Fearful Uncertain Crisis Or
Powerful Unexpected Opportunity?
OKAY - God did it again.
He woke me up at 5 am on Thursday morning and once again He impressed upon me that it is still not the right time to launch our verse by verse study of the Gospel of Mark.
SO TODAY – March 22, 2020 we will be unpacking a conversation I am calling,
Fearful Uncertain Crisis
Or Powerful Unexpected Opportunity?
Prayer
On May 10th 1940, the Germans…
AFTER - conquering…
Czechoslovakia – Austria – Poland – Denmark – Norway – Belgium – The Neverlands and Luxembourg…
BEGAN - their invasion of France. Thirty Five days later on June 14th Paris fell.
AND - in a manner of days France would surrender 0n June 25th 1940 and England would stand as Europe’s only bulwark, against the twin evils of fascism and Nazism.
AND LISTEN – it was at this critical moment that Winston Churchill gave his third and final speech during the battle of France, ONCE AGAIN - imparting words intended to bring hope to the people of his nation, in this hour of great darkness.
SO ON - June 18, 1940, Winston Churchill stood before the House of Commons and gave a speech, that would later be broadcast to the entire nation. Here is an exert from that speech.
“…However matters may go in France or with the French Government or with another French Government, we in this island and in the British Empire will never lose our sense of comradeship with the French people.
If we are now called upon to endure what they have been suffering, we shall emulate their courage, and if final victory rewards our toils they shall share the gains, aye. And freedom shall be restored to all.
We abate nothing of our just demands—Czechs, Poles, Norwegians, Dutch, Belgians, all who have joined their causes to our own shall be restored.
What General Weygand has called the Battle of France is over... THE BATTLE - of Britain is about to begin.
UPON THIS BATTLE - depends the survival of Christian civilization.
UPON IT - depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire.
The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."
AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS – history records that it indeed it was their finest hour!
WHICH IS WHY - we are talking about it today 80 years later.
HOWEVER – that victory did not come without a cost as 450,000 British citizens died… 1% of the population.
That would be like 3.3 million Americans dying today.
Fearful Uncertain Crisis
Or Powerful Unexpected Opportunity?
Winston Churchill chose the latter.
AND LISTEN – 50 years ago, we see those same words of Churchill echoed again, during another crisis, when
During the flight of the Apollo 13 a mechanical function caused the commander, Jim Lovell, to radio back to earth, “Houston, we have a problem.”
AND LISTEN - while landing on the moon now was not an option, the task before the team on earth and in the injured spacecraft was to get the three astronauts (205,000 away) back home alive.
AND AS - the men in mission control were weighing the odds, two men we talking in hushed tones, indicating that the odds were slim that the three astronauts onboard Apollo 13 would return home. AND - one of those men a flight director, said, “This could be the worst disaster NASA has ever faced.”
The mission commander, Gene Kranz, overheard the men talking.
With a stern resolute face he replied, “with all due respect, sir, I believe this is going to be our finest hour”
AND INDEED – it was…
I MEAN - there was even a movie about in 1995 (25 years ago, who feels old)… that was nominated for 9 Academy Awards.
NOW – it did not win the award for best picture award that year my all time favorite movie… Braveheart won
UNDERSTAND – though some in mission control chose fear and uncertain, Gene Franz chose to embrace the opportunity and it became their finest hour.
Fearful Uncertain Crisis
Or Powerful Unexpected Opportunity?
MAPLE GROVE – that is where we are in our nation and world right now, and that is the conversation that I want to us to unpack together this day… 3/22/2020.
The first day of day of not just our church, but nearly every church across our nation doing church differently than we ever have before.
UNDERSTAND BROTHERS AND SISTERS –
AND AS WE - stand together in this temporary new norm and new world… the question is… and it is by far not an insignificant one is this…
WILL WE – both as a church, and as individual Jesus followers
CHOOSE – to live out our lives in a fear and uncertainty.
OR… WILL WE…
CHOOSE – to live out our lives by embracing the unprecedented
Powerful opportunity that lies before and in so doing make it our finest hour.
I. Don’t Miss This Opportunity
NOW – during the days before modern harbors, a ship had to wait for the flood tide to make it into port.
SO – the captain and crew had to intently wait for ‘the’ very moment when the tide was exactly right so it would carry their ship safely into harbor.
YOU SEE – they knew that if they missed it, they would have to wait for another tide to come in.
NOW - The term for this in Latin was called ob portu (into port)
AND - the English word "opportunity" is derived from that term, ob portu.
UNDERSTAND - there are times when God gives us an opportunity, times when He sends a flood tide designed to take us into a harbor that is always for our ultimate good and His Glory.
AND BROTHERS AND SISTERS – this in one of those times.
