Church and it's a blessing to be around like minded brothers and
sisters in the Lord who love the Lord, love God's word.
So thank you again pastor for the invitation to come.
I do appreciate it and count it a privilege and an honor to be
with you to share God's word with you.
This morning I mentioned the website baptistexpositor.com for
those who are interested. I also meant to mention that you
can now find our sermons on some of your podcast platforms like
Apple Podcasts and Spotify, if that's useful to you.
We're starting to upload the audio to those.
Obviously, if you want video, you'll need to go to the other
website to find those. So thank you again for having us
and trust you've been blessed from the preaching of God's
Word. Now one quick note on Australia.
I've been quite surprised how many people have commented about
our dangerous animals in Australia.
And let me just put you your mind at ease.
Australia is a very safe country.
If you come, you're not going to get have a boxing match with the
kangaroo, OK, That is almost unheard of.
They are not aggressive creatures.
And it's probably because, you know, the nature of of the news,
we, you know, you tend to hear about those oscillated cases of
things that happened. Just like in Australia, we get
the impression as America's pretty dangerous with the bears
and rattlesnakes. But how many of you have had a
fight with a bear yet? OK, probably not very many.
So just just in case, if you are wanting to come to Australia one
day for a holiday or a vacation, come visit our church.
I can almost guarantee you you're not going to get, you're
not going to get beat up by a kangaroo or bitten by anything.
OK. So just just just thought I'd
put that out there. Now, I did bring over something
from Australia for you to try. It's a coffee bag, OK.
It's like a tea bag but with coffee.
I don't think you have those here.
And we're never going to outdo you when it comes to fast food.
This is fast food paradise. We have fast food, but you've
got it on another level. It's like fast food on steroids.
I have to say though, and I hope you're not offended, I do think
we do our coffee better than you.
I'm yet to taste a good cup of coffee in America.
So anyway you can try that out. We're pretty good with our
coffee as we're pretty good with our dairy products as well and
our baked goods. But anyway, it's, it's fun to
try some different things and between Courtney and your
pastor, I'm definitely taking some extra kilos home.
My wife is already talking to me about the diet she has planned
for me when I get home because she says I'll look round her in
the face on FaceTime. So there you go, taking some of
America with me there. All right, Mark, chapter 6
tonight. And the theme has been an, an
emphasis, or there's been an emphasis on missions.
But your pastor did give me liberty just to preach as the
Lord would lead for the Sunday services.
And so as the Lord LED, we did have a missions theme this
morning, but tonight is not a missions theme.
It's more a, a, a, a message of encouragement, a message.
I trust that will be a message of comfort.
And preaching is kind of like eating.
You need a balanced diet, and the Bible exhorts preachers to
reprove, rebuke and exhort. So tonight's message is more in
the exhort category. I hope it'll be an encouragement
and a help to you. And I have no doubt that there
are people here tonight who are going through difficulties,
going through trials. I know you've been through some
things as a church from what your pastor shared with the
passing of his brother and someone else, another sister
losing a or having a husband graduate to glory.
I think it was actually last year when he was with us
actually for the camp. We got the news and we prayed
for you, sister, even though we'd never met you.
We prayed for you as a church. And so that's just a couple of
things I'm aware of. And I'm sure there are other
trials and tests that people are going through.
So we're going to turn to Mark Chapter 6 tonight and look at
storms. Look at the theme of storms
tonight. The theme or the title of the
message is When Stormy Winds Blow.
When stormy winds blow, Mark chapter 6, verse 45, and we'll
read down to verse 52. The Bible reads.
And straightway He constrained his disciples to get into the
ship and to go to the other side before unto Bethsaida, while He
sent away the people. When he'd sent them away, He
departed into a mountain to pray.
When even was come, the ship was in the midst of the sea, and He
alone on the land, and He saw them toiling in rowing, for the
wind was contrary unto them. And about the fourth watch of
the night He cometh under them walking upon the sea, and would
have passed by them when He saw him.
