Voice of the Nazarene 8-16-26

Coming to you from North Central Ohio, we share with you the Voice of the Nazarene, a week-by-week venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Buceris, Ohio Church of the Nazarene.

We join our pastor, Reverend Ray Lassau, and the Voice of the Nazarene.

The Sea of Galilee is a beautiful sparkling jewel in the northern part of Israel.

Really, it's not very large, it's more like a lake.

It's about 13 miles in its length and about seven and a half miles at its widest point.

It was a source of revenue for its fishermen.

Jesus made the Sea of Galilee and that area his headquarters.

Many of his miracles, much of his ministry, is preached and took place around the little towns that dotted the edge of that Sea of Galilee.

In our account this morning, he and his disciples have gotten aboard a large boat or a small ship, and they're pressing their way out into the sea, and suddenly their leisure day disrupted into a violent storm.

Now it wasn't unusual.

You see, the Sea of Galilee was 680 feet below sea level, surrounded by hills on every side, and the wind, the cold, cool wind coming off of Mount Hermon, and the hills would cut their way down through the ravine, and it was like a wind tunnel.

And that cold wind would collide with the moist, warm air from off of the Mediterranean Sea, and what it did, it was a sudden, violent storm.

And that's where we're at in our study this morning.

And you need to know there's no guarantees against the sudden.

Things happen in life suddenly.

Everything's running fine, and then suddenly the car goes off the road.

Suddenly we don't feel good.

Things happen at a moment's notice.

And I want you to know that the sovereign of the universe, he may be on the boat, but it doesn't promise you always protection.

Some people get the idea if I'm following Christ, there'll be no sons in life.

It's, as far as I'm concerned, my notion that everybody that's a follower is going to be protected from all trouble.

My kids will do well.

Any financial ventures will succeed.

There'll be no reverses.

There'll be no disappointment.

And you know, the more I study this book, and the men and the women that knew and served God, and you look at their lives, and it'll reverse the notion that sometimes you face some tremendous sudden storms.

There was a preacher by the name of Jeremiah.

Serve God, wound up in prison.

There was a boy by the name of Joseph in the Old Testament.

He tried his best to live right, and his own brothers turned against him.

A woman lied on him.

He went to prison for twelve years.

There was Daniel, he was thrown into a lion's den.

Three Hebrew boys were shoved into a furnace of fire.

Did you know the apostle Paul was afflicted with a plague all of his life?

All of the original disciples died as martyrs, except for one.

They exiled him out to an island for a prison.

Jesus never promised us a rose garden tour of life.

But he did promise, I am with thee.

And when Daniel was thrown into that lion's den, there was someone in there that protected him.

When three Hebrew boys were put in that fiery furnace, they looked in and said there was a fourth man in there with him.

Now, at times it may appear that God is out of sight.

Can I ask you a question?

Did you ever have a weak moment in your spiritual journey?

Have you ever doubted God?

Well, I pondered this scripture.

It's Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Jesus gathers his disciples and he said to them, Get aboard the ship, let us pass over to the other side.

And it said, And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat against the ship so that it was now full, means it was getting full of water.

But he was in the stern asleep on a pillow.

And they awoke him and said to him, Master, do you not care that we perish?

Have you ever felt like that?

God?

Where in the world are you?

Don't you know what's going on in my life?

Do you realize what I'm facing?

Do you realize how much damage is happening and who all is hurting?

Why don't you show up and stop this storm going on?

Lord, do you not care?

And verse 39 said, Then the Lord arose and rebuked the wind and said to 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?

How is it that you have no faith?

Now listen, faith sometimes can get sideswiped by fear.

When fear comes, faith is removed.

It seems to dissipate.

And we live in a world that gives us much cause to fear.

We fear terrorism.

We fear the loss of a child.

We fear sudden illness.

We fear the loss of a job.

We fear that in retirement we'll not have enough to live on.

We fear the propaganda that's dividing our nation.

We fear the political system that is so diverse on both sides.

We live with a lot of fear.

May I say that when fear knocks on the door, send faith to answer the door.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.

And I confess, as I read this, sitting in my study this week, I suddenly felt like I wanted to take sides with the disciples for a moment.

I mean, I I felt fear in my life.

You have a wife in a nursing home for about eight and a half years, and the bills begin to mount up, and it's thousands of dollars, and they're not getting any better, and you pray and you hope, and fear will grip your heart, and your faith begins to falter.

