Peace in a Pandemic, His Eye in the Storm [Part 1]

If were going to see life accurately. One of the most important ways. We need Jesus's vision is we need his eye in the storm Alan Wright welcome to sharing the light were also to hear Allen's message from an old church in central North Carolina in a series that we've titled piece in a pandemic, the power of seeing the crisis through the eyes of Jesus.

Obviously the current situation that this whole is going through church has had to admit in general and especially with the way we worship together in most cases quite virtually swear bring you this very timely series reached just weeks ago by Pastor Alan to his home congregation. We trust it will be a blessing and encouragement to you to give you strength to endure. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program. I will make sure you know how to get our special resource available to you right now. Again, very timely for our current situation.

It's a CD audio album: growing deep in times of stress and these are stressful times it can be yours for your donation this month to sharing the light as you listen to today's message on the pandemic go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us@sharingthelight.org or call 877-544-4860 that's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program but now let's get started with today's teaching piece in the pandemic here is Pastor Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news when we see life's storms through the eyes of Jesus. They just don't seem so scary anymore, and we therefore can learn to have his eye in the storm, our Scripture today is from Matthew chapter 8 marvelous story of Jesus calming the storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Matthew eight verse 23 and when he got into the boat. His disciples followed him.

And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so the boat was being swamped by the waves, but he was asleep and I went and woke him saying save as Lord where perishing, and he said to them, are you afraid oh you of little faith that he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was great calm and the men marveled, saying, what sort of man is this even winds and see obey him even the winds and the sea obey him when a series that is about learning to see as Jesus see and a simple prayer, a simple spiritual discipline to ask the Lord of of every situation. Lord, how do you see this with that in mind as someone sent me a video in an image of an optical illusion that I could just hardly believe it's just pictures you see blue horizontal lines and some vertical lines and of course it appears the blue horizontal lines are all angled in different angles and kind of chaotic wood. Would you be surprised if I told you that these blue horizontal lines are actually perfectly parallel.

Maybe you're like me you just can't even believe it.

The line right here are perfectly parallel to one another, that you probably doesn't don't don't pause the screen right now and start trying to figure it out. They really actually are. What's happening is all the activity all of the different things are going on about how it tricks the brain think life can be like that where the storms come pandemic's you go through adversities and these are like complications that make what might really be still a well ordered life that which was parallel and in order to feel like it's all out of kilter.

What if it's possible that the problem is not in the way we manage our thoughts, or the way we try to curb our behaviors or control our speech. One of the problem is we don't see things accurately and if we're going to see life accurately. One of the most important ways we need. Jesus is vision is we need his eye in the store will see a contrast in our story between how the disciples saw the storm and how Jesus, Jesus, how do you see the storm of a global pandemic. How you see the storms and adversities in my life. If you get his eyes it'll change every thing that ever got trapped in a bad storm. Thankfully, I've never been in a hurricane or tornado don't ever want to be in one. But if you have grown up in North Carolina and spent most of your life in North Carolina as I have.

You are quite familiar with a thunderstorm and how easily they will pop up on a humid summer afternoon, often with very little warning. And I'm not scared storms. In fact, I'm one of those people. I kinda sleep through the storms as long as I'm in my cozy bed and my house is having more than once a day and the next morning wake up north to support you hear all that we ended all that thunder last night and the see the lightning.

Finally, what went it was their storm last night. She said you didn't hear that I can sleep through it in my cozy little bed, but I'll tell you one place that I do not want to be when there is a thunderstorm and it has to be one of my favorite places to be on a nice day and that is on the golf course you do not want to be on a golf course in the middle of a thunderstorm doubt. I know I talk about golf too much in some illustrations, but you know what are you guys, Jesus, and you love your family and and got the Bible then got golf. There's not much left so I would tell you what you play golf you can drive a golf cart. You can walk in 95% of the time I walk because I like to get to exercise when you walk nine holes you you leave the club as you got you out nine holes in most golf courses, you wind up back at the at the clubhouse and then there's another nine and a walk nine holes it takes. It was about a three, 3 1/2, sometimes 4 mile walk, and it takes roughly a couple hours to play that the nine-hole so you can imagine. If you're out walking nine holes about time to get back to the clubhouse couple hours gone by your walking three or 4 miles, and on a humid afternoon in North Carolina I thunderstorm could pop up even if it had not been on the radar ahead of time. Even if you'd scouted out the weather and you don't want to get stuck out in the middle of the golf course.

