FBCWest 657 | Jesus Walks on Water
Recorded On: 05/04/2025
Bulletin
Hymn # 462 “Love Lifted Me”
SCRIPTURE READING – 1 John 4:15 - 21
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“In the House”
“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)”
“Good Grace”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Jesus Walks on Water”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“How Great Is Your Love”
Sermon Notes
Mark 6:45 & 46 Jesus sends His disciples and then sends the multitude away and went to pray
Mark 6:47 Jesus is alone on the land
Mark 6:48 The disciples are having a difficult time crossing the sea, but Jesus walks on the water planning on meeting them on the other side
Mark 6:49 – 52 Disciples think Jesus is a ghost and cry out. Jesus enters the boat and they are astonished. They gained no insight from the loaves and fish miracle
Mark 6:53 – 56 Jesus continues His ministry and the people bring the sick wanting to be healed by Him
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
In the 1790s, the French was under an economic disaster.
When Marie Antoinette was informed that people didn't have bread to eat, her reported response was, "Well, then let them eat cake."
We just look at last time Jesus feeding over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fishes. We're going to take a look at the response of that multitude, the response of Jesus, and the response of His disciples. Much more different than,
(Music)
you usually get different versions of what happened.
There are even times if you're involved, you usually have a statement that says,
there are three sides to every story, your side, my side, and what really happened.
And so if we can't come to an agreement on what happened when we all watched it, what's even harder is what does it mean when something happens. We're going to take a look at what it meant when Jesus fed over 5,000 people, 5,000 men plus women and children. And we're going to take a look at the view of the multitude of the crowd who were fed. We'll take a look at Jesus's view of what happened. And we're going to take a look at the disciples view. So again, the context here is that Jesus had been teaching and felt compassion on the multitude, and they started to teach further. And the disciples encouraged Jesus to send everybody away because it was late, and they didn't have the sufficient assets to feed everyone. And Jesus asked them what they did have. And then Jesus not only took what they had, but multiplied it so much that they ended up with more than they started with.
Having done that, this is where we are now at. And so in Mark chapter 6, so if you have your Bibles, and you should turn to the Gospel of Mark, starting with chapter 6, starting with verse 45.
And it says this, "Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side of the seidah, while he himself was sending the crowd away." So first, Jesus decides he's going to send his disciples away.
Now, we're not given a real clear understanding of why he does that, but I think we can infer there are two reasons.
He doesn't want what the crowd is wanting to do to impact his disciples. So he wants to get them away first.
Secondly, I think Jesus wants to be alone.
So if he doesn't send his disciples away, he won't have the opportunity to be alone. So he sends them off to go to where they're going to be going the next day, but he wants to then send them away. And so why does he do that? Why does he want to separate the disciples before the crowd? Because in the Gospel of John, we see that when Jesus had performed this miracle and had fed the over 5,000, that the crowd wanted to take Jesus by force and make him king.
Now, the disciples already kind of wanted that to happen anyway, because they were blind for who's going to be on the right hand and who's going to be on the left hand and who's going to be in charge. And if he allowed the multitude to kind of influence them, then he would have the crowd to deal with and his disciples. So he sends them away and separates them. And then he then sends the crowd away to avoid because Jesus's goal is not to be elected king,
but to be the suffering servant who is the Messiah, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords. But it doesn't need any election because he is who he is. But it's not yet ready to be that king. So he doesn't want-- because again, what the crowd wants is food. They want bread. They want it to be provided for. And they're not looking for being servants, but being the ones of the recipient. So Jesus sends them away to make sure that there's no danger of him having to deal with them being the king.
And then he says, "After bidding them farewell, he left for the mountain to pray." So we have the crowd who, after the feeding of them, wants him to become king so that their lives are better.
Jesus instead gets everybody alone, sends them away so that he may go left alone to pray.
Now let's take a look at what we would do. We generally, when we have a victory,
we, to use a sports analogy, spike the football.
