Sermon Title: IN THE BOAT & IN THE STORM WITH JESUS
Sermon Text: MARK 4:35-41 (ESV)
Sermon Series: EXPANDING THE MISSION: THE KINGDOM UNFOLDS
By: PTR NESTOR SY
Sermon Notes:
MARK 4:35-41 NIV
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”
36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.
37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.
38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
What do you expect God to do when your life falls apart?
I. THE STORM EXPOSES OUR ASSUMPTIONS OF CONTROL
squall | Greek lailaps
“a whirlwind, storm, tempest.”
Storms are not always a sign that we’ve gone the wrong way. Sometimes, they are part of the path God himself has called us into.
We are not in control. We never really are.
Storms show us where our hope has been misplaced.
What illusion is God trying to dismantle in us?
II. THE STORM INVITES US TO REST IN HIS CONTROL
GENESIS 1:2 NIV
2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Can we trust a Jesus who doesn’t panic like we do?
The invitation here is not just to marvel at Jesus’ calm, it’s to let his calm become our anchor.
We may want rescue, but Jesus offers rest.
III. THE STORM REVEALS THE JESUS WHO IS IN CONTROL
The real danger isn’t the storm outside; it’s that they’ve underestimated who’s in the boat with them.
Do we want a Jesus who simply calms our storms or One who compels our worship?
Awe is that moment when we stop treating Jesus like a spiritual genie and start recognizing him as God.
“In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that—and therefore know yourself as nothing in comparison—you do not know God at all.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity