The sermon titled 'Jesus In The Storm' focuses on the biblical account from John 6:15-21, where Jesus walks on water to meet His disciples during a storm, reinforcing His divine power and identity as the Christ. The speaker emphasizes the necessity of understanding the true Jesus as depicted in the Bible, cautioning against misrepresentations that promise worldly gains. The sermon recaps the miracle of feeding the 5,000 and the temptation of earthly power that Jesus faced. It highlights that believers must navigate life's storms with faith, understanding that trials are opportunities for spiritual growth and deeper knowledge of Jesus. Trusting in Jesus means submitting to His will, recognizing His sovereignty, and finding joy in adversities, knowing that God's purpose is ultimately for His glory. The speaker also underscores the critical question Jesus posed, 'Who do you say that I am?' as a foundation for faith, urging believers to align their lives with Jesus' teachings and trust in His presence during life's challenges.

Good morning church family and visitors. Well, your family too. And so this morning we're going to be in the book of John, John chapter 6 verses 15 through 21. We have an account that I believe everybody has heard about or knows about and so we're going to go through that And we are also recapping what Pastor talked about last week, which was an exciting account of the feeding of the 5, 000. And that was amazing.

So let's open up in a word of prayer, and then we'll get started. Father, we thank you for your Word this morning. Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit empowered your Word. We do work on our hearts this morning, Lord God, to change us and move us, Lord God, into a place that glorifies your holy name more so, Lord, than than our name, of course, but that our lives would be changed and you would give us, Father God, courage to live a life that is sold out for you regardless of what it looks like, Lord, of the storms in it. I pray in Jesus' name this morning.

Amen. So, I will get right into reading this account and it is John chapter 6 verses 15 through 21. Therefore, when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make him king, he departed again to the mountain by himself alone. Now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark and Jesus had not come to them.

Then the sea of rose, because of a great wind, was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat, and they were afraid. But he said to them, It is I, do not be afraid. Then they willingly received him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at land where they were going." Just an incredible account, and I'm sure we've all read this, it's in the other gospels as well. And so last week, pastor talked about what was the feeding of the 5, 000, and this is showing the power, the power of Christ, and that is on display.

And the point of the book of John altogether is to show us that Jesus is the Christ, that he is God. And so believing that we may have life in his name, it says in chapter 20 verse 31. And so many today, and we talked about a couple of weeks ago, who is the Jesus of the Bible? And a lot of times I believe that people witness to people and they they sell him out for somebody that he's not. But this is the Christ of the Bible.

And that is the power of the Christ in the Bible. And as we walk through our life, we have to lean on that. That is our strength. So many come to Jesus having been misrepresented, I'll say. And it's not unlike that account last week where there were 5, 000 that came and were fed.

And in the end, their hopes were not to glorify Jesus as God, what their hopes were that Jesus would be the Redeemer, the Savior of Israel, and that He would overturn the Roman army. Unfortunately, today that is still going on. Christ is being represented or presented to some people as something that he's not in the word of God. And that may become something where he's going to give you riches that you haven't earned. He's going to be giving you health and wealth or that relationships, you're having financial problems or burdens, whatever it is, someone witnessed to a person and they gave them a false idea.

And it comes right from the pulpit often too. We have to be very careful that we read the book of John and understand that Jesus Christ is presented by the apostle John, the writer, in a way that it glorifies Christ and lifts him up as God. And we also have to be careful that we follow the God of the Bible and not the God of our imaginations that is okay with us doing things that are not okay in the Word of God. So no matter, the problem is that they think that they have, and I was there at one time. I thought I had a relationship with God and I would ask things and I was told that I would change, that things would be better.

And the problem was that no matter where I went, there I was, right? And so I was still in me. I wasn't a new creation in Christ. And so, we can think that we have this relationship in Christ in our minds. We can be talked in of believing it.

We can have some silver-tongued preacher tell you from the pulpit that you're good with God when you're not. And that will give you a false sense of security. And things will not pan out in your life like you want them to or like you expected them to. And so Matthew 16, 15 is the question that we all have to ask ourselves. Because Jesus asked that of the disciples, He asked them, and we have to ask it of ourselves as well.

