Have you ever met a Christian that has come through the storm successfully and noticed there's something different about them?
There's like maybe a dignity, a strength, something intangible. I've met Christians. They're not the shallow, superficial American Christian.
They've come through something so traumatic through the power of Jesus that it changes them, for the good, but it changes them. Maria Taylor was one of those Christians. She was born to missionaries in China. Maria's dad died when she was six years old and then her mother died a few years later when she was ten years old. She's raised in an orphanage. She met a missionary named Hudson Taylor who became a legend in missions.
As they're getting their ministry started, there's an uprising in their town and a mob broke into their house, stole everything they had, and then burnt the house to the ground. In fact, Maria, who was pregnant at the time, had to jump from a second story window just to escape the flames. Maria had a daughter named Gracie who died of sickness. Then a few years later, their five-year-old son Sammy died of sickness. Then another baby died right after childbirth. They had another newborn son named Noel when Maria got sick. A few days later, Noel died. A few days after that, it's obvious that at age 33, Maria is also dying. Her husband, Hudson Taylor, recorded their last conversation together. He came into her room on her deathbed and he said, Yes, honey, you're going home.
You'll soon be with Jesus. She said, I'm so sorry. He said, You're sorry that you're going to go home to be with Jesus?
She said, No, it's not that. You know, my darling, that there has never been a cloud between me and my Savior. I cannot be sorry to go to Him. I'm just sorry to leave you all by yourself. But He will be with you and He will take care of you. A short time later, she died. I'll tell you one thing that she said.
There's never been a cloud between me and Jesus. Wait a second. Your mama dies. Your daddy dies. Child number one dies. Child number two dies. Child number three dies.
Child number four dies. And you're now dying at age 33. And you're not angry.
You're not bitter. You're not shaking your fist at God. There's not even been a cloud between me and Jesus. Let me tell you something. If you can make it through the storms of life, still holding on to Jesus, you will be a giant in the face.
I envy what that lady had. And so I want us to go to Mark chapter six and let's review. Let's review what's taken place. You remember last week, there are 5,000 men on a hillside hungry. There's 5,000 men. You add the women and children. There's probably 15 or 20,000 people. And Jesus supernaturally takes five little biscuits, five little crackers, and two fish, and supernaturally multiplies it.
And 15 to 20,000 people are fed. You remember that from last week. Now, what happened after that? Because honestly, this is probably the biggest day of Jesus' ministry to that point. We know it's a big day in his ministry because this is the only miracle that is mentioned in all four gospels except for one other miracle. What did I say that was? The resurrection.
This is a big day. So now, what happened after that? As Uncle Paul Harvey said, what's the rest of the story? So after these 20,000 people are fed, you're not quite sure what happens reading Mark 6. You actually have to go to John chapter 6 because John tells you what happened right after that. The reaction of the people is kind of interesting.
They've all been fed and in verse 15 it says, Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountainside all by himself. So here's what Jesus is saying. We've got a problem on our hands. These people are getting whipped up into a frenzy. They're like, man, let's go ahead and push out the Romans right now and Jesus, you be king.
We're going to do a big revolution. And Jesus is like, that's not why I came. And things are getting out of hand. He finally says, guys, time out. Y'all got to leave.
We're going to have to stop this. See what happens after the 5000 get fed, they're like, let's make him king. And Jesus sends them away. And in John 6 34, the very next day, this is the day after the feeding of the 5000, they show up at Jesus's home base in Capernaum.
Probably not all 15, 20,000 are there, but the leaders are there. And they show up again and they said, Jesus, we want more bread, which tells me here's what I think. There was something supernatural about that bread that they ate. And they were like, This is the best bread I have ever had in all my life. We want more of that bread. And Jesus in John 6 says to these guys next day, Look, I know I just fed y'all all this supernatural bread and fish.
I'm glad you liked it. But that's not the point. Jesus, let me tell the point. You need to be born again. You need to be saved.
And he starts talking about their souls and sin and salvation and eternal life and what it means to be truly saved. You know what they said? They said, We don't care.
