Walking by Faith: Trusting Christ in the Storm

• The Storm on the Sea of Galilee 00:00:09 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor introduces the biblical narrative of Jesus calming the storm as the central illustration for the sermon.
• The Nature of Faith 00:10:37 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines faith as a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9) and explains that believers must actively apply this faith by trusting in Christ's power rather than their own strength.
• Walking by Faith vs. Sight 00:13:59 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts relying on one's own wisdom and circumstances ('sight') with relying on Christ's direction and power ('faith'), citing 2 Corinthians 5:7.
• David and Goliath Illustration 00:16:41 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the story of David and Goliath to illustrate the danger of focusing on overwhelming circumstances rather than on God's power.
• Application of Faith 00:18:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that faith requires active belief and embracing God's promises, even when circumstances are overwhelming, citing 2 Corinthians 1 and Hebrews 11.
• Christ as the Object of Fulfillment 00:22:02 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that while many things (money, possessions, etc.) are sought for fulfillment, only Christ provides true satisfaction and the 'dynamite' of God's power.
• Divine Peace and the Trinity 00:29:03 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that Jesus gives peace because He is God, citing Psalm 33 and Psalm 107 to show His authority over creation, and identifies Him as Jehovah/Yahweh in John 13:19.
• The Deity of Jesus Christ 00:30:40 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asserts that Jesus is God, explaining that His statement about the Father being greater refers to role within the Trinity, not a lack of divinity, and cites John 14:19 and Isaiah 43 to show Jesus claiming the divine name 'I am He'.
• Trust in Christ's Presence 00:34:11 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor contrasts the disciples' panic with Jesus' presence, arguing that believers should not despair or act as if they are alone because Jesus promised to be with them always (Matthew 28:20).
• Contentment and Faith 00:36:17 ▶️ 📄
  > Using Philippians 4:11-13, the pastor challenges the congregation to be content in all circumstances, noting that while Paul was content, believers often panic, and emphasizes that Christ strengthens us for all situations.
• The Spirit of Power and Sound Mind 00:38:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor cites 2 Timothy 1:7 to argue that God has not given believers a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind, which comes from knowing God's promises and power.
• The Resurrection and the Indwelling Spirit 00:39:50 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that despair implies a lack of trust in the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit who dwells in believers, referencing Romans 8 to highlight the power available to believers.
• Seeking God and Divine Presence 00:40:43 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor addresses the feeling of God's distance, citing Jeremiah 29:13-14 to encourage seeking God with all one's heart, and John 14:23 to explain that the Father and Son make their home with those who love and obey Him.
• Obedience as Evidence of Love 00:44:05 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor connects loving Jesus with keeping His commandments (John 14:15, 21), arguing that obedience is the natural result of love and faith, rather than a condition for receiving God's love.
• The Role of the Holy Spirit 00:45:10 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter given to believers, distinguishing them from the world which cannot receive Him, and that the Spirit's presence is rooted in John 14-16.
• The Character of Faith 00:48:24 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor defines faith not as a feeling but as an action toward God, specifically a refusal to panic, grounded in the belief that God has not given a spirit of fear but of power and love.
• God's Manifestation and Love 00:47:28 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor explains that God's love is demonstrated through obedience to His commandments and that Jesus manifests Himself to believers through His Word and the Holy Spirit.
• Overcoming Fear through Christ's Power 00:49:53 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor argues that because Jesus overcame death, He can overcome any life challenge, and believers should not fear because Jesus knows their deepest struggles and offers deliverance.
• Worship and Obedience 00:54:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor concludes that the proper response to Jesus is worship and faithful following, which includes regular church attendance, Scripture reading, prayer, and serving others.

• Sermon Illustration 00:07:12 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the disciples as experienced fishermen who were still terrified by the storm on the Sea of Galilee, which was below sea level and prone to sudden, heavy storms, to illustrate that even those with experience can feel hopeless without Christ.
• Sermon Illustration 00:16:41 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of David and Goliath to ask what would happen if David had focused solely on his circumstances rather than on God, implying that focusing on circumstances leads to paralysis.
• Sermon Illustration 00:16:59 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of David and Goliath to illustrate walking by faith rather than sight, noting that David succeeded because he relied on the Lord rather than his circumstances.
• Sermon Illustration 00:25:36 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Jesus calming the wind and waves in Mark 4 to illustrate the peace Jesus gives and His divine authority over creation.
• Sermon Illustration 00:34:11 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Jesus rebuking the disciples for their panic while He slept during a storm, using it to illustrate that their fear stemmed from a lack of trust in His presence.
• Sermon Illustration 00:35:06 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of 'waking Jesus up' to describe the human tendency to try to manage situations alone rather than trusting in Christ's presence, contrasting this with the reality that He is already there.
• Sermon Illustration 00:36:31 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor describes the common human reaction to hardship as panicking or trying to make things better, contrasting this with the biblical call to be content in all states, as Paul did.
• Sermon Illustration 00:38:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the rhetorical device of asking if the congregation truly believes God gives a spirit of power and sound mind, challenging them to apply this truth to their daily lives.
• Sermon Illustration 00:46:22 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor uses the analogy of 'orphans' to describe the feeling of abandonment, contrasting it with God's promise not to leave believers as orphans but to come to them.
• Sermon Illustration 00:53:13 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor references the biblical account of Jesus calming the storm and walking on water, noting that the disciples worshipped Him after witnessing this power, contrasting this with their earlier lack of faith.
