Craig Smith - There is a Hope - Part 1
- Watch
- Donate
You know I’m going to make it. I’m going to make it through. Hey, welcome to Mission Hill! So good to have you with us today. Whether you’re joining us in one of our campuses or online from somewhere in the world, it’s baptism weekend. Anybody excited about baptism weekend? Yes! Across all of our campuses, we have about 70 people getting baptized this weekend, going public with their faith, and we love that! Can’t wait to get to that part of our service.
Before we do that, I want to talk to you today a little bit about hope. Because here’s the thing: I don’t know what you’re going through, but I do know that hope is what gets you through what you’re going through. I wonder, can we just be real? How many of us, just by a show of hands all over? Okay. How many of us are going through something we kind of wish we weren’t going through? If you’re near somebody who’s got their hand up, would you just look at them and say, «Hope will get you through it.» Hope is what gets us through what we’re going through.
For the last several weeks, we’ve been talking about what Jesus said when he said that if you hear his words, the person who hears his words and puts them into practice is like the man who built his house on a rock. And then the storm came, but the house survived because of where it was built. But I was thinking about that this week, and I’m like, okay, it’s a good thing to build your house on the rock, right? That’s faith. Faith is about where you build the house. But hope is what keeps you in the house when the storm’s coming, and it’s bad, and you start to wonder, is this house really going to survive? Hope is what keeps you in the house. Hope is what keeps you holding on. Hope is what keeps you moving forward.
I actually had a little experience with that this week. Clint and I were in London, and we were looking at a ministry program we’re thinking about bringing to Mission Hill. And on the way to the airport on our way home on Thursday, we left the hotel, walked about half a mile, and got to the subway. I was on the platform waiting for the train to come, and I did this little thing where, you know, you kind of double-check everything. I checked my pockets and was like, «All my pockets are empty.» My pocket should not be empty; there’s a passport that should be in this pocket, and it was gone. I don’t know where it fell out. I assumed that my backpack was kind of rubbing, and somehow it came out. So we said, «Okay, let’s walk back to the hotel.»
And so we walked by the hotel, looking everywhere, and didn’t see it. We got into the hotel and said, «Okay, we’ll go talk to the guy at the counter and see if maybe somebody’s turned it in, 'cause we, of course, were hoping we’d find it on the way back.» That didn’t happen. So we hoped that he would have it, and he did not have it. He was spectacularly unhelpful, by the way. Just, he said, «No, I don’t have it.» He said, «But have you checked your pockets?» No, never. And he said it with a British accent, which made it sound really smart, but ultimately, sorry, just not impressive, right?
So they were like, «Okay, well, I hope maybe we missed it, and we’ll walk back to the subway again, looking at what we didn’t see.» So we went up to the subway. We’d already talked to somebody at the subway, and they hadn’t gotten it, but we said, «Well, hopefully, maybe somebody has now.» So we went and said, «Did anybody turn it in since we’ve been gone?» and they said no. So we kind of went, «Okay, well, we’re going to have to put our hope in the American government.» So we went to the embassy, and I went up to the guy at the desk, and he said, «Well, do you have an appointment?» I said, «No.» And I said, «But I lost my passport.» And he said, «Oh, so you want to try to get an emergency passport?» I said, «That’s what I’m hoping for! That would be great; that’s the hope, right?»
He goes, «Well, I’ll go see if they’ll let you in.» Like, I didn’t even know that was an option-like not being allowed in. I didn’t know that was an option. But he came back and said, «Good luck! They’ll take you.» So I went in, did the interview, and I had a driver’s license, so it was pretty quick. And actually, it was like within a couple of hours, which I’m pretty impressed by the bureaucracy in this particular case. Like, in a couple of hours, I had an emergency passport, and we’d missed our initial flight, but they had moved it to tomorrow. We got on the subway to go out towards the airport, and I kind of looked and was like, «Well, there’s a later flight this afternoon. I wonder if we could get on that.» So we’ll just go to the airport.
So that was the hope, right? And so we, and I, as I was on the way, thought, «Well, I’ll call them and just see if they could switch us.» So I called the woman. She said, «Yeah, there are empty seats. We could put you on that one. It’s only going to cost another $ 2,300 per person.» And I said, «Well, when I told them the passport was going to be the next day, it was for free.» And they said, «Well, that was a one-time exception.» I said, «Well, I’m a frequent flyer,» like, you know, because you’re always hoping you’re going to find that avenue, right? And she said, «Well, I’ll talk to my supervisor.» She talked to the experts, and the expert came back and said no. But we went on to the airport anyway because we were still hoping, and we met a very nice British man. He said, «Um, well, yeah, I can put you on this flight.»
