Courage in The Storm (2)

So I'm going to start off by going a little bit off script here. So I do have I do have a sermon prepared don't worry but I want to look together at that passes from 2nd Corinthians. It's good Passage. The talks about being co-workers with God, co-workers with God. So I want us. We're going to have a little question and answer here and full disclosure, I am kind of surveying the congregation to see what you guys are going to say. So what is the purpose of the church? Yes, tell me.

Praise and worship God. Spread the gospel.

To renew faith.

What else? Matthew 25? What's this a dentist?

I don't have it. I thought my head has to be honest. All the Great Commission. Yes.

Amen. Absolutely. Thank you. Yes. That is the purpose of the church. But so Pastor here met with Pastor Craig and Pastor Ray this week and something they were asking me is what what? What and passions you? What gets you excited for the gospel for the church, right? Like who am? I just passed a really didn't know and you guys didn't know. He's part of our team, helping our renewal here at the church and for me the church is about being the hands and feet of Jesus in the community in which we serve So we've talked a little bit about this, you know, we're helping with food insecurity. That's one way that we're helping be the hands and feet of Jesus. We worship on Sunday morning because we do all those other things, right? Like this is the highlight of the week where we come to God, and we thank God, thank you so much for letting us be co-workers in the gospel, some of the part of my other honesty here, right? So like Pastor blue, if I was a sit in an office all day, Monday through Friday, 7 days a week or 5 days a week, whatever. I would be bored out of my mind, right? I would feel so unfulfilled as a church. I can't do it. There's no way, right? I like to get my hands dirty at that means I'm with, I don't know, back in the country with Farmers helping with land stuff, right? Helping with the farm animals while we talk about Jesus, then I'll do that. And that means, I don't know picking up trash on the side of the road which we all know Baltimore has plenty of trash, right? If I'm if that whatever that means for us, truly being out there with the people of God that is how we make the most difference in people's lives. You know, if it's people in recovery, you know, drug and alcohol abuse, how do we impact them? We step aside by them and we guide them and we help and we embrace them with a hug and a kiss and whatever we need to do to help them, right? We are the hands and feet of Jesus. Now, let's go back to the scripture here. II. Corinthians passage it starts off by saying. We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. All right, so I want you to think about first Evangelical, Lutheran Church of gray Manor. Okay. And I want you two to think about. Is there any stumbling blocks that is causing us from ministering to the people in Dundalk? Is there any stumbling blocks? And if there is, I would encourage you to get a wood chipper and put the stumbling blocks for the wood chipper, slice them all up, real fast. And then we're going to set him on fire, that's what we do. If someone blocks, whatever those things can be. Now, if you get mad, you got to look at the scripture here, like this is what it's telling her. I told her people hate 15 the same thing, they got a little different cuz it's off my head, but okay stumbling block, let's remove those. Then it tells us This translation says, we are Servants of God. The other translation had we are coworkers of God. Now, how are we? Cool workers are servants. So what is a servant? A servant of somebody that gives their own right? And expecting nothing in return, that you're a public servant, a servant back in the day in the scriptures sense, right? You could be a slave. Whatever. The point here is that we are humble That we take responsibility on to ourselves and then it gets a little Troublesome, right? Cuz it says that we have to have great endurance, and let me tell you sometimes, as a pastor as church leaders as people we can get tired and worn out, okay, I can admit I've been worn out. I've been exhausted emotionally physically, but It says to have great endurance and troubles and hardship in distress and beatings imprisonments riots, a sleepless nights and hunger. Now, as you can tell, I can miss a few meals and that'll be okay. So I'm not starving yet. I haven't been physically beaten. So anybody wants to take me up on that, you know, I don't know, but I definitely had sleepless nights and I am sure some of you have had sleepless nights, right? It goes to the whole, this whole scripture talks about what it is to be a servant, A co-worker of God. Now that is all of us this morning, that's all of us. And so, We go back to my original question month. Ago was what is God calling you to do? Door Ministries in this church. And this community. Things that the Lord has gifted you individually with that is being underutilized. Why, because if our main focus is Sunday morning, And that's it. Then you know what, what about Monday through Saturday, right? Where is God calling you to serve and be the hands and feet of Jesus? And let me tell you if you call me and say you know God's calling me to do this and I'm going down and I don't know if you want someone to be there with you physically to help you with whatever Ministry I'll do it. Because again I'm not about Temple work as much. I'm about to work in the field, right? The world is my parish and so we have to embrace out of the church to. Where is God calling you? How is it calling you? And how is he equipping you? So I want you to really think about it this morning and so I'm going to I did something impromptu table here, okay? So next Sunday, we're going to have basically an altar call. And a sense of I want you to write down on a piece of paper. Truly, how is the Lord God calling you to be a co-worker? Because according to the passage this morning, we're all co-workers of Jesus and I want us to maybe there's 10 people that are feeling led to do. The same thing, will, let's get those 10 together and I'm just going to tell you as a congregation. We're just going to start doing stuff. That's what we have to do. We just have to do stuff, and we have to spread Jesus and his love for this community. And if anybody gets offended, oh, well because we love Christ and we don't want to see lost people, go to hell and we don't want to see people on the streets going hungry. And I'm sad. And when this community is suffering, and let me tell you, as we get into the sermon this morning, Are we talkin about the storms of life? And this congregation I've heard the stories, some of them at someone blessing of being a pastor. I hear a lot of stories. Of people and their good days and their bad days and and how God LED them through the Wilderness for say, right? And this congregation has the ability. To share their story with this community. Now, we look around us. I've heard many stories of, you know, Bethlehem Steel shutting down and people going without work, right? Not being able to provide for their families that impacted this church. I'm I'm sure They're at they're just like where my family is from originally in Illinois, John Deere. Right was the main Manufacturing Company in that area. John Deere International Harvester, all those big companies, just left an overnight at destitute of that Community but somehow God got them through And that older wiser generation that went through that. Can do what? Shepherd, the younger generation that may be going through the same struggles. Trying to figure out life. So, we are such and such an incredible place of the church. So let's talk about storms and storms in our life of us have experienced some type of physical storm, right? So what was it about 2 weeks ago? We had tornadoes and Edgemere. The right two weeks ago. We've had, I'm sure you guys have had some hurricanes, tornadoes bad weather. So I just want to give you the one Glimpse, my not so story outside of the South, right? Cuz I don't have many of those so Amanda. And I decided during our undergrad, we had to go up to Illinois to finish our undergrad. We graduated at Lincoln Christian University and I was around our last night, we are transitioning out of a youth, pastor position. And we are going to be taking a U-Haul truck down to North and I didn't know what was going to happen after that. Do we have packed up, everything in the house? Everything. There was no food in the fridge. Nothing to drink really. And so we're all hungry than working all day. And it said, yeah, let's go to Dairy Queen and get some food. And let me tell you, when you live in rural Southern Illinois, it's like 30 miles to Dairy Queen, right? Are you guys used to drive long distances like that for 30 miles to Dairy Queen? And I believe we are going to Edwardsville Illinois. And there was a storm that started Brewing inspect. It got so bad when we finally got up to the Dairy, Queen drive-thru, they basically just threw our food at us and they went into the refrigerator to get shelter and we're driving around a Toyota Prius. And a few guys that I had a Prius at one time before our truck. So anyway, I wish I would have had a truck that evening so we start driving back in. The the sky is blue bike, just blue Lightning all over the place. Trees are falling down and telephone poles. And I have Amanda and I will see her parents. And who else was in the car? Someone else was in that car with us.

