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Growing in the Wind (Luke 8:22-25)
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Sunday Message recorded 22 June 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
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Transcript
Reflecting on VBS and Praising God
00:00:06
Speaker
Wow, I don't know how I can follow the children. That was great. Thank you guys so much. Let's give them another round of applause. I think you'll be great. We had such a great week, as Trudy said VBS, as we magnify the Lord together.
00:00:24
Speaker
And what we learned, we discovered was that we were actually made to magnify God. That's why we're here, is to magnify God. No matter what kind of career that you're in, no matter what your age, you are made to magnify the Lord. And so it was just such a joy But one of the joys of living for Christ with a church family is you watch children who are in Sunday school or vacation Bible school or Awana or going to camp and so forth. You watch them grow into strong Christian disciples.
00:01:01
Speaker
It is such a blessing to see them lifting up the Lord in their with their voices, but also lifting up the Lord in their lives.
Spiritual Growth in the Church: Ephesians 4
00:01:10
Speaker
You know, Ephesians 4, 11 through 16 describes the spiritual growth that takes place within the local church. The context of that passage is the local church.
00:01:22
Speaker
But it says in Ephesians 4, 14 and 15, so that we may ah no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we're to grow up in every way into him who is the head, end into Christ.
00:01:48
Speaker
And what you're going to see today in God's word, you're going to see some grown men. Some of them were professional fishermen. They were out on the Sea of Galilee and they encountered a storm.
Life's Storms and Personal Growth
00:01:59
Speaker
And maybe you would say, you know, if I'm honest right now, i'm I'm in a storm. Or maybe you'd say our family is going through a storm. So I want you to pay special attention because what going to see is that in the midst of the storm, these disciples were growing.
00:02:16
Speaker
God can accomplish things during a storm that he cannot accomplish any other way.
Lessons from Biosphere 2: Strength through Hardship
00:02:22
Speaker
Back in 1991, Biosphere 2, it was a three-acre glass-dome terrarium.
00:02:30
Speaker
It was an experiment, and it began. Everyone was excited. This was gonna be the perfect controlled environment. It was designed to be a closed ecological system where eight people would go in there and they would be sealed off. No one would see them for two years.
00:02:48
Speaker
And so they thought, this is gonna be great. We're gonna learn a lot. This was located over somewhere north of Tucson, Arizona, but some unexpected problems were encountered just like we encounter in life.
00:03:03
Speaker
For one thing, there was oxygen depletion. It's not a big thing, but when you can't breathe, it sort of has a way of, you know, getting your attention. There was also carbon dioxide fluctuations.
00:03:15
Speaker
There was difficulties in food production. That's kind of serious. But then also the death of hummingbirds, honeybees, and fish. But something didn't die. There was an explosion in the population of ants and cockroaches. They were everywhere. And so they were saying, what in the world?
00:03:33
Speaker
This did not go like they had planned. But it was okay. it only cost $200 million. dollars So it was no big loss. But one thing they did learn through this was they observed the trees.
00:03:46
Speaker
The trees in that controlled environment, they grew really quickly. As a matter of fact, they grew quicker than normal trees. And so they were celebrating that, yes.
00:03:57
Speaker
But then wasn't too long until the trees began to collapse. They started falling over. And they were thinking, why did the trees fall over? Why didn't they stand up over time?
00:04:08
Speaker
And so there's all kind of different articles that you could read about it. But one article I read said that that desert bubble known as Biosphere 2, they didn't have any wind.
00:04:20
Speaker
And so that's a good thing, right? Not to have win Well, not for trees. It wasn't a good thing. As it turns out, trees actually need stiff winds.
00:04:31
Speaker
They need some storms to help them to grow. do you know that wind storms produce what's called stress wood? You can read in this article that's called the necessity of stress. Here's what it says in the article about that experiment. Without stress wood,
00:04:50
Speaker
A tree can grow quickly, but it cannot support itself fully. It cannot withstand normal wear and tear and survive.
00:05:02
Speaker
In other words, the trees needed some stress in order to thrive in the long run. Wow. you know, there's a lesson there that we can learn not only from that experiment, but also from James.
