Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 11 with me Hebrews 11. I'm excited to dive in tonight What's happening in our world is a little bit intense? We've been in family meetings over the last couple months and and man don't we need a family meeting going into this week Someone say amen to that man. I need a family meeting I father we need you to give us a briefing on this week And so I want to start by reading in Hebrews 10 here say amen if you're there with me Amen amen We're gonna pick up at verse 10 Hebrews 11 verse 10 the writer of Hebrews is giving a little bit of a Crash course in the heroes of faith and he's sharing their stories and he's talking about faith and right now he's talking about Abraham and Sarah And their family line so we're gonna pick up in verse 10 it says for he Abraham was looking forward to the city that has Foundations whose designer and builder is God by faith Sarah herself received power to conceive even when she was past the age Since she considered him faithful who had promised therefore from one man and him is good as dead talking about Abraham Just an old guy We're born descendants as many as the stars of heaven as many as the numerable grains of sand by the seashore These all died in faith talking about all the heroes of the faith.
They all died in faith not having received the things promised But having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were Strangers and exiles on the earth for people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland If they'd been thinking of that land from which they had gone out They would have had every opportunity to return but as it is the desire of better country That is a heavenly one therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared for them a city Called the new Jerusalem last couple weeks We've been talking about the end times and signs of the times and how there's actually an end to the story Jesus is gonna return and he's gonna establish the kingdom of heaven on the earth There's gonna be a heavenly city and it's physical like you can touch the the golden streets You can touch the walls of the buildings Jesus is gonna establish a heavenly city a new heavens and a new earth And that's the end of the story and what this passage is saying is All of us that have given our lives to Jesus were exiles and were aliens on the earth in other words If you've given your life to Jesus, this isn't home, right? You're not home yet. You're not in your home country yet. You're not home yet So so if Biden wins, you're not home yet if Trump wins, you're not home yet, right?
Because we're not defined by a political party. This is this has been said probably a thousand million times by the church during the season I know that I'm it's like I've said this a lot every preacher says it a lot But we have to look at the Bible and go okay, so my identity isn't tied to what happens this week Right because I'm of a different kingdom So my kingdom is not of this world and all of the heroes of the faith They're going our kingdom isn't what was happening through legislation in our lifetime My trust and my my safety and my peace and my hope was not in what was in front of me It wasn't the results when we're waking up on Wednesday, and it's like wow is a landslide or wow is 269 tied Right, it's like that is not our hope How many of you guys know it's like the the Christian thing to say during any election here? It's like Jesus for president, right? It's like we want Jesus as a president listen.
It's gonna be Biden or Trump Like let's just be real. It's like it's not Jesus. It's Biden or Trump this year, okay But your pastor you're supposed to say Jesus for president, okay Listen the reality is it's not gonna be Jesus as the president of the United States And that's that's what we have to look forward to the next four years is Jesus is not gonna be president And so either way we look at it We're gonna get to the end of the week the end of the month and I don't care who you're voting for it's gonna be a disappointment It's gonna be Biden or Trump and they're both gonna be a disappointment It's just the reality. I don't care where you land on all the topics It's gonna be a big big disappointment because no one's gonna measure up To a king of a different age to a king of a different kingdom Nobody's actually gonna line up and can compare what I We're of a different age.
We're of a different kingdom and yet our feet are on the ground right now, right? So it's like oh, that's really great the heroes of heaven. They were waiting for a different age But it's like no, but this week's gonna happen and last week already happened and COVID cases were accelerating like they haven't before In the states, right? We're hitting records for COVID It's an election week.
We could get to the end of the week and cities across America could be on fire Just I mean we can picture it, right? I can see the news. I can see the neighborhoods That could be what we're seeing at the end of the week The stock market took a dive that was just like the one in March almost as big as the one in March not quite that huge What is it this week? I don't know but the reality is this week could be pretty intense And we can't just like ignore it and act like it's not happening.
We have to look at it and go whoa The storm might be coming this might get a little dicey Turn in your bibles to mark four How do we follow in the footsteps of the heroes of the faith? How do we follow in their footsteps because how many of you know that all of the heroes that are in Hebrews 11? They didn't get there because the journey was easy They didn't get there and it wasn't accounted to them as righteousness. They wasn't like man You're a hero of faith because you had an easy road No, there's like difficulty that they faced so when we face difficulty when a storm's happening How do we actually carry ourselves?
