You are called to stop letting fear dictate your life when the same power that calmed the storm lives within you. Rest in His grace today, knowing that He has not abandoned you in your struggles. Walk out in faith, believing that He is Emmanuel, God with you.
What's up church? This is Daniel Mannix and I am so excited to share with you the second part of the Emmanuel series. This is a word that God gave to me about a year ago and I think it is a perfect example of God with us. I pray that it blesses you as much as it did me. *Amen*?
*Amen*. Amen. For those of you that don't know me, my name is Daniel Mannix, and I've been coming to this church for a little over 2 years now. And I've been in small groups and the dream team. I'm on the board of trustees, and I even get the honor and privilege of coming up here on Sunday mornings and talking to God's people, sharing the truth of the gospel.
This is not something I take lightly. This is a responsibility. I will be held accountable by God for what I say up here. I'm here to teach in truth and to encourage you to give everything from this word, this powerful word that we have here. We're in the middle of the Emmanuel series, smack dab in the middle because there's only 3 parts of this series, and pastor David brought the house down last week.
So this is actually a great opportunity for me to share a word that God gave me a little over a year ago while I was on vacation. And I think it's a great example of *Emmanuel*. So we're gonna be talking about the story of Jesus and the disciples in the boat. Storm comes, Jesus is chilling, he's asleep, and the disciples are scared, and they wake him up, and he calms the storm. Most of you have probably heard this story before.
It's in Mark-4. If you've grown up in the church, you've definitely heard this story. But I ask all of you to not tune out, to not expect that God's gonna do the same thing and show you the same thing through the story now that he has in the past. Isaiah told the Israelites that God was doing a new thing. He said, don't you perceive it?
It's already springing forth. Why did they not perceive it? They didn't perceive it because they were expecting God to do something that he used to do, or working in a certain way, in a formulaic way. But let's not put God in a box this morning. Amen?
Come on. That's good. Jesus talked about whenever he would preach, he would say, let him who has ears, let him hear. Sounds kind of strange, doesn't it? I mean, most of us have ears.
There might be a few that don't, but most of us have ears. What Jesus was talking about was, let those that are open to hearing my word listen to my voice, and let it be planted in their soul. And that's my expectation for this morning, that this word will be planted in your soul deep down, that it would spring forth as fruit. You heard from my brother Santos this morning, which he's right there. I love that guy.
I've been in small groups with that guy. He's amazing. He's amazing because he loves God and he loves people. He got that from this book. He actually believes this stuff.
Yeah. Can you believe that? He actually believes this stuff, and then he actually walks it out. That's my prayer this morning, that we would believe what's in here and we would walk this out. The only way that any of this is possible, by the way, is not by my word, it's not by some boisterous, awesome speech, basically, that I'm gonna give here.
It is from the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And God made it that way, so that, as Paul said, that your faith will not rest in the wisdom of man, but by the power of God. Amen? So in order to do that, let's enter into prayer, let's enter into the holy of holies, let's ask God to transform us.
Holy Spirit, we humble ourselves right now to you. *Lord, we come in faith* and expectation, Lord God, and assurance that you're gonna do what you say you're going to do. God, I pray as as Paul told the Colossians to pray that the mysteries of Christ would be revealed clearly in the words that I speak. And God, I pray that you would give everyone in this room and under the sound of my voice **ears to hear*, so that this word would be planted in them, that it would spring forth, and that it would bring forth fruit. In Jesus*' name, In Jesus' name, we pray.
*Amen*. Amen. That's so important. In Jesus' name is not some stumbling block at the end of your prayer where you just hurry over it and hurdle over it. It's the only thing that gives our prayers power.
Right? Jesus said in John-14 that, ask for anything in my name and I will do it. Don't ask for it in your name or no one's name because that has no power. The only thing that has power is in Jesus' name. Amen?
*Amen*. *Mark-4* starting in verse 35. There's gonna be if you have your bibles, go there. If not, it's gonna be up on the screens, 1 slide today, keeping this very simple. We're not gonna be bouncing around.