When they saw Him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had
been a spirit, and cried out, for they all saw Him and were
troubled. And immediately He talked with
them and saith unto them, Be of good cheer it is I be not
afraid. And he went up unto them into
the ship, and the wind ceased, and they were sore amazed in
themselves beyond measure, and wondered, for they considered
not the miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.
Let's pray. Dear God, we pray for your help
tonight. Thank you for this local church.
Lord, thank you for the warm reception to the Word of God in
this place. And thank you for the pastor
here. Lord, we pray for your blessing
upon him and his family and and the whole church here.
We pray, Lord, for the mission endeavour in Belize.
We pray for the trip this week that you would have your hand
upon that, that everything would run smoothly and that you would
have your will and your way and all of that.
Bless this church as it seeks to reach beyond its borders.
Father, we pray you would strengthen it.
Lord, pray you bless the missions giving as folks pray
about their missions commitments, faith promised
missions commitments for another year.
We pray you'd stir hearts to to give Lord, and we just pray for
your blessing upon the message tonight.
We pray especially for those who are hurting, those who are going
through difficulties that this message might be used as a
comfort to them. We thank you that one of the
titles, one of the names of the Spirit of God is the comforter.
And so we pray for that now in Jesus name, Amen.
Before we get into the passage, we just need to note the
context. If you look back in the chapter,
you will find the account of the feeding of the 5000.
And so the Lord Jesus Christ has just performed that amazing
miracle of turning the little boy's lunch into into something
that would feed that great crowd of people, 5000 men and women
and children. In addition to that, a great
miracle demonstrating the the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ
was and is the Messiah. In fact, it's one of the one of
the miracles that is recorded in all four gospels.
And then the Lord Jesus constrains his disciples to
enter into a ship and to pass over the Sea of Galilee there to
the other side. And you will find as you read
the Gospels, that this is the second storm in which the
disciples find themselves in the will of God.
You can read about the first storm back in Mark chapter 4.
And in the first storm, the storm, the Lord Jesus Christ was
present with them in the boat, and they even struggled going
through that storm with Christ's presence with them.
But now they would go through this storm and Christ would not
be physically present with them in the boat.
Now He was with them in spirit, as we're going to see.
But the Lord allowed them to go through a second storm.
And really as we go through here, there are both theological
and practical lessons that we can learn, theological lessons
in that we see the person of Christ demonstrated through this
miracle and other miracles, OK, the the miracles that the Lord
Jesus did revealed who he was. And then there are practical
lessons we can learn much about how how God can sustain us and
how God will sustain us when we are going through trials.
And so that's really the focus, primary focus of tonight's
message when stormy winds blow. And we're going to note tonight
7 truths that will help us as we go through storms or trials in
our lives. Now, fear not.
I'll just touch on some of those fairly briefly.
I'll try to be brief. OK.
That's probably one of the biggest lies preachers tell.
They say I'll be brief, and then they're not brief.
So brief is not my thing. But I will try and keep things
moving tonight for you. But I want, I just want to look
at 7 truths that will help you when you go through storms #1
when stormy winds blow, We need to remember #1 His Providence
placed me in the storm number one first truth that that will
encourage you. The first truth that will help
you when you go through trials, when you go through storms is
this His Providence placed you in the storm.
You see that there in verse 45 and straightway he constrained
his disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side
before under Beth sided. And so God the Lord Jesus Christ
actually constrained his disciples to enter the boat and
he knew they were going into a storm.
And we need to remember that when we find ourselves in some
of those storms of life. If we're walking with God and
following God, we need to remember that he sometimes in
his wisdom places us in storms. He can strain them.
It means to compel. And so God was going to use this
as a refining process in the disciples lives.
And as we're going to see towards the end of the passage,
a heart problem was developing in the apostles.
