Invite Jesus Into Your Storm Pt 1 - Mark 5:35-41

[0:00] Had a little winter this week, didn't we? I don't know if you know this, but my day job is I take care of the streets and water and sewer for the city of Dyersville, Public Works Director.

[0:13] So this was a busy week for me. Fortunately, I've got great crews that help with that. But, yeah, we had a little winter. So, all right.

[0:26] So, yeah, just again to reiterate, the class that's coming up Wednesday, you heard us talk about that. Rich had a good question. He said, what's the age for that? He said, can kids go to that?

[0:37] That's a good question. What I would say is that if you're of the age where you want to learn how to cultivate your relationship with Jesus Christ, then it's for you.

[0:50] So I'm not sure what age level that is, but you can pray about that, think about that. And then Kath and I are kind of putting together the activities part of the couples night.

[1:03] And so I just encourage you to think about that. Kathy's probably going to be approaching you about some trivia having to do with your relationship, maybe, you know, something fun or cool that resulted in you meeting or falling in love or whatever.

[1:21] So watch for that. We're going to have some fun with that. So, all right. Okay, so we've been going through the Gospel of Mark.

[1:32] We kind of took a break from it over the holidays, and Pastor Tim brought us back a couple weeks ago. Last week? A couple weeks ago? Anyway. So we're getting back into that.

[1:45] Gospel of Mark. Gospel, as we've talked about, the word means good news. It means awesome news, incredible news, and illogical news. And we've talked about it.

[1:55] It's illogical because this is God doing something. It's not about, it's not like other religions where it's about you becoming religious and doing some things.

[2:05] This is about God, Jesus, doing something for us. The good news. It's awesome news, incredible news, illogical news.

[2:16] And it's unfolding before our eyes through the Gospel of Mark. It's unfolding before the disciples' eyes. It's, you know, they've been with him for a period of time. And we're going to see that they still really don't know who he is.

[2:31] So they've been walking with him for, I don't know, several months, maybe a year or so. I don't know. They don't know who he is. So you'll recall that Jesus, he's still kind of hanging around in Galilee and Capernaum.

[2:46] Let's see if I can get this thing to work. Here we go. Pastor Tim let me borrow his map. So, can I get the right instrument here?

[2:59] I'm going to be pointing. So, mostly they've been around the Sea of Galilee. And so Capernaum is right here on the northern shore there.

[3:10] And they've been spending time around there. He'd been performing a number of miracles, you know, healing a lot of people, cleansing a man with leprosy, healing the paralytic, the man with the withered hand.

[3:26] So some miracles have been happening. The disciples were learning a little bit about him, who he was somewhat. He goes, so he was preaching around in Galilee, some of the towns, went back to Capernaum.

[3:42] And then, you remember, at the beginning of chapter 4, he got into a boat because the crowds were pushing on him. So he's in a boat and he's preaching. And, you know, he goes through some parables, parable of the sower of seeds, the lamp under the basket, you know, seeds growing, the mustard seed.

[3:59] He kind of covers those. Now, beginning in chapter 4, verse 35, and then all the way through the end of chapter 5, we're going to see some more miracles again and some pretty powerful miracles.

[4:13] It's some cool stuff. So, why don't we read? We're going to be reading in Mark 4, 35 through 41.

[4:25] I'm going to invite you to stand if you want. You don't have to. You're welcome to for the reading of the word. And if you want, you can read it with me. So, let's start reading.

[4:38] So, Mark 4, 35 through 41. On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side.

[4:49] And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

[5:04] But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

[5:17] And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

[5:28] And he said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

[5:45] Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you so much for your word. We thank you for your truths, God. We thank you that you live inside us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

[5:58] Thank you that you interpret the scriptures, you apply the scriptures, you help us to understand your truths. I thank you for these, your people, God, that also help.

[6:10] And I just pray that you would speak to us today. Lord, speak to me, speak through me. I pray that we would learn something new, learn something different, that we would become different, that we would become more like you as a result of today, Father.

[6:29] Lord, we lift up the other churches in town, other churches around the world, Lord. Your people, God, speak to your people. Make them different, Lord. Help us to be more like you.

[6:41] In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Thanks. You can have a seat if you want. All right. So, I get the right instrument here.

