Experiencing Jesus in the Storm

Yeah, let me invite you, for this morning to turn in your Bibles to John chapter 6. For our time in the word, today, John chapter 6, and if you wanna give a title to the message today, it would be experiencing Jesus and The storm It's good to be back with you after being away from you over the last two Sundays. my wife and I received news on the Thursday night of September 14th that Donna's dad had passed away. We heard that news around 8 in the evening on Thursday night and the following morning at 9:00 a.m.

we were flying out of LAX to go back to Indiana to be with Donna's family. Donna's dad, as many of, suffered a stroke 9 years ago that left him largely, incapacitated on one side of his body and bound to a wheelchair. He was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago and recently we were told that the cancer was in his bones. We were back home in Indiana.

visiting with her family and my family back in August, and when we said goodbye to Donna's dad, on that occasion, we knew that it was our final. goodbye to him and it just ripped Donna's heart out, saying goodbye to her dad, but I, I can't thank you guys enough for your prayers for us and for our family as we've experienced the loss of, of Donna's dad. Donna is still in Indiana, and you can continue praying for her. And she'll be, coming home on Thursday of, of this week.

But we appreciate the text messages from many of you as well as the cards that you have sent, We even got mail from some of you in Indiana and we're wondering how you got the address where we were at. but, your words and your love have ministered encouragement, to our hearts in ways that I couldn't even begin to express, to you. It totally touched us, so deeply to see flowers from Cornerstone and from the Women's ministry leadership team at the funeral. And it just made us feel like you were all there, with us, through your prayers, and through God's help, we were able to honor Donna's, dad and also, to magnify Christ and our hearts were left, just so full from the experience, but there were many tears, along the way over the last, couple of weeks, and I counted among the top honors.

of my life to be by my wife's side and to grieve together with her, the loss of Her dad, I've never loved her more, and all of you would have been so proud of her if you had seen the way that she has conducted herself in a Christ-honoring way during this season of loss. When we got off the phone, the evening of September 14th, that Thursday night, receiving the news that Donna's dad had passed, she knew that he was going quickly and had been on the phone with her mom throughout that evening.

Donna wept like I don't think I've ever seen her weep, and much of her pain came from the fact that she was not there with her mom and with Her dad, when her dad passed. But Jesus was with them, and Donna's dad was a believer in the Lord and he's with Jesus now.

Jesus has been with us in this season of loss and Jesus, I can just say Jesus has become more precious to us than, than ever. He's drawn close to us in this season as I know he's done for so many of you in your seasons of grieving and loss. we're experiencing firsthand what most of us already know, and that is that Jesus is not a savior who keeps us from storms. He's a savior who comes to us in the storms.

And he reveals himself to us in ways that we would have never appreciated apart from the storm. And he gives us inside those storms, fresh opportunities to receive Him afresh. Into our hearts even while the storm rages. Jesus is a savior who knows how to effectively use storms in our lives to do his good purposes in us.

And if we really knew all that Jesus was up to, and he's always up to a million things, we would thank him even for the storms that he providentially allows into our lives. Amen. That leads me to what I wanna talk about, today. I wanna look at a little story in John chapter 6, which has become, precious to me over this past week.

I woke up Monday morning after getting back in Sunday night and was just having my devotions in John 6 and, and this story is just, gripped my imagination all week. The story, also, features some parallels. To another story that I would like to tell you this morning, and I'll get to that when we're done. Looking at John chapter 6.

If you find yourself, shaken to your core by hardships, by losses, by some storm that is in your life, this story in John 6, I think, will serve to give you some perspective that I think and pray that you'll find helpful. And the way we'll look at the story is we'll observe 5 developments in the story of some shaken men. Who experienced Jesus in the midst of a storm. The first of these developments is that Jesus lets these men who are his disciples start off across the sea without Him.

That's how the story begins. Jesus, if you were reading in John's Gospel, has just performed the miracle of the feeding of the 5000, a miracle that occurred on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee. That miracle is recorded essentially in verses 1 through 15. After that miracle occurs, And the 5000 are fed.

look at what happens next, beginning in verse 16. It says now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. When the text says that they were crossing the sea to Capernaum, it's simply telling us that they were heading in that direction.

Their real destination was Bethseda, which was a little bit past Capernaum. Now one might get the impression just from what is said in John's Gospel that maybe the disciples should have waited for Jesus and They shouldn't have taken off when they did until Jesus had arrived, but we're actually told in Mark's account of this incident in Mark 6:45, that Jesus himself was the one who made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side to Betheda, while he himself was sending the crowd from the feeding of the 5000 away.

Then we're told in verse 46 that after bidding them farewell, Jesus left for the mountain to pray. There's a storm that awaits.

Jesus' disciples and Jesus knows that, but he sends them off on their own without him. If you look at the map that is on the screen behind me, by the way, is that red dot big enough for you guys? Yeah, I was real concerned about that. If you look at the map, you'll notice that the trip seems like a simple one.

It's that yellow arrow. Across the top of the Sea of Galilee. The disciples' trip is merely from the northeast side of the lake to another spot closer to the northwest side of the lake. The disciples are experienced with the Sea of Galilee and probably took off on their journey without any worries at all.

But they are without Jesus on this journey and John tells us that it was night. So they take off on the boat, begin their journey, hoping to reach their destination, no doubt in good time. But it is then that something happens and this brings us to the next development in this story of some shaken men who experienced Jesus in the midst of a storm. Number 2, they experience a storm in their journey.

They encounter a storm in their journey. Observe what happens in verse 18, which serves to explain why their simple journey. has become impossibly complicated. Verse 18, the sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing.

these winds on the Sea of Galilee, even to this day can be exceptionally severe at times. Students of the Sea of Galilee will tell you that the waves on the Sea of Galilee can get as high as 20 ft. During especially bad storms. And evidently something like that is happening here in Matthew's Gospel in Matthew 14:24.

we learned that the problem was not just the winds, but that the boat itself was being battered by the waves. In the process, the disciples are being blown off course, leaving them, according to Matthew's gospel, a long distance from the land. Mark tells us that they will eventually find themselves in the middle of the sea. So that simple journey is not turning out to be so simple after all.

John does not tell us this in John 6, but in Mark's account of this story, Mark tells us that from Jesus' position up in the mountains where he was praying, It says he was seeing them, straining at the oars for the wind was against them. Jesus saw this, he saw them struggling with the, the oars. Jesus is not clueless about their predicament. He's not clueless about their struggle.

The disciples are being pushed to the limit of their abilities. They're fighting for every inch of progress and they're only getting further off course, and Jesus sees all of it. Now Jesus could have left them alone, but he doesn't. This brings us to the next development in the story of some shaken men who experienced Jesus in the midst of a storm.

Number 3, Jesus draws near to them in the storm. He draws near to them in the storm. Look at what happens in verse 19. Then when they had rowed about 3 or 4 miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, drawing near to the boat.

Now 3 or 4 miles actually should have had them maybe within about 1 mile of their destination if they had traveled in that straight line that you saw on the map. But Mark tells us that the boat is now in the middle of the sea. So they're going in the wrong direction, being pushed off course. Matthew and Mark also tell us that by now, it is the 4th watch of the night, which means it's now between 3 a.m.

and 6 a.m. which means they've been on the water anywhere from 6 to 12 hours struggling in this storm. And we know that Jesus has been watching them. And he's obviously allowed them to struggle for quite a while without him.

Yet moved by the sight of them struggling, Jesus comes walking on the water and drawing near to them in this storm that they find themselves in. Well, how do the disciples respond? To the sight of Jesus. Are they excited?

Whoa, Jesus is here. Well, verse 19 ends with these words. And they were frightened. The disciples freak out when they see Jesus.

