We leave the feeding of the 5,000 and we turn now to where the story of Christ walking on the water, a story that is familiar to many of us. While John doesn't record it, we know that this story follows the stilling of the storm, which the other gospels do present to us. It's important to keep that in mind because now the disciples will be facing another storm, but Jesus will not be in the boat with them physically present. And so they have experienced something of this before, only in a different way to communicate a different truth concerning the power of God. And his claim to be the Son of God. So we return to John chapter 6, verse 16 and following, here for it is God who speaks to us. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat and started across the sea to cappernum. It was now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. And when they had rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat and they were frightened. But he said to them, it is I, do not be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. And the Lord bless the reading of his word to the comprehension of his people. I'd like to turn to that other account in Mark chapter 6, where Mark relates essentially the same story, but one aspect of it, John has omitted that is important for our understanding if we are to have an overview of the entire event. John chapter 6, verses 45 and following, we won't read the entire account. But here we're told that Jesus makes the disciples to go get in the boat. He urges them to go get in the boat. And we know that it was after the feeding of the 5,000 that the crowds began to get stirred on the shore and we're told they were about to take Jesus by force to make him king because he was providing. And they said essentially let the one who feeds us be our king. Jesus was not seeking to be made king neither in that time nor in that fashion nor would he be cast as that kind of a king. And so he resisted their efforts and he would go up onto the mountain to be in isolation and seclusion there in prayer and he told his disciples to go and get in the boat and to go back across the sea. And all of that momentum that was building to take Jesus by force, he wanted to defuse the situation and remove his disciples and then he also would be removed himself up to the side of the mountain. We also would just note in passing, mountains are often signs of authority. It was on the mountain that Moses climbed when God came down to deliver the commandments. On the top of a mountain where a man encounters God, Jesus would often move uphill to teach. It was up on the mountain with the transfiguration occurred. It was up there now that Jesus goes to spend time in prayer. Remember why they would cross the sea to begin with because they were so fatigued the scriptures tell us the people were not giving them even time to eat. So they moved across the sea and they moved up on the mountain to have time to rest and commune with the Lord. And Jesus wanted time with his disciples but the people walked the 10 miles through marsh at the head of the sea. They walked the 10 miles to come around the sea to meet Jesus on the other side. They didn't have boats with them. There was only the disciples boat. Jesus moved his disciples to the boat. He was immediately made them get in the boat and go before him to the other side while he would work to dismiss the crowd. And after he had taken leave of them he went up on the mountain to pray. And when evening came the boat was out at sea and he was alone on the land. Jesus is alone on land on the mountain and he saw that they were making headway painfully. Here we have a composite picture that I will be speaking again toward when we get further along. A composite picture. Jesus is on the mountain in prayer. The disciples are three miles out in the sea and the storm has struck them. Their backs are facing their destination. Their faces are still towards where Christ is and they are rowing with all of their might. Having been rowing now most likely in excess of six hours and they are fighting a gale. They are fighting a tempest of a storm as the sea of Galilee is over 680 feet below sea level. And as the wind would come down through the ravines and off the mountains it would hit the surface of the water with such force that it would create huge waves and gales of wind that would tear cells apart and would push boats off course. And even put them at risk of capsizing if you happen to be out in the sea when one of these storms hit. Jesus is on the mountain praying. The disciples are out fighting against the gale and we are told he saw that they were making headway painfully. A composite picture of Jesus in prayer before the Father and the disciples fighting and struggling for their life and Jesus sees their struggle as he is in prayer before the Father. The wind was against them. He goes out and he walks to them. He says take hard and do not be afraid. We also know that it is in the same account as we go into Matthew and we will not turn there that Peter is bid to come out. He says Lord if it is you then call to me and I will come out on the water and walk to you. And Jesus says come Peter steps out and begins walking on the water but then he sees the waves and he sees all that is going on around him and he begins to sink but he has the good sense to call out to Christ. Lord save me and so Christ reaches out and he does save him. Trust. Trust is what I want us to focus on. I will confess to you that after visiting with my uncle and after our leadership conference that we had where we discussed some of the blessings and some of the woes of our church. Trust. And we might say do you trust in the Lord for your salvation to which most everyone here I'm sure would say yes of course I trust in the Lord for my salvation. What is it to really trust? Really trust. There is an idea which we communicate and I believe very effectively of the the imminence of God or the transcendence of God. It is that God is transcendent he is holy he is majestic he is the creator of the universe and God is in heaven's raining over all of