When life is a storm, I can smile at the tempest. With Jesus in the boat, I can sit in the calm.
When my faith is weak and my heart afraid, He’s all-sufficient for me. With Jesus in the boat, I can make it through.
When life is a storm, I can smile at the tempest. With Jesus in the boat, I can sit in the calm.
When my faith is weak and my heart afraid, He’s all-sufficient for me. With Jesus in the boat, I can make it through.
With Jesus In My Boat I Can
Smile In The Storm [3] With Jesus In My Boat I Can
Smile In The Storm When I’m Sailing Home
When I’m Sailing Home [2] With Jesus In My Boat I Can
Smile In The Storm When I’m Sailing Home.
With Jesus In My Boat I Can
Smile In The Storm [3] With Jesus In My Boat I Can
Smile In The Storm When I’m Sailing Home
When I’m Sailing Home [2] With Jesus In My Boat I Can
Smile In The Storm When I’m Sailing Home.
| Song | With Jesus In My Boat I Can |
| Album | Various Series |
| Genre | Christian / Gospel |
| Writer(s) | Herman Voss |
| Publisher / Copyrights | New Spring |
| Key | Bb |
| Tags | With Jesus In My Boat, With Christ In The Vessel |
| Theme(s) | Kids, Children, Action Song, Protection, |
| Scripture Reference(s) | |
| CCLI Song No | 474374 |
Sermon Transcript
In the book of Matthew, we come to the section called, ’The authority of the King’, I remind you that Matthew has been organized in such a way to present to us clearly that Jesus is the King that is sent by God to rule over His people. But before He will rule, He will come to lay down His life for His people. So in this segment, we will be looking at His authority that is demonstrated over diseases, over disasters and over death. We come now to His miracle in calming the storm and that’s found in Matthew chapter 8 verses 23 to 27.
It will be a short sermon today, because it’s really a simple text, straightforward story, but I hope this will still be meaningful to all of us. It reads:
[Matt 8:23-27]
And when He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves, but He was asleep and they went and woke Him saying, save us, Lord, we are perishing, and He said to them, why are you afraid, O you of little faith. Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the seas, and there was a great calm. And the men marvelled saying what sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him.”
I like you to take a short look at a video. Someone asked, “how come the boat is so small, can it hold so many people?” I’m not sure how big the boat was but maybe this is the size or it could have been bigger, but besides that there was something I think inaccurate in this video and I will tell you what it is later on in the sermon,
But let’s look at the text. I think the Bible is the accurate portrayal of all that has taken place in the night of the storm and we are told that the background is that Jesus had just performed great miracles. He had healed all kinds of diseases, He has cast out demons and so there were many people coming to follow Jesus, they were coming in to see the latest sensation in town as it were. So when Jesus saw a crowd around Him, He gave orders to go over to the other side.
Now, He’s at the sea of Galilee and He says, “let’s go to the other side,” let’s avoid the crowds as it were. He’s not here to draw crowds. So He got into the boat, His disciples also followed Him and en-route to the other side, Matthew tells us, “behold, look there arose a great storm on the sea.” [Matt 8:23] The word, ‘great’ is mega in the Greek, the word, ‘storm’ is seismos, from which you get word, ‘seismology’, a great shaking. You use the word, ‘seismology’ for earthquakes today. So this was a tremendous storm, it was a great storm that took place and elsewhere we are told that this is because of a windstorm that came down on the lake. Now, why is this sea of Galilee, also called the lake? Well, actually it’s the same thing, it’s the same place, you can call it, the ‘Sea of Galilee’ or you can called it ‘the lake’ and it is well-known that in the region, geographically speaking it’s a place where there are frequent occurrences of storms because of the way the wind funnels down, it’s an amazing effect there.
So nevertheless, we are told that the windstorm came down on the lake and this was severe, they were filling with water and were in danger [Luke 8:23]. Mark tells us a bit more, the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling [Mark 4:37]. So this would be a disaster, they would soon sink if nothing else is done because it is just a heavy thunder windstorm.
