Jet Fuel - Concord Conversations

Storm-Proof Trust

• Concord Baptist Church

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0:00 | 42:20

We talk through Mark 6:45-56 and the whiplash between spiritual highs and sudden storms, including the hard truth that obedience can still put us in rough waters. We wrestle with fear, exhaustion, and forgetfulness, then land on practical ways to remember who Jesus is when life feels loud. 
• irrational fears and how they shape reactions under stress 
• the disciples in the storm while obeying Jesus’ command 
• Jesus prioritizing prayer as a steady rhythm 
• why we assume hardship equals spiritual failure 
• the comfort of Jesus seeing our struggle even from a distance 
• fear and exhaustion distorting judgment and perception 
• “It Is I” as “I Am” and what that reveals about Jesus 
• the link between the loaves, hardened hearts, and short memory faith 
• practical habits for remembering God’s past faithfulness 
• Jesus’ power and compassion shown through healing 
I hope you guys will walk through those, y’all will look at that and and just go back and be reminded. 


Welcome And Podcast Purpose

SPEAKER_02

Welcome to the Jeff Fuel Podcast, a series of Concord conversations. In each episode, our lead pastor and a guest will sit down and dive a little deeper into what we learned as a church that week. These are honest, practical conversations to fuel your faith and help you live it out with purpose and consistency. Or, in other words, this is Jet Fuel for your soul.

SPEAKER_04

All right. Well, welcome back to Jet Fuel again, our podcast where we're trying to fuel faith for everyday life. Yeah. And we finally got my man Aaron Back on the podcast. He took a sabbatical for a while. Um, but I'm glad you're back, man. It's good to have you here. Me too. Uh we're gonna we're gonna get after it this morning in uh Mark chapter six. Yeah. Hey, but before we do that, we've got a question this morning, which I I hope this is still the case, but I hear all the time people are like, this is one of my favorite parts of the podcast.

SPEAKER_02

I learned so much about you when you answer those questions.

SPEAKER_04

Not the text that we're breaking apart, but the different things. All right, so Bree, give it to us.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Our

Irrational Fears And Why They Stick

SPEAKER_01

question today is what is your irrational fear?

SPEAKER_04

My irrational fear. Not just a regular fear. Not legitimate fear, but something that doesn't make sense at all.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um uh clowns, minus clowns. 100%. And I probably it's probably gonna really bite me in the butt that I'm saying this on a public podcast that I'm irrationally scared of clowns. But I'm no, you know that everybody that just heard that is gonna start sending you meme. Listen, I'm telling you, I want I'm talking directly into the camera. We will not be friends anymore. If you do that to me, we will not be friends.

SPEAKER_04

I think there's some people that just went, yes, we won't be friends.

SPEAKER_02

I have this is not a joke. I have punched two people on separate occasions because they either came into my office. As an adult or as a kid, and just out of reflex, just like So what scenario are you in where a clown just shows up and the second time I was at my office, in my office. Here? No, and when I was in Knoxville, and a coworker walked into my office like unannounced, scared the you know what out of me. And I just like out of reflex, I was like, just like that. And thankfully, like the mask was like cushioned enough that I didn't hurt them.

SPEAKER_04

But I don't even know what to do with this conversation right now.

SPEAKER_02

The reason, I'll tell you why, and I'm now I'm throwing my dad under the bus. When I was like seven years, seven, seven years old, just seven years old.

SPEAKER_04

This is your childhood trauma. We're getting the original.

SPEAKER_02

My dad let me watch it, like the original It by Stephen Keene.

SPEAKER_04

Not okay.

SPEAKER_02

No, so of course I'm terrified of clowns. That guy, that clown killed kids.

SPEAKER_04

Like, oh man, that's terrible. Yeah, I that sounds like a well-earned fear. I don't know how irrational it is, unless, but you have carried that into adulthood. Yeah. Mine is so lame compared to that. So my irrational fear is y'all know I'm a shoe guy, is people stepping on my toes, like scuffing my shoes.

SPEAKER_02

Scooping your shoes.

SPEAKER_04

Like, I just I get into a crowd and I'm like, don't do it. Like you wear a size 13 shoe, you wear big shoes. It's crazy. I mean, like, even my ones are is that the real reason you don't like crowds?

SPEAKER_02

Is that you just don't like the the like the chance that people are gonna step on your shoes?

SPEAKER_04

I don't do Disney or anything like that. I just I can't handle all the people. But part of it could be this makes sense now. Thank you, Brie. This makes sense. It could be people are scuffing my shoes. Yours comes from trauma and my comes from preference. I feel very unequal here. It's great. By the way, what do we got going on with your microphone right now?

SPEAKER_02

I got tired of leaning. Like, and okay, I'm short. Yes, first of all. And so this microphone sits. Note for the audio, if you're not watching, it sits way up on the table.

