(uplifting music) - Good morning, Sandals Church, man. Welcome. Welcome, welcome. And we are in an amazing series, a series called You. I want you to know you
are not an accident. Look, there's no such thing
as accidental children, just accidental parents. So write that down, young people. Write that down. Alright. Listen, we're glad you're here. God made you, designed you,
knows you, and loves you. God loves you because you
are gifted and beautiful, and God loves you in
spite of your brokenness. That's why we sing this
song, Reckless Love. Because God pursues you and will never, ever stop pursuing you because he cares about you and he's designed you
to be with him forever. We're gonna take a look
today at the life of Peter. Peter is one of the most
amazing people to ever live. He's a Loyalist, a six
on the Enneagram score, somebody who wants so
desperately to be there, to be stable, but who
is riddled with fear. And so listen, if fear
is a part of your life, if it's something that's
influencing your life, maybe even more than your faith, I want you to take a look at this test, look at this score because God doesn't want
you to be led by fear, he wants you to be led by him. So let's just begin with a word of prayer and ask God to lead us today not by fear, but by faith. Heavenly Father, we come before you and we pray in Jesus' name. God, take away our fear. God, let us not be crippled by our fear or directed by our fear. But God, let us be directed by you. We pray in the powerful
name of Jesus, God, that you would speak to us today through the story and life of Peter. God, many of us are afraid
to step out in faith. We're afraid to take a risk. We're afraid to step into
the realm of what's unseen. God, call us out today we
pray in Jesus' name, amen. Let's take a look at our
notes in front of you, Matthew 14 22 through 33. It says, immediately after this... Now, if you don't have your Bibles, you don't know what just took place. Something amazing took place. You see, in our world
today, there's a crisis. In our world today as we speak, the crisis is this, we eat too much food. Literally, it doesn't
matter what country you are. Poor countries, wealthy countries. Literally, obesity is
one of the great ills that the world is facing. 2,000 years ago, obesity was not an issue, but starvation was. 90% of the human race every
single year faced starvation. It didn't matter whether
you lived in Europe, India, Africa, wherever you lived, listen, having to think
about eating your children was a possibility. It was a possibility for everyone, whether you're rich or poor, powerful or a slave. And so Jesus does something amazing. People are hungry, some of them are starving, and he brings a couple of fish and a few loaves of
bread and he blesses them and he feeds the masses. Feeds them, and they freak out. Look at all their
problems have been solved. We know who the leader
is, we know who God is. And they want to take
Jesus and make him king. And so immediately, Jesus does something. So Jesus insisted, in your notes, that the disciples get back in the boat and cross to the other side of the lake. Look, if power is something
that you aspire to, if fame is something
that's important to you, I want you to know that
Jesus always runs from both. He runs from fame and he runs from power because those things can corrupt even the greatest of intentions. You can have the heart
when you start out as young to serve, to give, to
take care of the people, and then all of a sudden you get elected, you get position, you get
power, and your motives change. And so Jesus tells the
disciples, "Get out of here. "Get out of here. "I know you're wowed by what I just did, "but you got to get out of here." And so what happens? Jesus
sends the people home. 'Cause you know the party's
over when Jesus says, "It's over, it's done, it's finished." After sending them home, he went up into the
hills by himself to pray. He got alone with God and he prayed. Night fell and while he was there alone, meanwhile, the disciples were
in trouble far away from land. Where are they? They're
in the Sea of Galilee. Now, I'm just gonna tell you this. If you come to Israel
with me you're gonna be a little disappointed when
you see the Sea of Galilee. If you're not coming with
me, go to Lake Perris, it looks very, very similar, OK? So just go to Lake Perris and say, "OK, now I've been where Jesus lived." So, the Eskimos have
like 500 words for snow because snow is around them all the time. You live in Alaska, a lot of snow. If you live in the Middle
