The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Walking on Water

Episode Date: July 26, 2020

Our FAITH and our FAILURES will lead those around us to see and worship Jesus. Our inaction will not.

Hey, hey, hey, how are we doing, church? Man, I hope you are doing well. If we hadn't met yet, my name is Ryan Stone. I am one of the pastors here. I get the honor to get to preach tonight. It's an honor to open up God's word with you. We are in the second week of a four-week series in which we're looking at kind of the life of Apostle Peter.

And if you're new to Bible study, a couple things you need to know. One thing you need to know is this, that Peter often talked first. the Peter often talked the most and that Peter talked the loudest. I don't know if you know a lot about the eneagram, but I'm pretty sure Peter and I are the same thing on the enneagram. We like to talk and talk and talk. And so we'll be here for at least two or three hours as we dig in to the word tonight.

But Peter talked a lot. And what we're doing over these four weeks is we're studying the life of Peter. And we're asking this, man, when Peter encountered Jesus, what do we learn about our encountering? counter with Jesus. So tonight we're going to dig in on Jesus walking on the water and Peter joining him. So if you got your Bibles, whether they're like a good old-fashioned hard copy Bible or they're somewhere on your 1122 app, if you'll do me a favor, go ahead and open them up to Matthew Chapter 14. I want to set a little context for us so that as we're starting to dig in, we know

what's happening around this story. So this account starts at the beginning of the beginning of Matthew 14, when Jesus finds out that his cousin, John the Baptist, he finds out that his cousin had been beheaded by King Herod. So Jesus decides he needs a little bit of solitude, a little bit of grieving time. So he gets into the boat and he's going to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and kind of chill and just kind of get him a little bit of time with his heavenly father. And when he gets over to the other side, he kind of pulls up. And the Bible says, tells us there's like 5,000 plus people waiting on him. And Jesus full of grief, he sees his people and he has compassion on them. And his compassion leads to just a string of miracles. And the string

of miracles end with Jesus feeding like 5,000 plus people with basically like a happy meal. Like he takes like a couple pieces of bread and a couple of fish sticks and he feeds 5,000 people. It's unbelievable. And that's where we find Peter and Jesus and the disciples. So verse 22 says this. He immediately made the disciples to get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. And after he dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when evening came, he was there alone. So this is like, it's crazy town.

You've got to understand the energy. Jesus just got done leading the first men. mega church service ever, thousands of people all over. And it was like the best of best church services you had ever been to, like saturated on steroids. Now, if you're new to the church of 1122, and it saturated is this huge event we do in September. It is coming. It's going to be amazing. And Jesus just got done with this like saturated on steroids kind of deal. And so Jesus, he gives the benediction. He says, peace out. He says, be free. He looks at the disciples, and he's whooped. I mean, he's whooped at this point. He's been grieving.

He's been doing ministry. He looks at his guys, his disciples. He goes, we've got to shut this down. Let's go ahead and send the folks home. We've already fed them. It's like a good Baptist church service. They had some preaching and they had some food and it's time to go home. And he turns the disciples and the Bible says he forced them. He made them to get in the boat and go across. Now, I imagine, Jesus is going, hey, guys, you're going to get the boat and we're going to go find another spot that we can hang out. I'm sure one of them was like, Jesus, we should stay here, bro. This is the craziest thing I've ever seen.

Like, encore Jesus, play Freebird. Let's keep doing this thing. Like, we've got to do that. I'm sure another one is like, Jesus, I ain't getting in that boat at night. Bro, you know that sea, man. They got storms on there. I ain't really up for, like, boating at night. And I'm sure another one, probably John, was like, but Jesus, how are you going to get

across the water. Like if we all go now, like, what are, I love you, bro, what are we going to do? And after all these excuses, I just imagine Jesus looks at disciples and says, look, here's the deal. Get in the boat. You know, like, Daddy, like, get in the car. I'm going to throw you off this, right? And so he says, get in the boat. And then Jesus turns to the crowds and the Bible says he sends them away, almost like he shoes them off. Like compassionate Jesus says, you got us to go. You see, here's what we find out if we flip over to John 6, He sends them away because he senses that they are rallying and gathering, and they're going to try and force him to start a revolution. They're going to try to force him to be king.

You know, at this point, the Jews are under Roman oppression, and so they're trying to force him to be king. Now, Jesus was, and Jesus still is, just countercultural. So Jesus wasn't having that. The people wanted to start a political revolution, but Jesus had come to reconcile all things to the Father. So as they started to stir and prepare to make Jesus king, he says, y'all got to go home.

