Speaker 1: Hey, church, how you doing? You doing good? All right? Awesome?
Speaker 1: I'm doing good, I hope. So we're gonna find out.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm excited to share a word with you
Speaker 1: this morning, and it's from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter fourteen.
Speaker 1: We're gonna start in verse twenty two. It's a particular
Speaker 1: story that's actually in two other gospels, Mark and John.
Speaker 1: But this story here in Matthew has a sub story
Speaker 1: we're gonna focus on. So I'm excited about that, and
Speaker 1: so we're gonna jump right in. But we're gonna be
Speaker 1: talking about a well known story. You think you know
Speaker 1: it all about Jesus walking on the water, but you
Speaker 1: might just learn something this morning. Let's pray. Father, in
Speaker 1: Jesus name, we asked that you would anoint your word,
Speaker 1: that you would speak to us to open hearts ready
Speaker 1: to hear from you and to respond. We thank you
Speaker 1: for just the incredible privilege of being able to search
Speaker 1: your word, to seek you out and to find you.
Speaker 1: And so we welcome you here. Help us to find
Speaker 1: you this morning, as you find us in Jesus name. Amen.
Speaker 1: All right, Matthew fourteen, verse twenty two. So immediately, Jesus
Speaker 1: made the disciples get into the boat and go on
Speaker 1: ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed
Speaker 1: the crowds. Immediately, it says, that is immediately after Jesus
Speaker 1: had his disciples participate in the miracle of the feeding
Speaker 1: of the five thousand. Actually that's his five thousand men,
Speaker 1: you know, we add is fifteen to twenty thousand with
Speaker 1: women and children. So going from five loads and two fish,
Speaker 1: as you know, to thousands that were fed, and the
Speaker 1: disciples got to be a part of that, because that's
Speaker 1: what Geesus is about. He's about taking his disciples and
Speaker 1: making him into little followers of himself, and he wants
Speaker 1: them to do the words and the works of Jesus.
Speaker 1: He wants them to do his words and works. He
Speaker 1: wants you to do that. And so this is where
Speaker 1: they come out of the thought. But immediately he sends
Speaker 1: them across the Sea of Galilee also called the Lake Ganessaurette,
Speaker 1: and he sends them across, and then he goes and
Speaker 1: he spends some time with a father verse twenty three.
Speaker 1: After he dismisses, then he went up to the mountainside
Speaker 1: by himself to pray, and when evening came, he was
Speaker 1: there alone. So why does Jesus send the disciples away
Speaker 1: first of all and across the water. Well, first of all,
Speaker 1: he wants to be alone. He wants to be alone
Speaker 1: with the Father. And as a as a great example
Speaker 1: to the disciples, he was showing them. They knew that
Speaker 1: he was going to get alone with the Father. That
Speaker 1: that's where it's all about, you know, that's what it's
Speaker 1: all about. Being with your Father in heaven, seeking his face,
Speaker 1: hearing from him, getting your marching orders from him. That's
Speaker 1: what it's all about. So Jesus did that first, and
Speaker 1: that's the first prime, the first reason. But there's another reason.
Speaker 1: He sends them out ahead of him, and he has
Speaker 1: a he has a little bit of a plan for them,
Speaker 1: and we'll see what that is. But he has a
Speaker 1: teaching moment and he sends them on their way, and
Speaker 1: it's a teaching moment, as we will see verse twenty four.
Speaker 1: But the boat was already a considerable distance from land.
Speaker 1: So it's it's out there in the middle of the
Speaker 1: lake's like thirteen miles across, and it is a considerable
Speaker 1: distance across the lake, and it's being buffeted by the
Speaker 1: waves because of the wind and the waves, the wind
Speaker 1: against it. Now we know from the Book of Mark
Speaker 1: that they were about the way across here, so they've
Speaker 1: been fighting the wind in the waves for quite a while. Now.
