If you have your Bibles, I'd ask you, if you will, turn with me this morning to Mark chapter 6,
Mark chapter 6, verses 45 through 56.
Mark chapter 6, verses 45 through 56, and the title of my sermon this morning is
When Faith Fails, God Doesn't.
Back in December of 1995, I graduated from Southern Seminary
and I received my first church calling in Lornburg, North Carolina.
I was asked or called to go to Stewardsville Baptist Church in Lornburg.
And so after Christmas, Michelle and I loaded up a U-Haul
and we drove 12 hours with an ice storm chasing us the whole way
and we arrived in Lornburg, North Carolina with great excitement, great anticipation.
You know, we knew God was going to do great and mighty things.
After eight years of school, that's how long it took me to get through college and seminaries,
eight years, and I was excited to be in my first church and see what God was going to do.
But little did I know, I walked right into the middle of a church fight.
No one warned me, no one told me, but I walked right into the middle of a big church fight
where the church was getting ready to split.
This church ran about 400 and they had called their first minister of music and youth,
a combination position.
And the church was split between the musicians.
They loved him, the minister of music and youth.
They loved him because he had taken their music to a whole new level.
The youth side were against him.
He was doing things differently than they had ever done before.
Instead of going to like centrifuge, he wanted them to go look up lodge.
And so the older youth told the younger youth that if you support him and get behind him,
then you're a traitor to the youth group.
And the parents got behind the youth and planned the trip to the centrifuge against the minister
of youth's wishes.
And so over the next couple of months, I found myself meeting with the deacons
almost every night of the week up till midnight some nights discussing what were we going to do?
How were we going to solve this problem?
How were we going to keep the church from splitting and deal with the minister of music and youth?
And I was a bit disillusioned as to what ministry really was.
Coming out of seminary, having great expectations and great anticipation
and walking right into the middle of that was a little bit disillusioned.
But as I look back, I realized that I learned lessons and things throughout my life
that are during that moment that have served me throughout ministry.
And God was working in that to resolve that situation to where, to my knowledge,
only one individual temporarily left the church.
And God continued to use that church and do some great and mighty things.
Have you ever been in a situation like that?
Not quite being called to a church, but a situation or a circumstance
where because you were being obedient to the Lord and following the Lord,
you found yourself in situations or circumstances that were challenging,
that were difficult, that were hard.
You know, maybe it was a work-related situation.
Maybe it was a health situation you found yourself in.
And you wondered, why is God allowing me to go through this?
Why is God not stepping in and solving this problem immediately
and helping me in this situation?
Why is He allowing me to go through this much longer than I ever anticipated?
Well, the disciples found themselves in a situation very much like this.
And they found themselves in this situation because they had obeyed Jesus
to do exactly what He had told them to do.
So let's look with us, or with me this morning,
at Mark chapter 6, and we're going to read verses 45 through 56.
Immediately, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat
and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida while He dismissed the crowd.
After leaving them, He went up on a mountainside to pray.
When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake,
and He was alone on land.
He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them.
About the fourth watch of the night, He went out to them,
walking on the lake.
He was about to pass by them, but when they saw Him walking on the lake,
they thought He was a ghost, and they cried out
because they all saw Him and were terrified.
Immediately He spoke to them and said,
Take courage, it is I.
Don't be afraid.
Then He climbed into the boat with them,
and the wind died down.
They were completely amazed,
for they had not understood about the loaves.
Their hearts were hardened.
He had just fed the 5,000.
That's what that's referring to.
When they had crossed over,
they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.
As soon as they got out of the boat,
people recognized Jesus.
They ran throughout the whole region
and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was.
And wherever He went,
into villages, towns, or countryside,
they placed the sick in the marketplaces.
They begged Him to let them touch even the edge of His cloak,
and all who touched Him were healed.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Father, we just thank You for Your Word.
We thank You for Your truth.
And we thank You for the lessons that we can learn
throughout Your Scripture.
And I pray that You just speak to each of our hearts here today
and just speak to us.
And we thank You, Lord, for this.
We praise You always.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Upon reading this passage,
have you ever asked yourself the question,
did Jesus know this storm was about to occur?
You see, the Sea of Galilee was surrounded by hills and mountains.
And from what I've read,
storms could come down off those mountains
and hit the Sea of Galilee,
and they could be the strength of a hurricane.
We don't think of hurricanes in seas,
but the Sea of Galilee is pretty large,
and they could have had a hurricane-force storm go across it.
Well, did Jesus know that this storm was coming?
Well, if you believe in the sovereignty of God
and Jesus being fully man and fully God,
then we have to conclude that, yes,
He knew that storm was coming.
So that leads us to another question.
Why, then, would Jesus send them out onto the Sea of Galilee
if He knew this storm was coming?
Why would He send them out in a little boat,
out onto a sea,
with a hurricane-force storm about to occur?
Well, Mark doesn't really give us any kind of indication here
as to why that happened or why Jesus was eager to do that,
but John does.
John gives us some insight in John chapter 6, verse 15,
and you can see it on the screen.
This is the NIV version.
Jesus, knowing that they intended to come
and make Him king by force,
withdrew again to a mountain by Himself.
You see that?
The crowds did not fully understand at this moment in time
the type of Messiah that Jesus had come to be.
They had a very wrong understanding.
They had, as Jews,
they had a very high messianic expectancy
that God was going to send the Messiah,
but what their thoughts were
is that He was going to come in military might and power
and He was going to conquer the Romans
and give Israel their independence once again.
But you and I know today that that is not the type of Messiah
that Jesus came to be.
But that is the crowd.
And after they saw Him feed the 5,000
and had worked several miracles of healing,
they were about to come and take Jesus
and make Him king by force.
And Jesus knew that the disciples would be safer
in a boat out on the Sea of Galilee
in the midst of the storm where He could care for them.
They were safer in that situation
than they would be in the midst of this crowd
having a very wrong understanding
of who He had come to be.
You have to remember,
the disciples were the same men
who had argued who was the greatest
in the kingdom of God.
And they were very slow to understand.
I don't think they really came to that understanding
until after Jesus had been resurrected
that they really began to understand
and put things together.
Even though Jesus had told them numerous times
throughout His ministry
that He was coming to die,
they still didn't get it.
And so Jesus knew that they were safer
in that boat out in the Sea of Galilee
with a hurricane-force storm coming
than they were in a crowd of people
with the wrong understanding of who He was
and getting ready to come
and take them by force.
Now, what's also interesting in this passage
is that Jesus had spent a lot of time
with the people, long day,
and He was tired.
He was human.
He was tired and He was weary.
It could have been easy for Him
to have slipped away by Himself
and gone to sleep.
But Scripture doesn't tell us that, does it?
What did He do?
He prayed.
He went up into the mountains,
which I got ahead of myself a little bit.
He put the disciples in the boat,
sent them away,
and then dismissed the crowd.
That really shows us
how eager Jesus was
to separate them from one another
because normally,
He would have dismissed the crowd
and then put the disciples in the boat.
But He dismissed the disciples first.
And then once the people had gone,
He went up into the mountain to pray
and He spent all night.
If we read through the Gospels,
we see this frequently
where Jesus spends time alone
with the Father in prayer.
And if Jesus is fully God
and fully man all at once,
and yet the necessity for Him
to spend the entire night in prayer,
that should say something to us today.
That should say something
to the necessity
that we have as children of God
to be devoted
to a very committed prayer life.
Not a quick passing prayer
or not a prayer that just gives God
a laundry list of things
that we want Him to do for us,
but to be devoted
to a powerful prayer life.
By the way,
on Wednesday nights
during prayer meeting,
we're doing a study
by Dr. Greg Frizzell
on how to have
a powerful prayer life.
It's one of the best books
that I've studied
on how to develop
your prayer life.
We would love for you
to come out
and be a part of that.
