 Mark 435 and on. And it says, that day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was in the boat. There was also other boats with him. If furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it nearly swamped, Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke up and said, teacher, don't you care if we drown? He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, quiet, be still. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm and he said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, who is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him. Aren't you glad you have a God that the winds and the waves obey his voice? Aren't you glad that you have someone on your side that in the midst of the storm, in the midst of certain situations that he's not scared of the storm, that he's able to say something and at the name Jesus, the storm has to be quiet. I don't know about you, but I'm happy to have Jesus on my side. I don't know about you, but I'm happy to have someone of such a great magnitude, a God that the winds and the waves obey him. I'm glad to have him on my side. And I'm gonna be kind of focusing on Peter here in the story. I'm gonna be sharing two stories. I'm gonna share the other one a little later, but I'm gonna focus on Peter here. Peter is a man that throughout the Bible, he's a very outspoken man. He's a man that says a lot and does little. He says a lot and you know what I mean? Like when someone was trying to mess with Jesus, Peter straight up took out a machete, just got the ear off. Just like that. Whoa, Peter, calm down. You know what I mean? It's all good, you know what I mean? Jesus just put the ear back on. And Peter throughout the Bible, when he was with Jesus, he was a very outspoken man. He was, he perceived to have so much faith. He perceived to have so that he could do so much when Jesus said, who's gonna betray me? He said, Jesus, I won't betray. I won't betray. No, I'll never do that. No, I won't do that. And in the midst of the storm, he begins to cry out along with the disciples. And Peter and the disciples are beginning to panic. And the title of my message, I want you to tap your neighbor on your right or the one that you like a little better and tell him, sleep in the storm. Amen, and we see in the story, Jesus is sleeping in the storm. My first thought I wanna share to you is rest in the fact God has an other side for you. Rest in the fact in the Bible, and it says here in the story, leaving the crowd behind, they took, no, it says that day, that day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side. I wanna let you know that that statement is God's promise. You will get to the other side. That statement is not just mere words. That statement is God saying, let us go to the other side. He's saying there is another side for you. God is saying there is another side for your family. It may seem like when you're going through the storm that things are going rocky, but there is another side for your finances. There is another side for your family, for your education. There is an answer to your problem. There is a bright future, a light at the end of the tunnel. But the thing is, just like the disciples, they were given a promise. They were given, hey, we're gonna get to the other side because what God says he will complete. The Bible says he who starts a good work in me, he will see it to completion. So what he says he will do, his word never comes back void. The Bible says heaven and earth may pass, but your word still stands. God's word for your life, God's word for your family, for things that are going on, is you will get to the other side. But the thing is when you're going through the storm, and the thing is when you're going through your situation, when you're going through your life's situations and issues and problems in your family, and you see God has given you a dry ground promise, but you begin to have disbelief the moment you get wet. God has given you a dry ground promise. The moment you get wet, you begin to doubt. You begin to doubt what God said for you. You begin to doubt the very thing that God did for you, the very thing that God says. And I want us to begin to, in our minds, to begin to build memorials of what God, I want us to begin to build memorials of miracles of what God has done for you in your life because when you are going through the storm, it's very easy to doubt God. When you're going through the storm, it's very easy in the midst. God has promised you something, but the moment you start hitting the turbulence, the moment you start hitting the thunder and the lightning and the storms begin to rage and you're looking at your situation, you begin to doubt God. So what I want to encourage you to do is when you're going through your storm to not look at what you see, but to close your eyes and remember what God said. When you begin to look at your situation, when you're going through the storm and you're steering the ship, you're steering your life, you're steering your family, you're steering your finances and the thunder starts raging and the lightning starts flashing and the ship begins to rock, it's very easy to begin to begin to doubt what God said. It's very easy to begin to doubt what God said and so in that moment, in the moment of storm, in the moment of tribulation, I want you to begin to close your eyes, to begin to still steer the ship and in the midst of when it seems like God is not there, God is sleeping in the midst of the storm. When you say God, where are you? You begin to remember the miracles that God's done because right now you can't grab onto anything. The storm is raging, the thunder is roaring, the lightning is flashing and it seems like no hope. So what you do is you close your eyes and you begin to grab what God has done for you. You begin to remember the time your brother, God has saved your brother. God came for you, came in for you in your finances. You begin to remember what God has done. Close your eyes. Remember what God said. Don't look at what you see because what you see can begin to deceive you. What you see, your perspective of what your life is right now seems like God is absent. I wanna let you know. Don't let God's absence, God's silence dictate God's absence. Don't let God's silence begin to say God, where are you? And what I, if you read on, he says, he got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, quiet, be still. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? Because when they were on dry grounds, God did so many things. Jesus was doing miracles along with the disciples. There was a lot of things happening. And he's saying, do you still not have faith? Did you still not see what I've done? Or do you limit God to only the small miracles? Do you only limit God? Say, God, I believe you. And the thing is, we have a tendency to believe for other people's miracles more than we believe for ours. We have a tendency to believe that God could do for them, but for my sickness, I don't think so. And God is saying, Jesus is saying, do you still not believe? Or do you begin to limit God? So saying, God, I only believe that you could do this certain type of miracle. But God is saying that I'm the God in the winds and the waves, obey my name. I don't limit me to only the small miracles. Don't limit me to only the back pain. Believe that cancers will begin to be healed. Believe that stadiums will begin to be filled. Begin to believe that my son and my daughter will begin to come back to the Lord. When you look at what you see, your face will fail. And you're gonna begin to question God. See, when you begin to look at your storm, you don't see an end. You don't see calm seas ahead. You don't see sunlight ahead. You don't see other people that are doing good ahead. All you see is darkness. The Bible says they were going in the evening. All you could see is darkness. All you could see is a storm, is raging seas, is thunder and lightning. All you could see is chaos in your life. And when you begin to look in that, it's a no doubter that your faith is gonna begin to fail. When all you see is disaster around you, you have to begin to, in that moment, remember what God's done. Or you're gonna begin to question God. You're gonna say, God, where are you? God, how dare you be sleeping in my storm? God, how dare you be sleeping when my brother's in a hospital? God, how dare you be sleeping when my family is going through hell? God, how dare you be sleeping when my marriage is falling apart, when my finances are going through hell, when my marriage is going through turmoil, when I'm going through the seas, God, how dare you be asleep? You begin to question God. You begin to doubt the very thing that God promised you in the beginning. You begin to doubt in the storm. The very dry ground promise that God gave you, that you and your household will serve the Lord. But the moment your daughter, your son, your mom, or dad begins to day astray, say, God, where are you? How could you leave me? And you begin to let God's silence dictate his absence. But I wanna let you know that our God, I wanna give you a little encouragement that God is not silent in the storm because he's gone. God's silence in the storm is because God is not scared of a storm. My God is so good that the winds and the waves don't bother him. That the things that bother you do not bother the God. That the heavens and earth, he holds in his hand and your issue doesn't bother God. Of course he cares, but he's not scared of it. Switch your perspective from what you see to what God said. You will get to the other side. There's another side for you. There's financial blessings. There's breakthrough for you. You have to begin to believe. You have to begin to stand on it. You can't stop the storm until you're able to sleep in it. See, the story of Jesus on the Bowden, he's able to sleep in the storm. And I wanna read one more story to you. It's from Acts 12. It says, it was about that time King Herod arrested some who belong to the church intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that it met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to kill Peter also. So Peter's about to die. He just saw James die. And skipping couple verses says, so Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter, I wanna listen to this. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains and sentries to guard at the entrance. I want you to take note of this. This is the same Peter that in the storm yelled at Jesus for being asleep. Yet, Peter's about to die and he's asleep. How could a very man that in the midst of the storm, in the midst of a tribulation begin to doubt God, but when he's about to die, when he just saw his friend die, when he knows he's next be sleeping the night before. And they're gonna begin to, it's very easy to begin to doubt God. It's honestly, it's very easy because the moment something begins to come up in your life, it's very easy to doubt God. It's very easy to be restless. It's very easy to be anxious. It's very easy to begin to doubt God, but the very person that on the boat said, Jesus, why are you asleep? It's about to die and he's sleeping. See, Peter, all throughout the Bible, he was around Jesus. But being around Jesus, his faith constantly failed. His faith constantly was water in his, he said a lot, but he couldn't do a lot, but when Jesus, when Peter was in jail, he didn't have Jesus around him. He had Holy Spirit in him. So I wanna let you know to begin to go through your storms, to be able to sleep in your storm, to be able to be at peace at your storm, you can't just have Jesus around you. You can't just go to church for a check mark. You can't just watch, post a scripture on your Instagram just so people know that you're holy, just for people to know that you're a Christian and you have a check mark on your list. You went to Sunday, you went to Wednesday, we're all good to go. No, that's not a relationship. What Jesus is saying, that you have to begin to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit. The same man that had Jesus around him began to doubt God, but the man that had Holy Spirit within him was able to sleep in his storm. In Philippians 4-6, it says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and minds through Jesus Christ. God is saying, don't be anxious for anything. That's a command. He's saying, don't be anxious. I know that you might be going through things. I know that you might be going through the storm, but do not be anxious for anything. Do not be anxious for your finest. Do not be anxious for things in you. And a lot of people, they can't enjoy the blessings of God today because they're worried about the troubles for tomorrow. And the thing is anxiety is things that don't even come to pass. You're worried about things that haven't even happened yet. God's saying, do not be anxious about anything. And how do you do that? It's through prayer and supplication. And how Peter was able to be able to sleep in the boat in the midst, he was able to sleep in the jail cell right before he's gonna be killed is having Holy Spirit with you. There's no way you could do it around. Holy Spirit is your comforter. Holy Spirit is your guide. Holy Spirit is the one that is with you that in the midst of the storm, he's able to give you rest. He's able to give you peace at heart. You can't stop a storm you're sleeping in. Jesus, Jesus, he was able in the midst of the storm to wake up and begin to rebuke the wind, but you can't rebuke the wind. You can't rebuke the storm when the storm is inside you. You can't rebuke something, you can't rebuke something outwardly when it's inside of you. When you can't begin to speak peace when there's a storm inside of you. You can't be able to sleep in the storm when the storm is inside of you. When you begin to doubt God, when you begin to forget about his promises, when you begin to see the thunder and the lightning flashing, you begin to doubt God. Real test of leadership, real test of faith is in the storm is when you're able in the midst of the storm to be able to steer your ship and say, God is with me. God is able. Make your requests be made known to God. It doesn't say Facebook. It doesn't say do other things. It says make your requests made known to God. When you have that private relationship with the Holy Spirit, when you have that relationship with the Holy Spirit and you're able to make requests made known to God, I wanna let you know that private prayer will lead to public victories. You will in the midst of the storm will begin to have victories because of the prayer time that you had before. And you begin to, from that you begin to speak. Speak to the storm. Great faith speaks to the storm about God. Little faith speaks to God about the storm. See, we see two people on the ship. We see the disciples. The moment the storm comes, they run to Jesus and tell Jesus about the storm. But we see Jesus. He rises up and tells the storm what to do. You can't begin to, the Bible says, it says here in Philippians, the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your minds. You can't begin to speak peace on your life. You can't begin to speak to the storm. You can't begin to say, tell the storm what to do. When the storm is inside you, when you have turmoil in you, when you have uncertainty in you, when you have disbelief, when you have doubt in you, you can't begin to speak the promises of God because it's not in you. It's where you speak from that stops the storm. When you have disbelief, when you say, God, I honestly don't know if you're gonna come through. I don't know if the promise that you gave me on dry ground is gonna really get me to there. You can't begin to speak to it because you don't believe will God actually come through. But when you begin to come from a place that says, my God is able to do, you begin to speak to the storm. You begin to speak to the very thing that is beginning to frighten you. You begin to speak the very thing that is beginning to storm your life. You begin to speak from a place of promise. You begin to speak from a place that God said there's another side. You begin to, it's where you speak from. You have to begin to speak from your prayer life. You have to begin to speak from the time that you fasted. You have to begin to speak from the Bible reading, from the promises, from what God has done. And you say, when all you see is storm, thunder and tribulation, you close your eyes and you begin