Even the Storms Shake!
Notes
Transcript
Mark 4:35-41
On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Main Point- Jesus is in control of ALL THINGS!
· INTRODUCTION: What a great thing to be able to gather together on Wednesday nights! Tonight, we are looking at Mark 4:35-41. If you have a Bible, would you turn there with me.
o I love a good rain storm, don’t you?
o I love watching heavy rain and listening to it. It’s almost therapeutic. In fact, I love it so much that when I was student teaching and couldn’t handle my mentor teacher’s Billy Joel any longer, I’d change our classroom spotify to rain noises!
§ But some rain storms are a little stronger than others and are a little more treacherous.
· When I was in Trinidad and Tobago, we were told that a hurricane was coming directly for us.
· Now, that may not sound surprising, but Trinidad is only 6 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It’s not really a hurricane island.
o As this storm was incoming, people panicked. I mean sand bags were going up in streets; the dorms we were staying in at the university braced for weeks of no power.
o The church we partnered with prepared to shelter the 150 kids that came to after school programs every week.
§ Then, the storm hit. I woke up and I checked my weather app.
§ I looked up what the winds were. 6 miles per hour!
§ SIX MILES PER HOUR! Not sixty, SIX! I walked outside and just stood there. You could barely feel the wind!
· The weather people were correct that there was rain and trust me, there was lots of that, but they totally missed on the WIND!
· There was almost no wind and there was very little damage.
o See, when we see a storm in life; whether a rain storm, or an emotional storm, we don’t know how it will work out.
o JESUS though already knows how it will all work out and He is in control of it all!
· BODY: Mark 4:35-41, what a great story about the power of God!
o As we dive in, let’s establish some context. Mark 4 all takes place on the same day. Jesus is teaching and preaching and he uses parables to get his point across.
§ As Ken preached last week, he shared with us from the Parable of the Sower.
· This is a famous parable about a man sowing seed. As he goes throwing this seed and planting it, some places receive the seed, but many places do not!
o The message of this is that not all will receive the gospel! But those who do, will live it out and the fruit will be evident!
o This week, we pick up in the evening of the day.
§ Mark writes in verse 35, “On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”
· Jesus is in a boat on the Sea of Galilee.
o There were two major sides of the Sea. The west was heavily Jewish. That’s where Jesus and his disciples are.
§ The west side is part of the Decapolis, which literally means “10 Cities.”
· The Decapolis was a set of 10 cities that were very important to Rome in this area.
· As such, they were heavily made up of Gentiles and the Jewish people rarely went there.
§ Jesus goes there with a plan. He wants to go preach the good news!
· His message and HIS GIFT OF SALVATION, were not just for the Jewish people, they were for ALL people! Jesus brought HOPE for the whole world!
o In verse 36 we read, “And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.”
§ Jesus has been preaching to this crowd all day and now he leaves.
§ The disciples take him into their boat, there were others, just as there were others who followed Jesus! Although not everyone in Israel believed, there was a consistent core group that did!
§ That core group consistently traveled with Jesus listening to him and FOLLOWING HIS FOOTSTEPS, which was the literal meaning of being a disciple!
· Remember, 4 of the 12 main disciples were fishermen! For them, this is just another day!
o They fished on the Sea of Galilee their entire lives!
§ They don’t need help from Jesus, they’ve got this!
· We read in verse 37 that, “A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.”
o As the disciples begin to sail across the Sea of Galilee, they find themselves in the midst of a LARGE storm! This storm has waves large enough that they are breaking over the boat.
§ Not only are the waves large, they are filling the boat with water!
· This could have easily become a disaster seemingly!
· They are in the middle of the sea and may get shipwrecked!
o Don’t get me wrong, the Sea of Galilee isn’t exactly the Atlantic ocean, but still, it’s 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. It’s maximum depth is around 141 feet.
§ My point is, this lake is not insignificant! You DO NOT want to get shipwrecked in it.
