Transcription
Welcome, YouTube family. My name is Joanna, and thank you for tuning in today. If you haven't already, please subscribe to our YouTube to stay up-to-date each week. We believe God has a powerful word for you today. So, let's dive into this amazing message.
If you are taking notes, the title of my sermon is "Steady in the Storm." Steady in the storm. What does it mean to be steady in the storm? Why is it important to be steady in the storm? Uh, the first thing I want to say is this: the reason you have to be steady in the storm is because you are going to go through a storm.
Every person goes through a storm. I don't care who you are, where you come from. I don't care what you, what you think you know, or or how smart you think you are, how wise you think you are, or how storm-avoidant you think you are. We all go through storms. Uh, better yet, everyone in this room is in one of three places: you're either going into a storm, you're either in a storm, or coming out of a storm.
But we all have a relationship with the storm. Every single person goes through the storm. It is the way of life. It happens to all of us. Good and bad go through the storm. Yeah. Rich and poor go through the storm. White and black go through the storm. Democrat and Republican go through the storm. I mean, every type of person goes through the storm. Vegans go through the storm. "I'm hungry and I'll eat again" goes through the storm. Like, every type of person goes through the storm. Jesus went through the storm. Joshua went through the storm. Moses went through the storm. Gideon went through the storm. Every person experiences storms, and storms have a person, a purpose.
But I will say this: God don't, God don't only care about you surviving the storm. He wants you to be steady in the storm. He don't just want you to survive the storm. And most of you guys are just trying to survive it. "I'm just, Lord, I'm just trying to make it through. Lord, I'm just trying to survive the storm. Lord, I'm just trying to get to tomorrow." And the Lord said, "I don't only want you to survive in a storm. I actually want you to thrive in the storm." I want you to do more than just make it through. I want you to go through the storm with a certain posture. I want you steady in the storm.
And when you're steady in the storm, there's so many benefits to being steady in the storm. And I will get ready to share those with you. And I would say, if you are a Christian, it is imperative that you go through the storm properly. One of the things that breaks my heart is seeing Christians go through storms poorly. And the reason why it breaks my heart is because as a Christian, you have something that the unbeliever don't have. You have the savior of the universe. You have the savior of the universe. You have a refuge in the middle of a storm. Which means if I have the savior of the universe, the savior of the universe, and a refuge in the storm, I should have a "steady in the storm" that the world don't have. Because I have a savior in the storm that the world don't have. But many times the Christian is worse in the storm than the worldly person, and they lose their opportunity to model to the world what a storm looks like when Jesus is in it.
We don't just go through a storm. We go through storms with Jesus. He doesn't leave us nor forsake us while we're in a storm. Can we give him a shout of praise?
[Music]
And there's all different types of storms. There's financial storms, health storms, emotional storms, relational storms, mental storms. Storms could come in many forms, and there's typically five causes of a storm. Uh, the first storm you run across is a promotional storm. A promotional storm comes from God. It's a storm that when God's getting ready to promote you or elevate you, he allows you to go through a storm so it can prune you, so it can refine you, so it can strengthen you for the next thing God has for you.
Uh, the second kind of storm you go through, this storm is the kind of storm you cause. It's called a relational storm. Which means that if you're in relationship with the wrong people, you inevitably invite certain storms into your life. The people that was on the boat with Jonah all went through a storm because of who they was on the boat with. There are some people that's on your boat that you're going to have to ask to exit because they're going to keep bringing storms into your life. "I'm, I'm, I'm going to be here for you. I'm praying for you. I'm interceding for you." But if you're living a lifestyle that keeps attracting storms, not from God, not from random, I'm going to have to get you out my boat 'cause I'm not going to go through a storm every week 'cause you crazy. I ain't going to be going through a storm every week 'cause you don't trust God. I ain't going to be going through a storm every week 'cause you jump from God to God to God. I'm not going to be in involuntary storms 'cause you crazy. No, no, no, no, no. You going to get out my boat.
Number three, there are random storms. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. What does it mean in life? It rains. There are random storms. There are some storms that just happen. There are some storms that happen to you that's out of your control because as a parent, your child can get hurt. That's a storm. Um, your job could close. That's a storm. There are things that's connected to you that affects you that has nothing to do with you that can cause a random storm or a random health problem or a random diagnosis. There is certain things that just bring random storms that we have to go through as humans. Even Jesus went through storms.
