Summary of the Sermon
God bless you. It’s great to be with you today, and I hope you’ll stay connected with us during the week through our daily podcast, our YouTube channel, and social media, and you can come visit us in person. We’d love to have you be a part of one of our services.
I’d like to start with something funny. I heard about this couple that had been married for 60 years and never had an argument, never had a crossword. They were at a church function and someone asked them the secret of their success. The man told how he always treated his wife with respect and how he took her on trips around the world. He said, in fact, for our 25th wedding anniversary, I took her to Beijing, China.
Everyone politely applauded. Someone asked, what did you do for your 50th anniversary? He said, I went back and picked her up.
All right, y’all, say it like you mean it. This is my Bible. I am what it says I am. I have what it says I have. I can do what it says I can do. Today, I will be taught the Word of God. I boldly confess my mind is alert. My heart is receptive. I will never be the same. In Jesus’ name, God bless you.
I want to talk to you today about trusting God’s ways. We’re not going to understand everything that happens in life. There will be detours, delays, and even dead ends, and times where it looks like we’re stuck. It’s easy to get discouraged when our plans don’t work out, frustrated when a door closes, or upset over that person that did us wrong. It’s like we went one step forward, then two steps backwards.
BUT GOD DOESN’T ALWAYS TAKE US IN A STRAIGHT LINE. THE SCRIPTURE SAYS EVERYTHING SERVES HIS PLAN. NOT JUST THE GOOD BREAKS, TIMES YOU’RE PROMOTED AND SEE IN FAVOR, BUT EVEN THE CLOSED DOORS, THE PERSON THAT WALKED AWAY, THE PROMOTION YOU DIDN’T GET. DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO US, BUT GOD HAS A MASTER PLAN. HE CAN SEE THINGS THAT WE CAN’T SEE. SOMETIMES HE’LL TAKE YOU BACKWARDS SO HE CAN MOVE YOU FORWARD.
or he’ll close the door to force us to change. We were comfortable where we were. We were satisfied, but God wasn’t satisfied. He has something greater, something that we’ve never imagined. He uses trouble as transportation. We don’t like it. It feels like a setback. The truth is, it’s a setup.
The trouble is not there to stop you. It’s there to propel you. On the other side of that challenge is a new level of your destiny. The question is, will you trust Him in the trouble? Will you stay in peace when things are happening you don’t understand? You worked hard, but you didn’t get the promotion. You were good to that person, but they walked away.
It’s tempting to get bitter, complain. God, where were you? This isn’t fair. No, the right attitude is, God, I don’t like it, but I trust you. I know you’re in control. You wouldn’t have allowed this storm if you weren’t going to use it to my advantage. So I’m going to stay in faith. I’m going to keep a good attitude, knowing that something greater is coming.
Mark chapter 6, Jesus had been teaching the people and it was late in the day and he told his disciples to get them something to eat. Well, they were in this remote area. There weren’t any grocery stores and even if there were, they didn’t have the funds to feed thousands of people. He said, Jesus, that’s impossible. We can’t feed everyone.
He asked them what they had. They came back and said all we could find were five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus prayed over it and multiplied. They fed the first group of 50, then the second group, and on and on. After 5,000 men plus the women and children all had plenty to eat, they gathered up 12 baskets full left over.
The disciples couldn’t believe it. They were so excited. They’d just seen this amazing miracle. I can see them giving high fives, hugging each other. There was all this joy and victory. But while they were still celebrating, Jesus came over and said, I want you to get in the boat, leave here, and go across the lake to Bethsaida.
You can imagine them thinking, we don’t want to leave. This is a place of favor and blessing. We’ve just seen you perform a great miracle. But the scripture says immediately after they gathered the 12 baskets, Jesus made the disciples get in the boat and head toward Bethsaida. One translation says he constrained them to get in the boat. That implies they didn’t want to. They wanted to stay in that place of blessing, but Jesus forced them to leave.
