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What's up, guys? I'm here with my main man, Tyler Roberts of the world famous Red Rocks Worship. They every now and then let me tie their shoes, you know what I mean? Get them some water. It's a deal. These days, you know what I'm saying? Tyler, tell them what's going on. Okay, whatever he just said is not true. However, what is true is that on November 4th. Oh my gosh. Red Rocks at Red Rocks. Who get to say that? Come on, Red Rocks at Red Rocks. Come on. We're going to be celebrating 20 years of what God has done through Red Rocks Church right here. Yep. Absolutely incredible. Get to hear an amazing message from our pastor Mediocre. And then also recording a brand new album called Promised Land with Red Rocks Worship. So we got all kinds of friends, family, guests, I heard even maybe a friend named Chris Brown from Elevation Worship was going to be joining us, leading a couple songs. Did you want to sing? I'm going to. Only I'm going to sing. I'll sing less if Chris is going to be here. Okay. How many? Four or five pops for me. Hey, for real. November 4th, Red Rocks Church at Red Rocks Amphitheater. We're celebrating 20 years recording a brand new album. It's going to be a crazy outreach, so you're going to want to bring your family, bring your friends, get your tickets now. They're going fast. We can't wait to hang. See you there. See you. Come on, Red Rocks Church. If you got anything to praise God for, then how about you praise him for it right here and right now. Praise the God who was. Praise the God who is. Praise the God who will always be. Amen. Come on. Amen. You guys feel good? Oh, this is a rowdy church today. Let's keep that love going. Let's show some love to every Red Rocker joining us from Denver to Austin to Brussels to all over the world, and of course to the men and women at our correctional facilities campuses. We love you so, so, so much, Welco. And before you take a seat, I want to read for us a passage of scripture very well known. It's from Matthew, chapter 14. And it comes at the tail end of an absolute roller coaster of a day for Jesus and his disciples. The day begins with Jesus getting word that his cousin John had just been executed. And so Jesus tries to find a place to mourn by himself. But crowds of people who undoubtedly were also hurting follow him. And Matthew says Jesus actually has compassion on them and he heals their sick and he gives them all the time in the world. And then later that evening, he and his disciples feed upwards of 10 to 15,000 of them with five loaves of bread and two fish. And then we pick it up in verse 22. Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. And meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen and they were fighting heavy waves. Really quick. Just in case anybody needs this fun fact. The place on the Sea of Galilee where the disciples were struggling was visible from the spot on the mountain where Jesus was most likely praying for them. Just because you can't see God at work in your life right now doesn't mean that he don't have his eye on you. Working behind the scenes. All things in your life for your good, because you love him and notice. Jesus sends them into the storm. And sometimes the worst thing a loving father can do would be to fight all your battles for you. Because he doesn't just want you getting through storms, he wants you better for it and stronger by the time that you do. Amen. About three in the morning, Jesus came toward them, walking on water as you do. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. And in their fear they cried out, it's a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once. Don't be afraid, he said. Take courage, because I'm here. Then Peter called to him, lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you walking on the water. Come on, said Jesus. Careful what you pray for, by the way. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified. And that's when he began to sink. I have a message today called leading yourself in a storm. That's where we're going with this message. But before we do that, we need to talk about what's about to go down in our church beginning next weekend. So with that said, take a seat. All of our locations. Welcome to Red Rocks Church and watch this video finish with your lead hand. Let's go. Come on. Push Big, big. Let's go. Come on. A little more speed. Take the speed up a little. Excuse me. Bobby, come on. You got more in you than you realize. Your family needs you, Bobby. Come on. Let's go alone. I got you. I got you. I know you feel by yourself right now. You feel alone, but you're not. This is why we worked hard in the gym. You can go handle this business, right? We're down, but we're not out. Your family needed you, Bobby. Come on, let's go. Stay in balance. Hands back to your face. Find an exit. Find an exit. Lean hand, let's go. Dig, dig. Come on. Let's go, let's go. Push, push, push. Go. Find an exit. Come on, man. Kiss the Fire. Brand new teaching