Hey, it's good to be back with you guys. Thank
you for letting me be gone last week. Celebrated
31 years of marriage. Heck yeah. That was all
right. So I gotta, I gotta, I'll just stop right
there. My wife says you get in trouble when you
start doing that and start talking about her,
so. Hey, a couple little things about, one more
thing that Jared missed. He didn't talk about
how good the barbecue's gonna be. Right now,
just a little sneak peek, we're working on having
barbecue on Saturday. So we're having a meal
like at 5 o 'clock. And we're working on possibly
doing an entire pig. I don't know if that's going
to work, but that's what we're working on with
the apple in it. And, you know, if any of you
shoot a bear and you want to donate the bear,
we might be able to do the bear on the other
side of the cooker. It's just kind of Alaska
pig. That's all it is. Some of you are like,
that's gross. No, it's not. It's wonderful. All
right. So I'm going to try to pray with a little
less feedback. We're going to do this. Hey, you
guys, if you haven't got a Bible, there's one
in the back. The blue one is. That's for you.
Take that home. We're in the Gospel of John.
We're going to unpack it this morning. But first,
before I start talking and just blowing it out
of my mouth here. We need the Holy Spirit to
do the work, right? So will you pray with me
and we'll just ask the Lord to do the work as
we unpack these verses this morning. Lord, man,
we all face just tremendous amounts of challenges
and problems and hurdles and things throughout
our everyday week, day. For those in the room
right now, Lord, that are facing some really
serious challenges, I pray you will meet them
there this morning. Jesus, you are the fixer
of our problems. You are the one that meets us
in our darkest place. So Jesus, as we go in this
morning and we unpack this section in John, which
is such a cool story, I pray that by your spirit
that you will meet us right where we sit in all
of our stuff. Thank you that we don't have to
come here this morning having it all together.
Thank you that in all of our brokenness, your
arms are extended. You just say, look to me.
Come to me. That's what we want to do this morning.
Amen. Kind of fading in and out, guys. We're
all right? All right, we'll go. If not, I'll
grab the handheld. Hey, on Wednesday morning,
I got the news that Mike Donaldson, who was the
very first elder at the very first Radiant Church
in Fairbanks, went to be with Jesus. I think
I mentioned to you that in January that I was
going up there to go spend some time with him,
and it was really good. And so for about the
last 30 years, Mike and I... have served alongside
each other in ministry. So rewind back even farther.
When Tracy and I were first married, we jumped
right into being involved with Young Life, and
Mike was a volunteer leader there. And my kids
grew up. I don't think I've ever not known Mike.
But he was a good brother, and he was a brother
who loved Jesus. Yes, but it's a bit sobering
because you have somebody you've done so much
life with, and now they're gone. And so, it really
caused me to do a lot of thinking this week,
as you can imagine. When you experience death,
especially when somebody is so close to you,
or someone who you've spent so much time with,
you start thinking about really what matters
most, don't you? I mean, it's, so I found myself
just constantly thinking, in fact, Thursday night,
I think it was, no, Wednesday night is when I
heard about it. Thursday night I was supposed
to, I couldn't sleep for hours, just laying there
and just rehearsing, and it wasn't bad, it was
just good things. Memories of the past, memories
of times that, We struggled and challenged together.
But what I found myself doing is I found myself
thinking, really as you boiled it all down to,
I found myself really honestly thinking about
Jesus. I found myself thinking about Jesus and
eternity and how temporary life is. Death will
do that for you, won't it? Our lives are so packed
with the temporary things of this world. House
projects, family struggles, work problems, politics,
world news. I could just go on and on and on
and you can sit in your chair right now and think
about what it is that's packing your life full
of stuff. I'm not saying those aren't important
things and many of them are very important. And
many of them, but... My question is, where in
all of those struggles, in all of the chaos,
in all of the packed everything in our life moments,
where is Jesus in all of that? Who is Jesus to
you in the middle of all of that? Are your eyes
on Jesus? That's what I found myself when I was
thinking about Mike and all of the history. That's
what it came back down to. And so as we've been
walking verse by verse, letter by letter through
this gospel of John, you can't walk away from
not studying John and it's not pointing us to
Jesus over and over and over again. In fact,
two weeks ago in John chapter 5, I said that
the focus was, A call to us to look to Jesus.
