The Only True Rest In A Busy life

[0:00] Hello everyone. While Eskom may let us down, God never will. There is an endless supply of power here.

[0:12] So let's concentrate on what God has to say to us as we tap into the truth again. As we continue Mark in chapter 6.

[0:24] So keep your Bibles open there. Well, have you ever wondered when life got so busy? I wonder if that's a question that you ask yourself.

[0:36] Listen to how Kevin DeYoung puts it in his book Crazy Busy. Some of you I know have read this. We had it for a reading group I think at the beginning of this year. It's called Crazy Busy, a mercifully short book about a really big problem.

[0:49] A Christian's guide to busyness and how to handle it. It's a good book. I recommend it. But listen to how he puts it. He says this in his book.

[1:00] You and I have a problem. Most mornings we drag ourselves out of bed, start the day's routine and hope against hope that we can simply hold our ground. Maybe we can keep the house in only a mild state of disaster.

[1:14] Maybe we can break even on the to-do list. Maybe no one else will get sick. Maybe the inbox won't get any fuller. Maybe we won't fall asleep after lunch. Maybe, just maybe, we can get enough done in the next 18 hours so to beat back a beast of busyness and live to see another day.

[1:31] We wake up most days not trying to serve, but just trying to survive. I wonder if you can relate with that. And if you can relate with just how frenetic our world is, how much expectation there is on the average adult and child as well.

[1:52] And how difficult it is to actually find real rest. I mean, we, you know, we take weekends, we take holidays, but it's so difficult to really use those things to rest.

[2:03] The weekends go quite fast, don't they? I mean, this is Sunday morning already, and then we've got the afternoon. And then it's Monday again, and it seems like we've never got a chance even to breathe. Am I right? Or is it just me?

[2:15] And especially Christians, who then have to also balance the kingdom responsibilities that we have. And the work that Jesus calls us to in the midst of it all.

[2:26] How do we do it? It's too much. Well, if that's how you feel today, in any way, then this story in Mark 6 is one that you definitely need to hear. Because it is a story about busy disciples in desperate need of rest, but who have that rest interrupted, all so that they can learn a desperate lesson they needed to learn about the only place where true rest can actually be found.

[2:52] And that is what today's story is about. And it's something I think we need to hear in our day and age more than ever before. And so have your Bible open in Mark 6, and let's have a look at this story and what happens.

[3:06] So where we are in the story of Mark is that Jesus has come and made it quite clear that he is bringing the kingdom into this world. He is bringing the invasion of the kingdom into the realm of Satan, into the realm of darkness.

[3:20] He's bringing restoration power. And then very recently in the story, we've seen him calling his disciples and enabling them, other people, human beings, flawed human beings like you and me, to be involved in the invasion of the kingdom in this world.

[3:36] It's all very exciting. And we see that the disciples have just gone out on this epic mission trip where they carry this kingdom power with them, and they preach the news of the kingdom, which is, of course, something that disciples today, on every level, are called to be involved in, that same mission out to the world in bringing restoration power.

[3:56] And it's all very exciting. We see in verse 30, they're coming back. At the beginning of our passage, they're coming back from their mission trip. The disciples gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught.

[4:10] Very exciting to be involved in this work. But also, it turns out, very exhausting for them. Look at the next verse. He said to them, this is Jesus talking to them, Come away by yourselves to a remote place and rest for a while.

[4:29] For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat. So it turns out you could be as busy in the first century as you could be in the 21st century.

[4:39] Busyness is actually nothing new. And these disciples found that this responsibility they had taken on to be involved in the kingdom work had got them very busy to the point that they couldn't carry out normal life.

[4:55] And Jesus recognized that, and he recognized that they needed a break. Verse 32, so they went away in the boat by themselves to a remote place.

[5:10] Somewhere on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, probably the east side. And today, even today, that is still a very popular holiday destination, actually, for people in Israel and the Middle East and even Europe to come get a break.

[5:24] Like, if you Googled it, I actually had a nice picture, but we can't put that up, of a lovely holiday resort. There's a lot of holiday resorts. There's beaches, the tropical waters, and there's water activities, and there's all kinds of things.

[5:37] And it's in quite a desolate, kind of deserty place, which makes it even more charming to go and get away. So it's a very popular holiday destination. I imagine the disciples were quite excited when Jesus said, Hey, let's go to the shores of Galilee and chill for a while.