series beginning next weekend. And it's based out of our lead pastor Shawn Johnson's new book that comes out October 4th. All of our locations, all of our lobbies, next weekend and then it's released to the rest of The World on October 14th. And you can pre order it today. But this book, you guys, I've already read it and I'm a slow reader, so that's saying something. This book is, you know, a lot of his story if you've been around here, but if you're relatively new. A few years ago, Sean went in for a doctor's visit and walked out with a diagnosis of a degenerative neurological disorder that has changed his life. And this book is as real as it gets. I'll just read one quote. If you're looking for reassurance that nothing bad will ever happen, look elsewhere. This isn't a book about promising a pain free life. It's a book about getting back up when everything in you wants to give up. And so I don't know if you've ever been there. If you're there right now, you feel like you want to give up on God. You feel like you want to give up on community, you want to give up on your dreams. Maybe you feel like you even want to give up on life. Maybe you felt that way before. Maybe you will feel that way one day. This is the book for you that Sean's story and Sean's pain now becomes the playbook for the rest of us. Kiss the fire. 7 Ways to get back up when you want to give up. That's the series that starts next weekend, but I want to ask our entire church to pre order it today. And the reason I want to ask our church to do that is because he won't. And he is the best pastor in the world. I love this guy. It's just that when it comes to the books he writes, he's the worst salesman in the world because, and I love that about him because he always just wants it to be about Jesus and never about him. But I've read this, and I've watched him live it over the last few years. To put this book in front of people is to put Jesus in front of people. And the world needs this book. And if we pre order it, that means two things. Number one, you get access to all the bonus material, including some behind the scenes family conversations with the Johnsons in their home, talking about how this diagnosis has changed their family and their faith. And it's about as gritty as you get. Okay, but then number two, the more of us who pre order it, this is just how it works. The more it convinces the algorithms of the world to put this book in front of all the people in this world. And the more that happens, the more this book changes the world. And this is a message the world needs to hear. Amen. Hey, can we give some love to Pastor Sean? We have the best lead pastor ever. I love you so much, man. Thank you for doing what you do. All right, let's finish Rowdy church the right way. Leading yourself in a storm. And I want to begin this message by way of confessing something to all of you. I just need to get this off my chest. About a month ago, I wanted to work out during my lunch break. Only problem is I. I don't have a gym near the church, but my friend does. So I asked him to text me a screenshot of his check in QR code so that I don't judge me. I can feel it already in this room. Imperfect people pursuing a perfect God. Is that just words to you guys? Cause it means something to me, okay? And I could have done the whole free trial thing, but I get enough promotional emails as it is. And I'm kind of known for forgetting to cancel the membership and then getting charged. And I didn't want them to spend 20 minutes touring me around the gym, showing me all the amenities. Oh, that's the elliptical section. Oh, cool. And that's where you do abs. Oh, never gonna happen. You know, I just. I just wanted to break a sweat on my lunch break. I'm just a trying to steward this temple. Is that such a crime? You know, and so he sends me his check in barcode, and we kind of look alike. Around the same height, same hair color, same eye color. He's obviously a very handsome young man. Okay. And he. I memorized his phone number just to be sure. Full undercover mode. I'm giving you all the juicy details for some reason, just in case you're an undercover reporter looking for your next scandal story. You just found It. And I walk into the gym, hat on, sunglasses on, like it's the witness protection program. Scan the barcode. Beep. It works. So I'm walking into the gym when the worst possible thing that could have happened happens. The guy behind the counter goes, hey, man, don't you go by a different name? And I turn around, and he goes, aren't you one of the pastors at Red Rocks Church? Why, God? And I'm like, I'm usually cool under pressure, but my heart is beating a thousand beats per minute. I say, oh, you go to Red Rocks? How long you been going? He said, like, a couple months. And so I'm about to dig myself into a deeper hole. I'm like, that's not that long. I might still be able to get out of this. And so I. Guys. I look at him, and I said, yeah, man, there's, like, a few of us pastors that, like, look like each other and