quoted during the offering as a call to let the message about Christ fill your lives
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to the Lord.
read as the second of three gospel accounts of Jesus calming the storm
22 Now on one of those days, he entered into a boat, himself and his disciples, and he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out.
23 But as they sailed, he fell asleep. A wind storm came down on the lake, and they were taking on dangerous amounts of water.
24 They came to him, and awoke him, saying, “Master, master, we are dying!” He awoke, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and it was calm.
25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Being afraid they marveled, saying to one another, “Who is this then, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
referenced as the previous week's sermon text about humbling yourself and casting your cares on the Lord
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;
7 casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.
8 Be sober and self-controlled. Be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
On Father's Day, Pastor Neil walked through the account of Jesus calming the storm, drawing mainly from Mark's telling of the story. He used it to continue themes from the previous week in 1 Peter about casting your cares on God and walking by faith. The central question he kept returning to was this: when life is frightening and it feels like Jesus is asleep, are you calling out to him?
What was said
Pastor Neil opened with a brief story about John Newton, the former slave trader who wrote "Amazing Grace," and his friend William Cowper, a Christian who had become so consumed by his own failures and despair that he was suicidal. Newton invited Cowper to write hymns with him, redirecting his attention away from his own circumstances and toward the goodness and glory of God. That shift, Pastor Neil said, saved Cowper's life. The point was that when we stay locked inside our own heads, bouncing only our own fears and failures around, nothing good comes of it. We need something outside ourselves to look at.
He then read the storm account from all three gospels, Matthew, Luke, and Mark, slowing down considerably on Mark's version because tradition holds that Mark is essentially Peter's own story written down. That connection mattered because the previous week had been spent in 1 Peter, where Peter writes about humbling yourself, casting your cares on God, and resisting the devil. Hearing the storm story through Mark's account is, in a sense, hearing Peter tell on himself.
A detail in Mark that the other accounts don't emphasize is that Jesus was taken into the boat "just as he was," exhausted from a full day of teaching. He fell asleep on a cushion in the stern. Pastor Neil paused on that phrase, "just as he was," and drew a quiet application from it: take Jesus as he actually is, not as you have shaped him in your own mind, and then try to move toward that true image of him.
The storm that came was serious. The boat was already filling with water. The disciples woke Jesus with a pointed accusation: "Teacher, don't you care that we are dying?" Mark's version of that cry, Pastor Neil suggested, is probably the closest to what was actually said. It's not a polite prayer request. It's a frightened complaint from people who feel abandoned. He noted that these men had already seen Jesus do miracle after miracle, and yet in the middle of the storm they were right back to, do you even care about us?
Jesus rebuked the wind, told the sea to be still, and then turned to his disciples with two questions: why are you so afraid, and how do you have no faith? What happened next is easy to skip over. After the calm came, the disciples were, if anything, more afraid than before, not less. It was a deeper fear, a reverence, and it made them ask each other who exactly this person was. Pastor Neil pointed to the line from "Amazing Grace" - "Twas grace that taught my heart to fear" - and said this is where that comes from. The fear of God, the right kind of fear, is itself a gift.
The closing argument was that Jesus did not stumble into that storm by accident. He took them into it deliberately, and it was a test of faith they largely failed in the moment. But they remembered it, and God used it. Pastor Neil connected this to Peter lying asleep in a prison cell in Acts, at peace the night before his likely execution, an angel having to shake him awake. The man who panicked in the boat eventually learned to sleep through the worst of it. The invitation was to consider that the storms in our own lives, whether relational, financial or physical, may be things God is using rather than things God has overlooked, and to respond by casting those fears onto him rather than carrying them alone.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Neil mentioned John Newton inviting William Cowper to write hymns together, and how that turned Cowper's focus from his own failures to the glory of God. Has there been a time when shifting your attention outward to God's character pulled you through a dark season? What did that look like for you?
In Mark's version of the story, the disciples say 'Teacher, don't you care that we are dying?' Have you ever found yourself asking God something like that? What was going on in your life at the time?
Speaker 2is how is everybody doing? Way better. Way, way better. I I appreciate your prayers at the elders meeting. I'm telling you prayer does something.
I feel better. Praise God. Hi, newlyweds. Okay? Happy Father's Day.
That's happy Father's Day. I'm sure Ray will mention it too, but I I think this is a good time to get started. I I've got a good word to share from Hebrews to to lead us into worship, and it says, so let us come boldly boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy and we'll find grace to help to to help us when we need it most. Isn't that good news?
Should we stand and start singing? This is amazing grace.
Speaker 1Seat. Can you hear me? Yeah. I have a few announcements. We'll see what they are.
Happy Father's Day. That's one. I'll come back to that in a sermon. Not for long, but I am I'm not a day person. Have I told you all that 12,000 times before?
I'm not really a day person, but happy Father's Day. Anyway, it is Father's Day whether I am a Father's Day guy or not, but I am a father. And it hit me, I was driving yesterday on the road and I was thinking, man, this is something else. God is so so so good and was just overcome. I did a memorial for a father yesterday, and then I had a long ride afterwards.
And the difference that he made in his kid's life was so amazing. It made me listening to that one hour where I was barely associated with the people at all, just made me want to be a better dad. You know? It's really, really profound. I have not obviously thought about it very much or I wouldn't have said it that way.
Home sweet home, Monday nights at first b.
Speaker 2We're on tomorrow. Neil, music message in Colossians to the end of chapter one, the beginning of chapter two, Jesus, the hope of glory. Amen. Very, very, very good. So now that it's there, love to
Speaker 1have you. Setting the table. Meal, music, and a message. There's a prayer group that meets Wednesday morning in the church office at 07:30AM right here in the first office on the left. Sunday school, that's children's church.
The kids' church is taking a break during July. That's not the case for middle school and high school girls and guys. They said they're gonna carry on through, but Sunday school is taking a break. Vacation Bible school is coming up, and it's coming up fast. So June 27 through July 1.
If you haven't signed up and you want to, please go to the website and do that, or get in touch with us, and we'll sign you up either to be a child in it or a volunteer helping with it. Is there anything else? I think that's it. Is there anything else? I'm dragging a little this morning.
Can you tell? Yeah. Alright. I'm gonna go have another cup of coffee during the invitation. No.
I mean, not the invitation. What do you call that thing? Off the offering. No. Would you stand up?
I'm joking with you. Just stand up. I'm just kidding. Let the let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Say it like you mean it.
Speaker 2God, those words really they really strike me this morning. God, thank you for joy and life and freedom in you, Jesus. That is why we're here. We're here to worship you. We're here to give you the the praise and adoration that you so deserve.
And, God, just as a as a a a father thinking of you as the greatest father we could ever ever imagine. God, thank you for the example. And and just thinking this morning too, the love that you have for your children, that you would lay down your life for us. God, let us let let that always fall fresh on us every single day that you loved us so much you're willing to give your life for us so that we could have life and freedom in you. Amen.
Seen suffered is it. You can have a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward. We're gonna sing sing Speak, O Lord, from Colossians three.
It says, let the message about Christ in all its richness fill your lives. Lord, it would be so. Ray, would you pray?
Speaker 1God, we thank you for this morning. I thank you for for my dad. I thank you for my dad. And I thank you for the fathers, Lord, that are present. And I pray that we would be like this song says, You are, Lord.
You're a good, good father. We sing it all the time. I pray that we'd be faithful. I pray that we'd be generous. I pray that we'd be helpful, encouraging, and that we would discipline well.
In Jesus' name, Lord, I ask you to take the offerings that we're about to put in these plates and that you would do your will and your way with them, Lord. Would you minister in this community? May we see an exponential advance of the gospel. We're praying for it, Lord. We want to be a part of it.
I pray that you'd show us your way and allow us the the grace and the strength to walk in it. Would you do your will, Lord, among us this morning? And in our hearts, I pray that you would soften our hearts that we would, Lord, be humble before you, listening and ready, expectant, force and direction. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
Alright. And it's time for children's church downstairs. God, would y'all would y'all pray with me just a minute? God, would you calm the the fears? Would you calm the I think of the line from Amazing Grace that says you it was grace that taught our heart to fear and grace our fears relieved.
In Jesus' name, Lord, would you take your word this morning and filter it through me and my experience, through us and our experience, that we would see who you are, have a clear picture of it, Lord, and that we would move towards our image of you. In Jesus' name, amen. So I was on the road yesterday. Mentioned and talk to text sometimes so I'll remember stuff. And I just looked down at my note right there to start with and it says, Was Greece the tall my hearts to fear and Greece my fears relieved?
