Are you more obedient than wind and waves? S31e110 Mt8:23

Nature is broken, just ask any Tsunami you run into. 

When spoken to by Jesus, the wind and the waves obey Him.

Are we then, as obedient as the wind and the waves? 

Listen 7 minutes and consider this with me.  Then share if I am right in my 

https://youtu.be/epcHX-4gEBoconclusion. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning, my brothers and sisters. Here's the question for today. Are you more obedient than the wind and the waves? We're going to get this from Matthew chapter 8. Now, the problem here is that nature is broken, and the sea is broken in our story for a reason. Now, why is that? Well, mankind, in a sense, made it that way. The reason is that sin has porous borders, and one person's sin has a way of affecting others in this ripple effect of consequence. So what happened was man fell and then creation got cursed to the wind and the waves. Now it longs to be restored, and similarly as we do too. Creation doesn't want to be that way. So it's going to be restored. That's the good news. Well, in our story today, Jesus is going to rebuke the wind and the waves. And what happened, and the waves, in a sense, we find out what they do. They are going to obey. So the brokenness similar of the relationship of man and nature is going to be fixed. The Lord is going to rule by his rescue, both of the fallen nature of mankind as well as the fallen nature of nature. This is Matthew 8 23. When he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves. But he was asleep. And they went and woke him and saying, Save us, Lord, we are perishing. And he said to them, Why are you afraid, you of little faith? Then he rose and, here it is, rebuked the winds and the s and the sea. And then what happens? And then there was a great calm. And men marveled, saying, What sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him? So the point of the story, the power of the Lord, is when the Lord speaks to nature, nature is going to obey it. So when nature is rebuked, and that is being spoken to in censure by the Lord, nature listens and obeys, and nature gets corrected. So when the big point for us is when the Lord speaks in censure to us, in correction for us, what do we do? Now, how can we sense that? By his word in this Bible. Um, in a sense, we read the Bible for rebuke. We're not as holy as we think, and he is more holy than we think. Have you ever heard one say, I'm going to read the Bible in the year? Well, I I tried that, I'd tell the story many times. The first time it took me four years, and the reason was because in comparison and contrast to the Lord, it was was centure after centure, day after day, and just it just took so much longer than just reading it for information. So I was rebuked by the word. Don't do this, don't think this, do this. How about this area of your life? So when the Lord speaks to nature, what happens? Well, in our story, nature obeys. And when the Lord speaks to humans, let's say me, how do I respond? That's the big question for today. So the problem with us living sacrifices is that sometimes we get off the altar. All right, so how does the Lord speak to us? Well, by us reading the Bible, as I said, but also like in a Sunday on a prepared sermon, which is the word given by prepared pastors or elders on a Sunday morning in the context of preparation and in the context of a specific congregation. Or maybe seven-minute podcasts or other Bible teachers, there's great ones out there. So if God rebukes wind and waves, what do you think he does to the created children of his family? And by little children, I mean us humans, both little and big. So to be in the family of God is to be rebuked on occasion. In fact, if you're not occasionally censured by the word in your own reading or the prepared word of your pastor, or by conviction by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, I would wonder if you really are a believer or not. So to be a believer is to suffer the correction of God. To be a believer is to enjoy the correction of God. Like any parent that loves their kid, the Lord is guiding us and correcting us and rebuking us when next necessary. Now, here's a story for today. I find myself on vacation at the moment, uh at the beach with family, and there's many kids here, and I love being with children because they struggle overtly with being corrected. For for example, imagine you're you're a kid and you're just figuring the world out, everything is a toy to you, and you come across this object which is included with our house this this week. So you think, if you're little, everything is a toy, and your parents say, and the tabletop is glass, and your parents say, put that down. Now, I love kids because you can see the process going on in their head. You see the rebellion and the obedience wheels turning in their head, and we're we're like a little kid before the Lord. Now, I know it's hard, but he wants to refine us, he wants to teach us how to be good children of him. There's going to be some rebuking along the way, or ceramic frogs and glass tables get destroyed. So, what's worse then than the correction of the Lord? And that is indifference. That's the thing you really don't want. Let's say God does not correct. Then we go about our destructive way, we break all the dark decorations, and it's described in the book of Judges in chapter 17, verse 6. In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes. It's one of the worst things in all of Scripture. So doing what we initially want to do is not going to end well. So think about our history. At one time in our history, this led to a flood of judgment over the whole world. And in another time in our history, it leads to the crucifixion of the Savior who comes to save us. So to be a believer is to enjoy the attention of the Lord. And some of that attention is friendship and warm fuzzies of relationship. And some of that attention from God is rebuke. And here in our story, the wind and the waves got rebuked, got corrected, and obeyed and be calmed themselves. So similarly, if you are a child of God, you may be censured by the Lord. In fact, I hope you get censured by the Lord. So remember the old show, Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? My question is Are you more obedient than a three year old? Are you more obedient than the wind and the waves? My prayer is yes. I pray that you are more obedient than the wind today. Thanks for listening.