He said to them, but who do you say that I am? In the end, it comes down to that question. Who do you say that He is? It's a critical question. If Jesus is who He claimed to be and who the Scriptures show Him to be, then we've got to follow Him as Lord and Savior.

Then there's no wiggle room for me to be in that driver's seat, for me to be on that top tier in my life. There's not a spot up there for me. It's all His. And so it's something that we have to submit to. Once you understand who Jesus is, you have to submit to him as Lord of your life over everything.

Not some things, not most things, all things. And so, if Jesus is who He claimed, then we need to submit to that. And I would say, even if it means getting tortured or killed or whatever it means, but you know as well as I do that the chances of that are minuscule, right? And so what I'm gonna say, that but it is possible, but you need to submit to Him even if it's being inconvenienced in your life. Even if it's swallowing your pride from time to time, or all the time, no matter what it is, we need to submit to Him no matter what.

And you think, well, yeah, but I don't want to go to church today because I'm tired, or I got a problem with this or that. Okay, there you go. That's not an option. And so The Bible is clear on this, that we will suffer inconveniences in our life. Okay, 2 Timothy 3.12 says, "'Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus "'will suffer persecution.'" It's a guarantee.

So we have to take our understanding of Christ, who He is, and the cost of following Him and come to the reality where it's not how we see our own suffering or our own inconvenience in life. The Apostle Paul wrote, and I found this a little bit ago, Colossians 1.24. It says, I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church." Did you hear that? Rejoice in your sufferings. This is like over the top.

People can't rejoice in your sufferings, right? I got in a car accident yesterday. Praise the Lord! Right? I broke my ankle while I was hiking.

Thank God. No, it goes against our nature. We don't understand this. But what does it take to get our minds and our hearts from where we are to a place where we see God's hand working in our lives through all the adversity in our life that he's directing and shaping and guiding and focusing and rubbing off our rough spots and walking us in Him and closer to Him to glorify His name, not to make us happy, but to lift Him up. What does it take for us to get from where we are to that point?

That's the question. And God in His perfect mercy and grace has given us this account. So the reason to follow Christ is it's not because he can make you happy or he can make you wealthy or healthy. Although he can do that even in the middle of your sufferings this this can happen but but you come to Christ because he is who he said he is Because he is worthy. He is God.

He is the Messiah and and in John 14 6 we've said this one before but Jesus answered I am the way the truth in the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He is the way. That's why. And if it's Jesus alone who can forgive your sins, there's not another way.

We don't have the peak of the mountain with a lot of trails going up to it. You just pick one as long as you end up at the top. No, there's one way and that's Jesus. And so the first point that I have today, it talks about the temptation of earthly power. And so this temptation of earthly power is in the first two verses where it says, therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again in the mountain by himself.

And now when evening came, his disciples went down to the sea. There's bits and pieces I'm going to be filling in from other texts through the other Gospels about this. So right after Jesus miraculously fed the 5, 000, like Brother Rick said last week, with five loaves and two fish, using a little child, isn't that amazing what God uses? If he can use that little child's five loaves and two fish, he can use you. So the crowd wants to pick up Jesus, and they want to celebrate Him and put Him on a throne.

And so these people are coming up to Him, and, hey, I'm so-and-so, and I've got my entourage behind me and we're behind you all the way. We're gonna take you, we're gonna put you on the throne and yay Jesus, He's gonna be our savior, He's gonna overthrow Rome and we're gonna rule and reign. If this guy can take five loaves and two fish and feed way over 5, 000 people, he's the real deal. And we're behind Him. We're going to take you and we're going to...

By force, they were going to do this. And this temptation, He suffered in the desert by Satan as well. If you just bow down to me, I'll give you everything the devil told Him, right? Well, here he's got that ability to have an earthly rule. And so they want to lift him up, they want to get behind him, they want to rule over the Romans.