And that's why we have these little bracelets.
And I think there's more in the back if you want
one. If not, we'll get them out, throw them on
there. I'm sure there's plenty of them. Just
a reminder to look to Jesus with everything.
Last week, Jared unpacked this idea of come to
Jesus. Come to Jesus. Don't just look at him,
come to him. Move toward him. And this week,
I believe our text is really pushing in front
of us this question of what do we really think
Jesus is? What do we really think Jesus is? Like,
yeah, you're like, yeah, he's God. We talk about,
okay, at a deep, deep level. And so we're going
to, as we enter into the gospel, John is constantly
challenging us to make much of Jesus. It is unapologetically,
it is massively, like every week you're going
to hear like this over and over, what are you
doing with Jesus? Is he Savior and is he really
Lord of your life? That's what John is pushing
in front of us all the time. Is he really your
Savior? And I think the bigger question is, is
he continuing to be Lord of your life? And so,
As we enter into chapter 6, chapter 6 is one
of the most important chapters in this entire
gospel. Why? Well, because it challenges us to
think about how important Jesus is to us. How
serious are you about following him? How important
is Jesus really to you? I can't stand up here
and throw that kind of question in front of you
if I'm not wrestling with it myself. I think
that's one of the things that God did with my
heart this week as I'm working through this and
as I experienced the death of my good friend
Mike. How serious am I about Jesus? I think in
North American church, man, we give a lot of,
there's not a lot of seriousness when it comes
to Jesus. We may all say, oh yeah, I believe
in him. How deep is it for you? And so I think
chapter 6 is going to challenge us in that. Now,
it's a massive chunk, and today is just going
to be part one of what could be four parts. I'm
going to try to do it in two. I'm not going to
do 71 verses in one week, though. I guarantee
that. I can't. I'm not that good. But there is
so much packed in here, and so I encourage you,
even just on your own, read through it over and
over. It is a very critical... And here's why
I think one of the reasons we know it's so critical
is that this story that we're going to unpack
today is in every one of the Gospels, all four.
And you know what the only other story that's
in every one of the Gospels? The resurrection
of Jesus. So this is a pretty big deal. And so
all of... But here's the thing. All of chapter
6 takes place in a 24 -hour period. And so...
Here's something else you need to know as we
go through these verses. And this really kind
of came alive to me as I studied it this week.
That Moses, from the Old Testament, the book
of Exodus, Moses in the Old Testament, and what
God did through Moses is a major thread in chapter
6. So I'm going to go back and forth between
Moses. and Jesus in this situation. But if you
know your Bibles at all, man, let's keep going
back to what went on with Moses, because there's
a thread there. First of all, to the Jews in
Jesus' day, you need to understand how big a
deal Moses was. And we understand him. If in
the church, you've heard of Moses, if you read
your Bible, he's there. But to the Jew in that
day, he was their great hero. In their eyes,
he was responsible for bringing them out of Egypt.
and leading a whole nation. He was the greatest
spiritual leader they ever had. They put Moses
way up there on a pedestal. He was the one that
went up on the mountain to meet with God and
to receive the commandments of God that they
were called to live by. To the Jews, this reverence
for Moses is the background. In John chapter
6. You have to understand that. So if you look
back at John chapter 5, starting in verse 41,
it says this. For if you believed Moses, you
would believe me. Jesus is what Jesus is saying.
If you believe Moses, because I know he's a big
deal to you all. Like we don't get the weight
of that. But if you believe Moses, you would
believe me. Because he wrote about me. That's
what he says in verse 5. And so in chapter 5,
Jesus connects himself to Moses. Now in chapter
6, we discover that God has sent a greater Moses
to rescue his people. So when you think of Moses,
you have to also think of Jesus as a greater
Moses. That's how he's attaching himself to it,
okay? This rescuer, though, is Jesus. Moses was
the rescuer. Jesus says, I'm greater. That's
what's going on behind. So let's jump in verse
1. We'll get the first four verses. After this,
Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee, or Tiberias.
