Highlands Fellowship Experiencing Life with Jesus: Unwavering Faith Transcript
0:00 Well, hey everybody, and welcome to Highlands Fellowship. It's so good to have each and every one of you here with us at all of our campuses, online, and on TV. We're so thankful that you're here and that we get to worship our Lord and Savior together. I'm excited that we get to spend this time together as we dig into God's Word and see what He has for us.
0:18 Last week, we started a new message series called Experiencing Life with Jesus, and this is really based on our mission here at Highlands Fellowship, which is to help people experience life with Jesus. And so over these 6 weeks, we're gonna look at what it actually means to experience life with Jesus, because following Jesus isn't simply about believing the right things about Him. It's about learning how to live with Him. It's about what Jesus actually changes in us as we walk with Him through our everyday lives, and it really affects everything about us. You know, how we handle our relationships and our decisions, our finances, our future, our disappointments, also our successes, and even the storms that we never see coming.
1:03 And so one of the things that we are doing throughout the course of this series is we had a card, and this card was in your seat last week, but you may have received it as you came in, or you can receive it as you go out. But there's some things on here that are really next steps for what you can do in your walk with the Lord. And so there are 3 things each week that we'll give you to help you learn to walk with Jesus and experience life with Him. I know we challenged you last week to spend 10 minutes, at least 10 minutes each morning with the Lord, just in His Word, praying to Him, listening, and surrendering your life to Him. We also gave you the option to fast if you chose to do that, or to continue to learn to pray first when you have different circumstances come in your life. And then of course, we would challenge you to learn the memory verse, which is Proverbs 3:5-6, where it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight." And so when we hide God's Word in our hearts, it really does help us not to sin against Him. And so we would love for you to do these things on this card as a way of growing in your relationship with the Lord and also experiencing life with Him. So continue to do those things as we go throughout the course of this series.
2:23 And today, what we're gonna do is we're gonna be talking about something that every follower of Jesus needs, faith, and more specifically, unwavering faith. Because following Jesus doesn't mean that you never face storms. It means that you learn where to place your confidence when those storms come. And I wanna take you to a story in the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament. So if you have your Bible or a Bible app, go ahead and open those up to Mark chapter 4. That's where we're gonna spend some of our time together today.
2:55 And so as you're turning there, I'll give you a little bit of the story. So Jesus had been preaching and He had been teaching throughout Galilee when this large crowd had gathered around Him near the Sea of Galilee. And this was probably, you know, thousands of people. So Jesus, He gets into a boat, and they push Him out from the shore just a little bit, and so He teaches the people from the boat. So He spends all day teaching the people, teaching them through parables and stories, and really parables are stories that help people understand what the kingdom of God was like. And when He finished teaching, evening came, of course, and that's where we pick up the story in Mark 4:35.
3:37 This is what it says, Mark 4:35-40 says, "That day, when evening came, He said to His disciples, 'Let's go over to the other side.'" So they get in the boat, "And leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along just as He was in the boat. There were also other boats with Him." And then verse 37 says, "A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped."
4:04 Now, I want you to picture this, okay? So these disciples are in the boat in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, and suddenly this big storm hits. And this wasn't like just a little bit of a rain shower, okay? Like the waves are crashing over the boat, and the boat was filling up with water, and these guys are fighting to keep it from sinking, okay? And where is Jesus in all of this? Well, verse 38 says, "Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion." Now, I love that detail because Jesus is sleeping while everybody else is freaking out. So the disciples woke Him and said to Him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still." Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to His disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
5:06 You know, when it comes to the storms in life, no one can plan or no one can predict when these things will hit and where they will hit or even how big they will actually be. And I feel like this is a lesson that we're gonna have to learn in life because no one can predict the storms that will come up in our lives. We just can't do it, none of us. We don't have the ability or the capacity to plan for them or to predict their coming. They just happen, right? And the reality for all of us that we just need to understand is that storms are going to hit. As hard as we try and as good as we do at planning our lives, we just don't know when they're gonna come. And yet, what we see in this story is what God wants, what God expects, and what God desires from us when those storms come and they crash over into our lives.
6:08 But there's a word that I wanna give you that if you grew up in church, you've probably heard on a regular basis. In fact, if you didn't grow up in church, you've probably still heard this word quite a bit, and it's a word called faith. And the Bible actually gives us a definition of what faith actually is. Hebrews 11, it's known as the faith chapter. And the author says this in Hebrews 11:1. He says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for, and assurance about what we do not see." You see, the author of Hebrews actually gives us these 2 words, very similar words, to show us what faith truly is. He says, "Faith is confidence and it's assurance." It's this confidence that I have in God that I know He's gonna come through in the things that I hope for and the things that I desire. And it's an assurance that even if I don't see God working, I'm positive that He is working still yet. Because faith is confidence, right? Faith is assurance in who my God is and what He's capable of.
