Bella Vista Church of Christ
06/28/2020 A.M.
“Peace Be Still”
Mark 4.35-41 Mark 5.1-43
In 1966… Frances Albert Sinatra recorded the hit song... “That’s Life”... One line in the song said… “You’re riding high in April and you’re shot down in May.”
How true it is... One moment things are going great... And the next moment... Our whole world is turned upside down.
We had a great Christmas Season and a Happy New Year... Then our world was torn apart in February as people begin dying of COVID-19...
According to John Hopkins University… As of this morning...
• Ten million people have tested positive...
• With 500,000… One-half-million people have died because of or with this flu.
Step back in time to AD 30... Things are going well for Jesus and the Twelve... Mark chapter three records it for us... Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. Because of the crowd he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the evil spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
Chapter four picks up... Again He began to teach beside the sea and a very large crowd gathered about Him so that He got into a boat and sat in it on the sea... And the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land and Jesus was teaching them...
Let your eyes fall to verse 35... When evening came... He said to them... Let us go across to the other side... And leaving the crowd... They took Him with them in the boat.
Things could not be going better for Jesus and company... Large.... Very large... crowds gathered... So much so that Jesus has to get in a boat... Use it as a pulpit to teach those in other boats and those gathered on the shore.
He’s healing all sorts of illnesses... Including those possessed of demons and devils.
But...By nightfall... Things are going change...
• Things are going to become scary...
• Life is going to tumble in...
• Those in the boat are going to cry for peace.
What I want to do with the Lesson This Morning is to rehearse
four narratives from Mark chapters four and five...
Demonstrating how Jesus can bring
peace out of chaos in our life.
There is no doubt that... Calm... Peace... Contentment... Serenity... Come from God... Are a gift from God… Read these verses with me again…
Philippians 4.7... And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
John 14.27... My peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
John 16.33... I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Paul tells us that Peace is a product of God living in us... The fruit of the Spirit is peace.
1 Peter 3.11 admonishes... Turn from evil and do good... Seek peace and pursue it.
1 Peter 5.7... Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Psalm 29.11... The Lord gives strength to his people... He blesses his people with peace.
So... When life tumbles in... When troubles come...
When chaos abounds...we must turn to Jesus...
It came all of a sudden... Like most storms in life do.
Calm one moment... Then suddenly we are being tossed on a tempestuous sea!!
But it happened often on the Sea of Galilee.
• Our King James says... It was a great storm...
• The NIV... Says a furious squall.
A storm of life-threatening proportions.
The boat begins to fill with water... The Apostles panic.
These are not novices... But experienced fishermen... They have been here before.
They knew what could happen... Was going to happen… If this storm was not calmed...
• But… In their fear...
• In the panic of the moment...
• In their efforts to keep the boat afloat...
They apparently forgot that... Jesus... YAHWEH... Jehovah... God-in-the-flesh... was asleep in the back oF the boat.
Mark says...
• When the waves had filled the ship...
• When it was evident that all that could be done... Was done...
• And they were going down...
They awoke Jesus... Saying... Master... Get up... Don’t you care... Can’t you see... We’re going to drown... We’re going to perish in this storm.
Interesting that Jesus says three words... Peace be still.
• Just that quick the winds stopped blowing.
• The waves subsided.
• The lake is as flat as a mirror.
• Not just calm… Not just quiet... Our King James say... A great calm...
• Not a zephyr in the air.
• Not a breeze on your cheek.
• Clouds are gone.
• Moon and stars are shining.
Jesus speaks three words… and all of nature… Every element…responds.
And they said one to another... Who is this?... What manner of man is this?...That all of nature responds to his voice?
Church... If jesus can calm all of nature with three words…
Think about the Peace He can bring into our chaos filled life!
In Mark chapter five... We see Jesus has power over sin & Satan.
Their boat lands... In the region of the Gadarenes... Specifically in A cemetery.
Nature’s storm is over... The lake is calm... But there’s Another Storm... A sin storm.
A wild man who lives among the tombs... Comes running down the beach toward them.
• He has cut himself... He is scary looking... bleeding.
• He has been bound with chains.
• He has broken them.... Probably still had chains hanging to his wrist and ankles.
another scary life-THREATENing moment!
But Jesus commands the evil spirits to come out of the man... And they did!!
Listen...I hope we are all concerned about the sin storm in our life...
I fear we are not nearly as righteous as we think we are... Sin is a pandemic… At our best we still need Jesus.
• We need His help in overcoming temptation...
• His forgiveness when we fail.
Indeed... Jesus has power over Sin and Satan...
Listen to these PEACE-giving Scriptures...
• Come unto Me... All you that labor and are heavy laden... And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you... And learn of me... For I am meek and lowly in heart... And you shall find... rest...Peace... For your souls.
• Come now... Let us reason together... Says the Lord... Though your sins be as scarlet... They shall be as white as snow... Though they be red like crimson... They shall be as wool.
• If we walk in the light... As He is in the light... We have fellowship one with one another... And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son continues to cleanse us... From all sin... If we confess our sins... He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins... And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• God is faithful... He will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. But when tempted, He will also provide a way out so that we can stand up under it.
Listen... There is… no sin... No sinful situation…So ugly
that Jesus does not have control over...
That Jesus cannot and will not forgive... And bringabout Peace...
Next... Jesus demonstrates His power over disease.
They’re back on the other side of the Lake... A crowd has gathered.
People are pressed about him.
• Some sick...
• Some devil possessed...
• Others hungry... Both physicallyand spiritually.
Before they’ve gone very far... In the press of the crowd... We meet A woman in her own private storm.
She’sbleeding... Hemorrhaging... What today... We call advanced endometriosis.
She’s suffered with this for twelve long years with… No relief… No healing… No peace!
With a desperate faith... She reaches...Strains with every muscle... In Matthew’s version of this narrative... She touches the hem of His robe.
Verse twenty-nine... And straightway... Immediately... Her bleeding stopped... And she was freed from her suffering.
Jesus has power over disease!!...
Church... How many of us can use this healing power of Jesus to bring peace into our life?... Even today?... Even this moment?
Next we meet Jairus...
The disturbing news comes in verse thirty-five... Jairus... Your daughter is dead!
Listen to Jesus as he speaks to Jairus and us in verse thirty-six?... Do not be afraid... Just believe... Jairus... Just have faith... A desperate faith.
As they enter the home... Jesus takes the hand of the girl and says in Aramaic... Telitha koum... Little girl arise...Get up… AND SHE DOES!!
Jesus has power over death…
• Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter.
• A few months later Lazarus...
• He Himself is raised from the dead...
• One day he will raise us.
Listen to Paul as he explains death in terms of peace... I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where,O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory... PEACE... Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here iT is church... Death has no sting... The grave has no victory if we are safe in the arms of Jesus
through faith and the new birth.
There is therefore... No condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus...
Who walk not after the flesh... But after the Spirit.
I hope from these four narratives... That we now know that...
• When chaos comes...
• When we’re facing a storm...
• When life tumbles in...
• When we are “riding high in April and shot down in May.”
That We know where to turn for Peace within.
Now know this… There are some CHAOS Moments over which we have NO control.
There are storms that man can’t do anything with... But Jesus can... Jesus can.
Listen to Jesus... Believe in Jesus... Trust Jesus...
Matthew 19.26 has Him saying... With MAN some things are impossible... But with God all things are possible.
In Mark 9.23... He tells us... everything is possible for him who believes.
Notice now...
How can we access God’s peace-giving
power and presence today?
First... We must bring our storms to Jesus.
Let James preach it for us… Is any among you afflicted?... Let him pray. Is any merry... Happy... Let him sing psalms. Is any sick among you?... Let him call for the elders of the church... And let them pray over him... Anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord... LISTEN NOW!... And the prayer of faith shall save the sick... And the Lord shall raise him up... And if he have committed sins... They shall be forgiven him. Confess your faults one to another... And pray one for another... That you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Sometimes Jesus chooses not to calm the chaos... But to strengthen us so we can weather the storm.
In the garden... The night before the cross?... Jesus prayed that the cup of suffering be removed if possible.
God’s will was that Jesus...
• Face the storm... Experience the storm...
• Walk through the storm... Suffer the cross.
So Luke says... After he prayed... God sent an angel to come minister to Him...Strengthen Him... Give Him PEACE…So he could endure the cup of the cross.
Paul prayed for his thorn in the flesh to be removed… The answer... My grace is sufficient.
Sometimes God gives us inner strength... calm...Peace...For our Chaos Moments.
Remember this church... Peace & Serenity... Is not freedom from the storm... But peace & SERENITY amid the storm.
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass… It’s about learning to dance in the rain.
We must have a desperate faith.
In each of these narratives the people had a desperate faith.
Church...Why is it that we can see God working in the lives of Bible Greats in both the Old and New Testaments... Yet we can’t believe He’s at work in our lives today.
• Ephesians 3.20 reads... God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine... According to his power that is at work within us.
• The Book of Hebrews ends with these words… May the God of peace… That great Shepherd of the sheep… Equip you with everything good for doing his will… And may he work in us what is pleasing to him.
Indeed!!... The power for our personal and corporate peace is promised by God... Who is working in our lives!
Then... We must do what Jesus asks.
• At Jairus’ house it was... Tel-eth-A-cum... Little girl get up... Feed her.
• The woman with the twelve year struggle of illness... Your faith has made you well... Go in peace.
• The blind man in John nine was told... Go wash in the pool of Siloam.
• The woman taken in adultery was told... Go your way... And sin no more.
• At Lazarus’ grave... It was... Remove the stone.
We must be willing to do what Jesus asks?... Are we?... ARE WE?.. Or do we want to argue and debate the scriptures?
Are we willing to...
• repent...Change our life... Place God on the Throne instead of self...
• Willing to be Born Again in New Testament Baptism?... Raised to live a different life?
• Are we willing to let go of our favorite sin... Yield completely... Totally... To Jesus?
Let’s Decide today... Right now...
To allow Jesus to bring Peace & Serenity Into our life
as we stand and sing this song together...
