Will you step out of your boat

It is the.

Good morning.

So our scripture we read it will taken from Matthew

chapter fourteen, verses twenty two to thirty six. Okay, Immediately

Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go

before him to the other side, while he sent the

maltitudes away. And when he had sent the multitudes away,

he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. Now,

when evening came, he was alone there. But the boat

was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by

the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the

fourth watch of night, Jesus went to them walking walking

on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking

on the sea, they were troubled, saying it's a ghost,

and they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke

to them, saying, be of good cheer it is I.

Do not be afraid.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is you,

command me to come to you on the water. So

he said, come. And when Peter had come down out

of the boat, he walked on the water to go

to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,

he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord,

save me. And immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and

caught him and said to him, Oh, you of little faith,

why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat,

the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boats

came and worshiped him, saying, truly you are the son

of God. When they had crossed over, they came to

the land of Ganessaret, and when the men of that

place recognized him, they sends out into all the surrounding region,

brought to him or who were sick, and they'd him

that they might only touch the hem of his garment,

and as many as touched it were made perfectly well. Amen.

Thanks Christine. How about you're going to come and introduce this.

This is really interesting because Albert came last August, so

about fifteen months ago, when we were still in Virginia Lodge,

and as he got up, he prepared a word and

then he said, Oh, I've got something I need to

share with you. There's a tsunami of souls coming. And

that was before we'd moved into here. And that's not you,

by the way, Because if you're a believer, then you know,

you're part of the workforce that God's preparing for the

tsunami of souls. But Albert's prophesied that. And this is

the second time you've spoken here. But he said, Dave,

I would like to do something different completely. I wanted

to get some students involved in preaching the Word at

some point this month. I was thinking later on in

the month and Albut said, Dave, can we get some

students to take part in this?

And I went yes.

So over to you, Albert, Father Ford, thank you for

this man of God. Thank you for his lovely shirt.

Lord god Father. We pray that you bless him, and

you bless us as you speak to us through him

and through Kelder and through Shame.

In Jesus' name, Dave, can I move this a bit

further forward?

I want to say to you this warning.

Don't wait until every chair is filled before you get

next door. You have to move before every chair is filled,

because if you don't give God room to move, how

can he move. You've got to give him room to move.

I just want to encourage you, get next door, get ready,

it's coming. Oh. I love this church. I love what

God's doing in this area. It is just so exciting

what he's doing. I'm seeing things. I mean, I'm old

and long in the tooth now, but I'm seeing God

do things now that I haven't seen in forty years.

There is a move of God that is happening in

this country and in other countries.

And God is on the move.

And I say to your church, you have got to

move with God with what God is doing. Okay, Now,

I'm really glad this morning that there are some folk

in here and like me, they've got great here. It

just reminded me as I looked around this morning, an

evangelist and an American evangelist, and he was preaching, and he

said to his congregation, to the folk that were listening

to him, he said, if you're not safe, and you've

got a gray haired old granny praying for you, you

just well quit because they won't. I want to tell you,

if you've got grandparents that are praying for you, you're

gonna get saved because they won't quit until you did.

Oh.

I bring you greetings from Ocean's Church down here in Beute.

We are seeing similar things happen down there as you

have got happening here. And it's just I just feel

so blessed that God has allowed me to live to

see this. This morning, we're gonna look at an encounter

with Jesus. We've been down in oceans, we've been through

the year going with encounters with Jesus, and I mean

there are just loads of them.

There are just really are They're loads of them.

And this morning we're going to look at one of

the most crazy encounters with Jesus that you will ever

come across. And you heard the reading just now. That

was an encounter with Jesus. I mean it was crazy, right.

Was just out there.

As I was, God was leading me to prepare this.

My daily reading the next day was this, and he

said in the boat or on the water. Peter gets

a bad press for his repeated blunders, but he was

the only one who had the courage in the first

place to step out in faith and walk on the water. Yes,

he took his eyes off Jesus and sank under the water,

but nobody could ever take that glorious experience away from him.

He took the plunge, and I'm sure he never regretted it.

How about you.

