Purpose: Look friends, and get this straight: Jesus is in the storm of your life WITH YOU! What can happen? God Himself is with you! So, ride the ride of life with confi?dence. You may not like being in a storm, but that is what we must endure for a little while. And Jesus is in the storm with you.
Introduction
Opening
Last Sunday morning, I communicated to you the Truth from the Scripture that we are in a fight. Yes, the Lord has given us domain over this Earth; remember, ?Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.? But, we must fight the enemies, and conquer them. And we need not fear, for the Lord God tells His people, ?
Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee,? (Joshua 10:8). This earthly life is not the time nor place for continual comfort. It never shall be.
Well, let?s advance the clarity and scope of that Truth now. This morning, please come to understand that all along the way, even though the way would scare a normal man,
for you, Christian, Jesus is with you.
Scripture
Our Scripture is Mark 4:35-41.
Getting Tired Is Natural
Introduction
One of my favorite phrases to say to people who are hurting is this: ?This is not Heaven.?
In Heaven You Won?t Be Tired
In Heaven, I don?t expect we will have troubles. The Bible tells us that. In Heaven, I don?t expect that we shall get tired, either. But we do on Earth.
Have you ever been frustrated that something like 1/3 of your life you spend unconscious?! One-third! For about 8 hours each day, you lay in your bed totally oblivious to the world.
While asleep, you do not think about the things you would like to think about. Instead, many people dream. I dream. And my dreams are usually very odd; fortunately I don?t remember them more than an hour or so. But some people have dreams called ?nightmares,? scary dreams. I hate that. But they have no real control, because they are asleep.
While you are asleep, you don?t eat nor drink. So, eight hours later you get up to break-the-fast. You have been ?fasting? all night. That?s why the early morning meal is called ?break-fast,? or breakfast.
While asleep, you don?t earn money. You don?t fix your house. You don?t wash your car. You don?t sew a new dress. You don?t study your school lessons. You are, as they say, ?dead to the world? for that long period.
Some folk don?t come to church, because they ?over-slept.? They sleep.
Some come to church, and then they sleep!!!
At least they are at peace.
Jesus Was Asleep
As much as I don?t really like being ?dead to the world? for one-third of my life,
that?s just life!
And even the Lord of the Universe, Jesus, slept.
Mark tells us that after the ship set sail across the Sea of Galilee, that Jesus went to the back of the boat, get Himself a pillow, and went to sleep.
He must have been tired. Yeah, He was tired. He had been preaching ?His heart out? to the people earlier that day.
Please hear and understand a little-known fact of life: preaching the Truth of the Lord to people who are not willing or not capable of understanding, well, that is hard work. It taxes a man. It drains energy out of him.
The phrase, ?Nazarene nap,? was coined by a pastor who preached, ate lunch, and then took a long nap every Sunday!
Well, anyway, the ship had set sail, and Jesus was asleep.
Getting Scared Is Natural
Introduction
What happened after the ship set sail? It began to storm.
Scared of the Storm
The storm apparently was fierce, and getting worse. ?The waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full,? (Mark 4:37). The water was coming in! Surely soon the boat would be full, and sink. But only if the wind didn?t blow the ship over first!
And the men were scared. And who could blame them?
You see, when fearful events happen to you, it is natural to get scared.
Getting scared is just another part of this earthly life!
In Heaven, we shall never be afraid, nor scared, nor startled, nor dismayed. But on Earth, get?ting scared is natural.
I Don?t Like Being Scared!
I hate being scared, don?t you?! And I avoid all things that tend to induce fear in a person.
I simply do not understand why people go to ?horror movies.? When I was in my training classes way back when I was in the U.S. Air Force, a bunch of guys went to see the movie, ?Ghost Busters.? Ever seen that? Well, I protested, and they said, ?Come on, Neal. It?s not a scary movie; it?s a funny movie.? Would you agree? Well, I got scared! I did not like it!
At amusement parks, I don?t go into the ?spook house,? and I don?t ride those rides that take you into dark scary places. Yuk!
Jesus Was Asleep, and Not Scared
Anyway, the disciples were scared. They feared that nature was going to kill them at sea.
BUT, was Jesus afraid?
First of all, He was asleep. As long as a person is asleep, a tornado, a hurri?cane, or an earthquake could happen, and that person would likely not get scared. They are asleep!
