”The Grasp of Jesus” Pastor Jamey Houghton, March 14, 2026

Hello and welcome to church. We're so

glad that you were able to join us here

at the McDonald Road 7th Day Adventist

Church for our worship time. I hope that

your time is blessed. I hope the music

blesses your soul. I hope the message

touches your heart. And if if it does,

we would be honored if you would share

this content with somebody else so they

can be blessed as well. We're so glad

that you can be a part of our online

church here at McDonald Road and hope

that you are blessed in your worship

together with us today. God bless and

enjoy our worship service.

As as we were listening to some music a

little bit earlier during the

offeratory, uh one of the songs that

Carol was playing was a song that had

been going through my mind this week.

It's some of the most beautiful words in

any in any uh hymn, I think, and it's

from I believe it's called the love of

God. It's the name of the song. And the

words go like this. Could we with ink

the ocean fill and were the skies of

parchment made? Where every stock on

earth aquill and every man ascribed by

trade to write the love of God above

would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole

though stretched from sky to sky.

>> The words of that song. I'd been

thinking about those this week and then

I heard them played on the organ and it

uh brought me right back to the

beautiful words in that song. Uh and and

what a what a blessing music is to our

worship service.

Uh we have uh some some kids from

college academy who are on mission trips

and some adults and some teachers that

are with them on those mission trips. So

please keep them in your prayers. We

have uh trips in Kenya and in Brazil and

so uh all over the world. Please keep

them in your prayers for safe travels

and safety as they uh as they share

music and as they build in their

respective areas.

About four years ago, I was a sponsor on

my daughter Callie's 8th grade class

trip. And uh if you've ever been a

sponsor on a class trip where it's

overnight and there's lots of details,

it's a lot of work if you're one of the

adults, the teachers, or one of the one

of the parents. And uh this was this was

going to be a fun one. We were going to

one of my favorite places in the world,

Moab, Utah in eastern Utah. Arches

National Park is there. Canyonlands

National Park is there. The Colorado

River is there. Lots of outdoor

activities to participate in. And our

goal was to wear these kids out because

my theory is that tired kids are good

kids.

And so we were going to run them. And

one of the days we took them whitewater

rafting on the Colorado River right down

towards Moab. It's a beautiful stretch

of river. Um just just picture you're in

a John Wayne movie and then a river goes

through it and that's where we were. In

fact, they filmed some John Wayne movies

right where we were going through the

river and uh beautiful day. The water

was crisp and cool. By the way, did you

know that out there in the desert there

are beavers in those rivers? We saw

multiple beavers swimming around in the

desert, which is kind of a bizarre

thing, isn't it? And uh so we were

having a great time and and as part of

the the company that we that we paid to

take us and had all the rafts, they had

the big rafts where you could put a

bunch of people on and then they had the

small twoperson canoes, inflatable

canoes. And uh those are fun, too. And

so my my daughter Callie and I got in a

twoperson inflatable canoe and had a

little bit of freedom and and you know

we didn't have to go with a big boat and

we had a little control with our paddles

and that was nice. And so we all took

off I don't know 10 or 12 boats

something like that and started floating

down the Colorado River. Beautiful. We

started hitting some nice uh rapids.

They weren't anything too huge but we

did hit some class 3 rapids which are

exciting. Uh gets you a little bit of

wet. Gets your heart rate going a little

bit. And uh so we were coming up on the

biggest of the rapids for that day and

Cali and I were ready. I've been

whitewater rafting before and if you

have, you know, you keep that nose

pointed straight towards the rapids. You

don't get sideways or you're done. And

so I was in the back steering and and

making sure and paddling to try and

correct it, make sure it was going

straight. And Cali was doing a great job

up front. And uh it was our turn to go.

A bunch of boats had already gone

through this big rapids and they'd made

it out and they pulled over to the side

of the river and we're waiting.

