Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning church!

I am so glad to see everyone this morning, it is my prayer that your day is going well, and that you came this morning with a heart longing to hear from God. Turn with me in your bibles this morning to the gospel of .

we are continuing our study of the gospel of Mark and I hope it blesses your heart and speaks deeply to you.

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, this is Your day, this is Your church, and everything that is said and done here we eagerly hope it pleases You oh Lord.

Please Lord guide my mind to the thoughts you would have me to share and gurad my mouth that i wont say anything lest it come from your heart first.

I ask all of these things in Jesus name… Amen

Well last week we learned about the feeding of the 5,000 and we talked about how this feeding of the 5,000 is probably the most memorable miracle that is in the Bible.

today were going to look at another really famous miracle of Jesus that’s the miracle of Jesus walking on the water and the reason why this is so important in 3 out of the 4 gospels right after telling the story of feeding the 5,000.

It goes straight into the story of Jesus walking on water.

It really doesn’t matter if your in here and spent your childhood days in SS or if your in here and are an unbeliever I can almost guarantee that you have heard of Jesus walking on the water.

In one of my favorite movies TOMBSTONE, one of the guys asks Doc Holiday “Hey wheres Wyatt, and doc Holiday says “He’s probably down by the creek walking on water.”

Its just a reference back to this story, but he just throws it out there to the general audience and were just supposed to know what he is talking about.

That is how familiar this story is.

Jesus walking on water is not just something that Biblical scholars know, or Bible preachers or SS teachers or even church members know.

Its something that almost everyone knows or has at least heard of.

But heres the problem with really famous miracles like these, the problem with most famous miracles is that we focus on the act itself, because it is so famous we focus on the act itself.

but everytime you read the Bible and you see a miracle, everytime you see Jesus doing something amazing like feeding the 5,000, like casting out a demon, like turning water into wine, or raising the dead.

You have to ask yourself “WHY DID JESUS DO THAT”

Why did JEsus do that?

Because Jesus had a purpose and a reaosn for everything that He did, He had a purpose and reason for everything that He said, He had a purpose and reason for every miracle that He did....

He called them signs remeber?

He called them signs because they are pointing us to something.

They werent just done for viewers entertainment but they were meant to teach us a deeper truth.

He is pointing out to us something about Himself, or something we need to understand about ourself.So what were going to look at today are 2 purposes, 2 reasons Jesus walked on water.

Why did He walk on water?

To Teach the Disciples Who He was.

He desired to show His disciples and all who would read this story in the future that He was God. he wanted to show the disciples something that they still werent getting.

Jesus has just fed the 5,000 He has done all sorts of amazing miracles up until this point but there is still a disconnect between the things Jesus was saying and what the disciples were believing.

They agreed in theory to the things He would say but when it came time to put them into practice they still thought the wrong way.

We saw this in the story of the feeding of the 5,000 the thought of a miracle hadn’t even crossed their minds and they were trying to take care of the problem using their logic.

But Jesus wanted something more for them.

Because they weren’t grasping this truth Jesus sent them to school

Mark 6:45

Now this lake takes about 4 hours to row across on a normal day.

But the Bible says its about the fourth watch of the night which means its somewhere between 3 am and 6 am. the disciples had set out somewhere right after dinner and most likely they have been rowing for 8 hours and still haven’t made it to the other side.

The storm through which they were making their way through painfully was like a picture of what was happening in their hearts and their minds.

They just werent getting it, they just didnt understand we see that at the end of this passage.

Mark 6:

In the midst of their not understanding, in the midst of their hearts being hardened Jesus walks on water to show them something.

Well first of all what was it they were just not getting?

Well they understood that He miraculously HE broke the loaves so that the hungry people could be satisfied but they did not understand yet, that He Himself was the BREAD OF LIFE that has come down out of Heaven and that HE must be broken so that weary and worn sinners can be filled.

you see they understood that Jesus had power but they didn’t understand yet that Jesus was power.

They understand that Jesus is from God but they didn’t yet understand that Jesus was God.

So the disciples found themselves in this danger, and it is a danger we all find ourselves in at some point in our lives.

Heres the danger: The danger is that to believe that these are words on a page written to live by, and not the revealing of a person and power that is meant to be had right here right now today by a risen Savior.

These are not just words written on a page, cute little allegories for us to read and think about.

The danger is that the disciples were always around Jesus, they were always around His teaching, but they were still missing Jesus.

