Jesus in the Storm: Peace, Purpose, and Hope

And they tore his body off the cross and placed it inside of a borrowed tomb and a big stone was rolled in front and the world seemed to whisper it's over, he's out of here. But on the third day, the stone was rolled away not to let Jesus out. He was not crimped up inside that tomb wrinkling his hands going, man, I hope they don't forget about me. The stone was rolled away to realize that he who went in is no longer in, he's out. He came to this earth as a suffering servant. He went to the tomb as a crucified Christ, but he arose the third day as the exalted son of the living God. [01:02:06] (32 seconds)  #ResurrectionVictory

Listen to what Jesus says he offers us. What is the meaning of life? He says, peace I leave with you. Now, can can you just walk with me a second? How do I describe to you that word peace? I I mean, how in the world some somebody told me the other day, he said, Scott, you don't realize when you ask people to close their eyes and Jesus is not in their life, as soon as their lids meet, they realize how empty life can really be. And some of you are saying, if I could just drive that type of a car, if I could join that type of a club, if I can only achieve that kind of a status, and enough will never be enough. It is not something that's missing in your life. It is someone, and his name is Jesus. [00:54:27] (42 seconds)  #JesusIsPeace

Wouldn't it be great if we just ended right now and say come to Jesus and you'll never have another problem? Come to Jesus, you'll never go through another storm. Man, if that was the case, we'd have them lined up between here and Amarillo. They'd say, we want some of that. In fact, do you know that there are some preachers that have as their theology that if you come to Jesus, you'll never have another bad day? I've only got one problem with that theology. It's wrong. Amen? Come on now. Some of you are sitting here going, hey. I know that I know that I know when I die, I'm gonna go to heaven. But if we were to be gut honest about it, we'd probably say, I'm just not enjoying my trip. Because we've been battered and bruised by these storms. And sometimes they come and they rob us of joy. They rob us of our of of knowing. [00:56:56] (54 seconds)  #FaithDoesntEraseStorms

Why is there so much pain and suffering in this world? You have to go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. In the Garden of Eden, the woman was deceived, but the man, Adam, deliberately disobeyed. And from that moment, sin is thrown through the veins of every man, every woman, every boy, every girl. We're sinners before a holy God. I love to preach about the love of God. I love to preach about the forgiveness of God. But I got news for you. Every time I read my bible, I never read where it says three times he's loving, loving, loving. I've never read where it says he's forgiving, forgiving, forgiving. But you know what we do read? He is holy, holy, holy. [00:47:01] (40 seconds)  #SinExplainsSuffering

The the interview that kinda encapsulated the entire generation was that of Harrison Ford. Harrison Ford, one of the most successful movie stars in Hollywood's history. His movies have grossed over $6,000,000,000. Listen to what he said. He was being interviewed and he answered the question, quote, I've come to the point of realizing you only want out of life what you don't have. The reporter followed it up and said, what is it that you, Harrison Ford, do not have? Harrison Ford responded with one word, peace. [00:53:21] (38 seconds)  #PeaceEvenForTheFamous

You can't sidestep that. We can't treat the attributes of God like it's some buffet and go, I want his mercy and I want his joy, but that that holiness, nah. That's like brussels sprouts. I mean, you know, you you can't treat it like that. Understand because of God's holiness, I cannot come into his presence. But here is the gospel message. Because of our sin. And you could be sitting there going, you're saying I'm in this situation because some old boy named Adam? Well, we are, but none of us can blame Adam. You know why? Because you raised your hand. Or you should have. Okay? And because of that, we've separated ourselves from God. And when we could not come to him, Jesus came to us. [00:47:41] (44 seconds)  #HolinessCantBeIgnored

You know, he's he's saying three times, I've told you. I've told you. We're gonna start at the beginning. This is at the very begin he starts where he ends. Wonderful message of Christ. In John fourteen one, he says, let not your heart be troubled. Same exact grammatical structure as in verse 27. So in the original language, it's exactly the let not your heart be troubled. Listen to what he says. You believe in God. He he's looking at First Baptist Church Wichita Falls right now. He's like, y'all believe in God. Good job. That's not enough. Believe also in me. Put your faith and your trust in me. Because let's face it. This life is fleeting away. [00:59:27] (47 seconds)  #BelieveAlsoInJesus