This is our home base. It's gonna be simple, yet it's gonna be deep and profound. It's gonna impact your lives. *Mark-4:35*, on that day, when evening had come, he said to them, let us go across to the other side. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was, and other boats were with him.
And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "peace, be still". And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
He said to them, why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great *fear* and said to 1 another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Wow. The wind and the sea obey him, but you and I have trouble.
It's crazy, isn't it? I wanna put this in context for us all. So this is relatively early on in Jesus' ministry. Okay? He he's already done some amazing things, though.
He's healed a ton of people. He has given paralyzed people the ability to walk. He has cast out demons from people, and he has preached messages that have just blown people's minds. I mean, *Jesus* was polarizing. Okay?
People who encountered Jesus, they either loved him or they hated him. As Jesus said, you're either with me or against me. Okay? The the kingdom of heaven has no neutrality. Let that be true in our lives.
When people encounter us, let them not walk away with, he was okay, or she was harmless. We should have an impact because Jesus is in us. Okay? And that should shine forth. People are attracted to Jesus or they're detracted to Jesus.
Okay? And it's at this point in Jesus' ministry that he's starting to get some crowds. Like, there are starting to be thousands of people coming to his church. Okay? He was probably 2 people at first, and now he's got thousands.
And there are these early followers, these disciples as he called them, that literally gave up everything. They left their houses, they left their families, they left their friends, they left their jobs, and they followed this man, this stranger. Okay? And they were probably chastised for it. I could imagine that some people are like, are you crazy?
You got a great job with 4 0 1 k and great benefits, and you're gonna leave that and go follow this this nomad, and you don't even know where you're going? But some of us experience that in our own lives, don't we? Some of us have lost maybe friends or even family over following Jesus, And you might be questioning whether it was the right decision. Well, it was the right decision. Your father in heaven is pleased and when Jesus says, follow me, you just say yes.
*Amen*? So these people, Jesus said, follow me, and they said yes. And now, more people are following him, and so they're probably starting to feel vindicated. Okay? They're probably starting to feel like, maybe this was a good idea.
Maybe this was the right decision in following Jesus, and they probably started to get a little bit of a status. Right? Like, they're in the the inner group. They're in the the behind the scenes, the VIP area, right, with all these thousands of people that are listening to Jesus preach, and they're probably starting to get comfortable. And that's usually the first signal that God's about to bring you into a challenge.
Yeah. This walk is not about comfort. God has not called you to comfort. God has called you to greater things, to bring you from glory to glory as he's bringing his bride, to bringing her to a spotless, beautiful bride, and you are part of that bride. And so these people started to feel comfortable, and they're in front of this big crowd.
It's on this huge lake. It's called the Sea Of Galilee. There's all these little towns around it, and Jesus is preaching by 1 of them. And he looks at the disciples and he says, let's go. Let's get out of here.
And they listened. They followed him. They took a faith step. Okay? Some of them might not have liked it per se.
They might have been feeding off of the energy of the crowd, but he said, let's get out of here. Let's go. And so they got into a boat at night, and there were other boats with them that that left with them to go into this water, and immediately, they're met with a great windstorm. Some of them must have been like, what the heck? Like, everything was great where we were before.
We were comfortable. Things were awesome. We followed you. We we did what you asked us to do, and then you brought us into a challenge? Like, why?
The answer is that in the challenge is where the miracle happens. It was only when they were confronted with this challenge that they could experience this miracle of God. That's the importance of following Jesus in this this process of sanctification. It's it's faith step, as you're gonna see through this story and other stories. Faith step, challenge, miracle, increase in faith.
And whether or not the challenge you succeed in the challenge or you fail, *God* has grace for that. That's not the important part. The important part is that there's a miracle, and then your faith is increased. Why? So that you can then get to the next faith step, and you have enough faith for that step, and you continue in this process of sanctification.
It's a fancy word for saying you're becoming more like Jesus. So you gotta keep in mind that a lot of these disciples were fishermen by trade. I mean, they've probably been on the sea their whole lives, and they've seen pretty crazy storms. And all of a sudden, they are filled with fear from this great windstorm. I mean, put yourself there.
You're in this boat. It's starting to sink, and it's nighttime. You can't see anything. You're freaked out, and you don't see Jesus. And so they're filled with fear, and fear is a funny thing, isn't it?
*Fear makes us do crazy things. It made the disciples turn on Jesus*. Right? Why? Because fear is the opposite of faith.
*Fear actually opposes faith, and so fear opposes God*, and it causes the disciples to oppose God. Now, we don't know if this storm was natural or if it was caused by Satan, but you better be sure that Satan was using this opportunity to instill fear in these disciples. He was using this opportunity to distance them from Jesus. That's all that he had to do. If he can completely destroy him destroy them, the disciples, great.
But he doesn't have to. All he has to do is instill fear. He has to destroy their faith. He has to bring him to a place that hinders their calling. Why?
Because Satan knows who Jesus is. He knows. If you go back to Mark-1, it's when Jesus is baptized. It's this beautiful scene of the trinity. The father speaking down to the son as the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, and the father says, this is my son in whom I am well pleased.
You better know Satan saw that. The Bible says that the spirit, holy spirit, drove Jesus out into the wilderness, and it was there that he was tempted by Satan. Kinda like how Jesus drove them out from the crowd and brought them into a challenge. Thank you, God. Now, hear me out.
*God wants to fulfill a calling in you. Satan wants that calling to not be fulfilled. He wants to destroy your faith*. He wants to separate you from God. And chances are, he probably knows your calling better than you do.
There were demons in Mark-1 who called Jesus the holy 1 of God. Demons declared the divinity and authority of Christ long before man did. The enemy knows who God is, and they know whose are his. Okay? So with that said, usually, your highest calling is behind your greatest fear.
You will never achieve your highest calling until you are willing to face your deepest fear, until you are willing to look that giant in the face and say, today, the Lord will deliver your head to my hand, and everyone will know who the Lord is. You have to have that moment. It's not comfortable. It's not easy. It's a moment that pushes you into Christ.
You're gonna need Jesus to get through that moment. And it's in that moment that you will be able to reach that highest calling, or the enemy will say, okay, this is this is someone who knows who they are. This is someone who knows who they are in Christ. I'm gonna have to come back bigger and stronger next time. And then the next time he comes back, he's defeated again by Christ.
And the next time, defeated by Christ because the same spirit that rose Christ from the dead dwells in you, and nothing can overpower *Jesus. Amen*? But be ready for that battle. Whatever your deepest fear is, think about that. Marinate on that.
Think about what that means for your life. So they're in this great storm. They turn on Jesus. God, do you even care? Like, do you care that we are perishing?
Can you imagine the audacity of that question? The creator of heaven and earth left his high throne of majesty and glory and all power and humbled himself to be a baby, a weak little baby, in order to save us from perishing, from spiritual perishment, from spiritual death. And yet, these people are asking him, do you even care that we are perishing? The audacity of that question. *Jesus* should have woke up and slapped him.
Right? Just rebuke with a firm slap. Fires me up. But you know what? I would probably be saying the same thing.
And that's why a lot of us are laughing because we'd probably be saying the same thing because we do in our lives. Right? God, where are you? Where are you? You're supposed to be Emmanuel.
You're supposed to be with me. Where are you? Notice Jesus' positioning in the boat. He's in the stern. He's in the stern of the boat.
And those of you that are not boaters, the stern is the back of the boat. *Jesus* is behind the disciples, seemingly not there. They can't hear him because he's asleep, and they can't see him because he's behind them. How often does that happen in our lives? We're in the middle of a storm, and we say, Jesus, I can't feel you.
I'm not hearing your voice right now, God. Where where are you? Have you left me? God has promised that he will never leave us or forsake us. If we would just take our focus off of the storm and look at Jesus, everything would be fine.
Because *Jesus* is sleeping with a smile on his face, probably. Because he's in full assurance and faith that his father has him, that his father has not forsaken him, that this is not his destiny and his calling to die on this boat. Okay? So so Jesus is sleeping in the stern. They freak out.
They finally wake Jesus. Right? And what does it say? Looking at verse kinda halfway through verse 38. Teacher, do you even care that we're perishing?
And he awoke, and he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Notice that Jesus didn't ask these things to be. Jesus commanded these things to be. He rebuked the wind, and he commanded the sea to be still.
This is how we are to pray. We don't ask for things. We don't ask the devil to leave us alone. We don't plead and beg with the enemy to stop doing x y and z. Okay?
We command these things to line up with the truth. Whatever your reality looks like, it must bow down to the truth of this word. And you have to stand in faith and assurance that it will come to pass, and you speak those things that be not as though they were. That's how we are to pray. Let your prayer be fervent.
Let your prayer be expecting that these things will come to pass. That's called faith. James says, if you're not gonna pray in faith, don't even bother. You're like a double minded man. You can't expect to get anything that you ask for.
Your prayers have to be in faith. It's also important the order of these commandments. Why is it important? It says that he rebuked the wind, and then he commanded the sea to be still. *Jesus* addressed the cause first, and then he addressed the effect.
You see, was a windstorm. It was a great windstorm. And the wind caused the waves. It caused the sea. It caused the water to crash into the boat and for the boat to start to sink.
He went after the cause, the root, and then he addressed the fruit. All too often, feel like we address the fruit. We go right after the symptoms. Let's stop praying that the symptoms of the sickness go away without first rebuking the underlying disease, casting it back into the pit of hell where it belongs. Amen?
That's good. Wives, stop asking or praying that your husband stops watching pornography without first praying that he would come to the realization of how precious you are to him, and you are to be the only object of his desire, and to understand the full sanctity and covenant of marriage. Parents, stop praying that your kid will stop doing drugs, and start praying first that they stop believing the lie that they are not worthy of God's love, that they are not a child of God, that they are not a daughter or son of God. Let's stop going after the symptoms first, and then maybe we'll get along to the cause later. Let's pray bold prayers.
*Amen*. Let's pray bold prayers that go after the underlying cause, and let's pray them in faith and assurance that they are going to happen. So obviously, the wind and the sea obeyed. Right? Obviously, they did.
*Jesus* goes from rebuking the storm or the cause of their fear to rebuking their fear, the output of their fear, the disciples. Now he rebukes the disciples. Why are you so afraid? And look, it says that he said to them. He's not it doesn't say he asked them.
This isn't a question that there's a sufficient answer for. Jesus is not asking them a question. He is asking them a rhetorical question. He is he can't even understand because Jesus is so full of faith. He doesn't understand fear.
Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? Still no faith, implying the fact that I have done all these things, you've seen all these miracles. How could you still have no faith? The disciples obviously didn't answer him because it wasn't a question to be answered, and they didn't even respond to him.
Look at what look at what verse 41 says. They were filled with great fear. If you go through the story, you'll see great windstorm, great calm, **great fear**. This is the process that we were talking about. Faith step, challenge, miracle, increase in faith.
Increase in faith, meaning increase in the fear of the power of God. The great fear that's now over them is over Jesus. "Who is this"? Who is this? Listen, they had all the right in the world to be afraid of that storm.
In the natural realm, there was cause to be afraid. You listen, you can justify your fears all you want. You can justify your fears all day because they look real. They manifest themselves in this reality that we live in. But Jesus says, much more should you fear me.
Much more should you have a reverent respect of my power over the storm. *Jesus* taught, you know, don't fear the ones that can destroy the body. Fear the ones that can destroy the body and soul. You know, fear *God* above all. Who then is this?
Many of us have to ask this ourselves throughout our lives. Who then is this Jesus? Who do I proclaim him to be? Who do I believe he really is? When we see him do miraculous things, our increase in faith proclaims who he really is.
How do I know that they increased in faith? Look at what they said right after that comma. It's not, who then is this that he just perfectly timed saying, be still, and it just so happened to naturally be still? Or who then is this that he was able to do it this 1 time, but chances are he's not going to be able to do it again? Who then is this that the wind and the sea obey him?
Present tense, future tense, not past tense, obeyed once. Who then is this that the wind and the sea obey him. That's our God. That's who it is. That's Emmanuel.
Now
it looks like a harsh rebuke for the disciples. Right? But like I said before, there is grace for that. Spoiler alert, he didn't leave them after this and get out of the boat and say, you guys are losers. I'm done with you.
I've been for you too long. You've been screwing up so many times. I'm giving up. I'm getting a new band together, and I quit this group. He didn't say that.
*Jesus* stuck with them. Jesus continued to build their faith. And actually, these are the people that you and I can give credit to for sitting in this room right here today. That there were 12 people that literally changed the entire world. That now there are over 2,000,000,000 professing Christians because of these 12 people in a boat somewhere in Israel, somewhere most of us have probably never been.
Why? Because they were awesome? Because they were strong? Because they were smart? No.
Because they were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why. And they would get to the point where they would profess this name of Jesus to the point of death. That they would go and preach this gospel that they were once so afraid about and were shaky on their belief of, they would change the world. I don't know about you, but that encourages me.
That gives me hope. So I didn't even look at my notes here. You guys got me fired up a little bit. I'll end with a question, call to action, if you will. Why are you so afraid?
Why are you so afraid of that sickness? Why are you so afraid of that addiction? Why are you so afraid of those bills? Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?
When you look back at everything that Jesus has done, not only in this book, but in your life personally, if we truly believe this stuff, as I was talking about Santos earlier, that this would become who we are, that this would be something that is born out in us, that it would take root deep within our souls and it would manifest itself, that it would it would grow into the things of God, that we would continue to look more and more like Jesus, that we would continue to get to the point where we could be asleep at the back of the boat. Jesus is asleep because he is resting. He is resting in faith. Will you rest with him too? Will you trust him?
Will you rest in him? Let's pray. *Lord*, thank you for your beautiful word. Thank you for the example that you gave us here in this event. It's not just a story in a book.
This word is living and active. It's real. It's an event that happened, Lord. And it shows your majesty, it shows your power, and it shows your grace. Lord, help us to live in all of those things, Lord, to live in your power, to understand that you have authority over everything, and you've given us that authority, Lord.
You have put your spirit in us. We don't have to fear anything because we have been perfectly loved and there is no fear in that perfect love. Help us to live in that grace, Lord God, to know that when we do stumble, that we are picked up and we run into the arms of a loving father, a father who sees nothing but his son in us, a grace that is not a freedom to sin, but a "freedom from sin", Lord God. A grace that empowers us to move forward in the things of God because sin is nothing but choosing not God. So as we choose God, Lord, you free us from these things, Lord, these fears, these sins, these things that would try to separate us from you and that would try to hinder our calling in you, God, the highest calling that any 1 of us could ever have.
I pray, Lord, that you would give everyone that's listening right now the *revelation* of their power and authority over the the powers of the enemy, the powers of of Satan, Lord God. They are nothing compared to your matchless name, Lord. I pray that you would give everyone here that revelation. And I pray that you would strengthen our prayer lives, Lord God, that you would just cause us to be these these amazing prayer warriors, Lord God, that would speak things in truth and that would that would carry the power that you have said we have, Lord, that we can ask anything in your name, Lord, according to your will, that you would do it. I thank you, Jesus, for planting this word in us.
Holy Spirit, I pray that you would marinate this in our hearts and that it would spring forth in our souls and that it would impact everyone around us. In the name of Jesus, I pray. *Amen*.
Thank you for tuning in today to the Real Church podcast. I pray that you walk away from today encouraged with a deeper understanding of how much God loves you. If you'd like to connect with us, we can't wait to reach out to you and pray for you. You can go to www.