And so they put us on; we literally walked right through the airport because he did say, «Actually, you’re going to have to walk fast because they’ve been boarding for the last 20 minutes,» and we basically walked on and sat down, and we took off. It was a journey, right? But the reason I’m telling you that is because every step of that journey-every step going, «Let’s try this,» «Let’s try this"-it was all driven by hope. «I hope I’ll find the passport. I hope that he’ll have it. I hope that they’ll do this.» It’s just hope. Hope is what gets you through.
So whatever you’re going through, hope is what gets you through what you are facing. It’s what keeps you holding on; it’s what keeps you moving forward. I want to talk about where that kind of hope comes from because I know some of you are in the midst of some things right now, and you need hope. In fact, I wonder how many could just be real-how many of us are here today, and honestly, you came here hoping to get some hope? Yeah, I love you, and I love that you’re here, and I hope God’s going to give that to you today.
We’re going to be in Acts chapter 27 today. Acts 27 is the story of a literal storm, but it’s a powerful image for what hope looks like, where it comes from, and what can get in the way of it. It’s a literal storm, but it actually starts off with a little bit more of a metaphorical storm. The Apostle Paul has been arrested. He was preaching in Jerusalem, and he got arrested. They basically made up some lies about him desecrating the temple and some things like that. So he was trying to get a trial, and he realized he couldn’t get a fair trial there in Jerusalem; there were just too many enemies against him. And so he basically held up his Roman citizenship card and said, «I want to go to Rome and be tried in Rome because it’ll be a much friendlier audience.»
So he’s been arrested, and he’s on his way to Rome. And that’s where we pick up the story in Acts 27. It says, «Now when it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment. We boarded a ship from Adramidium-that’s a really long word — about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia. Um, and we put out to sea. Aristarus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius, in kindness to Paul, allowed him to go to his friends so that they might provide for his needs.»
Now there are a lot of details there, but I want to make sure before we go on that we understand why Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, is giving us all these details at the outset of the story. Every one of those details is an indication of God’s provision. Do you hear me? He’s basically pointing out that even though Paul is in kind of a metaphorical storm-he’s arrested, he doesn’t know what’s coming-God has not abandoned him. There’s a lot of provision going on. Every one of those details relates to the provision of God in Paul’s life. It starts off with, «When it was decided that we would sail for Italy.» Well, who’s «we»? And the answer is, well, Luke was there.
Luke, who wrote the book of Acts, was a historian. In most of Luke’s writing, he investigated. In fact, at the beginning of his Gospel, he’s the same guy who wrote the Gospel of Luke. He said, «We investigated; we talked to eyewitnesses. I wasn’t there, but I talked to eyewitnesses who were there and saw these things.» Most of the book of Acts is like that. But there are a few places in the book of Acts where it suddenly says, «we.» That’s because Luke was the eyewitness to those events; he was there. So the point is that Luke is on this journey with the Apostle Paul, which is very unusual. Paul’s a prisoner, and yet he’s been given a companion to go along with him. It turns out Luke’s also a doctor, which is going to come in very handy later on. We’ll get to that next week.
Why does Paul get this blessing? Why does Paul have this provision in his life? Well, apparently, it’s because of the kindness of this Roman centurion named Julius. He’s a Roman centurion named Julius who belonged to the imperial regiment. Julius was a pretty high-ranking officer. He had power, he had prestige, he had influence, and so he could do some things that wouldn’t have otherwise been allowed. And he apparently used that influence to allow Luke to accompany Paul. So somehow this man has favor for Paul, and this is an indication of God’s provision.
Okay, God has moved this man’s heart to be kind to Paul. Then there’s Aristarus, who was another companion of Paul, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. So not only does he have Luke with him, but he has a second companion, Aristarus, who’s with him. There’s a lot of allowances being made for Paul during this journey. And then — this is the craziest thing to me-it says, «when they landed at Sidon, in kindness to Paul, Julius allowed him to go to his friends so they might provide for his needs.» That makes no sense at all! Like, you understand Paul’s under arrest; he’s a prisoner. And they land on this island, and Julius is like, «Do you have friends here? Would you like a day pass? I mean, you’ll come back, right? Like if I just let you go.»
