I'm in the gospel of Mark and chapter 4 the gospel of Mark and chapter 4 I'm sure all of us have a funny story or more about our mothers but we are thankful for all that they've done for us We're kind of working our way here. We're not focusing, as I've said before, on necessarily the various teachings of Jesus. We're just looking at his journey and kind of what can we learn from where he went and those particular incidents in his life. And we come to the end of chapter four, because now Jesus is taking another trip, so to speak. In 1986, there had been a drought, a period of drought there in Israel, and so the Sea of Galilee was quite a bit lower than it normally would be, and something was discovered. It's come to be known as the Jesus boat. There was a traditional kind of Galilean fisherman's boat that then was exposed by that low water level. It's plausible. It was Simon's boat. I don't think you can prove that. It's not like there's a label on the side of it that says, this boat belongs to Simon Peter. There's not a label on it, but it would be typical of boats of that time and that region. That's important because where we are here in the Gospel of Mark chapter four, Jesus takes a boat ride. Verse 35. the same day when the even was come so there's been this all this huge day of all this teaching remember he went back down to the seaside later on in the day talks about the sower in the seed and then there's the parable of the candle and so forth okay and so it's that day now it's evening he saith unto them that would be whose disciples let us pass over unto 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 into 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 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 the sea obey him? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day and for the privilege that we can gather tonight before we step into the work week. I pray you might take the truth of your word in this event in the life of our Savior and help us to see some things that maybe will be an encouragement to us, will help us in whatever it is that we may be facing in our lives. Guide and direct, Father, please, in Jesus' name, amen. I feel like I need to apologize to Dr. Jonas for whining about white cake. because I ate it anyway, so it couldn't have been that bad. Shame on me for saying that publicly. But there, it's off my chest. I feel better now. I can move on. All right. This boat that was found, and it's actually preserved now in a museum. And Rick, if you and Dawn finally get to make your Israel trip, maybe you'll get to go to the, it's the Yigal Ellen Museum. by Tiberias which is on kind of the southwestern portion of the Sea of Galilee. There's a big museum in there and that's where this the Jesus boat is. That boat is 27 feet long and beam meaning the widest part of the ship or boat actually. I don't think a naval Officer would call that a ship. But anyways, that's kind of what they call it. It's seven and a half feet wide. So what's that? About the size of a big bass boat? Any of you fishermen know about the size of boats? Yes? No? Okay, close. Now, theoretically, that's a boat that's big enough that Jesus and all 12 of his disciples could get in, but that would be probably a bit cramped. Which as we read here, there were other little ships little boats so there's the one main boat and then there's a bunch of others now whether or not Jesus and all his disciples pile into one and a bunch of other people follow along or maybe it was already crowded so they you know they all kind of gotten a bunch of them we're not given all those details but Jesus says let us pass over the other side let's go So they get in the boat and they go. But as often what would happen on the Sea of Galilee is a storm crops up. And this word here for this storm, it says, there arose a great storm of wind and waves beat into the ship. It's really kind of a word that's used in reference to a hurricane or maybe on the surface of the water. Sometimes it's called a water spout, maybe a little water tornado. But it's not like just windy. It's tumultuous. And it's picking the water up and the water's getting dumped in the boat. That's not good. Water in the people tank is not a good thing. And some have asked me about my Navy time. I mean, I've been on a lot of submarines. I never went to sea on a submarine. Why would you go to sea on a ship that sinks itself? That was my attitude then. It still is my attitude now. I mean, if you get hit with a torpedo, you're done. You're not getting out of there. So I thought, even though I was in the engine room, you know, in the Navy, and that was three decks up to get out of there, if we got hit by a torpedo, at least I had a chance. But on a submarine, you don't even have a chance. You're fish food. Why am I telling you about a submarine? Water in the people tank is a bad thing. Okay, that's not good. And so we kind of understand then why the disciples are a bit stressed, even though most of them are professional fishermen. This is not a new thing for them. They've been through this, probably the same kinds of storms in the past. But maybe because the boat's overloaded, And so the water in the boat is now, it's gonna make it unstable? More than normal? I'm not sure. I want you to notice though, first off, the statements. We're gonna look at the statements, a little bit about the storm, and then the stillness, and what can we glean out of this that will help us? Since it's not actually a big teaching, preaching time, is it? It's just an event of travel. Jesus is going theoretically from Capernaum And he's gonna go, when we get to chapter five, he's gonna land and he's gonna cast the devils out of the maniac of Gadara. So they're traveling across the Sea of Galilee. If you were looking at a map in your Bible, it's kind of shaped sort of like that. And so they're going from Capernaum up here in the corner and they're going, they're going south and east down to that coast to where the land of the Gadarenes are. That's where they're headed. so rather than walk around which would take a while he's already in the boat because he's teaching that's all previously there in chapter 4 he's already in the boat teaching and he comes to the end and he says all right let's go and now they're headed across the sea I want you to notice that statement because it's it's a very declarative statement It's a very firm kind of statement. We're not going to get into a grammar lesson, but it's almost as if we're going, we're already there. Kind of an idea. That's sort of the force of what Jesus is saying. I want you to notice also the statement of the disciples. They don't respond to him, at least there's not a record of a response other than they go. And then the storm crops up, and what do the people, the disciples, say to Jesus? They wake him, and they say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And this statement is significant because it's kind of whiny. You're not caring about us. We're perishing and you're over here taking a nap. Can't you wake up? Don't you know the problem I'm in? Why is this happening to me? Do you notice how they're focused on them? Nobody says, Master, wake up. We don't want you to drive. They don't seem to be too caring about Jesus. They're just like, don't you care about us? I mean, if you sink, it's okay, but we don't want to sink. I mean, that kind of struck me as odd. But the grammar actually is different in the statements. One's very as if it's a done deal. And this is like, oh, we're in this terrible process. And it was real. I mean, I don't want to, you know, act like it was, you know, you got one water drop on your nose and now you think you're going to drown. OK. No, it was a real storm. OK. But their statements are all about themselves. All about themselves. Jesus then responds to the storm and to the disciples. To the storm, he says, peace, be still. Now this is not the normal word for peace, shalom. This is a different word which basically means be quiet. Silence. The storm can be pretty loud. I'm sure you've been in a storm with the winds blowing and the winds blowing so loud you can't hardly hear anything else. And it's like that when you're on the water too if it's really whipping around it's loud. And if there's a water spout and water splashing and crashing that's a lot of chaos. And Jesus just says silence. Still. and the water spout stops. It's perfectly quiet and the water is still. That's what he says to the storm. And then he looks at the disciples and he has a statement for them. Verse 40, why are ye so fearful? Now we might say, well maybe because the boat was filling up with water. And it looked like they were going to sink. But what he's kind of saying is not like the fear of something gripping their heart. It's why are you so timid? It's the fear that makes you timid. That causes you to second guess. That causes you to hesitate. Why are you so fearful? Why And how is it that you're having, I'm saying it intentionally with the ING, because when he said, let's go, it's like, we're gone. But now, and they said, we're destroying, we're sinking, you're not caring. You could add all those INGs on there, because they're kind of present ongoing. And Jesus is saying, how come you're so being, why are you being timid? And why are you having no confidence in me? I want us to understand the statements. They don't really respond to that. least we don't have a record of any words that they said we have a record they talk to each other but not that they said to Jesus those statements are important At least for what it is I think the Lord's going to put on my heart for us to think about and lessons we can learn from this event. Secondly I want you to notice the storm. The storm is real. It's not a fake storm. It is a real storm. And that's important for the lesson we're going to we're going to glean. We as God's people are not exempt from the storms of life are we. No, we are not. Whether we're talking about a storm like a tornado or a hurricane or a wildfire or a, you know, whatever, okay? We're not exempt from those kinds of storms, are we? We endure the weather just like everybody else does, okay? As Jesus had said before, the rain falls on the just and the unjust, okay? We're all subject to those things. We are not exempt from the other kinds of storms of life our way the loss of loved ones The loss of jobs The breakdown of relationships Maybe our health In any of the struggles of Christians suffer the same things that the unsaved suffer. They have the same kinds of problems. We are not exempt. We will go through storms. They're coming. If we haven't just come out of one if we're not in one we're about to go into