Facing Life's Storms Series

Message: Facing Life’s Storms

Series – Miracles of Jesus

Scripture: Mark 4: 35-41

Introduction: Have you experienced storms in your life? Times when things just did not make sense. Times when our problems seemed big and faith seemed so small. Times when we feel scared that we are going to be taken over by the storms, insecure, afraid, and uncertain. We all have gone through such storms in life and some are going through them right now. It may be in your marriage, relationship, job, school, health, fiances or whatever. Jesus & his disciples were no different. They went through storms. This morning I want to speak to you how the disciples dealt with the storm.

Read Mark 4:35-41

Background: Jesus and disciples spent a long day teaching by the lakeside of Galilee. People crowded around Jesus and he got into a boat, went a little distance from the shore, and started teaching. When it was evening and the sun was beginning to set Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” Jesus and his disciples left and other people and boats followed them. As they were travelling they were caught up in a great wind. Read Mark 4: 37-39.

Now the Sea of Galilee is notorious for its storms. It is a small sea and sudden and violent storms are very common. That is because of the geography of the Sea of Galilee. Jordan valley makes a deep cleft into the Sea of Galilee where it is 680 feet below sea level. In the west there are hills with deep valleys and gullies which look like funnels. The wind coming from the Great Seat compresses upon these funnels and rushes upon the lake. It happens very sudden and violently because of the pressure of the wind created by the funnels. One moment can be calm and the very next moment can be a raging storm. Read Mat 8:24.

Now Jesus was sleeping and it was a tough day, he was exhausted teaching and he took a cushion and slept at the stern of the boat. The disciples were left alone to manage the storm. You must understand they have experience in managing the storms as they, 4 of them are fisherman, that too from the same sea, Sea of Galilee. This day they could not control the boat. They felt as if they were going to drown and die. Suddenly their faith became weak. Mk. 4:38b.

We must understand storms will definitely come for a child of God. The disciples were following Christ and they directly went into the storm. The disciples faced physical storm but we may face a spiritual storm. Just because we have been saved and are following Christ does not mean that we will have no problems or storms in life. Now everything maybe going great but storms can come anytime, it just takes a split of a second. Maybe you lose your job, the phone rings and some bad news come in, you have a routine doctor visit and he tells you that you have a sickness that you have to battle with the rest of your life; you find you are in a storm. In seconds your life is changed. Just like sunshine is followed by immediate thunder and shower problems may come to any one of us. The disciples faced storms in life.

Why do we go through storms in life?

1. Storms of disobedience. Sometimes our disobedience is the cause of our storms. Look at Jonah. He decided not to do God’s will. He went to Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh. Read Jonah 1:4. The Bible says he directly went into a storm. This storm was brought on by himself by Jonah because of his stubborn will. Jonah ended up from failure to failure and finally as you know he went deep down into the belly of a fish. He repented and came back to God. God used the storm in the life of Jonah to bring him back to God. Sometimes our storms are because of our disobedience.

2. Godly Storms. Some storms are from God to keep us focused on him. In John 6 Jesus fed 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. People wanted to make Jesus a king as he was very popular. The disciples were tempted by the popularity Jesus got. Read John 6:14-15. Jesus asked them to get into the boat and go to Capernaum. They directly ran into the middle of another storm, why? Jesus wanted to divert their attention and make them focus back on him. Daytime they saw a great miracle and they got carried away by the popularity and the pride. Jesus sent a storm to refocus their faith on him.