And so we we get in line. We're ready

and we start going and the roar of the

water's coming. It's really fun. We're

we're excited. Big smiles on our face

and we're we're going. We're paddling

trying to keep it straight and hit the

first one. We get splashed and and we

make it all the way through. Big smiles

on our face. Great fun. We pull over by

where the rest of the boats are and we

wait for the rest of the boats to come

through so we can all stay together

because there is a rapids right around

the corner. You can hear it coming right

up.

Well, the next boat that came in behind

us was one of the big boats meant to

have a lot of people on it, but it

actually only had three people on it.

One of the guys who had the paddles who

was from the company that we u that we

worked with, and then we had two of our

people on this big boat. Now, the big

boats are supposed to be the real sturdy

ones. Like, they're supposed to not

flip.

The little ones are more prone to flip,

but uh no, nobody had flipped yet. And

here comes this big boat. And we were

like, "No problem. They've got a pro on

the boat. He's paddling. They should be

fine." So, we're all watching and here

they come and they hit the bottom part

and they shoot, you know, the boat

shoots up on the other side and gets

gets a little bit of air and the people

that are on the boat stay in the air as

the boat comes down and we're like, "Oh,

uh-oh."

And we watched as one of the teachers

and her niece and the boat driver all

got thrown out of the boat, including

with the teacher's backpack that had her

wallet and the van keys.

And that backpack is still at the bottom

of the Colorado River.

Well, they were all in the water. And so

we were thinking, okay, we've got to get

them out of the water. the the student

who was in there had some physical

challenges and was not a great swimmer.

She had a she had a good life jacket on,

but she didn't know how to swim and had

never been able to uh to be able to

learn how to swim. And so she was my

first concern. And uh the teacher, I

think she knew how to swim. Everybody

had life jackets on, but I was zeroed in

on the student cuz I knew that she would

be terrified at this point, not knowing

how to swim. in the middle of a raging

river floating quickly towards the next

uh rapids.

Well, they had a bunch of staff there

and these young bucks, you know, and

they were 21 and big college kids and

good swimmers and they were the ones in

charge and so I thought, you know what,

I'm a lifeguard as well. I've I've I've

been in the water a lot in my life, but

you know, this is their gig. I'll let

them have handle this. Well, this he was

a big guy, like 6 6'4, 220, this massive

college kid. And uh he was right there

and he had this rescue rope and he was

getting ready to toss this rescue rope

out. He was about this far out in the

water. And I'm I'm Cali and I are still

in our boat and we're kind of watching

and I'm I'm kind of all points alert. If

if you've ever been a lifeguard and

you've ever seen uh you know people in

distress, your adrenaline goes up a

little bit and you're ready to go in and

jump in into action. Well, I was

mentally there, but I was like, "All

right, this is this guy's show. He's

He's got to do this. He works here." But

I look at his rope and I'm like, "That

rope is not long enough to where she's

at." And she's moving quickly. And he

gets this rope and gives it a try and

throws it way out there and it gets

maybe halfway to where she's at.

Immediately, I thought, "Okay, we've got

a big problem because she's moving

quickly towards the next rapid just with

a life jacket and I know she's

terrified. This is a bad situation. I

think it's time for me to move in and do

something. So I said to Callie, I said,

"Cali, let's go get her. Dig those

paddles in deep and let's go." And so we

dug deep with those paddles and we took

off out towards the middle of the river,

paddling as hard as we could, trying to

intercept her and get her into the boat

before she hit the next set of rapids.

We were digging the paddles in as deep

as we could, as quick as we could. Both

of us were in a little bit of a panic

trying to get there to make sure she

didn't get swept down the river.

We started getting close. I could see

the whites of her eyes. She was very

scared, but she could see we were coming

for her.

And as we got closer, she she struggled

and tried to get towards us and was

reaching her arm out. And as we got

close, her arm was already reaching out

towards me. And I was able to reach down

with my arm and grab her and pull her

over.

And we got her up into the boat where

she was safe. Freezing cold, teeth

chattering,

but safe.

When she saw where help was coming from,

she reached her hand out. Sometimes in

life, we need a little bit of help.

>> We go through scenarios, situations

where we just need a little bit of help.

