← ONE | A Potter's House Church
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Hey, good people, this is Torre Roberts. Blessings to you and welcome to the ONE Podcast. I'm excited that you're here. ONE is a community of dynamic and vibrant thought leaders, preachers, teachers, and just a community of wonderful people all together. And we're excited to bring you this weekly podcast from our services from ONE in la. If you haven't been the One, I encourage you to check it out. You can go to one the Word one O N E online and find out all about the service times and all about the teachers and all the philanthropic things that we have going. I believe you're going to be blessed to be a part of it. And speaking of being blessed, we're getting ready to get into a teaching right now that I believe is going to bless you. So tune in, enjoy, and I'll be back with you at the end.
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Normally I would read a passage before I would have you sit, but it's a long one. I ain't gonna do y' all like that. Well, family, welcome back to Bible study. We here. Oh, I miss this, mainly because I get to sit down. I don't got a pace and sweat. Have me a nice little cushy chair. Above all, what I miss is that in particular on a midweek service, and I've said this a few times, it takes a lot for you to interrupt your routine and fight through that otherwise known as Los Angeles traffic, and to decide that this was a place that you not only thought was a good idea, but was a necessity. So my earnest prayer, as we've decided this would be the year we would be our most spiritually excellent, let this habit and practice be a part of that spiritual excellence as well. Let's jump in. Y' all love titles, so I'm going to give you one, but I promise it might change. We're going to start with Braving the Storm. So at the top of the year, this is usually not the time to give the word. Braving the Storm. This is usually a middle of the year or towards the end of the year. It's the last part of the year. It's the last quarter. It's the fourth quarter. Let's push. And this is what gets you through the storm. And yet, what I'm sensing as we are on the end of the beginning of revival. Hope I said that right. What tends to happen as the people of God not only grow in understanding of what he's about to do, but our place in it is sometime in the midst of that discovery and at some point in the midst of that journey, a storm comes. And I don't know that we preach enough about storms. We preach a lot about breakthrough and the valley and the mountaintop and victory. And somewhere in the midst of that, there isn't a single person who loves the Lord who doesn't encounter a storm. A few weeks ago is where this actually kind of started, because we together talked about the mercy that endures. We spoke about Jonah, and we had an opportunity. If you haven't had a chance, check it. It's in the archives. The mercy endures. And we talked about how God's mercy endured throughout Jonah and his character issues to still deliver and save people who were connected to his life and connected to his mission and his mandate. And so we got to see how Jonah navigated the storm. He decided he wanted to go in one direction after God told him to go in the opposite direction. And God sent a storm to redirect him. And despite everything that God did through him and in him, what we find out at the end of Jonah is there's still a question as to whether Jonah actually changed. And so to go through a storm that God sends and to finally follow a command that God gives and to have deliverance break out in the way that it did, and for Jonah to still have anger issues and still be the same person leads me to believe that this is someone who did not get the point of the storm. And I don't want the people of God to go through storms, endure storms, and come out at the end of the storm the exact same person. People ought to see you and know that you got through a storm because of how different you are. That should be the evidence and testimony of your journey with Jesus. I've been through a. But look at how Jesus was with me in the midst of that storm, and look at how different I am. Look at how different I think, look at how different I speak. Look at how different my environment is. Look how much closer to my mission and mandate I am, because I allowed the storm to do what the Lord needed the storm to do. So Jonah is a lesson. If Jonah is how to do a storm wrong, I want to at least be able to teach how to do a storm right. So we're going to go to the New Testament with another man on a boat in the middle of a storm who was sleep. His name is Jesus. And other than the fact that they were both in a storm on the boat asleep, and that their first names begin with J, that's all the similarities these two have ends right there. So let's Go through this and see how Jesus handles a storm. We're going to go to mark chapter four, verses 35 through 41. It says, on the same day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us cross over to the other side. Now, when they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat as he was, and other little boats were also with him. I just noticed that little detail. We're going to come back to that. And a great windstorm arose. And the waves began beat into the boat so that it was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. Sleep on a pillow. Man, that sounds so comfortable. And they awoke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Then he arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. But he said to them, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Just in this short passage, we see a very different exchange between the one who is asleep on the boat and the storm than Jonah who was asleep on the boat with the storm. I want to go through this line by line because I believe we have great wisdom and instruction for how to handle a storm and how to view a storm. And there are a few differences I want to point out as well some confusion that I think that happens in the midst of storms that I want to make sure we clear up. One, if we notice in Jonah the storm was sent by the Lord, says it in the text. God sent this storm. And the reason God sends this storm is because Jonah is going in the wrong direction. Direction. Jonah has decided that disobedience is the way to go. And he is now heading in the opposite direction of what he was told to do. And if you read in that, that text, it says he's literally trying to escape the presence of the Lord, which, as we all know, it's not a thing. You cannot escape the presence of the Lord. You also cannot escape the call that's on your life. You cannot escape the mandate that's on your life. And you cannot escape the command of the Lord once it's been given and you've heard it. It's one of my favorite things to say. You can't unhear that. You can pretend you can run, but you can't unhear the voice of God when he tells you who you are and what to do. So that storm is a storm sent by the Lord that redirects Jonah. Now we have this storm, and Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat. Jonah was underneath. Jesus is on the same plane, he's on the same level as those who are being hit by the storm. And they are losing their minds, believe they're going to die. And he is asleep on a pillow. Now, let's be clear. And we give the disciples a little bit. We give them a little bit of drama here. It's like, why were you so scared? Don't you understand? You got Jesus in the boat. We preach that a lot. But let's be clear about what's happening. Let me paint this