Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This evening I want to revisit a message I preached here some 3.5 years ago.

This passage has been on my mind especially this week.

There are a lot of souls hurting in our church, and I believe that this passage of Scripture holds great truths that is easily forgotten when you suffering.

So today we’re going to examine what the disciples experienced here, but looking to Peter especially.

This morning we’re going to Preach about ‘Finding Peace & Power in the Midst of the Storm’

I.

He Found Himself in the Midst of a Trial

Physically Exhausted

John 6:19 tells us that they had traveled 25-30 furlongs which = 3-4 miles.

Lake of Gennesaret was approximately 8 miles in width so they were literally in the ‘midst of the sea’ (v24)

Mark 6:47 states that they were in the sea in the evening which is 6-8pm

…and they were in the midst of the sea in the fourth watch (v25) which is between 3-6am.

So, they went 3-4 miles somewhere in between 6-12 hours, struggling against the winds & storms – they were physically spent!

Emotionally Exhausted

Now tell me how you’d feel if you’d been struggling for what seemed like an eternity and not making any progress.

Some of you can tell me that, because you’ve been there!

You may not be in the midst of the sea, but you’ve been through trials where you seem to be there forever and not see any progress!

It’s emotionally draining!

(Ill.)

When we were on our road trip, we averaged around 8hrs driving per day.

That’s a lot for me.

There were a couple days where it seemed that we were in that car for too long and not making any progress.

Then you start getting discouraged.

This is the way it was when I could literally see progress being made, it just FELT like I wasn’t.

Oftentimes in a trial, you have no way of knowing or seeing movement out of that storm - which of course exacerbates the emotional toil upon you.

He was Emotionally Exhausted

Spiritually Exhausted

They’d just seen a miracle from God with the feeding of the 5,000 plus.

Jesus told them to go here!

Surely they were on top of all those things, Spiritually exhausted as well.

Church let me point something else out - they went from being part of a miracle, to being stuck in a storm.

But before the miracle they endured the death of John the Baptist.

THIS IS THE WAY LIFE IS!

You will experience great highs and terrible lows throughout your life - and one of the main reasons for depression and angst and issues such as that is because we base our attitude and mindset on our circumstances.

If you want stability in your life it has to be found in something else besides your circumstances, or else you’ll never get it.

He were Spiritually Exhausted

Now that we’ve examined the situation, let’s backup and get a few things straight.

First off, these men – Peter in particular – had Favor with the LORD

II.

He Had Favor with the LORD

Psa.

5:12 “For thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous; With favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.”

Psa.

84:11 “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

If anybody would have had favor with Jesus, it’d have to be these men.

Look at some of the things about them:

His Life was Centered in Jesus

Consider when Jesus called Peter by the sea of Galilee.

Matthew 4:18-20 “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”

From that day forward, he followed the LORD.

That was his life.

It wasn’t like he was ‘born again’ and then went to church a few days a week – no, he lived with Christ!

He followed Christ!

Jesus said let’s go to Jerusalem, they went.

Jesus said ‘let’s go to Bethany’, he went.

He was with Jesus continually!

Church let me ask you - what’s at the center of your life?

What entity does your world revolve around?

For some it’s their kids

For some it’s their job

For some it’s themselves

For the Christian, our world should revolve around God and the Things of God.

That should be the center of our lives - for a few reasons:

It’s reasonable: Rom.

12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

We’re bought with a price: 1Cor.

6:20 “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Peter had Favor with the LORD because his life was centered around Jesus

He Was Sent by Jesus

Matthew tells us in: Matthew 10:2-5a “Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent forth...”

Jesus sent forth twelve people here called His apostles, Matthew notes ‘the first was Simon Peter’.

They were given a commission by Christ Himself!

What a special thing to be given a commission by the LORD! (Ill.)

You know, if your boss called you and said ‘I need you to do this thing for me’, many of you would be honored that a man in such a position would ask YOU to do something FOR HIM – HOW MUCH GREATER IS IT WHEN IT’S GOD! Guess what: He did!

Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

Peter had favor with the LORD, demonstrated by him being sent by Jesus

He Was a Servant of Jesus

Just prior to this, we see the feeding of the 5,000 plus.

We learned that there, just as today & in times past, Jesus used men to accomplish His Will.

Matthew 14:19 “And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.”

These men, Peter in particular – didn’t shun their duty.

God wasn’t mad at them because they were lazy servants.

They labored for the LORD.

Peter had favor with the LORD because he was a servant of the LORD

Not only did He have Favor with the LORD, but He Followed the Direction of the LORD – they were Obedient disciples

III.

He Followed the Direction of the LORD (v22-23)

These disciples were begin obedient.

They were following what Jesus told them.

Jesus Constrained Them to Go (v22)

As I explained on Wednesday, once we see what the disciples experienced, it’s important to understand that it was Jesus’ bidding that put them there.

Constrained (def) to necessitate:—compel, constrain.

Every time we go through troubles, oftentimes we blame Satan – and the problem with that is that when we are convinced that it’s Satan then our focus goes to simply enduring the trial – when our focus should be in learning from the trial.

Trials serve a purpose.

Several things can be gleaned from trials:

A deeper relationship with the LORD