Walking on Water

Seven Signs is the name of our sermon series, current series here at Twin Lakes Church. My name is Adrian. I'm one of the pastors here. Good morning. Welcome to Twin Lakes Church. I'm super excited to share in God's word with you today. If you're in the house, you were handed some sermon notes on your way in. You can go ahead and grab those because what you're going to hear is so good. You're going to write it all down, probably, or complaints on there, whatever you want. If you're watching online or listening, you can go to TLC.org/notes to access them there.

Each week in this series, we've looked at stories of people who have experienced a miracle of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel of John. John calls these miracles signs, and later in his Gospel, he says he's written all these signs to show and so that you would believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And so what we see in these stories is that Jesus enters the life of these different people and he changes them forever.

So far, we've seen a guest at a wedding where the wine ran out. We saw a royal officer with a sick son. We saw a lame man who couldn't walk for over 30 years in a con, and we've seen a kid whose lunch was taken to feed 15,000 people. Next, we have a bunch of guys in a boat in a storm. In this heavy storm, I don't know about you, but it's kind of like how it feels right now. I mean, if you think about it, the world is stressful. It's like we're living in a storm.

I mean, it rained yesterday, and not only that, like the earth is stressed out. It shook yesterday. You guys feel that? If you're in Corralitis, I was right there. My daughter was at the county fair, and I was like, she's already nervous probably. It's like, oh gosh, what's happening? But at the science fair, somebody was probably like, oh, I can tell you what's happening. I don't know. They're kindergartners. They're like, I don't know. Mom. Anyways, sorry. But it's stressful. Lots of things are going on.

The APA published their yearly survey called Stress in America, and they found that right now Americans have unprecedented levels of stress. Like dark storm clouds, today's issues are darkening the sky. If you think about it, the war in Ukraine, the refugee crisis in Afghanistan, inflation, gas prices, on top of the last two years of COVID. And then add in your own personal storms. I mean, in just the last couple weeks, I have a friend who has a loved one, very dear person die in his life. I have another friend whose marriage is on the brink of divorce, and I have a young couple who's pregnant, looking for a place to live, to afford to live in this town, which you know is really hard.

Are you feeling like that right now? Like there are storm clouds darkening the sky above you? If so, I have a question for you. Do you want to learn to face the fears of today with faith in God? Do you want to face these storm clouds with hope? Because that's what exactly what the characters in our story today, that's what they learned. We're going to jump in, open your Bibles if you have them to John chapter six. The scripture will be in your notes and on the screen as well.

We left off last week, Mark had a great message about the feeding of the thousands of people that were there. But at the end of that story, you know, those people wanted to take Jesus and make him their king and, you know, take him by force. And Jesus said, "Hold on." And so we got his disciples and we got to get out of here. You guys get in the boat and I'm going to head up the mountain. So that's where we left off.

Verse 16, we continue, "When evening came, his disciples went down to the lake where they got into a boat and set off across the lake for Capernaum. By now it was dark and Jesus had not yet joined them. A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough. But when they had rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the water. And they were frightened. But he said to them, 'It is I, don't be afraid.' Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading." And that's the whole story.

I like to read the whole story because it's kind of short. And one of the reasons it's short, I think, is because John is writing this 30 to 40 years after it happened. And since that time, since the time it happened to the time he's writing it, other people have written about this story already. You got Matthew, you got Mark in their gospels. They have told this story. And so John is thinking, well, lots of people already know this story. They know all the details. So I could probably leave some of them out. He's like, I don't have to repeat all the details.

You know, like one really big detail he leaves out is somebody else that walks on the water, Peter. If you've heard this story before, the most associated thing with this story is Peter also walks on the water, but John leaves it out. Now, this next part, I don't know this to be true, but I can imagine John, you know, in his old age writing his gospel, he gets to this story and he's thinking, man, you know what? Everybody talks about Peter all the time. Peter this, Peter that. Peter walked on the water. Peter, he's the leader of the church. Peter denies Jesus three times and he's, they still talk about him. Like, he's this great guy. He's a nice guy, but he doesn't have to be in this story.

