We can learn a great deal from what happened to the disciples when Jesus commanded them to set out on the Sea of Galilee, and a terrible storm arose. As the wind and waves assailed their boat, they were frightened by conditions so far beyond their control.
Dr. Charles Stanley: I’ve
been on a lot of In Touch
cruises, and one of those that
I remember most of all is when
I took my mother.a
And so, we took her on the
cruise to the Bahamas,
I believe, at that time.
And we had a terrible storm!
The storm was so bad, you could
hardly stand up, you couldn’t
walk around.
It was very, very, difficult and
very frightening.
So, the next year, I said to
her, I said, “Mom, would you
like to go on a cruise?”
And she said,
“I don’t think so.”
I said, “Ah, come on.”
So, I talked her into it.
So, we were on the ship in the
afternoon, still docked.
And so, and she called my uncle
Jack, who was taking care of
her.
Said, “Jack, come over here, I’m
not feeling good.
I’m really feeling bad.”
So, he went to her cabin and she
said, “I’m seasick again.”
I’m–I don’t think I’m going to
be able to handle this.
He said, “Okay, Becca.”
He said, “Maybe it
would do you well if you just
walked over
and looked at–“
“No, I don’t think–“
“Well, come on, we’re going
to try anyway.
Let’s look outside.
Maybe that’ll help.”
Looked outside, we’d never left
port.
And so here was the awesome
impact of a remembrance that
she’d never forgotten.
But she was in the same
atmosphere that made her think,
“Now I’m going through this
terrible cruise again.”
Well, when I think about where
we are today, we are in
something worse than a cruise at
sea.
We’re in the midst of a killer.
People are dying every day.
About time we think we’ve got
this thing licked, it gets
worse.
And so, nobody can predict where
we are, where we’re going to be.
We just have to stop, to think
about where we are, what’s
happening.
And you know, the more I’ve
thought about that, the more I
thought about this.
How many times have you said to
somebody, “I just wish I had
more time to read the Bible.
I wish I had more time to pray.”
So, let me ask you a question.
For the last at least almost six
months, you’ve had time to pray.
And you’ve had time
to read the Bible.
You’ve had time to listen to the
Word of God on radio, or watch
on television.
You’ve had lots of time
for you and God.
What have you done with all
these hours that you used to
didn’t have, but now you do?
Have you thought about how much
of the Word of God you could
have absorbed in your mind and
heart if you’d taken the time?
If you’d thought about, “Well,
I’ve got time to pray.
Now I have time to open the Word
of God.
And I can pray and I can read
the Scripture and I can sort of
catch up with myself.”
But, have you rather turned on
the television and watched some
program that didn’t do you one
bit of good spiritually or any
other way?
In other words, have you wasted
some wonderful, wonderful
God-given time?
I’m not saying He caused the
virus so that you’d have more
time, but it has happened that
way.
And we’ve all had more time for
the Word of God.
We’ve had more time to talk to
Him, to listen to Him.
So how have you spent these days
and now these months and it
could be over a year?
It’s a time to stop and think,
where is Jesus in your life?
How much time have you spent
with Him?
Have you laid your Bible down
and complained and moaned and
groaned about how bad things
are, and wondering where God is?
God’s where He’s always been.
He’s waiting for you to be wise
enough to recognize that though
He did not send this in order to
give you Bible time study, He
sent this for some reason we
have to leave to His wisdom.
And therefore, the issue is how
do I respond to a wonderful
opportunity time-wise, not
disease-wise, wonderful
opportunity to catch up with my
relationship to Him?
To build my relationship to Him.
To build an intimate
relationship with Him, so that
God can do what He desires to do
in my life.
I think all of us have to stop
and ask the question: Lord, have
I spent my time wisely?
So, when I think about that and
think about where we are, think
about this passage of Scripture
that I want to read.
It is one that most of us know
sort of casually.
And the Scripture says,
“Immediately, Jesus made the
disciples get into the boat, go
ahead of Him and, other side,
while He sent His disciples
away.”
And so, you’ll remember the
story.
He’d been healing people.
People being saved and people’s
lives being changed in lots of
different ways, so He needed
some time alone.
And so, Jesus sent them away.
He went back up in the mountains
to pray.
And it happened that while He
was up there praying and they
were out on the Sea of Galilee,
a storm came up.
And this storm challenged them.
They were frightened, they were
scared to death.
And what did they do?
They cried out to Almighty God
and asked Him, I’m sure, to help
them and to save them.