And no doubt part of the reason why the Lord Jesus allowed them
to go through this storm was to address that heart problem that
was beginning to develop. And you know, when we think
about storms in our lives, we could say there are storms of
chastisement and storms of refinement.
In other words, sometimes we get out of the will of God and God
has to chasten us. And sometimes we have storms we
could say almost of our own making.
But let's remember that not every storm in the Christian
life is chastisement. Sometimes God allows storms of
refinement and, and sometimes believers can get all confused.
They say, pastor, I don't understand because I, I believed
I was moving in the direction of the will of God.
I believe I was being obedient to God and, and, and Christians
can get all confused. I don't understand because I was
just trying to do what I believed God wanted me to do.
And all of a sudden this storm has erupted in my life.
Am I out of the will of God? Am I, am I following the, the
wrong direction here? No, it could be an indicator
you're in the right, you're going in the right direction and
God has just allowed that storm in your life, not to chasten
you, but to refine you. His Providence placed me in the
storm. The constraint of the command,
verse 45 there and then the consequence of the command verse
47 to the first part of 48. We note the timing of the storm.
It says when the even was come when the even was come that even
here refers to according to Robertson, to the second or late
evening around 6:00 PM John's Gospel notes that it was now
dark. John 617 and storms often come
in night seasons, don't they of life.
There are night seasons in the Christian life when things get
dark, when there's winds and waves and things can feel very
distressing. But remember, if you're in the
will of God and a storm comes your way, His Providence placed
you in the storm. His Providence placed you in the
storm. And so there we find the
apostles. There's wind, there's waves,
they are toiling. In rowing, that word toiling
literally means tortured. It's the same Greek word
translated torment 8 times in the New Testament and pain once.
And so this storm was causing them some pain.
And there is pain in the Christian life.
There is struggle in the Christian life.
This is where the prosperity teachers do do us a great
disservice by teaching us or giving us the idea that that to
be a Christian means you'll always be healthy, wealthy and
wise. And there's no problems in the
Christian life. No, there are times of pain.
There are seasons of trial. There are seasons of of
disappointment. There are trials and tests that
come our way. But the point is, if God allows
that in your life, if He's allowing some pain in your life,
it is to make you more life. Christ, He has a purpose in that
pain. So remember that in storms.
His Providence placed me in the storm #2 His prayers sustain me
in the storm, in the storms of life.
We need to remember His Providence placed me in the
storm. And let me just say this, even
if you are, even if you have gotten out of God's will and
you're being chastened, the answer is still the Lord in that
storm. Or if you've made, if it's a
storm of your own own making, Christ is still the solution.
His Providence placed me in the storm, but then very touchingly,
his prayers sustained me in the storm.
Look at verse 46. And when the Eden was come, the
ship was in the midst of the sea.
Sorry, verse 46. And he and when he had sent them
away, pardon me, verse 46, he departed into a mountain to
pray. I love that.
Now, exactly what he was praying at that time we don't know, but
I suggest he was probably praying for those disciples as
they struggled there out on the sea.
We know for sure that our Lord Jesus Christ prays for us,
because Romans 834 says is who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, Yeah, rather that he's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh
intercession for us. Hebrews 725 says Wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come under God,
by him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
You know, I don't know about you, but in the Christian life
when I'm going through something, just to know that
other believers of praying is a great comfort.
But have believers say to you, brother, I'm praying for you.
That brings comfort, doesn't it? But think about the fact tonight
that the Lord Jesus is praying for you.
If you can be encouraged by the fact that other believers pray
for you, how much more should you be encouraged in your storm
to know that your Savior is praying for you?
And if he pray, if He's praying for you, that means He loves
you. That means He hasn't forsaken
you in the storm you're going through.
He has a purpose in that storm. And you can be assured that
whatever he's praying, it's according to the perfect will of
God. I love that phrase there.
And he saw them. Verse 48.
Can you see the picture there here?
