Turn in your bibles to the Gospel of Matthew.  You knew that.  Chapter 13, you knew that too.  Yes, I heard someone say, "Yes.  We've been in here for a few weeks."  That's all right.  Let's pray.

Father, we do thank you that we're in Matthew 13 and 14.  We thank you for these verses of scripture.  We thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ stepping out of heaven, taking on humanity, teaching, healing, changing lives and changing the world because of what he has done.  And we're thankful that he has changed us.  That 2000 years later, what he did on the cross and the words that he said echo in our lives, our ears and across the world and we pray that we would grow.

As Peter said, "Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." as it was written that we would be like newborn babes desiring the pure milk of the word that we could grow thereby.

We give you this next block of time as we sit together.  We purpose in our heart that we're tuned in to what your spirit might say to us, the church and individuals where we need to change, where we need adjust, so search us Lord and direct our steps in Jesus' name, Amen.

We come tonight to Jesus' hometown of Nazareth.  That's where we actually left off.  He was about to go there.  We're going to enter into that town with him.  Jesus of Nazareth is what he was called because he grew up in Nazareth up in the Galilee region.  That's in the southern Galilee region.  Actually if you were in Nazareth and you look a little bit south, you look right down on the valley of Armageddon and it's a situated Nazareth up the hills of that beautiful country.

He wasn't born there.  We know he was born in Bethlehem of Judea and he spent the earliest days of his life in Bethlehem until the threat of Herod the Great was heard by his parents.  And Joseph moved Jesus and Mary down to Egypt where there was a huge group of Jews probably in Alexandria where he lived.  And then when Herod had died, they moved back to Nazareth.  And that's where Jesus grew up.

It's always hard to go back home to your hometown, to your kin, to your friends, to your relatives when you've had the life change and they don't agree with you, they've not experienced it, they weren't there when it happened, they don't understand it.  They might be even with the religious background and you come born again, they don't know how to handle you.  You're like you dropped out of another planet.  You might as well be an alien to them.

When I came back home after coming to Christ up in Northern California, the San Jose area and came back down south, my family was very skeptical.  My friends were very cynical.  My partying friends were very hysterical but they all agreed on one thing and that is that I was fanatical and they didn't know how to handle it.  They wanted to marginalize my experience and categorize me as "Well, he's had a rough summer." or "He just got out of high school.  Give him time.  This will wear off."

To go back home because they know you, because they watched you grow up is very difficult.  Jesus' own family at one point didn't know quite how to handle him, let alone the neighbors that saw him grow up and were part of a synagogue service that day that we're about to step into.

Years later, I mentioned that I went back home, years later when I went to my 10th year high school reunion.  Anybody ever go to those things, high school reunions?

How many of you have ever gone to a high school reunion?  Raise your hand.  Okay.  They are overrated in my opinion but I went to one and one was enough.  And that was 10 years later and I remember walking in and seeing people that I haven't seen in a long time and familiar faces and this guy was the hard guy and this guy was like the dope addict.  And you know, one guy actually looked like he still wear the same shirt he graduated in high school with and still have the same hair and look the same, and was kind of dopey like he was in high school.  That was the only where but a lot of people had changed and we were all amazed at what we were now doing.

And I remember a lot of people with me, they did a double take.  You're doing what now?  Why are you doing that?  How did that happen?  It was so foreign to them that I had become a Christian and I was in the ministry.

And so, Jesus now as we'll see goes back home to Nazareth.  He didn't spend a lot of time there after he was baptized in the Jordan River, began his ministry, it's only recorded that he went back to Nazareth a couple of times.  Here's one of them.

Verse 53 of Matthew 13, "Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there.  And When He had come to His own country," -- that's a bit further south from Galilee to Nazareth.  "He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, 'Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?  Is this not the carpenter's son?  Is not His mother called Mary?  And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?  And His sisters, are they not all with us?  Where then did this Man get all these things?' So they were offended at Him."

It's possible that the corollary to this and the other gospels in particular the gospel of Luke is when Jesus walked into the synagogue and was handed the scroll.  Luke tells us, "The scroll that is read every Shabbat" every Sabbath.  "And the place that Jesus turned to was Isaiah 61."  And he said, "He opened the scroll and began to read."  He said, "The spirit of the Lord, God is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent me to undo the bonds of the brokenhearted and the prison, the doors to those who are captive and to proclaim the acceptable year of our Lord."

And it says, "He closed the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and then he looked over the crowd that was hearing his words as they were all listening to his interpretation of what he might say.  And he said, 'Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.'"  Well, that sent shockwaves through the synagogue.  Every Rabbi knew that that was a messianic prediction, a prediction of the coming messiah and here this upstart.  They thought, "One of our own who lives in this town, we know this kid.  He's saying it speaks of himself.  It's fulfilled in your hearing as if he's saying he is the Messiah."  That's exactly what he was saying.  "They tried to lay hold off and throw him over a cliff."  They took that for blasphemy.  It says he escaped out of their hands.

