September 9, 2024 • 34 mins
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Can a storm on the Sea of Galilee offer more than just a lesson in weather? Join us as we uncover the profound teachings hidden within the biblical storms, beginning with the vivid account in Mark 4:35 where Jesus calms the turbulent seas. We don’t stop there; we journey through other monumental storms in the Bible, such as Noah’s flood signifying divine judgment, Jonah’s struggle with rebellion, and Paul’s shipwreck, which becomes a powerful moment of witness and ministry. Through these narratives, we reflect on how storms in the Bible echo the trials and tribulations we face in life, teaching us about judgment, correction, and divine purpose.
Feeling overwhelmed and unsure, just like the disciples during a tempest? We explore the very human side of Jesus—His moments of exhaustion and need, which made Him relatable to His followers. Drawing from Nehemiah's advice to remember God's greatness amidst challenges, we find comfort in knowing that God’s perspective is eternal and His control absolute. Analyzing the story where Jesus calms the storm, we gain insights into overcoming our own fears and uncertainties, trusting in God’s unwavering power and plan when everything seems chaotic.
Our journey through the storms culminates in a reflection on the boundless love of God and His salvation plan through Jesus Christ. Key scriptures like Romans 5:8 and John 3:16-17 illuminate how profound and purposeful God’s love is, even amidst life’s fiercest storms. We emphasize that faith in this love provides strength and reassurance, guiding us safely to our eternal destination. This episode invites you to embrace faith, find resilience, and feel the ever-present divine support, no matter how tumultuous your journey may be.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:11):
All right, we are in Mark, chapter 4, verse 35, right
, and Jesus has been educatinghis disciples.
He's pulled away from some ofthe crowds and really focused on
teaching his disciples.
(00:31):
He's done it through parables,illustrations, earthly
illustrations of heavenly truths.
It really required hisdisciples to come to him
afterward and ask for someclarification.
Very personal things, thoseparables.
Jesus is going to continue theeducation, but here we're going
(00:51):
to see it's a little field tripout onto the Sea of Galilee.
He's still teaching them, he'sstill instructing them, but it's
through different means, it'shands-on education.
Here it's a lesson through thestorm.
Right, we're familiar withthese passages, storms in the
Bible.
Storms we just by default canunderstand are illustrative of
(01:15):
trials or difficulties in ourlife.
So we're looking at a storm andin it we're applying to our own
lives.
So there are storms in life,but let's consider before we
jump into it.
Let's consider some stormsthrough the Bible, because
there's probably more than wereally even think about Storms.
Genesis, chapter 6.
(01:35):
You don't have to turn there,but Genesis, chapter 6, we meet
Noah and we understand Noah wentthrough a storm, right, the
granddaddy of all storms, theflood.
You know, and there's noquestion in that point, that
that storm was a real storm.
That happened, a real floodthat happened.
(01:55):
But the storm representedjudgment.
Right, god told Noah, I'm goingto judge this place.
The world was filled withviolence and every thought and
intent A man's heart waswickedness.
Right, god told Noah, I'm goingto judge this place.
The world was filled withviolence and every thought and
intent A man's heart waswickedness Always.
There was some weird spiritualstuff going on in Genesis,
chapter six as well.
And God tells Noah I'mdestroying this place.
(02:18):
I want you to build a boat tosee you through, and God, in his
mercy and his grace, gives theplanet 120 years.
People lived a lot longer, butthat was the time.
It seems that Noah building theark was a preacher of
righteousness in his world.
120 years, god gave the headsup, turn from your sin and your
(02:44):
violence and turn back to me.
And he gave him a chance.
Everybody had as much chance aseverybody else, and yet only
Noah and his family listened toGod Only really Noah, it seems,
feared God and the storm ofjudgment came and the world was
(03:06):
judged.
One storm we see.
Another storm we see is alittle further on in the book.
It's Jonah.
Right, jonah had his share ofstorms and it's a little
different variety.
We could say that storms aredifficulties and trials in life.
But if we look at Jonah,difficulties and trials in life.
But if we look at Jonah, hewent through a storm
unnecessarily.
(03:26):
Right, if he had gone toNineveh, as God had told him to,
no boat would be involved inthat trip.
It was a land trip.
So it wasn't just that he, youknow, could have got on the boat
and gone anywhere.
He went the opposite direction,to Tarshish, and in his
stubbornness and rebellion towhat God wanted for him, he
(03:49):
finds himself in a storm.
Right, so some storms are justsheer judgment.
Other storms are correction,right, jonah's a good example of
that.
Needlessly went through thatstorm, needlessly, swallowed by
the big fish, you know,needlessly through that
(04:09):
difficult thing.
But God was stubborn enough toget stubborn Jonah to go the
right direction.
Now you read the book and henever quite recovers from his
stubbornness.
Right, he's the end of the book.
He's still stubborn, with hisarms crossed, it seems.
But sometimes storms in ourlife, difficulties in our life,
(04:31):
our own doing, we had no reasonto go there.
And yet we said God, you knowwhat, this is where I'm going
and this is what I'm doing.
And the storm comes and God inhis goodness wants to bring us
back to the right place, thecorrect place in our life.
So storms can sometimes bebecause of our own stubbornness
(04:54):
and rebellion, and God sends usthrough them.
But Acts, chapter 27, one morevariety of storm before we get
to our passage.
Acts, chapter 27, we see Pauland, as far as we can tell, paul
does all the things that Godwanted him to do.
His conscience is clear.
He's gone to Jerusalem.
(05:14):
There in Jerusalem, he's beenarrested.
There he contests to Caesar andhe finds himself on a boat
going to Rome.
On that trip to Rome it seemsto be this is God's purpose On
that trip to Rome, paul findshimself in a storm there off the
(05:36):
coast of Malta, and the boat istotally destroyed.
The people head into the shore,everybody survives that
shipwreck.
But the storm brings them tothis island of Malta and their
terrifying situation.
Right, paul, trying to be aservant on that cold night, he's
(05:57):
grabbing firewood.
As he grabs firewood and throwsit on the fire a viper you
never know when they're sneakingup on you say their name.
Right, a viper attaches to hisarm and God preserves him
through that and the people onMalta, there, they say, wow,
(06:21):
this guy must have been wellinitially.
They say, wow, this guy musthave been oh.
Well, initially they say hemust have been an evil person
because the gods are judging him.
Then he survives and they go,wow, he's like, he's like one of
the gods or something, and they, they worship him almost, and
paul sets him straight.
And here's the thing that stormwas an opportunity, an
opportunity to show a witness tothose people.
