The Three Winds That Test Your Yes

The Word That Called You Is the Same Word That Will Carry You

by Pastor Garrett Black

I want to talk to you today about a fear we don't talk about enough in church. It's not the fear you face before you say yes to something, it's the fear that shows up after you've already said yes.

If you're part of a church like ours, you already know how to say yes to risky things. Planting a new church is risky. Showing up to a crazy outreach is risky. Chasing after God's presence is risky. But saying yes isn’t always the hard part. The hard part is what happens next.

The enemy hates your yes. He hates your obedience, your zeal, and he'll do everything he can to extinguish it. He'll start planting questions in your mind: Did I hear God correctly? Did I step out too soon? If this was really God, why is it this difficult?

Here's the truth I want you to remeber: the word that called you is the same word that will carry you.

I've been plagued by these questions more times than I can count, and here's what I've learned: the resistance you face after your yes will always feel like proof you made the wrong decision. It'll feel like some kind of revelation that you should have never said yes in the first place. But that feeling is a liar. God spoke to you before you said yes. Don't let your feelings rewrite what you know he said.

Think about Peter walking on the water in Matthew 14. Jesus sends the disciples ahead in the boat, and hours later he comes to them walking on the sea. Peter says, "Lord, if it's you, command me to come to you on the water." Jesus says one word: "Come." Peter gets out of the boat, walks on the water toward Jesus and then the wind picks up, he gets scared, and he starts to sink. Jesus reaches out immediately and catches him.

I want to show you three winds that come the moment you step out of the boat.

The wind of insecurity

The first wind is insecurity. It’s the moment you realize how far outside of your control the situation actually is. Peter had the faith to get out of the boat, but once he was out there, the safety of the boat was gone, and there was nothing left to hold onto but the word Jesus had given him.

Here's the thing about Jesus: he loves getting you outside the boat, because it's the only place you can't take credit for what happens next. Nobody gets to say Peter walked on water because he was strong… his only part in the story was the part where he started sinking. Everything else was Jesus.

When we planted this church, neither Pastor Dan nor I had any experience doing it. We were two guys stumbling through, figuring out the next step as we went. Within the first few months, I started having anxiety attacks — sometimes so bad I couldn't get the words out in the middle of preaching. My chest would tighten up mid-sermon. I kept thinking: what have I gotten myself into? I made this public. I can't go back now.

And then I'd remember: this is exactly where Jesus wants me. Because if anything good happens in this church, if anyone encounters God's presence, gets healed, gets free, I know it was never because of me. I'm just walking on the water right now, and if we're floating, it's because the word that told us to plant this church is the same word carrying us through it.

The wind of isolation

The second wind is isolation. This happens when nobody else follows you out of the boat. Jesus only told Peter to come. If any other disciple had stepped out, I believe they would have sunk immediately, because they didn't have the word. Only Peter did.

There's a kind of isolation that comes specifically from obedience: people not understanding why you're doing what you're doing, misreading your motives, even trying to talk you out of it.

Years ago in college, I realized my identity had gotten tangled up with something as small as my hairstyle. If I had a bad hair day, it wrecked my whole day. I brought it to God, and he told me: don't style your hair, don't cut it, until I tell you to. So I stopped. My parents had no idea what was going on. They just saw their son's hair getting worse by the week and asked what in the world I was doing. I didn't have a good answer that would make sense from the outside. I just knew what I'd heard. A few months later, God released me from it — and by then, I genuinely didn't care how my hair looked anymore. The stronghold had starved to death, because I stopped feeding it.

If people around you don't understand your yes, that's not proof you misheard God. Keep your eyes on the word that got you started, not on the people standing in the boat. Vindication comes, sometimes years later, but it comes.

The wind of resistance

The third wind was the literal wind Peter faced. The wind that historically came off the Golan Heights to the east, was blowing directly against the direction Jesus had sent the disciples. That's worth noticing: the resistance came from moving in exactly the direction God commanded. Resistance isn't proof you're off course. It's often proof you're not.

Spiritual resistance rarely shows up looking supernatural. It shows up as a friend asking, "are you sure you're qualified for that?" It shows up as doubt, jealousy, the temptation to quit. Underneath the natural form is a spiritual push against the word God gave you.

Here's what should actually concern you: a Christian whose life has zero resistance in it. If nothing is pushing back, you might want to check the direction you're moving in.

Peter didn't sink because the wind was strong. He sank the moment he took his eyes off the word and put them on the wind.

Hold on to the word that called you. It's the same word that will carry you through insecurity, through isolation, through every kind of resistance you'll face. And there's a blessing in that obedience that reaches further than you think: it wasn't just Peter walking on water that made the whole boat worship proclaiming "truly, you are the Son of God." It was watching one person hold onto a single word from Jesus and refuse to let go. What could happen in your family, your workplace, your life, if you did the same?

Key Ideas

1. The real spiritual battle usually starts after your yes, not before. Most teaching focuses on working up the courage to obey; this message argues the harder fight is staying obedient once resistance shows up.

2. Resistance is often evidence you're moving correctly, not incorrectly. The wind Peter faced blew against the exact direction Jesus commanded. A life with zero resistance is more worth questioning than one with some.

3. Insecurity can be God's design, not a warning sign. Being placed beyond your own competence is what keeps credit from going to you instead of God.

4. Isolation from obedience doesn't mean you misheard God. Being misunderstood by people who aren't walking your path is a predictable cost of obedience, not proof of error.

5. Your yes has ripple effects beyond you. Peter's obedience led an entire boat of people to worship — the reach of a single obedient decision often extends further than the person making it.