Prayers, Storms & Faith

Turn in your Bible to Matthew chapter 14, Matthew chapter 14,

Matthew 14 · chapter mention Matthew 14 · chapter mention

and we're going to pick up in verse 22.

We'll go 22 through 33. Immediately.

He made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to

the other side while he dismissed the crowds.

And after he had dismissed the crowds, He went up on the

mountain by himself to pray. When evening came He was there

alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land,

beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

And in the 4th watch of the night he came to them walking on

the sea. But when the disciples saw him

walking on the sea, they were terrified and said It's a ghost,

and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to

them, saying, Take heart in his eye, do not be afraid.

And Peter answered him, Lord, if it's you command me to come out

onto the water. He said, come.

So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to

Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was

afraid and beginning to sink. He cried out, Lord, save me.

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him,

saying to him, Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased and those in the

boat worshipped him, saying, truly, you are the Son of God.

Let's pray that we love your word.

We love you and we're so thankful that you're going to

continue to speak your truth to us today and you're going to

bring more revelation of Jesus in him is all the wisdom in him

is all knowledge. So we ask that you would just

turn that diamond again today so we can see another facet that

the light would hit again and we would see the greatness of

Jesus, that we would love him more, that we would be more

deeply devoted to you and that we would know you, that we would

know you better. God knowledge, knowledge alone

is not what we need, but deeper love is what we want.

Instruct us today, strengthen us today and build us up in Jesus

name. We thank you for it.

Amen. We are still in the same

occasion. The problem with breaking things

up week by week is, you know, if you're not reading it all at

once, which I always want you to do, then you miss out on what's

going on. But remember, Jesus heard about

John the Baptist. This is like the day before he

hears about John the Baptist and Jesus goes, I need to go get a

loan to pray. So he leaves everybody, and as

soon as he crosses over on the shore, thousands and thousands

and thousands and thousands of people have joined together to

meet him. And Jesus, filled with

compassion, says, well, I guess I don't get to be alone right

now. And he heals them all.

He heals everybody out of his compassion, and then he feeds

them all. And then we come to this moment.

So that day is finally finished and now Jesus is finally going

to get to the thing he was intending to do in the

beginning. Immediately he made the

disciples get into the boat to go before him to the other side

while he dismissed the crowds. So Jesus gives instruction, he

goes, guys, that was a good day. And now I want y'all to go.

I want y'all to go across and you know, I'm going to meet you

in this town and, and you know, when I get there, it's dissenter

at is where they're going. When I want you guys go ahead

over to dissenter at and I'll catch up with you.

Lord, how are you going to get there?

I'll catch up with y'all maybe tomorrow.

You know, I can, I can walk around.

So if the lake is, is like this longish Oval shape, then

they're, they're kind of in the top portion and then they're

just crossing the top portion. They're not going the most, the

greatest possible distance, But they still had a couple, they

still had a few miles that they had to cross just to give you

some geography lesson there. And Jesus is saying, guys, you

go, go ahead and cross. And now he dismisses the crowd,

takes care of the people and says, Hey, everybody, you've

been healed, you've been fed, and now we can disperse.

But finally in verse 23, Jesus is getting back to where he

intended to, to be by himself on the mountain to pray.

And when the evening came, he was there alone.

What a relief for him. What a rest for him.

Is he compassionate and loving? He absolutely is.

And also Jesus needs to isolate himself to pray to the Father.

It's pretty fascinating. If Jesus needs to isolate

himself, if anyone ever didn't need to isolate for prayer, if

anyone ever didn't need to go get strength from somewhere

else, if anyone ever didn't need to go lean on someone else for

more power, for more direction, for more fellowship, it would

have been Jesus. But Jesus did in fact need to do

these things. Why?

Well, because the Lord coming when he came in flesh, he

stripped himself of certain things.

There's mystery around what that looks like, but there's some

things that are made pretty clear.

Jesus gets tired, doesn't he? Well, I thought he was always

God. He is always God.

He never stops being God. And also he's tired.

I venture also to tell you that I think his parents when he was

a little child had to teach him how to talk.

I don't think Jesus, I don't think 2 year old Jesus was

speaking Mandarin Chinese. That may mess with your

theology, but that's where I'm at.

As your pastor. People say I think Jesus knew

everything. Depends on what you mean by

that. Jesus is God.

If he's limited, it's only because he limited himself.

But clearly he limited himself. If he needs to sleep because

he's tired, if he needs to pray to go to his Father, he has

needs and he has self-imposed limitations.

He's not weak and he's not at any point less than God.

He is always God and he's always one with the Father.

But if Jesus needs all these things, how much more do you and

I need the these things? With great effort and with

deliberate action, Jesus gets separate.

To go be with the Father, you need to do the same thing.

Quality time with the Lord is a priority.

The body of Christ named quality time with the Lord.

Something really lame. They called it quiet time.

I think it's the lamest thing in the world.

I heard, I heard somebody recently, John Bevere.

No, not John Bevere. There was some other guys, some

conference I was at what he was talking about.

He said I got saved when I was a little boy.

I was about 8 years old. He said, and I love Jesus so

much and I was so excited. And then you know, so it was

like a couple weeks after I've been walking with the Lord, I've

been praying, I've been enjoying time with the Lord.

I've been trying to read my Bible.

And then somebody introduced me to the worst thing they could

have ever done. They told me, they told an 8

year old boy it's time to learn how to have a quiet time and

he's going, that sounds like the worst thing ever.

I don't know if I want to be a Christian anymore because

there's a little boy going, what is this?

What is the quiet time We've made it the the holy of holies

for Christians. What is the priority?

The the priority is fellowship with God.

That is the priority. He said.

He said if I was doing children's ministry today, he

said I would teach children you get to have an Adventure Time

with God. He would say, man, wouldn't that

be some better branding around fellowship with God?

Wouldn't that be better marketing, which I completely

agree. So what do we need?

We need fellowship with God. Fellowship with God.

I'm not putting a burden on you. I'm giving you a great relief.

I'm giving you a great joy to say God loves you and he built

you for fellowship. He wants to walk with you in the

cool of the day. What's that look like?

Well, we could have a million conversations about that.

You could ask a million different Christians how do they

enjoy fellowship with the Father and you can maybe get a million

different answers. There are some priorities.

Hiding his word in our hearts, prayer.

These are some things that are very clear biblically that we

always need to do. Well, what's it got to look

like? We don't have a, we don't have a

prescription for that. We don't have a prescription for

that. We have the priority of that,

but we don't have a prescription for that.

Sometimes we can get locked in on prescriptions because they

have been generally so helpful for so many, right?

How many married couples have heard about the sanctity of a

date night, right. And you've got to have the date

night, the weekly date night. If you don't have a weekly date

night, you'll be divorced in three weeks.

You know, just kind of the, the date night is, is the holy of

holies. I've heard a lot of times for

marriages and a lot of my, a lot of the work that I do, people

are surprised to hear that. I don't say, you know, date

night is king above all, no fellowship and quality time

being boyfriend and girlfriend. Those are very important in a

marriage, very important. And they should be happening all

the time. Oh, if date night serves you

well, by all means date night's good.

But the priority is the fellowship, right?

And the same way with the father, you need to prioritize

that. I think you should have a daily

rhythm is a recommendation. I think you ought to have a

daily rhythm of fellowship, of deliberate fellowship.

And then beyond that, I think we ought to have these moments that

Jesus had, and I don't think they ought to be once a year.

This is a deliberate moment. Jesus couldn't do this every

day. He didn't do this every day.

Why? His life, his responsibilities,

his ministry didn't allow for it.

How many of you would say the same thing?

My life, my responsibilities. I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I'm a

father, I'm a, I'm a boss, I'm an, I've got a life is

happening. I can't just go sit on the

mountain every day for hours with the Lord.

I totally agree. Jesus couldn't even do it.

But there's a time and a place for it and there's a time and a

place where you go, the soup is getting thin, there's a lot of

broth in here and I need something more and I need a deep

breath with the Lord. So that's something that you

should also build a rhythm of and go, what would that look

like? What could that look like?

Maybe it looks like once a week you go on a prayer walk for some

focus quality time. So I can't do that every day.

I can't do that every week. OK, what can you do?

That would really be a blessing and a refreshment to you to

restore your soul. The Lord leads you towards this.

Are you following Him towards it?

Maybe you're just like Jesus and you want to get up on a

mountain. You're going to have a hard time

doing that around here. It's a bit more of a journey for

you and you can just go sit on a dock instead.

That's my priority, that's my preference.

Maybe it's just a prayer spot in your house.

Maybe you don't have to get away and go do anything, but the

priority is this is a moment where I'm going to press in to

the Father If Jesus needed it, you and I most certainly need it

as well. Let's keep going.

Verse 24 he was there alone but by but the boat by this time was

a long way from land beaten by the waves, for the wind was

against them. So this whole situation will

remind us of our lives. The whole passage will remind us

of our lives. You got us, God's people down

below. These are the disciples in the

boat, struggling off and against the wind, beaten by the waves,

long enduring a difficult night or difficult season in obedience

to the Lord. And where is Jesus?

Jesus is praying for us. Thank God the scripture tells us

Jesus lives ever to make intercession for us.

Jesus is praying for you, Christian Jesus prays for you.

Isn't that encouraging? And are you going to call to

have pray for you? Well, let's call one another.

Let's lean on one another, but also you can't get a hold of

anybody. Good news, Jesus is interceding

for you right now. What a relief.

Wow, my master's praying for me. So you and I struggle.

The disciples are struggling, but still Jesus is praying.

I have no doubt that He was also praying for His disciples even

that night. We're also reminded that storms.

I want to point out something obvious here.

Storms are not the leadership of the Lord.

Storms and circumstances are not the leadership of the Lord.

Storms and circumstances are not the leadership of the Lord.

What is the leadership of the Lord?

God's word is God's leadership. What is God's will?

God's word is God's will. Bad things do not communicate

what I'm supposed to do with my life.

Jesus communicates what I'm supposed to do with my life.

Jesus commands his disciples. You're crossing over to that

village and they go out and it doesn't say anything about.

And they had a strong headwind and they said, I guess it's not

the world's will for us to cross over anymore.

The wind is clearly the will of God, right?

Clearly not. Clearly not Jesus's will as I

want you to cross over. Why is the wind happening?

I don't know, man. The wind blows.

Wind blows. I think it's just wind.

I don't think everything is supernatural.

