WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.520 in the middle of this. But the dark place that you are in, if that is where you are today, is not 00:00:06.520 --> 00:00:14.760 evidence that Jesus is absent. Maybe it's the very place where he intends to reveal himself to you 00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:21.690 more clearly, which is what we see towards the end of the story. I've written this down as number two, 00:00:21.810 --> 00:00:26.950 second point, but like I said, I don't know. Verse 18 says, the sea became rough because a strong wind 00:00:26.950 --> 00:00:33.930 was blowing surely if Jesus is involved and surely if we are being obedient to his word 00:00:33.930 --> 00:00:39.210 surely that will mean in this life there won't be storms surely that that will mean that there 00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:45.610 will be easy waters well we know all we all know the answer to that obedience to Jesus does mean 00:00:45.610 --> 00:00:50.770 that he will take us into places where we feel uncertain and we can't see obedience to Jesus 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:56.850 will sometimes take us into places where it feels like we are up against a storm the gale starts 00:00:56.850 --> 00:01:03.180 to blow around us and the wind and the waves become choppy. To get a bit of an idea of this 00:01:03.180 --> 00:01:08.840 story I want us to think back to Matthew's gospel and I've put the timeline together. So the journey 00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:14.720 across the Sea of Galilee should not have been difficult, these guys were experienced fishermen 00:01:14.720 --> 00:01:20.700 so this wouldn't have been difficult for them. Depending on the route it would have been five 00:01:20.700 --> 00:01:26.920 to eight miles that's all and in normal weather conditions it would have been completed in a 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:33.260 few hours. But John tells us it's already getting dark when they set out. Matthew says that Jesus 00:01:33.260 --> 00:01:40.100 came to them during the fourth watch of the night, so somewhere between 3am and 6am, meaning 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:49.740 that they'd been battling the storm for most of the night. How many of you this morning feel like 00:01:49.740 --> 00:01:57.180 you've been battling a storm for most of the night? Let's be honest here. Perhaps not even the night, 00:01:57.180 --> 00:02:08.860 right toby a bit longer than a night maybe a week a month a year battling a storm this story gives 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:14.580 us this idea that this is wasn't just one moment in time this is wasn't a five minute battle this 00:02:14.580 --> 00:02:19.940 was from the time it started to get dark till around three to six o'clock in the morning all 00:02:19.940 --> 00:02:27.940 night intense battling most of the night and despite hours of rowing they had covered three 00:02:27.940 --> 00:02:34.820 to four miles, leaving their destination so far ahead of them that it felt unreachable. And yet 00:02:34.820 --> 00:02:39.340 when they looked back to the shore that they had come from, that would have felt like miles away 00:02:39.340 --> 00:02:45.560 as well. How do you get there with all this wind and wave? The wind had slowed their progress to 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:52.680 almost nothing, turning what should have been a manageable crossing into an exhausting all-night 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:59.820 struggle in darkness and rough water and this is one of the hardest places for us to be in between 00:02:59.820 --> 00:03:06.200 shores where the destination looks so far ahead we can't see we can't see the shoreline it's that 00:03:06.200 --> 00:03:11.160 far it's dark the wind and the waves are raging against us and then when we look to the shore 00:03:11.160 --> 00:03:15.920 because maybe it would be safer to go back and that looks equally as far away and we're now 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:24.950 suddenly sat between shores in this no man's land of no progress. Anybody identify with that 00:03:24.950 --> 00:03:30.580 this morning? These were not inexperienced travellers, many of them fishermen who knew 00:03:30.580 --> 00:03:36.980 the waters but hour after hour straining against the wind making no progress must have turned what 00:03:36.980 --> 00:03:45.400 they had once decided was confidence