Wednesday Night Week 2

I want to welcome you again tonight as we continue our Daniel Fast Focus.

As I shared last week, and even on Sunday morning, I believe we are at a critical moment as a church and a church family. A moment where the Lord is calling us to “Get Ready”.

You might ask, “Get Ready for what?”

To be honest, I don’t know exactly what we need to get ready for, but here’s what I do know.

#1 - In order to get ready, spiritually speaking, we have to be ready. In other words, we have to be in a place spiritually where God can use us.

We talked about this last Wednesday night as we looked at Nehemiah chapter 1 as Nehemiah, who was in Babylonian Captivity, hears of the despair back in Jerusalem. As he hears that the walls of the city have been destroyed and the city sits defenseless, and it breaks his heart provoking him to a time of fasting and praying.

And its in that moment he realizes God is going to use him to be part of the solution. But before God can use him, Nehemiah gets spiritually prepared. How does he do it?

First, he gets his own heart right with God as he confesses and repents of his sin.

Second, he acknowledges that God is the only one that can help. That outside of God’s divine intervention, his efforts will be useless.

Finally, he calls out to God and beseeches God to go before Him.

And what was true of Nehemiah must be true of us.

Because if we are going to be ready whatever is to come, we have to be in a place where we are spiritually prepared.

Which means, like Nehemiah we have to be willing to confess and acknowledge any known sin in our life. Anything that may be keeping us from walking according to His will.

In addition to that, we have to acknowledge that God is the only one that has the power to help us. Which means, we have quit worrying and trying to fix the problem ourselves. We have to put our hope in Him.

Finally, like Nehemiah, we have to cry out to God and ask Him for help. And in doing so claim the promises that He’s given us. That if His people will return to Him, He will heal and bless our land.

Church, more than ever we need God to heal our land. But the healing begins with us. It begins as we allow the Lord to heal us first.

And my prayer is that you are committed to doing that with me as we fast and pray during this time.

#2 - I believe what we are getting ready for is related to what is going to transpire in our country and the world in the next 3-6 months.

And when I say that I’m not implying that there’s some kind of disaster coming or another round of Covid and lockdowns. I didn’t have some dream or vision of things to come. I’m not a prophet. I’m just saying that whatever God wants us to get ready for is in the near future.

#3 - I believe in getting ready, we need to be ready for some stormy days. What do I mean by stormy days? Again I don’t know. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the next 3-6 months are going to be a turbulent time for our country with the election, the unrest, the lockdowns, and the racial divide in our country. The fact is, it’s getting worse everyday. And I don’t say that to be negative. But the closer we get to the election, you can be sure tensions are going to rise, and it will have an affect on our country.

In fact, I just saw a statistic today that because of Covid, the divorce rate in America is up 34% from last year. Church, that’s troubling and a sign that more repercussions of what we’ve already been through are still to come. Because with higher divorce rates come higher rates of depression, higher rates of suicide, and the list goes on. Again, not trying to be negative, just want you to be aware of the reality we are facing.

#4 - In our getting ready, I believe God is preparing us for for a specific role. And based on that what I feel like the Lord has shown me is that He wants us to be a rescue boat. A vessel of hope so to speak in the midst of the storm.

What does that exactly mean? Not sure. I do think it means we are going to have opportunity to be a light in the darkness. An opportunity to rescue people in the midst of hopelessness and point them to Jesus. That I’m pretty sure of.

So, that’s what I do know.

And if I’m being honest with you, it’s a little disturbing to me. Because like all of you, I like comfort. And I like consistency. And I like knowing what’s going to happen. And I like being in control.

But when a storm or turbulent times come, all of that goes out the window. That’s true, right?

Think of it like this. Living in Kansas most of us have experienced a Tornado Warning. That moment when the siren goes off telling us there’s an active tornado on the ground. That’s a scary moment, right? So, what do we do? Well, some of us go out on our back porch and try to see it. Probably not the smartest thing to do. But most people take shelter. We go to the basement or someplace in our home where we’ll be the safest. And there we stay as we wait out the storm.

