Steady | Conversations Ep3

Join Jon, Angela, Andrew and Jennifer as they share conversations, insights and encouragement for everyday faith. We pray that you will be encouraged, inspired and blessed as you listen.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:03

Well, hello everybody, and welcome back to episode three of our Conversations Podcast. I'm John. This is Angela, the lovely Jennifer. And then Andrew over there. Good to have you guys with us again. It's great to be here. Nice to be with your friends and your fire buddies. So we've been talking about just a whole bunch of different things in the context of what's going on at Gateway and what we're talking about. But it's it's um fun to share a few stories ahead of time. So I want to pick up where we left off.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

I think it's a bit hot in here, so we're we're having fun entertaining ourselves this morning for big kitty.

SPEAKER_05 0:35

But just a quick thought. You know, we were talking a couple episodes ago about AI um photos. Oh yes. Oh, yeah. We forget about it. We had another one. No, no, no, not AI photo. So Anne and I were at an event the other day. I won't say too much about it because we give it away. But um we're sitting there, it's a luncheon type thing, and the gentleman that's hosting begins to introduce someone that's gonna come up. And I'm sitting there thinking, is this introducing this national apostolic.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

It sounded very impressive.

SPEAKER_05 1:07

I'm thinking, man, whoever's gonna come up and pray now, this is gonna be fire. So it didn't cross my mind where this was going. So I put a big old sandwich in my mouth as he comes to the end of his introduction. And it was me.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

Sandwiching off.

SPEAKER_05 1:25

So what was worse, I was so excited about the person who introduced him. I hadn't listened to what he said this person was supposed to do with the money. Oh great big problem. I don't have a clue what I'm even supposed to say. Angela. Angela. Oh my god. I dealt with the sandwich, but I couldn't fix the fact that we'd be listening. But what was what was humbling was the next intro was significantly shorter.

SPEAKER_02 2:02

Yes. No sandwich neither.

SPEAKER_05 2:06

Have you ever had some of those?

SPEAKER_02 2:07

Yeah, I've had a couple of those. I was invited to the platform to minister. I knew I was gonna be invited to it. Um and they invited me up. It was an all-night um meeting from six in the morning till sorry, six in the evening till six in the morning. Right. And they invited me up on the platform and I thought I was getting up about eight o'clock. They got me up at 11.40. Right. And then handed me the mic like an hour later. And I was still doing it. And I said, only in this type of service can you be invited to the platform on Friday and speak on Saturday. And I I very, very extreme thing to say, but I lost the will to even be meeting.

SPEAKER_05 2:52

Well, after a while, you can't keep smiling. That's right. That's my joy. It's funny this stuff that goes on a bit. We'll tell stories over the coming months about escapades that we've all had in ministry. But um, one thing we were referring to I stopped as if we're telling you the story, but it's warm as we're recording this. It is full-on warm. And um, so if we are extra glowing, it's not the anointing. Well, it might be. It could be. But we used to live in Texas, as you know, and there was a uh lake not too far away. And we would go swimming there to cool off. And it was so warm in the lake and outside. That the only way that we could make it in any way refreshing is we'd get in our car. And I mean, guys, that's a hundred degrees. I'm not exaggerating. Outside, let alone what is in the car. We would turn the heat on full. We would drive the 15 minutes to this lake, and then we would run from the car, jump in the lake, and that was the only way it was even slightly refreshing because the water was so warm.

SPEAKER_03 3:44

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:44

And we did this. I mean, one summer we thought we'd hit the jackpot. We found out. We take the dog, we go in there, and and and we had seen that there were some turtles. You could see their little heads floating around, but you know, as long as they weren't snapping turtles, we thought this is gonna be fine. So, anyways, several visits later, we're in there, and this older couple walks by, and they got quite concerned. They said, God, you didn't come.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Get out, get out, yeah. We're like, Jose is in here, run! They are snapping turtles, run!

SPEAKER_05 4:16

We got what what is it? And they said, it's full of snakes. But we said, no.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Not just any snakes. Yeah, we were water moccasins.

