Beacon Sunday Service January 14th, 2024

My light house, my light house, shining in the darkness. I will follow you all by light house. My light house. I will trust the prophet. You will carry me safe to show.

I won't bear. I won't fear what tomorrow brings. With each morning, I'll drive fancy. Yes, my God's love will be me through. You are the peace. Oh, you are the people in my trouble.

Shining in the darkness. I will follow you for my light house.

I will trust the power. You will carry me safe to show.

Shine through the darkness. I will follow you all by light hearts. I will trust God. You will carry me safe to shore.

Amen. What a great promise that God will carry us through, that you will always guide us in our lives as long as we trust and put our faith in him.

Nothing can separate.

Your love never fail. No, I still make mistakes, but have new mercies for me every day. Your love never fail. You stay the same through the ages.

And when the oceans range, I don't have to be afraid because I know that you love me. Your love never fail.

But not alone here in these open seas.

Never thought I'd reach the other side. Your love never faith. Oh you say, you say to name through the age.

And when the oceans rain, I don't have to be afraid because I know that you love me. Your love never faith. Oh your love never fail.

All things work together for my good. Amen.

All things work together for my good. Yes.

All things work together for my good. All things work together for my good. You stay the day to me. Your love for changing there may be pain in the night. Joy comes in the morning. And when the ocean rain, I don't have to be afraid because I don't love me. Your love ever. Your love never.

This morning we will confess our faith using the Heidelberg Catechism. In this question and answer, we will confess our belief in God, our Father. And here's the question. What do you believe when you say, I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth? And together, that the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth, and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and providence, is my God and Father because of Christ His Son. I trust him so much that I do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and he will turn to my good, whatever adversity sends me in this sad world. He is able to do this because he is Almighty God.

Amen.

So may we continue to sing to him and glorify him and worship him this morning. Praise the Lord, his mercy is more stronger than darkness, you every more sins they are many his mercy never knows we have passion on the key to not bear in to us with our bottom motion, our things they are never being mercy more.

Praise the Lord His mercy more stronger than darkness, where sins they are many mercy more, what patience love we constantly, what Father so tender is calming us home, he welcomes our weakness of violence not more, our sins, they are many mercy more.

Slonger the darkness new every morning, our sins of kindness he lavish. His blood was the payment, his cost. We need the deadly good never since mercy. Principal. His mercy.

Our sins are mercy.

His mercy. Stronger the darkness new every born.

His mercy. Amen indeed. Good morning, everyone. At this time we're going to have our corporate confession of sin. It's just a good time for us to just be faithful and true to our Lord and just being transparent with the struggles that we have. And so we are saying these words together as a as a congregation. But then you'll have a time immediately after to just share your personal struggles, the things that you have been struggling with, and say those directly to our Lord as well. So at this time, let's do our first portion together, and then immediately after you'll have your individual time of confession. So together.

Set us free from a past that we cannot change. Open to us a future in which we can be changed. And grant us grace to grow more and more into the image of Christ of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Please be seated.

For the Lord does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. As far as the East is one that is close to home for all of us. Um, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Um, and so it's it's hard to deny or ignore because it as soon as you go outside and even our neighborhood, and probably close to your neighborhood as well. Uh, there's a homeless epidemic, there's fentanyl drug problems, um, there's just a lot of ineptitude. And and it just seems like it's just something that is not manageable. Um, and I know that it's just been visible to us as things have been progressively worse. But there's only the only hope that we have, knowing that it's it's gonna take a lot of work for change to occur, is that God intervenes.

There's no question or answer about that. Uh and so with elections coming up for a new leader for our country, and even just uh local changes that need to be made with in our own state and our city. Um, let's just pray that God intervenes, um, and that he even though there is no answer, there's no quick turnaround that can that we can kind of just wish upon to make happen. Um, it's up to the Lord. We can just trust in him that he will protect us, that he will protect our children and the future of our homes and where we live, uh, and and turn around uh the great state that we call our home and and the even the country that we live in, uh, knowing that a lot of work needs to be done. Uh so let's pray for those things.