At our house we don’t have a basement, but we have a storm shelter in the floor of our garage that specifically put in for that purpose.

So, why do we do that? Why do we build shelters or take shelter when that siren goes off? Well, we take shelter because we have no control over the storm. We take shelter because we have no idea what that tornado is going to do. Why? Because tornados are unpredictable in size, speed, and direction.

I learned that growing up in Western Kansas. I can’t tell you how many Tornadoes I’ve watched from the cab of a tractor. And I can tell you they are the most unpredictable destructive weather elements that you will ever encounter. That’s why they say, “Never try and outrun a tornado”.

And to be frank, that’s the kind of storm I believe God wants us to get ready for. A storm we won’t have control over. A storm that's not predictable. And a storm we won’t be able to outrun. A storm that will require us to take shelter.

So, you might ask, “Where do we take shelter from a storm like that?” Well, the only place we as Christians can. We have to take shelter in Jesus. Because according to God’s Word, He’s our shelter. The Psalmist puts it like this:

Psalm 46:1 ESV

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

The Psalmist says, “God is our refuge, He’s our shelter”.

But unfortunately, Jesus isn’t always our first go to. Instead we tend to alternative shelters.

For some, it’s the shelter of financial stability.

For others, it’s the shelter of government aid.

For many, especially in this pandemic, it’s been the shelter of science.

And the list goes on of shelters we build in our life that we think can protect us from the storms of life.

That being the case, what I want to talk to you tonight about why Jesus should be our shelter when storms come. In other words, in the midst of the storm, why we need to go to Him first.

And to help us understand why, I want to go to a story in the Bible that literally demonstrates why Jesus should be our shelter. Because if a storm is coming, and I believe it is, and if we’re going to be a rescue boat that survives the storm, then we need to learn how to make Jesus our shelter.

That being said, I want to go to Matthew 8 tonight where the disciples find themselves in the midst of a storm. A storm they weren’t expecting, a storm they have no control over, and a storm that has the ability to take them out. And in looking at this story, I want to highlight two reasons why Jesus should be your shelter.

Picking up in Matthew 8:23 look at what Matthew tells us about this storm:

“And when he (Jesus) got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves...” Matthew 8:23a (ESV)

While Matthew doesn’t give us a lot of detail about this storm, he gives us enough information to tell us that it’s a dangerous storm.

We know this because he tells us it was a “great storm”. The word translated “great” here literally means “intense”. Which means it’s a storm of great magnitude. In fact, the NIV translation translates it as a “furious storm”.

And apparently it’s so furious that the boat was being swamped by the waves. Which means the boat was being covered over by the waves, to the point it was filling with water and in danger of capsizing. In fact, in Mark’s account of the story, he says the boat was filling with water. He writes:

Mark 4:37 ESV

37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not really a boat person. I mean I don’t mind going out on a boat once in awhile as long as the water is calm. But the idea of being out in the middle of the water with giant waves coming over the top of the boat is kind of terrifying.

But that’s the situation the disciples find themselves in, and you can bet, some of them thought this was the end. And we know that because look at what they did and said next. Matthew writes:

Matthew 8:24–25 ESV

24 And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. 25 And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.”

Matthew says in the middle of this storm, the disciples thought they were perishing. In other words they thought, “We’re going to die!”

So, what do they do? Did they call the Jewish coast guard? Did they abandon ship? Did they put out an S.O.S?

No, none of those things. So, what did they do? Matthew says they went to Jesus, who apparently was in the boat, but not in their immediate vicinity. So, where was he? The Gospel writer Mark actually tells us. He writes:

“But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion”. Mark 4:38a (ESV)

Which tells us Jesus was in the back part of the boat. But not only was he in the back part. He was in the back part sleeping on a big pillow. And so in the midst of this furious storm, they race to the back of the boat, wake Jesus up and scream, “Jesus, we’re going under!”