[5:52] They were probably like, Wow, yes, that's going to be awesome. And they were probably really looking forward to it. But no sooner did they embark on their holiday, on their staff retreat, than it was interrupted.

[6:06] Look at verse 33 and 34. But, oh man, just as they're going on holiday, that word, but, oh, interruption. Many saw them leaving and recognized them, and they ran on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

[6:25] When Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And then he began to teach them many things.

[6:38] Now, what are the disciples doing? You can imagine how they feel. Just like, Oh, really? We're just being able to get away, and now we're back in it. Jesus is teaching again. And you can see the cracks starting to show in the next few verses.

[6:52] Look how they react. Verse 35, When it grew late, his disciples approached him and said, This place is deserted, and it's already late. Send them away, so they can go into the surrounding countrysides and villages to buy themselves something to eat.

[7:06] Jesus, come, let's go. Let's just chill for a while. Now, the disciples, hopefully, they were expecting Jesus to say, Yeah, actually, you're right.

[7:17] You're right. Let's go and carry on what we were planning to do. Let's go on a break. You're quite right. Let's send them away. But no. You know what he does instead? He gives them more work.

[7:28] Look at verse 37. You give them something to eat. He responded. How would you feel? How would you feel if your boss not only calls you during your holiday and asks you to do work that you weren't expecting to do, but he gives you, on your holiday, a project that you don't even know how to begin doing.

[7:50] Now, that's what was happening here. It's not very nice when you get interrupted in your holiday and called back to work. That's exactly what was happening with Jesus' disciples.

[8:01] Their boss had called them and asked them, when they were supposed to be relaxing, to do not only something that was going to interrupt their holiday, but he asked them to do a project which was completely unreasonable.

[8:15] Such an unreasonable request. Look at verse 37. Look how unreasonable Jesus is being. They said to him, What? Should we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?

[8:27] You can see now, the disciples are at the end of their tether. And Jesus is just asking too much, isn't he? It seems that way.

[8:39] 200 denarii, by the way. One denarius would have been the equivalent of a day's annual wage. And so 200 denarii is about roughly equivalent to about 150,000 rand that Jesus was just asking his disciples to fork out.

[8:54] So your boss calls you on your holiday and asks you out of your own pocket to pay for this next big project that you can't afford to do. It seems very unreasonable what Jesus is asking.

[9:06] But then right here is actually lesson number one about working for the kingdom without burning out. We're going to see this morning three lessons actually about how we can work for the kingdom without burning out.

[9:21] And how we can do it properly. That's really what this section in Mark is showing us. It's how to be disciples. And we're meant to look at these disciples and put ourselves in their shoes.

[9:33] And learn the lessons that they were meant to be learning. And the first lesson that Jesus wants to teach his disciples about working for the kingdom is this. Jesus doesn't focus on what his disciples don't have.

[9:49] But on what they do have. And what they can do. Look at the next thing he says. When they say listen it's impossible you're asking too much essentially. He says to them verse 38. Well how many loaves do you have?

[10:02] Go and see. They weren't even considering how many they did have. Because they already realized that it was far beyond what they could ever do. So they didn't even look at what they did have. They didn't even look at what they had to offer.

[10:14] Because they didn't think it would have counted anything. But Jesus asks how many do you have? And here I think we see the first vital principle in this passage. Of kingdom living. How to be a disciple in a busy world without stressing out.

[10:30] And that principle is well given that we stress ourselves out more often than not by focusing on what we don't have.

[10:41] Don't we? I mean every day the stress comes. I don't have enough time. I don't have enough money for this. I can't afford it. I don't have enough energy to do this. You see a lot of our stress comes when we're concentrating on all the things we don't have yet.

[10:55] Doesn't it? And that often stops us actually before we even start to do kingdom work. I can't get more involved. I don't have enough time for this.

[11:07] I can't contribute towards this church thing. I can't be there. I just, I don't. You see we constantly, the first thing we think of when it comes to the things Jesus calls us to do is what we don't have.

[11:20] Same as the disciples. First thing they thought of was what they don't have. Jesus says I don't want you to focus on what you don't have. But I want you to be willing to use what you do even if you don't think it's enough.

[11:32] That's the first principle here. Because the truth is Jesus doesn't need you. He doesn't need your time. He doesn't need your money. Jesus has access to the resources of heaven.

[11:45] He could have fed all these people by himself without his disciples. But no, he has a lesson to teach them first. Jesus doesn't need our resources. But what he wants is our willingness to put our limited resources on the table.

[11:59] And he wants to use what we can offer. Even if he doesn't need to. And look what he does when his disciples are willing to put forward what they do have instead of concentrate on what they don't have.

[12:14] 39. Then he instructed the people to have, he instructed his disciples to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. He could have done this himself. He could have told them. But no, he wants his disciples to provide for these people.

[12:27] It's very interesting. Verse 40. So they sat down in groups of 50s and 100s. And he took the five loaves and the two fish. And looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves.

[12:37] He kept giving them to his disciples to sit before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. Everyone ate and was satisfied.

[12:49] They picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. You see what Jesus is doing? Once his disciples are willing to actually stop worrying about what they don't have and give him what they do have, he is able to take what his disciples give him, small as it is, and multiply it and through them, have them do what they thought they could never do.

[13:12] That's the principle he wants them to see here. He doesn't want to focus on what they don't have, but he wants them to be willing to give what they do have and realize that he can do with it far more than they can.

[13:25] But there is a detail here I wonder if you noticed. Did you notice how many baskets were left over? Verse 43.

[13:38] They picked up 12 baskets full of pieces of bread and fish. Now, in the Bible, numbers are often important digits. And biblical authors often draw attention to numbers as symbolic of something.

[13:54] And I think Mark mentions this detail probably because there were 12 disciples. And I think he's trying to show that the disciples ended up with far more in the end than they gave up in the beginning.

[14:13] Which points to another vital principle of discipleship. Lesson number two they needed to hear or needed to realize that we need to hear. Which is this.

[14:26] Lesson number two. Excuse me. That when we give of our lack. Whether it's time or money.

[14:37] Or anything else. When we give of our shortage. God tends to make it that we end up with more than we gave up. And he actually does this.

[14:48] In real life. It's not just a nice idea. It's real. He does this. And he promises to do this throughout scripture. When we give of our lack. When his people give towards his work.

[15:00] Of their shortage. God tends to make it that we end up with more than we gave up. He actually does this. With, for example, time. You know, one of the most common reasons that people don't get more involved in kingdom work today.

[15:14] Is they don't have enough time. They need to take some time off and relax before Monday. And the grind starts again. But what happens, and many people can testify to this, is when people do give up time on the weekend for kingdom work.

[15:28] They actually find that they relaxed more that weekend. They actually find that they are more ready for Monday. Because they were involved in something bigger than themselves. They're involved in God's work. And he gave them the time and the resource and the energy they needed to do that.

[15:43] When they start relying on God and actually get involved in his work and trust that 12 baskets will be left over. Full. At the end of the weekend, we'll actually have more than we started with if we actually focus first.

[15:56] Like Jesus said in Matthew 6. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be given to you as well. It's a promise. It's not just a nice idea. God actually does it. And he does it.

[16:07] You'll be very interested to know. With money as well. Often times people, when they actually sacrifice more money than they think they can afford towards God's work, they end up having resources that they never thought they had to do more.

[16:29] And this is not just something that people experience. It's something that God promised. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 9. 2 Corinthians 9.

[16:43] This is a letter that Paul writes to the Corinthian church, who were being quite tight-fisted over their resources in light of the crisis that the churches in Jerusalem were going through.

[16:57] They had a big famine. And Paul was actually going around collecting from the churches, collecting money to help support their brothers and sisters in Judea.

[17:10] And he writes this letter. And he writes chapter 9 and chapter 8 to tell these Corinthians that they should be willing to give up more money.

[17:23] And he puts it this way. Look what he says in 2 Corinthians 9 verse 6. He says, Now go down to verse 10.

[17:40] Look what he says. Now the one who provides seed, that's the illustration of money, the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

[17:53] You will be enriched in every way for all generosity which produces thanksgiving to God through us. He, God, will increase your harvest of righteousness and increase and multiply the resources that you put towards his work.

[18:08] That's what this promise is here. That's what Paul is quite confident will happen when the Corinthians give up more for the kingdom. They will get more in order to give more. That's the principle.

