"Withstanding the Winds of Life" with Pastor Rick Warren

if you pull out your message notes inside your little uh program bag we're looking at part four of our series today on building a better life with the title of withstanding the winds of life now during this series we've been looking at two big ideas one of them is that there's a better level of living than simply the good life we call it the better life good life's good you're already living the good life looking good feeling good having the goods but the better life is the life that's at the next highest level and now is the perfect time to step up to this higher level after all of the storms and all of the winds of change that we've been through this past year in our uh covid pandemic and all the other storms that we've had you've had to adopt to a lot of different things god doesn't want you to resume the same old life but instead he wants to reset a better life reboot to a better life rebuild re redefine restart for a new life so far we've looked at eight principles okay we've looked at eight principles for rebuilding your life and today we're going to look at four more now one of the most powerful forces of nature is wind it is wind uh you know kay and i live out in the canyon and we have canyon winds uh for several months in the year and in the whitney season it's it's brutal i remember one time we had a giant uh about a 15 foot uh uh trampoline and the wind came along and this is a heavy thing and it blew it up against the second floor of our house and in the wind i had to go out and i couldn't even pull it down the wind was so strong i had to take it apart one little spring at a time to take it apart have any of you ever lost uh patio equipment to to the wind okay you know what i'm talking about one of the most powerful forces of nature is wind you know one time god actually gave a wind show to elijah look up here on the screen first kings chapter 11 verse chapter 19 verse 11 it says this the lord told elijah go out and watch what i can do to a mountain with wind so elijah watched as the lord sent a great and powerful windstorm to hit the mountain and it hit with such a hurricane force that it split giant boulders and everything was torn loose and coming apart you know that last phrase could be a description of this last year everything was coming loose and being torn apart everything was coming loose and being torn apart now we know that winds are very powerful can winds knock you off balance yeah of course they can can winds blow you over yeah can they cause you to fall yeah can winds blow away valuable things yeah you've lost some things maybe from the wind can winds cause erosion yes wears things down the winds force you off course yep you know your head in one direction the wind have you ever had to drive in a heavy wind and you just feel like it's pulling you over to the side one way the other it's a very strong force can winds wear you out yes yes winds can wear you out yeah is it harder or easier to work in the wind it's harder it's harder and that's why part of stepping up to the better life that we're looking at in this series means learning how to handle how to manage actually how to withstand the rogue winds of life you see living a better life this life we're talking about for several weeks it's not a problem-free life you still have problems in the better life it's just now you have a stronger foundation and you have um better better skills because you can handle the problems better in your life there on your outline proverbs 10 25 says this storms can blow away unrighteous people but the godly have a foundation that keeps them standing firm the godly have a foundation that keeps them standing for so that when the winds of life come into your life you're not blown away by the problems that you have now the bible uses wind as a metaphor for a lot of different things both good and bad both good and bad and we're going to look at some of those metaphors before i share uh four biblical principles for withstanding the wins in your life i just want to ask you to consider for just a minute uh a simple question and the question is this what kind of winds are are blowing in your life right now okay help me think this through what kind of winds are blowing in your life right now and i've written down there are there some winds of change are there some things winds of change that have that have blown into your life are there winds of opposition are you facing some opposition physically and mentally emotionally spiritually are there winds of temptation that you're facing are there winds of conflict that are caused causing problems in your life are there winds of trouble by the way these terms are all used in the bible winds of testing winds of trouble winds of temptation now all of those things that i just mentioned do you know what they have in common they're all uncontrollable winds are uncontrollable and that's what we're talking about this weekend the things that you cannot control in your life you can't control the wind you never have you never will and there are relational wins there are financial winds there are spiritual winds there are physical winds these kind of things happen in your life and what all these have in con common change opposition conflict trouble testing temptation you can't control them why because they're either involving other people and you can't control other people or they're involving circumstances and you can't control all the circumstances around you so what i want us to look at this week as we're on this journey to moving from the good life to the better life is how do i handle the things in life that are uncontrollable that's what i'm calling the winds in your life the rogue winds the winds that cause problems difficulties opposition fatigue but you can't control them okay these are all uncontrollable they're they're uncontrolled so what do you do with the things in your life that are uncontrollable what does god want you to do with the things in your life you have absolutely no control over you you know