How Should Christians Face the Challenges of 2015?

As I mentioned, brethren, we are just a matter of a couple of weeks away from 2015. As I made mention, this will be the last time this calendar year I speak to you as a group. In our society today, we have people who are obsessed with the idea of trying to learn their future. Some people spend really good money to go visit people who can peer into a crystal ball. They can maybe read tea leaves.

They can cast a horoscope. Of course, in the church we've got those who have an unbalanced view of the importance of prophecy. They think an understanding of prophecy is going to help them understand their day-to-day life in terms of what God has in mind for them week by week, month by month, and so forth. Of course, that's not the case. God deals in much greater generalities than that. But the truth of the matter is, brethren, in a very real sense, none of us know what tomorrow is going to bring.

Life is fragile. We have got some young people here in the room. You can be young. You can have great health, but you can be cut down by a freak accident. At this time of the year, there's all sorts of year-ending articles about this and that and the other. The other day I was looking at some sports, and they had a listing of all those people in sports that have died this last calendar year, 2014. If I subtract out the horses, you know, the race horses. Just look at the people. They started with 130 sports personalities, and that included several horses.

But 33 of these sports figures who were 40 years old or younger – 33 died this last year. That's 25%. Now, granted, some of these sports personalities had jobs that were very hazardous. You had some race car drivers who perished. You've got some football players who perished. Obviously, with sports, there are times when people get into substance abuse and those sort of things that would shorten their life. But I was really struck by the fact that there was a picture article. I was going through all these pictures and just looking at all the young faces.

All the young faces. Brethren, in a very real sense, our life on this earth is uncertain. Not in every sense. We understand that God loves us. That's the case. We understand that Jesus Christ died for us. We understand that. Those things are not uncertain. But in terms of what's going to happen to you five minutes from now or next calendar year, we don't understand what's going to happen to us.

We don't know. And maybe it's merciful that we don't know. Let's take a look at James 4 for a moment. James 4. And here we've got Jesus Christ's half-brother, the Apostle, the headquarters of the pastor, James 4. Starting here in verse 13. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there buy and sell, and make a profit.

Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. And this is the sense in which I'm talking about the uncertainty of life. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that. If the Lord wills. So brethren, being the fact that, you know, this is my last time to address you as your pastor, being the fact that we are about to enter a new calendar year, I want to ask a question.

You know, last week we talked about Christmas. In one sense, this year we want to, this Sabbath, we want to talk about the year coming. And again, if you're taking notes, write this across the top of your paper. It's a specific purpose question. The question is, how should Christians face the challenges of 2015? How should you and I face the challenges of 2015? I'm sure, brethren, that just as 2014 brought a share of blessings, tremendous blessings from our great God, so will 2015.

We've got the blessing of life. As I look at this audience, we've got, you know, none of us in this room are in a wheelchair. None of us, you know, there's so many things we've got that are going for us on a physical basis. And on a spiritual basis, we are in God's church. God has opened up our hearts and our minds. He's given us tremendous spiritual blessings alongside the physical blessings. Now that's a sermon for another time. Today I want to focus on the challenges that will present themselves in the coming year. The challenges that will present themselves in 2015. How do we as Christians, can we prepare for the challenges we're going to face in the coming year?

If we can't prepare, how do we do such a thing? I've only got two points for you here today. Number one, number one, to properly face next year's challenges, get your bearings. Get your bearings. Mary and I were here in services, and we had planned to go home, have Mary cook us a nice dinner, eat, and then relax.

But as we walked out of the building here, I said, I'm hungry. And I didn't want to wait to get home. Our drive, who knows how long to cook up, whatever we were to cook up, said, let's just stop someplace along the way and get something to eat. And she said, that works for me. The three words women like to hear most is, let's eat out. So we were thinking about, I was thinking about all the things I would like, all the places I like to stop for dinner. And Mary said, not one of those appeals to me. And then Mary said, well, here's all the things, places I would like to stop for dinner.

And I said, ditto, none of those appeal to me. But we realized on the way home, we've got 12 Oaks Mall. Now, 12 Oaks Mall is a nice size mall.

