Miracle In the Storm

In this transcription, the speaker discusses the details of a story from the Bible about Jesus walking on water. The story highlights how even when we are on the right path, we can face challenges and storms. However, God knows our situations and is there to help us. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having faith and focusing on the Savior, as this allows miracles to happen in our lives. They also mention how making choices and stepping out of our comfort zones can lead to amazing experiences. The speaker encourages listeners to share what they have learned with others. Alright everybody, welcome back. You just finished your study above and learned some amazing things. I just wanted to see if you caught a few details here. There's some really cool details that make these verses just come to life. For example, in John's account, when it says that, now remember they just finished feeding the 5,000. Well, Jesus just finished feeding the 5,000. And then he perceived that they would come and take him by force and make him a king. How crazy is that? They're like, oh, this guy feeds us? We're going to take him. He will be our king. This is the Messiah we've been looking for. And then after Matthew tells us that immediately or straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, he's the one who sent them into the ship in the first place. They were on the Lord's errand in that moment. He decides to stay there and to send the crowd away while his disciples go forward on the Sea of Galilee. Then Mark tells us that maybe he's finishing what he started to do in the first place. He goes up into a mountain alone to pray. Remember John the Baptist, his cousin, has been killed and he went to a place apart in the desert. And so while he's up there, Mark tells us this, did you catch this detail? That when even was come, the ship was on the midst of the sea and he alone on the land and he saw them toiling in rowing for the wind was contrary. Jesus was aware of their circumstances. He knew what was going on. And yet he didn't go immediately to them on the sea. Something that's powerful about this is even when we're doing what's right, when we're on the Lord's errand, when we're doing what we're supposed to, we can come across storms and contrary winds and dangerous circumstances. John tells us they only went about five and 20 or 30 furlongs. In other words, 25 or 35 furlongs, which in our day would be three to four miles. The Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Galilee is about seven miles wide. So they haven't even, I mean, they're like halfway there and they've been toiling during the fourth watch. The fourth watch is somewhere between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. If you saw the footnotes, did you catch that? So they've been toiling all night long and they're not even halfway there. You can't just stop rowing in the middle of a storm. You stop rowing, the sea would catch them, turn them sideways, capsize them. They would die. So they're stuck here and the Savior sees them toiling. God knows our situations and for his purposes, he allows us to experience some challenges like this because of how it grows us, how it stretches us, how it helps us become like him. That said, he doesn't leave us there. He comes out onto the water. He miraculously walks on the water and he'll do the same thing in our lives. He'll make miracles happen. He'll come in ways that we're like, that's God. He's here. He's here to help me. And yet, in Mark's account, he says, when he comes, they're afraid and we might not recognize him either. The way he's coming, we might go, what, not this, what's going on? And the other thing is he wants us to exercise our agency. He wants us to be agents who act and not objects to be acted upon. Perhaps this is why Mark adds this detail. They're toiling. The wind is coming. And then he says, he walked upon the sea and would have passed by them. He wanted them to act somehow, to call out, not just to come to him, but that faith, that reaching out allows miracles to happen. That being said, when they're scared, he does help clarify it for them. Straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. When we're in moments where we're being pushed to our limits and we're afraid, he will reach out to us. When we're reaching out to him to help us calm our fears and help us understand it's okay, I'm here, I'm with you. Now this whole story changes because of Peter choosing to act rather than being act upon. This would be an amazing experience regardless, but when Peter answers and says, Lord, if it be thou bid me come unto thee on the water, the whole situation changes. It's because of a choice he made. In our lives, sometimes we're ready to jump out of the boat too. We're ready to try something that's a little scary, a little bit outside of our comfort zone to serve God and to do what he wants. And you know, when Peter gets out, he does walk on the water before he sinks. And sometimes we get out there and we sink too, and we think, man, I should not have done that. Can you imagine if we didn't have this part of this story because Peter was too afraid to step out in the first place because he's like, you know, I've tried stuff in the past and sometimes I think I'm not going to do this again. Amazingly, Peter walks on the water with Jesus when he has his eyes focused on him. It's when he looks away that the problems happen. When we start to doubt and worry, we're looking at things besides the Savior. If we can just forget ourselves and focus on him and move towards him, that's when the miracles happen. Just two last thoughts here. The first one is Peter also apparently walks back. The miracle continues when he cries out to the Savior when he begins to sink. Just because we're having problems in our lives doesn't mean we're off base somewhere. We just refocus on the Savior, call out to him, and we can walk on water again when we're trying to serve him, when we're doing his work. The last thing is this. The Savior tells Peter, O ye of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? I'm not sure it's bad that Peter was of little faith because later the Savior is going to tell him, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you can move mountains. He had faith that was little and walked on water. Our faith doesn't have to be huge in the beginning. It does have to be in quality, focused on the Savior. It's not about the size, it's about the quality. Why did you doubt? That's always the question and an important question to ask ourselves. Faith displaces doubt. It's that, to me, the most important part of this whole experience is be riveted on the Savior. Be focused on him. Just, he's there. I'm looking at him. I'm moving towards him. At some point, the miracle is going to happen. And then, next thing you know, in our lives, mountains are moving. Places where we weren't able to go before, we're going. It's like the waters become solid and we can move forward. Alright, now is your chance to talk about what you learned in your study with someone else. Check out the instructions below. Take care, guys.