Embracing Trials as Joy: James 1:2-4
00:05:16
Speaker
If you were to read in the book of James, James chapter one, verses two and three and four, James says, really, we are to count it all joy. Whenever we meet trials of various kinds.
00:05:30
Speaker
And maybe you'd say, are you kidding? to To look at my storm, my hardship as a joy? Why would I do that? Well, James goes on to say, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
00:05:46
Speaker
and steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. Why does God allow difficulties and hardships to come into our lives?
00:05:58
Speaker
Because he doesn't want us to lack anything. He wants us to have what we need to thrive and to survive and to grow and not grow stagnant and stale.
00:06:09
Speaker
I want you to read with me the biblical text this morning. It's found in Luke 8, 22 through 25. It's only four verses, but there are four important truths about growth that I want us to see.
00:06:22
Speaker
So in honor of God's word, I'd like to invite you to stand with me. We'll have it on the screen, but also you may want to open your own copy of God's word. There's also a Bible in the pew. So if you'd like to open to the gospel of Luke, we're going to be in chapter 8.
00:06:37
Speaker
And look at verse 22 down through verse 25. I'm going to read that passage and then we'll pray and ask God to speak to us through the passage.
Jesus Calms the Storm: Faith and Power
00:06:45
Speaker
And then we'll get started. One day he got into a boat with his disciples and he said to them,
00:06:52
Speaker
Let us go across to the other side of the lake. So they set out. And as they sailed, he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger.
00:07:08
Speaker
And they went and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing. And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased to And there was a calm.
00:07:22
Speaker
He said to them, where is your faith? And they were afraid. And they marveled, saying to one another, who then is this that he commands even winds and water?
00:07:36
Speaker
And they obey him. Wow. Let's go to the Father in prayer. Lord, just like the Vacation Bible School children, we want to learn more about you. We want to learn more about why it is that you permit some hard things to come into our lives. Why can't life just always be easy?
00:07:55
Speaker
Well, I pray that you would open our eyes to four priorities, four priorities of growth that I think you're focused on, and it will help us if we will see these things in our hardships.
00:08:08
Speaker
So bless our time together. And we pray especially for any who are here today who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, at least not yet. But I pray that today's passage would encourage them and incentivize them to move in that direction, to walk in the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:08:28
Speaker
It's in his name we pray. Amen. Thank you You may be seated.
Divine Direction: Crossing the Lake
00:08:34
Speaker
You know, the Sea of Galilee is where they were sailing. In the Sea of Galilee, it's rather a large lake in Israel. It's 13 miles long. It's seven and a half miles wide.
00:08:44
Speaker
And at its deepest part, it's 157 deep. It's also the lowest freshwater lake on earth, situated between an area called the Golan Heights today and the Galilee region in the Jordan Rift Valley.
00:09:01
Speaker
Do you know that the Jordan Rift Valley is where two two tectonic plates meet together, the African plate and the Arabian plate. And so that's why back then it it was known for earthquakes.
00:09:15
Speaker
Different things could happen. But on that day, the disciples were in what Luke called a windstorm in verse 23. But if you were to read Matthew's version of this and Mark's version of this, which three of the gospel writers wrote about it. So I think there's something God wants us to learn from it.
00:09:36
Speaker
But Matthew and Mark added one more word to windstorm. They added the word great. It was not an ordinary, normal windstorm. This was a great windstorm. It was quite serious.
00:09:50
Speaker
And so I wanted you to get the feel of how it felt for them when they were rowing, when they were sailing against the wind. And they began to realize maybe somewhere, maybe after it was over, you know what? While we were rowing, we were also growing
Trust and Obedience to God's Call
00:10:08
Speaker
spiritually. Maybe that's something that you and I need to remember.
00:10:12
Speaker
Is your life hard right now? And maybe you're saying, I can't make sense of this, what God is trying to do. Well, I want to give you four growth priorities that I think the Lord's working toward. And it'll help if we understand these.
00:10:26
Speaker
And maybe we would say, so that's what it's all about. The first thing that I noticed was the mission toward a storm. The mission. If you'll look with me at verse 22 carefully, you'll see that nothing is mentioned in verse 22 about the context before the mission.
