Participants:
Series Code: THI
Program Code: THI000045S
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00:24 Welcome to
00:24 Timeless Healing Insights. 00:25 I'm Dr. David DeRose. 00:27 As we prepare to look 00:29 at powerful insights 00:31 into Mark's gospel again today, 00:33 I'm so glad 00:33 that you've joined us. 00:35 Today's message is entitled 00:37 Our All Powerful Savior. 00:40 May God bless you 00:41 as we open the pages 00:42 of the Scripture. 00:47 Father in heaven. 00:48 Thank you so much 00:50 that we can trust 00:51 in Your guidance 00:52 as we open Your Word. 00:54 We long for Your Holy Spirit 00:55 to be our teacher. 00:57 Thank you 00:57 that that's why 00:58 You gave us Your Word. 00:59 We can trust 01:00 that the One who inspired 01:01 the Word 01:02 will inspire our minds 01:03 will guide our minds as we 01:06 listen to You. 01:08 Thank you 01:08 that we can trust 01:09 in Your guidance. 01:10 In Jesus name, Amen. 01:18 For decades, 01:19 if not centuries, 01:21 scientists have been 01:22 wrestling with a problem. 01:25 It's really a question. 01:26 And the question goes 01:27 something like this. 01:29 Are you merely the product 01:32 of your circumstances? 01:35 Is your life 01:35 history determined 01:37 by the things 01:38 that you've lived through? 01:40 Well, 01:41 no doubt you've heard people 01:42 ask that question. 01:44 The honest truth of it is 01:47 most of us have asked it 01:49 at some point in time. 01:51 As I deal with people 01:52 as a physician 01:53 and as a pastor, 01:54 especially when 01:54 people go through 01:55 difficult times, 01:57 I often hear them 01:58 saying things like, 01:59 Well, 02:00 I wouldn't 02:00 be going through this right now 02:01 if it weren't for 02:02 what happened in my childhood. 02:04 Or well, that's what 02:06 all these problems are 02:07 because of what happened 02:08 on that first job. 02:10 Or all of these things 02:11 that I'm dealing with right now 02:12 is because of that first spouse 02:15 or the second spouse 02:17 or the third spouse 02:17 or whatever it was. 02:19 Are you following 02:20 along with me? 02:21 And so the question becomes, 02:25 are those perceptions correct? 02:28 And 02:32 to some extent. 02:34 But it's also ‘no뇌om 02:37 other perspectives. 02:39 And rather than going to the 02:40 medical literature 02:42 or the science, 02:43 we want to go 02:43 to the infallible 02:45 Word of God 02:46 to look at 02:47 whether the Bible sheds 02:49 any light 02:50 on this important question. 02:52 Now, some of you 02:53 probably guess 02:54 if we're going 02:55 through the gospel of Mark, 02:57 where is it likely 02:58 that we're going to go? 03:01 That's right, 03:02 the gospel of Mark. 03:02 But we're not going to go there 03:04 immediately. 03:04 We're first going to look at 03:05 one other example 03:07 from another gospel writer 03:09 and this single example 03:11 should be enough, 03:12 I think, to convince you 03:14 that our early life 03:15 history doesn't 03:18 close the door 03:20 on what the rest of our life 03:22 history will be like. 03:23 As we've been going through 03:23 the gospel of Mark. 03:26 chapter one 03:27 opens up with a 03:29 number of powerful stories. 03:32 One of them is the calling 03:34 of four of Jesus냥sciples. 03:36 We read 03:37 how Jesus personally called 03:39 Peter and Andrew. 03:41 Personally called 03:42 James and John. 03:43 But if you go through 03:44 all of Mark's gospel, 03:45 you'll find that the, 03:46 well, not every 03:47 one of the disciples 03:49 is mentioned 03:50 as far as is 03:51 his individual call. 03:55 But fortunately, 03:57 we are not just dependent on 03:59 Mark's gospel. 