"Crossing To The Other Side, Do You Have What You Need?" | Mark 4:35-41 | Part One

Intro:

If we belief that the life of a Christian is a life of movement- crossing from one point to the other side, or some will say it’s transitory Do You Have What You Need?

I want us to look at an event that is recorded in the Gospel of Mark 4:35-41 Mark recorded an eyewitness report, probably from Peter about the disciples and Jesus in a storm and what the disciples did or did not do and ultimately Jesus’s response to the surrendering, and to them.

Storms gives us the opportunity to examined our lives and our foundations. In Matthew 7:24-25 Jesus says “Therefore,q everyone who hears these word of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.”

Reading Mark 4:35-41(NLT)

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.

38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 The disciples were absolutely terrified. “Who is this man?” they asked each other. “Even the wind and waves obey him!”

Context

At the beginning of this chapter Jesus began his teaching section by the sea of Galilee. A large crown gathered around He, Jesus get into a nearby boat and sets down while the people remained on the shore.( the sea and the boat were teaching platforms)

At the conclusion of the teaching, Jesus instruct his disciples while remaining in the same boat says: “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” WHY? what’s on the other side? what are going to do there? the people are here? Maybe Jesus needed a little break, or going on the other side minister to others.

Finally, WHAT’S ON THE OTHER SIDE? -WE WILL GO ON A DISCOVERY DURING THIS SERIES

The Disciples

Notice: the disciples obeyed and did what Christ instructed them to do, taking Jesus with them to Cross to the other side of like Galilee in the evening. As the boat was sailing across the lake, Jesus felt asleep-resting.

The lake was calm allow so far, secondly the disciples are experienced fisherman, some are experienced in boating, some are experienced swimmers. Jesus the mighty healer and great teacher is onboard what can go wrong?

In the well of God

Consider for a moment, the disciples are not doing anything wrong, they are C.I.C (Centered In Christ) obeying Jesus Christ, the Lord is onboard the boat. But “soon” a great storm came up with high waves and the boat began taking on water and these experienced fisherman were in real danger of going down. All because they obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ to cross to the other side.

Few more questions:

What will people of such experience and skills at sea do?

What do you do in your storm?

What do your relay on to navigate your way through the storms of life?

I want to believed that your response, my response will not be different from that of the disciples.

Next week

We will look at what the disciples needed to cross to the other side. What Jesus say they needed to use to cross over.