So my Siri does not understand me at all. But that was enough to get to John Newton. John Newton was the guy who wrote that song. John Newton was a former slave trader. And when he realized the error of his ways, he backed away from that and he wrote a whole hymn book of hymns.
He was very pastoral and loving and caring, and he cared deeply about people, people. And it's hard to think that he went from being a slave trader to being someone who cared so deeply about people, but that's exactly what happened because it was the grace of God, right? There's another hymn writer and musician named William Cowper, Cooper, I don't know how you pronounce it, C O W P E R, looks like Cowper to me. But he was not doing well. He was a Christian, but he's not doing well.
And he just had focused on all of his own life's failures. This is a Schwabacker's Landing. Just thought it was pretty. Put it up there because it's pretty. Cowper was concentrating all of his mental energies on looking at all the ways that he failed.
And he couldn't get past it. And John Newton said, Come on, let's write some songs about Jesus together. And he did. And they wrote a whole hymnal of songs. And that I remembered it from Sinclair Ferguson, the pastor that we had back in South Carolina.
He said that saved that guy's life. And he was suicidal when he went into the project, concentrating only on his despair and failures and his situation and circumstances. And he turned the corner when he started concentrating on the glory of God. And I just thought that was cool. This is Nick Staren and Dave, his buddy Dave.
Nick and Chris and Dave were all supposed to be walking the Camino De Santiago in Spain. It's a 500 mile pilgrimage, and they're walking it. Chris got COVID the week before they left, so he ended up not being able to leave as soon as he had hoped. So he's joining them. Probably he's already with them right now on the road.
If you would be praying for Nick, he's an office guy here, and he's having a ball. This is his deal. He said his feet hurt, but other than that, he's fine. He's having a ball. So we're going back to our Harmony of the Gospel study and we're going to hit just I was going to do two pericopes, two little stories, but I think I'm just going to cover one.
Happy Father's Day, so I don't forget. This harmony is going to concentrate on Jesus calming the storm. When he says peace be still, I just think of him saying calm down. In a relaxed voice, I didn't even put an exclamation point. He just calmed down.
And it did. This is Rembrandt von Rennes. This is Rembrandt's painting of that. It looks like we've got other examples of a couple of other prints and maybe a painting before this one that are similar. But the the image is similar.
I'll come back to it a few times maybe during. But Jesus is there and he is awake at this point. So he's just about to say calm down in Rembrandt's painting. And the other paintings, he's actually asleep. This is all that we're that I'm planning on covering today from Matthew eight, Mark four, and Luke eight.
I'm actually planning on just preaching it mainly from Mark. If you don't know, Mark, by tradition, is Peter's story told by Mark writing it down. Peter's memoirs. And since we were in first Peter last week, and since I was saying that humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, casting all your cares on him. There's that imperative to humble yourself and part of that is casting your cares on him.
Stay sober, stay alert, resist the devil, firm in your faith, and then God will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. Since we did that last week, and it seemed to be helpful, a lot of y'all mentioned that it was last week, I thought that we'd show an example of Peter telling his story, but we're gonna show it through Mark. So I'll read. First of all, we'll go through Matthew. I'll read it.
It's not gonna be I'm gonna do a few spoilers before we get to Mark. Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side. This is right after all of those parables of the kingdom. Remember, he does seven parables of the kingdom and he's out in the boat so that people in Sower's Cove can hear him. And then he sees the multitudes.
He's gathered quite a crowd. And he just gives an order. Let's let's head to the other side of the lake. When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. Behold, a violent storm came up to the sea so much that the boat was covered with waves, but he was asleep.
And they came to him and they woke him up saying, Save us, Lord, we are dying. That's the way Matthew puts it. Hosanna, by the way. Hosanna, save us, Lord, we're dying. And he said to them, Why are you fearful, oh you of little faith?
Then he got up and he rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm. Men marveled saying, what kind of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? So that's Matthew's version. It's kind of short actually, just five verses. I don't know if it gets much longer than six or seven verses anyway, but there's a lot contained in that.
We'll read it from Luke and then I'll slow down on Mark. So here, we have Rembrandt's image again. Now in one of those days, he entered into a boat himself and his disciples and he said to him, let's go over to the other side of the lake. And so they launched out. Think about that.
Now Peter and Andrew, we know were fishermen. James and John, we know were fishermen. They had at least four guys who were on that lake, probably most of their lives. Of course, they had a tax collector with them, and they had a few other people that might not have been all that seaworthy. I just looked out.