04:00 We have four gospel writers. 04:02 And we gain insight in John 1 04:06 when it comes to 04:07 two other disciples. 04:09 We're going to focus on 04:10 the second of the two. 04:11 First in John 1:45, 04:14 we have mention of Philip. 04:16 But it says that 04:18 Philip found Nathaniel, 04:20 and he told Nathaniel, 04:22 We have found the one Moses 04:24 wrote about in the law 04:26 and about whom the prophets 04:27 also wrote 04:29 Jesus of Nazareth, 04:31 the Son of Joseph. 04:34 And the 04:34 very first words out 04:35 of Nathaniel's mouth 04:37 should stop you in your tracks, 04:40 because the first thing he says 04:41 when he hears 04:42 this testimony about Jesus, 04:45 he says, Nazareth. 04:47 Can anything good 04:49 come out of Nazareth? 04:51 Can anything good 04:52 come from there? 04:55 What is Nathaniel 04:56 saying in so many words? 04:58 He's saying anybody 05:00 that knows 05:00 anything in Jesus냝y 05:03 about Nazareth, 05:04 you would expect that 05:06 nothing good, 05:07 that no good 05:08 would come out of Nazareth. 05:10 But here is the issue. 05:13 Who grew up in Nazareth? 05:16 Jesus. 05:17 Was Jesus good? 05:19 The personification 05:21 of goodness. 05:22 And so do 05:23 you see the picture here? 05:24 The challenge is 05:26 it looks like Jesus environment 05:28 in Nazareth 05:29 would have predisposed Him 05:31 to be anything but good. 05:33 But Jesus 05:34 came out of that environment. 05:37 So hopefully you're already 05:38 getting an answer 05:39 to the question. 05:40 But because we're going through 05:43 Mark's gospel, 05:44 we want to look at another 05:46 powerful illustration 05:47 that has a bearing 05:49 on this topic. 05:51 Another compelling 05:52 case history. 05:54 And it comes to us right 05:55 where we left off in our study 05:57 in Mark 4. 05:59 Now, to refresh your memory, 06:00 if I needed to refresh it, 06:02 if you've been with us 06:03 for this series, 06:04 we spent a long time in Mark 4. 06:07 I will tell you, though, 06:08 the evidence suggests 06:09 we did not spend 06:10 as long a time in Mark 06:11 4 as Jesus spent giving Mark 4. 06:14 We don't have all the parables 06:15 that Jesus told and all that 06:17 He explained, because Jesus, 06:19 the sense is in Mark 4 06:20 that Jesus was teaching 06:21 in parables 06:22 all day, 06:24 and it had been 06:25 a very long day. 06:27 When we get down to Mark 4:35, 06:30 it says The evening 06:32 has now come, 06:33 and Jesus says 06:34 to the disciples, 06:35 Let us cross over 06:37 to the other side. 06:39 Now, when they had left 06:40 the multitude there, 06:41 the disciples took Him, 06:43 Jesus, along in the boat 06:44 as He was. 06:46 And other little boats 06:48 were also with Him. 06:51 First, 06:51 I want you to notice 06:52 that they took Jesus as He was. 06:57 We get the sense, 06:57 after a busy day of preaching, 06:59 that Jesus might 07:00 have been tired. 07:01 And I don't know what 07:01 you think about this, 07:02 whether speaking before 07:04 an audience, a large audience. 07:05 By the way, 07:07 if you look at Mark 4, 07:08 I just want you to 07:09 remember remember, 07:11 I just want you to remember 07:12 Mark 4:1. 07:14 Turn there with me, 07:15 if you would, 07:15 just so you catch 07:17 what Jesus was dealing with. 07:19 Mark 4:1, 07:21 Jesus, it 07:22 says, the - , 07:24 the crowds are just 07:25 thronging around Him. 07:26 They are flocking to Jesus. 07:29 Verse 4, no, verse 1 of Mark 4. 