This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to our last day of looking together at Mark chapter 6 in Daily Drive
Time Devotions, day 5, verses 45 to 56 today. And as we look at verses 45 to 52
to begin with, we're going to see once again Jesus giving his disciples an
opportunity to live out the faith that they've been seeing, that they've been
learning. Listen to what happens in these verses.

Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to
Bethsaida while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a
mountainside to pray. When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the lake
and he was alone on land.

He saw the disciples straining at the oars because the wind was against them.
Watch of the night, he went out to them walking on the lake. He was about to
pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the lake, they thought he was a
ghost.

They cried out because they all saw him and were terrified. Immediately he spoke
to them and said, "Take courage. It is I.

Don't be afraid. " Then he climbed into the boat with them and the wind died
down and they were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the
loaves. Their hearts were hardened.

Before getting into what happened here, let me just make a note. Matthew, when
he tells us what happens here, he tells us that this is where Peter walked on
the water. It's interesting to me that Mark, who is writing with Peter's
guidance, leaves that out.

I think in a way you can see Peter's humility here. He didn't put that part in.
He didn't let other people know the great spiritual victories that he had, but
we're going to see later that he doesn't let them know the great spiritual
failures that he faced.

Now, as I read through this story of Jesus coming to them on the water, I read
this story and let a lot of people read it the last few weeks, and there was one
main question that people had about this story as they read about Jesus coming
to the disciples on the lake. The question, the main question was this. Why was
he going to pass by them?

He was about to pass them by. Why was he going to do that? Was it maybe to walk
out in front of them to lead the way?

Was he maybe going to go and surprise them on the other side? Hello, it's me.
Here I am.

Maybe it was because he was a lot faster walking than they were rowing. I mean,
if you could pass someone, you're running and you could go as fast as someone
riding a motorcycle, you'd pass them, wouldn't you? Is that what's going on
here?

No, there's something deeper going on here. Most likely, he was going to allow
them to face this storm by themselves with faith in him. Remember that before
when there had been a storm, he was going to sleep through it before they called
on him.

Just as he'd sent them to preach by themselves at the beginning of this chapter,
here he gives them an opportunity to face a storm on their own, to have faith.
And he'd shown them the way to faith in the feeding of the 5,000. And now here
is this field trip for faith.

And they struggle. They can't see how Jesus Christ can be with them in the midst
of this storm until they see someone, something out on the lake, but they can't
even see then that it's Jesus. They think that it's a ghost instead of Jesus.

They're afraid of Jesus approaching them. And then Jesus says these words, these
three short sentences. They're very powerful.

They're sentences I need to hear again and again in my life. Maybe they're
sentences you need to hear today in the midst of the storm that you're facing.
Take courage.

It is I. Don't be afraid. When you hear Jesus Christ say those words, there is
comfort and there is challenge and there is calm and there is power.

Someone on our research team who read these verses noted that the three words
that struck them the most in this chapter were the words, "It is I. " Maybe
that's what you need to hear. You need to hear that Jesus is there in the midst
of your storm.

You are not alone. I want you to notice something you probably did notice as I
read these verses. In verse 52, the Bible says the disciples were amazed.

They couldn't believe that Jesus could do this because they had not understood
about the loaves. And then the Bible says this phrase, "Their hearts were
hardened. " Their hearts were hardened.

Followers of Jesus, but they had hearts that were hardened by experiences and
opinions. Sometimes when God talks about having a hard heart, it's someone who
won't accept Jesus Christ at all. They just keep themselves from even having a
relationship with Jesus.

But these are his disciples. These are his apostles. They have a relationship
with Jesus, but they also have hard hearts.

And that causes me to have to ask, "Lord, where do I have a hard heart? Where
are there places in my life where my experiences, where my opinions have caused
me to not see that you could be at work in that place? " I have plenty of places
like that in my life.

And I need Jesus Christ to soften my heart, to test my faith, and to grow my
faith. Where do you need him to grow your faith? This test of faith comes, and
then at the end of the chapter, here's what happens when they land on the other
side, verses 53 to 56.

When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there. As
soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout
the whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

And wherever he went, into villages, towns, or countryside, they placed the sick
in the market places. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his
cloak, and all who touched him were healed. As many as touched him were being
cured.

They had to touch him first. Faith, their faith, came into this miracle. But
Jesus Christ was the one who did the healing.