one. That's just that's life. And we might think it's not fair. You're right. Life's not fair. It's just not fair. But life's not about being fair. All right. So the storms are real. Now this is this is the first one we have recorded. But in two chapters we get over to Mark Chapter 6 there's going to be almost a very similar incident after Jesus feeds the five thousand sends the disciples off to cross the cross the Sea of Galilee again and he stays up and prays and then they're rowing and a storm comes. And so that's going to happen again. Now, I didn't have that written down but that's kind of life, isn't it? It's not like one storm and then it's smooth sailing from then on. Does anybody have a life like that where everything is calm and it's always been calm and you know it will always be calm? Yeah that's not any of us is it? Life is filled with difficult things. In Proverbs 3 in verse 25 talks about you know if we're going to be wise we won't fear the desolation of the wicked when it cometh. And sometimes we're in the same proximity of the destruction they're going to get. I think about the prophet Jeremiah. He was not exempt from the difficulties of Jerusalem being attacked by Nebuchadnezzar and all that happened. I mean, he was stuck in a pit of muck in the king's palace because he was just trying to do right. I'm sure he could have been like the disciples, God, you don't care about me! You're leaving me down here in this muck! I want out of here, that's not fair! And that's how we feel sometimes, isn't it? We think God's abandoned us, or he's forgotten us, or he doesn't care about us anymore, because we're in the midst of this very difficult thing. And it might be one thing if we're in the midst of something that's kind of our own fault. Sometimes it is. But in Jeremiah's case, it wasn't his fault. He's doing what God told him. And it's like, God doesn't really care about me. God's whooping me. I'm sure he felt that way. In fact, he tells us at one point, he says, I decided I'm not talking about you anymore. And then he says, your word was like a fire in my bones. I couldn't shut up. I had to open my mouth and spout off some more. Now here I am in this horrible pit of muck. And sometimes that's life. You're trying to do the right thing, and it seems like you're getting punished for doing right. And if we're not careful we'll start talking like the disciples. God you don't care. You've abandoned me. You don't care. I'm perishing right here. I'm shriveling up and you're not doing anything about it. You don't care about me. And that's a dangerous place to be isn't it. Now it's easy for me to say that. At present I don't think I'm in a great big storm but I'm sure there are some storms coming around eventually. And it can feel that way, like you've been abandoned. The storms are real, we're not diminishing the reality, the pain, the danger, et cetera, with whatever kind of storm you may be facing. They're real, okay, they're real. Lastly, I want you to notice the stillness. Because he says, peace be still, and the wind ceased and there was a great calm. A great calm. I think what's significant about this is the disciples had already witnessed Christ doing certain miracles. Most of those had to do with healings, et cetera. But this is different. I mean the Jews kind of thought if you were sick you were a sinner. So that was kind of more theological and spiritual in nature. But I'm not so sure they thought you know winds and waves were spiritual. They're just winds and waves. But this teaches them that Jesus has power there too. Right there he has power. And he can shut down the storms. the actual literal storms. He can direct them around us, preserve us in the midst of them, etc. That's important. But more importantly than the stillness of the storm, it's the stillness that ought to be in the soul of His disciples and ought to be in our souls when we're in the middle of a storm. We can trust the Lord to help us, to walk with us. He may or may not remove the storm. He can. Doesn't say the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord and he turneth it with it so ever he will. He can do that. He can change things, miraculously intervening in our lives in amazing ways. And he is able to do that. But that's not a guarantee that he will do that. Just because he can doesn't mean he will. He's not responding like a rabbit's foot. Just rabbit like a genie in a lamp and poof. What are your three wishes my son? That's not going to happen. He's not a genie at our command. He is God. God he is able and sometimes he does but that's not a guarantee that he will And so our confidence isn't that all I have to do is call his name and poop He's gonna show up like the knight in shining armor, you know, there it is You know, sir, George in the dragon Slays the dragon. Okay, you can go on with your life now, okay He's not just waiting in the wings hoping You'll click your heels three times and say, I wanna go home, I wanna go home, I wanna go home. And then you realize, oh, I didn't have my ruby slippers on. It just doesn't work like that. So because he's able doesn't mean that he will. My confidence, and that's the idea here of faith, how is it that you have no faith? How is it you're not persuaded? Why do you not have confidence? Why are you not trusting in me? What is the matter? Well, the problem is we're