00:10:45
Speaker
He says we're going to go across the lake, right? But what was going on right there? It doesn't say a lot in verse 22. But if you were to read Mark's version in Mark 4, 36, it says, "...and leaving the crowd..." They went across the lake and leaving the crowd.
00:11:04
Speaker
You mean a crowd like today? i mean, wouldn't the disciples, wouldn't Jesus want to have larger and larger and larger crowds? Isn't that a good thing?
00:11:16
Speaker
Well, listen to what Matthew says in his account of it. In Matthew 8, 18, he said, when Jesus saw crowd around him, he gave orders to,
00:11:28
Speaker
to go to the other side, orders. So Jesus tells us what to do. Jesus told them what to do. Does Jesus still tell disciples what to do? You know, there's something he wants to do through your life.
00:11:42
Speaker
You know, I'm so thankful to have, once again, Pine Cove summer counselors that are here with us today. But you know, they must have heard the Lord saying to
Challenges of True Discipleship
00:11:52
Speaker
them, I know that you could spend your summer on a raft. You could spend your summer just having a big time.
00:12:00
Speaker
But I've got a mission. I've got something I want you to do during your summer break. And so all of these summer counselors said, okay, Lord, I will follow you to the other side.
00:12:11
Speaker
Perhaps they came to the other side of the state. Maybe they came from the other side of the United States. I don't know where they all came from. But all I know is Jesus was saying to them, there's a call.
00:12:24
Speaker
And we know it was a call because remember Matthew said he gave orders. So there's something important that's about to take place. We won't really explore what that was, what the mission was until we get to next Sunday.
00:12:40
Speaker
Next Sunday, if you're with us, we're going to begin at verse 26 and we'll see why did they go across the lake? it It wasn't haphazard. It wasn't aimless.
00:12:50
Speaker
There was a very important reason. And you know what? There may be a very important reason why you're going through what you're going through. One of the members of our church, I remember one time she went into m d Anderson and she said, I tried to share about Jesus with every nurse, with every doctor, with every specialist that would come into my room because she realized God's got a purpose for me being here.
00:13:16
Speaker
Do you see God's purpose? They were called to go on the other side. What was on the other side? Well, verse 26 tells us on the other side were the garrisons, the garrisons.
00:13:27
Speaker
Do you know that as far as I know, the disciples and Jesus had never been over there to the other side. See, this was the Gentile side. These people were not like the Jewish people.
00:13:40
Speaker
And so this was really a special call to say, we're going over there. And it's like, oh, wait a minute. We've never been over there. Does the Lord have the right?
00:13:51
Speaker
Does he have your permission to do something in your life that he's never done before? If he's got a special reason for it, a special mission, is it that he has to always do things, everything exactly the same way?
00:14:05
Speaker
Hey, listen, you know what my nickname is? Mr. Vanilla. And that's because I can go into a 39 flavors and I'll say, I want vanilla every single time. And it irritates my family, it irritates everybody I'm with. But I like predictability.
00:14:22
Speaker
You know, I like to do things the same way every single day. But I have to realize that sometimes God interrupts my patterns. And sometimes God says, you know what?
00:14:33
Speaker
There's somebody over here, you don't know it yet, but there's somebody over here that needs to know about my love. And so that's why I want you to go. Man, you know, on this particular day, the disciples were in what Luke called that windstorm, that great windstorm, if you add in there Matthew and Mark's of versions.
00:14:56
Speaker
But did they do it? They didn't know that was coming, right? So were they compliant with this call to missions?
Obeying Divine Orders: Trust in the Plan
00:15:04
Speaker
Yes, they were. As a matter of fact, let's read that. What does it say?
00:15:08
Speaker
Jesus said, let's go across to the other side of the lake. So they set out. What if God calls you to go to the other side of town? What if God reaches you, causes you to reach across the other side of the table?
00:15:22
Speaker
What if God calls you to go and sit with someone in the lunchroom and you've never sat with that person before? Nobody sits with that person, as a matter of fact. But yet you sense the Lord saying, I want you to go to the other side.
00:15:35
Speaker
Would you be compliant? You know, what if obeying the Lord involves subtraction rather than addition? You know, is it always got to be that everything gets bigger and more, more and more and more?
