Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.highlandparkbaptist.net/sermons/96149/on-board-with-jesus-part-2/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, take your Bibles tonight if you want to, hopefully you want to, and open to Mark chapter 4.

[0:23] ! It's been so long you probably don't even remember what I started to do. With this particular passage, I think it's been three weeks actually, a couple of Sunday nights.

[0:35] We've had other things, Vacation Bible School, and then Jonathan's Farewell Concert last Sunday night. And so I started something, now tonight I need to finish it. And so Mark chapter 4, starting with verse 35, and I'll just go ahead and read the text, 35 through 41, to the end of the chapter.

[0:56] On the same day, when evening had come, he said to them, Let us cross over to the other side. When they had left the multitude, they took him along in the boat, as he was.

[1:11] As he was, he was in the boat already. And other little boats were also with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat him to the boat, so that it was already filling.

[1:25] But he was in the stern, asleep, on a pillow. They awoke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Then he arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace be still.

[1:40] And the winds ceased, and there was a great calm. But he said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? They feared exceedingly, and said to one another, Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

[1:59] So it's a somewhat familiar passage, I think. It appears, actually, this account, this particular account, not the only account of a storm at sea. One of at least two, I think.

[2:11] But this one is given to us in all three of what we call the synoptic Gospels. The Gospels that appear to see through the same eye. That would be Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

[2:23] So all three have this in there. And I'll kind of refer to some of the parallel accounts as we go along here.

[2:34] But we started this three weeks ago, as I've said. I want to get back to it and finish it tonight. By the way, I've decided to preach through 1 Samuel on Sunday nights.

[2:47] Logical next step, although we could go to Ruth and then 1 Samuel. But I've already preached through the book of Ruth. Been a while. So I'm just going to take it up with 1 Samuel.

[2:59] Logical, again, logical next step after Judges. Because we have kind of the remnant of the Judges who served in the first part of 1 Samuel.

[3:10] Samuel. Eli, Samuel. And then we'll go through that book and probably just go on through 2 Samuel if Jesus doesn't come first. And likely that'll happen.

[3:23] And it'll take a long time to get through both of those books in the Old Testament. So you can kind of read ahead if you want to. And that's what we'll do. My plan is on the 26th to just give an introduction to 1 Samuel.

[3:37] Just a brief introduction. And then we'll have our business meeting. But that seems so far away. And plans sometimes can change. I mean, they really can. Just ask Chris about the plan for this morning's sermon.

[3:52] It changed. But anyway. So that happens. And I like to do it. I mean, I like to change plans. I like to throw our music guys for a loop. You know.

[4:03] And I told Chris, at least I didn't wait until Sunday morning to tell you like I had done so many times with Jonathan. Bless his heart. But he always took it in stride.

[4:15] And Chris did too. All right. Since it's been several weeks, then let me begin tonight by kind of setting up the story again. And also, again, setting up what the story can picture for us and the application of it.

[4:38] Prior to this story I just read, this storm at sea. Prior to this, Jesus had been teaching his disciples the mystery, quote, the mystery of the kingdom of God, end quote.

[4:50] And he had been doing that through a series of parables. And you can go back and study that on your own. But that's what has taken place prior to this incident at sea, in a boat, in the midst of a storm.

[5:06] So teaching about the kingdom of God. And now, then, in this story, he is going to reinforce those teachings. The teachings about the kingdom of God.

[5:17] And he's going to do it by way of a miracle. A miracle at sea. And so, according to the story, and I know it's familiar to us, and so I probably don't have to remind you of the basic elements of the story.

[5:32] But according to the story, under the direction of Jesus, he and his disciples, in a boat, set sail for the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

[5:45] All right. And Mark says, in verse 36, and other little boats. This is a key passage in understanding my application here tonight.

[5:57] Other little boats. Other little boats. That is, smaller boats than the one Jesus and his disciples were in. Other little boats were also with him. All right. So, Jesus and the disciples, they set sail for the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

[6:12] And all these other boats follow. And it's a picture kind of a, kind of picture in your mind, a small fleet of boats. That are all independently commanded and navigated.

[6:24] And yet, all sailing in the same direction. And all going in that same direction because of Jesus.

[6:35] I mean, they're all sailing together because of that one man. Because of Jesus. Otherwise, they would not be there. They're following Jesus. And so, these other small, smaller fishing boats were populated.

[6:50] I don't know if that's the right word. What would it be for people on a boat? Huh? Occupied. All right. Occupied at work.

[7:00] All right. So, these other smaller boats are occupied by the people who had been listening to Jesus' teachings there on the shore.

[7:14] And you have to go to some of the other accounts to remember that Jesus was teaching from a boat. They're standing in the boat. Maybe, perhaps, a few yards off the shore.

[7:25] So that, you know, he could be a little bit away from the multitudes that were crowding in there. And so, they could hear better. Because there was a multitude, the Bible says. That means a lot of people there.

[7:37] Listening to Jesus' teaching. And so, he's standing in the boat, teaching just offshore. And then Jesus pulls up anchor, or he has them pull up the anchor.

[7:50] And they set sail for the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Well, the multitudes, the people who were there, the crowd listening to the teachings of Jesus, they hadn't had enough of it.

[8:02] And so, they followed him. In fact, really, you see this all throughout his earthly ministry. Jesus had a huge following.

[8:12] Now, it did begin to dwindle toward the end. Until, really, the multitudes finally became those who shouted for his crucifixion. But initially, he had a tremendous following.

[8:25] And people followed him everywhere from city to city. And he would teach out in the country and on little hillsides and so forth. And here, they are on the seashore listening to him teaching.

[8:38] And so, when he leaves, what do they do? Many of them. Probably not all of them, but many of them. Well, they get into anything that floats. Any little boat. Little boats.

[8:49] Little fishing boats. And as many as they can pack in there. And I don't know how many. The Bible doesn't tell us. But we know there was a multitude of people. And so, I would say a good number of them got into boats.

[9:01] Small boats. Medium-sized boats. Maybe some larger boats. And they set sail and followed Jesus toward the other side. So, it's just an interesting picture, isn't it?

[9:12] You can imagine. Jesus in a boat. And all these other little boats following him. Kind of a fleet of boats headed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

[9:23] And I would say to you that it's a vivid picture, really, of what Jesus had been teaching them. The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God.

[9:33] Or rather, in this case, where the kingdom of God resides currently. In this present time. And actually, the kingdom of God resides in the heart of the believer.

[9:46] But a collection of believers reside in the church. And so, in that sense, the church is representative of the kingdom of God that will one day come in fullness.

[10:02] And, all right. So, it's a picture. It can be a picture, I think, of the church. And today, the church is made up of thousands and thousands and thousands of small and medium and large church bodies.

[10:15] I was thinking again about, you know, all the different kinds of churches. And sizes of churches in the world today. In America, we have the idea that all churches are like our church.

[10:28] And that there are some that are very, very, very small. I preached in a church. Just kind of supplied while I was in seminary. In a church that, on a good Sunday, we had eight people there.

[10:41] And that really, pretty much, was their membership. Eight people. At least, active membership. And I've been over to China. And in Shenzhen alone, they say 10,000 house churches.

[10:55] There would be little churches, you know, numbering 20s to 40s. And usually not much larger than that. Can you imagine one city? 10,000 house churches meeting in every conceivable location.

[11:10] In factories, in apartment buildings, and wherever they can find a place that is somewhat secretive. All right, so 10,000. Of course, that's a city of about 17 million people.

[11:22] So I think they can probably handle a few more churches there. But there are churches all around the world. And they're small, very, very small churches. And medium-sized and large churches.

[11:34] And so you can imagine this. Thousands of ships, in a sense. Or churches. And our church is one of these. It's one of these that is part of this, we could say, fleet of ships whose top-ranking admiral is Jesus.

[11:55] Jesus, who is leading this armada of ships. Hopefully, the church is following his leadership, though it's not always automatic.

[12:06] We shall discuss here in a moment. And so Highland Park, together with all the other ships in the fleet, are on a journey together. There are many of them right here in this community.

[12:19] We're one of several. Not all of them are teaching the Word of God. I would say not all of them are even true churches. But there are true churches here in this community.

[12:30] And we're part of that. And we're following Jesus. We're on a journey together. And that journey really could be defined as the life and ministry of the church.

[12:42] Of the church in this particular community of humanity that's been called Bartlesville. Alright, so that's the picture that I want us to have firmly planted in our minds as we can visualize this.

