Peaceinthemiddleofthestorm

The transcription is a retelling of the story from Matthew 14 in the Bible. It starts with Jesus feeding 5,000 men, not including women and children, and then sending his disciples ahead on a boat. Jesus goes to pray alone, and during the night, a violent storm arises and the disciples struggle to control the boat. Jesus appears walking on the water, but the disciples are initially terrified. Jesus reassures them not to be afraid and invites Peter to walk on water too. As long as Peter keeps his eyes on Jesus, he can walk on water, but when he loses focus, he starts to sink. Jesus saves him and calms the storm. The lesson is to trust in God and keep our eyes on Him during life's challenges. Prayer and studying the Bible increase faith and worshiping God is important. God's love is unconditional, and He promises to never leave or forsake us. Trusting in Him will bring us through any situation. I'm going to read Matthew 14 chapter starting at the 21st verse where it says the number of those who ate was about 5,000 men, not even counting the women and the children. In the 22nd verse, immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on the mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone and the boat was already a considerable distance from land. But as the scripture goes on to say, a storm happened and it was a violent storm and the ship in the midst of the sea was tossed by the winds and the waves. So I can imagine the disciples were doing their best, even though they were tired, to control the ship to keep it from sinking or capsizing. The fifth verse says, around the fourth watch, in the midst of the storm, Jesus showed up walking on the sea and the disciples, the Bible says, didn't even recognize Jesus at that moment. As a matter of fact, they were terrified and troubled and fearful. Now, mind you, they were already very tired. The Bible says that they cried out, but Jesus immediately made himself known and he said, be of good cheer, don't be afraid, it's me. And you know what? God tells us the same message when we go through the storms of life. Waves come in, there's thunder, there's lightning. You're feeling terrified, you feel like you're going to go under and you're going to drown. But just like Jesus told the disciples, don't be afraid, he tells us the same thing when we go through our trials and tribulations. Not only that, Jesus says, I'm your healer, I'm the truth, I'm the life, I'm your protection, I'm your strength when you are weak. Don't be afraid, just believe in me and trust me. When you feel hopeless, stand on the word, amen. As we read on in the scripture, Peter, he said, I have a request. If it's really you, Jesus, bid me or command me to come to you on the water. In the 29th verse it says, Jesus told him, come. And that's what he tells us, come, all those who are wearied in, come to me. If you're feeling weak, I will make you strong. Come to me when you're feeling hopeless and just trust me, I am the way, I am the life. I can bring you peace and I can bring you joy. Just don't be afraid, don't give up, don't give in. He came out of the ship and he walked on the water to go to Jesus. And that had to be a sight that even the other disciples probably couldn't even wrap their heads around. But as long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was able to walk without sinking. Even though the waves and the winds were out of control. But for some reason, Peter took his eyes off of Jesus. And Peter took over and he began to sink. And thank God he knew what to say. He said, Lord, save me. And we know, according to scripture, that immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him. And then not only that, when they both came back into the ship, the winds ceased. Now that's an awesome lesson that we can claim from this story. No matter what challenges we face in life, the Lord is with us every step of the way. All we have to do is to trust him and to keep our eyes focused on him no matter what. Keep our communication open with prayer. Study the word of God. That will increase your faith. God wants us to worship him and to get into his presence. And you know, there's nothing wrong with singing, singing spirituals, dancing in the presence of the Lord. The Bible in Psalms 34 and 1 says, I will bless the Lord at all times and his praise will continually be in my mouth. Acknowledge him in everything that we do. His promise to us that he would direct our path. And that's found in Proverbs 3 and 6. We have to know that no matter what we go through, no matter what challenges we face in life, we have to know that God loves us and that he cares for us. Ephesians 3 and 19 says, the love of God surpasses all our human understanding. Sometimes we just don't know why he loves us, but he does. And praise the Lord for that. And in Psalms 84 and 11, the Bible says that he will not withhold any good thing from us. And his promise to us is to never leave us or forsake us, no matter what we go through. The fire, the floods, the storms of life. If we trust him and stand on his word, God will come through for us. Amen. The main thing that we need to do is just not to let go of his hand. To keep our eyes on him. Trust him. Believe his word. In the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for blessing us today. We thank you, dear God, for the word. We thank you for who showed us, Lord. No matter what we go through in life, the storms of life, or through the fire, or maybe the floods are coming in. We trust you with our lives. We could trust you, dear Father, to bring us through. Trust you, dear Father, that you'll keep us safe and solid on the rock, dear Father. We thank you, dear God, for your love and for your compassion. The scripture said that you will never leave us or forsake us. We thank you. Help us, dear God, to know who we are in Jesus Christ. Help us to stand on your word. Help us to continue to pray and seek your face and come into your presence, O God. We thank you for being our joy. We thank you, dear God, for being our healer. We thank you for being our deliverer. Lord, we thank you, dear Father, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. We thank you, dear God, for your love. Please contact us. If you have something to say, I promise we'll listen.