Jesus Walks on Water (Matthew 14:22-36)
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet virtually this week.
Transcript
Good morning my name is Spencer I'm one of the pastor's of Mill City Church of KC we as a Church believe that Jesus is better than everything else and because of this truth that we live by we get to be a Gospel centered community on mission and in this pass really all this year it has increasingly become difficult to be a Gospel centered community right like the there's lots of just culturally there's lots of disconnectedness it's it's growing all over the places we tried to social distance as we've got.
So many things on our plate fears of just kovat fears of the economy fears of social unrest there's so many things that fill our attention and so many things that we are concerned about and we're increasingly becoming disconnected and the Church is not a mean to that that as a Church we've increasingly become more disconnected right like it's it's been hard as we adjusted to going online and watching services online and focusing and being present there it's been hard we've taught a group leaders as groups are trying to continue to navigate this and be together that that attendance has been spotty at best in some in certain groups it's just been it's difficult there's this.
Disconnectedness that we are facing culturally but in the midst of all of that that's gonna continue as this year goes on in the midst of all of that I'm still hopeful and the reason that I'm hopeful is because the most important thing about us still is Christ the hope of Christ that's why we are a Gospel centered community so the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is the spirit that has work in us so we can grow in this in the midst of all the adapting we need to do we can grow we can still grow in being present here on a Sunday morning.
So if you're here this morning seeing worship if you're at home right now watching take some time don't multitask don't listen to this in the background like be present see sit on the authority of God's Word let's grow and doing this together as we leave here we go into our community groups must be present well--that's meeting virtually or that's meeting outside whatever that looks like let's let's continue to grow and being a Gospel centered community on mission so if you're new here that's a little bit of who we are those that's what some of what we value as a Church and one of the easiest ways to experience this is to get into a group.
And you can do that by by going online there's there's a QR code that'll be on the screen that you can scan that'll take you to our website also you can go to Mill City KC com go to our groups and there's more information there you can fill out a request form and you can and someone will contact you and tell you more about our groups and where there might be a good place for you to jump in but we love.
For you to experience that and what we care about in groups if you are not new and you call this Church home we want you to continue to give we have giving slots that you can give at any point during the gathering today you can also give online so I want to pause and pray the God prepare our hearts for worship and then I want you to stand we read from Psalm 36 so let me pray I've got to thank you that you came.
For us to rescue us to claim a people that in the midst of whatever we are facing the midst of fears anxieties the midst of just the regular difficult rhythms of life that we can fix our eyes upon you that we can gaze upon you that we can worship you together as a Church wherever we are God I pray that you would help us prepare to worship and you would call us into worshipping you and that we would respond me s in.
Jesus name Amen you got stand when it calls into worship from psalm 66 shout for joy to God all the earth sing the glory of his name give to him glorious praise say to God how awesome are your deeds so great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you all the earth worships you and sings praises to you they sing praises to your name let's see we're gonna seam together how great thou are slipped our voices hold on my.
God when I in awesome wonder consider I see the song I by then sings my soul breakdown then sings my soul my Savior God ah shop my soul my Savior God - how a reading from Ephesians two and as we read this we remember our need to confess on our need for a savior and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is.
Now at work and sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we're by nature children of Wrath like the rest of mankind but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved and raised us up with him in cedis seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ.
Jesus so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift of God not a result of works so that no one may boast for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them let's continue worshiping there's nothing with nothing on Messer you know you want No No what a beautiful name it is nothing what a beautiful name death could not hold you.
God we've gathered in this place today only by the name of Jesus by the blood of Jesus about a sacrifice of Jesus can we come into this place and come into your presence freely as people who willingly confess our sin before you in our need for you God we thank you we thank you for the good news of the Gospel we thank you for Jesus and we thank you for the gift that worship is God but all of our lives our worship before you we live lives of worship before you.
And so we know we need you to teach us we need your spirit to fill us and to lead us that we might follow you in obedience then we might repent where we need to that our faith might grow where it needs to and God we're asking for that as well this morning God would you speak and change us in Jesus name Amen you guys gonna have a seat good morning my name is Chet I'm one of the pastor's here I'm glad to be with y'all this morning I have a few quick pieces of information that I want to share with you all that's not a description of the sermon it won't be quick.
