7.19.26 | Larry Truitt

Sugar Plain Friends Chruch: All hearts free. Everyone minded the Lord. Well if you have your Bibles, we're going to Mark chapter four. We're gonna start at verse thirty seven. Now before I start, this wasn't what I actually wanted to prepare for this this message today. all week all I could think of was being on the battlefield. I I don't know why. That wa that was the whole thing running through my mind. I thought, well, yeah, we're on a battlefield. maybe I I need to approach that. I couldn't get I couldn't get anything. Nothing. But it just kept running through my mind, you know, and I I thought, well, okay. So I started doing some search of scripture and nothing nothing. And you would think that all the things would be jumping out. And this particular scripture this morning just jumped out at me and I thought, well okay, let's see where this goes. So Mark chapter four verse thirty seven there arose a great storm Of wind and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder parts, that was Jesus, of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awake him and say to him, Master, carriest thou not that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still, and the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? And how is it that ye have no faith? Let me ask you this question. Have you ever thought the storm would never cease? You're doing everything that you know that you're supposed to do. Now I want you to understand something. Jesus told them what to do. He said, Get in the boat and we're gonna go to the other side. So they were in the will of God, wouldn't you agree? They were doing exactly what God asked them to do. They got in the boat and they started. Jesus decided it was time to take a nap, and he went to sleep. And while he was asleep, the storm came up. Now, these are men who are experienced. in the storms. They're fishermen. They know what to do. But the storm got ahead of them. And if you if you read the story, the boat started filling up with water. Now the boat is supposed to be on top of the water, not the water in the boat. And if you get water in the boat, you know what's going to happen. It's going down. And they probably had those buckets going just as fast as they could, getting the water out, but the storm was so strong that they couldn't do anything and they got scared. Now I have only been out on the ocean a few times. I didn't like it. I think Laverna and I went on on a sightseeing boat, wasn't it? At glass bottom you could s and they took us way out there and the waves started doing their thing. Now the people who were used to this, it didn't seem to matter to them, but I wasn't used to it and La Verna definitely wasn't used to it. And she got sick. And when she gets sick, you might understand other people can get sick. It was not a pleasant experience. And I'm I'm thinking, this this is not good. And finally they decided it was time to head back. Now they were saying the waves weren't very high. They were pretty high. They were scary high, let's put it that way. And they acted like nothing was going on. So when I read this I thought, if there was water coming inside, I would definitely be scared. And that's exactly where they were at. And the disciples didn't know what to do. And I imagine some of them may have said, Go go wake up the Lord. no, we can handle it. Go wake him up. No, no, no. We can handle this. We got this. And he got worse. And the next thing you know, they realize we better wake him up. And they're trying to wake him up. Finally, he wakes up and it's like, what's going on? Well, they asked the question, and I thought, wow, that took nerve. Don't you care that we're going to Parish. Well yeah, he would have cared. He was asleep. How'd he know what was going on? Now think about this for a moment. There are times in our life that we go through difficult times. We don't know how to handle it. But we think we got it handled. I have gone through situations in my life that I did not ask God for help. You know what happened? It got worse. And I thought, no, I can handle this. You know what happened? It got worse. And it got to the point that I could have said, the boat is filling up with water and I'm going down. Now, it doesn't matter what we think about situations, whether we can handle them or not. The bottom line is this God can handle. And in our pride, sometimes we think we can handle things without having God help us. The disciples waited to the very last moment. They thought the ship or the boat, whatever they were in, was going down. And they were fearful. Their faith was gone. Now, I have been in situations where. I have prayed and got no answer. Have you ever been there? And you think, wait a minute, the Lord said that if we asked that he would answer, why is it that I'm not getting an answer? And we think we're all alone. But here's the thing. The Lord was in the boat. He was there with them. He may have been asleep, but he was there with them. He may not have responded at that moment, but he was with them. And I think so many times we forget that we're not alone. Jesus said, I will never leave you nor forsake you, but I will be with you always. No. That doesn't mean the storm stopped. Did it. Just because the Lord was there. Now, think about this for a moment. God calls you to do something. You're in the will of God. You are doing exactly what he said. Just like the disciples. He said, get in the boat, we're going to the other side. That was God's will. We're going to the other side. We're going there. Okay? To get in the boat, he didn't say there would be no storm. He didn't say that. He said, get in the boat and let's go to the other side. They got in the boat and they started for the other side. The storm came up. And they were thinking, this is not good. They did not awake the Lord the moment the storm started. In fact, it got to the point that the waves were filling up the boat. And it looked like the boat was going to go down before they even asked the Lord for help. How many times have