"WAKE UP THE SLEEPER" Curtis Spears TEXT: MARK 4:35-41 I. INTRODUCTION Sleeping is a very natural act. There is nothing wrong with sleeping unless we sleep so much that it is pure laziness. But God has designed our bodies so that we must rest. There is not one of us who can do away with the need for sleep. There was a man one time who claimed he could prove that he could do without sleep. He claimed that when one got tired or weary all they would have to do is get in a lazyboy recliner, stretch out, turn on some soft music, close the eyes, breathe deeply, and just let your mind relax, and you would never need any sleep. I thought to myself, "I guess not after you woke up!" But no amount of relaxation can replace the need for sleep. There is no greater demand, possibly, other than hunger, upon the human body than the demand to get proper sleep. It does not matter if a soldier is on the run from the enemy, there must come a time to stop and rest. There will come a time that the body will not go on. The demand for rest overides man's survival instinct. In the desert, hunger and thirst are overidden when the weary body that can't stay awake. Of course, sleeping is healthy. Animals that don't sleep much don't live long. Turtles live nearly a hundred years, whereas, cats may live only 15 to 18 years. Then again, it can be detrimental. The human and the grizzly bear are the only ones known to die in their sleep. So maybe we sleep too much. The Bible says, "It is vain to rise up early and stay up late." So you try and find a happy medium somewhere and then you can let me know where it is! II. BODY A. The course of history has even been changed by those who slept. 1. Of history's famous battles that changed the history of the world, two of those battles took place and the course of the Roman Empire was changed because their generals slept at a critical time in battle. 2. Samson slept in the lap of Delilah and it effected the leadership and the course of Israel. 3. The Midianites slept and Gideon overheard their plans and Gideon slipped down their among their tents. 4. Sisera was killed by a young woman as she drove a nail through his temple whil he slept, and it brought victory to the people of God. * In Texas, their is a monument built because Santa Anna and his men decided to take a siesta, and they were defeated by the Texans causing the course of history to be changed because somebody slept! B. There have been times that we all have missed golden opportunities in life because were, in a sense, caught sleeping, and so we have the cliche', "When you snooze you loose!" 1. How many of us have lost out on opportunities because we were not aware? * There were two men that were talking about some acreage one time. It was about 9 acres of land that was selling for over 1 million dollars an acre. One man regretfully said, "I can't believe it. Not long ago I could have purchased all that property for just over 100,000 dollars. I must have been asleep!" Of course, we can all look back and see where we missed opportunities because we were not aware, we were seemingly asleep! * In 1965, a Ford Mustang could be bought for $400.00. Years later, the value went up and the demand increased so that even after having the car a while, we could resell it for the same $400.00. But now, they are worth $20,000 in mint condition. * A 1961 Cadillac convertible is now $100,000. But we junk them because we are not aware. * If you have an origional Dusenburg, it's worth 5 million that somebody paid less than $1000 for. We get rid of them because we are not awake to our opportunity! C. There are many nations who are no more than "sleeping-giants" on the face of the earth, because they have not become aware of their potential. 1. The United States of America has become great because from its inception, it was founded and expanded by men who were aware of its potential! And it remains to have the greatest potential in the world! 2. But the greatest potential is not in old cars, and real estate. The greatest potential is not in undiscovered gold mines or oil wells. The greatest potential is not in the wealth of nations of the United States. But the greatest potential in the world is the the Church of the Living God! * Jesus said, "All things are possible to them that believe!" And my friend, that is the most powerful potential! And the the Church is a place of potential! * We can't complain about the world's competitive ability. We can't complain that we've got to contend with the casinos, Astroworld, Six Flags, or the Epcot Center. Because when God made the Church, He made it with so much potential that no matter how great the world got, the Church could rise above it! It is still in the Church to turn the world upside down! D. The power that is in the Church is a power because of the name of the Lord is powerful! Proverbs 18:10 - "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe." 1. This church was born in power, and its potential still has yet to be discovered. The greatest days of the Church are where ever the Church is! And where ever the Church is, there is the power to change the world. Underneath this frail humanity is the power of God that spoke worlds into existence. All we need to do is wake up the sleeper! E. The disciples were in the boat and battled the storm, wind, and waves, because they were unaware of what was in the ship! They spent their time and their energies struggling with a situation and they were unaware with what was on board! 