Ep. 055 Focal Point

Welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. We are a Bible-Believing Church located

in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. We are proudly part of the Christian Fellowship

Ministries with 3,000 churches around the world. We are a church focused on world evangelism,

discipleship and church planting. Here we will share recent sermons from P.H.S.A. Church

and other sermons from throughout our fellowship. I am Pastor David Bigford and I will be your

host for this podcast. I thank you for listening today and we hope these messages are a blessing

to you and bring you closer to God.

Hello and welcome to the Potter's House Salmon Arm podcast. My name is David Bigford. I'm

the pastor here in town. I want to thank you for tuning in to today's message. I want to

welcome you out again to our church here in Salmon Arm. If you live here in or around

town please come by and check us out on Sunday. We'd love to have you. We love having new

visitors come to the church and we'd love to invite you in to what God is doing here

in town in Salmon Arm.

The text that we'll be working off of today is Matthew 14, 22-33 and the title of this

message is Vocal Point. A young lady named Sally took a seminary class taught by Professor

Smith who was known for his elaborate object lessons. One day Sally walked into class to

find a large target placed above the wall. With several darts resting on a nearby table,

Professor Smith told the students to draw a picture of someone they disliked or someone

who had made them angry and he would allow them to throw darts at this person's picture.

Sally's friend on her right drew a picture of another woman who had stolen her boyfriend.

Another friend on her left drew a picture of his younger brother. Sally drew a picture

of Professor Smith putting a great deal of detail into her drawing. Even drawing pimples

on his face, she was quite pleased at the overall effect she'd achieved. The class lined

up and began throwing darts amidst much laughter. Some of the students threw with such force

that they ripped apart their targets. But Sally looked forward to her turn and was filled

with disappointment when Professor Smith asked the students to return to their seats so he

could begin the lecture.

As Sally was fuming about missing her chance to throw the darts, the professor began removing

the target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus. A hush fell over the

room as each student viewed the mangled image of their savior. Holes and jagged marks covered

his face. His eyes were virtually pierced out and Professor Smith said, only these words,

Matthew 25, 40, and as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren,

ye have done it unto me. Let's read our scripture this morning. It's Matthew 14, 22-33.

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him on to the other

side and while he dismissed the crowd and after he had dismissed the crowds, he went

up onto the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the

boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was

against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea.

But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, it

is a ghost. And they cried out in fear, but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, take

heart it is I. Do not be afraid. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command

me to come to you out on the water. He said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked

on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind and he was afraid and began to

sink and he cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took

ahold of him saying to him, Oh, you have little faith. Why did you doubt? And when they got

into the boat, the wind ceased and those in the boat worshiped him saying, truly you are

the son of God. Let's pray. Dear Lord, I pray that this message will resonate in people's

hearts that it will do your work in their heart, leading them to you, to a deeper relationship

with you in Jesus name we pray. Amen. So as we look at that, that portion of scripture

and as we think of that illustration I use to kick us off, the same problem is present

in both. We lose focus in our lives. We have all had battles in our life. The old man,

our old sinful nature can cause us to struggle at keeping our focus on what is right. In

our texts, we are shown an interesting picture. We see Jesus acting with authority and power

and this came right after the miracle of feeding 5,000. But now we see the apostles are confronted

with the Lord who multiplied the bread and can calm the seas and walk on the waves. They

had missight of the power of the earlier miracle. So when this new miracle was happening, they

had a lapse in faith. They couldn't believe it. We also see this secondary picture in

our text. This picture of faith or maybe you might question and say Peter's hubris. Some

interpret Peter's brief walk on the water as prideful or something that's full of vainglory.

When he falters and his short journey nearly ends in disaster, the lesson seems to be Peter's

desire to walk to Jesus on the water is preposterous, an example of being shunned or to be shunned.