07:34 And again, 07:35 Jesus began 07:35 to teach by the sea, 07:37 and a great multitude 07:38 was gathered to Him 07:39 so that He got into a boat 07:41 and sat in it on the sea. 07:43 And the whole multitude 07:44 was on the land, 07:46 facing the sea. 07:47 Are you getting a picture 07:48 of what's going on here? 07:49 There's a such a big crowd. 07:50 We saw this before in Mark, 07:52 that Jesus gets into a boat, 07:53 they pull away from the shore 07:55 and Jesus is teaching. 07:58 Some years ago, 08:00 a pastor told me of how tired 08:02 he got preaching, 08:04 how they 08:05 just took so much out of him. 08:06 And I thought to myself, 08:07 Well, I don't get 08:08 tired preaching. 08:10 But after he 08:11 told me that, I 08:12 started to realize 08:12 I did get 08:13 really tired preaching. 08:15 I don't know 08:15 the power of 08:16 suggestion or what, 08:17 but if you are, 08:18 I don't care 08:19 whether your attitude is 08:20 this is a challenging thing 08:22 to do 08:22 or not, 08:23 for you to speak in public, 08:25 but Jesus had been 08:26 speaking all day. 08:27 That's the sense you get here. 08:28 You say, Well, 08:29 we don't know when He started, 08:31 but the whole sense of it 08:32 is, is Jesus 08:35 is tired and He's in the boat, 08:38 no break. 08:39 He doesn't go ashore 08:40 and get something to eat. 08:41 And He's in that boat 08:42 and they're making 08:43 their way across 08:45 what the Bible calls 08:46 the Sea of Galilee. 08:47 Now, for many years 08:50 I had read about 08:51 the Sea of Galilee, 08:51 but it wasn't until 08:52 relatively recently 08:53 that Sonja and I 08:54 had the privilege of being over 08:56 in that part of the world 08:57 and actually seeing 08:58 the Sea of Galilee. 09:00 The Sea of Galilee 09:01 is really 09:01 not an impressive 09:02 body of water. 09:04 It is only about 13 miles long 09:07 and about eight miles wide. 09:08 There's absolutely 09:09 no problem seeing across it. 09:11 Having grown up in Chicago, 09:13 I found 09:13 it was much more impressive 09:15 to go to the shore 09:16 of Lake Michigan, 09:17 where I could see 09:18 no shore on the other side, 09:20 okay? 09:21 That's a vast body of water. 09:22 Are you following 09:23 along with me? So 09:27 the Sea 09:28 of Galilee, this term, sea. 09:30 I mean, it's kind of strange 09:33 because a lot of people would 09:34 say, well, that's 09:34 clearly a lake. 09:36 And I think maybe even 09:37 in some parts of the world, 09:38 they would call it a pond. 09:40 Having lived in New England 09:42 for a number of years, 09:43 we were surprised 09:44 at how large of bodies of water 09:46 is there. 09:47 They would say, well, 09:48 that's the pond over there. 09:50 That's 09:52 whatever pond. 09:53 We live near a place 09:54 called Bryant Pond 09:55 that wasn't all that massive. 09:57 But the point was 09:57 some ponds were really big. 10:01 Well, other interesting facts 10:03 about the Dead Sea, 10:05 it is the lowest sea 10:06 in the world. 10:07 You say other facts 10:08 about the Dead Sea. 10:09 Well, I'm 10:09 talking about 10:09 the Sea of Galilee. 10:10 Why would I mention 10:11 the Dead Sea? 10:12 The Dead Sea is the lowest sea, 10:15 has the lowest 10:16 elevation in the world. 10:18 It is also a lake. 10:20 That's what 10:21 the geographers tell us. 10:23 If you look at it. 10:24 And so with the Sea of Galilee, 10:27 the second lowest 10:28 lake in the world. 10:30 Why this is significant. 10:32 We were there 10:33 actually staying 10:34 right close 10:35 to the Sea of Galilee. 10:36 We actually could look out 10:38 from the place 10:38 we were staying and look at the 10:40 that body of water. 