And it’s in this moment that we find the first reason Jesus should always be our shelter, and I would state it like this:

We need to make Jesus our shelter because:

Reason #1 - Jesus doesn’t get freaked out by storms.

Here’s what I want you to notice about what Matthew tells us.

Matthew says in the midst of this furious storm, a storm that is causing waves to fill the boat, Jesus was asleep.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if I was on a boat out in the middle of a giant lake, and waves were coming up over the boat and filling it with water, I wouldn’t be asleep. No, I’d probably be freaking out a little bit.

But not Jesus. Because instead of freaking out, He’s sleeping through it.

The question then is, “How can Jesus sleep through a storm like this?”

Was He just really tired? Did he take some dramamine? Was he fake sleeping and he just wanted to see how the disciples would respond?

I say that because my step grandpa was a pilot and he owned a Cessna 182. And one day he took my grandma flying and he thought it would be funny to fake a heartache while they were in the air, just to see what she would do.

Well, as you can imagine she about had a heart attack herself and nearly put him in an early grave.

So, is that what Jesus is doing? Is He just messing with the disciples?

No, Jesus is really asleep, and despite the severity of the storm, he’s able to sleep through it with little to no concern.

In fact we know that to be the case, because not only do they have to wake Him up, but when they do wake Him up, even then He’s not freaked out. Because Matthew writes:

“And he said to them, ‘Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?’ Then he rose...” Matthew 8:26a ESV

We’re going to stop right there because I want to point out a couple of key phrases here.

First, Jesus says, “Why are you afraid?” You know what that question implies? It implies that Jesus isn’t afraid.

It’s kind of like when somebody whose afraid of bugs freaks out because a bug is on them. But you’re not afraid of bugs so it doesn’t even phase you. So you’re like, “Why are you afraid? It’s just a bug.”

That’s what’s happening here. The disciples are afraid of the storm, and Jesus is not, so He’s like, “Why are you afraid, it’s just a storm”.

Second, notice that Matthew says after asking them why they were afraid, He rose.

The word translated rose here literally means that he naturally got up.

In other words, when they woke him up and screamed, “We’re perishing!” Jesus wasn’t shaken. Jesus didn’t leap to his feet in fear. Jesus didn’t scramble to get up like a mad man.

You’ve seen people do that, right? Somebody suddenly wakes them up out of a dead sleep, and they start flaying all over the place as they leap up and run into a wall.

But not Jesus. No, in fact, the way Matthew portrays it, as they shake Jesus awake, Jesus opens his eyes, sits up, looks around, sees the waves, sees the storms, calmly looks at the disciples and says, “Why are you afraid?” And then he calmly gets up to his feet.

Now, you might be thinking, “Wow, how is it that Jesus isn’t freaked out. I mean when he went to sleep it was smooth sailing, but now He’s been abruptly woken up by His disciples and the boat is filling with water and about to go under. How is it he remains so calm?

This leads us to the second reason Jesus needs to be our shelter:

Reason #2 - Jesus doesn’t get freaked out by storms, because Jesus controls the storms.

Matthew writes:

Matthew 8:26 ESV

26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Matthew says after assessing the situation, Jesus stood up and rebuked the winds and sea, and the storm stopped. The Gospel writer Mark puts it like this:

Mark 4:39 ESV

39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Is that not amazing? That Jesus was able to do that? Well, if it wasn’t to you, it was to the disciples, because here’s their response to what Jesus did:

Matthew 8:27 ESV

27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”

The disciples were blown away by this. They’re like, “Who exactly are we with here. Because this guy just told the sea and the wind to chill out, and they obeyed Him.”

You see, at this point, the disciples still didn’t understand who Jesus really was. And they didn’t understand what kind of power He had. I mean they knew Jesus could heal sick people and cast out demons. But to control the elements. To be able to say to the wind and the sea, “Be Still”, and they obey, that’s another level of power.