into questions and probably fear. Maybe we identify with that 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:54.670 place this morning between shores the destination too far ahead the place we've come from too far 00:03:54.670 --> 00:04:00.770 behind in this middle land wondering if what we had once been convinced was the voice of Jesus 00:04:00.770 --> 00:04:06.910 really was his voice at all once sure about the direction and instruction we'd be given 00:04:06.910 --> 00:04:14.670 only to find ourselves in a place of struggle and strain and pain the between shores where the 00:04:14.670 --> 00:04:21.410 destination seems out of reach we're going back feels easier and we're giving up suddenly begins 00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:27.190 to feel like an option it's really interesting but Nick mentioned that this morning that sometimes 00:04:27.190 --> 00:04:33.050 and when I hear it and by the grace of God I don't want that for me sometimes it is easier 00:04:33.050 --> 00:04:39.390 we feel just to stop in the middle of the between shores when Aidan was very little Aidan's our 00:04:39.390 --> 00:04:43.770 eldest son he's 31 now but when he was about three years old Nick used to walk him to nursery 00:04:43.770 --> 00:04:46.050 and the nursery school wasn't that far away 00:04:46.050 --> 00:04:46.990 so it wasn't cruel. 00:04:48.190 --> 00:04:49.530 He had to walk, it was good exercise. 00:04:49.730 --> 00:04:52.710 It was far enough away to be a reasonable distance 00:04:52.710 --> 00:04:54.090 for little three-year-old legs. 00:04:54.650 --> 00:04:55.830 And on this one particular day, 00:04:55.910 --> 00:04:58.170 Nick tells a story of how they were coming home from nursery 00:04:58.170 --> 00:05:00.690 when suddenly the clouds began to gather 00:05:00.690 --> 00:05:02.570 and there was a thunderstorm brewing. 00:05:03.110 --> 00:05:04.550 And he was encouraging Jacob, 00:05:04.670 --> 00:05:06.130 come on Jacob, come on, 00:05:06.290 --> 00:05:08.790 oh sorry, not Jacob, Aidan, I forgot which child. 00:05:09.110 --> 00:05:10.850 Come on Aidan, let's move faster 00:05:10.850 --> 00:05:12.190 and his little legs were going 00:05:12.190 --> 00:05:18.330 and then suddenly he just sat down and refused to go anywhere and the heavens opened and the 00:05:18.330 --> 00:05:24.730 rain came down and Aidan and Nick completely drenched because Jacob, Aidan, because Aidan had 00:05:24.730 --> 00:05:31.210 decided that the best option was to sit down and give in. Was that the best option? No, it was to 00:05:31.210 --> 00:05:37.250 keep on going but we have that choice and sometimes we do feel like doing that, don't we? We do wonder 00:05:37.250 --> 00:05:43.310 where is God in all of this? And the temptation to sit down in the middle always feels like a 00:05:43.310 --> 00:05:49.010 reasonable option. But let me tell you something, you will always get far wetter sitting, doing 00:05:49.010 --> 00:05:55.360 nothing than you will letting your legs keep going, keep going, keep going. So for the disciples this 00:05:55.360 --> 00:06:01.440 was prolonged strain. It wasn't one terrifying moment, it was hour after hour of fighting 00:06:01.440 --> 00:06:07.580 resistance. By the time Jesus comes to them in this miraculous sign walking on water, they are 00:06:07.580 --> 00:06:14.180 exhausted, they are frustrated, they are disorientated, and they are far from either shore, in between 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:23.420 shores, in this no man's land. And one thing that I've noticed is that Jesus let them struggle 00:06:23.420 --> 00:06:35.730 for a long time before he appeared. Praise the Lord. How does that feel? Because we live in an 00:06:35.730 --> 00:06:39.310 instant world, well in actual fact when we've been struggling with something for a while, we want 00:06:39.310 --> 00:06:47.610 Jesus to come through for us but in this situation Jesus let them it was in his plan because he had 00:06:47.610 --> 00:06:53.730 something that he wanted to show them something that he wanted them to see that they would not 00:06:53.730 --> 00:07:01.410 have seen had they not been in the dark in a storm battling for an extended period of time 00:07:01.410 --> 00:07:07.750 this is incredible what is so amazing that Jesus wants to show you this morning that he will allow 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:14.450 you to go through struggle and strain, times of uncertainty and insecurity, what does he want to 00:07:14.450 --> 00:07:23.850 show you? What does he want to show me? Questions that I am familiar with in my own times of struggle 00:07:23.850 --> 00:07:29.270 and I say them, I try not to say them but I do say them, things like where God, where are you in this? 00:07:29.330 --> 00:07:39.280 Well of course he's there, isn't he? How do I know? How do I know that God is with me? Because what? 00:07:40.370 --> 00:07:41.330 Because he promised. 