June 13, 2021 Why Are You Afraid? Matthew 8:23-27

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bottom of this video to subscribe to our show so that you don't miss out on any new lessons and teachers and adult students of the bible are invited to subscribe to preceptsforliving.com for complete lesson plans videos the word made simple and additional resources and when you subscribe you'll have access to precepts on your tablet phone or laptop so go to preceptsforliving.com and get those resources today and thank you so much for liking us when you get to that point okay each week we make sunday school simple with an easy to understand format the text for students of the word and teaching tips for those of you who teach are you ready let's pray father when storms are raging in our lives thank you that we can call on jesus and not be afraid and it's in his name we pray with gratitude amen today we'll study the next lesson in this first unit of this quarter the lesson is entitled why are you afraid let's examine the text with our lesson aim by the end of the lesson we will consider or evaluate the feeling of the disciples when a storm overtook their boat while jesus was asleep identify the crisis that causes adults to worry about themselves and their families and respond to the promised presence of jesus in bad times as well as in good times we'll study our lesson by discussing what's important to know cognitive feel effective and do psychomotor the first set of verses is matthew chapter 8 verses 23 through 24 and i'm leading reading from the new living translation i need to slow down here then jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples suddenly a fierce storm struck the lake with waves breaking into the boat but jesus was sleeping there are two key points from the verses in this lesson jesus decides to sail across the lake and jesus decides to sleep during the storm jesus is asleep but before we talk about that let's examine the background in context to better understand our lesson in our previous lesson we mentioned that the disciple matthew is the author of this gospel but what we didn't mention was that matthew was also known as levi and in mark chapter 2 verse 14 matthew who was a tax collector held a banquet for his tax collector friends and others whom he felt needed to meet jesus i wonder if his motivations to share jesus with his circle of friends influenced his writing this book well at this point in matthew's gospel jesus had been traveling all around galilee teaching and performing miracles and jesus is considered to be the rabbi who could also be the messiah and huge crowds follow him as a result jesus has made it clear that following him as a disciple will demand their all a great great sacrifice it won't be easy and his sharp rebuke of the religious leaders for their hypocrisy has made jesus an enemy whom the pharisees want to kill and the verse is immediately preceding our lesson today jesus makes it clear that he is homeless and those who follow him will have to depend on god and prioritize his will over worldly comfort the verses in our lesson today begin with jesus leaving the town of capernaum he was there all day and night healing the sick he wanted to leave but the crowd stopped him and wanted to go with him and follow him jesus was desperately needing to rest and he and his close disciples decided to sail across the lake they step into a boat to cross to the other side of the sea of galilee to a region called gadarenes jesus is exhausted from caring for people all day and he decided to sleep he takes a nap during the short journey across the large lake suddenly there's a violent storm its thunderous waves begin to strike the boat rocking it and nearly turning it over storms like these were common on the sea of galilee because of the climate and location the sea was surrounded by mountains on three sides with the jordan river flowing out of it at the southern point and this creates a natural funnel for winds to become storms as they flow down from the mountains well let's read our next set of verses matthew 8 verses 25-27 and again i'm reading in the new living translation the disciples went and woke him up shouting lord save us we're going to drown jesus responded why are you afraid you have so little faith then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves and suddenly there was a great calm the disciples were amazed who is this man they asked even the winds and the waves obey him there are two key points from these verses is peaceful and the disciples are panicked as they begin to sail across the sea jesus takes a nap and drifts into a peaceful slumber he was fully god and fully man and he was just physically tired jesus and his disciples needed to rest and they needed to get away from the crowds well the disciples were experienced fishermen so they were used to sailing through all kinds of storms on the sea of galilee but the fury of this storm must have been beyond what they ever experienced because of the ferociousness of the winds and the huge waves slapping and crashing against the boat they were convinced the boat was going to be destroyed and they would perish along with it they were afraid for their lives and in a state of panic the disciples rushed to wake jesus and plead with him to save them from drowning jesus wakes up and does something completely unexpected first he asked the disciples why are they afraid and he concludes that it's because they have little faith this is incredible why did they lack faith well earlier in this chapter in verse 8 a roman officer asks jesus to heal his servant jesus is willing to heal the servant and he says he'll go to the officer with him to his home but the officer stops him and says he understands authority that's what the officer is saying and he says what he tells his soldiers to do they do so all jesus needs to do is speak the word and his servant will be healed in verse 10 jesus says i tell you the truth i haven't seen face like faith like this in all israel jesus contrasts the faith of this roman officer with the faith of the people of israel primarily the leaders jesus told his disciples to cross over to the other side that was his word but they didn't believe what he said before healing the roman soldier's servant jesus healed a man of leprosy which was a horrifying disfiguring disease and afterward jesus healed peter's mother-in-law and he cast out demons oh my goodness his disciples saw all of this but now they're trapped in a boat in a violent storm and everyone is panicking did they forget his word jesus speaks to the storm