Sermon Tone Analysis

*Does God Really Care?*

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St. Mark 4:35-41

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                In our society today, genuine concern or genuine care seems to be in short supply.

Mother’s are abandoning or killing their children by the hundreds, fathers are leaving families like they are retiring from a job.

Children are dropping their parents off at nursing homes like some folk drop off laundry at the dry cleaners.

Some of our young people today seem to have a total disregard for life, theirs and their fellow man.

So as we look at all the things happening around us, we began to wonder where is God in the midst of all this madness?

To some it may seem that the God who created this whole universe, seems to have taken a vacation from the affairs of man, the God who said “let there be light,” seem to be blind to what’s going on in the world, so we begin to wonder *does God really care.*

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*            *Now in one sense I can understand the unsaved person asking, “Does God really care,” for he knows nothing about the goodness of the Lord, even though he is experiencing God’s mercies new every day.

When the unsaved wakes up in the morning, he does see that it’s the hand of God being gracious unto him.

But there are times when even the saints of God find themselves asking this very question, “Does God really care.”

When we look at the conditions of our own lives, the failing health of our loved ones, the financial burdens we carry, how some of our marriages are being held together by a band aid, as becoming saints of God, we to begin to ask *does God really care.*

You have been faithful to the faith, but no matter how faithful you are, you can’t seem to get a break through.

So in the midst of your frustration, in the midst of your despair, in the midst of your tears, you begin to ask *does God really care?

One thing you must understand beloved, is that trials come to make us strong.

If things went well for you all the time, how often would you pray, how often would you come to church?

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*            *You see, when everything is going well in our lives we are quick to say, “ I’m blessed in the Lord, God cares for me.”

Yet in the midst of a storm how quickly we forget about the goodness of the Lord, and we begin to cry out Lord do you really care.

How quickly we forget the blessing we enjoy.

God did not promise you that every day the sun would shine on your street.

if my memory serves me correctly, the word of God says that *“In this life you shall have tribulation,”* so what every may be troubling you today, I want to reassure you that God really does care.

It may see to you that you are sailing along in a ship without a sail, your health may be failing you.

Today you might be pressed in on every side and you can’t seem to make it through, old man death may have even come knocking on your door and now you are alone and heart broken.

All night- long you have walked the floor, body wrecked with pain, crying out to the Lord, when the morning breaks; there is still no relief, you drop your head in despair wondering *does God really care*.

We need to know that whatever the trial, whatever the storm, God is still in control.

If we can remember that the trying of our faith worketh patience in our lives, if we can remember that storms come to make us stronger, if we can remember to count it *all* joy; because all things work for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.

If we can remember that Jesus said He has already over come the world, and then trust in what He has done, I guarantee you everything will be alright.

I don’t believe there is a person in here that at one time or another has not said my parents don’t love me.

As long as our parents are giving us everything we want, we believe they love us and care about us.

But when we fail to get our way or when we disagree, the first thing we want to say is* “you don’t care about me.”

Just because somebody gives you everything that you want does not mean that they care for you.

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The dope man will give you all the free dope you can use until he gets you hooked.

* Satan will give you every pleasurable thing you desire.

Just to steal, kill and destroy you.*

In this text, the disciples were in a ship with Jesus making their way to the other side of the sea, possibly to escape the crowd and get some rest.

But while sailing to the other side a windstorm came up, a storm so violent it caused the boat to begin to fill up with water.

I can picture the disciple, sailing along calmly one minute, then in the midst of a storm the next.

That’s the way life is you know, one minute all is well, the next minute all is hell.

You see life can turn on a dime and make change One minute the kids are out side playing, mommas in the kitchen cooking, dad is out side mowing the grass or working on the family car.

Then the phone rings, “ uncle Joe is in the hospital, aunt Bessie just broke her hip, your cousin ray-ray just got shot.

The storm of life is raging at full force, and we like the disciple begin to wonder Lord do you really care what’s happening to me.

In the midst of the storms of life, our humanity takes over, we have a tendency to go from faith to fear in zero seconds, in good times we have faith the size of a mustard seed.

Yet in times of trouble, our faith gets replaced with fear.

We forget all about the goodness of the lord, this is the case here for the disciples, even though they had been around the sea for most of their lives and some were very familiar with the ways of the sea, Peter, Andrew, the sons of thunder James and John were fisherman by trade yet they still panicked.

They forgot all about their training in the way of the sea.

