WEBVTT 00:00:20.496 --> 00:00:21.217 Good evening everyone. 00:00:21.217 --> 00:00:26.231 I'd like to begin first introducing myself for those who may not know me. 00:00:26.231 --> 00:00:42.811 My name is Josh Rivera and my wife, carol Nye Carol's a beautiful young lady in the red leather jacket in the back have been members here for almost a year now and I'm absolutely honored to share the word of God with you all tonight. 00:00:42.811 --> 00:00:49.587 But I'm also quite ironically, given what we're going to speak about tonight absolutely terrified. 00:00:49.587 --> 00:00:52.307 So help me, if you can. 00:00:52.307 --> 00:00:57.606 Every couple of minutes, just smile, let me see your teeth, and it'll set me at ease. 00:00:57.606 --> 00:01:02.822 So, if you will, turn your Bibles with me to Mark, chapter 4. 00:01:02.822 --> 00:01:21.996 Mark, chapter 4, and let's begin in verse 35. 00:01:21.996 --> 00:01:23.260 Mark 4, 35. 00:01:23.260 --> 00:01:26.042 I'll read up until the end of the chapter. 00:01:26.042 --> 00:01:31.388 It says On that day, when evening had come, he told them let's cross over to the other side of the sea. 00:01:32.269 --> 00:01:33.951 So they left the crowd and took him along. 00:01:33.951 --> 00:01:42.599 Since he was in the boat and other boats were with him, a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:50.171 He was in the stern sleeping on the cushion, and so they woke him and said to him Teacher, don't you care that we're going to die? 00:01:50.171 --> 00:01:57.331 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the sea Silence be still. 00:01:57.331 --> 00:02:00.822 The wind ceased and there was a great calm. 00:02:00.822 --> 00:02:04.409 And then he said to them why are you afraid? 00:02:04.409 --> 00:02:06.674 Do you still have no faith? 00:02:06.674 --> 00:02:13.110 And they were terrified and asked one another who then is this? 00:02:13.110 --> 00:02:15.534 Even the wind and the sea obey him. 00:02:15.534 --> 00:02:24.247 And if you will turn with me to Mark, chapter eight, verse 27. 00:02:24.247 --> 00:02:33.200 And I'll read to verse 30. 00:02:33.200 --> 00:02:40.444 Jesus went out with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea of Philippi and on the road he asked his disciples who do people say that I am? 00:02:40.444 --> 00:02:42.286 And they answered him. 00:02:42.725 --> 00:03:30.467 I'd like to begin with a series of questions that we'll revisit at the very end and as I ask these questions now, I'd ask that they kind of stay in your mind as we make our way through the book of Mark, and I'll give some examples as to what I mean. 00:03:30.467 --> 00:03:40.638 As I ask these questions based on what I'm feeling at this exact moment, why does fear often feel more real than faith? 00:03:40.638 --> 00:03:48.959 Why do our minds naturally focus on the worst case scenarios rather than trusting in the best possible outcome? 00:03:48.959 --> 00:03:55.908 Why is it that my mind right now can only think about the fact that my notes may or may not fall from here and I may suffer an embarrassment. 00:03:55.908 --> 00:03:58.834 That's the truth. 00:03:58.834 --> 00:04:03.550 Why do we trust fear so easily but struggle to trust God? 00:04:03.550 --> 00:04:09.306 As much as I can repeat to myself in my mind right now trust God, trust God, trust God. 00:04:09.306 --> 00:04:15.211 My hands don't stop being clammy and my heart doesn't stop beating at 200 beats per minute. 00:04:21.100 --> 00:04:22.245 Now imagine this. 00:04:22.245 --> 00:04:26.105 I ask that you use your imagination, although it's a realistic scenario. 00:04:26.105 --> 00:04:34.249 You wake up very early in the morning, before the sun rises, and you're very careful not to make a sound. 00:04:34.249 --> 00:04:43.307 The streets of your neighborhood are quiet, as they normally are at this time, but with the quiet comes danger. 00:04:43.307 --> 00:04:46.528 Danger lurks at every corner. 