We have Invitation Sunday coming up in just two weeks, and this is the first time ever that we have over 10 churches in Auburn united together to invite family, friends, neighbors, co-workers to church, and it's coming up on October 31st. Now, as we do this, I think it's encouraging to know that over 70% of people will come to church with you if you give a personal invitation. And that's a compilation of three different studies and research over 70% of people. So we want to step out in faith together, October 31st. It's always a great time to invite someone to church. But coming up, we're highlighting this across Auburn as we want to bring God's love to Auburn in an intentional way. And here's where I'm asking you to prayerfully focus. Who's the one person that you would invite? Now push aside all the churches and everything that's happening in the city for a second and just think, who's the one person? And would you pray about that? God, who's the one person that I could invite personally? Maybe it's an invite card, maybe you give a ride, but who's that one person? We read in the Bible, Jesus left the 99 to go reach the One. One. And we don't just want to know, oh great, Jesus did that. We want to follow Jesus' example and just think, who's that one person that maybe hasn't been to church in a long, long time, maybe since the pandemic, or has never been to church, or thinking about God's love, asking some questions. Who's that one person that God has placed in your life and over the next two weeks would you pray and invite and then let's give God all the glory for what he's going to do on October 31st across our city something we've never done before in Auburn and we're excited as we go by faith together and we're excited what God's going to do so that's coming up I want to bring your attention to that to prayerfully consider the one And today we are continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark. We're going to be in Mark chapter 4. And in this series we're talking about moving beyond. Moving beyond things that hold us back in our faith. Today specifically we're going to be talking about moving beyond fear. Does anyone here ever wrestle with fear? Oh, I don't know. Have you ever heard of that? Anxiety? Ever heard that fear thing before? That's all of us. And how do we move beyond it? We're going to look at Jesus calming the storm. And you might think, oh, it's a short story. I think I know that story. We're going to look at the fullness of the meaning of this text and also the fullness of the application for us today. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you that there are no accidents. Lord, that you lead us and guide us, that you're with us. And God, I pray that we would be standing on your truth and a firm foundation today. We'd be trusting your word. God, we thank you that our houses are like houses on rock, not sand, Jesus, when we abide with you. And Father, we pray for your peace in a deeper measure. God, we pray for your peace to take over today, God, in this place, as we seek you and trust you, Lord. We pray in your name, amen. This passage is about how Jesus can give you peace in the middle of the storm. And when you think about the peace of Jesus, it's not a shallow peace, and it's not just a passive, but it's actively trusting him, and it's the deepest peace. Now I want you to imagine a tug-of-war. Have you ever participated in a tug-of-war before? And you get in there, there's two teams, and you roll up your sleeves, and it's strength on strength, opposite forces, you're pulling as hard as you can, and those two teams, I remember as a kid, I would see it on television. There'd be a tug-of-war, and to make it a little more exciting, because there's not a lot of scoring, and there's not a lot of collisions like Americans like in sports, they created a big mud pit. in the middle and then the tug-of-war happens and one of the teams you know is going to get thrust into the mud and that's when I started liking a tug-of-war. Now there's a tug-of-war in this passage and there's a tug-of-war inside of you and it's your faith and your fear and they are opposite forces pulling and it's like okay which one is going to prevail faith or fear. And as we dive into this passage, we're going to look at the disciples and the tug of war they had going inside of them, which is the same as we have inside of us, a tug of war between their faith or their fear. And on the one hand, this passage is about Jesus and who he is and his greatness, that he has power even over nature, that he has authority. It's a benevolent authority. And there's awe and worship in terms of who he is, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And that's a very important part of the story. And another important part of the story is to know that Jesus, trusting Jesus, will give you peace in the middle of your storm. In the middle of the fiercest storm you've ever been in, there's a peace for you that comes directly and personally from Jesus. And that's what we want to receive and enter into today. Faith over fear is our theme. Faith over fear. Let's say that together. Faith over fear. And we're going to look at four key aspects of faith over fear. And can we live this way? Faith over fear, yes, we can live this way together, abiding in Jesus. Here's the first key, and it's something that we realize. Storms can trigger fear, which can trample faith. That can be a cycle and a pattern in our lives. Storms come, they trigger fears, and then the fears trample the faith. That's what's happening to the disciples right here, and we can relate. We're in Mark chapter four, starting in verse 35. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let's go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was in the boat. There were also other boats with him. And then a furious squall came up. The waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. And what we're seeing here is the storm forming, and the disciples are gonna start moving towards fear. Now this is a furious storm, the Bible says, and a lot of storms in life, literal and metaphorical, can come uninvited, unwanted. Have you had a storm that's been uninvited and unwanted in your life? And a lot of times it's unanticipated. What do we notice about the arrival of this storm? First of all, it's after victories. Jesus has been teaching. Jesus is changing lives. And here comes a storm. After a victory, you might experience a storm. It comes in a time of transition. When you're moving from one place to the next place. They were going from land to the water. They were going from one setting of teaching and miracles. Now they're traveling across. And in times of transition, storms can hit. When there's changes in your life, a storm can come. And also notice it's at night. I don't know about you, but for me personally, I've had a lot more storms at night than I have during the day. And these storms that arrive that are unwanted, uninvited, we've been experiencing them during the pandemic. Amen? When you think about all the storms that we have been going through and are going through, well, just think about health. How many hospitals have been filled? How many people have had COVID and symptoms? We have lost loved ones and family members in our church family because of COVID. Storms right now. Parents that aren't around anymore. Storms. And we also know the storms of being told the church can't be open and people can't come. And we know that storm. We know the storm looking across America right now at the spiritual landscape and just seeing that it's such a small fraction of number of people that were gathering together to worship before COVID. There's unique storms right now. People being told if they don't make certain health decisions they're going to lose their job right now. There are storms in all different directions. Do you know how many people are going through marriage struggles with the extra tension right now? What about financial challenges? people who are already lost their job. When you think about the different storms that are happening, for many people spiritually there's a storm. They just have not figured out how to thrive and be vibrant during the pandemic and the relationship with God. There's a lot of isolation and loneliness. So we have storms brewing all around us. And as that's happening, let's consider the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee, and I have a picture here, Lake of Gennesaret, it's also called, and you see that it's 600 feet below sea level. There's about 13 miles from north to south, and it's 140 feet deep at its deepest point. Now what you see are sudden storms that come on the sea because there's hot humid air that hovers over the water and then like wind tunnels and over those hills comes a cool front and storms will appear and some of the storms are violent. The people in the boat in this passage were experienced fishermen. Okay, there's people who know the water and they know storms and people who haven't experienced as much. These guys right here, they know the storms and they know the water. It's kind of like when you drive, have you ever noticed the car next to you has a student driver? a sign on that. I don't know about you, but I just back off about 10 feet. I'm like, more power to you. I'm cheering you on. Just going into extra defensive driver mode. And not as much experience behind the road. It's like, okay, not as much for the first time. All right, learn how to do it. Bless the instructor, because that's got to be quite the job. Lack of experience behind the wheel. Well, there's no lack of experience with storms, there's no lack of experience in this passage, and yet what? They're gonna be terrified. Because of their experience, and if you're experienced in a certain area of your life, you might think, I've got this, I've got experience. No problem, it's in my back pocket. Well, as this storm hits, they're thinking, this is big. My experience alone isn't gonna do the job right here. I'm gonna tell you, you're gonna hit times in life where your experience alone is not gonna do the job. And this is a big storm that arrives. They're scared. And here's what I want us to think about. Three settings in terms of trusting God and God's peace. It's one thing to have the peace of God when you're standing beside the lake listening to Jesus teach. That's one setting. I mean, it's one setting when you're gathered in life group to get into the Word, to listen to Jesus through the Word, and to trust God in a comfortable living room life group. It's a great setting. It's a great place to grow and trust God. But that's one setting. And then there's a second setting, and it's a different thing to trust God on the lake Now there's some currents, now there's some movements, but things are still no storm calm. And that's another season of life where you can trust God. It's a little more adventurous than just standing on the side of the shore and listening. Now you're in a boat, you're traveling, but still the weather's calm and you trust God during those times. But don't we wanna learn how to trust God when we're not on shore, not just in the comfortable living room, but we are in the fierce storm and the wind and the waves blow? And what