Out of the out of the proverbial blue, as soon as that plane hit the top of those storm clouds, just above the storm clouds, the sun was shining. Now I couldn't see it because I was underneath the storm. But you know what I've realized? Now you're gonna think this is so silly, but I I'd never thought about it. Sun always shines, guys. Never takes a day off. Never shows up a second late. Could you imagine what would happen if the sun ever stopped shining? We'd be done. But none of us woke up this morning going, man, I hope the sun's there. You just put your faith in here's what Jesus said. You believe in God. Believe also in me. Put your faith and trust in me. We're together forever. I'm not asking you to come to a religion this morning. I'm asking you to come to a relationship with Christ. [01:04:06] (51 seconds)  #FaithLikeTheSun

But with if you're within the sound of my voice and you're sitting there going, I don't have peace. I don't have hope. I don't have that relationship with Christ. He's never changed my life. I'm gonna introduce you to the one who can change everything about you. You're not gonna turn over a new leaf. You're gonna become a new creation. Here it goes. Dear God, I know I've done some things wrong, but I know you love me. To the point you sent your son to die on the cross for me. So right now, the best way I know how, I receive you into my life. Forgive me of my sin. Make me brand new. I know you love me. Help me to love you. Thank you, God. [01:07:16] (54 seconds)  #BecomeANewCreation

It's any pillow. When you place your head upon it knowing you have peace with a holy God. And this morning, if you're in this room and you don't know Jesus, I'm not talking about knowing about him. I'm dealing right here in in Wichita Falls, Texas. I I I mean, you've you've heard the message that Jesus came and lived a sinless life, died on the cross, was buried. And I got news for you. If all he did was die for us, I'd never call you to follow him. I'll get to the third question in just a few moments. But I want you to know because of the resurrection game changer. And because he's resurrected, I can now call you to follow Christ and he will give you what you cannot buy, what you cannot achieve outside of him. Every other religion teaches about how man can somehow become God. But it's in Christianity we learn that God became man and what he wants to offer in your life is peace. And this morning, you can have it for the very first time. [00:55:59] (57 seconds)  #ResurrectionGivesPeace

I lost a friend of mine several years ago, and I was at the funeral. I wasn't preaching. I was out there like you. And I'd bitten the line from hell thinking that maybe I had to go to Starbucks three times before I could really just really get deep in the gospel. And here's what I realized that day. Real friends bring friends to Jesus, and I said it will never happen again in my life. So if you're gonna get mad at anyone who cares about you, be my guest. Get mad at me right now. We're not saying we're better than anyone else in this room. We're not saying we've got it all together. Here's what we're saying. Look at it. Real friends bring friends to Jesus. We're not gonna be long, but when somebody leans over to you, I'm gonna tell you right now, can see out here. They're as scared as you they're like, you don't know who I'm standing beside. You you can't here. You could be the bridge that God himself uses to draw someone to himself for salvation. [01:11:17] (50 seconds)  #RealFriendsBringJesus

And if you're not willing to tell a bunch of people who love Jesus, got up early and came to church at night, you're not willing to tell them you're a follower, do you really think you'll be able to go home and tell other people that you're a follower of Jesus? You're gonna be you may be the only one that comes. Look at me. Look at me. I'd rather that be your mindset and only be you than for you to sit back, wait on everyone else to make their decision, then you're not following Jesus. You're just following the crowd. Others may be here this morning going, man, I know I'm a Christian, but I'm going through some storms. I just need somebody to pray with me. I I I just I've lost focus in the storm. I'm in that storm. You come. Somebody's gonna pray with you. But as we do this invitation, let's not stand up just as a thing to do and get ready to go. Do you understand? This is not a competition. I'm I'm fierce. I I I I am very competitive. We're not in a competition this morning. We're in a waiting room, and a great physician has called our name. Say yes to Jesus. [01:08:36] (57 seconds)  #SayYesToJesus

