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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] No, never alone. He promised never to leave me,

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Never to leave me alone. No, never alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me,

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Never to leave me alone. No, never alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me,

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♪ Never could we be alone ♪ ♪ All through the world ♪ ♪ All through the world ♪ ♪ We've got to believe ♪

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♪ Never could we be alone ♪ And Jesus 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 marveled, saying, "What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the

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sea obey him?" The Gospel according to St. Matthew, chapter 8, verses 26 and 27. The subject of the message, "Stilling the Storm, Stilling the Storm." Some years ago it was customary for people in certain sections of this country in building

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a house to make a storm shelter. It was a special place meant to provide security and safety during the time of storm. Storms occur in nature. Storms occur in human experience.

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There can be no existence on this earth free of storms. Today we rely on the weatherman to give us a forecast about the weather so we can be prepared. People are told to evacuate their homes

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and seek places of refuge hours before the storm arrives. But in spite of advanced technology, there are still storms that come about which we have no notice. They are completely unexpected and they find us totally unprepared. The disciples of Jesus follow him and they enter a ship. They set sail on the Sea of

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Galilee. Their aim is to cross over to the other side. The primary purpose of of the voyage of life is to cross over to the other side. That's the pilgrimage of the self in the dramas of history, to cross safely over to the other side.

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It's the journey from shore to shore. It's the journey from here to eternity. Human existence is like a ship into which we have all entered.

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You may also think of the church as a ship in which The people of God have come for the purpose of making the journey safely to the other side. When we read this particular story, look at Matthew's account and Luke's account, Mark's

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account, Mark gives us some information that Matthew does not give us because Mark tells us that there were other ships that were on this sea also. In the course of the journey a storm comes with scarcely a moment's notice. The air is filled with whirlwind and the sea is buffeted in the tempest. The wind rages

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with all of its fury and the waves dash against the ship. Now you see the winds and the waves have joined company in beating against the ship. The Sea of Galilee is 300 feet below sea level. And the original language in which the scripture is written, the Greek language here, suggests that there was an

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earthquake in the sea. Sometimes in the midst of the storms that we experience, it seems that the very bottom of life falls out. Earthquake, that which we depend upon to sustain us. Now these elements are completely beyond human control. The wind beyond human

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control. You can't see the wind, you can feel it. You don't know where it comes from, now where it's going, but it can be very destructive. We saw that when I was pastoring in Waco how the wind came and just tore down buildings that we thought was so secure, just crumbled them into dust. Wind can be very destructive. It has

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tremendous power. There's nothing we can do about it. We don't know when it's coming or where. And the waves can be very destructive. We don't control the waves. Matters not how much we would like to, we do not control the waves. And as I said the language suggested there was an earthquake in the sea and you certainly

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don't control an earthquake. So the wind, the waves, the earthquake, all of these are beyond human control. And so these passengers on the ship are caught in a storm. In the course of that journey they're caught in a storm. Now see the Sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains and it's sort of like a lake but it is in fact

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so it's surrounded by the mountains and the winds are whipping in from the mountains and the waves are beating against the ship and they're caught. There's nowhere to go. They're surrounded. And that's the way a storm is in our lives. We find ourselves caught in a storm against which we have no human

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control. We are caught. We embark upon the journey of life and we find that we are caught in a storm. That's been true of our people. Start out peacefully sailing along, that was our history in Africa, but we found ourselves suddenly caught in the storm and that storm is slavery, terrible storm. Some people want to

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forget about it, they don't want to even talk about it, they don't want to face the reality of our existence. Some people who have recently seen the movie A Color Purple have said oh you know it's not like that, they have given up an unreal view of our life. Some young people at the college the other day were

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criticizing it, they didn't give the proper view of the male and so on. But whether some of them know it or not that's our part of our life. Maybe you missed some of that but I saw some of it. It's still a part of most of our lives in this country. Caught in the storm. Caught. Sometimes we start out with high

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expectations and before we know it we seem to be caught in a storm. Sometimes that storm is sickness, terrible physical malady that we can't get rid of. Sometimes it's undergoing surgery, it's a period of illness that overshadows our lives but we find ourselves caught in a storm. Sometimes it's a nagging physical

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ailment, sometimes it's a mental condition, but we are caught in a storm. Now sometimes a storm comes to us as punishment. That was true of Jonah who was trying to run away from God. God told him to go to Nineveh and behold he went to Joppa and took a ship going to Tarshish in the very opposite direction

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that God had told him to take. When he got out there on that sea, the Lord sent the wind and the wind began to toss that ship and the waves beat up on it and they began to toss the cargo overboard and every man on the ship began to pray to his God but Jonah was asleep. When Jonah was awakened he said you know I'm

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the cause of this. So you toss me overboard and things will be well. He had them to know that God was punishing him for his disobedience. Sometimes a storm comes in our lives because God is punishing us for disobedience. But this This is not the case of the disciples.

