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Peace/Anxiety | Part 6 · Rewind

Rock Point Church

73 min

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Sep 15, 2019 · 5 min read · 73 min listen

The big idea

Quoting the message: It's only when our faith has been tested that it can actually be trusted, end quote., because storms are how God reveals and refines what's really in us.

In this message

The big idea
Point 1 of 7Jesus led the disciples into obedience first, then into the storm — the trial wasn't punishment for disobedience.
Point 2 of 7This was no ordinary storm — it was engineered to reveal what was really in the disciples.

Point 3 of 7Jesus slept through the chaos, showing His full humanity and quietly testing what the disciples truly believed about Him.
Point 4 of 7Jesus calmed the sea with a word, proving He wasn't just a good teacher but God in human form.
Point 5 of 7God isn't a genie who only removes storms — He often has a purpose IN the storm, refining faith like gold.
Point 6 of 7The cross is proof that Jesus can say 'stop' to any storm, including death itself.
Point 7 of 7One day we'll see the whole plan and praise God for it — so we're invited to worship now as if we already know.
Take it into your week
Transcript

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Scripture in this message

Mark 4:35
Mark 4:39
Psalm 89:9
Mark 4:41
James 1:2
1 Peter 1:5-6

Rewind AI drafted the Big Idea and some point headings shown here from the sermon transcript. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Sep 15, 2019 · 73 min watch · 3 min read

Peace/Anxiety | Part 6

In this message

Big Idea
Key points
Application

Scripture in this message

Mark 4:35
Mark 4:39
Psalm 89:9
Mark 4:41
James 1:2
1 Peter 1:5-6

Big Idea Key points Application

Big Idea

Quoting the message: It's only when our faith has been tested that it can actually be trusted, end quote., because storms are how God reveals and refines what's really in us.

Jesus doesn't just deliver us through storms — sometimes He leads us into them on purpose, because that's how faith moves from an idea in our head to something we can actually depend on. The disciples had to be in a real storm on the Sea of Galilee to discover who Jesus truly was, and we have to walk through real trials for our faith to become genuine, tested, and trustworthy rather than a faith that only survives when life is easy.

Key points

1
1Jesus led the disciples into obedience first, then into the storm — the trial wasn't punishment for disobedience.
Pastor Daniel points out the story starts with Jesus telling the disciples to get in the boat and go to the other side, and they obeyed. He challenges the common belief that storms in our life are always the result of our disobedience, noting that sometimes God leads obedient people straight into hardship on purpose.
2
2This was no ordinary storm — it was engineered to reveal what was really in the disciples.
He explains that the Sea of Galilee's geography made storms common, so seasoned fishermen wouldn't normally panic, but this storm was so severe it convinced them they would die. He notes many theologians believe Jesus Himself caused this storm as a teaching moment, since storms in nature and in life are designed to reveal what's underneath.
3
3Jesus slept through the chaos, showing His full humanity and quietly testing what the disciples truly believed about Him.
Pastor Daniel walks through Jesus sleeping on the one cushion in the boat while the storm rages, noting the debate over whether He was simply exhausted or deliberately resting to see how the disciples would respond. He ties this to the truth that what's truly in a person comes out under pressure — out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
4
4Jesus calmed the sea with a word, proving He wasn't just a good teacher but God in human form.
He connects Jesus rebuking the wind and waves to Psalm 89's declaration that only God controls the sea, and to Colossians' description of Jesus as the visible image of the invisible God. The disciples' terrified question, 'who is this, that even the wind and waves obey him,' shows they moved from knowing about Jesus to truly encountering His power.
5
5God isn't a genie who only removes storms — He often has a purpose IN the storm, refining faith like gold.
Pastor Daniel warns against a faith that treats God as only existing to fix problems, saying that kind of faith won't endure. He turns to James on counting trials as joy because tested faith builds endurance, and to 1 Peter on trials proving genuine faith like fire refines gold, illustrating with how a goldsmith knows the gold is pure when he sees his own reflection in it.
6
6The cross is proof that Jesus can say 'stop' to any storm, including death itself.
He connects Jesus calming the physical sea to Jesus facing the greatest storm of all — betrayal, suffering, and death on the cross — declaring that the cross is the forever reminder that Jesus can speak into our anxiety, depression, and fear the same way He spoke to the waves.
7
7One day we'll see the whole plan and praise God for it — so we're invited to worship now as if we already know.
Drawing on 1 Peter, Pastor Daniel describes how believers will one day look back and see exactly what God was doing through every trial, and will praise Him for it in heaven. He challenges the church to raise that praise now, in the in-between, trusting God's goodness before the storm makes sense.

