followHIM - Matt. 8; Mark 2-4; Luke 7 Part 2 • Dr. Joshua M. Sears • Feb. 27 - Mar. 5

Episode Date: February 22, 2023

Dr. Joshua Sears continues to examine the relationship between faith, miracles, and how Jesus Christ brings peace to life’s storms. Dr. Sears relates that discipleship involves action and sacrifice.00:00 Part II– Dr. Joshua Sears00:08 Jesus calms the sea and Psalm 10702:53 Cowardice and fear and Jesus orders chaos05:34 Joseph Smith asked God if He cared when people suffer06:15 The story behind “Master, the Tempest is Raging”13:02 Lloyd Newell and “Well With My Soul”17:38 Come, Follow Me activity19:41 Jesus is more than moral teacher20:22 Emma Lou Thayne story about mental illness and “Where Can I Turn for Peace?”29:03 Matthew 8 and Jesus stilling the storm35:01 Discipleship parallel to traversing in a boat40:27 Elder Bednar story regarding faith, healing, and timing46:37 Depression and faith in Jesus51:56 End of Part II–Dr. Joshua SearsShow Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.coFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Welcome to part two with Dr. Joshua Sears, Matthew 8, Mark 2 through 4, and Luke 7. So then, continuing in verse 38, And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a lot to unpack here. This story is just so rich. One reason that Jesus has this piercing question of them is because as they recognize who he is, they should have been a little more aware that there was no real danger. We can look,

for example, I'm going to go back to the book of Psalms. Let's bring in some Old Testament again here. Psalm 46, first three verses says this, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. As you trust in God, the psalm is at least presenting this ideal that then you shouldn't be afraid if the waters are rolling at you. And there's another psalm that goes over a sea storm as well at Psalm 107, starting in verse 23. It tells the story about sailors caught out in a storm. They that go down to the sea and ships

that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. Verse 2. reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man, and they are at their wit's end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their darkness. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. You can hear the echoes of this in the story of Jesus. The story might be crafted to actually echo the psalm here, but then the ending is different, which is why they get rebuked. Verse 30 in Psalm 107. Then are they glad because they be quiet. So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men.

Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders. So in the story, the sailors, the calm comes and they praise God and they recognize how wonderful he is. And apparently the apostles are not quite following that template here. So Jesus is like, come on guys. Pick up on what Psalm 107. Yeah. Why are you so fearful? Why have you no faith? Now in the apostles defense, sometimes people give them a little harder time than maybe they deserve. Because in verse 40, Jesus asked, why are you fearful? And then in verse 41, it says they feared exceedingly, like they're doing what Jesus just told them not to do.

But again, in their defense, it's actually two different Greek words behind the words fearful there. So they're not precisely doing what Jesus just said not to do. In verse 40, the word behind fearful is delos, which can have a sense of cowardly in Greek. So he's like,ically, but in the New Testament, it will also use that word for the kind of reverential fear that you have when you recognize the presence of the divinity there. So it can be more positive. So, yeah, he's like, stop being so cowardly. And then it says that they have this kind of maybe more reverential, awestruck fear there in 41, you know, leading to that question, what manner of man is this? They seem to not be fully still grasping the implications of who Jesus is, but maybe the gears are starting to turn. And in some ways, from a narrative point of view, if you're not them and you're stepping back, it should be obvious who Jesus is because in the Old Testament, it's Jehovah who has power over the seas, who has

control over the waters. That's a very common presentation of him. Starting in Genesis chapter one, the spirit of God hovers over those primordial chaos waters there, and then he brings creation. And he's the one who parts the Red Sea. And we just read the Psalms where he's able to calm the storm. So frequently in the Old Testament, the Israelites, they're not really seafarers all that much out on the open ocean. They see waters as being symbols of chaos and death and destruction quite a bit. They look to Jehovah for his control over the water. So when Jesus calms the storm, that should be a big hint about who this guy is. And there's still a lot for them to take in.

So they're marveling. Wow, who is this? Even the wind and the sea. That's even more amazing than the other elements. Because again, the waters are the hardest thing to control. That's even more amazing than the other elements. Because again, the waters are the hardest thing to control and that's divine activity right there. But the line here that sticks out to me through all of this is in verse 38, where they say, master, carest thou not that we perish? Some other ways you could translate this,

you know, don't you care? Perish can also be translated as destroyed. So don't you care that we're perishing? Don't you care that this is destroying us? That kind of a sense there. What a human reaction. Don't you care if we drowned? Yeah. Yeah. Don't you care? I'm going through something hard. Even Joseph Smith expressed a similar sentiment in Liberty Jail, section 121. Oh God, where art thou? Where's the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long? And he goes on from there, right? This is such a common reaction. We all have times in our lives where we're going through something excruciating and we think, does God even care? The word that the Lord responds with to Joseph in section 121, he says, my son. And then what's the first thing he says?

