God wants to be God - Pastor Greg Locke

0:00 are humbled and grateful for your presence today. We thank you for the privilege to gather in this house, in your house, with your people, and even some that need to be your people. Draw them to Christ today in house and online. Lord, I pray today that the power and the glory and the manifest presence of the Lord would continue as it has been in worship to be sweet and tangible and real and authentic in this place. Lord, we try with all of our hearts to minister unto you with our singing, with our playing.

0:45 And now, Holy Spirit, would you minister unto us with your word? Because as my wife said just a bit ago, there's only one thing that has ever in all of eternity, past, present, or future, been exalted above the very holy, righteous name of God, and that's the word of God. And what a solemn responsibility and covenant before the Lord we have to be taught from the Bible. I don't take that lightly as I teach it. May my friends not take it lightly as they absorb it. So fill this room and fill the live stream airways with the power and the glory of the Lord. And today I pray that a spirit of encouragement

1:31 would seep into every fabric of the being of this room and every person watching. And Lord, although we want to be convicted and challenged and deeply changed, Lord, today I feel that a great encouragement just needs to come into the room. The joy of the Holy Ghost to fill this place to overflowing. Fill every marriage, every husband, every wife, every single person, every child, every student, every person from every background and every walk of life watching and experiencing your presence in this house right now. May the fire of God's encouragement hit us today and change us forever

2:18 in the mighty name of Jesus. And all of God's people, shout it out, amen. and you may be seated in the presence of the Lord. You may return to your seats. That was the coolest transition that I've seen in a long time. Didn't even know he played the keys and I'm like, "Oh, he's putting an earbud and he jumped up here and took off." My goodness, that was a blessing. Thank you, man of God. I love it when people just jump in and use their gifts for the kingdom. Amen. >> That's what we're called to do. Don't sit on them. Don't bury them. you bear your gift, God will God will dig it up and give it to somebody that'll use it. And you can you can watch somebody else in the church utilize the gift the Holy Ghost gave you. Amen. So, let's not bury it in the ground. Let's use it for the glory of God. And so, let's give the Lord some praise just for a moment today. Just clap to the Lord. Give him a

3:05 clap offering, a praise offering. He's met with us. He's been faithful today. He doesn't have to meet with us. But the God that never slumbers and sleeps has met with his children today. Hey, I want you to go to Mark chapter number four for the continuation of our verse by verse study in the book of Mark. I'm well aware of the fact that when I pick up in verse 35, I know what that means. There's a context just as we did this past Wednesday night with the theological concept and understanding of what is the unpardonable sin. And if you are not here or you have not watched that, I highly recommend it. One of the most important theological sermons that I ever preached, especially out of the book of Mark. So, I'm well aware of the fact that there is a parable, actually two parables that mesh together that I'm going to skip because it is a Wednesday night context that will take us some

3:51 time to unpackage. And so, I want you to continue to flow with me. Verse 35. What I'm going to do is I'm going to read verse 35 down through the end of the chapter, which is verse 41. And because we've already prayed much this morning, we're just going to jump right into the text. But I want to read all of it so you can get the flow and you can manageably begin to see where we're at and where God is taking us. All right. So Mark chapter number four verse 35. And the same day when the evening was come, he saith unto them, "Let us pass over unto the other side." And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there rose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship so

4:38 that it the ship was now full. And he Jesus was in the hinderer or the back part of the ship. He was asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto him, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" And he arose and rebuked the wind. And said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased. And there was a great calm. And he said unto them,"Wh are ye so fearful, how is it that you have no faith?" And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, "What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? And may the word of God speak to our hearts." If you believe it, would you shout, "Amen." When my youngest daughter, Destiny, who

5:25 we affectionately call Be, when she was just a little bitty tiny tikeke of a girl, I would lay her in bed at night and I would pray with her and I would sing to her and over her and with her and we would just have a glorious time. But I remember one night in particular, we're laying there and there was a monsoon of a storm that had ensued outside. We lived just down the road in a tiny little rinky dink trailer from the 2060 property there in Mount Julia. And when the rain began to beat on that trailer, it sounded like Noah's flood had come to town. The lightning was streaking its way through the sky like a snake's forkid tongue. It sound like a bowling alley in the back of her bedroom

6:12 as the thunder was rolling and billowing along. And I'm telling you, she was verbally scared and visibly shaken in the bed. It was dark. The lights kept going out and back on, out and back on. And in one of those power electrical surges of the thunder and the lightning, the power went completely out. It was dark as a dungeon in that room. And it was still howling like a wild coyote outside. You could hear the wind coming through the trees and coming through those little ratted tattered windows of that trailer. And I mean, it sounded like a locomotive was about to come through that baby girl's bedroom. And so here we were laying there. And as we were laying there, she was holding my hand tighter than a a skydiving instructor. And I mean, she was just

6:59 gripping it good. And I remember when there was just a moment of silence, Destiny said, and I quote, "Daddy, are you looking this way?" I said, "Yeah, baby. You can go to bed. I'm looking this way. It's all good." And the thunder continued and the lightning continued and the storm ensued and enveloped that house, but she fell off to sleep. And I'm reminded of that story when I read this story because I want to tell you something. No matter how dark life gets, no matter who walks out on you, no matter what kind of papers you get in the mail this week, no matter what the doctor has said, no matter if he uses the dreaded C-word cancer, no matter if you're facing divorce, no matter if you're facing an

7:44 addiction, you're going through a huge storm, your finances are rocking and reeling and things aren't going very well in your marriage or with the kids or at the house and you've got prodical children and you have all these doubts and all these concerns and all these questions that consume you. I want you to know that in the midst of the storm, your father is looking your way and you can rest because God's eye is on his child. And if he knows when the sparrows fall to the ground, the sovereign father of the universe knows when my heart is broken. Knows when things are not going well in my life, in the business that you have, in your ministry, in your finances. And just like destiny said, "Daddy, are you looking my way?" We say,

