From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, we'll learn what happens when the storms meet the Savior.

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Life is filled with storms. It's filled with problems and difficulties. And the thing about troubles and problems and difficulties and storms is that they can hit you when you least expect it. Life can change just like that.

And then the question comes: well, what do I do now? What do I do with this?

Today, we want to see what happens when the real Jesus meets your storm and the storm meets Him.

Speaker 1

It's often been said that on the ocean of life, we are in one of three places: entering a storm, in the midst of a storm, or just coming out of a storm. But there is a Savior who has the ability to calm any storm and give peace to those who are struggling through them. And he always promises a safe landing.

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today for an inspiring message called "When the Storms Meet the Savior." It'll remind us of how the Lord works with us and beside us in the midst of these storms in our lives to draw us closer to Him and make us fruitful.

This lesson is from Pastor Jeff's frankly transforming series entitled "Encountering the Real Jesus." Because when that happens, your life will never be the same, and your desires to serve Him will grow stronger and stronger each day.

If you can now open your Bible to the Book of Mark, chapter four, as Pastor Jeff Shreve explains what will happen when your storms meet the Savior.

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**Mark, chapter 4.** Beginning in verse 35, the scripture says, "And on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, 'Let us go over to the other side.' And leaving the multitude, they took him along with them just as he was in the boat, and other boats were with them. And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. And he himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they awoke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?' And being aroused, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Hush, be still.' And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And he said to them, 'Why are you so timid? How is it that you have no faith?' And they became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?'

Life is filled with storms. It's filled with problems and difficulties. As a friend of mine once said, life can be summed up in three phases: you're either entering a storm, in a storm, or just got out of a storm to enter into another storm. Job, chapter 5, verse 7 says, 'Man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward.' The thing about troubles and problems and difficulties and storms is that they can hit you when you least expect it, just as they hit the disciples that night on the Sea of Galilee. They weren't expecting a storm; it just arose.

You know, you can be having a little pain and think it's not a whole lot of anything—maybe reflux, maybe a gallbladder issue. You go to the doctor and you find out you have stage three cancer. You can get in your car after a day at work, just going to drive home, just routine like you always do. But then this time, you get hit head-on by a drunk driver. You can get a phone call. The phone rings just like it always does, but this time it's a family member that says, 'There's been a crisis and our loved one is gone.' Life can change just like that. It's unwanted, it can be unexpected, and it can throw you into tremendous turmoil.

Then the question comes: what do I do now? What do I do with this? How can I handle this? We're in a series called Encountering the Real Jesus, and today we want to see what happens when the real Jesus meets your storm and the storm meets him. Because the real Jesus is the one who can do anything. I want to share with you four things that you can do, and you can start them today, that makes a huge difference in whatever storm you are facing.

**First thing you can do:** You can trust in the Lord's Word. Verse 35 says, "And on that day," what day? The day that he had been teaching and had been teaching in parables and had been teaching and preaching all day. Teaching and preaching can zap you of strength, and it's emotionally draining. Jesus was tired, and he said, "Let us go over to the other side." At the end of that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go over to the other side." Matthew puts it this way: "Now, when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to depart to the other side."

As we read in our story, Jesus went to sleep in the back of the boat because he was tired. Here you have the Lord commanding the disciples to go over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. They call it the Sea of Galilee; it's a lake about 8 miles wide and about 13 miles long, and it's 680 feet below sea level—very, very low. It's surrounded by some mountains that are as high as 2,000 feet. When you have a very low-lying area that's going to be semi-tropical and has warm air associated with it, right next to an area that has cold air associated with it, the top of the mountains, when those come together, you can create some violent winds and some difficult situations on the Sea of Galilee.

The way that the wind blows naturally through those mountains can whip up a storm in a short period of time. The Sea of Galilee, at its deepest point, is only 200 feet deep. So when you take a body of water that's not relatively deep and you start hitting it with a lot of wind, you can create a severe storm. And that's what they were in—a severe storm. Warren Wiersbe says in his commentary that he was on the Sea of Galilee and was talking to the guy that was running the boat he was on. He asked that man, "Have you ever been in a storm on the Sea of Galilee?" The man's eyes got really big, and he said, "One time, and I hope I never experience that again." Tremendous fear when you're in a huge storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Well, these guys were in a terrible storm. Jesus had told them, "We're going over to the other side." He didn't say, "Guys, we're gonna get in the boat, we're gonna hit a storm, and we're going down." He didn't say, "We're going under." He said, "We're going over; we're going over to the other side." Now listen, when you are in a storm and a big problem comes and plants itself right in your lap, what do you do? You remember what the Lord has said; you remember what the Lord has promised, and you put your trust in the Lord's word.