And I'm just going to take their side for a moment.

Can you handle that?

Is that okay with you?

He asked them why you have no faith.

Why wouldn't they?

They had never seen him calm a storm before.

They had been out on that sea.

Many of their friends had perished during storms, had gone overboard, had drowned.

They knew tough times, they knew what a storm was like.

And they had no reason to believe that he could still storm.

And so he's asking, why are you doubting?

And I've often wondered in my own life, has God gone to sleep?

I mean, I don't know if I can handle much more.

Have you ever been disturbed with the Lord?

You don't have to answer.

You ever been upset a little bit with God?

I mean, when nothing is happening and you're praying and you're crying and you're fasting and you're claiming promises and nothing changed, Lord, are you asleep?

Well, just hang that on a peg for a moment and stay in this same book and go over to the ninth chapter.

And down about verse 17, and here's a story of a man that brings his son to Christ.

And his son had some demon spirit working in him.

And he brought this child to Jesus, and he'd already taken to the apostles, and they they couldn't do much for him.

So they're having this discussion, and this, when we pick up the story, verse 17, one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I brought thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit.

And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him, and he foameth, and nasheth with his teeth, and pineth away.

And I spake to the disciples that they should cast him out, and they could not.

And Jesus answered and said, O thou faithless generation, how long shall I be with you?

How long shall I suffer you?

Bring him unto me.

And they brought him unto Jesus.

And when he saw him, straightway the spirit tear him.

And the boy fell on the ground and wallered foaming.

And Jesus asked the father, How long is it a go since this came unto him?

He said it happened when he was a child.

Oftentimes he'd cast him into the fire and into the waters to destroy him.

But if thou canst do anything, if you ever said, God, please just do something.

Just show up for a moment.

I'm struggling.

If you could do anything, would you have compassion on me?

And Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

There it is.

If, if, if thou canst believe.

But what if I can't?

What if I'm so worn down that I just can't get my faith mustered up?

What if I'm so sick that I just can't seem to believe for myself?

What if I want to be a witness and my tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth?

What if I'm dealing with an addiction and I want to break free and I'm still struggling?

What if I've got temptation in my life, but I want to do better, but I can't seem to do any better?

If.

And you've done all you know to do, and you talked as though it's already done, you exhibited the kind of faith, and nothing changed.

He said, if you can believe all things are possible to him that believeth.

So in verse 24, immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe.

Now catch this.

Help my unbelief.

I believe you, but I need some help.

And I can identify with a guy.

I there's been times I couldn't figure things out and I couldn't explain it.

I believe, but I'm doubting at the same time.

I believe you're able.

There's been times I've had to make declarations.

God, I know you're on the throne.

I know you're God.

I know you're creator of all things.

I know that I'm saved.

I know the feeling that you can have, and you're trying to shake off the anxiety.

God, I know you can, but you haven't.

And I know that God's able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that worketh in us.

But I also know, on the other hand, what it's like to have another disappointment, another phone call, another letter, another heartbreak, another letdown.

I know all of that.

And this man was saying, Jesus, I know, I know you can, I know you're able, but whether you're going to do it for me or not, I don't know.

And folk, let's not criticize this guy too much.

With all of my heart, I believe all things work together for the good of them that love God and are called according to his purpose.

I know it.

I believe it.

I've memorized it.

And I know that God's working all things together for his glory, for our good, but sometimes we we deal with doubt.

And may I say that faith is not about being perfect.

Faith sometimes is about being honest.

And this fellow's honest.

He said, I believe, but I'm needing some help with the question marks.

Now I know a lot of people are going around and they pretend that they that everything, some things aren't real.

They'll say, Well, I'm I believe for my healing, but they're dying.

They're going through a lot of problems, but they say, I don't have any problems by faith.

I don't have problems, and they're taking that kind of an attitude.

And let me tell you something about this thing of faith.

Faith, you can't fake faith.

Faith says, I know God can, God's able, but faith also says, I need help, and at this stage in my life, I need you to help me to believe.

I don't know how many times I've stood at the bedside of somebody dying, and family wouldn't allow me to talk to them about getting ready to step into heaven because they wanted to push faith.

I stood just this week.

And I'll be preaching a funeral several before the week's over.

And they said, We have fought this thing for seven years.

And said, I've never come to the place where we release it and say, God, your will.

