Title: Don’t waste your storms
Text: Mark 4:35-41
Introduction
Verse for the week
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
God works all things out for our good
God works in the good things and in the bad things
In all things =in the joys of life and in the storms of life
God works them all out for our good
Our goal Today: Is to leave here better knowing how God uses the storms of our life to work them out for our good.
What can I learn from the storms of this week?
Text: Mark 4:35-41
“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this?” Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
•God can easily stop any storms from ever happening in our lives.
•If he can stop a storm as it happens he can just as easily stop it before it happens
•In Matthews account it says that “Without warning a furious storm came up on the lake“
•When we hear the words “without warning” we understand that to mean that nobody saw it coming.
•But God is all knowing so without warning doesn’t apply to God
•He sees everything coming
•He knows everything that is going to happen before it happens!
Therefore Jesus set the disciples up!
It was his idea to get into the boat and cross over to the other side
Illustration: Insurance claim on the boat: Cause of damage “An act of God”
•So God permitted this storm to happen
And if God permits something to happen He permits it for a reason
Title: Don’t waste your storms!
Write this title down somewhere where you can see it from time to time
What do I mean by don’t waste your storms?
We waste our storms when…
we don’t let God work in them to bring about our good and his purpose.
I want you to notice two things from our text that shows us how we can easily waste our storms
1.We will waste our storms if we don’t see them as opportunities to test our faith.
Notice what Jesus said to his disciples after the storm was over;
The first thing he says after things returned to normal
Jesus said to his disciples “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?
So the storm was set up by Jesus as an opportunity to test the faith of the disciples.
The disciples badly failed the test of faith.
They got an F
How come they failed the test of faith?
Their faith was sunk by their fear.
We know this because Jesus said to them “Why are you so afraid?”
This begs the question: Is it ever wrong to be so afraid of something?
After all there are lots of times when it’s completely natural to be afraid…
Every one of us would have behaved the same way the disciples did…
Is it ever wrong to be so afraid of something?
It’s never wrong for me to be so afraid of something when Jesus says its ok
This begs another question:
Are there certain areas in life that Jesus says “Yes in these certain areas it’s ok for us to be so afraid?
•Is it ok by Jesus for us to be so afraid of dying?
“For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain…”
Luke records in his gospel that after the storm Jesus also said to his disciples
“Where is your faith?”
So Storms also show what our faith is really in
Is our faith really in God or is our faith really in something else?
There is a way to tell if our faith is really in God.
When our faith is really in God then we can do the same thing Jesus is doing
Did Jesus not say that if we had faith in him we can do the same things we see him doing?
What was Jesus doing as the storm was raging?
He was sleeping on a cushion!
What kind of picture was Jesus trying to communicate to his disciples?
This is the picture of complete faith in God.
Sleeping on a cushion.
I would be using the cushion as a floating devise
We can also tell when our faith is not in God
Same answer. We will do what ever our faith is in is doing
The disciples never answered Jesus question
“Where is your faith”?
We have to answer that question for them
Where was the object of the disciples faith?
The object of the disciples faith was…the boat.
And since the object of their faith was being swamped by the storm- their faith was also being swamped by the storm.
Where was people’s faith this week?
You and I can’t have our faith in anything other than God…
On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand
The disciples wasted their storm. They did not see it as an opportunity to have their faith tested.
But some time later they must have learned the lesson because
James wrote (1:3)
“Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance and perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.
Recap: Don’t waste our storms lets see them as opportunities to test our faith.
And if we do see that our faith is in something else other than God then do the right thing. We need to put our faith back on God.
#2 We will waste our storms if we don’t see them as opportunities to help us know Jesus better
Quote: “Satan’s and God’s design in your storms are not the same. Satan designs to destroy your love for Christ, God designs to deepen your love for Christ.” John Piper
Question: How does Satan use our storms to destroy our love for Christ?
Answer: Satan uses our storms to convince us that Christ doesn’t care about us.
Listen to what the disciples say to Jesus
The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
Satan had used the storm to convince the disciples that Jesus didn’t care if they drowned or not.
Satan even produced proof! He showed them; Jesus sleeping on a cushion
He was trying to destroy their love for Jesus.
You can’t love Jesus if you believe he doesn’t care about you.
You can’t love Jesus if you can’t trust him
Satan pulls the same tactic on us.
He lies to us about Jesus.
He tells us that if Jesus really cared about us why then why hasn’t he rescued us from the storm yet?
He convinces us that Jesus is sleeping on the job!
He does all this to us because he knows it works.
He has successfully destroyed many people’s love for Jesus.
Because in some situations it does appear that God doesn’t care
But God uses the very same storms in order to deepen our love for Christ.
How deep does God want our love for Jesus to go?
God wants to take us to the place where no matter how bad things are going on around us we find ourselves completely trusting Jesus.
Every storm is an opportunity to learn new things about Jesus
The disciples thought they had Jesus already figured out
It took a storm to show them otherwise
For they say to each other
Who is this man? Even the waves and the winds obey him.
That’s why we should pray more during storms not less
That’s why we should read the word of God more during storms not less
There is so much more to learn about Jesus.
We learn He does care for us. He does Love us!
Maybe you are here today and you are in a storm.
Use this time to strengthen your faith.
Use this time to love Jesus more