SPEAKER_04

It's built for someone that's an adult.

SPEAKER_02

And so now, from now on, anytime I'm on the podcast, I'm just holding it right here. I'm holding it right here in my lap. It's comfortable. I'm right here at the mic. I don't have to lean weird.

SPEAKER_04

If you ever do a podcast, all right, uh, you can, if you have child size, you know, uh ability to reach the microphone. You just child size ability. Yes, that's it.

SPEAKER_02

Stan Lloyd says we're vertically challenged.

SPEAKER_04

You are that. All right. Well,

Setting Mark 6 And The Storm

SPEAKER_04

let's get into scripture. That was and that might have been the most wheels-off uh cold open we've had in a while. So uh that's that's wild. So, hey, if you got your Bible with you, you're gonna do uh Mark chapter six, verses 45 uh through 56, which is crazy because we are gonna talk about uh Jesus walking on the water as as I was preparing for this podcast, looking over uh the script and everything and working through it. Um this is the passage that I preached in view of a call weekend when I came to Concord. So five years ago, when the church called me uh to come be their pastor, this is the message uh that I spoke. And so it's uh really cool to go back and uh look through this, especially since I didn't preach it this weekend. Yeah, yeah. We had another teammate do that. But uh, it's gonna be be interesting because it's uh it's really, really an amazing passage.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and what's I think the the craziest thing about this section of scripture that when we get to the end of verse or chapter six, before this, like we talked about it, he feeds like the five thousand people, like it's this huge miracle. Yes, and then immediately after it's this like crazy dramatic storm that comes. And but honestly, doesn't this mirror life just a little bit? It does like you get because I mean you hear people talk all the time about like their Christian walk, and you like get on this super like great spiritual guide. Incredible winds, tons of momentum, and then all of a sudden just boom, like something like that feels like the bottom falls out.

SPEAKER_04

Well, and I think that's what the disciples are going through here. And I I gotta think they've just come back from ministry, they're they're getting their respite, and then they feed the 5,000. You see this little uh happy meal size lunch feed probably close to 20,000 people, uh, and then from there they move on and right into this storm. Yeah, and so uh it's a it's a big deal. Um, but some of our hardest moments, and I get you, I guess you guys listen to this, y'all understand that some of our hardest moments typically come right on the heels of great spiritual victory. Um it's not something to be discouraged about.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and even you on a week-to-week basis, like how many times have I had conversations with what any pastor, I've talked to a lot of pastors about this, like their hardest time of the week. Oh, I know. Like the most depressing part of the week for them is like Sunday afternoon to Monday morning. Absolutely. Because they have preached, they've prepared, they have like presented this message that the Lord has given them, and then you immediately start second-guessing what you said. That message wasn't good. I didn't say that the way I should have. I didn't study enough. Like you ought, like the enemy immediately starts attacking you after that. Absolutely. And it is, I mean, it is a very relatable experience of the ups and downs of just the spiritual life that we live. Well, let's go to the text, man. Let's get into it. All

Obedience Can Lead Into Storms

SPEAKER_02

right. So at the beginning, right here, starting in the beginning of this section, we see that Mark tells, or Mark is telling us that Jesus immediately, right after the miracle, tells the disciples, Hey, I want you to get in the boat and I want you to go ahead of me. Like you go ahead and go, and then I'll be there in a little while.

SPEAKER_04

Now, what's what I think is difficult, Aaron, for a lot of people to understand, is there's this little second layer thing you have to understand of going when he put them in the boat and sent them into the middle of the lake while he goes to pray. Um, they're gonna be exactly where he told them to be when things get really difficult.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and I think that's important to remember because we're, I mean, we're gonna see in the story play out. Like they are about to experience something very difficult, very scary, traumatic for them. And a lot of times we want to think that we get into those places because we did something wrong or that we but were out of God's will, but they experience this story exactly where God told them to go. Like He said, Go here, go ahead of me, knowing like they're gonna experience something here in the middle of the lake.

SPEAKER_04

They're literally gonna be in the storm because they obeyed what Jesus said. Yeah, and I think for some of you, I mean, this has to be something that we wrestle down in our doctrine to understand. There will be times that we are called to the storm, we are placed in the storm. We are in the center of God's will in the storm, uh, and they were there because they obeyed. Yeah. And Jesus went on the mountain to pray.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he was like, I'm gonna go pray, which is again another picture of what we see in the life of Jesus. Like he did ministry, he did this great miracle, he did this work, and what does he do? Okay, I need to seek the Lord and communicate with the Father through prayer. And that's just a regular, like we see that overnight.

