Let's get back into the glory of God a little bit here. Jeremiah chapter nine, really enlightening verses here that we've already studied quite a bit in detail, but we'll just kind of glance at them and then move forward. 923, thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord. I wonder how many times we've actually added to the Lord's delight because he's used us to accomplish some of those things. I mean, I know the first time I read that with my understanding and my thoughts toward God instead of myself, that I began to think of God actually being delighted with something. You know, like a little child. That's another part of God that most people never even think about. But he actually delights in those things. He just purely and thoroughly enjoys it to the point where he just delighted in it. Now, we can look at the word of God all kinds of different ways. We looked at Mark chapter four, We're gonna go back and look at Mark 4 and Matthew 14 one more time, but we wanna look at them from a different perspective. You say, well, how can you look at it from a different perspective? Well, as a lot of us have been talking in the last few months and have come to the realization that this book is not about us. It is about our creator. He's the one that's worthy. He's the one that's to be lifted up. He's the one that's to be magnified. We're supposed to be bragging on him, not on each other. That's what's supposed to happen. And we're supposed to be able to glory in this, that we understand and know him. And you know, just as well as you're sitting here, that you know very little about him, and understanding him is almost non-existent. Constantly in your mind, throughout your daily activities and through your life, you constantly have those thoughts of, why'd you do that, God? Why'd you do that? Why would you say why if you understood him? Why say why at all? It's because you want something different for yourself, your mind and your thoughts or intention is drawn toward yourself. And looking in the Word of God with that in mind, you look for anything in that book that would apply to you and mostly that would help you get along and help you get through your daily life. And that's not what it's there for at all. Look back over here in Mark chapter four, verse 35. And the same day, when even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over to the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat unto the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and saith to the sea, Peace be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and seas obey him? Do you realize what a ridiculous response that is, honestly? He says, why are you so fearful? And they go, oh man, now we're really afraid. What? They missed that whole thing. Now this stuff was written to us, like I just said, it was written to us about him. You know why? He's trying to get those people there at that moment in time to understand something about himself. But because their attention was focused on themselves, the only thing they could think of was, what about me? What about me? What about me? How about, what about God? What about him? What do you think he's asking those questions for? Don't you think he already knows the answer? When God asks you a question, it's not because he wants to know. He already knows. What he wants you to do is he wants you to understand and find out. That's what he wants. Have you, since we read any of these verses, ever asked God one time yet, when you started getting fearful about something, you said, well, I'm not really afraid of something. Oh, you're afraid about stuff all the time. You got anything bothering you that you worried about a little bit? That's fear. Have you asked God, why am I so fearful? Why am I without faith? I don't even understand myself. Help me understand that stuff. Or you just keep on going along and say, God help, God help, God help, God help, I'm scared, God help. Lord says, hey, I got some other purpose here in mind. Now that particular event, it was a very normal event. What took place there was you get out in the ship and wind starts blowing waves, you know, being on the ship, the thing starts filling with water and that was pretty bad environment. But it was totally outside of their cause and control. They didn't do anything to create that situation. They didn't cast out while a storm was raging, you know, like some foolish people do. They didn't go out there in, you know, a little rowboat or a canoe out there in the middle of the ocean. They didn't put themselves in that kind of danger. They got out there and they got in a situation and it wasn't their doing. Then what happened? They began to exhaust themselves. And you know from the way that thing is written that those guys absolutely exhausted every effort. You know that they were bailing, they were doing everything they could to stay afloat. And when they finally lost the battle and the thing was literally sinking, then they panic. Did you ever stop and think if that ship was sinking and there was other little ships with them, what was happening? Do you think any of them were looking out there at those other little ships and said, hey man, they're about to go down. They said, look, they're about to go down. Shut up and bail, we're going down. They're just all about them, focused on themselves. By the time they became panicky, they were no longer able to think objectively. Why? They go to him finally as a last resort. And they are terrified and they say, cares thou not that we