Jesus Is Greater Pt 2

And if you would, open up in your Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 14.

Matthew, chapter 14.

Today is part two of our series on Jesus is Greater. We said that as we moved into Matthew, chapter 14, really it's kind of a whole new section of the book. Of Matthew, because Jesus is going to be a little bit more isolated, at least from the religious leaders, and spend a lot more time with his disciples. And in this particular one, he tries to get away with his disciples, to spend a little bit of time with them, but that doesn't quite happen.

And so we said that really the theme of the entire chapter was that Jesus is greater. We saw that Jesus is greater than our grief as he dealt with the loss of John the Baptist, his cousin. We saw that Jesus is greater than our inability as we saw Jesus feed the 5,000. And today what we look at is we see that Jesus is greater than the storms in our lives. Or Jesus walks on the water, all depending on how you want to put that in your notes.

So as we pick up in chapter 14, verse 22, this is what it says. Immediately, he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the crowds away. After he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening, he was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land,

battered by the waves, for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take courage. It is I. Do not be afraid. Peter said to him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

And he said, Come. And Peter got out of the boat, and he walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him, You of little faith, why did you doubt? When they got into the boat, the wind stopped, and those who were in the boat worshipped him,

saying, You are certainly God's Son. When they had crossed over, they came to the land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding district and brought to him all who were sick. And they implored him that they might just touch the fringe of his cloak. And as many as touched it were cured. Now as we move into this last section of Matthew chapter 14

and see that Jesus is greater than the storms of our life, we're reminded of why Jesus ever went away by himself to begin with. I suggest a couple of reasons, maybe three, why Jesus went away by himself. We're told at the beginning of John chapter 14 that Herod, had started asking questions about Jesus. And as he was asking questions about Jesus, he said, Maybe this is John the Baptist come back to life.

And so Matthew took just a moment to give us a little back story about John the Baptist, how John the Baptist had been calling out sin in Herod's life, and Herod had John the Baptist put to death because of a vow that he made and a very rash decision. You can go back and read the story for yourself. And so after that took place, either after Jesus had heard that Herod was asking questions about him, or because Jesus was dealing with the grief of the loss of someone that was very close to him, Jesus decided to go spend some time by himself with his disciples. But when you're Jesus, you don't always get to go spend time by yourself.

And so great crowds of people followed him to this deserted wilderness area where he was. And as they followed him to this wilderness area, Jesus, of course, had compassion on them and began to teach them and heal and do all kinds of things. And it began to be about evening, late afternoon really is how you and I would term it. And his disciples said, Hey, it's getting kind of late.

We should give these guys something to eat, but we don't have anything. Let's send them into the city. And Jesus said, You don't need to send them away. You give them something to eat. And they said, Listen, all we've got is five pieces of bread and a couple of fish. What's that amongst so many? And, of course, they gave it to Jesus, and he fed all 5,000 men plus the women and children that were there.

But remember, Jesus had wanted to get away by himself, and he hadn't been able to get away by himself yet. And so that brings us to where we are now, because there was still a particular purpose for Jesus wanting to go off by himself. And so the first thing that we see, this first little section that we cover, verses 22 and 23, I've titled Jesus on the mountain to pray, because that's exactly what takes place. And so as we see Jesus with the disciples in the crowd, we see, first of all, Jesus give a command to the disciples.

It says, Immediately, he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he sent the crowds away. Now, the word immediately. is used there, giving us a context of time, meaning as soon as they had collected all 12 baskets that were left over from a seemingly insufficient meal that Jesus turned into more than enough for the crowds, after they had collected the leftovers, Jesus said, Okay, now it's time for me to do what I initially set out to do. You guys get into the boat, go across the sea.

I want you to take note of the fact that that's what he says. He says he sent them over to the other side. I'm going to point out why that's important in just a minute. And then, of course, he takes the crowds and he sends them away. Why does Jesus send the crowds away at this point in time? I would suggest to you two reasons. The first reason why Jesus sent the crowds away is because he knew their tendency as humans

to think to themselves, We just found the meal ticket. We just found the way that we will eat for the rest of our lives, having to do nothing. There's a whole series of things I could go into here I'm going to choose not to. But he did not. I don't want to become their free meal ticket, because Jesus is not everyone's free meal ticket. I'm just going to leave it at that.

But the second reason why I think he sent them away is because he could see the look in all of their eyes. They were all still looking for a political messiah. They were all still looking for someone who was going to establish the kingdom of Israel the way that it was talked about in the Old Testament. And he knew that what he just did would maybe prompt them to want to try to set him up as some sort of a messiah that he was not ready to be yet.