The nature of the life of faith is that we

are drawn out of our comfort zones and beyond areas

of our own control. Otherwise faith isn't needed and we

can manage in our own strength.

Be honest with God.

I believe sometimes he speaks and challenges us to move

with him, but we squash his.

Voice for years and years out of fear.

Be open to him afresh today to rattle your cage

of self sufficiency. Maybe this poem from John Orsberg's book

if you want to walk on water, You've got to

get out of the boat will resonate with you on

some level, to sinful patterns of behavior that never get

confronted and changed, abilities and gifts that never get cultivate, cultivated,

or deployed, until weeks become months and months turn into years,

and one day you're looking back on a life of deep, intimate,

gun gut, rankingly honest conversations. You never had great bowld prayers,

you never prayed exhilarate exhilarating risks, You never took sacrificial gifts,

you never offered lives you never touched, and you're sitting

in in a recliner with a shriveled soul and forgotten dreams,

and you realize there was a world of desperate need

and a great God calling you to be part of

something bigger than yourself. You see the person you could

have become, but you did not. You never followed your calling.

You never got out of the boat. When the prayer

at the bottom starts, Lord, may the above never be

the case with me.

I've stepped out of the boat today. I've never done

this before.

Okay, but I'm gonna ask h held up to come,

and I want her to share what God has laid

on her heart.

With this passage.

Deep breath, mm hmm, Praise the Lord. I believe we're

all excited to be in the House of God today.

I'm excited, right, Lord, Please bless what I'm going to

say so Reading Matthew chapter fourteen, verses twenty two. After

Jesus had performed a miracle feeding the five thousand men,

not including women and children, but we won't go there,

he went up on a mountain by himself to pray,

and he was there alone. A notable point is the

mountain side. The Bible has many mentions of mountains. Moses

climbed the mountain and received the Ten commandments. Jesus was

transfigured on a mountain, and mountains symbolize a place where

Heaven meets earth, displaying a divine refuge and a path

to spiritual connection with God. The secret to living a

life that pleases God publicly is to have a life

that pleases him in private. Jesus exhibits this as he

displays every miracle as an answered prayer by thanking God afterwards.

Many of us come to church to pray, but distractions

of the world. When we go home, we don't pray.

A lot of us can't even thank God for taking

us home safely. A lot of us can worship in public,

but when we go home, the phone is off. With

friendships in school, a lot of us don't know how

to separate ourselves from a group just to spend some

time with God. Jesus made his disciples go ahead of

him in the boat verse twenty five. I'm reading KJB.

And in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went

onto them walking on the sea. Here Jesus defies science

by scientific law. It is impossible for a man to

stand and float on water without sinking, and that's a fact.

But the truth is with God, all things possible. And

he walked on the sea, not the swamp with Shrek,

not the swimming pool. He walked on the sea of

Galilee Hallelijah. Facts change with new evidences, but the truth

remains the same. Many of us tend to lean on

fact and forget that the truth prevents us from trusting

in God's promises. Many forget we are talking about the

creator of the universe. Jesus is God. What is impossible

with man is possible with God. They that know their

God shall be strong and will do exploits Daniel eleven

thirty two. When you trust God, you'll be able to

do things that defeat all odds. Something so amazing about

Peter is his courage. His decision to follow God enabled

him to do something only God can do. God actually

wants us to do the impossible. But that's only if

you dare to believe. Take him by his word and

follow him unwaveringly, meditate upon his word day and night.

This verse is actually repeated twice, one in Psalm one

two and another time in Joshua one eight. And you

will reach supernatural lengths with him in Jesus' name. Peter's

decision to follow Jesus onto the water reminded me of

Luke eight four to fifteen, The Powerable of the Sower.

If you haven't read it, I recommend Peter's action demonstrated

the seed that had fallen among the thorns.

Luke eight fourteen.

Those who hear, but as they go on their way

they are choked by life's worries and do not mature.

Matthew fourteen US thirty. When he saw the wind, he

was afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, Lord,

save me. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him,

You of little faith, He said, why did you doubt?

Even here?

Jesus is so caring and loving and gracious to still

save Peter. If you reach out to God for help,

he will help you no matter what, no matter what

situation you're in. The Lord says, seek and you will find.