The men could have said, ?Well, at least our good friend, Jesus, is not afraid. Let?s not bother Him, so that He doesn?t have experience this fright.?
But, no! They said, ?Let?s wake that fellow up! Quickly!?
So, they woke Him up, ?Master! Don?t you care that we are about to perish?!?
Get REAL! Jesus was asleep! From a natural man?s perspective, Jesus didn?t even know that there was a storm happening! He was asleep!
I?ll give the disciples this much credit: they knew who to turn to in time of danger. I?ll give them that.
Being Confident Is Spiritual
Introduction
Now tell me, what was Jesus? first reaction? Was it either:
1.
?Oh dear, this is awfully bad! Father, help us!? or,
2.
?I need to help these men regain peace.?
Jesus Calmed the Storm
Yes, the men were afraid of the storm. And so, our Jesus simply com?manded the nature that He created, ?Peace, be still.?
Don?t you love our Jesus!? Give Him praise and honor and all credit, for He is the Lord of lords, the King of kings, and the Master of all creation! He speaks, and ?even the wind and the sea obey Him!?
Yes, Jesus calmed the storm.
They Now Feared Being in the Presence of Jesus!
But He did not bring calm to the men. No, their fright turned from the storm?s potential to drown them, to the realization that they were standing in a small boat with The Man who Rules over everything!
Yes, the men were now afraid of Jesus! ?They feared exceedingly!? Again, I cannot really blame them, for Jesus is the Lord God Almighty in the flesh.
When I enter His gates of Heaven, yes, I will surely be very glad. But when I see Jesus face-to-face for the first time, I have no doubts but that I will fall on my face before Him. I don?t know if I will be afraid, or if I will have tre?mendous respect, or simply be full of joy at seeing my Friend and Redeemer; but I will not react casually!
Why Are You Afraid?
Even so, Jesus asked them, ?Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?? ?Men! WHERE IS YOUR CONFIDENCE?!?
For me, CONFIDENCE = FAITH! I?m sure I could make that argument, and prove it to be true by the Scripture. When I have FAITH, I have CON?FIDENCE. (Debbie Lober, isn?t that true?!) And when I lack faith, then I lack the confidence to continue living a victorious life.
True Confidence is a Spiritual Thing
Friend, you must have confidence to continue living life. Or at the very least, you must have confidence to live a victorious life.
1.
The natural, worldly man who is ?successful? by the world?s standards, has confidence in himself, in his empire, in his intelli?gence and strength.
2.
But the natural, worldly man who only ?just gets by,? is not all that confident in himself. And, so he just scrapes by. It?s a pauper?s way of life.
Now, speaking about the spiritual man:
ONE: If you are a believer in Christ Jesus as the Redeemer and Savior of your soul, but you have no real confidence that He is in control of both this world and your life,
then you are living a defeated life
. A spiritually unhappy life.
Friends, this is HUGE! And so let?s dwell here for a moment. The disciples in that rainy-day boat had seen Jesus do many amazing miracles. They knew that He was, at least, special. But, they had no confidence that Jesus, even though asleep, was totally still in control.
Beloved, Jesus IS ALWAYS AWARE OF AND SUPERVISING HIS PEOPLE?S LIVES! Our God does not sleep nor slumber! He is not igno?rant of events. He knows when a hair falls out of your head. He know that a sparrow is in need of food, and He supplies it.
Are you not much better than they? (see Matthew 6:26)
But a Christian who behaves much as these twelve men did, will seldom experience the great joy and excitement of life.
?
You know Jesus. So did these men.
?
You know that Jesus is great. These men witnessed first-hand.
?
You believe that Jesus lives inside you. They could see Him!
And yet, the storm gave them great fear. What are you afraid of, Christian?
TWO: A faithful, confident follower of Jesus lives a VICTORIOUS and TRIUMPHANT life! You know! You know! You are absolutely sure and confident that your Lord Jesus is both, in control and He cares about your life!
And you live life to the full CONFIDENT that Jesus is in the storm with you!
This Truth is bigger than HUGE! And so let?s talk about it! Indeed, this is a wonderful Truth for you to take in, and accept, and trust, and be transformed by. JESUS IS IN THE STORM WITH YOU!
