Sleeping in the Storm
Testimonies
• Marseille: Salvations of François and Virginie, Easter Outreach coming up, pray
• Paris: great core group forming, last fall had 2 outreaches where 5 students made
a commitment to follow Christ. That was with 23 evangelists from all over the
world descending on Paris for a solid week.
- Marine’s testimony: law school, don’t believe in God. Sister called her, said
you’re going to meet some christians and you need to listen to them.
• Ministry School of Europe
• Answering the call to be a disciple of Jesus is exciting and life transforming, but it
doesn’t stop there. There’s more! There’s following Him daily. Learning to hear
God’s voice and be led of His Spirit is truly walking the way Jesus walked. Its not
easy, that’s why he mentored or taught 12 disciples.
- Jesus taught and demonstrated walking with God in a way we can all learn from.
- On of my favorite stories of where we can learn to walk with God is found in
Luke 8:22-25
Passage
Luke 8:22-25
“Now on one of those days Jesus and His disciples got into a boat, and He said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. But as they were sailing along He fell asleep; and a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger. They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” They were fearful and amazed, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey Him?”
Breakdown
1. You can trust Jesus’ leading no matter what it looks like
• We walk by faith and not by sight. 2 Cor. 5:7
• Jesus said, “Let’s go to the other side.” In Matthew, it says “Jesus gave orders to
depart to the other side”
We see that Jesus knows where He is going and they are clearly following His lead like so many other times.
Normally when Jesus leads, things get exciting. For example: healings, miracles,
demons cast out, supernatural financial provision, amazing teaching and
revelation, rebuking the religious, etc.
However, they don’t normally get life-threatening! This time is very different!
* NOTE: Sea of Galilee Storms at bottom
Sea of Galilee background
1992 - 10 foot waves recorded in Sea of Galilee.
Cause: Colder winds coming down off the Golan heights in East at 2500
feet above sea level falling onto the warmer air on the lake at 700 feet below
seas level.
Storms can come out of nowhere and bring great devastation quickly, even
in modern times.
Today, most boats can handle 1 foot waves for every 10 feet of boat.
These fishing boats of Galilee were on average about 27 foot long.
Therefore, they could handle safely 3 foot waves. Most professional
fishermen today with power boats would not go out in 6-8 foot waves, and
certainly not bigger.
We don’t know how big the waves were in this story, but you could imagine
they were big enough to put the fear of God in those men!
You can be assured that wherever Jesus leads you, He intends it to all work out
just fine. You can trust in His commands and leadings. He is good and will protect you.
The safest place to be is in His will.
If you are not in His will, you are living in His mercy, and no telling how long you can test God and receive His mercies(which are new every morning) before all hell breaks out.
In fact, today you may be feeling like things are breaking down around you, just keep not working out. I always say that one big disappointment can be by coincidence or hazard, but 2 or more big disappointments close together need to be examined and prayed about. Typically stiff comes out because it was in there and needed to.
Partial obedience to God is the same as disobedience.
If God has led you somewhere or made you know what you need to do, and
you are not doing it, you need to seriously make a change of course. If its a
question of timing, then you need to make sure you got the timing right. You
could be living outside His will, and therefore outside His protection.
2. Jesus was sleeping
Here he releases his command and will, and the disciples start walking it out.
Then, things turn south.
We can just see the disciples stressing, starting to get afraid, seeing the water
coming into this boat that’s being tossed to and fro, making everyone sick at the
stomach. They could even be throwing up, which would be totally normal.
In a situation like this, you see your master sleeping, and probably they argued
about whether to wake him up, but that argument didn’t last long as they began
to sink.
Jesus somehow is sleeping through it all, but how?
One can’t ignore 6-8 foot waves in a boat that small
Example: 5 of us coming back from deep-sea adventure
How?
Key #1
Jesus walked with His heavenly Father in deep intimacy.
He knew He had to go to the cross and die for the sins of humanity.
Therefore, what He heard and saw when He was in prayer with God, He knew was more real and must be accomplished, therefore He was at peace.
Jesus’ peace came through His intimate relationship with the Father
So will yours and mine
Verses:
Isaiah 9:6-7
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
Phil. 4:6-7
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Key #2
Jesus was secure
Jesus knew His authority and power that was in Him because He knew who He
was and whose He was.
Jesus was not like most of us, a walking insecurity bomb looking for a place to
blow up and make a scene.
He was so full of acceptance from the Father that He exuded confidence and joy.
No peace, no confidence and no joy.
Spending quality time with the Father is an exercise in being filled up with God’s acceptance of you no matter what you’ve done or haven’t done.
God loves you the same the day you were born as the day you were at your worst.
He loves you as much the day before you gave your life to Him as the day after
you decided to walk with Him.
Only God’s love will fill the huge insecurity gaps we all have. There’s not enough praise from man, promotions at work, companies we can start, that will fill the insecurity vacuum in each of our hearts.
Some of us need to stop the running around looking for a person to love us and to fill us up and heal us, and run to God the Father and His huge embrace!
Because Jesus knew who He was, He knew how to manage the storms in His life.
When we know truly who we are, we will also know that any storm that comes is an opportunity to demonstrate who we are as God’s children and bring order out of chaos.
Conclusion
2 Keys to sleeping in storms:
1. Walk in intimacy with Father God
1. Word, prayer, authentic relationships
2. Be secure:
1. Receive the love of Father God to overflowing everyday
Prayer
Who here has never made that decision to become a follower of Christ Jesus? Would you do that with me today?
Who needs to encounter the love of God at a deeper place?
Who needs to walk in full obedience to things you know you should be in?
Who needs courage to take a big step forward in God to re-order your priorities to truly follow Jesus daily?
Who needs prayer to learn how to sleep in the storm?
Second City Church: Guest Speaker - Matt Rasch 2019