East, not a lot of water, you don't need a lot of words for water. So the Jews call everything a sea, whether it's a lake, an
ocean, or the Mediterranean, it's just a sea. A big river, it's a sea. So it's very, very disappointing
when people go there. And so when you go there
and you read the story, you're like, how in the
heck do you almost die in the Sea of Galilee? Just swim to the shore. It's not that big of a deal. Well, here's what happened. A strong wind had arisen
and they were fighting... Underline these words, heavy waves. Let me tell you, it
doesn't take much of a wave to scare you to death. It doesn't. Waves can be very, very terrifying. When I took my kids surfing
when they were little, "Oh my gosh, dad, oh my
gosh, I'm gonna die." And it's like a one-foot wave. 'Cause let me tell you something, water is stronger than you. When it's moving, it's
more powerful than you and it can terrify you. About 15 years ago, Tammy and I... I say Tammy and I. I decided, Tammy went along, to get certified for diving. We were gonna become
certified, go out and dive, and we were gonna have this new adventure, and it was gonna be great. So we went through all the classes, and basically, if you want to know how
you get certified diving, you got to learn all the ways
that you can kill yourself. So you need to know the math, you need to know what's going
on so you don't kill yourself diving out in the ocean because God made us to be
above water, not below water. And so when you go below
water, bad things can happen. So we passed certification,
and it's a blast. We have a good time and
we go for our first dive without an instructor. That means I'm the expert. Tammy's the expert. We're our own experts. We are supposed to save ourselves. That's what it means. So we go to Catalina, right? Not super adventurous,
not super dangerous. It's Catalina. You know, it's literally like
five feet from Long Beach. So it's not scary, right? So we go out there, we have
a wonderful dive, great time. We're down below in the ocean and we're looking at all kinds of fish and we're looking at sea life. What we don't know is
there's a storm above. We have no idea that a
summer storm has come in and literally, it's blowing
the boat all over the place that's supposed to pick
us up when we come up. So we come up and we're surprised at this storm that's come in. And it literally had
whipped up instantaneously. The ocean went from flat to
about three to four-foot waves. Now, that doesn't sound
terrifying where you're sitting, but when you're in the ocean and your head is 12 inches above the water as you bob, every three to four-foot
wave is guess what? Three to four feet over your head. So every wave that comes
kind of drowns you, kind of drowns you and pushes you down. Now, we're all out of oxygen, so what that means is
my wife, who's a six, she's a Loyalist, this
is her primary number, she assesses the situation
and says out loud, "We're going to die!" Now, remember, she's an
influential person in our church, people look up to her, like she's co-leader of this church. And when the co-leader
announces, "We're all doomed!" that's bad news. But she's like, "We're
gonna die! We're gonna die!" and we're trying to swim to the boat. And literally, the
storm is getting fiercer and the wind is pushing the boat away. And all of a sudden I started
to see distress flares coming up all around the ocean because we're not the only
divers on this dive trip. Everybody's in distress. Everybody is saying, "Rescue
me! Rescue me! Rescue me!" And literally, it gets
terrifying, it gets scary. And Tammy's like losing her mind. "We're gonna die! We're gonna die! "We're gonna die! We're gonna die!" You know in the 1950s
when a woman freaks out, they just smack 'em? Remember that in the old movies? "I need you to focus." Well, I did not do that. I did not do that. But I thought about it, I was like that's why in
the movies they do this. And so she's like, "We're
gonna die! We're gonna die!" And so you're kind of like
in this weird position and you're not really flexible when you're in all your dive equipment. You're wearing a wet
suit, you got weights. I'm like, "Be quiet!" I mean, that's not what I said, but that's what I said in church, right? "Be quiet!" And I just flip her upside
down, put her on the back. So she's telling God, "We're
gonna die. We're gonna die." And I look at our group and
say, "We're not gonna die! "We're gonna be OK. "We're gonna get to the boat." And I look into the eyes of one
