Keion Henderson - The Sound of a Storm

I want you to open your Bibles to Matthew 14, and we’re going to start reading at verse 22. Matthew chapter 14, verse 22. Here’s what the Word of the Lord says: «And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away.» This is probably one of the most important verses, and I want you to understand it. Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the ship and to go before him, while he sent the multitude away. Don’t forget that.

Verse 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.» But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves, for the wind was contrary. «And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking on the water.» When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, «It is a spirit,» and they cried out for fear. But straightway, Jesus spake unto them, saying, «Be of good cheer; it is I. Be not afraid.»

And Peter answered him and said, «Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.» He said, «Come.» When Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind—I need you to hear what I just said—when he saw the wind (and in the Greek, that word actually means when he discerned the wind, when he heard the wind, when he sensed the wind, when he analyzed that there was wind), because you and I know you can’t see wind. So we must dig deeper. In other words, he heard the sound of the wind. «Boisterous» is the word; it means to be strong, it means to be mighty. He heard the sound of a strong wind, and he was afraid, beginning to sink. He cried, saying, «Lord, save me!»

Immediately, Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, «O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?» When they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they that were with him in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, «Of a truth, thou art the Son of God.»

I want to talk about the sound of a stone, the sound following the miracle. I noticed two things, and I want to see if you noticed them as well. This is an important text, and we know—or, if you don’t know, let me tell you—Jesus has just fed five thousand, not including the women and the children. We are very familiar with that passage of Scripture where he took the bread, broke it, blessed it, and the fish multiplied. Every time they went into the basket, there was more fish to feed the people. We know that miracle; set that aside.

I think we’re also in the midst of an unspoken miracle. The crowd, as the Bible says, is around Jesus, and one writer notes that at the time the crowd begins to surround Jesus because he has just fed them and performed a miracle in their presence, one writer states that, at that particular moment, the people began to try their best to make Jesus their king. But Jesus was not fooled; he was not fooled by their attempts to make him king. He understands that they are making their decision based on the food.

It’s not about his majestic power, his personality, or who they thought he was. They were only enamored with him at this moment because of what he was doing. Be careful with people who fall in love with you because of what you do, because when you can no longer do, their love will fade with the lack of doing.

Jesus says, «I don’t want to be your king because of the food. I’m not food. If I’m going to be your king, you have to choose me and not my power.» Jesus is surrounded by a crowd of people, and I was having a conversation with our campus pastor, Pastor Rama, who’s going to be preaching next Sunday. We were talking about crowds, and he brought something of a bit of revelation to me that you’ll get a chance to hear him unveil next week when he shares the Word of God.

We began to discuss crowds, and I saw something in this that I had never seen before. At the moment they tried to make Jesus king, he tells us through Scripture—Matthew says that Jesus said to the disciples, «You all go to the other side.» Subsequently, he tells the crowd, basically, «Go back home where you came from.» The Bible says right here that he dismissed the crowd. He dismissed the crowd.

When you dismiss somebody, you send them back where they came from. So, he says, «Okay, you’re full; I’ve done my due diligence for today. The show’s over; nothing left to see here. Go home.» He dismisses the crowd and says to the disciples, «I want you to pass over to the other side.» I saw two things when it came to the crowd: he dismissed them. When it comes to the disciples, he dispatched them.