that we live in a short space of time. Now, the truth is, our lives can be what like I experience on Christmas Day. We can have ups, downs, twists, turns. There is seasons in our life where everything goes smoothly, and there is seasons in our life where it feels like a tornado is ripping everything apart around us. The ups and downs of the Christian faith is a reality that often we struggle to talk about. I don't know if you were like me, but I became a Christian when I was a teenager, 15, 16 years old. Just out of curiosity, who became a Christian before the age of 21? Can you put your hands up? Friends, can we just look around for a moment? This is the reason why kids and youth work is important.
[00:04:21] This is the reason why kids and youth work is important.
[00:04:24] Because the majority of people give their lives to Jesus when they are a child or a teenager. And it's so important that we pass on what we have to the next generation.
[00:04:34] I became a Christian when I was a teenager and I can remember the sermons that I used to hear in the environments that I used to go to. They used to always declare a message which is, if you give your life to Jesus and choose to follow him, there will be purpose and destiny, and God is going to use you to do amazing things. Now hear me. I think there's truth in that. Of course I do. I think God has great plans for his people. But often when you give your life to that message, what happens is when a trial or a situation that comes that feels like a storm, you don't know where to go or who to turn to.
[00:05:06] And the reality of the Christian faith is God does have a plan, and he does have a purpose and he does have a destiny. But he also has those things unfolding through the darkest seasons of our lives as well.
[00:05:20] There is something that I like to call a stormy faith, and that's what I want to share with you this morning. If there's a chapter in the Bible that shows that the Christian faith is filled with these ups, downs and twists and turns, it's the one we're going to read from just now, and It's Matthew, chapter 14. If you're taking notes, I want you to highlight these passages. Matthew 14 on the screen behind me if you want to read along. And we're going to read through 2 verse 33. It says these words, a really famous passage of Scripture. Immediately, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him on the other side. Notice something here. Jesus made. He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side. Whilst he dismissed the crowd. And he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray later that night. There he was, alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. They find themselves in a storm. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. And when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said. And they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage, it is I. Don't be afraid.
[00:06:40] Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water.
[00:06:46] Come, he said. So then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, beginning to sink. He cried out, lord, save me. And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt? And they climbed into the boat together when the wind died down and those who were on the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are the Son of God. Let's pray. Father, I pray you will come speak to us through your word. Thank you. That we live in a place right now where we can freely gather together, Open your word and pull out that which you want to say to us. So I pray you'll give us open ears, open hands, and a thankful heart for where we are positioned right now. And I pray, Lord, it is the word of God that transforms our lives. So may your Word. May your Word do that which no other words can. We pray this in your wonderful name. Amen. Let me give you some context from Matthew 14, the whole chapter. We've read the back end of this chapter, but you'll see here the breakdown of the verses, and it'll show you a little bit about how our faith can be up and down, twists and turns. The first thing that happens in Matthew 14 is John the Baptist, who's probably one of my favorite characters in Scripture. He unfortunately is beheaded because he's so radically proclaiming the gospel and so radically proclaiming that his cousin Jesus is the Messiah and the Savior of the world. Jesus and the disciples go to pick up the beheaded body of John the Baptist and they bury him. And you have this moment of great bereavement and grief that all of them go through. Only a few verses later, we find this amazing miracle that Mike preached from recently. We find the feeding of the 5,000 plus women and plus children. So it had been much more than 5,000 people. And suddenly they're going from bereavement and grief, one of the lowest points of life, into this great miraculous moment that all of us know and we have heard of at some point, one of the greatest miracles of Jesus, he takes a few loaves, a few fish, and he multiplies it to thousands of people. And then not only does he do that, the greatest miracle in my books is that he preaches to all of them without a microphone. Don't know how he does it.
[00:08:57] And then straight after that, all the people that are there, what starts to happen when you look in the context is that they start to realize that this truly is the Son of God. And they start to want to crown Jesus there and there as the Messiah. So they're in these accolades and affirmations and like, oh, my gosh, look what you've just done. They're trying to bring this applause, bring this credit to Jesus. Jesus does something that's radically countercultural today. He dismisses the crowd and he runs to be by himself. And as he runs to be by himself, he says to his disciples, you need to get out of here as well. So you need to get on the boat. The word made is this word that Greek would translate as compelled. He compelled them. He ushered them. You have to get on this boat. You have to get out of here. I'm going to go be with my father. So then he goes up to the mountain. He spends time in the presence of his father, and the disciples obey Jesus. They go out on the boat. At first it is fine. And then as they start to get as what the Bible would tell us the fourth watch of the night. Between 3 and 6am this storm starts to arise. It's pitch black. They can't see where they're going. They're unaware of their surroundings. All they are aware is there's a few of them on this boat. The winds are rocking this boat back and forth. Now, this lake has taken lives before. It's notorious even to this day and age for people, notwithstanding the waves that take place in this space. And the disciples are fearing for their lives. Now get this. From bereavement to miraculous encounters of Jesus doing miracles on his behalf to being stuck in a storm with nowhere to go, all in one chapter of the Bible.
[00:10:33] And the truth is, our lives can be the same.
[00:10:39] We can go from seeing Jesus do the most miraculous things in our lives.
[00:10:43] We can partner with Jesus to be part of his miraculous mission to the world. And then only a few days later, we can find ourselves in the storm. And the Bible would tell us that at the beginning, Jesus wasn't even with them. So they feel alone and abandoned.
[00:11:00] What do we do when the storms hit our life and it feels like we have nowhere to turn?
[00:11:09] Well, I want to talk to you about a stormy faith. And I want to bring three thoughts, three invitations, three revelations that come when we find ourselves in the storm. Now, some of you will find yourself in a storm this morning.
[00:11:26] Some of you will go through something where you're going.
[00:11:29] This is not what I expected it to be. This is not how I planned it to be. And something, it feels like a storm is taking place. In my family or in my life or in my health or in my finances or in my business, there's something taking place. And if that's you, I pray this is going to help you. Some of you are going to be sat there going, I'm in no storm right now, Sean, I've got some bad news for you.
[00:11:50] If you're not, it's coming.
[00:11:55] And I pray as we unpack these three thoughts from this passage of Scripture, of how to.
[00:12:02] How to embrace the storm and see God work through it. When that day comes, you will have the tools to be able to get through it. And God will be your guidance every step of the way.
[00:12:16] Three thoughts. I'm going to break the passage down in three little parts and I'm going to bring three thoughts from it. Firstly, verse 22 to 24. Immediately Jesus made them.
[00:12:29] He made the disciples to get in the boat ahead of them and he dismissed the crowd.
[00:12:34] After he dismissed them, he went to the mountainside. He prayed late that night they were there alone, and the boat was a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Let me give you two thoughts, and then we're going to get to this that you'll see behind me. Two quick thoughts that aren't part of the overall fort here. I want to show you two things from this portion of text. Firstly, it's the word made and the Greek word compel or force.
[00:13:00] You know, it's interesting, when we read this passage of Scripture, often when storms come in our lives, we naturally have this instinct or indicator to believe that it is the enemy that is causing the storms to come. Sometimes we think it's the enemy that brings storms in our lives. And you know what? Sometimes that is true. Sometimes there are things that we go through and the enemy is going all out against you to stop you from stepping into the purpose and plan of God in your life. Friends, can I also say the other half is true? Sometimes God allows storms to take place in our lives that he is still in control of, because there's things that we learn in the storms that we can't learn anywhere else. And this is why sometimes our perspective of storms can be really helpful. Because if you're going through a storm right now, there's two things you can do. One, you can go into spiritual warfare and you can say to the enemy, not today. My God is king over this storm. And that's sometimes things that we need to do as a church, collectively, there's moments in our lives. Church, can I say this together as a body, we need to stand together and go against the spiritual force of darkness and say, not on our watch, not on our watch. It's not happening. Secondly, there's another thing you can do. You can say, God, I don't know why I'm here, but I know you've got something to teach me.
[00:14:06] Teach me, Lord, I want to know what you've got for me in this storm. If you've made it happen, you've directed me there, you've told me to get on, you know it's coming, there's something you've got for me. Secondly, Jesus dismisses the crowds to get into the presence of the Father with all the noise and all the favor and all the applause that he was having at that moment. There is this countercultural example that God gives us through Jesus in saying, I don't need the applause of man. Instead, I'm just desperate for the presence of my Father. If Jesus himself dismisses the crowd to get into the presence of the Father. How much more do you and I need to do? So I want to challenge you gently here. What are the routines and habits you have in your life where you are getting alone with the Father and His presence? God can do more in the private place, in the secret place, than he can in the public place. God does something in our hearts when we are alone with Him. He does something in our shape and our formation that he doesn't often do in front of people. He does it in the private. And if you don't have that as a routine, I know life is busy, it's tough. We've got all kinds of things going on. I want to encourage you. Fight for it. It could be the most important thing I say to you this morning. Fight for time alone with the Father and with Jesus. If your diary is busy, you are too busy. If you're too busy for Jesus, you're too busy. There is a need for us as individuals, but also corporately, to spend time alone with King Jesus, to allow his presence, the Father's presence, to come and shape us and mold us.
[00:15:33] In these moments in our lives, we must learn to be dependent on God and God alone, because our dependency on God is more important than anything we can accomplish without Him.
[00:15:47] Francis Chan I'm thinking off the top of my head. It's not in my notes. He once said that Christians often worship the idol of success more than they do Jesus.
[00:15:58] Friends, can we never be those people?
[00:16:03] Jesus first, Jesus is king. Jesus, Lord, we sang it earlier.
[00:16:10] Nothing else matters.
[00:16:16] And that's what it looks like to be. To be a devoted, dependent follower of Jesus. And here's the first thing that storms reveal.
[00:16:25] Storms reveal our dependency.
[00:16:29] You see, there's all kinds of dependencies we can have in storms. We can depend on our own strength. We can depend on our own finances. We can depend on the search of comfort or even distraction. And I am guilty for this one. But friends, throughout the story of the Bible, God is consistently inviting his people. From Genesis 1 all the way through to the end of Revelation. He is consistently inviting his people to something specific. And it is complete dependency on him. Because Jesus is the only thing we can rely on in this life. He is the one that always comes through. The invitation. For Jesus to say, friends, depend on me isn't some kind of ego trip that he's going on. He's trying to give you the tools to know that he will always be there for you. He will always be reliable, always be constant, always be consistent. He is the most dependable person you can possibly possibly find in this side of life and all. I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you this morning that when storms come, or if they are here right now in the midst of it, there will be all kinds of things trying to get you to depend on them. And I'm just trying to say to you this morning, church. Depend on Jesus for everything you need. Depend on him in the storms because Jesus is the one that will always be consistent. Storms can break down our strength. Storms can break down our friendships. Storms can break down our distractions. Storms will break down humanism, spiritualism, religiosity and reliance and dependence on crystals. Let me tell you, storms will break it down. But let me tell you what storms cannot break down in this side of life. They cannot break down the faithfulness of God. They cannot break down the goodness of God. They cannot break down the love of God, the dependency of God, the reliance of God. Storms won't break down, shake up God's dependency in any way whatsoever because the Bible says he's our firm foundation. He's the rock in which we stand. When we choose to depend on Him. We are standing on the only thing that won't break and won't die down because of the storms. Psalm 62, verse 5, 8 says these words, I depend on God alone. I put my hope in Him. He alone protects and saves me. He is my defender and I shall not be defeated.
[00:18:39] When we depend on God, storms reveal where our dependencies lie.
[00:18:51] It may be a stormy faith that we have, but we can have a faith that depends on the one who controls the storms.
[00:19:02] Proverbs 3, verse 5 to 6. You'll have heard these words before. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
[00:19:18] Trust in. Aligned with what?
[00:19:22] All of your heart.
[00:19:26] Now, some of it, not part of it.
[00:19:30] All of my heart.