of my friends that's with us and he goes to the church and
he's a good swimmer, surfer. We spend a lot of time in the ocean and I can see crazy in his eyes, I see it. He's there with his wife, I'm like, "We're not gonna die. "We're gonna be OK. "Everybody stay together." And he's doing this, and then he just swims
away, leaves his wife. Now I got my wife who's freaking out, I got another wife who's
getting divorce, right? She's like, "He just left me." It's scary. So I'm dragging my wife like to the boat. She's like, "We're gonna
die. We're gonna die." We finally get to the boat, I'm exhausted, Tammy's still talking to herself. We get to the boat, we get
our friend up on the boat. She gets on the boat. There's her husband who he made it safely to the boat, and so he helps
his wife up to the boat. He gets up there, she just boom right in the face. Tags him right in the nose. "Don't you ever leave me again." It was great. It was great. And Tammy said, "We will
never do that again." Because she's a powerful person,
we've not done that again. So let me just say it. Waves can be scary. It doesn't take a gigantic wave. You don't need to be
in a hurricane to die. Some of you, you can
drown in a swimming pool if someone does a cannon ball. I mean, it can get... Like, water is scary. It's very, very scary. A lot of people dry cross in
a river 'cause they think, "Oh, it's only waist-deep." Well, when you're standing
up it's waist-deep. When you're laying
flat, you're in trouble. So just know it can be very, very scary very, very quickly. So a strong wind had arisen and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o'clock in the morning... So Jesus feeds the 5,000
probably about dinnertime 'cause he's gonna preach
when the sun's out. They're gonna eat as the sun's going down. This has been going on for hours. These people are exhausted. They're terrified. They don't know what to do. They're going to drown, this is not good. About three o'clock in the morning, Jesus came towards them. Now, underline this. Walking on the water. And some of you are like, "This
is scientifically impossible "and this is one of the reasons
I don't believe the Bible." OK, listen to me, Captain Smartiepants, the most difficult verse in the Bible is actually the very first verse. Genesis 1:1, in the beginning God created
the heavens and the Earth. If you can get past that,
everything else is easy. Everything else is easy, 'cause if God can create water,
I think he can walk on it. I think he can do
whatever he wants with it. He doesn't need water. he can just do what... He's God. He's God. So here comes Jesus, right? Walking towards them, which
just write in your notes, this is a little freaky. It's three o'clock in the morning, you think you're gonna die. Maybe this is dead
people coming to get you. You don't know what's happening. So about three o'clock in
the morning, here comes Jesus walking on water towards them. When the disciples saw
him walking on the water, they were what? Terrified, as you would
be, as we all would be. We all would be scared to death because you think you're gonna die and here comes somebody
walking on the water, 'cause this doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. Can you imagine you go out to Lake Perris for an afternoon barbecue and all of a sudden you see
me out there walking on water? Some of you would start tithing. Instantaneously, you'd be like, "Oh, wow." Underline these words, in their fear. This is where some of you
live every single day. You live in your fear. In your marriage, you're in fear. Raising your kids, you're in fear. As a college student, you're in fear. In your friendships, you're in fear. When you're on the internet,
you're attracted to fear. This is why our news is the way it is. Every night, news at 11. You're gonna die. Right? Every single night. You're gonna die, you're
gonna die, you're gonna die. People are freaked out. Freaked out, they found out I'm gonna do
a triathlon here pretty quick on the big island that's exploding. People are like, "Are you gonna go there?" Yeah, it's a big island. I have very little six
if you're wondering. Very little six, right? My wife has enough for us all. So it's fine. So in their fear they
cried out, "It's a ghost! "It's a ghost!" But Jesus spoke to them at once. Circle these words, "Don't be afraid." Over 360 times in the
Bible, God says these words, "Don't be afraid." Don't be afraid, that's almost one time for every day of your life. Don't be afraid, don't be
afraid, don't be afraid. Why would God keep saying that?
