Jesus: Our Immediate Savior in Life's Storms

They said, "I will trust in the Lord until I die." Is that your testimony? Is that your testimony? Or is it, "I'll trust in the Lord as long as I can see what He's going to do?"

Trusting in the Lord means that even when you don't know what's going to happen, you still say, "Lord, I know you got me. Lord, I know I ain't got nothing to worry about."

Because the first thing they said was, "Oh, how I love Jesus! Oh, how I love Jesus!" When you love somebody, when you really love somebody, when you really, really love somebody, then you can trust in them.

Because God don't need lip service; He needs heart service. He needs to know that you really, truly, honestly, all the way down to your very bones trust in Him.

Because there are going to be some times that you're going to wonder, "Where are you, Lord?" You're going to wonder, "Why is this happening to me?" You're going to wonder, "What am I supposed to do now?"

But then, when you think back to "I will trust in the Lord until I die," when you think back on that, then you know that you're going to trust in the Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Oh, how we thank and praise God for just another expression of His love. And that expression, you feel every moment, every time you breathe in and breathe out. That's another expression of His love.

So, on this morning, we're going to talk about a right now Savior for a right now situation. A right now Savior for a right now situation. We had another sermon, amen, but God said, "Not today." He said, "Not today." He said, "We're going to do what He wants to do, not what I want to do."

A right now Savior for a right now situation because somebody needs to know that they have a right now Savior for a right now situation.

Do you remember those two words I had to yell out while I was reading the scripture? Straightway and immediately. Right now! Right now! Amen!

What is right now? What does it actually mean when you say right now? We've all had some kind of experience with a right now situation. "I want it, and I want it right now!"

Somebody said, "Well, I can't seem to remember." I don't remember. Well, think about the last time you waited on AAA to come and give you a jump. You get on the phone—now you got to do it on the app—and they might call you and they'll say, "Well, we'll be there," and my driver said he'll be there in 25 minutes.

Okay, you start clocking. Then 30 minutes, then 40 minutes, then an hour. Amen! We had a recent story, amen, where we were waiting on AAA. We want AAA right now! A right now situation.

Maybe it's not your car; maybe that wasn't your situation. You know they can deliver food to you now, right? If you're hungry, you can call Uber Eats, you can call DoorDash, right?

So maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just me. When I'm going through the app and I'm hungry, I look at the places that deliver to me within 15 minutes because I want my food right now!

Maybe it's just me. That's how I determine what I'm in the mood for. If I want some ribs and they say, "It's going to take us 45 minutes, an hour to get there," I keep on scrolling because I want my food right now! A right now situation.

A right now situation. We all have them. We all have them. When you're waiting on somebody to come out, you go to pick somebody up, and they're not ready. You're ready to go, but they're not ready yet. A right now situation.

So these right now situations sometimes happen in our favor; sometimes they don't. But we all know when we are experiencing a right now situation.

So in this passage of scripture, Matthew 14:25-31, that I just read for your hearing, the disciples are in a situation.

According to Matthew, the author of this gospel, the experience that we are engaging happened after the feeding of the five thousand plus people. This is one of the miracles in which Jesus, after a long day of teaching, took the lunch of a little boy. That lunch consisted of five small loaves of bread and two fish.

Jesus blessed it, divided it, served it, and watch this: He had leftovers! That's God! That's that miracle! That was a right now situation. The people needed to be fed right now—5,000 people, 5,000 plus—with five small loaves of bread and two fish.

But that's not the crux of where we're going. So after the feeding, after everybody was fed, Jesus sent the disciples ahead of Him to meet Him on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. But meanwhile, Jesus went up into the mountains to commune with God.

Jesus prayed, y'all! Jesus prayed too! So we can't be above this little sidebar. We can't be above praying at various times—not just on Sunday morning, not just at Wednesday prayer meeting. Hallelujah!

The Bible says to pray without ceasing. So Jesus even went and He went apart from everybody else because sometimes you need to be away from everybody else to really pray.

We have our corporate prayer here, but this isn't the it. When we pray corporally here, then you're to take your cares, your concerns, your circumstances, your intercessory assignments, and go into your secret closet and pray.

