Consider His Presence, pt 2

We began understanding last week as we began looking here in Mark chapter 4.! Mark chapter 4 is where we're going to be finding our passage and picking up here this morning.

! And we see as Jesus was there with his disciples, and he had told them that they were going to go across to the other side. And we looked at the disciples' story.

We began to learn some truths about Christ's presence. Because sometimes people enter into it with a wrong idea. You know, have you ever noticed that if you enter into something with a wrong perception or a wrong idea, you always are disappointed?

Because it wasn't the fact of what happens because there was something wrong in your thinking. And when we enter into it with a wrong thinking, we get wrong realities that come about because it's like when this happens, my world's upside down.

And we saw, if you remember here, let's go ahead and read through John here. Or excuse me, John Mark. Mark here this morning. Chapter 4.

Let's pick up here in verse 35. And it says, And the same day when the even was come, he saith unto them, 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 they were with him also, 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 said to him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still. 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. Heavenly Father, as we come before you once again this morning, Lord, we're thankful for your word.

Lord, we're thankful for your presence. We're thankful for just the reality that you don't try to give us misconceptions, or to mislead us.

Lord, but you tell us the truth. Lord, and we need some truth here today, even about your presence, and the realities of life, to understand how those things flow together.

Lord, pray just it would work in a mighty way in our hearts here today. Lord, that we might not have a wrong perception or idea, but Lord, enter into things and challenges of this life with our eyes open, knowing that we're not alone, but you're with us, that your presence is there, even in the midst of the storms of life.

And Lord, we just ask us all in your precious name. Amen. You know, it began last week. We saw here in verse 35, we saw that when they went to the other side, we saw the reality of storms.

You know, there's going to be storms in life. And one of the problems that you have is people think, well, if Christ is with me, why do I have issues? Why does life not go just smoothly?

The reality is God doesn't say that we're going to have a smooth life after salvation. He says, I will be with you to walk there with you along the way.

He says, we're going to have trials and tribulations and struggles. Those realities, but he was present there. You know, I want you to understand the presence of Jesus does not guarantee a smooth journey.

His presence will be with us in the journey. He is always there. You're not going through, you know, we understand that difficulties are going to come.

But Jesus is still there. Because when those situations come, they may be unpredictable. You know, we looked last week at that. The reality of the storm. Storms can be unpredictable.

We don't know when or where or how things are going to come or trials are going to show up. They can be unpredictable. You know, sometimes it takes one day for life to go upside down.

I mean, there's been times in my life where one day, from one day to the next, life goes whoop, life happens. You know what benefits is Christ is with you.

He never leaves you. He never forsakes you. So I want you to understand, not only can it be unpredictable, but they can be unmerciful. Things happen.

Storms are not a respecter of persons. They can come and they can be unmerciful. We find the problem the disciples had. When the storm came, it began to fill up the ship.

The waters overwhelmed and the ship began to fill. You know, sometimes storms in our life feel like it's filling us up. It's overwhelming.

The disciples had a picture, a literal picture of a storm filling their ship with waters. Look there at verse 37. It says, And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

You know? The rising water, the rising situation, the distress of the situation, alarmed the disciples. Their boat that they were in was being overwhelmed by the things outside of it.

But, you know, I want you to see that Christ was still there with them. And they needed to rely upon him to understand no matter what, to trust the Lord.

You know? Think about for a moment. Look back up into verse 35 in your text. Think about what Jesus told them. He said, Let us pass over unto the other side. You know what?

God gave them a promise of what was going to happen. He told them, You will get to the other side. What he didn't tell them, there's going to be some struggles getting there.

That we have to rely upon him. We need to trust him. You know, sometimes we can be overwhelmed with situations of life. You know, we finished last week on this thought from 1 Peter.

1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 12 says this. Peter, let's back up for just a moment. Let's talk about Peter just a second here. Did Peter ever have some struggles?

I mean, Peter had some struggles he produced in his life. And Peter had struggles that were produced because he was faithful to the Lord. You know, Peter was beaten.

He was jailed. You think of all the dynamics that took place, the challenges that he had. And he writes this under the inspiration of God. He says this in 1 Peter chapter 4.

He says, Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be refilled, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

You know, that's what we see, the reality of it. But notice here, when life's overwhelming, we find something else because, I want you to understand, Jesus was making a point when they disturbed him.

When he woke up, he was talking about, Oh, ye of little faith. But I want you to understand, I don't think it was a rebuke. I think it was a challenge in a picture that they were going to understand because we see the request of the fearful.

Because you know what? When we're scared and life overwhelms, Jesus doesn't get upset when we come to him. I think he used this as an opportunity.

