Don’t you Care???
Does Jesus Really Care?
Part 3
After teaching the lesson called “Can you sleep on a stormy night?” in my Sunday School class, that night, my friend Norma Head gave me this poem that she had written.
Why Trials come our way
By Norma Head
It seems when times are getting hard,
And things are looking bad,
That’s when we call on the Lord the most,
When we are very sad.
But if you stop and think a while,
We need Him most of all.
When things are good and we can smile,
But then we seldom call,
Why trials come our way?
They help to keep Him in our hearts,
When on our knees, we stay.
Does He care? How much does God care???
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
Most important question you have to ask yourself is “Do you believe that God loves You?” Does He Care????
He was in the Ship with them. They were never alone.
Heb 13:5-6 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” NKJV
Even Jesus was in the middle of the Storm.
A book called
Intense Moments with the Savior by Ken Gire
INTRODUCTION
“Our Savior’s life was not an unbroken succession of intimate moments that changed people’s lives, or incredible moments that captured their attention, or instructive moments that challenged their thinking. There were intense moments too. Moments when he overturned the tables of moneychangers and moments when money changed hands and his enemies turned the tables on him.
As we focus on these intense moments, we see the Savior as a son who learned obedience through the things he suffered. But through this apprenticeship of suffering,
Jesus learned something else.
He learned to feel.
He learned the feeling of hunger from his forty days in the wilderness and thirst from his feverish hours on the cross. But he learned to feel a greater hunger in the wilderness than bread alone could satisfy and a greater thirst on the cross than mere water could relieve. He learned the pain of rejection and the sorrow of unrequited love.
We learn to feel in much the same way. We learn to feel when our faith is tested in some wilderness. When our best-laid plans go awry and our bravest prayers go unanswered. When we’re belittled by a crowd or betrayed by a colleague. When we’re deserted by our friends or done in by our enemies.
Whether it’s a single thorn in the flesh or a crown of them mashed on our heads, suffering teaches us to feel.”
We learn from the storms!!!….from the fire from the disappointments from the rejections from the heartache
This is why.
2 Cor 4:7-18
Cast Down but Unconquered
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.
13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak, 14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.
Seeing the Invisible
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. NKJV
Back to our text:
Mark 4:39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
“And then the storm raged, the wind blew, the boat filled with water, and they all drown!” is that what happened?
Mark 4:39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
Ever been in a boat and have another boat comes by, the wake of the other boats moves your boat. Long after the other boat is gone the waves keep rocking the boat you are in. Storms affected the water even after it was over but with Jesus even the remanence of the storm is calmed down to a Great Calm.
Again we know they were going to make it because Jesus said that the were!
35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” when Jesus says you going to the other side, you are going to the other side.
Could you imagine what that was like. Jesus asleep (His Humanity) then Jesus got up …. And the Winds listen to Him (His deity) He arose and the winds lay down, then he gets up and the storm goes down!!!
Back to our text:
Mark 4:40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
Why are we so afraid??? Christ is with us!
Mark 4:41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, (What manner of man is this,) that even the wind and the sea obey Him!” NKJV
Why are you so fearful and have no faith? 365 times fear not.
And then the question of questions; What manner of man is this?
Ben Turner said in his message “What Manner of Man Is This”
Everybody sees Him different;
3 Hebrew boys would see Jesus as the 4th man in the fire
Ezekiel saw Him as the wheel inside a wheel
Noah saw Him as an arc of safety
Solomon saw Him as the rose of Sharon
Jacob saw Him as a golden ladder top in haven and the base on the earth.
Israel saw Him as a star out of Jacob
David saw Him as the great Shepard
Daniel saw Him as a Stone cut out of a Mountain
Abraham saw Him as the great and mighty builder
Ruth saw Him the provider of hands full on purpose
Moses saw Him as the smitten rock
Church saw Him as the foundation of the rock on which it was built
Sad sees Him as the comforter
Leper sees Him as the healer (great Physician)
Lost sees Him as the way
Hungry sees Him as the bread
Thirsty sees Him as the water
Pilgrim sees Him as the faithful guide
Accused sees Him as the faithful witness
Disciple sees Him as the teacher
Weary sees Him as the rest
Pilot or boat captain sees Him as a compass
Weak sees Him as the strength
Sheep sees Him as the Shepard
Astronomer sees Him as the bright and morning star
Bride sees Him as the fairest among 10,000
Gentiles sees Him as a light to lighten the way
Merchant man see him as the purchaser
Ship of Zion see him as the captain
Preacher sees Him as the energizer
Tired sees Him as the strength
Troubled sees Him as builder of mansion
Captive sees Him as the deliver
Unhappy see Him as joy without end
Dead see Him as the resurrection and the life
The sinner I hope they would see him as the pleading savior caring for their soul.
Everybody sees him different!!!
How do you see Him?
John 1
The Eternal Word
(Gen 1:1-2:3)
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. NKJV
What does Jesus called Himself, we have, “The 7 I am’s of John”
1
John 6:35-36 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.
2
John 8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
3
John 10:7-10 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
4
John 10:14-16 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.
5
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
6
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7
John 11:25-26 Jesus talking to Mary and Martha on the way to Lazarus’ grave:
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
back to “Intense Moments with the Savior”
“But learning to feel carries with it both a blessing and a curse: a blessing, because those feelings are what lead us out of ourselves; a curse, because once out we can never again go back and enjoy the simple pleasures of a self-absorbed life. For suffering sensitizes us not only to the world around us, which is needy, but to the world within us, which is needier still, and ultimately to the world beyond us, which we long for in so many ways. Yet in so few ways do we ever fully realize it.
Until we suffer”
Tony Evans said for some that came out of a storm last week they can see one coming this week.
Ben Turner said you are either in a storm, coming out of a storm, or about to go into a storm.
How are you going to handle it?
When He was on the Cross…
Matthew 27:38-54 (NKJV)
38 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and another on the left. 39 And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said,
42 “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
43 He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44 Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.
45 Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, “This Man is calling for Elijah!”
48 Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and offered it to Him to drink.
49 The rest said, “Let Him alone; let us see if Elijah will come to save Him.”
50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.
51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, 52 and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;
53 and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!”
He will put you in what ever you need to go thru to get to a point to say “Truly this is the Son of God”
Intense Moments with the Savior
“Then we realize that this is not our home, that our home is with him who suffered and died and left this earth to prepare a place for us. Once we understand that and who it is that keeps a candle burning for us in the window, then the road ahead, however long, however difficult, is infinitely easier to travel.”
Now the question is, do you care?
Pray
Amen!!
