We welcome you to Stone's Hill today!

A typical Stone's Hill service has:

* music (so feel free to sing out);

* some announcements (things that are upcoming that you can be a part of);

* a message out of the Bible (God speaks to us through his Word);

* and an opportunity for you to respond to the message (either immediately in the case of a decision that needs to be made OR in the future as you live out the message in your daily life.)

So relax and enjoy your morning! We're so glad you are here!

Message Text: Mark 6:45-52
Our text today has adventure written all over it. There’s water and a boat so adventure; there’s a storm and the challenge of survival; there’s desperation and rescue; and there’s a powerful point to be made. Sometimes you need the storm to see the glory. The drama of the storm camouflages what is often the Unlearned Lesson of Life: There is nothing over which Jesus is not Sovereign and Supreme. He is Lord of the Storm. God takes you where you don’t want to go in order to achieve in you what would be impossible for you to achieve on your own.
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If I were going to direct a play, there are three scenes in this drama. The first scene is the disciples on the Sea of Galilee in a raging storm. In scene two we have Jesus praying high up in the mountain overlooking the Sea of Galilee. And at the end of the drama we have scene three with Jesus coming to His disciples walking on the water. Jesus doesn’t just walk on water. He claims the divine name.
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Text Background
The enthusiasm for Jesus reaches its fever pitch after the miracle of the feeding of 5,000 men – we could say families, and including women and children – it was a massive crowd 15,000 plus. Many commentators suggest that one of the reasons why the five thousand men may have come together northeast of the Sea of Galilee, so out of Herod Antipas’ jurisdiction - was for an insurrectionary aim. They’re ready to fight. Earlier in Mark 6, John the Baptist is executed by King Herod Antipas. Antipas has heard of Jesus and would deal quickly with him should he claim to be a King or even hear from others that a vast majority of people want Him to be king. So Jesus headed across the lake out of Herod Antipas’ territory and performs this feeding miracle. Jesus knows that His mission must go on for now and He must dismiss the crowds who were insisting on his Kingship.
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How enthusiastic are they? John records this feeding miracle, as do Matthew, Mark and Luke, and by the way, there are only two miracles recorded by all four writers, one is the resurrection and the other is this one, this pinnacle miracle in Galilee. John says, after He had done the miracle, the people wanted to take Him and make Him a king, John 6verses 14 and 15. There’s that “insurrectionary aim.” They were ready to start a revolt, a revolution, a rebellion. Jesus would be their leader. They were sure of His amazing, miraculous power. They knew now that He would not only heal their bodies, deliver them from disease, raise their dead, but He would be the source of permanent food supply. And so, they were ready to make Him a king. The feeding of the 5,000 took place in Northern Galilee. The men are counted. Lots of activity. They were divided up into little platoons, at least, as they saw it.
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People were so jazzed and thrilled. Unlimited health care, food services, weather control. Whole towns came out for healing and received that. Jesus’ approval ratings were at their highest—their peak. Thinks decline from here, but they were ready to revolt with Him as their leader. But Jesus knew that was not God’s plan at this time. The cross had to be faced.
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Well, Jesus high tails it out of there and sends the disciples west toward Bethsaida. He has to get them out of this atmosphere before they buy in with the crowd. And the disciples exit plan didn’t go well for them. I’ll show you what happened in a moment for that is our text today. In their Messianic enthusiasm, they wanted to help God along a little.
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On the very next day, just hours after this feeding event which happened late in the evening on a spring night, the very next day in the morning, maybe twelve hours later, they meet with Jesus again, this same crowd that has been fed on the previous evening and they want breakfast. They think the welfare state has been inaugurated. They now have a sense of entitlement and Jesus is going to provide endless food for them. And He says to them, in effect, “I’m not going to lead your rebellion. I’m not going to be in charge of your coup. I’m not here to feed your bodies. I’m here to demonstrate My deity and eventually die for you.”
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Now we know, that it's all leading toward something in Jerusalem. They needed to watch Jesus closely. But this was not the time for a coronation. So Jesus preaches to some in this crowd a sermon the following day. And so after He finishes His sermon, there’s a response recorded in John 6, a most interesting response. We find it in verse 66. “As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” “If You’re not going to give us the temporal Kingdom we want, if You’re not going to give us the food we need on a daily basis, if You’re not going to lead our rebellion, we’re not really interested.” Jesus said to the Twelve, as if they were the ones remaining, “You do not want to go away also, do you?”
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Simon Peter, and this is the first time in the gospel accounts that Simon rises out of the group to speak and virtually becomes the spokesman from here on for all of them. “On behalf of them all, Simon Peter answered Him, “To whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.” Something happened the previous night that led to this bold confession.
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Lessons
Nobody gets to navigate in trouble-free waters.
Storms come in all shapes and sizes.
Sometimes you need the storm to see the glory.
Jesus is Lord of the Storm.
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Closing
What storm are you going through in your life right now? Is it a storm of addiction – trying to break free from a bondage you have had for years? Is it a storm of sickness – praying and believing God for healing? Is it a storm of financial pressures – trying to get out of debt? Is it a storm of relationship challenges – trying to restore a broken relationship? Is it a storm of doubt and hopelessness? How can we hope to survive the storm? There are storms coming in your life that will be beyond you. You will be out of your depth: bereavement, illness, relational betrayal, and financial disaster. I don’t care how hard you work, how smart you are, how many good connections you have. I don’t care what you do. You’re not going to avoid those things.
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Maybe you’re riding a storm, searching the coastline for a light, a glimmer of hope. Matthew 14:28, immediately Jesus in verse 27 says … just what Mark said., “Take courage, it’s I, do not be afraid. Peter said to Him,” verse 28, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
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Believer, Jesus saith to you, “I am.” Is your wife dead? Is your child to be buried? Have your possessions failed? Is your health departing? Are your joys declining? Alas! it is a dying, fleeting world, but there is One who is always the same, for Jesus says to you, “I am; and because I live, you shall live also.” “He has ultimate authority, and when he comes into my life, he has to be the center of my life. He is the preeminent thing. It doesn’t matter what else I want to do. It doesn’t matter what other things I love. Loving him, obeying him, following him, has absolute, unconditional, unconditioned authority in my life.”
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Jesus says: “There’s one storm in which I do sink. There’s one storm in which the waves and the billows go over me. I won’t walk over them. I’m going under the only storm that can really kill you. It’s the storm of justice, the storm of punishment for sin, the storm of eternal justice. I’m going under those waves. I’m going under those billows. I’m going to be really cast out. It’s because I sank in the only storm that can really kill you that you’re going to be able to walk with me through every other storm that ever strikes you.”
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In other words, Jesus Christ is not only a Lord. He’s a Savior. He’s a substitute. If you’re in a storm right now, you look at it and say, “How do I know he’s with me?” My goodness. What you say is, “If he refused to abandon me in the only storm that can really kill me, if he went under all of those real waves, all of those real billows, for me, then he’s not going to abandon me now.” And even though you can’t see Jesus right now, He can see you. And He knows what you are going through. And He is watching you. And He cares about you. And when the time is right, He is going to come to you with the solution that you need.
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Jesus is Lord of the Storm.