Because you're freaking out. You're freaking out. God says, "Don't be afraid." Circle these words, "Take courage." Listen, a lot of us think courage is something
we have or we don't have. We look at courage the
way we look at happiness. Both courage and happiness take work. You've got to work towards
them, you've got to take it. You've got to reach out for it. He said, "Don't be afraid. Take courage." Why? These are some of the most important words for every single one of
us that believes in God, because, "I am here! "I am here!" One of the most ridiculous
things we ever do in a church service is a
thing called the invocation. It's where we invite God to
be a part of what we're doing. We don't have to invite God to be here. He's already here. What you need to do is invite
your brain to join your butt where you're sitting. Some of you right now, you're in church, but your brain is somewhere else. You're still at Lake Perris. You're like, "I should have
done a barbecue today." Like, you're gone. "I should go to the ocean, I should swim. "I should take up diving." Like, you're anywhere but here. You're not present. God is present. He is here. You don't have to worry, he's here. Listen, if you're a believer, you don't have to ask God to
join you in your marriage. He's there. You don't have to ask God
in raising your children. He's there. You don't have to ask God to
be with you and your finances. He's there. What you need to do is
remember that he's there and act accordingly. That's what you need to do. "Don't freak out, I am here." Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it's really you..." I mean, who else is it gonna be? Like, hopefully, Sandals,
if we're at Lake Perris and someone is walking on water, I'm hoping we guess Jesus. There's a historical precedent, right? It's Jesus. He's walking on water,
this is what he does. I read about it. He said, "If it's really you, "tell me to come to you out on the water." Now, let me just say this, be
careful what you pray about. Like, when you're flying on an airplane, don't ask God to increase your faith. Don't do it, don't do it. And certainly don't do it
when we're flying together. That is not when I want
our faith increased. I want to have very little
faith as we're flying. When we land, then you pray that, then you pray that. Pray it all you want. Peter says, "Lord, if it's really you, "call me to come to you." And here's the thing. Here's the thing you need to know. God never called you to
live an ordinary life. He has made every single
one of you extraordinary, and he has called every single one of you to be extraordinary. So if you ask God, "Save
me from my ordinary life "and do extraordinary things with me." Guess what he's going to do? He's gonna answer that. He's gonna say, "Jesus,
did you hear that prayer? "Did you hear what they just
prayed at Sandals Church? "They want me to do
something extraordinary. "Let's do it." So Peter says, "If it's really
you, tell me to come to you "and I want to walk on the
water like you're doing. "I want to do what you do." And just so you know, this
is what Jesus made you to do, the same things he does. And Jesus says, "Yes, come on. "Come on." I love this. So Peter went over the side of the boat. It wasn't beautiful, but
he got out of the boat. He went out of the boat
and he walked on water. "I'm walking!" Too bad it's not Instagram 'cause I would have posted
this for everyone to see. So he started walking on water, he's doing great, this is amazing, but when he saw a strong
wind and the waves, he was terrified. When he's focused on Jesus he has faith. When he looks at the
things that are happening, he's scared to death. And this is how things happen in every single one of our lives. It's easy to have faith for your marriage when you're focused on Jesus. When you're looking at who you married, "We're sinking." It's easy to have faith on your finances when you're focusing on Jesus. But when you look at your bank account, "We're bankrupt." Right? It's easy to have faith in Jesus when you're thinking about your kids and you're focusing on Jesus. You look at your kids, you're like, "Man, sacrifice doesn't sound that bad. "Abraham did it, come on, kids." God loves you so much I'm
gonna send you there right now. It's easy to have faith, students, when you're sitting in church. It's another thing when you're
actually on your campus. But here's the thing. Where is your faith really faith? Faith is always faith when
there's wind and waves. It's not faith when the sea is calm. It's not. It's faith when things are difficult. It's faith when things are scary. It's faith when the doctor says, "We
need to talk about your test." That's when faith comes. When he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified, and he began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted. Aren't you glad Jesus
isn't an unhealthy one? Well, you shouldn't have
got out of the boat. I love this, underline this. Immediately. Circle that word, immediately. Immediately, Jesus reached
out and grabbed him because he is our savior
and he saves us every day. Some of you don't even know
what he saved you from today. Listen. Peter's sinking, it's
not time for a lesson. Right? When somebody's drowning, that's not the time to rehash all the events that have led to this. Like when your kid's in
the pool going under, you don't say, "Hey, this is
why we talked about this." Like, right? Anybody raising little kids? You put floaties on little
kids, they think they can swim. No, no, that's why they're floaty. The floaty says you can float. Anybody's parents ever done that, a kid forgets, eats lunch? Forgets to put the floaty on. That's not the time to be like, "Sweetheart, this is why." 'Cause what are they gonna hear? That's not the time for the lecture. What do you do, parents? You dive in immediately because you're a good parent, because you care about the kid. That's when you go in. I remember when my kids were little, we had a birthday party, a swim party. Just make a note, parents, kids lie. Can you swim? Can you swim? Every kid, "Uh-huh."
