Viola Solid Rock Assembly
On the Other Side
Amen. A couple weeks ago we talked about the uncertainty in the storm and we've talked about the "I am" in the storm. We've talked about Jesus strolling on our fears and we've talked about where our focus should be during the storm and that being obedient doesn't necessarily mean that we're not going to walk through storms. In fact, most of the time it means that we're going to walk right through the middle of it. And today we're going to kind of wrap up the storm series with the last few verses of Matthew chapter 14. Matthew 14 verse 34 through 36 it says, "After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Geneserit. When the people recognized Jesus, the news of his arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area and soon people were bringing all of their sick to be healed and they begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe and all who touched him were healed." You know when I think about this and I think about where the disciples had just been and what they had just gone through and then we see this, something changes. All right. They were in the middle of the storm and there have been times that I've been in the middle of the storm and I've been wondering how I was ever going to make it through. And that's where the disciples were. In the middle of the storm they couldn't see the other side of the lake. They couldn't see what was happening there. They couldn't see what was going to happen. They were in a spot where they were wondering are we even going to make it? You don't think about miraculous things happening in the middle of the storm. Matthew 14 really had had several miracles going on prior to a during and after the storm though, I mean prior to the storm we see Jesus not on the feed 5,000 people but not only did he do that, Jeannie. He actually got off this boat in Bessata and looked and had compassion on the people and he healed some of their sick is what it says. Not all of them, some of them. He had compassion on the people and he feeds them, he heals them, he feeds them, he's doing things and working with these people and in Bessata. And they're in my mind when I think about him them going on getting in the boat and going across the lake. I wonder where some of the people they got fed that day. Did they just eat and run? Did some of them eat and run not to get away but to get to the next place? See when they got off the boat at Bessata, Jesus was actually trying to get alone. That was what the scripture said. He had just found out that John the Baptist had been beheaded. He was trying to get alone but people ran. They ran along the shore to beat them to where they were going. It's only 20 miles from Bessata to the ministry. 20 miles. It's not hard to do. It's not hard to do. Right? Missy, how long does it take you to run a mile? Six minutes, okay. You could run it faster. I know but six minutes. A mile. You know, it wouldn't take that long. That's six minute mile. That's 10 miles an hour. I didn't say all of them were running that fast. I'm just saying, it's believable that they were. That there were people that went and ran because they found out where they were going and they ran to get there before them. It's not hard for me to believe. I was in Ireland a few years ago and every time you asked someone how far something was, they would tell you how long it took to walk there. They don't walk as fast as I do. That's okay. But they would tell me how long something was walking. I was thinking, man, that's going to take a long time and then it wouldn't take that long. But I really liked it when the associate pastor gave me a ride somewhere. I think he was the only person in the whole church that had a car. But I think about it and I think about these guys and what if they just ran to get ahead of them? Verse 35 of Matthew 14 says, "When the people recognized Jesus, he landed on shore. The people recognized Jesus. The news of his arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area. And soon people were bringing all their sick to be healed. They recognized him and they started telling everyone, they were bringing everyone that way to be healed." Prior to the storm, Jesus had shown compassion. Verse 14 says, "Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped off the boat and he had compassion on them and healed their sick." Before the storm, Jesus felt compassion. Before the storm, the disciples just wanted to send people away though. They just wanted to send people home. It's getting late. They go to Jesus. They said send these people home. Their compassion was lacking. But Jesus, Jesus was showing compassion. He had compassion for people. And there are several times throughout scripture that Jesus shows compassion. And in fact, it says Jesus showed compassion. It talks about it here. It talks about when he healed the blind man that he felt compassion for them. And it tells several times before he healed someone, before he did something for someone, he felt compassion for them. And that's what made him respond or react or do. He saw the huge crowd and he had compassion on them. First Peter chapter 3, verse 8 says, "Finally all of you, be light-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble." Compassion is a virtue. It's a virtue that involves feeling moved by the suffering of others or the needs of others and taking not only the feelings, but taking the action to help. If all you do is see it, but you don't do anything to help it, you're not showing compassion. If you see a need, oh man, that's a terrible need. Yeah, somebody else will take care of it. That's not compassionate. What kind of compassion is that? There is none, right? There's something about compassion. There's something about showing compassion. One of the key reasons we built that building down the hill was to be able to expand our compassion ministries. It is the compassion building, in fact. We want to see