Okay, now you can hear me. All right, we're gonna go ahead and get our time underway. If you're out in the church lobby, you could be moving this way, that would be terrific. All right. We want to begin this morning, as you can see, we're going to be in Luke chapter 8. Before we actually get into that, what I want to do is I'm going to have the three people who are doing dig classes beginning next week to give you a little preview of what they're going to be doing. So I'm going to invite them up in just a moment. Before we do that, we want to begin with a word of prayer. So let's ask the Lord's blessing upon our Sunday school time today. Father, I thank you for our morning together so far. Thank you for the morning service. We pray your blessing now upon our Sunday school time. May this be a fruitful time for us as we continue to think about this idea of only trusting you. I pray, Father, that this would be an encouraging time for us and then you would bless our fellowship time downstairs and then our afternoon service. Thank you, Father, for this extended period of time we have to be together. May it be fruitful for Your honor. We pray this in Jesus' name and for His sake. Amen. Alright, we'll ask Deborah if she wants to come forward and share just a little bit from the ladies' perspective. This is the ladies' class, so sorry guys. You can hear what they're going to be talking about, but you'll have to ask your wife if you want a weekly synopsis. Or that works. So we're going to be doing Living in the Real, Biblical Realities for Life, sort of a survey of key Bible doctrines, but looking at how to apply those to everyday living. So we'll be looking at who God is, some of his attributes, how he relates to us, how to be in right relationship, Christ's high priestly ministry right now, the church, rewards and the judgment for the saved and the unsaved. And we'll do this sort of on an alternating pattern of looking at a doctrine and then digging into a case study to evaluate some problem, some situation, and either how the people are responding and what that shows about what they believe, or how they should respond based on the doctrine. This is going to be a two-quarter class. because we're just gonna take our time and not rush through these things. So if you feel like you already know these doctrines and you feel pretty confident, come join us for some good discussions and some application. If you feel like you're a little rusty on these things, maybe you can't articulate these truths, this would be a great time to come in here and see if you can latch on to some of these important things. All right, great. So that'll take you to summertime, folks. That's pretty good, right? All right, Brian? Brian has a strong voice, I think. I'm a teacher with a voice, right? Well, for one thing, I say a strong voice, but the class that I'll be doing is not primarily my voice. It's a video series we're going to be looking at. I'm being asked to go this way. a video series we'll be looking at to start with. Done by Summit Ministries. Many of you are familiar with that out of Colorado. It's a neat worldview focused group. But it won't be just videos. We will plan some discussion time and some Application time as well each week, but we're going to start with the discussion called the secret battle of ideas about God This is again. Why why do we believe what we believe and how do we apply that to today's world? Familiar there was a book came out written by the same one of the main speakers in this but there's a series of interviews and other things we'll be looking at in that and then Because that, as I look at it, that won't fill up the whole time, I put on there as well, continuing with a related series on a Christian response to both atheism, this whole concept of how could a loving God exist in a world with so much evil and suffering and all that, and then certainly the term that I guess today we call gender identity, for lack of a better term. There are probably other terms if you're a little older you would use, but how do we lovingly respond to that? From a Christian argument, we have to know what we believe, why we believe, and how to lovingly respond to it. The series are just excellent speakers. People that do this professionally, this is what they do, is speak on these topics. They'll be able to watch some of their discussions and then apply it, look at the scripture behind it ourselves in the time that remains in the DIG class every week. So I'm looking forward to that. But again, you won't have to hear my voice a lot if you come out to that class. So I don't know if that's a, hopefully that's an enticement to come out. But I don't know, we know what room we're doing these in yet, Dr. Breher. We'll talk about it here. We'll talk about it, okay. But I hope to come see you next Sunday at that. Thank you. All right, Rick III is also teaching a class. He was supposed to, he has something else that he's working on during this time, but he was supposed to be ready to come, he probably forgot. So let me just read here. He will be teaching biblical finances. So, if you have any questions about what biblical finances is, just look him up during lunchtime if you would, or sometime between now and next Sunday, and I'm sure he'll explain that to you. He's taught this before, so I think you'll find this something rewarding and beneficial if you need some help there. Yes, Dr. Brea? I just mentioned with his life, too, he had some wonderful resources that he will be giving you. So also a source of resources that he'll be able to provide for you as well. So something beneficial and encourage you to choose one of