But that's not the lesson here today either, but that's okay. We get a whole bunch of little extras in this message.

So it is noteworthy that Jesus, even though He was Lord, spent time in prayer with God. And when we pray, we have to not pray just on a good day. Neither do we just pray on a bad day.

Somebody said, "If you wait until you get in trouble to pray, you already in trouble." So Jesus had just taught the people; He just fed five thousand plus people. This was a good day, and He went along to be with God.

Now, the disciples, being obedient to Jesus, were on the ship in the middle of the sea. So let's look at the disciples. These 12 disciples were Jesus' constant companions. They became His friends. They witnessed Him teach the word and perform countless miracles.

They were hand-picked by Jesus. He didn't go into the temple and say, "All y'all with the title, come on with me." He didn't do that.

When you look at the people that He chose to be His disciples, they were ordinary, everyday people—fishermen, fishermen, okay? Tax collector—not okay. He went and picked people.

So here's another nugget: Don't think that because of what you do or who you are that God cannot use you. [Applause]

So He picked these 12 men to become His disciples, to become learners of God. But the disciples are still human, just like each one of us. We're still human.

Because we have a title, we're still human. Because you attend church, you're still human. So in other words, we still go through stuff. We have flaws just as the disciples had. We have failures just as the disciples had. We have fears just as the disciples had. And we have faith issues just as the disciples had.

But they continued to walk with the Lord, and so should you. So should I. So should we continue to walk with the Lord in spite of those things that are not quite right with us. Amen!

So in this passage, I want to point out three right now points—three right now points that happened in this passage of scripture that hopefully you can identify with, and then something to take back with you.

So the first point: Our right now Savior calms our fears right now. Our right now Savior calms our fears right now.

So as the Bible said, during the fourth watch, which was between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., the disciples were in the boat in the midst of a storm. They see a figure on the water. Being ordinary, everyday humans, they think it's a ghost or a spirit.

So what do they do? They become afraid. They are in a right now situation. And verse 27 says, "But straightway Jesus spoke unto them, saying, 'Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.'"

Our right now Savior calms our fears right now. So straightway is another word to indicate right now. So when Jesus saw that they were afraid, He calmed their fears right now. And I guarantee you, He will do the same for us.

That's the first thought.

The second thought: Our right now Savior gives us guidance right now. Our right now Savior gives us guidance right now.

So many of us are familiar with Peter in some shape, form, or fashion. He was the most outspoken of Jesus' disciples. He was the one who, if you remember in the Garden of Gethsemane, didn't want them to take Him, so he jumps up and cuts off the soldier's ear.

He's the one who, when Jesus went to wash their feet, said, "Don't just wash my feet; wash all of me because I want to be part of you." He is the one who overthinks, who kind of takes it a step further. That's Peter! And some of us can identify with Peter.

So in verse 28, he says, "Lord," remember he's the only one who went out and did this. Everybody's afraid. When we watch horror movies, picture him as the one going into the dark room to see what's in there. So that was Peter.

So Peter says, "Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." In verse 29, Jesus said, "Come."

So of note, even though they had been with Jesus all this time, they still were not sure of who He was. They still had not experienced the full power that Jesus possessed. And that happens to us.

That happens to us many times. We think that, "What? I cannot—He's not going to be able to take care of this. He's not going to be able to take care of that." We put "not." He's not.

We attend church, we attend Sunday school, we attend Bible study, but when Jesus tells us to trust Him, we still need proof. We still need proof.

Peter said it right there: "If it's you," that means I didn't know who you were. I didn't know you were out there. When we get in the situation and we pray, we come to the altar, we pray in our homes, and we give our stuff to God, and we say, "Okay, God, I'm going to give this to you." And then when He fixes it, "Well, Lord, was this really you?"

Amen! Somebody know what I'm talking about? Somebody knows!

But He said, "Lord, if it is you." So right now, our right now Savior gives us guidance right now. Because then, in spite of Peter's apprehension, Jesus says, "Come."

He didn't say, "What do you mean, if?" He didn't say, "Don't you recognize my voice?" You know the stuff that people would say to you when you doubt who they are? He didn't say none of that.