I'm not naive enough to think there's a demon behind every

door. I'm certainly not naive enough

to think that there's not. But I definitely don't believe

that every single thing that happens is always the will of

God. Everything that always happens

is not the will of God. What's the will of Jesus

crossover to that village? What's what else is happening?

Well, there's a lot of things that are happening.

Why are they happening? Well, because the world is

cursed. The world is broken.

The devil is bad, people are foolish.

This results in a number of challenges that we're going to

face in life. What are you supposed to do?

Stay obedient. Stay obedient to the Lord in His

word. What instruction has the Lord

given you? Man, it's been really hard.

I, I hear you on that. Let's, let's gather together for

strength, for encouragement. The Lord will refresh you in the

difficult work that He's called you to.

I don't know if this is a test. It could be the Lord will most

definitely test his people. Scripture makes that very, very

plain. But you know what else is

interesting about those things is it's always clear when the

Lord is testing that the Lord is testing.

The Lord makes plain that He's testing.

But the Lord doesn't tempt us to evil.

The Lord doesn't tempt us to sin.

The Lord isn't tempting his disciples to turn around and go

against them. The Lord expects his disciples

to obey what he has told them. And they have worked all night

long. They've been rowing against the

wind all night long for hours and hours and hours and hours.

They've been on the water in the night, in the wind, in the

waves. And it's rough.

They're they're tired, they're frustrated.

They're familiar with the water. These are watermen.

So it's not like they've never seen this before.

And it's also still not pleasant.

Let's keep going. Verse 25 and in the 4th watch of

the night. So the, the the night was

divided into watches. So you'd have people

responsible. The Romans divided nightly

watches into 4 segments. So who's got the 1st watch the

first few hours? Who's got the next few hours?

Who's got the next few hours broken up into these different

groups? So now we know we're in the last

watch of the night. This is the one that leads up to

the sunrise. So this is the man who's

watching over the city who's looking for threats to make sure

everything's going to be OK. So it's the fourth watch of the

night. So we know they've gone all

night, we know it's late, we know they're tired, we know

we're some time now between 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM.

And isn't it interesting? Of course, this is when the Lord

brings his deliverance. The 4th watch of the night.

I would have preferred the first watch.

That would have been my vote. The second watch would have also

been acceptable to me. The third watch is entirely too

late. The 4th watch is just

ridiculous. Of course, like you're, you're

too late Lord, but it's not true.

The Lord shows up when the Lord shows up and he's never ever

late. He never shows up too late.

Even in the situation with Lazarus, we thank Lord, you

waited too late. You waited past the 4th watch

and the Lord said there's no such thing as too late.

Why? Because I am the resurrection

and the life. Who else talks like Jesus?

I mean, liars, fools, but who else can talk like Jesus except

for Jesus? I am the resurrection and life.

We got to reconcile with the one who says I am the I am the

resurrection and the life. What is the Lord doing here?

Well, one thing we know the Lord's doing for his disciples.

We know the Lord works all things together for the good of

those that love him. We know that's what's always

happening. So bad things happen because the

world is broken, the devil is bad, and Jim Michael is foolish.

So you're going to come up with all kinds of calamity there, and

the wind just blows sometimes because nature is designed and

structured in a particular way at this point.

So we're going to come across things that they just happened.

Sometimes things just happened. Sometimes things were evil.

This is going to happen. But now what are we going to do

with that? How am I going to respond to it?

The Lord loves me. So the bad things happening, but

the Lord brings resurrection out of this thing.

Even though this thing happened, people misread Romans 828 and

they think the Lord does everything, but that's not what

the Scripture says. It doesn't say God does every

single thing to you because He loves you.

He says no, no, no, He takes everything and He works it for

the good of those that love him. That makes sense and it's a

blessing and that's very comforting.

So God says, I know that was difficult, I know it was

terrible. I was denying that.

And where was the Lord and all that?

Where was the Lord and all that? He was right there.

He was right there with you. It's the classic case of until

it happens to you, right? Terrible things happening all

around the world all the time. It's too bad.

I feel sad for those people and then it happens to me.

God, God, me. I was OK with it when it was the

billions of others. But me, Lord, you know, this is

personal. Now where was the Lord?

It's a foolish question. It shows extreme immaturity on

my part. Can the Lord handle it?

Well, sure, He can handle it, but it's unnecessary.

The Lord is with you, the Lord is with you, the Lord is for

you. He struggles with you, he loves

you and he's there to comfort you.

Read take you to to James real quick.

James chapter 1. What am I supposed to do when

James 1 · chapter mention

I'm struggling, when I'm going to storm?

James chapter one verse 2 Count it all joy my brothers, when you

meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of

your faith produces steadfastness.

So look at the Lord help bring your resurrection out of

everything. Man, this is difficult.

This is difficult, this is difficult.

We've talked about suffering before, right, and how

Christians should be able to suffer.

Well, we've all suffered. I've suffered poorly and I've

suffered better at other at different times in life, but we

should be able to suffer well. Why?

How can I count it all joy? Is it a joy that the thing

happened? No, it's not a joy that the

thing happened. But here's the joy.

The joy is that my God is good and my God is going to grow me

through this. I'm not glad that this thing has

happened and I would not have chosen this thing.