(06:44):
I mean, it was a sidetrack, ofcourse, to the island of Malta,
but those people got to hear thetruth and God used the storm to
bring Paul where he wassupposed to be.
Well, this is a different kindof storm.
Here In Mark, chapter 4, verse35, as Jesus has been teaching
(07:05):
and healing and working withpeople, verse 35 says this On
the same day, when evening hadcome, jesus said to them Let us
cross over to the other side,the other side of the Sea of
Galilee, kind of like a big lake, the Sea of Galilee.
(07:26):
Now, when they had left themultitude, they took him that's
Jesus, along in the boat as hewas, and other little boats were
also with him.
Picture that, if you want.
And a great windstorm arose andthe waves beat into the boat so
that it was already filling.
(07:46):
But Jesus was in the stern,asleep on a pillow, and they
awoke him and said to himTeacher, do you not care that we
are perishing?
So Jesus, here, after teaching,he tells his disciples Next
lesson, let's go over to theother side of this lake, the Sea
(08:10):
of Galilee, and you know thestory there A storm just rises
up.
Jesus is asleep on a pillowbecause he's just exhausted.
That's the humanity of Jesusthere, god in flesh, the
humanity of Jesus, exhausted,he's asleep, and a storm comes
out of nowhere.
Now you can YouTube this andsee storms come out of nowhere
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on the Sea of Galilee.
The geography makes it verypossible 10-foot waves and of
course you know, over thecenturies we probably had a
chance for bigger waves thanthat.
10-foot waves that were enoughto make a team of mostly
fishermen scared to death.
Right, and they say veryhonestly they say do you not
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care that we are perishing?
We're about ready to bedestroyed is what that word is.
Don't you care?
But they were really scared.
Let's just give them that.
They thought they were going todie.
They thought it was sure theywere going to die and these are
some salty fishermen, right, youknow.
And they were scared to deathand this is where we find them
(09:19):
in this storm there on the Seaof Galilee.
Jesus kind of reiterates howscared they really were in verse
40.
He said why are you so fearful?
How is it you have no faith?
Fearful, cowardly, is what thatword means.
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Jesus is able to tell them youguys are a bunch of cowards.
You're crying like babies.
And they were.
And Jesus asked them why do youfear through the storm?
And we could say, well, theythought they were.
And Jesus asked them why do youfear through the storm?
And we could say, well, theythought they were going to die.
But we can have a lot of goodreasons in this.
As we kind of picture it, whatwould make you scared in any
(10:08):
kind of storm?
The storms of life, even right.
Check this out A couple ofreasons.
The storms of life, even right.
Check this out a couple reasons.
The uncertainty of thesituation, right, uncertainty, a
certain dread of what mighthappen to them they didn't know.
That's why you get scared in amovie.
Right, you're watching a movie,which I'm not advocating that
(10:28):
you watch a scary movie, butwe've watched them right and the
music starts to get all tenseor, even worse, there is no
music, right.
That's even worse, you know,and the person is walking down
the dark hallway and theuncertainty of what might pop
out of the side there and getthem.
I like predictability in life.
(10:48):
I am as conservative in thatsense as you can imagine.
I like predictability in life.
I am as conservative in thatsense as you can imagine.
I like predictability.
I'm okay with schedules in myweek.
I know what to expect, becausethat's the way it always looks.
Uncertainty in life, the factthat we have no idea what this
week might look like, that canscare us.
(11:09):
And when the storms come down,that's what makes them
terrifying is that we did notexpect it to be like that.
There's a certain fear instorms when things seem out of
control.
Right, you know, I'm kind ofresigned in life to pay bills.
That's part of life.
But when I get more than Iexpected, you know, and there's
(11:32):
this, this, you know, out ofcontrol, feeling for things,
that's when life gets terrifying.
You know, I can, you know, dothe predictable work in my life,
but when that changes it'sterrifying.
I'm okay driving down amountain.
(11:53):
I don't have too many of thosehere.
When I go back to California Iusually realize how much slope
there is.
You know, this is crazy andit's just a little bit of slope
and I'm like look at thesemountains, you know.
But you know I'm okay drivingdown mountains.
If you've ever come back fromthe mountains, you know.
And you're driving down themountains.
But when the brakes stopworking like they should, that's
(12:16):
terrifying, right.
When you're out of control, itgets really freaky, and that's
the nature of storms.
When things seem out of control,and storms can logically bring
us to the same question that thedisciples asked in verse 38.
(12:36):
Teacher, do you not care thatwe're perishing?
Don't you care God?
Don't you see me here goingthrough what I'm going through?
Do you not care?
And I love that because that'sa pretty risky question to ask
God.
It feels like at least Don'tyou care God?
(12:59):
Now, that's how the disciplesfelt and I really do think Jesus
was not offended by thatquestion.
You know, if it were me right,it wasn't.
But you know God in flesh.
And somebody said don't youeven care about me?
I go yep, I'll show you.
(13:19):
Don't care, you know whatever.
Tip the boat over or somethingyou know.
It's like how dare you say thatto me?
You know, but God doesn't getoffended by our questions.
You know.
You really can, in the middleof the storm, yell like these
guys say God, don't you evencare that I'm dying here, I'm
going to be destroyed, thewater's up to here.
(13:41):
You know, and, and God is okaywith that kind of statement,
that kind of question, that kindof question, don't you even
care.
And, and you know, there'sJesus.
(14:01):
Though this is what theyperceive, there's Jesus asleep,
right, and again we see thehumanity of Jesus.
He wasn't faking it.
I don't think you know what Imean.
It wasn't like he was just,like you know, one eye open.
Like you know, he really wasasleep because he was exhausted
in his flesh.
We read other points in thegospels where it says that Jesus
was hungry.
(14:23):
Those are real things in ahuman life and Jesus was right
there.
And so, picture it, there'sJesus.
Did he snore?
I don't think it's wrong to sayhe might have snored, but
picture the way I am.
So many times my kids catch mesleeping.
All the time I have become myfather when it comes to watching
(14:45):
movies.
I really intended to watch themovie.
But before long, jesus fellasleep, and we can get the idea
that a person doesn't care whenthey fall asleep during times
like that, and maybe it's justbecause we're tired, right.
But anyways, the disciples seeit and they feel it and they say
(15:09):
it Don't you even care whatwe're going through?
And again, jesus is notoffended.
But these are all things thatare part of the storm, right, we
can feel uncertainty in thestorm.
We can feel like we're out ofcontrol.
We can feel like God doesn'teven care about what we're going
(15:31):
through.
It's at that point where wehave to really remember who God
is and how he feels about us.
