Bayside Baptist Church

Jason King: In the 1980s, there was a research facility called the Biosphere 2. In this facility, they built an ecosystem and they were trying to discover if we could colonize space. They wanted to see if they could create the perfect environment where life could exist. In this particular ecosystem, they created the perfect conditions. Everything was carefully curated and provided for. Trees were planted, and inside they sprung up and they appeared to thrive.

But then they began to fall. The botanists were surprised as they looked at the soil conditions, the air, and all the things that are needed to cause growth. They found no evidence of disease or of any kind of pests or anything that was destroying these trees from within. Yet, they began to fall. The conditions were perfect, but then they realized what they were missing. It was something so simple, yet it was absent in the confines of this structure. They were missing wind.

The air was too still; it was too serene. What looked like it guaranteed that the trees would grow with ease actually contributed to the trees falling under their own weight. They could not sustain themselves. They had all the sun, the soil, and all of the things that they needed to grow and grow well. But in the absence of changing winds, the trees built no resilience, and ultimately they toppled under their own weight. The researchers discovered that without storms and the unpredictability of weather that is constantly changing, these trees could not sustain themselves. It takes storms to bring strength to the root system, the trunks, and the structure of the tree.

It is no different for you and me. It is no different in our lives. When you have been in the real storms of life—and we have all experienced those—they hurt the most and they do not seem to go away. Maybe they fill our lives and our hearts with uncertainty. Isn't it way more difficult than anything else you could ever face? When you are facing sickness or maybe fear, confusion, hurt, or disappointment, you get discouraged. You get frustrated, and your faith can begin to falter.

But in the middle of the storms, Church, this is what I want you to hear today. In the middle of the storm, whatever the storm is that you are walking through or that is coming your way, God has a word for you. If you have a Bible, I want to invite you to open up to Mark chapter four. The passage we are going to look at is on the heels of Jesus' teaching. He would gather together large crowds, and in this particular moment, he gathered together this large crowd on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. There were so many people on the bank that he got in a boat and pushed off the shore just a little bit so that he could speak and his voice would carry.

That was done, and the day was finished. It had been a long, full day. The disciples were gassed. Everybody was tired. Yet, in this moment that we are going to see, the disciples find themselves with Jesus in the midst of a storm that frankly scares them to death. In the midst of the storm, Jesus responds with a miracle. The miracle that we are going to look at today is a word for you and a word for me as we face the storms, the challenges, and the difficulties in life that we encounter.

I do not know what you are going through. I do not know what you are walking through or what you are carrying on the inside or on your shoulders. I do not know what your circumstances look like right now, but here is what I do know. I do know that God wants to meet you in the midst of it today. I want to challenge you from the outset. A lot of times, we just look at the stuff and the feelings and all the things that come with the storm, but I want to challenge you today because I believe God wants you to see your storm from a spiritual perspective. Could you even just right now in your heart say, "God, would you help me to see whatever it is that you are wanting me to see about what I am facing today?"

He wants to meet you in the midst of the storm, even when it rages, and he wants you to know that he offers you his presence. In this passage today, there are some things that I believe we need to know when the storm rages. There are some truths to guide us through the storms that we face. The first truth that we are going to learn from this passage today is this: God often seems silent in the toughest storms. You are going through it and you think, "Where is God?" God often seems silent in the toughest of storms.

Look at verse 35 of Mark chapter four. It says, "As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, 'Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.' So they took Jesus in the boat and they started out, leaving the crowds behind, although there were other boats that followed. But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. But Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up and they were shouting, 'Teacher, don't you care that we’re going to drown? Don't you care that this is happening?'"

From this small boat, Jesus had been teaching the crowds. Then he said, "Let's head out across the lake, across the Sea of Galilee," when the day was done. As a result, they hop in the boat and they get out into the water. Now, these guys were professional commercial fishermen. They knew the lake. They knew the geographical makeup of the area. The sea sat below sea level, there were hills all around it, and they knew that in the morning and in the afternoon, really bad storms could pop up just like that.