He went up to the mountains to pray, and that night, as the disciples were traveling across the Sea of Galilee, there was a great storm, winds and waves so strong, verse 48 says, they were in serious trouble. And some of them were experienced fishermen. They knew how to navigate on the sea. They had dealt with storms, but this situation was very dangerous. They didn’t know if they were going to make it through.
What’s significant is Jesus sent them into this storm. He knew there was going to be trouble. He knew they’d have to deal with fear and uncertainty and doubt, but he wouldn’t have sent them if he didn’t know they were going to make it. Sometimes God will take you out of a comfortable situation, out of a place of blessing where you’re seeing favor, and he’ll force you into your boat, so to speak.
Doesn’t make sense. You know God’s ordering your steps. You’ve seen his blessing, but now the winds, the waves. God, I never thought I’d be dealing with this trouble, this medical issue, this child that’s off course. You find yourself in a storm. Can I encourage you? God wouldn’t have allowed the storm if you weren’t going to make it to the other side. If that storm was going to stop your purpose, he would have never forced you to get in the boat.
That trouble was going to take you out. He would have never had you leave that place of blessing. The reason God sent you across the lake is because He has greater things in your future. Yes, you saw a miracle like the feeding of the 5,000. God’s been good to you. He’s provided. He’s protected. He’s made ways. You could be satisfied, but you haven’t seen anything yet. God loves you too much to let you miss the fullness of what He has in store for you.
The disciples were out there in the middle of the storm, trying to keep the boat afloat. Here a few hours earlier, they were celebrating a great victory, having the time of their lives. Now they were fighting for their lives. I could hear them saying, what was Jesus thinking? Why did he tell us to get in the boat and cross the lake? He knew there was going to be a storm. They were confused and frustrated.
but you’re not going to understand everything God does. The Scripture says His ways are not our ways. This is what faith is all about, trusting when it doesn’t make sense, trusting when God takes you out of a blessed place and you come into a storm that looks like it’s going to defeat you.
As the disciples were out there struggling to survive, hour after hour went by, worried, three o’clock in the morning, Jesus came walking on the water about to pass them by. They thought he was a ghost. They screamed in terror. He said, don’t be afraid. I am here. It’s going to be all right.
You may be in a storm today. Things have come against you in your health, finances, maybe a relationship. You could live worried, upset. No, God is saying, it’s going to be all right. I’m right there with you in that storm. I wouldn’t have let you get in it if you weren’t going to make it through. Now be still and know that he is God. He has not failed you in the past. He’s not going to start now.
When you’re in peace, that’s a place of power. When you trust in the trouble, you’re going to feel a strength and a resilience to outlast the opposition, to overcome what’s trying to stop you. Jesus walked over and got in the boat with the disciples. It’s interesting that he didn’t stop this storm. He didn’t speak to the winds and the waves like he did another time. He didn’t say, peace be still and everything calm down.
This storm had to run its course. The disciples were headed toward Bethsaida, but the winds were so strong it blew them to another city. Verse 53 says, when they arrived in Gennesaret on the other side of the lake.
It wasn’t a mistake that the winds blew them somewhere else. Bethsaida was called a desert place. It was barren land that wasn’t desirable, wasn’t fertile. But the storm blew them to Gennesaret. It was called a garden of abundance. It was a flourishing place, a paradise, the most beautiful area in Galilee.
When they arrived, people, of course, recognized Jesus, and they began to bring the sick to Him from all over the villages and surrounding cities. They laid them on the sidewalks and in the marketplace. Jesus went through and healed them all. The disciples were disappointed they had to leave the place where they saw Jesus multiply the food. They saw that great miracle.
They didn’t realize the reason Jesus forced them into the boat, had them cross the lake and even go through a storm, was so they could come to the land of miracles. Not just one blessing, but an abundance of blessings. They thought they were going to Bethsaida, a barren place. But notice what the storm did. It blew them to a place of abundance.