needs and we want to meet those needs with resources and we've been doing that. Over the last six years, we've seen several needs met through compassion ministries. The last five years specifically, one of the biggest outreaches that we've done here is our fall fest and we've just made it. We just made it through it. Our fall fest, the goal has always been to meet needs in our community. I realize that in doing compassion ministries, you're going to have those that take advantage of it. It's part of the territory, but for the most part, we've been able to meet real needs that people are having with giving away food and clothing and shoes and laundry detergent and diapers and basic household needs are met. Our numbers for fall fest have grown. When in 2020, I couldn't find any numbers from 2018 or 19, but for 2020, we had 270 people here. I don't know if you remember anything about 2020, but that was right at the end of COVID. In 2021, we had 547 people here. In 2022, we had 625 people come through. In 2023, we had 612 people and this year, our biggest crowd that we've ever seen come through 861 people came through. The impact was great. The impact has been powerful. In this year, the compassion building has been completed. We've been paying on the loan since November of last year, so in the one-year time that we've been doing that, we've received 12 semiloads and three box truck loads of product to give to people in our communities, that we've received a little over 450 pallets with that thing. 30 communities besides our own have been affected by the products that's come through that building. Because of the relationship that we had built with Convoy of Hope when that tornado came through Mountain Home a few weeks ago, sales deal a few months ago, that Sunday morning I made a phone call and Monday morning we had a convoy truck sitting at first assembly in Mountain Home. To help the people that had been impacted by the storm. A week later, we had another semi sitting on Flippin's parking lot doing the same thing. And it's because the impact that's been made and the inroads that we've made because we're partners with Convoy of Hope and rural compassion and city serve and the other ministries that we've been partnered with to see things happen and see things go on. It's, you know, it's not that we've just, they've just been giving us stuff. I have to write a report every month to send a convoy and every month I have to Chelsea has now taken over writing the report for city serve. Every month we have to write reports and send in not about, not about the stuff that we got about how we use the stuff that we received. How do we give it away? They want to know what churches came and got stuff. They want to know how many communities were reached. They want to know how many people were touched. 30 communities besides our own in a year have been touched with this ministry. I know that sometimes we get like the disciples. Sometimes we get like the disciples were in verse 15 when they said the evening, that evening the disciples came to Jesus and said, this is a remote place. It's already getting lakes in these people away so they can go to their village and buy food for themselves. We get to that point and I realize that before the stop, the storm, the disciples said, let them fend for themselves. There was little if any compassion. I've been there. I've been there. I have a hard time with, with, with, it's one of my hardest people to feel compassion for or people that panhandle. I have a hard time with that. When my parents were living in Oklahoma City, I was there for something on holiday and they had a news thing. Those people who panhandle Oklahoma City have to buy a permit to be able to panhandle. I was like, what? I couldn't believe it. Then they did this investigative story and they followed this guy who was at one of the main intersections. I'd seen that dude. I had given him water and stuff. He lived in a big nice house on the nice side of Oklahoma City. I was like, I've never given that guy nothing ever again. I have a hard time with that. My father-in-law works at one of the ERs in Little Rock and they brought a guy in that had been panhandling. They brought him in. He had been hit by a car. They had to, he died. They had to take his belongings and catalog it. He had over $10,000 cash in his pocket and had been panhandling. His family was in Dallas and the someone, something that, I don't know who paid for it, someone else paid for their airline tickets to get home. My father-in-law like, he's got all this money, use it to pay for him to get home. I have a hard time feeling compassion for those people. I'm being real with you, but there is something about people who have a need. When I went to St. Louis two years ago and I went down in downtown inner city St. Louis and met with a pastor that was there and he took me into the homeless village there in St. Louis. And what I saw there and what he explained to me because my compassion level for those type of people just weren't very high. But when he started explaining and telling me the things that they endured and the things that they went through and the things that happened because the reason that they were homeless and and why they couldn't get not be homeless anymore, something happened, Charles. My compassion went up because now I'm seeing it from a different light. It's not necessarily that some of these people want to live this way. Some of them are game in the system. But some of them get to those points that they're being homeless and you're like, why don't they go get a job? Well, because they don't have a driver's license. They don't have an address to give to get a driver's license. Did you know that you have to have 47 documents to get a driver's license? Lose your driver's license and try to go get another one. They can see your picture on the screen and say, no, we don't have your DNA sample, your firstborn son, and your birth