And so You have to understand where they're coming from too, because they're very familiar with what the feeding of the 5, 000 had to do with. And that was Moses in the desert and the manna that was fed for 40 years, well, they assume Him to be the next great Moses, a deliverer. And so they're providing bread to that large crowd, and His disciples were wanting the same thing too. The twelve that were with Him. But Jesus knowing their motives are based on fleshly desire, based on what the world wants rather than spiritual transformation, which is why he came, which is what his miracles were about.

He healed a paralytic man of 38 years. He made water and wine. He did how many other things that can't even be written. And they want to make him a king. But that's not why he was here.

He was here to be their savior, to save them from their sins. And so rather than falling victim to what is this earthly ability to have a name, And it doesn't have to be a king. It can be anything where you can have influence over anybody. But in order to circumvent this horrible thing going on that would have happened. Jesus knew their motives, their desires, and they wanted earthly rather than spiritual transformation.

He sends His disciples away. It says in another Gospel, He told them, get in a boat and get out of here. They're going to lift me up, make me king. You guys are going to be right with me. Nope.

Get in a boat, go to the other side. Flee the temptation. That's a principle, right? Flee temptation. They had an important lesson to learn.

So Matthew 25-26 tells us, But Jesus called them to himself and said, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lorded over them and those who are great exercise authority over them, yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, What do you do? Boss everyone else around, right? If you desire to be great among others, do whatever it takes to get to the top, right? No.

Get a better education and go and do something with that. No. Let him be your servant. Let him be your servant. Bow down and serve them.

Wash their feet. See, John gives a short version of this account. He doesn't tell a lot of things in this account. It's a, the book of John, you would think Mark would be because everything was immediate, immediate, and it's a short gospel. But John's is abbreviated, his focal point is just, is just to lift up Christ as God.

And so it doesn't tell us that Jesus told the disciples to get in the boat and head for Capernaum, or that Jesus sent the multitude away, or that He was praying on the mountain, He omits Mark's comment in 6.48 that tells of the disciples straining at the oars, or that He intended to pass them when he came to them on the water, or that the 12 thought that they were seeing a ghost. So Jim read some of that this morning, or about Peter walking on water. And so John also doesn't write that the storm was instantly stilled when Jesus got into the boat. But again, John's goal is chapter 20 verse 31. These things are written that you might know that Jesus is the Christ and that knowing you might have life in His name.

And so, Jeremiah 17, seven tells us, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose hope is the Lord. Blessed is that man. I want to be blessed. But in verses 15 through 17, Jesus knew what their motives were. Jesus took the steps to circumvent what would be a spiritual disaster.

Everything that He worked and discipled them to up to this point, the wheels would have fell off the wagon. If He would allow them to have any kind of earthly accolades, they would have became earthly, worldly. So do we try, I'm going to ask this question of us today, do we try to make Jesus the king of our own agenda? Do we try to make Jesus the king of our own agenda? Wanting worldly success or comfort?

You see that true faith means having Jesus be the King and the Lord of your life, over the top of everything. And let everything else fall where it will, because He'll take care of you. Jesus does not want followers who use Him for their own purpose. And He made that clear with the disciples here. But those who know Him and trust Him for who He is, for who the Bible says He is, not the Jesus of their imagination.

I talked about that a couple of weeks ago. The Jesus of your imagination has nothing to do with the Jesus of the Bible. So you can want Jesus to do things, but if it's contrary to His will, from His Word, it's not going to work. The Jesus of Scripture is the one that we're looking for. The second point really is the big point of today.

That is the reality of storms. And so, The first verse that came to my mind when I thought of that was Isaiah 55, 8, 9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, my thoughts than your thoughts. We get these storms in life and we think, what is going on?

Did God forget about me? I've been praying about this. I've been crying out. Things just are not changing. So part of growing to know God is to submit and to trust His ways.

To know Him and to trust in His ways, even when they run like 180 degrees from what would make sense for us to be comfortable in. And one way to know that is to ask yourself some questions. Do I grumble? I knew a guy, he complained more than anybody I ever knew. There's never anything went right.

A professing Christian, and he would complain all the time. And it really helped me to understand that that's not a very attractive character trait of a professing believer. And so, it helped me to understand my own downfalls. Do I grumble? Do I complain?