If the storm is not stopping in your life, then it hasn’t fulfilled its purpose. You have to trust that God is in control, that he has your best interest at heart, and that those winds are not going to blow you to Bethsaida, to a barren place. They’re going to blow you to Gennesaret, an abundant place. The storm is a setup. The closed door, the delay, the person that walked away, it’s moving you into something greater.
Now, the enemy will whisper, no, man, you were blessed, but look at you now. You got forced into this storm. You’re headed to a barren place, defeated, broke, lonely, overwhelmed. Don’t believe those lies. He wouldn’t be telling you that if he didn’t know you were headed to Gennesaret. You wouldn’t be in that storm if you weren’t headed to something greater.
You’re going to come out to an abundant place, great favor, great health, great resources, not just blessed, but an abundance of blessings. Something you could have never seen without being forced into the boat, leaving the comfortable place, going through the storm. The psalmist said, we went through the fire, through the flood, to a place of great abundance.
You won’t see the great abundance without going through some fires, through some floods, through some storms. It’s tempting to get discouraged. A man said to me last week, Joel, I was loyal to my company. For over 30 years, I gave them my best, but they weren’t loyal to me. When times got tough, they let me go.
That’s not a surprise to God. That’s a sign that he’s up to something. You got pushed out into the boat. Looks like your boss is in control. The truth is he’s a pawn in the hands of God. Nothing happens without God’s permission. But it takes maturity to not get bitter.
man, why’d they treat me badly? Why’d I come down with this illness? Why did I lose that contract? What if you knew that had to happen so you could get to Gennesaret, a place of abundance, that the storm wasn’t random, it was necessary, that the trouble was transportation, that it was moving you into the fullness of what God has in store.
And sure, you may go through the fire, through the flood, through the famine, but there’s one more F that’s coming, and that’s favor. The favor of God is going to defeat enemies you couldn’t defeat. The favor of God is going to open doors you couldn’t open.
The favor of God is going to cause you to come through the storm to a place of great abundance. My friend Coach Tony Dungy played professional football for many years. After a successful career, in 1996, he landed his first job as a head coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He knew it was the hand of God opening the door, a dream come true. For six years, everything was going great.
They were winning more games, making more progress, and he was feeling good about the future. Out of nowhere, he was let go. They fired him. He thought, God, I know you gave me this job. I know you opened this door, and I was doing my best. I don’t understand why this happened. But God never closes a door unless he’s going to open a bigger and better door.
It may not make sense at the time. We can’t see what God’s up to. This is when you have to trust him. Like the disciples, we think, God, we don’t want to get in the boat and cross the lake. We want to stay here where you blessed us. What God has in store is something greater than what you have in mind.
You may have seen a blessing, but he’s taken you to Gennesaret, a place of abundant blessings. And of course, Coach Dungy was disappointed, but he didn’t go around discouraged, sour. He knew the same God that opened the door, closed the door. The scripture talks about how God is our doorkeeper. He’s in control of the doors in our life.
We celebrate when he opens doors and brings opportunity, but in order to move us into something greater, sometimes he has to close a door.
If you don’t realize that God is your doorkeeper, if you don’t trust Him with your open and closed doors, then you’ll be frustrated when plans don’t work out, upset when He tells you to get in the boat, or bitter over that person that walked away. I used to just thank God for my open doors, but now I’ve learned to thank Him for my closed door. God closing a door is not only protecting you, but it’s setting you up for something greater.
Not long after Coach Dungy was let go, he received a phone call from the Indianapolis Colts football team asking if he’d be interested in their head coaching job. He got the position, and three years later, they won the Super Bowl.
He told me if I had not gotten fired, I would have never won it. What you could be upset about, the door that closed, the person that did you wrong, the trouble in your family, it’s a setup. God wouldn’t have allowed it if it wasn’t taking you to a new level of your destiny. That storm is blowing you from a place of blessing to an abundance of blessings.
The disciples were excited over Jesus multiplying the food, that one miracle, but the storm took them to where they saw many miracles.
Don’t fight the closed doors, the delays, the detours. The storm feels like it’s taking you to Bethsaida, a barren place, a dry place, a lonely place, but God controls the winds. You can’t see it right now, but they’re blowing you to an abundant place, a land of healing, a land of miracles, a land of favor.