And have you not heard, ?If God be for us, who can be against us?? (see Romans 8:31)
Now, I don?t expect that Jesus is going to make my life a sea for smooth sailing. No. I have grown up, and I know the Truth about this earthly life. It is a continual trial, with struggles, and with tribulations. That is a fact-of-life. These things shall happen. And none of us really like it! We want a life without worries, without troubles. But that life is yet to come, when we enter the gates of Heaven!
For now, though, we can still live in the power and strength and might and good-favor of God. ?God is my strength and power: And He maketh my way perfect,? (2 Samuel 22:33), the Scripture affirms!
Because I am in Christ Jesus, I have confidence, I have faith ? I trust my Lord and my God to be with me through it all!
Ride the Ride of Your Life ? All of Your Earthly Life
To end this message, let?s get real practical about our Christian life for a few moments. (Do you know what it means when the preacher says, ?In conclusion,? or ?one more thing,? or ?nearing the end of the message,? or ?finally?? NOTHING!) But don?t miss this almost-final point!
When I sky-diver jumps out of a perfectly good airplane at 15,000 feet about the ground; what is he putting his faith in? Right, he has confidence that his parachute will open, and he will enjoy the ride back to Earth!
When a scuba-diver dives down 500 feet into the ocean, what is he putting his faith in? Right, he has confidence that his air tanks will function properly.
When a crazy person gets on a monster roller-coaster ride, what is he put?ting his faith in? The designers, builders, and maintainers of that ride that the cart will stay on the tracks!
Now, Christian, you must admit with me that this life is one long uncertain ?ride?! And troubles come. Unusual and undesirable things happen in your life.
In that ?Ghost Buster?s? movie, when the trouble showed up, there was one famous line they said, that you may remember. What was that line? Yeah, ?Who you gonna call??
The HUGE difference is that I?m calling on Jesus every day in every way!
And when the trouble shows up, I already know that He is near, He is in charge, and He cares!
And so, my recommendation to you this morning: ride the ride-of-life with great confidence!
The Boatmen Missed Out
The disciples in the tossed ship missed out on a great opportunity. If they knew what you now know, they could have ridden that storm out, and even laughed at it! They could have let Jesus rest in the back of the boat, and stood tall on that boat, riding right into the storm! Jesus was with them! Who could do them harm! ?Why are you afraid? Where is your faith?? Jesus asked!
Those men could have ridden through that storm, and gotten through it, and then said, ?Thanks be to God through Christ Jesus! We made it through that storm all well, and wow, what an amazing thing it was! Terribly exciting! And we faced it with confidence because Jesus was with us!?
But as it happened, all they could say was, ?We were sore afraid.?
Man, I tell you: I hate to be afraid! And so, through the storms of life, I?m putting my CONFIDENCE and FAITH all the way in Jesus! Do you understand? Are you with me?
Conclusion
Yes, We Shall Surely Die
To be sure, someday we will all go through death, if the Lord tarries and Jesus does not rapture the Church during our lifetime. That will be a very big storm. But Jesus will be with you!
Yes, We Shall Surely Experience the Resurrection
And to be sure, confident, and faithful, I proclaim by the Word of God and the Holy Ghost, that
we will also experience the resurrection personally! Wow! What a glorious day that will be!
Experience the Resurrection-type Life Now!
What I?m saying you, my friends, is that you can experience daily and now the resurrection-type life, even now, even beginning this moment!
My Savior Jesus didn?t save me so that this Earth would become a type of Heaven. And neither did He save me to live a defeated life on Earth.
My Savior Jesus saved me, and gave me eternal life now. He gave me free?dom. He gives me abundant life. He gives me His joy to the full, and I am joyful because I experience His power, His strength, His might, His miracles day-by-day. He gives to all who will come to Him, His Holy Spirit to comfort, to guide, to correct, and to give them even more confidence. And after Earth, Heaven is my home with Jesus forever and forever!
Come, Join Us on the Good Ship
Today, this same Jesus is very willing to put you with Him on His boat. This life need not be one lived in frustration any longer. Join us on the Good Ship!
Today is the day, if you understand and yearn for real life, that only in Christ Jesus will you truly and experientially find it. Meet Him on your knees as you realize and with great emotion ask, ?What manner of Man is this??
I?ll tell you, this God-Man, the Lord Jesus is your eternal Friend if you come to Him as His friend. You come now. And get ready to ride the most exciting ride-of-your life!
Hymns & Reading
Suggested hymns and readings from the Church of the Nazarene ?Sing to the Lord? hymnal:
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