In or Out?
Matthew 14:22-36
Intro: Back on July 16, 2003 the US Coast Guard intercepted a group of Cubans attempting to escape that tropical paradise that was until recently under the dictatorship of Fidel Castro…they had hopes of finding a new home in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
While this is not an unusual situation, nearly 3000 people a year make it on shore in Florida each year…many more are turned away; what made this unusual was their mode of transportation.
Show slide: converted 1951 Chevy pickup truck, the truck’s drive shaft was attached directly to a propeller and the craft could reportedly reach a leisurely 8 mph with 55-gallon oil drums being used for flotation.
They got within 40 miles of the US before being turned back, so over half of the trip that is roughly 100 miles.
Not being content with that, they tried again less than a year later when they once again took to the high seas with hopes of coming ashore in the US of A.
In February 2004 they were once again pulled over, but not in a Chevy pickup again…this time it was a 1959 Buick (show slide).
This time they welded the car shut to make it water proof and rather than replacing the tires with floats, they left them intact along with the rest of the vehicle and added the boat accessories (including the prow).
Their goal was to reach Florida, remove the boat parts and drive off into the sunset.
When you want out of Cuba I guess you REALLY want out of there, no matter what!
Think it about it for a minute, what these people go through to get out of Cuba.
They will build a boat out of what ever they can, and for some a boat is not even necessary.
They will venture out into shark infested waters where they can also face possible heat stroke, storms and who knows what else in hopes of finding freedom here in the United States.
For them the chose is simple, stay in Cuba where there is no hope…or get out and find the freedom they so crave.
Transition:
This morning we are going to begin a series of messages that I hope will prepare us for what will be taking place on April 20-23.
Pastor James Ross with Faith Baptist in Texarkana will be our guest speaker during that week that we have set aside for revival services.
Revival is a time for us to truly seek God, cry out to Him with all of our being and pray for a fresh touch from Him.
It is a time for us to decide to either stay in the status quo, or to get out and experience Him a new way.
This morning I want us to begin this by looking at another boat trip, this one is found in Scripture.
A group of men found themselves in a storm and then the unexpected took place…and it wasn’t the coast guard who showed up either.
Let’s read it together.
Read Matthew 14:22-36 and pray.
Recap passage.
A lot going on at this time in the ministry of Jesus.
In Matt. 13 Jesus had been out and about teaching parables and showing people that the Kingdom of God is at hand and then followed that up by returning home to Nazareth.
It is there He said, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown…”
And then we begin this chapter with Jesus hearing the news of his cousin, John the Baptist being murdered…but Jesus continued on in spite of the anguish I’m sure he felt.
In fact he preformed on of His biggest miracles on the heals of this news by feeding 5000 men, plus women and children with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish…a child’s lunch.
And now we see that Jesus sent his disciples out on a boat while He prayed alone.
Storm arose…
They saw something or someone…
Must be a ghost…
Jesus spoke in vs. 27.
Peter responded in vs. 28…and we know how that went.
The option for Peter was to stay in or to get out.
He could continue in the status quo, or venture out into the great unknown that Christ called him into.
This morning I want us to consider 4 truths from our passage that I think are vital for us as we prepare for a time of revival in our lives and in the life of our church.
First of all…
1. Know who Calls
ILLUS: I love modern technology…you know what one of the best inventions of the last 15 years or so has been?
Caller ID…especially at dinner time.
When the phone rings and I look and it says “unknown number” or is a toll free number, I know I don’t need to answer it.
ASK: You know how to fix these guys?
I got a call in the church office one day and the person on the other end said, “Hi this is American Express business services…may I speak to the owner of the business?”
Apparently she didn’t hear me say it was a church, and apparently I was in one of those moods, so I responded by saying, “Well, this is a church and God owns it, and you can speak to him at anytime if you pray.”
Her response was, “Uh, well…ok” and she hung up.
Aren’t you are more apt to answer the phone when you see a number you know?
That is what we see in our passage.
Once the disciples knew who it was then Peter said, “Lord, if it is you call me and I will come”…it made stepping out of the boat a lot easier for him because He knew who was calling.
Why is it so important to know who calls?
Read John 10:1-9
• It is life or death…vs. 9
• To know his voice, it requires a proper understanding of who Christ is…which means a firm theological foundation.
o John 10:3-4
Who is Christ?
He is Lord.
He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
He is the 2nd person of the Godhead… what we know as the Trinity.
He is eternal.
He is lord of Lords and king of Kings…I’m not suggesting you be able to right a full theological treatise on Christology, but there is no reason for us as believers not to be able to know from Scripture who Christ is.
So, let me ask you: Do you know Him today?
Have you placed your faith in Him alone?
If not, He is calling you today into a relationship with Him, to know Him and to be saved.
How? ABC
So, first truth is you need know who calls and then you need to…
2. Obey Him Completely
Once you have established who you are in Christ and who Christ is in your life, obedience to His call should come naturally.
It is almost second nature because of our love of God.
Read 1 John 5:1-4.
Peter didn’t step out of the boat to impress his friends, or on a dare…he did it because of his desire to obey Christ.
We know Peter as being the guy who had a habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, or the person denied Christ 3 times…but we forget that he had a passion for obedience.
He was a man who left everything to follow Christ.
