[Music] Let the church say amen amen as you have your seats in the presence of the Lord you have heard the scripture read found in the fourth chapter of Mark's [Music] gospel we thank God for pastor Cosby for the Ministers of the Gospel who serve Christ along with the Cosby we thank God for his partner in marriage Ministry life labor and love sister Audrey who commended me for getting up so early she said she was going to learn how to do that one day we thank God for her for the Cosby family for the Cosby
Ministry members of wheel Avenue you don't know what a blessing it is to have a pastor who honors his predecessor like your pastor done you ought to give praise to God for all the many things I love you for I love you most for that you make Bill Lawson proud you make him know that his work was not in vain and when he sees I didn't tell you all I think it was your fifth anniversary we used to process y'all youall ever seen a processional we lined up in the norx getting ready to come in
and Bill Lawson said to me this young man has taken this church Jerry you wouldn't believe what he's done I said yes I'd believe it but he doesn't brag Bill Lawson brags on you he told me how many members we got how many how many Worship in the Family Life centers how many services you hadn't started four Services back then you were doing three to see the founding Pastor proud of his successor and proud of what God has done is a blessing it's a blessing it's a blessing it's a blessing Jesus said to them why
are you afraid why are you so fearful do you still have no faith want you to pray with me at this service on the theme when fear TR Trump's [Music] faith on that day when evening had come Jesus said to them let us go across to the other side and leaving the crowd behind they took him with them in the boat the disciples were doing what Jesus asked them to do and the text says they ran into a storm in fact it says they ran into a great storm a big storm came up unexpectedly a
huge storm came up out of nowhere while they were doing what the Lord asked them to do how many times have you found yourself in a storm that came up unexpectedly storm that came up out of nowhere I'm talking to somebody worshiping at the 11:00 service somebody who feels stuck in a storm a storm in your personal life a storm in your married life I heard Freddy Hayne say something I didn't know he knew my members cuz I heard my members Testify the same way way where you get home at night and you hit that
garage opener and your heart sinks cuz the other car is in the [Music] garage storm in your married life storm in your relationship life or a storm in your church life let me tell you a couple of three things that years have taught me about storms and trouble in our lives before I share with you what the Lord showed me this time as I studied this familiar text Dr William Augustus Jones was writ first of all Dr Jones former pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church of Brooklyn New York author of the powerful book God In
the Ghetto Dr Jones told our congregation 35 years ago when I shared it with the Wheeler Avenue congregation that everybody under the sound of my voice I'm sure Pastor Cosby has repeated the Across The Years everybody here is in one of three different categories you either in a storm right now or you coming out of a storm or you headed into a storm and most time don't even know it some storms come up out of nowhere some trouble we run into on our journey is unexpected trouble that's the first thing I want to talk to
you about storm the second thing is this there is no such thing and I have preached this ad wheeler there is no such thing as a storm free existence no such thing is a trouble-free existence somebody just missed what I said turn to your neighbor tell your neighbor there's no such thing as a trouble-free life a trree life it doesn't matter what what you heard on television it doesn't matter what you heard your favorite preacher say it doesn't matter what your favorite gospel recording artist saying there is no such thing as a trouble-free life now
before you run out of here and tell somebody Jeremiah ra will Avenue contradicting what you heard about positive thinking or Your Word of Faith theology please don't quote Jeremiah right quote Jesus [Music] Jesus said in this life you will have tribulation in this life you will run into storms in this life you're going to have some trouble in this life you will have tribulation but be of good Shear for I have overcome the world there's no such thing as a trouble free life what does Psalm 27 say quote Psalm 27 in the time of trouble
he shall hide me in this life you're going to have some trouble you're going to run into some storms in this life what does Psalm 46 say quote Psalm 46 to him God is our refuge and strength a very present help in times of trouble in this life you're going to run into some trouble in this life you're going to have some storms what does Psalm 23 say y'all like to quote Psalm 23 thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my what enemy means in this life you going to have some trouble
trouble in this life you will run into some storm no such thing as a trouble free like turn back to your neighbor and tell your neighbor guess what that means that means there's no such thing there's no such thing as a trouble-free relationship relationship trying to help somebody here this morning I shared with you many years ago many years ago Freddy Haynes puts it this way if the gra looks greener on the other side of the fence it may be because the water bill is higher on the other side of the fence somebody is paying