Now this story is very straightforward, Jesus is going to calm the storm but we’re not here just to read a short story, we are here to understand God’s Word and God’s teaching for our lives. So in this story, I just want to pick out five simple observations. Five things I learned from this text, from this story. If you’re taking notes, there are five points and each point is a bit unique. This time I usually have just a short phrase for each one but this one, I, I, dragged it out to be sentences for each point.
So what are the five things we learn? I hope you remember them that at the end of the sermon today, I’ll just ask you once more, alright?
1] Even when you are following Jesus, you may go through the storms of life.
So the very first thing I see is even when you are following Jesus, you may go through the storms of life. Even when you are following Jesus, you may go through the storms of life. I phrase it as such, because there are many people who think that storms of life are only given to those who rebel against God. There are people today who think that the storms of life, the hardships, the difficulties, and the trials of life are given to those who sin against God.
If you disobey God, God is going to send, send storms in your life and so the typical story, we are reminded of is that of the prophet Jonah. Remember Jonah, God told him to go to an Nineveh, to preach to the Ninevites, so that they may repent and be saved, but Jonah is very ‘tee ki’, he’s very stubborn, he’s very rebellious, he decided no, I will not go and preach to my enemies that they will be saved so I’m going to rebel against God, I’m going to get on a boat, I’m going to go to the opposite direction to Tarshish.
So it is rebellion against God, God sent a storm, a tempest to Jonah, so when we read that we say, “ah, God sends storms to disobedient people,” and it is true. If I as a Christian, I keep sinning against God, God would want to turn me from my sin, now God does not send me to hell if I’m a true follower of Jesus, but in my sin, in my unrepentant sin, my Father would want to turn my attention back to Himself, He wants to turn me from my wicked ways, He may send me chastisement, the Bible calls it, a little bit of discipline, hardship, so that I may learn that I’m wrong and turn back to Him.
So it is true that when we sin against God, God, our heavenly Father may grab our attention by giving us storms of life, but it doesn’t mean that every time anyone, any Christian goes through a hardship, it is always because of their sin. So let’s say you see your friend suddenly stricken with a severe illness, you go and say to him, “you see lah, you sinner, you got this disease because you sinned against God, you better repent,” then you sound almost like Job’s friends. We cannot assume that every storm of life is a result of sin. Because in this story, clearly, the disciples were following Jesus, we did not read of them rebelling against Jesus. Nevertheless, they had to go through the storms of life.
So brothers and sisters, if you today are going through storms of life, let me recommend you number one, please be still and examine your hearts before God, if there is sin in your life that you have to repent of. I’m not saying that your difficulty is a direct result of sin all the time. But it is worth the while, it is biblical, it is right that we should examine ourselves that we may repent if there should be unrepentant sin.
But then if you search your heart and there’s no real known sin then don’t keep on living in false guilt and prolonged despair because even those following Jesus, we go through the storms of life.
Now the Bible goes on to say, “beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you [1 Peter 4:12]. Today, if you are following Jesus, you’re not immune to difficulties. Following Jesus is not immunity from the storms of life, in fact following Jesus means I may have to go through the storms of life, following Jesus does not mean that you would never lose your health, following Jesus doesn’t mean you always be full of cash, following Jesus doesn’t mean that you will never go through the hardships.
This week I heard about how a, a sister in Christ in our church has lost her husband because the husband decided to walk out on her with another lady, out of the blue. This week I heard someone is diagnosed with terminal illness, terminal cancer, just like that and in a congregation like this, I’m not surprised if there are many of you who are going through hardships.
The first thing you may think of is, ah, it must be I’ve sinned against God, it maybe but it is not always the case. You don’t have to curse yourself, you don’t have to say that God is cursing you, no, you have to remember it is not a strange thing that followers of Jesus will have to go through trials. Someone said that life is all about trials, you either in a trial right now or you have just come out of a trial or you will soon enter into a trial. Following Jesus means we may go through the storms of life.