A huge crowd was following him because they saw
the signs that he was performing by healing the
sick. Jesus went up a mountain, sat down there
with his disciples. Now the Passover, a Jewish
festival, was near. One of the commentators said
that as you look at these first four verses,
the first four verses, the context is set. That
Jesus is to be understood as a Moses -type figure.
Okay? First four things you see. One is that
Jesus is leading a crowd just like Moses did.
Second thing is that the crowd is following Jesus
because they saw the signs that he did. was the
one God used to bring plagues on Egypt. Those
signs gave the authority to him as one sent by
God. He gave him the role. He had a power. He
had a staff. He would do these things. And they
were like, whoa, he is connected to God. He comes
from God. The third thing is that his disciples
went up on a mountain. Moses and Joshua went
up on a mountain to receive the law from God.
Fourth thing is that the events took place during
the Passover. Passover was a yearly celebration
that celebrated God's rescue of his people from
Egypt. Incredibly important. You cannot read
your Bible and not realize how many times the
Passover comes up. Old and New Testament. It's
just constantly coming back to it because it's
a critical moment. They're coming, and so when
John drops this statement that it is the Passover,
this is a critical time when there's thousands
upon thousands of people going to Jerusalem to
celebrate this event that happened in the Exodus,
where God rescues his people from Egypt. Now
think about what it must have been like for Moses.
I want you to... Put yourself not only in the
shoes of the disciples today, but also sometimes
in the shoes of Moses and that involvement, okay?
So you're going to use your imagination. Go back
and forth. Think about what it must have been
like for Moses, who was tasked to lead one to
two million people out of Egypt into the desert.
God says, take them. Now, use your imagination.
You're Moses. Up to two million people. There's
no vehicles. There's no cars. There's no transportation.
They're just walking into the wilderness. What
do we know about the desert wilderness? It's
a bad place. It's a hard place. What would the
biggest problem be? Well, it's pretty simple.
Food and water. What would you eat? What would
you drink? Hey, you're drinking too much. We
only have so many gallons, but there's a million
or two million of you, and you've got to drink
water. How in the world is God going to provide
that? So in the story of the Exodus, God would
provide bread called manna. It would appear each
day, and they were taught each day to depend
upon God. That was the theme. That was the theme
of why the manna? You know, the crazy thing about
the man, if you remember the story, is every
time in the morning it would appear and they
were to eat what they needed. But if they collected
it, save it, what would happen to it? It'd rot.
Why? Because God wanted them to learn to depend
every day in every movement upon him. And so
he created this system. He provided water for
them. So in the worst of worst places, in the
biggest challenges, he said, trust me. Depend
upon me. Come to me. Like, I'll provide. Like
Moses, Jesus faced a similar problem. This huge
crowd had followed him. No food. Okay? So look
at verse 5. So when Jesus looked up and noticed
a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip,
where will we buy bread so that people can eat?
He asked this to test him, for he himself knew
what he was going to do. Philip answered him,
200 denarii worth of bread wouldn't be enough
for each of them to have a little. One of his
disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother said
to him, there's a boy there who has five barley
loaves and two fish. What are they to so many?
Interesting little story. If you read it in all
four of the Gospels, you'll find that there's
slightly different angles to it. It's the same
story. Jesus is up on this hillside with his
disciples. And from the vantage point, he sees
this huge crowd coming toward him. And one of
the gospels that says he had great compassion
on them because they were like lost without a
shepherd, sheep without a shepherd or something
along that line. He says basically there's great
compassion. And the other gospels we see that
they all come and he sits there and he begins
to teach them. And there's an estimated 15 ,000
to 20 ,000 people. All four gospels tells us
what happened. And presumably, Jesus had taught
them about the kingdom of God, and so they'd
had time. And I don't know how in the world they
did this, but late in the day, they're hungry.
This is the problem. In Luke, it tells us that
the disciples approached Jesus and said to him,
in Luke it says this, send the crowds away so
they can go into the surrounding villages and
countrysides and find food. They had a solution.