[6:56] So we'll look at the first verse there. You know, it's interesting. It says, when evening came, he said to them, let's go across to the other side.

[7:07] You know, so, you know, evening, you know, he'd been preaching all day. When evening came, let's go across the other side. The Sea of Galilee is about eight miles wide.

[7:24] It's about 13 miles from north to south. But, of course, they're up here near Capernaum. And so, to go across the sea might mean just come over here to Bethsaida or, you know, who knows.

[7:39] But either way, it's nighttime. It's evening. And he says, let's cross. You know, he's probably thinking, you know, I've got some pros with me.

[7:52] He's a fisherman. They, you know, they know. But I think in reality, he knew what was coming and he knew what he was going to do, didn't he? All right.

[8:05] Verse 36. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him. So, in my research, some of the scholars say that the allusion to just as he was kind of implies that, it may imply, you know, he'd been in a boat.

[8:25] He'd been preaching from a boat. And they took him into their boat. So, it was like they just took him as he was. He didn't go to shore, you know. So, that's what they think that is meant by that.

[8:36] And that kind of makes sense. The other boats, they say, might refer to maybe other disciples. Maybe some of the disciples were in this boat. Maybe other disciples.

[8:47] Or maybe disciples beyond the 12 that were following him, that were interested, were in these other boats. It could be either way. But the boat is interesting.

[8:59] So, in 1986, the remains of a fishing boat was discovered in the mud along the banks of the Sea of Galilee.

[9:10] And it looked like this. So, they have it on display there. And they dated this to be right around, you know, in the range of the time when Christ would have been there.

[9:21] So, it may have been, you know, a boat similar to what they were on. And this is a model of a similar boat. And they say that up to 15 people could be in this boat.

[9:32] They got a couple of people that row. Excuse me, two on each side. So, four row. And so, you know, that could be a boat similar to what we're talking about. All right.

[9:45] All right. Next verse. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling.

[9:55] Interesting. Interesting. Windstorms like this were very common and are very common today on the Sea of Galilee.

[10:08] There's a mountain to the northeast. It's called Mount Hermon. And you can see that this is the Sea of Galilee. And as you look off to the northeast, that's Mount Hermon there.

[10:19] It's kind of like a big white wall. And what the scientists believe, you know, talking about this. So, first of all, the mountain is like 9,200 feet above sea level.

[10:30] And I don't know if you knew this, but the Sea of Galilee is actually 700 feet below sea level. So, you've got kind of a difference of 9,900 feet there.

[10:42] And what happens is that the air kind of moves over the mountain, and it cools. And then when it hits during certain times of the year, during the summertime and maybe in the evening, it goes over the lake, the warm air from the water, and it just causes this incredible windstorm.

[10:59] It's pretty amazing. Violent, violent windstorm. Of course, Jesus, again, knew this was going to happen.

[11:09] In fact, you know, it says that the world was created through Jesus. I kind of wonder if maybe he thought about, you know, I'm going to put a mountain. How about if we put a mountain right here?

[11:20] Because I want to do this thing. I want to do this thing with my disciples. And let's, you know, can you imagine maybe? I don't know. Maybe he did that. He created the world.

[11:32] He created Mount Hermon. Created the Sea of Galilee. All right. Next verse. Oops. I just hit this.

[11:45] I've got to hit this. All right. Verse 38. But he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?

[12:00] So Jesus, he's sleeping, you know. He knew this was coming. Do you think he was really asleep? Do you think maybe he might have been, you know, sitting there kind of like, this is going to be so cool?

[12:14] No, I don't think so. Bible says he was asleep. He was exhausted. You know, again, he'd been preaching.

[12:25] You know, we saw earlier in Mark where he spends time with the Father. Jesus, God the Son, spends time with God the Father in prayer, sometimes all night.

[12:36] Jesus was exhausted. And this is demonstrating his humanness, right? Jesus, fully man, right? Fully man and fully God.

[12:47] He needed to rest. He couldn't even stay awake during this storm. He was exhausted. He was tired. I don't know if you remember this, but when he was at the well in John chapter 4, you remember it said that he was wearied from his journey.