10:41 And you could see 10:42 we were on the 10:43 western side, near 10:45 where Jesus did 10:46 a lot of His ministry. 10:47 And if you looked over 10:48 at the east, you saw, 10:49 you know, substantial cliffs, 10:52 if you will, substantial rise, 10:54 and that's what you call 10:56 the Golan Heights. 10:57 Many of you have heard 10:58 of that piece of geography, 11:00 rising thousands of feet 11:02 above the Sea of Galilee. 11:04 What is so interesting about 11:05 this is if you have cold winds 11:07 coming from the Golan, 11:09 from the east, 11:11 coming down 11:12 to the Sea of Galilee, 11:15 where the waters are warm, 11:16 or if you've got cold 11:17 air coming in 11:17 or a cold front coming 11:18 in, that can just stir up 11:20 some extremely violent storms 11:23 as that cold 11:24 air meets the warm air. 11:26 And whether that was 11:27 the meteorological occurrence 11:29 that happened 11:31 in Mark 4 or not, 11:32 the account tells us this. 11:34 Mark 4:37, A furious squall, 11:37 other translations 11:39 say a great wind storm, came up 11:42 and the waves 11:43 broke over the boat, 11:44 so that it was nearly swamped. 11:47 You get the picture? 11:48 The boat's about to go under. 11:51 Now, I 11:51 don't care if it's 11:52 only eight miles wide. 11:54 If you're in the middle of that 11:55 lake, you're, what, 11:57 four miles from shore? 11:58 That's an awful long way, 12:00 if your boat capsizes, 12:02 especially in a storm. 12:05 I don't care 12:05 how good a swimmer you are. 12:06 A storm can take anybody down. 12:11 Well, we were there 12:12 at the Sea of Galilee. 12:14 We had 12:15 heard about 12:16 a discovery in 1986. 12:19 There was a drought 12:21 in that part of the world. 12:23 And some fishermen from 12:26 the northwestern part 12:28 of the Sea of Galilee 12:29 found a structure 12:32 in the water submerged, 12:35 barely visible. 12:36 Looked like 12:37 though 12:38 it was the remnants of a ship. 12:40 They called the 12:40 archeologists in, 12:43 and over the course 12:44 of over a decade, 12:46 we were told, these 12:48 archeologists meticulously 12:52 got this 12:53 boat that was dated 12:56 around the time of Jesus 12:59 out of the Sea of Galilee. 13:01 They had to 13:02 put it into wax to float it 13:04 to the current location, 13:06 which is in a museum. 13:08 And if you were to walk 13:10 in that museum, as we did, 13:12 and to measure that boat, 13:13 as we did not, 13:15 we didn't 13:16 bring out a tape measure on it, 13:17 but they told us 13:18 it was 27 feet long 13:21 and seven and a half feet wide. 13:24 This was not a 13:25 substantial craft. 13:26 It was only 4.3 feet deep. 13:31 That was the height 13:32 of the ship. 13:33 Now, maybe 13:33 that height had eroded 13:35 a little bit 13:35 being 13:37 buried for all those 13:38 decades, centuries. 13:40 But this was not a craft 13:43 that you would just say 13:44 was made to handle 13:46 major storms. 13:48 It was interesting, though, 13:49 if you were to 13:50 look at that boat, 13:51 you would see that 13:51 it would comfortably hold 13:52 about 12 to 15 people. 13:54 Isn't that interesting? 13:55 It could be rowed 13:56 or sailed, 13:58 but it was definitely not 14:00 the boat you'd want to be in 14:01 if you knew 14:02 you were going 14:03 to go into a major storm. 14:06 And that is the very vessel 14:08 that Jesus and His disciples 14:10 found themselves in. 14:13 I want you to notice now 14:14 verse 38 of Mark 4, 14:17 because you'll read 14:18 about two different responses. 14:21 It says of Jesus 14:22 that He was in the stern, 14:24 the back of the boat, 14:25 and He was doing what? 14:27 He was sleeping on a cushion. 