perish? Well, you dummies, that'd be like you going to God and saying, God, why don't you love me? How many times do I have to tell you, son? How many times do I have to prove it over and over and over that I love you, I care about you, I never leave you, I never forsake you, I'm right there the whole time. What else can I do for you? See, the problem's not with him, the problem's with us. And that's what he's trying to get us to understand. He's trying to get us to understand how he relates and interacts with his creation. He made us, he made us for a purpose. You know what this thing happened for? so that he could accomplish more of his purpose. And he didn't stop with just the people in the ships and those that were around about him. He put this thing down in his book, which will never pass away, so that we could benefit throughout our life and he continues to benefit from the things he's trying to show us as well as them. He did this thing with a real purpose in mind. Because they were so afraid of everything, when he asked them the question, why are you fearful and without faith? They didn't even hear what he asked. I mean, the only thing they could think about was, we're dying, we're dying, we're dying. I mean, it just focused on one thing. You ever seen a little kid afraid? You ever try to talk to a kid that's really afraid? Man, that kid ain't hearing nothing you say. I'll tell you what the kid wants about that time. They want instant security. They want to be picked up, hugged. You know, they want instant problem relief gone. They wake up with a nightmare. They don't want to stay in that bed. They don't want you to come in there and calm them down. They want you to get them out of there and bring them somewhere where they really feel safe. That's what they want. You can talk all you want, man. It's just right over their head. As long as you're panic stricken, You can't even function rationally. Now there's a lot of soldiers that found that out when they're out there fighting on a battlefield, man. Some of them guys get to the point where they just lose all rational thought. They just get delirious, man, and start doing really crazy stuff. You gotta get them back to reality so their brain will start working again. These guys waited to the point that they were just literally panic-stricken before they did anything about it. And then by that time, they had to go through this period of recovery. And the question is, Why are you fearful and without faith? Why did you wait so long? Well, I thought we could handle it. You know, we exhaust ourself on our own strength trying to solve our own problems. And then as a last resort, we run over there. You know, the first thing that ought to come to your mind, the minute you find yourself worrying about something, you know what it should be? Lord, why am I fearful? Why have I so little faith? the one that makes the stars, the one that makes everything, the one that has proven himself over and over and over and over. And we soon forget to such a point that we can't draw anything from what he's done in the past. We just can't. I mean, how many times have we seen God do miracles? I mean, some big stuff, not just little bitty ones, but some big ones. And you can't bring that into the present situation and say, you got it, Lord. Why don't we do that? Good question. How are we fearful and without faith? Anyway, their response was so self-centered, they only thought of what he could do to them after he calmed it down. He asked them the question, and then they became more fearful. Why? Man, even the wind and seas obey this guy. Oh, he's got some kind of power we don't understand. You know what that is? That's fear of the unknown. Guy drew a picture one time about a guy out in the desert, big long crawl across a barren desert, you know, and he's crawled up to the edge of this cave and it's really black in this cave. And he's got this terrified look on his face, like, man, I'm afraid to go in there, because I don't know what's in there, man. Something else might, maybe rattlesnakes, maybe a mountain lion in there, just waiting to eat me. So what's he do? He stays out there and the sun burns up, because he's afraid to go forward, man, to fear the unknown. Anyway, they were afraid. And they felt no gratitude for their deliverance when the whole thing was done. Matter of fact, they ended up more fearful at the end than they did at the beginning. they became the more fearful. If they were already panicked, can you imagine how they felt by then? That's tough, man. They missed the glory of God completely. Don't you realize that if you've got somebody with you that can calm the sea down like that, what else he can do? You remember at the beginning world, Peter leaves all and follows him about the ships full of fish, you know, until they began to sink and all that. Peter recognized who he was. That's why he's so willing to leave the best catch he ever had, the greatest haul he ever had, and probably the most income he would have ever had from one fishing trip, and just walk off and leave ship and the whole thing, because he realized who that was. And instead of appreciating who was in their midst, they were even more afraid of him. What a crazy mess. I mean, you think, how in the world does this happen? It happens because we miss the whole point. They miss the whole point of the exercise and we miss it too. And the way you know you miss it is because when you find yourself in a situation that's outside of your control, wasn't caused by you, I mean, you