Facing Uncertainty with Certainty

Have you ever heard the phrase 15 minutes of fame?

This is Scott Foster and a few years ago he recieved his 15 minutes of fame.

Because Scott lived a pretty regular life, I mean he played hockey in college and was good, but now he was 36 and worked at an accountant in Chicago.

However one day Scott got a call that gave him his 15 minutes of fame.

Because one day while at work typing on the computer he recieved a call from the Chicago Blackhawks mentioning that they had almost a freak event happen where they had their goalie and backup goalie hurt and they needed a goalie in the next few hours

And whats amazing is Scott hadn't competed in any competitive league in over 10 years

And so everyone is thinking the Blackhawks are in trouble, because the goalie has to be good right?

And whats amazing is Scott ended up blocking every shot on him and they won the game

And Scott recieved His 15 minutes of fame.

But you know their are countless people that have had their 15 minutes of fame.

Who remembers Rebecca Black?

She sand the song its Friday and it was really populor and I kind of disappeared

What about the sham wow guy?

But you know each of these people had these moments where they were famous or popular for a very short period of time

and really today where we are in “The Story” is what some Pastors and scholars call the “Popular period” of Jesus’s life.

Because some of us know this but Jesus’s ministry on earth was only the last 3 years of His life

And the first year was Him getting started and then last year He faced a lot of opposition, but the second year people really flocked around Jesus because He was teaching these awesome things and working miracles

And so today we are just going to be diving into three of these stories we saw and really what you will notice is in each of these stories their is a strong element of uncertainty.

And I really believe this is so relevant for us today, because in our lives we have uncertain times

Where one moment things might seem stable, but then that health issue hits and all the sudden life feels very unstable

Where somthing happens to a loved one and all the sudden life seems flipped on its head

Sometimes it might be even just the uncertainty of moving forward and being anxious to do that,

In fact most of us would probably say the time we live in is very uncertain!

But here is the thing and really this is the theme of todays message (if we had to give one)

While life can be uncertain, the God we serve is not.

Can you say that with me outlound (its on the screen) “When life can be uncertain the God we serve is not”

And so we are going to be in ......

And will be starting in Mark 4:36-40 and just to give some context Jesus has been teaching all day and now they are leaving this huge crowd to cross the Sea of Gallalie which is this huge body of water.

And look what happens because starting in verse 36 it says:

Mark 4:36–40 NIV

36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

So they are crossing this huge body of water and all the sudden a storm breaks out and it says the boat becomes swamped meaning the boat was filling with water

And if a boat fills with water its not good (I mean I had a time where I went kyacking and the boat began to fill with water and it was not fun) but they are in a storm and you can picture the waves rocking them, they begin to loose control.

And the craziest thing is it says Jesus is in the back of the boat taking a nap.

And you can picture the discipels scared to death and they get to the point at the end of verse 38 where they come to Jesus and say teacher don’t you care if we drown?

You know have you ever had a point in life where you have felt like that?

Where life is rocking you around and not only that, but everything feels out of control and it feels like you are sinking fast.

And you turn to God and you say God? are you there? Do you care whats happening right now?

Do you care about my health issue, dont you see whats happening?

Are you asleep while I am drowning?!

But here is the crazy thing because while everything is crazy and it seems like things are out of control, Jesus gets up and stills the storm.

You know in life we have storms, but we serve a God who can still the storms

I mean we have a God who we believe can bring healing

We serve a God who we believe can restore relationships

We serve a God that can provide

And some of us would say well I have a storm in my life and it feels like its not getting stilled…

And there are two things:

First Jesus did not still the waters immardiatly, but He wanted the disciples to have faith in those moments that are scary

But secondly I just have to say this one: its a huge blessing when God stills a storm and moves in a miraculous way.

But one thing I love about this passage is Jesus does not just say Didn’t you know I would get calm the storm?!

But He said don’t you have faith in me?

Didn’t you have faith that regardless of if I moved miraculously or not I would not abandon you?

Because the truth is the more powerful thing is having someone who will walk through the situation with you.

Its kind of like how Finn (our youngest) is at a stage where he will try and climb tables or different objects around the house.

But he will climb and get stuck and sometimes I will just pick Him up and He is good, but other times I help him know I am there and help him climb up or get down.

But either way he is fine because he knows I am there for him.

And really in our relationship with God, there are times we hear of Miricles and we celebrate those times, but there are also times where God says we are going to go through this storm together.

I am not going to leave the boat.

We have a God that will not leave you and abandon ship but will stay in the boat regardless of it the waters rise or lower.

God will not abandon you.

Trust God

And lets look at the next area because its another boat story (not the same as the first one) in Matthew 14:25-32 because in this story the disciples are caught in another storm only this time Jesus is not physically with them.

But as the storm is raging they see a man walking on the water towds them and all the disciples actually think its a gohst.

You can picture them going great! First there is a storm now ghost are in the picture…

but look whats happens is it is actually Jesus because these men are crying out in fear and and look what happens. It says

Matthew 14:25–32 (NIV)

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

So Jesus is walking toward them and He tells them don’t be afraid?