Due to the geography and the way the winds would function, most fishermen knew they would fish in the evenings when the weather was calm. But if a storm were to pop up in the evening, they also knew that it was worth the chance, but it could be especially severe. That is exactly what happened. It was not a good time to be on the water when one of these storms rolled up. Literally, the word that Mark uses says that a whirlwind happened. The waves were high. They began to break over the boat, and the boat began to take on water.

Have you ever been in a boat that is filling up with water? I have twice. Both times were in a small aluminum boat. The first time, I was fishing and the fish were biting because a heavy rainstorm was coming. Then the rain hit me, and literally the boat I was in was filling up faster than the bilge pump could push the water out of the boat. The second time was my fault; I left the drain plug out when I launched a boat and it filled up pretty quick. Either way, when the boat starts to fill up with water, it is not a good thing. The boat is supposed to float, not fill up with water.

Isn't that how we feel about our lives? Let's get real for just a minute. Some of us believe today that if you are a Christian, if you come to church and try to be a good person and do all the stuff, that somehow, some way, that is going to keep the boat from filling up with water. You think it's going to keep the trouble and the difficulty out of your life. You think that things should always be good and improving and getting easier. So, when the storm hits and you begin to take on some water, isn't there a little bit of panic that rises up? There is a little bit of panic that starts to rise up when the boat's taking on water.

In this moment, the disciples' lives were literally flashing before their eyes, and yet Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat. I think Mark had a little sense of humor. Did you notice that he said that Jesus had a cushion in the back of the boat? He is sleeping on a pillow and these guys are afraid that they are about to die. Jesus is in the back of the boat, comfortable. He is not worried about it at all. These guys are professional fishermen, so there was not much on the water that they were going to experience that they had not already seen or walked through.

There was not much that would scare them or surprise them, but this storm got them. "Teacher, Jesus, dude, wake up, man. Don’t you care that we’re drowning?" The storm threatened to destroy them, but Jesus seemed unconcerned. He was getting a nap. "God, don't you care? Don’t you care that I lost a loved one? Don't you care that I’m suffering from a chronic illness? Don't you care that I’ve endured abuse or am battling addiction or you’ve been through an accident or you’ve received a cancer diagnosis or your business or your job has fallen apart and you've lost it?"

Maybe the consequences of choices from the past are following you and they are eating you alive. This is what you're feeling: "Lord, I’m drowning here. Why are you asleep in the back of the boat?" These moments can cause us to worry and to wonder if God is still there, if God cares at all, and if he is present in the midst of what we are facing. It is easy for us to deal with it when God says yes to the things that we are praying. We don't like it, but we also can deal with it when God says no. But what drives most of us up the wall is when God doesn't say anything.

When he is silent, we often draw the conclusion that he must be absent. There are few things in our lives that trouble us like feeling like God has left us. Can anyone relate to that today? In the midst of it, you can feel that. But I want you to look at these words from Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse eight. God is speaking through Moses, and here is what he says: "Do not be afraid or discouraged." Obviously, there was some fear and some discouragement.

God had given them direction and told them what he wanted them to do, and they were afraid. So God was saying, "Come on, don't be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you." Two times in this passage in Deuteronomy 31, he says the Lord will neither fail you nor abandon you. Just to make sure that you don't think that was for them back then, the author of the book of Hebrews says the same thing. No matter what you are facing, no matter what you are walking through, no matter what your challenge, the Lord will not fail you nor abandon you.

God spoke these words to these people in a moment of fear. "God, do you care?" Can I just remind you that even in this story, Jesus is still in the boat? He has not left them, and he is not panicked. He is not freaking out. It is kind of hard to sleep when you are freaking out, isn't it? But Jesus is out. Here is what I know about God's silence. When it seems that he is quiet or he is silent in the midst of the storm, I want you to remember this story because it means that he is not concerned. He is concerned about you, but he is not concerned about the storm. He has not left you, and he is not going to fail you in the midst of it. He's got you.

We are going to see in a moment that he is at work in the storm. That is the second truth: God is at work in the storm. Look back in the text in verse 38. It says it this way: "Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up and they shouted, 'Teacher, don't you care that we’re going to drown?' When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Silence! Be still!' Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm."

