Jesus the Prince of Peace: Calming Life's Storms

Jul 19, 2026

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38s
#PriceForPeace
“The crown of thorns pierced down in his brow. In fact, his head would have swollen up, and it says in the prophecy that his visage was marred. In other words, when Jesus took the beating in the crown of thorns, it changed the way he looked. You could not even recognize him because of the beating. That's the price Jesus paid for your peace, the chastisement of our peace. So today there is a prince of peace, and he wants to stand up in the middle of your storm, if you're in his boat and you're a disciple, and he wants to look out and say, peace be still.”
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48s
#CryOutBoldly
“Hey, get over it. You get desperate enough, you're gonna make some noise. You're gonna wake Jesus up. You're gonna call out to the Lord. And you know, you don't have to do it here at church necessarily. You don't have to be that one dude or the opera singer in the crowd that gets all the attention. We're trying to work through that kind of stuff. Alright? Self awareness. Self awareness people. But there is a time to shut the door and to go into your closet and to cry out to God with some passion and some tears and he will hear, he will deliver you. He is an ever present help in a time of trouble and he hears the cries of the righteous. But you gotta wake him up in Jesus name.”
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47s
#StripesBringHealing
“So how did I get healed? I would go to the secret place. I'd get out my my thorns. I'd have some bread and juice, and I'd meditate on Isaiah. Just say, Lord, you paid the price to break this confusion off my mind. You paid the price to get me out of this deep, dark valley of depression. And I would take communion and worship Jesus. And it wasn't an event, no angel flew through the room. But there were moments where I could feel it lifting. There were moments where I realized, oh, the substitutionary death of Jesus is real. The stripes on his back for your healing, real.”
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68s
#AssessThenRespond
“For instance, there's some storms in your life you can't get out of without repentance. You gotta turn to the Lord and say, God forgive me and then repent means to turn around and go 180 degrees in the other direction. There's some other storms that will require you readjusting your relationships and distancing yourself from some people that would qualify in the category of fools in the bible. You know the bible says call no man a fool. But if you read Proverbs in the scriptures, you can identify them. And you'll be reading along one day, you're like, oh, you're one of those. Yeah. I'm busy for lunch today. I I can't make it. So every storm requires a different response. So assess first of all, and then you can respond accordingly. If you're being attacked spiritually, here's how you get out of that storm. You fast. You pray. You come to pursuit night. You call some intercessors. You quote the word of God and you realize the enemy's coming after me but I will not stand here passively. We're gonna fight our way out of this storm.”
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58s
#PeaceBeyondComfort
“I wanna give you some application because listen, lean in. Jesus wants you to experience shalom. He actually has peace and a peace the world can't give. This is not the kind of peace you get sitting on a tropical beach with an umbrella drink. But if you can pull that off, there is a level of temporary comfort. So good on you. But this is a this is a deep shalom of your spirit. It's a knowing that first of all, have peace with God and you have peace of mind. We live in a generation with more antidepressants and and antianxiety medicine. I was doing the study. What's happened since the even the February. It's astronomical, the amount of prescriptions being dealt out to deal with people's anxiousness and their depression and all the mental issues. But Jesus paid the ultimate price to break the confusion off your mind.”
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39s
#ReachForThePrince
“But at all locations, if you're dealing with anything that has to do with your mind, depression, anxiety, confusion, waking up in the night, things are messing with your head. I would invite you today to say, Lord, I'm reaching out for the Prince of Peace. We wanna pray for you, wanna lay hands on you, wanna believe that God will start a work today, and that thing that's been over you, those voices have been messing with you, I just believe God wants to break it. He wants to silence the enemies of your storm and say, peace be still.”
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72s
#SubmitAndSail
“And if God's leading you through something, then he will give you the grace and the patience to endure and to come out the other end. Number two, how to navigate storms. Confirm the destination of whose boat you boarded. Right? Where are we going here and and who am I with? Now let me just say that the destination is always heaven. The other side of the lake is when we see him face to face. But the getting on board and being on the boat of Jesus means this, you actually fall into the category of a true disciple. What is a true disciple? We don't just say that he's Lord of my life, but we submit and we walk in obedience. You see, I look back at our two guys that missed the boat ride, the scribe who needed accommodations and the not yet dude, they didn't experience this miracle. The disciples saw the miracle. They stood amazed. Then they went over to the shores of Gennesaret and saw demons cast out and the power of God revealed. Why? Because they knew whose boat they were on And it's a boat that requires complete submission.”