Now, this is the funny one. There are storms of disobedience. There are some storms that you are going through because you are disobeying God. You are disobeying the word. You're not walking in truth. You're not following the Holy Spirit. And you're just being disobedient. Some of you guys are in financial storms, rejecting everything the Bible says about finances. Some of you guys are in marital storms, rejecting everything the Bible says about marriage. Some of you guys are in emotional storms, rejecting everything the Bible says about emotions. And there are just some storms that you bring on yourself. And I want you to know, if you're in a storm of disobedience, it can only be ceased by a storm of obedience. When you walk in obedience, it stops the storm of disobedience. But if you keep walking in disobedience, the storm of disobedience has the right to you until you change.
So there's a storm that is formed through your disobedience, and only your obedience can cease it.
Number five, and these are the worst kind. There are spiritual warfare storms. There are some storms that you go through where the enemy is trying to break you. Where the enemy is trying to silence you, where he's trying to muzzle you, where he's trying to kill your incentive, he's trying to kill your faith. He's trying to kill your hope. There are some storms that you go through that are storms of warfare. There's times where you are on mission and the devil is coming to bring omission to your mission. He's coming to stop you. He's coming to fight you. He's coming to muzzle you. He's coming to silence you.
There are some storms you're in because you're in a war with the devil. And it is a storm. But I want you to know, when you're in a storm with the devil, you can take dominion over that storm. You can take authority over that storm. You can take power over that storm. Oh, give God a shout of praise in this place.
No matter, no matter the cause of the storm, there is always purpose in the storm because God doesn't use the storm to destroy you. He uses the storm to develop you. God does not use the storm to break you, but he uses it to build you. Do you know that the storm has a purpose? That you are better because of the storm. You are stronger because of the storm. God has a plan in the storm. And your job is to be a turbine in a storm. A turbine is those big old things in the field, and they got those big blades on them, and they spin. And what they generate inside of our economy is energy. And turbines love storms because they harness the energy of the storm to turn it into electricity to power our economy. God is saying, "I don't want you to just avoid a storm. I don't want you to just run from the storm. I want you to be a turbine in a storm, harnessing the weight of the storm, harnessing the rain of the storm, harnessing the energy of the storm, and using that and leveraging it to catapult you into your destiny, catapult you into your purpose, catapult you into your calling." God says, "Don't just run from the storm. Use the storm."
If you have the proper perspective, you will see that this storm is not destroying you. It's developing you. It's not breaking you. It's building you. It's not resisting you, it's refining you for what God has called you to do. "I'm a turbine in the storm. I'm going to use the storm to make me better, to make me wiser, to strengthen my faith and my hope in God." Oh, I'm a turbine in the storm. If you're a turbine in the storm, give God a shout of praise. I'm better because of the storm. I'm wiser because of the storm because I cannot control the weather, but I can control my worship. And I choose to worship in the middle of the storm. And I trust God in the middle of the storm. I trust God.
You have a choice. A storm can be a gym or a graveyard. You decide. If you decide to make it a gym, it will strengthen you. It will make you stronger and wiser. If you decide that it's a graveyard, it'll end you. God, you decide what the storm is.
If you have your Bibles, go to Mark chapter 4. You decide. I'm so excited to preach this message. Never preached on a storm before. Indirectly, but never directly. Mark 4. Give you guys a second. It's hot. Got any, uh, AC? Can we turn it down? I feel like I'm rotisserie up here. Just cook it. Who want brown meat? My, my, my, jeez. Sorry, guys. It's a little hot. There's two types of people in the world. There are people that sleep in the 70s on the thermostat, and there's people that sleep in the 60s. If you're not in the 60s, don't come to my house 'cause that thermostat going to be on 61 all through the night. Everybody in my house hot. The baby hot. Every, we ain't even got a dog, and a dog hot. Everybody hot. Man, I used to go to my mother-in-law's, but now I can't 'cause she set at 75. I'm like, "I will call you. I love you. I will take you to lunch. Can't come over. Too hot." Anyways, that ain't got nothing to do with Jesus or this sermon.
So, Mark 4. We're going to start at verse 35. And it reads, "On the same day when evening had come," I just love the Bible. It's so cool. "On the same day when evening had come." What does that even mean? I don't know. He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." Who is he? Jesus. Jesus told the disciples, "Let us cross over to the other side." When Jesus said, "Go to the other side," you know what you do? You go to the other side. It says, "Now when they had left the multitude, they took him alone in the boat as he was." So they took Jesus with them in a boat. I mean, that's a cool boat if Jesus is in it, right? And other little boats were also with him. And a great windstorm arose. Not just any kind of storm. A great windstorm. When the Bible calls the storm great, you know what that means? The storm is great. And the waves beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on a pillow. So the waves is beating against the boat, jumping in the boat, and Jesus is asleep. And not only is he asleep, he's asleep on a pillow. And then they awoke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" Let me give you a modern translation: "Jesus, do you not care that we're about to die?" Okay, we're about to die. And it looks like you don't care 'cause you in here asleep, Savior. That's a modern version.
Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace, be still." And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. See, whenever you're going through a great storm, I want you to know that Jesus has a great calm for your great storm. That's not in my sermon, but it'll preach. But he said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" Jesus is like, "Dude, like, what's going on here?" Verse 41. And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the seas obey him?" Because the wind and seas obviously got more sense than us. Because half the time we don't obey him, but the wind and seas know better. It's about time we learn, too.
So, um, let's kind of jump into this and let's kind of extrapolate this and see what the Lord can speak to us and teach us about this. They're in a great windstorm. A great windstorm. And they're inside of this storm. And you have to get context because these disciples are professional fishermen, which means these guys have spent their whole lives on the sea. Um, in my business, I work a lot with fishermen 'cause I supply their uniforms. And I talk to them and I, and I asked one of the fisher guys, I said, "How often is there a storm or anything you're in the boat of and you get scared?" He's like, "Very rarely. I've seen just about anything that can happen in the sea." Well, I feel like Peter and the disciples, who were fishermen, they saw the same things. Great storms happen over there, even greater storms in America. They have been in plenty of storms. They saw these storms. So, a storm wouldn't be abnormal to them. They're like, "Okay, it's a storm." For these guys to be terrified, feeling like they're about to die, it wasn't just any storm. It was a great storm.
And these guys are inside of the storm. And instead of being steady in the storm, they're scared in the storm. Wow. And they're scared because they're seeing something they never saw before. And you got to be careful in the storm because when the devil brings a storm, he's not going to just bring a storm you're familiar with. He's going to bring a storm you're unfamiliar with. He's not going to just bring something you've been through. He's going to introduce something you've never been through. You're going to see something you've never saw. You're going to feel something you've never felt. You're going to experience something you've never experienced because he knows an uncommon storm is more likely to freak you out and to make you afraid.
So, the disciples are scared, and they're pro-fishermen. And it's one thing to be scared in a storm, but then you get mad because your protector, your Jesus, and your savior is asleep in the storm. Have you ever been in a storm and you felt like Jesus was sleeping? Let me tell you about this storm. Do you know that before Jesus was asleep, the disciples have been everywhere that Jesus had been? If Jesus was asleep, it's because Jesus was tired. Which means if Jesus was tired, the disciples were tired. And isn't it just like the enemy to send a storm while you're tired? He don't send a storm when you're on a mountaintop. He don't send a storm while you're worshiping. He don't send a storm while everything's going right. He don't send a storm when you got the promotion. You got the pay raise. No, no, no. He waits until you're tired. Then he dispatches the storm.
So they are tired. The storm is coming. And as the storm starts rising, it's getting big. It's beating against the boat. You have the old quote. You know the old quote, and it says, "A boat was designed to sail over the sea. As long as what the boat was designed to sail over don't get in it, it can sail all day. As long as the water don't get in the boat." But if the boat's in the water, it can sail. But when the water gets in the boat, the boat sinks. Well, Peter is like, "Dude, the water's in the boat." The preaching ain't going to work 'cause the water's in the boat. Which means we feel like this boat is going to sink. The waves are beating on the ship. They're getting in the ship, and the savior is asleep. Not only is he asleep, he's asleep on a pillow. Which means, see, there's two types of sleepers. There's a dozer, where it's like, you know, they didn't mean to go to sleep. They, you know, your husband trying to watch a movie, he's, he kind of dozed off. He didn't mean to. But then there's the deliberate sleeper. Yeah. When you got a pillow and a blanket, this was a plan. You didn't fall asleep. You went to sleep. I got grace if you fell asleep. But I ain't got no grace if you went to sleep. Jesus had a pillow, which means sleep was in his plan. He planned to go to sleep. And because I know he knows everything, he planned to go to sleep knowing I would be in a storm.