Knock and he will answer. If Peter wasn't humble to

cry out for help, what would have happened to him?

God's loving outstretched arms are not too sought for us.

Everybody is in his love, and nobody can go beyond

his love.

Thank you.

This is a bit I didn't tell you about. Have

you you know?

Is this the first time you've ever done anything like that? Okay,

you know for you? Was it a step out of

the boat moments?

Yeah, yes, that's you.

Oooh oh my goodness, lush ain't God good right, Shane,

You've got hard act to follow. H m hm you

reckon pop it on top, don't worry.

Okay, mm hmmm.

Oh, Galda, that was amazing. He spoke to me as

well when you were preaching. And secondly, I want to

honor you at bit for giving us the opportunity to

even do this. It's a blessing not only for the

congregation but for ourselves as well.

Someone to honor you for that, all right.

So the passage I'm focusing on is Matthew fourteen twenty

two to thirty three, right, and it begins with imput

my brightness up real quick.

It begins with.

Twenty two when it states immediately Jesus made the disciples

get into the boat and go ahead of him and

to the other side. What he was dismissed while he

dismissed the crowd. After he dismissed them, he went up

on the mountainside by himself to pray. It starts off

with Jesus praying and if I'm being honest straightforward, the church.

In general we have a lack of prayer.

We need to get back into that prayer room because

when we see the churches are getting persecuted all over.

You see they have a hunger for God. They have

a thirst for God. They're in that prayer room continuously

they seek him out. But I speaking to myself there,

not only to you. We become too comfortable, we get

too easy, We sit around, we think a Sunday christian

is all there is to it. Christianity is an act

to walk day by day. And so if Jesus, the

King of kings, the Lord of lords, had to pray,

how much more we?

How much more us?

And prayer is not only just having a relationship with him,

but also casting out demons, breaking chains of some demons

can only be broken and cast it out with prayer

and fasting. But yeah, so the disciples when their first

reaction when they saw Jesus walk, they had fear and

they didn't recognize him. The interesting fear thing is right,

the Greek word for fear is foreboss, and that's different

from the fear of the lord. Here with fear forebos,

that means you have not reverence, but you're terrified. You're

panicked and fear. Oftentimes it distorts a perception of things.

It can even prevent us from even seeing God's splendor.

And we have to be careful.

Like verse twenty seven, when disciples called out, Jesus said,

do not be afraid. Interesting thing about that, very few words.

Do not be afraid is a repeated three hundred and

sixty five times in the Bible. You know what else

is three hundreds literally a year. That's one year, every

single day repeat that, do not be afraid. And the

thing is so important because fear grips us. That's what

the enemy uses. The enemy loves said to be fit

in the church. But no, we've got to stand on

the word of God. We've got a move of power.

We're not weak. We're Christians. The Living God is with us.

There's no other person like this God on that side.

Creator. Is he who's with us? Then is he who

was in the world? Amen? Amen? Amen?

And to Timothy one seven, God has not given us

the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a

sound mind.

Amen, men and men Amen.

I Hey, another thing with this passage right, another thing

with his passage. Right, Jesus is claiming divinity in this

when he says it is me. When the disciples ask

who are you, he says it is me. Interesting thing

about this right in Codex Sinaticus, the earliest complete copies

of Matthew, which states two hundred to three hundred years

after Christ, it says the Greek word translations I am,

and where else is I am found when Jesus claims

before Abraham, I am. So even in this, Jesus's divinity,

his equality to God has shown. But unfortunately the disciples

certainly see this in the moment they're consume by the fear,

fear distored, the perception. All right, But as we move on,

when Peter is on the boat and say he's in

verse twenty eight, I'll read that are real quick, Lord,

if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to

you on the water. First of all, look at Peter

like he's willing to step out for God. But another

thing as well, a lot of us, we in our

personal lives, we're also on this boat as well. We

know about Jesus, we know about the doctrines, we know

what the stories, we know.

All of this.

We know about church become church. Sure, but in the

midst of illness, financial pressures, or even family breakdowns, we

cry out to the Lord, if you really are in control,

show me, prove it to me. And the thing is,

God will not condemn me for asking. For example, he didn't.

