Introduction: Welcome to Calvary Albuquerque. We pursue the God who is passionately pursuing a lost world; we do this with one another, through worship, by the Word, to the world.

Skip Heitzig: Erwin Lutzer is heard on three separate radio programs. We carry one here in town on KNKT called Running to Win, and it's a great, great teaching program. Besides that he's written many books, and they're good books. You know, I've written books, but he writes good books. [laughter] And we love to outfit the body of Christ, and every book that I've ever read of his has always been an excellent resource. And we commend them to you, and we brought extra. And he has also, Erwin, has agreed to after this service he'll be out here in the foyer signing books. If anybody wants a signed copy, you can have that after the service. Anyway, without further ado would you welcome our guest today Pastor Erwin Lutzer. [applause]

Dr. Erwin Lutzer: Thank you, thank you. I just want to begin by saying that we have been so warmly welcomed and even right now, you know. We came here yesterday and everyone has been so friendly, so welcoming, and we thank you very, very much. For years I heard about Skip's ministry and I heard about your church. And the opportunity to be here and to connect with you and to see what God is doing is absolutely wonderful. And we thank God for you and the fine ministry that God has given to you right here in the city of Albuquerque. And thank you so much for carrying our radio program Running to Win. How many of you listen to Running to Win? Look at that. And thank you so very, very much. And if you want to connect with us, you'll notice in the bulletin today there's an insert.

You can fill that out, take it to the book table, and in that way get use to our website with resources. Thank you for having us. In Chicago there was a couple that went out for their fortieth wedding anniversary, fortieth wedding anniversary, each was sixty years old. An angel appeared to them and said, "What would you like for your anniversary?" The wife said, "I've never traveled." The angel flashed his sword and in her hand instantly were two tickets for a world cruise. It was the man's turn. He took the angel aside and said, "You know, I'd really like to be married to a woman who is thirty years younger than I am." The angel flashed his sword and instantly the man was ninety years old. [laughter] [applause] Be careful what you ask for. [laughter] Give God some specificity.

Now Chip was talking about Billy Graham. I know---excuse me, your name isn't Chip, it's Skip, but Skip and Chip, and, you know, all that comes together at some point. [laughter] I said to my wife, I said, "Honey, I don't look seventy-two, do I?" She said, "No, no, you don't, but you used to." [laughter] And, by the way, my lovely wife is sitting up here. Would you stand please, Rebecca. [applause] She's sitting up here. I was born in the farmlands of Saskatchewan, Canada. Many Americans---and I'm an American now, but was, of course, a Canadian---they don't know too much about Saskatchewan, Canada. But it was a town that was so small that if you plugged in an electric razor, the one street light would dim. [laughter] But I became acquainted through film with evangelist Billy Graham.

And what I'd like to do now is to---Skip mentioned---give you a little bit of Billy. And I'm going to begin right smack in the middle of the sermon. But I do want you to know that this is a book I've written. This is The Cross and the Shadow of the Crescent. It's important for you to know that as you'll understand in a moment. But right in the middle of a sentence we'll begin. Billy Graham: [impersonating Billy Graham] "The problems of the perplexities that we face as a nation seem to be almost overwhelming. Recently one of our leaders, speaking to a group of students at Johns Hopkins University, said that we may well be living in the most confusing, bewildering, and perplexing hour of history. All of our leaders agree that the world seems to be plunging at long toward disaster.

"However, this evening it is our privilege to be in Albuquerque, the gateway to the great Southwest. We have been impressed with its beautiful banks, offices, hospitals, and factories, which form a striking picture against the evening sky. This is a beautiful place and may well be called a city of grandeur and splendor. This evening it is our privilege to be in this leading church. As I have traveled around the world, I've met scores of young people from Calvary, founded so many years ago. I believe that in this day of intellectual moral and spiritual confusion it can have an impact upon the thinking of the entire world. Now for those of you who have joined us tonight by television, we'd like to send you some literature. And we'd like to send you a book that has been a blessing to tens of thousands of people around the world written by Pastor Lutzer. [laughter]

"Just write to me, Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota. That's all the address you need, just Billy Graham, Minneapolis, Minnesota. [laughter] Now until this same time next week, good-bye and may the Lord bless you real good." [applause] Well, thank you very, very much. And as you think of us in the wonderful city of Chicago, I know you'll be praying for us. And I can assure you of this, Skip, we'll never forget this marvelous weekend here in Albuquerque. Well, I'm going to speak to you [applause]---yes, thank you. [applause] I'm going to speak to you on the topic of surviving a storm: "How to Survive a Storm." Now, I don't know who you are, but I want to assure you of this, that either you are coming out of a storm, you are entering into a storm, or you're in the middle of the storm.