So now Jesus is asleep, and I'm in a storm, and now I'm frustrated. So now they go and they violently wake Jesus up, saying, "Do you see? We're about to perish. We're about to die." And I know how they woke Jesus up. It's because when I used to sleep when I lived with my mom, she would be screaming my name at the top of her lungs. I would get up out of bed. I would jump down the stairs because I got to save my mom from this intruder. And when I got downstairs, she said, "Clean up this living room." I came down here to rescue you. I came down here to save you and avenge you, and you want me to sweep? And it's sick. Yeah. This is my mom. This is why I don't live for her no more. This is why at 18 I knew we had to go our separate ways 'cause we ain't doing that. I'm grown now. I was a day grown. I was gone. You ain't going to be waking me up at 6:00 in the morning. This is not a storm. You can sweep yourself, ma'am. Sorry, Mom. I know you're watching. You know what you used to do.
So they violently wake Jesus up, and Jesus, he gets up, and he comes, and he does what Jesus does. He rebukes the storm. He rebukes the storm. He rebukes the storm. He rebukes the storm. But Jesus is confused because he's saying, "The reason why I'm confused and I'm looking at you is this wasn't my storm to rebuke. It was yours." This was your storm to rebuke. Jesus rebuked the disciples because it wasn't his storm to rebuke. It was theirs. In other words, he's saying, "I gave you dominion. I gave you authority. I gave you the ability to talk the storms. I gave you the ability to cease the storm. I gave you the ability to shut up the storm and silence the storm. You have authority. You have dominion. You have power. And then also, I gave you the ability to have faith." It's one thing to have faith in the savior you can't see. It's a whole another thing to have the refuge on the ship and yet you still fear.
[Applause]
So, so, so, so, so, so, so, at this time, Jesus is like, "I've given you power to rebuke the storm, and you didn't rebuke the storm. But more than power, I've modeled something to you. I've modeled posture to you." I modeled posture to you. Jesus showed them the posture that you should have in a storm. And the posture is steady. What is more steady in a storm than sleeping in a storm? In order to sleep, you got to have peace. In order to sleep, you got to be still. In order to sleep, you got to be steady. Jesus said, "I slept in the storm because I was steady in the storm." But you couldn't sleep because you was scared in the storm. And so many times when it comes to a storm, we all subscribe to Jesus's power, but none of us subscribe to his posture. And his posture was to sleep in the storm and to be steady in the storm. But many of us don't want to sleep and be steady. We want to be scared because somehow we think being scared is going to fix the situation, or it's going to stop the situation, or it's going to reverse the storm. And Jesus is saying, "No, no, no. You don't need my power. You need my posture because if you had the right posture in the storm, you would know that the storm can't destroy you because the Savior is present." He said, "I want you to know something. The presence of the storm is not the absence of your savior. Don't mistake my silence for absence. Just because I'm silent doesn't mean I'm not present. I am in the storm with you. I am in the fire with you. I am in the water with you. My silence is not absence. I am a refuge in the storm. I am shelter in the storm. How are you scared in a storm when your savior's in the storm?"
Jesus rebuked their fear because he was near. It's one thing to be scared in a storm, but it's a whole another thing to be scared in a storm when your savior walks on the sea. He was like, "Every, the reason he rebuked them for being scared in a storm, every storm that has showed up before this moment, Jesus handled. And every storm after this moment, he would handle. When there was a storm of hunger, what did he do? He multiplied fish. When there was a storm, when they needed to pay taxes, what did he do? Called fish to bring money. Whenever there was a storm, Jesus had a solution. So he's saying, "At what point do you realize that your savior is the solution to your storm?"
[Applause]
He's the solution to it. He gave you power in the storm. But not only did he give you power, he modeled posture. He modeled what it meant to be stable. He modeled what it meant to be steady. You have to be steady in the storm. Psalms 46 says that "Our God is a refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Do you know that Jesus isn't a distant help in trouble? He's a present help. Which means when you're in trouble, Jesus is present. Okay. Can we go a little bit deeper?
Let's go a little bit deeper. Jesus rebuked the wind and then he said, "Peace, be still" to the sea. He rebuked the wind and then he said, "Peace, be still" to the sea. Let me explain this. Jesus rebuked the wind. Whenever Jesus rebukes something, it's because it has a satanic connotation. So Jesus don't rebuke anything godly. He only rebukes something satanic. Which means that if Jesus rebuked this storm, that means that this storm was originated from Satan. Why would Satan originate this storm? Because when he was saying "go to the other side," they was going to the Gaderenes. And in the Gaderenes, there was a man demon-possessed that needed to be delivered. Once this man got delivered, he was going to bring revival to his region. So, Satan saw that man about to get delivered, he sent a storm to stop the mission of them delivering this man. The storm was demonic and it was satanic. And because it was demonic, we had the power and Jesus had the power to rebuke it because it came from Satan. There's demonic storms that don't show up in your life. And those are storms you rebuke. "I rebuke this spirit of witchcraft. I rebuke this fear off my kids. I rebuke this spirit of lust. I rebuke this spirit of porn." This is a satanic sword, and I rebuke it in the name of Jesus. I call forth faith right now. I call forth fire right now. I call forth healing right now. I call the presence of God right now. I rebuke this storm.
