MARK - Jesus Controls Nature

Here are the bible verses quoted in today's episode:

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 16:33

Ahab did more to make the Lord God of Israel angry than any king of Israel before him.

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 17:1

One day Elijah went to King Ahab and said, “I'm a servant of the living Lord, the God of Israel. And I swear in his name that it won't rain until I say so. There won't even be any dew on the ground.”

Bible Passage: 1 Kings 18:1

 For three years no rain fell in Samaria, and there was almost nothing to eat anywhere. The Lord said to Elijah, “Go and meet with King Ahab. I will soon make it rain.” So Elijah went to see Ahab. 

Bible Passage: Mark 4:35-41

That evening, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let's cross to the east side.” So they left the crowd, and his disciples started across the lake with him in the boat. Some other boats followed along. Suddenly a storm struck the lake. Waves started splashing into the boat, and it was about to sink.

Jesus was in the back of the boat with his head on a pillow, and he was asleep. His disciples woke him and said, “Teacher, don't you care that we're about to drown?”

Jesus got up and ordered the wind and the waves to be quiet. The wind stopped, and everything was calm.

Jesus asked his disciples, “Why were you afraid? Don't you have any faith?”

Now they were more afraid than ever and said to each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Bible Passage: Mark 6:45-52

At once, Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and start back across to Bethsaida. But he stayed until he had sent the crowds away. Then he told them goodbye and went up on the side of a mountain to pray.

Later in the evening he was still there by himself, and the boat was somewhere in the middle of the lake. He could see that the disciples were struggling hard, because they were rowing against the wind. Not long before morning, Jesus came toward them. He was walking on the water and was about to pass the boat.

When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they thought he was a ghost, and they started screaming. All of them saw him and were terrified. But at this same time he said, “Don't worry! I am Jesus. Don't be afraid.” He then got into the boat with them, and the wind died down. The disciples were completely confused. Their minds were closed, and they could not understand the true meaning of the loaves of bread.

Today's Questions:

• Why do you think God chooses to make it a drought sometimes - make it so that it doesn’t rain for ages?

• How do you feel knowing that God can control the weather? Is it a comfort to you or is it scary? Explain your answer.

• Do you have faith that Jesus can do these amazing things even though you haven’t seen it like the disciples did?