Because all of us have storms of life and they break upon you. And it may be an emotional storm. It may be a moral storm. It may be an economic storm. Maybe it's your health. Maybe this week the doctor told you things about your body that you thought could only be true of someone else and you received some very damaging, discouraging news. This message is for you. One of the things I absolutely like, and we ought to do a better job of this in Chicago, is that when I looked at your bulletin, I noticed that you have a sheet of paper there for notes. Because I'm going to be very clear, I don't want to be like a politician who left a political rally in Chicago the other day and whispered to one of his aides, "I hope that in the excitement I didn't happen to make myself clear about anything."

So you're going to be able to take notes. And those of you on the front, I want you to know front seat on earth is front seat in heaven. And that tells me something about those of you in the back for sure. [laughter] Are you ready? Thank you for saying yes. Let's take our Bibles now and turn to the fourteenth chapter, the fourteenth chapter of the book of Matthew; Matthew, chapter 14. Now some of you don't have your Bibles, but you have your iPads, you have your cell phones, and so forth. And that's fine. I'm glad you have those. That's wonderful. But just look at me for a moment and let me remind you that this is a Bible, all right. But thank you, thank you for having your text with you. The fourteenth chapter of Matthew, verse 22, Jesus has done a miracle, by the way, he fed the multitude.

And when he's finished, verse 22, "Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray." Catch that---Jesus is on the mountain. "When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them." Are you here today and the wind is against you? "And the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and they said, 'It is a ghost!' They cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.' "Just that part for a moment.

What I'd like to do now is to give you seven lessons that you and I must learn to survive a storm, seven lessons. And you can take notes, you can write these down, because if you don't need them today, you'll probably need them tomorrow. Lesson number one is this: Storms are often encountered---storms are often encountered in obedience to Jesus. Let me ask you a question: Were these disciples in the will of God? Oh, wouldn't you like to have that kind of direction? Imagine Jesus saying to you, "Get into this boat and go to the other side." The explicit command of Jesus, and they obey, and they encounter one of the greatest storms they ever had on Galilee. My friend, today if you're in the middle of a storm, doesn't necessarily mean that you've married the wrong one.

Doesn't necessarily mean that you're in the wrong vocation. Doesn't mean that you've made some bad decisions, though there are times when we do that. The fact is this: the holiest path is not always the smoothest path. Now I want to tell you today that God leads us into storms by divine appointment. Remember this, the text of Scripture tells us that it was the Spirit who drove Christ in the desert to be tempted of the devil. Be encouraged and just know that in the midst of these storms you may indeed be doing the will of God, because storms teach us, and in obedience to Christ we sometimes encounter them. Second lesson is this: The storms should remind us of the promises of God. The storms should remind us of the promises of God. You say, "Oh, where is that in the text?"

Notice in verse 22, "Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side," to "go before him on the other side." What Jesus is saying is, "Get into the boat, go to the other side, and we'll meet there." You know, if the disciples had pondered these words from Jesus, they could have enjoyed that storm, because there was no possibility that the boat would drown. Because on that boat was John, and God still had a purpose for John. John was going to write several books of the New Testament. On that boat was Peter, and Peter was going to write First and Second Peter. And may I remind you of the fact that if you're walking in obedience, if you're to be hung, you'll never drown. Another way of saying that is this: that there is no is combination of angels and demons that can put us to death if God thinks there is still work for us to do, because we are in God's hands.

And when life becomes difficult, and when you are in the midst of that storm with all its winds that are trying to blow you away, when that happens will you be reminded of the promises of God? And, of course, the Bible is filled with various promises. Let me remind you of one of them. We read in Hebrews, chapter 13, God says, "I will never leave you or forsake you." Did you know that in the Greek text there are actually five negatives in that verse? God is saying, "I will no not leave you, and I will no not forsake you. Never, never, never, never, never." And when we are going through that storm, what we have to do is to remind ourselves of the promises of God and believe those promises even when the wind is against us. That's the second lesson: Storms remind us of the promises of God.

Third---and this becomes very critical now. The third lesson is simply this: Even when we cannot see Jesus, Jesus sees us. I mean, here they are in the middle of night---if you've been the Galilee you can visual it, because Galilee is surrounded by various tall hills called "mountains" in the Bible. And there is Jesus on the mountain. Could the disciples see Jesus? Of course not. But even though they couldn't see Jesus, Jesus saw them. He knew the longitude and latitude of their little boat. He knew exactly the height of the waves, the speed of the wind, the depth of the water. He knew all that because of his omniscience. And his eyes were upon them, even though they couldn't see him. And you know there are times in our life when things are so dark, when they are so hopeless, when we can't see God.

I have a friend with whom I played tennis for twenty years. His name is Mark. And, by the way, tennis players are often times very bad husbands, because to a tennis player "love" means nothing, if you remember. [laughter] And he was told that he had terminal cancer. And he told me that there was one time when he left the bedroom, he went into the den and he sat down and he said, "All faith drained from my soul." My friend, today there are times of darkness when we cannot see God, but God sees us. And may I remind you that when push comes to shove in life, it is more important that God see us than that we see God. And today, my friend, God sees you. He sees you in that marriage. He sees you in that home. He sees you in those circumstances. Be encouraged, there times when we can't see him, but he sees us.

Let's go on to lesson number four. Lesson number four: Jesus comes to us, he comes us at the right time. Your Bibles are open, it says in verse 25, "And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea." He is the "just in time" God. Four o'clock in the morning when it's a darkest, when the disciples are most weary, when the situation is most hopeless, it is then that Jesus comes, in the moment of our desperation. Remember the story of Abraham in the Old Testament? He is about to slay Isaac. He's about to slay Isaac, but the angel of the Lord says, "No, don't do that." And off in the bushes there is a ram caught just in time. Do you know why Jesus sometimes doesn't come to us and we don't see his hand? It's because we're not yet desperate.

My wife and I know a young woman who was involved in immorality and she always prayed, "God, get me out of this lifestyle, get me out of this lifestyle." And, finally, in utter desperation---and God loves desperate people---she got on her knees and she said, "O God, either get me out of this lifestyle or kill me, but do one or the other." And it was that day that she left that lifestyle behind. Today she's married to a man and they minister to broken people, and broken people are everywhere. Would you remind ourselves we are living at a time here United States of America where all the dominoes seem to be falling. Every day we hear something on the news that is more distressing. And yet sometimes we as believers are not yet desperate enough.

And we forget the fact that for America this is the fourth watch of the night, and it is getting darker, and we are getting more weary. But Jesus comes to us at the darkest moment of our lives, and even as all of our history. Number five: Our fears---our fears might be Jesus in disguise, Jesus in disguise. By Jesus in disguise, I mean Jesus in camouflage; we don't know that it's Jesus. You'll notice that the text tells us this. Verse 26, "But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. They said, 'It is a ghost!' and they cried out in fear. But Jesus calmed them, saying, 'Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.' "Would you remember that that which they feared was Jesus coming toward them. And sometimes we don't recognize the fact that Jesus comes to us, but it doesn't look like Jesus.

The doctor who brings you that bad news, the situation that seems to be over your head, it may be Jesus coming to you. A number of years ago Rebecca gave me an article written by a couple who had a special-needs child. Now, you must recognize that this child seemed to ruin their life. When the child was born, they were angry, questioning, "Why us?" And they did not know, except now thirteen years later. They're writing an article about it and they're saying, "We didn't know that this child brought to us incredible blessing. The child revealed our own selfishness. This own child taught us to be closer to each other and closer to the Lord." That child was Jesus coming toward them, but it didn't look like that right away. I remember the days when I was playing tennis with my friend Mark.

I think, for example, of all that he went through and the agony and the tears that he went through. But once he accepted it, I said, "Mark, have you ever thanked God for your cancer?" He said, "I thank him all the time." Because even there as he anticipated heaven, where he is today, Jesus was coming to him at the point of his need. But he cried out in fear, but it was Jesus who said, "I'm here with you"---Jesus coming in disguise. Well, let's go on now to a sixth lesson. Lesson number six: The water that threatens to be over your head is under Jesus Christ's feet. The water that threatens to be over your head is under the feet of Jesus. For a moment I want you to visualize Jesus walking on the sea. He's walking on the sea as if he is walking on a marble floor.

What was it that the disciples feared? The disciples feared drowning. They feared the water. But Jesus showed that he was totally triumphant over that water. And I want you to visualize Jesus today totally triumphant over your storm. The Bible says that God has exalted him. The Scripture says that he is above every principality and every power and every name that is named both in this world and in the world to come. And though it may be difficult for you to grasp and for me to grasp in the midst of injustice, in the midst of pain, in the midst of mystery, and surely God's ways are mysterious to us, we still believe that Jesus walks in triumph as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God of all gods. He has your storm under control.