OKAY – here’s the deal
WHAT - I am trying to say is that…
THIS - current situation (the coronavirus) has created a unique and unprecedented flood tide that God wants to use to help us sail out of the waters of (fear and uncertainty) and into the harbor of opportunity.
AND – brothers and sisters I would like to share just three opportunities this morning that we do not want to miss during such a time as this.
OKAY – here is how I want to attack today’s conversation, by unpacking three statements…
• Don’t miss the opportunity
• Don’t Forget the great cloud of witnesses
• Don’t overcomplicate your response
A) Don’t Miss The Opportunity To Grow In Your Personal Faith
UNDERSTAND – that is one of the most important and most powerful opportunities that is tucked within every trial, crisis, hardship or difficulty that you will ever face in life
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
- James 1:2-4
Consider = making a choose… between fear and uncertainty or powerful unexpected opportunity…
AND – according to James, what do we know?
That there is an ultimate purpose and opportunity lying within any and every trial…
YOU KNOW - I still remember sitting in a MacDonald’s in Decatur Ga, just outside of Atlanta (yeah, we used to get to do that, sit in a restaurant, crazy right?)…
NOW - it was around 6 am (I wanted to beat the ATL traffic)
AND - I was waiting to visit a guy from my church who was in the VA Hospital about to undergo a surgical procedure.
NOW – I cannot remember exactly what crisis was going in my life at that moment, it was over 18 years ago (plus or minus)
HOWEVER – I do remember the 13 words that said to me, as if it were yesterday…
You don’t just have to go through it, you can grow through it.
OKAY – but how do we ensure that this is what happens…
THAT - we just don’t go through hard and difficult times, but that we grow through them…?
Glad you ask.
Let me suggest 4 ways…
AND LISTEN – my guess is that you have probably heard about each of them before…
IN FACT – they may seem too simple, just common knowledge…
BUT UNDERSTAND – just because something is simple and common knowledge, does not mean that it is not true or does not work.
FOR EXAMPLE – it is common knowledge and it may seem simplistic that to be healthy you should… #1 have a healthy and nutritious diet and #2 exercise.
Simple right?
But does it help? Does it work?
Not sure, I need to try it sometime…
OKAY – so here are four things that YOU MUST do in order to seize the opportunity to grow in your faith during this present Coronavirus crisis or in the other trials that you will inevitably face down the road.
Read God’s Word
Because it is living and active and is words of life from the author of life
So many way to do that now
Youversion
FCFH is our Bible reading program at Maple Grove.
Connect With God in prayer
A adoration
C confession
T thanksgiving
S supplication (kind of churchy word… pray for others and for yourself)
Don’t walk through this crisis alone
UNDERSTAND - even in this time of ‘social distancing’
(Not sure how I feel about those 2 words) THERE - are ways to connect. BOTTOM LINE - we all need other people…
for encouragement, for perspective and for support.
Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4…
Says that 2 are better than 1…
How tragic for someone to fall down and have no one to pick them up.
Were are using Zoom for our life groups
And adding more now
Marco Polo APP is awesome
• Read God’s Word
• Connect with God through prayer
• Don’t walk through this crisis alone, and
Trust in God during these current times
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, - 2 Corinthians 1:8-10
QUESTION – can you think of one example in Scripture where someone trusted in God during a difficult time of crisis and came out worst for it on the other side?
I can’t either, because there are none.
AND LISTEN – I cannot think of a time in my own life where I really trusted in God during a dark time and came out the worse for it.
AND UNDERSTAND – trusting in God during a time of crisis does not mean that everything works out perfectly just the way we want.
FOR EXAMPLE - I trusted in God when Judy was battling cancer, it did not turn out the way I wanted… physical healing
HOWEVER – when I came out of the other side of the dark time, I was more mature and complete.
And God was more real to me.
MGCC
Don’t Miss The Opportunity
To Grow In Your Personal Faith
AND…
Don’t Miss The Opportunity
B) To show the world the beauty of our Christ and His Church
NOW – I do not think that it is a secret that in recent years the opinion, the way people in the world see and feel about the church has not been all that good.
Many, many people have a negative opinion about the church…
AND IN TURN - they do not see the church
• as the hope of the world, or
• as place where grace, love, mercy, compassion, belonging, caring and compassion abound, or
• as the place to go
To have the deep questions of life answered, or
The pain of life comforted.
AND – let’s be honest ‘the church’ (and that would be me, and that would be you) have played a major part in creating this negative view of His Bride that now resides in our world.
QUESTION – have you ever met anyone or know someone who has a low negative opinion of the church?
BUT UNDERSTAND – throughout history the church has always been at her best when the world was at its darkest.
IN FACT – often times it was her finest hour.