00:15:51
Speaker
Well, wait a minute. I thought we already looked at when we started that they left the crowd. They went across the lake. And if you'll look ahead, when they went across the lake, guess how many people it was for?
00:16:07
Speaker
One man. One man. Sometimes God may call you to do something like these summer counselors that are at Pine Cove, and it may really be all about one man, one woman, one boy, one girl, one teenager, one student.
00:16:22
Speaker
We don't know who it will be about, but does God always have to make it more? and more Or can he sometimes say, you know what, we're not going big. I love the way that the kids sing that, you know what, God can be magnified.
00:16:37
Speaker
God can be magnified in the small things, in the little things. And so don't despise the day of small things is what it says in his word. But also what if obeying the Lord involves limited information?
00:16:53
Speaker
You see, I wonder if Peter, he was kind of the one that always opened his mouth and spoke up. What if Peter would have said to Jesus, so we're going on the other side. I like it better over here in Capernaum. This is where I live. This is where I know people. Why are we going over there? He could have said that.
00:17:09
Speaker
But he didn't, did he? You know what he did? He trusted. He trusted in the Lord's direction. He knew that his role was not to know everything. His role was to obey everything that the Lord told him to do.
00:17:26
Speaker
So I guess really when it comes down to it, you know what I see in these disciples? These disciples said, you know what? Jesus is worthy. He's worthy of me obeying Him even when I don't understand why.
00:17:39
Speaker
Would you say that would be your default setting, that you're willing to obey Him even when you don't know why? Well, growing in the wind means growing in surrender and obedience to what you do know and trusting his mission regarding what you don't know.
God's Purpose in Storms: Psalms Insight
00:17:57
Speaker
God's got a purpose.
00:17:58
Speaker
God's got a reason. God's got a person out there. But sometimes growing in the wind is also likely to include misery. Misery during the storm. Let's go to verse 23.
00:18:13
Speaker
You see, do you think that it was smooth sailing for these guys? Well, it was at first for a while. And maybe ever since you became a Christian, you would say, man, I've not had any hard times.
00:18:26
Speaker
It's just been smooth sailing all my life. I just want you to know it might not always be that way. Even though you're following the Lord, even though you're obeying the Lord, these guys were obeying the Lord.
00:18:39
Speaker
And so I wonder if the reason that Jesus, it says, could go to sleep right there in the boat as they were sailing along was because maybe at the beginning, it was such smooth sailing.
00:18:51
Speaker
So I'm thinking, okay. So maybe we need to be willing to say, okay, Lord, I love the smooth sailing, so you're just welcome to keep on letting it be smooth just as long as we go along here.
00:19:05
Speaker
But I want you to know that also, There was people who were willing to follow that would say, you know what? Even if it's not smooth sailing, I'm willing to follow. The 12 men who got in the boat, they were willing to say, you know what? I'm all in.
00:19:21
Speaker
It doesn't always have to be easy. It doesn't always have to be comfortable. I'm willing to do it. Would you turn with me to Matthew 8 if you're quick on the draw? If not, we're going right back.
00:19:32
Speaker
But what I want to show you is what was the context right before Jesus caused them to leave and go across the ocean, across the Sea of Galilee? Here's what it says in Matthew 8, verses 18 through 22. We're looking at Matthew 8.
00:19:49
Speaker
Chapter 8, verse 18 down through verse 22, because in 23 is when they get in the boat and when the disciples followed him, when they go across. But what happened right before?
00:20:00
Speaker
Listen to the clarification. Listen to the disclaimer. Jesus is not hiding anything from you and he's not hiding anything from me. He's trying to be up front and say, look, you know what? Being a disciple is not always going to be cost free. It may be costly for you. Listen to what happens.
00:20:19
Speaker
Now, when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. Why did he give orders? Because Jesus is not looking to just draw a crowd.
00:20:30
Speaker
He's looking to make disciples. So let's watch what happens. And a scribe, usually it's always in the plural, but in this time it's in the singular. There's just one guy, just one of the scribes. A scribe came up and said to him, teacher, I'll follow you wherever you go.