Peace. Says the same thing here in Mark 4. First thing he says when he gets up, peace. What we need when we feel like God doesn't care is peace. And the source of that peace is Jesus Christ. Here in the stilling of the storm, one of the most remarkable things, he doesn't pray and ask that the storm be stilled. He simply commands because he has that authority that the centurion recognized earlier. He can simply say the word and it will be done. And so many

people in these storms of life have really learned this lesson that the only way you're going to truly find peace is by looking to Jesus Christ, who's the only one who ultimately has power to calm those storms. I thought I'd share one story about a woman who experienced this. Her name is Mary Ann Baker. She was an American woman who lived in the second half of the 19th century, and she's got a very remarkable story. She was raised Christian, had a lot of faith, but a really hard life. When she was young, her parents died of tuberculosis, both of them leaving her an orphan. But she was left with her brother and sister. So together, they took care of each other. But years later, her brother also contracted tuberculosis, and he was going to die. And so the sisters pulled

together all the money and the resources they could spare. And they sent him to the Southern United States. They lived in Chicago and they were hoping that the warmer weather would be good for him and help his recovery. Send him to Florida, right? I think, yeah, I think Florida, which is where I want to be now in the middle of the Utah winter. So he gets there and just a few weeks later, he dies too. And to just make this even worse, they'd already spent all their money just getting him there. So they didn't have any funds left to either travel there for a funeral or to bring his body home. And Marianne describes how this just devastated her.

And she went to a real dark place and she recorded, this is her words now, God does not care for me or mine. That's the conclusion that she came to. God doesn't care. And over the years, she was able to move through this. She had spiritual experiences. She describes God reaching out to her, and she was able to regain that faith and that trust in the love of God. And in 1874, she wrote a poem, very autobiographical poem to describe this journey that she went on thinking God doesn't care to where she was able to regain her faith. And she based it off this story here in the gospels. And you know the poem, I'll read it here. Master, the tempest is raging. The billows are tossing high. The sky is overshadowed with blackness.

No shelter or help is nigh. Carest thou not that we perish? How canst thou lie asleep when each moment so madly is threatening a grave in the angry deep? Master, with anguish of spirit, I bow in my grief today. The depths of my sad heart are troubled. Oh, waken and save, I pray. Torrents of sin and of anguish sweep over my sinking soul, and I perish, I perish, dear Master.

Oh, hasten and take control. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will peace be still whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea or demons or men or whatever it be no waters can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies they all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, be still. Peace, be still. They all shall sweetly obey thy will. Peace, peace, be still. Master, the terror is over. The elements sweetly rest. Earth's sun in the calm lake is mirrored and heavens within my breast. Linger, O blessed Redeemer. Leave me alone no more. And with joy I shall make the blessed harbor and rest on the blissful shore. I think when you know her, we've all heard that hymn before, but I think when you know her story, you appreciate how real that was. And I think when we've been there and we know what she's been through, we all appreciate the desperation in those first two verses as we desperately call on God and we openly wonder, don't you care? How could you care and let this happen? Those are when it's really hard. I love when we hear backstories of some of our hymns, that that came from such a hard,

difficult thing. And then to have this answer, we've sung the hymn for years. I didn't know that backstory. What a beautiful thing, what a beautiful gift to the world has come from her experience in writing that poem you read so beautifully just now. We had a conference talk on this story just a couple of years ago. Lisa L. Harkness, she was a counselor in the primary general presidency. So her talk, Peace Be Still, she comments on this and says, In times of turmoil, our faith can feel stretched to the limits of our endurance and understanding.

Waves of fear can distract us, causing us to forget God's goodness. That's what we've been talking about, right? We forget God's goodness, thus leaving our perspective short-sighted and out of focus. She says, regardless of our circumstances, we can intentionally make efforts to build and increase our faith in Jesus Christ. It is strengthened when we remember, and then she lists two things, which will sound familiar. We've been talking about it this whole day. Our faith is strengthened when we remember that we are children of God and that he loves us. Our faith grows when we experiment on the word of God with hope and diligence, trying our very best to follow Christ's teachings. Our faith increases as we choose to believe rather than doubt, forgive rather than judge, repent rather than rebel.