"Uh-huh." "Uh-huh." "Uh-huh." Can you? "Yup." "Yup." "Yup. "Yup." "Yup." OK, everybody in the pool. I'm gonna cook the hotdogs. I'm cooking hotdogs and I hear a sound. And I look in the middle of the pool, and one of the biggest
kids down at the bottom. It's like, what, is he
going to the Olympics? He's doing the underground swim thing. Tammy says, "He's drowning!" I said, "No, no, he said he could swim. "He's just playing games." She said, "Get in and save him." And we did, we pulled
him out and he threw up. I said, "You said you can swim." But the time for the speech is not while they're under, right? You grab 'em. Jesus pulls 'em out. I love this. He says, "Why do you
have so little faith?" You see, the speech comes
after he's pulled out. "Why do you have so little faith? "Why do you doubt me? "Don't you recognize I'm
still standing on the water? "Why did you doubt me?" When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped and then the disciples worshiped him. "You know, I was a little confused, Jesus, "when you fed the 5,000 starving people. "But now I'm gonna vote for you. "You're the son of God." Like, what does it take? What does it take? He literally supernaturally created food. "Yeah, anybody can do that. "I heard about somebody." But now he walks on water. And when he gets in the boat it's calm. Listen, God wants you to have faith. He wants all of us to have faith. So let's talk about the Loyalist. The Loyalist reflects God's faithfulness. Don't you dare critique Peter. There were 12 disciples, how
many got out of the boat? One. Why on Earth would Jesus pick a six to be the captain of the other 11 idiots? Because sixes are loyal to the very end. Listen, Peter always wants to
be faithful, but he's afraid. But he's there. He's there, and that's
why Jesus turns to Peter and he says, "Your name is
Peter, which means rock, "and upon this rock I
will build my church." He picked the one person
who was scared, why? Because it would require faith to do it. Loyalists reflects God's faithfulness. Every time you criticize Peter, I want you to ask yourself this question. While Peter's screwing up,
where are the other 11? When Peter is denying Jesus three times, where are the other guys? Not there. They're not there. Right? Loyalists reflects God's faithfulness. The basic motivation of
the Loyalist is to be safe and to avoid risk. This is what drives them. This is what motivates them. And if you're a six, God has
called you to great faith. But you are going to
lean towards great fear. When healthy, the Loyalist is able
to determine character in the people they encounter. Listen to me, if you have
a Loyalist in your life, listen to their judgment for people. They see people better than you do. I've learned this over and over again the hard way with my wife. Man, we hired a pastor,
this is years and years ago. My wife met this pastor,
she said, "I don't like him. "I don't like him. "He gives me the heebiejeebies." That's what she said,
"He gives me the creeps. "I don't feel right around him." I was like, "Ah, you're
just being sensitive." We had to fire that guy three months later because he slept with
a woman in our church who wasn't his wife. Should have listened to my wife. She sees people and reads
people better than I do. What do you know? I'm the
senior pastor of this church. The Lord has anointed me to
direct us and give us vision. Why should you listen to a six? They're reliable. They're reliable. They're loyal. Man, one of the things I love about Tammy is she stuck with me. When I had nothing, she was with me. Never left me. Stuck by my side. They're trustworthy. If she lies, it's on accident. When I lie, it is on purpose. She's compassionate. She cares deeply about you as a church. She loves our church, she
loves me, she loves our kids. Next, she's a good planner. Why are they such good planners? Here's why God had me marry a six. We're gonna plant 500 churches. How do we do it? I don't know. I'm gonna give you a planner. She's gonna help plan
how we're gonna do this. She's gonna be a part of
organizing and making this happen. Right? It's one thing to have a vision to build a rocket to the moon. It's another thing to get there. She's a great planner. She's always planning. Man, you should see her car. She has snacks in case something happens. She has money in case something happens. Man, she has an
earthquake-preparedness kit. I mean, I'm always amazed at what she has. It's incredible. It's incredible. You break down, don't
worry, you're gonna be OK. She has snacks for you and
for whatever else happened. Man, you break down with