looking at the storm, we're not looking at the Savior. And if we look at the storm, the storm becomes monumental. and the Savior becomes incidental. And so we have to get our eyes on the Lord. I want you to think about, as I thought about this, sometimes this passage might be preached or taught, and there's Jesus in the back of the boat, and it is kind of a good rah-rah preaching kind of point, and people are kicking Jesus into the back of the boat. That's not really what's happening here. Jesus has been teaching all day and he's tired. And it's not like he can sit in the middle of the boat. That's where the rowers are. He's tired. So he goes to the back. The back of the boat is kind of wide. In fact, on all the ships I was on, I would much rather have been in the stern than in the bow out to sea. When you're out to sea and the waves are rough, the bow of the ship, the pointy end, it goes up. That is a horrible place to be. And I felt bad for those boatswain's mates, that's where their birthing apartment was. Not bad enough to trade places, but real thankful that I didn't have to sleep up there, because that was a horrible place. Here's an interesting thought. You know, there are some things that Jesus leaves for you to do. Jesus didn't get in that boat and say, here, fellas, let me show you how to row. Did he? No. He left them to do what they knew to do and what they knew how to do. And I think there's a real practical lesson there for us. There's things that Jesus has left for us to do. Things that we are able and know how to do. And he expects us to do them. He's not going to hold our hand and coddle us along to do things that he's told us, instructed us. We've learned from others by their example. This is what you do. I'm not saying that he won't enable us and give us strength to take those steps of faith. That's not what I'm saying. What I am saying is Jesus is, excuse me for using this example, Jesus is not gonna write your tithe check for you. You have to take out your pen and your checkbook and fill it out, right? It's not like there's a magic pen kind of fill it out, right? You have to get in your car, and yes, we're two blocks from the church, and I still drive to church. You gotta get, or walk on your feet, whatever the case may be, but he's not gonna levitate you here. Is he? No. That's something you gotta do. We're not supposed to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, and so the Lord expects you to get up and be here. Right? Jesus isn't gonna sing your special, is he? No? You have to do that. The choir has to practice, and the musicians have to practice, and so forth, okay? And... And the preacher has to show up and have a sermon. Hopefully he's been praying and seeking and reading and God's impressed upon him the message. And the Lord has to breathe life into all of that stuff. But it doesn't happen magically, does it? No. There's things he expects us to do. And it's our responsibility to do it. And after a long day of teaching Jesus said you guys know how to row a boat or sail a boat if it was if it was I mean you could put a sail on a 30 foot boat and some some of them did. You guys know how to do that you guys are professional fishermen you've been doing this your whole life. That's how you made your living before they became disciples as they were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. I'm going to get out of the way and let you do what you know how to do. And I'm tired. I'm going to take a nap. But we're going to the other side. That's where we're going. As far as Jesus was concerned, they were already there. It took the disciples to get in the boat and start rowing. Now, there's a lot of application here, not just the things I've already mentioned. If you want to have a prayer life, you're going to have to start praying. Right? If you want to know what God's Word says you're going to have to read the Bible. If you want your neighbor to be saved maybe you ought to give them a gospel track. I mean and we're just talking now we're just talking foundational baby steps of the Christian life. But there are things that God expects us to do. Okay? He expects you, if you have a job, that you're gonna go to your job. You're gonna be a testimony at your job. You're gonna show up on time. You're gonna do the work that you're paid to do and do a good job so you have a testimony. So when the boss says, how come you're so much different than, you know, Joe Schmuckatelli over there? Well, I don't know about him, but I can tell you this. I'm trying to do my best for Jesus. And the boss might roll his eyes. And you might say, really? How does that work? Oh, well, let me tell you. I mean, God will give you an opportunity. Now, we don't have to force it. We have to do what we know we ought to do. That stuff's not gonna happen magically. You have to choose. I mentioned before Pastor Dion when he was still in high school. Somehow he got elected president of the Glee Club. And there was a Christian, it was a Christian Glee Club kind of thing in his high school. And he was, at least in high school, he was a football player. So they come off the field, it's football practice, and there's the rest of the fellas. And they're like, looking at the notice for the Glee Club, the Christian Glee Club's meeting, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they start kind