I'm sorry. I'm a little scatterbrained this morning. I am not a fisherman and I'm not a boatsman. And I was pulling in with a family that had invited us out for a day on the lake and it was fantastic. And we had a great day all day.
And right at the dock, I thought, Hey, I think I can do this. I can drive this boat. And the fellow jumped up to tie the rope and pull the boat in. And when he got up to the front, I hit reverse and dumped him in the lake. I just saw him and when I said they launched out for the other side, I just got embarrassed all over again.
They launched out. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. Jesus fell asleep. He needed rest. Needed rest.
And he'd been teaching all day long and there were multitudes and let's go to the other side. Now who knows exactly why he said what he said because that's the thing about narrative. We don't always know why he did what he did. But I think we'll get some clues, especially in Mark. He fell asleep.
A windstorm came down on the lake and they were talking, taking on dangerous amounts of water. And they came to him and awoke him saying, Master, master, we are dying. And he awoke and he rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased and it was calm. And he said to them, where's your faith? And being afraid, they marveled saying to one another, who is this that he commands even the winds and the water and they obey him?
That is interesting because he's already named the 12. You know, these are his guys. These are the 12 at least, probably more. And who is this that he commands even the winds? They know who he is.
They've seen him do miracles over and over and over again, but it's still when you're terrified, it sounds like, and you turn to him and he does something, it just freaked him out. Let's go from there. Now so far, Matthew and Luke, Rembrandt's painting looks pretty good. It looks pretty good. If you're counting, it might not, but we'll get to that in a minute.
On that day when evening had come, this is from Mark and this is where I'm gonna slow down. On that day, same day that he had done the parables of the kingdom and apparently had explained them to his disciples, maybe he explained it later, I don't know, but it sounds like by this point, they had already gotten that about the wheat and the tares. And they had already gotten the one about the sower that goes forth to sow. And they had already received the explanations of some of those. And on that same day, when evening had come, he said to them, Let's go over to the other side.
It was primarily a Gentile area, by the way, on the other side. His fame had grown among both Jews and Gentiles, but he was headed over to the other side, probably to get some peace, I would think. And leaving the multitude, they took him with them even as he was. A translation I've been studying all week says, just as he was. They took Jesus just as he was.
I hate to extrapolate and just pull out one little, just take Jesus just as he is, please. Even just as he is. Don't try to shape him into your own image. Try to see him for who he is just as he is and then try to move towards that image or allow him to move you towards that image. Leaving the multitude, they took him with them even as he was.
It probably means tired right there, I guess. Even as he was. He was worn out. In the boat. And other small boats were also with him.
Oh, that's a new detail. I hadn't considered it. Rimbrat didn't either apparently. He just has the one boat. Maybe they're out of the frame, I don't know.
But the other small boats with him. This one is the earlier print that I was talking about that most people think Rembrandt probably copied. And it's got eight guys in the boat plus Jesus, so nine. And then there are two or three other boats in the background. So they must have been reading from Mark instead of Luke or Matthew.
But it's a pretty violent storm. You can see some mean looking waves. And a big storm arose and the waves beat into the boat so much that the boat was already filled after the storms that took out the road in Yellowstone in the last week or so and considering we're in the middle of one right now. There's almost no power like just water overtaken. I have had a really bad, really, really bad, I'll tell you sometime if you got three hours, rafting accident.
It was bad, nearly died, bad. I have broken canoes in half a couple of times. I don't get on the water very much anymore. It's terrifying. Because there's I mean this water is filling in with the boat.
I'm trying to put you into the scene where you are. You've already heard what happened. But when we're going through it in March and we slow down, a big windstorm arose. On the way in this morning, I saw next to what used to be Legacy Lodge, a great big tree that was snapped in half. When the winds and the rains and the thunder comes, it is amazing, isn't it?
It's the power of God displayed is amazing. So windstorm arose. Thank you, waves beat into the boat, so much that the boat was already filled and he himself was in the stern asleep on the cushion. So there they have him, cushion under his head, halo, even while he sleeps. And he's asleep and two of them are trying to wake him up.
One of them is desperately fighting with the sail, others are pulling on the ropes. And what's going on here? And they woke him up and told him, Teacher, don't you care that we are dying. Think Mark has it closer to what they actually said. Don't you care about us?