And as he thought about–as
Peter especially thought about
all of that, the last thing you
would think that he would do
would be to challenge Jesus to
let him jump out in the water
and see what Jesus can do.
We don’t need to challenge Jesus
to do anything.
He can do anything and
everything and all things.
And when I look at this passage
of Scripture and think about
when the storms come into our
life, and this virus is a storm.
It is a deadly storm.
And as we said, people are dying
every day.
People are coming down with it
every day.
And so, this is a challenge, but
it’s also a spiritual challenge.
Will I take advantage of the
time God has given me?
Will I take the time to examine
my life, my heart?
Will I take time to examine my
whole situation in life about
time, money, relationships,
whatever it might be?
It’s an awesome, awesome time to
think.
You say, “Well, you’ve already
said that.”
Yes, I have.
Because it is so very important.
Because we could have months, we
could have another year.
We don’t know how
much time we have.
But the wisest time you can
spend in your life is in this
Book, the Word of God, asking
God to show you His will
for your life.
Not just Lord,
save me from this.
Show me Your will for my life.
What are You saying to me during
this time?
You say, “Well, I don’t know
exactly what to read.”
I’ll tell you what you do.
You take your Bible and you
start in the book of Psalms or
the book of Proverbs and just
start reading.
And telling God, first of all,
forgive me for my complaining.
Help me to understand, dear
Lord, that You’ve given me time
to spend alone with you, which I
used to beg for it; now I do
have, but I’ve unwisely spent
it.
Forgive me, Lord, and show me
where to start reading.
And I can help you.
Start in Psalm one.
Go all the way through Psalms to
the Proverbs.
If you just stay with those two
books, God will do an awesome
work in your heart.
We don’t have any reason to say
we just don’t have time for the
Lord and all of this.
Yes, you do.
We all do.
We could all take time if we
chose to, to say, “God, I need
to hear from You.
I need to have a personal
relationship with You.
I need for You to clean up
my life.
I need for You to change the
things that need to be changed.
Lord, just let me bare my soul
openly so You can show me
exactly what I need to do.”
God will change your life.
And I think what will happen for
many people is this.
You look back from now, years
and years back, and you’ll say,
“That virus was terrible, but
something happened to me.
In the midst of it all, God
changed my life.
He taught me to pray.
He taught me to read the Word of
God.
He taught me to stop
complaining, and taught me how
wonderful He is and how
wonderful it was to have time to
ponder the truths of God’s Word
and to ponder the truths that
have changed my life.
And He’s given me time to pray
for other people, not just
myself.
And helped me to understand
there are people dying all
around me, but I still have the
good mind to be able to read the
Word of God, to understand it
and to grow in my Christian
life.”
So, when these storms come in
your life, what do you think
about?
So, one thing we should think
about is this: we should think
about how God has worked in our
life in times past.
And with those disciples, they
knew that the Lord Jesus Christ
had performed miracle after
miracle in their life.
When you go through difficult
times, do you stop to think
about not how bad it is, but,
Lord, what have You
done in the past?
For example, how many times has
God healed you in the past,
answered your prayer for things
that you needed, whatever it
might be?
It’s a time to stop and ponder
and wonder and ask and seek and
yield and listen and be quiet.
God, what are You saying to me
through all of these things?
And so, when I look at this
passage of Scripture, I think
about it from Jesus’s
perspective.
From Jesus’s perspective, He’s
up in the mountain praying,
catching up with Himself,
resting.
And then He knew there was a
time that He needed to leave the
mountain, come down to check out
His disciples.
Because He knew the storm had
already begun, and He knew they
were frightened to death and
they desperately needed Him.
What do you do when you know a
storm’s coming in your life?
Do you complain?
You call your friends?
You pray, you made God promises,
or you ponder why, and complain
and moan and groan.
How much time do you spend
intimately with Jesus Christ,
the Son of God?
And when I look at this passage
of Scripture and I see what was
going on in their life, I see
also not only that there are
going to be storms, and there
are going to be more storms.
But when I look at this passage
of Scripture, here’s what
I notice.
When–watch this carefully.
When Jesus saw and knew that
they were facing a storm, what
did Jesus do?
Don’t forget this.
He went to meet them.
Not only did He do that, He met
them in a way they would never,
never forget.
When I think about that, Lord,
hallelujah, praise God!
You did an awesome thing walking
on the water.
You scared them to death, but
then You performed a miracle.