Or do I give thanks? Do we give thanks? Even if I'm trying to use God to do what I want, or He is anything less than the Lord, my Lord, my God, my Savior. If He's anything less than that, then it's idolatry, because you're putting Him in a place that the Bible doesn't call for Him to be. And our prayers are twisted sideways or flat out on their back.

And we're asking and we're looking for things that aren't for the glory of Christ. And that's where it all turns upside down. So John shows us how we grow to know and trust Jesus for who He is. And so in this tiny commentary, I found four P words that line up and display His person, His power in this, and how we need to trust in Him in this second point. And the first one is to trust Jesus' person, to trust His person through the trials that He puts us through.

In verse 17, John writes, it has already become dark and Jesus hadn't come. So it was already dark, Jesus hadn't come, so the disciples are on the sea in the dark, in the storm, without Jesus. I'll tell you one thing, there's not a more scary place to be for me than on the water, in the dark, in big waves. I've been there. I've been there.

I've been in situations where I was on the water and the boat, a storm blew in, the motor wouldn't start. We were five miles offshore, four and a half miles offshore, so not much different than this, but we had a motor. And so the system shut down with the exception of the kicker motor, a tiny motor on a large boat. And I'm out there with two really good friends and it got to a point where the storm hit and it blew the boat backwards the front of the storm and the waves began to crash and were coming over the front of the boat. I understand what this feels like to them.

The boat was gaining water coming up in the boat So there's a deck and then underneath that, there's like this much space. That was full of water and the water was coming up on the deck. I called the coast guard and the coast guard refused to come out. They said, No, we're not coming out in this. Nope.

Like what is the Coast Guard for? Thought they cared about saving lives and stuff. And I was pretty sure we weren't gonna make it. And as we putted towards shore into the wind With the lightning and the thunder, nobody else out there. My phone died because it got wet.

And we get, we get, the coast guard told me if we could hang on for less than half an hour the storm would blow through. Two and a half hours later, we puttered into the port on this tiny motor with water halfway up to my knees and nobody was there. I thought it was going to be like police waiting, rescues, there's nobody there, Nobody cared. See, we need to have a right perspective, I think, of what this looked like. But at this time, they were all afraid.

And seven of these guys were fishermen. Seven of them were fishermen by trade. That was their sea. That was where they worked. They seen this all the time and they were scared.

So even though Jesus would come shortly, He hadn't come yet. And not only that, but He also let the men struggle against the storm for many hours. He let us struggle against that storm for hours. Yet for all that they rode, they only gained three to four miles. That's all they gained.

The other gospels say that it was the fourth watch of the night. And so if Jesus preached till dark, it might be what, 8.30 or nine o'clock, and then he sent them down there, and then they row. Well, the first watch is from six to nine. The second watch is from nine to midnight. The third watch is from midnight to three.

They're in the fourth watch between three and six, AM. And so this is where they're at and they're rowing. They're exhausted. They're straining against the oars and wondering if they should just let go and let the storm blow them back to the other shore. And I remember preaching on this in the book of Mark and how Jesus told them, go to the other side.

He didn't say it was going to be easy. Today he's telling us you'll have trials in life. But when you got saved he said go to the other side. You see the destination. It's right here.

I've told you all about it. It's a promise. Go to the other side. Well, when they got to the other side, their eyes were big, they were soaking wet and scared to death. It's not gonna be an easy ride.

You'll get to the other side. Why? Because He's with you. He will not forsake you. And this is what's happening here.

We all know that trials are never fun. They're never good at the time that we're going through them, but they're for our good. Hebrews 12, 11 says, Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present but painful. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Charles Spurgeon is quoted as saying, "'I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the rock of ages.

Man, if I could learn that. It's just amazing. You see that storm kept them from joining the crowd, from what's going on over there. And on the flip side, they're almost dying in this ocean, in the sea over here. And of the two, Jesus perceived that what they needed to learn was that they needed to be in this boat straining against the oars.

They need this. They need to see me. See, and I believe that when we're in heaven, we're gonna look back. When we're in heaven, we're gonna see the things that happen in our lives that God put there to keep us away from things, to circumvent our life walking in temptation, to save us from ourselves. We'll see that someday.

