5 Ways to Stay Encouraged in a Lonely World

According to a study by Harvard, 36% of Americans, so more than one in three, described their level of loneliness as "serious." 

In a lonely world, how can we find encouragement? How can we find a mindset that leads to stability and peace? That is the challenge in this world. The battle is against ourselves. The battle is against our own minds. 

To that end, we're looking at five ways to reposition our minds and hearts to focus on God's goodness, to focus on the positive, and to find peace in a world increasingly stricken with loneliness. Let's dive in. Here is the plan…

First, We need to focus on Jesus Christ our glorious, victorious savior full of perfect love and grace and truth, and find refreshment for our souls. That's the first thing we've got to do, get our eyes off our problems, off our hearts, and onto the perfect Jesus Christ, the true King of the Earth, the Lord of all, and rejoice in his current total victory. We may see defeats, but our victory is so very secure. Others may reject it, we have not. And so our victory is secure. Other have their sacred choice to make. But we must keep our eyes on Jesus. I don't mean that as simple encouragement. I mean, as a matter of survival itself, you must, must, must keep your eyes on Jesus. Your salvation depends on it. So do it. He is victorious. Keep your eyes on that complete victor King Jesus, or you will lose heart and give up.

Psalm 123:1 "A Song of Ascents. To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!"

Hebrews 12:2 "Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

Two, hope is the secret weapon of the Christian. Hope is the weapon of our mind to defeat any discouraging thought. Use this powerful weapon, by training your mind to counter any pessimistic thought with the truth of the scriptures, which is solid and real.

When you think to yourself "I can't go on" stop yourself in your mind and say, "that isn't true. The Lord says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The Lord says in Christ I'm more than a conqueror through Him who loves us. God has not given me a spirit of timidity but of love and power and sober mind. Counter the negative thoughts immediately in your mind with the truth of God's word.

Isaiah 40:31 "But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."


Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."

Three, find refreshment in the place of intimate prayer with God. In any time of prayer in your life, you must get alone with God and begin to praise Him, thank Him, rejoice in Him, delight in Him, and make your requests known to Him. But you need to go beyond there, and press deeper into prayer, and as you pray, longer and longer, you'll notice at some point in the prayer you'll breakthrough and begin to sense God's presence around you. Then delight in God in those moments, time will begin to pass more quickly, because you won't want to leave that sacred place. You're with God. This time when you're in God's presence is healing, and you'll find refreshment. But it takes diligently seeking His Face. At those times you'll also receive divine revelation, and guidance, so you may know His will and follow it.

Psalm 34:17-20 "When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken."

Fourth, the life of the Christian is suffering. I don't mean to be blunt, but that is a big part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. And the secret to learning endurance in suffering is something very odd and paradoxical that the apostle Paul talked about, he said, "I rejoice in my sufferings." He wasn't just making a cute statement to tell us how clever he was. He was talking about something very practical. When you suffer for Jesus, turn it around on the enemy and say I'm glad for this, I rejoice in this, because this is keeping me from apostasy, this is keeping me close to Jesus, this is training me toward godliness. Respond to suffering with rejoicing. I know it sounds crazy, it's actually biblical.

2 Timothy 2:3 "Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus."

Romans 5:3-5 "Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Fifth, remember that Jesus Christ will return to give relief and victory to his dedicated soldiers. Jesus Christ will come again. I think it will be much sooner than we realize. I honestly expect it to happen within my lifetime. That's how close I think we are. So we should see that the return of Jesus Christ is very real and very close, and rejoice with hope. The return of Jesus Christ means the total victory of the cross will go from a faithful hope to a present reality, that transforms us into His likeness at last! Then, no more sin nature, no more law of death, no more suffering, it ends then when Jesus returns.

Revelation 19:11-15 "Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war. His eyes were like flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven, dressed in the finest of pure white linen, followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations."