We've got to stop the show. There's just too
many people, and people are getting hungry. Lord,
they're glued to you, and what you have to say
is really good, but we've got to come up with
a plan here. You need to send them all away so
they can go get food. Notice what Jesus does
in verse 5 and 6. It says that he uses this situation
as a test. He asks his disciples, in a sense,
what do you do? What do we do? He turns to them,
and he says, what do we do? Why does Jesus ask
this question? What do you think, church? By
the way, if you're new, we dialogue here every
so often, so it's okay. But if you were in this
situation, and Jesus looks to you, you're one
of his disciples, and you see this problem, they've
already brought the problem to Jesus, in the
sense of, like, you've got to send them away.
And he says, well, what do we do? What do you
think? Why do you think Jesus asked them that
question? What do you think? Why would Jesus
just not deal with it? Like, oh yeah, you're
right. Why did he say, hey Craig, you're one
of my disciples. What do we do, Craig? Why would
Jesus pose that kind of question? What's that?
Test their faith. In what way? Like, how does
he want to, what's he want from them? Yeah. Okay?
There's no earthly way this is going to happen.
Acknowledgement. Okay, what did you say, Craig?
Ah. He wanted them to believe in him. Maybe a
belief on a deeper level. He wanted them to see
who he really was. He's asking this question
because he wanted them to understand his power.
He wanted them to believe on a deep level. He's
taking their faith and he's saying, okay, you
may have some faith. Let's drive that faith deeper.
Deeper into who I am. He wanted them to put him
at the center. Ask the question back to Jesus,
well, what do we do, Jesus? It's almost like
Jesus was saying, hey, what do we do? And he
goes, I don't know, what do we do? Turn your
gaze off of your own solving of a problem and
get it back on Jesus. What do you do when problems...
What do you do, church, with the problems you
face? I always think about this. I get the privilege
of preaching God's Word. And I look out over
every one of you and I can see eyes looking back
at me and every one of you have a different set
of issues. Jesus knows that. He's willing to
meet you right there. So what do you do with
the problems? Maybe it's sickness. Maybe it's
just plagued with it. What do you do with the
conflict in your marriage? What do you do with
the challenges you're facing with your children?
What about money problems? What about work problems?
What do you do when you're falsely accused? What
do you do when you've got to be struggling with
addiction? What do you do when somebody's been
unfaithful to you? What do you do when life seems
to be unraveling? What is the problem that seems
impossible for you? Give it to Jesus. Give it
to Jesus. Let go. Let Jesus. Let go of the outcome.
You're not just giving it to Jesus with an expectation.
You're saying, God, I surrender all of it to
you. Even the outcome. Trust. in Jesus. Walk
with Jesus through it. You know, a lot of times
when we have a problem, we're trying to find
a way around the problem. We're trying to find
a way to get away from that problem. And when
Jesus says that, many times that's not what we
get to do. We have to walk through that problem.
The question is, how are you walking through
that problem? Are you walking with Jesus? Are
your eyes on Him? Then I'll walk through it.
Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. The verse that probably
has meant more to me over my life than any other
verse. It says, trust in the Lord with all of
your heart. And don't lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways, know Him. I love how the CSB
says that. I think we have that slide up there.
It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart.
And don't lean on your own understanding. In
all your ways. One of the versions will say,
acknowledge Him. I like this one because it says,
know Him. He will make your paths straight. You
can make sense of it. Maybe not the timing you
want it to be. Maybe not the way you think it
should be, but in His way. This is what God is
asking the Israelites in the wilderness. This
is what He's doing with them. Trust in the Lord
with all things, guys. We're going into a desert.
Are you kidding me? We're thirsty. If you walk
through the Exodus, you see how much they whine
and complain. And we're kind of hard on them,
right? But isn't that our daily challenge? To
trust Jesus with everything? This is the test
that he puts in front of his disciples. This
is also the test he puts in front of us. Look
what Andrew does in verse 9. In verse 9, he says
he brings a boy who has five loaves and two fishes.
Just to kind of give you perspective of what
this is, because we don't even eat this way.