[12:58] Jesus in the boat. The disciples with him. And they're sailing across the sea. And all of these other ships. We don't know how many. Sailing together with him.

[13:10] Going in the same direction. In the vivid picture of the kingdom of God. As it is manifest in our world today. Alright, so it's a vivid picture.

[13:22] Now, some great things have happened in this ship. The ministry of this ship. Highland Park Baptist Church.

[13:33] Great things happened over the history of this ship. I've only been a part. A very small part. To be here during that. Some of you have been here a long time in this church.

[13:45] You've seen some tremendous and wonderful and great things that God has done in this church. And we can also say that great things are going to happen in the future of this church.

[13:58] I really believe that. I really do. But, not to throw cold water on it. It's not automatic. It's not automatic.

[14:10] It's not just necessarily going to happen. It's just some things we must do. We must do as the people that are occupying this ship.

[14:21] Some things we must do. And we can sum all that up with this kind of statement. We must stay on board with Jesus. Always. And that is what this story illustrates.

[14:35] Alright, so then we started to look at that a few weeks ago. And we looked at one of, actually just one of six things that we must do in order to stay on board.

[14:46] Or we define staying on board with Jesus. And number one was the church must willingly follow the Lord Jesus Christ. That's number one. Just like these other little ships who are willingly following.

[15:01] You know, each ship navigated independently. By the commander of the ship. And the people of that ship. And they might have decided to go a different way.

[15:12] Might have decided to mutiny and throw the captain overboard. They might have decided a lot of other things. But, we have a picture here of these ships following Jesus.

[15:23] They're on board with Jesus in that sense. So, the church must willingly follow the Lord Jesus Christ. His message, His man, His mission. That's what we talked about three weeks ago.

[15:35] Alright, now here's number two. The church must learn to expect some troubled times when they are following Jesus.

[15:47] We must expect that. It's going to happen. And it has happened, hasn't it? There are troubling times. I mean, we could really apply this to the life of the believer in that sense.

[16:01] You know, obviously all the principles that we are applying to the church could be applied to the individual believer. Where the kingdom of God literally resides.

[16:11] And as believers. As followers of Christ. We must learn to expect some troubled times along the way when we're following Jesus.

[16:24] When we're following Him. Mark tells us here in verse 37. A great windstorm arose. And the waves beat into the boat. So that it was already filling.

[16:36] Filling up with water. And look at Matthew's account of this. In Matthew chapter 8 and verse 24. He says the waves swept over the boat.

[16:47] This is quite a storm. In the midst of the Sea of Galilee. And those who have done a little study about that. Perhaps learned that this is pretty typical of the Sea of Galilee.

[16:59] Very volatile. Very uncertain. And storms would just come up so unexpected. And tremendous storms. And this is what was happening.

[17:10] So the waves are high. And they're sweeping over the boat according to Matthew's account. Matthew, by the way, was there. And then Luke says in Luke 8.23. A squall came down on the lake.

[17:22] So that lake. Just a term for the Sea. The Sea of Galilee. Don't get the idea this is some small lake. Alright, this is the sea. Quite a large body of water.

[17:33] Alright, so the squall came down on it. So that the boat was swamped. That's very picturesque. We can kind of imagine that. It was swamped. And they were in jeopardy.

[17:47] Peril. Great danger. And this was not just a perceived peril on the part of these disciples. So we can get the idea that they were overreacting.

[17:58] This was very truly a terrible, horrendous storm. Their lives were actually in jeopardy. Alright, so notice.

[18:10] They were obediently following Jesus. Right? They were. Jesus said, let's go to the other side. And they did. And all these other little boats, you know, with the hearts of the multitude who were there listening to the teaching of Jesus.

[18:26] They also follow. So they're all obediently following Jesus. And yet, a storm, a horrendous storm threatened to destroy them. You get that picture?

[18:37] Now, what kind of picture is that? I mean, doesn't the Bible promise smooth sailing for those who follow Jesus? Actually, it doesn't.

[18:49] In fact, it promises just the opposite. And so what we need to learn is that as a child of God and as an assembly of God's children, the church, you can expect storms, and you can expect the storms under three, at least three conditions.

[19:10] There's kind of a way to think of this and categorize this. Three of them. First of all, for correction. I tell you, for a believer, sometimes God will send a storm in your life to get you back on track.

[19:27] Correct you. To chastise you. To punish you. You say, does God do that? Well, yes, He does.

[19:38] You should be glad that He does. I mean, think about the crossover into the family and parents and their children. What if the parent never, ever, ever corrects the child, their children, for wrongdoing?

[19:54] Actually, that does happen in a lot of families. God help us. God help them. But we can see the result of that. I mean, eventually they run into Tom Holland.

[20:05] And, you know, eventually into jail. I mean, because no one has corrected them. And so, be thankful that God corrects us when we sin.

[20:15] So, that's one reason why God would allow storms into the life of the believer. And we should expect that. And we should be willing to take it and respond in the correct way.

[20:29] That would be through confessing our sins and repenting and turning back to God. There's a second one. There's a second one, and that is for protection. God sends storms into the life of the church.

[20:42] We're talking about in the context of the church. To protect us. Protect us from pride. Sometimes the church can get kind of prideful.

[20:55] And thinking, you know, that they've got everything together. And doing everything right. And we kind of can find ourselves kind of slipping into a place where we're confident in ourselves.

[21:08] And in our way of doing things. And so, Satan then gets a foothold in there. And God will cause a storm. Sometimes a horrendous storm.

[21:21] To protect us. To wake us up. To the evils of pride. And sometimes he protects us from evils that we can't even see.

[21:33] Perhaps a direction or decisions that we might be making that would lead us in the wrong way. And God is protecting us from that. Protecting us from the attacks of wickedness.

[21:45] And so many different things. And God does that in the life of the individual. As well as in the life of the church. And then the fourth one would be for perfection.

[21:56] That's a good way to categorize the reasons why God would allow storms to come into our lives. Sometimes allowing them. Sometimes sending them. For correction.

[22:08] For protection. And for perfection. To perfect us. To grow us. To mature us. And we need adversity. In order to grow in our faith.

[22:19] In our trust of God. David said, at least on a couple of occasions in the Psalms. It's been good for me that I've been afflicted. It is good for us. And God allows us.

[22:31] Allows these things to happen to us. So for correction because of sinfulness. For protection because of the potential of sin. And for perfection to give us power.

[22:43] Over sin. To mature us in that way. In the very life of Christ. All right. So. We ought to expect. Learn to expect. That some troubled times.

[22:54] Are going to come. When we follow Jesus. Now. What was the condition then. Here in the story. That is related to the disciples. Well I think primarily. The need for perfection.

[23:06] The need for perfection. It was not because of sin. Per se. Although. Jesus does say. Why are you so fearful. And. How is it that you don't have any faith.

[23:18] And I guess we could. There are implications there of sin. I mean. When you are fearful. That means you're not trusting God. And that's sin. But primarily because. They needed their.

[23:29] Faith. Matured. Grown. And so. God. Did that for them. And he does that. For us as well. All right.

[23:39] So the church must. Willingly follow the Lord Jesus. The church must learn. To expect. Some troubled times. When they are following Jesus. And. And. And you know.

[23:51] Highland Park. Has been through. Some troubling times. In our history. And we're better for it. You believe that.

[24:02] We're better for it. As if we respond in the right way. To our troubling times. And I think we have. We're better for it. And I would say that Highland Park is. We could even make an application here.

[24:13] We're about to. Experience some uncertain times. In the life of our church. Through the loss of our worship pastor. And it's always kind of a difficult time.

[24:27] For a church to lose a staff member. Whether it's the pastor. Or worship pastor. Or other staff members. It's always a troubling time. And so we're. You know.

[24:38] We. Our flexibility. Our flexibility. Is going to be tested. You know. Our willingness. To step up to the plate. And help. There to. Take up the slack.

[24:48] That's going to be challenged. Our patience. Our belief in prayer. Our faith in God. To provide. And. I would even add. Our willingness. To adjust. To someone.

[24:59] Who is not. Jonathan. Dearham. And we're going to have to do that. And that's not easy. I mean. We're all kind of. You know. We're kind of wired this way. We like things.

[25:09] To stay the same. We like the things we like. We don't want to have to change that. We don't have to. Get used to a different kind of person. I mean. Anybody out here. Like that? I guess not.