You got to get out of here. So he sends the disciples off. He sends everybody home. And finally, before Jesus goes and joins his disciples, he pulls away in solitude. Jesus cars out some time to spend one-on-one with his Heavenly Father. He turns his iPhone off. He gets off the Twitter and he gets off the Instagram.

for a second. Jesus' Instagram game was probably pretty strong. And he gets off of it. And I promise you this, Jesus didn't pull away because he lacked things to do. He had come to save all the world. He had a lot of things to do.

He pulls away because he knew the amount of things that needed to be done. He had to prioritize solitude and Sabbath and quiet with the Father. Jesus knew, because he's Jesus. that he's about to walk into a storm. And before the storms came, Jesus had a habit of finding solitude

and sitting along with His Heavenly Father. I think for many of us, that's the only thing we need to hear tonight, is that it is worth the habit of saying, I have limitations. I'm going to turn the world off on a rhythm and a Sabbath and just sit with the Lord.

And so Jesus, in verse 24, he's praying, and says, but the boat, by this time was a long way from land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them, and in the fourth watch of the night, he being Jesus, came to them walking on the sea. So at this point, you've got to imagine, the disciples are, they're whooped, right? Fourth watch, according to the Roman clock, was somewhere between three and six in the morning. These brothers had gotten in a boat right after dinner, and they had been rowing their boat for, let's call it conservatively,

about 10 hours. And at this point, according to some other accounts, like in John, we know they're about three miles. So they're not going three miles an hour. They're going three miles a 10 hour. That is a lot of rowing. They are worn out. And the word here that Matthew uses for the waves we're beating the boat is the same word

that he uses in other parts of his letter to talk about the act of demons, like being tormented by demons. So let's just say this. This storm was something else. It was fierce. The word that Matthew decided to use to talk about the storm was the same word that he used other places to talk about demonic activity. The guys were exhausted, the guys were tired, the guys were ready to quit. And check this out. After Jesus had told them to get in the boat and he sent them into the storm. And Mark tells us he kind of hangs out, he knows they're in the storm, but he hangs out a little bit longer. Jesus has been in prayer from dinner to about 4 a.m.

And he says, all right, now it's time to go get my boys. So he goes walking out on the water. Now, is this a miracle? Yeah, people don't walk on water. So when Jesus walks on water, sometimes people are like, how did that happen, Pastor? It's a miracle. If it wasn't a miracle, I could explain it.

But it's a miracle. He walks out on water. Not only is it a miracle, but Jesus is, it is a way in which he's declaring his deity. The book of Job is in the Old Testament. It says this, that he alone stretched out the heavens, and he alone tramples on the waves of the sea. So Jesus is once again reminding us, he is God in flesh. Not only is it a miracle, not only is it a declaration of his deity, but it is Jesus proclaiming

the very purpose in which he took on flesh and dwelt amongst us. Here's what I mean. Jesus walks out on the water. He tramples the waves of the sea to declare this truth. that Jesus will take whatever he pleases to save his people. That Jesus will take whatever he pleases to take his and save his people. So Jesus comes walking out on the water, declaring himself deity, declaring himself Savior.

In verse 26, it says this, but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, which I'm like, me, me, I would be too. And they said, it's a ghost. and they cried out in fear, but immediately Jesus spoke to them and he said, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid. Like, rightfully so, the disciples were scared. I mean, they're in like a small boat in the middle of the lake, in the middle of the storm,

in the middle of the night. Now, these guys were like, most of them were like fishermen by trade, so they had been in boats all their life. But all of a sudden, it is dark. It is storming. They are tired. And it is amazing. Have you ever thought about this

in the middle of a storm how small things scare us? I mean, have you ever been like in a real, like a hurricane and you hear like one limb scratch against the window and you're like, we're all dead. We're not making it through the night.

Or maybe you're like in a financial storm and you get one bill and you think, I don't think I'm ever going to be able to pay that bill. Or maybe you're in a tough spot in your marriage and you get in one fight and you think, oh, this might be it. Like in the middle of the storm,

these little small things become huge. men are crying out in fear. Now I love how the Bible just captured it's like it's a ghost. All right. These are like professional fishermen and they're all dudes, which means this. They're not saying, well, gee, golly, perhaps that might be a ghost out there upon the waters. See if it's Casper. It's not that. I think there's much more cuss words involved. You ever heard cuss like a sailor? That's probably happening right here. The fishermen get scared and they are not saying gee golly. They're losing their minds and in the midst of the storm, in the midst of the wave, In the midst of the chaos, in the midst of the fear, Jesus makes one declaration, and he gives him two commands.

