We've got one missionary family we have, and we've got John Gordy, part of RUF, Reform University Fellowship, and we support their family. So this is kind of a treat. John, why don't you come on up? Kenny's already introduced you. John is the Reverend John Gordy. is the RUF minister at Valdosta State. Been down there about six months, and I think he's been here already once. But if you've noticed, Paul has a great ability to pick people to come in and speak for him, and today just continues that trend. So John, I hope it's yours. Good morning, it's good to be with you all this morning again. We were here last summer, I believe it was last August that we were last here in Houston Lake in Warner Robins, and so we're glad to be here. I'm used to, I was telling a few folks in the foyer back there as I was talking with them, I'm used to preaching the Sunday after Christmas. At our previous call up in Rochester, Minnesota, I was assistant pastor, so I always had the pleasure of preaching the Sunday after Christmas while our senior pastor was on vacation. It's RUF Campus Minister Day, I guess, here today, so we're glad to be here, though. Glad to be with you all. Thank you for your support. It allows us to be on campus down at Valdosta State, and as Winfield said, we've been down there about six months now. We've just finished our first semester, and we've enjoyed it. It's been busy. We've gotten to know a lot of the students and the ministry there. and really are encouraged about the continued possibilities of ministry there and really see the need of ministry there. And so your support through prayers or financial or however you support us, it means a lot to us and it allows us to be on campus there and minister to students. So thank you for that. This morning we're going to be in Mark's gospel. If you have your Bibles with you, please turn to Mark chapter 4. We'll be looking at the end of Mark chapter 4 this morning, verses 35 to 41. This is the story of Jesus calming the storm. Many of you may be familiar with this. Jesus is continuing his public ministry. He has come on the scene. He's preaching the kingdom of God. He's healed many folks. He's cast out demons. He's healed a paralytic. And he's been teaching his disciples. But in this story this morning, we see Jesus again revealing, though, who he is, more of his person and his work. in this story this morning. So on the surface of the story, it seems like a nice little story that we may have heard in Sunday school growing up, or maybe even here recently, of Jesus calming the storm, saving the day. But as we get into the story further, I think the story really gets to some of the big questions that we as human beings ask about life. the frustrations that we have as human beings. And one of those questions is why do bad things happen to people? And when bad things happen, when bad things happen to us, can God be trusted in the midst of that? We get into emotions of fear and doubt and worry and even anger this morning in our story. All these things come out. And so I think it has something to say to all of us here this morning. And so before we get into God's word, let me read it for us now. Picking up at verse 35, Mark chapter 4. 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? This is the word of the Lord. Let me pray for us now. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We pray over these next few moments that you would go before us, that you would give of your spirit, that you would teach us from your word, that you might encourage us as we leave from here this morning. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Why does God allow hurricanes? This was a question that was asked to me just a little over a year ago when our family, we were still living in Rochester, Minnesota before we came down to work with RUF at Valdosta State. We had gotten to know some of our neighbors in our neighborhood and we were out one day In the backyard, our kids were playing together, and one of our neighbor's daughter, who was about seven or eight years old at the time, asked me this question. She said, you know, why does God allow hurricanes? And this question, it was an honest question, and it had come just after Hurricane Florence had hit the Florida coast, the Gulf coast. It hit the Panama City area a little over a year, year and a half ago. And so, in fact, This little girl had some family that was down in that area, and so they'd been affected by the hurricane. And so this was just a logical question for her to ask, but I think it's a question also that a lot of us ask. And the bigger question is, why do bad things happen to us? Like I said, this is a question that we ask at all times. And we ask, when life doesn't work the way it's supposed to, We ask that question, can God be trusted? And why do bad things happen to me? Why is my job difficult? Why are my patients, my co-workers, customers so difficult to work with? Why can't my children just listen to me? If we have children in our families and our children don't obey us, and we just want them to listen to us and do what we ask them to do, why is it so difficult? Why are they so disobedient? Why doesn't my car work right? Why do things keep breaking in my house? Why can't I get along with my spouse? You're tired of fighting and arguing. We lose our job maybe, or something doesn't work right at our jobs, as I mentioned just a few moments ago. Or if you're a student here this morning, and you're preparing