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Thank you. Good evening. Again. I can't emphasize enough how good it is to be a part of a mission here where we get to hear about what God is doing around the world. It's just so refreshing to get our eyes off of ourselves sometimes. And you get on what Jesus is doing and all of a sudden my problems just shrin. And Jesus did say that it's more blessed to give than to receive. And that's the mystery of much of what he's called us to in this life. We're in John chapter 6 and Matthew chapter 14 this evening. And before I begin, let me just pray and commit our time to the Lord. Father, I want to thank you for this place and these few minutes together, Lord, to be taught literally of Jesus. And we thank you for your presence here, Lord. There's nobody else who can communicate to the heart but you. And so we would ask you to do that and by your spirit speak. And we'll thank you for that. In your name, Amen. I'm going to kind of take the message this evening from Matthew chapter 14. It's a parallel passage to the event in John chapter 6 of Jesus Walking on the water. There are some details in Matthew 14 that I think are rich and are very worthy of our consideration. And we'll come back to John chapter six at the end of this session. So let's go to the next slide. I've just got some key words in each slide. I want to begin in Matthew chapter 14. This follows immediately the event of this feeding of the 5,000 that we were speaking about last evening. And within the flow of that we then read. After he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain to pray by himself. And when it was evening, he was there alone. We say sometimes we ought to be available 24 7, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We're supposed to be available to people. Jesus didn't live that way. He had a crowd in front of him. After the feeding of the 5,000, it was time to plant a church. It was time to start a torchbearer center, and he sends him away. Jesus was available to his father 24 7. But not people all the time doesn't mean that he didn't respond to a need and went above and beyond the call of duty. He did that often. But his priority in his life was to maintain a disposition of dependence upon his Father so that he was continually discerning what the Father wanted to do and to allow the Father to do that work through him. The Lord Jesus wants his servant more than their service, and he demonstrates that here. If you read the Gospel accounts. Jesus had three habits, three things that he did regularly. It says, as was his custom in my Bible, it was his custom to go to the synagogue where they had something like a Bible reading plan. Because the vast majority of the church at the time of the New Testament church was illiterate. And so Scripture was read out loud because most people didn't know how to read. And they had a Bible reading plan in the synagogue, the Jews did anyway, and the church took that over. That was one of the habits of Jesus. The second habit of Jesus was to teach people when they had gathered around him or when he was in private. In fact, many of the red letter portions in the Gospel accounts are these private meetings between Jesus and an individual. They were individual teaching sessions. And the third thing that was his habit was to do exactly what we just read to get away alone with his Father. If Jesus needed that time, how much more do I. And I am learning. I need to learn to say the magic word no to a lot of things that are vying for my time and tugging at my heart and are interrupting my fellowship with the Lord. There is definitely a place for habit. A habit is not necessarily legalism. It is a rhythm of life that is set. And Jesus had that. So when the crisis comes, you're prepared for that. And he did this regularly. It's interesting that the disciples said to Jesus one time, lord, teach us how to preach. It's not what they asked him. Teach us how to lead effectively, Lord, teach us how to do transition in our organization. Teach us how to heal. They said, lord, teach us to pray. That's the one thing that they asked Jesus to teach them. And I think that they had been around Jesus often enough and seen him in that setting often enough, or knew that he had gone away by himself to be with his Father, that they had learned something. We are to be available 247 to Jesus. And sometimes that may mean a season of saying no to what looks like a very good opportunity, as would have been the case here where we're reading. Next slide. I took the verses in the reverse order this evening because I wanted to camp on this one. I call it Push. It says this in Matthew 14:22. Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side. And then he went away up into the mountain and prayed by himself alone. But the reason why I have that is because it says in my. I read from the New American Standard Version, it says, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat. In the old nasb, it says, Jesus compounded compelled them to get into the boat. In the Phillips transition translation, it says, he insisted that they get into the boat. Why? I mean, it's a strong word. Why would he need to insist that they get into the boat? It's like he's saying, get into the boat and go. Well, about six months earlier they'd been on that lake and Jesus said at that time, let's get into the boat and go to the other side. So he was with them that time, and they get into the boat, obey Jesus, and the good and acceptable and perfect will of God gets them smack dab in the middle of a storm. And then they wake Jesus up because he was resting in trust in his father. And they say to him, don't you care that we're dying? And he stands up and he says, hush and be still. And the wind, the waves become silent. And he says, oh, you of little faith. And then the disciples said, who is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? Could I have the next slide? This is what happened during the six months when they had been in that storm the last time. And now we get to this time. Six months later, he had cast out a legion of demons. He had healed a hemorrhaging woman. He had raised Jairus daughter from the dead. He sent them out and empowered them to preach, cast out demons and heal. He fed the 10,000 with five loaves and two fish. And then we have in the parallel account to the feeding of the 5,000 in these events that we're reading about this time, this, this statement. If we could have this on the next PowerPoint slide in Mark, chapter 6 and verse 52, they had not gained any insight from the incidents of the loaves, but their heart was hardened. Are you kidding me? Get in the boat. We're going to have a little repetition. Peter, when are you going to learn to trust me? When are you going to learn to trust me implicitly? Like a small child jumps into father's or mother's arm down at the beach from the dock. So let's repeat some things. It's one of the most basic principles of education. Remember at the last time they were on the lake, they said, who is this? And so he sends them again because the goal of all faith is that its object might become more real. Isn't that what we want? Get into the boat. We're going to have some repetition. The way that he becomes more real is very different. Sometimes he changes my circumstances. And he does that in a way that leaves us in awe of him. Sometimes he doesn't change my circumstances, but he changes me. Sometimes he removes the difficulty. Sometimes he revives a Christian in the midst of difficulty. Sometimes he commands the wind. Another time he commands his child. Sometimes he calms the storm, and sometimes he calms the saint. So the way that he becomes real can be very different. But he knows best. And at this time he said, get in the boat. I may have come here to Gull Lake expecting Jesus to stand up in the midst of my storm and say, be quiet. And the whole time he has his eye on me, and he says, I want you to be quiet. I want you to rest in me. Go to the next slide. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, it is a ghost. And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid. Sure enough, they obeyed Jesus, and their obedience got them into the midst of a storm. Friends, we need to be mature enough to know. Just because something is calm and comfortable doesn't always mean that it's God's will. And just because something feels like a storm doesn't mean that we're out of God's will. Because he can do both and he can lead us to both of those places. And it's not always wise to try and discern God's guidance based on circumstance. Perhaps that's part of the equation at times, but not always. They got themselves into a storm not because they were hiding sin, not because they were living in compromise, not because they were under spiritual attack, but because they were obedient. And God will always take over the consequences of our obedience. Let me repeat that. God always takes over the consequences of our obedience. So I obey him. He has to take over the consequences of my obedience. And he's more than willing to do so. The crisis of the bread was somebody else's need. The crisis of the storm was now their need. It was their personal need. The crisis of the bread. Philip had suggested 200 denarii, and as we saw last night, he was a confessing Christian and a practicing atheist. And so Jesus gives him another opportunity to be a real Christian and behave like one. It says he came to them in the fourth watch of the night, that is between 3 and 6am why did he have to wait until the fourth watch of the night? Well, he needed to wait that long, until they had become to the end of themselves. At the feeding of the 5,000, Philip had not yet come to the end of himself. And when Jesus shows up walking on the waves, the Jews thought that right before you die, the death angel comes to get you. And that's probably what they were thinking. But it says immediately Jesus said, no, no, this isn't the end, it's me. And perhaps somebody's seated here this evening and needs to hear that word. The last chapter has not yet been written. It's me in your storm. The best way for him to teach us that he can is to let us know we can't. Next slide. Peter said to him, lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. And he said, come. And Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came towards Jesus. In order for Peter to obey Jesus, he needed to do two things. Number one, he needed to leave his oars. And that was his way of trying to control the situation in the storm. Peter was exhausting himself trying to control what he couldn't control anyway. How often is that the case in my life? How often am I trying to control somebody's response to the situation in which I'm guiding them? And all of a sudden I real have control of their response to this. I don't have control of my teenager's response to me. I don't