14:31 On the other hand, 14:32 the disciples finally, 14:35 and I emphasize the word, 14:37 finally, woke Him 14:40 and said to Him, Teacher, 14:42 don't you care if we drown? 14:44 This is not taking liberty 14:46 with the Scripture. 14:47 Because remember, 14:48 as Mark describes it, 14:49 the boat is about swamped. 14:51 It's about to go under. 14:53 Why did they not call 14:55 Jesus sooner? 14:57 We'll talk about that 14:58 in a few minutes. 14:59 But I want you to focus 15:00 on these two 15:01 different responses. First. 15:02 Jesus sleeping, 15:04 the disciples 15:06 fearing for their lives. 15:08 Now, here's 15:08 the interesting question. 15:12 Because Jesus is going to say 15:17 something very interesting. 15:19 You know the story well, 15:22 because as soon as 15:23 they wake Him up, 15:26 Jesus gets up and He speaks 15:28 these words. 15:29 It says, He rebuked the wind 15:31 and He said to the sea, 15:32 Peace, be still. 15:36 And the minute those words 15:37 come out of His mouth, 15:39 the wind ceases 15:41 and there is a great calm. 15:44 Picture that for a minute 15:46 if you're the disciples. 15:48 Now, what I want you to notice 15:50 about the response 15:51 says is that Jesus, 15:53 I would suggest to you, 15:54 was already experiencing 15:56 a great calm 15:58 before He caused a great calm. 16:02 Now, some people have said, 16:03 Oh, well, 16:03 He was probably just so tired. 16:04 He was probably so fatigued. 16:06 That's why 16:07 Jesus was sleeping on the boat. 16:10 We'll get there in a minute. 16:12 But I just want to ask you one 16:13 simple question, first of all, 16:15 and it is so obvious 16:16 you may not be able 16:17 to give me the answer, 16:18 and that is 16:19 how did the 16:20 physical circumstances differ 16:23 between Jesus 16:24 and the 12 disciples? 16:26 How does the 16:27 physical circumstance 16:28 circumstances differ? 16:31 Yeah, some of you 16:32 are saying, well, 16:33 basically they're the same. 16:34 They're in the same boat, 16:35 in the same storm. 16:36 But it is true. 16:37 Jesus was on a cushion 16:38 or a pillow or some kind of. 16:40 So was that 16:42 really making His journey 16:45 all that more comfortable? 16:50 The story actually 16:51 brings us back 16:51 to our original question. 16:54 Are we merely the product 16:55 of our circumstances? 16:57 And I'm not just talking 16:58 about ancient history. 16:59 I'm not just talking about 17:00 what happened in your life 17:01 years ago. 17:02 Maybe that's incorrect 17:03 to call it ancient history. 17:04 Probably none of you 17:05 like to be called ancient. 17:07 I know I don't appreciate it. 17:08 But the point is simply 17:10 we're not just talking 17:11 about things in the far past. 17:13 We're talking about 17:14 this past week. 17:17 If something 17:17 bad happened either 17:18 last week, 17:19 is that going to predestined 17:21 your whole future? 17:26 Long before I ever enrolled 17:28 in the School of Public Health 17:29 at Loma Linda University 17:31 to work on my master's degree 17:32 in public health, 17:34 two researchers 17:35 by the name of Holmes 17:37 and Rahe 17:38 published a very famous study 17:41 way back in 1967. 17:46 Initial study 17:47 The Social Readjustment 17:49 Rating Scale. 17:52 Now, this may not sound 17:53 like an amazing piece 17:54 of medical research to you, 17:58 but I knew it was 17:59 very significant 18:00 because over 20 years later, 18:01 when I was sitting in a class, 18:03 actually studying 18:04 the stress response, 18:06 one of the first people 18:09 that were referenced 18:10 were Holmes and Rahe 18:12 and a very famous study 18:14 it is, this social readjustment 18:17 rating scale. 