Growing up in northern West Virginia you don’t really give much thought to furious storms let alone tornadoes. When you think of tornadoes you often think about places such as Kansas. About thirteen years ago a series of storms that contained tornadoes swept through the area of West Virginia where we were living. Downing power lines and putting a tree limb through our living room window. There was very little warning and caught an area off guard because people were not accustomed to storms of this type. After the storms had passed I stepped outside to see debris, downed trees and power lines. However, from that point on people viewed tornado watches and other warnings quite differently. No longer would we say well they never happen around here. We would always be prepared so we would not be caught off guard again. Now if a tornado warning is given people react quite differently having experienced the power and destruction first hand. Jesus’ disciples in our passage encounter what Mark terms as a furious squall on the Sea of Galilee. Even today, terrible storms can still rollover the mountains onto that massive lake, catching even the most experienced boaters totally by surprise. This storm had the disciples so worried that they were sure that drowning was imminent. Having exhausted all human effort they begin to press the panic button. They hurry down stairs to awaken Jesus who had been sleeping through all the excitement. Listen to how Eugene Peterson describes this event in his work the Message: “A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher is it nothing to you that we’re going down?” Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?” Today let’s discover a way to keep ourselves from pressing the panic button and allowing our lives to be ceased by worry.
I. A view of the disciples and their encounter with panic.
A. The setting for our story.
1. Jesus, tired from a long day’s teaching, was in the stern of the boat, asleep on a "cushion".
2. In Jesus’ day these boats, which more than likely always have been the same, the place for any distinguished stranger is on the little seat placed at the stern, where a carpet or cushions are arranged.
3. The storm that arose must have been a major storm to strike fear into even experienced Galilean fishermen.
4. Being below sea level the lake is subject to the winds coming down the mountains causing sudden and unexpected storms.
B. The disciples’ battle and Jesus’ answer for their worry.
1. The disciples had not foolishly set out in this storm.
2. Generally, storms were not encountered at night so they did not see this one coming.
3. The Lord arose and rebuked the wind and the waves. The calm was immediate and complete
4. Most readers probably find the disciples’ fear understandable. Jesus did not. If they had had faith, they would not have been afraid.
5. If they knew who it was that accompanied them in the boat, they would not have feared death in the waves.
II. Worry is a very serious problem and can be very debilitating.
A. Everyone worries at one time or another, but some are more inclined to worry than others.
1. Anxiety Disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S. with 19.1 million (13.3%) of the adult U.S. population (ages 18-54) affected.
2. More than $22.84 billion of those costs are associated with the repeated use of healthcare services, as those with anxiety disorders seek relief for symptoms that mimic physical illnesses.
3. Women are twice more likely to be afflicted than men.
4. Worry also has tendency to increase with age as many young people think it can’t happen to them and older people realize how life can take some very nasty turns.
5. Anxiety has become so common that people consider it a natural part of life.
6. God does not want us to worry.
B. Worry takes a toll on our health.
1. Doctors have tried to tell us for years that worry is extremely rough on our health.
2. Since our body is the temple of God we should want to overcome anxiety to protect His temple.
3. Almost 50% of those who suffer from anxiety disorder have been forced to seek medical attention in the past six months.
4. Only one forth of those seeking medical assistance for their worry related illnesses will get help for the source of their problem.
C. Worry minimizes our effectiveness.
1. When we worry we focus so much on the negative that we destroy our peace and reduce our effectiveness.
2. Montaigne the philosopher once said, “”My life has been filled with terrible misfortune, most of which has never happened.”
3. Research has proven that to be true of most of us.
4. We spend a great deal of time worrying about things that probably will never happen.
D. Worry is a sin against God.
1. The most important reason to conquer our habit of worry is because worry is a sin.
2. When we allow ourselves to be ceased by worry we violate a command from God.
3. Worry is a sin because when we worry we fail to truly put our faith in God.
4. One writer said that worry is the mark of spiritual insecurity.
5. Another put it this way, “Worry is assuming responsibility that God never intended for us to have.”
6. To worry is to take on God’s role by trying to control what is beyond our ability to control.
III. Despite our constant struggle with anxiety God desires for us to take to heart His promises for us during times of worry.
