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Content type: Sermon Poem / Prayer Service / Tribute Incomplete Biography
Body: Cane Creek Friends Meeting 11/17/24. Bob, was in the mountains one day taking pictures of all the beautiful scenery. Then suddenly, he got too close to the edge and started falling down the side of the mountain. On the way down ... he managed to get hold of a tree branch, and he started yelling for help, but no one came because Bob was alone. Then suddenly, he heard a voice that said "Bob?" Bob said, "Is that you Lord?" "Yes, Bob it’s me." "Do you trust me?" And Bob replied. "Oh yes Lord you know I do with all my heart." "Do you have faith in me?" "Oh yes Lord I would do whatever you say." "Then Bob let go of the branch." Bob said, "You want me to do what?" "I said let go of the branch." There was dead silence ... then Bob yelled out, "Help, is there anyone else up there?" Many of us are like Bob ... we say that we will trust God when times get hard but when it comes right down to it, we really don’t. Many of us lack faith, but what we fail to realize is that if there is no faith then there is no hope, and if there is no hope then there is nothing for us to hold on to. Let’s look at our text. Mark 4:35-41. [v. 35] And the same day, when the evening was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. [v.36] And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with Him other little ships. [v.37] And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. [v.38] And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awoke Him, and say unto Him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? [v.39] And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. [v.40] And He said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? [v.41] And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Whenever the Lord says Peace ... there **will**be peace Say it with me. Whenever the Lord says Peace ... there will be peace (repeat) So, “Why does God allow storms in our life?” I mean, think about it for a minute. If He is all-powerful, [which He is] couldn’t God make our life smooth sailing if He wanted to? Wouldn’t it be nice if He cut out all the storms and simply made the seas that we sail on as smooth as glass? It seems like life would be much better if we didn’t have to go through rough times. But I believe that Mark is trying to teach us something this morning about dealing with difficult times in our life by telling us about a stormy situation on the Sea of Galilee. I believe that there is more to this story ... than a storm-tossed boat with thirteen passengers. [v.35] ... “And the same day” refers to the day on which Jesus gave the “parables of the kingdom.” Jesus had just finished teaching His disciples the Word and now He would give them a practical test to see how much they had really learned. After all, the hearing of God’s Word is intended to produce faith according to **Romans 10:17** where it says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." A wise preacher once said ... A faith not tested is a faith not trusted. So, be reassured that your faith will be tested one day. Why ... because it is not enough for us merely to learn a lesson or be able to repeat a teaching or a sermon. We must also be able to practice that lesson by faith. I believe, that is one of the reasons why God permits or allows storms to come to our lives. Notice the destination that Jesus named. As far as the Lord was concerned, the end of their boat ride was the other side of the sea, not the bottom of the sea. You see ... this tells me that the Lord sometimes must take us through troubled water not to drown us but to cleanse us. I just want to reassure you this morning that if Jesus has given you a destination, then he is going to be in your boat to make sure you reach it, all we must do is put our trust in him. [v.36] "And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships." He was already in the ship. What I like about this is that they set sail without any preparation, and without so much as leaving the ship, out of which He had been all day teaching. They did not return home to prepare an overnight bag. This tells me that when Jesus says it is time to go over to the other side ... then it is time to go. So, we better be ready because we don’t know the day nor the hour when our souls will be required. Is Jesus in your boat? What do you mean John? Well, I’m asking if Jesus is the captain of the seas of your life. The disciples should have had confidence because of the fact that they had their Master with them, and the ship that has Christ in it, though it may be tossed, it cannot sink. You see it is not only good to have the right person in your boat ... but it is also good to be on the right boat. But what a fellowship, and what a joy when you are in a boat with Jesus in it. Now I’m not talking about just a boat, I’m talking about a personal relationship. I’m talking about making Jesus your anchor, your rudder, and your lighthouse, your lifeboat, and your harbor. I’m talking about accepting him as