Summary: How do we deal with fear.

When you are scared – There is always Faith Luke 8:22-25

Gladstone Baptist Church – 6/11/05 am – Children’s Service

Hello, Boys and Girls, I’ve got a few things here this morning to show you. First of all, I have a toy boat. This reminds me that we are approaching Summer. A lot of people will be getting into their boats and going out into the creeks and harbor and dam.

Some may go fishing, some may go water skiing, and others may just be out enjoying a ride in the boat. But Summer is not just the time when people go out in their boats a lot. It is also the season for storms too, so when you are out in a boat, you must always be watchful for storms. A storm can come up very suddenly and you may need to get safely to shore.

Storms at sea can be very scary. The wind howls and the waves crash over the boat. If you are in a boat like this, you would get extremely wet and cold. You don’t want to be out in a storm in a little boat that’s for sure. If you haven’t got a very big boat, it is extremely dangerous because you are in danger of being swamped completely and sinking!!!

One day, Jesus and some of his disciples were out on a lake in a boat. Their boat was a bit bigger than this boat – it was probably about 9m long by 2.5m wide. It would have looked very similar to this boat here.

Let me read what happened to them out on the lake. Luke 8:22-25

22 One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they started out. 23As they were sailing, Jesus fell asleep. Suddenly a strong wind blew down on the lake, and the boat began to fill with water, so that they were all in great danger. 24The disciples went to Jesus and woke him up, saying, “Master, Master! We are about to die!”

Jesus got up and gave an order to the wind and the stormy water; they died down, and there was a great calm. 25Then he said to the disciples, “Where is your faith?”

But they were amazed and afraid, and said to one another, “Who is this man? He gives orders to the winds and waves, and they obey him!”

Jesus and the disciples were on their way across the lake when a storm began to brew. I need some help today I want this side of the church to be the crashing waves “Psh Psh Psh.” I want this side of the church to be the wind “Blowing.” I want this middle section to howl of the wind “OOOO.”

Okay so where were we … That’s right, Jesus and the disciples were in the boat in the middle of the lake and the wind started to blow gently. And it got stronger and stronger. The waves were starting form on the lake and splash against the boat. Before very long, the wind had gotten really strong and was howling – and it was as strong as a cyclone. Two cyclones in fact. The waves were huge. Every wave had a big white cap on them and they were breaking over the boat. The boat was filling with water and if they didn’t do something really quickly, the boat was going to end up sinking.

Okay – the storm can be quiet for just a moment while I talk a bit more …

Who is a good swimmer here? Who can swim one lap of a 25m pool? Who can swim 10 laps of the pool without stopping? That’s about 250m. Okay – who can swim 100 laps of the pool without stopping? That’s about 2.5km. Well Jesus and the disciples were sailing 10km across the lake. I don’t know whether many of the disciples would have been good swimmers – Not good enough to swim upto 5km in really rough water. So they were scared – scared stiff.

What sort of things are you scared of?

People are scared of all sorts of things. Some people are scared of heights. Some people are scared of spiders. Some people are scared of the dark. Some people are scared of bullies who pick on them.

I’ve got a dog called Ellie and my dog is even scared of some things. She is scare of lightning and fireworks and do you know what else she is scared of – the rubbish man. When my dog knows that the rubbish man is coming, she runs and hides under a bed and stays there shaking until he is gone. Silly isn’t she.

You know, mums and dads are scared of things too. Did you know that? Some Mums and Dads are scared of bullies also – sometimes those bullies are their boss at work or sometimes they are even their parents. Some Mums and Dads are scared that they will lose their job. Some Mums and Dads are scared that one day they will get really sick and not be able to work or take care of you. Some Mums and Dads are scared that they won’t have enough money saved up when they get old. Some Mums and Dads are just scared of getting old.

We are scared of lots of things in this world. What I want you to do is to draw a picture of something you are scared of in this square here …

Jesus’ disciples were scared. They were facing certain death and drowning probably wasn’t their death of choice. What are you scared of today? It is probably not death – but for some maybe that is the thing in life you are fearing. For some of you, maybe it is having to confront someone at work about something. For some of you, your fear may be facing the rest of your life alone. For some of you it is fear about trying to keep a relationship from unraveling.

I think that many of us are just like the disciples. We are scared of things – many things and when we look around to see where Jesus is. We don’t see him. He has gone AWOL. In the disciples case, Jesus was there, but he was sleeping in the front of the boat. Now I don’t mean to imply that God is sleeping on the Job when we are facing trouble, but sometimes, we feel so alone and we doubt that He is there to provide that help and support that we need. What are you scared of this morning?

Have you finished your drawing yet boys and girls? Let’s see some of them.

Okay so the wind was still blowing and howling and the waves were still crashing around them everywhere … Very good. While the winds and waves tossed the little boat about, do you know where Jesus was? He was sleeping in at one end of the boat. He wasn’t worried at all about the storm.

Some of the disciples became upset that Jesus was sleeping. They went to Jesus and asked him, "Master, we’re going to drown?” Mark’s gospel records them asking “Don’t you care that we are about to die?"

Boys and Girls – Do you think that Jesus cared about his disciples? Yes he did. He was concerned, but unlike the disciples, he wasn’t scared about dying. He knew that God was looking after them all and would protect them all.