We're not interested in anything you have to say. We want more bread. Basically, Jesus will follow you and we'll confess you and we'll do all this stuff as long as we get what we want in return. That is transactional Christianity. And that is American Christianity.
I'll follow Jesus as long as he gives me my miracle, gives me my money, gives me my success, gives me I'll follow you. But Jesus, here's what I expect in return. You know, I kind of got into the whole New Year's resolution thing couple weeks ago. I told myself I'm going to do this this year, and I did it again. I said, You know, this year, one of my resolutions is I'm gonna keep my truck clean. It's actually embarrassing how dirty the inside of my truck was. So I said, I'm gonna start keeping my truck clean. And I went to this car wash, spend this money, and that resolution did not last long.
But for those two or three days, that truck was clean, man. And when I went to that car wash, I said, I'm very cheap with my money, but I'm gonna shell out some money. They had one of those machines where you can put the quarters in and get Armor All wipes.
I said, You know what? It's $2, but I'll splurge. And so I scraped up all the quarters I could find in my truck.
And I went up there. $2. That's eight quarters, right? I put eight quarters in like it said.
I pushed the button, and nothing came out. And have you ever been in one of these situations? You start laying aside reason and rationality, and you start pounding the thing. And honestly, I said, I got an old clothes hanger in that truck. I can unscrew that clothes hanger and put it up. I got so mad because I did what I was supposed to do.
I put the right combination in, and when I pushed the button, I didn't get what I thought I ought to get. And that is American Christianity. I'll follow Jesus. I'll tithe. I'll go to church.
I'll sing the songs. I do whatever I want, and then a crisis hits, and you push the button, and you don't get what you want. And what do you do? You get mad, and I've seen it in this church. I have seen it in this church. You walk away from Jesus. That's what happened with the crowd.
Let's back up a little bit. So that's what happens with the crowd. All right, after the feeding of the 5,000, this humongous miracle, the biggest miracle of Jesus' ministry, after it's just taken place, all right, we're just talking about what the crowd did. What about the disciples? So let's go back to Mark chapter 6, and let's review, because this is why it's really beautiful when you can study Scripture in context. In Mark chapter 6, remember a couple weeks ago, we started out with this. Jesus, there's a turning point in his ministry. He said, I've been doing all the healing, casting out of demons, all that. Disciples, now y'all want to do it. Jesus, and he sends them out on a mission trip.
This may be weeks, it may be months. He sends them out, and they come back from that mission trip. I said, Jesus, the demons listen to us when we cast them out. We healed sick people. We preached repentance. They're all so excited, but they're all so worn out. Remember that? And so we see them going on to this mission trip in verses 7 through 13, and then in verse 31 and 32 of Mark 6, Jesus said, wow, that's great, guys, but y'all burn out. Y'all are fried to a crisp. We've got to get away, and we've got to rest a little bit.
You remember that? And so he says, let's just go on a retreat. It specifically says, y'all haven't even eaten right. Y'all are worn out. Let's go on a retreat, and they try to go on a retreat, and when they get to their retreat spot, what happens?
The crowd's there. And so in verses 33 through 44, they feed 20,000 people. Now, I want you to think about this. These guys are tired and worn out already. I want you to think about the physical toll it took on 12 men to feed 20,000 people. You thought they were tired before.
Now they are burnt to a crisp. And this story takes place on the Sea of Galilee, and this is important. Here's a beautiful picture of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. It's actually a very, very beautiful, beautiful spot.
13 miles long, 8 miles wide. And so what happens now, they've just fed the 20,000, and they're really tired. In verse 45 it says, immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost and crying out, for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, Be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid. And then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled, for they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
So here's what's happened. Jesus just got through feeding the 20,000 people. They tried to make Him king. He sent them away.
He sent His disciples. Look, y'all really worn out now. This is supposed to be a restful time.
Y'all have not had any rest today. So I want you to get in the boat and look at this map. It looks like what He's telling them to do. You've got to try to piece together Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and sometimes it's kind of hard. But it looks like what He's saying is, I want you to leave here at the feeding of the 5,000, go north toward Bethsaida, and then just kind of hug the shoreline and go to Capernaum.