does it look like to still trust Jesus in that moment at that time? Can the peace of Jesus prevail? Can it be deeper than the fear that comes and is triggered by the storm? And that's what he wants to teach the disciples, how to have that. And I would say the last year and a half has been a perfect setting for us to learn how to receive, how to abide, how to walk in that with the Lord. And now you get a glimpse in this picture of what Jesus is doing to grow the disciples in their faith. Now it doesn't feel good because the Bible says the waves, they break into the boat. And this literally means they keep spilling into the boat. More waves keep spilling into the boat. And I don't know what they're doing to try to get rid of water or sort through things, but the waves don't stop. Do you ever feel like that? The waves keep spilling into the boat. Would you stop the waves? Because the waves keep coming. And it says the boat is nearly swamped. Do you ever feel like that? Your boat is nearly swamped. Financially, physically, emotionally, the comments from people. I just don't know if I can take any more. And the waves don't stop. What do you do at that moment of life? Here's what they're managing. They're managing two things. They're managing the external waves of water that are coming in the boat and they're managing the internal waves of fear that are crashing in their soul. And how do they manage both? All of the outside stuff they don't have control over, and all of the inside stuff they're feeling so intensely, and it's happening at the same time, both are real. And I think of Hilda, who just shared our story. What an important part of our team here at Grace. She serves on staff. That was her husband, Nelson Garcia. And if those of you who have been here for a while at Grace, you remember Nelson, one of the most gifted musicians that we had at Grace. And I love to praise God, love to worship God. As Nelson's health was declining, we'd figure out a way in a wheelchair to bring him on stage and he would still play. To his final days, Nelson was praising Jesus and loving Jesus. And he went to be with Jesus. And imagine Hilda's situation, to lose your husband at a very young age, and now to take care of the children alone. And at that point, Hilda started looking for a job. And she started to work here at Grace. Just think of all the fears that swell up when you don't know how you're going to make it financially. You don't know what the future is going to hold the next decades. Your husband's not there anymore. Just think of everything that would be going on in your mind and your heart right there. Hilda decided to join our staff team here at Grace and for the last several years has been doing a tremendous job. One of those people behind the scenes that you don't notice or maybe appreciate but every week You know, when you come into this building and you think, wow, it looks ready for everyone to gather. You can think of Hilda now. And in that moment, and there's others on our team who are serving so well, I'm highlighting Hilda because at that moment when fear could have won, she chose faith over fear. And praise the Lord. And you ask Hilda, Hilda, why are you so devoted? And why are you serving here at Grace like you do? And she says, I work unto the Lord. And that's true whether you're at church or you serve in the community, wherever God places you, you work unto the Lord. And so she continues to serve and love Jesus and Nelson's with Jesus. And it's a good reminder to pray for people in our church family, men and women who have lost loved ones who are not there with them right now in terms of marriage and widows and widowers. And we're all journeying together. And together, we want to choose faith over fear. And we're inspired by one another, like we're inspired by Hilda. Let's go back to the text and take a look at verse 38. Now, as the story continues, we're going to find something that I think leads us to repentance. And it's this. Fear creates misperceptions about people and their motives. When fear starts to take over, those waves of fear come, we often, it leads to misperceptions about people and their motives. And as we look at verse 38, we see that Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him up and they said to him, teacher, don't you care if we drown? Now we're in the Gospel of Mark, and there's four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that focus on the life and teaching of Jesus. Mark is unique. It's the shortest of the four. There's a lot of action. It's one scene to the next. Mark has a way of writing that brings clarity and simplicity, and he's very concise. And with this concise action, we also see a lot of eyewitness details. And Bible scholars think that Mark talked with Peter to get a lot of these details. And right here, we've got some details about what was happening during the storm. What was Jesus doing? Jesus was in the stern, and Jesus was sleeping. There was a leather cushion, and this cushion, it was like a rowing cushion. Jesus, he had the comfortable cushion, taking a nap in the middle of the storm. By the way, note off this text, naps are good. Jesus took naps. If you're getting criticized for taking naps, Jesus was persecuted for faith too. You just take that nap by faith, Sunday at four for me, Sunday at four. I encourage that if you're looking for a time and a day. Jesus was exhausted. It gets tiring serving people, amen? We get exhausted. He took a nap. And then he's got the crowds. And notice that he's stepping away from the crowds. But did you see the detail that there's other boats that come with him? And I