So, You Think You’re Going to Sink? Not if You Do Two Simple Things

ZCHURCH SERVICE FOR APRIL 17, 2021

Mark 4:35-40 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” (36) Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. (37) And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. (38) But He was in the stern asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” (39) Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. (40) But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

Have a destination in mind. Jesus said, “Let us pass over.” We are passing over. If Jesus is in the boat, you are going to stay afloat.

Animos – angry – angry storm.

Jesus rebuked the storm and he spoke to it; He literally told it to shut up!

Worry is unbelief. What is not of faith is sin.

The number one sin in the church is worry.

Jesus is our example. Jesus spoke to the storm, not about the storm.

Our tongue is the rudder that steers our ship. Jesus is our navigator.

James 3:3-5 (The Message) A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything— or destroy it! (5-6) It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.

Faith says something, sets the destination. Complaining has a negative result. Say what you want, not the problem. When you’re going through a storm, be careful what you say, because your mouth is the rudder.

1. Take your orders from Jesus, the Captain of your boat. Steer your boat in the direction He says. Don’t just react to the circumstances. Remember the destination that your are headed to.
2. Rest. Faith rests. Labor to enter into the rest.

Hebrews 4:10-11 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (11) Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Learn how to rest.

Don’t talk about your problems, talk to your problems.

Don’t tell God about your problems, tell your problems about your God.

Job was doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. He was praying worried prayers. We must pray in faith.

Job 3:25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.

It’s as though unbelief causes the trouble to come.

Make sure you’re doing the right thing for the right reasons.

We can rest because Jesus is in our boat.

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:19)

Storms are temporal and the Word of God is unchangeable.

Jesus is our ark. Through Him we rise above the floods. Hope is what keeps us afloat.