and it stops the winds and the waves calm down because jesus commanded them to do so the disciples are absolutely awestruck although there had been prophets in israel's history who had shown incredible power no prophet could control nature yes jesus has authority over leprosy and sickness and demons does he also have authority over nature itself the answer is yes this demonstration is evidence that jesus is god in the flesh as only the lord can jesus spoke to nature and it obeyed his words well that's what's important to know how should we feel in response to today's lesson we should feel empathetic with the disciples who are afraid and we should identify with others our contemporaries who are fearful when they're in a crisis we've all experienced situations that cause us to be afraid following jesus christ doesn't mean we won't ever have fear for our lives it's important to note that the disciples were experienced sailors as we said earlier and this wasn't the first time that they were in the storm jesus was with them in the flesh but they still faced a literal storm not to mention the storms of life that they would face in the future similarly disciples of jesus today were not exempt from going through overwhelming situations but the operative word is going through jesus said we will make it to the other side and we can identify with the feeling that circumstances are out of our control they're beyond our control life can make us afraid and circumstances threaten our well-being but remember circumstances means circum which means surrounding or around so circumstances are things that stand around jesus is with us in the center of the storm whether the storm is financial emotional medical familial mental social physical or spiritual jesus is with us and let's be honest with ourselves and empathetic with the disciples we won't point fingers at others and say i wouldn't have been afraid oh i have such great faith that's a little insensitive we all encounter storms that make us afraid and it doesn't mean we're unfaithful it simply means we need jesus well that's what's important to feel what should we do in response to today's lesson we should call on jesus it doesn't get any more simple than that let's remember god's word and call on jesus the lord will be what we need him to be when we need him let's stop focusing on the storm and call on jesus even though the winds and the waves are present so is the almighty god he's with us let's call on the name that is above every name the name of jesus christ he will save us from destruction from difficulty from defeat and from despair when we call on jesus in prayer we have the assurance that he is able to deliver us from any problem any situation any difficulty and we have the confidence that he will show up even if it's not the way we expect jesus is god and he is able to deliver us from any storm we may face the storms of life they're not going to cease jesus said in this world you will have tribulation but i have overcome the world and so let's call on the one who is the commander of the wind and the waves he will calm the storm that's how scripture for today made simple we considered or evaluated the feelings of the disciples when the storm overtook their little boat i don't know if it was a little boat but it must have felt like that when jesus was asleep we identified the crisis that caused adults to worry about themselves and their families and we decided to respond to the promises of jesus's presence in bad times as well as in good times jesus did not guarantee a life free of storms jesus promised as we said earlier that we'll have troubles and that was john 16 33 but he's overcome the world he's god with us and we call on jesus because he is able to speak to our storms and calm the forces that threaten to destroy us jesus christ is able to save us from any situation we face and bring us safely through life storms to the destination he desires and child of god remember this even the storm of death cannot defeat us because with jesus in our lives as our lord and savior we are never ever separated from god we go from this life into the very presence of god hallelujah well that's our text for today now let's talk about how to effectively teach this lesson and don't forget to begin each lesson with prayer pray that your students will have receptive hearts and minds as they learn from god's word and that you'll have clarity and creativity wisdom and sensitivity as you teach with grace and pray that your students will apply what they learn to their lives and teacher they apply what they learn to their lives as they learn from teachers who model god's word amen amen well hook or open the lesson by asking your students to answer this question where can we find peace when we face the storms of life and also do download the in focus video from preceptsforliving.com and invite students to answer the question at the end which is what has been your greatest fear in life and how have you brought this issue to god how has god helped you through it that's actually three questions what a great discussion be sure to time yourself teacher so that you don't spend so much time on these questions that you don't get to your lesson okay ask children how do you feel when it's lightning and thundering outside and teachers explain it's okay to be afraid little ones with the sound and the noise oh my goodness they want to come and get some comfort from mommy or daddy or grandma or their caregivers and let them know it's okay and tell them that's how the disciples felt ask teens and preteens why is a storm in the atmosphere symbolic of storms we experience in our lives and at this point teacher we are tapping into the abstract thinking that teens are able to do at this age prior to grade five they're concrete thinkers if we ask how's your walk with god they think of a literal walk but once they become teenagers they're able to think in the abstract and when we say how's your walk with god they're able to say hmm my walk with god is like having a relationship with the lord and so this abstract thinking is also why teens love jokes because now they're able to get the point of the jokes so in this question asking them about the some symbolic the symbolic nature of storms on a sea with storms in their lives where connecting or tapping into that ability to do this abstract thinking a good conversation for your teens and pre-teens and when you finish with that discussion transition to book or present the scriptures by inviting volunteers to read the scriptures either in portions at a time or all at once depending on your