a high price to keep up appearances but there is no such thing as a trouble-free relationship Dr Lance Watson one of Dr Cosby's colleagues Dr Lance says it's because of the differences in communication that men and women have that trouble comes up in relationships men talk in [Music] headlines women talk in fine print after service today no ball game on brother man going to be on the phone talking to his partner May trying to reach you I was over real this morning what Dr K preach about the dude from Chicago was there that's it Sis
be on her phone on her cell phone girl pod was singing they were doing fine fine communication out say that men on average men speak 10,000 words every day women use 35,000 words every day by the time the brother gets home he has used 9,994 of those words so when his lady asks him how was your day he uses the last six words fine what we got for dinner he threw Dr Watson traces conflict in relationships to communication how many of you have heard either Lance Watson himself or Cosby ex that book for you men
are like waffles women are like spaghetti that's a communication issue men are like waffles the next time you go to the Waffle House or the next time you reach in the freezer and pull a waffle out put it on your plate look at it you will see that there are boxes that's how we communicate we got one box for Sunday service got another box for paying bills another box for NBA championship another box for wife another box for kids another box for sex now when we in the NBA Championship box don't try to get us
over in the sex box we do one box at a time and if you notice you notice every time you pour syrup on a waffle there's always one box the syrup just goes around it won't get in that box that's called our nothing box brother come home from work he's tired he had a long day he wants to chill out so he gets in the nothing box and then here you come what you think about his eyes go flitting around in the he's trying to find something to say cuz if he says nothing a so
you don't want to tell me what you you do one box at a time men are like waffles but women are like spaghetti next time you have some spaghetti on your plate pick up one strand of spaghetti and watch Watch What Happens you will disturb 10 or 15 others that's how y'all talk that's how y'all work that's how youall operate you be stirring in the pot talking on the phone closing the back door all the same time Marcus come home why you say listen Jeremiah called by the way where's Jerry and where' you get that
what you get I'm she going ask three questions cuz she's what stream of Consciousness they're like spaghetti so Lance says that's what causes trouble in communication in relationship that's how Freddy says it that's how Watson puts it I have explained it this way for 25 years if the grass looks greener on the other side of that relationship fence you better look again cuz it might just be artificial turf you looking at no such thing as a trouble free whe I said I'm trying to help somebody this Sunday 20 years ago one of my sons in
the ministry Dr Cosby preaches for him every year Covenant United Church of Christ Dr oie Smith Azie fell in love with my artificial turf piece and he went home to Memphis Tennessee and he told his mother a memphian pastor Wright said might be artificial turf his mother who's from Memphis said tell pastor Wright if the grass look green on the other side of the fence it might be because it's sitting on top of a septic tank now for you young City persons you don't know what that is that means there's a whole lot of poo
poo underneath that grass if you're in a relationship you're going to have some trouble Frankie Beverly MA call it Joy and Pain it's like and Joy and Pain are part of what it means to be in a relationship now Freddy hayne's first cousin is Frankie Beverly's business manager he and Frankie close and Frank Freddy says that's old school daddy J that's old school he calls Frankie B Joy May Joy and Pain old school I'm 20 years older than Freddy 14 years younger than Bill I'm old so I told Freddy you have no idea what old
school is calling mazes Joy and Pain let me give you some OG old school ooh about trouble-free relationships No Such Thing tell me what's wrong me now tell me [Music] why never seem to make you happy though heaven knows I try you say it's me who argues I I say is you we have got to get together or baby we I'm put this Markus cos move on you w wake up that's all we do there's no such [Music] thing as a trouble-free relationship turn back to your neighbor say there's one more thing before he gets
to the text one more thing not only is there no such thing as a trouble-free life not only is there no such thing as a trouble-free relationship tell your neighbor there's no such thing such as a trouble-free church getting into a church is like getting into this boat in verse 36 and you're getting into The Old Ship of Zion and you're journeying with Jesus but sooner or later you going to run into some trouble an unexpected storm will come up out of nowhere no such thing as a trouble free church now those are the things
I learned about storms number one everybody in here is in one of three categories in a storm coming out of a storm or headed into a storm two no such thing as a trouble-free existence but then number three and this leads me to what the text taught me this time many times when the storm is fierce enough it will cause fear to overrule your faith Look what Jesus says in verse 40 why are you so fearful how is it that you have no faith Fierce storms sometimes now the years have taught me that Fierce storms
many times cause fear to overrule Faith fear storms many times cause fear to win out over faith Fierce storms can make your fears Trump your faith how many times have you heard somebody else say I'm not going to ask you to confess I didn't have this kind of trouble when I was in the world I didn't have this kind of trouble in fact I didn't catch this kind of Hell till I got into the church go back to my opening sentence the disciples were doing in this text what Jesus asked them to do and they