In our story today, we have a great

example of where we can look to for

help. We find this story in three

different places in the Gospels. We find

this story in Matthew 14, Mark 6, and

John 6.

Uh Luke doesn't have this story that I

could find, but in these three, we see

uh the story that we're going to look at

today involving Peter and the disciples

and Jesus. Now, it's interesting all

three of these uh books reference this

story,

but we get different details from the

different books and different authors.

And I think the best the best accounts

of this story come from Matthew and

John. We're going to bounce back and

forth between those two books today. The

backstory of the story we're looking at

today, what has just happened is Jesus

has been on the hillside and and it's a

common story known as feeding the 5000.

that might ring a bell for you. And uh

Jesus was out with uh all of these

people, a huge crowd. The Bible says it

was a great multitude, lots and lots of

people. And Jesus had not only been

teaching, but it says that the great

multitude was there. It says he was

moved with compassion for them. And he

healed their sick. Now, if anybody had

been sick or had a sick relative that

they had brought, they brought them to

Jesus. And Jesus in front of the whole

crowd healed these sick people. Now it

doesn't tell us what kind of sickness

they had. Probably a variety people

probably dealing with daily pain,

chronic pain, handicaps of a variety of

different types that they likely dealt

with for their whole lives. And in front

of this group, Jesus healed and removed

those sicknesses from all of those

people. Imagine what that was like to be

there and to see Jesus heal these people

and change their lives.

What were they thinking about Jesus as

they saw him do this? Then meal time

comes along and someone's like, "We

should disperse so people can go find

food." Now, if you've got 5,000 plus

people, that's a hard that's a hard

group to feed, isn't it? I mean, imagine

we're at camp meeting and nobody has any

food. There's no fried chicken, no no

cutlets or whatever you like. How do you

feed those people?

It's time to eat. People are, you know,

people get a little irritable when they

get hungry, don't they?

What are we going to eat?

The only food they can find is five

loaves and two fish from some kid.

They say, "Well, that's not enough.

Seems impossible to feed a group like

that with just such a small meal." But

remember,

nothing is impossible with God.

>> Amen.

>> So Jesus prays and they start passing

out food and it never ends. And they

keep on passing it out and everybody

gets food. In fact, there's so much food

that there's leftovers.

And here

this afternoon that they've been meeting

with Jesus, watching him heal people,

watch this miraculous meal that has

filled their stomachs.

The attitude among the people, the

attitude among even the disciples

was this has to be the Messiah. This has

to be the promised one that is going to

free us from the Romans.

Let's make him king now. Now is the

opportunity. We've seen his divine hand.

Only God could do this. This has to be

the Messiah.

And the Bible tells us in John, if we go

over to John 6 and verse 15, it says,

"Therefore, when Jesus perceived that

they were about to come and take him by

force to make him king, he departed

again to the mountain to be by himself."

It was overwhelming for everyone who was

there when they saw what he he was

doing. And the Bible says they were

about to take him by force and make him

king.

Again, everyone was misunderstanding the

purpose of why he came.

And for the disciples, I mean, can you

imagine this would be a great thing for

them because they get VIP status. Now,

if he's the king, they're his disciples.

This is a great thing. Why wouldn't he

want to do this?

All the people are there and they're

about to force him to be king.

Jesus disperses the crowd.

In back in Matthew 14:22, it says,

Matthew 14:22

"Immediately Jesus made his disciples

get into the boat and go before him on

the other side while he sent the

multitude away."

For a group who's wanting to do this

to be dispersed and told no.

Imagine how disheartened this group was.

But but you don't want to be the king.

Why? Why are you sending us away? And

then Jesus just leaves.

There must have been a little bit of

disappointment in the whole group. Even

with the disciples, Jesus tells the

disciples to go and get on the boat and

he'll meet him on the other side. Even

the disciples don't do it right away.

Over in John, we see that that they

waited until dark by the boats before

they took off and left. Maybe hoping

that Jesus would change his mind and

come back.

They loitered around the boat just

waiting.