I worked 17 years behind the scenes here at Lakewood doing the television production. I was blessed, beautiful wife, two beautiful children, got to work with my father every day. We were the best of friends, traveled the world together. Life was good. Then my father unexpectedly went to be with the Lord. 77 years old, died from a heart attack.
I didn’t see that coming. Suddenly I found myself in a storm. Like the disciples, I didn’t choose to get on this boat. I was forced on it. Sometimes God will close a door and you don’t have a choice. I was comfortable where I was. I didn’t want to get up in front of people. I didn’t know that this was in me. I thought I’d do television production the rest of my life. I was satisfied, but God knows what he put in you.
There are gifts and talents that you haven’t discovered yet, potential that’s lying dormant. The scripture says, as an eagle stirs the nest and gets the baby eaglets out, at times God will stir your nest to get you out of a comfortable place, a place where you’re familiar, where you don’t have to stretch and believe and take steps of faith. He’s not going to let you get stagnant.
I thought losing my father would be the darkest time of my life. And yes, I miss my father, but it was that difficulty that launched me into the brightest time of my life, into what I’m doing now. If my father were still here, I wouldn’t be up here. Sometimes God has to push us into our purpose.
But I thought that storm would take me to Bethsaida, to a barren place, discouraged. Oh man, my father’s gone. But God directed the winds of that storm. They blew me to Genesaret, a place of abundance and favor and opportunity and influence. This would have never happened if I’d stayed on the shore in the comfortable place, rejoicing over the multiplied food. That’s good, but that’s just a season.
Where God is taking you, you’re going to have to get in the boat and cross to the other side. Yes, there will be winds and waves, thoughts telling you you’re not going to make it.
It’ll never be like it used to. Losing that loved one, it’s all downhill from here. No, you’re not going to Bethsaida. There’s been a change in your itinerary. You can’t see it yet, but you’re headed to Genesaret. Those winds you thought would stop you, they’re going to blow you to a place of abundance where you see beauty for ashes, talent coming out that you didn’t know you had, influence, opportunity, favor.
And sure, at times it feels like the winds are too strong, the loss too painful, the sickness too great, a child that’s breaking your heart. You don’t think you can make it. God is saying to you what he said to them. I’m right here with you in this storm. It’s going to be okay. You can relax. You’re in good hands.
God is in control of the winds of that storm. Those winds blew Coach Dungy from being fired to winning the Super Bowl. They blew me from behind the scenes, quiet and reserved, to speaking in front of people all over the world. They blew the disciples from celebrating one miracle to seeing an abundance of miracles. You don’t know where those winds are blowing you.
The enemy will whisper, man, you’re going to Bethsaida, a barren place. You’ll never meet the right person, never get well, never see your business blessed. Look what all you’ve been through. Just say, no thanks. I’ve had a change in my destination. There’s been a route update. We’re no longer going to Bethsaida. Our new arrival is Gennesaret, a place of abundance, a place of victory.
Someone walked out of your life, broke your heart. The good news is, in Genesaret, someone awesome is already waiting for you. God has already lined up your divine connections. Or you lost that loved one. That’s painful, but when you get to Genesaret, there are new beginnings. There are doors that are going to open, fresh visions.
That sickness, the depression, seems like it’s going to hinder you your whole life. You’ve been in this storm for a long time, struggling, wondering how it’s going to work out. Your time is coming. That’s not how your story ends. The storm looks like it’s going to stop you, but God is shifting the winds.
No more Bethsaida. No more that barren place. You’re about to come into victory, to abundance, to joy unspeakable, to favor that you’ve never seen. You’re going to come out of that storm and say like me, look what the Lord has done. Who would have ever thought I would be where I am?
I believe even now dreams are coming back to life. Hope is rising. You’re going to feel a fresh wind in your spirit. That’s the most high God breathing on your life. But a key to all of this is trusting when you don’t understand. We prayed for God to heal my father just as much as we did to heal my mother. She’s still here at 90 years young, but my father didn’t get healed that way.