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65s
#YouReapWhatYouSow
“Now in my life, this is the main culprit for stormy weather. Self induced storms. Galatians six nine, you sow it, you reap it. There's different illustrations of that. Let me give you one that might be too much on the nose, but let's go there. Let's say that like I'm I'm mean to Donna. I'm verbally abusing her. I'm neglecting her. I'm flirting with other women. This goes on for a year or two years. By the way, that's not happening. Don't clip that out and put it on Insta. And then one day, she shows up with papers and says, I'm out of here. Now I can't drop to my knees and say, why God? Why have you sent this storm into my marriage? He's not responsible for that. You know that fierce storm I went through in 2012 with the liver diagnosis? I can't drop to my knees and say, why God? Because he'd say, hey Dave, you remember all those drugs you did back in the late seventies? Yeah, this one's on you bro. It's a sowing and a reaping.”
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74s
#StormOrigins
“So most of the storms when I look at, okay, how did I get myself into this mess? It wasn't the guidance of God or the sovereignty of God. No demons were involved. I was just making some really stupid decisions and then the crop came back in the form of a storm. And then the d is this, bad company storms. Proverbs, and not the band for all my boomers. Proverbs thirteen twenty principle is this, a commit a companion of fools will suffer harm and destruction. So get this, you don't even have to be the fool, just hang out with some fools and be within shrapnel's distance and your life is gonna blow up and you're gonna go through some storms. There is a partnership storm principle in the word of God. And then the final one would be this, God's sovereign plan. He's allowing you to go through some things. He's lifted the covering temporarily to teach you and to grow you and mature you. That that does happen. So five different origins of storms. And the reason it's so important to determine the origin is that each one requires a different action.”
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58s
#FollowNow
“During this time in history, the Jewish people buried their dead same day. In fact, in Deuteronomy, it instructed them to not let the sun go down. So what he was saying in context was this, let me remain at home until my parents pass away and I settle the estate, I'll receive my inheritance and then down the road, I'll follow you. That's exactly what he was saying. And Jesus said, follow me now. I want you to follow me now. There is a lot of not yet people. You might be a not yet person in the room. God, I'm gonna surrender my full heart. I really will but I got this little thing going on. I got this side hustle. I got some sin issues. I got some plans God. But you know, someday I'm gonna give you everything and I'll follow you and I'll get in the boat. And the reason I brought up these two guys because they're at the front end of this story is we're gonna circle back and see how their decision would apply to their life down the road.”
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70s
#StormsHaveSources
“But let me give you some origins of storms and let's try to define in the next few minutes what is the origin of your storm. First, there's natural phenomenon on a broken planet. There's gonna be wars and rumors of wars and inflations and different things and sickness and disease. It's just a part of the curse, a part of the fall, and we all share in those. Jesus made you a promise in this world, you're gonna have some tribulation. But be of good cheer, I've overcome the world. The second one is spiritual attack. Storms come because of spiritual attack. This is a satanic, but more of a demonic assault, a plan of the enemy against your life. But it usually only happens when we're making a difference, when we're going after God, and when we are attempting to extend his kingdom. So if in your life, you're like, I'm gonna be a man of God. We're gonna have a household of faith. We're gonna give. I'm gonna have a small go. You're gonna face some spiritual attack and some spiritual storms. I personally don't believe that the enemy waste his resources on Christians that are just sitting on the couch with the remote eating chips. He's just like, let them go. Let them coast.”
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73s
#PeaceBeStill
“Now we all know storms are part of life. Storms just come up. They're unexpected. The nature of storms, they're disruptive. They're disorienting. They are usually they they cost us, especially if they're severe. And and we're just not ready for storms even if we think one might be coming. I I remember back in in 2020, we were awakened with loudspeakers saying, evacuate your premise immediately. And we got out of bed and opened up the drapes, and it was just an orange cloud of flame and smoke, and the fire was coming down the mountain out on English Hills Road, and houses were being burnt up, and a firestorm hit us. And it was one of those moments in life where it was it was chaotic, it was overwhelming, you're not sure what to do next. And life has those moments, doesn't it? You stick around long enough and there are some storms that hit your life. Relationally, financially, physically, in some way, something blindsides you, you're like, wow, I didn't see that coming. But what I wanna tell you today is there is one whose name is the prince of peace, and he will walk with you. He will take you through storms, and at times he will even speak to those storms and say, peace, be still.”
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74s
#NaturalStormsHappen
“And the reason that I share that is because storms on the Sea Of Galilee are a fairly common and natural occurrence. You see, the Sea Of Galilee is like in a basin and it's 700 feet below sea level. And to the east, there's Mount Hermon over 9,000 feet and the snow stays on it late into the spring. And on the other side to the west is another mountain range where historians believe that it was the Mount Of Transfiguration. So you got these high mountains with snow and cold and this low basin of warm water and the valleys and the gorges. This cold air comes down and hits the hot air and what happens? You have squalls. You have weather. They're common on the Sea Of Galilee. And and why do I drag you through that that weather lesson? Bill Nye, the weather guy up here. Just I just wanted to show you my Al Roker skills for just a moment. But anyway, the the reason I share that is storms in life are common and it might not be God's direct sending of something into your life. So let's not be quick to blame God for something he may not have sent your way.”