§ You definitely do not want to be shipwrecked in a storm in the middle of the night!
§ Now, just to be clear, the boat they are in is not super small. A boat dated to the 1st century AD was found in the Sea of Galilee in 1986. There’s no proof this boat was on the sea when Jesus was alive, but, it is similar to other period boats.
· It is 27 feet long, 7.5 feet wide and 4 feet high. It’s got a shallow bottom, so these waves are quite large for people in this type of a boat. These types of waves were rare for such a small sea that is really more of a lake!
· The fear is real!
· Look at verse 38 with me! “But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
o The disciples are so confused! They are bailing out water and probably using the oars this boat would have had to try and get to safety! Then they look and Jesus is asleep!
§ But what does Jesus have to fear? Why should he be anxious? God is in control! There’s nothing to worry about!
· In verse 39, we see one of my favorite miracles. “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be Still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.”
o Jesus awakes and HE LITERALLY REBUKES THE WIND! He tells the wind and the sea to stop! He tells them to quiet down!
§ He does it in the same way that you might tell a yelling child to be quiet!
§ He simply tells the storm to cease!
· WHAT POWER THAT IS! CAN YOU DO THAT? I CAN’T! I tried many times as a child! But for Jesus, IT IS NOTHING!
o It’s just another day and He is totally in control of the weather.
· Look at Jesus’ response in verse 40. He says, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”
o Notice what Jesus asks them about. “Have you no faith?”
§ This storm is a test of their FAITH!
§ They have the opportunity to cling to Jesus and to completely and totally trust him. Instead, they panic!
· Their faith isn’t complete yet. They think Jesus is powerful and a good teacher, but they lack understanding of WHO JESUS ACTUALLY IS!
o For us, I think there is an application and a challenge also that I want to just briefly mention here. When we face a trial, a STORM in life so to speak, do we CLING TO JESUS? Or, do we panic and begin trying to bail out the water ourselves, panicking about how we are about to sink?
· As we finish out the passage, we see verse 41 staring right back at us. At times throughout the gospels, the disciples provide an insight into how purely AWE-INSPIRING Jesus is! This is one of those times!
o This is what Mark says, “And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
§ THE DISCIPLES ARE FILLED WITH FEAR AND WONDER!
· They don’t yet fully understand who Jesus is, but they do understand that He is unlike anyone else.
o Inside of this verse there’s a question that each and every one of us has to answer.
§ “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
§ Or to put this another way, “WHO IS JESUS?”
· CONCLUSION: As we move into a time of application, I want to look more at that question. “Who is Jesus?”
o To answer this question, let’s think about what we’ve seen so far in Mark. In Mark 1, we saw Jesus baptized. When he was baptized, a voice from heaven CALLED HIM GOD’S SON!
§ So we know right away that Jesus is God’s son!
o In Mark 2, we saw Jesus forgive a man’s sins!
§ ONLY GOD CAN DO THAT!
· JESUS IS GOD! He is God’s Son, part of the trinity; God the Father, God the Son; Jesus, and the Holy Spirit!
§ Jesus forgives sins. Jesus is our savior.
· In fact, as we keep going through Mark we will continue to see this! We’ll continue to see WHO Jesus is and it will always point back to the fact that JESUS IS SAVIOR!
o If you are here tonight and you have not put your faith in Jesus to save you from your sins, let me encourage you to do that! If you have questions on it, talk to me, I’d love to answer them!
· At the same time, there’s another takeaway from this passage.
o See, Jesus is powerful! As believers, we can rest assured that Jesus is in control no matter what is going on around us.
o So my 2nd challenge tonight is simple. Do we trust Jesus in hard times? When we feel overwhelmed by the weight of the world, where do we go?
§ Do we run to Jesus and give our challenges to HIM, or do we try to handle it on our own strength?
§ Brothers and sisters, what a gift our GOD IS THAT HE CARES FOR US AND IS WITH US, even in the midst of the storm.
· Let’s pray.