WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:03.279 A lot of times we want Jesus to keep us from the storm. 00:00:03.359 --> 00:00:10.640 Um, but oftentimes what happens is that Jesus meets us in the storm and then he brings us through the storm on the other side. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:19.920 And that's where that's where faith is um really forgiven, you know, is when we can look back and say, man, Jesus just did that. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:21.440 Like, look what he just did. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:22.239 Hi, Chris. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:23.519 Hey, man, how are you? 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:24.000 I'm good. 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:24.480 How are you? 00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:24.800 Good. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:25.519 I'm glad to be here. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:25.920 Good. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.039 Thanks for joining me today. 00:00:27.199 --> 00:00:36.399 We are on our next episode of our uh uh mini-cast series where we're kind of just talking through the book of John as we're going through this together as a church. 00:00:36.640 --> 00:00:44.240 Uh these videos kind of exist for people to watch at the beginning of like maybe their morning devotional um as we go through this chapter. 00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:46.799 Um, or maybe uh groups will watch it together. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:51.679 So it's kind of an opportunity for them to start their group time, maybe just prep to come to group time watching this together. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:58.159 You wrote uh our devo for this week that's in our journals for for the seven series. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:00:59.840 And so thank you for doing that. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:01.679 Thank you for the encouraging words coming that. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:07.760 Today we are in John chapter 16, uh, where Jesus walks on water six. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:08.319 Sorry. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:10.000 John 6 16. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:11.200 Thank you for catching me there. 00:01:11.519 --> 00:01:14.000 Yeah, um the it starts at verse 16. 00:01:14.239 --> 00:01:14.879 My bad. 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:17.040 Um, but tell us what's going on here. 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:20.959 Kind of walk us through what's happening uh here in John chapter six. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:39.040 Uh well, to give a little bit of context, I won't give too much, but we're in a short passage right in the middle of this chapter, um, where Jesus has just fed 5,000 people uh in the little town of Betheda, and the people realize that this guy is the fulfillment of prophecy. 00:01:39.359 --> 00:01:44.560 This this is like the Moses that that Moses was talking about, like the fulfillment of all these things. 00:01:44.799 --> 00:01:50.879 Um, and so they want to take him, they want to take him and make him like a puppet king. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:55.439 They want they they want him to be in charge because this is the the one that has been promised. 00:01:55.519 --> 00:02:00.959 He's probably a political messiah of some sort or a political savior of some sort. 00:02:01.120 --> 00:02:02.799 They want him to be a political king. 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:09.520 So Jesus has just fed 5,000 men, uh, but likely it could have been 15,000 people total. 00:02:09.599 --> 00:02:11.039 Yeah, and so he just fed them. 00:02:11.199 --> 00:02:20.719 And on the back end of this text that we're gonna study this this afternoon or talk through right now is a long diatribe that he's gonna go on. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:22.960 He's gonna talk about how he's the bread of life. 00:02:23.120 --> 00:02:29.280 So he fed people on the front end, but he's gonna say some hard things on the back end that's gonna frustrate people. 00:02:29.439 --> 00:02:38.879 Yeah, so right in the middle of this, you have um an encounter that his disciples have with him and a miracle all at the same time. 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:43.680 So that's kind of the context of where we're at where Jesus is gonna walk on water. 00:02:43.840 --> 00:02:44.560 Yeah, okay. 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:49.919 So his his disciples are out on the sea, yeah, and then then he just shows up. 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:50.479 Yeah. 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:54.879 So at the end of feeding the 5,000, they want to take Jesus by force. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:00.400 So Jesus escapes, he kind of goes, and he was known to do this, right, from time to time, just to get away from the crowds. 00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:09.120 Um, John in particular doesn't say what Jesus went to do, but a lot of times when Jesus would escape the crowds, he would go spend time with his heavenly father. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:14.080 Yeah, he would spend time in prayer and just fasting or just solitude, whatever it would be. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:20.080 And then um he sends his disciples across the Sea of Galilee. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:24.319 And so they're on a boat and they end up halfway across the sea. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:39.680 Uh, the sea is about six miles wide or long where they're going from point to point, and they get about halfway across, and it takes them somewhere between six and eight hours to get just halfway across the water, and then the storms start raging. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:40.080 Yeah. 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:43.280 So yeah, they're on this boat, and Jesus was not with them. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:43.759 Right. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:47.919 And scripture in John chapter six doesn't even tell us what Jesus' plan was. 00:03:48.080 --> 00:03:53.680 And likely, I would say that even the disciples didn't know exactly what Jesus' plans were. 00:03:53.840 --> 00:04:03.680 But that's what I love about some of these texts is that um is that man, Jesus, who is God, doesn't always owe us an explanation of what he's doing, right? 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:10.719 Like he is the rabbi, he is the teacher, he is the Lord, he is the master, we are the servants. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:19.360 And so often, I don't know if we're allowed to get into application this quick, um, but so often we want to know, God, what are you doing? 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:25.759 You need to explain to me where what your mindset is behind why you're allowing these things to happen to me. 