Go with me to the book of Mark chapter number 4. Mark chapter number 4. It's 7.30 and I'm going to try and have invitation by 8 o'clock. I said I'm going to try. You there in Mark chapter number 4? Amen. Let's all stand. We'll read the Word of God and I'll have you be seated. Begin reading in verse 35. And the Bible says, In the same day, when evening was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over into 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 in the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke him, and said unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, rebuked the wind, and said unto 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 to see, obey Him. Dear Heavenly Father, we ask that You touch us. Help us, Lord. Lord, we'll be sure to thank You and praise You for what You do. Lord, we thank You for the Word of God. We thank You for the Spirit of God and the mind of God. Now, Lord, work in us that which You would. We'll be sure to thank You in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. You can be seated. Thank You for the standing, stretching your legs. We're familiar with the text. We've known the text. If we've been in church any length of time, me personally from a little kid in Sunday school. I've heard this a million times, but one day I was reading this text and something ever jumped out at you. You've read something, but it just jumps out at you. Something jumped out at me. By way of introduction, I'd like to give you three things just to kind of set the stage, and we'll jump right into it, Brother Allen. The first thing is I'd like to point out the geographical location of this story that's on the Sea of Galilee. Sea of Galilee is surrounded by a mountain range, Mount Hermon being one of those mountains which is snow-capped year-round. The sea is warm, but that weather up on the mountain gets cold, and in a moment's notice, those two climates would clash, creating a storm. Not only do we know the geographical location, but secondly, the disciples that are on this ship. They're fishermen. But they're not fishermen of any body of water, but this body of water specifically. And they knew the dangers of the warm weather and the cold weather and the climate change. They've heard of friends that have gone down. They know of accounts of men that lost their lives. It's a treacherous sea. And then thirdly, I'd like to point this out, is the vessel that they're on. This isn't the Mayflower. This isn't the Caribbean Sea cruise liner. This is no doubt probably a fishing boat. How they would build those boats is they would build it high on one side and high on the other, and the lowest part of the vessel would be the middle. Because, men, can I get your help right here? In our work, we try and make our work the most efficient that we can. And there ain't no sense in pulling a bunch of fish over a high-walled boat. Can I get a witness? So that's the vessel that they're on. That's the men that are on the vessel. And that is the body of water that they're surrounded by. And in verse 35, Jesus tells them, get on the boat. We're going to the other side. These men, some of them, not all of them, but most of them, being experienced sailors, experienced seamen, experienced fishermen, They know something about that water. And when Jesus tells them, get on the boat, we're going to the other side, all I can see in my mind's eye is they begin to prepare. I remember one time when I didn't prepare and got where I was going and realized if I'd have got what I thought I needed before I left, I wouldn't be in the situation that I'm in now. And no doubt they've probably been there before, so they've got a checklist. And they're working their way through that checklist because there's one mission in their mind. That is to get from here to there. If it's a sailing vessel, they've got sails. If it's an oaring vessel, they begin to prepare the vessel for the voyage. Lifeboats. Tinker might have brought a fishing pole. We don't know. But they prepared to go. And as they board that ship, headed to go to the other side, they don't even know why they're going, but Jesus told them we're going. And so here they go getting on this boat. And here comes Jesus. He doesn't have a sail. He doesn't have a sail. He doesn't have a life jacket. He doesn't have an oar. He doesn't have anything to do with boats, water and fish. But here he comes with a pillow. Now, the disciples probably looked at him and said, now, wait a minute. You said we're going here. Why are you bringing a pillow? Now, if this was a five-day cruise, yeah, I could see the pillow. But this voyage was to take anywhere from three to four hours to get from point A to point B. And it's going to be work the entire time. You ever read in Scripture and it's things like Jesus sets a pink elephant right down in the middle of the living room? And you're going, why did Jesus say what he said? But he said it not just because he's filling up his Bible with words, but there's a reason. And if we don't fail to look at the reason, we'll miss it. And I looked at this and said, it's odd that they put a pillow on this boat. So I got to looking at the text. For the next few moments, I want to preach on this thought, some pillows. There are some pillows that I find in Mark chapter 4 that not only if the disciples would have noticed them, it would have helped them, but in our day and in our walk, it will help us if we'll let it. Number one, look in verse 35, he said, and the same day when evening was coming, he said unto them, let us pass over to the other side. Number one, I see a pillow of promise. He didn't say, well, I hope we're going to make it. Well, if everything goes well and there are no house teams, there are no big waves, we can make it. No, he said, we're going. I'm glad I've got a promise that he didn't say, well, I hope we'll make it. Oh, but one day, glorious, the eastern sky will split. I'll see my Savior face to face. And I've got a promise that I'll see Him. And I can rest in this pillow of a promise. Not only do I see a pillow of promise, but notice this. At the end of verse 36 it says, And there were also with him other little ships. Not only do I have a pillow of promise, but secondly, I've got a pillow of partners. I'm not in this by myself. Now, when I get home, I get beside myself and I think the devil comes in, Brother David, and tells me I'm all alone. I'm all by myself. But hallelujah, glory to God, I can go back to St. Mary, Georgia and know that I've got some people here that are pulling alongside me, coming alongside me that can help me. And all over this country, there's people of like faith and like love that I can cling to in a time of need. I've got a pillow of partners. Not only do I see a pillow of promise and a pillow of partners, but thirdly, notice this. The Bible says there in verse 36, they took him even as he was. Thirdly, I've got a pillow of his presence. Now, I've read in the Bible where Jesus told them, get on the boat, go to the other side, but Jesus didn't get in with them. Oh, but in this story, honey, Jesus done climbed on board with him. Hallelujah. I'm glad that He is with me. He'll never leave me. He'll never forsake me. And when it seems like I'm all alone and I can't seem with the senses of my five beings, hey, I know that He's with me. Because I'm not trusting in what I can feel, what I can touch, what I can taste, what I can see. For we walk not by sight but by faith. I've got a pillow of his presence. I'm getting my cardio in going up and down these stairs. Amen. Number four, look at this. I've got a pillow of his position. Look at verse 38. And he was in the rinder part of the ship. A pillow of his position. Every boat that I've been on, and what they tell me, all boats, from my understanding, unless it's some kind of top secret thing, Brother Allen, that y'all ain't told me, because y'all... I tell you, I've got to kill you. But you steer the boat from the rear. It's called a rudder. Why is Jesus in the back? Because he's the pilot. We're trying to figure this thing out. I ain't no reason to try to figure this thing out. He knows. Hey, all I got to do is just grab a pillow, hang on tight, because I know that He knows where He's taking us. Verse 37 says, And the boat was now full. You know what that means in the Greek? Couldn't take another drop of water. Now, you put me in a boat with a pillow and it's dry, I can go to sleep. You put me in a boat full of water? Honey, I ain't sleeping not in there a week. It doesn't make sense that Jesus is sleeping when everybody else isn't because of the situation. And the disciples are fighting against something that Jesus himself is not worried about. You know, we get in a lot of trouble when we start worrying about stuff that Jesus ain't worried about. We're trying to figure out stuff that God ain't trying to figure out. We're trying to fix stuff that God says, I ain't worried about that. Do you know what they found out? That when Jesus was on board, it couldn't sink. It couldn't go down. They couldn't drown. Why? Because He was on board. There could be a hole in the bow. Water could be gushing in like a fountain, but it didn't matter because here's the man that walked on the water. Hallelujah. I'm glad that he's on board, but I'm glad of his position. He's the pilot. Now, notice this. Number five, they told me that if you preach more than More than three points, you've got to be a good preacher, but nonetheless, here I am trying to preach it, but I ain't that good. But notice here now, we see a pillow of presence, a pillow of promise, a pillow of partners, a pillow of disposition. But then we see a pillow of prayer. Verse 38, carest thou not that we perish? That's a prayer if I've ever heard one. Praise God. Sounds like Peter. Lord, save me. I'm glad that I ain't got to get some deep theological prayer together and then begin to pray in a fashion that I don't even understand the words of half of what I'm saying. You ever heard somebody pray like that? You know, they ain't trying to get in touch with God. They're just trying to impress you with what they know. I mean, really, cut the baloney. Let's get to it. Because in time of need, Lord, save me. Do you even care that we're fixing to drown? Desperate times calls for desperate prayers. And here's the pillow of their prayer. We don't understand it, but do you even care? Have you ever been there? To where it's almost frustrating. I don't understand it. I can't figure it out. I don't know, but God, do you even care? You see their pillow of prayer. Now, notice this. We see a pillow of his peace. Oh, yes, peace, peace to you. No, no, no, no. That's not the peace. Here's the peace. He's asleep on a pillow in a boat that's full of water. That's peace. They had two painters to draw and depict what they thought peace was. The first one was rolling hills and butterflies and tulips and unicorns and pixie dust and all that stuff. It was beautiful. Tranquility of peace. And the second painter took his canvas and began to paint dark clouds and lightning and rain and thunder and A rocked, jagged-edged rock cliff, and in the cliff of the rock, a bird that is sleeping in the midst of all that storm. That's peace. True peace is when everything else around you is falling apart, but inside, you know everything's okay. Now, that's easy to preach, but hard to live. But true peace is when you go to the doctor and the doctor gives you the C-word. The doctor says you've got heart problems. And you're walking out saying, oh God, I know you're going to make everything right. I don't know how, but I'm trusting you. That is peace. For there is peace in the time of trouble. There's peace in the midst of the storm. I'm glad that I can rest and hold on to the pillow of His peace. Now notice this. We see a pillow as proclamation. Peace be still. I'm thankful that when I can't rest anything else, I can turn to the Word of God and rest in what He said. I've been saying this. I read this somewhere, but I've been saying this. It's like that fellow that said, I want God to speak to me. And the fellow told him, he said, well, read your Bible. He said, no, I don't want him to speak audibly. He said, well, just read it out loud then. Where are we getting that there is another form? No. He said all he needs to say. I understand the Holy Ghost speaks to us and works through us and will lead us and guide us and direct us. But that's all we need. That's the direction. That's the book. That's the roadmap. I've got a proclamation that I can rest in. Proclamation of His Word. But then notice this. We see a pillow of His power. Verse 41. They said, what manner of man is this? They're looking at him and saying, they've seen it before. They're seeing it again. And they're saying, wow. Jesus is the real deal. You see, a pillar of His power. Now, if we was to stop right here, it'd be good. But we would miss the rest of it. For He said, we're going to the other side. But still, there in verse 41, we still haven't got to the other side. The other side is in chapter 5. For in chapter 5, notice what the Bible says. And they came over to the other side of the sea unto the country of the Gadareans. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. This is the maniac of Gadara. Do you see that in verse number 2? He was come out of the ship and immediately there met him. Look at verse number 6. But when he saw Jesus afar off, He ran and worshipped him. So why is verse 2 saying immediately, but verse 6 says he saw him afar off and he's running to him. Now, I understand it seems to be like there's a contradiction, but we know the Word of God is not contradictory. Where was this man at? He was in the mountains, in the tombs, cutting himself. And I made mention in our introduction that this mountain range was surpassing or compassing the Sea of Galilee. Could it be that where this man was at, because the town, the family, everybody else said, we don't want nothing to do with you. I'm going to just stop right here and say this. I'm glad that when everybody else is done with me, Jesus is just starting with me. They said, get out. We tried, but there's nothing we can do. And Jesus said, well, hang on, honey, I'm coming to get you. From where he was sitting, I believe he saw everything that was going on. Matter of fact, he's got a legion of devils within him. There is a storm that is raging inside of him. No doubt he's seen this thing transpire before because he sat there for a long time and probably he saw a vessel come by. He felt that climate change and he said, yep, it's going to happen again. And here come in the storms, here come in the clouds, the thunder and the lightning. And before long, here's some men fighting for their lives, but to no avail. Nobody to save them and they perish. And here's this man, the maniac of Gadara, from where his position is, looking down and saying, what they're going through on the outside is what I'm facing on the inside. They perish, but yet I perish. They drown, but I'm drowning. What if he said to himself, I wish there was hope for them, but I sure wish. There's hope for me, because I sure would like to go back and see my kids. Sure would like to go back and see my family. But I can't go back there because of what's in here. And there's something about what goes on there that in some weird way brings comfort to him to know that he's not alone in the storm he's facing. But this day, is different from any other day. All the events seem to be transpiring the same. Here's the boat. Here's the men on the boat. There's the storm. The boat is about full. But wait a minute. Who's that in the back that's sleeping? That don't make no sense. To see one of them disciples make their way to the back of the boat and wake him. For him to make his way to the front of the boat and say, peace, be still. And that storm is calmed. To which this man says, if he can do it to that storm, maybe he can do it to my storm. Notice what the text says in verse 37, the first three words, and there arose. Have you ever been there when there arose that you had no control over? But I'm thankful that when there arose, look at