• Sermon Illustration 00:53:46 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor recounts the story of Peter walking on water, sinking when he took his eyes off Jesus, and rising again when he called to Jesus, using this to illustrate that even Peter (a human) could walk on water through faith in Jesus.

• Pastoral Charge 00:39:08 ▶️ 📄
  > The pastor asks the congregation to affirm their belief in God's power and presence.
• Pastoral Charge 00:46:50 ▶️ 📄
  > Believe, act, apply, and walk with the Lord.
• Pastoral Charge 00:57:04 ▶️ 📄
  > Go to Christ.

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:00:00] You'll turn with me in chapter 8. We are looking at verses 22 to 25.
[00:00:09] This is where a storm comes on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus falls asleep in the boat.
[00:00:15] The disciples are struggling and then Jesus calms the storm, the wind and the waves.
[00:00:22] The disciples are amazed. We're going to look at what that teaches us with our faith and in following.
[00:00:33] The Lord Jesus.
[00:00:34] I did want to say for next week when Pastor Joseph preaches, he is preaching more of a July 4th type message, so you will want to come for that.
[00:00:47] And as we celebrate the freedom and independence of our nation this week and remembering that all these are blessings from the Lord that we are in this country, the freedoms that we have, being able to know Christ
[00:01:05] and being able to proclaim His gospel freely.
[00:01:09] So let's turn now to the Word of God in Luke 8, verse 20.
[00:01:15] He went into a ship with His disciples, and He said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake.
[00:01:28] And they launched forth.
[00:01:30] But as they sailed, He fell asleep, and there came down a storm of wind on the lake and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy.
[00:01:42] And they came to him and awoke him saying, Master, Master, we perish.
[00:01:47] Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and there was a calm.
[00:01:55] And he said unto them, Where is your faith?
[00:01:59] And they being afraid wondered saying one to another, what manner of man is this?
[00:02:06] For he commandeth even the winds and the water, and they obey him.
[00:02:13] Now the question the disciples ask there, we know what the answer is.
[00:02:19] Is that it means, sorry, I have my microphone off.
[00:02:24] That the answer that we know is that Jesus, he is the Lord of the universe.
[00:02:32] He who made everything, the creation has to obey Him.
[00:02:40] But yet the Lord still asks us, just like He asks His disciples, where is your faith?
[00:02:50] And the reason that He asks this is because there are times in our lives, things that we go through where we don't look to the Lord first.
[00:02:59] Where we are struggling, where we have difficulty, where we worry.
[00:03:04] and where we even might despair and be discouraged.
[00:03:09] And the Lord is there and he wants us to come to him just as the disciples realized, hey, maybe we should wake Jesus up.
[00:03:19] Maybe we should ask for his help.
[00:03:22] And so this has a great thing to say about us and our walk with the Lord Jesus.
[00:03:28] I thought that it might be good to look at the other accounts of this story in Matthew and Mark, and just maybe look quick at a few small differences there in how it is worded.
[00:03:42] It's pretty much the same thing, you know, with the different accounts of the gospel writers.
[00:03:48] But if we can look at Matthew 8, 23 to 27.
[00:03:53] And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.
[00:04:03] and behold there arose a great tempest in the sea insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves but he was asleep and his disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us we perish
[00:04:17] and he saith unto them why are ye fearful O ye of little faith then he arose and rebuked the winds and the seas and there was a great calm but the men marveled saying what manner of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?
[00:04:38] So we notice that there Matthew kind of says it instead of how Luke says it, where is your faith?
[00:04:46] He phrases it in the sense of that thought that Jesus said, why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith?
[00:04:54] The fact that they weren't trusting him, that the disciples were giving into despair and panic and thinking there is no hope instead of turning to Christ.
[00:05:08] Mark chapter 4, verse 35 to 41.
[00:05:13] And the same day when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
[00:05:22] And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and there was also with them other little ships.
[00:05:31] And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full.
[00:05:40] You've got to picture that.
[00:05:41] The boat was completely full of water.
[00:05:44] What happens when a boat is full of water?
[00:05:46] It sinks.
[00:05:48] This means that Jesus, though asleep, He was soaked.
[00:05:52] Or you can kind of gather that.
[00:05:57] And He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awake Him and said unto Him, Master, carest Thou not that we perish?
[00:06:07] And he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.
[00:06:12] And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
[00:06:17] And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful?
[00:06:20] How is it that you have no faith?
[00:06:24] And they feared exceedingly and said to one another, What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
[00:06:33] I want you to catch that last verse in verse 41.
[00:06:37] There's kind of a reason of reading all three accounts here.
[00:06:40] Because in 41, it says they feared exceedingly, not because of the storm anymore, but because of Jesus.
[00:06:50] Because all Jesus had to say was, be still.
[00:06:54] And the wind and the water stopped.
[00:07:00] Now, why Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith, said you have no faith, That's kind of what we are getting into and the reason for that.
[00:07:12] But in seeing this picture, you have to realize that these disciples were a good many of them were experienced fishermen.
[00:07:23] These guys knew how to handle a boat in this water.
[00:07:29] But the Sea of Galilee was below sea level.
[00:07:32] I forget how many feet, but it's a lot.
[00:07:34] I think it might be like 700 feet.
[00:07:36] And so the wind comes down and like storms would break out very easily, very quickly, very heavy.
[00:07:45] And so this was one of those storms.
[00:07:47] And you have to infer here that the Lord Jesus allowed it to be a big storm so that they would see that apart from Christ, they can do nothing.
[00:08:04] these guys who knew how to manage a craft on the water and they were fearful for their lives.
[00:08:13] They thought, we are in jeopardy, we are going to die, we are going to drown.
[00:08:17] This is it.
[00:08:19] How many times do we get into situations in our lives and we feel the same way?
[00:08:24] We're like, there is no hope, I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't know how the situation is going to get any better and there's just that pit that is in your stomach
[00:08:34] and Jesus can speak to our lives as we believe in Him and trust in Him and exercise our faith in Him that He has given us and our lives can be still, can be calm.
[00:08:56] That is what Jesus is trying to show us in this story.
[00:09:03] And sometimes even as, so in just looking at Mark here in verse 38, as the disciples phrase or could have said or come across in that way, Master, do you not care that we're about to drown?
[00:09:20] I mean, how many times in our lives have you cried out to the Lord, do you know what's going on in my life?
[00:09:27] Do you care?
[00:09:28] Are you going to help me?
[00:09:30] Can you help me?
[00:09:31] Where are you?
[00:09:35] And the Lord in His grace and His patience, He knows how frail we are.
[00:09:41] and He comes alongside of us.
[00:09:47] And what Jesus is trying to teach us here though is that He doesn't want us to get to that state of panic where we cry out to God as though we are going to die,
[00:10:01] as though we think all is lost, but to walk with Him, that our hearts might be at rest continually before Him, not because we have everything together, not because we're doing everything in the right way
[00:10:18] but because of Christ and because we're going to Him we're walking with Him we are seeking Him with all of our heart every single day and so to do this we must understand what the nature of faith is
[00:10:37] and so you kind of get into it's like okay well you have to have faith to be a Christian right?
[00:10:46] yes absolutely But does faith come from ourselves?
[00:10:52] No, we receive it from God.
[00:10:54] It is a gift from God.
[00:10:57] So we can be Christians and have received the gift of faith and yet not completely understand what the nature of faith is, how to walk in faith, how to apply our faith and to exercise it.
[00:11:13] what we have just said in the sense of that faith is a gift comes from Ephesians 2, 8 and 9.
[00:11:22] Many of you probably know this verse by heart, but for those of you who don't or is not coming quite to the tip of your memory, it says, for by grace we are saved through faith.
[00:11:37] And this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast about it.
[00:11:48] This is grace and faith that God has given to us, so He opens our eyes, so we come to Him in faith and embrace Christ as our Savior.
[00:11:58] This is only given to us by the Lord, and we must receive it.
[00:12:04] And then as we believe and trust in Christ, as we follow Him, we learn and we're supposed to learn to apply this faith that He has given to us.
[00:12:19] And what is it that we are really to apply?
[00:12:25] It is the fact that Jesus is our Savior.
[00:12:28] It is all the things that you already know.
[00:12:30] That Christ died for our sins on the cross, and three days later He rose from the dead.
[00:12:38] And that if you want to be forgiven of your sin, You have to come and repent of your sins in the name of Jesus.
[00:12:46] You have to turn from your sins and follow Him.
[00:12:48] And He gives you forgiveness and He gives you eternal life.
[00:12:53] And He fills you with joy.
[00:12:55] He fills you with His love and He fills you with His peace.
[00:12:58] But it is only as we are walking with Him.
[00:13:03] What this sermon hits at and what this passage hits at is for many Christians, for many believers, they have received Christ by faith, but they have not really sought Him as they should every day
[00:13:22] in giving their hearts totally to Him to follow Him with all of their heart, mind, soul, and strength.
[00:13:33] And so that's why just as Jesus says to the disciples, He is saying to me and He is saying to you, Where is your faith as we encounter the storms of life?
[00:13:49] And so the first thing that we have to do in understanding the nature of faith is that we are to walk in faith.
[00:13:59] This is from 2 Corinthians 5, 7.
[00:14:01] It says, for we walk by faith and not by sight.
[00:14:06] I mean, you know, doesn't that sound easy?
[00:14:10] we walk by faith we walk by sight we are christians we follow the lord jesus but there is a reason why the action was used to walk because it means we have to follow after him
[00:14:24] we have to devote ourselves to him when you wake up on a given day what happens like as as you're going to live your day and you're going to do things what do you do you you get up and you
[00:14:42] start thinking of all the things that you have to do and you maybe you know like the the the more you do it the more you start prioritizing okay i need to do this this and this and and you have to
[00:14:54] motivate yourself to get going right you have to do those things and some things are difficult and some things are hard are you going to rely on your own strength and your own wisdom and your own
[00:15:10] intellect or are you going to rely on christ and go to him first in walking with him what jesus is showing us is that it is much easier when we rely on jesus that we have his direction we have his
[00:15:30] power going with us and that is part of what it means to walk by faith to walk in the spirit to walk after him is making that decision that we are going to live for christ rather than doing
[00:15:46] things just the way that we want to do them or by our our own strength by our own wisdom let's flip it around if we walk by sight then what do we have to tell us what is going on
[00:16:07] Well, our self, but our circumstances and what we see around us, right?
[00:16:15] Well, how many times have you been in a situation and your circumstances are overwhelming you, pressing you down, weighing you down, and you're not quite sure what to do?