Father, we ask um for just our country, our state, our city. Um we pray over just the problems that we've been seeing, problems that um have occurred for the past couple years, and it's only getting worse. But Lord, we know that in your hands, Father, we are protected, you're watching over your people, and we want better for your kingdom. We want your uh word and your gospel message to prevail. We want the changes to be made, Father, um, from just the crime and the drug issues and the homelessness that we see around us, Father. We pray for blessing upon those people for change to occur. We pray for the leaders of the city and our state and our country uh that ones would be elected competent leaders, Father, to make the changes necessarily for uh these things for our place of living uh to be safer and to be a better place to raise our children.

Um we pray, Father, for just us as your people too, Father, for us to continually be shining lights in this community, even when it feels dreary. And we know that sin and evil um and and Satan's lies manipulate and can control people and trick them into believing that certain things are the right way. But Lord, your way is the right way, and we ask, Father, for your kingdom and your glory to prevail and for uh the righteousness of your hands and who you are, Father, uh, to to be held over our our great country, Lord. We thank you, and in Jesus' name we pray, amen. At this time, I'm gonna dismiss our children. Have a good Sunday school with uh teacher Stephen and teacher Sarah or Abraham. Abraham.

Uh I'm gonna share a few announcements as they're being dismissed. Uh next Sunday is January 21st. Uh, we wanted to have a town hall, probably a little bit more frequently because there's so many changes and updates that keep coming up. And we wanted to update you on just last year uh and our upcoming year uh goals and also just the pastoral search. So if you are a member, we we actually ask that you come and make sure that you're there for uh the meeting. Immediately, and that will occur immediately after our service, and immediately after that, we're gonna have a uh baby shower for the pecs. Uh baby Penny Peck is coming soon, uh, maybe sooner than later, but uh we actually wanted to celebrate them and and and and bless the Peck family, and so uh please join us.

Um I do think that uh we will be providing lunch uh and something in the vein of Stonefire Grill. So please come. Um I will be sending out maybe a text group text message with the pecs not included because we want to plan some certain things, but I'll get a head count to see who will be coming. Uh and uh last but not least, we have our offering options, which are Zell, Van Mill, Cash, and Czech. Uh, if you're a member, we ask that you give as the Lord has blessed you. Um, if you're visiting, please do not feel obligated to give. Now I'm gonna introduce our guest speaker for today. We've had him before, recently within the last month. His name is Pastor Dean Madison. Uh, he's currently a church board and a member and Pastor Emeritus of Faith Community Church of Palmdale, in which she was the lead pastor for 34 years.

Uh his lovely wife Audrey has joined us today, uh, and they have been married for 48 years. Amen. Uh, they have a son who is in the police, his a police sergeant at the Beverly Hills Police Department, and a daughter who is a dispatcher for the same department. They also have five grandchildren. Let's give him a warm round of applause. If you'll allow me, I'll I'll just stay down here again to do that. But let's do this. As is our custom uh here at the beacon, uh, when we read God's word, we ask you to stand in honor of God's word. Would you do that? And I don't know if it's gonna be on the screen, so let me just oh, there we go. Um I'm gonna ask you to advance that for as I read it, okay. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let's go over to the other side.

Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. 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? He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, quiet, be still. Then the wind died down, and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, who is this?

Even the wind and the waves obey him. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Hey, just for a moment, I want you to think about some storms in Scripture. There are a lot of them. Uh so let me just quickly scan through just some of them as you're thinking. Exodus chapter 9, verse 24. Hail fell, and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land. Can you imagine that? Apparently they didn't remember. Well, this is Egypt anyway, but apparently they didn't remember Noah and the Ark. You got 40 days and 40 nights. And this is the worst storm. No, it was a storm, but it wasn't the worst storm. How about Job chapter 30, verse 22? You snatch me up and drive me before the wind.