what to do with the stuff you've got control over but this weekend we're looking at what about the stuff that you don't have control over well the bible uses the word withstand you withstand the winds that come into your life winds of change winds of conflict winds of temptation testing trouble all these different things you withstand when i can't control a disease when i can't control another person when i can't control what's going on in my country when i can't control the direction culture is going when i can't control how my spouse acts or reacts what am i supposed to do the bible uses the word withstand now i've written down a definition here you might write this down it's on the screen to withstand means to remain undamaged by a destructive force all right this is extremely important so write this down to withstand means to remain undamaged by a destructive force and all through scripture this word is used about things you have no control over god wants you to withstand the darts of the evil one and so many many other areas all right ephesians chapter 6 verse 13 says this put on the whole armor of god so you'll be able to withstand an evil day circle the word withstand you'll label the withstand in evil days and when they're over when those evil days are over when those rogue win days are over you'll still be standing you'll still be standing so since i can't control the winds that occur in my life i can no more control the wind tomorrow's supposed to be really windy and it'll be windier for the people who are here for worship what do you do well you withstand the winds the destructive winds of light what i want us to do this weekend is look at four passages that talk about wind and the antidote to winds by withstanding all right there are four keys i'm going to give you four more principles on how to move from the good life to the better life this has to do with the problems in your life that you can't control all right here's the first key the first key to withstanding destructive wins in your life stay connected to my spiritual family i need to stay connected to my spiritual family god never meant for you to face destructive winds whether it's a death or a disease or a detour or a delay or a difficulty god never meant for you to withstand the destructive winds of life by yourself on your own the very first thing god says is it's not good for man to be alone so whether you ever marry or not is irrelevant what i'm talking about is you need a spiritual family you need a spiritual family for support so you can stay connected during the rough times of life it is one of the main reasons jesus created his church to be a family of support now let's look at passage on this ephesians chapter 4 verses 11 and following down to 14. god has given his church god has given his church gifted apostles prophets evangelists pastors and teachers to equip god's people for their work of service what's your work of service that's your ministry god put you on this earth not to live for yourself but for you to make a difference with your life that's called your ministry your work of service is your ministry so god gives these gifted people apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers to equip you for your work of service so that we in the body of christ may be built up together until we're all unified in the faith now remember we're talking about building a better life this is about how do we build a better life how are we built up we're built up in the better life together you're not built up for the better life on your own we're built up together until we're all unified in our faith and we become fully mature and grown up in our thinking like christ that's god's goal for you then here's the goal here's the here's the result of it then we'll no longer be babies tossed back and forth tossed back and forth blown here and there by every shifting wind we're not blown here and there by every shifting wind of teaching from deceptive people who lead you into error with lies that they make sound like the truth okay now that's that passage got a lot of stuff in it so let's just tear it apart a little bit at a time first circle the phrase built up god's church is his tool for building you up in the better life you cannot live the better life on your own you can live the good life on your own but you can't live the life that god intended for you on your own you need a spiritual family and it says in that spiritual family god has gifted certain people to teach you and to build you up i'm one of them i'm a pastor i'm a teacher god has gifted me to build you up for the better life my gifts aren't for my benefit my gifts are for your benefit and god has given you gifts and your gifts are not for your benefit your gifts are for my benefit and everybody else too our benefits are our gifts are always for the benefit of others that's how we need each other in the family of god now it says that their job these apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers guys like me women like me it says their job is to keep you from being blown away by false ideas blown away by shifting winds of teaching what are shifting winds that's something that people believe it this year and next year they believe something else and next year they believe something else opinions shift the truth never changes if it was true a thousand years ago it'll be true in a thousand years from today but an opinion changes facts actually change you know nothing is more irrelevant than a ten-year-old science book and nothing is even more irrelevant than that than a five-year-old computer book they're worthless you use them as door stops why because they don't stay current because it's not simply truth and they were they get out of date and stuff that we used to believe we now know we don't believe that anymore we know that's not true we now know even stuff about biology and about anatomy things that doctors used to think well that piece of the body is irrelevant we don't we now know well we've discovered a little bit more it's it's more relevant than we