Trials, as inconvenient and as painful as they are, are a journey of discovery of who you're dealing with. Dr. Tony Evans says the storms of life are there for a reason, and talks about the resources God's given us to weather them. Your salvation and your Savior was built with your struggle in mind. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. When we're stuck in difficult circumstances, we'll often call on God to deliver us. But even when the storms of life are getting worse, we may be right where God wants us. Today, Dr. Evans helps us identify and embrace the divine opportunities we'll sometimes only find in times of trouble.
Let's join him in Mark chapter 4 as he begins. Jesus has been teaching all day. He's been teaching the crowds, preaching the big sermon, and then he takes his disciples aside and he gives them a private word. He says in verse 33 of Mark 4, with many such parables he was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it, and he did not speak to them without a parable, but he was explaining everything privately to his own disciples. So he calls his disciples aside after teaching the big crowd and says, let me speak to you and let me give you some stories that will give you spiritual truth for you to apply to your life. And he gave them some inside information. But like any good teacher, he wants to see whether you got it. He wants to see whether you were just saying amen, hallelujah, praise the Lord, ain't God good?
Or whether you really, really believed it. Because beginning in verse 35, he tells his disciples, I want you to get on the boat and let us go, verse 35 says, to the other side. Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as he was, and the other boats were with him. So let's get something straight as we start our journey. They listen to the word, they say get in the boat, they got in the boat, and they are doing exactly what they were told to do.
They are perfectly situated. Not only are they in the will of God, Jesus is in there with them. Because it says Jesus got in the boat too. So life can be better than having church, hearing the word, and Jesus joins you in the boat. So Jesus is in the boat, they're going their way over to the other side.
But while in the will of God, and on the boat with the Lord, there's a problem. The problem is described in verse 37, there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so that the boat was already filling up. The Greek word here for fierce gale of wind is lilac. A lilac was a tumultuous storm coming out of nowhere on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is located in a basin surrounded by large hills, creating a funnel effect. So when the wind would blow at a certain speed in a certain direction, it would get caught in this funnel.
And it would turn into a half hurricane, half tornado, creating chaos on the water. Now it's only about a six mile journey from one side of the Galilee to the other side of the Galilee, but when you get caught in a lilac, and it's a big one, a fierce gale, then it turns the water upside down, and it's like a tornado sucks down and just rips things up. And while they were obeying God, in God's will, doing exactly what God said, after church was over, Jesus had finished teaching, they run into a storm. Now many of these are professional fishermen, so they know how to handle water, boats, and storms. So when professional fishermen get scared, you know it's a big deal.
This is a major lilac. And so they are caught in a storm while being in the will of God. So the first thing that you need to know is that in the will of God, it does rain. You can be smack dab in the will of God and be in the middle of lilac. You can be smack dab doing exactly what God tells you to do, and the boat of your security begins to sink. You can be smack dab in the will of God. Now obviously, you can be out of the will of God and be in the storm, and you can be in the will of God. So this ought to clarify that storms in and of themselves do not tell you whether you're in or out of God's will.
What tells you whether you're in or out of God's will is did you do what he tells you to do? But whether you did it or you didn't do it, you can still be in a lilac. That is, a tumultuous situation.
The other thing you need to know about this lilac is it's merciless. That is, it comes down on you and it seeks to consume you. The boat was filling up, the wind was blowing at such speed that it threatened to take them under. Anybody ever been in a situation that looked like it was gonna take you under? That it was gonna drown you? That it was going to overwhelm you? A storm, this kind of trial, is an unexpected circumstance that invades your life that threatens your very existence.
We're not talking about a headache or a toothache here. We're talking about a situation where your life is on the line, where you don't know if you're going to make it or not. But let me tell you something else about a storm. A storm is always designed to increase your faith and give you a deeper experience with your God. Storms aren't pleasant, they aren't comfortable, and sometimes they can be life-threatening, but they always come with a purpose. So here they are in a crisis.
They're in this crisis, and the crisis was threefold. First of all, there is a circumstantial storm, the lilac. I'll say one more thing about this circumstantial storm, and that is, it was a storm over which they could exercise no control.
You can't control the wind, you can't control the sea, you can't control the rain, you can't control the spinning of the turmoil, you can't control waves billowing up. So the first storm are circumstances out of their control. The second storm is their emotional instability because of the uncontrollable circumstance.
But there's a third storm here. We'll call it a theological storm. Because not only was their circumstance out of control, and now their emotions responding to their circumstance, they now have a spiritual storm, a theological storm, because the Scripture goes on to say that they woke up Jesus and said in verse 38, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?
See, that's a spiritual storm. Because their circumstances were out of control, and their emotions have gone crazy, now they question whether what they have been believing is true. And so Jesus now turns to his disciples. Why are you afraid, verse 40, how is it that you have no faith? Oh, I don't know, Jesus. Maybe it's because we're getting ready to die.
Why the question? Well, that takes us back to verse 35. Because in verse 35, Jesus said, let us go to the other side. Not let me go to the other side.
Not let us go halfway and die on our way to the other side. I never said on our way there there won't be trouble. I never said on our way there there won't be inconveniences. I never said there on our way there there won't be circumstances out of your control. I just told you where we're starting and where we're going to wind up.
But between here and there, there may be circumstances. I didn't talk to you about all that. I just told you we are going to the other side. In fact, disciples, when I told you that, I heard you.
Amen. Other side, other side. Praise God for the other side. God's got us telling we get to the other side. We're going to make it to the other side. You left shouting.
You were excited to get in the boat with me. But when the circumstances showed up, they overrode what I said. In other words, your problem overrode my promise. So you are now living in light of the problem, no longer living in light of the promise. And when you live in light of the problem and no longer in light of the promise, the problem will dominate you and it will totally erase the fact I ever made one. God never wants your circumstances. He doesn't want you to deny Him. A storm is a storm. You don't call it a sunshine day.
A storm is reality. But He never wants your circumstance to trump His Word. Not only does He not want your circumstance to trump His Word, He doesn't want your circumstance to trump His presence, because He's on the boat too.
In John chapter 16 verses 31 to 33, Jesus tells His disciples on His way to the cross, Peace I leave with you and I'm going to leave my peace with you. And then He says, but in this world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, because in Me you have overcome the world. In other words, yeah, there's going to be trouble and sometimes there will be trouble in My will. You're doing exactly what I told you to do, but because of the next level I'm taking you to, I will appear to be asleep. You won't hear anything from heaven.
You'll be like Job 23. I looked for God in the north. I couldn't find Him. I looked for God in the south. I couldn't find Him. I looked for God in the east and the west, and He was unlocatable. I kept searching for God while I was going through hell on earth, and He was nowhere to be found. And then in that same chapter Job says, but when I come through this, I will be pure as gold, because storms are designed to deepen your faith and heighten your experience with Him. They're not pleasant, but they are unavoidable, because you can't control lilacs.
You can't control when they come, how they come, and how long they stay. Dr. Evans will have more on trusting God in a storm when it continues in just a moment. Don't go away. That's tonyevans.org. Tony has often made the simple point that the more people who meet Jesus, the more lives will be transformed.
And that's the driving purpose behind our ministry here at The Alternative. Visit tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222 and make a contribution to help keep the good news moving forward through this broadcast. When you do, we'll say thanks by sending you an audio compilation we're calling The Top 24 of 2024. It's a giant two-volume set of the most popular messages presented this year, covering subjects like overcoming challenges, making the most of life's opportunities, trusting God in times of trouble, and much more. Now, if you make a donation right away, we'll also send you The Greatest Gift, the new Christmas music collection from gospel artist Anthony Evans. The Greatest Gift and The Top 24 of 2024 are available to you with our thanks. Just make your contribution online at tonyevans.org or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222. And when you do, ask about how to upgrade this deal with an added bonus of the Tony Evans Study Bible. I'll repeat that contact information for you after Dr. Evans brings us Part 2 of today's lesson.
Let's join him once again. Their circumstance was determining their theology, and their circumstance caused them to forget what God said. Oh, but when he spoke, he told the wind, chill.
He just chilled. He told the sea, shh. And when Jesus spoke to the circumstance, the circumstance is changed. So the issue in a lilac is not your ability to change the circumstance. The issue in a lilac is your communication with Jesus so he can speak to it.
Because obviously, if it's a lilac, it's out of your control. So the issue is Jesus speaking to it. The problem was not them waking Jesus up. That wasn't a problem of faithlessness. In fact, that was a good thing because he responded when they woke him up. The problem was the faithlessness that woke him up. See, if faith woke him up, he wouldn't have said that. It was faithlessness and desperation that woke him up because they forgot his word. In other words, what they should have said was, you know, before we left, Jesus said we were going to the other side. I know it's inconvenient right now, but since Jesus can't lie, we will go to the other side. In fact, he on the pillar, let's find us a pillar too.
He chillin', let me chill too. And then it leads to a conclusion. And oh, what a conclusion it is. Verse 41 says, they became very much afraid. I don't think you just read that with me. Verse 41 says, they became very much afraid.
Okay, maybe don't get it on this side. Verse 41 says, they became very much afraid. Okay, when they were in the lilac, they were afraid. When they saw who they were dealing with, they became very much afraid. In other words, we afraid of the wrong thing. See, we let our circumstances scare us. He says, when you know who you dealing with, you'll be less afraid of that and more scared of me. Because shots, if I could tell the storm to calm down, what could I do with you if I'm ticked off at you? I'd shut you out of here. No, if you're going to be scared, then what you need to be is scared more. Your fear ought to be toward who I am, not what the circumstance is.
Because once I get up, all I got to do is talk to it. I wonder if anybody here ever seen God talk to a situation. You know, it was out of your control. Nobody you knew could help you.
You didn't have money to buy your way out of it. And God said something. Heaven spoke to it and boom, suddenly, immediately, out of nowhere, that thing changed. So it's more important to, by faith, get Jesus dealing with the circumstance than you living in fear. Don't be scared of the wrong thing.
And they ask a question because they scared now. Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him? Who then is this? Obviously, we don't know who He is.
Let me tell you something. When Jesus' humanity, His sleep, His deity stays awake, who then is this? They were on a journey of discovery. Trials, as inconvenient and as painful as they are, are a journey of discovery of who you're dealing with. God has placed you. It's not convenient, and I'm not trying to make light of it. But you're in a situation where God wants you to know who you're dealing with. See, they had seen some things about Jesus, but Jesus is saying, they don't know who I am yet. They don't understand who they're dealing with yet.
So let me show them a little something-something. He changes the circumstances, bam! Overnight, He tells them that your faith is not where I want it to be yet. And they say, who in the world is this? See, because too many of us still got Him in a manger somewhere.
Too many of us don't know who we're dealing with here. I mean, He's tired, so we got to go to sleep because He's human. He gets up, and He puts the lilac to sleep because He's God. Because He's human, and we call this in theology the hypostatic union. The hypostatic union means two natures in one person unmixed forever. Two natures in one person unmixed forever. So He's both human and divine. See, so God fertilized the egg of a woman. He fertilized the egg of Mary without a male sperm so that the Holy Spirit would provide the divine, and Mary would provide the human so that the human and divine would be mixed in one person without sin forever.
That's the hypostatic union. So one minute, He's thirsty, the Bible says. He said, I thirst. But the next minute, He walking on water and stopping storms and stuff. One minute, He says, I hunger. The next minute, He's taking sardines and crackers and making a Moby Dick sandwich to feed 5,000 men, not counting women and children, over 20,000 people. One moment, He died on a cross. Another moment, He's raising folk from the dead. Come on, who are you?
What manner of man is this? Hebrews 4 says, and we have a high priest who is able to sympathize with our pain. How can you sympathize with my pain? Because I'm human. So I can feel what you feel, the way you felt it. But I'm divine.
See, when I go to you or you go to me, that's human to human. I may be able to sympathize but not be able to fix it. But when you deal with the God-man, you're dealing with someone who can feel it and fix it. See, if your obstetrician is a man who's delivering your baby, he can fix it, but he can't understand it. Because your male obstetrician has never known what it's like to be pregnant, known what it's like to be in labor, and know what it's like to give birth.
Now he can fix it, but he can't feel it. But if your obstetrician is a female who also has children, they can feel it and fix it. Because they know what it feels like to be pregnant. They know what it feels like to be in labor. They know what it feels like to deliver.
But because of their training, they know how to help you and know what it feels like while they help you. All a man can do is lie and say, I know how you feel. In fact, the next pregnant woman that has a baby and the doctor says, I know how you feel, say, stop lying, doctor.
I ain't here for your lies. You don't know how I feel. But a woman with a baby knows how you feel.
But that training is enabling her to fix it. God says, because I'm a man, I know how you feel. But because I'm God, I can do something with it.
What manner of man is this? That even the circumstances, nature obeys him. Jesus told them, let us go to the other side.
That was on dry dock. He said, before we ever leave, I'm going to tell you where we're going to wind up. We're going to get to where we're supposed to go. Now, that may be rough sailing between leaving here and coming back here, but your salvation and your Savior was built with your struggle in mind. He has not forgotten you, your struggle, your pain, or your purpose. And he knows how to get you from point A to point Z, even if you have to go back to B and go to T to wind back at F to go to X in order to get you there. He knows how to take you from here and get you there because it was built with you in mind, including your struggle.
As we learn today, the anchor we hold on to when the waves of life get rough is our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. If you're not exactly sure what that means, visit tonyevans.org today and follow the link that says Jesus. There, Tony will explain everything you need to know about what being a real Christian is all about and how to start a brand-new life. That's tonyevans.org, where you can get a copy of the latest on Tony's ministry and resources and sign up for his free email devotional. Also, while you're there, don't forget to take advantage of our special year-end package, The Top 24 of 2024.
That includes two dozen of the most popular messages presented this year, plus the exciting new Christmas album release from Anthony Evans called The Greatest Gift. This package is yours with our thanks when you support our work here on the radio, the internet, and television, as well as with pastors, their families, and churches around the world. Make the arrangements today when you visit tonyevans.org. You'll have the opportunity to upgrade this deal by adding the Tony Evans Study Bible or look for other great life-changing gifts for the people you care about. That's tonyevans.org, or call our 24-hour Resource Center at 1-800-800-3222. That's 1-800-800-3222. Desiring to live a life of godliness is a noble goal, but like any goal, we need to know what it looks like before we can make a move toward it. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans looks at godliness through the lens of Scripture, what it is, what it isn't, and why we should actively seek it. Be sure to join us for that.