Our faith is strengthened as we patiently rely on the merits and mercy and grace of the Holy Messiah. So I thought that was interesting how she highlighted that again. As you do all these things, first, above all else, you got to remember that we're children of God. He loves us. Remember God's goodness. If you don't keep those things foundational and at the front of your mind, then the terrible things we go through and the suffering we experience is going to overwhelm us because nothing will make sense. It will seem like he's punishing us or like the suffering serves no purpose or like he doesn't care. All these other things that we're not going to understand unless we cement ourselves on those foundational truths. John, I was able to find the story that you were talking

about. It is well with my soul. This was written by Lloyd Newell, our friend. He said, quote, life can be so unpredictable. Joys and sorrows, beautiful blessings and distressing difficulties can come unexpectedly. Our life's dreams and plans can change in an instant. How can we find peace amid such turbulence? Horatio Spafford knew something about life's unexpected challenges. He was a successful attorney and real estate investor who'd lost a fortune in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Around the same time, his beloved four-year-old son died of scarlet fever. Thinking a vacation would do his family some good, he sent his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he finished pressing business at home.

However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sunk. More than 200 people lost their lives, including all four of Horatio Spafford's precious daughters. His wife, Anna, surviving the tragedy, arrived in England, sent a telegram to her husband that began, saved alone, what shall I do? Horatio immediately set sail for England. At one point during his voyage, the captain of the ship, aware of the tragedy that had struck the family, summoned Horatio to tell him they were now passing over the spot where the shipwreck had occurred. As Horatio thought about his daughters, words of comfort and hope filled his heart and mind. He wrote them down, and they have become a well-beloved hymn. When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll,

whatever my lot thou hast taught me to know, it is well, it is well with my soul. Perhaps we cannot say that everything is well in all aspects of our lives. There will always be storms to face and sometimes there will be tragedies. But with faith in a loving God and with trust in his divine help, we can confidently say it is well, it is well with my soul. Is that what you were thinking of? Yeah. At a Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert years ago, they had Hugh Bonneville kind of be the guest and he narrated and told the backstory of that hymn. Just incredible.

And then, of course, the choir sang the hymn. And it's amazing that people, knowing that God is real and he loves them, can get to that place, even a tragedy, and be able to say it is well with my soul or peace be still as you taught us, Josh. But it's so easy to say God's real, he loves us. But sometimes you're backed up against the wall of faith. Does he really? And these couple of stories, it sounds like people got backed up against the wall and had to, does he really or doesn't he? And they thankfully came to that conclusion. He is real and he loves us. And we have beautiful hymns because of tragedy like that. It's amazing.

Yeah. And maybe it's not a coincidence that so many of our favorite hymns, the ones that are so meaningful, come from people who have a backstory in real suffering because something about that produces these poems, these wonderful explorations of our human condition. In fact, maybe we can just do one more. I think we're on a roll with these to explore. President Howard W. Hunter said, all of us have seen some sudden storms in our lives. A few of them, though temporary, like these on the Sea of Galilee, can be violent and frightening and potentially destructive. As individuals, as families, communities, nations, even as a church, we have had sudden squalls arise, which have made us ask one way or another, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And one

way or another, we always hear in the stillness of the storm, why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? None of us would like to think we have no faith, but I suppose the Lord's gentle rebuke here is largely deserved. The great Jehovah in whom we say we trust and whose name we have taken upon us is he who said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters Baker that Josh told us. the Sea of Galilee. And our faith should remind us that he can calm the troubled waters of our lives. He goes on to tell the story of Marianne Baker that Josh told us in this talk. It's called Master, the Tempest is Raging by Elder Howard W. Hunter way back in the 1980s. Do you remember those? Yeah. October conference, 1984. It's a good one to look up. There is in the Come Follow

Me manual for individuals and families, the great little activity here. It's a good one to look up. There is in the Come Follow Me manual for individuals and families a great little activity here. It says, Have you ever felt the way Jesus' disciples did in the storm at sea, watching the waves of water fill the boat and questioning, Master, carest thou not that we perish? In Mark 4, 35 through 41, you will find four questions. List each one, ponder what it teaches you about facing life's challenges with faith in Jesus Christ. How does the Savior bring peace to the storms of your life? And it even mentions Sister Lisa L. Harkness talk here after that. But that's a great idea because those questions we have had, but boy, the Savior's question I can't get over, why are ye so fearful? When we read that, we think of almost every time an angel appears on earth,

what is the first thing they say? Yeah, it's always fear not. Why are you so fearful all the time here on the planet? And they've just come from this heavenly place and the first thing they always say, fear not. It's interesting. Yeah, that is interesting. I can see any of our listeners going through some major difficulties doing that activity, John, taking those four questions, says, list them, ponder what it teaches you about facing life's challenges. Master, carest thou not that we perish? From verse 38. From verse 40, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? And then verse 41, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? What a therapeutic activity, I think, to go through those four questions in your mind

and ponder each. Does he care? Why are you so fearful? It's okay to answer that, I think. It's okay to say, well, because of this, how is it that you have no faith? That's a hard one to answer. And then to think about who is this that you're dealing with? Who is this Lord that even the wind and the sea obey him? How much faith can you place in a being like that? And I love these stories that are showing us that Jesus was more than just a moral teacher who had some really great quotations.