appreciate this. In fact, I respect this. Because Jesus is moving and there's some people who are like, He's the best thing we've ever heard. We can't have any distance from him. We gotta abide with him. Do you got a boat? Get a boat. Can I get in your boat? Oh, you didn't invite me? I'm getting in anyways. And there was a hunger for Jesus. It's like, oh, if he's going over there, let's go over there. And I would love to see in our nation a hunger for Jesus that means if he's going, let's go. How are we gonna get there? What's it gonna take? Whatever it's gonna take, let's go with Jesus. Let's get some boats, let's pack them out, let's go with Jesus on this one. And that's what you see in this response, a real hunger. And the disciples began to guess motives. Do you ever play that classic American game, and it's really international game, of guessing motives? Are you ever tempted to guess motives? Well they're guessing motives. They're guessing Jesus's motives in this particular instance. And in between the writing of this text you can see they're saying he's napping because he just doesn't He's taking a nap. I know why he's taking a nap. He just doesn't care. He's not aware. Maybe he doesn't care. He's lazy. He's just thinking about his own nap. But they're reading motives into why Jesus is napping and what's going on in his heart. Can I give you a strong caution to resist the temptation of guessing people's motives? I can't tell you how many people I know that say, well, I don't guess motives, and one thing I'll never do is guess motives. And then they guess a bunch of motives. It is so tempting to see something happen and then think, oh, I know, I'm gonna assume it's because of A, B, and C. Well, if we knew the whole story a lot of times, it would make a lot of sense what's going on. But we get little glimpses, and then it's so tempting to just say, it's this motive. And you know what trauma does? Trauma affects our perceptions. And I want to give you a picture. This is in Alabama, and this is a raccoon. Raccoon, did you see in the headlines that there is a raccoon with rabies in Alabama? And this raccoon that has rabies is creating fear across the state. Because think about it, if you hear that there's a raccoon with rabies, and then you see a raccoon on your property, you just don't know if this is the one. and just think of how many people are watching raccoons saying oh that turn seemed a little quick he might be the one that one looked at me a little long he might have rabies and pretty soon raccoons across alabama people are looking at him like i think they got rabies i think that's the one i think that's what they are dropping and i was reading in the article a million um and they're like ketchup size packets They're vaccines. Okay, I know, vaccination, hot topic. They are dropping them, a million of them, so the raccoons will eat the vaccine and they'll get rid of the rabies right now. Aren't you glad you live in Washington and not Alabama, folks? But you can see how the trauma of one raccoon with rabies affects how you see every raccoon and what it does to your perceptions. And in this instance with Jesus, notice they still call him teacher. They still call him rabbi. But is he indifferent? Does he not care? Is he selfish? How it really is, is not how it appears. And a lot of times in life, how it appears, well, there's so much more to the story. And they come to him, they know him enough to call him rabbi, but they don't trust him enough in the storm. They know enough about him to say rabbi, teacher, but they don't trust him enough for his plan and presence in the storm. Do you know how easy that is to do in life? Oh, I'm gonna say He's the Savior and the King and the Lord, and I believe that, but trusting Him in my storm? Mm, Rabbi, we got some talking to do. And that's the tension in this passage. That's the growth point for them. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords, but is He your peace in the storm? And this is how they're gonna grow. They're carrying fear, they're carrying panic, Have you ever felt and carried fear and panic? Have you carried it for 24 hours? Have you been carrying it for a week? How about a year? Two years? This picture right here, bull elk. This picture right here, this bull elk, I don't know how it happened, but that tire ended up around his neck. And with all the debris in the tire, the tire weighs 35 pounds. For the last two years, they've been trying to find this bull elk and relieve this bull elk from 35 pounds of burden around its neck. Are you seeing the parallel here? See where this is going? Fear is like a weight. Imagine if we took 35 pounds, put it as your necklace, and just landed it on your neck and said, carry that for the next two years. The disciples are carrying fear and panic for about two minutes, and it's overwhelming them. Carrying fear, that's what Jesus wants to relieve us from. They had to tranquilize this bull elk. We're not gonna tranquilize anybody. We're just gonna, Jesus can take away that fear that's been suffocating you around the neck. You say, well, how does this happen? And part of it, it has to do with habits. So I go back to Mark, which is a book about action and action and action, and then more action and another glimpse of action. And yet, in Mark chapter one, verse 35, This is so important. It says, very early in the morning, while it was still dark, that would be about before seven o'clock for us, Jesus got up, he left the house, he went off to a solitary place where he prayed. This is a habit. Jesus did this often. He would get up early, get away from the noise before everything