00:20:49
Speaker
Isn't that what we want? Listen to what Jesus says next. And Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
00:21:02
Speaker
And I wonder if maybe John was like, Jesus, let's talk about our recruitment paradigm. Could you come over here? i mean, that's not going to get people to follow you, you know. But then another of the disciples says to him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And he's probably still alive. And Jesus said to him, follow me.
00:21:21
Speaker
and leave the dead to bury their own dead. Wow. I mean, you would think that ah the numbers would drop off drastically, and perhaps they did. All I know is those 12 that got in the boat said, it's not phasing us.
00:21:36
Speaker
We're in it until the end. We're in it until our last breath. Are you in it until your last breath? thought to myself, well, you know, the sailing was not always going to be smooth, but also notice the severity of the storm.
00:21:52
Speaker
Like I said, you know, Matthew 8, 24 talks about the suddenness of the storm. Here's the way Matthew 8, 24 says, behold, behold there arose a great storm.
00:22:05
Speaker
It's like it just blew in. You ever been out on the lake and a storm just blows in and you're like, wow, you ever been climbing a mountain? And you get up there and it's like, I didn't know this was coming. Luke 8, 23 tells us though how serious this was.
00:22:19
Speaker
Oh yeah, it was sudden, but it was also serious. Because it says that the windstorm, Luke says in eight Luke 8, 23, the windstorm came down on the lake.
00:22:31
Speaker
You see, why did it say come down? Because right there at the lake's edge was the foot of Mount Hermon, 9,232 feet high above was 686 feet below sea level.
00:22:43
Speaker
whereas the sea of galilee it was six hundred and eighty six feet below sea level And so something was happening up top that was allowing the wind to come down below.
00:22:55
Speaker
You know what? i I think maybe we need to go ahead and get get the elephant that's in the room.
Faith in Jesus' Mastery over Life's Storms
00:23:01
Speaker
Let's go ahead and get it out there. Does God allow winds? Does God allow trials and hard times to come into our lives?
00:23:11
Speaker
I believe he does. I believe he does. And I want to share with you a verse that talks about his control over the winds. In Psalm 135 verses 5, 6, and 7, you might want to know this because sometimes a storm might blow into your life.
00:23:28
Speaker
And going to say, well, I know this is from the devil. Well, I know this is because of the fallenness of creation. Well, I know this is because of man. But here's what Psalm 135 verses 5, 6, and 7 says.
00:23:42
Speaker
For I know that the Lord's great and that our Lord is above all gods. And whatever the Lord pleases, he does in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
00:23:58
Speaker
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth. Did you catch the word makes? Makes. Let's read on. Who makes lightnings for the rain and brings forth the wind from his storehouses.
00:24:15
Speaker
Oh my goodness. So you mean to tell me that there may be a time in my life when God's going to allow a severe storm to come in? Yes.
00:24:26
Speaker
But... I want to remind you something else though, and that is that there's a purpose. He's going to be doing something. He's going to be building into your life endurance and perseverance, growing in the winds of hardship.
00:24:42
Speaker
You know what it develops? Perseverance. I wonder in this room, how many go to a gym and you push against those weights You know, no pain, no gain.
00:24:54
Speaker
There's something about that resistance that builds strength within us. Oh, they were suffering during the storm. It wasn't easy. It says they were filling with water. It doesn't mean they personally were being filled with water. It means the boat was filling with water and they were in danger.
00:25:13
Speaker
As a matter of fact, you know what they did? They did what I've done. Have you ever pushed the panic button? Man, I've pushed the panic button. I've told you about one time I pushed the panic button. I had to have a hard cath.
00:25:24
Speaker
So it's my first time to go in the OR, operating room. That's code language. You might not know. Anyway, it makes me feel important if I can say OR. But anyway, but they pushed me in there on a gurney.
00:25:36
Speaker
And I mean, there's these guys in there with the white robes and the mask and hats and got gloves on like this. There's a big monitor up there. They roll me in there and they say, look, we're going to do a heart catheterization and we're going to see why you keep having a little bit of trouble whenever you run around the track.