so, we're driving and And I know I slammed my brakes on, I did hit one tree and I messed my car up, but it was driveable. And I have my father-in-law screaming at me, what weight? How to drive, right? Cuz he's got so much more experience than I do at that time, but somehow we survive, right? We got back. We actually drove through a tornado around us. It was a bad storm and we had no power when we got home. So then the four of us had to go into one room of the house and sleep on the floor. It was a lovely memory that we have Amanda. That storm was intense wasn't hurricane. In fact I would argue it's worse cuz it just popped out of nowhere. but the next day, There came the Sun. There came God's work, right? We were able to get in our U-Haul truck, travel down to New Orleans. And at that time, I had taken on the being a custodian at a middle school, right? And we had that time of transition, I figure it out God, where you leaving me. And so I basically applied all the cemeteries in the South and moved to Florida, but God got me through that storm. Just like, right? He gets us through the emotional spiritual storms of our life and we've been on a lot of roller coasters, the last couple weeks. And life is truly that roller coaster. Sometimes, you don't know. Where it's going, you know how fast you're going. And if you've ever been on the, I think it's called the mouse roller coaster, where it makes you feel like, you're going to fall off the edge, right? I don't like this but you felt like you're going to fall off the edge. Is anybody ever feel like that in life? You just going to fall off the edge? You don't know what's happening in life but somehow you live through it. God has your back, right? So in this story, this gospel lesson this morning. The first thing we hear is the disciples woke up, you know, and they awoke are they woke Jesus? Aim teacher. Don't you care that we're drowning? Don't you care? Jesus. I mean, the water is crazy. You know, we're going to die because you're sleeping in the boat Jesus. You don't care about us. But Jesus heard their cry, he did he heard their cry immediately? It says, right? He got up, he got up and he went to action. Then what you think about this in your own life? When you cry out to God. Do not think that God doesn't hear you this morning cuz he does, he hears every word, every prayer, every time you get mad at him, he hears it. God is listening and he hears our cries. He hears My Cries this morning my cry that this church would grow and Thrive for Jesus hears, my cries that people are going to hell. He hears My Cries, he hears my cries. When I'm emotionally beaten and bruised when I can't finish what I need to finish for the week. And when I'm drowning, he hears me and he rescues me. And as a congregation he hears our cries every time we have a struggle with that we're trying to get through or trying to figure out what the next thing that we have to do is as a church and to move forward. He hears our cries and in your own life in the storms of your life, he hears your cry is just as the disciples in that boat that evening. We may not always see God, we may not see him working, but he's their brothers and sisters. He's weathering that storm with us. Whatever it is. He's holding our arms up when they need to be held up, right? He's lifting our Spirits when we're down. That is what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing according to the scripture, right? I mean there's someone me understanding this but the disciples physically felt at Harm's Way, right? They felt the day would surely perish and this massive storm. They would no longer be alive and Jesus was there to rescue them? He hears our cries. He he hears our cries in the storms of life when someone passes away suddenly that we weren't expecting, when we lose that job and we can't pay our bills or man when we get that promotion at work that we've been dreaming up. But God, Jesus Christ, is there. He's in that storm with us, reassuring us that we are children of our heavenly father because God, this Father's Day. Our heavenly father is the example of what fathers are to be right. And some of us in this room I am sure have had good experiences with your father and son, may have not. But what matters the most is is that Jesus, right? Our heavenly father is the example to all of us. One that hears, our cries ones that's compassionate and forgiving and loving. The last Jesus. Is all-powerful this morning. Write be still, he said, be still and the storm listen and it confuse the disciples. Who is this man? Even the storms obey his words? The storms. Wow, could you imagine what you think about that? Think about that storm. That that physical storm you went through. And Jesus shows up in the flesh and says Be Still. What happens? How amazing would that be? I've never asked Jesus and a prayer to quiet, a storm outside, even that crazy night, maybe I should have But I certainly have had my fair share of yeah dude, I think I remember them in the backseat praying, that's good. I had my mother-in-law. She's a really good prayer as well. So