And it says in verse 23 in Matthew 14,

"And when he had sent the multitudes

away, he went upon the mountain by

himself to pray." You know, when life

gets a little bit crazy,

the best thing you can do is go and find

some alone time to be with God.

>> Amen.

>> And in a busy life, that can be

difficult sometimes. When you look at

your life and you think of all the

appointments and maybe the school you've

got or maybe you're watching family or

or work or or all these other things, it

can be hard to find quiet time to be

with God. But when your life is the

busiest, that's when you need it the

most.

That's when you need that quiet time

with God to fill your cup back up.

Jesus heads out to the mountain by

himself to pray.

Now,

in Matthew 14:24

Matthew 14:24

says, "The boat was now in the middle of

the sea, tossed by the waves, for the

wind was contrary. It's late at night.

It's dark. The wind has come up.

The boat is being tossed all over the

place."

Jesus again had been up on the mountain

praying by himself.

And this John tells us that uh they were

about 3 to four miles out into the

middle of the sea in the middle where

half the halfway point.

Now Jesus,

what Jesus does here,

it's always blown my mind a little bit

how he does this, why he does this,

maybe why he chooses to connect with his

disciples again this way. Because Jesus

could have Jesus could have walked

around, speedwalked maybe around the

lake, gotten there ahead of time, been

waiting for them. Jesus could have flown

if he wanted to

just gone zipping right across the sky

and been waiting for them on the other

side. There's a lot of different ways

that Jesus could have met them over

there. But as the disciples are probably

a little disappointed, there's probably

quiet on the boat now. They're starting

to fight for their lives because the

water's all rough

mists and they're probably drenched.

It's getting dangerous being out on the

lake now, but they're in the middle.

They have no choice but to try to keep

on going. Jesus

knows exactly where they're at,

in the middle of the storm that they're

experiencing. In Desire of Ages, page

381, the author says, "Jesus had not

forgotten them. The watcher on the shore

saw their fears these fear-stricken men

battling with the tempest. Not for a

moment did he lose sight of his

disciples."

Friends, sometimes we face a storm in

our life. We face challenges in our

lives, difficulties in our lives, and it

can sometimes even feel like we're

facing them alone. But I want to remind

you today that there has never been a

challenge or a storm that you have faced

where Jesus didn't know exactly where

you were and what you were dealing with

>> and he was close by.

Not for a moment did he lose sight of

his disciples.

Now Jesus decides

to go out

and visit them on their boat. Now he

could have probably just appeared on

their boat, right? He could have just

appeared right in the middle of their

boat. But that's not what Jesus does

here. Jesus is out walking by himself

and at some point he made the decision,

you know what? I'm walking here. I'm

just going to keep right on walking out

on the water because I can. And he just

keeps walking right out on the water.

Now, this reminds me that the things

that we think are impossible are nothing

for God.

>> We may look at challenges

and think there's no way there's a

solution that God can think of for this.

But we serve a God who walks on water.

>> And the challenges that we see are

nothing for God. I love those words of

the angel Gabriel. He says this, "For

with God nothing shall be impossible."

When we face situations in life that

look impossible, remember you serve the

God of the impossible.

>> He's a God who walks on water.

And he decides to just keep right on

walking. Remember, it's like a John says

a 3 to four mile walk out to where

they're at.

And I don't know if he had like a

special, you know, those airport

escalators that speed up your walking. I

don't know if he had something like that

underneath the water that was helping

him move faster, but he's walking out on

the water.

And he does this on purpose. I mean, he

has to know this is going to get the

disciples attention.

And there he is just walking on the

water.

Now verse 25 in Matthew 14 says, "Now in

the fourth watch of the night, Jesus

went out to them walking on the sea. And

when the disciples saw him walking on

the sea, they were troubled, saying,

"It's a ghost." And they cried out for

fear. I think these disciples needed a

good Bible study on the state of the

dead.

Maybe they hadn't been paying attention

when Jesus was teaching about this

stuff.

Maybe in the panic of of their

situation, they weren't thinking

clearly, but they see somebody walking

out on the water, which would get

everybody's attention.

Very unusual.