And if this thing was an objectively good thing all by

itself, this thing would also be present with us in eternity,

right? It's just basic logic.

Let's not be sneaky here. Let's not be slippery.

Just real plain speech. If we want His Kingdom to come

and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, that means

those two will. That means those two realities

aren't the same at this moment, correct?

Am I being logical? Am I being clear?

God, we're praying that your will would be done on earth like

it always already is in heaven. What do we know is not in

heaven? It's a long list.

A long list of things that are not in heaven.

So we're still seeking and praying and asking and knocking

for those things. But it's not always going to go

well. No, it's not because the world

is broken because of sin. And still we get the final word.

And still Christians count it all joy.

And still we can move forward for the same motive that Jesus

did. Why?

For the joy set before him, He can endure anything.

For the joy set before you and I, we can endure anything.

What joy do we have? Jesus is our joy, as our sister

reminded us earlier. Jesus is the joy.

I have Jesus, and on top of that, Christians have the great

hope. This is temporary.

This storm is really, really bad.

Nobody's making light of it. I would never make light of a

storm that you're walking through, but maybe I would if it

was really, really weak. Sometimes I need you to do the

same thing for me. HMIO.

Put on your big boy pants. There's a time and place for

that, but most of the time I wouldn't do anything like that.

I would say, Yep, the storm is real and also the storm is not

permanent, but God's promises are.

What else do we see that encourages us here?

The things that we struggle with are easy for Jesus.

This storm that's beating against the disciples, Jesus

comes walking on top of it. All throughout Scripture and the

Jewish readers who Matthew is writing to, they would have

understood this. For someone to have something

under their feet that means something that was not lost on

the early readers. So the disciples going, this is

the worst thing, this is the worst thing, this is difficult,

this is difficult. And Jesus says I will walk on

top of the thing that is so difficult for you.

I'll put it under my feet. We're intimidated by big waves.

Jesus walks on top of them. We're intimidated by our

enemies. Jesus makes his enemies his

footstool. He put He props his feet up on

things that are easy for him. Huh.

Where will I put my feet? Jesus says.

You bend down, I'll put my feet on you, my enemies.

God the Father makes the whole earth the footstool of Jesus.

The Jewish reader would have seen the greater Moses here as

well. Moses led the people through the

sea. Jesus doesn't go through the

sea. He's above that, literally.

Jesus walks on top of the water, showing His authority, showing

His power. This should build your

confidence in your King. He is so mighty and nothing is

impossible for him. He brings victory out of defeat.

He brings life out of death. Why?

Because he specializes in resurrection.

So wherever it's going bad, and that's the problem with

resurrection, something first has to die.

And that's the part about resurrection that I'm not a big

fan of. I just want a resurrection

before it's dead. Well, you don't qualify for

resurrection until you're dead. So the more dead your situation

is, congratulation, it now qualifies for resurrection.

No, now I feel like it's really too late.

Now we're getting somewhere. Now we're getting somewhere.

Have you really given up hope? Have you given up your strength

is the question. Have you given up of all your

horses and Chariots? Have they all been drowned in

the sea and you got nothing else left to fight with?

Now you're probably ready to come to the king.

You're probably ready to approach the throne of grace

with boldness, his authority, and His power.

He will walk on top of the thing that challenges his people, that

overwhelms his people. He will come, he will deliver,

and He will get all of the glory.

The 4th watch of the night He came to them walking on the sea.

Jesus is the greater Moses. Keep going.

Verse 26 for when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they

were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in

fear. I have a ghost story.

I saw a ghost when I was a little kid.

Bear with me. So dad worked to the shipyard

and dad went to work just super crazy early.

I don't know how early, but I remember waking up one night to

Fluffy, my dog. She was barking.

She's outside just barking, barking, barking.

Fluffy would bark when we came home and that was about it.

Other than that, she would just bark to announce to the

neighborhood, hey, my people are here and I'm excited.

But other than that, she didn't do much barking.

So she's barking, barking, barking.

And I wake up and I'm a little guy and I remember just

wondering like, why is she barking?

It's so dark. I knew that.

I knew that dad was already going at work and I and I open

up my blinds and it's just pitch black outside.

But you know, there's just enough light to see that, you

know, it's not oblivion. You can see your neighborhood is

there, but you still can't see anything.

And I see something just floating across the yard and my

blood goes cold and I just terrified my heart.

I mean, just haunted me. I just and I sat there.

So it's, it's just, it's just floating perfectly across the

yard. Fluffy's in the yard somewhere

just barking her head off. Will not stop barking, will not

stop barking. And I'm just like eyes locked,

terrified, terrified to look away.

Why? Because if I look away and then

I look back and it's gone. Now where is the thing gone?

So I can't look away and eventually it just stops right

there in the yard and I'm just locked in on it, looking through

my blinds. And I was there a long time.

I don't know what watch of the night it was.

It was probably the third, it was probably the 4th watch of

the night because Dad's already gone.

But I'm sitting there a long time.

And when I say a long time, I mean, we're talking longer than

20 minutes for sure. I'm not talking like it was 2

minutes or something where I'm trying to figure this.

It was like horror had gripped me.

I refuse to blink, I'm sure to just figure this thing out.

And of course, I'm just waiting on the sunrise.

Just waiting on the sunrise. Just waiting on the sunrise.

