He Said What? - Lesson 5: "Take Courage....Don't Be Afraid"

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It is so good to see you all this morning. I know that I would hoped, I don't know, but I would hope the majority of you are excited and glad to be here this morning. And even if you're not, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad that you've taken the opportunity to give God this time, and this moment, during your day. I know that it is. It's good to look around and see a familiar face. It that we have maybe not seen in awhile. And then to have you may be back with us for, for the first time in a while. It's, it is something going to talk about here in just a little while. But it is good to be with family on days, like today, if you will get into our lesson and then we're going to dive into some study time together. God. We thank you so much for being in this room with us today. We pray that your spirit fills our hearts and our souls and our minds Guide us as we open up your word and we study from it this morning. May we make it our goal to grow closer to you today. May we make it our goal to be more like you and be pure of heart and spirit. We just thank you so much for the loss of Jesus, as we've been studying and listening to just his words and trying to figure out what the words mean for us. And today, God is we talked about, do not be troubled and do not be afraid. Help us to just relinquish our fears to you to turn over the things trouble ice in our life. And just live a peaceful life guide. We know what you understand that, we know what you feel that we know that.

We know that you're signing particulars familiar, with all of those feelings help us to be like him in. Every way is in your son's name. We pray. Amen. Hope your Bible. The Book of Mark. You have your Bibles, hold them up in any shape form or fashion. If you have your Bibles and as you have them held up, turn to the Book of Mark. We're going to continue with this idea that we've been talking about. You said, what am I listening to the words of Jesus and from this particular lesson today, the idea of take courage, don't be afraid. So mark Mark chapter 6, what's going on with the story before Amelia with both of these stories? I believe in many ways. But beforehand Jesus Takes a moment and performs one of his greatest Miracles. One of his most famous scripture where he feeds 5000 and there's a couple of times that we see Jesus feeding groups of people this size. Think about that for a second. Just think about that for a second. Think about the magnitude of this moment. Think about the magnitude of this moment of Jesus. Taking very little and turning it into a feast that fed this many people. After this many people a crowd of a 5,000 or more as you read from this passage, don't you like a 34? When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a Shepherd. So he began to teach them many things. I think about that number 5,000, I think about our community, and I think that, you know, our community is actually the city of Haleyville itself is is a smaller group of people than Jesus Paid that day. I think about that number of the people that live in the city limits of our town here. If you lived, here is smaller than the amount of people that Jesus fed that day. And, and, and of all the things that you just did in this moment, I think, for me, for Matthew, maybe one of the most amazing things about Jesus comes in verse 34, where it says, when he saw them, he had white Compassion, repeat that word. He had compassion. Connect challenges me because when I go out and I'm at Walmart and when I'm at the little Leo's pageant yesterday, when I'm at the different places that my, my life, and my job and my kids and everything takes me, when I look at people in this community. And when you look at people in this community, do you look at them with the same heart and compassion as Jesus. Do you do? You look at them with the same heart and compassion as Jesus? Because they were lost. He said, they were like a like sheep without a Shepherd. It was it was so cute yesterday. I guess that's the right words. These these girls in, in Britain's

Please girls in Britain's age group. And in this little Miss Leo's pageant and they're, they're like two years old, 24 years old, and you all know. My, my, my third child. There. She is full of personality. You know, she, she went when God made her. He went to like, that's, that's, that's who she is. All these little girls are when they got on that stage, that age group. And I got to let stage yesterday. They're all like this.

What do I do next? You know, and it was just like, they were, I told why I said they all just seemed lost up there because, you know, there's, there's nothing comfort of mom and dad, all these people are looking at me. You know, I'm not sure if I'm supposed to go left or right or turn off, living what I'm supposed to do and they're just kind of go. Okay. I'm just not going to do anything. And, and in a lot of times, we will look in our society. That's why Jesus Jesus people just lost not having any direction. And it was not just from the spiritual aspect, would just that idea of they have no directions to have no purpose and any looked at them and they have compassion on them. And I believe all the things that we talked about today. That's one of the most important things. We need to realize that Jesus that needs to become who we are. Is when we see people who are lost, we need to have what Compassion, because if we don't have compassion and guess what that means, that means we don't care. We don't care if they're lost. We don't care that they need anything. We don't care that. They go without we don't care. That Jesus is not part of their life. And not only this story does, he feed them in a way that that feeds their their Spirit, if you will, as The Story Goes On, he also feeds their body and he feeds their physical needs. God In the Flesh, are just takes care of everything that needs to be taken care of it. So he feeds them and he goes on the story going to continue. So we pick up in our story, in verse 45, listen to buy liquor right here in verse 45, and we begin to read our actual text from from the story. So, we start out here and follow with me and your bibles are up here, whichever one works for you. Immediately. Jesus disciples get into the And going ahead of him. The best Cydia while he dismissed the crowd after leaving them. He went up on the Mountainside to pray. Anything about Jesus and I'm going to come back to it. But remember this UFO to Mountainside to pray later that night the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was all alone on land. Jesus are in this moment alone, that that phrase is so quick, and he was alone on land. What did he just got finished doing here? Just got the ministering to a group of 5000 plus people. 5000. Do you think he was tired? Do you think he was exhausted? You think he was drained? You think he was emotionally spent? Absolutely. He just took some time and he just was he was alone for a little while. He's straining at the oars, because the wind was against them shortly before Dawn, he went out to be walking on the lake. He was about to pass them. By again, when you just read it like you just drink past that and we've no the storm. We read the story so many times, but that's a crazy thing. Jesus walking on the water.

