The Relevance of the Text.
How many of you here this morning would consider your faith as something the Lord Jesus would be pleased with? All too often our faith is not something that pleases the Lord. Every one of us here today could probably give a time in our lives when we were in a place where our faith was tested and we came up short. I would be willing to bet it has not been very long at all since the last time you had your faith tested to the point that you doubted the power of Christ in your life. It may have been this week, something that happened while you were at work, where you should have stood up for Jesus and made a stand for what is right and instead you stuck your head in the sand and decided to ignore whatever it was that you should have made a stand on. Maybe there you found out some bad news medically there is something wrong with you that is life threatening and you aren’t sure if you are going to make it. Maybe something is going on in someone’s life that you love and you are worried about them? Whatever it is that is going on in your life Let me remind you this morning that Jesus is in control and that He loves you and whatever happens it will be what is best for you. We as Christians can overcome doubt. That is what we are going to be talking about this morning. How can we overcome doubt in our lives when serious situations come upon us? When you leave here today it is my prayer that you will be fully equipped to overcome the doubt that so easily comes upon you when difficulty arises. And also it is my prayer that if any of you are here today and you have never put your faith in Jesus then that you would see that He truly is the creator of the universe and He wants you to be saved this morning. So if you would please turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter eight verse 23. The eighth chapter of Matthew the twenty-third verse.
C. The Review of the Text.
Most of you know that we have been studying Matthew now since June, since we have been in this gospel we have seen one thing in particular about Jesus that stands out more than anything. What is it that we have seen from Matthew’s account about Jesus week in and week out? Does anyone remember what we have seen? Who is Jesus? What have we learned about who Jesus is, since we have been studying this gospel? That’s right He is King, He is the rightful heir to the throne of David the King, He is the Promised Messiah that God promised to Abraham, He is the King of the Jews as the Wise men called Him. He is the Son of God as God the Father called Him. Satan also called Him the Son of God.
What have we seen about His person since we have been studying this book? He has authority right? How much authority does He have? Well he has the authority of God Himself. Why? Because he is God. If we were to go back all the way to Genesis Chapter three what would we learn about how God created the world? He created it perfectly and put man in charge right? Man was supposed to have full dominion over the whole earth, but something happened didn’t? Adam sinned and since Adam sinned, sin entered into the world and all the World has been cursed because of Man and his Sin. So instead of ruling the earth we have cursed the earth. Now why is this important to the text we are looking at this morning because as you know we have been looking at the Authority of Christ the last couple of weeks and this week we are still looking at His authority.
The reason I have took you back to all of that is to say this, the messiah is promised to usher in a new kingdom remember we looked in Isaiah in Sunday school and it told us of the way the millennial kingdom is going to work? How the lion is going to lay down with the lamb and how there are going to be no more wars and how wonderful the world is going to be? Well who do you think has the authority to bring all of that to pass? Is it you do you think you can make that happen? Do you think the United States as the most powerful country in the world can make that happen? Of course not we have proved that in Iraq. So then who can make that wonderful promised us come to pass? Who can reverse this curse that has been place on the world? Only God has that power and He chose to do this through His Son Jesus.
So for the next three weeks we are going to witness three instances of where Jesus’ power over the curse comes into sight just as we have already seen His power we are going to see it again. But now what we are going to look at is the different responses given to this ultimate authority of Christ. This week we are going to see THE LORD OF THE NATURAL WORLD. Next week we are going to see Jesus as THE LORD OF THE SUPERNATURAL WORLD, and the week after next we will see Jesus as THE LORD OF REDEEMING WORLD. So I encourage all of you to not miss church for the next couple of weeks because we are going to see every week build on the week before it. That being said lets get started this morning. Read with me now out of Matthew chapter 8 verses 23 thru 27 and it says:
D. The Reading of the Text
Matthew 8:23-27 (KJV)
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
“Father God I beg you now to show us through your word how to overcome our fears and doubts of your power and authority in our lives. As we look this morning at the account of Christ’s authority of Nature it is my prayer that you reveal to us the amount of power you have and the amount of power that you use in our lives as your children. Make me your mouth piece now O’ God as I attempt to expound your word for your people help me to honor you through preaching this sermon this morning, guide me from error now use me as a tool for your glory I pray all of these thing in the wonderful sweet name of Jesus, Amen.
T.S. There are three steps in Overcoming Doubt and the first one is the simple fact that you must follow Christ.
I. IN ORDER TO OVERCOME DOUBT YOU MUST FOLLOW CHRIST
(Matt 8:23)
23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
If you truly want to overcome doubt in your life when trials come against you the first thing you are going to have to do is follow Jesus. This is the first step without doing this there is no need to go forward.
Now a lot of people today claim to be following Jesus and in our churches we say this a lot. “you gotta just follow Jesus” or “I am just following Jesus.” We sing songs about it, “I will follow Jesus wherever he goes.” But I think somewhere along the way we have lost the meaning behind the saying.
So this morning I am going to try and clarify this for you. You remember the last time we were in this passage we talked about true faith and what it means to follow Jesus, well I want to review somewhat this morning because it is so important that you understand what it means to follow the Lord Jesus.
A. Following Christ requires leaving where you are.
(Matt 8:23)
The first requirement of following Christ is leaving where you are. notice what the text says. “And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.” Where did they follow him? Into a ship, what do you think was going to happen when they all got into that little ship? Why would you get into a ship anyway? Do go somewhere of course, so in order for these men to follow Jesus they had to be willing to travel with Him when He got ready to go somewhere else. In verse 18 we discover where they are going, they are going to the other side. Remember we talked last time about how He was leaving because of the gigantic crowd that was now surrounding Him.
This may not seem like that big of a deal to us but what this would do is begin to weed out the ones who were not serious about following Jesus simply through getting rid of the emotional responses and excitement that comes with a mob of that size. All of the celebrity status and everything else that goes with it would then begin to fade in the minds of the ones in it for a show.
That is what happens to us sometimes just when we get comfortable where we are Jesus gives the command to depart to the other side away from where we feel at home to a place where we do not know what might happen. It is important for us as Christians to realize that He may require at anytime for us to move somewhere we don’t necessarily want to go.
I know I have shared this with you before but I experienced this myself when God called me to go to seminary. I was content doing what I could for Him where I was there in Hot Springs, AR but that is not where He wanted me so I had to leave and come to Memphis to go to school. At the time I had no idea what God had in store for me only that He wanted me to leave my home where I felt comfortable and actually was having some success in the ministry there. Now I know why because had I not come to Mid-America, I would not be here now.
There is no doubt that Jesus sometimes calls on us to do things that we don’t feel comfortable doing and calls us to leave where we are. the Bible is full of examples of Men and Women who were called out of their home where they were happy to go somewhere else. Of course the one that rings in my mind the most is Abraham, when God told him to get out of his home and go to a land that he did not know. But when he did that God blessed him tremendously. Had he not followed God we would probably never heard of Abraham.
There is no doubt in my mind that these men were not all happy about leaving for the other side but they followed Jesus wherever He went. And in order to do that they had to leave where they were. How about you this morning is Jesus calling you to go somewhere you don’t want to go? Maybe He is just calling you to go to that person at work and tell them the gospel story. Don’t miss out on the blessing just because you are afraid.
B. Following Christ requires Learning to Obey.
(Matt 8:23)
The second requirement in following Jesus is tied directly to the first requirement of following Jesus. You see following Christ also requires Learning to Obey. How can you leave where you are if you do not learn to obey? This requirement in not found directly in this text but it is implied by the fact that the disciples left where they were for a reason. For this we need to look back at verse 18 where it lets us know why they got into the boat. It says there that Jesus gave the command to depart to the other side. So we see here that these men were not just taking a holiday on the other side of the lake but that they are going in response to the command given by Jesus.
If we are to ever leave where we are to follow Christ we must first learn to obey His commands when He gives them.
Take for example Moses. We have been studying the Book of Exodus on Sunday night and Wednesday night for awhile now and what have we seen in the Life of Moses in when he is given a command by God, he at first wouldn’t obey but then he begins to learn to obey God and then we see him go before pharaoh and God uses him to set free His people.
Imagine what Jesus could do with you if you were only willing to leave where you are and begin to learn to obey Him in all that you do. Where would this church be if we would all do like these disciples here and when Jesus gives the command to get into the boat to depart to the other side we jump in and say lets go! What would God use us to do in our community that is hurting so badly how many people would he use us to reach for Jesus? There is no limit to what Christ can do with someone who is will to obey and leave where they are to go with Jesus wherever He goes.