2] When in a storm, the best thing to do is to cry out to Jesus.
A second point I want to emphasize in the story is a simple one, and it is this-when in a storm, the best thing to do is to cry out to Jesus. When in a storm, the best thing in fact, they probably only thing you can do is to cry out to Jesus. I don’t think there’s anything more scary than being in a storm. Has anyone of you been in a storm, in a small boat? Yah, one of you, alright, storm in a small boat, one, I’m not saying storm in a Royal Caribbean, that one not counted, wah, very shiok, very cool and nice, no, no.
Storm in a boat is no joke, I’ve not been through one but I can imagine how traumatic that would be, I’ll be vomiting like crazy, I, I think, I’ll rather jump in the water, but I remember our brother Simon, Simon Lim, years ago, he would go to Philippines for a evangelistic campaign and they travelled from town to town via public transport, one of which is the ferry. So he talked about how that ferry was like going through a storm, it was swinging from left to right, the waters were rising. Everyone was puking, pastor Mike was, was, I think all of them were dying there and he wished himself dead and they really feared for their lives actually. It’s a scary thing because you are totally out of control, there’s nothing you can do, you’re at the complete mercy of the waves. Not like here you’re standing on solid ground, but in the sea out there on the boat in the storm, it is a scary proposition and in such a situation the best thing to do is to cry out to Jesus.
About 10, 11 years ago, my wife and I we were expecting our first child, and when she was pregnant, I, I of course thought about what can go wrong in pregnancy. I thought about what can go wrong with the development of a child. I thought about all the possible diseases my son may have, that’s a doctor for you, it’s an occupational hazard or occupational obsession. You think about all the liver problems, nerve problems, blood problem, kidney problem and I thought about all these diseases and I thought about who I can go to for help if he is a little problem, see this doctor, if he has a kidney problem, see that doctor and I thought about the treatment options and I thought I had it pretty well covered.
So by the time Shawn came into the world he was, he was a normal child, he was fine except he took some time to breathe, take his first breath. Come out like, hey, how come not moving one, slap a few also cannot breathe. So only after a while, he started to breathe, but, he was fine, he grew up well and we found that in the first year of his development he, he has a rather interesting independent streak, he’s not such responsive person to instructions. He doesn’t like to respond to you when you call him, come or go, or whatever, he just likes to do his own things. He likes to wonder and explore the perimeter of the room. He likes to play his toys in a very unique way. I’ve never seen children play toys like he, like he did, he would take that car, you know kids would just rolled on the floor, on the table, but he will take it, flip it over, spin the wheels, the whole time. He loves to look at the lights, he loves to explore the fan as it were.
I looked at him and say, “wah, this boy should be quite an independent chap, smart chap, maybe he will be the next president and prime minister of Singapore.” Every father, mother thinks of great things for the kids. So we, we brought him to a routine check every few months for immunization and so on. So they ask how’s the development of the son, we shared and said, “there’s some very special, he, he loves to look at fans and I think he wants to be an engineer, he looks at lights, he wants to.. whatever.”
And as we shared about the development of Shawn, the paediatrician said, “well, it’s rather interesting, but you might want to be careful and look out for something called autism.” We said, “what, autism?” That’s not a very established diagnosis right in those days, not here in Singapore and I, I, I certainly don’t believe or think that he will be anything, he is having after all, he, he looks quite normal. My wife and I, both our families we have no one even close to something like this, so we sort of brushed it off.
Three months later when he was 15 months old, we brought him back and they asked, she asked the same questions, we said the same responses and this time she said with a more serious tone and facial expression that tells us we better be prepared for it. So at that time, point of time still was a little bit doubtful. So we went back home, both my wife and wife and I, we went back, we opened our laptops, we did our research, we went online and looked at what this is all about, what’s the cause, what’s the diagnostic criteria, she’s a pharmacist, I’m a medical doctor. So we look at those things and OK, let’s self-diagnose, it’s not hard and when we looked at every diagnostic criteria, every check, Shawn fits the bill to the T. He has virtually all the symptoms and it suddenly dawned on us that we can’t deny the fact that we are seeing this, we can’t deny the symptoms we are seeing and of course we went on from that to see what exactly is this all about, what are the treatment options, we found very little, with guaranteed results at all, not like a liver disease, I know where to cut, I can change, I can whatever, this one, nothing I can think of.
