HS | The Signs of Jesus (Part 5) | Zack Jernigan

Date: February 18, 2026
Series: The Signs of Jesus
Passage: John 6:15-21
Preacher: Pastor Zack Jernigan

Transcript

Introduction and Recap
All right, good evening. How we doing? You guys doing okay? Hey, we had a fantastic group of students give us a first-ever in Ottawa history to my knowledge, tag-team sermon last week. Can we give it up for our guys one more time? They did a great job. If you missed it, man, that was a bad week to miss church. You missed out. And like I said, that was a historic night, so you can go back and check that out on YouTube. And we're going to actually sneak back to just a tiny bit of the portion that you guys did such a great job leading us through last week. We're in a series called the Signs of Jesus. Turn to your neighbor and say the signs. And that's just really another word for miracles or really, really impressive feats of supernatural things that Jesus did. You know, he fed the 5,000, that's what we looked at last week. He also healed some people in this book of the Bible, but there are seven signs or seven miracles that are listed in John's gospel. There's four different gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and John wrote his at the very end. And Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they recorded between 18 and 20 miracles in each of their gospels, but John just picks seven. He just picks seven particular miracles and he said, Jesus did way more miracles than this, and you can read about him in some of the other guys' gospels and their other biographies of Jesus's life. But if I really tried to list all of the different miracles and signs that Jesus performed, he said, I don't think the entire world would have enough books or paper for me to list them all. He says that really at the very end of his book.

Focus on Jesus
So why does he list these seven in particular? There's something that he wants us to see. There's something that God wants us to see and all of these different signs, they tell us something about who God is and how we can know him, how we can live with him and follow him better. So tonight we're going to talk a little bit about meteorology. We're going to talk about walking on water and we're going to talk about what to do when you're scared. Get out your Bibles and go to John chapter 6. John chapter 6. And this is right after, turn to your neighbor, say right. Like immediately. It's immediately following the feeding of the 5,000 where Jesus has just done this incredible miracle, this amazing feat. And you guys did such a great job telling us about it last week, I won't try to repreach it. I would never even be able to come close to doing as good a job as you guys did. Fantastic job. But right after that incredible miracle, Jesus sends the disciples away. And I'm going to back up and read just one of those verses so that we understand this in context because it's right on the heels of that miracle that Jesus does something else that is just amazing. We're going to see it. Verse 15, after he done the miracle, after he fed the 5,000, and there were enough leftovers, yada, yada, yada. Verse 15, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Walking on Water
Verse 16, and when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. They got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was dark now, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea had become rough because a strong wind was blowing. And when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, coming near the boat. And they were frightened. But he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. Just fun fact here, the thing that we kind of miss about this passage so many times, maybe you've grown up in church and you've heard this story, Jesus walks on water. The thing I think we notice is right there at the end, there's like a mini miracle just snuck in there, and we almost read right past it. It says, as soon as they got him into the boat, immediately the boat was at the land in which they were going. That sounds like teleportation to me. I think Jesus just teleported the boat right there, and this is some Star Trek level stuff, but it was in the Bible before Star Trek was ever an idea. And we just go right past that. Some people are like, well technically maybe he meant they just arrived. No, they were three or four miles out into an ocean or a sea that was seven miles across. They were halfway there, and then when Jesus gets in the boat, they're on dry land. That's crazy.

Some of you are probably familiar with this. How many of you guys are familiar with the idea, maybe you've never even read the Bible before, maybe this is your first time in church. Can we give it up for our first timers, by the way? Our first timers, make some noise, we're so glad you guys are here. But maybe raise your hand if you are familiar with the idea that Jesus walked on water. By show of hands, by show of hands. Yeah, lots of us. You're like, I think I've heard that before. How many of you guys are also familiar with the idea that somebody else walked on water in the Bible? By show of hands. Somebody shouted out, who was it? Who was it? Peter, right? Anybody named Peter in the room? Do we have a Peter in the room? No, that's okay. Your name's not Peter. Fun fact, John doesn't include that detail that Peter walked on water. Now Matthew, Mark, and Luke all account, they all record that Jesus walked on water, but only Matthew mentions that Peter also got out on the water and tried to join Jesus, and then he kind of stumbled a little bit, he started to sink, and then Jesus helped him back up. So why doesn't John mention that? Why doesn't Mark mention that? There are some fun theories, I don't know all the reasons, but it seems like John doesn't want us to focus on Peter, he wants us to focus on Jesus.

Fixing Our Eyes on Him
So tonight I want you to focus on Jesus. Some of you guys are here and you go to church every single week, and we can get comfortable in the routine, and sometimes we just need to shake things up a little bit. But we can lull ourselves to sleep and think, I know what's going to happen. I'm going to sing some songs, I'm going to hear a sermon, I might go mm-hmm, amen. I might even say, that's good. And then we'll talk about it in our groups afterwards, but I'm not really going to change. I think if we focus our lives and focus our attention on Jesus tonight, he might do something incredible. Do you guys believe that? I think if we focus our attention, we fix our eyes on Jesus, he might do something incredible. Do you believe that? So here's what we're going to do. I don't know why John doesn't include that, but we're going to see what he does focus on. We're going to see what he really wants us to grasp out of this miracle. When he only has seven miracles that he's recording here or marking here in his gospel, why does he want us to see this? What is it that he wants us to remember? What's he want us to see here? I mean, if you've got to pick seven miracles and you're an old, old man like John was at this time, and he's thinking back over years and years, decades before when Jesus had done these miracles, he's thinking, what do I include? What do I include? Okay, I got to do the feeding of the 5,000, that was pretty incredible. I got to mention the fact that Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead, that's in John chapter 11, we'll get there in a minute. Because I mean, nobody had ever done that before. But what is it about walking on water that he's got to mention? I mean, it's cool, right? How many of you guys think walking on water would be cool? By show of hands. You feel like it'd be kind of cool to walk on water. There's a lot of people who've tried to fake that or create an illusion. Different magicians and illusionists have tried to do something, sometimes it's just YouTubers who are trying to set up a cool prop, and it looks like they walked on water. But nobody else has actually ever done that besides Jesus and Peter.

I think maybe he chooses this miracle because it just demonstrates how powerful he is. I mean, there's this raging storm, which I'll tell you about more in a minute. I mean, nobody's ever done that. He's powerful. It's proof that he's God. It's proof that he has authority over all creation. But the main takeaway here is, it's supposed to tell us something about Jesus. Here's the main idea, and I'm going to show it to you in a few different ways tonight. The main idea for tonight's message is this: the power and presence of Jesus are hope and peace to the discouraged and afraid. The power and presence of Jesus are hope and peace to the discouraged and the afraid. I think the disciples were discouraged and afraid. I think they had a lot of emotions. I think they were exhausted, I'll tell you about that in a second. But I think some of us tonight, if we're totally honest, you'd say, Zach, I'm exhausted. Zach, I'm worn out. My life, it seems like it's been one thing after another, after another, after another. And just like when our family starts to get our feet under us, it's one more thing. And when the drama starts to die down in my friend group, we're like, things are actually going pretty good right now for a minute, oh wait, I spoke too soon. There was a break up, or there was a group text that somebody wasn't supposed to see, and now they did. And now somebody's not coming to church anymore, and now somebody doesn't want to talk to us anymore. I think there's a lot of different reasons that people might be discouraged or afraid about what the future holds. But I think the goal tonight is for us to focus on Jesus. Say amen. I think the goal is to fix our eyes on Jesus.

Prayer
I want to pray. I want to pray before we go any further. That's what we're going to see tonight, but let's pray and ask God to help us see it clearly. Dear Jesus, I pray that you would help us to understand and comprehend and apply what we see in your word tonight. Lord, I pray that you would fill us with your Spirit, help us to be led by your Spirit and guided by your Spirit. Lord, if anybody is here tonight discouraged or afraid, Lord, I pray that you would bless them with your hope, with your peace. You're the God of all comfort. You're the God of all peace. I pray that you would give us that peace which passes all understanding, which doesn't even make sense. God, I pray that you would inhabit the praises of your people. I pray that you would bless us with your presence tonight. We ask all this in your son Jesus's name. Amen.

