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Series B – Fourth Sunday After Pentecost – Sunday, June 21, 2015 | Pr. Chris Rosebrough

Welcome to the Teaching Ministry of Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Kongsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of Northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone, and now, here’s a message from Pastor Chris Rosebrough:

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:27	The holy Gospel
0:29	According to Saint Mark Chapter 4 verses
0:32	35 through 41.
0:34	that day when evening came Jesus said to
0:37	his disciples let us go to the other
0:39	side leaving the crowd behind they took
0:42	him along just as he was in the boat
0:45	they were also there were also other
0:47	boats with him and the Furious Squall
0:50	came up and the waves broke over the
0:52	boat so that it was nearly swamped Jesus
0:56	was in the stern sleeping on the cushion
0:58	the disciples woke him and said to him
1:00	teacher don’t you care if we drown he
1:04	got up rebuked the wind and said to the
1:06	waves quiet be still
1:09	and then the wind died down and it was
1:11	completely calm he said to his disciples
1:14	why are you so afraid do you still have
1:16	no faith and they were terrified and
1:19	asked each other who is this even the
1:22	wind and the waves obey him
1:25	in the name of Jesus
1:29	teacher don’t you care if we drown
1:31	that’s our text today what a great text
1:34	don’t you care if we drown let me clean
1:36	up the translation a little bit though
1:37	the uh the word that is translated in
1:40	your Pew Bible as drown is the Greek
1:43	word apalumi and it actually is better
1:45	translated as don’t you care that we
1:47	perish
1:49	it means to be ruined or destroyed or to
1:52	perish and I think that’s probably a
1:54	better question it kind of gets at the
1:55	heart of the matter uh theologically a
1:57	little bit better teacher don’t you care
2:00	if we perish now the world that we live
2:04	in I don’t know if you’ve noticed it’s
2:07	wearing out like an old set of clothes
2:09	you know like you’ve got your favorite
2:11	set of clothes favorite set of Levi’s
2:13	and you get a rip in the knee and maybe
2:15	you’ve got that old favorite flannel
2:17	shirt and the elbows blow out and maybe
2:20	a pocket starts to fall off this is
2:22	what’s happening to our world and we
2:25	personally as individuals we’re all
2:28	wearing out even faster than the world
2:30	is
2:31	our world and everything in it is going
2:33	from order into utter chaos and disorder
2:37	so many of the beautiful and exquisite
2:39	animals that the Lord has created
2:40	they’re now extinct and more are
2:43	becoming extinct by the day human
2:45	society and while it’s far from heading
2:47	into a golden age and said Society seems
2:50	poised on the brink of moral Anarchy
2:53	take a look around what’s going on right
2:55	and it’s hard to believe that there was
2:57	a time in my life when I was young
3:00	strong
3:02	thin
3:04	yeah but with each passing day I see
3:09	more gray hair less muscle tone and even
3:12	my skin is beginning to show the signs
3:14	of age and wear and as I approach the
3:16	age of 50 and I won’t tell you how long
3:18	I have before I get there
3:21	it’s becoming very clear that the next
3:23	20 years of my life if I live that long
3:25	will bring with it an advancing
3:27	decrepitude and ultimately I’m going to
3:29	perish there’s no doubt about it and my
3:32	best efforts have well they’ve only
3:34	slowed the inevitable in other words I’m
3:37	doomed you know as scripture says the
3:39	wages of sin is death and as I slowly
3:42	slide towards the jaws of death there’s
3:44	nothing to hold on to to keep me from
3:46	being swallowed whole fact is it’s only
3:48	a matter of time
3:49	so we return then to our text that kind
3:52	of frames our thoughts as we approach
3:53	this text I want you to kind of keep
3:55	chaos in mind so it says this that day
3:58	when evening came Jesus said to his
4:01	disciples let us go over to the other
4:02	side now if you look at the immediate
4:04	context here Jesus had spent an entire
4:07	day doing Ministry he had preached and