FOR EXAMPLE…
Early Christianity spread in the face of persecution in a world much more hostile to Jesus' message than our world is today - for many reasons, but in two cases it spread in the midst of deadly plagues — because Christians risked their lives to save others.
Two historic plagues ravaged the Roman Empire: the Antonine Plague (165-180 A.D.) and the Cyprian Plague (249-262 A.D.). The plagues killed roughly a third of the population, striking down 3 emperors (Marcus Aurelius, Hostilian, and Claudius II ).
Sociologist Rodney Stark noted in his book
The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion,
Christians responded to the plagues differently than their pagan neighbors.
"During the first plague, the famous classical physician Galen fled Rome for his country estate where he stayed until the danger subsided. But for those who could not flee, the typical response was to try to avoid any contact with the afflicted, since it was understood that the disease was contagious. Hence, when their first symptom appeared, victims often were thrown into the streets, where the dead and dying lay in piles," Stark wrote.
Bishop Dionysius recounted the events in Alexandria, Egypt, during the Cyprian Plague:
"At the first onset of the disease, they [pagans] pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease."
Yet Christians sought to help the sick, even risking their own lives.
"Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy; for they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains,"
AND LISTEN - this Christian compassion did not just save lives — it also spread the gospel.
UNDERSTAND - Historians have long struggled to understand how a small group of Christians after Jesus's ascension — Acts puts the numbers at 120 and 5,000 — eventually outnumbered all other faiths in the Roman Empire (with an estimated population of 60 million).
Using estimates from historical sources, Stark found that growth from 1,000 Christians in 40 A.D. to 33 million Christians in 350 A.D. required a growth rate of 40 percent per decade.
While this growth seemed miraculous to Christians at the time and to historians afterward, it can also be explained through the expressions of Christian compassion during those times of crisis.
When early Christians risked their lives to save pagans during the plagues, they lived out the teachings of Jesus Christ, providing solid evidence that Jesus was the real and that they were HIS disciples.
Their sacrifice was a witness to those around them, and it helped spread the gospel.
MGCC – we as Jesus followers today need to embrace that same spirit of compassion during such a time as this.
Today our church Bible reading was Luke 10… The Good Samaritan
We cannot allow ourselves to walk by on the other side at such a time as this.
One of my goals this week is to do a ZOOM Meeting with our compassion team and develop a strategy to help our community and to connect you to those needs.
MGCC
Don’t Miss The Opportunity
To Grow In Your Personal Faith
To show the world the beauty of our Christ and His church
AND…
Don’t Miss The Opportunity
C) To deepen your relationships
Tens years ago today I had just entered what was to be a six month period of being unemployed.
I was in between churches.
I really don’t have time to go into details (and besides those details are not important)
It took a few weeks to get over myself…
And then I realized that I had a great opportunity to be stay at home dad with Mei-Leigh and JinTao.
Something I have never before or since been able to do…
And we had a blast (they were 4 and 6 at the time)
We went to pool
We went the beach
And this pale skin guy has the best tan of my life.
I mean my wife even envied it
MAPLE GROVE – now is a great time to deepen your relationships.
Especially those closest to us.
SO – what will you do this week?
Fearful Uncertain Crisis
Or Powerful Unexpected Opportunity?
Don’t Miss The Opportunity, and
II. Don’t Forget The Great Cloud Of Witnesses
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, - Hebrews 12:1
UNDERSTAND – throughout the pages of Scripture there are countless examples of men and women who chose to view dark and difficult times…
NOT AS - a fearful uncertain crisis that paralyzed them
BUT AS – a powerful unexpected opportunity that seized them
AND REMEMBER – as Paul wrote to us in Romans 15:4
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
– Romans 15:4
MGCC – we really surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who lived out their faith in the darkest of times.
Here are a few that quickly come to my mind.
Moses and The Red Sea
God’s people have just been delivered from a 400+ year bondage in Egypt…
The Pharaoh, his army and 600 of his best chariots are in fast pursuit.
And they catch up to God’s people who are now trapped between the Red Sea and a vast army that is about to destroy.
The people are terrified.
They shout protests and accusations at Moses, telling him it would have better to stay slaves in Egypt then die in the desert.
Moses however was not paralyzed by the fearful uncertain crisis but instead he was seized by the powerful opportunity before and said to the people…
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” – Exodus 14:13,14
AND – we all know the rest of the story…
David and Goliath
AND IN – 1 Samuel chapter 17…
God’s army led by king Saul have been living in fear for 40 days, hiding in the hills about the Valley of Elah.