SPEAKER_05 4:25

Oh wow, get us.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

And our dog, worse than that, our dog would see them and she'd go chasing after them.

SPEAKER_05 4:32

So all these things that we thought were turtle heads went from the height out of the water, you could see the tail behind the window. Because we were thinking, why is no one there's this beautiful lake right here. Why is no one what's wrong with all these people that need swimming? And they're like, no.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Oh no, see, that does not do me any good. It didn't do me any.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

I had uh, I've I'm dealt with medicine serving a boy ish. I don't want to hang out with them, but I can now be in their presence. But that was like Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

I just want to throw a disclaimer out to everyone who's watching this. If you see me throwing out through this podcast, I am going back to the next thing. And then there was loads of dozens in the conservative yet.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

And when you were out of the water looking, they were so obviously smoking.

SPEAKER_05 5:22

But because we were running from the car to the time to like somebody and because we were stupid.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

No, I I drove down here from Liverpool today, like full of faith, like I'm a m- you know, Lord, I can do anything, and I've just been kind of reduced in just a story, like Lord Steady, steady, steady.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

I'm holding on to this.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

I'm not a snake person, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

We could probably do some sort of analysis on all our characters here because our friends took us out on a boat on in Texas, Lake Grapevine, I believe it was, and we had this incredible day, but I was like probably ten times on the way. Now, do you promise me there's nothing in the water that can harm me? Like, there's no alligators. There's like I don't even know if they have alligators, do they think?

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Where?

SPEAKER_01 6:18

Uh, not in Texas. Well, I mean, they might do down south. Yeah. And um, and snakes and different and like big fish, and you know, and I and they were like, Jen, I promise you there's nothing in there. But I always had it's chat. I wasn't sure. Yeah, I've never gotten in another lake in Texas ever.

SPEAKER_02 6:37

No. The thing is, they were only promising us so their knowledge. They didn't actually know. Me just talking about it.

SPEAKER_05 6:44

Yeah, yeah. But anyway. Well, we went out on a boat. We and I Are we focusing on it? We're about to focus. Almost focusing. Just checking. We're just building up to focus. And uh we got TBN, uh, Orlando, the day before, me and Jonathan Miller and Patrick Winfield, who passed us the Potter's house, Fort Worth. And then there's another guy named Scott. And so we went out the next day, we went out on a boat looking for alligators. I'd said, I'd love to see alligators out in the world. Can we go? Scott said, I've got a boat, we'll go. And so Patrick Winfield was going to fly home. He changed his flight to be there. We're all out on the boat. I'm hanging over the edge looking for an alligator. And I've been doing it for about 20 minutes. And I looked around and said to Scott, can alligators jump? Thinking, if they are, I probably shouldn't be hanging over the edge. I remember Patrick said, You're asking that now. I said, never forget. I said, Patrick, as they can't help me, he said, No, he said, Have you not seen the movies? He said, The black guy always dies first.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

I'm not going into the city. That's the question you ask in the car, not in the boat.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

See, just a quick one to add, Andrew hates the sea. So he we saw a book once, 101 Reasons to Not Go in the Sea. And Andrew's like, Why stop there? I've had several volumes. Well, we were on holiday again with some friends in Hawaii, and we went out swimming, and they are like water babies. They love to climb in the ocean. So he was out all day in the ocean. So us ladies go and join at the end, and we're catching waves, and it was it was wild, it was incredible. And then I just suddenly got this eerie feeling, and I was like, are there sharks in here? In Hawaii. Hawaii. And they were like, Yeah, yeah, but you but it only turns out that that famous girl who lost her arm, Hamilton. That was the beach, that was the that was the part of the ocean where that all took place, and I was like, he was out all day, and he never all day. Yeah, I got out at that point. Because I am a water baby. I need to I love the sea, I love the ocean, I love lakes. I love it all. Yeah, empty.

