Ruslan Buzhduga
Sermon Transcription:
I want to invite up my dear friend Russ. He's going to share with us today. It is my privilege to invite him to come and share what God has put in his heart for him to learn and grow in practicing to always pour from what God placed inside of us. Now, all of us have undoubtedly had times where we experienced a person, possibly from a platform, and it may have been that they poured out of themselves or poured out of the flesh but did not pour a message from God. Even though they made it sound like a message from God, it didn't have the power to change us. It didn't have the power to uplift, open our eyes, and cause us to glimpse into the reality of Heaven and the accomplished work in a way that only the Holy Spirit can do through a person. But I believe with all my heart that God has given His Spirit to this man. I believe this man is going to continually, in a growing way, be used to help our hearts see something and our minds see something that God wants to pour into our lives. When we open our mouths—whether at the workplace, in the grocery store, or wherever we may be—living water will come forth and be poured out of us into the next person. Amen? Would you give him a hand clap of encouragement? Russ, may God bless you.
Thank you, Pastor, and thank you, Pastor Inna, for this opportunity. I'm very grateful to be sharing the Word with you today. I just wanted to say thank you, guys, for investing into us in this way. If you have your Bible with you, if you're bringing your Bible, I invite you to open it to Mark 6, verse 45. That's where we're going to be starting today—Mark chapter 6, verse 45.
Now, Jesus and His disciples also went on retreat. They went out, and there was a time when Jesus said, "All right, let's go to a desolate place by ourselves to get a little bit of rest, to get a little bit of time." But when they got there, the crowds learned about them. They came, and that's when Jesus—we know that story—Jesus feeds the 5,000. You know that story. So, they were trying to have a retreat, and the people just showed up. Jesus had compassion on them, taught them, and then, when it got too late, He said, "We also have to feed them because you can't have a retreat without food."
So, they had some food there. God—Jesus—did a wonderful, miraculous miracle. He took these five loaves and two fish and multiplied them, feeding so many thousands of people. They even had extra left over. That's where we pick up in Mark 6, verse 45. Jesus has just performed this miracle, feeding all these hungry souls both spiritually and physically. He dismisses the people and sends His disciples ahead of Him. We pick up in Mark 6, verse 45: "Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away. And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land." What a beautiful picture. Jesus is always spending time with the Father. I know for myself, as an early Christian, when I just learned about the Lord, prayer felt like a chore.
But when I look at Jesus, He's always running to the Father in prayer—to get away, to rest, to take a break from life. We see Jesus do this: "And when He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them, now about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them walking on the sea and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and they cried out; for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.' Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased. And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled, for they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened."
Now, when I read this story, I was a little bit confused about that last verse. What does this have to do with the loaves? We see Jesus go up to the mountain to pray. He dismisses the disciples, and they go into the boat and head out to the sea. Jesus had instructed them to do so. But it turns out their situation was working against them. They were doing what Jesus said, but it wasn't looking the way they might have thought. It was going pretty rough—they were rowing really hard all night. Jesus was watching them out on the sea, all by themselves, with the wind and waves against them. They had been rowing all night long, and He was probably thinking, "They haven’t even made it halfway."
Then Jesus comes and walks on the water. It says He intended to pass by them. Now, He didn’t mean to just ignore them—otherwise, He would have gone around or made sure they wouldn’t see Him. But we see Jesus pass by them. Why does He pass by them? Their unbelief was blinding their eyes. They had just seen Jesus do the impossible for the crowds, and yet here they were, in their own situation, with the wind and waves against them. They were doing what Jesus asked them to do, and it was going really rough. When Jesus walks by, He does so in order that they might see Him—that they might see He has power over their situation. He wants to show them who He is. He is the Messiah.
The Bible talks about Him in Job 9:8: "He alone spreads out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea." This speaks of God, and Jesus, walking on the water, is saying, "This is Me. This is who I am to you." Psalm 89:9 says: "You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, You still them." Jesus is walking by to show His disciples, to get their attention, and to help them see that He has power over this situation. But that last verse says: "They did not understand about the loaves, and their hearts were hardened." They did not see Jesus for who He was. What they saw was a ghost. Isn't that interesting? They saw something spiritual, something ambiguous, and they didn’t know what it was. They thought it was a ghost. They did not see their Jesus. They did not see their teacher. They did not see their Master.
What they saw was something of a likeness—something ambiguous, unclear, but spiritual. So, they thought, "Maybe that’s a ghost." But Jesus, so lovingly, speaks to them. He speaks into their situation. He sees how troubled, confused, and bewildered they are by where they are and what they are seeing. He speaks to their situation. That’s when peace comes into their lives and their circumstances. Jesus comes into the boat, and when He does, the Bible says the wind ceased, the waves ceased, and there was peace. This is what Jesus is trying to show His disciples: "I am the one who calms your storm. I am the one who, yes, sent you to do what I asked you to do, even though it’s not going well and is coming with difficulty. But I am here. Call on Me, bring Me into your boat, and I will make the difference."