And that's why I just wanna tell you what scares me about America right now is not the price of gas. It's not even what's going on politically. To to me, what scares me the most is that in America, we're still not dealing with a group of people who don't know about God. A majority of Americans still believe in a personal God. But if you're sitting here this morning saying, Scott, I believe everything you just said up there about Jesus. But that's all you got? Can I just remind you this morning, listen, according to the book of James, the demons in the pit of hell recognize there's a God? They know that Jesus resurrected from the grave. So as we go to the second question, what is the meaning of life? We gotta figure that thing out. [00:49:35] (47 seconds)  #ConcernForSouls

Man, I got news for you. If this is all there is, if you're here today and don't know Jesus, this is the best you've got. But if you're in this room and you're a follower of Jesus, this is the worst it can ever be. Do you understand? Now alright. I know Shepherd bases here. I have to fly a lot, and I fly Delta. I don't know if y'all fly you know what Delta stands for? Don't ever leave the airport. Anyway alright. So true story. I'm gonna tell it real quick. I got on the plane. It was raining. Had a storm going on, and the pilot came across the intercom. This is not how you start off your inner your your welcoming. But he said, talked about the storms, and here's what he said. He ended it by saying, folks, we're about to attempt a takeoff. [01:02:55] (48 seconds)  #HopeBeyondThisLife

Not not something that the world tries to give us. We I I think we've kinda missed we've confused what God is offering us. We we live in a state that if you're not careful, you'll always be trying to find out there's there's something that's missing in your life. A philosopher a long time ago said in the heart of every human, there's a vacuum shaped place that only the love of God can feel. And apart from that, you're gonna do anything. That's the reason people say, man, if I could just find some more some more possessions. Now, I know we don't know each other, but can we agree on this? We all have too much stuff. [00:51:04] (34 seconds)  #HeartVacuumOnlyGodFills

But when I hear that term, let not your heart be troubled, we hear that a lot in in churches. But it's usually in a special service. You know what I usually hear? Let not your heart be it's at a funeral. It's at a it's at a funeral. Pastors, I we always love to use that phrase, let not your heart be troubled. But you wanna know something? I'm gonna confess to you. I've never used verse 27. Of all the years I've been I've never used verse 27 in a funeral. You know what I do? I go to verse one. If you have a second, turn back with me to John fourteen one. Okay? And I want you to see remember how we started. Jesus told his disciples, I've already told you this stuff before. [00:58:43] (43 seconds)  #LetNotYourHeartBeTroubled

For thirty three years he walked among us and he never once said pay me. He didn't even say thank me. You know what he said? Follow me. He knew his mission. He went to the cross because there had to be a payment. There had to be a payment for your sin. There had to be a payment for my sin. Jesus did something for me I could not do myself. And you know when I was growing up, I'd have pastors say, well he's the God man. And the way they describe it is they would say, is all man like he is no God. He is all God like he is no man. But I wanna tell you, you'll never understand that principle until you place Jesus on the cross. [00:48:25] (37 seconds)  #HePaidThePrice

And it's right here in John chapter 14 that the disciples are walking through a storm. I I'm gonna say of epic proportion. Now you gotta remember, when they first started following Jesus, crowds were starting to swarm. Crowds were gathering. The sermon on the mount when Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit for yours is the kingdom of heaven. I mean, the average person was like, this is who we've been waiting on. And as they jumped on the bandwagon, the disciples were thinking, this is awesome. [00:41:47] (31 seconds)  #DisciplesInStorm

I'm talking about when you're invited into the employer's office and they're having to cut back their force. When you're in the examination room and they say the phrase something suspicious. I don't know about you, but I immediately go to the worst case scenario. When when life gets scary. When you're set down by the one person that you thought would never let you down. And there's things that are going on, you're gonna have to look at life in a different set of circumstances. I I mean, come on. I think every one of us can relate just as the physical storms are scary. We'd all have to agree. Sometimes in life, those personal storms get scary. [00:41:06] (40 seconds)  #WhenLifeGetsScary

The second reason I do it is because there's someone here who's going, well, I'm bad. I'm not as bad as the rest of you. Okay? And and I want us to be all on the same level. We've all sinned. The bible says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You you gotta go back to this passage. Listen to what Jesus is saying here. Follow me. Go to verse 25. He says, these things I have spoken to you while being present with you. He's reminding his disciples, I've already told you this stuff before. [00:45:49] (30 seconds)  #WeveAllSinned