00:25:55
Speaker
And I said, yeah, it only starts on the fourth lap, though. It's not that bad. And they're like, yeah, we we need to check it out, though. So I began to get a little worried. And then so they're just about to put me under and the the doctor said, we're not gonna put you all the way under. You can watch the big screen. You can actually see us go in there and see inside your heart. And i said, that's okay. I don't think I'll look, you know, if you don't mind. So anyway, the doctor says, but the reason I've come over here is your heart rate is out the roof, man. You've got to calm yourself down.
00:26:27
Speaker
And I said, okay, I'll see what I can do. So you know what I did? Man, I began to pray like never before. Not out loud, but I was praying. I was quoting scripture in my head. I was singing every gospel song, every praise song I've ever learned. you know Man, I was doing everything. And pretty soon the doctor, the surgeon comes back over there and he said,
00:26:47
Speaker
Mr. Morrison, what have you done? And I thought, oh man, I must've broke the heart rate scale now. He says, whatever it is that you have done, keep on doing it. Cause your heart weight rate went from way up here to way down here.
00:27:00
Speaker
He said, man, you are normal. And he said, that's what we need right now while we do this. You just keep it up. And I said, don't you worry, Bubba. I'll keep it up. You know, so anyway, man, they went in there and started looking and they found out I had blockages in there. And so anyway, just I'm so glad I went in there. But you know what would have been really sad?
00:27:21
Speaker
is if at that moment when they're about to discover that I had some blockages, that I needed some heart stints, I got six heart stints. That's why I call myself Iron Man. You know, I got it, man. But anyway, here's what Mark 4.38 says the disciples fell.
00:27:38
Speaker
Do you not care? Do you not care that we are perishing? What if I would have said to the surgical team, do you guys not to care what I'm going through here? You know what? They did care.
00:27:49
Speaker
And that's why they were going to help me. And that's why they were going to put those heart stints in there. Whatever it is that you're going through, just know this. Maybe it's severe. Maybe it's uncomfortable. Maybe it scares you to death. But here's the thing.
00:28:03
Speaker
God cares. God's on your side. He's not against you. He's for you. And so here's what I want you to see next is that growing in the wind teaches us to magnify The master.
00:28:18
Speaker
The master who's over the storms of life. He is over the storms of life, you know. And is I'm glad that he is because it says that they woke him up.
00:28:28
Speaker
They woke him up. And when they woke him up, what'd they say? Master, master. We're perishing. You know, I'm so glad that Jesus came as a man. You know I'm not sure I could have ever really related to God if it hadn't have been for Jesus.
00:28:45
Speaker
See, Jesus is fully God. He can stand up in the boat a little later and tell the storm to be quiet, and it and it does it. But he's also fully man. He has to he has to take a nap. And i I love my 10-minute naps after lunch. It's great. If you don't take one, man, you should. But he hungered, he thirsted, he experienced fatigue.
00:29:06
Speaker
But it's all a part of the Lord saying, I know where you are. I'm coming. And so the master said, I'm going to humble myself and I'm going to come down there and be a part of this.
00:29:17
Speaker
But also notice the compassion toward our mortality. They accused him of not caring. That's strange because John 3, 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish.
00:29:35
Speaker
should not perish. One more time. Should not perish, but have everlasting life. That's why he came. And yet they're saying, do you not care?
00:29:46
Speaker
Wow, I wonder if that's the most hurtful thing he anybody ever said. Sometime you ought to read Hebrews 4.16, Hebrews 7.25, Hebrews 10.22, and Hebrews 11.6, because they all use this word that's translated in Hebrews as draw near, draw near.
Adversity and Maturity: Wisdom from Proverbs
00:30:06
Speaker
Time of trouble, draw near to the throne of grace. You know what those disciples learned they could do? They said, he cares. He cares. That's why, listen to what the kids said today. They said, we learned that God cares.
00:30:18
Speaker
They learned this story too. God cares. And so that's why they went to him. What did they expect him to do? I mean, once he calms the storm, it just about freaked them out, right? They were like, what in the world?
00:30:33
Speaker
Who is this? But I don't know what they thought he was going to do, but they knew we can trust him because I know he cares about us. Do you know God cares about you?