This is when you have to say, God, I trust your ways. I may not like it, but I know you’re good. I know you’re for me, and you wouldn’t have allowed it if it was going to stop my destiny.
In the book of Acts, the disciples were seeing great favor in the upper room. The Holy Spirit came like a rushing mighty wind. They were all filled with the Spirit. They went throughout Jerusalem praying for people. The sick were healed. The lame walked. They spoke to great crowds and many people became believers. It’s an amazing time of blessing and favor.
But in Acts chapter 8, it says, a great wave of persecution arose and all the disciples in Jerusalem fled to Judea and Samaria. It doesn’t say that they decided to leave.
They all agreed it was a good time to go somewhere else. They didn’t have a choice. They were forced out. The opposition was so strong they had to flee for their lives. Saul and his group had already killed Stephen. Now they were looking for the other believers. It’s significant that God could have stopped the persecution. He could have shut down Saul. God parted the Red Sea. He shut the mouths of hungry lions. He protected teenagers in a fiery furnace.
But sometimes God is using the storm as transportation to move you to a new level of your destiny. And I’m sure some of them thought, God, what did we do wrong? We felt the rushing mighty wind. We saw the tongues of fire, but now we’re on the run. They felt forsaken like they’d been forgotten.
But if God is closing a door, if He’s allowing you to be pushed out, that means He’s up to something. Trust Him in the trouble. Don’t fight the winds of the storm. You can’t override what God has purposed. Let those winds blow you to where God is taking you. The disciples didn’t like this storm, but it was a setup. They were forced out of Jerusalem, so they went to Judea and Samaria and began to share their faith.
Had they not left Jerusalem, Christianity wouldn’t have spread. They would have just kept it to the Jewish people. God had to get them out of their nest. They were satisfied in Jerusalem, but what God had in mind was much bigger. Because of that storm, that opposition, you and I are people of faith today. We’re believers because they got pushed out and it spread all over the world. You don’t know what God is up to.
In real time, we can’t see it. All we know is we’re in a storm that we didn’t choose. Persecution pushed us out. A friend walked away. The medical report hasn’t improved. God is saying, I’m still in control. I’m still ordering your steps. It’s all going to turn out fine for you. Everything is serving His plan.
Now trust him when you don’t understand. Trust him when it doesn’t make sense. Thoughts will whisper, you’re going to Bethsaida, a barren place. It’s always gonna be a struggle. You’ll always have to deal with this sickness, always be lonely. No, what you can’t see right now are those winds are blowing you to Gennesaret, to a garden of abundance, to a bountiful place, a healthy place, a victorious place.
God didn’t bring you this far to leave you where you are. Get your fire back. Get your passion back. The best part of your life is still in front of you. That loss didn’t stop your destiny. What looks like your darkest hour, like God did for me, it’s going to launch you into your brightest hour. The people that walked away, they didn’t stop your purpose. They had to leave so you could meet someone better, a divine connection.
That door that closed, you got pushed out of Jerusalem. It had to close so you could step into greater things. The storm feels like a setback, but really it’s a setup. God is working behind the scenes, getting you in position to go places you’ve never dreamed.
You haven’t seen, heard, or imagined what God has in store for you. Now trust his ways. If you’ll do this, I believe and declare those winds that should have defeated you, God is shifting them right now.
They’re about to blow you into favor, healing, breakthroughs, new levels. You’re going to come into an abundant place, an abundance of health, an abundance of joy, an abundance of resources, the fullness of your destiny. In Jesus’ name. And if you receive it, can you say amen?
I’d like to give you an opportunity to make Jesus the Lord of your life. Would you pray with me? Just say, Lord Jesus, I repent of my sins. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. If you prayed that simple prayer, we believe you got born again. We’d love to send you some free information on your new walk with the Lord. You can text the number on the screen or go to the website. But I hope you’ll get into a good Bible-based church and keep God first place.