You toss me about in the storm. Can you imagine if you're in a storm? I used to, as a little kid, I used to be fearful of storms. I don't know, were you as a as a small boy or girl? You know, in this area, we don't have storms like in the area I grew up. I grew up in in western New York State, just right south of Buffalo. And when the storms would occur, man, all of a sudden the lightning is striking, and you see it light up the whole sky, and all of a sudden, from the heat from that lightning, all of a sudden you hear this explosive boom, and as a three-year-old, you think the house is coming down. And so I was fearful. Can you imagine being tossed about in a storm and thinking you're not going to make it?

This is Job. Let me take you to uh Jonah. Uh in Jonah chapter one, and I'll just uh it's not advancing for me, so I guess oh, there we go. Jonah 1 4. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, such a violent storm arose that they were almost under. A violent storm arose that the ship uh in the ship and threatened to break the whole ship up. So you have the the Egyptians, you know, that are into problems. In this case, it's Jonah. And you know why Jonah had the storm. He had the storm because he was in sin. But for other people, it's not always because they're in sin. Jonah was in sin, and and God is going to discipline him. Or uh I'll take you to Acts 27. This is the apostle Paul. We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they begin to throw the cargo overboard.

Now think about it for a moment. In Matthew chapter 8, this is the parallel passage to Mark 4 that I read earlier. Sometimes in Scripture, when you go out of the Bible, I we had an older guy in our church, and he and his wife were reading through the New Testament. So they read through Matthew, and then they read through Mark, and then they read through Luke, and he didn't know much about Scripture. And he says to his wife, didn't we read this before? Because sometimes in Matthew, it's also in Mark, and it's also in Luke. We call those first three books of the New Testament, synoptic gospels. You know what that means? Optic means to see, right? You go to an optometrist because of your eyes.

Optic means to see.

But in the first three, so in Matthew chapter 8, verse 24, it says this without warning, a furious storm came up in the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. Now, let me say it this way. If the Egyptians faced a storm, if Job faced a storm, if Jonah faced a storm, if Paul and the disciples faced the storm, then is there any reason that if they face storms, we shouldn't expect storms and trials in our lives? It just seems natural, doesn't it? This past week, my wife's uh aunt had surgery. She's in her upper 80s. She faced surgery and she had to have some of her colon removed. Her husband, who is an unbeliever, sends my wife a note and says, I don't understand why God puts us here on earth to let us suffer so much like this, and seemingly doesn't do anything about it.

Maybe I ought to talk to your husband. He's writing her. Maybe I ought to talk to your husband as to why God allows that. And I said to my wife, it's simple to understand why God allows that. Many times in scripture, he specifically says.

Or he also says in another place, you know, if you suffer in the flesh, you cease from sin. When's the last time you were in the midst of real sickness, and you thought, well, let's get out there and have some sin. You know, when you're throwing up, when you're really down and sick, the last thing you want to do is leave the bed. You just want to be there and oh, you're dying. And so God's word says, if you suffer in the flesh, you're gonna cease from sin. So there are times he allows us to face that. So he reminds us, hey, when when I'm suffering, I'm more relying on him, and I'm less involved with sin. So let me take you to Mark 4. In Mark chapter 4, verse 1, I read to you verses 35 through 41.

But in Mark chapter 1, I want you to see what goes before this storm that uh Jesus is with the disciples out in the boat. What went before that? Mark chapter 4, verse 1. Again, Jesus began to teach where? By the lake. So he's teaching by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into the boat and sat in it out on the lake while all the people were along the shore at the water's edge. Now, let me take you. This is this is North and South America. Let's cross the Atlantic Ocean. Here's uh Africa, and right up here is Israel. As a matter of fact, I'm gonna walk right over here. Right in here is the Gaza Strip where the Hamasgrap is battling right now. Let me embed in here.