It's got tons of stuff in it but before we get to the sermon a few quick pieces of information one of the things that people have said to us throughout the whole time you know we we plan to the Church we've merged together now with First Baptist Church of KC and throughout our whole history people have come up to us over and over again and said y'all communicate everything so clearly we've never been caught off guard we've never been surprised by anything we just always knew everything that was going on and in the spirit of that and actually the only thing that messed us up a little bit was this pandemic and there may be.
A few things you just need to be caught up on that we need to celebrate together and be excited about one is we launched a new community group this past week yeah so we've trained some leaders that's a big deal for us because we want to have group leaders that trained group leaders that send out group leaders and so we launched a new group you have 11 groups now and that's a big deal and so we're excited want to let y'all know that let's you be celebrating that we also are gearing up to helps into the Rockies to be missionaries the.
First foreign missionaries that we're sending out of our Church family and in the future we're gonna have them up here and help try to raise some support for them and Chris plays the drums and I even suggested that we would have him play the drums every week and put a hat here and as soon as we had raised enough money we'd send him out and you wouldn't have to hear the drums anymore if you didn't like them so it would be a way to help raise some support of course people like the jumps and they might be taking some of the money out.
So it might get might get convoluted but we're gearing up to send them excited about that we also are about to begin construction so we have planned to do some construction in this area to kind of make a welcome area over here so that it can be a little more open when you enter and to get ready for kids city because we had upwards of 40 children on Sundays and needed to make some more space for them we did just discover that in that section of the building there is some asbestos.
So it was built in the 70s and they put his bestest and everything because it was a miracle powder stuff and they just put it all over the place and it's in some of the joint compound and stuff so our construction just got a little more expensive and I know some of y'all consistently come over to me and say I have all this money laying around the house and I don't know what to do with it we would welcome you to help put it towards the construction we're about to be getting into.
But just want to let you know we are about to start some of that and it may change how we move around on Sundays but it is an exciting time for us now for those of you who keep up with how long I preach none of that counted we're starting now grab your Bibles got a Matthew chapter 14 we are walking through the Gospel of Matthew together and we just left off where Jesus it's the stories known as Jesus feeds 5,000 or the feeding of the 5,000.
But we learned last week there's 5,000 men was probably 15,000 people we're picking up right at the end of that Disney bought Marvel and then started making the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I have really appreciated the movies they put out and have two sons we watched them together and because of those I have been beaten senseless at my house because my children now have Thor hammers and shields that look like Captain America they sling at my head and that sort of thing.
But one of the original Thor movies I appreciate it because it reminds me of some of the Gospel story there's some as I watch movies a lot of times I see parallels to the Gospel and in sometimes I see contradiction so the Gospel and I think man Jesus is so much better than that sometimes I see things that remind me of the Gospel and so in the first Thor movie Thor who is a from the Norse he's a Norse God from Norse mythology.
But he got picked up by Marvel and just became a comic book hero in the movie he is sent to earth and he's actually banished for being a jerk so he sent to earth and then he has to regain his godness but there are some places throughout the story where he's interacting with people and he's telling them he's Thor and they can't decide whether or not he actually is he does some things that our hero s can he does some other things that are just nor guys stuff and it's an interesting movie.
But it reminds me of Jesus comes to earth he actually is God he wasn't banished he came with a good purpose to accomplish God's will but there are times where he does things that are godlike and there are other times where he does things that just seem like a normal person so we've been following this story with the disciples he just fed 5,000 men 15,000 people but it seemed like the disciples were surprised that happened it wasn't like this was how he always did things I think a lot of times they bought food ate what they had had to do with it.
So there are times where he seems like a normal teacher and there are other times where he seems like a prophet where he seems like there's more to it but in this story with Thor there comes this moment at the end of the movie he's been telling people he's Thor all of a sudden a flying hammer shoots into his hand he is struck by lightning and the Lightning dresses him like Thor it changes his clothes he comes out of the lightning would like braided hair and a cape and some chainmail which i think is one of the most underused powers of Thor.
Because that would be really nice you could sleep till almost the time you had to leave the house you just roll over pick up your hammer get struck by lightning be ready to go it'd be very very very convenient but in that moment when that happens it clicks for everybody around him he is who he said he was we're just gonna read this moment in the Gospel where there's a turning point here in Matthew where Jesus does a couple of things in a row and all of a sudden his disciples go oh not just a prophet not not just a teacher you are the son of.
God as we get to read that story today and it is a very interesting story as we see all the things that lead up to the disciples realizing who Jesus really is and so as we read that story we're gonna walk through it and then we're gonna just talk about as as we're disciples of Jesus what are for appropriate responses to the fact that Jesus is God that we see in this story so that's that's our goal today let's pray God we thank you.
For your word we thank you for how in your word your son is revealed to us his divinity is revealed to us and that in him we might have hope and life let me pray that we would grow in our faith today as we study this passage Jesus name Amen we're in Matthew chapter 14 we're gonna start in verse 22 immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd.
So he just fed this large crowd as soon as everybody's eating eating their fill it's been a wonderful time but it's in the evening it's already getting kind of late he tells the disciples get in the boat and go to the other side of the lake other side of the sea so this is Sea of Galilee it's about eight miles wide so he tells them y'all go to the other side which we don't know he kind of compels them to do this.
But he doesn't go with them so we know if they had questions they said like why are we leaving but you're not but he just says get in the boat go and then he goes and dismisses the crowds after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain by himself to pray this is actually what he had been trying to do when the crowd showed up and interrupted him last time so he had been trying to get away spend some time alone the crowds show up and interrupt him.
But he loves them has compassion on them heals their sick feeds them and then now he sends them away and he goes off by himself to pray and if Jesus the Son of God needs to get off by himself and pray we need to get off by ourselves and pray if you were questioning whether that was something you needed to do I'm glad you came here this morning the answer is yes and when I say by yourself I mean no other humans and no cell phone and I know some of you just walk no cell phone yes put it to him and go off by yourself and pray.
So Jesus does that when the evening came that means when it was late 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 then it says in the fourth watch of the night the fourth watch of the night is 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. so somewhere between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. so these guys ate a full mil ate all the food they could possibly eat.
And then he told them get in the boat go to the other side and the wind was against them so they have rowed a boat for hours and I don't know if you've ever eaten a full meal where you were stuffed but you don't immediately think you know what would go really nice it's a manual labor I'd love to really row a boat now for hours but that's what they just did I don't think this has been the best night for them they got to eat a full meal that was nice and he says get in the boat we're going to the other side.
Okay but as soon as they start going to other side the wind is against them now we've recently had storms in Colombia I actually take my boys out sometimes right before a storm starts and I'll hold them outside and we just stand and look at it and watch the wind whip the trees around and really enjoy doing that but if you're on a lake there's nothing to stop the wind it just comes and so the wind is pushing against them and they're getting battered by waves.
If the wind was behind them they could travel across this lake probably in an hour hour and a half if there was no wind and they had to row it might take them about two two and a half hours but with the wind against them in obedience to Jesus they've been laboring and it's between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. some of them maybe have slept maybe they took turns maybe there's one guy who still is in a good mood at this time all of you ever hung out with a bunch of people too way late in the morning or had to work really long there's usually one that's still liked and that's the guy that most.
Of the other guys don't really like it's like you got to stop like can't you just be grumpy with the rest of us like please please quit but most of them probably not having the best night and says this when evening came he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way away from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea do not certify this in your head.
So that you act like that's normal and we're just fine with it Jesus just walked on the sea and not even like a calm nice sea a windy wavy terrible sea he just walks he absolutely displays his authority over creation it is absolute his kingship I worked swimming pools growing up and there were times when I have to go to somebody's house and I come to their backyard and I'd be at a fence and there'd be five or six dogs just acting crazy and I'm standing there thinking no no no I'm not going in this backyard like y'all spook and just stay the way it is you know.
But then there are times where all sudden the door opens the owner comes out and all these dogs pretend like to their owner that they're not vicious psychos they suddenly calm down there wagging their tail they run over to the owner and the moment that that happens you know your brain just registers this is the owner there is a chaotic sea Jesus walks down he gets to the edge of it and he just walks on to it and all of a sudden.
If we had been watching we would have had the same realization oh he's the owner the sea does what he wants he's absolutely in charge now I don't know how walking on water works I don't know if it's smoothed out for him I don't know if it was like some of the water was hitting his feet but then it was like there was something solid underneath it it certainly reads like it was very simple for him it's not like the waves were coming he was having to run up on my friend no I don't think that was happening I think he looked peaceful and in control I'll even think he had to do a whole.
Lot of like you know we watched movies and stuff and we get to see some of this stuff that you know people have now a CGI help us picture but they always make it seem like the person's really struggling I think Jesus just walking so he's walking on the sea absolutely in charge and it says but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear yeah 3 to 6 a.m.
Stormy I doesn't seem like it's raining but it's windy they're out on a boat it's dark it seems like at this point by the time they saw him he was close he was there it was like you know they're rowing hey someone else is a ghost and it just says they yelled out my grandmother my grandmother whenever she would get intense situations like there was a time where my mom was driving and they were on ice and they slid my grandmother would start yelling and one of the things she would yell in any of these situations was we're coming home that was like her go-to thing to shout and I just I pictured just.
For my own sake that one of the disciples said the ghost is coming for us I'm assuming there were some Galilean ghost stories oh my goodness is one night Dimitri he come to get us they're terrified and they absolutely would be and here's the thing I don't think Jesus was bobbing up and down with the waves I think when they saw the figure of a person he's moving smoothly so they're rocking up and down in a boat and they see this figure moving in the waves and they just lose it and absolutely they would their adrenaline is pumping I mean that's it's go-time your brains trying to process what you're seeing that there's a mirror.
That hangs on the back of my closet door and bedroom and sometimes if my wife leaves that door open when I turn at night to go into my own bedroom I'm suddenly staring at some shadowy figure of a full-grown man and I'm like so it's just me okay don't have to fight anybody but I do that maybe once a month just terrify myself absolutely I mean adrenaline pumping heart racing and the brains trying to process you know when you see something scary your brain tries the process to tell you what it is and the brain keeps just going best thing I got is that maybe.
If you jump out of the boat he'll kill these other guys I don't know I don't know terrified they cry out and fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid now that's comforting and certainly it's less scary that it's not a ghost but this adds a whole new layer of things right Jesus just walked to them I don't think their heart rate slows down that much I think they're just going Oh what on earth is going on that he can just come over here walking on water eleven of them are just trying to process.
But I'd like to introduce Peter to y'all Peter answered him lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water everybody else is just like and Peter yells me to I used to think this was like Peter's test to see if it was really the Lord like this is the ultimate ghost test prove you're not a ghost say come here and if that's what it was I like to think John later was like house ghost could say come here that goes could have just drowned you like I don't think that proved anything.
But I actually think it reads more like it since it is you O Jesus since it's you walking on water let me walk on water - y'all have known people like this right they see something Oh meet - how'd you do that you learned how to do a back flip I don't know how to do a back flip show me how to do that let me try Peter's a me-too person I grew up being a Nam good person my older brother's a me-too person hey you want to shot a coffin.
For this tree - that tree no I'm good hey I found a hole you want to crawl down it and see what's in it no I'm good you can tell me what's in it when you come out if you come out I think I'd be still in the boat but Peter jumped up and said call me out let me come out on the water with you you know how you get to hear stories about people maybe you've had some stories passed down to you and you kind of feel like you know some of your relatives or some of your parents friends or your grandparents friends even though you never met them.
Because you get these a glimpse of them in a story I think this story does that for us for both Peter and for Jesus I think this shows us something about God that I find extremely interesting Peter says if it is you command me to coming to you on the water he said come why I always feel like what God wants from us is utility that he wants us to be productive but he has things he wants us to do that.
When he calls us into something it's it's for some bigger purpose some kind of thing that needs to accomplish but I don't understand what this accomplishes other than Peter displays faith and gets to go closer to Jesus and Jesus says come that he wouldn't let him if it wasn't a good request you know there was a time that James and John asked Jesus if they could send fire down from heaven to kill a town Jesus said no to that request like the town wouldn't let him in and James and John were like hey you know how you do like prophet stuff yeah you know Elijah burned up a whole town yeah I know that can.
We do that to that to actually Lodge didn't burn up a town he burned up an army but Jesus says no no we're not new Peter says can I walked on water and Jesus says come because Peter wants to participate in what his Jesus is doing and he won't he has faith in this moment to do it so Jesus says come so Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus to people in human history have walked on water one of them was.
God incarnate the other one was a guy who trusted Jesus to let him do it and aggressively asked can I sue Peter gets to walk on water he walks on water and he came to Jesus but when he saw the wind he was afraid and began to sink and cried out lord save me so Peter gets out of the boat boats bounce and winds blowing he steps out and his foot sticks and he's watching Jesus and he's walking to him I think he probably looked like he was having a harder time Peter.
