Boat Potatoes Series

The thing about those who don’t believe that Christians will encounter storms is that when a storm does hit and it will, the time when you need to have confidence in God the most, your confidence is totally shattered because of your false preconceptions. Because Life is really just getting used to things that you never planned. You may never be on a storm tossed boat. I havent although Connie and I are planning to maybe take a cruise with Shane and Sylvia next year but that really more about the food than the boat. We may never be in a storm tossed boat but occasionally we will have a storm tossed life. Furthermore, we’ve been promised it. Jesus said, In this world you will have tribulation but take heart I have overcame the world.

This is the second storm we’ve come to in our Matthew study. The first was in chapter 8 when Jesus was asleep in the boat and the disciples woke Him up crying, “Master, we perish!” But At least Jesus was present in that storm, but this time He’s nowhere to be found. His presence is not apparent. And we all go through storms where it seems God is not in it, and cannot be reached. What do we do then? It reminds me of the words of Job. See if this strikes a chord in you those times you felt God was absent.

8 "Look, I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

9 When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that God was nowhere to be found when you needed Him the most? What do we do when that happens. What was Jobs response to this dilemma. Job says no matter which way I turn, God is absent but the next thing Job says is

10 But He knows the way that I take; and When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.

That’s the key isnt it? Even those times we cant see Gods hand and the heavens seem like brass we must cling to the fact that we know that He knows the way that we take and in the end after the testing we also will come forth as gold.

As we read our Bibles we discover that there are 2 kinds of storms. There are storms of correction when God has to discipline us and there are storms of perfection which God uses to help us grow and mature. Jonah was in a storm because he disobeyed God and had to be corrected but today we see that the disciples encounter a storm because they obeyed Christ and had to be perfected. Jesus had tested them in a storm before in Matthew 8 when He was in the boat with them. But now He will test them by being out of the boat. Our 3rd point is that He will come to me. Verse 25

25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

We all know that Jesus walked on the water. Have you ever thought how it would feel if you could do the same thing? Soon, you will be able to do just that – well, almost. See, there is a company that is planning on building a bridge in the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum. You heard me right; they are going to build it ‘in’ the water. They plan on building that bridge about 2 inches under the surface, so that tourists can walk out on it, and have their picture taken so it will look like they are walking on water. I think that is kind of cheesy, but I am sure somebody will get rich from it.