SPEAKER_05 8:44

Wild swimming. Yeah, wild swimming. So with lakes doesn't empty. It doesn't matter. We're talking all day. So what we're trying to talk about in our podcast is what we're talking about at church, which isn't snakes and it's the water. All the water. We've been talking about, well, we've been talking about faith. Our series is about steady. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:04

Um, normally when you talk about faith, well, they told us at Bible school, the ABCs of faith. What faith is, how faith comes, faith must be released. And that's incredibly true. We need that. But we're kind of looking at it from a okay, but when the robber meets the road, what is faith? How does faith come? How is faith relief? What does it look like? Kind of in the context of being steady. Because I think one of the things that is supposed to stand out about us as believers in contrast to the world is that we are steady. We're not moved by the things around us, we're not moved by the circumstances, what's going on politically, and wars and stock markets and and and all the things around us that we we walk by faith and not by sight. Because otherwise we have great theories of faith, but we don't really live it out and walk it out.

SPEAKER_03 9:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:51

And you know, it's a scientific fact that light travels faster than sound. And so people will see our faith and our faith walk much more quickly than they hear it. The words that we're talking about it. And so we want to live this in such a way that they can see it. So we've been talking about being steady. So I was thinking, can you think, I'm putting you on the spot now. If you can't, I can't. Can you think of a season or an event in your life that that had the potential to really shake your faith but yet through God's word you were able to walk steady, steadily through that?

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Can I jump in, please? Yeah. And it is putting us on the spot, but I'm glad because it's just gonna come out raw. I am so I met the Lord in 2010. Of course, met Jen in 2010, and Jen and I were planning on getting married, which we did, of course. And um in 2012, and I'd only been saved about two and a half years when we got married, but in between me getting saved and Jen and I getting married, I lost my father to an unexpected misdiagnosis for 12 weeks before we got married. Now, you gotta remember I'm a I would say I was young in the faith, but I had at least mustard seed-sized faith, which was enough. Which was enough. And I was only saying to Jen a couple of days ago, there was some point in this process where I thought there was something wrong with me. Because why aren't I a mess- why aren't I just not falling apart? Why am I not grieving in a way I would expect to grieve? And I think what it I look back and I think I had hold of Jesus as much as I knew how to, and that was enough because if he even if I only had a hold of his hand, he steadied me. And I looked back and I can only only give glory to the Lord for that because I didn't know what I know now, I didn't know as much word as I know now, I didn't know Jesus like I knew him now, but he knew me as much then as he did now, as he did 20 years before I gave my life to him. So there was just this season, 12 weeks, my dad was my hero, gone. Went into hospital, didn't come out. And I just know in that moment of me not even knowing how to truly cling on, he came flooding in. And that's always a testimony that I will share. Yeah, that he came to me, the Lord came to me. I didn't know what to do, how to cope with it. I guess I did. Lord, I need you. That's all I needed to say. Yeah, and he's and the Lord is like, yeah, I know. And watch what I do, and in that season, it was there was peace and joy. My greatest loss and greatest joy. When I thought about my father, all I did was smile. The Lord just met this, it was so confusing and wonderful, and it's just a beautiful, beautiful moment.

SPEAKER_05 13:11

Yeah. And that verse I was thinking you're talking about looking under Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Yeah. I think when we go through storms, then we will.

SPEAKER_01 13:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:20

The temptation is to get our eyes off of Jesus on the storm. And of course, that was what Peter's demise was when he was walking on the water. When he was looking at Jesus, he was in the miracle. That's right. And I know there are many times for me, I've been in the middle of a miracle. I mean, God is coming through for me. It is happening, things are working, and we're surviving. And then you begin to stop looking at Jesus and start looking at the storm. You know, I was thinking about it, I no one, I can't recall any of my teachers, um, Bible teachers, when I was growing up saying, if you have enough faith, you won't have any storms or any problems. No one said that. But you were a little bit left with the impression that if you had enough faith, you wouldn't you wouldn't, you know, have a pain or need reading glasses or have a problem or or lose anyone or but that's not what the Bible teaches. We're either gonna be, we're about to go in a storm, in a storm, we're coming through a storm. And having faith doesn't mean that we won't go through storms. The house built on the rock and the house built on the sand face the same storm. The issue is standing. The foundation of it.