00:30:46
Speaker
You know, I thought it was interesting how he rebuked the wind and the raging waves. Some liberal theologians say, oh, I know it just happened to stop.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah, but the problem is whenever a storm stops like that, maybe the wind stops blowing, but the waves don't stop. But you know what happened that day? Not only did the wind stop blowing, but those waves that have a way of continuing to rock even afterwards, they also went quiet.
00:31:16
Speaker
You see, I think that there was a calm according to his mandate. He said, peace, be still. He said, silence. And I guarantee they were silent. I believe that the silence was deafening. I believe that the stillness was eerie when it says they ceased and there was a calm.
00:31:36
Speaker
So let me tell you, you may disagree with the master's answer to your prayer, but don't doubt his abilities. to answer prayer. He can. He can answer it. And that's why we always take it to him.
00:31:52
Speaker
That's why he said, cast your cares upon me because I care for you. Well, let me close with one last thing. Growing in the wind involves learning to take the impossible to the almighty, learning to see the vision that he's in authority.
00:32:07
Speaker
But I believe the last thing we can see that happens is our maturity. We mature, we grow as we go through storms. You see, during during the storm, all the disciples could see was what?
00:32:20
Speaker
The difficulty. That's all they could see. But after the storm, Luke noted their maturity. He said they'd learned something about who Jesus was.
00:32:32
Speaker
During the storm, they were afraid of the storm's intensity. But you know what they were afraid of after the storm? The son of God's immensity. You know, we're talking about magnifying God.
00:32:44
Speaker
So exactly how big is God? How big is our creator? He's way bigger than anybody we've ever known. I guarantee you to humble yourself before him. Proverbs 30 verses 1 through 4 is an unusual place to learn about how big he is. But also Revelation 6, 14 through 17 is another unusual place to learn about him. But the thing I wanted to end on this point is, is that the disciples were focused on the mortality of their flesh. Is that what you're focused on?
00:33:18
Speaker
The mortality of your flesh, your human life, your body. But you know what Jesus was more focused on? He zeroed in on the reality of their faith.
00:33:29
Speaker
He says to them, where is your faith? Where is your faith? You know, we used to sing a song sometimes called How Firm a Foundation.
00:33:40
Speaker
I like the third stanza because it says, when through fiery trials, thy pathway shall lie forever. My grace all sufficient shall be thy supply.
00:33:54
Speaker
will not hurt thee, only design thy draws to consume and thy gold to refine. You see, God's got something good that he's gonna try to do through that that hardship that's in your life.
00:34:11
Speaker
I wonder this morning, could you see yourself in the mirror of God's word. James said that God's word is like a mirror. You look in there.
00:34:21
Speaker
Sometimes we don't like what it's showing us about ourselves, but it's showing us the truth.
Reflecting through Rembrandt's Lens
00:34:27
Speaker
You know that there was a Dutch painter, he was known by his first name Rembrandt.
00:34:33
Speaker
He was a master in contrasting light and dark in his paintings. You can see one of his paintings there. He was also famous for capturing, well, the individuality.
00:34:45
Speaker
or the emotional nuance of the subjects that were in his paintings. You could look into their faces and see what they felt at the time they were going through that.
00:34:56
Speaker
Perhaps his most famous painting was The Night Watch. But Rembrandt's only seascape was dated in 1633 after he moved to Amsterdam, and he simply called it Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee.
00:35:15
Speaker
You can probably see the depiction that he has of the dark clouds, the crashing waves. the The waves are coming in the boat. You can see the panicked look on the disciples' faces. You can see the peaceful composure of Jesus.
00:35:29
Speaker
But Rembrandt not only could see himself in what we just read, the biblical account, I believe that he also actually included himself. He painted himself into that painting that's called the Christ in the storm on the Sea of Galilee.
00:35:50
Speaker
So there he is. If you look at where we zoomed it in there, it's like with his right hand, he's holding on to a rope that was sort of used to steady the sails and so forth.
00:36:03
Speaker
But the other hand, his left hand, his hat's about to blow off. If you've ever lost a cap, man, that's the worst. You gotta hang on to your caps. So he's hanging on to his cap. But also there's something unusual about this subject compared to all the other subjects in the painting.
