Note from Pastor Mike: I want to encourage our church family to look deeper into what God speaks to us through the Message. Here at First United Methodist Church of Saint Cloud we believe that God speaks to us through the Message. One way for all of us to hear from God more clearly is to read the Scripture verses and the Message again during the week. I would really like to hear your comments and how God is challenging you through the worship service and the Message. It would be great to hear your discussion ideas. Please feel free to send me your discussion points.

Your friend on the journey,

Pastor MikeContact Pastor Mike at: Pastor.Mike.FUMC@gmail.com OR First UMC St. Cloud 1000 Ohio Avenue Saint Cloud, FL 34769(NIV) Mark 4.35-41 – 35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

Mark 4.35-41

Be Prepared for What?

[ 25 May 2023 9:38 PM ]

02.16.2014 – First UMC St.

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40He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Introduction: “For Any Old Thing”1. Be prepared. That's the motto of the Boy Scouts. In the Boy Scout

Handbook (excerpted from page 54, Boy Scout Handbook, 11th ed., 1998 by BSA), it notes that someone once asked Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, "Be prepared for what?" To which Powell replied, "Why, for any old thing." But Baden-Powell wasn't thinking just of being ready for emergencies. His idea was that all Scouts should prepare themselves to become productive citizens and to give happiness to other people. He wanted each Scout to be ready in mind and body for any struggle, and to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges might lie ahead.

2. In 1994, I found myself in a situation that tested whether or not my years in Troop #3, in Manchester, Massachusetts, trained me to be prepared. My future wife and I were hiking and staying in a cabin on Mount Adams in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The weather was cool but the clouds engulfed the mountain making visibility not much more than a few hundred feet. Hiking up towards the peak, I decided today would be a great day to go explore off the trail among the endless rock formations on the side of the mountain. a. After some tome of running aimlessly from rock to rock and across

small fields of grass, I realized I had lost all sense of direction and my relation to the trail. I was somewhat frightened about getting more and more lost.

3. I was prepared though. Map and compass. Though my mind and sense of orientation told me that I should go in one direction, I forced myself to rely on y map and compass skills. I eventually found a trail and after some time determined what trail, finding my way back to the cabin.

4. In our text from the Scriptures this morning, we find Jesus using a very frightening situation to encourage his disciples, his followers, to be prepared, to be prepared to face the many difficulties and struggles, the “storms”, that make up our lives.

The “Big Idea” – Jesus can use the “storms” of our lives to help us be prepared to live an abundant life with God.

A. God’s Perspective 1. Relating to God through Jesus offers us a different perspective on our

lives. Life is measured in terms of years. Outer space is measured in terms light-years. Our soul-life (our inner life) is measured in terms of eternity. Often, we lose touch with our soul-life. We become hollow people

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and we don’t even know it. We neglect our soul-life in easy times – and we lose God’s perspective.

2. This is what happened to Jesus friends. The disciples are not only afraid but also unsure about their future. (NRSV) Mark 4.37-38 – 37A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ It is important to remember that these were tough guys who have worked for years on these very waters. From their perspective, the storm threatens their very existence.

3. The disciples know that they are in real danger. Jesus challenges them to see beyond their current situation. And, though there are very real storms that sweep through and threaten our lives, Jesus points them to see something grander that is happening even in their suffering. He leads them to see that God is in control; that Jesus is transforming our here-and-now-lives into people who will live for eternity in God’s new heaven and new earth.

B. Storms a Coming 1. Even a few days later my “lost in the fog” escape was a fun story to tell.

Other storms are not so fun to speak about: Permanent or terminal illness; Lifelong struggles with depression or anxiety; Children in trouble; Parents becoming more dependant; Job loss and financial crisis; Relationships that don’t work out or unmet desire for a relationship; Marriage strife and divorce. Life is full of storms that we have to be prepared to face.

2. These storms are persistent often it seems that our very lives are at stake. It is tough to be prepared to face these times. You might say:a. “I asked God that my relationship with my boyfriend would work out –

he broke up with me!”b. “For weeks I prayed that my parents would not separate – dad left this

morning!”c. “God I know you could have saved Him, You did it in the Bible –

yesterday my grandfather died!”d. “Alright, God please let me pass this test, I know you can if you want

to, if I fail I won’t graduate – not even a D!”e. I really need to find a good job, it is so important for my family –

another week of unemployment!”f. “I feel so alone and outside of everything, God please let these people

accept me – I’ve been rejected once again!”

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3. Inevitably, we all face “storms” of some sort or another. It may be calm now, but a storm is coming. Jesus knows this. Jesus did not promise that if we followed him our lives would be easy. Jesus tells us, though, that (NIV) John 16.33 - I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

C. Take Courage 1. Our Western culture even Christians often hold out the ideal that life is to

be lived without pain, without struggle, and without inconvenience. In short, we too often feel that it is our right to never suffer the storms of life. And from experience, this is just not the truth about life in this world. And anyone who tells you otherwise is not teaching about this life and even this life with God.

2. On our own, “storms” can produce very little of value in our lives. Yet, Jesus said, (NIV) John 16:31-33 - I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. Jesus speaks of trouble and peace in the same breath. How do with live in the tension of two seemingly opposed states of life? The disciples begin to see how to live with peace even in the storm. So, how do we “take heart”.

3. Note : “Take heart” can also be translated, “take courage”. This is the same thing that Jesus is looking for his disciples to have when he asks them, “Why can’t you trust me or have faith in me? Why can’t you “take courage?”

4. Take courage in what? The Scriptures tell us, (NIV) Mark 4.39-41 – 39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. If Jesus were just a great man of history or even a miracle worker, there would be nothing in him to take courage in except maybe another example of a brave and committed person. Yet, Jesus is more than an example because as the disciples discovered that even though 41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

5. Jesus is the unique Son of God; Jesus is God with us, who has the power to deliver and to bring life out of death. All that I am saying today is cheap and hollow unless you know and live, trusting for your very life, in a relationship with Jesus Christ. Take heart, take courage: Let Jesus walk with you through the “storm”.

6. This is not easy yet you can live with the certainty that Jesus has told you, (NIV) John 16:31-33 - I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

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D. Deep Conversation 1. Storms are often seen as overwhelming and leaving us with no hope. The

disciples in the boat yell, (NRSV) Mark 4.37 –they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? They are ready to give up. Have you ever been there?

2. You say, “Great, God, so I am part of this eternal Kingdom of yours yet I can’t find the hope – I just want to quit.” The challenge Jesus holds out is for us to see the possibility of new strength; to see the storm as a place where we really grow. A Yiddish proverb says, “Those who can’t endure the bad will not live to see the good.” In the Bible, (CEV) James 1:2-4 provides us with some timely insight, My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.

3. Jesus asks his disciples, (NRSV) Mark 4.40 – 40He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ Storms often open up a conversation with God – and that is where we find the possibility of hope. In these conversations with Jesus, we learn to have greater and deeper trust in God. Paul (leader of the early church, writer of much of the New Testament) (CEV) Cori nthians 1:8-11 - My friends, I want you to know what a hard time we had in Asia. Our sufferings were so horrible and so unbearable that death seemed certain. In fact, we felt sure that we were going to die. But this made us stop trusting in ourselves and start trusting God, who raises the dead to life. This scripture challenges us to a deep conversation with God, to place our trust not in our own abilities but in the power of god the Holy Spirit who raised the dead to life.

4. This possibility of a deep conversation with God is most often forged in the context of silence, and submission. Storms bring both. In this silence, God is finally able to break through to us, to whisper God’s promises and God’s purposes into our soul-lives – to offer us the possibility of hope! Then we encounter submission: to pain, to loneliness, to brutality, to loss - brings us to our knees. There our ego, our self-conception, sometimes even our material possessions are broken. We are in a sense very naked and exposed. We are then ready to follow where God leads – to begin living abundant life closer in Jesus’ steps.

5. Very often it is through the storms that Jesus offers us the greatest chance for transformation; to become the people we were created to be. a. Jesus is saying to us, “You will suffer in this life. But I will walk through

the storm with you. My answer to your question, ‘How do I be prepared?’ is deeper and wider than you’ll find on your own. Because I have overcome the world – if you do life with me, so can you!” Jesus

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offers us perspective and possibility to help us be prepared to face the storms of our lives.

Victor Frankle 6. (Suffering – Victor Frankl story, Illustrations, pp.250-251). Victor Frankle, a

Jewish psychologist interested in the significance of a person finding meaning in their life. He was arrested by the Nazis during the Second World War and placed in a concentration camp. He was stripped of everything – his property, his possessions, his family. When he arrived at Auschwitz, the infamous death camp, even the manuscripts to his book, which he had hidden in his coat lining, were taken from him. Frankle relates, “I had to surrender my clothes and in turn I inherited the worn out rags of an inmate who had been sent to the gas chamber.”a. Instead of the many pages of my manuscript, I found in the pocket of

my newly acquired coat a single page torn out of a Hebrew prayer book, which contained the main Jewish prayer, Schema Yisrael, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Frankle continues, “How should I have interpreted such a ‘coincidence’ other than as a challenge to live my thoughts instead of merely putting them on paper?”

b. Later, as Frankle reflected on his horrific ordeal at the hands of Nazis, he writes in his book Man’s Search For Meaning, “There is nothing in the world that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life. He who has a why to live for can bear almost how.”

c. Frankle goes on to say, “The experience of camp life show that a man does have a choice of action…The way in which a man accepts his fate and all that suffering entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, give him ample opportunity – even under the most difficult circumstances – to add a deeper meaning to his life.

7. God’s perspective is that there is a deeper meaning to our lives – transforming us into participants in his eternal Kingdom of God or Rule of God in our world. “In this painful and maybe even life threatening period of your life – in the ‘storms’ – do I choose to let the storm drag me under (like a huge wave at the beach can if you are not standing firm)? Or, do I accept the necessity of walking straight through it (like leaning into a wave, and pushing against it with all your might) until the end?

“Action Point” – Look to Jesus Christ to be prepared to face the storms in your life.