Tony Evans is an African-American preacher. Perhaps you've heard him preach many times. I love to hear him preach. He's a great preacher. But he tells this story, and I was actually in Dallas with Tony a couple of months ago, and I verified the story with him. He and his wife, Lois, were on a cruise, and the intercom the captain spoke to the people and said, you know, "We're headed into a storm, a real serious storm. And we want you to know that it's going to be very, very terrible for the next few hours, so buckle up, or do whatever you need to do." Lois didn't like that. So she connected with the captain, actually his assistant, and said, "Why is it---why is it that we're going into the storm? Why don't we just set down anchor, and then when the storm is over, we can progress?"

The assistant said, "I'll talk to the captain and I'll get back to you in just a few moments." So he called back and he said, "The captain has two things to say to you." And I'm sure that this first thing was said very, very carefully and respectfully. But he said, "The captain wants me to remind you that he's in charge and you're not." That's important to know. [laughter] And then he said this---and if you haven't been taking notes until now, now is the time for you to grab a pen to write down what the captain said. What he said was, "Tell that woman that this ship was built with this storm in mind." And, my friend, today when you believe on Jesus Christ, when you receive him as Savior, the Jesus who died on the cross and was resurrected, that Jesus triumphant over death and over hell, that Jesus had your storm in mind.

Maybe I'm speaking today even to someone and you think that you have sinned too much for Jesus. You have not sinned too much for him. May I even say---and don't misunderstand me it---Jesus is a better Savior than you are a sinner. And what he can do is he can forgive you and he can cleanse you, because he died and was buried again with your storm in mind. He can handle it. That's lesson number six. Lesson number seven: Our ability to walk---our ability to walk is dependent on the focus of our eyes. Our ability to walk is dependent on the focus of our eyes. Verse 28, "And Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.' Jesus said, 'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus."

For a moment if you had had your cell phone there---I used to say camera, now I have to say cell phone---You could have taken a picture and you'd have seen both people walk on the water. Peter was walking on the water with Jesus, even though he didn't know where the stones were. I mean, he was walking supernaturally, participating in the victory of Jesus. "But," then the Bible says, "when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out." And, you know, there is a place for long prayers. I had a professor in seminary used to pray for about ten minutes. There's a place for long prayers, but then there's also a time for short prayers, and this is one for a short prayer. [laughter] "Lord, save me." By the way, when you look at the text, isn't it interesting that Jesus is the "immediate" Jesus?

Verse 22, "Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat." Verse 27, "Immediately he said, 'Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.' ""Peter beginning to sink cried out, 'Lord, save me.' "Verse 31, "Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took him." He is the "immediate" Jesus. Sometimes we as pastors, we criticize Peter. We say, "Well, why didn't he just keep looking at Jesus and walking?" And it's true, if he had kept looking on Jesus, he could have walked all the way to him, or as far as Jesus would have had him walk. But we have to commend Peter for getting out of the boat. There are other disciples who are not willing to take the risk, and may I say it is impossible for us to do anything significant for God unless we are willing to take the risk.

Someone has well said that "A wet Peter is better than a dry Thomas." [laughter] And you know, Thomas: "Yeah, I'm dry." "Yeah, but, Thomas, you didn't get out of the boat." But here's my question to you today: What was Peter's greatest problem? Was it the speed of the wind? Was it the height of the waves? Was it the depth of the water? And the answer is no. Peter's greatest problem was a lack of faith. Because, you see, to Jesus it didn't matter the depth of the water, the speed of the wind, the height of the waves---all those to Jesus were irrelevant. I mean, we're talking to the omnipotent Lord Jesus. That didn't compute. That was not it. "O you of little faith." And you know, my friend, that's what it comes down to in our trials at the end of the day.

We look at the waves and we're conditioned to look at the waves, and we forget that we must look at Jesus. You say, "Well, Pastor Lutzer, how do we do that?" Well, I'd like to make one more reference to my friend Mark. About a week before he died of cancer I said, "Mark, how do you keep peace in your heart?" And he went to a drawer and he pulled out three or four laminated sheets of paper. He said, "On these sheets of paper are about 120 promises from the Bible." He said, "When I become fearful, when I begin to think of what death may be like, and how that is, and then what you experience after death," he said, "when I am that distracted and lacking peace, I begin to go over the promises of God." He said, "I've memorized most of them, and if I continue to stay focused on the promises, peace comes."

You and I always are looking at the waves. We're seeing all the waves and we forget to look at Jesus. Someone has written these words: "One ship sails east, the other sails west, by the selfsame winds that blow, 'tis the set of the sail and not the gale that determines where we go," if we look at Jesus. In a few moments that's what we're going to do. Now, maybe you didn't expect that this morning, but I want you to be thinking of your three greatest anxieties. I'm limiting it to three. For some of you wives it may be your husband. You know what we're going to do? We're going to get rid of him. [laughter] We're going to give him to Jesus. How is changing him working out for you? How's that working for you? [laughter] Wouldn't that be interesting to have a testimony meeting of how it's not working out for you?