He won't come to rule and reign until he comes the second time. And he knew that. And he knew the heart of the people. So he sends them all away. But may I suggest to you one last reason why I think Jesus sent the crowds away. Because he had initially went off by himself because he just needed rest. Because he needed a time to refresh, to be restored, to be renewed,

so that he and his humanity would still have what he needed to give out to the people. And so he sends to the disciples away and he sends the crowds away. But I mentioned to you that he was going to send the crowds away. But I mentioned to you that he was going to send the crowds away. I want to tell you that I think it's important that Jesus said what he said to the disciples

because he didn't just say, get into the boat and go sailing. He said, get into the boat and I will meet you on the other side. If you will, Jesus gave them the destination. He told them where he was going to meet them, on the other side of the water. I think that that's important because what's going to happen is the disciples are going to get into the boat

and we're going to find out in just a moment that they're in the midst of a really great storm. I know that comes as a shock to you since I titled this, Jesus is greater than the storms. But that's exactly what's going to happen to the disciples. They're going to get stuck in the middle of a storm. So why is it important that they know that he's going to meet them on the other side?

Because brothers and sisters, Jesus makes us promises. And we have to remember, he doesn't make us promises without keeping those promises. He promised them that he was going to meet them on the other side. Therefore, in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, when they're in the middle of the storm, what could they hold on to? The promise that he was going to see them on the other side.

Because he didn't send them to the middle of the sea to drown. He sent them on a mission that had an ending that came with a promise. So he sends them away. He sends the crowds away. But then we're given this one little verse, verse 23, that I think is so important for us. And we're going to spend just a couple of moments talking about it. It says this. And after he had sent the crowds away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.

And when it was evening, he was there alone. The prayer line. The life of Jesus was of great value to him. It's kind of an interesting thing to pay attention to. As a matter of fact, as you're reading through the Gospels, I would underline any time you come across it where it says, and Jesus went up on the mountain to pray. Or Jesus went off by himself to pray.

Or Jesus woke up early in the morning to pray. Or Jesus spent all night praying. See, Jesus' prayer life was of great value to him. Why? Because while Jesus was fully God, he was also fully man. Therefore, facing all of the same temptations that you and I face, all of the same human weaknesses that we face, he got tired like we get tired. He dealt with the potential for discouragement,

like you and I deal with the potential for discouragement. He dealt with the potential to get way overwhelmed by the things that were going on in his life. He dealt with the temptation to get outside of the Father's will and do what he wanted to do. What he thought was right. And in order to prevent all of those things from happening in his life, in order to keep himself from getting overwhelmed,

in order to keep himself from getting spiritually burnt out, in order to keep himself from getting outside of the will of the Father, he had to maintain intense, continual communion with the Father. And you know as well as I do that you don't have to be all by yourself to pray. You can be in an attitude of prayer all day long. Sometimes the greatest prayers I've ever sent up to the Lord are when I'm in the midst of the most difficult situation, where more people are around me than I can imagine, and all I know to do is just say, help me Jesus, right?

Because that's all you can do. But there's also something to be said for laying aside all of the distractions of life, for taking time that is set aside for one purpose and one purpose only, to say right now, nothing is as important in my life as spending time visiting with my Father, as spending time visiting with the Creator, and the Savior of my soul. And I think in the world that we're living in now, we can find ourselves so overwhelmed, we can find ourselves so burnt out, we can find ourselves so busy, that we can then find ourselves outside of the will of the Father. And it's not because that's what we want to do, it's because we're failing to be in communion constantly with the Father.

And that's not a word of condemnation. Hopefully that's a word of conviction. Because the reason why you're burnt out is because you're not allowing the Father to be with you. You're not allowing the Father to pour into your life. Sometimes the reason why you're not allowing the Father to pour into your life is because you're not pouring out all the stuff that's in there.

The prayer life of Jesus was of vast importance to Him. So much so that He said, I don't care how busy I am, I don't care how many pulls on life that I have, if I don't have this, then I won't have anything. And so He sent the disciples off by Himself, or off so that He could take time to pray. You know, I think in the world that we live in right now, and I can be very guilty of this, as a matter of fact, it's one of my great weaknesses that I have in life, is I can feel guilty if I'm not doing something.

I can feel guilty if I'm not constantly having the next thing. As a matter of fact, when I see other people that are busy and I take time to rest, I think, oh gosh, I should also be doing fill in the blank here. I should not be sitting, I should not be resting. May I tell you that one of the most spiritual things that we can do is to rest. As a matter of fact, it's so spiritual,

that in the Old Testament, God said you should take one day out of the week, every seventh year, and every 50th year, and do nothing but rest. Because rest is very spiritual. Last week, we said that Jesus had gone off to be alone, or just with His disciples, and people showed up, and He said, I'll set aside my rest time for now, because I have compassion for the people. But I said, but it doesn't mean Jesus wasn't going to get His rest time.

