It's Storming!

Mark 6:45-52

George Truett and his hunting accident with the Chief of Police of Dallas Texas.  When the shotgun misfired and the chief was rushed to the hospital Truett called for all of his church to pray.  The chief died and Truett said that he could never preach again.  That night he had a dream and Christ appeared and said “you are my man now” and this changed Truett’s life forever.  This story is told in Truett’s biography by his son in law.  It was said that if you went to hear George Truett preach you should take your handkerchief because he had such compassion for the lost that you could not help but be moved to weep yourself.  That came from that one difficult, horrible, storm that Truett went through.

Today we want to read about another storm which the disciples went through in which they thought that they were going to lose their own lives.

                                                                Read the text

EVERY CHRISTIAN MUST TRUST CHRIST DURING TIMES OF STORM IN HIS OR HER LIFE.

I.                     THE CAUSE OF OUR TRIALS. Trials are brought about by the direct command of God. V. 45 “made them” could be translated “constrained” or even compelled them.  The word is used by Paul in 1 Cor. 9:16 “compelled to preach.”  There are 2 reasons

A.      Historical reason-he needed to let the crowd disperse.  This crowd saw in him a warrior Messiah.

B.       Theological reason-he wanted t o teach the disciples a lesson.  A recurring theme in Mark is that when the disciples are separated from Jesus, their faith fails.  We must not follow the disciples in this measure.

II.                   THE CURE FOR OUR TRIALS

A.      You must realize that Christ sees you. V. 48 a

1.        Only mark mentions this detail-perhaps from Peter.

2.        This is a supernatural sight.

B.       You must realize that Christ cares for you.  V. 48b

1.        Christ came when they needed it most-the sea was a place for demons.  Earlier a herd of swine had run into the sea as a result of demons.

2.        Christ said what they needed to hear. V. 50

a.        He suggests Deity-both with the I Am and with the passing by.  When God is showing Himself to Moses He does so by passing by him (Ex. 33:19, 22).  This entire story may be an echo of the Exodus narrative.

b.       He suggests power-stop being afraid.

C.       You must realize that Christ controls all. V. 51 “wind died down”

III.                 THE LESSON FROM OUR TRIALS- the GAR in v. 52 shows that this is the lesson to be learned from the story.  We learn about God’s care today from what happened yesterday.

A.      Learning from the past means making future implications from past events.

1.        This is not the first storm that these men had been in.

2.        The Lord had taken them through all kinds of storms.

B.       Learning from the past means trusting God to take care of today’s storm the same way that he took care of yesterdays.

Trusting God means believing that your story will turn out OK in the end, despite the fact that you haven’t read it.

Story of William Cowper.  Born on Nov. 15 and tried to commit Suicide three times.  He tried to overdose on laudanum and could not get the bottle open;  tried to hang himself and the rope broke; then he decided that he would throw himself off of the London bridge.  The cab (horse and carrige) driver became lost in the fog and Cowper asked to be let out thinking that he was not far from the bridge and he would walk to it and plunge to his death.  Upon getting his bearings he realized that he was only a few blocks from his front door.  He went home and wrote the great hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”

The Fourth Verse says this:

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense; But trust Him for his Grace

Behind a frowning providence; He hides a smiling face

I want you to trust God during times of storm in your life.