Are You Really Ready to Do the Works

This message was written from a question I asked God.  “Why do you always put us through a test?”

 He replied to me with a question.  “Are you really ready to DO the WORKS that I called you to do?”

 I expect you would reply like I did with two statements like these.  1)  “Yea Lord I am!” and being as truthful as you can be about it.  2) “Maybe I’m not considering you asked me that question.”

 He said let’s look at Mark 4:35 – 5:20.  Everybody that’s been in this Christian walk knows this story.  The Lord took it a little deeper for me than most ordinary sermons would go.  This is the story when Jesus told his disciples to take him over to the other side and Jesus had calmed the storm.

I want to share a few things about this story as the Lord had shown me.  He said, “Look, Jason, I gave my people a lot of teaching and they saw many miracles.  The same I have done for you.  You got excited about that and thought I am ready for more Lord.  I am ready to go to the other side.  I want to begin to do those greater works.  Then a storm rose up in your face.  The same as the disciples did on the boat that day and that storm was great.

I want you to notice something just before they left.  Take a look at Mark 4:36 “And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships”.  Notice the other boats that followed.  The Lord spoke to me and said, “People are looking at you”.  They believed in all the good things you are performing in Jesus’ name just as you did about Jesus performing his works too.  They also wanted to see if you will eventually fail and stumble.  You see, they want to follow someone strong and know how to get through a storm. 

That really opened my eyes a little deeper about being ready.  Then he said, “This was a strong storm”.  There was water filling up the boat up.  You could imagine how big and strong the waves were beating against the boat.  The winds had to be blowing hard and rocking the boat like crazy.  Then I also began to think about the hurricanes that hit across America and the damage from each storm.  I said this is a bad storm they are in.

This passage had remind me of a time on the Rio Grande river one summer fishing with my dad, uncle and my uncle’s father in law.  A big storm brewed up and we couldn’t see over the waves as we were trying to get back to the dock and it was putting water in the boat.  I remember bailing out the water inside the boat. It helped me relate to what they could have been thinking.  You see God uses everything to glorify his word working in your life.

And, then the Lord said, “Did you notice something interesting?”  I said no because I knew at that moment I was missing something important.  It was more than just lacking the faith to calm the storm.  “Did you notice how many disciples were in that boat with me” he asked?  I said twelve.  He said your right.   Notice twelve of them could not stop a storm.  They had to wake me up to calm it and I did. I needed to show them when you walk with me you face more challenges and they can get tougher especially when it comes time to do some of my works.
 
You see the disciples did not realize what they were about to face after this storm.  Read Mark 5:2 “ And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,”. 

When you read about this man you can see two things.

1) The disciples are facing a real storm only this one is spiritual and it’s going to be a big storm. Why? This man is possessed with a spirit named Legion. Legion means many spirits.  How do we know this is true because of what Jesus asks in Mark 5:9 “And he asked him, what is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many”.  Notice, what verse Mark 5:13 states “And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. ” Jason, the Lord said.  How many was there?  I said WOW! There were at least two thousand.  This is a “BIG STORM” I shouted in my mind.  I begin to think about those hurricanes again in the natural and all the elements that can be damaging such as high winds, tornados, flooding rains, severe lighting damages and other things that occurs during a hurricane.   This was like many spirits in one major storm.  Then I begin to realize that twelve disciples weren’t ready to take on something like this either.  That storm on the sea was a good warning I needed to be more prepared than I thought.

2), There are people who really are in a major storm in their lives, the Lord said to me.  What I want you to see Jason is going through a storm will teach you how to be sensitive and have compassion.  Why?  You will have an idea what a big storm may look like.  You may not know their storm right away until you face it with them.  You will at least understand their feelings and where they may need help at. 

You will see three different views of storms. 

    1) Those that don’t know me and need me in their lives. 
    2) Those that walk with me, can’t find an answer to their storm, and tried everything. 
    3) Those that walk with me and get through the storm with victory because of the working power of my word working in their lives.

 Did you notice what happened to the twelve in Mark 4:41 “And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” and Mark 5:15 “And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.”  The disciples were like wow he did this.  We can see how these disciples saw two different types of storms obeyed him.   Notice the first one was overcoming a storm in the natural and the second was overcoming the spiritual storm.  It’s important that we know his name and what kind of power and authority we have in his name to do the works he called us to do.
 
I want to finish with verses Mark 5:18-20 that even the demons obeyed him.  The ending shows us how Jesus was not only obeyed but also glorified.  Why?  Look at the words that the disciples used “And they feared exceedingly” and “and they were afraid”.   They just saw the power of this man and didn’t know what to think. 
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Allow the Lord bless you and enrich you to become a stronger Christian to be ready to do the works he called you to do.

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