preference ask what stood out or resonated with you from the scriptures and do of course read the in-depth paragraphs which explain the scriptures there are two great titles here the peaceful savior and the panicked sailors and remember teacher you'd be panicked too well transition then to look or explore the meaning by asking questions because questions help learners learn and that's why there are so many questions so choose a few from in-depth or search the scriptures or discuss the meaning and here's a great question you might ask how is jesus able to sleep even when the storm is raging when that is finished when you finish laughing at that oh my goodness not laughing in a sense of being funny ha ha but laughing in the sense that jesus is at peace and the disciples are panicked oh my goodness what was going on in jesus that he could sleep i think the answer is he knew the end from the beginning he knew what he was going to do so transition into took or next step for application by inviting a volunteer to a liberating lesson which discusses facing storms in life and waiting on god for help and calling on god and then for activation i'm sorry application for activation ask each person to read this paragraph silently and journal his or her reflections as they hear what the holy spirit is saying now for your final exercise teacher why not pair students up one on one and ask them to pray about a situation a storm in their life pray with that person one on one and when that's finished conclude the class in prayer and pray that students will remember that god is with them even through the storms of their life and remind them not to be afraid god bless you as you teach and now let's talk mailbag and welcome to mailbag and once again joining us is minister alan reynolds our millennial theologian we're so grateful that you're with us once again minister alan we have such a lesson today it's so relevant to where we are as kind of humans walking through life i wonder what was jesus wanting the disciples to learn through this experience because earlier in that chapter so much had occurred but jesus still wanted to teach everything he did was revolving around teaching his disciples what do you think the point was of placing them or allowing them to go through this storm so that's a great question and there really are a few different points that i think jesus wanted to teach his disciples and tease out and some of the ones that stick out to me is first he he says that they need to recognize that they had to have greater faith right he says you owe ye little faith and he says that again and again throughout the gospels but again faith is not just a matter of belief in jesus right for the disciples jesus was literally right there with them they were able to witness his miracles they were able to see his ministry they were able to learn from him but they needed to receive him as christ as the son of god as the messiah as a savior and so everything that they went through continued to show that that's who he was and especially in matthew's gospel we know that that emphasis on jesus as the savior as the eternal king as the messiah comes up again and again and so that was one thing that this going through the storm and seeing jesus calm the wind and the waves allowed the disciples to put their faith in jesus who was powerful over nature right who was greater than any of the other prophets they had seen or just an average rabbi or someone who was a great teacher alone but second because jesus says that they're of little faith it strikes me that jesus was teaching them something about being with him and doing his work in his will that jesus had to fulfill his ministry he had already told them some of the things that would happen and they knew that prophecies of the messiah had to come true and so there was no way that knowing that jesus could have been killed in this boat storm there was no way that if the disciples are with jesus that the ministry could have ended right there that day on the sea of galilee with the gospel still to be preached jesus hasn't even gone to jerusalem yet he hasn't been uh betrayed or crucified or resurrected those were some things that they weren't expecting a resurrection right they weren't necessarily expecting a betrayal but they hadn't even seen jesus ministry touch all of israel uh let alone even the region of galilee that they were in and so that being said that the storm shouldn't have scared them if they recognized who jesus was and that because he was in the boat they could not have gone down that they were going to make it to the other side um and one the way that i i've heard that phrase and think about it is if we're walking with jesus um you know metaphorically as you mentioned not for children to think we're literally walking along with jesus but when we're following the lord uh and we're doing his mission and his will we don't have to fear for the mission getting cut short right the the fullness of what god has called us to do will be accomplished um that when we're following jesus we don't have to worry about any distraction or anything that comes from the enemy or that even comes from other people will stop what god's will is from being done um and that doesn't mean that we may not re that we may see everything that we thought we would see in our lives or ministries or or working with or walking with christ but god's will is done it will be performed and we need to recognize that jesus cannot fail us that if we are willing to follow him we will make it to the destination that he said that we must make it to uh and i think those are two of the lessons that really stick out to me about what jesus did in this boat with the disciples you know as you were speaking songs came to my mind blessed assurance jesus is mine and of course the song peace be still because yes we have that assurance that what god wants in our lives he will accomplish it what a wonderful wonderful reminder to our listeners and to us today thank you so much would you read our keep in mind verse for today please absolutely and our keep in mind verse comes from right here in matthew chapter 8 verse 26 in the new living translation it says this jesus responded why are you afraid you have so little faith then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves and suddenly there was a great call and again that's matthew chapter 8 verses 26 verse 26 in the new living translation child of god don't be afraid don't be afraid [Music] peace be still have a great week you

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Published: Sun Jun 06 2021