certificate and three forms of identification. You know you can't get any other form of identification without your driver's license? I lost my wallet. It was in a car accident. I tried to go get my driver's license. That lady was looking at my picture and looking at me and going, sorry, I can't do it. I can see her screen. I'm like, that's me. No, there's nobody that looks that ugly. That's me. But you know what I could get with no identification whatsoever? My social security card, that made me so angry. Before the storm, though, the disciples, they had no compassion. They said, send them away. Sometimes we get that way because we don't see the fruit of the compassion ministries. We don't see what's happening. We give this stuff away and we don't see any return. Where's the return? And sometimes we get to that point and we're like the disciples have just send them away and let them fend for themselves. Where's the return? This is a heavy burden that we're bearing. Where's the return? And so we don't see the fruit, so we're not willing to step up. When we started praying about the building down there, the financial side was one of the things that weighed heavy in that. I don't like debt. I don't want debt. But I felt like the Lord was saying when we were praying about it and I knew that it was going to take us into debt, I felt like the Lord told me the money was in the house. And there have been many things that throughout, many times throughout the process, throughout this process, especially in the last year that I've been reminded of this by him. November of 2023, when we signed the final loan of $170,000, I felt him say the same thing that I felt him say at the very beginning, the money was in the house. And I know that many of you have given sacrificially towards this building. And when we've seen it, we've seen God show up time and time again throughout this process and bless us. And I know many of you have sacrificially given, and I pray that God blesses you because of it. And I know that he has in some ways. When I was approached by an individual that said, they wanted to, because of the prompting of the Lord, they wanted to offer to match anything that came in for the building up to $40,000. Meaning if we give 40, we could actually be giving 80. It was once again a reminder from the Lord that he hasn't forgotten. This is a huge sacrifice for that individual. My prayer has been since they spoke to me about this, that as they took a huge step of faith, that it would cause other people to take a huge step of faith. But my other prayer has been God bless them over and above, fill their vats to overflowing. It's a huge step of faith. This morning, I'm asking you to take a step of faith. We're going to receive an offering for this building. October 16th was the day after I received this information. And I called and I got the total of the loan on that day. It was $111,000. I'm believing, I'm believing this morning for $60,000. This wasn't a thus sayeth the Lord that we're going to receive $60,000. I'm not saying that at all. But I'm telling you that I'm believing for it. Because I'm believing for 60, because that means that we're going to receive 100, because it's going to be 40 more. So that's 100,000. And that leaves less than 11,000, because we've made some payments this month. So I'm going to ask the ushers to come and we're going to receive an offering for this building. And my prayer, my prayer is that you have prayed about what God would have you to do. And I pray that as you give sacrificially, that God will open the floodgates of blessings on your life. And I have told you time and time again that I will never ask you to give, that I'm not willing to give myself. So I'm putting my money where my mouth is. And I'm believing that God is going to do the miraculous. Lord, I thank you for today. I thank you for that building. I thank you for compassion ministries that you've blessed this church to be able to do. And Lord, I'm believing, I am believing that this building will be paid off by the end of 2024. I'm believing that today, that today we're going to see a huge dent in that. I'm believing for it, God. And so Lord, I pray that you do it today. I pray that you do what only you can do, God. Lord, I pray that you bless, bless the ones who are giving. Lord, the ones that are giving sacrificially. Lord, I pray that you bless them over and above, God. We just thank you. We praise you. We thank you. We praise you. You're going to be praying, man. Lord, bless you as you give today. Before the storm, the disciples' compassion level was weak. They didn't have much compassion. But during the storm, just a few verses later, they're in the middle of the storm, and they're just trying to survive. They were just hoping to make it through the storm. They were just hoping to make it to the next day. Verse 24 says, "Meanwhile, the disciples were in real trouble, far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves." They were in the midst of it. They were struggling. They were fighting for survival. They were scared. I'm sure there were moments that they didn't know if they would make it at all. Then Jesus changes everything. Jesus changes everything. Isn't it amazing? Isn't it amazing that when Jesus steps on the scene of this storm, we get this picture, Jamie. We get this picture in our mind that he was just walking on glass, right? The water was just peaceful and calming, but it was white-capping. He's just strolling along. No big deal. Peter, come on. We're out here, Peter. Loud mouth. Come on out here. Walk with me. And the waves and the wind didn't stop then, Marshall. It didn't stop until Jesus and Peter were back in the boat. When Jesus and Peter stepped back into the boat, was when the storm ceased. It was when the storm calmed. He changes everything. They have a real encounter with them, and that encounter changed everything. It was the reason that they began to worship him. It