John does not tell us in his gospel why it was that they were frightened, but Mark tells us in his gospel, Mark tells us In Mark chapter 6 verse 49, that they, the disciples, suppose that it was a ghost, and they cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified. So in their minds, who else could walk on water but a weightless ghost or a spirit being. The word ghost that we find here in our translation is a translation of the Greek word phantasma. From which we get Phantom, Verse 50 tells us that when they saw Jesus and thinking he was a phantom, that they were terrified.

And keep in mind that they're, as they see Jesus walking on the water, thinking it's a ghost, they're not thinking this is some random ghost who happens to be walking around the sea. They're thinking to themselves, this is the phantom who caused the storm. In order to blow us off course and direct our path to Him. This is a storm, we now realize that is spiritual in its origin.

And this is the storm master, who caused this storm in order to bring us to him so that he can now bring upon us some justice that we deserve. That's why they're scared. They think they're gonna be dead very shortly. Mark tells us that they cried out.

Matthew in Matthew 14:26 tells us that when they cried out, they said, it's a ghost. Little do they realize that they're staring at Jesus. The sight of him is the best thing that could have happened to them in this circumstance. They're staring at their Savior who has come to them to help them.

And there's the storm, and yet the disciples see him and they don't realize that. They think he's a ghost who's come to destroy them and sink them to their death beneath the waves. So Jesus realizes I need to do a little bit more than just draw near. To them and appear to them, I need to actually speak to them and tell them who I am.

This brings us to the next development in the story of the shaken men who experienced Jesus in the midst of a storm, and that is Jesus reveals himself to them. In the midst of the storm. They need to know that this is Jesus and not some ghost. Look at what he does in verse 20, but he said to them, It is I Do not be afraid.

The tense of the verb said. could better be rendered, but he was saying. To them, indicating that he had to say this more than once. To calm these disciples.

He says it is I. I'm sure that just the sound of his voice would have helped them to recognize that this is Jesus and that's actually what Jesus intends. He's saying it is I, the one whose voice you recognize to be that of Jesus. He's drawing forth from them the memory of all of their prior experiences with him.

It's me, Jesus says, the one who left heaven to be your companion. It's me who loves men like Nicodemus and who pursues lost women like the Samaritan woman. It's me who heals the lame. It's me who gave thanks and fed the 5000 earlier today.

It's me, the word made flesh, who now dwells among you. It's me, the one John the Baptist pointed to and said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus says, it is I, so be not afraid. Stop being afraid.

Don't try to paddle your boat away from me. You have no reason to fear. And of all things, you have no reason to fear me. It's amazing to me how much effort Jesus has to spend persuading us to not be afraid of him.

He's had to do that with me. In Matthew's Gospel, we learn what happens next. We'll look at this very quickly in Matthew 14:28, Peter said to him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And I love this.

In Peter's mind right now, the storm is still raging. And in his mind right now, his thought is, I'd rather be with Jesus outside this boat than be in this boat with without Jesus. I also love the fact that Peter didn't say, Lord, if it is you, command these waves to die down. And stop the wind.

No, Peter's not even thinking about the storm right now. His only desire at this point is to be with Jesus, so he's like, if this is you, Command me to come to you on the water. That's all I want right now. I wanna be Where you are Jesus.

So observe what Jesus does. In Matthew's account in verse 29, and Jesus said, come. And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. So far, so good, but we all know Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus, begins to look around at the wind and the waves, verse 30, but seeing the wind, he became frightened and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me.

The Three most beautiful words in the English language, when you string them together, Lord. Save me. Jesus is a merciful Lord, and he reaches out to Peter and mercy, verse 31 in Matthew's Gospel, the text says immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, You have little faith, why did you doubt? This is clearly a rebuke from Jesus, but it embodies a wonderfully positive affirmation.

According to Jesus' words, Peter does have some faith. His faith is little, but Jesus affirms the fact that Peter actually has faith. He doesn't say, oh ye have no faith. But of little faith.

Jesus is that savior, even in our moments of doubt and weakness, Jesus still sees. That slender thread of faith. That is within us, even if it is little. Anyway, John does not get into those details that we just looked at in his gospel.

