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#1115. The wind and the waves obey Him (6/8/24)

Community Church Putney Sermons

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  1. #1115. The wind and the waves obey Him (6/8/24)

  2. Welcome to this Come to Jesus Daily Devotional and our Summer Inspiration series. Today we continue to reflect on the theme of God being with us as we look at what we can learn as Jesus calms the storm.

  3. To watch this devotional, follow the link below:

  4. https://youtu.be/s3YzxxUw0vc

  5. ‘Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.” And they launched out.  But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm.  But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and marvelled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”’ (Luke 8:22-25)

    Luke 8:22–25

  6. This challenging and scary event is not an accident. None of us, as the organisers of the rain-soaked opening ceremony of Olympics in Paris know, can control the weather. However, Jesus can control the weather and He leads them into this storm in order to reveal something about themselves and something about Himself.

  7. The storms reveal the condition of our faith

  8. The storm reveals that their faith is weak, and He challenges them with, “Where is your faith?” The storms reveal whether we do truly believe that God is with us! In storms, with the addition of demonic temptation, we are tempted to believe that God doesn’t exist; or, if he does exist, that He doesn’t care for us; alternatively, we are tempted to believe that maybe He just lacks the power to look after us!

  9. The storms improve our faith

  10. Alternatively, storms, whilst revealing the true condition of our faith, also sanctify our faith. Storms grow us, rather like lifting heavy weights will grow muscles. The winds cause us to put our roots down further into God. The waves cause us to depend on God in a new way and find that He is present and sufficient. Storms cause us to ‘marvel’ and say, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”’ And those seek will find who Jesus is and that:

  11. ‘God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.’ (Psalm 46:1)

    Psalms 46:1