Mark four, this is just such a fun story. Oh my goodness How do you guys have heard the story of Jesus calming the storm, right? How do we have peace in the storm? That's what I want to talk about tonight If this week is going to be a storm, how do we have peace in the storm?
Mark four verse 35 it says this on that day When evening had come so it's like it's nighttime. So the setting here is nighttime He said to them let us go across to the other side And leaving the crowd they took him with them and the boat just as he was and other boats were with him And a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion That's so funny And they woke him and said to him teacher do you not care that we are parishing And he awoke and he rebuked the wind and said to the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was great calm And he said to them why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith and they were filled with great fear and said to one another who the heck is this guy that even the wind and the sea Obeyed him so jesus. He's had a full day of teaching how many of you guys have done public speaking before You've done like a presentation at work And all the ceo that you know the the the c-suite leaders that come around the table and you're supposed to be the presentation As he might have done that and you're like Um, okay.
I got this powerpoint. I've got my clicker, you know or maybe you've done that in class Public speaking is people's worst fear, right? Jesus has just spent a whole day in public speaking mode if you've ever done that you get to the end of your day and you're like Oh my gosh, I'm so tired So exhausted so jesus is tired Sleece which is so human of him, right? It's like he's a man What is he doing?
He's just like playing playing at cool like hey, I'm gonna go sleep even though I'm gonna be praying I never sleep I'm jesus. No, he actually was a man that slept at night. Okay, so he actually got tired physically He's a fully godfully man. Okay, so jesus he leans over to one of his disciples He's standing in the boat talking to a crowd on the edge of the shore and he leans over to his disciples He's like hey, let's go the other side and so they get a couple boats remember It wasn't just one boat if you look at the passage there's multiple boats that start going to the other side And jesus as he's in the middle of teaching he's going we're gonna go to the other side Why?
Because prophetically he knows that the man with legion is on the other side And he's going as the good shepherd. He's looking at the crowds and he's going this is amazing This is the 99 but I'm going after the one It's all for one for jesus in this moment He's going I know that there's praise from the crowds and that they really like my teaching But I'm going after the one on the other side in the middle of the night. I'm going into the night I'm going after him And so the disciples don't know that but they're headed over to the other side And what happens jesus goes into the back of the boat starts sleeping And the windstorm happens now the sea of galley it's it's 700 feet under sea level So it's like it's like a cavern around the sea of galley And it's famous for like vicious storms that just come out of nowhere It's like the weather patterns they just come over the edge of the caverns around the sea of galley And it just gets really intense and the fishermen have experienced this before Fisherman who am I talking about the disciples half of the disciples are fishermen They've been on the sea of galley. They've done this But how many of you know when you're in a storm it feels like you've never been in a storm before Right like this one's different No, it's like that happened like three months ago, but you're in the middle of it You're like no this one is for sure the worst That's and then the news news makes it even worse because they're like this has never happened before and there's like red all over the screen There's like the headlines and another headline and it's all red right This has never happened before listen the disciples are in the middle of the windstorm It must be intense for the fishermen to be freaking out and And then they look over at the boats on the other side the boats that are with them and they're like these guys don't even understand how intense this is How many of you know when you're in the storm and like everybody's in the storm But you're like but my boat is way more intense than their boat Right My circumstance my situation what I'm going through it's way worse than the other guys in the other boat the wind is stronger over here I know we're 20 feet away.
It's way stronger over here It's unique My difficulty is way more unique and intense and special So if you if you were only this intense you would know how hard this is Okay So the disciples they go down and they're like they're taking the buckets and they're trying to take water out and they're freaking out The wind is blowing and there's chaos everywhere and then and then they start going who do who do we need to blame right now? Jesus Jesus isn't helping us out at all he's sleeping in the back of the boat and they go in the boat They go in the back of the boat and what do they say to Jesus? Oh, this is so funny teacher You do not care that I'm trying I'm trying guys. You do not care that we are perishing It's like do you don't care we're perusing?
