Growing in peace, grab your pillow
Key Passage: Mark 4:35-41
Date: December 3, 2024
Mark chapter four, if you would, please, Mark chapter number four. In God’s word, I appreciate our people being involved in so many different things. Our music department is such a great, great ministry. Thank you very much. Mark chapter number four. And we started a series on Sunday morning just in the month of October about growing. Last Sunday, last Sunday we talked about growing in wisdom.
And I hope you are truly growing in that. And this morning for just a bit, growing in peace, growing in peace. We could put a lot of titles. You know, I try to get a title that maybe on the Internet gets some attention and whatnot. And I’ve got all kinds of titles we could put on this thing here. I thought about learning to sleep in dangerous times. I thought about sleeping in the boat.
That’d be a good one for this one here. My favorite was, grab your pillow. I mean, I have a pillow fight, amen. But you’ll kind of get the gist of it all here in just a minute. This story is found in Matthew, Mark, Luke. It’s not optical gospels we typically call them. But we’re just going to look at Mark.
And we’re going to stay in Mark the whole service long. We may have you turn one time out of there, two times, but keep your finger in the book of Mark where we’re at. Cut a finger off, put it in there like I did. You know, it would be your marker. How about that? Put a finger in there, you know. But Mark, Chapter 4, we’re going to stay there pretty much the whole time for the next three hours. We’ll be there Mark Chapter 4, all right? And some of you laughed. Some of you didn’t laugh. I appreciate you know.
But Mark 4, verse number 35, verse number 35. Would you please stand to show the Word of God respect if you’re able to? And I want you to think about this story as I read it. We’re going to read it through and then we’ll go back and just pull some things out of it. I would really love it if the Lord would bring more peace to us through the service this morning. I believe in our day and time, it is such a great need. And God’s people have to grow in this thing of peace in our day and time.
And so I want you to pray that. We’ll pray together in just a minute. Just pray, God give me peace. Have me to grow. Whatever’s going on in your life. By the way, every person here has something going on in your life. What do they say? You’re either going through a major battle or you just came out of a major battle or you’re about to go into a major battle. And it’s just where we’re at. It’s just life. And especially in the day and time we’re living in. So focus on the story, if you would, as we read it, then we’ll go back and just try to pull out some truths. And you pray that God would grow us in peace through that, would you please?
Verse number 35. In the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. When they had sent away the multitude, they took him as Jesus, even as he was in the ship. There were also with him other little ships. There raised a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased. And there was a great calm. And he said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? They feared exceedingly and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
Would you pray with me, all of us together, that God would grow us in peace through this morning? Father, I do ask that. Lord, I believe you have clearly led this way. Lord, I realize I cannot get the real job done. Forgive me if I think any of that. Lord, take away if I have a desire to preach a good message just for me and all that. Lord, forgive me for that. Lord, would you help somebody today? That’s what it’s all about.
Lord, if we would grow, truly grow, peace—that’s what we’re asking for, Father. Only you can do that. I pray that you would. And we’ll brag on you for what you do, Lord. It’s in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.
Thank you so much for standing. Would you look back, please? And that first verse we read, I want you just notice a little bit about it. That very first verse we read, verse number 35, would you look back there, please?
And notice what it says, in the same day when the even was come, he said to them, now help me out, he’s about to read, are these next words, if you got out of a red letter Bible, are they in red or black? So he’s speaking here, who is speaking here? Right, so this is Jesus. Notice what Jesus says here. He says, “Let us pass over unto the other side.” Now, I want you just kind of note that, that Jesus is telling them that.
By the way, this is the Sea of Galilee, all right? It is in the upper part of the Bible lands, if you will. It’s a large lake. It’s kind of pear-shaped, okay, if you can imagine that. It’s 13 miles long, and the wide part, it’s 8 miles wide. How many of you know of over here Percy Priest Lake? You know Percy Priest Lake?
How many has been on a boat on Percy Priest Lake? It’s pretty shallow. How many have you messed up your prop on Percy Priest Lake before? Anybody’s been out there very much or none of that? I’ve been there before, you know? And yeah, well, Percy Priest’s Lake, they say, covers about 14,000 acres, all right? The Sea of Galilee covers about 40,000 acres. So it’s about three times the size of Percy Priest Lake. All right? And Jesus is saying, hey, we’re going to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, all right? And they’re traveling over there. Help me out. Are they doing what Jesus told them to do or not? Okay, just make a note of that.