The Disciples' Exhaustion
So here's what I want to point out. Something about this passage that was challenging, there's so much that's not included in this recording. So I found myself sneaking over and cheating by looking at Mark's account of the gospel and seeing what he said about Jesus walking on water. And then I'd sneak over here to see what Matthew wrote, I'm like, there's got to be something else here. I think I'm missing something. And I wanted to make sure I was really understanding what God had for us here tonight. And so I was going back and forth, back and forth, and I was studying, I was reading a lot of different commentaries and pastors who were way smarter than me and finding out what they had to say. And they pointed out something that I hadn't noticed here. So there's one guy who put it this way. He said, there's a mood of discouragement that's underlined by John's observation here that it was dark. Look back at verse 17 with me. It says, they got into a boat and they started across the sea to Capernaum. Now it was dark. Somebody say dark. And Jesus had not yet come. It was dark, but Jesus wasn't there yet. And so this one commentator, actually three or four different people were pointing it out in the same way, they said there's a word here that he uses. The word dark in the original language was scotia. And he says, when the people went out into the boat, when the disciples went out into the boat, when he says dark, that original word there, it's not just saying like an absence of light, like I can't see very well, there's not enough luminescence. He's talking not just about a physical darkness, but also about a spiritual darkness. And the way that he uses that word in particular all throughout his gospels, even in first, second, and third John, is consistent. Check this out. I threw a few examples up here. So the light shines in the darkness. This is chapter 1 verse 5. The light shines in the darkness, scotia, and the darkness has not overcome it. Then in chapter 13, it says, it was dark when Judas betrayed us, rather when Judas went out to betray Christ, in chapter 13. Same word. In chapter 12, Jesus said, I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. Same word. Every time he's using that word, he's not just talking about a physical darkness, but he's talking about a spiritual darkness, a spiritual depression even. Saying like, it's not a good day when Judas goes out to betray Jesus, right? And so this is not just about spiritual darkness, rather this is about spiritual darkness, not just physical darkness.

But we get this picture in this passage of the disciples getting on that boat and sailing across the sea of Galilee, and they're worn out, they're discouraged, and maybe even spiritually depressed. And you might wonder, why are they depressed? What are they bummed out about? I mean, they just saw this incredible miracle. Jesus had done something amazing, fantastic. He fed 5,000 people at least, because remember they only counted the men. It could have been 15, 20, maybe 25,000 people when you counted all their children and the women who were there too. He just fed all those people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Are you kidding me? Like, that's fantastic. You just saw something historic, something that people are going to be talking about for thousands of years. What do you have to be disappointed about? Well, think about it this way. I think they were discouraged for a lot of the same reasons that you and I get discouraged. And I'll explain why. I think there's three reasons that came to my mind. Number one, they were exhausted. Like, why are they discouraged as they get onto that boat? Number one, they were exhausted. It says in Mark chapter 6, where he records this same miracle, that when the whole thing started before they fed the 5,000, they were trying to go find some rest. They were trying to go recover. In verse 31, it says, Jesus said to them, come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while. For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. Like, they were so busy ministering to people, they didn't even have a chance to sit down and eat. And when they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves, but it says, when they got there, some people saw them. Now many saw them going and they recognized them. And they ran on foot from all the towns and they got there ahead of them. So when they land in the boat, there's a big crowd of people waiting for them. The people they were trying to get away from, the people they were exhausted from ministering to, they're sitting there waiting at the dock like, hey, it's us! Can we get your autograph? Can you do another miracle, Jesus? And when he went ashore, he saw the great crowd, and Jesus had compassion on them. Because this is Jesus we're talking about. So of course he's going to preach to them. Of course he's going to minister to them. And then he feeds them, that's when the feeding of the 5,000 starts. So they're already exhausted before that miracle even starts. And then they sit through a sermon, and some of you guys, I love you to death, you're starting to fall asleep right now. And it's okay, I love you. I was a pastor's kid who fell asleep on the front row while my dad was preaching. I was the only one on the front row. So on one hand, if you fall asleep during the sermon, I kind of deserve it. On the other hand, I might throw my shoe at you. Don't fall asleep, okay? But they were tired, they had to sit through a sermon, and they had to distribute all that food. 5,000 people is a lot of people. And I think it's important to recognize they were exhausted for sometimes the same reasons we're exhausted, because we get burnt out. Because we push it just a little too far, we go a little bit too hard. We stay up too late, we wake up too early. We study for an hour longer than we needed to, we just go a little bit farther. I think it's important for you guys to recognize that all of us, all of us are limited in more ways than one. We're limited by our bodies, because like, you can only go so far until you're about to drop dead. You're about to fall asleep, you start stumbling literally, you start getting like your hands are shaky. You can only go so far, but we're also limited by our minds. How many of you guys have been awake for more than like 18, 24 hours, 36 hours straight before? By show of hands. And you start realizing like, these words that are, I think are coming out of my mouth, they're just not coming out the way I wanted them to. Man, I'm getting like tongue-tied, and what did I just say? I just forgot everybody's name. That happens to me sometimes when I'm just not sleeping enough. But sometimes it's our giftings that we're limited in. Our personalities. Like some of you guys are introverts, and you are exhausted just from spending 45 minutes with these people in the room tonight. And you're like, I need to go home. I just need to like turn off all the lights and listen to some music and journal a little bit, or watch Netflix, got to recharge my batteries. But some of you, you can go a little bit farther. But all of us are limited in some way. How about this? Every single one of us, not trying to bum you out, but every single one of us is going to die one day. Unless Jesus comes back, I know I'm not trying to make you think about that too much. You're like, I'm so young, I've got 80 years ahead of me. Maybe. Maybe it's 50, maybe it's not as long as we'd think. None of us are promised tomorrow. And even if we get 100 years out of this life, that's still a limit.