He makes one declaration. In the Greek, the first thing he says, the way that the Greek is set up, he says, Am I ego, I am. Now, if you were with us last week, Pastor Jobb, walked through the fact that I am was the name in which God told Israel. He said, my name is Yahweh. Now Jesus doesn't say, hey, guys, it's me, Jesus. He says, I am. He reminds them, don't be afraid, take heart. I am God and I am with you. He declares to be God. He then commands them to do two things.

The first command he tells them is this, take heart. Literally, it means this, be cheerful and be courageous. Be cheerfully courageous. I love that. I don't know why I love that. I kind of want to get a tattooed, like right there. Be cheerfully courageous. That's what he says.

There's an old dead guy named Matthew Henry is an incredible author. And the old dead guy back in 1600 said it like this. Jesus encouraged them against their fright. It is I, and therefore be of good cheer. Be courageous. Pluck up your spirits and be courageous. If Christ's disciples be not cheerful in a storm,

it is their own fault, for he would not have them so. Jesus looks at them and says, I'm with you. Be cheerfully courageous. courageous. Jesus is telling them, I know there's a storm, guys, but I'm with you in the storm. Jesus is looking at the disciples and saying, look, because I am with you, you can be courageous even in this storm. You can have joy and cheerfulness, even in this storm, albeit that doesn't make a lot of sense. Let's be honest, whatever storm 2020 has brought us, Jesus wasn't surprised by it. Jesus is very aware of the crazy world we live in.

I love watching Pastor Jobi as he was by the sea of Galilee sharing that. That was like pre-COVID. And he says, man, you ever notice how you don't know when the storms are coming? I was like, that's prophetic, right? And so it's upon us, right? Jesus is with us in this storm. He is commanding you and I in the midst of whatever storm we're in to be cheerfully courageous. Why?

Because he is God in the middle of our storm. with us. The second command that Jesus gives to his disciples is this one. Do not be afraid. 365 times in Scripture we get some phrase of do not be afraid. You know why? Number one, we're fearful people. We just are. Number two, there are things to be afraid of. There are many things to fear. Losing your job, sickness, a crazy world. a wayward child, man, there are so many things. Every single day, we could all find a list of things in which we could fear. But Jesus looks at the disciples just like he's looking at us and says,

I am with you in the storm. You don't have anything to be scared of. You don't have anything to be scared of. Why? Because Jesus is with us. Last week, I gave my grandma, BB. We call her BB. She told me it's because it was bad, Brenda, but I think the B might be something else.

But we'll figure that out. We'll fact check that later. And I called my BB, and I said, BB, how are you doing? I knew things were a little tough. My granddad, Alan, was in the hospital. And it started as a fever, and then when he got to the hospital, he had some broken ribs. We were like, man, that's a bummer. I guess we understand.

Maybe there's a little infection. Well, the broken ribs became an E. coli infection. And then before that was all done, they began to notice that he had some congestive heart failure and some dementia. So what started as a fever got really scary, really quick. So I called my grandma, and I call the grandma, I call her matriarch. She's the matriarch of the family. And if you ain't from the South, you don't know what I'm talking about. I can't help you.

But I said, hey, matriarch, how are you? And she said, well, my favorite grandson, which is awkward because there are other grandsons, including my brother who's listening to me preach right now. Sorry, bud. So here's the deal. She says, how's my favorite grandson? And I said, I'm good. So how are you?

I know it's tough because Allen's in the hospital. And her response blew me away. She said, well, Ryan, she's from Albany, Georgia. So like every syllable that I have, like three or four syllables, she multiplies that to the nth degree. My name is Ryan Stone. And when my grandma calls me, there's 18 syllables in there. I don't know how it works.

It's awesome. She says, I'm doing fine. Now, fine is Southern for I'm doing as good as I can be. I am well with my soul. I'm doing fine. You know, Ryan? You know why? I'm doing fine, Ryan? I said, well, why? She goes, because even in this hospital room,

you know Jesus is in charge. Look, I've seen that courage in her over and over again. My dad battled and cancer and passed away from cancer, and she would sit by his bed and just declare that Jesus was in the hospital room. And my baby knows full well that life is full of storms. She's experienced them. But not only she know there are storms, but she knows that Jesus is in every storm in every hospital room saying take heart don't be afraid i am here why because there is not an inch of creation in which jesus is not sovereign king over there's not a storm in which we can walk through that jesus is not going waves you can go there wind you can go there all of this is mine my grandma knows what the bible teaches that he is here and he is saying the same thing in

storm. I don't know your storm. I don't know what's going on in your world right now. Maybe things are great. Maybe you're just rowing and it's just butterflies and candy bear everywhere. Awesome. Some others of us are envious, but I don't know what your storm is, but I do know this. Jesus is in the middle of your storm saying, you don't need to be afraid. You need to take courage. There is nothing he won't conquer to save his people. Nothing. Verse 28. Here comes to loudmouth. Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come out on the water. He said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. I love it. Peter, the loud mouth. He talks first. He talks loud as he talks often. There's 12 guys in the boat. They're rowing. Jesus walks up, says,