I don't know if this is how they erase things back then. And you rip it out and just wipe it off. So he leaves them out. But because the people reading, hearing this from John, reading John's account would know all those details already, I'll fill in some of the blanks using those other gospels. So we have the disciples on the sea of Galilee. I was texting René this week because he is in Israel right now filming for a future TLC series. Guess about who? Peter. So just, sorry, John. But he knew I was talking about the sea of Galilee and we were just talking about it.

And then this morning, Jamie Romm texted me this picture. She's like, she's a, works with me. She's our videographer filming and she's like, Hey, we're on the sea of Galilee right now. And so this is them live. Well, earlier this morning from the sea of Galilee itself. And in our conversation over text, René was telling, it would describe the sea of Galilee like this. He says, it's like a weather machine. He told me in a 24 hour period, listen to the things he's experienced in one 24 hour period, blue skies, sleet, hail, snow, fierce winds, and storms. He told me today, it was very sunny and tomorrow it's supposed to rain.

The reason for this is because the sea of Galilee sits in the deepest valley on the planet, the Jordan Valley, it happens to be the lowest freshwater lake on earth. There's one lake that is lower. That's full of salt just down the road, the dead sea. And because of this, we have this, there are these crazy weather things that happen. René describes it this way in his book, Jesus Journey, cold air descending from the often snow covered Mount Herman range, just 20 miles away, but almost 10,000 feet higher than the surface of the lake. That cold air collides over Galilee with warm air from the below sea level Jordan Valley, creating these volatile weather systems.

So this is what we know. If you are on the sea of Galilee, you can expect a sudden storm. And that's the thing we need to know, a truth we need to know today when we to face life's storms is this storms cannot be prevented. No matter how hard you try, you can't prevent the storms of life from coming. Ever since sin entered this world, it broke this world and we've been suffering the consequences. A broken world full of broken people. And that brings trouble.

Just like Trent mentioned earlier, Jesus promises the disciples. John writes us down later in his gospel. He says it this way, in this world, you will have trouble. Not you might have trouble. Not it might come your way. Not, oh, if you do too many bad things or don't shape up troubles coming your way. No, everybody in this world, you will have trouble. So the disciples are on this boat in the middle of the sea of Galilee, caught in a storm. From the other accounts, we know that it's about 3 a.m. Pitch black, dark, no visibility. The disciples feel all alone.

Every year our family goes to Florida. We're going again in August. It's funny that we go every year in the summer because that's when our kids summers, you know, we can all go. All my friends who live in Florida, we're from there originally. They're like, why are you here? So hot. I know, man, but it's cheap for people to fly. Okay, give us a break. But in the summer, what you find, there are lots of storms. We go right in the thick of hurricane season. That's when everything's cheaper then. It's like, yeah, come on by. No problem. We've had our fair share of storms while we're there.

You know, as a kid growing up, you'd be playing outside and it was fun. You're playing and all of a sudden you were getting attacked by water. You're like, what's happening? But it's super fun. Everything floods as a kid. Yeah, let's like swim in the streets is what we did as an adult. It's a little scarier. Every year we find ourselves on these two lane roads, highways that go span the state. You go up to state. There are these roads that go all across because we have family on both coasts, east and west coast of Florida. And so we have to drive across.

We find ourselves on these roads and let me tell you something about these roads. There's nothing on these roads. Occasionally, you hit a town with like a Taco Bell and a Burger King and you're like, okay, or in a gas station so you can get gas. But otherwise in between nothing, occasionally there's a cow. And I remember when we had little, little kids and we were trying to like not be the parents, you're like, we're not going to give them screens. They're going to enjoy nature. That was so dumb. Just give the kid a screen, man, especially on this three hour drive in like the barren wasteland of central Florida.

There'd be a cow like, guys, look, there's a cow. They're like, oh cool. Where's the next cow? I don't know, man. And like a hundred miles. So we're on this road. And I remember one time we're driving on this road and then suddenly it starts to get dark. This is an actual picture I took from our car while driving, not safe with our kids in the car. Don't do that. But for these purposes, you got to take these pictures anyways. God forgive me. So we're driving and then as you can see, you know, it's crazy clouds, that darkness, we're about to get under that darkness.