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:57.214 Now you clutch a very worn out Bible, small enough to be able to hide but powerful enough to cost you your life. 00:04:57.214 --> 00:05:07.101 You begin a treacherous walk that in reality only takes you a few minutes, but in your mind it feels like several hours. 00:05:07.101 --> 00:05:18.713 And you're not walking up to a grand church building with a wonderful greeting team waiting for you at the door or padded pews to comfort you during the worship service. 00:05:18.713 --> 00:05:33.992 No, you gather in secret in a darkened basement with only a few other believers and you whisper hymns because singing too loudly can mean that you'll be executed before the sun sets. 00:05:33.992 --> 00:05:38.807 Every knock at the door sends shivers down your spine. 00:05:38.807 --> 00:05:44.660 Is it a friend or is it the enemy? 00:05:44.660 --> 00:05:47.064 Is it a friend or is it the enemy? 00:05:47.064 --> 00:05:51.172 Every second that you're in that basement, you're making a deliberate choice. 00:05:51.172 --> 00:06:11.187 Do you let fear control you and leave, or do you trust in God, who has called you to stand firm where you are Now? 00:06:11.228 --> 00:06:19.824 This is the reality for many Afghan Christians today, persecuted in their country, and that is the reality that they have to live in. 00:06:19.824 --> 00:06:27.771 They live in a world where faith is not just a belief, but it's a risk. 00:06:27.771 --> 00:06:35.220 And yet, despite the fear, they choose faith. 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:38.245 Despite all the fear, they choose faith. 00:06:38.245 --> 00:06:48.134 In the Gospel of Mark, jesus constantly asks his disciples why are you afraid? 00:06:48.134 --> 00:06:56.281 Where is your faith Now? 00:06:56.281 --> 00:07:00.550 We may not face a Taliban in this country, but we face storms of fear in our own lives. 00:07:00.550 --> 00:07:04.319 You may fear the future or you may fear the past. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:07.752 You may fear failure, fear rejection. 00:07:07.752 --> 00:07:13.487 In every single one of these moments, jesus asks us the same question he asked his disciples in Mark 4.40. 00:07:13.487 --> 00:07:15.591 Why are you afraid? 00:07:15.591 --> 00:07:18.303 Do you still not have faith? 00:07:18.303 --> 00:07:30.548 This gospel is technically anonymous, but early Christian tradition has firmly asserted that John. 00:07:30.588 --> 00:07:39.588 Mark was a first century Christian often associated with Peter, and Paul composed this narrative in conjunction with Peter's memories. 00:07:39.588 --> 00:07:53.050 It's been, through a lot of analysis of bible studies, seen that a lot of the order of events that he tells here are very similar to how peter relates his order of events. 00:07:53.050 --> 00:07:55.380 We'll see that in the rest of the new testament. 00:07:55.380 --> 00:08:07.524 Perhaps this was written between 50, the years 50 and 60 ad, as during this time peter and mark would have been alive to most surely have had opportunities to collaborate. 00:08:07.524 --> 00:08:17.694 We don't know this for sure, but there seems to be quite a bit of common acceptance towards many Bible scholars. 00:08:18.815 --> 00:08:27.934 Not much is known about Mark's personal life, but he's quite infamously known for causing a rift between Paul and Barnabas. 00:08:27.934 --> 00:08:36.846 If you remember, in Acts 15, we discovered that Paul no longer wanted to travel with Mark because Mark had deserted them on a mission trip. 00:08:36.846 --> 00:08:41.461 Now, eventually, it seems like they were able to patch things up. 00:08:41.461 --> 00:08:51.253 As Paul speaks about Mark quite favorably in Colossians and then in 2 Timothy he says very specifically that Mark is useful for him in the ministry. 00:08:51.253 --> 00:08:58.268 It seems like they were able to patch things up, which is always good to know, but sometimes other than the fact that he wrote a gospel. 