And that's what I love about Him—about Jesus. When we call on Him, He's a right now Savior. He's a right now Savior. He didn't say, "Don't you recognize my voice?" He didn't say none of that. He just said, "Come."

Amen! Our right now Savior gives us right now guidance. When you go to somebody for directions, why do you want to go there? What's over there? Or they want to tell you about when the last time they were there? You don't need all of that. We need right now guidance.

So we have a right now Savior who calms our fears in a right now situation. And then we have a right now Savior who gives us guidance in a right now situation.

And thirdly, my third point—now watch this one—this one is my own personal favorite: Our Savior, our right now Savior, saves us right now.

Okay, maybe everybody's been saved. I ain't always been saved. I ain't always been saved. When He picked me up out the dirt and I said, "Lord, save me," He saved me right now!

He didn't say, "Well, this is what you got to do. You got to go over there and get cleaned up. You got to go over there and sit under this teacher. You got to go over there and do..." He didn't give me—He saved me right then!

So let's look at Peter. When Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk on the water, I can imagine the other disciples, you know, looking out, "What is he doing? Where is he going? How can he do that?"

Here we have a mere mortal, a human being—watch this—no wires, no boards, no tricks, just a man walking on water. And he's not just walking on water; he is walking on water towards Jesus. He is focused on Jesus.

So just like in our lives, hmm, after we no longer fear seeing Jesus, and then we follow His guidance in which we are focused on Jesus, the winds of our lives rise up and become boisterous, rowdy, unruly, and noisy.

So I'm going to say that again: When we get to the point that we don't fear Jesus anymore—not fear in reverence, but fear being afraid—when we no longer fear Him and we focus on Him, we're doing what thus saith the Lord, then all the other distractions start popping up.

All these other people start showing up. All these other things start showing up to take our mind, take our focus, take our sights off of Jesus.

So the Bible says when Peter saw the wind being boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink. So Peter looked at everything else but Jesus and became afraid.

So let's look at us. When we look around at the things in our lives, even though we are moving towards Jesus' blessing—He said, "Come." He said, "Come." He said, "This blessing is for you." He said, "Come."

We still, even though He gives us those explicit directions, we still become afraid and take our eyes off of Him because why? Somebody told me, "This is too good to be true."

Somebody said, "It's too good to be true that you are in this position, that you've been elevated to this place, that you are being able to do this. That's too good to be true."

But you prayed about it! You said, "Lord, I want to be president of my own company." And then God opened the door. He said, "Come! I got you! Come on up here!"

And you sit in that big office, and you're sitting in a head chair, and you're looking around like, "I ain't supposed to be here." But you prayed for it, and God answers prayer!

That's our right now situation! And I love it because we have a Savior, we have a right now Savior who takes care of us in those right now situations.

The Bible goes on to tell us that Peter cried out, "Lord, save me!" Lord, save me! Those three little words, but three powerful words.

The next word is what I love about my Savior: immediately! Remember, that's the second word—immediately! Not wait a minute, but immediately! Not as soon as I can get to you, but immediately! Not, "What do you really need?" but immediately!

He said, "Immediately!" That's what the word said! Immediately, Jesus reached for Peter and saved him.

Have you ever experienced that? When you call on God and He answers you immediately, it just sends your head into a spin because you wonder, "Wait a minute! Is this really true? Am I dreaming?"

But we have a right now Savior who does everything for a right now situation. He did that for Peter, and He is doing and He's going to do the same thing for me and for you.

If you haven't experienced it yet, like my mama used to say, "Just keep on living." All you have to do is have faith in Him—faith enough to call on His name: "Lord, save me!"

He will hear you above all the noises because the noises that keep us from hearing Him, He will hear us above all of those noises.

"Lord, save me!" He will hear you in the midst of a thundering storm. "Lord, save me!" He will hear you in the cries of your tears.

And then, and then, and then—immediately! He will reach out and save you.

So as I look at Peter experiencing the Savior in a right now time in his right now situation, I know that I too have a right now Savior for right now situations.

How many of y'all have a right now Savior for your right now situation? When I was troubled and cried out, "Lord, save me!" immediately He gave me that peace that passes all understanding.

When I fell down and needed help, I cried out, "Lord, save me!" and immediately He reached down and placed my feet on solid ground.