8:31 "Aba, father, daddy, daddy, are you looking my direction?" And God says, "I will never leave you. I will never s forsake you. Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. God is with his children." And so in this context, you see a a massive storm that has begun to come up. and the disciples are in a boat. Jesus is in one of the busiest aspects of his entire ministry right now. I remind you from chapter 1 all the way up to where we are in chapter 4, the end of chapter 4, several things have been transpiring. Demons have been manifesting through deliverance repeatedly almost in every chapter. Parables have been given over and over

9:17 and over again. Jesus was weak and tired in his humanity. Because if you've ever taught a Bible class or preached a Bible sermon, I'm here to tell you what I'm doing right now may look easy, but it will spiritually and physically wear you out. And so Jesus was tired. He's preaching. He's seeing people delivered. He's been healing people. There was one context just a few chapters earlier, two and a half chapters in fact, he stayed up all night long for mass healing and mass deliverance. Jesus was in the midst of a red hot revival crusade and in the middle of it with no questions asked, with no explanations as to why, although

10:03 he knew why. I want to show you what happens in verse 35. The same day. Everybody shout same. So this is not another week. This is the same day. Same hour context. Offerings were great. Crowds were great. Healing was great. He had already embarrassed the religious people that came from Jerusalem to shut him down. And he shut them down because when you get in a word argument with the living word of God, you'll look like an idiot at the end of the conversation. So Jesus was able to hold his own. People were like, "Wow, look at this man. Never a man spake with such authority." And in the middle of the most red-hot revival meeting that Jesus and his disciples had ever experienced, Jesus does the pastoral unpardonable.

10:49 Jesus does the unthinkable. He said, "Boys, don't ask me any questions. Pack up the gear. Get in that rickety raft. We're out of here." Jesus left at the zenith of a revival crusade. When everything was, if you will, mui perfecto, things were great, things were grand, things were glorious, Jesus said, "Don't question it. Don't doubt it. Don't ask me a whole litany of questions to try to figure it out. Just pack up what gear we have. Get in the boat. We're going to the other side." Now, time out. Let me say this. He did not tell them what would happen once they got in the boat. And I'm glad I said I'm glad that God don't let me know the

11:35 future. My grandfather used to say, "If I knew when and where I was going to die, I wouldn't get up and go there that day." Okay? I don't want to know. So Jesus did not tell them that the boat was going to nearly sink. He didn't tell them that the storm was going to ensue on the Galilean Sea. He did not tell them that they would be afraid. He did not tell them that he was going to go to sleep and test their result. He didn't say any of that. The only thing he said was, "Get in the boat. We are going to the other side." So hear me and hear me well as I serve notice on the devil. If God says you going to make it to the other side, then if the devil sinks that thing to the bottom, he'll make a Holy Ghost submarine. You will make it to the other

12:20 side because God said so. Just get in the boat. Just get in the boat. But what's interesting is he says, "Just get in the boat. We're going to the other side." He was going, by the way, to minister to one person. Not two, not 10, not 15. He was not going to minister to multitudes. He was leaving, as we'll see in the next verse, multitudes of people to go minister to one individual. I've said it before, I'll say it again. Hear me well. This is important. I won't stutter when I say it. Christianity is the only can I use loosely the word religion that focuses not on masses and groups of people. Christianity focuses

13:07 on the individual because religion tries to reach the masses. Christianity knows you'll never reach the masses unless you do it one individual at a time. And you will never meet anyone that is insignificant to the plan of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. So treat people accordingly because everybody is important to a God that loves everybody. John 3:16. Can I get a witness? So Jesus said, "Don't ask me any questions. We're going to leave this multitude. I've got somebody to talk to and we'll see in the next context who he talked to. The maniac of Gera. I've stood in the spot where the pigs ran down the trail. It's a fascinating place indeed." But the Bible says that Jesus looks at these guys and says, "Why we're

13:53 going doesn't matter. How long it will take us doesn't matter. The fact that the multitudes have surrounded us doesn't matter." He said, "Get in. We're leaving." Now, I got to get to the next few verses because it's the real context of what I'm preaching on. But hear me and hear me well. When God Almighty calls you to do something, if it does not make you question yourself or make you uncomfortable, it's probably not God calling you to do it. >> It doesn't have to make sense. You see, we have this crazy glorious idea that we will obey when we understand. Did you know the book of Proverbs does not teach that if we obey we understand? The Bible

14:40 teaches that when we obey God, no matter what the situation is, even when we don't understand, God will make it clear through our obedience, not through our understanding. Does that make sense? And we're trying to figure stuff out. Well, you know, I've got to understand what God wants me to do. I've got to have all the money in the bank, right? It's like young people. I tell them all the time, they're like, "Well, you know, pastor, we know we need to get married, but we're afraid when we get married, uh, we're going to be broke." Guess what? I don't care how much money you got in the bank. When you get married, you going to be broke. >> You might as well just go ahead and get in where you fit in and just jump in the boat. Quit trying to figure it all out. Well, I've got to have all of my ducks in a row. Quack, quack. You better hear me. Get in the boat. You ain't got to make every phone call. You don't have to have every signature.