Here's the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. So these are real places that really existed, and Jesus was really with his disciples in those places. Now, in the Sea of Galilee, and let me just uh highlight it up here, Sea of Galilee. Well, it's just gonna jump on. The Sea of Galilee is about 600 feet below sea level. And as we fly up the Dead Sea right there, this is the Jordan River leading up to the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is 600 and some feet below sea level. Do you get that? Do you understand what that means? There are few bodies of water in the world that are below sea level. LA, for instance, is uh a hundred feet or so above sea level. If it were at sea level, right at the Pacific Ocean, all the water would be flooding in, and there wouldn't be any place to live.

So every inland body of water is above sea level. And where does it run? When it runs out of that body of water, that lake inland, where does it go? It goes to a lower level and a lower level until it gets where the ocean. Ah, but the Sea of Galilee is over 600 feet below sea level. So where does it flow? Well, it flows down the Jordan River. And it flows the Jordan River down into, and this is the Jordan that you see on the screen there, and it's going to flow down that Jordan River into where? The Dead Sea.

Take out a magazine and just float there and read. Because it is so saturated with salt. Because it doesn't flow out to any place. Now, as you fly up this the Jordan River, you're going to fly up to if it'll move. Let's fly right up there and right towards the Sea of Galilee. You got it. Now the Sea of Galilee has several names. Tiberius, Chinnareth. That's a that's part of the problem once in a while when you open up and study God's word, is you say, where is that? Is that the same place as this? It's kind of like in America. We have uh Cape Kennedy, or is it Cape Canaveral? Yes, they're both the same place. And we just named them different at different times. And so Chinnerith was at one time, and Tiberius at one time, and the Sea of Galilee at another time.

We call it the Sea of Galilee. If you look at your hand like this, look at my hand. That's about the shape of the Sea of Galilee. And it's 13 miles from top to bottom, and about seven to eight miles east to west. Got it. And right up on the north side is Capernaum. And Jesus is teaching there in Mark chapter 4. So let's go back and see what happens in Mark chapter 4. There are four things. First, he's talking about sowing. He talked about four kinds of seed. The seed, rather, one kind of seed, and it falls on four four types of soil. And so that's in verses one through 20. Then he's talking about shining after that. So these all these are all simple to remember. He's saying, if you're sowing, some sea fell on the path, some fell in the rocks, some fell in the thorns, and some fell where?

On good ground. And when it was on good ground, he says it's like the word of God. Listen to me. The word of God, sown here today. He's saying that sometimes when I get up and preach, some people's hearts are like stone. And the seed of the word of God falls on that stone. And it doesn't really produce much. And sometimes it's like this pathway here. And some of the seed falls on the pathway, and there's really not much dirt there, and it gets trampled all the time. And so the birds come and just take it away. And that's why sometimes when you leave a service and you hear the word of God, that you go, I don't remember anything about that. And sometimes it falls on the ground that's in thorns.

And the thorns grow up so much and so quickly around it that the good seed can't get the light and can't get the water that it needs. And he said, your life is like that. There are so many things growing around you. You want to do this, and you want to do this, you want to do this, and you want to do this, and you forget about God. And all these worldly things grow up and choke out your time with God's word. Some of you, and this is what it's so interesting to me as a pastor as I preached over the years. Sometimes I would preach three three times on Sunday morning. And so in the first service, I thought, wow, that that that really went well. And the second service, I thought, well, I didn't, I didn't sense it responsive.

So on the third service, it changed again. And I thought, it's the same sermon. I'm giving the same sermon, and I ought to get better each sermon. But then I realized that sometimes it's the soil that's the difference. And sometimes people are really there, soaking it in and wanting to learn. So he's he's talking about sewing, and he's talking about shining. In verses 21 to 25, he says, and this is where the kids get that little song. Uh, this little lot of mine, I'm gonna let it what? Shine and hide it under a bushel. No, I'm gonna let it shine. That comes from this is when Jesus taught that story. He's in Galilee, he's in Capernaum, he's on the lake, and he's it's so crowded on the shore, he moves to the lake where the sound goes right across the lake into the people.

