When resistance doesn’t make sense | Pastor Steven Furtick

God’s confirmation often comes in the form of resistance.

as significant that Jesus told them to

go forward in the wind was against them

that’s significant significant because a

lot of times I assumed in my life that

if God sent me to do something the wind

would work with me that’s pretty much

the premise of early Christianity you

know turn your life over to God and

he’ll take your burdens away turn your

life over to the Lord and you know what

used to keep you up and I won’t keep you

up at night anymore because it’ll be

replaced by other stuff that’ll keep you

up at night fill in the blank you

realize that a lot of times our claims

to faith are actually our efforts to

manipulate God until we discover in the

course of time that just because the

wind is against you doesn’t mean that

God is not for you many times the

confirmation that God has spoken to you

is the fact that the wind is against you

we’re discovering this in our study of

the Gospel of Mark we are learning that

resistance is often the greatest place

for revelation would you please take

that elevation pin that cost about 11 or

12 cents and before you steal it from

the church and use it to sign a check

this week write it down resistance leads

to revelation resistance leads to

revelation the wind was against the

disciples not because they disobeyed the

words of Jesus but because they went in

the direction of his command he sent

them to Betsy de they went to Bethsaida

I got it when it was Jonah because the

wind was against Jonah because he wasn’t

going to Nineveh he was going to

Tarshish and God said go to Nineveh and

when you go to Tarsus when you should go

to Nineveh expect the wind to be against

you because God didn’t send you to

Tarshish he sent you to Nineveh so I

expect the wind to go against me when

God told me to go to Nineveh and I went

to Tarshish but when he told me to go

the best sail and I went the best SATA I

expect the wind to work with me I expect

God to bless me when I come to church

I expect good parking places cuz I came

to church I expect those shoes to go on

sale cuz I came to church I expect a

promotion cuz I came to church makes me

mad when somebody who didn’t come to

church they slept in and they get big in

a race and I get fired and I can’t

understand how God could be with me and

the wind could be against me but often

the confirmation of the Word of God is

the resistance of the enemy to show you

you’re on the right track here’s why

Phil I preached it here’s why i’ma have

somebody you want to turn around and go

back home because the wind is against

you the wind is against you so that you

will know that it is the lord’s presence

with you that makes you successful if

the wind was working with you you would

think the wind when you got to your

destination if it were easy you would

think the wrong things if the wind

wasn’t against you you wouldn’t need the

Lord to come and step into the wind and

sweet pace to the wind so the wind has

to be against you to prove that the Lord

is with you top-down verdict this is

just the introduction

[Applause]