What some people do when they're in difficulties is run from the Lord. They get mad at God. No, you don't need to run from him; you need to run to him. You need to take the promises of God and cling to those promises. Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." The God who promised is faithful. If we are faithless, the scripture says, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. All of us could give a testimony of times where we were so faithless, but God remained faithful, and his word is true.

Here's what the Lord wants us to do when we're in the thick of the storm: he wants us to cling to his word. The disciples should have said, "Hey, it is scary, and the waves are coming in, and this looks bad for us. It's the middle of the night, the fourth watch of the night, probably three or four o'clock in the morning, and it's the darkest part of the night, and it's looking terrible. What are we going to do? Didn't he say that we were going over to the other side?" Just keep rowing and keep bailing and trust him. After all, this was all about faith. "Oh, ye of little faith, why did you doubt? Where is your faith?" It's all about faith.

I heard about a lady—you may have heard this story. I heard it years and years ago. She was a little widow, very destitute and poor. One day she looked around and saw there was no food in the house, and she didn't have any money. She wasn't going to get paid for another week or so, and so she didn't have any food. She didn't know what to do. So what did she do? She was in a storm. She came before the Lord and said, "Lord, I don't have anything to eat. I don't have any food in the house. But you promised in your word, Philippians 4:19, 'And my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.' You promised you would meet my needs, God. I'm walking with you, I'm trusting you, and I'm claiming your word and your promises."

She was praying so loudly that her landlord, who lived on the other side of her, could hear her because the walls were pretty thin. He could hear her praying. The landlord was a man who didn't have any use for God—maybe not an atheist, but surely a strong agnostic who doubted the existence of God and couldn't stand for people to talk to him about God. He heard her praying. After her prayer, she went out to do some things, and that man thought to himself, "I'm going to fix this lady's wagon." So he went to the store and bought two big bags of groceries. He had a key to her apartment because he was the landlord. He opened the door to her apartment, put those bags on her table, and then left her apartment, locking it back up.

Well, she comes home and opens the door to find two large grocery sacks full of groceries on her kitchen table. She says, "Praise God, Lord! You answered my prayer just like you said! I cling to your word, and you answered it and met my need." Then she immediately thought of her landlord and said, "This is a testimony." So she went over to his apartment and knocked on the door. "You come over here with me. I want you to see something. You say there is no God. You say God is not real. You say God doesn't answer prayer. I didn't have any groceries, and I prayed and claimed the scripture, and look what he did."

He looked at her and said, "Lady, you're so stupid. That's just like a Christian. I heard you praying. I heard what you were asking for. I went to the store; I bought those groceries. Those groceries didn't come from God; they came from me." She said, "You're wrong, mister. God gave me those groceries, even if he sent them by the devil." I love that story because that's a woman who just claimed the promises of God and wasn't going to let go. Listen, God loves it when we do that. So when you're in your storm, cling to the promises of God. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

**Second thing you can do:** You can relax in the Lord's presence. Now, what does it say? Verse 36: "And leaving the multitude, they took him along with them just as he was in the boat, and other boats were with him." Verse 38: "And he himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion." The Lord is in the disciples' boat. You say, "Oh, he's in the boat, but he's asleep in the boat." Yes, this shows the humanity of Jesus. The real Jesus is human. He's divine and he's human. He's the God-man— as much God as though he were not man at all, as much man as though he were not God at all.

The humanity of Jesus shows that he's worn out from ministering and preaching and teaching all day, so he goes to sleep in the back of the boat. It also shows the fact that Jesus is totally calm; he's totally at peace. He's not freaked out by the storm. It didn't catch him by surprise; he knows all things. But he's also fine in the storm—he's asleep in the storm because he's at peace, perfect peace. The storm is no sweat to him; it's no worry to him; it's no problem to him. And it shouldn't have been to them.

You say, "Well, yeah, it should have been to them." No, this is why it shouldn't have been: your troubles cannot drown you when Jesus is in your boat. That storm couldn't drown them when the Son of God was in their boat. They could have just said, "Hey, this looks bad, but we walk by faith and not by sight. What did he tell us to do? He told us we were going over to the other side. So, hey, John, you keep bailing, and James, you keep rowing." That's what they needed to do, and they didn't need to freak out like they did. They could relax in the Lord's presence.

You know, the scripture talks about a peace that surpasses understanding, that surpasses comprehension—the peace of God. When we go through a terrible storm and still have peace, what a testimony! How does that happen? It happens when you understand that the Lord is with you. "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil." Why? Because he is with me, and his rod and his staff, they comfort me.

