In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the story of Jesus calming the storm in Matthew chapter 8, specifically verses 23-27. The disciples and Jesus were in a fishing boat when a great tempest arose, causing the disciples to fear for their lives. They woke Jesus up and pleaded for him to save them. Jesus rebuked their fear and then commanded the winds and sea to be calm, instantly bringing peace to the situation. The disciples were amazed at Jesus' power and wondered who he truly was.

Today I want to share with you from the Bible what a man of God said, one of the best things in the Bible. That's one of the most wonderful things that happened in the Bible. The smallest child can understand it. He took all the food in my womb. Still today the story is so wonderful that it has reached the highest level. And also so high and so deep that the worst person in the world cannot understand it all. That's one of the most wonderful things that happened in the Bible. And we find this word in Matthew chapter 8 from verse 23. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. Then his disciples came to him and awoke him saying, Lord save us, we are perishing. But he said to them, why are you fearful, O you of little faith? Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled saying, who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey him? When I started this morning preparing for this service, I thought I'd have three points. I thought I'd have three points. And as I was preparing, I noticed it was nearly 11 o'clock and I was still busy with the first point. I thought, well I'll have to leave the other points. And I had to agree with this man of God who said, there's such height and such depth in this portion. Jesus wanted to cross the sea of Galilee. So he went, got into the boat and his disciples followed him. The sea of Galilee is not all that big. Sometimes we imagine things differently. I remember years ago when I held some services along the coast here at Mshali. Yes, it does swell when it comes down in flood, but it's not big if you compare it with others. But there are hymns and choruses about the Jordan that we cross when we cross into the promised land. But in a spiritual sense, it's when we leave this world and go into eternity. But in a spiritual sense, it's when we leave this world and go into eternity. So one imagines the Jordan to be a big river when it actually isn't. So the sea of Galilee is also not that big. It's a few miles long. Maybe three miles long and two miles wide. Maybe one day one must do the exercise and actually measure it. But the sea of Galilee is surrounded by mountains right around. They are high mountains, around about a thousand feet, which surround the sea. And because of the conditions there, with the mountains all around and the valleys, these storms arise very suddenly with the wind blowing over the wind and very turbulent winds. So the sea can have extremely strong winds. It can have extremely calm conditions and moments later there can be a terrible storm when this wind arrives. And with the wind blowing against the mountains and from all sides, it becomes very turbulent, very stormy conditions. Jesus wanted to cross the sea from one side to the other shore. And he took his disciples along. He wanted to cross over to the other side because he was exhausted, extremely tired. He needed some rest and also time just to be quiet. We know about the Lord Jesus' ministry, his work of preaching and teaching and healing the sick. We know about this. And then once when I went to Russia, on that trip I was busy all the time. I was busy all the time. And on that trip we were busy, busy day and night, from one sick person to the other, one who needed help to the other, day and night. I was exhausted and then my eyes were opened and I said, Oh Lord, now I know the meaning of how busy you were. I am sorry I never realized what you went through. And then I went to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea. And then I went to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea. I remember once when I was in my room, I eventually said they should call a doctor because my heart was beating so strangely, I thought, well, I didn't realize that I'm coming to Russia to die here. And then I went to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea, to the other side of the sea. So Jesus got into the boat, I don't know whether you know what a fishing boat is like, it's not a comfortable luxury yacht, there's no couch, there's no comfort whatsoever, just a wooden bench. There's no roof, no shelter, so you're exposed to the elements, and especially when it's hot, it gets in the way. It's extremely hot there, but if it rains, you just get drenched. And so the Lord lay down on the bench, there was no pillow, no comfort whatsoever, the Bible even says foxes have their holes and birds have their nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest His head. And so, like it is when you are extremely exhausted, the Lord lay down on that bench, on that wooden bench, and He fell into deep sleep. He fell asleep, and when He woke up, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes were wide open, His eyes the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe, who holds the world in His hands, but here He takes on the flesh, and there He is prepared to go through all this, in spite of the fact that He has all this power within Him. It says that men will grow weary, and so will young men run and grow tired, but the shepherd of Israel will not grow weary, he will neither slumber nor sleep. But here we see the Almighty taking on the flesh, lowering Himself to this point. Why did He do it? Because of His love for you, that He became weaker and poorer than even you and I are, just to help us. So He became a servant, He became poor, that we would be poor, that we would be poor, that we may become rich. It was for our benefit that He did this, that He humbled Himself to this point. Can you imagine God, the Almighty, being prepared to do this for us? What does it do to you? What does it mean to you? You've got to really be inspired by hell, not to be moved by this. Here we realize how no man ever experienced such exhaustion, going through such suffering, but He, the shepherd of Israel, did it for us. The Lord's suffering did not start in the Garden of Gethsemane. No, it started right in the beginning when He started His ministry. It says that Lot, when he went to Sodom and Gomorrah, it says that his righteous soul was tormented day and night because of the words and the actions of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now if Lot suffered, how much more did our Lord suffer? He being God Himself, righteous, without blemish, totally blameless and innocent. When Lot was born, no angels announced His coming. But when Jesus was born, how didn't they announce His coming? What didn't He go through? Through Him, heaven and earth were shaken. But how doesn't He suffer? When He's amongst us, He hears the gossip. He hears what is being said. He sees what's being done. How mustn't that make Him suffer? When I had those three points in mind, the contents of the second point was repentance. And I wanted to say repentance is not a small thing. Because the person who truly repents, thousands of sins come to his mind when he repents. Thousands of sins that you have done in your past come to your mind. Or you must have a very superficial repentance. When a person comes to repentance, it's not a small thing. There are thousands upon thousands of sins that you have done. You will have to go through rivers, full of rivers, over the highest mountains, to do justice there. It's not a small thing. Many people say they have repented. It's nonsense. They don't know what they're talking about. They don't know why they have lived so long. When you have repented, you will know that you have repented. We say we converted and we've never realized that. That means our repentance wasn't genuine. The Passion of Christ didn't start with His crucifixion. It started the first day when He saw your sin, my sin and the sin of mankind. And it broke his heart. He suffered like nobody else in this world can suffer. Day and night, meeting with people, having to do with the sins of mankind, where earth is like hell. There's a team in Standerton today that they were sharing with me. They started with services Friday evening. They got there late because there was a road that was closed. But when they got there, there were about 300 people waiting for them to hear the service. The next day, more people arrived saying they've heard that there's some young people from Sizabon to holding services. They want to hear God's word. It's an area where AIDS is very prevalent. Years ago, they already estimated over 50% of the population has HIV. Girls from 12 years on are sexually active. It's, they say the immorality there is unbelievable. And some of them say they just don't have food, so they go into prostitution to earn some money. There's a man in the Bible who prayed, Lord, I ask for two things. May I never be so poor that I'll have to steal because of my poverty. And may I never be so rich that I'll be so wealthy that I'll turn my back on you. Now that's how he prayed. But I say that you don't steal because you're poor, because you have nothing, but you steal because you're a thief. That's why people steal, they are thieves. People say, oh, I've sinned. Well, some politicians, they say it's because of apartheid, that they are immoral. How they combine that, I don't know. There are people with very big brains and there are some with no brains. But they say that's the reason why. But to go to the buffet, they cook a lot, yeah, apartheid. But to go to the buffet, they cook a lot, yeah, apartheid. But to go to the buffet, they cook a lot, yeah, apartheid. But to go to the buffet, they cook a lot, yeah, apartheid. But to go to the buffet, they cook a lot, yeah, apartheid. But to go to the buffet, they cook a lot, yeah, apartheid. But to go to the buffet, they cook a The mystery of the gospel is so great you cannot describe it, you cannot fathom it, that He being God clothed Himself with the flesh. He came and was amongst us to hear all the filth, to see it, the lies, the gossip, everything, and He clothed Himself with that flesh, but He inside being God Himself. But then we as humans, the human nature just gets used to things, and even to sin. Something starts in a small way, something gets done or said, first you get a shock, but later you get used to it and you start accepting it. And after a while you feel nothing, it doesn't worry you anymore. When we start, when I first went to Europe in the 70s and I preached there, one of the ministers said, oh my, what are you preaching? You come from Africa, you know nothing. We're exposed to many things here in Europe, we've got TVs, we see nudity all the time, so you're totally out of date, you can't preach like that here. We're used to those things. Well even if you get used to things and to your filth, but God doesn't get used to your filth. In fact, in the end it will be smeared into your own face. You'll never get into heaven with it. And so the Lord in heaven, when He looked down, saw mankind in this lost state, the Lord said to the father, I'm prepared to go. I'll go and be among them, walk among them, live among them, and become like them so that I can help them and save them out of their sin. And the father said, will you be able to do it? And praise God, the son was prepared to do it. And praise God He's not like us, because we are so sloppy and so slick. We say one thing today, tomorrow we do the opposite. Say, oh my God, I thank you that you're not like modern Christians. Years ago people came, God has called us here, God has called us here. He wants to serve. Today they are thinking other things. Our children are growing up, we don't know what will happen to us when we are older. Who is this madman? Who is this madman? He belongs to an asylum. What did he say when he came? And what Tommie Rot is he reading, speaking now? Change with the wind. Most of mankind are schizophrenic. I don't know whether it's your own conviction, or whether your sister or your brother, your mother, your father has put that thing into your head. But that's mankind Jesus had to deal with. His pain didn't start when those nails were driven through his hands. His pain started when those who were with him started arguing and debating as to who was the greatest among them. And when they started getting upset with one another, that's when his pain started. He experienced what no other person ever had to experience. I wish you all could understand German. Then I could speak a bit of German to you. How didn't he suffer because of our sins? The sins with which we wearied him. It must have gone very, very deep with him. He says, you have wearied me. You have exhausted me. You have caused me much work because of your sins, your thoughts, your words, your deeds. How much shame and suffering didn't he go through? How much shame and suffering didn't he go through? He was mocked for our sakes, to bring us salvation. We should be ashamed of the suffering that we have brought upon him. So he was exhausted. He got into the boat and he slept. And that terrible storm arose. It was so bad that the waves went right into the boat and must have gone right over him as well. But he didn't awake. These disciples were experienced boatsmen. It wasn't the first time that they went into a boat. They knew what to do. That was their trade. That was their life. But with fear of death in their eyes and faces, they shook him. Wake up, we are dying. must have been something. These experienced fishermen, who were used to this type of experience, but they were terribly afraid and they woke him with fear in their eyes and their voices. They saw that the end had come. So they turned to him and said, Oh Lord, you must save us now. They were sure that they would die that day. That would have been their grave, the And so this man, who was so exhausted, got up out of that deep sleep, went to the edge of the boat and looked out towards these huge waves that were approaching. And he spoke to the waves. He commanded them to stop and the wind to stop blowing. And everything became perfectly calm in a moment. And they were amazed. They couldn't believe it. They said, What kind of person is this? And he said to them, But what are you like, you men of little faith? Why do you fear? There was no sign of fear in him, nothing whatsoever. He was not perturbed by the situation that had arisen. Now friend, this that we read about here is a picture of your life, the boat, the ship of your life. A perfect picture. You can't find a better picture. And I want to ask you a personal question today. Is Jesus in your boat? Is he there? Is Jesus in your boat? Have you invited Jesus into the boat of your life? Woe to you if the storm comes and you don't expect it and he's not with you. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace Long live Zimbabwe Long live Zimbabwe It doesn't help when you get into that storm and they just say, well, my wife is there. My children are there, or whoever else is there or I'm well off and that will carry me through, the Lord said, Cursed is a person who trusts in the arm of the flesh. One thing is important, and that is Jesus. The flesh is a man's property. It is not his own property. In fact, it is not his own property. It is not his own property. He is a man of faith. I am cursed. I'm cursed if I trust the devil, I'm cursed if I don't trust him, I'm cursed if I don't trust men. And if it's my husband, I cannot just trust him because he can disappoint me, he can come back with AIDS because he's been unfaithful, but blessed is the one who has Jesus in his boat. The Bible says plain and clearly, cursed, damned is the man that trusts in man or in the arm of the flesh. But the disciples, now in spite of the fact that they were weak, they were in the flesh and they were very weak in this moment. But one thing saved them and that was that Jesus was with them in the boat. That's the only safe way. That's the only blessed way. If you've got Jesus, you'll be victorious to the end. Because when he says, I'll be with you to the end, they shouldn't have feared. No, a thousand times no. They shouldn't have feared because Jesus was there. He says, I will not leave thee. I will not forsake thee. Why do we fear? We who are of little faith. Even when death comes, which will come, but you don't need to fear because you will, you're entering into life thereafter. With Jesus in my boat, I need not despair, even if I would lose my wife and I have to, she has to be carried to her grave. I would not need to despair because I could say, Lord, well, now she's got it even better. She doesn't just need to live with me. She can now live with you. It's far better for her that way. I'd be a fool if I'd say, Lord, no, I'd rather let her come back to be with me again. Job lived for the Lord. The day came when he got the message that all his children had died at once. Imagine to meet up with that. We also don't know what we'll still meet up with, but Job, he said, Lord, you have given, you've taken and praise be the name of the Lord. Whether there's lightning or thunder, when you're facing hell and the devil, the Lord will be there to protect me like a hen protects its chicks. And you can say, Lord, you've promised to be with me. What more do I need? When they started off in the boat, things were going well. Everything seemed to be normal. Perfect peace. But the journey across the sea of life is not always going to be so perfectly calm and still and peaceful. There will be those storms that will come. Um, you can desire. Get together. Make sure, make sure we have when I'm told to make sure. Good to be not just my own. Not all of you, old and young, new men, new woman, new children, everyone, make sure that Jesus is in your boat. Woe to you if the storms come and he's not with you. Nice banana. Moose. And don't say, well, I don't want these people in my life and I'd rather get along without them. But remember what the consequences will be. But whatever you do, make sure that Jesus is in your boat. Let us bow our heads. Oh, Lord, we've heard this wonderful story of how the disciples were out there in this on the sea, full of fear because of the storm, having no hope anymore. But you were there in the boat, though you were asleep. But because you were in the boat, they were saved from death. And because, Lord, you are the almighty, you control everything in heaven and on earth, and even below the earth. Lord, Lord, now may everyone ask himself an answer in truth as to whether you are in his or her boat. And if you're not, that that person will repent, turn to you. Amen.