Go ahead. All right, make sure we're set to go. All right, here we go. All right. Good morning, everybody. Good morning. Good morning. As we turn to Matthew 14, let's think about the context here in this chapter as you turn there. So the first part of chapter 14, what do we see? It's the death of John the Baptist. Right after that is the feeding of the 5,000. And then we go, we see Jesus going off on his own for a little while. He sends the disciples off on a boat and we'll pick up there. We'll pick up in verse 22 here. I've got it on the screen. Okay. So it's a pretty well-known set of verses here. A lot of us have studied this where Jesus walks on the water, but I think we'll see a little bit different perspective. At least it opened my eyes to this. Let's read the scripture here. Verses 22 to 24 says, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. And after he dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. But the boat, by this time, was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. He said, it's a ghost. and they cried out in fear. But immediately, immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take heart. It is I do not be afraid. And the King James says, be of good cheer. Let's pray and then we'll get into the lesson here. Gracious God, you are so good to us. And Lord, as we see in your word here that you're there in the presence of the storms that we go through. Lord, I pray that our hearts would be open to your word today, that you would calm my heart and give me the words to say today that my heart and hopefully the hearts of those here would be encouraged through your word. Lord, we love you. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. So we're here in the middle of a storm, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, right? The disciples are terrified. You know, boats rocking, water's probably coming in. They don't know what to do. And they see Jesus walking on the water. They're terrified. They think it's a ghost. They don't know what's going on. So. Jesus response. His first words be of good cheer. Take heart. Now you think about the worst times that you have. Whether it be health. Family situations. What's our response? Don't you know? Like the disciples, don't you know our boat sinking? And you're saying be a good cheer. Don't you know I just got diagnosed with cancer? Don't you know the pain I'm in every day? Don't you know how serious my situation is right now? How can I possibly be cheerful? With the situation I'm in. That's our human response, right? Always it is mine. You can ask my wife. I always go towards the negative side of things a lot of times. But what did Jesus say? He's saying that it's OK. I'm here. It's OK to be happy because I'm here with you. I really like this quote that Kerry Schmidt wrote in this book. It says, from the heart of God, he expects us to rest with the discovery of his presence. Not just knowing, but discovering his presence. The whole world could be coming to an end, but when we hear his eye, we should suddenly have the capacity to be cheerful. That's a hard thing to even think about really. I know based on the survey that we did a couple of weeks ago, we're all going through something. All of us go through something. Some more serious than others, but everybody has their storms that they're going through, right? Whether it's getting COVID, the whole family or somebody having to go to the hospital for a week. or recurring cancer, we all have our trials. The hard thing for us is to get our eyes off ourselves and our pity, our self-pity, and keep our eyes on Christ. So what's Jesus' response to the disciples' fear? Take heart. Be of good cheer. It's me. It's Jesus. Don't be afraid anymore. So this word is Greek word that he used here might be kind of hard to see our sale. It literally means cheer or be cheerful or cheerful or cheerfulness or to be of good courage. This phrase is used only like a total of eight times in the new Testament, mostly in the gospels and once in acts. And it's always used as an imperative. This is not a suggestion. It's not. Well, this is one thing you could do. Jesus is telling. Hey, I'm here. It's OK to be cheerful. It's OK to be happy. In the midst of everything you're going through. And through. Through Christ, we can have that courage to go through whatever we're going through. As this word implies. And what happens next? Of course, Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water. Of course, Peter is going to be the one to speak up out of all the disciples and Jesus simple, simple response. Every time we're going through something, whether it's schoolwork or medical diagnosis, and fear starts to creep in, Jesus says, come. Come. Your mouth is on fire from too hot of stuff. But Jesus said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. Here they are in the middle of this storm. And Jesus said, calmly, just come to me. And notice, Jesus didn't stop the storm first. The waves were still rolling in, the water was still coming in the boat. When Peter asked, and he started walking on the water in the middle of these high waves and winds and everything. Peter stepped out in faith to come to the one who was the master of the storm. He invites us to step out in the middle and be with him. Another one from Kerry says he encourages you to relinquish your last shred of personal security to lose your grip on anything you might be holding onto. And risk it all by joining him in the middle of the chaos. Just think about the imagery here. Immerse yourself into the raging waters that harbor the presence of the Almighty. Let's let that sink in a minute. The disciples had Jesus with them all the time. What would our life look like without God and the things that we go through every day? We've talked about this before, going through such hard times. with health, just life in general. How can an unbeliever even survive those things with no hope, no peace, no comfort, no real joy, no way out, no relief. Life would be empty, dark, pain, and then death. It's not life. That's not what God intended for us. But then there's the other side of that. Then we hear Jesus calling out to us in the middle of a storm, in the darkness, in the raging storms of life. Jesus says, take heart. Be a good cheer. It's me, Jesus. You don't have to be afraid anymore. The choice is ours to make. One of our boys. Anytime a storm comes up or even the possibility of a storm, his anxiety just goes to the roof. All the time and I try to tell him all the time. Don't let fear control you. A lot of people deal with that kind of anxiety, that kind of fear that paralyzes us sometimes. They can. I know there was a time when I was first diagnosed with cancer. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. We had two young kids at the time. Found out we had a third on the way. We were in Florida, far away from most of the friends and family that we knew for so long. That was a very hard time. And there were a lot of tears shed. But God gave us a joy that really I have no explanation for other than this. There really is none. And the crazy thing is when God sees you through these storms, it's not just for you. It's not just the thing that you're going through. It may be days, it may be years, but the testimony that you can have by going through those storms with Christ, will show to other people. It did to the doctor that delivered our last son. Through all the chemo and all the radiation and losing my hair and high-risk pregnancy and all of that, God gave us a peace that only he could give us. And I know many of you know that kind of piece, because you've had your own storms. You've had your own trials that you've gone through. Probably everyone in this room has. But the last appointment we had before Carter was born, the doctor took us aside. And this was, he was probably a secular doctor. He worked at a Catholic hospital. And he pulled us aside and said, I don't remember exactly what he said to this effect. Watching you guys go through this and still have the kind of joy that you have restored my faith. Well, I. We're just living our everyday life, trying to get through each day that the Lord gives us. So you never know who's watching you as you go through your trial, as you're going through your storm. It could be your doctor, it could be a coworker, it could be somebody you sit down next to drinking coffee. She always thinks about what she takes back. I'm the one that fires up stuff. The other place in scripture where Jesus says, take heart is where he says, you're going to have trials. Oh, yeah. Take heart. Yeah. I will become the world. Yeah. Jump ahead. Sorry. So really the choice is ours to make, right? We can stay in that dark place and look down at ourselves and our own situation. or we can reach out to Jesus who's calling us. Do we stay in the boat doing useless things in our own power? Or do we step out in faith like Peter did, keeping our eyes on the one who controls the storm? Pam said already John 1633. These things I've spoken unto you, but in me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. We know that for a fact guarantee. All the time. So be a good cheer. Take heart, because I've overcome the world. That's right, he's got it. So decision two in this book is from the title. Be of good cheer. Take heart. Be courageous. See Jesus. Refuse to be afraid. And join him in the storm. Our natural response is to ask him, God, get us out of the storm. Sometimes Jesus wants to go through it with the knowledge that he's there with us. First, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. Do not let the distractions of the trial turn you away from him. We must see him for who he is. He's the almighty. He's the all-knowing. He's the all-powerful creator of the universe. It says come. Come to me. The second one is to be cheerful. Now that peace and joy that we can have is only through Christ. If we let these trials. Be the only focus in our lives. We will be depressed. We will be down. And it will show it will show on our face. It will show in our life. And that kind of depression. Pulls us away from a relationship with God. I think this is a quote that you had highlighted in the book the other day. Cheer in the midst of hardness is a paradox only possible when you realize that a joyful life and an easy life are not synonymous. Know that. An easy life is not always a happy life. And a difficult life is not always a sad life. Cheer is the product of the presence of God. The only real joy that we can have is when we're living in the constant presence of God. Really. Third, do not be afraid. Do not live in fear. Do not let fear overwhelm you and take your eyes off Jesus. And for my own flesh, that's easier said than done. When such things are unknown. We don't know what our future holds, especially when we have a situation like cancer or whatever come into our lives. We don't know. That wasn't in our script, right? We didn't know that was going to happen, but Jesus did. And he already knows the way through. So don't let fear overwhelm you and take your eyes off Jesus. A couple of verses here, Isaiah 41, 10. Pretty familiar verse, but it's so good. It says, fear not for I am with you. Be not dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will up you, hold you with my righteous right hand. This is God talking. I'm with you. God is our God. He will strengthen you. He will keep you. He will help you and he will hold you up. Last verse I have here. And I love the imagery and the song. Reminds me of a parent with a young child when they're afraid. But you, oh Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter up of my head. When we're down and we let the things in life get to us too much, our natural response is to go low, to be our countenance drops. But Christ is there to lift our heads up. Just like we do with a child that's hurting, what does mama do? Puts that finger under his chin. Mom and daddy's here. It's going to be all right. And that's what Christ does for us. So in your storm, in your trial, First, see that Jesus is there. And be cheerful. Don't let the darkness and sadness overwhelm you because Christ is there with us. And refuse to be afraid. It's an act of the will to place that faith in Christ and let go because really it's not in our hands anyway. We try to hold on to our fear and doubts and everything so much. We get a tight grip on that. The crisis let go and come to me and join him in the midst of the storm. Anybody else have any other thoughts they want to put in? God sends us these storms, these trials to grow us, to strengthen our faith, not to step on us and push us down, but to grow closer to him, to be more like Christ. And Sam, Laurie and I, in doing work with the fallen soldiers and stuff, you can see just within a few minutes the families that they have and the families that don't. Because so many of them, you know, the ones that don't are just so bitter. And I don't see how they can put up with themselves like that. their daughter's dead, and they're in the ground, and that's all there is. That's all they have to eat. So it's just such a miserable existence for them that they're just consumed by it. It's a sad situation for them. Yeah, it is. How do you navigate all of this tragedy? but sicknesses of some kind or know a family member that will. A very serious situations, you know, whether it be cancer or. Heart surgeries or whatever it is. Take away that scripture either focusing everybody knows this right as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus exactly started going down. Yeah, that's another good example. Oh yeah, yeah. And the cool thing about that scripture too, what happened right after Peter started sinking, Christ was right there. Still in the water, still in the storm. around us and we see security in that boat. I mean, the storm's still going, but that boat still represents security and comfort. And what if the entire purpose of that storm is for God to let us go? Yeah, that's good. Yeah, the boat can be indicative of us. I feel like we're relying on ourselves and saying we've got it, we've got the control and that security that we feel in ourselves. in his presence and his hands. Yeah. Yeah. Any other thoughts?