GETTING TO THE OTHER SIDE
Matt 8:18-32
F. B. Meyer explained it this way: “A bar of iron worth $2.50, when wrought into horseshoes is worth $5. If made into needles it is worth $175. If into penknife blades it is worth $1,625. If made into springs for watches it is worth $125,000. What a ‘trial by fire’ that bar must undergo to be worth this! But the more it is manipulated, and the more it is hammered and passed through the heat, beaten, pounded, and polished, the greater its value.”
We all face trials in life. Some trials are easily overcome, some take all the faith we can muster. This passage in Scripture can be a valuable tool in teaching us how to get to the other side.
18-22 teach us that it is not always easy to be a follower of Christ.
I. THE PLAN FOR GETTING TO THE OTHER SIDE.
A) They thought they would get in the boat and row to the other side like they had done hundreds of times before.
Planning is not a bad thing….I read somewhere the other day where it said “Plan ahead” it wasn’t raining when Noah built the Ark.
B) Mark tells us about another time when the disciples got caught in a storm and says that “they were toiling in rowing.” They were trying their hardest.
C) Our best laid plans sometimes are not effective. Police in Norfolk, Neb., are still trying to find Curtis Boyd, 23, after he skipped out on bail after allegedly trying to pass a check for $22 million at the Bank of Norfolk drive-through in May. Boyd had purchased a computer software check-writing program and apparently figured all he had to do to get the bank to give him money was to present a realistic-looking check with certain Federal Reserve code numbers. When the bank declined to take it, Boyd took the check back, decided apparently that the one imperfection in the check was the lack of an "issuing bank," and thus returned to the Bank of Norfolk after hand-writing the name "Reality Perspective Bank" at the top of the check. This time, the bank employees called the police. [Lincoln Journal Star, 6-7-02]
II. THE PERSON THAT WILL GET US TO THE OTHER SIDE.
A) You may think he doesn’t care but He does. Mark 4:38
B) Sometimes He calms the storm to give us peace.
Sometimes He holds us tight during the storm to give us peace.
Sometimes what we think is the proper solution to our dilemma is not correct at all.
Reader’s Digest relates “A friend of mine awoke one morning to find a puddle of water in the middle of his king-size water bed. In order to fix the puncture, he rolled the heavy mattress outdoors and filled it with more water so he could locate the leak more easily. The enormous bag of water was impossible to control and began rolling on the hilly terrain. He tried to hold it back, but it headed downhill and landed in a clump of bushes which poked it full of holes. Disgusted, my friend threw out the water-bed frame and moved a standard bed into his room. The next morning, he awoke to find a puddle of water in the middle of the new bed. The upstairs bathroom had a leaky drain.” Reader’s Digest, March, 1993, p. 123
III. THE PURPOSE FOR GETTING TO THE OTHER SIDE.
A) Safety for ourselves—Although He sometimes allows trials, God is concerned with our safety when we are his children.
B) Strength for the future—Notice these disciples were crying out in fear when in the boat (Don’t criticize, we would too) but the same disciples were giving their very lives for the preaching of the Gospel only a few years later.
C) Support for others—Like the disciples in the boat, we can take Jesus to others that are in need.
In reality, Jesus took them to the other side, He didn’t need them to get there, but he allowed them to be part of what He was doing.
When we have trials, others are watching, when we get to the other side, many times we have a ministry with people that are in the midst of the storm.
Out of the dark forbidding soil
The pure white lilies grow.
Out of the black and murky clouds,
Descends the stainless snow.
Out of the crawling earth-bound worm
A butterfly is born.
Out of the somber shrouded night,
Behold! A golden morn!
Out of the pain and stress of life,
The peace of God pours down.
Out of the nails—the spear—the cross,
Redemption—and a crown!
-Author Unknown
