If you turn to Matthew's Gospel, go to chapter
14. And we'll begin this morning at verse 22.
Immediately, Jesus made his disciples get into
the boat and go before him to the other side
while he sent the multitudes away. And when he
had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the
mountain by himself to pray. Now when evening
came, he was alone there. But the boat was now
in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves,
for the wind was conjuring. Now on the fourth
watch of the night, it's about 3 a .m., Jesus
went to them walking on the sea. And when the
disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were
troubled, saying, It is a ghost. It's a spirit.
And they cried out for fear. But immediately
Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer.
It is I. Do not be afraid. And Peter answered
him and said, Lord, if it is you, command me
to come to you on the water. So he said, come.
And when Peter had come down out of the boat,
he walked on the water to go to Jesus. When he
saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid.
And beginning to sink, he cried out saying, Lord,
save me. And immediately, the third time that
word's used, Jesus stretched out his hand and
caught him. And he said to him, Are you of little
faith? Why did you doubt? And when they got into
the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were
in the boat came and worshipped him, saying,
Truly, you are the Son of God. Let's pray. Father,
this is our confession this morning, that Jesus
Christ is the Son of the living God, and in him
we place our hope. Lord, my prayer this morning
is that you would make much of your Son. Lord,
I'm reminded that in the day of judgment, I will
give an account for every idle word that I speak.
Lord, let me not have idle words this morning.
Would you keep your servant back from speaking
anything? That would be unproductive, unhelpful,
untrue. And God, I'm asking, Lord, for the blessing
of your spirit to bring illumination and insight
from this holy text. God, lift the veil from
our eyes and show us Christ, we pray in his name.
Amen. There are certain moments that simply define
our lives. One moment everything can be fine,
and the very next moment it seems the bottom
has dropped out. A storm comes into our lives
seemingly out of nowhere, and we're caught off
guard. We're caught flat -footed. A storm obviously
is a metaphor, but this storm can take many different
forms, and some of you know exactly what I'm
speaking of this morning. It may be the call
from the doctor's office regarding a test result.
They need to see you and they need to see you
quickly. Maybe, for some of you who have had
this experience, you get a pink slip and you
are alerted that you no longer have a job. And
you wonder, what are you going to do? How are
you going to take care of your family? Perhaps
it's a marriage crisis that you did not see coming.
Or the sudden death of a loved one. The storms,
they may be different. But everyone goes through
them. This is the thing about life here. We're
outside of Eden. The Bible says Adam lived east
of Eden. So today, because we live in this fallen
world, storms are universal. There's not anyone
here, if you've lived long enough, who will not
go through a storm. But they're not meaningless.
And I think that's the good news. There's a purpose
behind them. See, the storms are actually still
under the control of God. They're designed by
God and storms reveal things about ourselves
that we would not otherwise see. Storms are a
diagnostic tool and they're a good diagnostic
tool for they reveal what is in our hearts. I
love this illustration. You've no doubt heard
it many times, but if you're holding a full cup
and someone bumps into you, their bumping into
you was the occasion to reveal what was in the
cup. Their bumping into you did not put the contents
of the cup there, but it revealed what was always
there. And in like man, that's what the storm
does. The storm doesn't put anything into our
hearts, but when difficulty or trial or suffering
or affliction comes, it reveals what is in our
hearts. It serves as a diagnostic. It shows us,
honestly, where our trust lies. What are you
trusting in? Well, when the storm comes, you're
going to find out. And it'll come to try our
faith, and it'll reveal areas that we still need
to grow. For none of us have arrived. There's
no one in here who has reached a place of perfection
and has nowhere to go. We can all grow still.
So when the sudden and the unexpected occurs,
then who you are and what you're trusting in
will be revealed. Even the disciples of our Lord
faced storms. Now theirs was not a metaphorical
storm. It was a literal storm. This still served
as a very vital diagnostic as we will see this
morning. So what's the context? You have the
Lord and his disciples, the 12 men. They're on
the northeast side of Galilee. Now earlier in
the day, the Lord and the 12 men had been trying
to get away from the crowds and they wanted to
go to an isolated place where they could simply
eat. a meal in peace and get some rest, relaxation.