Of course, being non-Christmas keepers, after having given me a sermon about Christmas last week, we weren't thinking about what that mall would look like on a Saturday night, this time of the year, that you basically had to use real tactics to get a place to park and then fight your way into the building. But anyway, we got ourselves the 12 Oaks Mall. We're not real familiar with that mall. So when we got inside, we made it a point to find one of those directories. You know, the directory that tells you where it's where, because we wanted to find where the food court was. Now, that's not Mary's first choice ever to go to a food court. But being a good wife that she is, she said, well, we'll let him go to a food court, and I'll follow along. So when you go and you find one of those directories, what do you see? The first thing you see is a little red dot, and says, here's where you are. Brethren, if we want to prepare for next year, we need to make sure we have our bearings spiritually. We need to know where we stand with God spiritually. And where you and I stand with God is that God loves us. He's going to be there for us. He's not going to forsake us. So next year, when we have, and probably all of us will have it, next year when we think the world is crashing down on our shoulders. One of the things we want to remember is our bearings, where we stand with God, that He loves us. Our name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. Let's take a look at Romans chapter 5 for a moment. You know, I read this every so often. I think it's one of the great sets of verses in the Bible. Romans chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. Romans 5 verses 1 and 2. And we want to really analyze this. Let me read the two verses, then we'll analyze it. Verse 1, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, for whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Now, as we dismantle these two verses and look at them piecemeal, there's so much meat that is here. Therefore, says verse 1, having been justified by faith, as we get our bearings, we want to know where do we stand. And here we see that by faith and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we have our past sins forgiven. We are in a state of being justified.

Having our past sins forgiven, we are justified. Being justified means we have rights standing before God. That's something for us to remember. That's nothing minor. That's something for us always to remember that we've got rights standing before God. It's by faith and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And notice, because of that, says we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

So, as difficult as things may become next year for any of us, as we take a look and gather our bearings where we stand in life. We stand with God at our side. We stand in a justified position. And it says, we've got peace. Now, not long ago, I made mention to you that Jesus Christ talked to his disciples about how he was giving them his peace. And when Jesus Christ said that, he was only hours away from being tortured. He was talking about his peace at a time when he was about to go through six different trials. Three trials by the civil authorities, three trials by the religious authorities. He was going to be mentally tried, physically tried, emotionally tried, tortured. And yet, here's a man who talked about peace. Because Jesus Christ realized peace has nothing to do with your circumstances. Peace has everything to do with your relationship with God. And because we have right standing before God, because we are justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have to remember that in terms of where we stand. Now, put a marker here. Let's go over to 1 John chapter 3. 1 John chapter 3. 3 John chapter 3 and verse 22. Another reason we've got peace.

1 John 3, 22. And whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. So we realize, because we are in a proper relationship with God, we can come before God, we can come before Jesus Christ, we can pour out our hearts, and we will be heard. It doesn't mean we get everything on our wish list, but we will be heard, and God will deal with us as He deals with sons and daughters. We go back now to Romans chapter 5, verse 2. It says, through whom we also have access by faith. Through who? Through Jesus Christ, we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. So, brethren, appreciate the fact that you are standing in the grace of God, as whatever trial is to hit you in the coming year, you are in the grace of God. And as you are in the grace of God, notice what it says, and you rejoice, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

So we understand that God loves us, we understand that we are under God's grace, in God's grace, we're standing in a condition where we are acceptable to God because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It's important that we have those bearings. Sometimes we wonder which way is up, at least when we think about it, when we allow our mind to get settled, we realize, well, okay, here's what I know. And what I know is I'm justified, I've got a right position with God in the faith, Christ loves me, and I've got a tremendous hope. Maybe this world is not what it should be for me. Maybe life's not turning out the way I expected, but I can take a look at what God has for me. Now, let's go over to 2 Corinthians 12. And we want to marry this verse to what we read there in 1 John 3 because some people think, well, God is an Indian giver. He says He's going to give us everything we ask for, and then He doesn't give us everything we ask for. Well, there's a balance there. 2 Corinthians 12, starting in verse 7, Unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me. See, God the Father and Jesus Christ are always looking out for your and my best interests spiritually. Paul could have become very arrogant. He could have really puffed up head because of all the writings, and he would pull into town, and all the church people would gather around him. That could be really heady stuff. And so, in His love, God the Father says, well, you know, we need to make sure He realizes He's just flesh. So, a thorn in the flesh was given to him, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest I be exalted above measure. Now, notice, concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.