And when that happens, it goes from bright and sunny to dark and stormy. And to say that what is coming down from the sky is rain. Does it know justice? Because it is like God opens up like the fire hydrant and it's like, here you go. And it just comes down. You turn on the windshield wiper. You can hear it like, it's like groaning to try to like push the water drops are huge. I remember like you drive and it's like this. It's like water, water, rain, rain, rain. You cannot see anything. All sides, just water. It's like you're in a car wash and you're all, we're already in the middle of the state, this huge state. We're in the middle of nowhere. Can't see anything anymore.

Occasionally you'll pass by a car and in that car is a smart person who's like, I'll wait the storm out. But I'm a dad on vacation. I got to make good time guys. We're pushing through. We're going to get there dead or alive. So just driving on this road. And then as we're driving on this road, approaching us are two headlights on the other lane and it's a semi truck. And in Florida on these roads, semi trucks, if they don't care, it's raining. They're going as fast as they want to go. And he gets by us or she and that water, the water that splashes onto our car is unbelievable. What like the feeling you get because it's already like a lot of rain, but then suddenly this truck passes you and it feels like we were underwater.

Like for a moment, I'm like, did we fall into a lake or something? What is that? Like you, and we stopped because they're like, oh my gosh, I can't, you can't see literally can't see anything. You feel all alone. And that's how it feels like when we're in going through life storms, because you're just driving along this road of life and you get caught in this sudden storm out of nowhere. That seems like it's never going to end like COVID. And then a truck comes by and splashes you with so much water, like inflation and gas prices and war and destruction and disaster, a bad report from the doctor, a spouse who wants to give up the death of a loved one. And you feel just like those disciples in that small boat on the sea of Galilee. You feel blind, you feel alone, you feel hopeless, you feel underwater.

But the truth is for those disciples and for you and me today is this, is that we are not alone. While we can't prevent the storms of life, the one thing we can count on is Jesus's presence. And that's the second thing you can count on Jesus's presence. Remember Jesus went up to that mountain to pray. Mark tells us that he could actually see the disciples who are in trouble on that sea. And then in the next verse, verse 19 of John 6, it says, "When they had rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat walking on the water and they were frightened." So they realize they're not alone. Oh, somebody's with us. But their first reaction isn't relief. It's fear.

Which is kind of funny to me. I mean, can you imagine the scene? Jesus is walking on the water, on the water. He's walking on the water, guys. This is crazy. We say it now like, yeah, Jesus walked on the water. Of course. Back then, they're like, what is happening? This guy is walking on the water. It's Jesus, the same guy who just multiplied that kid's lunch to feed all those people, the same guy who healed that guy, who couldn't walk forever, same guy who turned water into wine. Now he's walking on water. And their first reaction is like, oh, can you imagine?

How would, what did Jesus think when he walked up and he saw their faces? If it was me, I'd be like, come on, guys. It's me. It's kind of like how I feel when I'm like, I'm trying to help my kids and they don't react the way I want them to. This happened just this week with one of my children. One of my children's here and one of my children isn't here. I'm not going to say which one it is. The one who wasn't here. But this child, I'm helping what I found out when you have kids in elementary school is that you have to like learn to do school again because you have to help them because they're like, dad, what is this? And I'm like, I don't know. Let's ask Google.

So anyways, I'm helping my child with her homework and I'm taking time out of my day, out of my life. You know, I'm like, you know, I mean, it's what I'm supposed to do as a parent, but still, I gotta take this time out and sit here and, and help you. And what the hardest thing for me is when I'm helping and the response is like, so I'm like bad, like, oh, I don't want you to help me like this or whatever it is that they're saying. And sometimes I kind of lose it, but in like my good times, I'm like, don't yell. And I'll, I mean, this happened this week, literally. I was like, hi, I just want you to know I'm taking time out of my life to help you right now.

I could be doing, I could be working, I could be catching up. I have to, I have to preach this weekend at church. There's a lot to do, but I'm taking my time out because I love you and I want to help you. So when you respond that way, what I want to do is I want to take your homework and I want to crumble it up in my hand. I want to chuck it across this room and then I want to walk over there slowly and I want to burn it. So, so please, please change your attitude. That's how it ended. Thank God. Sometimes it doesn't end. Okay. Sometimes I'm like, like I freak out and then later I have another conversation. Hi. Please forgive me for my reaction. I shouldn't act that way as your father. I love you. Don't tell your mom. Oh, she's here. Hi.

But I feel like Jesus walks up and he's like, come on, are you serious? He doesn't, he's Jesus. So he doesn't act the way. Thank God I'm not Jesus. Right. But why are the, what's going on? Why are the disciples scared to see him? Is it because they don't know it's him? I don't think so because John, who's writing this letter, who was in the boat says it was Jesus walking towards them and then they were afraid. So I want, but this is what I wonder. I wonder if they just weren't exactly a hundred percent sure it was actually him.

Because did you know this is the second time these guys are on this same lake in a boat in a storm with Jesus? The first time Jesus was asleep and they were freaked out and they woke him up and he's like, oh, come on guys. And he calms the storm. But this guy, this time, this guy out here is walking towards us, but the storm's still going on. Last time the storm stopped. This time the storm's still going on. Is that Jesus? Because this is the thing. I think maybe it's because Jesus showed up not the exact way they wanted him to show up.

And while we or I might laugh at the disciples, we react the same way so many times, don't we? God shows up in our lives, but not the exact way you want him to. You pray for something and you don't get it. God doesn't answer your prayer the way you want to. When I was in high school, I was talking to this missionary. I was a Christian and I said, I'm praying about this thing. He just won't answer it. And the missionary looks dead. Like right in my eyes says he did answer it. He said no. And I was like, oh, got it. And he went on to tell me he answers every single prayer. Sometimes it's yes. Sometimes it's no. Sometimes it's wait or not yet.

He doesn't answer the prayers you want him to the way you want him to. He doesn't, sometimes you read scripture and he tells you to do things you don't want to do. Forgive someone who's wronged me. No, thank you. Follow after you without like the whole plan laid out and I can see it. I'm going to pass on that one. We want God to answer our prayers the way we want, when we want. We want God, we make plans for our lives. 20 step plans. This whole map laid out. God, here it is. Let's do this thing. Okay. This is what we're supposed to do. Because that's what we want. But God doesn't always show up that way. God doesn't always calm the storm.

So how do the fears of the disciples, how do those fears get calmed? It's when they realize, okay, this is actually Jesus and they realize who Jesus really is. Seeing that they're afraid, Jesus says this. He walks up and sees that they're afraid and goes, okay, it is I. Don't be afraid. Now the disciples already knew it was him, right? That's what we saw what John was saying. So what's changed here? I mean, hearing Jesus say it's me, don't be afraid. That sounds comforting, but there is something much more profound happening in this statement right here.

When you read the Bible in English, you are reading a translation from the original language. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew. The New Testament was written in Greek. And translators over the years have translated those into different languages, to Latin, to English, to all the different languages. And in English, we have different versions as they try to make it more accurate or make it sound more natural to the way we talk today. And so the modern translators who do a really hard job with this statement, they reorganize the words that Jesus says and they put them in a different order. That sounds more natural to us because in the original language, this is how it reads in Greek. I am, do not fear. I am.

Does that sound familiar to you? If you've grown up a Christian or you've read the Bible, you've heard of Moses and the story of Moses really, I mean, it's about him going to Egypt to free Israel out of slavery out of Egypt. And when he's getting that mission from God, which he doesn't want to do, he's like, okay, I'm going to go there and I'm going to say, yeah, let these people go. And they're going to say, well, who sent you to do this? What do I tell them, God? Do you remember God's answer? He says, you tell them that I am sent you. And from that day forward, we learned the name of God is I am because he wasn't created. He has always been. He will always be. He is I am.

And when the disciples hear this statement, I imagine their eyes widening as they realize who he is. I mean, they've seen him do some amazing stuff, but now he is walking on the water and he just said God's name. Matthew records this moment in his gospel this way. Those who were in the boat, worshiped him saying, truly, you are the son of God. And that brought them peace because no matter how big the storm is, no matter how hard it is to keep rowing, if they're with Jesus, they don't have to be afraid because the one who created the sea that they are on is in the boat with them. And that is true for you as well.

No matter how heavy your storm is, no matter how hard it feels to keep on going. Remember this. He is Lord. He is the one who John describes this way earlier in his gospel. Through him, Jesus, all things were made without him. Nothing was made that was made. Jesus has been, is, and will forever be. So how did the disciples respond to that? Verse 21, "Then they were willing to take him into the boat and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading." That's funny. "Then they were like, okay, now you can come in." What I do love about that passage right there is that Jesus didn't walk on the water and just march right into the boat. He waited.

He waits for them to invite him in. It's that moment. It's when he, when he gets steps into the boat and now God is with me in my boat, that's when their fears are calm. That's when they know they're not alone anymore. And that number three is what we need to do. Invite him into your boat. Listen, maybe the storm you're facing, maybe you're sitting here or you're watching or listening and you've not taken that step of faith to put your trust in Jesus, to become a Christian, a child of God. Maybe you've been coming here for a while and I don't know what you've been waiting for. Maybe you think you have to get your life together or maybe you're just not ready for some reason. You're not sure God is going to accept you.

But I want you to know this. Jesus is ready and willing to enter your life and there's nothing you have to do except this. This is what the Bible tells us is the way to be saved, to become a child of God. The Bible tells us it's believing and confessing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead, defeating death. That's it. And you can do that right now. I don't know why you've been waiting, but you don't have to wait anymore. He is ruling and he is ready to come into your life. While I'm even, while I'm talking right now, you can say that in your mind. You can say, God, I know you died for my sins. God, you rose from the dead, defeating death. I believe. I confess. I trust you. And that's it. I encourage you. Invite him in.

Some of you have been a Christian. You've invited him into the boat of your life, but I don't know whatever your situation is right now. That storm you're going through, you haven't invited him into that situation. You're like, I got to do this on my own. I got to row through this storm on my own, but I have a question for you. Aren't your arms tired? Yeah. It's time to invite the one who created the sea into your boat and into your situation, whatever that is right now. He can calm your fears. He can calm your anxieties because he is with you. You weren't alone anymore. You aren't alone anymore because check this out. When you invite him into your life, when you become a child of God, did you know another miracle happens? Another sign happens inside of you.

The Bible tells us that when you believe and confess that Jesus died on the cross, that he rose from the dead, that he fills you with the Holy Spirit. Now we've heard that in church so many times be filled. He's filling us with the Holy Spirit, but sometimes I think we forget what that means. The literal spirit of God somehow miraculously lives inside of you. Inside of you dwells the spirit of God somehow. I love how Paul writes about it. He says this in Ephesians, "When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit." In Romans he says, "The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, that power lives in you." When you grasp that truth, you really realize you are never alone.

No matter if every single person around you deserts you, you are never alone because he is with you deeper than anybody can be. Not only were the disciples, not only were their fears calm, but something cool happens at the end. They arrive safely to the shore and immediately. It wasn't enough that Jesus walks on the water. When he steps into the boat, did you see what happens? The way I read it, he teleports them to the shore. It says he gets in the boat and immediately they're at the shore. That sounds to me as a person who loves sci-fi like teleportation. The sound I imagine hearing is because that is the sound of teleportation.

This is this is the first instance of beaming somebody up somewhere. That happened. That's how I'm reading it. Did you know God does the same thing for us? Watch. When we invite Jesus in, before we, before we invite Jesus into our boat, before we put our trust in him, our relationship with God is this is we are separated. When you invite Jesus in because of what he's done, his death, his resurrection, when you do that, he immediately takes you into that new position you have with God. You go from not being a child of God to being adopted as a child of God immediately. He takes you to your destination, into your new relationship, your new position with God, and it has nothing to do with what you can do or how hard you can try to make that happen. He does all the work and that is grace.

That is the amazing grace of God and the grace that Paul describes this way in Ephesians for it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves. It is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. He takes you immediately into that position with God. And one last thing, he takes you safely to your final shore. You know so many of our fears, I know mine, my anxieties and my fears have to do with death. Like oh if this happens I'm going to die. And then you you know in the back of your mind you think well what's gonna happen? I've dealt with anxiety issues and I remember one piece of advice or counsel I got from a friend was well let's think about it okay what if you die? What happens? And I thought I guess yeah. My future is secure in Jesus. I don't have to fear the unknown.