[00:16:30] You might can go to advice, get advice from someone.
[00:16:34] You might can say, well, I'm just going to give it my best shot here and hope things work out.
[00:16:38] But our circumstances can be very daunting.
[00:16:41] the picture that really shows this that I like to think of is David and Goliath what if David was just looking at his circumstances would he ever have gone up and tried to fight Goliath he'd been like
[00:16:59] no way that's what all the other Israelites were saying and David was like I'm coming against you in the name of the Lord God Almighty this day whom you have defied And the Lord gave the great victory because David was walking by faith and not by sight.
[00:17:25] And so what Jesus teaches us in the New Testament, in the Gospels, and then what every New Testament writer is trying to show us is this lifetime lesson of depending on Christ, trusting in Him,
[00:17:47] living for Him and walking with Him so that we trust in Christ alone and not in ourselves or our circumstances.
[00:17:59] The second thing that we see is that we must apply our faith, kind of already used that word a little bit, in exercising our faith, in applying our faith.
[00:18:12] That means that what we know to be true, we have to believe it.
[00:18:17] We have to embrace it.
[00:18:18] if we call ourselves Christians, do we ever despair?
[00:18:31] Do we ever become discouraged?
[00:18:33] And I'll just go ahead and answer that, because we do.
[00:18:37] But do we ever get so despondent where we think there is no hope in our human weakness?
[00:18:47] We do, but that is not how it is supposed to be when we apply the promises that God has given to us in Christ.
[00:18:59] In 2 Corinthians 1, it says that all of the promises of God are yes in Christ.
[00:19:07] You know, that's not just a motivational speech or like a motivational phrase in like for self-help books.
[00:19:16] It is the truth of the Word of God that all the promises of God are yes in Christ.
[00:19:21] that if we are trusting in Him, He is going to help us.
[00:19:25] He is going to come to our aid.
[00:19:27] He is going to deliver us and save us and draw us closer to Himself.
[00:19:34] And the thing is, do you believe it?
[00:19:40] Do we believe it when the bottom falls out?
[00:19:44] Do we believe it on the worst day of our lives?
[00:19:47] Because Jesus is still there.
[00:19:51] He is still in the boat like was with the disciples.
[00:19:58] We think of Hebrews chapter 11 verse 1, great definition of faith.
[00:20:06] Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
[00:20:15] The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
[00:20:20] It is how we can trust in God, not seeing Him with our eyes, and trust in the truths of the Bible and grab on to them and we can't see them.
[00:20:32] But we know that they are true because the truth of the Word of God, because of what He has done in our hearts of giving us faith, putting His faith in us to believe in Him
[00:20:47] and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[00:20:52] This is what it means to be born again.
[00:20:56] But it is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen all through hebrews 11 it says for for all of the the men and women of god that are mentioned there the saints of old it says that by faith god worked
[00:21:16] through these things when when it has their by faith it shows how we have to apply faith we have to believe it and use it instead of just hoping everything works out instead of just thinking it's all going to be okay on its own, kind of magically.
[00:21:39] It's like, no, things work out.
[00:21:41] God delivers us because we go to Him, because we trust in Him, because we are walking with Him.
[00:21:52] This faith that is the substance of things hoped for is the object of our faith, of what we are looking for fulfillment.
[00:22:02] I don't know about you, but there are many things in my life that I can use to try to be fulfilled other than Christ.
[00:22:14] I can look to money.
[00:22:16] I can look to possessions.
[00:22:19] I can look to friendships.
[00:22:21] I can look to family.
[00:22:22] I can look to sports, social media.
[00:22:26] The list kind of goes on and on and on.
[00:22:29] Of all of these things that I can do to think, this is going to make me happy.
[00:22:34] I'm looking for that object to put trust in.
[00:22:38] Do you see that?
[00:22:40] But the only thing that will really give us fulfillment of what God has meant is when that object is Christ Himself.
[00:22:49] Not more of what, but of who.
[00:22:53] And it is Christ in us.
[00:22:55] It is Jesus and His promises and His salvation to know Him and to walk with Him.
[00:23:03] The Christian life should be like what Paul said in Philippians 3, verses 10 and 11.
[00:23:19] It should be that I may know Him, that I may know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings being conformable unto His death if by any means I may obtain to the resurrection of the dead.
[00:23:37] now in that verse 11 when it says if by any means I may attain that almost sounds kind of works doesn't it but it's not what that phrase there if by any means is because of all of these things
[00:23:52] because in knowing Christ in going after Him He gives you the power of the resurrection the power of God inside of you and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings that Christ died so that you would be made whole,
[00:24:14] so that you would be forgiven, so I would be forgiven.
[00:24:18] And if we are striving to know Him and to walk with Him and that our trust is in Him and in Him alone, then we will have forgiveness.
[00:24:29] We will have eternal life.
[00:24:31] We will be with Christ for all eternity.
[00:24:36] but it is only by knowing Him.
[00:24:41] I love the word power in Greek.
[00:24:46] It is the word dunamis.
[00:24:50] Do you know what English word we get from the Greek word dunamis?
[00:24:54] Dynamite.
[00:24:56] So if knowing and trusting Christ is the power of His resurrection that is within us, it is the dynamite of God within us by the Holy Spirit.
[00:25:09] It is that God is with us no matter what we do and where we go when we have submitted our lives to Him.