these classes and be a part of it. This of course is first quarter so this will take us through March and then we will reset again for our time together second quarter. Alright, any questions on any of that for Sunday school dig classes next week? Alright, my time, I knew I was taking up part of my time for them to share with you. There's Rick now. We'll see if he... Alright, we already gave a little synopsis, but you can add more to it. So go ahead and just give them a quick review. Pound Financial, Pound Financial, they have a nice little workbook. And if you like a little homework at home, no tests, no pop quizzes. But it's kind of a 10-unit. Each week, we focus on something different. So the books have been ordered. If you would like one, I'll give you one in class. And the sessions are unwavering hope, depending on how you feel financially. Gives you a little hope from scripture, the plan, ditching debt, save it, investing, good work, generous living. pay it forward, truly rich, and there's a choice. So there is some financial basics, some common sense stuff, but it's also, there's a lot of scriptural elements as well, so it shouldn't be one difficulty. Amen, thank you, good. All right, so prayerfully consider which one of those classes you will benefit from, and we'll look forward to starting those next week. Just a little FYI, I will be, next week, maybe the following week, I'll be meeting with a couple of folks about membership, so if anyone else would be interested and you haven't already talked to me about that, please do so, because I know sometime here in January, we hope to be able to bring another 3 or 4 or 5, however many we can into membership. Alright, so we'll look forward to that. Having said that, we're in Luke chapter 8 and it's now 825 by the clock back there. Let's see, that's the same on my iPad, so I guess that's about right. We're clearly not going to have time to cover everything that I had planned on covering but that's why I did the PowerPoint because if nothing else I can power through some of these points. Alright. At least Andy gave me one of those courtesy smiles like, alright he tried, that's good. So we will work our way through this, but this is a very familiar passage I mentioned this morning. We're talking about our theme, Only Trust Him. This is our theme for 2025, Only Trust Him. In our morning service, we talked about passing the test of trust. And we went through the first two of three points from Genesis 22. We'll be finishing that in the afternoon service after our lunch today. So if you missed it for some reason earlier, you'll have a chance to at least catch that third point. In the interim, in the middle, We're looking from a New Testament perspective, another example of only trusting Him. And this is from another familiar story. So, Luke chapter 8. I'm going to read beginning in verse 22 and read through verse 25. So, not a very long passage, but one that I think you are familiar with, but one also that teaches us some important lessons. So Luke records, Now it came to pass on a certain day that he went into a ship with his disciples and said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to him and awoke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this? For he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him." So only trust Him, but now looking at it from the standpoint that we can trust Him, trusting Him informs how we face the storms of life. So here we have an example of a storm that the disciples faced physically in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. But of course, metaphorically, we can see in this lessons about the storms we face, which are not necessarily a storm of wind on a lake that threatens to engulf our little boat so that we sink. It may be some other kind of storm, financial, emotional, physical. They may take many kinds of shapes and they come in many different sizes, but we're all familiar with the concept of storms. The miracle of Jesus calming the storm is here the first of a series of miracles. We studied through Mark recently, the last couple of years or so. From Luke's perspective, We find that this particular miracle is the first of a series of miracles that culminates in Peter's confession in chapter 9, verse 20. Of course, Peter's confession, the great confession, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. Now, these miracles have much to teach us about who Jesus is, and they teach us about what it means to us as we face trials, who He is, what that means to us as we face trials in life. These miracles show that Jesus is in control. And since He is in control, we must trust Him in the storms of life. So trusting Him only really does answer the question of what do we do when we face storms in life. And this particular instance and others that follow are demonstrating a reality that Peter, speaking on behalf of the other disciples, came to recognize only Messiah, only the Son of God, could accomplish what He accomplished. And what that simply means for you and me practically is, He is in control. Even in the storms of life, He is in control. Therefore, we must trust Him. So, that brings us to that very first point. Jesus controls everything. He spoke the worlds into existence. Our memory verse in January, we set it together this morning, John 1, 1-2, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. And then, what does the next verse say He is responsible for? All things were created by Him. Everything. He created. So when we read in Genesis how God spoke everything into existence. That speaking was none other than God the Son. God the Son spoke. He is the creator