his people. But the imminence of God that is God with us we testify to that but do we live with that as a reality in our lives. Do we really trust that God is with us? We might find that when we say something quite humorous for example if betrays that we do not for example you might say to someone God is watching well they know that God is watching but then you might become a little more deliberate and say if Jesus was sitting right there beside you would you be watching that on television or would you be listening to that music or would you have said that joke or or made that course remark. Would you be participating in that gossip or that cynical comment if Jesus himself was sitting at the table with you and most likely the answer is will no I don't guess I would and yet Jesus tells us that he will never leave us be hold on with you always to the end of the age and we know that spiritually he is with us he said I won't leave you orphans I will not abandon you but I will come to you and make my residence within you that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. And that is why sexual sin for example is considered to be so perverse and such a gross sin it is the joining of Christ himself with that which is an abomination and a holy it is the yoking of that which is holy to that which is unholy that's why we're not to be unequally yoked Christ is with us at all times but we do not live cognizant and aware of that reality. And so we go through the trials and the tribulations of our life and we call out to the Lord as if he was unaware of our struggles it's legitimate to call out to the Lord and Jonah chapter 2 verse 2. Jonah says I called out to the Lord out of my distress and he answered me the Psalmist in Psalm 18 says in my distress I called upon the Lord to my God I cried for help from his temple he heard my voice both affirming God hears us when we call out God hears us when we cry when Peter walked on the water and he began to sink he said Lord Jesus saved me and Jesus heard and he took Peter and he carried him back. Jesus said in Matthew 28 as I've already mentioned behold I am with you always to the end of the age so why is it then why is it if God is with us that we struggle and we suffer in difficult times why is it that it seems so often that we are without Christ as if God is in fact so far away he is so far away and so indifferent to our suffering and to our struggle why is it that it seems that we must summon God to our aid that we are out on the sea and we are fighting for our lives and that Jesus is somewhere else on a mountain top with the Lord God. John Calvin assures us and reassures us that our afflictions prepare us for the receiving of the grace of God what did he mean John Calvin was one who had suffered mightily in his ministry if you read any biography of John Calvin you will learn that he used to mount his steed and he would go places to preach while he suffered incredibly with kidney stones and you might know that they did not have treatments for stones like they do now. He suffered with a weak constitution and sickness and yet he was a prolific rider riding by candlelight he was a prolific preacher his last sermon his people loved him although remember most beloved preachers were fired by the same congregation that loves them later on. Jonathan Edwards was one of those they sent him packing and then begged him to come back when they realized what they had John Calvin the same way he had to leave and then he came back and after that point he pretty much ran the city but as he grew so sick and so ill they carried him down the aisle for his last celebration of communion with his congregation. So sick that he would never be able to serve again and yet he still served Christ in his church barely able to even carry his own weight. And he said of our afflictions and our sufferings prepare us to receive the grace of God they are preparing us to receive and appreciate the blessings of the Almighty. And the picture that we have here this miracle of the walking on the water there are a couple of of elements of it which do create a picture for us outside of the actual sea the sea often stands for chaos and disorder whenever it's told in parabolic form this not necessarily a parable but it does help us to see the chaos in the disorder of the sea and we also find ourselves like that weather here in the church which is our ship which is our boat. Or whether in Christ who is the ark of our salvation we are buffeted and beaten on every side by chaos and disorder and evil that would seek our destruction. Paul says that it calls it spiritual warfare that we are assaulted constantly by the evil one who is seeking to do us harm who is seeking to undo us in our faith. Who is seeking to cause us to doubt who is seeking to cause us to struggle to cause us to suffer and yet because we have an assurance of the safety of our habitation with Christ we know that the chaos and the disorder that is outside of us will not prevail. Darkness is often meant to represent the absence of Christ the darkness that would have prevailed while the tempest and while the storm beat the disciples the darkness they would have been rowing in as it was pushing them off of their course three miles into it right in the middle of the sea there was no way that they would know which way is the best way for us to go have you ever been in a situation like that. Often times we want to allow ourselves to take that kind of risk we will instead we will row right along the shore we will take the 10 mile route to go around so that we can always be near the shore that way if there is a problem all we have to do is jump off and wade right back to the shore. Sell them is it that we will take the risk of rowing straight across to the destination that God has called us to. The Lord said I want you to go there and he put them in the boat and I might even picture although I wouldn't necessarily know that it was true that Jesus was even there pushing them out into the water to get them on their way. He wanted them to go somewhere there was no indecision on his part he says I'm going up on the mountain to pray I'll disperse with the crowd you go across the way and I will meet you there. And so the disciples rode and when they got right in the middle when they had no strategy of their own that could save them except to fight for their survival that's when the storm came and it's exactly the same for you and for me. We'll commit to a course of action we'll commit to a ministry we'll commit to a way we'll commit to a course and when we're right in the middle of it that's when the tempest strikes that's when it hits and it's right then that we say to ourselves God I'm just doing your will why is it going to be so hard why does it have to be so tough I'm just trying to do what you told me to do why does it have to go this way and the words of Calvin would then come to our mind. The struggles and the sufferings of this life prepare us to receive the grace of God if it were not for the law would not have known that I had sin Paul said why did you give us the law lord if it just makes us feel bad if you know we can't keep it then why give us such an unattainable objective. Keep my law and be blessed but you knew from the very beginning that I couldn't keep the first commandment for my eyes wander and I desire those things which I do not have I'm willful and I'm selfish and I want my way. I worship things that you have not called me to worship I would never confess to myself I worship them but when I list my priorities in life they find a number one and a number two and they are not you. List the commandment lord and I'm not been able to keep it why burden me with this law that I might then know the grace of God which has come to relieve me from the curse of the law and sin why do we find ourselves in the darkness in the middle of the sea being beaten on both sides in danger of our lives so that we might know the salvation of Christ. So that we might know it is not our own designs it is not our own it is not our own abilities that saves us should we play it safe and stick to the shoreline we deliver ourselves we save ourselves because we never were in danger we do it either physically today or psychologically. We will when confronted with those truths which we find uncomfortable rather than journeying in there and saying lord grow me we will instead move to the shoreline and avoid it. We excuse ourselves through whatever means we decide to we tell ourselves what we have to so that we don't admit that we're just avoiding that which we know God is doing in our life but we stick to the shoreline we take a circuitous journey. And we don't arrive where we're supposed to be when we're supposed to be there not at all and we don't experience those things which God is calling us to experience that we might grow and be refined to serve him. Jesus compelled the disciples to go to the other side because the circumstances that were surrounding the disciples were dangerous for them and so he pushed them to move out and their disciples were being tormented by the wind they were being tormented by the waves. And they were in trouble but now that they were already there they had to keep fighting to survive not one of them laid down there or you can almost picture Peter taking charge of the boat and grabbing the the rudder and calling out to them to keep pushing keep pushing keep pushing never give up. And as the disciples would pull on the rows you might imagine they looked up and all they could see around them were rising waves they couldn't even see beyond the waves. And as they crashed into the boat and they would look down at the dark water at their feet which was beginning to get deeper and deeper inside the boat. And as they continued to pull on the oars knowing they had oared enough to travel 20 miles and yet they knew because they were navigators on that sea that they were still in the middle of the sea but what were they to do lay down their oars stop surrender to the waves surrender to their circumstances where they just supposed to quit and say well if God wants us to survive then he'll come and do it. No they would not Jesus saw that they were troubled with their striving against the tempest that was around them. It doesn't say that Jesus stopped their striving from the tempest that was around them and says that Jesus saw their striving in the tempest which was around them. They were still striving they were still battling with all of their might to do what they were called to do. Roe the boat to the other side a simple task and yet they were dead stopped being blown off course in the middle of troubled waters troubled waters troubled waters strike believers and unbelievers alike difficulties in life a loss of job a rebellious teenager. A mobilization by a reservist to go to war cancer the troubled waters of life loss of income loss of a loved one loss of direction loss of ambition and aspirin and inspiration the troubled waters of life that come and how do we respond. The unbeliever will look to resources around them they'll look to technology they'll look to picking up another job if they are emotionally distressed they'll either seek a medication for that or they will seek out another relationship to make them feel better about themselves perhaps. They'll go online and that of course will assuage them for just a little while but then you can't really have any sort of affirmation from electrons that last. And so it becomes like reading a book about you but that gets boring after a while I would certainly never want to read my own biography but for the believer for the believer we have access to resources that are completely different we find them we find ourselves and storms because of our obedience to God. The storms of life think of that for just a moment are often because of our obedience our obedience wasn't it Moses who because of his obedience to God found that the people that he was called to deliver were turned against him. Wasn't it Daniel that because of his obedience found himself in the lion's den wasn't it Paul who found that because of his obedience to Christ was in chains in prison wasn't it the disciples