If you have your Bibles with you tonight, I invite you to turn to Mark's Gospel, to chapter 4. We'll be in Mark chapter 4, verses 35 to 41 tonight. And as you're turning there, I just... remind us where we're at in Mark's gospel, this story of Jesus calming the storm. It's a story maybe many of us have heard growing up. If you've grown up in the church, you're familiar with it. Jesus calms the storm. He's the hero of the day. But as we really get into the story further tonight, we'll see that this story really brings out some of the emotions that we feel as human beings living life in this world, but also some of the questions we ask about life in this world. And one of those questions is, why do bad things happen to us? Why do bad things happen in our lives? Why do we have hard times and circumstances in our lives? And when those things happen, where is God at? Is God good? Can God be trusted? Those are some of the questions we're thinking about and looking at tonight as we look at our story. These emotions of fear and doubt and worry. Anger even come out in this story. And so I think it has something to say to us today in our lives as we live life here in Tyler and so forth. And so let me read God's Word and then I'll pray for us. Picking up at verse 35. On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. 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. 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? 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. 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? Let me pray for us. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the time to gather this evening together as your people. We pray that you would just bless us over these next few moments from your word, that you would teach us from it, that we would know you in even greater ways. And we pray and ask all this in Christ's name, amen. Why does God allow hurricanes? Why does God allow hurricanes? That was a question that was asked to me about six years ago now. At that time, our family, we were living in Rochester, Minnesota. I had served for a few years up there at a Protestant church, PCA church in Rochester, Minnesota. And our kids were in the backyard playing with some of the neighbor's kids. And one of the kids asked me, why does God allow hurricanes? And so it was an honest question. It was a great question. It was a question that really hit home to this little girl because her family, some of her family had just been affected by a hurricane that had just hit the southeastern coast, the Gulf Coast of Florida around Panama City. And so her family actually had to come with her. come to live with them in Rochester for a few weeks. And so this was a question, this was a thing that hit home to her. She says, why does God allow hurricanes? And I think what she was really asking, it was a great question, like I said, I think she was really asking, why do hard things happen to us? Why do we face difficult and trying circumstances in our lives as we experience life in a broken world? For example, like why is my job difficult? Why are my patients, my co-workers, customers, people we wait on in our jobs, why are they so difficult and frustrating? Maybe we've lost our job at one point in our lives or it's a challenge finding a job. Why do these things happen? We ask these questions when life hits. Or even in our families, we think about our children. Why can't our children just listen to us? Why can't they obey? It would be so much easier if they just obeyed and did everything we asked them to do, right? Why are they so disobedient? Or even in things around the house, like car doesn't work right, the car breaks down. Last week we were coming back from somewhere, we had a flat tire and had to deal with that. Or things in our house break and we have to replace them and fix them. When we moved to Tyler this summer, There were a number of things in our house we had to deal with and repair and fix. When life hits, when things happen, why do these things happen? We get frustrated with these things. Even in our marriages, maybe it's hard to get along sometimes. It's hard to get along with our spouse. You're tired of arguing, tired of fighting. uh... and even thinking about this summer this summer like literal storms hit our city the day we moved to tyler like june first was when when the big storms that the straight line winds uh... hits uh... tyler and and and a lot of the city uh... had trees down uh... trees in people's homes and people had to relocate and do all these things like and and these things are hard these things are frustrating for us as human beings when life hits and life happens uh... in our in our world when when life doesn't go the way we planned Sometimes we just get frustrated. We become angry and we wonder, does God really care about us? Does God really care about us? We experience death and sickness, miscarriage, whatever it might be. We've suffered from abuse or whatever it might be that we've seen and faced in our lives or will face in our lives. We wonder, where's God at? We're afraid, we're scared, we're anxious, we doubt God's goodness. And so what are the storms? Where are the storms in your life today? Where are the places where life is frustrating, where life is hard, where you are facing or have faced difficult circumstances? That's what we're looking at and talking about and thinking about tonight because I think We're like the disciples. We're like the disciples in the story. We get angry, we get upset with God, and we wonder, why are these things happening to us? Do you not care? Do you not care what's going on in my life? Do you not care what I'm experiencing? Do you not care about the pain and hardship