thought so our job my job is to help you not be blown away by shifting winds of teaching from deceptive people who lead you into error with lies they make sound like the truth okay let me just say this i beg you to stop watching cable news i beg you to stop watch cable news i don't care what channel it is just stop watching cable news why because they are deceptive what do you mean they're not telling me the truth no they're telling you a partial truth because now we don't have news anymore we now have opinion and people will tell you what they tell you is true but it's not the whole truth it's not all the truth they're only telling you the part of the truth they want you to hear they're not telling you all the truth they're not giving you the whole picture they're giving you partial truth and partial truth means it's partial untrue because it's not the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me god all right so it says the first thing we need to do is we need to stay connected to our spiritual family these people in the family help us with the shifting winds and all the deception that's out there and people who are sharing lies that make it sound like the truth god's tool built up is to build us up for a better life by the way let me just stop for a minute and say i'm proud of you guys i'm proud of you i commend you why because you have stayed connected to the body of christ in this last year a lot of people didn't stay connected and they wandered off here and there and i mean you're here at service the moment was opened back up you were watching online i value you i commend you i praise you for staying connected why because that's how you keep growing unfortunately there are people that the moment we stopped having public services they're they're gone and they're never coming back they won't be back at church white they got out of the habit so i commend you for doing that here's the first key to withstand stay connected to my spiritual family here's the second key to withstanding write this down put into practice everything i learned that's the second thing god tells us to do in order to withstand the tough winds of life i need to not just hear the word of god you've been hearing it you've been listening to it online you've been coming back to services since we reopened public services but more than that you put into practice you don't just listen to god's word you do it you obey it you practice it and that's what helps me withstand stuff i can't control here's what jesus said very important passage in matthew chapter 7 it's the last words of his famous sermon on the mount matthew 7 24 and 25 jesus said everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice circle that puts them into practice is like the wise man who built his house on a solid rock the rains came down and the waters rose and the winds there's that word the winds blew hard and beat against that house yet it did not fall that's my goal for you that when the winds blow against you you do not fall why because it had its foundation on the rock now notice when a storm comes it says three things happen the rains come down that attacks the roof of your life it says the floods come up from the ground that attacks the foundation of your life and it says the winds blow that attacks the walls of your life so you're getting from the top you're getting it from the bottom you're getting from the side and it said the only way you're going to make it through the rogue winds of life the stuff you can't control when you get a diagnosis that you can't control if you have a special needs child you can't change if you have a circumstance or or an inability or a disability that you can't you gotta have to live with your entire life as you get old and things change in your life what do you do with those things you can't control first i stay connected to my spiritual family second i practice everything i learn and it says there then because you put it into practice your house is built on the foundation on the rock now what's the rock the rock is this book it's it's the word of god and the more i build my life on this rock the more solid i'm going to be the winds can come at me i i can lose a son to suicide i can have a wife get breast cancer i i can have enormous physical problems myself a brain disorder i i can have criticism i i can have all kinds of things that i can't control but they don't devastate me why because i'm practicing what this book says in john 13 17 the next verse jesus says this now that you know these things you will be blessed if you know them oh it didn't say that did it now that you know these things you will be blessed if you what do circle that do the blessing doesn't come in knowing right now you're knowing right now you're learning i'm teaching you four ways to handle things that are uncontrollable in your life the four things all of these are antidotes to the winds of life you need a strong family spiritual family to give you support you need a foundation of god's word that you trust when everything else can be changing in your life now that you know these things you'll be blessed if you do them you know it occurred to me that some of you are new to saddleback church we have used these outlines these message notes for 40 years and a lot of churches don't use these you know they you know you don't have anything to write anything down on but it's one of our hallmarks of saddleback church and maybe you're new to saddleback and i thought i might just pause here as we're getting started back in public worship to remind you why we use these things because maybe for the last year you've been watching the service on your iphone or your android or whatever and you're not taking notes now that we're back i encourage you to take notes why here are the reasons why do we use handouts not everybody has a bible okay number two it relieves embarrassment in finding text some of you say if i said turn to the book of job and and you go where's that one okay and then you're over there and think job or maybe this is the book about work or