Snapshot Series: "Jesus Calms My Storm"

Snapshot11 Mark 4:35-41

Community Group Questions
1. When you are in a storm situation what is a common way you "freak out"?
2. Have you found it to be beneficial?
3. Are you currently going through a storm? Share that with your group.
4. We learned that Jesus is in control, we have to exercise faith and have a healthy fear of the Lord. Which of these do you struggle with when it comes to the storm you are in?
5. Think about a storm that you went through, how was your perspective changed?

1995 Hurricane Felix sat and turned in the Atlantic and never just on the Jersey shore that storm claimed five lives to drowning’s and the storm never hit here. My bright idea to paddle out, tell the story.

It changed my perspective on what to surf, when to surf and how to judge the conditions and my limitations.

Many times in life a close call, scary situation or a storm puts much into perspective.

I believe in the account of Mark 4:35-41 the disciples had much put into perspective.

Vrs 35-37 Because of the great details Mark recorded an eyewitness report, probably from Peter.

Having details reminds us of times in which we were caught in a storms in life. We remember smells, things that we heard, strange silence as if we are in a movie.

When I say storms I don’t mean a weather event, I am talking about difficult situations that come our way.

There are quick terrible storms that take some time to clean up after, these are tragedies that take us by surprise and we had no idea they were coming. They happen and we deal with carnage

There are storms of long durations of time. These are things that we deal with for a long period of time. Marital problems, health issues, a health issue of a loved one, a disobedient child, being bullied

There are storms that we put ourselves in because of our terrible decisions. Sinful decisions in life can cause severe storms that we need to deal with.

There are so many different types of storms in this life and I can’t possibly begin to tell you the specifics of what to do in each situation. Lets look at how the disciples handled this…
Vrs 38 How they respond in the storm…
• They freak out

Common “freak out” practices
-Cry uncontrollably
-Rage (this is equivalent to a child throwing a temper tantrum)
-Blame (gives the person someone to vent toward) “Jesus don’t you care?”
-Depression or Comatose (never the same again, nothing phases them anymore)
-Self medicate-drugs alcohol (escape)
-Run-Storms of problems that have solutions but we run because they are difficult, such as marital.

• They call out to Jesus

We all need to come to point in which we realize we are in trouble, we are in a storm called sin. In that storm of sin we need to call out. We are all in peril because of sin…GOSPEL

How does Jesus respond?
He gives us perspective changers by what He does and what He says…

Vrs 39 Jesus calms the storm. Regardless of the storm of life we need to understand that Jesus has control of it.
• Jesus is in control
Vrs 40 “Have you still no faith?” Jesus challenges what they have been putting their faith in. When we act in freak out mode, we are acting like a person with no faith. We are acting like a non-Christian, we are acting like a person with no hope.

• Exercise Faith
God our Father has made all things depend on faith so that whoever has faith will have everything, and whoever does not have faith will have nothing. Martin Luther.
This is why it is extremely important that we teach and disciple people, so when the storms come we don’t act like people with no hope. Our hope is in Jesus (may list all the promises that we can claim because our hope is in Jesus) Pro 13:12 “Hope deferred makes a heart sick” If we don’t exercise faith we get sick.

• Have Healthy Fear. Vrs 41 They are afraid when He does something about it. The fear that the disciples had of the storm was much different.

As Matthew Henry states on this point “…now they feared the power and grace of the Redeemer in the calm; and it had pleasure and satisfaction in it”
We should be afraid not to trust that Jesus will take care of us. If you are in a storm, realize that He will see you through it, don’t be afraid of the storm because that will keep you from have a healthy fear of the One who is strong enough to bring you through it.

After the storm is over…isn’t the air so much sweeter? Don’t we appreciate the sun so much more? Isn’t there more of a sense of community among the people? Don’t we learn so much more about Jesus, who He is and what He has done for us?