Jesus standing there doing fine Peters like walking to him and then all of a sudden he starts noticing the wind he starts noticing the wave he starts being a little more realistic about the situation he's in he starts thinking thoughts like you know if I quit being able to walk on the water I'm gonna die I was in a boat and that situation was kind of bad this is awesome but could suddenly be terrible and he starts looking at the wind he starts up into the waves he starts getting scared and he begins to sink I find I find that interesting I like that phrase begins to sink like I said earlier I worked on.
Swimming pools for all growing up and my family owned the pool company and I was that's a nice house we had just put in an inground and it's real pretty was awkwardly shaped kind of little design I was vacuuming it for him staying on one little edge and I went to step this way I don't know if y'all remember I said it was awkwardly shaped there wasn't any concrete here and what happened next I would not describe to you as I began to sink I sank fully clothed every I mean boots and blue jeans.
Because that's how I dress in the summer and fell directly into the swimming pool came out had to go knock on the door and be like hey y'all ready for me to teach you how to work this thing and they're like why are you soaking wet and I was like why don't you mind your own Peter begins to sink so it's almost as his his faith begins to fall his fear begins to rise and in that moment he doesn't just disappear into the deep it starts to flood it starts to rise up around him it starts to overwhelm him and it and it's just a beautiful picture of what following.
Jesus is like don't you have times where you go from your highest high like everything's good well I'm really loving Jesus right now I want to follow him I want to obey and then all of a sudden it's like everything is terrible and all I can see is the wind and the waves and I'm about to drown and everything is about to overwhelming it just starts rising up around you some of some people this takes a week to shift some people it's a day some of you were just riding in your car one day and all of a sudden it just feels like I'm starting to sink he was afraid and beginning to sink he.
Cried out lord save me and Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him o you of little faith why did you doubt oh you have a little faith why did you doubt so he had faith he was walking on water he begins to lose his faith he begins to rise up in fear and he sinks and Jesus says oh you little faith why did you doubt and we don't know it's hard to all wait to read in tone.
But it feels like seems to me that the tone the way Jesus says this would be similar to the tone I would have if I was helping my son learn how to ride a bike and he's moving and he's going and all of a sudden he gets scared even though he had it he had it and then he convinced himself to be scared so he slows down and you know if you slow down on a bike it gets worse and all of a sudden he starts and I had to catch him and I said why why'd you stop you had it I think that's kind of the tone Oh little faith you had it you.
And I were about to walk on water together we were gonna leave them row and we were like I don't know what he's gonna do but it's like you you had it why did you down because as he was moving in faith he could do anything he was conquering as Jesus conquers he was rising above all the mess the way Jesus does as he trusted Jesus and then sphere creeps any false and when they got into the boat the wind ceased.
So he gets in the boat call and those in the boat worshiped him saying truly you are the son of God now there's a handful of things that happen in this passage that may have been lost on us they were not lost on Jesus as Jewish disciples so I want to point them out to you they shifted from you're a good teacher your Lord as in your over us but not Lord is in Adonai from Scripture but then they shifted you know you're the son of.
God and they worship Him and let me explain something to you Jewish men know you worship God and God alone and for them to fall down and say you were the son of God and worship him they said no this is this is God and God alone so a couple of things that happened here and like I said earlier it's like when in the end of that movie where all of a sudden the hammer shows up the lightning strikes you dressed like you're Thor it's like check check check I think you actually are Thor that's what they just did check check check oh my goodness this is.
God this is the son of God first of all one of the things that happens here that when we translated in the English it doesn't have the same punches in verse 27 when they cry out in fear it says immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid but he actually says take heart and in the Greek he says ego eimi which means take heart I am do not be afraid and there are places in the Scriptures specifically in the Gospels where.
When Jesus says I am he is intentionally drawing everyone's attention back to God's Revelation of himself in the book of Exodus at the burning bush Moses says who shall I say sent me and the burning bush God speaking through the burning bush says say I am since you I am that I am this is the divine name for God that if you look in your Scriptures will see in the Old Testament capital L Ord that's our english translation of yahweh or jehovah which is i am.