I don't know what I don't know the tone. Okay, you try it out in your own time Just try to act it out. Okay, but this is an intense moment and they Jesus is fast asleep and they like comment I don't know if you have kids But sometimes your kids will just like enter into the room and it's like 3 a.m And they'd be as quiet as possible And then it's like Oh Right You don't care about me and I'm gonna die. Okay What happened what happens in these moments when fear mode happens See fear always forgets Fear always forgets fear forgets what he said and who he is Fear always forgets what he said and who he is the core of anxiety depression worry Fear all of it.
It's an expectation of bad And it's a forgetting of who he is and what he said And so the disciples it kind of sounds like Adam and Eve a little bit what's happened to them in this moment of chaos Because what happens in chaos is you start questioning what he said, right? So there's confusion happening There's a little bit of chaos happening in the garden and the enemy slides in and he says but did he really say that? Right? Did he really say that?
And does he really have your best in mind? Do you hear it? It's an age old problem. Did he really care about you or does he just care about himself?
Did he really say that and so that's what the disciples they're just verbalizing. I love the rawness of it You know sometimes where you're like oh man, I'm feeling um pretty good. Like I'm doing great. Things are really intense right now Um, I think I'm gonna die, but no I'm gonna be good and I'm blessed The disciples have totally like blown out of the religious thing of like being good and I'm blessed and they're just in raw mode I love that.
I love that they could just be honest and be like hey, you don't care about me and I'm gonna die Right? Sometimes we just need to be raw and real with the Lord of like what's actually going on internally It's so much better than stuffing it. Isn't it? It's so much better than just like no, I'm okay.
I'm like not okay, but I'm okay It's like I'm good Get a die. I'm okay. All right Fear forgets what God said And who he is? See fear oftentimes we're stirred by what we don't know How many of you guys know that if I gave you a fill in the blink And it started with what if Fear has is like a black hole of what if Right what if and you fill in the blink and there's you could just follow the black hole for eternity of the what if scenarios Isn't that true and we realized 30 minutes an hour Months later, we've been in a black hole of what ifs And it's it's what ifs with culture.
It's what if with my family It's what if my with my relationship with my work with my finances. It's all the what ifs and so If you care, this wouldn't be happening. You don't care and Jesus he does the unthinkable and he like says be still and storm stops, right? And a lot of times We think well like I'm just pressing in for the miracle pressing in for the breakthrough But then we look at the heroes of faith turn back to Hebrews 11.
This is so I don't I don't even know I can't say it's encouraging. Okay, but let's look at Hebrews 11 Hebrews 11 And I want you to look at I want you to look at verse 35 Women received back their dead by resurrection praise God bless the Lord Some were tortured no, okay, uh Refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. No They were stoned they were sawn in two They were killed with the sword They went about in skins of sheep and boats destitute afflicted and mistreated of whom the world was not worthy Wandering about in deserts and mountains in dens and caves of the earth And all these they'll commended through their faith did not receive what was promised the reality is They're not commended for their faith because they got the breakthrough the reality is that Sometimes the breakthrough doesn't happen But that doesn't mean man you failed in your faith Jesus comes in and he addresses the disciples. He says peace be still And then he says to them why are you so afraid have you still no faith?
So he's talking about fear And the opposite side of fear is faith And so as fear forgets What God said and who he is faith remembers What God said and who he is Faith remembers When you look at the heroes of heaven the heroes of faith They weren't themed by all of their breakthroughs They were themed by I remember Even as i'm getting sawn in two Who you are and what you said and i'm anchoring myself not on my circumstances changing Listen hear me I'm not anchoring myself on my circumstances changing i'm anchoring myself on Who he who he is and what he said How many of you know we're gonna get to new years eve 2021 And we're we're getting ready to throw a party And we're all excited 2021. It's a new year. Come on 2020 bye bye I'm so glad I get to get to be done with 2020 2020 was the worst And then the disciples are like yeah, I was tired of those crowds Let's go to the other side and they turn around it's like oh no It's legion on the other side And we're like 2020 is gonna be the bell. Oh no Listen we always think that it's gonna be like and we're gonna be done with this and then it's gonna be so much better Legion See we're convinced that that faith always looks like the breakthrough happens in my circumstances change And faith is actually remembering what he said and who he is and banking on that in every circumstance See we're thinking like oh if Biden gets in oh if Trump stays in then it's gonna be good Then it's gonna be the way it's supposed to be and listen it's gonna be bad no matter what probably okay It's just being honest No earthly king is gonna fix all of the problems We're gonna get to the other side and it's gonna be like oh but there's gonna be a stimulus and then the vaccine and everything is gonna be great Just you watch 2021 everything's gonna be great Doesn't it sound silly for me to even say like 2021 is gonna be awesome Like hold out for that Keep on thinking that We can't base our stability and our anchor On circumstances getting better How many of you know these these faith heroes Jesus when he's asleep in the boat He's not being driven by circumstances changing Jesus is of a different kingdom and the kingdom is unshakeable You were created to be unshakeable and God You were created to be on a firm foundation Unshakeable because you're part of an unshakeable kingdom that through every fire Oh, it comes out and you get refined through every storm you come out shining and getting a little bit more polished Because you weren't anchored on the shifting sand that's changing and then the stimulus and then the vaccine and then the presidency and then Oh the Senate and the house of representatives and all of it just worked out and now we're gonna be great We're of a different world.