We're going to be meeting
in this room
right beside the Welcome Center
over the next few weeks
because starting this week,
they're going to be doing
some work inside the sanctuary.
We all know the work going on
outside the sanctuary,
but there's going to be
some work also being done
inside the sanctuary.
And so prayer meeting,
we're going to move
into that classroom
right there by the Welcome Center.
It's room 250.
And so we would love for you
to come and to be a part of that
because I'm firmly convinced
the strength of the church
is the strength
of the individual's prayer lives.
A church will be no stronger
than the prayer lives
of its members.
Prayer is a gift
that God has given to us
that we can enter
into His presence
and we can spend time
alone with Him.
We can grow in our walk with Him
and our intimacy with Him
and our relationship with Him.
He speaks to us
and reveals Himself to us
through our prayer lives
as we study His Word
as a part of that.
And so I think prayer
is vitally important
to each individual
and Jesus models that
and shows that to us as well.
Now as we study this text today,
our primary focus
is going to be upon
the disciples
and the storms
they found themselves
in the midst of.
And by studying this experience
that the disciples
found themselves
in the midst of,
I think there are
four truths here
that we can glean from this
and we can hold on to
and serve as assurances
in our own lives
that when we face
the storms of life.
And so we're going to look
at four assurances here
because you know
what they say,
we all are either
coming out of a storm,
we're getting ready
or we're in a storm
or we're getting ready
to go into the storm.
And we all know
that we have faced
challenges, difficulties
and circumstances
in our lives
that are beyond
our abilities to control.
They're beyond
sometimes our understanding.
And sometimes we're there
because we followed Christ
and we question
why is God
allowing me
to experience this?
Why is God
letting this happen
in my life?
Well, one of those
first assurances
that we want to
glean from this
is that He brought us here.
Jesus brought us here.
If we find ourselves
in the midst of a storm today
because we've been
obedient to God,
then we need to know
that He's brought us here
and He'll certainly
care for us.
The storm came about
in the life of the disciples
because they were
in the will of God.
Not like Jonah
who found himself
in a storm
because of disobedience.
And as we study Scripture,
especially for the believer,
we discover there are
essentially two types
of storms
that we will experience
in our lives.
Storms of correction
when God needs
to discipline us
and storms of perfection
when God helps us to grow,
when He helps mature
our faith
or He molds and shapes us.
Jonah was in the storm
because he disobeyed God.
We all know the story.
He was running
in the opposite direction
of where God
had told him to go.
And so God used a storm
to correct him
and to bring him back
into His will.
The disciples were in the storm
because they obeyed Christ.
And Jesus was using
this storm
to develop their faith
and their trust
and their dependence
upon Him.
He had tested them
once before
also in a boat.
You remember?
They were in the boat.
Jesus was tired
from a long day of ministry
and He was asleep
on the stern of the boat.
And the disciples,
who many of them
were fishermen,
they still,
the storm was beyond
their ability to control
and they woke Jesus up
saying,
do you not care
that we're about to perish?
Well, Jesus had tested them
in that moment
when He was in the boat
with them.
But in the passage
that we're looking at today,
Jesus is growing their faith
when He's not with them.
He's wanting them
to understand
it doesn't matter
whether He's in the boat,
physically present with them,
or He's far away
and they can't see Him,
they don't know He's around,
He can care for them.
He can take care of them.
He's well in charge
of their lives.
You see, Jesus knew
that He wasn't going to
always be with them.
After His resurrection,
He was going to ascend
back into heaven.
And these would be the men
who would have to
take the gospel message
to the world.
that they would have
to carry on the work
and the ministry
and the mission
that Jesus began.
And they had to trust Jesus
even when it seemed
that He wasn't there with them.
They had to learn
to trust Him
because they would indeed
face many storms
in their lives
as they acted out
in obedience
to do what Christ
had called them to do.
By the way,
if you find yourself
in a storm today
because you've disobeyed God
or because you've wandered
from the faith,
there's only one response
that you can make
and that is to confess
your sin to Christ,
ask for forgiveness,
and then repent
and turn back to Him.