picture for you the way it is described. It says the water is starting to fill up the boat to the point where the waves are crashing and there's water getting in the boat. And let's understand something. Boats are made specifically not to get water in them. That's kind of the whole point of having the boat. The boat's filling up. Some of these are fishermen. Listen, when the fishermen on the boat get freaked out, it's time to panic. They know how to deal with this. When the fishermen get freaked out, it's time for some alarm bells to go off. And for some of us, it's like, ah, what's the big deal about water in the boat? Let's picture it another way. Let's make this a little more current. Let's say you were driving around right now and you're on the freeway and you're making your way towards where God told you to go. And all of a sudden, chunks of the freeway start ripping out of the ground and start smashing into your car. They're hitting the h. Hitting the window. They've knocked off your side mirror. The trunk is about to just pop loose. And chunks of concrete, chunks of freeway are barreling down on you as you're driving. And you have a passenger who sleep while all this is happening. I would be panicked, too. I would be a little upset, too. And I bet Jesus was snoring. I bet. I'm sure he'd never snored normally, but for this, I can hear him. Just so that they would know, hey, I'm here and I'm good. So now they have to go wake up Jesus because this storm has them believing they're going to perish. And so what we now see is a storm and Jesus asleep in the back of the boat. And the question we have is, where'd the storm come from? Now we know this storm did not come from the Lord because Jesus is in the boat. And Jesus has said, this is where we're going to go. Now, we must understand, when we look at Jesus, we have to understand Jesus. John 1 says, he is the Word wrapped in flesh that came to dwell with us. So basically, the Word has said, when you look at Mark 35, on the same day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us cross over to the other side. So if we read this, the Word said to them, let us cross over to the other side. This is a command. The Word is, we're going to the other side of this sea. And so now the disciples have. They have a decision to make. They can believe the Word or they can believe the storm. And for each of us, we face that exact same decision that we have to make when we are in the midst of a storm. I can believe the word God gave me before the storm came. I can believe the command that God gave me before the storm came. I can believe what God said about me before the storm came. Or I can believe the storm. Storm that I can see. And for a brief moment, the disciples made a business decision. They said, storm. We believe that this is going to kill us, even though the Word has said we're going to the other side. For those of you who are in a storm right now, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. But the way y' all did it anyway, I love it. You need to understand that if the Word said you're going to the other side, then whatever the storm does doesn't matter. You're going to the other side. Doesn't matter how much water gets in the boat, doesn't matter how much damage the boat takes. You're going to the other side. Because there is nothing that defeats the Word. God's word shall not return unto him void. So when he said, let's cross over to the other side, that was not a suggestion. We're going to the other side. Someone needs to believe that you're going to the other side. You may want to hide on this side, but you know God told you to go to the other side. So we have to establish this different, this difference. This storm is not sent by the Lord. Jonah's storm was sent by the Lord. So what we have to remember when we are in the storm is before we get to doing what Jesus did. And we're going to get to that, too. We have to be able to recognize what kind of storm this is. Because the first thing when we See, a storm is. We go to mark 4:35, and all of a sudden we want to rebuke it. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. I rebuke the wind. I'm rebuking this and rebuking that and the storm. You can't have me. This, that, and the third. What kind of storm are you in? Because if you're in a Jonah storm, you are rebuking your redirection and you will not win. But if you're in a Jesus storm, if you're in a storm where you have a command to get to the other side of a thing, to get to the other side of a decision, to get to the other side of a season, to get to the other side of your circumstance, and you have a word that you don't rebuke the storm. You do what Jesus did. Jesus handles the storm in two different phases. That was great. The first thing Jesus does is he. First he wakes up. I love that. Just as Jonah was told to arise and do what he needed to do, Jesus arose as well. Says he was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. This is verse 38. They awoke him and said, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Verse 39. Then he arose. He does two things. Most of us skip to the one word rebuke. Us Christians love rebuke. But he did two things. He arose. He rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. Let's take this slow. The first thing he did was rebuke the wind. Why? Because the wind was causing the disturbance. So when you're in a storm, before you start rebuking everything you see to make things calm, because you're panicked and you're freaking out and you just want things. Things to stop, you need to be able to steal yourself to see what is actually causing me to be disturbed. Jesus rebukes the wind first because the wind is hitting the water, causing the water to swirl around and to move in such a way where it is now smashing into this boat and filling the boat. Jesus rebukes the cause of of the disturbance first. He identifies the cause of the disturbance first. Then he said to the sea, peace, be still. So he takes care of that which is the disturbance, and then he speaks peace to that which was disturbed. We get so fervent about rebuking the wind, and we rebuke the wind. And we told the wind, get back. And we're rebuking. Meanwhile, the water, the sea, who we are still disturbed. If I take a Bottle of water and shake it and shake it and shake it and then I put it down. That water is still going to be moving, even in the most, most minute ways that I cannot even see. There will still be a time of movement, a time of turbulence in that water until it becomes completely still. And when we are in the midst of a storm, it's one thing to rebuke the wind, but we still have to address ourselves. Because whether we want to admit it or not, storms are disturbing. We describe courage as not being fearless, but acting even as you are still fearful. So for whoever it is that's trying to tough their way through the storm, acting like you don't see the storm and the storm doesn't affect you. I'm good. I'm blood bought, I'm fear filthy and wonderfully made. I'm all that da da da da da. That's great. You're disturbed. And the energy we spend pretending not to be disturbed is wearing us out in the storm. So not only identify that which is disturbing us in the midst of a storm, but then it becomes now. I need to speak peace to that which has been disturbed in me. I need to speak peace to the parts of my mind that have been disturbed. I need to speak peace to the parts of my spirit that have been disturbed. I need to speak peace to the parts of my heart that have been disturbed. Because the storm was violent and this storm acted like it was going