John Chapter 6:14-21

Sometimes in life, we encounter storms and sometimes, well, let's be honest. Sometimes those storms, they're of our own doing. We do things that place us in storms. We make bad decisions. We make decisions without asking the Lord what to do and we find ourselves in a storm.

Not always. Sometimes, we're in the midst of a storm, not from our disobedience, but from our obedience. Sometimes, we're in the storm because of our obedience. Now, it's good to stop in the midst of a storm and say, you know, why am I here? What happened that I'm in the middle of that storm? Is there something that I did, something I didn't do, that I run off without asking the Lord? That's a good question to ask. But don't always assume because you're in a storm, it's because of your disobedience. It could be so the Lord can come to you and reveal himself to you on a daily basis.

That's the deeper level. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David Magee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Carnersville, North Carolina. One of David Magee's associate pastors, D.A.

Brown is with us. Welcome to the program today, brother. Bob, no matter where we find ourselves in the midst of trials or difficulties, we can know that God comes to us in those storms. Pastor David's going to tell us about that today as he continues in John chapter six.

And now here's David Magee with part two of his teaching, In the Storms. We're in John chapter six, verse 14. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world. I also noticed there's 12 baskets, there were 12 disciples. So they each had a basket left over.

Now they're going to get confused about that later that they forgot the bread, but that's a whole other story. Truly the prophet. When it speaks of the prophet, this is referring back to Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15, really a portion of the chapter, but we'll share two verses. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren.

Him you shall hear. And skipping down to verse 18, it says, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren and will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them all that I command him. So this is what this verse is referring to. It's not saying a prophet, it's saying the prophet. And when the prophet is mentioned, it's talking about the Messiah, the coming one, the coming prince.

And that prophet was and is God. Verse 15, therefore when Jesus perceived, they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone. Jesus didn't want to be made king.

That's not what he was here for. He was here to give his life away. And we see several instances in the gospels where people wanted to make him king and he walked away from it. There's only one instance in the gospels where Jesus allowed himself to be referred to as king, as the coming prince. And it's interesting, the timing, that was his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And the reason he received that on that one day is it had been prophesied hundreds of years before in the book of Daniel. Jesus was not allowing himself to be made king.

How unhuman and how very God-like. You know, he didn't go, well, you know, hey, if I was king, I could probably do a lot of good in the world. And hey, I'd definitely be the, you know, heavy hitter tithing guy.

And yeah, I think I'll do this king thing. But he realized that wasn't what he was supposed to be doing. There's another reason he departed. Perhaps a stronger reason. There was a danger to the disciples.

And if he had have lingered, perhaps the disciples would have really been into this king thing. Oh, Jesus, you know, this sounds like an awesome idea. We think you really, you'd be a great political activist and you'd be a great king and you could really change things.

And listen, we took a vote and all 12 of us are for it. Praise God. Go ahead.

Do it. There was a danger of that happening. And I think that's part of the reason why Jesus removed himself from the situation because he probably would have had the problems with the disciples. And Jesus, again, this is not what I'm here for, guys.

This is not what I'm here for. See, there is a joy in doing what you're supposed to do, doing what you've been called to do, doing what you were sent here to do. There's a joy and a peace that's just amazing that comes with that.

Notice something, too, that's kind of interesting. Jesus, they want to make him king and he walks off by himself. Now, we've seen this enough in the Gospels to realize what he was doing. Whenever he walked off by himself, he wasn't by himself. He was walking off to spend time with the Lord.

Oh, guys, boy, there's something there. Jesus, instead of wanting to hang out with the crowd, wanted to go spend time with his Father. I love Sunday mornings. I mean, I really enjoy Sunday mornings. There's just an excitement in here and as people are serving and you show up early and people are doing stuff, they're getting ready and people are coming in and they're excited and they're expected and you can just tell they're desiring to meet with God, they're expecting to meet with God and people come forward at the end of the service.

And it's just an awesome time. But you know what's more awesome for me is just sitting alone with the Lord, just sitting with my daddy and talking to him. And I hope that you really enjoy Sunday mornings.

I hope that you're really blessed, that you look forward to it and, you know, and you really enjoy it. But make sure you're spending time with the Lord, just you and him. Make sure that you're worshiping him, just you and him.

Because that's an awesome time. When you just sit, you know, one night or one day or whatever, toss in a worship CD and just worship God at your house. Just worship him. Cut it up. Turn it up.

Pull down the blinds. Do whatever you need to do and just worship the Lord. Those are some of the most awesome times of worship you will ever experience.

And if you've never done that, you really ought to do that. Jesus again sets the model. And if you don't take time to get alone with God, you're going to suffer for it. You're not going to walk in the power and the blessing that you could.

And if you neglect that time long enough, there could be real danger in it. But get alone with God and it will just, I guarantee you, it'll change your life. Maybe sit with the Bible open and say, Lord, you know, speak to me.

Is there something you want to say to me? I hope that doesn't freak y'all out when I talk about God talking. I hope you understand what I'm saying and what I'm talking about. We, you know, look guys, this, this Bible's filled with people who not only heard God speak, but they expect that God to speak to them. So when I talk about the voice of the Lord here and the voice of the Lord, I'm not necessarily talking about an audible voice. I've, I've never heard an audible voice, but it's that still small voice that the Lord speaks to me through my heart, through my soul.

And that should be the rule, not the exception. So as I, you know, say these things, understand what I'm saying. Don't sit there and go, Oh my gosh, he hears voices in his head.

That's not good. No, as Christians, we should be hearing the voice of the Lord. We should be responding to the voice of the Lord. Verse 16, now when evening was, when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat and went over the sea towards Capernaum. It was already dark and Jesus had not come to them. Capernaum, by the way, is still there. It's a city right on the Sea of Galilee.

It's not the bustling metropolis that it once was. Verse 18, then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. The storms were very common there because the Golan Heights are off to the east. The Sea of Galilee is roughly at sea level.

And so the Golan Heights rise up about 3000 feet and these winds come down and they blow across the sea and these storms come up real quick. Quick question. Did Jesus know there was going to be a storm? Yeah. But, but he sent the disciples out on the lake. Yeah. So he knew there was a storm and he didn't keep them from going out on the lake.

Yeah. Now for some of you that may rock your boat theologically. If so, praise God. Because we have this mentality sometimes that Jesus came to keep us from any and all the storms.

That's not true. The life lesson here is Jesus did not come to keep us from the storms, but to go with us through the storms so that we could go through the storms. Sometimes in life we encounter storms and sometimes, well, let's be honest, sometimes those storms they're of our own doing. We do things that place us in storms. We make bad decisions. We make decisions without asking the Lord what to do and we find ourselves in a storm.

Not always. Sometimes we're in the midst of a storm, not from our disobedience, but from our obedience. Sometimes we're in the storm because of our obedience. Now it's good to stop in the midst of a storm and say, you know, why am I here? What happened that I'm in the middle of that storm? Is there something that I did, something I didn't do that I run off without asking the Lord? That's a good question to ask, but don't always assume because you're in a storm it's because of your disobedience. It could be so the Lord can come to you and reveal himself to you on a deeper level. So don't always assume that because you're in the middle of a storm it's from your disobedience.

It may be, it might not be. But guys, the Christian walk is, it's not always easy. There's storms that happen. And it disturbs me when Christians go, you know, it's really difficult having storms as a Christian. Try having storms when you're not a Christian and tell me which is easier to go through. It's much easier to go through a trial with Jesus than without Jesus. And the people that don't have Jesus, they have to go through the storms by themselves.

They don't have the comfort. They don't have the leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ. And sometimes serving God is just as easy as it can be and sometimes it's not.

I think people that paint the Gospel and say, well you come to Jesus and all your dreams will come true, are doing a real disservice to the Gospel. Because sometimes that's when the battle really begins. So we don't serve God because it's the easiest thing to do. Now I understand, in a lot of ways it's by far the easier thing to do. I'd rather follow God than fight against Him.

Boy that gets difficult if you've ever tried that. But the thing is, you've got serving God or not serving God. For me personally, not serving God, that alternative is unacceptable. I don't ever again want to walk in that not serving God. So I don't serve God because it's easier or because He'll bless me. I serve God because the other alternative simply is unacceptable. It's no way to live.

It's certainly no way to die. And we're called to be disciples. There's a quote, I've got a poster in my office. It describes what a disciple is. It says, disciple, the choice has been made.

I have stepped over the line. I won't let up, back up, give up or shut up. My focus is clear, my path straight, my God reliable.

I am a disciple of Christ. That's a good one, isn't it? My God is reliable. Sometimes we go through stuff. Sometimes we go through storms.