didn't do something stupid, and you find yourself in a situation where you're needing help. I've exhausted all the doctors, I've done all the medicine, I've tried everything I know how to try. And you finally, you know, okay, well, Lord, I need some help down here. That's where you should have started. And you know where you should start? You should start with that business of fear and faith. That's where you ought to start. Because the problem is not what's happening to you. The problem is that you lack faith and it's replaced with fear like Brother Mark preached a week or so ago. That's the problem. The problem is not the problem. The problem is you. I mean, do you realize that with real faith, no matter what happens, You can just go through it just hanging on a master's hand and somebody says, what about that problem? You say, what are you talking about, what problem? Man, look at this, look who's got me. What about that? Don't distract me. I'm busy looking at something worth looking at. Can you imagine somebody that can make us and then handle all these things like that and we're worried about something? The one that has lived forever and has given us eternal life so that our soul continues to live forever. What in the world are we worried about? We're worried because our attention's on us. That's why. Now that storm was not a natural event. There's a place over there in Matthew five talks about he sendeth the rain on the just and the unjust and he lets the sun rise on the evil and the good. That storm was supernatural. It was not a natural event. Although it looked like it from the outside, didn't it? just normal wind and waves and all that stuff? It wasn't. You think the Lord was asleep back there in the back end of that boat because he was indifferent? You think so? He orchestrated the whole thing. How do you know? Well, if he'd have been awake, then they would have just immediately gone and asked him. But no, he made himself more abstract to them by being asleep. And he said, okay, now let's see what you guys do. Why? Because I want to learn something about you? No. I want you to learn something about you. That's what it's about. The Lord's trying to show us something about ourselves in this thing. He's not trying to learn from us. He already knows. We're the ones that need the education. Was Jesus saving the ships from sinking? Or was he actually just showing them something about himself? That's what was really happening. Do you realize the problems in your life have exactly the same context behind them? Do you realize there's stuff that happens to you that you have no control over and you did not cause, and they're there for a purpose? What are they? Well, if it doesn't kill me, it'll make me stronger. Is that why? That's kind of a cop-out. You realize that, don't you? I mean, no great loss without some small gain, you know? Every cloud has a silver lining, yeah, and most of the time it's lightning coming after you too. But he does that stuff with a purpose, and the purpose behind that thing is for you to learn something about yourself and about him. Why the odd reaction to their deliverance? Because they couldn't quit thinking about themselves. I'll tell you, you're gonna find something out that's gonna surprise you about yourself if you ever do start taking this approach. You're gonna find out that when something bad happens to you and you get worried about something or fearful about something happening to you, I don't care if it's financial, I don't care if it's people, you know, I don't care if it's about your job, it doesn't matter what it is. I mean, you can be worried about your car running out of gas before you get to the next gas station. All of a sudden, you look down and the thing's sitting on empty and you realize, oh man, I forgot to get gas. Oh, I hope that I can get off the freeway, off this crazy bridge. Oh man, I'm in trouble, you know. You're scared to death before you get to the next off ramp and stuff. You just try to quit thinking of yourself. You see what happens. You're going to find out it's nearly impossible to quit thinking of yourself. Do you know that? It's like impossible. Why? Because you're just so focused on yourself. It's easy to not think of yourself when everything in your life is perfect. That's when it's easy to go help somebody else, do something for somebody else, be concerned about somebody else, pray for somebody else. When it gets tough is when you're in the mess. You just try praying for somebody else with the same fervency you pray for yourself when you're in real jam. What's the problem? Well, you're fearful and without faith, that's the problem. You say, that's the only problem? Yep, that's the primary problem. Anyway. The most important part of that whole exercise were those two questions he asked them, and they missed it. Now, these things happen to us. They happen to us all the time. Everything will be going along just fine in our life, and then something goes wrong. Something gets messed up, you know, and sometimes it's really quick. It can happen in just moments. You say, do you experience that stuff? I sure do. Why? So the Lord showed me something about himself and showed me something about me. The Lord showed them in that ship what he was capable of, didn't he? Not only that, they got the message so loud and clear, they said, man, even the winds and seas obey him. They got that, didn't they? But you know, not one of them thought back to the beginning of that storm and said, wait a minute, if the winds and seas obey