I Can Walk On Water??

INTRODUCTION

• There are times in life in which we face difficult challenges. How we face those challenges says a lot about us.

• Are we the type of person who can only act upon what they can see before them or are we the type of person who can allow our faith in Jesus to stretch us further that we ever thought possible?

• As we face various challenges in life we run though a whole range of emotions as we work though the issue.

• Sometimes it is if we are on a boat in rough seas and we are afraid to let go and let God lead us.

• When we are first confronted with an issue, sometimes we react or act in fear. We are not sure what is going to happen so we are fearful of the future.

• How many of us have been so paralyzed by fear that we literally could do nothing?

• Once we are able to get past that fear, excitement creeps into the picture. Have you ever felt the excitement of seeing the way things were going to work themselves out? We start to see the possibilities and we get excited.

• In the midst of our excitement sometimes a reality can set in and we can become fearful again. We see that we are going to have to act and action can be a scary thing.

• Then when it is all said and done we can give praise to God for the way the situation worked itself out.

• We are coming to another interesting passage today. As we look the passage in Matthew 14:23-33 and the parallel passages in John 6:15-21 and Mark 6:47-52 about Jesus walking on the water, we will see the disciples go through the whole range of emotion as they are confronted by what seemed to be a crisis for them.

• This takes place immediately after the feeding of the 5,000. In John’s account in John 6:15 we are told that Jesus immediately sent the disciples away because Jesus perceived that the people were going to take Him by force and make Him the king. The people were looking for a way to get out from under the thumb of the Roman Empire and the miracle performed by Jesus gave them hope that He was the man for the job.

• The disciples may not have been too eager to go because they may have wanted to be apart of Jesus being made the king.

• Jesus sent the disciples into the boat and told them to go to the other side. Then Jesus sent the crowds away and went up the mountain to go pray.

• Let us read Matthew 14:22-23.

• The disciples were out on the Sea of Galilee when things were getting tough. The disciples were having a hard time of it. READ VERSE 24.

• This trial was going to take the disciples through the full range of emotions as they dealt with their situation. One of the disciples was going to learn what could happen when they decided to get out of the boat.

SERMON

I. FEAR TO EXCITEMENT (24-28)

• READ VERSE 24-28

• The disciples were obedient to Jesus. They were fighting the wind and the waves as they were rowing across the Sea of Galilee. It was somewhere between 3-6 am and they had made it about 3 to 3.5 miles across the sea when the disciples saw something that made them fearful.

• Coming right was that they thought was a ghost! Look at verse 26. They were terrified and they cried out in fear that it was a ghost.

• The disciples were fearful. They may have been feeling a sense of hopelessness as they struggled to cross the sea. Hopelessness breeds fear.

• How many times have we faced a storm in life and became fearful?

• The disciples were fearful because they may have felt that Jesus had left them and they saw something on the water that scared them.

• When we belong to Jesus we do not have to live in fear.

• 1 JOHN 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.

• READ ROMANS 8:35-39

• Through Jesus we will be able to conquer all the things listed in verse 35.

• The disciples were fearful until they heard the words of Jesus, “Take courage, it is I; DO not be afraid.”

• As soon as the disciples realized that Jesus was with them, the fear turned to excitement. Peter said to Jesus, “If it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”