something you know and what's this all about hey guy who's hay guy we're going to look at him in the weeks ahead uh relieves embarrassment and finding text we can cover more verses in less time when i put them all out here we can read verses aloud together we can review what we learn later we can compare multiple translations we can emphasize key words by circling or underlining we can remember and retain more and we can use it for small group study and discussion i've told you this before that the united states air force did a study and said that you forget 90 to 95 of everything you hear in 72 hours you forget 90 to 95 of everything you hear in 72 hours if you want a statistic to depress a pastor that's it okay because it means i'll spend 20 plus hours preparing to teach you you know a lesson from god's word realizing that by wednesday you will have forgotten everything except the jokes unless you write it down the shortest principle a pencil is longer than the longest memory so i what i need to do is i i need to write it down outlines help us fulfill james 1 25. those who look intently into god's word perfect word that gives us freedom and continue to do this and remember what they've heard and then do it they are the ones who will be blessed in what they do you want to be blessed notice the four things it says you got to do in order to be blessed four things first you look intently into the word of god that's study it you look at it intently you don't just listen you look at it intently and you continue to do that that means you make it a habit and then you remember what you're that means sometimes you memorize a verse and we'll do that you remember a verse and then you do it that's the practice part he said they are the ones who will be blessed and these outlines help us do that all right with those two out of the way let's get to the third and fourth key and these are even more important in understanding how to handle situations in your life that are out of control number three the third key to withstanding wins is this when it comes into my life something that i cannot control turn my focus turn my focus to how great god is turn my focus to how great god is when i'm going through a situation i have no control over i need to remember that it may be out of my control but it's not out of god's control turning my focus to god and his greatness there's a word for that it's called worship anytime you turn your focus to the greatness of god you are worshiping okay you're worshiping worship listen worship is the secret of withstanding worship is the secret of withstanding the uncontrollable things in life when i go i cannot control this i can't do anything about it i need to flip my focus and think about the greatness of god and his power and how it's not be it may be out of my control but it's not out of his i'm going to put a sentence on the screen here that i want you to write down when battered by a wind don't tell god how great my storm is tell the storm how great my god is okay write that down when i'm battered by a wind that means something totally out of my control i just can't do anything about it my spouse is having an affair i can't do anything about it uh my kids are going crazy uh i i got a bad health report when i am battered by a wind don't tell god how great my storm is how great the wind is instead tell my storm how great my god is my god is i turn my focus to how great god is worship is the secret to withstanding now there is a beautiful example of this in the new testament in matthew chapter 8. and the story here is jesus is out in a boat with his disciples on the sea of galilee and he's asleep now the sea galley is a huge huge lake and it's very easy for quickly for storms to come up suddenly in fact pastor tom and i many years ago in a trip to um israel went out on a boat on the sea of galilee and out in the middle of it all of a sudden it was a beautiful day when we went out and all said in the middle of the in the middle of the lake the dark clouds came over suddenly it started pouring raining it started getting windy and i was that excited about being in that boat okay because it came it was it was like big gale winds and and choppy waves in the ocean so here's the story uh that gives us the example of how to turn our focus to god and how great he is matthew verse 24. suddenly that's always how storms come that's always how winds come suddenly and they don't warn you in advance suddenly without any warning a violent wind hit the lake so that giant storm waves swept over the boat and threatened to sink it but jesus kept on sleeping think this is funny okay the ship's going like this tossing and turning there's a little ship out there a three-hour tour you know and it's it's about to capsize jesus is not paying anything he's totally asleep he's at peace he's not worried jesus kept on sleeping so the frantic disciples woke him up shouting lord you must save us and they didn't say it that calmly you must save us we're going to drown jesus replied why are you so frightened your faith is so small then he simply spoke to the winds what are the winds the uncontrollable forces in your life he spoke to the winds and the waves and everything became completely calm what's out of my controls then out of god's control everything became completely calm and the men were amazed and they asked themselves what kind of man is this even the winds and the waves obey him now this whole experience leaves them in awe of jesus they're not afraid they're worshiping him why because they've just seen him have power over nature and if god has power over nature he's got power over everything else here's the point why were they afraid they're afraid the boat's going to sink do you really think it's going to sync with jesus in it if they'd realized who was in the boat with them do you think they would have been afraid they forgot who was in the boat with them if jesus is in your boat your boat is unsinkable it isn't going to sink if jesus is in your boat it's unsinkable so what are you afraid of now worship when i worship