THE STORM IS PASSING OVER
WOULD YOU DO SOMETHING FOR ME?When you have finished reading this Bulletin, would you pass it on to someone you’ve been praying for; especially someone who does not – to your knowledge – have Christ for his or her Saviour?And then, if this Bulletin has been a blessing to you, would you take one other leap of faith? Get in your car, this Sunday. Pick up that person you were praying for. And then all of you meet me at Church, this Sunday at 1 p.m.?This week is Holy Communion week, and we are expecting God to show up in a miraculous way. I am so excited with anticipation that I want EVERYBODY to be blessed by it – especially you!Our message is “THE STORM IS PASSING OVER” and is taken from Mark 4:35-41. You will want to be here for this one! Thank you
Keep the Faith
Pastor Ray
And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? Mark 4:35-41
Those of you who belong to a church will recognize this story – you will probably also recognize it, even if you don’t currently belong to a church, but ever did belong to a church at some point in your life. In fact, I submit that this story might even be familiar to some people who have no church background at all, but might have accidentally overheard its message in a song, or in something that somebody said.
It’s a familiar story, but I believe telling it again will be a good thing … for somebody!
The story says that in the short space of a trip across the lake Jesus finds His way to the helm of the ship, falls asleep on a pillow, and a violent storm erupts. A Tsunami, perhaps? A squall? Who knows?
But a storm …
The disciples –sensing that they were in danger look for Jesus, and discover He is asleep.
This narrative has several familiar elements – all of which have been preached, eloquently, over time. My task is to address just two of these elements: first, the disciples’ question to Jesus; and more importantly Jesus command to the storm.
I’ll give it to you straight: my reason for zeroing in on the Lord’s command to the storm is that I am hoping somewhere along the way that what He says will be a blessing to you – as you face whatever challenge that is confronting you in your life, today.
The story, on the surface, is about a storm. But as always, it is possible that God intended the storm to serve as a metaphor for a life’s disaster – a crisis. We learned how the Bible uses the image of a storm to represent the times of great misery and devastation that often confront us. I submit to you that it only takes a brief look into your personal life for you to remember something that you went through that was so intense, so critical, so overwhelming that it was like a massive storm brewing in your mind.
In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if somebody reading this isn’t saying to themselves, “Preacher, I’m going through something like that right now!” If you are that person, I’ve come by to speak specifically to you to tell you God has a message for you.
Let me tell you what God told me to tell you.
STORMS HAPPEN!
I said this in my message a few weeks ago, but let me put it in a different perspective for you, here. (This is especially for you Saints, who have been laboring under the misconception that getting Saved was supposed to fix all the other problems that life throws at you)
When the boat started quaking and the water started soaking the deck the disciples were confronted with this blazing reality. Yes, Jesus could have kept the storm from ever happening – but I believe He allowed it to happen to show them one very important reality: “ … that they who are passing with him over the ocean of this world to the other side, must expect storms by the way.” Matthew Henry Complete Commentary
We Pentecostal Pastors bear a special responsibility for the Saints’ misconception, because in many cases we have promised them something that God never promised them. God never said that getting Saved would be like some magic pill that would make our problems disappear.
He did say that He came that we might have life, and that more abundantly (John 10:10); but that statement was never meant to be taken as some sort of guarantee against trouble.
What He did promise was a way to live in confidence that He would help us to survive the storms, when they come. Listen:
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." John 16:33
GOD KNOWS
Listen to these words of comfort, on this passage, preached by the great 19th century Anglican Bishop, J. C. Ryle – I tried to find a way to paraphrase them, but found no way that I could have said them better:
“You are applying to One who knows your feelings by experience, and has drunk deep of the bitter cup, for He was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Jesus knows the heart of a man,—the bodily pains of a man,—the difficulties of a man,— for He was a man Himself, and had flesh and blood upon earth. He sat wearied by the well at Sychar. He wept over the grave of Lazarus, at Bethany. He sweat great drops of blood at Gethsemane. He groaned with anguish at Calvary. He is no stranger to your sensations. He is acquainted with everything that belongs to human nature, sin only excepted.
“Are you poor and needy? So also was Jesus. The foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not where to lay His head. He dwelt in a despised city. Men used to say, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). He was esteemed a carpenter’s son, He preached in a borrowed boat, rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed ass, and was buried in a borrowed tomb.
Are you alone in the world, and neglected by those who ought to love you? So also was Jesus. He came unto His own, and they received Him not. He came to be a Messiah to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and they rejected Him. The princes of this world would not acknowledge Him. The few that followed Him were publicans and fishermen. And even these at the last forsook Him, and were scattered every man to his own place.
“Are you misunderstood, misrepresented, slandered, and persecuted? So also was Jesus. He was called a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans, a Samaritan, a madman, and a devil. His character was belied. False charges were laid against Him. An unjust sentence was passed upon Him, and, though innocent, He was condemned as a malefactor, and as such died on the cross. Does Satan tempt you, and offer horrid suggestions to your mind? So also did he tempt Jesus. He bade Him to distrust God’s fatherly providence. “Command these stones to be made bread.” He proposed to Him to tempt God by exposing Himself to unnecessary danger. “Cast Thyself down” from the pinnacle of the temple. He suggested to Him to obtain the kingdoms of the world for His own, by one little act of submission to himself. “All these things will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.”