Mail server tried. Just Jesus. Like it was nothing. That's that's the God. We serve, it was nothing for him. Just walk on the water and not just walk on the water. What is the last phrase there? Say, he was about to White. Just walk right bomb smoke, right bomb. But when you start, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. That's a pretty good guess, right? Because up to this point, how many people had the apostles ever seen walk on water? I don't know. You have right about you have what was their first thought? How many of you ever seen a ghost? Just curious? That's not a trick question. Some of your like ghosts are real ghost. I love you. Okay, here's my ghost story right from my ghost story. I was in the building in Arkansas all by myself. And I'm in my office and it's a Wednesday night Blair and we just had the two kids at the time. They had gone back to her dad's house in Tennessee for a few days and I had to work the first part of the week. I do work for what I had to work from Wednesday to Sunday then Sunday. I was going to join them. So I'm in this building all by myself. There is nothing scarier than an empty church building at night all by yourself. Nothing. Not a single place in the world scarier than an empty church building by yourself at night. So I'm here, everybody's left to go home and I'll have my door, opener office. And I hear from a distance lane lane. Don't have this boy named Lane and I thought maybe they had left him to come back looking for him. So, I walked it out the whole building. There's not a single person in the building. So I'll go back to my office and I shut my door. And if it's a ghost, I'm not really sure what good that was going to do, but I shut my door. I set there about 10 more minutes and I hear it again lane lane. I don't believe in ghosts. That was not going to stick around to test my theory.

I imagine they felt the same way. Like there's no other explanation for what's going on, but they were having this moment of, I don't know what it could be, but it's something I cannot explain. And so, what did they do? They cried out because they saw him and we're terrified immediately. He spoke to them and said, take courage. It is, I don't be afraid. If there was ever a moment that Jesus could have messed with his disciples. This could have been that moment, right but take courage. It is I don't be afraid and then I love this. The personal nest of the story, then he climbed in the boat with them. The decline in the boat with them and the wind died down. They were completely White. Amazed for they have not understood about the lows their hearts were hardened. When they had crossed over, they landed. And anchored there. Okay, that's it. Gets us through this text but we got to talk about. Let's let's see what we want to. Kind of stop it for the moment. Oh, stop it right there for a moment. I want to ask you this question this morning at 10 and I'm using this kind of text that as a launching Point into kind of our own lives. How many of you Have had moments in your lives where these challenges have engulfed. You. And you are afraid. Raise your hand. How many of you have ever had these moments in your life with challenges haven't golfed you and you are afraid and you're looking at the storm that's coming up around you and ain't nothing. You see things, but you're not sure what they are. You can't really make out the few. if you were, It looks buddy. If you know that there's something in front of you that you're going to have to face that you would have to enjoy, or maybe you're just at the point to where the waves to just knock you down, flat in the boat. Anyway, we went rafting one time and you never met my friend Jeremy, but I got a friend, Jeremy Murphy and Jeremy's like 65. And we're in these Whitewater, rafts going down the Ocoee River, and we went down like one wrap it and like, pop down and pop back up. And then turn and Jeremy goes with Jeremy. We're in the front together and it was like one of the biggest rappers were to go through and Jeremy go in. As soon as he said that this wave came from behind him and went and knocked him out of the boat. Beaver felt that way. You like I have I made it but then you're not expecting it and it just smacked you out of the boat. Now the best part of that story is trying to pull a 6 ft 5 guy back into a boat you pulling from one side of the other. There's still three feet of him hanging out with the boat, but we have these moments in our life and we're scared and we're upset and James says, and this is me. This is the challenging part of this says When You Face trials.