And when Jesus says this he says it with some punch throughout his ministry he says it in the Gospel of John at one point and everybody recognizes what he's doing to the point that they pick up rocks to stone him because he just claimed to be God at the end of the Gospel of John he says it to a group of soldiers that came out to him and they fall down it's this proclamation of I am this claim to divinity so he says do not be afraid I am or take courage I am do not be afraid.
So he says that as he's walking on water now he's done miracles that point back to Moses he's done miracles that point back to Elijah or Elijah there's like oh he looks like a prophet oh he looks like a teacher like Moses walking on water makes them go oh he looks like God because the only person who walks on water he treads over water who rules over water in the Old Testament Scriptures he's God that's job nine eight who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the sea it's a rhetorical question the answer.
God Psalm 77 says the same thing that he treads over the water his footprints are unseen that he leads the people of Israel but not just that when he gets in the boat after walking on water the storm ceases and the only person in the Old Testament who can make a storm sees who can control the ocean is God that's psalm 107:20 9 he made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed Jobe 26/11 the pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke and by his power he stilled the sea fed 15,000 people walks on water stills the storm had the power to let Peter walk on water said.
I am check check check check this is God and they fall on their face and worship Him now there's four times in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus is worshipped the Wiseman worshipped him when they come to him as a baby so he's coming as the coming king they worship Him this moment here where they see him as the Incarnate God God in human flesh and then twice in chapter 28 after he has risen from the grave and there's this moment right.
When he dies when they think wait a second is he not God and then he comes back to life and they go oh yeah okay it confirms everything for him so they worship Him here now let me explain something to you we have a huge problem if Jesus is not God we now have a big problem because he lets them worship Him which you are not allowed to do for the record you can accept praise people can say yeah you play the piano really.
Well whoo whoo good job learn how to use a hula hoop whatever I did diversify the skill level for y'all so that you could get clap for for something but you can't have people say oh you are God and worship you humans are not allowed to do that humans are only allowed to worship God that's bad if you worship something other than God but if you accept worship in place of God as if you are God that's extremely bad that's far worse.
So if Jesus is just a human if he's just a prophet he's supposed to say no no no no no no that's what happens in in Acts chapter 10 Peter sent to Cornelius Cornelius falls down to worship Him and Peter says no no no no no get up get up get up get up get up I'm just a man so some people will say well he's more than a man he's not just a man he's more than a man we have Jehovah's Witnesses would say something along those lines the the Mormons would say something along those lines and he's more than a man that he's a prophet that he's a step above it that he.
Somehow got a little bit of something he's not deities not God but even in the book of Revelation John falls down to worship an angel more than a man and the angel says no no no no get up get out get up get up I'm here I'm a messenger of Jesus let's worship God and God alone so Jesus accepts worship so if you want to put him in the category of a good man or a good teacher or a good prophet you have to stop you can reject him or you can worship Him you only have two options and the disciples say let's worship Him and they are correct.
Jesus is God who has come in the flesh to redeem his people I want to quickly show you for appropriate responses to Jesus from this passage the first one is obedience the disciples were told go to the other side of the lake and they had to row all night long and it's like a row and it's like mind it'd be easier if we just floated with the wind over to there yes it would certainly be easier it would also be disobedient.
So let's not do that and one of them was like but how is Jesus gonna catch us and then later when he saw him walking on the water he was like it's a good thing y'all talked me out of that because he totally could have caught us you guys I had it all that that's not true but anyway obey and some of you that's the zone you're in right now he sets you on a course and it's difficult and it's exhausting and maybe every day you feel like that's what you're doing I'm just I'm just battling it would be.
So much easier to just go that way ah be so much easier if I just went that way but if he's God keep at it keep at it he knows what he's doing he knows what he's talking about he is good he is divine and when he wants us calm the storm he can keep moving in obedience second appropriate response to Jesus is to see what he is doing and ask excitedly if you can be involved I think a lot of times we decide to do something and we asked.
Jesus to join us but we need to get better at seeing what Jesus is doing and asked me if we can be involved and some of us need to also start praying prayers about Jesus command me to do something terrifying eleven men stayed in the boat one of them got out and that's because he asked if he could and I think everybody here needs to put it on their prayer list to start asking Jesus can I be a part of something that you're doing that will absolutely terrify me I think we'd be a better Church.
