Trying To Be Like Jesus

Trying To Be Like Jesus

Scripture Reference: Matthew 14:22-33 (KJV)

22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him unto the other side, while he sent the multitudes away. 23 And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone. 24 But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with waves: for the wind was contrary. 25 And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. 26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. 27 But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33 Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

INTRODUCTION

I am sure if you have gone to church over twenty times then you have heard a sermon or at least a mention of this great event

This is a great act that only Jesus could have performed

The first and probably most important fact about this passage is that from the very beginning Jesus said that they were going to meet on the other side

So no matter what happened between being on the first side to the second side they were definitely going to make it to the other side

MAIN BODY

This is where many of us are today. Jesus has spoken a word on our lives and we all we have to do is be obedient and it will come to pass. He shall supply everything that we need to ensure that we make it safely on our journey no matter what it looks like.

The next thing that I find very interesting is not only the fact that Jesus went to pray but he actually spent hours before the father in prayer. Although he went to pray after he led the people away, it was during the fourth watch when he finally appeared to the disciples.

Watch - A period of time (4 or 2 hours) during which some of a ship’s crew are on duty. (wordweb)

It was probably a 6 hour period before Jesus ever appeared to the disciples

Although they had spent all of that time watching and waiting for Jesus to come when he finally came back they were surprised to see him and questioned if it was really him

This is how I believe it will be when he he returns again. Although we have been expecting him and all of the signs of his return are in place we will still wonder if it is really him upon his return

The disciples were very disturbed by the unusual approach of Christ but Peter wanted to get a closer look. Peter wanted to go out to meet him. He did not even have the patience to wait on Jesus any longer

There was something on the inside of Peter that had to be with Christ immediately

Have you ever wondered what it was that drove Peter to want to meet Christ and not even have the patience to wait. Even though he was already approaching the place where they were?

Have you ever thought about what was so serious in the meeting that Peter was even willing to attempt to walk on water?

Mind you that Peter was a fisherman and he had spent a great deal of time around water so he was absolutely sure in his natural mind that there was no way that any normal man could ever walk on water

But for some reason he was so desperate that he wanted to meet Christ before he ever even got to him

What made him so anxious?

Since the bible never says then the world will never know why he was as anxious as he was to meet Christ

However since I can come up with my own hypothesis about this matter then I have decided to replace all of the things that I am dealing with in my life with the reasons that Peter could have wanted to meet Christ