00:07:41.710 --> 00:07:43.230 Yeah, but I don't feel it, Gerald. 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:46.560 Sorry, Erica. 00:07:47.440 --> 00:07:48.320 Sorry, Erica. 00:07:48.540 --> 00:07:49.720 Sorry that you don't feel it. 00:07:49.840 --> 00:07:50.680 It's his promise. 00:07:51.280 --> 00:07:54.140 The reason I don't need to say, God, where are you in this, 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:56.800 is because he's promised me that he's right there. 00:07:56.860 --> 00:07:58.040 Yeah, but I don't feel it. 00:07:58.040 --> 00:08:01.480 Let me tell you something this morning, that feelings are not the truth. 00:08:02.280 --> 00:08:05.540 We have to recognize them and we have to see them for what they are. 00:08:05.620 --> 00:08:08.020 But Jesus comes and he says, I am with you. 00:08:08.520 --> 00:08:10.920 In fact, I am with you to the very end of the age. 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:16.140 in fact I was with you yesterday I'm with you today and I'm with you forever but in times of 00:08:16.140 --> 00:08:21.440 confusion this no man's land I can hear myself saying God where are you and he says well I'm 00:08:21.440 --> 00:08:26.860 right here because I never went anywhere why can't I hear you Lord well because I gave you an 00:08:26.860 --> 00:08:31.320 instruction already I told you to get in the boat and go to the other side the promise was that we 00:08:31.320 --> 00:08:37.560 were going to get to the other side but I can't hear you yeah well I've told you told you what to 00:08:37.560 --> 00:08:43.400 do. And I can hear the disciples going through this in their mind. Jesus, God, Jesus, where are 00:08:43.400 --> 00:08:49.480 you in all of this? Why can't we hear you? One of the things that I was so pleased with that Liz 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:56.100 said last week, she said that, remember she said about how Jesus said to Philip, how are we going 00:08:56.100 --> 00:09:01.080 to feed all these people? Do you remember this bit? And it wasn't because Jesus didn't know how 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:06.460 to feed all these people. He was testing Philip to see if Philip had any expectation that God would 00:09:06.460 --> 00:09:12.700 intervene. And the question that I went away with last week is, Erica, how much of life do you live 00:09:12.700 --> 00:09:24.380 with zero expectation that God will intervene? How much? How much of your life do you live with 00:09:24.380 --> 00:09:31.360 an expectation that Jesus will intervene? It might be a struggle and it might be dark and there might 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:39.480 be wind and rain, but Jesus has always got a plan. God has always got a plan. And surely that is a 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:47.640 hallelujah moment people he's always got a plan and Jesus did have a glorious plan one that they 00:09:47.640 --> 00:09:51.680 would never have experienced if they'd not encountered the dark and if they'd not found 00:09:51.680 --> 00:10:03.060 themselves between shores still with me point number something verse 19 says after the wind 00:10:03.060 --> 00:10:08.820 and the rain comes they had rowed three or four miles when suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the 00:10:08.820 --> 00:10:15.380 water toward the boat. Suddenly, what a great word. The suddenly of God rarely arrives with 00:10:15.380 --> 00:10:22.160 warning. It always comes unannounced and unexpected. One moment the disciples are straining 00:10:22.160 --> 00:10:28.020 at the oars. One moment they are exhausted and frustrated, convinced that nothing is changing 00:10:28.020 --> 00:10:38.640 and then suddenly Jesus comes to them walking on the water. And that's often the way God moves. 