Then we began to read and watch videos of parents with kids with autism. We read of how parents struggle their whole lives, they never have a break because you never know what the child is going to do, they are disappointed and discouraged in life because they, they share that their son has remained nonverbal even though they brought, grown up, they cannot speak a word, they’ll never be able to say, I love you. Some of them adverse to touch and they would never hug you, they will never know who you really are. They may sometimes just dash across the road just like that, they have mental breakdowns, emotional breakdowns, meltdowns you call them and when we read and we watch video after video we just was struck with the overwhelming weight of this problem called autism and I remember both of us just after searching for a while, we, we just both broke down, we cried I was extremely painful.
I felt as if the president elect I had is no more, he’s dead. Because in front of me is a child I never knew I had who would probably struggle the rest of his life, like who I’m seeing on the videos. I really felt that we were going, I was going free fall like just dropping and dropping and dropping in an endless pit. I felt that the rug was pulled from under my feet and I was tossed to and fro, helpless and with absolutely no clue what I should do. But the best thing to do in the storm was to cry out to God. So in our tears, in our wailing, my wife and I we got down, we prayed and that began a season of greater prayer life than we have ever experienced ever, in our lives and regularly when we looked at our son it brings us to pray.
Well it was something that was beyond my control. I thought I could control a lot of things, I thought I could control liver disease, heart disease, blood disease, kidney disease, who is to know, he will be somewhere I have absolutely no control in. So out there in the sea, the best thing to do is to cry out to Jesus, that’s what the disciples did, they said, “save us Lord,” that’s all they could do.
What did I cry out to God for? Well certainly I prayed that God would heal Shawn, whatever that meant. I’m not saying that he will be completely normal, I, I, I don’t know because I, I do not know if that was God’s will that he should be totally healed or that, that God would teach Winnie and myself great lessons in life. So we prayed for healing and we prayed, Lord, if it is Your will, you can heal, we have no questions but if it is not Your will to heal then give us strength, give us patience, give us wisdom, give us love to bring up this child that You have given us, bring Shawn up in the way he should go, whatever that means. No clue, but I know we can pray.
So perhaps today you are thrown into the sea, no clue what you should do. Your son is rebellious, you’re diagnosed with stage IV cancer, your husband just walked on you, your wife refuses to meet you, what do you do? Well, you can pray.
3] Before Jesus calms the storm in the seas, He wants to calm the storm in your heart.
We come now to the climax, I, I think the climax of this story is a silent climax, it’s paradoxical one. We think that the climax is when Jesus says, “peace, be still” and the calm comes, but I think the climax is not that but the third point I want to share with you is this, before Jesus calms the storm in the seas, He wants to calm the storm in your hearts. Listen to this, we often want God to calm the storm in the seas, right? When we go through hardship, when we are diagnosed with cancer, when a husband walks out on me. What do you want God to do? Take away the cancer, bring my husband back, we want God to answer in this way, take away the storm outside but here in this story, we are told, Jesus first wants to calm the storm on the inside, it says, “He said to them, why are you afraid, O you of little faith [Matt 8:26].” Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the seas.
Based on Matthew, He first spoke to the disciples. He wanted to address the heart problem. You know the storm problem in the sea is not a problem, is not a problem to God at all, is not a problem to Jesus, He was asleep. You say, “why He sleep?” Actually, it’s a very curious question, is curious teaching. I mean, in the storm still can sleep, either He’s very, very tired or He’s in such perfect control or He’s setting this up totally to test the faith of the disciples. Whatever it is, calming the storm is no issue for Jesus, but He wants to first calm the storm in their hearts. What’s the problem in their hearts? They were afraid.
The word, ‘afraid’ here is a unique word in the Bible. It occurs only three times, once here, another time in Mark 4:40, which is a parallel text and the third time it appears is in Revelation 21:8 that says, ‘cowardly’. and by the way, those who are described as cowardly, faithless and so on are those who have their portion in the lake of fire. So this is not a good word, it’s a negative word, they were cowardly, they were afraid, they were fearful, they did not believe, that’s why Jesus says, “you are of little faith, you don’t trust me. What is it that they don’t trust Jesus in? Well, Mark tells us they don’t believe Jesus cares. “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing? [Mark 4:38]. If He lived in China, they would say, “sifu, lei bo chap wah, oh, it’s a mixture alright, whatever. Why You are not bothered with us? Why don’t You care for us? Why are You so heartless? don’t You care that we’re going to die?
But that’s their estimation of God, of Jesus and isn’t it true that when my son is diagnosed with autism, when you are diagnosed with cancer, when your husband walks out on you and when you’re meeting with financial loss and your son is rebellious, the first thing you think to yourself is why God do this to me? I don’t understand God’s wisdom, maybe in a negative way. I don’t see how God can deliver me now from this mess. Maybe He doesn’t love me as the preachers always say He does. We begin to doubt God, little faith and therefore we become terribly afraid, we are stricken with great fear. Now that you lose your moorings with God, now that you lose your anchor with God, you are shaken with fear because you do not know what’s going to happen to you next.
So Jesus calms the storm in your hearts, before He will calm the storm in the seas. Spurgeon said, “He spoke to the men first, for they were the most difficult to deal with, wind and sea could be rebuked afterwards” and it was Matthew Henry who said, “He does not chide them for disturbing Him with their prayers, but for disturbing themselves with their fears why are you so afraid, O you of little faith.”
So you see what’s the issue? Let we tell you what’s the issue. The real problem in life is not the great storm out there, but the little faith in here. Can I say that again, the real problem in life is not stage IV cancer, the real problem in life is not autism, the real problem is in life is not that your son is rebellious, the real problem in life is that we don’t believe. We, we, we don’t believe, we don’t believe God cares, we don’t believe God is able, we don’t believe God is wise.
So Jesus in this passage reveals the real problem for our souls. Now, I’m not trying to minimize pain and trials and sufferings, not at all, but I hope that you have a grand view, a high view of God and realize the problem is not out there, it’s in me because Jesus is now going to show them, there really is no cause for worry or for fear.
4] The storms obey when Jesus whispers, “Peace, be still.”
Point number four is this, the storms obey when Jesus whispers, “peace, be still.” Are you afraid, are you worried, are you concerned, are you anxious? Let me remind you, from this story and from many, many stories in the Bible, the storms obey when Jesus whispers, ‘peace, be still’, no issue for God! He arose and He rebuked the wind and said to the seas, peace, be still and the Bible tells us the wind ceased and there was a great calm, the choppy waters, topsy-turvy waves are now becoming like glass just tranquil, serene, still at the word of Jesus Christ. Now, it’s interesting when you look at, let me ask you, where do, where do storms come from? The sky, alright? I, I thought some of you will tell me X-Men, no. Where do storms come from? Well, the Bible tells us storms come from God.
Psalm 107:25 For He commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
What does that mean? If He is the one who commands the storms? Four verses later, is the same one who is able to make the storm still and to hush the waves of the sea [Psalm 107:29].
Can I remind you that none of your circumstances are unknown to God, all of our lives are within the sovereign good hand of God. Yes, some circumstances are very puzzling, we don’t quite understand how a good and wise and all-powerful God would allow us to go through these hardships, but it suffices for us to know, God is sovereign in putting us in that situation and God is able, more than able to lift us out of that situation. The winds and waves obey when He says, “peace, be still.”
By the way the word, ‘peace’ means to be silent, ‘be still’ means to be muzzled, it’s a canine language, stop barking, be muzzled no problem for God and that’s why even children understand this lesson. We, in Sunday school we sing the song, with Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm. You know how to sing? Ah, you sing lah!
With Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm, smile at the storm, smile at the storm, with Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm, as we go sailing home. O, okay thank you very much, our youth. They, they just graduated from Sunday school, so they can remember it very well. You know, we sing that song and it’s almost so kiddish, so childlike that we don’t think very much about the lesson but the lesson is true, with Christ in the vessel even though I am in the storm, I can smile at the storm. Actually, the words are as, are more profound than what we’ve just sung, they are taken also from this song, this hymn written by John Newton, it’s about four stanzas long I just summarize or capture one stanza here for you.
It says,
Begone unbelief, my Savior is near,
And for my relief will surely appear;
His love in time past forbids me to think
He will leave me at last in trouble to sink,
By prayer let me wrestle and he will perform;
With Christ in the vessel, I smile at the storm.
The storms obey when Jesus whispers, “peace, be still.” Now, let me just want to, let me just qualify this, does that mean God will always deliver me from my trials of life does it mean that when I’m diagnosed with stage IV cancer and when I pray He will always heal, no. Not at least in the time frame you expect but no matter what that storm maybe, one day we will be safely across to the other side to the heavenly shore and it will all end. There’ll be no more storms in heaven, there will be no more sorrows, God is able to do all that.
Well, the last lesson is obvious, the last lesson at the end of it all as you look back as if you were to have Peter, Andrew, James, John, Matthew onstage, you ask them, a let me ask you, “how was your, your journey through the storm?” They will say, “wah, very scary man, almost thought that we were going to die, wanted to vomit like crazy, but Jesus, He’s amazing, with one word He calmed the storm.” Then you ask him, “Peter, Andrew you guys are fishermen, you’re very experience in the sea, were you really afraid? “Yah, we were afraid, I thought we were going to die.” “So what did you learn?” They will say to you, “well …” maybe they will say, “I learned more about Jesus.” Maybe they’ll say, “today, I trust Him because I gone through the storm.”
5] Storm travels are faith-building expeditions.
In essence, I’m trying to say I think we learned that storm travels are faith building expeditions. Wah, we are very scared of going through the storm but your heavenly Father has a reason, Jesus has a reason for bringing you through the storm. Well, one of the reasons I think is to build up your faith. You see that’s what happened the men marvelled, they were amazed that jaws dropped, say, “wah, what man, what sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey Him”[Matt 8:27]. I thought they knew, I thought they would have known, I mean Jesus healed people of all diseases, Jesus cast out demons, He’s amazing, but not in the same way as when Jesus calms the storm. Why? Because they were right in it.
See, so often our faith is not vibrant, it’s not real because maybe your faith is built on somebody else’s testimony and stories, but God wants you to have your own story. God wants you to bring you through the storm, so that it will be a faith building expeditions. You go on Royal Caribbean, you only gain weight but when you go through the storm in the little boat with Jesus, you gain faith. A lot of difference between fat and faith and whilst was going through Royal Caribbean, it’s a very comfortable journey, it is not ultimately of faith building journey. Going through the hardships of life is not very comfortable, but it is very helpful for your faith and that’s what they went through, that’s what I went through.
If you ask Winnie and myself, well, we have been very privileged, we don’t go through a lot of storms, I personally, I can’t say I have gone through storms, that might be the one that has defined us the most thus far and when we look back we could say that was an amazing ride with Jesus in the vessel. We would have crashed, if I did not know Jesus, if I do not know God, I would have crashed, our family would have crumbled, so many families have crumbled because of autism, you read that right? They push the kid out of the window, they commit suicide. I have heard that over and over and I thought to myself, I would have been like this, if not for Christ in the vessel of my life and so both of us, we look back with bitter sweet memories. It’s difficult but we rejoice and we thank God, Shawn is so, so much better today, but that’s not the point, the point I think is that God has used it to build up our faith.
How about you? Life is about trials, you either in a trial today, in the storm today or you will soon enter a storm or you have just emerged from a storm. We go to learn with Christ in the vessel, we can smile at the storm.