All he records is that Jesus speaks to his frightened disciples and says, it is, I do not be afraid, which is utterly fascinating to me. It should be instructive for you and for me that this is all Jesus feels like he needs to say in order to persuade his disciples to not be afraid. He doesn't say it is I, and I promise that I will calm the wind, and I promise that I will calm the waves, and I promise that I will keep you alive, you won't die, and I will make sure that you will get to your destination.

Therefore, be not afraid.

No, all he says to them is, it's me. Be not afraid And that's actually all we need to hear, isn't it? All we really need to know in our trials is that Jesus is near. And that reality is enough to calm every fear.

I don't know about you. I can go through anything, I think, if Jesus is with me. I can't go through anything. If he's not with me, and I know you feel the same way.

And by the way, keep in mind, Jesus isn't Walking on the water here simply to show off his ability. To walk on the water. He walks on the water. In this moment, in order to get to his disciples who are stuck in the middle of the sea.

He's determined to get to them in their distress and the laws of physics. There are no obstacle for Jesus when he wants to get to his people in the middle of their distresses. If this story shows us anything, it shows us that there is no trouble that we will ever find ourselves in that Jesus cannot get to us. Jesus is not the savior who stands on the shore when we're out at sea in a storm and says, I, I, I love you and I'd love to help you.

But there's water between you and me, and I just can't get to you. But I wish you the best. No There is no law of physics. There's no storm fierce enough.

To keep Jesus away from you when you need him most. Anyway, the disciples now realize that this is Jesus and this leads us to the final development in the story of the shaken men experiencing Jesus in the midst of the storm, and that is they received Jesus into their boat and finish their journey with him. Look at what it says. In verse 21, so they were willing to receive him into the boat.

Now that they know it's Jesus, they happily receive him into their boat. And Mark's gospel tells us that as soon as they welcomed him into their boat, the wind stopped. And the end of John chapter 6 verse 21 tells us, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. They had strained at the oars to get to their destination, but they had failed.

They had relied upon their decades of experience in traveling on the Sea of Galilee, but it was all in vain. Now with Jesus and the boat, they found themselves immediately at their desired destination. The savior who had just defied the laws of physics and gravity now defies space and time and takes them immediately to their desired destination. While rowing and fighting the waves during the storm.

Perhaps the disciples could have said, we don't have time. Jesus, to welcome you into our boat. We got paddling to do. But they let Jesus into their boat, and immediately the boat was at its destination.

Those of you who think you're too busy for Jesus, take note. Of what happens here. Well, how do the disciples respond to this instant change and whether Their sudden arrival at their destination. How do they respond to Jesus walking on stormy waters to get to them?

John doesn't tell us. But Mark does. In Mark chapter 6 verse 51, the text says they were utterly astonished. When in fact, they should not have been astonished.

says they were utterly astonished, verse 52, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened. What Jesus does here in walking on the water and calming the storm should not have been surprising to them at all. If Jesus can defy the laws of physics and produce food to feed 5,000+ people. Out of a few loaves and fish with baskets left over, then what Jesus does here in walking on the water, calming the storms should not have been so astonishing to them.

They should have been thinking, yep, that's the Jesus we know. However, to their credit, the disciples do arrive at a certain conclusion about Jesus. In Matthew's Gospel, Matthew tells us in Matthew 14:33, and those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, you are certainly God's Son. The storm is over, guys.

This is no foxhole worship. In the stillness of the moment with the storm now over, they fall before Jesus and they're worshiping Him. Saying you are certainly God's Son. All in all, when we put all of the accounts together from John and Matthew and Mark, we see Peter In this episode, saying to Jesus, Lord, save me.

We see the disciples willing to receive Jesus into their boat. We also see them worshiping Jesus, and we hear them saying to Jesus, you are certainly God's Son. And it was a storm that Jesus used to bring them to this point of receiving Him and worshiping Him as the Son of God. And this is the way Jesus works in our lives, right?