Let's well, you read it on yourown in the future, but Nehemiah
is a great book.
Nehemiah comes back to me allthe time through my life,
(15:52):
because Nehemiah was doing agood work and times got hard for
Nehemiah and the people therein Jerusalem as they were
rebuilding the city and attackcame and ridicule came from the
enemies of God and all thesedifferent things, and the people
got really frustrated.
And Nehemiah says something averse again, that's been part of
(16:13):
my life for a while nowNehemiah, chapter 4, verse 14.
He says this and I looked and Irose and I said to the nobles,
to the leaders and the rest ofthe people they were frustrated.
Right, do not be afraid of them.
Remember the Lord, great andawesome.
And this is good advice fromNehemiah.
(16:34):
They were scared, right?
You don't tell somebody, don'tbe afraid if they're not afraid,
right.
And Nehemiah says don't beafraid, remember the Lord.
That's the problem that you'rehaving right now.
You've forgotten God andthrough storms we easily lose
sight of God's heart towards us.
(16:56):
I think we all do, and it'simportant that we take time to
remember who God is Great andawesome.
Nehemiah says through theuncertainty, right, remember
that God is eternal.
That's one of those keyattributes of God he's eternal.
(17:17):
Now, check it out.
Come back here for a second.
Check it out as we read throughthis.
You know we look at our biblein in our bible not in the
original text, but it says there.
In mine, it says wind and waveobey jesus.
So even before we jump intothis story, this account, we
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know how it's going to end.
If you've been in church for awhile, you know how this story
is going to end.
Jesus is going to calmeverything.
Now, check it out.
This is God's perspective onlife.
We actually have an eternalperspective of what it's like
for God as we read this.
Because as I head into this, Icould skip down to verse 39 and
(18:05):
I could see there.
Then Jesus arose, rebuked thewind and the sea and said peace
be still.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm.
Even before I jump into thestorm, I could skip down and, in
God's perception of things, Icould say I know what he's going
to do.
He's going to calm the storm.
I could look on and say youknow, I know that these guys are
(18:27):
going to make it through thisstorm.
I know that that's God'seternal perspective on life.
As you look through the Bible,you get to the book of
Revelation.
The book of Revelation is notsomething that we hope is going
to happen.
This is something that willhappen.
In the eternal mind of God.
We could say it already hashappened.
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It's that certain right.
So God knows how the story isgoing to end.
I am very uncertain in my life,but God, he knows.
He's eternal, he knows all theins and outs.
A story is already written, theins and outs.
(19:12):
The story is already written.
Ephesians 2, verse 6, says thisabout us as believers and he
raised us together and made ussit together in heavenly places
with Christ Jesus.
I think that that means that ifyou're a believer, you're in
Christ, you're already there,you're ready to the finish line
in one sense.
Now, of course, you still gotchoices to make and a life to
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live, don't worry.
But in God's mind we've alreadymade it to the finish line.
I don't know how it works, I'mnot eternal, but I mean this is
the certainty of God and what'sgoing to happen.
There's no questions in hismind what he's going to do.
His plan is to bring us through, to get us through.
(19:55):
So remembering God's eternalnature helps us with uncertainty
.
In storms we feel out of control.
Right, things come into my lifethat are beyond my control.
Well, god is all powerful.
I love it used to be said ifyou can believe Genesis, chapter
(20:16):
one, verse one, you won't haveany problem with the rest of the
Bible.
Genesis one one in thebeginning, god created the
heavens and the earth.
So you look at that in thatreal simple verse there and you
say, well, is there anything toohard for God?
No, if he created the heavensand the earth with a word,
(20:36):
there's nothing that can comeinto my life that he can't
handle Now.
It doesn't mean that he alwaysdoes things our way.
In fact, most of the time itseems he doesn't.
He has something else in mind.
But that's where we come to thislast question about the storm,
verse 38, don't you care, god,don't you care that we're
(21:00):
perishing, we're being destroyed, it's all falling apart, and
whether we feel it or not, thetruth of the Bible is that God
absolutely cares.
I mean, for reals, if you lookat it, we got ourselves into all
the trouble.
We ran to sin.
Adam sinned, creation fell,death entered the world, and God
(21:24):
would have been totally just tojust say, well, take two, let's
find another one, you knowthey're done for.
And God would have been totallyjust to just say, well, take
two, let's find another one, youknow they're done for.
And we would have deserved it.
But yet God, from before timebegan, had a plan to save us.
Because he had to, no, butbecause he wanted to and because
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he loved us for no good reason.
Romans 5, 8,.
God demonstrates his own lovetowards us, that, while we were
yet sinners, christ died for us,and we can read that, we can
memorize that, but to reallyrealize God loves you and you
know you like.
I know me right.
I'm not that lovable, I don'thave a very true heart to God.
(22:10):
And yet God, in spite of howevil and wicked we all can be
selfish we can all be God lovesus and he saved us, not when we
were good, but when we were deadDead in sin and trespasses.
God loves us.
Now, this is a good one to turnto, because you know it.
(22:30):
Let's turn to John, chapter 3.
You can see it coming now.
John, chapter 3, verse 16.
John 3, 16.
And you're all flashing back toSunday school when you memorize
this verse John 3.16.
(22:53):
This is a verse that you'veprobably heard, might have
memorized, but we have toremember this truth, write it in
our hearts.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believes in himwould not perish but have
(23:17):
everlasting life.
Now check out verse 17, just aspowerful.
For God did not send his soninto the world to condemn the
world, but that the world,through him, might be saved.
And so in these two verses, inbasic terms, we see the heart of
God.
God loved the world.
(23:38):
But that's not really what itsays, right?
Look down at verse 16.
God so loved I mean the word,so doesn't have to be there.
Love, I mean the word, sodoesn't have to be there.
Right, god loved the world,true God so loved, so much loved
(24:02):
the world that he gave his onlybegotten son.
He came and saved us.
Notice verse 17.
This is God's heart.
God didn't send his son in theworld to condemn the world.
The reason why Jesus came wasn'tto point fingers at us when
we're wrong.
Because we're wrong, we're allwrong, we're all messed up, no
matter where we come from orwhat we've done.
We're all messed up.
The Bible says but Jesus didn'tcome to condemn us.
(24:22):
He didn't just come here to sayyou guys are wrong and you know
what Judgment's coming.
He came notice that the worldthrough him might be saved,
provided a way for us to besaved.
But he didn't have to.
But it was his love thatbrought him to that.
And if God loves us enough thisis Bible truth, right If God
(24:46):
loves us enough to take care ofour salvation, he loves us
enough through the storms, evenif we don't feel it or know it
or think it.