me, you're in trouble. Last Friday, Fridays are my day off, Tammy said, "Hey, babe. "I want to go do a yoga
class. Would you do me a favor "and take Ethan to school today?" I said, "No problem. "I'll take him to school." Now, here's what you got
to know, I got a new car. I got a new car, and I don't
exactly understand how it works 'cause remember, I don't
read owner's manuals. So I got a new car, and the
car said when we got into it, "You're low on gas." And it's an Australian, I
picked an Australian voice. She talks to me, I think it's funny. You know, "G'day, mate, you're out of gas. "Would you like me to find
a gas station for you?" And you can press accept or ignore, and so I ignored her. I'll tell you when we're out of gas. So we started driving,
I take my son to school, and I'm just thinking about
what I'm gonna do on my day off, and all of a sudden... So like, my old car, it told you, "You got 20 miles left, 18, 10, "idiot, five, five, moron, two, one. "Get gas!" This car just gives you a
verbal warning, that's it. "Hey, you want to get gas?" "No, alright, that's on you." So I run out of gas. It's literally 8 AM in
the morning on a Friday. I'm not wearing a shirt. I've not combed my hair. I don't have shoes on. I don't have a phone. I don't have any money. What am I gonna do? So I push my car over
to the side of the road, and now I'm trying to flag people down. And everybody's doing what you do, "Kids, don't look, don't
look, don't look, don't look." So finally, some lady
rolls her window down just like two inches and she goes, "You look like my son-in-law." I'm like, "Then stop!" So she stops and we're
talking through the crack. And she says, "I'll
call your wife for you." So she calls my wife and, you know. Why do women have cell phones? I don't know, she's not gonna answer it. So she doesn't answer it. So she says, "I got to go." She drives off, just leaves me there. Next car comes by. Literally, it's a sheriff. "I'm saved!" What are you on? I'm saved. I'm shirtless, I got no shoes on, my hair looks like I've
been drinking all night. What could go wrong? So he gets out of his car, I kid you not. "How can I help you?" I was like, "Hey, man, hey,
man, I ran out of gas." You know, "Where's your
car?" "Right there. "I just need a ride home,
can you give me a ride home?" He says, "Yeah, sure,
it's eight in the morning. "Hop in the back." OK, just so you know, I
have never, prior to this, been in the back of a police car. So there's a first time for everything. So I'm in the back of the police car. We're cruising down, he's
asking me where I live, and he's punching it in
to his little computer. And all of a sudden he
gets an emergency call. He says, "No, no, got to go. "You got to get out." So he pulls the car over,
comes around the side, and he gets me out of
the back of a police car, and there's my neighbors,
they're doing yard work, and I get out of the car. "Hi, guys!" Can you imagine if a police officer just dropped somebody
off on your front yard. "Kids, get inside." No problem, no problem. So I'm like, "OK, what am I gonna do? "It's too far to run home. "Oh, I know, there's an
elementary school up the street. "Some of the teachers
there go to our church. "So I'll run to the school." Without thinking. So I run into the school, school office, and you know, things are
a little tense at schools. I run into the school
office, I'm like, "Hey! "I need to talk to Shanalea Atchison. "She's a teacher here." So they all come out. "Why do you need to talk to Ms. Atchison?" I said, "Well, no, no, it's... "I just need her car." Thank God, thank God a fellow Sandalite, of
course, is late for school and bringing their kids late. And she says, "No, no, I
know him, he's my pastor. "I'll take him home. "Get in, get in." So she took me home, it was great. Alright, so when healthy, sixes desire to see the
world as a safer place. So if you have a friend who's a six and you post a picture of
your son skateboarding, they're gonna say, "Where's the helmet?" That's just who they are, man, it's safe, and that's good 'cause
we want living kids. So, when unhealthy, here's the thing. They see only potential risk and danger. That's all they see. They only see the negatives. They have a hard time seeing the positive when they become unhealthy. Everyone's unsafe. Everyone is a risk. They trust no one, oftentimes including the people
that are closest to them. So then their life becomes
dictated by fear and anxiety. So what happens to Peter when
he's focused on the Lord? He has faith. What happens when he looks