He often chooses to meet us in the shadows and it is often in the storms of life that we can see him best. Some of your deepest moments with the Lord Jesus Christ happened in the middle of a storm. This is why Jesus allows storms into our lives. Such storms are actually expressions of his love for us because he knows how to use these storms to bring us to the end of ourselves and reveal Himself to us.

That's what he does for his disciples in John 6 and This is what Jesus often does with us as well. In the end, we see that Jesus' disciples started off on their journey without Jesus in the boat. But they finished their journey with Jesus, and somewhere in the middle, Jesus used a storm. To bring about that change.

I told you at the outset that I wanted to tell you. Two stories This morning, the story that we find in John 6. And now I want to tell you a somewhat similar story of how God used a storm. In Donna's dad's life.

In order to bring him to a place where he was willing to receive Jesus. Into his boat Donna's dad started his life's journey without Jesus. In fact, he spent 75% of his life span without Jesus. But by the time Donna's dad reached the end of his life's journey 2 weeks ago, Jesus was in the boat with him.

And Jesus used a storm. To make that happen Donna's dad's name was Bill. This is a picture back when Donna was in high school of their family. Donna's dad's name was Bill, Bill Woods, and her mom's name is Juanita.

when Bill first married Juanita, there was a spell where the two of them went to church together from week to week, but during that brief spell, there was a leader in the church that Bill looked up to whom Bill discovered to be cheating in business. And this left Donna's dad fed up with the church. and not wanting anything to do with Christianity anymore. So he stopped going to church, and he stopped making any pretense of believing in Jesus.

From that point on, he gave every indication and even later by his own admission that he was not a saved man. My wife grew up in the home of an unbelieving father. He saw enough hypocritical Christians over the years whose ethics were worse than pagans and what he saw left him thinking, why would I ever want what they have. But Juanita, Donna's mom, Bill's wife, loved the Lord and continued going to church.

When Bill and Juanita had their 3 daughters, Juanita would go to church and bring her 3 girls with her while Bill stayed home. And she raised her daughters to know and love Jesus and to love Christ Church. As a result, as Donna and her sisters grew up, the body life of the church was very much woven into the fabric of their lives and they each received the Lord Jesus at a young age. Donna's dad was actually very supportive of them all going to church and believing in Jesus, even if he didn't think it was for him.

He saw the fruit that it was producing in Juanita's life and in his daughter's lives. On top of that, Juanita, Donna's mom, was a full on 1 Peter 3, wife to Bill. She loved Bill and she served him, adorning the gospel with her good behavior toward him over the years. When Bill looked at Juanita and he just adored her, he saw the beauty of Christ in her, and this left him thinking something like, I'm not sure what I think about Jesus and my need to be saved by him.

But whoever he is, he sure is giving me a great wife. But Donna's dad was a proud man, a self-reliant, independent man. He was a man of few words who strived for excellence in all that he did. Everyone who knew him.

In the workplace spoke highly of his skill and his ethics, which were absolutely above reproach. But Bill He was a proud man. And the older he got, the more difficult it was for him to swallow his pride and admit that he needed to be saved just like everybody else. Donna's dad was a certified master electrician.

He had worked at a local electric company in Indianapolis for 34 years on the northeast side of town and had worked his way up through the ranks of that company until he became a part owner of that company. When the company got sold off in 1995, Bill started his own electric company and started providing service to people and to businesses in The community His company was less than 2 years old when he did some electrical work at Reggie Miller's home. On the northeast side of Indianapolis.

Reggie Miller is a native of Riverside.

He played basketball for UCLA and then for the Indiana Pacers. It was, I think in April or sometime in 1997 that Donna's dad was brought to Reggie Miller's home to do some electrical work for some light fixtures. In his house. A couple of weeks after he did that work in Reggie Miller's home.