You face trials to what be upset about them. To wallow in them. I just worry for trials. You heard me say it is like you're coming along and so I just throw something at you. Okay, someone like it just, it's like that way but just hit you. That's a trial. He says, consider it pure. Send it again. Consider it pure. Joyce, that one more time. Everybody's consider it pure. When You Face Trials of every kind. We could spend all day talking about how that absolutely makes zero sense according to the white, according to the world's, right? It makes zero sense. Scripture has this guy named Jesus and Jesus comes up to us when we're facing these moments. That the world says, you know, hey, you should be happy. You should be glad that Jesus comes up. And why does he say? He says Have courage. It is, I do not be what? Afraid. I don't know what your circumstances are this morning, maybe your circumstances as you walk in the room this morning or of comfortable. That's okay. Maybe you're going through a season a blessing this morning. And for that we all go through Seasons a blessing and raise your hand. If seasons of blessings are your favorite season, raise your hand, seasons of blessings are our favorite season, aren't they washed? Because our needs are taken care of. Our needs are met everything going. Let's just put it this way from our perspective. Everything is going the way we want it to go, right? Going the way we want it to go. So we enjoy seasons of blessings. It may be your season is a sad one this morning. Maybe your season is a season of out-of-control. Maybe your season is a season of uncertainty, the season of uncertainty Peters. He's riding in 1st Peter 1st. Peter is a book that's really kind of talking about the persecution that the church is going to face as as this. Roman persecution really comes on hard and any any talks about trials in a lot of different ways, but one of the things he says, if he says, don't be surprised by the end of this kind of paraphrasing. What he's talkin about, don't be surprised at the fiery. Trials are the challenges in your life. We know they're coming. We know they're going to happen. The question is, when they do happen. How do we take the words of Jesus of take courage? It is I don't be afraid. How do we take those and on those things and leave those things? So, I guess that's what we're going to talk about for just a few moments. The first thing I want you to consider. The first thing I want you to consider, is this idea that to really understand what Jesus is saying, you've got to understand who your savior is. You've got to understand who your savior is. This is one of my favorite passages describing g k because it's so personal. And it's so right to the point, their forces. We have a great high priest is from Hebrews 4, who has ascended into heaven, Jesus, the son of God, let us hold firmly to the face of the faith that we possess. Listen to this. We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way. Just as we are yet. He did not send. Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence. So that we may receive mercy and find Grace to help us in our time of need.

We do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses. I'm going to remix a phrase just a little bit.

Jesus knows what you're experiencing in life because he's lived it. Jesus knows what you'll experience in life because he's lived. This life. Jesus understands the blessing. Doesn't he Jesus understands the blessings. Jesus understand times where things are great Gees understands that the, the, the great feeling if you will love sitting down with family and having meals together. He understands family dynamics, that may not always makes Jesus. Don't brother, at one point, thought he was crazy. Okay. Jesus was doing his family struggled with, with his ministry. Jesus understands gloss. Jesus had a best friend by the name of John.

When he found out that his best friend and cousin. Why does it say Jesus White? He wept. When Lazarus died. Jesus wept. Jesus understands the pain in the heart of lost Jesus understands loneliness. You just said himself that I have nowhere to lay my head unit understands loneliness Jesus in the garden praying and even though he brought his Apostles with him in his even three closest Apostles up a little bit further with him. He went off by himself and he prayed and when he came back, what was his? His best friend's? What were they doing sleeping? He was all alone. He understands loneliness, even to the point on the cross, be strong with that loneliness. He says my God my God, why have you Forsaken me, why have you turned to forsake me as a turn, your back on someone or something? Why if you turn your back against me, God, he understands the trail. I understand people that I thought were this type of friends and they turn around and they say, I'm not going to do this with you anymore. I'm not going to be in this friendship with you anymore. Cuz I can't go where you're going into stands that from Judas. God that he spent nearly every day with for 3 years and ministered with and 1/8 with and laughed with and cried with Turn his back. I'm not going this way with you, Jesus. I want you to understand this morning. regardless of what you're dealing with Jesus as I understand. I get it. You're not going to be alone. Cuz the end of our story with the not the end of it with the story that we just read it. It says that Jesus was about to pass by, but didn't notice to watch. Why did he not pass by? Because he noticed they were doing was struggling. There were struggling against the oars, if they were trying to get into where they were going, but they were going against them when they were having problems. And so, why did Jesus get in the boat with them? Because they were struggling and he says, I'm here with you. And as soon as he got in the boat, what happens to everything going on around? It comes down what you needed. This more. That Jesus says, I want to get in the boat with you. I want to watch you struggling. We don't know what you've got going on in your life. But if you're in this moment of challenge, if you're in this moment of struggle, if you're in this moment of uncertainty, if you're in this moment of feeling out of control, this is let me get in the boat. Let me get in the boat and he's going to climb in and and there will be a sense of Pisa. Doesn't mean if it's just going to disappear, but there will be a sense of peace that comes over you in your life. We're talk about that some more here. Just just just a few moments. Do understand who your savior is. That's the biggest part of this puzzle is understanding who Jesus is and I don't have a plan to deal with a challenge. Have a plan to deal with a challenge.