[00:19:33] Father, I pray right now.
[00:19:35] Teach us to be a people that with all of our hearts depend on you.
[00:19:40] Every storm that comes, every wind that comes, every drop of rain that comes, every taunting attack of the enemy that comes. May we be a people that stand firm. Because we have been taught how to trust you with all of our hearts and acknowledge you with all of our ways so you will make our paths straight. We pray this in your powerful name. Amen.
[00:20:03] Storms reveal our dependency and may reveal that we have become a people that are dependent on him. Secondly, storms also reveal our faith.
[00:20:13] Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. And when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said. And they cried out in fear.
[00:20:24] Everyone say, fear.
[00:20:27] But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage. It is I, don't be afraid. Everyone say, don't be afraid.
[00:20:36] See, when storms arrive in our life, there's this common battle that I see take place in my own soul. Can I be honest with you? This morning, church, just one person that's allowed me to be honest.
[00:20:48] It's a common battle. I see it take place in my life.
[00:20:53] When storms have hit me and they've hit me, there's a common battle that comes up.
[00:20:58] And the truth is, I also see it take place in other people's lives up and down the nation. I see it in young people's lives. With the role I currently do, I see it in pastoral work. Over the last 10 years, I've seen this take place, this narrative play out when storms hit. And it's a real simple one, but it's a hard one to get over. And here's what it is. Storms reveal our faith.
[00:21:17] It's a narrative of fear versus faith.
[00:21:24] Fear versus faith.
[00:21:28] So often in our lives, when a storm comes, the most natural human emotion we have is fear.
[00:21:35] It's to be fearful of the outcome.
[00:21:38] It's to be fearful of the present moment.
[00:21:40] And when that fear starts to invade our minds and our hearts, I believe it's a playground that Satan loves to run riot in.
[00:21:47] And he comes and he starts to bring doubts and accusations and provocation, and he starts to grow this fear narrative over the storm.
[00:22:01] You see, when fear says there is no way out of the storm, there is this principle we must learn of the narrative of faith that comes and combats this fear.
[00:22:14] Because faith would say that God is in control of the storm.
[00:22:18] And when fear says, just give up, it's not going to work out, Faith come along and it says, just fix your eyes on the King of kings and the Lord of Lords, the one who's over it all. When fear starts to whisper, this storm is going to drown you and take you out.
[00:22:32] Faith beckons forth a peace. Be still to the wind and waves to believe that the noise can be silenced.
[00:22:40] When fear tells you nobody understands or gets the situation, faith comes and says, God, embrace the storm so much, he understands it better than anyone.
[00:22:51] When fear says, you're all alone with no one around you, Faith says, people may have abandoned me, but the presence of God will never abandon me.
[00:23:04] Friends, I've got a feeling this morning and I Don't feel needed to hype this up.
[00:23:12] I've got a feeling this morning that God wants to bring the eviction notice on some fear narratives in your lives.
[00:23:21] I've got a feeling that the Holy Spirit wants to relieve you of fear and to replace it with faith so you can step in to the mission and plans and purposes that he's got for you this week.
[00:23:32] I've got a feeling that this time tomorrow when you go to whatever you've got, 11, 12 o'clock tomorrow, the narrative of faith will compel you to be a follower and witness of Jesus in any circumstance you find yourself in.
[00:23:48] And I believe that because the Bible says these beautiful words, perfect love casts out fear.
[00:24:01] I wonder, just for a moment, if you've been battling with fear around something to do with your life or your family or circumstance, a job, an opportunity, a business, something where fear has just been. Feels like it's been crippling you, it's been bringing you to a place of great anxiety. It's been stopping you from moving forward, stopped you dead in your tracks. I wonder if we could just pray for you for a moment. And I wonder whether you could just be bold and just doing something really simple and just putting your hand really high in the air.
[00:24:33] Okay, if you're comfortable with this, someone around you just put a hand on their shoulder. Someone there. If you're comfortable with that, once, someone just put a hand on your shoulder.
[00:24:40] This is church, friends.
[00:24:42] This is what it means.
