Courage, It's Me

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Matthew 14:13-33 

Jesus handpicked his disciples.  You would think that time with Jesus would have completely transformed them but as long as Jesus was with them physically, they had trouble truly believing him.   

Prior to the two miracles we read about here in this passage, the disciples had already witnessed Jesus turn water into wine, heal the son of a royal official in Capernaum, heal the man possessed with demons, heal Peter's mother-in-law, fill nets with fish, heal a leper, heal a centurion's servant, heal a paralyzed man, heal a withered hand, raise a widow's son from the dead, calm the stormy sea, heal another man possessed with demons, heal a woman with internal bleeding, raise Jairus' daughter from the dead, heal blind men, and, there were probably many more miracles that were never record.  

In Matthew 14 we read that Jesus had just been told that John the Baptist had been beheaded by Herod and he wanted to pull away from the crowds to be by himself.   But, the people followed him and even though he was tired, he healed the sick who were brought to him.  This one-on-one treatment took hours and by the time Jesus had taken care of everyone the people were hungry.  

The disciples told Jesus they had only five loaves of bread and two fish so the people needed to go back to their villages to get supper for themselves.  Jesus disagreed.  He asked for the bread and fish then told the people to sit down while he lifted his head to heaven and asked God to bless what they had.  

There it was!  The disciples watched Jesus perform yet another miracle.  Five thousand people ate until they were full and all of those meals flowed from just five loaves of bread and two fish.   This is the first of two points I want to make today.  When you give all of your talent and abilities to Jesus, he will multiply it beyond your imagination.  You might think your life is not important or that you won't make a difference.  This story promises you that your life can have significant impact if you give it to God.  

Finally Jesus is able to get away from everyone.  He told the crowd to go to their homes and the disciples to get in the boat on the Sea of Galilee and go to the other side while he walked up the mountain to pray.  Matthew 14:23 says he stayed there alone, late into the night.  Next a wind came up on the sea and battered the boat with massive waves.  It was about 4 am and Jesus walked on the water to the boat.  

The disciples saw him and thought they were seeing a ghost but Jesus said to them, "Courage, it's me.  Don't be afraid."  Peter said if it's you Jesus, let me come to you on the water.  Next Jesus said, "Come ahead."  Peter jumped out of the boat and started to walk on the water to Jesus but when he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at the waves under his feet, he started to sink and he cried, "Master, save me!"  Jesus grabbed Peter and the two of them climbed into the boat.  

Here's a second lesson: When you are in trouble, ask Jesus and he will rescue you. Matthew 14:32 says that the disciples watched this and said, "This is it!  You are God's son for sure."  What?  Think about this.  How quickly the disciples forgot that just a few hours before this event, Jesus had healed hundreds and fed thousands.  I am thinking this is the, "What have you done for me lately?" question.  

Over and over God demonstrates to us that he is in us and for us and with us.  We doubt and live our lives without trust then Satan moves in.  We are at war here.  It is a spiritual battle for each of us to keep God at the center which keeps Satan at bay.  We're at war because our faith is so small.  We're like little spoiled children forgetting that if we have accepted Christ as our personal savior and we are in this one-on-one relationship with him then we're safe. 

We let day-to-day circumstances, doubt, fear and anxiety bring us down.  This happens because we forgot that we turned over to Jesus our five loaves and two fishes.   Now, if you keep trusting him, keep calling to him, keep focused on him, no matter what storm comes your way, Jesus will be there to pull you into the boat. 

365 Days of Surprises

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Luke 2:17-35, Matthew 1:18-25 

Audio file is at the end of this text.

The next 365 days will bring surprises because this is the way God works.  His plan for you in your life and in this new year is perfect but you'll never know what it is until you stop doing what you're doing and start paying attention to the surprises that unfold for you. Mary was minding her own business as a young girl and Joseph was doing what other twentysomethings were doing.  These two received a call from God and they stopped what they were doing and obeyed God's instructions.  

We have talked in the past few weeks about the shocking turn their lives took and how they had to completely trust God.  Today in America 40% of babies are born to an unwed mother so it is not such a big deal for us to know or hear about girls having babies before they marry and many have no intention of getting married to the father.  In the time of Mary and Joseph, the proper way to handle Mary was to stone her to death and Joseph had every right to dismiss her as his wife-to-be and even throw the first stone.  

We have read that Joseph's first inclination was to take a middle-of-the-road approach.  He was thinking about not making a big public spectacle but to quietly break off the engagement and move on with his old life.  But, the dream came and he trusted it was from God even though it made no logical sense.  What can we learn? Joseph and Mary were surprised by God and they went with it.  They didn't give the excuse that what was happening to them had nothing to do with the goals they had already set for themselves.  

Eight days after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph followed their religious laws which required that the boy be circumcised and officially named. (Leviticus 12:3) So in obedience the parents took their baby boy to the Temple in Jerusalem.  He was named, Jesus which means, "God saves."  

Also at the Temple that day was a devout old man named Simeon and, "the Holy Spirit was on him."  You might think that God didn't send the Holy Spirit to us until after Jesus ascended to heaven but you can see from Luke 2:25-32 that Simeon was lead by the spirit to come to the Temple.  We learn that God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen with his own eyes the one who would come to save, not just Israel, but all people.  

When Simeon saw the young couple bringing their baby for the rituals, Simeon took the baby into his own arms and prayed, "God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised.  With my own eyes I have seen your salvation." 

The passage goes on to say that Mary and Joseph were, "speechless with surprise" at the words of Simeon.  Simeon went on to pray over the parents and to Mary said that she would see her son in pain from a sword.  The truth is sometimes so painful we can't understand it but if we are following the path of Mary and Joseph, it will be a path with no map and no certainty.  

In 2012 open yourselves to God's plan.  Let God be the director and one year from now, let's rejoice that we let God work in our lives because God's plan is perfect and full of surprises.

1 1 2012 by Robby4747 on Mixcloud