You and I in the coming year may go to God. We may be on our knees. We may be, you know, praying as hard as we know how to pray. Real tears are coming out, and we think, well, we're just not getting any answers. Well, the answer is not always, I'm going to remove this trial from you. The answer is, we see right here, verse 9, He said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

God could have healed Paul. He could have given him a nice big juicy miracle. But God said, you know, Paul, in your life, I think what's best for you at this point is for you to realize that you're going to have to live each life, each day, day by day, and rely upon my grace to get you through the day. Now, as you and I go through the difficulties that we may be experiencing this coming year, we need to keep that in mind. God says, you know, it may be no cakewalk for you, but that does mean I'm not answering your prayer. You want to be delivered? Well, I'm delivering you in a sense that you're drawing closer to me. You're drawing much closer to me. Paul said, when he came to understand, he said, therefore, most gladly I'd rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

As true Christians, this is what we really want in life, for God's Spirit to rest upon us. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, and distresses, and all these things that, you know, Paul went through a lot of these things, right? He went through a lot of these things, but he had his bearings. He knew that God was there for him. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Turn now to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. So we see, you know, in getting our bearings, that God is with us. We are standing by his grace. But let's take a look at the great love that God has for us, and we never want to forget that. You know, as we go through the various difficulties and challenges ahead, Romans chapter 8 verses 31 and 32. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? The question, brethren, is how big is our God? How big is our God? It's so easy for us, you and I, you know, you and me. It's so easy for us as we're going through life, as we're going through the challenges of life, when we're viewing things from our perspective, our vision is full of the difficulty. Our vision is full of the trial. Our vision is full of the Mount Everest we're facing. Our vision is full of our weaknesses, our inabilities, all of our weaknesses. And yet, Paul said, if God is for us, who can be against us?

And as you go through whatever you go through in the coming year or years, remember that. God is for you. God is with you. Verse 32, He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? You are so loved by the Father, that he sent the other part of the God family to come to rescue you, rescue me, to give his life for us. That's the kind of love, brethren, that you and I, we dream about having. The agape love to the the nth degree. We're working on it, but we're not there like God is there. But this is what God has done for us. I think we'll continue to do. Verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Again, as you go through whatever challenges you go through, are those challenges peeling you away from God? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? No. Again, it's a matter of tapping our bearings. Our bearings are that we're standing in the grace of God, our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and God loves us.

You know, people can handle an awful lot when they know they're loved, when they know that they are supported. It's when people feel they're out there on an island by themselves, that they have issues and difficulties. And as the Scripture said of God's force, if God is for us, who can be against us? Verse 36 says, as is written, For your sake we are killed all day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughtered, yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loves us. It is through that love that we remember that we are bathed in, that we become conquerors. We're not dysfunctional Christians along those lines.

When we appreciate the love that God has for us, we're no longer dysfunctional as people, spiritually speaking. Now, we may have all sorts of issues in our lives individually, but spiritually, as we appreciate the love God has for us, that love allows us to conquer, to overcome. Verse 38, For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor death nor any created thing, and Satan is a creative thing, or any created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. So we have here a matter of getting our bearings. Where we stand, we stand in a position of being justified. Our sins are forgiven. We're at one with God, and we see that God loves us. Very important for us to keep that in mind.

First Peter chapter 5 and verse 7. I've quoted this to you on a number of occasions, but I want to quote it again because I think it's really helpful here. First Peter chapter 5 and verse 7, where it says, Cast all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Cast all your care. In times gone by, I've given you three other translations. I want to do that again because, again, I want us to appreciate our bearings, where we stand. You know, when we went to the mall last week, we needed to know if we're going to go to the food court, where do we start? Where are we at? Where's the little red dot? First Peter 5 and 7 in the Amplified version says, casting the whole of your care, all of your anxieties, all of your worries, all of your concerns, once and for all on him, for he cares for you affectionately and cares for you watchfully. That's a direct quote from the Amplified. And in my notes here, I've underlined the word affectionately and watchfully.

You're not just of some little small part in a big machine. God knows you on an intimate first name basis. He loves you with a love that we can hardly even imagine. And as you go through life's difficulties, please keep that in mind. The same scripture, 1 Peter 5, 7 in the Living Bible says, let him have all of your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you. I don't know about you, but those things are really encouraging to me. He's always thinking about us. You're not out of sight, out of mind. You're always in sight. You're always in mind. And God has the kind of mind where he can pay full attention to everything happening in your life. Full attention. 1 Peter 5, 7 in the Phillips says, you can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern. You are his personal concern. So if we want to face the challenges that the coming year has for us, we want to stand in his powerful grace, appreciating his almighty love.