stuff. Please don't stop tithing here. And he's looking at me, not judgmentally, just kind of confused. Like, I swear, you're the pastor that just preached last weekend. You know that sermon about integrity? I'm kidding about that part. But he finally just goes, hey, man, just go. Go enjoy. Enjoy the gym. Have a good lift. And I take one step into the gym. But do you ever have those moments where you know what God is thinking and it's not good? In that moment, I just. I felt like the big man upstairs was right next to me, looking at me like, are you kidding? You're not his plumber. You're his pastor. And you just lied to him about sneaking into the gym. He works at all for what, like, a mediocre pump? And if you don't know what that means, I couldn't possibly explain it and still sound cool, so I'm just not gonna. But he said, hey, man, go have a good lift. And I just couldn't. I haven't felt that convicted in a long time. And so I walk back to him, and I say, hey, man, I need to confess something to you that you might already know. My name is Doug Weckenman. It's not the name from that check in barcode, and I do work at Red Rocks Church, and this is the most embarrassing low moment of my year so far, and I just need to own it. And I want to ask for your forgiveness, because I hate that I lied to you about 10 times more than I hate that I just tried to sneak in here, and I am one of your pastors. If you'll still have me. And we had a good laugh and a good conversation. And by the end of it, he said, you know what, man? You know what, Pastor, Go have a good lift. And I said, you are the man and you are making it into a sermon story in a matter of just weeks. And you'll be the good guy and I will be the bad guy, I promise you. And so I had one of the most humble lifts I've had in a long time. And sure enough, a mediocre punk. Anyways, I tell you that story to say this to you. I was present for every bad decision I have ever made and every dumb thing I've ever done. I was there for it all. And the reason I can say that to you with so much confidence is because I know something about you that you were present for every bad decision you've ever made and every dumb thing you've ever done as well. It was Andy Stanley who once said, the hardest person to lead is without a doubt you. You ought to know. You attempt it every single day. And Peter found this out on the Sea of Galilee at three in the morning, walking on the water in a storm with this savior that in, in times like the days that we are living in right now, red rocks, and at the tail end of months like the month that we just had, when the winds of life get stronger, if you will, and the waves of fear get bigger, if you will, that it has never been more important for you and for me to lead ourselves. Well, ourselves. In other words, I can't control the rest of the world, but I can have self control. And I can't control how everybody else responds to this tragedy or that event, but I can control me. I can't control what they all say, but I can tame my tongue. I can lead myself, especially in stormy seasons. And I was texted a quote that kind of leveled me about two weeks ago. And it's a modernized version of a quote from the book Screwtape letters written by C.S. lewis decades ago. If you don't know the premise of the Screwtape letters, it is a series of fictional letters written by a senior demon named Screwtape to his nephew demon named Wormwood. And Screwtape is coaching his protege Wormwood on how to be an effective demon, on how to steal and kill and destroy life to the full, on how to tempt and distract human beings from what matters most. And this quote almost hits too close to home for me to read this weekend. Almost. It's not intended to be a call out. Its intention is to pastor all of us, beginning with me. Here we go, my dear Wormwood. Be sure that the patient remains completely fixated on politics, arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on the faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and the things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in a constant state of angst, frustration, and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further, further developing. Ensure the patient continues to believe that the problem is out there in the broken system, rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself. Keep up the good work, Uncle Screwtape, because we can say all day that the real problem is out there, right? That the days are getting darker, bad people are getting badder. It's the left, it's the right. It's. It's this agenda, it's that one. It's. It's the greed of politicians. It's the cancer created by TikTok and Instagram. It's the division the media is causing because the more divided and afraid we are, the more money they make. And you know what? All of that's true. I'm not trying to say for a second there's not big problems in the world that need to be solved. And I'm especially not trying to say that Christians should not be at the forefront of solving them. What I'm saying is the root of every single one of those problems is the sin inside me. Me, me. G.K. chesterton. Once upon a time, when he was asked, what's the number one problem in the world, he said, I am. I am. That's why any solution we could ever come up with is a band aid if people don't know Jesus. And there's a verse in times like these that, that. That Christians love to quote and for good reason. Second Chronicles 7:14. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven, and then I will forgive their sins and restore their land. And that is a beautiful promise from an amazing God. We just kind of tend to read it as if all the bad people out there will finally figure that out and repent. Then God will heal our land. But that verse is not addressed to the world. It's addressed to God's people. This is self ownership of the church. This is the humility of those of us in the church to bow even lower with our lives, to raise our hands even higher. In how we worship, to repent even deeper. This is a call for Christians to lead ourselves. Then God will hear from heaven and heal our land. And that's why the final prayer that Jesus prays for his disciples, and you can go read it in John 17, right before he's arrested to be crucified. Jesus doesn't pray for the world, even though his mission is for God so love the world, to reach the world. Jesus prays for the church because he knows the hope for the world is the church, is us. So, yeah, you can clap. We're gonna. If we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it. We're a rowdy church. So how do you lead yourself? Well, in a storm. Let's look back at Matthew 14:31 more time, because Peter does a lot of things right, but then all of a sudden, Peter gets three things wrong that I think we get wrong all the time that we can see right here in one verse. But when Peter saw the strong wind and waves with his eyes, his heart became terrified. And then his feet stopped moving, and that is when he began to sink. So let's begin with the eyes. The first point I have is this. Fix your eyes on Jesus. You need to lead your eyes. Hebrews 12 gives us a playbook for how to live on purpose, effective lives as Christians. And verse two tells us how we do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Where are you leading your eyes? Because Jesus says this about the eye in Matthew 6:22. Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body will be filled with light. In other words, you are what you eat. And that includes anything and everything that comes into your mind through your eyes. And one thing that I think the enemy has done so well over the last couple decades, and I believe this is, you know, our battle's not against flesh and blood, but against the evil forces and the principalities of hell. And here's been one of hell's agendas for two decades. To take pornography and sexual immorality, things that were taboo and private, and normalize them to the point where we celebrate them. And what it leads to is more and more of us with desensitized minds, because what we take in through the lamp of the body, the eye, begins to change our brains. And that's already happened with pornography. And here's what it's beginning to happen with now. Violence. To go from taboo and to normalized. And like I'll say it this way, we already celebrate lust, and we are well on our way in our nation to celebrating rage. And I just need to be a pastor today for this moment and as a pastor, challenge you to lead your eyes right now as you get a Constant influx of 4K videos of tragedies and terrible events and, and. And footage of. Of murder of real human beings. And seeing it, and I'm not talking about seeing it. We're going to see it. I'm talking about seeking it. It's very different to the point where it's. Why is this captivating? And it's like a shock in my brain. And now I'm searching for different angles of the same. And guys, I need to pastor you because first Timothy gets very so about what I believe is taking place with what I just described, that evil causes consciences to get seared. So the moral compass, the part of your mind that knows right from wrong, this is what sin and evil do. They begin to dull it and even begin to kill it. And we know as well as anybody how, like, resurrection and renewing of your mind is so possible. I'm a living, breathing example, not just because I read a verse, but because it's my story. But that takes a. That's a lot of repentance and a lot of time. And this is very real. And I'm not saying this to you to scare you. Like you need to shelter yourself from the big bad world. No, we're called to be in the world. But to be in the world in 2025, you need to be able to lead yourself well, to lead your eyes, because nobody else is coming to do that for you. The eye is the lamp of the body. Protect your soul. Fix your eyes on Jesus. Picture Peter walking on the water. He was focused on Jesus. But then all of a sudden the wind blew harder and the waves got bigger. And Peter, somewhere along the way in Matthew 