All of these miracles show, oh no, this was much more than a moral teacher. And he is the creator, as those verses you read in the Old Testament show us. He has power over all of these elements and people and plants and male and female and animals and all of those things demonstrating that he's the creator and he can recreate and heal and everything. So fun to see those messages in there. Yeah. But when you're wet and stormy and about to sink, it is so hard when you're in the middle of it. Yeah. Keep what you know in your heart. A lot of people listening have probably experienced either them or family members. One specific trial that's prevalent today, mental illness is one that's especially hard and devastating. Of all

storms you could face, there's particular difficulties when you're facing that. Unlike some other forms of injury or illness, mental illness doesn't show on the outside. You're not wearing a cast. You're not going through chemo. It can be invisible in that sense. There can still be a stigma around treatment for those things. Another difficulty is often people experiencing mental illness have difficulty feeling the spirit or feeling God's love, which makes it even harder to recognize that through the midst of what they're going through. But things like depression, anxiety, bipolar, anorexia, all sorts of other things

are hurting so many families. I've got family members, friends, students, lots of people in my ward and elsewhere I know where this is a particular struggle. And I think there's a message here in the Gospels here for people going through this in particular. And we've gone over some histories of hymns today. So here's one more we can add to that. The story of another woman, Emma Lou Thane. She's a Latter-day Saint from now the second half of the 20th century. This is her story.

So I'm getting this from a church news article that she wrote from 2001, where she recalled what was going on in her life. She says, that spring of 1970 had not been a happy time. The oldest of our five daughters was at 19, struggling with what we'd never heard of, manic depression slash bipolar disease, bulimia and anorexia. The beautiful girl who

had grown up enjoying school, friends, boyfriends, swimming, and water skiing had been obsessed with dieting. And when the boy she sent on a mission didn't write, she fell into a depression unlike anything we could comprehend. Then away at college, she became manic and had to come home to be hospitalized. When could she return to herself, to her promising life? Those three years were the bleakest time I have ever known. And then she describes how she sat down to write a poem to explore all the thoughts that she had gone through. She knew, like you learn in the stilling of the storm, that the only way to truly find peace is through the Savior, Jesus Christ, no matter what waves and storms life is tossing at you. So she wrote this poem, which we're all

familiar with. Where can I turn for peace? Where is my solace when other sources cease to make me whole? When with a wounded heart, anger, or malice, I draw myself apart searching my soul. Where when my aching grows, where when I languish, where in my need to know, where can I run? Where is the quiet hand to calm my anguish? Who can understand? He, only one. He answers privately, reaches my reaching. In my Gethsemane, Savior and friend. Gentle the peace he finds for my beseeching, constant he is and kind, love without end.

So we know that hymn, and she had a friend who was musically inclined, a composer named Jolene. And so she called her friend and said, I wrote this poem. Can you set it to music? She would read her friend a line over the phone and her friend on the piano would work out the tune. And over the course of a morning, they worked out this hymn. She says Jolene herself had a history of genetic depression in her family, so she understood every word I'd written. And then Emma Luthain concludes, we sought professional help for Becky and found it in a superb doctor and a newly found medicine that corrected her chemical imbalance. She would need it the rest of her life, but it was love from her future husband and the peace expressed in that hymn that provided the ultimate healing for Becky. A few years ago, Deseret Book came out

with this book, Silent Souls Weeping. It's by Jane Clayson Johnson and is about depression. And in here, she went to interview the composer, Jolene. She asked her about her experience composing the music for this hymn and what that meant for them. So here's a different take on that process there. Jolene told me that she and Emma Lou had called that song the mental health hymn. That was kind of their original title. And that the Gethsemane they were both thinking of as they wrote it included the mental suffering and anguish that the Savior took upon himself for each individual who has or will suffer from depression and other mental illnesses. She told me about a mental health episode of her

own. It was so severe, she recalled, that she was unable to get out of bed for months. When she was finally able to leave her room and go downstairs, she joked that she and her family celebrated by getting in the car and driving around the block. I love visiting with Jolene because she made it easy to talk about mental illness. She spoke with candor and even a little bit of humor. She wishes that mental health issues were as easy to spot as physical issues. Too bad you can't wear a cast on your head, she laughed, because something is broken in there, and that's really hard for people to understand. Then and now, Jolene believes that peace can be found, even when trapped in the Gethsemane of depression, even when the Lord does not heal us like he did the blind man.