It didn't mean He wasn't going to get His time alone with the Father, it just meant He had to get a little creative about it. And that's exactly what we're talking about. That's exactly what He does right here. So that time of rest is really spiritual. And if those two things were that important to Jesus, then how important should those two things be in our own lives?

I'm convinced that we live in a world that's burned out right now. I'm convinced that we live in a world that's overwhelmed right now. And it's because we're not taking the time to do the things that Jesus found important. So my friends, I want you to know, if you let someone else down, it's okay. If you take a day off, it's okay. And trust me, while I'm telling you this,

I'm telling myself this at the same time. If you turn your phone off for a little while and don't get any messages or any calls, it's okay. Just take the time that you need to hear from your Father. All of those calls, all of those messages, all of those projects, they can all work together. They can all wait. Because at the end of time, you go stand before your Father,

you won't think to yourself, and I wish I'd have mowed the yard one more time.

But you will be glad that your relationship with Him is as close as possible because that's the only thing that will last for eternity. And so Jesus goes off by Himself to pray and He sends His disciples out. However, what we're gonna see now is Jesus, the disciples, and the storm. Notice what it says in verse 24. It says, I love that Matthew gives us this one short little verse

that gives us the conditions that the disciples were in at this point in time. This is sort of a meanwhile in the middle of the water, right? As Jesus is up on the mountain praying, receiving what He needs from the Father, and may I say probably praying for His disciples at this point in time because He knows the storm that they're going through, as Jesus is there praying, the disciples are in a very difficult situation. They're in a bit of a pickle, right?

And so Matthew describes it for us. So I wanna look at the three things that he describes for us with this storm. Notice what it says. First of all, it says the boat was far from land. The boat was far from land. As a matter of fact, in Mark's account of this, he says that the boat was in the middle of the sea. Now, you know what happens when you're in the middle of the sea?

You're as far from one side as you are from the other. That's the deepest thing I'm gonna say all day, right? Because you are right there in the middle. In other words, that is the most vulnerable place that you can be because you can't turn back because you're as far from going back as you are to going forward. You're just like, well, I've just gotta weather this storm.

I am in the most difficult place possible because there is no escape from the storm. The second thing that it says is that the boat was battered by the waves. Battered by the waves. I looked up that word in the Greek, and man, it did not disappoint. That word batter means to be tortured or to be, to be tossed. It means to be caught in a struggle. Isn't that a perfect picture

of probably what was going on with the disciples at this point in time? As they are in the middle of the sea, they are far from land. The boat is being battered about. They're in a great struggle because it's being tossed about by all of the things that were going on, and we're given a third description of what was going on with the boat. It says the wind was contrary.

The wind was contrary. Again, I looked this one up, and I thought it was pretty interesting. The word contrary, contrary means to be opposite or to be antagonistic. Other translations say that the wind was against them. What a perfect picture of what's going on. They're trying to get to the other side, and not only are they as far as they can possibly be from the land,

not only is there a great struggle with the storm that's taking place, but the wind is not helping because the wind is against them. The wind is being contrary to them. The wind is being antagonistic towards them. Now, this is the storm that they're going through, and this would usually be the point in time when I would say, and some of the storms in life that you might be going through are these, and I might name some of the storms, but I decided to do something different this time.

I decided, you know, this gives us the perfect description of the storm that the disciples were going through, so how does that equate to storms that we go through in our lives? And so I came up with four things that can be identifiers of the storms that we go through in our lives. Number one, sometimes when we go through a storm, we feel far from a solution. Some of the things that you go through in life, you're like, I don't even know what to do right now because I can't go back, I can't go forward, I just feel kind of stuck, like I am really far from a solution.

This is a vulnerable place. I don't see any way out of this storm. I don't see any way out of this situation. I don't see any way out in this issue that I'm going through in my life. I just feel really far from the solution. And may I say that sometimes that's the most helpless and hopeless feeling in the world, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there are some of us here this morning

that if we were to describe our storm, we would say I feel really far from the land, and it feels really helpless, and it feels really hopeless. The second thing is that in the midst of our storms, we can feel tossed around and struggling. You ever been through those points in time in your life where you're like, why is everything in the world that I do a struggle? Why can nothing be easy?