who because of their obedience found themselves in the middle of a gale on a sea. And none would have any hope for life after death if it were not for Christ none of them would have a motivation to obedience if it were not for their hope in the life which is to come. Hebrews tells us as much that the faithfulness of those of the Old Testament was based upon not a fear of God's retribution so much as it was a hope and expectancy of the life which was to come. The life that is to follow so why is it that we have to go through difficult times why is it that we have to learn to trust in this kind of way and how is it that genuine trust is expressed in the life of a believer what does real trust look like not verbal trust we can talk trust all day long but real trust real faith not simply a doctrine of faith. But a genuine living faith in the storms of life we might wonder if the Lord cares Psalm 69 save me oh God for the waters have come up to my neck I sink in deep Meyer where there is no foot hold I've come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me I'm weary with my crying out my throat is parched my eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. As soon as times get took tough we want God to deliver us right now because we say Lord I called out I did my part deliver me you said that if I call out to the Lord that that's all this necessary I heard the sermon it said to things get tough call out to the Lord things got tough I called out why are they still tough why are they still hard why am I still in the storm and why is the boat still taking water. I called out the Psalm says I called out till my throat was parched until my eyes grew dim with my waiting for God he's saying here I've cried out so long that I'm growing weary with fatigue I'm almost about to pass out from exhaustion I keep calling out to God the point here is he kept calling out to God he kept calling out to God. The scriptures remind us when we wonder if the Lord has forgotten us that he knows even when the sparrows fall not a bird will fall from the sky that our Lord is not aware of Romans 8.28 teaches us all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose all things what does it take for all things to work together it requires that God is sovereign over all things that nothing is outside of his sovereign hand nothing surprises the Lord. And it's not just because he's a fortune teller to look into the future as some would say that is human thinking because we look at fortune tellers God is sovereign over his creation he has already given us in revelation how he desires and has designed for it to end do we think that it will just suddenly change course to end up the way God wants it to he's carrying all of history to his designated ending which is described in the book of Revelation and in other places. And we are part of that flow of history. You think he called you into the world had no idea what might happen to you. You think people are just more randomly out of control and then God tries to manage his creation as best he can. Is that the God that you put your faith in is that the God that you will call out to. If you pray you pray to a sovereign God because if you're not praying to a sovereign God then don't pray at all. Because your God can't do anything. He's waiting for you to do something. You pray God my relative is sick. Would you help? You're praying that a sovereign God would interfere in the daily course of someone's life. Dear Lord this person does not know you and I'm asking that you would grant them faith and salvation. And that God would interfere with this person's will. Try praying to an unsavory God. Try praying to a God that you don't believe is actually in control of the affairs of man. Just try a prayer and you'll find yourself at a loss for words. Well God I know that you won't actually interfere because you want to respect man. You want to know a parent respect for your will. You want to respect our will. And so therefore God I would pray that you might simply well you can't arrange circumstances because that interferes with other people. So I pray that you would be happy at how ever it turns out with this person because all you can do is watch. Because if you even alter the weather you've changed circumstances we pray to a sovereign God and not a single sparrow falls from the sky that God is not aware of there is no trial and there's no tribulation in your life that somehow slip to buy your God that he's not aware of. And so you don't need to pray to God as if he is surprised that you've got some suffering what you pray for instead is yes that he would deliver you from that but that also that you would understand his work and his purpose in your life. Why did the Lord delay in John chapter 11 Lazarus was sick the Lord intentionally delayed two days so that Lazarus would pass away why why would he delay why wouldn't he go to their aid they called for him Lord and they had faith that he could save him when he came Mary and Martha even said to him Lord we know that if you had been here you could have saved him that seeing him cure the sick but the Lord delayed that Lazarus would be dead and placed into the tomb. Why would he delay why would he put them through that and Romans chapter 5 and this is a passage if you don't have it marked you should mark it because Romans chapter 5 helps us to understand so much of the suffering that we have in our own lives. Romans 5 verses 3 to 5 more than that we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. If you are not ever pressed beyond your own strength and beyond your own abilities when will you call out to the Lord? When will you recognize God's hand in your life as long as you provide for yourself in every way? When will your character be shaped and when will you learn to love the world less as long as the world is providing all that you need? As long as you have the resources to pay for that which you desire when will you say Lord give us this day our daily bread? If you never realize your dependence upon the grace of God and the forgiveness that is given to you because of Christ Jesus when will you ever pray sincerely and forgive me my debts as I forgive others? What's your motivation to forgive others when not forgiving them can actually be an asset and a resource to you to get what you want through their guilt? When will you learn forgiveness? When will you learn that if you've never received it? If you've never trusted God yourself how will you learn to speak of a true genuine dependence upon the Lord for the manner which comes every morning? In Hebrews chapter 12 we also read there of God's discipline and His work of discipline conforming us to holiness. Hebrews also encourage you to turn there if you have your scriptures. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6, having tasted the goodness of the word of God going back to verse 5 and the powers of the age to come if they fall away since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For the land that has drunk the rain often falls on it and produces a crop useful for those for the sake of its cultivated receives a blessing for God. If it bears thorns and thistles is worthless and near to being cursed and its end is to be burned and if we scatter on as we continue to read of, I won't chapter 6. I was thinking, good gracious, that doesn't seem at all like what I meant to read. But you saw me trying my best to work it, didn't you? Now chapter 12, verse 6, which will make a lot more sense for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chases every Son whom he receives. Now that's the passage that speaks to me. The Lord disciplines those he loves and he chases every Son he receives. We have here a very apt picture. You've seen children that are not disciplined and they are completely out of control. Their parents want them to love them very much but they dare not raise a hand because they might not be popular for their own children. When they're concerned about a child's future, they want the child to have a disciplined outlook on life. They want the child to have self-control because a lack of self-control and a lack of love and obedience to the law, any of these lacks will cause a child to have a lack of success in the future. And a lack of prosperity in the future. An undisciplined child as a child who has an adult will curse his own parents because he has no love of anything in life. There's no joy in life because who wants an undisciplined and rebellious person in their midst. But it is a disciplined child, a disciplined child that learns the limitations of themselves and they learn how to see the world rightly. The Lord disciplines and chasens those he loves like a son. At 3 a.m., between somewhere between three and six, we're told it was the fourth watch of the night. The Lord came to them. The Lord came walking to them, walking the same course which they took. We do not have a Lord that cannot sympathize with us. He is endured and he is persevered through every trial that has afflicted man. He understands because in his flesh he has experienced. He walked the same course. They had taken with their boat, coming to them in the storm. The storm was not still for him to come. He came to them in the storm when they saw him, they were afraid. Why? Why were they afraid? For the same reason that everyone else was afraid whenever they have seen the true and living God. If you go to the book of Isaiah, he walks into the temple. What would you expect to find at church to God? And yet when he walks in and the presence of God filled the temple, we're told Isaiah falls on his face. And he says, I'm coming completely undone. In other words, he says, I'm dissolving in your presence. And every time that the people are confronted with that which is holy and other than this world, when they recognize it, whether it's an angel or whether it's Christ himself and their presence. It's not a transfiguration or walking on the sea when they see Christ as the son of God, they're afraid. Every time an angel appears, he asks to tell whoever he appears to do not be afraid. Because our first response when we see that which is other than this world, we're afraid. They saw Christ for who he was. And he came walking to them on the water. And he says to them, it's I. He identifies himself. He says, it's the one you know. And then he says, don't be afraid. And we're told at that point they readily receive him into the boat. And they say, Lord come to the boat. Now they know it wasn't to save him. He's walking on the water. He's doing much better than they are. They're sinking in the water. It wasn't for his sake. They weren't saying, there's a storm out there. Why don't you come to the boat? But they needed the son of God in their midst. It is I do not be afraid. They respond, Lord come to the boat. And when they receive him in the boat, immediately, immediately, they're at their destination. It wasn't a process. It wasn't a procedure. It wasn't a formula of success. Immediately, they're at their destination. Because they learned what they were to learn. They had accomplished what God had sought to accomplish in them. What then will it look like to us? What then will it look like to us if we were to call out to the Lord? I struggle and I search for some way in our culture where the world is seeking to replace for us God in every way. It seeks to make us omniscient. It seeks to make us omnipresent. It seeks to give us our health care. It seeks to give us our companionship. It seeks to give us something other than God to put our faith in at every corner. So how is it that we who are so blessed with an abundance of food, with abundance of transportation, with all of our communication assets? We can get whatever we want whenever we want it. If we don't have the money, we go get alone. We write one of those before paid HX. Whatever we need, we can pretty much get. What can we do then when we come to a place where we don't have the money, the resources, the time, or the relationships to get accomplished, what we must get accomplished, what happens when you have cancer? And you've taken the course of the medication and it doesn't fix it. You paid your money for it and