Title: A Greater Security amidst a Great Storm

Text: Matthew 8:23-27

Intro:

Good morning everyone, especially to our visitors. On behalf of Grace Baptist Church we
would like to welcome you all this morning and we are so glad that we can worship with you this
day.

-This morning we to study and meditate upon the word of the Lord (not mine, not from anyone
inside this church) and the reasons why we are to study God’s word is for us to be blessed, for us
to be encourage, for us to be enrich. For God’s word is full of blessings, it is rich in hope and
encouragements for our lives. Again, it is the Lord who will speak to us this morning, so it is my
prayer that may we open hearts and our minds, and set aside every differences that we have and
let us whole heartedly received God’s blessings from His word this morning. Can I get an amen?
(pray)

-And as I said earlier, one of the reasons we are to study the word of God from the bible is for us
to received blessings, for us to be encouraged in life. For I believed meron po tayong kanya
kanyang pinag dadaanan sa buhay. Meron po tayong kanya kanyang problema at pagsubok. Sa
trabaho, sa pamilya, sa kalusugan, sa pinansyal and many other personal struggles in life that
brings hardships, distress, most of the time tears and emotional breakdown. Nasasabi natin na
ayoko na, suko na ako, hindi ko na kaya.

-And you know what, life that is full of problems, full of difficulties, full of challenges and full
of hardships, human as we are we all want assurance, we all want security in life. We all want
our tomorrow to be alright in spite of all the problems we are having right now.

-We all want to overcome all the challenges that we facing right now. Security and assurance of
life, of our future. And most the people find their security and assurance is on the things
that they have and want to have- money (pag marami kang pera people are saying
maganda at maayos and buhay), material possessions (pag marami kang material na bagay
masagana ang buhay at masaya), careers (pag may maayos ka na trabaho aasenso ka). You
know what these are all true, but placing our hope, our security on these things will never
bring real and long lasting assurance in our lives.

- It will never bring security, for as what the bible tells us in Matt. 6:19 (“Do not lay up for
yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal”)
meaning to say all the treasures- money, material possessions that we have pwedeng mawala,
pwedeng maubos, pwedeng masunog, pwedeng mabulok, pwedeng manakaw. It is all
temporary.

-And if we find our security and hope with all these things, that only means, our security,
assurance and hope are temporary as well. Hindi po yun magtatagal.

-If we place our security with these things (money, material possessions and careers, yung
seguridad ng buhay natin pwede mawala, pwede pong manakaw, pwede pong maubos.
Nakukuha niyo po?

-So, the question to us this morning with all the problems, with all the hardships and with all the
challenges that you and I are facing and experiencing right now, where we should place our
security, assurance and hope? Saan ba natin dapat ilagay o ipagkatiwala and mga bagay na to?

Matthew 8:23-27 (Read)

-This is one of the famous events on the bible, in where the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ
face one of their greatest problem and challenge in life, being in the midst of a great storm (na
kung saan yung buhay nila yung pwedeng mawala) and just a little background of this story
before these things took place. Beginning in chapter 5 of the book of Matthew ,Jesus begins to
minister to people together with His disciples with His various teachings or what called the
Sermon on the Mount. Where Jesus gave sermons about a lot of truth and principles and
commands– the beatitudes, being the salt and the light, the laws, about anger, about lust, about
divorce, vows, about retaliation, about loving enemies, giving to the needy, about prayer, about
fasting, about money, about worrying, about judging others, about asking, seeking and knocking,
about the way to heaven. And He performed miracles, healing a man with leprosy, healing a
paralyzed man and healing peter’s mother. And all these took several days.
-Hindi lang po isang araw nangyare and lahat ng to. After this, immediately Christ with His
disciples got into a boat to minister to the other side of the sea of Galilee. And there was the
great storm that brought a great distress and a great fear to the disciples that made the disciples
worry and panic about their lives. And as they woke up the Lord Jesus Christ, He responded with
the, “O you of little faith, why are you so afraid” and Jesus rebuked the winds and the waves.
And there was a complete calm.

-You know what, like the disciples we have our own problems, fears, storms in life. Amen? Like
the disciples we are worrying so much, we are panicking and most the time we don’t know what
to do. like the disciples in this event, they want to be saved, they want their lives to be secured.
And as I said human as we are we want security, we want assurance with our life and future,
with the storm that we are facing in our lives.

-Now there 3 truths that we can learn upon this disciple’s experience being in the midst of a great
storm that we can apply in our lives. A Greater Security amidst a Great Storm

I. The disciples ask the Lord to save them in the storm (v.23-25)

-Cleary in this event the disciples are so terrified for there was a great storm right before their
eyes. And their boat is being swamped by the waves caused by this great storm. So, they asked
the Lord Jesus to save them before this great storm.

-Now before we go on to their cry to Jesus, let us look on this event deeply. For we will consider
and look back. Most of the disciples of Jesus were fishermen (mga mangingisda po sila) Matt.
4:18-22

-While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and
Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.  And he said to
them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and
followed him. 

And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his
-

brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called
them.  Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
-And if most of these disciples were fishermen, they can anticipate if there will be a storm to
come and they can tell by just seeing the sky that it is not a good time sail, kasi alam na alam po
ng mga mangigngisda, kung uulan ba, kung malakas ba ang alon, kung galit ba ang dagat. Alam
po nila yan. But here in this event, they did not anticipate and see that there is a great storm
to come.

-Secondly, fishermen are not afraid to drown. Bakit po? Magagaling yan lumganoy. Bihira po
ang isang mangingisda na malunod. But in this event the disciples told Jesus that they are going
to drown. In spite of their knowledge, in spite of their capability, in spite of the things that they
know and the things they can do, in the midst of the great storm they had been helpless and
vulnerable.

-Their weakness had been evident and the only thing that they can do it to turn to their Master
and plead for help, plead to save their lives for they cannot help and save themselves.

-If I may ask you, amidst of your storms in life, problems, difficulties, challenges and
distress, how many times you trusted your wisdom, your capability, your resources and
how many times you called and trust the Lord?

-You know what like the disciples, yes, we have our own knowledge, we have our own good
abilities, but there will always come a time that a great storm will come into our lives that
will make us feel helpless, will make us weak, that we will see ourselves incapable of solving
this kind of problem, it will seem that we are empty handed, that we cannot do anything,
and that is the time to draw near and depend on God’s help.

-At katulad ng mga disipolong ito. Akala nila okay mag layag, pero biglang may malakas na
bagyong sumalubong sakanila, meron ding mga panahon na akala natin maayos at okay ang lahat
sa buhay, tapos biglang susulpot ang malaking problem na hindi natin inaasahan, na hindi tayo
handa. Meron pong ganito, amen po?

-And ang panalangin ko po ay, ito ay maging paalala satin lahat, that every time we experience
a sudden storm, a sudden problem, a sudden challenge in life. The first thing we should do,
is not to trust ourselves, our wisdom and capabilities, not to depend on the things we have
and possess, but we are to call, depend and trust in the Lord.
-Every opportunity of fear and uncertainties are opportunities to trust God, to call and to
depend.

II. Jesus calmed the storm to encourage their faith (v. 26)

-The first thing that Jesus did in response to their request was not rebuking the storm but to
rebuke the weak faith of His disciples: “O you of little faith, why are you afraid?”

- They were right to ask Jesus to save them--and their request shows that they had faith that
Christ could save them. But it was their fear and great distress that implies the weakness of their
faith.

-They were in a panic when they came to Him as if they are going to die already, not in
confidence. Christ did not rebuke them for waking Him to ask Him to save them, but for waking
Him in fear as if they forgot who Jesus was.

-(Parang nakalimutan na nila kung sino si Kristo) if we will consider, they had been with Jesus
for over a year since this event, dapat mas may tiwala at mas malago na ang pananamanpalataya
ng mga disipolong ito. Nakita nila kung sino si Kristo at ano yung mga bagay na kaya niyang
gawin.

-But sad to say, this storm on the sea terrified them and they thought they were going to drown,
they are going to die and even though in their presence was the Lord Jesus Christ. “Why are you
so afraid?”

- It is a rhetorical question not meant to be answered, but meant to tell them that since He was
there, they had nothing to fear. (kasama mo si Kristo hindi ka dapat balutin ng takot) Jesus Christ
is practically telling His disciples, bakit kayo takot na takot? Hindi niyo ba kilala kung sino
ang kasama niyo?

-Why are you so afraid like you are going to die, if you are with the one who raise people from
the dead, who can heal all kinds of dieses with just uttered words. Why are you so afraid of
that storm above if you are with the God who is above all?
-“O you of little faith” I think kapatid… you are too bothered and worried on what you see, that
you do not recognize and acknowledge who are with right now. Then, after this Jesus rebuked
the winds and the waves and they became calm.

- Here we see the power of His word over nature. He had already done miracles by His powerful
word, and now here He did another over the storm.  

-This is a miracle by Christ, demonstrating His power over the storm. The effect of Jesus’
powerful command was not only to calm the storm on the sea, but also to calm the fears of His
disciples.

-Christ brought calmness to their troubled hearts, taking away their fears and building a greater
faith in Him.

-Church, You know what like the disciples, most of the time God is allowing challenging
things and events happen in our lives for us not to be in fear, for us not to be in pain and
distress but for us to draw near to the Lord, in trusting Him and growing of faith in Him.

-For most of the time we are in the midst of a great storm in life, we are also in fear, we are also
in great distress. Takot tayo lalo kapag hindi na natin alam yung gagawin, pero ito po yung sakit
natin mga tao,..

-In times of great troubles and problems, we are being blinded by our fears and negative
emotion (hindi ko na kaya to, parang gusto ko na sumuko, wala na atang solusyon to) that we
are not seeing the goodness, the working and the power of God in our lives.

-Church, You know what…… the fact that you and I are still here at nalagpasan natin yung
kasagsagan ng pandemic at lockdown, patunay yun na nakapabuti ng Dios, patunay yun na hindi
tayo pinabayaan ng Dios, patunay yun na tinulungan tayo ng Dios sa gitna ng malaking
pagsubok sa buhay natin.

-Alam niyo po hindi masamang matatok at mangamba kapag may malaking pagsubok sa buhay,
natural po yun sa tao. It is a human emotion, a human response.

-But may this be a challenge to us starting this day, that every time we experience or face
problems and hardship, we are not to be in so much fear and distress, for God is always with us
and He wants to make our faith and trust grow.
-James 1:2-4 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know
that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  And let steadfastness have its full effect,
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” Remember this, even in times of
trials the all-powerful and limitless God is always with us and in times of trials let our
sorrow turn into joy for by it our faith on God can grow.

III. The disciples are amazed at Jesus power (v. 27)

-The disciples were in awe, their response was amazement! Sobrang pag ka mangha ng mga
disipolo for they had never seen anything like this.

-And so their question is “What kind of man is this?” It is a rhetorical question as well, not
designed to be answered, but to express the idea that there is no one like Jesus. 

The winds and the waves obey His voice,... kung imagining or isipin natin yun ano kaya yung
sinabi ng Dios upang huminto ang bagyo…

-Jesus was given the glory. For the disciples saw that Christ is far greater than the great
storm. He is far bigger than the big waves. Amidst of the great storm the disciples saw
greater security of life in Christ.

-Church, in this life it is full of difficulties, numerous problems, dragging challenges, we all want
security, we all want assurance, we all want joy and peace.

-We do not want to live in fear, pain, sorrow and distress. And all of these my friends and my
beloved in the Lord can be found not on money, not on material possessions, not on our wisdom
and capabilities but only on the presence of God’s glory and grace. Remember that the safest
place on this world is to be on the sphere of the will, glory and grace of God. …..Being in
God's will, glory, and grace is the safest place on this earth.

-You and I will always encounter troubles and hardships, but may the word of the Lord speak to
us this morning, that if problems are true so is the help of God, if there are uncertainties of life,
there is a certain security in God.
-Remember this, every time we face storms in life, do not fear, come to the Lord in prayer
with confidence and joy, trust Him and let Him amaze us.

-The Greatest security in life is found in the Lord not on the world.

-Let me close to this, when we speak of security, there is one major thing that we really need to
be secured in life. And that is the fact that “where we will spend our eternity when we die?” saan
nga po ba tayo mapupunta kapag namatay tayo. What will happen after our life here on earth?
The bible is clear that there are only 2 destinations of man once we die. Either we are to spend of
eternity in presence of God in heaven or out of His presence down in hell.

-Of course, human as we are we do not want to be in hell, gusto natin mapunta tayo sa langit, sa
presensya ng Dios. So how can we be assured or secured that we will spend our eternity with
God in heaven?

- Pano tayo makaksiguro na mapupunta tayo langit. Again, this is not my words, but this is of the
Lord’s. Look at this, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord” it is sad to say, but it is the reality. The wages of our sins is death
or eternal separation to God, we will be out of the presence of the Lord eternally.

- Ganun ka-ayaw ng Dios ang kasalanan. Kamatay o pagpunta sa impyerno ang kabayran. But
God cannot deny Himself, God is full of love, full of grace, full of mercy and forgiveness.
That’s why He has gift for us, and that is eternal life.

-A life full of comfort, peace and joy in the presence of God in heaven forever. Eto yung regalo
ng Dios sa atin, buhay na walang hanggan sa langit. Security of eternal life in heaven.

-At saan natin yun makikita, saan natin yun matatagpuan? In Christ Jesus our Lord. Again, this is
not my words, it is the word of God from the bible. And God do not lie, He is the God truth so
everything written and accounted in the bible are 100% reliable and true.

So again, saan atin matatagpuan yung buhay na walang hanggan? Is it in human religion? Is it
in human merit or good works? Is it on the way we live and how we treat other people?
- It is clear that God is telling His gift of eternal life is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is
reason why Christ died on the cross. To pay the penalty of our sins, para pag bayaran yung
kasalanan natin. Kasi hindi natin kayang bayaran ng kahit ano yun. Maraming nag sasabi maging
mabuting tao ka, wag manlamang, gumawa ka lang ng kabutihan mapupunta ka sa langit. Yun
yung magiging daan mo para tanggapin ka ng Dios sa langit.

-But if we look at what God said in Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God. Lahat po ay nag-kasala at wala ni isang makaabot sa kaluwalhatian ng Dios. Kaya kahit
anong mabuting gawa ang gawin natin habang nabubuhay, kahit kelan ay hindi yun magiging
sapat para tanggalin at pag bayaran ang kasalanan natin sa harap ng Dios.

-Again, that is the reason why Jesus Christ died on the Cross, for the forgiveness of our sins. For
our Salvation. Para sa ating kaligtasan. As what Hebrews 9:22 “without the shedding of blood
there is no forgiveness of sins.” Walang paglilinis sa ating kasalanan, walang magiging malinis
sa harap ng Dios, walang magiging katangap tangap sa langit, kung hindi namatay si Kristo para
satin.

-There will be no forgiveness of sin. As what John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

-Forgiveness, Security of life in heaven are can never be found outside Christ. Eph. 2:8-9 “For
by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not
of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ang daan patungo sa langit walang iba kundi si Kristo, not
by any means of good works, not by any kind of religion (kahit po yung Baptist hindi kayo
maliligtas)

-if you really want to have assured/secured of your life in heaven. “Where we will spend our
eternity when we die?” John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

-Security of life on earth and security of life in heaven is found in Christ.

-A Greater Security amidst a Great Storm.