There’s no mention of guards; there’s just — «go.» Why would he do that? And the answer is because God’s favor is upon Paul through the favor of this man. So God is moving. You understand what I’m saying is that God is providing for Paul. And it’s so important that we recognize this because hope is a product of God’s provision. You might think about writing that down. The hope that allows us to hold on, the hope that keeps us in the house, the hope that keeps us moving forward trusting God -it’s a product of knowing that God provides, right? That He will never leave you or forsake you, okay? That He will care for you; that He will provide for you. When we forget that God provides, one of the first casualties of that forgetfulness is actually hope. Does that make sense?
See how we go into a storm determines how we get through it. When we go into a storm with the remembrance of the confidence that my God provides for me, for all of my needs-not necessarily for all my wants-but God cares for me. He provides for me in supernatural, inexplicable ways, allowing us to enter a storm in a completely different way. I want to ask you this question as we begin today: How has God provided for you?
I encourage you to spend some time this week thinking about that, maybe even writing some things down. Whether you’re in a storm right now or you recognize a storm could come, what you need to understand is that the hope that will hold on through that storm is often a product of remembering God’s provision. It’s a product of being aware of God’s provision. In fact, I’m curious; by a show of hands, how many of us have ever seen God provide for us? Okay. I encourage you to not keep that generic but to write it down specifically: it was this and this, and He did this and He did that. That becomes the foundation, or the fuel, we should say, for this thing we call hope. So, spend some time this week reflecting on how God has provided.
Luke begins the story by talking about all these ways that God has provided. He says, «Now from there we put out to sea again, and we passed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.» Now, when we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lycia. There, the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board. We made slow headway for many days, and we had difficulty arriving off Cnidus. You’re beginning to get the hints that this journey is harder than anyone expected.
Can we just be real? That’s sort of life, isn’t it? Has anyone ever felt like everything is just harder than it ought to be? Everything is taking longer than it ought to be? Everything feels more exhausting than it ought to be? Like, nobody told us that growing up, right? Now, when the wind did not allow us to hold our course, we sailed to the lee of Crete, opposite Salmone, and we moved along the coast with difficulty. We came to a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.
Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement- that’s the Jewish calendar based on the lunar cycle, so it moves a little bit. The Day of Atonement would have been late September or early October by our calendar, so right about now, actually. By the way, was anybody outside yesterday in the wind? See, this time of year, the same thing is true. In the northern hemisphere, you often start to notice changes in weather patterns, often involving a lot of wind. The wind picks up because it’s getting late in the year, approaching winter.
Paul warned them; he said, «Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship, cargo, and to our own lives also.» But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and the owner of the ship. Paul delivers a word of prophecy; he doesn’t say God told him, but he says, «I can see,» and I think it’s clear later on that this is actually information he probably received through the Holy Spirit. He said we shouldn’t keep going; we should stop where we are, wait for the season to pass, and then continue on.
But the centurion, instead of listening to Paul, listened to the pilot and the owner of the ship. What’s interesting is that because of that choice, they end up in a storm that almost takes all their lives. Here’s the thing about storms: we said at the beginning of this series that rain is inevitable. Rain is optional, but rain is inevitable in this life. Jesus himself said you will have trouble; you’re going to face storms in this life.
Now, some storms are unavoidable. Okay? Because we live in a broken, fallen world, there are going to be things that happen to our bodies. Okay? You can eat as healthy as you want. Like, from this moment on, you can say, «I will never enjoy another thing that I eat.» Okay? You can still get cancer because our bodies are broken. The world is broken because of our sin. And so, sometimes those things happen. Sometimes, there are just bad people who come into our lives and do things to us. You can have an accident on the road. Okay? I mean, there are some storms that are absolutely unavoidable. But, and this is the important thing, some storms are avoidable.
There are some storms that, if you make the right choices, you’re not going to have to deal with. Okay? Like, it always blows my mind how I’ll be talking to someone who has, honestly, just done something extraordinarily dumb, and it’s led to a disaster, and they’re like, «Yeah, but you know what? Everything happens for a reason.» And I’m like, «Yeah, but the reason is you were stupid, and you made a really bad choice,» right? And I’ve done those; you’ve done those, right? There are some storms that come into our lives we could have avoided if we just made better choices. But the number one reason, the number one reason we make bad choices is because we listen to the wrong voices. You hear me? Listen. Wrong voices equal wrong choices.