YOU SEE – for 40 days every morning a ten foot giant named Goliath would stand in the valley and taunt them…
And every time Saul’s army ran away in fear…
David however was not paralyzed by the fearful uncertain crisis but instead he was seized by the powerful opportunity before him and went down into the valley…
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. – 1 Samuel 17:45-46
AND – we all know the rest of the story…
LIKE – I said there are countless examples in Scripture where God’s people choose not live in fear and uncertainty
BUT INSTEAD – choose to embrace to powerful opportunity that lay before them in the darkest of times…
UNDERSTAND MGCC – I do not have the time to talk with you this morning about the times that…
• Abraham
• Joseph
• Joshua
• Ruth
• Gideon
• Esther and Mordecai
• Elijah and Elisha
• Paul and Silas
AND SO – may others who refused to be paralyzed by the fearful uncertain crisis that surrounded them, but instead choose to be seized by the powerful unexpected opportunity that lay tuck inside their dark time, and turn it became their finest hour.
HOWEVER – I do want to mention just one more before we unpack our final point this morning.
It’s found at the beginning of Acts chapter 8…
It is the first time that in an instant that everything for the church changed.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria…
Imagine what that was like for them.
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. – Acts 8:1,4
Fearful Uncertain Crisis
Or Powerful Unexpected Opportunity?
Don’t Miss The Opportunity
Don’t forget the great cloud of witnesses (others have stood where we are now), and
III. Don’t Over Complicate Your Response
A – Attitude is everything
Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. – Romans 12:2
MGCC – at a time like this it is so critical for us to have a positive attitude and not copy the negative, fearful, hopeless attitude like so much of our world (especially the news media) has chosen to embrace at this time.
AND UNDERSTAND - maintaining a positive attitude does not mean that you have to bury your head in the sand, deny the facts or not implement the necessary precautions.
It just means that you choose not to let fear, hoplessness and negativity control and dominate our minds.
The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company… a church… a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with us … we are in charge of our attitude.” – Charles
AND LISTEN – the battle for your attitude begins in your mind…
How you think determines how you feel
How you feel determines how you act
Use this filter to help control your thoughts and thereby control your attitude.
Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things. – Philippians 4:7,8
B – Be flexible and fluid
UNDERSTAND – things are changing in a rapid way right now.
I MEAN – just a few weeks ago…
• Churches were gathering in the buildings on Sundays
• You could go to sporting events and Disney world
• You could go out to eat in restaurants
• People went to the movies
• People shook hands and gave hugs, slapped high fives
Flexibility – is the ability change directions easily, and compromise when appropriate – and it is a wonderful quality.
Think what would happen if an airplane pilot refused to be flexible and change altitude or direction when advised of a dangerous weather system.
Or think about what could happen if car drivers refused to let other people merge into their lanes.
It makes much more sense to be flexible -- to "bend" rather than "break." All we need to do is look at which trees survive storms -- the ones that bend.
And yet, sometimes we feel so compelled to hold onto our own way of thinking or acting; we are so convinced that our way is the right way; and we refuse to compromise at all.
In such moments, we find ourselves at the point of breaking.
But remember..
“Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken”?
(no, this is not in the Bible, so don’t look it up) It’s a good one isn’t it? But why is it that it takes so long to learn this?
Check out of the be flexible go with the flow verses of the bible
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. - Philippians 4:11-13
The Bible says to be willing to be flexible to be open to reason. Paul and Silas modeled that. They were on a mission trip and were working their plan of travel. But suddenly things didn’t go their way. They kept hitting dead ends. First they wanted to go into Asia and they met a closed door. Then they tried to go into Bithynia and hit a dead end. Finally they parked it in Troas and just waited on the Lord. That night Paul received a vision to go into Macedonia and that they did right away. There was no fussing for Paul. He didn’t freak out and have a fit at each obstacle. He figured that a closed door was just not the right door and must be an arrow pointing to another door soon to open. He was flexible. And when he got to Macedonia, revival broke out in Philippi and on through the rest of his missionary journey. Flexibility paid off! (Acts 16)
C – Center your thoughts and your eyes on Jesus Always
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. - Hebrews 12:2,3
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:5
Now we keep our eyes on Jesus
By reading the word
Praying
Hanging out with people who are hanging out with Jesus
And worshipping.
HEY – here is a suggestion… during this time increase your listening to worship and praise songs.
And see what happens
D – Determine who you will be when you get to the other side
LIKE – when this Coronavirus crisis comes to end, and it will come to end… in a few weeks, or a few months…
Determine now who you will be when you get to the other.
Seriously who do you want to be when this is all said and done, in regards to…
• Your faith
• Your relationships
• Your church
• Your community
Then take whatever actions you need to take today and this week in order to make those outcome your reality
Don’t miss the opportunity
Don’t forget the great cloud of witnesses
Don’t over complicate your response
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” – John 16:33
Let’s pray… as we prepare for communion.