00:08:58.268 --> 00:09:01.042 He's quite infamously known for that rift that he caused. 00:09:01.042 --> 00:09:23.722 Mark never explicitly states who he was writing to in his letter, but based on a couple of second century theologians named Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria, it was most likely written in Rome and this makes sense when you consider the fast-paced nature of the letter. 00:09:25.105 --> 00:09:33.370 We only cover 16 chapters of this gospel narrative, much shorter than the other three gospel narratives and even much shorter than the two synoptic gospel narratives. 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:42.749 It's hard to miss, as you read your way through the book, the repetitive use of the word immediately. 00:09:42.749 --> 00:09:53.734 You see it from the first chapter till the end and it appears in the original language approximately 41 times in the entire gospel. 00:09:53.734 --> 00:10:01.234 Now, to put this into context, you only see the word immediately about 10 times in the rest of the New Testament. 00:10:01.234 --> 00:10:08.187 So quite a heavy use of this particular word. 00:10:08.187 --> 00:10:15.363 But it serves, and it kind of becomes a hallmark of Mark's expedited narrative style. 00:10:15.363 --> 00:10:18.359 He's serving to emphasize an urgent tone. 00:10:18.359 --> 00:10:22.961 He has a sense of urgency as he's writing to his intended audience. 00:10:25.511 --> 00:10:36.034 Now we see a lot of major themes throughout the book, but the primary thing that we see in this gospel is Jesus portrayed as a servant king that we see in this gospel is Jesus portrayed as a servant king. 00:10:36.034 --> 00:10:48.370 Although his gospel is very concise because it's so concise and expedited there's a few main themes that are hard to miss. 00:10:48.370 --> 00:10:59.812 He leaves a lot of details that, for example, we'd see in Luke, especially when it comes to geography and historical context. 00:10:59.812 --> 00:11:20.900 He hammers home a couple main themes through the entire book, and mark 10, 45, chapter 10, verse 45, offers perhaps the key text in the entire gospel, and I'll read it for you and it for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. 00:11:20.900 --> 00:11:33.058 Mark portrays Jesus as the savior who came to serve and give his life as a ransom, and throughout the gospel we also see Jesus do the following things amongst many. 00:11:33.058 --> 00:11:37.412 He demonstrates his divine authority through his teachings and miracles. 00:11:37.412 --> 00:11:38.313 We'll see that. 00:11:38.313 --> 00:11:49.163 We'll see him reveal the hidden yet powerful nature of God's kingdom through his parables and teachings, especially compared to a human, earthly kingdom. 00:11:49.163 --> 00:12:04.624 We also see him predict his death multiple times, showing that the path to glory comes through suffering, and we also see him prove his victory over sin and death at the very end of the gospel narrative. 00:12:05.591 --> 00:12:11.364 Now, although Jesus is the sole protagonist of this letter, his story cannot be told in isolation. 00:12:11.364 --> 00:12:36.381 Throughout the entire book we frequently see the disciples, his followers, who are always accompanying him and through whom he uses to teach valuable lessons on discipleship, but also failure, redemption and spiritual responsibility. 00:12:36.381 --> 00:12:58.998 The disciples provide us with perhaps the most important question that Mark aims to address in this letter, and hopefully we'll be able to answer that question too at the end and we find this in Mark 4, 41, and we read it at the beginning, and this is a question by the disciples when they say who then is this Speaking of Jesus? 00:12:58.998 --> 00:13:00.701 Of course, who then is this? 00:13:00.701 --> 00:13:04.570 Even the wind and the sea obey him. 00:13:04.570 --> 00:13:22.259 Now I sincerely hope that, as we briefly look into the treasures of the word of God found in this gospel narrative, that the themes of fear and faith can pierce our hearts and minds to genuinely attempt to answer this question for ourselves. 