SPEAKER_04

It's a rhythm in his life that he'll do ministry and then he'll pray. And and what's crazy to me is I fall into this my this trap myself, and I bet you do too, and probably everybody listening, is is when we start feeling the pressure of life, that's when we pray. Yeah. But when we look at the normal rhythm of our day, a lot of times we go, I don't have time to pray, or I can't give any more time to pray. And what we see Jesus do is constantly prioritize it. It doesn't just fit in, hey, I got up and had my quiet time. Yeah. Jesus has been at it and he's putting them in the boat. This scene really takes place in the middle of the night, and he's up there praying, probably uh, you know, in the dark. It was funny. We um uh at our joy club recently, I got to speak to our senior adults, and one of the songs uh that was sang was that old hymn, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. Well, there's this part in the first um verse of it, and I was listening to Michael lead uh this, and it's just oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. And what we see the Son of the Living God do often, regularly and with intention, is to pull aside to pray. Uh and I just absolutely love that. So let me ask you a question because I think as we wrestle with this first piece, just even in the setup of it of Jesus says, You boys head out into the middle of the lake, I'm gonna head up the mountain to pray, they kind of separate and the disciples find themselves in this tough situation. I think we can relate to that. So help me answer this. How why do we often assume hardship means something is wrong spiritually?

SPEAKER_02

I think it's one, I think it's because we don't understand and won't ever really fully understand the way that Jesus works and the way the Holy Spirit works in your life. Okay. And what I mean by that is we think, even if we're told, because I mean, tons of really good, solid, theologically grounded pastors and teachers remind us all the time, like, hey, Christianity is hard, it is not an easy road. If you are if you follow Jesus and you commit to following him, you were going to experience hard things. Like we get told that all the time. However, we don't believe that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Because we get in this mindset of like, no, no, no, like Jesus wants good things for us. He like he's gracious, he's merciful, he's forgiving, and he is all of those things. But that doesn't mean that you're not gonna experience hard things. We were having this conversation um the other day with some of our staff. We were talking about how like we it was during book club, we were talking about like the book that we're reading as a staff, and we were talking about how we experience these things, and sometimes the only answer about why we're experiencing them is because we live in a world that's been broken by sin. Right. And that's the only answer. And we don't want that to be the only answer. And so I think to your question, like, why do we think something is wrong? It's because we can blame it on something, and we don't want to blame it on the fact that we live in a world that's broken.

SPEAKER_04

Let me ask this: do you think this would line up with what you just explained of going, I think we've been conditioned to think that bad things happen as a consequence of something? Well, what I mean by this, all right, roll with me. I'm gonna I'm gonna make a far leap here. If you remember the movie Remember the Titans. Oh, yes. Like, I mean, top three, if not number one on best sports movies. Yeah. And so in one of their practices, this is what he said, you know, uh the coach is given the thing, and he goes, You drop a pass, you run a mile. You miss a block in the assignment, you run a mile. You fumble my football. And you know, and he goes into this whole thing. Football up. And you're gonna run every one of them. And I go, I wonder if we take that mentality of going, if we do something wrong, there's a punishment. So if we experience something spiritually difficult or scary or hard, we go, we must have done something wrong.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, what did I do to deserve this?

SPEAKER_04

That it's punishment rather than an opportunity for God to teach us or show us or build some kind of character or resolve in us.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the question is always what did I do, not what are you teaching me? Which is what it should be. It should be, okay, what am I supposed to learn in this moment, not hey, what did I do to deserve this?

SPEAKER_04

It takes a lot of spiritual wisdom and maturity. Let me ask you this then. How does this palent, this passage specifically challenge that assumption?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean, I think it's what we said at the beginning. Like Jesus sent them into the middle of the lake. They were in the literally in the middle of God's will, doing exactly what he told them to do. That's when they experienced the storm. And so this passage challenges that assumption that something bad happens because Jesus got same like Trinity, we we don't have to get into that theology, but like perfect, knew what he was doing, sent the disciples into the lake, and he knew they were gonna experience the stuff.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, there's some people listening right now that are really wrestling with this because they're having to unpack what they believe about something.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and it's and but it goes back to, and I'm sure we'll get to this, but when we were talking about how no, your question should be what are you gonna what are what is the Lord trying to teach me in this moment? They experience this storm and they learn a very valuable lesson. Oh, yeah. It's incredible when they experience it, and it's because Jesus needed to teach them something. Let's not give it all away right now. All right.

Jesus Sees The Struggle Up Close

SPEAKER_04

So uh it it gets to this part where it says um that he went up on the mountain to pray, and then verse 47 it says, When evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land, and he saw that they were making headway painfully for the wind was against them. Yep, and it was about the fourth watch of the night when he came to them walking on the sea. So when it says they were making headway painfully, I mean they're exhausted. This isn't like a CrossFit workout where you're hitting the row machine, right? Like this isn't, I mean, they are giving it everything they're got, trying not to die in the middle of this lake and they're stuck. Yep. But Jesus, it says he sees them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. Well, and that for me, that that detail really, really matters. Okay, why is that? Well, because I think that I I love that it says in this scripture, they're fighting, it says they're making headway painfully, they're exhausted, they're stuck, and then the detail is that Jesus saw them struggling. That's encouraging to me because a lot of times when we are experiencing hard things, we're experiencing a storm, we're experiencing a struggle or whatever, we can feel very alone and very isolated, and that we're the only people going through this, nobody cares, nobody knows that I'm going through this. Jesus knows that you're going through whatever it is. And in this passage, Jesus saw the struggle that they were going through. And I think that's a good reminder for us of like we we are not unseen. Like, we may feel on this earth that nobody knows what we're going through, nobody knows what we're experiencing, feel very alone. You're not, Jesus sees exactly what you're going through. And so I think for me, I think this deep great comfort in this deep.

SPEAKER_04

I I do think that there's something that kind of resonates with as you were speaking there, because it is one of those things that when we do struggle, when we are walking through some things, it does feel like I'm alone. Yeah. Uh, and I'm doing this. Does Jesus see? Does he care? Um, and and sometimes I I think going back to that whole idea that we're in the we expect the center of God's will that everything works perfectly. But the center of God's will may be in the storm and he may be letting you work through some things before he comes and interacts. But he we're not alone.

SPEAKER_02

No, and I think it's interesting, he's not like physically, he's not close to them in this moment. Like he sees them, but he's not on the mountain. Yeah, he's up on the mountain, they're down in the thing. And so it but and that, but I think that speaks to a lot of times not only do we feel isolated, we feel very distant from God in that moment in those moments where we're struggling, that he's not close, that he's not watching, that he's not seen. But that doesn't just because we feel that way doesn't mean he's absent from you. And so um let me ask you this why why do you think it is so hard in the middle of a struggle, in the middle of something that's tough, in the middle of something that you're experiencing, why is it so hard to remember in those moments that God does see you, God does know what's happening, God does know what's going on. Why is it so hard for us to remember that?

SPEAKER_04

Oh, I you know, that's such a great question, Aaron. But I do think some of it just has to be um the storms often pull our focus. Like we get into something, all of a sudden the wind and the waves kick up, and all of a sudden you take your eyes off of Jesus and you start looking at the thing that scares you, intimidates you, you don't know how to deal with. Um, but I think a lot of it is about it's hard to remember because we stop looking at God and we start looking at our circumstances. I don't I I know you know this, your kids are are little right now, um, you know, but my kids are are growing up, but when they were little, you know, they would get scared and you'd be like, all right, look at me. Like just look at me. Don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Uh, you know, I I think about when uh they're learning to swim or something like that, and they're worried about the water, and you're like, hey, just look at me. Yeah, I'm right. Jump to me, swim, jump to me. And I think that's one of the things of going, I think it becomes a greater struggle when we take our eyes off of Jesus. And that's so cliche. Yeah. I mean, and it just feels so almost patronizing of going.

SPEAKER_02

Well, we're gonna see, we're gonna see that play out here. Yeah. Like what happens when you do take your eyes off of like we're gonna see that play out. Let me ask you one more question before we kind of move to the next section of this passage. How does we talked about Jesus saw them, like he saw what was happening, he understood what was happening. How does knowing that Jesus did see them, how does that help you change the way that you view difficult seasons of your life?

SPEAKER_04

Oh man. Uh well, that you know, I a lot of what we just said, but I do think there's some reassurance there. Yeah. I mean, I guess for me, one of the biggest things, you know, just as a leader sometimes, you know, I I can rely on my own skill. I can I can do some things in my own power, and um, you know, and then you get out of your depth and you're like, I don't know how to do this, or what if I mess this up and that's a a fear for you. Um, but I think understanding that that the Lord is constantly aware that he's involved, even if he's not working it the way you would think in that moment. And so for me, just understanding that I won't be forsaken, yeah, that I won't be left alone, um, and that whatever he's wanting to accomplish, like there is a lesson to be learned there. So I think it just brings a great amount of comfort. I I just I don't want to minimize anything anybody's walking through right now, just to go, just put your eyes on Jesus, just trust his own. Yeah, and it'll all get better. Yeah, and going, man, you get that cancer diagnosis, you've got this wayward child that's been this way for decades, you've got you know, financial troubles, whatever it is for you. I mean, I'm not trying to minimize that by just saying, hey, pray harder, trust Jesus. I'm just saying, but there is something that you need to understand. You can be in the center of God's will, things can be chaotic, and God may answer yes, no, or wait, but at the same time, you're not gonna face it alone. I mean, it's just what we know, and there's a great reassurance that he's there. I think about our kids, man, they have so much more confidence when they know I'm in their corner. You know, I'm I'm I every once in a while you see your kids playing a sport or something, they'll just look to see if you're there, you know. And I think it gives them a sense of confidence and and uh comfort. I think the same thing with the Lord, just knowing he's there, um, whether he fixes what I want him to fix or rescues in the way I want him to rescue, knowing he's there provides a great level of comfort. That's good. Now, you picked out that detail of he saw. There's another

Late Night Fear Distorts Reality

SPEAKER_04

detail in there at the end of that verse where it says that it was the fourth watch of the night. Um, that's three to six a.m.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I was like, that's in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I don't know if it's in the middle of the night or if that's the beginning of the morning, because that's the time frame I get up, right? Um, but you know, I it's the middle of the night for me. It is the middle of the night for you. Now, I I always tell this story because I've preached this passage before, and I always, you know, give this thing of going, hey, have you ever been with some friends at late at night? And you kind of go through the phases of of the changing emotions, like you're hanging out at 10 o'clock, uh, everything's, you know, fun and hanging out. By the time you get to midnight, things get like weirdly funny that aren't funny. There's like this delirium that comes in, and uh, and then like at you know, one, two in the morning, everything starts getting louder, you know, you feel like you got a shot. But then there's something like three or four AM where things get spooky, yeah. You know, and all of a sudden you're like hanging out, and all of a sudden you're like, I'm pretty sure I heard footsteps on the roof. Like, you know. Are we all about to get murdered right now? You know, and you start thinking through all these scenarios, there is something that I'm going, man, this is the late part of the night. These guys have been wearing it out, trying to keep this boat afloat. You got to think their senses are through the roof. Oh, yeah, for sure. And it's it's wild. And all of a sudden, Jesus, who's not with them, they've been after it probably for hours. Yeah. It's early in the morning or late at night, and you see somebody walking, they're probably like, what is happening right now?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I mean, it is, but this, I mean, you this is like mic drop in a got in the gospel's stories. Like you hear, oh, Jesus walked on water, and you're like, wait, what? Yeah, but put it in context. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And these disciples have a full crash out, man. They are they did not respond the way that you do not respond. They're not like, oh, Jesus is here. He is stepping into our storm. Our savior has nothing. Nothing panic. Panic. Right? They start screaming, it's a ghost, it's a ghost. Yeah. Like, what would bring this kind of thing other than that like 3, 4, 5 a.m. like paranoia?

SPEAKER_02

You said like everything starts getting spooky. I think there's a sense like fear in our life, it has it is very good at distorting your perception about how things are going. Like I mean, you think about and in the middle of the night. Well, even okay, I'll use the example of walking around here, like when nobody's here and I have to come up here late at night, yeah, to the church and get something. There's some dark hallways. You can definitely talk yourself into like there is somebody else in here. What was that noise? What is going on? And so it does distort your like actual perception of what's going on and starts making you think.

SPEAKER_04

And then things become irrational fears, like we just talked about at the beginning. C Brie, you didn't even know. That's wild. Yeah. Uh, but there is this really cool moment. We

“I Am” On The Water

SPEAKER_04

talked about going two layers down. If you want to jump like five layers down, when they're out on the sea, they're panicking, it's it's the middle of the night. Jesus is walking on the water. Yo, get this, like, like lock into this. And they panic and they scream, it's a ghost. Yeah. But then Jesus replies to them. And he says, Take heart, it is I. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. And a lot of people just take that at like a surface level. Like they get into this idea of like, hey, Jesus is here, be of good courage, don't be fear. But there's so much more of that. It is I is actually in the Greek the ego I me, E-G-O, next word, E-I-M-I. Uh, and it is the same um, it's it's actually I am, which is what we see in Exodus chapter three, yeah, when Moses is at the burning bush and the Lord's telling him, I want you to go deliver my people. He's like, if I go, who do I tell them send me? And it's the first time in Exodus chapter three where God reveals his personal name and he says, You tell them I am sent you. Yeah. And now we have Jesus going, Hey, you don't be scared, not because I'm here, yeah, but don't fear. Why? Because I am. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, that is a game changer of depth in what he's speaking to them. And I think for people walking through tough things right now, it's not just the fact that um maybe, maybe the Lord shows up or maybe you get the answer you want, but the fact that the great I am is present is a game changer. That way the storm doesn't even matter at that point. Yeah, you know, it doesn't matter if it gets fixed or not because the I am is there and he goes, that's why we don't fear. Yeah. It's not because he can help, but because of who he is. And I think this has got to be a watershed moment for these disciples. Yeah. I mean, he is literally using similar language to what we would see in Exodus chapter three. That's good. It's a big deal. So let me ask you some questions.