Here’s what this is saying to us. Regardless of what kind of storm may be coming our way or we may find ourselves in, the fact is, we serve a God who controls the storm. A God, who if He wants to, can say to the storm, “Peace” Be Still” and the storm obeys.

Which means, regardless of how bad the storm gets or how much it rocks our boat, if Jesus is in the boat with us, we have nothing to fear. Why? Because He’s in control of the storm. It is under his authority.

But unfortunately we don’t always act that way, do we? Instead, like the disciples, when storms come, we tend to freak out.

We freak out because we’re concerned the wrong person is going to get elected.

Oh no, what if Biden gets elected and Trump doesn’t. Or what if Trump gets elected and Biden doesn’t. How will we survive.

We freak out because the Governor won’t lift the restrictions.

We freak out because our kids have to wear masks to school.

We freak out because there’s not a vaccine yet.

We freak out because Facebook censored our post.

We freak out because California won’t let churches meet.

We freak out because a girl wants to be called a boy at school.

We freak out because people want to defund the police.

And the list goes on.

And not only do we freak out, we go running to Jesus screaming, “Lord, the world is falling apart!”

What do you think Jesus’s response to us is?

I’m going to say it’s the same response He gave to the disciples. It’s “Why are you afraid? Don’t you know who is in the boat with you. I’m the God that not only heals the sick and casts out demons, I’m the God who controls the storms. I’m the God who tells the wind what to do. The God who commands the sea to be silent. Why are you afraid?”

Church, the fact is, if we want to be ready for whatever is coming, we have to get our minds around the fact that no matter what happens, God is in control of it. Which means:

Regardless of who gets elected in November, God isn’t going to be sitting up in heaven going, “Oh my Me, what in the world am I going to do?”

Or regardless of what happens with the coronavirus, at no point is God going to say, “When is this ever going to end?”

Or even if something worse or unexpected happens, you’re never going to hear God say, “I didn’t see that coming!”.

Why? Because He’s in control.

And not only is He in control of the big storms, but the little ones as well. Which means:

He’s in control of your financial storm.

He’s in control of your relational storm.

He’s in control o f your addiction storm.

He’s in control of your health storm.

He’s in control of any and every storm you can think of.

So, why are you afraid? The God who controls storms is in your boat.

And as a church, we have to keep that at the forefront of our faith, because when the water gets rocky, and it will, in that moment we have to remember that the God who controls storms is in our boat.

MCF, this has to be foundational for us moving forward. To remember that no matter what happens, no matter how dark it gets, no matter how dismal it seems, not matter who gets elected, not matter how long the virus goes on, that no matter what happens God is in control.

And it has to be foundational because I really do believe there’s a storm coming. I don’t say that to scare you. I just think America has finally reached a breaking point and that we are at one of the most pivotal points in our nations history.

And the fact is, if we’re going to be a rescue boat, then we have to have a solid foundation for our faith. We can’t be like the disciples who were freaking out when the storm came. Instead, we have to be ready for the storm. And the way we get ready is by making Jesus our shelter. That He’s the one we go to when the storm comes.

Knowing that if we do that, then there’s nothing to fear. Why? Because while we’re not in control of the storm, He is. And in that we can find confidence not only for ourselves, but for those He sends us to rescue.

That being said, as the worship teams comes, we are going to close out tonight with a song called “Rescue” by Lauren Daigle”. And what I like about this song is it’s written from the perspective of God speaking to us. And it represents His response to us when we are facing the storms of life.

And so as the worship team ministers to us with this song, I want to encourage you to let this song affirm God’s promise to you and to our church. The promise that if we ask Him to be, He will be our shelter. And that in the midst of the storm, He will be there with us to guide us, direct us, and even rescue us.

Worship Team - Rescue

Closing Prayer