7:17 And the author of Hebrews kind of defines what faith is. But yet in this story, the story where Jesus and the disciples would face a storm of their own, we see 3 unique things about faith. So I wanna give you 3 things about faith, things that hopefully will encourage us but yet challenge us, things that we'll have to think through and kinda marinate on as we go through life, and the first one is this.
7:45 The first thing that we see in the story is that the people closest to Jesus struggled with faith. The people who were closest to Jesus still struggled with faith. Now, how crazy is that? That the people, the disciples who were best friends with Jesus, they still struggled. And I don't know what this does for you, but it helps me a little bit, right? Like, it kind of encourages me because all through life, there are times, even as a pastor, when we have doubts. Now, I would say that probably some of you probably feel that way right now, right? Because of all that's going on around in the world, all that's going on in our country, you probably have questions for God, maybe even doubt God at times. Maybe there's uncertainty in your mind and in your heart. And guess who also had that? It was the disciples.
8:41 Now, remember who the disciples are. These are guys who had a backstage pass to Jesus' life. They were like the VIPs, right? Like, they got to see who Jesus really was. They got to see what a lot of people never got to see. They walked with Jesus. They hung out with Jesus on a regular basis. Like, they got to see Him perform miracle after miracle after miracle. They got to recognize and had to recognize that Jesus wasn't an ordinary man. But yet even seeing all of that, they still struggled with their faith. They had their doubts.
9:20 And what that says to me, and what it should say to you as well, is that in the midst of our doubts, in the midst of our uncertainties, God is not afraid of them. God is not nervous about your doubts, right? God isn't shocked by your questions. In fact, what I've noticed in my own life and in so many other people's lives is that God often uses our doubts to actually grow our faith. And that's exactly what He's doing in this story with the disciples. In the midst of their doubts, in the midst of this uncertainty, in the midst of the storm that caused fear in their lives, God would actually grow and strengthen them, stretching them in their faith. And the first thing that we see in this story is that even the people who are closest to Jesus struggled with their faith.
10:11 But the second thing that we see in this story is a word that is not often related to faith. It's the word humility. So number 2 is this: faith requires humility, and humility seeks help. Now, I bet that when you think about the word faith, I would doubt that you would connect the word humility with faith. But it's so true that faith requires us to humble ourselves. And we see this in the story.
10:42 The disciples are on their way to the other side with Jesus, the other side of the sea with Jesus. And all of a sudden, this furious squall comes about. This storm hits. And what is the first reaction of the disciples? It's to fix the problem, right? Like they were fishermen. I mean, they grew up near the sea and on the sea. And they had been in boats basically their whole lives. They've probably seen a storm like this that they had survived. And so their initial reaction is, hey, I can handle this. I've got this. I'll take care. I've done this before. No need to ask for help. And the last thing that they were thinking was that they would go and ask the carpenter, Jesus, for assistance on the sea. Because they were fishermen. They knew what to do. But it wasn't until they figured out that the storm was too big and the waves were too strong. And if they didn't ask for help, then they were going to drown. And right there, God humbles them because they realized they couldn't find the solution to this storm. And guess what they do? They turn and they ask Jesus for help.
11:58 Look, I get this. Because if I'm being honest with you, I don't really like to ask for help. I actually think it's a struggle to ask for help. You know, I actually like to be the guy who helps other people. And I feel like as a pastor, that's my calling, right? That's what God asks me to do. To be there for people. To shepherd people. To love on people. And I don't really like it, if I'm completely honest, I don't really like it when I have to ask for help. My pride doesn't want me to ask. But something that I've learned over the years is that I need help and I need a lot of it, right? And the disciples are there. And they're trying to figure out that they can't be the solution to all their problems and all the storms in life. And so they go to Jesus and we see that faith, it requires humility from us. It lowers us and puts us in a different posture.
13:00 Now listen, like I said, I don't like to ask for help. And I would imagine that there are a lot of you here that don't like to ask for help either. But listen, you got to ask God for help. In fact, we often ask for help way, way, way too late. I've seen this a lot in more than 18 years of serving in full-time ministry. That's just kind of who we are as people, it seems like. We don't like other people knowing our business and especially when things aren't going well. And so we wait too long to ask for help.
13:36 We do this in our marriages, right? Instead of going and seeking counseling when the problem arises, we often wait until the divorce papers are almost signed and then that's when we go to get counseling. Or we do this with our finances. Like instead of when we don't understand finances and asking for financial guidance now, what we do is we wait until our credit cards are fully maxed out and we can't pay our bills, then that's when we go and we ask for help. We do the same thing with our kids. Instead of when our kids are young and pliable, we wait until they're 16, 17, 18 years old and they're rebellious and won't listen to a thing we have to say. And then that's when we seek help and we seek guidance for parenting.