I'm here, take courage, be cheerful, don't be afraid. And Peter goes, Jesus, if it's really you, tell me to come to you. Peter hears that I am here, take heart and don't be afraid, and Peter is off to the races. Peter's like gut response is to say to this to Jesus, Yahweh, if it's you and you're out there walking on the water, I want to be on the water too. I want to be with you. I don't care what it costs me. I want to be where you are doing what you're doing. Now, why does Peter do this. Well, here's the thing. Peter was a disciple of Rabbi Jesus. In disciples, they knew that their number one job was to walk in kind of the footprint, the dust of their rabbi. And whatever their rabbi did, they would learn it and they would try to mimic it and they would try to make habits of it.

And whatever Rabbi Jesus was doing, Peter thought to himself, if my rabbi is out there on the water and I'm supposed to be like him, becoming like him, I need to do what he is doing. I want to be where he is at. So he says, can I come out there with you, Jesus? I want to be with you. Jesus, this boat seems safe. That seems dangerous, but you're out there. I don't want to be here if you're out there. And I love what Jesus does. Jesus doesn't rebuke Peter. He doesn't go, hey, man, you know if you come out here, you're only going to be able to kind of stay on the water for like a few minutes and then you're going to sink like a rock. Jesus doesn't say, look here, Scooter, you're not quite ready for this level of rabbi ninja waterwalking.

this is what Jesus says, ercoma. He says, come. Now that word come, ercoma in Greek, doesn't mean like, come on, like give it a shot. We'll see what happens. He's calling people out. It's almost as he's saying, come on out into your true self. Go ahead and take that step of faith and see what happens. Jesus doesn't give him my like, let's just give it a try. He says, Peter, come on out. Step into yourself. Step into this calling. Step into this man that I am making you to he calls Peter beyond himself into a depth of knowing Jesus that I don't think Peter even knew he was asking for. I think Peter was like, that'd be cool to be out there with Jesus. Let me go do some of that.

As I began to read this verse and let that sink in all week long, I've been thinking, man, what if we're missing out on like radical life-altering experiences with Jesus because we just think maybe he won't invite us out? Like, what if we're scared he'll say no, so we don't even ask? What if we've settled for the mundane, routine day-to-day life when Jesus is saying, come on, the majestic is right here within reach because of the cross you're invited in? What if we're buying into this lie and we've convinced ourselves that Jesus wants less for us than we actually want for our own selves? Here's the problem. The opposite is actually true.

Jesus wants far more for you. He wants far more for you. He wants far more for you than you could ever ask or imagine. Jesus doesn't want you to timidly come to him with uncourageous prayers. He wants you to courageously ask, Jesus, can I join you in that dangerous thing? Jesus, can I join you in something that is bigger than me? You see, when we read the text, we realize 11 guys sat on that boat

convinced that Jesus probably wouldn't let him come out. and one guy said maybe like maybe if I ask Jesus to bless my marriage he'll bless it he'll bless it maybe if I ask Jesus to give me favor and allow me to have influence in my industry maybe he will maybe if I ask Jesus to send me to the end of the earth maybe he'll send me and maybe like revival will break out

maybe he'll ask me to be a part of something bigger than me one guy walked on water now here's the thing The other 11 weren't disobedient. Jesus told them, get in a boat and row across. They weren't disobedient. They weren't running the other way. This isn't like Jonah in the Old Testament

where he ran the wrong way. These guys were doing what Jesus asked him to do. But the difference between those 11 guys and Peter is that those 11 guys were satisfied. They just wanted to get enough of Jesus. Not all of them, just enough of them. Those other 11 guys were just, are content. In all honesty, those other 11 guys were just playing it safe. Now, here's the thing,