Don’t you remember last time this happened and you guys were caught in a storm?!

And something interesting happens because Peter says Jesus if that is you tell me to come out on the water.

And Jesus tells him to come and you can picture Peter just nervous, because in Biblical days they did not have nice swimming lessons at the YMCA, and the storm is raging so if he did not walk on water he would probably sink.

And so this is really an uncertain step, because the last situation was just an uncertain situation right.

But this is a step where the person is getting ready to take a step where from a human perspective it is scary and doesn’t make sense.

And you can picture this tension in Peters mind where its Scary because Jesus is calling Him to do this, but at the same time his human logic is saying this makes no sense.

I love this story I heard awhile ago of a missionary who was considered a one way missionary

Because he was heading to an island where the people were hostile toward outsiders

In fact every missionary who tried to reach these people were killed.

And you can imagine the nervousness of this man because he knew God was calling him to this, but also recognized that logically there is a good chance he will die.

And here is the beautiful thing, because He went to the Island and his belongings were actually packed in a coffin.

but he lived with the people for 35 years built relationships and changed the entire atmosphere of the island.

In fact eventiually he did end up dying on the island and the people wrote a special inscription on his tomb stone saying:

When he came, there was no light, when he left there was no darkness.

You know when God calls you somewhere it can look scary, in fact you might say it makes not sense, but if the God has called you there, he has a reason.

If God is telling you to take a step of faith out of your job, and somewhere else it can be scary

If God is calling you to move it can be scary

If God is laying a ministry on your heart you might say what if I flop? Im comfortable now

If God is laying a person to talk with and you are thinking what is there response?!

But here is the thing regardless of the situation we have a God who has a reason for calling you

and whats amazing is Peter takes these steps and he is walking on water, but all the sudden it says he saw the wind and really he takes his eyes off Jesus and focuses on the other stuff and we see that He begins to sink.

And we do this right, because we are people where we take that uncertain step and God is faithful, but then that scary challenge comes and all the sudden we think we are done for and we begin to get scared and sink.

I mean God wants us to keep our eyes focused on Him.

Its kind of like if you have ever done a high ropes course.

I did one a few years ago and I was doing a great job with it.

But the issue is if you look down the heights begin to get to you and all the sudden it becomes really hard.

But thats kind of what we do in our walk with God we loose focus on God who is bigger then the waves and we begin to sink,

But here is the beautiful thing Peter looses sight, but it says Jesus immediately catches Him.

Even if you fall Jesus will be their to catch you.

And lets look at one more story because so far we have talked about uncertain moments, uncertain steps and now giving all despite being uncertain

This happens right before where we are in because in this part Jesus is teaching this huge group of 5000 people who they actually believe was larger because back then they only counted men (and not children or women)

But it reaches the end of the day and the people are hungry and so the disciples ask Jesus to send them away to get food, but Jesus says we can feed them.

And so He tells the disciples figure out what we have to feed them

And look what happens because in Matthew 14:17-21 it says:

Matthew 14:17–21 NIV

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. 18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

So whats amazing is in areas of the Bible it tells us they actually ask around and they find a boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish and they he gives all of it to Jesus to feed this massive group

And you can picture this boy thinking okay I am the only person resposable in this group of 5000 people and they want me to give my food to Jesus to give to everyone where it will not even make a dent!

But something that is crazy is that this boy trust Jesus with the food and Jesus multiplies the bread and fish to feed every person where the 5000 plus people leave full and they have leftovers,

But you know I think about this idea of surrender, because sometimes it is hard to give something to God even when we know its the right thing

Because the truth is we like to have control!

I mean think about it, how many people would trust a self driving car to take you around? You would probably feel a little uneasy.

But want to know a crazy statistic, they believe the car is 4 times safer then human drivers.

But we do not want to trust it because we are people that like to have control.

Even if its not the best option.

And the truth is in our walk with God sometimes we know what God desires for our life but we have uncertainty, because we feel like the only certainty we can have is ourselves.

But what would it look like to say God I want to be fully surrendered to your will where I am giving you everything.

Because the truth is we face a lot of uncertaintly in our life and when we face uncertaintly what happens is we begin to add things to the backpack that way it down

We add the health issue

We add trusting ourselves over God

We add moving forward

And all these things weigh us down and maybe we can carry it for a little bit but ultimately it will exhaust us

Where it becomes hard to move, but here is the beautiful thing, we have a God who wants to help cary the load

Because while uncertainty can weigh us down we serve a God who is certain

and this morning whether our area of uncertainty is our situation, taking a next step or maybe we feel a little uncertain about surrendering every part of our life to God.

Because while most of the world can be uncertain, we have a God who is certain and He will be with you in the brightest and darkest Days.

What would it look like to face your uncertainty this morning with acertain God

What would it look like to drop that backpack and and get up.

Because the truth is God will not abandon you and He will catch you even if you fall.

Will you pray with me?