to go to college next year, and you've been applying to schools, and you have that one school that you wanna get into, and you get that letter that says you didn't get in. What happens when life doesn't go the way we planned it? I think a lot of times when this happens, that we become angry. We become angry and we question God. We wonder if he really cares about us. We see that happening in the story this morning. The disciples, they become angry with Jesus. They're afraid and they're wondering why he doesn't care about them. Why is he asleep in the boat? We wonder that too. We wonder when life hits us, when the storms of life hit us, we wonder that same thing. Does God really care about us? When we experience death and sickness, miscarriage, abuse, whether that's physical or verbal or whatever, whatever it is we suffer in this life, these are just examples of some of the things that we face in life. There are a number of other things that we face in life. There are a number of other things that I haven't even mentioned this morning that some of you may be going through right now here this morning, maybe even in the past week. What is our response? I think oftentimes our response is fear, it's worry, it's doubt, anger. We question God and wonder, does he really care about us? Like the disciples, we get angry with God and we question, why is this happening? Lord, do you not care about us? Is God really good? Can he be trusted? And so as we get into our text this morning, I think all these things come out. And I think, at the same time, our text brings us comfort and hope, even in the midst of life, even when life does not work out the way we want it to, the way we would like it to, when our lives are not always comfortable. I think our text this morning offers us hope and encouragement, even in the midst of these storms. And really, in the end, it reveals to us what we really need. So with that said, let's get into our text this morning. As we see, as we pick up the story, Jesus has been teaching the crowds. He's been teaching in parables around the Sea of Galilee, and evening has come and he decides to go across to the other side of the sea with his disciples. And actually, Mark tells us there's some other boats and folks with them as well going to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. And so he says, let's go across to the other side. And presumably, Jesus is going across to the other side to continue preaching. Back in Mark chapter one, he tells us that that's what he had come out to do, was to preach the kingdom of God, to preach the gospel. And so Jesus wants to continue teaching. That's the assumption here. He wants to continue teaching and preaching the kingdom of God, continuing to preach the gospel to the crowds and to folks. And so he leaves these crowds and he heads to the other side of the sea to find new folks to minister to. And as he and his disciples embark on this journey across the sea, this great windstorm arises. And it's a great windstorm, as Mark calls it. And just to know a little bit about the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee is some 600 feet below sea level. And it's surrounded by mountains and hills all around it, so it's in a bowl, in a basin-like. And then about 30 miles northeast of the Sea of Galilee is Mount Hermon, which sits some 9,000 feet above sea level. And so when that cold air comes off the mountains of Mount Hermon and mixes with the warm air rising from the Sea of Galilee, it produces some pretty violent and serious storms on the sea. hurricane-like storms. In fact, the way Mark, he calls it a great windstorm, but it could also be translated as a hurricane. So this is a pretty big storm that's come upon them on the sea all of a sudden. And so, it's not any storm, but it's a pretty violent storm. And the waves are crashing into the boat, coming over into the boat, and the boat's starting to fill up with water. And the disciples, as Mark tells us, they're starting to panic. And so this is kinda interesting that the disciples are panicking, because many of the disciples were fishermen. These were men who, prior to Jesus calling them to himself to follow him, they were fishermen. And they were still fishermen. And so they'd been on the seas. They had been in some pretty tough storms, you could imagine. And if they're afraid in the midst of this storm, it's gotta be a pretty serious storm that's come upon them on the sea. And so in all this chaos and all this commotion and the storm around them, where's Jesus at? Jesus is in the boat, but he's asleep. He's asleep on the cushion. Now how can that be? You can imagine this violent storm is raging all around them, and the disciples are panicking, they're worried, they think they're about to die. And then where's Jesus? Jesus is over there asleep. in the boat. In their time of need, Jesus is asleep. So you can imagine their frustration, their aggravation, their anger. They said, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Do you not care that we are perishing? But that's how we respond. That's how we respond to God. That's how we respond to Jesus when life doesn't go our way. That's how we respond. We say, Lord, why is this happening to me? Why am I going through this? Do you not care? See, what we're doing in these moments is we're putting God on trial. We are accusing God of not caring about us. We say things like, Lord, do you not care that my health is failing? That my body doesn't work the way it's supposed to, the way I want it to? I've suffered great harm, my child doesn't listen to me. Doesn't care about the gospel, doesn't care about Jesus in any way. or you don't have enough money, or you're criticized for your work, or you're not appreciated by your spouse. Whatever it is, when these things in life hit, when these storms hit, we accuse God, we put God on trial, and we get angry. We get angry with God when life doesn't work the way we want it to. As the disciples say, do you not care if we drown? Do you not care what's happening to me? That's the question we ask God a lot of times. Maybe that's the question you're asking God right now, is something going on in your life. But as the disciples ask this question, do you not care if we drown, it reveals their frustration, their anger at Jesus. And this is the same accusation that we place upon God. But the disciples are failing to see, we fail to see. That when life doesn't work out the way we want it to, when life seems out of control, when the waves of life continue to hit us over and over, like those waves were continuing to hit the disciples and come into the boat, time after time, we forget that God is with us. The disciples are forgetting that Jesus is with them. We forget that God is with us. Because where is Jesus in the midst of this storm? Jesus is in the boat. He's not over on the shore saying, hey guys, y'all go take care of this and head to the other side of the sea. Jesus is with them in the boat. He is present with them. And so what that reminds us this morning is that Jesus is present with us in our troubles. Yes, life may not be going the way we want to. We may be going through difficult and challenging circumstances, but Jesus is with us. He is with us in the boat. He is with us in the midst of our lives. And so we can take comfort from that. I was recently reading an article about soldiers and what they do when they go off to war. And you can imagine the combat and the violence that soldiers face day in and day out in wartime, in combat. And so they would often take things with them to bring them comfort. It could be like a girlfriend's picture, it could be a picture of their family, their kids, their wife. It could be a Bible or an engagement ring or some other item that brings them comfort, that brings them peace. When they're in the heat of battle and they're facing the stress and strain of war, they're facing brokenness and death and destruction all around them, they bring these things with them, they keep these things on their person to bring them comfort and hope in the midst of war. It's present with them throughout the ups and downs of war. And that's what Jesus is doing in this story. He is present with the disciples even in the midst of this storm. This storm that may pose a danger to their lives. Jesus is with them. He hasn't abandoned them. He hasn't abandoned us in the midst of the things going on in our lives. Jesus is with us, he cares. He's present with us as we go through trying times. And so Jesus responds to the disciples. He responds to their panic, their worry, their fear, their anger. And he calms the storm. Verse 39 tells us, he rebuked the wind. In other words, he brought it into submission to his authority. He said, peace, be still. He muzzled it. He commanded the sea to be silent. And the form of this verb there indicates and communicates that when Jesus said, peace, be still, he meant for that condition to remain in place and stay that way. to persist, to remain in effect. And so you can picture Jesus sitting or standing in the boat and calmly saying these things to the wind and to the sea, to the waves. And immediately the wind ceased from roaring. The sea was still and there was a great calm. There was no more wind blowing. The waves had stopped. The waves were not coming into the boat. The sea was calmed. It was stilled. It was as smooth as glass. And so just as quickly as this storm appeared, just as quickly also did it disappear. from the ocean, from the sea. And so what's going on here, when Jesus is doing this, is that creation is responding to its master. Jesus is conforming creation to his direction. It reminds us of Genesis 1, when God, in the beginning, out of chaos, brought things into order and structure. He brought order out of chaos. And so what Jesus is doing here is demonstrating his power, his authority, over the created world. As scripture reminds us, Jesus was there in the beginning. The world was created through him. Paul reminds us in Colossians chapter one, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth. And so what the wind and the waves are doing as Jesus speaks to them is they're responding to their master, to Jesus. And what Jesus is doing, what this communicates as he calms this storm is that Jesus is doing what only God can do. Psalm 107, the psalmist tells us of a storm coming upon a boat of sailors, and they cried out to God, and he hushed the storm, he calmed the storm. And that's what Jesus did in Mark 4, is that he calmed the storm. He's doing what only God can do. And so what he's calling his disciples, what he's calling us to see also, is to recognize the presence of God within himself, that he is God come in the flesh. And he has power over creation. He calms the danger posed to his disciples. He quiets the trouble that they were facing. And so what that tells us is as we are going through these storms, these trials, these challenges in our