Exhaustion And Fear Ruin Decisions

SPEAKER_04

Um, because we've hit on this, and I don't know about you, but there's been some times I've been a little tired in ministry, a little bit exhausted? Uh a little exhausted a little bit. So why do fear and exhaustion often make it difficult to realize what God is doing? Why do those two things specifically make it difficult?

SPEAKER_02

Well, when I think about like when I get fearful or exhausted, that is when I start compromising. Okay. Um, like that's when I start making poor decisions or maybe making decisions not as clearly as I would. Um, me and Liz learned very early on, like when we were having conversations as a couple, like we were in a like argument or we needed to figure something out, resolve some conflict. Late at night is not the time to do that. Not when you're tired. Because Liz needs her sleep. I get irrational at late at night. And so, like, late at night was not the time to have those conversations. So we we learned that pretty quickly. But that's because that's when I start compromising and making decisions not exactly the way that I would make them, like if I was in a clear head. And so I think why for me it makes it difficult for me to recognize what God is doing is because I'm not thinking about what God's doing. I'm thinking, how do I get out of whatever this is? And so yeah, I just start like, um, yeah, okay, how do I get out of this? Like, I just want this to stop. I don't really care about anything else but this stopping.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I think very practically for everybody listening or watching right now. I mean, here's the thing you do not make your best decisions when you're scared or when you're tired. No. And I think that's part of the enemy's plan sometimes for your life is when you get tired going, ah, I got them now. Yeah, they're they're not gonna make the best decisions when they're tired, their defenses are gonna be down. Or when you're scared, because you become reactive. Yeah, you react in your emotions, and emotions have their place, right? Yeah, but they follow truth. Yeah. And so you're not always thinking about what's true. So I think that's a great answer of going, hey, when you're tired, when you're scared, man, be on alert because your your defenses are not at their best. Yeah. Well, what stands out to you about Jesus' words to his disciples?

SPEAKER_02

I think, well, I mean, it goes back to what you were saying about that statement he makes, like, take heart, it is I do not be afraid. Like, he's reminding them, you need to remember who I am. Right. I've told you this, I've explained this to you. You've heard other people like proclaim this in front of you because of things that I've done. Yeah, like you need to remember in this moment, in the middle of the storm, in the middle of the struggle, in the middle of this thing that you are so terrified of, that is when, especially when you need to remember this is exactly who I am, this is exactly what I can do, this is exactly what I said I'm going to do. If you remember those things, you're not going to be afraid in this moment. You I mean, there's there's obviously gonna be some emotions still happening, but you're gonna remember, okay, the Lord has this, the Lord, the Lord's a control, the Lord has walked in through this before me. Let's just Dang. You're preaching now. And so I for me, I'm like, no, just remember who he is. Like, that's what he's trying to get him to do.

SPEAKER_04

All I'm saying is if you were saying this from the pulpit, I might have given you one of those. Come on, man. Woo! I would have, I would have woke everybody up in there and just uh got after that. That's good, man.

SPEAKER_02

Um, okay, let's pause. Uh we're we've gotten, we've we're rolling, but let's roll. I know, I know. But let's pause real quick for another quick ministry highlight. All right,

Ministry Highlight With Matt Jernigan

SPEAKER_02

guys, we are here with another ministry highlight. And again, this seems to be a theme. Um, again, we are here with a staff member who does not want to be on camera. Um, that seems to be the gist of most of our team. But we have another one today. So we have Mr. Matt Jernigan here. How are you, Matt? I am just speechy. Okay. All right, so I'll be quick because I know this is like the most uncomfortable thing for you. So I'll be really fast. Um, how long have you been not on staff? How long have you been attending Concord?

SPEAKER_03

Uh going on six years.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, and how did you get here?

SPEAKER_03

Started dating my now wife. Okay, who is Laura Drang.

SPEAKER_02

All right, perfect. And then you have recently, well, I say recently, it feels recently, but it's been longer than I think. How long have you been on staff here at Concord? A little over a year. It was a year in January. Okay. And what exactly, this is probably a tough question for you to answer. What exactly do you do here at Concord?

SPEAKER_03

Because there's a list. Yeah, I guess you could say a little bit of everything, but uh I am the uh building and grounds uh director. Okay. And so keeping everything running, maintained. Perfect. Looking at it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so everything that you see, like all the stuff you see outside, the reason our campus is as beautiful as it is, this man right here. The reason that you have air conditioning that works in the worship center for Sunday mornings, yeah, most of the time, is because this man makes sure it works. So we are very, very appreciative for all that he does. Um, Matt, last question for you. If you, and this is the question that I ask all of our staff, if you were telling our congregation, hey, let's be praying this specific thing. It could be for you personally, it can be for our church. If you were saying, hey, I would love for you to be praying for this, what would it be?