Until that day brothers and sisters, keep the faith and never give up hope. Yake heart. Take a deep breath, and apply these principles to your heart and life. For me friends, I had to ask for someone to pray for me. I had allowed my heart to become somewhat callous and hardened. If that's you and you're demoralized, then cry out to God, ask your church family to pray over you, and God will hear from heaven and renew your heart and mind to softness and hope and a new outlook.

1st John 4:4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

Asbury Revival: Why Not The Salvation Army Next?

This is a personal blog. The views on this blog do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Salvation Army, it's employees, or partners. The views on this blog are solely of those making them, based on the teachings of the Bible, in the Spirit.

What would it take for a genuine revival in The Salvation Army? The short answer is: a move of God, the Spirit of God moving upon The Salvation Army. That isn't something we can control. But we can make sure we are "good ground" for a move of the Spirit of God.

What exactly would that look like? 

Examining the Asbury revival, there are several factors that are unique to how it happened and how it was managed. 

The event began with a very basic sermon, calling the students to repentance. You've sinned, you've become prideful, you've made it about you, now repent. Feel despair. Feel sorrow. Get down on your knees. Weep over your sins. And turn back to God, humble yourself and turn back to God. 

That is what happens in a real revival, is heartfelt repentance, an admission of pride, ego, self, sin, and the Lord convicting that, followed by intense turning away from sin, and toward God. Then with the sins cleared out, the pride replaced by humility, the Spirit of God moves in, and the hunger for God grows and grows into uncontrollable revival.

There is a fair amount of pride in The Salvation Army. "Look at us, the heroes doing the most good!" I'm speaking from personal experience. I became prideful. And I had to repent of it. 

We should be saying, "Look at Jesus and all he's doing here!" But instead we say look at us, look at our special organization. And in fact, to be honest, we kind of hide the name of Jesus. Oh no, just focus on the salvation army, just focus on our red logo. Focus on our social services. Let's pretend to be secular in our national messaging as well. Then we'll get the money we need, right? I'm sure it seems logical. But it doesn't bring revival. 

Is revival going to come to a place that hides the name of Jesus Christ? No, revival won't come there.

Repentance is the key to all this: We must repent on an individual basis. Let it start with you, whether you're a leader, a soldier, a friend, a volunteer, let it start with you, go before God, repent, and begin to pray for revival in The Salvation Army. 

Despite our flaws and our shortcomings and our problems and our messaging, there is hope for revival. There is reason to pray, and believe, and repent. God can do anything! Don't give up hope. Believe that God isn't done with The Salvation Army. Rise up and pray. Repent and turn from sins. Exalt the name of Jesus. Keep serving in Jesus name. Give Him all the glory. 

Notice also that once the revival started, the leaders of Asbury allowed it to flow freely. The leaders of the university didn't take the stage to make it about them. In fact, evangelical leaders came to Asbury asking to take the stage, and Asbury said no. It was grassroots. Just people hungry for God and turning from sin. 

If a revival broke out in The Salvation Army, how soon until someone took the stage to make it all about them? We'd have to make sure that wouldn't happen. No big name, no popular officer, no giant fan-fare, where the leader can begin to take the credit. No, just the Holy Spirit, getting all the credit. 

And people would criticize it. Like many criticized the Asbury revival. And what would we do? Would we shut it down when our donors said it wasn't good for business? Would we shut it down when our friends in the news media declared us religious extremists? Or would we let it flow and refuse to stop it? 

Those are the kinds of questions we'd have to ask. 

But in the end, if we want to see revival, it will take mass repentance in the Salvation Army. 

We must repent of pride.

We must repent of gossip.

We must repent of attempts to redefine biblical truth.

We must lift up the name of Jesus Christ the Lord of all.

We must give God all the glory. 

We must refuse and reject self-aggrandizement.

We must seek the face of God once again. 