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45s
#JesusInTheStorm
“When we were young, we were traveling with a music band and and we had a loan from a quote Christian businessman and back in the early eighties, I didn't read the fine print on page 97 of the document. Didn't have a lawyer. Forgot to lawyer up. But it said that there would be a balloon payment due. I won't take you through the whole story, but this guy came and confiscated our travel trailers, our van, our equipment, everything I had. I got the notice in one day. A fierce and severe storm. Maybe you've been in one of those, but let me tell you, Jesus has a plan in the worst storm of your life. He's riding with you.”
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61s
#CryAndBeRescued
“But our youth pastor, Dennis, he was a state championship swimmer. Okay? And he's on the shore with all the old dudes, and here's Dave alone out in the middle of the rapids. But when I came up about the third time, I wasn't like, hey, guys. You know, if you got a moment, maybe talk amongst yourselves. I know you're fixing the barbecue, but if you could in you know, just no hurry, but send somebody across. I'll be out here like a bobber. No. What did I do? I came up out of that water. I'm freaking out. And Dennis, my youth pastor state championship swimmer, that's hard to say, he dove in the water and all I remember is arms and weights. It was like an Evinrude. Snatch me up out of the water. But listen, it required a cry.”
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65s
#HiddenStruggles
“The the crazy thing is the church was growing at a rate that was astounding. We were over in the other location, five services on the weekend, thousands of people coming to Jesus, and I'd walk out and sit in my car between services and just lay my head on the steering wheel. And I would think, how can I get out of here without nobody noticing? How can I quit and leave town? And I would go over and rehearse and rehearse my exit strategy while God was blessing and multiplying. And not to go too deep, but the confusion got so bad. I'd leave the office in the middle of the day to go get lunch, and I'd sit in the car, and I couldn't figure out which way to turn out of the parking lot. And when I did go out, I'd drive around for fifteen or twenty minutes, and I couldn't make a decision on what to eat, and I'd come back to the office without lunch. So I was in a deep, dark place, and I I was too dumb to seek counseling back then. I thought, no. What you do is you suck it up. Quote the word of God. So and there is power in that. But I did learn something.”
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60s
#CurseToCrown
“``The thorn was the curse. Genesis chapter three, remember? When Adam and Eve fell, the curse was the ground will grow thorns and thistles. Now think about this. Your savior took the very thing that was a curse upon his head so the curse could be broken off of yours. That's what happened. And so here's here's a shot of of what these these thorns look like on the thorn trees. I don't know if you can kinda zoom in on this. But as they're green, they'd have been wrapped into a crown, and a little different than if you're thinking the thorns in your backyard on your rose bush, isn't it? But when these get fully grown, they they they look like this. And and these are now we don't know the size of the thorns and the crown of thorns, but we do know this. They literally pierced the brow of Jesus. The punishment required to bring peace of mind was upon him.”
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48s
#AssessStormOrigin
“Jesus in the middle of of a storm. I wanna extract three principles that you can apply to your life today and I wanna tell you how you can navigate the storms of your life with Jesus. The first one is number one, you have to accurately assess the origin of the storm. Who is the author of this storm? Because people are very quick to say, well, God sent the storm. Jesus knew what he was leading him into and, you know, everything happens for a reason. Leviticus four. No. That's not in the bible. I just people like, yeah, that's my favorite scripture. You quoted it to me many times. But do you know that the bible actually does not say that God sent this storm?”
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46s
#HealYourTrauma
“You know, I went through a season in my life while the church was really growing. That's my final story and we'll pray, but And I didn't see it coming. And here's the deal, I had some trauma and some events earlier in my life that I never dealt with. If you don't deal with the trauma in your life, it'll eventually deal with you. And so get some confession. Go to a life change retreat. Get some good biblical counseling and work through your issues so they don't collapse upon you. But I didn't do that because I'm a boomer and I can take it. We're just gonna suck it up. Just a flesh wound. I got this. Right? And I went through deep seasons of depression and confusion.”
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54s
#SuddenFierceStorm
“Suddenly, a fierce storm. I want you to see those two words. It was sudden and it was fierce. You ever been through one of those? Yeah. 2012, I walked into UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco for a liver biopsy. I got done, they had the results. The guy wanted me to drive back over and set me down in his little room and said, mister Patterson, you have a couple options. The first one is we can get you on a list for a liver transplant. And they're not supposed to say this. We have some physicians in the room and you know, but I drew it out of them. And basically what he's saying is, get your affairs in order. Man, the church is thriving. I'm relatively young. I got a life in front of me. And I remember going out to my car in the parking garage, it was like somebody clubbed me in the side of the head. And I wanna be gentle when I went home and told Donna what the news was. But it was a fierce storm.”
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