14:30, went from concentrating on Jesus and considering the storm to concentrating on the storm and considering Jesus. And that is when he began to sink. Consider the storm, you guys. We don't have to play dumb like bad things don't happen. Faith is not blind. Faith is not. Let's just pretend everything's okay. No, faith lets you face the facts and hold fast to the unwavering hope that good will win in the end. At the same time, faith is. Is optimism and realism at the same time. It is not weak. It is gritty. But part of faith is you knowing how to lead it, knowing how to lead yourself in it So I have to ask you, are you concentrating on Jesus and considering the news right now, or are you concentrating on the news and considering Jesus wondering why it feels like you are sinking in anger and fear, anxiety. Consider the wind. Concentrate on the word of God. Consider the storm. Concentrate on the Savior. 24 years ago, when I got home from 8th grade on September 11th, I. I'll never forget where I was sitting at our counter in the kitchen. We had a little 13 inch TV. And I got home and for the next, like, four hours, I just was trying to understand what just happened. Watching the most shocking footage any of us had ever seen of real. Of planes full of real people flying into buildings full of real people. And that's, like, hard to even say out loud. I'm like, how's anybody supposed to process that? Later that evening, my mom had this idea. She took our family to Daniel's park, where you can. You can hike for about, you know, a quarter mile to the scenic overlook where you can see all the way to the mountains. I'll never forget that evening was a beautiful sunset. And we got to that overlook and my mom said to me and my brother Ryan, she said, boys, something evil and dark happened in our country today. And the world is never going to be the same. And it's important that you know and it matters that you saw it. But now there's something even more important we need to do. We came here this evening to look up, to lead our eyes. Like I'm 37 years old even to this day. My mom, because she knows I worry, she will text me, sweetheart, go outside tonight and look up. Look up at the stars and let God's creation preach a different message to you than the one you're gonna see on the news. The heavens declare the glory and the splendor of the God who is still on the throne at the end of the day. Boys, look. Look to the sunset and remind yourself who paints it every evening. Look at those mountains and remind yourselves who tells those mountains what to do. That those mountains melt like wax in his presence. Because he made them. The mountains, the ocean, the stars, they are no mystery to the God of the universe. He is bigger. He is sovereign. He is still in control. Look up. You need to lead your eyes. Fix your focus on Jesus. Amen. Fix your eyes on Jesus. And then number two, don't let. Let your heart be troubled. I deleted social media a couple Mondays ago because maybe, like a lot of you, I was just consumed with the news and everything that's been happening just in September alone, and the winds and the waves of all these storms, and seeing everybody's, like, angry reactions to everything and reading comment sections. For some reason, I'm like, are the principalities of hell like, in comment sections, like, but for real, are this many consciences seared and this person's opinion and that thought and the media capitalizing on tragedy to create more division? And my heart got angry and my heart got anxious. And my wife, she grabbed me by the hand right there in our kitchen, and she made me get out her phone, and she got out hers, and we deleted Instagram for the time being. Just felt so good. You can do that, by the way. I just felt like God was speaking to my heart because I was praying, God, how do I lead right now? And in that moment, I felt him say, it's gonna be really hard to hear from the spirit on how to lead people when you can't hear him, because everybody else's thought and opinion has access to your ears. And you. And I have the kind of mind that just needs to understand things, even terrible things. And I need to, like, know all the details. But then all of a sudden, I have omniscience fatigue because all this stuff's above my pay grade and I'm not God, and then I'm anxious and that. What I'm trying to say is a troubled heart can't lead. Proverbs 4. 