[25:20] Maybe I'm only one. Well. Wes admitted. All right. But if we stay on board. With Jesus. Then we're going to be better for it. No matter what adversity. Comes. And the winds of uncertainty.

[25:33] Will make us stronger. Number three. The church. Must not be discouraged. When it seems. That Jesus. Is unconcerned.

[25:44] That her ship. Is in jeopardy. Let me say that again. Because it's rather long. By the way. There's no alliteration. On this. It just. Grates me. That I didn't come up with some alliteration.

[25:55] For this sermon. But let me give you. Number three. Again. The church. Must not be discouraged. When. It seems. And I emphasize.

[26:05] See. That Jesus. Is unconcerned. That her ship. Is in jeopardy. And that's kind of what we see in the story. I mean. Where was Jesus during this storm? What was he doing?

[26:18] He was asleep. Verse 38. But he was in the stern. And be in the hind part of the ship. If you. Know your term. Your. Boat terminology. I had to look it up.

[26:30] Anyway. And what's he doing? He's asleep. On a pillow. And they actually had a pillow. On board this ship. I guess it was Jesus' personal pillow. Carried it with him.

[26:40] Everywhere he went. Don't you carry your pillow with you. When you travel? All right. And. They awoke him. And said to him.

[26:51] Teacher. Now get this. What they say. I mean. We just read over this. And pass over this. And we say. Well. Don't really think about it. But think about this. Teacher. Do you not. Care.

[27:01] That we are perishing? Are you kidding? I mean. How. Could they even. Think that. I mean.

[27:12] When you read that. Do you have that reaction? What? How could they even. Think such a thing. About you. That he doesn't. Care for that. All right.

[27:22] So he is asleep. In the middle of this storm. But that's the first. My first reaction. Is. How could they even. Think that. Jesus. And yet. We're. We're guilty of that.

[27:33] Quite often. But not only that. Matthew's account. Gives us a little bit more information. He said. He wrote this. They said this. They said. Lord save us.

[27:45] We're going. To drown. I think most of us. Could identify with that thing. Could they say. And yet still. That's not good.

[27:56] I mean. How could they think. That that would even happen. To them. Now think about it. Who's on board. Jesus. He's on board.

[28:08] They're on board with him. He's on board with them. If they go down. Jesus. I just think of this logically. And you know.

[28:19] It's a weak faith indeed. That thinks that. That somehow. It's possible. That Jesus. Would do that. Listen. Our ship. May experience.

[28:30] Severe storms. That. Shake our faith. Whether. Again. In the context. Of the church. Or in the context.

[28:40] Of each of us. As individual. Followers of Christ. Our ship. May experience. Some severe storms. That. Threaten. To. Shake our faith. And I would even add.

[28:52] This. And this. Especially on the individual level. Our ship. May even sail on to heaven. Right. But it will never go down. It will never go down.

[29:05] Why? Because Jesus. Is on board. Is he on board. In your ship. I hope so. And. So we. We don't. Why fear? And we should never.

[29:17] Ever. Be discouraged. When it. Seems. To us. That Jesus. Is. Unconcerned. Unconcerned. About. Our ship.

[29:30] Our lives. Being. In peril. I so. You know. I guess. It causes me to. Ask myself. The question. Why. Is it.

[29:41] That. When the storms. Come. Our. Kind of. Natural. Tendency. Is to question. The Lord's. Concern. For our situation. That he doesn't care.

[29:54] That he's not there. Or he's abandoned us. Or. Or. We're more likely. To come to this conclusion. That must have done something. Bad. Something wrong. God's punishing.

[30:05] Punishing. You ever had those thoughts. All right. So. To stay on board. With Jesus. Number one. The church must. Willingly follow. The Lord Jesus Christ. Number two.

[30:15] The church must. Learn to expect. Some troubled times. When they are following him. Number three. The church must. Not be discouraged. When it seems. That Jesus. Is. Unconcerned.

[30:26] That her ship. Is in jeopardy. And then. Number four. The church must. Believe. That God. Can do. Great. And mighty. Things. We must always. Believe. And Jesus.

[30:38] Showed. His disciples. This. Didn't he? You know. We must always. Believe. In the power. Of God. And this is interesting. Verse 39. Says. Then he arose.

[30:50] And rebuked. The wind. All right. What do you have to do. To rebuke the wind? You have to speak. Don't you? Now think. So he spoke.