I'll meet you back at home base. Do you understand what He's trying to say? When in actuality, verse 47, it says that there is probably this east wind blowing against them. And look at what they actually did. This wind blows them into the middle of the lake.
In fact, John 6 says they are now four miles in the middle of this lake. You see what I'm saying? So you thought they were tired before. Now they're fighting a wind that is blowing against them.
These guys are absolutely positively worn out. Now, verse 48 says this takes place at, did you see this? The fourth watch of the night. So that's between three in the morning and six in the morning.
John says it's still dark, so it's probably closer to three o'clock in the morning. Now let's say that Jesus dismissed all the crowds and told the disciples to get in the boat at seven o'clock that night. The feeding of the 5,000 is over. He has sent everybody on the way.
He has told the disciples, get in the boat, get out of here. It's seven o'clock at night, and the fourth watch of the night is when this is happening, three o'clock in the morning. That tells me these guys who are already worn out, who are already tired, who are already burnt to a crisp, they've been fighting wind for eight hours. Now they're really tired. So let me just say this. Can we cut the disciples some slack and give them a break?
You know, I always hear, the disciples should have had more faith, and I'm like, okay, you try to go without sleep for a couple of hours and then fight wind for eight hours fighting against you and see how good of a mood you're in, okay? So here's what's happening. They are in a storm. They are burnt to the crisp.
They're gone. They're in the middle of this storm, and what's Jesus doing while they're in the middle of this storm? Number one, he was praying for them. Look at verse 46.
And when he had sent them away, he departed to the mountain to pray. Let me tell you something right now. There's some people in this place. You are going through the storm. You are tired. You are burnt out. You're tired of fighting. You're tired of fighting the temptation. You're tired of fighting this kid who's rebelled. You're tired of fighting the cancer, and you need to know that that same Jesus who is on the mountainside, interceding to his Father for those disciples, he is praying for you today.
I don't understand how this works. I believe in the Trinity. We don't believe in three gods, one God.
I get it. But somehow, Romans chapter 8 verse 34 says that Christ Jesus is at the right hand of God, and he is interceding for us. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 25 says Jesus is praying for us. For you Catholics, Mary's not praying for you. Saint Jude is not praying for you. Saint Peter's not praying for you.
No, you got somebody better than that. Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Father is saying, Father, look at him. He's going through it. Let me intercede on his behalf. Hey, if you're going to go visit a king, you want the custodian to take him to the throne room to see the king?
Or would it be better if the prince took you in to see the king? And, beloved, I don't want a saint trying to take me in to see Jesus or to see the Father. I want the prince of peace, Jesus Christ, God's only son, the son of the king of the universe, says, I'm interceding for you.
I'm bringing you into the very throne room. What was happening while the disciples are fighting for their lives? Number one, Jesus is praying for them. Number two, Jesus saw them. Look at verse 48.
Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now watch, this is supernatural because what's happening is, if some of y'all go with us to the Sea of Galilee this year, you're going to find the Sea of Galilee is this beautiful place and it's ringed by these big mountains. And so Jesus is evidently on top of the mountain.
In the daytime, you can see people four miles out rowing. But it's night and there's a storm. And yet Mark says Jesus somehow still sees them. So those of you who are going through the storm right now, Jesus is praying for you.
And number two, Jesus sees you. Y'all know who Steven Curtis Chapman is, that recording artist. I really like Steven Curtis Chapman. And some of y'all know about his tragedy several years ago. His teenage son was coming back home and pulling him to the driveway. And he accidentally ran over Steven Curtis Chapman's five-year-old daughter, his sister. And I was reading some of the testimonies of that this past week and Steven Curtis Chapman said, it was horrible.
My little five-year-old daughter always liked to dress like a ballerina and there's my little girl dressed in a ballerina costume with blood everywhere. And he said something like this, he said, I can't remember what interview, he said, I held her and I prayed to the God that I thought had watched me and listened to me all my life. I've prayed to him all my life and it was like he wasn't even watching. It's like he wasn't even paying attention. Let's be honest, have you ever been in a situation like that?
Where you're like, I don't even know what I'm going through. He's not watching. And you feel guilty when you start to feel that way. You know God is omniscient. You know he sees everything, but you feel like he's not watching. And he says, I'm crying out and I'm like, God, where are you? And he's not even watching.
If it makes you feel guilty for feeling that way, maybe this will feel better. Jesus himself felt that way on the cross. He's hanging there and he knows who God is because he is God in flesh. He knows the heart of his father. And yet at the time of extreme agony, what does he say? My God, my God, you're not even looking at me.
You've forsaken me. And for those of you who are going through the storm, that same Jesus who saw his disciple in that storm, he sees you. He knows what you're going through. And in fact, one of the most beautiful, precious names for God that we find in the Old Testament, this is in Genesis 16, 13, this name for God is given by a desperate single mama whose life has fallen apart and she's about to die and her son's about to die and God provides and she calls him Elroy, the God who sees. And this may not help you, but you need to understand that God sees you. You're going through the storm right now. Jesus is praying for you.
He sees you. And number three, he was with them. Look at verse 48. Now about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea and would have passed them by. That's not a good translation. Now, I'm not a Greek scholar, but I read in the Greek and I was like, that's not, I think what it says in the Greek, it doesn't make any sense, but every translation I read said the same thing.
And then there was one preeminent scholar who agreed with me. And so he said, no, that's actually not a good translation. The verb means not to pass them by, the verb means to come near or to come alongside of them. So literally what it says in the Greek is there in this storm, Jesus starts supernaturally walking on the water and it literally said Jesus intended to come alongside of them. Beloved, he's praying for you. He sees you. And he's come right alongside of you.
He is with you. Jesus said this in Hebrews 13, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. Isaiah 43 2, when you pass through the waters, I'm going to be with you.
Psalm 23 4, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? Because you're with me. I'm talking right now to somebody going through the storm. You may not understand this.
You may not know this. I have a feeling that you're starting to feel this. He is with you. I was talking to a man recently who tragically lost his young son and he was describing all that he went through. This young son that he had so much hope for is gone. And he said, Chad, the night that he died, the family and I come home from the hospital.
We've just been told he's gone. There's nothing you can do. He said, we come into the house and it's horrific.
It's empty. It's horrible. I can't imagine losing a child.
That's the worst thing I think a parent could go through. And he says, we're there in the house. And he said, you're going to think I'm crazy and you're going to think I'm weird. He said, there's a door in our house that we never open. It's a little side door out of the way. When I say we never open it, it's literally not been open in years. Not because there's anything wrong with the door.
It's just an out of the way door that's always closed. He said, we're in this house overcome with grief. He said, it's not even a storm outside and that door just blows open. And he said, we felt the presence of Jesus Christ almost like you could reach out and touch him.
He said, it was the weirdest thing. He said, when I got gloriously saved, I didn't even feel the presence of Jesus that tangibly when I got saved. It was the most real presence of Jesus that enveloped that house and this weird peace just went over everything. You can only experience that in the storm. You will never listen to me. You feel some good stuff from Jesus here and you like the music and you get excited.
I get all that. But you will never experience the presence of Jesus Christ as tangibly as you'll experience him in the midst of the storm. Jesus was praying for them. Jesus saw them. Jesus was with them. And then finally, Jesus calmed the storm. Then he went up to the boat to them and the wind ceased. Now, keep in mind, he calmed the storm.
Here's my question. Jesus, these guys have been fighting this thing the last eight hours. Why didn't you calm the storm after one hour or two hours or three hours or four hours? Why did he wait eight hours? Jesus, why did you wait? You know what the Lord spoke to me? It's none of your business. I'll calm the storm whenever I want to calm the storm.
See, that's the sovereignty of God. And some of you have gone through this storm for a year, two years. You're on your third year and the child still isn't back.