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:30.240 But man, God is he's God and he doesn't always owe us explanations. 00:04:30.319 --> 00:04:33.120 Sometimes he gives them to us, but sometimes he doesn't. 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:33.279 Yeah. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:37.360 So he it does he he likely didn't even tell his disciples what his plans were. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:37.759 Right. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:40.480 But that's his right as the rabbi, as the teacher. 00:04:41.199 --> 00:05:03.040 So and I'm sure there's an element of it too where where he wants them to just to trust him and and knowing that whatever he's doing is what's is what's right, yeah, and what's good, but then also like to to know him well enough to maybe uh uh understand that he just needed time with the Lord and that whatever he is doing, we need to be just like him. 00:05:03.759 --> 00:05:06.639 And so he is he's paving the way for us. 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:09.120 So I I make this joke a lot. 00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:15.120 You talked about about Jesus going off and being by himself, and we see this him doing this law, he goes by by himself to be but the father. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:16.480 Jesus was an introvert. 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:20.079 Like, so I'm an introvert, I need time by myself to recharge. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:27.279 And for all my fellow introverts out there, it's okay to go off by yourself and be just with God to recharge. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:31.279 Uh I s I actually talked about this with a guy I'm discipling this morning. 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:35.120 Um, the difference between isolation and solitude. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:35.600 Right. 00:05:35.759 --> 00:05:46.240 You know, so don't isolate yourself out of throwing a fit, you know, and just going me by yourself because you don't want to see people, um, but you can be go be by yourself with intention, with purpose to be with God. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:59.920 Um and so then Jesus shows up in the middle, in the middle of the night, looks like here, uh, while the storm is raging, walking on water, and they bring him on the boat, and then it says that they immediately the boat was immediately on the land with which they were going. 00:06:00.160 --> 00:06:07.519 So Jesus not only walks on water, but he can teleport like twice potentially in this text. 00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:10.399 Because he just because they're you said they're like six to eight hours. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:10.720 Yeah. 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:15.279 But they've been rowing here, like they're on the sea, uh, in the Sea of Galilee. 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:20.720 And I've been doing some study on this, obviously, but the Sea of Galilee is somewhere between six and seven hundred feet below sea level. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:30.959 And so the winds would whip down into this valley that was where the Jordan River was and the Sea of Galilee, and ultimately the Dead Sea, this is all way below sea level. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:37.279 So the wind would just whip down over these hills and it would stir up storms, and that's where these waves would come from. 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:43.920 So if they're if they've been rowing for six hours and they just left Jesus on one side of the lake, they're in the middle of the lake. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:45.279 Where does Jesus come from? 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:45.680 Yeah. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:57.120 So maybe he's supernaturally teleporting, um, and then he shows up walking on water and then he teleports them somehow to the other side of the lake to safety. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:06:58.639 Yeah, oh, it's so cool. 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.600 So you you you got into into some application. 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:02.480 Tell us a little bit more. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:04.399 Like, what can we pull from this passage? 00:07:04.480 --> 00:07:07.120 What are some things that you've learned in your time in this passage? 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:17.360 Yeah, I mean, um obviously the the thing I just said earlier is about the feeding and the frustration, sometimes that's what it looks like to follow the Lord, right? 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:23.439 Yeah, when when you're human and you don't have all the answers, sometimes he feeds you and sometimes he frustrates you. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:28.879 But do we have the faith to follow him in in those seasons of frustration? 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:33.920 When he feeds us, obviously that's a really a good thing, and we always appreciate that. 00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:42.800 Um when he feeds our our our soul, our spirit, our minds, our you know, our even maybe our finances, our pocketbooks, our our health. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:48.560 We love those things, but sometimes when things don't go well, we end up frustrated. 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:54.399 And this is a moment for the disciples on the lake or the sea, right? 00:07:54.800 --> 00:08:03.199 They are frustrated in this moment, not necessarily at Jesus, but these are many of them are men that are used to being on the sea. 00:08:03.360 --> 00:08:03.439 Sure. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:11.040 They know what it means to be in a boat and the potential of storms and waves and everything, and they're just rowing and rowing and rowing. 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:17.519 And sometimes, man, God leads you into a season where all you can do is row and just trust him. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:22.160 Like you've got to trust that he's gonna show up, but he wants to take you somewhere, yeah. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:29.199 And he wants you to invest something into your discipleship and into the season that he has you in. 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:31.600 Sometimes you just gotta persevere through. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:32.000 Yeah. 00:08:32.159 --> 00:08:35.840 And um, so Jesus shows up at just the right time. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:47.679 And several times through scripture, um, you read, you read of God saying, at just the appointed time, at just the moment when God determined it was right, he shows up. 