I know y'all are really spooked by this ghost story.

Waiting on the sunrise and finally, finally, finally,

finally Fluffy's still barking her head off.

And finally the light slowly comes, slowly comes, slowly

comes. And I'm just staring at the

ghost that's in my front yard. And finally, I see these three

birthday balloons that have shriveled and somehow drifted

across our yard and then got stuck in the Dogwood tree in our

yard. I thought you said you saw a

ghost. Of course I didn't see a ghost.

Why? Because there's no such thing as

ghosts. There's no such thing as ghosts.

When people die, they go to heaven or they go to hell.

That's what happens when people die.

Apart from that, you've got angels and you've got demons.

That's all the categories of everybody.

You could sub categorize angels and demons.

We're not going to play that game right now.

Bottom line is that's what you got to work with.

So if you've seen something, I don't doubt that you've seen

something. I'm just saying maybe you saw

some trivial birthday balloons. Maybe you saw a demon.

I don't know, but we're not to be intimidated by these things

or frightened by these things. Why?

Because we have authority over all these things.

So if you say I've seen a lot of demons, I'd say first of all,

that's strange that you're seeing a lot of demons.

But if the Lord has shown those things to you, it's for a

purpose that you would pray and walk in authority over them.

There's no sort of like, Oh my goodness, it's not the an epic

battle. You know, it's, it's not a close

fight. Anybody see Jake Paul, Mike

Tyson? I was heartbroken.

I'm convinced it was rigged, right?

It's got to be. I saw Tyson's highlights in

preparation for the fight, like destroying his trainer, and I

saw about 30 seconds of that in the ring in the fight and like,

something's off here. What was my point before you all

distracted me with Tyson and Jake Paul?

It's not a close fight. Thank you, Kayla.

It's not a close fight. It is rigged.

Jesus wins and there's no chance anyone else can do anything.

It's rigged because he has all power.

He has all authority, He has all might, He has all dominion.

Why do the disciples think it's maybe a ghost?

Well, they probably had the common superstition and the fear

like in in their defense, it's the middle of the night and some

someone's something's on top of the water and it's shaped like a

person. So in their defense, it couldn't

have been birthday balloons and in their defense, it couldn't

have been like the big channel marker because they didn't have

those and it wasn't another boat.

So in their defense, it is pretty spooky.

That would be kind of freaky to to see coming at you.

And they're going, you know, they're, they're trying to row,

they're trying to row and they go row faster.

You know, something's coming. They're freaked out, they're

worried, they're terrified. And they probably had the

superstition like many did, that many people died at sea.

Many people have died at sea throughout human history.

And they may have had that that superstition that the souls of

the dead were somehow, you know, still wandering around the sea.

We don't know for sure, but we don't know how we would have

responded probably the same way they did.

But what do they do? They cry out, it's a ghost.

And immediately, verse 27, immediately Jesus spoke and

said, take heart, it is I do not be afraid.

Jesus brings comfort. What a blessing, what a joy,

what a kindness. Jesus always brings comfort.

Take heart it is I do not be afraid.

Much more than just bringing them to a place of neutral

relief, Jesus brings them to a place of deliverance.

They went from torment to full rescue.

I didn't get that kind of experience with my balloons, by

the way. I just got relief.

I went from terror to OK, but now they have the joy, the the

privilege and the pleasure of their master.

My ghost didn't turn out to be my God and my master.

I just had somebody's shrivel birthday balloons.

They had something far greater. Verse 28.

Jesus says do not be afraid. Peter answered him.

Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

That's a pretty bold statement. The problem you and I are have

facing right in this moment is we knew this story before we

even got to it today. We've seen it before.

We've heard it before. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jesus walked in water. Peter walked in water.

Time out. That's crazy.

That's that's a lot. It's amazing if Jesus had just

walked on water too, we could have really built some some

airtight theology here that wouldn't make room for any

mystery. And we could say Jesus can walk

on water because he's Jesus, right?

Sounds good to me. Who could argue with that?

You'd be a heretic to argue against that.

How could a Jesus walk on water because he's Jesus?

OK, be careful. I don't know what you're

implying, but you better not go there.

And now we have somebody else other than Jesus who walks on

water. What are you saying, pastor?

I'm just saying what I'm saying. And I'm not saying what I'm not

saying. I'm just saying the Bible is

good and safe for the common man to pick it up, read it, and

believe it and apply it. And Peter was a man like you and

I. Our motive and our purpose in

all of this is not to walk on water.

We're not trying to do tricks. We're not trying to, quote, do

miracles. We're going to talk more about

that in a moment. But what do we notice?

What happens? The presence of God brings

courage. The presence of God brings hope,

and the presence of God brings great faith.

His presence emboldens his disciples then and now.

What do you need? You need the presence of God.

That is what will bring faith. That is what will bring courage.

That is what will bring hope. To get into His presence you

will be strengthened. I remember one day, another

childhood story when we were living in Florida, I was playing

basketball against an older kid who was a little bit younger

than my brother, but my brother was there too.

So there's just the three of us and me and this older kid, we're

trash talking each other, just severely being really obnoxious.

But why was I willing to be be that way, so obnoxious even

though this kid was mad? Why?

Because my older brother was there.

What's this kid going to do to me?

He can't do anything to me. You can't touch me, punk.