14:25 You see, for many of us, we're just like the disciples. We try to be the solution to our own storms. We try to be the solution to our own problems. And it's not until we realize that we can't fix it, we're not strong enough, that's when we go and reach out for help.
14:48 And I actually believe that this is why many of us struggle with the gospel. I think this is why maybe you have doubts about God. You're not sure about Jesus. I think one of the major reasons why people struggle is because it's a very humbling experience. Because at the core of the gospel, when we choose to believe in Jesus' work on the cross and what He did on our behalf, it requires us to have faith. And faith is connected to this humility. Because with the gospel, you have to realize that you are not good, right? That your sin is horrible. That you can't actually fix the problem that you have. That you can try to be good enough and you can try to be moral enough, but it won't ever be enough to pay for your sin. And when you understand the gospel more, it's you recognizing and it's you lowering yourself in humility and actually reaching out for help to God who sent His Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. Who paid the penalty for our sins and defeated sin through the resurrection to give us hope for the future. And many of you today, you struggle with the gospel because you're not willing to humble yourself to recognize that you can't be the solution to your sin problem. It's only through the blood of Jesus Christ, because faith requires humility, and humility seeks help.
16:30 But the third thing that we see about faith in this story is that faith is a journey of discovering who God truly is. It really is a journey. Faith is not just a single moment decision. You see, I think when it comes to faith, one thing that we have is kinda like bad theology when it comes to this concept of faith. Because many of us believe that faith is a one-time decision. Like when I place my faith and trust in Jesus Christ, I just gain everything that there is to know about faith. But really, when you put your faith and your trust in Jesus Christ, you are just beginning the journey of discovering and understanding what faith is and what that looks like for your life. Faith doesn't necessarily come in a moment. Faith is a day by day and hour by hour decision, and we need our faith built for the circumstances that we're facing right now and also in the future.
17:32 And if you, as a follower of Jesus, want to build your faith and build your trust in God, you do that by getting an accurate understanding of who God truly is, and that's exactly what's happening to the disciples in this story. You know, the storm is raging, and they're afraid, they're panicking, and they can't fix the problem, so they go to Jesus. Well, Jesus wakes up from His sleep, and He tells the storm to be quiet and to be still, and the disciples are absolutely amazed at this miracle. In fact, look at what it says in Matthew chapter 8 verse 27. This is the same story, okay? It's just a different person telling the story. It says this: "The men were amazed and they asked, 'What kind of man is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!'" You see, what's happening to the disciples right here is they're getting an accurate understanding of who Jesus really is. It's settling into their minds and into their hearts, like this truly is the Son of God. And what's happening for them is that their faith is growing, and in the midst of their doubts, in the midst of their uncertainty and in their fear, God shows them a glimpse and an accurate understanding of who He is, and their faith begins to explode.
18:59 So let me ask you this: What is getting in the way of your faith? What's making it difficult for you to have faith in God right now? Maybe it's fear or disappointment. Maybe it's something that happened that you just didn't understand. Maybe you prayed for something, and God just didn't answer it the way that you wanted Him to. Maybe you're looking at your circumstances, and you're thinking, "God, this is just too much." Maybe you're thinking that about your marriage or about your finances or about your health, your kids, maybe even your schoolwork, your past. Maybe it's something that you're facing right now that you simply don't know how to fix. And the problem is, without even realizing it, we start believing that our circumstances are stronger than our God.
19:56 But look at the story. The disciples saw the storm. Jesus saw the storm, the same storm. The difference wasn't the storm. The difference was their understanding of who was in the boat. And maybe that's what some of us need to remember today. Your storm may be bigger than you, but it's not bigger than Jesus. Like your circumstances may be beyond your ability to fix, but they are not beyond His ability. I mean, we think that what we face, and what we're walking through, and the storm that is raging and pouring down on us, we think that that is stronger and more powerful than our God.
20:41 And if you believe that today, honestly, my heart breaks for you because that's not the God that I serve. That's not the God that I worship. That's not the God that I preach about because let me tell you something. Let me set the record straight for you. My God is bigger than any storm that you will ever face in life. My God is bigger than the cancer that you face or the marriage that is broken. My God is bigger than your past, your present, and your future because my God can handle any circumstance that we face because He's stronger, He's greater, and He's wiser. He's what you need. He's what I need, and that's the truth.
21:25 But the question is, in the midst of the storm, how do we get back to that truth? How do we have that kind of confidence? And I think it comes through something that's very simple. And maybe today as a Christ follower, and what we're all going through, you might ask, "What is my response to all this?" And it's really simple because it's really hard to live out, especially when the storms are raging. And so here's what I would challenge all of us to do. In the unpredictable and the unplanned things that go on in our lives, here's what I would challenge you to do over, and over, and over again. It's simply to choose faith over fear. We just gotta choose faith over fear, and that's where unwavering faith begins. Not with knowing what God is gonna do, but knowing who God is and having a relationship with Him.
