Harrisonburg First Church of the Nazarene
What has the year 2020 been to you?
“uncertain”
"a year of renewal and grief”
“a glorious burden”
“disorienting….a blur….revealing”
"a year of incredible growth, of stretching change….like I’m at the gym training for a marathon, and now God is saying its one of those ultra-marathons.”
“a year of new experiences and challenges that have both unified and divided our society”
“a challenge”
“unprecedented”
If the events of 2020 has caused you to feel any combination of confusion, worry, fear, frustration, anger, grief, or lament, then you are not alone. The purpose of this series is to help us put into God-framed perspective the difficult year this has been. By understanding such elements as struggle, worry, healing and hope, we will connect our experience with the viewpoint and will of God.
Mark 4:35-41 NIV
-One of the greatest moments of crisis in the life of believers is when they buy into the lie that following Jesus means they are immune to hard things.
-Even though some of these disciples on the boat were experienced fishermen, the storm was so great that they were afraid.
-The question they ask Jesus is a question many of us can relate to in these days: “Don’t you care?”
-Ultimately the disciples had more faith in the power of the storm to destroy them than the power of Jesus to save them
Questions from the Storm:
• Why did they have to endure the storm in the first place?
• Why was Jesus sleeping?
• Why didn’t they trust Him after all they had seen?
• Why were they “terrified” after He calmed the storm?
The most important question of all comes at the very end of the story:
“Who is this?”
Is it possible that the disciples who were following Jesus
The modern day language is really “apprenticing under Jesus”
They went where he went
They listened to him teach
They saw the miracles he performed
But they still didn’t truly understand who Jesus was
“Who is this?”
Many of us do not have faith in God, but rather we have faith that God will come through for us.
In the storm, and in the moment of uncertainty, so much of the false things we lean on are stripped away. And there is nothing left but God.
"We want Christ to hurry and calm the storm. He wants us to find him in the midst of it first."
Beth Moore
What do we do in the storm? Look to Him.
Psalms 121:1-8 NIV
Other Scripture for study/reflection:
Psalms 40:1-3 NIV
Psalms 23:4 NIV
Isaiah 41:10 NIV