When Debbie and I were in seminary at Southeastern Seminary, we took the girls with us. They were nine, seven, and five. Debbie got a job working at the Baptist bookstore after a few months. They paid her a whopping $5 an hour, but she liked the job, and it was fun. One of the perks was free video rentals. Every Friday night was movie night with Debbie, the girls, and me. I found *A Thief in the Night*, which I remembered as being really good.

There's no warning label on *A Thief in the Night* because it's pretty intense. Some of you have seen it; people just get Raptured. It shows a guy shaving, and all of a sudden the Lord comes, and it's just his shaver in the sink buzzing. People are screaming because folks are gone, and then it goes into the Antichrist coming and beheading people. The kids, nine, seven, and five, were watching this. Finally, Jill said, "Please, can we turn this off? I just hate this."

So we shut it off and went to bed. They were down for probably an hour and a half, and then standing by my bed was Jill, looking at me and saying, "I'm freaked out by that movie. I can't sleep." So I said, "All right, come in here with me." She got in bed with me, and we tried to go back to sleep. Then I heard a sick little cry from upstairs. Jill and Sarah shared a room, and Amy had her own room. I thought maybe I was dreaming this.

Finally, I got up and went into their room. I said, "Sarah, what is it?" She said, "Daddy, Jill's gone." I said, "Jill's not gone; she's downstairs in my bed." So I said, "All right, come down too." It was just a love fest in that small bed with all of us in there. But you know what? I've never forgotten this. Whenever Sarah would come to my side of the bed when she was scared, I would open up the covers, and she'd come in. I'd put my arms around her, and you could just feel her relax.

She knew the bad guy wasn't going to get her because her dad had her, and her dad was going to protect her. She was in the presence of her dad. You can relax in the Lord's presence. You can let the wind blow, let the storm howl, and let the waves crash, but you can be at peace with the Lord. The Bible says in Psalm 46:10, a verse that many of us are familiar with, "Be still and know that I am God." The New American Standard says, "Cease striving and know that I am God." The Amplified says, "Let go, relax, and know that I am God."

So I can just relax; God's in charge. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don't need to fear any evil. Why? Because he is with me. It says in the book of Isaiah, chapter 43, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Even in the midst of the worst trial, the worst storm, the worst fiery furnace, you can know that the Lord will be there. When you go through the hard times, when you go through the storms, when you go through the trouble and the fiery furnace, the Lord is there with you, and you can relax in his presence.

Speaker 1

What a wonderful truth to know that in the midst of fiery trials in our life, there can be relaxation in the presence of the Lord. The lesson today was part one of the message called "When the Storms Meet the Savior" from Pastor Jeff's seven-message series, "Encountering the Real Jesus." You can get the entire series in the format of your choice when you go online to fromisheart.org and click the listen link.

Speaking of storms, we received an encouragement from Robert in Michigan, who wrote and said, "Pastor Jeff, sometimes I get so discouraged and down in life. Problems keep adding up. It's like a black cloud follows me and not others. But you continue to remind me that we are on the team that ultimately wins with the real Savior. I'm so thankful to God that you continue to stand up for the truth, and your ministry is a great encouragement to me. Keep up the good work." Well, that's Robert from Michigan, and Shirley, kind words for us. He’s not alone in having problems. The Christian life is not one of smooth sailing. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't guarantee smooth sailing, but you can always expect a safe landing when you know the King of Kings.

Have you encountered the real Jesus in your life? If so, you've become a soldier for the Lord, having volunteered for service in the Lord's army. Each day, you should be striving to become a great soldier for the Kingdom. We hope that's what you're doing. When you support From His Heart with your gift this month of any amount, we'd like to encourage you by sending you Pastor Jeff's series "Soldiers of the Cross" and the companion booklet "The Lord's Army" to help you prepare for the storms of life and be able to thrive during these storms. When you put on the armor of God, you can endure them and win the spiritual battles.

You can make your gift today at fromhisheart.org or call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE). We pray that the program is a blessing to you, and your gift to us this month will be a blessing to so many. It'll help us continue on hundreds of stations each day and allow us to take advantage of new opportunities to share real truth, love, and hope for a hurting world. God bless you.

Again, time has come to an end today, but tomorrow, Pastor Jeff will conclude this encouraging lesson called "When the Storms Meet the Savior." That's on Tuesday when we'll open up God's Word and share real truth, real love, and real hope. From His Heart.

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He can hear every scar Real love, Real hope from his heart.

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From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember that no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out more when you go to fromisheart.org.