[13:06] Again, a demonstration of Jesus' humanness, wearied from his journey. You remember in John 11, when Lazarus had died, and Jesus was, he ran into Martha on the road, he ran into Mary, and you remember what it said?

[13:24] Shortest verse in the Bible, what is it? Jesus wept. Okay, he knew Lazarus had died. He knew he was going to raise him from the dead.

[13:35] Why did he weep? Why was he crying? He was entering into Mary's pain there, like he does with us, all of us. He enters into our pain.

[13:47] Jesus, fully human, fully man, Jesus wept. In Matthew 4, you know, after he was fasting for 40 days, it says that he was hungry.

[14:01] You know, well, 40 days and 40 nights, you know, you're going to be hungry. Jesus was human, fully human. Hebrews 4.15 says that he was tempted in every way, just as we are.

[14:13] Jesus was tempted. Jesus was tempted. Fully human, fully man. The truth is that Christ's humanity is part of what qualifies him to be our merciful intercessor between us and God the Father.

[14:34] The fact that he was human, fully human, is part of what qualifies him to be the intercessor, to go between us and God.

[14:46] Listen to this verse, Hebrews 2.17. Therefore, he had to be made, talking about Jesus, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God.

[15:07] Listen to this. To make propitiation for the sins of the people. I'm going to say that part again. To make propitiation for the sins of his people.

[15:20] He had to be human. He had to be like us in every way so that he could represent us, so that he could be our substitute, so that he could take on the wrath of God in our place.

[15:35] That word propitiation, we studied that about a year ago. And what it means is he fully exhausted the wrath of God. He was our propitiation.

[15:46] He took on the penalty for our sin. And all of God's wrath, all of God's wrath was directed at Jesus. He didn't just absorb his wrath.

[15:59] He exhausted the wrath of God. That's why God holds no more wrath toward us for our sin, because Jesus took it all on.

[16:10] Propitiation. It's an awesome word. Awesome word. So it says, They woke him, saying, Teacher, do you not care that we're perishing? Isn't that interesting?

[16:20] His disciples would say that. Don't you care that we're perishing? Again, it's all about them, right? Now, don't forget, some of these were professional fishermen.

[16:35] They were familiar with the Sea of Galilee. And there were times when maybe they were out fishing at night. This wasn't new to them, so why were they acting this way?

[16:46] Well, this must have been a doozy of a windstorm. So this story is given in Matthew 8 and Luke 8 as well. Well, the same story.

[17:00] In Matthew 8, the Greek word used for the storm is seismos. So what does that sound like? Seismos. What does that sound like? Seismic. Like an earthquake almost.

[17:11] This was a doozy of a storm. And it's interesting. They say, you know, don't you care that we're perishing? Why don't they say, Lord, can you help us out here?

[17:22] You know, why don't they just say that? Or they could have said something like, you know, hey, check out this storm. This is really pretty awesome. You know, wake up. Or they could have said, Lord, are you okay?

[17:36] Because, I mean, he's sleeping during this storm. Aren't you concerned about him? Shouldn't they have been concerned about him? But no, what did they say? Don't you care that we are perishing?

[17:47] All right. Verse 39. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still.

[18:02] And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. Wow. Isn't that awesome? Isn't that amazing? I mean, just imagine that.

[18:12] How cool is that? What an awesome miracle. In my research, I stumbled upon some paintings. I just want to show you these paintings. So this one, of course, is kind of before everything's calm.

[18:24] But I just love how they show the disciples, you know, kind of, you know, crazy. And the waves coming over. And here's Jesus, you know, just right up like that. Another one kind of shows what it looked like afterwards, you know.

[18:37] Different painting, different artists. I like how the storm is kind of, you can kind of see the storm off in the distance there. But how awesome.

[18:47] What an incredible miracle. It's so incredible. It's so awesome. Okay. Verse 40 says, he said to them, why are you so afraid?

[19:01] Have you still no faith? Why? Why indeed? Why? Why are you still afraid? You know, they've seen Jesus perform miracles already.

[19:17] Again, the miracles we talked about, the healings, the cleansing of the leper. But this was something new. You know, you could almost say, well, you know, physicians kind of can heal hands.

[19:31] And, you know, maybe those aren't that big a miracle. You know. They're huge miracles. The healing and all that, everything he's done.