Do you ever feel great agony and conflict of mind? Do you feel in darkness, as if God had left you? So did Jesus. Who can tell the extent of the sufferings of mind He went through in the garden? Who can measure the depth of His soul’s pain when He cried, “My God, My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?”
So many times we make the mistake of thinking that the turmoil that disrupts our lives is God’s way of punishing us, because we are scum! My brothers and sisters, I’ve come by to tell you that nothing could be further from the truth.
Nor should we ever allow ourselves to believe that no one knows what it is like … that no one understands what I am going through. I assure you, today, that God KNOWS! And more to the point – He CARES!
GOD CARES
I cannot tell you how many times I have counseled people who have let themselves believe that God just doesn’t care about them – or that their problems are too little, too petty, for God to “waste His time” with them.
The disciples could not understand how Jesus could sleep, at a time like this. Bear in mind these were seasoned fishermen – veterans of the sea and of its storms – and yet in this instant they found themselves overcome with fear.
But Jesus was asleep.
Some have pointed out that His sleep – the fact that He too got tired – was a testament to the human part of His nature. But I agree, again, with Matt Henry that “He slept not so much with a desire to be refreshed, as with a design to be awaked.” When this storm came up they were confronted with the reality that all of their experience would not help them – that in the storm what they needed most to do was to get to Jesus.
I think about those people I say I’ve met who were disillusioned with God because of some problem they were living with; and it occurs to me that their grievance
Is not with God – or shouldn’t be. Their real problem is that they are trying to fix something that is not in their power to fix.
I want to stop for a moment and challenge you:
Because you’ve been struggling with an addiction to Cocaine, to Heroin, to Sex, to Prescription Drugs, to Food, or Nicotine, or any other substance. And you’ve tried all kinds of programs; you’ve bought all sorts of patches. You’ve even tried going to the Altar – week, after week, after week.
And no matter what you’ve tried you woke up this morning, and that habit was there nibbling at your nerves …
To every reader who is or ever has been Suicidal, Depressed, or Sexually disoriented
To every thug, gangsta, ho, pimp, slut, wannabee; crackhead, weedhead, thief, golddigger, junkie, sex addict, garbage mouth, boozer, chickenhead
To every person reading this who is about to be homeless;
Or whose elevators don’t go to the top floor;
Or who are 2 sandwiches short of a picnic?
God sent me by to tell you He knows …
And He CARES!
He sent me to tell you He is about to bring PEACE to your storms … if you will only find your way to the back of the ship: find your way to where He is
It seems like he is sleeping. It seems like He doesn’t care, but He’s about to calm those waves that have been crashing in on you; and if you can find your way to Him you will have found safety … so that even when the winds come you will have the shelter of the One who made the winds.
The ancient Church Fathers wrote some very interesting lines to put this matter of the storms of life in perspective. In the fourth century, Ephraim the Syrian wrote:
“The ship bare His manhood, [some: ‘ … His humanity] but the power of His Godhead bare the ship and all that was therein. But that He might show that even His manhood needed not the ship, instead of the planks which a shipwright puts together and fastens, He like the Architect of creation, made the waters solid and joined them together and laid them under His feet.”
Jesus spoke to the storm, and it shut up. The ship’s boards dried up, the little boats around them stopped pitching back and forth – but through it all their eyes were opened to one amazing truth: that He no more needed to say anything to the elements of this storm to make them behave than He needed a ship to get Him from one part of the lake to the other. Remember that only a little while later they would find themselves weathering yet another storm, and would have Him come to them walking on the water. (Matthew 14:23-33) Jesus was never out of control – no matter how treacherous the waves might have looked.
And He is never out of control of your storms … He settles them with one little word … PEACE!
HIS COMMAND
The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. Hab 3:10
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers … Nahum 1:4-8
When they that fed them saw what was done, they fled, and went and told it in the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what was done; and came to Jesus, and found the man, out of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid. They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. Luke 8:34-39
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When He disperses its waves, Habakkuk’s words are fulfilled, where he says, "Scattering the waters in His passage." When at His rebuke the sea is calmed, Nahum is also verified: He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry,” Tertullian Against Marcion 4.20
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I’m running out of time, here – you’ll have to come to church for the rest of the story!
"These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:25-27
Jesus said, “PEACE!” and all the elements of this storm were calm. I want to leave you, reader, with this thought: there are rain storms, snow storms, wind storms; but the
Reality is storms are rarely confined to just one element. most storms come at us with a combination of things: winds and rain, and waves … snow and ice … thunder and lightning. It is the same way with life – life rarely throws just one thing at us.
When I was growing up they used to have an expression: “When it rains, it pours!” And life is more like that: the minute we figure out how to handle our addiction, we lose our job. Find a job, and our house burns down. Get a new house and something happens to our family.
Understand that at Jesus’ command every challenge must come into submission. All we need is one word from Him and we are able to begin to experience peace beyond what you ever thought possible. God wants to give you peace – as he said, not the world’s peace but His peace. The peace that will carry you safely through your storms, and land your feet firmly on the shores of His amazing Grace!
Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 Holman CSB