15:27 Every contract and covenant doesn't have to be just right. You don't have to have so much money in the bank. You see, when you get it all figured out and then you obey, you are obeying because you are comfortable, which is not real obedience. You see, delayed obedience is nothing but disobedience. And we like to hunt that dog with our kids, but it works with God's children as well, ladies and gentlemen. He said, "Quit asking me questions. Quit trying to figure it out." Some of you are like, "Could I? Should I? Would I? Lord, can I? This, that, and the other." And here's a couple of things you're doing. Number one, you're trying to get permission from other people when God's already told you to do something. And you're letting people talk you out of what the Holy Ghost talked you into. And secondarily, you're using prayer as a crutch to do what the Holy Ghost has

16:12 already called and equipped and anointed you to do. Stop praying about stuff you should be obeying. Help me, Holy Spirit. >> Well, you know, I'm just praying about it. You've been saying that for seven years and you've done nothing. Well, I'm just I'm I'm just I'm just waiting for the Lord to give me direction. Okay, you ready? Get in the boat. There's your direction right there. >> I'm waiting for a sign. You just read it right there in verse 35. Get in the boat. Stop asking questions. Stop talking yourself out of it. Stop trying to feel I don't have enough money. You never will. This church will never have enough money for the vision that God's placed in our heart. It'll never have enough money, but it's got enough God. Somebody help me. You ain't got to have enough money in

16:58 the bank if you know the God that owns the bank. Cuz he owns the cattle in a thousand hills and the wealth in every mind. People like, well, you know, this is what I want to do in the ministry, but it's going to take me five years to plan it out. Jump in the boat in five minutes. Let God plan that thing out. And people want to question things that they don't understand that they probably I don't have it in the context they probably if not verbally they visibly shook their heads and are like excuse me and by the way they understood that when they got in that boat they were going about eight miles across the lake. Bible

17:43 calls it a lake. Bible calls it a sea. It's the same body of water. Sea of Galilee, Lake of Geneer, Sea of Tiberius. It's just like Percy Priest Lake. There's just different sides of it. Okay? Different sides. It is 13 miles long. It's 8 miles wide. They're not going the length, they're going the width according to the geographic location that we have. And they're leaving Jewish territory to go to Gentile territory. And and we know that for several reasons. Number one, we know the geographics. And number two, we know that when he got there, what were they raising? They were raising hogs. And Jews were forbidded from raising hogs. And so we know these were gentile people. And so in this context, Jesus is going to take an eight mile journey. You you can see nearly the

18:30 entirety of the eight miles if you go and stand there to this day. And so he's going to take this eight mile journey. He says, "Quit trying to figure it out. Put your day planner up. Get get your get your notes uh from your Android and your iPhone. Quit trying to minus this and fix this. You see, mathematically, what God wants you to do will never make sense on numbers, right? Mathematically, it'll never make sense. Historically, it'll never make sense. Biologically, it'll never make sense. The bank numbers will never make sense. I'll tell you what does make sense. There's still power in the name of Jesus. Somebody help me up in this house. There is power, power, wonder, working power. You say, "Oh my goodness, I don't know if I could ever go to a church where somebody screams out a demon." I would never go to another church where nobody ever screams out a demon.

19:16 Somebody help me. You can have them fog machines, big screens, and skinny jeans. Joel Ostein preachers. I ain't having all that Andy Stanley nonsense. I want to go where the anointing's so thick that demons can't handle it. When I get up to preach the Bible, I'm about to change my whole message. That's the kind of church I want to be involved in. You say, "I'm a visitor. I can't handle that. On down the road, honey. On down the road. Anyhow, I'm back in track. So, anyhow, the Bible says that instead of asking their permission, Jesus said, "I'm seeking your obedience. Get in the boat. We're going to the other side." Now, check this out. Verse

20:02 number 36. Praise God. I done I done closed my Bible up on myself. There we go. Verse 36. And when they had, watch this, sent away thee, somebody outlived, tell me the next word, multitude. Not when they had sent away the Sunday school class. Not when they had sent away two people. And by the way, a couple of dozen people would not be a multitude. These people were everywhere like a stomped ant bed wanting to hear Jesus. He could have stayed there, been just fine, and the Bible would still be the word of God. But he didn't. He left the multitudes to minister to one person. And you better be glad that Jesus is willing to leave multitudes just to reach one person. He'll leave the 90 and nine just for the one. And he sent away the multitudes. They took him.

20:48 I like this phrase, even as he was. Meaning by that in his humanity, he was tired. He was wore out. He'd been preaching for days. He'd been feeding people, healing people, delivering people. The ministry of Jesus was busy. Listen, I I don't understand these pastors that never get tired in the ministry. Well, I just, you know, I just I just never get tired. I'm like, are you doing anything like other than sitting around in an air conditioned office with your boots up on a marble desk? Are you are are you doing anything but just eating caviar and posting a few videos? Cuz I'm telling you, you you work for Jesus, you'll be war slap out. You'll sleep good at night. You start being a soul winner for the kingdom. >> Listen, you start making calls for Jesus

21:35 and sending emails for Jesus and doing stuff online for Jesus and walking the streets for Jesus and praying for people in the name of Jesus. Listen, you'll get busy and you'll get wore out and it's okay cuz the best thing you can do sometime is just take a nap in God's name. So they took him as he was in the ship and they were out like this other little ships with him. So there was like a little fleet of them, right? So there's a bunch of little fleet of ships. Verse 37. And there arose, this is where you need to understand things about the Bible. There arose a great storm of wind. Now, now the wind is going to produce something. The waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. So the wind created the waves. If that makes sense, please say amen. >> Now, let me tell you why the wind and

22:22 waves were a big deal. You will notice it does not say, now perhaps yours does, but it shouldn't because in the original it should say just like this, a great storm. It was a great storm. Okay? It wasn't just a small storm. It was a great storm. For some reason, this one says windstorm, which means you probably have a new King James. But when I preach, use King James because it helps me. But nonetheless, you can catch me on the fly. When it says great storm, it is a very interesting Greek word. I'm not trying to impress you. I'm trying to pastor you. You know what the Greek word for great storm is? It's the word seismos. Does that sound familiar? Seismic activity. Why does that even matter? I'll tell you why. Because here's what people don't understand. The Sea of Galilee was

23:10 created over a earthquake fault line. So even to this day when the plates begin to shift and they don't shift often but they shift enough so that no fisherman no matter how good you are no matter how great your bass boat is in this day when you are out there you cannot predict the weather because the great storm was created by seismic that's the Greek word seismos by seismic activity and so all of a sudden boom the ground began began to shake. The earth began to twist and contort. So it picked up the wind. It picked up the waves. And these guys are caught right in the middle of this shaking that's happening while they're in this boat. So this great storm of wind and the waves beat