money is supposed to be able to fix it. What happens when you do that? The doctor went to college, shouldn't he be able to fix this? Is it that why they go to college so they can fix our problems? But what happens when they can't? And when the medicine doesn't fix it, how is it that we call out to the Lord? How is it that we can begin to practice that before that day comes so that we are not without spiritual resources in the day of our need? Psalm 77. I cry aloud to God, aloud to God and He will hear me, statement of confidence. Whatever is our need, we call first to the Lord and we know that He will hear us. And the day of my trouble I seek the Lord in the night, and here is the picture that stuck with me. In the night, my hand is stretched out without wearing and my soul refuses to be comforted. When I remember God, I moan and meditate my spirit fangs. In the darkness, remember the darkness is when we perceive God to be absent. And He's saying when I'm in the midst of my trials, when I'm in the midst of my troubles, and I cannot find God, I don't turn anywhere else. He says with my hands outstretched before the Lord, without wearing, without wearing, a demonstration of where I trust really is. I've had people tell me time and again, and I'll still come to me with a problem and I'll say, if you pray to the Lord and I say, yeah, I did that yesterday, or I do that every morning, to which the answer is, my friend, you do it without ceasing. Don't pray to God just to cover that base and then come and seek some other answer. Pray to God without wearing until you grow frank. Faint until your eyes grow dim with fatigue, without stretched hands, you keep them outstretched until God delivers you. And what does deliverance look like? If you have cancer, deliverance may be that you arrive at the other side of the shore, which is in His presence. Deliverance may be that you have an assurance of your salvation, so that you no longer afraid of the storm that buffets you, because you know that Christ is with you, and deliverance is that you will abide with Him in eternity. Maybe it is that He delivers you from the circumstances you're in. Maybe a treatment of cancer will, in fact, be successful, and your days will be prolonged. But ultimately, like Lazarus who was raised from the dead, He had to die again. Life physically in this world is fatal for all of us. So in the day of our distress, whenever that comes in whatever form it takes, whether it's sickness, whether it's stroke, whether it's death in war, we hold our hands out, and even as our knees grow weary, and we have to lean to continue to pray, and even as we draw up to our knees, if we didn't begin on our knees with prayer, and we have to lay across our bed, we keep our hands out, because only God can deliver without wearying, where you pray, what you put your confidence in is where your faith is. If you just do a prayer, and then move on to fix the problem through your lawyer, through counsel, through whatever it might be, then that's where you put your faith. Now I'm not saying we stop pulling at the oars, I'm not saying that we don't listen to Peter who's there at the rudder, and he's going pull men, pull that we stop striving, and we stop working, and we stop laboring, because Christ said, you get in the boat, and you row across the water. So yes, we take the medication that's prescribed. Yes, we take the treatments that are prescribed, but that's not where our hope and our faith is, because only Christ can deliver us to the destination of the other shore, in this life or in eternity. So where do we put our trust? When we see Christ coming to us on the water, have we seen Him in His glory, as the only one who has the power to deliver us, even as the disciples who had picked up all those scraps from the feeding of the five thousand, and probably had them in the boat with them there, as evidence of Christ's power, as they had seen Him turn water into wine, and they had seen Him provide healing for those who were crippled and could not walk. They had seen Him in all of these aspects, and now He came to them, the Son of God, with power over elements, walking upon the water, doing that which man cannot do, and yet He spoke to them, and then He abided with them in the boat, and then He delivered them. I pray that we would see Christ coming to us on the water, and yes, I pray that it would strike us with an awesome fear of the Lord, because we see Him as He is in His glory as God Almighty. And then He would speak to us and say, it's I. And wherever you go, low I am with you there always, even as I was on the mountain, interceding with God on your behalf, I saw you struggling at the ores in the storms of life. And so I came to you because wherever you are, you are never away from me. I came to you and I delivered you because I love you. Almighty God, we give thanks. That as we face the tempest of life, and all of us face them father, no matter how we try to guard ourselves against them with retirement accounts, and with financial security, and with a home that we might be safe in, and with neighborhoods and friends, and a good church, and no matter what measures we take father, there will be a day. When we are faced in the middle of a sea, with a tempest and a storm that is beyond our ability to beat or escape from. And when that day comes father, whether it's on our deathbed, or whether it is this afternoon, whatever form it takes, help us father to lift up our eyes, to stretch out our hands, and to never be satisfied because only our God can deliver us. Father, we praise you for you are all powerful and almighty, and you are the savior of souls. We pray, Father, that there be one here who is yet to truly understand the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing Him by name and by history, but never surrendering their own will to Him. May you father by the power of your spirit work a work in their life that they might indeed become a child of the living God. We thank you, Father, for there is no blessing, except it is in your presence. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.