See, with Jesus, they were all amazed. They wondered and couldn’t comprehend. Again, the Bible says their hearts were hardened. They were having trouble seeing. In another passage, it talks about how they were in wonder, thinking, "Who is this that calms the winds and the waves, that they obey Him? Who can this be?" They were still questioning in their hearts: "Is this the Messiah? Is this the one who was promised? Is this the one who treads on the waves of the sea? Is this the one who’s coming to make a difference for me?" Their hearts were hardened because they were seeing God do things for other people—the multitudes. They had seen the miracle. They believed it was possible for others, but they had not yet believed it was possible in their own situation. Their eyes were blinded, and their hearts were hardened because they didn’t think Jesus would make the difference for them, even though they had just witnessed Him miraculously feed thousands of people. I want to take us to another passage of scripture. We go to Revelation 3, where we see a different situation but a very similar one.
In the first few chapters of Revelation, Jesus appears to John. John was sent into exile—persecuted for the name of Jesus and for the gospel. After being tortured, he was sent away to an island, left to rot and die, to the island of Patmos. That's where he receives this word, The Revelation of John. Jesus appears to him and gives a word for each of the churches. One of the churches, here in Chapter 3, really caught my attention. What Jesus says to them is very similar to what we've been discussing. He says this in Revelation 3, starting in verse 14:
*"And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write:'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me."'
So Jesus is delivering this message, which John is writing, to the church. They were in a state where they were in close proximity to God—they were part of a church, gathering together, and claiming to be believers. And yet, they were in this position of being neither cold nor hot.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve ever drunk lukewarm water—truly lukewarm water. It’s nasty. I remember, on a warm day, I had a water bottle that was cold when I put it down. Later, I forgot and grabbed it. I was so thirsty, I chugged a little bit, and I couldn’t help but spit it out. It was just an involuntary reaction. It’s not something your body likes to take in because it’s confusing—it’s neither cold nor hot. That’s what Jesus is saying: "You are neither cold nor hot."
Why does He say that? Because they say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.”
These people, who were in a church, were saying this of themselves. They believed this was their condition. But their actual situation was entirely different. Their actual hearts told a completely different story. Jesus speaks this truth back to them: “You do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” The church in Laodicea was blind to their situation. They were blind to where they were. They could not see that Jesus was now on the outside of their situation. He says this in verse 18: “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent.” And then comes a promise: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Amen.
Jesus is now, somehow, behind the door of His own church. He’s behind the door of people who claim to be called by His name. They think they have received the wealth and treasure of heaven. They believe they’ve been clothed. But they haven’t. They’re in a situation where they’re blind to it. They cannot see. Our unbelief makes us blind. Just like the disciples—they couldn’t believe that God would do this for them. They couldn’t believe that God would make the difference in their storm. Their unbelief blinded them to such a degree that, here in Revelation, Jesus is standing at the door and knocking—knocking on the hearts of people in a church.
They’re in close proximity to Him, yet this proximity is deceiving. It’s a lie to think, “Because I’m near Jesus, near God, or near the church, I’m okay. I’m good.”
That’s the danger: a blindness that can cover our eyes. Our own unbelief can blind us when we don’t believe that Jesus can make the difference for us. What Jesus is saying to this church—and I believe to us today—is: “I counsel you to come and buy from Me.” What does that mean? It’s an exchange. Jesus is inviting us to make an exchange today. Exchange what you thought were riches for true riches. The Bible says, “You were bought with the precious blood of Christ.”
It's more costly than gold—you were bought by the precious blood of Christ. He’s offering clothes that are white, garments that are white, a righteousness that’s not your own. He’s offering that to you, and He’s offering that to this church. He’s saying, “Come, take from Me. Make this exchange.”
He says, “Anoint your eyes with salve.” He’s saying, accept the healing that I can bring to your heart. You know, we sing that song, “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord. I want to see You.”
When our heart is in a state of unbelief, it can’t see Jesus. It can’t see what God can do in our situation. Our hearts are blinded. We might see something spiritual; we might see something supernatural even, but we don’t see Jesus and what He is able to do in our situation. It’s just like the disciples in the boat. It’s just like this church. They’re going around, and they believe that they are okay, but they’re not okay. They are in a similar situation. There is a story—has anyone ever read the Song of Solomon? At first, I was like, why is this in the Bible? I was really confused. The first time I read it, I was pretty young, and I thought, Wow, what’s this about?
This story is dramatic—it’s a drama. It’s a story about a couple, a bride and her beloved. There are ups and downs, and there’s heartbreak and confusion. I remember thinking, What’s going on here?