And so he's talking about sowing, and he's talking about shining, and then thirdly, he's talking about reaping, reaping, and then he's talking about trusting. Reaping, he's talking about um seeds, the mustard seed. Do you know you ever seen a mustard seed? It's about the size of the lead in a number two pencil. That's how big the seed is. So if you've ever written with a pencil and it's just a numbers two-sized pencil, this small lead. That's the size of the seed. It's not the smallest seed on earth, but it was the smallest seed kind of known to them, and that's why the Lord said it's one of the smallest seeds, it's not the smallest, but what he says is it grows up to be so tall. Do you know how tall it gets?

It gets 10 to 12 feet tall, and birds come and lodge in its branches. He said, That's if you have that kind of faith, oh, just the size of a mustard seed, you'll have unbelievable growth, unbelievable growth in your walk with the Lord. And then the last thing is trusting, and we read that passage of scripture. So let me take you there. That day, what day? This is Mark chapter 4, verse 35, the passage that we're looking at today. That day, what day? The day he taught them all day long, first about sowing and reaping and then shining, and then trusting. As he taught them that day when evening came. I don't know about you, but when you work all day long, and you get home at night. Are you ever tired?

And you think, oh, let me just sit down. Okay. Jesus has taught thousands of people all day long, and on some of those days, little kids kept coming to him. And you know something? When kids come to you, you begin to understand what kind of a person that is. Kids, kids know they they can begin to sense whether that person is loving and caring. And kids came to him. And the disciples sent him away, remember? And he says, Ah, don't do that. Let the little children come unto me. King James Version says, suffer the little children. They come unto me. That means, hey, let them come. For such is the kingdom of heaven. Let them come. Not that you're childish. That's not what heaven's about. But that you're childlike.

Childish means you get selfish at times. And you get angry at times. You get upset at times. Childlike means you can trust the father and the mother. Childlike means you can forgive quickly. Childlike means that there's a that you want to trust. Childish means you're selfish. So that day when evening came, so let's go back. Um put it here and read this text one more time. Look at it. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let's go over to the other side, leaving the crowd behind. They took him along just as he was in the boat. And there were also other boats with him.

And the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. I don't know if you've ever been in a boat when it's nearly swapped, and what reaction you might have. The Sea of Galilee, remember, is 600 feet below sea level. And because of that, in addition, it's a shallow lake. The depth of it's only a couple hundred feet. And as the wind comes off the golden heights, which are to the north and east, as that wind comes off that mountainside and swoops down over that shallow lake, storms can come up quickly. And now the boat is swamped. Now, who's in the boat? The disciples, right? He took his disciples. So what kind of swimmers were those disciples? Do you remember one was a tax collector?

Did he have a swimming pool in his backyard? You know, if you don't have access to a swimming pool or someplace, where do you ever learn to swim? And when people can't swim and they get in the water, what happens? They sink like a rock. And when they start to sink like a rock, sometimes they drown. Now, we know that four disciples, Peter, James, John, and Andrew were fishermen. The others weren't. So who could swim? Peter and his brother Andrew and James and his brother John. So eight of them couldn't swim. And they're out on the lake. And the water's swamping the boat. What do you think their thoughts are? I'm gonna die. And where's Jesus?

He's sleeping. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, Teacher, teacher, don't you care if we drown? I kind of half imagine that nobody wanted to wake Jesus up. He's tired. He's been all day teaching. And they say, you wake him up. I'm not gonna wake him up. Hey, Peter, you wake him up. You're always the one that's talking. I don't know who woke him up. Isn't it interesting that scripture never says? But I know Peter really wasn't worried. He's out on the water. When Jesus resurrected from the dead, they were out on the water. What did Peter do? He jumped in the water and swam to shore.