Jesus was not and is not and will never be a play it safe kind of guy. He is radically courageous. And if we're to say I'm a follower of Jesus, then what we are saying is he is my rabbi where he goes, I want to go. I want to be like Jesus. I want to run out of after Jesus. Jesus is countercultural. Jesus is courageous. Jesus is dangerous. Jesus is radical. Jesus is not watching the news to figure out what to do with his life. He is sitting in solitude with the Father and saying, now let's walk in the storms, let's push back the gates of hell, let's push back to darkness, let's declare the love of the Father. And if we are saying as followers of Jesus, we want to follow Jesus, then we have to be okay with going, I'm ready to be

radical. I'm ready to be courageous. I'm ready to be dangerous. I want to be like Peter and I want to step out on the water and I want to do something crazy. Now, I do want to pause here for a second. I want to make sure we're seeing this passage in what it's pointing us to. Here's what I mean. I don't want to get into this thing. Like, well, let's all be the best version of Peter we can. Unless your name's Peter, that's stupid. And if your name's Peter, it's probably still stupid to wake up and be like, I'm going to be the best version of Peter. Because the best version of Peter, or the best version of whatever your name is, is still a filthy, broken-hearted sinner in need of a Savior.

The story of Peter is not a fable for courageous living. It's not a story that ends with the moral. The story is, be more courageous. This account isn't supposed to make us enamored with Peter. It's supposed to make us enamored with the one that Peter was enableness. enamored with. When you look at your Bible at the header, it doesn't say Peter walks on water. It says Jesus walks on water. I love it when you look at this account, when you read it verse by verse, it screams the gospel at us. What do I mean? I mean, first of all, Peter doesn't ask,

can I walk on water? What does Peter ask for? Can I be with you, Jesus? Peter's not going, I want to do that cool thing because that cool thing will kind of, it'll get me followers, it'll get me influence, it'll get me a reputation. Peter's not saying I want to walk on water. Peter's saying, I'm in love with Jesus and I'll do whatever it takes to run after him. Peter doesn't come to Jesus on his own power. Peter was a fisherman. He could probably swim. He's probably a good swimmer, but he doesn't swim to Jesus. Peter didn't come to Jesus on his own power, but through grace, Peter comes to Jesus. It's not, I will come out to you. Peter's saying, if you call me Jesus, if you equip me, Jesus, then I can be with you.

And the gospel is screamed in this. Peter walks out of the safety of the boat because of the gift of faith that Jesus had given him. And Jesus gives him this faith. It's not logical to jump out of a boat into a storm. And I'll tell you this, if you're new and following Jesus, or even maybe you've been following Jesus for a while, you know this to be true.

But getting out of the boat is never logical. faith rarely aligns with logic. Logic is I am smart enough to put A plus B and equal C. Faith is I'm at A and Jesus has called me to Z and I don't even know the whole alphabet. But Jesus is going to come through. Man, when we look at this story, I hope we're inspired. I hope we're stirred. I hope something shakes in us and we're looking at ourselves going, I want to be courageous.

I want to be radical, especially in the story. in the middle of the storm that 2020 is, I want my fate to stand out and I want to radically, courageously, be cheerful in the midst of trials to the point that people are blown away with what Jesus is doing. Verse 30.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. Which I always thought, man, how hard is that wind blowing if you could see the wind? I'd be scared too. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached his hand out and took a hold of him saying, oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?

Here's what I love about the Bible. It reminds us that God is not running after us because we're perfect. He's running after us because he's perfect. And in his love, he pursues us. You see, Peter had not arrived. He wasn't perfect. He was far from it. He had enough courage to step out in faith to trust Jesus,

but he failed to keep walking his faith. He took his eyes off of Jesus, and he failed because he began to waver in his doubt. He began to see the wind and the storms and all the circumstances and all the reality, and he took his eyes off Jesus long enough to begin to fail, but that didn't keep Jesus from inviting him out of the boat. Jesus didn't go, hold on, if you could get this perfect, you can come join me. Jesus said, if you're willing, I'm able. Now, if you look at this, verse 29 to verse 3.

30, the only things that changes is Peter's focus. Like, Jesus is the same, the boat behind him's the same, Peter's the same, the storm's the same. Nothing in the context has changed except for Peter's, he shifts his focus and begins to doubt. He begins to waver in his faith. He begins to sink, and in the moment he begins to sink, he cries out, Lord, save me. So Jesus reaches out and saves Peter. I hope you hear a lot of good truth tonight, but I want you to hear this one as loud as any other truth.

You and I are never too far for Jesus to save us. You're never too sunk for Jesus to reach out and pick you up. And I love this. In love, not only is Jesus save Peter, but then he gives him a little rebuking. He picks a little bit on our loud mouth. He kind of picks him up out of the water and he's holding him there in front of all his buddies. And he goes, you of little faith.