But we also, you know, when we were at the mall last week, it wasn't good enough just for us to know where we were in the mall. We see the red dot. Here's where you're standing. We also then had to look, where's the food court? How do I get to the food court? I'm hungry. How do I get over there?

Another aspect of knowing your bearings is knowing that God has given you a map.

He's given you a life map. God has a plan for you. Now, we appreciate the fact that God has a plan for all of mankind, and that's true. But brethren, please remember that God has a plan for you. We talk about Jesus Christ being our personal Savior, don't we? When you were in the water with whoever baptized you, the minister said, do you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? You said yes. But is that the only time of the year when we're thinking about the Holy Day plan of God that it's a personal thing? Are all the other Holy Days just for everybody? Or are each of these Holy Days, each of these festivals, just like Passover, where it's a very personal thing between you and God? Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah chapter 29.

And verse 11. Jeremiah 29 verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

This is what God has in mind for each and every one of us. Again, as the trials of life hit us, and we'll talk more about that in the next point. But as we go through whatever it is God has for us, He looks past that. He looks at the end result of all of that.

So let's take a look very briefly here at the plan of God. But first of all, before we go there, let's look at Luke chapter 22 and verse 15. Luke chapter 22 and verse 15.

We read this each Passover, Luke 22.15. I'll read verse in the New King James. Then He said to them, With fervent desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. With fervent desire. Brethren, do you think Passover is the only time, the only one of the holy days, that our Father and our elder brother look with fervent desire to share that day with us?

I tell you, and I believe with all my heart, that every holy day that comes around you, God and Jesus Christ, look to you and you put your name in the blank.

Remember, Mr. Zimmerman used to say that all the time. What's your name? Put your name in that blank.

With fervent desire, Christ not only wants to keep the Passover with you individually, He wants to keep each one of these holy days.

As an example, Passover.

And Passover, you personally were justified. You personally entered into a relationship, a right relationship with God. You, individually. Jesus Christ came to die for you. He came to die for me. But individually, He came for you.

The Days of Unleavened Bread.

Not only have we been justified, but the Days of Unleavened Bread show us as a sanctified people.

Being sanctified means that you are put into a, that you are living properly before God. God the Father and Jesus Christ gave you the knowledge how to do that.

With their great love, they gave you the gift of spiritual knowledge.

So you can walk in that path.

Pentecost.

Each of us were personally gifted with God's Spirit of power.

And I say personally gifted. When I look at this audience, I see people who've got all sorts of different gifts. We don't all have the same gifts.

I mean, we have the same gift in terms of we got the gift of the Holy Spirit. But past that, some have got the gift of encouragement. Some have got musical gifts. Some have got other types of gifts. Many different types of gifts. But what is your gift? We've given sermons on that in the past. You were individually, personally gifted by God the Father.

Trumpets shows there's coming a time when you personally are going to be resurrected. Personally resurrected from the grave. Now, if you're still alive, and the Bible talks about how all of us are going to die, we might still be on our feet, but we're still going to die. Maybe only a momentary thing, and maybe the sort of thing where as Christ and the angels are coming around the world to gather the elect, you hardly even know you died. Because you go for a split second from being a living human being to be a very spirit being. But you're still going to die. And you have, in Jesus Christ, God the Father, Jesus Christ, are personally interested in you as an individual.

They're not going to say, well, we resurrected most of them.

We got 98% of them.

That just doesn't work. You know, people think 98%? That's pretty good. But if you work on a hospital floor where they've got infants, you don't want to drop 2% of the babies on their head. Right? There's some situations where you need 100%.

And when you're in a grave, you don't want to say, well, I guess they just forgot about me. No, that's not going to happen.

Atonement. You personally may be rescued from Satan.

Satan taken away from you.

The Feast of Tabernacles.

I was making mention earlier today to the Ann Arbor congregation. It's getting to the place where I almost hate to watch the news. I watch the news. I watch what's happening in Washington, D.C. with all these elected officials, both Republican and Democratic. I watch all that's taking place. And you know, I've already got enough baldness on my head. I can't afford to be pulling out any more hair.

But the Feast of Tabernacles pictures a time when you are given an opportunity to really make a difference. You individually. You, because of what you've accomplished in your life spiritually, God is going to give you a position tailor-made for you, where you can make a difference.

Same is true with the last great day.

You're going to take that same position, and those people who've never had a chance for salvation, you're going to sit them down, you're going to put your arm around their shoulder and say, hey, let's have a chat.

How did it work for you back in those old days? Well, you were a Viking, or you were a Nazi, or you were this, or you were that. How did that work out for you? Not too good, did it? No, not too good. Well, take a look at the world. Is this world a lot better now than when you remembered it? You remember the whole world being a guard of Eden? No, I remember that most of us, when I was living, most of us died before age 30. It was a hard life, and then you died.

And now we've got Utopia, and you're going to walk people through that.

You're going to be there for them.

So, point number one.

How do we face the challenges that are going to face... He's on it to us in the coming year. Number one, get our bearings.

Appreciate that you know where you stand with God, that He loves you, He's always going to be there for you, you're in the grace of God, that He's got a plan for you.

You're moving someplace powerfully and positively. You may think the whole world is on its head, but you're moving down the road toward the Kingdom of God. I think that's important for us to remember when times are really bleak. Number two, and lastly, second point. To properly face next year's challenges, fully appreciate your situation.

Fully appreciate your situation.

There's a Mr. D, I know my appreciate, I fully appreciate my situation. I've got no money and I'm getting less money.

You know, what money I've got Uncle Sam wants.

Or what money I want the doctor wants. Because I'm in those golden years, those years where because you're getting old, you got to give the doctor all your gold.

And then they put in your teeth.

Fully appreciate your situation.

And in doing so, brother, one of the things, as I mentioned earlier in the sermon, appreciate the fact that God is bigger than any challenge you may ever face.

I know we appreciate that and understand that academically, but sometimes in the heat of battle, when things are looking so bleak, we tend to forget that.

We're fleshly human beings. We tend to look at things from our physical perspective.

But the fully appreciated situation means to see things from God's point of view. Let's take a look at Luke chapter 8. There's some interesting things happening here in this chapter. In the chapter we're going to look at. Luke chapter 8.

There's just four verses here, four or five verses I want to read.

And then we're going to go back and we're going to analyze it. Luke chapter 8 verses 22 through 26.

Luke chapter 8 verse 22. Now it happened on a certain day that he got into a boat with his disciples. He said to them, Let us cross over to the other side of the lake. And they launched out. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. Christ fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and they were in jeopardy. They came to him and woke him up, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a great calm. But he said to them, Where is your faith? And they were afraid and marveled, saying to one another, Who can this be? For he commands even the winds and water, and they obey him. Then they sailed to the country of the Gatorines, which is opposite Galilee.

Now, these fellas had a lot to learn here, and they learned a great deal. Let's take this section apart, verse by verse, and appreciate what is there for us. Verse 22. Now, it happened on a certain day that he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, Let us cross over to the other side of the lake, and they launched out.

What did we learn from verse 22?

We learned that Jesus' plans are not thwarted by the storms of life.

You're going to go through some storms next year. I'm going to go through some storms next year. Jesus Christ, when he got into this boat with these guys, said, You know what, guys? We're going from point A to point B. Now, between point A and point B, there may be some real difficulties. But we're going to go between point A and point B. We're going to do that.

For you, brethren, that might be the unexpected death of a loved one. That's always like somebody's sucker punching you when that happens. I remember it was 1987, and we were with family, and we got word that my niece had been killed in a car wreck. She was just about a month shy of her 21st birthday.

She fell asleep behind the wheel of the car. Her car went across the line, and she was a head-on wreck, and she died. A month less than 20 years of age.

Something like that happens. Unfortunately, between Mary and I, we've had four separate car accidents and four deaths. Mary's uncle survived Vietnam only to come home and be killed in a car wreck.

Mary's dad survived Korea only to come home and be killed in a car wreck on her 10th birthday. Mary's brother was ill back in 1999, and he went to see a doctor. He could hardly think. He, his car, drove off the road.

No skid marks, no braking. His car went off the road, and he died. He was 33 years of age, and my niece was just shy of 21. They come upon a family, they're like a sucker punch. It's like somebody just walks up to you, and you're not expecting them, and they smack you in the face.

But we're going from point A to point B. You may have job issues.

Maybe your boss is a tyrant. Maybe you've got co-worker issues. Maybe your company is downsizing. Maybe because of what's happening in Washington, people are going to start messing with your medical.

Maybe your loved ones just don't seem to understand you.

Or maybe those around you just don't seem to understand you, and they have a view of you that you wish they didn't have. Maybe life simply is just not working out the way you expected. But you're going from point A to point B, and Christ is with you in the boat.

