Believers in Jesus Christ have been given a measure of faith but believing something on the inside with no outside response is a dead faith. Exercising our faith is a risk, one that requires us to act upon the belief that we hold within. Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, founder and president of The Urban Alternative and author of over 100 books, booklets and Bible studies. The first African American to earn a doctorate of theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, he has been named one of the 12 Most Effective Preachers in the English-Speaking World by Baylor University. Dr. Evans holds the honor of writing and publishing the first full-Bible commentary and study Bible by an African American. His radio broadcast, The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, can be heard on over 1,400 radio outlets daily and in more than 130 countries. Dr. Evans’ sermons are also streamed and downloaded over 20,000,000 times annually.

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without him

you cannot but without you

he will not when we travel across a

bridge

it typically means that two bodies of

land

have been separated by a challenge

this bridge is designed to take you from

where

you are to where you are trying to go

the bridge that god has constructed

for you to move from the natural to the

supernatural

is the bridge called faith unbelief will

keep you

stuck where you are unbelief is so

powerful

it’ll stop god’s work in your life he

says

i believe helped my uncle

he said i believe but i’m shaking will

you give me what i

lack so i can go deep enough to believe

so

even if your faith is weak you’ve got a

faith helper

so get ready for your miracle

as long as you cross the bridge

[Music]

we’ve been talking about faith

we define faith as acting like god is

telling the truth

faith is measured by feat not by

feelings faith is measured by walk not

by talk

faith is measured by life not by lips

jesus has been teaching all day

he’s been teaching the crowds preaching

the big sermon

and then he takes his disciples aside

and he gives them a private word

he says in verse 33 of mark 4

with many such parables he was speaking

the word to them

so far as they were able to hear it and

he did not speak

to them without a parable but he was

explaining everything

privately to his own disciples jesus

said get in the boat they got in the

boat after the sermon

they listened to the word he said get in

the boat they got in the boat

and they are doing exactly what they

were told to do they are

perfectly situated not only are they in

the will of god

jesus is in there with them because it

says jesus got in the boat too

so life can be better than having church

hearing the word and jesus joins you

in the boat so jesus is in the boat

they’re going their way over to the

other side

but while in the will of god

and on the boat with the lord

there’s a problem the problem is

described in verse 37

there arose a fierce gale

of wind and the waves were breaking over

the boat

so that the boat was already

filling up the greek word here for

fierce gale of wind is lilac

a lilac was a tumultuous storm

coming out of nowhere on the sea of

galilee

and while they were obeying god

in god’s will doing exactly what god

said

after church was over jesus had finished

teaching

they run into a storm and it’s a whopper

it’s so bad that the boat is filling up

and so they are caught in the storm

while being in the will of god so

the first thing that you need to know is

that in the will of god it does rain

you can be smack dab in the will of god

and be in the middle of a lilac you can

be smack dab doing exactly what god

tells you to do and the boat of your

security

begins to sink you can be smack dab in

the will of god now obviously

you can be out of the will of god and be

in a storm and you can be

in the will of god so this ought to

clarify

as we’ve tried to do all along that

storms in and of themselves do not tell

you whether you’re in or out of god’s

will

what tells you whether you’re in a god

out of god’s will is did you do what he

told you to do

but whether you did it or you didn’t do

it you can still be in a lilac

that is a tumultuous situation

the other thing you need to know about

this lilac is it’s merciless

that is it comes down on you and

it seeks to consume you but let me tell

you something else about a storm

a storm is always designed

to increase your faith and give you a

deeper experience with your god

storms aren’t pleasant they aren’t

comfortable and sometimes they can be

life-threatening

but they always come with a purpose so

here they are in a crisis

they’re in this crisis and the crisis

was threefold

there are actually three storms

occurring here let me walk you through

the three storms

first of all there is a circumstantial

storm the lilac

i’ll say one more thing about this

circumstantial storm and that is

it was a storm over which they could

exercise no control

you can’t control the wind you can’t

control the sea you can’t control the

rain

you can’t control the the spinning of

the turmoil

you can’t control waves billowing up and

going you can’t control that

that is out of your control so you can

be

in the will of god and in a storm and

absolutely be able to do nothing about

it

because you can’t control a lilac it’s

circumstances

that produces a helpless and sometimes

the feeling of a

hopeless scenario so that’s storm number

one

that leads to storm number two storm

number two is that they were terrified

we know that they were terrified because

jesus is going to say to them

why are you afraid in verse 40. so they

weren’t scared they were scared

now we’re talking terrified

so now we not only have a storm of

circumstance we have a storm of emotion

because their emotions have riveted up

and they are

scared about the doctor’s report scared

about the financial struggle scared

about the the relationship direction

scared whatever it is that you can’t

control

that’s causing your emotions to be

uprooted

is your lilac because

it’s something so big so deep and so

devastating

you can’t control it so the first storm

are circumstances out of their control

the second storm is their emotional

instability

because of the uncontrollable

circumstance

but there’s a third storm here we’ll

call it

a theological storm

because not only was their circumstance

out of control

and now their emotions responding to

their circumstance

they now have a spiritual storm a

theological storm

because the scripture goes on to say

that they woke up jesus and said in

verse 38

teacher do you not care that we are

perishing

see that’s a spiritual storm because

their circumstances were out of control

and their emotions have gone crazy

now they question whether what they have

been believing

is true if we were to tell the truth

and shame the devil there have been

those times

when we have to raise the question like

martha and mary where were you when i

needed you

because if you would have been here it

wouldn’t be this painful

it wouldn’t take this long and it

wouldn’t hurt this bad

teacher do you really care

because you’re overwhelmed that

naturally leads to a spiritual question

where were you god

let’s go a little deeper because verse

38 says

jesus himself was in the stern asleep

on the cushion

no you didn’t oh no you didn’t jesus

i’m in a storm and you’re snoring

i’m in a storm and you’re sleeping

this is serious sleep so that meant he

sleep on purpose

so not only is jesus asleep

not only is he sleep or perfect he’s

asleep

in a storm okay now i got another

problem cause he’s sleeping on me

and he’s in the same storm i’m in

because he’s on the same boat i’m on

he sleep on the storm and the only way

he gets up is i got to wake him up

it says they woke him up that’s when you

crying out

cause it’s so bad so deep for so long

and they they they shook him and they

said

don’t you care because if you can we

wouldn’t even

even if you were tired we wouldn’t have

to wake you up

you got you getting wet like we’re

getting wet the boat’s flipping and

flopping you

like it’s flipping and flopping us

and you are asleep jesus has just taught

the disciples that just come from church

so to speak

and now they’re under pressure

and it’s tough does jesus care about my

pain my finances my loneliness

my hurt my depression

because i’m in his will and i feel all

this

and so they wake jesus up

verse 39 jesus gets up and he rebukes

the wind

and says to the sea

hush of us

hush be still

notice who jesus is talking to

he going to talk to them but he’s not

talking to him right now he’s talking to

the circumstance

the circumstance is the wind and the sea

it’s a storm

he doesn’t speak to them yet he speaks

to the situation

but when does he speak to the situation

after they wake him up

so jesus is asleep they wake him up when

they wake him up

he speaks to the circumstance that was

causing the crisis

so don’t let it be said your crisis

continues

because you never took the time to wake

the savior up

in other words you were not so concerned

about it

that getting his attention to it was

unimportant

because we’ll wake up our friends we’ll

wake up people with power we’ll wake up

people who we think can change it

and a lot of times we don’t try to wake

up the savior

now i’m explaining you that because i

know what you’re saying you say well he

shouldn’t be asleep

i got you stick with me here

because see i know what you’re thinking

and the reason i know what you’re

thinking is because i’ve had to think it

too

because we all face storms different

shapes different sizes equally real

and so jesus now turns to his disciples

why are you afraid verse 40

how is it that you have no faith

now i don’t know about you but i have

issues with the question

i got issues with that question because

that question doesn’t make sense to me

they wake jesus up the boat’s filling

with water they’re in a lilac it’s a

terrible storm

they don’t even know whether they’re

gonna live or die and jesus is gonna ask

a question like that

why are you afraid and

why do you have no faith

oh i don’t know jesus maybe it’s because

we’re getting ready to die

i mean a question like that is like

somebody asking a swimmer who just gets

out the water why you wet isn’t it

pretty obvious

i mean this is this is not that deep gee

excuse me jesus

it’s not that deep we’re in trouble

why are you afraid

why the question well that takes us back

to verse 35

because in verse 35 jesus said let

us go to the other side but when the

circumstances showed up they overrode

what i said

in other words your problem

overrode my promise so you are now

living in light of the problem no longer

living in light of the promise

and when you live in light of the

problem and no longer in light of the

promise

the problem will dominate you and it

will totally erase

the fact i ever made one

god never wants your circumstances he

doesn’t want you to deny them a storm is

a storm you don’t call it a sunshine day

a storm is reality but he never wants

your circumstance to trump his word

not only does he not want your

circumstance to trump his word

he doesn’t want your circumstance to

trump his presence

because he’s on the boat too because

storms are designed

to deepen your faith and heighten your

experience with him

they’re not pleasant but they are

unavoidable

because you can’t control lilacs you

can’t control when they come how they

come

and how long they stay

and so that’s our scenario that’s our

situation

their circumstance was determining their

theology

and their circumstance caused and forget

what god said

oh but when he spoke

he told the wind chill he just chilled

he told to see

and when jesus spoke to the circumstance

the circumstances changed

so the issue in a lilac is not your

ability to change the circumstance

the issue in a lilac is your

communication with jesus so he can speak

to it

and so jesus speaks to the problem and

when he speaks to the problem

there is a circumstantial change

and then it leads to a conclusion and oh

what a conclusion it is

verse 41 says they became very much

afraid

i i don’t think you just read that with

me verse 41 says

they became very much afraid okay maybe

they’ll get it on this side

verse 41 says they became

very much afraid okay when they were in

the lilac

they were afraid when they saw who they

were dealing with

they became very much afraid in other

words

we’re afraid of the wrong thing see we

let our

circumstances scare us he says when you

know who you’re dealing with

you’ll be less afraid of that and more

scared of me

so it’s more important to by faith

get jesus dealing with the circumstance

then you living in fear don’t be scared

of the wrong thing

and they ask a question because they’re

scared now

who then is this

that even the wind and the sea obey him

who then is this obviously we don’t know

who he is

let me tell you something when jesus is

humanity his sleep his deity stays awake

who then is this

they were on a journey of discovery

trials as inconvenient and as painful as

they

are are a journey of discovery

of who you’re dealing with okay

god has placed you it’s not convenient

and i’m not trying to make light of it

but you’re in a situation where god

wants you to know you’re dealing with

because it’s human we call this in

theology

the hypostatic union the hypostatic

union means

two natures in one person unmixed

forever

two natures and one person unmixed

forever so he’s both human

and divine see so god fertilized the egg

of a woman he fertilized the egg of mary

without

a male sperm so that the holy spirit

would provide the divine

and mary would provide the human so that

the human and divide

would be mixed in one person without sin

forever

that’s a hypostatic union so

so one minute he’s thirsty the bible

says he said i thirst

but the next minute he walking on water

and and and

and stopping storms and stuff

one minute he says i hunger the next

minute he’s taking sardines and crackers

and making a folk moby dick sandwich

to feed 5 000 men not counting women and

children over 20 000 people

one moment he died on a cross

another moment he raising folks from the

dead come on

who are you

what manner of man is this

hebrews 4 says and we have a high priest

who is able to sympathize with our pain

how can you sympathize with my pain

cause i’m human

so i can feel what you feel the way you

felt it

but i’m divine see when i go to you or

you go to me that’s human to human

i may be able to sympathize but not be

able to fix it

but when you deal with the god man

you’re dealing with someone who can feel

it and fix it

god says because i’m a man i know how

you feel

but because i’m god i can do something

with it

what manner of man is this

that even the circumstances nature obeys

him

that nature has to succumb to him

so if you have a lilac and if you don’t

have one keep living

you will god wants to take you to a

place of understanding in him

that you’ve never been before i tell a

story

about this major event that took place

in our lives in the pacific ocean

when we had the urban alternative our

national ministry we had a trip for our

people who support the ministry

to alaska and that’s where i minister to

people who

listen to the radio broadcast support

ministry from across the country we have

about 300 people on the boat

and on our way back from alaska the

captain said we’re gonna hit a storm

we’re gonna hit a storm and uh it might

be a little rough

it was more than a little rough it was

the worst storm royal caribbean

had ever had in their history the waves

were hitting the boat

50 feet high it was tossing this cruise

line

around like a tin can people were

screaming and hollering throwing up in

the halls

the uh piano was rolling all over the

place dishes were flying

they had to order everybody to their

state rooms

it was midnight it’s pitch black out so

you can’t see anything

except the waves hitting the boat and

it’s flipping and flopping and turning

this boat

every which way would loose and people

were terrified

sister evans bless her heart

was very upset because

they did not use the inside passage

coming out so you can come

you can come from alaska open ocean or

you can come through the inside passage

well if you come through the inside

passage mountains are all around you so

you wouldn’t feel the weather like that

but they had to get back because they

had to drop us off and get another you

know it’s money for them

so so they were on open ocean so we were

just out there

and uh what was worse is the captain

knew we were going to be out there he

told us we were going to be out there in

the storm he didn’t tell us how bad it

was going to be but he told me we’re

going to be in the storm

so sister evans is like a little bit

evangelically ticked off

so we’re in the cab because everybody

ordered back to the cabin

and she picks up the phone and says may

i speak to the captain please

i’m sitting on the bed going

[Music]

she says may i speak to the cabin

she calls the operator answer says i

want to speak the captain i don’t know

why they didn’t take us to unified

passage we had 300 guests on this boat

and this is a bad experience for them

and makes our ministry look bad

you know she said well the captain can’t

come to the phone right now because he’s

weathering this storm so i’m sorry but

we’ll relay your concern a few minutes

later

the phone rings it’s the assistant

captain

the sister captain says

ma’am we know you’re upset we know you

know this is a bad situation but i need

to tell you something

and that is this boat was built with

this storm in mind

when we were on dry dock and we put this

boat together we knew we would hit a day

like this

that was calculated in the building of

the boat

so even though it’s an uncomfortable

journey you’re going to be fine

your guests are going to be fine because

before we ever left

it had already been established that we

would be able to handle

a day like this uh let me explain

something jesus told them

let us go to the other side that was on

dry dock

he said before we ever leave i’m gonna

tell you where we’re gonna wind up we’re

gonna get to where

we’re supposed to go now there may be

rough sailing between leaving here

and coming back here but your salvation

and your savior was built with your

struggle

in mind he has not forgotten

you your struggle your pain or your

purpose

and he knows how to get you from point a

to point z even if you have to go back

to b and go to t to one back at

f to go to x in order to get you there

he knows how to take you from here and

get you there

because it was built with you in mind

including your struggle

[Music]

i know faith can be risky business

[Music]

because we’re asked to believe god and

trust god

and sometimes the weirdest of

circumstances

i will admit for myself and i know

you’ve been there too

when things are tumultuous when there’s

no answer in sight

and jesus wants us to keep our eyes

focused on him

and believe when it looks like it’s

unbelievable

to take a step out on god when we’re not

sure whether we can

stay up yep faith is a risk

and what makes the big risk is we’re

believing in a god we don’t see

a savior who’s in heaven and not

physically with us

in a circumstance we don’t understand

boy you put all that together

and it even sounds riskier

the question that we have to answer

since god is god is he worthy of the

risk

you see we take risk all the time in our

lives don’t we

we risk on the plane getting to its

destination

we take a risk on the stoma stock market

continuing going up over time

we take a risk when we do things that

that are for the first time and we’re

nervous about it so

risk-taking is not unusual to us

if we are willing to take a risk on

things that are in the natural realm

then we ought to be willing to take a

risk on the things that are in the

supernatural realm

since god is overseeing that realm and

he is worthy

of risk-taking if you’re going to bet

bet on god because that

is a bet worth making

[Music]

so

[Music]

[Music]

you