Encounters With God: "Even the Wind and the Sea Obey Him." | Part 4

Welcome to the Awakening Church Podcast.

We pray this message encourages you and provides the hope and light of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for tuning in.

We are so glad that you are here this morning for this final week of our series, Encounters with God.

My name is Ashley.

I'm one of the pastors here.

And I'm so thrilled to be preaching again this morning.

And today we're closing out this series that we've been in, Encounters with God.

And each week of this series, we have looked at people in Scripture who had personal encounters with God.

It's a beautiful thing to be able to have this catalog, this scripture, of God's faithfulness at our fingertips, and an even more beautiful thing to be assured that the God of the Bible still wants to meet with people today.

As we seek to meet with God in our everyday lives, the stories in the Bible are able to inform and encourage us.

Last week we talked about how God's presence, through the Spirit dwelling in us, is with us everywhere that we go.

The place that we are standing is holy ground.

I gave some ways that we can encounter God in our regular, ordinary life.

And all of that is true and helpful and important, but sometimes it's just a nice thought, right?

Because sometimes life doesn't feel normal or ordinary.

What about the times when we're going through something really difficult, and every waking moment feels like we're in turmoil?

Because church, life is hard.

I don't need to tell you that.

Life is hard.

Life is hard when you've lost your job, when you're in the middle of a physical health crisis, when you're in a mental health crisis, moving houses or needing to find a new roommate, intense financial stress, making a big life decision about what school to attend or job to take or city to live in.

When you get to a breaking point in your marriage, when you're parenting a kid who's struggling and going through something terrible, when you have a death of someone close to you, when you're walking through miscarriage or infertility, when you're caring for parents who are aging or sick, a romantic relationship or a close friendship that ended.

Or having friends or family members going through any of those things, or any others that you might be thinking of.

Life is hard.

Today is our final week of this series, and this sermon is coming directly out of the message that God has been preaching to my heart over the last year or so.

This is one that I've kept a little more tucked away.

I wasn't even planning to preach this when we planned this series, but I felt the Lord press that this is the message that our church needed as the final week of this series, that one that he's been preaching personally to me for this last year.

So, this is a step of faith for me this morning as I've been following his leading for our church to close out this series.

Sound good?

Are you with me?

All right, let's get right into the scripture.

This encounter with God is found in three of the Gospels, and today we're gonna focus on the way that Mark tells this story about Jesus and his disciples.

Jesus had spent the day teaching a crowd who had gathered around him near a lake, and Mark 4 opens like this.

Jesus began to teach by the lake.

The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge.

He taught them many things by parables.

So Jesus had been teaching the crowd all day, and when the evening came, he decided that it was time for him and his disciples to leave the crowd.

And as we read this story, keep in mind that a few of these disciples were fishermen before Jesus called them to follow him.

So they were incredibly familiar and probably excellent at navigating a boat across the sea.

So let's read Mark 4, starting in verse 35.

On that day when evening had come, Jesus told them, Let's cross over to the other side of the sea.

So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat, and other boats were with him.

A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion.

So they woke him up and said to him, Teacher, don't you care that we're going to die?

He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Silence, be still.

The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Then he said to them, Why are you so afraid?

Do you still have no faith?

And they were terrified and asked one another, Who then is this?

Even the wind and the sea obey him.

Church, that is the word of the Lord this morning.

Storms on the Sea of Galilee were known for their suddenness and violent nature.

This sea is located about 700 feet below sea level in a valley of mountains that form this natural basin.

Winds from the mountains funnel down to the lake, and when the cold air meets the warm air in this basin, an intense storm develops suddenly.

Now, this translation that we read said that it's great windstorm, which makes sense when we learn how these storms happen on the Sea of Galilee.

But other translations call this storm a squall.

Now, this was something I had never heard of, so naturally I Googled it.

A squall is defined as this: a sudden, violent gust of wind or localized storm.

It's short and intense.

Sudden and intense.

Isn't this how hard times in our lives usually feel?

Storms that are sudden and intense.

We don't usually have a lot of time, a lot of notice, a lot of time of notice for these storms, and they usually overtake our entire lives.

Walking through these storms takes every bit of free time and energy that we have, and they come on so suddenly that we feel knocked over.

As I was learning about what a squall is, an alternative definition caught my attention.

A squall is also defined as a baby crying noisily and continuously or a loud cry.

We see here that in the midst of the storm, the disciples are crying out to Jesus.

And in a storm that intense, they would have been calling out to him in this loud voice.

Notice what they say to him here.

They didn't ask him to save them or to stop the storm.

Instead, they said, Don't you care that we're going to die?

This question came out of fear.

They were afraid of the destruction of this storm.

What they were experiencing was real.

The waves were coming over the sides of the boat, and the boat was filling with water.

Of course they were afraid.

Of course they thought that they weren't gonna make it through this storm.

And when Jesus said at the beginning, let's cross over to the other side of the sea, he already knew that this storm was coming.

But you know what the disciples didn't say?