It's like a dig. He takes a dig at him. Like, hey, little faith. You got a little faith, you know? And so he's like, you of little faith. And it's not that Peter didn't have any faith. It's that all of a sudden his faith was paralyzed by fear. Because all of a sudden he began to see the waves and see all the realities that could take him out.

And in that moment, his faith went from big faith to little bit of faith. And when he got the little bit of fake, Jesus goes, man, what happened, Peter? We were doing this thing. It was awesome. And Jesus looks at him and goes, Peter, why did you doubt? Now, Peter didn't doubt Jesus. How do I know that? Because when he started to sing, what did Peter say?

Lord, save me. Not I wonder if Jesus could save me. Not I wonder if Jesus will save me, but the middle, in the minute that he began to sink and his world began to fall apart, he goes, Jesus, Jesus, I need you. the Greek word distazo, it means like, the doubt means like to waver between two different directions. Pastor Jobi says it all the time like this. He's like, if you're ever trying to get on a boat and you put one foot on the dock and then you put the other foot on the boat, and then you're kind of rocking and you're not really on the dock, you're not really on the boat, you're just getting ready to get wet.

Like that's what doubt does. It's like when we doubt, we're trying to put our faith and trust in more than one thing at a time. And so Peter walks out on the water. He trusts Jesus, his faith in Jesus, and then he begins to see the wind and the waves. And now he's trying to trust Jesus, and he's trying to trust his own judgment. And somewhere in between that, he gets distracted. He begins to doubt. He begins to waver.

And even when Peter wavers, and even when he begins to sink, Jesus still saves him. It wasn't about Peter's effort. It wasn't about how good Peter was. It was about the fact that Jesus will do anything. He'll take anything that he pleases to save his people. Now, I love this about Jesus. It is not the way of Jesus to cast off weak believers. It's not how he acts.

Jesus doesn't come to you and look at your fate scale, and if it's high enough, he's like, you come with me. Your fate scale's kind of lower, you guts to go. It's not in Jesus' character or nature to kick out people with weak faith, nor is it in Jesus's nature to coddle that fear. Like Jesus is not like, oh, faith meter, you're good. But he's also not going to coddle the fear. Now, I've been trying to think about how to explain this,

and I begin to think about my own daughters. I'm a father. I've got two daughters. They're awesome. And here's what I began to think about my daughters. I don't kick them out when they get scared. But I don't coddle their fear either. Like I love my daughters too much

to cultivate the damaging effect of fear. Like, I love them too much to be like, you can leave that fear there. Let's let it grow, see what it becomes. I began to think about when they were growing up, and I remember as kids grow up, they're past this now, but they would get scared of monsters in their closet. You know what I never did? I never said, well, if the monster's in your closet, then that means good. The good news is he's not in the front yard, so here's a sleeping bag.

Get out of my house, you little scaredy wimp. Right? Didn't do that. You know what I also didn't do? I didn't buy goofy nightlights and annoying sound machines and, like, standers. and by the foot of their bed. I'm like, you fall asleep, I'll get the monsters. No, I didn't, I didn't coddle. Some of you're like, well, I have goofy nightlights. We know. Your kids are going to show it one day. But I didn't, I didn't coddle the fear, and I didn't dismiss the fear. We prayed,

and we, in perfect love, cast out fear. And I came and sat with them, and I said, there is nothing to fear because I love you and we're going to walk this out. And that's been true. We're moving houses and moving school districts, and there's a little fear. And I don't go, well, you can stay here and we're just going to leave you because you're scared. No, we're walking it out. We went on our first family mission trip last year. And Emory, my older one, she's a perfectionist, and she likes to know every minute of the day what is going to happen. And mission trips don't do that. And Blakely is a child of my own heart. She doesn't like to be uncomfortable. And mission trips are uncomfortable. So her and I are like, if I'm not comfortable, then I'm

going home. No, I didn't send them home. We walked it out. And as much as I love my daughters, and I know that perfect love cast out fear. Jesus loves you so much more. It does. Now, I don't know if having fear is wrong, because we all have it, but I do know that fear makes a terrible master. And I know when Peter began to waver

between Jesus as his master and fear as his master is when he got in trouble, because fear will cause you to sink when you let it be your master. I'm just telling you right now, some of y'all need to hop off the YouTube right now. Like the conspiracy theories, you've got so much fear, you don't even know which way's up anymore. Some of you, you just constantly are living in fear. Fear is a horrible, horrible master.