But they've just left Jesus

where they've seen a lot of miracles.

And they don't put the two and two

together.

First, they think it's a ghost.

But immediately, verse 27,

Jesus spoke to them.

And when he says, when Jesus speaks, I

often try to picture in my mind how he's

speaking. What is the voice that Jesus

would be using when he says this? What

tone of voice would he be using? And

this is what he says. Picture in your

mind maybe what what it would sound

like. He says, "Be of good cheer. It is

I. Do not be afraid." Now, I just read

that pretty dead pan, didn't I?

You can't really get the context of it

when you say, "Be of good cheer." It's

not very cheerful, is it?

Jesus is trying to cheer them up. And

when you try to cheer them up, you're

positive, aren't you? He sees the look

on their face and he says, "Be of good

cheer. It's me.

You don't need to be afraid.

The picture in my head of Jesus just

walking out there, seeing the seeing the

maybe waving to him and say, "Hey, it's

me. Don't worry about it." And he's just

walking along on the water. I love the

picture that pops up in my head when I

think about Jesus doing this.

Cheer up. It's just me.

Peter's watching this along with the

rest of the disciples. Imagine

the wind whipping, the rains hitting.

Peter's they're all their beards are

probably dripping wet. And Peter speaks

up

and he says, "Lord, if it's you, command

me to come to you on the water."

We look at a lot of stories of Peter and

we kind of shake our heads sometimes.

We're like, "Oh, Peter.

Oh, Peter again." But you know what I

really like about Peter?

Peter always wants to be with Jesus.

Doesn't matter where Jesus is, Peter

wants to be with Jesus. And I like that

about Peter.

He says, "Lord, let me come out on the

water with you."

And Jesus must have smiled at Peter,

said, "All right, Peter,

come on out." Now, this this is a a

unique situation where it takes a lot of

faith for Peter, too, because Peter's

been on a boat many times, right? Just

like you've maybe been on a boat before.

It's safe in the boat. Outside of the

boat, it gets precarious.

Peter, who knows what water's like,

knows you can't walk on it, is now

taking a step onto water to walk to

Jesus. Another miracle for the day.

Peter puts his leg over the edge of the

boat. And it takes some it takes some

faith to put your foot down, doesn't it?

>> If it were you, you'd be like a little

bit little bit tense, RIGHT? BUT BUT

your eyes are on Jesus. He takes his

foot, puts it out, and it's solid. Peter

must have smiled at that point, too.

Like, what?

Takes his other foot, puts it there.

Both feet are on there, but I imagine

his hand is still on the edge of the

boat.

But he has to take that hand off at some

point if he's going to walk on water.

with his eyes on Jesus. He takes his

hand off the boat and there he is

standing on water

and he takes a few steps and moves

towards Jesus. I don't know how far away

Jesus was but Peter starts taking steps

walking towards Jesus eyes locked on

Jesus. Friends, it doesn't matter the

storm that's around us. Whatever

struggles we go through, whatever we

face in life, as long as we face Jesus

and keep our eyes on him in the storm,

we're going to be okay.

>> And as long as Peter's eyes were on

Jesus,

he was doing the miraculous.

He was walking on water.

Now, at some point,

Peter started to think about what he was

doing,

and Peter took his eyes off of Jesus.

Now, we know a little bit about Peter.

And in Desire of Ages, the author

mentions that he turned around and

looked at his buddies in the boat.

Why would he look at his friends in the

boat?

>> What's the purpose of turning around

being like, "Hey fellas,

Look what I'm doing.

>> And as soon as he took his eyes off of

Jesus,

Peter started to sink.

And the Bible says Peter cried out,

"Lord, save me."

And the Bible says immediately

Jesus was there.

Verse

30, Lord, save me. Verse 31. And

immediately Jesus stretched out his hand

and caught him. Now, I don't know how

far away Jesus was from Peter. When

Peter turned around and looked at the

boat, but it didn't matter how far away

he was from Jesus. Jesus was right there

with him.

And as soon as he says, "Lord, save me."