[31:01] To the wind. Rebuked it. And said. See. I'm trying to emphasize. An aspect. Of this. That maybe we.

[31:13] Have not considered. He rebuked. The wind. Verbally. He spoke. Said. To the sea.

[31:24] Peace. Be. Still. And. The wind. Ceased. Christ. And. There was a great calm. Yeah.

[31:35] Jesus had power over the storm. Didn't he? All the elements of the storm. In fact. He had power over all the elements. See. This is a. Testimony. Not only to the. Power of God.

[31:45] But specifically. To the power of God's word. His word. And what do we have here. We have. Written down. Because God inspired men.

[31:58] To write it down. To write down. What God has spoken. It's a testimony. To the power of God's word. All Jesus did. Was speak. And that's significant.

[32:11] It's important. And it's not. Without precedence. In the Bible. Is it? About the. Voice of God. The speaking. The word of God. I mean. Jesus spoke all these things.

[32:22] Into existence. To begin with. Who created the wind? God did. Through the agency. Of Jesus Christ.

[32:32] All things were created. Not anything. That exists. That was not created by him. And so. He spoke all these things. Into existence. He spoke the sea.

[32:43] Into existence. And so. I guess. He can. Speak them into submission. Can't he? The power of his word. There's nothing beyond. The power of God's word.

[32:54] Now bring that. Down to. Our lives. Each of us individually. In our church. Think of the power. Of God's word. Power of God's word.

[33:07] To. Trust it. To claim. Its truth. And promises. To rely upon. The power. This. And you know.

[33:19] That's why. It is so important. That the church. Continue. As I said this morning. Continue. To be the prophetic voice. In our country. I don't know.

[33:30] If. If. If. If. If. If. If. If. That. As we should. The importance. That the church. Be. The prophetic. Voice. I'm not talking about.

[33:42] Prophesying. Future events. I'm talking about. Proclaiming. The truth. Of God's word. We're to be the prophetic. Voice. In our country. And you might be thinking. Well.

[33:53] No one wants to listen. To that anymore. No one wants to listen. And. You're right. For the most part. Right? I mean. Yeah.

[34:05] You're right. I don't want to hear it. It's easier to go. And. Tell people in China. The truth of God's word. And tell them about Jesus. Than it is.

[34:15] Here in our own country. This. Christian nation. They don't want to hear it anymore. And yet. That does not negate. The power of God's word.

[34:27] Not. One. Iota. God's word. Will never. Ever. Return. To him. Void. It will always accomplish. What he sent it out.

[34:37] To do. And. We're to be that. Prophetic voice. No matter. What. No matter. Who rejects it.

[34:49] God. Will use it. He will use it. In the lives of people. Right here. Right now. He will. The gospel is the power of God. And salvation.

[35:00] To all those who believe. So he's going to use it. In the lives of people. Right now. As we. Faithfully. Continue to be. The prophetic voice. Of God.

[35:10] Or. God will use it. He will use his word. In judgment. There's that aspect. Of it as well. Not that we.

[35:21] Set out. In desire. To speak. Words of judgment. That. Speak the truth. Because we know. God will use it. Someday. To bring judgment.

[35:31] Upon unbelievers. We don't think. In those terms. But it is true. That. We proclaim. We're the prophetic voice. Of God. We stand. And say. Through our lives. And through our voice.

[35:43] Thus saith. The Lord. And people scoff at us. And laugh at us. And maybe even. Someday. Persecute us. And yet. That word goes out.

[35:54] And it accomplishes. What God desires. Even if it is. The basis for judgment. Which it will be. For many people. Alright. So. The church.

[36:04] Then is the prophetic voice. Here's number five. The church. Must acknowledge. Her sin. And respond.

[36:16] In repentance. Now we have to kind of. Read between the lines. Here in this story. See this. It's more. Out of silence.

[36:26] That we see this. But. Through the storms. Of life. God. Will. Reveal. Our sin. That. That. That is a.

[36:38] Prime purpose. For God. Allowing affliction. To come into our lives. Not the only reason. As I've already said. God has many other. Desires. And designs. And purposes.

[36:48] For. Allowing us. To have harder times. And to suffer. Sometimes. But God. Does use. Storms. To reveal. Our sin. So.