They didn't say, I can't believe you had us go this route.

Or look what you did, Jesus.

They asked if he actually cared about what was going to happen to them.

They were concerned about the great danger that they were in.

But what Jesus saw was that the greatest danger that they were in wasn't the storm, but it was their unbelief, their lack of trust in him.

The emphasis of this story is not how he rescued the disciples from danger, but it's on who Jesus is as the Savior.

Jesus spoke to the wind and the sea with the authority of God Himself, with power over the wind and the sea.

The calming of the sea and the wind was not only this demonstration of power, but God used this storm to reveal Jesus' identity as the Savior.

The disciples see the wind cease and the storm calm, and they immediately recognize what this means about who Jesus is.

In their time, there were many ancient stories of powerful people who could control and subdue forces of nature.

But in Jewish tradition, that power was reserved for only God Himself.

So when they saw that Jesus held that power, that authority over nature, they understood that this was the savior that their new their Old Testament scriptures had been pointing to.

God uses the storms in our lives to reveal Himself, to reveal our Savior.

These storms in our lives show us that we can't save ourselves.

Only Jesus can do that.

Only He can be our Savior, a Savior who is with us through the storms.

This truth has been what I've been sitting in for the last year.

I've dealt with anxiety since college, and in the last year it's spiked up to these new levels.

I felt it in my body mainly with a racing heart, and it feels hard to breathe, and I'm not sleeping well.

But the thing that I feel most is this swirling in my chest.

All the emotions that I need to sort through at any given time feel as if they're physically swirling around inside of me.

And the swirling gets bigger and more intense anytime that I'm in a stormy season.

And I've prayed over and over these words of Jesus peace be still.

That Jesus calmed the storm in this story so he can calm what feels like a storm inside me.

And about six months into this prayer and reading this story over and over again and searching for Jesus in the midst of the storm, asking him, Jesus, show up in this anxiety, show up in this panic so that I can have your peace.

That's when it hit me that Jesus was already in the boat.

The disciples were in the storm and crying out to Jesus to save them, and Jesus was already there.

So this swirling storm that I have in my chest, calling back to the last week, if I have the Spirit of God dwelling in me, then he's already there.

Jesus is already in the boat with me.

So I don't need to ask him to show up in this storm because he's already here.

Psalm 23, 4 says, even though I walk through the darkest valley or the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

When we're in these storms of life and needing Jesus, no matter how dark it gets, we can have full confidence that even if it seems like he's asleep in the boat, he is here with us.

So here's what this means for us.

Number one, the storm can't destroy you if you have Jesus with you.

Whatever the storm is that you are walking through, it can't destroy you if you have Jesus with you.

The Apostle Paul talks about this in his letter to the Corinthians, the second letter.

First in chapter 11, he says, Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea.

This man went through some storms.

He also wrote about his travels in chapter one of the same book.

He said, We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia.

We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.

Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.

Have you ever felt that way?

Being under great pressure, that was far beyond your ability to endure, feeling like you're despairing of life itself.

I have.

But he continues and he says, but this happened that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.

On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us.

He has delivered us and he will deliver us again, and he will continue to deliver us.

This is pointing to the faithfulness of God.

And as we walk through these storms, we can remember previous storms that God has delivered us from, and we can have hope.

This is how Paul talked about storms and how we can too.

In the same book, chapter four, he writes, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.

We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed.

Paul reminds us of exactly what this story of Jesus and the disciples showed us: that God is the one who saves us.

That's what Jesus came to do.

So when we are hard-pressed, when we are perplexed, when we are persecuted, when we are struck down, we aren't crushed because Jesus has overcome every battle.

We aren't in despair because Jesus is where our hope is found.

We aren't abandoned because Jesus is in this boat with us, and we aren't destroyed because Jesus gives us life.

Whatever the storm is in your life, it can't destroy you if you have Jesus with you.

And second, not only will it not destroy you, but you can have peace in the midst of the storm.

Jesus spoke to the storm.

He said, silence, be still.

Different translations have a different word for this silence.

The NASB says, hush, be still.

The NIV says quiet, be still.

The ESV, peace, be still.

Silence, hush, quiet, peace, be still.

They're all Jesus bringing calm to this scene.

Now I have two kids, like I've said.

And when I first read this definition of squall, a baby crying noisily and continuously, I immediately thought of my babies.

These loud cries that they had as babies, and if we're honest, still now as kids, when they're calling out, when they're crying out in need, do I just sit idly by?

Does their dad just ignore them?

No, of course not.

We comfort them, we tend to their needs, I scoop them up and I say to them, hush, calm your body, be still.

I've got this.

Mama will take care of it.

I'll make sure you have what you need.

Hush, shh, be still, I've got this.

Doesn't that sound like how God might comfort us?

Hush, quiet, peace, be still.

I've got this.

I'll provide what you need.

The squall is the storm, but it's also our cries to him.

It's also what's happening internally as we battle through the circumstances around us.

And when God hears our cries, he has great empathy for us.