Why does it feel like everything in the world is tossing me from the ground? From one direction to the other. It's because you're in the middle of a storm in your life, and when those storms in life come up, we feel constantly tossed around, and we feel like everything that we're doing is a struggle. Why can't I get out of bed in the morning? It's just a major struggle.

Why can't I have a conversation with anybody? Why do I screw it up? It's a constant struggle. Why is this happening in my life? I feel like everything in the world is a struggle. And then, of course, the third thing about every storm in our lives is that we feel like everything is against us. Everything is against us. You know that point in time where you even feel like the dog is against you?

You're like, even the dog hates me right now. Right? Everything feels like it's against you. But you know, there's a fourth thing that we didn't mention in the conditions of the disciples, but was absolutely true and something that we can feel in our own lives. It feels like Jesus is nowhere to be found. And it feels like it feels like Jesus is nowhere to be found.

Because where is Jesus right now? As far as these disciples are concerned. Where is Jesus at this point in time? They don't know. All they know is he put him in a boat and said, I'll see you on the other side. They have no idea where Jesus is. I bet you that if you have been or are in a storm in your life right now, you're probably at times finding yourself saying,

it feels like Jesus is nowhere to be found. It feels like Jesus is nowhere to be found. It feels like Jesus is nowhere to be found. But may I say, there's an interesting little spiritual parallel that's given here as far as our lives are concerned. Because we have Jesus interceding before the Father for the lives of the disciples who are stuck in the middle of the storm.

It's kind of like what goes on with us right now. Maybe right now you feel like you're in the middle of the storm and Jesus is nowhere to be found. But I want you to know that Jesus is at the right hand side. He's at the right hand of the Father interceding for you. And Jesus is still with you in the midst of it. Jesus has not changed. He's not gone anywhere.

He's still exactly where He needs to be doing the work that He told you that He would be doing. So those are the conditions that they're in and perhaps some of the same conditions you at times find yourself in. And so we come to verse 25. It says, And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. The fourth watch of the night. This is anywhere from 3 to 6 a.m.

That's the general time frame. Now I want you all to think about how long the disciples have been in the boat. Okay? Jesus put the disciples in the boat at evening. Probably somewhere to the 6 to 8 o'clock p.m. time frame. It's now somewhere between 3 and 6 a.m. That's a long time in a boat, right? Like even Gilligan's like, Skipper, this seems like a bad idea, right?

I mean, by this point in time, a three-hour cruise just turned into something that seems like it's going to take a lot longer than that. And so it's the fourth watch of the night. Why did Jesus wait that long? I have no idea. Why did Jesus wait that long? Probably because He wanted them to get into the middle of the sea where their only hope was Him so that they would see some ability in Him

so that they would see that He was greater. That's the only thing I can come up with, but we're never told why He waited that long. Why does He wait that long in our lives? Why does it seem like He allows us to be in the midst of the storm as long as He does? Why does He wait until the fourth watch of the night when I'm in the middle of the sea when everything is a struggle and everything is against me?

Because He wants my only hope to be in Him to where I'm completely devoid of my own ability and all I can do is look to Him and say, well, you're going to have to do something. And that's exactly what Jesus does. It's the fourth watch of the night. And I love how nonchalantly Matthew just says, He came to them walking on the sea. That's it? That's the only description you give to us?

This to me is one of the coolest scenes in the Bible as far as some of the miracles that Jesus does because Jesus is walking on the water. I don't know how y'all picture this, but I picture Jesus going up and down hills, right? Because He's walking on the water. He's walking and dealing with all of these things and it's like, I don't know, I want to see this.

Again, another thing that I want to see on DVR in heaven. I hope it's recorded for us so that we can go back and watch it because this would have been the most fascinating thing ever. Jesus is like, about time. God's like, seems good. And so He's like, well, can you imagine being anybody around at that point in time when Jesus, He had to have walked off of the beach

onto the water, right? Like He's just walking on the sand and then steps out onto the water and doesn't sink. He doesn't park the water this time because He could fully do that if He wanted to. He just walks on it. And as He's walking on the water, coming to them in the fourth watch of the night, I want you to notice what happens. The disciples saw Him walking on the sea

and they were terrified and they said, it's a ghost. And they cried out in fear. Now, again, this is an area where I think we're too hard on the disciples because at this point in time, it's completely dark. It's not like they had some lights on the boat that would have lit things up because those aren't invented yet. I'm guessing the moon wasn't overly bright

since they were in the midst of, of a storm. So probably they couldn't see it. They just start seeing kind of a shadow of something and what is that out there? What is going on? It's a ghost. Have you ever noticed how many times they think there's ghosts in the Bible? You know why? Because they believed in that sort of thing back then. It's because all of the crazy stuff

that people believe in today, it's not new. It's been around for a really long time. And so they're like, it's a ghost coming towards us. Oh my gosh, not only is the wind against us, Jesus is nowhere to be found, but now we're dealing with a ghost. And they were terrified. And then Jesus says this. Immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, take courage. It is I.

