WEBVTT

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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

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of the Holy Spirit. This week, I received a phone

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call from a journalist doing a story on a survey

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about Orthodox churches and coming out of the

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pandemic and how they fared, how they operated.

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I saw the article yesterday and... 90 % is right,

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pretty close to what I said. Most of it was pretty

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close to what I said. I was asked in the discussion

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and the conversation about if our parish grew

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during the pandemic, despite the fact that we

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had worship outside on the front porch and limited

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when we came inside. And it's somebody like John

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Robert knows who came. On the Sunday when we

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were having baptisms outside for the first time,

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he came. Yes, the church, I said the church did

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grow. And she asked me why. And in my discussions

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with, for example, John Robert and a few other

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people, my assessment was that when your life

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has fallen apart, when the foundation... of what

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you know is crumbling. And the fires in 2017

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had a lot to do with this as well. When your

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foundation is as St. Paul says, hay or stubble,

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and it's not stone, it's not precious gems, it's

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going to be burned up in the fiery experience

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when everything, your whole support system falls

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apart. No more distractions. No more entertainments.

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All the things you knew pretty much gone. Your

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house burned down to the ground. And then lo

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and behold you have a pandemic and you can't

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see other people and so forth. So people started

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to think about eternal realities. About their

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life in this world. About the life of the age

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to come. What does it all mean? Well this has

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to do for me with this gospel that you heard.

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Because we, as Orthodox Christians, have been

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given the most magnificent gift. Not just the

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knowledge of the kingdom of God, that Jesus,

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our God, the word of God, became man. He was

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crucified. He took our sins and nailed them to

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the cross. He entered into death itself. He destroyed

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the meaning and the prison of death. and he rose

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from the dead, and we get to share in that victory

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even now in our baptism, and in each and every

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liturgy when we receive communion at the Divine

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Liturgy. What a gift! But in our life, we have

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to be careful that what we're building in between

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Sundays, what we're building that life on, has

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to be solid ground of the Gospel. Last week,

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we heard about Jesus feeding the 5 ,000. Fresco's

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right there if you need a reminder. And the magnificent

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sermon Father James gave on that account. But

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right after that, Jesus constrained his disciples.

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He made them get into a boat and basically said,

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I'm going to meet you on the other side. And

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he went to a mountain to pray. They were nourished.

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But then they had to face something which they

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felt was on their own and impossible. I read

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a meditation by a religious author named Hans

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Boersman. I want to read a section of that for

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you because it touched me very deeply and hopefully

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will mean something to you as well. Speaking

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of the disciples in the boat in the terrible

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storm, you just heard about that. Have you ever

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been in a boat in a storm? If you haven't, just

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take a look at one of those reality TV shows

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about fishing, you know, like The Greatest Catch

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or whatever it's called. It's scary. It's absolutely

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frightening. Here's what Hans Bormann says. He

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says, this is a horrifying situation in this

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account of Jesus walking on the water along with

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the disciples. For many dark hours, we too have

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rowed, so to speak, so as to reach the other

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side. But our headway is painful. We're getting

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tortured, literally. The wind is howling. The

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monster Leviathan is on the prowl, coming up

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from the depths. Our human strength obviously

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falls short when devilish winds are torturous

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and the monster tosses up the waves. The powers

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of hell below seem in control. We cannot reach

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the other side. But Jesus reminds us. The world

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is comprised of more than the chaotic sea. Look

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elsewhere. Look up the mountain. There in darkness

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someone is kneeling, praying all alone. The crowds

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are gone. They're filled with loaves and fishes.

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The disciples too have left where Jesus made

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them, constrained them to get into the boat.

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The Lord is in his holy temple. All the earth

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keeps silence before him, writes the prophet

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Habakkuk. Note the contrast. The disciples down

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below fighting wind and waves, dreading jaws

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of Hades, demonic powers dragging them down.

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Jesus, our God, high in his holy dwelling atop

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the mountain, serene and peaceful in his father's

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house. Does he not know? Does he not care? Why

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did he make us get into this boat? Why has he

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left us rowing all alone? It is nearly morning.

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We have been fighting all night long. Does he

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not realize that we have reached the very end

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of our rope? So wrote Hans Borsman. And yes,

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perhaps this sermon is the same message that

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I gave to you a couple of weeks ago about the

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persistence in God's grace and hope and trust

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in him. Because that's what the scriptures teach

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us. In our weakness, he is made strong. The disciples'

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questions are your questions. They're my questions.

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The disciples' fear in that moment are our fears.

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The reality check, says Hans Bormann, is Exodus

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14. Do you remember Holy Saturday? Standing in

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the middle of the church? Moses stretched out

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his hand over the sea and the Lord drove the

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sea back by a strong east wind all night and

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made the sea dry land and the waters were divided

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on this side and on that. He's telling us the

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Redeemer controls the chaos and drowns the enemy.