If that began or what are you doing that would make me have to rely solely on you can I be a part of something that absolutely demands my time and my money and it's terrifying so that I can only look at you or I will fail we need to begin to pray prayers like that another appropriate response from this passage that we need to see is that we all ought to yell out lord save me Peter was sinking into the abyss he was going to be he was going to be swamped he was gonna be drowned it was gonna go over his head and the reality is Peter would have died were it not.
For Jesus and the reality for us is that is exactly the same position we are in you will die you will be crushed you will be drowned if it art is not for Christ if we don't yell out lord save me we will be overwhelmed and for some of you you will be overwhelmed by the weight of your sin and your shame and your guilt and we need exactly what Jesus came for which was to die so that we might have life he is.
God and he did die on a cross and he did rise again and the appropriate response to him is to cry out lord save me and he immediately does the Scriptures tells us that no one who calls on the name of the Lord will be put to shame that he will save all of those who cry out to him and that is an appropriate response to Jesus as king is to call out to him to save me and if for those of us who have been been walking in faith.
But are suddenly feeling like we were beginning to sink the response is not to white-knuckle it the response is to run to Jesus saying I need you to save me I need you to encourage me I need you to redeem me I need the Gospel in my life to apply to my heart in my soul I need you to call me back into it I need you to snatch me up and he does the fourth appropriate response to Jesus as God is to worship Him as.
God to worship him and him alone this is why we sing to Jesus this is why we praise Jesus this is why we pray to Jesus this is why we speak of Jesus and proclaim Jesus because we believe that he is God who came to redeem who does redeem and save and we trust Jesus this is why we're excited about the Peters in the world but we also expect them to sink all Christian heroes get wet you guys two guys walked on water one of them got in the boat bone-dry the other one got on the boat like oh and that's.
Okay we're gonna have people that we look up to that fall into sin we're gonna have people that that are quote-unquote heroes with ourselves we're gonna have moments that are high in moments that are low and all of us get to run to Jesus and ask to be redeemed and he does so we worship Jesus he is our hero and everybody else is a sinner who gets the worst of Jesus - Peter got to walk on water and all it did was highlight how good.
Jesus was it didn't highlight Peter when they got back in the boat they didn't go you are the son of God and I guess you're like his cousin they didn't do that he got back in the boat they said you are the son of God and Peter fell on his face too because he knew that the only way he was able to move that way the only way he was able to be a part of that was something that brought glory to.
Jesus and so in the midst of all this as we beg to get to be a part of things let's worship Jesus and Jesus alone and when the people next to us fall into sin let's grab them and say cry out to Jesus because he is our only hope don't sink and don't think you're the one who does this let's trust that Jesus redeems and Jesus saves and Jesus heals and Jesus works and let's worship and Jesus as the band's gonna come back up and we are going to worship.
Jesus and some of you need to ask Jesus to save you you're sinking and some of you need to pray right now Lord I've been staying in the boat I've been trying to keep myself safe command me to do something that makes me trust in you and some of you right now you just need to keep rowing you're exhausted just keep rowing just keep moving in the direction he sent you in just trusting let's pray now we thank you for your grace we thank you that you tread over the chaos and that in you we can be saved we can walk we can conquer you can still the storm or.
Jesus may you receive all of our praise in Jesus name Amen you guys Stanley sing together I can buy me two greatest friend like you yes No my Huygens Oh goodnight my soul to find the coldest Oh when tied you sound to your face my rock gracious Crossley on shore you suffer you know may Almighty returned my lord amen you may be seated all right so just a couple of things before we get out of here today the last two two and a half three months and some of that range we've been doing a lot of stuff to this building and by we I mean Isaac Hill who is in the back and the booth.
Of the Hat on when we decided to hire someone for part-time kids in part-time facilities in a full-time position right before kovat hit and kid City went into a new mode it was like oh okay that was a step of faith now what and and to see how much work he's done most of the work that's been done here he's either directly overseen or he's done and we're just thankful to have you Isaac and what you do here secondly if you are new here or.
If you've been coming for a little bit if you're listening online for the first time we want to connect you to a group so if you're here please stop by the connect tab on your way out Phoebe Garcia who is singing up here will be by there to answer the questions you have about groups to tell you which one might be good one to go check out we'd love for you to jump in if you're online you can scan the QR code that will be on the screen you can also go to our community groups tab at our website on a close to the word from Ephesians three verses 20 through 21.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us to him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever amen you guys have a great week.