Look at the next verse. Let’s jump down to verse number 37, verse number 37. And there arose a great, not just a storm, but a great storm of wind. How many of you say, Pastor, what I’m going through, it ain’t just a storm, it’s a great storm. Anybody like that? Yeah. There was a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship. So it was now what? Now it wasn’t, I don’t think it was that they had too many people in the boat. It’s not talking about full. Hey, jump out of the boat. We got too many people in here. I don’t think that’s what I was talking about. It was full of water.
I mean, this storm and the wind and it’s blowing these waves up. Let me read for you what Luke says about it. Luke 8:23. Let me just read it. He says, “But as they sailed, he fell asleep, and there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water.” Watch this. “And were in jeopardy.” Now, that’s what the Bible says about it. Here’s what I’m getting at. They were truly in dangerous seas. This wasn’t a drama queen, all right? A drama king. This is reality, man, we’re in trouble. We’re full of water. I mean, we’re in jeopardy here.
I’ll never forget years ago. My mom and dad, they took my brother’s boat out. My mom says, oh, no, I don’t know what he’s going to tell right now. It was all my dad’s fault. Actually, it was Dad’s fault. But they’re on the lake. And, you know, they had a boat years and years ago, but, you know, they had to use the boat lately, and so they’re borrowing my brother’s boat, and they’re on the lake. He’s in Florida. And Mom says, Dad, you know, I think we’re getting a little bit lower in the water. And my dad, like every husband, says, oh, Nana, we’re okay, you know. And pretty soon she’s like, I don’t know. It seems like the water’s getting close to coming in the boat. And all of a sudden, Dad said, you know, you’re right. We’re in trouble. Dad had forgot to put the plug in the back of the boat, amen. Yeah, exactly. Long story. We won’t tell the whole story. They had a wonderful marriage that day. I’m joking about that. I’m joking about that part. Honestly, they’re about to sink, you know. And that’s where these guys were. I mean, this boat was full of water. They were truly… Truly, this ain’t just blowing smoke. We’re about to sink here and drown in the middle of this lake, you know. And it’s a reality.
Can I just, by the way, by the way, four of these, at least four, I tend to think six of these, but at least four of these men were commercial fishermen. They knew what it was to be in a boat. It wasn’t like the first day in the boat. Oh, no, I’m scared. You’re rocking the boat a little bit. Man, these guys have been out on a lot, you know. And they’re truly in jeopardy. Can I compare that to you and I, first of all, in the day and time we live in?
Now, friend, you’re like somebody was talking to me right before service. There’s two more hurricanes or storms coming up out there. I mean, just the day and time, so many different avenues we can go. I thought about this, Ms. Angela Renick was just singing here a few minutes ago. This week, she was on 24, minding her own business. She was only going 90 miles an hour. That’s it. Not really, she was going 70 miles an hour, that’s the speed limit. And somebody, she’s just driving along, and somebody rear-ends her, boom. I’m talking about they just crash into her. She’s just driving the speed limit. I mean, she’s going 70 miles down. Boom, they just plow into her, friend. And, you know, they’re debating now whether her car’s totaled or not, you know. And pray Lord, she still got up here saying, but I’m just talking about it. It’s a crazy day in time, is it not?
I mean, watch the news or watch a little bit of Facebook or Instagram or not TikTok, I know, TikTok, you know. And it don’t take you long. Man, we’re living in a crazy day and time. It’s crazy. People are crazy out there in our day in time. You don’t want to look at somebody now. I used to live in Chicago and went to college, and I don’t want to look about it in the eye because, man, you start a fight like that. Well, in Tennessee, you say hi to everybody. Now you say hi to some people like, hey, what’s wrong with you? Trying to be friendly here, you know. But it’s just, it’s a crazy day in time, and it’s truly, truly a little bit of a dangerous day in time.
Our teachers, they come in earlier than I do, praise the Lord, for that. And they came in one morning, and our parking lot was full of, of, of sure, of the deputies. They’re just, our parking lot was full of police cars. They sent me a picture. I’m like, whoa, what’s going on at the school, you know? And a parking lot was just full of police officers and cars all over the place, and they got… One of our teachers, my daughter, Sarah, had marijuana, is what it was. They had the dogs out there sniffing. No, I’m just…
Praise Lord, our teachers and our workers are like, man, when the parents dropping their kids off with all that, they’re going to be like, what in the world is going on here, you know? And so our worker actually, Ms. Chisgar, Sarah, she went out and said, hey, you know, our parents are going to be like freaking out when they see all these cop cars. And they were practicing something. We don’t know what they were doing. But they said, oh, you’re right. And they left quickly. So, praise Lord, our parents don’t know about that, you know. So don’t tell them about our teacher. One of our teachers.
But, I mean, that’s just the day and time we live in. It’s a crazy. By the way, parents, they would have freaked out of us all, please, cop cars all over in our yard, you know. And rightfully so, we got school shootings not too many far, not too far from here. I’m just saying, it’s not just kind of made up, it’s reality.
Then there’s the fear: Is this election going to be fair or not? Anybody out there, you know, is that going to be? Yeah, a lot of you like shaking you, yeah. Can I just say a word on that, kind of off the sermon? You know where I stand on that. I’m concerned. Check out just where they stand on abortion and Israel and same-sex marriage and transgender. Check out a couple of those things. You’ll know who to vote for. But can I say this? Even if the person that I don’t want to get gets in, we’ll be all right, friend.
I like the shirt Brother Robert wears. Where’s Brother Robert at? He changed on me a little bit. Man, like… You’re confusing me. It don’t take much to confuse me, you know. But Brother Robert wears this shirt, and it says, “As politicians are temporary, Jesus is forever.” I remember when the president got in. Some people say, we’re never going to make it four years. Hey, we’ve made it by the grace of God, friend. We’re going to be all right. We’re not putting our faith in D.C. We’re putting our faith in heaven, friend.
I’m for praying. You know that. We do all these things, but we’re all right. But maybe you say, I’m fearful. It’s going to be fair. If it’s not fair, we won’t never have a fair election, just the fear in our day and time. And it’s a little bit legit, if you will, right? Not only the fear of the day and time we live in, but the fear of the storms that come in our life. Something that does something to you when you hear the word cancer. At first, you just go, you know, we’re all right, but, you know, wake up the next morning, you’re like, man, there’s a cloud over top of you.
I think about Ms. Stacey, and I hope you don’t mind, Brother Marley, Ms. Stacey, don’t mind me mentioning it. She’s about to have major surgery, and they’re actually going to remove part of her skull and go in and do work and all these things, and the storms that come in your life, it’s going to bring some fear. There’s truly fears that come in and storms that come in our life, and a way where a child can be a great, great storm, a way where a grandchild, or just fear of loneliness. There are storms that come in your life.
And then Jesus—Jesus is one that told them, we’ve already noted, to go to the other side. Sometimes Jesus gives us these missions to go on. I never forget the first funeral I preached. I was just a young man. I was preaching actually my grandmother’s funeral. And I’m about to go up there, and I’m thinking, Lord, you got the wrong guy for this thing. People are up there crying, out there crying, and they’re brokenhearted, and I’m supposed to talk, man. Let’s find somebody else to preach this funeral here, you know? And God calls you on these missions.
I mean, has anyone ever, ever you try to go witness to someone, your coworker, your neighbor, your relative, and you’re like, man, this thing is fearful. You kind of like, you swallow hard, my goodness, you know. Or sometimes just giving a gospel tract out can be fearful. And Jesus sends you on these missions, and they can be very, very fearful, and they’re truly, and it’s legit. Maybe you’re forgiving, and there’s always a fear: Well, if I forgive them, they’ll never get justice done to them. There’s sometimes fear that hinders you from forgiveness. And these storms that come—storms come to all of us for him.
But I want to just keep reading in this story here. Notice this. Let’s keep going in the story we’re at. We’re in verse number 38 right here, all right? We’re in Mark 4. Look at verse number 38. “And he”—that’s Jesus—was in the hinder part of the ship. What’s the next word? Asleep. Jesus is sleeping. Not only that, but watch, you already said it: asleep on a what? This is not like he just, like you and I, men do, we go on the chair and we’re supposed to watch the football game before long, less than it’s overtime, you know. But that’s not what happened. Jesus, he even grabbed a pillow. He made a pillow or something. I meant to bring a pillow from the house and bring it out, you know. I forgot it. Jesus is sleeping on a pillow.