They had been ministering to massive crowds.
They're tired. They're hungry. So they leave,
but the crowds that had been ministered to had
other plans. They followed the Lord and his disciples
to this remote, isolated place. And the Bible
says that when Jesus saw the crowds following
him, he had compassion on them. He wasn't irritated.
He wasn't upset. So he does what Jesus does.
He began to heal the sick who were brought to
him. And we're also told that he taught the crowds
all day, although he was already tired and hungry,
until evening came. But now it's starting to
get dark. The crowds are still present. They
are now hungry. They're in an isolated place.
There's no nearby village where they could go
and buy food. The journey was... probably four
miles by foot. It's too far to send them away
because night's going to fall. You don't want
to send them away empty -handed. So what's going
to happen? So the Lord did what only the Lord
could do. He takes the two pieces of fish and
five loaves of bread, and he gives thanks to
his Father in heaven, and he begins to multiply
fish and bread so much so that he fed around
15 ,000 to 20 ,000 people. Now we call it the
feeding of the 5 ,000, but Matthew is very specific.
He says 5 ,000 men apart from women and children.
So conservatively, 15 ,000 to 20 ,000 people.
But there's something we're told in the Gospel
of John that Matthew doesn't record. In John
chapter 6, after that miracle and the crowds
were fed, it says that they, upon seeing the
miracle, they began to try to come and take Jesus
by force to make him king. They were whipped
up into this messianic frenzy. They knew this
must be the king of Israel. They get all excited.
There's 15 ,000 of them at least. They're all
in this frenzy, and it's going to be really,
really bad. A riot could ensue. And so now what
do we need to do? You've got to calm them down.
You've got to settle the crowds down. So the
Lord quickly dismissed his disciples. He tells
them, get into the boat, go to the other side
of the sea, and I will meet you later. And he
stays behind. So what's he going to do? He's
going to disperse the crowds. Look at verse 22.
Immediately, Jesus made his disciples get into
the boat, go before him to the other side, while
he sent the multitude away. So the disciples
leave. Now, we don't know. Some say, well, maybe
they were getting caught up in the frenzy. We
don't know. All we know is Jesus told them, get
in the boat and go. We don't know who all was
in the boat. Were there other mariners or sailors
on board? We don't know. We're not told. But
they got into a boat and they were to leave.
And what does Jesus do? He's left behind in this
remote place. So he dismisses the crowds. They
obey his voice. And then he did what his custom
was. Jesus began to do what he had always done.
He prayed. Look at verse 23. And when he had
sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain
by himself to pray. Now when evening came, he
was alone there. The Lord needed time with communion
by himself with his heavenly father. He goes
up on the mountain and just spends some time
in prayer. So instructive for us. Now, it says
he remains in prayer from evening, and we know
he prays, and later on you're going to see this,
until the fourth watch of the night. That's 3
a .m. So he's praying quite a long time. But
now, I want you to notice this dichotomy. Notice
the picture here. The Lord is alone. on a mountainside
praying, how were the disciples faring at that
same time? Verse 24. But the boat was now in
the middle of the sea, tossed by waves, for the
wind was contrary. You got the striking contrast.
Jesus is in a mountain serenely praying. His
disciples are in a boat fighting the wind and
possibly being sunk. Now since they're in the
middle of the sea, this is the Sea of Galilee.
Some of you have been there. I've been there
back in 2011, I believe. The Sea of Galilee is
actually not a sea. It's a lake. It's a big,
big lake. If you look in the scriptures, it's
known by three titles. You've got the Sea of
Galilee, Lake Gennesaret. It's also known as
the Sea of Tiberias. But it's a big lake. And
although it is a lake, storms can be very violent
there because of geography. So the sea itself,
the Sea of Galilee, sits 680 feet below sea level.
Because it sits so low, you have this warm, tropical,
humid air that kind of just hovers over the water
at that point. But if you've been there, you
know that the lake is surrounded by high hills
and mountains all around it. In fact, just to
the east, you got the Golan Heights. The Golan
Heights go to about 2 ,000 feet. So think about
the difference. You have 680 feet below sea level.