Five barley loaves and two fishes. Barley loaves
were all the poor people ate, just so you know.
And they were not very big. So I've got five
little Sailor Boy pilot bread cracker type things
that... are here, it would not be anything more
than this. And in here is probably two or three
or four sardines, which is about the size of
the fish that they're talking about. And no,
I don't eat these on a regular basis. He pulls
them out and says, this is all we got. This is
all we got. Andrew says, Jesus, this is all I
got to offer. It's almost comical, isn't it?
10 ,000, 15 ,000 people? Are you kidding me?
This is what? This is it? For a long time I thought
about this, like, is he just being sarcastic?
Like, this doesn't make any sense. Like, this
is it. Look what Jesus does. Look at how Jesus
responds to the problem and their solution. Look
at verse 10. Jesus said, have the people sit
down. Then there was plenty of grass for them
in that place. So they sat down and the men numbered
5 ,000. The reason we know there's 10 to 15 is
that when they numbered people, they only would
count the men in that culture. But men never
came alone. So we know that there's at least
that many more people. So that's why they say
10 to 15. I want you to picture this scene. They're
there on the hillside. Then Jesus took the loaves.
And after doing what? That's why we give thanks
for our food. Jesus said, give thanks. And then
he distributes to those who are seated. So also
with the fish, as much as they wanted. When they
had their full, he told the disciples, collect
the leftovers so that nothing is wasted. So then
they collected and filled 12 baskets with the
pieces from the barley loaves and what was left
over by those who had it. who had eaten. Just
like Moses, Jesus miraculously feeds the multitude.
He takes five little loaves and two fish and
turns it into an all -you -can -eat buffet. Crazy.
You're like, really? This is the point you're
like, I don't know if I believe that. Okay. He's
either Lord, lunatic, or a liar. One of those
three. But he did it. Two things that stick out
from this miracle or sign of Jesus. One, that
he loves us. He meets our needs, whatever those
are. The second thing is that the feeding of
the 5 ,000 sets the stage for Jesus' teaching,
which is coming in the next chapters. This is
a critical moment. What Jesus does here sets
the stage for the future. That he is the bread
of life. In fact, what he's going to do in the
future, and we'll see this next week and on,
is that he, in fact, somebody was telling me,
it's crazy how many times in John he references
himself as bread to be eaten. And he says, I'm
the bread. He's going to go down that road, but
we're not going to quite go there yet. God miraculously
meets the needs of the people through his son.
Jesus. So the bread or what you get is not the
focus, though. Look at me, church. This isn't
the focus. What you and I get is not the focus.
The signs were not for that purpose, were they?
Jesus was the focus. They were there to point
our affections, our attention to Jesus. And so,
before we keep going in this story, think about
what you would do if you were one of those in
the crowd that had just been fed. You're on the
hillside, okay? I'm going to ask you to respond
to this. You're sitting on the hillside. You've
just been fed as much as you can eat. And you
just experienced this buffet of God's provision.
How would you respond? What would be your response?
Take a nap? Gratitude? Wow. I mean, you think
about all those people and they're just like,
where did this come from? How do they, we can
have as much as we want? Remember, if you're
bringing barley loaves, good chance you're not
got much money. And all of a sudden, you're just
eating whatever you can have. As much as you
want. And they're sitting around. There's a buzz.
It begins to happen. Let's look at how they responded,
okay? Verse 14. John 6, verse 14 says, When the
people saw the sign that he had done, they said,
This is truly the prophet. Underline that in
your Bible. That's a critical word. Not prophet.
It's the prophet. Who is... to come into the
world. Therefore, when Jesus realized that they
were about to come and take him by force and
make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain
by himself. Now, there's a lot going on. We're
going to touch a lot more of this on as we jump
in next week to this. But here's, they wanted
to follow Jesus as king. Good problem, right?
He just created a huge fan club. 20 ,000 people.
He just met their needs. The king is here. Jesus
is the king. And it's a king for their benefit.
A king that would give them freedom over Rome.
They wanted to make him their puppet. No, what?
Yeah, they wanted to make him their puppet. Meaning,
They were wanting to follow Jesus because of
what he could do for them. This is what's going
on. The Jesus of the Bible is not our prophet.