18:18 You've likely seen 18:19 it, many of you. 18:20 In fact, if you go today 18:24 to the American 18:25 Institute of Stress, 18:26 you will find that 18:27 they still have the Holmes 18:29 Rahe stress 18:29 inventory on their website. 18:31 You can actually take it, 18:32 the whole stress inventory. 18:34 And let me just give you 18:35 an overview of it. 18:36 If this is not ringing 18:38 any bells. 18:39 What these researchers did is 18:40 they got together 18:41 about 400 people 18:43 and they said, 18:44 we want you to rate 18:45 the severity 18:47 of these different things 18:48 that could happen in your life. 18:49 How disruptive 18:50 would this be to your life. 18:51 And they had this whole list 18:52 and these people ranked them 18:54 and they put together a scale 18:56 based on actual people 18:58 saying how disruptive 18:59 certain things were. 19:00 They came up with 19:01 42 different categories. 19:03 They assign them point scores 19:04 based on the responses 19:06 of the subjects. 19:08 Now, I know none of 19:10 you can read this slide, 19:11 so I've enlarged 19:12 the first 12 categories 19:14 for you. 19:15 We're not going to go 19:16 through the whole 19:17 stress survey together, 19:18 all 42 questions, 19:20 so you can find out 19:21 how many points 19:21 you accumulated. 19:23 But in the last year, 19:25 you're asking yourself 19:26 these questions. 19:27 If any of these 19:27 things happened to you 19:28 and I want you to 19:29 notice something. 19:30 This is not just talking 19:31 about bad things. 19:33 For example, 19:33 right now, 19:34 many of you know 19:35 that our daughter is pregnant. 19:37 She and her husband 19:38 are very happy 19:39 that she is pregnant. Okay. 19:41 But you can see number 19:42 12 on the list, 19:43 giving you 40 points 19:45 is pregnancy. 19:48 Some of you may be 19:49 contemplating marriage. 19:50 If you are 19:51 contemplating marriage, 19:52 I would hope 19:53 you are contemplating it 19:54 with very positive mindset. 19:57 Okay. 19:57 If you're not, 19:58 please counsel with me first. 20:00 Okay. 20:00 It's not a good sign 20:02 if you're worried 20:02 going into a marriage. 20:04 But you see there marriage 20:05 number seven, 50 20:08 life change points. Okay. 20:10 So this is more going to cause 20:12 more change, life change 20:15 than even a pregnancy. 20:17 At least that's 20:17 how people rated it. 20:19 You could see there's 20:19 some other good things 20:20 on there, 20:21 like marital 20:23 reconciliation at number nine. 20:25 So if you've been 20:26 having problems with a spouse 20:27 and you get back together. Yes. 20:28 But there's there's challenges 20:30 associated with that. 20:31 But we would say that's good. 20:32 Now, there's some other things 20:33 that we would say 20:33 are clearly not good, 20:34 and they're 20:36 very high on the list. 20:37 You can see number 20:38 one is the death of a spouse. 20:40 Then there is divorce, 20:41 marital separation, 20:43 detention in jail 20:45 or other institution, 20:46 death of what? 20:48 A close family member. 20:50 You can see the list there. 20:52 Now, some of you are already 20:53 tallying up the scores 20:54 just in the top 12. 20:55 And you say, wow, 20:56 I've already got 1500. 20:58 Well, check your math. Okay. 20:59 You can't get 1500 out of those 21:01 first 12. 21:02 I'm quite sure of that. 21:04 But here's the point. 21:05 Here's the point. 21:08 The researchers found 21:09 that when they had people 21:11 tally these scores for a year, 21:13 they could predict 21:15 the likelihood 21:15 of their having a serious 21:17 health problem 21:18 over the next couple of years. 