Why? I may as well have been 10 feet

tall because my brother is there.

If my brother wasn't there, I'd have been a very, very polite

kid. But for that, for whatever

reason, I mean, and I was being a real punk.

I mean, I remember how obnoxious I was being that day.

And he was too, but it was very uncharacteristic.

Like if my parents had been there, I would have like gotten

a spanking for sure. Just, you know, not good.

And my brother should have told me to shut up as well.

But still with my brother there, like, what you going to do?

I'm I'm bold, I'm confident. The boldness in the, in the

presence of God inside of his people brings, brings the same

kind of confidence. What can man do to me?

Well, he can kill you. Oh, what can man do to you?

He can't, He can't like throw my soul into hell afterwards.

So he really can't do much at all.

And if God is for me, who can be against me?

This is the confidence that we see Peter get when Jesus is

around. Look what?

Look what Peter does in the garden.

Like 600 soldiers come to arrest Jesus and Peter's like, I got a

plan and pulls his sword out. Like dude, what?

How do you think this is going to go?

He's like, Jesus is here so anything could happen.

He just watched Jesus knock them all to the ground.

Remember they said we're looking for Jesus of Nazareth.

Jesus said I am and they went boom and they all fell to the

ground. Peter's like, oh, it's on.

I like this. The Christian who is in the

presence of the Lord much has much confidence in the Lord, in

the Lord, in the Lord. The Christian who's never in the

presence of the Lord. Well, what's what's true there?

The opposite. I don't have confidence.

I don't have confidence. I don't have confidence.

I don't have confidence and I'm always looking to man, I'm

always looking to another person.

I'm always looking for somebody, one of you to have my answer.

Why? Because I'm really not in

fellowship with him. So I'm always dependent upon you

because I'm going, hey, tell me about this, Tell me about that.

You go up onto the mountain and pray.

What did you hear on the mountain?

That's not the kind of people we're supposed to be.

The people who are content to see Moses go up on the mountain.

Moses went up and Moses comes down and they go, cover your

face. It's glowing.

I was just like, fine, I'll cover my face.

Why are they not hungry and thirsty and desperate to be in

the Lord's presence? Why are they so content to have

Moses go for them? Peter's not content.

You and I shouldn't be content. I want to be with him.

Jesus. Jesus is coming to the boat.

Jesus has walked miles at this point on the water to get to the

disciples. Peter knows this.

He's coming to us. Is it the logical response as

I'm rowing in this boat to go? Oh, guys, stop rowing.

Back it up. We'll back it up to the Lord.

Lord, come on in. Isn't that how that should have

gone? Isn't that a fair assessment?

Oh, Lord, get in. Get in the boat.

Come on. Wow, you walked on water.

You're amazing. But Peter's like, Lord, is it

really? You call me to come join you?

I'm coming to the boat anyway. You don't have to like, I want

to be with you. I want to be where Jesus is.

I want to do what Jesus does. Lord, if it's you, command me to

come out onto the water. How much confidence should you

walk in? Saints, if God is for you, who

can be against you? Even though I walk through the

valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.

Why for you are with me, That's the confidence.

Not because I'm super skilled and super capable and I'm super

anointed. Now my confidence is I'm walking

through all this. Peter could face 600 soldiers

and think I should pull out my sword now and kill somebody.

Why? Because you are with me, like me

with my Big Brother, I can do anything.

It's not true, but you sure believe it because of the one

you have confidence in his presence.

So look at Peter just making stuff up.

Why do you think you can walk on water?

Why? Where did that enter your head?

It reminds me of the woman who says to herself, if I can only

touch the hem of his garment. You got a verse for that sister?

You got a verse for that, do you What?

What makes you think you can just grab his garment and then

sneak away in the crown back? That's all I needed.

She said to herself. Why?

Because she knows the nature and character of her God.

So she's just going. I know it's compassion.

This is just the this is just that my point of faith contact.

That's all it is. This is my point of contact for

my faith. And it's a spirit LED faith.

It is not a formula. Faith is not a formula.

Following the Lord is not a formula.

As we said earlier, it's living, it's active.

But this is what Peter wants. Lord, if it's you, command me to

come to you on the water. But hungry faith isn't worried

about the rules. God hungry faith isn't worried

about the rules. And God, hungry faith isn't

worried about how it looks to others.

You can't say that. You can't do that.

Says who? If the Lord corrects him, then

the Lord can correct him, but nobody else needs to stand in

his way. Let that be your prayer.

Everyday Saints. Lord, if your presence is there,

then you command me to come. If your presence is there, I

will follow you anywhere, but don't let anybody or anything

keep you from the Lord. But don't get confused by any of

this. Like I said, miracles are not

the priority here. Don't get confused.

Walking on water is not the priority.

Walking with Jesus is the priority.

That's what Peter's after here, not hey guys, look at me.

I did it and you didn't. The priority is I want to be and

I want to walk with Jesus. Don't be eager to do something

crazy. Be eager to be faithful and

close to him and you will certainly along with it have

some mighty testimonies throughout your life.

Let your eagerness and let your desire not to be.

I want to see miracles. Let your desire be God.

I love you and I want to walk in the fullness of your will for my

life. Well, that's going to include

miracles. That's going to include a lot of

mighty testimony. But if you're pursuing the gifts

instead of the giver, then you'll probably get neither.