Look at this thing here. They awake him. They had to wake him up. That’s like Brother Frank in service. We have to wake him up sometimes. They had to wake him up and say unto him, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” By the way, let me just say this: That pillow was a Mike Lindell pillow, by the way. You know, my pillow. It’s my pillow. If you study that out in the Greek, you’ll get that there.
Now, I read this. I read this this week, and I, like you, I’ve read it so many times, but God spoke to me a different way this week on this thing. Like you, all of us, we all got our storms, and it’s a day and time. You’re like, wow, there’s just a crazy world we live in. I mean, you don’t even know which medicine is this safe to take? What food to eat? Well, they’ve got this food. It’s just a crazy world we live in. There’s fear everywhere. And I read this saying, and I’m like, what is Jesus doing? And Jesus, in the middle of a legit storm, is sleeping on a pillow.
And I felt like the Holy Spirit said, “Paul, I want you so to live by faith that even in the midst of turmoil, even in the midst of problems, even in the midst of a day and time that’s crazy, in the election coming up and all the different things, just… I want you, Paul. I don’t want to be fidgeting and fearful and worried. I want you to sleep in the middle of a storm.” That’s called living by faith.
I said, “Paul, I’m putting you through storms, not so you can worry and figure out every angle of everything. We’re going through all the different details. Yes, do some of that. But at the end of the day, go home and sleep.” Jesus is our perfect example. He lived on this earth still 100% God, but 100% man. And as a man, he’s down there in the boat. By the way, friend, he knew the storm was coming. He knew that. He knew what was going on. He knew there would be jeopardy. He knew the boat was about to sink. He knew it would be full of water. He knew all that. And Jesus decided to grab a pillow, put his head on the pillow, and go to sleep.
It’s changed me this week. I’m not there. But I want to say, you know what? I don’t go sleep. Not that I’m not going to do, take the responsibility that God’s given me and do all I can, but I’m not going to—I don’t want to live my life worried. I want to live my life fearful and watching every bad thing on the news. What’s going to happen next? Hey, I want to sleep sometimes. And we’re not careful, we’ll just live a life of fear about all the storms and the day and time and the missions that God have given us. And praise the Lord, Jesus, our example. He said, “Y’all can do what you want to, but I’m going to sleep over here for a while.” There’s peace that when you choose, you choose not to live out of fear, but out of faith.
Years ago, someone was accusing me of something. Anybody out there have been accused of something? Live for about 15 minutes in a day and time, you’ll be accused of something, you know. Somebody’s got both hands raised back here. I see you, brother. I got my hand in the half raised. How about that? You got me beat. You got two hands back there, brother. And it was going on at the time. And a man of our church told me about this verse. Keep your finger there in Mark. But look over in Psalm 34, if you will. This is such a good verse for me. Psalm 34. I memorized it. May be a great verse for you to memorize. Psalm 34.
Look in verse number 19, if you would, please. Psalm 34. And look in verse number 19, please. When you find that, would you say amen? Amen. Look at Psalm 34. Look in verse number 19 right there. “Many are the what?” of the wicked. No. Many are the afflictions of the who? Somebody living for God. Somebody in church on Sunday morning this morning. Somebody following what Jesus told them to do. Let’s go to the other side. They’re following the mission that Jesus gave them to do.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” Friend, it’s not a bump on the road. It’s a bumpy road. And I don’t want to spend the rest of my life worrying about all the bumps. I want to sleep sometime. It’s called living by faith. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord…” I like that. “But the Lord.” Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D. That’s Jehovah. “But the Lord delivereth them out of what?” Oh, praise the Lord. He delivers them out of all of them.
I don’t have to be fidgety and fearful, biting my nails, anxiety. I don’t have to do all that for the rest of my life. Praise Lord, I can go sleep in the boat. Get your pillow. Let’s go sleep while everybody else is worried to death, friend. Why? Because the Lord delivers them out of them all, friend. You’ve heard it said about it being times. What does “all” mean? All? Brother Adam wrote a song about that. He’s going to sing it, man. It’s a good song. Can’t remember it all. It’s a good one. It’s a good one. All means all. He delivered. Yeah, all means all. That’s all, right? Is that it? Ms. Melissa, stop talking. We’re trying to preach to him. I’m teasing. I’m teasing. I’m teasing me there. What is it? All means all. That’s all? Amen. Amen. Say that again. What he said right there.
“But the Lord deliver them out of them.” Now, here’s the thing. Here’s the thing. You know, you can learn that in church or you can learn that in a classroom. By the way, men, praise Lord, Bible Institute’s done. Somebody say amen right there. Come on now. They took their tests. They’re final. But you can learn it on a test. You can learn all that. But there’s a difference to learning it in your head and learning it in your heart. Sometimes you learn a lesson like this in your heart, you just got to go through it. Now, it’s good to learn the truths and to prepare it for. Friend, you just sometimes, that’s the only way you can get it in your heart. You just go through the storms. Many are the afflictions. Many, many, many. Not just going to happen. Well, today, it’s going to be there tomorrow. It doesn’t matter which president gets in there. Many are the afflictions of the righteous. But praise Lord, the Lord deliver them out of them all. So go get your pillow and go to sleep. Choose not to live out of it.
You know, some people, they get addicted to fear. And they just, if there’s not something fearful going on, they’re going to create something fearful going on. They’ll find somebody else critical, you know, situation going on. They’ll bring it in their life. I mean, they just live like that. But Jesus is sleeping. Everybody else around him is just shook up and, yes, you know, and he’s sleeping.
Years ago, our church went through a tough time financially. And it was maybe, I don’t know, a year or so that we went through that. And it’s just amazing God was just testing us. As far as our numbers and things and the people, nothing really changed that much at all. Just boom. Maybe it was back a little bit after the recession. But it was just boom. Everything changed. It was just financially. Everything was horrible. Actually, I hope I learned some things. Our church went into debt a little bit during that time. And for a year, back then, I used to get paid monthly by the church, the first of the month. I kind of liked it, and somebody pay all your bills and live off the rest. It’s kind of easy to do. Tide, pay your bills, live off the rest, you know. But for a year, and I didn’t say anything, I didn’t want to, and I wouldn’t say this years ago. Everything’s changed now. But for a year, I didn’t get paid on time one time. Nobody knew it besides the treasurer and my wife. And I said, at first, you know, you’re like, man, I’m counting on that. I got bills coming in, you know. And just, I was living by fear a little bit. But after you’re, I didn’t get paid one time for a year on time. But just whenever the church got enough, they paid me. But you know, by the end of the year, it was like no big deal.
Towards the end of that, I’ll never forget, one Sunday morning, we were out of money in our house. Church was out of money. The church had a car that was maxed out. Everything was maxed out. I mean, we just didn’t have anything. I don’t have a credit card. Everything’s just weird. And literally, my tank was on empty, and I thought, well, I drive to church, I’m just going to be out of gas. I’ll drive to church and be hitchhiking after that, you know. My wife’s car had enough with the kids who were at home at the time and all that stuff. But I’m just saying, by that point, I was like, it wasn’t that big of a deal. And I’m not saying me, but I’m just saying for a year I kind of been going through the storm and I learned to sleep in the storm.
And I never forget. I kind of forgot about it. I had the service, you know, preached and all that. And in the lobby, someone shook my hand, and they gave me a card. I had preached a funeral much before. And typically, some people do, some people don’t. That’s fine. But I preach your funeral, and I’ve never had—if they’re going to give you some money at a funeral, they typically give you the end or a week later or whatever, you know. It was months before, and they gave me an envelope, thank you envelope. And inside that was a $100 bill. Banks are closed on Sunday. I couldn’t cash it on Sunday, man. I needed it. Pray Lord, I’m not hitchhiking, amen. If I hitchhike, I can only go one way anyway, you know. Limited in the direction. But if that happened at the beginning of that year, I couldn’t handle it.
And God, for a lot of different reasons, but for me, he was growing me. Now, I mean, honestly, our finances are so good, the church and everything, and I pray the Lord, and the church is taking care of us. That’s years ago. Church is very good to us all the way. But I’m saying, I had grown, and now, probably, if I went through that, I’d have to go back again and get back, you know, where I’m learning to sleep in the boat. My friend, the temptation is just to be worried to death. No, no. Learn to sleep in the midst of storms. What we want is a life—Preacher, tell me how to live a life without storms. Die and go to heaven. That’s the only way. You’re going to have storms. So learn as Jesus. He grabbed the pillow and went to sleep. Living by faith.
We’ve got to hurry along here. Let’s keep going. Let’s keep going. Watch here. Y’all back over there in Mark 4. Look at the next one. Where are we at here? Where are we at? Verse number 38. Let’s read that again. Verse number 38. “He was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on the pillow.” And they awake him and say unto him, watch this, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” A couple of things real quickly. We’re going to be done. Be careful your responses during the storm, all right? I like it that they still called him Master. I like that. They weren’t some, you know, they still called him Master. But then the question: “Carest thou not that we perish?” You’re talking about God that came down in flesh. He told them, I didn’t come to be ministered to. I came to minister. You’re talking about for God so loved the world, and you’re asking, don’t you care? I’m sure he cares. The devil can put some crazy thoughts in your mind when we’re going through the storm, can’t he? Do you care? He’s the one that’s about to lay down his life and shed his blood for you, and you’re asking him if he cares. That’s sometimes what storms do to us. Be so careful about that.
I would say this, so praise the Lord, they went to the right place. Praise the Lord, Jesus is in the boat, and they say, well, we can try to row all we want. I’m experienced sailor, and I can do all this. They said, fool you all that. We’ve got to have Jesus. Praise the Lord, they went to Jesus. Be careful when you’re going through the storm. You’ll spend all your time worrying. You’ll spend all your time trying to figure it all out. You’ll spend all your time contemplating what you’re going to do or not do. You’ll spend all your time blaming everybody else, making excuses. But get to Jesus through prayer. Pray, pray, pray, pray, pray. When you’re going through the battles, stop fighting with everybody and pray. Get to Jesus. Get to Jesus.
Let’s keep going. We’re going to run out of time. Verse number 39. Verse number 39. “And he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.” Ah, that’s great words to hear from Jesus. And the wind ceased. There was a great calm. It’s wonderful when Jesus is just, all right. You know, it seems like this when we’re going through the times of testing and trials that the Lord says, all right, time’s up. You’ve got what you’re—I’m going to turn the captivity of Job—but just seems like, boom, things change. When God’s ready, he can change it. It don’t matter the storm. It don’t matter the situation. It don’t matter the person. When God’s ready to turn the storm, he can just, like on a dime, boom. It’s always amazing to me when God decides to turn everything and bless. Man, he turned. I was talking about our finances. But it just came to a point of church finances, and we tried to stay after souls. And all of a sudden, boom, God just said, I’m going to turn it. Amen. Ever since then, God is the one that just blessed our church, even financially.
Pray, Lord, our building fund, we’re running over. Hey, man, we’re going to need every dime of it, by the way. We get to build that building. But remember Daniel in the lion’s den? Man, he’s so fearful in the storm. And the Lord said, I can turn this storm into victory. He just closed the mouth of that lion, boom. You ever do that? I want to do that to people. The Lord did it to those lions, boom. And Daniel said, hey, I don’t have a pillow like Jesus has, but I got a lion. I can lay down, use old lion for a pillow.
I mean, Jesus, he can just turn that storm into blessing. When your test is done, just amazed him. So often God’s, all right, “Peace, be still.” Boom, there’s your great calm. Hey, you can do that. If you’re born again, saved, he’s in your boat with you. It’ll be all right. Let’s follow his lead. Let’s go to sleep for a bit, amen.
And notice this, this is amazing to me. Well, I’ve got to hurry along. Look in verse number 40. This is amazing. Before we read verse 40, let me ask you, is Jesus compassionate? Yeah? He saw the multitudes many times and was moved with compassion. David said this twice. He said, “Thy gentleness hath made me great.” God’s—if you know the Lord very much, you know he’s a gentle, compassionate, such a good God. It puts up with us, doesn’t he? Even?
But look at this. This is interesting to me with a compassionate, merciful God. Look what he says, verse number 40. “And he said of them,” It was a bad storm. You’ve got a reason to be fearful. That’s not what he said. He says, “Why are ye so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Matthew 8:26, same parallel scripture. He says, “And he said to him, Why are you fearful, O ye of little faith?”