You got the Golan Heights to the east about 2
,000 feet high. So you have this heavy... cool,
dense air from the mountains. It'll swiftly drop
down into the ravines. It collides with that
warm tropical air that's hovering over the Sea
of Galilee. What happens when you have very cold
air and very warm air colliding? Violent storms.
So you get these furious storms and furious winds
with little to no warning. These can come out
of nowhere. Now we have to remember, this boat,
they're in the middle of the sea, right? At least
four of the twelve disciples were experienced
fishermen. So that means these sudden violent
storms would not have been anything new to them.
I don't think they're panicking right now. They
certainly would have had experience in this type
of situation because that's how they make their
living. They lived on this big sea. But this
storm must have been particularly difficult for
even they were having trouble. It tells us they're
in the middle of the sea. Now listen, they've
been there for quite some time and we'll see
that in just a moment. So you've got the disciples.
They're in a boat. You've got a strong headwind.
You've got a rising sea. Not a good combination.
Matthew tells us, and I like the words here,
that the boat was being tossed by the waves.
Now listen, I've had boats before. The one thing
you don't want is a boat being tossed in the
middle of water. We've had boats with holes.
I've had boats with accidents. Don't take me
on a boat, I guess would be the lesson this morning.
But anyways, they're in the middle of the sea.
What's that tell you? They're far from land.
They've got a long way to go. Mark tells us in
chapter 6, verse 48, they were straining at rowing.
They're making no progress whatsoever because
the wind is against them. So you've got the disciples.
They're there in this bad storm. They're making
no progress at all. They've been at it for hours.
So now what's that tell you? They're tired. They've
already had a long day. They're exhausted. Mark's
gospel also tells us something very instructive.
He tells us that Jesus, now where is Jesus? On
the mountain. Saw them, and I quote, saw them
straining at rowing. Jesus sees what's going
on in the life of his disciples. Apparently,
this is why he stopped praying when he did, and
he decided as a savior, I'm going to go help
these guys. Look at verse 25. watch of the night,
Jesus went to them. He always goes. Walking on
the sea. Romans divided the night into four watches.
They didn't have clocks like we did. So the fourth
watch will be somewhere between 3 and 6 a .m.
This is the final watch before sun rises. So
it's at least 3 a .m. Could be a little later.
So do the math. If the disciples left at evening
and it's now in the final watch of the night,
That tells you they've been in this storm or
on this boat fighting for about eight to nine
hours now, provided, we don't know, that the
storm began right or soon after they left. We
don't know that. But we don't know they're in
the middle of the sea at 3 a .m. making no progress.
So again, there's a striking contrast here. The
disciples are being overwhelmed by the waves.
Jesus, peacefully, is walking on them. The disciples
were overwhelmed. Jesus is walking on them. The
very storm that is threatening to kill and take
the life of these disciples has no effect on
Jesus Christ whatsoever. Who is this man? Who
is Jesus? In Job chapter 9, we read this. God
alone spreads out the heaven. And he treads on
the waves of the seas. Isn't that beautiful?
Job says only God can walk on water. Let that
sit with you for a moment. Chris Miller in his
commentary says, the one who created the seas
can easily make them his carpet. Verse 26. And
when the disciples saw him, that is Jesus, walking
on the sea, They were troubled. Yeah, no kidding.
They're troubled. Saying, it's a ghost. And they
cried out for fear. Now keep in mind, there's
a storm. The disciples see a figure. And it seems
to be coming toward their boat. They don't assume
this is Jesus. Nor would we. So they're thinking,
what? This is a spirit. This is a ghost. They're
exhausted. They've been rowing all night long.
There's this terrible storm causing very poor
visibility. And now they see a shadow -like figure
coming, but it's not swimming. He's walking on
top of the water. What else are they going to
think? Who could this be? It can't be Jesus because
men don't walk on water. Well, it must be a spirit.