And guys keep in mind too, I've seen something. I've observed something as pastor. Sometimes people kind of wander in and wander out and occasionally they're here, but then they're not and they're gone for a month and they're back for two weeks. And what I've noticed is that when those people go through things, there's not a deep well of fellowship to minister to them. That sometimes they're going through these places and these trials and these tests and these storms without the support that God intended for them to have. For them to have a deep well of encouragement and support.

And that's really important. And I've seen other people that are here and they're plugged in and they're serving and they know people. And you know, the Bible says, if you want to be a friend, you got to be friendly. And these folks are plugged in and they hit a trial and people gather around them because they know them, they love them.

They've been serving with them and sparkle or children's ministries or ushers or media. And there's a depth, there's a well of encouragement to be drawn from that. And understand that if you stand on the outskirts of a fellowship, whether it's this one or another one, when those storms of life come, you won't have that deep well to draw from.

And it's a comfort in those times. We'll be right back with more from David McGee on Cross the Bridge. Right now, here's a word from associate pastor DA Brown. Hey, Bob, we're excited about God's word going forth with Pastor David. And we want to pray for some people in these cities where we're broadcasting today. In California, we have Yucca Valley.

And in Colorado, we have Burlington, Fort Morgan, Grand Junction, Lamar, Lyman and Montrose. God, we thank you for the people listening today in these areas. We pray that they would be encouraged in your word. They would realize that you want to bless them.

Lord, you have a good plan for them. God, we pray for those who are sick in the area that you would please heal them. And Lord, we pray for the pastors in the churches that they would be ignited and all the good plans you have for them and sharing your word throughout their city. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. In verse 19, So when they had rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat. And they were afraid.

Notice something. When did Jesus come to them? He came to them in the middle of the storm. He didn't wait until it had settled down. He didn't wait until the sea was calmer, already cleared up. He came to them in the middle of the storm.

And you know what? That's the way Jesus comes to us often. He comes to us in the middle of the storm.

You know why? Because for some reason, we hear better in the middle of storms. Our hearing is a lot sharper in the middle of a storm for some reason. And you thought it was just you. It's not just you.

It's all of us. See, when things are going well, it's hard for us to hear the voice of Lord. Go to church. Can't hear you, God. Let me turn the volume up on the television. But in the middle of a trial, in the middle of a test, Oh Lord, what do you want to say to me? I'm listening. You got my attention. And praise God that He responds.

And during those times of pain, during those times of the storms, we're also more willing to make lasting changes in our lives. Because we kind of get to the end of our rope and we think, you know, God, I thought I had this thing figured out. I thought I had it all scoped out. I had, you know, the 20 year plan of my life laid out and it's not working. My plans aren't good ones, Lord.

What's your plan for my life? And I guarantee you, His plan for you is better than your plan for you. And during these storms, we can hear and we can listen and we can ask God for direction.

And that's the life lesson. God comes to us in the storms. If you're in the middle of a storm this morning, if you're in the middle of a test, if you're in the middle of a trial, it's an awesome time to cry out to God and say, God, what, what do you want me to do?

What would you have me to do about that work situation or that family situation? How do you want to lead me in what to do next? And notice something. The Lord didn't wait for them to come to Him.

He went to them. And you understand this morning that Jesus is coming to you, extending His hand to you this morning, asking if you'll take His hand, asking if you'll trust Him in the middle of a storm, in the middle of a test, in the middle of a trial. In the middle of your trials, go to the Lord, ask Him to give you the strength to go through the storm. And I think sometimes the Lord waits till the middle of the storms to speak to us so that we will listen, so that we will listen to Him. Verse 20, but He said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. This is a little bizarre to me. I mean, the disciples are out on the lake and they're in a boat and somebody comes out walking on the water and Jesus needs to tell them that it's Him. Yeah, I mean, I'm wondering who else would be out in the middle of the storm walking on the water, but evidently they needed that reassurance and needed to be told that it was in fact Jesus.

So they didn't start rowing away or something. I don't know, but what awesome words. That's what He's speaking to each and every one of us this morning.

It's me. Don't be afraid. Perhaps the Lord's leading you in the serving. Perhaps the Lord is leading you to get a fresh start with Him this morning, to ask for the forgiveness of your sins, maybe for the first time, maybe for the first time in a while.

Those are great words of encouragement. Why? Because being a radical Christian can be a little scary sometimes. I want to be a radical Christian. I want people around me to be radical Christians. I'm not, not just people who are just good people and they're doing the right thing by going to church. I want people who are radically saved and they're not afraid to live out the radical Christianity in their life.