And 1 John 1.9 tells us
it doesn't matter
what you've done.
It doesn't matter
how far you've wandered.
It doesn't matter
if you think God's mad at you
because He's not,
that He will forgive us.
That if you confess your sin,
He is faithful and just
and will forgive us our sins
and purify us
from all unrighteousness.
So no matter
how far you've wandered,
no matter how many mistakes
you've made,
Christ is waiting
for you to come back.
Now He may use storms
to get your attention.
He may use circumstances
and situations
because if we're a child of God
and we've wandered from Him
or we're disobedient to Him,
He will discipline us.
The Word of God tells us that
and sometimes it's the beginning
of a still small voice
of the Holy Spirit
speaking to our heart
and if we don't listen,
He turns the heat up
a little bit
and if we still don't listen,
we may find ourselves
in the belly of a fish,
you know,
to try to get us back to Him
because God loves us
and He wants us
in a committed relationship
with Him
and He knows
what is best for our lives
and so He's going to do
what He needs to do
to bring us back to Him.
Now,
if you're sitting here today
and you're not a believer,
you're not a child of God,
I also want you to know
that Jesus loves you.
He loves you
and He's ready
and He's willing
to forgive you of your sin
no matter what you've done,
no matter how far you've gone,
Jesus is ready
and willing to forgive you.
All you need to do
is take that step to Jesus
to ask Him to be
your Lord and Savior,
admit that you're a sinner
and that you need forgiveness
of your sin
and again,
1 John 1, 9 tells us
that He'll be quick
to forgive you,
to cleanse you
and purify you
with the blood
that He shed on Calvary
and adopt you
into the family of God
and later in the service
when we do a time
of invitation,
if you do not know
Jesus Christ
as your Lord and Savior,
I would encourage you
to respond
during the invitation
and just simply
come and pray with me
or have me pray with you
and have you ask
Jesus Christ
to be your Lord and Savior.
The second truth
that we can glean
from this passage
that will be an assurance
that we can hang on to
and hold on to
when we face
the storms of life
is that He is praying
for us.
Now there's many places
in Scripture
such as John 17
and others
where we know
that Jesus is praying
for us
but I want to read
out of Romans 8, 34.
Who then is the one
who condemns?
No one.
Christ Jesus who died
more than that
who was raised to life
is at the right hand
of God
and is also
interceding for us.
Now I want to stop
and just kind of
really pick these two verses
verses 47 and 48
apart here
because I find them
extremely interesting.
When evening came
the boat
was in the middle
of the lake
and He was alone
on land.
Now pay attention here
to what time of day
it was
when Jesus
was alone.
It says He was
in evening.
Now I'm not 100% sure
if that's the same
as our evening
but it would have been
you know
late in the day
probably
before sunset
that Jesus
was alone
and then
look at verse 48
He said
He saw the disciples
straining on the oars.
So about evening time
Jesus is up
in the mountains
alone praying.
the disciples
are probably
miles away
out in the middle
of the Sea of Galilee
it's getting dark
and yet it said
Jesus saw them.
Now that would certainly
be the God side
of Jesus
that He saw them
He knew their situation
He knew their circumstances
and He knew
what they
were up against.
Do you know
Jesus
knows you too
and He sees you?
Do you know
that Jesus
knows you
intimately
and everything
about you?
He knows
the circumstances
the conditions
everything going on
in your life
He knows
the things you fear
that you worry about
you struggle with
the challenges
that you face
He knows
you very intimately
and in detail.
Does that make
a difference
to you
of how you face
situations
and circumstances
of life
that you know
that Jesus
is not
some God
that's off
in a far distance
unconcerned
and unaware
of what you're
going through
but He sees you
and He knows you
and He loves you
and He is praying
and making intercession
for you.
Let me ask you
a question this morning.
If you knew
Jesus Christ
was here
in this room
today
let's say
He was sitting
in that chair
and He was
praying for you
by name
to the Father
how would that
affect you?