Jesus stretches out his hand and catches

Peter and he says to him, "Oh, you of

little faith, why did you doubt?"

And it says, "And when they got in the

boat, the wind ceased." Now, John gives

us a little bit more insight into the

end of the story, which I think is

pretty neat. If you turn over to John

John 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 in the last verse of this

story in verse 21 says they willingly

received him into the boat and

immediately the boat was at the land

where they were going.

Remember the Matthew says that they were

in the middle of the lake when they were

there. John says it was 3 to four miles

out. So we can assume it's another 3 to

four miles to the other side.

By the way, this day is chuck full of

miracles, isn't it? Like one right after

another. Just incredible things just

keep happening. People have been healed.

People have been fed. People have walked

on water. Now the boat miraculously goes

3 to four miles without anybody except

for Jesus knowing. As soon as they get

in the boat, the Bible says the storm

dissipated and they looked around and

they're like, "Hey, we're here.

How did we where did we

When did we get here?

Immediately they were at the

destination.

Not only can Jesus calm the storm,

but he can take us all the way to safety

as well.

Your storm might be different than

Peter's, but it's just as real for you.

Your storm might be a struggle with

family.

Your storm might be a loved one that has

walked away from the Lord. Your storm

might be a health diagnosis.

Your storm might be a miserable job that

you're stuck in. Your storm might be a

difficult relationship.

Your storm might be a tough class at

school that you're not sure how you're

going to pass.

Your storm might be bills that you don't

know how you're going to pay.

Your storm might be a house foreclosure.

Your storm might be a spiritual struggle

that you're not sure how to get out of.

Your storm might be an addiction to the

news and you're losing sleep over

politics and it feels overwhelming.

When you face your storm,

remember to keep your eyes on Jesus.

>> He will take you safely to the shore.

He'll be with you in that storm.

We are never promised that we won't have

difficulties in life.

Jesus never promises that. But what he

does promise is that he'll be with us in

that storm and he'll help us make it out

on the other side.

And his hand is always outstretched

to help us.

Many years ago, I was a student

missionary in Pompei, Micronesia, and

there wasn't a whole lot going on on

this island in the middle of nowhere.

And so, we heard that there was going to

be a circus. And I think they were from

China, a circus that was coming through

the islands and they were going to stop

and set up tents and have a whole circus

show. And most of the people on the

island were trying to figure out how to

get tickets and to go see this show

because this was about the biggest thing

that had happened on this island in a

very long time.

So, all of us that were student

missionaries were like, "We're going to

the circus."

So, we got tickets to go to the circus.

And anybody ever been to a circus

before? Okay. Um, there's all kinds of

stuff that goes on in a circus. Uh, lots

of acrobats. And this this one was no

different. They did amazing stuff. They

had they had somebody who was balancing

on one leg and they put teacups on their

foot and they had like a a saucer on

their head and they'd like kick the

teacup and then they'd catch it on their

head and do like eight of those. Uh and

everybody, you know, really cool stuff.

And uh but but I knew what was coming

because they had trapezes set up on

either side of this big huge tent. And

I've seen trapeze work before and it

always makes me nervous. I know it's

supposed to be good entertainment and

and and a little bit of me was like,

"Oh, this is going to be good." But a

little bit of me was like, "I hope they

don't slip on their hands. I hope they

didn't like put Vaseline on their hands

before they did this or hope they have

good grip today cuz nobody wants to see

that."

But I was a little nervous, but I knew

it was coming. Sure enough, they climb

these huge ladders, go all the way to

the top, and they've got these big

swings, and uh the first the first two

of them get on there, and they flip

upside down and and hang by their knees.

You know how they put their knees over

it like you did on a monkey bar when you

were a kid and they hang from their

knees but they're swinging way out over

the thing and and getting close and

swinging back and everyone's like oh but

a little bit of you know the rest of us

a little bit nervous for their people

these people and they're but they're

they seem to know what they're doing and

and so then the next person jumps onto

their hands and they're swinging doubles

now and swinging back and forth and

you're like there's no there's no safety

nothing. They're just hanging on to each

other's hands. So, they're swinging back

and forth and doing the whole thing. And

then the two the two on the bottom get

back up on the platform. The two are

going now. And then they said, "All

right, they're going to do the next

trick. They're going to switch. We're

going to send one guy over to the other

guy." And so we're like, "Oh, man.

