In this sermon, the preacher shares a personal experience of being caught in a storm on a boat. Despite the fear and uncertainty, the preacher and his companion prayed and eventually reached safety. The sermon then shifts to discussing the challenges of life and how we can feel overwhelmed by various storms that come our way. The preacher encourages listeners to persevere and not give up, using the example of David in the Bible who faced numerous difficulties but remained steadfast in his faith.

What I'm going to speak on this morning was perfectly illustrated by Brother Helton's boo-boo. It reminds me of the time that I said this year Easter comes. No, I said, the next Sunday will be Easter, and I said next Sunday will be Saturday. And, but the Lord led Brother Helton to say what he said a while ago because it's such a graphic illustration of what I'm going to preach on this morning. I've said this to several people lately. The hardest time to pastor a church is in June, July, and August. Right, Brother Bateman? There are more problems, more fussing, more complaining, more bickering, more falling apart in June, July, August, and there's more in August than there is in July, and more in July than there is in June. Why? Everybody's tired. You had a vacation, you're worn out, you need to go back to work and rest up a bit. Everybody's tired. Summer's here, and everybody's on edge, and all of us are a little bit weary. The burdens are many, and the load is heavy. I was thinking about Brother Helton, and he has a right to say what he said this morning. These men, Dr. Billings, and Dr. Evans, and Brother Helton, I don't know how in the world they're even up here this morning trying to get school ready, and so many things to do. David felt that way once. He felt like you feel this morning, Doc. He felt like you feel this morning, Brother Helton, Brother Dr. Evans. He felt like you feel this morning, two thousand others in this building, and he said, deep, call it, unto deep. What does he mean? What did David mean when he said, deep, call it, unto deep? Are you listening? One time, years ago, when I was pastoring in Garland, Texas, it's been about seventeen years ago, back in the days when I had time to play a little bit, and I used to play golf. Believe it or not, I used to play golf once a week. Isn't that a sight? I shot in the seventies, sometimes in the eighties, and it got up around ninety, a hundred, it was just too hot to play for me, but I shot, I used to play golf once a week. I haven't played golf in years. I don't have time anymore. But one day I looked at my custodian, Emmett Wright. I won Emmett to Christ. I went to his house to visit him one night out in the country. His wife was weeping and said, pray for my husband. He's in a dance band. He's an alcoholic. Everything's about all shot for us. I won that old fellow to Christ. In fact, I saw him the week before last down in Texas. He's still a custodian of a church there in Garland, Texas. Emmett looked like he was a little bit draggled, and I said to Emmett one day, Emmett, let's go fishing. Let's just hang it all. I mean, you drop your brooms and I'll drop my beacons and we'll just go fishing. I'd rather have brooms. But anyway, I said, let's go fishing. Emmett said, preacher, you got your deal. So he went home, and I said, I'll be at your house in a few minutes. I'll go home, change clothes. Emmett had a boat, and so I got in the car and drove over to Emmett's house, and we took his boat out to LaVon, Lake LaVon. I went fishing. They were biting that day. I guess in an hour's time, I caught two. They really were biting. For me, that's biting. Boy, I mean, for me, that's breaking the net kind of fishing, you know. And so I said, they were biting. We were catching them as fast as we could put our hook in the line. They were a big crappie, weighed about three quarters of a pound. I took a picture of one. The picture weighed twelve pounds. But anyway, we were enjoying it. And suddenly, Emmett said, preacher, we're drifting. Even though we're anchors now, we're drifting. And I said, the truth, Emmett, the wind is getting pretty strong. He said, Reck, we'd better go to shore. I said, no, not the way they're biting. Man, we might be killed. I said, what a way to go. What a way to go. And so we stayed and fished a while longer. And finally, Emmett looked up and he said, preacher, if you'll notice, there's a cloud coming up. Now, you folks up here don't know what that means, a cloud coming up. That means that it's going to come a storm like it did last night. And Emmett said, preacher, there's a cloud coming up. We'd better get with it. And at that time, the wind was, it must have been forty, fifty miles an hour. And we had a little boat, a little old engine. I don't know what size the motor was. I think it would run an electric razor. I'm not sure. But anyway, we're out on the lake, a pretty good sized lake. And suddenly it