The centurion, instead of listening to the word of God, listened to the, well, he listened to the experts, and it would have made sense from an earthly perspective. They’re the guys who know the sea, and he’s probably — Julius is not a believer at this point. There is some hint at least that he might have become a believer after this. We don’t know for sure, but at this moment, he probably doesn’t know. But he definitely knows that there’s something special about Paul. I mean, God’s moving in his heart. And so, he could have listened to the prophecy, but instead of that, he listened to the pilot, right? But he made the wrong choice because he listened to the wrong voice.
And so, let me ask you this question today: How many of us would like to avoid as many storms as possible in life? All right, so here’s the question: What voices are influencing your choices? Because the voices you listen to ultimately dictate the choices you end up making because they end up dictating the choices that you think are the right choices. Okay? And sometimes we listen to our friends, and our friends are idiots. Okay? Sometimes we listen to the experts, and they don’t know any more than we do. Sometimes we listen to social media, and we think the world is one way, and it’s not. Sometimes we listen to the news, and we think we’re getting information.
Can I just tell you, the news is not giving you information. It’s giving you a carefully curated version of details, and they’re throwing a narrative on top of it, and they’re showing you this is how things actually are and therefore this is how you should think about those people and think about these things that are going on. But honestly, it’s all designed to stir your emotions because if your emotions are up, you’ll keep coming back, and if you keep coming back, then the advertisers get their money’s worth. And those voices that speak into our lives lead to choices that we make, which often lead to storms in our lives. And so, I want to ask you, what voices are influencing your choices?
Now, since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided-by the way, you can just underline those words right there: the majority decided. If ever there was a worse way to find the way forward, it is the majority. And you know why? Because the majority of us are stupid. And I did this, so don’t get mad at me. We don’t know — we’re desperate. But we don’t have understanding. We don’t have information. And we’re being pushed and prodded by all these different voices, unfortunately not enough of this voice, the voice of God, the word of God.
And sometimes we listen to the voices in the world, and then we go, «Oh, I found a verse that sort of justifies that"-and we slap a verse on top of the world and we go, «Everybody’s doing it; this is how everybody thinks.» The majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. Now, this was a harbor in Cree facing both southwest and northwest, so it should have been pretty safe and protected.
Now, when a gentle south wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity. And so, they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Cree. But before long, a wind of hurricane force, called the northeaster, swept down from the island. So, there’s a gentle wind, and they go, «That’s a good sign.» 'Cause why wouldn’t a gentle wind be a good sign? I’ll tell you why.
Do you know why you get gentle winds at this time of year? They’re called low-pressure systems. When a low-pressure system forms, it pulls air into it pretty slowly at first. And the result of that is gentle winds. But do you know what the low-pressure system is the heart of? It’s called a hurricane. Before a hurricane-not only in this part of the world but all around the world-before a hurricane forms, it is often preceded by these gentle winds being slowly drawn into a building vortex in that low-pressure system. Anybody ever heard the phrase, «the calm before the storm»? This is what they’re talking about. And so, gentle winds-listen-gentle winds aren’t always good news. Gentle winds are not always good news. The easy way is not always God’s way.
You know who loves easy ways? Your enemy. He’s the inventor of the easy way. I mean, think about it: Garden of Eden. What did he say? «I got a shortcut.» Why? Why should you wait? «I got a shortcut. It’s easy.» Right? Jesus came and said, «Wide is the gate,» which is to say, «Easy is the way that leads to destruction,» because he knows that your enemy loves the easy way. The book of Proverbs says, «There is a way that seems right, looks good, seems easy, but in the end, it leads to death.» Your enemy loves the easy way. And let’s be honest, so do we, right? And you may be in a place right now where there is a way forward from where you are that looks easier. But there’s a good chance that those gentle winds aren’t God’s way.
Yeah, it’s easier to sleep in than to go to church. By the way, good job not giving in to the easy way. It’s easier to let chat GPT write the paper. Yeah, it’s easier to-well, let’s be real-that relationship with that woman at work, it’s just easier than that relationship with that woman at home. And you know why? Because the woman at home knows you; the woman at work doesn’t. But that way feels easy, right? And that easy way leads to adultery; it leads to destruction. It’s easier to fudge a number here and there, and probably nobody’s ever going to notice, but it puts a little more money in my bank account.
That’s a lot easier than working hard and saving up and investing. It’s easier to deal with my pain by turning to a bottle or some powder than it is to actually dig in and deal with whatever is going on and get the help that I need and maybe have to admit that I don’t have it all together. We talked about this a couple weeks ago. I don’t know who’s here today to just hear this, but that easy way you’re looking at-those gentle winds that look like your opportunity? No, it’s the calm before a storm that God actually wants to protect you from. He does, because he loves you.
