The Miracles of Jesus

Meaning:  A special display of God's power

 Title:  Jesus' ability to deal with the crisis' of life

 Text: Matthew  8:23-27

 And when he (Jesus) was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.   And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.  And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.   But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Purpose:  The intent of  the Bible recording this miracle is not  to learn the art of sailing, or to study the science of weather.  The intent I believe is for more important, and far more reaching.  The intent of the miracle is to show two things.  First, a condition common to every human being.  The susceptibility of fear.   Second, God the Son' sovereignty over the powers of nature.  Some of the most fearful events of life are caused by nature, acts of God.  I think of the time I was living on an Air Force Base in Southern California, and about 3:30 AM one morning the whole dormitory began to shake.  The floor underneath me began to move!  It was a frightening few minutes.  The next day we were told it was a 3.5 Earthquake on the Rector Scale.  There may have been widespread revival in the dormitory that night.  Yes, nature has a way of getting our attention, and when it does we can see the might and awesomeness of God's power. 

Principle: The point of all this is when the storms of life come, and they do come, is the challenge to the believer is to remain calm.  The two choices that we each have on the shelf, as it were, are FEAR and FAITH.  The way to prepare to have faith during the trials of life is to practice living by faith during the smiles of life.  Will you choose to practice living by faith today?