SPEAKER_03 14:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:26

And when you got that foundation, which you build through hearing the word and through that time in the word, it it readies you to steady you when you go through those storms. That's right. Which every one of us are gonna lose people we don't want to lose when we don't want to lose them, or get diagnoses that we don't want to get, or have financial things flare up at all the wrong times, or have relationship problems, accusations, false accusations, difficulties, redundancies. Yeah, these things come. And and you know, it's that it's that keeping your eyes on Jesus. One thing I've seen from you when Asley goes through a storm or a crisis is she always will steady herself, bring herself back to, and kind of lock into the word, lock into the Holy Spirit, and and you go from flapping to strong. And I I I I sit in my chair, you know, the other side of the room, reading my Bible, she's reading hers, I can kind of watch the hear the cogs purely watch the process and see someone getting out of fear and into faith.

SPEAKER_03 15:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:27

Out of stress into peace. And it's a decision, it's a process. Tell us a little bit about how you do that, what you do in those moments.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

Oh, wow, on the spot there. Be spiritual. No, the last, well, life really, but the last couple of years we've been kind of going through some storms just with my parents' health, and because they live so far away, and and my father did pass away last year. And um, trying to walk through, trying to be there for them, also carry them in some of that when they couldn't really carry themselves. And um, sometimes you you're looking at that stuff and you are looking at impossible circumstances. And when it's happening to someone you care about, it really is pulling on you. And so having to just keep going to the word of God for the day-to-day, because there were days there where it's like, I am this is insane. Like the level of what is going on. I don't know whether, you know, I can't look to the right or the left or the middle or behind me. It's all just exploding. And so you just have to keep going to the word of God for it for the strength and for the courage. And I think you also you you read it, you find Jesus, what he is saying today, and it's like a it's like caffeine almost it just gets going to strengthen you. But more than that, he it causes you to look not from in your situation, but from outside of your situation. And when you look at it that way from his perspective, and you come into that mindset of eternity, and you come into that mindset that um whatever's going on, God will still redeem that. It just changes. I think it's about the perspective that going to him you then have, and that perspective changes everything.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:17

Yeah. I think it it stops the drift. We've been saying in this series, most people don't fall from faith, they drift. And and there are certain things that I think we can do to keep ourselves locked in and to stay steady and keep walking in faith when circumstances are contrary and the winds are coming against us and the and the reports from the doctors or the bank account or whatever is is contrary and we we kind of lock in. So how have you what what have you built into your life to keep you connected to the Lord? Tell us about your your kind of walk with him. What does it look like and how do you stay connected with him? Because I know you are blessed, but it doesn't mean everything's always easy. The blessed doesn't change. How do you stay connected to your blesser and your blessing?

SPEAKER_01 18:03

Yeah, I mean we're always blessed, aren't we? And I think it's there's a tenacity and there's something the Lord, I think the Holy Spirit puts within each of us that it is simply somedays a decision, isn't it? Like today I choose, today I decide, and this and it's that perspective shift that you were just talking about that you get into the word, you get a bit of time with him. Sometimes then you just zoom out, you see things as they really are. So this could be a feeling of I don't know, somebody's feeling low or down or anxious, or feelings lie to us, don't they? They're not a true reflection of what's really taken place. Feelings changed. You can't really trust your feelings. I always think, because they'll lie to us. So one day you could be feeling great and everything's happy, and the next day they'll your feelings can tell you you feel rubbish today, or you feel down, or this is too much, or you're overwhelmed. And it's just stepping back of that perspective of going, that's not really my true state. Feelings, you need to know your place because you're lying to me now. I can't trust you. Um and just staying in the word and and remembering, no, there might need to be a perspective shift here. I need to see things from the spiritual of how he sees things and how things truly are. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