When we are in the midst of a storm we are subject to forget about the power of prayer.

We are subject to forget about the spirit of God that we say lives in us.

They forget about how they had witnessed a man made clean of an unclean spirit.

They forgot how Jesus had spoke and the lame walked.

They forgot about the leper that Jesus had healed.

They forget all about the things they had both witnessed and experience.

We are no different I don’t care how familiar you are with a situation, no matter how many times we experience the storms of life, when our emotions take over the situation we will panic.

In the midst of trial, people down through the ages have asked the same question the disciple were asking here, *Lord do you care.*

We have short-term memory when it comes to the goodness of the Lord.

God woke each of us today, and started us on our way once again.

We forget that.

We looked around our homes and we saw every body was still present and or accounted for.

We took that for granted.

We have a short memory when it comes to the blessing of God, but we are so quick to question God’s ways and providence.

*I’m talking about the goodness of the Lord.*

Somebody got an unexpected check in the mail; somebody got the miracle they had been praying for.

*Ain’t God good?

I say Ain’t God good?*

But in the midst of a storm we like the disciples begin to cry, “Lord don’t you care about us?”

But the question we are faced with today is not whether or not God cares for us, but do we care for each other.

Jesus gave us a commandment that we love one another as he has loved us.

The bible says, the Lord loves us with an everlasting love, that is a love that goes beyond circumstances, a love that looks beyond our faults and sees our many need, an unconditional love.

Yet we do not care for each other in the same manner.

Somebody right now maybe sitting by a brother or sister they don’t like, don’t really know why you don’t like them, just don’ like them.

“Why did she have to sit by me, why couldn’t he sit on the other side?

Yet all in all we say we love the Lord.

How can you say you love the Lord who you have not seen but you can’t stand your brother or sister that you see everyday?

Does God really care, that is not the question, do you care, that is the question.

You know somebody in your church family or biological family is a drug addict.

Do you care enough to pray with him?

Your co-worker is going through a rough divorce do you care enough to introduce them to a new man named Jesus?

There’s a young person that you know that wants to die because of a lack of love; do you care if they perishes?

God has made us stewards of his word, God has made us prayer warriors and intercessors, and God has made us our brothers and sisters keeper.

So do you care if they perish?

When we walk past a person and see that something is wrong with them, do we stop and offer our help, no we figure somebody else will do it.

When you were sinking in the muck and mire of sin, Jesus stopped by and picked you up, because there never was neither will there ever be any body that will do you like Jesus.

I can hear the disciples saying ‘how can you sleep at a time like this, don’t you care if we perish?

We know you’ve had a long day healing the sick and giving sight to the blind, be we need you now, we’re in some deep water here and if you don’t wake up, we are going to perish, Lord don’t you care.

After all they have witnessed, after all they have experienced they still asked master do you care.

When we are in trouble we to have a tendency to ask Lord do you care, when our family and friends have forsaken us, when that husband, that wife have walked away, we begin to question God, ‘Lord do you care that I’m hurting down here.’

The storms of life have a way of causing us to have amnesia about the goodness of the Lord.

The storms of life have a way of causing us to forget that the word of God tells us to count it all joy when we go through a storm.

It is not that God does not care, but if we are to grow in grace, if we are to mature in the faith, we must go through some things, we must go through our storms with confidence, knowing that the trying of our faith worketh patience, and patience hope.

When we are in the midst of our storm if we would endure like Job, God will see us through, you know the story of Job, Job lost all that he had, not over a long period of time but all in a single day.

All his children…dead.

All of this wealth…gone.

Even his health reduced to skin and bone.

If any body should have cried Lord do you care, it should have been Job.

But instead of doubting the faithfuliness of God, instead of questioning the ways of God, the bible says Job blessed the name of the Lord.

Job was persuaded that nothing would separate him from the love of God.

So the question here is: *ARE YOU PERSUDED TODAY, WHEN YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF A STORM ARE YOU STILL PERSUDED, *when it seems like God has forgotten about you, can you say like Job, I’m going to hold on until my change comes?

Will you bless the name of Lord while you are in the valley of the shadow of death?

Will God still get the glory when you are in the lions den of despair, is God still worthy of your praise when the fiery furnace of frustration has been heated seven times hotter by your enemies?

Is God still worthy of your praise?

For those of you who have a short term memory about the goodness of the Lord, for those of you that may not even know the Lord, for those of you who might be wondering today does God really care.