Feb. 2, 2023 - Just Informed Talk - Craig James
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| Welcome back to another God's Grace is Greater segment where we do a deep dive into scripture and I hope you guys are ready for it. | |
| If you're watching over on YouTube, let me just give you a quick reminder. | |
| Please make sure you go in the description of this video where there are links to find my new show over on YouTube or on Rumble, I should say, excuse me, and BitChute that I can't put on YouTube. | |
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| There's links to everything. | |
| I'm on my social media and my Rumble channel where I do the news show that I can't put on YouTube because YouTube censors the truth. | |
| They do not want people speaking the truth. | |
| I had a channel on YouTube previously, if you don't know, with over 275,000 subscribers that was banned summarily, was just shut down and deplatformed because I spoke truth to power. | |
| So if you want to get access to that truth that they don't want you to see, use the link in the description and please go check that out. | |
| But for everybody else watching, everywhere else, thank you and welcome to our God's Graces Greater segment. | |
| We're going to dive into scripture today. | |
| We're in Luke chapter 8. | |
| And a part of this scripture today is picking up where we left off, which of course yesterday we talked about shining a light that Jesus tells us to shine in our lives. | |
| And we talked about... | |
| This incredible story and parable he gives us of how we should not hide our light, the light of the gospel, once it's given us. | |
| We should shine it out for the world to see. | |
| And now we're going into this incredible story, this historical account from Luke, of Jesus calming a storm. | |
| But it's more than just a story about Jesus having control over the wind and the waves and the disciples and what they did during that moment of fear. | |
| It's also a story for us in our lives today. | |
| I'm going to explain how it connects directly to our lives and how we need to understand these verses so that we can have a better understanding of how to weather the storms that come in our lives. | |
| But before we do it, let's just dive into the scripture. | |
| We're in Luke chapter 8, verse 22 through 25, and we're going to go ahead and read right here. | |
| It says... | |
| One day he and his disciples got into a boat, and he told them, Let's cross over to the other side of the lake. | |
| So they set out, and as they were sailing, he fell asleep. | |
| Then a fierce windstorm came down on the lake. | |
| They were being swamped and were in danger. | |
| They came and woke him up, saying, Master, Master, we're going to die. | |
| Then he got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves. | |
| So they ceased, and there was a calm. | |
| He said to them, Where is your faith? | |
| They were fearful and amazed, asking one another, Who can this be? | |
| He commands even the winds and the waves, and they obey him. | |
| That's a pretty powerful story, right? | |
| Let's just go over what the story essentially says. | |
| Jesus is leaving for a trip on a boat to cross to Gerasene, which is on the opposite side of Galilee. | |
| Where it's opposite to Galilee. | |
| And as they're sailing, which is common among that day, there's this great storm that comes up. | |
| What's happening here, right? | |
| The disciples are on the boat. | |
| They're obviously probably tending to the sails or the oars or whatever method they were using at that moment to move the boat across the water. | |
| And in this great fierce storm, the boat is being thrown. | |
| But where is Jesus? | |
| He's nowhere to be found. | |
| The disciples are scared. | |
| They're convinced that they're going to die. | |
| This boat, you can see here, is just being tossed. | |
| And the boats back then were not very big, I wouldn't imagine. | |
| We're talking about probably a moderately small-sized boat here. | |
| And what do they do? | |
| Well... | |
| They go to Jesus who is asleep. | |
| Can you believe this? | |
| There's a storm throwing this boat back and forth, presumably. | |
| The wind is raging. | |
| The storm is going. | |
| And what's Jesus doing? | |
| He's asleep. | |
| He's resting. | |
| No doubt because he's had a long day previously of healing those who needed it and giving parables and teaching lessons to those who came to hear it. | |
| As he sleeps, the disciples shake him and wake him up, I would imagine, saying, Master, we're going to die! | |
| He says, what does he do? | |
| He gets up and he rebukes the wind and the waves. | |
| He has control over the ocean. | |
| The disciples at this point had observed enough to know that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, but they obviously disregarded Jesus. | |
| The fact that the ramifications of this were beyond them. | |
| And Jesus rebukes them for it. | |
| Because once he calms the sea and the ocean, he says, where is your faith? | |
| Because they know he's the Messiah. | |
| They know if they truly believed in him, they would never have believed for a second that that boat could sink. | |
| But they were scared because they're like you and me. | |
| I love the disciples in their imperfect nature because they truly are just like you and I. And that's why I believe Jesus used them. | |
| He used the least among us all to show the most among us how to be humble and realize that nobody is perfect. | |
| Only one, and that was Jesus. | |
| The disciples, once he asked this question, were afraid again, and they were amazed. | |
| And they said, who can this be? | |
| He commands the wind and the waves. | |
| And they obey him. | |
| Thereby showing us another proof of God's amazing power and authority over the heavens and the earth. | |
| So what is this really allegorical to, if we had to use it as an allegory? | |
| Well, I think this is equally able to be used not just in the example of the disciples having fear of losing their lives in this boat with Jesus in it. | |