23:57 into the ship. Now watch this. This seems helpless. So that it the ship was now full. You ever been in a boat in a rainstorm? It's not fun. You ever been in a kayak in a rainstorm? It's a bit scary. And I mean, these guys are in the middle of seismic activity. So when the tectonic plates begin to shift, if you will, you can imagine how big those swells, big enough. In fact, the context says their rickety raft was filled with water. It doesn't matter how much they take their hats off and try to bail that water out. Now, we've been to a place, and some of you will end up going, where they found uh a 2,000year-old authentic fisherman's boat from the day

24:43 of Jesus. Now, we don't know. It's not verified that it was Jesus and his disciples, but they know that uh in the context that uh geometrically this is how big it probably would have been. So, we're thinking about, you know, here's this massive, you know, Carnival cruise. No, no. We're talking about a boat that's about uh from right here to the end of that painting session over there, right? So, we're not talking about a very big boat. 13 people are in it. Now, one of them is God, which matters because it doesn't matter what's outside the boat if you got God with you in the boat, but nonetheless, so it's about that big, right? And so, they're in there. They're being tossed around like a drunken man in a stouper, like a toothpick in a bathtub. And I mean, they are tore up from the floor up, nervous, anxiety, spirit of heaviness. They are freaking out as you can imagine they

25:28 didn't think that they were going to be going home to their families which by the way read the Bible they all for the most part had families okay they forsook all and follow Jesus and when they would go back to Capernium they'd get to see their wives they get to see their kids they get to see their family so these guys are thinking we are never going to see our family again this great wind these great waves the boat is now full it's a it's a situation where humanly speaking they are at a level of impossibility that if God don't wake up and do something, they going to drown. They are done. You ever felt that way? If God doesn't bail me out, I'm going to drown. Now, that is never shout never. >> That is never a fun place to be,

26:15 but it's a necessary place to be. >> Sometimes it's not the will of God for you to just sit around and be able to figure it out. >> Sometimes it's got to be bigger than you. It's got to be more expensive than the numbers in your account. I It's got to be more painful, more powerful, and larger than anything you've ever faced. But I remind you in Exodus chapter 14, when the people came out of Egyptian bondage after 430 years, the Bible says, "And God led them into the way of the wilderness." If you hear some willy-nilly preaching these days, you'll have the idea that, well, you know, maybe because Moses couldn't read a GPS on his iPhone that he accidentally took a wrong turn. The Holy Spirit made them take a wrong turn and took them to

27:01 the waters of the Red Sea. You know why? Because the God that leads you to it is the same God that'll lead you through it. And God's got to take you to an insurmountable situation sometimes where you can't get any answers, not even from the preacher. They can only come from God. Now, although I'm not preaching on that particular story that I just mentioned, I do want to say this. What I find beautiful about the crossing of the Red Sea, 15 things I find beautiful, but one most in particular, you know, when the waters parted like two elevator doors in a hospital building, they walk through on dry, not sludgy, not quick sand, not mud, no on dry ground. The Egyptians thought, "We going to do the same thing. If they're one God can do it, our millions of gods can do it." And the Bible says that the God of heaven took off their chariot wheels so that they drove a thunder in the mud and they could not catch them. They got to the

27:48 other side. Moses pulled down the stick. God pulled down the walls and for 34 verses in Exodus 15, they sang this song unto the Lord. The Lord has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea. Now wait, here's why that's important. Because oftent times, not every time, but oftentimes, what God will use to deliver you will be used to destroy the people trying to catch you. What God used as deliverance for his people, he used as destruction for the people that came against his people. Can I get a witness? So, here they are in this boat. Back to our context. They're

28:33 being tossed around. They're nervous. They're afraid. They're scared. As you can imagine, the boat's full. Verse 38. He, Jesus, was in the back part, hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. I don't know where that came from. It's kind of like in the next chapter when the demoniac gets saved, the first thing the Bible says is after he was naked, it says, "And he was clothed." Now, that's kind of crazy. I'm assuming these guys carried a TUMI backpack around with them everywhere they went with clothes in it for naked folks that got saved and delivered, praise God, from demons. I don't know where they got their pillows, but it's not like they had a stewardist on board. Oh, would you like a pillow? Would you like a blanket? But Jesus had a pillow. And I like the the way that this that's written so comfortably because it's showing us that in the midst of whatever we face, Jesus

29:21 never gets nervous. God's not breaking a sweat just cuz you are. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? I'm going to say that again. Has it ever occurred to you that nothing has ever occurred to God? Meaning by that, God has never ever sat around and said, "Oh, I never thought of that before." >> God does not have occurrence moments, right? He knows the beginning. He knows the middle. He knows the end. He is the alpha, the omega, the beginning, the end, the author, and the finisher of our faith. And until God's finished, you're

30:08 not. You and I are 10 foot tall and bulletproof. Until God's done with us. That doesn't mean we can be reckless. That didn't mean we jump out of planes without parachutes for YouTube clicks so we can say, "God's going to protect me." Okay, don't tempt the Lord. That's stupid. But if you're walking in the perfect will of God, there's not a demon in hell that can destroy you and not a terrorist this side of hell that can kill you until God says so. And that's the facts. And Jesus just very comfortably sleeping in a boat. Now, I can't prove this and I won't be irreverent about it, but I believe his sleep was a little bit of a one eye open, one eye closed situation because he knew what these

30:54 boys were about to do. And know this, God will put you in a precarious situation so that you will have no choice but to wake him up in your desperation. >> You say, "Well, I'm doing pretty good in life right now. I don't really believe that I need the Lord too much." Buckle up. You will by the end of this message. You will by this time tomorrow. You will by next week. The great preach, prince of preachers, CH Spurgeon, he said, "You are either in a storm, you've just survived a storm, or you're about to ride the storm, but a storm is coming. A storm's coming." And so in this context, Jesus is snoozing. The people are in freakout mode. And