our text, verse 39, he arose. When the circumstances in my life rise up, and I say, oh Lord. But He brings confidence that because He arose, whatever there arose is, it doesn't matter. Because He's more powerful than what arises. And He looks and He says, I don't know who that is, but if He can do that for them, He can do it for me. To which He looks to where they're headed, and He begins to run. So that in verse number 2, when Jesus steps on the shore, immediately, He's there to meet them. In chapter 5, the first pillar that we see is the pillar of pardon. I'm thankful that Jesus is still in the saving business. God ain't through. God ain't closed up shop. God ain't turned the lights out and said, well, we're just going to wait till God says, come on, boy, go get your bride. And I'm going, no. But the door of grace is still ajar. Though millions have come, there's still room for one. He's saying, come home, come home. And I'm thankful that there's still a pillow of pardon from where he's at. Can I say this very quickly about this man? He's a wild man. Devil's in him. He's a wicked man. But he's a warning man. And he's a watching man. And we see in chapter 5, we see a pillow of pardon, but then we see a pillow of providence. The disciples thought that the storm was about them. The disciples thought that the water was about them. They thought their whole situation was about them. But what they couldn't see was that Jesus was looking in a mountain at somebody that nobody else wanted and said, if I don't go by, he'll perish. And here are the disciples grumbling and complaining about their situation. This was supposed to be easy. This was supposed to be just graceful and wonderful. But why are we like this? And they couldn't see what Jesus was looking at. You know, they'd have been a whole lot better off to grab a pillow and go lay down by Jesus and say, if you ain't worried, I ain't worried. Than to try and do what they were doing. But they didn't see what Jesus saw. So many times we get caught up in what we're dealing with, what we're facing, what we're going through, that we fail to see God's providence working in somebody else's life. You know, there's a lot of people that will never pick up a Bible and read it, but they watch you. And honestly, Corinthians said it, that we're written epistles read by men. We're the only Bible some people will ever read. They can't see your faith. They can't see your God. But they can see your trouble. And they watch you go through your trouble. And when you come out on the other side, they say, that don't make sense. They should have died. She should have died. He could have died. They never should have made it. But here they are. And they'll come and say, what's the difference? What's the difference? There was a man. that fought in the Vietnam War by the name of Davey Reaver. He surrendered to preach and he was drafted. And he was put in a special platoon. They were known as the River Rats. And their whole mission was to run up and down those rivers in Vietnam and take reconnaissance. See where the enemy was, where they're headed, how much they are, what they got. all that stuff. And Davey Reaver was positioned on the front of that boat, eight foot fiberglass boat, behind the 50 caliber machine gun. This particular day as they ran up that river, he said, in battle you develop a sixth sense about you. And he said, this day, he said, it was just everything was off. And he said, something was telling me something was wrong. He said as they beached on a little sandbar, and they were taking reconnaissance. He said the hair on the back of his head stood straight up and he said the jungle was quieter than what it should have been. He said he reached and grabbed a white phosphorous grenade. They burn at 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit and nothing puts them out. They just burn until the gas is gone. He said he reached and he pulled that pin. He said as he brought that grenade to the side of his head fixing to throw it into the jungle, he said a sniper shot it six inches from my head. And he said, in a matter of seconds, he said, my body was engulfed in a inferno. Over 90% of my body was inflamed. And he said, something inside of me told me just jump in the water. He said, I did. Germ infested. He said, if the grenade didn't kill me, he said, I was sure that the infection would have killed me. He said, as soon as his body hit the water, he said, this one verse came to my mind, Brother Allen. And he said it played like a CD on repeat. For me to live is Christ. For me to live is Christ. For me to live is Christ. Over and over and over again. For me to live is Christ. For me to live is Christ. And he said something came over me and he said I forged that river. They don't even know how I did it. Got to the other side and they were finally able to get the fire out. Put me on a helicopter and flew me back to base and got me on an airplane and flew me to Japan. where I began the process of recovery. Said when they finally got me sedated and was able to bandage me and I finally came back to out of that sedation. He said I asked the nurse for a mirror and he said it was the dumbest thing I ever asked for and it was the dumbest thing she could ever give me. He said but for the first time as I looked at myself and saw something straight out of a horror movie. He said, for the first time in my