Now, the ship was caught by the storm, and it could not head into the wind, and so we gave way to it, and we were driven along. And as we passed to the lee of a small island called Calda, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure. They pulled the lifeboat behind them in those days. And so, the men hoisted it aboard, and they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together, because they were afraid that they would run aground on the sandbars at Certus. They lowered the sea anchor and let the ship be driven along.
And we took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day, they began to throw the cargo overboard. On the third day, they threw the ship’s tackle — the ropes and extra sails-overboard with their own hands. And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. And I want you to pay attention to that last little bit: Who gave up hope? We. He didn’t say the men that didn’t know Jesus. He didn’t say the crew who, you know, they were godless pagans.
Luke, who’s writing this, says, " I was right there with him,» and I don’t think that’s just a description of what happened. I actually think it’s a confession. He says, «I gave up hope.» And why did he give up hope? Well, he says specifically it was because the sun and the stars were hidden. The things that we used to guide us, help us figure out where the next way to go is were hidden. Now let me ask you this: Was the sun gone? No, it was hidden. Were the stars gone? No, they were hidden. And that’s what storms do; they hide what is on the other side of them.
Okay, listen, the reason that we lose hope is because what we are hoping for gets hidden by the storms. You with me? But hear this: hidden isn’t hopeless. You hear me? Hidden isn’t hopeless. God is still there; God’s provision is still there; God’s promises are still there. Hope is still possible. But what happens is that when it is hidden, it tends to cause us to lose our hope. And so we have to tell ourselves, just because I can’t see it doesn’t mean that I will not see it. Just because I cannot see it now doesn’t mean that I will not see it if I hold on, stay in the house, and keep moving forward, trusting God. Because-could you say it with me? -because hidden isn’t hopeless. Say it with me again, church: hidden isn’t hopeless.
I know you’re confused because God’s way is hidden. Maybe he led you out of your own personal Egypt and gave you a promised land, but you’re standing at the edge of a sea, and the sea has hidden your next steps. You’re like, «I don’t know how to get from here to there. What do I do?» It’s hidden, but hidden isn’t hopeless. You’re in a desert, and you’re looking around. You’re like, «I feel like God led me here, and I trusted him, and I followed him, and I made the decisions, those choices, and now I’m here, and there’s no water. There’s just rocks.» You can’t get water out of rocks, can you? Some of you know that story. You can’t, but God can. But we see the rocks, and we’re like, «There’s no provision. It’s open sky in a big desert. What’s food going to do? Fall out of the sky for me here?»
Some of you know that story. See, you can get discouraged because the provision is hidden. But say it with me: hidden isn’t hopeless. You’re exhausted because you’ve been fighting, but the enemies haven’t fallen. Or maybe some of them have fallen, but then another bigger one just gets up, and God’s victory is hidden, but hidden isn’t hopeless. And so we hold on to it. After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said, «Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete, and then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss.»
I love Paul; he is a prophet who can be a little petty. I love that he didn’t have to say, «I told you so,» but he’s like, «Not only am I going to say it, it’s going to get Luke to write this down. I want this in the Word of God for the rest of history.» He says, «If you’d listened to the right voice, you could have avoided this particular storm.» He said, «But now I urge you to keep up your courage because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed.»
And that’s really interesting to me because it’s the ship that they were trying so hard to save, right? It was the ship they thought, «This is what’s going to get us through. This is what they’re putting their hope in,» right? And what are they doing? They were lashing it together. I mean, they had ropes moving around the hull, and they’re trying to hold it, 'cause it’s starting to come apart, right? This thing they’re putting their hope in is sinking, right? The boards are separating, and the water’s coming in, so they’re bailing like crazy, and they’ve got ropes, and they’re lashing it together.
And then Paul says, «By the way, the ship’s going down.» And I love that because I think somebody here probably needs to hear this. I’ve had to hear this at different points in my life. You’ve been trying to lash together what God says has to be lost altogether.
I remember I was in college, and I had this relationship with this girl. We dated off and on for three years, and we were just terrible for each other. I mean, I was great, I think. She was the problem, except that she wasn’t. I was this everybody’s hope, but I was so desperate to save that relationship, right? That I was doing everything I could, and there was compromise, unhappiness, misery, and conflict, and it just-it was lashing it together. And God spoke to me at one point. He goes, «You got to let it go. That’s not where your hope is.»