31:41 watch what happens. They awaken and they say unto him, "Master, carest thou not that we perish?" And that's, by the way, that's human nature. Don't you care, Lord? I've been praying about this for years. My marriage is falling apart. Where are you, Lord? I'm broke as a joke. I can sit on a dime, dangle both legs. I can't pay my bills. Where are you, God? Where he's always been. God's never moved. We've moved. God's character's never changed. Our character changes. Hebrews 13:8, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Malachi 3:6, I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob shall not be consumed. God's not changed. His word has not changed. Titus 1:2 says, "God cannot lie. It's you and I that have changed." And God says, "I'm going to put you in a situation where you have

32:27 nothing else to do except cry out to me in desperation because God loves to hear the cries of his desperate children." And some of you, might I say lovingly and pastorally, you just hadn't got desperate enough yet. >> It's not that God doesn't want to answer. It's that apparently you don't want God to answer because you just not got desperate enough yet. Just, oh, I'm desperate. I'm desperate. Here's what everybody tells me. They come to me for marriage advice. They come to me for deliverance advice. They come to me for financial advice. They come to me for all kind of stuff, right? And and I don't mind helping people. It's my pastoral job and responsibility. It's my calling. It's my anointing. But hear me. Hear me well. I always ask them because here's what they say. I've tried everything in my marriage. Really? Everything? Yes. I've tried everything

33:12 to get my prodigal children back. Really? Everything? Yes. I've tried everything to get my health under control. I've tried everything. Everything. Everything to pay my bills. And I always say everything. Yes. Everything. Have you tried fasting except that? >> How desperate are you? You can't push back from a few meals to keep your marriage together. It's okay if you run around a room, but it's okay if you get quiet, too. I'm gonna preach. Whether you throwers or taters or you put up signs that says, "We love you, pastor. I don't care." >> Uhhuh. I'm going to tell you the truth. And the truth is, we got to get desperate to get the attention of God. You see, deliverance is for the desperate. >> Why wouldn't breakthrough be? >> You see, we focus so much on our

33:57 breakdown. And we don't realize that the breakdown is really just a setup for the breakthrough because the breakthrough always comes after the breakdown. It's always too soon to quit. You hear me? It's always too soon to quit. I know we preached the whole message maybe a month, month and a half before we got out of the tent. But you remember in the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 3, there's a time for everything. There's a time for war, time for peace, time for crying, time for laughing, time for dancing, time for sitting, time for living, time for dying, right? Time for fighting, time for peace, time for this, time for that. There's about 27 different things. Time for this, time for that. Time for this, time for that. Time for this, time for that. There's one thing there's never time for. It's never time to quit. Never time to quit. 1 Corinthians 15:58, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For

34:42 as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. It's always, always, always, always, always too soon to stop because the breakthrough you're praying for comes after the breakdown that you're desperate about. And they awaken. Don't you care? Don't you care? Don't you care that we perish? Verse 39. This is one of the most beautiful parts of this whole passage. I I wish I I would have been there. And I know there's shows that are made about it, but I just can't do it justice. And he arose. He just kind of wakes up, wipes his sleep out of his eyes, and he's about to show up and show out in a big way. He arose

35:28 and watch what he does. And I'm not going to take a long time on this, but I think it's important that you get the the progression in this context. This is a teaching moment. Use it as such. He rose and he rebuked the wind and said unto the sea. Did you see that? Now, the the sea would in context, and we know this from Matthew and Luke's account, the sea would be talking about the waves. But notice, he rebuked the wind. But he said unto the sea, "Peace be still, and the wind ceased," and there was a great calm. Here's what I want to teach you just for a moment. I think this is important,

36:14 especially in a deliverance-minded, deliverance-hearted church. You have to know the difference between what you rebuke and what you speak to. >> Did you hear me? >> You got to learn the difference between what you rebuke and what you speak to. You know, Jesus did not rebuke the waves. Why? He rebuked the wind because the waves were a consequence of the wind. He rebuked what was causing the problem. So, let me help you. Teachable moment for all of us, for every mommy and daddy in the house and grandparent. Okay? I've

37:00 made some stupid, foolish decisions as a parent. And I want to do better, but listen to me. I've had to learn that there are times that we turn the hearts of our children away from us and God because we rebuke them when we should speak to them. >> And we are rebuking them when we should speak to them but rebuke what's causing them to have the discomfort and the rebellion that they have. And churches that get baptized overnight in deliverance ministry like ours did, you can get upside down real quick, especially amongst leaders and and and prayer warriors and people that work in deliverance. Work in deliverance. Work in deliverance because you'll think you got to rebuke everything. I rebuke this.

37:46 I rebuke Hey, there's some stuff you don't rebuke. There's some stuff you speak to. And listen, I don't have to go around rebuking people. I go around rebuking what made that person act that way. But I speak to the person because the person needs to be spoke to not rebuked. I remind you that one of the nine gifts of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is not the gift of rebuking people. The five-fold, >> one of the five-fold is not the rebuer, >> not the internet agitator, >> right? Just rebuke. rebu. Listen, there's things we rebuke,

38:31 but there's things we speak to. And I've had to learn in a counseling situation, when somebody is hurting, somebody is struggling, I can't just come in and rebuke them. I got to rebuke what's causing them to experience what they're experiencing, but I got to take enough loving time to speak to the person because what the person is experiencing in the waves is just a result of the wind. And Jesus didn't speak to one and rebuke the other oppositely. No, no, no. He knew what to rebuke and he knew what to speak to. If that makes sense, would you shout amen in the house? So, let's just learn that as a teachable moment. There's things to rebuke. Yes. But there's times to speak. And what did he speak? He said, "Peace be still." Now, I find that interesting because there's two times in the Bible this phrase, "Peace be still" is used.