He makes it known because you know Jesus broke the curse of death with his resurrection and he offers you the hope of that same resurrection. He also offers the hope he tells us he's going to return to renew all things. A new earth, a new heaven where there's no more war or death or pain or suffering or crying or divorce. He'll make all things new. Our future is secure in him. The storms of life are coming and they might be sudden and while we can't prevent them we can count on the presence of Jesus. So invite him into your boat.

I want to share with you what this can look like. In the book that we have been reading, some of us have been reading along with this series called You Are Never Alone by Max Lucado. It goes through all the signs of that we're also doing and each chapter has a sign and so this chapter on the walking on the water he describes and tells a story of a lady named Catherine Wolf. She went through a crazy intense dark major storm in her life but somehow she kept on going. Let's watch.

I had what's called an arterial venous malformation which is a condition in your brain that you're born with. It's congenital and it grew and grew and one day it ruptured and when I was 26 years old I had a massive brain stem stroke and nearly died. God saved my life and in so doing a lot was taken away. Life was wonderful before the stroke. I just had a baby James six months before and we were living on the beach in Malibu. J was in law school and life was fun and easy and we loved our church. We're deeply plugged into our community there and we're just really living out our wildest dreams.

I was concerned because Catherine had felt a little strange that morning and I went to the other room as my son was taking a nap and I was working on a paper and I heard Catherine cry out. I ran to her side and she was collapsed onto the ground and non-responsive so I called 911 and the paramedics quickly came and realized she needed to be taken to a hospital immediately and she was wheeled out on a stretcher from that place we had called our first home and she would never return again there.

In AVM it's called and it's a very rare condition that Catherine didn't even know she had until that moment when it finally ruptured and the pressure building in her brain was so great that there was almost no chance for her to survive and in that moment having this idyllic perfect life with so much hope and expectation for our future turned upside down. Losing my motherhood was perhaps the saddest and hardest thing above all other issues I faced throughout my ordeal.

Before the stroke I was able to have six months and five days of just pure joy with James. I was just a happy mother enjoying new life with the baby. Once the stroke happened I was not able to really engage my son. I was not able to be much of a mother at all. Now today while the picture looks different I'm there I'm with him and I'm able to take care of him again and it is the greatest joy and all of this is knowing that I can be his mommy again.

We have been very blessed to suffer greatly at a young age because it informs the way we live the rest of our life. Future is definitely uncertain but who's is it? We're living out a picture of what if we're all honest each of our lives looks like. We don't know what tomorrow will hold if it would be the best day of our life or the last day of our life. Our circumstances and the storms that might surround our lives are not nearly as important as our turning our eyes towards him and in that dependence in that trust in that tension between an all-powerful loving God and a broken world we found hope.

Katherine's story is amazing and since that video that's from a while ago I encourage you to look her up. She's written a couple books her and her husband since that time that little boy's grown up they got pregnant again and all the doctors like you can't have this baby it could kill you. She pressed forward because of her you know they just they knew God was with them and they're gonna just push forward and she safely gave birth to their second child and now they they speak and encourage others they have a camp called Hope Heels a book name book name with the same name just encouraging others that are going through really hard storms because I'm not sure what your storm is.

You might feel hopeless you might feel like giving up. Today might be a day you're watching this or you're listening or you're here sitting right now and whatever's going on you want to give up and you came here as like your last ditch effort to find something but I want you to know Jesus is here and he's willing to come into your boat don't give up whatever it is don't give up keep on going invite him in he can save you he'll be with you and give you peace let's pray.

Father we thank you for your grace because God and the storms of this life some that just happened some that we bring on our own on ourselves some that happened because of others but God no matter what we thank you Lord that you are faithful your presence is faithful that you were there we thank you Lord for your amazing grace and love shown through the death of Jesus on the cross for our sins his resurrection from the dead defeating death so that we could have eternal life and hope and God the miracle of the Holy Spirit filling each of us I thank you for that so that we can know that we are truly never alone.

So I pray for those in here who maybe have made that decision for the first time God we celebrate with them in the new life that they have with you and I pray for those who maybe for some reason are still waiting may they know that you're ready and willing to enter and for those others in this room who are going through a major storm I pray for strength for perseverance and God for the truth that you are with them you are in their boat we thank you in Jesus name amen.