[00:25:17] That should bring you great comfort and joy.
[00:25:21] That should give you peace.
[00:25:26] And so that kind of leads us into that just as Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves and there was a great calm and there was...
[00:25:36] But he said, peace be still in Mark chapter 4 so he can give us that kind of peace.
[00:25:46] And peace is what we long for, isn't it?
[00:25:49] There are all kind of things that we deal with on a daily basis that just get us all kind of where we get in the knot.
[00:26:00] We're not sure how we're going to handle, and only Jesus can give us that peace.
[00:26:10] What was the first thing that Jesus said to the disciples on Sunday night when He rose from the dead, when He appeared to them behind locked doors?
[00:26:20] Peace.
[00:26:21] He says, peace to you.
[00:26:25] And that is what He says to us and to our hearts.
[00:26:31] In John 14, 27, Jesus says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.
[00:26:39] Not as the world giveth, give I unto you.
[00:26:43] let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid did jesus only mean this verse to apply at a funeral or was it for every day of our lives this verse is read a lot at funerals i i love it
[00:27:01] because it it helps to comfort the people going through loss but it is also good for us all the time especially where jesus says not as the world gives do i give to you my peace i give to you
[00:27:17] and you will always have it let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid this is all the time folks all the time we are not to be afraid because we are trusting
[00:27:33] in christ we talked about the holy spirit how the spirit indwells us and if the if you believe in the holy if you believe in christ as your savior you have received him and the holy spirit will
[00:27:51] live in you what is another name for the holy spirit the comforter we see that so i read john 14 27 but if you go back and you start at 26 says but the comforter which is the holy ghost whom
[00:28:09] the father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever i have said unto you peace i leave with you my peace i give to you
[00:28:23] not as a world giveth give i unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid verse 28 you have heard how i said unto you i go away and come again unto you if he loved me
[00:28:37] ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father, for my Father is greater than I.
[00:28:44] And now I have told you, before it comes to pass, when it is come to pass, that ye might believe.
[00:28:55] Now, Jesus gives us peace.
[00:28:57] What this part gets into here is the fact of who Jesus really is.
[00:29:03] Why is He the only one who can give us peace?
[00:29:07] Because He is God.
[00:29:08] that is the only reason why the wind and the waves stopped immediately but before I get to that in showing verses of how he is God I want to look at just to show you
[00:29:25] by him calming the sea that's actually talked about in Psalms in two places it's really cool so Psalm 33 6-8 it says by the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them
[00:29:40] by the breath of His mouth.
[00:29:42] He gathered the waters of the sea together as a heap.
[00:29:47] He layeth up the depths in storehouses.
[00:29:51] Let all the earth fear the Lord.
[00:29:54] Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.
[00:29:58] So if He's the one who gathered the waters up and made it exist, don't you think they're going to listen to Him?
[00:30:07] If that wasn't clear enough, Let's look at Psalm 107, verses 28 to 29.
[00:30:14] Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble.
[00:30:17] He bringeth them out of their distresses.
[00:30:20] He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
[00:30:27] Now the fact that Jesus got up and said to the wind and the waves, Peace be still, and they immediately stopped, can only be one absolute conclusion, is that Jesus is God.
[00:30:40] When He says, I go to the Father because He is greater than I, it was not by the fact that Jesus wasn't God.
[00:30:52] The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
[00:30:56] It was in the sense of their role within the Trinity, and by the fact that Jesus was going back to the Father.
[00:31:08] But we're going to look at other Scripture that really show how Jesus is God.
[00:31:18] And this is what gives us peace.
[00:31:22] This is what should still our hearts when the storms of life come.
[00:31:29] Let's look now in John 14, 29.
[00:31:34] It says, And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it has come to pass, ye might believe.
[00:31:43] When he says there that ye might believe and that he tells them it's going to come to pass before, that is very similar to something he says in the previous chapter.
[00:31:54] In John 13, 19, he says, Now I tell you before it come, that when it has come to pass, that you may believe that I am He.
[00:32:05] Now that title there, I am He, there He is saying the divine name of God.
[00:32:15] He is saying Jehovah or Yahweh.
[00:32:20] He is saying that He is the Lord God Almighty by using that term, I am He.
[00:32:29] And He says, I have told you all these things that are going to happen.
[00:32:33] This is when Jesus is at the Last Supper with His disciples by the fact that Judas was going to betray him, that Jesus as the Son of Man was going to be betrayed, to be arrested, to be crucified, and to rise from the dead.
[00:32:48] He says, I have told you all these things before they happened so that you will know that I am He.
[00:32:55] He is saying so that you will know that I am God.
[00:33:00] Now, if you look back at Isaiah 43, verses 10 through 11, It says, Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me and understand that I am He.
[00:33:23] Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
[00:33:29] I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior.
[00:33:36] Jesus is saying that these words apply to Him.
[00:33:38] this should calm our hearts this should make a difference in our lives and a difference in our faith as we follow god because of the one who is the object of our faith and that he is the only one who can deliver something else to see here in applying our faith
[00:34:11] is that why did Jesus rebuke them, the disciples, when He was asleep and when they woke Him up in a panic?
[00:34:29] He rebuked them because He was there and they weren't trusting in Him.
[00:34:38] They were completely given in to terror and it was like they could not be consoled.