[Applause]
Jesus rebuked the wind. And why did Jesus rebuke the wind? Because the Bible calls Satan the prince of the air. What does it mean to be the prince of the air? It means that Satan on earth, he works through air to get his agenda done. In this sense, he worked through air. He was working through wind. But he always works through air. He works through airways. He works through media, through TV, through communications, through lies, through ideas. He's the god of the air. He works through air. He has no matter and no power. So all he can use is air. And he works through the air. He's the prince of the air. And if he's the prince of the air, guess what you can do? Rebuke the air. I can rebuke the air. He uses airways to get his agenda across. I heard it said this way: "He's using television to tell his vision." He uses air. And in this particular storm, he used the air. And Jesus rebuked the air because he used the air. Satan used the air because he's the prince of the air. The Bible calls him. He uses airways. He uses natural elements. He uses air. He uses storms. He rules by the storm. He terrifies by the storm. He brings fear by the storm. But I got power to rebuke the storm.
So Jesus rebuked the wind. When he rebuked the wind, here's what he did. When he rebuked the wind, he stopped the storm. So my question is, if he rebuked the wind, then why did he also correct the waves? If you rebuke the wind, why isn't that enough? Why did he rebuke the wind and then correct the waves? It's because if you ask any sailor, they'll tell you that whenever a storm comes, once the storm passes, the aftermath of the storm is called the swell. And though the storm is gone, the swell and the waves keep raging and roaring, and they stay boisterous hours after the storm is gone. So when Jesus rebuked the wind, he was rebuking the storm. When he rebuked the waves, he was rebuking the swell. He was rebuking the aftermath of what the storm caused. Because some of you guys went through a storm and you lost something. But even though what you lost was restored, the anxiety still stayed because it was a part of the swell. Some of you guys went through a breakup, and even though the breakup is over with, you still can't trust nobody because of the swell. Some of you guys had an anxiety attack, but even though the anxiety's gone, you still are skeptical about what's to come next because of the swell. Some of you guys were in a situation and someone says something about you, and though they apologize, what you go home and think about yourself still keeps echoing. It's called the swell. Jesus said, "I don't only rebuke the storm. I also rebuke the swell. I rebuke what the storm leaves behind. I rebuke the remnants. I rebuke what's happening in you after they betrayed you." I'm not just stopping the storm. I'm also correcting the swell.
And in life, so many times we go through storms, but if we're not steady through the storm, after the storm, we're still facing the swell. And Jesus said, "It's not just enough to get through the storm. You have to correct the swell. You have to correct what you think, what you feel, what you're experiencing." Because a lot of the war that people are fighting in this room ain't what just happened to you. It's what happened 10 years ago. That you didn't have a father present, and 20 years later, you still have a father wound. And he said, "I ended that storm. You are father now. You don't even need a father no more. I'm your father." But yet you can't commit because of the swell. You have a rejection wound, but you were rejected long ago. But yet you keep replaying that movie because of the swell. So sometimes in your life, it ain't the storm that needs to be rebuked. It's the swell that needs to be rebuked. It's the effects of the storm. And Jesus said, "I'm going to rebuke the storm, but I'm going to silence the swell." And some of the swells that you have are swells of anxiety. And you got to look at anxiety and say, "Shut up." You got to look at fear and say, "Shut up." You got to look at worry and say, "Shut up." Shame, silence. You have to silence. You have to tell anxiety to be still and quit running around in my mind and quit running around in my heart. I'll give God a shout of praise in this place. I'm not only rebuking the wind, but I'm silencing the swells because there's times in your life where the storm is gone, but the damage remains, and now you're fighting what the storm left behind. You don't only have to rebuke the storms, you also have to still the swell.
Psalms 107:29 says, "He calms the storm, so that the waves are still." He's calming the storm, but he's making the waves still. And you have to still the waves, the remnants. You have to still all of that in your life. You have to say, "Peace, be still" on the inside of you. You have this raging storm on the inside of you. Because the only reason why the enemy brings a storm outside of you is so he can get a storm inside of you. Because the storm outside of you actually can't destroy you. It's only the storm that's inside of you that can destroy you. And you have to look at the storm on the inside and say, "Peace, be still." If you can still the storm on the inside, then you have the authority to still the storm on the outside. But if you can't still the storm on the inside, you lose authority to still the storm on the outside. Peace, be still. Peace, be still. I got to calm the storm.