Look what I did when a football player scores a touchdown, they spike the ball, and they do a dance and whatever, celebrating what they accomplished.
We don't see Jesus doing that.
It's even kind of odd at times when people-- Jesus helps us, answers a prayer, or something good happens in our life.
We're infrequently grateful. There are a period of time when we actually thank God for that blessing to come in.
But usually what we find ourselves doing is when there is a time of need, we pray.
But when there's a time of victory, at most what we do is say thank you. Jesus doesn't do that. Jesus, after feeding and performing this miracle, doesn't spike the football. He goes off and prays.
And maybe that's why if Jesus needed prayer in those instances, maybe we too, whether it's in defeat or victory, that we pray and commune with God to get His direction and His favor and His plans. Jesus is always seeking to do the will of the Father, even when there comes to victories, even when He performs miracles. Again, it's a situation. He goes off and prays. And let's face it, if Jesus, the Son of God, needs prayer,
then it comes as self-evident we need to be praying as well,
in victory and defeat, or in between.
But Jesus went off to pray.
And He was alone. He didn't have the disciples pray with Him, because let's face it. When you have a group prayer meeting, sometimes the group decides what you need to pray for. Jesus sits and prays for what is necessary. He's the one who knows what the will of God is and is seeking that. So it is good. And there are times when Jesus taught His disciples to pray and prayed with Him. It is also a situation where Jesus alone prays. And there are times when we need that. We need that alone time with God to just minister and let God minister to us.
And when it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. So Jesus is there, and the boats, they've had lots of opportunity to get to the other side, but they haven't gotten there yet. And Jesus is by Himself. The crowd's gone, the disciples are gone, and He's alone.
Now, I'm one of those people-- I find that is a great comfort.
I like to be alone.
There are times--
it's the classic, when you're alone, you can decide what you want to eat.
When you're not alone, you go, well, what do you want? Well, I don't care. What do you want? I don't know. And you spend about a half hour trying to figure out what you want. And finally you go, OK, I got it. Let's have sushi. And then somebody goes, I don't like sushi. Well, then you do care.
And so when you're alone, you just do what you want to do. You don't have to ask anybody's permission. So Jesus is alone on the seashore.
And seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, and about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them. Now, the fourth watch is about between 3 AM and 6 AM.
It has been a long day.
The disciples wanted to send the multitude away because it was getting late. And Jesus not only didn't send them away, He provided sustenance. He provided the food, the bread, and the fish, and performed those miracles. And then He sent the disciples away. And then He sent the crowd away. And then He went to the mountain to pray. It has been a long day. There are times we read a few verses. We go, huh, that's what-- it has been a very, very long day of Jesus ministering and dealing with people who don't understand what's going on. And so it's about between 3 AM and 6 AM of the night. And He came to them walking on the sea. And He intended to pass them by.
Now, at first I thought, well, that's kind of weird.
Not that He's walking on the water,
but He's walking it all.
And then, OK, why didn't He show up on the other side?
It's between 3 AM and-- it's been a long day.
He's the Son of God.
Why didn't He show up on the other side?
Except He's also human. He's also a man. He has not yet received His resurrected body. So He has to walk to wherever He gets.
So He's walking on the water. Now, that's the shortcut. He doesn't have to walk around the sea. He takes the shortcut and walks on the water.
Basically, He intended to walk past them because He's going to meet them on the other side.
But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they suppose that He was a ghost and cried out. Now, they've been following Jesus for a while.
The Scriptures seem to indicate that once you're dead, you're dead.
So where do they come up with the idea that this is a ghost other than you don't often see somebody walking on the water? But they make an assumption that somebody walking on the water has to be a ghost. And they become afraid, and they cry out.
Or they all saw Him. So it wasn't just Peter or John-- all the disciples saw Him and were terrified. But immediately, He spoke with them and said to them, "Take courage in His eye. Do not be afraid." So immediately, Jesus, rather than, in essence, rebuking them for this fear, says, "There's no necessity to be afraid. It's me.