The trials that we didn't like when we went through them, that kept us from just bad things, horrible things in our life that would have caused us to fall. So one result of this miracle was that through it, the disciples grew to know Jesus' person. The person that He is in a way that they never would have known Him if this had not happened. See, they got to see Jesus walking on the water. They got to see the sea calmed, and they went from being here to being here.

There was no rowing and no process. They went from here to here instantaneously. They experienced that. They see Jesus in a way that they never would have. And I hope with all my heart and soul that God puts you through storms like that that expose who He is to you, that show you, that reveal His glory to you and me.

And so this is when we see Him for the powerful Savior that He is, when He comes to us in the midst of the storm. And so we see The next P is His purpose in the storm. We see Jesus' purpose in the storm. And one of the main lessons of the Christian life is that God's purpose is not centered on my purpose. That's a bummer, right?

That I don't get to do what I want to do. His purpose is not my purpose. His goal is not my goal. It's not centered on me and my glory. It's about Jesus and God's glory.

And churches across the world today are telling you that you can have both. That you can have your glory and God's glory all tied up in one. And Jesus loves you, and He wants you to be happy and healthy and wealthy and fat and fun. And that's just not the Gospel. That's not the message of the Word of God.

It's all about Jesus and God's glory. God's purpose is to sum up all things in Christ. And there's a perfect verse on this, Ephesians 1, 9, and 10, tell us, "...having known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, in Him. It's all about Him. It's not about me.

And so to that end, he's working all things in our lives for his glory, not for Jerry's happiness or Jerry's wealth or health. It's for his glory. That's how he works things together in our lives. But what about Romans 8.28, which says, "'For we know that all things work together "'for good to them that love God, "'to them that are decalled according to His purpose.'" He is doing that. But your greatest good is bound up with Jesus' glory.

It's not bound up in your own joy and happiness. Your greatest good and your ultimate glory is to be conformed to the image of Christ, not the image of me or someone else. Romans 8, 29, and 30 said, For whom He foreknew, He also predestined, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called. Whom He called, these He also justified.

And whom He justified, these He also glorified." See, it's all about Jesus. And when we're perfectly conformed to its image in heaven, it'll be to the praise of His glory. See, earth is just practice. And the third P is His providence in the storm. Just as Jesus knew that he was going to feed the 5, 000 people, he knew that he was sending the disciples into the belly of this storm.

And so he would come to them to calm their fears and let them see exactly who He is. Mark 6.48 says that Jesus saw them as they rode against the wind three to four miles out. Jesus saw them. See, this is His omniscience. His foreknowledge as God.

He saw this happening. He saw them struggling and straining against the orc. And He didn't leave them. And so, also, Jesus had to know exactly where they were out there. Because it's dark out, right?

He's not going to go walking around on this ocean this sea looking for them he doesn't know he knew exactly where they were they thought they were alone but they they were not They were out there straining on the oars, bailing water out, thinking they were going to die. And they weren't. They were not alone. The disciples learned that even though they didn't know it, Jesus was fully aware of their situation, of everything that was going on. Are you aware this morning?

Are we aware? Do we think of that enough that no matter what we're going through, Jesus knows. He sees it. He's there. He's fully aware of their situation.

He's fully aware of your situation, whatever it might be. And He'll come to them. He'll come to you in His time. And as the other gospels state, Jesus was praying for them while He was on the mountain. God's providence means that nothing happens to us apart from God's knowledge, apart from His sovereign loving will and His perfect timing.

Not our perfect timing. In his perfect timing, he's gonna come to us. Been praying for somebody? Yeah, in his perfect timing. You got problems?

Yeah, in his perfect timing. But we've got to trust him, even though we can't see him or figure out any reason why we're in this storm. I don't deserve this. I didn't do anything wrong. I think I'm right.

No, I don't have a pride problem. You have a pride problem. Right? That's how it works. James 1, 2 through 4 tells us, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing.

Wow. See, that's the purpose of trials. But how do we go, and I said it in the beginning, how do we go from where we are to having joy in our trials? How do we go from where we are to having joy in the trial? The pathway is Jesus.

