2. Did the disciples find for themselves great faith?
3. To determine this, there came an unexpected test of faith for the disciples
4. A sudden and abrupt storm hit the boat that the Lord and His disciples were in
“Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
Matthew 8:23-25
a) It was not something that they were prepared for
b) This unexpected test would reveal the kind of faith that they truly had
THE STRUGGLE WITH FEAR
“But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Mark 4:40
1. In Mark’s version, the Lord Jesus asked, “Why are you so fearful?”
a) Fearful means “cowardly, very timid”
b) The disciples were behaving cowardly
2. An outward feature
a) Their cowardly fear was clearly manifested outwardly
b) The fear that they felt was very real
3. Why were they so fearful?
4. The old self…fearfulness
a) There is a natural fear that exists in us
b) When problems come, we tend to start with this natural fear
5. Battle between fear and faith
a) There is a great battle between fear and faith
b) Fear will win all the time if faith is not there
THE STATE OF LITTLE FAITH
“But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Matthew 8:26
1. In Matthew’s version, the Lord Jesus stated, “O you of little faith”.
a) The phrase “O you of little faith”
b) More than just descriptive
2. Use of the stative verb
3. Not grown much
a) The continuing little faith revealed that the disciples had not grown much
b) A phrase used before
4. Danger of being like this throughout
a) This could be a problem that plagues us
b) From start to finish, there is only little faith
THE ABSENCE OF FAITH
“But He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Luke 8:25
1. In Luke’s version, the Lord raised the question, “Where is your faith?”
a) Where is your faith
b) Understanding this phrase
2. Where faith was supposed to be there
a) The faith was nowhere to be seen
b) Faith was expected to be there
3. One thing leads to another
a) Fearful
b) O you of little faith
c) Where is your faith?
LESSONS LEARNED
1. Battle the old nature of fear with new, stronger faith