I'm the one walking on the water. You don't have to be afraid. Take courage."
And He got into the boat with them.
And the wind stopped.
And they were utterly astonished.
Now, if this was the only incidence of Jesus doing this, you would say, OK, you get it.
They had not experienced this before. And so they were astonished at Jesus walking on water and Jesus calming the sea.
But the Scriptures tell us something very interesting.
It says this, "For they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened."
Jesus taught many things.
Well, in His teaching in parables, He said, "If you don't understand the parable of the solar, you won't understand the other parables. It seems to be that the parable of the solar is a linchpin. It also seems that the disciples, having not gained any understanding and insight about the feeding of the loaves and the fishes,
because their hearts were hardened." Now, let's take a look at what the disciples had done, seen.
One instance I'm going to take out of Mark in the first miracle that Jesus performs, He changes water into wine, and not just a box of wine or a ripple or whatever. He changes it into the good stuff.
The disciples were aware of it.
The guests, not so much. But the disciples were aware that Jesus was able to turn water into wine, and then turning to what the disciples had seen and just recounted in the Gospel of Mark.
He cast out demons. As a matter of fact, He cast out, in one instance, so many demons that the demons were called legion. He healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. He forgave sins. And when they objected, the fact that He was able to forgive sins because only God can do that, He caused a paralytic to rise up and walk, proving that He could raise, that He forgives sins. He would repeatedly teach with astonishment as one who understood because when He talked about Adam and Eve, He was there.
When He talked about Abraham, He was there. When He talked about Moses, He was there.
When He talked about Isaiah seeing God high and lifted up, holy, holy, holy, He was there.
When the three Israeli men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were in the fire, He was there. When Daniel was in the lion den, He was there.
He taught because He was there. He also healed a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years and raised a girl from the dead who was 12 years old. He had repeatedly and repeatedly performed miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle. And then He fed the crowd of over 5,000. And still, the disciples didn't understand who He was. Why? Because their heart was hardened. Just because you walk along with Jesus doesn't mean you follow Him.
Their hearts were hard.
That is why I say miracles do not cause you to believe.
But that's what people want. People want miracles.
"Lord, just do this miracle. Do this thing and whatever, and then I'll believe."
It's kind of like the typical foxhole confessions. "Lord, get me out of this and I'll serve you for the rest of my life." And apparently the less of their life is after they get out of the foxhole because that's as far as they do. Very few people honor their commitments because miracles do not translate into faith.
Faith is done.
Miracles are done for those who believe, to show that you believe. So the disciples, having seen the miracle after miracle after miracle after miracle,
hearts are still hardened.
But there is one miracle that eventually will cause their hearts to be soft.
That's the resurrection of Jesus Himself.
There are times when God is in our lives and when God performs things in our lives that we know that it's Him, either through answered prayer or blessing that we receive. Maybe we should take a moment and understand what God is doing in our lives. That God still loves us. That God is so active in our lives. That whatever we've done or haven't done doesn't mean that God has stopped loving us. Maybe we should pay attention to what God has been doing in our lives and in the lives of others.
That's why when God does something great in your life, I should celebrate because God has something done great in your life.
Because not because you were worthy of it, because of who God is, in His mercy, in His love.
And so the crowd, the multitude, their response to the loaves and the fish were, "Give us more."
Jesus's response is, "Give me more of God."
The disciples were, "We don't understand."
I think that's why Jesus needed to spend time with the Father
so that He could be more patient with His disciples.
And maybe you and I, especially me, maybe I need to spend more time with God so that I am more patient with others.
And when they had crossed over,
I want you to notice Jesus not only got into the boat, but He calmed the sea in the wind, which wasn't the first time He had done that.
They woke Him up from sleep to say, "Don't you care?"
And He rebuked the wind and the waves and they immediately ceased.