was the reason they said, "You are truly the Son of God." It was the reason that a few chapters later when Jesus says, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter was able to say, "You are the Son of the living God." It's because of this moment. This moment that changed everything. This moment that they walked on water and they saw Jesus and he calmed the storm. And they get to the other side, though. It says, "When the people recognize Jesus, the news of his arrival spread quickly throughout the area, and people were bringing their sick to be healed. When they got to the other side, the impact was greater than before the storm. The focus had shifted from feeding the multitude to healing the multitude. There was just a couple healed before the storm. After the storm, everyone who touched him, everyone who just touched the hem of his garment, were healed. We like to think about the lady who pressed through the crowd to touch the hem of his garment to be healed, and that's an incredible story. Her faith was so great, but in this story, it wasn't just one. It was thousands that were touching him. Every one of them was healed. I don't know about you, but if I had the choice of a fish sandwich or to be healed of a deadly disease, I'm going to take healed with a deadly disease every time. It's a bigger impact. They got to the other side and the impact was greater. It was greater impact than eating a sandwich or getting healed. There's a greater impact. There's more to that. Jesus wants to lead us to a place through the storm, to a place of greater effectiveness and greater impact. The other side of the storm has the potential to be the place of greater things, greater faith, greater peace, greater joy, and greater impact. Second Corinthians 1 4 says, "He comforts us in all of our troubles so that we can comfort others when they are in trouble. We will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us so that we can. He comforts us so that we can comfort others. He can take your greatest misery and turn it into your greatest ministry, your story, your testimony of God bringing you through the storm of life truly can be life-changing for someone else." Can be life-changing. Sharing your story is important. How did you make it through the storm? This is what happened. It could be an impact to change someone's life. It can also be a warning. A few years ago, I was with a friend of mine and we were talking about a storm that they had went through and we were talking about how it happened and the things that went on during that situation. It wasn't something that I went intentionally to talk to him about. It just kind of came up in conversation and we got to talking about it. Within a week, I was faced with some of the same stuff, but because of the conversation, I recognized it before I walked the long path. Before it took me down the path that I didn't want to be on, I recognized it. Had we not had that conversation, I don't know. I might have recognized it. I might not have. But because of the conversation that I'd had about them walking through a storm and what led up to the storm and the decisions they had made and the things that happened, it just made me more aware. Telling your story is witnessing. Acts 1 8 says, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be witnesses, telling people about me everywhere in Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." Well, I don't know how to witness. I don't know how to tell people stuff. Tell your story. Tell your story of what Jesus has done until Jesus stories make zero impact on others. No one can tell your story like you can. When we look at the four gospels, they all tell the same story, but they all tell it differently. Because the same thing affected each one differently. If we took five people in this room after service and asked them to tell us something about the service, one person is going to be able to tell you the color of clothes that everyone in the room was wearing. One person will talk about a moment in the worship. Someone else will say something about something that I said. Maybe we all heard the insult, the same things, but all of our takes will be different because of our life experiences change our outlook and changes what we input too. I'll be talking to Chelsea about someone and I'm like telling her we'll be somewhere and I'll be telling her about this person. I know their name. I've got their name. I caught their name out of the whole conversation. All she can think about is what color shoes and shirt they were wearing. And I'll be telling her about them. I remember I was telling her about this lady one time and I was like she has blonde hair and she was like and she was wearing blue shoes and I'm like I don't know I didn't look at her shoes. I have no idea. That's not something I care about. They could have been barefooted for all I knew. All of us see things differently. All of us process things differently and things that I could say the same I could say one sentence and everyone hears something different in the sentence. Someone will come up and tell me that I said something. I'm like I didn't say that. And they're like yeah and they start telling me about when I said it. I'm like no that is okay I maybe I said that but I didn't say it that way. I don't know how you got what you got out of that what I said but okay I'm following you now. Psalms 139 16 says you saw me before I was born every day of my life was recorded in your book every moment was laid out before a single day had passed us telling our stories was already laid out. The storms that we go through has already been laid out. God God has a plan for your life. He has a purpose for your life. You're still breathing. You still have purpose. You still have a path that he wants you to be on. He doesn't force us to be on the path David. I see it like I see our stories like alternate endings to a movie. If you make one decision this is