Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Puzzled, Part 2: Putting the Pieces Together

Episode Date: June 14, 2014

Making sense of your life can feel like a puzzle. But what if the big picture isn’t turning out how you expected? Find out what to do when you feel Puzzled. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome everybody out today, all of you at our Lifechurch.TV locations, those of you at our network churches, and from church online all across the globe, it's great to have you guys with us. My name is Sam Roberts. I'm one of our directional leadership team members here at Lifechurch. TV, and it is an honor and privilege today to be able to fill in for our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle, who quite honestly, as you guys know, is one of the best communicators in the country, one of the best leaders that I know, an amazing husband and a daddy, and how honored

are we to be able to have Craig as our senior pastor. He is truly amazing. And he is taking a well-deserved little break this weekend, a little R&R with the family. And so we pray for him that God would just refresh his soul. As we mentioned, we are in a series entitled Puzzled, which are actually in week number two. And it's such an important series for us to talk about different things because many times in life, things can happen that leave us well puzzled, right? and things aren't always what they seem.

An example of this is a couple of months ago. My youngest son, Nathan, comes into the house. And now one thing about Nathan is he's this little thin kid and he's got this ripped up little six-pack going on. It's pretty amazing. And he turns sideways to me like this. And he says, Daddy, watch this. And he takes his stomach and he just goes,

whoop, and luts it out. And it was unbelievable. He looked like he was nine months pregnant. I was like, oh, my gosh, that's amazing. I started to go towards him. He's like, no, he sucks it back into the six-pack. And I'm like, you're like a transformer, dude. That's amazing. And he goes, Daddy, if a robber came into the house, I would go, roop. I'd say, yeah. He goes, and then if he got close, I'd go, because Daddy, it's like camo for my muscles. Gentlemen, there's a few of you, and he turned

to your lady and say, honey, it's just camo. for my muscles. Things are not always what they seem. We see this illustrated in Scripture in a verse that we've kind of had as our theme verse for this series. It comes out of the book of 1st Corinthians chapter 13 verse 12 where the Bible says, now. I need all of you at Jenks, all of you at Fort Worth,

Hendersonville, everywhere. Everybody say it along now. Everybody say, now. Now we see things imperfectly, scripture says, like a puzzling reflection in a mirror. Oh, but then, say then. Then we'll see everything clearly. It sets attention up, doesn't it? It's like there's this now, these situations that we find ourselves in that could be, well, puzzling, but we're waiting on this then where things, well, are going to make sense. To illustrate this today, we're going to talk about a story from the scriptures in Matthew 14. If you have been around church for a long time and in your life,

well, it's going to be a fresh take on an oldie but a goody for you. And for those of you who maybe this is your first time at a Christian service, man, what better day to be here that you're going to get to hear like one of the top 10 stories in Scripture. But I'm going to give you a spoiler alert because Jesus, well, he's about to walk on some water. All right. We're going to be in Matthew 14, verse 22 and following. If you've got your Bible's turn there, otherwise follow along on your U version live events. the scriptures will be up on the screens, whatever your pleasure.

But we're going to be in Matthew 14. 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. When evening came, he was there alone. But the boat was already a considerable distance from land buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Now, it's important to note when I was looking at this text, I was reading commentaries and different things, and many historians believe that this phrase, considerable distance, would equate to about three to four miles, which would have meant that they had been blown off course from where they were to three to four miles out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee. We're about to find out that Jesus comes to them during what's called the fourth watch of the night just before dawn, which means that they've been out there all night long, roughly no less than nine. hours with a storm pounding against their little fishing boat with them trying to row back on course and the waves just kept coming. I can't imagine at some point during this nine-hour tirade of this storm that some of the disciples didn't turn to one another to say, hey, who told us to get in this boat anyway? Well, Jesus told him to get the boat. And where is he? Where is he now? Because we're about to die out here. I thought he said to get in the boat. And now we're out here about to lose our life.