when all of a sudden i've got negative things in my life and a lot of stuff i can't control i can't control my salary it's set by somebody else i can't control other things all these things that i'm worried about worship is a way to set your sail so that the winds drive you in the direction you want to go rather than a direction you don't want to go and the direction you want to go is let the wind drive you to jesus let the wind drive you to focus on god let the pain let the problem let the stress drive you to get closer to god and when i do that i'm not going to have to be afraid that's a choice am i going to worry or am i going to worship all right let worship set the sails so that the negative things that happen in your life actually drive you further in the direction you want you can't control the wind but you can control the direction or the set of your sale and a good sailor knows that you can take a win that's totally opposite you and still move in the direction you want if you set your sail correctly that's your attitude that's the way you trust you can't control the wind but you can control the set of your sail and i do that by choosing to worship now there's one more and i wanted to spend the most on this and that is the fourth key to withstanding how do i withstand in stuff i can't change in my life that's just there and here it is number four very important remind myself how much jesus cares when i am going through a period that scares me to death when i'm going through a period i don't like when i'm going through a period i don't want when i'm going through a period that i can't control i don't just focus on how great god is that's his power i also focus on his love and i remind myself how much jesus cares now there's another boat incident in the bible this is different than the one we just looked at that teaches this truth of reminding myself how much jesus cares in mark chapter six here's another boating incident out on the sea of galilee mark 46 47-48 it says this another evening the disciples were out in their boat in the middle of the lake and jesus was alone on land so he's not in the boat with them this time but jesus saw his disciples were in trouble okay from the shore he could see they're in trouble rowing hard with their oars because the wind was against them so jesus decided to walk out to them on the lake this is his famous walking on water miracle okay he sees they're in trouble background of this story god jesus had said you guys get on the boat i want you to take the boat up to bethsaida it's a three-hour trip up the coast of the sea of galilee to get to beseda nine hours later they're way off course they're out in the middle of the uh of the middle of the sea of galilee and can't even get back to shore they're way way off course why rogue wins and so rather than something was going to be a three-hour trip up the coast it's nine hours and they're dead tired now in this passage i just read you i want you to notice and i'm not going to go into this in detail but in those few verses i just read we see six common reasons we get fearful we see all six of them right there first it says uh another evening it's nighttime they're in the dark isn't it true that your fears go up in the dark isn't it true that you get more anxious you get more um fearful when you can't see your way i don't see any way out of this financial problem i don't see any way out of this mess i don't see how we're gonna make it through this when you're in the dark and you can't see well then you get fearful okay second thing they're in the middle of the lake what's that mean they're far from the safety of shore okay they feel insecure when you feel insecure and you're not near safety you're out in the middle of the the the lake you get fearful then it says they're in deep water they're out of their comfort zone they're in deep water they're out of their comfort zone they're not in the shallows of life they're way in over their head some of you right now are in a situation where you're way in over your head and that's making you nervous it's making you fearful it's making you uh anxious so it's night time it's there in the middle of the lake they're in deep water the fourth thing that reason they're fearful is jesus isn't in the boat so they feel like they're all on their own and when you feel like you're all on your own maybe you feel that way right now this thing that i'm facing i'm facing it all on my own i i'm trying to handle it all by myself i'm sorry that's why you need to share it with your spiritual family and let other people pray with you pray for you work with you support you that's why you need a small group jesus when you feel like you're not you're on your own then it says and the wind was against them we get fearful when we feel opposition when we feel like opposition is preventing our progress the wind was against them what's against you right now what uncontrollable circumstances are against you and that's causing you to feel fearful okay and then it says jesus saw that his disciples were in trouble rowing hard with their oars because the wind was against them they're in trouble rowing hard you know what they're frustrated and they're tired and you know what when you get frustrated and when you get tired your fear level goes up your anxiety level goes up now i'm sure your many of you are identifying with at least one of these things you're in the dark you feel insecure you're out of your comfort zone you feel like you're on your own there's opposition preventing your progress when you're frustrated and you're tired you've been rowing all day and you're not making any progress they've been on the ocean on the lake for nine hours and it was only a three hour trip now that's the reason we get fearful but this same passage that i just read gives us the three reasons why you don't need to be fearful the three reasons why you don't need to be upset on the things that are out of control and here they are first thing is it says jesus saw his disciples were in trouble the first reason you need to be afraid