at the world around him and he only sees risk
and danger? He sinks, and his life becomes
dictated by fear and anxiety. And look at American culture. Most of us are sixes. Our life is dictated by fear and anxiety, and many of us are
shut-ins and we go nowhere. So sixes, when unhealthy,
don't trust people, causes them to avoid new experiences and to sabotage relationships, because when you believe
that people are unsafe, you're gonna cut the relationship off, you're gonna cut them before they cut you. And you become your own
self-fulfilling prophet. So the core sin of the six is fear. Fear. Fear can drive you to do crazy things, can actually drive you away from God. The healthy Loyalist is
always in pursuit of courage, always, every day. How am I going to be courageous today? How am I gonna have
courage in my marriage? How am I gonna have courage at work? How am I gonna have courage
in my relationship with God? How am I gonna have courage with my kids? How am I gonna have courage with myself? Always in pursuit of courage, trusting God themselves,
and eventually others. God will get you there
as you pursue health. So here's how the six needs to be real. The six needs to be real with self. I want you to focus on those first. It says be strong and
courageous and do the work. Courage takes work. It takes work. Every single day when we face fear, we will choose to be courageous or we will choose to be afraid. We all have a choice. Be strong and courageous and do the work. Don't be afraid or discouraged for the Lord my God is with you. He's with you. He will not fail or forsake you. Here's what the Bible says, God will remain faithful
even if you are faithless because he can't deny himself. He's faithful to the end. He doesn't let Peter drown. He saves him at the moment he loses faith. That's the God that we worship. That's the God that we love. He did not come to condemn us, but he came to save us. When you're at your lowest,
don't run from God, run to God, because he loves you, he
sent his son to save you, and no matter what's
happening in your life, you need God. Be real with yourself. Next, be real with God. This I declare about the Lord: he alone is my refuge. He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust in him. Why is this important
if you're a Loyalist? Because people will never be loyal to you in the way that you are to them. One of the hardest things
for my wife over the years has been watching people leave the church. And I have to remind her
over and over and over again, God did not call us to follow them. He called us to follow him. He is loyal. Listen to me, focus on God, stay with God. Some of your family will fall away. Some of your friends will fall away. You may have spouses and
children that fall away. You must follow God
despite what the world does because he alone is your refuge. He alone is my place of safety. He is my God, and I trust him. I trust him. How do you need to be real with others? Man, if you're a Loyalist, look at this verse, look at
the beauty of your beauty. Never let loyalty and kindness leave you. We live in a world that is
loyal to no one but themselves. If you're a six, we need you. We need people that are loyal. Loyal. That stick with it, that stay. Man, don't ever, ever give up on the gift that God has given you. Man, one of the things
that I love about my wife is she stayed with me
throughout the years. This weekend we went
to a leadership retreat at our church for our staff, and one of the young ladies in our church who's now in her late
30s got up and shared, and as she was done, I said, "I just want to
tell you about this lady." I said her name is Julie and I asked her, how old were you when you
started coming to Sandals Church? She was 18. 18 years old, a college freshman. She's been with us. I've watched her go through
college, get married, have kids. Here she is, 38 years old, and I said, here's one of the things that I love, is watching people who've stuck with us through everything and been loyal, and look what God has done with her life. Don't you ever give up on the loyalty God has blessed you with. Don't you ever let go of kindness. I don't care if everybody
else doesn't have your gift. God gave it to you, don't let it go. Because when you are
loyal, you are like God. Be loyal. It says never let loyalty
and kindness leave you. Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor
with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation. Listen to me, if you're a six, people are gonna recognize your loyalty whether they acknowledge
it publicly or not. And deep down in their hearts, they wish they were more like you. So how do you love a six? Please, learn from my wounds. Number one, be secure and consistent. Guess what I was when we got married? Not secure, not consistent. Always tell the truth, no
matter how painful it is. If you want to destabilize your life with a six, lie to 'em. Lie to 'em. They may not have liked what you've done, but they will respect the truth you told. Always tell the truth. Always. Because if you lie, what you've done is you have awakened that monster of fear that lives in their soul. And what it tells them is, "I can't trust anyone, including you." Next, thank them for their loyalty to you. Thank them. Just like I thank Tammy,
just like I thanked Julie. Thank them for their loyalty. Thank you for sticking with
us through thick and thin. Thank you. Next, encourage them to be courageous. Look, my wife's never
gonna be a big wave surfer. That's not happening. She's not gonna paddle out
when the waves are big. But every now and then she'll join me out in
the ocean waist-deep. Right? She'll come on out. What do you got to do, guys? Don't do what I used to do. "Oh, what's that?!" Right, freak her out, don't do that. It feels funny, but it's not. Right? Celebrate 'em, man. Thanks so much for coming out,
swimming out in the ocean. You have no idea how hard it
is for them to be courageous. My wife has a little note
right by our bedroom, and it says, you have
survived 100% of the days that have come before. So there's hope. Like, my life is, what could go wrong? My wife's life is, what could go right? Thank them for their loyalty, encourage them to be courageous. Next, fiercely support
them when they're right. We live in a world that has a hard time standing up for what's right. Sixes see truth and
they bring us all to it. Support them when they're right. One of the weaknesses of the six is they have a hard time trusting the internal compass God
has placed in their hearts. Remember they have a
discernment about people? Sixes have that. You've got to trust them and support that. Next, lovingly correct
them when they're paranoid, 'cause they're gonna be paranoid. I got a friend of mine. He's a pastor, he's gone through some horrible, horrible things. There's been awful things written
about him on the internet. I mean, his family has been protested. They had to move. They've gone through all
kind of just public drama. So when he calls I never
answer, you know why? 'Cause when he calls, it says blocked. So I have no idea who it
is, so I never answer. So then he texts me,
"Why didn't you answer?" And I always reply, "'Cause you're paranoid
and I don't know it's you." I just call him on it. "You're paranoid." Not everyone is out to get you. Not everyone is unsafe. You have to be able to identify people, lovingly correct them when
they're paranoid, right? Fear can run out of control. You're not gonna drown when
Jesus is standing there. It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen, right? When you teach your kids to swim, "I'm gonna drown, I'm gonna drown." No, because you're in arms' length. I got you. I'm right here. I'm not gonna let you go. I'm not gonna let you drown. I care about you, I love you. It's OK. Just swim, right? It's OK, you're not gonna drown. So here's the prayer for the six. God, help me to be faithful to you. Help me to trust you even when people who speak
for you are not trustworthy. Help me to take courage every day. Help me to rest in your power
and to trust in your goodness. Listen to me, life is cruel,
and the world is not good, but God is loving and kind
and faithful to the very end. Don't you dare confuse the world with God. They are not the same. Listen to me, some of
you are crippled by fear. Fear is owning you. And today's the day you
need to let God own you. You need to let God take over. And you need to rid yourself of this fear. And you need to take your
attention off the waves, off the storm, and off
of what you're sinking in and put your attention back on Jesus. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a good and gracious God. We thank you that you are
trustworthy, that you are loyal, and that you are kind. And in the moments when we
are overwhelmed with fear, you are still with us. Even when we doubt,
even when we lack faith, you are there. God, speak to us today. Help us, Lord, not to
listen to fear because he is a liar. Help us to listen to you because you are true. You are stable, and you are trustworthy. God, help us to turn from
fear and turn to you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
