Walking on Water - I believe in you sermon notes 3-27-11

Matthew 14:22-27 NKJV

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on 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 the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is 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.”

"Troubled". yea. “Terrified”, or “scared” in some other versions. Wouldn't u be a bit scared too if u though u were seeing a ghost walking toward u on the water during a hellish storm?

Matthew 14:28-30 NKJV

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!”

So, what do u do when u see someone walking on the water during a storm and then realize u know that person? Call out and ask to join them of course! What else? LOL – I love that about Peter. His whole roller coaster growth in Christ was entertaining at times.

Matthew 14:31-33 NKJV

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”

What else is there to say after seeing and experiencing what they just did?

Some questions:

What made Peter think he could walk on water too?

Why did Peter begin to doubt and thus sink?

Looking at the time period and location we see that being a rabbi was like the equivelent of being a famous celebrity today. Little kids wanted to grow up to be rabbi. And in this time period the Jews followed the Torah (the religious law) and since many... most in fact couldn't read or write, they thus had to go to someone who could teach it to them and then they had to memorize. This was usually Done by age 10. If they couldn't do it, they were then sent home to learn their family trade instead. However, if they could memorize the first five books of law, they would then go on to learn the rest of the old testiment. Then the best of the best of them would go on to spend time directly with a rabbi and disciple after them and do as they did and all the others were then sent home to learn their family trade. This was done from the age 14-30.

Matt 4:19

¹⁹ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”

Jesus calls peter to be a follower of Jesus. Do u now understand why peter dropped everything to follow him? U see peter had failed at some point in his discipleship and was at some point sent home to learn the family trade as he was not qualified to follow a rabbi and become like a rabbi. But here Jesus is saying, “u are worthy peter. Ill take u on as my disciple right now.” Jesus has also said this to you. Regardless of who you are, you are called to follow Jesus.

So why is peter then also excited to step out onto the water? That's His rabbi out there! Why did peter begin to sink? He took his focus off Jesus. He lost faith in himself.

Don't lose faith in yourself. GOD has faith in what he can and will do through you if u will just let Him

Ephesians 3:20 NKJV

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

He can do more than you can imagine through you. HE BELIEVES IN YOU. DO YOU BELIEVE IN YOU?

It doesn't matter what this world has told u you are a failure at. You can do whatever God calls you to do. He has empowered u to follow Him and to do his will. HE BELIEVES IN YOU. Your money doesn't matter. Your education doesn't matter. Your current economic status according to america doesn't matter. GOD CAN AND WANTS TO DO AMAZING THINGS THROUGH YOU. You need to have faith that God has faith in You. The Creator of the universe believes in You. Let your attitudes, your words, your actions and your whole life reflect his faith.