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Today we come to a story that is about an unexpected storm. It’s a story about how
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the disciples of Jesus were suddenly unexpectedly plunged into an entirely new situation in
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which their faith was tested in new ways. What does it look like to exercise faith in
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an unexpected storm? Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick and
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Colin, I guess many of us can understand the emotions of the disciples as they went through
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an unexpected storm. Yes, and also a storm that they had never really experience before.
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Folks who know the bible will be very familiar about the time when Jesus was in the boat
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and calmed the storm. The story that we’re looking at today is quite different because
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Jesus was not in the boat. He was on the land and He was praying, and the disciples, therefore,
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were on their own in the storm, and it was pretty frightening. There will be times in
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your life when you come to a situation that you have not faced before, and you’re not
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able to look back on past experience and say, well I’ve proved the Lord in this. You’re
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now in a situation that’s completely new and it’s not easy. What does it look like
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to exercise faith in a storm you have never faced before? Well that’s what we’re looking
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at in this story today. It’s a wonderful story of how Peter proved the Lord Jesus Christ
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who drew near to him in a remarkable manner in a way that had never happened before, and
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he proved Christ in a whole new way. My prayer for this programme is that God by his grace
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will draw near to you in the storm that you are facing, and that in his great kindness
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you will prove him in a way that you’ve never done before. Well I hope you’ll be able to
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join us in Matthew in chapter 14 as we begin the message, Confidence. Here’s Colin.
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God’s Word always speaks to the realities of our day. To me it therefore is very wonderful
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that today we come to a story that is about an unexpected storm. It’s a story about
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how the disciples of Jesus were suddenly, unexpectedly plunged into an entirely new
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situation in which their faith was tested in new ways. And these are days clearly in
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which all of us need to be strong in faith, but what does it look like to exercise faith
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in a storm? That’s the question that is before us with our Bibles open today.
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Now, there are two miracles in this story. In the first, Jesus walks on the water to
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reach the disciples. And in the second, Peter walks on the water to reach Jesus. And these
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two miracles point us to two marvelous truths. First, that Jesus rules over the storm and
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second, that one day we will share in his rule. The Bible makes it very clear that God
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has made us for this purpose. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 6. What is man? So here is a statement
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about human beings, the purpose for which God made us. What is man that you are mindful
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of him or the Son of Man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower
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than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection
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under his feet. You see what this is saying, we were made to rule over creation. The purpose
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of God was that all storms and all evil and all sickness and even death itself would be
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under our feet. But we fell and in reaching to become more, we actually became less. In
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attempting to take the place that belongs to God, we actually lost the place that God
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had given to us. And that’s why in Hebrews chapter two it continues, at present we do
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not yet see everything in subjection to Him. In other words we no longer rule over creation,
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instead we have become subject to its powers, the hurricane, the mudslide, the wild fire,
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the flood, the entire world struggling to gain control over a virus, this virus is literally
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and now the world fearing a new threat of war. So the destructive powers of pride and
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of greed and of hatred and of violence they are not yet under our feet. We try to overcome
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them and by God’s grace we do have some success but the dark powers are always present,
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they break out in unexpected ways, they are not yet subject to us, they are not yet under
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our feet. But I want you to notice the real hope that is in this verse. It says, at present
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we do not yet see everything subject to him. And that not yet of course holds a marvelous
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promise. The world will not always be as it is today. God has promised that there will
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be a glorious new world in which his redeemed people will reign with him forever and ever.
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But that day has not yet come. So the question that we are faced with in the realities of
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this world in which we live is what does it look like to live with faith in Jesus when
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we are surrounded by a storm? And that is the question that is before us today. And
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I want to give four answers from this story to that question.
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The first is simply this. That faith is tested when we feel the absence of Jesus. Faith
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is tested when we feel the absence of Jesus. Look at verse 23.
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When evening came, He, that is Jesus, was there alone. But the boat, by this time, was
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a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.
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Now, if you look in your bible, you will see the story we’re looking at today comes immediately
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after Jesus fed 5,000 people by multiplying five loaves
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and two fish in His hands. And when the crowd saw what Jesus could do,
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John tells us that they wanted to take Jesus by force and to make Him terrible.
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that they wanted to take Jesus by force and to make Him king.
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And no doubt the disciples would have liked that idea
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and to keep them from this temptation, Jesus, verse 22,
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immediately made the disciples get into the boat
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to go before Him to the other side while He dismissed the crowds.
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Normally, Jesus would have left the disciples to dismiss the crowd,
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but on this occasion because of the particular temptation, no doubt,
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that the disciples would be caught up in this surge of the crowd
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who wanted to take Jesus by force and to make Him king.
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Jesus says to them, and in fact, now you get out of here fast.
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And He makes them get into the boat and so off they go to cross the lake
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while Jesus, verse 23, goes up on the mountain alone to pray.
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So the disciples then clearly would not have expected to face a storm
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on this night.
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After all, Jesus had made them get into the boat,
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they didn’t want to go, they didn’t – but it wasn’t their choice to go.
