NEWS FROM SANCTUARY –

Attendance: 91 Kids: 6 Offering: $6,221.00

Thanks to all those who helped do door hangers for the Green Bean and our part of our Green Bean Team!!

PRAYERS –

Lord, we do pray for all those who have suffered losses, particularly Megan Follett and family following the loss of sister, Beth this last Friday.

Christ, have mercy on all those suffering the flu, including a certain pastor with the initials, RR.

God, be with Pastor David Snapper as he undergoes next surgery this coming week.

Father, we pray for the ongoing outreach and sustainability of the Green Bean Coffee House.

Holy Spirit, we pray for the power and imagination you bring to us to pour forth at the New Conspirators Conference coming soon to Seattle.

Lord, Bless Tim Soerens and Ben Katt as they lead their new churches, Dust and Awake in key Seattle neighborhoods.

REFELCTIONS on – Mark 4:35-41 Who Is This Man?

We're not unaccustomed to storms in this area of the Pacific Northwest. Just a week or two ago, we had a violent avalanche that closed Snoqualmie Pass. And, we are not strangers to pouring rain, occasional thunder and a bit of snow here and there. But, I realized I had never really experienced a Capital S Storm until a couple of years ago when I was traveling in the Southeast. I was in Little Rock, Arkansas….thunderstorms in the region had the airport shut down…and I could not get back to Seattle. I found out my only option to get home on the day I absolutely had to get home was to rent a car, drive to Memphis, TN (4 hours on a good day---and this did not turn out to be a good day), stay overnight at an airport hotel (overnight being about 2 ½ hours sleep), then, fly from  Memphis to Denver to Portland, to Seattle.

A couple of other guys were stuck….and there were no more rental cars, so they offered to pay for my car and for food if I let them go along. I said okay. It was just beginning to rain and blow a little bit in the late afternoon. Soon, we were in the middle of rural Arkansas on a reasonably good 4 lane freeway. Dark set in and it began to lightning and thunder. Then it began to rain….with a ferocity and volume I have never seen before. The lightning grew more intense….it would make it daylight for a few seconds, then pitch black. After this, it began rain in earnest….the ferocity of the rain I had never seen before gave way to something that must have been like a hurricane. It rained so hard and was blowing so hard…and the lightning bursts were so close and so blinding, it was impossible to drive. Everyone on the freeway just slowed down to a stop….and sat there. I could barely see the taillights of the car 10 feet in front of me….and I was dreading one of those 100 car pile ups.

The rain would subside a bit and we would begin driving again, only to hit the another deluge of rain that stopped us cold. I  think this is the first storm at home, at sea … whatever…that actually scared me and reduced me to very, very sincere and deep prayer… Now, imagine being in a storm just like that with about 13 or 14 people in a 20 foot boat that sits about 12 inches off the water and is made of primitive wood planks and rope…

Mark 4:35-41 (NIV)

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"

Step by Step with Jesus and his crew …

V 35 – "let us go over to the other side -- Jesus calls. Disciples follow. We all need a mission We all need to be led. Who can say to you "let us go" and you do because it is the right thing to do?

V 36- "leaving the crowd behind" -- Living on purpose and following Jesus takes us away from the comfortable and familiar crowd into additional and challenging missions in life that bring us into new relationships with additional crowds…You are not the same crowd I pastored in either of my last two churches. I love you. I would never known you had I not been moved by the call of Jesus…and not knowing you would be a BUMMER.

V36 – Jesus, his disciples and a flotilla of "other boats were with him." -- There are lots that want to follow Jesus….and they do it together. Get on a boat. It doesn't matter which one.

V 37- "a furious squall came up and waves broke over the boat until it was nearly swamped". a great storm. The Greek word is used of a furious storm or hurricane. It never refers to a single gust, nor a steadily blowing wind, however violent, but to a storm breaking forth from black thunder-clouds in furious gusts, with floods of rain, and throwing everything topsy-turvy. From ^[1]Wuest word studies)