life, Patrick, he said, I wanted to commit suicide. Because he said, I know my wife would never love anything as hideous as this. He's had over 13, 17 surgeries, but God worked through that. And he began to speak to our military wounded soldiers. He went into public schools and talked to talked to teenagers being bullied and people that were battling suicide. The very thing he was battling. One day he got a phone call. It was a TV station. They were wanting to do a special about Memorial Day and said, we want you to come and tell your story. We've heard about you. He said, I'll do it. And he said, but I will not answer any hard questions. I said, no hard questions, Mr. Reaver. We just want to hear your story. We want to get it out over the air. We want to just encourage people and remind them of what a great nation we live in. He walked in that TV station and they had a live audience and a lady walked out to interview him. She sat down and he said the first question she asked me was why. He said I've went through as to how God would and the location and all that, he said, but I never darkened the door in my life of why God allowed it. He said, I wasn't going in there. She said, but now she's done asked me that question that I've avoided for years. Why? And he said, not in the privacy of my own home, but now on public television and with a live audience. Here we go. And he said, God begin to break down them walls that I'd built for years. He said, I began to cry as I began to open up my heart and talk about the thoughts that I've had and what I've been facing, what I've been going through. At the end of it, he is crying, she is crying, everybody's crying. Dogs crying, cats crying. And her response was this, Mr. Reevey, Could it be that you went through what you went through? And why that sniper didn't take your head off, but rather shot your hand at six inches? But could it be that God could trust you with the scars? And he said, I don't know who she'd been reading after or who she'd been with, but the Holy Ghost I penetrated my heart with those few words and God began to show me why he let me live. It was because of the thing that I've been able to reach people with. So many times we're going through something down here, but we don't realize the people that are up there that are watching us, they don't understand, they can't comprehend. But truly there's something better than this because of where I'm at and the scars that God's put me through is not for me, but it's for them. And I'm glad that I've got a pillow of his providence. That he said he'd never leave me nor forsake me. And when I get so enthroned with me, me, me, that I can't see them. Let's see what God's doing. Here's the thing, I think I found 8 pillars in chapter 4, 2 pillars in chapter 5, that's 10 pillars. That's a lot of pillars. My wife loves pillars. I spend 5 hours in the evening waiting to get to one pillar that I can lay my head on. God forbid if I put my head on any other pillar. I'm developing carpal tunnel, arthritis, and everything else known to man in my arms and elbows, tendonitis, from removing pillows so I can find my one pillow. I gotta wake up at 3.30 in the morning to remove, to put all them pillows back so they're just right, so I can start my day at 6.30. But you know what I've found about all them pillows? That's where they go, preacher. That way, if I roll off the bed, it'll hit softly. It's the more pillows I've got. They make a hard place just a little bit more comfortable. So many times we look at our life and God gives us a pillow and you say, well, I don't need that now. You cast it aside. And God's saying, I didn't give it to you now for now, but I give it to you now for later. How many pillows have we threw aside? Might be that we need to pick a pillow up. Might be that there's a pillow in here that we haven't even had, but we see it floating and we just need to go pick it up. Because it's not about us, but it's about them. Do you know that Jesus told them to get on the boat in chapter 4 and to go to the other side? In chapter 5, they get to the other side. And in chapter 5, he heals this man, puts the devils in the swine, they run down the hill and cast themselves in the sea and they drown. And then Jesus tells the disciples, get on the boat, we're going back. And he goes and he feeds the 5,000 in chapter 6. Jesus stopped everything he was doing. because there was one man nobody else wanted. Can I tell you, I've grown up in a sheltered home. I mean, I don't know nothing about that out there. But I was still like that one man up in that mountain. But I'm thankful for the day that Jesus left and came and got me. And if you're here, you can say I'm thankful for the day that Jesus left and came and got me. You might be here and you don't know nothing about that pillow of pardon. But can I tell you? He's still calling. Come home. Come home. But I'm thankful that we've got some pillows that we can rest in. There's a lot more I want to say, but my time is up. And if I keep going, my love offering will shrink. So I'm done. But I'm thankful for the pillars that God gives us. And they might be that somebody else is looking down and saying, I don't know what they got, but I want it. They come to you and say, how can I get it? And I'm thankful that I can trust Jesus with my scars to know that he's working. He's working it for my good and for his glory.