He's not worried about you gonna drown. But the others are Jesus got up and he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, Quiet, be still. Then the wind died down, and it was completely what? Calm. He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and ask each other, who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him. You ever seen this picture? This is a painting by Rembrandt. Count the circles. How many circles are in that boat?

How many? Fourteen. Rembant Rembrandt painted this painting. By the way, it got stolen at one point out of one of the famous art museums. But who is in the boat? Who are the people in the boat? The twelve disciples and Jesus. So why would Rembrandt paint 14 people in the boat when there were 13 in there? Look at this. I'm gonna ask you to advance that just for me, okay? Ah no, that's what. Okay, I'm gonna tell you what happened. There's something's not coming up here. The next slide actually takes away all 14 circles and then highlights, I'm gonna point it out here. Highlights this one right there. See it?

That one is the only one looking at the artist. You follow that? All the others are panicked. They say that that one, you can see it on the picture there now. That one was Rembrandt, and he did himself as a self-portrait. As if he were in that storm as well. So here's what I have to say. If somebody walked away today and said, What did Pastor Madison preach about? God often uses storms in our lives. He permits that. What did we ask say this morning? What do we say when we believe in God? That no matter what adversity comes our way, he is what kind of a God. He is a good God.

And all things work together for what? Good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. And so storms can be used in our lives. But let me give you this. There are five reasons Jesus took his disciples in this storm in this text. I want you to be able to just take a passage of scripture and say, okay, they're in the storm. What do I see here? What's the purpose God allowed them to have storms? The first one. I put it on the screen for you. He allows us to have storms so he could exhibit exhibit his power. You know, if I never have a problem, you know, people don't have problems. When people have problems, what do they say? Oh, dear God, get me out of this problem.

Oh, God, if you get me through this, if a guy's in the military and he's in a battle, remember they they have these foxhole prayers? Dear God, get me out of here and get me back home, and I'll live for you the rest of my life. Then they get back home and they forget God. But God allows these storms in your life and mine so that he can exhibit his power. So what did he need to exhibit here? Verse 39. He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, Quiet, be still. Then, what happened? Then the wind died down. And it was completely what? Calm. They were terrified and asked each other, who is this? Even the wind and waves obey him. I'm going to just highlight that. Do you understand?

If you were in that ship with Jesus, and he stood up and said, Stop. Quiet. Be still. And all of a sudden the wind stopped and the waves stopped. When's the last time you tried to do that to the wind or the waves? He exhibited his power. And I would say to you, in my life, and I hope in your life, in your lives, that if you've seen a storm and watched God calm those storms, you can know the power of God. That he's able to calm the storms. Let me go back again and say there are five reasons. There are five reasons. He wants to exhibit his power. The second thing you see in the text is now only exhibits his power, uh, and it won't go again. He wants to expand our faith.

What did he say to those disciples? He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have what? No faith. Do you still have no faith? Now, look at me for a second. These are disciples. They have left everything. They don't live at home anymore. They left their jobs, they surrendered everything to the Lord, and the Lord turns to them and says, Don't you have any faith? I thought, hey, sounds to me like they had some faith. Would I have enough faith to give up my job and to take off and just follow this man? So what is he saying to them? You don't have any faith? What has he just taught them about that day? How to trust. How to grow in their faith. What did the disciples pray to the Lord one time?

Lord, increase our what? Faith. They knew they didn't have enough faith. At times they wanted to pray that God would heal or God do something, and they say, Why can't we do it? God says, look, I want you to be able to trust me for more and more and more. So why does he allow a storm in my life? He says, uh, you're at this level. I want to raise you up to this level. I'm wanting to, first of all, exhibit my power. Secondly, I'm wanting to expand your faith. How is it? You still have no faith. They had some, they left everything. But he says, ah, okay. I'll put this storm. Now, let me back up for just a second. Since Jesus is God, he knows everything, right? We we call that omniscience. He's all what?