Speaker 1: The Sea of Galilee, you may know that some of
Speaker 1: you may have been and may have actually visited there
Speaker 1: sometime in the tour of the Holy Land, but it's
Speaker 1: it's in a bowl with mountains all around it. And
Speaker 1: the way the form of the geography is when the
Speaker 1: heat comes into that region, when it gets warm, what
Speaker 1: happens is is that it draws winds down from off
Speaker 1: the hills down into the lake and it just begins
Speaker 1: to just create these these these wind squalls and these
Speaker 1: huge waves that can be very dangerous. And so that's
Speaker 1: what's happening here. It's stormy, it's treacherous, and the Disciples
Speaker 1: as they head across east to west, we know they're
Speaker 1: not sailing because again Mark, he likes to include details
Speaker 1: that we don't have here. They were rowing, so that
Speaker 1: may have been they had a sailboat and they had
Speaker 1: to say ails down because of the wind was too much,
Speaker 1: or tore them down, or maybe that's all along. But
Speaker 1: we know that they're rowing with all their might. They're
Speaker 1: putting all their energy, all their focus in getting across
Speaker 1: the lake. And you certainly they're frightened. Certainly they're there.
Speaker 1: They've been doing this all night. They have no sleep,
Speaker 1: and so you get it, you get where they're at.
Speaker 1: Have any of you ever owned a boat? They raise
Speaker 1: the hand. You still have it, Okay, still do well.
Speaker 1: The highest percentage of people who own boats are in
Speaker 1: the state of Washington, believe it or not. So we
Speaker 1: we liked the We liked to be out in the water.
Speaker 1: I guess my neighbor owns a power boat with a
Speaker 1: cabin and everything else. And I talked to him yesterday.
Speaker 1: I said, Mark, I said, you have your they have
Speaker 1: your boat out in the water during the summer. He said, no,
Speaker 1: oh really yeah, he said, it's uh, it's being worked on.
Speaker 1: I said, really, you guys don't know about boats, right,
Speaker 1: And I said and he then he said, you know what?
Speaker 1: You know what boat stands for? He said, bring out
Speaker 1: another thousand and he said that should be updated to
Speaker 1: another ten thousand. But have you ever been on rough seas?
Speaker 1: You know the terror of what you know that the
Speaker 1: fear of being out there, the power of the ways.
Speaker 1: Lloyd's dad was a captain in the Coast Garden, so
Speaker 1: he was responsible for a lot of rescue of people
Speaker 1: out on boats that were in greats high seas. And
Speaker 1: my friend Bob Carlson, he grew up without a father
Speaker 1: because his dad was a captain on a foss hug
Speaker 1: boat out here out of Tacoma and years ago and
Speaker 1: they were in a storm and the boat went down
Speaker 1: and he died. So it' it's it's it's a serious
Speaker 1: thing when you're out in some really rough water. Now
Speaker 1: now growing up my family, my dad bought an amphibious
Speaker 1: duck World War two duck uh and brought it home
Speaker 1: and announced my mother that he's going to we're going
Speaker 1: to make a camper out of it, and we're going
Speaker 1: to take the take it out like an RV, but
Speaker 1: RV that can go in the water. And so the
Speaker 1: next couple of years working working on a building out
Speaker 1: and help my dad. My dad was an industrial large teacher,
Speaker 1: so he's kind, he was kind of crazy. He'd work
Speaker 1: on anything, and so we did have it. We had it,
Speaker 1: and we took it everywhere all over the West Coast
Speaker 1: and everything else. My fourteenth year that summer. We were
Speaker 1: headed out up to Alaska from Canada, right along that
Speaker 1: kind of that lower piece of Alaska. And uh, it
Speaker 1: was in the morning and the sea was really high waves. Uh.
Speaker 1: The kids, four of us were all asleep, my parents
Speaker 1: were awake and uh. And because of the high water,
Speaker 1: water began to come into an opening and the front
Speaker 1: of the boat that began to pour in. It opened
Speaker 1: up me and he didn't notice that at the time,
Speaker 1: but it kept going. But after a while he noticed
Speaker 1: that the boat was was going down, and they saw
Speaker 1: that there was a hole, much water in the hole,
Speaker 1: and so he yelled, get the boat, lifeboat off the top.