If you knew
Jesus knew
your situation
the challenges
you're up against
the storms
that you're facing
maybe your fears
your worries
your struggles
and you knew
He was sitting
here
let's say
He came
to the altar
and He kneeled
down at the altar
and He was
praying for you
by name
would that
change the way
you face
those struggles
of life
that you're up
against?
Would that
give you hope?
Would that
give you
encouragement?
Would that
give you strength
to keep going
on and facing
the things
that you're
up against?
Well
Jesus is not
only here
in this place
with us
today
but Romans
tells us
He's seated
at the right
hand of the
Father
and He's
interceding
for you
He's praying
for you
by name
He sees you
He knows you
and He knows
the circumstances
He knows
the challenges
He knows
everything about
you
He knows
your doubts
your struggles
with faith
He knows
all about it
and He's
making intercession
for you
praying for you
by name
I hope that
would make a
difference
in your life
and the way
you face
those storms
of life
but also
I hope it
would challenge
us to
have a deeper
love for Christ
to know
that He's not
some distant
God
but He's a
God that
intimately
loves us
now the third
thing we want
to gain from
this passage
today
too is that
He will come
to us
He will come
to us
in verse 48
we see the phrase
He was about
to pass them
by
now that doesn't
mean that
Jesus decided
to walk across
the Sea of Galilee
and go on ahead
and He was like
y'all just get there
the best way
you know how
that's not what
that meant
that same phrase
is used in the
Old Testament
when God
revealed Himself
to Moses
remember He
hit him in the
cleft of a rock
and He walked
God passed by
and He revealed
Himself to Moses
so the same
phrase
same expression
tells us
that Jesus
walking by
should have been
a revelation
to the disciples
that He was
there with them
He was in
their presence
He was there
and it should
have given
them hope
it should have
given them
courage
and strength
to know
that once before
Jesus has already
calmed the storm
when He was in
the boat with us
and we know
that He cares
about us
and He can
calm this storm
with a spoken word
and He's not
going to allow
anything
to take place
or happen
in our life
that's out
of His will
have you ever
felt like
where is God
why doesn't He
answer my prayers
why doesn't He
respond
to me
you know
why is He
allowing
this
to happen
you know
even in the Psalms
King David
had those feelings
he felt like
God was distant
and not responding
to Him
and wondered
where He was
but ultimately
David knew
that you couldn't
trust your feelings
you can't trust
how we feel
but rather
the Word of God
tells us
that God says
I will never
leave you
nor forsake you
David knew
that God
was with him
despite
how he felt
sometimes
God allows us
to go through
these circumstances
and these situations
to grow us
and to help us
to develop
a trust
and a faith
in Him
even when we
think
He's
not there
and I also
want to point out
here
something else
when I talked
about evening
it said
Jesus didn't
go to them
until the fourth
watch
some of you
Bible scholars
what's the fourth
watch
that's between
three and six
o'clock in the
morning
between three
and six o'clock
in the morning
so Jesus saw
them
in the evening
struggling
against the waves
and the wind
and the storm
a storm
hurricane force
that was beyond
these rugged
fishermen
to handle
and control
and yet
He waited
until the fourth
watch
wonder why
He did that
why did Jesus
not rush
out there
immediately
and rescue
them
why didn't
Jesus speak
a word
to calm
the storm
my wife told
me I should
leave it
there and go
to find out
the rest
of the story
you have to
come back
next week
but I don't
know that I'm
going to be
preaching next
week so I'll
have to go
on and tell
you
sometimes God
uses situation
and circumstances
to teach us
life lessons
and I believe
that Jesus
allowed those
fishermen
these disciples
to get to
the end
of themselves
to reach
that point
where they
had no hope
they could
not save
themselves
they could
not
overpower
the wind
and the
waves
and get
that boat
to shore
where they
were safe
and he
allowed them
to get to
that point
where they