Something can only truly be trusted after it's been tested

A story from life

Preacher recounts a childhood kickball game in which an underestimated neighbor (David, a soccer player) surprised everyone by kicking the ball over the trees.

Application

Pastor Daniel's charge is to stop praying only 'God, make it stop' and start asking 'God, what are You trying to reveal in me?'

Ask what God is revealing, not just for relief
Instead of only praying for a storm to end immediately, ask God what He wants to teach or reveal through it, trusting there may be a purpose in the trial itself.
Let trials build endurance, not just be endured
Following James 1, treat troubles as an opportunity for joy that grows endurance and matures faith, rather than something that merely needs to be survived.
Invite Jesus into your boat if you haven't
If you have no relationship with Jesus, Pastor Daniel says to start by bringing Him into your life and asking Him to be the captain of your ship rather than taking communion.
Worship as if you already know how the story ends
Take communion and sing praise today trusting God's goodness now, before the trial makes sense, the way you will fully understand and praise Him for it one day.

Take it into your week

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“Mark chapter four verse 35. It says, that day when evening came, he, Jesus, said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side”
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From the transcript
“Verse 39. Jesus gets up. He rebukes the wind, says to the waves, quiet, be still. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm”
From the transcript
“In Psalm 89 verse nine it says that God is the one that controls the sea. He's the one that controls the storms”
From the transcript
“the disciples response in verse 41. It says that they were terrified and they asked each other, who's this guy? Even the wind and the waves obey him”
From the transcript
“He says this in verse two. He says, dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider them an opportunity for great joy”
From the transcript
“In the letter of first Peter, he says this in verse five. He says, and through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive the salvation”
From the transcript
“Verse six, he says, So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead. Even though you must endure many trials for a little while, these trials will show that your faith is genuine”
From the transcript
“One of the final teaching moments that Jesus had with his disciples. On the Sea Of Galilee in Mark chapter four, Jesus taught the disciples that what he could do is that he could calm the storms”

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

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Day 1

There is a detail in this story that is easy to skip past: Jesus was the one who said, 'Let's cross to the other side.' The disciples didn't wander into the storm through carelessness or disobedience. They were following His lead — and the storm came anyway. Pastor Daniel made this point plainly: not every trial signals that something has gone wrong in your walk with God. Sometimes the storm is the path, not a detour from it. That realization can be genuinely disorienting if you've been taught, even quietly, that faithfulness means smooth sailing. It can also be quietly freeing. If Jesus led the disciples into the water, then the water you're sitting in right now may be exactly where He intended you to be. That doesn't make it less hard. The waves were real. The wind was real. But it does change the posture you bring to it. Instead of scanning your life for what you did wrong to deserve this, you can ask a more honest and more hopeful question: What is Jesus doing here? The invitation today is simply to sit with the fact that God's leading and life's difficulty are not mutually exclusive — and to let that truth start to settle.

For reflection

Is there a storm in your life right now that you've been assuming is a sign of God's distance? What would it change if you believed He was the one who led you here?

Pray

Pray for the courage to trust that God's leading is present even in hard circumstances you didn't choose.