Disappointment
The disciples were spent, they were exhausted. And I think they had a pretty good work ethic. But Jesus was even telling them, hey, we need to go rest. And then they got a whole nother shift. A whole nother miracle, a whole nother crowd, a whole nother meal, a whole nother sermon. And so they were spent. I'm talking about this because sometimes I have people come to me and they say, Zach, I'm depressed. Zach, I'm really, I'm just so depressed, I'm so worn down. And I'm not trying to be callous towards that. There is a very real type of depression. But I also am not pastoring you if I don't tell you that sometimes, the way we feel and the reasons we feel depressed are because of self-inflicted wounds. If sometimes I hear people say, Zach, I'm really depressed. No, you're not, you just need to take a nap. Sometimes I have people come and tell me they're like, I'm just, I don't like church. Hey, what time did you go to bed last night? 3 a.m. That's stupid. And they're like, no, no, I'm good, I'm strong, I'm fast. Like I've got the stamina for it. No you're not. There are mountains of data, there are so many different scientific studies and health journals that are telling you, when you go X number of sleep hours without sleep, you are performing at a lower caliber than you otherwise would if you just got a decent night of sleep. Sometimes people are like, I'm depressed. No, you just need to stop going to bed at 2 a.m. You just need to go to bed at some. I'm not saying you need to go to bed at 8 p.m., but maybe 11, midnight. Like if you're a 2 a.m., 3 a.m. person, you're like, that's never going to happen. You'll grow up one day, it's okay, I love you. You'll face reality. But why don't you start aiming for midnight? Maybe sometimes people come to me and they'll say, I think I'm depressed or Zach, I'm burnt out. No, you're not burnt out, you just need to learn to say no. You just need to learn to say no to some things. There are a lot of really good things that you could do. There are a lot of things you could spend your time on that are nice, that are all well and good, that are fine. But you need, maybe, to stop volunteering in the student ministry and worship co and the worship ministry and kids care and cafe on the go and VBS and summer sing and two mission trips and guest parking on Sunday mornings. Maybe hear me out, you shouldn't do all of those things at the same time and student government and lacrosse and soccer and what else did I miss? I love y'all to death, but you're like, I just want to get the most out of my high school experience. No, you're getting the least, and you're giving the people around you the least. And sometimes you're giving God the least. And you're saying, I'm just, you can do that for like a semester. But then it starts to pile up, and you're like, hey, I think I missed like my whole senior year because I was like crying for a lot of it, and I was fighting with some friends, and I was asleep for some of it. I think sometimes the goal is, is I just want to do everything, but activity is not accomplishment. Activity is not the same thing as accomplishment. And the disciples knew, these are people who were walking daily with Jesus, even Jesus knew in his human form, there are limits to the day. And we gotta get away from the crowds, we gotta get away from ministering to people, and recharge our batteries. So as they get on this boat, they are exhausted. But then on top of that, they were disappointed. They were disappointed, and I think there's some people in the room, like you're disappointed with God, you're disappointed with your lot in life, you're disappointed with how things are going for one reason or another. You're like, what did they have to be disappointed about? Jesus just did all these miracles, why could they, why are they disappointed? Think about it this way. Jesus just performed this miracle, yes, it was incredible. But then what happened at the end? After he fed the 5,000, it says that the crowd wanted to crown him king. They wanted to put a crown on his head, and he rejected it. Like, and these disciples' minds, these 12 guys, some of them were fishermen, some of them were tax collectors, but they had careers, they had jobs. They were taking care of their families. Uh, Peter left a rebellion to come and and follow Jesus. He was like, hey, I was going to be a pretty successful guerrilla warfare general maybe, but I threw my lot in with you. And and what these guys are thinking is, when Jesus actually makes it, we're going to be his generals. We're going to be his commanders. We're going to be, you know, uh, what are some of the high ranking, not president, but some of the high ranking political offices? Like Secretary of State, what else? Secretary of Defense. Yeah, they're they're like, I want a spot in your cabinet, Jesus. I want to have uh a place of authority. Uh, James and John actually come with their mom to talk to Jesus and they say, hey Jesus, when you're king, can I sit at your right hand and can I sit at your left? Like, that talk about embarrassing. But that's where their minds were. So we look at this and we're like, yeah, it just wasn't time for Jesus to be king yet. It wasn't time for him to go to the cross to die for the sins of the world. It wasn't that wasn't God's plan. So he he just said, no, not now. But the way the disciples are looking at it is they're like, oh my gosh, guys, it's working! And there's 5, 20,000 people here maybe, we got our army right here! And they want to put a crown on his head. Let it's starting, let's go! And then Jesus shuts it down. And says, no, I'm not going to be your king. Not not now. Why? Because you don't even think I am who I say I am. He says that he's the son of God, that he is God himself. The Savior of the world, the Messiah, and they said, no, no, no, you're a prophet, but you're a really good prophet. Let's make you our king. He says, no, you don't you don't even know who I am. And that just that had to sting for these disciples. And so they're discouraged. They're disappointed because these people didn't want to worship Jesus as Lord, they wanted to use him for their political purposes. And Jesus says, that's not what we're here for.

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee
The third reason that they're discouraged is so easy for us to miss if we're not reading through the entire Bible or looking at the other gospels especially, but what we know about the disciples at this moment as they get on that boat, is that they weren't just exhausted, they weren't just disappointed, they were also mourning. And you might not realize this, you're like, what are they mourning about? Well, we missed this in John's gospel, but Mark makes it very clear that before they got on the boat, they fed the 5,000. But before they fed the 5,000, John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, the one who kind of started this whole thing, had just been executed. Immediately before this. They literally go straight from one thing to another to another to another. Some of you guys are like, it feels like life has just been hitting me one thing after another. That was their Monday. So Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist, who's the first one to baptize anybody, first one to preach repent the kingdom of God is at hand. He was just executed. Like, this is like the guy who started it all. And they're so discouraged. They're like, what do we even do? They just buried him. And then they they're wiping the tears from their eyes and Jesus says, we got to go and okay, I guess we're going to go, we're going to go rest, we're going to get a bite to eat. No, I'm going to preach another sermon, you're going to distribute a bunch of food, you're going to play waiter to 5,000 people. And then we got to go rest and I'm not even going to go with you, you get on the boat and and Matthew's actually the one who tells us that Jesus made them go away on the boat. And they're like, Jesus, what just happened? You're not going to be king? No, get on the boat. But I thought, get on the boat, I'll see you later. Like, they're exhausted. They're probably angry, they're probably depressed, they're probably crying, they're probably snapping at each other. John the Baptist was an icon, but he's dead, so they're tired, exhausted, emotional, disappointed. And now the storm of the century is crashing down on top of their heads.