starts to happen, and you start working your way through the to-do list, get away and prayed. And Simon and his companions went to look for them. They're always looking for Jesus. And when they found him, they exclaimed, everyone else is looking for you. And Jesus said, okay, now it's time to go somewhere else. I need to preach there also, the nearby villages. That's why I've come." What did Jesus just do? He stilled himself, got away from the noise and the people and the demands. He met with the Father. He's abiding. He listened to the Father. He got clear direction. There's peace in his soul, even though demands all around him. He can't even finish his devotion. Maybe you feel like that. I can't even finish my devotion in the morning before the kids want this, the phone calls, this text comes, the neighbors knock on the door. I can't even get two minutes of peace in here. Jesus had a habit. The habits you form, they make room for God in your life. And peace is tied to prayer. Let me say it this way, prayer protects peace. Prayer protects peace. You know what Jesus did then? Went to the villages, brought the gospel, drove out demons. That's what the text says. Prayer precedes power. Prayer protects peace. Prayer precedes power. Be intentional with prayer. During this storm, what you don't see is the disciples say, hey, how about we pray? Hey, let's have a prayerful attitude. They don't go there. They don't go there. In that habit of prayer, you know, Paul, continually in the Bible, faced challenges and situations that would provoke fear. And yet, what did Paul do? This is what he said. I believe he lived this. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and petition. And with thanksgiving, continue to thank God. Present your request to God and the peace of God. It transcends all understanding. It'll guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. I believe Paul lived that. I believe he empowered and equipped churches to live that way. And I believe that they followed Jesus with a peace that was greater than the storm. And they grew in their faith. They learned how to do that. And they said, this works. Prayer works. God gives peace. Let's pray together. Let's seek him. And what you see in the life of Paul and in the early church and in Jesus's life as well, that time with the Father, it allowed them to see the world clearly as God sees it, to see people clearly as God sees them. It allowed them to love people and share the gospel, and it allowed them to love people even who hated them, persecuted them, and even killed them. They continued to see people the way God sees people and love people the way God sees people, and they rejected those temptations to just guess motives, a critical spirit, and try to get revenge. That's the power of prayer. Prayer protects peace. Now, let's continue in verse 39, and this is the restoration part. In verse 39, we see that faith returns with nearness to God and accountability. Now, that's a twist. Maybe we weren't expecting that as we're reading the story, but it's the nearness to God and accountability. Jesus, in verse 39, got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, quiet, be still. Then the wind died down, and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? Jesus rebuked, and that word rebuked means ordered, and would you agree it kind of feels good to order things sometimes? It's kind of fun to go in a restaurant and pull out a menu and order something or a drive-thru. Some of you like to go on Amazon. You're like, yeah, ordered it. It's on its way. Well, I think it probably felt good to help the disciples, to reveal who he is, to tell the wind and the waves and the storm to be silent, to be muzzled. That verb tense is be silent and stay silent. Be calm and stay calm. There's an authority Jesus has here, and that word is the same word when Jesus dispossessed demons from their power. And some Bible commentators think that maybe there was demonic activity with this storm, but Jesus says, be still, be silent. And then there's the debrief. Do you ever have a debrief with Jesus? I like to debrief at night with Jesus. I like Sunday nights to debrief with Jesus. What's been happening in life? How you been processing? How you been doing? What's Jesus saying? Listen to him. Good shepherd. Those times of debrief. Well, Jesus here doesn't give a big hug. Instead, he asked them, you know, why are you so afraid? Now, I wanna point out here that you don't need to carry around guilt and shame for having feelings of fear that rise up. This isn't talking about just having a feeling of fear. We all have feelings of fear. It's just what are we gonna do with that fear? And also, some people have conditions where there's help needed from a doctor and a physician. That's not what Jesus is talking about right here. What he's saying is, you had a feeling of fear, But what you did with that feeling is you chose a cowardly fear moving forward instead of a faith. And that's where he rebukes them. It's that initial feeling of fear we all feel. But then you gave it power. You chose it. You chose this cowardly fear intentionally to go down that road instead of choosing faith in him. And throughout this chapter in verse 34, Jesus keeps pulling aside, explaining, teaching, debriefing, guiding. He's trying to build them up. He's trying to build them up because you know what? They're gonna have far bigger storms. They're gonna have bigger storms than this. And so he's building them up in this storm for the storms that will come. Do you know that almost all of the 12, except for John, are gonna be killed for their faith? They're gonna be living in a continual storm for years, where their lives are threatened, they're thrown in jail, martyred, they're gonna lose friends and family. This storm right here in the Sea of Galilee, it's actually gonna be small. For them it seems massive, but Jesus is trying to build them up so that they're gonna have faith greater than fear, and they can walk through the bigger storms to come. He's good like that. That's his love. That's his foresight. And let me ask you, what are you fearing today? What are you fearing? Is it dying? Is it a fear of failure? Is it a fear you won't be liked? Is it a fear of what other people think of you? What are the fears that are hindering your faith and Jesus wants to restore? There's a step of faith where we say, I'm not gonna let fear snuff out my calling. I'm not gonna let fear stop my serving. I'm not gonna let fear get me silent about Jesus in this culture. I'm not gonna let my fear lead to revenge and misperceptions. I'm not gonna let my fear have that kind of power in my life. I'm going to live for the Lord. And when we read through the Bible, I'm inspired. I mean, Abraham left family. Where are you going to go? Left his comfort zone. Everything is familiar. Where are you going to go? I don't know exactly, but God is calling us, Abraham and Sarah, by faith. Moses stepping in to Pharaoh to say, let my people go. This injustice has to stop. Let my people go. He stepped up by faith. Esther, if I die, I die. But I know right now that there's protection needed in the land and God has placed me right here as queen to risk my life for the saving of many lives. You see Peter I mean thrown in jail. You see Peter when there's martyrs and he doesn't know how long he's going to live thrown in jail. And what does he do. He goes out and he just keeps spreading the gospel just keeps spreading the gospel. Why he chooses faith over fear faith over fear is the theme of the Bible. for those in Hebrews 11 who, how are we going to follow God? Faith over fear. And you could say, well, that's just Bible times. Well, what about beyond Bible times? I want to show a picture of William Tyndale. And maybe you're familiar with him. Maybe you've never seen or heard of him before. I'm guessing that's exactly what he looked like. I don't know. Back then they don't have the little cameras we have. And so this is what we have. But William Tyndale, what you need to know is in the early 1500s was at a key moment in the history of Christianity. And there was a persecution. William Tyndale's a Bible translator. And you might think, oh, Bible translation. Oh, that just sounds like you just go off somewhere in some private room, you just translate Bible all day. Sounds kind of heady. And listen, Bible translation, it was highly controversial, and he was killed for doing it. He believed. He had a passion that every person, if you're holding a Bible today or have it on your phone, you should be aware of William Tyndale. He translated the Bible into English. So many of the translations we have, it goes back to his work and that translation. Why? There was a burning passion in his heart that everyone would have God's Word and everyone could have their own copy of God's Word and know God's Word. It wasn't just for a few in charge, and it wasn't just for those who were twisting it, manipulating it. The Bible says salvation's by faith alone in Christ. It's not earned, and all the other things that were off base, he stepped up and says, we've got to get back to the word. We need some William Tyndales in this culture right now that step up with courage, faith over fear, and say, we've got to get back to the word. And you say, what happened? He was killed for his faith. And how was he killed? Strangulation. What did they do? They tied chains around his neck and strangled him. And what about after that? Yeah, after he died, he was burned on the stake for all to see. And don't anyone else try to bring solid biblical teaching to this culture? Don't anyone else try to translate the Bible into English? That was the message. And did he recant? No, he didn't. In fact, this was his final prayer, his final breath. Lord, Open the King of England's eyes. If you have one last prayer in your final breath, what would it be? His prayer, God open the eyes of the King. King Henry VIII, two years later that prayer was answered, came to his senses and said that Coverdale Bible needs to go in every parish of the land. And that prayer was answered, but William Tyndale laid down his life. He was killed in his own country. Now he's seen as one of the top hundred most influential ever from Great Britain. But faith over fear. There was nothing cozy about what he did then, and we need Tyndales today. We need people today. We need a generation today. We need people today who will stand up and say we're choosing faith over fear in this culture and at this time. Does that resonate with you at all? So timely, I believe, for where we're at right now. Look at verse 41 and this is how the passage ends. They were terrified and asked each other, who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him. And here's one for reflection. Facts about Jesus are the basis for our faith in Jesus. It's facts about Jesus that form the foundation of our faith in Jesus. Now, they were terrified. That just means overcome with reverence. I have been in this place so many times on a Sunday, overcome with reverence. Sometimes I stop singing. Sometimes I lift up my hands. Sometimes I just bow my head. Sometimes I just give God thanks. But I've met with God so many times in this place, just overcome with reverence for who he is. And this faith that we have, it's not a blind faith. It's not feelings-based, like, oh, I feel it, I don't feel it. Oh, I feel it again, I don't feel it. No, it's based on facts, and it's based on evidence. You say, what's the fact here? The storm is a fact. I'm not saying deny the storm. But the fact is, there's a greater fact than the storm, that the Savior is superior to the storm. And they needed to see that the storm doesn't have the final say. The Savior has the final say. And they say, who is this? Meaning Jesus, He has authority over demons. He has authority over the corrupt religious leaders. He has authority over the political leaders. He has authority over the nature scenes right now and the storms that are coming. He has authority. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. Who is this? Who is this? The Messiah is here with all authority and it's a benevolent authority because the same holy Jesus, the same one that Peter said, get away from me, I'm a sinner, his benevolent authority and his holiness is the same one who's a friend of sinners, who dies for sinners and is thrilled when sinners abide with him. And this combination of benevolence and authority, of grace and holiness, this is who we worship. And we see it played out in this text. And I would think if we were just kicking it with the disciples later on and said, what went down in the storm? I think their summary would be, we underestimated Jesus. Could you see him saying that? In this, I mean, cowardly fear, yeah, we chose that, but what was underneath that cowardly fear? We underestimated Jesus. We underestimated Jesus. And the storm helped us to see him clearer and see who he is and the peace that he can bring and wants to bring. Are there miracles in the Bible? Absolutely. Can you be a Christian and think there's no miracles? I don't think you can. The resurrection alone. Jesus didn't just say He's the resurrection. He rose from the grave. The Jewish carpenter will return. He's going to return physically, visibly, unexpectedly. He's going to return. And when He says He's the resurrection, He says He's going to return, He's going to return, rule and reign forever. And that gives us confidence in the middle of the storm. May Jesus bring us peace, the peace that comes in the eye of the storm. May he build up our faith so that we can then bring faith to others. That was the calling for the disciples, not just to make it through the storm and then high five, woo, we made it through the storm. Hey, let's get a t-shirt for that one. No, we made it through the storm so then we can go out and tell other people who are going through the storm that there is a peace in the storm that's greater than the storm. Receive it and then pass on. I was inspired by a group of Jesus followers who recently went to Colorado City, Arizona. Have you ever heard of that city before? Colorado City, Arizona. It's in Arizona. It's called Colorado City. Here's the history of it. Cult, polygamy, generations. We're talking like a man with many wives in this cult and they think that honors God. really destructive. Way out there. I know Jesus followers that are ministering to that community. And how do you help restore a woman that's one of many wives and teach her who God is? Comfort, love, healing, restoration. How do you help that man to be, shatter that pride, that selfishness, and see what the scripture says? That takes courage. That takes faith. That's stepping into a storm and bringing the love and peace of God. How is God leading you right now to receive His peace in the middle of a storm and then to build up other people in their faith? At the end of the messages, this is what we've been doing. And for online or anyone, of course, you can come up for prayer afterwards, but these five steps right here as options, it's so simple. You can just text the church phone number. But is one of these, does it have your name on it today to make a decision to follow Jesus for the first time or to get baptized? to say, this is my church home, to get in a life group, or to start serving. Those are some options. And I know five's a lot, but those are tangible, clear steps. And what does it look like to trust God, build up other people in their faith today? Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we want to choose faith over fear. Jesus, we thank you that you calm storms. You have power and authority. We thank you that you're kind. You forgive. God, forgive us today for underestimating you in the middle of our storm. It's just so easy to make the storm massive and then to shrink how we see you, who you are, Jesus. And we're declaring today in truth that Jesus, our Savior, you are greater than the storm. We don't want to be people who just trust you on the side of the lake or when the lake is calm. We want to be people who look to you and trust you in the eye of the storm. God, help us to grow in our faith This might not be the biggest storm we'll ever go through, but we're gonna trust you right now here today. We're gonna make a decision by faith to trust you. We're not gonna give fear too much power. With Thanksgiving, we're gonna bring our request to you. We're tired of carrying around fear and anxiety. We pray you would break it. What's bound around our neck, we pray you would break it in Jesus' name. We pray for your peace to flow in this place, God. We pray for your restoration. We repent, we return to you, we pray you'd restore. God, fill us with your peace, fill us with the Holy Spirit, so we would be courageous in this culture to stand for truth, to stand in your love, and we give you the glory in Jesus' name, amen.