Sermon Tone Analysis

A few months ago there was a water-shed moment in the Guerry household.

One night Betsy and I got home late after having dinner with some friends.

It was one of those really clear nights, no clouds, no wind, everything was just really still and quiet.

Then all of the sudden while we were driving home we hear our son Judson from the backseat yell, “LIGHT!”

We couldnt figure out what light he was talking about, until we got home.

I go to get him out of his car seat and when I open the door His eyes were about as big around as basketballs and he was starring straight up into the sky…and then he points and says it again, “LIGHT!”

He had found the moon for the very first time.

And he his little 18 month old mind was blown.

Now we have an obsession with the moon.

Almost every night we go outside, the first thing Jud starts doing is yelling for the moon.

When we go inside, he says “Night, night moon!”

The kid is obessesed.

Just a side story, I really like that he loves star gazing so I talked to Betsy and we agreed that we would get him a telescope that he could use.

I started looking at telescopes and found out that they cost as much as small vehicles…so look kid, heres some binoculars…Daddy is a on a pastor’s salary...

Something occured to me that night that Judson found the moon.

While I was standing their holding my son looking up at the moon, I realized how long it had been since I had really stopped to appreciate how beautiful space really is.

It took me seeing the moon through the eyes of a kid to wake me up to the wonder of the universe.

See, I realized that the reason that I hadn't noticed the moon in so long was because I had grown so familiar to the moon being there, that I had lost sight of the beauty and wonder of the universe that we live in.

The 19th Century French novelist, George Sand said it like this, “Admiration and familiarity are strangers.”

When we grow familiar

Familiarity is the enemy of AWE and wonder.

Here is my fear this morning.

Im afraid that many of us here have become so familiar with the Jesus that we have lost our wonder of who He is.

Sure, we show up.

Sure, we sing songs.

Sure, we pray.

But if we were honest, far too many of us come and do the church thing, we go through the motions and then we leave.

And nothing is different.

And I think the problem for many of us is just that weve grown familiar.

Our knowledge about Jesus has taken the place of our experience of Jesus.

Birth of Jesus the Christ ()

So this morning my goal is simple.

I hope to be like my son Judson…you see when he pointed me to the moon that night.

I realized that the reason I hadnt seen the moon in so long wasnt because the moon hadnt been there.

I just hadnt looked up to see it in awhile.

He just made me realize what was always there.

When friends become ordinary, we take fellowship for granted.

And this morning, what I hope happens for us is that we stop together, and for a few moments, are awestuck by the wonder of who this Jesus is that we worship!

And…sometimes

The

He’s the Son of David ().

He is God’s Annointed-King.

Jesus Has a Purpose in Our Pain

He is Immanuel ().

He is literally “God with Us”

, He is the King:

He is the Ancient of Days—The Eternal King of Heaven ().

Have you ever

Jesus Prioritizes our Humility

matthew 8:23

What Does it Say?

Just before this passage, Jesus had just challenged his disciples.

He effectively had just said that in order to be His disciple, to be His apprentice, you had to surrender everything.

Nothing could be more important.

One’s family, friendships, career, or anything else could be more important than their commitment to Jesus.

He was calling them to a reckless abandonment of their old way of life and absolute surrender to Him.

This is just as true for us today as it was for them then.

If we desire to follow Jesus it means that we must be “All In” for Jesus.

Nothing can be more important to use than radical obedience to Jesus.

Where he calls us to go, we go.

When he tells us to move, we move.

So here in verse 23, we see the disciples have an unwavering commitment to Jesus.

He get’s into the boat and Matthew tells us that the disciples don’t even raise a question—they just hop right up into the boat with him.

No questions asked, no desire for an explanation.

If the boat would have had a radio, you can guarantee that Chris Tomlin would have been faintly playing in the background of this scene, “Where you go I’ll go, Where you stay I’ll stay, When you move I’ll Move…I will Follow You!”

And why in the world wouldnt they have followed Him?

I mean just in the past couple of days they had seen Jesus preach an incredibly powerful sermon where he spoke with an authority that could only come from God.

He had healed a man from leprosy with just a simple phrase, “Be clean.”

They had seen Jesus heal the paralyzed slaves of one of a Centurion.

Then he healed Peter’s mother-in-law with a simply touch.

Im sure Peter found that to be very bitter-sweet.

A lot of yall are thinking to yourself, “I wonder if Jesus can heal my mother in law too...”

Yall are wrong for laughing, I didnt even mean it like that......Okay, actually yes I did…I meant it exactly like that...

Here is the point, the disciples had witnessed the power of Jesus on display.

They had front row seats to watch Jesus turn the impossible into possibilities.

So when Jesus got into the boat, of course they would get into the boat with Him.

Why wouldnt they have?

Life with Jesus was exciting!

But Jesus was showing these men that they were no different than the men that he left behind on the shore.

They cared about their lives more than they cherished fellowship with him.

They didnt really know who Jesus was, and it was revealed in the fact that they had so little trust in Jesus.

Look with me again at verse 23:

Out of now-where, Jesus and the disciples encounter a big problem.

Matthew calls this problem, a “violent storm.”

But the way that Matthew describes the storm is interesting.

For one, Matthew says that the storm came “suddenly.”

it was totally unexpected.

What is interesting about this story is that each of the disciples on the boat with Jesus at this point was very familiar with the sea.

They were fishermen.

One would expect that a group of veteran fishermen would have known that a storm was brewing, but these men seemed to not expect it at all.

I imagine these men setting sail with Jesus believing that it was just going to be another day on the water…and then out of nowhere they are being slammed by the waves, water is rushing into the boat, they are doing everything they can to stay afloat, fighting to survive.

Secondly, Matthew shows us that this is a supernatural event.

The word that Matthew uses to describe the incident was σεισμὸς—Earthquake.

Matthew uses this word 3 other times in his gospel, each time he uses it when he talks about the 2nd coming of Christ—the Apocalypse.

σεισμὸς

Why does he use that word here?

Because the Holy Spirit speaking through Matt.

here wants us to see that this isnt just any old storm.

This was a storm that was coming from the depths of the earth and the earth was quaking.

This was a sinister storm sent to destroy them.

The storm was unexpected, the storm was incredibly powerful, it left the disciples helpless and hopeless.