Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script Notes:

Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 4, verses 24 through 26. New International Version

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VK: Hi! Welcome back to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. I’m Victoria K and in the studio today we are continuing the new series we began last time on Anchored by Truth featuring Jay Ammerman. Jay has a truly amazing story. After being an Army combat medic and enduring three deployments with front line infantry Jay came home and began working in a hospital. Unfortunately, he also returned from combat with an addiction to opiate pain killers. But he was completely delivered from that addiction through his faith in Christ. That has led Jay to a place where he is almost finished with his seminary study. As we can see Jay’s life has included its share of twists and turns, but his faith in Christ has grown so steadily that he has now been called by the Lord to full time service. So let’s welcome Jay Ammerman, the owner of Black Thumb Services to Anchored by Truth. Jay, your story is amazing – but the one constant throughout has been the presence of Christ. That’s why when we met you we thought it would be so amazing for you to share your passion about Christ with the listeners. And, when we found out that one subject that you really wanted to discuss was the miracles Christ performed during his earthly ministry it seemed like a good idea to get the show started by playing one of our Life Lessons with a Laugh on the miracles of Christ. So, let’s listen to one of those. This one has to do with how Jesus calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

 Life Lessons with a Laugh - Miracles of Jesus 2- Big Wind

VK: So, Jay what are some of the first things we should learn from this very powerful demonstration of Jesus’ power over wind and water?

Jay: Comments about power -

2:30 VK: So, your first “P” is “power.” One thing we should note about Jesus’ miracle of calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee was that it was a clear display of divine power. And it’s important to note that Jesus could exercise divine power because Jesus was fully divine as well as being fully human. That’s an attribute that is true of no other religious figure or human being. Jesus could calm the wind and the waves because He had made the wind and the waves. Jesus could do miracles through His own power because he is God. How about your second “P” – promise?

Jay: Comments about promise -

5:40 VK: All right. We’ve covered two of your four “P’s.” The first P we see from Jesus calming the storm was that it was a display of divine power. The second P was that calming the storm was part of Jesus fulling the promise that he was going to get his disciples safely across what is well-known to be a temperamental body of water. So what is your third “P?”

Jay: Comments about peace -

7:30 VK: And Jesus is not just a source of peace, He is the source of all real peace. I like your point that Jesus calmed the storm on the sea so he could go and calm the storm that was raging in the man on the far shore. What a powerful statement. The demon possessed man did not know that peace was available but Jesus brought it anyway. But Jesus had to arrive for it to come. As Jesus’ disciples in the world today we have to be the ones who bring Jesus’ peace to those who need it but don’t yet know it’s available. So, what is your 4th “P?”

Jay: Comments about perseverance -

10:20 VK: Well, that’s a great point. Just because few of us don’t sail on the Sea of Galilee doesn’t mean we don’t have our own storms. We do. And Jesus will bring us peace in the storm if we turn to Him but we must turn with persevering trust. Too many times we want to turn the boat around as soon as we see dark clouds on the horizon. We must persevere with Jesus if we want His peace and power to calm our storms. Now you said RD asked you something when you two were talking about this miracle. What was that?

Jay: Comments about truth -

13:35 VK: RD often notes that truth must correspond with reality. If a truth claim cannot be shown to correspond to reality then we must reject it. And one of the great things about the Bible as you alluded to is that it does correspond to reality. Numerous archeological discoveries as well as an abundant body of scientific evidence supports the fact that the Bible’s history is reliable. Jay, do you have any final thoughts about the miracle on the Sea of Galilee?

Jay: Comments to wrap up – (NEED TO EDIT RAW TRACK TO JUST HAVE ONE SET OF FINAL COMMENTS)

VK: We’d really like to thank Jay for being our guest on Anchored by Truth today. He’s given us some really great takeaways from this miracle. The miracle was an amazing display of Jesus’ power and it showed that Jesus not only can but does keep His promises. He suggested that the disciples go with Him to cross the sea and He was going to make sure it happened. And even though the disciples did not have peace immediately after Jesus calmed the sea they should have. The demon possessed man on the other side certainly experience peace after Jesus’ arrival. But we must stay with Jesus in the boat if we want to experience the blessings that He has for each of us. It takes perseverance to grow into Christian maturity – a lesson will illustrated in Jay’s life. Jay’s life after his conversion is a great illustration of how Jesus continues to redeem destinies in our day and time. The Bible has supernatural power and can change our lives for the better with that saving power if we will turn to it faithfully. Today for our closing prayer, let’s listen to a prayer for Christian missionaries - those who bring the saving power of the scriptures into places where it may never have been heard until their arrival.

---- PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES (Jay)

VK: We hope you’ll be with us in the future when we’ll continue our discussion with Jay. And we hope you’ll take some time to encourage some friends to tune in too, or listen to the podcast version of this show.

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quote from the New International Version)