He's going to get you to the other side.

Verse 23. But as they sailed, he fell asleep, and a windstorm came down in the lake, and they were filling with water, and they were in jeopardy. And they came to him and said, Master, Master, we are perishing.

Now, this is interesting. What does verse 23 and 24 tell us?

Jesus Christ has a much different view of our life than many times we have.

The people, the disciples, in their mind, verse 24, we're perishing. We're about ready to die. But Jesus Christ, he's sleeping.

He's not concerned at all. He knows that they're going to go from point A to point B.

A little difficulty along the way, so be it.

So you see a difference of perspective here.

The disciples had a very... their eyes were full of the negative circumstances. Christ's eyes were full of the fact that he had all power, and he's bringing those guys from point A to point B. And your life, God is taking you from point A to point B.

Now, we can be worry-warts about things. We can be, you know, wanting to jump out of the boat.

But that's not what God wants us to do.

Here in verse 24, there's even another lesson to be learned.

Master, master, we are perishing. Then he arose and rebuked the wind, the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calm. What lesson did we learn there, brethren? We learned there that it is Jesus Christ's desire to hear you and to respond to you, to hear you and to respond to you. We are his personal concern.

He wants to desperately keep and longingly keep the Holy Days with us. He wants us to talk with him. He wants us to share our life with him. He wants us to share our life with him.

He loves us. Christ died for us.

So he wants to be responsive. Remember, we stand in that grace. We stand in that love.

Verse 25, but he said to them, Where is your faith?

Where is your faith? Jesus wanted them to realize that his power to intervene is greater than the challenge they were facing.

Brethren, what is in your life right now? What is the Mount Everest in your life right now? What is the Goliath in your life right now? Is that bigger than God? Do you make that bigger? Do I make that bigger than God in our hearts and minds?

The God who created the entirety of this universe, you mean he can't help us get past our Goliath, our Mount Everest? He's impotent. He can't help us? Of course, that's not the case.

As Christians, we have got to fill our minds with how great our God is. I've told you in years gone by that as we go through life, we've got all these things happening.

Many times these things are negative. You've got Paul, who probably was losing his vision. You've got these disciples here going through everything they're going through.

But all of these things, brethren, all these challenges, to God, that's raw material.

We think it's junk that's happening in our life. God says, this is not junk. This is valuable, spiritual, raw material. I'm going to take what you've got happening in your life right now, and we're going to build a stronger son or daughter of God with all of this.

Brethren, there's going to come a time in your life and mine when we are resurrected and we are spirit beings.

You don't attain to being a spirit being by being a spiritual pansy.

We've got to be tough. We've got to be tough like Jesus Christ was tough.

And we've got to appreciate just how much He loves us.

In verse 25, the disciples were to learn that they had to... they were deficient where they were spiritually. And as you and I go through the throes of difficulties in the coming year, it's not because God doesn't love us or because God forgot about us. It's because God wants to bring us up to speed.

He wants to bring us up to speed.

Verse 26, Then they sail to the country of the gatherings, which is opposite Galilee.

The bottom line of verse 26, you want them to realize, look, we had some storms, we had some trying times, but I got you from point A to point B.

Rely upon me. I'll get you there.

I will get you there.

So, you know, God is bigger than any... You know, when we're talking about fully appreciating a situation, we have to appreciate that God is bigger than a challenge we may face. And the last aspect of this, before we conclude today, is that as we appreciate how great God is in relation to our trials, God does ask us to step out on faith.

God does ask us to step out on faith.

Now, there's a scripture over here I've used many times in sermons. Let's take a look at it, because I've never given you the other side of the coin on this scripture. It's over here in 2 Corinthians chapter 1, in verse 3.

Again, this has been something I've used on many occasions. I think it's very inspiring scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.

Now, I've talked about that on many occasions, but, brethren, there's another side to that coin.