is that jesus notices our struggle jesus notices our struggle he pays attention to our struggles did you know that everything you're going through right now there's nothing that jesus hasn't noticed he knows what you're going through he pays attention to your struggle and just as he saw his disciples from the from the shoreline gone they're having a hard time rowing and they can't get back to shore they can't get back to safety he sees where you're struggling he sees where you're straining now here's what happens the disciples are unaware that jesus is paying attention to their struggle so they get scared when you're unaware you get scared when you forget that god is paying attention to every problem in your life then you start acting like it's just you it's not just you you get scared when you're unaware that jesus is paying attention never forget that jesus pays attention to every single detail of your life that's a fear reliever job 31 verse 4 here on the screen says he sees everything i do and counts every step i take so i should not be fearful even in in uncontrollable situations in the winds of life because jesus is noticing he's paying attention it's not like he's unaware number two he doesn't just pay he's not just aware he cares second thing jesus cares about your fatigue and jesus cares about your frustration he sees his disciples they've been out there for nine hours rowing and they're not making any progress and they're tired like you're tired after what's happened all this last year jesus is not just aware he cares he cares and he saw that they were rowing hard but there's another thing he not only pays attention and he not only cares he does something about it the third thing we see is that jesus comes to me at my moment of desperation jesus comes to me at my moment of desperation this story is actually chose in the book of matthew in the book of mark and in another gospel too it's in three different gospels so mark chapter 6 says this it was the fourth watch of the night when jesus decided to go out to them they're out there caught in the middle of the lake walking on the lake this famous walking on water miracle now it says it's the fourth watch of the night do you know what time that is that's between 3 and 6 a.m that's the fourth night of the watch in the darkest time in the loneliest time they're exhausted they've been fighting as i said the storm for nine hours they're not getting anywhere and the storm's blowing them way off course many of you feel that way that covid and all these other factors these other storms that we've talked about have blown you way off course what does jesus do when you're desperate he comes out to you notice that jesus did not stand on the shoreline and shout instructions he didn't stand on the shoreline and tell him what to do he goes out to the people that he cares about he comes to you in your moment of desperation and he goes out to where they are and he intervenes friends that's the gospel a god who intervenes a god who becomes incarnate a god who comes to earth a god who becomes one of us who takes on all our problems and dies on the cross for our sin he didn't shout from heaven new instructions he comes and says i'll solve the problem that you can't solve he comes out to you i don't know what you're going through right now but i will tell you this you may feel abandoned right now but you're not you are not god is with you god is with you and you need to open your eyes and see jesus walking on the water coming to you in your moment of desperation between 3 and 6 a.m in the fourth hour in the darkest part of the night this is the promise of jesus john 14. look here on the screen john 14 verse 18 i will not abandon you what is it about that you don't understand i will not abandon you i will not leave you as orphans in the storm i will come to you will you let him come to you today in the problem you're going through you stop trying to row and do it all on your own power and let jesus come to you by the way how does jesus come to you when you're buffeted by the winds when you're buffeted by those uncontrollable circumstances you can't change if you wanted to how does he come to you when you're buffeted by winds and waves i'll tell you how he does walking on the very problem you're afraid of he walks on the waves they're afraid are going to lap into the boat and sink the ship he's walking on the water why he's god and he say how does he do this friends this is not hard to understand if you understand that jesus is god since jesus is god that means he created water he can part the water he can stop the water he can get water out of a rock he can walk on water he can do anything he wants to with water he's god he invented it because he's the creator now the rest of the story there's a great sub story of faith and doubt and it says this so they see jesus walking out to him in the middle of the night scares them to death they think at first it's a ghost and it says then peter he looks out there and he sees jesus walking he says lord if it's really you tell me to come to you on the water so jesus said come on come on down so peter jumped out of the boat started walking on the water toward jesus but when peter looked at the wind you're always going to get in trouble if you stop focusing on god's greatness start focusing on the wind when peter looked at the wind he became afraid and he began to sink so he cried out lord save me and immediately jesus reached out his hand caught peter why did you doubt jesus asked okay so you just had a little faith why did you doubt and when they climbed back into the boat the wind stopped then those in the boat worshiped jesus saying truly you are the son of god now i think this is really kind of interesting here that before jumping out peter asks for id lord if it's really you tell me to come be with you okay can i join you now peter is not doubting the possibility of walking on water he just wants to make sure it's jesus okay he wants to just make sure that he's really seeing the lord peter knew it's safer to be with jesus out of