Why Are You So Afraid?

Amen.

And amen and amen. Isn't that so true that God is worthy and he's worthy to be praised? Well, if we haven't met, my name is Wes. Uh I'm happy to meet you. I'm the creative pastor here at Camelback Community Church, which means I get to look over uh this wonderful team that led us in worship today. uh the team in on the stage, in the booth, in the back, making all aspects of, you know, worship and church online possible.

And this year will be 10 years of me in that role.

And it has been 10 years of the greatest honor that I've known. It's such an incredible team and I'm so thankful for everybody on the team. Thank you. Well, this morning I'm very excited to start a new series that we are launching for the summer called Good Question. Um, thank you so much for taking the time to be here with us this morning. It means so much that we gather here in the house of God.

And what we want to challenge you guys with is this summer, these next eight weeks, we want to challenge you to not miss a week to just dig in and grow because we believe that this series and what we're going to dig into has is going to have so much impact in our lives, in your lives, and in the impact of the lives of the people around you.

And we're so excited.

And so with that, if you have your Bibles or if you want to grab one from the seat in front of you, we're going to be in Mark chapter 4 today.

And I don't know about you, but have you guys ever been in a serious conversation? Maybe you're, you know, talking to a mentor or your parents and you you need some advice and you're thinking, "What should I do now? Am I making the right choice?" And they just answer with, "Well, do what do you think the right choice is? What do you think the right move is?" Or maybe you know you are talking to your boss and you're the one that's answering a question like that and you say they say hey like where's the report or what I need this on my desk where is it and you just say like have you checked the shared folder in teams you know it's so it's an interesting thing to ask a question and to have that question be answered with another question and what's really interesting to me is if you read the gospels if you read Matthew Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that you're going to see Jesus do that same thing. You're going to see Jesus answering questions with another question.

And you don't have to read far. You don't have to read long to see Jesus doing that very thing. In fact, he asked well over a hundred recorded questions in the gospel.

And so, in this series, what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at eight of the most important questions that Jesus asked.

And we're going to look at the lessons that he is teaching us in those questions.

And today is the first question and it's for those of you that may be in the middle of a trial. There may be some sort of a storm going on in your life.

And we're going to ask we're going to see Jesus ask the question, why are you so afraid? Let me give you a little bit of context into Mark chapter 4 where we're going to be we're going to see Jesus was teaching from a boat.

And that boat was up on the shore and he was it was his pulpit and you've got a crowd gathered around him and he just turns to his disciples and he said, "Let's leave the crowd and let's go to the other side of the sea." And at that point, the boat that was his pulpit is going to become his sermon illustration.

So with that in mind, let's dive into Mark chapter 4. We're going to be reading verses 35-41.

Then we're going to break it down verse by verse.

So here's what Mark's Gospel says. Verse 35, it says, "That day when the evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, let's go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, and just as he was in the boat." There were also other boats with him.

And in verse 37, it starts to get a little interesting. A furious squall or a storm came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. I don't know about you guys. I don't know if you've ever been in a boat that you thought was about to sink. I haven't, but I I imagine I'd be pretty freaked out. Imagine I'd be pretty scared. Um, what I have been in though is I've been in a plane that I was sure was about to go down.

And I don't know if you've been in a plane with a ton of turbulence. Um, but if you have, you know, you might not be a believer, you might not be a Christian, but what you definitely become is a prayer. You just start to say, 'Lord, keep this bird in the sky.

And my grandfather was a paratrooper in World War II. He used to make this joke that there's no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole.

And I think the same thing applies to this kind of situation.

And with that situation, you know, that's where the disciples find themselves. You know, they're they're thinking, "This is it. We're going down. We're going to drown. This is our last day on earth. We're going down in the middle of a storm in the Sea of Galilee.

So verse 38, it continues. It says that Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion, which that that's funny to me. You know, the disciples are thinking it's their last day on earth. They're freaking out and Jesus is taking a catnap inside.

And it continues and says that the disciples woke him up and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" He got up. He rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet, be still." And the winds died down.

And everything was calm.

And he said this to his disciples.

And here's the question. Say it with me. He said, "Why are you so afraid?" He said, "Guys, after everything you've seen, why are you acting like you're facing this alone?" Then he says, "Do 6:006 minutesyou still have no faith?" The disciples, they were they were terrified and they asked each other,"Who is this? Who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey him?" And why are you so afraid? Now Jesus and his disciples, it's not like they were going out. It's not like they were on the beach and went out into the ocean after the weather channel said a category 5 hurricane was coming through. They were in the Sea of Galilee. Now, a little bit of info about that. The Sea of Galilee is 680 ft below sea level and it's surrounded by mountains. Just like like Phoenix, we're in a valley, we're surrounded by mountains. The Sea of Galilee is the same.

And according to the experts, this is the perfect place for a storm to just pop up out of nowhere.

And it's it's actually very common that a storm would just explode with little to no warning in the Sea of Galilee. It this reminds me of a time that my family and some friends we we were at Lake Pleasant on a 7:007 minutesMemorial Day weekend and we were just having a good time doing some tubing, doing some swimming and all of a sudden out of nowhere a dust storm came in.

But it it wasn't a normal dust storm. This one was about a mile high and the winds were crazy.

And so we much like the disciples we thought, "Oh shoot, like this boat might drown. This might this boat might go down." So we just turned it around. My dad was full throttle all the way to the shore and the wind was whipping and water was going everywhere and we were just still thinking like, "Oh, this might be the day that our boat sinks." And luckily uh because my dad, if there were speed limits on the water, my dad would have broke every one of them. We made it back to the shore in time. The storm didn't catch up with us.

But what's interesting is as you go through life, sometimes life can be so good. Everything can be so normal. It's going great. Nothing's been better.

And all of a sudden, a storm comes into your life. It could be that you're having, 8:008 minutesyou know, you work in sales and you're having the best month of your career. Everything's going great. Your manager's giving you a pat on the back and it's awesome. Everything's going great.

And then you hear that your company's laying people off and you knew that, yeah, you were one of the last people hired on, so you're going to be one of the first people on the chopping block out of nowhere. things are going great and then you could be out of a job. It could be that your marriage is better than it ever has been. You think, man, everything is smooth sailing. We're listening. We're communicating. Everything is going great. This is like a welloiled machine. Our marriage is so healthy. Your spouse goes to the doctor.

And then you get the worst news you could have imagined. Out of nowhere, it feels like the rug has been pulled out from under you, and you don't know how or if you're going to make it.

Or you have a child and you think, "Oh, like you've prayed so much and worked with your kid and you think, oh, they're finally finally on the right track. Everything is going great." And then you find out the truth that they haven't been making the decisions that that you thought they've been making.

And in that moment, everything goes away and zeros in on that.

And you find that you're in the middle of the storm. Something that's that's odd is that sometimes us the people in church church people are usually the best at hiding the storms that we're in. You know, we want to we want to say that, oh, we're we're Christians. Everything is going great. You know, we're we're going to church. We're happy. We're smiling. We're worshiping. Everything's going great.

But but sometimes we're just hiding what's going on. and you look totally fine, but behind that smile, you're in the middle of the storm and nobody knows.

And I've seen times where where people are jealous of other people. They're thinking, "Man, I wish I had their life. Man, their house is so nice. I wish I had a house like that." But you're thinking, "Man, I'm I'm two payments behind. I I might I might lose this house and and nobody knows what's going on in my life.

If I'm in the middle of the storm and nobody knows it, you might, some people might look and say, "I I wish I had a marriage like that. They they they seem to get along so well." And you're thinking, "Man, we just had the biggest knockdown dragout fight of our life in the parking lot. It looks so great from the outside, but in those car doors, nobody knows what's going on.

And sometimes you you look so good on the outside. Your shoes are clean. Your pants are nice and ironed. Everything is perfect.

And nobody would know that behind all of that, behind the confidence and everything that you put out that you go to sleep afraid that you cry yourself to sleep. You feel so alone.

And even if it seems like everything is going great, the pressure of all these good things is just building and building and it feels like way too much.

And even though from the outside you're blessed and you have so much going for you, you think, man, there's no way that I can keep going at this pace.

So you you posted the family picture, you showed up to church, you laughed at dinner, but underneath of it all, you're just exhausted. You're in a storm, and nobody knows about it.

And I I want to ask as as gently as I can and I want you guys to be honest. How many of you right now would say that you're going through a storm? It could be a big one, could be a small one, could be one that's that's on the way. Um one that's in in the life of someone that you love. How many of us are going through a storm? And so many of us often in our lives, we're in the middle of something that we just didn't see coming.

And quite frankly, even if we did see it, we never would have chose it. We never would have chose to go through a storm.

And what I want you to do and what I want to do today is in this story, Jesus asks us the question, why are you so afraid? And so I want to show you two things that I want you to remember when you're in the storm. Two things that I want you to remember and embrace when you're in the storm.

And the first one, if you're taking notes, is that you are in the storm with his presence. You're in the storm with the presence of our God. Verse 37 and verse 38 show us that a furious squall came up. Waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.

But in verse 38, Jesus was Jesus was in the stern. Jesus was sleeping.

