Father Mark Nolte - Aug 9

St. Philip Catholic Church: Good morning everybody. So in case you're wondering who this strange seminarian is up here, that's Jimmy Sise. Jimmy's family lives here and Jimmy's seminary with the Diocese of Charlotte, North Carolina, so we welcome Jimmy while he's here visiting, so I'm trying to get him to hit the transfer portal. I told him I hit the transfer portal and things are going well. The NIL's flowing in pretty well. And I said, Hey Jimmy, Charlotte's a great town, but Franklin, Nashville, just think about that. Pray about it. We only want God's will, so you of little faith, why did you doubt? Any of y'all ever doubt God? One person, two, three. A lot. And especially when we're going through very difficult times, we're going through the storms of our lives, health issues, the loss of job, just sudden crisis. God doesn't Cause those things. He allows them sometimes. Why? Not because he's a cruel God and he likes to watch his children squirm. He does it so that we can lean on him more. And he does it also to remind us we're not as strong as we think without him. Jesus says, Without me, you can do nothing. He allows us to go through these storms. So it says in the gospel today that they were he's going up to the mountain to pray, and in the fourth watch of the night. Which is really early in the morning, they're getting knocked around by the waves and the winds are getting strong. And here he's up there praying. Does that ever feel like God's like Can't you see I'm getting knocked around here a little bit? I'm I'm being overwhelmed. But it says he doesn't come to them until the fourth watch. What's what's Jesus waiting on? He's up there, he's God, he sees everything. But he's trying to teach them, he's allowing them to go through adversity. Because he knows when he ascends to the Father later on, they're gonna be the leaders of the church. They're gonna have to learn to go through adversity with him. He never lets us go through adversity alone. It seems that way, it feels that way sometimes when we're going through hard times, it feels like abandonment. It feels like God's abandoned me, doesn't it? And we start doubting him. We even some people even start doubting that he even exists because they've been through a lot of suffering and hardship. But the gospel tells us today that God is always with us. We just don't always feel his presence. He's with me as I'm getting tossed around. He's with me in that. Sometimes I look at him in the boat and I'm like, Lord, you can do something about this. We're getting knocked around. Come on. All you gotta do is stand up in the boat. But he's trying to teach them, not he says, take courage. It is I, do not be afraid. And we have to understand at this point in the gospel, these men still don't know who Jesus is. They don't know that he's divine, that he's God in the flesh. And the reason he walks to them on the water, he could have flown out there if he wanted. He's God. He could have done it. But he walks on the water. Why? Because he's revealing to them his divinity, showing them. That I'm more than just a man. I'm a God man. Why is that important? Because now I can trust him. If I know Jesus can walk on water and that he can multiply bread and fish, and that he can rise from the dead, I there's nothing for me to be afraid of, right? It's nothing to be afraid of when I'm going through hard times. And good old Peter, I love Peter. Peter is the guy living on the edge. Peter was I love Peter. Because he's he's got a big mouth, like we I do. And he's like, Yeah, I can do that. Lord, if that's really you, have you ever said that to God? If you really exist, if you're real, then prove it. Command me to come walk on the water. Jesus' like, Okay, come on. Jesus doesn't hesitate and go, hmm, I wonder if he can do that. He says, Come. And Peter just steps out of the boat. You know? I don't think it was whistling, but And he's doing fine, right? He's coming to Jesus. That's what Jesus does to us. He says, Come, come to me. You come to me and you're going to do amazing things. Supernatural things. Miraculous things. How many of us believe that we can do God can do miraculous things through us when we just step out of the both? Two people. God can do miraculous things. I've seen him heal people. I've seen him drive demons out. I've seen all kinds of people get out of wheelchairs, blind people seeing, deaf people hearing. Not because I did anything, but I was just let him work through me. But I had to put my faith in that. I had to put my faith in him. I had to trust him. Some of you here this morning, maybe you're going through some hard times. You're feeling you're getting tossed around. You just feel overwhelmed. How many of you feel overwhelmed a lot? When I used to be a pastor, I I was just felt that all the time. Just so much. But I learned over time I have to come to him. He's calling me. Come, come to me with your burdens. Step out of faith and trust me that I'm with you. That I'm greater Jesus is He's showing them by walking on the water, he's showing them I am greater than any problem you'll ever face. I have all the money in the world you need. If you need money, you I have all the resources. And Jesus is always with us. Even when we don't feel his presence, he's always with us. And so someone here today, maybe the Lord's asking you, trust me. Maybe he's asking you to take a step of faith somewhere where you've been staying in the boat. Sometimes we just want to stay in the boat because it's safe. But he's he's telling all of us, step, step out toward me. To be to step out in faith means I'm willing to take risk. I'm willing to look foolish in front of other people. And that's when I've seen miracles happen in my life when I chose to do what what he told me to do at the risk of looking foolish. That's when I saw things happen supernaturally. And it's not just because I'm a priest. It's anyone who puts their faith in him. Where is God asking you today to trust him? To know you're safe. See, you're safe. 'Cause he's with you in the boat. And where Peter failed eventually was what? When he took his eyes off of Jesus and he started looking at his circumstances. See, when you start looking at your circumstances, my God, we have we don't have enough money. my God, this and my we start looking out here and we take our eyes off of him. And once you start doing looking at your circumstances, you sink. Because they just weigh you down. And when you do that, and you we do that. We lose our focus and we start focusing on our problems and we try to fix it ourselves rather than going to Him. And when you do that, that's okay. It's going to happen. We're very weak people. But when you do start sinking, all you have to do is say, Lord, save me. It's too much for me. I can't handle this. Save me, Lord. And it says in the gospel today, immediately he put out his hand and he pulled Peter up to himself. That's a great image in prayer. When I'm going through hard times, I just put my hands out to him, say, Jesus, I can't handle all these people. They're driving me crazy. All these kids and everything, Lord, finances, whatever it is, my marriage. It's all too much for me, but it's not too much for you, Jesus. I just put my hands out to you. Lord, save me. And let him take you by the hands and just pull you up to himself. And every time I do that, whatever's weighing on me just goes. Thank you. See, where we get in trouble, we don't come to him. We try to figure it out, work it out, on our own, and we wear ourselves out. That's why I end up going through burnout and having all kinds of health issues, 'cause I was leaning too much on me and not enough on him. So whatever you're going through, just Jesus, I know you're here. I don't feel your presence. I don't see you, I don't hear you, but I know you're with me, and I know you love me. And I know I'm safe. Jesus, no matter what, I trust in you. And when we learn to do that more and more, you're gonna see miracles that you've never seen in your life before.