Lightly edited for readability while preserving the speaker’s meaning and substantive statements.
on the cross you are the one who rose from the dead you are the one who ascended to heaven you're seated at the right hand of the father you are the one who is high and lifted up your name is above every name lord jesus and we praise you and we worship you today and we declare god that our lives they're yours lord do what you will god you we we pray it today your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven not our will not our plans not our timing but yours lord we ask you to direct everything we submit to the lordship of jesus to the word of almighty god written in that bible we thank you lord for those inspired powerful living words that are written in that bible lord that gives us an anchor and a guide and a safety net lord we thank you for your word we thank you for your holy spirit we thank you for the spirit of truth and we thank you lord that you have a plan for our lives no matter what we go through no matter what we face and we thank you this morning it's in jesus name we pray amen and amen hallelujah it's good to worship the lord we praise you jesus welcome those listening again you're listening to fire and grace church our internet radio we welcome you here uh my name is pastor dean odle we're going to get in the word a little bit this morning this may be a little bit for our church but i think it applies to everybody i want everyone in here i want you to turn to mark chapter four i'm going to share some things that the lord spoke to me yesterday morning in prayer thank you jesus we thank you for the word hallelujah i'm going to read a couple of stories here just to kind of set the uh to set the stage where i'm i'm going this morning but in mark chapter four uh let's go down to verse 35 that's where jesus calmed the storm a lot of people don't realize that there's two different uh incidents where jesus calmed the storm uh they they're not they don't happen at the same time they were two different times one time uh he was in the boat with them and one time he wasn't and uh so i want you to look at that but i believe the lord has something to encourage you this morning uh verse 35 we'll start there mark 4 verse 35 and the same day when even it was come the lord said unto them speaking to his disciples let us pass over unto the other side and he was speaking about going to the other side of the sea of galilee of course in a boat and when he had sent the away the multitude they took him even as
uh they took him even as he was in the ship and they were also with him other little ships and there arose a great storm of wind and waves beat into the ship so that it was now full and he was in the hindered part of the ship asleep on a pillow and they awake him and say unto him master cares not that we perish and he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm and he said unto them why are you so fearful how is it that you have no faith and they feared exceedingly and said one to another what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him now this is the first incident and uh i've been to the sea of galilee i've actually went swimming in the sea of galilee right there so i've been all around that area there and the sea of some of them called the sea of galilee the sea of tiberias is what it was once called but um it's it's interesting because it's not that big of a of a lake i think it's about seven miles or so at its width and now it's a little bit longer than that of course but um it's amazing to me being there and swimming in that in that beautiful i mean it is a beautiful uh lake it's just crystal clear and the fish will come up and swim around your legs and i mean it was beautiful but um i can't imagine hardly a storm on the sea of galilee to get that vicious i mean that's something that sounds like you know when you would be out to see out in the ocean somewhere because i mean this is pretty vicious for a lake i mean how many of you been to a lake you've been in a boat in the lake before right i mean even on a windy day even on a stormy day it's it's amazing to even think that the ship would get beat to death nearly and and fill up with water you know um now some people may disagree with me on this but i believe that this was a supernatural storm that was perpetrated or made more intense by the devil and spiritual forces now why do i say that well some people think i'm crazy but if you go back and you read the book of job you find out that when job got permission to attack i mean not when the devil got permission rather to attack job's family actually even to kill some of his grown children he used the wind he used the weather i think this is why some of the ancient people worshipped baal and believed that that this baal god or the devil balesi bub had power over the wind and the rain the storms to some degree um why they would end up worshiping because the devil has been given the ability by the lord he doesn't have anything that the lord didn't give him the ability to do but he does have the ability at times to manipulate and use wind and use the weather