He did not rebuke Peter for asking if if. But

a lot of times we have to come with God

and with an honest heart, because that is the foundation

and cultivation of a successful relationship when you're open about

your doubts. Christianity is not a religion where or I

have to believe because they tell me to you. No,

you bring your doubts, your questions, and spill them out

to God. Spill them out to God and Peter. The

thing is, when Peter took his eyes of the Lord

and his gaze was averted to the storm, that's when

he started thinking. The thing is Christianity. And this is

important to understand. I want everyone to listen. Yeah, the

thing with Christianity. I'm pretty sure you've heard the saying, oh,

like have the mentality where you see your glass half full,

not half empty. Thing with Christianity if you have even

a percent one percent of your attention away from God.

You're missing the whole thing, because what is a bad

will say? Seek God with all your heart. And if

we're not seeking God with all our heart, that's giving

one hundred percent that we're not fully listening and living

out the word of God. But yeah, and the thing

is in Matthew sixteen twenty four, Jesus said to his disciples,

if anyone desires to come after me, let him deny

himself and take up his cross and follow me. Hey,

the thing about this, yeah, a lot oftentimes be included.

We indulge our flesh. God will call us to pray,

but we will find excuses one way or another to

I will do it later.

Maybe we'll do in the evening.

And if I'm being honest, a lot of our words

we say a're not genuine.

We say we.

Love God, do we live that out? Do we come

to his phone room? Do we bow down worship him?

Spend time in prayer like Jesus did. And in a way,

the way we treat God, we divert our attention from

Him to other things. We behave like unfaithus. Because we

are the bride of Christ. He is our bridegroom. And

if your spouse is not focusing you, giving you attention,

and giving there his or hers attention to someone else's.

You're basically cheating.

And that's what we deal with with Lord every single day,

and sometimes we can even enjoy it, enjoy the sin. However,

there's good news. He reaches out to everyone. He will

chase off the one and leave the ninety nine behind.

And how we even see in verse thirty one where

our reader are as well Jesus with everything happening, Jesus

told Peter, and I can't lie.

When I read this, it.

Struck out because he said, Jesus said, you of little faith,

why did you doubt? And if I'm being honest, if

Jesus was to say that right now, in this climate

we're in, some of us might turn to him and say, hey,

you're being too judgmental.

You can't say that. How can you say that about

someone that's not fair? You can't do that. But he's

saying this out of love.

Oftentimes, the way we react when we get criticisms, we

become too emotional. And the thing with emotions, the enemy

can use that against you. We can't listen to our

emotions because our heart is a deceiver Oftentimes we might

feel sad one day, happy the next day. That doesn't

mean when we're happy we pray. When we're sad, we don't. No,

we pray. I mean glorify God every day. And the

thing is, when He corrects you and chastises you, he

does it out of love Hebrews twelve, verse six. For

the Lord disciplines the one whom he loves. That's an

esp version as well. So we should correct the ones

we love with truth and leave no room for the

flesh and the enemy to cultivate and have a stumbling block.

A lot of us we're too scared to speak out.

We need a boldness in the church Christianity. Yes, we

are loving people. We love people, we have a desire

to see people saved. But we have to be bold

about We can't be silent Christians. This is an active walk,

it's not passive. We have to walk in christ walk

in the boldness God has given us. We can't no

longer stay around. We have to take God seriously. And Albert,

I'll talk to you before right and you even mentioned

it right now, you felt a move of the Lord happened,

that there's stuff shaking. I can even see everyone here.

There's so many people here. It has the blessing of

God right there. There's a hunger for God. I've been

saying this as well to my friends as well. Right

this generation and this time, right now, there's a true

hunger from the youth to no Christ. And if we're

not in a place to cultivate that. Because God can

only use vessels. If you're open and allow yourself to

be used, you will never full.

See, we have free will.

So we have to come to a place where we

submit ourselves onto him, surrender and allow God to work

in us. Because if we can't step on our calling

and move in the way He wants us to, how

can we help our brethren. If we can't take our

relationship with God seriously, how can we help our brothers

and sisters. So guys, please take God seriously. We can't

play Christian or more. It's not a play pretend. We've

got to be serious about Him, give him our own

And I'm a finish off this real quick. So when

Jesus got on the boat with Peter, the storm died.

When we are going through trials and hardships, it should

be like we are in the eye of the storm,

the eye of the storm. That's basically the calm belt

in that region where nothing around you, well, when you're

in there's nothing like affecting you or anything like that.

Everything else around you, however, that's where the cornsh happened.

That's where everything is wrecked, and I think it's thrown around. Similarly,

when I'm saying this, when we going through trials and trivelations, right,

we have to seek out and walk the walk with God,

and oftentimes we will have that peace. But everything around

you will look glim it will look desolate. Everything around

you will not go the way you want it to go.

It's hard. Life is hard. God never promised an easy life.

He said they will be suffering in his life. But

with that being said, if we know we have Him,

what great joy can we have? And just quickly suffering

is not bad. Christ suffered on this earth, We as

well will suffer.

That is promised to each and error one of us.

But the joy we have, the good news that we have,

is whi else we suffer. We are not alone. First

of all we have God will Mighty with us. He

is with us in the suffering. He got onto the boat.

Keep in mind he climbed onto the boat. And secondly,

we have each other, guys, as Christians, especially as a community,

as a church, as a whole, we are body of Christ.

We're unified together. Please, when you when you are going

through chilge and tribulations, not go through it alone. Be

with one another, ask for prayer, pray for one and

do and be in that place. But yeah, with that

being said, God bless you guys. And yeah, amen, oh

bless your shame.

Oh God? Right, I mean, had you ever done anything

like that before?

Nah?

M hm?

Did it mean that in preparing to do that you

had in some way you had to step out of

the boat.

The last few days, I haven't.

Even slept properly, right, if I'm being honest, I can

also learn as well as to take my walk with God. Seriously,

I should have prepared more as well, but I allowed

the Holy Spirit to speak through me.

And yeah, God is good man, He works through me.

God is good.

Bless Year, come give him big hat ah ah. It

does my heart good. The church is in safe hands.

Yes, oh, thank you so much, both of you.

You're absolutely brilliant. Bless Year.

Is see today all of us are in a boat

and all boats come with storms. We could be in

a financial boat, and boy does that storm rage been

there h Perhaps you're in a petty party boat. Perhaps

you're in a bereavement boat. We got some folks back

at the church in but they're in a bereavement boat

right now. Perhaps you're in a mental health boat. Boy

does that storm rage some days? Perhaps you in a

relationship boat. I want to say to you, young people,

be careful with your relationships. Do not expect the enemy

to play fair, because he won't. Perhaps you in an

addiction boat today. See what boats come with storms and

they rage? Do you know what I mean? Those storms

are nasty. See we're in a boat and you get

the Sometimes you get these lovely pictures of Peter walking

on the water, don't you You know what I mean?

And it's flat calm, And it wasn't I mean, it

was the craziest encounter with Jesus that you will ever

come across.

Here.

They were in the middle of the night, pitch black,

h fighting a storm.

Peter was hanging on to the mask.

The job roll down down, that better sail was gonna

kill somebody.

I mean, I mean he was hanging on to that

mast and swaying with it. Uh huh, I mean see

sick thinking about it. And there there are in the

middle of the storm doing their best to batten the

hatches down, and they see this apparition coming towards them

on the water.

I mean, what are they going to do. Are they

going to stop and say.

Oh, that's Jesus doing his walking on the water thing.

Again, They had never seen him walk on water. They

were bound to be afraid.

They were, you know when it says they thought it

was a ghost, Yeah, they most probably did. What were

they going to think? You know, there was this apparition

coming on top of the waves until they heard his voice.

Peter was an amazing disciple, really. I mean he gets

loads of bad press. Bless him. I mean he's I

kind of understand Peter. I get loads of stuff wrong

all time. I don't mean to get it wrong. I

don't try to get it wrong, but I get it wrong.

But Peter wanted to be like Jesus. He wanted to

do the things that Jesus did. He wanted to be

like him. John fourteen twelve says, and Jesus said, greater

things will you do than I have done? I don't

know about you, but I want to see some greater things.

If Jesus said it, he said everything else, and we.

Believe it to be true.

So why shouldn't that be true that we can see

a greater thing.

I just don't want to be a bystander. I want

to be in.

There when the greater thing is happening. Yeah, what about you?

Are you ready for a greater thing today?

See?

Usually when you get talking about stuff like this, the

enemy comes in right and says that, don't listen to that.

That's fanatical stuff. You'll get into trouble If you listen

to that. People will think you're a religious nutcase. If

you start believing in that, your family won't understand. It

might be for somebody else, but not for you. You're

okay spiritually where you're at. Don't mess with it. But today,

as a church and its individuals, is Jesus saying to

you come, I'll give you a cop out clause now, okay, And.

I say this to you.

If Jesus hasn't said to you, come, don't get out

of your boat like thinking, okay, ask me off the hook.

Not quite. If Jesus is saying to you, step out

of your boat, even with whatever storm is raging around

you today. Then step out and walk towards him, But

keep looking at Jesus. I'm gonna have to say, age

has got nothing to do with it. Peter didn't try

and change the dynamics of the situation. I didn't say, Okay, Jesus,

I'll come to you. You get the waves down a

bit and give me something flat, you know, so that

I can walk on it.

I'll come to you. He didn't try and change the situation.

Well know about you, But sometimes I think, God, I

want Dave's boat. Dave's boat's easier than my boat. I

want his boat. Grass is always greener on the other

side of the fence, isn't it. We always think that,

you know, somebody else's Christian life is easier than mine.

But Peter didn't try and change the dynamics of the situation.

He said, Jesus, if it's.

You, you tell me to come. And when Jesus said

to him, come, As stupid as it was, as crazy as.

That situation was, that situation.

Made no sense whatever, Even on a flat, calm day.

It was still totally stupid and reckless to step out

over that boat. Yep, Peter did it. He stepped out

of the boat in the storm and walked towards Jesus.

See. I want to say to you, Jesus is there

in your storm.

He may not come to you in the way that

you're expecting or the way that you think he might

or should or whatever, but he's there in your storm,

and you have got a walk towards him.

You see.

I dare you, as a church, at your next church meeting,

you know, the meeting when you get together and you know,

and you know, say about all the good things that

are happening, and I mean and all the you know

that stuff. We had one down at Oceans the other day.

I dare you at your next church meeting to write

down a list of the most stupid and reckless things

that you could do in this church situation. And then

I want you to ask yourself two questions. Number one

is that what Jesus is asking us to do?

Question two is will we do it? See?

I don't know where you're all at today, but I

know this morning that Jesus is saying to some of you,

come in the middle of the mess of your life.

He's saying to you.

Come m hm.

H.

I said to Caris when I came in this morning,

I said, we're gonna fly by the seat of our

pants a bit this morning. And it was really reassuring.

She said, fine, it's already started. Uh you see, we

had some amazing worship this morning and it's brilliant and

I love it.

M hmm. But are you up.

For pushing worship a step further? Two people? Are are

you up for pushing worship a step further?

Yeah? You sure? Absolutely? Okay, then if you can, I.

Want you to get up out of your chairs and

I want you to clear the chairs away. Just push

them away very carefully, if you don't hurt anybody.

I've done the risk assessment.

Uh I'm seeing that.

Yeah, yeah, I know you you can get the other guys.

I just what some of that? You know people can

dress yesterday? Okay h.

M hm hm m.

M Okay, who said, where does it say in scripture

that we have to worship in rows?

Where my worship team? Can I have my worship team?

Okay?

They're the big am d space here. I want you

to fill it. Okay, you're not. You're not vice that

you're in it. Okay, Now I don't know what Chris

is gonna. Other guys are gonna girls, brother are gonna

lead us in there.

Only got myself into trouble. Then, Uh.

Okay, I actually learned a thought yesterday. I think we're

gonna sing it now, but it just it just keeps

repeating in my head and I'm just gonna sing either

bit and then we're just gonna see what happens, because

this is the moment when win mes faa come again.

This is