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Welcome to Luke chapter 8. In this chapter Jesus teaches and He works miracles.
By the way, every teaching of Jesus is a miracle, the miracle that He came into
this world and that He could teach us.

And in every miracle of Jesus, there is a teaching. There is something He wants
us to learn from every miracle that He did. In the beginning of this chapter,
Jesus teaches the parable of the seed, the good soil and the rocky soil and the
shallow soil and the weed-infested soil.

And He teaches about how when God's Word lands on good soil, it increases 30,
60, 100-fold. But it can be choked out. It can be choked out by worries.

It can be a shallow faith, a faith that really doesn't go to the depths. Jesus
says make sure that there is the good soil of trusting in God. At the end of
this chapter, Jesus heals a demon-possessed man and the people of the region
reject Him.

He heals a synagogue ruler, Jairus' daughter. And we learn from those miracles
about how people respond to the power of God in their lives. Today, I want to do
something a little different.

I want to focus on one particular passage, on a miracle in the middle of this
chapter and the teaching that it has for our lives, on the miracle that happens
in verses 22 to 25. One day, Jesus said to His disciples, "Let's go over to the
other side of the lake. " So they got into a boat and they set out.

As they sailed, He, Jesus, fell asleep. A squall came up on the lake so that the
boat was being swamped and they were in great danger. The disciples went and
woke Him saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown.

" He got up and He rebuked the wind and the raging waters and the storm subsided
and all was calm. "Where is your faith? " He asked His disciples.

In fear and amazement, they asked one another, "Who is this? " He commands even
the winds and the water and they obey Him. Now, in every miracle, there is a
teaching.

And in this miracle of Jesus calming the sea, there is a teaching for you and I
about worry. We all struggle with worry. We're human beings.

We look to the future and we worry about what's going to happen in the future.
This is a story about worry's causes and worry's cures. If you've heard this
teaching recently about worry's causes and worry's cures, consider this a
reminder because I don't know about you.

I need reminders. Here is a little boat on a large lake, the Sea of Galilee,
with a big storm and Jesus is asleep. What a great picture of why we get caught
up in worry.

Worry's causes, four causes. The storm, you got the storm, you got the waves,
you got the boat, you got Jesus. Number one, the storm is an example of
unexpected problems.

The unexpected and fierce nature of the storms on this lake of Galilee. It's a
natural wind funnel and this calm lake can suddenly turn into a turbulent and
destructive force. Our lives are like that.

The storms come on suddenly and we often, we don't know what direction they're
coming from. When's the next disaster going to come? When am I next going to be
hit?

In January of 1986, I heard a sermon on a boat crossing the Lake of Galilee
about this very passage of scripture and the person talking talked about how
storms come up suddenly. God knew I needed that message. He knew that before I
left that trip to Israel, I'd get the news from home that my mom was going to
have to have an operation for cancer.

Cancer we didn't know that she had. He knew that the next month that a flood
would hit our home and destroy our home, many of the members of our church's
home and the church we were in. He knew that later that year my beloved
grandmother would go to be with him in heaven.

I knew none of those things. I don't say that to scare you to death like what
terrible things could happen next. We all know the ups and downs of life.

And although maybe so many things don't happen all at once in our lives, we've
all seen that they do sometimes. And if I'm placing my faith on the fact that
there are no storms, that there's a calm sea, I'm placing my faith in the wrong
place. You don't place your faith in the calm sea, you place your faith in Jesus
Christ.

But they were afraid. They were worried. The unexpected problems of life.

It's a good reason to worry. They were worried also because of the overwhelming
circumstances of life. They saw the waves.

These were fishermen. They knew about boats. These were big waves.

They knew they could be swamped. We worry not just about what could possibly be,
we worry about what already is. These disciples, they're going through a great
picture of what we face.

They not only see the storm on the horizon, they see the waves in their boat.
You've got waves in your boat. It can be overwhelming.

And so it's a good reason to worry, if you're going to worry. They also had the
boat. The boat is an example of inadequate resources.

If they'd been on a cruise ship rather than this little smaller fishing boat,
they wouldn't have been worried. When we look at the resources that we have and
we're sure that they're not enough to meet the need that's in front of us,
that's why we worry. And then there's a fourth reason they worried.

Jesus was asleep. Jesus was asleep and they had the feeling because of that, I'm
all alone. They look back.

Jesus is catching a nap. He's just ministered to thousands of people and they're
going to meet many more people. So Jesus sleeps while traveling from one side of
the Sea of Galilee to the other.

Can you imagine their eyes on him as this storm is increasing in strength? The
worse the storm got, the more sure they were that they were going to have to
wake him up at any moment. Shouldn't he be awakened by the storm?

And then they begin to have this conversation. I can imagine you wake him up.
I'm not waking him up.

The last time I woke him up, he told me to go walk on water. You wake him up.
They felt all alone.

You felt like that. Maybe even this week. The worse that life gets, the more you
wonder where God is in all of this.

And you can live there with worries, causes, or you can live in a different
place with a different promise. Because in this same story, we have worries,
cures. How is worry solved in my life?

Do three things. First, you ask for help. They woke Jesus up and they said,
"Jesus, we need your help.

" There came a moment when their fears were so great they had to wake Jesus up.
Worriers that remain worriers are reluctant to ask for help. It may be that
they're embarrassed to admit their needs.

It may be that they think no one cares. It may be that you're convinced that no
one else is capable. It may be simply that you're scared, but you won't ask for
help.

And so you just keep on worrying. Ask God to help you. If there's a worry that's
overwhelming you, ask him to help you right now.

Ask for help. Number two, increase your faith. Jesus woke up.

He calmed the storm and then he said to them, "Oh, you have little faith. " Now,
am I telling you that you worry because you don't have enough faith? No, I'm
not.

Jesus is. Jesus is saying the reason we worry is we have a lack of faith. Now,
it's important to remember that the disciples, they had a good reason for worry.

This was a real storm that could have really swamped their boat. Jesus' "you
have little faith" statement reminds us that even when there's a good enough
reason for worry, worry is always counterproductive. It always steals life from
you.

Now, the question is, how do you increase your faith when you're faced with so
many circumstances that would cause you to worry? And the answer is the same
experiences that are opportunities to worry are also opportunities for faith.
Those of you who are great worriers can also be great people of faith.

Why? Because you're honest about your circumstances. You don't live in denial.

You see what's coming. Some people, they walk through life clueless. That's why
they don't worry.

They don't even know the storms that are around them, but not you. So you worry
about the future, or you see it coming. You see what could happen.

Choose to put faith in God at that point. You can be a great person of faith.
You ask for help.

You increase your faith. And the third thing you do is you acknowledge God's
control. What happens in this chapter in this story is almost humorous, except
that it reminds us so much of ourselves.

The disciples are about to die of worry, and Jesus calmly says, "Wind, be still.
Waves, quiet down. " And they did.

And Jesus goes back to sleep, and the disciples are left with their mouths wide
open, "Who is this? " He even causes the winds to be calmed. They had God in
their boat.

God commands galaxies with a word. He holds together molecules by His power.
There is no situation that can come about in your life over which He does not
ultimately have control.

Why do we worry? We try to do what only God can do. We try to control the
uncontrollable.

We try to explain the unexplainable. We try to get the ungettable. We try to
stop the unstoppable.

We try to do the undoable. We try to bear the unbearable. We try to fix the
unfixable instead of trusting in the God of the universe.

Worry is dealt a fatal blow with these four words. God is in control. Now, those
of us that worry can worry even about worrying.

So instead of worrying about being a worrier, let's give it to God right now.
Let's ask Him to do something new in our lives. Our Father, we come to You.

We want to trust in You. And the thing that I'm worrying about, I open my hands.
I recognize that You're in control over even that.

And although I may not understand the circumstances, although I may not see the
future, I do see Your love for me. I do see the promise of Your Word. I do see
that I can trust You.

And so I trust You now. I trust You with even this. I acknowledge Your control.

I ask You to increase my faith, and I ask for Your help. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Tomorrow in Luke chapter 9, we're going to see that the intensity of Jesus'
ministry begins to rise.