But the point here is, I had had those opportunities. Where life was crappy, life is on a downturn. And I went before the Lord, on my hands and knees and God Redeemed by God redeemed. It, that's what this passage for me is all about. We call upon the powerful name of Jesus to make a way to clear a way for us, he's there. So Jesus calls us to be people of Faith. What did he say? Lastly, he asked them. Do you not have faith? Do you not have faith? I mean, so the bought the Bible tells us what that Faith, the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, Congregation. Do we have collectively the faith, the size of a mustard seed. This morning. Can I get an amen? I pray that we do. I mean, if we truly believe the word of God that Faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains, just imagine and vision for me this morning, what God can do through this Congregation of people, the people of God with that little bitty face. It doesn't take much, but if we have it, we can make a difference in my at my home Ministry philosophy. Really goes back to that section of the Lord's Prayer on Earth as it is in heaven. Then our job is Believers of Jesus Christ is the bring his kingdom, a piece of that, a piece of that Kingdom to here on Earth for the people of God. But the lost sheep and the in the forest and the woods, right? Do sheep without a shepherd. Because we have that faith. But it's okay, right? It's okay. That sometimes we wrestle and we question and we say why, God, why me? When I don't want to go to dinner. But remember, I don't want to go. And the Lord says, oh, well, oh well, you're going to do it, right? And then again, we go back to the passage from 2nd Corinthians today. How does man expect it to be? You know, so I guess I'm I'm preaching to myself by saying when it gets tough. Perhaps that's the indication of we're doing the right stuff, right? We're doing the right things and this community and the church.

So embrace it, brothers and sisters. Be people. Deep Faith, this morning, preach the word. I got a, I got a question in the back. Dennis

Say it again for me.

Amen. It's a song. I have to look it up. He does. He does, he even calls us? He calls us to those rough Seas. Those Rough Waters. Because I believe we are prepared to handle it because we have the faith. We have the faith so Rejoice Rejoice friends that we are called together as a church family. To truly make a difference in this world to the believe that God, trust us so much that he has called us to be the hands and feet for him. The hands and feet of God for this hurting world. So why we answer that question? What is the church? 100%, we are here to worship. We are here to glorify our heavenly father, but we are also here to make a difference. So I just encourage you can take it. Get a piece of paper for this week. Write down. Where is God calling you? To be a co-worker for him. Where is he called you to servanthood? Where is he called you perhaps to those rough Seas? You know, if it's something you want to talk about together, I'd be happy to talk to you. So let us continue to worship. As we pray on Mighty God. Help us, I'll be co-workers for the kingdom.

help us Embrace those rough Seas, those Rough Waters. God.

We we value that you are forming us as a Potter and the clay on Mighty God. Forming us into the disciples. You have called each of us to be in this church and this congregation get help us chop up some mowing blocks and let us embrace This calling of Dundalk, Maryland. For you.

That is we go our separate ways later after service to celebrate, Father's Day to have a meal with our families. Now, let's remember what's first and, and that is your call on our lives.

Can Empower us, give us strength, give us encouragement, give us opportunities to make a difference.

Guy. Cuz he's wonderful. People got to have much to share with this. This world guy that needs, you desperately. We love you and praise you in Jesus name, amen.