Only then will we have real hope of revival. It seems like a tall order. I get it. But, anything is possible. Jesus Christ is alive right now. And there is hope, and reason to believe that God isn't done with The Salvation Army yet. Keep praying brothers and sisters! Don't give up hope! 

David brings the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem

David has gone from watching over the few sheep of his father, to be anointed as king of Israel. He was anointed, but then he waited. He waited many years, being persecuted by the ruling forces. He was on the run. He was hiding in caves. He fought battles. He dealt with foreign kings. He refused to harm his enemy king Saul. David ruled in Hebron for 7 years. Then he was made king of the entire nation.

All of it had come true, because God was with him, and made sure it would happen. David’s part in that was to obey God, trust God, and follow God’s leading.

During this time in Israel’s history they had something that represented the presence of God among them. It was called “the ark of the covenant.” It was this gold chest, with depictions of angels on it, and inside was a staff that belonged to aaron, as well as the stone slabs where the ten commandments were written. And it was said that God’s presence was there in between the two angels on the ark of the covenant.

It was a symbol of God’s presence and all he had done for them. He had used the staff to help guide them out of slavery in Egypt. He had given them the ten commandments, a design for living for them, to live rightly and to avoid evil.

It’s similar today, we have the cross as a symbol of our faith. We have the Salvation Army flag, we have different symbols to show who we are in Christ. But in the time of Israel, God would actually dwell with the ark of the covenant. His presence would be in the tent of meeting with Moses. 

Today, with Jesus Christ as our savior, we have God’s presence living within us. Instead of going to a tent, or a temple, to meet God, God lives within us, by His Spirit. Think about that, what an amazing thing indeed!

That’s why our physical body is called a temple of God. And we ought to be careful with that temple. Because our body is a temple of God. God dwells within us, by faith.

So in 2nd Samuel 6 we see the Ark of the Covenant being brought to Jerusalem. David intends to bring it to the new capital of the nation.

It says, “David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.”

This is like a parade going on, David has 30 thousand men gathered, and they are bringing the ark. But there is a problem here. They’ve set the ark on a cart and they’re using oxen to move it. This is not how the ark is supposed to be moved. It was supposed to be carried by men.

So we’re going to see something terrible happen here. It’s pretty scary, actually. And it’s a good reminder, that we should reverence God and regard God as holy, and to fear God.

It says this: (verses 6-11) "When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.

8 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.

9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.”

David feared God that day. He was in fact angry at what happened. We should have a healthy fear of God. It helps keep me on the right track. Fear isn’t always a bad thing. Worldly fear is bad. Godly fear is good. The cool thing is, when I fear God first, I don’t have to fear anything in the world or even in myself.

God strikes this man dead because he was mishandling the ark of the covenant. This is obviously a very rare occurrence. God doesn’t often just strike people dead. It does happen though, as far as I know. It happened with Ananias and Sapphira in the new testament, they lied to the Holy Spirit, and they were both struck dead by God for what they’d done.

There are moments in our lives that are very important. Moments where it’s very important we make the right decision. Think of Moses, when God told him to speak to the rock instead of strike the rock. He struck the rock in anger, and God said because you’ve done this irreverent act, you will not be able to go into the promised land.

There will be key moments in your life when you need to make the right decision. God will convict you in those moments, and help you to make the right decision. But you’ve still got to make it. Avoid the temptation, do the right thing, or it may badly disrupt the course of your life.

We often want to change what God says. We want to tweak it a little. We say well we’re supposed to carry the cart, let’s have some animals pull it. We change things. We twist the word of God. We say well, I don’t like God’s design for marriage, I’m going to change it to fit the worlds view. Just a little tweak. I don’t like this in the Bible, so I’m gonna change it. And those small decisions, they seem small, end up having huge consequences.

They tweaked it a little bit here, changed it, and there were major consequences. David is stunned. And he basically says well, we can’t move the ark then, so he leaves it with a family for safe keeping.

But then David notices later, this family has been blessed by having the ark in their home. So he decides to try again to bring it into Jerusalem. And this time, things work out better.

