God of Second Chances – Part 1

By Pastor Bob Rasmussen

Greet the congregation. Welcome those watching online – Facebook, YouTube, CWM, Roku, our website, or wherever you watch or listen.

It is good to be back in the house of the Lord after our brief trip to Galveston, TX.  2400 miles, four plane rides, two layovers, 7 hours in the car, lots of messy people, and too much money. It was all worth it for a hug from this guy.

Prayer for all the Storms. There have been some wild ones as of late. We listened to the meteorologist this week and postponed Bible Study. Diana will be leading her Bible study, “Breaking the Chains,” this coming Thursday. If you know any women who are in relationships where they may be subjected to domestic violence, I encourage them to go on Thursday. Perhaps invite them to join you so they won’t be alone.

In the US, about 1 in 4 adult women and 1 in 7 adult men report having experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime. In 2024, a reported 49.1% of women and 40.7% of men experienced some form of domestic abuse. But there is hope! So please, invite someone or attend next week!

And I pray for no storms! I know Mike’s family had vehicle issues, as did we. My van looks like a 3-year-old walked around and pounded dents in it. I’ll have to have the windshield replaced. Our Toyota was totaled. Thank the Lord, the Jeep will be fixed.

I was on a project last week installing conference rooms for Charles Schwab in Brookfield. As I was driving home on Thursday, it started to hail, and I was thinking, “Not again!” And as I was thinking about storms, it brought me to the Book of Matthew 14. In Matthew 14, there is a storm, a storm on the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee is one of the lowest when it comes to lakes, which is what it is, a lake. It is the second-lowest lake in the world, besides the Dead Sea at 685 feet below sea level. It has also been the largest source of fresh water for the nation of Israel.

We also know that Jesus had just fed the 5000 near there. He had been preaching, teaching, and healing all day, and he ended the day by feeding all those folks with a miracle.

• Matthew 14:22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

There are immediately two things that are happening here that I need to pay attention to. The first one is why? Why did Jesus shut down things immediately? I had to look in the Book of John for a bit of insight.

• John 6:14 Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. 15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.

I am trying to pay very close attention to what Jesus does so that I can try to make sure that is what Bob does, amen? If I let what Bob wants to happen, instead of what Jesus and the Holy Spirit want, that is when I get into trouble. And as I look at this scripture, I see that word perceive, and I read that it discerns, amen?

I agree with Pastor Jeff in his teaching on the Gifts of the Spirit that we should all use the spiritual gift of discernment more in our lives. And Jesus discerns that these folks want to make Him King right in that moment, but Jesus knows that His time for that to happen has not yet arrived.

I mean, being made a King, starting something, being the head guy in charge, probably would have sounded good to me. King me! But that was not the will of God.

How many times in our lives have we said yes, without consulting the Holy Spirit? How many times in our lives have we been in front of a door of opportunity that was a yes and amen, without going through that door without prayer? Why do we not take a moment to consult the one person who knows what is best for us when making decisions?

• Matthew 14:22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship,

Jesus knows what these people are thinking; they are not in the will of God, they are in the flesh. They have seen the miracles, and they have a full belly; they are in the flesh, so what does Jesus do? He sends the disciples away, and I think He does that to protect them.

Now, it would be nice if Jesus appeared every time I needed a course correction. Like that scene in Star Wars where Obi-Wan is like a hologram. I could have Jesus say ‘run’ or ‘stop’ or whatever!But we do not have that, do we? What we do have is His Word and His Holy Spirit!

As we read the Word of God, we can see Him telling us what not to do, amen? You cannot read your bible and not see that the Lord is telling us the things we need to stay away from that are outside the will of God.

Throughout scripture, the bible warns you to stay away from sexual immorality, of having sex before marriage. The Word of God warns you to stay away from witchcraft and divination. And the Holy Spirit tells you that Eastern Medicine and astrology are things that you need to steer clear of.

The bible guides you into the will of God by telling you that lying, slander, and gossip are not things we should participate in, amen? There are warnings of false prophets and witchcraft.

When I look back on my life, I thank God for His protection. When His Spirit moved so hard in my Spirit to say no, and when to say yes. I think as we all look back into our lives, we can see the hand of God through His Spirit and His Word moving in our lives, sending us across Sea of Galilee to separate us.

• 2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. 18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Touch not the unclean things are not just the religious practices of those days, it applies to us today.

• Pornography is unclean; do not touch it.
• Lying is unclean; do not touch it.
• Recreational drugs are unclean; do not touch them.
• Physical abuse is unclean; do not do it.
• Manipulating others is unclean; stop it
• Gossiping is unclean; knock it off!
• Whatever is unclean; enough.
• Do not discount the language of the word and say that was for then–no, all of it is for now. The Holy Spirit will convict of what is clean and unclean, amen?

• 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray:

Here is a beautiful nugget of wisdom from our Lord and Savior Jesus. All day, He has been pouring out His message through preaching. Pouring into the ministry, healing, and teaching. He performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000, which was probably more like 15,000, as I preached before.

He stops and takes time to pray. As I mentioned earlier, I want to pay attention not only to what Jesus says, but what He does, and this is one of those moments. Man, this one hit me hard when I reread it this time.

I have had a lot of long days last week, getting home as late as 7:00, and I thought about it, and what if I took a few moments to pray before I got on the road? Would it have helped me not want to run some of the idiots on I-94. Could it have changed my mindset to pray for the salvation of my fellow travelers? For their safe travel and mine?

If you have teenagers, take a moment before they arrive home and ask God for guidance on how to be a better parent. I wish I had.

If you have issues in your marriage, before you walk through the door, what if you stopped and prayed for peace and reconciliation? Instead of rushing to push through the door, ready for the next confrontation?

What if we took a moment to pray and ask what He wants rather than what we need or desire? What good is our life and hustle and bustle if the Lord is not involved?

• Ephesians 6:18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; 19 And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Sitting and resting in the presence of the Lord is a powerful experience. You know I was late to soak on Friday; I was supposed to be done at 2:00, but life had other plans. So, I let Diana and Doug know. And when 6:00 came, I pulled over on Highway 26 to start the live stream, and it kept dropping. I was like What in the world. I thought maybe it was my cell connection.

I pulled over one more time, and Jeff said it kept dropping. I got here, same thing. Grabbed my guitar and just started praising Him, and we read scripture, and there was prayer.

It was not about performance, it was not about having a stage, it was about Him and leaning into Him in that moment, and it was just a beautiful time in His presence.

For those who do tune in on Fridays for SOAK, we had internet issues. If it happens again, why not take a moment and pray and praise in your way, amen?

I love that Jesus is teaching me and you that we have to have discipline to be in His presence. Not in the presence of our favorite preacher. Not our favorite worship music. No man or woman can fill that place where the Lord is.

We know the voices of man – we’ve read the books and how they say who God is when we have the resource of His Word and His Spirit that shows us the unfiltered version of who He is. If you keep trying to find out who He is through other men’s voices – stop. Take time. Take time to sit and ask Him to reveal Himself. Stop, and pray that He will reveal Himself when you read His Holy scriptures.

• Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

 

That is the voice we need to seek. That is the voice we need to pray for. Just stop, for a minute, and listen. If you have not heard Him knocking on the ears of your spirit, maybe you need to take a moment and earnestly listen, amen?

There are people that are knocking on your spiritual door who need this sign.False teachers, prosperity gospel, folks who use the Word of God to enrich themselves by changing the word or misinterpreting it, are all whose door we should not open, amen!There are those who say that things that are sin are no longer sins because the world has changed. Blasphemy

• Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.

 

If God intended to change with the world, He would have said so. No, the world needs to change and conform to who He says we should be.

• Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.

Ok, next verse.

• Matthew 14:24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary.

The amplified puts it like this:

• ²⁴ But the boat [by this time] was already a long distance from land, tossed and battered by the waves; for the wind was against them.

How many have you been far off the shore? I have never been on a cruise, except the one provided by the military. We were on a road march, and we came upon some boats. I was like, cool! We got into the boats, they went really far out, and then they were like, “Get out?” I was like, what? But we had to tread water for a while. I do not know to this day if it was a confidence builder, or to have a healthy fear of the water.

So the disciples are way out there, there is a storm, which I read is more common than I thought, because of the cold temperatures from the mountains that surround the Sea of Galilee and the warm air on the water.

But you know what I do not read? They did not turn around. Me, I would of went back. Tossed and battered, they did not retreat.Did Jesus know there would be a storm? Yes, I think He did.

Jesus commanded them to get in a boat straightaway. He knew a storm was coming. I think it can be that way for us as well. Not every storm is from the enemy. Not every challenge is demonic in nature.

I think that sometimes when we are in the very will of God, there are things that He will allow so that we can go through them, and not turn around.  And it is by His design that our faith will be built up. Because as we go through that storm, we learn more and more who to seek in the storm. Jesus, amen?

Every time this has happened to me, I have stood and not faltered. OK, that’s not true. And sometimes, I may not understand the purpose until I am on the other shore of that situation. I will look back and see His hand in it, and sometimes I will see what I did right, and sometimes where I failed. Regardless, it is a faith-building experience, if I am honest.

I think that some of the biggest challenges Diana and I have been through were when we were in the will of God. When we were seemingly doing everything right, something happened that challenged our faith and our marriage. Fun times? No. But when that happens is when you go deeper. Deeper into prayer, and worship, and the Word.

One of the things I love about my wife is that she has a deep love for the Word. When I met Diana, she had a bunch of note cards wrapped with a rubber band. On those notecards were scriptures that she had handwritten. Diana reads it every morning when she wakes up. She writes about it on her blog. And she has that Word buried in her heart for when the storms come, so that most times, her response is what the Word says, not the situation, amen?

The other times it’s the Kraken – if you know, you know!

• Matthew 14:25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

 I do not study the Koran, or whatever Buddhists read, but no one has ever walked on water. We have an American pope, I have not read that he has walked on water, only Jesus

The disciples are on this body of water, and back then, they did not have OSHA or rules and regulations, or safety manuals. People died a lot on those waters; it was dangerous. I am sure there were stories of spirits and ghosts and all that.

But Jesus, being Jesus, rolls up on them. And they are afraid.They cried out in fear, and I love how Jesus responds.

• Matthew 14:27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

Jesus doesn’t yell at them. He does not correct them. He does not make them feel silly or anything. He comforts them.He says Hey guys, it’s me, it’s going to be alright.

There is a good little life lesson there for me. It is OK to be afraid. It is a human feeling that we have. It is natural to be fearful of some things. But He tells me how to respond to fear.

• it is I; be not afraid.

It is the presence of the Lord. Bringing the Lord Jesus into any fearful situation will bring about a wave of peace and calm. Rest in who He is.

• John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

I shared when I got out of the hospital from my fall how I felt the Lord during that process, some peace surpassed all understanding. I could feel the presence of the Lord, and the scripture I kept repeating was Fear not, for I am with you.

• Isaiah 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Man, it has been a long journey with this pain that I have still to this day. I have hope! They are going to burn the nerves on June 6^th. They conducted a test procedure, which was successful. So now they will go in and kill those nerves that are causing all this pain that I have.

But there have been days when the pain was so intense and I had little hope, but a verse would pop in my head, and more often than not, it was Fear not. Pain that made me fearful I was having a heart attack. Pain that made my eyes tear up. But “Fear not” – just those two words of His Word have helped me get through, amen?

If we are fearful, I think there is only one place to go when that happens, and that is to be in His presence. We have so many ways we can do that. We can pull up our bible on our phone. We can play worship music. We can pray. We can ask for prayer from our brothers and sisters.It is not the time to run to the ways of the world. Amen?

I only got through half of this bible event; it was not what I planned, but when I got into His presence, I just followed His lead, amen.

So many times, we have plans, but when we invite the Lord into it, He will reveal things to us and change our direction. But no matter what, like the apostles, we need to keep going forward, whether we are going through a storm.

That storm might be an illness, or a loss of a loved one, a job loss, no matter what it is, keep going.We might fear along the way, but we have a water walking Savior who will be with us no matter what!

• Hebrews 12:12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
• THE ALTAR IS OPEN