 All this is Pastor Joey Rogers and I want to give you a special invitation to join me for the upcoming Prophecy Files Conference. This Bible Prophecy Conference is going to be filled with information concerning the end times and how you can be prepared for the imminent return of Jesus Christ. This year I'll welcome my special guest, Jeff Kinley, Pastor Shane Warren, William Federer, and keynote speaker, Pastor John Hague. I want you to join me for this year's Prophecy Files Conference. Registration is available online at PaceAssembly.org and lunch will be provided for a cost of $10. We look forward to seeing you right here at PaceAssembly on September the 16th and 17th for this year's Prophecy Files Conference. This is Pastor Joey Rogers and I want to give you a special invitation to join me for the upcoming Prophecy Files Conference. This Bible Prophecy Conference is going to be filled with information concerning the end times and how you can be prepared for the imminent return of Jesus Christ. This year I'll welcome my special guest, Jeff Kinley, Pastor Shane Warren, William Federer, and keynote speaker, Pastor John Hague. I want you to join me for this year's Prophecy Files Conference. Registration is available online at PaceAssembly.org and lunch will be provided for a cost of $10. We look forward to seeing you right here at PaceAssembly on September the 16th and 17th for this year's Prophecy Files Conference. To Joey Rogers and welcome to PaceAssembly Live. Every portion of the service from giving, lifting of our hands, singing, and the word of God that's going to come your way today. We hope that you will engage the service right there where you are and that the presence of God will be made real no matter where you are around the globe. We know that we're reaching so many people around the world right now and our effort and every part that we do is about reaching one more soul in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for helping us accomplish that through your giving and your prayerful support. May God bless you now. As we enter into the service, let's go live into the presence of God. Presence with thanksgiving today, Lord, we love you. You are our joy. You're the glory and the lifter of our head today. We come to praise you today, give you all glory of it today. Hallelujah. Come on, shout into Jesus Christ. Hands right there just like this. We are so stiff this morning being up here in the house of Jesus Christ. But if you are really the church and here there is freedom and here is shut on the God, lift your voice and sing. So no matter what, we're going to sing this again, this chorus again if you can for me. And I want everyone just to forget about everything else and put your mind focused right on Jesus Christ and give God your best phrase. Come on, say it. I still have victory. With Jesus Christ on my side, I cannot lose. Turn to the person beside you and tell them how glad you are to see them this morning. Let someone know next to you, I have victory this morning. Amen. You may be seated in God's house this morning. Amen. Amen. Amen. Are you glad to be in God's house this morning? Come on, give Jesus Christ one more great ovation of the morning. It's great to be here this morning. If this is your first time here, we welcome you to Paces and Leaves. We're so glad that you're here at the end of service today. If you'll step out into the four-year open to the left-hand side, we have a place called Guest Central. If you'll step foot in there at the end of service, you or with your family, we want to get some information about you, how you can stay connected with our church and also pass some mystery to have a special gift just for you. So home full, give it all right guests here and everyone that's watching be a live stream from around the world. Come on, great big hand, let them know they're welcome this morning. You're watching wherever you're watching from, we welcome you to Paces and Leaves. So glad that you're here this morning. Also like you know, we've been doing back to the Bible this whole year, so this week we're going to give another Bible away like we normally do, so if you reach underneath your chair, there's somewhere, somehow, again I don't know where, oh already immediately right there, come on, give her a great big hand, you know, whoever gets a Bible, I know it'll be a blessing to you and if you don't have one, please go to Lost and Found. We've got plenty of them back there, so you can pick one up if you don't have one. Even if it has the name on it, you just crawl, you know, wide out and crawl and then put your name in there, so it can be yours. So make sure you bring your Bible every Sunday morning when you come to the house of God. Also before we take up offering, today is the first Sunday of the month which is also Mission Sunday and sometimes a lot of people don't know that when we give to me where our money is going towards. But so I want you to watch these videos right before we go to take up the tide and offering this morning. Well, since today is Mission Sunday, I want to show you a little bit about what your mission's offering is going towards. To send much greetings from our orphanage, Kenya, Compassionate, we love you, our past Lord Jesus, and the first lead leader, and all the families and all our friends and curing Tina, Karen, we love you so much. Receive our greetings, our warm greetings from Kenya. Amen. Be blessed. Happy Sunday. This is Abraham, I'm recording this video from the village of Santa Cruz in Rio Tawayo and we're actually in the middle of the construction. We were able to get a missionary team that is helping us with this project. We're actually 80% done. I think that in one or two days we're going to be able to complete the whole work. I hope that you get this video, Pastor Rogers. Thank you. I want to say thank you to your church. Thank you for making this possible. We're moving forward on this project. We have all the churches linking arms as well on this and helping us on getting this done. But I want to say thank you and send you special greetings from Peru. And we're going to say we love you. We pray for you. We pray for your church. We bless you in the name of Jesus. And thank you very much for all you do in the kingdom. Your Mrs. offering and everything that you give goes toward what you just saw out there. For those in Kenya and Abraham Alvarez and Peru, your offering that you give towards Mrs. goes straight to them and many more that we have because what we do every first Sunday of the month, me and my wife, what we do is that not only do we give our tithe and offering, but we also give a special offering into missions. That's what Children's Church does. Every first Sunday of the month they give, I give my daughter change to go into BGFC to let her know and to let my kids know that we're giving. The reason why we do this is not to receive awards and not to receive anything. No, but we give because there are people that are not as fortunate as we are. So we give so other people can have the resources and the things they need and for the gospel to get to where they are. Because the gospel is not confined. The gospel is not just for America. It's not just for overseas and certain part of the gospel is for everybody. And it's the only thing that we have to hold on to. It's the one thing that will never fade away. It's the one thing that will never be taken away, the gospel of Jesus Christ. So your mission offering is going, not to just be put somewhere to know, it's going to support those in Peru and in Kenya and everywhere else that we go. That's why we give awards to missions. That's why Mission Sunday is so important. So over your tithe and offering this morning, whatever it is that you normally give, I would ask you to give a special something to missions. And there are ways that you can give. They're right here. You can give in person. If you're giving cash, you can pick up an envelope, drop into the black buckets that you leave. You're watching online. There's a place for you to give or you can give on the app, whatever it is God asks you to give this morning. So let's pray over this morning. Lord, I ask this morning that you would bless the offering, bless the gift and the giver this morning. Lord, we know that when we give, dear Lord, that you're going to bless us back because we give unto others the least of these, dear God. You said if we give unto the least of these, you'll, we're doing it again unto you. So bless the gift and the giver this morning and we give you praise, honor, and glory for you. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. If I ask everyone right now, I want you to get your elements of communion together and I'd ask everyone to stand for me right where you are. The Bible says for everyone to search themselves because when we take communion, we need to make sure that we don't do it out of arrogance or disrespect, that if we have any sin inside of our heart that we're not able to take this communion off the table of the Lord. So whatever I want everyone to do for me right now is just to close your eyes and bow your heads and let every man examine himself right now. There'd be nothing in our hearts, dear Lord, that as we take this, we don't do it out of disrespect or any sin in our heart. Let me examine my own heart, dear Lord, to see if there's anything inside of me. And if there is, dear Lord, cleanse me right now, cleanse me right now. Forgive me as you take your elements in your hand. The first thing that we symbolize this morning is the bread of Jesus Christ that represents His broken body. The bread symbolizes when He gave it to His disciples, He said, Take any for this is my body which is broken for you. You do this in remembrance of me. That's what we do this morning. We take the bread as a remembrance of what Jesus Christ did for us, for His broken body that was nailed to a cross that was beaten unmercifully. Lord, I ask this morning, dear Lord, that we remember your broken body, the stripes that were laid upon your back, the nails that went into your hands, the crown of thorns that was placed upon you. As you carry your cross all the way to come, we remember, let us never forget what you did for us. Why? Because you loved us so. For God so loved the world. We do this in remembrance of you. You may take the bread this morning. The next thing you hold this morning is the cup, the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for each and every one of us. Without blood there is no remission of sins. It's only for the blood that you are saved. It's only for the blood that cleanses your sins. It's only about the blood that washes us completely clean. As you hold the blood and the cup up in the air. Let's pray over it this morning. God we're thankful for the blood of Jesus Christ. As Ephesians says, it's only by the blood that we're drawn near to the Savior. God this morning, we're reminded that the blood flows freely from Calvary. Not any prejudice of who it goes to, but this morning, the blood of Jesus Christ is for everyone. We thank you for it God. We give you glory for what you've done on Calvary. As in remembrance this morning of your blood, we thank you dear God. It's the blood of Jesus Christ that saves, heals and delivers us from all iniquity. In Jesus' name you may partake. Come on everyone lift your hands all over this place right now. Let the blood flow from the top of your head in the Soviet. Let healing be transpired right now. Let healing happen right now. Let deliverance happen right now. Come on worship Him this morning church. If it wasn't for Him, where would we be? Promises that are in that, that you are our victor this morning. Thank you today. Look me so, that you choose someone. I want you to reach over and take somebody by the hand. I want you to believe God for their miracle this morning. Just keep playing. I want you to believe God for their miracle this morning. Would you do that? I want you to pray so they hear you. I say pray so they can hear you. Come on. Father for my friends that are watching online this morning, I pray that your Holy Spirit would reach out and touch them no matter where they're at, where they're watching from. Today God you are the champion of all champions. You are the great and mighty God. And I thank you now God. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. Could you just lift those hands and bless Him right out loud? Praise His name. Praise His name. Praise His name. Praise God. I want you to take your Bibles this morning and open them up to the book of Luke chapter number eight. The book of Luke chapter number eight. How many of you are ready for a word from the Lord? I believe God has given me something for you here today. I say for you, I believe that it could be for some that are in this building. And for those that may not feel like it's your word today, I would encourage you to take it for later. The book of Luke chapter number eight and verse number 22 down through verse number 26. The Bible reads like this, if you found it say a good amen. I'm a little bit pointed here this morning because I believe I'm on a mission. This is not a sermon. This is a message. And I want you to be able to receive it this morning. Now He came to pass on a certain day that He, Jesus went into a ship with His disciples and He said unto them, let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, He fell asleep. And there came down a storm of wind on the lake. And they were filled with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased. And there was a calm. And He said unto them, where is your faith? And they being afraid, wondering, saying one to another, what manner of man is this? For He commanded even the winds and the water, and they obey Him. Verse 26, and they arrived. I could finish the rest of it, but I think maybe you're connecting with me this morning and they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes which is over against Galilee. Can you say amen? This morning I want to preach to you for a few moments about surviving the storm. Someone in this room, somebody watching is in the middle of a storm. And I believe God sent me here on assignment this morning for just such a person. If you are not in the storm, there's a storm, no doubt that will come. So I encourage you to hear what the Word of the Lord has to say and tuck it away for the day when the storm starts kicking up in your life. How many of you believe God will cause you to survive this storm? Amen. Father, in the name of Jesus, we thank you right now for your gracious hand up on this service already and we pray that your Holy Spirit would give us the anointing to preach your Word that makes and causes deliverance to take place and we give you glory for it in the mighty name of Jesus. Everybody believes it? Say oh, get amen. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. As I speak this morning, there are a number of storms, hurricanes, and potential hurricanes that are stirring in the Atlantic right now. And there is one that is predicted to develop into the next hurricane. I had friends that contacted me this past week by text. They were on a cruise ship headed to Bermuda. And they said, please pray for us because we are between the storms Idalia and Franklin on our way to Bermuda and the storms are surrounding us. We need God's hand and protection. And I assured them that I would. And on that boat, I can assure you that nobody who's on a boat in the middle of Atlantic between two storms is not going to pray. Even the most staunch atheists will pray in a moment like that. This past week, the hurricane Idalia and they've got names for every one of them. We're now running up on I think the letter L this year and we are just now beginning what they call peak season. It is the stormy season. And we all know it to be the stormy season who live here in the Gulf Coast. And this past week as the hurricane was approaching from the Caribbean, I don't know that I've ever seen one with this prediction with an arrow that was so straight towards Northwest Florida all the way down to Perry. And let me just say to you because of your fateful missions giving every month, I will tell you on the ground in Perry, Florida this morning is convoy of hope. They're out there right now ministering to the needs of people because this church and others give toward that found it very interesting that the state officials and the governor and others that got on on television or whatever it may have been on their blogs and every other way that they could get the word out that they were not telling us how to stop the storm. The only thing that officials could do would be to tell us how to survive the storm. One thing is for sure that no matter who you are storms are going to come. And if you're not in one now then there could be one that is on the way. Pastor that's not very exciting for me. Well I found out that storms come large and they come small. Some that I might be able to see coming and others that are very unpredictable. The storms however will affect every part of our life in fact it will cause us in some ways whether we like it or not to change things maybe in our own life or around our environment. But for one thing you can know for sure is that your perspective will change. In this story in the book of Luke chapter number eight which is one of particular two particular occasions where Jesus is in the storm and so are the disciples. And I thought to myself about this storm that if the disciples on the boat would have had 24 hour weather channel coverage and radar I wondered if they would have fought Jesus with what they saw on their charts and forecast or would they have simply trusted Jesus and what he said. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God the Bible says. So long before that you come to a point where you see something there is already a hearing. In the preceding verses of this chapter and in the previous chapter Jesus spends a lot of time dealing with people hearing the Word of God. He says it over and over again. You need to hear it. It's the seed. You need to hear the Word of God. He was setting them up for the moment that he already knew was going to come. And for them to trust his words because what he was saying was spirit and it was life trusting unfortunately the charts and all the information and now and I say this to make it very relevant for us today not to just keep rehashing something but I will tell you that there was a time now that we used to calculate particular events in our lives and we would say this event has affected us but I can tell you there is life before COVID and there is life after COVID and we are now seeing what is now supposed to be a resurgence of the COVID virus and now Miami schools have shut down and masks are now being reinstituted in New York City. I find it very interesting and I will bring this to you in the coming weeks of course as you're preparing as well as I am for the upcoming prophecy conference but I will tell you that of New York City has now declared that it's going to be all right with all this separation of church and state and stuff. It's going to be all right for Muslims to be able to declare from their minarets the Islamic prayers at five o'clock in the morning and in the afternoon to be amplified across the city of New York. I wonder if we were to get on an amplification system and pray Christian prayers throughout the city of New York would there be any hassle about that? We're in a fight. There are storms that are raging. Those storms don't seem to affect us as much as the ones that are personal for us am I right about it? And yet with Jesus though he did not have the weather channel neither did the disciples they didn't have the forecast of what was coming. Jesus words said let us go to the other side get in this boat and they launched out across the Sea of Galilee. The one thing about Jesus is what you need to know is that he doesn't give details often if ever. God says Abraham go to a country that I will tell you but he didn't tell him what he was going to encounter between here and there. He also didn't tell him that at some point I'm going to require your only son for you to offer him up as a burnt offering sacrifice and anybody that would have known anything about that meant taking a knife and filaying your own son. God doesn't give details. In fact you wind up learning on the way to the place. How many of you know what I'm talking about? Those happen on the way that are unexpected uncommon unusual. In the middle of my journey when the sun was shining bright suddenly a cloud appeared and the next thing I know I'm in the swirl of a violent wind a violent happening in my life that has changed the trajectory of all that I am planning on doing. I was going in this direction but now I don't know which direction to go. I want you to know before I ever get into the middle of this that God has already determined the end of a thing or the place before he ever started. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows the end from the beginning. God never starts anything that he hasn't already completed it before he started. That's hard for us to wrap our minds around because if that's true pastor then why did this happen to me when I have been so good and faithful and serving the Lord? Have you considered that it happened because you are good and faithful and serving the Lord? Because when Job's wife cried out you're serving God in vain. I've seen you. You've been faithful. You've been this. You've been that. This has come upon your life. And the voice that Job heard in his ear was the one that was the closest to him that said curse God and die. Now I'm going to tell you that's the reason why you've got to be careful about the council that you get from other people because this is your storm and people are really good at being armchair quarterbacks. I'm amazed. I know that people and I told Taylor I wasn't going to say anything about this but I'm coming back on it a little bit because there were winners and losers yesterday all the way around. I want to make sure you understand there was no one standing in the end zone jumping up and down with the ball at the end of the game who got the trophy for participation. There were winners and there were losers. If you don't tell your children that in life there are going to be winners sometime and you're going to lose sometime but you've got to learn how to plane that thing out and make sure you don't lose it in the middle of losing it. God has already determined our life. He's already ordered our steps. But in the process we encounter these storms and you find out who you are in a storm and who's you are in a storm. You don't know how or who you are until you're in a storm and whatever you do don't take advice from somebody who's never been through one because there's plenty of people that were screaming at the television yesterday what to do but putting pads on them and sticking them in front of the front line of Alabama. I told my wife yesterday one of the things that they did they showed the stats on three guys on the front line of the Alabama football team. Now I know why it said Roll Tide because anybody who got in front of these three guys whose average weight and their average weight was a hundred and three hundred and fifty five pounds the combined weight was over a thousand pounds coming at you at six foot tall. I'm not going to make it. Don't laugh at me you wouldn't either. So don't listen to somebody who's not in the game. Don't take advice from somebody who's just on the cruise ship. You need somebody who's been through the storm that can tell you it was tough but I'm still here. If you're still here I want you to look at somebody if you've been through a storm if you've been through a hard play if you ever had to bury a loved one if you ever had to watch a child walk away and see and pray God you're ever going to bring them back if you've ever been through a storm I want you to look at your neighbor right now and tell them I'm still here now you need to tell the devil I'm still here come on somebody I'm still here I'm still here the intent of the storm was to get to try to get me to quit and to stop but I'm still here I'm still here I don't know who needs to hear that today but I'm still here. You need to tell all your naysayers and all of those who mocked you and said you wouldn't make it. You need to just go ahead and put it in the atmosphere I'm still here after all the trial after all the temptation after all the pain after all the mocking after all the ridicule after all the accusation from the devil after everything I've had to walk through I came to declare I'm not just I'm not in the grave I'm still here I'm still breathing I'm still walking I'm still praising oh I'll cry sometime but I'm still here it's you catch me on the wrong day and I have too much to think about of that storm that I've been through you might catch me reminiscing and crying a little bit but in a little while I'll wipe my tears from my face and I'll say to myself in the mirror baby get up and do it again God be for you who can be against you if the devil minute evil God's going to turn around for good don't let nobody around you at that moment I ain't got time to hear you advise I need somebody that could come along and play me a b3 sing me a song encourage my heart and the Lord I don't need to play because the storm has been too rough and it's cost me too much I'm still here I have not preached this message since 1998 but this is the one God ordained on this weekend the disciples had walked with Jesus but they were about to experience something that they had never been through before it's one thing if the stormy occurs I mean it's one thing if it reoccurs and it's similar even to the one before I if I've had some experience with it it's but it's those ones that suddenly come upon me that I have never experienced before it's it's it's what the psalmist said it was you my friend I wasn't expecting it from you I wasn't expecting it from the nearest one to me it was you and these disciples had been walking with Jesus but they were about to experience something that they had never experienced before in their life and if you read