Jesus Talks A Walk While Peter Takes A Dive Series

In the journey that Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem they conquered their fear and learned to live by faith. Peter was called to do the same. He boldly began the walk but he lost his focus and began to be afraid. Fear is our constant companion in life but it doesn’t have to be our master. Jesus wants you to enjoy an abundant life – that means NO FEAR.Matt. 14:22–36;  Mark 6:45–56;  John 6:15–21

Jesus Walks On The Water

by Steve Higgs

Have you generally had a good experience with bosses in your life, or generally a bad experience?

What kind of relationship have you had with your bosses? I’ve had one bad boss. When I was in early senior high, like a freshmen or sophomore I worked for Dominoes Pizza (it was a sweet job because you could get pizza for really cheap) and would walk around the neighborhoods with my friends putting Dominoes advertisements into peoples doors. Well, several groups of kids did this each Sunday afternoon. On one afternoon one group of workers took their flyers and dumped them into the river in Mason and then went into the woods and smoked while they should have been working. The police found the flyers reported it to Dominoes and next thing I knew we were all fired. I tried to explain it, but his decision was final.However, just for kicks and giggles I thought I would see what the internet had to say about how people feel about their bosses. I found 456,000 sites dedicated to people who hate their bosses. One site contained a free game that you could upload a picture of your boss, choose your ammunition and quote, “execute your boss.” There was a book listed on Amazon called, “How to survive and get ahead when your boss is a tyrant, control freak, or just plain nuts.” Another website had this statement all over there site, “I hate my job, my boss is a weasel, let’s go traveling.” They went on to advertise a trip to India. A lot of people have issues with authority. And quite frankly many times it stems from our relationship with our bosses or parents or even church leaders.

Yet, that is one of the turning points of our story today. Peter gives Jesus control of his very life. He says, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” This is an amazing thing: Let me paint this picture for you. It’s really dark out, somewhere between 3-6 a.m. There are no street lamps, and even if there were….they are on the water. So, it’s dark. The wind is blowing hard enough that it has increased the waves significantly. So, you’ve got darkness and wind and high waves crashing against the boat. You’ve got this chaotic activity in the sea, but Jesus walking on the water. What does that fact teach us, and what did it teach Peter. That he was serving a God who had power and authority over nature. This story appears in 3 out of the 4 gospels and 2 out of 3 don’t include Peter walking on the water. Why? Did Matthew make it up? No, the other writers choose to focus on the more important aspect of the story…that we are serving a God that created the world and Jesus says, “if I want to walk on the water….hey I created it I’ll walk on it if I want to.” Our initial statement to quote another Bible story is, “who is this that the winds and the waves obey him.” You see, Jesus is not some magician that wants to entertain us with his tricks: walking on the water, calming the sea, turning water into wine. His primary purpose in life is people and make no mistake about it he wants to show his power in you. Peters reaction is the right one: I don’t want Jesus to only have power over nature only….I want him to display that same power in me. So, he seeks out the commands of the Master (he asks Jesus to command him out of the boat)--- a true quality of a disciple. Jesus wants to invade us today with his power. This story is so interesting because you have Jesus walking on the water and displaying his power for the disciples. Peter asks to come out and Jesus says, “oh you think this is cool huh…come on out.” He then displays his power in Peter, that wasn’t Peter on his own that was Jesus at work in him.. Peter gets a bad rap in this story because he began to sink, but the other disciples remained seated while Jesus worked in Peter. Have you ever been a spectator to God’s power? I mean it’s cool to see God work in others, but have you ever had the reaction…..I want God to do that in me. Maybe you came to church today, and you say I don’t want it….I need it. I need God’s power in my family because it’s weak right now….I need God’s power in my job because it’s fragile…..I need God’s power in my life because I feel like I’m hanging on by a thread to this faith thing and I need a demonstration of God’s power. You’ve come to the right place and you’re seeking the right person. Jesus wants to invade you’re life and he wants to display his power. I think Peter, although he messed up sometimes was somebody that God was really able to use…Peter many times radiated God! There was no doubt that God was at work in him. I want to be more like that….so let’s spend some time this morning looking at Peter.