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that was a mistake somebody left me the clicker this could be fun have you ever been in a situation where you were stuck uh not so much the physical stuck in the snow like that probably happened a lot this week that was a mess but more of a realization that your next move is not clear you don't know where you're supposed to turn um you don't have one really difficult path you don't know which path to take or there's no path available around 2000 i was traveling back to school in ohio from nebraska through indianapolis as i drove through the late afternoon in the evening i turned on my lights not realizing at the time that my alternator was not working properly a mechanic later explained that the alternator was supposed to switch between the regular setting and the higher power when you turn on the lights or turn a lot of other stuff mine wasn't doing that as i drove along i noticed that the lights on the dash were starting to dim and the radio was beginning to fade turned up the volume nothing worked i i couldn't figure it out i switched off the radio and it turned all the cabin lights off but to no avail i saw there was an exit ramp approaching assume that this would be an exit where i could get help or find a service station just after i turned off the interstate the engine stopped and i coasted down the off-ramp i was able to get the car turned off the ramp and began to assess my surroundings no gas station no service station there was one street light and a small industrial building was fenced in nearby since this is the year before i got a cell phone plan i didn't have a way to call anyone and there wasn't a pay phone nearby there i was and i was stuck as i pray to god to help for help a car drove by it was not a welcome sight i couldn't tell it was in the car because the windows were very very dark i decided not to get their attention i sat there for a few more minutes and the truck pulled up driver opened the window asked if i needed help i thanked him and said yes he said we should move the car out of the roadway where it had come to a stop when the engine stopped he offered to take me to an auto parts store and get a battery i opened the passenger door to climb in the truck and there was his bible sitting on the front seat he drove me to pick up a battery and brought me back to help me install it then he led me to in his vehicle to show me where i could find a motel as it was near now midnight and i had over two hours left to drive i thanked him and offered him something for his troubles but he declined in our passage today the disciples find themselves in a desperate situation they are on a boat struggling with the wind in the waves now things wouldn't be so bad for them if jesus was in the boat like he had been on the previous occasion a few chapters earlier but this was not the case he was he had sent them away and sent them on in the boat and and they were struggling out there in the in the waves in the wind before they all i had to do is wake him up we had a plan there's a problem okay get jesus we'll get him we're good everything's good not so much where is he we don't know he stayed behind there they are without a phone and without a working motor to get them out of their predicament and then they saw something a ghost was coming towards them and they were terrified thankfully it was jesus and we're told another gospel account that he even asked peter to join him on the water our god's a god who delivers from impossible situations dead ends is there anyone who would share a time when they were stuck far off place didn't have any idea what to do just prayed and god opened up a door go ahead god rescued him from a difficult situation for 13 years praise god god delivered him from prison praise god let's thank god that he delivers from impossible situations god's thank god thank you that you're always there even in the midst of of times we don't feel like we have any choices any roads to walk down thanks to you open doors and you rescue us thanks earl was watching out for us in your name immediately jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd after leaving them he went up on a mountainside to pray later that night the boat was in the middle of the lake and he was alone on land he saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them before dawn he went out to them walking on the lake he was about to pass by them but when they saw him walking on the lake they thought he was a ghost they cried out because they all saw him and were terrified immediately he spoke to them and said take courage it is i don't be afraid then he climbed into the boat with them and the wind died down they were completely amazed they had not understood about the loaves their hearts were hardened that is an amazing story unimaginable to think about what jesus did as before we get into the story itself you may have noticed drew actually alluded to it that it's in another gospel that we read what a lot of times our attention is drawn to that peter walked out on the water with jesus but did you notice in our account today from mark chapter six by the way we're going to spend a lot of time in mark chapter six if you have your bible with you i'd invite you to turn to that passage in your bible or if you want to look it up on your phone and be ready to go we're actually going to walk through the chapter because there's a lot that sets up this incredible event that we're going to study about today but why doesn't mark mention peter that is a great question i looked you know i have two or three different study bibles i looked in all three of them no explanation i looked in every commentary that i could find no explanation there either it's like they didn't realize that it wasn't there actually i think they did realize it was