How can you sleep at a time like this? Teacher, don't you care that we are dying? We're perishing? And so here, they have awakened him. And you look, and Jesus is looking at him and this is probably the, what?
What's going on? Yeah. Oh, you have little faith. Yeah. Calm down.
Both y'all and the storm, calm down. He awoke and he rebuked the wind and he said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have haven't you been with me a while?
Haven't you seen how things go? Are you are you putting yourself in the boat here? Are you thinking about it and going, yeah, there are some things that I'm scared about. There are some things I'm upset about. Some things that I feel like God is doing nothing about.
Remember Habakkuk from a few weeks back? He says, Lord, Lord, we're surrounded by senseless violence and yet you do nothing. You seem to be asleep. You are almighty, yet you do nothing. He said to him, why are you so afraid?
How is it that you have no faith? Not just little faith, but you just have no faith. Now, the just will walk by faith. The righteous will walk by faith. They will live by faith.
And in this case, it's an overwhelming deal for the disciples literally and spiritually, and they're terrified. Don't you care for us? That's an earnest question. Don't you care that we are perishing? He awoke, rebuked the wind, he said to see peace, be still, calm down.
The wind ceased and there was a great calm. And he said to them, Why is it that you're so afraid? How is it that you have no faith? When I told the story about John Newton and William Cowper, Cowper was a believer. These guys were believers already since the wedding at Cana for a lot of them, right?
At least five of them had known who he was and believed in him, put their faith on him two years before, maybe a little more than that. And how is it that you still, after seeing all that you have seen? So I can stop right here, advance to twenty first century. You all are out of the boat now, but you're in life and you're in the middle of a storm, metaphorically, actually, too. Why is it that you are afraid?
Why is it that William Cowper was afraid? He was afraid because he knew that he fell short. He had a high standard and he fell short of it. He knew that he was not worthy. And that was what he was concentrating on.
He was concentrating on the bad news, not the good news. That you've been set free, that the righteous shall live by faith also means that God declared you to be righteous and he will carry you through. Not just I have to be righteous all the time. Well, allow God to be God. There's a Sunday school song that we used to sing.
In your boat, you can smile in the storm, smile in the storm, smile in the storm. Y'all don't know this song? Jesus in your boat, you can smile in the storm, ash sailing, I'm sailing, sailing, sailing, sailing. And I don't think that's the I don't I don't think that's necessarily the point of this. It is.
And you can you can see that from other places in scripture. But when we get past this point, why are you so afraid? How is it you have no faith? It says, and then they were greatly afraid. They were greatly afraid and they said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
They knew who he was. They knew that he could help people individually. They had seen them help other people. Peter knew that he could. But when he did and everything calmed down, then they were like, this is another level.
This is a deeper level of understanding for them. And what it inspired in them is fear. Now I can change it to reverence if you want me to, but it says fear. The 'twas grace that taught my heart to fear. This is where they got that.
It's the grace of God that said, you know what? Your circumstances are your circumstances. I am Almighty and I'll help you through. If you think about it, that's the end of this passage, by the way. That's all the scripture we're covering today.
But I'll I I read through it a little quicker than usual. You heard it three different ways. I want you to consider a few things. There's a there's a passage that says that we should be encouraging one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And thinking about John Newton inviting Cowper in to examine the glory of God, to get him out of his own head.
I think that we're so wrapped up in what we think about everything, and everybody's got an opinion about everything. We're so wrapped up about it. And if we don't base that on the objective standard of who Jesus is, who God is, if we don't base our opinion on that, it's not going to be good for us. It's solipsistic. It just bounces around in between our ears.
And a couple of things will come out of either narcissism or depression. Because we are not enough before an almighty holy God. We are enough with him. We are enough for him to do mighty and great amazing things. There may be circumstances in your life right now that are driving you towards despair.
I know that that's the case. If you just say to someone who's depressed, Well, come on, stick a geranium in your hat, be happy, come on, go with me. That's an old book. Stick a geranium in your hat and be happy. Like that's not the answer for depression.
Concentrating, for Cooper at least, concentrating on God's goodness, his immutable attributes, his saving grace, concentrating effort on something outside of yourself that is actually the higher power. Fearing God is the beginning of wisdom we see. Think about this. Jesus was tired and he had been teaching all day. Do you think he didn't know about the storm?