to take me out. And whether I want to admit it or not, for a few seconds I actually believed, felt like I was going to die. My, my body had the reaction as if I was going to die. The adrenaline, fight or flight, all of the sensations that put me in that mode happened to me. And I need to speak peace be still. And if I have to say peace be still for a week, if I have to say peace be still for a month, if I've got to say peace be still for a for a year, however long it takes until the waves actually calm down, that is the time we need to take in the middle of a storm. Braving the storm is not having a stiff upper lip and quoting courageous scripture while you're dysregulated on the inside. Braving the storm is admitting this is a completely dysregulating experience. This is a traumatic experience. I've never felt this scared in my life. I just started my walk with Jesus. I just gave Jesus my life. And all of a sudden a storm hits and I don't know what to do. And yes, I'm with him and he's with me, and I have a word. But just like the disciples who had Jesus right behind them, I'm scared, too. That's how you brave a storm. So the differences between Jesus in a storm and Jonah in a storm is one, being able to identify what kind of storm am I in? You're welcome. I got more. Trust me. And as I speak of facing a storm, I want us to have these three questions when we find ourselves in the midst of a storm. And these three questions, I think, will help to clarify things as well. Number one, who sent us? Who sent me? Where am I? Who sent me? Whatever direction I'm going in, who sent me? Did the Lord send me or did I send myself? Number two, where am I going? That sounds like such a simple question. But every one of us has had a season where at some point you're like, how did I get here? And where am I? What is happening right now? Very critical in a storm. Who sent me? Where am I going? And the third question, what are my instructions? Because how we answer these questions allows us to see what kind of storm we're in. Because if you put Jonah to these questions, who sent me? He was on his way to Tarshish. Who sent him to Tarshish? Jonah. He sent himself. Number two, where am I going? Tarshish. Where am I supposed to go? Nineveh. He out of pocket. He all the way out of pocket. Third question. What are my instructions? Go to Nineveh and preach the word I give you. What is he doing going to Tarshish on vacation? When you answer those three questions and you know the answers and you honestly answer those three questions, not the answers you want to have, not the good Christian answer. Give the real answer of where you are, because it is vitally important. Because as you answer those questions, then you can look. And when you're in the midst of a storm, you know who sent this storm. Because if you have any Jonah type answers, the Lord sent that storm to redirect you. Some of us have spent whole seasons rebuking the storm that was sent just to turn you around. But we rage and we move forward and we will quote Scripture and talk about endurance and talk about. And we just keep going in the same direction and we answer those three questions, and the Lord is in none of those answers. Meanwhile, Jesus is in a boat in a storm. Where is he going? To the other side of the sea. He is the Word. He said, we're going to the other side. The Word has said we're Going to the other side. Who was sent? The Word sent them. Where are they going? To the other side of the lake. What were the instructions? We find out what the instructions were. When Jesus gave gets to the other side, the instructions were for him. Jesus goes because he has to deliver a man from a. A demon named Legion. Many named Legion. We're going to get there too. And now when you look at Jesus answer to those questions and you see the storm, you know that storm did not come from the Lord. Because all of Jesus answers are in alignment with who he is called to be, what he is called to do, and what the Word has told, where the Word has told him to go. So this is why when Jesus rebukes the wind and tells the waves, peace and be still, it happens because it's in alignment, because he's in alignment. And because he's in alignment, he is actually able to use the power of the Holy Spirit to rebuke and set in order. But when we are out of order, and we try to use the Holy Spirit to stay out of order, we can't be surprised when this storm is tearing us up. I wanted us to see this because we're going to face storms, some of us, as we mentioned already in them right now. But identifying what kind of storm you're in gives you strategy for how to brave the storm. I want to go back to the text because there were a couple of things. Verse 39, Then he arose, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. I love this great calm imagery because I mentioned earlier, you know, if you shake a water bottle, it will continue to be in motion. But Jesus spoke so clearly to this. After he rebukes the wind, after he takes care of the cause of the disturbance, the next thing he does is restore order and peace where there was once order and peace. And he spoke it with such power and such conviction. And when it says a great calm and the sea just stops, it stops instantly. This is peace that is beyond all understanding. That's why it's such a great calm. And see, when you're in the midst of a storm that was not sent by the Lord, and the first thing you do is you identify that which is disturbing you. And then you can look to the areas that have been disturbed and you say, peace, be still. Don't be surprised when a peace that you cannot even understand comes over you. That's the power of alignment. That's the power of saying, lord, I'm Obeying the command you gave me, I'm going in the direction you told me to go in. There is a storm. It is wearing my little vessel out and I'm scared as it's happening, but I'm going to identify that which is disturbing me and use the authority given me to tell that thing to stop disturbing me and then regulate myself. Again it says. But then he. But he said to them, why are you so feel fearful? How is it that you have no faith? So now the disciples have been confronted with something. We were lacking faith in this area. We had the word of God, we had the presence of God. We had a command, we were going in the right direction and all it took was a disturbance and the lack of faith that we really had was revealed. There are times where you're obeying the word of God. You are in a. You're doing the thing and you are scared out of your mind and that's fine too. But to have a lack of faith because it's one thing to do what God has called you to do, but it's another thing to do it with the idea that you don't think it's really going to work. That's a different kind of storm that's raging altogether. The storm we're talking about here was outside. The lack of faith that Jesus is confronting is the storm on the inside. So Jesus points out to them what they're not aware of up until this point is a yahel, a faith problem. Because the minute a storm showed up, y' all came and got me. To be fair, the fact that they had enough faith to go get Jesus, I think they should get some brownie points. I think y', all, they gave they get a cookie for that one. But they did not have enough faith to know that they were going to get to the other side where the Word told them they were going to go. And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, who can this be that even the wind and the sea obey him? What do you mean who can this be? You've been with him the whole time. But this is what happens when you have a lack