| It's all allegorical for what our lives are like, right? | |
| What happens to us? | |
| We face affliction. | |
| Now, if I was in a boat, let's say, and let's say this boat is my life, right? | |
| And everything that's happening in life, and there's a storm coming, an affliction I'm facing, a sickness, a death, a tragedy, I lost my job, I lost my friends, I'm facing an impasse that I don't know what to do at. | |
| Whatever it is, whatever you're going through, I can tell you That if I didn't have Jesus in my life, in my boat, my metaphorical boat, I would feel lost. | |
| I would feel scared. | |
| But isn't it interesting how even though we have Jesus in our boat, our metaphorical life, our boat, which is our life, we still are like the disciples. | |
| We're still scared. | |
| We still go to God and say, God, things are going wrong. | |
| Please help. | |
| I'd imagine that in our lives, which are represented by this metaphorical boat, Jesus being there with us as he is in this parable, in this story, that if we go to him and we say we're going to die, what does he do? | |
| He saves us and he asks, where was our faith? | |
| See, because up to that point, the disciples don't realize that, or maybe they do, and they just haven't fully comprehended it, that Jesus had come to save them, not from the Roman Empire, not from the heretical heresies, and in a way, yes, but more broadly speaking, he came to save their eternal souls. | |
| The life everlasting that comes through eternal salvation. | |
| He was there with them for that. | |
| So it's amazing to me how in our lives we can be like the disciples going to Jesus saying, it's all going wrong. | |
| And what does Jesus do? | |
| He can in the moment change it. | |
| You have to have that belief and faith first. | |
| Don't be like the disciples where their faith was being questioned in that moment. | |
| And that's, I know it's so easy for me to say that here. | |
| It's so easy for me to say. | |
| I truly know that. | |
| I try to recognize that as best as I can to say, it's easy for me to say. | |
| But that's the thing about it. | |
| You know, our faith in Jesus is simple, but it's not easy. | |
| That's the trick, right? | |
| Right? | |
| We have to trust that Jesus is with us in our lives so that when we face a storm, we know that He is going to get us through it. | |
| No matter what the outcome, He is still with us through it all. | |
| He says in the end of Matthew, I'm with you until the end of the ages. | |
| That doesn't change as long as we are with Him and we put our faith in Him and we give Him everything we have. | |
| So I ask you, What's happening? | |
| What storm are you facing? | |
| Do you know that Christ is right there with you? | |
| He might be asleep, but that doesn't mean he's not aware of what's going on. | |
| And being asleep is almost telling us that if nothing is happening the way we want it to, it doesn't mean he's not there, right? | |
| Right? | |
| He might be allowing it to happen, as it was in this case, to strengthen our faith. | |
| To help us face something we need to face. | |
| To help us overcome something we need to overcome. | |
| To help us learn something that if we had not learned then, we wouldn't be able to overcome a newer obstacle that comes later. | |
| I don't know what the answers are. | |
| I don't have them. | |
| Only God does. | |
| And again, I will tell you guys, I'm not a prosperity preacher. | |
| I don't sit here and say, if you give me this or that, if you help me get a mansion, I will help you find God and find healing and hope. | |
| No. | |
| God saved me. | |
| And when I received that salvation through Him, all I wanted to do was give it to others. | |
| Because I knew in the moment that He saved my life, that it was the greatest gift I had ever been given. | |
| And all I could think to do was try to give it to others. | |
| It truly will save your life as well. | |
| So I don't know what the answer looks like for you. | |
| I don't have any promises or guarantees. | |
| You may have to suffer. | |
| We all may have to suffer. | |
| I actually would say we all probably will suffer at one point or another. | |
| But remember, that even if it feels like Jesus is not there, even if he feels like he's asleep, he has the power to change it all like that. | |
| And he will. | |
| I don't know how. | |
| I don't know when. | |
| It's on his timeline, not ours. | |
| But we have to have the faith so that when he does it, he doesn't question us and say, where is our faith? | |
| As he did with the disciples. | |
| Because we have to know that he has the power to overcome all. | |
| And that includes whatever we're facing. | |
| So let's say a prayer and we'll wrap it up and we'll go from there. | |
| Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for being there in our lives. | |
| And I pray, Lord, for all of us together that we will trust in you, that as we face storms in our lives, we trust and know that you are with us. | |
| And even if it seems as though you're asleep at the moment, help us have the faith to know that in a moment, you can change it all, and you can make it all right. | |
| Help us have that faith and not be found losing belief in your power. | |
| Help us strengthen it more every day, come closer to you, and help others find you more closely in their heart as well. | |
| Pray for guidance, discernment, understanding. | |
| Strength and courage. | |
| Forgiveness. | |
| For all of us together. | |
| And I thank you most of all Lord for our eternal salvation. | |
| In Jesus name. | |
| Amen. | |
| Alright, well, I hope you guys enjoyed that segment. | |
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| So with that being said, I want to say thank you all for watching this episode of Just Informed News. | |
| We'll, or excuse me, God's grace is greater. | |
| Excuse me, our segment. | |
| Thanks for watching. | |
| We'll see you on the next one. |
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