And I don’t know. I think there’s probably somebody here who needs to hear that today. You’re trying to latch together what God says has to be lost altogether, 'cause that’s not unsinkable, and that’s not where your hope is. So stop looking to it. He says, «Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me. And he said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar, and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.'»
And I love what he says there. He doesn’t say, «the God that I trust,» «the God that I believe in,» «the God I have faith in.» He says, «the God to whom I belong.» Because at the end of the day-and listen to me on this, this is so important-at the end of the day, it’s not about the strength of your faith in that God. It’s about the depth of your surrender to Him. This is Paul saying, «I’m God’s.» And whatever God wants, that’s what I want. Even if it’s hard, even if it means going into a storm, it’s a depth of surrender.
By the way, we have a bunch of people getting baptized today, and what they’re going to do when they get baptized is indicate the depth of their surrender. They’re saying, «My old way of life is done; this new life of belonging to God and serving Him, that’s what’s going to define me from here on out.» It’s not about the strength of your faith. It’s about the depth of your surrender. That’s where Paul’s hope is. So he says, «So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.» And literally what he says is, «We must drop away on some island.» He’s referring to the ship. He says, «Everybody’s trying so hard to keep the ship from sinking. I got bad news for you. The ship is sinking. The ship’s gone.»
And I wonder how many of us are desperate right now because we have a ship that’s just sinking out from under us. It’s money, it’s possessions, it’s a relationship, it’s our skill, it’s our ability, it’s politics, it’s whatever it is. And it just feels like it’s going down. And I need to tell you today, there is no unsinkable ship. But there is an unsinkable Savior. Amen? There’s no unsinkable ship, but there is an unsinkable Savior. And if your hope is in Him, you’ll see the other side of the storm. It’s interesting-Jesus, at one point, was in a boat with his disciples, and there was a storm that came up, and the wind was blowing, and the waves were crashing, and it started to sink. And Jesus was napping.
Anybody ever had that experience where you just feel like, «God, are You asleep? Are You paying attention? What’s going on?» I mean, the disciples literally had that experience, and they had to go wake Jesus up. Jesus got up finally, and He spoke to the wind and waves and said, «Be still.» And it all calmed down. And isn’t that what we want? Jesus to calm the storm. But it’s interesting; there’s another story, very similar. The disciples were in a boat, and a storm came up. Jesus wasn’t in the boat, so they couldn’t go wake Him up. They were desperate as the wind came in and the boat was starting to sink. Then they looked out and saw a figure coming toward them, and they were afraid. They weren’t sure who it was, but Peter called out. It was Jesus.
Jesus called out to Peter. He said, «Hey, don’t be afraid. It’s Me.» And Peter said, «If it’s really You, Lord, then call me to come out to You on the water.» Jesus goes, «Oh, I like that. Let’s do that.» He said, «Come.» I bet Peter was like, «Why did I say that? That’s a dumb thing to suggest.» But he got out, and he walked on the water for a little while until the storm hid his hope, and then Jesus had to catch him. How many of us would like to walk on water?
Can I tell you something? The only people who have ever walked on water did so in a storm. Sometimes Jesus calms the storm, and sometimes He calls us into it. But whether He’s calming it or calling us into it, He is the Rock. And if our hope is in Him, the storm will not be the end. Would you close your eyes and bow your heads and just ponder in this moment as the Holy Spirit moves among us? As we just reflect for a moment, how many of us would say, «Yeah, I’ve lost hope because what I want God to do -His provision, His strength, His victory-whatever it is, it’s hidden, and I’m running a little bit low on hope»?
How many would say, «I’m running a little bit low on hope»? Just lift your hands up right now. Thank you. Thank you for that courage. I wonder how many of us would say in this moment, as we reflect, that yeah, we’ve been trying to lash together something we’ve put hope in that honestly isn’t worthy of it, and we’re realizing that I don’t have an unsinkable ship, and my trust needs to be in an unsinkable Savior. How many of us would say, «That’s me today „? Thank you, God. Would You pour hope in this very moment? Would You fan the flames of hope, Lord?
There are some people in storms right now, and I want to pray in Your name that You would calm those storms, or at least calm the storms in us. And Lord, if You’re calling us to walk on water through a storm, my prayer is that, just for the moment, in this very moment, You would part the clouds for a moment and let us see past what is hiding You from us. Let us get a glimpse of You and of Your love for us, Your care for us, Your power for us, and Your provision for us that would rekindle our hope in You. Lord, give us hope so that we might hold on, that we might stay in the house that is built on the Rock. In Jesus' name, Amen.