back it's important to put this in context because because in the previous chapter Jesus is telling people in the crowd come and they're coming with their infirmities he the Bible said he healed so many and and it's the occasion where John sends his disciples out and ask him the question are you the one or should we look for another and and the Bible doesn't even say that he really declares anything he just said you go tell John that the blind see and the lame are healed and in other words the same thing I've been doing I'm still doing it no matter what so tell John it'll be all right in the morning he can go ahead and face his storm even though it's going to take his head off that's the reason why I don't have time to compare storms because your storm and my storm are not going to be the same your storm and my storm are going to be so different that that for even for me to have any kind of pride fill attitude whatsoever to tell you this is what you ought to do one two three it'll make you pull back and say wait a minute I don't know what you're going through and I don't know how you feel I just know I'm still here after my storm I'm still here here and so you have to know ahead of time and I'm telling you now because in a couple of weeks I'm going to share some things with you about events in the world I'll share one with you right now it is being said that within a year the United States will be at war with Russia well what does that mean I don't know and I don't know if we will or not but I can say we certainly are on the brink of something and if I want to be lied to then all I've got to do is just take the bait but when everything in my fiber of my being says wait a minute this is not really the way it is there's something else going on and at the deepest core of everything you see happening ladies and gentlemen is a spiritual storm that is swirling and there's not a person on this planet that's not in the middle of it because ultimately it is for the ultimate prize of absolute control that's the reason why the disciples were in this place once you come out of a great revival and a great happening of seeing people healed and set free and all that and you happen to be with the guy who's doing it if you're not careful pride will rise at that moment and you'll be more about the performance than you will about the Christ and Jesus was telling them in previous verses even in the previous chapter hear my words this is coming this is coming and they should have been prepared for it and it's important for us and if you are a person living on this Gulf Coast you understand that to not be prepared for storms especially in a time we're in right now is a foolish thing the Bible said it is a prudent man who prepares for a day of disaster so you got to get your food together you got to get your water together in your shelter in your flashlight and oh yeah don't forget that that flashlight needs batteries and be careful that you're not driving your electric vehicle or leaving it in a flood prone zone it could burst into flames like they did this past week down there in north Florida even the strongest and best prepared person can be unstable in a storm storms are unstable winds anyway i don't have time to preach this this is an entire series but let me just say when you ask the question where does wind come from the immediate definition is wind is created by pressure and movement and the bible says in the book of genesis chapter one and the spirit of god moved and created the first wind the enemy likes to take the wind and make it disturbance he likes to make it your octodon that puts Paul into a place a hurricane where he has to tell everybody on the ship whatever you do don't leave the boat this is not a time for you to jump overboard the storm is coming the storm is going to swirl but if you'll stay with the boat you're gonna be all right nobody will lose their life what you better have is someone who's got a word from the lord on the boat with you i'm gonna tell you i've had a little experience with this dad worked with gulf power for 36 years and while other people were scatting out of town we had to stay so it wasn't an option that i had to ride out the storms i had to ride them out i've been here through fredrick and uh all the rest of them elowe's all of those opal everything we had to stay and i'm just going to tell you in my first experience of a hurricane i can still remember as a child over there at 25 common street as i watched my two brothers run from the big front of the house to the back of the house watching the trees pine trees that were dipping and touching the ground waiting to find out which one was going to hit the ground first and because of my weak stomach i think that may be one thing that i gave to my son uh i laid on the couch because the storm was making me sick have you ever had a storm be so bad that the sounds of the howling winds and the beating against your house was so severe that it made you sick the howling winds i remember i remember in hurricane opal that we were inside of our house at destin they were all screaming let's leave it had been my occasion that we were to stay so we stayed and that night i heard what sounded like a herd of animals running across the house well it wasn't a herd of animals it was the shingles peeling right off of the top and then i look and water starts pouring down in the house in the safe house that had shingles on it and everything was supposed to be great when the top came off the water came in and if i didn't get something to get that water out of the house and just stared at it or wasn't prepared to do what i needed to do sooner or later it would have flooded my house and i could have lost everything we had some preparation but the howling of the winds kept and the voices that are in the storm are the things you got to be careful of have you ever heard voices in the storm before that's my question to you this morning whose voice are you listening to in your storm there's a lot of people that's going to talk to you in the storm but you better be able to identify the one who you know his voice my sheep know my voice and cannot cannot listen to another every voice does may have significance but not every voice needs to be speaking to you in your storm you need to know that the storm will come and the storm is not for you to fix men are fixers that's the way we were built you need some fixed i got step one step two step three if i don't know how to do it youtube does right we're fixers but i came to tell somebody in this room this morning somebody watching that the storm is not for you to fix because for a person like me who likes to be in control i know i'm the only one in the room i can tell by the way you're expressing yourself you can feel like a failure that's the reason why i don't really like to fly because it is completely out of my control and i don't care it's amazing to me i've watched it take place and you've flown to you know exactly what i'm talking about everybody's sitting on the plane and they come up and they say now listen to the instructions that are about to happen and nobody is paying attention because no one thinks that something could actually happen even though they're sitting on their life raft and their oxygen mass will fall straight out in front of them in a crisis you don't think about getting the oxygen mass on the baby next to you you're trying to survive and god calls us as believers to a place to know that there is a storm going to come but it cannot be so consuming that you forget about the reason why you survived the last one let me take you to the end of this story and luke eight they went through all of that storm to get to the other side just so they can encounter a fresh devil when they got to the shores of the gatherings there is a maniac man who's possessed to the devil and ladies and gentlemen i came to tell you this there are some storms that you go through that are not even about you and they're not even about the current storm they are about where you are going so when you arrive into the new region you're not going to step in there biting your fingernails you're coming in there to say in the name of jesus come out so the storm when you're a control freak i know none of you are that's the reason why i'm flying i'm when i get on the plane i'm you know i haven't i haven't taken anything except melatonin on that flight to israel and i thought surely i could sleep six hours seven hours and get me there only to find out i woke up over somewhere over greece how'd you know it was greece because i looked on the map and saw the boot hill coming out there and i'm saying to myself i need to get out of this metal tube right away however i can't go anywhere at 40 000 feet and the