that I'm experiencing and facing? We wonder, is God really good? And so if you've ever felt that way or asked those questions or thought these thoughts and questions. You're not alone because the disciples were asking the same questions. These are the same questions that Christians and non-Christians, human beings, are asking about the world we live in. And so my prayer tonight and hope is this text provides comfort and hope to us, even in the midst of our circumstances, even in the midst of the storms that we are facing, and in the end really provides and shows us what it is that we truly need in life. And so as we look at the story, we see that Jesus has been teaching. He's been teaching around the Sea of Galilee. He's been preaching and teaching to these crowds who've come out to hear about Jesus. He's cast out demons. He's healed many. He's been preaching about the kingdom of God. And so evening has come and he's ready to go across to the other side of the sea to continue his ministry. And so he leaves the crowds, he heads to the other side of the sea, and no sooner then Jesus and his disciples set out on the sea. And Mark even mentions there were other boats on the sea that day. This great windstorm, Mark describes it, he describes this as a great windstorm comes upon them. And what happened was, like, Jesus and his disciples, when they were on the Sea of Galilee, were in this, like, they were below sea level, and so the cold air coming off the mountains was mixing with that warm air, and it was producing some pretty violent and sudden storms on the sea. And that was happening this day many, many years ago. And Mark describes this as a great windstorm. It could also be translated that word that Mark uses for great windstorm could also be used to describe a hurricane. So it was like hurricane force winds type winds that were that were he and his disciples were experiencing that day. And so It's not just any little storm. It's a pretty big storm occurring on the sea that day. And the irony of it is, is that the disciples, these are men who have grown up around the Sea of Galilee. Some of them are fishermen. That was their livelihood. That's how they made their living. They had grown up around the sea. And even they were afraid, Mark tells us. And these are experienced fishermen. And so you know it must be bad. And so, as this storm is kicking up, as this chaos is ensuing upon the disciples, they turn around and look for Jesus. Because Jesus is this guy who has, they've seen, he's cast out demons, he has healed a paralytic, he's done all these miracles. And they're thinking, well, Jesus can save the day. He can take care of us. And so they look for Jesus, and they find him asleep on a cushion in the boat, verse 38 tells us. As this storm is raging around them, as this violent storm is raging around them, the disciples turn to Jesus. And what's Jesus doing? He's asleep. And so in their time of need, you can imagine their frustration. You can imagine they're wondering, like, what is Jesus doing? And that's oftentimes what we think sometimes in our lives when life hits, we're like, what is God doing? What is Jesus doing in our lives? And so the disciples, they rushed to wake Jesus up and they say, teacher, do you not care? Do you not care that we are perishing? And before we just kind of beat up on the disciples and say, don't y'all get it? Don't y'all know that Jesus can help you? Don't you know that Jesus can save you? That's the same thing we do, right? That's the same thing we do when life hits, when life isn't going the way we want it to go. We respond in a very similar way. We accuse God, we put God on trial and we say, Lord, you know, why is this happening to me? Why is this happening? Do you not care? Do you not care that my health is failing? Do you not care that I've suffered great harm, that my children don't care anything about the gospel, about Jesus? Do you not care, Lord, that we don't have enough money to pay the bills? Do you not care that I'm criticized for my work? Do you not care that I'm not appreciated by my spouse or my family? And these are just examples of things that happen to us in life. There's many others, like I said. But in these moments, We get angry with God. We get angry with God when life doesn't go the way we planned it, right? And what's going on inside of us is we want satisfaction. We want things to go right. That's just natural. But oftentimes they don't because we live in a fallen and broken world that doesn't work right because of sin. But the disciples asked that question to Jesus. They said, do you not care if we drown? And so the sudden nature of this question reveals their fear, their anger at Jesus. It appears he doesn't care about them. And that's the same accusation that we place upon God. And so what the disciples fail to see, what we fail to see is when life doesn't work the way we want it to, when life seems out of control, when life seems chaotic, when the waves of life continue to hit us time after time, again and again like those waves continue to crash into the boat and hit the disciples, we forget that God is with us. Because where is Jesus at in the story? Jesus isn't over on the shore saying, hey, guys, I'm going to sit this one out today. You take care of it. No, Jesus is in the boat with his disciples. And what we see and what that reminds us is that Jesus is present with us. He is present with us even as we face trying times, as we face hard times in our lives. Jesus himself is with us. He is present in our troubles. Now, in the course of the story, he might be asleep in the boat, but he is with his disciples and reminds us that he is with us too. Some time ago I was reading a story