That’s pretty amazing to me. Jesus is rebuking them. So we’re out there so fidgety about the storm and living in fear and drama, dropa, drop, drop, and, you know, all the rest of that, and the Lord rebukes us a little bit, says, “Hey, go to sleep, get your pillow. I’m God. I deliver them out of them all. Get your pillow and go to sleep. Rest.” You know, sheep will not eat or drink if it’s just fearful. In fact, their health will get so bad they’ll die. We had a sheep for a while, our pet. You’ve heard me talk about Snowball. And just when God’s people just go so fearful, fearful, fearful, you’re not going to be digesting the Word of God like you ought to be. Jesus got on to them. I’m a little surprised about it, but Jesus didn’t say, “Well, it’s all right.” He gets on to them because great things are done for the Lord out of faith. If you have no trials and no storms, you don’t have to use much faith.
Hebrews 11, the Hall of Fame of Faith. You know what I’ll talk about there? What is it? I’ve got written down 16 times he says, “by faith,” “by faith.” Five times, “through faith,” “through faith.” That’s what God works. If there’s great things going to be happening, somebody’s got to be exercising some faith.
Just yesterday I heard this: Faith is treating God like He’s God. And God says, “They believe I’m really God.” I like that. Heard old Jack Treber, I think, this week, and he said he was preaching years ago in chapel, elementary chapel. And he said, he’s preaching on faith. And he said, it was like 40 years ago. He said, I still remember clear as day, like 40 plus years ago. He said, he was preaching to elementary chapel. He said, man, I was waxing eloquent on faith. He was 11. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” And he said, I was just preaching away. And he said, I kind of stopped and looked. He said, those elementary kids, they weren’t getting a bit of it. So he just stopped. And he said, “What do you think faith means?” And he said, a little boy, he said, I think he was in kindergarten. And a little boy said, “Faith is believing something you can’t see.” Brother Treber said, man, I wrote that down in my Bible. That’s good.
Hey friend, when the storms are there, you’re not going to see everything you want to see, but we live by faith. Get the pillow, go over there in the back of the ship, and go to sleep. God’s got it. He’s a big God. He can handle 2024. By the way, it’s not falling apart. It’s falling into place. He’s got it, friend. You said, “What are you going to do about the election?” I’m going to sleep in the boat. That’s what I’m going to do. By God’s grace. That’s what he wants us to live.
What’s the end result? Verse number 41, verse number 41. I’m going to quit early on Wednesday, so I’ll go along today. How about that? Is that a plan now? You say, “That’s cheating, preacher, right there.” Verse number 41, we’ve got to finish this thing. “And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Now, here’s the thing. They’re not fearing the storm anymore. They’re fearing Jesus. Wow. Wow. By the way, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of what? Wisdom. And another place said, beginning of knowledge. Beginning knowledge. Yeah. By the way, our country and our world needs a whole lot of fear of the Lord, don’t it? That’s kind of the start of it all. You get to fear the Lord. And then, you know what God does? If you kind of acknowledge him and you get a fear of the Lord, next thing he does, he says, “You know what? That’s true, that’s true. I’m God. You ought to fear me, but I love you.” And you learn John 3:16, “For God so loved the world.”
And then you get saved. And after salvation, as you grow in the Lord, let me just read it for you. First John 4:18: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear.” And you go beyond this beginning. You fear the Lord, and you get to the point where, like, I don’t have to fear. He loves me. Unconditional love. He loves me like nobody ever has or ever will love me. Perfect love casts out fear.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of talking to a 16, 17-year-old young man, me and Brother Kevin. And you could tell God had been working in his church. We’re just out knocking on doors. And we… We talked to him and he said—it’s amazing how God does this thing. He lines it all up as one of those God meetings, you know. And he said, “Yeah, me and my mom have been riding by your church, thinking about going to your church.” What? Really? Yeah. And we questioned him, “Hey, well, when you die, are you 100% sure you go to heaven? Where are you at? You think you’re going to heaven? 100%?” And this is what he said. He said, “That’s kind of scary.”