[00:24:48] And we just pray right now for every single person that is struggling with fear in this room. We thank you, Lord, that you have called them. We thank you, Lord, that you have set them apart. We thank you, Lord, that there is anointing that you bring that evicts and removes fear. And Father, I speak into right now and I'm sorry, this is heavy. I speak into right now anyone that has been battling with the fear of death or the fear of their existence, of life, right now. In the name of Jesus, I speak against any darkness and I ask that you removed in the name of Jesus. And I pray for freedom to come. I pray your perfect love, Holy Spirit, come. Your perfect love casts out fear. We bring eviction orders to fear right now and we say it will be removed in the name of Jesus, and we pray for his perfect love, the perfect love that goes above all things, that transcends understanding will come and it will melt away any fear narrative of people's lives. And there will be a freedom, a freedom in the mighty name of Jesus, we pray for A freedom in the mighty name of Jesus. I can see right now God's just doing some things in people's lives. So I don't want to move on from this moment. Holy Spirit, would you come now in your grace and in your gentleness? Would you come in your beauty and your perfection, and would you allow people to know your perfect love? Would you allow people to know your miraculous grace? Would you allow people to know the mercy that is new every morning, that never ceases and never goes? And I pray, Holy Spirit, that a rich freedom, an abounding freedom will come to their lives where it feels like weights are being lifted off people's minds. I pray, Lord, the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will protect hearts and protect minds. So I pray for people's hearts right now. And I pray a beating, beautiful heart for the sake of Jesus. And I pray for minds that are crippled with anxiety that today, by a miraculous touch of the Holy Spirit and you alone, God will do this. Healing will come in the name of Jesus.
[00:26:39] Healing will come in the name of Jesus. We pray this in your powerful name. Amen.
[00:26:45] Amen.
[00:26:49] Band, why don't you come and join me at this point? I'm going to come land into this third invitation of what storms reveal. Storms reveal our faith. And our faith can remove our fears.
[00:27:01] If we go back to this, just this last one first, let me tell you about a story of something that I heard about this faith and fear narrative. And it's really hard. Friends, please hear me when I'm praying these prayers. If you need help, seek help.
[00:27:15] If you need help, seek help.
[00:27:20] There's this faith and fear narrative that has happened throughout the ends of time. If you look all the way through the book of Genesis, you'll see it playing out then, and it still plays out today. It's really difficult to find. But there was a man that I've heard a story about which I loved. It's a man called Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Anyone heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer before? Come on. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, an amazing theologian. He was a spy in the early 1900s. He was a man written many books in which. You can find their books online. They're incredible books, especially his books on discipleship. And there's a story that was told. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, he was. He was doing his missional work in the rise and the raging.
[00:28:00] The raging noise of the Nazi regime.
[00:28:04] And the Nazis were raising up and people were being trained for all kinds of horror and evil. And Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a man that was saved by Jesus Christ. He put his faith in him. He lived for him. And he started to realize that this isn't right. This isn't God's plan. So what he started to do is he started to move around in Germany as this regime started to rise, and he started to plant pockets of churches and seminaries and Christian schools. And in the first one, he bought this little place in the middle of a tiny little town in. In western Germany, and he bought this little seminary. And noise started to come about of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, this man who was being radical for his faith. So much so that Dietrich's best friend started to hear the noise of his radicalism and his extremism with Christian faith, that he thought, I have to go see him because he's going to be in danger. So he traveled across Germany and he came to this Little Seminary where 10 to 20 people had decided, I don't want to be part of this evil. I want to know about the light of the gospel. I want to be trained in the ways of the Christian faith. Dietrich was teaching them every single day. The friend. The friend got here, and the friend started to speak to Dietrich. As soon as he got there, said, dietrich, you've got to bring this down, my friend.
[00:29:17] You've got to bring this down, because you're going to be in danger here if you don't bring this down. You need to bring this down. So Dietrich didn't reply to this response to his friend, but he said, could we. Could we go for a little walk, a little journey? And the friend said, of course. I've not seen you for a long time. Let's go. So he went down to the back of the seminary, and there was a lake with a little boat. He said, come in the boat with me. I'm going to take you to a spot that I often go to pray. So they traveled down this little lake in this little boat, and then they pulled up at this little docking point. They got out, and then they walked up this hill. And Dietrich had been talking about to him about Jesus and about God and about the things that God had been saying and doing. He took him to the point of this hill. He said, this is where I pray. He stood at the top of this hill, and you got this beautiful glimpse shot of this little seminary that he'd bought, a beautiful little pocket of a beautiful little house in which you could see a few of the people eating their food outside.
[00:30:09] He said, there's my seminary. And he looked over here, and there was this vast land and in this vast land was where they were training the Nazis.
[00:30:18] Young men were coming and being groomed and trained for evil and for destruction and for chaos.
[00:30:26] He saw people lifting their weights and doing their runs, all dressed in the same attire.
[00:30:33] And Dietrich Bonhoeffer just looked at his friend and here's the famous words that he said.
[00:30:39] This must be stronger than that.
[00:30:47] Faith must be stronger than fear.
[00:30:56] Some of your lives in this room, you have no idea the display of faith you have in your life.
[00:31:04] I know some of the storms that people have walked through in this life. And let me tell you, your life lived in faith in the middle of a storm is better than a hundred sermons I could ever preach, but I could ever preach, because the narrative of faith always displays the beauty of the gospel.
[00:31:28] I conclude with the third thing that storms reveal.
[00:31:32] Storms always reveal. Reveal his faithfulness.
[00:31:36] They always reveal his faithfulness.
[00:31:39] God is consistent in the trial. He is consistent in the battle. He is with us every step of the way. When we're going through the storm, it's really difficult to forget. It's really difficult or easy. Sorry. It's really easy to forget the faithfulness of God. There's something really, really powerful that takes place in Matthew 14. If we go to the next slide, you'll see it in verse 20, just at the end of. Jesus has done this miracle of feeding 5,000 plus people. There's something that takes place at the end. Just before he goes alone and he sends his disciples out. We sign this little verse that often we just run over Matthew 14:20, the end of this amazing miracle. They all ate and were satisfied. Everyone was satisfied. Isn't it beautiful to be satisfied by the presence of God? Isn't it beautiful to be satisfied by his provision and his protection when he comes through and he does what no one else can do, his faithfulness. And then what do they do? Everyone's eaten and everyone's satisfied. It says the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
[00:32:37] Jesus says, pick up these basketfuls, get into the boat and go face your storm. Why? If we go to this next slide, we'll see why. The testimonies of his previous faithfulness can sustain us through our present trials.
[00:32:54] If there's one thing I want to remind you of church today, this is faithfulness of previous seasons.
[00:33:08] God is good.
[00:33:10] And all the time, God is faithful.
[00:33:16] And all the time, God is faithful.
[00:33:20] Just as we close, the band are going to sing us in a moment, but I just wonder if you've had a moment in your life where you've gone through the storm and you have seen the faithful hand of God guide you through. You have seen the testimonies of God. You have seen God move when it feels like no one else was moving. You've seen him heal. You've seen him provide. You've seen him make a way where it felt like your back was up against the wall.
[00:33:47] Would you just raise your hand?
[00:33:50] If you're going through a storm right now, I want you to look around.
[00:33:55] Because every single hand raised is a testimony that this storm will go. This storm will not last. And the faithfulness of God will see us through every stormy sea, every trial of the enemy, every battle we come against. There is a faithfulness that God brings that allows us to stand the test of time.
[00:34:21] We've read about it before. He's with us in the fire, every furnace we face, every storm that comes our way, every attack of the enemy. He's with us every step of the way.
[00:34:35] Because storms, they reveal our dependency, they reveal our faith. But let me tell you, friends, they will always reveal his faithfulness. There's a famous passage in 2 Timothy which I'm going to end with.
[00:34:49] When we are faithless, he remains faithful.
[00:34:57] There's a grace for you this morning for the storm you're in, or the storms that may come.