39:17 But it is not saying the same thing in each occasion. But the original word shows us that it's the same phrase. When Jesus said, "Peace be still." Do you know the other time he said that in his hometown language? In Mark chapter 1 in the synagogue when he met the first demon and he looked at him and literally said, "Be muzzled." Jesus says to demons and to destruction, be muzzled. And they both shut up. They both shut up when Jesus speaks. So, one more teachable moment. We keep

40:02 going. Help me, Lord. If Jesus is speaking through you, the results will follow. If you're speaking on behalf of Jesus, chaos will follow. Did you hear me? Well, I said this and I said that and I said that. If you speak for God, and get out ahead of him, you'll create drama. >> But if God speaks through you, the word of Jesus, you'll create freedom

40:49 >> and blessings. Does that make sense? Learn what to rebuke. Learn what to speak to. Because when Jesus is speaking through you, you'll get the results of Jesus because it's the voice of Jesus, not the voice of Greg or yourself. And the wind ceased. Was that not the desired result? That's what they wanted. And there was a I love this. This this is why it's important that the that the words match on the screen because I want you to see this. And there was a notice it does not say there was a calm. At least it shouldn't, right? Throw it up there, boys. It says there was a great calm. Does your Bible say that? It should. There was a great calm. Why does the end of verse 39 say there's a great calm? Because the beginning of verse 37 says there was a great storm. And if you're

41:35 going to have a great storm, you just don't need a calm. You need a great storm. God's got grace to match whatever occasion you're walking through. He's got living grace. He's got dying grace. He's got addiction grace. He's got marriage grace. He's got every bit of grace you can imagine. I hear the old-timers say, "Oh Lord, I'm praying for dying grace. I don't want dying grace till I'm dying. But when I'm dying, God will give me enough grace to pass over to the other side. I guarantee you there is grace for every occasion." You know what the word grace means in the Bible? It means to enable. To enable. God enables us through grace. Ephesians 2:89 and 10 to be saved and then enables us to live as if we are saved by the

42:22 enabling grace of God. That's why grace is a gift. It give it's given to us so that we are enabled to withstand the culture, the problems, the stress and all of the storms of life. And you do not need a calm for a great storm. You need a great calm for a great storm. And if it's a huge storm, there'll be a huge peace that God puts upon you. >> If it's a small storm, you don't need great peace. You just need normal peace. God is proportionate in the way that he blesses and works with his children. He's just proportionate. But watch this. So here they are crying out. He steps up, rebukes the wind, speaks to the water, it ceases. There's a great calm. Verse

43:08 40, he said unto them, now this is crazy. Why are ye so fearful? God's not giving you the spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound of mind. Why are you so fearful? How is it? Now, here's the context that you have to encircle. How is it that you have no faith? That was the problematic element. and the teachable element in the whole story. Why did it happen? Because Jesus wanted to increase their level of faith. So when you ask me the question that you'll never have to ask me again because I'm going to give you the

43:54 answer, here will always be the answer. Why do I have to go through what I'm going through? Here's why. God is increasing your faith. You don't need faith when you're healthy. You need faith when the doctor says you're sick. >> You don't need faith when your rent's paid six months in advance. >> You need faith when your rent's six weeks late. H you don't need faith when all your friends and family are your pow-wow buddies and everybody's getting along and nobody's saying anything

44:39 discriminatory and hateful against you. You don't need faith. That's fun. You need faith when family walks away because you're a Jesus freak. You need faith when friends walk away because you make me uncomfortable or that church you go to does. Right? You need faith when you wake up in the morning or before you pillow your head, you look online for whatever reason, all of a sudden you're like, "Why are they saying that about me?" You don't need faith when everybody likes you. You need faith when people can't stand you. Hey, you don't you don't need faith whenever your kids are tidied up and sleeping good in the bed. You need faith

45:26 when they shoot your house up. >> You don't need faith when the church is packed and full and everybody likes it and everybody's given and all is good and all is well. You need faith. When all hell breaks loose, drama starts, division starts, money starts drying up, people start getting mad, start visiting woke churches, start saying things online. That's when you need faith. You see, you don't need faith when things are going well. So sometimes God will allow it not to go well so your faith will be increased. Every bererement experience in your life is an increase of faith. Every financial instability is an increase of faith. Every struggle with an addiction is an increase of faith. Every person that walks away is an increase of faith. He said, "Why are you so fearful?" Which is

46:12 interesting. He says, "Fear." And then he says, "Faith." Why? They are polar opposites in the kingdom of God. You cannot have fear and faith together on the same plate. You can't. >> So why is it that the body of Christ is filled with fear? Because we don't have faith. Well, you know, brother lock, that's kind of a broad statement. Really? Back up to 2020. Tell me how broad it is now. >> Huh? Churches all over the world, masked up, feared up, closed up, played the game, got the the PPP government money, which we never filed for, and I didn't need the

46:58 government to pay our bills cuz I knew God would would keep the doors open. Praise God. But everywhere you went, we can't pray for people. They might be contagious. I'm like, and I thought you was a healing charismatic. Everybody believes the Bible till a fake pandemic shows up. Everybody believes the Bible till the church down the road closes and says, "Oh, you're an instigator. You're going to kill everyone in Nashville." We never killed anybody, but we brought a lot of life to Nashville, Tennessee and to the rest of the world. But fear came in and faith went out the door. And I'm like, "Okay, listen. If your church was closed for two years, don't you ever let me hear you preach

47:44 another message on faith, you coward." All of a sudden, they open their churches up. Well, we're going to have a healing line. We had them during COVID. Praise God. What do you mean you'll have a healing line? You didn't believe in healing. You thought everybody had AIDS and leprosy for a couple of years because of what Fouchy said. Y'all don't get me started on politics, but I'm having a good time this morning. I'm just I'm tired of the nonsense. Oh, we believe God. We believe God. We believe God until something doesn't go our way. What are we going to do about the White House? We going to work on God's house and let the Lord take care of the White House. >> I ain't worried about what that crowd does. Who's going to get it in 2028? I don't know. I'm not interested. You know why? Because the more I figure out what's

