row even though the storm is against

I am going to be talking about the Book of Saint Mark chapter 6, verses 45 to 52. It is a passage that is dealt with by three Evangelists, Matthew, Mark and John, they talk about this experience, Jesus walking on the water. Matthew is the only one who mentions Peter, Mark and John do not mention him.

And I want you to keep this phrase in your mind during my presentation: "A misconception of Jesus will prevent the knowledge necessary for spiritual growth." If we don't understand Jesus, we don't understand what Jesus means in our lives and His magnificent plan.

The Word says: "Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to Bethsaida, on the other bank, while he dismissed the crowd, and after he had dismissed them, he went to the mountain to pray; And when night came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and He alone on land; and seeing them rowing with great effort because the wind was contrary to them, about the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea, and wanted to get ahead of them."

"Seeing him walking on the sea, they thought he was a ghost and they shouted, because they all saw him and were disturbed. But immediately he spoke to them and said to them: Take heart, I am, do not be afraid; and he got up to them in the boat, and the wind subsided, and they were greatly astonished, and marveled because they had not yet understood about the loaves, because their hearts were hardened." God bless His Word this morning.

At the beginning of this chapter (chapter 6), it begins with the beheading of John the Baptist. It is a very terrible introduction, it is a nightmare, it is not good news that they realize that the forerunner of Jesus no longer exists, they cut off his head. The scene preceding this event of the boat arrives in which the crowd is listening to Jesus and does not want to leave, hours pass, perhaps it gets dark, and Jesus sends them away. John elaborates further and says that they wanted to make Jesus King, because after that miracle of feeding 5,000, the instinct, the inclination, the impetus was "well, let's make him King", because if he can feed 5,000 people, men without count women, how much more can He do? That's what's on people's minds, right? that emotion, that moment of indescribable joy.

Let's imagine that we are in a soccer or baseball game and they score a goal, how people get; they get excited, get up, greet each other even though they don't know the person next to them, hug each other, because they have scored a goal.

I remember when I was young being in Puerto Rico, my mom was a fan of baseball and we went to see a game there in Puerto Rico between two teams, the team was playing the semifinal, my mom grew up playing baseball, a fan of her team, the team had never been able to beat that team, and at that moment the team my mom supported hit a home run, a home run.

And I remember my mother, a serene, short, very Pentecostal, very calm woman, for the moment my mother was lost to me! (laughs), and I say to my brother: and where is mommy? She was all over the benches hugging people, high-five - low-five, and I said: but mom, you're old enough, that doesn't matter, you have to celebrate the moment!

This is how this crowd was that when they know they are hungry, they are far from home, they are far from where they are, for the moment this person can provide enough food, humanly they thought: if He can provide food for 5,000 men without having to go to the congress nor promulgate a law, nor have to go to the Sanhedrin, nor have to wait for the Roman emperor or the governor. How much more can this Jesus give us? you have to do it King. But Jesus, in His wisdom, says that He pushes, says that He pushes, say the verses in Greek, says that He pushes the disciples to get into the boat because He doesn't want them to be influenced by the crowd, He he does not want the crowd to change the divine plan. A misconception of Jesus will prevent the knowledge necessary for us to grow spiritually.

They thought of a material Jesus, of a material kingdom, of an abundance of material benefits, they had not yet understood the meaning, the importance, the reason that made Jesus move for them.

A very interesting fact is that Jesus sends them in the boat and if Jesus sends me to something, aren't we going? If Jesus comes and tells you: Look, take that plane and go to Guatemala, you are going to take the plane and go to Guatemala because God is sending you. If God tells me: Take that plane and go to Puerto Rico, I don't think twice, I take the plane and go to Puerto Rico because God has told me to go to Puerto Rico. And in this case Jesus, the one who has just fed 5,000 people, tells His disciples: get in that boat, take that boat and go to the other side.

They are happy in their boat, many of them are experts in fishing, they have fished, they know what a boat is, they know what they can face, but here comes a contradiction: Jesus sends them and Jesus knew that a storm, but they didn't know it, and sometimes we don't understand: how is it possible that I'm doing things right for the Lord, I'm doing what He has called me to do, I'm doing what He has given me so that I do my ministry, my vision, what my heart feels, and doing and fulfilling, and being obedient to His commandments, storms arise that I cannot control, and we begin to analyze ourselves internally: have I sinned, have I stopped pray, I am not obedient, I have done bad to someone similar, something is wrong in my family?

So imagine the disciples following the command of Jesus and being inside this boat, they encounter this storm. I imagine that some would think: how is it possible that Jesus sends us in the boat and He stays on land?

Let's think about that scene: they are in the middle of the sea and verse 48 says: "And He who was praying saw them rowing with great effort." The Greek says: "they rowed with great emphasis, with great force" but the wind was against them so they could not overtake that boat. I don't know how many have fished at night or how many have rowed. The time this passage occurs is close to Easter in Jerusalem and it is said that there was always a full moon, so where Jesus was praying on that mountain, He could see these people trying to row and the boat did not move forward.

The question that arises is why God has sent me on a mission that seems like an impossible mission? When I look and I am in this boat surrounded by my companions, my disciples, I do not see Jesus, Jesus is not in the boat, so one resorts to their abilities, their skills, their experience, but with everything and that, what they knew to do, the boat could not move forward.

One of the things that permeated, that flowed in the Jewish mentality of that century was that Domitian, the Roman emperor emphasized that he was the boss and that he commanded the heavens, the earth and the sea, it was a Roman phrase, "Domitian rules and rules the heavens, earth and sea."

Jesus who has apparently lost control but He is in control, a sovereign God, knows what is happening, sees his people who are tired, who are working but these people did not get discouraged, they did not stop rowing. The times outside of the boat that can mean spiritual times, can mean social times, can mean times of our culture, because the boat represents the Church and if we bring it from that theological point to the 21st century, our boat, the Church in the XXI is sailing against stormy times, it is rowing against erroneous theological situations, it is sailing against what the law affirms.

And Jesus tells us this morning that He has sent us to row even though the storm is against us, even though the times are different, even though the scene looks too dark and the boat does not seem to progress or advance, Jesus continues to send us, because while we work and we row we do not give in to the winds, how many say amen this morning?

Has anyone here ever seen a ghost? Because if you've seen it, you have to call psychiatry, ghosts don't exist, how many here are afraid of the dark? raise your hand, don't be scared. Look, at home they know me because I love scaring, I'm a fan of that (laughs). For example, if we are all in the living room and I disappear, nobody wants to go to the rooms because they don't know where I am. So my wife told me: I'm going to teach Isaías what scare is, right?

I'm fine one day, fast asleep, a deep sleep, it was about four or five in the morning, she woke up before me, I didn't notice that she got out of bed, she comes by my side and puts her face next to my face but I'm sleeping (laughs). When I woke up I jumped (laughs) and I didn't see a ghost.

Now imagine these people: they just watched Jesus feed 5,000 people. They have seen it, in chapter 4 of the same Book when He calms the storm with His Voice, they apparently know who this Jesus is, and now in the midst of that storm when He comes walking on the waters they believe it is a ghost. He says that they were greatly astonished, that they shouted, because they did not understand everything they saw. Everything they saw they did not understand.

They walk with Jesus, they sit with Jesus, they see Jesus operate like no one in history has seen him operate, together with Him, they are eyewitnesses of what Jesus can do and of the miracle of the 5,000 people, to this moment Not a day has passed from the boat, only hours, and they did not understand that this Jesus was not being limited by any Roman law, he was not limited by the Emperor Domitian, this Jesus was the Creator and Lord of heaven, earth and from sea. But they did not understand.

And we in the 21st century are no different from them. We are with Jesus, we seek Jesus, we read about Jesus, we pray to Jesus, but when things don't improve the outside picture doesn't look very pretty.

A Pastor said that if this scene was made at this time, they put a group of the 21st century Church inside a boat and they start rowing, the boat stops and they cannot continue because the winds are contrary, he says that in this At that time we would find ourselves with the oars because we would blame someone, because we are programmed to think that nothing can go wrong, that everything has to go well, that God will always provide, that God will always be there, that everything that we ask, he will give it to us and historically it does not happen that way. Within the Will of God, if He likes to give us, He gives us, and if He does not give us, He continues to be our God.

We have to get out of that mundane programming, of that completely humanistic programming. What is certain is that if you took up your cross, how many will take up their cross, how many have taken up their cross? and when entering the boat, not knowing what is going to happen on the way or who is going to get up or what is going to get up or what is going to come, one thing I do know: that the Creator of heaven, earth and The sea has told me: Get into the boat and go to the other side, and I am going to row no matter what happens because my function, my call, my seat in that boat is to row.

I once tried to row with three people and I discovered that those who go in the middle are the ones who carry the weight, it is the oar that goes in the deepest, and those who go in front are directing where it moves, so I they saw chubby and put me in the middle (laughs).

The disciples did not say to Jesus: well Lord, who is going to be the leader when we are in the boat, who is going to sit in front, who is going to be in the middle, who is going to go behind, who is going to have the newer or better brand oars? Who's going to have gloves, who's going to be without gloves? because we would ask that, how to do the job. And what Jesus asks is: In your simplicity and your obedience to the Will of the Lord, be simple, be simple, be humble, accept that your work is an oar, and rowing, the boat begins to move.

By the time that Jesus arrives who while they are rowing He is praying, what a beautiful scene that is, isn't it?! while they are rowing Jesus is praying, interceding. While you and I are going through that type of storm, Jesus is not resting, Jesus is praying, interceding for us, and although I do not see that Jesus, when that Jesus inside the boat comes to my presence, I am not surprised because I have believed. I am amazed when I have not believed, when something scares me, when something is amazing, but what Jesus does is completely credible and amazing.

Jesus tells them: "Take courage, I am, do not be afraid" before the winds subsided, before He entered the boat He brings to them that word "take courage." In order not to fear, one must have courage.

Some say in psychology that you stand in front of the mirror in the morning before going to work and tell the mirror: today I look good, today I have a better life, I am going to work and enjoy the day. I would tell you something different: I would not tell the mirror, I would tell the heavens.

God has allowed me to get up alive today and I am going to go to work because He gives me breath and He gives me the spirit. No matter what happens at my job or where I go, He has told me "don't be afraid, be encouraged, be encouraged, be glad." The Pastor once told me: Isaiah, one has the right to be happy, claim your blessing. Even if your boat is in the middle, even if your boat isn't moving, it doesn't matter, you insist on what they sent you, now Jesus is going to do the rest. Now the boat is going to arrive that is going to drag you and it is going to take you to a safe port but you don't stop rowing, brother don't stop rowing. And if the one next to you doesn't want to row, throw him overboard (laughs) no, no, encourage him.

There is a lesson in this, the Scandinavian countries within the churches, they have a small boat on the altars because for them the symbolism of the boat is a church, and for them in the churches there are no ranks, there are no divisions, everyone They are equal; the job is rowing, rowing. Times are getting tough.

Our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren are going to face another type of society, other types of cultural problems. It is our responsibility as parents, as grandparents, as siblings to instruct those little ones who are going to stay here so that the boat that God has given us does not stop in the middle, but rather when they are in their boat and the moments come , the storms come, and they do not know what else to do so that they know that the owner and Creator of that boat has not yet arrived and has to arrive for the boat to keep moving. He says that the gates of hell are not going to prevail against the Church of Jesus Christ, ever, that is not the case historically.

Every time they try to stop the Church, the progress of the Church, its theology, its formation, its commandments, its principles, they can take our lives, but the boat of the Church will never be stopped, it will never be stopped, it will never be confused, they will never be able to stop us as a Church and as a boat.

At a time like this we then need to stop. We are in the middle of the sea, the winds have not dropped their strength, the waters are fine, very cloudy, at times when we stop, we do not stop rowing, do not stop believing in the call that God has given you. Do not keep the oar that God gave you. Don't bury that oar that God has given you in the form of a talent or a skill, or a gift because times have gotten tough. Church, let's dig up our oars. Dust off the oar, the boat needs the oars in the water, and once we have the oars in that water, some forward, some behind, some in the middle, the boat will not stop because then Jesus will make His miraculous appearance .

When the spiritual aspects, the domains, the principalities heard Jesus say: "I am" they knew that this I am is an eternal I am. It is the same that is expressed in Exodus, it is the same that is expressed in the Kingdom of Heaven, He is, it is not a copy, it is the original, it is the same that with His Mouth He ordered and created, that with His Mouth ordered and things were created although no one.

That often happens to us, sometimes we do these things and no one notices, keep rowing, keep rowing, you can't stop, you can't stop now because if we stop rowing the storm is going to destroy us, if we stop rowing the storm will tear us apart, if we stop rowing we will disappear, if we stop rowing we will drown, if we stop rowing we are telling the world that we do not believe in the one who has called us. If we stop rowing, we tell the world that what I can do is more important than what my oar can do inside the boat with a single group, a single team. If I stop rowing I become a selfish person because I am thinking of myself and not of others. If I stop rowing, what will become of the Church? If I stop rowing, who will speak to someone who doesn't know him? This morning tell the Lord: Lord, give me the strength to take that oar and get into the water, get into the boat.

If I can't row because I'm tired, I tell the person next to me: look, I'm tired and I'm going to row more gently, but I'm not going to stop. My oar may not be like Damaris's oar, but I see that with Damaris we row together in the same boat. Maybe my oar isn't like Wilston's, but I keep rowing and neither does Wilston. Wilston's oar is as important as my oar.

We need everyone rowing. God does not need us to give him ideas where we are going, he has already said that it is to the other shore, the address is already set in the GPS, we do not have to look for any shortcut, it is to the other shore and even if he does not take me with the brother, he learns to take you with the brother because you have to row with the brother. Camilo's oar is as important as my oar. If Camilo rows at home with his wife and the family rows in one rhythm, when they arrive at the Church, they already come to the larger boat with the training to row in one rhythm in one direction.

How nice it is to row in only one direction. It means that we have to deprogram ourselves: "I can row." Say it with me: I can row, I'm going to row, we're going to row, it's not that it won't stop, we're going to row, we're not going to drown. Things are difficult, things have always been difficult because it is not by sight, it is by faith and our Lord is by your side even if you do not see him, He is praying, He is interceding, He is there, He is going to bless, do not stop rowing, we are not going to stop rowing, no one is going to stop the Church. Raise your hands and praise God this morning, it's time to praise God, hallelujah.

My oar is important, how beautiful is my oar, how beautiful is your oar in the water. The storm is coming, glory to God, I don't understand it, I just don't understand it but He is coming, He is not alone, He is not alone, Jesus is coming because He has never left. The world teaches us that there is a void that He leaves, He has not left, He left the paracletos, His Holy Spirit so you are not alone, you are not alone.

Church, be of good cheer, this morning, be of good cheer. Tulio take courage, do not be afraid, do not be afraid, we are in the boat that the Lord built, we are in the boat that was designed by the Lord, we are in the boat that was made in heaven, I don't know where that boat is going, but you and I have to row. God bless you.