of poking fun and mocking and so forth. What do you think, Dion? Well, that's right, fellas, and I'm the president, and you better be there. And he told me, he said, you know what? I was standing there hearing them, and I wanted to just keep my mouth shut. But I knew it was like God saying, hey, Dion, Either you're going to stand for me now or you're done. It's like you know if you're too afraid then that's where you're going to be. And Jesus didn't fill him you know he didn't get possessed and talk like a zombie. Yes guys you should go and hear about Jesus. I mean well that's not what happened. It was his personality and his voice. But that was something he had to do. There's things God just expects you to do certain things that you have the ability and the knowledge and how to do them and we ought to do that. So Jesus in the back of the boat taking a nap isn't because they're dismissive or they don't care. He's letting them do the things that they can do. And we ought to do the same thing. There's things we should do. OK. Secondly, a great lesson for us as we think about the stillness, not just of the storm, but the stillness of their soul, is we have to trust the Lord. Did Jesus not say, Hebrews 13, 5, that he would never leave us nor forsake us? Okay, that's what he said. And so when we get our eyes on whatever storm that we may be facing, and it's a real storm, I understand that, and it can be great, fearful, dangerous, etc. I get it, okay? But when we get to looking at the storm only, and we digress to the point where we're saying to God, you don't care about me, you're leaving me to perish, I'm perishing because you're not caring, we're calling God a liar. Because he said he'd never leave us or forsake us. He's right there. Right there. Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. He does care for you. He does. And that storm is part of part of what's intended. You're going to have to go through that. Now it might I mean I'm not dismissing We bear the consequences of other people's choices at times. I'm not dismissing that. I'm just saying this storm didn't take Jesus by surprise, and the storms that you're going through didn't take him by surprise either. No matter whatever kind of storm it is, you have to trust him. Because if you get your eyes on the storm, As I said, the storm becomes monumental, Jesus is just incidental. And it shouldn't be that way, should it? If we get our eyes on the Lord, he's monumental and he'll go with me through whatever this is that I'm in. And I don't know what the outcome's gonna look like, but he's promised to be with me and go with me to the other side. And I have to make a choice whether I will exercise my confidence in Christ or cower in the crisis. I have to make that choice. And so, are we going to trust him? Or run around like a bunch of chickens with our heads cut off? We have to trust the Lord, do we not? We have to trust the Lord. And we can step out to do what he's told us to do, and that in itself may seem beyond us, but if we'll just take the step, he'll help us with the rest. What if the disciples would have said, no, Lord, I don't think we should go to Capernaum right now. Let's wait a little while, because there's a little storm cloud over there. They didn't ever experience Jesus saying, silence, still. They'd have never experienced that. How awesome would that be? You're in the midst of this horrible storm, and Jesus just gets up and says, peace, be still, and poof, no rain, no wind, the water's like glass. You'd be like, that was awesome. And that's what those guys are saying. They're like, whoa. What kind of, who is this that even the winds in the sea obey him? That's one thing for demons to, but the wind in the sea? We didn't even think those were alive. And he's got power over that too? Without the storm, they'd have never known that. They would have never experienced that. How are you gonna help somebody with their struggles if you don't trust the Lord to help you get through yours? And again, I'm not diminishing the difficulties of life, they're real. But once we go through them, the Lord teaches us, I can trust God, I can trust him. What does it say in Psalms? Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. So as I trust God and his spirit and his word and I take this step that gives me confidence for the next one and the next one and the next one and the next one and next thing you know I'm not watching my toes. Because I've learned with confidence God will direct me and I can walk with boldness. But I have to learn the lesson first. And so we have to look to the Lord. We don't have to be fearful and timid. We can be bold and confident and trust the Lord. Father would you help us? We know that life is filled with lots of difficulties. And some of them are very painful and draining and And we can get distracted so easily. So I pray you'd help us. And we'd learn some simple lessons. That the things that we can do, the Lord expects us to do those things and we should be obedient and do them. We can trust in the fact that just because you're able to remove all difficulties doesn't mean you will. You may want us to learn the lessons of faith and trust. And lastly, that we can trust you. We ought to be trusting you. Would you help us with these things? Would you work, I pray, in the lives and hearts of your people, please?