Going Through The Storm Part One & Two

Going through the storm

John 6:15-21

No one goes through life without experiencing a storm. We have come upon the storm season with spring upon us now, but the storms that we will be talking about in this sermon are not the storms of nature, but rather the storms of life. These storms threaten our entire state of well being. The storm takes many different forms, and affects our

lives in many different ways, but all storms contain some common elements: they usually come on

rather suddenly, they take us by surprise, they tend to fill our hearts with fear, they test our faith,

and it is to be hoped that they cause us to cry out to our Lord and Savior for help. If so, then the

storms of life become building blocks of faith which actually equip us for the storms which are yet

to come.

Think of some of the storms of life which have invaded the life of yourself or of someone

you know.

• the storm of illness - sudden or prolonged;

• the storm of death - the death of a loved one,- a child, a partner; especially one not

expected to die ;

• the storm of rejection- divorce, separation, abandonment;

• the storm of unjust criticism;

• the storm of emotional trauma - hatred, anger, resentment, bitterness;

• the storm of physical loss - loss of home, loss of job, loss of money, loss of security;

• the storm of accident, or some event which may change the course of our life in an instant

of time.

One thing I have discovered: Being a Christian, a follower of Jesus, does not exempt us

from the trials of life

This was no small storm that they were in, the sea of Galilee is is 600 feet below sea level. It is surrounded by hills, especially on the north, and down the east side, with mountains behind them. Deep rifts are cut through the hills down which the winds may naturally flow.) As the air at water level is heated it rises swiftly, and cold air from the mountains and hills flows down through these cuts to turn it into a strong storm . They had been rowing against this wind for several hours and still were far from shore.

Jesus sent them into the storm

This is hard for us to understand, isn’t God suppose to be the one who watches out for us. A preacher once gave an invitation and he made this statement. “Come to Jesus if your life just isn’t working out for you and He will take away your troubles and make you happy.” Sounds good, but its not the truth. Jesus did not die on the cross to take away our trouble and He did not die on the cross to make us happy. He died on the cross to make us saved.

So why would Jesus send them into the storm.

1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations

James 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

a. Jesus sent them into the storm to protect them from temptation:

Look with me at John 6:15 “Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to

come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by

Himself alone.”

1) The desire of the crowds to make him the king of Israel was not a temptation to Jesus.

For Jesus knew what other did not yet understand. He knew that he was the Messiah, the King,

but He knew that his kingdom was not that for which the Jews were looking. They were seeking a

political leader of pomp and power, to lead them against Rome. He knew that they were far more

concerned about the tyranny of Rome than they were concerned about the tyranny of sin. Jesus

spoke continuously about his kingdom - the kingdom of heaven or the Kingdom of God. But as

he later said to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My

servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not

from here."

2) But he knew that this desire of the crowds could be a huge temptation to his disciples.

Here was the height of success! They saw the huge crowds following their master; they

saw his miracles of healing and multiplication of food; and now the people want to crown their

master as King? They were not yet mature enough to distinguish popularity from success.

And so Jesus sent them away in the boat, while he dispersed the crowds, and went up into