The disciples, they're in the boat and you try and put
yourself in the scene there and the, the waves are crashing over
the side and, and, and we've been to the Sea of Galilee and
it can be beautiful and calm and just so picturesque.
But then because it's a, it's a it, it, it, it's surrounded by
mountains, you can get a wind that just comes, it comes, you
know, it comes down those, those wind tunnels, as it were, or
down those valleys and it hits the lake and it can just turn
the Sea of Galilee into a seething cauldron very, very
quickly. And so it's dark.
The even has come. And here they are.
They can't see the Lord, but the Lord can see them.
And bear that in mind in your storm, you may feel like,
where's the Lord in all of this? And you can feel like he's
forsaking you, but just know this God knows exactly where you
are and he knows what is happening.
And the Lord saw them there toiling.
He saw them struggling in the storm.
You say, why did he allow them to go through that for hour
after hour? Was was it because he was cruel?
No, because the Lord Jesus had a purpose in placing them in that
storm. So you may feel you can't see
the Lord in your storm, but rest assured, He sees you.
His prayers sustain me in the storm.
There's Christ in the mountain praying as he looks upon them.
What a picture, our Lord Jesus, He's able to see us from that
vantage point, isn't He? Of course we understand.
He's with us, the New Testament truth.
He indwells us. He never forsakes us.
But, but what a beautiful picture here of the intercessory
ministry of the Lord Jesus, praying for those disciples.
His prayers sustain me in the storm.
I don't think we think enough about the intercessory ministry
of the Lord Jesus. And so I just don't know how I
got through that season. I don't know how I came through
that storm. No doubt His prayers sustained
and preserved you #3 #3 His presence meets me in the storm.
His Presence meets me in the storm.
So His Providence placed me in the storm.
His prayers sustained me in the storm.
And three, His presence meets me in the storm.
Look at verse 48. And he saw them toiling and
rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them.
And about the fourth watch of the night, He cometh unto them,
walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.
Consider the moment of His coming.
The moment of His coming. The Bible tells us that He came
at the 4th watch of the night. Now the Romans divided the night
into 4 watches. The first was 6:00 to 9:00 PM,
the 2nd from 9:00 to 12:00 PM, the 3rd from 12:00 to 3:00 AM,
and the 4th from 3:00 to 6:00 AM.
And so that means the disciples had been rowing somewhere in the
order of 9 to 12 hours, and the Lord Jesus came to them in that
4th watch somewhere there between 3:00 and 6:00 AM in the
morning. And the point is, the Lord Jesus
showed up not one minute early, not one minute late, right on
time. Do you know the Lord Jesus will
only allow that storm in your life for as long as He knows
it's necessary? That's right.
And can you see Him now? He's coming to their aid just at
the right time and just at the right place.
He's never early, never late, but always right on time, in
accordance with His perfect will for our lives.
The moment of His coming. Aren't you thankful for that?
The Lord knows how much we can take, and He touches our lives.
He makes His presence known just when we need it.
The miracle of His coming. The moment of His coming, The
miracle of His coming. Here He comes, walking upon the
sea. Oh, what a beautiful, majestic
picture that is. Here we have Jesus Christ, the
Son of God, God Incarnate. And don't you?
Don't you see the picture answer there?
What threatened to be over their heads was under his feet.
The storm that was over their heads was already under his
feet. Bear that in mind.
You say this storm is so big. I feel like it's going to sink
me. I feel like it's going to ruin
me. Just remember that.
All those trials, all those tests, all those difficulties
you're going through, they're under his feet.
They're under his feet, and this is actually a demonstration of
Christ's deity, because Job, when Speaking of God, said in
Job 9 verse 8, which alone spreadeth out the heavens and
treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
Gee, Campbell Morgan wrote. It is too dark for you to see
him yet, but he is coming. He cannot leave you alone to
perish. And mark this, he is coming over
the very waves you are most afraid of.
The very waves that threaten to buff it and break you to pieces
are the pavement for his blessed feet.