Speaker 1: And so I scrambled out of my sleeping bag and
Speaker 1: my underwear and too much information, but that was okay
Speaker 1: now in a way I sleep. But anyway, so I
Speaker 1: got the boat, the boat off the top, and it
Speaker 1: was a matter of about three minutes. Got the lifeboat
Speaker 1: off and in the water. My mom helped me do it,
Speaker 1: and everybody jumped in the in the lifeboat except for
Speaker 1: me and my dad. We had to go back for
Speaker 1: the dog PG, so we went back inside. He threw
Speaker 1: me the dog and just as he did that, the
Speaker 1: boat went down. And there was like this big rush
Speaker 1: of water and then kind of he felt kind of
Speaker 1: like a cork being popped out, and it was freezing
Speaker 1: water by the way as Alaska. But we were able
Speaker 1: to swim onto the lifeboat. And I'm not going to
Speaker 1: tell you the rest of the story other than because
Speaker 1: I don't have time another sermon, But we were rescued
Speaker 1: by a passing ferry boat that was two miles away.
Speaker 1: And what had to happen. There's actually ten different things
Speaker 1: had to happen in order for us to survive and
Speaker 1: be rescued. Several of them happened when we're still on
Speaker 1: the boat, but the rest does then happened in order
Speaker 1: for us to be survived and rescued. And I did
Speaker 1: a calculation this week based on a kind of percentage
Speaker 1: of this actually happening, and it turns out that if
Speaker 1: you put that all together, my chances of being up
Speaker 1: here this morning and speaking to you are one in
Speaker 1: five million. I tell you, the Lord saved us. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just amazing, just absolutely amazing, just crazy. And yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was in my underwear when I got rescued in
Speaker 1: the by the ferry boat too. But anyway, back to
Speaker 1: verse twenty four, back to the disciples story. But the
Speaker 1: boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by
Speaker 1: the waves because the wind was against it. Now during
Speaker 1: the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to
Speaker 1: them walking on the lake. The fourth watch is anywhere
Speaker 1: from three am to six am, and so probably it's certainly,
Speaker 1: probably still dark. Probably, and we know that disciples are
Speaker 1: rolling away, and just think of being in a boat
Speaker 1: at that moment. And as I said, they're only part
Speaker 1: way across after all these hours. And I'm sure the
Speaker 1: disciples were thinking, why are we here? Jesus made us go.
Speaker 1: Remember I read that Jesus made the disciples go. Jesus
Speaker 1: made us go. Does the Lord ever send us into
Speaker 1: a storm? He does right here. And perhaps you're in
Speaker 1: a storm this morning. Maybe not. But you know what
Speaker 1: a storm is like, And storms can come in a
Speaker 1: lot of different flavors, right. It can be a relational storm,
Speaker 1: struggle with somebody in your life, whether it's a marriage
Speaker 1: or a friendship. It could be financial, it could be spiritual,
Speaker 1: it could be emotional. These different kinds of storms come
Speaker 1: into our lives, and sometimes it's not because we cause them.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we do, right, Sometimes we cause that storm, but
Speaker 1: sometimes the Lord sends us into it. But fortunately Jesus
Speaker 1: went out to them walking on the lake, right, amen,
Speaker 1: Fortunately Jesus went out to them walking on the lake.
Speaker 1: And I don't think I have to tell you that
Speaker 1: walking on water is a amazing, crazy, incredible, never done before
Speaker 1: kind of thing, right. I mean, this is some serious
Speaker 1: miracle happening here. Serious miracle. Yeah, he had did the
Speaker 1: miracle of feeding the five thousand, another serious miracle, but
Speaker 1: this is a serious miracle following that, and so he's
Speaker 1: out there doing something nobody has ever done. And so
Speaker 1: you kind of wonder, well, what the disciples might think,
Speaker 1: but we'll get to that right now. So, oh, verse
Speaker 1: twenty six, when the disciples saw him walking on the lake,
Speaker 1: they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and they
Speaker 1: cried out in fear. Now, the first thing I think
Speaker 1: of when I read this story, when I come to this,
Speaker 1: I always think, well, shouldn't they been expecting him to come?