We have to trust.
God loves me, jesus loves me.
This I know, for the Bibletells me.
So right, sing the song, it'sfine.
God loves us, does he care?
(25:06):
He cares.
Now we ought to know that Goddoesn't always do things our way
, but he will get us to theother side.
Uh, notice back in Mark,chapter four.
Mark, chapter four.
This is what Jesus says inverse 35.
(25:28):
Let us cross over to the otherside.
That was Jesus' plan andintention, that they get to the
other side.
And they did get to the otherside.
Now, again, just to prove thepoint that God doesn't always do
things our way, I want to justsort of spoil next week's study
and look at chapter five.
(25:49):
You know, if we're thinkingthat.
You know, the other side of thelake was an all-inclusive
resort, it wasn't Verse one.
Then they came to the otherside oh, just like Jesus said,
of the sea, to the country ofthe Gadarenes Is that a nice
place?
And when they had come out ofthe boat, immediately there met
(26:09):
him out of the tombs, a man withan unclean spirit, who had his
dwelling with the tombs and noone could bind him, or not even
with chains, because he'd up andbound with shackles and chains
and the chains been pulled apartby him, the shackles broken in
pieces.
Neither could anyone tame him,and day or night he was in the
mountains on tombs crying andcutting himself with stones.
(26:31):
And the guy is demon possessed.
We know him as the man with thelegion of demons.
It's freaky, right, but this isthe other side.
Oh, that's encouraging, rightThrough the storm, to the
demonessed people on the otherside.
Well, god knows what oureducation is meant to be right,
(26:53):
and this is their education, asmuch as the parables, you know,
god knows what the next step inour education is.
It's not to destroy us, butit's to teach us.
And through the storm thedisciples will learn one thing.
Through the demons, they'lllearn another thing about Jesus.
But the deal is that God willget us to the other side.
(27:16):
Now again, considering wherethey went, that's not
necessarily encouraging, but oneday all of us will get to the
other side, heaven.
Right, all of us will get toheaven.
If we trusted in Jesus, we putall of our chips on Jesus, so to
speak, our whole life on him,trusted him for our salvation,
(27:37):
you will make it to heaven,we'll make it to the other side,
and there's no question aboutit, and that's good, good news.
God will see us through, but inthe meantime he allows us to go
through storms, and we don'tlike it.
It's not the trip we would havechosen for ourselves, but
through it we get to learnthings that we never knew before
(27:59):
.
Look at it again how Jesusresolves this in verse 39.
Jesus arose and rebuked thewind and said to the sea peace
be still.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm.
So Jesus silences the wind andthe sea.
I like how it's stated here.
(28:20):
Jesus spoke to the waves and tothe wind right, kind of strange
.
Now notice he says peace bestill.
So you know the way I used toput this out when I was reading
the story to my kids early on intheir life.
I said we would shake, right,you know, the storm would come.
(28:40):
And the wind came, and thestorm came, and I have him on my
lap and I'd be shaking him backand forth and then I'd say and
then Jesus said peace be still.
And that's how the story wentevery single time through the
book.
But that's not exactly true.
(29:07):
I'm a liar.
Jesus' words here are actually alittle harsher.
He tells the wind and the wavesbe muzzled, hush or other
things that we may not want ourkids to say like, shut up, right
.
That's essentially what Jesustells the wind and the waves,
and I guess you can do that.
He does that with the demonsearlier on in our story, the
book of Mark.
(29:27):
He does that with the waveshere.
I guess demons and waves youcan be harsh like that, but
that's what Jesus says and theylisten and it's so crazy.
Notice it says there was agreat calm and the word great
there is the same word that'sused for a great storm A mega
storm came, a mega calm came.
(29:49):
What was that like when themega calm comes into your life,
man, it'd be nice, right, themega calm.
There was this painting.
There was this painting atCalvary Vista that we had in our
office and it was of the stormand I actually love that
painting.
It was really cool.
It was a storm and half of thestorm, and I actually love that
painting.
It was really cool.
(30:09):
It was a storm and half of thehalf of the painting was calm
and the other half was stillgetting there.
Right, the waves were kind ofdying down and the disciples are
like at the oars and they gotthese crazy looks on their faces
.
You know, they're like ah, youknow, it's kind of like the old
Rembrandt painting and stufflike their faces are all
distorted.
And then the guy in the frontof the boat, you know, it's kind
of like the old Rembrandtpainting and stuff like their
faces are all distorted.
And then the guy in the frontof the boat, you know, as the
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waves just come down and thewind stops and it's like clear
skies over, he's got these crazyeyes, you know, and he's
looking out and he's almost moreamazed at the calm than the
storm.
Right, and it's a really coolpicture there.
Can you imagine, as they're likewe're gonna die, they're
yelling we're gonna die.
(30:52):
And then all at once it getsquiet.
They're like we're gonna, wedidn't die, you know.
And it's a surprise, andthere's a great calm, an
abnormal, supernatural calm onthe sea.
Boy, that sounds nice, doesn'tit?
And then verse 40, jesus kindof rebukes them a little bit.
(31:16):
Why are you so fearful?
Why have you no faith?
Good question, verse 41,.
And they feared exceedingly andsaid to one another who can
this be that even the wind andthe sea obey him?
So they were scared that theywere going to die in the storm.
But then they got a littlefreaked out when they saw that
Jesus just told the waves to bequiet.
(31:39):
And they did.
And they go whoa, he is notjust a teacher, he's, you know,
not just a philosopher or arabbi.
He's something else, man whocan tell the waves to be quiet.
And they do.
And they were even more scaredat that point than they were in
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the storm because they knewJesus for who he was.
But this is our education, right?
God allows us to go throughstorms in life and we don't like
them.
Various storms.
I think chapter five is a stormas well.
It's, you know, spiritual stormthere.
But through.
That is the only way we reallyget to know Jesus.
(32:23):
You can know Jesus throughfacts.
Right, if you pulled up somefacts on Wikipedia, they might
be true.
You know, you can get somefacts about who Jesus is.
But check it out.
When you really experience himin your life, you go.
I know who Jesus is.
He's kind to me.
Oh man, he saved me when Ithought I was going to die.
(32:46):
Man, he was with me when Ithought everybody else was
against me.
I know Jesus and that's wherehis disciples are and of course,
that's where God wants to bringus to through the difficulties
and the storms of life is thatwe know him better.
Continued education.
God, none of us look forward tostorms in life, but they do come
(33:08):
.
It's the nature of this place.
