Know and Trust

Intro

· First Word: greetings, announcements, prayer, flip to Matthew 14

· Attention Getter: There’s a true story about a boy named Toby from Oklahoma. Toby’s dad was a firefighter — the kind of guy everyone in town respected. But to Toby, he was just Dad. He didn’t think much about what his dad really did at work. He just thought he “knew him.” One summer, a huge tornado hit their town. The power went out, the sirens blared, and Toby was home alone while his dad was on shift at the station.  Toby watched the news and saw his dad’s crew on camera — crawling through debris, carrying people out of collapsed homes, running straight into danger. For the first time, Toby realized: He had known his dad’s name, but he had never really known his power or his heart. That night, when his dad finally came home — covered in soot and exhausted — Toby hugged him tighter than ever. He told him, “Dad, I didn’t know you did that.” His dad just smiled and said, “You knew who I was, but now you know what I do.” A few years later, Toby’s dad was injured in another rescue. Toby wrestled with fear and doubt — afraid his dad might not come home. But in that storm of fear, Toby remembered who his dad really was and trusted him again.

· Audience Relevance: Jesus’ hometown thought they knew Him — but they didn’t know His power (Focus 1). Herod heard about His miracles — but didn’t know His heart (Focus 2). The disciples faced a crowd with empty hands — and learned to trust His provision (Focus 3). Then they faced the storm — and learned to trust His presence (Focus 4).

· Context: · Who: Matthew

· What: Jesus is the Christ

· When: While following Jesus

· Where: While following Jesus

· Why: To convince Jews that Jesus is the Messiah

· Transition:

Know The Works

Matthew 13:53–58 “And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.”

1. (55) This is the danger of knowing OF Jesus but not TRULY knowing Jesus

· (57) Even his own family rejected him until his resurrection

· (57) They couldn’t see past the humanity of Jesus to see the divinity of Jesus. They thought that they knew everything there is to know about Jesus and that he was just some carpenter’s son.

· (58) The lack of miracles is directly tied to their unbelief.

Illustration: Not being able to see Jordan as the GOAT because he did not make the basketball team in his sophomore year of high school.

Application: Know the works of Jesus not just the name of Jesus

Know The Son

Matthew 14:1–12 “At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.”

· (2) This is a sign that the Gospel of Matthew is not necessarily in chronological order; here John is already dead and now Matthew is going to describe how he died.

· (2) Herod couldn’t see past the preemptive work of John the Baptist to see that John was pointing to Jesus; Herod thought that Jesus was John’s ghost, missing that this was the work of God

· (4-5) Herod was a Jew but feared man more than God; he was not worried about his breaking of the Law but was worried about what people would think if he killed John.

· (6) No fear of God! This would have been his niece/step daughter! This dude is a walking conundrum.

· (7) Be careful about heat of the moment promises because now Herod is a jew killing a prophet

Illustration: 1. NBA or NFL? 36 have been accused of spousal abuse, 7 have been arrested for fraud, 19 have been accused of writing bad checks, 17 of directly or indirectly been bankrupted in at least two businesses, 3 have done time for assault, 71 cannot get a credit card due to their bad credit, 14 have been arrested on drug related charges, 8 have been arrested for shoplifting, 21 currently are defendants in lawsuits, and 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year. How many of you think NBA how many of you think NFL

It’s important to not just know the works of someone, but to also know who they are!

Application: Know who Jesus is, and not just his works.

Now that we talked about knowing Jesus and his works, we’re going to talk about trusting him in that knowledge

Trust Empty With Plenty

Matthew 14:13–21 “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.”

· (15) The disciples are telling Jesus what to do

· (16) Jesus commands the disciples to give the crowds food; he doesn’t say that he will give them food.

· (18) God can do a lot with a little if we would just bring it to him.

· (19) It still ended up being the disciples who gave the food to the crowds

· (20) Not only did they have enough, they had plenty to spare

· (21) The number 5000 is an approximation while the 12 baskets of leftovers was exact.

1. (21) This miracle is the only miracle in all four gospels; remember from chapter 13 on, Jesus’ primary audience is the disciples. Jesus is showing the disciples exactly what it is going to look like for them in his absence; through his power, the disciples would be spiritually feeding the thousands but would never run out of spiritual food.

Illustration: In 2000, a 4-year-old girl named Alex Scott was diagnosed with cancer. She decided to start a lemonade stand to raise money to help other kids with cancer. She only had a few lemons and a little table — basically “empty.” But her small act of faith inspired others. By the time she passed away at age 8, her foundation had raised over $1 million, and today, “Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation” has raised over $250 million for childhood cancer research.

Even when you feel like you don’t have enough — enough talent, time, or strength — give what you have to God. He turns empty into plenty.

Application: Trust God that you have plenty in the empty

Trust in the Storm

Matthew 14:22–36 “Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and brought to him all who were sick and implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well.”

· (23) Jesus finally gets back to the reason that he was here; to pray alone with his father.

· (24) Life will get hectic but don’t neglect your alone time with God. That storm will still be there when you come down the mountain

· (27) Jesus just said “it is I” and never says his name. They recognized his voice.

· (28) Peter recognizes the power of God

· (29) There is only two people who have ever walked on water and they did it at the same time.

· (30) Peter didn’t sink until he took his eyes off of Jesus and started to look around at the storm.

1. (31) Peter doubted if he could walk on the waters during the storm. Peter only started to be negatively affected when he doubted the ability of the power of Christ to work through him. How many times do we suffer in the storms because we doubt if God is working there?

· (31) Jesus didn’t waste any time; he immediately saves Peter

· (32) Jesus had control of the storm the entire time.

· (33) They finally realize who Jesus is. Realizing by itself is nothing though; Judas was on this boat and realized it to.

· (35) They accepted Jesus and invited others to see him and look at what happened.

· (36) This shows the faith they had in the power of Christ.

These people had there own version of a storm happening with sickness and disease and they decided that they were going to trust Jesus to calm those storms.

Illustration: There’s a movie about a girl named Bethany Hamilton called Soul Surfer. Bethany Hamilton was a 13-year-old surfer in Hawaii when a shark attacked her in 2003, taking her left arm. Most people, including herself for a time, thought her career — and life — were over. But Bethany trusted God through the storm. She returned to surfing just one month later, went on to compete professionally, and now shares her story of faith around the world. When asked how she stayed strong, she said, “I don’t need easy, I just need possible — and with God, all things are possible.”

Understand what I’m saying; Storms will come. Faith isn’t the absence of fear — it’s trusting Jesus enough to keep walking when the waves are high.

Application: Trust God in the storms

Conclusion

To trust God you need to trust him to be plenty when you are empty. To trust him when you are empty, you need to really know Jesus. To really know Jesus, you need to know what he has done.