Jesus response to Peter's boldness.

What if it's you command me to come to you on the water and he

said verse 29 come. So Peter got out of the boat and

walked on the water and came to Jesus.

Interesting. The Lord calls out come, but how

many actually follow? We were just talking to Peter.

Anyone was invited. It wasn't exclusively Peter.

The Lord wouldn't have rebuked the others.

How many are eager to obey? This brings us to the same

question for us. How many of us, how many of you,

are eager to obey the Lord? How many determine that he's not

worth the cost? I get out of the boat.

The Lord asks too much. And the Lord didn't even ask me

to do that. Look, that was Peter's own idea.

Jesus already told us the parable about the four different

kinds of soils. Only one of those kinds of soils

is healthy and continues to bear healthy fruit.

Now we see only one out of 12 has a love for Jesus that will

get him out of the boat and pursue Jesus more.

And it's not the last time we see Peter's desperation to be

with his Lord. Jesus does something.

Peter does something similar in another time.

Remember after the resurrection. So the day, the day of the

resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples.

They're rejoicing. He's here, He's with us, and

then he's gone. He vanishes.

And then he comes back again. So remember, for 40 days Jesus

comes and goes and appears to the disciples over and over,

shows himself to them before he's resurrected.

And then ten days later he sends the Holy Spirit on the day of

Pentecost. So after the resurrection, Jesus

appears to the disciples. He leaves them again.

Couple weeks later, the guys are out fishing.

Peter says I'm going fishing. And they said we're going with

you. So they go, they go out onto the

sea and Jesus comes walking up, but they don't know it's Jesus.

The Scripture even tells us he's about 100 yards away.

So they're about 100 yards out. So they can see that there's a

guy on the shoreline and he just pretends to just be some guy

strolling. And he goes, hey, your boys

catch anything today? And they answer back, Nah, all

night we didn't catch anything. And he says, put the Nets on the

right side. Well, Jesus had done that

before. So already they're going, is

this this? Does this guy just know the

story? But they do it and they're

going, they put the Nets out on to the right side and they can't

even bring in the hall of fish. And as they're trying to bring

into the hall of fish, John turns to Peter and he says it's

the Lord. And that was all Peter needed to

hear. Scripture says he put on his

outer garment. So we don't know to which degree

of nudity they were working in, but we know that, you know, he

had taken off his outer garment for work.

So he's going to go show up on the shoreline, needs to be

properly closed. So he puts on his his outer

garment. You ever swam 100 yards in a

bathrobe? Anybody.

No. But Peter.

Peter didn't have to think through all that.

Why? Because he knew who was on the

shoreline, and all he wanted to do is get to him.

What about this massive fish? What about this massive haul?

What about the money we've got here?

You always figured that out. We can't even get it in the 12

of us. And I'll go and I'm swimming.

And he jumps into the water. Immediately.

John says it's the Lord. And Peter goes, you're right.

And Peter is gone, robe on and in the water, swimming 100

yards, gasping and splashing and messy and gets to shore.

And do you think when he got to shore, he goes, Master, may I

approach? Or do you think he went up and

gave Jesus his friend, his king, our God, the big wet hug that

would make Jesus laugh and go, all right, Peter, all right.

Now I'm wet too. What does love look like?

That's not a formula, but it's the Lord's will to be loved and

to walk with the people who love him.

When Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he put on his outer

garment, for it was stripped for work, and he threw himself into

the sea. God help us to love you more.

Help us to be eager to pursue you more.

Keep going here. Verse 29, he said.

He said come. So Peter got out of the boat and

walked on the water and came to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind he was afraid and beginning to sink.

He cried out, Lord save me. So Peter, the only guy to get

out of the boat, walks on the water with his Lord, but he gets

his attention off of Jesus. This passage preaches itself.

Keep your eyes on Jesus, Don't trust your circumstances, trust

the Lord. Make him and His word your

meditation and your focus. Proverbs 3 five and six.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways.

Acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths.

He gets all the way to Jesus. It seems it's all the way into

His presence and then still gets his distract, gets distracted by

the circumstance. I know y'all are too spiritual

for that, but I've been in situations like that before

where I'm walking closely with the Lord and then I go, how did

I lose focus on the Lord? Why am I in fear again?

Why am I worrying again? Why am I striving again?

Do you have a shepherd or don't you, John Michael, you do and

he's with you. Get your eyes on him.

Peter does the right thing when he sinks, he doesn't flail, he

doesn't call for the boat. He cries out, Lord, save me.

This is our right response. When you're pursuing the Lord

and things go wrong, your automatic response to your

problem is to call out to him. Lord save me.

That's a good prayer. Sometimes that's all you got

time for. That's all Peter had time for in

that moment. And what does the Lord do?

Verse 31? Immediately, of course, because

it is time immediately. He reaches out his hand, took

hold of him saying, oh, you have little faith.

Why did you doubt? When it's urgent?

Truly the Lord doesn't delay and we see the pattern again of

Jesus response to a lack of faith.

Continue here. Jesus marvels at great faith in

the Gospels and he marvels at lack of faith and he rebukes

Peter. They're in the middle of an

ocean. It's been storming.

It's late at night. Peter just walked on water for

some distance, we don't know how far.

And then Jesus goes, you little faith.

