Latest / In the Stillness Podcast / Eyes on the King

Transcript

Eyes on the King · In the Stillness Podcast

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  Hey everyone, this is friendly back with another episode on the
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  podcast. I'm so happy you're here today
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  and I'm praying that this episode meets you exactly where
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  you are and speaks to you personally.
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  Today we're going to be continuing in Matthew chapter
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  14. And before I even start reading,
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  I just want to invite y'all to ask the Father to help you
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  envision this story more vividly as I'm reading it.
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  To put yourself in the shoes of maybe a spectator or even the
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  disciples in this story because it is a familiar story.
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  Once again, like yesterday's, this is the one of Jesus walking
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  on water. But I just do not want us to
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  become dull to the reality of what a miraculous move and work
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  of God this is just because it's familiar.
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  So I'm going to be starting in verse 22 and go through verse
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  33. Immediately.
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  Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of
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  Him to the other side while He dismissed the crowd.
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  After he had dismissed them, He went up on a mountainside by
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  himself to pray. Later that night, He was there
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  alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from
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  land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
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  Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake.
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  When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were
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  terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and
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  cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to
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  them, Take courage. It is.
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  I do not be afraid, Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, Tell me
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  to come to you on the water. Come, he said.
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  Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and
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  came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was
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  afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me.
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  Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
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  You of little faith, he said, Why did you doubt?
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  And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.
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  Then those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying truly,
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  you are the Son of God. Alright, so this story is
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  specifically very just surreal to me.
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  I had the privilege of getting to go to Israel in August and so
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  I was on the Sea of Galilee and it is just completely painted
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  the picture in my head as I read this.
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  But it is so real and it's so powerful, and there's so many
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  things that stand out to me here, but just a few of the
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  things. The first one is we we see Jesus
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  prioritize time alone with his Father.
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  He dismisses the crowds and he goes up to the mountain by
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  himself to pray. And this is so humbling if you
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  think about it, that Jesus is the Son of God, but he needed
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  intentional quiet time with his Father.
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  So how much more do we and in our culture, not just culture,
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  but with technology, like we have such access to calling
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  people and catching up. And I believe we need to be
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  rooted in community. Bible studies are amazing and
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  it's important. Podcasts are good, even this
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  one. Like I'm saying this as you're
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  listening to one. But none of these things are
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  meant to replace personal time alone with God.
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  And my desire for this podcast is for it to be supplemental,
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  not a substitute. So I just want to pose the
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  question for you to reflect on. Are you spending time letting
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  God speak to you personally? Are you creating space in your
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  schedule to clear out noise and to simply sit with him?
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  And so next, I just love how Jesus responds to the disciples
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  when they're fearful. They're terrified.
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  They're literally convinced that they're seeing a ghost.
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  But Jesus does not respond with frustration or disappointment.
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  He's not passive. He doesn't say you should know
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  better by now or do you even know who you're talking to?
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  He responds with care and with tenderness.
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  And this is such a reminder of God's heart toward us.
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  God is love, and Scripture tells us that perfect love casts out
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  all fear. So I just want to highlight that
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  if the voices that you're hearing in your head are
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  producing fear or shame or they're discouraging y'all, that
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  is not the voice of your Father. That's the enemy.
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  He wants to try to trick you into believing certain things,
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  and it's all lies. He is the father of lies, but
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  God's voice, he brings peace. He brings truth and reassurance.
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  Even when he's calling us to step into something
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  uncomfortable, He is still there to encourage us and to walk
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  alongside us. So now let's transition into
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  Peter. And I think that Peter often
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  gets a bad rap, but truthfully, I really admire him here.
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  He was not testing God, and that's something that Scripture
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  is clear we are not to do. He was the one who was willing
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  to step out in faith. So I think this reveals an
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  important question for us. Do we have an active faith or a
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  passive faith? Here's the difference.
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  Active faith moves toward Jesus, but passive faith waits for
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  Jesus to come meet us where we are, when it's convenient, when
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  it's comfortable. But Peter, he was available.
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  He was prepared. He was willing to move toward
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  Jesus. And we know the moment that his
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  focus shifts, it says in the story that it's when he notices
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  the wind and the waves around him that he starts to sink.
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  And I think that this is the part where it can hit really
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  close to home for a lot of us. We begin to sink when our focus.
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  It drifts off of Jesus and onto our circumstances.
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  It's when we fixate on what's going wrong, when we start to
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  compare ourselves to the people around us, maybe what they have,
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  what we don't have, or where they are in a certain place in
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  life. Strong faith.
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  It depends on where our eyes are fixed.
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  And I don't know if you all have heard the song Eyes Locked on
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  the King by Abby Gamboa. It is one of my absolute
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  favorites. So if you haven't heard it, go
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  listen to it after this. But it just emphasizes us
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  keeping our eyes locked on Jesus.
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  And that's the reminder here that we are to focus on Jesus
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  and his power, not on what we're lacking.
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  So if you've realized maybe you're listening and you're
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  like, shoot, my focus has drifted.
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  If you kind of feel like you're sinking, y'all just reach out
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  your hand to Jesus. It's when Peter cried out, Lord
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  save me. And it was suddenly immediately
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  that Jesus reached out his hand for him.
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  There was no hesitation, there was no lecture.
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  He was there to rescue him. So I want to ask you this.
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  What do you reach for when you feel uncomfortable?
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  Is it money? Is it substances?
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  Is it control? For me, I'll say personally,
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  it's control and specifically my schedule.
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  I like to try to control the things that I feel like I can
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  control, but that is just something that I've really had
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  to bring to the Lord and ask Him to make me more sensitive to
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  that and to recognize it so that I can surrender it to Him when I
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  start to gravitate towards that. So finally, I just want us to
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  notice what happens when Jesus enters the boat.
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  The wind dies down. Christ's presence, it brings
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  peace, not chaos. And so even when we're in
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  difficult situations, you can know that you're fully
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  surrendered to Jesus when there's still peace because his
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  his peace is unexplainable. It says in Scripture that it
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  surpasses all understanding, but it guards us.
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  And our only fitting response to that peace is worship.
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  Just like they did in the boat. And the disciples say, truly,
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  you are the Son of God. So let's just sit with that.
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  I want to pray over us really quick and just thank the Father
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  for this story. So Jesus, thank you for meeting
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  us in our fear. You meet us with love and with
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  patience. Thank you that you don't shame
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  us when we doubt, but you reach out to us with kindness and
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  compassion when we cry out to you.
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  Would you help us to prioritize our time alone with you?
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  We know there are just so many moving parts in this world, but
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  would you teach us how to quiet out the noise?
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  How to really slow down and recognize your voice, and also
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  to be able to recognize the enemy's voice and to be able to
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  distinguish what you say of us and to believe your truth.
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  Lord, we give you our fear. The fear that we know is fear,
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  and maybe even the fear that we may not realize that we're
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  caring right now. We surrender our need for
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  control, our distractions, and the things that we often go to
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  instead of You, Lord, when we begin to sink, would You remind
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  us so clearly that You're close, that you're near, and that You
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  are willing and that You're more than enough?
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  Keep our eyes focused on You, Jesus, no matter what is going
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  on in the world around us, no matter what other people are
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  going through, Lord, just keep our eyes locked on you, King
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  Jesus. And then we say every day of our
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  lives that truly you are the Son of God.
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  In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Well, thank you for listening
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  today. I hope that this blesses you as
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  it did me. And I'm so excited to see y'all
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  in the next episode.