You've been going through this thing for four months and the husband still hasn't come home. You've been going through this storm for six weeks and the money still isn't appearing in the bank account. And you think that this is it. This is the end. This is the storm that is going to sink my ship. You think it is over. I'm going to tell you, it's not over.
God's going to calm the storm in his time. I shared this a few days ago at a funeral. I've got a friend in his office. He just has this framed picture, not of his family or church or anything. It's a framed picture of just punctuation marks. It's like this collage of punctuation marks. There are question marks. There are exclamation marks. There are semicolon. Just this collage of punctuation marks.
And I was like, of all the things you could have in your house framed, why do you have that? It's interesting what he said. He said, it's a reminder to me that a period, here's what a period means. A period means end of sentence, end of the paragraph, end of chapter, end of the book. A period means it is over.
It's done. A comma means slow down, take a deep breath, pause. But there's more of the story left to be written. And then he said this, this is a reminder to me. Never put a period where God has put a comma. And some of y'all have put a period in the middle of this storm and God says, take the period out. Put a comma there because you need to slow down and pause and reflect, but I ain't done yet. This storm is going to be over. There's still more of the story left to be written. And these disciples, they come through the storm.
And as a result, now watch this. Remember I told you about the crowd just a second ago. Contrast the crowd with the disciples. There is an intimacy with Jesus, a knowledge of Jesus, a love for Jesus that these disciples now have. Those people in the crowd who want something from Jesus will never experience.
If you look at Matthew's account of this, in Matthew 14, 33, when Jesus calms the storm it says, then those who were in the boat came and worshiped him saying, you are the son of God. John chapter 6, the next day the crowd gets so mad at Jesus because Jesus ain't giving them what they want. And now the disciples who've just gone through this storm, they're now there.
And it's so sad. All these people that Jesus has just fed and taken care of the day before, it says they all just start leaving him. And he's watching these people.
Some of them have followed him for several years, several months. And Jesus looks at his disciples who've just gone through the storm. And it's one of the saddest things I think I've read Jesus say in the New Testament. Verse 66, from that time many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more. Disciples, this means people who had followed him. Jesus said to the twelve, are you also going to leave me? Simon Peter said, Lord who else are we going to go to? You have the words of eternal life.
Where did that kind of commitment come from? It came as a result of the storm. The crowd who had a superficial walk with Jesus, they walk away. Those men who have just come to the storm of their lives, they worship him and they tell him, they all might leave you, but we ain't going away, you're Jesus. And so you may not want to hear this today, but this storm that you're going through, brother in Christ, sister in Christ, is going to be used by God to draw you closer to Jesus than you've ever been before.
And when this is over, you will have a revelation of Jesus Christ the rest of the world just can't have. Look, I'm going to mangle this story. I can't remember who told me this.
It's been a little while back, so forgive me if I'm, whatever. But I was talking to a family whose son went off to Iraq to fight. I didn't realize, I forgot, wasn't it like 4,000 American soldiers that were eventually killed in the Iraqi war, whatever. And this son came back and they said he was changed. And he wouldn't talk a lot about his experience. All we could gather was there had been a firefight one night where they were surrounded by the enemy and his comrades are just dropping left and right. A lot of his soldiers are wiped out.
And it's just him and a couple of people left. And he wouldn't really talk about it. Whatever he experienced that night was so traumatic, he did not want to talk about it.
And the family said we were on vacation, like to Florida or Texas or something, several years later. And while we're on vacation, our daddy, big old gruff guy, now he has a beard, he's walking around. And out of the blue he sees this guy and they lock eyes. And they're just staring at each other. And they're like, what's wrong with daddy? What's about to happen? He's about to fight?
What's going on? And these guys stared at each other for a second and walked up to each other. And they just melt. They start crying and they hold on to each other. And these two grown, tough men are just sobbing. They found out afterward that that man that my daddy saw, he was with me in that firefight that night. And we had not seen each other since that night. And when we saw each other, there was a bond that y'all can't understand and we just melted.