You ever felt like that? You ever felt like you knew God told you to do something? You knew that God had said to you, I want you to start this business. And now you find yourself in financial ruin. Or you knew God told you to be a parent. And now your child has gone as wayward. Or you knew that God had said to restore that relationship.

and it just hurts. You're in the storm, but the waves coming. Did Jesus abandon the disciples? Let's read on and find out. Verse 25. During the fourth watch of the night, 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 they cried out in fear. You know, they were sitting out there in this storm, right? And they asked the wrong question, probably, and that is, can it get any one? worse well yeah now you got to contend with a ghost it's terrible right when you're in a storm don't be asking about how much worse could it get because it got worse for them they're freaking out and all

of the sudden the storm inside of their souls the questions the doubt the worry the fear that we could die became worse than the storm on the sea and jesus in this moment chooses to calm the storm inside the disciples and he says, oh, it's me. Don't be afraid. Before he calmed the storm on the sea. The same thing happens to us, doesn't it? We find ourselves in storms. And all of a sudden, the fear, the doubt, the worry, the questions, all of these things

begin to pound at us and the very storm within our soul becomes greater than the storm and our circumstance. And it's important for us to take note of this. If you're taking notes, write this down. Sometimes God will choose to calm the storm in our soul before he calms the storm in our circumstance. No storm is too great for Jesus. In the very storm that the disciples found themselves in was the footpath that Jesus walked to save them. You see, there's purpose in our storms.

Let's keep reading. So he tells him, don't be afraid. And then who's usually the first disciple to speak up? It's Peter. And here he goes here. Well, Lord, if it's you, Peter replies, tell me to come to you on the water. Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And he began to sink and cried out, Lord, save me. Save me. You see, Peter had come to the end of his faith. And all of a sudden, he began to sink. And when there was nowhere else to go, nothing else to do, he says, Lord, save me, help! And Jesus, we're going to see immediately picks him up.

You see, God does that same thing to us. He lets us walk this line way out to the edge of our fate. And we begin to teeter like this. And all of a sudden we begin to feel like we're sinking. And it's at that moment that God comes alongside and he picks us up. And he takes us deeper than our feet would ever wander so that our faith becomes stronger in the very presence of our Savior. And that's what had happened to Peter.

In fact, check this out. Over in 1st Peter chapter 1, later on, years later, Peter is encouraging some believers, and he says these words in 1st Peter chapter 1, verses 6 in following, in this you greatly rejoice. So now, hey, listen, for a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes, even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise,

glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. He's saying, hey, you're going to have some trials. And I can almost hear Peter say, don't worry about that, because let me tell you something, I've had some trials. I've been out on a lake before, and the wind and the waves, and oh, my gosh, and then a ghost, and my goodness, I've had some trials. And then he says, but it's okay. These are just momentary and light troubles, and they're going to refine your faith,

and it's going to become greater when Jesus Christ is revealed. And my friends, he's going to be revealed because he came to. to me out on a lake on a storm. I'm telling you, it's amazing. What gives Peter such conviction, such passion? It's because he'd been picked up where his faith ended, and God carried him to a new and a deeper place of relationship with him. We see after he says, Lord save me, immediately Jesus reaches out his hand and he caught him.

You have little faith, he said, why did you doubt? and when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Now, the primary miracle here is obviously Jesus walking on the water, but check that out. Many times it gets red right over, they climb into the boat without Jesus speaking a word or doing anything. All of a sudden, the winds just stop. This thing had pounded for nine hours against them, and it just passes. You see, in our lives, many times the storms, when they have served their purpose, they pass. What was the purpose in this storm for them?

We find it in verse 33. Then those who were in the boat, who was that? It was the disciples, right? The disciples had been told to get in the boat. Those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, truly, you are the son of God. Truly, you are the son of God.

It is important to note that in Scripture, this is the first time that the disciples, the 12, and one voice unequivocally proclaimed Jesus as the son of God. Oh, they'd seen some amazing things. Yes, they had. They'd seen him turn water to wine. They'd seen him heal people. They'd seen him feed 5,000 people with a few small fish and some loaves.

But this, well, this was different. Because this, this was personal. they had found themselves in the midst of a storm and Jesus came walking to them on the water and he saved them there's purpose in our storms there's purpose in our questions and our fear and our anxiety those storms we face when they are surrendered to God they serve an eternal purpose for the deepening and the strengthening of our faith which would in many cases just remain lifeless and void of true meaning and depth

so what is it for you maybe your marriage is in a storm right now. Maybe you are drowning in an addiction. Maybe your health report is not so good, and the waves of bad news just continue to pound against your boat. I'd like to tell you a story. I'd like to tell you a story about a time when I found myself in a boat with the waves continuing to pound our,

after hour. So in October of 2013, my family and I go on a vacation. Everybody likes vacation, right? Well, it was an awesome time. We actually flew into San Francisco, and we hung out there. Such a great city. We hung out with the kids. There I am with the kids hanging out on the bay. So beautiful. The Golden Gate Bridge in the background. The kids were playing on the beach. I mean, does it get any better than that. Parents, we love this time when kids are having a great time on vacation. Then from there, we decided to drive up and we saw the Redwood Forest, the Avenue of the Giants. It was unbelievable. Such an amazing display of God's creation. In fact, I had a little bit of a girly moment there while I was in the woods. I walked into the woods and it was all still in these big trees, and I thought it would just be perfect

if a unicorn would like run through here right now. This is like amazing. It's so magical. Yeah, I hate to even admit that. Truly one of God's most amazing creations. Then we took off and we drove up Highway 101, one of the most scenic drives in all of the world. And we drove up through the Oregon coastline. It was so, so beautiful. And we were making memories and having a great time. And then on October the 11th, 2013, everything changed.

I started feeling bad. had some weak, just muscle cramps, started having a fever, and it just persisted. But guys, of course, are we going to go to the doctor normally or while we're on vacation? For goodness sakes, no. We're not going to go to the doctor. So I pushed it off and said, I can deal with it. Let's keep hiking. Let's keep playing on a beach.

Let's keep doing the deal. We're on vacation. No way we can get sick now, right? Well, it wouldn't go away. And it persisted and it got worse. Until finally, one evening late, Jamie says to me, maybe you have the flu and I thought well perhaps I should go get checked out because it was late I had no other option than to go to the hospital I really didn't want to do but I went to the hospital

I get in there they took my temperature it was really high they said you look dehydrated we're going to start a bag of fluids for you so they put an IV in they begin to take my blood they took my blood again I'm thinking my goodness this is why I didn't want to come here they're doing all these crazy things I'm probably going to end up with a cat scan before I leave this place. So they take my blood, they do all these different tests, and then the doctor comes in around that beautiful little sheet hanging right there. You know those lovely little sheets they pull. Those provide so much privacy. They're just amazing.

She walks around that corner, and she has on a mask and all of this stuff, almost like a hazmat suit. I'm like, wow, man, is she getting out of surgery or what? And I said to her, man, things, things okay? Are you all right? And she goes, in fact, no, Mr. Roberts, things are not okay. In fact, your white cell count in your blood, which provides you protection from disease and bacteria and viruses, it is critically low. And you need to be admitted to the hospital. Now, I was belligerent.

I was absolutely ridiculous. I say to her, well, I don't know if you remember earlier. I told you I was on vacation, so I'm really not going to get admitted to the hospital. I say, I'll tell you what let's do. Why don't you give me one of those masks that you're wearing right now, and I'll wear that, and I'll wash my hands real good, and I'll stay away from public places that are crazy, and it'll all be fine. And I'll deal with this when I get back to Oklahoma City.

And she looked at me and said, Mr. Roberts, how about I define critical for you? So okay. She said, you and I could leave this hospital tonight, go home, grab a, on our way home, stop, get a few groceries, go home, kiss kids, good night, and go to bed. Upon that path, we would encounter various bacteria and viruses of other forms and different things. And to me, with an immunity that is normal, she said, it would be of no consequence. She said, but currently where your white cell count sits, you would die. if not treated immediately.

And I said, that sounds pretty critical. She says, yeah. And I said, listen, I appreciate what you're doing here and trying to keep me alive and all. But I'm not going to go into the hospital. It's not an option. And she said, in all of her doctorly wisdom that she got through med school and all that,

she looks right at me and she says, I tell you what this is do. Why don't you call your wife? You just tell her what I said, and then we'll see what we need to do. And I said, what's my room number? I ain't calling Jamie. You kidding me? I know exactly what the answer is going to be.

So I get admitted to the hospital. The next morning, they end up coming in my room and saying, listen, Mr. Roberts, you're far too and critical of a state for us to treat you here at our smaller hospital. We need to transport you to Portland. So against, I really didn't want to do that. But nonetheless, I end up in an ambulance here on my way to Portland. We go to Portland and the problem here was that I was in an isolation area. And Jamie could not, because of my condition, they were worried that I would get sick from bacteria from other people so they would wear the mask and everything.