T.S. So we have seen two requirements for following Jesus, you must leave where you are or least be willing to and also you must learn to obey the commands that Christ gives you. But now let’s move on and see the second step in Overcoming Doubt which is Enduring Trials.
II. IN ORDER TO OVERCOME DOUBT YOU MUST ENDURE TRIALS
(Matt 8:24)
24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.
A. Enduring Trials means Being Exposed to Danger
(Matt 8:24a)
24 And, behold there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that ship was covered with the waves
If we are going to overcome our doubt we are going to have to endure trials. There is no way around it in growing in our faith we are going to go through trials. One possibility of enduring trials is being exposed to danger. These disciples with Jesus in the boat were exposed to some serious danger on the trip across the sea of Galilee. When they get into the boat it is either late afternoon or dark we are not sure but we learn from Mark that it was when Evening had come. So let’s get the picture in our mind now of a small fishing boat going across the sea of Galilee with several other boats around it we learn this from the other gospels but what we see is a group of boats going across the sea and somewhere out in the middle of this trip across this sea a storm comes out of nowhere. In my reading I read where these storms are known to hit out of nowhere coming off of the mountains that surround the area and that they can be very fierce. Plus the urgency and surprise is seen in the gospel account in the simple word behold! So what we see here is a group of small boats crossing the sea and all of a sudden a great storm comes out of nowhere and it appears they are going to die.
It says here that the boat was covered with the waves the waves were a lot higher than the boat, Mark says that the boat was now full as in there was water in the boat, Luke tells us that they were in jeopardy. So this is a very dangerous situation it looks like they are going to die. Have you ever been in a situation like this? Where all of a sudden when it seems like everything is going just real smooth you find yourself in a situation where it doesn’t look like you are going to make it? When that car stops in front of you not giving you time to hit your brakes? Or maybe you lose your job and you don’t know how you are going to pay your bills. Or the doctors tell you it doesn’t look good. Well that the type of situation these sailors are in. Those folks in Europe caught in all of those storms know what this is like. The people down south that got caught in Hurricane Katrina know what this is like. I bet a lot of you here this morning know what its like to have some kind of trouble hit you out of nowhere and you not be able to do anything about it.
I know my Dad knows what this is like, just a couple of months ago he was feeling fine one day and just a couple of days later he was having triple bypass open heart surgery. In fact he was here for the weekend and him and my Mom went home and the next day he began to have a heart attack until he finally went into the emergency room two days later. The reason he waited so long is he just couldn’t believe that he was having a heart attack. But those types of things hit you sometimes before you know it.
The Bible once again is full of examples of people who one day were fine and the next day were in a life threatening situation. Look at Shadrach Meshack and Abednego, they were one day men in the court of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the next day they were being thrown into the fiery furnace because they wouldn’t bow down to the statue that the king had made. Daniel their friend was in a similar situation where one day he was praying and the next day he was being thrown into the Lion’s den for serving God faithfully. The Bible gives us no guarantee of safety if we follow Christ that is seen over and over again.
T. S. Not only does enduring trials mean being exposed to danger it also means being exposed to confusion.
B. Enduring Trials means Being Exposed to Confusion.
(Matt 8:24b) but He was asleep.
When trials come and there is no doubt that trials will come Jesus promised us this when He said that in this world you will have tribulation, it is going to be bad enough that we are put in danger, but what is really going to be bad is when we are confused. Confusion is something that comes with going through trials. We know that we were doing what Christ has called us to do and yet it seems like still everything just keeps messing up and getting worse. Almost as if God doesn’t care what happens to us. Satan will use this confusion against us if we let him so we have to be careful when we begin to be confused not to let doubt creep in. This happens all of time because we misunderstand what being a Christian is all about from the beginning someone tells us that being a Christian means you are just going to be happy all of the time and that isn’t true there is real pain and sorrow that goes along with serving Jesus but there is also Joy unspeakable and full of glory.