He's not. But that is how we often treat him,
isn't it? I'm guilty of it. We bargain with him.
We follow him as long... is it works for us.
We want the benefits and the blessings Jesus
can give us without actually having to obey or
to surrender to Him fully. That's what I struggle
with. Every one of us in this room want what
Jesus has for us. If you deny that, something's
going on. Because what He gives is good. It's
right. It's perfect, right? But what Jesus is
saying is, these things, what you really want
is me. Not the stuff. Jesus will address this
later in chapter 6, but now he withdraws. He
sees what's going on, he knows their hearts,
and he withdraws into the mountain by himself.
Look at verse 16. When evening came, his disciples
went down to the sea, got into the boat, and
started to cross the sea to Capernaum. Darkness
had already set in, but Jesus had not yet come
to them. A high wind rose and the sea began to
turn. After they had rowed about three or four
miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He
was coming near the boat and they were afraid.
But he said to them, it is I. Don't be afraid.
Then they were willing. To take him on board.
And at once, the boat was at the shore where
they were heading. Now, if you read all the other
accounts of this, it's crazy. It's like they're
in this massive storm. And they're scared. These
are fishermen. These are experienced boat people.
Jesus had sent them across. And as you think
about what we just read, we need to remember
the story of Exodus and the Israelites. We've
got to go back to that story again, right? In
the Red Sea. The Egyptian army was in hot pursuit
of the Israelites, led by this vengeful pharaoh
who wanted them dead. He wanted to take them
down for all the pain and suffering. Remember,
he'd released them, and then he changed his mind
again, and he was coming after them. But they're
standing at the sea, this Red Sea, and the army's
coming, and all they got is their stuff. They
don't have any way to defend themselves. And
they're facing this problem that just seemed
bigger than they could ever imagine. God told
Moses to stretch out his staff toward the sea.
And when Moses did that, the sea parted and the
people walked through on the other ground. And
we know that they got to the end. The army came
in. Ocean swallowed them up. Death was theirs.
Crazy story. In our story, Jesus sends his disciples
across the sea without him. The sea starts to
churn, and it gets really rough. Why is the sea
rough? Because of the high wind that had kicked
in. A powerful wind was blowing, so the sea was
churning. And look what it says in Exodus 14,
what happened with the Israelites. Then Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and the
Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east
wind. And all of the wind all of that night turned
the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided
and the Israelites went through the sea on dry
land with the waters like the wall to them on
their right and on their left. What do you think
is going on with the winds of the disciples as
they go out in the boat? And all of a sudden
they end up on the dry land. So what's going
on in their minds? They've gone through this
wind. It's crazy. Jesus boards and all of a sudden
they're on the bank. And they went through that.
They have this background, this history, all
the stuff that's gone on that day before. And
all of a sudden they're rowing for their life
and they can't figure out what to do. And there's
a problem. And all of a sudden they're afraid.
They see this. what is coming across them walking
on the water like it's like weird like movie
stuff and they realize it's jesus and they say
he says don't be afraid it's me and they let
him into the boat and the minute they let on
the boat they're on dry land what would be going
through your little puny brain as a disciple
if that was you and you're sitting on the other
side what do you think what do you think jay
what do you think What just happened? Why would
Jesus do this miracle? Why the winds? Why not
just meet them on the other side? I think every
time you see a sign in the Gospels, you've got
to ask this question. Why? Why would Jesus do
that? Jesus walked to them on the water for the
same reason he fed the 5 ,000. Same reason. So
they would witness his power and understand and
know him at a deeper level. He wanted the roots
of their life to go deep into who he was. Get
me. And we're going to see this unpacked in the
rest of John chapter 6. He's going to go even
deeper with them in this area. And he wants to
do that with us. He says, stop having this shallow
faith. I want you to see how big I am. how wonderful
I am, how I can deal with your problems, how
I can deal with your life, how I am bigger than
those things. That's what he's saying. And so
when he gets in the boat, they're afraid, of
course, and he gets in and goes, what's the difference,
Jesus? Jesus is the difference. He's showing
them that he is their Savior. Who saved them
in the boat? Jesus. Who fed them on the hill?