If you want to take us, your will.

You can't fake faith, you can't force God.

You don't even have to prove to God that you have faith.

God knows everything about you anyway.

God sees everything there is to see about us.

God knows when we're growing, He knows when we're not growing.

He knows when I'm weak, He knows when I'm strong, He knows when I'm right, He knows when I'm wrong.

And God doesn't get upset when you want to ask why.

And He does not abandon people when they think He's gone asleep in the stern.

And He doesn't whip His children when they ask the question, Master, cares thou not that we perish.

Do you know that our God knows that we're but dust?

He knows that we're flesh and blood in a fallen world, fighting an enemy when our bodies are sick.

And we don't have to walk around in condemnation because we can't quote every scripture and because healing hadn't come, but God's still on the throne and he'll respond to show his glory and he'll show up at the appointed time.

I want to tell you something that I have never heard preached.

I've only discussed it with that one other preacher.

Most of the preachers I've ever heard talk about healing being within the redemptive will of God.

If it is, then God has to heal you every time.

I've never believed that healing was in the redemptive will of God.

I believe it's in the sovereign will of God.

I believe that God's a lot more concerned about your holiness than your health.

God's more concerned about getting you to heaven than for you to have a happy little financial, successful time on earth.

That's what God's all about.

And there's a little scripture, I want to point it out, nobody else will, so I'll give it to you.

I'll be honest with you.

Luke chapter 4, verse 25, Jesus talking, but I tell you of a truth.

Luke 4:25

Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when heaven was shut up for three years and six months.

And a great famine came throughout all the land, but unto none of them, those widows, was Elijah sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

Many out there, but God only chose to send him to one.

He goes on to the next verse.

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elijah the prophet, and none of them were cleaned, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Lepers all over the place, never healed any of them, but he healed one.

The sovereign will of God.

Now, James tells me to anoint with oil in the name of the Lord, and I do.

But God is the one that has to choose to heal.

And why God would allow a baby to die and some drunk to live to ripe old age, I don't know.

But it's in the sovereign will of God.

And here's the thing about God that I do know: God loves his children.

God loves you.

Don't think God's like your daddy, that he might be fickle, but he loves you when you're right, he loves you when you're wrong, he loves you when you're weak.

He loves you when you're strong.

And he bought us, he owns us, he saves us, he loves us.

And I thought of the rich young ruler that came running, and Jesus, beholding him, loved him.

Jesus knew he had problems.

Jesus knew he was hung up on finances.

Jesus probably knew he would turn and go away sad and miss heaven.

But the whole time the Bible said Jesus loved him, and I want you to know he loves you.

Now rest assured, I believe God can answer prayer.

May not always be the way you want it.

I don't know how, I don't know when, but God may not always answer prayer the way you want him to.

And in his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass for me.

This was God's own dear beloved son.

I don't want to face the cross.

I'd like for there to be another way.

I don't want to be crucified.

You say, well, it wasn't that big a deal.

It was a big deal.

You better read the story again and get the shades up and look through the window.

Jesus sweat as though it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Blood was coming to the pores of his skin.

Why?

Because he was having a physical breakdown.

The sack around the heart broke and was letting the blood leak through the skin.

And the Bible said that an angel from heaven came and strengthened him.

It was that desperate.

And God sees us in our desperate moments.

Now listen to me.

I've been pastoring here for nearly 35 years.

And I love you people.

And I love the people I've pastored.

But in these 35 years, I cannot count the people that I have buried that thought they would be healed.

And I wanted them healed.

And the relatives that wanted them healed.

And the marriages that somebody would say to a preacher, it's going to be reconciled, but it wasn't.

Just being honest with you.

Can I say to you, you can't live here and dream up here and make it exist?

It won't happen.

I'd gone to Fort Scott to pastor.

That's Kansas.

Had never pastored before, had not a clue.

And one of the first things I did, there was a little Christian radio station.

Was kind of owned by a Southern Baptist church that the pastor had taken charismatic.

And they he had got them to mortgage their homes and take the money and buy this Christian radio, this radio station that he made into a Christian station.

And I come to town, just a holiness boy, to preach, been an evangelist.

And I'm in the studio of this radio station doing a live broadcast.

He walks by and stops and he watches me for a little bit.

And when I came out when the program was through, he meets me in the hall and he said, I like you.

I said, I do too.

And he said, but you're kind of stiff.