That was a good thing God had been working in his heart, and he had the fear of the Lord. That’s where they got. We had the privilege. What a privilege. Nothing fancy we did; it’s all God. Same thing. Many, many, many of you did this act. We had the privilege to say, “Hey, that fearful God, he loves you. And he gave his only begotten Son on the cross of Calvary. That Jesus, that God, man, he came down and he shed his blood for you. And he paid for your sin, dead every bit of it. And he wants to give you eternal life in heaven one day.”
Well, boy, he said, “I like that. I like that.” Just by faith, you receive it. You trust fully in him. Nothing you can do. You’ll never be good enough. It’s all Jesus’ what he did. You put your trust fully in him, and boy, he’ll save him. Boy, that young man bowed his head. He was glad to put his faith in Jesus. Pray, Lord, he got saved. The friend had all started with, God’s been working on that boy’s heart. He said, “That’s scary.” Yeah.
And these men, next thing, they didn’t fear the storm anymore. They said, “We serve an amazing God.” By the way, to learn when he shed his blood on the cross and rose again, hey, that man loves us. Perfect love casts out fear.
Would you bow your heads and close your eyes, please? Our heads are bowed and eyes are closed. You say, “You know, I’m not there, but I like to learn. I want to grow in sleeping in the storms.” By the way, this is me. I’m not there, but I like to grow. I like to learn to sleep in the storm. God spoke to my heart about that right there. That’s you. There’s more, you sleep ahead. That’s me. I like to grow in sleeping during the storm. Just slip it up. Just I don’t want to grow in this thing. It’s sleeping. Me too. I’m there with you. I’m with you. Amen. Thank you so very, very much. Put your hands down.
Maybe you hear this morning you say, “You know, I’m just going to give up on trying to get rid of all the storms. Now I’m going to by faith, accept it, and seek to live by faith. I feel like I’ve been spending my life trying to get rid of all the storms, and I realize I’ll never do that. I’m just going to accept God. He’s allowed that in my life. And I’m going to try my best not to get rid of all the storms, but to live by faith, sleeping during the storms.” God spoke to me very specifically about that very thing, not trying to get rid of them all, but accept them and live by faith here. You’re not you this morning. You slip your hand up. God bless you. God bless you. It’s good. That’s good. That’s key. That’s key. Such a much more peaceful way to live. God bless you. Thank you. Thank you so very much. You put your hands down.
Maybe you hear this morning you say, “Preacher, I have been saved. I’ve trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior before. I’ve called on him to be my Savior. I’m saved.” That’s you this morning. Just lift your hand up, preacher, I know I’m saved. I know I’m saved. Many, many hands, many hands. Thank you for being honest. Thank you for being honest. Thank you for being honest. Thank you so very, very much. Thank you so much. You can put your hands down.
Maybe you hear this morning you say, “Preacher, I couldn’t honestly erase my hand.” Thank you for being honest. If you’re there and you say, “Man, it is scary. And I do believe Jesus died and rose again. And I like to go to him by faith and receive that gift. I like to accept him as being my personal Savior.” That’s you right there where you said. Would you talk to him right now? Would you call out to him? Would you tell him right now? Right there where you said, just tell him, “Jesus, it’s true. I’m a sinner. And it is scary. I know there’s a hell. I was a dead a penalty on my sin.”
“Jesus, I believe you died for me. And right now, Jesus, I’m asking you, would you pay for all my sins? Would you come into my heart? Would you save me, Jesus? Thank you for saving me.” Now, heads bowed and eyes are closed. You said, “A preacher, I never have, but I just asked Jesus Christ to be my Savior. I just called on him in my heart to be my Savior.” If that’s you this morning, with the heads bowed and eyes closed, that’s you, would you just lift your head up? I just prayed and asked Jesus to be my Savior. Just slip it up. Anybody like that? Anybody like that? He loves you. He wants you to have it. He’s already paid for it on the cross of Calvary. Anybody like that?
Hey, let’s learn to sleep in the boat. Would you please stand? Would you please stand? If God’s calling you, would you come spend some time at an altar? You’d just be obedient to him. We won’t be alone. Father, thank you for being so good. I needed this thing, Lord. Help us. Lord, we don’t want to be fearful Christians. Help us to be faithful Christians. Lord, help us to sleep in the boat, even in the midst of the storm. Bless us, bring us growing in peace through the service this morning. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar ＂ Growing in peace, grab your pillow＂ Sunday AM 010⧸13⧸2024 [oVUA0lFcgws]