The book of Job comes to mind first of all when I think about folks who are in danger or just in a place they would rather not be. Job was a man who had it all, he had a great big family a great big farm with he was a very wealthy man who served God day and night. But God allowed Satan to take everything away from him but his life. and then his friend and wife begin to encourage Job to sin in different ways but Job resists for a long time until finally he begins to question God and he gets confused about what’s going on he even accuses God of not being just, then God reminds Job that He is in control and not Job and Job repents then God gives him everything back double of what he had before.
I also think about a girl back home, my mom called me a couple of weeks ago and told me that her husband had been tragically killed in an accident at work. That would make you confused about whether or not God is interested in you right? Well this week this same woman’s mother was driving with this woman’s kids in the car and had an accident killing her mother and breaking her son’s arm and hurting her little girl as well. This woman I am sure is devastated but more than that she may be confused as to whether or not God care for her.
There is no doubt a danger of when trials come of being confused about whether or not God really cares. This is what I am sure was going on in the disciples minds when they looked and saw Jesus asleep on a pillow in the back of the boat as they were getting ready to go under. It would appear that Jesus did not care about them. Here He was right there with them and instead of helping them get out of this mess He is sleeping! This would confuse me how about you?
This may be where some of you are this morning you may be going through something just like these disciples were going through. You may be living for Jesus everyway you know how but it seems like instead of helping you out of the situation you are in that Jesus is asleep doing nothing for you. If that is you don’t let Satan fool you into believing that Christ doesn’t love you or that He can’t help you let me remind you know that just because you cant see what He is doing doesn’t mean he isn’t working for you right now. Hang with me just a little bit longer and I’ll show you what I am talking about.
T.S. If you will stick with me I will show you how leaving where you are, learning to obey, then enduring these trials that bring on danger and confusion can actually help you overcome doubting and give you more faith.
III. IN ORDER TO OVERCOME DOUBT YOU MUST EXPERIENCE CHRIST’S POWER
(Matt 8:25-27 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. And he saith unto them, why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. But the men marveled, saying, What manner of Man is this, that even the winds and sea obey Him!)
A. Experiencing Christ’s Power Involves Prayer.
(Matt 8:25a and his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying,)
If we are going to overcome doubt in our lives we most of all Must Experience Christ’s Power. By experience I don’t mean that we here someone else tell us how Jesus has worked in their lives I mean we get a first hand account of His power.
You may be excited by someone telling you about how pretty the Rocky Mountains are but until you go see them for yourself, you really have no idea about how truly magnificent they are!
The first way you are going to experience the power of Christ in your life is through prayer. It amazes me how much prayer does for my realization of the Power of Christ in my life. There is nothing like praying for someone for a long time only to see them get saved. Or praying about a problem in your life only to see Him take care of it for you, this should be our first response to doubt in our lives. It should be our first response to any trouble or trial that comes along and tries to steal our faith and assurance in Christ. There is that old saying that a Christian is strongest when they are on their knees. There is a lot of truth in that. If you never pray about anything you are never going to see God answer any of your prayers.
When you look at great men and women of God throughout history and in the Bible the thing that connects them all is a dedicated prayer life.
King David is a perfect example of this: every time he got into trouble the first thing he did was go to his knees before God and petition God to take care of his problems. In the third Psalm when David was fleeing from his own son who was attempting to take his throne we read this: Psalm 3 (KJV)
1 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. 2 Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. 3 But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. 4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. 5 I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. 6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about. 7 Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. 8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
King David knew where his help would come from. Why do you think he prayed like this in a time of trouble. Do you think is was he first time to ask God for help? Of course not the reason David was such a great king was because he had experience the power of God through Prayer over and over again so he did not doubt when trouble came.
Another Example of seeing great men of God fall on their knees in prayer during times of trouble is in Acts 4 after Peter and John had been beaten for preaching the gospel. You all remember that story about how the religious leaders didn’t like them talking about Jesus to everyone so they had them beat and told them not to do it? Well what did they do? Lets read it in Acts 4:23-31 (KJV)
23 And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. 24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: 25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. 29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, 30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. 31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
The early church was persectued and we learn from this account right here in Acts that instead of trying to handle it themselves they took it directly to the Lord in Prayer. Which is what we should do when we have problems. Don’t try to take care of it yourself instead give it over to God and let Him handle it for you. When you do this you will begin to truly Experience the Power of Christ in your life in a way you never have before.
T.S. Experiencing Christ no doubt involves prayer but it also includes Desperation.