23 says, Guard your heart above all else. Usually we only use that during the relationship series to tell the ladies to guard your hearts from jerks and. Of course. But what about guard your heart from bitterness? And what about guard your heart from rage? And what about guard your heart from fear? Why? Because your heart will determine the course of your life. Your heart, your responsibility. God gives you a new one, but you're called to guard it. And when Peter saw the winds get stronger, and then when Peter saw the waves get bigger, that's when his heart became afraid. And when our hearts become afraid, everything becomes about us. You remember the Coldplay concert thing that happened a couple months ago? That's, like, easy to talk about now. The secret affair that was revealed on the Jumbotron and that went so viral, that was a social phenomenon. And those two people got destroyed, including by Christians. So here's my thought on that. I'm not excusing adultery. I just think it's so telling that other people's sin is such a convenient distraction from our own hearts. And you might. You might say, well, I'd never be dumb enough to take the person I'M having a secret affair with to a stadium where there's a Jumbotron and cameras and I'd say fair, fair. Okay, this is also fair. So just because you're like, smarter about sin and you and me are better at being private about it and keeping it secret, like, then all of a sudden we have pockets full of stones on social media and we can throw them at like, I just. If you're worse. I've had worse moments than trying to sneak into a gym and lie about it. So have you. If my worst moment was on a Jumbotron at a stadium concert, the world would destroy me as well. And when other people's sin go viral, as Christians, what if our gut reaction was to take a self examination before we say or share or post anything else? You know the prayer that David prayed in Psalm 139 when he said, search me, God, and know my heart? Could you imagine if that was the gut instinct of everybody in the wake of the next scandal or the next event, God, would you search my heart before I do or say anything else? Point out anything in me that offends you because it's there. Lead me along the path of everlasting life. Because, guys, remember God healing our land doesn't happen when finally the bad people in the world will repent and realize Jesus is Lord. It happens when those of us in the church dig deeper with our repentance and pray God, search our hearts more and raise our hands higher in worship because that creates good noise in an already loud world. That creates a rowdy noise that stands out like forgiveness does. Let our worship be loud. Let our prayers be loud. Let our grace be loud. Let our truth be loud. Let our love be loud as well. Don't let your hearts be troubled. Fix your eyes on Jesus and finally put one foot in front of the other. Two of my really good friends, Brendan and Jordan, are close friends with Erica Kirk. So two weeks ago on Thursday, I called Brendan on my drive home. I was, he's got to be hurting right now. And. And he was. And we Talked for like 40 minutes on the phone and he just was like, man, her husband Charlie was just killed in front of the nation yesterday. Like, a wife is now a widow. How, how am I supposed to, like, laugh tomorrow and be a good friend? What am. What do I do with this? And I remember just kind of processing it and we started talking and I said, you know, Brendan, you, here's how God made you, man. You are so good at mourning with those who mourn and celebrating with those who celebrate. And he is. He is just made to be a friend. Brandon and his wife, Jordan, she's the same. They're the kind of people you want in your corner when life gives you a black eye. And they'll have you over to their house, they'll make you dinner, they'll make sure you know their home is yours as well. And they will. They will celebrate with you when things go well, and they're there for you when things don't. And he's just made like, that's how he's designed. It's like he's called to be that. And so I said, brendan, you are designed to mourn with those who mourn. So do that, because a wife just lost her husband and two kids no longer have a dad, and the church just lost a brother in Christ. So go cry tears with your friend, man. And God designed you to shine bright like a light, and you are so good at that, too. And she probably needs that as well. Here's. Here's what I'm getting at. We need to mourn with those who mourn and celebrate with those who celebrate. I said, brendan, I think the more that you mourn, it makes you better at shining. And the more you shine, it makes you better at mourning. The more you laugh, you guys, you get better at crying. The more you cry, you also get better at laughing. And for what it's worth, because you asked my opinion, I don't think it's ever been more important for you to enjoy Thursday Night Football tonight. Because he said, how am I supposed to watch the football game and not feel bad about it? I said, I don't think it's ever been more important for you to do that, because God gave you two hands for a reason. And you can cry tears and you can enjoy. Your soul has the capacity to feel pain and to feel joy at the same time. At a funeral, you can cry tears, and in the very next breath, you can laugh at stories you tell about the person. Your heart is broken because you're missing them. That's not betraying grief. To laugh at jokes and smile, for the joy of the Lord is our strength, and it makes you better at crying, and crying makes you better at laughing. And Proverbs 17:22 says, A cheerful heart is like good medicine, but