You have to love the pure power of nature.  Nature is God's creation. God created the heavens, earth, sun, moon, stars, seas, land, plants, animals, and man. Viewing His work, God pronounced it "good." David sang, "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork" (Ps. 19:1, kjv).  Lloyd Oglivie says, "Original nature was good because it had unity and balance that worked together in the harmony that made the morning stars sing together. We still see the traces of that harmony. Astronauts rocket into space, assured that orderly laws of the universe will not be canceled during their flight. Naturalists see the beauty of the earth in the delicate and interlocking balance of plant life. Ecologists remind us that everything in the universe is so connected with everything else that when a person stubs a toe on earth, it is felt in Mars. No one can watch a sunset spreading in varicolored splendor across the western sky without wanting to exclaim, "It is good." Thomas Higgins said it for us, "Creation is an overwhelming outpouring, the overflow of infinite good news."¹

V 38 – CONTRAST: Jesus doesn't do storms. He "was in the stern sleeping on a cushion".-- Jesus chills where others fear disaster. Whatever storm you are in now, Jesus has seen it and is chllin'

V38- Disciples: "Teacher don't you are if we drown?" -- The  Disciples 'we' is really an 'I'… sounds like me…

V39- "he got up and rebuked the wind and said to waves, "quiet! Be still!" -  Peace, be still (σιώπα, πεφΐμωσο). Lit., be silent! be muzzled!...wax dumb!

V39- CONTRAST: "the wind died down and was completely calm" -- Ceased (ἐκόπασεν). A beautiful and picturesque word. The sea sank to rest as if exhausted by its own beating.

V40- "why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" – No Jesus. Of course I don't have faith for this. That's why I woke you. I have faith in YOU, JESUS. "Teacher, do You not care that we are perish-ing?" (v. 38). I wish that I could have compared their look of paralyzed panic with the eyes of Jesus as He blinks Himself awake, looks around to survey the situation, and with a calmness of spirit that puts the worst fears of men and the wildest winds of the seas to rest, He speaks, "Peace, be still!" (v. 39). The wind stops blowing and the sea settles into resolute calm. God has put His creation at rest.

Fear wipes out faith. If the disciples had not been paralyzed by the fear of death,Turning to the disciples, Jesus asks. "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" In my own twisted "Randy Reading" of this text, I would offer the interpretive option that the proper response to the storm was to seek Jesus for help, not to try to fix it on one's own strength…and that perhaps Jesus was simply saying "call me sooner" and "don't let your fear cause you to forget me when stuff like this happens."

V41- "WHO IS THIS MAN? Even the wnd and waves obey him!"-- Awe is our only response to the God who controls the wildest whims of nature. Photographs of Mount St. Helens' volcanic eruption have now become still-life posters that convey a sense of unbelievable force to the viewer. But the awe of the mountain cannot begin to approach the awe of the God who can speak winds and seas, mountains and volcanoes to calm. Jesus speaks with that awesome power, proving that He who rules the wind, controls the sea, and stills the tempest is the Christ, the Son of God.

This is the passage of scripture that called me to JESUS CHRIST. But, this passage is alive and well and speaking to me in new ways…When Jesus says LET US GO (like we will do today for the Bean) we simply GO, we don't question the weather, the mode of transportation or the task ahead..Do I really believe that? Do you? Can I? Can you? Will I? Will you? When Jesus bids us to come and follow him, it is not by any means an invitation to safety and comfort…but rather an adventure in the deep meaning that comes from alignment with HIM.

There are and will be storms…

Think about your own life now…and in years past…Review the storms..

For me…the storms have helped eased my baseline fear and faithlessness…THE HARD WAY. We never have enough faith to meet the demands of the occasion. We are never ready. Faith is a relationship with God that develops and blossoms as we depend on him. When we can no longer navigate our boats, bail them out, or white-knuckle it any longer….WE SHAKE JESUS AWAKE…AND BEG FOR THE GIFT OF FAITH THAT IS LARGER AND MORE POWERFUL THAN WHAT WE
 HAVE.

If you  ever begin to feel that you have it together and have the kind of faith that would allow you to rebuke the storm and let Jesus sleep, come and see me so I can either change my theology or bring you out of denial!

DON'T EVER MISS A CHANCE TO ASK "Who is this Man?" It's the question of a lifetime..The question of the year..The question of the day…The question of the hour…The question of the minute

THIS WEEK – when you get smacked with something…AWAKEN JESUS AND HIS SPIRIT IN YOU. BEG AND PRAY FOR HELP. THINK AND REFLECT "Who is this man?"

And, Go out and make it a GREAT WEEK!

Much Love,

Dr. Randy L. Rowland

2854 NW 59th Street

Seattle, WA  98107

USA

206.953.0909

www.sanctuarycrc.org