and so Jesus Savage Jesus the Jesus

that’s in the Bible not the Jesus this

on Pinterest Savage Jesus real-life

Jesus

Monday morning Jesus yeah Friday Jesus

Saturday Jesus not not not that Jesus

that as is playing a harp and stroking

the the will of the lamb but the Jesus

who sends his disciples into a storm and

watches them strength I got to go you

don’t believe this you about to be

really jealous I got to go and sit on

the mountain where Jesus prayed and the

man who took us there last year he knew

everything about everything I think he

was Jesus he took us up there he said

here’s where Jesus was praying in mark

chapter 6 and then he pointed to the the

lake that the Bible mentions where the

storm was and from that mountain you can

see the whole lake and he dropped this

on us right before he left us he said so

the whole time they were straining Jesus

could see them and he walked off and I

cried I have a picture of me sitting on

that mountain and there’s Kleenex all

around me as Holly just kept handed him

to me one after another that he saw them

in the storm that he saw them in the

storm and then I was after I got done

crying because I realized he sees me in

my storm and he knows what I’m going

through and he knows what I deal with

and he knows what people have done to me

and he sees tears that I’ve cried on my

pillow that nobody else knows about him

that he sees what’s going on in my soul

that I can cover up in front of people

but I can’t hide from him after I got

done crying about that I got kind of

angry because I thought if he could see

them why didn’t he stop it

all of a sudden it felt kind of cruel to

me that he would send them into a storm

and see them in the storm

and not stop the storm so I think it is

significant that the Bible says that he

saw the disciples verse 48 straining at

the oars because the wind was against

them shortly before dawn he went out to

them this is 48 be walking on the lake

he was about to pass them by I thought

he would never leave me I thought he

would never forsake me

I thought he promised his presence to me

and so he’s about to pass them by and

they were afraid one interesting thing

about this particular record in Mark’s

Gospel is that it was recounted by a man

named Peter have you heard of him he was

a very outspoken disciple of Jesus

Christ he was the one I don’t know if

you’re like this he would say what

everybody else thought he would he was

filter free and so when he was right he

was really right when he was wrong he

was really wrong I’ll prove it to you he

said you are the Christ the Son of the

Living God

she said you are Petros this rock you’re

Peter not Simon not shifty upon this

rock I’ll build my church the rock of

his revelation of who Jesus was a few

verses later Jesus said get behind me

Satan and he was pointing at Peter

because Peter said you can’t go to the

cross and Peter opposed the very thing

that Jesus came to do all in the same

Bible chapter this is Peter

Peter is the one telling mark about this

story so mark can write it down Peter is

the one recording the audio book okay

Peter is the one giving mark the Gospel

account mark wasn’t a disciple mark was

an evangelist he compiled the story and

Peter told look I’m gonna show you

something we have four of these

four gospel accounts the gospel is the

good news of Jesus Christ when we say

the Gospel of Mark

it’s the Gospel according to mark when

we say the Gospel of Luke the Gospel of

John the Gospel of Matthew that’s the

gospel account that they wrote down John

said that Jesus did so much if you wrote

a whole book you tried to write down

everything he did the whole world could

not contain it if you wrote down all the

works Jesus did Wikipedia would break so

they had to decide what was significant

enough to put in the gospel account that

would that would prove what they wanted

to prove about who Jesus was

so when Mark got ready to write he said

Jesus walked to the disciples in a storm

and when he got in the boat the winds

died down

when Matthew got ready to write it he he

included something that Mark left out

and I’m gonna read you now from Matthew

14 it’s the same story but there’s one

detail in this story that is omitted in

Mark’s Gospel which is based on the

recollection of Peter and it’s in

Matthew’s Gospel but not mark so here’s

what we’ll do this will be an inner

interactive class when I get to the part

that wasn’t in Mark’s Gospel stop me

when I get to the part that were you

saying wait that wasn’t in the other one

that you read before I want you to wave

your hands and stop me this is the only

time that you are allowed to tell me to

stop preaching you can tell me to preach

any time you want preach faster but when

I get to this part today I want you to

stop me at every location let’s start in

verse 22 immediately Jesus made the

disciples get into the boat and go on

ahead of him to the other side while he

dismissed the crowd after he had

dismissed them he went up on a

mountainside by himself to pray later

that night he was there alone and the

boat was already a considerable distance

from land buffeted by the waves because

the wind was against it so far so good

we’re good to go come on yeah it’s

similar very similar very similar you

did words different same same stuff

shortly before dawn Jesus went out to

them walking on the lake when the

disciples saw him walking on the lake

they were terrified it’s a ghost they

said and cried out in fear but Jesus

immediately said to them take courage it

as I don’t be afraid Lord if it’s you

Peter replied

it’s a cup okay okay okay it’s wrong