Now, I've talked about that on many occasions, but, brethren, there's another side to that coin. Now, I've talked about that on many occasions, but, brethren, there's another side to that coin. Now, there's another side to that coin. Do you know what the other side to that coin is? God being the God of all comfort? The other side to that coin is our God is the God of all discomfort at times. There are times our God is going to discomfort you, not because he doesn't love you, but because he does love you. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, he brought him where? He brought him to the Red Sea. What happened at the Red Sea? They were at a point of discomfort. They were out of their comfort zone. We heard today in the sermonette about how they were languishing and wishing they could go back to Egypt. So God himself brought him into a situation that was discomforting to them. Gideon was told that he needed to gather together an army and go wipe out the people that were hurting his own people. Gideon gathers his army of thousands of guys and says, Uh-uh. You've got too many people here. So they begin to whittle the army away. Over and over we saw where God says, You've got too many people. Finally, he whittled it down to 300 people. I'm sure when that took place, Gideon was starting to feel a little discomforted. Because he was going to go after thousands of people with a band of 300. So yes, our God is a God of comfort. But there are times, brethren, when God wants us to move out of our comfort zone, and he's going to discomfort us in so doing. In his coming years, God perhaps tries to move you out of your comfort zone. Remember that. Let's go over to another scripture that I think you'll find interesting. Matthew 14. There's a very famous section of scripture here. Matthew 14. Starting here in verse 22. Matthew 14.22. Very similar to what we read about earlier, where Jesus got into the boat with his men. In this particular case, Jesus is going to ask the guys to go into a boat, and he's going to follow them later. But let's understand something as we look at this section of scripture. Chapter 14, verse 22 of Matthew.

So once again, we see where the disciples are discomforted by God the Father, by Jesus Christ. And that was being done on purpose because they needed to learn some lessons here. And I don't know how many times you have been out in the ocean, or out in some place, maybe even a great lake, where there's been a tremendous storm. Years ago, when I was a student at Ambassador College, I think it was my sophomore, junior year, the fellow I worked under, I was in the landscape crew, and the fellow I worked under said, Hey, I got a timeshare of a sailboat. Let's go put that thing in the water off of Los Angeles. Los Angeles, let's go out there and sail around. I said, well, how big is a sailboat? He said 18 feet. I'm thinking 18 feet out in the ocean, off of Southern California. I said, well, Harold, how much experience you have with a sailboat? Oh, I'm just learning. So, you know, the confidence is building and building and building here. And so we get out in that boat, and at first it was a nice sunny day, the water was relatively calm, but as the day went along, the winds built, the waves built, and pretty soon we would no longer see land. There's four of us on this little boat. The waves probably are six-foot waves, so as that little boat is going up and down, bobbing like a cork, there are times when you look out and always see the wall of water. You don't see the water on the horizon. You're looking straight into a wave. We're about to see where Peter is going to go through that very same thing. We want to keep our eyes on Christ, but sometimes it's awful difficult to keep our eyes on Christ. Sometimes, you know, situations seem to get a little out of control, and God says, well, let's see how they handle that. You know, I was putting together my thoughts for the sermon. I saw this anecdote, this story. Three frogs were hopping down the road. One of the frogs wasn't looking where he was going properly. He jumped into a big muddy rut in the road. He got stuck. The two other frogs looked at him and said, well, can you get yourself loose? I don't think so. I said, why don't you two guys go ahead and I'll catch up with you later? And so the two frogs said, fine. And they're, you know, they're hopping down the road. And after a few minutes, the third frog comes blasting past them. He's hopping, you know, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And they yelled out to him, says, what happened? I thought you were stuck. I was stuck. You know, he yells back over his shoulder at the other two frogs. He said, how'd you get unstuck? He said, well, I looked behind my back and I saw a Mack truck bearing down on me.

So there are times when we get motivated in life, right?

Okay, let's go back to our story here.

You know, the disciples are in this boat. The winds are becoming really contrary here.

You know, just to finish the little anecdote about my situation. The four of us that were in that sailboat three got really sick. People brought their lunches. And of course, after a while, their stomachs were emptied of their lunches. And for the next, I don't know how long it was, every time we looked into the way, we saw their lunches coming up and down.

Good old Dela Sandra was the only one of the four who didn't lose his lunch. Maybe it's because I grew up with a boat and was on the lakes quite a bit, but it was no fun. But going back here to chapter 14 of Matthew, verse 25.

Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost, and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Now notice, they were fearful.

What is the first thing God wants to do? He wants to calm them down. He wants to calm their fears.

This is always what God wants to do for us. Now, does He always do it? Well, sometimes there's other things in play.

But here, in this particular circumstance, it says, Immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is, I do not be afraid. And Peter answered them, and said, Lord, if it is you, Command me to come to you on the water.

Now, there are many times when we give Peter a really hard time.

You know, he was impetuous, he was always running his mouth off, he thought he was bigger than he was, and bolder than he was.