began to rain. And what happened was this. The water, we tried to get to shore and the boat would barely move because the motor was small. The wind was blowing against us. It was blowing right towards us. We had to go that way to shore. And so we, the wind was splashing water in the boat and the skies were putting water from the top in the boat. And the water was coming up from the ocean and coming, from the lake and coming down from the sky. And the waters above and the waters beneath all congregated the place from which they came when they once were just one before creation's dawn. But there we were, the waters in the boat coming up in the boat and coming down in the boat and coming from the lake in the boat and coming from the clouds in the boat and it was windy. And suddenly an old-fashioned electrical storm began to burst forth. I mean the lightning and the thunder and the rolling and there we were dry and would you believe it, the motor went out. And I said Emmett, you grab one oar and I'll grab another. You heard that song, let me love thee oar and oar. Well, that's what we did. We loved both oars. And so he began to row and I rowed and we thought we were gone. I mean, I said Emmett, I didn't go so far as to say hail Mary full of grace, but I almost did. We thought we were gone. And I said Emmett, we haven't got a chance. I said the water beneath and the water above, it's flooding from the heavens, it's bouncing up from the boat. Water everywhere, storm everywhere. We bounce, one wave hits us and when we get over that like a surfer we go down a bit and another wave hits us and up we go again. And just going up and down the and I couldn't swim. Listen, if I got underwater in the bathtub, I couldn't swim to shore. And I couldn't swim and Emmett said, I can't swim either. And we had a couple of life jackets, but we were afraid, scared to death. And finally I said, Emmett, we haven't got a chance. And Emmett said, I know it, preacher. He said, pray. I said, you pray, both of us pray. And we prayed and finally we got to shore. But we kept saying out there on the lake, we kept saying, it's coming from all sides. Water from this side, water from this side, water from beneath, water from above, lightning and thundering, storming on the water, storming in the skies, it's coming all over. And that's what David meant when he said deep, called us unto deep. David's son had rebelled against his father. Absalom had said, I'm going to be the king. I'm going to take over. Absalom won the hearts of the people of David and started a war against David's people. Can you feature that? Can you feature David starting a war in this church and trying to take over this church? My son, can you imagine how I feel? That's how David felt. So David wouldn't fight against his son Absalom. He fled the palace. He went down to the Transjordan area and all over a place called Mahanaim and everything bad began to happen. I mean, every time one wave, he got a one wave, another came. Every time a cloudburst came from the heaven, something splashed up from beneath the boat. Every time he'd get over, maybe a little rain cloud, then a lightning bolt would come and hit. And every time that seemed like the rain would stop, the wind would get stronger. If the wind would stop, the rain would come harder. And it seemed like that bouncing against David from every side, from above, beneath, and the right and left, tragedy and heartache and sorrow. Ahithophel, one of his friends and closest advisors, turned against him. His son, against him. His closest advisor, against him. Mephibosheth, a little lad he'd taken from poverty and obscurity, and brought him to the palace because he was crippled and a descendant of Saul and Jonathan. Mephibosheth had turned against David, wouldn't even stay beside the king, who had brought him from Lodivar and placed him in the palace as one of the king's own sons, as it were. So David was out of his home, away from his land, away from his son. He could see the smoke and the dust of the battle back in the city where his own son was fighting against David's forces. His best friend turned on him. His servant, Mephibosheth, had turned on him. And David goes to a little place called Mahanaim. And David likens his life to that lake I mentioned a while ago. David's head, deep, called upon to the deep. He said, the waters beneath look up and say, send me more rain and send me more wind from the deep above. The clouds above looked down and said, roar more, wind blow harder. And the deep in the ocean said, let's get David. And the deep in the sky said, let's get David. And deep called on the deep. Actually what he said was this. David said, one hits and tells the other to hit. One storm after another. One wave after another. Have you ever noticed that when it hits, it all seems to hit? Anybody here ever say, when it rains, it pours? Huh? That's what David was saying. Anybody here ever go to bed at night