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, after all, it wasn't that long
Speaker 1: ago when they were in the boat with Jesus during
Speaker 1: the storm, and then he took care of it, right,
Speaker 1: he calmed the storm and they know that he sent
Speaker 1: them out there, so they start they see something someone,
Speaker 1: some figure coming. You think they'd expected to be Jesus, right,
Speaker 1: you think that, but it might have been dark, and
Speaker 1: you know whatever, And of course you don't expect anybody
Speaker 1: to be walking on the water. So okay, I give
Speaker 1: that to them, So they instead of saying it is
Speaker 1: the Lord, they say it is the ghost. But if
Speaker 1: we're honest, honestly, what would you do. I mean, in
Speaker 1: that situation, hadn't slept all night, You're just rolling at
Speaker 1: the oars, You're freaking out all this stuff, and then
Speaker 1: you see this human figure coming on the water towards you.
Speaker 1: I told I told church last the last service. I
Speaker 1: think I'd scream like a little girl. But I also
Speaker 1: you know, there's nothing wrong with that. If your little
Speaker 1: girl hare, it's okay. But I think I would scream
Speaker 1: like a little girl anyway. So I'm not judging the
Speaker 1: disciples anymore Verse twenty seven. But Jesus immediately said to them,
Speaker 1: take courage. It is I do not be afraid. Take
Speaker 1: courage it is I do not be afraid. There's two
Speaker 1: statements calling for their faith, calling them not to be afraid.
Speaker 1: Take courage and do not be afraid. Those are two
Speaker 1: statements powerful and by the way, three hundred times plus
Speaker 1: in the Bible, God encourages us to not be afraid.
Speaker 1: That's the reason for that is because we tend to
Speaker 1: be afraid at times. Right, So those are two powerful statements.
Speaker 1: But in the middle he says, it is I literally,
Speaker 1: it is the I am is I am? Out of
Speaker 1: Exodus when the Lord reveals himself to Moses, he says,
Speaker 1: it is I am. I am the one who calls you.
Speaker 1: I am the creator. I am I Am the God
Speaker 1: of the universe. And Jesus makes what I call a
Speaker 1: little faith sandwich there. You know, take courage, don't be afraid,
Speaker 1: I am all right, you can take that. You can
Speaker 1: take that home with you and you can eat it. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right. So so that that's what he says to them.
Speaker 1: How what's the response, Well, one person responds to him,
Speaker 1: I think you know who that is verse twenty eight. Lord,
Speaker 1: if it is you, Peter replied, tell me to come
Speaker 1: to you on the water. You know, Peter, the fisherman,
Speaker 1: the passionate, the uh, the one who with with his
Speaker 1: foot in the mouth half the time. You know, the
Speaker 1: one who falls on his face half the time. You know,
Speaker 1: can you relate to him? You better? You better? You
Speaker 1: bet you can relate to him? Right, Peter is the
Speaker 1: one disciple in the Bible. Think of this who we
Speaker 1: know more about in his interaction with Jesus than anyone else.
Speaker 1: I mean, we know a lot about you know, John,
Speaker 1: a little bit here and everything, But we see Peter
Speaker 1: again and again figuring out how to be a disciple
Speaker 1: of Jesus. And so so we're meant to I believe
Speaker 1: we're meant to relate to Peter in some ways. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, we can identify with him. But here in
Speaker 1: his response, he's a little crazy, am I right? I mean,
Speaker 1: what what are you saying? And I think the disciples
Speaker 1: the rest of him are looking at him, going what
Speaker 1: and then looking at each other. Oh, there goes Peter again.
Speaker 1: What's he saying? Does he have a death wish? Does
Speaker 1: he you know? What? What is he saying? What is
Speaker 1: he doing? And but you know, you know, it's a
Speaker 1: big storm. We're barely hanging on here, Peter. What are
Speaker 1: you talking about? Going out to Jesus? Right? I think
Speaker 1: I think they did not understand and we are told again.
Speaker 1: Going back to the other Mark and John, we're told
Speaker 1: that their hearts were hardened because they didn't understand the loaves.
Speaker 1: They didn't understand what just happened previously. They didn't see
Speaker 1: him yet, they didn't see Jesus yet as he was
Speaker 1: meant to be seen. I think right here, when we
Speaker 1: asked why could Peter do this, what's causes to come out?