Knowing. He's omnipotent. He's all powerful. He's omniscient. He's all knowing. Since he's all-knowing, since he's God. And there, before they left on this on this little trip across the lake. He could have said to them, hey, let's not go tonight, guys. There's a storm coming up.

Right? He's God. He knows your tomorrow's. But he let them go into the storm because he said, Haha, what a great opportunity to exhibit my power. Oh, what a great opportunity to expand your faith. That's why God allows storms in your life and mine. God often uses storms in our lives. He actually gives us seven reasons. I want to look at just five today, but there are five reasons I want you to see in this text.

Thirdly, I want to express my care.

Why did God allow that? Doesn't He care? The text set. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. His disciples woke him and said to him, What? Don't you what? Don't you care if we perish? These are, wait a minute. These are disciples. These are the ones that, wow, hey, wouldn't you want to hang out with them? Peter? John. And I'd love it. I'd love to hung out with those guys. And they're the ones that are saying to Jesus, I can't believe you brought us out here. Don't you care? And what's he want to do? He wants to express his care to them. So he calms the water. He calms their hearts. And he says, Yes, I care.

One of the guys in that ship is Peter. Right. And later on, he could write in 1 Peter 5.7, casting all your care upon him. Or he care, King James version there. For he careth for you. Where did he learn that? Do you follow me there? Does that make sense to you? He's out in the storm. And they say, Don't you care? He says, Yeah, I do here. Let me calm the storm. And when they're all done, he then can write scripture later that says, throw all your care on him. Why? Because he cares for you. I know that. I've experienced that. Before I even talk about these five reasons here, let me ask you this.

Does God need to exhibit his power in your life today? So you know he's the all-powerful God. Does God need to expand your faith today? So you trust him for the more.

And he cares about reaching this community for him. Let me give you a fourth one. He wants to expose his peace. It's it's kind of when you when you're worried about something, when you really get stressed over something, and you try to sleep at night, do you have a hard time sleeping? You just don't have peace about it, and it's all upset. Look at verses 37 and 38. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern. What's he doing? Sleeping on a cushion. He says, I'm not worried about it. He's he's human at this point, right? In the boat. No, he's God too. But as a human, do you think he ever took swimming lessons? Yeah, yeah, I know.

He didn't need to. He could walk on water. He was he could just walk, he could just get out of the boat and say, okay, here let me come to you. Peter says, hey, Lord, but let me come to you. Because Jesus could walk on water. But he wasn't worried about stuff. He had complete peace through the midst of this storm. I'm telling you that God wants you to have peace. And the peace of God. Philippians 4. And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. If you don't have peace, ah, guess what God might allow in your life? A storm. So that you have to begin to go, oh God, I don't have peace. I'm really fearful about this. I'm really anxious about this.

I'm really worried about this. God says, I understand. And I want you to turn. Cast all your care on him for he careth for you. See that? See that wave and that story there that it is well with my soul? That's a hymn. It is well with my soul. When I look at that hymn, it is well with my soul. Um let me get down here and pick this up for just a second.

The man that wrote that hymn is Horatio Spafford. He wrote that in about 1872. He was a lawyer in Chicago. Do you know what happened in Chicago in 1871? It was the Chicago fire. And it wiped out the city. And all their assets were virtually gone. Except the little house area. And they used that. He and his wife Anna used that to house and take care of people. They'd already lost one child. And they were going to go over to Wales. Cardiff, Wales. They had booked a ship to sail across the Atlantic.

Horatio Spafford, Hannah, and their four children. At the last minute, he had to stay back and finish business.

Started to take that ship across the Atlantic. About four days into that, their ship struck another ship. And within twelve minutes, here are their four children. Within twelve minutes, that ship went down. And over 200 people died on that ship, including their four children. Obviously, Horatio Spafford didn't know about it at the time.

But when his wife, they found his wife clinging to