B. Experiencing Christ Includes Desperation
(Matt 8:25b Lord Save us: we perish.)
You may be asking yourself right now how in the world does experiencing Christ’s Power have anything to do with being desperate? The answer is very simple. It is found in what they prayed. Lord Save us: we perish. In other words Jesus if you don’t do something we are going to die! This is exactly where Jesus wants us to be. This is the only place where we will ever see His power in a real sense.
Think about it for a moment, as long as you have everything in control and believe you can handle the situation you aren’t really going to rely on Christ very much. It is not until you realize that you are going to die and go to hell unless Jesus does something in your life that you are going to give your heart and life to Him. It is not until you realize that on your own you are never going to be able to overcome the sin that is in your life that keeps you enslaved that you are going to pray and ask Him for help. It is not until some tragedy comes on that makes you think you are going to lose it that you are going to turn to Christ for help making it through. It is not until we become truly desperate for Christ and His power that we are going to see Him actually work in our lives.
I know that this is true in my own life, I remember back before I was saved, I thought I had it all figured out, but God began to make me realize that if I died there was no chance for me to get into heaven. So I began to be so scared of death. I would have nightmares about going to hell at night. Then on top of that nothing in my life made me happy I searched everywhere and anywhere for something to make me happy. Finally I became desperate to fill this hunger that was inside of me and God showed me that the only one who could fill was Jesus. That is when I was truly saved, when I became desperate for Christ. When I knew that if He didn’t do something and I mean quick I was going to bust Hell WIDE OPEN!
Some of you here this morning have never experienced what I am talking about, you are under the impression that you have it all together and you can get to heaven on your own. That you can find happiness on your own. Let me set you straight right now, you can’t find happiness on your own neither can you make it to heaven without Christ. The only way to true fulfillment is through the Person of Jesus Christ. You must give everything you have to Him. You must allow Him to be boss of your life, You must repent or your sins and put your faith in the Lord Jesus. Some of you are Christians this morning and you are no longer desperate for His help in your life you think that you got it all figured out. You started off as a child of Christ but now you think of yourself as an Adult in Christ. Let me tell you, you need to be desperate for Him just as much now as you were when you were first saved. Without this sense of urgency that we see in the disciples here in this passage we will never experience all that Christ wants to do with us.
T.S. If we are going to experience the power of Christ in our life not only do we need to pray to and be desperate for Him we also need to be ready for a Rebuke from Him.
C. Experiencing the Power of Christ Includes His Rebuke
(Matt 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.)
In verse 26 we see the next principal of experiencing Christ’s power and that is if we are going to Experience Christ’s power we are also going to see His Rebuke. In this verse Jesus Rebukes two groups of servants. He rebukes nature which serves His purposes and He rebukes His disciples who have doubted His purposes. He asks the disciples a question then He answers it for them.
When He says why are ye fearful, in the Greek the word he uses for fearful here is the word we use for cowardly. So in essence what He is saying to the Disciples is “Why are you being cowards?” Then He answers it with “because your faith is small.” Here we see the cause of doubting. Small faith seems to be the reason that these disciples were being cowards. What is faith anyway? Faith as defined in Hebrews 11:1 is this
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is what you hold on to when you don’t have anything else to hold on to. Faith is where all of your strength is going to come from when you enter into various trials and adversities. It can be just as real as the seat you are sitting in. When we begin to doubt Jesus and not trust in Him we are just showing how small our faith truly is.
The reason this rebuke is so important to us experiencing Christ’s Power is so that we can realize how little faith we do have in Him and then correct it. We know that Faith is a gift from God we learn that from Ephesians 2:8 but if what do you do if you need something? You pray for it and pray for it and pray for it, until God says no or until you get it. When do you pray for something? When you truly get desperate for something. When are you going to get desperate for more faith? When your Savior Rebukes you and calls you a coward for having such a small faith. Then you will begin to pray that He give you more faith so that you can truly experience His power.
For what little bit of Time I played football I remember one thing. That was when I would be slacking and get caught slacking by coach. The coach who I had respect for at the time would tell me how disappointed he was in me then send me on. Now that made me not want to disappoint him anymore so I would try harder and not want to slack anymore. That’s how it is with Jesus only a lot more so. When He reveals an area I am slacking in I really want to do better because He is my Lord and I don’t want to disappoint Him. After all He died for me the least I can give Him is everything I have.