And I don't know most of you. I've met some of you over the
over this last few days and I don't know where you're at
tonight, but maybe that's where you're at.
You say. I just feel like I'm like those
disciples just toiling in and I'm feeling some pain and I'm
just wondering when that storm is going to be over.
And I feel like those waves pastor are going to just crash
in and I'm just going to, I don't know.
I'm if I'm going to make it in the Christian life.
He's coming to you, Christian. He's coming to you at the right
time. And remember that all those
things that would seem to overwhelm you are under His
control #4 His precepts. Comfort me in the storm.
When stormy winds blow, we need to remember.
His Providence placed me in the storm.
His prayers sustained me in the storm.
His presence meets me in the storm.
His precepts comfort me in the storm.
Look at verse 49 and 50. But when they saw Him walking
upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried
out, for they all saw him and were troubled.
And immediately he talked with them, and saith unto them, Be of
good cheer it is, I be not afraid.
Can you see how the Word of God, the word of Christ, the words
from the lips of the Son of God, brought peace, brought joy, and
brought comfort to the disciples in that storm?
And how many of you have found the word of God a comfort in
your storm? How many of you have found that
you've been going through a difficult time in your life and
you've opened the pages of God's word and how God has spoken to
you through his word and calm and peace has has just washed
over your soul. Thank God for the precepts of
God in the storm. His precepts comfort me in the
storm. And they needed that because
they were confused. They were confused.
But when they saw Him walking upon the sea, look at this verse
39. They supposed it had been a
spirit and cried out. We could say the disciples erred
mentally in their storm. They supposed the word means to
think or to imagine as true. You know, there was a problem in
the disciples thinking in that storm.
And bear that in mind, Dear believer, Sometimes when you're
going through a trial, your thoughts are not going to be
right. Sometimes when you're going
through a storm, your perceptions are going to be
wrong. And I'll tell our people back
home, I say do not look to your mind as an infallible source of
truth. Did you know you're you can be
way out in here? Your thinking is not an
infallible source of truth. But I thought that's the
problem. You thought wrong.
No, seriously, our thoughts can lead us astray and that's why we
need our thoughts so often corrected by God's thoughts.
And bear that in mind. I'm not making a lot of your
trial, but I've seen it time and time again and I've seen it in
my own life. When when you're in the midst of
the storm, your thoughts can just be wrong.
And they suppose that they saw a spirit.
The, the Greek word there is the word phantom or forms the basis
of our English word phantom. They thought they saw a ghost,
but it was actually the Lord. And sometimes when we're in a
trial, we can sometimes fail to discern the movement of our
Savior in that storm. And we may sometimes
misunderstand and think that it's something evil.
It could actually be the Lord. I understand we have to be alert
because the devil's also out there trying to distract us, but
in this case it was the Lord moving in that storm and they
failed to discern that it was Him, John Butler wrote.
How often in our troubles we fail to discern the times and
situations correctly, but see dreadful phantoms in our
troubles when it is crossed, working for us.
Like the disciples, there is so much flesh in US compared to our
faith. So we could say they erred
mentally and then they erred emotionally.
They cried out and the two are linked.
The word, the phrase they cried out means to scream in terror.
These were strong men. Don't forget that.
I mean, they've been toiling and rowing for, you know, 9 to 12
hours. These were strong fishermen.
These men knew that late, but they were in fear.
And when we err mentally, we often err emotionally, don't we?
We're troubled. But what grace and love from our
Lord Jesus to simply speak that word of peace.
You see, there was a storm on the outside for the disciples,
but there was a storm going on the inside too.
And sometimes it can be like that for us.
Circumstances around us can be battering our lives.
And sometimes we have a big fight, not only with those
external circumstances, but with our internal, with the internal
storm as well, in our thoughts and in our emotions.
And that's where his precepts bring comfort in the storm and
just quieten down those troubled thoughts and fears.
