When You Are Scared – There Is Always Faith

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.