You need to get down and boogie with the Holy Ghost.

Boy, that didn't set real well in my heart, but I didn't say anything.

And all he would talk every time I'd see him, they were on this high, and miracle after miracle.

It all happened over their church, and I'm over here walking by faith.

I'd been there a year or 14 months, and I get a call from him, and he said, I want you to meet me out here at this restaurant, which was kind of in an out-of-the-way area of Fort Scott.

I drove out to the restaurant, went inside, kind of curious what he wanted to see me about.

And when I came around the corner, he was sitting over here in a booth with a little blonde in his arm around her, and they were snuggling up together.

It wasn't his wife, his wife's name was Penny.

I guess hers was Dollar.

And I said, What's up?

Oh, he said, We're in love.

Well, I said, I know your husband, and I know your wife Penny.

You've got a wife.

She's got a husband.

Well, he said, we got had this thing going on.

I said, Yeah, Mrs.

Jones, wasn't it?

I said, uh, what what in the world are you thinking?

I said, you're pastor here in this town.

You're telling me all the time that I need to get on this level that you're on, that you got the power that I don't have.

Well, he said, I like you and I want you to marry us.

I said, What is your heart like right now?

And he went against the brick wall.

He said, It's as hard as that brick.

Well, I said, I want to tell you something.

I can't, I can't get involved in this.

You know what's wrong, I know what's wrong.

You need to resolve things at home, and you need to go back to your husband, and I can't be involved.

I got in my car, drove back to my house, and when I opened the door, the phone was ringing and ringing and ringing off the hook.

And I made my way in, and this back when we had actual telephones with wires.

Anybody ever heard of that?

And I picked it up, and somebody was sobbing so loud on the phone, like their heart would break.

It was a woman.

I couldn't get, I couldn't make any sense out of her call.

All I heard was sobbing and trying to say something and sobbing.

Finally she got it under control and she said, This is Penny.

My husband's the pastor, the Southern Baptist, that we're now Pentecostal, and said, My husband's left me for another woman.

I said, I know.

She said, How do you know?

I said, he just called me to meet him at a restaurant and they were together and they wanted me to marry him.

She said, What are you gonna do?

I said, I'm not gonna be involved.

And she cried and carried on.

And finally I said, Penny, can I ask you something?

Every time I've been around the two of you, you were trying to tell me to come up to where you're at, and that uh all the miracles and the power that you have.

And I said, just tell me the truth.

Did it work or not?

She said, Preacher, it was nothing but a religious high.

We bury our dead like you bury your dead.

We visit our sick like you visit your sick.

Occasionally God will show up and there'll be a miracle, but it's not on the high.

We always said it was.

And I'm just simply saying today, put your feet on the ground and let's walk with God.

Let's walk with God.

I uh had a little book in my office back down in one of my files of an evangelist.

The last thing he ever read.

He had taken a pen out and he'd underlined what he had read in the book by Jesse.

Jessup talks about Elijah and how he was discouraged and sitting under a juniper tree.

He just wished that God would take his life.

And Jessup said that there's times like this when we're under satanic attack and the enemy suggests suicide.

He underlined it, walked over, picked up a gun, and did it.

Probably one of the most powerful men in the pulpit that I'd ever encountered.

The first time I ever worked with him in a meeting, I stayed Saturday night.

He had been there during the week.

I hadn't, but I stayed Saturday night, and somewhere in the night I needed to use the restroom.

I came down the stairs.

I heard groaning and moaning at the in the room below.

And when I got to the bottom of the stairs in the shadows, I was about to step on him.

He was lying on his face, sobbing and praying and wrestling with God.

And I had to step over him to come back upstairs.

I had to climb over him again.

And when he got up to speak that morning, and they had switched the services from Sunday school and then morning worship, they started it with morning worship so that everybody would hear and not half the crowd walk out after Sunday school, okay?

He stepped up on top of an altar rail and started giving an altar call, and the whole church flooded the altar.

He was powerful.

But I wondered about him praying all night long on Saturday night if you ever needed your rest.

And you're going to speak on Sunday at least twice.

How in the world could he make it?

He asked me that night, would you run me to the Newcastle and to a pastor's buddy and drive me up?

He said, I flew in.

I said, sure.

And along the way I said, called him by name.

And I said, Do you pray every night like this on Saturday night all night long?