I'm kind of amused golf carts usually have a sticker that tells you what to do in case lightning is near you gamble think you can read this on on your screen right here, but if if you hear thunder it says lightning is near. Now this is from the USGA United States Golf Association. Therefore, of official lightning safety tips that you get a load of this here is what you're supposed to avoid that this is in a golf cart your own golf course.

You're supposed avoid tall objects like trees. The trees on the golf cart okay avoid small shelters. What if there is a bathroom or something on the golf course. It's a small shelter.

Avoid large open areas to be like fairway on the golf course. Avoid wet areas like if you're getting rained on in your standing in the wet grass. Of course development. Avoid metal objects including golf clubs and golf carts really like is like, what are you going to do it in the fine print is really agreement if sudden close in lightning does not permit immediate evacuation to a safer place spread out from your group squat down talk your head really says this and cover your ears inflected golf for about 38 years, and I guarantee I've never seen a grown man or a woman on a golf or squatting down and covered up. There is what is it I do so like when you do get electrocuted. At least you won't hear the thunder and ruin your eardrums what I just posted to seek large permanent building what they're saying is be at home baby in the club out, but don't be that they could just reduce the entire lightning warning thing down to this know me on the golf course you're describing a golf course. Well, you don't want to be out there right you're listening to shearing the light will have more teaching in a moment from today's importance you're stressed out his option on the stresses of life will always bring stressful season. Busy season spiritual life can be hostile to be stressed stressful times. Trust in the ground during stressful times is no better place to turn to Psalms some during stressful times for preseason seasons come and go strong and stressful times when you give today. We will send you today's special offer and were happy to send this to you is our things from shearing the light ministries call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 or come to our website. Shearing the.org listening to shearing the line teaching now continue you once again is Alan Wright well it has happened and a few years back. It happened that I'm on on a golf course with a friend play nine holes at the championship course at Tanglewood Park.

There was some dark clouds in the distance.

By the time we got a whole 17 and on the 17th hole you're not too far from a facility at Tanglewood that they call the barn. It's a metal building. They hold activities in their and it was closed so we couldn't go in. But we could have said well if the storms come and we could go crouch on the wet concrete underneath the porch of this building, but the clouds look like they were in the distance, and though we said, I think we get the last hole in well the last hole at Tanglewood is hole number 18 on a sunshiny day. It's a beautiful hole. It actually comes up from the other side will call doglike and it's up a big hill I can't hate that hill is hardhearted. Had a good shot for now below that that hill. But on this day. There was no sunshine in the clouds were rolling and we went ahead and hit RT shots and as were walking down the fairway towards our golf balls. It happened I mean just right on top office just seemingly out of nowhere lightning and thunder electric where you're supposed to be able to count after you see the lightning one 1002 and however many seconds before you hear the thunder is a rough estimate of how he miles away. The actual electricity is there was no counting. It was the same moment.

Lightning and thunder the same time and it was just completely terrified. So we just both instinctively start trying to just run up this hill. Rain starts coming out pelting us and and and Emmy award. It just is just horrified and I'm just thinking you know where we are what we going to do. Can we make it to clubhouse and time it was it was Emily. And as we are making our way up that hill.

I was thinking there many questions that my playing partner my friend could've asked me, and knowing him he might asked me something sarcastic like why did you get us to play golf today or known him, he might that if you die your three. What I can think of a lot of questions you might asked me but I can guarantee you one question that he would've never thought to ask me and if you had asked me to fault the lightning had already zapped his brain for sure he wasn't going to ask of me, why are you afraid why am I afraid of violating every single one of the lightning's safety precautions on a golf course is strange. When they woke up Jesus. The first question out of his mouth to the disciples was how you afraid the storm that they faced was on the sea of Galilee is actually a freshwater lake that is located in the area of Galilee. So Jerusalem is that in this area and the Jordan River that then comes up to the Sea of Galilee is it's because it's called, and in the area. Not very far from from Capernaum right there at the lake and not real far from Jesus's hometown of Nazareth and it's a beautiful it's a beautiful lake. I've actually had the privilege of being there before a pretty sunshiny day. You can see it's just a beautiful glorious sight and tourists today enjoy going there. You'll notice that this is surrounded by some mountainous hillsides that have deep sort of cavernous valleys and the meteorologists say that what happens is that those those concave areas serve light wind tunnels and the Sea of Galilee is below sea level is the second lowest elevation is below sea level, of any lake in the world and things, the lowest freshwater.