This is the second time they've observed the very same thing.
So sometimes God can repeat miracles in our lives, and we still don't get it. So when they had crossed over, they came to the land of Cassinorant
and moored to the shore.
And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him. Notice it's different. When before, when they were discussing with the multitude,
the multitude recognized them because the disciples had been ministering and teaching and preaching and healing and casting out demons. And all of a sudden, the group, Jesus and His disciples were recognized. Now that they've crossed over the sea, they only recognize Jesus.
So they immediately recognized Him and ran about the whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick to the place they heard He was.
So the knowledge of Jesus is what He had done and He's saying that everybody said, I know somebody sick. And they went to wherever that was and brought that sick person there. And other people went to other places and brought the sick because they knew that Jesus healed people and they wanted to be healed.
And they went not to where He was, but to where He was going to be.
Whenever He entered the villages or cities or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces, imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak.
Now, where do they get that idea?
If I just touch the fringe of His cloak, we might be healed.
Well, there was a woman who had been hemorrhaging for 12 years
who thought if I just touch the fringes of His cloak, I'll be healed.
And she was, but she wasn't healed just of the hemorrhaging.
Jesus said, you are healed because of your belief.
And I'm sure that woman's testimony got out, even to the other side of the sea.
God's impact on your life may be so broad that you don't understand how far reaching it could be. But He healed me quietly.
But they proclaimed it. So much so that people on the other side of the sea are fully aware of what had happened and that Jesus didn't have to speak, didn't have to touch, didn't have to do anything. If I just have believed and I just touched the fringes, I didn't have to touch Him, just the fringes of His cloak, I can be healed.
And then notice what it says, "And as many as touched it for being healed."
Because they were coming in faith.
They were coming that Jesus could supply that need.
You see, what the disciples didn't understand was that Jesus took five loaves and two fish,
a little boy's lunch, and fed over 5,000 people and had 12 baskets full of bread, one for each disciple.
He is able to do exceedingly abundantly far beyond what we can express. Most of us, it would be a sufficient miracle if Jesus just fed everybody.
But Jesus did not only just feed everybody, He gave them enough food that they were satisfied and then had leftovers more than they started with.
These people who had needs of healing physically, Jesus could.
But He could do so much more than that.
He could heal not only the sick, but the sinner.
He could forgive sins.
And the sad thing is, we all too often seek Jesus, His healing of our physical bodies.
But not of the greatest need that we have, to be made whole and clean and holy before Him, to be changed from an enemy of God to a child of God. And that He does that, not just barely, not just by the skin of your teeth, but overwhelmingly.
We are not made just barely holy.
We're not made just barely righteous. We are justified.
We aren't at fault. We are justified because of what He does.
So just as the wind and the sea obey, and just as the demons obey,
He has the authority and the power and the abundance to forgive abundantly.
Let's let our hearts be hardened. Let our hearts be soft with what He can accomplish.
And to seek not just our physical healing, but our spiritual one as well.
That we might proclaim even on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
He forgives and He heals. He took me from where I was to where I'm going to be. I'm not there yet to tell you how awesome His changing of us are. He changes me when the Scripture says, "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
That is true for everybody. And at the same time, I don't even match the glory of Joe.
If the standard wasn't God, and that's the standard, in order to get into heaven, the standard is God. But I don't, if the standard was being the best Joe, I ain't getting there because I've not been the best Joe.
I've not even come to the glory of Joe.
But God can take who I am and make me like His Son. That is certainly a greater miracle than taking five loaves and two fish and making an abundant beast.
That's the type of God that we've come to worship.
That's the type of God that we've come to understand better and better. And that's the type of God who doesn't reject us, but comes and says, "Come all who are tired and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." They were straining at the oars, but He gave them rest and gave them security that even though at that moment their hearts were hard, there would come a time when they would actually put their lives at risk and did lose their lives for who He is.
And we should do the same.