Overboard: Discovering the Possibilities of Life Without a Boat

Thesis: We don't expect that Jesus will do something amazing because we take for granted the amazing things He's already done.

Objective: Call believers to expect the amazing from Jesus by spending time in prayer, watching and calling for Him, and acknowledging the amazing things He does.

1. We must spend time alone with God (46).
   1. We must pray in private (“After leaving them;” Jesus made sure to send both his disciples and the crowd away before he went to prayer. Prayer in public is fine, but it's the prayer that is simply me and God that is essential if we're going to see amazing things happen in our midst. This is essential because, when we're alone, we're not worried about the show, and we can concentrate on communing with God rather than how we look or sound or relate to others.).
   2. We must pray without distraction (“he went up on a mountainside;” Not only must we pray alone, but we must take great care to distance ourselves from all possible distractions. For Jesus, this meant going up on the mountainside where no one would or could follow, away from the amenities and activities of home and town, the to-do lists of daily life and ministry, etc.).
   3. We must pray (“he went up to pray;” When we go to spend time in prayer, it is essential that we actually spend time in prayer. Prayer is more than a laundry list of things that we need God to do. In fact, it's more than the rudimentary ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) formula. It's us having a two-way conversation, where we talk to God AND we listen. And sometimes, we simply sit in silence in each others' presence.).
2. We must expect great things from Jesus (47-50a).
   1. We get distracted (“He saw the disciples straining at the oars” (48); Too often, we get too distracted by our own preconceptions (e.g., the disciples assumed Jesus would get to Bethsaida on foot, on land), objectives (e.g., the disciples were told to get to Bethsaida, and they going to get to Bethsaida), and work (e.g., the disciples were busy rowing against the wind), to expect Jesus to do anything great.).
   2. We get tired (48; Too often, we simply get tired of waiting for Jesus, too tired to keep watching for Jesus, too tired to call for Jesus.).
   3. We get scared (49-50; Too often, we're terrified by the prospect of Jesus doing something amazing in or through our lives.).
3. We must acknowledge Jesus' work (50b-52).
   1. We must listen to His voice (50b; Like the shepherd's sheep, we should be able to identify Jesus by the telltales of His work. In the case of the disciples, He bid them to be encouraged, identified Himself, and then reaffirmed that there was nothing to fear. Satan deals in fear, lies, and guilt. Jesus speaks with encouragement and truth.).
   2. We must make room for Him (51; One of the most amazing things about Jesus is that He will come and meet us wherever we are. The trick is, if He's going to meet us there, we need to make room for Him.).
   3. We must connect the dots (51b-52; We have a crazy tendency to become calloused to things that are consistent in our lives. If we constantly work with our hands, they become calloused. If we have faithful friends or family members, we start to take them for granted. If Jesus is doing amazing things before our very eyes on a daily basis, it's easy to just expect that he'll do amazing things and not contemplate the miracles beyond that. We must always acknowledge when Jesus does something amazing, allowing it to sink in time and again that, whatever it is, He can.).