Alabama, is the only place in the country that has tornado season for 6 months out of the year. It's like always tornado season here in Alabama. And that was a challenge for for Blair. When we first moved. I was player has like some, some storm anxiety because of some tornadoes that she's been, anybody else have like tornado storm anxiety. Do you love you? So. Storms tomorrow? I'm supposed to have storms tomorrow, not supposed to be this, just to I force us to have storms tomorrow. I have learned over the last couple years to love James Spann. Nobody else is James Spann fan.

James Spann saying, have a Plan to say this could be a bad day. We're going to get through it together, but have a plan, have a safe place and have a plan. Have a safe place and have a plan that I first time. I heard that I thought man, that'll preach right there. That's what we talked about today. James Spann, sermon sermon inspiration. So in our life Peterson, understand the challenges are going to come. You're going to have difficulties with the first thing we have to do, in our walk with God's his, we have to be aware that there are challenges that I do things out there that I don't know what they are yet. I don't know what the challenge is going to be. But I can have a plan right now that helps me deal with each and every one of those challenges and although we can have another three or four part series on what those plans need to be. I want to, I want to set you in the directions first and foremost. Okay, it starts with prayer. Every plan has to start with where we've been talkin about in our in our class on Wednesday night has been talk about spiritual disciplines that we're guilty. A lot of times of doing this. This is my plan gods have come up with this plan. I've come up with this direction. I've come up with a solution and then my prayers, if God, will you, please bless it? That's what I am doing glass. What I have come up with a blessed one. I'm working on here. Alright, then what's the problem with that? It makes him feel like we've involved God, because we're saying to him about it. But Jake, are we involving God now that all we're informing guide. I was informing God usually work. Usually not the best but we need to do is we need to start with prayer. So we go to Philippians and this is what happens. We've we've talked about this verse together so many times they appreciate you putting these color. Code is 5 the end. So I know where one stops and one starts do not be anxious about anything. See when we try to make our own plans, that always leads to what makes this mess. But in every situation, here's the plan by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your requests to God.

I didn't put the other for the rest of the song that says in the peace that surpasses White. All understanding will be yours. But where does it start? Our plan has to start with prayer? It's what has to start and how do you been challenged? You? This is something I've been thinking about over the past week. And then I was talking to a preacher friend of mine that their church is going to be doing this this week. I've been talking about it and discussing it. But there's another part of prayer that we don't talk about a whole lot and is fasting. We'll talk about fasting in the Church of Hawaii. I don't know why. I don't know if it's because we just enjoy eating. How many of you enjoy the idea of fasting? Enjoy the idea of saying, I'm not going to eat? There's not.

Many things that I enjoy more than eating something good. Just I just look at me. I mean I have to tell you that I've been losing a little bit awake. Always told me the other day. She was glad you're getting skinny. That there's a difference.