Now, the Bible affirms the reality of spiritual
beings. You have angels, we have demons, but
not ghosts. Not ghosts. Nevertheless, at this
time in history, belief in ghosts is pretty common.
There was also a belief that ghosts showed up
as messengers of impending death. Kind of like
we might say the grim reaper. So now, you also
have an ancient Jewish thought that the sea itself
was a symbol of danger and disorder. Because
in the beginning, remember when the spirit hovered
over the sea and there was no order? There was
just chaos there at the beginning. So now either
way, we don't know, but here's what we do know.
The disciples are now terrified. I believe they
think they're going to die because they see this
ghost or spirit coming toward them. He must be
like a messenger of impending death. Either way,
we don't know what was going through their minds
except this. They were afraid and they screamed
out in fear. And let's not judge them because
all of us would have done the very same thing.
It's terrifying. They're afraid. Verse 27. Immediately,
You keep saying that word, right? But immediately
Jesus spoke to them. And he says, be of good
cheer. Now, it's not like the British cheerio.
I don't think that's what he's saying there at
all. He's simply saying, take courage. It is
I. Don't be afraid. That be of good cheer. We've
seen it before. Be of good cheer for I have overcome
the world. Take courage. Take heart. Man up,
guys. Don't be afraid here. Now, I think it's
almost, now this is not meant to be a funny passage,
but it's almost comical here. He tells them,
hey, have courage and don't be afraid. And I'm
thinking, why? They're in the midst of a storm,
in the middle of the night. They've been rowing
for hours. They are absolutely dog tired. They
thought a ghost was coming toward them to tell
them and to announce their death. Why would you
not be afraid? Because it is I. Ego, I'm me,
in Greek. I am. You see the ego, that ego, in
Greek. I'm me. I am. Now that's a natural way
of saying it is I. It is, in all fairness, we
want to clarify that. But it has a dual meaning
here. Because in the Old Testament, when Yahweh
was revealing himself to Israel, his covenant
name, I am that I am. Now that's Hebrew. But
when it's translated into Greek, I am that I
am, it's translated, ego, I, me. Exactly what
Jesus is saying here. It's a dual purpose. Who
is this man walking to them on water? It's Jesus.
It is I. But it's also the one who revealed himself
to Israel as the great I am. The one walking
to them, friends. This is God. This is God in
the flesh. Now, I don't think at that moment
the disciples understood what Jesus was saying.
But this would prove very meaningful after Jesus
rose again from the dead and they could look
back and remember, ah, egoi me, I am. But I want
you to notice something. The presence of Jesus,
it brings peace. This is why you can stop fearing.
This is why you don't have to be afraid. Why?
Because Jesus is with you. Fear. flees when Jesus
shows up. There may be chaos in our lives, and
I guarantee you at some point, there will be
chaos in our lives, but Jesus stands above the
chaos. Verse 28. Peter. God love him. Peter said,
well, Lord, if it's you, command me to come to
you on the water. Now, if it is you, this is
not Peter wondering or still doubting as though
it might be a ghost. Because what if it were
a ghost and said, yeah, come, now drown. That's
not what Peter's doing at all here. The idea
is, Lord, since it is you, and he knows it is,
let me walk on the water too. He's convinced.
He knows that it's Jesus coming toward them.
Now, why would Peter think he would be empowered
to walk on water too? Because already in this
time in history, already by this point, the disciples
had been empowered by Jesus with the ability
to do many of the same miracles that Jesus did.
In Matthew chapter 10, verse 1. And when Jesus
called the 12 disciples to them, he gave them
power over unclean spirits to cast them out and
to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of
disease. What had Jesus been doing? Casting out
demons, healing the sick. What did he empower
his disciples to do? Cast out demons, heal the
sick. Now, What's Jesus doing? Walking on water.
What's Peter asking to do? Let me walk on water.
It would have been very natural for Peter to
assume that Jesus could allow him that ability.