This reminds us that not only is Jesus present in this moment, he is at work. When we face impossible circumstances, when you face adversity or trouble, we often think that the presence of those things in our lives is evidence that God is not at work. But that is where the disciples were, and it is where we find ourselves in those moments. When the disciples are yelling to ask him if he cares about them, Jesus woke up. He didn't wake up when the rain was hitting him. He didn't wake up when the boat was tossing back and forth. He didn't wake up when the water was coming over the edge of the boat. He woke up when the disciples got his attention.

I don't think they were saying, "Jesus, stop the storm because you're the man." I don't think they were even thinking that. I think they were thinking, "All hands on deck! We’re going down here. Jesus, time to wake up from your nap. We need you to come pitch in and help us out." If you've got kids, I can’t help but think that in this moment, the disciples must have felt like some of us as parents of teenagers feel trying to get them out of bed. You've got to get the water and the waves and the water gun and turn the lights on and yell and get them out of bed, and then they are getting out of bed just gradually.

So when Jesus did wake up from this, even though he had slept through all the circumstances of the storm, when the disciples spoke to him and they woke him up, he stood up and he rebuked the wind and the waves. He said, "Silence." Literally, "Peace, be still," and it stopped. The water was like glass. It was calm. The disciples, who just a moment ago were panicking, then looked at each other and said, "Who is this? How did he do that? Who is this that the wind and the waves stop when he speaks to them?"

This moment reminds us that God is the God of history and nature. He stilled the storm, he stopped the sea, and this miracle demonstrates his authority over all of creation. He is the Lord of this earth, just as he is the Lord of your life and mine. He is not just a God of words; he is a God who acts. When he speaks, even the forces of nature must submit. That word "rebuke" is actually the same word that Jesus used when he rebuked an evil spirit, a demon. Just like the force of the demonic has to submit to Jesus' authority, so the storm was stopped by his word.

That is the physical storm with wind and rain and lightning, and I believe that is every other storm that you and I experience as well. I know in that moment, the pressure's on. Your finances are tight and getting tighter, or your marriage is on the rocks, or that relationship is strained, or the addiction is raging even though you are trying to overcome it. Maybe work is terrible and everything seems to be falling apart. It is hard to believe that God is at work in that storm. Maybe someone else’s storm, but not mine. But he is.

Why would I say that? Because this moment, when he stills the storm, he demonstrates that he has all authority. He has all authority over all of his creation, including you and me. Now, that is not just some wishful thought or something that we hang on the wall that makes us feel better or put on a T-shirt that it is all going to work out and in the end it is going to be fine. It is what God has revealed in his word. He has all authority. He created this world, he sustains this world, and one day he will redeem it. He alone has the power to do it. He has the last word on all things in your life and in mine, big things and small.

Look at what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew chapter 28. He told his disciples this: "I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth." It doesn't matter where it is. Jesus has all authority. A life of faith is built on this truth that Jesus has all authority over your life and mine over this world. It means he is in charge of whoever thinks they are in charge in the physical or the spiritual realm. Other people may have a word, but Jesus has the last word, and he is ultimately who is in charge. Just because you can’t see it in a moment doesn't mean it is not so. Just because you can't imagine how God could be at work in your circumstance doesn't mean that he's not at work.

Sometimes we don't understand why we walk through the things that we do, why we experience the pain that we face. But even in these moments, you need to know that because he has all authority, he is at work to bring good. That doesn't mean what you have experienced is good—far from it at times—but it means that God is still good as he walks with you through whatever it is that you face. Paul says in Romans 8:28, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." We can't fathom how God does this, but because he has all authority, because he is good, because this is who he is and how he loves you as his child, this is what he is up to in your life.

Not everything is good, but God brings good from everything for those who are his. Jesus asks his disciples the same question he is asking you and me today: "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" That was a pretty sharp response from Jesus. Jesus' disciples responded just like we do. Their lack of faith was expressed in terror and fear and panic. So why were they afraid? They were afraid because they forgot who Jesus is. They underestimated him. They forgot who he truly is, and they took their circumstances and tried to overlay those on their faith and understand their faith through their circumstances.