Well Jesus stood up and he told the wind and the waves to be still. And they were. Everything went calm and there was hardly a ripple on the water. I’ll show you what happened – I want everyone to make their noises and when I signal stop – I want you to be quiet. Okay – let’s go … Make it loud And everything was quiet.

When Jesus said, "Peace, be still." the winds stopped blowing and the sea became calm. Jesus’ friends were amazed! They said, "Who is this man that even the winds and the waves obey him?"

You know Boys and Girls, sometimes we are scared of things and we don’t think that Jesus can help us or we don’t think that Jesus wants to help us. We think that we have to face all our fears on our own. But that is not true. Jesus is with us all the time, just like he was with the disciples. We can’t see him, but if we are friends with Jesus, he is always with us and he can help us be brave when we face scary things. Jesus doesn’t always take away the scary things from our lives, but he can give us courage and stop us being scared – even in the middle of a storm.

Do you know what Jesus said to the disciples after this event. He said – “Where is your faith?”

Who can tell me what faith is? Faith is believing in something when you don’t understand it.

Let me show you what I mean.

I have a bag full of things I don’t understand.

CD’s: I don’t understand CD’s. When I look at them, I can’t see any songs in there, but when I put one in my CD player, I hear beautiful music. I don’t understand how it works, but I know it works! I don’t go up to my CD player and say – “I don’t know whether this will work, I hope I can hear some music, please let it work.” No I put the CD in the player and expect it to work. I don’t understand it, but I know it will work.

TELEPHONES: I don’t understand how I can pick up a telephone and talk to someone hundreds of miles away from me and they can talk to me. Oh, I know about telephone lines and fiber optics, but I still don’t understand how it works, but I know it does! I don’t pick up my telephone and say “Hello, Hello, is this working today?” No I pick it up expecting it to work. That is faith – I don’t understand it, but I expect it to work. It’s like prayer – I don’t understand how God in heaven can hear me, but he does – I don’t understand it, but I know it works.

REMOTE CONTROLS: I don’t understand how I can sit in my lounge chair and control my TV or VCR all the way across the room. I can change channels, adjust the volume, fast-forward, or reverse. I don’t understand it, but I am in complete control! I don’t sit there thinking. “Last time I pressed this button, it turned on the TV, I wonder what it will do this time? I sure hope it turns on the TV” I know it works, even though I don’t understand it. In a similar way, I don’t understand how God can sit in heaven Heaven and control everything here on earth. I don’t understand it, but I know that God is in control!

RAT TRAP: Faith is knowing something when you don’t understand how. One last example. And I need a volunteer to help me here. I have rat trap here. I want someone to come and set this rat trap off with this pen. This time I want someone to come and set the rat trap off with their finger. And you need to have faith in me – I want to tell you that you will be entirely safe and that you won’t end up breaking your finger. I know you don’t understand how that can possibly be true, but I need someone who is going to have faith that what I say will happen.

Let me ask you a question … How many of you thought that the rat trap would slam shut and hurt ? How many of you believed me that nothing serious would happen. How many of you would have been willing to put your finger in that trap just now…

Jesus was asking his disciples what has happened to your faith. You see most of them knew that Jesus was a pretty awesome guy who could do anything, but when the crunch came, and they were in danger, they were scared. They didn’t really believe that Jesus could help them. They were like those of you who said you trusted me, but you weren’t willing to put your finger in the trap.

But Jesus was looking for people who believed in Him, even when they didn’t understand how He could help them out of a difficult situation.

Boys and Girls Jesus doesn’t want us to be scared about things. Because He is there with us. We don’t need to be scared about storms or about bullies or about spiders, because Jesus promises never to leave us. He is always there looking after us, just as he was with the disciples. We can’t see him and sometimes we don’t understand how he can take care of us, but that is what faith is – remember. Faith is knowing something when we don’t understand it. Jesus wants us to know that he will care for us.

Boys and Girls, I want you to draw some of these items to remind you what Faith is like. Draw the CD, the phone, the remote control and the rat trap.

Mums & Dads, Faith is something that Jesus is looking for in each one of us. Heb 11:1 says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” We can’t see so many things in this world – electricity, TV waves, bacteria, etc. But we are certain of their effects. We walk into a room and switch on a light and don’t even think about whether the light will come on or not. We have faith in the electricity. Unfortunately, when it comes to God, we find faith difficult. We can’t see him and therefore we don’t believe He is there. We can’t feel him and so we don’t believe that He cares for us. We can’t hear him audibly, and so we don’t believe he has a message for us.

Jesus challenged his disciples, “You are scared? You don’t have peace in life? It’s because you don’t have faith in God.”

In our lives we have lots of things which scare us, but God is wanting us to trust that he is the Son of God who has all power – power even to control the wind and the waves. We don’t need to be scared by life’s storms – because our lives are in the hands of the almighty God.

Okay Boys and Girls, our time is up. I want you to go home and show Mum & Dad your drawings. Tell them what you are scared about. But I also want you to tell them that you don’t have to be scared any more, because you know that Jesus is with you. Even though you can’t see him, he is there with you. Do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus will care for you? He will you know so go home and tell your Mum and Dad that.

Pray…

Dear Jesus, we know that you are always with us and that even when we are frightened, you are there and will protect us and give us courage. Help us not to be scared when we are facing bad things in our lives. But help us to have faith that you will always care for us no matter what. Thank you for those times when you do calm the storms in our lives. Thank you for the times you give us peace when we are in the middle of a storm. Thank you for being such a good and loving God.

Amen.