of all things. So, that being the case, it's no big deal for Him to speak to the wind and waves and have them obey Him. From your standpoint and my standpoint, yeah, this is impossible for a man to speak and control a storm. But He is God who created all the conditions that led to that storm. And as the One who controls everything, by whom everything consists, Colossians 1 tells us, He holds everything together by the word of His power. Then for Him to control the elements of the storm, be it a physical storm or be it the various circumstances of our lives, is no big thing. It's a question of, do we trust Him? Do we believe? Do we trust what He says? So, for the disciples, they are undergoing a growing awareness of who Jesus is. So, they're slowly getting there. They really don't get it until the day of Pentecost, right? In Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit descends upon them and dwells them. And then, finally, everything that Jesus said begins to fit together. All the pieces come together. But they're learning, they're growing in their knowledge. You and I have the benefit of reading passages like this where they physically experience this miracle, but the record of this miracle is to benefit us because we can, through them, learn the lesson that they were taught. Jesus is in control of all the storms of life. Whatever form, whatever fashion, He is in control. So, when we say that, we have to recognize a few things. Number one, He controls our path. The fact that He controls everything is a reminder to us that He controls our path. Even those that lead to storms. Isn't this an important thing for us to remember? Nothing surprises Him, folks. There is no circumstance in my life or your life that, you know, speaking as a fool, God would say, oh, I didn't see that coming. God knows your tomorrow. He knows your next week. He knows your next year. He is not surprised by whatever 2025 has in store for us. And we all have high expectations, right? But in any given year, we know things happen. Some wonderful things and some not so wonderful things. But here is the encouragement that we should take away as we think about only trusting Him. No day, no event in 2025 will surprise Him. And He is in control. So as He directs my path, Wherever my path takes me, whatever I experience in that path, it is by the providence of God. He is the one that led me there. He controls my path. So, did he know what they were getting into? When he said in this passage, let us go over in verse 22 under the other side of the lake. Did he know what was going to happen when they went out on that lake? Absolutely, didn't surprise him. So that's what makes it all the more interesting that when they got in that boat and they start to cross to the other side and Jesus knowing the storm that's building, goes to sleep. I'll say more about that in a moment. He knew they would encounter this storm and another interesting observation. Most of these men were veteran fishermen. They had been raised on the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is not really a sea. It's a lake. The Lake Gennesaret you might sometimes see in maps. This is an interesting lake. It's 13 miles long. It's seven miles wide. But it occupies a depression in the ground that is 700 feet below sea level. So when you're on the surface of the Sea of Galilee, if you could draw a straight line through what is called the Cisjordan Mountains, That's the mountains that form what we call Judea, Samaria, Galilee. If you could draw a straight line from the waterline of the Sea of Galilee through those mountains to the Mediterranean Sea, in our minds, we would say, well, it would be the beach. You would come out on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea, right? No, you would come out hundreds of feet under sea level. This is a depression. This is a hole in the ground hundreds of feet lower than the Mediterranean Sea. Now, why is that significant? Well, it's surrounded by mountains that rise 2,000 feet above sea level. So if you have these mountains that are 2,000, the peaks are 2,000 feet above sea level and you're on a body of water that is hundreds of feet below sea level, what do you imagine is going to happen with the winds that would be blowing off the Mediterranean Sea when they hit those mountains, when they funnel down into the valleys of those mountains? What's going to happen when those winds then begin to flow out across the Sea of Galilee. What do those winds have to do? This isn't, you know, science class, but just trying to get the picture in our minds. And there's a wonderful thing about living in the mountains. In West Virginia, we really don't have to worry about tornadoes. Now, there are tornadoes in other states around us, but, you know, what happens to the wind when it comes into West Virginia and hits those mountains? It just bounces around unless occasionally those winds just happen to be blowing in the right direction to get funneled down into a valley. Then you got a problem. There are occasions when the wind is blowing off the Mediterranean Sea in just the right direction where it funnels down into a valley but it's a valley that is dropping down. Do you get it? you're dropping from sea level hundreds of feet down, going through a valley that is going down, that means the winds are gonna pick up speed. Issue out across the Sea of Galilee, there are those occasions when these storms of wind, when you're in a small sailboat, I mean we look at these boats, they're not ships, These are craft that were made for fishing. Maybe you could have a few people in the boat, but you're not talking about something