Storms
Mark 6:45-56
Pastor Bob Hiller
7/29/2012
Mark 6:49b-50 They cried out, because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke to them and said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
1. Amidst life's storms we need a ____________ from __________ so we know where we stand before Him.
2. We don't always recognize Jesus in storms and that is why we need to ____________ His ____________.
3. Because we need this, God gives us His ____________ and ____________ to secure us in His ____________.
Scripture Readings
Genesis 9:8-17
Ephesians 3:14-21
Mark 6:45-56
Take It With You!
Here are some further thoughts to help you contemplate and living the life as a baptized child of God!
What is baptism? Namely, that it is not simply plain water, but water placed in the setting of God's Word and commandment and made holy by them. It is nothing else than God's water, not that the water itself is nobler than other water but that God's Word and commandment are added to it.
Therefore it is sheep wickedness and devilish blasphemy that now, in order to blaspheme baptism, our new spirits set aside God's Word and ordinance, consider nothing but the water drawn from the well, and then babble, "How can a handful of water help the soul?" Yes, my friend! Who does not know that water is water, if it is considered separately? But how dare you tamper thus with God's ordinance and rip out his most precious jewel, in which God has fastened and enclosed his ordinance and from which he does not wish it to be separated? For the real significance of the water lies in God's Word or commandment and God's name, and this treasure is greater and nobler than heaven and earth.
Note the distinction: Baptism is a very different thing from all other water, not by virtue of the natural substance but because here something nobler is added, for God himself stakes his honor, his power, and his might on it. Therefore it is not simply a natural water, but a divine, heavenly, holy, and blessed water - praise it in any other terms you can - all by virtue of the Word, which is a heavenly, holy Word that no one can sufficiently extol, for it contains and conveys all that is God's.
The Large Catechism, On Baptism