And he did. Jesus gave him permission. And to
Peter's credit, he does get out of the boat,
and he begins walking on the water toward Jesus,
verse 30. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,
he was afraid. You know, it's natural. And beginning
to sink, he cried out, saying, The Lord saved
me. And immediately, third time, Jesus stretched
out his hand and caught him. And he said to him,
O you of little faith, why did you doubt? Peter,
do you still not understand? We're not told how
far Peter walked. All we know is he got out of
the boat and he began to walk. But somewhere
during that time, he got afraid. He got scared.
Why? The winds were fierce. The storm was still
raging. Boisterous winds. Peter could feel the
spray of the water on his skin. And he panics.
And when he panicked, he started to sink. Sink
means waves are starting to go over him. And
he cries out to Jesus. Lord, save me. It's a
beautiful prayer, folks. It's not theologically
rich or deep, but powerful. Lord, save me. Peter
knew something. He knew he was helpless. He knew
there was nothing he could do to save himself.
So he cries out to Jesus. And this is the place
that every single person in here must come to.
You must recognize that on your own you are helpless.
You are drowning. You are dead is what Paul tells
us. And you turn to Christ in faith. This is
a desperate cry from a desperate helpless man.
And can I tell you something? Desperate cries
from desperate men captures God's attention.
So Peter knew something. He knew Jesus could
do for him what he could never do for himself,
which is what? Save himself. Get out of that
water. And Jesus reaches out his hand and he
rescues Peter. Now I think that grip, I don't
know, I'm reading in the text, but I imagine
that grip of Jesus' hand on Peter's arm must
have been so very reassuring. As Peter failed,
and he did, Jesus was there for him. The storm's
revealing something. It revealed something about
Peter, and it also revealed something about Jesus.
Let's take Peter first. He was a man of little
faith. What's that mean? There was still much
room for this bold man to grow and mature. Because
he was of little faith, he began to doubt. He
knew that Jesus was able. That's why he stepped
out of the boat. Of course he was able. point
of view changed when he got out of the boat,
when he actually got in the water. Because when
he got out of the boat, man, he's now outside
the boat in a storm with boisterous winds and
swelling waves, and suddenly what seemed like
a good idea now seems like a bad idea. This is
a terrible idea. His faith was strong while in
the boat, and everything changed when he actually
walked on the water, when he got into the storm
himself. So Peter had faith, but his faith was
not mature. How do you know that? The raging
winds and waves revealed that. But friends, this
is what I think about us. This is what I know
about myself. We are like Peter. We perceive
ourselves as men and women of faith, strong faith
even, until the storm comes in our life and it
reveals something. How weak we really are and
how much we have to grow. Sandy and I going through
what we did a few years ago right after her heart
attack and things. It's exactly what I thought
about myself. I remember praying, Lord, I'm so
weak in faith. So weak. Because in the storm,
our confidence in Jesus often wanes. And our
hearts begin to panic. Fear, anxiety starts to
set in. It reveals something. But what did the
storm reveal about Jesus? Now often, when I have
heard this text preached, and I've heard this
text preached many times, the focus has always
been on Peter. We hear about Peter's faith, or
we hear about Peter's willingness to get out
of the boat, or Peter taking his eyes off Jesus.
And by the way, all those are good sermons. They're
all appropriate sermons, but I think they're
misplaced sermons. The point of this text is
not about Peter, folks. It's not about Peter.
It's about Jesus. In fact, Matthew is the only
gospel. Mark, Luke, and John, none of them ever
mention that Peter walked on water. They don't
even mention Peter. They all mention Jesus walked
on water. Why? Where's the focus? The one who
can walk on the water. So we want to see who,
this is what Matthew is pointing toward as well
as Mark, Luke, and John. All four gospels want
you to see who Jesus really is. Well, who is
he? He's the one who can walk on water. He is
Yahweh in the flesh. He is God incarnate. Remember
Job 9? God spreads out the heavens and treads
on the waves of the seas. Matthew, and this is
what I love about how Matthew does his gospel.
He eventually tells us directly who Jesus is,
but first he paints a beautiful picture. In Matthew
28, the very last chapter of Matthew's gospel,
the very last verses of Matthew's gospel, Jesus
comes after the resurrection, and he says, All
power, and it's the word exousia in Greek, all
authority in heaven and earth has been given
to me. And then he gives his disciples a charge.
All authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus.
Now, Matthew doesn't tell that until the end.
But think about all we've seen up until this
point. Jesus has authority over sickness and
disease. By his word, illness is removed. He
has authority over death. By his word, the dead
come back to life. He has authority over demons,
demonic spirits. By His Word, demons are expelled
and they must obey Him. They don't have a choice.
He has authority over nature. By His Word, wind
and waves are calmed. He has authority over nature.
By His Word, He can multiply two fish and five
bread and feed 15 ,000 people. He has authority
to forgive sin. By His Word. Sin is forgiven.
Who is he? This is what Matthew wants his Jewish
readers to know. This is Yahweh in the flesh.
This is no ordinary man. This is God. And we
must trust in him. This man, the one that's walking
on the waters, this is the gift sent from heaven
so that the world might be saved. This is the
Messiah. This is the Christ. This is the son
of the living God. And look at verse 32. And
when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
So the Lord grabs Peter, they get in the boat,
and immediately the wind dies down. Storm's over.
Jesus is in the boat. Something went on here,
right? First of all, the safest place to be is
with Jesus. Whether that be out of the boat on
a raging sea or whether it be in the boat with
a raging sea, wherever Jesus is, there's the
place of safety. But we also need to see this
again. It's not about Peter. It's about Jesus,
the strong one who can always rescue. Pastor
Kyle read it before our final psalm, Psalm 46,
1 and 2. I preached it last week. is our refuge.
God is our strength. A very present, immediate
help in trouble. Therefore, we won't fear. Immediately
when Peter needed him, Jesus was there. He's
the ever -present help in trouble. When the disciples
thought they were seeing a ghost, Jesus told
them, don't fear. Why? I am there. In Psalm 46,
we are told not to fear. Why? God is there. In
Job 9, we're told that God alone can walk on
the water. In Matthew 14, we see Jesus walking
on the water. Friends, what's the message? Let's
not miss the forest because of the trees. What
is the message that Matthew wants us to get?
That man Jesus is God. Jesus is God. And what's
the only appropriate response? Look at verse
33. Then those who were in the boat that came
and worshipped him. Again, there may have been
other sailors. Some commentators think there
were other sailors in the boat. I don't know.
Maybe. But we do know the 12 men were. And they
said, truly, you are the son of God. See, once
you see, once you understand who Jesus truly
is, the only response that makes sense is worship.
I trust that's why you're here this morning.
The only response, the only reason that you would
be here, the only reason it makes sense is because
you recognize Jesus as God. You've come to worship
him. We've come to worship the triune God, one
God eternally existing in three eternal persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We're here to worship.
We've seen who he is. See, the disciples saw
Jesus walk on water. They saw him grant Peter
the ability to walk on water. They saw him rescue
Peter when he began to sink. And they saw the
storm end immediately as Jesus got into the boat.
And no doubt, this is making a profound impression
upon them. Think about it. They're eyewitnesses
of this. All this is making this deep impression
upon them. So what do they do? They came while
they're in the boat and they worshipped him.
In other words, worship. It's proskuneo in Greek,
and it literally means to bow down. To bow down.
Literally, to prostrate yourself or to kiss the
hand. This is an act of humility. It's an act
of submission. It's an act of reverence. Now,
here's the thing, because some skeptics will
tell you this, and they're right here. This act
of humility and respect and reverence, it is
given to a superior. Now, that can be to a human
authority like a king. But in the scriptures,
it's given to God himself. The disciples confess,
truly, you are the son of God. That's the confession
we all must make. Now, they didn't truly understand
the significance of their confession until after
Jesus rose from the dead. Their understanding
of Jesus, it would wax and wane. It would grow,
and then you're like, one moment they're making
these great confessions, the next moment they're
dull as can be. You're like, what gives? Well,
I believe their understanding is coming in waves.
It's kind of like peeling back an onion. They
kept peeling back layer by layer. But once Jesus
rose again, ah, they really got it. They understood
who Jesus was. But you and I live on this side
of the resurrection. And we have the gift of
hindsight. We have the gift of looking back.