Jesus said to them, "He said, 'Why are you so fearful? How is it that you don't have any faith?'" So Jesus is saying, "How are you fearful? How is it that you don't have any faith?" He's saying, "You're, you're fearful and you have no faith." The reason why the enemy brings fear is so he can freeze faith. It's hard for fear to not take over faith because fear isn't silent. Fear talks. Fear talks. Fear. Fear isn't enough. Fear. Fear is greedy. It's not just enough that you're scared. Fear tells you that you're never going to be able to pay those bills. You're never going to be able to raise these kids. You're never going to make it up the storm. You're going to die. And then fear lies on God. Fear is a liar. It says, "God's going to let you die." Soon as they got scared, what is the first thing they said? "Are you here to let us perish?" "Are you going to let us die?" Soon as they got scared, they criticized Christ. And that's what fear does. "God, you blessed them, but you didn't bless me. You saved them, but you didn't save me. You anointed them, but you didn't anoint me." And what fear does is it makes you a critic towards God. And you can't criticize God and believe in him at the same time. So he said, "Why are you afraid?" He's saying, "Why don't you have faith? You should have faith. I'm in the storm with you. I'm in the fire with you. You should have faith. You should be steady in the storm."
But many people ain't steady in the storm. They're scared in the storm. You know, some people, they just go through the storm just bloodshot, red eyes, white around their mouth. Like, "What you going through?" Like, "What happened to you?" If you are dating before you decide to get married, I'm going give you some pastoral advice: Don't marry nobody you haven't watched walk through a storm. Don't marry nobody you haven't watched walk through a storm 'cause you will be up for a rude awakening. You'll be like, "Who are you and what did you do with my spouse?" If you're bad at the storm, it's time for you to get good at the storm. And to be good at the storm is just to trust Jesus in the storm. That's all.
But how you handle a storm says a lot about you. Employers in here, before you start hiring folks, tell me some storm stories. I need to hear how you handle a storm because I know that a storm is going to come, and I need to know how do you deal with the storm. How do you handle the storm? Because the Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. I need some people around me that's steady in the storm. I need a spouse that's steady in the storm. We need a church that's steady in the storm. A storm will come, but are you steady?
I remember one night, I'm driving home from Wingstop, and a bad storm broke out in Tex County. And I got a car full of my friends. We're at Wingstop, and we're driving in the storm, and I'm the only guy. There are girls, and I'm driving. All I hear is they're hollering, and I'm sitting here and I'm steady in the storm. I'm driving. The wind starts blowing, the the car starts shaking and moving. Oh, but my face didn't. I was steady. Steady. Why? Because in the middle of the storm ain't the place to fall out. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. While I'm driving this car, these girls' parents trusted them in this vehicle with me. Not just in the sunshine, but also in the storm. This bride of mine, her dad handed her over to me with the expectation I will protect her in the storm. Which means I can't get scared in the storm. I can't fall out in the storm. I got to be in the storm. And all that wind and all that rain, I made it home. I uttered not a word. I got in the house. I said, "Oh my God, that was a storm." But in it, I was steady. Because being scared in the storm does not stop the storm. I got a job to do. Yes, sir. And when I'm going through a storm, I got people that look up to me. I got to be steady. I'm modeling what it's like to trust Jesus. I got to be steady. I got to have faith in the storm. I can recap after the storm. I can cry when I get home. But in the storm, steady.
You got to be steady in the storm. Now, why, why do you have to be steady in the storm? Why? What is the purpose of being steady in the storm? Why did Jesus rebuke them for freaking out? Why? It's because them freaking out was proof that fear triumphed faith. That's number one. But the real reason why he rebuked them, you just read your Bible, you'll see it. He rebuked them because the testing of their faith produces perseverance.