I mean, he'd grown up right nearby. I'm sure Peter and Andrew and James and John probably smelled it in the air, right? Okay. Doesn't seem wise but I do understand wanting to get away from the crowd. Whatever you say, lord.
But Jesus took him into that storm and it was a test of faith and you can look at it and say, well, they failed. But they remembered it. God uses absolutely everything in our lives. The storms that he allows us to weather, the storms that he takes us into intentionally, he's if it seems like he's asleep, call out to him. Cast all your cares on the Lord.
He cares for you. I have heard people literally say, I don't wanna bother Jesus with that. It says cast all of your cares upon him because he cares for you. Right? Peter is the one who wrote that line.
And I think probably thinking about this. And then if you think about later on, you think about when Peter was in jail. Do you remember this story? In Acts, Peter's in jail, been in jail for preaching. And an angel comes in.
Do you remember the story? What do you have to do? He's most likely going to be executed the next day. And the angel came in, had to wake him up. Isn't that cool?
Let me see what other garbled notes I have here. I usually put the notes on the wall. If you take this story and just go, okay, I can go away with some little nugget that is Jesus calms the storms in our hearts. That's one level of thinking. And that's typically the way that we put it in Sunday school.
And I think there's something to be said for that. When you feel troubled, ask Jesus and he can calm the storm. That's a good one to go away with. But I think that it's deeper level thinking to know that he intentionally puts us into places where it will be difficult so that we will trust in him. Does that make sense to you?
I've mentioned in the past few weeks from some of the minor prophets when God says, I gave you cleanness of teeth. I gave you a famine. And I gave you a war. And I gave you hard times. But still you did not return to me.
When you're walking through hard times, it may be relational, it might be financial, it might be physical. When you're walking through hard times, cast all your cares on him because he cares for you. But consider that he is using that. So what else is up here? There are 14 people in this boat.
If you were counting, you've got great eyes. I can barely see it. But if you count them, there's Jesus and then you figure there's 12, but then there's an extra guy in the boat. Now, Mark says that there were more boats than one, but this one has 14 guys in it. And that guy right there is looking straight out.
Now right back here, there's one person leaning over the edge and he's throwing up. There's another one that's fighting the sail like in the other print and there's several that are fighting the ropes, holding on to the mast. And of course the boats look more like they did in The Netherlands than they did in Galilee I assume. But that guy that's looking out is he looks like Rembrandt. He literally put himself in the boat, in his painting at least, not literally, but he put himself in the boat.
And he's staring out at us and it looks like he's saying, are you can you believe what's going on here? Are you seeing what's going on? And I think that that's a good exercise. It'll that looks just like a young picture of Rembrandt. And it was grace that taught my heart to fear, but to fear the right thing.
We've heard fighting fire with fire. If if they ever if there's ever a fire and you can create a big flash fire, you suck all the oxygen out of it and kill the fire, fighting fire with fire, you've heard that before. But this story seems to be about fighting fear with fear. If you are afraid, you need to shift that fear from whatever circumstance it is to the fear of the Lord who can do something about it. That's the next story we're going to cover.
I was going to split it in two this week, but I think I just gave up on that idea. I mean, I will split it in two because I gave up on the idea of doing two. We have seen that Jesus is displaying his power over the natural realm. And next week, we'll see him display His power over the supernatural realm. But considering our way and considering whether or not we feel like Jesus is asleep, are we calling out to him?
Are we trusting him with our circumstances? See if I have any on notes. I think that's it. Can I get the band back up here? Calm down.
Speaker 2Side note, shifting gears here for just a minute. Down the hall, someone had baked things. So connect to our please join. There's lots of food down there. I'm so sorry, I kind of feel like I just sucked all of your
Speaker 1out there. I did that pretty well already, Carl. That's all right.
Speaker 2But really, please join us now. It seems like a great time to do it. Mean, it's raining outside.
Speaker 1What are going do out there? When Paul came to talk to Carl, I thought, he's telling him that he's the guy I dumped in the lake. So, would you stand with us and we're gonna sing last song is evidence. I see the evidence of your goodness, lord, all over my life, all over my life. He takes us through the storm.
Us to trust in you, to recognize the storms that you are leading us into and to go through them with faith, to reach out to you when we are afraid, to know who you are and that you are active and at work. We'll see on the other side, Lord, the good that you wanna do on the other side of the storm, that you're taking us through in Jesus' name. Amen.