So you and I can look back with clear eyes. We
can look back with clarity and we can easily
see, yes, that man, Jesus, is the son of God.
He's the second person of the Holy Trinity. He
is God himself. He is Yahweh in the flesh. He
is God incarnate. He is the one who has come
to save his people. And he is the one who is
worthy of all worship. It's inevitable everyone
in here will face a storm in their life. Storms
of adversity, storms of suffering, storms of
temptation, young people, storms of loss. Now,
honestly, most of those storms we'd rather avoid.
No one likes them, but God is doing something
in them. He's maturing us. He's perfecting us
by and through those same storms. Some of us
are still a little naive. We've all been here.
We think, well, if God loves us, then we're going
to avoid storms altogether. It is precisely because
God loves you that he allows the storm to come
by them. He is making us fit for heaven. He is
strengthening our faith and he is growing us
in our understanding of who Jesus Christ really
is and how important he is. So what do we see
in Matthew 14 as we close here? We see a savior
on the mountainside praying for his people. We
also see disciples in a boat struggling. You
know what I see there? Life. It's life. This
life is a struggle. We're like in the boat and
we're rowing against the wind. And what's Jesus?
What's Jesus doing right now? What's Jesus doing
today? He's praying. He's praying for his people.
He saw them struggling in the middle of the sea,
Mark 6. came to them in the storm, and he safely
brought them to shore. Our Lord will not always
keep us from the storm, nor will he immediately
calm the storm, but he promises to be with us
in the storm. And in that, take heart, friends.
Take heart. Be of good cheer. Take courage. Why?
For Jesus Christ is with you. The Son of the
living God has bound himself to you and we are
one with him. And in that, find joy but also
find courage. This is why we're here, to worship
the one who walks on water. Let's pray and prepare
ourselves to commune with this risen Christ at
the table. Father, we thank you so very much
for your word. Lord God, I thank you for the
encouragement that it brings. Lord, I don't want
to be flippant or glib about the storms of life.
Lord, there are some, Lord, who in this particular
church are hurting deeply. I think of my brother
George Fuller, my sister Christy Davis. Lord,
I think about my sisters recently. Lord, we think
of Kim who's still reeling, Nancy, others. And
they hurt. These storms hurt. But God, you're
with us. There's never a moment that we encounter
when you will give up on us. You have your grip
on us and you bring us to heaven, sure. Lord,
I pray for those who are here this morning, Lord,
who some are out of fellowship with you and some,
Lord, don't even know you. God, I beg of you,
in your mercy, Lord, save the lost. Open the
eyes of the blind. Reveal your son to them, Lord.
For those who are out of fellowship with you,
Lord God, I pray that you would bring them to
a place of repentance, Lord. A place of submission.
Because Jesus is worthy, Lord. The one you have
given, Lord, your son, he is worthy. He's worthy
of our lives. He's worthy of our worship. He's
worthy of the walk that we have in life. Lord,
God, help us that he's the center of gravity
in our lives, that everything revolves around
him and his glory. Lord, to seek first your kingdom,
your righteousness. God, forgive us, Lord. Have
mercy upon us. Lord, we are failures at best,
but Lord, even so, you invite us to share a meal
with you this morning. to come to the table of
Christ. Lord, to see the broken body and the
shed blood of Christ. In that, we find our hope.
To commune with the risen Christ, Lord, who is
in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father
in glory, interceding for his own. Lord, in ways
that we don't know, that's a mystery. Lord, we
believe our faith is strengthened, and we truly
commune with Christ, as the scriptures tell us.
Lord, prepare our hearts for this, Lord. God,
we confess once again our sins. Lord, we're failures.
That, Lord God, you don't chide us. You don't
rebuke us. You don't stiff arm us or push us
off. You invite us in. Take, eat. This is the
body broken for us. Take, come, and drink. This
is the new covenant given in the blood of Christ.
What a glorious truth we find. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. I'm going to ask the deacons to
come and prepare the table.