The Power Over Fear. Series

The Power Over Fear

Jeffery Anselmi / General

The Power of The Gospel / Fear; Faith / Matthew 14:22–33

When Jesus walks on water and invites Peter to do the same, he again proclaims that he is the Son of God and, in so doing, strengthens the faith of his disciples.

INTRODUCTION

• Last week in our Power of The Gospel series, we examined a couple of incidents that shows us that Jesus has the power over life and death; therefore, we should be able to place every situation we face into His hands.

• That sounds wonderful, doesn't it?

• We can read the passages, we can even see how God has worked in the lives of other people and ourselves, but there is still something we need to be able to acknowledge Jesus has power over our FEARS!

• I know we can all relate to fear.

• Fear is a terrible thing to be enslaved to; fear can do several things to you if you allow it to rule over you.

• With that said, I do realize there is a place for fear in life. Fear keeps me from jumping off houses with make-shift parachutes as I did when I was a kid. We are not talking about that.

• I am speaking of being paralyzed but fear to the point where you cannot function, or you live under the strain of so much fear that you never are willing to take a risk.

• Even worse, you are afraid to follow God's calling for you because you are afraid as Moses was when God called hIm.

• Fear is a terrible thing to be enslaved to. Fear can rob us of some great blessings in life.

• In our narrative today, we will see that he has power over nature, but we will also see that He can have power over fear in your life.

• The BIG IDEA FOR THE MESSAGE TODAY IS: When Jesus walks on water and invites Peter to do the same, He again proclaims that He is the Son of God and, in so doing, strengthens the faith of his disciples; therefore allowing Him to have the power over fear.

Matthew 14:22–26 CSB

22 Immediately, he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.

23 After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.

24 Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them.

25 Jesus came toward them, walking on the sea very early in the morning.

26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. "It's a ghost!" they said, and they cried out in fear.

SERMON

I. How circumstances can inspire fear.

• This should have been a time for a spiritual high for the disciples.

• These men witnessed something incredible! The feeding of the 5,000

• Jesus fed over 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish. Not only did they witness firsthand this amazing event, and there were leftovers!

• After Jesus fed the 5,000 plus people, Jesus was ready to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee to get away.

• Jesus seemed to be in a hurry to get out of the area.

• Although Matthew does not inform the reader why Jesus is insistent that his disciples leave the area, it has been suggested, based on John 6:15, that the feeding scene had turned into a political rally with revolutionary overtones. Jesus knew that his disciples were susceptible to such suggestions.

• With the disciples out of the way, Jesus could then focus his attention on disbursing the crowd, thus defusing a potentially dangerous situation.

• I would think the disciples would want to stay and bask in the glory of the moment for a while. If we read what John says correctly, they would have also invited a Make Israel Great Again rally with Jesus at the center. (College Press Commentary Series)

• Remember, most believed that is what the Messiah was going to do in a sense anyway, so why wait!

• From the meaning of the word MADE, it appears the disciples were not too eager to leave the scene. The word means TO COMPEL or to force someone to do something.

• Jesus is trying to disperse the crowd; He told the disciples to get into the boat and to go the other side.

• After the crowd was dismissed, Jesus goes up the mountain to pray.

• The day's events, as well as the ominous foreshadowing suggested by John the Baptist's death, sent Jesus to find solace to pray to the Father.