It says in verses 12-15: “Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.”

This is one of the greatest moments in the entire Bible if you ask me. Israel has suffered, struggled, they were divided in civil war, they had demanded a king from God, even though they had the prophets as God’s voice to them. Things were terrible under King Saul and Saul was rejected by God, and lost everything.

The nation has been dragged along for all this. But finally, the nation is united, under a leader who is leading them to worship God in truth. And it’s great. They can watch and learn to have a heart like David, who dances furiously before the Lord. 

Maybe we should dance before the Lord! We should be that excited about God, because he’s our Lord, we should dance before God with joy. I’m sure in heaven we will.

If we do things God’s way, and don’t change it, don’t twist it, things will work out, like they do here for David. David dances before the ark as they bring it into the city of David. Amazing! Glorious, victorious moment. The presence of God enters the city, the new capital, and everyone celebrates, led by the true King, David, the King in exile who at last has taken over the nation. Finally, the evil king is gone, the good king takes the throne, and everything is ok at last. A man after God’s own heart is on the throne.

Next in verses 16-19: “As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.”

David makes these sacrifices, these offerings, on behalf of the people, and blesses the people, they celebrate, and everyone gets a loaf of bread, dates, raisins, and they go home in peace. They have cake, celebrate, such a great day, and then they go home.

Sometimes we just gotta celebrate. Last week I went to the ordination service for the class of 21-23’ from The Salvation Army seminary and we celebrated their ordination and their first appointments as officers. It was a wonderful celebration. When good times happen, we celebrate, praise the Lord!

King David honors God, keeps God first, and the ark of the covenant and the tent of meeting is set up in the new capital of Israel.

In verses 20-23 we see an incident with Michal, David’s wife who was Saul’s daughter.

It says this: “20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.”

It was irreverent for the man to grab hold of the ark of the covenant. But for David to dance before the Lord, that was reverence. Michal didn’t seem to understand that. She felt David’s dancing was an offense. She thought one must be quiet and dignified, but that’s formality talking. That’s not true living faith. That’s not spiritual faith. Spirit led faith is dancing excitedly before God. It’s celebrating God with shouts of praise and glorious singing and vibrant worship.

Remember that about God, he wants your passion, he wants you excited, he wants you to shout for joy before the Lord, and dance furiously before Him. But do it God’s way. Don’t make your own way. Don’t change what he’s said.

Often in formalism we change it to fit what makes us comfortable. But that’s not God’s way. God’s way is passionate, excited, joyous, celebratory, even dancing in an ephod before the Lord, is acceptable worship to God.

David isn’t worried about how he looks to himself, he thinks, who cares if it seems silly to me, if it’s reverent to God. Keep God first, and things will work out. Keep God second, and your life with crumble.

Review:

1. Your body is God’s temple, honor God with your body

2. Fear God in your life, it will help keep you on track

3. Make the right decision when it’s hard, at key moments in life

4. Don’t Tweak/Change what God has already said

5. Be Excited about your Relationship with God

6. Celebrate Victories in your Life and in your friends, family, and churches life

7. Reverence is Joyous as well as Solemn / Irreverence is an offense to God

Jesus walks on the Lake

Growing up in Wisconsin we would go “up north” twice a year at least, to a town called Minocqua. And we would spend hours boating, we would travel something they called up there the “chain of lakes.” We’d take my dads boat from lake Minocqua down through these thin passages, to lake Tomahawk, and we’d go to restaurants along the lakes, and then watch the fireworks from the boat. I loved it when I was a kid, but as I got older I started to dislike it and stopped wanting to go.

Jesus and the disciples have been very busy serving people. In fact, they’ve just served about 5,000 men, along with women and children, in the feeding of the five thousand.

Here at the salvation army, we serve about 350-500 meals a month. And we provide about 4 to 6 thousand lbs of produce and baked goods. So, it takes us about a year to serve 5000 people food. All this happens in a few hours.

