Perfect Storm

[0:00] to invite the children to come up to the front of the church. And we want to talk just a little bit about that Bible reading that we heard. So come on up to the front of the church.

[0:10] Any children who are up here, of any age actually, if there's older children, adults who want to come up, that's fine. That's great.

[0:30] Are you all having a good summer? Are you? Good. Let me ask you a question, all of you. Has anyone here been riding in a boat this summer?

[0:44] And I'll raise your hand if you've ridden in a boat this summer. Anybody? So there's a few of you that have. Where were you riding in a boat?

[0:57] Where? Where? Oh, Williams Lake. Okay. Where were you riding in a boat? Oh, the same place.

[1:07] Okay. Where were you in a boat? You don't remember where it was? Where were you? Salt Spring Island. So you were in a boat near Salt Spring Island.

[1:18] Anybody else in a boat? Yeah, where were you in a boat? Keith's Island at Barnabas. Very good. And where were you in a boat? Where were you?

[1:32] Barnabas. At Barnabas as well. There's a few of you there. And then one more. Where were you in a boat? Where were you in a boat? On your daddy. Oh, an Indian arm. All right.

[1:43] Now I'm going to ask you guys. We're all in very different places. But let me ask you something. Were you wearing anything special in those boats? Were you wearing anything special?

[1:54] Raise your hand if you wore something you don't usually wear. What were you wearing? You were wearing a life jacket. What were you wearing? A life jacket. What were you wearing?

[2:05] A life jacket. What were you wearing? I have a feeling you're all going to say the same thing. What were you wearing? A life jacket. Very good answer. We have a very safe group here.

[2:17] And can somebody tell me why you were wearing a life jacket? Yeah. To make sure you don't fall out of the boat and drown.

[2:28] That's a very good answer. So sometimes the water can be dangerous. Is that right? Right? It's fun to swim in. And water is good to drink if it's not from the ocean.

[2:41] But it can be dangerous, can't it? And that's why we wear life jackets when we're in the boat. Now that story. Does anybody remember the story that Mr. Topp just read?

[2:53] Does anybody remember that story? Where were the disciples? Who knows where they were? What were they in? Yes. They were in a boat. Can you tell me what was the weather like?

[3:06] Who knows what the weather was like that day? What was it? It was stormy. Yeah. Anything else? Anything else about that day? How big were the waves? Really big.

[3:21] That's right. And what about the wind? What was the wind like? Yeah. Very strong. Now what should they have been wearing? Life jackets.

[3:33] Life jackets. It was very dangerous. And I want you to come up to the front here. And I want to show you something here about that day. Because we have this in the Bible.

[3:47] Because of the fact that in the Bible, it talks about the fact that water can be really, really dangerous. Oh, let me ask a question. Does anybody know where it was in the Bible where the water is really dangerous?

[4:02] Does anybody know that? Anybody know? Where is the water really dangerous in the Bible? Does anybody remember a flood? Yes.

[4:14] Noah's Ark. That's right. There was a big flood. Does anybody remember the Red Sea? Yeah. What happened in the Red Sea? Do you remember? Yeah.

[4:25] God made it split apart so that the Israelites could escape, didn't he? Now I want to do something here. This is a boat. And I want to show you.

[4:38] This is the Sea of Galilee, we're going to pretend, because it's blue, isn't it? We've got to show the congregation. Now, I want somebody to be a big wind. Who wants to be a wind? Okay, why don't all of you be?

[4:48] All of you will be the wind. Now I want you to blow on this boat that the disciples are in. Boy, that's just a dangerous wind there.

[5:00] That wasn't good. I made this boat myself, by the way, on the internet. Yes, you're saying I know. Now, I want somebody to be the waves.

[5:12] Who wants to be the waves? Okay. Okay. Why don't you... Okay. Somebody be the... Let's have a few people be the waves. Why don't you, three or four people, just grab hold of this.

[5:23] And be... No, of the... Okay. Ready? Okay. Start being the waves. Boy, that's impressive. There it goes.

[5:35] Now, that was what it was like that day. This boat was not very strong. It was being blown around by the wind that you were. The waves were making it go all over the place. And it was dangerous.