48:30 happening in Israel, I begin to find out. I don't need to keep my eyes on our news. I need to keep my eyes on their news cuz Jesus going to show up. And guess what he said? When I come again, he did not say, "Well, I find a lot of money in your church bank account." He said, 'Well, I find any faith on the earth. Because people instinctively talk about how much they believe God, but when the rubber meets the road, they just don't believe God that much. They start falling apart, start getting mad. Whole life just unravels before their very eyes. No, no, no. The Bible says, "Have faith. Have faith. Have faith." If you have the faith as of a grain of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Be removed and cast yonder the sea and it will be done." In this entire month, we've talked about mountains be moved. Mountains be moved. Mountains be moved. You know what some of you need to do? Some of even while

49:16 I'm preaching, it'll be okay. Won't bother you one bit. Don't tweet. Don't Facebook, don't Instagram. Don't Snapchat. Don't do all that nonsense while I'm preaching. Do it later. But listen, you know what you ought to do? Some of you right now, either get your phone out or get you a piece of paper out, get you a pen, get get you a tube of lipstick, whatever you can write with, and you ought to start writing down some mountains that you need God to move in your life. Mountains financially, mountains marily, mountains in your health, mountains in your business, mountains in your ministry, mountains be moved in the name of Jesus. Just have faith and God will move them mountains. You say, "Well, I just don't know if I believe that." That ain't on me. I won't lose sleep over your lack of faith. But I will lose sleep over my lack of faith. >> Every bucket sits on its own bottom. If you don't want to believe God, don't believe God. But don't criticize the blessings of others when they decide not

50:02 to live fearful, but to live by faith. Because he said, "Why are you so fearful? Where is your faith?" This is red letters in the Bible. Not not Greg letters, red letters. He said, "Where is your faith? Why don't you have any faith?" Meaning by that everything we experience is an opportunity to grow us in faith because without faith it's impossible to please God. Him that cometh to God must first believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6. Without faith it is impossible. You can't be saved without faith. You can't live saved without faith. And and I find it interesting that we can shout and flag and run around and rightly so be like, "Woo, man, I love Jesus saved me from hell." So, you can have faith that God will change your life, transform you, and save you from hell, but you can't have enough faith that God will put gasoline

50:48 in your tank. That's a little messed up to me. You believe God can change your heart, wash your soul, forgive your sin, deliver you from demons, and change your life path, but can't pay your bills every month. >> What? That's a faith issue. >> So, let me tell you something. I know it probably upset a few people, but that's all right. People like, "Well, you know, pastor, I just got money problems." No, you don't. Hush. You have no money problems. You have trust problems. I love you. Smile or don't. Helps when

51:38 you do, but I'll preach if you don't. You don't have money problems. You have faith problems. >> It's all over the Bible. I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. >> I've not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. You either believe that or you don't. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all of his righteousness and all these things things shall be added unto you. And the things he's talking about is not prosperity nonsense. He's talking about food and shelter and clothes, daily necessities of life. We either believe the Bible or we don't. You don't have money problems, you have trust issues. How much are we desperate to trust God?

52:29 That's the context. But then notice this. We're about done. Y'all been shouting till I got to verse 40. Praise God. And they, Watch this, this is interesting because he just said, "Why are you so fearful?" Then he said this, "And they feared exceedingly." Now wait a minute. We preached a whole message on the fear of God. Don't get it twisted. The first type of fear he mentions was a demonic fear, a nonsensical fear. Because fear is it's not only irreverent to the things of God, it's irrational. You fear things that you would not normally fear, be bothered by things that you would not normally be bothered by. But then all of a sudden, when they saw what Jesus did, heard what Jesus said, there was a different level of fear. There was an awe. There was a

53:17 respect for the awesome nature of Jesus that woke up in this boat and rebuked and spoke and wind and waves obeyed him. And they feared exceedingly. And watch this. And they said one to another. They're like looking at each other, eyes bugging out of their heads, mouths are gaped open. What? And and I can't prove this, but I think they said this like in a quiet whisper of a voice. What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? I mean, they had a lot to say a minute ago. Don't you care that we're going to die? We're going to drown. Carest thou not that we perish? Are you looking our

54:03 way? Jesus stood forth, did what Jesus does and what he does best to this day. And then all of a sudden, a quiet, calm peace, not just upon the waters, but upon the hearts of those in the waters. They looked at each other and they said, "Did Did you see that? Did Did you hear that? What manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves of the sea would obey him? They're like,

54:49 "Who is this man?" By the way, they had been through four chapters of supernaturally divine visitation from Jesus that heard all the messages. He'd explained all the parables even when he didn't explain to the common people. They'd seen the demons manifest. They'd seen Peter, who was in the boat, have his mother-in-law healed when Jesus rebuked the fever. They'd seen him bless people, help people, heal people, blinded eyes. We've been a long time in Mark. We're only through the end of chapter 4. Not even really to the end because we have one we got to go back and deal with. We're four chapters in and Jesus has done miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. and they'd never open their mouth until this moment. And when the situation, here's what I

55:35 find interesting. When the situation touched them, they responded differently. That just came to me. You see, other people's stuff don't normally bother you as much if it don't touch you. you you can watch other people scream during the beginning of a message and you're like, but if it's you screaming during the middle of a message, you'd want me to stop and recognize it and say something about it and understand the desperation that you're going through. Right? >> Somebody in the room can talk about

56:20 being broke, but if your bills are paid, it don't touch you. But when it touches you, you'll talk different. You'll walk different. You'll respond different. You see, let's just get real in the house. If we can get real, shout real. I could get up here. For example, I I was gonna just randomly just use whoever, but I'm gonna use myself because if I'm gonna talk about getting real, I'm gonna get real. Okay? I can get up here and and I can say things like, which by the way, he's doing unbelievably well, but I can talk about my adult son who's been in active