I've always loved that verse of scripture and I've loved the verse of scripture that Jesus chose to read, Isaiah 61.  If you don't mind terribly to put a marker where you are reading and just turn back to Isaiah 61, I want to show you something.  I want to show you how Jesus was so careful at utilizing the scripture so perfectly that day because he read Isaiah 61 up to a certain point and closed the book but he didn't finish the sentence on purpose.

Isaiah 61 reads "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,"  Do you notice the comma?

That's where Jesus closed the book and he did it on purpose, for the sentence continues "And the day of vengeance of our God."  The reason he stopped at the comma is because everything that he read and said it's fulfilled was all predictive of the first advent or the first coming of the Messiah.  After the comma, the day of vengeance of our God is attributed to the second coming of Christ, the day of vengeance that's coming up.  That's the tribulation period.  That's the future.  That wasn't then.

What I want you to see is that Jesus closed the book at the comma and that comma has lasted 2000 years.  It's a 2000-year comma.  One of these days, I'm going to preach a sermon on the comma.  I preached on a verse before, I preached on a word but I am one day going to preach on the comma that has lasted 2000 years.

And so he closed the book, he said "This saying is fulfilled in your hearing."  They got the meaning.  They were getting meaning.  Back in Matthew, they tried it by saying, "Is this not the carpenter's son?"

Now, because there's a definite article before carpenter, it's the carpenter's son, some believe that there was only one notable carpenter in Nazareth and that was Joseph.  He was known as the carpenter.  The Greek word Tekton, I know you think of a carpenter as somebody who has hammers and nails and saw who works with wood that's because most of our buildings today are built out of wood.  We have two by four studs in our houses, et cetera but the building materials in Israel weren't wood.  They were stone.

A Tekton was simply a builder or a craftsperson, a craftsman.  Jesus being a Tekton or a carpenter, the son of a carpenter would have work more with stone if you were building homes.  He would of course work with wood if he were building certain pieces of furniture but he had to be good at generally building anything like a day laborer would work across many fields.  He was a Tekton's son.  "Is this not the carpenter's son?  Is this not his mother Mary and his brothers James, Joses, Simon and Judas?"  They were still back home.  "And his sisters are they're not all with us?"

Now this is evidence against the Roman Catholic doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary.  The idea that once Jesus was born, Mary continued as a virgin for the rest of her life.  That simply not true.  The bible says that Joseph did not have physical relations, such sexual with Mary until Jesus was born.  And afterwards, they had normal, filial, marital relationships and they had children and the children are named here.  And so, Mary was not a perpetual virgin.  She was a virgin in birthing Christ and after that, they had children.  And so it says in Verse 57, "So they were offended at him.  But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.'"

We have a saying today that sort of mirrors this, "familiarity breeds contempt."  You know someone.  You've grown up with that person, "How can that person be anything other than what we've always known him, the little kid who grew up in town?  We're familiar with him." or "We're familiar with that." and familiarity breeds contempt.  "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."

Now, he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.  Why were they offended at Jesus?  Well, for a number of reasons.  First of all, his background was not impressive.  He's a carpenter's son.  His education wasn't impressive.  He didn't have the formal rabbinical training that the Pharisees had, the Scribes had.  But more than anything else, they were offended at him because of the claims he made about himself, overt claims that he was their Messiah that he was God even.

And at several points in the career of Jesus, they took up stones to kill him.

It's an interesting verse, Verse 58, "And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief."  One of the other gospel accounts says.  I think it is Mark, "Therefore he could do no mighty work there because of their unbelief."  It's not that he lacked the power suddenly at Nazareth, he had all power.  He could do anything anytime for anyone with anyone with anything.  He was all powerful.  He exhibited that.

But, here's the principle.  He responds to faith.  He responds to belief.  God is omnipotent that he is all powerful yet we by unbelief can limit the experience of God's power in our lives.  God is all loving but you don't always experience the love of God.

I know people, Christians who struggle and struggle and struggle with believing that God truly loves them the way the bible declares he does.  That's why Jude even had to write, "Keep yourselves in the love of God."  It's not that God sees us to love you one day and then He loves you the next.  He loves you all the time and his love is intense but you don't always experience his love.

Just like if you were to walk out in the sun today with an umbrella, you wouldn't get much vitamin D.  You wouldn't have the warming effects of the sun because it covers you up.  If it rains tomorrow in town and you cover up your shrubs with a canopy, they are not going to get the water because you're covering them up.  It's raining outside but they're not getting the benefit.  So, God is powerful but faith is something God cooperates with in exercising his power.  Faith is a powerful thing that God enables us to use.

