Hungry & Storm-Tossed
March 24, 2019 | Mike Stancak
Passage: Matthew 14:13-36
Often we can feel like following Jesus is a burden. In addition to living up to the demands of our anxious, confused time, we have to also think about how to live up to the demands of discipleship. Where do we go when we need answers? Where do we go when we are exhausted by our own lives and following the way of Jesus feels like a legalistic chore? Where do we take courage?
This Sunday we explore some very famous passages in Matthew: the feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water. What we often miss is that these stories come right on the heels of incredible, confusing injustice: the beheading of John the Baptist. These stories give us a powerful reminder that in middle of the worst circumstances possible, we do not follow Jesus on the basis of our own merit or our own strength; we do it by the abundance of God’s grace to us in Christ. And that reality has the power to give us amazing comfort and amazing courage.
Series Information
Matthew 12:22 - 20
In the next installment in our Matthew series as we see conflict heating up around Jesus. As his ministry continues, it becomes clear that the values of the Kingdom clash with the arrogance, pride, and apathy of his day, and people start to polarize around him. I'm sure the same will be true of us. At every step we'll find that Jesus' grace is sufficient for the journey, as we learn the way of the Upside-Down Kingdom.