57:08 addiction for the last few years, who just, by the way, had never done it before. We we've spent tens of thousands of dollars of our savings through the years to put this boy in rehabs, and everybody knows him, right? He grew up around this stuff. Them them them church kids, man, they can fake it till they make it. >> And uh so he he graduated from a program. He had never stayed with anything. I'd pay all this money and I'd fly into Texas and fly with him and cry like a baby coming home. And two days later, he'd he'd just run away, you know, run off. And uh so he called me a few days he got caught this week while I'm in Philippines. And but It's all going to be good. He called me. He said, "Hey, dad." He said, "I finished this program, this 40-day program, whatever." He said, "They go

57:53 they go upgrade me and put me in the next program." I was like, "Praise God." So, they upgraded and put him in the next program. He called me last week. He finished the second what, 30 days, 40? He said, he said, "I done graduated from two programs, Daddy." He said, "I ain't never done that." He said, "He said, "Are you proud of me?" I said, "Of course I'm proud of you, boy. What do you mean I'm proud of you?" He said he said, "When I get out," he said, "I got to" He said, "I got to beat this court deal." you know, we we we're working on that and praying through all that. He said, "I got to beat this court deal on on Wednesday when you're in the Philippines." He said, "But I got these people." He said, "Man, they believe in me, Daddy." He said, "They going to send me to Florida so I can go to welding school and they going to pay for my welding school down there in Florida. Some some gangbanger stole his car a few weeks ago. He said, "What am I going to do?" I said, "You don't need a car, son.

58:39 You done graduated. You doing good. You going to walk. What you going to do for a little while?" Praise God. But it blesses my soul to hear that. But here's what's interesting. Somebody else can talk about their kid in addiction and you can hear it, but until you have one, it doesn't touch you the same way. >> Right? And when something touches you different, you'll talk different about it. And they had seen Jesus for four and a half chapters perform tons of miracles and never opened their mouth. But when it touched them, something came out of them.

59:26 And God said, "Now I got you right where I want you. Peace. Be still." And they said, "Holy smokes. Who is this man that touches everybody else and it does nothing for us, but he just touched our situation? What manner of man is this? That even the elements of nature obey his voice. And if I only had a 30 second message, I know I've preached a while, but let's just suppose I only preached for 30 minutes today. If I read the whole text and then preach for for 30 seconds rather only preach for 30 seconds. Everything you would need to know about this text and about

1:00:11 the message I just preached can be summed up in 30 seconds. If you're ready, shout ready. You know why God allowed everybody of this to happen? Because at the end of the story, there was one reason for it. God just wants to be God in your life. That's it. Why are you going through what you're going through? Because God just wants to be God in your life. They didn't say, "Hey, Peter, you got all the answers. Help us." No. Lord, help us. Hey, Judas, you got the money. Help us. No. Jesus, help us. Hey, Thomas, help us. No. Jesus, help us. The Bible says there were other little boats. They didn't say, "Hey, little little boat, row, row, row your boat. Help us." No, they cried to Jesus. You see, Jesus let some things get rickety in your life so that at the end of the day, God just wants to be God in your

1:00:59 life. He wants to tear down every person, every idol, everything you trust in, everything you believe in. Tear it all down and strip it to the foundation so that when it's all done, the only thing you can say is to God be the glory. To God be the glory. What manner of man is this that has touched me and made me see things differently? God's just trying to be God in your marriage if you let him. God's not trying to make you suffer. He's trying to make you see. We sing that song. Show me your face,

1:01:46 Lord. Show me your face. Sometimes we're so busy recognizing the faces of everyone else that God has to strip them away so all that we see is his face, his glory, his manifest presence. Would you stand with me all over the room, everyone standing, visitors, members, regular attenders. Father, in the name of Jesus, I've tried to obey you, Holy Ghost, and preach what you laid on my heart right now. Lord, would you begin to prick the hearts and minds of people all over this room that they would begin to come to this altar and say, "God, I just

1:02:31 want you to be glorified in this trial that I'm facing. I want you to be glorified in this hurt that I'm walking through. I want you to be glorified in this addiction that I struggle with. I want you to be glorified in the rickety raft of my marriage right now. Oh God, be glorified. Be glorified. Be glorified. And right now, all over the room, as some are doing, would you begin to leave your seat, sir? Would you begin to leave your seat, ma'am, young person, even if you come as an individual or you come as a couple, you come as a marriage, you come with your kids, some of you need to come and cry out to God by name for your prodal children. Come on. All over the room. All over the room. [Music] He just wants to be God in your life.

1:03:16 That's it. Nothing more, nothing less. He just wants to be God in your life. He just wants you to have more faith today than you had yesterday. To believe him for a bigger miracle this week than you did last week. You know, as I travel the world, as we'll do tomorrow, weak faith is really something you only see in Western civilization. It's strange. You know what I'm talking about? India. You

1:04:02 >> man, we we go around the world. I'm like, these people make my faith. They make me look like a lost person. >> A lack of faith is only a western civilization luxury. Where I'm going in the Philippines, these people have so much faith. They have water walking faith. We go to Africa and I mean people walk for miles and miles and miles and miles to come to church and they just have so much faith. They have nothing to give. So they drag a cow to church and give their cows away. There's just a such a faith that rises around the world and then we come to America and we believe a little bit. God says, "No, I want you to believe a lot of it.

1:04:49 I want to show you my glory." And if we will quit seeking his hand and start seeking his face from his hand, he'll give us everything that we need. So right now as these are praying, just begin to slip out of your place. Take your time. If you need somebody to pray over you, lay hands on you. We'll do that. If you need to be baptized today, slip over. We're praying for Miss Billy. We love her. She's watching today, but she's not going to be here. But we'll get the crew over here, and we'll have someone baptize you in the name of the Lord Jesus. If you need to follow the Lord in believers baptism, that'll increase your faith. If you're saved, but you've never been water baptized, you're you're stinted, you need to grow, you're immature in your faith, need to grow, get baptized today in the name of the Lord Jesus. But right now, just fall on your face and say, "God, grow my faith. Lord, be God in my life, Lord.

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