God Is Bigger Than....the Storm Series

TEXT: Mark 4:35 - 41; Matthew 8:23ff; Luke 8:22ff

TITLE: How to Calm the Storm

SERIES: God is BIG part 1

TOPIC: God’s power; God’s provision

OCCASION: Burnside Christian Church, October 5, 2008

PROP.: How God brings peace in the midst of the storm! God is big enough to handle it!

INRODUCTION: Everyone will face one eventually. Some will be longer than others. Most are little. But some can be monstrous! What am I talking about? Storms! And when it’s raining out, all you want to do is find shelter! Today, we are going to study about what to do when the storms of life find you! Our text takes us to Mark’s gospel. Mark 4:35-41.

Matthew and Luke also record the event that we are going to be reading about. But we’re focusing on Mark’s record of this story.

HOW BIG IS GOD? This is the question I want to answer this month.

Last week, we got to see a small glimpse of just how BIG God is. We learned that God is bigger than me! We learned that God created the UNIVERSE! In God’s universe what measurement is used? Not the foot. Not the yard. Not even the mile. It’s the LIGHT YEAR! Light travels 186,000 miles per second (a beam of light can go around the earth 7 times a second!)…you take that speed and calculate the distance that light would travel in a year, you get 5.33 TRILLION miles or what we refer to as the LIGHT year.

It takes just 7 minutes for the light to go from the sun to our tiny planet…earth. And so we know the universe is vast! It’s HUGE! And it takes a big God to create a big universe.

This is a picture of our galaxy…you can’t even see the sun! And the sun is many times bigger than our planet!

Today our text is going to reveal how big God is:

Let’s turn to Mark’s gospel. Chapter 4, starting in verse 35.

35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?"

39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"

41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Today, I want you to know: GOD IS BIGGER THAN…THE STORM!

T.S.: Three facts about the storm…

Fact #1...

I. The storm will come! (but the storm will go!)

It’s been said that there are things you can be certain of…two of them are DEATH AND TAXES. I would suggest another one to add to the list is STORMS! You can be assured that a storm will hit sometime in your life…

And a storm was about to hit for the disciples…

A. The Conditions for a storm were perfect…

1. The Sea of Galilee

--Our story takes place on the Sea of Galilee. Jesus and his students were in Capernaum (which is on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee). Their destination was straight south. Only, they ran into a bit of a problem…

Some information about the Sea of Galilee:

Allow me to give you some information about the sea of Galilee that you may find helpful. The sea of Galilee is also known as: lake Tiberius, Lake Gennersaret, and the Sea of Tiberius. It is famous for the quality and abundance of its fish. The lake at it’s widest point is only 8 miles wide and is about 13 miles long.

--The Sea of Galilee is a small fresh water lake surrounded by hills. It is 680 feet below sea level. Winds blowing across the land intensify close to the sea, often causing violent and unexpected storms.

ILLUSTRATION: --Great lakes. I grew up in Michigan. Michigan is surrounded by 5 large lakes! The one we visited most often was Lake Michigan. I’ve been on a fishing boat on Lake Michigan. Often times they will issue small craft advisories and warnings because the conditions on the lake are dangerous.

And so it is on the Sea of Galilee. Storms can seem to come out of no-where! And still today, fishermen are warned that sudden and violent storms can arise.

B. Conditions for a storm in your life, are perfect!