lives is that Jesus has the power to quiet our troubles. We can turn to him, we can run to him. We can run to him and help and ask for help in prayer, to ask him to meet us, to be at work in the midst of the trials and challenges that we go through. And so if he has power over creation, then he's able to quiet our troubles. We can trust Jesus in the midst of the storms we go through in our lives. He provides all the healing. He provides all the healing and rest that we need as we go through and face difficulty in our lives. But what about, the question comes about, what about when things don't change? Does that mean God doesn't care about me? It doesn't mean that God doesn't care, but sometimes God in his sovereignty allows us to go through storms, and he uses these things to shape our lives, to shape our character, to increase our faith, to increase our reliance upon him, to teach us things. He uses these events and these circumstances in our lives to teach us, to shape us, to form us more and more into his image. And of course, we know, too, at the same time, bad things, suffering, is inherently related to the brokenness of the world we live in. And what I mean by that is the world doesn't work the way it's supposed to because of sin and the curse, going back to Genesis 3. But our suffering is a way for us to glorify God, because what were we put in the world to do? To glorify God. But sin has wrecked our ability to do this completely. Peter, in his epistle, as he was writing to Christians, he said this, in 1 Peter chapter 1 he says, And so we hear Peter say this, and you say, we think, well that's easy for Peter to say. He's never been through any trials or any difficulties. That's easy for him to say that our suffering is to result in praise and honor and glory to Christ. But you've got to remember, Peter was there that day. Peter was in our story this morning. He was in the boat. And Peter later suffered for his faith and commitment to Christ. In Acts chapter 3 and 4 we see him suffering, and also later Peter was put to death at the hands of Nero. So he suffered, he saw suffering, but he also saw that day Jesus at work, Jesus calming the storm. But our culture though, the culture we live in, doesn't want to hear about pain and suffering. In fact, our culture and in fact many of our churches oftentimes want to teach a message of being happy and prosperous and healthy. And our culture doesn't want to deal with sickness and death and the ups and downs of life. These things are unheard of sometimes for folks. It's hard for folks to believe that suffering, that life's challenges are for our benefit, to increase our faith. Our culture oftentimes is offended at the idea of bad things happening to us. Scripture attests to the fact that suffering does happen, it does come to us because sometimes it comes to us because of our faith, sometimes it comes because we live in a world that's been affected by sin and the curse. And so we do run into trials, to difficulties, to challenges, we face storms in our lives. But what about when these storms don't stop? When life keeps hitting us, like those waves kept coming in and hitting the boat and the disciples, how do we respond? I think to simply say, we trust God. Now that's easier said than done, but we are to trust God. We are to trust God in the midst of the storms that we face in life. And we don't always understand why bad things happen to us. But if Jesus is God and he was willing to die on our behalf to give us life, to give us peace with God, to give us forgiveness, then he's good enough and great enough to have some reason for the things we go through in life, things that we cannot understand, things that are challenging, things that are difficult for us to endure. I don't know all the reasons for the things that have happened in my life that have been bad, but I know that God is good and I know that scripture attests to that, that God is good. I also know that God is God and we are not, and we, our minds are finite, but God is infinite, and we can trust his reasons are for our own good. It doesn't excuse or deny the pain that we go through, it's real. We suffer in this life in various ways. But Jesus is greater than any pain or suffering that we're going through. His grace and mercy is greater than any pain or suffering that we face in this life. Because he was willing to die so that we might have life and forgiveness, reconciliation, peace with God. And so Jesus has responded to his disciples, he's responded to their request. and he calms the storm and you would think everything should be okay. The story's ended and everyone lived happily ever after. Excuse me, it's like the movie that ends and the conflict has been resolved and then there's another 15 minutes of the movie that take place where some surprise kind of comes out of left field. In fact, Mark kind of leaves us with this cliffhanger here at the end of the story this morning in verses 40 and 41. In verse 40, Jesus questions them and he says, why are you afraid? Have you still no faith? In other words, why are you not trusting me? And what the focus of the story on really is trust and faith. What are we putting our trust in? In other words, Jesus is saying, do you not trust that my saving power is present with you in the boat right now? Do you not trust that my saving power is with us as we go through life and the trials and challenges that we face? when we face pain and disappointment. And so the question I think we have to ask ourselves is where is it that we're finding our comfort? Where is it that we're finding our hope? and comfort when life is hard, when it's difficult. Jesus is saying, turn to me, trust in me. I will see you through the storm. That's what Jesus is saying to us this morning, that I will see you through the storm. He's saying that to the disciples, but he's also saying that to us this morning. As we go through life and face trials and challenges, he's saying, I will see you through the storm. We don't always know how it's gonna end, but Jesus is telling us that he is with us and he will see us through. But we see, as we turn our attention back to the story, that the disciples, their fear remains. In verse 41 it says, they were filled with great fear. Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? And you would think the disciples were in trouble, the storm had come upon them, they thought they were gonna die. Jesus saves the day, he calms the storm. You would think they would be relieved, excited, comforted that the storm was no more. In fact, the irony is that their fear is even greater after the storm has been calmed, after Jesus saves them. And what I think is going on here is the disciples, it's hard for them to handle the presence of God with them. In some small way, at some small level, the disciples are starting to realize that there's something different about this Jesus guy, that there's something God-like about him. And so at some small level, they're beginning to see the presence of God in Jesus, and it scares them, it unsettles them, it's terrifying to them, because they can't control him. They can't control what Jesus does. They go out on the sea in the boat, and this storm comes upon them, and Jesus is asleep. and they can't control him. But that's the same thing I think that happens with us when bad things happen in our lives, we can't control them and that's why we get angry with God, we fear God because we can't control what God does. As I said, I think the disciples are starting to realize at some small level that God's presence is with them in Jesus. And it scares them, they're afraid, they're filled with great fear. Martin Luther, many of you know, is one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. And before that, Martin Luther was a Catholic priest. And so in the early 1500s, Luther was conducting his first mass as a Catholic priest. And he had prepared for this ceremony, probably for a number of days. And as the ceremony began, things were going well. He began with great confidence and self-control over what he was doing. And then they reached the part of the service where the prayer of consecration came, and Luther was to conduct that. And Luther got up to speak, and he froze. He tried to speak, and nothing was coming out of his mouth. No words were coming out of his mouth. He began to sweat, his lips were quivering. He tried to speak again, and this probably went on for a few moments, and nothing came out. He was frozen there. And he quickly sat down in his seat. He couldn't get the words out. He was embarrassed. He was ashamed. He had failed in his first official duty as a Catholic priest. And so Luther's explanation sometime after that was, this is what he said about it though, what happened there that day. He said, who am I that I should lift up my eyes or raise my hands to the divine majesty? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin, and I am speaking to the living, eternal, and true God. This is a question that haunted Luther the rest of his life, most of his life. How can an unjust person, in other words, live and serve in the presence of a just God? And in some way, this same idea that Luther was struggling with, how could he speak in the presence of God through the service he was conducting, is the same idea that's behind the disciples' question at some level. These disciples, they knew they were men of unclean lips. In other words, they knew they were sinners. They knew they were not worthy to stand in Jesus' presence. In the presence of the holy, in the embodiment of perfection, they knew they were not good enough to stand in Jesus' presence. The same question Luther asked, how can an unjust person survive in the presence of a just God? And so the question is, why are the disciples still afraid? Why are we still afraid sometimes of God? And it's because the disciples, they were exposed. In other words, they were undone. They recognized they were in the presence of God when they're there with Jesus. They see him calm this storm on the sea. And they were exposed for who they really are, sinful men. And they're uncomfortable in the presence of perfection in Christ. And so their fear was intended to move them to faith, to trust in Christ. And that's what Jesus was doing here about his question, he was trying to move them to the discipleship, to trusting in him. In other words, Jesus is saying, do you not trust me? Do you not trust that I am with you, that I am good? And so, that brings us to the question, again, what are we to do with God? The story ends with the disciples trying to figure out what to do with Jesus. They're afraid of him, they're not sure what to do, they're not sure who this guy is in some ways. In some ways they do understand who this guy is, but what are we to do with God? When life hits, when storms hit in our life, what are we to do with God? Oftentimes we're confused, we're afraid. Oftentimes we're angry