How to Find Peace When Life Gets Hard

where we're studying the miracles of the Bible. And we're answering the question, does God still do miracles? And the whole series, well, it's built off of one amazing theme verse. I hope you're memorizing it with me. The Bible says it like this, your ways God are holy. What God is as great as our God. And would you read this next part with me, everybody? You are the God who performs miracles. You display your power among the peoples. And I love that truth today, that God is a miracle worker. Now, this is the way we're defining a miracle in this series. A miracle is a less common kind of God's activity, in which he arouses peoples on wonder and bears witness to himself. That's a miracle. And I believe he can perform one in your life today. Now, you're in for a real treat today, 'cause I've asked our student director, Zachary Combs, to preach this message. And let me tell you, Zach has a passion for the students of our church. And he's leading the team that's literally changing the way the next generation thinks about church. Zach is a strong leader, a gifted preacher, and an awesome son-in-law. Zach and my daughter, Emma,

just celebrated one year of marriage, and they both serve our church so faithfully. In fact, I'm gonna let you get a little secret today. This is Zach's first Sunday morning sermon ever. So I know you're gonna show him a little extra love and support and encouragement. So come on, water's Ed's church family. Would you stand your feet? Would you show love and honor to this up-and-coming preacher, Zachary Combs? (audience cheering) Wow. Y'all are incredible. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Y'all can have a seat. Y'all can have a seat. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Well, y'all, I am excited to be here with you this morning, and I am so honored. I'm so honored to be here. You can, I wanna show some honor and some love to Pastor Sue and our first lady, Ms. Tabitha Hodges. Can you give them a round of applause? Yes, y'all, they are incredible, incredible, incredible. I'm so thankful for them, not just for this opportunity to speak to you this morning, but y'all, the love that they have for you as a church, it cannot be understated.

Like, I get such a behind-the-scenes look at what they do, and it's so special. It's so special. I hope you realize how much they love you because they do. And like Pastor Sue just said, my name is Zachary Combs. It is my honor to serve ministers who in love on our middle schoolers and high schoolers right here in our church. (audience applauding) And I couldn't do it without an incredible team behind me like he mentioned. We have Emma, Amber, Pastor Sterling, and over 60 student group leaders across all of our campuses. Y'all, the ministry would not happen without them. So thank you, thank you, thank you. (audience cheering) And like Pastor Sue said, this is indeed my very first Sunday preaching at any church. And so I'm gonna let you in on another secret. I'm a very open and honest person. I'm nervous, y'all. (audience laughing) I'm nervous, I'm nervous. So if you guys can help me, listen, Pastor Sue and I, we've been working on this for over a month, and he's told me the entire time. He said, hey, there is no better place to preach than a water's edge church. And I believe him, I believe him.

So if you wanna help me feel a little bit better this morning, you know, if you've got, whether it's on your note page or on the app, write something like, you know, you really mean it. Like that was good, that was good. And then if I, if I tell a joke, even if it's not that funny, just laugh, okay? Just laugh, it's worth it, I promise. But hey, one more time, I just need some response right here. How many people have been enjoying our Miracle Series? Yes. (audience applauding) Yes, y'all, this series has been incredible. It's been so awesome. I'm honored to continue it this morning with you. And I actually wanna use one of Jesus's most famous miracles in the Bible to ask this question this morning. Does God even care? Does God even care? I'm gonna start us off like this. Like he said, Emma and I, my wife, we've been married for just over a year. We just celebrated our first anniversary in July. Yes, we got married on 7/11. It's incredible, it's been an amazing, amazing year. Oh yes, that's her. She's awesome. We all spend an incredible year.