We see the bride in a similar situation—a picture of the Bride of Christ. There are times when they are adoring one another, saying how much they love one another. But I want to take you to a passage of scripture to show you the heart of this bride at one point in her journey.
This might be you or I today, where our hearts are blinded. She says this in Song of Solomon 2:8-9: "The voice of my beloved!Behold, he comesLeaping upon the mountains,Skipping upon the hills.My beloved is like a gazelleOr a young stag.Behold, he stands behind our wall;He is looking through the windows,Gazing through the lattice." In the same way, we see that the beloved longs to be with his bride. But somehow, he’s behind a wall. He’s behind a window. He is locked out of her situation. He comes to her and says this in the next verse: "My beloved spoke, and said to me:‘Rise up, my love, my fair one,And come away.’” That’s what Jesus calls out today. That’s the heart of the Lord for you and your situation: “Rise up. Come away. Come with Me. Come to Me. Open the door of your heart to Me. Make this exchange. Open the door and let Me into your life, into your situation, because I can make the difference.”
It’s like that bride—she’s blinded. In the earlier chapter, she’s talking about how beautiful and wonderful her beloved is. Here, she’s talking about how he’s leaping upon the mountains.
You know, the Bible says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.” That’s what Jesus has always been about—He’s always out on the mountains, sharing the good news, telling people they can have this exchange. That’s the heart of the groom: to go out and reach the lost. And I believe today there is no situation that Jesus cannot change in your life. The question is, will you open the door? As we read in that passage in Revelation, Jesus stands at the door and knocks. He so patiently waits. Church, I’m right there with you today. I’m needing the Lord to change some things in my life. I’m waiting on the Lord, and I’m needing Him. But I can be in a place of blindness when I look out and see other people and believe for them in their situation. Yet, when I don’t allow the Lord into my situation, nothing changes. It’s all the same.
It doesn’t matter what I believe on the outside. If I don’t open that door, if I don’t believe that God can change mysituation, that He can change me, then I remain blind. I cannot see Him.
Maybe you find yourself in this place today, where you’re having trouble seeing Him. Maybe you saw Him at one point, but today you don’t. Today, if you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart. He’s patiently knocking on the door of your heart. He’s waiting for you to open the door to Him. He says, “I will come in, and I will dine with him (or her).” That’s such a beautiful picture. When Jesus comes into your life, there’s a table. He feeds you, and He speaks to you as a man speaks with his friend. He will teach you—that’s a promise. He’s going to come in if you open the door. The Holy Spirit will come in. He will teach you all things. He will lead you into all truth.
As you open His Word, this is where we dine with Him—over the Word. He begins to show us what He is like. He begins to show us what He means. He begins to show and apply scripture to our lives as we need it. That’s what makes the difference. When the disciples were in the boat, Jesus was walking on the water. He was above their situation. Yet they were stuck in their situation. It’s only when they allowed Jesus into their boat that the winds and the waves ceased. That’s when there was peace in their life again. That’s what Jesus is offering to you today. I know some of us struggle with that. It might be the hardest thing—to open the door of your heart. Maybe you have fear, some sort of reservation. Maybe it’s pride—you think you’ve got it. Whatever it is for you, I want to challenge you today: open the door of your heart. Trust the One who loves you, the One who paid for you, the One who died for you, the One who pursues you, the One who stands at your door knocking.
He’s not knocking angrily, like, “Open the door!” He’s longing. I remember when I would read the Bible, I always had this image in my mind, like God was angry in these moments—angrily knocking or angrily saying, “Adam, where are you?” in the garden. But the Holy Spirit shows us in the scriptures that God is more like the husband in Song of Solomon. He’s longing, calling out for her, saying, “Rise up, My love. Come away with Me. I can make the difference in your situation. I walk upon the waves of the sea. I walk over all of it.” In Matthew’s account of this story, where the disciples were in the boat, Peter says, “Lord, allow me to come to You.” And Jesus says, “Come.” That’s His heart. He wants us to rise above—rise out of everything that has held us down, everything that has messed us up, everything that made us wretched, poor, and blind, everything that stripped us of the righteousness of Christ.
He says, “You will rise above that. Allow Me into your situation.” The danger is when we do not allow Him into our hearts and our situations. He’s got the remedy. He says, “I have it all right here. I have salve. I have gold. I have clean garments for you.” He’s showing us again as a picture of the righteousness of Christ—all the things Christ purchased on the cross for you.
When we don’t take that, we deliberately walk into a place of confusion. You’re going to walk into a place where everything seems confusing. If you continue reading the story of Song of Solomon, the bride doesn’t open the door. The next verses are confusing—she’s confused. She goes around wandering in the city, asking where her beloved is. She’s disoriented. That’s where I’ve found myself so many times, church. And that’s where we’ll find ourselves if we do not open the door.