And submit to Him as Lord of your life. That's where it is. That's The only way it will work. The fourth P is His power through trials. Paul just saw Jesus create bread and fish to feed this huge crowd.

I've heard it 5, 000. I've heard it 25, 000. It doesn't matter if He created bread and fish. It doesn't matter if it was 5 people or 50 people. He's God.

Now they saw Him as Lord over creation when He walked on the water and He calmed the storm. The amount of miracles that are in this text, it's amazing. But our trials cannot prevent him from coming to us, even if we can't imagine how he's going to do it. Even our disobedience, did you ever think of that? He works in spite of our bullheadedness, in spite of our stupidity.

And At the same time, it's not always his will to use his power to rescue us from our trials. Paul had a thorn in the side. Jesus, In today's passage, he's still the storm, so he and the 12 gods safely to shore. They were like, boom, they were there. But he didn't deliver John the Baptist from Herod's sword.

Jesus didn't call legions of angels down to spare his life when he was on the cross. He later delivered Peter from prison. But then Peter was crucified upside down. He got to watch that after his wife was crucified. He did not deliver James from the cross, from prison, I'm sorry.

And Hebrews 11, 33 through 37 tells us, by faith, many experienced deliverance from their trials. But also by faith, many others were tortured and suffered. And many were martyred for their faith. I was given at my ordination this book. It's called Martyrs' Mirrors.

And this book, well, it looks like just a book and it sits around doing nothing. People today owe it to read through this book. This book is full of accounts of people who were tortured and killed for the sake of Jesus Christ. This is an account of martyrs that gave their life for the faith. It's not just what we're reading.

This is a life lived. So whether it's God's will to deliver us or to take us home, we should know and trust that His power is in these trials is there. That we can have a different view. That's how we can have joy and know that He has us go through these trials and not grumble about it. The third point today is the power of Jesus as God to rescue us, to rescue us.

Verses 20 and 21. One of John's main emphasis is recounting this miracle is that Jesus' presence in the boat with the disciples did what they alone could not do. It got them immediately to their destination. It's just, I'm here, boom, I'm there. They're at their destination immediately.

The first thing Jesus' presence with them accomplished was to calm their fears in the storm. Jesus said in verse 20, "'But he said to them, "'It is I, do not be afraid.'" We go through storms in life, we go through big problems. Is this our answer? Do we lean back and is our fear gone when we recognize and realize that Jesus says, it is I do not be afraid. I am here.

I am in the center of this problem that you're having. I can take care of this. You don't need to worry about it. Live for Me and submit your life wholly to Me. You can find joy in your trials.

It is I do not be afraid. Having Jesus in life's storms calms our fears. It takes and sets them aside. If I see someone that has fear or complains a lot, it becomes apparent to me that they really don't have a relationship with Christ. That they don't have Jesus.

But we as believers need first to identify who it is that we have on our side in life's storms. Who do we have on our side in life's storms? And do we trust Him? There was not long ago, about a month and a half ago, there was a gal who is a very prominent, successful, realtor type person in Green Bay area. And she had just been working her way up her whole life.

And it wasn't that about a month and a half ago, like I say, She took her own life. She had everything that you could ever hope for. Unlimited amounts of money. Her boss was retiring and she was coming up to take the whole situation over. And she took her own life.

And she was a prominent person within a popular church in Green Bay, a philanthropist, just a very, very involved person in so many ways. But she had a storm in her life and she did not come to Jesus. And that's the tragedy of it. So, when people are in storms, you can tell. You can tell where their hope is.

That is a very, very telling thing. John, in this Gospel, is trying to tell them who Jesus is. And Jesus, in explaining to the Pharisees, He said at one time in John 8.58, Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. This is the Jesus of your salvation. This is the Jesus of your trials and storms.

And so, this is what it looks like when you trust in Him. So in Jesus, we have both God and a friend. But there's a guy that I want to tell a story about and I'm going to read this. His name is Joseph Scriven. He came from a wealthy family in Ireland.