Verse 32, when they got in the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him saying, truly, you are the son of God. Peter gets to walk back to the boat with Jesus. In faith, he steps out and he walks on water, and then he fails, and then Jesus leans over. The failure faded, the rebuke turns into growth, and all of a sudden Peter's encounter with Jesus, Jesus picks him back up, and they go walking back to the boat

when they get in the boat. All of a sudden, all the disciples begin to worship Jesus. And I love this reality that our faith and our failures will lead people to worship. You get that? Who else besides Jesus gives you that kind of invitation? Hey, you have faith that moves a mountain. Amazing. People will worship Jesus.

If you fail every single day of your life, that is awesome. Jesus will use that so that he would be worshipped and that you would be a worship leader. in your faith and your failure. Now, there's been a few lessons that I have seen in this text that I'd like for us to just walk away with. Just some lessons from a loudmouth. And so as we begin to kind of land the plane over the next few minutes, there's three things,

three lessons that we learn from this loudmouth. The first one that we learn from Peter is this, obedience is not always easy, but it can always be walked out in great joy. obedience is not always easy but it can always be walked out in great joy i don't want you to miss while the disciples were in the storm jesus sent them there jesus told them get in the boat and he sent them into the storm and then according to mark he waited a little bit as the storm got worse and worse and worse he waited before he walked out to them this is kind of crazy like i read this as a

I read this as a believer, and I go, hold on, you're telling me that their obedience landed them in the storm? Yeah. Yeah, I don't know how, I don't know how this works all the time, but I do know this. Jesus knew for the disciples that what was in the storm was worth it for their soul. He knew that what was in the storm was worth sending them in. When Jesus finds them in the storm, the storm he sent them into his command was this, take heart. Now, I also think about this.

When he finds him in the storm, Jesus could have said, hey, I'm here, waves cease. But he doesn't. The storm keeps going, and he tells him, I'm here. Be cheerful, be courageous. James, the brother of Jesus, would tell us this way. In James chapter 1, count it all as joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.

It's countercultural to follow Jesus. It doesn't always make sense. For believers, for Christians, we look at the storms of life and we cheerfully say, God, where are you at in this? We cheerfully say, God, what is it about you you want me to know in the middle of this storm? We look at storms and go, God, what are you doing in my soul that when I come through this, I can count it as pure joy that I was in it? It's countercultural. And what if God has sent you into the storm you're in right now for the sake of calling you into a deeper, intimate relationship with him? What if the storm God has sent you in right now?

He sent you into a storm right now so that on the other side of it you would have deeper faith to find deeper joy. What if this thing called 2020 is tossing us about and it is just the feeder in which God is going to declare his call for you and for your life? I would say this. When our obedience is not marked by joy,

I think it's because we've traded the gospel for religion. when our obedience, when doing the things that God's called us to do, when it is not marked by joy, it's because we've made it dutiful religion. Because the gospel reminds us that in all things we are more than conquerors. So when we're thinking with the gospel lens and we see a storm, we're like, huh, I'm going to wop this one too, because Jesus has already declared, I am more than a conqueror.

The gospel reminds us that even in death, the worst thing that could happen, our death, Jesus still stands there going, I'm victorious over that too. Like there's nothing. And I'm not saying like we should go out here and be like, I want to die today. I'm just saying that the worst thing that could happen is we die and we are eternally forever in the presence of Jesus with Jesus looking at death and going, where is your sting? He's looking at sin going, you are powerless over my people.

That the worst thing that could happen. Jesus is like, I've been there, done that, beat it. Let's go. Second thing I think we learn from Peter is this. When fear and failure strike. not if when fear and failure strike Jesus is there immediately to save us now I learned this because 2003 I heard pastor Joby preach this text first sermon I ever heard him preach the first time we ever met he preached this and he showed this to me all those years ago and I still think about it often

when fear fear and failure strike Jesus is there immediately look at verse 27 and verse 31 when the disciples cry out and fear, what happened? Jesus immediately spoke. In verse 31, when Peter begins to sink and says, Lord, save me, Jesus immediately reaches his hand out. What does that mean? It means in the time of our deepest fear and our deepest failure, Jesus is so close that he can immediately reach out and save us. No fear is unconquerable. No failure is unredeemable when we cry, Lord Jesus, save me. And this, this is a great. This is a great. crazy byproduct of fear and failure. We learn to trust Jesus more deeply in the midst of our fear and the midst of our failure.

Trust is forged, not in times of comfort and success. Trust is forged in the midst of stress and failure. You see, when Peter walked on the water and he was successful, he saw Jesus' power. When Peter began to sink in the water, he saw his own weakness. and Peter begins to cry out for help. He sees Jesus's forgiveness, mercy, and grace. Next week we're going to study Matthew 16, and I think it might be in moments like this,

that Jesus forges a trust in Peter, and in Matthew 16, Peter declares Jesus Christ, you are the son of the living God, you are the Savior, you are the Messiah. It is when we fail, it is in our fear that Jesus goes, you are still mine, and I will pursue you and love you and run after you. Third thing I think Peter shows us here is this.