When we see his picture of faith, of what he says, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? You know? Think about that dynamic.

But look in verse 38, when they wake him up, he has his request to the fearful. And he says, 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?

You know, I think this is an important question that the disciples had. Because sometimes our perception is that when God allows things to happen in our life, when storms come, our first question is, Don't you love me?

Lord, don't you care? That's often the place we first go, isn't it? I want you to understand, it's a natural place, but it's a place that we don't really have a right perspective. Because you know what?

Jesus does care. He displayed how much he cared. What the reality is, they didn't like what they were seeing, or what was happening. And they lost sight of who was the one that was in control.

That calm assurance that God is in control. You know? Think about Jesus. What was Jesus doing? Now, I want you to understand, Jesus here is walking.

He's 100% man, 100% flesh. In that sense, he was no different than you or I. The ship's filling up, and the waves are going, and where's Jesus? Asleep.

On a pillow. Resting. He was resting because, you know what? He knew he was going to get to the other side. He never doubted the reality he was going to get to the other side.

He gives us a picture of trusting God, even in the midst of the storm. You know? Because when we understand that contrast between Christ and the disciples' response to the storm, you know, the disciples called out for his attention.

They requested his attention. You know, sometimes we doubt God's care when we're going through trials. Because things are outside of our control.

I want you to understand, when things are outside of our control, doesn't mean it's not within God's will for your life. Or what God permits.

I mean, things that God permits in people's lives for his glory is sometimes difficult. Well, and we hear, and we know the accounts from Scripture. Think about Joseph. Did Joseph have some devastating things happen?

Things outside of his control? I mean, I don't think you have much more betrayal than having your brothers sell you into slavery and then end up in prison. Uncomfortable.

Difficult. Sometimes questioning. But you know what? At the end of Joseph's life, what did Joseph say in Genesis 50? What you meant for evil, God meant for good.

Good. Good. God was working even in the midst of China. Think about Job. Here's Job, a man that loves God, serves God, wants to honor God in all he does, and he wakes up one day to a devastating dynamic of storm.

Everything he owns is gone. Went from an extremely wealthy man to zero. Then he gets news on the same day, hey, all your kids are dead. The book of Job is about walking with God through the midst of things that God allows.

Because God allows things in our life for his glory. That difficulty that sometimes we learn from.

You know what? Oftentimes we don't learn from blessing, we learn from trials. We learn how to trust God. We learn to walk with him. We learn to go through those situations of life where Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 5, casting all your care upon him for he what?

Careth for you. You know, the disciples on the boat were questioning the very originator of love, wondering if God loved them.

Notice what they said, do you care not? But his presence was there. In adversity, we often want God to remove our storm, but God is looking to improve us through it.

What did he do? He taught the disciples a very important lesson about faith and trusting him and his presence in the midst of trials.

To learn those things of how God is working. We wanted him to take away what was happening, and he wants to strengthen you in your faith.

You know, as we go through trials, you can find joy in knowing that your heavenly Father will be with you through the whole storm, just as he was in the boat with the disciples. The whole storm.

To understand what God is doing. But after requesting Christ's attention, the disciples did what all of us should do when we're going through a storm. They requested the Lord's help.

Notice what they said here. As we walk through this, it says this, and it says, Master, carest thou not that we perish? What do they care?

And they're calling out, do you not care where there's a situation here? We need some help. When they went to him, you know, they requested his help. It's a wonderful thing to God when his children are humble enough to ask for him for help, and the help only he can give.

You know, there's a lot of situations in life that you can't solve yourself that are outside of our control. We need to go to him. We need to call out to him in those moments because he hears us when we cry.

You know, look over to James chapter 1 for a moment. James chapter 1, you'll find here in James 1, down here in verse 5, James gives us this. He says this, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and abradeth not, and it shall be given him.

But let him ask in faith nothing wavering, for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.

A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. In other words, God says, keep your focus on the right things. Understanding God's mercies are there.

You know, if it wasn't for God's mercy, you wouldn't have to worry about the trial because it already would have consumed you. God is there. His mercies are new every morning, the Bible tells you.

You know, Lamentations says, great is thy faithfulness. You know, I want you to know that you serve a loving God who not only loves you, but hears you. You know, isn't that something that we want to know that somebody hears?

That somebody knows our situation? When we turn to the Lord and request his help, even when our faith is not strong or when we're fearful, we understand that God will answer.

You know, the disciples had experienced the reality of the storm, but they also requested help of the Lord because I want you to see here next the response the Lord had to them, the response of the Savior.

Notice what he did. Look here in verse 39. He says this, and he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace be still. You know, and the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

You know, as we think about Jesus' presence, he was teaching him a lesson about his power in the midst of the storm. The creator of this world stood up and said, peace be still, and the wind and the waves obeyed.