But one thing, one thing, one thing I truly love the most—the very most—was when I was thinking, they've been saying, I cried out, "Lord, save me!" and immediately—you ain't heard me—immediately He saved me!

The plan was in the works before I was even born or before I was even thought of or before my parents, because He knew that I was going to have a right now situation that needed a right now Savior.

And it was love! It was love! It was loud! His love for us that causes Him to be a right now Savior for a right now situation.

My Savior! My Lord! My Jesus! My God! Humbled Himself unto death to be that right now Savior, to give me that right now salvation.

My right now Savior gave me that right now salvation. But let me tell you how I know.

After a long night of illegal trials, after a long night where He was found guilty of no crime, after a long night where He was beaten beyond recognition, He was bloody and He was bruised, as foretold by the prophets.

He was bloody and He was bruised for my iniquities. He was led up to Calvary's hill to be crucified, carrying His own cross—no sleep, no food, tired, hurting.

He died for me! But He did it because He knew that one day Kathy was going to know that I needed a right now Savior for a right now situation.

He knew that Kathy was going to call out and say, "Lord, save me!" He knew that one day I was going to need a Savior in my situation.

So He, carrying His cross up that hill, allowed them to put nails in His hands. He allowed them to put rivets in His feet. He allowed them to attach Him to the cross.

And as He hung on the cross—because they made the mistake—the Bible said that if I be lifted up, if I be lifted up, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me.

A right now Savior for right now situations! The one thief cried out, "Truly, you are the Son of God!"

And then the right now Savior, in his right now situation, said, "Today!" Not tomorrow! He said, "Today!" Not after we baptize you! He said, "Today! Right now! You shall be with me in Paradise!"

That was my right now Savior for the dying criminal in a right now situation.

And after that, He was the right now Savior in that right now situation. He hung His head and then He died because it was a right now situation.

But that's not the end of the story! It's not the end of the story! But it's time to celebrate because our right now Savior said all you have to do is say, "Lord, save me!"

But He said on the third day morning—not the first day, not the second day—but on the third day morning that He would rise from the dead, and He did what He said He was going to do!

He rose from the dead early! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Early on that third day morning, He rose from the dead with not some power, but with all power!

Not with particular power, but with all power! He got up with all power in His hand!

And because Jesus has all power, He is there for us today. He was there for us yesterday, and He will be there for us tomorrow because we will have a right now situation where we will need a right now Savior.

What is your right now situation? What is your right now situation? Did you call on the Lord in your right now situation? Did you say in your right now situation, "Lord, save me!"

Hallelujah! In your right now situation! Because I guarantee you, when you call on Him in your right now situation, He is a right now Savior who will show up in your right now situation!

Not when you get it right! Not when somebody else comes around! Not when you make it to the church house! But in your right now situation!

What is your right now situation? Don't fear! Don't look at the winds! Don't sink in your sins! Call on your right now Savior for your right now situation!

All you have to do is cry out, "Lord, save me! Lord, save me! Lord, save me!"

And let Him show you how fast immediately is! Oh, right now Savior for right now situation! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

A right now Savior! A right now Savior! A right now Savior! We all need a right now Savior!

We don't need nobody who's going to put us on hold! We need a right now Savior!

We don't need anybody who's going to say, "I'll be there in 30 minutes or less!" We need a right now Savior!

We don't need somebody to say, "Well, I'm going to wait until y'all get together!" Y'all getting right! We have a right now Savior who's going to meet us in our right now situation!

But maybe that's not you! Hallelujah! Maybe you don't know that all you have to do is call on the Lord!

Maybe you have that fear! Maybe you're listening to the stuff around you, and maybe somebody told you, "It don't take all of that!"

But if you have a right now Savior in your right now situation, you know it takes all that and more!

So I invite you, if you don't have that right now Savior in your life, if you've been in those right now situations and you've called on Pookie and Ray Ray and they can't help you, if you've been in that right now situation and Mama them don't have anything for you, if you've been in that right now situation and somebody gives you an 800 number, I challenge you!

I dare you to call on Jesus!

So as we stand and extend the invitation, if you don't have a right now Savior, it's as easy as A, B, and C.