about what soldiers will do when they go into war. These items that they will carry with them, that will be present with them as they face the ups and downs, the realities of war. These are things like a girlfriend's picture, a picture of one's family, a picture of their children, a wedding ring, an engagement ring. A Bible or there's some some item they carry on them that's present with them as they face the stress and strain of war. These things are present with them as they go through these hard times. And that's what Jesus we see Jesus doing tonight. He is with us. He is with his disciples. He has not abandoned us. And that's what this means is that he he is with us and he has not abandoned us. He cares about us and he's present with us as we face trying times. And so we see Jesus is with us even when it's hard. And as we go back to our story, we see that Jesus even responds. He responds to His disciples. He's not just present, but He's responding to His disciples' worry, their anxiousness. In verse 39, we see Jesus rebukes the wind. In other words, He brought the wind, the waves, under His authority in submission to Him. And He speaks to the wind and the sea and says, Peace, be still. Peace, be still. In other words, He commanded the sea to be silent. So just as soon as Jesus speaks, imagine being there, the storm is raging all around and just as the moment Jesus speaks, the wind ceases from roaring, the waves are calm and the water is as still as glass. There was a great calm over the water. So just as quickly as the storm appeared, just as quickly did it disappear. And as you think about the disciples who were in the boat, They're thinking like, what's going on here? What is taking place here? What did we just see happen? And what's happening is creation is responding to its master. Creation is responding to Jesus. He's conforming creation, the wind and the waves to his direction, much like God brought order out of chaos in Genesis 1. That's what Jesus is doing. The wind and the waves recognize the voice of their master. Jesus himself is doing only what God can do. Psalm 107 tells the story of a group of sailors who find themselves in a storm on the sea, much like the disciples did in Mark 4. These sailors, they cried out to God, and then what did God do? God calmed the storm. He hushed the storm, just like Jesus calmed the storm in Mark 4. And so what Jesus is doing here in this moment is He is revealing more and more of who He is, His person and work to His disciples, that He is God. God come in flesh. God come in flesh and blood amongst them. And as God in the flesh, He has power over all of creation. He calms the danger that's posed to His disciples. And so what it reminds us is that Jesus has the power to quiet our troubles in our lives. And we're facing hard times. We're facing hard circumstances. Jesus has the power to quiet our troubles. And what that means for us is that we can turn to him. We can run to him. We can go to Jesus in prayer and take our knees to them. And he hears us. He hears us. But what about when things don't change? Does it mean God doesn't care? Because we know Jesus has the power to change our circumstances, but what about when life doesn't change? Well, I think we can say, it's safe to say from Scripture that God allows us sometimes to go through hard times. God allows us to face trying times and circumstances. And He uses these moments to shape our character, to increase our faith, to increase our reliance upon Him. That suffering is a way to bring glory to God. And we think, you know, there's got to be another way to do this, right? Does it really have to be this hard? Do I have to lose my job or sustain some sort of damage to our home from a storm? Or whatever it is you're going through right now, do I have to face these hard circumstances to learn to trust God, to grow in my understanding of Him and trusting Him? But this is what Peter says in 1 Peter 1, he says, But you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." Praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And so it's easy for us to read this and say, well, you know, Peter, like you were a disciple, you had things figured out, you were a super apostle, but remember, Peter was in the boat that day. It's most likely Peter could have been the guy saying, Lord, do you not care if we drown? Do you not care if we perish? Because Peter was oftentimes the spokesman of the group, the bold one who would shout out and say things before kind of thinking sometimes. But Peter was a guy who denied Jesus when he was arrested. But he also was later restored. And he became a leader in the early church. He was put in prison. And then eventually he was put to death by the Roman emperor Nero. He lost his life at the hands of the Roman Emperor. And so Peter was a guy that knew something about suffering. He knew something about facing hard times. And even in the midst of those hard times, he remained faithful to the Lord. It took him a while, but he grew in that. He remained faithful to the Lord. But then again, bringing back to the question about what happens when God doesn't stop the storms? When life keeps hitting us like those waves kept crashing into the boat, how do we respond? How do we respond? to our circumstances? How do we respond to God? I think about the story of Tommy Dorsey. Tommy Dorsey was a gospel blues musician that lived in the 20th century, about a hundred years ago. And at the age of 33, he had gone to St. Louis, Missouri to play a revival. And his home was in Chicago. His wife was in Chicago. She was pregnant with their child. And so he's playing at this revival meeting. He's away from home. And he got news that his wife had given birth to their child. But unfortunately, in the moments after that, in the process of giving birth, his wife passed and died. And so this was terrible news, this was sad news, this was hard news. And then it gets even worse. Some minutes and moments after being born, their newborn baby is well past and died. And so this is news no one ever wants to receive. You can imagine the pain, the hurt, the sadness, maybe even the anger that Dorsey felt at receiving this news. And, like, think about that even in our own lives. When hard times happen, how do we respond? How would we respond in circumstances like this? This is what Dorsey did. Dorsey responded with a song. And he wrote, Precious Lord, take my hand. And these are some of the words in that song. It goes, Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn. Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light. Take my hand, Precious Lord, lead me home. Take my hand, Precious Lord, lead me home. Those were the words that Tommy Dorsey wrote Sometime after losing both his wife and child some years ago. It's a picture of faith It's a picture of trusting God in the storm. That's what Dorsey was doing and that's what God calls us to do So, how do we respond when life keeps hitting us is simply put we're to trust God It's not always easy and we don't always understand why things happen to us But we know that if Jesus is God and he was willing to die on our behalf then he's got to have some reason hit for what's going on in our lives. That he is good enough and great enough to have reasons for what we are experiencing in our lives, even when we cannot understand it. Even in my own life, I don't know all the reasons for the things that have happened to me, the hard circumstances, the hard times that have come upon me. For example, our family, we have lost two children very early in pregnancy, in the first few weeks. I understand that theologically, like the world's broken, it's fallen, it doesn't work the way it's supposed to. But practically in the day-to-day, that's hard to deal with. There's excitement about being pregnant and then there's sadness in losing your child. And so We don't deny that our pain, our pain is real, but at the same time, God is good. God is God and we are not. And we can trust His reasons are for our own good, even when we don't understand it. Even when we don't understand it. But it doesn't, like I said, it doesn't excuse our pain. Our pain is real. But Jesus is greater than any pain we are going through. Jesus Himself is greater. Because He's willing to die so that we might have forgiveness and peace and reconciliation with God Himself. God our Father. God our Creator. And so Jesus has the power to quiet our troubles. He responds to His disciples. He calms the storm. And we would think, like, everything's okay. Like, everyone lived happily ever after. Jesus has calmed the storm. He's the hero of the day. And then what does Mark do in this story? It ends kind of like on a cliffhanger. It's like one of those movies or TV shows where the... The conflict is resolved at the end, the hero is saved the day, and then there's some sort of twist or something happens at the end, and there's like another 15 minutes to the story. And that's kind of what happens in Mark chapter 4 tonight, is the disciples are still afraid because Jesus questions them. He's calling the storm and he questions them. He says, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? In other words, he's saying, do you not trust me? Do you still not trust me? Do you not trust that my saving power is with you in the boat? Like I'm in the boat with you. Do you not trust that my saving power is with you? And I think we could apply that to our own lives. Do we not trust Jesus when we're in the midst of hardship and pain and disappointment? We know that Jesus is present with us. We know that He has the power to quiet our troubles. The disciples knew this. The disciples saw Jesus in the boat with them. They saw Jesus calm the storm. They witnessed Him calm the storm, yet they still are afraid and don't believe. And we don't believe either sometimes, right? And I think the real challenge is, is we're like the disciples. We know, we have our theology, we know, we believe these things about God, that God is good, that God is trustworthy, that God is faithful. But even in the midst of it, in the day-to-day, practically living, it's hard sometimes to trust God in the middle of a storm. It's hard to trust God when life hits. But that's what Jesus is calling us to do tonight, to trust Him even in the midst of the storm. And so the question to ask ourselves is, where are we finding comfort? Where are we finding hope when life is hard? Jesus is saying, turn to me and trust me and I will see you through the storm. That's what He's saying to us tonight. But oftentimes we turn to something else, like the disciples. We're still afraid. They're filled with great fear. They say, who then is this? that even the wind and the sea obey Him. You would think the disciples would be excited, relieved, they would be comforted. Jesus has saved the day. And in fact, their fear increases after He calms the storm. That's the interesting thing in this story is that the disciples' fear increases after Jesus calms the storm. And so what's going on is that God, the disciples are beginning to see that the nearness of God is with them in the person of Jesus. And it's terrifying for them because they can't control God. They can't control Jesus, right? He doesn't do things according to their plan. And that's the same thing in our lives. God doesn't do things according to our plans, but he does them according to his plans. We would prefer for God to be