I’m sure the disciples are all exhausted from this ministry work. They’re sweaty, they’re tired, and they need some rest.

So Jesus tells them to head across the lake.

It says in Mark 6:45-46, “Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.”

First thing to notice here, is Jesus went up on a mountainside to pray. Notice, that Jesus is cited as praying many times in the scriptures. If the Son of God needs desperately to pray to God the Father, how much more do we need to pray?

Many of you don’t pray like you should. You think no one will notice. But God notices. Let’s pray right now, pray with me: “God, help us to pray even when we don’t realize how important it is. In Jesus name, amen.”

Jesus is up on this mountain nearby, talking to God. But he’s also observing the disciples. He can see them from far off. They are struggling to cross the lake.

It says in verses 47-48: “Later that night, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and he was alone on land. 48 He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.”

They’ve been rowing on the lake for hours. And they aren’t making any progress. The sea of galilee isn’t that large. It’s 13 miles from north to south, and 7 miles from east to west, shaped like a pear.

But the wind is against them.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where the wind was against you? I remember at one point in my life I had racked up some financial debt. I kept trying to pay off the bills, but the costs of daily items kept disrupting. It felt like taking two steps forward and one step back. They say pay the smallest bills or credit cards first, then move on to the bigger ones. But it seemed like I wasn’t making any progress.

Have you been in a situation where you felt stuck? A job where you felt you couldn’t make any progress? Or maybe you’ve got a mental health problem or physical health issue that you’ve been battling, and you feel like the disciples rowing on the lake, and not getting anywhere.

It affects you every day. You’ve prayed a hundred times about it. But the Lord hasn’t healed you.

These situations are not unique for us as Christians. They are the norm.

Remember, the disciples at this point were already tired. They had been working and serving and following Jesus. Often when we’re weakest, we take the hit. Something happens. Life happens. And we get upset.

But, we just keep rowing. Like the disciples. They keep rowing. And this goes on all night. Now, finally, it’s dawn. Jesus is praying, and watching, and now, Jesus takes action.

It says this verses 48b-50: “Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a ghost. They cried out, 50 because they all saw him and were terrified.”

A terrible storm is raging, we’re told in other gospels, though it’s not specifically mentioned in Mark. It’s starting to not look good. It’s starting to look dangerous. At it’s maximum depths the sea of galilee is 150 feet deep, though it’s average is 85 feet deep.

You know in all my years of boating the chain of lakes in Minocqua, or on lake Wausau, or our family trips to Canada to thunder bay, never have I ever seen someone walking on the lake. Unless it was during winter and frozen over.

No one has ever done that. Buddha never did that. Muhammad never did that. Moses never did that. No one has ever walked on the top of the waves. No one except Jesus.

The waves are crashing, the storm clouds brewing, the wind is blowing, and there comes Jesus the messiah, walking on the water toward his disciples.

They were so shocked they didn’t believe it was really Jesus. They thought it was a ghost. Their minds couldn’t comprehend what was happening in front of them. They’d been rowing all night, now it’s dawn, the sun is rising, and here comes Jesus, walking atop the waters.

What would you think in a moment like that? I might wonder if I was dreaming. I might wonder if I’d gone insane. I might wonder if everything I had ever believed was wrong. I might blink my eyes and say am I really seeing what I’m seeing. But it was plain and clear as day, there He is.

Next, in verses 50-52: “Immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 51 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, 52 for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened.”

Three things to notice: One, take courage. Be courageous. Two, Jesus says it’s me. I’m the one. Three, don’t be afraid.

Good rule for life: Be courageous. Jesus is with you. Don’t be afraid.

Jesus enters the boat, and the storm subsides. Everything is OK. And they are able to get to land.

The disciples were decidedly amazed. Shocked. In awe. Completely astonished. They’ve been with this teacher, seen him do many great things, even to feed thousands with a few loaves of bread. But to see him walk on water, they are shocked to their core.