of faith. It will blind you to the presence. It will blind you to the power of the Word. And when you are blinded to those things, there's a different type of storm that's happening on the inside that now needs to be dealt with as well. Jesus is pointing this out to them for their own good. He's not frightening them like a bad parent to make a point. He's showing them what's already there. And because he is the master teacher, he's the teaching them in this moment how to handle it. And so we have to see the different spirit dispositions of Jonah and Jesus. Jonah in his disobedience is our lesson. Jonah is the lesson. Jesus in his obedience is the teacher. He teaches the lesson. See, obedience through a storm will have you teaching a lesson. Disobedience through a storm will make you be the lesson. I would rather teach the lesson than be the lesson because being the lesson is painful. Teaching the lesson gives you access to knowledge and wisdom that allows you to be used in a way perhaps you did not even think was possible. But all of this is based on what is on the inside of each of them. And for Jesus, he comes through this storm teaching. So we get to the other side. This is going to be quick. Quickish sort of quick. So they get to where they need to go, which is the other side of the sea. And the first thing that happens, and I'll let you guys read on your own. This is Mark, chapter five. I'm going to skip to verse six, because verses one through five give you the disposition and shape of a man who has been living in tombs. Because he has been. He has so many demons in him that they cause him to break out of chains. And he can't even be around people anymore. So he basically lives in what we would call a graveyard. He has been so taken over, he is so chained that he would rather live among the dead than the living. And the only person that can set this type of bondage free is Jesus. So the whole point of going to the other side was this encounter with this man. I'm going to skip down to verse six. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped him. And he cried out with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with you, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I implore you by God that you do not torment me. This is the demons speaking to Jesus. For he said to him, come out of the man, unclean spirit. Then he asked him, what is your name? I love this encounter because he asks, what is your name? He's not talking to the man because man looks on the outward appearance and God looks at the heart. He's speaking right to the thing that's on the inside of him. First off, come out. Second off, who are you? Why are you even here? What is your name? And of course, the demons just start confessing everything. And he answered saying, my name is Legion, for we are many. Also he begged him earnestly that he would not send them out of the country. Now a large herd of swine was feeding near the mountains. So all the demons begged him, saying, send us to the swine that we may enter them. And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine. There were about 2,000. And the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea and drowned in the sea. So before he comes to this place, we see Jesus deal with a storm on the outside. He rebukes the wind and he tells the sign of the disturbance to stop. And then he speaks peace to the water. And then we see Jesus encounter this man, this man who has many demons named Legion in them. And what does Jesus do? He does the same thing with the man that he did with the waves and the water. The first thing he does is speak to the disturbance. And the disturbance is legion. And he does not waste time asking the man questions about where all these demons came from and, and why is he not living right and where? What was he thinking? How could he possibly allow all these demons to allow him? What kind of decision making do you have that allows you to have a life where you are? I'm sorry, did I. He just saves the man. See, when you've been through a storm, you get to business because you understand what it is to go through a storm. And now the mercy and the grace that allowed you to go through a storm is what allows you to do the same for someone else when you're on the other side of your storm. Jesus gets to the other side of the storm. The first thing he does, he identifies the disturbance and then he leaves the man with peace. So as he taught the disciples what he was doing on the water is what he was about to do with this innocent encounter with this man. Verse 14. So those who fed the swine fled and they told it in the city and in the country and when. And they went out to see what it was that had happened because they just looked up one day alherder, and all of a sudden all the pigs just in the whole place just ran off the side of a cliff. So they go to explain why it is they just lost all of these pigs. Then they came to Jesus and saw the one who had been demon possessed and had the Legion sitting and clothed. And in his right mind he's sitting, he is clothed, he's covered, and in his right mind he is in a state of peace. He has not been in in so long. This is what an encounter with people who know Jesus and love Jesus ought to be like when people are done talking to you or dealing or encountering you after you've been through your storm, they ought to be able to sit, they ought to be able to feel covered and they should be in their right minds when they're done talking to us. Because what is happening now is we're spending more time trying to argue with people than to deal with what's actually the disturbance. Jesus does not argue with this man about Legion. He tells Legion to leave and then he allows the man to sit, be in peace and be covered. And in his right mind, people ought to leave after talking to you and be in their right mind. I don't want to leave somebody in their wrong mind after they talk to me because they should be able to say I talked to that man and he knows Jesus. And I felt a peace over me. They don't even know scripture, I just felt this peace. I don't understand it. This is how we're called to act. Especially when God graces us to get through the storms that we get through. Verse 16. And those who saw it told them how it happened, how it happened to him who had been demon possessed and about the swine. So they described what happened to the man and now the pigs too. Then they began to plead with him to depart their region. They said, listen, you are causing, causing too much drama. You doing a lot and we can't really understand it. And now this region, to be fair, is a region full of non believers. So they worship a multitude of different spiritual practices. And so this man shows up named Jesus, and all of a sudden all their pigs are gone and the craziest dude on the spot is sane. Their minds are blown. There's I don't know who or what, what, but you got to go because I can't explain you be very mindful as you are walking and you come out of the midst of a storm and you have the peace that is beyond all understanding. And you are operating with a word from the Lord. Not everybody is going to understand you. And so out of their uncomfortability with how assured you are in what it is you're doing, if they ask you to leave, just be graceful, give them time to absorb the supernatural thing that you probably did that you don't even realize that you did. Because what is supernatural to them? Because you've been walking and flowing in the spirit, because you've been through a storm where you were able to calm the sea and speak and rebuke The. The wind, what