Do not be afraid. The Amplified Bible translates this this way. And I think it's kind of fascinating. I kind of looked it up and several other commentators said that, yes, that could be a very accurate translation of what's said there. The Amplified Bible translates it like this. Take courage. I am. Do not be afraid. I mean, if you're an Old Testament scholar at all,

you're just like, whoa, that was an amazing statement. Because the last time that we heard God say, I am, was at the burning bush. Remember? When Moses was at the burning bush and he says, who do I say sent me? Because I can't just say the burning bush sent me. He says, tell them, I am sent you. And so when Jesus shows up, and these disciples are totally terrified,

they're like, it's a ghost. Oh my gosh, we're all going to die. And they're crying out in fear. They're totally freaked out. Jesus just looks at them and says, don't be discouraged. I am. Why? Because who is Jesus? He is the ever-present, unchanging God. And that's something that's important for us to know in the midst of our storm. Because if you are like me,

when you're in the middle of a time where it feels like you're far from home, everything's against you and everything is a struggle and you don't know where Jesus is. And oh my gosh, what's going on? Oh my gosh, what's going on? Oh my gosh, what's going on? The most comforting thing to know is that Jesus never changed. That he is still the same God that he was the day before.

He is still the same God that he was before any of these things happened in your life. He is still the ever-present, unchanging God. And though it may have felt like he was really far away, the entire time he was right there with you. Because he is the, I am, ever-present in the midst of everything that I need. And then he tells them, do not be afraid. Now, why does he tell them don't be afraid?

Of course, we know the natural answer is to say because they were afraid. But it's true. Though the problem was real and though the danger was unexaggerated, Jesus was close by. And my friend, you may be going through a little bit of a storm in your life right now where you can identify with all four of those things. But I want you to know the storm may be real.

And the danger may be absolutely real in your life. But Jesus is still close by. Sometimes in the middle of these things, we can't see it. Sometimes in the middle of what's happening in our lives, we can't see that Jesus is right there with me. But may I say, he's been right there with you the entire time. He's been the one that's been carrying you. He's been the one that's been holding you.

He's been the one who has been speaking words of comfort that your ears were not quite tuned into just yet until you were able to hear it. Until you finally cried out in fear. And he said, don't be afraid. I am.

Well, Peter's on the boat. I love Peter. Peter is just the hard living, hard talking, hard working, sticks his foot in his mouth, but up for anything sort of a guy. And that's the moment that we're in right now with Peter. And notice what Peter says. Peter said to him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Now, this is really a greater statement,

a faith and we're given in this translation right here. You could actually translate this. Lord, since it is you, then command me to come to you on the water. In other words, Peter is making a great bold statement of faith right now. It's less of an identifier and more of a, let's see what else can happen. Lord, since it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

I mean, you know, Matthew was sitting back and saying, it seems like a bad idea. I've done the math on it. I don't think that's a good idea. And you know that John was sitting back and saying, he loves us. He'll be here in a minute, right? Like that's what some of the other disciples were doing. But Peter was like, nope, I'm walking on water today, boys. He says,

Lord, if it's you, since it's you, command me to come to you on the water. And I love this. If you have a Bible with the words in red, I love that the only red word in this verse is, and so he said, come, right? Jesus is like, come on. He's as geeked up as Peter is right now. And so Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. I always wonder what this looked like

with Peter getting out of the water. I can't help it. I love this scene, because Peter may be the hard charging guy that we know he is, but this is still a really hard thing to do, right? I always picture it kind of like this, like Peter's like,

right? He takes that first step, he's like, whoop, didn't sink on that one. Takes the next big step out.

Check it out, boys. It doesn't say he said that in scripture, but I can't imagine Peter didn't say that, right? Because he's Peter. He's going to say something dumb at some point in time. And so Peter goes walking on the water again. I think this is something that we discount, because we give Peter such a hard time. But can you imagine the faith that this takes

for him to be so focused on his Savior that he's willing to do something completely, totally, physically impossible, because he believes in a Savior who is greater than creation. He believes in a Savior who is greater than the natural laws, a Savior who is more powerful than all of the natural forces around him, because his God is that big. His God is bigger than the storm that he's facing. His God is bigger than anything in his life.

