God bless you, brother. We love you. Thank God for you, buddy. Thank you, Pastor Dean, for being so kind. It's amazing what you can get somebody to say for $20. And I appreciate you saying those kind things, sir. Thank you for what you do. And I do want to go on record before I start my part of the Sharathon, saying publicly that we rejoice in how God has blessed this place. with the ministry of Scott Dean and the men and the ladies that serve under him at WTBI. They are second to none, and we thank the Lord for all that they do for the kingdom. And it is a privilege, and I mean that from the depths of my heart. It's a privilege to call him my friend, and all of these that serve in this ministry, it's a privilege to call you my friend as well. Sure Word Radio is just about three years old now and it started right here at WTBI back in the days of Brother Logan and spoke to him about the possibility of a broadcast. We went on the air soon after that and with the blessing of Brother Dean. And now we're on five different stations and God is just blessed that ministry. I'm amazed that we didn't really try to propagate it or advertise for it, but the Lord has really used that in many, many ways. And we're thankful for all of that starting in seed form right here at WTBI. Well, I'm going to be reading from Matthew chapter number 14 today, and I'll be responsible with my time and be disciplined in the message to get to the theme that the Lord has laid on my heart. The 14th chapter of the book of Matthew, and we'll be reading verse number 22 through verse number 23. And then in the course of the message, I'll be turning to a few other cross-references all in the Gospels. And through that, I believe the Lord has a theme on my heart that I trust will be a blessing to the Sherithon this year. Look at Matthew chapter 14 and verse number 22. And straightway, Jesus constrained His disciples to get into a ship and to go before Him unto the other side. while he sent the multitude away. And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I. Be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. And they that were in the ship came and worshiped Him, saying of a truth, Thou art the Son of God. Father, in Jesus' name, we bow in Your presence this afternoon to ask You for Your touch. We stand in the place where the flesh certainly will fail us, and so we pray that the Spirit would fill us We ask, dear God, that you would help us as we preach your word to a listening audience today. We pray that this would be seed that is sown into good ground to build our faith, and we'll thank you for all that you do for us, through us, and in us. It's in the name that is above every name we pray. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. I stand amazed at the details that are involved in the stories of the Gospels, each and every one of them, just enough detail to bring us to a place of believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Now we know that not every detail is recorded in the story. In fact, John closed his gospel by saying that if everything had been told, I suppose the whole world could not contain the volume of the books that should be written. But these things are written that we might believe. And these days I've been reading in the Gospels about the storms. Over and over again in each one of the Gospels, storms are related. There are at least three and possibly four different storms that are recorded in the Gospels, three times, possibly four, that the disciples were in a ship, and the Bible says they were in the storm, and the Bible says they were in the sea, and they were delivered by the Savior during that storm. All it takes is one storm in our lives to prove to us that we are not in control. When we see the storm clouds begin to rise on the horizon of our lives, we soon come to the conclusion that there are powers far beyond anything that we can contradict or control. And that's where the disciples were in Matthew chapter number 14. The disciples were in the midst of dark clouds, The disciples were in the midst of a deep sea, and the disciples were in the midst of disastrous winds. And all of us are subject to storms. A time in our spiritual lives where the barometer begins to rise and we see that a storm is coming. And those storms will come in various forms. No doubt in the listening audience today there are those that have battled the storm of cancer. It changes your life. It changes your perspective on life. It changes the way you look at mortality. It certainly is a storm that none of us can control, and we think of it often when we hear that terrible word, cancer. No doubt there are folks that are listening that have gone through the storm of a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter that has left their home and broken their hearts. Often we preach to people that have gone through a home break and a church split or financial ruin. And I have a question for you in the midst of all of these that we know as storms. When we're in the midst of all of these things, what do we see? I believe there's something in each and every one of these circumstances that the Lord Jesus wants us to see. Do you see the storm as the purpose that God has for that storm in your life? When I studied the scriptures and about 30 years of pastoring now, I've come to two conclusions. There are two kinds of storms that come into our lives. There are the storms of correction And there are the storms of perfection. Oftentimes, God sends a storm into our lives to correct us. If Brother Jonah was sitting on the front row of the chapel this morning, he would have said amen right there. The storm of correction certainly took hold in the life of Jonah, a man who was out of the will of God, fleeing the will of God, running the