Goodness. This is so rough, but this is where we do have to understand. We absolutely have to seek out medication, therapy, professional help, all those things. But ultimately the only way we're going to make it through this particular storm is by faith in the son of God.

He can heal us. And it's hard when we have to wait for that healing to come, but the PC promises is very much real. Yeah. Wow, that was really beautiful, Josh. Thank you for that. Goodness. Isn't that interesting that three different hymns now we've talked about that have come from some very difficult circumstances.

What are the three hymns we've talked about? It is well with my soul. master the tempest is raging, and where can I turn for peace? That it wasn't just, I think I'll write a song today. It was, I am trying to understand, I mean, working through my own faith and these words came out of them. That's amazing. And it makes me want to research the other ones and see some of the backstories because those are powerful. I'm glad you brought those up, Josh. Thank you. There is a book, Desert Booksells, our latter day hymns, and it gives the stories for all of them. It's a good one. This is a quote from President Thomas S. Monson. He says,

I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our heavenly father and our savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. He was so positive. Listen to this. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us. My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.

Do you remember the book, Our Search for Happiness, that Elder Ballard, now President M. Russell Ballard wrote? He had a line in there about, it's hard to have a negative attitude about anything when your life is focused on Christ. There's this eventual hope, this eventually things will come out right, because we know he's there and we know he loves us. And as you said, Josh, but when you're in the middle of it, this is the hard part. And sometimes all you have to hang on to is that I know he's there and he knows he loves us. I don't understand this, but maybe someday I will.

And someday there will come healing and peace. And that's in the middle of it is the hardest place. I suppose. That was just so good. I just don't want it to, I don't want it to stop, but okay. What's our next part?

Well, I'm thinking we'll move on to another scripture block, but we're not done with the stealing of the storm. I thought would conclude today by looking're not done with the stealing of the storm. I thought we'd conclude today by looking at how Matthew tells the story of the stealing of the storm. It's the same story. We're going to have much the same meaning, but he gives a twist on it. That's going to add another dimension to this.

Are we back in Matthew 8? We're back in Matthew 8. We're going to start at verse 18. And here's one reason that's worth repeating this story in a different gospel. Many years ago, I was a student of Gay Strathern in her classes. I know you've had here on the podcast. And she taught me an important idea about the gospels. You know, we've got repetition of different stories in different gospels. You get the sense of deja vu. I feel like I have read this story before, quite recently. And what she taught

me was you've got to pay attention to the story in each gospel. Don't just get the deja vu feeling and say, oh, I read this. I'm going to skip it this time. I've already covered this. Because not only do the different stories and different gospels contain different details where you get one detail in one, but not in another. But different gospel authors might be using the same story to teach different lessons, depending on what details they've included and how they frame it and set it up. The stilling of the storm was actually the example that she used in class to teach us about this. So in Matthew chapter eight, he's got the stilling of the storm, but he's trying to get you to get a slightly different lesson out of it this time.

And you can get a sense of that by looking at what story does he tell right before the stilling of the storm, which is different than how Mark sets it up. Remember in Mark, he had all the parables and then emphasized the same day we're going to get in the boat here. And so we're now showing Jesus's authority to back up all the words he just spoke. So shows Jesus's power over the physical elements. And we explore who is this guy. Matthew eight is a different setup. So let's read verses 18 to 22. This is Matthew eight now. So now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart onto the other side and a certain scribe came and said unto him, master, I will follow thee withersoever me? Great. Have you thought this through though?

I'm homeless. Following him in that literal sense back then meant you're wandering the countryside and you're not going to have a home. A fox and a bird will have more of a home than you do. They have a place to go stay and rest, but I sleep on the ground. I'm out in the rain. So he's asking him to weigh the cost of this before he jumps into it. And then in verse 21, you get another account that teaches the same thing. And another of his disciples said unto him, O Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said unto him, follow me and let the dead bury their dead. We don't want to overread this. Jesus isn't prohibiting funerals.

This isn't a general principle. But he's saying, you know what? The issue here is, are you going to follow me? And are you willing to put me first? It's about the cost of discipleship right here. So in each case, the message is ultimately the same. If you're going to follow me, be sure you're going to follow me. You can't do this half-heartedly. You need to be all in. You need to be invested. And then verse 23 is now the story of the stilling of the storm, But Matthew has a different beginning to the story. It links it to these other stories.