there their idea of what happened and my idea of what happened perhaps your idea of what happened is just as good as anybody else's idea of what happened so let me give you my theory and just take it for what it's worth okay mark's gospel the first gospel that was more than likely written is also the shortest gospel and so it makes me wonder if you're if you're trying to convey something in a relatively brief period of time of course necessarily in fact john mentions this in his gospel that there is so much that jesus did that there's no way that you could ever include it all so why was it that this particular part of the story was edited out was not included was omitted it's a great question i think it comes in understanding who mark is mark more than likely john mark a character in the early church who traveled around with the apostle paul who was a cousin of barnabas who later in his life was mentored and discipled by one of the apostles whose name was peter the guy whose famous episode of walking on the water with jesus is not here in mark's gospel why was that well i think we're we're basically come down to maybe a couple of possibilities one if you look at that story peter does not he's not exactly the hero in the story in fact peter shows some glaring weakness and maybe it was because of that that he said you know what mark you can leave that part out or maybe it's because he had faith and he stepped out and is could actually be seen to be something of a hero in the story maybe for that reason he said you know what mark this isn't about me this is about jesus that's just a couple of guesses as to why but this morning we're going to take a look at this story and not focus on peter but we're going to focus on jesus and how the disciples responded to him now when we look at a passage like this a story like this where we just jump into the middle of mark chapter 6 starting with verse 45 and you think well what was going on beforehand and that's a great question to ask you know we're going to look at the text this morning of the bible but we're also going to look at the context what set this up what was going on with jesus what was going on with the disciples that led to this incredible event so we're going to go all the way back near the beginning in mark chapter 6 verse 12 where jesus had sent the disciples out on a missions trip you might say that that jesus disciples got to go on an immerse kind of an experience they were preaching they were delivering people from demons and healing people of sickness we read in verses 12 and 13. so the disciples went out telling everyone they met to repent of their sins and turn to god and they cast out many demons and healed many sick people anointing them with olive oil now later in the chapter we read that they had returned to report on their experience to jesus and this is where we're going to pick up the story as we continue on down in verse 31. so verse 31 all right then jesus said after they had reported let's go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest a while i think that makes perfect sense i mean they have been engaged in spiritually physically and emotionally demanding kind of efforts on behalf of the kingdom of god and so when jesus said you know what we're going to take the day off we're going to go on a little bit of a vacation we're going to enjoy ourselves by finding a quiet place so we can rest he said this because there were so many people coming and going that jesus and his apostles didn't even have time to eat so they left by boat for a quiet place where they could be alone but many people recognize them and saw them leaving and jesus and and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them all right can you imagine this they launched the boat out they're going across the portion of the lake and the crowd sees them and scurries around on the shore and it says they ran ahead of them along the shore and got there ahead of them so left a crowd and when they land on the shore there's the crowd waiting for them remember the whole point of this trip was to have some peace and quiet but what does jesus do jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd so he began teaching them many things well the next thing we know it's the end of the day i don't know how long jesus talked but my sense was he could keep the attention of a crowd he may have talked all day long what we do know is that the disciples were paying attention to what time it was they bring this to the attention of jesus letting him know that they've just about run out of daylight we read in verse 35 that late in the afternoon his disciples came to him and said this is a remote place and it's already getting late send the crowds away so they can go to the nearby farms and villages and buy something to eat but jesus said listen to this jesus said you feed them with what they asked we'd have to work for months to earn money to buy food for all these people how much bread do you have jesus asked go and find out and they came back and reported we have five loaves of bread and two fish and then something unimaginable occurred i want you to listen in as we continue on picking it up with verse 41 that jesus took the five loaves and two fish looked up toward heaven and blessed them then breaking the loaves into pieces he kept giving the bread to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people he also divided the fish for everyone to share they all ate as much as they wanted and afterward the disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftover bread and fish a total of 5 000 men or heads of household and their families were fed it's estimated that anywhere from maybe 15 to 20 000 people could have been there i mean we know a little bit about serving food after service at a block party right we know something about