And for this split moment, Peter is walking in the greatest faith, I think, than any saint has ever walked in up to that point in time. Unfortunately, he doesn't continue. Peter got out of the boat, verse 29, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. It says that

when he was walking on the water, while he's walking on the water, he began seeing the wind around him. That word seeing could also be translated, he perceived the wind around him. It wasn't like he didn't know that it was going on, but all of a sudden, the gravity of what he's doing just hit him. All of a sudden, probably the wind came up on a really strong gust, blew a little bit of water in his face, and as the water splashed in his face, he was like, and what happened?

And the minute he took his eyes off of Jesus, and he perceived the wind around him, he immediately began to sink. Now, everything that I've read historically and everything else about Peter indicates that he was not a small man. That means he sank fast. B-T-dubs, this is not original with me, but you know what Peter's name means, right? Peter's name means rock, right?

He just sunk like a rock. That's an amazing little play on words right there, right? Peter began to sink. The rock began to sink, right? I'm picturing Dwayne Johnson just going straight down at that point in time, right? And so Peter's beginning to sink. Now, what has happened to Peter? What happened to his faith? I propose to you three things. Number one, Peter took his eyes off of Jesus.

Peter took his eyes off of Jesus. You see, as long as Peter was focused on his Savior, he had no problem walking on the water. Why? Because he's watching his Savior walk on the water. As long as he's focused on Jesus, he's doing great. Well, what happened to him? He began to perceive the wind around him. He saw the wind that was around him. How could he see all the wind

that was around him? Well, he took his eyes off of Jesus and he started looking at all of his circumstances. Perhaps you can appreciate that idea. Why do we have a tendency to struggle in life? It's because we take our eyes off of Jesus. When do you sink the most in your life? When you've taken your eyes off of Jesus. When does depression hit you the hardest in your life?

When you've taken your eyes off of Jesus. When has anxiety got the greatest grip on you? In your life? When you've taken your eyes off of Jesus. When does temptation of the flesh overtake you the most? When you've taken your eyes off of Jesus. You see, Peter's problem is he started looking at his problems instead of the solution. He took his eyes off of Jesus.

But number two, he forgot the truth of his inability. Here's the funny thing. If it wasn't storming, could Peter have walked on the water without Jesus? No, right? We're like, oh, he saw the storm and he began to sink. The storm's what caused him to sink. No, the water's what caused him to sink, right? You can't walk on water. That's not a normal thing to do, right?

That's not natural to us. Even in the best of circumstances, he could not walk on water. But you know, you and I tend to be the same way. When everything's going well, we think, I've got this Jesus thing pretty well under control. Matter of fact, I'm walking pretty strong right now. I've got this one for now, God. You don't worry about it. Then all of a sudden,

the wind and the waves come up and we start to sink. Well, the problem is not the water. The problem's not even the wind and the waves. The problem is we forgot. We didn't have the ability in the best of circumstances to do what God has called us to do, let alone under the worst of conditions. Brothers and sisters, we have to keep in mind that we are completely insufficient

apart from him. But that brings me to the third thing that Peter struggled with. He forgot the truth of Jesus and his ability. He forgot the truth of Jesus and his ability because you know who did not sink in the water? Jesus. Jesus never once sank down into that water. Jesus was not troubled by the storm. And Jesus was every bit as able to keep him up in the midst of the storm

than he was in the midst of anything else. But he forgot about Jesus and his ability. And what happens to you and I? We forget about Jesus and his ability. Unfortunately, in my mind, sometimes my God becomes very small. And I say, Lord, I don't know if you can handle this one. This one's probably too big for you. I may not say those words out loud because after all, I'm a pastor.

I would never come up with that. But I certainly live it with my life. I certainly live it with my worry. I certainly live it with my lack of sleep or my concern or any number of things. I prove it by the way that I live and by my lack of peace. But I think, Jesus, this one's too big for you. And I forget he is able. In fact, there's a song we used to sing when I was a kid.

I love this song. It says, he is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns me today. He is able, more than able, to handle anything that comes my way. You and I sometimes sing it like this. He is able, more than able, to accomplish some of the things that worry me today. He's able, more than able, to accomplish a couple of the things that come my way.

Right? Like, that's what we tend to do. And that's what Peter does right now. And if you're like me, sometimes I can feel like, great, now I'm just gonna drown here because I took my eyes off of Jesus. I forgot I couldn't do this anyway and I forgot that he can. And so you start crying out and we think in our human mind, Jesus is just gonna let us sink at this point in time.