On May 17, 1997, Reggie Miller's house caught on fire and was left in ruins. Out here in California, I remember seeing the news reports of the fire, and initially, Donna and I had no idea at the time of Donna's dad's involvement in anything having to do with Reggie Miller's home. In the weeks after that fire, Bill was served papers. And Informing him that things were moving in the direction that would result in the conclusion that the fire was caused by the electrical work that he had done.

And that a suit was imminent. The basic message of the letter that he received was, once the facts become fully established, we are coming after you to recover the cost. For the damages to Reggie Miller's home. And Bill knew how things usually worked in situations like this.

He knew that if investigators do not find a specific cause of the fire, the operating assumption would be that the most recent electrical work is what caused the fire, thus pointing to him. The news of this shook Bill to his core. He felt vulnerable and more out of control than he had ever felt in his life before. He knew he had done nothing to cause the fire, but there was no way that he could prove it.

All of us in the family were shaken too because we knew that it would spell the end of Bill's company, the revoking of his certification. To do electrical work, we knew then that it would mean the end of his livelihood of the previous 36 years and the shattering of his reputation that he had worked so hard to build over his lifetime. Donna's dad was so shaken by this. That he reached out to the pastor of Birch Terrace Baptist Church, our home church in Indianapolis.

Our pastor's name was Dwayne Felber. This is a picture of me with him last week. He's 89 now. And Bill met with him and asked him for counsel and for prayer.

Bill did not accept Christ during this time, but that meeting represented The first time in his life when he reached out for help and admitted weakness. Over the course of the next several weeks, Donna's dad operated under a dark foreboding of a looming indictment and public humiliation. He dreaded the day when newspaper headlines would label him as the cause of the destruction of Reggie Miller's home. His outlook was so bleak that at one point he said to his wife, God is the only one.

Who can Get me through this. A couple of months later, news began to break. I think it was in the middle of July. Of that year, news began to break that investigators had determined that the cause of the fire was arson.

Don and I were walking around near the Balboa Island Ferry. in Newport Beach when the story broke, we saw it on a TV screen in a restaurant along the boardwalk there, and I, as we stopped to look at the news report, I think the people around us thought it really strange that we were so excited that the cause of the fire. Was arson We were excited because we knew what that would mean for Bill's or for Donna's dad. Sometime thereafter, Bill received official.

Word that he was in the clear. And that it was now an official conclusion that the electrical work that Bill had done had absolutely nothing to do with the fire. Well, Bill's relief was unspeakable as you can imagine. He found himself overwhelmed with gratefulness to God.

He knew that God had seen him through. He never felt so humbled and so grateful to God in all of his life. After that, Bill began attending church on a regular weekly basis with Juanita. It was his way of saying thank you to God and also his way of learning more about Jesus.

A couple of years later, this brings us to about the year 2000, our home church back in Indianapolis was doing a pictorial church directory, and all the members of the church received a notice. They were encouraged to make an appointment, come to the church, get their pictures taken for the directory. Juanita received that notice and she and Bill started planning on coming to the church, getting their picture taken, so that they would be included in the directory, but it was around then that They received word that Bill would not be included in the directory because he was not a member of the church.

Juanita, Donna's mom called the pastor of the church, who's now a different pastor than Pastor Felber.

And said, Bill's my husband, why can't we get our picture taken and be in the directory together? And the pastor told her that Bill was not a member of the church, so he would not be included. Bill was offended by this exclusion, and he even thought about leaving that church and going to another church. But the Lord used that incident to remind Bill that he, though he's attending church, was still outside.

The community of faith and that he was still as yet unsaved and amazingly Bill. Who had been a proud man, let this reminder humble him. Right around then, Bill told Juanita to invite Pastor Felber over to their house for dinner. Pastor Felber is now the former pastor of our home church, but he, he said, invite him over for dinner.

And so Juanita did so and she was wondering as she made the arrangements if Bill was wanting to voice his complaint to Pastor Felber about his exclusion from the church directory, but that was not Bill's intention at all. Pastor Felber came over to their house on the evening of November 17th in the year 2000 and they enjoyed a nice meal together. After the meal, Juanita got up to put some dishes away and It was while she was up and cleaning and so forth that Pastor Felber decided to press the claims of the gospel upon.