SPEAKER_03

Probably, I mean, job-related just physical health and longevity that my body holds together. Yeah, it is, you know, I mean, it's there are things that are you know strenuous, a lot of ups and downs. Yeah. Um but then just too for the the systems going on in the church, you know. Um we've got a lot of aging. Just do we need to go lay hands on somebody HVAC units. Walking from you know, building to building, just say a quick prayer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Perfect. Well, Matt, thank you so much. You are one of the most hardworking individuals that I know, and so I know that I appreciate it. I know the rest of our staff appreciates it. So thank you so much. Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_04

Hi, like all right, all right, all right. We are back to Mark chapter six. We'll be chuckling at it over there.

SPEAKER_02

Um, all right. So Jesus gets in the boat, wind stops, and Mark says that the disciples were, I think I don't remember the exact words he used, but were utterly astonished.

SPEAKER_04

Like that's a that's a big deal. Big, big deal. Yeah, yeah. It says utterly astounding. Astounded. There you go. That was it. Mark gives this fascinating end piece to this walking on water, which is, I mean, I would put it up there with as well known even in the secular world as feeding the five thousands as walking on water. That's that's that's mainstream stuff. And then we get to this this little little piece of commentary that he has at the end.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he says

Hardened Hearts And Forgetting The Loaves

SPEAKER_02

they did not understand the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. They're like, Jesus, we don't understand the bread. Well, and it seems random, that but I mean it's not random. And so there it is an important connection. Yeah, the feeding of the 5,000. Well, and the storm. Like Mark is telling us these two, like these two things that have happened, they are tied together.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and and I I mean, I think the greater scheme of it, do you if you go back to the 5,000, Aaron, and it's just like the disciples, and and and a lot of people try to interpret their heart with send the people away, you know, were they frustrated they'd been interrupted? Were they tired of being there, or were they really concerned for them? And I think that's a lot of interpretation to try to press on something that's not clearly articulated in the text. But Jesus tells them, you feed them. And I think, you know, when they were trying to do the calculations and run through it and going, hey, we got a couple of loaves of bread and some fish, how's he gonna feed five, 10,000, 15,000 people with this, not understanding who he is? Then we get the storm. Jesus is literally walking on water and they don't understand. And and so it's more than fear, it's it's really trying to comprehend who Jesus is. Yeah. Um, and I think that is that's a big deal.

SPEAKER_02

Well, and I think it's and this kind of leads into a question I want to ask you. We we all we seem to always is a strong word, but we seem to a lot of times forget what God has already done and already accomplished in our life when we enter this new struggle, and you're just like, oh, well, God's probably not gonna take care of this one, but that's not true. Like, and so why do we do that? Why do we just get and we get into a new struggle or something like a hardship comes and we like are like, oh, well, there's no way this is gonna be good. Like when we have seen time and time again in our life that God has worked through these things, but then we get to this new thing and we're like, oh God, this there's no way that God's gonna work through this.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I I don't, man, I wish I had an answer for you. I really do. I mean, when you when you look at this, and and and tell me if I'm wrong, I mean, it doesn't make any sense. No, knowing who he is and then living on, being living proof of how many times he has worked, he has moved, he has rescued, he has helped. And the next, the next breath we draw, something hits the boat, if you will. And we're like, I wonder if God's gonna help.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, hope God helps in this moment.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and it's so wild. I'm going, yeah, I know he, you know, healed this person from cancer, and hey, I know he provided this job when they were unemployed for six months, and I know he did this, but man, is he really gonna do that? It's just this weird lack of faith, fleshly response. But I do think storms and situations are scary, and it's just you don't understand. And they're trying to put all of these pieces together. So I I think it's you know, just short-term memory in your flesh that puts you in bad situations.

SPEAKER_02

And so, how do we allow kind of this past faithfulness to still like help us trust in the moments that we're in?

SPEAKER_04

Like what I want to give you one practical thing. Okay. All right. So

Remembering God’s Faithfulness Practically

SPEAKER_04

I I don't know if people do this anymore, but you know, when early on when you're a Christian, a lot of times people tell you to um uh write your prayers down or write when you've been praying for stuff. Yeah. Uh I think there's something powerful about that. I don't know if you do it in your phone or whatever, but of going, you pray for something, and when God answers, yeah, yes or no, I think you write the answer to that of going, hey, I've been praying for you know my high school buddy to get saved, and um, you know, and I'm praying and I'm praying and I'm praying, and nothing for three weeks and nothing for three months and nothing for three years, and then you get that, you know, text out of the blue or that DM, and and you're like, hey man, you just gotta know this is what Jesus has done in my life. And you go back and go, I've been praying for this. Yeah, yeah. Here's how God answered when. And I think just simple things like that. So when you get into that next storm and you open that prayer journal up, you you open that app with your notes in it or whatever, and you go, This is where he answered. This is where he answered, this is where he answered. And it just reminds you of his faithfulness. I think that's just one little thing that you could do. And then something you led our team in a prayer time the other day, I think it was you, maybe it was somebody else, that talked about the attributes of God. Yeah. Was that you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Um, and and it was just like he Aaron asked us, he's like, What is some of your favorite attributes about God? And what was crazy is not many of them that were mentioned were similar, but they were all tied to something people were going through in that moment of going, hey man, God.