If you ever go get a free slushie on 7/11, just think of us, that's our present. You're welcome, it's free. You're so welcome. Well, over this year, Emma and I have what we've called some holy disagreements. And I'm sure everybody who's married in the room can understand. We call them holy disagreements because they're just, they're arguments about stupid stuff. Like, it doesn't make sense why we're arguing about it, but in those moments we discover Not everybody cares about the same stuff. And I'm gonna play a dangerous game with you. I'm gonna talk about some. And Emma's not here to tell her side of the story. So, this is just what's happening today. If you think about me later, pray for me. (audience laughing) First and foremost, something that I've always been passionate about, and I don't know where this came from. It's just always been the case. I am passionate about whenever you walk in the bathroom and bear with me. Whenever you walk in the bathroom, the toilet paper should face towards you. That is the only answer. I don't wanna be reaching up under it. No, facing it towards you is the only right answer. That's something Emma didn't really care about

whenever we first got married. And that's okay, right? That's something, that's a great example of something we didn't care about the same thing. Another one. Everybody has prized possessions, right? Everybody has something that like is really important to you. Emma is a very cold person. She's just by nature, cold. She always has a sweater. She always has a jacket or like a blanket. Well, she has one specific blue blanket that she's had forever, forever. It's come on, every trip, it's affectionately named as blue blanket. And so that blue blanket comes everywhere. If you say that word, the name blue blanket in our family, everybody knows what you're talking about. Everybody knows exactly the blanket. They can picture it. Well, Emma and I were on a trip shortly after we got married, and I thought it would be funny to joke about blue blanket and say, hey, how funny would it be if we just like left it in the hotel and didn't leave, like didn't bring it back home? Well, Emma did not think it was very funny. I was told that my jokes were not funny and I should stop. So, Emma cares about blue blanket. One more thing, one more thing, is that she cares about the laundry, okay?

Now, depending on when you ask us, this is probably our most recent holy disagreement. It's always the laundry. But it was also our first. It was also our very first. So, about two weeks ago, you know, Emma follows all the rules. She, you know, you separate stuff that goes in the dryer, you take stuff out, and there's certain stuff that doesn't go in the, or I'm sorry, in the washer, and then you don't put stuff in the dryer, all those rules. I didn't follow those in college. I don't know how I have anything nice. But I do, made it, but about two weeks ago, about two weeks ago, I'm changing the laundry in our house, and it's not until about 45 minutes later that I realized I reverted back to my old habits. Mm-hmm, I reverted back to my old habits. And about 45 minutes later, from beside the dryer, I hear Emma, Zachary Levi! Woo! The middle name came out. Y'all, I shrunk about five of her sweaters, and one really important sweater. So, like, where her hands should have been like this, she was really like this. Like, she was upset. She's like, Zachary Levi, do you even care what goes in the dryer? Needless to say, I turned in my laundry badge that day. I am no longer allowed to do laundry in our house.

Emma would tell you, Emma would tell you that I lost my laundry privileges. But I would tell you that I just lost my least favorite chore around the house. (laughing) Yes, y'all, y'all, I'm telling you, I'm telling you. There, you see, we're not the only ones who struggle with this question, though. The disciples who followed Jesus actually struggle with the same things. They ask these same questions, no, not about the laundry, but they ask Jesus, Jesus, like, do you even care? You even care? And so, that's what I actually want to address today and use this moment that we're gonna talk about to address this question of do you even care? So, today's moment picks up in Mark 4.35. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn there. If not, it's gonna be on the screens, that's okay. I'm gonna give you some context while you're getting there. You see, in Mark 4.35, we pick up after Jesus has spent all day preaching to what's been called a large crowd. That's how the Bible describes it, a large crowd. And they didn't have the technology that we have today. So, in Jesus' day, the way that you could accommodate a large crowd is you would go to the beach and the speaker would go out in the water and they would be standing in this boat projecting over the water to this crowd.