[18:18] And it actually happens. Try it out if you don't believe me. Really. If you don't believe me and you don't believe what Paul is saying here, give more money to the church.

[18:30] And you'll see that you actually end up not having that much less. You actually have all your needs provided for and you might even end up blessed more because God honors when his people put on the table what they have.

[18:45] Instead of keep it back for themselves. Try it out if you don't believe me. Because that's what Paul says will happen. And that, I think, is the principle that Jesus wants his disciples to see when, at the end, everybody else is eating.

[18:58] They're served. They've served all the people. The disciples are hungry. They turn around and they each have a basket of bread and fish to eat for themselves. I wonder how they felt. And that is, these lessons that we're learning.

[19:14] So go back to Mark 6. These lessons here are lessons that busy disciples today really need to hear. Especially in light of the struggles we have.

[19:28] What struggles do we have? Struggles to balance all our different responsibilities. Struggles to balance our kingdom responsibilities with everything else in our life.

[19:40] And we all struggle with that. Jesus wants us to know that if you're willing to give what you do have, rather than concentrate on what you don't have, to him and to kingdom work first, not only can he do far more with it than you think he can, but he'll be able to supply you with far more than you actually give up.

[19:59] That's what he wants you to know. The question is, do you really believe that? When it comes down to it, when you look at the bank balance, when you look at all the other responsibilities, do you really believe that Jesus will do that for you?

[20:18] That he can actually provide real things for you, rather than just spiritual things? Do you really believe that? Because that's exactly what these disciples were struggling to believe in these stories.

[20:30] And that's why they needed to understand the deeper meaning of this miracle that they didn't get yet. In fact, we know explicitly that they didn't get it.

[20:41] They didn't get the message of this miracle. Look at verse 51 and 52. This is the next miracle that happens, right? Jesus walks on water. It's one of his most well-known miracles.

[20:53] And the disciples are struggling. They can't actually get the boats to where they want to be because the weather's against them, which is, of course, no mistake. And then Jesus comes along, kind of overtaking them, much to their embarrassment, rowing away.

[21:11] Jesus is just like, hey, guys. And then they obviously freaked out. He comes and sits with them in the boat and says, hey, it's me. Don't you get it? And then look at what verse 51 says.

[21:22] Then he got in the boat with them and the wind ceased. They were completely astounded because they had not understood about the loaves.

[21:34] What's got to do with anything? But you see, they still don't realize who Jesus is and what he can do because they hadn't got the deeper meaning of the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.

[21:46] So we need to get the deeper meaning before we finish this morning. Now, as we were reading that, this miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, if you know your Old Testament well, you may have noticed a lot of Old Testament language.

[22:05] And Mark puts that in for a reason from a number of different Old Testament stories. So, for example, they go out to a wilderness place, a desolate place.

[22:16] You think of the wilderness that the Israelites spent 40 years in on their way to the Promised Land. The wilderness that the Israelites have pulled out of the comforts of Egypt and all the supply that Egypt could give them, slaves as they were, and out into a wilderness where they couldn't provide for themselves.

[22:33] And, of course, they were very hesitant to do that. And you see the same kind of thing happening here. Jesus bringing people out to a desolate place. Then the disciples are arguing with Jesus about not being able to provide for the people to eat.

[22:47] It's exactly what Moses did with God. He, in the wilderness, argued, how can I give these people the things to eat that they need? But then I wonder if you noticed where Jesus got them to sit.

[23:02] A nice little detail. In verse 39. Then he instructed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass.

[23:16] Why do you tell us that, Mark? Well, I think he's trying to remind us of Psalm 23. You know Psalm 23? Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want.

[23:27] He leads me to lie down on green grass. See, the Psalms like that tell us what God is willing to do for his people. And there's all this language throughout this miracle.

[23:40] So there's something deeper going on here. But I think most importantly is verse 34. When he went to shore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.

[23:56] Sheep without a shepherd. That is actually an explicit phrase from the Old Testament from Ezekiel 34, which was what Rowan read for us earlier.

[24:07] And God complains at the shepherds, the leaders of Israel, and realizes that his people don't have shepherds who are willing to lead and provide for them anymore.

[24:17] And the context is the corrupt political and spiritual leadership of Israel at that time. And so God sends Ezekiel to say that, well, to promise them something in light of their failed shepherds, in light of their failed leaders.