your Lord and Savior. I’m talking about making Him the Captain of your Soul. [v.37] "And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full." The storm described here must have been especially fierce if it frightened these experienced fishermen. We see at least three good reasons why none of these men in the ship [in a ship with Jesus mind you] should have been disturbed, even though the situation appeared to be life threatening. To begin with, Jesus promises that they were going to the other side (**Mark 4:35**). Now this statement is not a suggestion, but it is a promise. What we need to understand is that His commandments are always His commandments, and nothing can hinder the working out of His plans. Note that He did not promise them an easy trip, but He did promise a guaranteed arrival at their destination. Second, the Lord Himself was with them, so what was there to fear. They had already seen His power demonstrated in His miracles, so they should have had complete confidence that He could handle any situation. You know ... a lot of us are just like these disciples, for some reason, sometimes we miss that He is indeed the Master of every situation. Illustration There is a story of a man who was putting a tin roof on his barn when all the sudden he slipped and began to slide down the roof. He cried "Lord Help " when the words barely came out of his mouth, a nail caught his pants and stopped him. When he stopped, he said, “never mind Lord I took care of it." Finally, the third reasons why these men should have not been afraid, which lead us to [v.38] is the fact that they could see that Jesus was perfectly at peace, even in the midst of the storm. This fact alone should have encouraged them. Jesus was in God’s will and knew that His Heavenly Father would take care of Him, so He decided to take a nap. As we see here in our text, that the disciples find Jesus sleeping on a pillow. Jesus slept in the storm because He was truly secure in God’s will. Many Christians are just like the disciples of old in that when the trials of life come, they are prone to imitate the faithless disciples and cry out, “Lord, don’t You care?” Of course, He cares! He arose and rebuked the wind, and immediately there was a great calm. This means to me that whenever the Lord says Peace ... there will be peace. Understand this, the calming of the winds was easy ... because whenever the Lord says Peace ... there will be peace. No matter the situation or circumstance. What I want you to understand, something that the disciples missed, is the greatest danger that we face in our lives is not the wind or the waves. Our greatest danger is the unbelief that is in our hearts. You see ... what we fail to realize is that our greatest problems are **within** us, not **around** us. This explains why Jesus gently rebuked them in [v.40] and said "Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?" On the outside ... they looked good, but on the inside, they lacked faith. They had heard Him teach the Word and had even seen Him perform miracles, and yet they still had no faith. Sadly, the same thing happens to us. God has answered prayer after prayer ... yet whenever we are in a pickle or in a jam, unbelief causes us to fear, and our fear makes us question whether Jesus really cares. You know, sometimes I think we may expect smooth sailing in our lives, and we don’t expect storms ... but I have come to tell you that we will face some storms. And if you are in a storm right now, don’t you sit there and think that you are the lone ranger. You are not by yourself. In fact, I heard somebody say that there ain’t but three kinds of people (1) the ones that are in a storm (2) the ones fresh from a storm (3) and the ones on their way to a storm. But there is encouragement found in our text today -- that as the storms rage, the waves crash and the fears grow, that we can go to the Lord and find peace in Him. Because whenever the Lord says peace ... there will be peace. You see ... just like the disciples, we may be at our wits’ end, but not at our faith’s end, while we have Jesus Christ in our boat. You know, one of the most astounding elements to this story is that while the disciples feared for their lives, Jesus is sleeping. Have you ever felt that way? You’re going through the storm of your life, and it seems like God is sleeping. Of course, we know from scripture **Psalm 121** that God “... shall neither slumber nor sleep.” But you know what I mean, if we are willing to admit it -- I think that most of us have at one point in time in our lives, have at one time or another, felt like God was taking a nap on us. You see ... the scripture does not say it, but I can see panic starting to set in. Some of us can relate as to how the disciples must have felt and reacted during this storm. I can use my imagination and see the 12 disciples grabbing hold of the sides of the boat as it is rocking and rolling. I can see them trying to bail the water out. Their eyes are as big as silver dollars. I must wonder if the thought ever came into the mind of one of the disciples to