Matthew 14:22 - Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. 23 After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." 28 "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." 29 "Come," He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out. "Lord, save me!" 31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. "You of little faith," He said, "why did you doubt?" (NIV)
Good Thursday Evening and Friday Morning, my dear brothers and sisters. What a great day Thursday, ending with some heavy rain. And now a good start to Friday.
Thursday and the day we pray for churches and their flocks, Vacation Bible Schools, schools and all who go through the doors. Also pray for families asking for God to draw them nearer to Jesus and also get the love back into families who have - in fighting. Friday is the day we pray for all who go into the fields of Harvest working to get out the word of Jesus. As we pray for all of those, please keep Dan Stoner and his family in your prayers. The Stoners fly the word into the areas you cannot get to by vehicle. Also Tim Enloe's brother-in-law, who is a missionary to Indonesia. The Missionary (no name given) has severe kidney problems.
Dear Father in Heaven, thanks for another day in this place we call America. Thanks for being with me as I do the message. Please forgive me of my sins. Please hear our prayers, oh Lord, for the healing of those on our prayer lists and in all things thy will be done. And Dear Father, help us when it comes to faith, that we have total faith in You and we trust in You in all we do. Be in churches and anoint all, and please be in families and bring them together under You. And Lord, walk the halls of our schools and be in them, and Lord, please be at Penn State, for regardless of what happened and what will happen, You are needed. Be with the brother-in-law of Tim Enloe, and yes, with Tim and his family also. In Jesus' name, Amen.
7/26-27/12: Faith. On Wednesday I said that only two of the many miracles of Jesus were mentioned in all four gospels and asked you if you knew them. One was what we have been studying this week, the miracles of how Jesus fed about 5,000 people with just 5 loaves and two fish. Since no one responded with their answer, I will tell you. It was the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus. This Sunday I am going to preach/teach on the miracle of Jesus feeding all those folks, and to show Just how little five loaves and two fish really is, I went and caught two fish and will have five loaves of bread with me. "Caught two fish" - well, that might be sort of a fish story, but after the gentleman working the fish counter at our local food store was done wrapping them I had him toss the fish over the counter so I could say "I caught them." Moving on ...
As we go to our scriptures of today, we find that after the big feeding, Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him ... Jesus wanted to stay behind and dismiss the crowd. He also wanted to be alone and pray.
Matthew 14:22 - Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd. 23 After He had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. When evening came, He was there alone.
One lesson that I got out of these verses was that Jesus wanted to be alone to pray. How often do we go to Jesus alone, I mean really alone, all background things turned off? Jesus set this example many times. This is but one of them. In our home, there are many times when Dolores and I pray together and the TV news (we are news junkies) is on. However, each morning we do talk to God without the noise, we find even our dogs will sit around our feet and keep still as we pray. And as you know, I love to go out to our "Rock of Hope" in the front yard and sit by the rock, near the three crosses, and talk to God, one on one. If you have never just stopped and talked to God, just you and Him, please try it. Just talk to Him like He is right there with you, because He is, He really is.
Okay, after Jesus dismissed the crowd and finished praying, the boat with His disciples in it was already far away from the dock. The waves were up and Jesus wanted to get to the boat to be with His disciples, so He just walked out across the top of the water. Wow, another miracle of the Lord, our Lord Jesus walking on the water. As He got near the boat, His disciples saw Him and it sort of scared them as they thought they were seeing a ghost. So Jesus called out, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
Matthew 14:26 - When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
Then Peter said, "Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water." So Jesus called him. "Come." Peter got out of the boat and did walk on the water for a tad but then started to sink.
Matthew 14:28 - "Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." 29 "Come," He said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
So Jesus reached out His hand and caught Peter and He said to him, "you of little faith, why do you doubt?"
Matthew 14:31 - Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him. "You of little faith," He said, "why did you doubt?"
Now this reminds me of a story, and yes, it happened while fishing. One day while on a singing tour, Dave, Duane, and Neil decided to rent a small boat and do a bit of fishing. So while they were out in the boat, taking a worm and some corn for a swim, Dave stated, "I think I have enough faith to get out of the boat and walk on the water. Now the water was not deep, and Dave stepped out of the boat and walked out across the top of the water, just getting his feet a little wet. Now Neil looked at Duane and said, I have great faith, I am sure as much as Dave, so out of the boat Neil went and walked out on that water. Come on, Duane, the other two said, and Duane was thinking, I have as much faith as my dear friends, so he also got out of the boat and soon found himself up to his hips in the water. At this time, Neil looked at Dave and said ... Do you think we should tell Dave where the rocks are?? Okay, before we go any farther with my story, I must confess this being a fish story, I just made the whole thing up. And at this time I will say that these great men of God might not even fish, other than I know they are "fishers of men." They also would never test the Lord, as this story I made up would do.
Do you see what I am saying on this story? While Jesus was working with Peter, Peter started to walk on water and then he took his eyes off Jesus and watched the stormy water. We can do many, many things when we step out in faith with our Lord, many things, but at the same time we are never to put the Lord to the test (except in our giving of our blessings). You could see in my story about my friends Dave, Duane, and Neil, I showed them testing the Lord, and again this is something they would not do, and we should not do.
Matthew 4:7 - Jesus answered him (Satan), "It is also written" 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
Folks, there are many, many times in our life we must have faith in God, in fact, and hear me on this, we need to have that great faith in our daily living, we should not just think it, we need to have it. Each day we must trust in God to get us through, and many days it is not easy, but our faith in Jesus will get us through each day. One of the hardest things to do is to have that complete trust, so it seems when we bundle up our worries and troubles and give them to God we also try and hold onto them. So brothers and sisters, when fishing, have faith you will catch some, but also stay in the boat.
Do you trust in God in all you do, and do you trust Him each day when I say go forth and share your blessings? You see you can test God in that.
Malachi 3:10 - Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and poor out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. (NIV)
Okay, I believe I can wrap it up now by saying this. Please share your blessings, love your neighbors, love God above all else, and have great faith in Him ... Love ya, Pastor Dan.
P.S.: Dave, Duane, and Neil had not a clue I was going to use their names today. These great men of faith have walked out in faith many, many times in their lives, an they are still doing it. Be blessed, Brothers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment