Peace be still

Our perspective, because our perspective, and we've been looking at

storms over the over the last week and this week,

and we've got my title for my.

Word today is peace. Be still. Who likes an argument?

Who likes an argument? Nobody?

Now, some people do, some people like it, some people

enjoy oh, one or two people getting pointed at now

and now we know our neighbors. Okay, EMMANUELA thank you

got your hand up there. But you know what, you

can still have peace in the midst of an argument, Joe,

Sometimes I argue with God?

Do you argue with God?

Sometimes? You know, what do you What are you doing God?

Why are you doing it this way? That's not my plan?

And God goes, You're right, that's not your plan. It's

my plan. It's going my way, as Rob was hinting at.

And so I want to encourage us to be still

because do you know what one of the things is,

If the outside is stormy and we allow it to

get inside, it stays stormy for longer. I'll say that again.

If the outside is stormy and we allow it inside,

it stays stormy for longer. I don't know whether you've

ever been in a tent in a storm. I used

to love backpacking. I took Judia a few times in

my very very small tent.

And she said, is this it? I said, yes, this

is it.

This is the tent, you know, just enough room to

get inside. But I'll tell you what, when it blows,

when it's windy, when it's raining.

Everything rattles.

If you've ever been in a hurricane or a tornado

and you wonder whether the roof is going to stay

in our house, you know what a real storm is.

So I want to ask, first of all, our storm's inevitable.

Our storm's inevitable, and I want to say yes they are.

I want to say yes they are. Let me read

from my four verse thirty nine. If you want to

bring that up, please mark four thirty nine. These things

I have spoken to you that in me you may

have peace. God promises peace in the world. You will

have tribulation translate storms if you want to, but be

of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Christ's presence

does not promise trouble free. In fact, sometimes when we

stand up and we say I'm a Christian, suddenly it's

a bit like putting a cross on your back or

putting a target on your chest and everybody comes at you.

But you know what, sometimes that's good. Let me give

you an example. I used to work with a very

uh I used to work with a sales director who

had a very rich vocabulary.

Can I put it that way? You know what I mean?

There were lots of words with four letters in them,

and when he wanted to motivate the team, there would

be more four letter words. And I just sat in

the room sometimes and I just thought, I don't find

this helpful anyway. He started using my Saviour's name in vain.

He started using that in the room. And I didn't

say I'm a Christian, stop doing that. I did even say,

please don't do that. We came to a coffee break

and I waited until he was at the coffee machine,

and I went and tried to make myself a cup

of tea. Now you need to know that I don't

drink tea. So I'm standing trying to make a cup

of tea next to him who's making a cup of coffee. Okay,

it's not because I want a cup of tea.

It's because I.

Want to stand next to him. So I'm standing next

to him pretending to make a cup of tea, and

I don't make good cups of tea, by the way,

And I just said to him, look, I hope you

don't mind, but can I just say something. I said,

the name you keep on using is precious to me,

and every time you use it the way you use it, it

hurts me and upsets me. And he looked at me,

and I'm still staring down at my cup of tea.

I wasn't looking at him, and I didn't want to

confront him. I wanted to be gentle. I just said,

it really hurts me. He said, Dave, I'm really sorry.

Didn't say anything more until about twenty minutes into the meeting,

after we'd had the coffee break, he went, oh, And

then he turned to me and went, sorry, Dave.

He hadn't even said the word.

He just thought the word, started to think about saying it,

and then turned to me and said, oh, sorry, Dave.

There's a target on me suddenly. He's now the rest

of the room has no clue what's going on. Later

on he went, oh, what, sorry, Dave.

Do you know what? In the afternoon, in.

A different same team, somebody else leading the meeting, somebody

who'd caught his habit of using four letter words. So

I've never spoken to this gentleman about this, and he goes, oh, sorry, Dave.

Do you know what?

We can be a catalyst for change, But sometimes we

need to be willing to be in the storm. Sometimes

we need to be willing to be out there and

getting where every life meets a storm. Jesus is really honest.

In John sixteen, verse thirty three, it says this these

things I have spoken to you that in me you

may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation,

but of good cheer. I have overcome the world. It's

a different version of those that same thing, but it's

really what encourages us because.

Jesus is honest.

Here he says, there is going to be trouble, but

find peace in me.

Anybody ever had bad news?

Yeah, surely everybody's hands should be up there somewhere somehow.

We've all had bad news. Okay, Now what was our

response when we got the bad news?

Oh? Why me?

Why? By now? Jesus says, I will bring you peace.

I have come that you might have peace. We know

the story of the disciples in the boat in Mark

chapter four, verses thirty five to forty one. Mark Chapter four,

verses thirty five to forty one. Okay, did I'm not

bring it up as a scripture? Okay, let me tell

you the story. Then they're in the boat. There's a

score that comes. These are fishermen together, These are fisherman together.

And there are three things that happen here that I

want to call out. I think they're on the slide.

Three things. There's a command Jesus says, be still. There

is chaos, there is a storm, and then what follows

because of the command to thet is peace.

Calm.

Storms come even when we are being obedient to the Father.

God's will.

Isn't a guarantee of a trouble free life. The storm

is often in the way of our destination. Think about

scriptures that talk about mountains, and sometimes we say, mountain,

I've got to climb you, I've got to get round you.

What's the song we sing? It's too high, can't get

over it, too low, can't get under it. Wonderful love.

But the mountain does not disappear. But sometimes God gives

us the moments and the words to say, mountain, be moved.

But the mountain doesn't disappear, It just moves because it's

no longer an obstacle. That's that's the illustration we take

that that mountain no longer becomes an obstacle. Sometimes God

lifts us up. Sometimes God takes us through, God takes

us round. I want to say to you, Jesus is

in your boat. Jesus is in your boat. Psalm forty six,

verses one and.

Two say this.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help

in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the

earth give way, and though the mountains should be carried

into the midst of the sea. Again, there's mountains, mountains

carried into the midst of Has anybody ever seen a

mountain disappear? And anybody ever been in an earthquake? Yeah,

people been in earthquakes. Plates falling off, the off the

shelf on the wall. And but you know what, often

when there's an earthquake happening, there's a mountain being removed.

I'm a geologist. I think there's a couple of other

geologists in the room. I had the privilege of setting

off explosions in Scotland to do seismic surveys I set

some explosions off, and we got some seismic waves, and

we measured things under the ground. When an earthquake happens,

there is a wave that shakes things, and it shakes things.

And so I don't want to say earthquakes will not happen,

because sometimes things need to be shaken. There are many

many buildings in places like San Francisco and Tokyo that

have been earthquake tested, and they were built as models,

and then they will shake them on these shaking plates

and see whether they collapse. For engineering students in the room,

for engineering students listening later or even now, it's a

great thing to be able to build a model simon.

You might have done this before, and then you shake

things and you see whether it down or not. It

gets tested, and if it passed the test, then it

probably gets built because that new model is something that works.

Jesus is in your boat in Mark chapter four, verses

thirty nine and forty. I want to encourage us to

think that Jesus just needs to say one word, just

one word from the Savior changes everything. Peace be still,

Psalm four thirty Sorry, Mark chapter four, verses thirty nine

and forty did I not put that charis? Okay, that's

my bad typing.

Then okay.

Our peace is circumstantial, but it's Christ's. It's for a

circumstance because if we allow Christ being ar midst, he

is our piece we receive from him, not just a feeling,

not just a nice and peaceful here, isn't it?

You know?

Sometimes you can feel that you can go and sit

by Virginia Water Lake and if you can find a

space where there's nobody else, you can know peace. But

that's not the kind of piece. Only somebody has to

come along with a couple of noisy children or somebody

playing loud music, and suddenly your piece is gone.

Do you know what?

When when we've got peace inside, I mean, I don't

know whether you can do it, but I can zone

out from times I can be sitting in a really

noisy room and I can zone out, and people say,

did you not notice what? What? Sometimes that's teenagers are

experts at this?

Are they not.

Not?

Parents? Yes?

Got teenagers when or maybe husbands or wives were good

at it as well? Did were you listening?

Uh? Huh huh uh huh? What did I just say?

Absolutely peace is in a person and his name is Jesus.

He is our peace. He's an anchor for our soul.

And here's the thing. The scriptures that talk about being

an anchor, and anchor is something that holds us to something.

If you've ever tried to put your anchor down in

a storm, there's the storm again. But it's got to

grasp hold of something solid. If it just drags along,

then you will be carried by the storm. I want

to encourage us today to trade anxiety for prayer. It's

a phrase, the tactic I want to give you, trade

anxiety for prayer. Firstly, choose to stop worrying. Some of

you might say yes, but if you don't understand, I've

got so much going on right now, how can I

choose to stop worrying. The first thing we need to

do is to say God, I'm going to trust you

with this. And so the worry moves from me back

to God and say okay. And then God looks down

at us, and I'm sure he says to us, okay,

tell me about it. Tell me about it. Be still

and fix your mind because you will find perfect peace

Shalom shalom when we stay our minds on God be still,

that's part of the letting go is to stop striving

with something. I don't know whether you ever scratched yourself

and you've got a scab. Maybe some people have got

one right now, maybe you've got a child. And what

they what do we do when we've got a scab,

because that's a sign of healing. A scab is a

sign of healings. But our body is rebuilding itself. It's

healing over the hurt and the scar and the pain.

But what do we do?

We scratch because it itches, and then we scratch the

more and then we make it bleed. And what do

we as parents say to our children? Stop scratching. Sometimes

we need to put cream on it to stop it itching,

because otherwise we will scratch it and then maybe it

won't go away. It's the same thing with God. Sometimes

we need to just let go and let God and say, Lord,

I can't sort this, but you can. I leave it

with you, and we go and we place it at

his feet, and then we carry on for a few steps,

maybe a few hours, and then we go, oh, let

me take it back and see whether I can fiddle

with it, whether I can scratch at it, whether I

can make it feel better. Notice I use the word

to make it feel better, because scratching when we've got

a scab makes it feel better for a moment, but

it's not good for us. So trade your anxiety for prayer,

take it back to God. And how do we do that?

While we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. Peter walked

on the water as the disciples were in the boat.

Peter walked on the water, and he kept his whilst

he kept his eyes fixed on Jesus. He didn't sink.

So when the trouble comes, when when striving comes, when

the storm comes, let's not look at our feet. Let's

look up. Sometimes storms are frightening, Sometimes trouble is frightening.

But you know what, let's look beyond that to Jesus

and get a right perspective. Whilst he looked at Christ,

he walked on water. And here's the thing. It's very easy,

it's very, very very easy here to get critical of Peter.

So see, you can't even walk water. I've got to

be honest and say, what about all the other disciples

in the boat? Well, now where would you be? Would

you be sitting in the boat saying no, no, no,

it's a bit looks a bit unsafe out there, or

I don't do water walking. Sorry, that's somebody else's ministry.

Sometimes people say those kinds of things. I don't do that.

I don't pray for people. Somebody else does praying for people.

What happens if.

You're the only person there. God looks for our availability,

not our ability, and sometimes he wants to use us

in moments in storms. So let's keep our eyes fixed

on Jesus. Because here's the thing. When he walked on

water and he started to sink, what did he do?

He didn't turn around and go I'm going back to

the boat. He said, Jesus, save me. Jesus save me.

So let's keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. So I

want to give a bit of homework, you know, as

as someone who likes to call myself a bit of

an academic from time to time, I love to give

a bit of homework from time to time. And so

here's something to take home. I'd like your first thing

you to do is to name your storm. I don't

know whether you notice, but when storms come into the UK,

they get a name. We go through a cycle of

AB's a name beginning with A, then a name beginning

with B, and we go through girls' names, and then

we get to the end, we go back again and

we do boys' names. And you know, anybody remember a

storm storm Katrina? Yep, you know, and that there are

lots of storms that happened in life. Give it a name,

Give it a name. This is my this is my

work storm for this week. Probably, don't make it too personal.

Don't call it somebody's name. Don't call it Dave's storm

or stormy Dave. I don't think I'm stormy, but who

knows he's so name it first of all. Then pray

before you panic. So sometimes we can look at storm

and go that's or we can look at a situation

and we can say that doesn't look good. Do you know,

before we allow it to overwhelm us, let's pray before

we start to panic. When David looked at Goliath and

he had the five stones, he said, I'm going to

take him down. I'm sure. The closer he got to Goliath,

the bigger the storm. The bigger the giant looked, you know,

And the closer you get you might start saying, oh,

this looks like a big storm. It didn't look so

big yesterday, but it looks bigger today. So name it.

