Week 1:When Your Boat Gets Rocked

Church Unlimited Life Groups Curriculum

Boat Stories

Week 1:When Your Boat Gets Rocked

Pastor Bil Cornelius

1. Storms hit no matter how close you are to Jesus. (Matthew 8:23-24a)

2. When waking Jesus realize He is waking you up. (Matthew 8:24b-25)

3. Speak faith to your storm. (Matthew 8:26)

4. Be confident. (Matthew 8:27)

Leader:We all face storms in our lives. It doesn’t matter where we are in our Christian journey, storms will always arise. Actually, the deeper we are in our walk with Jesus, the more likely we will face these storms. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to grow. It’s in those storms that we often feel darkened by loneliness and abandonment, and we feel like Jesus isn’t there. Despite these fears, we can rely on this promise: Jesus will always be there in the storm.

Question: Why do you think it’s important for us to face storms? What do you do when your storms are too hard to handle on your own? Do you feel closer to Jesus? If so, how?

Leader Note: No matter what you’re facing, always know that you can call on Jesus in the midst of your storm. He is always there waiting and willing to help you in your time of need.

Leader:There are many times when we call out to God and never hear back. It’s frustrating enough to know that we will always face financial setbacks, relationship drama, unemployment and worry. But to not hear a response from God? It’s in that lack of response that we face our greatest fears: That God won’t respondor isn’t listening. It’s crucial to understand that God will use our storms to wake us up. Our storms are often called our “Wake-up” calls.

Question: Have you ever called out to God and waited for Him to respond, but He didn’t? What did you do about it? Did you give up? Did you stand strong?

Leader Note:We’ve all been in that boat, drifted by the storm, feeling like there is no way out. However, we can always find hope through Jesus. Hope in the still waters. Hope in this truth: That Jesus will always respond, even when His response is our wake-up call. The disciples communicated with Jesus, much like we communicate with Jesus through prayer. Don’t stop. Press through. He will answer.

Leader:You have to believe in what you can’t see. That’s faith. Faith is reaching out for the impossible. The impossible is speaking to your storm, to get through your storm. If you can’t sleep through your storm, you can’t speak to it.We must learn that in our storm, we have everything it takes to survive and win. We can champion our storms. We can champion our setbacks. We can win! Through Christ Jesus, the storm has been calmed. You must see beyond the wave.

Question: Has there been a circumstance in your life when you felt like it was too hard to see beyond the pain and turmoil of your storm? How did you survive? How did you win?

Leader Note:Our pain and our storms wake us up to the reality of the power of Jesus and His glory for our lives. If we stay in ‘pain mode”, we miss the miracle. Activate your faith by creating a plan that will boost your faith in Jesus. Start living a devout prayer life and create strategies for you to succeed in your storm. You have been awakened. You have been commissioned. Call out to Jesus. Hear his voice. Obey his command. Stand. Go and be the pioneer of your faith.

05/31/2015