00:13:22.259 --> 00:13:25.717 Who then is Jesus? 00:13:25.717 --> 00:13:29.937 Who then is Jesus? 00:13:32.770 --> 00:13:42.777 Whereas Matthew, luke and John seem to kind of eat us, ease us, ease us, the readers into the narrative, a mark immediately bombards us from the first chapter. 00:13:42.777 --> 00:13:46.551 He he does not play it easy with us to readers. 00:13:46.551 --> 00:13:52.009 In the first chapter, he bombards us and portrays Jesus in many different manners. 00:13:52.009 --> 00:14:02.182 He doesn't just portray Jesus as a teacher and a healer, but also which may seem kind of heavy for a first chapter of a gospel narrative an exorcist. 00:14:02.182 --> 00:14:22.022 Jesus drives out an unclean spirit from a man and we see this instance of fear maybe the first instance of fear in this gospel and amazement in the disciples when he does this, and they respond and they say what is this? 00:14:22.022 --> 00:14:24.793 A new teaching? 00:14:24.793 --> 00:14:31.845 With authority, he commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. 00:14:31.845 --> 00:14:39.154 Now they said these words with a lot more fear and amazement in their voice. 00:14:39.154 --> 00:14:39.957 So try to picture that. 00:14:41.691 --> 00:14:54.558 But from the first chapter, mark makes it very clear and reveals to us Jesus' authority, and we'll see that authority throughout the entire gospel narrative. 00:14:54.558 --> 00:15:13.764 But he leaves it very clear from the beginning and, as would happen based on the things that Jesus was doing, news about Jesus spread all over the land and it wasn't long before Jesus couldn't enter a town openly. 00:15:13.764 --> 00:15:18.687 That's actually how our version says it. 00:15:18.687 --> 00:15:39.717 He couldn't enter a town openly as people from all over flocked to be near him with different reasons, some perhaps out of need, some out of curiosity, some perhaps out of fear, some out of amazement, or some perhaps out of need, some out of curiosity, some perhaps out of fear, some out of amazement, or some perhaps out of doubt. 00:15:39.717 --> 00:15:42.918 But everyone flocked to be near him. 00:15:42.918 --> 00:15:53.421 And as quickly as we're presented with Jesus' authority, we begin to see that authority being questioned and challenged and eventually rejected. 00:15:56.231 --> 00:16:24.561 The fact that Jesus not only healed but also forgave the sins of a paralytic man, or the fact that he sat and ate with tax collectors and did things that, particularly within the scribes or the minds of the scribes and the Pharisees didn't sit well, the fact that he did all these things we see produces a reaction in people. 00:16:24.561 --> 00:16:31.118 His teachings begin to evoke different reactions, and not just his teachings but also the things that he's doing. 00:16:31.118 --> 00:16:35.554 His miracles produce different types of reactions towards all different people around him. 00:16:35.554 --> 00:16:41.821 We see his own family, for example, react by becoming suspicious and thinking that he had gone insane. 00:16:41.821 --> 00:16:45.836 His own family that was their reaction. 00:16:45.836 --> 00:16:52.032 His friends, the disciples and followers were encouraged to follow him. 00:16:52.032 --> 00:16:54.173 That was their reaction. 00:16:54.173 --> 00:17:14.643 The community, the people, galilee and everywhere that he traveled, they chased after him in just amazement, maybe not quite comprehending what they were looking at, but they just knew that they had to see it. 00:17:14.643 --> 00:17:26.930 But the leaders, the Jewish leaders, their reaction was to oppose him and to reject his teachings. 00:17:32.430 --> 00:17:34.958 And so, as we continue, in the following chapters, a series of terrifyingly magnificent events occur. 00:17:34.958 --> 00:17:45.038 First, jesus calms a raging, a raging storm of waves and of wind, which exposes the disciples' fear and lack of faith. 00:17:45.038 --> 00:17:54.238 But in all honesty, it probably would have exposed our fear and lack of faith as well, given the circumstances. 00:17:54.238 --> 00:18:08.958 But immediately after this, jesus' mere presence, just the fact that he was in the vicinity of this man filled with many demons, causes the demons inside of this man to go crazy. 00:18:08.958 --> 00:18:16.719 And he cast the demons out and the demons began to beg to Jesus to be sent to pigs. 00:18:16.719 --> 00:18:31.281 Calming a raging storm and having demons beg to him Terrifyingly magnificent, but seemingly without a moment of rest, as Mark doesn't give us throughout this gospel. 00:18:31.670 --> 00:18:48.037 Jesus is surrounded by a large crowd of people, and among them we have a synagogue leader named Jairus, and he comes and he pleads to Jesus to rescue his young daughter who's on the verge of dying, and Jesus agrees. 00:18:48.037 --> 00:18:58.540 But as Jesus is walking with Jairus towards this young lady and trying to get through this crowd of people, everybody just chasing after him and trying to navigate this crowd. 00:18:58.540 --> 00:19:15.717 A suffering woman plagued with uncontrollable and incurable bleeding for 12 years touches Jesus and she's immediately healed. 00:19:15.717 --> 00:19:19.710 Now we're going from one thing after another. 00:19:19.710 --> 00:19:25.557 These are not regular things that we see every day, not even every month, not even every year. 00:19:28.530 --> 00:19:46.420 It may seem normal to us because we perhaps you have read through these narratives or you've heard these stories so many times, but if you were reading this for the first time, just back to back, it would take you a while to move from verse to verse, just to understand the magnitude of what's really going on. 00:19:46.420 --> 00:19:49.549 And you ask yourself well, who is this Jesus? 00:19:49.549 --> 00:19:52.480 Is he actually doing these things? 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.096 Is this actually real? 00:19:54.096 --> 00:20:00.416 Because they're so magnificent, but they also inspire fear. 00:20:00.416 --> 00:20:19.500 That is a lot of power for a man to have, and so the faith of this bleeding woman immediately caused Jesus to realize and he noticed this immediately that power had gone out of him. 00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:29.305 He wasn't, you know, kind of oblivious to the fact that a miracle had just happened. 00:20:29.305 --> 00:20:31.496 He knew it immediately. 00:20:33.451 --> 00:20:40.500 And as the reader we might look at this, we might want to celebrate with this lady, right, twelve years of just anguish and pain. 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:51.703 But Mark doesn't even let us celebrate for too long, because we quickly find out that where he was en route to to heal this young lady, this young girl, jairus' daughter. 00:20:51.703 --> 00:20:53.306 Well, it turns out now she's died. 00:20:53.306 --> 00:20:58.420 When the story began she was about to die, but now she's died. 00:20:58.420 --> 00:21:03.662 So we can't even celebrate for too long because we're dealt just tragic news. 00:21:03.662 --> 00:21:12.542 And Jesus shows up, but he's laughed at and he's mocked. 00:21:12.542 --> 00:21:21.761 But the laughter on these people's faces soon turns into astonishment when, at the command of his voice, the young girl immediately gets up and begins to walk. 00:21:21.761 --> 00:21:26.900 Who, then, is this Jesus? 00:21:26.900 --> 00:21:31.075 Who is this man? 00:21:31.075 --> 00:21:33.281 Fear cripples, who is this man? 00:21:33.281 --> 00:21:43.634 Fear cripples, but faith moves people toward Jesus for healing and restoration. 00:21:43.653 --> 00:22:10.111 In Mark 6, jesus walks on water while the disciples struggle in the boat, but their fear blinds them to his presence, they confuse him for a ghost and they're left absolutely terrified, and people all over are witnessing things happen that they've never seen happen before. 