We're going to be confused. We're going to be like that Laodicean church where we think we're good, we think we're close with Jesus, but really, there's so much confusion. There's so much death. Church, I want to challenge you today to trust the Lord with me—to open the door of your heart, to allow Him into your situation—because He alone makes the difference. Amen?
So often, I meet people, and they're very much like the disciples of Jesus who were sent into that boat and onto the water. Here you are, trying to do what you know is right. Here you are, trying to do what you're supposed to be doing, and you find yourself just wrestling and rowing, but it doesn't seem to really go anywhere.
This is the kind of stuff we feel. We feel like, “I just want to get through this.” Some people even feel like that about the Christmas season. It's so busy—it’s this and it’s that. “I just have to go through this. I just have to get through it.” You may be struggling in a relationship and facing all these challenges. “If I can only just row right through this, get through it, then on the other side there will be victory, or there will be peace. I can finally leave these things behind me.”
Or it could be a sin struggle: “I’m just trying to row through this thing. And if I’m honest with myself, it doesn’t really look like it’s been going anywhere.” Maybe you're struggling with something in your character or personality, and you'd love to see it change. But no matter what you do, it seems you're not really going anywhere. “I’d just like to get through this, row through this.” But here’s the question the Lord put on my heart as I was speaking: Are you expecting Jesus to show up and do it for you? I’m not asking if you believe He can. Are you expecting, at any moment now, that He’s going to show up somewhere? “Any moment now, He told me to get into this boat. He told me to row this way. It’s not working very well. Surely He’s about to show up somehow, some way, and do it for me.”
This is what He says. Let me read again from Mark 6:50: "For they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'” It feels like the boat is going down. It feels like my rowing is not making a difference. And Jesus says, “You make sure you put a smile on. Be of good cheer! It is I. Do not be afraid.” Let me read to you John’s account of what happens next. John 6:21 says: "Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going." Immediately, they arrived where Jesus had instructed them. They ended up where He wanted them to be. They got there immediately when Jesus came into their situation. I believe with all my heart that Jesus is saying, “Don’t be troubled. It’s Me. I’ve seen you rowing. I’ve seen you fighting. I’ve seen you trying to make this thing work. I’ve seen you trying to work through this thing. I know you think you’re doing the right thing. I know you believe that I’m with you. But listen—I’m here. If you could just let Me into this struggle, if you could let Me into the work of rowing—whatever that may be in your life, whatever you’re trying to get right but isn’t going anywhere—why don’t you let Me into that work?” And your experience will be this: right away, you’ll arrive into His promise.
I told you to go to the other side. You get there by letting Me do the rowing. You get there by letting Me into the work. Immediately, the boat was at the land where they were going. Jesus has shown in your heart where He would like you to end up. Jesus has shown you in your heart where He would like you to get with your sin struggle. Jesus has shown you in your heart how you should be treating your wife or your family. He's shown it in your heart, and you've been rowing so hard to get there because you know, "That's exactly where Jesus would like me to be." Don't be troubled. Be of good cheer. It is I. And immediately, after they received Him into the boat, the boat was at the land where they were going. If you would stand with me for a moment... I know I've been rowing in some areas of my life. I knew what Jesus wanted. I knew what I should be in His hands. I knew how I should behave towards my wife at all times, or my children, or you as a church. I know exactly where Jesus told me to go, and sometimes I find myself working hard and seeming to stay stuck in the same place.
You ever been there? I believe with all my heart Jesus is saying, "Stop worrying. I'm willing to show up, and if you let Me in—if you stop rowing and you let Me into this situation, if you trust Me enough to take over—this is going to be your story. This is going to be your testimony."
"Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going." You know where you've been trying to get. You know you've put in work to try and get there, and Jesus says, "Would you let Me do it? Would you stop rowing? Would you let Me into this situation? I will miraculously get you to the place that I showed in your heart. I'd like you to be there. I sent you. I put that desire in your heart. I gave you that direction. Now it's time for you to learn to let Me do a miracle in your life that makes you arrive there."
Are you willing to receive the miracle, or are you going to keep on rowing? Are you going to keep on trying to stay in control yourself and do what I need to do to get there? It's a little bit of surrender and a whole lot of receiving. Church, if you say, "Pastor, something has been coming to my mind as we talk about that rowing, putting in the work, but it's not really going anywhere," there's something that comes to mind. I believe with all my heart that you need to willingly receive Jesus into that area. Then you will experience that He will exchange the rowing for a miracle. If you believe Him, and if He brought something to your mind, would you come forward and join me at this altar so that we can surrender our rowing and say: "Lord, would You bring me to the place that in my heart I know I should have been? I should have gotten there. I feel my rowing has gotten me nowhere. I need the miracle to bring my boat, to bring me as a person, to bring my struggle, to bring my journey to the very place that I can't get to. Lord."