But he doesn't. Notice what happens. It says, Peter cried out, Lord, save me. Probably much louder than that, but I don't wanna terrify you this morning. He cried out, Lord, save me. And I want you to notice what happened. Immediately, Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said, you of little faith, why did you doubt? The amount of assurance

I find in that verse is definitely enough to carry me in life. Because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have done this exact same thing where I have started to sink. And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt I'm going to do it again. There's gonna come a point in time where I will start thinking I've got something of my own. I will forget that God is everything that I need

and I will take my eyes off of Jesus and I will start to sink. But I am so blessed to know that Jesus is as far away as me saying, Lord, save me. I appreciate that Matthew went ahead and threw that adverb immediately in there. Because how did he pull him up? He pulled him up immediately. He wasn't like, have you learned your lesson yet? That's what I would do if I was Jesus.

As he's going, help me, Jesus. Have you learned? You could have walked on water if you just kept your eyes on me. Guys, do you see? I'm gonna make an example of him right now. You guys on the boat. You see what's going on here? He took his eyes off of me and now he's sinking in the water. No, he didn't do that. Immediately pulls him up out of the water. That big boisterous guy

pulls him out of the water and then they get into the boat. Okay, I can't help it. Did Peter walk on the water to the boat with Jesus or did Jesus carry him? That's what I wanna know right now, right? Is Jesus is like, I got you, big guy, right? And just carries him to the boat and places him in there. Man, I hope that's how it happened, right? If this is on DVR

and that's how it happened, we're just all gonna stand up and clap at the end like it's a movie. It'd be amazing. He reaches in, pulls him up out of the water, but notice what he says to him. He says, oh, you of little faith. I believe it was Spurgeon that pointed out that really in the Greek, what he said was, oh, you little faith. As if those two words formed one new word, little faith.

Like that was his name, little faith. Oh, you little faith. But you know what's kind of amazing? That his little faith still got him out of the boat and still got him walking on the water. It's just that Peter had a little bit of an issue with his little faith, with the little bit of faith that he had. What issue did he have? He says, why did you doubt? You know what that word doubt means

in the Hebrew? That word doubt means to waver. It means to be doubted. To be divided. In other words, Peter was a little divided. He wavered in his thoughts. He wavered in his belief of Jesus. He's like, oh, but oh, man, I believe that you, but oh, the wind and the waves. He wavered. He was double-minded in the way that he thought about things. He wasn't singly focused on Jesus.

I want you to go with me one place in Scripture. I hadn't intended on going here, but you know what? We're here. Why not? Go over to Hebrews chapter 12. I'm sure you know the Scripture, but it'll be fun to turn there anyway. It'll keep you awake. Hebrews chapter 12.

Let's look at verses 1 and 2.

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. I know you've heard me say this before, but I want to say, I want to say it again because this is the perfect illustration of it. That word fixing literally means to take your eyes off of everything else and put them on one thing and one thing only.

And that one thing to put them on is Jesus. Why? Because when we start looking at everything around us, we waver. When we start looking at all the things around us, we waver in our faith. Why? Because we are not singly focused. We are to be sincere in our faith. You know what the word sincere means? The word sincere means to be single-minded. In other words,

our greatest focus needs to be on our faith. On our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because if our single focus is on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, then it doesn't matter what the storm is that's going on around me because I know that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It doesn't matter what's going on around me because I know that He is the one who sustains me and keeps me. I know that He is able, but I have to keep my eyes singly focused on Him.

I have to fix my gaze on Him, the author and the perfecter, the author and the finisher, the finisher of my faith. And brothers and sisters, right now in the world, I am finding this to be a battle every single day of my life that I have got to keep my eyes focused on Jesus because it is so easy to find myself feeling hopeless in the world that we live in. The next time that I hear somebody talk about the fact that in the middle school you've got kids that have decided that they're transgender, that there's boys that think that they're girls and there's girls that think that they're boys at the age of 12, 13, and 14, sometimes I can go, man, this just feels hopeless. When you hear about all of the situation going on with inflation

and the fact that now you can't buy anything because it costs too much money or it's just not there or there's no formula for babies or you name it right now and we can go, oh, Lord, it just feels so hopeless. Well, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith because it doesn't take Him by surprise and He's still in control. He's still God. He's still the I Am that He was the day that He spoke the world into existence.

And so we can rest in Him. And as we see all of the things falling apart around us, I personally can tend to get a little bit focused on the things falling apart and feel a little bit hopeless about it. A little confession time for Ryan. But what we've got to do is say, Lord, I can't help all of those things that are happening. I've got to keep my eyes focused on You

because You have not changed. Brothers and sisters, we've got to keep our eyes focused on Jesus. And again, while I'm telling it to you, I'm telling it to myself because this year has been the hardest time I maybe have had since like college and truly college keeping my eyes focused on Jesus because the wind and the waves sometimes seem too great. We have to keep our eyes focused on Him.