When Jesus said “Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men” then Peter left his everything with reckless abandonment.
He wanted to obey, and when Jesus said, “Come…” the first time around, Peter did just that.
And when Jesus said “Come” here in our passage, Peter did.
Not out of fear, but out of love.
We should obey out of love and trust, not out of fear…fear would have kept Peter in the boat.
ILLUS: I expect my children to obey me, not because they are fearful of what will happen if they don’t obey…but I want them to obey because the understand I love them and know what is best for them and they love me in return.
Notice 1 John 5:4 says...
And that takes us to our 3rd truth this morning, we need to…
3. Walk in Faith
If there ever was a picture of faith for us, it is Peter stepping out of the boat.
He had a call on his life, he knew who was calling him…and for that reason he was more than willing to take a risk.
And that is something we can never forget…Faith requires risk.
You are not simply putting things all on the line with no certainty as to what the outcome is…because the outcome has already been determined by God.
Stepping out in faith is never a step into uncertainty.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God.
That means our faith is required to please God and render us holy in His sight so that we can call Him Father.
But it also means we should walk by faith.
Not just for salvation but for life.
2 Cor. 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, and not by sight.”
Meaning we all have vision problems.
Our natural sight says, “This won’t work”.
Our mind might say, “You can’t do it”.
Our friends might be like the other disciples and say, “What are you thinking?”
But faith says go, step out, because Christ has called.
Not just to be saved, but for every step that follows.
George Whitfield once said, “A true faith in Jesus Christ will not suffer us to be idle. No, it is an active, lively, restless principle; it fills the heart, so that it cannot be easy till it is doing something for Jesus Christ.”
Proverbs 3:5-6 rings true here: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding and in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
And the way we assure that we are acknowledging Him in all our ways is if we…
4. Stay in Focus
We all know how the story goes, right?
Read Matthew 14:30-31
Peter stepped out in faith, but soon realized he wasn’t in the safe confines of the boat anymore, and that the water was just that…water.
And then the lightning and the thunder and the size of that wave…he took his eyes off Christ and he began to sink.
Hebrews 12:2 reminds us that we should always look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Meaning He completes us.
Without Him we are nothing, but with Him all things are possible.
So our mind should be on Him.
Our heart should be given to Him.
Our will should be surrendered to His will.
And our life should no longer be ours but should be in His hands by faith alone.
If not, I hope you can swim because you are going to be sinking fast.
But you know what, if you aren’t willing to get out of the boat, it doesn’t really matter then, does it?
This morning some of you are still in the boat.
You haven’t stepped out in faith to accept the gift of salvation and as a result you’re being tossed around by your sins and the lack of hope.
For others, you’re like those other disciples who chose to follow Christ, but didn’t bother stepping out any further than that.
Conclusion: So, what is keeping you in the boat?
What are your excuses? Here are a few…
• Complacency… This is when we find comfort in where we are, things are fine with us (even though it may not be fine with God) and we get complacent.
Complacency makes us say, “I’m fine where I am. Why do something different?”
This affects not only individual Christians, but effects churches also.
I think one of the biggest obstacles to you and me and us becoming who God wants us to be, or doing what God wants us to do is that we are too comfortable where we are at.
We think, “It has been working up to now…so why change things”, right?
The sad thing is, when this excuse is used, we fail to realize that what we think is working either hasn’t worked at all, or stopped working a LONG time ago.
Faith and growth as a believer requires being uncomfortable.
Or maybe your problem is your…
• View…You may have a distorted view comes from looking not with the eyes of faith, but with the eyes of your own flesh.
We look at the physical, what is there…rather than looking with the God given vision at what could be.
When we have a distorted view we say things like: “The task is impossible. I could never do that.”
We look at “A” and then consider “B”, and if it doesn’t add up to “C” in our personal economy, we assume that it isn’t possible and can’t possibly be God’s will.
What we forget about is that God isn’t bound by the rules of math we learned in school.
Because of that, we can’t allow our distorted view of what we consider reality to be from living out our faith.
Or how about this excuse…
• Pride…how will others see us?
Let’s be honest, we’re concerned about others seeing us.
We can’t go down to that alter…what will they think?
I can’t let them see me being vulnerable…they might think I’m weak.
Proverbs reminds us that pride comes before the fall, and there are going to be a lot of proud people standing before God one day and being told, “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”
A final excuse this morning for you might be…
• Fear…we have a fear of the unknown
The sad thing is, we think it is a fear based on our own knowledge (because of what we see, know, etc) when it is actually a fear based on our ignorance.
This excuse makes us questions like, “What if I fail?” or even worst “What if I succeed?”…and some people are actually afraid of succeeding.
Someone once said, "If you have a preconceived idea that you will fail rather than succeed, then you will succeed in failing and fail in succeeding.”
How often does this excuse cause us to just give up and totally miss out on God and what He is doing?
TRANS: What is your excuse this morning? What is keeping you in the boat?
We are preparing for revival services…revival does not take place the week of April 20-23.
That week is set aside for us to come together and celebrate the revival that God brings beginning today.
And it starts with you deciding…will you be in or out.
Will you stay in the boat and be tossed around to and fro, or will you step out in faith and say, “Lord, if you call I’m going to do what you say.”