with you Lord Lord if it’s you Peter

replied tell me to come to you on the

water

come he said this is it’s amazing hey

hey if this if I was writing my memoir

I’ll put this in cuz what’s your happy

sakes then Peter got down out of the

boat walked on water and came toward

Jesus oh I’m totally putting that in I’m

totally including the part where

everybody else was in the boat crying

out in fear and I was walking on water

transcending the laws of buoyancy babe

if I ever walk on water and then I die

and they’re writing a story about my

life you make sure they don’t take that

part out if I ever walk on water I’m and

I know I do metaphorically in your heart

but if I ever physically if they ever

write about me I’m not saying they will

but if they do leave this in touch

somebody say this is significant so how

can Peter this is a good question how

can Peter walk on water and when it

comes time to tell mark what to write

about this night on the sea tell mark

you know I think people

probably just about sick of hearing

about this thing do you really think

this is signature to your neighbors say

yes mr. president

this is significant wonder if um

I wonder if he left it out because of

verse 30 I mean cuz verse so far this is

amazing Peter Peters like if it’s view

tell me to come she’s like it’s me come

and you know the wind is blowing so you

can’t hear that good so Peter’s like did

you that it’s me coat and John John’s

like no he said Peter your dome cuz I

mean two people can hear the same thing

it’s yanny not Laurel but by the way

it’s Janney it’s Jenny

it’s Yanni come to the altar it’s Yanni

you need your ears open

I lost half the church you’re the the

same word a different way now the other

disciples were operating on what Jesus

told them before they left which is go

go to bed say that I’ll meet you on the

other side Peter is operating out of

what he feels in the moment and he says

to Jesus if it’s you tell me to come and

I’ve often preached about Peter getting

out of the boat but sometimes the more

significant faith is the willingness to

stay in the storm not the impulse to

escape it

I’m not saying Peter was wrong I’m just

saying that it takes faith to keep

rowing when you can’t see the shore

sometimes it takes even more faith to

stay in the boat than it does to step

out of it and Peter gets to this part of

the story in his recollection he does

not see fit to include the part of the

story where he said to Jesus if it’s you

tell me to come and I wonder if it’s

because of what happened in verse 30

that he left this out of his gospel

account because the Bible says that he

took several steps toward Jesus and for

a moment he was walking on the water and

for a moment he was experiencing a

miracle but verse 30 says when he saw

the wind sea he heard the word but then

he saw the wind and I relate to this

because sometimes I pay more attention

to what I see than what God said and

anytime I give more focus to what I see

then what God spoke I start to sink

Peter’s doing pretty good as long as

he’s going off of what he heard

faith comes by hearing and hearing comes

by the Word of God and all you need is

one word from God Peter wasn’t walking

on water he was walking on a word and

when you have a word from God your kids

can be actin crazy your money can be

acting funny you can be in the darkest

night of your life but to Clare he is

floored and then he saw the win and the

Bible says when he saw the win he began

to sink and he cried out lord save me

and I thought well that’s why Peter left

it out because I think people don’t

really need to hear about this we can

leave that out can’t we you know you

want to leave certain things out of your

story

skip over start certain parts and

certain failures and there’s some stuff

honestly that you don’t need to share

with everybody there’s some stuff that

they don’t even need to know about

sometimes your greatest testimony is

that you went through the fire but you

don’t smell like smoke

[Applause]

and when Peter was telling mark what to

write I imagined mark saying should I

put that part in where you climbed out

of the boat and Mark said ah I don’t

think I don’t think you want to leave

that out peter said no no it’s been a

while now because this gospel is written

decades after it happened you know and

by this point Peter has discovered

something look verse 51 mark chapter 6

verse 51 then he climbed into the boat

with them and the wind died down

Peter said it’s not significant

what happened when I climbed out of the

boat let’s read it again

then Jesus climbed into the boat

Peter said don’t tell him what happened

when I climbed out tell him what

happened when he climbed in

that’s so good I want to sit down and

then stand up and run a lap around this

Ballentine building all by myself it’s

not important what happened when Peter

climbed out it’s not important what

happened when Peter stepped out it’s not

important what happened when they were

straining all night all night long they

strained to get to Jesus but the wind

didn’t stop while they were straining

the wind did not die down because Peter

came to Jesus the wind died down because

Jesus came to Peter and that’s the

gospel not that I came to God not

because I was so good not because I was

so glorious not because I got my act

together no I’m not praising him cuz I

got out of the boat I’m praising him cuz

he got in and the wind died down now go

ahead and worship Him for eighteen

seconds

cuz I got in hey thanks for watching if

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[Music]