It says their hearts were hardened. Even after seeing Jesus feed five thousand people, they still didn’t really believe. They were hard hearted.

Could it be true of us today? Are we hard hearted? We’ve been changed by Jesus. We’re different than we used to be. But sometimes over the years, as life doesn’t change, it gets tough. We start to doubt. We start to lose faith. We start to want to give up. It’s tough to sit in struggles and difficulties for many years. It’s very tough. It hurts. After years we start to wonder, can God really help me? Will anything ever really change?

I’ve felt that way. When oh when Lord will anything change? When will my health improve? When will I find my destiny? When will I see my loved ones get saved? It’s tough. We’ve got to stay focused on Jesus in the struggles. And recognize that even now it’s not too late for Jesus to come walking on the waters of our struggle, and climb into our boat, and calm the storm around us, and give us hope and renewed faith.

Our scripture today concludes this way: verses 53-56: When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. 54 As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. 55 They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

They land at Gennesaret, and they went to bed, because they hadn’t slept all night. No, it doesn’t say that. They must be exhausted, they haven’t slept all night, but, they immediately encounter people who need Jesus. And Jesus immediately got to work again, healing people, healing the sick, and we even have mention of the woman with the bleeding issue, who touched the edge of Jesus cloak, and was healed. The mission continues, in a new area. They go from one side of the lake, doing ministry, teaching and feeding people then they go the other side of the lake, and continue ministry in the new region.

So we see on the surface what is happening here, Jesus rescues them from the storm, shows them that he is the messiah, he is the savior they need, he shows them that they can’t do it themselves, they can’t row hard enough, they can’t follow enough laws to make themselves right with God, they need Jesus to enter the boat, then the impossible becomes possible.

What’s the deeper message here for us today? It’s the gospel hidden in plain sight. I’ve noticed in the events of Jesus ministry we find the gospel again and again hidden in symbolic images.

The disciples rowing on the waters is us trying to live our lives. But we can’t live the way we’re supposed to, we’re sinners, we keep sinning, and the rowing is us trying to save ourselves by our own works.

So many people if you ask them if they’re going to heaven they say, “well I’m a pretty good person.” We try so hard to be good. But we can’t. We need a savior.

The storm is sin, and the demonic powers and authorities of the spiritual realm, seeking to harm us, the waters below is death, threatening to take us away. We keep rowing, but we can’t reach safety. So what happens? Do we row harder? Try harder? No, Jesus comes to us, and we cry out to Him, like the disciples cry out, and Jesus enters our boat. Jesus comes into our heart and becomes our savior. Our heart goes from hard to soft. He forgives us our sins, and changes us from within. So we are now able by His power, with Him within us, to reach the shore safely. And he calms the storm around us, he remove the sin, and defeats the demonic powers and authorities of the world system. And we find safety in them. Then we serve Him. Doing His will. Sharing his gospel. Jesus walking on the waters is the gospel.

Now let’s look at applications. How can we live what we just learned? How can we live differently? A few points.

1. First, There will be difficulties/trials in life (like the winds and storm on the sea)

2. Be ready to stand even when you feel drained

3. In the trials: a. Take courage

b. Jesus is with you

c. Don’t be afraid

4. Jesus can soften our hard heart (after long difficulties)

5. Jesus can still amaze you (don’t give up)

In conclusion, have a mindset that trials will occur in your life. Sometimes I stop and think to myself, “this is a trial.” This is God at work, purifying me as gold. God is doing something in this. Recognize that, and you’ll find peace in the trial and realize it’s God at work doing something wonderful in you.

But in those trials don’t lose hope. Don’t give up. .Even over years. I know that’s hard. Because you never know when Jesus might come walking on the water, get in the boat, and calm the storm in your life, and bring you safely to the shore. Don’t give up hope. Jesus walks on water, even today.