That is why they panicked. It is why we panic. It is why worry keeps you up at night and stress is crushing you. It is why we end up taking things into our own hands at times. The disciples assumed that since he was asleep, he was oblivious, so they needed to grab the bull by the horns. What they didn't see in that moment is he is still right there with them. They forgot who he is, just like we often do today. The absence of adversity in your life does not mean that all is well. Conversely, the presence of adversity in your life does not mean that all is not well.

God is with you in the midst of the storm. Jesus taught in Luke chapter 11 about prayer. He is teaching about prayer and trying to help us understand that God wants us to pray and to be persistent and to keep asking and keep knocking. At the end of the day, God wants you and me to trust him as we pray. He says, "You fathers, if your children ask for a fish, do you give them a snake instead? No. If they ask for an egg, you're not going to give them a scorpion, of course not. So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

What is he saying? He is saying as you are crying out to God, as you are walking through the middle of whatever it is, God knows what you need. He knows what's best for you, and that is what he gives you. His very best gift is his Holy Spirit. When you give your life to Jesus Christ, when you say, "I’m going to exchange my mess for Christ and his perfection," the Bible says that when you make that decision, you receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life. In the miracle of a moment, you receive the forgiveness of sin, you are made right with God, and the gift of the Holy Spirit is deposited in your life.

Now, with the Holy Spirit in your life, you have what you need to live by faith. That means you make a decision moment by moment, day by day, to take what God has revealed in his word and believe it enough to do it. This is faith. It is to obey it, to follow through with what God has said, and to trust that even in the midst of the storm, even when it doesn't look like it's going to work out and you're not sure how it's all going to fit together, faith is saying, "God, I am going to trust you enough to do what you've said." Even if you aren't feeling it, even if it doesn't look like it's going to work out, faith is trusting God at his word and the Holy Spirit gives you the strength to do that.

Why in the world would you do that? Because Jesus has all authority. Not just some, not just a little authority; he has all authority and power, and he is right there with you. Just because you are in a storm does not mean that God is not at work. What God opens up, nobody else can close, and what God closes, nobody else can open. Other people may have a word, but he has the last word. That is the confidence of a life of faith that God is inviting you to experience in the midst of the storm.

The last truth to face the storms that are come your way is this: storms are an opportunity to grow in your faith. Look back in the text in verse 40. It says, "Then he asked the disciples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?' And the disciples were all absolutely terrified. 'Who is this man?' they asked each other. 'Even the wind and the waves obey him!'"

Billy Graham shared several years ago that in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew’s devastation, his grandson was working night and day to help survivors get food and water immediately after the storm had hit. He said he noticed a sign on the roof of a house one day that said, "Okay God, you got our attention. Now what?" That is a great question. When you are walking through it, "Okay God, you got my attention. Now what? Now what do we do?"

Storms create a spiritual crossroads in our lives. The test of faith is whether we will continue to follow him and make that choice to trust him in the midst of it, even when we don't understand it. Will you choose the path to follow Christ in the storm? That's faith. Or will you panic and seek to handle it on your own? God wants us to learn to trust what he is doing when we can't see it, even in the middle of the storm. Those moments, you stand at a crossroads in your faith, and where you go from there determines what kind of power and presence you experience of God in the midst of it.

A life of faith is hearing God and doing what he says and trusting him with the results. To hear God and do what he says and then trust him with the results of following through, and then do that today, and then repeat it tomorrow, and the next day, and the next. When you are walking through a storm, this is a key moment for your faith. It is an opportunity where God is inviting you to experience his power in the midst of it. Storms are an opportunity for you to see in a fresh way that God cares about you enough to stay with you through it, to help you grow stronger, and to help you learn how to trust him more. He has all authority and all power. He has never left your side.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or if we are persecuted, hungry, destitute, in danger, or threatened with death? That is how we feel, isn't it? "I feel like God doesn't really love me anymore because of what I’m walking through. I don’t really feel like God could be who he says he is." Can anything separate us from God's love? Can your trouble and your difficulty separate you? No. Despite all of these things, overwhelming victory is ours, not in your own strength, not in your own power, not because you are a good person. Overwhelming victory is yours through Christ who loved us.