And sometimes that can get a little scary. So it's good that we have these words of Jesus to encourage us so that you can live out that radical Christianity in your workplace or in your school. Be radical. I mean, you know, don't be conformed to this world.

Don't do it. If you think by acting a certain way or acting like the world or dressing like Brittany or anything, if you think that's unique, that's not unique. Everybody's doing that.

Well, mostly girls, praise God. But I'm sorry, this is my mind works in weird way sometimes, but be radical and step out for the Lord. Be bold, be different, be a radical Christian in your school. And occasionally you may get freaked out. You may freak other people out, but that's okay. Jesus is saying, it's me. Don't be afraid. He's calling you to be something different. He's calling me to be something different. He's calling me beyond what I'm able to do out of my comfort zone so that then I'm dependent on him.

I'm relying on him because I can't do it. I can't live that radical Christianity out in my own strength. Verse 21, then they willingly received him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going. What an interesting passage. Do you think the disciples were afraid? Obviously, Jesus said, don't be afraid. So obviously they were afraid, but I wonder, I wonder, were they more afraid in the storm or were they more afraid after when Jesus walked out on the water and got in the boat? As they realized who it was they'd been following. I mean, really realized who it was they were following. How about later when they crucified Jesus? Were they afraid then?

Yeah, they were. They scattered, but they got back together. They scattered in different directions and maybe some of them went home, some of them hung out in Jerusalem. I don't know. We don't know.

Scripture doesn't tell us. But we know that at some point they were gathered again in that upper room. That even though they had messed up, even though they had ran off, even though they were defeated and even Peter had denied the Lord, they gathered together in that upper room and God came to them in the midst of the greatest storm of their life. I think it's safe to say they were fairly afraid before that.

They realized that their fear in that moment couldn't be their excuse, couldn't be their comfort, couldn't be their guide. They needed something more. They needed Jesus. And you know what? You need Jesus this morning. Every one of us. And please don't look at me and go, well, you know, I already got Jesus.

I'm safe. Praise God if you've been born again. It's awesome.

It's a good start. But are you following Jesus? Are you radically following Jesus? Are you coming to Jesus every day?

The Lord desires to play that part in our heart and in our lives. He says, hey, this is me. Don't, don't be afraid to step out. Don't be afraid to try things. Yeah, you'll sometimes fail.

Yeah, sometimes things won't go like you expected them. That's okay. So the Lord's saying to us this morning, come to me.

It is me. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of a fresh start.

Don't be afraid that you might mess up again. But come to me and ask for forgiveness and, and get a new start. Come to me for forgiveness, for, for meaning in life, for peace, for joy, for all these things. But he's saying, come to me. And you've got nothing to be afraid of.

Friend, if you don't come to him, you've got a lot that you should be afraid of. God comes to us in the storms. But the real question here this morning is when do we come to God? Maybe you're not in a storm this morning. Come to the Lord this morning before the storm starts. And when the storm hits, you'll be like the man who built his house on the rock and not on the shifting sands. And if you're not willing to do that, don't be surprised when the storm hits and you see the sands erode.

And scripture tells us great was the fall of that house. We should come to him this morning and we should come to him every day. And no doubt that some of you this morning are in the midst of storms that maybe I don't understand. Maybe I wouldn't understand even if you explained it to me because I've never been in a storm like that.

But you know what? The Lord understands. The Lord knows the storm that you're in this morning and he wants to come to you.

He's got his hand extended to you in the middle of the storm. And the only question is will you come to him? Some of you may have never asked the Lord to forgive you of your sins and this is an awesome opportunity to do that.

And it's not about being good enough for long enough, guys. It's about coming to the Lord and saying, Lord, I can't do this. I've done wrong. Would you please forgive me of the wrong I've done and help me to live for you?

It's that simple. That's where it starts. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer, simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that he died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me, that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead, that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned and I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things.

Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name, amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. So congratulations, friend.

You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P. O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 27117, and share how God is working in your life. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. That sounds good, Pastor DA.

And again, it's been great to have you with us on the program today. But tell us, what else can our listeners find on crossthebridge.com? If you're not able to make it to your home church this Sunday, why not join us for our live stream at 10 a.m. Eastern Time or on Thursday nights at 7 p.m. Eastern Time? Just visit crossthebridge.com and click on our live stream link. There, you'll experience a live service from David's home church, The Bridge, in North Carolina. Again, that website is crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the Gospel of John.