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.
best sermons, Christ Jesus, Christian, Christians, Christmas, Christmas message, Christmas sermon, Christmas story, Christmas teaching, cross, encouraging sermons, faith, family, forgiveness, God, gospel, heaven, hell, HolySpirit, hope, inspirational sermons, Jesus, love, marriage, messages, powerful sermon, prayer, preaching, reason for the season, relationships, sermons, teaching, Tony Evans, Tony Evans sermons, trusting, victory, youth
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
amen <3