22:28 So what do we do when the storms come? How do we live with this unwavering faith? Well, I think it comes down to one simple decision. It's that idea of choosing faith over fear. That as followers of Jesus Christ, we would decide not when the storm is here, but before the storm ever comes, that no matter what the enemy brings into my life or what God brings into my life, I will put my faith in God, and my confidence will also be in Him. I trust God because I know that He knew this was coming. I know that He's not shocked by it. He's not surprised by it. In fact, He is in control of it. And maybe another way of saying choose faith over fear is just to simply say have an unwavering faith.
23:22 And I get that this is a whole lot easier to say than it is to live. I get that. I know that this is not easy. It's one of the most difficult things that we can do, to place our trust in God's plan when we don't like His plans, right? Or we don't agree with them. It's easy to have doubts and uncertainty. It's easy to question God like, you know, "What? Why would you do this?" Or, "Why would you allow this?" But then when you walk through the storm, like when you're in the middle of the storm, and you start seeing the end of the storm, you begin to realize that God's plans for what's taking place in your life are so much better than any plans that you might have.
24:08 Let's look again at Hebrews 11:1. It says this: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Notice what faith does. Faith gives us confidence even when we can't see the outcome. Faith says, "I don't know what's gonna happen, but I know who God is, and I know His character." And there's something powerful that happens when you have that kind of confidence in your life. You can face a storm without allowing the storm to control you. You can take action without panicking. You can make decisions without fear just running your life. You can prepare while still trusting. You can work hard while still being able to rest in God because confidence doesn't mean that you do nothing. No, faith trusts God while still taking the next step.
25:09 That's what we see in Jesus. Like, He's asleep in the boat. He's completely at rest, and then when the moment comes, He gets up, and He speaks to the storm. So He rests, but He isn't passive. You know, He trusts the Father, but yet He also acts, and that's what unwavering faith looks like. Unwavering faith isn't pretending the storm isn't real. It's knowing the storm isn't greater than our God because eventually the storm will pass, and then another storm will come.
25:46 Maybe it'll be a medical diagnosis, or a job loss, or a difficult season in a relationship. Maybe it'll be something with your children, maybe grief, or maybe it'll be a financial crisis, something we may have never seen coming. The storms will look different in our life, but the question will remain the same. Who are you going to trust when the storm comes? Because the goal isn't to have a life without storms. The goal is to have a faith that remains steady even in the middle of them. And that's part of what it means to experience life with Jesus. Life with Jesus doesn't mean that Jesus keeps every storm away. Sometimes life with Jesus means discovering that He is with you in the boat when the storm comes.
26:39 So today, I want to encourage you, don't let your circumstances become bigger than your God. Don't allow fear to determine your response. Don't wait until you're completely overwhelmed before you reach out to Jesus Christ, and don't assume that because you have questions, your faith is failing. Your questions can actually become an opportunity to get to know Jesus more deeply, because faith grows as we discover who He truly is.
27:14 So when the storms come, remember what the disciples eventually discovered. Jesus is in the boat, and if Jesus is in the boat, you can trust Him, and you may not know what He's gonna do. You may not understand how He's going to work. You may not know when the storm will end, but you can know this, that He is with you, and because He is with you, you can choose faith over fear. And I'll tell you this, I would rather be in a boat in a storm with Jesus than anywhere else without Him. That's unwavering faith, and that's what it means to live life with Jesus.
27:57 Would you pray with me today? God, I would ask you today that you would just continue to build our faith. And as I ask you that, I also understand that at times building our faith also comes along with storms in life, challenges, hard circumstances, difficult seasons. But if that's what it takes to grow our faith in you and grow our trust in you and causes us to completely depend upon you, then, God, let us deal with those things. But when I say let us deal with those things, I know that you're not letting us deal with them all by ourselves. You are walking with us every step of the way, and all we have to do is call upon your name, to reach out to you and say, "God, I cannot do this on my own."
28:59 And so often we allow the circumstances in our lives to really, in our mind, be blown out of proportion because there's not a circumstance that we will go through, there's not a hardship that we will experience that is bigger and more powerful than you. And so, God, thank you for your love, and thank you for your grace, and thank you that you are present in our lives as we go through difficult times. And God, help us to remember to choose faith over fear. It's a choice that we have to make on a regular basis because doubts will come up in our minds, but yet we can still choose faith. And so, God, I would ask that you would do a work in our hearts that only you can do, that you would stretch us, that you would grow us, and that we would depend upon you more, and that we truly would develop an unwavering faith. God, we love you and we praise you. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray, and everybody said, "Amen."