SPEAKER_02

I'm clinging to this attribute because of this. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And so I think being very familiar with your Bible and knowing who God is, when you find something in scripture when God says, This is who I am, that you mark it, that you write it down, that you remember it. So I think little things like that, just little habits that take three minutes to go, this is who God says he is. So when a season of life comes, you can go, hey, God is faithful. Yeah. God is all powerful, God is a healer. God is X, Y, and Z that you see in Scripture. I think just being familiar with the attributes of God, I think will be helpful. So I think that's I think those are a couple of ways that when God is faithful in the past, you know, we write down some of those answered prayer requests, and then as we study, preparing for what may come, learning who God is, I think those can be big things

Power And Compassion In Jesus’ Healing

SPEAKER_04

for us. That's good. So now this passage does take a quick turn because we we finished out uh Mark 6 before we get into Mark 7. And there's this little thing about uh Jesus healing uh a sick person. Uh and so it says when they crossed over, they came uh to the land and got to the shore, and immediately people recognized him and the whole region, they began to bring out sick people on their beds and wherever they heard he was.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I mean, it even says he touched whoever touched the fringe of his garment was healed, which we have seen already. Deep cut into the old test. Yeah, yeah. And so I think it's for me, it's the I when I look at this and I read the end of Mark 6, it for me it's showing that Jesus is powerful, but he's also compassionate, and we get to see it in the same passage.

SPEAKER_04

Dude, you have got like GC sermon nuggets that you keep laying down.

SPEAKER_02

It's because like, okay, he just stopped a storm, like just like stopped it out of nowhere, like got them and safely the other side. But then we see this compassionate side of him where these people recognize him and know, hey, there he's the only one that's gonna be able to heal my loved one and whoever this is. And so it's like this combination of power and compassion together, which is encouraging because that he's both.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I I love that. And I think that's such a great place to end our podcast. Is I do think there's a big dichotomy that you have to understand. God can do the ridiculously unimaginable. Yeah, I mean, he can rescue, he can do big, miraculous only God things, but he also cares for the infirmity of the individual, right? He your suffering, your struggle, your individual. I mean, he can command nature. He does have power over the spiritual realm. He is the son of the living God. He is also a savior who is very close to the individual. And I think that is such a beautiful thing. And for something for us to wrestle with in understanding power and compassion, like you said. That was that's good, man. That's solid. Well, let's land the plane. Let's give give them a couple of things to think about this week.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Okay, so

Three Takeaways And Closing Prayer Focus

SPEAKER_02

looking at Mark 6, uh, some takeaways for you, some about three of them, 45, verses 45 through 56. The first question the I think we need to ask ourselves is do I trust Jesus even when I'm stuck in the storm? Do I trust him like I say that I do? Are my actions saying that? Are this the way that I'm responding? What I'm saying, saying that. Do I trust Jesus even when I'm stuck in the storm?

SPEAKER_04

Especially if that's where he wants you to be.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, if he placed you there like he did the disciples. Uh the second one, am I remembering God's past faithfulness in present difficulty? So are you experiencing something now that's hard? You don't know why, and do you need to remind yourself, hey, God has been faithful up until the there was a um uh it was Herndon actually when we were talking about that that in that prayer, the attributes of God, and he said his was faithfulness, and he gave a description of a conversation that him and Britney were having about like just some like walking into new stages of life and them reminding each other, like, you know what, God has been faithful up until this point, like he's gonna continue to be faithful. Um, and so that was really good. Um, but am I remembering God's past faithfulness and present difficulty? And the last one, am I allowing fear to distort my view of Jesus? So this goes back to like disciples see Jesus, they think he's a ghost, they panic, and Jesus in that moment reminds him, like, let me tell you who I am, let me remind you who I am. And so, am but am I allowing fear to distort the way that I view Jesus and the way and what's happening? And so I think those would be three good ones just to kind of take away from this week. That's huge.

SPEAKER_04

I hope you guys will will walk through those, y'all will look at that and and just go back and be reminded. Uh just the storm didn't surprise Jesus. Yep. Uh those needs did he make. And so whatever you're walking through, um, you have a God who can, who is able, um, and is near. And so that's a little jet fuel for you today. So hope you guys had a good one. We'll see you next time. Bye guys.