Some of you know what I am talking about you are right there now you have seen how little faith you really have in Christ and He is calling to a higher place in your faith now is the time to act on that rebuke that He has given you. He is letting you know that He is unhappy with the little bit of faith you have been showing, you need to move past that into a bigger faith. Start praying for more faith today and start allowing Christ to stretch and use you in bigger ways than you ever thought He would.
Then we see Jesus arise and rebuke the storm and there was a great calm. This is the second servant He rebukes. This servant is nature and through this we see just how powerful Jesus really is. This shows us that Jesus truly is the Messiah and that He has dominion over nature as only God can have.
No one but God could have rebuke the waves and wind and have it go away this quickly. The Jewish men in the boat with Jesus that night on the sea would have recognized this because of the Psalms that they no doubt had sang on many occasions.
Psalm 89:8,9 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? Or to thy faithfulness round about thee?9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof ariase, thou stillest them.
T.S. They would most certainly have recognized Jesus as being God from seeing Him calm the sea like He did. That is what we see in the next verse and this is also where we are going to tie everything together this morning. This is where we are going to how Following Christ, Enduring Trials and Experiencing the Power of Christ all have to do with Overcoming Doubt in our Lives!
4. OVERCOMING DOUBT IS COMPLETED IN MARVELLING AT CHRIST
(Matt 8:27 But the men marveled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!)
Overcoming doubt is complete when you marvel at the person of Jesus Christ. In this verse 27 we see this principal displayed in very real way. These men finally began to realize who was in the boat with them. They forgot all about the danger they were just in and put their eyes on Jesus. They were amazed at the fact that not only was the storm gone but the sea was now calm. There doubt was erased when the witnessed the power Christ has over nature and over the very thing they thought was going to kill them. Can you imagine how much this must have grown the faith of those who truly His servants? Think about John who wrote the gospel of John, the one who wrote that Jesus was in the beginning and that through Him all things were made. Can you imagine John as he wrote and through Him all things were made under his breath saying and that includes winds and waves as well. There is no doubt that these men grew in their faith in Christ because of what they saw out there on the sea.
Now let me ask you a question. How much do you think all of those people standing on the other side they had just come from grew? Not very much huh? Would these men have grown had they not first
Followed Jesus and by that I mean left where they were and learned to obey when He commanded to go? And Secondly
Endured Trials, Trials that were dangerous and threatened their life in fact trials that were so difficult that they made them confused as to whether or not Jesus even cared for them?
And lastly do you think they would have been able to grow had they not experienced Christ through Prayer and asking Him to take care of them, then being so desperate they realized that the only way of Salvation was Jesus? Then having Him Rebuke them for being cowardly because of their small faith and ultimately witnessing Him display His power for them to see?
How much of this would have they missed out on had they never taken those first steps then taken the next steps all the way to the place where they finally got to see just what the Master of the Universe can do!
Conclusion
For some of you here this morning you have never even left where you are and learned to obey Christ when He commands you to come. So I will first talk to you. It is time that you realized that Jesus is calling to come get in the boat. He wants you to be saved this morning He wants you to give your life to Him. That means being willing to sacrifice all that you have give it all up for Him Make Him the boss of your life. For those of you who have never done that this is the morning to give it all to Jesus and watch as He gives you everything you never even knew you needed.
Some of you here this morning are right in the middle of a trial that you aren’t sure if you are going to make it out of or not. Let me encourage you to take straight to Jesus though it may appear it is really bad and unfair remember that He is right there with you and He may just be wanting to grow your faith and get you to the place where you trust in Him rather than yourself. If you have been trusting in you instead of Him now is the time to give it all over to Him. Whether you are truly one of His or if you have never come to Him before now is the time to trust in Him.
Some of you here this morning have just been coasting for as long as you can remember and now Christ is calling to quit coasting and get back where He wants you to be. He is calling to a deeper faith in Him where you are truly desperate for Him to work in your life on a daily basis.
Whatever situation you are in this morning, know this that When you begin to marvel in Jesus and put your eyes on Jesus all of the doubts and cares that you once had will fade away. There is just something about that faith just after you have witnessed Jesus work and amazing work in your life. this is where we should all want to be and strive to be every day.