opposite direction of the will of God. God sent Jonah through Wales University, and he taught him some lessons in the storm of correction. But that's not what I want to talk about this afternoon. I want to talk about the storms of perfection. When we look at the storm that is listed for us, that is chronicled for us here in Matthew chapter number 14, the disciples are right in the middle of the will of God. They are following the command of the Savior. It was the Lord Jesus that last commanded them, get into a ship and go before him unto the other side. So this is not a storm that's intended for correction. This is a storm that is intended for perfection. And oftentimes we confuse those two, but the storms of perfection advance the will of God in our lives. Now we have to be honest, the greatest life lessons that we learn do not come on flowery beds of ease and smooth sailing seas. The greatest lessons that we learn in life come on troubled waters. The Bible tells us in this very chapter that the winds were contrary, and as they blew against the ship of the disciples, we find them in a storm that is far beyond their control. The Lord has a way of revealing himself to us when we're on troubled waters. I'll never forget the words of the songwriter who said, I walked a mile with pleasure. She chattered all the way, but left me none the wiser for all that she had to say. And then I walked a mile with sorrow. Not a word, she said, but all the things I learned from sorrow when sorrow walked with me. Sorrow certainly has a means of communicating to us a life lesson. and come to find out in the midst of a storm, as Brother Barton has already referred to today, in the midst of a storm, we have a tendency to forget some things. We have a tendency to need to be reminded of some realities that do not change. These that were in the boat in the midst of that storm, they had seen Jesus feed the 5,000. In fact, in Mark chapter 6 in verse number 51 through verse number 52, following one of the episodes of God's deliverance of the disciples in storm, the Bible said He went up unto them into the ship and the wind ceased and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered, for they considered not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened." I think that's one of the lessons of perfection that we find in the storm. It's a time when God reminds us that He ultimately and sovereignly is in control of whatever direction our life may take. And I believe that from the depths of my soul. I believe that from the bottom of my heart. We've watched God do it 1,000 times. And sometimes we question if he'll do it 1,001. Do you not remember the loaves? Do you not remember the fish? Do you remember the other times in the storm when the Lord Jesus spoke to the winds and the waves and said, peace, be still. And the winds became a great calm in the midst of the sea. And I'll say it again today on record. He can do it for you if he did it for them. He can do the very same thing for you. They had seen the sea billows before. They watched the waves crash against their frail ship before. And then those storms, they saw the master of the wind and the waves speak peace to the storm and walk on the very water that was over their heads. I'm sure that these Jewish men that were in this ship must have remembered the words of Psalm 139 in verse number 8 through verse number 10, where the psalmist said, If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me." God has a way of controlling us in the midst of the darkness and the depth of the sea. The storm is no surprise to the master. He's the one that created the sea, and he knows the storm better than we know the very storm that we are enduring. So the question that I'll pose this afternoon in my small part of Sharathon is, what do you see in the storm? With this thought, I'd like to preach just a few more minutes on seeing through the storm. Seeing through the storm. What is it that the Lord wanted them to see in the storm? Friend, if you do what Peter did and you get your eyes on the boisterous waves, you get your mind on the depth, You get your eyes fixed on the darkness of the clouds, you'll miss the very thing that the Savior wants you to see in the storm. Let me share three things with you very briefly. Number one, in the storm, he wanted them to see the Savior. In all of the references of Jesus walking on the sea we have in the Gospels, the disciples are said to see him. They saw him, the Bible said. As a matter of fact, in Matthew 14, 26 that we read this afternoon when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, The story is recorded again in Mark chapter 6 and verse 47 through verse number 50. And when evening was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he was alone at land. And he saw them toiling and rowing, and the wind was contrary. And about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them. And then the Bible said, When they saw him, In that same chapter down in verse number 50 of the same, the Bible said, They all saw him and were troubled, and immediately talked with him, and saith unto him, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. Do you see that in your Bible? Every storm that they were in, he gave them a clear view of the Savior in the storm. If you're in the midst of troubled waters, if the wind is blowing contrary in your life in this very hour, what He wants you to look for, what He wants you to see, what He wants your focus to be is on the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been preaching it for years, and I'll say it again. If I've said it one time, I've said it 100 times. The sin that does so easily beset us is getting our eyes off of Jesus. I believe that with all of my heart. Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of his majesty on high. The Bible says we are to keep our eyes in focus on the Son of God who is out and is before us. And interestingly enough, and I haven't found it yet, I've read all four stories of the storm, and Jesus never told them to focus on the wind. He never told them to focus on the seas. He never told them to focus on the darkness of the clouds. He called their focus to stay and to be stayed on the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, in the reference that we read this afternoon, it was when Peter got his eyes off of Jesus that Jesus rebuked him and said, Now, little faith. Remember in Matthew 14 verse 29 through verse number 31, when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid. And can I just say this? I need to leave some of this out. There's no way to get to all of it, but I will say this this afternoon, that fear is a number one blinding effect on us. in the midst of the storms. It is often fear that veils our face from the Savior. Many times it's fear and the spirit of fear that causes us to lose our power and our love and our sound mind. The apostle Paul said, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And in the storm of your life, you'll find those three things challenged. You can either have fear or you can have power, but you can't have both. You can either have fear or you can have love, but you can't have both. You can have fear or you can have a sound mind, but you can't have both. And when the storm rises, most of the time it is our fears that caused us to take our eyes off of the Son of God. In the storm, always, always, amen, always look for the Savior. And when Jesus did come walking on the water, the disciples didn't even recognize who he was. As a matter of fact, as the story goes, they thought he was a spirit. They thought that he was a ghost. They thought that he was some kind of supernatural phenomenon. Well, he was a supernatural phenomenon, amen. But he was no spirit walking on the water. It was the darling son of God walking to them on the sea. And he came to them and he spoke words of peace, be of good cheer. And he came to them and he spoke words of power. It is I, be not afraid. You remember when John had that vision of the glorified Christ in Revelation chapter one? And you remember John fell down at his feet as a dead man and he was afraid and Jesus said to John, fear not, I'm he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I'm alive forevermore. And in that one grand statement, Jesus dismissed the three areas of fear that control all of our lives. He dismissed the fear of life. He dismissed the fear of death. And he dismissed the fear of life after death. He said, John, I'm he that liveth. You have no reason to fear life. And I have been dead. You have no reason to fear death. And behold, I'm alive. For evermore you have no reason to fear life after death. The storm has never gotten so powerful that it takes control of the life of the believer. God sees us in the storm. We have the privilege of sharing the same hour in our broadcast as or close to Lester Roloff. And I'll never forget one morning I was listening and Lester Roloff, who was a pilot, made the statement in one of his messages in the family altar program that there may be a day when I lose God on my radar. But there'll never be a day that God loses me on his radar. He knows exactly where you are. He knows exactly what you're going through. Nothing takes him by surprise. He is indeed the master of the sea. He is the creator of this world. And he knows the nature of the storm that is bringing fear into your life in this very hour. Number two. Not only do we find in this lesson that we are to seek the Savior in the storm, in the storm He wanted them to see the Savior, but in Mark's gospel, chapter 4, in verse 35 through verse number 41, I won't have time to read all of that. It's another storm. And the Bible tells us in this one, Jesus is in the ship with the disciples. In fact, the Bible tells us he is in the bottom of the ship asleep on a pillow. And you remember what happened in that storm? The Bible tells us when they saw those winds and those waves began to beat against their ship, the word of God tells us Jesus rose from the belly of the ship and he stepped out onto the stern and said, peace be still. And they feared him again and said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and the seas obey him? And in that story, there's a statement that's made that I never saw until the other day. The Bible tells us in Mark 4 in verse number 35, and there were also with him other little ships. I never considered that before. I never thought about that before. Passed over it many times in my casual reading of my Bible in devotion or in preparation for a message. There were other little ships. You know what the Lord wants us to see in the storm? He wants us to see the Savior. But He also wants us to know that we're not alone, that there are others that are going through this same storm. In fact, the very storms that are troubling the waters of your life, there are other little ships around you that are troubled in the very same waters. I preached this at our church yesterday morning. And I said then as I was preaching this that there's never been a trial in ministry that my wife did not stand by me and go through that same trial. There's never been a trial in ministry where my kids did not stand with me and go through that same trial. We're never in this alone. Nothing is new under the sun. All things are common to all men. And there are preachers that are on your side, and there are churches that are on your side, and there are believers that are praying, not just for you, but with you in the storm. The ship was always part of what Jesus wanted the disciples to