https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/OneOfThoseDays.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Matthew 14:1-36<\/p>\n
I. It is easy to get a distorted view of time while reading the Bible<\/p>\n A. We see the highlights over a 4,000+ year period of time and come away thinking\nthat miracles and exciting events happened constantly\n B. But sometime we read the events in the Gospels and don’t realize all the things\nthat happened in a single day’s time.\n 1. There were days in Jesus’ life that were a roller coaster ride of wild\nemotions.\n
C. We are going to examine the events of just one day in Jesus’ life as recorded in:<\/p>\n
1. Matthew 14:1-36<\/p>\n
2. Mark 6:14-56<\/p>\n
3. Luke 9:7-17<\/p>\n
4. John 6:1-21<\/p>\n
II. The events<\/p>\n
A. Prior to this day<\/p>\n
1. Jesus sends the twelve out to preach<\/p>\n 2. Herod has a birthday party where he offers his daughter anything she\nwants, up to half his kingdom.\n a. She, with prodding from her mother, asks for the head of John the\nBaptist. Herod reluctantly agrees.\n b. John had publically declared that Herod’s marriage was immoral in\nthe sight of God and Herodias was looking for revenge.\n
B. Word reaches Jesus on this day that John was murdered – Matthew 14:12<\/p>\n 1. John was Jesus’ cousin and the man sent by God to prepare the people of\nIsrael for Jesus’ coming.\n 2. How would you feel if your cousin died? Not just die, but found out he\nwas murdered. Not just by anyone, but the corrupt, drunken ruler of the\nnation as a party-favor to please his daughter. [grief]\n 3. In addition, Herod has heard of Jesus and how much Jesus’ teaching is like\nJohn’s teaching.\n
a. Herod wants to meet with Jesus – Luke 9:9<\/p>\n b. Somehow it is doubtful that this would be a social call or a result\nof a desire to learn from the Messiah. [danger]\n
c. What would you do, if you were Jesus?<\/p>\n
C. Before Jesus can do anything, the disciples return – Mark 6:30<\/p>\n
1. They are bubbling with excitement over everything that had happened<\/p>\n
2. They can’t wait to tell Jesus all the news.<\/p>\n 3. Has this ever happened to you? You are grieving inside, but no one else\nnotices? You need some quiet time, but everyone else is excited and\ndemanding your attention.\n 4. It is not just the disciples either, a crowd has followed them back to see the\nMessiah. – Mark 6:31\n 5. There was so much to do that Jesus and the disciples did not even have\ntime to eat.\n
D. Jesus tries to get some quiet-time with his disciples- Mark 6:32<\/p>\n
1. They go off in a boat for a deserted place near Bethsaida – Luke 9:10<\/p>\n 2. But the people figured out where he was going and beat Jesus and the\ndisciples there.\n 3. All Jesus wanted was a moment of peace and what he got was a\ndemanding crowd that couldn’t take a hint!\n E. Most of us would have gotten angry or have broken down and cried, but Jesus saw\nsomething that most of us would miss. (Mark 6:34)\n 1. We would have been so caught up in our own grief that we would not\nnotice other people’s feelings\n 2. Jesus saw a need. These people needed help and guidance. Jesus went to\nwork.\n
a. Sometimes the best cure for grief is work. <\/p>\n
(1) Elijah – I Kings 19:13-17 <\/p>\n (a) Elijah was depressed! People were seeking his life. \nPeople were not listening to God’s message.\n
(b) God told him to get up, he had work for him to do.<\/p>\n F. It began to get dark, and the disciples suggest that Jesus send the people away so\nthey can find food. – John 6:5-9\n
1. But Jesus turns to them and says “You give them something to eat.”<\/p>\n 2. In a sense it was a test. They had been given miraculous powers. They\nhad just come back from a journey where God supplied their every need as\nthey preached the Good News.\n 3. Instead they chose to complain. “Do you expect us to spend almost a\nyear’s wages to feed this crowd?” Not that they had that kind of money on\nthem, but really Master, be realistic!\n 4. Can you imagine Jesus’ disappointment in his disciples? They had an\nopportunity to apply their lessons and to shine, yet they remained blind –\nseeing only the things immediately around them.\n
G. The crowd is fed, but they are not content<\/p>\n
1. Here is the Prophet, the Messiah, our King! – John 6:14-15<\/p>\n
2. If Jesus was reluctant, well, they would make him king by force.<\/p>\n 3. All this time, Jesus still hasn’t had a moment of peace to deal with his\ngrief.\n 4. The disciples and the crowds are excited with the power shown (both that\nday and in the prior days). Here is the moment they have been waiting for!\n
5. Jesus insists that the disciples get in a boat and row away from the crowds.<\/p>\n
a. He then tells the people to go home.<\/p>\n
b. He then walks away from them all, by himself, and prays<\/p>\n 6. Imagine the confusion of the disciples! The perfect opportunity passed up!\nAnd then to be sent away! – Matthew 14:22-23\n
H. That night a storm arose while the disciples were making their way across the sea<\/p>\n
1. The disciples feared for their lives.<\/p>\n
2. Jesus knew their predicament – Mark 6:48 <\/p>\n a. He was out in the storm as well. But he waits until the fourth\nwatch (between 3 and 6 in the morning). \n b. The disciples have been battling the storm all night. They are three\nor four miles from shore in a severe storm! – John 6:18-19\n c. Wondering why Jesus doesn’t notice their distress. Wondering\nwhy Jesus, who calmed the sea earlier, doesn’t do something!\n 3. Is that not how we react? We want God to see our problems and do\nsomething about them right now! Yet, sometimes God lets us struggle\nwith them for a while. Perhaps longer than we care to deal with them,\nbecause the very struggle is teaching us – James 1:2-4\n a. We pray for patience and God gives it to us by teaching us, but\noften we do not like the lesson. We learn by overcoming\nproblems.\n 4. Jesus walks out to the disciples and would have passed by, but they see\nhim.\n a. The disciples are terrified. Their boat is sinking. They are far from\nshore in the middle of a storm. And now a being is moving across\nthe water – a ghost!\n
