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Making It - to the Other Side

other_side

I don't like riding on ships. Boats are OK - fishing boats, ski boats. - putting around lakes and rivers with a good outboard motor This is OK. But ships I don't like because I get seasick. The wind on your face, the views of the ocean in every direction - that’s all great. But the seasick thing ... I end up take so much motion sickness medicine I just go to sleep. And that's what Jesus was doing in Luke 8:22-25. But we'll come to that in a moment.

At the beginning of the chapter, in Luke 8:1, we read that Jesus was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. God's kingdom is his dynamic rule over all, and the good news is that everyone is invited to participate. We experience the kingdom by embracing the kingdom - submitting to Christ's Lordship as our Saviour, Redeemer, and king.

The kingdom includes a process, described by Jesus as hearing the word, receiving the word, believing the word, and obeying the word (see Luke 8:11-15Luke 8:16-18Luke 8:19-21). But in addition to kingdom process, there is also kingdom power. 

In Luke 4:32 we read that 'And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!'. This amazement occurred in the synagogue where Jesus had just cast a demon out of a man. Note the two key words:

  • Authority (exousia): the power and right to rule and command.
  • Power (dynamis): strength, power, ability.

 Jesus has the authority and the power to drive darkness out of the life of people, even if it is demonic in origin. But not only that, in Luke 8:22-25, we see that Jesus also has authority and power over the forces of nature.

The key to this text is the promise made by Jesus in Luke 8:22, where he says that they are going to go the other side. There is another side - another place, another experience, another step in your destiny - something you've not yet experienced. 

Jesus had another place for the disciples - and when he got there, what we read in Luke 8:26-39 - it wasn't simply a vacation spot, it was a place of ministry to a man who had severe issues.

But along the way to this divinely orchestrated appointment with darkness, the disciples in the boat encountered a storm. It was easy for them to assume Jesus didn't care much about them; he was asleep. But although they were professional fishermen, they felt to be in great danger as the boat filled with water and high waves and strong winds swallowed up their hope.

In great fear, they awoke Jesus with the [incorrect] pronouncement, 'we are perishing' (Luke 8:24). Jesus rebuked the wind and the saves, which immediately ceased. Rather than encouraging them, Jesus challenged them: 'Where is your faith?' (Luke 8:25). The disciples knew Jesus was powerful, but this was a revelation - he commanded the wind and the waves; when he spoke, nature had to obey him. They exchanged the fear of nature for the fear of God

The Point

  • There is another side God is taking us to – a place, a destiny, a calling, a purpose.
  • To get there, we have to go through storms.
  • If Jesus is in the boat of our lives, there’s no way it sinks.
  • You can live at peace on the inside even if the external storm is bonkers IF you remember who’s in the boat with you.

It may be that you find yourself in a storm right now. Hang on! Just be sure that Jesus the king is in your boat. You're going to make it to the other side.