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You notice as we read this passage of scripture closely that it is said that they got on the ship with Jesus. They followed him and entered the ship. So that says to us that you can get caught in a storm when you're following Jesus because

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Jesus is on the ship too. And they're caught in the storms. They do come. Whether we flee from God or whether we follow the master, the storms come. Storms come in the line of duty. How good you are on your job and how well you work on it and how faithful you are, there'll be some storms in the course of

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that experience. So in the very line of duty, storms come. The ship is up against the gust of contrary winds. Now they would like to have the ship keep its course against the velocity of the angry waves, but they must not only contend against the waters that are outside the ship. What happens the waters

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begin to get into the ship. Now that's awful. It's bad enough to have the ship being tossed about like a leaf on the angry billows of the deep and the waters just be, that's enough. But now the waters begin to get into the ship. I can imagine that the disciples whatever they had they were trying to get that water out

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as much as they could with whatever buckets that were available they were just trying to get the water out but the more they tried to get it out the more water came in. They caught. There are times you know when human efforts fail. There are times when you do everything you know to do and it's of no use at all. You're

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completely frustrated by your efforts. So what do you do? What do you do? You know when people know that a tidal wave is coming and the prediction has been made they are told to flee. They can run away, get to higher ground, get away from there, take refuge, but here they're caught. They didn't know it was coming. And so in

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the midst of the storm, becoming frustrated by all of their efforts, they panic. They panic. They go to pieces inside. They become terror-stricken. They become overcome by fear. Their faith fails them in the hour of crisis. They try to get the water out, they can't. Winds keep howling, the waves keep dashing

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against the ship. So they're in dire danger and so in the midst of their danger the disciples send out a SOS call. They remember that Jesus is on the ship and they rush into him and they say, "Master, Master, don't you really care about us? Do you know we're about to drown?" Oh how hysterical they must have been.

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They don't know what to do but at last they come to Jesus. And Jesus awakened from his sleep now, he'd been sleeping. If I had more time I'd talk about Jesus sleeping. Jesus slept. All of this storm out here is raging, but Jesus is asleep. And Jesus gets up and looks about and he hears the howling of the winds and he

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says to them, "Hush up! Hush your mouth." He says to the waves, "Be still." There is a call, call, call. And they look at him, they are awed by it all. And Jesus says to them, "You had such little faith, such little faith, little faith." You see they had made a plea to Jesus. They had made a petition, it was really a prior when they came to him as hysterical as they were and it was due

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to the weakness of their faith. Weakness of faith. You know what the weakness of faith is? Weakness of faith is that when you face trial in the face of trial that you fail to trust in Jesus. A lot of people can do all right when the sailing is smooth. The real test of your marriage is not how well you do when

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your sailing is smooth, but when you get caught in the snob. Husband loses his job and the wife still got hers. Oh, the wife is ill for a long period of time and the husband is well, caught in a storm. And that stuff does the test, a trial of your faith. And so in the face of the trial, how do we trust and where do we put our trust? That's

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the important thing. And they've been doing all right, but now when they are caught in the face of a crisis and they're really on trial, they fail to really trust. And they come and Jesus says, "Oh, you are of little faith." People like that today, they have a little problem. First thing they do is stop coming to church, stop praying, stop reading

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by because things are going wrong. When the trial comes, they fail to trust, but when they have a new outfit, a new suit, a new this, a new that, they can come out and praise God, "Oh, how good the Lord is." As if when the trial comes, that God is no longer good.

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As if. Fail to trust. Jesus says to his disciples and maybe it just could be that there are still some disciples today to whom this word may be well addressed that you are of little

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faith. Oh for faith, oh for faith that will not shrink though pressed by many fall, that will not tremble on the brink of poverty or war, that will not murmur or complain beneath the chastening rod, but in the hour of grief or pain can lead upon its God. A faith, a faith, a faith that shines both bright and clear when tempests

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rage without, that when in danger knows no fear, in darkness knows no doubt. Oh for such a faith. Now the gift of Jesus to the disciples in this critical hour is peace in the storm. You see they were going to pieces. It was not it was not just the storm outside that he was able to steal. It was the storm inside their

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hearts. That storm inside. You know when you can keep your peace when people all around you are raising hell. That's the gift of Jesus. It's easy to go to pieces. You don't need no medal for going to pieces. In fact, you don't even have to have ever seen or heard of Jesus to go to pieces. It's being able to have peace in the midst of the storm.

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There was a farmer who advertised for a farm hand and he interviewed a number of applicants for the position. That came one to him who applied for the job and when he was asked to give his qualifications, the man answered, "The only qualification I can give you is that I can sleep in a storm." And the man thought

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that this was rather strange, but he was impressed. He hired him. After he'd been working for some time, a storm came. And the farmer, as he heard the storm raging with fury in the night was concerned about things on his farm. So he got up, he went out to see about the cattle and he found that the cattle safe inside the barn

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the gate was locked. He found as he looked around that everything was in order. And then he went to the room of the farmhand and he found him fast asleep. And he remembered his words, "I can sleep in a storm." And somehow when we have made the right preparation, when we have somehow done everything that

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we need to do, we can somehow commit it to God, we can leave it with him. a certain peace, has a certain satisfaction. It comes to us when we have committed our lives to Jesus Christ, when we honor him as Lord of our lives, we can make it through the storm.

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That's why we were able to make it through the storm. There's a song, "Gospel Song" we used to sing a number of years ago, that, how, if you can't make it through a storm, how can you say that Jesus is the captain of your soul? If you can't make it through a storm. The very fact that he's the captain, that he rules in our lives, is the fact that when the storms come, that we can make it through the storm.

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And the wonderful thing is that sometimes we may not have the kind of faith that we ought to have. The disciples didn't have it back there either. But they knew where to go. And they went and they

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they touched him. He was awakened. They called him. And we sing a song also that says, "Call him up and tell him what you want." But in the midst of the crisis, when you're caught, when you don't know where to go, when everything that seems to surround you is beyond your ability to handle and

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you come and you call on him that somehow whatever you call he'll always hear. That's the testimony of everybody who follows Jesus in the midst of the storm. that when you call on him he answers and he gives you a certain peace he gives to you a certain quiet in the midst of it all that you can be sure that it didn't

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come from man it came from God and it still happens it happened almost 2,000 years ago, it still happens, still happens. And for everybody who follows him, they can testify, yes, it still happens, still happens. I met God one morning when my day was at its best, and his presence came like sunrise, like a glory in my

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breast. All day long the presence lingered, all day long he stayed with me and we sailed with perfect calmness or a very fitful sea. Other ships were blown and battered, other ships were so distressed, but the wind that seemed to drive them brought to us a peace and rest. Then, then, then, then I thought of other

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mornings with a keen remorse of mind when I too had loosed the moorings with that presence left behind. So I think I know the secret. Learn from many a troubled way. You must meet him in the morning if you want him through the day. And when you meet him, he's always there. He's always there. He hears our cries and he

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pit his outgrows and somehow he calms our raging fears. He does that. We're gonna be caught in the storm. Well, that's good news.

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That's good news, brothers and sisters, because we're all gonna be caught in the storm. Sickness, disappointment, failure, death, all of that's a storm.

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You'll be caught in it somewhere along the way. If you haven't been caught already, you'll be caught by and by. And somehow when you're caught in that storm,

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the good word is that God, when we follow him, that somehow he'll speak peace to your soul and strengthen you and enable you to sail on through the storm.

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What we sang about it a moment ago. He'll stand by us. We ask you now, do you trust him? Somehow you can call on him just as the disciples did long ago,

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and he'll stand by you. When the winds are howling, when the waves are beating against your ship, he'll stand by you. He'll strengthen you.

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He'll give you peace of mind and peace of heart. [ Music ] ♪ When the storms of life are raging ♪ ♪ Stand by me ♪

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♪ When the storms of life are raging ♪ of life a raging stand by me when this old world is tossing me like a ship upon the sea. Thou who rulest the wind and water, stand by me.

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In the midst of tribulations, stand by me. In the midst of tribulations, stand by me. ♪ When the host of hell assails ♪ ♪ And my strength begins to fail ♪

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♪ Thou who's never lost a fight ♪ ♪ Oh, who's never lost a battle ♪ ♪ Stand by me ♪ ♪ When I'm growing old and feeble ♪

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♪ Stand by me ♪ ♪ I said I gotta grow old ♪ ♪ And get a little feeble ♪ ♪ Won't you stand by me ♪

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♪ When my life's become a burden ♪ ♪ My life's become a burden ♪ ♪ And I must cross chilly Jordan ♪ ♪ Oh, thy lily of the valley ♪

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♪ Stand by me ♪ ♪ When the storms ♪ ♪ Of life are raging ♪ ♪ Stand by me ♪

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♪ When the storms ♪ ♪ Of life a raging ♪ ♪ Stand by me ♪ ♪ When this old world ♪

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♪ Is tossing me ♪ ♪ Like a ship out ♪ ♪ On the sea ♪ ♪ Thou who rulest ♪

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♪ The wind and the water ♪ ♪ Stand by me ♪ - Amen. Amen.

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