b. By Jesus calms their fears, assuring them it is he.<\/p>\n
c. Peter cries out “If it is really you, command me to come to you!”<\/p>\n
(1) Peter is not testing Jesus. <\/p>\n
(2) He is scared. Where he is at seems to be sure death. <\/p>\n (3) Where the Master is safety. Peter is wanting to clinging to\nsomeone who can save him.\n (4) At first it works, until Peter’s fears makes him think of\nwhat he is doing!\n
d. Jesus rescues Peter, scolding him for his lack of faith.<\/p>\n e. Instantly the sea is calm, as if there never was a storm! I’m sure\nthe disciples wondered if they just imagined it, other than they\nwere soaking wet.\n
5. Now they fall down and worship him – Matthew 14:33<\/p>\n a. The feeding of the 5000 did not impress them as much as their\nrescue from the sea – Mark 6:51-52. \n
(1) This was amazing! This was impressive!<\/p>\n
b. Why is that? <\/p>\n
(1) It was their life that was on the line! <\/p>\n (2) This was personal! Jesus had snatched them from the brink\nof death.\n
c. Sometimes we need a severe shock to see what was always there.<\/p>\n
III. The application<\/p>\n
A. God never promised his followers a life without grief.<\/p>\n
1. In fact, we are promised quite the opposite – Luke 9:23-24<\/p>\n
2. We are going to face days, just as Jesus did, that are emotional roller-coasters.<\/p>\n 3. We are going to face disappointment in God when He doesn’t match our\nexpectation of him, just as the disciples did.\n 4. We are going to face problems and trials where it looks like God has\nabandoned us, just as the disciples did.\n
B. Will your faith carry you through? Will you lean on God or cry out against Him?<\/p>\n C. What will it take to get you to realize how much you need a savior? Come out of\nyour shell of self-reliance.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Matthew 14:1-36 I. It is easy to get a distorted view of time while reading the Bible A. We see the highlights over a 4,000+ year period of time and come away thinking that miracles and exciting events happened constantly B. But sometime we read the events in the Gospels and don’t realize…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[188],"class_list":["post-48132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-trials"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15865,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-bible-and-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":48132,"position":0},"title":"Jesus, the Bible, and History","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier As Luke digs into the story of who Jesus is, he doesn\u2019t say, \u201cLong ago, in a land far, far away.\u201d He doesn\u2019t say, \u201cOnce upon a time.\u201d He gets specific. It was the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate was the governor\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24046,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":48132,"position":1},"title":"Bible Stories","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: II Peter 1:16-21 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGrandpa, read me a story.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Children love hearing a story and so stories are selected to teach the children some lessons \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Most of us don\u2019t grow out of the desire to hear a story. Whether from reading a book or hearing a podcast or watching\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53683,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/great-events-in-four-rooms\/","url_meta":{"origin":48132,"position":2},"title":"Great Events in Four Rooms","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 15, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28548,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-to-our-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":48132,"position":3},"title":"What Happened to Our Love?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61853,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/beginning-a-new-year\/","url_meta":{"origin":48132,"position":4},"title":"Beginning a New Year","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 13, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The people of Israel stood at the edge of the promised land. The hopes of this people were about to be fulfilled. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Giving detailed instructions on where they should go and not go, Joshua added this comment, \u201cFor you have not passed this way before.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-miracles-happen-every-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":48132,"position":5},"title":"Do miracles happen every day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Recently, in a discussion, someone said that miracles happen every day; and that if you anoint someone and pray over them, then they can be healed. Also, they say that proof of miracles today is the fruits of the Spirit. They \"defy the nature of man,\" so they are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}