See, we was always taught that we get stronger if we survive the storm. That's not true. Because I've seen people survive storms that made them weaker. You went through that marital storm, and now you don't trust nobody. Somebody let you down, and now you think everyone's going to let you down. You got a bad health report. Now you walk around negative. "Lord, I don't even want to get a checkup 'cause now I don't even know what it's going to say." You didn't get better in the storm. You got bitter in the storm. Come on now. So they say, "What don't kill you makes you stronger." That's not true. What don't kill you can still make you weaker. And many people go through the storm only to come out of it weaker than they were before they entered. Because God don't just give you strength for surviving a storm. You get strength for being steady in the storm. Strength comes from being steady. So just 'cause you survived, you didn't get stronger. "I've been through all this and I'm stronger. I don't need nobody. I don't trust nobody. It's just me and God." You sound like Lucifer. Come on. That's what the storm did to you. That's what the storm did. And it's just me and God, and that's all I need. Yeah. That's 'cause you feel like that's all you have. And now you've made a doctrine of demons to pacify your wounds. Ah, my God.
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When you start talking like that, it's because you actually were damaged by the storm. And if you're not steady in the storm, you can get damaged by the storm. So you have to be steady. So the reward for going through a storm steady is strength. When you go through a storm steady, you get stronger. When I first started lifting weights, my arms would shake and they'd be wobbling. And I remember my trainer, he said, "You need a lower weight." I was like, "Why?" He was like, "Cuz the way you're shaking, you're not strengthening your body. You're weakening it. You're weakening your muscles. You need a weight that you can pull down slow and steady and push up slow and steady." That stabilization causes you to get stabilizing muscles that strengthen you, and it makes you stronger next time you lift. God don't just want you to go through a storm. He wants you to be steady and stable in a storm. So when you get to your next storm, you're stronger because of your previous storm.
And how do you know if you failed your storms? It's because you keep going through new storms that keep overtaking you. And they're overtaking you because you didn't get stronger from the last ones. Your previous storm was to prepare you for your next storm. But because you failed this storm, now you're in a storm that you can't face because you failed the last one. So your job is to get strengthened. It's to get developed. It's to get refined. It's to get faith. It's to get anchored. So when you go to your next storm, you're stronger and you're more steady and stable to face this storm because you handled the last one. David said it best: "I killed a lion. I killed a bear. Who is this giant?" It's the killing our lions and bears that equip us and strengthen us for our giants. But you were scared of the lion, scared of the bear, and then wondering why you're scared of the giant. Come on now. You have to be steady in the storm. You have to be steady in the storm. You have to be steady in the storm.
Not only do you have to be steady in the storm, you have to have perspective in the storm. Because most of you guys hate the storm because it lasts too long. But the reason the storm lasts so long is because your fear causes you to elongate the storm. Okay, let me break this down. There's wisdom on how to face a storm. There's wisdom on how to face the storm. And if you want wisdom on how to face the storm, you have to go study the buffalo. The buffalo will give you more wisdom on how to face the storm. Because whenever there's a field and there's buffalo and there's cows, the moment the storm comes to the field, all the buffalo look at the storm in unison and they run straight into it. All the cows look at the storm and they run away from it. Wow. What the cows didn't know, and what the buffalo knew by them running into the storm, they met the storm at its earliest point, which means it didn't have time to build, which means they ran into the lightest version of the storm. Because the faster you hit the storm, the lighter the storm you face.
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Also, the buffalo realized the faster they run through the storm, they actually cut the duration of the storm in half. When the cows ran from the storm, the storm started picking up more energy. And now they're, as they're running, they're in the storm double the amount of time because they're running from it. And then when they finally have to go through the storm, the worst part of the storm hits them because it's gathered all its energy. If you would learn wisdom from the buffalo, I'm not running from the storm. I'm running into the storm 'cause I know the Savior's with me in the storm. And I know if I run through this storm, I shorten the duration by half. The storm is long because you're avoiding it. You cannot stop a storm, but you can accelerate one. The storm can't be avoided, but it can be accelerated. And the Bible says, "This too shall pass." See, you're waiting on a storm to stop. They don't stop, but they always pass. But in order for a storm to pass by, you have to go through the storm. But you don't go through the storm because you're scared of the storm. And your fear makes you face a bigger, longer, more destructive storm. Yes. But if you would run into it, you would embrace it. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." And if you would walk through the storm with faith and with Jesus, you will lighten the load and the damage of the storm. You will lighten it. This too shall pass. The buffalo knows something about the storm that the cow don't know. They know that if I run through it, it too shall pass.
Here's the thing that you have to know about a storm: A storm can't stall. It has to pass. Only way a storm stalls is if you avoid it. But if you run into it, you accelerate it. Let's give King Jesus a shout of praise.