Speaker 1: I think there are two things. I think the first
Speaker 1: thing is that Peter did remember the loaves, and you
Speaker 1: know there are twelve baskets that went out that they've
Speaker 1: gathered afterwards. Everyone got a basket. They may have had
Speaker 1: him in the boat. They probably did. I think Peter
Speaker 1: was the one who remembered Hey passed out the fish
Speaker 1: and the bread and then multiplied in my hands, and
Speaker 1: that was so amazing, and I want to do it again.
Speaker 1: I want to be a part of jesus miracles again.
Speaker 1: I think that was part of it right there. I
Speaker 1: think also, you know Peter was in Jesus interacted with
Speaker 1: Peter multiple times from a boat, at least three times
Speaker 1: we know of, But the first time was when he said,
Speaker 1: cast the net on that side. You can't do anything.
Speaker 1: Peter compared to what I can do. You've been fishing
Speaker 1: all night, right, and so he casts he hears the Lord,
Speaker 1: the Lord says, do that, I cast it. And so
Speaker 1: at the Lord's command he said, I have to fished
Speaker 1: all night, but because you say so, I will, right,
Speaker 1: And so he does it. And then that he has
Speaker 1: that great miracle. And I think Peter thought back to
Speaker 1: that miracle at that moment. I can't prove it, but
Speaker 1: that is why I believe he says, you know, if
Speaker 1: you call me out, I'll come, because he believed in
Speaker 1: the words of Jesus to him that if that's you
Speaker 1: and you speak those words, I will do it at
Speaker 1: your word to me, Jesus, at your word, I will
Speaker 1: do the impossible. Huh, verse twenty nine. So what does
Speaker 1: Jesus say, come? Is he saying that word to you?
Speaker 1: Maybe this morning, maybe this week, maybe this year. I
Speaker 1: believe that Jesus is so amazed and pleased at Peter's request.
Speaker 1: And from Mark we learned that Jesus intended to walk by.
Speaker 1: He didn't intend it says that he didn't intend to
Speaker 1: get do anything, but just I think he intended to
Speaker 1: see what's gonna happen. Who's gonna speak up, what's gonna go?
Speaker 1: But he says, come, come, Peter. Then Peter got down
Speaker 1: out of the boat, walked on the water, and came
Speaker 1: towards Jesus. You know, at jesus invitation, Peter recognizes his voice.
Speaker 1: He knows it's his Lord over the side. He goes
Speaker 1: out in the rough water. Doesn't matter. He's headed towards Jesus.
Speaker 1: That's all that matters. That's all he wants. He just
Speaker 1: wants more of Jesus. He just wants more of his savior.
Speaker 1: He just wants more of the works of Jesus. He
Speaker 1: wants to walk in Jesus' power. He wants all that
Speaker 1: Jesus will offer him. At that moment, he says, yes, Lord,
Speaker 1: I'm coming, and out of the boat he steps and
Speaker 1: he's walking on water. He's a walking miracle. There he goes.
Speaker 1: And I am so struck by the fact that when
Speaker 1: I asked this question, the answer is Peter. And that
Speaker 1: is who takes the initiative. It's Peter, not the Lord.
Speaker 1: It's Peter. And how often do we wait and we
Speaker 1: say it and say, okay, if the Lord wants to
Speaker 1: do something, then he will. Peter says Lord, if it's
Speaker 1: you call me out and I'm coming. Faith is like
Speaker 1: a coin with two sides. One side is the faith
Speaker 1: of believing, believe what God say He's going to do right,
Speaker 1: believing his word, believing in him. The other side is action,
Speaker 1: the action of faith. It's what we call risk, because
Speaker 1: that kind of faith is spelt risk. And you can
Speaker 1: have all the belief of faith you want, but if
Speaker 1: you don't have the risk faith to step out and
Speaker 1: take action, to go and to move, you don't have faith.
Speaker 1: That is faith, and that is the faith of that
Speaker 1: we are to have as is disciples of Jesus. That's
Speaker 1: what he longs for us to have and to walk
Speaker 1: in and to be that kind of disciple that we
Speaker 1: would step take the initiative and say, Lord, where are
Speaker 1: you calling me? Call me out of the boat, call
Speaker 1: me to take a risk, Call me to step out
Speaker 1: of my comfort zone where I feel safe and secure
Speaker 1: and comfortable. I don't want to be just a comfortable Christian.