And so, Jesus has been doing this all day, fighting the wind and the waves. And he's been rocking back and forth, talking to this crowd. And Mark 4.35 picks up on this. And this is where we start. The Bible says this, "As evening came, "Jesus said to his disciples, "let's cross to the other side of the lake." So, they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind, although others followed. But soon, a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat and it began to fill with water. Y'all, this was no ordinary storm. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. Y'all, can you imagine that? Like, your boat is actively filling up. Like, the disciples were so stressed, but Jesus was napping, and shout out to my teachers in the room, like, y'all are troopers, 'cause you get it, teaching is exhausting. Sometimes you just need a nap. Sometimes you just need a nap. But, that's what Jesus is doing here, and then the verse keeps going. It says, the disciples woke him up shouting, "Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?" You see, the disciples thought,

that because Jesus didn't perform the miracle right away, that he didn't care. Put yourself in the shoes of the disciples here. Why do you even need to ask? Why do you need to even wake up, Jesus? Because you're terrified. You're scared for your life. Jesus, don't you care? Don't you care about our lives? They thought he didn't care, though, because they were in the storm, and Jesus hadn't stopped it. And maybe you're here today, and you've been feeling like that, too. Maybe you feel like Jesus doesn't care, because he hasn't given you your miracle. I still can't buy my kids the things I need to buy them, so Jesus must not care. Otherwise, I would have made ends meet. You know, my kids are still running away from their faith, so God must not care. Otherwise, they'll be coming back to the faith. God must not care about me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten the diagnosis I did. I wouldn't be facing the things that I'm facing today. So God must not care. Don't you even care. It's a question that all of us have faced. Jesus, do you care about my situation? Do you care about the miracle that I need?

They were in this storm, and y'all, it must have been powerful. Let me remind you, some of these disciples were professional fishermen. Like, they've seen some storms. They know what it's like to be in a storm, and they were terrified. They were scared for their lives as professional fishermen. And so many of us, we face a storm in our life, and our mind immediately goes towards, oh, I must not be in God's will. Because I'm in a storm right now, Jesus, I must not be where you want me to be. But that's exactly what the problem was not. This storm had nothing to do with the disciples being outside of God's will. In fact, they were in the exact middle of God's will. Remember how it started? Jesus started by saying, let's cross to the other side of the lake. Imagine, Jesus knows what you're going through. Imagine Jesus calls you on your phone today whenever you get home. And he says, hey, I know what you've been going through. I need you to go here and do this, and take this step. How closely would you follow it? To the T, right? Yes, like, there's so much in this passage. It's like, Jesus told them face to face. That's how clearly he instructed them. This is where they were going to go.

God had a plan for them. And it involved crossing this lake. Is Jesus God? Absolutely. So did Jesus know that this storm was coming? Absolutely. Somebody might not be getting it. Let me say it like this. God might have called you somewhere, but nowhere in God's calling does that mean that there won't be storms? One of my favorite pastors I listened to a lot, his name is Dr. Tony Evans. He preached a passage on this exact, or a precious sermon on this exact same passage. And I stole this quote 'cause it's so good. He says, in the will of God, it will reign. See, that's special because a storm isn't going to tell you whether or not you're in God's will. Nobody is exempt from the storm. Jesus' response wasn't saying, "Oh, it's windy, there's a storm." I didn't know about that, my bad. Let's turn around. No, Jesus' response. Jesus' response is to say, "Hey, I'm here with you. "Just because you feel defeated at the bad doctors report "doesn't mean that God doesn't care for you. "Just because your marriage gets hard

"doesn't mean that you're not called to love that person. "I know it's hard to forgive them. "Do it anyways. "I know that your kids are giving you the run for your life "that doesn't make you any less called to teach them, "to love them, and to lead them to who they should be. "And I know that that job that you felt called to "might really suck. "That doesn't mean quit. "Just because it's hard doesn't mean to give up "because what if that job is a mission field? "What if you are supposed to be the person at your job "who changes the culture at your work? "So if God called you somewhere in the first place, "don't you dare let the enemy tell you "that you're not exactly right. (audience applauding) Just because it's hard doesn't mean that it's not right. And that's the exact tension that the disciples felt in this passage. That's the exact tension, Jesus, do you even care? I've asked that question before. I'm sure everybody in here has at some point in their life. The disciples assumed that since Jesus didn't stop the storm that he didn't care. And when they didn't get the miracle that they expected, they assumed that this wasn't where God wanted them to be. They were focused on the outcome of their situation instead of focusing on God. But what's wild to me in this story,