Look at verse 23. When he was entered into a ship, his disciples did what? Followed him. So follow, follow, follow. That is the repeated refrain here. So this is linking the stilling of the storm now to the issue of following that we've just gone over with the foxes and the dead father. And Matthew has crafted this carefully. Most scholars think that Mark is written first and that Matthew is making some kind of revision to Mark. So we'll go with that. Notice in the Mark version in verse 36 of Mark four, the disciples get in the ship first and they take Jesus with

him. He follows them. Matthew is very deliberately switched it. So now Jesus goes in the ship first and they follow him onto the ship because he's trying to stress this idea of following Jesus. So we've tweaked that detail of the story in a way that brings out that lesson very powerfully. So they follow him into the ship. And then in verse 24, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea and so much that the ship was covered with the waves, but he was asleep. And Matthew has changed a word here too. So in Mark, the word was storm, Greek was my laps right there. And it's just a storm. But Matthew here has the word says moss, which was translated tempest. But in the New Testament says moss is used for earthquakes.

It's really big. and it's usually used when jesus is giving the olivet discourse like matthew 24 talking about the end of the world the stuff that's going to happen there and it's in the book of revelation talking about the end of the world so this word in the new testament has this connotation of really big picture thematic world shattering stuff so matthew may be here with that word is trying to suggest i want want, you know, it's a storm, but let's think bigger than a storm. There's bigger implications to this for your discipleship. His disciples come to him and they say, and notice instead of master here, they call him Lord. That's a difference. They're recognizing something else here. And instead of carest thou not that we perish, Matthew has them say, Lord, save us.

We perish. And that word save, you know, in the New Testament can have an immediate physical meaning, but also can have deeper spiritual meaning. There's a lot more than just the storm they got to be saved from. So Matthew is making this much more cosmic and just thinking about bigger picture issues here than just the storm. And then that's highlighted too in the next little tweak that Matthew makes. He changes the order of what happens next.

In Mark, Jesus gets up and he first calms the sea and then he discusses faith with them. So that highlights the calming of the storm. It's kind of the climax of the story. That's the point. But then in Matthew, he flips it so that he asks them about their faith. Why are you fearful, Oh, ye of little faith. And then secondarily, he then calms the storm. So the climax is now the discussion of faith rather than the storm. Highlights that instead. So there's a bunch of little ways here in which Matthew has made some tweaks to the story,

but he's trying to highlight some key themes. This is basically about discipleship. A lot of people have read the boat as a symbol for the church. He says, follow me. He walks into that boat and you have a choice. Do I get on the boat with him or not? Do I take off on this journey right here or not? And again, he said the question, foxes have holds, birds have nests, all these things. He's weigh the cost of discipleship. If you're going to follow me, this is a long-term ride and it's going to be stormy weather sometimes, which is really what this gets at. When you're in that boat, thinking of the boat symbolically as the church lets you do some different things with the story. For example, in Mark, he followed them on the boat and the storm pops up. But in Matthew, because he invited them onto the boat, that means now that

they wouldn't be experiencing this storm except for the fact that they were following him. And isn't it true that sometimes our very trials are the fact that we are trying to be faithful disciples, trying to be active in the church? That itself can bring some of our hard things that we go through. being in the boat itself, had they not gone in the boat, they could be blissfully sleeping at some house in Capernaum and waking up in the middle of the night and thinking, wow, there's a rumble out there. It must be a storm. And you just go back to bed. But now they're out there because they followed him. The boat itself causes some of the problems. I mean, if the church is the boat, think about this. You get in this boat and you get splinters. The boat is not constructed perfectly. Everybody's got to pitch in and help hoist the sails and rig whatever, or, you know, things are not going to go well. You've got to work to be in the boat and don't get started on

some of the other passengers in the boat. How many trials do we get because of the other passengers we're stuck with in this boat? Most of them are decent people that are fine, but some of them are annoying or downright offensive. And some of our very trials can be with these people we're this mess and the boat is not protecting me from the storms. Therefore, maybe I should get out of the boat. Try that. See how that goes. And one message you can take from the story in Matthew's version is that is not a good idea. The message is still stay in the boat. Look to Jesus for the peace you need.

But getting out of the boat is not a good idea. And modern apostles have picked up on this message. So, for example, Elder Ballard, remember a few years ago, had a talk titled Stay in the Boat. Stay on the boat. Yeah. And hold on. This is October 2014. He quotes President Brigham Young, had the same analogy. Brigham Young referred to the church as the old ship Zion. And Brigham Young said, we are in the midst of the ocean. A storm comes on and as sailors say, she labors very hard. I'm not going to stay here, says one. I don't believe this is the ship Zion, but we're in the midst of the ocean. I don't care. I'm not going to stay here. Off goes the