21:20 Let's see what they found. 21:22 If you scored 21:23 300 or more points, 21:25 you had an approximately 80% 21:28 chance of serious health 21:31 impairment over the following 21:33 two years. 21:34 If you had a score between 150 21:36 and 300 21:37 and approximately 50% chance 21:40 of something serious happening 21:42 as far as your physical health. 21:44 And then 21:45 150 points 21:47 or less low susceptibility. 21:49 Okay, less than 30%. 21:52 So you say, well, 21:53 wait a minute, wait a minute. 21:55 You should be 21:56 catching something 21:57 from this data 21:59 if you haven't 21:59 already caught it. 22:00 And that is, 22:01 even if you had the worst score 22:03 on this inventory, 22:05 20% of people 22:07 did perfectly fine 22:08 as far 22:09 as their physical health. 22:09 Do you see that? 22:11 Even that top category? 22:12 Yeah. 80% 22:15 bad health 22:15 issues, but 22:17 20% no problem at all. 22:20 Now, you say 22:21 this is hardly encouraging 22:22 if you've gone through 22:22 a lot of life 22:23 changes in the last year. 22:26 But the whole premise 22:27 of the work of Holmes and Rahe 22:29 is that common 22:30 environmental stressors, 22:32 common things that come at us. 22:34 Typically 22:35 we as people deal 22:37 with the same way. 22:39 This is generally true, 22:40 and we see it in Mark 4, right? 22:42 13 people in a boat. 22:44 Are most of them 22:45 dealing with the stressor 22:46 the same way? 22:48 For sure, right? 22:50 12 of them 22:51 are fearing for their lives. 22:53 But what about one of them? 22:55 What is He doing? 22:58 Sleeping in the boat. 22:59 Sleeping in the boat. 23:01 Here's the message. 23:03 If you haven't 23:03 picked up on it already. 23:05 By God's grace, 23:06 you can face the same storm 23:09 as someone else, 23:10 but you can be at peace, 23:13 even though they 23:13 are overwhelmed. 23:16 You can go through. 23:17 You can't say, Oh, 23:18 because I'm 23:18 going through all this, 23:19 things are going to be terrible 23:20 for me. 23:21 No, by God's grace, 23:23 you can sleep in the storm. 23:25 And if you're not 23:26 sleeping in the storm, 23:27 if you're fearing 23:28 for your life, 23:29 God can comfort you. 23:31 Many of you know, as 23:32 I've been going 23:32 through this series, 23:33 I've been 23:34 listening 23:35 to a lot of other preachers. 23:36 One of the ways 23:37 I listen to other preachers 23:38 is by reading 23:39 their commentaries. 23:40 Now, some people say, Well, Dr. 23:41 DeRose, 23:41 you should just be studying 23:42 the Bible. 23:43 And yes, that is the textbook. 23:45 That is the source book. 23:46 That is the book 23:47 that I keep coming back to. 23:49 But, you know, 23:50 God uses people as well. 23:52 And so the Bible speaks 23:54 of the power of preaching 23:55 and also 23:56 the foolishness of preaching. 23:58 But God uses the spoken word. 24:00 And the spoken word is not 24:02 just what we audibly speak, 24:03 but it's also what's written. 24:05 One of the commentators 24:06 that I was reading from 24:06 recently is Jim Reiher. 24:08 He's an Australian 24:09 Bible scholar, 24:11 and he tells the story 24:12 of how he went through 24:14 a major back surgery 24:16 at the age of 28. 