realized
their only
hope
was Jesus
Christ
you know
he took
out every
human prop
out
from under
them
to where
they had
to depend
on Christ
has Jesus
ever done
that to us
he ever
done it
to you
he allowed
you to
stay
in a
situation
and a
circumstance
longer than
you ever
thought
because what's
our response
how do we
handle
situations
in life
don't we
try to
handle it
on our
own
men
we're really
bad at
that
we try
to
we can
handle
these
situations
on our
own
or
in America
we've got
a lot
of props
don't we
whether it
be our
medical system
or insurance
or you
know
one thing
or another
credit cards
we've got
all these
props
propping
us up
where we
try to
handle
situations
and circumstances
in our
lives
and the
last
place we
turn
is Jesus
and so
sometimes
Jesus
puts us
in circumstances
where we
can't handle
all of our
man-made
props
are ineffective
and our
only hope
is Jesus
Christ
and he
leaves us
in that
situation
and that
circumstance
until we
come to
that conclusion
and we
turn to
him
completely
solely
relying
on him
to
step
into
that
situation
and if
he
leaves
us
there
for a
little
while
longer
it's
okay
because
we
trust
him
we
know
that
he
is
working
there
he's
caring
for us
he's
taking
care
of us
and he's
teaching
us
lessons
that we
need
to know
to grow
in our
walk
and our
faith
with him
which
brings
us
to
our
last
point
he
will
help
us
to
grow
you
know
I
believe
that this
was the
whole
purpose
of Jesus
and the
false
understanding
of who
he was
but it
was also
sending him
out or
sending the
disciples out
onto the
sea to
help them
to grow
in their
faith
and their
trust
in him
because as I
said earlier
shortly
Jesus was
going to be
gone
and these
men were
going to
have to
trust
Jesus was
with them
even though
he wasn't
physically
in their
presence
and there
may be
times when
they didn't
feel him
or they
didn't
sense
his
presence
but they
had to
trust
that he
saw
them
he knew
their
situation
he knew
their
circumstances
and he
would care
for them
and he
was helping
their
faith
to grow
deeper
and stronger
in the
midst
of all
of that
you know
it's not
easy to
face storms
of life
is it
and we
would never
want to
face many
of the
storms
we've
already
faced
in life
but how
many of
you have
faced
storms
in your
life
that when
you look
back
you realize
I was never
closer to
God
than when I
was in the
midst of that
storm
and there
are so many
lessons that I
learned
that helped me
grow in my
faith
and my walk
with the
Lord that I
never would
have learned
any other
way
now if given
a choice
we'd never
walk through
that again
we'd never
want to
but God
loves us
so much
and his
ultimate
purpose
is to
mold and
shape us
as Christians
is to
mold and
shape us
into the
image of
Christ
and he's
willing to
put us
through some
storms of
life
he's willing
to hold our
feet to the
fire if that's
what it takes
to help us
turn loose
of control
and give
our lives
fully and
freely to
him and
trust him
to shape
us and
mold us
and help
us to be
the men
and women
of faith
that he
wants us
to be
let me ask
you this
morning
do you
really trust
God with
your life
do you
trust him
in all
situations
and all
circumstances
of life
even when
it's
challenging
even when
it's
difficult
even when
it's
painful
even when
you don't
understand
what in
the world
is going
on
even when
you don't
sense
his presence
with you
do you
trust him
do you
trust him
enough
to just
say Lord
take my
life and
use me
as you
will
and may
your name
be glorified
in the
midst of
this
do you
trust God
enough
even if
his will
is for
you to
die
are you
willing to
say Lord
my life
is yours
use me
to bring
glory
and honor
to your
name
well I'm
going to
ask the
musicians to
come and
lead us in a
time of
invitation
and if the
Lord is
speaking to
you in
any way
this morning
I would
encourage you
to respond
I'd love
to pray
for you
pray with
you
and if
you do
not know
Jesus Christ
as your
Lord and
Savior
let me
encourage you
not to go
another day
without asking
Christ
you can do it
right there in
your seat
you can come
speak to me
or you can
speak to
another
believer
that you
trust
but don't
go another
day without
Christ being
your Lord
of your
life
you