maybe 100 or 150 people coming and what a what all that takes in terms of effort can you imagine it wasn't like jesus just handed the food out like that he utilized the disciples efforts so here are these men they have listened to jesus minister and teach all day long they've been involved with the process they have just participated in this incredible feeding of the multitude and now we come to our scripture lesson today and i want us to understand this that it wasn't like you know they just hopped in the boat nothing you know they have been through a lot already and then we pick it up with verse 45 immediately after this jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and head across the lake to beside uh and while he sent the while he sent the people home after telling everyone goodbye jesus went up into the hills by himself to pray late that night the disciples were in their boat in the middle of the lake and jesus was alone on land he saw that they were in serious trouble rowing hard and struggling against the wind and the waves about three o'clock in the morning jesus came toward them walking on the water he intended to go past them but when they saw him walking on the water they cried out in terror thinking he was a ghost they were all terrified when they saw him but jesus spoke to them at once don't be afraid he said take courage i am here and then he climbed into the boat and the wind stopped and they were totally amazed for they still didn't understand the significance of the miracle of the loaves their hearts were too hard to take it in do you know hundreds and hundreds of years ago in the early church one of the early church fathers augustine preaching on this passage of scripture had this to say about jesus he came treading the water and so he puts all the swelling two molts of life under his feet and then he asked this question christians why are you afraid in much the same way commentator or as the word i coined a couple of weeks ago commentarian if you will william barkley had this to say about the same story he says when jesus is there the storm becomes a calm the tumult becomes a peace the undoable becomes doable the unbearable becomes bearable and men pass the breaking point do not break but let's look at this dilemma of the disciples where they find themselves that night after a long day of doing ministry with jesus they were physically exhausted they would have been emotionally spent and you know oftentimes i have found in life anyway it is when i am physically exhausted and when i am emotionally spent that i'm also find myself spiritually vulnerable spiritually weak and so what does jesus do in this moment he sends them away in the boat while he dismisses the crowd and then spends some time alone with his father in prayer and as evening comes we can see two contrasting scenes develop we have one jesus on the shore praying in the calm serenity of his relationship with god and the other is one of the disciples probably about three miles away in the middle of the sea of galilee laboring at the oars in the middle of a storm can you picture anything more of a contrast than the the silent quiet that jesus the fellowship that he's enjoying with his father and this storm that is the disciples find themselves in i think this episode gives us a good illustration a wonderful picture of what the life of following jesus actually entails for us today think about this these men have been with jesus they had they had obeyed the command of jesus and now as followers of jesus they find themselves facing unspeakable hardship the wind of the storm blowing around them and the waves of the seas crashing nearby and jesus is nowhere to be found how often do we feel the same way in our lives we enjoy our time with jesus and even though sometimes it demands every fiber of our being we seek to do his bidding just as these men did long ago and then we find ourselves enduring spiritual opposition that tempts us to ask the question what do we do wrong for jesus to seemingly leave us on our own in our struggle but here's the thing we need to remember the disciples hadn't done anything wrong in fact they had done exactly what they were told to do and sometimes that happens with us in our lives as well we haven't done anything wrong when we encounter hardship when we encounter opposition when we encounter difficulty in fact oftentimes when we are doing exactly what god would want us to do it's then that we feel like we've hit a brick wall and all i can conclude on those occasions when this happens in our lives is that sometimes when obeying jesus leads us into some of the most challenging circumstances that we could ever imagine in our lives and when this happens to us we need to remember that it happened to disciples long long ago and so we shouldn't be surprised when it happens to us as well when we encounter this kind of opposition in our lives of faith you know we that's whenever you run into a brick wall i would highly recommend that you just stop and go oh okay here's a brick wall i wonder what the problem is it's a great time to do a check of where we are with the lord there are times by the way when we run into a brick wall and and it is jesus letting us know we are we've gotten off track we're going the wrong way and he has intervened in our lives sometimes we face opposition because of sin but as we've seen in our text today that's not always true and when that isn't the case we can be assured that we haven't been abandoned by god here's the thing even when we fail because of sin when we struggle with addiction in relationship in circumstances in our lives that god has not abandoned us in fact he often does his best refining work in our lives when we face hardship i love hebrews chapter 12. i want to read that for you right now which helps us understand this is