[00:34:47] They truly thought that they were going to die, that this was it but you know all the things that we go through if you are a believer jesus is with you he will never leave you why would we ever just think that it's all on us
[00:35:06] we need to go and wake jesus up or trust in him he is there he tells us i mean from the from the simplest truth of a Bible verse in Matthew 28, 20.
[00:35:22] This is what Jesus says shortly before He ascends into heaven.
[00:35:32] And He says, And lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the world or of the age.
[00:35:41] Jesus says, I am with you.
[00:35:44] That should give us this comfort that we desire and should make us stop trusting in ourselves.
[00:35:56] In applying the faith that we have in Christ, it should make us think of Philippians 4, verse 11-13, where the Apostle Paul says, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatever state I am in,
[00:36:17] therefore to be content.
[00:36:20] Now stop right there.
[00:36:21] So in all situations that we are in, that me and you, are we content always?
[00:36:29] No.
[00:36:31] We're either wanting more, we're wanting things to be different, we're trying to make things different, we're trying to make things better, we're panicking, we're freaking out over all things that come our way.
[00:36:45] And so we read this that we are to be content in all things When this is read in church, it is easy for us to be like, yeah, yeah, okay, we are to be content, I'm supposed to be content,
[00:36:55] until the next wave comes, right?
[00:37:00] Verse 12, Paul says, I know both how to be abased, like how to have nothing, and how to abound.
[00:37:11] Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
[00:37:21] So Paul is saying there that God will take care of us and provide for us and deliver us, right?
[00:37:30] So we need to believe it.
[00:37:33] We need to have faith that He is going to do that because of all these truths and promises that He has told us.
[00:37:40] And then you have Philippians 4.13, which has nothing to do with sports.
[00:37:47] I can do all things through Christ who has strengthened me.
[00:37:52] It is that we can be content.
[00:37:54] that we can know that God will take care of us no matter if we have a little or if we have a lot, that we will rejoice in Christ and His love for us and we will go to Him with all of the things that we face
[00:38:11] and that we have to deal with.
[00:38:16] This also leads us to another verse, 2 Timothy 1.7.
[00:38:22] I'm pretty sure we've talked about this in the last few weeks it says for God has not given us a spirit of fear the question is do you believe that but He has given us a spirit of power
[00:38:42] and of love and of a sound mind now the power and love we have already kind of talked about but think about sound mind the sound mind that we know that we are applying the promises of God,
[00:38:59] that we know He is going to deliver us, that we know He is all-powerful, that we know that if we go to Him, that He will help us.
[00:39:08] Church, brothers and sisters, do you believe that?
[00:39:14] Do you believe it here and do you believe it here?
[00:39:17] Then it should change how our day-to-day lives are.
[00:39:21] It should give us a rock-solid peace and trust in Christ that no matter what happens, that He is going to take care of us.
[00:39:35] The third thing that we see here from Jesus as to why we are not to despair, why we are not to exercise, or why we are not to act like we don't have any faith,
[00:39:50] is it implies a lack of trust and confidence in Him.
[00:39:57] This is the one who has risen from the dead.
[00:40:01] That death no longer holds Him.
[00:40:04] I mean, hallelujah, right?
[00:40:08] And then I believe it's in Romans 8, it says that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you.
[00:40:20] That should give us cause to rejoice.
[00:40:22] It should make us want to run around the room shouting hallelujah.
[00:40:27] Because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us.
[00:40:33] And yet, it is so easy to forget.
[00:40:37] It is so easy to wander and to feel like we have to make everything happen.
[00:40:43] It is very common for people to say, Oh, the Lord seems so far away from me.
[00:40:49] I need help and I don't know where He is and I don't know how to get to Him.
[00:40:53] why is he so far away from me perhaps you haven't woken him up perhaps you haven't asked perhaps you have forgotten these promises and have not exercised this faith but we see in this is in
[00:41:13] the old testament jeremiah 29 verses 13 to 14 the lord says and ye all all of god's people shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
[00:41:34] And verse 14 is the clincher.
[00:41:36] And I will be found of you, saith the Lord.
[00:41:41] The Lord is there, but we haven't quite sought Him with all of our heart because we're still trying to figure it out ourselves.
[00:41:49] We haven't quite taken that step to follow Him, to walk in the Spirit, to walk by faith.
[00:42:02] We have this great promise in John 14, 23.
[00:42:08] Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, he will obey me.
[00:42:15] And that kind of stands on its own, but what comes after is just almost so much more glorious.
[00:42:22] It says, And my Father will love him, and we will come unto Him and make our abode or our home with Him.
[00:42:33] I have to tell you, that's probably one of the greatest things that I've ever heard.
[00:42:37] Is that when we believe in Christ, that He says the Father and the Son come to us and make their home within us, within our heart, and that is the Holy Spirit.
[00:42:47] So you've got Father, Son, and Holy Spirit right there.
[00:42:54] Jesus says in Matthew 11, 28-30, he speaks, he's speaking like directly to our hearts.
[00:43:04] He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
[00:43:11] What is he implying there?
[00:43:12] You're not going to find rest anywhere else but me.
[00:43:16] You're not going to make it for yourself.
[00:43:17] You're not going to figure it out.
[00:43:20] Or if you do, it's going to be very temporary.
[00:43:23] It's not going to last.
[00:43:25] He says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lonely of heart and ye shall find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light
[00:43:40] but we have to believe and trust in this the first part of John 14.23 as I said it kind of stands alone by itself where Jesus says if you love me you will obey my words
[00:44:05] You know, part of faith and trust and in following Christ and loving Him is through obedience.