see in the storm. Remember in the text that we read this afternoon, and I'm doing okay, I'll stay inside my time, but you remember what the Lord Jesus said to Peter when Peter got out of the boat and then saw the wind and the waves boisterous and began to sink? You remember what Jesus said to him? He said, O thou of little faith, he picked him up out of that storm and carried him back to the ship. That's right. When Peter's faith failed, you know where Jesus took him back to? He took him back to the ship. The ship is an important part of all of our lives. It was always a part of these stories. Jesus said to the disciples, get into the ship and go before me onto the other side. And in the storm, he wanted them to focus on the ship. It was the ship that would keep him safe. Isn't it ironic in verse number 36 that it points out that there were other little ships We're not going through this alone. And oh my, what a comfort that is to know that I'm not the only one that's facing what I've seen in this generation. We're not the only ones that are under pressure. We're not the only ones that are seeing ridicule and degradation around us. Jesus knows and there are others that are in this storm with us that know the very same circumstances. There's a significance to that. Jesus wanted them to know that they were not the only ones that were going through this and there's nothing like it. I just want to stop what I'm saying right now and just say from my heart that there's nothing like it. When somebody calls us and says, Preacher, I'm with you. I know what you're going through. A church that's going through turmoil and trouble, and somebody calls and says, Preacher, I've been where you are. I know exactly what that feels like. There are folks that I cannot identify with their pain. Thank God I've been married for 22 years, and I've still got a wonderful home, and I thank the Lord for that, and all my kids are in church and serving the Lord. I don't know what it feels like to have a prodigal son, a prodigal daughter. I don't know what it feels like to be a widower, but there are men that know that pain so very well and deeply have felt that same circumstance. You're not alone in the storm. Then I'll say thirdly and lastly, that in verse number 22 of this same chapter, he not only wanted us to see the Savior and the ships, but he wanted us to see the sides. And what I mean by that is what Jesus commanded in verse 22. Get into a ship and go before him unto the other side. Friend, I want to say it big, bold, and plain. If the Lord said we're going to the other side, we're going to make it to the other side. It doesn't matter how bad the storm gets. It doesn't matter how dark the clouds become. It doesn't matter how high the waves may be. What's over our head is still under his feet. and what was bothering them was not bothering Jesus. He said, go to the other side and I can make you an ironclad, airtight promise that if it's God's will for us to make it over there, we will make it to the other side. Don't get your eyes off of the side that He wants you to be in in the midst of the storm. One thing the disciples lost hope in is when they fixed their eyes on the storm instead of the side. We've had a few opportunities to go to Israel and it hasn't happened yet. One time we were scheduled to go and COVID-19 broke out. The other time we were scheduled to go and war broke out. And so we haven't been able to go, but we've been booked to stay right on the shores of the Sea of Galilee in a motel. And I see those pictures and oh, how it captures my mind. And in an eye of faith, I can see the things playing out on the Sea of Galilee with the disciples in the ship, in the sea with the Sager. and I can see them toiling in the midst of the storms. And one of the things that I see there is that the other side of the Sea of Galilee is readily in view. But when the storm rises, you lose vision. You lose sight of the other side. By faith this afternoon, we can still see the other side. And I want to tell you, it doesn't matter what you're going through. This is just what I had on my heart, Preacher Dean. It doesn't matter what you're going through. There is another side. And you may not be able to see it right now, but the one day the clouds are going to break and the sun is going to shine again. Weeping may endure for the night, but joy will come in the morning. He'll show you once again the other side. And when He shows you the other side, He will happily deliver you there, safe and sound. My father's way may twist and turn, my heart may throb and ache, but in my soul I'm glad I know that he maketh no mistake. My cherished plans may go astray, my hopes may fade away, but still I'll trust my Lord to lead, for he doth know the way. Though night be dark and it may seem that day will never break, I'll pin my faith and my all upon him, for he maketh no mistake. There's so much now I cannot see, My eyesight far too dim. But come what may, I'll simply trust, And I'll leave it all up to Him. For by and by the midst will lift, And plain it all He'll make, That through it all, though dark may be, God made no mistake. And He is in control. And I'm happy to report to you again today that no matter what you're going through, whether you're in the listening audience or in the tabernacle this afternoon, no matter what you are going through, God knows exactly where you are and He hasn't forgotten you. Let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer. Father, in Jesus' name, we thank you for the Word of God and for the stand that is taken for the Word of God at WTBI. We pray that you would make these years a fruitful year, 2024 and 2025, a fruitful year for your glory and for your praise. Thank you for the Word of God and giving us again today the opportunity