He sees not only our needs, but he sees us.

Growing up, I had a dad who lacked empathy.

He could only see himself.

He couldn't see past himself to see me and what I needed.

He couldn't see or understand when I was in distress.

He could only see how that distress that I was in affected him.

And many of us have that experience with people, don't we?

The friend who only talks about themselves and never asks how we're doing.

The family member who diminishes your pain saying it isn't that bad compared to what they're going through.

The doctor who tells you your test came back all normal, so nothing must be wrong, even though you know in your gut that something isn't right.

The person you thought was your friend carelessly posting on social media about some political issue that's deeply personal to you because you've walked through that very thing.

We face this lack of empathy all around us.

And it can bring us to a belief that no one cares about us, that no one understands us, and that we're on our own to face everything in this life.

But, church, that is a lie from the enemy.

It's a lie that no one cares about you because God cares deeply.

1 Peter 5:7 says, cast all your cares on him because he cares about you.

1 Peter 5:7

It's a lie that no one understands because Jesus understands pain.

Isaiah 53, 3 says he was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain, like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised and we held him in low esteem.

Jesus understands pain.

It's a lie that you are on your own because Jesus promised to be with you always.

Matthew 28, 20.

Jesus says, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

And it's a lie that we won't make it through, whatever storm we're facing, because Jesus has already won every battle.

Jesus says in John 16, 33, in this world you will have trouble, but take heart.

I have overcome the world.

We can have peace in the storms of life because God will carry us through.

He cares for you, he sees you.

You can only receive empathy when you have truly been seen.

And we heard in week two of this series that God is the one who sees us.

When it feels like no one understands or no one cares, we can have great peace knowing that God does, that he sees us, that he understands.

Psalm 107, 28 through 30 says, Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.

He stilled the storm to a whisper.

The waves of the sea were hushed.

They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.

We cry out to God in our trouble.

He has empathy for us and he delivers us.

He calms the storm around us and inside us and he brings us to the other side.

Now here's what I'm not saying.

I'm not saying that God is just gonna end every painful storm in our lives.

One day, when we get to eternity, he will wipe every tear from every eye, and there will be no more sorrow or suffering.

But here on earth, we have suffering, we have pain, we have storms.

That's guaranteed back in John 16, 33, where Jesus says, you will have trouble.

But here's what I am saying about the state our souls can be in if we are tethered to Jesus.

That you can be heartbroken and still have peace from Jesus.

You cannot know what's coming next in your life, and you can still have peace from Jesus.

You can have a sick body and you can still have peace from Jesus.

You can be living with great grief and still have peace from Jesus.

And you can be at the end of your rope in the darkest valley and still have peace from Jesus.

As I walk through the darkest valley, you are with me.

He walks with us through the darkness.

He is in the boat with us in the midst of the storm.

You're going to make it to the other side.

And God will be with you and comfort you along the way because he's already in the boat with you.

Isaiah 12, 2 says, Surely God is my salvation.

I will trust and not be afraid.

The Lord, the Lord Himself is my strength and my defense, and He has become my salvation.

The Lord Himself.

The disciples were afraid in the boat because they didn't know the true identity of who was in the boat with them.

They were afraid that the storm was going to destroy them and that Jesus didn't care.

But when they encountered the man that was with them, who Jesus really was, they saw their salvation.

They met their Savior.

And this is what we've been building to through this series.

An encounter with God isn't momentary.

And it isn't just what we get out of it.

When we encounter God, his character is revealed to us.

And the more we know about his character, the more we know him.

And the more we can trust him, the more peace we have when we're in the midst of the storm because we're confident that Jesus, our Savior, is in the boat with us.

As we've been seeking how we can encounter God in this series, we've been uncovering his character.

In week one, Robbie talked about how God is the answer to everything we need.

We think we know what we need, but really God is what we need.

He provides all sorts of other things for us to survive.

But the main thing is that God is what we need.

Week two, Carolyn gave us this beautiful testament of how God sees us.

He meets us where we are and he gives us a hope and a future.

God sees you just like he saw Hagar in the wilderness.

Then last week we saw when Moses encountered God in the burning bush, God was already there with him.

And now we get to have the Spirit of God dwelling within us, which means that God is with us wherever we are.

He is present.

He is the one who is present.

And that brings us to today, seeing how Jesus was already in the boat with the disciples in the midst of a terrible storm, and how the storms in our life reveal that Jesus is the only one who can save us.

When we draw our attention to God and discover his character through encountering him, this is what we see that God cares so deeply for us, that he rescued us, that he will provide all that we need, and that he is faithful to his people throughout all of time.

So to close our time today, I'm gonna read this psalm over us as a blessing because the words of scripture are always gonna be more powerful than mine.

So would you please stand, close your eyes if you're comfortable to and let these words of Psalm 23 and let the Spirit of God speak to whatever you need from the Lord today, and then we will worship together.

I have what I need.

He lets me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he renews my life, he leads me along the right paths for his name's sake.

Even when I go through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me.

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

Amen.

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