But one thing is true. Of all the guys in that boat, and that boat was their comfort zone, only one of them said, I want to get out in this boisterous water, and I want to walk to you.

Only Peter said that. The rest wanted to stay in their comfort zones.

God was hoping that they would all get out of the boat, and leave their comfort zone, and learn some lessons.

Brethren, in life, if you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat.

Right? If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat. You've got to get away from your comfort zone. What is your comfort zone in life? Are you married to your comfort zone? Not in terms of the person you're married to, but you're just clinging on it to something for fear of having your life on the rocks. That's not what God wants for us. Let's continue on to the story.

So Christ said, come. Now, Peter here is stepping out on faith. He had already determined that was Jesus Christ out there. He wasn't being a daredevil. He wasn't being foolish. He realized it was Christ. So Christ says, come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. He was leaving his comfort zone. Brethren, again, I ask, so many times you and I, we want to cling to our comfort zones. When the fella asked me, let's go sailing, I don't know, I don't know, is it bravery or cowardice? If I was too afraid to say I wouldn't go? Or what? I do know that I didn't want anybody to accuse me of wearing pink underwear. So I said I have to go on the boat. So here we've got Peter walking on the water. When was the last time he walked on the water? In this area, the only time he walked on water was when the lake is frozen. Lake is frozen, we can go walk on water. Verse 30, But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid and began to sink, crying out saying, Lord save me. Brethren, this is so true of all of us in life. When he saw the wind was boisterous. And remember, the waves on this lake probably were at such a level that from time to time, he couldn't see Christ. Christ was bobbing up and down like a quark, too. And there were probably times when between Peter and Christ there was a wall of water. Now think about that in your life. There's probably times in life where it's hard for you to see what God is doing.

What's he up to? Where is he at?

But this man was walking on the water, but again, he began to get his eyes off of Jesus Christ. He began to sink. But notice, it wasn't that, you know, well there goes Peter, right to the bottom. He began to sink. You know, it's not like Jesus said, well, you know, there he goes. Too bad. I've got 11 more in the boat. I can raise up a few rocks. Bye, Peter. Nice knowing you.

That wasn't the situation.

He saw the wind was boisterous. He began to sink. And he cried out, Lord, save me. And notice again. And immediately, immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him and said, Oh, you little faith, why did you doubt?

Brethren, we're seeing something about the mind of God. He appreciates the fact that we're weak, that we're flesh, that we're so much clay. But his mind is he wants to reach out to us. And he does reach out to us.

He doesn't say, well, because you're weak, phooey on you, because you've got hang-ups, phooey on you. No. He says, you're my brother. You're my sister. I love you. I gave my life for you. Here, take my hand. And then we see where they go back into the boat. Verse 31. Why did you doubt? Verse 32. And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped him, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God. When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. So again, they went from what? Point A to point B, with Christ's help.

So, brethren, as I was thinking about what to cover with you, this last time I'll be with you before the end of the calendar year, I want to give us all something to think about. Of course, I gave this sermon to myself before I gave it to you today. How do we face the challenges that are going to be prepared to come before us in the next coming year? Number one, get your bearings. Always remember God's love for you, that you are standing in God's grace, and that He's given you a road map as to how you should go. You might be frozen with fear. Years ago, I purchased a miniseries called Band of Brothers. Now, you may not enjoy shooting up war stories, but this is a situation taken right from history. It was on HBO a number of years ago, and it shows the 101st Airborne, and how these men were dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day. It shows them all they went through from that point to the time where they captured Hitler's hideaway up in the mountains. They went through the Battle of the Bulge, they were at Bastogne, and it shows the tremendous courage these men had. Tremendous courage. Some of them, not so much. Some of them were frozen by fear. They couldn't respond. Others realized they all had fear, and some of them were able to work past their fears. Brethren, that's where we need to be. We need to be able to work past our fears. We can be fearful of all sorts of things, but we need to work past it. Not just succumb to it. Know your bearings. Secondly, appreciate your situation. Your situation is that God, you worship your God, your Father, is bigger than any challenge you're going to face, and that your God, your Father, asks you to step out in faith. No one's asking you at this point to get out of the boat, to the roiling sea, but God does ask that we all step out in faith. So it's coming year, brethren. Let's keep these thoughts in mind. We want to have a good year. We want to have a spiritually robust and vital year with God the Father. Let's keep these thoughts in mind.