it's so natural. This is like a natural response to be thinking about the outcome. How many of us, if we were in a boat that's actively sinking, taking on water, how many of us would freak out? Everybody, right? Like, that's the natural response. But just like pastors who talked about last week, the disciples here and so many of us are seeing with our natural eyes and we're missing the spiritual happening around us. We need to pray for and train spiritual eyes. I know you prayed for healing and God didn't heal. God, do you even care? I know that you prayed for your marriage and you still got a divorce. Things haven't gotten better. God, do you even care? You prayed for your finances and you still didn't make ends meet. God, do you even care? You were focused on the outcome and we always think of miracles as outcomes but there's two problems with that. And if you're taking notes today, I want you to write these down. Number one is that when we focus on the outcome of a miracle, we miss his presence.

When it comes to a miracle in the life of a believer, the who is more important than the what. God has promised his presence through every storm. He's our who. Joshua 1-9 is God speaking and he says, "Have I not commanded you? "Be strong and courageous. "Do not be afraid. "Do not be discouraged. "For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Psalm 23-4 says, "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, "I will fear no evil for you are with me." We hear it straight from the mouth of Jesus in Matthew 28-20 where Jesus tells his disciples, "Surely, "I am with you always to the very end of the age." Are you seeing it? God is with you always. Our peace isn't found in the absence of storms. It's found in the presence of God. Peace that passes all understanding is a miracle. You know, I didn't start out college thinking that I wanted to be a pastor. I actually started off college thinking that I wanted to go back to my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and I wanted to be a attending physician at the children's ER. I know in the emergency room, it's crazy. Well, all I knew was I graduated high school

and I was smart and I wanted money. So a doctor seemed all right. So that's what I went for. It wasn't until my sophomore year of college where I ended up on a mission trip to Africa. In Africa, I had no idea but God would flip my whole world upside down. You see, my whole identity for my future was put into working in medicine. But smack dab in the middle of an orphanage where we were staying at in Africa, God met me. He met me and one night we were having this worship service and I felt like in my mind, God was just putting the Garden of Gethymani on my mind where Jesus went alone to pray before he was crucified. So, I don't know why, but I did. I modeled what Jesus did. I left my group in Africa, not recommended, but I did it. I did it. I left my group and as I was walking away, I was looking, I was like, God, leave me. Where do you want me to go? I don't know. And I felt like he highlighted this flagpole about 20 yards away. So I walk up to it and I just fall to my knees and I'm crying with open hands. I'm like, God, I don't know what I'm doing or where I'm going.

But God, wherever you go, I will follow. And just like that, I was almost, as clearly as you can hear me now, God impressed on my heart to say, you thought I wanted you to heal those around you with medicine. But I will use you so that I can heal those around you so they can live forever. (congregation applauding) And that was it. In just a moment, in just a moment, it was all over. But I knew exactly what I had to do. I came back to the States and I immediately switched to my major and well, I mean, you get it. I'm not in the ER, right? I'm here before you. I grew up in the church. I did. I know that pastors don't make anything compared to doctors. but future finances for my family? Yes, that was scary, absolutely. But just because it was scary didn't mean two things. It didn't mean that I was out of God's will. In fact, I was stepping into it. And it didn't mean that God wasn't with me because from that day, I can tell you with certainty that from January 2nd, 2023 at about 945 at night in the middle of Africa that God has been with me. He has opened doors that I never could have opened. He's given me peace when I was uncertain about my changing future. He guided me and directed me where I didn't know where to go. And even though God did some amazing miracles to get my heart and show me just how good he is,