It may be a health issue, it may be a relational issue, it may be an economic issue, but I want us to give those anxieties to Jesus. The Bible says, "Casting all your care upon him for he cares for you." This past June, Rebecca and I flew from the city of Chicago all the way to London, England. I want you to imagine that there we are on American Airlines and, of course, this is only imaginary, because you couldn't do that especially in an age of security. But let's suppose after we get off and begin the trek across the ocean I were to think to myself, "You know, I wonder if those pilots are awake?" And so I ask a flight attendant, "Would you check to see whether the pilots are awake?" She comes back and says, "Yeah, they're awake."

An hour later I say, "You know, it's time to check again, because I've known people who have fallen asleep in an hour's time. Would you check?" So she goes and checks and she says, "The pilots are awake." Well, I'm embarrassed to ask her a third time, so I'm talking to her, I ask her, you know, "When does this plane land in London? How long have you been a flight attendant?" And we get into that discussion. And I said, "Well, you know, now that we're talking, you know, would you go check to see if the pilots are awake?" And she says to me, "I'd like to make a deal with you. I'll pour you a cup of coffee if you promise to step outside and drink it." [laughter] And then she says, "You know, you're insulting the pilots of American Airlines." And, you know, I would be insulting them.

My dear brother and sister, you and I insult him every day. We insult the Lord. We give the Lord a problem and then we say, "Well, what has God done? I haven't seen any changes. In fact, things are worse now that I've given it to him. So this isn't changing. This is going on too long." And God says, "Wait a moment, I may not change your storm, but I am going to change your heart." And we give it to him and then we act as if he's asleep. Today what we're going to do is I'm going to pray a prayer in just a few moments, and I want you to give those anxieties to God, "Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you." The Bible says that the day is coming when the governments of the world are going to be upon the shoulders of Jesus. He can handle your burden. He can handle your storm, and he can handle mine.

He's inviting us to make that transfer. Now this transfer from your anxieties and putting it on the shoulders of Jesus for some of you especially is going to be very, very difficult. I remember a woman saying to me one time, "Pastor Lutzer, you want us to give up our anxiety," she said, "if I were to give up my worries, I'd have nothing to think about. [laughter] Because I go to bed with my worries, I wake up with my worries, I eat with my worries." I'll tell you, those worries become deeply ingrained and eventually Satan actually binds people with the fears and the worries of life. So this isn't easy. We're going to pray. That doesn't mean that it's going to take care of all of it, but I'm going to give you a pattern by which you can. We're going to make the transfer.

And after we've made the transfer, if tomorrow morning you wake up and the worries are back on your shoulders, instead of rehearsing them all again, simply affirm the fact that these burdens have now been given to the Lord. You're not going to invite worry back, but rather you're going to give praise to God and thanks that he is captain of your ship, and that he will help you and guide you, and take you all the way to the shore. And if you're here today, if you're here today as an unbeliever, there's some of you who won't make it to shore unless you are shipwrecked. That's how you'll get there. But don't wait till then, because the Captain is able to carry you all the way. Now we're going to pray and then I want you to pray. And if you've never trusted Christ as Savior, well, I remind you---I'll tell you that ship was built with your storm in mind.

It was built with your need in mind. It was built with your addiction in mind. It was built with your sin in mind. Trust the Captain. Let's pray together. Father, today we confess with Peter, we believe, but help our unbelief. In the midst of a world where all that we see is waves, in the midst of homes where there is so much dysfunction, so much pain, and we look at those waves, help us today to look to Jesus. And help us as best as we can to make that transfer from our shoulders to his, that we might not worry, as Jesus said, "Your heavenly Father knows what I have need of. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you." And now I'm going to pause for a moment and I want you to pray.

You tell Jesus whatever he has spoken to you about. Name those anxieties and trust God to carry them for you. Father, in these few moments do in us and through us a work that will bring us all the way to eternity and change us forever. For those who struggle, for those, Father, who will still leave here with anxiety, help all of us, Father, to cast our care upon you, believing your Word that the peace of God can guard our hearts even in the midst of a storm. Bless these dear people, bless the pastor and all those who are involved in this wonderful ministry, we praise you in in Jesus' name, amen.

Closing: What binds us together is devotion to worshiping our heavenly Father, dedication to studying his Word, and determination to proclaim our eternal hope in Jesus Christ.

For more teachings from Calvary Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig visit calvaryabq.org.