[19:42] But, you know, this is something that's like, whoa. They were shocked.

[19:53] What's interesting is, what were they expecting? I was thinking about that, about this. So, I mean, they woke him up. They were expecting something.

[20:04] They're expecting him to do something. What were they expecting? What were they expecting? And Jesus rebukes them here.

[20:17] And he had reason to rebuke them. You know, he's teaching them. These are his disciples. He's discipling them. He's teaching them. They're, you know, they're afraid.

[20:29] And they're not trusting him. I don't think he was harsh. But I think he was making a point. Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?

[20:40] He's making a point. And then, verse 41. And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

[20:57] So, again, I asked myself, what were they expecting? Because, obviously, they weren't expecting this, because look at how they reacted. They're filled with great fear. Who then is this?

[21:11] Commentary that I read, that I looked at, said that their fear now may have been even greater than the fear they had during the storm. Wow. Who is this?

[21:24] Look what happened. They weren't expecting this. But something better than what they were expecting took place. Jesus calmed the storm.

[21:36] Boom. It's done. It's over. Calmed the storm. We talked earlier about Jesus' humanness. And certainly his humanness is demonstrated here.

[21:49] He was asleep. He was exhausted. We talked about a number of aspects of his humanness. But what else became blatantly obvious to the disciples here?

[21:59] What else became blatantly obvious? Jesus is God. This is God. We're in the boat with God.

[22:12] It's obvious this is God. They were getting to know the God of the universe. And they were part of something vastly larger than what they thought.

[22:27] Something vastly larger. They were thinking this band were going to maybe, you know, kind of free Israel from oppression. No. They were a part of something vastly larger than what they thought.

[22:38] They have been invited to participate in the divine plan to rescue the world. That's what this was about.

[22:49] The disciples were invited to participate in God's plan, his divine plan to rescue the whole world. So how about you?

[23:06] Have you experienced this sort of thing? You know, the disciples are following Jesus, right? They're following Jesus. They believe that they'd be kept safe.

[23:18] You know, hey, I mean, let's cross. You know, it's evening, let's cross. Jesus said, yeah, okay, let's do it. They believe they're going to be kept safe. And suddenly their lives were in danger.

[23:30] Boom. Whoa. Have you ever followed Jesus into the unknown, believing you'd be protected? Believing that he would protect you, he'd keep your life free from the storms, only to find out that trials and tribulations are still a part of your life?

[23:52] You know, maybe you've been surprised by trials. You know, the death of a loved one. We heard about some deaths here today. You know, close people.

[24:04] You know, maybe the death of a child or a brother or sister or a parent, early beyond, you know, early, too early. Maybe you lost a job or maybe your spouse left, took the kids, you know.

[24:18] Maybe you desire to be married and you haven't found a wife, you haven't found a husband.

[24:37] Maybe you can't have kids. You found out you can't have kids. Or maybe you lost all your savings. These trials happen. They happen to God's children as well as others.

[24:54] In John chapter 16, Jesus said, In this world you will have trouble. You will have trouble. It's a part of life.

[25:06] Trials are a part of life, whether you are God's child or not. In that verse he says, But take heart, I have overcome the world. There's an incorrect theology out there.

[25:22] Some people call it a prosperity gospel. It says something like, you know, God wants you to be happy and healthy and wealthy.

[25:33] And, you know, if you do this and do this and do this, you know, give this, sacrifice that, your life will turn out great. You know, your kids are going to turn out.

[25:44] You're always going to have plenty of money. You're never going to have health problems. It's a bunch of garbage. It's a bunch of garbage. It's not biblical.

[25:55] It's not the truth. The corollary says something like this, If things aren't going my way, I must have done something wrong. If I'm facing these trials, I must have sinned in some way or, you know, made some mistake, did something wrong.

[26:12] And that's garbage too. Now, I will say this. God does sometimes discipline his children for the purpose of bringing them back to him.

[26:25] And why is that? Because he's, you know, just, you know, needs people or something because he's, like, insecure? No. God has something better for us than what we have for ourselves.

[26:41] God has something better. And so sometimes he may discipline us to bring us back to him, to get our attention on him, that kind of thing. But it's discipline. He's not punishing.