the boat than to be in the boat without jesus so he goes i'd rather be out there with him on those waves than in here without him and jesus says come and you know what i am absolutely certain that when peter said lord if that's really you invite me to come walk on the water i'm sure that pleased the heart of god he thought that's my boy he's willing to take a risk he's willing to move against the impossible he's willing to move against the storm he's willing to go against the uncontrollable winds and i'm sure it pleased him so much because that's what faith does it's peter gets the experience of a lifetime because without faith it's impossible to please god john ortberg wrote a book if you want to walk on water you got to get out of the boat where do you need to get out of the boat post covered where do you need to take a risk that you've never taken before now it's interesting in fact you might write this down that peter as long as he focused on jesus he's he's doing just fine as soon as he starts looking at the problem he starts sinking you might write this down when i trust instead of think i walk on water instead of sink when i trust instead of think i walk on water instead of sink you know what the problem of many of you is you think too much you overthink everything and that keeps you worried when but when i trust instead of think i walk on water instead of sink now notice jesus reached down to peter and he says you of little faith notice he didn't say you of no faith the guys in the boat were the guys who had no faith peter had a little faith he just kind of lost some of it but when jesus gets in the boat you notice the storm stops because the only unsinkable ship in the entire world was that boat at that moment because jesus is in it john 6 21 and after they took jesus into their boat they were able to reach the destination they'd been trying to head for on the shore are you getting this after they took jesus into their boat they were able to reach the destination they've been trying to head for on the show some of you been trying to get to a certain destination but you're doing it on your own power you're rowing on your own power and you're rowing against uncontrollable winds and you're not going to win against uncontrollable winds but you take jesus in your boat and you focus on his greatness and you remember how much he loves you and know that he cares and that he comes to you in your deepest need and they were able to reach their destination that is my goal for you in 2021 i want as your pastor who loves you your friend your buddy your spiritual coach i want you to reach your destination in 2021 but you're going to have to do these four things we just talked about now let me conclude by mentioning this sometimes god sends wins himself they're not from satan sometimes god sends wins from self in order to help you grow and opposition and problems can actually be beneficial to you if you let it grow your character you grow stronger with opposition you grow stronger through um difficulty and opposition can be helpful if you respond correctly a kite rises against the wind a kite doesn't fly with the wind a kite flies against the wind and the stronger that wind is the higher the kite can go i have found in my own life that the greater the opposition the higher i can go the higher i can go kites rise with the wind they use the wind they use the opposition to soar even higher that's what i want saddleback church to be known for that's what i want you to be known for last verse psalm 104 verse 4 you lord use the winds as your messengers hello what is god trying to say to you through your uncontrollable circumstances you use the winds as your messengers what message is god trying to get to you what is he trying to say to you he's trying to say stay connected to your spiritual family he's trying to say put into practice everything in his book don't just hear it you only get blessed if you do it he's trying to say focus on my greatness and remember i will never stop loving you and i care and i see and i'm aware and i pay attention to everything in your life and i will come to you in your hour and moment of despair just trust me and if you'll let me get in your boat there is no way it's going to sink let's bow our heads jesus christ thank you for your word that it's practical it's relevant thank you you have given us church family that we may be built up together so that we all become fully mature so that we all become grown up in our thinking and then we'll no longer be spiritual babies tossed back and forth and blown here and there by every shifting wind lord there's so many shifting winds in our society today that are just wrong they're they're wrong they're faults they're lies they're half truths and they're led by deceptive people who want to lead us into error that they make sound like the truth help us to look to your word knowing that it will always guide us in the right way why don't you pray say jesus christ you know the winds in my life you know the uncontrollable circumstances that scare me frustrate me and fatigue me help me to do these four things you've told us to do to stay connected to my spiritual family help me to put into practice everything i learn help me to focus on your greatness and to not just tell you about how big my problem is but tell my problem how big you are help me to remember that you will never leave me alone and thank you that you come walking on the water the thing that scares me the most in my deepest need jesus christ if you've never invited him into your boat say jesus christ come into my boat today be in my heart be in my life be my lord and be my savior in your name i pray amen

Channel: Pastor Rick

Views: 107,539

Rating: 4.8779902 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Rick Warren, Pastor Rick's Daily Hope, Pastor Rick, Rick Warren sermon, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church, Saddleback, christianity, church, church sermon

Id: cW9NFQ2-2x0

Length: 57min 15sec (3435 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 21 2021