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a disciple of you Lord, verse thirty.
Speaker 1: But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and
Speaker 1: he began to sink, and he cried out, Lord, save
Speaker 1: me now. The reality is we're frail human beings and
Speaker 1: we're figuring it out as we go. Reality is, we're not.
Speaker 1: We don't always have perfect faith. Most of us here
Speaker 1: have cried out, Lord saved me more than once, maybe
Speaker 1: many times. Right, Lord, I need you now, Lord saved me.
Speaker 1: And that's what Peter does because because he's been getting
Speaker 1: distracted on his walk towards the Lord, he got his
Speaker 1: eyes off the Lord. Right, And we can do that too.
Speaker 1: We can start make we can take steps forward, and
Speaker 1: then we can start going. Well, should I have really
Speaker 1: done that? This is too hard or this is scary,
Speaker 1: or maybe that was foolish or whatever, But no, the
Speaker 1: Lord called you, and you go, and you go directly
Speaker 1: to him, right. But so Peter faltered, and we can
Speaker 1: give him grace because we do too. And then he
Speaker 1: said the right words, right, the right prayer, Lord save me.
Speaker 1: That's all you need right now we know that prayer
Speaker 1: verse thirty one. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand. Immediately
Speaker 1: he reached out his hands and caught him. You of
Speaker 1: little faith, He said, why did you doubt? No hesitation?
Speaker 1: There he is. Peter had nothing to worry about ever,
Speaker 1: because the Lord was gonna grab him no matter what.
Speaker 1: Right is Jesus being a little too hard on Peter?
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus. This is one of those moments
Speaker 1: where it's hard to read into. But I think Jesus
Speaker 1: said it was with a kind of a grain of
Speaker 1: salt tongue cheek sort of thing. Peter, you know, little faith?
Speaker 1: Why'd you doubt? I think he's probably smiling when he
Speaker 1: said it. Why do I think that because all he
Speaker 1: had to do is look back Peter. All had he
Speaker 1: to do is look back over his shoulder at the
Speaker 1: eleven sitting in the boat. If Peter had little faith,
Speaker 1: they had zero. I think the Lord was so just
Speaker 1: so overjoyed by Peter in this moment. I mean, I think,
Speaker 1: I mean, what and should Peter have done this? After all?
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe he shouldn't have done it. Tell me
Speaker 1: somebody else who's walked on water besides Jesus, Not John,
Speaker 1: you know, not Matthew, not any of their disciples. Peter did.
Speaker 1: Peter did Verse thirty two. And when they climbed into
Speaker 1: the boat, the wind died down, and for the second time,
Speaker 1: Jesus calms a storm. Right first time, when he wakes
Speaker 1: up the second time when he walks by, and so
Speaker 1: certainly the miracle of controlling controlling the wind and the waves.
Speaker 1: And then verse thirty three, it says, now those who
Speaker 1: were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are
Speaker 1: the son of God. Now I will say this that
Speaker 1: it's easier to worship the Lord when he's done all
Speaker 1: these great things for you, right and his immreily has
Speaker 1: done that. But something that is interesting to me that
Speaker 1: it says that those who were in the boat, they
Speaker 1: didn't have to say that. It could have said they
Speaker 1: were the Lord, those who are in the boat. Why
Speaker 1: do I say that is because I believe it is
Speaker 1: kind of indicating that we don't have to mention Peter
Speaker 1: because he already has, because he already has recognized Jesus
Speaker 1: as the son of God right then already. And so
Speaker 1: it says that they worship and they truly you are
Speaker 1: the son of God. But Peter, because of his faith,
Speaker 1: because of what's going on in him, and his willing
Speaker 1: to step out, he's already recognizing he's already worshiping the
Speaker 1: Lord by stepping out and going towards him. Truly you
Speaker 1: are the son of God. Yes, they say, it, but
Speaker 1: he experienced it at a different level. So Peter's story
Speaker 1: here gives us a few questions to consider. One is
Speaker 1: will I live my Christian life in the boat, safe, secure, comfortable,
Speaker 1: while of it out walking towards Jesus on the water.
Speaker 1: Is it enough for me to have faith that Jesus
Speaker 1: will show up during the storm and take care of me?