so in this situation i believe that this is what this was because the word rebuked there is kind of the same word that the lord used when he would rebuke demons now the reason i believe this is because in the very next chapter where were they headed they were headed from the the sea one side of the sea over to an area called um the the land of the gadarenes they were headed over to that area now if you look at mark 5 they were headed across there why there was a demon possessed man over there fully demon possessed he was so demon possessed that people had tried to chain him with fetters and and all these things and he would be crying and cutting himself with stones and like you guys have heard me teach before there are degrees of demon demonic contamination and infiltration but this is your worst case scenario here and the devil knew you know he heard jesus say these words get into the boat get in and go to the other side we're going to go to the other side well the devil knew that this demonically possessed man this tormented man was over there that everyone knew was demon possessed and he knew the devil knew that if jesus got there the man was going to get set free so what the devil was doing was basically trying to kill jesus trying to kill the disciples trying to stop them from getting to the other side so that they could help this man now i want to say this to you and this is something for our church and and uh something i guess it'll help anybody that might be listening but think about this you know whenever i think a lot of times we think well if god speaks to me if god leads me if the holy spirit's leading me or god tells me to do something and i step out there to do it that it's going to be easy sailing i don't know why maybe it's the prosperity preachers that tell us everything's going to be wonderful all the time or it should be or something's wrong with us and sometimes we do stupid stuff that causes problems but the disciples here were getting into the boat obeying they obeyed jesus to get into the boat and it was jesus who said let's go to the other side okay now listen to me clearly the devil sometimes sees where you're headed and who's in front of you that you're going to affect even before you do now i think jesus knew by a word of knowledge i think he knew from the holy spirit that he was going over there to set a demon-possessed man free but the disciples didn't know it all they knew was get in the boat and let's go to the other side now the storm came and again like i said i believe it was demonic opposition and the devil trying to stop this miracle from happening now see let me let me explain something whenever we step out to do something that god's told us to do expect
a storm we need to expect that the wind of in the spirit realm will begin to blow contrary to us okay but let me explain to you the storms that come to us more than this physical storm that they were facing when we step out and are trying to obey god whether it's go to this church or you know uh what whatever go to this church or don't go to this church or go work here or don't work in that place whenever we're trying to be led by the spirit of god or maybe go over there i want you to go and witness to somebody or give somebody a a word you know a prophetic word or you know whatever it may be i want you to take somebody through deliverance and cast the demons out of them or go to the hospital and pray for a sick person and believe that for their healing for a miracle whenever you step out we need to expect that the demonic storm that's going to come what is it trying to do it's trying to rob our faith i look at what jesus said you got to realize that these guys were already had exhibited a lot of faith to leave everything their families their jobs and everything and and believe that jesus was not just a man not just a prophet but that he was the son of god that he was god the messiah they believed that and at times they wavered a little bit here and there in the process but they believed that enough to step out in faith leave their families leave their jobs you know and follow this man right and so it wasn't that they didn't have faith but i find it interesting that the lord speaks to them in the midst of this storm when they get all afraid and say master don't you care that we're perishing that he says how is it after he steps up and calms the straw he says how is it that you have no faith this is not even the story where he says oh ye of little faith he said how is it that you have no faith this means in a matter of of just a few hours they went from watching jesus teach the multitude and being fine with everything to getting into a storm and their faith and let me say this faith means your confidence your trust your peace that god is with you that you're doing what you're supposed to be doing that jesus is leading you but listen in this story everything in them got shaken by a little storm now i didn't say it a minute ago but our storms usually come in the form of demonic oppression that causes depression and discouragement and doubt i mean it's just usually the way it comes it doesn't have to be the real wind blowing outside okay spiritual forces can come and hit us like a sudden
storm out of nowhere and make us doubt and question everything that we really already know [Applause] i mean what blows me away about this they they had seen jesus casting out the demons and healing the sick and working the miracles they believed he was something beyond this world and yet he's in the boat with them and and all faith goes out the window when it looks like that the storm is going to sink the ship now listen to me real closely sometimes the lord will allow the ship to look like it's sinking listen that's going to happen a lot of this is going to happen we're going to have battles as christians with health issues financial issues relationship issues issues at church with people and things we're going to have issues arise and it's going to look like sometimes you say well i'm praying i'm fasting and you know why does it look like the ship is sinking yet the lord doesn't seem to be doing anything and in this story of course he's laying back there asleep he's chilling he's not worried he's not excited you know i think about this story and i know this is just a little side note here because jesus was as much as he was god he was human how tired do you have to be to sleep in the midst of in a in a boat that's rocking and reeling and filling up with water and about to think that poor man was tired all right jesus had preached for hours ministered to people healed the sick cast it out he was poor guy was exhausted i just i just think about him like that's like god i understand that feeling all right exhausted but he's back there he's in the boat he's fine you know the holy spirit could have awakened jesus at any point to fix the problem no i mean maybe maybe the holy spirit you know we say why didn't the holy spirit wake him up or why didn't he wake up and stop this before it got out of hand maybe god wanted it to get out of hand can i just tell you this that god doesn't always rescue us immediately not because he's being mean or doesn't care he doesn't always rescue us from the depression immediately he doesn't always rescue us from the sickness immediately he doesn't always rescue us from the financial problem immediately he doesn't always rescue us immediately from the relationship problem or from the problem in church he doesn't always rescue us because he wants us
to stand up and have faith and stand in the midst of the storm you know everybody that preaches on this usually focused on jesus standing up saying peace be still and everybody has a good sunday and they go home and eat lunch but that's just the end of this little story what i read when i read the bible i always go why why why did god allow this and listen more than that why is it in the bible it's in the bible for us it's in the bible to teach us a lesson to help us learn something you know in our church we we've gone through now our church is still fairly new even though it's four years old and we've been through some ups and downs but i want to tell you this every time that we step out to do something that god has told us to do the storm hits now what's recently been is god telling me it was time to do another end times prophecy conference and to step out and to start preparing to do that as i stepped out and started preparing to do that the warfare the spiritual warfare and resistance from the enemy has grown dramatically over the last few weeks against everyone in our church mentally emotionally spiritually physically financially but here's the here's the thing big whoop we should expect when we step out to advance the kingdom of god to particularly advance truth the truth of the word of god and the truth that that a lot of preachers don't want to preach anymore and i have people up in in philadelphia and up in new york and people are really people across the united states that tell me preachers don't preach on the second coming of jesus that some preachers don't even believe we're in the time of end time prophecy i'm like what bible are they reading do they watch the news i'm like what is wrong with these people but here's what i'm saying we preach some truths that people don't don't preach anymore amen we believe that christians should cast demons out of people in jesus name we believe that christians should lay hands on the sick and they should recover amen we believe that people born again believers who are living for god should be filled with the holy ghost and speak in tongues and operate in the gifts of the spirit amen we we don't believe you're once saved always saved no matter how you live that you can't abuse the grace of god that you can't just keep living in sin and think you're going to heaven we're not ashamed to say that repentance is required for salvation that you have to repent turn away from sin that you have to walk obedient to god that you have to to to have a
relationship with him and maintain that relationship i mean listen i i'm you know preachers don't talk about hell they don't talk about eternal judgment anymore damnation backsliding no it's not comfortable anymore so listen as long as this church stands for the truth that that many people in the church world even are walking away from we are going to experience more and more opposition from the devil and the spirit of antichrist that's taking over people and if we can't learn to deal with these little storms that we face and all of us and i admit all of us don't handle them well sometimes i don't i get ill frustrated you know especially when i'm getting ready you know my my poor wife's got everything ready ready to go to the bible study in in valley alabama but yeah on time it was a miracle and we're we're going to eat and get out the door to get to valley and and have our bible study and little faith just throws up all over the floor in the kitchen and i'm like oh my god i didn't have a real good reaction at that moment wasn't mad at her just are you really i was you know but i guess you know as as nancy said it's better that it happened now instead of in the car or at the bible stuff you know like yeah that's true but it's a war but i want you to see why because jesus was going to the other side of that lake to set a man free okay and listen we got a big deliverance coming up in another week of of somebody who's been tormented by demons and they're going to get set free and the devil is not happy about that because you know why it's a ripple effect because a whole lot of other people start getting free from their demonic strongholds as well man now go over to mark chapter six we're going to go to the second incident of this mark chapter six you just flip over and can i just tell you another little spiritual principle we learned from this story the lord can tell you to do something and the devil can come and fight it and hinder and delay things but delay does not mean you're not going to get there right jesus stood up rebuked the storm guess what rebuked rebuked that storm it stopped the devil's attack stopped
and they got to the other side right they set the man free sometimes god tells you to do something it might get delayed the devil might actually come in and hinder things you know this is scripture in second first thessalonians chapter 2 where paul said he would have come to the thessalonians that he had actually tried a couple of times and he said but satan hindered us and if you look that word up hindered it means that satan impeded them somehow he somehow hindered them and delayed them in getting there but that didn't mean paul wasn't going to eventually get there you get what i'm saying say well and that's the apostle paul guys that's the apostle paul and his ministry team i think they had it together okay so my point is even the strongest christians meet satanic opposition demonic opposition even with things god tells you to do just because just because you know god spoke or told you to do something does not mean there won't be difficulty great difficulty when you step out to do it i know i've said that but let that sink in and again i mean discouragement depression despair again what is it trying to rob all of your faith right here's what you know what i haven't even said this but what's the beautiful side of that story jesus steps into the situation he calms the storm even though they had no faith this is what's beautiful right that's what's beautiful about really being a child of god truly being a born again child of god you're not going to always do it perfect you're not going to always believe perfect you're not always going to stand perfect you're not always going to say the right thing you're not always going to do the right thing you're not always going to make the right choice but as long as you're not giving up and turning back and going back to the world back to sin as long as you don't give up on god you know they could have just dove out of the boat and tried to swim to shore and drown right but they didn't give up they went to the right source they went to jesus even when they had no faith according to him all right that's something for faith uh faith prosperity preachers right there wow jesus still worked when they had no faith wow hmm it's amazing isn't it right let's read this now there's a lot going on in chapter six um jesus in it begins with jesus going to his hometown in nazareth and
preaching and of course it says that they didn't they were offended at him and he could do nobody work there because of their unbelief so you see those things happen then he sends out the twelve verse seven he sends out the twelve to have power look at look at verse seven and he called unto him the twelve and began to send them forth by two and two and gave them power over unclean spirits and commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only no script no bread no money in their purse but shod with sandals and put on to not put on two coats so he sent them forth and look at verse 12 says and they went out and preached that men should repent and they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them so he sent them out uh to heal the sick and then of course in the midst of all this while they're gone and the story you got while this was all happening while they're out preaching and healing the sick and casting out demons you see that herod takes john and kills him and you've got to remember all of jesus disciples had been john's disciples first they loved john the baptist so they come back and they get this word that john the baptist have been killed uh let's skip down to verse 29 and when his disciples heard of it they came and took up his corpse and laid it in a tomb and the apostles gathered themselves together unto jesus and they told him all things both what they had done and what they had taught and i love jesus here's jesus sent them out to do a lot of work for the kingdom uh their previous mentor has been killed and look at jesus he's just you know he said come yourselves apart in a desert place and rest a while he was like you know you guys have got a lot there's been a lot going on he said for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat and and uh and they departed into a desert place by ship so jesus was actually trying to withdraw them a little bit let them re you know rest and eat and you know get revitalized a little bit but it says here in verse 33 when the people saw them departing and many knew him and ran afoot that they're out of all the cities and outwent them and came together unto him and when jesus uh when he came out he saw much people and he was moved compassion toward them because they were as sheep not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things and then this goes into the story where they said well lord now you know they've been here all day we've been here all day let them go back to the city and eat get let them buy food there's no food out here and of course this is where jesus takes the five loaves and the two fish and feeds the five thousand and they gather up the 12 remaining baskets now i wanted you to see how this kind of unfolds because this is all in a matter of of just a just a few days a couple of days goes by here but something happens right after this and this is the second time
that they are in a ship this is right after he feeds the 5000 and this is uh mark 6 verse 45 now let's read this and straightway he constrained his disciples to get into the ship and to go to the other side before unto bethsaidia while he sent away the people and when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray and when even was come the ship was in the midst of the sea and he alone on the land and when he saw them toiling and rowing for the wind was contrary unto them and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them walking upon the sea and would have passed by them but when they saw him walking upon the sea the spirit i mean they supposed it had been a spirit and cried out for they all saw him and were troubled and immediately he talked with them and said be of good cheer it is i be not afraid and he went up up unto them into the ship and the wind ceased and they were sore amazed in themselves beyond measure and wondered but look at verse 52 for they considered not the miracle of the loaves for their hearts were hardened okay now i show you this story again here because here again you'd look you would think they learned their lesson the first time right do we learn lessons the first time usually not right we don't but anyway the same thing he tells them to go to the other side get in the ship go to the other side now this time he's not in the boat with them now here we're getting a little something first time he's in the boat with you know all right lord i feel your presence i'm scared to death but you're here how about when you don't feel his presence how about when it feels like he's a million miles away from you listen the christian the true born-again christian can have times when the lord's presence and power is so real and so close and so awesome but there also can be times for no apparent reason for no big sin of no big doubt or unbelief sometimes the lord sends you out and he stays behind on purpose because we have to learn listen to me especially us charismatics and pentecostals that like the feelings the lord gives us when he comes and he touches us and he moves in power and all those things are wonderful i love the presence of god there's nothing better than the true sheer manifest presence of god his power
there's nothing greater to me i did all the stuff you could do out in the world and i'm telling you the presence of god is greater and stronger and more peaceful and more exhilarating and more awesome than anything in in this world could possibly be but hear me out here there's a lot of charismatics and pentecostals out there that are that they're so they so want a feeling that now they're beginning to accept almost anything as from god but god wants us to maturity actually is when you don't feel when you feel empty when you feel dry when you feel dead when you feel that the lord is a million miles away are you still going to be faithful to do what god told you to do that's when you have to remind yourself no jesus said we're going to the other side jesus said we're going to do this thing jesus said this is where i'm supposed to be this is what i'm supposed to be doing i'm doing what he told me to do and i don't care what i feel i don't care what the devil brings i don't care if it's a storm i don't care if i'm depressed i don't care if jesus is not here you see what i'm saying [Applause] what i love about this story is that they were being diligent in that boat they weren't fussing and complaining they were being diligent in that boat to roll that thing even though they weren't getting anywhere they were toiling and rolling they were doing their very best to obey jesus and get that boat and themselves to the other side of that lake now it doesn't mean that they weren't frustrated or they weren't tired or maybe it doesn't mean they weren't scared but at least they were doing what he told them to do and it's a lesson for us are you going to be shaken when there's a little storm in your marriage what about if you go through a season where it's getting tough in your marriage this this is why a lot of people end up divorced is because they don't make it through the storms that are gonna come in marriage they give up and quit instead of going you know what i don't feel it right now i don't i don't i'm not enjoying this right now it feels like toiling and rowing and work but jesus said to be faithful to my wife to be faithful to my husband to be faithful to this covenant that i made called marriage before god amen it goes for a lot of things there's there's storms coming greater financial storms greater temptations coming there's things coming and we're going to have to go lord i don't feel you i don't see you listen a lot of people right now are being shaken because the wind of doctrine the wind the false doctrine is blowing hard against the church we're blowing hard against christians even against christians minds right now
even i'm talking about solid christians who believe jesus is the only way the only truth the only life the only way to heaven that he died and he rose again from the dead and the bible's true i'm telling you these winds of the devil are blowing hard against the church are you here let me give you some of the winds of the devil how are you sure how do you know that the bible hadn't been tampered with how do you know it's all true are you that arrogant as to believe jesus is the only way to heaven and eternal life you mean all these other religions are wrong and you're right how are you so sure see this wind right now that's blowing against the church of false doctrine or the the false doctrine that's going to oh because jesus died on the cross everybody's saved whether they know it or not and everybody's going to ultimately go into heaven that lie because you know god is love remember every lie mixes in a little truth yeah god's love but he didn't say everybody's going to heaven i love how these people somehow know how to pick out what scriptures are for today and which are not for today right but here's the thing that wind is about to pick up that wind of false doctrine that pressure on your mind and your soul and on your face about to pick up because the pressure is going to be put on can you're going to have to compromise to keep your job maybe or keep your your money your ability to buy or sell we've talked about that a lot the pressure's coming down on every side you understand the storms now unshakable what what what if what if they come to take us away is your faith going to be shaken if they put you in a prison camp hear me it's happening to our brothers and sisters already in different parts of the world are you going to be shaken from what you believe they lay your neck on a chopping block or put a gun to your wife's head or your child are you going to give up jesus a lot of folks are going to be shaking
i mean unfortunately praise god in this story the disciples stood strong right and jesus once again this time he came even more supernatural see i believe that i believe this these two stories represent i believe the beginning of jesus ministry and the end of it and i say the end i'm talking about on earth as we know it in this in this time period we are reaching the culmination of all things jesus will return his kingdom will be set up on the earth right i believe those who stand in this last day in this last persecution in these last temptations in this last storm of deception and error that jesus is even going to come to those people in a more powerful and more miraculous way i really do believe we're going to see great great things happen in these last days i believe the darker it gets the more jesus is going to shine and work through his children who are not moved by what they see not moved by what they feel not moved by what's happening around them but their faith and trust is in the jesus christ of the bible and in the bible itself is the word of god and that we will not be moved not one inch away from it no matter how hard the wind blows no matter how hard the devil screams no matter how much he pushes no matter how much he he tries to make life miserable and and hard on us the bottom line is i know as paul said i know in whom i have believed and i know that i know that i know [Applause] that he is the way the truth and the life i will not be moved away from my messiah the only messiah the only savior the only true god i will not be moved away from that no matter what see ultimately that is the end of faith that's why jesus said matthew 24 what he that endures to the end will be saved right endures i told you to look at verse 52 this is an amazing thing when it says here they considered not the miracle of the loaves for they were hardened i i love this because there's a hardness of heart that comes from sin
but there's also a hardness of heart that comes from just being around christianity all the time you get a little too comfortable a little too i got this i know this and how quickly it says they forgot you know jesus just fed 5 000 people why are we worried out here he just fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread two fish he said they didn't even think about that while they were out there in the storm right why because their hearts were hardened well this word hardened here like one of the meanings is to become dull or stupid in the greek sometimes we get stupid because we're around we've become too familiar let me say this never take a miracle for granted never take anything jesus does for granted you got food on the table you better be grateful you've got a roof over your head you better be very grateful you've got clothes to wear a bible that you can read people that love you you are blessed don't ever take it for granted you start taking things for granted your heart starts getting hard and stupid hear me so what this bible scripture saying to me had they considered what jesus had just done the miracle they wouldn't have worried at all but then they got terrified right now there's a lot more that can be said about this story a whole lot more but today just want you to get these simple truths just because you're obeying god or you're in the process of doing something he told you to do don't think that it's going to be smooth sailing don't think there's not going to be satanic opposition don't think sometimes it's gonna it's not gonna look like the boat is sinking don't think that the devil's just gonna leave you alone because you've got authority and power all right we do we can stand up and rebuke the storm but you know what even if it doesn't stop that if it doesn't stop you keep going right you're going to have to deal with depression and discouragement and despair and demonic oppression coming
against your mind you're going to have to deal with times it seems like the lord's not in the boat as a christian you know what that's actually a good sign if the lord's doing that because that means he's like like when you you teach a child to walk you hold them up and if you never let go of them and step back and let them try they'll never walk on their own right so sometimes the lord stands us up and moves away let's see let's see now if they can do christianity without the feelings without the goosebumps without feeling the joy without feeling the spirit can they still walk in faith can they still stand against the storms and trust that if i don't rescue them immediately i will be there this is one of the hardest lessons to learn why doesn't the lord do it in a hard time [Laughter] i can tell you now he rarely does anything in the time frame we want it's usually always later than what we want because we are the microwave generation right amen let's pray i hope that helped you this morning thank you jesus hallelujah father we thank you today god for everything that's written down in your word it's all good for us or we need every bit of it i thank you lord what you said when you said it is written that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of god lord i thank you that your written word god that your written word is truly food to our soul food to our spirit lord i ask you lord to encourage my brothers and sisters those listening to us today by internet radio lord just let them be encouraged and strengthened to press on no matter what is going on no matter what storms blowing against them to press on and believe jesus will be there jesus will get you through don't give up and go back to the world don't give up and go back to sin don't give up and and just fall into complete despair and fall away from god that's what it's all about the storm is is is there to make you fall fall away father i pray for my brothers and
sisters i ask you lord to bless them strengthen them encourage them and lord we thank you so much again for your word and it's in jesus name that we pray