4:09	preached in Parables and he was spent he
4:13	was literally just dog tired and if you
4:16	remember a couple of weeks ago Jesus you
4:19	know had this proclivity at this point
4:21	of really taking his ministry to the
4:23	brink at least physically for himself
4:25	which is rather fascinating because
4:27	Jesus is none other than God in human
4:29	flesh and so he wore himself out and at
4:31	one point you know we read this a couple
4:34	weeks ago his own family thought that
4:35	maybe he had lost his mind and they came
4:38	to collect him and bring the guys with
4:39	the little white jackets you know they
4:41	thought he’d kind of cracked and so here
4:45	it says that the evening came he said
4:47	let’s go over to the other side that
4:49	means the other side of the of Galilee
4:51	and leaving the crowd behind they took
4:53	him along just as he was just as he was
4:55	as a fine way of saying he hadn’t even
4:57	had a chance to shower yet so Jesus is
5:00	dirty he’s stinky he’s beat right so
5:04	they all got into the boat and there
5:06	were also other boats with him and a
5:09	furious Squall came up and the waves
5:12	broke over the boat so that it was
5:14	nearly swamped now in your bulletin I
5:16	actually put a little information there
5:17	regarding the Sea of Galilee and you’ll
5:20	notice that it’s in a bowl it’s actually
5:22	in a bowl geographically and as a result
5:25	of this there is a collision between hot
5:28	air masses and cold air masses at the
5:31	Sea of Galilee and that Collision causes
5:34	there to be furious squalls that come up
5:36	and so for a little fishing vessel like
5:38	they were probably on the White Caps
5:41	would get about three four five feet
5:43	high and they were swamping the boat
5:46	and what was Jesus doing while all of
5:48	this was going on
5:51	says he was in the stern sleeping on a
5:54	cushion
5:55	that’s how beat he he was right so the
6:00	disciples doing what the disciples do
6:02	they woke him up and then they posed
6:04	this question to him teacher don’t you
6:07	care if we perish
6:10	don’t you care
6:11	if we perish now Jesus gives them his
6:15	answer he does answer this question by
6:17	the way but he does not answer it with
6:18	words he answers their question with
6:21	action here’s his answer he got up
6:24	rebuked the wind and said to the waves
6:27	be quiet
6:28	be still
6:30	and then the wind died down and it was
6:33	completely calm now the way this kind of
6:36	translates into the Greek you have to
6:38	kind of understand something here I mean
6:40	this happened instantaneously all right
6:43	think of it this way one second there’s
6:47	four five foot White Caps it’s all chaos
6:50	and craziness water’s coming in they
6:53	can’t keep up and it’s as if Jesus snaps
6:56	his fingers and it there’s no
6:58	intermediate state it doesn’t it doesn’t
7:01	settle down slowly which is what you
7:04	would expect to happen right it just
7:06	goes from crazy to calm
7:11	that’s what happened and Jesus of course
7:14	he spoke to the wind in the waves as if
7:17	they were kind of like his pet dog you
7:19	know my dog Luther when he’s misbehaving
7:21	is like stay sit you know this is the
7:23	way he’s talking to the winds and the
7:25	waves and what ends up happening is is
7:28	that this terrifies the disciples
7:32	and Jesus says to them why are you so
7:34	afraid do you still have no faith and
7:36	the text says they were terrified and
7:38	asked each other who is this even the
7:40	wind and the waves obey him now keep in
7:42	mind these Jewish fishermen knew their
7:45	scriptures
7:46	they had it drilled into them as as
7:48	youths in the synagogue so they were
7:51	very familiar with this passage from job
7:53	that we read in our Old Testament text
7:54	and here’s what the Lord says in that
7:56	text let’s read let’s take a look back
7:58	at Job 38. the Lord answered job out of
8:02	the storm now if you’re familiar with
8:03	the story of Job Scholars really truly
8:05	believe this is the oldest text in the
8:07	Bible that it predates uh Moses and the
8:11	writing of the Torah and the best way I
8:13	can describe the Hebrew in here it is
8:15	like the Queen’s Hebrew you know I had