Concerning Abraham, it says, "He believed God, and God accounted it to him as righteousness." faith.  He was a man of faith, the father of faith.  When Joshua and the children of Israel came up to the Jordan River, the priest had to exercise faith, they have to march first holding the arch of the covenant and dip their toes in the water before the water opened up.  It's not like, "Well just hang here and wait until it opens up.  Okay, a little bit wider if you don't mind God.  Okay, that's good."  No.  They had to actually get their feet wet.  That's faith.

Faith is powerful.  "The Syrophoenician woman said, 'If I touch the hem of his garment I know I'm going to be healed.'" Touching the hem of Jesus' garment became the point of contact for her to release her faith.  But as faith is powerful, so is unbelief.

Unbelief is powerful.  The world didn't believe Noah and they were destroyed except for eight people who did believe.  Adam disbelieved God and said "Man -- and/or Eve and then Adam in the garden." and so there are several accounts.  Pharaoh was another one, disbelieved, lost he first born, his own as well as those in Egypt and the people of Israel formally rejected Jesus Christ.  And because of their unbelief, Jesus predicted the fall of that country in 70 A.D. so he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

At that time, Chapter 14:1, "Herod, the Tetrarch heard the report about Jesus."  Who is Herod the Tetrarch?  Well, tetrarch means a ruler of a fourth part.  That's what Tetrarch means.  This is Herod Antipas who was the ruler of Galilee and Perea, parts of Perea, the area in Jordan, partly in Jordan.  When Herod the Great died, the country was divided between his three sons, four parts, three sons.  His one son, Archelaus took two parts, Herod Philip took one part and Antipas took one part.  And this is the part that he Tetrarch over the Galilee region where Jesus Christ was ministering.

Herod Antipas -- and by the way, when you hear Herod, when you hear the name, you always have to say "Which one?" because it's a large family and it was a messy family.

I mean to try to understand the Herods sometimes will give you a headache but let me just give you a snapshot.

This Herod the Tetrarch was the fourth son.  No, was the son of Herod the Great by his fourth wife.  Herod the Great himself was Edomite, his fourth wife was a Samaritan so Herod Antipas was hated by the Jews.  They didn't respect any of the Herods and they certainly didn't respect Herod Antipas.  And one of the reasons the Herods were not respected is because they were so cold-hearted.  They were murderous.

This Herod, the Tetrarch Antipas on one occasion killed most all of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body because they disagreed with him.  They challenged him on one of his rulings so he just killed them all.

On another occasion, he killed one of his wives.  He had a few others so he didn't care, get rid of her.  He killed two of his own sons so a saying went around that it's safer to be Herod's pig than it is his son, a cold-hearted brutal man.  It was Herod the Great who also tried to kill Jesus Christ and rounding up all the children of Bethlehem.

Herod the Tetrarch lived in the town of Tiberias.  Now if you come with us to Israel or if you've been with us to Israel, we take you to Tiberias.  Usually, that's where our hotel is right on the Sea of Galilee.  Right on the lake, you get a view of the lake in Tiberias.  That's where Herod the Tertarch ruled from.  That's where he lived.

What's interesting is though Jesus, most of his ministry was around the Galilee region, there is no record in the Gospels of Jesus ever visiting Tiberius.  Not even once probably because he didn't want to stir things up with Herod.  He just avoided the place.  It was a Gentile place.  The Romans had it as their garrison, their point of control.  He avoided it.  At least there is no record that he was there.

So "At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, 'This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.' For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife."  Now this is called a literary flashback.  That's where the author is going back and giving you the circumstance to bring you up to speed of why Herod thinks this about Jesus.  "Because John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet."

Let me give you a little bit of a background.  Herod Antipas while in Rome seduced Herodias, the wife of his brother actually his half brother Herod Philip and talked her into dumping her husband and coming with him.  In order to do this, Herod Antipas had to first divorce his then current wife.  She happened to be the daughter of the ruler of Syria called Aretas.  When Aretas found out that Herod Antipas dumped his daughter to do this, he had almost the entire army of Herod Antipas destroyed and would have destroyed Antipas himself had not Rome intervened.  So it was unlawful.

The reason John the Baptist -- you know, I've wondered about this.  Why did John the Baptist hold this Gentile ruler to the same bar of judgment, the Biblical bar for an unbeliever as you would demand for a believer?  The reason is because this man ruled Israel.  He was the ruler in the Israelites.  This is the land of God.  If you're going to rule our country, you have to abide by the laws of God.  He was very forth right and he was not a Diplomat, John the Baptist, I'll give you that.

He was not a Diplomat.  He was not a politician.  He was not a compromiser.  He called the spade to spade and he said, "That is wrong." and it got him into trouble.  So he had him arrested, put in prison.

The prison is in modern day Jordan today, it's called the prison of Machaerus because John said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

And although he wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet.  "But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod."  Her name was Salome.  That was her daughter and the daughter of Herod Philip. 

"Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.  So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, 'Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.'" Herodias was a cruel woman.  The only other woman that I can think of that tops her was Jezebel, the Sidonian princess, the wife of Ahab who was the king of Israel back in 1Kings 19.  And it says, "The king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her."

This really is not that uncommon that somebody who would dance before a monarch, a ruler would ask a special favor to be granted.  There is a story back in the 1800s that comes to us from Persia that one of the dancers dancing before the Persian king asked and was given a caravansary.  That is a building where caravans would stop for the night, an ancient inn basically.  They would be fed.  They would be watered and it was a building that had a courtyard and people would sleep in the perimeter rooms and the animals would be kept in the center.  And the caravansary in the 1800s in Persia was a money maker because people are always stopping at these inns on their journey so she basically had her life taken care of because she was given a business.  So that's not that uncommon.

What is uncommon is to have this kind of a gruesome request.  Now notice it says that verse 9, "he king was sorry; nevertheless, because of the oaths and because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her."

Herod was remorseful over the situation but he was not repentant over his sin.  Big difference in being remorseful and being repentant, "Oh I'm so sad and so sorry that it happened to me."  It's another thing to be sorry that you've offended God and be repentant.  That's why Paul makes a difference between being sorry and repentance.  He said it is Godly sorrow that produces repentance.

Everybody who's been arrested for a crime is sorry.  They're sorry that they got arrested in the very least.  They're sorry that they're doing time.  How sorry are they for what they've done to hurt those people or before God Himself.

What a difference between John the Baptist and Herod.  John the Baptist fears the Lord and the Lord only and he doesn't care what people think about him.  Herod on the other hand fears his dinner guests and his family and the constituents.  And like the perineal politician he blows in and out with whatever the winds are saying and doing.  "So he sent and had John beheaded in prison.  And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl."

How gross.  I mean to even say "Oh good, it finally arrived.  Thank you.  I've always wanted to get a head in life.  Thank you very much for that."  It's just a gross idea.  Sorry about that.   "And she brought it to her mother."  "What are you going to do with the head?"  She didn't ask for it, her mom did.  As gruesome as this was, this was not unheard of.

In ancient times rulers were often like I said, brutal.  One of Herodias's ancestors by the name of Alexander Janneus on one occasion at a feast that he had for his guest had 800 men crucified in front of his dinner guests and brought their wives and children out to be killed before the prisoner's eyes and then they died.  Brutal, gruesome.

So it wasn't unheard of and especially in this family.  Now you know why the Herods and that whole clan was detested, hated by the Jewish people.

Verse 12, "Then his disciples came and took away the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus.   When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.  But when the multitudes heard it, they followed Him on foot from the cities.  And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and he healed their sick."

There it is again.  Just like we read in Chapter 9 "When He saw the multitude; He was moved with compassion."  And here again, moved with compassion.  The word we told you about splanchnic mesoderm(ph) which speaks literally of your bowels, your intestines.

If I were to quote it literally, his bowels moved, his intestines moved, his guts ached or removed.  That's literally what it means why because the Hebrews identified intense human emotion as taking place in the abdomen.  We call it the "heart" today.  That's our metaphor.  We say "Boy, it really spoke to my heart.  I love you with all my heart.  I understand that in my heart."  That's our metaphor.  That's a western metaphor.  The eastern metaphor was not "I feel it in my heart." but "I feel it in my gut."

Do you know what it's like if you have to stand in front of people.  Some of you hate the idea if I were to call you up right now.  Hey come up here, tell as a few words.  "Oh."  It's like the worst fear.  You feel it in the pit of your stomach.  You ache in your gut.  You get butterfly as we call it.

So it speaks of intense emotions.  Jesus was moved for other people compassionately.  When Lazarus died and he came to the tomb of Lazarus and saw the family weeping, Mary weeping, Martha weeping and the friends weeping, he says "Jesus was deeply troubled in spirit and moved." same word.  Compassion for other people is what moved him.  What moves you?

In the Garden of Gethsemane when they came to arrest Jesus, it's interesting that he said "You've come for me.  Let these guys go." always thinking of others.  On the cross with nails in his feet and hands, while he was dying that death, he wouldn't dismiss his spirit until he cared for his own mother.  He wanted to make sure she was taken care of.  Compassion marked his life.  He was moved with compassion and he healed their sick. 

"When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, 'This is a deserted place.'"  What was your first clue?  "'And the hour is already late.  Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food."

We are coming to one of the most famous miracles that Jesus ever performed the feeding of the 5000.  It's such a stand-out miracle that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all four Gospels record this miracle.  Though it is recorded, though we've all heard about it, many times, we miss the significance of it like the little kid when asked, "What your favorite Bible story?"  He smiled and said I love the story about the crowd, that loafs and fishes.  Well, this wasn't a crowd that was loafing and fishing.  This was a crowd that was hungry that Jesus provided a meal for.

