How To Stay Calm In Any Storm | Steven Furtick

One of the weird things about living with  other human beings in the same house is the idiosyncrasies you notice about  them, whether you want to or not. Like, my kids… I can tell which one of them  is knocking on the door just by the way they knock, just by how they use their  knuckles. I know my kids by their knock.

Isn't that weird as a parent? You learn to  identify which kid. Abbey has a very polite knock.

It's a very gentle knock. It's a very  delicate knock. It's a beautiful knock.

It's a knock that says, "If you have the time to  open the door and this is the opportune time, would it be possible that you do so? " It's  just a very gentle knock. It's a tender knock.

Elijah was totally different. Now he's very  chill, but when he was smaller, his knock was undeniable. Meaning, he's not stopping until  you open the door.

Even back then… He's actually really good at making beats, and he's making a  lot of beats these days. ("Dothedash" on YouTube, by the way. ) When he used to knock on the  door, he used to make beats on the door.

That's when he started making his beats.  Just on the door. And they were relentless.

He's not stopping. It's like a trap beat on  the door just to get you to let him in. Then Graham is the one who doesn't knock,  and you didn't even know he was at the door until three weeks later when he says  something he overheard in a conversation he wasn't supposed to hear.

You get to know  somebody when you're living with them, so you can tell who's at the door  just by how the knock sounds. Living in relationship with God, you learn to  discern when it's him knocking. If you don't, you'll open the door to people who don't have  the best intentions in mind, and you'll open the door to the Enemy who may bring you what  you want in your feelings that is destructive to your faith.

If God lives in your heart,  over time you'll learn to discern his knock. At first, you'll think God knocks with a  sledgehammer, because that's what church teaches you about God pretty early on, at  least in the southeastern United States. If it's a fired-up church, they teach about God  coming through the door with a… Have you ever seen this kind of God?

He is a battering  ram. People will say things like, "Oh, I love that sermon today, Pastor. God was  just kicking my butt all over the place.

" Yet you learn that when you really live  with God, his knock doesn't take much, because you know his knock. Knock, knock. Knock,  knock.

You also learn that, a lot of times, what you will initially think is the  Devil knocking on your door to attack you is actually God knocking on  your door to develop you. What knocks on the door looking like trouble  sometimes is training to teach you to trust in God. This takes time walking  with God to learn that sometimes, even if you don't like what's standing at the  door when you hear the knock, by the time God gets done working in your situation, even what  the Enemy meant for evil God will turn for good.

It enables you to live with a kind of faith that  is very peculiar to people who think everything God brings into their life looks nice.  Sometimes when you pray for an opportunity, you'll be surprised to open the  door and find opposition instead. Have you ever prayed for patience?

That's  a dumb idea. I never pray for patience, because I know exactly what God is going  to send to the door if I do: trouble. God is going to send something to get on  my nerves so bad.

God is going to send a bad driver in front of me on Providence  Road with an Elevation sticker. Y'all, the other day, I was coming to church, and  I was singing in the car. I was singing, "I'm going to see a victory," or something like  that, one of these good songs we sing around here.

The person in front of me was such a bad driver I  lost all of the Holy Spirit. I lost 12 percent of my anointing per minute that I was behind this  person. I was so mad I came right up on them, and then I passed them and slowed down just  to teach them a lesson.

Then they turned into the parking lot with me, and they were  coming to church, and they were a volunteer. So I'm having to learn that you  might not like the package your prayer request shows up in when it  comes to your door. Knock, knock.

No matter the delivery system, you can trust  that God is the one who is superintending. The early church had to believe this in a way  that very few of us will ever have to lay hold of, because they were experiencing such a time  of persecution and a time where they had to trust God for their very provision,  especially in Jerusalem. There's a famine in chapter 11.

They're taking up  offerings just so the church can make it. Around about the time they're getting the  famine sorted out… Luke, the writer of Acts, says about that same time… He connects the  events. He says while they're dealing with the famine on one hand, they have to  deal with a fight on the other hand, and now Herod starts throwing  their leaders in jail.

Some of the disciples, if they were  thrown in jail, you probably wouldn't miss them. Bartholomew really… I'm sure  he's a good guy, but James is one of the three. When Jesus got ready to go up on the  mountain and transfigure in front of them to reveal his glory, James, John,  and Peter got to go up and see it.

One of the sons of Zebedee, the Sons  of Thunder. James was one of the guys, and he's dead, and now they have Peter too.  Remember, Peter is their preacher.

It's one thing to lose James. It's painful, but to  lose Peter threatens the very purpose of God. There's so much opportunity, because the  kingdom of God is spreading and advancing, and there's so much opposition.

There's so much  opportunity, and there's so much opposition. Don't you know that when opportunity comes to  the door opposition comes with it? Don't you know that sometimes they are one and the same? 