ran into a storm they ran into a great storm a big storm came up out of nowhere a huge storm came up unexpectedly while they were doing what the Lord asked them to do and a fierce storm caused fear to Trump their faith now look at this text with me and see what happens when fear trumps Faith while you in a storm now even if you're not in a storm in your personal life not in the storm in your married life you're not in the storm in your relationship life you're not in the storm in
your church life I got a hot flash for you in case you had not noticed we are all in a storm in our country's [Music] life mass incarceration Health Care inequities wealth Gap inequities the destruction of public education disregard for black Liv from Ferguson to Flint militarized police tanks Humvees and body armies in the street how far have we come since the bombs in Birmingham in Martin Luther King's days to the murder of black men and women in Barack Hussein Obama's day how far have we come from the murder of emit Till by white racist
to the murder of Freddy greay by white and black police from the shooting and murder of MGA Evers to the shooting and murder of Trayvon Martin from the white robe wearing terrorists of the Klux Clan to the poison water distributors in Flint and Detroit Michigan from the killings by lead in The Bullet to the killings by lead in the water in case you had not noticed we are in a huge storm and with the presumptive nominee whose name is in the title of this sermon when fear Trump's Faith a misogynist racist sexist Muslim hating Mexican
hating bold Brash billionaires saying out loud publicly what racists have been saying on the DL privately why do you think he won all those primaries his finger is on the pulse of racist America one finger that is his other finger is on the trigger of a pistol paid for by the NRA in case you hadn't noticed we are in a huge storm and we're headed for a hurricane but I stop by to warn somebody not to let the fierceness of the storm allow your fears to Trump your faith why because when fear trumps Faith the
text teaches me that Believers forget say Believers forget Believers forget first they forget what the Sovereign said look at the text in verse 35 he says let us go over to the other side he did not say let us go under the waves are swamping into the boat let's go drown together no he said let us go over they forgot what he said when fear trumps faith we forget too many times what he said what did he say about storms Isaiah 43 when you pass through the rivers they will not sweep over you when you
walk through the fire you will not be burned don't forget what he said what did he say Isaiah 54 no weapon formed against you shall prosper don't forget what he said what did he say Psalm 30 weeping may endure for a night but joy is coming in the morning don't forget what he said what did he say Hebrews 13 I will never leave you nor forsake you and that Segways into the second thing that Believers forget when fear trumps Faith the text says the first thing Believers forget was what he said the second thing they
forget was where they were where were they look at the text they were with him on a journey to the other side he said let us go and they took him with him verse 36 he was right there with them they were not alone in the storm they were with him in the storm he was with them in the storm and he will be with you through the storm he will be with you through this storm we are in don't forget what he said and don't forget where you are and who you are with now
that's bad grammar but good theology who you are with in the storm back back in Isaiah 43 he said what the Sovereign said when you pass through the waters I will be with you when you go through the storm I will be with you and please don't miss that word t h r o u g h through a storm is something you go through storms don't last forever trouble don't last forever the Africans enslaved in the storm storm of human bondage sang I'm So Glad trouble don't last always a storm is something you go through
Charles Albert Tenley I quoted in the last service the African-American Methodist Pastor great hnst wrote a song sung by the Detroit mqu take courage my soul and let us Journey on though the night is dark it won't be very long thanks be to God the Morning Light appears The Storm Is Passing Over The Storm Is Passing Over The Storm Is Passing Over Hallelujah remember where you are on a journey going through remember who you're with and remember who is with you as you go through when fear trumps Faith the text says Believers forget first they
forget what the Sovereign said then two they forget where they are they're with him he's with them Matthew 14:28 is one of my favorite companion scriptures about Believers being caught in a storm stuck in a storm write it down now so you can look it up later Matthew 14 that 28th verse is my favorite verse in that story because 36 years ago the year before I started coming to Wheeler Avenue I was stuck in the storm y'all I was stuck in the storm and I was waiting for the Lord to stand up and say peace
be [Music] still now those of you let me see the hands of the fathers here who have daughters all right y'all might know what I'm talking about 36 years ago one of my daughters fell in love she was 15 the brother she was in love with was 19 now in the state of Illinois that's called statutory rap I don't know what they call it in Houston but I was taking my daughter to school every day driving up to the front Leno High School watching her walk into the school I told the members of Wheeler Avenue