So, we're going to go a little bit deeper. A little bit deeper. You can be asking the question, "Yeah, I hear all that, preacher, and it's good preaching, but I don't like the storm. I don't like it. Why do I have to go through the storm?" You have to go through the storm because there's benefits of the storm. So, the storm has benefits. So, when we have a storm, as bad as they get, here's some of the benefits that come from the storm. The storm cleans our climate. It cleans the atmosphere. So, there's a lot of uh uh dust and junk and stuff in the atmosphere. The storm comes and sweeps all of that out. It cleans the atmosphere. Uh, the next thing that the storm does is it comes and it brings water and it brings nutrients inside of our soil. So it strengthens vegetation. There are some plants that cannot germinate until a storm hits. Wow. And one of the best things that the storm does is the storm pulls on the trees so hard that it causes the trees to strengthen their root systems and run deeper so they can be stronger the next time a storm comes by. And the last thing the storm does is it prunes off all the dead branches and everything that's not anchored around it. It exposes what's weak. And God says, "I'll allow you to go through the storm to change the climate." There's a climate for your destiny that sometimes only a storm can bring. There's a faith. There's a trust. There's a hope. There's a climate. And also, there is a ground that the storm produces in your heart that it makes you ripe. It makes you ready for 30, 60, and 100fold. It gives you good ground. It purifies your soil. Another thing it does is it strengthens your root system. So, you're grounded in Christ. You're grounded in prayer. You're grounded in intercession. You're grounded in the word because I've been strengthened by the storm. It's tried to pull me away from God, but it strengthened me in God. And that's why when you see the disciples and you wonder how could they be so bold, and how can Christians today be so weak? It's because these Christians ain't been through nothing. But those Christians were fire-tested. Those Christians were storm-tested. Those Christians were wind-tested. And the more you pull on the tree, the deeper the roots run. Maybe you don't have the deep root system because you haven't had no wind come and pull on you because scientists show that when a tree is planted, no matter how good and healthy it looks, if it never experienced wind, it has a shallow root system and it blows out of the ground. God says, "I let you experience wind." So when rains came and wind blew, it was proof you was grounded on the rock. You was planted on the rock. So the storm couldn't destroy you. It would only fortify you.
Wow. And then lastly, the storm prunes. There are certain people that can't go with you to the next level, but you don't know the difference between real and fake until the storm hits. The storm lets you know who's not planted. The storm lets you know who's not anchored. The storm lets you know who's not for you. See, some of you guys are in relationships. You get a little bad health report, and now he's running off. That wasn't your husband. That was an impostor. But it took the storm to reveal to you what's fake and what's real. So the storm lets you know what's anchored. It lets you know what's planted. It lets you know what's real. There's benefits to the storm. God didn't bring it to destroy you. He brought it to develop you. So the next time you see a storm, don't run from it. Use it.
Have the wisdom of the eagle. The eagle, when he sees a storm coming a far ways off, he goes and he flies right above the storm. And then the drift of the storm lifts him up, and he just soars through the whole storm on top of it. And God said, "If you had the perspective of an eagle, if you would lean into the storm, the drift of the storm would elevate you and lift you up. And instead of being beneath the storm, you could be on top of the storm because the storm wasn't used against you. It was used for you." Do you know that you can leverage the storm? You can leverage the rain. You can leverage the pain because pain turns into power when you let it. You can leverage it.
So, as Christians, let's not be afraid of the storm. Let's not be scared of the storm. Let's lean into the storm. Yeah, I don't like it, but I trust God. I don't like it, but I believe God. I don't like it, but I got faith in God. I'm not scared of the storm. I'm using the storm as my MD comes up. And lastly, Jesus wants you to have peace in the middle of the storm. See, many of us, we have peace before the storm, and we have peace after the storm. But Jesus wants you to have peace in the middle of the storm. Which means right in the middle of the storm, right in the middle of the rain, right in the middle of the wind, you will have peace. He don't want to bring you peace after the storm. He wants you to have peace in the middle of the storm. See, the disciples missed the lesson. They didn't have peace in that storm. They had peace after it. But Jesus wants you to have peace in it. Jesus had peace in the middle of the storm. And when you have peace in the middle of the storm, you can sleep through it, or you can get up and you can speak to it. Either way, Jesus was like, "I don't even got to rebuke it 'cause it ain't bothering me. I know that I'm making it to the destination. I know that I'm going to the Gaderenes. I know that I'm delivering this man." It's like, I think it's more of an insult to Satan to sleep through the storm than it is to speak to it. Yeah. I don't even got to speak to it 'cause I sleep through it.
Wow, what a powerful message. We hope it blessed you. Make sure to share with your friends, your family members, and your co-workers so that they can be blessed as well.