This is what I'm learning. I'm learning that, a lot of times, when I open the door and see  something I would love to send away in my life, a challenge that I wish didn't come, it is actually  the opportunity for God to teach me to trust him. It's kind of hard to say, "Amen" to that, because  usually you want God to knock and come in with a flower bouquet.

It's kind of hard to know it's God  knocking unless you've walked with him a while. Then you hear the knock the next time,  and you know whatever is at the door, even if God didn't send it, he's going to use it. The church is praying for Peter, but they're  still brokenhearted about James.

Did you notice that part in the passage where it  said he had just killed James with the sword? That means he cut his head off. That  means he was coming after the head.

He was trying to stop the movement of Christianity,  because he knew it would appease the Jews. He knew that in this great time  of opportunity for the church, it was a time of opportunity for  him to advance his human agenda. So the church is praying.

The church  is knocking on the door of heaven, asking God to do something in the situation.  Peter is in prison while the church is praying. Now, one interesting thing about this text. 

It's interesting to note that Peter has no idea at this moment what the people are doing,  and the people have no idea how Peter is doing. Sometimes you have to pray by faith, not even  knowing if it's doing any good in your life. Sometimes the proof that your prayers and faith  are working is that the opposition increases.

Somebody has been wondering, "Is God  even still with me? Is God using me? Is this even worth it?

" But there's  something about that that should let you know if the Devil showed up in the first  place, there must be something important. He must be defending his territory or  else he wouldn't bother with you. So, Peter was in prison, but the church  was praying.

Now would be a good time for us to check on Peter. We know what the church was  doing. They gathered together for prayer meeting, and they got in there and started joining  their faith together.

Peter is in prison, and he's just hours away from his trial. If  it turns out the same way James' turned out, this will be his last night on the  planet. It's that kind of pressure.

Let's see what he's doing. Let's check in on a  nanny cam on Peter, the rock. Let's check on Peter on the eve of his potential, probable execution. 

Verse 6: "The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping…" I need somebody  to fix that in the back. That can't be what the verse says. How are you going to sleep when your  life is on the line?

Y'all need to fix that verse, because that's not possible, is it? "The  night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was…" What? Pacing?

Praising? Praying?  How can you sleep at a time like this?

That really got me, because I did not expect Peter  to be sleeping at this moment. Let me tell you this right now. This is just a confession.

There  is not enough Lunesta in the pharmacy, there is not enough Ambien on earth that I could sleep when  I have… Especially after what happened to James, especially knowing, "This might not  turn out well. We prayed for James, and look at what happened to  him. Now they have me too.

" Peter is sleeping between two soldiers. How  about that? Have you ever had to sleep in between?

"I don't know how this is going to  turn out, but I have to sleep in between. I have to sleep. I don't really know if  this situation is going to get better or what the doctor is going to say next time  I go back, but I have to sleep in between.

I'm in a tight space, and I don't  know if I'm going to make it out, but I have to sleep in between. " Peter was  sleeping in between. He has come a long way, hasn't he?

Remember when Jesus is telling  Peter, "I have to go to the cross," and Peter is arguing with Jesus? He's trying to  tell Jesus, "You'll never go to the cross. " He's trying to give Jesus his plan for Jesus. 

He's trying to create the itinerary for the Son of God who created time and space.  And now he's sleeping? What did Peter know that enabled him to sleep between  two soldiers?

He was sleeping. In the greatest trial of his life, he was sleeping  between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Some scholars think Lil Wayne could have been  in the next cell.

A lot of people were there. "…and sentries stood guard at the entrance. " So  he was sleeping.

What did he know that enabled him to sleep in between? Maybe…suggestion…he  wasn't sleeping because of something he knew with his senses. Maybe he was sleeping  because of something he saw in his spirit.

Maybe what he saw in his spirit was a direct  reflection of an experience he had with Jesus. Remember in the boat one night when  they were going to the other side? In between where they were and where they  were going, they hit a storm.

Sometimes you set out for the destination, but it's  in between that your faith has to kick in to believe God. When all of the disciples were  straining… The Bible says they were straining at the oar. They were straining against the  wind.

They were straining against the waves. While they were straining, they went down to  check out Jesus, and they were surprised to find out that while they were straining, Jesus  was sleeping. So maybe when Peter found out, "They might kill me," he decided, "There's  only so much I can do about this, and when I get to the other side, I'm going to need all  my strength, so I'm going to sleep in between.

" This is God's word for somebody. God said, "I can do more while you're sleeping than  you can while you're straining, and if you will get out of the way and out of your flesh  and out of your anxiety…" The disciples said, "Jesus, don't you care we're in this storm? "  Jesus said, "This is how I fight my battles.