the deepest moments of difficulty of everyday life. Faith that was sturdy and strong and assured and bold and courageous. That's not who these people were. And so Jesus would introduce His disciples to some kind of difficulty. And then in that difficulty, He would reveal His glory that was meant to craft faith in them. There's a bit of what I call a gospel equation that goes through Mark. It's divine power plus divine compassion equals everything you need. Divine power plus divine compassion equals everything you need. DP plus DC equals EYN for your mathematicians in the room. Now we're ready for Mark 6:45. "Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. And after He'd taken leave of them, He went up on the mountain to pray. And when even He came, the boat was out on the sea and He was alone on the land, and He saw that they were making headway painfully for the wind was against them." "And about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw Him walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke to them and said, 'Take heart. It is I. Do not be afraid.'" "And He got into the boat with them and the wind ceased and they were utterly amazed or astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened." Now, here's the scene. The disciples find themselves in another moment of difficulty. They're trying to row their way across the Sea of Galilee. They're facing an impossible headwind. Angry seas. If you look at the larger time clues in the passage, they've probably been rowing now for eight hours. It's a situation that's exhausting and discouraging and potentially dangerous. Now, when you read the Bible, you should always have an interactive relationship with your Bible, you shouldn't read with a mental monotone, and you should ask yourself the question, how in the world did the disciples get themselves in this mess? Maybe they were just full of themselves. Maybe they just assigned to themselves much more strength and wisdom than they actually had. Maybe they had been disobedient to the commands of Christ. Maybe they had just made another foolish choice. Well, the answer to that is no, no, no, and no. If you look at verse 45, it says, "Immediately He, Christ, commanded them to get in this boat." You will understand nothing about this passage and nothing about the way God works in our lives if you don't understand this mess was Jesus' mess. He's got the disciples in this moment exactly where He wants them to be. Now you ought to say, "Why would a God of such grace, why would a God of such tender love, why would a God who proclaims again and again that He cares for us ever want His children to be in this kind of difficulty? Why? Why? Why?" Millions of Christians over the years have asked that question, "Why, God? Why?" Well, Jesus knows something about the boys in the boat. He knows how self-righteous they can be. He knows how full of a sense of their own strength and wisdom they can be. It's always amazing to me when you watch the disciples argue with Jesus. You want to say, "He's Jesus. Messiah." It's amazing. He knows how much they are committed more to their little kingdoms than to His kingdom. There's an amazing moment in Mark 9 where Jesus has just laid out the fact that He's going to suffer and die in the most specific way He's laid it out so far. You know what the next conversation is? It's not grief, it's not, "Oh, Jesus, they shouldn't do this to you." They're walking toward Capernaum and Jesus knows the disciples are arguing and He asks them what they're arguing about and they sort of, kind of embarrassed, don't want to answer the question, and finally someone answers the question and they're fighting about who's going to be greatest in the kingdom.
Transcript: Session 1
WOMEN HELPING WOMEN
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