and say, I'm glad that one's over? One lady, everything was going so bad and she said, I'm tired all the time and I'm just tired and worn out. And she said, I'll be glad when I get some rest. And the preacher said, God bless you. Maggie said, the day's going to come soon when you'll die and you can go to the grave and just lie there and rest all you want to in the bottom of the casket. She said, no, she said, with my luck, the resurrection will come the next morning and I'll have to get up. And maybe you're that way this morning. Huh? You've been bounced around. David said, deep called upon the deep. What he was saying, when it rains, it pours. It seems that way. Brother Perky on our staff, who's were preaching to one of our groups this morning, he and his dear wife were members of this church, saved in this church. And God gave him a little baby and the baby died and God gave another little baby and that baby died. And they took the baby to baby land beside the other. And God gave him another little baby. I can still see him sitting in the balcony up here on the right and the other building before we built this building with that little baby. And we noticed the baby didn't look normal. It wasn't long to seven months that baby died. And we took the third trip to baby land. The deep called upon the deep. When it rains, it pours. And I helped them find the baby to adopt him because they felt they shouldn't have any more. They adopted a baby and now he's a little boy in our school, but he's not normal. And he's in the retarded class. Deep called upon the deep. I was thinking about Mr. Coburg, God bless him, who was here and had a beautiful wedding Friday evening for his lovely daughter. And Mr. Coburg has been in the hospital and it seemed like one thing gets over one thing, he gets another. A stroke? Yeah, then heart trouble maybe. And then something else. And he's paralyzed. I'm talking to people this morning. You say, when's it all going to end? When's the storm going to end? It's coming from beneath. It's coming from above. It's coming from every side. Deep called upon the deep. When's it all going to be over? But the real David stepped up. The real David stepped up. David didn't say, I'm just going to quit. Good night, anybody can quit. Man alive. You students, I'm going to go home. I'm going to go home. I'm going to, I don't have a place to stay. Okay, sleep on a park bench, but don't quit. Don't go home. Don't turn back. David didn't say, my boy's gone, and my best friend's gone, and my best servant's gone, and my house is gone, and my palace is gone, and my kingdom is gone. No, David didn't say that. David stayed. The student called the other night. He called the other night. He's enrolled in House Anderson. He said, if you can't get me a house and a job, I just won't come. And I said, we wouldn't take you now if you can't. Well, he said, how do you expect me to come without a house or a job? I said, the same way I went to college without a house or a job. But he said, if you don't get a house or a job, he said, I won't come. And I said, if you get a house or a job now, you won't get in. We're not looking for that kind. We're looking for those who, when the battle comes, and the clouds are low, and the lightning flashes, and the thunder rolls, and the storm and the turmoil is about, we're looking for men who will say, I'll stay in the battle for God. I'll not give up. God give us men like Daniel and David and the others who can say deep, call us unto deep, but I shall not turn back. So David stood up, the real David. Something else about David, he didn't complain. If that had been me, I'd have wanted to call the pastor. And I wanted to call everybody I could. The lady came to the office the other day. I said, what can I do for you? She said, nothing. I said, can I help you? She said, no. I said, well, you have any questions I can answer? She said, not one. I said, you got any problems I can solve? She said, an area one. Well, I kept wondering why she came. And she sat there. I said, well, is there anything I can do for you? She said, not a thing you can do for me. I said, well, why did you come? She said, you just sit still for a few minutes and listen. I just want to tell you all the bad things going on in my life. I sat there about 15 minutes. Boy, you never heard such a problem. Job lived in the Waldorf Astoria. Job was a physical specimen, had the most loyal wife that ever lived. Son never went down on his house. The clouds never came over his life. Fifteen minutes! She told me. She got up and said, thanks. Walked out. No prayer, no counsel, no advice. There's a lot of things going wrong. Oh, yes, David. David Long, back in the palace, he loved his wife. David was one of the softest, had one of the softest hearts of all of Israel. It was David who could let his hair flow and look up toward heaven and say, praise ye the Lord, ye stars. Praise ye the Lord, ye beasts of the field. Praise ye the Lord, ye fish in the sea. Praise ye the Lord, ye old men. You young men, praise the Lord. You heavens, praise the Lord. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. It was David who could dance with glee and clap his hands as he went around the Ark of the Covenant, as it came back home. It was David, the soft-hearted David. Sure, David's heart was broken. Sure, he was grieved about his own son, and sure, he hated to lose his best friend, and sure, he hated to lose his dearest servant. His heart was crushed. Never a darker day in the life of David. Never the midnight is dark, and never the moon is absent, and never the stars as dreary, and never the skies as black as they were when David looked and saw his own son against him, and his best friend against him, and his dearest servant against him. But David never complained. A real David stood up. He said, No complaint for me. No, he said, I won't complain. Shimei, you recall the story of Shimei, that wicked little heathen guy who came, and as David was walking down the trail with his son against him, and his best friend turned, and his best servant turned, and David, leaving his palace, and leaving his land, and leaving his throne, little Shimei began to curse him, and throw dust in his face, and say, Ah, you're the one that killed Joab. Ah, you're the one. And one of David's servants said, Let me draw my sword from the saber. Let me take his head off. And David said, Don't you touch him. He said, He may be a sinner as a servant from God to teach me something. David never retaliated. Never at all. Oh, yes, he cried. Oh, yes, he said, Tears have been my meat, night and day. He said, He said, Just eating my tears, night and day. Oh, yes, he longed to go back home. He said, As a heart penneth after the water brook, so thirsteth my soul after the old God. David said, Picture a heart, or a deer, out in the woods on a mountain side somewhere, hunting for a stream, and running and running, and his tongue hanging out, trying to find some water, and there's no water. And he looks here, and he looks there, and he's thirsty about to die. He said, As a heart penneth after the water brook, so thirsteth my soul to go back home to the palace and the temple to my son Absalom. His enemy said, Where is thy God? What did David do? Deep calleth unto deep, storms coming from every side. What did he do? Verse 11, I'll read it to you. Don't turn to it. I'll read it to you. Verse 11, he said, Wired thou cast down on my soul. Isn't that great? I like that. He said, Wired thou cast down on my soul. Ought not to be ever a time for a Christian to be cast down. David said, Good night. What am I doing in the doldrums? Let me ask you a question. Because Absalom has turned his back on David, is he no less saved than he was? Because Ahithophel has turned his back on David, is he no less going to heaven than he was? Because Mephibosheth has turned his back on David, is he no less a child of God than he was? David said, What in the world is my soul doing cast down? I believe this from the crown of my head to the sole of my feet. I think a child of God. I don't care if it's at the cemetery, at the graveyard. I don't care if it's in the undertaking parlor. I don't care if it's in the hospital with a surgeon's knife about to pierce our body. I don't care what it is. Ought not to ever be a time when a child of God ought to be anything less than on top. Why am I cast down, David asked. I recall, oh, it's been years ago now. I turned on the radio and Brother Roloff came on the air. The station that he'd been on for years, a big station, had put him off the air because he was controversial. And to call Lester Roloff controversial is very, very minimal. It's like saying that water is slightly wet. They'd put him off the air and just told him. And Lester Roloff came on and he said, Well, folks, won't belong, but it's all over. Station has terminated our contract. He was down. In fact, I'll never forget what he said. He said, I don't know what I am. He said, the Baptists say I've got too much for them. And the Pentecostals say I ain't got enough for them. I don't know where I ought to be. Went off the air. I went down to see him. I got on a plane, flew down to see him, tried to encourage his heart. I walked in his study. And this is where it all started. You've seen this little sign that says, Praise God Anyhow. They've been printed up. That's where it all started. Lester Roloff got a Crayola on a piece of construction paper and just wrote in longhand, Praise God Anyhow. I walked in the office and up on the wall, there were the words written in longhand. Lester Roloff can't write any better than he can sing. And he just wrote, Praise God Anyhow. Praise God Anyhow. Storms are raging. Praise God Anyhow. Lightning flashing. Praise God Anyhow. Burdens are many. Praise God Anyhow. Debts are many. Praise God Anyhow. Don't have a place to stay. Praise God Anyhow. David said, Why is my soul like this? The next thing David said, verse 12 is a sweet verse. I'm sorry, verse 11. Why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him. Who is the health of my countenance? You know what? Listen to me. Did you know that your stomach can be sick, but your countenance can be well? Huh? Did you know you can have a heavy heart, but your countenance can be well? One prayer I pray every time I walk out of my study and walk down this alley and walk in that door is, Lord, don't let my burden show. Sure you have burdens, but your faith, your countenance, keep a healthy countenance. That's what the Bible said. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. And so David said, the face of God. Then he said, and he said again, he said, Bless the Lord. I will praise the Lord. Now I've got a thousand other things I'd like to say, but let me tell you what David was saying. And listen just to the holy hush for a minute. David stopped at Mahanaim and he said, I think you look back toward Jerusalem. And he saw the dust of the battle and the smoke of the battle. And David said, my boy's there. My boy Absalom. I wish I'd died for him. He's my boy. He's fighting against me. Maybe David said, Absalom. Absalom! Because he did talk to him, you know, he said when Absalom died. Absalom! Absalom! I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son Absalom. Absalom! The sorrow of my life was when you turned on me. I never thought you'd do it. Never. It's beyond comprehension. I sat last night in a palace. A few days ago, I slept on silken beds with palatial chandeliers hovering over my head. Tonight I have nothing but the stars for a canopy and nothing but the sand for a mattress. David said, there's one thing I have tonight that I didn't have a few nights ago. I know him better. I know him better. Dr. Billings, I didn't really know God till the deep called unto the deep. Well, I'm saved. This morning, I say this honestly. And I don't mean to be bragging. I don't mean to be cocky or conceited. But I know God. No joke. I do. I know him. I don't mean I'm just saved. I mean, I know him. I'm not a good Christian, but I walk with him. And I know him. I mean, I mean, I know him. I know him as a friend. I know him as a reality. I know him as a person. I know him as a help. I know him. But I never knew him, really, till I had to say the deep call unto the deep. The storms on the sea are raging. The waves are too high for my little boat to make it. The water is splashing up in the boat. And the water comes like an ocean from the skies. And the wind is strong. And the lightning is flashing. And the thunder is roaring. And I looked over in the boat and found the Son of God beside me, as did the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, and as did Joshua before the battle of Jericho. I think that's what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. This deep call unto deep in your life this morning. Does it seem like it's been one illness after another? I was thinking about the withdrawals. All that had trouble, deep calleth unto the deep. Mrs. Colbert, deep calleth unto the deep. The Giffords, deep calleth unto the deep. So many this morning. There's one thing you have, though, that those of us who travel beneath the sunlit skies do not have. You know him better. You know him better. You know him in the power of his resurrection and in the fellowship of his sufferings. O people of God, walk with him. Walk with him. Walk with him. Walk with him! And then when the deep calleth unto the deep, you will not be alone in the boat. Let us pray. I wonder with our heads bowed this morning, every eye is closed, is there a heavy heart beating beneath your breast today? Huh? Is there a broken heart beneath your bosom this morning? Is there a body that has absolutely been racked by pain and disease so much that it seems like it's coming from all sides? Don't make it cause you to quit. Don't let it discourage you. Do with David. Keep a healthful countenance. Mrs. Withrow and Mr. Withrow have been through so much, and yet when they come to church, they sit out there and smile at me like nothing's wrong. Unhealthy bodies, yes, but a healthy countenance. Walk with God. Walk with God. I come to the garden alone, while the dew is still on the roses. And the voice I hear calling on mine ear, ah, that's his voice. And he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own. And the joys we share as we tarry there, none other's ever known. Listen to me. I'd rather be in the fiery furnace with Jesus than outside alone. I'd rather be in the dusty trail of Mahanahem with Jesus than in the palace with Absalom alone. I'd rather be in a lion's den with God than outside without God. I'd rather be on Patmos, exiled on Patmos with Him than in Jerusalem without Him. This morning, do you have a burdened heart? Then just walk with God. Walk with God. Walk with God.