manageable, to be predictable, but God's not. And that's hard for us sometimes, right? So why are the disciples still afraid? Why are we still afraid? Why don't we sometimes trust God? Well, one, it's because of sin, right? It's because of we trust in ourselves. We think we can change our circumstances or do something to change our situation. And we're relying on ourselves and we should be relying on God. Or we just don't trust because we can't control God. He's in control and we're not, and we don't like that. It's unsettling for us, just like it was unsettling for the disciples. And so what does God have to do? What does God have to do for us to trust Him when life hits, when we're confused, when we're afraid? What does God have to do for us to trust Him? Sometimes we ask, why doesn't God intervene? Why doesn't God stop the storm like He stopped the storm that day on the Sea of Galilee? And what we forget is that God has stopped the storm. That's right. God has stopped the storm. It's just not the storm that we're typically thinking about. Because if we think about the story of Jesus calming the storm on the sea, it closely resembles a story many years ago. of another man who found himself surrounded by men who thought they were about to die on the sea. We're talking about Jonah. Jonah, the Old Testament prophet that was sent to Nineveh to preach the gospel to the Ninevites. He found himself, just as Jesus did, on the sea, in a storm, raging all around. Both men, Jesus and Jonah, were awoken by men who thought they were about to die. And in both Instances, the only way they were saved, the men in both stories were saved was through supernatural intervention. And of course, in the story of Jonah, it was after Jonah was hurled into the sea. And so the only difference in these two stories is Jesus himself wasn't thrown into the sea. Right? Jesus wasn't thrown into the sea or was he? Because if you think about elsewhere in the Gospels, in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 12, Jesus says, something greater than Jonah is here. Something greater than Jonah is here today. And of course, Jesus was referring to himself. that he was the greater Jonah. And so how can we say Jesus was thrown into the sea? Of course, we can say that because Jesus is the one who would be willingly hurled into the violence of the storm, the storm at the cross, where he voluntarily suffered and died for our sins. And so Jesus has stopped the storm. He stopped the storm of God's wrath. That's what Jesus has done for us. He has stopped the storm of God's wrath for all those who believe and trust in Christ. And so we can know God is good because of Jesus, because of the cross. When life hits, we wonder, like, is God good? Can God be trusted? And the cross proves that God is good, that God can be trusted. He will see us through the storm. Because to all those who believe and trust in Christ, He promises forgiveness and reconciliation with God, our Father, our Creator. And one day when Jesus returns to this very earth that we live on, Right now at this moment, He will one day come return to this earth and do away with all the storms. He'll do away with all the sin and death and brokenness that happens in our world. He will calm all the storms, the hurts and sorrows and disappointments that we face in life. And on that day, when Jesus returns, He will free God's world of sin and death. There will be no more storms. No more storms that kill people. No more miscarriages. No more abuse and no more suffering and sickness and all these other things that we experience in God's world. These things will be no more. On that day Jesus promises to make all things new. That's His promise to us. On that day He promises to make all things new. But even in the time in between now and then, it doesn't make life any easier, right, in this world. We will experience pain. We will experience sorrow. But even in the midst of that, we can have comfort and confidence and know that Jesus is with us. He has the power to quiet our troubles. He is in the boat with us, so to speak. Because if He didn't abandon us in that greatest of storms He ever faced when He was separated from God the Father on the cross, He will not abandon us either. He will not abandon us in these much smaller storms that we face in life today or will face down the road. And so, of course, I'm just meeting a lot of you for the first time. I don't know what's going on in all of your lives, but I know that God is with you. God is with you. He is present with us. He has the power to quiet our troubles. He is in the boat with us. that He is good, we can trust Him because of the cross. That's how we know that God is good. And we can trust Him in these much smaller storms that we face in our lives today because Jesus did not abandon us in that most awful of storms that He ever faced when He was separated from God the Father. And so we can know that Jesus is good because of the cross, because of His grace to us in Jesus Christ. Let me pray for us. Father, we thank you for this evening, for this time to gather together as your people, to worship you, to hear from your word. We pray that you would meet us in the midst of the storm, that you would be present with us in what we may be facing right now in life, or we will face down the road. We know that you are good. We know that you are good because of the cross. And we pray that you would be with us, that you would see us through the storm, that we would trust you, even when it's hard. They will trust you and know that you are good. We thank you for your goodness to us. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for Jesus. And we pray and ask all these things in His name. Amen.