There's no there's no safety net or

anything like that." And we're like, so

they start swinging and and going back

and forth, just the singles and back and

forth. And then he goes up and another

guy jumps up and grabs onto his hands.

Both the two original guys are upside

down with their arms down below. This

guy jumps, grabs the hands of this guy

and they start swinging back and forth.

This guy's by himself still ready. He's

the catcher. And so they're swinging

back and forth and this guy's on the

bottom and we're like, "Oh man." And so

sure enough, and it was like slow

motion, they go back up and it's about

time for the trick and he goes up and

this guy's coming just a little bit

later and the the guy on the bottom lets

go.

and he's flying through the air and

everyone's just like

and it's like slow motion and this guy's

coming up and he's just he's just just

like Superman right through there.

Nothing. He's just and he's reaching

with his hands. Reaching as far as he

can and this guy comes out and he's

reaching with his hands and this guy's

life depends on the grasp of this guy's

life his hands right there. And as they

fly through, they get closer and they

get closer and they eventually grasp

hands

and they grip very tightly. This is not

a this is not a loose grip that these

guys have. It's a tight grip. And he

hangs and he swings and they go swinging

all the way back up there and everybody

claps. Oh, good job. You you didn't die.

That's basically what that what that

applause is for. Great job not dying in

front of us.

and he made it safely.

Sometimes our lives can feel like the

guy that's just flying through the air,

a little uncertain,

but if we're reaching for the arms of

Jesus,

he's going to make sure to grab us just

like he did Peter and help us make it

through those times in our lives that

seem precarious,

that seem like we're maybe not going to

make it.

And if we keep our eyes on Jesus,

we're going to be okay.

There's lots of lessons to learn from

people like Peter because we're all a

little bit like Peter. We're pretty hard

on Peter, but there's a lot of Peter in

all of us as well if we're honest.

And the thing that that I think is one

of the best examples from Peter

is that Peter always wanted to be by

Jesus. May that be our focus in life as

well. When we're facing different

situations, may we always want to be

with Jesus and be reaching out for

Jesus. We're going to sing a song as we

close. I'm going to invite our worship

team to come up. The song that we're

going to sing is called Because He

Lives. And the words go like this. How

sweet to hold a newborn baby and feel

the pride and joy that he gives. But

greater still the calm assurance we can

face uncertain days because he lives.

And the ver and in the chorus says,

"Because he lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because he lives, all fear is gone.

Because I know he holds the future and

life is worth the living just because he

lives." When we face the day with Jesus,

we're going to be okay. Father in

heaven, we are so glad that you hold the

future. And Lord, when the waves around

us come up, help us to keep our gaze on

you. Help us to keep our focus and our

faith in you. Thank you, God, for being

a faithful God, for being with us and

helping us make it through the other

side of our storms. We thank you, God,

for the promises that you have a home

prepared for us in heaven. That we

already have an address in heaven with

our name on it. Lord, keep us faithful

until you come. And we're so glad that

today we're one Sabbath closer to being

with you in Jesus name. Amen.

>> Amen.

Thanks so much for joining us here at

the McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church

for worship. Each month we reach between

25 and 30,000 people with gospel content

online. We're looking to expand our

audiovisisual department this year and

looking to raise $30,000 in this

project. We would love for you to

partner with us on this and consider

making a donation to our audiovisisual

department as we look at expansion and

reaching more people with the gospel

across the internet this next year. You

can go to mrcsda.org

to make a donation directly to our

audiovisisual department. Thank you so

much for considering making this

donation and the privilege is ours to

partner with you in making this a bigger

and more effective ministry here at the

McDonald Road 7th Adventist Church. God

bless each one of you and thanks again

for joining us here at the McDonald Road

7th Adventist Church.