that's 50 feet long or 100 feet long. These winds, when they come gushing out across that water, they create havoc. If you notice, what is this storm called? As they fell asleep and there came a storm of wind in verse 23. It was a storm of wind. So we don't think, oh, it's gotta be lightning and thunder and it could have been clouds because there's a front moving in or whatever. But the point is the issue, the danger was the wind. Those little boats out in the middle of the water are gonna be tossed to and fro every which way. In fact, men who had made a living on that sea were fearful for their lives. So that means this was a storm that was unusual. Not only was it one of those kinds of storms because of the topography, but it was made even worse. Now the passage doesn't tell us, so I can't be dogmatic. I can't help but wonder if the God of this world thought that He would do something to, at the very least, embarrass Jesus by sinking the boat with those men on it. I don't know. I can't be dogmatic about that, alright? But I can say, whatever happened, it made this storm such that even these seasoned sailors, experienced men on the Sea of Galilee were fearful for their very lives. So it was unexpected. And it was something beyond the normal experience of these men. It must have been quite a storm for these men to have been this way. And that, of course, is just a reminder for us. When serious trials hit us, we sometimes think, and this is kind of piggybacking on this morning's message, sometimes we wonder about the source of a trial. Especially when they are something like this storm. Beyond the norm. Unexpected. We didn't see it coming. Pop quiz, if you want to call it that. We sometimes say, well, the Lord didn't cause this trial. He only allowed it. And I think they're getting God off the hook. Sometimes we say, well, this is Satan. It's not God. And we think we're getting God off the hook, but we have to understand, can Satan do anything that God did not allow him to do? Could Satan touch Job without God allowing him to touch Job? So Job may have been the one putting those plagues on Job, but at the end of the day, it could not have happened if God didn't allow it. So my point is simply this, in those trials of life, in those storms of life, sometimes unexpected, sometimes beyond our understanding, how could this happen? Why did it happen to me? Why is it this fierce? We have to recognize that God is in control and He is both loving And He is sovereign, isn't He? God is love. And even in those storms, is His love any less for us than in the times we are not in the storm? No, you could make the theological argument that it is precisely in those times of storm that God is demonstrating His love to us in a way we could not understand if we never had a storm. We need the storm so that we can recognize His mercy and His grace and His provision. Otherwise, we would be prone to get an attitude fostered within us that we don't really need God. Because everything's going great. Everything's going great. Why do we need to turn to Him? So we need these storms as reminders sometimes just how important He is to us. He is in control of everything, even our path. Now there's some features of this storm that I think are important. Storms hit suddenly without warning. Well, that's the nature of trials. You know, we can't look on a calendar and say, oh, March 3rd, I need to be ready on March 3rd, I'm gonna have a bad day. Doesn't work that way, right? Because it could be January 6th. Excuse me. Could be a bad day. Or not. By their very nature, they're sudden without warning. Storms hit believers. We find that Mark tells us that there were other boats. In Mark's rendition of this, there were some other boats with them. They weren't the only boat. I mean, after all, the Sea of Galilee was not exclusive to Jesus and the disciples. So there would have been other boats out in the water beyond the one Jesus and the disciples were in. Now that being the case, what we simply deduce is that storm of wind, not only was it something for those who did not know Jesus to have to deal with, but it's something that God's people, those disciples had to deal with too. The point being, storms affect believers too. Hurricanes. You may have seen pictures down in Western North Carolina. Western North Carolina, that's like the buckle of the Bible Belt, right? And there were so many churches that were also affected by that flooding. Christians' homes were washed away, not just non-Christians. The idea of trials is not that we are magically exempt because we happen to be Christians. And then thirdly, storms hit obedient believers who were serving God. So they hit believer, non-believer alike, but even those who are faithfully walking with Christ suffer from difficulties. He says, let's go to the other side. They obeyed. He led them straight into a storm. He knew That that's what they were gonna face. But he's using the storm to teach them a lesson. Let's build on this a little bit further really quickly. I know my time is waning here. Sometimes it seems that you're alone in the storm. Now I mentioned, what did we find Jesus doing when they got in the boat? He went to sleep. Now what's even more remarkable is, they're in a boat that's in danger of sinking. And he's still asleep. Could most of us sleep through that kind of circumstance? I mean, that boat wasn't like this and he's sleeping. That boat would have been all over the place. And he's still asleep. Because he was unaware of the storm? No, he knew they would face the storm when they set out to cross to the other side. It was by his leading. that they're going to the