him here, where'd they come from? And then go back through and run that thing back through their mind and say, wait a minute, what was this whole exercise for? And then remember those questions. Why are you fearful and without faith? You know, this business sometimes with us, we get to think in an entirely different manner. We get thinking that he's actually testing us. He's running us through this problem or something outside of God's control is happening to us. And now he's got to come along and save us from it. That's what we think. We never look at that stuff from the perspective that Lord, I want your will in my life. You take care of me today, and help me today, and protect me, and accomplish your will in me somehow today, magnifying yourself, help me to understand you better, help me to get to know you better, and benefit more from the fact that you made me. The reason you made me, the reason I exist, is for your benefit, for your pleasure, and I'd like to be a profitable servant, and you accomplish your will in me today so that you benefit. Then later on in the day, something goes wrong and we immediately say, oh God help, God help. Wait a minute, where's your faith? You can't see that what you ask for, you just got. You can't see that what's taking place here, God's actually orchestrating in your life so that you can grow thereby and grow closer to him and appreciate him more. You think it's just deliverance? Do you understand that God didn't actually deliver them? You understand that, don't you? If he created the problem, it wasn't deliverance. What was it? It was a lesson in something about you, something about me. And if you get your mind off yourself, then you'd really appreciate me. But instead of appreciating him and saying, man, look what we got here. Even the winds and seas obey him. Wow. Instead of that, it's, oh, man, now we're really scared. What a crazy reaction. You know what our reaction is? It's just that crazy. We want God's will in our lives, don't we? What do you think? He's neglecting you when the problems come? You think he's back in the back of the ship asleep? Hey, God, wake up. I know you've got to be asleep. Why? Because look at all these problems. You're doing nothing about them. I wonder how many times if he'd actually respond to us, he'd say, Child, I created the problem. How come? I want you to ask yourself, why am I so fearful and without faith? Why is that? He's got something else in mind. God does not test us. I used to think that that was what it was. God's testing us, you know, and if we fail the test, we got to go back through that grade again, back through the test again. If the teacher already knows the answer and he does, what's the point? If it's not a test, what is it? It's an opportunity. That's what it is. You think God tested Adam and Eve? He already knew the whole thing before the foundation of the world, didn't he? What did he do then? He gave them an opportunity and they blew it. He gave these guys an opportunity, what? understand something about himself and about themselves. Why are you fearful and without faith? You see, it's not a test, it's an opportunity. When you find yourself fearful, when you find yourself worried about a situation, when you find yourself crying out to God as though he quit listening to you, it's time to start looking at this thing from a different perspective. So what's the perspective? God's given you an opportunity to respond to Him the way He wants you to respond to Him. How is that? He wants you to have faith, and He wants you to be without fear. Now, when you have faith, you don't have fear. It's just that simple. Those two cannot coexist. You can't be fearful and full of faith at the same time. When you have faith in God and confidence in God, it ends when you have that peace in the midst of all kinds of problems. What he's giving you is an opportunity to grow and increase in your faith. Why? By recognizing he's got it. Or did you think that the fact that he hasn't lost count of the hairs on your head ever was just something he was doing passively that didn't matter? You think that's trivial information to God? If God's keeping track of the hairs on your head, which is trivia by comparison, how much more is he concerned with the things that affect you emotionally? Because he's touched with the feelings of your infirmities. He's got us right down to the wire. Never leave us, never forsake us, count the hairs on our head. So what's he doing? He's given us an opportunity to get closer to him, to appreciate him more. Don't disappoint him. If you want to be fearful about something, the next time a trial comes up, you'll be fearful of disappointing Him in your response. You may not be able to just throw that fear away. That fear may be just overwhelming. It may be really bothering you, but I can tell you this. You can convert that fear of whatever you're afraid of happening to you into a fear of disappointing him, and it'll just slide right over there into that realm, and immediately, you'll get this sense of, man, Lord, I just feel like I got some strength now I didn't have before, because now it's not about you. You can't just quit being afraid, but you can convert that fear into fear of failing the master. the fear of letting him down, and the fear of not having the faith that he wants you to have in himself. The exercises by God in these cases are so that we grow closer to him, he becomes more real to us, and we appreciate him more for who he is, not just what he does. Let's close in prayer.