Sunday Review: Thursday Edition
Justin Wise spoke about fear last night at Immersion. Here are the highlights:
Mark 4:35-41 "That day when evening came, he [Jesus] said to his disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.' Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 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?'
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet! Be still!' Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disicples, 'Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?'"
- Reality isn't just what we see. It can go beyond what we see and feel here and now.
- "Did I make a mistake is surrendering blindly to the call of the sacred heart?" -From the journal of Mother Teresa.
- Who of us have not felt like God isn't hearing our prayers?
- Sometimes it seems like God is sleeping on a hammock in Heaven and isn't getting up anytime soon.
- In this passage the storm was real. The water was real. These were not imaginary fears.
- Jesus was sleeping!!! He doesn't seem to care. Ultimately, Jesus knows who he belongs to. Jesus know the power and promise of his Father.
- Do we buy what we sell? We preach joy and peace, but let's see what happens when you're thrown into the fire.
- Over and over and over God tells us not to fear.
- Sometimes the instinct of fear is helpful, it's there for a reason. For this reason, the response of the disciples is legit! They are literally about to die! A lot of us however LIVE in this constant state of fear. It's exhausting.
- Even if you die, Jesus holds your very soul. Death no longer has the final word. It is not the end because Jesus transcends death itself.
- If we're not fearing for our lives, it's something else. We're fearful of what other people think of us. We're fearful God doesn't love us. We're fearful that we're all alone in this world.
- Jesus not only commands the disciples to not be fearful, he rebukes them for being scared for their lives. He says "You guys should know better! Don't you know who I am? Don't you know who you are? You have nothing to fear! I am with you!"
- He speaks to the waves and they stop. The Greek here tells us that the storm was fueled by evil, or that it was somehow demonic. So Jesus tells this demonic storm to sit down and shut up. It listens to him.
- What are you fearful of? What are you constantly doubting? What keeps you up at night? Where do you doubt God? What makes us think that Jesus can't conquer.
- Yes, there's metaphor here. But it's more. Jesus can literally calm storms. He can control events around us if we have faith!!!
- Our problems are not a match for our Creator.
- We all have fears, but the mistake would be to stay there. God wants to open us up to everything he's doing. Let's join him. Let's see his reality.
- "Lord I believe, but help my unbelief." Mark 9:24
- Let's pray seemingly absurd prayers.
This was a really really really great message from Justin. You can tell because this is more notes than I usually take. Watch the whole thing here.