We're of a different kingdom. We're part of a different family. There's a different flag that we fly It's called the flag of surrender. It's a white flag And when we flew it over our lives it actually brought us into a family And it's it's a banner now And as we surrendered it turned into a banner of love and now I'm just driven and and I live in love I live under this banner of love and surrender and it actually anchors me in the middle of every storm Fear forgets but faith remembers faith remembers what God said and who he is and The the question that we have to ask ourselves when we look at this passage Is not how are the other guys or the other gals In the other boat going to be doing in the storm The question is how are you going to be doing in the storm?
How is your heart in the storm? That's the big question. We all have to make this personal and go how am I gonna do this week if it gets intense How am I gonna do if I turn on the tv and like usual it's everything is red Just all red banners of bad stuff happening. How are you gonna do?
How am I gonna do? How's my heart? This week man am I in fear mode? Am I in do you care teacher?
Do you care that I'm parishing? Or am I in oh, I'm established Hey, I'm reminded I'm reminding myself. Oh my goodness For a moment I was forgetting when I saw the news But then I remembered I've got him in the boat Then I remembered I've got the x factor in the back of my boat And the storm is swirly in the windstorm of fear It's starting to attack culture and it's surrounding me and it's blowing and there's chaos and then I remember Can you imagine if jesus walked up to the disciples and he's like okay? We're gonna go the other side and then he and he just did like a run-on sentence after that He was like hey, okay, we're gonna go the other side then there's a storm that's gonna break out Okay, you have to be really intense storm windstorm not to say so windstorm You guys know what this is like it gets intense on the sea of galley, but it's gonna be a windstorm I'm gonna be sleeping in the back of the boat.
All right, so when I'm sleeping in the back of the boat You're gonna be tempted to be afraid but don't be afraid because I'm god in the flesh Right. Can you imagine if they had a little bit of like an insight into what was coming This week We very rarely have like insight into potential intense moments happening in culture, right? We actually We have some intel That it could potentially get intense this week in america I'm not saying that it's going to but I'm saying it could potentially get a little messy And now we know Okay, this is what's gonna happen now. What do we do?
What do we do when we see it? When the windstorm of fear starts hitting We remember and I want you to write this down. It's super simple Maybe you can just I'm hoping it's simple enough you don't even have to write down you can just lock it in your brain We're gonna focus as a whole people I'm gonna make this super simple on two things who god is And what he said what he said Is that he's never gonna leave us Who he is is that he's the prince of peace What he said is he's Emmanuel God with us who he is is that he's the president of peace That's what we're gonna remember this week I don't care if the city's on fire. I don't care if your your bank account or your stocks are going down even it's like way Wow, this is bad.
Okay. I don't care if you lose your job this week Jesus is he cares and he's empathetic. He's the empathetic high priest. He's actually in the dirt with us.
He's in the pain He's in the difficulty. He's with he's a manual. So he's not just a manual when you feel like he's not just a manual when things are going well It's when things are hard, right? And so when things are hard, what do we do most of the time we forget?
Most of the time when it's chaotic we forget, but we're gonna be a people that are gonna remember In the midst of the test we're gonna remember two things you're with me right now And you are peace. You're the king of peace. You're the lord of peace And you're in the back of my boat. You're with me We're taking on water.