I think sometimes I often say if we if we if we believe and love the Lord as much as we encourage others to do, we always f when we're sharing Jesus with people, we're sharing Jesus in the purest of forms, He doesn't change. And sometimes we need to remember He's that same Lord to us, yeah. You know, and one of the things that we must always remember, I think it's in Hebrews where it talks about the Lord being an anchor to our soul. Well, if you've ever been on a ship, the ship is subject to the anchor. When the anchor's dropped, the ship settles and that ship doesn't move until there's a conscious decision of lifting the anchor. Well, in times of trouble and in times of storms and waves crashing in, drop anchor. Don't drop the lawn, right? Right, yeah, yeah. Drop anchor. And just it's it's okay to do to sit still for a moment, you know. And you mentioned something about the blessed and the blessing, and is what Pastor Angela was talking about a moment ago, going through the stuff with her family. It's keeping our eyes on the blesser. And there's there's this passage, I think it's where Peter, you know, where Peter cast the net on the other side and he pulls it all to the shore, and it's the biggest catch of fish he ever has, but yet he's still enamoured by the blesser. And it blows my mind where it says Peter dropped everything, not a selfie, yeah, not a Facebook post, not a standing on the bow like this. Look what I've caught. Drops everything, not preparing, you take this, you divide. I've followed the blesser.

SPEAKER_05 21:18

Yeah, left the blessing behind.

SPEAKER_02 21:19

Left the blessing to continue with the blesser. So parents, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters, grandkids, neighbours, they're all a blessing, they're not the blesser. So in times when the blessing has gone, as in in the flesh, the blesser is always present. Yeah, and we have when I lost my dad, uh Pastor Angela, I can honestly say this I'm glad I had someone I could be frustrated with. I'm glad I had someone to thank because if I didn't know the Lord, where would I take that? And he accepted my frustration and he accepted all my thanks. I had an anchor to say I don't understand. Well, thank you for giving me the best dad.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

I think the big thing, whether we're talking, you know, that verse that says it's the tree planted by the water, or whether it's the house built on the rock. These are things. What is the center? What does your life rotate around? And because if we're being really honest, most people's life either rotates around themselves, usually it's ourself, or maybe it's our career, or maybe it's our family, or that person we love, or or our dreams. We've got life rotating around something. But when storms come, if your life is rotating and built around anything other than Jesus, it's messy.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

But if it is built around him, if he is the center, then whatever is happening, like that anchor, you're okay because you're you're looking at it through such a different perspective. Because Jesus is that center. Yeah, he is.

SPEAKER_02 23:08

And it's great. And I use this illustration occasionally. Sometimes you go out to a restaurant, and if some of the biggest hindrances is the options, there's too much stuff on the menu. Just too much. Like you could halve the menu, and I would have a more pleasurable experience.

SPEAKER_05 23:26

Yeah, like the Cheesecake Factory instead. We were there in a couple of months.

SPEAKER_02 23:34

That's a nightmare. And one of the things is like you said, like you were saying actually, if we if if this following Jesus is more selfless and more Christ-centered, really in a in a liberating way, the options become less. And it's not that you're bind or bound. It's no, I'm asking you to do this. It's the bread of life. It's I'm saving me. And I think sometimes you're right in the distractions, we can become divided in our in our personal ability to follow the Lord, you know.

SPEAKER_05 24:19

So I got a question to throw out, and I do think it's something that a lot of people um wrestle with. Let me throw it out. Is is faith a decision, as you said a minute ago, or a feeling? And what happens when I am just not feeling it? Can I still be in faith?

SPEAKER_02 24:38

That's a great question. Um first I think it's a gift. The gift of faith. It's there for us. Faith is there whether we have it or not. There's someone to have faith in, the Lord. Um that's a great question.

SPEAKER_05 24:56

Because Smith Wigglesworth used to say, I don't ask myself how I feel, I tell myself how I feel. And I think sometimes we think if I'm not feeling faithy today, I feel like, man, I'm just I just know it's gonna be awesome. I like I am pumped. I must not be in faith, woe is me. But actually, this time you you said a minute ago, it's faith is a decision, a decision. I have decided, I'm gonna look to Jesus, the author and finisher my faith. You know, the Bible says, Mark 11, 22, have faith in God. It doesn't say anything about having faith in yourself. That's right. Um the Bible says, um, Jesus said, Um, trust in me. All things are possible to him that believes. Trust in me. Never does it say trust in ourselves.