Day 2

The disciples' question in the middle of the storm is painfully honest: 'Teacher, don't you care that we're going to drown?' There's no polished theology in that moment — just raw fear and a sense of abandonment. And yet Jesus doesn't rebuke them for asking. What He does address is what came next: a fear that had outgrown their trust. Pastor Daniel pointed out that storms are designed to reveal what is actually inside us. The pressure didn't create the disciples' small faith; it exposed it. That's a hard thing to sit with, but it's also a merciful one. God isn't revealing the gaps in your faith so He can condemn you for them. He's revealing them so they can be addressed — so that the faith you carry into the next storm is more honest and more durable than the one you brought into this one. Fear is not a character flaw. It's human, and the disciples were human. But Jesus was in the boat the whole time, and they hadn't fully reckoned with who that meant was with them. Today's reflection is less about performing courage and more about honesty: What does your fear, right now, tell you about what you actually believe about Jesus?

For reflection

When fear surfaces in a trial, what does it tend to reveal about what you genuinely believe God thinks of you or is doing for you?

Pray

Pray for honesty about the gaps between what you say you believe and what your fear reveals you actually trust.

Day 3

Three words — 'Silence! Be still!' — and the wind stopped. The waves flattened. And the disciples, who had just been terrified of the storm, became terrified of something else entirely. 'Who is this man?' they asked. That question is the pivot point of the whole story. Pastor Daniel was clear: Jesus calming the sea wasn't just a display of impressive power. It was a revelation of identity. In the Hebrew scriptures, commanding the sea was something only God did. The disciples were standing in a boat with the Creator of the waters they were afraid of. A faith built on 'Jesus is a great teacher' or even 'Jesus is a miracle-worker' will buckle under real pressure. A faith built on 'Jesus is Lord over everything — including this' holds. The storm didn't just refine the disciples' courage. It expanded their understanding of who Jesus actually is. That's still how it works. Difficulty has a way of making us ask harder, better questions about Jesus — and sometimes the answer we arrive at is bigger and more solid than what we started with. Let this story push your understanding of Jesus a little wider today.

For reflection

How has a past trial — in hindsight — shown you something about who Jesus is that you might not have seen in calmer times?

Pray

Pray for a deeper, more accurate vision of who Jesus actually is — not just what He can do for you, but who He is.

Day 4

Before Jesus ever set foot in Galilee, the psalms were already declaring this truth: 'You rule the oceans. You subdue their storm-tossed waves.' The disciples may not have connected those dots in the moment, but the moment was not without precedent. God's authority over chaos — over the things that feel most out of control — has always been part of who He is. Pastor Daniel pointed out that a small, boxed-in view of Jesus produces fragile faith. When we reduce Him to a problem-solver or a comfort-giver, we're working with a version of Jesus too small to stand on when the waves get high. Psalm 89 isn't a storm-survival tip. It's a declaration about the nature of God — that He was ruling over chaos long before your particular chaos arrived. There is something steadying about that. Your storm is not bigger than the One who spoke to storms. Your situation is not outside His jurisdiction. Sitting with who He is — not just what you need Him to do — is not passive. It's actually one of the most active things faith can do. Today, let your trust be shaped not only by what you need, but by what is already true about who you're trusting.

For reflection

Where in your life have you been relating to Jesus primarily as a problem-solver rather than as Lord? What would it look like to widen that view?

Pray

Pray for a spirit of reverence — that your understanding of who Jesus is would grow larger than your current circumstances.

Day 5

James does not say trials are enjoyable. He says to consider them joy — which is a different thing entirely. Pastor Daniel leaned into this: joy in the middle of a trial isn't denial, and it isn't pretending the storm isn't real. It's an orientation toward what the trial is producing. The word James uses for 'testing' here is connected to the idea of proving something genuine — the same way you'd test metal to see if it holds. What comes out the other side isn't a different faith; it's the same faith, proven real. And what that tested faith produces is endurance — the kind that doesn't depend on life being comfortable or circumstances being favorable. A faith that only functions when things are going well isn't a faith built to last a lifetime. Pastor Daniel's challenge was direct: stop praying only for God to end the storm, and start asking what He is refining in you through it. That doesn't mean you can't grieve what the storm costs. It means you hold both — the real pain and the real work God is doing — without letting one erase the other. Endurance isn't stubbornness. It's faith that has been through something and is still standing.

For reflection

What might God be developing in you through a current or recent trial that you couldn't develop any other way?

Pray

Pray for the posture of asking 'What are You refining in me?' rather than only 'When will this end?'

Day 6

Peter's image of refined gold is one of the most searching pictures of faith in the New Testament. A goldsmith doesn't heat gold because he's indifferent to it. He heats it precisely because he values it — because he wants what's genuine to remain and what's impure to fall away. The goal is a gold so pure the goldsmith can see his own reflection in it. Pastor Daniel brought this image to its deepest point: the cross is the ultimate proof that God does not ask us to endure storms He hasn't entered Himself. Jesus bore the greatest weight — separation, suffering, death — so that the refinement we walk through is never beyond what He has already absorbed for us. That changes what suffering feels like. You are not being processed by an indifferent force. You are being shaped by a Refiner who loves what He's working on and has already proven it at the highest possible cost. The faith that comes through that kind of fire is described by Peter as 'more precious than gold' — not because it's hard-won, but because it's real. Genuinely real. Today, notice where the heat might be doing something in you, and trust the hands that are holding you in it.

For reflection

What impurity — fear, self-reliance, a false sense of control — do you sense God might be working to refine out of you right now?

Pray

Pray for trust in the Refiner's hands — that the process, however uncomfortable, is coming from love.

Day 7

Reading the whole passage again at the end of the week feels different than it did at the start. The same boat, the same storm, the same disciples — but now the question 'Who is this man?' lands with more weight. Pastor Daniel closed with a two-part call. For those who don't yet know Jesus, the invitation is simply to let Him into the boat and let Him be the captain. For everyone else, the call is to pursue the kind of discipleship that costs something — the kind that, over a lifetime, builds a faith that holds. He also said something worth carrying into this final day: taking communion and engaging in worship during a trial is itself an act of declaration. It's saying, before you fully understand what God is doing, that you believe He is good. That declaration is not naive. It's one of the most courageous things a person can do. So as this week closes, bring whatever you're carrying back to the boat. The same Jesus who spoke to the wind and waves is with you. He hasn't moved. The question the disciples asked — 'Who is this man?' — is still the most important question anyone can answer, and this week has been an invitation to answer it more deeply than before.

For reflection

Looking back over the week, what has shifted in how you understand who Jesus is or what it means to trust Him in the middle of a storm?

Pray

Pray for the courage to declare God's goodness before you fully understand His plan — and to carry this week's truths into whatever comes next.

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message sits with a question most of us would rather avoid: what if the storm you're in isn't a detour — what if God led you there on purpose?

Discussion questions

1
In Mark 4:35-36, Jesus is the one who says 'Let's cross to the other side' — He initiates the trip that leads straight into the storm. What does it change about how we read a hard season when we consider that God may have led people into it rather than simply allowed it?
2
In Mark 4:38-40, the disciples wake Jesus with a cry of panic, and He responds by asking why they were afraid and where their faith was. What do you think Jesus was pointing to with those two questions — and what's the difference between the two?
3
After Jesus commands the wind and waves to be still, the disciples ask each other, 'Who is this man?' in Mark 4:41. What does that moment suggest about the gap between knowing facts about Jesus and actually knowing who He is?
4
James 1:2-4 says to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds, because testing produces endurance. What does James seem to mean by 'joy' there — and how is that different from simply being happy about a hard situation?
5
Pastor Daniel described a goldsmith who heats gold until the impurities rise to the surface, then keeps refining until he can see his own reflection in it. Using that image, how might we think differently about what God is doing when a trial doesn't end quickly?
6
Pastor Daniel challenged the church to take communion and worship — especially when life is hard — as a way of declaring God's goodness before we fully understand His plan. What does it look like, practically, for a community to do that together?

Pray together

Courage to trust who Jesus is — not just what we know about Him — in whatever storm is real for us right now

Rewind AI contributed study material from the sermon transcript; church-authored wording and verified sermon quotes keep their own source. Always trust the sermon itself over anything here. How Rewind uses AI

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Peace/Anxiety

Week 6 · 5 messages

Where these passages are preached

Mark 4 Psalm 89 James 1 1 Peter 1

Explore related topics

Faith Refined Through Hardship God's Presence in Storms The Lordship of Christ Trials and Faith Trusting Jesus

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