We see that his presence there and his power was what was needed in the moment. He arose on that little ship and the first thing he did was rebuke the wind.

The word rebuke means to charge sharply. He spoke with authority to the wind. You know, when we see what's taking place, he has authority over this world.

You know, I want you to understand that as we look through the scripture, we find in Revelation reveals that there are times, especially, you know, later on during the great time of the great tribulation when demonic powers will cause great winds to come and bring famine and desperate times here on the earth.

Often the wind and the devastation is attributed to the power of Satan. But I want you to understand that we walk in the power of something more powerful. Look over to Ephesians chapter two.

Ephesians chapter two and verse two says, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

You know, I want you to understand, we are in a spiritual battle and there's a spiritual storm that's raging all around us. And when we lose sight of that spiritual battle, it affects us physically.

We need to understand the picture and he's preparing his disciples. You know, we see an accurate picture of Christ's power over Satan. You know, Satan did everything he could to stop Jesus from reaching Calvary.

But he was never going to have victory over Christ. You know what? I hear Jesus is crossing the Sea of Galilee and the winds and the waves are coming. It's like the ship's going to sink. And Jesus says, no, it's not.

Because it's not in my time, in my place. You know, as I've been studying the Bible, there's a phrase that's been rolling around in my head and it's about the hour.

Jesus said many times, my hour has not yet come. John 17 and on, he makes a statement. As he's getting ready to go to the cross, he says, my hour has come.

You know what? Nothing happens. You are safe and secure because our hour is when we come and meet our Savior, the one who saved us.

You know, as you face storms, understand that there's a real devil trying to stop you from glorifying God in your life. And he can only be rebuked by the words of God.

You know? Think about the dynamic. Jesus said this. He's getting ready to depart earth. He tells his disciples, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

When Christ is with you, the most powerful dynamic of any kind, of any place, at any time is with you. If he's powerful enough to speak this world into existence, he's powerful enough to deal with anything in it.

As we walk through those things, and we see here that kind of, you know, oftentimes there'll be winds in life that are disrupting those things.

Those power that Jesus has is over all those things. Those authorities in power, including fallen angels, but Jesus has power over them all.

The power of the word of God to defeat the spiritual battle and the conflict that's happening. You know, you think about when Paul talks about our armor that we put on.

What's our only offensive part of that? The sword, the word of God. The most powerful thing we possess.

And we notice here that Jesus, he spoke to the sea. You know, Jesus spoke to the sea, and he says, peace be still. That word peace there literally means silence or to hush.

You know, I can imagine the disciples there as I think about that because I think about the contrast between different places. You know, have you ever been around a large body of water and the winds and the waves really start going, the waves roll in?

You know, a wave has a lot of power. I mean, I've been in a few oceans, different oceans, and, you know, they have some pretty powerful waves. The waves will push you around, they'll pull you under, they'll move you around.

If you're not careful, there's that rip current that'll take you out places you don't want to be. And here's Jesus, and I contrast that when I think about places I've been where you see even the ocean as smooth as glass.

And, you know, oftentimes you think about, that's the picture that he sees here. It says, peace be still, and it ceased. It went from rolling waves to tranquil that quick to where it went, wow.

That's what shocked the disciples. These, even the fishermen that have been out on there many times said, we have never seen something like this.

He had complete authority in the situation. Literally, Jesus has caused the waves to stop. He muzzled them. He put them into quietness so that they could not disturb what now existed.

It truly is so comforting to know that our Lord has the power over the storms that we face. And we're going through the storms.

We don't need to cower in fear, but trust in an all-powerful Savior. To trust in Him. I mean, think about what Psalm 56 tells us in verse 3. It says, what time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee.

You know, that verse doesn't apply when everything's going well. Or should I say, it's not practical when everything's going well. It says, what time I am afraid.

You know, when things are going well, we're generally not fearful. But when fear comes and fear overwhelms, we have to say, Lord, I will trust You.

He is the one that is master over the storm in your life. No matter what's happening, but He challenges them. Next, He challenges the disciples.

He spoke there, look at verse 40, and He said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? You know, the disciples were in a place that might be the same place you are today.

Life's going to throw some things at you that turns life upside down. that we have no idea, we might not see it coming, might not make sense. And in those moments, we have a decision to make.

Where's your trust? Do you trust the Lord? You know, if you haven't been there, you will one day be there. Matter of fact, I suspect you've been there many times.

And if you live very long, guess what? You're going to be there again. Because storms in life come. When fear overpowers, takes your eyes off the things of God. But Jesus reminds His disciples they didn't have to be bound by fear.

God hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. That means to be able to think properly in the midst of a situation. To have the right perspective.

You know, Jesus knew His disciples were afraid, and He knows when we're afraid. He understands the burdens that you have.

The things that weigh on your heart. He knows what we're worried about tomorrow. You know? I want you to understand that if you have Christ as your Savior, He's in the boat in the midst of your storm with you.

He is the one that is there. You have no reason to fear the storm. You can have comfort in the promises that He gives. He gives in Scripture.

He gives Scripture to us for our benefit, for our learning, for our understanding. You know, look over to Psalm 46 for a moment. Psalm 46, you'll see over here in Psalm 46.

Look at verse 1 there in Psalm 46. He says, God is our refuge and what? He's our what? Strength. A very present help in what?

Trouble. Now, I won't ask for a show of hands, but how many think life's full of trouble? You know? If you've lived very long, you learn that pretty quick, don't you? There's all sorts of troubles that are going to come.

Notice what it says, therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried in the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

I mean, you think about that for a moment. To trust God. God is our refuge. He's always there for us no matter how ferocious the storm may be. We serve a powerful God that is stronger than the powers of this world.

Have you ever considered Noah's family? You know, oftentimes we think kind of different about it. We think about, you know, here's Noah. He gets everybody into the ark.

Then the storm comes. You ever thought how fearful it might have been for them the first time the boat started floating? Something they never experienced? Think about faith.

How God told them to construct it and how to construct it, how to seal it. They didn't get a test drive. They didn't get to shake it down to see if it functioned. They had to get in the boat.

They had to trust God when the storm was going to rage about them. You know, we serve a powerful God who's stronger than anything else we can be confronted with.

The disciples' fear pushed away their faith. Faith and fear always cancel each other out. The two don't walk together because you're either walking in fear or you're walking in faith.

One is going to be the controller. They don't share the reins. Fear or faith. When we try to, when we allow fear into faith, you diminish faith's power.

Jesus challenged the disciples because they had lost their faith. They had allowed fear to begin to overcome their faith. Now you think about what Jesus had taught them earlier in Matthew 6 it records for us.

It says this, therefore I say unto you take no thought for your life what you shall eat or what you shall drink nor yet for your body that you may what you shall put on is not life more than meat and the body than raiment.

Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet the heavenly father what? Feedeth them are you not much better than they?

When we look at creation it reminds us God says I take care of my creatures and you're more important than them. That's a priority statement.

If God says if I take care of the fowls of the air you're more important to take care of. He says you're a higher priority. Are you not much better?

He says this a little later on he says but seek ye first the what? the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

You know what God says is there's greater things if you trust me. You know the disciples had looked at their own resources and understood it wasn't enough.

They couldn't bail fast enough to keep the water out of the boat. I have a feeling the disciples had spent some time bailing water. Why? Because it probably wasn't the first time they bailed some water. The problem wasn't the bailing.

The problem is when water was coming in faster than getting out. I want you to understand this morning that when we in the midst of the storm is when God is still there with you.

Because after the disciples saw Jesus calm the storm simply by his words the Bible says that they marveled. You know look there at verse 41.

It says and they feared exceedingly and said one to another what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him. They'd seen Jesus do miracles.

The blind to see the lame to walk the deaf to hear cast out evil spirits from people. They'd seen Jesus do all these things then they realized he's even greater than what they thought.

You know what when you trust God you're going to find that he's greater than what you think. He's more able than what you perceive.

He is able to overcome whatever it is that is in your life. Think about what they said what manner of man is this. Here is the one Christ who was the God man.

He was God himself in human form completely equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He was conceived of the Holy Ghost born of the Virgin Mary lived a perfect sinless life being tempted in all points as we are.

He is the Alpha and Omega the bright and morning star the mighty God the Prince of Peace and he was there in the boat with him. you know what he's in your boat today.

Whatever storm you're going through in life he is there with you. The creator of the world is there every step of the way but that's only true if you've accepted him as your Savior.

You know there's a lot of people today who say they trust God but have never recognized him as a Savior. They talk about God they talk around God but you know he's only with you if you've called upon him.

He says I'll come and I'll dwell with you. I'll never leave you I'll never forsake you I'll never abandon you I will never turn my back on you.

God says I will be there with you. When we consider his presence and know his power is enough to get us through whatever we face.

we understand the picture that the disciples saw vividly in their life is fear overtaking instead of faith.

To trust the Savior is critical because you can trust him no matter how big your storm may feel or be I want you to know that God loves you and God is more powerful than the storm or the situation of life that you're walking through.

When you consider Christ I want you to consider his presence and his promise to always be there with you. Let's pray.

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