SPEAKER_03 25:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:39

Well, I've got enough anointing, I've prayed enough, I've got enough faith, I c crowds with me, everything's looking good. I've got this, Lord. No, not at all. It's it's very much a trust in him. And when I look to myself, I can come up with a hundred reasons why a prayer won't be answered. When I look to Jesus, I can't come up with one. That's right. One reason why it wouldn't be.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:01

And I think one of the hindrances to being steady is our emotions are a terrible leader.

SPEAKER_04 26:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:09

Oh, yeah. You cannot, you can't believe everything you think.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:13

You can't believe everything you think about yourself. And this is where to me, one of the things that I've seen as a maturity in me, and I'm still growing and maturing like the rest of us, but I am less moved by what I think about things, how I'm feeling that day, um, whether it's hot, whether it's cold, the ups, downs, less moved about that and more moved. If God's word says it, it just says it. It was never about me anyway.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:38

You know, I didn't say it. I'm not the author and I'm not the finisher of my faith.

SPEAKER_03 26:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

It's a gift. Yeah. That God gives us the capacity to believe. He gives us his word to feed that faith. His his countenance, his presence is unchangeable, unflinching, imperfect. We we look to him and all of a sudden we're stable and we're steady and we can get through storms. When we start looking anywhere else, yeah, you know, it'll come, it'll go, it's up, it's down, and it, you know, it's tough. And I really think we have to get, in order to be steady through the storms. There's a a a couple in our church that went through an incredible storm lately, and we all looked and thought, man, I hope that I would have that grace to walk through that, that they did it. And I mean, they're young, much younger than us, but wow my goodness, the faith that they have. And but we walked very closely with them and we watched them. Doctors' reports came, emotions came, feelings came, disappointments came, grief came. They just kept going back.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

But the word phenomenal. And this is this is the beauty of faith. It's not measured by age. It's not measured to say. But you used to have it like a child, didn't you? Yeah, like a child? Yeah. Yeah. It's like when I was again, I'll bring my father into me. We used to go to a park right next right next to Gateway, Liverpool, Sefton Park. And I remember my dad pushing me on a swing once when I was a kid, and my dad said, One of these days, son, when you he's all your big your big dad's dinner, he said, one day I'm gonna push you. He said, and you'll take off and you'll be able to do whatever you want. I can remember that was six.

SPEAKER_03 28:15

John, I believed him. I believed him, man.

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Yeah, I believed him. One day I'll be able to do, and I'll be able I believed him. Why? Because my dad said it. I believed it. And I can I'm 46 now. 47, should I say? Yeah. Yeah. In faith 40, 60. But I can believe it. And when God speaks to us, yeah, surely we must believe it.

SPEAKER_00 28:40

That's a key part of faith, isn't it? Because so many times I do find myself sitting with someone, a a problem came in, and you know, you're talking about your dad in that way. A lot of times when we face that problem, we somehow take God and put him over there and then look at him and say, Why? When actually the exact thing I need to do is bring him right beside me and say, Yeah, help. Wow. He's not, you know, even Job, when his wife comes to him and says, Job, you should curse God and die. He says, I'm not doing that. Yeah, I know. And he's I don't understand, but me and God are in this together and I am confused and I don't, but no, I'm not doing that. I'm not making God my problem. And I think that's a real key because there's just something in us that, oh no, this happened, God, why did you?

unknown 29:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Instead of, oh my gosh, this happened, God, what do we do next? What do we do?

SPEAKER_03 29:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

What so what is your um outlook? How are you facing this circumstance? But we do, and I, you know, we've all done it the minute there's a problem, the minute there's a storm. But me hear God there and look at him with accusation rather than bring him right in and say, okay, God, what are we doing now? We've got a problem. Yeah. What's our solution? Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And it's mindset. And that's what faith does. Faith says, God help. How are we getting out of this mess?