[37:00] Verse 40. He said to them. Why are you fearful? How is it. That you have no faith? As I said earlier.

[37:11] Make. Clear. Connection. Here. Not. Just to. God's desire. To perfect. His disciples. To increase. Their faith. But also. God's desire.

[37:22] To rebuke them. To identify. Sin. Nature. In them. They were fearful. Fear. They feared death. They feared death.

[37:35] And. They did not. Trust. Jesus. For their lives. That's. Weakness. Certainly.

[37:46] But it's also. Sin. Sin. Sin. Number six. And we're. Getting close to the end of it here. Tonight. Number six. And finally. The church. Must.

[37:56] Renew. Her. Awe. Of God. That's something we've lost. We really have. In fact. Some of it is.

[38:07] Because we. Have become so familiar. With those scriptures. That. Really highlight. The awesome. Power. And glory of God. That it's become.

[38:18] We've allowed it to become. Kind of. Common. Humdrum. And so much so. That we've kind of slipped into a.

[38:29] A place of. Complacency. We're no longer impressed. You know. I mean. And now. We can go.

[38:40] Watch a movie. And. See. You know. With. With. Computer. Generated images. In fact. Have you noticed.

[38:50] That most of the movies. Today. About 90% of it. Is CGI. I mean. Even. Through the people. The actors. We can go and see. These awesome things.

[39:01] And so. You know. All right. Well. Big deal. You know. God. Calmed the. Wind. And the sea. And. We need. A revival.

[39:12] A revival. Of. Of. The awe. The awe. Of God. Not just. In awe. For what he has done. We should never ever lose that. That's why.

[39:23] In our worship. We're reminded of that. Some of our songs. Hymns. Choruses. Remind us again. Of what God has done for us. And we. Are in awe.

[39:34] We need. To renew. Our awe. Our awe. Of God. Yeah. Let's just. Kind of take. Three accounts. Put all three accounts together. And.

[39:44] See. Three different aspects. Of this. Awe. God. The disciples show us. They show us the way. Matthew 8. 27. We'll start with Matthew 8.

[39:54] 27. But the men marveled. That's what. How Matthew put it. Jesus stands. And he. Rebukes the wind. Comes the sea. Speaks to the sea.

[40:05] And. All that ceases. And there's a peace. And a calm. And they. Marvel. They marvel. And so. First of all then. They marveled.

[40:16] At. The power of Jesus. That. That was the. The. The object of their marvel. To see this. You and I would be. Awestruck. If we.

[40:27] Were there. And Jesus. And stands in the boat. And he. Rebukes the wind. And calms the sea. And so. They marveled. At the power.

[40:38] The sheer power. Second. In Mark's account. In Mark 4. 41. They. They. Feared. Exceedingly. That's what Mark said. They feared.

[40:49] Exceedingly. Feared whom? Well. Jesus. They feared him. I mean. They were. They were. Fearful. Of this. Mighty.

[41:00] Thing. That he. And so. Here's the second thing. They were. All. Stricken. At the presence. They're in the very presence. Of this one. Who has.

[41:11] Spoken. And all things. Have been brought to peace. Tremendous. Mirror. All right. So they marveled. At the power of Jesus. And they were. All. Struck.

[41:21] At the presence. Of Jesus. Standing. Right there. In their midst. And then we take the. Third account. Luke. Luke 8. 35. He says.

[41:32] In fear. And amazement. Amazement. They asked one another. Who is this? Who is this?

[41:44] He commands. Even the winds. And the sea. And they obey. And so third. They. Renewed their. Admiration.

[41:55] For the person. The person. And that's what we need. That's what we need. To marvel. At the power of Jesus. To be in awe. At the presence.

[42:05] Of Jesus. To renew. Our admiration. Of the person. Of Jesus. And how can we see. All of those things. There's only one way. Have to be on board.

[42:16] With Jesus. If the disciples. Had stayed on the shore. They would have never seen. Any of that. If the disciples. Had. Gone their own way.

[42:27] And the others. Other ships. Would have. Decided to go. Different directions. They would have. Never ever. Witnessed. Any of these things. So how. How can you. Experience.

[42:37] The. Power of Jesus. The presence of Jesus. And the person of Jesus. And be in awe. Of all of that. You have to be with him. You have to be with him. To see it. Have to be on board.

[42:48] With Jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.