00:10:38.640 --> 00:10:47.480 suddenly heaven breaks into our moment of darkness without announcement. It might be a conversation, 00:10:47.660 --> 00:10:52.300 a breakthrough, a place that was not, a peace that was not there before, an answer, a revelation, 00:10:52.700 --> 00:10:59.440 a walking on the water, a miraculous sign, anything at all. Suddenly God breaks into our moments 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:06.980 unannounced and unexpected. Suddenly they saw Jesus walking on the water toward the boat. 00:11:06.980 --> 00:11:12.320 the very thing that they were battling to control the very thing that had caused 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:20.540 them fear and anxiety Jesus takes authority over isn't that incredible you know what my instinct 00:11:20.540 --> 00:11:26.940 is to do is to manage I love managing stuff because I like to fix things and have it in nice 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:32.640 little neat boxes and know well this circumstance has arrived and so what I'm going to do is manage 00:11:32.640 --> 00:11:37.840 it. I'm sure if I'd have been in that boat that day I'd have been managing people. I think if we 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:42.520 row like this and I think if we head towards that way and maybe if we adjust ourselves I would have 00:11:42.520 --> 00:11:49.580 been managing I'm sure. My instinct in my situations is to manage the situation but Jesus doesn't 00:11:49.580 --> 00:11:56.670 manage the storm, he rules over it and that's the difference between me trying to survive 00:11:56.670 --> 00:12:05.240 and his sovereignty over my life they were rowing harder adjusting sails fighting wind trying to 00:12:05.240 --> 00:12:12.300 stay afloat everything they did was reactive the storm controlling their actions and probably their 00:12:12.300 --> 00:12:18.280 feelings but Jesus comes walking on the top of the thing that threatens them he is lord even over the 00:12:18.280 --> 00:12:29.020 things that seem out of control to us yeah but I don't feel it feelings are not the truth he is the 00:12:29.020 --> 00:12:35.670 truth, the way, the truth, and the life. The waves that were exhausting the disciples are beneath his 00:12:35.670 --> 00:12:52.210 feet. The storm overwhelming them is under his authority. He is the boss of them. Oh, gosh. He's 00:12:52.210 --> 00:12:59.040 the boss. He's the boss of the wind and the waves. He's the boss of the darkness. He owns it all. 00:13:00.380 --> 00:13:03.780 And as I was preparing this this morning, well, not this morning, but as I was preparing this, 00:13:03.780 --> 00:13:08.500 this morning I looked at that statement he is the boss and I thought I wonder what it feels like to 00:13:08.500 --> 00:13:13.900 actually begin to speak to my circumstances and actually say let me just remind you who's the boss 00:13:13.900 --> 00:13:22.160 Jesus is the boss of them verse 20 says it is I Jesus comes towards them saying it's I 00:13:22.160 --> 00:13:26.420 do not be afraid and I believe that this is the turning point of the story 00:13:26.420 --> 00:13:34.180 in John this is far more than Jesus coming up and going hey guys hi guys it's me Jesus in case you 00:13:34.180 --> 00:13:38.980 are wondering who's coming across the water, standing on the river water, you know, it's just 00:13:38.980 --> 00:13:45.620 me, Jesus, you know, hi, how you doing? That sounds really, really fluffy. He comes to them and he uses 00:13:45.620 --> 00:13:52.730 the very words that he used when he spoke to Moses in the burning bush. In the Jewish mind, 00:13:53.390 --> 00:14:00.440 those were the words God used when he revealed himself to Moses. I am who I am. Before you, 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:10.400 I was there, before the world I existed, my voice put the wind and the rain in place, it was my voice 00:14:10.400 --> 00:14:17.180 that created the oceans, before when everything was dark and formless I existed, before you existed 00:14:17.180 --> 00:14:24.880 I existed, before your problems ever existed I existed, I am, I am sovereign, I am the one that 00:14:24.880 --> 00:14:31.780 is eternal I existed before existence even existed I am sovereign God the one who is not 00:14:31.780 --> 00:14:38.100 controlled by circumstance darkness or chaos and so when Jesus said to them I am do not be afraid 00:14:38.100 --> 00:14:43.880 he's not merely identifying himself as hey guys it's Jesus because that sounds really fluffy 00:14:43.880 --> 00:14:52.150 he's revealing himself as God the God that Moses encountered at the burning bush is now standing 00:14:52.150 --> 00:14:59.520 on the waves this is revelation moment in the darkness in the middle of the chaos in the middle 00:14:59.520 --> 00:15:06.320 of the storm Jesus is revealing