A. The first promise we need to always remember whether we are worried or feeling lonely, God is always with us.
1. We have more than Him just watching over us.
2. We have dwelling in us His Spirit which is our companion, comforter and counselor.
3. We never need to worry about facing the world alone or even doing something stupid because God has given us His Spirit to guide and direct us.
B. Do not worry about what might happen tomorrow or some where way out there in the future take His provisions one day at a time.
1. Jesus expects us to make preparations for the future but not to worry about what has not happened yet.
2. Only God knows the future and more than likely He has not told you too much about it.
3. God teaches us to just say know to worship.
4. Satan would like nothing more than us to think that we can control our future if we worry enough about it.
5. The challenge is for us to let go and trust God.
C. Fives questions to ask yourself to take your focus off worry and to put it on God.
1. Have I prayed about this?
2. Do I believe what I say I believe?
3. Can I survive the worst possible scenario with God’s help?
4. One hundred years from now what will it matter?
5. Am I making the most of today?
D. When we let God provide He provides us with a peace that passes all understanding.
1. We need to begin by deciding that we are not going to allow ourselves to worry.
2. Don’t try to handle your troubles on your own, we need to stop and truly give them to God.
3. We need to pray with gratitude. Nothing changes our attitudes like gratitude.
4. You ever wonder what this world would be like without Jesus Christ?
5. Larry Burkett reflected on this after having his shoulder blade removed after a bout with cancer.
6. He wrote, “If you are not a Christian is all the Heaven you will ever experience. If you are a Christian this world is all the Hell you will ever experience.
IV. Some timely reminders for all of us worry warts.
A. Problems can occur in every area of life and you can be assured that there will be more storms than calm.
1. The disciples were looking for just a little bit of rest and instead the encountered a terrible storm.
2. The Christian life may have more stormy weather than calm seas and may present life threatening challenges.
3. Being a Christian is not just smooth sailing and triumphant living.
4. As Christ’s followers we must learn to prepare our lives for the storms that will surely come.
5. We must not surrender to the stress, but remain resilient, solve our problems and recover from set backs. With faith in Christ we can pray, trust and move ahead.
B. Faith can help us deal with panic attacks effectively.
1. The disciples panicked because the storm threatened to destroy them all, and Jesus seemed unaware and unconcerned.
2. The disciples lived with Jesus and still they underestimated Him. They failed to see that His power applied to their situation.
3. Jesus has been with His people for more than twenty centuries now and we still underestimate His ability to handle the crises in our lives.
4. Whatever your difficulty you have two options: You can worry and assume that Jesus no longer cares or you can resist fear and put your trust in Him.
There was a young man who courted a farmer’s daughter, and one evening when he came to the house she was sent to the cellar for beer. Seeing an axe stuck in a beam above her head, she thought to herself, “Suppose I were married and had a son, and he were to grow up, and be sent to this cellar for beer, and this axe were to fall and kill him—oh, dear! oh dear!” and there she sat crying and crying, while the beer flowed all over the cellar floor, until her old father and mother came in succession and blubbered along with her about the hypothetical death of her imaginary grown-up son.
The young man goes off in quest of three bigger fools, and sees a woman hoisting a cow on to the roof of her cottage to eat the grass that grew among the thatch, and to keep the animal from falling off, she ties a rope round its neck, then goes into the kitchen, secures at her waist the rope, which she had dropped down the chimney, and presently the cow stumbles over the roof, and the woman is pulled up the flue till she sticks in halfway. In an inn he sees a man attempting to jump into his trousers—a favorite incident in this class of stories; and farther along he meets with a party raking the moon out of a pond.