[26:52] He's not saying, listen, you did that and I'm going to, you know. But the prosperity gospel says that. And sometimes we think that. What, you know, something, I'm going through a hard time or something.

[27:03] And what did I, you know, what did I do wrong? What did I, you know. God doesn't work that way. Again, at the end of John 16, this is interesting because in John chapters 13 through 16, they call it the upper room discourse, actually through 17.

[27:27] So it's just before he gets arrested and he's spending time with the disciples and he's saying all kinds of things. And toward the end of that, at the end of chapter 6, he says this.

[27:39] I'm going to put the verse up there. This is what the verse says. I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but take heart.

[27:51] I have overcome the world. I want to encourage you to remember three things related to this story.

[28:04] So three things. Number one, just because you're going through a storm doesn't mean you took a wrong turn. Okay. And that's true.

[28:16] Just because you're going through trials, it's a fallen world. You know, we've got an enemy. Sometimes we do make mistakes. Sometimes we do stupid things, you know, and sometimes that might be the reason.

[28:28] But just because you're going through this trial does not necessarily mean that you've taken a wrong turn. Something to keep in mind. Now, the second thing, remember to invite Jesus into the storm.

[28:42] What did we see? The disciples, they went right to Jesus. They invited him into the storm. This kind of relates to what Wayne was talking about. We need to be in prayer.

[28:54] We need to invite God into our trials. We need to pray. We need to be in his word. We need to communicate with him. We need to have him as part of our trials.

[29:06] Have him in there. Invite him in. The last thing is to expect God to do the unexpected. Again, the disciples, they reached out to Jesus.

[29:19] They wanted help. But obviously, he did something they didn't expect. And I think that can happen with us too. We can trust him, rely on him.

[29:29] But he may do something we don't expect. But expect him to do that. Expect him to work. Amazing things. See, Jesus had greater plans for the disciples than they had for themselves.

[29:45] You know, they might have been just thinking, I want to get to the other side. But Jesus, as I said earlier, I'll say this again, Jesus has invited them to participate in his divine plan to rescue the world.

[30:01] He invited them. His divine plan to rescue the world. Are you participating in his divine plan to rescue the world?

[30:19] I've been very blessed by Dave and Tricia. You know, you guys obviously are going through a major trial with Tricia's cancer.

[30:35] I don't know if you're following them. Is it Facebook? Is it Facebook? And God is, they're allowing God to work through them because they're participating in his divine plan to rescue the world.

[30:52] So I encourage you to, you know, find their Facebook page. I've been very encouraged with what you guys are sharing. Thank you for doing that. Jim Potter, you know, continues to serve God, continues to participate in God's divine plan to rescue the world in the face of trials.

[31:14] I just learned last week I've got some major surgery coming up. Possibly major surgery. Is it okay that I share this, Kathy?

[31:26] No, I struggle with diverticulitis, and I think I'm probably going to have part of my colon removed or something. We'll see. I've got to have a consultation. I need to trust the Lord through that, and I need to allow him to use me to participate in his divine plan to rescue the world.

[31:49] The world needs help, and we're God's people. He works through his people to rescue the world. I put that up there.

[32:03] We, too, have been invited to participate in the divine plan to rescue the world. Every one of us in here, every one of us in here has been invited by the Lord to participate in his plan to rescue this world, and this world needs rescuing.

[32:25] It needs rescuing. So think about that when you think about trials. How can God use this? How can God use this?

[32:37] Yes, we pray that, you know, we be delivered from the trials. God may do that. He does that sometimes. He may not. Lord, use this. Help me to be a part of your plan to rescue this world.

[32:51] Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we do just thank you so much that nothing gets by you.

[33:02] Nothing at all gets by you, Father. And sometimes it's hard to see that. Sometimes it's hard to understand that when we go through these difficult things, these trials, tribulations.

[33:12] Thank you for your example that you've given us. Help us. Help us to trust you. Help us to see you in it.

[33:25] Help us to welcome you in it. Help us to pray to you, to be in your word. Help us to lean on each other. We need to lean on each other. We're there for each other.

[33:35] That's why we're here. That's why we're a church. That's what church is all about. Help us to do that. Help us to trust you. Help us to walk with you. Help us to be different.

[33:46] In Jesus' name.