But Jesus was in the boat. What happens so often is I I think a lot of people think, "Wait a minute. I'm a Christian. I've I gave my life to Jesus. I'm a believer.

So life should be great. Life should be smooth sailing for the rest of my life." But that's just not how it works. That's not the truth. In fact, John 16:33 says, Jesus says, "In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart for I have overcome the world." Jesus never promised that if you come to him, life will be easy and it will be storm-free. Honestly, reality is usually the opposite. When you move from from darkness into light, when you step into the middle of a spiritual battle, what happens? And that's what happens when you become a Christian.

And Christianity isn't a playground. It's not a place where everything is great. You know, there are no rainy days, the sun's always shining. What happens is Christianity isn't a playground, but it's a battlefield between the forces of dark and the forces of light.

And when you step into the side of light, suddenly darkness that was was giving you all the things that you thought you wanted, darkness is against you.

And you're going to come against opposition and you'll face temptation. and there will be spiritual warfare.

And to think that just because I'm with Jesus, nothing should go wrong is a distortion of what the gospel says. In fact, Jesus never promises you that just because he's on the boat that the storm will never rock you. What he promises is that the storm will never sink you. Because God is for you and God is with you.

And there is nothing come heaven or hell on this earth that could take you out of the presence of God. Jesus was in the stern. Jesus was on the boat.

And that's the game changer. You know, there there was a study. It was talking about older people and it said that older people actually live longer if there's something else living in their house.

If you're older this morning, you might might want to take some notes if you put yourself in that age group. Uh you you live longer when there's anything else living in your house. It could be a deaf guy that doesn't talk even like talk back to you. Could be a house plant, a dog, a hamster. There's some studies that say even some kind of cats. I don't believe those studies. is I don't think Jesus I don't think cats came from Jesus.

But what I do know is that older people live longer when there's something living inside the house.

And every now and then some of you, you're going to be in the middle of a storm and it's going to get really, really bad.

And people from the outside are going to look on and say, "How are you getting through that? How are you enduring this? Your world is falling apart. How are you not? 16:0016 minutesyou're in the middle of the storm, but but you have this assurance. Why is it that you have this peace in the middle of the storm? And what you can tell them is it's because I there's someone living in my house. See, there's something in the house.

And it's not just life, but it's the author of life. His presence is with me. Jesus is in the boat and he's in my house.

And because he's with me, I can sense his strength. I can sense his presence. I can sense his power.

And I can sense his comfort because he is with me. He's in the boat with me.

And just because I'm in a storm, that doesn't mean that he's not with me.

If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down because I think this is one of the biggest takeaways from this message is don't you ever let the presence of a storm cause you to doubt the presence of God. I like to I like to personalize scripture and I think it's it's good to it's good to know scripture to own it and apply it into your life. Look at Psalm 46:1. It says that God is my refuge. He is my strength. He is my everpresent help in times of trouble. He's with me in the storm.

Or Hebrews 13:5, never will my God leave me, never will he forsake me. Psalm 23 that even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not staying there. I'm just walking through.

And when I'm walking through, I will fear no evil. Why? because my God is with me. He never promised you that the storm wouldn't rock you. He promised you that the storm would sink you. He's in my house. He's on my boat. I'm not alone in the middle of the storm.

And I pray that you find comfort no matter what you're going through. That you are in the storm with his presence.

The second thing, if you're taking notes, is that you're also in the storm for his purposes. You're in the storm with his presence and you're in the storm for his purpose. Think about this. When Jesus said, "Let's go to the other side." That that was his idea. He said, "Why?" But why is he taking him to the other side? Jesus, he's he's God in the flesh.

And he knows that on the other side of that sea, there's a man who is hurting himself. He's possessed by an evil spirit.

And he knew that when he took the disciples to the other side of that sea, he was going there to speak healing into somebody's life. He knew that there was a purpose for the storm that they were going to go through.

And he knew that there would be a storm that blows up.

And he was fine with it. It was Jesus's idea to go through the storm.

So from that that line of logic, we can say that they weren't in the storm because they were out of God's will.

And not like Jonah who was in the belly of the whale because he fled from what God was calling him to. They were in that storm because they were in God's will.

And some of you might say, "Oh, so you're telling me that God caused this storm?" And I I can't I don't think any of us can say with any amount of certainty, did did God cause the storm or did God allow this storm because he's so sovereign? I can't tell you that.

But what I can tell you is that God will always use the storm to do a work inside of us.

