Title [Lord, the storm rises]
Content [Lord, the storm rises] Luke 8:22-25 2007.06.03. Sunday worship service
1) Tragedy is a play with the themes of tears and misery. These are topics that people are unlikely to like. However, according to the theater officials, there are many other people who see this tragedy. Once upon a time, when we were young, there was a movie called “Sorrow in the Sky”. When I was in elementary school, I watched a movie with my eldest sister, and while watching the movie, my eldest sister shed tears. It is the story of a difficult child's hardship, but it moved many people. Why do people look for tragic plays and weep with empathy for difficult and painful events? It is because our lives are identified with ourselves in a very difficult and painful way, like the theme of the play and film. This universal mind of people is called the tragic nature.
2) Today's Bible is the incident where Jesus calmed the Sea of Galilee. As Jesus and his disciples were going on the Sea of Galilee together in a boat, a great storm suddenly blew in and threatened the boat and almost wrecked it. At that moment, Jesus, who had been sleeping at the sound of the disciples' earnest supplication, got up and rebuked the sea and the wind and calmed them.
3) The sudden storm and the appearance of the Lord calming it reminds us of God's help and His grace as we go through life like a rough sea.
1. Life is like a person who met a storm on the Sea of Galilee.
1) Today's Bible says that our life is a dangerous road, like drifting on the Sea of Galilee in a storm. This reality is frightening and frightening. It's not scary just because we close our eyes and cut our noses, it's scary because we don't know what's going to happen right before our eyes. In today's Bible, the wind that threatened these disciples' boats is called "At last, a fierce wind blew over the lake." The word 'end' here means closer to the word "suddenly". The phrase “in an instant and unexpectedly” is the storm we encounter in this world. Unlike now, in the past, winds and floods were not known in advance. In such a case, such a catastrophe is always “sudden”. So I was scared. Disasters in our lives come like that. If we knew even a little of the signs of disaster, we would be well prepared, but for those who do not, disaster always comes suddenly.
2) If we do not prepare for such disasters in life, the loss will be great and we will not be able to get out of the impact.
David calls such adversity “wonderful cisterns and pits” in the Bible. Aren't these amazing puddles and bogs everywhere we go? What happened to David? One day his son, the prince. Prince Absalom won the hearts of the people, and he assembled an army and rebelled to drive out his father, the king. Then he actually heads to the palace to find his father, King David. The treason of his son happened in an instant. So David hurriedly, not even dressed properly, took only a few of his close associates to escape, crossing the Kidron Creek and fleeing into the wilderness. He prays to God that David, running away from his son, crosses the brook and falls into “a marvelous puddle and bog.” Psalm 40:2. David runs away in a hurry. An urgent situation that cannot be predicted, unexpected hardships and adversity, this is our life.
3) Isn't it scary to look at such a life in Isaiah 42, which is a turbid river that flows loudly from a “deep river,” not just like the Bamsagol Valley, which has risen after the rainy season, but the ocher river that flows with a sound? Moreover, if you have to cross it naked.
That's life. Standing in front of the river, how should I cross that river? It is a frightening and frightening reality. The hymn of the Israelites in front of the Jordan River is as follows. When I stand in front of the deep waters of the Jordan River, let me not be afraid, and let me cross safely by relying on the hand of the Lord. Folks, this is the essence of our life. Not knowing what's ahead of the day, and not knowing the tragic news that is coming right in front of you, he looks like he's a little bit shy and confident.
2. Disciples screaming for help, this is life.
1) Meeting a storm at sea is a scary thing. Because there is nowhere to escape. The butler Jeong of Beolgyo I know has been on a boat all his life since he was 16 years old. At first, I caught a fish on a jjok boat on the shore in front of the village, but when I grew up, there were no ships that I had hit with cargo ships, merchant ships, and deep-sea fishing boats, and there are no places I haven't been to. He still occasionally drives a barge, which is a sand carrier, and a veteran with a tooth on the ship says that whenever he goes out on a boat, he is afraid of the boat and the sea until the moment he gets on the boat. This is because the sea is always shaken, and there is no escape from another accident. That's right. People have nowhere to escape when they suddenly encounter something scary. We can't deal with this huge flood of work because we don't have the power to do it with our own hands. Almost desperate and discouraged.