have control on my boss's decisions as to what is affecting me. So he had to drop his oars and he had to give up control over that which he had no control of anyway. And secondly, he had to leave the others in the boat. It was one out of 12 that came. And friends, if you would know and I would know, the risen living Christ, we're going to belong to a minority and not everybody's going to go with us. You will be called a fool and a fanatic because truth usually lies in the minority. It's just part of the program. And one of the words to best describe the life of faith in Jesus is the word lonely. But it will be a happy loneliness. And then you'll meet a brother or sister who's going that way. And the fellowship is deep and precious. He came walking on the waves. Jesus did. Scripture says In Ephesians, chapter 1, in verse 22, he, the Father has put all things under his feet. Friends, what is over your head right now is under his feet. And one of God's goals for me in Christ is to let me know that Jesus walks on the chaos of my life. Right now, it's under his feet. He is lord of the circumstances. He takes responsibility for my obedience. And so he says to Peter, come. Because the goal and the desire of Christ was to impart to Peter that quality of life with God that Jesus was enjoying with his Father and Peter is to enjoy that with the Son. That's the Christian life. And if you think about it, the waves became a bridge to Jesus. The waves became the bridge. And those things that I don't have control of, that are contrary to me, that are battering my life, that are part of my storm, those things can be the very things Jesus wants to use to bring us into a new quality of fellowship with himself, so that he becomes more real. And he won't say hush to the storm. He's going to say hush to me. Come. And Peter got out of the boat and he walked on the waves. Because that step of obedience, which if you think about it, was highly unreasonable, Peter exercised Proverbs 3, 5, 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. We believe with the heart, and the heart is the conscience of man. It's that place where our deepest motives are rooted. And that is the place from which we exercise living trust in Jesus. And at some point in our lives and in the discipleship process, God is going to call us to a step of obedience that is going to look unreasonable by human standards, but it's going to be the right thing to do. Tomorrow during the question answer period, I'm going to say a few things about the ministry of Torch Fairs International, because I've been getting all kinds of questions and they're usually similar. So I'm going to take my time to do that at that time. But I want to tell part of the story of Torch Fairs this evening because it illustrates what we're talking about right now. A man by the name of Major Ian Thomas was born and raised in London. He was born again at age 12. He was studying to be a medical doctor to be a missionary. And between age 12, at conversion and age 19, when he had entered into medical school, he had burnt himself out trying to live for Jesus. And he got down on his knees one day and he cried before the Lord and said, lord, I'm a complete failure. I can't live the Christian life. And he says, in his own words, it was as if the Lord said to him, I've been waiting for this moment for a long time because you've been trying to do for me what I've also been trying to longing to do through you by my indwelling presence. But your efforts to live for me have been stopping me from doing that in you. That was the birth of torchbearers. He became an itinerant preacher, stopped his studies. His parents thought he was crazy. He was called into the Second World War. He fought in Belgium, was evacuated at Dunkirk. He went back to northern northern Africa, fought in Italy, and then was involved in a very important battle in Italy for which he got what would be the equivalent of a Purple Heart. And so he went to Buckingham palace, and King George awarded him that. King George was Queen Elizabeth's father. He didn't like to play that card. He carried the title Major from that point. And it was during his time as the city commander in a town called Felbert, near Wupperthal, that God laid it on his heart to love German young people. That was radical. And he said to his wife, I'd love to have a house where we could invite German young people and tell them about Jesus. A family friend of his told him about a house in northern England. If I could have the next slide. That's Major Thomas. He heard about a house in northern England, and he sent his wife up there with a family friend who was a businessman. He said, I've saved 7,000 British pounds during the war. Take all of that up and take part in this auction up there. My friend will do the bidding for you. So they're sitting in this auction, the bidding starts, and then it goes up to £7,000. And the businessman whispers to Mrs. Thomas, what should I do? Being a good shopper? She said, go a little further. And then, bam. Sold to Thomas. She was 26 years old. This is their house that they bought. It's called Cape and Ray Hall. And it was the first torchbearer center. And in 1947, the first guests came. There were 11 of them. And then there was a British program that said if any school, hostel, church camp would host German young people for three months of vacation, we'll finance it under one condition. One afternoon a week, a government official