a crushed heart dries up the bones. So mourn with those who mourn and shine brighter than you've ever shined at the very same time. The week after nine, 11 for the cast of Friends. They were going into season eight. And you gotta think for those six actors. They're thinking, how are we supposed to just go back to work and make a sitcom that takes place in New York City right now? And I remember I heard an interview from Lisa Kudrow, who played Phoebe, and she said, I have in that. In those months, I never had that many letters from fans or people come up to me on the street and just hug me with tears in their eyes, thanking me for making them laugh right now. She said, we realize it's never been more important for us to do what we do well. The joy of the Lord is our strength. She didn't say that part, but she implied it, so I just added it. God gave you two hands, pain and joy, like in Sean's book that we're gonna talk about starting next week. In this world, you'll have trouble. And Jesus came to give you abundant life. He gave you two feet for a reason. And I think, how do you lead yourself well in the storm? You keep putting one foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other. So mourn with those who mourn, Brendan, and celebrate with those who celebrate. Cry tears with your friend. Enjoy a football game. Feel that pain. Feel that joy. Cry those tears. Laugh those tears. This is truth. This is also grace. This is the sovereignty of God. And it's my responsibility and my owner at the exact same time. We can have prayer services and we can throw parties. We can. We can have truth and we can have grace. Walk on water in a storm, putting one foot in front of the other and. Because if not, then you're just, like, hopping. There's no verse in the Bible about hopping on water. There is one about walking on water, and you put one foot in front of the other. Lead your eyes to Jesus, you guys. Don't let your heart be troubled and put one foot in front of the other. Because Sean said this last week, it was so good. The reality that you and me experience will be basically determined by where you lead yourself to. So let me speak from my experience, because I spent a week and a half leading myself, my eyes, my heart, and my feet to social media, to the news, to comment sections, to opinions, and to the storm, essentially. And the narrative I started to believe was, seems like hell's winning, doesn't it? Right now? It seems like. Like the church is in trouble. Like, the days are getting darker. Like, you start to get so dramatic, the Great Commission's failing. That's how it. That's how it feels when you lead yourself to those places. But let me offer you a different narrative. When you lead your feet to the church, when you get your eyes up onto Jesus, when you don't let your heart be troubled, here's a different narrative that you might be experiencing and one that is far more true that over the last two weeks, all of our Red Rocks church locations in Denver and Austin, our church has grown by 5,000 people, not 500. That would be crazy. But I said 5, 000 people. And in two weeks, over 700 people have given their lives to Jesus. That doesn't sound like hell is winning. That sounds like the kingdom of heaven is advancing. Especially when you consider the fact Sean said this. I've noticed the same thing. Every pastor I've been been talking to has been reporting the exact same thing. Similar to back in Jesus day, when people lived in times of political unrest or uncertainty about the future, or when people were killed for their convictions, at some point, all it did was lead crowds and crowds of people straight to Jesus. That's what we're seeing. That's what we're seeing. That's what we're living in. And there was a moment on the water where it seemed to me like Peter had this rush of clarity all of a sudden. And it wasn't about his circumstance or the storm. It was about the Savior who was in the storm on the circumstance. And Peter is sinking and he cries out, he cries out, lord, save me. And look what Jesus does in Matthew 14:31. Jesus, and this word is for somebody. I feel this immediately reached out and grabbed him. See, a lot of you have led yourselves really well in these last two weeks because maybe for the first time in a long time or ever, you have led yourself to church. Well done. And when crowds of people came to Jesus, they were met with compassion. And in him they found everything they were looking for. So I don't know what you think you're looking for right now, but I know what you need. Because it's the same thing I need every single day. The amazing grace of our God, A relationship with him, the one who made you to know him more. To. To spend your days living on purpose as part of something bigger than yourself that is changing the world. And if I could just say the gospel to you, as simple and clear as I can, could possibly say it, it's that you and me, we are far more sinful and broken than we care to think about on most days. And yet in the same exact