8:18	to talk about the queen’s English this
8:19	is some pretty fancy Hebrew going on in
8:21	here and in the story job if you
8:26	remember is going to be sifted tested by
8:30	the devil because the devil believes
8:32	that if he’s able to take everything
8:34	away from job that God has blessed him
8:36	with that he’ll end up cursing God
8:38	and so he’s put to the test if he would
8:41	and he loses his family he loses
8:43	everything that he has and is suffering
8:45	greatly even in his own body and of
8:47	course his comforters come by with
8:50	really bad theology basically saying
8:52	this is all your fault job I mean if
8:54	this wouldn’t be happening to you if you
8:56	hadn’t have done some kind of sin you
8:58	need you need to confess that you’ve
9:00	done something wrong to bring this on
9:01	yourself and job maintains his innocence
9:04	but along the way Joe begins to get a
9:06	little bit impatient with God and kind
9:08	of wants an explanation from God as to
9:10	why he’s suffering in a way that he
9:12	believes is unjust and so in rolls this
9:16	if you would kind of like a large
9:18	supercell thunderstorm with a tornado
9:20	attached to it comes right it comes
9:23	rolling right in and God’s going to
9:25	speak to job end his comforters you have
9:28	to put them in their quotes from out of
9:30	the Whirlwind here’s what it says who is
9:32	it that darkens my counsel with words
9:36	without knowledge
9:38	oh yeah that’s not going to make me feel
9:41	comfortable can you imagine God talking
9:42	to you like that you don’t know what
9:44	you’re talking about
9:46	uh-huh he says brace yourself like a man
9:48	I will question you
9:50	you shall answer me where were you when
9:53	I laid the Earth’s Foundation
9:57	this question hurts tell me if you
10:00	understand who marked off its Dimension
10:01	surely you know who stretched the
10:04	measuring line across it on what words
10:05	footing set and who laid its Cornerstone
10:07	while the morning Stars sang together
10:10	and all the Angels shouted for Joy who
10:13	shut up the sea behind doors when it
10:15	bursts forth from the womb when I made
10:18	the clouds its garment and wrapped it in
10:20	thick darkness when all when I fixed the
10:23	limits for it and set its doors and bars
10:25	in place and when I say this far you may
10:28	come and no farther here is where your
10:30	proud waves halt very clear from this
10:33	text God made the Earth God made the sea
10:38	and so this little illustration makes it
10:40	very clear if you know your Bible that
10:42	when Jesus gets up and talks to the Sea
10:44	as if it’s his pet and then it
10:46	immediately calms down well you know who
10:49	you’re dealing with you know in whose
10:52	presence you are none other than God
10:54	himself can speak to a Raging Sea until
10:57	it silent and have the sea obey him and
11:01	so the realization of who Jesus is
11:03	terrified the disciples now it’s similar
11:07	to the same kind of fear that we see in
11:09	the Old Testament with Samson’s family
11:12	you all know the story of Samson and his
11:14	and his father you all know well let’s
11:17	take a look at it it’s you’re going to
11:19	find this in the Book of Judges chapter
11:22	13. and so I’m going to illustrate what
11:26	this fear that the disciples are
11:28	experiencing is like by looking at
11:29	another passage of scripture
11:32	and here’s what it says
11:34	Judges chapter 13. the people of Israel
11:37	again did what was evil in the sight of
11:39	the Lord so the lord gave them into the
11:41	hand of the Philistines for 40 years as
11:43	the cycle of sin captivity Deliverance
11:47	sin Captain yeah this interesting thing
11:50	going on there in the Book of Judges and
11:52	here’s what it says there was a certain
11:53	man of zorah of the tribe of the danites
11:55	whose name was Manoa and his wife was
11:58	Barren and had no children but the angel
12:01	of the Lord appeared to the woman and
12:02	said to her behold you are Barren and
12:04	have not born children but you shall
12:07	conceive and bear a son therefore be
12:09	careful and drink no wine or strong
12:10	drink and eat nothing unclean for behold
12:13	you shall conceive and bear a son no