2) The disciples, who met the storm, tried to save the boat by rowing, but they couldn't do it in their own strength. Despair. My hands are loose, my pulse is loose, and my head is dizzy. Because the boat is getting leaner. Look at the seriousness of this situation. Who will solve this situation? Isn't that what we are? Then the disciples cried out to the Lord. “Lord, don’t sleep, but get up and help us.”
3) The original faith is to gain the strength of the Lord after acknowledging that we cannot do it in our own strength and confessing our shortcomings. If we could do all of our work, none of us would have faith. And it is clear that we do not have such power.
Let's repeat the story of Deaconess Beolgyo Jeong. So, he is always scared and afraid before he gets on a boat, but when he gets on the boat, all he sees is water and sky. and called on the Lord in faith and boarded the boat. He was a very trustworthy man. Have you ever encountered some incredible puddles and bogs? Have you met a mad wind storm? Let's wake up Jesus, who sleeps for help like the disciples. Let's plead with him. Lord, do you not look back on our death? It is fortunate to quickly realize that we cannot calm the mad wind in our own strength, and it is blissful to rely on God to calm it.
3. The Lord's Helping Grace
1) We get the Lord's help. As long as we wake up the sleeping Lord, the Lord responds to us. How did the Lord's help come to the pleading disciples? First, the Lord rises to hear the pleas of the disciples. Jesus was definitely in the boat that met the storm. The problem is that the Lord slept. In fact, the ship the Lord was on could not do anything with the storm. The disciples did not know such a Lord. So that's what I was afraid of. Hearing their prayers, the Lord arose. To know that the Lord hears our prayers is a great comfort for us who have suddenly encountered a storm. It is because the light of salvation shines when you rely on the Lord to tell and listen to the Lord when you are not sure what to do or lose your mind in a sudden storm, and when you are struggling and are about to die. Therefore, you saints of the Lord who have encountered difficult problems, cry out to the Lord. The Lord hears.
2) Second, the Lord's help comes from his compassion for us. God is always kind to His people. He loves his people, but he loves them to the end. The Lord was sleeping, and the disciples woke up and found that the disciples were rowing in a storm, suffering porridge, and it was sad to see them. God always knows and prepares all the answers to all of these things, but He sees His disciples who do not know them, lose peace and rest, row with pain, and suffer to death, and have compassion on them.
The Lord said, “O you of little faith, why are you afraid?” And our Lord is pity for us and has compassion on us as we suffer in this sudden storm. Have we met sudden tribulation in our lives like a mad wind? Let's wake up the Lord. And let us seek the mercy and mercy of the merciful Lord. There is no other way than that.
3) Third, the Lord reaches out his hand to save us. The Lord who rises up and rebukes the wind and the sea, He is the Lord who has the power to make the wind and the sea obey him. And with that power, he opened the way for the disciples. The Lord's salvation was a merciful hand. He opens the way to people who do not know what to do when they encounter a sudden problem. with that kind hand. The blind wants him to see. When he does, he puts mud on his eyes with his hands, and then go to Siloam and wash. You did. The deaf want to hear. When you do, put his finger in his ear and let everything deaf and slurred come loose and open. Eva said. The Lord took the lame man with his loving hand and told him to get up.
Conclusion.
1) These are the lyrics of hymn 371. “Savior, a storm has blown, and great waves have arisen, and the whole sky is covered in darkness, and there is no escape. Do you not look back on our death? Savior, my trembling heart is like that storm, and I live in anxiety all the time, so please sustain me. The winds of the world are about to swallow me. Look back on the day I am about to die now, and save me immediately.”
2) If we disclose our problems to the Lord in this way, the Lord hears our petitions, has mercy, and reaches out His hand to save us. Believe and hope in the Lord. Let's put the problem out. I pray that the grace of our Lord to solve it will fill our members.