Have you ever had an experience
with the Lord where He was so
real to you?
When they first saw Jesus
walking on the water, He looked
like a phantom.
They couldn’t possibly believe
this is who He was.
But listen to me carefully,
whenever you are in a storm,
Jesus knows about it, He’s close
by, and He’s waiting for you to
ask for help.
I’ll never leave you nor forsake
you is His promise.
Think about that.
Jesus has said to every one of
us who are His children, “I will
never leave you nor forsake
you.”
So, when you go through these
storms, and I think about so
many millions of people who are
in nursing homes, are confined
in so many different ways.
Have you been calling on Jesus?
Jesus is in every nursing home.
Jesus is in every household.
He is in every place He has been
invited; into your heart, into
your soul, into your spirit.
So, ask yourself the question:
how much time have you spent
talking to Him, asking Him to
save you?
And I want to say to you who are
in the nursing homes, you are
probably in the most difficult
position you have ever been in
your life.
But I want to assure you of
something.
No weapon formed against you
will prosper.
That’s the promise of Almighty
God.
And I want to encourage you to
pray.
I want to encourage you not to
give up.
I want to encourage you not to
listen to negative stuff.
I want to encourage you not to
turn on the television and
listen to bad news and all the
things that are happening.
Open the Word of God.
You say, “Well, I can’t pray.”
Then you find somebody who you
can pray with.
Find somebody who will read the
Scriptures to you or give you a
tape or whatever it might be.
You don’t turn to the world to
encourage you when you’re
facing death.
I want to tell you.
Now, God may call you home, and
if He does, look how much better
it’s going to be.
But don’t give up.
And don’t quit.
And don’t say, “Well, God this,
God that, God the other.”
I’ll tell you what God is.
He’s an awesome, loving heavenly
Father who knows exactly where
you are.
And listen to me carefully, He
will change that when He
chooses.
He will change that on His time
schedule.
Don’t give up on God.
So, when I look at what happened
to these disciples, right in the
midst of the storm, here comes
Jesus.
And, watch this carefully, you
may have the same sense of the
awareness of God in your life,
wherever you are, privately in
your home or in a nursing home
or some other place.
If you’ve ever trusted Jesus as
your Savior, listen carefully,
He’s there waiting for you.
I’ll never leave you nor forsake
you.
No weapon formed against you is
going to prosper.
And oftentimes, we listen to the
television and hear all the bad
things that are happening.
You should switch from the
television to the Word of God.
And here’s what happened.
When they looked and saw Jesus,
there was hope.
As long as they were out there
by themselves, they were feeling
hopeless.
When they saw Him, they knew
there was hope.
And if you will open the Word of
God, or if you will ask someone
to read the Word of God to you,
or if you will turn on your
television and watch “In Touch,”
if you will listen, if you will
watch, if you will say, “God, I
want You to speak to my–I need
You to speak to my heart, Lord.
I need You to encourage me.”
Then here’s what You’re going to
hear.
You’re going to hear a message
from the Word of God.
And listen to me carefully,
God’s not prejudiced.
It doesn’t make any difference
who you are, what your language,
where you live, what your color.
It–none of that makes any
difference.
He’s a sovereign Almighty God
who loves you, cares for you.
And for some reason only known
to Him, He has allowed you in
this place; but one thing I know
for sure, He intends to
strengthen you, help you; watch
carefully; either heal you and
take you home to awesome Heaven,
or He may heal you and change
your life in an awesome way.
God loves you.
He cares for you.
And when they saw Him, the
Scripture says, of course,
first, they were scared to
death.
And then as Jesus came along,
the storm began to quiet down.
And then there was Peter, who
decides to say, “Lord, if that’s
really You, You call me.
Let’s prove it.
Prove it, Lord.
Call me, let me walk on the
water.”
You know how far he got.
When he saw the waves, watch
what happened to him.
When his focus went from the
waves and the sea to Jesus, back
and forth, what he saw of the
waves and his focus on them, he
began to sink.
There’s a message in this.
When you’re praying and crying
out to God, don’t allow your
focus to drift from Almighty
God, the Sovereign God of the
universe, who loves you
eternally.
Don’t let your focus drift from
Him to the virus, to this, to
that, to people who are dying,
to the–don’t let your focus
drift to those things.
Keep your focus on Jesus.
You say, “Well, I don’t
feel like it.
I don’t think I’m going to
make it.”
Watch this carefully, you’re
going to make this.