12:14	razor shall come upon his head for the
12:17	child is to be a Nazarite to God from
12:20	the womb and he shall begin to save
12:23	Israel from the hand of the Philistines
12:25	then the woman came and told her husband
12:27	a man of God came to me and his
12:29	appearance was like the appearance of
12:30	the angel of God very awesome I did not
12:33	ask where he was from him and he did not
12:35	tell me his name but he said to me
12:37	behold you shall conceive and bear a son
12:39	so then drink no wine or strong drink
12:41	and eat nothing unclean for the child
12:44	shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb
12:46	to the day of his death
12:48	kind of sounds like the the announcing
12:50	of the birth of John the Baptist there’s
12:53	some some parallel stuff going on here
12:55	now the angel of the Lord by the way
12:58	when you see this in the Old Testament
12:59	that’s kind of code talk for the
13:01	pre-incarnate Jesus Christ that’s who’s
13:03	appeared here and it actually become
13:05	very clear as the text unfolds so here’s
13:08	what it says so Manoa prayed to the Lord
13:10	capital r capital d That’s Yahweh he
13:14	prayed to Yahweh he said oh Lord please
13:16	let the man of God whom you sent come
13:19	again to us and teach us what we are to
13:21	do with the child who will be born
13:24	and God listen to the voice of Manoa and
13:27	the angel of God came again to the woman
13:29	as she sat in the field but Manoa her
13:31	husband was not with her so the woman
13:33	ran quickly and told her husband behold
13:36	the man who came to me the other day
13:37	he’s appeared to me and so a Manoa Rose
13:40	and went after his wife and came to the
13:42	man and said to him are you the man who
13:45	spoke to this woman and he said I am
13:50	right yeah that’s kind of a hint there
13:53	you know the Hebrew this is the same
13:56	language we get Moses in the burning
13:58	bush whom shall I say sent me I am sent
14:01	you right so he says I am and Manoa said
14:05	hmm now now when your words come true
14:08	what is the child’s manner of life and
14:10	what is his mission and the angel of the
14:12	Lord said to Manoa of all that I said to
14:15	the woman let her be careful she may not
14:17	eat of anything that comes from the vine
14:18	either let her drink wine or strong
14:21	drink or eat anything unclean all that I
14:24	have commanded her to observe a Manoa
14:26	said to the angel of the lord well
14:27	please let us detain you and prepare a
14:30	young goat for you and the angel of the
14:32	Lord said to Manoa if you detain me I
14:34	will not eat your food but if you
14:36	prepare a burnt offering then offer to
14:38	Yahweh for Manoa did not know that it
14:41	was the angel of the Lord and so Manoa
14:43	said to the angel lord well what is your
14:45	name so that when your words come true
14:47	we may honor you and the angel of the
14:49	Lord said why do you ask my name seeing
14:51	that it is wonderful
14:53	kind of an invasive answer right so
14:55	Manoa took the young goat Watch What
14:57	Happens here
14:59	took the young goat the grain offering
15:00	and offered it on the Rock to the Lord
15:02	to the one who works wonders and Manoa
15:06	and his wife were watching and when the
15:08	flame went up toward the Heaven from the
15:10	altar the angel of the Lord went up in
15:13	the flame of the altar
15:17	that had to be awesome to behold now
15:19	watch what happened so Manoa and his
15:21	wife were watching and then they
15:22	immediately fell on their faces to the
15:24	ground
15:25	why because they knew that they were in
15:28	the presence of God the text says this
15:30	so the angel of the Lord appeared no
15:32	more to Manoa and his wife and them and
15:34	Noah knew that he was the angel of the
15:35	Lord and Manoa said to his wife watch
15:37	this
15:38	we shall surely die for we have seen God
15:42	now
15:43	the woman’s going to speak some sense
15:45	he’s clearly lost his mind here because
15:47	the woman was paying attention to the
15:49	fact that not only does God preach in
15:51	words he also preaches in actions so
15:53	watch this she sees the gospel in the
15:56	actions of the Angel of the Lord and
15:59	here’s what she says his wife said to
16:01	him if the Lord meant to kill us he
16:03	would not have accepted the burnt
16:04	offering and a grain offering at our
16:06	hands or shown us all of these things or
16:08	now announced to us
16:09	such things as these
16:12	so notice she correctly exegetes the
16:16	actions and sees the gospel in it and so
16:19	the idea is this is that knowing that
16:21	God is in our presence that’s not
16:23	necessarily good news and there’s a
16:25	reason for that and each and every one
16:27	of us we’re Sinners and we really kind
16:30	of deep down fear and dread that idea of
16:33	actually having to stand before God and
16:36	give an encounting of Our Lives because
16:38	we know what we’ve done and we know that
16:41	we have fallen short and so the idea of
16:44	being in God’s presence doesn’t actually
16:46	provide us with comfort
16:47	it provides us with well the same kind
16:50	of thing that Manoa had here a little
16:52	bit of Terror but notice the woman she
16:54	paid very close attention to the actions
16:57	and knew that there was gospel in it and
16:59	she comforted herself and her husband
17:01	with the gospel actions of the Angel of
17:03	the Lord
17:05	so let’s go back then and take a look at
17:08	what’s going on in our text so the
17:11	disciples they’re there in their little
17:13	boat on the Sea of Galilee and the
17:16	Creator himself is there among them and
17:20	they are terrified much like Manoa they
17:23	fear that they will surely die because
17:25	they have seen God they are in his
17:27	presence even though Christ has done
17:29	something very gospely for us so like I
17:32	said it’s not good news that Jesus is
17:34	God and the reason for this is because
17:36	we are sinners in fact it’s our sin that
17:39	has brought chaos to the Earth
17:41	it is because of our sin that there are
17:43	storms hurricanes tornadoes earthquakes
17:46	tsunamis famine pestilence and blight
17:49	all of these are the result of our sin
17:51	this is the undoing of the order of
17:54	creation and harbingers of the impending
17:57	chaos and doom
17:59	caused by our sin but let me remind us
18:02	like manoa’s wife that if God in human
18:05	flesh meant for our destruction and the
18:07	destruction of the disciples for their
18:09	sin then he would not have calmed the
18:11	storm and made the sea glassy calm
18:15	and there’s the gospel it’s right there
18:17	in his actions
18:20	so the idea is this Jesus is not only
18:23	God he is God for them and he has come
18:27	to save them and by doing this he’s also
18:30	shown that he’s come to save us so he
18:33	said to his disciples why are you so
18:35	afraid do you still have no faith
18:39	faith for what
18:41	faith that God doesn’t mean you harm it
18:44	means you good that he truly loves you
18:46	that he forgives you that he’s come to
18:48	save you because he cares that you are
18:51	perishing he cared so much that they
18:54	were perishing he re and and
18:58	let’s see he cared that they were
18:59	perishing and restored order and
19:02	silenced the chaos and he’s doing the
19:04	same for you and for me Jesus cares that
19:07	you are perishing he cares so much that
19:10	he is sprung into action and he’s not
19:12	sleeping and he has demonstrated through
19:15	his actions that he has great love for
19:17	you this is what Romans 5 says starting
19:19	at verse 6 for while we were still weak
19:22	at the right time Christ died for the
19:24	ungodly for one will scarcely die for
19:27	even a righteous person though perhaps
19:29	for a good person one would dare to die
19:30	but God shows or demonstrates his love
19:34	for us in that while we were still
19:36	sinners Christ died for us well since
19:40	therefore we have now been justified by
19:42	his blood how much more shall we be
19:44	saved from the wrath of God for if while
19:47	we were enemies we were reconciled to
19:49	God by the death of his son well much
19:52	more now that we are reconciled shall we
19:54	be saved by his life more than that we
19:56	also rejoice in God to our Lord Jesus
19:59	Christ through whom we have now received
20:01	reconciliation
20:04	so the idea is this
20:06	the gospel is there in Jesus’s actions
20:09	and it points us to the Cross there is
20:12	God among human beings in the midst of
20:15	the chaos created by our sin
20:17	collectively and they ask the question
20:19	and it’s a good question do you not care
20:21	that we are perishing
20:23	and Jesus’s answer is I care deeply that
20:25	you are perishing
20:26	so much so that I’m going to calm the
20:30	sea and he’s going to ultimately calm
20:32	the chaos of that stormy sea which
20:35	really truly represents the wages of our
20:37	sin by going to the cross and bleeding
20:40	and dying for our sins taking God’s
20:43	punishment that we have all earned upon
20:45	himself in order to make things right
20:48	and now I think it’s significant then
20:50	also little detail in the Book of
20:53	Revelation remember the Book of
20:55	Revelations the bat the back of the
20:57	Bible it’s the last book there’s a
20:59	vision of Heaven There and there’s a
21:00	little detail and it’s not a throwaway
21:02	detail and it hearkens even to this
21:05	miracle and it Harkens in a way to
21:07	comfort us with the gospel of that we’ve
21:10	seen today here’s what it says
21:12	Revelation chapter four I’ll start at
21:14	verse 1. after this this is the Apostle
21:17	John I looked and behold a door standing
21:20	open in heaven and the first voice which
21:22	I heard speaking to me like a trumpet
21:24	said come up here and I will show you
21:26	what must take place after this and at
21:28	once I was in the spirit and behold the
21:31	throne stood in heaven with one seated
21:33	on the throne and he who sat there had
21:35	the appearance of Jasper and cornelian
21:37	and around the throne was a rainbow that
21:39	had the appearance of an emerald and
21:42	around the throne were 24 Thrones and
21:44	seated on the Thrones were 24 Elders
21:46	clothed in white garments with golden
21:48	crowns on their heads from the throne
21:51	came flashes of lightning Rumblings and
21:53	peels of thunder and Before the Throne
21:54	were burning seven torches of fire which
21:57	of the seven spirits of God and here it
21:59	is and Before the Throne there was as it
22:02	were a sea of glass
22:05	by Crystal
22:07	right before the Throne of Christ is a
22:11	sea of glass it’s the epitome of the
22:13	opposite of chaos you remember in the
22:16	Book of Genesis it says in the beginning
22:17	God created the heavens and the Earth
22:19	the Earth was out without form and void
22:21	and darkness was over the the face of
22:24	the to home over the face of the deep it
22:28	says in Genesis 1. well the to home in a
22:31	sense is really represents truly chaos
22:33	and this is the way the Hebrews have
22:35	always understood to home to home is
22:37	chaos to home is the Deep this is where
22:39	Leviathan is this is chaos out of
22:41	control it’s the opposite of order
22:44	and There Before the Throne of Christ is
22:48	not chaos
22:49	but the calm glassy see that we see
22:53	figured Even in our miracle today it’s a
22:56	sign to us that God is calming the chaos
23:00	he cares that we are perishing and he’s
23:03	making a new heavens and a new Earth it
23:06	is all gospel promise and it’s all
23:08	delivered to you through the preaching
23:09	of the Gospel received in the waters of
23:12	your baptism God is calming the chaos
23:14	and taking this world which is wearing
23:17	out
23:18	taking you and your body which is
23:20	wearing out
23:22	and ultimately he’s going to raise you
23:24	from the grave
23:25	he’s going to end the chaos definitively
23:27	and restore true order in the creation
23:32	new Heavens new Earth and all of those
23:35	Critters that have gone extinct will be
23:37	brought back
23:38	and it’ll be paradise forever all
23:41	because of what Christ has done and all
23:43	of this because He does care
23:46	that you and I are perishing
23:49	so much so that he loved us and died for
23:52	us because truly it’s not this life that
23:55	we have to worry about or this death
23:57	that faces us right now that we have to
23:59	worry about it’s the second death that
24:02	he’s truly saving us from
24:04	think about that in the name of Jesus
24:06	Amen

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