[24:35] Turn with me again to Ezekiel 34 and let's see exactly what God promises because I want you to notice what God promises to do for his people who cannot provide for themselves and whose leaders have abandoned them.

[24:50] Ezekiel 34. From verse 6, I'll just read again. It's so important that we read this promise. God says this, My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill.

[25:07] My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. As I live, this is the declaration of the Lord God.

[25:19] Because my flock lacking a shepherd has become prey and food for every wild animal, and because my shepherds do not search for my flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock.

[25:30] Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord God says. Look, I am against the shepherds. I will demand my flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock.

[25:40] The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue my flock from their mouths so they will not be food for them. For this is what the Lord God says. See, I myself will search for my flock.

[25:53] And look for them. As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered.

[26:05] On a day of clouds and total darkness, I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the inhabited places of the land.

[26:23] God is promising in light of failed shepherds that he is himself going to come down and shepherd his people. Don't you see that this, what Jesus is doing here in Mark 6, is a fulfillment of that prophecy?

[26:38] It's a fulfillment of that promise. And we know that especially because Mark places it, this story, if you just step back and look at the passages before and after, what are they about?

[26:48] They are about the failed leaders of Israel. Do you notice that? Last week, Herod, the political leaders and how corrupt he had become. And next week, the next story is about the corrupt religious leaders and how they are putting far more burdens on the people than they should have and how they are trying to benefit themselves from it.

[27:06] And Jesus criticizes them. So either side of this passage is stories about Israel's failed leadership, corrupt leaders. And in the middle is God in Jesus coming down himself to do exactly what he said he would do, to rescue his lost sheep and lead them and provide for them himself.

[27:26] That's the deeper meaning of this miracle. And that's what the people needed to understand. That's what Jesus' disciples needed to understand. That's what we still need to understand.

[27:38] God's provision, total provision of us, to us through Jesus. Because, well, we actually first need to understand that when God created us and he made us human beings and he gave us this earth, he didn't just leave us.

[27:56] The plan was never that he was just going to leave us be. He also, the God who created us also wants to sustain us. He wants to give us all our needs so that we are not in need. That's what God wants to do.

[28:07] It was never meant to be that God created us and then just set us out to fend for ourselves. That's what we wanted to do, not God. And that's why we're stressed, actually.

[28:19] That's why we're stressed more than everything else. We're stressed because of our innate sinful desire that Adam and Eve, our forefather and mother had, to be independent of God.

[28:30] That's what stresses us out. The idea that we can do it ourselves and we don't need God. Even if we call ourselves Christians, and yet deep down inside we actually look to ourselves to provide and supply and give us what we need and make ourselves happy and joyful.

[28:44] We like the idea of being independent. We like the idea of being strong and being able to provide for ourselves. We need to realize we are actually the sheep. And as helpless and as pathetic as sheep are to provide for themselves, as much as they need a shepherd, if they're just to survive the wolves and to be led to the green pastures where they can feed for their provision because they can't find those by themselves, neither can we.

[29:09] We need to realize that about ourselves. We are the sheep. And we stress ourselves out when we forget that and when we look to ourselves to provide the green grass that God wants to actually give us for free.

[29:24] We don't get that. We don't realize that's what God wants to do. He wants to provide all our needs for us. But we want to provide ourselves.

[29:37] But God promises. Look, turn to Isaiah 55. This is an amazing promise. Another one. God makes. God promises that He wants to give us the green pastures.

[29:49] He wants to give us the things we need for free without us having to work for them. Isaiah 55, the first two verses. God says this.

[30:04] Look at this promise. Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the water. And you without silver, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without silver and without cost.

[30:17] Why do you spend silver on what is not food and your wages on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and you will enjoy the choicest of foods.

[30:28] Come to me. Just realize that you can come and have all your needs provided for free and eat the choicest of foods, things that you could never have earned for yourself.

[30:39] And that is the third lesson we need to get this morning if we're to be disciples in a stressed out world. The third lesson, and I think the most important one, the deeper meaning of these miracles, is that we were never meant to provide for ourselves.

[30:55] Here, God is showing us that in Jesus, He wants to and can give us what we can never get for ourselves. That's what God has been trying to show His people throughout history.