Now before we get into it, you should know that not everyone thinks it's a miracle.  There are people. There are even commentators that rationalize all of the miracles of Jesus in this one.  Listen to this.

One commentator suggests that actually everybody brought their own food that day.  There was plenty of food.  Everybody brought their own lunch but they were selfish because they brought their lunch and there might be somebody next to them who didn't bring their lunch and would be hungry.  But most everybody brought their lunch that day.  But they didn't want to share until Jesus with that big beautiful smile and he took that little kid's lunch and started breaking it and feeding it to other people.

They saw the example of Jesus with that little boy's lunch and it convicted their hearts and said "Okay." and they brought out their lunch and they started sharing it with each other.  That's the lame explanation of this miracle.  It's pretty lame isn't it?  It ranks up there on lame explanations, I would say in the top 10 lame explanations.

Here's another one that's maybe right next to it.  Another explanation is that Jesus and his disciples had already stashed the food in advance.  It was hidden in a cave out in the wilderness.  And when the crowd started coming, they started backing up to the cave.  Here they come.  Keep going.  Back up until they were like right there at the cave.  The mouth of the cave is right behind them and then they could just slip the bread right under the arms out of the cave, out of the cave.  "Here it comes, more bread, more fish."  Sounds like a fishy story isn't it?  That ranks up there, right?  Lame story.

I'm telling you, it is harder to be an atheist than a believer in Christ.  You got to work hard.  It takes more faith to be an atheist.  I look at them go, "Really?  That's the lame explanation?"  I don't know.  Once you can get pass Genesis 1:1, to me the rest is pretty easy.  Any God that can like make the heavens and the earth, I can hang with when it comes to doing these kinds of things.

Okay.  Jesus said to them.  Now -- so they said "Boy, you have to send these people away, Jesus?"  They're just, "It's late and it's deserted out here and they're hungry and--"  The problem the disciples had especially Andrew, the other Gospel stories tell us, "The problem they had is they're underestimating their master and overestimating their problem."  Ever done that?  You have a problem, you overestimate your problem and you underestimate God.  That's where you start coming unglued and losing it at that point.

"Jesus said to them 'They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat.'"  I love this.  They're looking at him like "Huh?  Did he just say that?  We're going to give them something to eat."  "And they said to Him, "We have here only five loaves and two fish.'"  We know from the other Gospel accounts that that's because a boy brought a lunch.

"And he said 'Bring them here to me.'  Then he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass."  Mark says beautifully the green grass and "And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes."

It's a beautiful thought when Jesus prayed.  We prayed like this.  So if I say "Let's pray."  You do this.  If Jesus would have said "Let's pray." then they're going like that.  They lift their eyes as if looking up toward heaven.  That was the typical Jewish form in saying the typical prayer ""Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz."  That's the blessing before the bread.  "Blessed arth thou Lord God, king of the universe who gives us the bread from the earth."  That's probably the prayer that he prayed.

He looked up, He blessed it.  "He gave the loaves to the disciples.  The disciples gave to the multitude.  So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained.  Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children."  This is a crown of about 15,000 people.  "The men were counted."  I'm sorry.  That's just the way they did it back then so we can figure I'm guessing at least an easy 15000 people that were fed on that day.

What does this miracle tell us?  Well it tells us first of all that God is concerned about our physical needs.  Don't ever think God is not concerned about you.  He knows what you're going through.  Yes he knows that you have the rent coming up next week.  Yes, he knows that the gas prices are skyrocketing out of control.  Yes, he knows that you bought that Hummer and probably should have bought the Prius and that.

So, he knows of all that.  And as we discovered in this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Look at the birds of the air.  Check out those birds.  They don't toil, they don't spin, they don't gather in the barns."  Listen to what Jesus said.

"Yet you're heavenly Father feeds them."  Did you get that?  God is not the heavenly Father for the birds.  A bird never says "Heavenly Father." because he is not their Father.  He is our creator, not their Father.  He's your Father.  Your heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not a more value than they?  So, God is concerned about your physical needs.

Listen to this.  Listen to this.  This is Romans 8 Verse 32.  "If God did not spare his own son but gave him up for us, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?"  That's provision.  God cares for our physical needs.  Here's the second lesson we learned here.  God uses small things to do great things.  God uses small things to do great things.

When that boy's mom was packing that boy's lunch that day early in the morning, "Hey mommy, I want to go hear Jesus."  "Okay but don't leave the house until I give you your lunch.  Here are a few pieces of bread.  These were barley loaves.  These were just the simple common porkpie little pieces of pita bread, flat little loaves and a couple of little fish.  This is not like salmon or sea bass.  We're talking lake fish.

Even some translations suggest pickled fish so he had a little bit of a lunch.  When she was packing his lunch that day, she had no idea that that little lunch he was packing in her kitchen would feed 15,000 people.  What made the difference?  Jesus' hands made all the difference.  You take a little and you put it in Jesus' hands, you've got a lot.  That's the math of a miracle, loaves and fish.  Five plus two equals not much.  Five plus two plus Jesus, anything can happen.  That's the math of a miracle.

Now I want to apply that to your life.  It could be, I don't know but it could be that the reason some of you haven't gotten involved in exercising your gifts in the body of Christ is you think, maybe you think this, "Oh, I'm not all that talented.  I couldn't be in the choir.  I can't play an instrument.  I just don't have the gifts or the talents."  How dare you deprecate God's property?  You belong to God.  The issue isn't how great you are.  It is how great God is.  And you put you in God's hands and you got something explosive and mighty, try that.  God can take a little and do great things.

Third lesson and we'll move quickly so we can finish this up is that God's provision goes a long way.  You'll notice in Verse 20, "So they ate and were filled."  You know what that means?  They were full, glutted.  It could be translated, I've had enough.  "And so they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained."  How many disciples -- apostles?  There were 12 apostles, many disciples, 12 apostles.  So, they had lunch for the next day.

God is economical okay?  God makes the provision go a long way.  God not only pulled off a cool miracle.  He did exceedingly, abundantly above all that they could ask or think.  So, they have 12 baskets full and they were taken care of.  Now when I say exceedingly abundantly, doesn't mean they're going to eat gourmet everyday of the week.  "Well God I'm fostering you and I expect that steak and lobster." or you might get barley loaves and a couple of fish.

You won't starve to death.  God will take care of you but he doesn't like owe you ahi tuna though I like ahi tuna but he doesn't know what to eat.  He'll take care of your needs not your greeds.

Listen to this.  This is what David wrote.  Psalm 37, "I was young and now I am old."  I can say that Psalm now.  "I was young and now I am old."  This is what he said "but I have never seen the righteous forsaken or God's children begging bread." God promises to take care of his own in provision will be in his time and it will go a long way.  Speaking of this time, it takes us to the next miracle.

Verse 22, "Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat."

Notice that he made them get into the boat.  "And go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away.  And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.  Now when evening came, He was there alone.  But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.

"Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.  And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled."  Well, you would be too if you saw a man walking on the sea.  "Saying, 'It's a ghost!'" Interesting that the disciples believed in ghosts at that time.   "And they cried out for fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'"

Now let me explain a little topography and Dave's going to up on the screen some Galilee pictures as we do.  The Sea of Galilee is below sea level.  It is part of a topographical feature known as the Syrian African Rift.  Let me explain that.

You know how the tectonic plates on earth work, right?  How they have shifted in the past?  It seems that the Arabian and the African plates, the way they shifted created this Syrian African Rift valley, this depression that enclothe the Sea of Galilee in part, the Jordan River, the Dead Sea all of it is below sea level.

The Sea of Galilee is like 680 almost 700 feet below see level.  The Dead Sea is 1,290 feet below sea level so that entire water chain is below sea level.  Because of that, it creates an interesting effect for a storm.  It's like a magnet for storms.

When the afternoon breezes to blow of off the Mediterranean funnels through the canyons that you see.  You see the canyons up on the screen?  Some of the plateaus, we're talking about 2,000 feet above sea level the plateaus of the Sea of Galilee is about 700 feet below sea level almost a 3,000 foot difference. 

You've got warm air on the Sea of Galilee and you've got cool air that comes through these canyons and these canyons here that you see sort of in a V are called the Horns of Hattin amd they act if you're a mechanic like a carburetor venturi where you take air and you funnel it from wide into a narrow throat.  And as that cool air rushes downward through that valley at a high velocity and hits that warm air on the Sea of Galilee, it can whip up a storm almost immediately and easily capsized a boat.

So to have seasoned-fishermen out on the sea laboring for this long and afraid -- it takes a lot to make these guys afraid.  They lived there.  They work with sea.  They do this for a living.

Now notice Verse 25, "Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them."  Let me explain this to you.  There are four watches in the Jewish night 2,000 years ago, four watches.  From 6 o'clock in the evening to 9 o'clock, from 9 o'clock to midnight, from midnight to 3 a.m., from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., somewhere between 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.  They're still out there and Jesus walks to them.  That means they have been struggling out on that lake for about eight hours.

Now, can I just ask a question?  Couldn't Jesus have come a lot sooner?  Did he have to wait eight hours?  Could he come like after the first 30 minutes?  "It is already hard.  Can we go home now?"  Why did he wait that long?  You've asked that question haven't you?  In your storm, in your trial, "Really Lord you had to wait for the fourth watch of the night?"

You struggle and you struggle he'll come, he'll show up in his time when there's just no way you could get out of this on your own and it's abundantly clear that you have to be saved by God or you're going to sink.  He came in the fourth watch of the night and no sooner.

We wish it would be sooner but know this, if you're in a storm, God has his eye on that boat and his hand on the waves.  He's not going to let you sink.  Question, why did Jesus walked on the water?  To show off?  "Look what I can do."

Can I suggest he came to them on the thing they feared the most?  They feared that storm.  That storm is going to kill them.  Jesus came to them on what they feared the most.  How we fear pain and sorrow, the death of a loved one or deceased.  We think, "Oh God, no.  No.  No." and yet we find so often that the Lord makes that his foot path and comes to us in his abundant presence on the thing we fear the most.  He knows what he is doing in the storms that he sends.

And because Jesus made them get into the boat, constrained is the King James compelled them "Get in that boat."  What it means is they were in the storm by the will of God.  It's not like, "Well, the disciples were disobedient and they were out of the will of God that's why they suffered."  No.  They were right in the middle of the will of God and Jesus sent them in to what he knew would be a storm.

That will revolutionize your periods of pain by the way.  If you realized I'm not in this by happen stance.  This is by the will of God "And God's going to by his will get me through this."  It changes everything.  It changes the whole field when I realize that.

Jesus said, Verse 27, "Be of good cheer."  It sounds like it's out of place.  "Cheer up boys!"  Until the next sentence comes then it makes sense.  "It's Jesus."  Okay now, that makes sense.  I can cheer up now.

"'It is I; do not be afraid.'  And Peter answered Him and said--"  This is old Peter, you know.  He's not quite sure it's Jesus.  This guy needs a little more proof.   "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water."  I like that tenacity actually.  "And so he said, 'Come.'  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water.'  Stop right there.

Before we can ditz Peter ever in our lives, just remember he walked on water.  You never did.  None of those other guys ever did.  They can knock Peter all they want, "You denied Jesus."  "I walked on water."  That's pretty cool isn't it?  "That must have felt.  Whoa! I'm walking on water." and then the thought occurred to him, "Excuse me, this is impossible.  Men don't walk on water!"

And he's thinking of the displacement of the weight of a human and the water and he just started sinking.  He had his eyes on the wind not on the Lord and he started sinking.  "But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!'"  Notice it wasn't a long prayer?

"Lord, I beseech thee in thy grand mercy--".   He would have just died.  He didn't have much time except for "Help." says the fervent effective prayer of a righteous man avail.  That was pretty prevent don't you think?  "Save me."

"And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'"  "Peter you were having such fun.  This was awesome.  We're doing it together.  I've never had somebody walked with me on the water.  You were doing it.  You were trusting.  You were depending holy me.  For that minute, that was awesome."

"And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.  Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'"  Another thing about your trial, it won't last forever.  Just the like storm seized, your storm will seize.  I know it might not seem like it right now but it will.  He will.

One lady said, if you look back Verse 53 of Chapter 15 where we started.  Just look back at that one verse.  There's one woman who said that was her favorite verse in the bible and it says, "Now it came it to pass that Jesus finished these parables he departed and he go."  She said that's my favorite verse in the Bible and somebody said to her "Why?  I don't understand.  How could that be your favorite verse of the Bible?" and she says "Well, it says it came to pass.  So I know that whenever I have a trial it hasn't come to stay it's come to pass so I just wait for it to pass".

So, the wind seized.  Verse 34, "When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret."  You may get confused when you read your New Testament you find that the Sea of Galilee goes by three names.  One is the Sea of Galilee, another is the Sea of Tiberias and the other is the Lake of Gennesaret.  It's all the same body of water.

Gennesaret is -- the Sea of Galilee has mountains around it and it is pretty steep especially on the eastern side and even toward the south.  But as you move out toward the South Western part of the Sea of Galilee where you're looking at on that map, as you take that left shore and you started going north, it flattens out.

It's a broad fertile plain.  That's where most of the agriculture took placed and takes place even to this day and that's the area of Gennesaret or the plain of Gennesaret.  And so that's the area that they came to the land of Gennesaret.

"And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment.  And as many as touched it were made perfectly well."

What a contrast to the people of Nazareth who lived in unbelief and Jesus did no mighty work there.  Now in Gennesaret, people say if I just touch the hem of his garment just like the Syrophoenician woman, that was her thought like to just touch that and probably that report spread to the people of Gennesaret and said "Man, if you just touch the hem of this dude's garment, you're going to get healed.  That's all we need."  And so with great faith, they came after him and it says "And as many as touched it were made perfectly well."

I want to close on this note.  Herod Antipas had John the Baptist killed.  Herodias thought "Our problems are over."  Antipas thought "My problems are over." but they weren't over.

Here's what happened to them as history marched forward.  When the Emperor in Rome Caligula made King Agrippa the king of the Jews -- the title he called them the king of that land of Palestine made him the king -- Herodias told her husband Antipas, "Sweetheart, you got to go to Caligula and buy the title of king."  You had to buy it and get it for yourself.

Agrippa told Caligula, the emperor of this subversive scheme of Antipas and Herodias so that when they got to Rome the emperor ordered Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias to be banished to Gaul where they lived there in exile until their death.

So, they sort of reaped what they sowed in their life.  It was an all hunky-dory great life is great.  First of all John the Baptist's testimony lived on and they had that horrible faith.

Whoever you are, whatever you have would you place it tonight in the hands of Jesus and let him break it and multiply.  Let him break your life and multiply your life to feed others, to be a blessing to other people.  Lord here I am in you hands.  You might say, "I don't have much."  Good.  God chooses the foolish things at this world that can found the wise.  You're a perfect candidate.  "Oh, my life is so messed up and broken."  Perfect.  That's the one God's looking for.  Put yourself in Jesus hands and let him use you to turn this town upside down.  I should say right side up for his glory.

It could be that tonight you don't even know Christ personally.  You might be a religious person.  You might be a person who's gone to church all of your life.  Like all those people in the Synagogue who looked at Jesus, "We know who this kid is.  Who does he think he's kidding?"

You might be a very upright citizen, sincere but you've never made a personal commitment to Christ.

You never let him in.  The Bible says "He's standing at the door and he is knocking and he wants to come in and change your life.  But you have to let him in."  If you don't let him in, He remains on the outside.  If you let Him in and invite Him, He'll come and change you but you have to invite Him.

Let's pray.  Lord we read about Jesus changing lives, touching people never the same, people that followed him on his incredible journey of faith.  How exciting it was to follow Jesus.  Dangerous at times, very unpredictable but always with a guarantee that at the end of the game, the end game is an eternity spent with God and a life that has been lived with purpose.  So many of us crave for that and we don't we have that.

And I pray for those that are here tonight or listening by radio or watching at another campus, I pray Father that those who don't you would tonight at this moment make a commitment to Christ.

If you're here in this room, God has spoken to your heart.  You've been feeling this way for some time.  You're feeling that nudge like, "My life isn't all that it should be.  There's going to be something more than what I've already experienced.  I want to know the hope of heaven and I want to know that my sins are forgiven."

You can know that and you can have the purpose of God that has been foreordained for you, from the foundations of the earth.  You can know what it is to walk in that and to live in that and to walk with God's power.  Your life can be changed but you have to come to him.  You have to be willing to admit you're a sinner and that you're willing to turn from your sin and turn to him.

If you're willing to do that tonight as our heads are bowed, as we're praying, I want you to raise your hand up in this room and I'll pray for you as we close this service.  Raise your hand up and say "Pray for me Skip.  I want to give my life to Christ tonight."

God bless you, toward the middle and behind, toward the back right up here in the middle, toward the front.  Right here on this side, I see a couple of you.  Anybody else raise your hand up?  Raise it up.  "This is the night I'm going to do it.  I'm going to go through with this.  I'm going to give my life to my creator.  I want to know what it's like to have purpose and forgiveness and his love."  Anyone else?  Raise your hand up tonight.  In the balcony, God bless you."

Father, we thank you for those hands.  We thank you for these people, these lives, different backgrounds, different circumstances, same need, same Lord, same love, same promises.  I prayed that as these people and your promises meet that there would be life change in Jesus' name, Amen.

Stand to your feet.  I'm going to ask those of you who raised you hand and some in the balcony could be in the family room.  Anywhere you were sitting as we sing this final song.

Get up from where you're standing.  Find the nearest aisle and stand right up here in the front.  I'm going to give you an opportunity to pray to receive Christ right now.  Don't let this moment pass you by.  Don't say "Well, I raised my hand.  Good enough."  No.  Make a stand for Christ and come out from where you were seated or standing and come right up here in the front.  That's right.  Just say excuse me and come out of your row.  Come out of your aisle.

Jesus called people publicly when he called them.  He's calling you tonight.  If you're in the balcony, just come down the stairs we'll wait for you but you come.  Come and stand up here.

Amen.  God bless you.  That's right.

You may not have even raised your hand but the Lord has been calling you for a long time trying to get you to do this.  We'll wait a few more minutes because some of you might be saying "Oh, wait a little longer.  I'll do it on my death bed."

Don't waste your life.  Live your life with purpose.  Give your life to Christ.

God bless you.

I'm so glad that so many of you have come forward for this prayer.  I just wanted to say something to those who are watching on the internet perhaps right now or if you are listening by radio, somebody's going to be there to tell you what to do and give you an opportunity to make the same commitment or in our Santa Fe campus, it's the same thing.  But you've come forward and I want to lead you in a prayer to receive Jesus as the Lord of you life, the savior of your life.

So, I'm going to lead you in a prayer.  Now I'm going to ask you to pray this prayer out loud after me.  Say these words from your heart.  Mean them from your heart.  Say them to God.  This is you asking him to come inside and to take control.  Are you ready?  Let's do it.