That is what God offers you today. It doesn't matter what kind of storm that you are walking through, whether it's a big storm or a small storm, or even if several things converge all at once. That moment, maybe this moment right now for you, is an opportunity for you to see God's faithfulness in the storm.

You may know Gary Baylor. He is a part of our church, and he serves as an elder here at Bayside. He shared with me just over the last few days that the last few weeks for he and his family have been a blur. They are walking through several storms right now. His mom, who lives in Pennsylvania and is over 90 years old, has had a lot of health issues recently. She has been through a recent surgery, then had a fall, and then most recently, she's been back in the hospital with two blood infections as a result of some complications.

Last week, he was in Franklin, Tennessee for a conference for some meetings with work. The conference lasted for several days and his plan was, at the end of it, he had rented a car and he was going to drive from Nashville to Pennsylvania where his mom has been in the hospital. But while he was there, she took a turn for the worse. He made the decision to leave this conference early to drive through the night to get to Pennsylvania so that he could be by her side in the middle of this.

Tuesday afternoon, he prepared and took a nap for a couple of hours. He packed up all of his stuff, checked out of his hotel room, and went down to where his car was. He went to crank the car, and this brand new 2026 rental car would not start. So he called the rental car company and said, "I’ve got a problem. I’m pressed, and I really need to get to Pennsylvania. This car didn't start. I need another car." They said, "Sir, I’m sorry, we will have to deal with it tomorrow." He said, "No, you don't understand. I need to get to Pennsylvania now."

As you can imagine, the pressure was rising. He said he was able to keep his cool, but it kind of hit him wrong when the representative said, "I'm sorry, sir, you'll have to call us tomorrow," and then she hung up on him. So he called right back and eventually found somebody that was willing to make arrangements in the morning for him to have this taken care of. The next morning, he got a call from a guy named Mike who said, "I’ll be there in just a few minutes and I'm going to help you out."

He showed up just a few minutes later with his tow truck and he was checking out the car to see what he could do to get Gary to the rental car business so he could exchange the car. While he was doing that, Mike started to tell his story. He was divorced and had a 16-year-old back in California where he was from. He told Gary he'd been in prison and had just finished up his community service as a part of his release on parole. He also said he was coming up on his four-year anniversary of being clean and sober and drug-free.

Mike went on to tell Gary he had a terrible upbringing. His mom was terrible and his mom was burning in hell—that was where she belonged, Mike said. He said all this while he's getting the car ready to go. Gary said, "I just felt this sense that that wasn't the end of the conversation." So I asked him, "Mike, you told me what you think about your mom and where she is, and that sounds awful. But what about you? Where are you, man? You’ve been through a lot. Where are you in this moment?" He said he prayed a prayer one time, but Gary said he just didn't sound too sure about what his life was becoming.

Over the course of a few minutes, eventually, Gary asked him, "Mike, would it be okay if I just prayed with you? I believe God wants to meet you in this moment." He prayed for him right there in front of the Embassy Suites hotel. With a tow truck and a rental car, Gary had the opportunity to pray with Mike and to help him find life in Christ and assurance in his own heart. Gary said after he drove away, he realized that God had been working way ahead of him in that moment. He said all his frustrations with all the stuff that they've been walking through and the storms they've been in lifted. He said God knew that moment with Mike was the reason my car wouldn't start.

Setback after setback, difficulty after difficulty, yet God was at work in that moment for this man named Mike. Gary is still facing the storms with his family. He still had a really long drive ahead of him. But in the midst of that, God was at work orchestrating this moment full of complication and difficulty for Gary. The result was that Mike found peace.

No matter the storm you are walking through, big or small, whether your complications seem trivial or they are enormous, I wonder if in this moment you could ask God to help you see how he is present in the midst of the storm and how he is at work right now with you in the storm. A lot of times you don't see it, and that's where God calls you and me to lean in by faith today. He is still who he is. Just because he is quiet doesn't mean he is not there. He is with you. Just because you can't imagine how he's at work in the midst of the storm doesn't mean he's not at work. He is inviting you to choose faith, to choose to trust that he is out ahead of you and he is at work. Call on the name of Jesus and find life in his name. Let's pray together.