SPEAKER_05 30:04

You know, I've heard a little, a little window of observation in my own life and in other people's lives. You know, being a Christian a long time, leading a long time. And not infrequently, someone will come in and they'll be struggling to worship in the service, not really engaging, or whatever it might be. And you chat with them afterwards, especially, you know, when when circumstances meant we could do that a little bit more and say, you know, what's going on? And and I would say, nine times out of ten, they would say, either I've had a bad week, or some things have gone wrong, or I sinned the last couple of days and I just feel guilty. And I always want to say, well, hang on a minute. Who were you planning on worshiping when you got in here today? Were you worshiping yourself?

SPEAKER_03 30:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:45

Were you going to praise yourself? Praise be unto me. No. It's bless the Lord, oh my soul, not bless my soul, oh the Lord.

SPEAKER_03 30:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:52

And so it's kind of an indication that when I when I think that way, that I feel guilty, I better not come near God, I've I've messed up, shouldn't pray about this, um, had a bad day. I've been a hypocrite to worship. No, hang on a minute. It was never about me anyway. It's all about him. And in fact, right in the middle of my mess, that's exactly where he is. And when I'm going through problems, he'll be there for me. When I have my worst day, even my worst behavior day. He has been perfect. He's being faithful when I'm faithless, he's been strong when I'm weak. And I can come and I can worship him. And I don't feel like it, but I make a decision that God, I'm gonna trust your word.

SPEAKER_04 31:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:32

I know for me, I hit this really hard when I was younger. I've I've never questioned my salvation except twice. And um done many things that might cause other people to question my salvation, but I'm talking about me. Um and I remember I was a teenager, about 15. I woke up in the middle of the night, one night, just in a cold sweat with all these thoughts. What if the rapture happens and I don't go? What if I die, I'm not going to heaven? Just just, I mean, fear about it. And and so I remember as a 15-year-old, my Bible was on my night table. Great spot for your Bible, by the way, everybody. Make sure you know where it is, let it be closed whenever you need it. And I opened it to Romans chapter 10, 9 and 10 that says, if you believe in your heart in the Lord Jesus Christ, and with your mouth you confess and is saved, you'll be saved. Now remember, I said out loud, I said, Lord, I do believe in you with all my heart. And I do confess you as my Lord. But just to make sure, let me do it again right now. Jesus, you're my Lord. Amen. And I I went as it put the Bible open on my chest, went back to sleep. Didn't think about it again until the next night. Same thing happened. Cold sweat. You're going to hell. You're not good enough. You've you've messed up. And I turned the light on, I grabbed my Bible, I opened it the same verses, I read it again. And I looked at what the Bible said were the qualifications for my salvation. It wasn't whether I'd had a good day and if I'd told a lie or lusted after something or deceived my parents. It wasn't that. It was if I believe in my heart in the Lord Jesus Christ and Andrew, I do. Yeah. And everything. And if you confess him as your Lord and Savior, and I do confess as my Lord, and I said out loud, Jesus, I believe in you, and I confess you as my Lord, but just to make sure I'm gonna do it again now. Jesus, you're my Lord. And I put that Bible on my chest, turned the line up and went to sleep. And from that day to this, I've never again questioned whether I'm saved.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:21

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

I dealt with it.

SPEAKER_05 33:22

I dealt with it.

SPEAKER_01 33:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 33:24

Because I wasn't feeling very saved that night those two nights. In fact, quite the opposite. But when I read the Bible, it said, I was saved.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

You were.

SPEAKER_05 33:33

And you have to make that decision because otherwise we will never be steady. We will be up and down and tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, and like a wave of the sea. We're in, we're out, we're in faith, we're not in faith. And the Bible said we don't receive from the Lord that way, because we're looking at ourselves. But look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We got like two minutes left. Andrew, we've been working on these messages together, praying over them, preparing them. What's the what's been your biggest like, man? That's the thing that stuck out to me as I've been as I've been looking at this the last few weeks.