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They went simply out of obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, the Gospels tell us about two different storms
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that most likely occurred in the same year.
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In the first,
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Jesus was in the boat with the disciples.
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You’ll remember this story.
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Jesus in the boat and he falls asleep
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and a storm blows up and the disciples waken Jesus
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and they say save us, Lord, because we are perishing.
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And Jesus then stood up in the boat and he rebuked the wind and the waves.
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The peace be still, He said, and when He spoke the wind ceased
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and there was a great calm.
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Now, the second story about a storm that we are looking at today
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is quite different for the very obvious reason
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that Jesus was not in the boat with the disciples.
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Now, Jesus has promised that He is with us always.
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He has said, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you.
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But is there anyone in this congregation today
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who would dispute the reality that sometimes
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it is part of our Christian experience
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that Jesus Christ seems to be far away?
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And that was exactly the experience of the disciples here.
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A storm blew up and Jesus was not in the boat.
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Mathew records verse 24 that the wind was against them,
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that the waves were beating against the boat.
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Mark tells us in his account that the disciples were straining at the oars.
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They were giving it everything they had got and they were making very,
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very little progress in the storm.
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John tells us that they had traveled three or four miles.
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Well, the lake is about seven miles across so that means they were right in the middle,
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they were stuck in the middle.
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And they’re making no progress, they’re barely holding their own.
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The wind is against them.
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And this storm just kept raging.
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We know from verse 23 that they left before evening.
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And that they were still on the water, verse 25, in the fourth watch of the night, well
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that’s between three o’clock in the morning and six o’clock in the morning.
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So all night, they’re straining at the oars in the darkness with the wind and the waves
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against them.
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Some storms pass quickly, but this one just kept going.
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Hour after hour after hour and they’re straining at the oars.
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They’re becoming more and more tired and they’re no further forward.
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And the question, obviously, is how much longer can we keep this up?
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And perhaps you know what this is like.
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You can immediately relate to this story in your own experience.
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A storm blows up in your life and the wind is against you and you’re straining at the
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oars.
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And Jesus seems far away and your faith is tested.
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When you are not feeling the presence of Jesus, that’s where the disciples were.
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Now then we read verse 25 that in the fourth watch of the night he, that is Jesus, came
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to them walking on the sea.
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Now let’s pause and try and take this in.
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There was no obvious way for Jesus to get to the disciples.
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Think of it, Jesus is on the land, the disciples are on the water.
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John tells us specifically that there was no other boat in the harbor so how could Jesus
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reach them?
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And I can image the disciples in the boat saying, well if Jesus was with us here he
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could rebuke the storm but boys, we’re on our own in this one because Jesus can’t
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reach us here.
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But you see what this story is telling us, that the storm cannot keep Jesus from his
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disciples.
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In the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.
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Friends, the Lord Jesus Christ draws near to us when we need Him most.
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And this story is telling us that there is no place, however dark, where Jesus Christ
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cannot reach you.
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Now, your faith will be tested.
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You will come to some dark and scary places in your life.
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There may be times when the Lord Jesus Christ seems to be far away but no storm, however
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great, can ever keep the Lord Jesus Christ away from you.
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Nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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We have to pause the message there just briefly.
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You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our message today called Confidence.
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It was originally part of a series called Authentic Discipleship and it’s one of the
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most popular and requested of Pastor Colin Smith’s messages.
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We’ve bundled it up along with another ten of the most popular and requested messages
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and we are calling the series Listener Favorites.
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And if you have missed any of the series so far and you want to go back and listen again,
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you can do that by coming online to our website openthebible.org.uk.
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Open the Bible is supported by our listeners and we’re grateful to any of our listeners
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that support us financially.
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If that’s something you’re considering doing, we have an offer for you this month
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if you’re able to set up a new gift to the work of Open the Bible in the amount of
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£5 per month or more and that is a copy of Pastor Colin’s new book, Flying Through
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the Bible.
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We’ll happily send you a copy of that book if you’re able to set up a new payment.
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Full details are on our website and you can give online.
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Back to the message now.
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Here’s Colin.
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Now, I want you to notice that the disciples did not recognise Jesus when He came.
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Verse 26.
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When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said,
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It was a ghost, and they cried out in fear.
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Now, you see what is happening here, and you will know this experience.
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The disciples felt that they were in the presence of evil.
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That evil was all around them, pressing in.
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It was dark, the wind was howling.
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The waves were beating against the boat.
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And when the light of the presence of Jesus drew near, they thought they were seeing a
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ghost.
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And maybe you have felt this kind of fear even this week.
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Evil powers have been unleashed.
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The world is a dark and hostile place, it’s frightening, and you wonder, where is Jesus
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in all this?
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It’s very wonderful that the Bible speaks so clearly and repeatedly to the reality of
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fear in the life of a believer.
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Here we read that the disciples were terrified and that they cried out in fear, verse 26.
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Now remember, these men aren’t believers.
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They are authentic disciples.
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What that means is that the presence of fear is not an indicator of the absence of faith.