Jesus. Jesus. We're taking on water And Jesus might not steal the storm. Does that mean you don't have enough faith?
Only if you stop remembering Who he is and what he said. What if you don't see the breakthrough? That's okay Oh, I know you're who I know you're you're with me and I know what you said And in the middle of the storm I have an anchor and in the middle of the storm I'm okay because circumstances don't dictate how I'm doing That's who you are as a son or daughter of god. That's who you are.
Jesus didn't purchase peace So that you could be in constant fear and anxiety mode whenever it got difficult He wasn't like bleeding out on the cross and then he's like, but I just want them to have fear when things get hard Sometimes being okay when it got really difficult. No, he actually bled out on the cross god blood. So he purchased this see We're driven by circumstances and I want to say it this way We're stirred by what we don't know the what if black hole, right? But what we should be stirred by is what we do know, which is the finished work What we do know is what he's accomplished What we do know is that the work is finished so that I could be with him all the time and he's with me and we're in it together There's a there's something that we do in our house and I'm gonna close with this There's something that we do in our house When there's storms that happen and let's say, you know, there's a couple times this summer There was tornado warnings.
You guys remember some of those maybe it was just in blame and There's storms and so it's you know the the sirens are going off and we've taught our kids That all they need to do is look at mom and dad and if dad's dad's not afraid then you don't need to be afraid If mom's not afraid then you don't need to be afraid and so hey look at us and they'll go into kind of panic mode Right and we'll encourage them by saying well is dad afraid Then you don't need to be afraid and I think that we need to hear that as a people Our father when the storm is raging and the wind is blowing and it's chaotic I want us to all remember to look at him look at him. Manuel. He's with you. What is his facial expression in the storm?
Is it worried and concerned? Is it surprised? No He's looking at you and he's got warm eyes that are confident And he's going it's we're gonna be okay And he's even saying that to the heroes of faith they're getting sawn into It's a little bit more intense than what we're gonna experience potentially this week And there's bright eyes and warmth on the father's face and he's going oh my goodness. We're gonna be okay The world doesn't deserve you.
You're of a different country You have a different flag that flies over you a flag of surrender a banner of love You're driven by a different set of values a different culture a different language different pleasure different enjoyment You're just you're just different and it's okay to be different as culture is in fear mode. It's okay that you're not It's okay. I want to encourage you. It's okay to not get swept Into the moment Sometimes we might think like well, I'm just gonna plug my ears and not think about it And I want to encourage you that that's not really faith just ignoring that it's happening is not faith It's like I'm just gonna avoid it completely.
That's not necessarily faith, okay But being present in it acknowledging that it's happening and still remembering That's your destiny. Let's all stand I'm gonna commission us out. Lord. I thank you that Isaiah 26 says that you keep him or her in perfect peace For those whose mind has stayed on you in other words those who are thinking about you those who have you on their mind You keep them in perfect peace And so I just declare over this whole community that they are those that carry perfect peace in the middle of the storm Lord even if the fire is raging and it's not stopping We thank you that you're the fourth man in the fire that you're the one in the back of the boat that you're with us As the storm and the wind increases as the wind starts blowing as the chaos is happening as we start taking on water In all of our circumstances lord we acknowledge that you actually care and that you're with us in it Lord we thank you that you're you're immmanuel God with me God with us and so I declare over your sons and daughters lord that they are ones that carry The fear of the lord the beginning of wisdom They're the ones that carry remembrance of who he is and what he said I declare that you are immmanuel that the banner that we fly is surrender that the banner over us is love Lord we thank you that you're with us you're never gonna leave us and lord we thank you Oh man, I just I want to release over us Just a statement that there's actually it's all for one and that there's still someone on the other side So I just declare over this community that as we're present to you as God immmanuel That you're with us that you're never gonna leave us that you inside of us is pushing us to be all for one You're put I just declare that over these messengers every single person is a messenger in this room that you are those that bring deliverance in our city In the midst of the storm lord I declare over these sons and daughters that they're harvesters And they're always meant to go to the other side and not get stuck in the middle of the storm But actually come out on the other side confident that you're with them Thank you lord.
We love you jesus and we thank you that it's partnership with you and everybody said amen