Isn’t that the danger you and I face?

We are constantly around Jesus’ teaching, maybe your here Sunday after Sunday and hear over and over again the word of God.

Maybe you are here like the disciples and you have been serving Jesus and seeing miracles being done where you get to see lots of amazing things happen.

There is a way to always be around Jesus without ever really knowing Jesus.

This is the revelation of the Son of Almighty God who came in flesh and dwelt among us.

So Jesus knowing what was in their hearts says ok they are walking with me, they are serving me, they are intimately involved in a friendship with me.

But they have no clue what I am trying to get them to understand.

They need to know so He sends them out into these familiar waters, which become tumultous as they try to cross and they are rowing with everything that they have and they are stuck right in the middle of a lake they had crossed a thousand times.

How many of you have experienced this?

You come out of this amazing experience where Jesus really shows you how powerful He is and then not a day later you find yourself in this mess where you feel weary and worn down and tired and frustrated and your looking around like Lord are you even there?

But what you dont understand is that the God who satisifed you yesterday is the God who sent you into the storm today....So should we accept only good things from God or are we mature enough to realize that there are something we will never learn about Jesus until He sends us out into the right storm.

Thats exactly what He does here and it is exactly what He is doing to some of you right now.

Now Jesus knows exactly what is about to happen, and yet He takes His time.

Mark 6:

Jesus retreats up on the mountain no doubt to call upon His Father to send the very storm that hits the disciples.

This is Jesus teaching a difficult lesson, this is a beautiful truth to know that though the disciples thought they were in danger they were safe in the Masters hand and everything that was happening was a part of His eternal plan.

Mark

Jesus has at this point come down the mountain and is watching the disciples struggle.

Now some migt say well why would Jesus do that to those that He loves and the answer is really quite simple.

these disciples were serving Jesus, they were sharing Jesus with others remember right before the feeding happened they had just come back from a mission trip.

They knew all about Jesus had heard Him teach but they had not yet realized just who Jesus was.

Maybe this is you this morning, maybe you are doing alot of things for Jesus or maybe you know alot about Him but you are not experiencing Jesus for who He is personally in your life.

So you find yourself in the boat with the disciples.

Struggling wondering whats about to happen to you.

feeling all alone and maybe a storm has come on you again, and your asking yourself if this is what Christianity is all about.

As a pastor this is one of my greatest fears, that I would always be preaching Jesus but miss out on expericing Him daily like I ought.

We need something if we feel this way this morning, we need Jesus to walk on water.

The disciples are wonr out from their rowing against the wind and the waves and they are spiritually drained from not understanding who this Jesus is, that has just fed nearly 20,000 people with 5 loaves and two fish, and its here in this struggle that Jesus came.

Walking on water and He meant to pass by them.

Jesus came to them walking on the sea and He meant to pass by them.

What in the world does that mean?

If we dont look for the reason why Jesus performed this sign we might think that Jesus was trying to show off.

Jesus walks on the water in the midst of a hurricane and the disciples are rowing and strggling and Jesus comes walking by… Hey guys...

But is that what Hes doing?

NO Jesus is walking on water and He means to pass by them for a reason, but whats that reason?

TO SHOW THEM HOW DESPERATELY THEY NEED HIM, AND TO SHOW THEM THAT HE IS GOD.

The very truth the disciples were not yet understanding.

Jesus here is answering the question the disciples asked the last time they were in the boat… remember that…

The last time the disciples were on a boat in a storm and Jesus came and calmed the sea, and they asked the question: WHO IS THIS THAT EVEN THE WINDS AND WAVES OBEY HIM?

They asked this question and Jesus is answering this question by saying I am God.

Makr is intentionally doing something here when He says that Jesus meant to pass by them, He is using the same language that was used back in

Exodus 33:19

Moses is having a meeting with God, God tells Him that He has found favor with God and that He knows Moses by name and that His presence will go before Him and Moses makes an astonishing request.

Moses says GOD WILL YOU PLEASE SHOW ME YOUR GLORY.

Moses asked god show me your glory and how did God answer?

God did two things:

I will make all my goodness pass before you

I will proclaim before you MY NAME

so he is going to make all His goodness pass by Moses and He is gonna tell him who He is He is going to tell Him His name.

His name is Yahweh which literally means I AM

What does Jesus say to the disciples?

After He has past by them in His glory walking on the water and they see Him and they are afrad for their lives and they think He is a ghost?