written to a group of christians who were enduring opposition persecution because of their faith in jesus and the author says no discipline is enjoyable while it's happening it's painful but afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way so take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthened your weak knees man that last line i think is a great line for a lot of us may be here this morning maybe you're struggling to see progress in ministry maybe you're struggling to overcome addiction maybe you're struggling in a relationship maybe you're struggling with circumstances in your life maybe jesus word for us this morning is this take a new grip with your tired hand and strengthen your weak knees you see the deliverance of our savior is there in response to the dilemma of these disciples that's what we want to talk about next that even though the disciples were struggling in their exhausted state against ferocious winds and waves that threaten their lives unbeknownst to them i love this they had never been out of the sight of jesus they had never been out of the mind of jesus we read in verse 48 that he saw that they were in serious trouble this is where deliverance begins that even though jesus was alone with his father in prayer his disciples had not slipped from his attention he saw them jesus saw them he knew where they were and he knew what they were doing none of this that they were experiencing was a surprise for jesus jesus didn't get caught off guard oh no what did i send my disciples into he is the one who knows the length of our days he's the one who knows the number of hairs that may or may not be on our heads the one who knows these things knew the seriousness of their dilemma and if we're in trouble right now jesus knows all about that too i want us to just pause and think about that he sees us just as he saw them then later in the same verse verse 48 we see that jesus came toward them walking on the water knowing the danger that they were facing jesus walked right through the waves of the sea of galilee just as god had earlier in history with his people israel led them out by his servant moses through the red sea remember that episode in the book of exodus and later by his servant joshua after 40 years in the wilderness led them through the jordan river this is another one of those times when jesus makes theological statements as the word of god without saying anything at all he had come for them and then when the disciples see him of course they're terrified we read in verse 50 that jesus spoke to them at once don't be afraid he said take courage i am here jesus saw them he came for them and when they were overwhelmed with fear at the sight of him he identified himself by this phrase i am here i am the great name that god uses to identify himself with with his people israel yahweh i am that i am i mean they would have heard that echoing in the wind i am here his use of god's name yet another way of letting them know that in jesus god was right there with them he saw them he came for them he spoke to them and then that brings me to my favorite part of the story in verse 51 where we read then he climbed into the boat and the wind stopped they were totally amazed jesus sees what's going on in our lives he comes in response to what we are facing he speaks to us when we are afraid reassuring us of his presence and best of all he doesn't deal with us from afar but he comes climbs right into the boat with us willing to help us sort out the mess that we find ourselves in and then there's one more detail that i want to bring to our attention before i wrap this up today did you happen to notice what time of the day all this was going on three o'clock in the morning i mean think about all that they had gone through during the day the highs the lows the exhaustion physically emotionally and all that they had battled through throughout the night and it's at three o'clock in the morning when things couldn't get darker when things couldn't get any worse that jesus comes to them at three o'clock in the morning this speaks to me because i often wake up at three o'clock in the morning and when i do a lot of times my heart is anxious and my mind is troubled anybody else relate to that and when that happens i am reminding myself of two wonderful things first of all if i wake up at three o'clock in the morning jesus is already up and awake the scripture tells us that the god of israel is one who neither slumbers nor sleeps we don't have to ever worry about waking him up we don't ever have to worry about disturbing his peace jesus is up and awake and the other thing i love to remember that this is the perfect time to call out to him save me unimaginable isn't it that the one who walked on the water 2000 years ago wants to walk right into our lives right now providing us exactly what we need i don't know what all you came in here with but the question regardless of what our circumstances may be is the same for all of us each one of us what will we do with this jesus are our hearts hardened like those disciples long ago they simply did not understand who it was that they were dealing with you know sometimes god has to use difficulty in our lives to break up this hardness in our hearts or in our loved ones hearts so that they could see jesus so that we can see jesus so that the word of god can take root in our hearts let us say yes brothers and sisters to jesus yes to his words that he speaks to us yes to his work that he desires to do in and toward and through us especially say yes to his greatest work for us his work that he did on the cross long ago what will you do with jesus if you're tired if you're exhausted if you're feeling like giving up will you say yes to him if you're one whose life has become so busy so filled with with people and activity and things that that you simply cannot hear or respond to him will you say yes to jesus maybe you're someone who has yet to ever say yes to jesus in the first place today would be a perfect day to say you know what i'm tired of doing this all by myself i'm ready to say yes to jesus and for those of us who maybe have said yes to jesus in the past and we find ourselves in a mess right now and may wonder is it possible that he could ever forgive me that he could ever work in my life that he would ever receive me to himself man that's one of the things i'm loving about this series that we're going through is we see jesus working with a group of people called the disciples and that's exactly what's going on he knows how they struggled and he continues to work with them and he does the same thing with us today if you're one who's discouraged if you're one who's confused if you're one who feels lost would you say yes to jesus heavenly father we thank you for a powerful story that demonstrates that there is nothing in nature this created world in which you have made that has power over you that could defeat you you are you are lord over all the elements of the universe and you are lord of all and you want to be lord of our hearts and lord for each of us for all of us our prayer today is simply may we say yes to this jesus amen it takes a moment to uh soak all of that in what a beautiful imagery that god is always with us and as bill was teaching i couldn't help but think of the line in there that says that he was about to pass them by and i think about this idea that they're in the midst of the storm but they looked up and saw jesus and he referenced bill referenced moses and i was thinking about the idea that where moses when the israelites were out in the wilderness that there was a plague sent among them and it was snakes and they were dying and that moses took a snake and put it on a staff and and as they looked up to this this emblem that we still see today on the side of our ambulances most often that there's this healing that took place when they looked up and there's this idea right now that i want us to be thinking about as we're here to to look up to jesus to look up to the cross to look up to what he's already done for us to not look down at our circumstance but to look up at christ even peter who isn't referenced in this story that when he got his mind off of jesus and looked down at the waves that that's when he began to sink but when he looked up to jesus that's when he could walk on the water may we today look up and it's it's fascinating because we're teaching today about jesus ability to calm a storm to to stop nature to to put it in its tracks not just here but in multiple occasions where jesus is able to overpower nature itself something that we're all under the control of so often and yet jesus takes the most simplest of elements of nature that are common in almost every culture in our world where he takes wheat and grapes where he takes the most simplest of things of a meal bread and juice or wine and he turns it into this opportunity for us to remember to look up to to be reminded of that everyone can look up to jesus so as we are here right now we're going to partake and distribute the elements of communion so that we can be reminded that we can look up to jesus regardless of how long you've known them regardless of who you are regardless of if you're in a storm right now or walking on water that you would not forget to look up to jesus so let us partake in communion the elements will be passed and after that is complete we will partake together in remembering what christ has done so that we can look up to jesus [Music] freely [Music] i surrendered all to jesus [Music] is i surrender surrender all to jesus i surrendered save [Music] lord i give myself to me fill me surrendered [Music] i surrendered all i surrender all all to thee my blessed savior i surrendered on the night when he was betrayed the lord jesus took some bread and gave thanks to god for it then he broke it in pieces and said this is my body which is given for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way he took the cup of wine after supper saying this cup is the new covenant between god and his people an agreement confirmed with my blood do this in remembrance as me as often as you drink it father may we look up to you jesus may we look up to you holy spirit may we look up to you look up to you not because you are just greater but look up to you because you are the author and perfecter of our faith you are the holy spirit who is promised to us to walk alongside of us to bring comfort to us so that we can also bring comfort to others so we look up and ask for your guidance for our own hearts for the salvation for the healing that each and every one of us is desperately in need of and we look up asking that we would also be able to be your image bearers your light recipients and shares to the world around us that we would reflect you in a way that makes you not only be attractive but that would truly draw others to you so that they can come to know the hope and the power and the healing salvation of jesus christ because it is by faith only because of your grace that we are saved so may we recall on that may we communicate that and may we live in accordance with that jesus thank you that we can look up and find healing in you amen will you rise for god's parting blessing it's so great to have you here remember that there's prayer up front afterwards if you are interested to have prayer for yourself or to receive prayer but go go and make god's face shine upon you may you continue to be in his presence experiencing jesus even in the storms of your life and may you go with the holy spirit both guiding you directing you and empowering you to bring healing to others as well as yourself go amen you