And so our Lord Jesus said, be of good cheer.
It is I be not afraid He exhausts them to be joyful.
He exhausts them not to be fearful.
How often does our Lord tell us how often does the word of God
tell us do not be afraid, fear not you count them up.
I don't know there's there's well over 300 times I believe in
the Bible where we have the phrase essentially fear not or
words to that effect. You say, why does God tell us so
often fear not, fear not, fear not because we just we're so
fearful. Fear not be of good cheer.
It is I be not afraid. Now what I what I love here is
that between the command be of good cheer and the command be
not afraid stands I am. You see that be of good cheer.
It is I be not afraid, and that's significant.
And that's important because the only way those commands are
possible are by the I am without the I am at the sender of those
two commands. They are completely impossible
and you say, I bet it's impossible, pastor, for me to be
of good cheer with what I'm going through.
It's impossible for me to to not be afraid.
Yes, it is in your human strength.
But if you have the I am in your life, then by God's grace and by
his power you can be of good cheer and you cannot be afraid.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
So tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword, as it is written, for thy sake,
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than Congress through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor
principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to
come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus. You say I'm going through a
storm. I don't.
I just don't know how I'm going to get through it and I just
don't know what the the outcome will be.
I can assure you of this. That storm will never sever you
from the love of Christ. It cannot sever you from the
love of Christ. And if you're saved, the great I
am, the Lord Jesus indwells you, and therefore being of good
cheer and not being afraid is made possible by his power.
He's not our Lord Jesus the great I am.
It is I comes from the Greek word words ego Amy, I am our
Lord Jesus is the great I am Jesus said I am the bread of
life. I am the light of the world.
I am the door. I am the Good Shepherd.
I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the way, the truth and the life.
I am the true vine. Our Lord Jesus is the I am, so
his precepts comfort me in the storm #5 His power enables me in
the storm. And here I'm drawing on
Matthew's account. It's good to draw on the
different accounts there if you want to turn there.
Matthew 1428 to 31. We have the account of Peter
walking on the water. You're probably familiar, no
doubt, with that passage, But his power enables me in the
storm. And here the Peter said, Lord,
if it be thou, bid me come to thee on the water, and I'll just
turn there. Matthew 14, just for a moment.
Matthew chapter 14 verse 28 to 31.
Matthew 14 verse 28 to 31. And Peter answered him and said,
Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.
And he said, come. When Peter was come down out of
the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
When he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to
sink. He cried, saying, Lord, save me.
Immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him,
and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst
thou doubt? And when they were coming to the
ship, the wind ceased. Look at the faith of Peter, the
faith of Peter. Now Peter could be impulsive,
but on the positive side he was at least willing to step out of
the boat. And the Lord Jesus said to him,
Come. And you think about it, that one
word come made Peter's walking on the water possible.
Because the Christian life, if you're going to walk the
Christian life, it must be based upon divine revelation that the
Christian life has to be walked according to the word of God.
And that one word from the lips of the Son of God, come, enable
Peter to do the impossible and walk upon the water.
And you need to understand something in the Christian life,
that the Christian life from start to finish is an impossible
life. It's an impossible walk in and
of ourselves. It takes divine power to be able
to walk the Christian life. The faith of Peter, the failure
of Peter. Something happened to Peter's
focus, which led to something happening to Peter's faith,
which led to something happening to his footing.
Peter turned his eyes from the Lord to the circumstances around
him. His faith vaulted, and then his
feet began to sink. We have to be careful, don't we
in the storm, that we don't take our eyes off the Lord Jesus.
That's so easy. Look at the wind, look at the
waves, look at what's going on around me.
When you do that, you begin to sink.
Look to the Lord Jesus in your storm.
Keep looking to the Lord Jesus in your trial.
Keep looking to the Lord Jesus in that season of testing that
you're going through. And immediately Jesus stretched
forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of
little faith, wherefore did sour doubt?
He cried out to the Lord there, and the Lord had pity upon him.