that doesn't mean that his presence wasn't the goal the whole time. If I had been focused on the outcome, I would have missed the fact that his presence was the biggest blessing of the whole thing. Everybody's going through something, right? Everybody has a storm. Everybody's carrying baggage. We're all fighting something. But I want to caution you against being the person who gets to the end of a storm and says I missed his presence. I thought of a song I heard as a kid and it says, I wish somebody would have told me that these would be the good old days, right? How true is that? I wish somebody would have told me whenever I was a little kid playing street hockey and eating icicles out of the freezer and not worrying about what's for dinner because I didn't have to pick. I wish those somebody would have told me, hey, just enjoy it while it lasts. Or now in our house, I wish somebody would have gone back to me in my apartment to say, hey, you're going to miss the days when you don't have a lawn. I know that it's going to be so tempting, so tempting to have this immaculate lawn. But you're going to miss the day that you're in your apartment and you can just chill out because you don't care what's going on outside, because it's not your responsibility. Right, I wish somebody would have told me that those were the good old days. The heart of this song and this idea is that we wish somebody would have stood in front of us to tell us, to tell us that we don't have to worry about the future. So don't miss what's in front of you. I know that the storm isn't easy. And listen, I know some of the miracles in this church that we're praying for. I do. But don't miss the presence of God in the middle of your storm because you'll learn so much more about your God if you learn to enjoy his presence in spite of the storm.

Because it's not about the outcome. It's not about the outcome. If you're focused on the outcome of a miracle, we already said number one is that you'll miss his presence. And our second point today is when we focus on the outcome of a miracle, we'll miss his purpose. There are just some things about Jesus that you cannot learn until you've weathered some storms with him in your life. There are some things about his goodness, his grace, his love, and his kingdom that you will never know unless you walk through it with him as your focus. As painful and as scary and as difficult as storms can be, knowing Jesus more fully, more personally, more intimately is always worth the price of the storm. The disciple Peter was actually on this boat with Jesus. He was screaming, "Jesus, do you even care?" He was one of them with him. Peter later wrote in 1 Peter 5-7, "Cast all your anxieties on him because he cares for you." Peter went from, "Do you even care?" to "He cares for you." Peter found his answer in God's purpose through the storm, and it changed his life. And like I said, the disciples were in the middle of God's will for their life. And though God knew that the storm was coming their way, that doesn't mean that God causes every storm. But it does mean that God can work through every storm to accomplish his purpose. So let me ask you, what is God teaching you in this storm that you could never learn from the safety of the shore? Could it be that from the safety of the shore, you would have never learned how much God loves you

if it weren't for him sending you your best friend at just the right time? Students, could it be that you never learned how much God has for your life because you never say yes to his calling? Because you never cared enough. If you haven't found God's purpose for your life, take a page out of my book and know that it's not always easy. It might be a storm. But trust me, I can say on this side of the storm. I understand that God may work in some mysterious ways. And although we might not always get it, God's miracle is coming. And it did for these disciples. So read this next passage with me. When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Silence, be still." Suddenly the wind stopped and there was a great calm. Do you still have no faith?" The disciples were absolutely terrified. "Who is this man?" They asked each other. "Even the wind and the waves obeyed him." Y'all get fired up because Jesus calmed the storm. He spoke to the wind and spoke to the waves and there was calm. He provided the miracle in the moment of need. And even if it wasn't what they were expecting, he did the miracle. They made it to the other side. Because Jesus said that's what was going to happen at the very beginning. But they needed to know his presence and understand his purpose before they got there. So now let me ask you, when did the miracle happen? When did as we define in this series, the less common work of God happen?

We talk about in this story, the miracle in the storm, that's what everybody focuses on. What we all want. We all want the miracle in the storm. I'm sure we all have an area in our life if you think about it, that there's a storm that if given the opportunity, you need a miracle, you need your storm to be calmed at just a word. Can God make your marriage better? Yes. Can he heal you? Yes. He's the God of miracles. He calmed the storm. But I want to submit to you today that there's a greater miracle happening in this story and it's the miracle of the storm. God the storm, the disciples would have never known the presence and the purpose that Jesus had for their lives. It's the miracle of the storm and if you weren't struggling in your marriage right now, you would never know the presence of Jesus after it. If you weren't lost not knowing where to turn, you will never know the presence like you will after Jesus guides you. If the storm of finances has never hit your home, you will never understand dependence like you will after. We all want Jesus to stop the storm, but what if we all got closer to him because of it? That's a miracle too. The storm doesn't have to stop for it to be a miracle and there's that tension there. We all want the miracle in the storm. We all want God to swoop in and fix our problems, but how many of us are willing to look past the situation to say what if the miracle is the storm? What if that's how God's revealing more of himself to you?