breath, we are far more unconditionally loved than we'll ever be. Able to imagine this side of eternity. And so at every single location, with every head bowed and every eye closed, I want to give you a moment of clarity too, about what really matters most. Because one day you will stand in front of God. We don't know when that day is, but it's coming for all of us where we will stand in front of him. And in that moment, our good deeds won't matter. We're not going to point back to a life and say, well, my parents were Christians or I was in church that time or I started that non profit. I was a good person, I did good things. It's. You're not going to point to any of the of that. You will either be robed in the righteousness of Jesus or not, his perfection or not. And how do you get that? By simply saying yes to it. Now, today is the day for salvation. If Jesus were coming back this week, would you be ready to meet him? Love is a decision to say, I make you my Lord and Savior. God, I choose you, Jesus. Would what you did on the cross 2000 years ago Count for me as well? Could you take my sin? Would you forgive me of that? Would you give me your righteousness in exchange? I'm tired of doing this my way or the world's way. Let's do this your way. Take my life. I make you, my Lord. I make you my Savior. This is just a moment with you and him right now at every single one of our locations. If you are missing making that decision already in your heart, and I believe a lot of you are, I want to invite you on the count of three to, to raise your hand as an expression of that. And there's already hands going up in this room. And I. The hand raise is not what saves you. It just seems to solidify a decision your heart is already making. So if you're making that decision, then 1. God loves you so much. 2. It's just you and him in this place, place today. 3. Raise your hand with boldness, with confidence about what the gospel is and that it's true not just for humanity, but true for you individually. There's hands all over this room, all over this room. Raise your hand with boldness about what you believe about Jesus. He is the Son of God. I make him my Lord and Savior. His grace is big enough for me and it just takes a tiny bit of my faith. Amen. Amen. Amen. You can put your hands down. God, I love you so much. Thank you for the miracles that just took place right in Front of us in this moment, for everybody who just received you as their Lord and Savior. Would you bless them? Would you keep them? Would you let your face shine upon them? Would you inspire them to know this is not the finish line. This is the starting line of life with you from here all the way into heaven, forever and eternity. We love you. We pray this in the powerful, beautiful, beautiful, wonderful name of Jesus. And everybody said, amen. Hey, can we make some noise? Because heaven just got a lot more crowded. Can we jump to our feet? Every location, stand to your feet. Because I love how the story of Peter walking on water with Jesus ends because he gets back into the boat and every eye goes straight to Jesus. And you gotta believe that was a rowdy boat full of different people from different backgrounds who probably voted different and looked different. And you got a tax collector and a fisherman who hated each other at first, but they were united under one thing. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. And every eye goes straight to him. And they just worship. And if our church is a boat, you better believe it's a cruise ship. And you better believe it's a rowdy one. Where when we gather, though we all may look different and come from different places, and maybe we were raised different or evoke different or see the world this way or that way, we are united under the most important truth that there will ever be, that Jesus plus nothing equals absolutely everything. That Christ was crucified and on the third day he was resurrected. And if that's true, and it is, then everything has changed. And when we show up up, all eyes go straight to Jesus and all voices lift high and worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is the ministry that God has given our church to fulfill. That we are made to make heaven more crowded by helping people to know God and live on purpose and change the world. So if I could just finish this series by reminding us what a rowdy church is one more time. We are a rowdy church of imperfect people who can't keep quiet about Jesus. We're not a Christian country club. We are a party for prodigals rolling out the red carpet for those who are far from God. We're not a courtroom for the convicted. We are a hospital for the broken. We take God seriously, but not ourselves. We're called to build the church, and we're going to enjoy the ride as we go. We believe Jesus is the answer and the church is the greatest evangelistic tool on the planet. So maybe now more than ever, we are turning up the volume to make heaven more crowded Somebody shout amen Red Rock Church, let's worship.