will come in and teach these German young people the principles of democracy. Whatever you want to do for the rest of the time is your business. Major said, I'm in. And he preached the gospel to them. And these German young people were born again. And they came the next summer and the next summer and the next summer. And I've met some of them who. Who went way back then. They said it was like a movement of God, like Pentecost. In Acts, chapter two. This the next picture. Major Thomas, he was like a father to me. One time I made this mistake. One time I told him how he was having a hard day. You never tell a war hero you're having a tough day. That's the only mistake you make. Once he blinked, looked at me and said, peter, nobody ever said it'd be easy. Let's get on with the job. Jesus is enough. After they purchased that house, somebody told Major Thomas, you ought to sell that thing and save your reputation. He said, I'm going to build you a house on this property. And he did. And the man's name was Alan Redpath. Alan Redpath was a former chapter or pastor at Moody Memorial church in the 50s and 60s. But on the basis of that experience, Major Thomas said this. He said, it doesn't have to be possible. It just needs to be right. And what is right before God, he makes possible. I've never forgotten that. This is exactly the position that Peter was in. It doesn't need to be possible to be God's will, just needs to be right before his eyes. And then I step out in obedience, and he makes it possible. And perhaps that somebody's situation right now in the storm that you're in is Jesus is just giving us an opportunity to come to know him in a deeper way and to discover the sufficiency of a living, indwelling Christ who wants to enable us to walk on the waves in order that they might become a bridge. Jesus didn't offer Peter calm seas. He offered him one word. Come. Come. And let me take over the consequences of your obedience. And God has taken over the consequences of Major Thomas obedience since 1947. Next slide. But seeing the wind, he became frightened and began to sink. And he cried out, lord, save me. And immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, you are certainly God's son. Lesson learned. But seeing the waves, friends, faith is like an eye. It sees everything but itself. And faith is like an eye in the sense that it sees Jesus. But never pay too much attention to your experience of Christ when you're walking in the power of the living Christ, don't look at the wind and the waves don't pay attention to the storm. We need to stop taking our spiritual temperature. We need to stop digging around in our own souls. That's God's business. For me, personally, introspection is one of the biggest thieves of joy in the Christian life that I know of. How am I doing inside? God knows, and that's his business. It doesn't mean that we are called to deny the hard facts of life. The waves were facts. But listen very carefully. Fact and truth are sometimes two different things. The facts were the waves. The truth was the fact that Jesus had those waves under his feet. Feelings are facts. But the truth is that in spite of my feeling, Jesus still lives within me. He is still Lord of the storm. He is still faithful to me. He will never leave me or forsake me. And we need to learn to order our steps according to truth and face the facts at the same time, but order our steps according to Jesus. That's the discipline and learning that is called maturity. In Isaiah 26:3, Scripture says, the steadfast of mind, you keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you. The steadfast, steadfast of mind, you keep in perfect peace because he trusts in you. A Wycliffe Bible translator translated that verse. In this way, he said, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind stops at God. Isn't that a great translation? My mind left on its own. You know, if you wanted for me to lead a seminar at Gull Lake, I could lead a wonderful seminar on how to worry. I could lead a wonderful seminar on how to speculate and then come up with the worst possible scenario in your mind. I can do that very well. I need to learn this. I need to pay attention to the truth while I'm facing the facts and order my life according to Jesus. God's responsibility is to make me aware. If I need to make an adjustment, that's his responsibility. Listen to this verse in Philippians, chapter 3. In verse 15, this is this passage where Paul is saying things like, whatever is gain, I count loss, forgetting what lies behind, pressing forward to what lies ahead, etc. Etc. And then he says this. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect or mature, have this attitude. And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that to you also. So if my heart needs adjusting, God will make me aware of that. And one of the best ways I know that he wants, that he uses to do that is often his word and often his people. And so I've developed a habit of meeting with the Lord Jesus in His word. And it's a non negotiable in my life. It's not even a spiritual discipline anymore. Anymore. It's my private counseling time with Jesus. And it's wonderful. Well, Peter got his eyes on his experience of Christ and got them off Christ himself. That sent him into a tailspin. He began to sink. Jesus didn't look at him and said, listen, we've been here before. This was your last chance. He didn't do that. He immediately spoke to him. And he