And there's uncertainty and,god, we feel like things are out
of control and, god, sometimeswe even doubt that you really do
care about us.
And yet, god, you proveYourself.
I just pray that you wouldstrengthen our faith in these
things.
(33:28):
God, that prove yourself.
I just pray that you wouldstrengthen our faith in these
things, god, that we would knowyou more.
God, I pray that you prepare usfor the good that you have for
us in our life, the good thatyou have for us in this coming
week.
God, if there are storms, Ipray that we turn to you quickly
, god, but we would trust youthrough the good and the bad,
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through all the different thingsof our life.
God, our life would be yours.
Thank you so much for beingwith us.
You never leave us and younever forsake us, even in these
things.
Help us know you're mine InJesus' name, amen, amen.
All right, we are in Mark, chapter 4, verse 35, right
, and Jesus has been educatinghis disciples.
He's pulled away from some ofthe crowds and really focused on
teaching his disciples.
(00:31):
He's done it through parables,illustrations, earthly
illustrations of heavenly truths.
It really required hisdisciples to come to him
afterward and ask for someclarification.
Very personal things, thoseparables.
Jesus is going to continue theeducation, but here we're going
(00:51):
to see it's a little field tripout onto the Sea of Galilee.
He's still teaching them, he'sstill instructing them, but it's
through different means, it'shands-on education.
Here it's a lesson through thestorm.
Right, we're familiar withthese passages, storms in the
Bible.
Storms we just by default canunderstand are illustrative of
(01:15):
trials or difficulties in ourlife.
So we're looking at a storm andin it we're applying to our own
lives.
So there are storms in life,but let's consider before we
jump into it.
Let's consider some stormsthrough the Bible, because
there's probably more than wereally even think about Storms.
Genesis, chapter 6.
(01:35):
You don't have to turn there,but Genesis, chapter 6, we meet
Noah and we understand Noah wentthrough a storm, right, the
granddaddy of all storms, theflood.
You know, and there's noquestion in that point, that
that storm was a real storm.
That happened, a real floodthat happened.
(01:55):
But the storm representedjudgment.
Right, god told Noah, I'm goingto judge this place.
The world was filled withviolence and every thought and
intent A man's heart waswickedness.
Right, god told Noah, I'm goingto judge this place.
The world was filled withviolence and every thought and
intent A man's heart waswickedness Always.
There was some weird spiritualstuff going on in Genesis,
chapter six as well.
And God tells Noah I'mdestroying this place.
(02:18):
I want you to build a boat tosee you through, and God, in his
mercy and his grace, gives theplanet 120 years.
People lived a lot longer, butthat was the time.
It seems that Noah building theark was a preacher of
righteousness in his world.
120 years, god gave the headsup, turn from your sin and your
(02:44):
violence and turn back to me.
And he gave him a chance.
Everybody had as much chance aseverybody else, and yet only
Noah and his family listened toGod Only really Noah, it seems,
feared God and the storm ofjudgment came and the world was
(03:06):
judged.
One storm we see.
Another storm we see is alittle further on in the book.
It's Jonah.
Right, jonah had his share ofstorms and it's a little
different variety.
We could say that storms aredifficulties and trials in life.
But if we look at Jonah,difficulties and trials in life.
But if we look at Jonah, hewent through a storm
unnecessarily.
(03:26):
Right, if he had gone toNineveh, as God had told him to,
no boat would be involved inthat trip.
It was a land trip.
So it wasn't just that he, youknow, could have got on the boat
and gone anywhere.
He went the opposite direction,to Tarshish, and in his
stubbornness and rebellion towhat God wanted for him, he
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finds himself in a storm.
Right, so some storms are justsheer judgment.
Other storms are correction,right, jonah's a good example of
that.
Needlessly went through thatstorm, needlessly, swallowed by
the big fish, you know,needlessly through that
(04:09):
difficult thing.
But God was stubborn enough toget stubborn Jonah to go the
right direction.
Now you read the book and henever quite recovers from his
stubbornness.
Right, he's the end of the book.
He's still stubborn, with hisarms crossed, it seems.
But sometimes storms in ourlife, difficulties in our life,
(04:31):
our own doing, we had no reasonto go there.
And yet we said God, you knowwhat, this is where I'm going
and this is what I'm doing.
And the storm comes and God inhis goodness wants to bring us
back to the right place, thecorrect place in our life.
So storms can sometimes bebecause of our own stubbornness
(04:54):
and rebellion, and God sends usthrough them.
But Acts, chapter 27, one morevariety of storm before we get
to our passage.
Acts, chapter 27, we see Pauland, as far as we can tell, paul
does all the things that Godwanted him to do.
His conscience is clear.
He's gone to Jerusalem.
(05:14):
There in Jerusalem, he's beenarrested.
There he contests to Caesar andhe finds himself on a boat
going to Rome.
On that trip to Rome it seemsto be this is God's purpose On
that trip to Rome, paul findshimself in a storm there off the
(05:36):
coast of Malta, and the boat istotally destroyed.
The people head into the shore,everybody survives that
shipwreck.
But the storm brings them tothis island of Malta and their
terrifying situation.
Right, paul, trying to be aservant on that cold night, he's
(05:57):
grabbing firewood.
As he grabs firewood and throwsit on the fire a viper you
never know when they're sneakingup on you say their name.
Right, a viper attaches to hisarm and God preserves him
through that and the people onMalta, there, they say, wow,
(06:21):
this guy must have been wellinitially.
They say, wow, this guy musthave been oh.
Well, initially they say hemust have been an evil person
because the gods are judging him.
Then he survives and they go,wow, he's like, he's like one of
the gods or something, and they, they worship him almost, and
paul sets him straight.
And here's the thing that stormwas an opportunity, an
opportunity to show a witness tothose people.
(06:44):
I mean, it was a sidetrack, ofcourse, to the island of Malta,
but those people got to hear thetruth and God used the storm to
bring Paul where he wassupposed to be.
Well, this is a different kindof storm.
Here In Mark, chapter 4, verse35, as Jesus has been teaching
(07:05):
and healing and working withpeople, verse 35 says this On
the same day, when evening hadcome, jesus said to them Let us
cross over to the other side,the other side of the Sea of
Galilee, kind of like a big lake, the Sea of Galilee.
(07:26):
Now, when they had left themultitude, they took him that's
Jesus, along in the boat as hewas, and other little boats were
also with him.
Picture that, if you want.
And a great windstorm arose andthe waves beat into the boat so
that it was already filling.
(07:46):
But Jesus was in the stern,asleep on a pillow, and they
awoke him and said to himTeacher, do you not care that we
are perishing?