coat and he jumps overboard. Will he not be drowned? Yes. So we'll be with those who leave this church. It is the old ship Zion. So let's stay in it. This is very Brigham Young, right? With the kind of humor here. So Brigham Young is a bunch of quotes about that. This is the old ship Zion. God is at the helm. Stay here. So then Elder Ballard picks this up and says, given the challenges we all face today, how do we stay in the old ship Zion? And Elder Ballard says, here's how. We need to experience a continuing conversion by increasing our faith in Jesus Christ and our faithfulness to his gospel throughout our lives, not just once, but regularly. So, you know, Mark, we talked about exercising faith and looking to Jesus for peace, but Matthew has this added dimension that you don't just vote with your heart,

you vote with your feet. Being close to Christ isn't just a matter of trusting him in your heart, it's being with him in that boat. It's staying true to not just him, but his church and doing all you can to be faithful to his gospel, being where he is.

Even when being where he wants you to be means that you're gonna end out in storms. This reminded me too of what Elder Holland said in the last general conference in October, to be a follower of Jesus Christ, one must sometimes carry a burden, your own or someone else's and go where sacrifice is required and suffering is inevitable. Isn't that a great illustration of what Matthew's trying to say? You could stay on the shore. It's going to be nice, but sometimes getting in that boat means you're going to sail through the storms there. That's part of it. And Elder Holland continues,

a true Christian cannot follow the master only in those matters with which he or she agrees. No, we follow him everywhere, including if necessary into arenas filled with tears and trouble where sometimes we may stand very much alone. So he reminds us there, there is a cost to discipleship. And if we want to truly receive all the healing that Christ offers us, we need to not just do our best to trust in him, but to also keep his commandments, stay true to our covenants and be loyal to the church of which he is the head. And the hard thing about this is, again, just to wrap this all up, Luke and Matthew and everybody,

when we're in the middle of these storms, it can be gut-wrenchingly difficult to recognize that Jesus cares and that he loves us and to figure out, is this even where I should be standing right now? Is the boat the right place to be and to exercise that kind of faith? So I want to kind of bring together to close here, an article by Elder Bednar accepting the Lord's will and timing. That's from the August, 2016 Ensign.

You're probably familiar with this. He discusses the case of a young couple who were married three weeks out of the temple when the husband he's calling John was diagnosed with bone cancer. This young couple, he's a returned missionary. They had all these hopes and dreams for the future and just how that just comes crashing to a halt when you get that kind of a diagnosis and face something like that. They had treatments, they had blessings, and I don't know how this happened, but Elder Bednar ended up visiting with this couple in the hospital and they requested a priesthood blessing. And Elder Bednar says, I then pose

questions that I had not planned to ask and had never previously considered. So he's inspired to ask them this question. John, do you have the faith not to be healed? If it is the will of our heavenly father that you are transferred by death in your youth to the spirit world to continue your ministry. Do you have the faith to submit to his will and not be healed? And Elder Bednar says, continues in the article, if God's will were for this good young man to be healed and that blessing could be received only if this valiant couple first had the faith not to be healed. We recognize a principle that applies to every devoted disciple. Strong faith in the Savior is submissively accepting of his will and timing in our lives, even if the outcome is not what we hoped for or wanted. Then Elder Bednar,

he quotes here the journal entry of the wife after this conversation. He's calling her Heather. Heather wrote, this is her journal now. This day was filled with mixed emotions for me. I was convinced that Elder Bednar would place his hands on John's head and completely heal him of the cancer. I knew that through the power of the priesthood, he could be healed, and I wanted so bad for that to happen. After Elder Bednar taught us about the faith to not be healed, I was terrified. Up to that point, I had never come to grips with the fact that the Lord's plan might include losing In other words, Elder Bednar's counsel helped her get back to what we've been talking about. my heavenly father knew me better than I knew myself, and he would do what was best for me and John. In other words, Elder Bednar's counsel helped her get back to what we've been talking about, trusting that God is our father, he's good, he loves us, and therefore whatever he does, even if it's not what we want right now, is what is best for us. So he explains that the cancer

went in remission for a while, and then it came back and they had to face this all over again. And he has a quote here from the husband as he's dealing with now the cancer coming back worse than before. So the husband says, I begin to pray for clarity and for the Lord to help me understand why this recurrence of the cancer was happening. One day, as I was reading in the New Testament, I received my answer. I read the account of Christ and his apostles on the sea when the tempest arose. Fearing the boat would capsize, the disciples went to the Savior and asked, Master, carest thou not that we perish? This is exactly how I felt. Careres thou not that I have cancer? Cares thou not that we want to start a family? But as I read on in the story, I found my answer. The Lord looked at them and said,