And that's when Jesus meets them. Look at this again with me in verse 18. It said the sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. And when they had rowed about three or four miles, I mean they're rowing into this this cataclysmic headwind and they're they're just having a terrible time. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the water and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. But he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. And then they were glad to take him into the boat. The first practical point is this. There's one more after this, but the first one is this. Jesus is with you on your worst days. Bring him your exhaustion, your fear, and your disappointment. Jesus is with you on your worst days. This is so common on TV. Like uh some of y'all saw Jelly Roll give God a shout out and say, hey, Jesus loves you, God is real, he can change your life. And he did that when he's accepting this incredible award. We're like, heck yeah, go ahead Jelly Roll, score one for the Christians, take that atheist. Nobody was really thinking that except me. Um, and we're like, it's great that he took that moment. I remember like Tim Tebow was a Florida Gator quarterback, and you know, when he's making an acceptance speech for the Heisman, he says, you know, praise God, go Gators, right? And we're like, yeah, he's at that mountain top experience. He's got all the cameras on him, and he said, God did all of it, and we're like, praise God, that's awesome. But how many of you guys know that God is with you even when you lose? Even when you are embarrassed on the football field. Even when nobody nominates you. Even when you're having the worst day of your life, even when you're in the middle of a storm, your best friend just died, you're starving, you're hungry, you're exhausted. Jesus is still with you even on your worst days. Mark mentions that when they see him, they thought Jesus was a ghost. I mean, I don't know if he was kind of difficult to see through all the mist from this storm, or if it was just really windy and they couldn't see, but maybe they're that exhausted that they're like not seeing straight. And they freak out, they think that he's a ghost. But notice what Jesus says to them. When he calls to them to calm their fear, he announces himself and he says, do not be afraid, it is I. Other translations use the same words to say what Jesus and God have said countless other times in the Bible. Don't be afraid, I am. It's me. And so when when Jesus says that, that's code. If you spend a lot of time in the Bible, you're familiar with this name of God. Sometimes God would introduce himself, he says, I am that I am, which is Jehovah. He would say, I am the God of Adam, I'm the God of Abraham, I'm the God of David, I'm the God of Jacob. I'm the one who split the Red Sea. I'm the one who had a pillar of fire for the people of Israel to have a night light while I took them into the Promised Land. I'm the one who sent all of those plagues against Egypt. I'm the one who delivered you into the Promised Land. I'm the one who's here to save you from your sins and give you a hope and a future in heaven. He says, don't be afraid, I am that God. It's me. I think it's beautiful. That's this reference to this Old Testament promise that's just saturated with with backstory. Sometimes you feel like you start a TV show and you're like, I think they just said something really deep, but I don't understand it because I didn't watch the prequel or I didn't watch the show that this is a spin-off of. I'm totally lost. If you don't spend a lot of time in the Bible, you might feel like that. But it's okay, because we're here to explain it for you. There's one writer who put it this way. He said the significance of that name Jehovah, the significance of this name was to serve as God's perpetual memorial across all generations. He's saying, I'm not leaving, I'm not going anywhere. You can build a monument to me. It's me. I'm still faithful. I'm still going to come through like I always have. And you better believe I'm going to come through for you. I think of of Psalm 34 verse 17 where it says, when the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them from all their troubles. But the Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and he saves the crushed in spirit. Some of you guys, if you're totally honest, there have been times in your life when you were crushed in spirit. When you say, I'm here at church, and that's about all I can manage. I don't even think I can raise my hands. Sometimes I do that, but not not tonight. I don't even think I can really sing these words. I'm not feeling real enthusiastic. Jesus saves the crushed in spirit.

The Storm Explained
Here's what I need you to understand about the storm though. This storm comes in and it's just ruining their day. The thing about this storm is pretty crazy. This is where I get to put on my like wannabe meteorologist glasses or or hat or whatever. I get to pretend I know a thing or two about weather. Um, but I did some research about this because I was like, what kind of storm is this? Is this normal, was like, did God send the storm? What's going on? This is actually really, really normal for that point in time in history and that place in the world, and it still happens today. So here's the context. The Sea of Galilee is like geologically bizarre. It's weird. I got a picture of that region that I'll show you right here. That's the Sea of Galilee. So on the far side, that's um, the heights of uh, the Golan Heights. And then on this side, all those buildings, that's the city of Tiberius. And so they're in the middle of this enormous sea. It's a lake, really, technically, it's it's fresh water. But it's like a giant bowl. And so those mountains are on one side, but this these hills are on the other side. And it's like this weird depression, this bowl. And the thing about the Sea of Galilee is it's 700 feet below sea level. The only other uh, body of water that's even lower is the Dead Sea, and that's salt water that's not far from here. But it's 700 feet below sea water, it's not normal. Then you got the Golan Heights that are about 3,000 feet above sea level. So this wind comes in out of nowhere, and it just comes crashing down onto the ocean. There's the next graphic, I'm really proud of this one. Um, I drew it by hand. I scribbled it with crayons and then uh, no, that's AI. But um, thank you Google for the help. But here's basically what's happening. You've got this cold air coming down from the mountains, and then the warm air coming off of the sea. And we're from Florida, so we know what happens when warm air and cold air hit, like in the Gulf of Mexico, like when these tornadoes come up and ruin our entire weekend, and sometimes destroy a lot of property. Like we know what that looks like. And so it was normal for you to be out on the ocean, even if you're an experienced fisherman like some of these guys were, and in one moment it's calm, but then the next, it is like 10 to 12 foot waves. It's insane headwinds coming in at at you out of nowhere. And so that's what they were very likely in the middle of. This said the same thing happens today. Like this can overturn boats. And so I want you to picture, Jesus is out there walking on water, and the storm's not calming down, it's at full force. And you got 10 to 12 foot swells, and there's wind howling from these these mountain valleys all the way down onto the Sea of Galilee. And these experienced sailors who normally know what they're doing are at their worst. They're exhausted, they're emotional, they're burnt out, they're fatigued, they're struggling. They've been rowing for three or four miles against the wind. And Jesus is just casually walking on top of it. Like, hey guys. And they're they're so delusional, they're so tired, they just can't see clearly because of the wind. And they think he's a ghost, so he says, hey, don't be afraid. It's me. Matthew reports that Jesus was walking alongside the water for a while, and he could see them struggling. I just think that's beautiful. Jesus doesn't say, oh, there's somebody who needs to be raised from the dead over there. Oh, there's some people who need to be fed over there. He says, my I see my my guys. My twelve disciples, they're struggling. And so out of compassion, he walks out to there to them to help. The crowd is already dissipated. But he walks out there out of compassion because he wants to be a blessing because he loves them. Nobody does this, especially in the middle of a raging storm with waves that are taller than a basketball hoop that could kill you. But Jesus did because he's the God who created the wind and the seas and the ocean and all of creation. I think it's interesting that when they see him, they were more afraid of him than they were of the ocean around them. And I think sometimes the only thing more terrifying than the storm is the savior. I think sometimes you you might come face to face with how perfect and holy and incredible God is, and you might think like Isaiah did, rather like Isaiah did. Woe is me, I'm undone. I don't deserve to be talking to this person. I don't deserve to be in God's presence. But here's the second practical point that I grabbed from that. Jesus is faithful and trustworthy. Put your trust in the God who never abandons you even in life's darkest moments. I'm going to invite Chelsea to come up here in just a little bit. Uh, Chelsea, wherever you are, you can make your way up this way. And uh as I was talking to Chelsea, so many things about her testimony, what God's brought her through.

Chelsea's Testimony
Just illustrate this passage more powerfully and beautifully than I think I could even try to write a sermon about. So I asked Chelsea to come and share just a little bit about what God's brought her through. Yeah, give her a hand, welcome Chelsea. Let's give her her attention. Give her our attention.