the ending. If you make a different decision this is the ending. And I feel like that is that way with not just our life in general but every decision that we make in life there are two alternate endings. If we make it or don't make it what how is it going to end? What's going to happen? Do we listen to God or do we not listen to God? Do we follow Him? Do we say yes or do we delay or yes? If you don't think you have purpose or destiny he had it laid out for you. He had it laid out before you were born. He won't force you to but he had it laid out. Ephesians 2-10 says we are we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago. Where is masterpiece? He has a plan for our lives. We all have a different story. We all have something to share and on the other side of the storm our impact is going to be greater. Our impact is greater through the storm after we make it, after God heals us, after God delivers us, after God changes our life, the impact of our story is different David. It's different when God takes you through an incredibly tough storm and He gets you to the other side wrong. It's so much better and the impact that you can have because you went through that storm in that hard time and you've dealt with it and you've made it to the other side and you've done it with a smile. The impact is greater. The impact is greater. We made it. We made it. We didn't fail. We didn't fall. We didn't falter. We didn't quit. We kept pressing through and we made it. We made it. December 2017 had a car accident. Me and Hattie May were in the truck together and I missed the bridge. None of the bridges down there had guardrails on them. She had said something to me and I turned and looked at her as we were coming up on that bridge and my front tire never was on the bridge. When I realized that that's what was happening, I jerked the wheel and when I did it jerked me off the bridge, flipped us upside down into water. In that moment, I was ready. I didn't think I would be able to get out of the car. I had felt my window break as we hit but I also felt the roof crush. I went to try to get out the window. I got hung up coming out. I had knee boots on. They were hung and I could see the top of the water and I couldn't reach it and I remember saying to God, "Take care of my kids." In that moment, I became free and I came out of the water and there was a guy that was in a building that that dude can't hear the thunder and I'm not exaggerating when I say that. He can't hear anything and he heard the accident somehow and he heard me hollering and he came down and he helped me get out of the car. The way the truck had landed, she was able to hold her head up out of the water like this. She was completely unharmed. There was a bruise on her leg where John's big hand grabbed her and pulled her out. That was it. That was it. And I think about that moment from time to time and I thank God you did that for a purpose. There's a reason. There's purpose for my life. I don't know what all of it entails. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow but I know that there's a purpose and I'm here for a reason and not only am I here for a reason but that little girl back there is here for a reason and there is something big planned for her and as much as she frustrates me at times, I know that God has something big planned for her because we shouldn't have walked out of that. I look at the pictures and I don't even know how we did it. But God. But God. And on the other side of the storm, on the other side of the storm, the people, the people that saw that accident, Jacob, and saw me walk out and saw that little girl get out of that truck unharmed. The impact that it had on their lives changed. It changed them. It changed them. I'm believing, I'm believing for impact to happen. The greater impact here at this church than ever before because some of us have walked through some storms and I know that there's going to be greater impact. I'm going to ask everyone that would just stand to your feet. Lord, I just thank you right now. Lord, I thank you for, I thank you for storms that we walk through. I thank you for things that we go through from time to time that don't make sense even though it's not comfortable and even though I don't like it. Lord, I thank you for it because I know that at the other side of the storm, there's greater impact, greater focus, greater blessings. Lord, I thank you for showing us time and time again throughout your ministry that compassion is important. And Lord, as we help us to not become weary in giving compassionately. Lord, I pray that you help us. Lord, I know that there are some people in this room that are going through some storms. Lord, I know that there are some people in this room that need you to heal them. Lord, I know there are some people in this room that need you to touch their finances. I know there's some people in this room that God, they need you to show up in their situation and circumstance. And Lord, I pray that you do it today. If you're in this room this morning and you're going through a storm, you're going through a situation, you've got a health issue that you need God to touch. I want to invite you to come. I want to pray with you. I want to believe with you. Don't miss it because of pride. Don't miss it because you think it's not for me, it's for someone else. If you've got a need, I want to believe with you. Dan, come down here. I want to pray with you. I'm talking to you. Come on. Lord, I just thank you right now. I thank you for each and every one of these people. And Lord, I pray that you just touch them right now. Lord, I pray that you begin to meet needs, that you begin to heal bodies, that you begin to wake ways where it seems like there is no way. Lord, we're believing. We're believing for more. We're believing for greater impact. Lord, we just thank you right now. If you feel that they come and pray for the ones that are here, feel free to do so.