Aren't you thankful that the Lord is there to lift us up when
we falter? The Lord is so merciful to us,
we our faith is so weak, but He's there to lift us when our
faith falters. But the point here is that His
power enables me in the storm, enables you to walk across the
waves, the very waves that seem to threaten you.
Number six, His peace calms me in the storm.
Back to Mark. Chapter 6.
His peace calms me in the storm. And he went up unto them into
the ship, and the wind ceased. They were so amazed in
themselves beyond measure and wondered, our Lord Jesus
delivers in the storm and he delivers from the storm.
The Bible tells us in John chapter 6, verse 21.
Then they willingly received him into the ship and immediately
the ship was at the land whither they went.
And so God did a miracle. The Lord Jesus did a miracle
there as he entered the ship, the ship not only did the storm
cease, but immediately the boat arrived at the destination.
You say, oh surely you don't really believe that that
actually happened. You're silly not to believe that
if the Son of God, the Creator of the universe is in the boat,
anything can happen immediately. Literally, He ended the boat and
immediately that boat appeared on the other side exactly where
they were going. And the point is, the Lord Jesus
peace calmed the storm. His peace calms me in the storm.
He will not allow that storm to go one minute longer in your
life than He has ordained #7 number 77.
His purging refines me in the storm.
Look at verse 52. For they considered not the
miracle of the loaves, for their heart was Their heart was you
with Me there in verse 52? Read it with me on the count of
212. For they considered not the
miracle of the loaves, for their heart was hardened.
Interesting. No doubt this is partly why the
Lord Jesus allowed them to go through the storm, because there
was a subtle heart condition developing in the apostles that
needed to be addressed. No, storms have a way of
bringing spiritual blind spots in our lives to the surface.
They do. Maybe you've heard the
illustration of the tea bag. You put the tea bag into the hot
water. The hot water, it simply reveals
what's in the tea bag. And there was a problem that had
developed in the apostles. We could say they had a head
problem. They considered not and they had
a heart problem. Their heart was hardened and
they considered not. The miracle of the loaves.
I mean, you go back to the context there.
And before the apostles got into that boat, they had just
witnessed one of the greatest miracles our Lord ever
performed, the miracle of the feeding of the 5000.
And they should have considered that when they were in that
storm. And I don't know what it is.
It's just, it's just because we're so weak, we do tend to
forget, don't we? When we get into a storm, we
forget all of the demonstrations of God's power that we've
already seen in our lives. But we should consider what He
has done. It'll help you in your storm if
you do that. Because sometimes we just forget
all of what God has done and all of his sustaining grace and
sustaining power in our lives to that point.
And that's exactly what happened in the disciples lives.
They had just witnessed that mighty miracle and yet in the
storm they didn't even consider it.
Before we're too hard on them, I think we should admit that we
tend to do the same. And God does demonstrate his
power on our behalf, doesn't He? And he gets us through different
things, and He demonstrates His provision for us in miraculous
ways. But how we are like the
disciples, how we so quickly forget and fail to consider all
of God's grace and all of God's goodness in our lives up to that
point when we find ourselves in a storm.
And so the storm was there, no doubt, to refine them.
They had a head problem, but they had a heart problem, and
ultimately that heart problem was the source of the head
problem, for their heart was hardened.
That's interesting. The word hardened there means
calloused. That same word is translated
blind two times in the New Testament.
There was a callousness of heart developing in the apostles, even
in the face of one of Christ's most significant miracles.
Our hearts are just so subtle. We can be seeing God work and
seeing God do mighty things and just start to develop an
indifference to it. In fact, I've seen Christians
who frankly get a very ungrateful spirit and they stop
really seeing all that God is doing and being appreciative of
what all of God is doing. John Phillips put it well.
He said the disciples weren't gospel hardened, they were glory
hardened. Don't take for granted when God
is working in the church, don't let your heart go sour.