But Peter does seem impetuous when he says, Lord, if it is you, he's not even certain

the figure is Jesus. Command me to come onto the water. Yet Peter's logic is valid. If

Jesus can walk on the water, Peter can too. Matthew often notes that the disciples imitate

their master. In chapters eight through nine, Jesus blends words and works while the disciples

watch. Then he commissions the twelve for their first mission and tells them to do exactly

what they have seen him do. Jesus went first to Israel and the disciples must too. And

we see that in Matthew 10, five through six. Jesus proclaims the kingdom and then they

do the same. Jesus freely heals the sick and raises the dead, cleanses lepers, expelled

demons. And then he told his disciples to do the same.

Thus Jesus expects the disciples to follow his example. Further, Jesus chides Peter for

doubting but not for the request of walking on the water. In fact, Jesus commands Peter

to come and Peter comes. So the real question is what courage did it take for Peter to get

down off that boat and take those first steps? That's why I want to look first at the boat.

We have faith and we put our trust in boats because they carry us over the dark waters.

For the most part, boats represent safety and security, just like we get from the picture

of Noah's Ark. When the whole world is flooded, we look to Noah's Ark as a safe haven during

times of calamity. We think we should stay in God's boat as we strive to pull others

out of the depths of their sin and into the lifeboat that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

This is a common picture. In fact, when my daughter graduated from Anchor Academy Christian

Home School, the picture was being in the boat, to stay in the boat, which is the gospel

of Jesus Christ or the new covenant of the New Testament. It was a very big emphasis

of staying with God because if you stay in the boat, which is God's will, you'll stay

safe. This is true. There's a lot of truth to that. I don't deny the validity of that

picture, but I want to challenge you for a different picture.

With all the minds of everybody who is listening to this today or experts out there, we think

that staying in the boat is what it means to live by faith. But there are times when

the opposite is true. It reminds me of the American or US Coast Guard rescue swimmers.

The Navy has rescue swimmers too. I'm not trying to begrudge the sailors. As a Marine,

I was a part of the naval service. But the US Coast Guard rescue swimmers are a cut above

as their entire mission is to go out and save people who put themselves into dangerous situations.

They show immense courage when they jump out of those helicopters and boats to save people

who are drowning. They go into the most tumultuous of water and tumultuous situations to save

people and rescue them, pull them out of that water.

In Mark 6, 45-46, it says, immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go

before him to the other side, to Bethesda, while he dismissed the crowd. After that,

he had taken leave of them. He went up to the mountain to pray. The Jesus boat, when

we think of it this way, the deck of the boat is large enough to transport Jesus and his

disciples plus Fisher cargo. They had to be several feet above the waterline. So I want

you to picture this boat that the apostles were riding in. You want you to picture and

think about the waves rocking and rolling and the idea of climbing over the side of

the boat into the water and taking that initial, what you would think is plunge of several

feet downward from the relative safety of the boat. Now it's dark, the waves are heaving,

and this remarkable act of faith, Peter takes that first step and he walks on the water

and moves over to Jesus. He leaves behind him a place of comfort and security. The rest

of the disciples, you know, they're, they're on the boat still. Many of the disciples were

fishermen and this was something they were very comfortable with. Even in the storm,

they would cling to this boat. Being on the sea was their home as long as they were attached

and holding on to and clinging to this creation, this manmade creation of the boat. So that

brings a question to mind is what does the boat represent in your life? Because often

we can become focused on the comfort, the security, and the normalcy of our surroundings.

As our car safe enough, some people won't drive a little car because they feel safer

in a big truck. Right? Others, others have no concern of their safety and they'll ride

a motorcycle. Well, that's a different story and something that I always have to tell my

daughter how dangerous they can be, especially since she has balance issues like her dad.

But are we becoming too focused on our creature comforts and our surroundings rather than

what is what God is doing in our midst? See, the boat is not the issue who is in or who

is with you in the boat can be the issue. When the disciples were alone, they tended

to become very fearful and they would lack faith. A lot of us would deal with this the

same way. There are times where I'm hiking off into the woods by myself and if I feel

like the weather's turning against me or I've maybe gone too far and now I've even

sapped my own strength and I'm feeling pretty tired and I'm out in the middle of the bush,

I start to think Lord, what did I do coming out here by myself? Because I go into areas

where I know there's wolves or I know there's bears and I'm out there by myself and the

only thing with me is the tracks of the animals that I see. So there's this struggle in all

of us to surround ourselves with comfort when we find ourselves in these stormy times. We

don't want to be alone in these periods of discomfort where our faith is being constantly

challenged. We want comfortable, easy things. So staying in the boat, although they were

scared of the storm, it was still clinging to their blankie, if you will.

In John 6, 16 through 17, Jesus walks in the water. So when the evening came, his disciples

went down to the sea, got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was

now dark and Jesus had not yet come to them. So I keep reiterating this story from the

different portions of the Gospels, John, Mark, and of course Matthew in our text. And I do

that because I want you to see that this story is told from multiple perspectives. Because

as we're out in the sea, what should be our focus? With this story, what should be our

focus? Should it be the strength of our boats? Or should we put our faith in our skill or

our talent? What did the disciples put their faith in when they were out there in the storm?

As they were fearing the storm and the waves and the darkness and they were alone and their

Messiah or their teacher, their rabbi was nowhere to be found. Their faith wasn't in

God at that point. They were terrified. And to the point when someone was coming, they

didn't immediately think that it was their Lord. No, they thought that it had to be a

ghost because they were terrified. They had lost focus of the miraculous things that they

had encountered earlier in the day. And now they were only focused on their current situation.

This brings me to my next point, which is the sea. The sea or the ocean is mighty and

needs to be respected. In this portion of scripture, it can represent many things. But

today we will look at it as our life before Christ, the tumultuous life that we had before

we gave our lives over to Jesus Christ. The storms of our past and the sins that we'd

once battled, the darkness of the sea and its ferocity are like the filthy rags of our

old life before salvation. In Mark 6, 47 through 49, it says, and when the evening came, the

boat was out to 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 at 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. So Jesus had not intended to even come

to them. He meant to meet them on the other side, but he could see that there was a loss

of focus and that they were terrified. And he knew he had to intervene. So I want to

look first here at understanding the seas. So I pulled this from an article I found about

boating. So boating tips for rough seas, how to safely navigate small boats in rough seas.

This comes from a Captain Dave Lear that I, and I just thought it'd be interesting. So

unless you've got a 50 foot or more boat, you know, or as he puts it, he says, unless

you've got 50 plus feet of fiberglass underneath you, you're not immune to the stormy weather

conditions, run offshore this time of year, and sooner or later, you're going to get

caught in high winds, big seas or boat. Large sport fishing boats in rough seas have the

length and beam to handle the slop. But small to mid side vessels are at a greater mercy.

If you slow down and drive accordingly, potentially hazardous situations can be avoided for small

boats in rough seas. In the summertime, sooner or later, you're going to have a big line

of thunderstorms, 40 knot winds and six to eight foot seas between you and the dock,

explains Marcus Kennedy, a tournament competitor of Yamaha's professional tour. Navin's boaters

in rough water don't realize that and they panic and don't know what to do. But all

it takes is common sense to drive a boat in rough water. If you tack like a sailboat with

quartering waves off the bow or stern, you'll have a better ride and make better time. Safety

is always paramount. This brings you to the next idea, which is respecting the sea. So

you actually have to understand the sea as we just read, meaning you need to be skilled

in understanding that how the tides work, how the waves work, how the wind works so

that you can keep your wits about you because it's not surprising when you're headed into

heavy winds and you're dealing with those heavy seas. You gain experience with it and

you do that by respecting the seas. Some ways that boaters will tell you that you can show

respect to the seas is by checking weather conditions, preparing the boat for navigating

rough water. So even though you know that the weather might be good, you're prepared

for if it turns because out on the water, the conditions can change quickly. You want

to prioritize safety. That means there's nothing loose on the deck of the boat that's going

to become a hazard. That means if you're not the one driving the boat, you're buckled down,

you're safe. You're not going to be a risk of going overboard. You're going to have your

life vest on just in case. You're going to slow down so that you can actually time the

waves and then stay on top of them. You're going to make sure, like I said, that all

the belongings, everything's lashed down. That's part of prioritizing safety and above

all, you need to stay calm because if you don't stay calm, then you're not going to

be able to make common sense decisions. So then finally, what the last recommendation

is to keep your eye on the horizon. And this is what the disciples lost sight of. They

lost sight of keeping their focal point on Jesus and on their destination. And so when

the waves and the wind and everything was coming against them, they got scared. They

no longer knew their direction. They no longer understood which way they should go.

So when I was in the United States Marine Corps, I had the opportunity to live on LHA

5, Pellaloo, which is a helicopter carrier. I only had to do it for a couple of weeks.

Thank goodness. I didn't enjoy it that much. But when I was on the Pellaloo, which is a

big giant ship, it's a Tarawa class amphibious assault ship, I had to learn to ride the ship

so that I wouldn't get sick. Now you might think, well, if you're going to get seasick,

you're going to get seasick. Well, I found that if you make sure you're hydrated, but

you have enough salt in your diet or you take additional salt, it could really manage some

of the motion sickness that you'd get until you got your sea legs, if you will. And again,

I was only on the ship for a couple of weeks. But when I was doing this, I was an air crew.

So I had to fly. I had to fly as a, not a pilot, but as the way that we call it as a

crew chief or playing captain crew chief. But basically it's like a flight engineer

if you live in Canada. So I'm like the onboard mechanic. And the helicopter I was crew on

is so big that the pilots actually need guidance from the crew on the aircraft to direct them

when they land because it's such a big helicopter, they can't see behind them, behind themselves.

So I had to make sure when I was doing this job, as we were coming in for landings or

take offs off of LHA 5 or off the, you know, the Peleliu to make sure that if I was on

the right side, that they were over far enough to be safe for landing, but not over too far

that they've become a danger of having a strike, you know, striking a rotor blades on any of

the ship or any other aircraft. If I was on the left window, I had to make sure that we

cleared the scupper. The scupper is a net that kind of hangs around to the off side.

And it's very perilous because when I was in basic training, there was a frog or a,

um, a CH 46, a different helicopter. It's, it's not as big as a Chinook, but it's the

dual tandem rotor kind of style. If you can picture that. And when I was in either Marine

combat training or basic training, can't remember, there was a case where a crew came in and

they tried to land on a different helicopter carrier and their left rear landing wheel

or landing gear caught the scupper. The pilot made a decision to try to pull power, but

that he created a fulcrum or a lever that caused the entire aircraft to go upside down

into the water. And several people died, um, during that mishap. These are real world things.

So what's the issue here? And what's this have to do with this message is it has to

do with focus. And so the pilot needed to keep his eye on the horizon. And so he needed

to keep the plane steady. And then he needed to understand that if he pulled a little bit

of power and it caused this action, he needed to drop it back down. We don't exactly know

what happened. If the left window crew chief saw that it was in the scupper, the call should

have been made to say, Hey, you're in the scupper. It's not breaking free. And they

would have tried to at least off board those passengers that were on the, on the aircraft

and a huge tragedy could have been avoided. The point, I guess, with this story is, is

one of focus, keeping your wits and staying focused. So as I was a crew chief and flying

around and San Diego and Jacksonville, North Carolina, it's, it was imperative to stay

focused in that role. It's also why I don't really like to swim in the ocean anymore.

Flying off those posts, I saw far too many sharks, but you know, that's just an aside.