Donna's dad's heart.

Pastor Felber looked at Bill and said to him, Bill, I don't know what else to say to you. I've shared the gospel with you, you've heard it preached many times. I don't know what else to say beyond what you've already heard. And then he asked Donna's dad, what is keeping you from embracing Christ?

And to his surprise, Donna's dad said nothing. And Pastor Felber said, seriously, so you want to receive him right now? And Bill said yes, and right then. And there Bill prayed and called upon the name of the Lord for salvation.

Afterwards, after he prayed, Pastor Felber got up from the table, came out of the dining room, and he saw Juanita. And he said to her, did you hear anything that just happened? And she said, no, the two of you wouldn't talk loud enough for me to hear what was going on. Pastor Felber, said to her, Bill has something to tell you.

And Juanita looked at her 50 eight-year-old husband. And he said to her, I just got saved. Pastor Felber then said to Anita, I'm gonna leave now because I know you have some important phone calls you need to make to your daughters. And that's exactly what she did.

And one of those phone calls came to Donna out here in California. And I can't begin to describe for you the joy. That Donna had our joy together. Over the news of her dad's salvation as well as the joy of everyone here at Cornerstone who had been praying for 9 years for him to be saved.

About 3 weeks later, he, as soon as he was saved, he wanted to be baptized, he wanted the world to know. 3 weeks later, he was baptized in front of the church and I flew Donna home. For that weekend so that she could be there to witness his baptism. And while Donna was home on that visit, she asked her dad a question that she had been, had on her mind for a long time.

She said, Dad, why, why did it take you so long to receive Christ? And his answer was two words long. He said, my pride. Bill wrote out his testimony.

In his own handwriting and put it in the front of his Bible. And in that testimony, he described what had held him back. From receiving Christ and all the preceding years. He said, I knew Jesus, but I didn't think I needed anything but myself.

it's a wonderful miracle when a six year old child calls upon the name of the Lord for salvation. That's a beautiful, wonderful, precious miracle. It's another miracle when a proud and independent 58 year old man of high reputation admits that he needs Jesus and cries out to him for salvation. And the cool thing is that Donna's dad's life was changed.

After that moment of salvation. He actually began sharing the gospel with other people, reading the scriptures voraciously, even leading one of his former neighbors to Christ. As we went through his items over the last couple of weeks, we found notes that he had written with Bible verses on them that he would use when he shared Christ with other people. We also found poems that he had written.

Reflecting his reception of Christ into his heart and his desire for others to know about Jesus. One of the poems that he had written is entitled Come In My Heart, which gives expression to his prayer on the day of his conversion. This once proud 58 year old man had become a child before his savior. Listen to what he wrote.

He wrote, come into my heart, Lord Jesus, forgive my sins today. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, teach me how to pray, make me one of thy children, take my sins away. Come guide and teach my children each and every day. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, help me not to stray.

Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, help me teach others thy way. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, show me all thy ways. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, guide me through all my days. This is the prayer of a man who is willing to receive Jesus into his boat.

And knew his life and knew his heart. And he was prepared by the Lord to do this through a storm. In closing, let me just give you guys some Encouragements. If you have been praying for the salvation of somebody, keep praying.

I can't make any promises of what God will do, but keep praying. At the funeral of Donna's dad last week, we had people coming up to us, some of whom I have not seen in 25 years. Saying, I prayed for Bill's salvation for over 20 years. Donna and I came to Cornerstone in 1991 and the people of Cornerstone prayed for nine years for her dad's salvation.

So all of those who prayed, all of you who prayed, are a vital part of this amazing story of God's goodness that left us with so much joy. Last week at her dad's funeral, someone said after the funeral, I've never laughed so much at a funeral, and good on them. The person who said that is someone who prayed for years for Bill's salvation, and they're entitled to laugh at the victory. Whoever you're praying for, keep praying, keep praying for that wayward child.