when I got here 30 years ago while I'm sitting at the front door watching her walking into the school through the front door this dude's mama is sitting at the side door waiting for her to come out the side door to put her in her car take her to her home give her reer so her son could have sex with her I didn't like him or his mama and we had to go to therapy and the therapist said we need a meeting we need a meeting of the parents so that we can set some parameters
on this relationship I didn't have meeting on my mind I had murder on my mind and I'm in the storm I got to go to this meeting with this woman I can't stand don't like her nor her son and I'm waiting for Jesus to say peace be still Jesus ain't said nothing you know I'm like the disciples wake up don't you see I'm in this I'm stuck here you going to say something you said it in Mark for what you going to say now yeah and I got to preach Sunday you know how hard it
is to preach when you looking out and you want to kill somebody I said when you going to say something and in my daily devotions I ran across Matthew 14 Matthew 14 Jesus was up on a mountain he sent his disciples across they got caught in the storm and he went running to them to be with them in the storm now most of the time when you hear that text you hear us talking about Peter Peter said is that you he said if here not it's me I'm here that really you yeah that's me that's
you tell me to come to you tell me to walk Peter gets out and walks on the water we always focus on Peter walking on the water but if you read the text they got in the boat Jesus ain't said Peace yet the storm died down all on his own what was that text teaching me that week sometimes the Lord don't steal the storm sometimes the Lord don't calm the storm for the believer on he calms the believer in the [Music] storm he said I'm right here with you I'm with you in the middle of
this storm he doesn't calm the storm all the time for the disciples he calms the disciples in the storm just his presence calmed my doubt soothed my fear put a smile on my face and help me to have that meeting to establish parameters on the relationship the counselor said re Pastor right listen I agree with you 100% the boy ain't nothing but until she sees that we wasting our time she said when she wakes up and realize he ain't nothing she going to forget his name Hallelujah she forgot his name when he stands with you
in the storm he will calm your doubts and soothe you for believers forget when fear trumps Faith look at the text in verse 41 which says they were still afraid they feared exceedingly and when they said to one another what manner of man is this that teaches me what manner that even the winds and the way that teaches me that they not only forget what he said let us go over they not only forget where they were us means they were with him and he was with them in the storm going through the they also
forgot who he was say what he said he said where they were where they were and who he was he say it again what he said what he said where they were where they were and who he was you see in verse 38 they called him Master but they forgot he was not only their Master he was also the master of Earth ocean and Earth and Sky they forgot who he was all things were made by him John said and without him was not anything that was made they forgot who he was was he was
the same Jesus who rode through 42 generations of the prophets who in Mark 1 cured a man who had come to church with the Devil in him can you imagine that somebody in church with the Devil in him if you come into His presence he can get out of you anything that keeps you from being in the right relationship with God they forgot who he was he was the same Jesus who went to Simon Peter's home after church and lifted his mother-in-law up off her sick bed restoring wholeness to her body they forgot who he
was he was the same Jesus who healed like a doctor man taught like a teacher man and fed like a grocery man they they forgot who he was don't forget in the midst of the storm that we are caught in and going through that he is the same Jesus today that he was on yesterday he is the same Jesus who not only rode through 42 generations of the prophets he also rode in the belly beneath the decks of stinking slave ships calming his believers who cried out Lord have mercy don't forget who he was he
is the same Jesus who made 19 trips back into the South with Reverend Harriet Tubman to free enslaved Africans from the storm of slavery that they were living through don't forget who he is he's the same Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee and walk the segregated streets of Montgomery Alabama to bring a racist bus company to his knees don't forget who he was he's the same Jesus who spoke out on a stormy sea who spoke out and healed the daughter of a sah Phoenician sister a black woman who spoke and healed the servant
of a Roman Centurion a white man he's the same Jesus who speaks and demons tremble who speaks and his voice is so sweet that the birds hush their singing he's the same Jesus who is still speaking today he's the same Jesus you just sang it who walks with me when the media mess with me he walked with me when folk walked away from me he talked with me when so friends so-called friends talked about me he talked with me he tells me I am his own Isaiah 43 I have redeemed you you are mine he's
the same Jesus who exchanged his life for my life he's the same don't forget who he is he's the same Jesus who thought I was wor saving same Jesus who came and changed my life what a wonderful change he the same Jesus who thought I was worth keeping when others wanted to throw me away so he clean me up inside he thought I was to die for so he sacrificed his life so I could be free so I could be so I could do what come on music come on come on come on come on
come on come on he thought I was wor