If you ever trusted Jesus Christ
as your Savior, He’s going to
get you through this.
Back to your home or to your
Heavenly Home.
Either way, you’re in great
condition.
I know you’re hurting.
I know it’s easier for me to say
that than for you to feel it.
But listen to me carefully, the
most important thing you can
understand at this point in your
life, at this moment in your
life, is that God loves you.
God cares for you.
If you’ve ever trusted Him as
your personal Savior, your name
is written in the Lamb’s Book of
Life, and He’s going to take you
home to Heaven.
If you’ve never been saved, this
is the time for you to stop and
think, “Lord, how have I spent
my life?
And here I am now facing death,
I’m asking You, Lord Jesus, to
forgive me of my sins.
I believe in the truth of the
Word of God.
I’m asking You to forgive me of
my sin and cleanse me and save
me and wash me clean and write
my name in the Lamb’s Book
of Life.
Lord, I’m giving myself to You,
absolutely unquestionably as
my Savior.”
What will happen?
He’ll answer your prayer.
That’s who He is.
He’s a God who answers prayer.
In the midst of the storm, He
came to their rescue.
In the midst of your storm, He’s
coming to your rescue.
In fact, He’s there today.
He’s right here in this program,
saying to you, “Don’t give up,
don’t quit.”
Trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
It’s two ways.
He’s going to take you home to
Heaven, which is far
better than this.
Or, He’s going to leave you
here, heal you, work in your
life in an awesome way.
Heaven or your household.
Which will it be?
Only God knows that.
But what I want you to see is
this: when these disciples were
desperate, scared to death,
Jesus showed up.
Listen to me carefully, Jesus is
showing up wherever you are
right now: in your house, in a
hospital, in a nursing home, on
your job; wherever you are, He’s
showing up.
He’s inviting you to receive Him
as your Savior.
He’s inviting you to turn your
eyes from the world and to
Christ.
He’s inviting you to stop
complaining and start praying
and start trusting Him and
believing Him that you are in
the hands of Almighty God.
Your name is written in the
Lamb’s Book of Life.
No doctor, no nursing home,
no–you name it!
You’re in the hands of Almighty
God.
And I want to pray with you in
just a few moments so we make
sure that you’ve made a
commitment to Jesus Christ.
There’s not telling what God may
do in your life if you’ll trust
Him.
A God who can calm the waves of
the sea is a God who is in the
process of healing people
everywhere.
So, we’re not trusting what the
doctors can do, though we’re
grateful for them.
We’re trusting what Jesus is
going to do.
So, if you’ve never trusted Him
as your Savior, I want to go
through this again on purpose.
Would you pray this prayer?
Lord Jesus, I’ve sinned against
You.
I’ve neglected You.
I’ve not been on Your side.
I’ve done things I’m ashamed of.
I know I may be facing death,
but I do believe the Word
of God’s true.
You said, “Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you will be
saved.”
Which means by surrendering your
life to Him, asking for the
forgiveness of your sins,
He forgives you.
When you ask Him to forgive you,
it’s a settled issue, your name
is written in the Lamb’s Book of
Life, and you have become
a child of God.
I–yeah, I repeated it
on purpose.
Because when this program’s
over, I want you to remember
things can never be the same.
If you were unsaved, you are
now saved.
If you were troubled, you ought
to have hope and assurance and
confidence that the God of the
Bible, the Jesus of the Word,
who walked on water and saved
those disciples, is the same
Jesus who saved me.
And when you think about all
that He’s done through–your
friends, for example.
You–people that you know who
have been saved, and today
you’ve asked Him to save you.
Your name is written in the
Lamb’s Book of Life.
Trust Him; and when we shut this
program down, thank God your
name is in the Lamb’s Book of
Life and you are forever a child
of God.
Nobody can change that.
So, let’s pray together.
Father, how very, very grateful
we are that we’re not desperate.
We may feel it at times.
We may feel like maybe that
nobody cares.
But Lord, I pray that Your love
will fill the rooms wherever
people are all over the world
who are listening to this
program.
I pray that Your Spirit will
bring calmness and quietness and
assurance and blessing to every
person who listens and who
shares this.
We want to say thank You, Lord,
for loving us; not on the basis
of how good we are, but on the
basis that You are an eternal,
loving God who keeps His Word.
And You said, “Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you will
be saved.”
And today we’re believing, Lord,
and we’re trusting You in
Jesus’s name, amen.
And amen, amen, amen.