you have experienced as the supernatural on a regular basis, they ain't know nothing like that. So if they're a little uncomfortable and they say, let them be, don't rush revelation. Do your work and leave. So they began to plead with him to depart from the region. And I love this. And when he got into the boat, he said, bet I'm out. My job is done. This is my favorite part. When he got into the boat, he who had been demon possessed begged him that he might be with him. However, Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion on you. You. And he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And all marveled. I'm going to unpack as much as I can, because that last part makes me want to shout, too. So the region that Jesus travels to is full of unbelievers. So there's symbolism in him allowing these demons to enter pigs because pigs were considered unclean animals. And so by driving out these demons and having these demons going to the pigs and having the pigs going, he has driven out the uncleanliness of that land. So now when we see what he has done, the first thing he does, he wants to get in the boat. And the man says, I want to go with you. And Jesus says, you can't come with me. This is so fascinating, because we have Jonah, who is running away from the presence of God actively, and then we have this man who gets delivered from all of these demons, and all he wants to do is be with Jesus. I will get in a boat with you. I just met you five seconds ago, and your boat looks crazy because it got tore up by some waves, but I will go wherever you go. And Jesus says, no. Why does Jesus say no? The next part of the assignment, because this assignment wasn't just to deliver him from all of the demons. He tells the man, now that I have delivered you, and I gave you clothes and I gave you your right mind, now that watch this, you've been delivered from your storm. You are ready for your assignment. And for some of us who are going through storms and wondering what the point of the storm is, on the other side of the storm, there is an assignment. There is time for peace, there's time for restoration, and then there's an assignment. Assignment. There's time to be deployed. So Jesus deploys this man after delivering him from all of these demons. And his name is not Legion. He is. We don't even know what his name is. I love that Jesus never calls him because he's not ever identified by the principalities that held him. Once the principalities are gone, we don't hear about Legion. We don't call. Some people mistakenly call him Legion. His name's not Legion. Legion is what took him over. And once he was driven out, these people could no longer identify him that way anymore. We have to stop identifying people by the principalities that have taken them over and instead deal with them as children of the most High God who need mercy and to be delivered from the storm that's on the inside of them that Jesus has put us on assignment in that given moment to deliver them from. After our storm, that part got quiet. And we want to deliver and rebuke, but we ain't trying to go through no storm. That's real. I get it. So Jesus sends this man, go home to your friends. This is verse 19. Tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he has had compassion for you. Because Jesus could have gone himself and said, hey, Decapolis, I'm Jesus. I'm the fulfillment of all the law. You don't even know because y' all are non believers. I'm amazing. Watch me work. The reason Jesus does not do this is because non believers are just going to argue about who he is. You say you're the Son of God because everywhere Jesus went, he encountered arguments. All people wanted to do was argue. Are you the son of Mary? Are you the carpenter? You say you're the Son of God. Oh my goodness. All they wanted to do was argue about who he is. Jesus said, oh, you can argue about who I am, but you can't argue about my work. That man has been demon bound in this town for all of these years, and he spent less than two minutes with me. And he's clothed and he's in his right mind and he's coming to tell you all about me. Y' all can argue about me to me all you want, but you can't argue with him because you know what he looked like when I delivered him, before I delivered him from this storm. And now you know what he looks like right now. And you cannot argue with that. And that's the assignment. People want to argue about Jesus, they cannot argue about his work. Our jobs be his work. Especially for people who knew you before you knew Jesus. They cannot argue with the work. You can't argue evidence. So this man, he says, listen, I Got an assignment for you because you can go and they can't argue with you. Meanwhile, I can go and fulfill my assignment. Look at Jesus Multiple. This is great. I can't be in two places at once. So I'm gonna go this way and I'm gonna send you with me in you out there. I know you want to come with me. I know you want to get in the boat with me. I know you want to have adventures with me. But I've got an assignment for you. So I'm gonna send you with me in you. So this man goes to Decapolis. Decapolis translated, means 10 cities. The number 10 speaks to authority. And it's like complete authority and restored authority. And it says, this place, 10 cities. Marveled, all marveled. So this city full of people who did not know the Lord or know Jesus have all the uncleanliness driven out. And they all marvel at the work that Jesus has done. Because Jesus went through a storm and rebuked it and then drove a storm out of a man as he encountered him. And now this freed man goes forth to do the work. And he is the evidence that the work works. And this is why we go through storms, because we get to be the evidence that the work works. We get to be the evidence that the word works. Because people see you going through through a storm, how you navigate a storm, and who you are on the other side of that storm. And watch this. This is what completes it. Because we messed this up. It's not just getting delivered and getting out of the storm and looking cute and praising the Lord. How do you treat people after you come out of the storm? Because Jesus comes out of the other side of the storm and says, wow, I've been through that storm. You got a storm in you two. Let me use what my Father has given me to deliver you from your storm. And now that you've been delivered from your storm, you have a testimony. So now I can deploy you and people won't argue with you. Because people can't argue with the lack of demons that you have. It's really hard, 750 demons to zero. You can't argue with that. So this is why braving the storm is critical for us. This is why it's critical for us to be able to identify what kind of storm we're in and who we really are in the midst of it. Because I don't want us wasting time and energy staying in storms we're not supposed to be staying in and rebuking that which we're not supposed to rebuke. I don't want us heading in the wrong direction like Jonah on purpose because we don't believe that the work works. I want us in the midst of a storm with the full experience of. This is scary. I've never gone through anything like this before. I've never seen anything like this before. This is challenging my faith. This is exposing my lack of faith. But I now have a choice. I can believe the word or I can believe the storm. And my prayer is that when we answer those three questions, and I'll say them again, if you didn't get a chance to take a little picture up there, I will say them one more time. Number one, who sent me? Number two, where am I going? These simple questions. Number three, what are my instructions when I can answer those three questions on a regular basis? I brave my storms. We're done. I had so many different titles. I was like, ooh, Stormbreaker. It's like, nah, Marvel will sue me. I was like, stormtrooper. I was like, no, Disney will sue me. We're going to rock with braving the storm. Ooh. Choosing the storm. Okay, all right. That might be my next one. Let me look through here to see what questions have come up. We'll take a sneak peek here if there are any questions at all. There might not be any questions. There might not be any. I knew that wasn't going to happen. Okay, all right. Ooh. Okay. All right. What should you do when you lose hope in the midst of a long lasting storm? This is good to me. The first thing I would say in the midst of what we would consider a long lasting storm is we have to get rid of our expectation of how long a storm should last. Because even in the midst of it, there's a tendency to say, all right, Lord, I'm gonna let you do your work. And then after the work has worn our patients out, we start setting deadlines. And it's like, all right, Lord, I'm going to endure the storm. 72 hours. Do it, Lord. I know you can. Late in the midnight hour. Here we go. We get real holy and real deadliney and very time oriented. The interesting thing about the scripture I read is there's no time limit. There's no time established for how long this storm was. We just know how it affected them. And so for us, number one, is the understanding that time, that is completely up to the Lord. And it is a faith challenge for us. Let's be clear. To have the faith to say, lord, you've preordained oh, this is. Thank you, Holy Spirit. Nothing is catching the Lord by surprise. So there's no storm that's raging. He's like, ooh, that went 25 days longer than I thought. My bad. The storm has already been preordained for its time in terms of how long it's going to last. And so what I would do to not lose hope. This is going to sound so cliche, but it's the best way I can describe it. I have to stop looking at the storm. I have to look at me and I have to revisit those same three questions I had earlier. Because one of the things you'll note about this storm, there was another storm I wanted to cover. I might cover that another time. It's great. All of the storms that took place, nobody was harmed. Jonah was not harmed. None of the people in the boat were harmed. Nobody in the boat with the disciples was harmed. They were scared, they were frightened. They thought they were gonna die. Nobody got harmed. They got a little wet, but nobody got harmed. And so that's one thing to remember, is that when you are walking with a clear understanding of those three questions, specifically understanding that you are walking with the power of God with you, you are going to be frightened. But that's where you have to be strong enough. Good courage. I believe good courage is knowing how scared you are and being like, lord, I'm scared, but. And I'm gonna believe my word more than I'm gonna believe what's in front of me. So I think that's how you keep your hope is alright, Lord shall show me me in this storm what needs to be, what is being worked out, what are the things so that it's not so much about the storm. Because if you look at the storm, all you're gonna do is look at the storm. And you're watching the storm. And you're watching you storm. And you're watching, you're storming, you're watching, you're waiting for the storm to stop. But when it becomes about Lord, how are you working on me? How are you developing? What are you revealing about me to me? You're less likely to look at, to watch when you're in the midst of revelation. And revelation brings hope like nothing else I can think of. Okay, let me look at the next question. Oh, I love this one. How do you know when God is speaking to you? How can you tell when God is telling you to do something? How do you get confirmation? It was slick. This would be one question you took One question. And broke it up in three parts. I like the approach. That was slick. Slid that right on in there. Let's deal with question number one. How do you know when God is speaking to you? Okay. I like to run this through what I like to call a filter. One is going to start with a prayer life. I have to have a prayer life because my prayer life is my intimate time when I allow space for the Lord to speak to me. And I know you just. The question was, how do you know when God is speaking to you? I'm gonna bring it all together. Prayer life. Not necessarily because actually, there's so many things I want to do. But we're gonna start with the prayer life. The next tenet, reading your word. The Word is living. And the beauty, the beautiful part about having access to the living word means revelation is available to you at any given point in time. And a lot of times with that revelation, depending on what kind of prayer life you have, you will find that you have confirmation. I always tell people, stay in your word. It doesn't matter where in your Word you are, stay in it. You are never in a random place in your Word. So I can be in the book of Daniel, and Daniel is speaking to me, and you can be in Second Kings, and Second Kings is speaking to you while someone else is in Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians is speaking to them because the Word is living. And as long as we stay in our Word, bare minimum, y' all probably hear me say this all the time. Read Proverbs every day. There is no way you're reading Proverbs every day and not getting at least one thing every day. I have read Proverbs every day for 15 years. There's not been a single day where I read Proverbs and was like, I ain't get nothing out of this one, just Proverbs. You get something. But what happens is when you cultivate the habit of reading the Word daily, it keeps you current in the supernatural while you're paying attention to what's happening in the natural. And at some point in time, this is where we get to the question about confirmation. You're reading what you're reading because God has ordained you in that moment to be reading it. Just stay in it. Just stay in it. Stay in that daily practice. And so at some point, what happens is what you are receiving in prayer, what you are receiving, hopefully here in service, what you are receiving through your time in the Word, at some point, it intersects. This is not all. All over the place, and you're trying to find a way for it to connect. If you continue to stay in the different areas of flow of the Holy Spirit, your Word and your prayer time and your study, it intersects. And that's when you get the confirmation, last portion of it. Community. Find people. Not just. Let me. Let me clarify that, because you just find people. I won't just go out, find random people. Find people who are in their word, because you will find that you will get confirmation of things from them as well. So you're covering your bases. Not only do you have your time with God, not only do you have your time with the Word, but then there are people around you. There is wisdom and there's wise counsel around you. You've got to have people who are in their word and plugged in in the Spirit, because God will send something through them for you. I can't count how many times I've been like, man, I'm not really sure what to do. And I'll get a text message and be like, there it is. So between those surrounding yourself with those who are in their word and are in the Spirit and your time in the Word, being diligent in your time in the Word, don't slip. Do not slip on your time in the Word and prayer. Don't slip on the prayer either. Really, don't slip on any of it. How about that? Because it all works together. And as long as you continue to work all of the different tenets of it, you will find confirmation. So how can you tell when God is telling you to do something? It never goes against his word. You get a command from the Lord. God says, do this. You go right to the Word. And if it contradicts, his word didn't come from him. Because God is not going to tell you to do something that contradicts his Word. Okay. And I think I covered that. How do you know when he's speaking to you? Also, you know he's speaking to you because it's confirmed in his word. After your prayer time, you'll find yourself in a. I was just praying about this. It will be there. Trust it will be there. So this is what allows you to have that overall cover. All right, I think I answered that. If I didn't, I'm still gonna move on. What if it's still not clear after the storm, but there's no longer chaos, but also no clarity? This means that the storm is no longer in front of you. It is in you, which is why you do not have clarity. It's one thing to deal with the storm in front of you and outside of you. Once that calms down, now it becomes what is happening on the inside of me. So the storm, and this is a great question because you don't see any of the chaos around you, but you have not acknowledged the chaos that was within you. This is no different from Jonah. Jonah had all of the issue on the inside of him in terms of his anger about judgment and feeling like Nineveh needed to go a completely different way. And he winds up going on a boat. That boat. That's where everybody's about to die. He gets swallowed by a fish, and he gives the most poetic, please get me out of here, Lord, in that whale's mouth. And yet, once he gets spit up on land, the storm's over, but he's still Jonah. That chaos was still on the inside of him. So once the storm around you clears, there's still time. There's still work that needs to be done within you. There's still things you need to speak peace to on the inside of you. And there's still winds, there's still disturbances that you need to rebuke on the inside of you so that you can fully be formed by what has taken place after the storm. All right, we going, we going. Ooh. Did I answer this already? Let me see. What should you do when you lose hope in the midst of a long lasting storm? I did answer that. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Just making sure. I was about to go in. Thank you. How did you. How do you get out of a storm that you put yourself in? Ooh. Will God allow you to. To go fully through it since you put yourself there? Let's start with the first part. How do you get out of a storm that you put yourself in? You do. What Jonah did was just jump out that boat. When it was time for this storm to end, Jonah said, I know exactly how to end this. I need to get out this boat. I need to stop heading in the wrong direction. When Jonah stopped the storm for everybody, it was because he made the decision. He made the decision and took the action to go back in the direction God told him to go in. So getting out of a storm that you put yourself in is what has God told me I am supposed to be doing now. And now I have to get out, out of the mode of living, get out of the style of life, get out of the decisions that I make, which were to go in the opposite direction of what God told me to do. I have to actively do those Things when I put myself in the storm, will God allow you to go fully through it since you put yourself there? I want to make sure I understand the question right. So is the question like, will you continue in the wrong direction because you put yourself there? Will God allow you to continue to go in the wrong direction? I think that's the question. Here's the thing that I love about the Lord. He gave us free will. You know what else I love about the Lord? He lets us experience the consequences. And so not making a decision is making a decision. If you are heading in the wrong direction and you decide, well, I'm just gonna let the water take me where it goes. That is a decision. Thinking it's a non decision. No, no, no. You are deliberately saying, I will allow myself to continue going away from where the Lord has told me to go. That's a decision. And every decision, that's what comes with free will, comes with the consequences of that decision. So then we have to make another decision. Do I want to deal with these consequences in full, or do I want to do what it takes to now turn myself around and make my way back, knowing now you will still have to deal with some consequences? Because let's understand something. Jonah still had to sit in the belly of a whale, whale guts and digestive juices and all that, because whales are hungry. They eat. He still had to sit there even after he got thrown. He didn't just get thrown in the water. And then the water just kind of. This was not Moana. The water just brought him onto the beach and he's just chilling. No, he sat in that whale for three days and then got spit back on. And he still had to travel the length of that mission. So we will still have to deal with the consequences of our decision. But, yeah, ultimately, the decision in terms of how far into these consequences we'll deal with, that's up to us. What if you know Jesus sent you, but you don't know where you're going? The only thing God said was go. Hmm. When God says go, y' all not gonna like this. When God says go, it's because you know where to go. God doesn't hide information. If he only gives you go, it's because not so deep down inside, you know where you're to supposed, supposed to go. And God's not going to waste his words. So he's just going to say, go in your mind. Should I? Okay. Is it Fresno? Is it Glendale? Is it you? You already know. You got all the places in your mind and you know the one place the Lord has told you to go? Y' all here playing with all these options, making it look more complicated than it really is. He's going to be like, go, because you know where you're supposed to go. So that's where that comes from. I've had to learn that when God gives me these one word directives, it's not because he wants me to solve a mystery. He just wants me to admit what he already put in me and do it. So then it becomes, all right, Lord. And this is an honest moment we all need to have with the Lord. Lord, bring to my remembrance. Bring to my remembrance. Do you remember the thing you told me to do six years ago? What exactly was it that you told me? Where was it that. That you told me to? And in doing that, there also does need to be the repentance of. And I heard you and didn't want to do it. And I'm acknowledging I was disobedient. You have to own up to it. Otherwise you can't bring that with you where he's told you to go, because you won't get there. And if you get there, you'll be confused because your heart won't be in alignment with the assignment. So I love this question because we've all. Listen, we all. We all felt that one because it's like, okay, he gave me an instruction. I got buried it. Okay? And now you just get that one word and it's in alignment. It confirms the previous instruction that you buried. That's why it's just one word. Okay. How can we discern when fear is validly highlighting a situation we need to remove ourselves from versus fear we must overcome? Because we're just in a test. Let me make sure I've read this right. How can we discern when fear is validly highlighting a situation we need to remove ourselves from versus fear we must