SPEAKER_02 34:06

Great question. Didn't know it was coming, should have prepped for it, but there's something happening. But I'm glad you asked me. I'm really glad you asked. You know, one of the things in these messages was people don't walk away from the Lord because of a lack of theology. They walk away from the Lord from a lack of an unrealistic expectation in the storm. That's so good. And it blew me away. Let me tell you something. If you ever book a holiday and you're going away, you have great faith. You have great faith in that circumstance. You have less faith for the Monday you return back to work. That Monday is not going to be as good. Why not? Can't it be even better? And it's this sometimes we can have these unrealistic, unrealistic expectations of the storms. No, he's right in the middle. As a matter of fact, we know it says, I believe it's in Mark Jesus invited the disciples into one. So I want to just say this every storm that you're in, don't be so sure that Jesus hasn't invited you in. I don't think he wants to beat you up or or twist his outer joint. That's not what I'm saying. But sometimes to get from one side to the other, we have to go through a storm. And that is what really got me because full disclaimer, full transparency, isn't this what we're supposed to do? I think I've had unrealistic expectations of some storms in my life. And then you pick up the word, and the word you can almost hear the chain, the anchor dropping. And all of a sudden you've got you find ground and you you lift your head up on your shoulders and you think, Lord, what was I thinking? I wasn't thinking what you were thinking, that's for sure. Yeah. Thank you. And then you have a a realist, a realistic truth of what you can expect. And that's what happens.

SPEAKER_05 36:07

That's one of the things. Tell us that, tell us that again. They don't drift because of theology.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

So people don't typically drift from the Lord because of bad or lack of theology. They drift from the Lord because they have a different expectation of the storm.

SPEAKER_05 36:25

Oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_02 36:26

Yeah. Because their expectation is to skip it. Push that season past. I'm serving. Lord, I'm tired of it. Lord, I'm I'm on hospitality. I'm doing it. And there's a storm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he will get us through it. So that From the Sermon series is just one of many nuggets we can pull from it. Wow. Incredible.

SPEAKER_05 36:52

I love that. No, we got it. We got it. Sorry, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 36:54

I was only going to say in Hebrews 11. I've been reading through Hebrews. And the author goes on about how it was Noah's faith that saw him to, you know, make huge changes in the world. It was Abraham's faith that brought him through to righteousness, where he's saying, um, you know, with Isaac, he's saying Abraham had the faith of what God was going to do in this situation. And this author goes on like it's so lengthy, the the text. And every time it was his faith, it was his faith, it was this faith that got him through. And I was just listening to it on my audio Bible, and I was like, they were all storms. Yeah. Everything like Noah building the boat with the whole of humanity mocking him. And you know, of something invisible, something unseen. Each one was probably the worst point of their lives thus far. And it was the faith that got them through, that steadied them in the storm. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:51

That's so good. I've never thought of that. But you we don't need faith when everything's rosy. We don't need faith when there's money in the bank, we're feeling healthy, and everyone loves us, and we're going on holiday, you know, because circumstances are fine. Faith isn't for the possible, it's for the impossible.

SPEAKER_04 38:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 38:06

Impossible has nothing to do with faith. If we can do it ourselves, we don't need faith. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. Guys, thank you so much. It's good to just sit around and talk. A little warm, but it's it's fine. There's a fire in our heart. So Father, thank you so much for faith that you give us. You've given us the capacity to believe. You've given us your word and Jesus, someone to believe in. Lord, for every one of us, I pray that you would help us to keep our eyes on you and the storms that we're in. And for anyone right now that's right in the middle of a storm, that this conversation be an encouragement. It's not that they've done something wrong. It's not that you're against them. In fact, you are right there with them. Lord, help them see, like Angela was saying, not God what, but God how. That's right. How we get in place together. Lord, minister to every person going through a storm right now that we will see the goodness of God in the land of the living and share testimonies like you would imagine. In Jesus' name.

SPEAKER_03 38:57

Amen. Amen. Amen. Guys, thank you.

SPEAKER_05 39:00

I will see you all next time.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

Bye. Bye.