Maybe the densities on one lower and something about how little of the sea level and the mountains around the way the winds come in in a way that climate can work you can have the sudden squall just kick up and the middle of of what seems to be a nice afternoon and that's what happened with the disciples they had joined Jesus on the boat and they had begun to travel across the Lords about a 15 mile wide lake and up comes out of nowhere this storm the image that Matthew has in mind, and the word that he uses a word that he uses elsewhere described as Meg Goss, which means enormous and he calls the storm size mouse which is usually used to speak of an earthquake. So it's two words together.

They Meg Goss size mouse Matthew called at a huge shaking a storm of gigantic proportions and remember they are not on a cruise ship.

This is not a battleship is not a motorboat. This is the first century and it's a pretty rudimentary fishing vessel fascinating. I think it was in 1965 the the Sea of Galilee water level grew low and some archaeologists found in the sands of the beach and an actual fishing boat from the first century. The exact kind about they would be in it, and it's part of it is is preserved in a museum in in Israel now and they made replicas of this boat, the tourists go out and you can go on to see a galley and see so it's a it's a relatively small boat had some of the disciples could've been maybe 10 to 15 people there on it and a mega storm has arisen is interesting to me that Mark records that Jesus was asleep on a cushion and scholars say there wouldn't of been a cushion so it may have been Jesus took his own cushion and planned to take a nap, perhaps even knowing that a storm was coming.

But while the storm is raging and the winds are blowing who knows 50 mile an hour gusts enough those making the sea come up over and and begin flooding the boat and they are fearing for their lives in Jesus's having a nice little nap which sleeping in the middle of the mega's size mouse Matthew records it this way that Jesus awoke and spoke to the disciples before he spoke to the storm and he said why are you afraid oh you of little faith, and I just tried to envision the same because it's a storm folks and the wind is howling and the lake is just rolling with the waves.

It's loud give a try to talk to someone and allowed to win your truck.

Talk to someone in the middle of a thunderstorm you don't even get up from his nap and say now now what why are you afraid he had to be hollering it out as he woke up why you need a such a dramatic moment is a lot to be learned from how Jesus speaks to them, but first, what we learn from what they have to say to Jesus and they really say only three words according to Matthew, save Lord perishing when you look at the Greek text. That's all it says curios at Soto curios upon me, save Lord perishing save Lord perishing John Eldridge has suggested that we can learn a lot about ourselves and others by the way that we pray the things that we say to God, the way we beseech him the way we talk to him the way we we intercede and elders.

I think great insights is sometimes people pray like like a slave would talk to a master and slave don't ask for much. They just don't get punished.

Allen right here listening to sharing the in today's teaching is a in the store. It's from our series piece in a pandemic, the power of seeing the crisis through the eyes of Jesus most recently preached, virtually in his own congregation. Pastor Alan is back with us here in just about with our final closing thought for today stick with this stressed-out option on the stresses of life will always bring stressful season their spiritual life can power the gospel to be stressed stressful times. Trust in the ground during stressful times is no better place to turn to Psalms some during stressful times for every season and seasons come and go strong and stressful times when you give today. We will send you today's special offer and were happy to send this to you is our thanks for sharing the ministries call us at 877-544-4860 877-544-4860 or come to our website sharing the.org back with Pastor Alan now in this series piece in a pandemic, and we have scrambled to get this on the year.

This is either very recent messages that you have preached in the middle of the pandemic virtually to an empty room and this with his eye in the storm. I mean, if we've ever faced a storm, especially together in the same boat. It's what if we all are in right now is certainly this was timely. We are in the same boat on 20 and here's the good news. Jesus is right in the boat with us so you lead and you have perspective. I have a perspective we all have our perspective, what were learning about is getting Jesus's perspective. Some things we see, we think we see it accurately and we don't and I think Jesus sometimes Daniel maybe was genuinely surprised. Maybe he is a human being didn't know everything and maybe was a surprise when he said why you afraid my maybes wonder why why don't don't don't just didn't understand maybe how could they not trust that the creator of the universe is here in the boat with them but he is in the boat and he sleeping because he's not worried.

The fear of the disciples seems to be more on Jesus's heart within the storm.

He speaks to them and then he speaks to the storm and I think Jesus wants to speak to our own hearts. However, this storm is affecting you, whether it's affecting your health or your business or even in the status of cases is caused you grief and loss of someone you love, whatever it might be want to know Jesus cares is in the middle of the storm with you and will never leave you and in and in and in a blink of an eye. In just a whisper of his voice. He can silence any storm.

So praying the knowledge of Jesus being with you will sustain you when the waters this is been sharing the listener supported production of sharing the likeness