Pray before you panic. Anchor on the promise, John fourteen,

verse twenty seven. Anchor on the promise? What's the promise?

He is our peace, and keep your eyes fixed on him.

The Lord of Peace will give you peace. The same

Jesus who said to the water, peace be still, and

the storm stopped, is in your boat. I'll say that again.

The same Jesus who walked on water, who also calm spoke.

I know there are two different stories.

I'm blowing two stories together here, but they're both of Jesus.

They're both boats, and they're both out with the disciples.

Jesus said peace be still. He's in your boat, and

if you invite him to respond, he will.

So let me encourage you.

I'm going to ask you to close your eyes in

a moment, and we're just going to think about hour, week,

or maybe your month, if you want to. We're halfway

through June, we're nearly coming up to halfway through the year.

Would you believe coming.

Up to the summer solstice, coming up to the longest

day of the year for sunshine hours. Whereas twenty twenty

six gone. But some people right now are right in

the midst of a storm. And I don't mean in

the midst of a storm like if you've ever been

in a hurricane, you get the outside winds and then

you get to the eye of the storm, and quite

often the middle of the storm, it's completely silent and

completely still.

You can hear the roar of the wind.

Maybe a little bit, but there's not the actual storm

itself because you're in the eye of the storm, but

the storm is still there. I want to encourage you,

look at your storm, Face your storm, name your storm,

and I'm going to pray. So I'm giving you a

little bit of time here to call it for yourself,

whether you want to call it storm Harry or Storm Penelope,

or Hurricane Henrietta, whatever it is you want to call it.

But please, let's lean into God and allow Jesus to

do what he's best at. And I'm going to speak

to some particular things. So let me name a few

that I prayed about. I sense there's people who are

wrestling with diagnoses and treatment and.

Stuff going on.

The doctor has said, and you're wrestling with that storm.

What's the future going to be like, and there's a

whole set of questions about the future. Will I walk

with a limp? Will I be at a smell? What

will that mean for the quality of living? Name your storm,

men and women, Name your storm. Children to name your storm.

If it's a storm at school and you've got a

storm in relationships, as somebody you thought was your best

friend and suddenly they seem to have changed color, seem

to change shape, they suddenly become a bit scary, a

bit of a monster, a bit of a storm themselves,

and you're really struggling with what was your best friend

doesn't seem to be your best friend anymore. Name your storm,

and we're going to pray. And finally there's another storm

where identity is something that cracks open that we're sometimes

wonder who we are. And so, having named your storm,

if there's a storm that you want to bring to Jesus,

there's a storm that you want to say peace, you

want him to say peace, be still. Would you stand

whether you're listening at home, whether you're listening in the room,

whether you're listing later. If at this moment you have

a storm, you've named it, we're going to bring it

to Jesus. Right now, whatever your storm is, you know,

I don't need to know. All I know is there's

storms out there. I'm confident there are people standing. I

haven't even opened my eyes. I am standing not just

because I'm preaching, and I'm standing because I've got a

storm going on. And so, Father, as we've named our storms,

as we recognize the trouble that we're in, as we've

recognized the mountains that need to be moved, Father, we

name it, we face it, and then we choose to

look at you. We choose to take our eyes off

the storm and look at you and Church. Even as

I say this, I see Jesus smiling back at you, saying,

thank you for trusting me with this, thank you for

letting go of this and letting me have my thank

you for not allowing it to overwhelm you. For I

am bigger than your storm. I am bigger than your trouble.

I am bigger than your mountain. That's not Dave, that's Jesus.

He says, I am bigger than these things. And so Lord,

we pray that you would speak into our circumstances and

our situations. Peace be still, Peace be still, and I'll

say it one more time. Peace be still, But Jesus says,

I am your peace. I bring you peace. I am

a peace maker. You are peace makers. Walk in peace

despite the storm, and allow his peace to fill us,

to restore us, and to renew us in Jesus' name, Amen,

Rob mmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmm hmm