to grab from what God's done. Say, God, if you did it before, you could do it again. God, if you got me to this place, you can get me through this place. And the peace of God that which surpasses all understanding, you speak from that. That's why Jesus was able to sleep in the storm. That's why Peter was able to sleep in the jail cells because he had that peace within him. All hell can break loose, but if you have the peace of God in you, Satan can't do anything. You can speak to it only when you speak from it. The good thing is in 1 John 4-4 says, you children of God, you little children of God, that have overcome them, greater is he that lives in me than he is in the world. When the one that is greater than you, the one that is greater than the storm, the one that doesn't get bothered by the storm, the one that doesn't get scared by the thunder and lightning, when he lives in you, it's the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead that lives in you. And then when you have that spirit, when you have that in you, and you say the one that is with me is greater than the one that is against me, you can begin to rebuke the wind. You can begin to rebuke the storm. You can begin to tell your storm to be quiet and shut up. But I can't get in you. A storm, a ship doesn't sink with the water around it. A ship doesn't sink with all the troubles around with all, no matter how big the ocean is, no matter how big the sea is, the ship doesn't sink unless the water gets in. I wanna let you know, don't let your issues, don't let your mistakes, don't let your circumstances, your situations begin to dictate how you believe God, begin to make your faith watery. It's easy to have faith when everything is good. It's easy to have faith when the sun is shining, when the seas are calm, but real faith comes in the storm. But I wanna let you know where it says in Philippians, it says the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, surpasses all understanding. When you are in that turmoil, when you are in that storm, from that relationship with Christ, from knowing God's promise, from standing on His word, God is gonna begin to give you a peace like no other. A scary peace. He's gonna begin to give you a peace that's radical. He's gonna begin to give you a faith that's radical. And I'm gonna let you know that this peace scares the devil. This peace scares demons, because the demon devil's gonna say, how can she praise God in the midst of the storm? How can she begin to believe for greatness? How can she begin to believe that God is gonna take her through in the midst of the storm? Well, when you have the peace of God with you, you can begin to speak to the storm. You can begin to say, if God is for me, then who can be against me? No weapons formed against me shall prosper. You speak from it. What is faith if everything is good? That's fair weather faith. That's weak watery faith when your family's doing good and your bills are paid and health is going good and things are going speak and span for your life. Great, but that's not faith. I wanna let you know faith is when the thunder's flashing. The thunder is roaring, the lightning is flashing. The ship is shaking. You tell God, I'm gonna still praise you. I'm gonna still worship you. I'm still gonna give you the praise. God, I live and God, I die, but I will worship you. I will begin to stick and I will begin to steer my ship towards your promise. I don't know what storm you're going through. I don't know what you're going through in your life, what you're sailing through right now, but I wanna let you know that God is with you. If God is on your boat, you're good. If God is sailing with you, you're good. God, you will get through there. You will go to the other side. I wanna let you know that God's promise never comes back void. Stick on his promise because when you don't stick on his promise, when you don't grab what God has done for you, you begin to question God. You begin to say, God, where are you? Why aren't you here? But in fact, he's been there with you the whole time. I wanna encourage you that this time, this pandemic that we're going through, there's another side for you. There's another side and God will come through. God will come through for your family, for your finances. And the thing is a piece of God, when you begin to spend time with the Holy Spirit, the very thing that Peter began to yell at Jesus for is the very thing that Peter did in jail. He had the peace. He had the certainty and uncertain times that God will come through. And I wanna encourage you guys, God will come through in your life. Don't abandon the boat, don't abandon the ship in rough times. Don't abandon your life, a family, God's promises for your life in rough times, but begin to stand on it even more. That's where faith is built. And as worship team comes up, I wanna encourage you guys that life is like going through a sea. You're gonna have to steer through a lot of things. You're gonna have to see through thunder, through lightning, through raging seas. But God doesn't want you just to abandon it. God wants you to begin to take that boat, your family, your finances. He wants to take that ship, your life, your career and begin to go forward, to begin to believe for more. Believe that God did it before. He could do it again in Jesus' name. Amen. We're gonna take some time to worship right now. So take that time, just begin to spin in God and believe that God will come through for your life in Jesus' name.