[31:12] Actually, throughout redemption history, one of the most common things God does for His people is to feed them for free. It's very interesting. Look at Eden, for example.

[31:23] You actually can trace that theme of God feeding His people throughout the Bible in Eden. God makes a point of providing Adam and Eve, just all around them, amazing food, without them having to do anything for it.

[31:39] In the Passover, which God's rescue is signified by a meal, and in the wilderness, He provides manna and quail from heaven without the people needing to do anything for it.

[31:51] And Jesus is doing the same thing here. And at the end of the Bible, in Revelation, in the new creation, again, God is providing for His people without them having to earn it.

[32:02] But of course, the ultimate example of this is the meal that Jesus gives His disciples the night before He dies, when He provides food for them.

[32:16] And of course, the symbolism of that is not just providing food for them that night, but the next day He was going to provide them and feed them with what they could never earn, which is His body and forgiveness for their sins.

[32:33] That is what God wants to do. He wants to give us stuff for free. And we don't want to accept it because we want to be independent. And He wants to give us forgiveness. He wants to give you forgiveness.

[32:45] If you have not yet got that and you think you have to earn it, God wants to give it to you for free. But not only forgiveness, which is, of course, our greatest need, but everything else as well.

[32:56] Look at Romans 8. Sorry, I'm going to... I had all these verses up on screen, but ESCOM had other plans. So, you need to do the hard work for yourself and go to these passages.

[33:08] Romans 8. Paul is writing and he's just meditating on the amazing gift God has given us to provide our greatest need.

[33:21] And he's thinking, wow, if God is willing to provide us our greatest need, surely He's willing to provide us everything else as well. And that's what he writes. Romans 8, verse 32.

[33:34] He says, He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all. How will He not also with Him give us everything?

[33:48] Everything. In Jesus, God provides us with everything that we can never provide for ourselves.

[33:58] Not just the spiritual stuff that we need, forgiveness and justification and sanctification and all that, but everything, physical as well, all the things we think we need to earn for ourselves, God wants to provide us with.

[34:14] And it's only when we really believe that, that we can find true rest in all the business. And that's what the disciples here still needed to believe about Jesus, and it's what many of us, I think, still need to realize about Jesus.

[34:30] Especially when we're straining at the oars against the headwinds of life, just like the disciples were in the very next miracle. So, the last place I just want us to look is, again, this story, Mark 6.

[34:44] Look at the situation the disciples were in. If you're not there, just listen. Look at the situation the disciples find themselves in when they thought they could do it without Jesus.

[34:56] They left Jesus behind. He actually wanted to, he stepped back and says, go, go, just go, right to the other side of the lake. Don't take me. But what's the situation? In Mark, in fact, whenever the disciples are without Jesus, they find themselves in a time of distress.

[35:12] Look at verse 47. Well into the night, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land. When he saw them straining at the oars, because the wind was against them, very early in the morning he came towards them walking on the sea and wanted to pass by them.

[35:33] When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke with them and said, have courage.

[35:45] It is I. Don't be afraid. And then he got into the boat with them. I think Jesus wants to say the same to you and I this morning.

[36:01] In the midst of all the struggles, as we're straining at the oars against the headwinds every day of all the things that are pressurized against us, Jesus wants to say to you, I'm here.

[36:18] I can do what you can't do and I'm in the boat with you. But sometimes you need me to let you get into the storm first.

[36:33] Sometimes you need me to take you out to the desolate places first before you realize that. because only then will you discover that real rest in this world is not found by getting away from all the business but by recognizing and relying on the one who is more than able to provide you with everything you need in the midst of it.

[36:59] Let's pray. Lord, as we are here in church this morning without electricity, just another reminder of how much we fail to provide for ourselves and so many other areas in life, we stress ourselves out because we don't have enough.

[37:23] We thank you for these stories that you have inspired Mark to record and which remind us of these valuable lessons that you have enough and you are willing to give us everything we need.

[37:40] Lord, make that a reality for us and help us to find real rest in you even if we can't escape the busyness of life. Help us to realize like those disciples needed to realize that you are in the boat with us and there is no limit to what you can provide.

[37:59] Lord, make that a reality for us so that we will be willing to give of what we do have even if we think it's insufficient and to find that you provide us with far more than we ever thought.

[38:13] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.