we done that? We know God has called us to do something. And we attempt to do it. And the next thing you know, we're in a storm. Looks like we're sinking, and we're not asking the Lord for help. He had to be awakened, and that was what they were holding off on. God wants us to ask when the battle, the storm, whatever we're in, gets more than we can handle. He wants us to turn it over to him. That's pretty simple, isn't it? But we don't. We don't. We think we can handle it on our own. And I guess the older I get, the more I realize there's a lot of things I can handle. I don't like storms in my life. Do you? I don't. I don't even like little downpours anymore. I I just I want sunshine and breezes. That's what I want in my life, you know? And it doesn't happen that way. And God never promised us that would happen. He said there would be trials, tribulations, and testing. That's what's going to come. And we have to go through storms in our life. He didn't say get in the boat. There's not going to be a storm. The breeze is going to take us across and everything is going to be okay. He said, get in the boat and let's go. They got in the boat, they started, and they had storms. We will have storms in our life. How we approach that is important. When I was young, I was stupid. I did things, I did things that if I had a guardian angel, they were working overtime. I I've seen I've seen these little cartoons why men don't live long, you know, and they there's they're just doing stupid things. And I thought, that looks so stupid to me. You understand what I'm saying? And and and we we do that in our spiritual life. We do things that God is shaking his head saying, I thought you were smarter than that. Why did you do why did you say that? And then we pay for the storm. The storm comes. I mean, it's it's not one of these gradual it there, boom, the storm, and we're right in the middle of it because we didn't pay attention to what God wanted us to do. We are in God's will, but He has us to do certain things. And that's all based upon our faith, isn't it? Because what did he say to the disciples? What did he say? What happened to your faith, boys? What happened? I I thought we had this. How many times? How many times have I done something for you? Think about this. These men have been with Jesus when he fed five thousand. That's amazing, isn't it? That was a miracle. Although although the scripture says the disciples didn't consider it a miracle. You probably don't remember that little phrase in there. The disciples didn't consider it a miracle. But it was. It was a miracle. The ten lepers, remember that story? The disciples were there and here they healed the lepers. that that was a miracle. The blind man? That was a miracle. The lame man? That was a miracle. He raised Children from the dead, that was a miracle, wouldn't you agree? All of these things that God has done for they forgot every one of them. Every one of they forgot. And here they are afraid that they're going down in the storm. And he said, Where's your faith? Where's your faith? We do that all the time. You know that? We allow things to come into our life, put us in a turmoil, get us all worked up, and our life just goes the wrong direction. And God is saying, You know all the times I've come to you know all the times I have blessed you and you forgot all about those and you were worried about this storm? Where's your faith? Where's your faith? We are all going to face storms. Every one of us. I don't care who you are. And I know we we may want cool breezes, sunshine. That may be what we want. But that one promised to us. No place did God say it's going to give us cool breezes and sunshine and no storms. He didn't say that. In fact, he told us the opposite. We're going to have trials, tribulations, we're going to go through difficult times. And all he asked is that we have faith. Now each one of us we go through different things. Some people the storm is their health. I I think when I turned seventy my life fell apart. every time I go see a doctor, it's something else. I'm almost afraid to even talk to a doctor anymore. Because I'm about to find out something else is wrong me. I got a box of pills I gotta take every day to stay alive. And and I wonder what else is going to happen. And I got to thinking about that this week. minute I was putting this together. There are a lot of people that is very difficult for them. There are people going through health issues I I don't think I can go through. And somebody says, Well you got a lot. Yeah, but I don't have any pain. I don't have pain. I don't I'm not suffering. And yet I know people that they have lust and they're their life is just miserable because of what they're going through and and I have to thank God I have no pain. I thank him for that. And whatever else comes I I've resolved. I've gotta thank God for that. But people have health issues and struggle serious. It's a storm. It's not cool breezes and sunshine. It's misery. And then there are people financially they can't make it. Do you realize how fragile our lives are? Our lives are so fragile. yeah. I am amazed at the number of people when tragedy comes and they lose absolutely everything they have. Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes. lose everything. No insurance to cover, whatever. And I I wonder how are they going to get through that? How are they going to get through that? That that is devastating. And yet God said, I'm in the boat. I'm here with you. I'll take care of you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I don't know about you. But the older I get, the more I realise I have to depend upon God. There was a time in my life I would do things I wouldn't even pray about it. You say, Well, y you tell people to pray about things. Yeah, I but I can handle it myself. I didn't need God's help. And then I find out I need his help and it's it's always too late. You've made a mess of things, but that that was the way it was. And you you tell people you ought to ask God for guidance and seek his wisdom before you do things. But most of the time we don't. We don't. I have a good job, I I make enough money, I don't have to have have God help me out. When we were in Wyoming I had to learn to live by faith. I'm serious. One month we got eighty seven dollars for the entire month. That's what we lived on. Eighty seven dollars. I don't know if we well, Vernon really even remembers that. And I put most of that back into the mission because I thought, you know, God's gonna take care of us. And we had no money, had no gas in the car. It was three miles to the post office. We lived in town, but you have to understand a town wasn't town like we have here. It was three miles to the close up. I didn't have enough gas to go to the post office and get back home unless we got money. I don't know how many times I went to the post office. Walk the three miles there, open up the mailbox, and nothing. And I would walk back home and I would be saying, Lord, I thought you were going to take care of us. We need some help. And hope the next day it was gonna be better. Walk back three miles again, open the door, nothing. Now I was beginning to wonder if God was even there because you can pray, but nothing happens. And I wasn't smart enough to know that he was teaching me a lesson. You know? And I got a little discouraged. A little. And I was beginning to wonder, are we gonna starve to death? And then somebody would bring food to us, somebody would take care of a need. God was there, but I wasn't seeing it. I was expecting him to work one way and he worked another. And it took me quite a while. Then I started doing it a little different. Instead of thinking, Lord, maybe there's some check or something waiting in the mailbox, if I was on empty, I got in the car and drove because I expected the Lord to have something there. And you know what? Every time there was something there, I I I just thought, I'll have to push the car back home. You know? But it didn't work that way. Every time that I believed that God was going to answer prayer, it happened. It happened. Now, we came back home and had to live by faith for a while. I had no problems. Then it got to the point I had a good job. had money. Didn't really need to ask God to help. Then I realize I needed God because the storm's come and you may have remembered all the things He did in the past. But you have to rely upon him. I would encourage you. To talk to the Lord. when it looks like the storm is getting out of hand and not wait until you're going, Am I gonna perish? Because God promised us He would never leave us nor forsake us. There are times I have asked God for something and I wasn't serious. I was just, well Lord, you're gonna have to take care of that one and went on. And guess what? He did. He did. And there are other times that I'm I'm going, How many times do I have to ask, Lord, before you help? This is getting ridiculous. You pray and you pray and you pray and nothing happens, nothing changes. And you go, Am I gonna drown? And God answers prayer. I can't tell you that God answers prayer immediately every time. The disciples waited to the very last moment before they even asked the Lord for anything. They were drowning. They were gonna perish. In their mind it was over. And they they kind of threw it back on Jesus. Don't you care that we're gonna perish? You're laying there sleeping? Don't you care? And he you go, Yeah, I care. Peace be still in the storm, but it's over and you got blue skies and breezes and you're going, why did I wait so long? You're standing in the middle of the storm, I think you need to be asking the Lord. Don't do it. The battle is not yours. It's his. And he's told us that time and time again. He does not want us to suffer. In fact, in the seventeenth chapter of John, Jesus is praying actually just a side note, seventeenth chapter of John is the Lord's Prayer. Okay. The disciples' prayer is our Father who our God. 17th chapter is the Lord's Prayer. And he prayed for His disciples. And He said, I want them to have joy. And then He prays a little more. And he said, I want them to have much joy. He wants us to have joy in our heart. He prayed for us. He prayed for His disciples, but He prayed also for those who would come to believe. You know who that it is? You and me. He prayed for us that day that he was praying for his disciples, that they have joy. They have much joy. That we are part of his family. We are part of those that he has called. And he said, I want to take care of you. I want you happy. We live here and God wants us here. If I am the child of a king, why do I live like a pauper? You ever ask yourself that question? If I am a child of a king who says he owns the cattle on the Thousand Hills, You know what he said? But Robertson, he said not only does he own the cattle on a thousand hills, he owns all the taters in the hill. God can supply our needs. We only have to depend upon him. So whether it's in the storm or it's in the sunny breezes, God is there with us. And if we are in the center of his will, he's in the boat with us. Let's bow our heads. Our Father, we thank you for the assurance that you give to us, that you love us, you care for us. That you promise never to leave us, no matter what storms of life come our way, no matter the situations we find ourselves in. If we're in the center of your will, we know, Lord, that you're there beside us. Help us to have the faith to know that you'll take care of whatever that need is. We pray that you encourage the hearts of those that are here, lift them up, help them, Father. Draw closer to you. We pray, Lord, that each of us be mindful of the Holy Spirit in our life, that we say and do those things that bring honor and glory to the name of Christ, that we might be able to show others the way, and show them the way of salvation that they too may have the joy that you promised to give to us. We thank you, praise you, and ask you to go with us. Keep your hand upon us, and in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Shake hands, be friendly, and you're dismissed.