Why did you doubt? It's kind of surprising.

I thought Peter had great faith. Jesus says now it's, it's little

faith. What does the Scripture tell us?

If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is

small. I got great faith when I'm not

going through anything. All right, well, better than

nothing. But adversity will be the real

test. The wind against me, the waters

surrounding me, that's the real challenge.

And then verses 32 and beyond. And when they got into the boat,

the wind ceased and those in the boat worshipped him, saying,

truly, you are the Son of God. Remember in Matthew 8, Jesus was

sleeping in the boat. He was in the boat with

everybody. The waves started to crash over

the boat. They're being swamped.

Jesus gets up. He rebukes his disciples for

lack of faith first, as as is his custom, he's going, your

lack of faith is a real problem here.

He rebukes them, and then he rebukes the wind and the waves,

and all the men marvelled. This is the first time it

happened. And they said, what sort of man

is this, That even the winds and the sea obey him?

It's a good question. The answer should be obvious to

them at this point for all the prophecy he has fulfilled.

But they're asking the right question.

What sort of man is this, that even the wind in the sea obey

him? That's what they said a while

back. Now they don't ask who is this?

Notice what they say differently.

They don't say, who is this guy that even the wind and the waves

obey him. Now they worship him and they

say, truly you are the Son of God.

They go, I'm not going to doubt anymore.

What was stopping them? Was it more evidence of miracles

that they needed? Nope, it wasn't more evidence of

miracles that they needed. How do I know that's true?

Because I know that I believe and I know that you believe, and

you haven't seen any of the things that the disciples saw.

And Jesus said there's a special blessing for you and I because

of that. He said, you believe because

you've seen. Many believe because they've

seen back. Then He goes, but blessed are

all those who will come who believe, who don't see.

There's a particular blessing from the Lord for us because we

haven't seen those things and still we believe.

But they don't ask who is this? They worship and say, truly you

are the Son of God. The attitude of your heart, not

the amount of miracles you see, is what determines whether or

not you will worship the Son of God.

The attitude of your heart, not the amount of miracles that

you've seen, is what determines whether or not you will worship

the Son of God. How do you know?

Remember the Pharisees, They literally knew he had been

raised from the dead. The Roman soldiers came and

said, hey guys, so last night was crazy.

An Angel came and we pretended to be dead and Jesus was raised

from the dead. And the Pharisees don't go, wow,

we were wrong. This is our chance to repent and

worship the Son of God. Lord, forgive us for crucifying

the lamb. Instead they go, OK, OK, OK,

here's what we're going to do. We will help you cover this up

with Pilate. You tell everybody they stole

his body away. Stop, Saints, please stop

believing that friends, loved ones, enemies, and even yourself

needs to see something else. If you believe that about

yourself, you're deceived. You are hard hearted and your

hard heart is your problem. That's your problem.

Well, only if, if somebody could answer that, you, you believe

that. And if you believe that, it's

because you're deceived. You're either deceived by the

enemy or yourself deceived. Both of those are treacherous.

Well, what's my answer then? To come to the Lord in humility

and mercy? Because that's the thing you're

lacking is humility. You will not bend the knee.

You will not submit deeply to King Jesus.

You'll go well, well, well. And you keep stating your terms.

Jesus doesn't function on your terms.

He doesn't function on my terms. He's not the cog in our wheel.

It's the other way around. The attitude of your heart, not

the amount of miracles you've seen, is what determines whether

or not you'll worship the Son of God.

He is worthy. Jesus has shown you more than

enough to draw you to worship. The Pharisees knew that he was

raised from the dead, but their hearts refused him.

Do not let your heart refuse the Lord and instead go full on the

opposite end. Go like Peter, the one who will

say, call me onto the water to walk with you, Lord.

And if you don't call me onto the water to walk with you, and

you're still 100 yards away, I don't need to walk on water.

I'll swim, I'll struggle. I'll do whatever it takes to get

where Jesus is. Heavenly Father, make us more

hungry and make us more thirsty. Yeah, we know your presence is

where we will be filled with boldness, with confidence, with

faith, and with more love. Help us to be eager to be into

your in in your presence, just like Jesus, as our example was.

He did it because he needed it, but he also did it as our

example. Lord, draw us into that

adventure of faith with you. Draw us into the quality time

fellowship with you. Draw us in more to your

presence, that for all the flaws and faults that Peter had, what

a blessed zeal he had to be eager to be with you.

And I pray that you would ignite in us more love, more passion,

and more jealousy for you and your glory.

That we would be like Peter, eager to be in your presence,

eager to follow you, eager to obey you.

Help us to trust what you've said for those who have been

given instruction to walk in obedience.

And they're facing difficult storms.

They're facing a strong headwind.

Jesus, would you strengthen them?

Would you remind them of what they need to hear from you?

Would you come walk with them through those waters?

And would you walk on top of those waters?

And would you get their eyes on you?

Off the storm, off the challenge, off the wind, off the

waves, off the feelings, and back on you?

Help us to obey. You'll make it all worth it.

And you will bring us safely to the place you've commanded.

We trust you. We trust that you're going to

finish the work that you've started.

And it brings us a great comfort and a great hope.

It is such a joy to belong to you.

We love you Lord, and we thank you in Jesus name and now the

Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine

down upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen.