Second Stage Ministries

A Tale of Two Storms - Storm 2 The second storm I want to take a look at is a little different. There are some things that are the same. For example, the disciples are the same and the boat is the same (well at least there is a boat in this story just like the last one). This story also starts with them crossing the Sea of Galilee and there is storm that comes up. Jesus also handles the storm a little bit differently as well. "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it." [1] So while this storm was going on, Jesus appears out of the wind and rain - walking on the water toward the boat. The disciples having never seen something like this before become af

In the New Testament, we see the disciples experience two storms. But I think looking at these two storms; we see two different ways to approach the storms of life that we face. We are going to look at one this week and one next week. In Mark 4, we see the first storm. Jesus had been teaching and decides to go across the sea of Galilee to the other side so He could teach there. So they set off across the sea and Jesus lays down to rest. When all of a sudden.... "A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” - Mark 4:37-38 NIV This tells us that the storms of life pop suddenly. One moment it's all blue skies and sunshine and then next moment it’s all of a sudden gray, dark and raining. The storm is here. In these stormy moments, we cry out to God the same way the disciples did - "Hey! Don&

In this final post for this series, we are looking at chapters 23-24. In chapter 23, Joshua gives his final speech to the nation of Israel. In chapter 24, Joshua takes some time to remind Israel of what God has done for them. How God saved them from Egypt by parting the Red Sea and taking out the Egyptian army (Exodus 14). How God provided for them while they were in the wilderness. How God helped them get across the Jordan River and defeat Jericho (Joshua 4-6). God had done a lot for them. Everything they had was because God had helped and been there with them. Joshua told them a few things in his final speech. They are good way to end this series of posts: 1) “You yourselves have seen everything the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; it was the Lord your God who fought for you.” Joshua 23:3 NIV Joshua wanted them to remember all that God had done for them. The ups and downs and the times when they follow God and the times when they didn't

We are now at the next to last post of the series called "The One Thing". We have been in this series since March 5th! It has been amazing. I have been sharing with you the one thing in each of the chapters (we have skipped a few) of the book of Joshua that has jumped out at me. If I could also say that it's important to know that sometimes that is how we should dive into the Bible. We should pick a passage or chapter or even a book and ask God to show us just one thing in that text He wants us to know. So as we dive into this next to last post I want to draw our attention to the verse below: "Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled.” - Joshua 21:45 NIV Every time we hear the word promise in the Bible we should get excited. When God uses the word "promise" in the Bible it's not just an empty word like sometimes when we use it. I mean let's face the word "promise" to some of us h