00:22:10.111 --> 00:22:13.713 But the people in his hometown these are the people that have seen him grow up for 30 years. 00:22:13.713 --> 00:22:29.746 Having witnessed Jesus grow up and evolve from a bright young man into a powerful, now leader of people, instead of acting in faith and following him, perhaps because they themselves were afraid and terrified at what they were witnessing. 00:22:29.746 --> 00:22:32.007 They rejected his authority. 00:22:32.007 --> 00:22:38.243 They rejected his divine authority. 00:22:41.109 --> 00:22:51.546 To the people of Galilee, jesus now seemed like an unknown, and we humans tend to fear the unknown. 00:22:51.546 --> 00:23:00.229 And although he was progressively making it known who he really was, they weren't understanding it yet. 00:23:00.229 --> 00:23:10.773 And that unknown, that fear of what he can do and what is he going to do next, caused him to react and reject him. 00:23:10.773 --> 00:23:26.226 For 30 years, the members of his community most likely only thought of him as Jesus the carpenter, jesus the son of Joseph and Mary, maybe that one kid that got lost one time. 00:23:26.226 --> 00:23:27.990 But now he was Jesus the healer. 00:23:27.990 --> 00:23:31.273 Now he was Jesus the teacher, jesus the teacher. 00:23:31.273 --> 00:23:41.105 Now he was Jesus the commander of winds and the sea, jesus the commander of life and death and Jesus the forgiver of sins. 00:23:41.105 --> 00:23:46.166 But this proved to be too much for his community and he was rejected. 00:23:46.166 --> 00:23:59.126 And their loss became others' gain, because this caused Jesus to send his disciples out on a mission and he fills them with this power and grants them supernatural authority to preach so that people repent of their sins and turn to him as their savior. 00:24:00.576 --> 00:24:06.884 But even as Jesus sent them on this mission, as he sent the disciples on this mission, they were still struggling to truly figure out who he was. 00:24:06.884 --> 00:24:09.701 They hadn't understood it yet. 00:24:09.701 --> 00:24:15.528 They were obeying him out of faith, but they hadn't quite understood who he was. 00:24:15.528 --> 00:24:20.125 And this leads us to the turning point of Mark's gospel, which is Peter's confession. 00:24:20.125 --> 00:24:31.525 In Mark 8, 29, we see as Jesus asked his disciples to give an evaluation of who they thought he was, and their answer was very revealing. 00:24:31.525 --> 00:24:37.106 Peter immediately answered, speaking for the group, you are the Messiah. 00:24:37.106 --> 00:24:41.500 And he was absolutely correct Jesus is the Messiah. 00:24:41.500 --> 00:24:46.807 But their understanding of the Messiah was badly distorted. 00:24:46.807 --> 00:24:56.263 It was very calming in Jewish culture at the time and had become very widely accepted that the Messiah would be a political military deliverer. 00:24:56.263 --> 00:24:58.256 That had become the prevailing thought amongst those awaiting the Messiah would be a political military deliverer. 00:24:58.256 --> 00:25:01.740 That had become the prevailing thought amongst those awaiting the Messiah. 00:25:01.740 --> 00:25:22.644 But that's not who Jesus was, and the disciples were still struggling to come to terms with that, and so Jesus had to repeatedly remind his followers about the need for him to suffer and, ultimately, the need for him to die, and death scares everyone. 00:25:24.576 --> 00:25:37.787 Now the conflict that had been brewing due to the Jewish authorities' rejection of Jesus' divine power is only escalated when Jesus returns back to Jerusalem and his return to Jerusalem marks the start of the conclusion of his earthly ministry. 00:25:37.787 --> 00:25:46.222 Because, after he triumphantly enters the city, he zealously goes into the temple, he overturns the tables and he kicks out the money changers. 00:25:46.222 --> 00:25:55.845 And this demonstration of supreme authority was too much for the chief priests and for the scribes and they made up their minds. 00:25:55.845 --> 00:25:59.590 They said this man, jesus, has to be killed. 00:25:59.590 --> 00:26:02.121 There's nothing else that we can do. 00:26:02.121 --> 00:26:06.623 How did they come to this judgment? 00:26:06.623 --> 00:26:09.801 What led them to decide to kill Jesus? 00:26:09.801 --> 00:26:12.028 Fear. 00:26:12.028 --> 00:26:26.443 They were simply afraid of Jesus, and they attempted to challenge and confront Jesus, to perhaps expose him to be a fraud or catch him contradicting himself, but they were simply unable to do so. 00:26:26.443 --> 00:26:29.500 Who, then, is this Jesus? 00:26:29.500 --> 00:26:30.324 We can't trap him. 00:26:30.324 --> 00:26:33.781 We can't get him to mess up. 00:26:33.781 --> 00:26:56.315 His teachings on the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem were no doubt extremely challenging and perhaps a bit puzzling to understand, but despite all this, jesus' final teachings were clear His followers had to beware deception and they were to be prepared for his return. 00:26:56.315 --> 00:27:01.894 And they were to be prepared for his return. 00:27:03.214 --> 00:27:05.230 Now this engaging and dynamic letter reaches its climax in its final chapters. 00:27:05.230 --> 00:27:11.876 As Jesus' final days loom, mark's account of the Lord's Supper repeatedly emphasizes the fact that it was during Passover, its Passover setting. 00:27:11.876 --> 00:27:15.826 But soon after the Passover, jesus is betrayed by Judas. 00:27:15.826 --> 00:27:25.979 But soon after the Passover, jesus is betrayed by Judas and Jesus, faced with the threat of losing his life, responds with prayer. 00:27:25.979 --> 00:27:42.778 Now Mark shows us a very real and human Jesus who was, I quote, deeply distressed and troubled, falling on the ground over and over in anguished prayer. 00:27:42.778 --> 00:27:49.749 But despite his faith being tested, he emerged reaffirming his faith in God. 00:27:49.749 --> 00:27:52.703 But he's put on trial and ultimately sentenced to death by crucifixion. 00:27:52.703 --> 00:27:54.382 But before he dies, he cries out. 00:27:54.382 --> 00:27:58.976 And he cries out my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 00:27:58.976 --> 00:28:16.603 And there was a man witnessing the grotesque manner of Jesus' death, a Roman centurion in charge of the execution, who moved in that moment, hearing Jesus' cry from fear to faith. 00:28:16.603 --> 00:28:23.290 And he provides us an affirmative answer to our primary question of who then, is Jesus? 00:28:23.290 --> 00:28:34.232 The centurion says, truly, this man was the Son of God. 00:28:34.232 --> 00:28:45.224 Early Sunday morning, women went to go and visit Jesus' tomb to anoint his body with spices, as was customary, but they received the greatest news Jesus had risen and he was in that tomb. 00:28:45.224 --> 00:28:59.247 And they ran away from the tomb because trembling and astonishment had overwhelmed them Jesus, the son of God, was and is victorious over death. 00:29:04.756 --> 00:29:08.843 Fear is deeply rooted in our brain's survival mechanism. 00:29:08.843 --> 00:29:15.400 This instinct can cause us to run, confront or shut down when we perceive a threat. 00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:24.845 Our brain is wired to react to danger with a survival response, but this can also cause us to panic or act irrationally. 00:29:24.845 --> 00:29:32.048 Now God calls us to trust in His protection instead of reacting out in fear. 00:29:32.048 --> 00:29:37.747 In Mark 4, when the disciples panicked in the storm, jesus was at peace. 00:29:37.747 --> 00:29:43.286 Faith teaches us that God is in control even when we feel out of control. 00:29:45.296 --> 00:29:54.645 The fear of the unknown is one of the most common and powerful fears that we can experience, and when we don't know what's ahead, our brains tend to assume the worst. 00:29:54.645 --> 00:30:00.237 Fear thrives in uncertainty, because the unknown makes us anxious. 00:30:00.237 --> 00:30:04.509 God calls us to trust him even when we don't know what's ahead. 00:30:04.509 --> 00:30:11.686 In Mark 5, the woman with the issue of blood had suffered for 12 years, uncertain if she would ever be healed. 00:30:11.686 --> 00:30:21.324 But despite her fear of rejection, as Jesus could have done, she reached out to Jesus in faith and was healed. 00:30:21.324 --> 00:30:29.128 Faith moved her and moves us forward despite uncertainty. 00:30:30.536 --> 00:30:33.786 Fear is often magnified by negative thinking patterns. 00:30:33.786 --> 00:30:35.941 I'll give you some examples. 00:30:35.941 --> 00:30:38.002 There's something called catastrophizing. 00:30:38.002 --> 00:30:41.320 This is when you tell yourself this will end horribly. 00:30:41.320 --> 00:30:49.986 Or black and white thinking, which is when you say if I fail once, I'm a total failure, there's no in between. 00:30:49.986 --> 00:30:58.582 Or overgeneralization, which is when you say this bad thing happened before, so it will always happen this way. 00:30:58.582 --> 00:31:05.067 But God calls us to take every thought captive and align it with his truth. 00:31:05.067 --> 00:31:09.385 In Mark 6, the disciples saw Jesus and thought he was a ghost. 00:31:09.385 --> 00:31:14.779 Fear had distorted their perception, but Jesus told them take courage, it is. 00:31:14.779 --> 00:31:16.525 I don't be afraid. 00:31:16.525 --> 00:31:22.026 Fear can lie to us, but faith helps us see clearly. 00:31:23.296 --> 00:31:33.505 Fear often arises when we feel like we're losing control of a situation, and we fear when we feel out of control when in reality, we were never meant to be in control. 00:31:33.505 --> 00:31:43.962 In Mark 14, jesus and his humanity felt distressed before the cross, but he prayed and he said not my will, but yours be done. 00:31:43.962 --> 00:31:48.315 Even Jesus surrendered his fear to the father. 00:31:48.315 --> 00:31:55.548 So I'll conclude answering the questions that I asked at the beginning. 00:31:55.548 --> 00:32:02.618 Conclude answering the questions that I asked at the beginning. 00:32:02.638 --> 00:32:03.662 Why does fear often feel more real than faith? 00:32:03.662 --> 00:32:04.625 Well, perhaps these are my thoughts. 00:32:04.625 --> 00:32:14.022 Fear feels more real than faith because it appeals to our natural fallen instincts and our reliance on physical senses rather than the spiritual truth. 00:32:14.022 --> 00:32:15.826 Senses rather than the spiritual truth. 00:32:15.826 --> 00:32:29.634 Fear feels more real because it appears to our nature, but faith becomes stronger when we shift our focus from our circumstances to Christ. 00:32:30.875 --> 00:32:33.038 Why do our minds naturally focus on worst-case scenarios rather than trusting in the best possible outcome? 00:32:33.038 --> 00:32:45.397 Well, perhaps it's because the human mind is wired for self-preservation, but sin has distorted this into a pattern of just worry and doubt, over and over and over again. 00:32:45.397 --> 00:32:48.265 Our sinful nature assumes the worst because we want control. 00:32:48.265 --> 00:32:55.917 But faith calls us to trust in God's perfect plan rather than our fearful imaginations. 00:32:55.917 --> 00:32:59.843 And lastly, why do we trust fear so easily but struggle to trust God? 00:32:59.843 --> 00:33:13.029 Well, the truth is that fear is immediate and it plays on our emotions, while faith requires trust in God's unseen work. 00:33:13.029 --> 00:33:18.121 Fear is easier to trust because it appeals to our emotions, but faith is strengthened when we listen to God more than our fears. 00:33:18.121 --> 00:33:25.655 In the gospel, according to Mark, jesus constantly calls us to replace fear with faith. 00:33:25.655 --> 00:33:30.904 Fear is natural, but faith is a choice. 00:33:30.904 --> 00:33:39.184 It's a choice to trust Jesus, the suffering servant of the Lord, despite the storms and difficulties of life. 00:33:39.184 --> 00:33:41.189 Thank you.