[00:44:18] It is why when people say, well, I wish I knew what God's will was so that I could follow Him, so that I could find Him, so I could have Him work in my life,
[00:44:27] because if I could only do the things that I'm supposed to do, then He would bless me, right?
[00:44:32] I mean, have you ever thought that or have you ever heard people say that?
[00:44:35] Well, Jesus has some pretty easy things, easy to say, but hard for us to do.
[00:44:45] Also in John 14, verse 15, He says, If ye love Me, keep My commandments.
[00:44:57] Just reading this passage through 21, He says, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive
[00:45:10] because it seeth Him not neither knoweth Him but ye know Him for He dwelleth in you and shall be in you that verse right there I mean all the things we've been talking about the Holy Spirit
[00:45:23] is rooted in John 14, 15 and 16 there are other places in the Bible that talk about the Holy Spirit but it is concentrated in 14 through 16 and there Jesus is saying He is saying that people that are not believers cannot see
[00:45:38] because the Holy Spirit does not dwell in them, has not opened their eyes yet.
[00:45:44] And this is why we preach the gospel.
[00:45:47] So that people will hear, will come, will receive the salvation that Jesus offers.
[00:45:57] So that as He changes our hearts, as He opens our eyes, that we will receive that faith when he gives us the gift of faith but then in verse then in verse 18 he says i will not leave you comfortless i will come to you some translations say that i will not
[00:46:22] leave you as orphans i mean if you're wondering about if god is with you and he loves you and that he will help you through everything that you face here it is he will not leave you as orphans
[00:46:35] he will not leave you abandoned he will not leave you comfortless he will come to you he will come to me and he will help us but we have to believe it we have to act on it we have to apply it and
[00:46:50] we have to walk with the Lord.
[00:46:55] Going on here in John 14, verse 19, In a little while the world seeth me no more, but ye see me, because I live, ye shall live also.
[00:47:07] And that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
[00:47:14] He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.
[00:47:28] So part of this love that God has for us is that we obey Him.
[00:47:33] It is not conditional.
[00:47:35] It is part of, if Jesus says, if you love Me, then you are going to want to please Me.
[00:47:40] You're going to want to follow Me.
[00:47:42] You're going to want to obey Me.
[00:47:46] But I love it where it's like Jesus is proclaiming His love for you as His people.
[00:47:51] He is saying, I will love Him.
[00:47:56] I will love you.
[00:47:59] The love of God is greater than everything.
[00:48:02] As God calls us close to Himself, and He says, I will manifest Myself to Him.
[00:48:09] How does Jesus manifest Himself to us?
[00:48:12] Through His Word and by the Holy Spirit.
[00:48:21] Let's see.
[00:48:24] Alright, so the fourth thing that we come to is that what is the character of faith?
[00:48:29] We have talked about in the nature of faith, in applying our faith, and to walk by faith, to apply our faith to, let's see, what was the third thing?
[00:48:48] Sorry.
[00:48:50] That in not trusting Him, it shows a lack of confidence in Him.
[00:48:58] Now we come to where the character of faith is.
[00:49:01] We have to know that faith is not a feeling.
[00:49:08] That it is an action toward God and in Him alone.
[00:49:13] Faith is a refusal to panic.
[00:49:16] That when the bottom drops out, that we are not going to give in to despair and panic and fear.
[00:49:25] Because as we have already seen in 2 Timothy 1.7, God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
[00:49:37] If Jesus overcame death, He can overcome anything that we have in our lives.
[00:49:53] But we have to go to Him.
[00:49:56] Jesus knows everything that you are dealing with right now.
[00:50:00] He knows the deepest things that are in your heart.
[00:50:02] He knows what you think about when you go to sleep and when you wake up and those things that just nag at you.
[00:50:12] Hear what Jesus said to Martha in John chapter 11.
[00:50:17] Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life.
[00:50:21] He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
[00:50:28] And whoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.
[00:50:31] And then he asked her, do you believe this?
[00:50:37] So this applies in two ways in the sense that God is more powerful than anything that we deal with in our lives, but He is also more powerful than death.
[00:50:48] That whenever and however it is time for us to leave this world, He is saying, you don't even have to fear of that because I am the resurrection and the life.
[00:50:59] I am going to take you to be with me.
[00:51:07] Now we as believers, we do not sorrow as other people do when we have death and loss?
[00:51:16] Because we are trusting God.
[00:51:19] Because we walk with Him.
[00:51:22] Because we walk by faith and we know that if we are believing in Him, that as Christ rose from the dead, that we have eternal life.
[00:51:30] So if the one that we serve and follow is so powerful, why do we ever fear?
[00:51:37] Because we take our eyes off of Christ.
[00:51:40] but we have something that we have to remember we have to keep in mind with all of this is that when the disciples did wake Jesus up He did respond He did save them and He did deliver them, right?
[00:52:03] He rebuked them for their lack of faith because they had gotten themselves in this situation where there was a total loss of hope.
[00:52:18] Jesus doesn't want us to get to that point.
[00:52:22] He is saying, if you believe in me, I am with you.
[00:52:25] I will deliver you.
[00:52:27] I will help you.
[00:52:28] And we have to trust in that, brothers and sisters, that the love that he has for us is greater than anything else.
[00:52:41] Do you believe that?
[00:52:44] I hope so.
[00:52:47] It is something that we grow in.
[00:52:49] It is something, but to grow in it, you have to walk with Jesus, right?
[00:52:55] You have to walk in faith.
[00:52:58] And so the last thing that I want us to see is that when Jesus calmed the storm, when he told the wind and the waves to be still, and there was a great calm, and the disciples were like,
[00:53:13] who is this this is contrasted to what their response was and it is to be our response to christ all of the time when jesus walked on water in the midst of a small storm and he comes
[00:53:32] and he had sent the disciples out he went up on the mountaintop to pray and then he comes walking on the water and Peter says hey if it's you because because they all think he's a ghost he
[00:53:46] says if it's you that then call for me to come out to you and so Jesus said come and so Peter came out and walked on water and then and then he took his eyes off Jesus and there was a wave coming
[00:53:58] and he sank and people give Peter a hard time like uh you know he just didn't have enough faith well Peter's also the only human other than Jesus that ever walked on water and then when Peter and
[00:54:12] Jesus got into the boat, did the disciples say, Who is this? Who is this that can even walk on water?
[00:54:20] No, it says in Matthew 14, verse 33, Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped Him, saying of a truth, or truly, You are the Son of God.
[00:54:36] And so this is what Jesus wants from us.
[00:54:38] He wants us to come and to worship Him.
[00:54:41] He wants us to faithfully follow Him.
[00:54:44] He wants us to walk in faith and to obey Him, to seek His will in the Scriptures of how we are to live and to follow Him.
[00:54:54] I mean, this includes all of what we do or we mostly do in the sense that we are to come to church on a weekly basis, on a regular basis, that we are to read the Scriptures, that we are to pray,
[00:55:11] that we are to seek God every day to be in His Word and then to love other people, to serve them, to tell people of how Jesus has saved us and why that is so great.
[00:55:29] When we do all of these things, we are walking with Christ.
[00:55:35] We are being obedient to Him.
[00:55:38] but in all of this he wants us to really be worshiping him to looking to him for our own for not our own to looking to him for fulfillment and not ourselves not other things not things of
[00:55:54] the world not in things that we do but in him alone we are to come and worship him we're to worship him here in church this is this is great and we need to be doing this but in everything
[00:56:07] that we do it is worshiping him and proclaiming him as the son of god as god himself and that he is the only one who can deliver us and help us amen this is what christ wants for us he wants
[00:56:26] us to come to him to put our faith totally in him and he will deliver us he will save us and He will use us to work His power through us to encourage others, to bring others to faith
[00:56:42] and so that we don't ever have to be filled with fear that just cripples us.
[00:56:50] But the moment that you feel yourself filled with fear or unrest or a lack of peace or wondering how things are going to work out in a good way, we need to go to Christ.
[00:57:04] And if we are walking with Him, then we will have that peace and that rest that we so long for that only Jesus can bring.
[00:57:17] So Jesus wants us to come to Him, wants us to put our faith in Him and to faithfully follow Him.
[00:57:25] And so if there is anyone here that has not put their faith in Christ for the first time, you can come forward, you can talk with me, you can talk with Pastor Joseph, or Elder Allen, and you can come and put your faith
[00:57:43] in the Lord Jesus as your Savior and as your Lord and have the assurance of forgiveness of sin and eternal life as the one who calms the storm, the one who calms our hearts and gives us this eternal security.
[00:57:59] It is only through Jesus.
[00:58:02] It is not of ourselves.
[00:58:05] Let's look to the Lord in prayer.
[00:58:07] oh father lord we do humble ourselves before you we thank you that you are our god lord we thank you that you have sent your son the lord jesus to be our savior lord we thank you that that there's
[00:58:27] no one greater than him we thank you that that he came as as a man to save us to bear our sins that Jesus is the God-man.
[00:58:41] We thank You that He is reigning over everything with You and with the Holy Spirit even right now.
[00:58:50] And Lord, we thank You that He is the one that speaks peace to our hearts.
[00:58:55] That He is the only one who can give us rest.
[00:58:58] That He is the only one who can give us fulfillment and forgiveness of our sins.
[00:59:05] Lord, I pray that You will help us to always look to Him, to want to obey Him, to want to seek after the Lord Jesus with all of our hearts, that we might never be alone and feel alone, because You are always there.
[00:59:23] And when we seek You with all of our hearts, we will be found by You.
[00:59:30] So Lord, we ask that You would help us to walk in faith and not by sight.
[00:59:38] Lord, help us to grab on to Jesus and to never let go.
[00:59:43] The devil wants to lie to us and tell us that we're smart enough or able enough that we will be okay on our own, that we don't need Jesus for everything.
[00:59:55] But Lord, he is lying to us, and he was a liar from the beginning.
[01:00:00] And Lord, I pray that by the truth of the Spirit, Lord, that you will lead us to Christ, that we might put our trust in Him, for everything.
[01:00:12] And Lord, that You would completely change our lives and help us to live boldly for You and for the good news of Jesus.
[01:00:26] Lord, we pray that Christ would be formed in us so that His truth would be manifested and shown in our lives and His love as well.
[01:00:40] Lord, forgive us where we have fallen short.
[01:00:43] help us to be your faithful people and thank you for the encouragement that you give to us of being with us and never leaving us through the Lord Jesus Lord we thank you we praise you
[01:00:56] we ask all of these things in the great name of Jesus our Savior Amen