over. Oh, okay, I'm understanding this now. So basically what this question is, am I supposed to stay or am I supposed to go? Okay. All right. When fear is validly highlighting a situation we need to remove ourselves from versus fear we must overcome because we're just the. In a test. So the thing I'm noticing here is that all of your decisions are based on. All your options are based on fear. So right there, that will be a red flag. This means that there are different questions that need to be asked, but God is not going to frame the entirety of your experience with options that all are based on on fear. That's not A, that's not him. That's. That's. That's us. When. When. When options A, B, C, D, E, F, and G are all based in fear, that's us. So now it becomes, Lord, I know that a perfect love casts out all fear. So now I have to work on one. There is a perfecting of love that I need to handle. That's one, two, Lord, I need you to give me vision for what your options are in this. And now you have a filter. Because if any of them involve fear, you wipe that away. You didn't say that. Because God is not going to give you a whole bunch of options and say, you gotta be afraid. If you're afraid this, you're either afraid to go or you're afraid to stay. That's not him. Because all we speak of, especially, come on, this is Fearless February. One of the constant commands throughout the Bible is do not be afraid. So any decision that says be afraid, that's not a decision. Then it's Lord, what are the real decisions? What are the decisions that involve discernment? Specifically, if I'm being called to move in a direction, am I in a Joshua situation where he's called me to have strength and courage? So I think that will help reframe that question for you. Because it's. Yeah, it can't be fear to stay or fear to go. That's not going how. That's not going to be how he works with us. Oh, yeah. When you realize that there is an area where your faith is not as strong as you thought, how can you build or rebuild that faith enough to brave the storm? Once you have found that your faith is not enough, we also have to remember, first and foremost, it says in the Word that we have all received a measure of faith. So this idea that your faith is. Let me see if I read this right. Not as strong as you thought, how can you build or rebuild that faith enough to brave the storm? It becomes, Lord, this is where my faith is weak. Acknowledgement. Trying to power through a faithless part of your life by yourself is a futile exercise. Lord, my faith is weak here now, Lord, I need you to show me evidence. Because everyone here has evidence of what God has brought you through. Sometimes the best way forward in building your faith is remembering what he's brought you through. Sometimes what needs to happen is there are altars that we need to revisit. God did this for me. God brought me through. God put me here. I had no business being here. I didn't think I was going to make it. I thought that storm was going to wipe me out. It didn't. I thought this storm was going to wipe me out. It didn't. You then have to start revisiting your own testimony. And that is what you will need to build the faith to continue to move forward. Ooh, let me see how we do it on time. I think this might be the last one. Okay. How can we lovingly shut down an argument? Lovingly shut down is hilarious verbiage. Just point that out with people who want to debate who Jesus is or if he's real because they see the light in us. Yay. I love these questions. My thing and I have always continued to do this. This is my mission and my mandate. I'm giving away all the goods just because it's Wednesday night. It's just me and you guys. Okay. How I shut down an argument in terms of debating who Jesus is or if he is real or not. I am very simple. I am very easy read about him. There is no way you read the Bible, and I mean reading it looking for understanding because there are some people who are reading it just to win arguments. You can't win with them because you'll tell them to read the Bible and they're reading the Bible through the lens of all the things that, that corroborate what they think it should be. You're not going to convince them because that's not how this works. It is the Holy Spirit that does the convincing and the convicting. And. And it is in the timing of the Holy Spirit that that takes place. I can't make the Holy Spirit open somebody's eyes any earlier because no one did that to me. My encounter with my understanding of who Jesus is was through his word. My first was my first encounter. What brought me in was worship. And from worship, it was the word that was taught. And from the word that was taught, it was the word that I read. And so I can't tell you, hey, I'm not going back and forth with you about Jesus because I know that the Holy Spirit does all of the heavy lifting. I'm not going to stress myself out because you have fixed your heart to argue about where Jesus came from, what kind of hair Jesus had. Was he left handed? Come on, Really? I don't do that. I have my revelation of who Jesus is and I say, hey, why don't you read the Bible and see what the Bible says? Well, depending on the translation. And I don't know who made this because man, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know What? I'm not gonna do this. So to answer the question, lovingly shut down. Looks a little bit like this. Hey, you have your point of view, and that's fine. I have my revelation, and that's fine. I'm gonna stick with my revelation. But I would invite you to continue to read the Word of God and see what you discover for yourself. And listen, listen. If you don't discover anything, that's on you. It's not on me to reach in your chest and turn your heart. It's on me to be led by the Holy Spirit to honor the encounter for whatever it is, whether they receive from me or don't receive from me. My whole thing is, Holy Spirit, what you want me to do? And sometimes the Holy Spirit might be like, turn and burn. Leave this conversation and don't even put a period on end. Just pew. I'm more worried about grieving the spirit than I am about winning the argument. So that's how you shut that down in the midst of it, while the person. Holy Spirit, what do you want me to say? You don't want me to say nothing. Okay, Holy Spirit, where do you want me to point them to? Okay, first John. Okay, all right, I'll do that. Holy. You don't want me to tell them no scripture. You just want me to hug them. You just want me to hug them. You want me to hug them. That's how you shut down arguments. You just be who God called you to be and honor the command in a given moment.
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Hey, family. Well, I pray that you were just as blessed by this teaching as I was. I'm just so grateful again to be a part of a dynamic community full of love, full of revelation and wisdom. One has been a movement that's been blessing people for over two decades, and I'm so glad that you got an opportunity to experience it. I also have a podcast called called the called it's right here on wherever you're listening to this Spotify or Apple or wherever you're listening to this podcast, you can just look up the call T H E C A L L E D with myself, Ture Roberts. This is designed for entrepreneurs, leaders and business people. It's a weekly podcast and it will bless you. But hey, I enjoyed having you here. Meet us here next week. Check out the call Much place.
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A
Blessings to you.
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B
We'll catch you next time.