But fasting puts us in a place where we no longer, we no longer rely on the physical. We put our faith in the spiritual. So, in your life as you're approaching challenges and dealing with things, I would, I would, I would challenge you in a spiritual way to add that components into your, into your prayer life. And, and, and it can look different ways. It can be a fast that That is a 24-hour fast. We not eating anything or or it can be that the guy that was talking with he had actually just got back from a mission trip and that particular Church where they worked out where they went overseas, but every Wednesday, they did a lunch fast for some of you missing lunch will be a big deal, but you at lunch fast and during that lunch time during that part of the day as a church, no matter where they are. They just pray, maybe, maybe something like that, but prayer and fasting. Go hand in hand and it's something we don't talk about a whole lot. But I think it takes our prayers. The kind of that next level shows. God. We're a little more serious about this prayer. Think they were, even if we're just laying in bed, have our head on the pillow, and a lot of us pray this way. Dear God. Thank you for this day. Thank you for everything. You've blessed us with, thank you for and you're going, you're out and you wake up at 2:30 across name. Amen. Anybody been ever been guilty of that. Some of your life because we all do it. Okay. So our plan has to start with our conversation with god and putting him in the middle of it. James talks about that too in a very powerful way with the last thing I want you to think about It's not just have a plan, but it's James band says, have a place. Have a place to land when your world comes Crashing Down. Hebrews chapter 10 is full of so many great things. He's just come out of talking about understanding the power of the crucifixion, and the death of Jesus in the blood, that was shed. At the beginning of chapter 10. He says, therefore you take all these things and do this because of all the stuff we want. You realize what God has done in Jesus is done. Holy spirit is done there for now. You understand that you need to do these things. And this is later on the chapter and he says and let us consider how we may spur one, another on toward love and good deeds. Not giving up meeting together as summer in the habit of doing but encouraging one, another and all the more as you see the day approaching both of these verses, that there's a lot of things in, in this chapter 10, but I love these two verses because it's all about encouraging each other. It's about encouraging each other and there's no greater Place Al and there's no safer place to land. There is no more important place to land when you are facing challenges in your life, then in the arms of your brothers and sisters. In the arms of your brothers and sisters going to church, what we call church. It's not just about being here. All right, that's a that's a big part of it. But it's about those relationships. It's about having that camaraderie is about having that Unity is about having that support group in place. That's when I can make it on my own. I know that I can walk into the Middle East people and they're going to know that and noticed it and see it and they're going to say you don't have to do it alone. We're going to do it for you. We're going to do it with you. We're going to do it, right? Beside you. I don't understand how people walk through life and deal with things without this place without a church family without brothers and sisters. Who were there, a Spur them along and encourage them. And he says, look, don't give up meeting together. Don't give up being together. Don't give up on these relationships.

Go to Needham. And they're going to be so important to you and you're not going to be able to make it without him. All right. I've been preaching for 30 minutes. So I guess it's time to stop. Unless y'all want to keep going. I want to keep going. Like, five of appreciate that. Thanks. Y'all hungry? I start talking about faxing now. You're all going to get 13 Brianna locked in a Mexican. All these are good places.

What are you struggling with today? What are you carrying? Are you walk in here with this morning?

Are you walk in here with this morning? That's that's clouding? Cloud and everything else. We we talked in class Wednesday night about the difference in being troubled and having anxieties in. Jesus was in the garden. He was troubled. And then he was overwhelmed, but then that same Philippians, passage talks about not being anxious. And in the word anxiety, in the Greek is, is the idea of one thing being out of place in the point that it clouds. Everything else. And peace, the word peace. In that same section Olympians means everything joined together perfectly. You probably want some of you. Some of you came in this morning and you got anxiousness, you got anxiety. You were letting this one thing Cloud. All the others and you don't know why you can't understand that. You can't explain it. She know you're feeling it. Some of you find yourself in the same place is Jesus in the garden. Fellow. He did not let it Cloud everything. He was troubled. As as the past we read before Community was trouble to the point that his sweat was his blood.

Jesus looks at you all this morning and he says, take courage. It is I do not fear. He's here to crawl in the boat with you today. Question is, are you going to let him? Go to God In Prayer.

God, I thank you for. The time that we get to spend together in this room is family.

Join together to experience has joined together through mutual, things that we just like enjoy, but more importantly, God joined together through your spirit. Help us to always when we're together. Experience the unity of spirit that Paul talks about.

God, I pray for those that are They're they're struggling at the or this morning. They're struggling. Against the win against the rain and help them know that you see them that you're there with me. I mean, you're crawling in the boat with them.

And let them have courage. I can have your courage. Give them Faith, give them strength. So they won't be afraid. Are we thank you for those in this room that are experiencing lessons at this. We encourage you to give them the desire and the one in the will to be the safe place. Do two instead of standing up and going, man. Everything's are so great. And so wonderful, and so good. Let them stay open their arms to say, bye to my blessing. But I'm getting from God for a while. Let me Comfort. You like you maybe wants comforted me.

Can we pray for those who do not ever turn their life over to you this morning?

We pray for those who are fighting, not just against this world and the struggles and challenges that are fighting against you today. Help them understand the power, in the words of Jesus. When he says to believe in me and be baptized and you will be saved. Please allow your spirit to convict them today. God the same way. But those are they a Pentecost were convicted. What's the mass? What must I do? Help us to show them the same words of Peter. To repent and be baptized there against their sins. And not just for the Forgiveness but also for their ability to receive your spirit, is that passage continues to teach

And be with us this week. God. Just give us your strength and your loving your mercies and your son's name. We pray. Amen. Is this program has been beneficial to you, please consider subscribing on YouTube Apple podcast or your favorite podcast. Provider. Also, I would love for you to leave us a 5-star review, which will greatly assist us in getting the message of God's love and salvation to others. Would love even more for you to join us in person. We are located at 2309 9th Avenue, in Haleyville, Alabama. You can also check us out on Facebook.

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