Hello everyone, I'm Chelsea and I'd like to share a little bit about just how good God is. So growing up, my family and I were blessed with many struggles. Um, my dad from his own pain became an alcoholic and for most of my childhood. And um, I knew of Jesus and I believed that he lived, but he wasn't Lord of my life, and nor did I make an effort to know him. But through that, I tried to live my own way. I tried anything I could to kind of fill that hole inside of me. To try to complete my life. It didn't work. So me and my family, we got evicted, and we were living from one family member to the next. And eventually after that, God gave way for us to move to Florida from California. And that pain that we had from California, we carried it with us to Florida. And in that solitude that I found myself when I felt utterly and completely alone from all of life's challenges, from just everything that was going on at home, at school, anything and everything. I picked up my dad's old Bible, I began to read, and I found out that this Jesus who I prayed to long ago, who he really was. I found out that this Jesus, who I cried out to night after night, just how what he did and just all that he's done and the cost of it. I found out that this Jesus had this radically crazy transforming love for me, for you, for everybody. And it couldn't leave me the same. And so through that love that he shown me, he shown to my dad. And I'm so happy to say that my dad is now about three years sober and loving Christ. Praise God. Yes. So I just want to say that wherever you may find yourself, that God is absolutely there. In those times where I just felt like there was no hope, there is hope. His name is Jesus. And he's just he is amazing. So if you do not know him, I urge you that he will absolutely transform your life in ways that you will never imagine. I could never imagine my dad being sober. I could never imagine him taking me out of the hole I found myself in. But he did, because he's God and he loves us all so very much. So I would like to read Romans 8 verse 38 through 39. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. There's no valley too low. Sorry, this is just, that's not the verse. There's no valley too low, nor hill too high that God cannot bring you from. There's no vastness where God cannot find you, nor a pain too large that his love cannot cover. He is bigger than any mountain you feel you cannot climb. After all, Jesus said with the faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. Thank you for your time.

Conclusion and Prayer
Wherever you're at, however you might be discouraged or afraid, I hope you hear tonight that whether you are on a boat, or whether you are living with different family members, or you're moving from California, or you're coming across the Sea of Galilee, the Lord is near to the brokenhearted. Somebody say amen. And God is with you, he is present, he is ready. God's word says that he says, I stand at the door and knock. God says, I want to be a part of your life. You've got to let me in. I want to have fellowship with you, but you've got to let me in. God may do that, do something miraculous like Jesus walking on water. He may do that and choose to reveal himself through you just opening your dad's Bible. But God is present, he is with you, and he he doesn't just give you hope, he is hope. Somebody say amen. And so if you would bow your heads and close your eyes. If there's anybody here tonight who says, I want what Chelsea has, I want what we're talking about in this series, I want to know the Jesus of the Bible, I urge you to to call out to God. To cry out to him. Jesus didn't come just to perform these miracles. The really the greatest miracle that he performed is that he rose from the dead. See, he died a criminal's death on a cross. He was accused falsely. But then when he went to that cross, he took the sin of the world on himself. God punished him even though he had never done anything wrong for all of the sins that you and I would commit one day. But then three days later God raised him from the dead in victory over sin and death so that you and I could be made right with God forever. Bible says all we have to do is put our faith and our hope and our trust in him. If you've never done that, let tonight be the night. When you experience that peace and that trust, that life that we can have in Jesus. Maybe you have been following God, but you've been following him at a guilty distance. You've been too discouraged or angry or mad at him to talk to him or want to have a fellowship or a life with him. Maybe tonight's the night that you realize there's nothing that Jesus would or ever could do to distance himself from you. There's nothing that can separate you from the love of God. So we're going to have an opportunity to respond through worship. Maybe God's led you to come and pray and seek him at the altar tonight. Maybe you want to come and and see one of us here, we'll have a team of church members who would love to pray with you. If you'd like some encouragement, or if you want to to meet Jesus tonight. You can do that. But all of us are going to have an opportunity to stand and sing. So whatever God's calling you to respond in your seats, here at the altar, just respond however the Lord leads. Let's stand to our feet and sing.