Yes, he said, I and my mama coveted together to pray all night on Saturday nights.

I said, but your mother doesn't preach on Sunday and you do.

He said, Yes.

I said, why?

What was the covenant about?

He said, my half-brother, my older half-brother, said he disappeared.

He used to sell insurance.

We think it was a mob after him, and we don't know if he was kidnapped or what.

And we've been praying that God will bring him home.

He said, I've been praying that for a number of years now.

I said, Man, you can't stay awake all night Saturday.

You better be sure that you're praying right.

Because right after that he had a total breakdown.

Now I'm traveling down through a southern state a few years later, picked up the newspaper and the headlines, body found.

And it said on this gravel road where it made a turn.

Right ahead was a pond.

A man's out there fishing in that pond and he snags a fish, and as he's reeling it in, he realized he he had hooked a boot, a leather boot, and in that boot was the skeleton of a foot.

They call the sheriff's department.

They realize there's a vehicle down beneath the waters, and so they send in a team to pull this wreck out of the lay of the pond.

And when they drug it out, seated in the seat and holding on to the steering wheel was a skeleton, still gripping the wheel.

And scattered around in the car were plastic credit cards, and it was the name of the brother of this evangelist who had spent Saturday night after Saturday night, year in, year out in a covenant for God to bring his brother home, that it was impossible to a prayer to be answered.

I want to tell you something.

Pray in the will of God.

Live in the will of God.

Don't claim anything outside of God's will.

Now, I want you to know sometimes it seems like God is deaf, God's asleep, God doesn't care, but our sovereign God is in control.

And I can tell you from experience, more importantly, from the scripture, that God does everything after the counsel of his own will.

And he does it with you in mind.

And at some point, I don't know when, I don't know how, I don't know where, God will show you his glory.

When Elijah prayed and he sent his servant out, he said, Do you see any rain?

And he came back, not a sign.

I said, I'm going to pray again.

Six times he sent that servant out, and six times was told there's no rain.

But he kept praying, and I want you to keep praying.

The seventh time, I don't know.

Number six is man's number.

Seven is God's number, it's a miracle number.

And when he prayed that seventh time, the servant said, I saw a cloud about the size of a man's hand.

Jesus steps out on the deck in this story, and he raised his hands and he said, Peace.

Be still.

And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

And when you read the next verse, it's the beginning of a chapter.

All chapters have only been started after there were translations in the original Greek and Hebrew.

There's no chapter divisions, no verse divisions.

In the very first of this next chapter, the boat docks alongside of a cemetery, and there's two demonics.

Evidently they had watched the storm out yonder.

And they saw the frightened disciples, the greatest acoustics there are on the water.

You can talk and be heard a mile away on a great lake.

They heard these men scream, Where's the master?

Doesn't even care.

And they seen one come on the deck, raise his hands, and said, Peace be still.

And no doubt one of those demonics turned to another and said, If he can steal the storm out there on the Sea of Galilee.

I wonder if he can steal the storm that rages in our minds and in our hearts.

And Jesus walked into that cemetery, delivered both of them, and brought peace, not only out there on the storm, but peace into the hearts and the lives of those gathered.

I'm saying to you in closing, if you're wrestling with your faith, just say, Lord, I'm human.

Help me with my doubts.

I'm trying to believe, if there's any unbelief, God, I want to believe.

If you're dealing with struggles, God sees you, and He's not trying to be harsh.

Just tell him you've got struggles, but you want to come clean.

If you're dealing with problems of witnessing and don't know how to do it, I've done my best to make it as easy for you as I know how as a pastor.

Since 1967, I've been preaching.

23 years as an evangelist.

And whatever the rest of that time, I've been a pastor.

The easiest way that I know how for you to be a witness is just to take this little card.

You don't have to try to win them all on your own.

You can just simply say we're having friendship Sunday.

You're my friend.

I go to a church here in the south edge of town.

I want you to hear our choir.

I want you to hear our praise singers.

I want you to hear our little preacher.

I want you to be my friend in common.

I want to put your name down here, and you'll get a letter from our church reminding you that on the 27th, you'll be amazed how much easier that'll be for you to be a witness when you never could.

Do it.

Try it, Father.

Thanks for being a part of the Voice of the Nazarene.

Visit us every Sunday at 9 a.m.

with BNC's Pastor Ray LaSalle.

For more information regarding BNC, visit UsirusNazarine.org.