jewish man in front of me who is sensing we're getting closer to jerusalem has his hand on the doorknob and i need somebody to help me otherwise we're all going down these are the thoughts that were running through my very calm head as i had other people that were behind me because you're supposed to look like you're in charge when you yourself who am i talking to in this room are there any other control freaks who get in the middle of it and you're you i love the terminology that's coming out today i got it we can tell and you find out that there is a storm that you'll go through that makes you feel like everything's out of control are y'all still with me here i'm just preaching a little bit this morning because when you get to that place for a control freak you will make you feel like a failure when you can't fix it the question is do you have what it takes to survive the storm am i prepared to be steadfast in the storm now let me dig in just a little bit right here because before the disciples and jesus ever got on that boat they had been doing ministry and seeing people healed and walking the shores of galilee and they were all over the place and jesus obviously who fell asleep in the boat was tired as the man jesus and if he was tired then his disciples were equally as tired with no thought of a storm that could ever happen all we heard is jesus said get in the boat and launch we're going to the other side but the problem is pastor before i got in this storm i was tired already have you already been tired before you ever hit that storm does anybody know what i'm talking about am i preaching anybody here this morning see the enemy waits until you are tired and frustrated and weak and overwhelmed to hit you with the storm and the things that run through your head at that moment are this i never thought that i would have to go through something like this i never thought this storm would hit my home i never thought my marriage would get in a storm i never thought that my family would be in a storm i never thought that my business would be upside down and i'm bankrupt and filing for bankruptcy where does god get any glory out of that i never thought my health would be in such a condition that i would be in the storm of my life trying to survive or my church or my prodigal child and the list goes on and on you identify your own storms there's plenty of names for what i'm talking about every hurricane has a name in fact every little disturbance now is called something else invest one invest seven then we're going to call it a tropical storm then we're going to call it because there's names for everything but if you can name the storm at least you can hit the target but whenever a storm comes like we see in this passage of scripture we find it coming from all different sides if you've ever survived a hurricane or if you like me want to run out in the middle of it in the eye of the storm just to check out and say you've been standing in the middle of a hurricane one time or another i've done that multiple times the eye of the storm will let you see the sunshine all the while all around you the wind is blowing in one direction and about the time you got used to it going this way on the backside of it it's going to turn and go the other way and i'm going to be candid with you this morning because this is as deep a message as i have ever preached to this congregation because there have been storms in fact every storm that i have been through in my own life i found out that there are no shortcuts through the storms i've had to ride storms out physical storms mental storms emotional spiritual storms and still get up in this pulpit and preach to you about the faith of god i preached when my feet were on fire and i preached when i've been sick to tell you that god is faithful and i'm just telling you if you're seeing me right now with your own eyes i got three words for you i'm still here i've been through storms i don't know if you've ever been through storms like this before but but i've been through storms that have made me physically ill made me sick made me feel like throwing up i've been through storms that emotionally i had to fight and cry through the storm storms that broke me pastor you said your control freak believe me the more storms you go through the less control that you are freaking on because you find out you can't handle the storm you got to have the one who knows how to handle the storm i've been through storms that have broken me down and caused me to be unable to function i got a letter in the mail this past week unsigned no return address that caused me financially inept with this church see i don't share this stuff with you all the time because there's some things that you don't need to do that's the reason why you don't tell your children go out and get a job when they're six years old so you can help pay the bills because it's not they're anointing and not their responsibility to survive this storm it's up to you to survive this storm just so you know that i'm not some ivory tower guy i've been in the place where i've rolled up in the fetal position after being accused used ridiculed said that i'm not who i say i am that i am not capable i should quit a lot of voices in a storm a lot of voices in a storm and i've been to the place where life didn't seem like working and i could go get me a job i go get me a job because people said this is not a real job you should go get you a real job i would say to you if you ever feel like this is not a real job come on i'll take you with me one day you'll be screaming for that ditch digging job in a second i never knew when the storm would end after one of the most breaking times of my entire life and ministry read and i she's trying to work oh i'm telling this i came into the office in our previous ministry area punched the song and put it on repeat brother rob the song kept saying over and over again to my spirit to my heart what i needed to hear he never promised that the cross would not get heavy or the hill would not be hard to climb offer a victory without fighting but he said help would always come in time just remember when you're standing in the valley you know and the enemy says given just will show up and he will take you through the fire again i heard it play one time all the way through and i reached over on that boom box and i hit repeat times i listened to it but i found myself rolled up in the fetal position my wife said you're glad to come get him but you come get him it was a storm like i'd never seen before in my life and believe me the control freaking me wanted to stand up i told my authorities i've got a letter written out and i'm gonna read it everybody what i think thank god for some godly voices around who can stop you from getting out of the boat that you were meant to go through you better hear me out here this morning i'm just trying to help somebody through the storm that you're in or the one that's coming your way they came pick me up my father-in-law dead he's sitting back there he probably couldn't pick me up now i think i was a little lighter then pick me up in his arms put me in the car the next three days or more curled up on the couch see you better be careful that you don't look at somebody who's walking through a stormy place and try to tell them something stupid like get over it i didn't start it that's my problem if i could have started it i could have ended it jeremy but i didn't start it and in my finite mind i don't know where it's going to end and i had to endure the storm and rita had to endure the storm i can't even tell you everything that was said you probably run out and never want me to pastor you again wasn't us we knew the truth but have you ever been in a storm when you couldn't tell everybody the truth but all they believe was a lie i think that's what happened to joe when his friends came around and said you must ascend or something because you're messed up and rest assured there are storms that will come when we're a rebellious and disobedient to god but this wasn't that and and what i'm preaching to you about this morning is not that kind of a storm i'm talking to you about a storm that in the middle of it you start hearing voices of accusation voices that are telling you it's your fault you did this you're the reason why your kids are not living for the lord you're the reason why your child walked in and said i'm gay you're the reason why your wife ran off with another woman pastor come on i'm telling you what i'm saying right now to you is the reality of storms that people are going through here and people are going through that are watching online let's not try to sugarcoat it because ladies and gentlemen the storms are real and i don't need somebody to tell me how to survive when the clouds are going away and the sun is shining and there's rainbows outside i need somebody how to tell me how to make it when the storms are coming in and the clouds are dark and i can't see three front in front of me effective satan's voice will always end in fear you're hearing it right now you better hear me you better hear this preacher you better mask up there's a new variant if you really had an idea of how many sicknesses you walked through just to get in this building this morning and i'm still here you shook hands with 50 people who had enough germs on them to kill everything in here i'm in the hospital the other day and and and i'm waiting on someone with their surgery going on and and their poor little grandbabies having some respiratory issues and the baby was just coughing coughing right there in the lobby and you should have seen the faces and in that lobby waiting area it was like everybody wanted to pull the tent over the top of their head and isolate the devil is a liar do you know your god is a healer he had to heal in chapter number seven of all infirmities is the same authority and power to save to the storm and to the wind peace be still i'm just going to give you some things some lessons that i've learned in the storm these are not ones i read out of a book these are ones i wrote down in 1998 that i have never brought to this congregation before today here's some lessons you're in a storm what do i do pastor till the storm passes over till the pain passes over till the confusion passes over till the fear passes over first of all don't leave the safety of his care there are people jumping out of church and trying to jump in and jump out and they can't be satisfied and they're wanting something out of god that they themselves don't even commit to you want god to be more faithful to you than you are to him and you need him more than he needs you that's the reason why i'm saying to you whatever you do when he says get in the boat and we're going to the other side stay in the safety of his care the psalmist had to say under the shadow of the most high i will abide abide i will rest under the shadow of the most high no matter how bad it gets don't leave the boat if you're going to survive you got to stay in the boat and it is a daily decision i want you to know whether you believe it or not he's already prepared you he's already equipped you he's already given you his anointing in fact he chose you for this storm a pastor i've watched people who had an anointing upon their life to take care of children that were autistic others would look and say the same pardon me dumb words i could never do that that's why god didn't choose you but he chose them and anointed them and said you're the one who i'm going to put my hands around and i'm going to give you such a special anointing and it's going to be stormy all of your life one day you're going to wake up and everything's going to be great on the next day you're going to spend three months in the hospital but i'm giving you an anointing get an anointing by not going through storms you got to stay in the boat look at your neighbor tell them stay in the boat you know why i got to stay in the boat because it's all about lordship i said it's about lordship who's going to rule my life in the storm am i going to rule my life or am i going to let other people rule my life or am i going to let the lord the master of the sea rule my life i know this is not the one that i skipped through the pews on but perhaps this will be the one that will help you survive the storm and you know what else i learned learned that i'm not going to fight god for control when i get in the storm give me the wheel i hear people say i got this no you don't no you don't you're going to tip your entire family over you better back up and don't fight god for control come on somebody peter fought god for control he said jesus i'll go all the way to the cross he said before the cockroach three times in the morning you're gonna deny me three times you don't even know what heart you have but the storm is going to expose what's in your heart come on somebody because this is the big deal right now it's a big deal right now lord willing i'll bring this message to you next week and then you can hoop the big deal is many people say they believe the lord but not many trust him i believe you can save me but lord you don't understand it's going to eight percent on my mortgage i gotta do something wait a minute you just said you believed him yeah but there's a storm coming pastor you don't understand you better not fight god for control i'm gonna have to trust the master isn't it funny that they called him master you miss that i don't have time to preach that i mean they could have called him shepherd because he is the lord my shepherd i shall not want they could have called him a strong tower because the name of the lord is a strong tower where the righteous run in and they're safe they could have said all that or they could have said i'd give up be careful that you don't while you're on the boat get in a counseling session with people that are on the boat about what we should do this is some lessons i've learned they're in the same condition you are don't get distracted by fault finding or distractions of the storm just be steady that's what god wants you to do in the storm be steady now if you ever felt this way then you can relate to david david wrote it down one time and said this all that i had wings like a dove i would fly away from this problem i'd be gone i will get my stuff and move to another city i'll go to another church well you could do that and believe me there's plenty out there and it's crazy to me in the time that we're in that people can get bent out of shape with church or i rode down the road the other day driving down the road and there is literally on a church sign not far from here that every week they have a study for people with church hurt they put it on the sign church hurt i'm amazed that you don't have walmart hurt or strip club hurt come on somebody our drug house or crack cocaine hurt or meth hurt or whatever else but when church hurts come we ready to throw it all away and run away from the lord but i came to tell you if you're going to be able to survive the storm you better stay in the boat and you better stay with the master say amen somebody here's something i learned to not get lost in the storm we're bad to the bone with that gps aren't we rit and i took some groceries to one of our members house and we had to have gps a carrier pigeon a god dog and everything else to find their house and they're watching right now because they live so far up in the woods you got to forget the address just i need somebody to fly over and tell me where you live we're good as long as we got gps but if we had to read a map right now if we had to read a map right now if we had to read the map right now we have real problem because we don't know genesis from exodus why are we having this year be the year of the bible because ladies and gentlemen the only way you're going to be able to survive in the middle of the storm is not get lost on everybody's word you better find the word you better get your flashlight with some batteries in it and trust the lord who will never fail you don't get lost in the storm don't get lost in the storm don't lose your faith in the storm here's what the bible says and i'm almost done that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for god to lie we might have a strong consolation a strong comfort who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope that is set before us which hope he bruised six in 1819 says which hope we have is an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast and which entered into that that is behind the veil what are you saying i'm saying let's see if i can say it the right way well i think i'll say it the way the old hymn writer said it i will cling to the old hand exchange it someday for a crown the only way you're not going to get lost in the world of confusion and storms and wars and rumors of wars and pandemics and covid's and everything else is to cling to the cross of jesus christ and keep your face securely fastened to that location what do you say and pastor i'm saying it's not time for you to change gods not time for you i'm going to do something else listen to me friends god's shaken this entire planet to find out where is my remnant stay with the one who knows what you're facing and will not leave you in the middle of a storm have you ever been left in the storm stay with the one who created the wind and the seas the movement that obeys him here's the last two things i learned in a storm that the presence of god is my peace that as long as jesus is on the boat the presence of god is as close as the mention of his name peter got all caught up in the performance of christ prior to this time the performance what do you mean by that if you're walking with the guy who's healing everybody you're feeling a little bit like entitlement like maybe i'm an apostle maybe i'm prophet flip-flop maybe i'm reverend righteous come on i've run out of titles and descriptions he was more impressed with the christ of the performance than he was knowing the christ of his presence i'm just going to tell you in a storm it's hard it's hard in a storm when it's swirling all around you because people can be near i've watched this happen i've watched people when someone a family member whoever it is that may have passed away and people come into the room and all they are is yappy well i did this and i did that and oh yeah i might love when died over here and that's the reason why we brought food over here and you know what god told ezekiel he said you don't even know how these people feel prophet so i want you to go and sit where they sat for seven days and shut your mouth don't say a word come on somebody don't say nothing they're in a storm their limbs are falling off because of leprosy sit where they sat feel what they feel before you open up and say thus say at the lord right because the presence of god will always end in peace never fear did you hear what i just said so tell me ladies and gentlemen what do you feel when the news comes on and says there's a new covet variant get ready to mask up what's that all about it is the most effective negative emotion that the devil's been using since the garden of eden and it is fear and if you're not careful that devil of fear will once again while you're in the storm tell you there's no way out of it you're never going to survive everything's going to be ruined but wait a minute i have his close presence near me and the only thing i can relate it to is when i walked out of my mother and father-in-law's house in the middle of hurricane opal and i walked right out in the middle of the street right in the middle of the storm into the eye of the storm and it was as bright and blue and beautiful as you could ever find in fact after the storm anybody knows this after the storm is the most beautiful skies that could ever be seen because the storm has come and the storm has gone the presence of god is my peace you know why because as long as jesus is on board we're not going to drown here's a revelation because jesus don't drown jesus don't drown pigs drown demons drown but jesus don't drown that's the reason why he was asleep in the very front of the ship now look i've been on the sea of gallilee i've seen the ships that they used the kind of ships they used if you're on the bow of the boat and there's a storm raging you are not sleeping but the presence of god in the middle of a storm is so calm that he knows the winds and he knows the ways and if we can get close enough to his presence we too can have a restful peace inside of our soul please notice as i conclude this message that peter panicked because he was allowing the winds and the howling voices of the storm to tell him master wake up don't you care that we die that we perish and jesus said what's wrong with your faith you just saw me heal hundreds of people in this city what is wrong where is your faith peter said you got to get up and do something somebody got to do something up in here ask to do something sometimes the best thing you could do is draw near to god and stay there till the storm is over jesus the bible says here's a let here's the next of the last thing i got to get these lessons to you we're gone god is more powerful than any storm the man jesus was exalted or was exhausted but the christ was very much alive and active jesus was tired but the anointing was ready to go into action i can't stop the storm but i can survive it and i think somebody said it like this sometimes he calms the storm and sometimes he calms me so there's trouble there's pain there's exhaustion that made me focus on the storm pastor but peter went over to jesus and said don't you care that we perish and i love the way the holy ghost wrote this in the scripture i have preached this message this this text many times but i've never seen it as vivid peter goes over to jesus and says master wake up don't you care that we perish i can hear the spirit of the lord say you're not gonna perish can you see me in this storm and then the bible says jesus woke up and the bible said he rose up he arose to the occasion if you'll draw near to the lord jesus will always rise to the occasion pastor what occasion is what storm is i don't care what storm it is jesus is the master of every storm and he rose to the occasion just a few months later on he would arise to the occasion and declare i am the resurrection and the life the final storm has been defeated death and hell have been conquered and i have the keys to death hell in the grave i've overcome every wicked and every storm and every problem and then they looked at each other and they said this now get this the disciples looked at each other and said hold up that's me that went into king james they said hold up he just spoke and even the what manner of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey him or first of all if you're talking to the creator of the winds and the seas he can do whatever he wants to him with whenever he wants to the problem is not with jesus the problem is with their perception of who jesus is i've just watched him heal all these people i've seen him save and deliver and set free and now i'm over here questioning what and here's their question what manner of man there's the problem they were still looking at him like he was a mere man what they didn't recognize is on the boat is the master creator the word the strong tower the buckler the storm calmer the waymaker the burden bearer the one who created heaven and earth was on board the boat with them the very word spoken from the very beginning what manner of man is this i'll tell you what manner of man is first of all he's not just a man he's lord here's my last point give me the key of g fellas please here's my last point this is lessons i learned in the storm here's the lesson the other day idalia is churning in the Gulf of Mexico and they've been i'm telling you whenever jim can torrey shows up somewhere people go into automatic fits i was leaving Pensacola airport one time and i saw him coming down the coming down the deal i said where is this the one here's a lesson i learned they got all ramped up with idalia no no doubt they've told us for weeks the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico are a perfect ingredient for creating a giant hurricane and sure enough get your this is a tax free season go out and get your flashlights your generators get your toilet paper get you some water get you some beanie weenies and hurry up and get in there because it's gonna be bad and sure enough and nobody i'm amazed this is what i'm amazed you be careful who you follow because because there's a lot of people that will call themselves profit and if they were a profit go out there on the beach and put your hand up you know what that tells me not even jesus wanted to stop the storm and he knew it was coming he wanted them to experience that because it wasn't about the storm in the boat it was about the demoniac they were about to encounter when i was rolled up in a fetal position going through what i was going through and read and i it wasn't even about that it was about the next assignment so here's the lesson storms don't last but jesus does mike bell there are some storms that have been in my life way back there that i don't even remember what they were does anybody know what i'm talking about i mean i don't even remember what the storms were i don't remember even what the problem was i don't even remember who was involved in it all i know is storms don't last but jesus does and you know what else i'm still here i'm going to close this message this morning and then i'm going to call you to this altar for prayer hear me because we all read it this morning but we read right over the top of it if you got your bible open there to luke eight look at luke eight look at what it says in verse 22 hear me now hear me now are y'all with me are y'all with me this morning because in a moment i'm going to call those of you that are going through a storm or you want to be prepared for a storm to come around this altar and i want you to know you're not coming to me you're going to come to the lord i almost don't even want to do it because i don't want you to think that i'm the one who's going to do it for you you sit in a couch with counselors for a hundred years and never get what god's touch can do in five seconds look what your bible says there in luke eight 23 22 he said this now it came come on everybody read it with me now it stop it adds two words now it came to pass on a on a certain day stop that's all you need to know before they got in the boat before jesus ever put his olive skin foot over into that boat before they pushed off from the shore before they launched to go to the other side before any of that occurred the bible says and it came to pass on a certain day now if you're not totally convinced that the storm that you're in came to pass let me give you the last few words of the last verse of this story and it says and they arrived and they arrived i'm standing in front of you this morning maybe not as your pastor maybe not as your preacher maybe i'm standing in front of you this morning as a living witness and an example that what the enemy meant for evil god will take that storm and turn it around and put you in a fresh anointing the likes of which you would have never known had you not gone through the storm you went through have i got a witness in here anywhere to what i'm preaching about so i thank god for the mountains and i thank him for the valleys and i thank him for the storms he's brought me through for if i never had a problem i wouldn't know my god could saw them i'd never know what faith in his word could do everybody stands through if you're going through a storm get out from where you are it come let me pray with you i've learned to trust is your storm and the holy ghost spoke to my heart to tell you that are here around this altar those of you watching online god said today god said today you passed the test i want a spirit filled individual to be alongside people around this altar right quick where are my ministers come on those of you that are in this congregation trust what your pastor is saying this morning your days of storms are not over i wish i could tell you you'd never have a storm again i wish i could tell you you'd never go through a hard place again i wish i could tell you you wouldn't have anybody that would speak against you again or tear you down again or try to wreck your life if it wasn't for others it's just the devil but i've came to tell you you're still here and there must be a reason why you survived the last storm so for people standing around you right now that got faith to believe i want you to gently lay your hands on them right now i wish i had this entire congregation who would see the need because here's what i know ladies and gentlemen hear what i'm telling you one day you're gonna wish to god that somebody had enough compassion because we're living in a selfless society that i would pray for somebody else in the middle of their storm because one day my storm is going to be out of control and i'm going to need somebody who's got enough faith to come alongside me to pray so i'm inviting everybody here to be a minister and confine somebody somebody that you can be moved with compassion for to pray the prayer of faith and that'll be the last call that i ever make because my dear friends one day the storm may be too big for you and take you under but i came to tell you there's a friend that sticks closer than a brother i want you to begin to pray one for another ministers just move wherever god is laying you if you've got a word a prophetic word over somebody speak the word right now as the spirit of god takes over this place an intercessory prayer both here and watching online father in the name of jesus for my friends that are going through the storm some that are on the edge they know something is happening something is not right something is changing i speak peace into their situation today by the power of the spirit of god i pray god that they will not lose themselves in the storm that their faith would be firmly fastened to the anchor of their soul that the anointing of god come on pray church become stronger in their life because of the storm that they just survived i'm playing on making it among somebody reach around and put them through the storm jesus the lord rebuke you satan jesus in the morning jesus in the morning jesus in the lord the devil is a liar i just heard the spirit of the lord tell me you ready for this the storm is a lie try this side i said the storm is a lie the storm says i'm gonna kill you and destroy but jesus said we're going because the word of the lord says we're going to the other side to the other side day one of us is going to be lost if you'll just stay in the boat if you'll just stay in the boat body that's on the inside it's going to be safe past if i could fix this storm you're not meant to fix it this is the lord's storm and when he speaks peace i listened to it over and over again before i came here this morning there was a woman by the name of dotty rambo and her family that were here in florida in pennacola with a concert many many many years ago and they found she found herself they went out and built a bonfire out on the beach and they were enjoying some time but she says god had put a song inside of my spirit but i didn't know how to get it going she said i got up and i started walking down the beach and the night before a great storm had come in and all the way down the beach was debris from the storm and glass and all kinds of stuff it was a mess she said for the first time in my life i felt all the fingers of god lay on my shoulder and she wrote it down and said i feel the touch of hands so kind and tender there is that i must draw here's what she wrote i'll have no fear for jesus walks beside me for i'm sheltered and this is what she said so let the storms rage high the dark clouds rise houses burned down in washington stay fall and take somebody by the hand please around this auditorium every one of you god helped me not be enamored by the performance and missus presence this is not a performance this is real life i'm going through real hard places and i came to tell you it may not be over tomorrow it might not be over next week it may be a little while before the storm is over well why am i holding their hands pastor because i want you to know that you're not going through this storm by yourself the person you've got a hold of their hand has been through storm after storm and the only reason why they're still here is not because it always feels good and not because they've got it all figured out the only reason why they're still here is they know that the storm won't last but jesus will he will never leave me and he will never forsake me father for my friend who is standing next to me who's walking through the storm even now or maybe they're on their way into one i pray for them right now i pray for them with the deepest part of my soul because i know something about what it feels like but i also know that i felt the touch of the master strong hand and he's still guiding me he's still leading me and it ain't over until he says it's over now with one voice and one hands together you got that hand just lift it right up because this is where that victory comes from right now hallelujah hallelujah if i can praise him in my storm then i will survive i can still give him glory in the storm then i will survive i will survive i will survive and i'm going to come out on the other side knowing in whom i happily and i know he's fully able to keep that that i've committed unto him against that day i give you glory for it right now i give you glory i give you glory you're standing next to someone this morning who may be hurting even walking away from this altar this morning because i'm not giving you some placebo i'm giving you the solution is jesus but you know what they need more than anything else they might need a good holy ghost hug to let them know that i got you back with jesus would you shake hands with somebody hug their neck let them know how much you love and appreciate them let them know that you're not in it by yourself and the spirit of god keep you body soul and spirit in jesus name i'll see you Wednesday night don't miss it church of worship then we certainly want to be able to hear from you there's information on the screen that you can send your email to and we look forward for you being a part of every service right here at mace assembly every sunday and every wednesday and special services throughout the year god bless you for joining us today father i pray that you would touch the life of my friend that today they would never be the same that your presence would surround their life and peace would be their highest blessing we give you praise for it today in jesus name amen god bless you friends and until we get together again remember jesus christ is coming soon