Keep praying for that unsaved relative or friend or coworker. Sometimes God's miracles are slow motion miracles that take a lot of time but they're no less wonderful to behold when they are accomplished. Keep praying. And keep loving, and keep witnessing, and keep sharing Christ.

Maybe you have a loved one who doesn't know the Lord, keep loving them, keep imparting the gospel to them through the words that you speak and through the person you are toward them in relationship with them. And if you're here today, And you've never embraced Christ and publicly taken your stand. With him Donna's dad's testimony should tell you that it's never too late to swallow your pride. And believe in Jesus.

And you might be thinking, man, that's That really is what bothers me about this whole salvation thing. I wish I could just be saved without having to swallow my pride. But that's exactly the point. For salvation to be truly salvation.

It must deliver a full frontal assault on our pride and deliver us from it because pride is at the root of everything that's wrong with you and me. And God cannot allow any pride into heaven because if he did, it would no longer be heaven. I urge you, if you've never believed in Jesus to open your heart to Jesus Christ. Jesus was willing to publicly hang on a cross before an audience of all of heaven and earth in order to shed his blood so that you might have the forgiveness of sins.

He was willing to walk from heaven to earth as it were, and then walk from a manger to a cross in order to get to you. He was willing to endure the ultimate humiliation and endure the ultimate storm, the storm of God's wrath. So that he might be your savior, and I plead with you. Swallow your pride.

And fall before Jesus. And say you are certainly God's Son, and you are certainly the savior for me. My prayer is I've prayed for all of you, especially for any who have never believed in Jesus, that you would so see his beauty today. That you would consider it an intolerable suffering to go one more minute apart from him.

We all, all of us started our life's journey without Jesus, but you don't have to finish. Your life's journey without him. What matters most is what you do right now. Are you willing to receive him?

Into your life. Will you finish your life's journey? With Jesus. And I pray that God's spirit would work in your heart in such a way that you would gladly say yes to those questions.

And say yes. To Jesus today. And if God's spirit is working in your heart, I would just encourage you right where you're seated, call on the name of the Lord. Ask him to save you.

And he'll save you right now where you're seated. And after you've done that, come talk to me, come talk to one of us about you getting baptized and publicly. Taking your stand with Jesus. Who died so that you might be saved.

God is good, isn't he? And Jesus is an amazing savior. Let's bow our heads and pray. To him.

Lord, I know in a, in a room this size, there are There are some who have not yet bowed their knee to you and called upon you as their Lord and Savior. I pray that you would bring life to their hearts. Give them the gift of repentance and faith that they would respond to you. With gusto this morning.

And embrace the savior that Cross the ultimate chasm. Overcame the ultimate obstacle in order to get to them. I pray for any in our church right now that are going through a storm that you would draw near to them in that storm. That you would speak to them.

In the storm in which they find themselves, and that whatever results. That the ultimate result would be that they receive you. Either for the first time or receive you afresh. In the midst of the storm that they find themselves in.

We know that you often want to come to people in the midst of their trials. You do that in ways that are profound and spiritual, but sometimes you want to draw near to people through Others. And so if there are some in our church that are going through trials right now, help us to be the hands and feet of Christ who move toward them. And who manifest Jesus to them.

I pray for all those, Lord. In our church who are praying for the salvation of people who are dear to them, embolden their prayers, encourage them in their prayers. And I pray, Lord, together with them for the salvation of that relative, that loved one, that co-worker. That child, that father, that mother, that grandparent.

That grandchild. That niece, that nephew. That cousin, that neighbor, I pray that you would save them, and if you do, Lord, we will give you all the glory. You are the storm master, Jesus, and you're the storm savior, and we thank you for all the ways that you use surprising providences to do your full good pleasure in our lives.

Thank you for this opportunity. At the end of our service, Lord, to give of our offerings to you, receive these funds, do much. With all that is given in this offering for the spread of this message of salvation through Jesus. We give ourselves to you in the name of Jesus, and all God's people said.

And