So Jamie, my beautiful wife, was at the vacation home there with our five beautiful. kids. And I just told her, listen, don't, I know you want to be here, but I don't think it's going to work. They're not even going to let the kids see me. So why don't you guys stay at the beach? And that'll be a great distraction for the kids. So I land in Portland at this hospital. And this was the view, actually, from my room at the hospital, which is quite pretty under most normal circumstances. But under this one, it's the last place I wanted to be. So I get into there, and there were three nurses in the room checking me in. Again, an all full hazmat garb. And I'm like, this is insane.

I just needed to get a flu test. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking around and I say, where am I? And this one nurse, she's so sweet. She just passed my little leg and she just says, Mr. Roberts, it's okay, honey, you in Portland. I said, I know I'm in Portland. What floor of the hospital am I on? And they said, oh, they cut eyes at each other. Two of the nurses left the room.

One stayed back. I looked over at him and I said, well, I guess that you're the one who gets to tell me where I am. And he says, well, Mr. Roberts, you're on the oncology floor for our cancer patients and you're in an isolation room. And I said, why am I on a cancer floor in isolation? And he looked at me and he said, Mr. Roberts, you are really. really sick. Your blood work is not good at all. And I said, let me ask you a question. I said, I'm supposed to take a flight in five days home. Am I going to be on that flight? Do you think? Is there any way to get on that flight? And he said, you're not leaving this hospital in five days.

There's no way. If at all. And that was pretty. sobering. I began to wonder, God, I don't get this. I was feeling a few waves against my boat, you could say. Had a few puzzled pieces I wasn't quite sure of. And then my phone deemed, that little texting. And I looked down and Jamie had sent me a video of the kids on the beach. show you. Oh, Gracie made this for you, Daddy. We love you. You know, what do you do? You're being told you're not going to leave a hospital. You're seeing these images. I looked at that and I had a conversation with God. It wasn't the most pastoral conversation in the world, but it was a real conversation saying, God, what's going on? I don't understand. Why am I here? Why here? Why now? I don't get this.

and I said, God, I know they're saying there's no way I'm getting out of here, especially in five days. But Lord, I said, guy, I want to see that right there. I want to see my kids on the beach before we leave, which would have meant I was asking God to get me out of there and put me on the beach in three days. It was impossible. I get another text from Jamie.

This one was of a music video of the song Oceans from Hill Song. And I'd heard it many different times, but Jamie's text read, listen to this. These lyrics, they mean a little bit more given the situation we're in. And I listened to that song and I heard these lyrics that said, Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders. help me walk upon the waters wherever you would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior. And as I read those and heard those lyrics,

Jesus began to calm the storm in my soul before he calmed the storm of my circumstance. in the hospital. But little did I know that Jesus, he was about to walk on water. You see, the next morning, they came into my room

to get me to go do a bone marrow test, and right before they did that, they decided to go ahead and pull my blood one more time to check my levels. And when it came back, they had doubled. They didn't have an explanation for it.

So they said, tell you what, let's hold off, actually, on that test. We think something else may be wrong. They wait 12 more hours. They checked my blood again. My counts had doubled yet once again. They wait eight hours.

They checked my blood again. And my counts were normal. 32 hours earlier, I was being told there was no way you're getting out of here in five days. And what they said couldn't happen in five days. God did in three. You could say that I was a little bit of a happy camper. Later that afternoon, Jamie came to the hospital. to pick me up. You see, the doctor had walked in and said to me, she says, you know what? Mr. Roberts,

I don't have any idea what just took place. I have no idea why you were sick. I don't know what happened. What we're going to put in your chart is a medical fluke. I looked at that doctor and I said, well, I prefer the term miracle. Jamie came and got me. We drove back across to the seaside. And that evening, I saw this. I watched the sunset across the Pacific. I heard my kids laughing and playing on the beach. And I felt the wind in my face. And God had done something magnificent.

I've seen a lot of sunsets in my life, but none more beautiful than that one. because God had taken me deeper in my faith. He had strengthened me and made me stronger in the presence of my Savior. So what is it for you? What storm do you find yourself in where the pieces don't all make sense, the puzzle, and the waves crash over the bow of your boat? There's purpose in our storms. And God will take us deeper than our feet would ever wander so that our faith would be made stronger in the very presence of our Savior.