Don't let your heart with God's grace, don't let your heart get
hardened. And, and this is the nature of
the human heart, that even even in the face of such miracles and
such wonders of God's power being displayed, we can start to
grow cold and hard. And that's where God does allow
us at times to go through storms to purge us, to refine us.
We could say storms can soften our hearts if we respond to them
in the right way. And so keep those truths in
mind. I trust that those 7 truths will
be anchors to you as you go through the storms of life.
Remember when stormy winds blow. His Providence placed me in the
storm. His prayers will sustain me in
the storm. His presence meets me in the
storm, His precepts comfort me in the storm, His power enables
me in the storm. His peace calms me in the storm,
and His purging refines me in the storm.
Let the Lord have His way in your life.
In that storm you look at the life of Job and what he went
through and as you just look at the whole picture you will
notice that apart from Job, there were really 2 key
characters in the Job story, God and Satan.
God's purpose in Job's trial was to perfect Job and glorify
himself. Satan's agenda in that trial was
to destroy God, destroy Job, and discredit God.
You know, it really came down to Job and Job's willingness to
submit to what God was trying to do in that trial rather than
what Satan was trying to do. And keep that in mind in your
life as you're going through a test, going through a trial.
God is working for your good and His glory always, in fact,
probably around the other way when it comes to the order.
He's working for His glory and your good.
But Satan wants to use that same trial or wants to get involved
in that trial and use that trial in some way, or get involved in
a way to destroy you and bring discredit to God.
I heard a great message on that life of Job once, and it was
simply this. To whose purposes will you
yield? Make sure you yield to what the
Lord is trying to do in your life in that trial, not what the
devil is trying to do. So we've got to stay close to
the Lord because storms can be dangerous times for us
spiritually, and I experienced this myself not too long ago.
In 2024, my father passed away unexpectedly and when he was
unwell, we knew that he probably didn't have many years to live.
He'd go on dialysis for his kidneys.
And you know, we'd but we'd had hopes that he would live for
maybe another 2345 years maybe. And I was very shocked.
On one Monday morning I had my phone off because I have have
Mondays off for rest. And there was a knock on the
door and my brother who's also our assistant pastor was there.
And I thought, well, what's happened?
My first thought was what's happened in the church, who's
just done something terrible, you know, And he said you'd
better come in, you'd better sit down and let him in.
He said Dad passed away last night.
And I'm just going to be honest with you, for a number of months
I really struggled, really struggled with even some doubts,
just the shock factor. And it even surprised me just
just how weak I was really. Now, in my heart of hearts, I
knew he's with the Lord. And I knew, you know, I knew all
the Bible verses, but it was just a period of struggle for
me. So what did you do?
Well, I just endeavored to stay close to the Lord, just kept
reassuring myself in the promises of God's word.
And the Lord eventually brought me out of that dark storm and
out the other side. And God will do that for you,
too. There are seasons where things
in the Christian life where there's dark, darkness and
there's wind and there's waves and we can feel confused,
disorientated. The solution is not to give up
on the Lord. The solution is not to throw
away the Word of God. The solution is to keep your
eyes fixed on the Lord and even at times when you don't sense
His presence, just know He is there, even if you don't feel
it, and know that He will bring you through it.
Just bathe your soul in the Word of God.
Cling to the promises of God and the Lord will bring you out the
other side of that trial. And it really did happen that
way for me. I'm not saying I'm completely
over the grief, but it just brought me through the Lord
brought me through that to where I felt like the sun came out
again. It's hard, you know, as AI
think, part of it was as a, as a, as a young preacher, having
a, a godly father who'd been a pastor for 50 years, he was a
great source of counsel, encouragement, and to have that
removed was there's a real sense of loss there.
And so storms, you have to be careful in storms that you don't
allow the devil to throw you off track.
Keep your eyes on the Lord and let him accomplish in you what
he wants to accomplish in that storm.
Thank you, Pastor.