I'd still go to the beach if I had the opportunity to go back down to California, but it was,

it was real. There's a lot of sharks in that water. It's definitely their property, but

you have to remain focused and nothing was a better example of focus for me. Then when

I went through water survival training in Florida, in Pensacola, Florida, they, this

training is, is similar to what those Navy rescue swimmers or Coast Guard rescue swimmers

go through. Not as extensive. They go on to do a lot more, obviously real world oceans,

ocean drops than I would have done, but I still did, you know, water survival school,

which is includes a helo dunk tank. And what that means is it's a simulated helicopter

dropped in water, rolls upside down, fills with water and you have to egress. So they

train you for this and you end up doing it blindfolded in the dark water. And so you've

lost your horizon. What do you do? How do you, how do you escape this perilous situation?

Well, you're trained to go one hand at a time, feeling your way out of that helicopter in

a calm composed manner. Now you're holding your breath. You're underwater. It's dark.

You can't see anything, but you know, the airframe, you know where your next hand has

to be and your next hand has to be. And when you get to that, that window opening and you're

able to claw claw your way out and push clear away from that airframe and come to the surface,

you had the training, you had your focus right. And you were able to do it without any hassle.

You had to allow your training to take precedent. You had to allow yourself faith in the process

and the disciples had to have their faith tested in this way so that they would eventually

have the strength to put their faith into practice as well. In John six, 18 through

19, it says the sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. And when they had

rode about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat

and they were frightened. They had this test that gets reinterpreted in three of the scriptures

as we've already seen. And it's when this story is pounded in for us as believers so

that we will understand that there is going to be times where we're going to be out in

the storm. We're going to have a headwind blowing against us. That doesn't mean that

Jesus isn't right there next to us walking with us and that he isn't going to come to

our rescue again if he sees us floundering. This brings my final point, which is the savior

in verses 26 to 33 of our text. So now we have this primary purpose of our message,

the focal point. What should we be focusing on our lives? Where should we be focusing

our lives? When the storm is raging and the seas are rough, where do we put our trust?

In Mark 6, 53-52, it says, For they all saw him and were terrified, but immediately he

spoke to them and said, Take heart in his eye, do not be afraid. And he got into the

boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand

about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. Even the disciples, even Jesus' hand-picked

few had to deal with hard hearts. What a tremendous testimony that is for us. So many, you know,

at this point, thousands of years removed from Jesus Christ walking on the earth. To

understand that there are times where your heart will be hard, but that doesn't mean

that Jesus is going to forget about you. When Peter arrives, he takes his eyes off Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, yet he was afraid and he began to sink, he cried out, Lord save

me. Even though Peter succumbed to fear and he ended up taking his eyes off Jesus, Jesus

was still there for him. The point of our text in Matthew was hardly that Peter succumbed

to that fear. The point wasn't that Peter was a failure or that mankind is a failure.

It's about Jesus. In every biblical narrative that we read about the acts of sinners, we

see that Jesus is the point. Matthew's message isn't that Peter failed. He's not saying

don't be like Peter. No, the passage teaches us that Peter's failure did not bring catastrophe

because Jesus did not fail Peter. Even though we fail our Lord and Savior every day, oftentimes

it feels like. Even though we're failing here or there, where we have faith tested,

we have faith like a mustard seed because that's what Jesus tells us. If you never

had faith like a mustard seed, you could move a mountain. It means that we must have a lot

less faith than that most of the time. But it doesn't matter because even though Peter

took his eyes off Jesus, Jesus never took his eyes off Peter. Peter was safe when he

took his eyes off Jesus because Jesus kept watch over him. And as Peter started to sink,

Jesus was there to catch him. In John 6, 20 to 21, but he said to them, it is I do not

be afraid. Then they were glad to take him into the boat. And immediately the boat was

at the land to which they were going. While this whole situation was going on and they

were confounded by their fear, Jesus was there and they were still moving to their destination.

And then eventually once they got their focus right and it was placed back on their Lord

and their Savior, they had arrived at their destination. Peter and the apostles were traveling

in their boat. They had just witnessed that dramatic miracle of the feeding of the 5,000.

They were likely tired and worn out from that event. And we know from, you know, from Mark

that they were already in a state of shock and disbelief. This is what happens in our

lives. God will move on our behalf. We're in shock and we're in disbelief. And then

we become tired and we lose focus. As they traveled through the stormy sea, they see

him and they can't, they can't comprehend another miracle happening so close to the

one that they just seen. They think it's an apparition or a figure in the distance. Jesus

has to call out to them in their fear. And our mighty apostle Peter was the only one

of them to respond and call back out. This image is so powerful and so relevant to our

lives today. When we are gripped with fear, God and our Savior Jesus Christ calls out

to us. In those moments, we are convicted to step out of the comfort of the boat and

meet the Lord in the storm. Even so, we lack faith and sometimes begin to sink. We lose

our focus, we stop focusing on Jesus and instead focus on our troubles and our sins. We focus

on everything around us except the one important thing, Jesus. In 1 Timothy 1 19 it says,

cling to your faith in Christ and keep your conscience clear. For some people have deliberately

violated their consciences and as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. Remember

that it is not Jesus that takes his eyes off of us, but we that take our eyes off of him.

Keep your focus on the Lord and you will be able to stay above the darkness of the waters.

If you lose focus, remember that he is there with his hand out to pull you back out of

the water. He is watching us always. Always. So this message is one of hope, not just one

of judgment on the apostles for their lack of faith. No, this is a message of hope because

even though we lose faith, we can always turn back in faith and he will be there to pull

us out. That's the powerful testimony of King David, someone who had a heart after

God's will and he messed up a lot, but God was always there because his heart was right.

Let's live a life of challenge. Let's live a life of faith, but let's not beat ourselves

up when we falter. Rather, let's just get back. It's like I do some photography and

oftentimes you'll take a picture and you'll be like, wow, that's really out of focus.

Don't beat yourself up for being out of focus. Just get in focus. Take the time. Shake, give

your head a good shake and then focus back in on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. With

that, with that, if I could have every head bowed, every eye closed as I finished this

message up with an invitation. It's a very simple invitation. We know that Jesus Christ

is our Lord and Savior, so if this message has impacted you and you know that your heart

is not right, but you want to get it right, you want to take the time to get your heart

right with him right now, you want to signify that the uplift and wherever you are, because

I can't see it, but God can, right? I know it gets old with me saying that. I want you

to just repeat this prayer after me. Dear Lord God, I know that I'm a sinner, but I

know that you sent your son, Jesus Christ, and that he died for my sin. I repent of my

sins and I accept you, Lord Jesus, as my Lord and Savior, and I give you all the praise

and glory in Jesus' name I pray. Amen. So with that, I want to thank you for listening

to this message again. I want to thank you for coming back to the podcast. And if I can

ask a favor, I'd love it if you would like this podcast, subscribe and share it so we

can get this message out. The more people that hear it, the more we can grow this movement

for Salmon Arm and for the world. You know, us here in Christian Fellowship Ministries

at Potter's House, we have a vision for the world. I have a heart to someday reach Africa

from this place. Specifically, if I was going to say that it'd be French speaking Africa.

I don't speak French, but I've had a burden on it from meeting dozens and dozens of French

Africans who live in Canada over the years. And so with that, just like, share, and subscribe

to this podcast. That's the best way to help us. You can find out more on our website,

all the information is in the show notes. And I'd love for you to come out to service

if you live in Salmon Arm or the surrounding area. It's a blessing to have visitors, it's

a blessing to meet new people. And I just pray that God will help you this week in Jesus

name and I want to thank you again for listening and I can't wait for you to come back next

time. God bless.

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