Jesus. Who turned water into wine? Jesus. You
just go down miracle after miracle. Who did it?
Jesus. He's our Savior. He's calling them, though,
not just to say, yep, you're my Savior, but I
want you, I want to call you to a deeper level
as Lord of your life. Are you ready to go there?
This theme carries us all the way through the
gospel. And it carries us all the way through
the birth of the new church in Acts. And it carries
us through all the epistles. And it carries us
all the way through. And he's calling us to say,
are you want me, is Jesus not just your Savior,
but is he your Lord? Are you serious about that?
Are you ready to go there? Are you ready to have
a deeper level of faith in him? Not a faith that
earns anything. But a faith that trusts in a
Savior where you had nothing to do with it. Did
they have anything to do with the food? Did they
have anything to do with the storm being calmed?
No. It was all Jesus. He's calling them to not
have a faith where Jesus is your puppet. Where
he is there for your needs, although he will
meet your needs. Maybe not always the way you
want him to. But is he Lord? He's calling us
to a faith where Jesus is Savior. And you accept
the fact that he paid for your sins. You're not
trying to earn it anymore. But you're honestly
looking at your life and you're going, I'm a
mess. It's me that is in need of a Savior. I
am. Struggling. A lot of the stuff I'm struggling
with, a lot of the problems I'm facing is because
of my own brokenness. And I can do nothing to
earn God's saving grace. But He gives it anyway.
He is your Savior. He paid for your sins when
He hung on that cross. He is your Savior. He
did it for us. And then he says, I'm calling
you to a faith where Jesus is Lord over all.
In every area of your life. Are you good at it?
No. I struggle with it every day, just like you.
But here's the call. He's calling every one of
us, every day, to say, Jesus, I want you to be
Lord. That means rule over all of my life, in
every area of my life. All to Jesus I surrender.
All to him I freely give. That's what he's calling
us to. In fact, the crazy thing is that's what
community is for too, is to one another each
other to that place. That's why we need each
other, because we're all a bunch of broken -hearted,
jacked -up people who need a Savior, who need
that Lord, and we need to be reminded, we need
each other to push each other toward that. That's
why we're in a marriage where your marriage needs
to be centered around Christ. If it's not centered
around Christ, you have two individual selfish
people. And Jesus says, no, that's not the way
it's supposed to work. It's not the way I designed
it. I designed myself to be at the center where
the two of you are pulling to me. Together. For
Jesus is Lord. He's Lord over all. I want a band
to come on up, you guys. Shut this down. This
week I really want you to think through. What
does it mean for me to surrender all of my life
to the Lord? Not everything is going to happen
in one moment. But what areas do you need to
lay down at the feet of Jesus and say, you got
this, not me. All to Jesus. I surrender. I think
the beautiful picture, we celebrate communion
every week. And please, don't take communion.
You're not a follower of Jesus. We have communion
in the back. And for us, it is a regular, not
just a reminder, but how significant Jesus really
is. That his body was broken, that his blood
was shed for me, Savior. And that what he did
requires, it calls me to consume him to say,
I need all of you. In fact, we're going to unpack
this next week in the last part of chapter 6
where he just kind of goes into this fact. He
says, eat me. Drink me. And you're like, what?
What he's saying is take me in. Make me Lord
of your life. So as you go to the communion table
today, go there with this posture of saying,
God, I know I'm a mess, but I take these elements
and remember who you really are. And I give my
life, I continue to surrender to the lordship
of you, Jesus, in my life. And I thank you for
your body that was broken for me and your blood
that was shed for me. That I may have real life
in you. Let's pray together. Lord. It's only
by the power of your spirit that any of this
can really happen in our lives. Thank you, Jesus,
that you love us so much that you provide for
us. Thank you that you love us so much that you
would tell us over and over, make me Lord of
your life. Put me first in your life. Lord, today
as we sit here and respond, I pray that you will
help us. To deal with our own hearts right where
we sit. To help us to surrender to you. In your
name we pray.