He says, why did you doubt? Why did you waver? And so we go back to verse 32 of Matthew chapter 14. It says, and when they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him saying, you are certainly God's Son. Boy, what an amazing scene that the minute that Peter and Jesus get back into the boat, complete calm. The wind stopped.

The waves stopped. No longer was it being battered about. No longer was it being tossed around and struggling. No longer was the wind against them. Everything stopped. And may I tell you one more thing. In the other gospel accounts, it says, and immediately they were on the other side of the water.

All of their influence that they had with the storm of their life were solved in the presence of Jesus. Because Jesus is greater than the storms of our lives. And what did they do at this point in time? They said, truly, you are the Son of God. And they worshiped Him. It reminds me of something in an age where everybody's looking for a sign and everybody's looking

for a miracle. I'm reminded of the fact that Jesus does these things for one reason, and one reason only, and that's to show who He really is so that we can know Him in a deeper way. Why do we go through the storms that we go through in our lives? Because when the storm is done, we know Jesus in a way that we didn't before. Why does He do the miraculous at times in our lives

so that we can know Jesus in a way that we did not know before? I'm reminded of the end of the book of Job. Maybe one of the most fantastic sections of Scripture where after the entire book of Job, of Job going through all of the tests that he went through, dealing with his idiot friends coming and telling him to repent of sin he hadn't committed, and Job demanding answers from God saying, I didn't do anything to deserve this. I want to know why.

Why is this happening in my life? God shows up and tells Job to gird up his loins like a man and answer some questions for him. And after Job dealt with the questions that God had for him, after Job went through all of the testing, all of the storms, all of the things, the greatest verse in the book of Job says this, I knew you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. And he worshiped God.

Why did he go through that storm in his life? So that he could know God in a way that he never knew him before. That's exactly what happens with these disciples. They went through a difficult time, and when all was said and done, they said, truly, you are the Son of God. And so they make it to the other side. It says, when they'd crossed over, they came to the land

of Gennesaret, and when the men of that place recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding district. They brought to him all who were sick, and they implored him that they might just touch the fringe of his cloak, and as many as touched it were cured. So they go to this land of Gennesaret, and great healing takes place. That's why they went over there, is because there was work to be done.

But in order for that work to be done, their hearts had to be prepared, and they had to know that Jesus is greater. Would you all stand with me?

As the worship team comes up to sing this last song, I just want you to know, whatever it is that you're going through in life, the storm you may be facing, God knows. Jesus is completely aware, but as a matter of fact, he's interceding for you right now. And all he wants you to do is allow him to come and allow him to be the God who deals with that. Allow him to be the God who deals with that storm that's in your life.

To keep your eyes on Jesus. Father, we come before you and just thank you for the time that we've had in your word this morning. Lord, I thank you for who you are and who you continue to show yourself to be in our lives. And Father, for those that are here this morning, Lord, need to keep their eyes focused on you. Need to get, their eyes focused back on you.

Need to find that their ability is in you. Lord, I pray that you would do that work this morning. Lord, that you would draw us near to you, fashion in us the hearts of men and women of God that you want for us to be. Continue to be patient with us, Lord, we pray. May we take the truth of your word and carry it out with us this week. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.

Peace like a river wash over me Burst me in water as deep as the sea Hide me in love Healing embrace Peace like a river wash over me As I worship your majesty I worship your holy name Jesus, my everything All that I am in you Come Holy Spirit Rain down on me Break open the heavens Drench the unseen Pour out your presence As I pour out your praise Holy Spirit As I worship your majesty Worship your whole Jesus, my everything All that I am Ever break out Lord send revival Lord send it now Move of your own spirit Heaven break out Come now in this land Like you've done it before Heavenly Father, God, I just pray that you would wash through this place like a flood, Lord. God, move in a mighty way. God, just bring revival in our lives, God.

God, I know that there's some here, Lord, that are going through storms, that are going through deserts, Lord. And I just pray that you would bring that fresh feeling, Lord, God, in our lives, God, and just renew us, revive us, Lord. I pray that as we leave here today that your Holy Spirit go with us. Lord, that you're ever present with us, Lord. That we feel your presence, Lord.

That we know that you're there and that you're working in our lives, Lord. I just pray, Lord, as we leave here today, I pray that you bless each and every one of us, Lord. We love you and we praise you in your precious and holy name. And all of God's people said? Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.