And I think that's why James, the brother of Jesus, could say this in James 1 2-4. He says that consider it pure joy. In otherwise, in other words, move to the state of worship within your soul that you're so full of joy. Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. I don't know about you, but to me when I read that, I'm thinking, why would I have find joy in a trial? Why would I find joy in a storm? But when James continues, he says that because you know that the testing of your faith, I'll pause right there. You know what what does a good teacher do? A good teacher tests you? He tests you to pass you and promote you. At the end of a school year, you take a final exam.

If you pass it, you get to move to a new grade.

And God and his love may be allowing you to experience something, even testing your faith, promoting you to another level of belief.

And this faith produces perseverance and something in living inside you.

And that's what James says when he finishes the verse. He says, "Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete and not lacking anything." Yeah. The reality is in our church and in churches all over the world, there are a lot of people who are very young in their faith.

And we need some maturing.

And how does God mature us? Well, he does it in a lot of different ways. You know, he does it. He matures us as we get to know his word, as we read his Bible. You know, he renews our mind. He matures us as we discover our spiritual gifts and we make a difference in somebody else's life. and he matures us as we go through certain storms so that he does something in us. In fact, some people I would say that the difference between where you are right now and where God ultimately is calling you is a storm that you have yet to endure.

And I don't know how many of you if you if you know somebody that's just rock solid in your faith in their faith. There are people in this church that I know that have just somebody that is a cornerstone of faith that they can go to. They have wisdom. They have peace. When they talk to them, it it feels like the presence of the Lord is with them at all times.

And you know where they get that faithfulness from? They've been through storms.

And they've been through storms with Jesus in their boat. They've learned that there's a purpose for every storm that they've gone through.

And they've learned that on the other side of that storm, there is healing. There is growth.

And maybe sometimes they know that just because there's a storm that in that storm, God is teaching us something that we couldn't have learned any other way. You know, did did God cause the storm? Did he allow it? I I don't know.

But what I do know is that he always uses it. The Bible says that God does everything for the good of those who love him and are called to his purpose. A little bit more than four months ago, my my life was completely changed, turned upside down just forever. My wife and I, we we got to welcome the birth of our first son or our only son, Theo, into the world.

And and man, everything that I had heard about being a parent in that moment came true.

And my mom says that having a kid is like seeing your heart on the outside of your body.

And it there was so much joy in that moment of seeing my baby boy for the first time.

But really quick, they had to take Theo and they had to take him to the NICU for some issues and they had to monitor him.

So I I went with them. I had to leave my wife Katie behind to recover from giving birth and I had to go with the nurses and my new baby boy.

And for what felt like forever, for an eternity, I just had to sit there. I had to listen to the beeps and the noises and the alarms of the NICU and just pray. Pray that nothing would be wrong with him. I was a wreck.

And obviously I I still get emotional talking about it. I don't I don't know if um if you the women in the room will know this.

If you're you're dating somebody, you're married, you know, sometimes when you're talking to your husband, you just want them to listen, right? Guys by nature sometimes are fixers. You know, you start telling us about problems and we just immediately come in like, "Oh, do this, do that." But you're thinking, "No, I just want you to listen." And that that's me. I'm a fixer.

And in this moment, there was nothing that I could do to help the situation physically.

And because of that, I felt helpless.

And so I did the only thing I could do. I prayed and I prayed.

And finally, I just I felt peace. I felt a calmness. I knew that what was going on with Theo was temporary. that Theo was going to be okay and that God was with me in the boat.

And little did I know that the storms of those first few hours of his life in the NICU were going to prepare me for the next few weeks of his life. Before we were discharged, we had to go back to the NICU.

And then when he was 2 and a half weeks old, we had to go into a 5-day stay at Phoenix Children's.

And man, let me tell you, that whole time I had peace, but man, I was exhausted. I was tired of hospitals. I mean, two of the last two of the first three weeks of my son's life were spent in a hospital. I was I was worried for my son, but I had peace. I knew that God had a purpose for the storm.

And even now, we pray every night with Theo. We pray for him.

And that prayer is that what's going on in his body, that God will either heal that condition or show us clearly what the purpose is for the storm.

And some of us, we're still freaking out. We need to get to the point in our faith where our faith is on the one who's in the boat and not in the boat itself.

And getting to that point for me is what changed everything. I went through the storm and I'm different now because Jesus was in my boat. In Mark chapter 4, the disciples hadn't gotten there yet. They were panicking. They said, "Jesus, we're going to drown." He said, "Wake up, Jesus. Wake up." And what does Jesus do in verse 39? He gets up. He rebukes the wind.

And I I don't know what that looks like. Maybe some of you with dogs, you you tell them, "Bad dog." Maybe Jesus is saying, "Bad wind. Bad wind." He said, he rebukes the wind and he says to the waves, "Quiet, be still." And just like that, the wind dies down and it's completely calm.

Then Jesus looks at his disciples. He says, "Why are you so afraid? Don't you remember when I opened blind eyes? When I healed deaf ears? Don't you remember that I am the author of life and I am with you? Verse 40, he says, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still after everything that we have been through together? Do you still have no faith?" The disciples were terrified and they asked each other, "Who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?" And something happens there. I don't know if you caught it. They called him teacher at the beginning. He said, "Teacher, do you care if we drown?" And at this point, that's what Jesus was to them. He was their teacher. He was a rabbi. He had yet to become the savior of their soul to them.

And later they called him Lord.

So what happened there is the fear of the storm started to grow into a holy fear of the Lord. They're saying, "Oh, who is this? This is amazing. He's doing something that no man can do." And the fear of what might happen to them transformed into a reverential, holy, awefilled fear of the Lord God.

And so a lot of you right now, you're in the middle of a storm.

If you're a follower of Jesus, I'm going to ask you quite plainly, why are you so afraid? Have you forgotten? You're in the storm at the presence of God. He's for you. He's with you. He's working in all things to bring about the good of those who love him. You are in the storm with his presence and you are in the storm for his purpose.

So why are you afraid? And as you get to know the Lord and he matures you as you go through storms and you endure storms with him, you see that your hope is no longer in the boat.

And you can be afraid because you think the boat's about to sink, but suddenly your soul is anchored in the Lord.

And that changes everything. See, I was I was paralyzed with fear for my son's well-being.

But my hope isn't in the boat. My soul is anchored in the Lord. My soul is searching for the Lord. Because Jesus is in my boat. Because he's in my house.

And he dwells within me. He is with me. He is for me. He has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of sound mind.

So why are you afraid when Jesus is with you in the boat? Let's pray.

Father, we pray that in your presence that you do a healing work, especially for those that may be enduring a more severe storm than we've even talked about today. We pray that your Holy Spirit would do a work in our hearts that only you can do.

And as we reflect in prayer, I just I want to take a moment and pray for those of you that would say, "I am in the middle of a storm or somebody that I love is in the middle of a storm and they need a touch from God." If that's you, if you or someone you love is going through a storm, would you just lift up your hands right now? Just as an act of faith, lift up your hands. God, I hurt with those that are hurting today.

And I know that you hurt even more, but I am so thankful that in your sovereign love, you know the details of every situation. God, not only do I pray that you calm the storm, as you can and often do, but God, even if you don't, I pray that your presence would minister a peace that goes beyond our understanding. I pray that the power of your Holy Spirit can bring a calm and a comfort that only you can bring.

And in your presence, I pray that we could start to even sense a purpose that you're doing something in us. You're teaching us something that we couldn't learn in any other way. In the presence of your son, there is hope even in the middle of the worst storm. Help us cling to Jesus and believe that he is enough. Lord, I pray for miracles that the storms that are in our lives would pass quickly. That there would be healing, forgiveness, restoration, and that the storms would be still, but even more, that we would know the everlasting presence and glory of your son. As we continue to pray, there are some of you maybe that that you feel like you're in this storm alone and you think, "Man, I I can't I can't do this anymore. I I need someone in the boat with me." And I'm here to tell you this morning that Jesus is right there in that boat. church, there is hope in the promise of the cross. So, if that's you, if if if you don't know Jesus, but you want to, if you feel like you've walked away from him, if you need someone in the boat with you with no one looking, would you just raise your hand? Whether it's your first time, your fifth time, you just need hope and you need someone in your boat. All you need to do is open your eyes and see Jesus in the boat right next to you.

So if you're making that decision today to follow Jesus, I want to tell you that that is the most important decision that you can make in your life to know him, to love him, and to draw near to him.

So those of you that made that decision and and the rest of us as a church, we're going to pray this prayer because we believe that in the power of many and the power of prayer, things, lives and situations change.

So church, we'll all pray this together.

Father, I thank you. I thank you for your son Jesus who you sent down to die on the cross for our sins. I thank you for the hope that we have in you and in your son, Father.

And I I vow today to turn around, to sin no more, to walk in a way that honors you, and to search you, to search your heart, to know you, and to grow close to you. Lord, you are the savior of my soul and the author of my life. 36:0036 minutesAnd in your name we pray. Amen. Oh church, would you give a round of applause for those who made that decision this morning is the like I said, it's the most important decision that you will make in your life.

And church, we are so happy that we get to be a part of it.

And we're not done with service. We're going to we're going to sing. We're going to praise his name. We're going to declare that the battle belongs to the Lord. That Jesus is in our boat. So, church, let's sing.