not only his presence but his identity and John wants us to 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:11.120 understand that the one standing on the waves Toby I want to encourage you this morning because I know 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:16.760 you're going through some stuff with your job right I want to encourage you that the one standing 00:15:16.760 --> 00:15:22.780 on the waves of your circumstance is not merely a teacher or a miracle worker or a prophet but he 00:15:22.780 --> 00:15:31.490 is the divine son of God and he says to you today I am do not be afraid I am do not be afraid I'm 00:15:31.490 --> 00:15:36.950 not I'm not here to fix things tweak things I am the God of all creation and I come to you in the 00:15:36.950 --> 00:15:46.370 darkness and in the storm and I remind you I am who I am guys don't be afraid don't be afraid 00:15:46.370 --> 00:15:54.990 yeah I know but you don't know my circumstance he existed before your circumstance he existed 00:15:54.990 --> 00:16:01.810 long before time he's existed before matter he's sovereign and he comes to you on the waves and 00:16:01.810 --> 00:16:07.050 says do not be afraid I really want to encourage you with that I feel quite emotional Toby I want 00:16:07.050 --> 00:16:14.660 to encourage you with that don't be afraid I am who I am he's revealing himself this is revelation 00:16:14.660 --> 00:16:19.940 moment. And John wants us to understand that we're not talking about a teacher or a miracle worker, 00:16:19.940 --> 00:16:25.380 we're talking about the divine son of God. And that changes everything about the next phrase, 00:16:25.480 --> 00:16:31.360 do not be afraid. That command is rooted in revelation. If you do not know who Jesus is, 00:16:31.900 --> 00:16:38.440 let me tell you now, you will live your life afraid of everything. When you know who Jesus is, 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:43.920 that he's not just a great teacher and he's not just the miracle worker, that he is the God of 00:16:43.920 --> 00:16:50.360 the universe that word do not be afraid no longer sounds glib does it it sounds earthy it sounds 00:16:50.360 --> 00:16:57.840 something that we can build our life upon rooted in revelation and Jesus is not asking you to 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:03.140 pretend that the storm is not real he's showing them that fear loses authority when you recognize 00:17:03.140 --> 00:17:11.260 who Jesus is comes walking towards you in the wind and the waves lost my place but it doesn't 00:17:11.260 --> 00:17:17.010 really matter. Their peace is not found in the storm disappearing immediately, but in the 00:17:17.010 --> 00:17:22.710 revelation that it's the sovereign God who stands in the middle with them. We want Jesus to take 00:17:22.710 --> 00:17:27.590 away the storms like that. It doesn't happen. Sometimes it does, but my experience is sometimes 00:17:27.590 --> 00:17:34.020 it doesn't. But my anchor is not the wind and the waves, and whether they're there, my anchor is 00:17:34.020 --> 00:17:42.330 Jesus. Verse 21 says, then they were willing to take him into the boat. 00:17:43.340 --> 00:17:47.700 We spend so much of life wanting Jesus to deal with the chaos and the storms 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:51.180 while still wanting to keep control of the boat ourselves. 00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:53.620 I'm just preaching to myself this morning. 00:17:54.120 --> 00:17:56.140 I love it when Jesus does amazing things. 00:17:56.460 --> 00:17:58.040 I love it when he comes through for me. 00:17:58.140 --> 00:17:59.240 I love all those things. 00:17:59.380 --> 00:18:03.080 But there's a part of me that likes to keep control of the boat itself. 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:05.260 And I don't believe I'm the only person in here. 00:18:06.380 --> 00:18:07.080 Thanks, Mireille. 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:08.360 It's just me and you, the rest of them. 00:18:08.480 --> 00:18:08.980 They're all good. 00:18:10.530 --> 00:18:11.630 Rob's nodding, yeah. 00:18:11.630 --> 00:18:12.930 I noticed that. 00:18:13.570 --> 00:18:17.410 This wasn't just anyone getting to the boat. 00:18:17.530 --> 00:18:18.990 Once they recognized who he was, 00:18:19.050 --> 00:18:20.450 they willingly received him 00:18:20.450 --> 00:18:23.430 into the place of struggle, fear, and limitation. 00:18:24.230 --> 00:18:26.630 What do we do when we have a revelation 00:18:26.630 --> 00:18:28.490 of who Jesus truly is? 00:18:28.870 --> 00:18:29.650 Do we resist? 00:18:30.170 --> 00:18:33.110 Do we want the miracle worker that stands on the edge 00:18:33.110 --> 00:18:35.770 and kind of looks at our lives from a distance 00:18:35.770 --> 00:18:38.930 and kind of throws best wishes in or good actions in? 00:18:39.310 --> 00:18:41.290 Or do we actually surrender to him and say, 00:18:41.290 --> 00:18:49.130 Lord please come and get into my boat and help me to navigate the storm. John's gospel unlike the 00:18:49.130 --> 00:18:55.050 other two never actually tells us that the storm stops it doesn't say that it just says that they 00:18:55.050 --> 00:19:01.860 get to the other side because I believe that John's gospel the light of the revelation of Jesus is what 00:19:01.860 --> 00:19:10.270 stops that sorry the light of the revelation of Jesus the storm no longer exists. So the turning 00:19:10.270 --> 00:19:15.080 point for them was not necessarily a change in the weather, but a change in their heart. 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:21.360 From fear to surrender, stopping striving to trust, stopping taking control, but allowing 00:19:21.360 --> 00:19:26.790 God to step in. And for many of us, that's the real challenge of the storm. Not simply 00:19:26.790 --> 00:19:30.730 whether circumstances change immediately. I'd love to say this morning that everything 00:19:30.730 --> 00:19:35.770 is going to go back to diddly-do, everything is going to be fine. We don't know that, but 00:19:35.770 --> 00:19:41.400 we do know the one who is Lord over it all. Charles Spurgeon, and I think this quote is 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:48.460 attributed to him, said this. He says, I've learned to kiss the wave that slams me into 00:19:48.460 --> 00:19:56.420 the rock of ages. Shall I say that again? I've learned to kiss the wave that slams me 00:19:56.420 --> 00:20:01.100 into the rock of ages. At the discipleship course this week, the first clip of the video 00:20:01.100 --> 00:20:10.420 that they showed was a man a pastor from Syria Serbia sorry from Serbia and he says that he said 00:20:10.420 --> 00:20:19.840 I wish persecution on the church in the west well that sounds a bit mean doesn't it 00:20:19.840 --> 00:20:29.790 but then he goes on to explain why and he says that when we face those things it teaches us to 00:20:29.790 --> 00:20:37.400 lean into the sweetness of Jesus the storm the darkness those situations we can't control 00:20:37.400 --> 00:20:46.960 those things teach us to lean into the sweetness of Jesus and maybe the very storm that the 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:52.680 disciples feared became the place where they encountered a deeper revelation of who Jesus 00:20:52.680 --> 00:21:00.980 really is and I pray that for our lives maybe today Jesus is not asking you to row harder 00:21:00.980 --> 00:21:07.420 maybe he's asking you to recognize him trust him and willingly receive him into the middle of your 00:21:07.420 --> 00:21:14.910 storm that you have been trying to manage on your own what would it look like to stop striving for 00:21:14.910 --> 00:21:21.660 control and surrender and instead to trust his sovereignty some of us have spent so much time 00:21:21.660 --> 00:21:27.450 staring at the waves that we've forgotten to look for the one walking toward us and the greatest 00:21:27.450 --> 00:21:35.210 miracle in this story is not that Jesus walked on water, but it is that frightened, exhausted 00:21:35.210 --> 00:21:43.050 disciples discovered who was standing before them. Let me say that line again. The greatest miracle 00:21:43.050 --> 00:21:53.120 in this story is not that Jesus walked on water. Of course he did. He's God. Maybe the miracle 00:21:53.120 --> 00:22:01.020 for my life for your life is that frightened exhausted disciples discover who is really 00:22:01.020 --> 00:22:10.360 standing before them and maybe that is where worship begins not when every storm has settled 00:22:10.360 --> 00:22:16.990 not when every answer has been question has been answered but when our eyes are lifted again 00:22:16.990 --> 00:22:23.650 to the one who stands sovereign above the chaos and the one who comes towards us in the dark 00:22:23.650 --> 00:22:31.670 saying i am do not be afraid i'm going to ask the musicians to um just come and play for us 00:22:31.670 --> 00:22:50.480 as i was preparing this i could have gone down the route of a response where we 00:22:50.480 --> 00:22:55.400 invite you forward to so that we can pray for you for the wind and the waves in your life and 00:22:55.400 --> 00:23:03.580 the struggle and i don't really feel that i want to do that this morning because i know that god 00:23:03.580 --> 00:23:08.820 already sees those things he already sees what you're going through he already knows that you're 00:23:08.820 --> 00:23:16.120 in a dark place he already knows that there are wind and waves he already knows that and so I 00:23:16.120 --> 00:23:21.160 don't want us to respond necessarily to those things although I'm really happy to pray for you 00:23:21.160 --> 00:23:30.530 afterwards I'm really happy to do that but I just wondered if we could respond by kind of shifting 00:23:30.530 --> 00:23:45.410 our sorry impression of him that maybe what we could do this morning is actually to give the 00:23:45.410 --> 00:23:49.530 wind and the waves to him and the storms and those dark places and anything else that you're going 00:23:49.530 --> 00:24:01.920 through actually just begin to give them to him as an act of worship so I'm going to ask the musicians 00:24:01.920 --> 00:24:15.350 to play and I really believe that Jesus wants to reveal himself to you this morning saying I can't 00:24:15.350 --> 00:24:22.070 see Jesus I don't know who he is I can't recognize him a prayer is that you would see Jesus this 00:24:22.070 --> 00:24:28.830 morning there's an old hymn that says when things that surround me become shadows in the light of 00:24:28.830 --> 00:24:36.250 you I worship you Jesus and what we need is that fresh view of Jesus so that those things that have 00:24:36.250 --> 00:24:42.610 crept in and have and have taken focus and we've become fixated on because they are so real and so 00:24:42.610 --> 00:24:55.500 near that when those things that surround us become shadows in the light of who Jesus is and if that's 00:24:55.500 --> 00:25:00.620 your prayer this morning help me to see you Lord more clearly in this storm help me to recognize 00:25:00.620 --> 00:25:06.060 you in the darkness, help me to trust you, relinquish control, help me to see you as you 00:25:06.060 --> 00:25:12.620 truly are, God of all creation, therefore God of my situation. If that's you this morning I just 00:25:12.620 --> 00:25:45.860 want to encourage you to stand with me and I'm going to pray. Jesus for so many of us the storm 00:25:45.860 --> 00:25:54.910 has become so loud that we've lost sight of who you are and we've spent so much energy trying to 00:25:54.910 --> 00:26:03.540 manage what only you can rule over and we've strained at the oars trying to hold everything 00:26:03.540 --> 00:26:11.290 together in our own strength but today we choose to lift our eyes towards you again 00:26:11.290 --> 00:26:25.470 and I choose worship over worry and striving and control. I choose worship. Thank you that you come 00:26:25.470 --> 00:26:31.370 toward us in the darkness. Thank you that you are not absent in the storm. Thank you that the waves 00:26:31.370 --> 00:26:38.770 overwhelming us are already beneath your feet. And Lord, just as the disciples willingly received 00:26:38.770 --> 00:26:44.590 you into the boat, we choose to willingly receive you again in the middle of our circumstances. 00:26:45.230 --> 00:27:03.860 We surrender again, not just the storm, but the control, not just the fear or the striving, 00:27:04.180 --> 00:27:14.290 not just the outcome, we surrender ourselves. And as we offer ourselves now to you in worship, 00:27:14.290 --> 00:27:21.920 this isn't escapism this isn't emotional it's not denial worship is our declaration that you are 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:29.090 greater than the storm worship is our choice to fix our eyes on the one standing above the waves 00:27:29.090 --> 00:27:40.200 father this morning before anything changes around us we choose worship before every question is 00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:48.490 answered we choose worship before the storm settles we choose worship because you are still 00:27:48.490 --> 00:27:55.410 the great I am the eternal one the sovereign one the God who was and who is and always will be 00:27:55.410 --> 00:28:04.500 the one who stands above the chaos and comes towards us in love this morning we choose worship 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:14.340 and I wonder church if we could stand together and just just begin to worship just give it 00:28:14.340 --> 00:28:18.820 all to him, everything, just give it to him in worship.