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I had many conversations in which someone has said, Pastor, I feel great fear sometimes.
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Does that mean that I do not have any faith, that my faith is not genuine, that I’m not
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really a Christian or not truly a believer.
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No.
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No.
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The presence of fear does not mean the absence of faith.
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The faith of these disciples was tested, and it was tested when they felt that Jesus seemed
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far away.
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But what we’re learning from this story is that though they felt surrounded by evil and
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by great darkness, Jesus had not abandoned his disciples to dark and evil powers.
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Immediately, Jesus spoke to them, verse 27, saying, take heart.
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It is I. Do not be afraid.
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See, here are the disciples.
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They think that Jesus is far from them.
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Up on a mountain.
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Somewhere, on his own, praying.
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They thought that the only thing that was near, the only thing that was pressing around
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them was great, great evil and darkness.
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But Jesus is near even when we think he is not.
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They feared that the night was ruled by dark and sinister forces.
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What they discovered was that Jesus rules the night as well as the day and Jesus rules
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the storm as well as the calm.
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And friends, these are days when our faith is and will be tested.
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Remember this.
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Jesus rules the night as well as the day and Jesus rules in the storm as well as in the
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calm.
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There is no place, however dark, where Jesus Christ cannot reach you.
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Take heart.
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It is I.
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Do not be afraid.
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You are never beyond the reach of Jesus.
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Now that’s the first thing, that faith is tested.
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We all know this experience, and it’s right here in the Bible.
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Faith is tested when we feel the absence of Jesus.
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Here’s the second thing that we learn from this remarkable story.
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We’re looking at what it is to live with faith in an unexpected storm, and I want you
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to see from this story that faith ventures at the command of Jesus.
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Faith ventures at the command of Jesus.
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And Peter answered him, verse 28, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the
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water.
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Now, I have tried to ask myself this question honestly during the week, would I have said
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that?
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And I have to admit, I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t think I would.
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I think what I would have said is, Lord, if it is you, come into the boat, calm the storm,
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and please get us as quickly as possible back to the shore.
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Maybe you think that’s what you would have said, too.
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I think that’s the most natural thing to say here, when we face a storm or a trial,
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the natural reaction is always, when will this be over?
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When will it be done?
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When can I get back to living the life that I want to live?
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Lord, calm the storm and get me out of here.
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That’s our instinctive reaction.
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But I love Peter in what he says here, because he says something entirely different.
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He says, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
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You see, instead of simply wishing that the storm would cease, Peter reckons that this
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is the perfect opportunity for a new and bold venture of faith.
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Faith ventures at the command of Jesus.
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So here’s a good question to ask yourself every time you find yourself in a storm.
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What opportunity is there here for me to take a new venture of faith?
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What a practical and challenging question.
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You’re listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open The Bible, and our message today, Confidence,
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mainly part of the series Authentic Discipleship.
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This message has been one of our most popular and requested downloads and programs, and
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we have bundled it up along with ten other of the top ten requested programs
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under the title listener favorites.
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And if you miss any of the series this month,
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you can always catch up or go back and listen online
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at our website, openthebible.org.uk.
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You can also find us now as a podcast, go to your favourite podcast site,
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search for Open the Bible UK, and subscribe to receive regular updates.
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Open the Bible is able to stay on this station and on the internet
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because of your generosity.
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Open the Bible is a listener-supported ministry,
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so thank you for giving and supporting Open the Bible.
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If that’s something you’re thinking about doing,
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if you are able to set up a new gift of £5 per month, or more, this month,
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we’d like to thank you by sending you a copy of Pastor Colin’s new book,
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Flying Through The Bible.
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Colin, when you do this kind of high altitude flight over the entire Bible story,
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there’s so much in there that you really have to focus in.
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So, what are the themes that you focused on in this new book?
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Well, it really is a high altitude flight over the Bible story.
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We’re talking about around 100 pages, so it’s covering at a great speed.
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But, you know, you can get an overview of the Bible very simply by thinking about
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five people in the Old Testament, Adam and Abraham and Moses and David and Ezra.
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If you get the stories of these five people, you’ve really got a broad outline of the Old Testament story.
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Then when we come to the gospels, we look at five events in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He was born, he was tempted, he was crucified, he is risen,
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and he has ascended.
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Grasp these five events and you have a broad outline of what you need to know about the Lord Jesus Christ.
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And then, in the New Testament letters, there are five marvellous gifts that God gives to
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all who believe, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the gift of faith, the gift of forgiveness,
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the gift of the church and the gift of heaven itself.
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So there’s a very quick fly-through of the Bible.
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There’s cookies on the bottom shelf and I hope folks are going to find it really helpful.
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Well, we’d like to send you a copy of Pastor Colin’s book, Flying through the Bible,
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to say thank you for supporting Open the Bible this month.
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Full details of this offer are on our website.
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That’s at openthebible.org.uk.
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For Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll be able to join us again soon.
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Perhaps a storm has blown up in your life.
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The wind is against you and Jesus seems far away.
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Your faith is being tested.
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Hear about it next time on Open the Bible.