And before we say a little bit more about miracles, just a question that I think
many of us have. Why am I not cured of my health problems by getting in touch
with Jesus? Why is my best friend, why is this person in my family not cured of
their health problems by getting in touch with Jesus?

Is there something wrong with me? Is it that I don't have enough faith? Well,
I'm certain that you have the faith that these people did in that day.

Most of them didn't even know Jesus. It was their first time to meet him, and
yet he healed them. Here are the facts.

While Jesus walked this earth, he chose to heal all who touched him. And then
here's the other fact. He does not immediately heal all who pray to heal today.

Both of these he does for his own purposes. I don't understand why, but he does
them for his purposes, and I trust him. I trust that both will accomplish his
ultimate will of bringing to himself his people for all of eternity.

We ask, in our human thinking, we ask, wouldn't more people come to Jesus if he
healed everyone who asked? And my answer has to be, because I trust him,
obviously not. Or he would heal everyone who asked.

He's going to do what brings the most people to him for eternity. God is
concerned about our condition now. No doubt about it.

He's concerned about your health problem. He's concerned about your job, your
circumstances now. No doubt about it.

But he's more deeply concerned about eternity, because that's what's going to
last forever. The truth is, I've seen this many times, and you may have also,
that more people come to faith through their painful circumstances than have
ever come to faith by seeing someone else healed. God is at work, and I don't
understand why he heals sometimes and why he does not, but I do trust him.

I do know that someday I will understand it all, or understand that I don't need
to understand it all. I do trust him. In this chapter about miracles, there are
some lessons about miracles.

Lesson one and lesson two. Lesson number one, miracles do not convince faith.
They grow out of faith.

Now miracles can draw our attention to Jesus, know that Jesus is there because I
saw this miracle, but then I have the choice, am I going to have faith or not?
And people are not convinced to have faith through miracles. You can see that
again and again in the life of Jesus.

People responded to miracles different ways depending on where their heart was.
The miracle did not convince everyone to have faith. Even in this one chapter,
we've seen some people, they had guilt because of the miracles.

Other people, they were offended because of the miracles. Many people are
waiting for a miracle to convince someone else to have faith, but that's not the
purpose of a miracle. Miracles draw our attention, but miracles do not convince
us to have faith.

They grow out of our faith. Lesson number two about miracles in this chapter,
the lessons of miracles are short lived. The disciples of Jesus Christ saw him
feed 5,000 men, maybe 20,000 people.

When they're in a boat that night and they're afraid for their lives because
they think Jesus can't meet their needs, we are very spontaneous people as a
kind way to say this about us. And we say, "God, show me a miracle and then I'll
believe in you. God, show me a miracle and then I'll trust in you.

" The truth of the matter is he has already shown me, he's already shown you all
that I need by dying on a cross. His stretched out hands, the fact that nails
pierced those hands, pierced his feet, that he died for you, his love for you
goes to that extent, that's greater than any other miracle that can happen.
There's no greater miracle in my life, in your life, than the miracle of a
relationship with him that comes through our trust in him.

A miracle can be like a blast of fireworks in the sky. It makes us look at
Jesus, but then when we look, then we have to decide, "How am I going to respond
with guilt, with fear, with unbelief, or am I going to respond with the miracle
of allowing him to work his miracle of life in my relationship with him? " Let's
take a minute to pray together.

As you pray today, ask yourself, "How am I going to respond to the miracle of
God's invitation of new life for me? " Maybe you've never responded, and today
is the day to say, "Jesus Christ, I've been waiting for a miracle to say I
believe in you, and I want to tell you I'm sorry. I've been ignoring the
greatest miracle of all, the miracle of your love for me, dying on a cross,
being resurrected for me.

God, I see now that that's a personal invitation, and today I accept that
invitation, the miracle of your love in my life. I trust you. I trust you with
my sins to forgive me.

I trust you to give me new life. " Maybe you need to trust him for the first
time, or maybe you need to trust him in this circumstance that you're facing
today, and to say, "Jesus Christ, I trust you. " I don't understand.

I may never understand, but, "Jesus, I trust you," and instead of allowing my
life to be motivated by guilt, or fear, or doubt, or anxiety, I want my life to
be led by my relationship with you and my faith in you. I ask that that would
happen through my trust in you. In your name, Jesus, amen.

Well join us next week as we continue our look at Mark chapter 7 and daily
drive-time devotions. We're going to be looking this next week at the real life
of faith.