00:36:19
Speaker
He's looking at you. He's looking at me. And I thought, oh my goodness, he is. He's just looking, he's staring a hole right into me. The bigger you look at it, the more enhanced you look at it. It's almost as though Rembrandt was looking at us and saying this, can you see yourself in this storm-tossed boat?
00:36:41
Speaker
And if so, what would you be doing if you were going through this kind of a storm? The storm you're going through may be about growing in the wind.
VBS Lessons on Jesus' Care and Love
00:36:54
Speaker
Vacation Bible School children learn five truths about Jesus. They learn that Jesus sees us, Jesus cares about us, he loves us, he forgives us, and he is so faithful to his promises.
00:37:11
Speaker
But after the kids studied this passage that we just looked at, we looked at that storm-tossed boat and so forth and saw all about that. But right after that, you know what the story was the next day?
00:37:23
Speaker
Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a good guy. Nicodemus was a religious man. Nicodemus was more than likely a very moral fellow. But you know what Nicodemus As good as he was, as perfect as he was in so many ways, he wasn't perfect enough to not need Jesus.
00:37:44
Speaker
He needed Christ. He needed Christ and what he was going to do for him on the cross. And that's why the Lord told Nicodemus, you know what? You're going to have to start all over. And he's like, I've studied theology all my life. I'm a teacher of Israel. Don't you know who i am But what Christ was saying was you're gonna have to allow the Lord, the Holy Spirit, to make you a brand new person on the inside.
Embracing New Beginnings in Christ
00:38:09
Speaker
And it's interesting how he made a connection with wind that I wanted to close with as we go to the invitation. He says, the wind blows where it wishes. This is Jesus talking. The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
00:38:27
Speaker
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. You know that new start that you're looking for? It can be found in Christ. The Lord will use the Holy Spirit of God to make you a brand new person. You'll start over.
00:38:42
Speaker
You'll begin to learn new things. You'll begin to experience fresh power that you didn't have before. So I want us to stand. I want to invite ah our musicians. We don't have musicians today. Maybe we'll have somebody. Oh, there's Marsha. She's got our back.
00:38:58
Speaker
But we're going to have a song to close with. It's going to be about gratitude. Would you be able to say to God, Lord, I'm just so thankful that I don't have to earn my way into salvation.
00:39:12
Speaker
I'm so thankful that Jesus, you died for me as the perfect sacrifice. You covered for all my sin. You took the penalty for my sin. But also maybe you would say, Lord, I'm thankful that even though I'm going through a really difficult time right now in my personal life,
00:39:28
Speaker
I'm not alone. You're with me. Or maybe you would say, Lord, I need to get in the boat with you. I'm not in there. Why don't you climb in? It's really easy. All you have to do is repent of your sin and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And you'll be in. Say, Lord, I'm in it to follow you until my last breath. Let's pray together.
00:39:50
Speaker
Lord, there may be someone here today and they came to hear the kids sing. Or maybe they just came because they always are here so faithfully and we're so thankful. But maybe they're here today and they realize, I don't know this Jesus.
00:40:07
Speaker
I'm in a storm right now and i need I need to know he cares about me. I need to know the Lord has a reason for this happening in my life. And so God, whatever it is, help these precious people that are here today.
00:40:22
Speaker
They're our friends. We're neighbors. We live in the same area, and I'm so glad they're here. But Lord, help them to to cast their cares upon you, knowing that you really do care for us, no matter what's going on on the outside, no matter what's going on in life.
00:40:38
Speaker
Help us to come to you and say, I'm i'm so thankful. And maybe we need to confess. Maybe we've been doubting. Maybe we've been accusing. Maybe we've said, do you not care that I'm perishing?
00:40:51
Speaker
And yet you care about us more than anybody else. So Lord, this invitation, it's just yours. So maybe people just need to stay right where they are, pray, connect with you right there. Maybe they need to come and pray at the altar.
00:41:03
Speaker
Maybe they need to have a friend to pray with, and I'd be happy to pray with them. But whatever it is, Lord, help them just be honest and say, I'm so glad that you helped me grow in the midst of the wind.
00:41:18
Speaker
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
00:41:35
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.