He was born in 1819. He graduated from Trinity College and had a bright future ahead of him. He fell in love and planned to marry a beautiful Christian woman. So the day before their wedding, his fiance was tragically thrown from a horse into a river and drowned right before his eyes. Shattered by grief, 25-year-old Scriven left Ireland for Canada to start over.

Years later, he met a young lady named Eliza Rice. The two became better acquainted and, over some months of time, became engaged. In an unthinkable twist of fate just weeks before the wedding, Eliza fell ill with pneumonia and died. Instead of turning away from God in bitterness, Joseph anchored his soul in God's word and prayer. He took a vow of poverty.

He cut ties with his wealthy family and dedicated the rest of his life to helping the destitute, the elderly, and the handicapped in Port Hope, Ontario, known as a humble eccentric, who would famously only chop wood or work for those who could not afford to pay him. In 1855, Scriven got word that his mother, who was still in Ireland, was facing a severe illness and deep sorrow, unable to afford to travel across the Atlantic to be with her, he sat down and penned a poem titled, Pray Without Ceasing. To comfort her from afar, he intended for the poem to remain a private family secret. Years later, when Scriven fell ill, the poem was discovered. A visiting friend happened to find a handwritten poem by Joseph's bedside.

When his friend asked who wrote it, he humbly said, the Lord and I wrote it between us. Soon after, it was set to music by Charles Converse, who renamed the title as we know today. Can Anyone tell me what it is? What a friend we have in Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus.

All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit. Oh what needless pain we bear. Oh because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden? Cumbered with a load of care, precious Savior, still our refuge, Take it to the Lord in prayer. In His arms He'll take and shield thee.

Thou wilt find a solace there." This is written by a man who suffered great tragedy in life, and he allowed that to turn his life in a way to submit to Christ with such power and such testimony. There's a memorial up for him yet today. And that has got to be our response to tragedy and hardship in life, to want to abandon our will and to abandon this world and its will. See, in John's gospel, we see that the Jewish leaders refuse to trust in Jesus as Lord. And today, we are forced to look at this text and say, am I doing the same?

What does my life look like? How do I reflect this? What do I respond when He rescues me from tragedy, when He loves me enough to put me through trouble. I mean, to really trust Him. Does our life reflect that?

Matthew 28, 19, and 20. Say, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And here's the solace you will find. Solace there. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Jesus has you, Jesus is with you. David Livingstone clung to this verse 19 as he endured countless unbelievable hardships as he went to bring the gospel to inner Africa. And he quoted to say, on those words I staked everything, and they never failed. It is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honor, so there is an end of it. That's it.

That's it, right there. You take those words and you hang on to them. See, woven through today's passages, Christ's patience and His grace. I don't want this to come across as an iron fist, a fire and brimstone. Woven throughout this is Christ's patience and his grace toward his disciples and toward those outside Mark 6, 51 and 52, tells that they gained no insight from the feeding of the 5, 000.

And later, they were still clueless about how Jesus fed the 4, 000 in Mark 8, but the Lord didn't give up on them. And the Lord's not going to give up on us. He's a God of love and He's a God of mercy and he's a God that loves us so much that he'll put us through a fiery trial. And he'll guide and direct us. He loves us.

So even though we're slow to learn, Jesus is gracious with us when we're struggling to know Him better and to trust Him for who He is. That's all we can do is be in the Word and love Him and be in the fellowship and be in prayer. Love Him and cling to Him. Claim that word. Even though we're slow to learn, Jesus loves us.

Jesus is gracious. Even when things don't go like we want. But today, You can come to know that. I want us to see today the Jesus of the storms in our lives. Through your trials and our tribulations, our troubles, you can know Him for who He really is and truly have, like 2031 says, life in His name.

Aside from Him, you don't have life. In Him, you have life. The question today for all of us is how do we trust Him? Where are we at in that walk in trusting Him? Father, this morning, thank you for your truth of your word.

I pray that our hearts and lives be transformed, Lord God, through the truths of it. We thank you for the love you have for us, Lord God. Help us to find joy in our trials. Help us to walk in a way, Father God, that lifts up and brings glory to you, understanding that this life is not about us and our happiness. Father, help us to glory in your name.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. ["The you