So Jesus, here, after teaching,he tells his disciples Next
lesson, let's go over to theother side of this lake, the Sea
(08:10):
of Galilee, and you know thestory there A storm just rises
up.
Jesus is asleep on a pillowbecause he's just exhausted.
That's the humanity of Jesusthere, god in flesh, the
humanity of Jesus, exhausted,he's asleep, and a storm comes
out of nowhere.
Now you can YouTube this andsee storms come out of nowhere
(08:33):
on the Sea of Galilee.
The geography makes it verypossible 10-foot waves and of
course you know, over thecenturies we probably had a
chance for bigger waves thanthat.
10-foot waves that were enoughto make a team of mostly
fishermen scared to death.
Right, and they say veryhonestly they say do you not
(08:55):
care that we are perishing?
We're about ready to bedestroyed is what that word is.
Don't you care?
But they were really scared.
Let's just give them that.
They thought they were going todie.
They thought it was sure theywere going to die and these are
some salty fishermen, right, youknow.
And they were scared to deathand this is where we find them
(09:19):
in this storm there on the Seaof Galilee.
Jesus kind of reiterates howscared they really were in verse
40.
He said why are you so fearful?
How is it you have no faith?
Fearful, cowardly, is what thatword means.
(09:41):
Jesus is able to tell them youguys are a bunch of cowards.
You're crying like babies.
And they were.
And Jesus asked them why do youfear through the storm?
And we could say, well, theythought they were.
And Jesus asked them why do youfear through the storm?
And we could say, well, theythought they were going to die.
But we can have a lot of goodreasons in this.
As we kind of picture it, whatwould make you scared in any
(10:08):
kind of storm?
The storms of life, even right.
Check this out A couple ofreasons.
The storms of life, even right.
Check this out a couple reasons.
The uncertainty of thesituation, right, uncertainty, a
certain dread of what mighthappen to them they didn't know.
That's why you get scared in amovie.
Right, you're watching a movie,which I'm not advocating that
(10:28):
you watch a scary movie, butwe've watched them right and the
music starts to get all tenseor, even worse, there is no
music, right.
That's even worse, you know,and the person is walking down
the dark hallway and theuncertainty of what might pop
out of the side there and getthem.
I like predictability in life.
(10:48):
I am as conservative in thatsense as you can imagine.
I like predictability in life.
I am as conservative in thatsense as you can imagine.
I like predictability.
I'm okay with schedules in myweek.
I know what to expect, becausethat's the way it always looks.
Uncertainty in life, the factthat we have no idea what this
week might look like, that canscare us.
(11:09):
And when the storms come down,that's what makes them
terrifying is that we did notexpect it to be like that.
There's a certain fear instorms when things seem out of
control.
Right, you know, I'm kind ofresigned in life to pay bills.
That's part of life.
But when I get more than Iexpected, you know, and there's
(11:32):
this, this, you know, out ofcontrol, feeling for things,
that's when life gets terrifying.
You know, I can, you know, dothe predictable work in my life,
but when that changes it'sterrifying.
I'm okay driving down amountain.
(11:53):
I don't have too many of thosehere.
When I go back to California Iusually realize how much slope
there is.
You know, this is crazy andit's just a little bit of slope
and I'm like look at thesemountains, you know.
But you know I'm okay drivingdown mountains.
If you've ever come back fromthe mountains, you know.
And you're driving down themountains.
But when the brakes stopworking like they should, that's
(12:16):
terrifying, right.
When you're out of control, itgets really freaky, and that's
the nature of storms.
When things seem out of control,and storms can logically bring
us to the same question that thedisciples asked in verse 38.
(12:36):
Teacher, do you not care thatwe're perishing?
Don't you care God?
Don't you see me here goingthrough what I'm going through?
Do you not care?
And I love that because that'sa pretty risky question to ask
God.
It feels like at least Don'tyou care God?
(12:59):
Now, that's how the disciplesfelt and I really do think Jesus
was not offended by thatquestion.
You know, if it were me right,it wasn't.
But you know God in flesh.
And somebody said don't youeven care about me?
I go yep, I'll show you.
(13:19):
Don't care, you know whatever.
Tip the boat over or somethingyou know.
It's like how dare you say thatto me?
You know, but God doesn't getoffended by our questions.
You know.
You really can, in the middleof the storm, yell like these
guys say God, don't you evencare that I'm dying here, I'm
going to be destroyed, thewater's up to here.
(13:41):
You know, and, and God is okaywith that kind of statement,
that kind of question, that kindof question, don't you even
care.
And, and you know, there'sJesus.
(14:01):
Though this is what theyperceive, there's Jesus asleep,
right, and again we see thehumanity of Jesus.
He wasn't faking it.
I don't think you know what Imean.
It wasn't like he was just,like you know, one eye open.
Like you know, he really wasasleep because he was exhausted
in his flesh.
We read other points in thegospels where it says that Jesus
was hungry.
(14:23):
Those are real things in ahuman life and Jesus was right
there.
And so, picture it, there'sJesus.
Did he snore?
I don't think it's wrong to sayhe might have snored, but
picture the way I am.
So many times my kids catch mesleeping.
All the time I have become myfather when it comes to watching
(14:45):
movies.
I really intended to watch themovie.
But before long, jesus fellasleep, and we can get the idea
that a person doesn't care whenthey fall asleep during times
like that, and maybe it's justbecause we're tired, right.
But anyways, the disciples seeit and they feel it and they say
(15:09):
it Don't you even care whatwe're going through?
And again, jesus is notoffended.
But these are all things thatare part of the storm, right, we
can feel uncertainty in thestorm.
We can feel like we're out ofcontrol.
We can feel like God doesn'teven care about what we're going
(15:31):
through.
It's at that point where wehave to really remember who God
is and how he feels about us.
Let's well, you read it on yourown in the future, but Nehemiah
is a great book.
Nehemiah comes back to me allthe time through my life,
(15:52):
because Nehemiah was doing agood work and times got hard for
Nehemiah and the people therein Jerusalem as they were
rebuilding the city and attackcame and ridicule came from the
enemies of God and all thesedifferent things, and the people
got really frustrated.
And Nehemiah says something averse again, that's been part of
(16:13):
my life for a while nowNehemiah, chapter 4, verse 14.
He says this and I looked and Irose and I said to the nobles,
to the leaders and the rest ofthe people they were frustrated.
Right, do not be afraid of them.
Remember the Lord, great andawesome.
And this is good advice fromNehemiah.
(16:34):
They were scared, right?
You don't tell somebody, don'tbe afraid if they're not afraid,
right.