didn't say, oh you of no faith. He said, O you of little faith, little faith is enough faith. And when Peter said, lord save me, and when I say help, that's enough faith. That is enough faith for Jesus. Because if we didn't think Jesus was available, we wouldn't cry help. And what did Jesus do? He sticks out his hands, pulls him up on the water. Second Timothy 2, 13 says that if we are faithless, God remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Somewhere along the way I heard that God can do everything. I've read my Bible a few times since then and I've come to discover God can't do everything. Did you know that there are certain things that God Almighty cannot do? He cannot die, he cannot be tempted, he cannot lie and he cannot change. So I don't like the phrase when somebody says risk a step of faith with Jesus. Risk a step of faith. Faith is never a risk because Jesus can always only be faithful to us. He will never, no, never, no, never leave us or forsake us. And even if my faith is the size of one word, help, that's enough. Because he can't be anything but faithful to you or to me. Lastly, last slide. I call this stay. They got back onto the land. And you know, when Jesus was never impressed with big numbers. Have you noticed this? If he was faced with a crowd, often he did one of two things. He either avoided them and took off, or he offended them with something that he said, in this case, he's going to offend them. And he begins speaking about himself as the bread of life. And he says, for instance in verse 51 of John chapter 6, I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread which I also give for the life of the world is my flesh. And then the Jews began to argue with one another, saying, how can this man give his flesh to. How can this man give us his flesh to eat? So Jesus digs a little deeper. So Jesus said, truly, truly, I Say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. But he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Therefore, many of his disciples, when they heard this, they said, this is a difficult statement. Who can listen to it? Jesus goes on and he says the words that I've spoken to you, our spirit and our life. I'm speaking of spiritual reality. You need to receive me into your very being, just like you eat food. Friends, if a person is starving, it's good that they have food with them. But food will do them no good until it's in them. That's the point Jesus is making. You need to receive me by new birth into your very being. And he likens it to eating. As a result of this verse 66, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. So it doesn't say that Jesus ran after them and said, oh, man, you guys, I'm really sorry. I got away with myself. Listen, the terms of discipleship are not really like that. I really need followers. I really need you guys. Just come on back. I'll just. I'll just kind of tone it down a little bit. More people left Christ in his ministry than ever followed him. And he is so secure in what he just said that he turns to the 12 and says, you do not want to go away also, do you? Jesus looks for a voluntary response. He is a gentleman. And he doesn't try and spiritually force feed anybody, because love is a voluntary decision. And that's why he lets many go. It breaks his heart, but he knows it must be voluntary. And then we have one disciple answering, shouldn't surprise us. Who? On every list of the apostles or the disciples, his name appears first. In fact, the name Simons. For Simon Peter is the word that means to hear. And you heard him a lot. One translation on the sermon of. Or, excuse me, the Mount of Transfiguration, it says, peter didn't know what to do, so he spoke. Don't look around. But this time he spoke. It was pretty good. He said, lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God. Where did he learn that? One disciple got out of the boat, and he said, after that, I'm not leaving. You see, it's the ones who've gone through the storm that stay honestly in torchbearers, I'm looking for those who are either in a storm or have been through the storm, because they stay, because they've usually been brought to the end of themselves. And in the storm, they learn the sufficiency of Jesus. So this evening, we're faced with an invitation. Jesus says, come. And it could very well be he's not interested in calming your storm. He's interested in calming you. He's not going to say hush to your circumstances. He's going to say hush to you. And he's provided that storm so that you and I might learn to walk on the difficulties of our lives in the power of Christ, so that they might become a bridge. So let's take 30 seconds of silence and speak to him about that, and then I'll close. Father, I want to thank you for those things in our lives that bring us to the end of ourselves. It is horrifying. It is even painful at times. But I want to thank you that it's just there that we learn the sufficiency of Christ in a way that we could not otherwise. Lord Jesus, I would ask for your mercy and your patience and that you, by your spirit would invite somebody to come to you tonight and walk on the waves that you provided in order that they might discover them to be the very bridge upon which they know your reality in a new way. So may your word bear fruit in the days to come. We pray in your name. Amen. Thanks you guys. You're very attentive. I wish you God's blessing and a good evening. Thank you very much.