And the family said it was an amazing thing to watch. And somebody said, I was actually a little bit jealous because I realized I would never be able to have that kind of camaraderie, that kind of bond with another human being because that man had come through the foxhole with me. He had come through the fight with me and now we have a bond that nobody else can understand. And ma'am, I'm just going to tell you, when this cancer fight is over, there's going to be a closeness and a camaraderie with Jesus Christ that nobody else is going to be able to understand. Hey, when you come through this storm, when this bankruptcy is over or if this kid comes home or even if he doesn't come home, when you've come through this storm, I'm going to tell you, if you walk through this storm with Jesus Christ, there's going to be a closeness and an intimacy with Jesus that you could never have experienced otherwise. Hey, some of y'all's New Year's resolution, I just want to get closer to Jesus here. You mean that? You're serious about that? That's your New Year's resolution to get close to Jesus?
That's fine. What if that means coming through the storm with Jesus? What if that means losing everything? Are you really wanting to get that close to Jesus? I'm going to tell you something. When you come out on the other side, Jesus Christ is all you want.
He is all you need. Life changes. Life gets simple. It becomes all about Jesus. Why don't you stand with me now? There's some of you here who have never repented of your sins and turned to Jesus. You're saying, who is this Jesus fellow you're talking about? Jesus is God who became a man. The God of the universe said, I want you to spend eternity with me, but you can't because heaven is a perfect place and you're full of sin.
We're going to be separated from all eternity. God says, I don't want to spend eternity without you, so he became a man. All of your sin, all of your wickedness that would keep you out of heaven was placed on Jesus when he died on the cross. He was buried.
He came back to life. If you'll repent of your sins and simply turn your life over to Jesus Christ and receive Jesus Christ, God will take all of your sins past, present, and future and reach back in time and put it on Jesus. He'll take the righteousness of Jesus and put it on you.
When you die, you will go to heaven to be with the Lord forever. If you've never repented of your sins and turned to Jesus, I want everybody to bow right now. I want you to say something like this to Jesus.
Don't repeat. Look, mantras don't save you. Jesus saves you. Say something like this to Jesus and mean it with all your heart. Jesus, I am a sinner.
I do not deserve to go to heaven. Say this again. Jesus, I believe you died on the cross for my sins. Jesus, you paid the price. Say this again. Jesus, I turn away from all of my sin and I turn to you. Oh, this is so important.
Say this to him and mean it. Lord, forgive me of all my sins. Come and take control of my life and take me to heaven when I die.
You say, that's it? Well, again, I don't know what your Bible says. My Bible says all who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
That's all you have to do. Jesus said this is the work of God to believe in the one he has sent. If you have believed in Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven and you now have eternal life. Beloved, how many of y'all know that God who provided for those disciples, he still provides today. Y'all believe that? You believe he'll never leave you, he'll never forsake you. He's with you.
You believe that? The Hebrews, I love the Hebrew people. The Hebrew people, they would like to give God different names. I've given you one, El Roy, El God, the one who sees. He knows what you're going through.
He sees you. Yahweh, the God who heals. I love that one. And here's one that they like to call God. Yahweh Yireh, or we have anglicized it to Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. Raise your hand if God has provided for you sometime in the midst of the storm. Those of us who have experienced the provision of God, lift your hands and lift your voices and let's sing this to the Lord. I will be content In every circumstance You are a child You are in love With beauty and splendor How much more will he clothe you If he watches over every sparrow How much more does he love you With beauty and splendor How much more will he clothe you If he watches over every sparrow How much more does he love you If he watches over every sparrow How much more does he love you Jireh, you are enough Jireh, you are enough I will be content In every circumstance Jireh, you are enough Jireh, you are enough Jireh, you are enough Say it again that God is for you and if he's for you, he can be against you. He is with you, not just for the next day or week. Here's what Jesus said. Now, if he's wrong about this, he's a liar. Jesus said, I am with you always to the end of the age.
Are we at the end of the age yet? No, that means he is with us. So raise your hands and receive this blessing from the Lord. The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And the Lord turn his countenance to you and give you shalom, peace, holiness, mind, body, soul, spirit, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we pray, Amen and Amen. God bless you, beloved. Let's go change this world for Jesus Christ.