And Nehemiah says don't beafraid, remember the Lord.
That's the problem that you'rehaving right now.
You've forgotten God andthrough storms we easily lose
sight of God's heart towards us.
(16:56):
I think we all do, and it'simportant that we take time to
remember who God is Great andawesome.
Nehemiah says through theuncertainty, right, remember
that God is eternal.
That's one of those keyattributes of God he's eternal.
(17:17):
Now, check it out.
Come back here for a second.
Check it out as we read throughthis.
You know we look at our biblein in our bible not in the
original text, but it says there.
In mine, it says wind and waveobey jesus.
So even before we jump intothis story, this account, we
(17:39):
know how it's going to end.
If you've been in church for awhile, you know how this story
is going to end.
Jesus is going to calmeverything.
Now, check it out.
This is God's perspective onlife.
We actually have an eternalperspective of what it's like
for God as we read this.
Because as I head into this, Icould skip down to verse 39 and
(18:05):
I could see there.
Then Jesus arose, rebuked thewind and the sea and said peace
be still.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm.
Even before I jump into thestorm, I could skip down and, in
God's perception of things, Icould say I know what he's going
to do.
He's going to calm the storm.
I could look on and say youknow, I know that these guys are
(18:27):
going to make it through thisstorm.
I know that that's God'seternal perspective on life.
As you look through the Bible,you get to the book of
Revelation.
The book of Revelation is notsomething that we hope is going
to happen.
This is something that willhappen.
In the eternal mind of God.
We could say it already hashappened.
(18:49):
It's that certain right.
So God knows how the story isgoing to end.
I am very uncertain in my life,but God, he knows.
He's eternal, he knows all theins and outs.
A story is already written, theins and outs.
(19:12):
The story is already written.
Ephesians 2, verse 6, says thisabout us as believers and he
raised us together and made ussit together in heavenly places
with Christ Jesus.
I think that that means that ifyou're a believer, you're in
Christ, you're already there,you're ready to the finish line
in one sense.
Now, of course, you still gotchoices to make and a life to
(19:33):
live, don't worry.
But in God's mind we've alreadymade it to the finish line.
I don't know how it works, I'mnot eternal, but I mean this is
the certainty of God and what'sgoing to happen.
There's no questions in hismind what he's going to do.
His plan is to bring us through, to get us through.
(19:55):
So remembering God's eternalnature helps us with uncertainty
.
In storms we feel out of control.
Right, things come into my lifethat are beyond my control.
Well, god is all powerful.
I love it used to be said ifyou can believe Genesis, chapter
(20:16):
one, verse one, you won't haveany problem with the rest of the
Bible.
Genesis one one in thebeginning, god created the
heavens and the earth.
So you look at that in thatreal simple verse there and you
say, well, is there anything toohard for God?
No, if he created the heavensand the earth with a word,
(20:36):
there's nothing that can comeinto my life that he can't
handle Now.
It doesn't mean that he alwaysdoes things our way.
In fact, most of the time itseems he doesn't.
He has something else in mind.
But that's where we come to thislast question about the storm,
verse 38, don't you care, god,don't you care that we're
(21:00):
perishing, we're being destroyed, it's all falling apart, and
whether we feel it or not, thetruth of the Bible is that God
absolutely cares.
I mean, for reals, if you lookat it, we got ourselves into all
the trouble.
We ran to sin.
Adam sinned, creation fell,death entered the world, and God
(21:24):
would have been totally just tojust say, well, take two, let's
find another one, you knowthey're done for.
And God would have been totallyjust to just say, well, take
two, let's find another one, youknow they're done for.
And we would have deserved it.
But yet God, from before timebegan, had a plan to save us.
Because he had to, no, butbecause he wanted to and because
(21:45):
he loved us for no good reason.
Romans 5, 8,.
God demonstrates his own lovetowards us, that, while we were
yet sinners, christ died for us,and we can read that, we can
memorize that, but to reallyrealize God loves you and you
know you like.
I know me right.
I'm not that lovable, I don'thave a very true heart to God.
(22:10):
And yet God, in spite of howevil and wicked we all can be
selfish we can all be God lovesus and he saved us, not when we
were good, but when we were deadDead in sin and trespasses.
God loves us.
Now, this is a good one to turnto, because you know it.
(22:30):
Let's turn to John, chapter 3.
You can see it coming now.
John, chapter 3, verse 16.
John 3, 16.
And you're all flashing back toSunday school when you memorize
this verse John 3.16.
(22:53):
This is a verse that you'veprobably heard, might have
memorized, but we have toremember this truth, write it in
our hearts.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten son
that whosoever believes in himwould not perish but have
(23:17):
everlasting life.
Now check out verse 17, just aspowerful.
For God did not send his soninto the world to condemn the
world, but that the world,through him, might be saved.
And so in these two verses, inbasic terms, we see the heart of
God.
God loved the world.
(23:38):
But that's not really what itsays, right?
Look down at verse 16.
God so loved I mean the word,so doesn't have to be there.
Love, I mean the word, sodoesn't have to be there.
Right, god loved the world,true God so loved, so much loved
(24:02):
the world that he gave his onlybegotten son.
He came and saved us.
Notice verse 17.
This is God's heart.
God didn't send his son in theworld to condemn the world.
The reason why Jesus came wasn'tto point fingers at us when
we're wrong.
Because we're wrong, we're allwrong, we're all messed up, no
matter where we come from orwhat we've done.
We're all messed up.
The Bible says but Jesus didn'tcome to condemn us.
(24:22):
He didn't just come here to sayyou guys are wrong and you know
what Judgment's coming.
He came notice that the worldthrough him might be saved,
provided a way for us to besaved.
But he didn't have to.
But it was his love thatbrought him to that.
And if God loves us enough thisis Bible truth, right If God
(24:46):
loves us enough to take care ofour salvation, he loves us
enough through the storms, evenif we don't feel it or know it
or think it.
We have to trust.
God loves me, jesus loves me.
This I know, for the Bibletells me.
So right, sing the song, it'sfine.
God loves us, does he care?
(25:06):
He cares.
Now we ought to know that Goddoesn't always do things our way
, but he will get us to theother side.
Uh, notice back in Mark,chapter four.
Mark, chapter four.
This is what Jesus says inverse 35.
(25:28):
Let us cross over to the otherside.
That was Jesus' plan andintention, that they get to the
other side.
And they did get to the otherside.
Now, again, just to prove thepoint that God doesn't always do
things our way, I want to justsort of spoil next week's study
and look at chapter five.
(25:49):
You know, if we're thinkingthat.
You know, the other side of thelake was an all-inclusive
resort, it wasn't Verse one.
Then they came to the otherside oh, just like Jesus said,
of the sea, to the country ofthe Gadarenes Is that a nice
place?
And when they had come out ofthe boat, immediately there met
(26:09):
him out of the tombs, a man withan unclean spirit, who had his
dwelling with the tombs and noone could bind him, or not even
with chains, because he'd up andbound with shackles and chains
and the chains been pulled apartby him, the shackles broken in
pieces.
Neither could anyone tame him,and day or night he was in the
mountains on tombs crying andcutting himself with stones.
(26:31):
And the guy is demon possessed.
We know him as the man with thelegion of demons.
It's freaky, right, but this isthe other side.
Oh, that's encouraging, rightThrough the storm, to the
demonessed people on the otherside.
Well, god knows what oureducation is meant to be right,
(26:53):
and this is their education, asmuch as the parables, you know,
god knows what the next step inour education is.
It's not to destroy us, butit's to teach us.
And through the storm thedisciples will learn one thing.
Through the demons, they'lllearn another thing about Jesus.
But the deal is that God willget us to the other side.
(27:16):
Now again, considering wherethey went, that's not
necessarily encouraging, but oneday all of us will get to the
other side, heaven.
Right, all of us will get toheaven.
If we trusted in Jesus, we putall of our chips on Jesus, so to
speak, our whole life on him,trusted him for our salvation,
(27:37):
you will make it to heaven,we'll make it to the other side,
and there's no question aboutit, and that's good, good news.
God will see us through, but inthe meantime he allows us to go
through storms, and we don'tlike it.
It's not the trip we would havechosen for ourselves, but
through it we get to learnthings that we never knew before
(27:59):
.
Look at it again how Jesusresolves this in verse 39.
Jesus arose and rebuked thewind and said to the sea peace
be still.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm.
So Jesus silences the wind andthe sea.
I like how it's stated here.
(28:20):
Jesus spoke to the waves and tothe wind right, kind of strange
.
Now notice he says peace bestill.
So you know the way I used toput this out when I was reading
the story to my kids early on intheir life.
I said we would shake, right,you know, the storm would come.
(28:40):
And the wind came, and thestorm came, and I have him on my
lap and I'd be shaking him backand forth and then I'd say and
then Jesus said peace be still.
And that's how the story wentevery single time through the
book.
But that's not exactly true.
(29:07):
I'm a liar.
Jesus' words here are actually alittle harsher.
He tells the wind and the wavesbe muzzled, hush or other
things that we may not want ourkids to say like, shut up, right
.
That's essentially what Jesustells the wind and the waves,
and I guess you can do that.
He does that with the demonsearlier on in our story, the
book of Mark.
(29:27):
He does that with the waveshere.
I guess demons and waves youcan be harsh like that, but
that's what Jesus says and theylisten and it's so crazy.
Notice it says there was agreat calm and the word great
there is the same word that'sused for a great storm A mega
storm came, a mega calm came.
(29:49):
What was that like when themega calm comes into your life,
man, it'd be nice, right, themega calm.
There was this painting.
There was this painting atCalvary Vista that we had in our
office and it was of the stormand I actually love that
painting.
It was really cool.
It was a storm and half of thestorm, and I actually love that
painting.
It was really cool.
(30:09):
It was a storm and half of thehalf of the painting was calm
and the other half was stillgetting there.
Right, the waves were kind ofdying down and the disciples are
like at the oars and they gotthese crazy looks on their faces
.
You know, they're like ah, youknow, it's kind of like the old
Rembrandt painting and stufflike their faces are all
distorted.
And then the guy in the frontof the boat, you know, it's kind
of like the old Rembrandtpainting and stuff like their
faces are all distorted.
And then the guy in the frontof the boat, you know, as the
(30:32):
waves just come down and thewind stops and it's like clear
skies over, he's got these crazyeyes, you know, and he's
looking out and he's almost moreamazed at the calm than the
storm.
Right, and it's a really coolpicture there.
Can you imagine, as they're likewe're gonna die, they're
yelling we're gonna die.
(30:52):
And then all at once it getsquiet.
They're like we're gonna, wedidn't die, you know.
And it's a surprise, andthere's a great calm, an
abnormal, supernatural calm onthe sea.
Boy, that sounds nice, doesn'tit?
And then verse 40, jesus kindof rebukes them a little bit.
(31:16):
Why are you so fearful?
Why have you no faith?
Good question, verse 41,.
And they feared exceedingly andsaid to one another who can
this be that even the wind andthe sea obey him?
So they were scared that theywere going to die in the storm.
But then they got a littlefreaked out when they saw that
Jesus just told the waves to bequiet.
(31:39):
And they did.
And they go whoa, he is notjust a teacher, he's, you know,
not just a philosopher or arabbi.
He's something else, man whocan tell the waves to be quiet.
And they do.
And they were even more scaredat that point than they were in
(32:01):
the storm because they knewJesus for who he was.
But this is our education, right?
God allows us to go throughstorms in life and we don't like
them.
Various storms.
I think chapter five is a stormas well.
It's, you know, spiritual stormthere.
But through.
That is the only way we reallyget to know Jesus.
(32:23):
You can know Jesus throughfacts.
Right, if you pulled up somefacts on Wikipedia, they might
be true.
You know, you can get somefacts about who Jesus is.
But check it out.
When you really experience himin your life, you go.
I know who Jesus is.
He's kind to me.
Oh man, he saved me when Ithought I was going to die.
(32:46):
Man, he was with me when Ithought everybody else was
against me.
I know Jesus and that's wherehis disciples are and of course,
that's where God wants to bringus to through the difficulties
and the storms of life is thatwe know him better.
Continued education.
God, none of us look forward tostorms in life, but they do come
(33:08):
.
It's the nature of this place.
And there's uncertainty and,god, we feel like things are out
of control and, god, sometimeswe even doubt that you really do
care about us.
And yet, god, you proveYourself.
I just pray that you wouldstrengthen our faith in these
things.
(33:28):
God, that prove yourself.
I just pray that you wouldstrengthen our faith in these
things, god, that we would knowyou more.
God, I pray that you prepare usfor the good that you have for
us in our life, the good thatyou have for us in this coming
week.
God, if there are storms, Ipray that we turn to you quickly
, god, but we would trust youthrough the good and the bad,
(33:49):
through all the different thingsof our life.
God, our life would be yours.
Thank you so much for beingwith us.
You never leave us and younever forsake us, even in these
things.
Help us know you're mine InJesus' name, amen, amen.
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