24:19 The day after the surgery, 24:20 he's back home 24:21 and he is in terrible, 24:23 excruciating pain. 24:26 He's rushed back 24:27 to the hospital 24:28 and I don't know 24:29 whether he was drifting 24:30 in and out of consciousness, 24:31 but the medical staff 24:33 thought he was unaware 24:34 of what was going on. 24:37 If you're 24:37 a health professional, 24:38 don't do this. 24:39 Don't stand around 24:40 the bed of the patient 24:41 saying, boy, 24:42 this is really bad. 24:43 What are we going to do? 24:44 They were saying things 24:45 like that. Okay. 24:46 And here's what Jim said. 24:49 I started to panic. 24:51 In my heart 24:52 and in my mind 24:53 I started to get 24:54 really frightened. 24:56 I wondered 24:56 if I would ever walk again. 24:58 Maybe they had botched up 25:00 the surgery, 25:00 cut the wrong area, 25:02 left an instrument in me, 25:03 something. 25:06 I felt a fear that 25:07 I have never felt again, 25:08 since that day 25:09 over 30 years ago. 25:10 But as I was 25:11 quietly panicking in my mind, 25:14 get the point, 25:15 I couldn't 25:16 even flay around and complain 25:18 because the slightest movement 25:19 sent huge pain through me. 25:21 As I lay there still, 25:23 panicking quietly in my head. 25:28 Then the next words he 25:29 says are these. 25:31 God was gracious. 25:35 Why? 25:36 Because he says, God 25:38 flooded my thoughts 25:39 with this story. 25:41 This story. 25:43 The story of Jesus 25:44 stilling the storm. 25:46 As I saw the story 25:47 being acted out on a screen 25:49 in my head, 25:49 I could feel 25:50 a huge reassurance. 25:51 It was flooding over me. 25:52 I didn't hear an audible voice, 25:54 but I heard the words 25:55 some way or another 25:56 as if Jesus was saying to me, 25:58 Do you think 25:59 I'm asleep in your storm? 26:01 Do you think I'm 26:01 not with you right now? 26:03 Do you think 26:03 I'm unaware of this pain 26:05 and this fear? 26:07 I am here, 26:08 right here beside you. 26:11 And Jim says, at that point 26:13 the fear left me. 26:14 A peace 26:15 that passes understanding 26:16 it filled my heart and my mind. 26:18 The pain was still there. 26:20 I needed something else 26:21 for that. 26:23 They gave him an injection, 26:25 but he said the fear had lifted 26:27 and the sequel was 26:28 that after some traction 26:30 bed rest, 26:31 it all came good 26:32 and has been good 26:33 for the last 30 years. 26:35 Now not all the stories 26:36 end happily 26:37 as far 26:38 as the physical consequences. 26:40 But I want to 26:40 give you something 26:41 that you can take to the bank. 26:42 If you bring your cares, 26:44 your anxieties, 26:45 your fears to Jesus, 26:47 you can trust 26:48 that He will give 26:49 you His peace. 26:54 Jesus is indeed our 26:56 all powerful Savior. 26:58 And I know He's 26:58 longing for His power to work 27:00 even more fully in your life. 27:02 To help you in that journey, 27:04 we want to encourage you 27:06 to engage 27:07 with the Scriptures 27:08 and the concepts that we shared 27:09 in this presentation. 27:11 You can take advantage 27:12 of our free handouts 27:13 that go along with each episode 27:15 simply by visiting us 27:16 at TimelessHealingInsights.org 27:19 On that very same website, 27:21 you'll find all kinds 27:22 of free health 27:23 resources as well. 27:25 Drop by 27:26 TimelessHealingInsights.org. 27:29 Let me pray for you 27:30 before we say goodbye today. 27:32 Father in Heaven, 27:34 we thank You for the power 27:35 that is in the life of Jesus 27:36 and in His Word. 27:38 We pray that that Word would 27:40 really fully express itself 27:42 in our lives, 27:43 that people would see 27:44 Jesus in us, 27:46 that we would be strengthened 27:47 by the power of Your Word. 27:50 Thank you that we can trust You 27:51 to work that work in us, 27:53 for we ask it in 27:54 Jesus name, Amen. |
Revised 2023-07-04