other side. He knew they would face the storm, so why did he go to sleep? I mean, wouldn't it have been, from our perspective, better if he said, hey, listen, guys, we need to go to the other side, but as we're crossing, we're going to face a storm, but I don't want you to worry, because I'm gonna be with you, and I'm gonna take care of the storm, so I'm just warning you ahead of time that the storm is gonna come, and just, you know, it's gonna be okay. And by the way, James, tie that down over there so we don't lose it. I mean, yeah, wouldn't that have been great if Jesus had told the, why didn't he tell that to the disciples? Because they would not have learned the same lesson and it would not have had the same impact on you and me. We may feel like we're alone. Where's God in this storm? Is he asleep? Well, rest assured that God is alert and He knows the storm that you're going to face in coming days, and He'll be with you through that storm. I was listening to a song recently, some folks were singing, and they were singing about the footprint in the sand. You've probably read the poem, maybe you've heard the song. And just, you know, it was an encouragement and a reminder to me that sometimes in those dark storms of life when I'm tempted to think that I'm all alone and where is God in this problem? And when I get to the other side and I turn back and I look and there's only one set of footprints but they're not my sized footprint. Because what does God do when we're in the storm? He picks us up and carries us through. And He does, doesn't He? That's why Peter says we can cast all of our anxiety on Him. Why? Because He cares about us. He cares. So we're not alone in this storm. Oh, I got to hit the right button. iPads don't work to the Mac. I don't know, you got to hit the Mac if you want to go to the next slide. In reality, you are never alone. You are, okay, disregard the fact that I put those two together. It's either you were or you are, not you are, you are. You're never alone in the storms of life. Hebrews 13, 5, we have that promise, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And we've talked about that verse before because that verse literally, grammatically in Greek is a double and a triple negative. We can't do that in English. In English, you're gonna have your English teacher, you know, Miss Pantaleon is going to bring out a red pen and say, no, you can't do this. But in other languages like Greek, they do use double and triple negatives and the more negatives is the more emphasis on the point. He says, I will never, never leave you. I will never, never, never forsake you. Now, saying it once is sufficient. Saying it twice or three times is his way of saying, look, I want you to get the point. I'm not gonna leave you. You're not going to be alone. Never are you alone. The Lord is always with us. Think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel chapter 3. They would not bow down to that image. They're thrown into that fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar looks into the furnace. The heat was such that even those who threw them in the furnace succumbed to the heat themselves." And he looks in and they're no longer bound because the ropes burned off. And there aren't three, there are four. The fourth is lack unto the Son of God. They weren't alone. So, since Jesus is in control of the storm, trust Him. Recognize that storms can expose your lack of trust. piggybacking from this morning. Why does God allow it? Because we need to know something about ourselves. Storms reveal your distorted view of the problem, of yourself, and sometimes your distorted view of the Lord himself. A storm should drive you to trust the Lord. I'm in the storm, sorry. Almost finished. The better you know the Lord, the better you can trust him. The bigger the storm, the more the Lord will glorify, be glorified when you trust Him. So, only trust Him. Obviously, we're gonna be reviewing this again this afternoon, the third point from this morning about the test of trust. and then we'll revisit this idea in these next few weeks. So, the challenge is only trust Him. In a storm of life, that is God actually wanting to bless us by demonstrating to us that yes, we are absolutely totally dependent upon Him, but He is faithful. Isn't that wonderful? He is faithful. I may not always be faithful, but He always is faithful. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the opportunity that we have to think about this theme, Only Trust Him. Lord, we've tried to drive this point home in our service this morning, in our Sunday school time now. We'll hit it again this afternoon, but I pray that it won't simply be an intellectual thing that we can say, oh yeah, we just trust Him, but that we will, in a practical manner, be able to make application. Lord, none of us desire to go through grave difficulties or hard tests, and sometimes we fail tests just like Abraham. But Lord, we're so grateful that you are faithful, that we can trust you. Help us, Lord, to grow in our confidence in you. And Lord, may you be honored through our lives, even as we face this new year. Bless the food downstairs to our bodies. I trust, Lord, that you'd bless our fellowship around the table. Thank you for all those who contributed to the meal. May you bless them and those who are preparing things for us even now. And Lord, may we honor you through this time of fellowship and conversation, and then may you bless our time as we come back upstairs. We'll give you the glory as we pray this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, it's time to eat. So let's go downstairs and eat, thank you.