Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the Word of God to be spread throughout the world.
So that all may know Christ. Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church, located in Kernersville, North Carolina. Talking about the promises of God today, and our subject is: how is it that ye have No faith. In Mark chapter 4, I want you to notice real quick as they're getting ready in verse 35, it says, The same day when even was come, the same day, same day as what?
Well, Jesus had been ministering, preaching to people, working miracles, healing, all kinds of things. And so this was a throng of people. that Jesus had been ministering to. One aspect of Jesus' life and ministry that we don't often think about is the fact of when people begin to hear of the miracles and things that you can do, that will attract a crowd. But it doesn't necessarily mean that the crowd is there because they love you or believe in you.
They want something from you. Do you know that even in 2024 you can attract a crowd? And you can use Jesus to attract a crowd. But that doesn't mean they're there for him. It means they're there for themselves.
People come to churches oftentimes because they're looking for what they want. When they don't have what they want, then they go somewhere else to find what they want. It's never been about Jesus, it's always been about them.
So, Jesus had a crowd here. If you'll notice, verse 36, and when they had sent away the multitude, Notice they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
Now, we don't know what these other little ships were, if it was more of the disciples than the ones specifically mentioned, if it was other people, if it was just some people that traveled quite a bit with him or at different times. We don't know for sure. And we don't know why these other ships weren't in the storm that was represented. It just talks about. the particular ship that Jesus was in, but If you'll notice, it says that they took him even as he was.
And that's interesting. What does this mean? It means that Jesus had been teaching a crowd from a boat on the shore, the Sea of Galilee. This is where we are. Probably what on a map you would see it by Capernaum.
And people had heard the parables, they had heard preaching, they'd heard teaching, they had. witnessed his ministry. And if Jesus had stayed... And literally gone back into the crowd or found somewhere else to say, they would have never left him alone. They all had miracles, they all had things they wanted done.
So literally, when it means they took him as he was, it means without anything, you know, there's no luggage. There's no anything. Jesus. Took him right as he was without adding anything, without going to get anything, got on a ship. And Jesus said, let's go over to the other side.
It's a reminder before we really dig into the message today that Jesus has made it clear through Scripture. That it's okay to have things. But things should never have you. And Jesus taught his disciples that they needed to travel light. They didn't need to let a lot of earthly things grip them.
Because they could really get in the way of ministry. And I listen, I'm preaching to the choir here today. All of us that live in America, we are a bit spoiled. And I was just in the Philippines and in Iceland, and both trips reminded me how. We have it made, and how we're just cantankerous, spoiled a lot of times, and things we consider needs aren't really needs, you know, kind of a thing.
But I want you to look at this verse, Mark chapter 6, verse 8. And Jesus, it says, and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey. Save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purse. Can you imagine taking off on a trip without a credit card, without money? without anything.
Notice this. But be shod with sandals and put on two coats. Make sure you got shoes on. Take an extra coat in case it gets cold. And this isn't because other things don't come in handy, and it isn't because other things are sinful.
It's just Jesus reminding that the disciples should not grow to rely. on worldly things. And I want to encourage us at Kerwin: listen, we've got this fine line of enjoy God's blessings. And then this other fine line of feeling entitled. and taking it for granted and almost growing to rely on those things.
and ministry, serving Christ. Listen. It's a shame that nowadays I have literally witnessed Teenagers that have come and told me God had called them to Bible college, but they can't go because they have a car payment.
Well, I would love to go to Bible college preacher. I believe God's led me there, but I got a car I bought, and I got a car payment.
Well, that means worldly things got in the way. And you know, what if, can I ask you something? If you're sitting right here, what if God called you to a mission field right today, even in your 40s, even in your 50s? It happens, by the way. Even in your 30s, listen, if God called you to do something, would it be something that you could do, or are you so entangled with stuff that there's no way you could ever answer that call because stuff means too much to you?
What I have means too much. And you know, everybody always asks, why do we not have more people called to the mission field? I don't agree with that. I think God's calling just as many people as He's ever called to the mission field. In fact, I think Jesus is calling more people to the mission field than He ever has, but we have less answering the call.
than we've ever had. because there's just too much stuff. It just grabs on to you. My wife and I have had this kind of conversation. Caden came up and thanked you for praying today, but we've even had conversations about that.
You know, it's like Caden's doctors are in Chapel Hill and everything he's done. And I've just said, babe, what if God calls me somewhere else? What if God calls me to the mission field? I don't want to ever say no to God. Because, well, we have doctors.
What are we going to do? We can't move this. We can't change this. And I was like, I don't... I'm so thankful for what God's provided, but we better make sure that the things that God's provided never become a reason to say no to God.
Am I the only one understanding this today? Kerwin, you understand? Listen, our life is not about the here and now. It's about eternity. It's about the gospel.
And I want to encourage you, you know, here's Jesus. And they literally, they just took him right where he was. Because he didn't have a whole lot of luggage. He didn't have a whole lot of things. He hadn't collected a lot of things.
He didn't have anything to speak of earthly. But you and I need to be reminded that at any moment that Jesus calls. We should be ready. And it might not mean that you've got to leave the area or leave your home or leave your family. It might not mean that.
But too many times God calls to get involved in a ministry maybe even here.
Well, I can't. I'm just too busy. We've got sports, I've got club, I've got this, I've got that. And dear friend, listen to me. You and I, we let things get in the way.
of God's call. And when God realizes if I call, they're not going to answer, he just won't call. And we don't want that. And I just want to remind you before we dig into this thing that constantly through Jesus' ministry. Every need was met.
But nothing grabbed a hold of him. to keep him from his father's business. And I just thought, let me read you this verse. And Philippians 4:10 says, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last. Your care of me.
This is Paul speaking. He says, Your care of me hath flourished again. Paul says, Man, you've been good. You've met my needs. You gave to me.
You fed me. You've done all these things in my travels. Notice this, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want. Paul says, Thank you for what you've done, but I want you to know is that number one, I don't expect it.
Number two, even if you hadn't done it, I would still be okay. Why? Notice, for I have learned, and whatsoever state I'm in, therewith to be content. You know, a lot of us can't be content anymore if we don't have certain things. And Paul says, Listen, you've met my needs.
Thank you for giving to me. But even if you hadn't given to me, I'm not dropping out of the ministry because you didn't give to me. I've learned in the ministry to be content whatever I have. To be content wherever I am. Can I have an amen there this morning, Kerwin Baptist Church?
Now let me just give you this to you. God's given you some promises. And we're setting up for this story. God promises that we can bear anything that comes. Philippians 4:13, I can do all things.
I can do all things through Christ. which strengtheneth me.
Now we're talking about storms today. You can face anything. Through God's strength.
Now, listen, my family's been through a few things these past weeks. I know some of you have been through way worse. Let me let me and and if I can be sensitive We brought our son home from the hospital.
Some of you didn't.
Some of you, your child's not here anymore. I can do all things through Christ. Which strengthens me. God gives us another promise. He promises that we can reject any temptation, any sin, we can say no.
Look at 1 Corinthians 10:13. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful. Here's the promise: who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able. Here's another promise, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear it.
Listen, don't lie to yourself and say, Well, I couldn't say no, I just couldn't help it. Yes, you can. God made a promise. God said, You can do anything, you can go through anything with my strength. And God said, you can say no to anything that Satan throws your way.
Even when the storms come. Notice this, you know, simple things. God says, I promise to provide you food. Matthew 6:11, the prayer we, you know, our model that we were to follow, give us this day our daily bread. You know what?
God's promised daily bread, but we get mad if God doesn't lay us up enough in store for years. You know, why doesn't God give me a lot of money?
Well, God's giving you what you need for today. God's promised clothing. We just preached about it, Matthew 6:25. Therefore, I say to you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. God has promised to provide the answer that you need to things.
Words, literally. Mark 13:11. But when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate, but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Verse 36 says, And when they had sent the multitude away, they took him as he was in the ship. I wonder if Jesus can take you as you are today.
It's a reminder. You know, you go through storms in life, and some of you are going through some storms, and we've always heard the statement: you're either coming out or going in. A storm. Verse thirty seven, if you look at it. I've asked them to sing a song.
In verse 37, it says, There arose a great storm of wind. And the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. Verse 38, and he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and said unto him, Master, carest thou not? That we perish.
We're going to talk about that this morning, but I love this song and to thank you guys for doing it. You know, when Jesus was on the ship, The storm didn't wake him up. It was the cry of the disciples that woke him up. He was sleeping fine. But it was their distress that he cared about.
And we're going to talk about that here in just a little bit. Thank you guys for doing this song. Cross seeing. the calm sea with Jesus. The disciple were getting concerned the wind started violently blowing but he was asleep in the stern does he not care that we perish we're helpless and we're so afraid Jesus arose when they called him and said to them where is your faith because you prayed all night cause you held on with all of your might child your Christ have awoken the master he knows your voice lift your hands it's time to rejoice Child, your cries have awoken the master.
It hit you without any warning. The storm of your life had begun. Seeing no hope in the distance, you're frightened and know where to run. By now, your vessel is filling and you're thinking that you'll surely drown. You cried out for help from the Savior, and you know you can't give up now because you prayed all night because you've held on with all of your might.
Christ have awoken the master he knows your voice lift your head this time to rejoice child your Christ have awoken the master It hit you without any warning The storm of your life had begun And seeing no hope in the distance You frightened with nowhere to run by now your vessel is filled And your thing. That you'll surely drown. You cried out for help from the Savior, and you know you can't give up now because you prayed all night, cause you held on with all of your might. Child, your cries have awoken the master. He knows your voice.
Lift your hands, it's time to rejoice. Child, your cries have awoken the master. You're up there, worry that he's fast asleep. The winds are so deadly, the water's so deep, but try to be patient, cuz soon he'll bring peace. Just one word from his voice, and it all die.
Because you prayed all night, you held on with all of your might. Child, your cries have awoken the master. Oh, enough, your voice. Lift your hands, it's time to rejoice. Child, your cries have awoken the master.
Child, your cries have awoken the master. Amen. I've always loved that song. And um Always know here. And you're in an altar, stay in an altar as long as you need, just because the song is done.
Does it mean Jesus is done, all right? And um One or two Just give you a couple of just really three simple points. out of this.
Now I could outline the Deacons out of this story and I have before. But I want to simplify it a little bit for you today. Number one, I want you to notice in verse 37, and there arose. And there arose Now in this case, there arose a storm. And look at me, Kerwin, there always will.
There always will. There'll always be a storm. That'll pop up. Notice a couple things about this, and I just want to give you some principles.
Some of you have had some stuff arise recently. We've had some stuff arise recently. Um God gave us the Holy Spirit, but He didn't necessarily give us a weather forecaster. You know, we're not given warning, like, hey, listen, just want to let you know, good morning. You know, from Jesus, but I just want to let you know: in about three days, you're going to hit a bad storm.
He doesn't let us know. It arises. There arose a storm. I want you to notice, number one, about that, just because Jesus is with you. doesn't mean you're not going to have storms.
Now, y'all need to understand this.
Now, he was on the ship. But just because Jesus is with you doesn't mean that you're never going to have storms. People get that confused. They get saved and they think that the Christian life is supposed to be. He never said that.
I don't. He never said you weren't going to have a storm. He never said you weren't going to face wind. He never said that the waves weren't going to beat on your little ship. He never said that.
Number two, the storm was out of their control, but it was never out of his. And a lot of times in your life, there'll be some things, and by the way, storms always remind me how little I'm in control. I control very little, and by the way, you control very little. like you think more than you know less way less than you think you do We work so hard at times in life to control things. And yet, God allows things every once in a while just to make us feel like an absolute idiot.
I had no control over that. You think you have control of your kids? Watch out. You think you have control of your bank account? Watch out.
You know, you think you have control of your health. I mean, look at me. I'm a picture of perfect physical health. And, you know, I still face it. That was a joke, by the way.
That was a big joke. I still have problems. Number three. God knows exactly how much we can take.
Now here's what's interesting about this. Um The Bible says about this particular storm. First, the Bible says it was a great storm. It wasn't just a storm, it was a great storm. Second, it says that it was a storm of wind.
Now I've been to Iceland now. I can actually say I've been to Iceland now. The temperature in Iceland is not what will get you. It's the wind in Iceland that will get you. The temperature might be fine.
like it's zero degrees. You find out it's in the fifties. But the wind coming off that ocean. Is the problem. This was not just a storm of wind.
Can I tell you something about wind? You can't see it. You can see what it does. But you can't see it. A lot of times, storms hit your life and you can't see it.
You never saw it coming. And even when it's happening, you're like, why is this happening? That's what wind does. Notice thirdly, it says that the waves beat. The wind caused the waves.
And always remember that a storm in your life might be something you can't see and you never saw coming, but it creates an effect. And the waves beating on the ship was a result of the storm of the wind. And let me say this, when you face, I have found this, now listen, I'm gonna, you know, I'm personal today and Caden got up and thanked you, but I'm gonna tell you something, when we face a storm like that, we gotta go to the hospital. It has ripple effects. That storm affects my wife.
That storm affects me. I've got two sons that that affects. It affects my job. It affects my church. It affects everything.
It affects people. Listen, things you face are going to create waves. Storms are going to create waves. And about the time you think you've got the storm fixed, you're still dealing with the waves. the after effects.
I've told people the first five months of Caden's life, my faith was extremely strong. Had no choice. We're sitting in the hospital for five months, you know, and basically three open heart surgeries. And my faith was strong. It was after, it was when things calmed down that Satan really beat me up.
It's the waves. Waves last a lot longer than the storms do. The storm will be dumb, but the waves continue. Notice this, it also says in this form that it was full of water. that their boat was full of water.
Now we got another that's the that's a different problem.
So the window is a very good. cause the waves. And the waves cause the water to come over the ship.
So the wind caused the waves and the waves caused it to get full of water. Everybody got me so far? You see how there's your storm of life. All of a sudden, hey, the storm's done and the waves are done. Can I ask you something?
What if the storm was done and the waves are done? The boat would still have been full of water.
Now we still have a problem even though the storm has moved on. That happens in marriages a lot. Hey, we weather the hard stuff. Why are we still going through what we're going through? Because you took on water.
Because the waves continue. I want you to notice this number four. Although Jesus knows how we feel, he does not worry when we worry.
Now, the Bible says we have a high priest that is touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And he knows how we feel when we're worried and when we're stressed, but that doesn't mean, because he knows how we feel, that he feels that exact. Listen, he's not worried like you and I are. Jesus is not stressed like you and I are. They were facing the storm.
They were stressed and worried. He was asleep on a pillow. He was fine. And whatever's going on in your life right now, I want you to know he's fine. He's not worried about this one bit.
I want you to notice number five, please get this: the presence of a storm in your life does not mean that God does not care. Here these disciples are on a ship. Jesus is on the ship. He's sleeping there in the middle of this storm. And they literally almost accuse him here of not caring.
Carest thou not? In other words, if you cared, we wouldn't have this storm.
Well, guess what? They did have that storm, and he was in the ship with them, and he still cared.
So, just because you have a storm in your life, do not let Satan convince you that you have that because Jesus doesn't care about you. Oh, preacher's right. He loves you, but he doesn't really care. And that's just not true. The presence of a storm does not mean Jesus doesn't care about you.
I want you to notice number six. This is a reminder, this passage is a reminder, that we tend To sometimes exaggerate the size and impact of the storms in our life.
Now In verse 38. They come to him and they say, Master, Carest thou not, notice what they said, that we what? That we perish. We're dying. That's what parish means.
Do you not care that we're dying? Can I ask you something? Were they ever dying? Yeah. There were n there was never A fear of them dying.
There was in them. But that was never going to happen. But they took a storm and jumped to the conclusion we're dying. And a lot of us do that.
Something will hit our life, we just jump right to the Worst scenario. We jump right.
Well, I guess this means that we'll never get this.
Well, I guess this means I'll never get a job.
Well, look at what your work did to you. Yeah, I guess it means I'll never get to retire. I guess I'll never have a nice I guess I'll never you and I we we jump I mean, here they have a storm, and they were never going to die. They were as safe as can be. But they were convinced that they were dying.
We're perishing. The greatest news that anyone can receive is the news of the free gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. It is our desire for you to know him personally. Would you take a moment to hear this today? Every man is born with a sin nature.
Romans 3.23 says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. No matter how hard we try, we're not good enough to obtain God's glory. or to get to heaven. Because of that, sin carries the penalty of death. Romans 6.23 says, For the wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of our sin, or the payment of our sin, only equals death and separation from God. But it's only through God's gift salvation through Jesus Christ that we can accept him as our Saviour. Jesus Christ paid for your sin debt.
The Bible says in Romans 5:8, but God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. All you have to do is receive Christ. by faith as your Saviour. Romans ten nine says That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Verse 13 continues, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
It's as simple as admitting that you're a sinner believing that Jesus is the only way. and calling upon his name. Bible says whosoever that's any one can call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior? There is no greater day than today to take care of this.
Would you accept Christ as your Savior? If you have any questions, please give us a call at 336-993-5192 or visit our website at Kerwin Baptist Church. Dot com. or visits that person at one of our three service times. We hope you have a great rest of your day.
God bless you. Mm-hmm.
