Matthew 8:23-27                                             (Also found in Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25)

 (23) And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. (24) And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. (25) And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. (26) And he 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. (27) But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him!

  This is a great story, there is much to learn from this. It amazes me that now the disciples have been with Jesus for a while, and are still not too sure of Jesus and how He works. They were afraid of the storm because it was causing their boat to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping and they woke him and asked if he don’t care if we perish. Jesus rebukes the storm and everything calms down. Then the guys were marveling saying even the winds obey Him.

There are two principles I want to look at here.

  The first is fear. The only place in the Bible it says for us to fear, is to Fear God. Outside of that it is not a word that is in line with faith. You cannot have faith and fear at the same time. Jesus said to the disciples, "why are you so fearful, O ye of little faith” They cancel each other. If you are afraid in your life, that would mean you have little faith. If you live a life on faith, that means fear has little effect on you. Reading the Bible how many times have your read, "fear not, do not be afraid”.  We cannot expect God to be showing up big in our lives when we are constantly hanging on to fear. God works in the realm of faith, not fear.

Psalm 23:4   Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Proverbs 1:7   The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10   The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: And the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

2 Timothy 1:7   For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The second is Jesus is Lord of Everything. So far, we have seen Jesus perform the miracle of turning water into wine and all the other miracles have had to do with healing and raising people from the dead. The disciples now are learning that even nature has to succumb to the demand of Jesus. In the beginning God created everything. The creator will have full authority over everything they create. Many times, throughout the bible we see nature being controlled by God, Think of when Moses left Egypt, They followed a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, the red sea parted, Even a time when the Sun stood still in the sky. (Joshua 10:12-14) Those are just a few. There are so many refences of God Controlling Nature. Jesus even says we have that authority with our faith. (Matthew 17:20, Luke 17:6). We have to understand that NOTHING is impossible through Christ. He is Lord of everything.

Philippians 2:10   That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.

Philippians 4:13   I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.