So let me wrap this, wrap this up. I know this is not a simple sermon to remember but let me just try to get you to recall the points, alright, five points in all, with Christ in the vessel, I can smile at the storm.
Number one, even when you are following Jesus, you may go through the storms of life. Yup, some people think, oh, become a Christian very good, never have any problems, not true. But when you go through problems, Jesus is with you, right?
Number two, when in a storm, the best thing to do is to cry out to Jesus.
The climax of it all, the, the highlight of this whole lesson is number three, before Jesus calms the storm in the seas, He wants to calm the storm in your hearts. I think that is the most precious lesson we must take away and perhaps the reason why storms in the seas are not removed is because the storm in your heart is not settled.
Number four, hey, you all don’t play cheat ah, read ah, okay, the storms obey when Jesus whispers, “peace, be still.”
And lastly, storm travels are faith building expeditions.
And I hope this simple story will encourage your heart, perhaps today some of you are not Christians, let me say this, if you’re not a Christian, it is very scary to live life, it is because you will be thrown into many circumstances, situations that are way beyond your control and you know what, you have no one to cry out to and ultimately when you go through the ultimate storm of death and judgment, there’s no one to save you.
Hey perhaps, today you are in church because you are going through some storms of life, I want to say to you, the ultimate deliverance that God wants to bring into your life is to give you peace in your heart between yourself and God and that’s why Jesus came, Jesus came to die on the cross to be our Savior. He came to the cross so that He may pay for your sin, so that now, we who were sinners and rebels before God can have peace with God because the payment is made, God’s righteous wrath is satisfied by Jesus and now if you repent and believe, you can have peace with God. I think that’s the ultimate gift that the Bible tells us, I hope that as you sail through this life and the storms of life you can have this peace with God and you can have Christ in the vessel with you in your life.
Let’s bow for a word of prayer together. Perhaps some of you today are going through storms, maybe it’s the way your family seems to be breaking up, beyond your control. Maybe it’s what the doctors have just told you, maybe, is that your businesses is folding up, you are going through storms because you feel absolutely helpless. Well, God is not absent. That’s what it means to follow Jesus, sometimes it’s not immunity from hardship, following Jesus may mean we go through the storms of life that we may learn of Him more.
After all, what is eternal life? But to know God and His Son Jesus Christ. Perhaps as you go through the storms of life, you have been thinking that you can solve the problems. So you, you speak to friends, you go to the doctors, you ask for help everywhere else but this morning, God may be calling you, please come to me, be still and know that I am God, for once, for once, be very quiet, be very still and know that there is nothing you can do and the best thing you can do right now is to cry out to Jesus. Look to Him, ask Him today to still the storm in your heart, that His Majesty, His love, His power would be so obvious and vibrant in your soul.
Perhaps one day, let me tell you, your trial, your storm would never last one more minute than is necessary. But when it’s work is done, when the lesson is learned, you can trust that when Jesus whispers, “peace be still”, the storm is over. So put your hand in Jesus’ hand and let you let Him take you through the storm travel, let this be a wonderful faith building expedition.
Perhaps some of you here today are not Christians, I want to encourage you today to see that you are a sinner before the Almighty Holy God. But God in His mercy has given you His Son that through repentance and believing in Him, you may have peace with God, you may have eternal life. This morning, I encourage you turn your eyes to Jesus, He came to die on the cross to save you from your sins, believe in Him.
Father, we thank You this morning that we from this very simple story, we can see ourselves in the journey of life, sometimes the seas are gentle, sometimes it is stormy weather but whether it is easy or hard, may we keep hanging on to Jesus until we sailed to the heavenly shore and look back and say, “thank You God for this journey of faith, thank You that we can know You.”
Father, comfort those who are going through hardships, I’m sure words cannot fully explain all that they are going through, but You know and may You draw them to Yourself. So thank You again for friends and guests who are here, bless them that they may come to Jesus. Thank You for this time, we ask this now in Jesus Name, Amen.