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Pharaoh, the monster of the sea, death and sin.

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Drowned on the cross, if you can use that strange

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analogy and metaphor. The creator and redeemer

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is coming down from the mountain. Christ our

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God, about whom we say, by whom all things were

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made in the creed. That mighty one sees us in

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every moment of our struggle. Maybe you haven't

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had a struggle. You will. That's guaranteed.

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He comes to us. He's walking on the sea. Psalm

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77 says, O Lord, thy way was through the sea,

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thy path through the great waters. The disciples

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are scared out of their wits. But Peter, the

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brave, impetuous Peter, so often as the spokesman

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and figure of our own relationship with Jesus

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Christ, isn't he? No, Lord, not the cross. He

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finally believes. He sees Christ coming on the

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water. He believes that it is his master emerging

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in the darkness. He believes that Jesus is actually

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walking on the water, and of course he would.

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He is the creator of all things. All harmony

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is restored in Christ and in the saints. A little

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bit of paradise. He believes that Jesus is walking

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on the water, and in his fervent desire to be

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near him in this hour of trial and testing, he

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believes that he will be allowed to go to him

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on the waves. But he also believes, note, brothers

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and sisters, this is important, this will not

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happen without a blessing. Peter does not say,

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I will come to you. He says, rather, command

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me to come to you. Yes, that's impetuous and

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probably not wise. But that's the difference

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between arrogant pride and true, loving, humble

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discipleship. Command me, O Lord, bless me. Jesus

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says what? He says, come. And when Peter had

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come down out of the boat, St. Matthew says,

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he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when

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he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid

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and beginning to sink, he cried out saying, Lord,

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save me. The Lord granted Peter that desire.

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And maybe we ourselves, yes, know something about

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that instance in our own life in a different

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way. The biblical interpreter St. Theophilus

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says, see how Peter prevailed over that which

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was greater, the sea? but was defeated by the

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lesser peril, the wind. Such is the weakness

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of human nature. Jesus laid down the seas, says

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St. Theophilus, beneath Peter's feet, revealing

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his power. This means that Christ, the God -man,

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has come to overcome the laws of fallen nature.

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It means that Peter and all of us could prevail

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over this fallenness, starting with ourself.

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But St. Theophilus says it was the wind that

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caused Peter to be distracted and to sink. What's

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the meaning of that wind, he says? What kind

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of winds do you think cause us the greatest collapse?

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They're the spiritual winds, the logisme, the

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intrusive thoughts, the obsessive thoughts. They're

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crafty. They're subtle suggestions of the devil.

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They're intrusive. They're persistent. They don't

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come from within us. They're what the canon of

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St. Andrew calls the elusive or deceptive thoughts.

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The Lord empowered Peter to walk on the water

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even though the wind, everything was against

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him, was still blowing. It's because Peter allows

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the wind to distract him. That's why he was rebuked

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by Christ. The Lord grabbed Peter's hand. Kept

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him from sinking. The wind was still howling.

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Why do you doubt? He sees the Lord walking across

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the world. Why do you doubt, Jesus says. You

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see, faith is not just believing hard enough

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mentally, but it's being faithful to what the

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Lord has commanded and doing it. The logis me,

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those deceptive thoughts. Someone described them

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as monkeys jumping from tree to tree. That's

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what it's like in our mind. They're swirling

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about. They're sowing doubts. And Peter accepted

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those doubts. And Jesus corrects him. And when

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they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Great

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miracle. Simply said. Take note, the wind ceased.

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Let's include ourselves in that boat. Think,

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if you will, dear brothers and sisters, of our

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Lord's coming. We ask, when did God get into

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the boat with us? Hans Bordsman says, when he

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came down from heaven to take on the form of

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a servant. When he hung upon the cross, forcing

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death to open. like Jonah, to free those tied

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down in death's domain, to give us the resurrection

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of the body, our life, true life, not elusive

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life where it's all crumbling beneath us and

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we don't know where to turn. Jesus is in the

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boat because the boat is a type of the church.

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And the church is the safe place where our salvation

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is obtained. And Jesus gets into the boat, and

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in that little boat, crammed together with all

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these other people, it says, they worshipped

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him. Truly, you are the Son of God. Christ gives

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us courage. He gives us grace. when he is with

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us. This is not a psychological or some kind

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of mental game. We feel better because we prayed

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to God. No, it's the activity and the grace of

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God. It's palpable in the heart that enters our

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existence. And we feel that together with Christ,

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we can overcome all difficulties. Just like the

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apostle says, I can do all things through Christ

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who strengthens me. Let's give our life to the

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Lord and trust in those moments of the storm

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that we have already been fed like the 5 ,000

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and that Christ is with us as he prays to the

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Father interceding on our behalf offering us

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up even in our storm. To him be glory now and

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ever to ages of ages.