1. And we fear storms. And we fear the economy. And we fear the uncertainty of the unknown and the inexperienced! We fear sickness and we fear problems and we wring our hands because we have forgotten who is on board this ship! 2. We are not alone, for there is a presence in the boat! It was there all the time, but it just needs to be awakened from sleep! * If we could ever get people to act at home like they do in church, and if we could get the same frame of mind outside the church as on the inside there is no telling what miracle might take place! We expect faith on the inside of the Church, and we expect positive things inside the Church, but the key is that the power that was in the church house on Sunday night is the same power that resides on the inside of you when you leave! You just need to wake up the sleeper! * We are not alone in the storm. We have a presence in the boat with us! We have the presence of the one who said, "I'll be with you always, even to the end of the world!" * The Holy Ghost power that we have is all the power we will ever need! Turn to somebody and tell them, "Hey, you! Wake up the sleeper!" * You don't need to look any where else for it! You don't need to search any further! For the power of God is here right now! That Holy Ghost power is within the Church! That power is within you! * We have all we need in us to win every battle, to sail every storm, to win every race, to conquer every foe, and to move every mountain! You don't have to live discouraged! You don't have to live depressed! You don't have to live negative, defeated, or dispondent! You've got all you'll ever need in the Holy Ghost! "For greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world!" * Jesus said, "I give you power over scorpions and serpents and over all the power of the enemy!" * You don't need a horoscope of a hyptnotist. You don't need a psychiatrist or a psychologist, but what we need is an old fashioned altar experience of the re-igniting power of God's Spirit in us and shake off that dormant, sleepy, lethargic attitude and realize what God has invested in us! * He has invested a name that is above every name! He has invested a power that is above all the power of the enemy! All we need to do is wake up the sleeper! 3. Jesus said, "Let us go over unto the other side." If Jesus said it, and he included you and me, then who or what can stop it? * The storm is trying to stop you from going to the other side, because on the other side of the storm is going to be an encounter with somebody who's waiting for deliverance! * You've got to keep in view that on the otherside of your storm, or your problem, or your disappointment, or your discouragement, is going to be an encounter with a miracle and a revival! You just need to make a trip to the back of the boat and wake up the sleeper! Don't bail out! Don't quit now! Just wake up the sleeper, and he can calm your storm! * Too many times we put the Holy Ghost to sleep in the back of the ship! We want to say, "Now Holy Ghost, you're good for shouting and you're good for a run around the church, but we've got no other place for you, because, you see, we don't mix business and religion!" And like the disciples, we've got Jesus on board, but what we do is say, "Well Jesus, you good for blessing babies, and your good at drawing crowds, but you're a land lover, and a carpenter. We're on the sea now, and we know all about sailing, so you just sit tight and you'll be fine." * We think we've got it all figured out and there's just some things we've got to do for ourselves. You know, that's fanatical to fast and pray about everything. Come on, be reasonable, we got to do some of this all by ourselves! And we put Jesus on the back of the ship until the storm comes along and a situation that we can't handle comes along, when what we need to have done was to go wake up the sleeper! * The storm grew worse until the ship was full. They kept waiting, because they forgot who He was! I'll tell you who He is! He's the Alpha, and Omega, The Beginning and the Ending! He's the Sea Walker, the Blind Man Healer! He's the Miracle worker, the King of kings and Lord of lords! * The next thing they did was realize that their efforts wouldn't get the job done, and at least one of the disciples had sense enough to go to the back of the boat! "Ah-hem!.....JESUS!!! Carest thou not that we perish!?" That's right! Go ahead and realize it! You aren't going to do it in the flesh! Go to the back of the boat now and WAKE UP THE SLEEPER!! * And they asked, "What manner of man is this?" * "Now unto him who is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we can ask or think, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN US!" * He said, "In the day you begin to call, I'll answer while they are yet speaking!" III. CLOSING * And the truth is He really wasn't asleep! "For He that watches over Israel slumbereth not, neither does sleep!" The disciples were really the ones who were asleep! But when we realize who's on board this ship and who it is that can calm the storm, all we need to do is to wake up the sleeper!