Speaker 1: Will that be enough for me? Is that all I want?
Speaker 1: Or do I want more? Will well I ask for more?
Speaker 1: Will I will I ask him to call me so
Speaker 1: I recognize his voice and follow him. Do I want
Speaker 1: to stay alive or do I want to truly live?
Speaker 1: I can stay alive in the boat, or I can
Speaker 1: truly live, risking whatever it takes to follow you. There's
Speaker 1: two different ways I see this stepping out. One is
Speaker 1: stepping out during a transition in your life, a life
Speaker 1: change or a time to make a decision to let
Speaker 1: go of of something, to take a hold of what
Speaker 1: the Lord has for you. And that kind decision maybe
Speaker 1: take a moment, but at some time, and it's a
Speaker 1: life changing type of thing. And some of you are
Speaker 1: at that point right now where you stay in the
Speaker 1: boat or will you step out right? Maybe it's letting
Speaker 1: go of a habit. Maybe it's it's changing some particular
Speaker 1: thing in your life that is pulling you back or
Speaker 1: holding you down. But the other way is simply every
Speaker 1: day stepping out. I find myself every day asking the
Speaker 1: Lord call me out of the boat, call me out
Speaker 1: of the boat. Give me an opportunity to speak to somebody,
Speaker 1: courage them, give a word, help somebody, show some love.
Speaker 1: But give you. I'm a disciple Jesus of you, so
Speaker 1: give me an opportunity. And so that's another way that
Speaker 1: you can step out of the boat towards the Lord.
Speaker 1: Jump down to the end here for the sake of time.
Speaker 1: You know, psychologists say there's a crucial moment when person
Speaker 1: makes the decision that if they don't make it when
Speaker 1: they want it, they decide on something. If they don't
Speaker 1: do it given time, the likelihood of them doing it
Speaker 1: goes down and down and down. And so what's so
Speaker 1: important besides asking the Lord to speak to you and
Speaker 1: call you it is to take that step and to
Speaker 1: go and to do it, and then finally, of course,
Speaker 1: to keep your eyes on him. That's those are three
Speaker 1: points right there. Right. Peter showed us that let's all stand.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say that I'm gonna like to say a
Speaker 1: corporate prayer for you, and while I'm doing that, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna also ask the Destiny team to come back up,
Speaker 1: because what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pray for everybody,
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna invite those of you that God
Speaker 1: is speaking to about this particular issue. Heavenly Father, I
Speaker 1: thank you again for your word that speaks truth to us.
Speaker 1: And Lord Jesus, I thank you Lord that you allow
Speaker 1: us to be in situation so that you might show
Speaker 1: us more of who you are as you call us
Speaker 1: to be your disciples again and again again. So I
Speaker 1: thank you for that, Lord, and I pray for each
Speaker 1: and every person here that they would choose today to
Speaker 1: no longer stay in the boat, but they'd be willing
Speaker 1: to step out at your word and follow you and
Speaker 1: seek you and delive a life of risk. That's faith,
Speaker 1: not just in believing, but with action. Lord, give us
Speaker 1: that this day granted Holy Spirit upon us. Grant that
Speaker 1: request so that in the name of the Father Son,
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, that we could receive that. May you
Speaker 1: receive that now and take it with you and not
Speaker 1: ever let that go. You are a disciple of Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: and you're called by him to follow him, be with him,
Speaker 1: and you're called to bring forth to the world his
Speaker 1: words and his works. Let it be done in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen,
Speaker 1: So I want to give you an invitation. Now praise
Speaker 1: the Lord. Lord is speaking to some of you. There's
Speaker 1: some transitions you're going through. Come and receive. God is
Speaker 1: speaking to you about being a person of risk. Come
Speaker 1: and receive. And if you're here this morning and you've
Speaker 1: never given your life to the Lord, now is the day.
Speaker 1: Step out of the boat. Or if you've been you've
Speaker 1: been not been walking with him. You gave your life
Speaker 1: to him several years ago, but you've not been walking
Speaker 1: with him. Come forward and recommit your life to the Lord.
Speaker 1: Come forward and receive this morning, and God bless you.
Speaker 1: Thank you for coming. The Lord be with you.