Sermon Central
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"Who Is This?" Series
Contributed by Phil Anderson on May 17, 2004 (message contributor)
Summary: Answering the disciples’ question of, "Who is this?" after Jesus calmed the storm. This sermon was designed for seekers to find out in some detail just Who Jesus really is.
“Who Is This?”
MK 4:35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"
MAIN TEXT
41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"
INTRODUCTION
• Quick Review from the first 2 sermons
• The disciples asked quite an interesting question here, “Who is this?” I have found that this is a question many of us need to have answered from time to time.
• I have found that as our view of Jesus becomes more accurate, so does our view of ourselves and other people.
• So, let me answer the same question that the disciples asked, “Who is this?”
I. A God Who is POWERFUL {vs 39}
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
• This was a very severe storm! Keep in mind who was in the boat…experienced fishermen who had been through all kinds of storms at the sea.
• Jesus was able to speak to the elements and calm the storm
Skepticism of the Miraculous
Nine-year-old Danny came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his Daddy by the leg and yelled, "Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!" His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it.
"Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased
after them. So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was gettin’ closer and closer. So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it!
By now old dad was shocked. "Is THAT the way they taught you the story?" Well, no, not exactly," Danny admitted, "but if I told you the way they told it to us, you’d never believe it, Dad."
• Friend, don’t limit God! He is greater than anything you can think of!
On Christmas Day 1968, the three astronauts of Apollo 8 circled the dark side of the moon and headed for home. Suddenly, over the horizon of the moon rose the blue and white Earth garlanded by the glistening light of the sun against the black void of space. Those sophisticated men, trained in science and technology, did not utter Einstein’s name. They did not even go to the poets, the lyricists, or the dramatists. Only one thing could capture the awe-inspiring thrill of this magnificent observation. Billions heard the voice from outer space as the astronaut read it: "In the beginning God"--the only concept worthy enough to describe that unspeakable awe, unutterable in any other way. "In the beginning God created"--the invasive, the inescapable sense of the infinite and the eternal.
II. A God Who is PERSONAL {vs 35-36}
MK 4:35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat…
• This was a moment when Jesus wanted to get away from the crowd and be alone with His disciples
The University of Northern Iowa once offered a general art course that included a most unusual exercise. The teacher brought to class a shopping bag filled with lemons and gave a lemon to each class member. The assignment was for the student to keep his lemon with him day and night--smelling, handling, examining it. Next class period, without warning, students were told to put their lemons back in the bag. Then each was asked to find his lemon. Surprisingly, most did so without difficulty.