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:59.039 And that's the that's the faithful promise to us in this is that while they're on this raging sea and they they're not making any progress, they're just rowing to maybe even stay upright. 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:06.080 Jesus shows up and and doesn't necessarily calm that storm, but he takes them to the other side of it. 00:09:06.240 --> 00:09:07.279 He delivers them. 00:09:07.440 --> 00:09:07.679 Yeah. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:11.840 And so a lot of times we want Jesus to keep us from the storm. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:19.200 Um, but oftentimes what happens is that Jesus meets us in the storm and then he brings us through the storm on the other side. 00:09:19.279 --> 00:09:28.480 And that's where that's where faith is um really forged, you know, is when we can look back and say, Man, Jesus just did that. 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:30.240 Like, look what he just did. 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:41.200 If he keeps us from every storm of life because that's more comfortable for us, yeah, we never have a chance to look back and say, Look what God just did, look what he just brought me through. 00:09:41.360 --> 00:09:41.600 Right. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:57.360 And so sometimes there's a much deeper meaning behind the storms and the waves and the winds in our life that God's trying to get us somewhere, he's trying to take us somewhere that we can't see in the moment, but in hindsight, man, there's power, and that's where faith is built. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:09:58.240 Yeah, yeah. 00:09:58.320 --> 00:10:08.480 I mean if if they weren't out on this boat and these winds weren't whipping, if Jesus hadn't sent them, if they weren't in the situation, then they would never have seen Jesus walk on water. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:15.279 And so I f I feel like sometimes we we have to go through the tough in order to see just how powerful God is. 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:15.679 Right. 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:24.559 And in in this in this picture, we see what I think are maybe two of the the my favorite descriptors of who Jesus is. 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:26.399 Number one, he's king of the universe. 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:32.320 Yeah, he he has power over everything to do the impossible, but then he's also rescuer. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:32.799 Right. 00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:37.440 So he show he literally shows up and teleports them. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:48.000 So like showing that he is that he can literally do anything, but then also like they're in this desperate place or the middle of the storm, and he wants to come and rescue them, yeah, even when it seems impossible to be rescued. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:11:00.159 There's a lot to take out of this idea of all of us being in the same boat, you know, all of us find ourselves in situations where we need Jesus to show up to calm the storm, to do the impossible, to be our rescuer. 00:11:00.399 --> 00:11:06.559 And he he can be the rescuer in these impossible situations because he is king of the universe. 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:19.440 Let me let me add one thing to that because it it kind of wraps up the text um either in verse 20 or verse 21 of Mark chapter or John chapter six, where it says the disciples gladly received him onto the boat. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:19.840 Yeah. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:29.600 Like they were so desperate in their situation in the midst of their storm that they gladly welcomed what the rescue that Jesus came to bring to them. 00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:36.559 And I think that that's a point for us to remember by way of application is sometimes we're in the storm and we just want to go through it on our own. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:41.919 We just want to row and row and row our boat, you know, not maybe not gently down the stream. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:44.240 We just want to row it because we're so used to it. 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:48.960 But Jesus shows up and they gladly receive him, like, oh, here comes the rescue. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:53.200 Finally, there's a faith that's there because of what they've already seen. 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.159 They've seen him feed the 5,000 and these kinds of things. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:11:59.840 Um, that they're like, Yes, Jesus is here. 00:12:00.080 --> 00:12:04.000 Um, he came to my rescue, and so we gladly welcome that rescue in. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:06.399 So, as believers, we have to do the same thing. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:10.159 We have to welcome Jesus and what he wants to offer to us. 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:10.879 Yeah, yeah. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:17.360 How many times in our lives have we seen Jesus show up to our boat and said, Nah, I got this. 00:12:17.679 --> 00:12:18.000 I got this. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:19.120 I'm just gonna keep rowing. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:22.159 Yeah, it's yeah, it's what we do in our own humanness. 00:12:22.399 --> 00:12:22.639 Yeah. 00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:30.320 So we just have to trust that Jesus can rescue us from any situation, that he loves us enough to show up and to teleport us out of something bad sometimes. 00:12:30.480 --> 00:12:31.840 He literally did that with our sin. 00:12:31.919 --> 00:12:32.159 Yeah. 00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:35.120 He literally wiped the slate clean for us in an instant. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:38.080 All we have to do is place our faith in him, invite him onto our boat. 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.639 Um, let Jesus take the wheel. 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:41.440 Right. 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:45.519 Or the or the or, you know, or whatever it might be. 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:46.080 Awesome. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:47.600 Thank you so much, Chris. 00:12:47.679 --> 00:12:48.559 Thanks for your time today. 00:12:48.720 --> 00:12:50.000 Guys, thank you so much for watching. 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:54.480 If you're watching this, you know, you're getting ready to dive into your personal devo time or view time with your group. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:12:58.639 Uh, we're praying for you that you would have a great, great time with the Lord and with each other. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:00.559 Chris, thanks again so much.