O ye of little faith. And he stretched forth his hand and calmed the waters. In that moment, I had to ask myself, do I really believe this? Do I really believe he calmed the waters that day or is it just a nice story to read about? The answer is I do believe and because I know he calmed the waters I instantly knew he could heal me. Up until this point I had a hard time reconciling the need for my faith in Christ with the inevitability of his will. I saw them as two separate things and sometimes I felt that one contradicted the other. Why should I have faith if his will. I saw them as two separate things, and sometimes I felt that one contradicted the other. Why should I have faith if his will is ultimately what will prevail, I asked. After this experience, I knew that having faith, at least in my circumstance,

was not necessarily knowing that he would heal me, but that he could heal me. I had to believe that he could, and then whether it happened was up to him. As I allowed these two ideas to coexist in my life, focused faith in Jesus Christ and complete submission to his will, I found greater comfort and peace. It has been so remarkable to see the Lord's hand in our lives. Things have fallen into place, miracles have happened, and we continually are humbled to see God's plan for us unfold. So, excuse the long quote, but I felt that that guy's journey was so instructive. And then Elder Bednar has this conclusion. He says,

And not all the sick and infirm will be healed. If all opposition were curtailed, if all maladies were removed, then the primary purposes of the Father's plan would be frustrated. Many of the lessons we are to learn in mortality can be received only through the things we experience and sometimes suffer. And God expects and trusts us in the face of temporary mortal adversity with his help so we can learn what we need to learn and ultimately become what we are to become in eternity. That's the hardest stuff we have to deal with right there, isn't it? I've got someone who's very close to me who has suffered with depression and anxiety for many years now.

And we're still in the process of seeking the healing and help that we all who know and love him hope for him. And I've got to tell you guys, I've never in my life had what some people call a faith crisis. It's just in my bones that the gospel is true. It's just been an instinct for me. And I've seen too many miracles and had too many spiritual experiences to ever doubt that. So that's never been a challenge for me, wondering if God exists or if he's there or anything like that. But the times in my life where maybe I've been most frustrated with God have been praying over this individual and his continued mental illness, where I've had a couple prayers over the years where I've just been so angry,

wondering how can this kind of suffering, where he hurts so badly, can't even feel the Holy Ghost, what is this supposed to teach him? How could this possibly be part of the plan? What's going on here? Why is nothing we have tried helped? And I've just been outright angry, and I just let him know it. And it's in those prayers, I've never gotten answers on why is this happening or I don't know exactly how long it's going to take or what things are going to look up like in the future. But the consistent response from Heavenly Father to me in those prayers, if I can share something personal, has just been to feel a reassurance that God knows him and loves him. And he has even shared some of that love with me where I'll just be filled with it in the middle of my rant in my prayer, just this incredible feeling of love, Heavenly Father giving me a taste of what he feels for this person. And I've almost wanted to get mad at that response being

like, how can you claim to love him when this is what he's going through? If you love him, why isn't this going differently? But at that point, I can't muster up the frustration anymore because just the love is so palpable and overwhelming and wonderful and beautiful. So I don't have all the answers for this situation, but one thing I have felt repeatedly is a sure knowledge that Heavenly Father is aware of this person, that Heavenly Father loves him perfectly, and that for whatever reason this is going on, it is for a reason, and that everything is going to be okay. That's the answer I have gotten, and that has still not solved all the pain that we go through.

And that still has not fixed the very real suffering that he and others who care for him have to go through here. But I do know that God is not messing with us. I do know that Heavenly Father cares. And all of this, all this suffering we go through is for a reason. And the Heavenly Father has everything in his hands. I know we can trust Jesus Christ and look to him for the peace and calm that we need in these storms.

Ultimately, every malady will be healed completely. All suffering will end and he's going to wipe away every tear off every face. And that's what I looked forward to in faith, knowing that we need to stand still and wait for the arm of the Lord to be revealed. Be still and know that I am God. Thank you so much for this, Josh. This has been, what a perfect day. I think that was a beautiful ending. And I love, Josh, that we started with

preach my gospel, God's real, He loves us. And you've brought that all full circle as a context for all of these storms and everything. Josh, thank you so much for that ending. And thank you for being with us today. These stories have come to life for me more than ever before. And some of the other stories that we found and shared, the stories of the hymns, I hope our listeners are feeling the power that I felt today coming from all that you've prepared for us. So absolutely wonderful day. We want to thank Dr. Josh Sears for being with us. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorenson. We want to thank our sponsors, David and Verla Sorensen. And of course, remember our founder, the late Steve Sorensen.

We hope all of you will join us. We have another episode of Follow Him coming up next week. Today's transcripts, show notes, and additional references are available on our website, followhim.co, followhim.co. And you can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on Facebook and Instagram. All of this is absolutely free. So be sure to share with your family and friends.

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