abandon ship -- the little bit of security they had at that moment. Yeah ... that may seem foolish to leave what security they had. But it happens so often when people find themselves in the midst of the storm. Sometimes they leave the security of the Church. Sometime when people find themselves in the midst of a storm ... they give up on God and refuse to call on the name of Jesus and start trying to fix things by their self. You see ... the disciples had forgotten who was in the boat with them. And I got a feeling that somebody here today has done the same thing. I’m guilty. Sometimes we forget who is in our boat. Picture the situation here. The disciples are in total panic. They are trying to hold on so they can stay in the boat. They are doing all they can to get the water out of the boat, so the boat doesn’t sink. And there’s Jesus, sleeping like a baby. You might think, “Why doesn’t Jesus do something. What is He waiting for?” But I’m under the firm belief that he was waiting for them to turn to Him -- and the same things hold true for us, God has not left us, but He is waiting at times for us to turn to Him. When we are in the midst of the storm, we need to do what the disciples did and turn to Jesus. You see the problem here is that when the disciples turned to Jesus they did so out of panic and not out of faith. We can see that by their cry, “Master, carest thou not that we perish? You see their panic ... faith would have said "Master save us!" Have you ever felt like the disciples felt that day? Your life was progressing along nicely ... the sun was shining, the winds were calm, the waters of life were smooth ... and then suddenly “BAM” the storm hits your life. The breath is knocked out of you. You’re knocked off your feet. You hardly know what hit you. It takes you by surprise You look up to Heaven and say Lord don’t you see what is going on down here? Can’t you tell that I’m drowning? Don’t you care that I’m in trouble? So, when you are going through your storms of life ... know that the Lord will provide. What am I trying to say to you this morning is that there will be storms in our lives. Ø Storms that will rock us and shake us. Ø Storms that will test our faith. Ø Storms that will bring adversity our way. Ø Storms that will knock the breath out of you. But what I want you to know is that whenever the Lord says peace ... there will be peace. - Peace in the midst of our storm - Peace in the midst of our problems - Peace. So don’t despair God is goanna turn your situation around ... it will work in your favor. So, the next time you decide to hang your head ... and start to question whether or not the Lord cares for you. I invite you to ask yourself the question: Ø Did God care when He allowed His only begotten Son, Jesus to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane Ø Did God care when He allowed them to spit on Him and lie on and talked about Him and called Him everything but a child of God. Ø Did God care about you, when He allowed them to beat his only begotten Son, within an inch of his life for you? So, when you are going through your storms of life ... before you throw in the towel and begin wondering whether Jesus cares. Pause and ask yourself the question: Ø Did He care about me when the blood came streaming down His beaten face from the crown of thorns the put on His head? Ø Did Jesus care about me when He bore the pain of the nails piercing through his hands and feet. Ø Did He care enough about me when they raised Him up on that cross, between two thieves to die for my sins? So, if you are going through a storm in your life and you want to make it to the other side -- do like the disciples and call on Jesus. He is the only one who can: Ø Comfort you in the midst of your crisis. Ø Help in the midst of hopelessness. Ø And He will give you Peace in the midst of confusion, Ø Solutions in the midst of problems, Ø Wealth in the midst of poverty, Ø Stability for our stumbling, Ø Victory for our battles, Ø Deliverance from our defeats, Ø Forgiveness for our faults, Ø Faith for our fears, and Ø Light for our darkness! If you are going through a storm in your life – I invite you to call on Jesus who can turn our: Ø Burdens into blessings, Ø Our shame into His sunshine, Ø Our loneliness into His love, Ø Our guilt into His glory, Ø Our sorrow into His joy, Ø Our torments into His triumphs, Ø Our weakness into His strength, Ø And our heartaches into His hallelujahs! It doesn’t matter how difficult and painful your circumstances are, if you give your life to Jesus, He will get you through them. No matter if you face God will bring you through. You are precious to God, and no matter what it feels like, He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t deserted you. Perhaps you are in the middle of the storm of your life. If you are, I pray that your faith has been strengthened this morning. Friends ... never doubt God’s plan, God’s protection, or His presence in your life! Always remember that Jesus is in your boat and all we have to do is call on Him!
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