[5:47] The water was very, very dangerous. They could have died. Now, does anybody remember what they saw towards the end of the night? It was all dark, by the way. Jesus! They saw Jesus.

[5:58] What was he doing? Walking on water. He was walking on the water. And what happened with the disciples when they saw him? Were they excited? No. What were they?

[6:09] They were scared. They were scared. That's right. Why do you think they were scared? Yeah, why do you think they were scared? Because Jesus was walking on the water.

[6:21] They were scared. Have anyone ever seen that before? Any of you ever seen that? No? And here it was a really windy day. Huge waves. Lots of wind. And yeah, you've seen water skiing.

[6:33] But you haven't seen somebody walking on the water. Yeah, we wouldn't be scared if we saw that.

[6:51] Well, it depends on who it was. But Jesus had no motorboat and no skis. Now, I want to tell you what happened. There's something changed.

[7:01] They were afraid because they saw something they'd never seen before, Jesus walking. Do you know what? Well, just a minute later, they were really glad. Why do you think they were glad all of a sudden? He stopped the waves and all that stuff happening.

[7:16] He stopped the waves and all things happening. Yeah. And how did they know that? What did Jesus say? What did Jesus say? Do you remember? What did you say?

[7:28] I heard it over here. Do not be afraid. That's what he told them. And he said something else. He says, it is I. He told them it was the one that they knew. And immediately, they were really glad.

[7:40] And I want to tell you what happened. I'm going to do something a little bit different here. I'm going to put something in the boat.

[7:51] And we're going to pretend it's Jesus getting into the boat. Okay? There we go. Now, what I want you to do now is blow on this boat. Now, it's still there, isn't it?

[8:09] Who wants to be the waves? Okay. Okay, that's good. That's good. You guys are very good waves.

[8:20] And I must say, where's the boat? And I can turn it upside down and do all kinds of things to it. But the boat is peaceful in the middle, isn't it? And what has happened is that I've said that that sort of represents Jesus getting into the boat.

[8:36] And what he does is he brings peace to the storm, to the things that are happening to the disciples as well. And they are safe. Even more safe than when you are all wearing your life jackets.

[8:47] And I want you to tell you something. We're going to end with this. What that is telling us is that Jesus is the one who rescues us.

[8:59] Jesus is the one who saves us. That's what this story is telling us. And if you think of one thing only, it is that Jesus is strong enough to save you from anything, even from death, because he is with you.

[9:16] Just like we've talked about that little magnet in there being with them in the boat. And I want you to hold something up for the congregation, because we're going to say these things. Who wants to hold up?

[9:27] We need five people to hold up signs. Good. Okay, so come on down. And we're going to hold these signs up. Okay, we want you to... Okay, and then you can move over there.

[9:38] Okay, and we need this one right there. We need one right here. Okay, you've got to stand in that order. Stand in that order. There you go. There you go.

[9:48] And there you go. Now I want you to hold those high above your head. And you guys don't... You guys put yours down right now. Okay, there you go. That's the direction.

[9:59] Okay, hold that up like that. Can you hold it up? There you go. We have different heights here. Hold it so it's about the same height. There we go. And hold that down. Okay, you two will hold yours up last.

[10:12] So you just put your down. Okay, now come around here and look at what it says there. What does it say? Who has good math? Okay, good.

[10:24] Now what does it say? God equals Jesus. God equals Jesus. That's right. That's what that story is telling us. Because only God can control the waves.

[10:35] And His Lord is in charge of even the worst danger. And what are the other two things that that's saying, that Bible verse is saying? Hold yours up, Mary and Thomas.

[10:46] What does that say? Oh, Simon. Can you turn that around? No, upside. There you go. And what does that say? What does that say?

[10:57] Anybody? What's that? Saves us. Saves us. Okay, so there's two things this Bible reading is telling us. God equals Jesus.

[11:09] And Jesus saves us. And when we hear that story of Jesus walking on the water, that is a sign of what you are holding up. That Jesus is equal to God.

[11:21] And Jesus saves us. Okay, thank you very much. And you can go down to the pews. And I'm going to talk for five minutes to your parents and other people who are here.

[11:32] Okay, so you can go and sit with your parents. Thank you. Thank you.