and we question God and we say, why are these things happening to me? Why are these bad things taking place in my life? Why doesn't God intervene? Why doesn't he stop the storm like he did that day on the Sea of Galilee? When we're going through trials and hardships, why doesn't God act? Why doesn't he calm the storm like he did that day? And the thing we forget in these moments is that God has stopped the storm. It's just not the storm that we're thinking about. It's not our own personal storms, but He has stopped the greatest storm that we could ever face. And what I mean by that is this story of Jesus calming the storm parallels in some ways a story in the Old Testament with Jonah. Jonah was the prophet who was sent to Nineveh to preach to them and he tried to run away from God and he found himself on a boat on the sea and there was a storm. Jonah was asleep in the boat just like Jesus was asleep and both men were suddenly woken up by men who thought they were about to die. And so, and then a supernatural intervention from God calmed the storm in both stories, right? And this happened in the story of Jonah after he was hurled into the sea, into the water. And the only difference is that Jesus wasn't thrown into the sea, right, in the story of Mark 4 today. Jesus wasn't thrown into the sea, or was he? You think about this, in Matthew chapter 12, Jesus talks about something greater, someone greater than Jonah being here. And Jesus was referring to himself. Jesus was referring to himself as something greater than Jonah was there with them. And what Jesus is talking about is that he is the one who would willingly die and be hurled into the violence of the cross, where he voluntarily suffered and died for our sins. And so in that sense, Jesus has stopped the storm. He stopped the storm of God's wrath, and that's the greatest need that we have as human beings, is peace and reconciliation with God, and that's what Jesus has done. He has brought that through his death and his resurrection, through his suffering. Faith in Jesus overcomes our greatest need, and Jesus has stopped the storm. As I said, it's just not the storm that we often think about. It's not our own personal storms, but he stopped the greatest storm that we could ever face. He has brought forgiveness and reconciliation with God, our creator. And one day he will completely do away with all sin and death and brokenness. He will calm all the storms in our lives. There'll be no more hurts and no more sorrows, no more disappointments in life. He will free God's world of sin and death forever. There'll be no more storms that kill people. There'll be no more hurricanes. that kill people. There'll be no more miscarriages, no more abuse, no more sickness, no more suffering. And he promises to make all things new on that day when he returns. And we hear that and we know that, a lot of us believe that, but it doesn't make life easier right now in the moment, does it, in the day-to-day and the week-to-week. We do experience pain and sorrow, and as I said earlier, our pain and our sorrow, the challenges, the trials we face, those are real things that we face in life. But we can have confidence, we can have comfort knowing that Jesus didn't abandon us. Jesus didn't abandon us in the greatest storm he ever faced when he was separated from God the Father who he had been in relationship with from all eternity. Jesus was separated from him on the cross where he suffered and died for our sins. And he suffered the punishment that we deserve for our sins. And so this is what I leave us with this morning. to encourage us as we go out from here this day is that if Jesus didn't abandon us in that most awful of storms on the cross, he certainly will not abandon us in the smaller storms we face today. It doesn't mean he always will calm the storm like he did immediately here with the disciples, but he is with us, he is present with us. Our story reminds us of that this morning. Jesus is with us in the midst of our troubles. And it gives us confidence each and every day as we go out and live life. It gives us confidence even when we face trials, even when we face difficulties, that Jesus is with us and we can face the storms in our lives knowing that Jesus has calmed the greatest storm that we'll ever face. He has conquered the greatest need we'll ever have and that's forgiveness and peace with God. And that's offered to us through Jesus, through his death and his resurrection, us trusting and believing in him. We can have confidence and courage as we face life each and every day, each and every week, because Jesus faced the greatest storm and conquered the greatest storm that we'll ever have to face. Let me pray for us now. Father, we thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for what it has to say to us. Lord, we do pray as we go through life, even this week, many of us are facing difficulties and trials and challenges, storms in our lives. And I pray that you would meet us there, that you would be present with us, that you would be near to us. Remind us that you are near, remind us of your grace and your mercy and what you've done on our behalf, that you have conquered the greatest storm and faced the greatest storm that we would ever have to face. And we don't have to face that because of your grace and mercy to us through Christ and us believing and trusting in Jesus. And so we thank you for the gospel, Lord, and we ask and pray all this in Christ's name, amen.