Students, if you're praying for a miracle of more friends, don't just look at the miracle of more friends. Think about the fact that God might be reorienting your heart to say, "Hey, I'm your best friend." What if that's to make you a better friend in the future? Some of y'all have been pouring out your heart, chasing something, a job, a promotion, a house, I don't know, chasing something. You just, you can't get it with that storm of disappointment. What if that's God reorienting your passions to say, "Hey, I should be at the center. I'm what your passions should be to begin with." So you find a new purpose after your disappointment because now you get that your purpose is to grow closer to Jesus and to honor him. You see how it works? Like there are miracles in the storm. We saw Jesus perform one of those today in the scriptures and I'm going to pray that you experience one. But there are also miracles of the storm and I'm praying that you don't miss those either. And there's one more thing. Let's not forget how this story started. Right at the beginning of what we read, Jesus looks at his disciples and he says, "Hey, let's cross to the other side." Now, listen, I'm only 23, 24 next month. There's a lot I don't know. I recognize that. There's a lot I don't know. Hey, I had to call my dad this week to ask how to write a check. There's a lot I don't know and I get that. There's one thing I do know. If Jesus tells you you're going to make it to the other side of the storm, you will. Somebody in this room needs to be reminded of how your story started. Jesus says that he loves you even when you feel like nobody else does.

He says that you have a family in him when you feel like nobody else can relate. Jesus says that you can find security and stability in him from that anxiety that's eating you up. All you can think about is what's going to go wrong. Jesus says you can find security in him. He says you can find freedom from that bottle, from that website, from whatever it is, but only in him. You can fill that hole in your heart that you've tried everything for, but only with Jesus. And I know if Jesus promised you all of those things in Scripture, I know that you're going to make it to the other side. The disciples did. Look, this is the very next verse from where we left off. So they arrived at the other side of the lake. They arrived at the other side of the lake, y'all, even though- they would have made it to the other side because Jesus promised they would. Even if the storm you're going through never stops, you're gonna make it to the other side because Jesus promised it. Don't miss out on God's presence and His purpose in the middle of the storm. So let me ask the question that the disciples asked one more time. God, do you even care? Let me tell you with confidence that even if you don't get the miracle that you're hoping for, even if you don't get the storm to stop like you hope, He cares, He cares.

Would you bow your heads? Would you pray with me now? Jesus, well, there are some of us here in this room who are facing some intense storms. God, there's so much happening in our life and Lord, even for those of us who are used to storms, that God is terrifying. God, I pray right now that right now we wouldn't miss your presence and your purpose in the middle of this storm. God, I pray that you would use storms in our life to grow us closer to you. With every head bowed and every eye still closed. There are some of us here in the room who've never accepted that promise from Jesus, that you're gonna make it to the other side. Just a second, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer where you can begin a relationship with Him. This is if you've never done it, the Bible says that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So if that's you and you've never began a relationship with Jesus, never taken a hold of that promise that you're gonna make it, I wanna invite you to do so right now. And I'm gonna ask for my sake so I know who I'm praying with that you just raise your hand high. Let's do it now. Raise your hand high so I know who I'm praying with.

I see your hands, I'm so thankful. Praise God. Praise God. I just need you to pray with me, okay? Repeat after me in your heart silently to God. Say Jesus, I wanna know you. I want my sin forgiven by you. I wanna be made right with God in heaven through you. Commit to my life. Be my Lord and Savior. Amen, amen. Y'all, can you give it up for all that God's done today? (audience applauding) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)