The best and the worst scenarios of us stepping out in faith ends in this. Jesus is worshipped. Like the best case scenario of you stepping out in faith, being courageous in your faith, is Jesus is worshipped. That's a good day. The worst case scenario in us stepping out in our faith, the absolute worst thing that could happen is we fail, and even in our failure, Jesus is worshipped. One of our friends in North Carolina, pastor J.D. Greer has a quote that says this, in Christ, there is nothing you can do that would make Jesus love you more.

There's no amount of faith or success that can make Jesus love you more. He already loves you. He already went to the cross to declare his love you more. love for you. He saved you before you could do anything for him. He is king of kings and Lord of lords. What could we offer the king of kings? Nothing. And yet he loves you. There's nothing you could do to make him love you more. And he continues. And in Christ, there was nothing you have done that could make Jesus love you less. There's nothing in our past that disqualifies us from his love. There's nothing in our present that would cut us off from his love. Your biggest failures, the one of the one you haven't told anybody about because they scar you so deep. Your biggest failure is but a canvas for Jesus to paint all over with his blood. You are loved. When we're honest in life,

and we begin to say things like, I don't know how this is going to work. I know God you called me to do this. I don't see how it's going to happen. I don't know how this is going to work out. It doesn't make any sense. When we begin to walk out in this, I'm going to step by faith because it doesn't make any sense. When we step out in faith, everyone around us gets to see the one that we have faith in. They see our courage. And I promise you, when you do something courageous, they're like, well, gee, golly, I knew he added in them. When we step out and begin to do, have courageous obedience. People see Jesus and they worship him. And in the worst case scenario, when you fail, when you're honest about your failures, when you're transparent about your weakness, when we

acknowledge our humanity, when we repent, when we hurt others, when we admit, no one's perfect but Jesus. When church people start going, I'm the chief sinner, I'm no better than you, Jesus is better than all of us. In those moments, we begin to clear with our body, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, His grace is sufficient for me, for his power is made perfect in my weakness. therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ then I am content with my weaknesses. For the sake of Jesus, I'm content in failure.

I failed. No problem. I'm weak. Why? Because insults and persecutions and calamities for when I am weak. In Jesus Christ I am strong. In our faith, people say, see the one we have faith in, and they're amazed, and they worship. In our failure, people see our humanity and our brokenness, and they find comfort that they're not alone. And in our brokenness, and in our failure, we point to Jesus. Faith proclaims, even when I can't understand Jesus is in

control, even when the storms are going to take me out, I cheerfully, courageously take heart. failures declare that Jesus is quick to forgive and to redeem, but in action neglects what it means to be called to follow a courageous Savior. You see, even when we don't see it, Jesus is working. Even when we don't feel it, Jesus is working. He never stops. King Jesus never stops working. Jesus is the waymaker. And here's the thing. I don't know the step of faith that Jesus is calling you to. And I'm not about to kind of run through a list of options. Like maybe you should do this or maybe you should do that. I think for days, weeks, maybe even years in your life,

the Holy Spirit's going, I've called you to more. I've called you to more. I've called you to more. And maybe just maybe by God's grace in the midst of the storm of 2020, he's stirring that thing up. You can't get comfortable. And whatever God is calling you to do, If it scares you a little bit, then that means you need God a lot of bit.

When fear begins to rise, prayer has to rise even more. And church, what's the worst thing that could happen? You step out in faith and you fail and in your weaknesses. Others see that Jesus is a forgiving Savior. What's the best thing could happen? Through your faith, other people see Jesus and they fall in love with them. So let's be a courageous people. Let's step out of the boat.

Let's be a people that say, I want my life to point others to the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. May we be a courageous individuals. May we be a courageous church. Church, will you stand with me all around our campuses and 11.20 a time? Would you stand with me?

Let me pray. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for loving us. So Lord, I ask you, I ask you as we prepare to respond. Spirit in this moment, will you stir in us? What does it mean for me to step out in faith? What does it mean for me to live dangerously, to live courageously? Lord, I don't have to give a list of things because the spirit is just knocking on our hearts right now.

And may you call us to do things that scare us, that calls us to be a courageous piece. people. May we not doubt, may we not waver, may we be blown away with your obedience and your love and your forgiveness and your redemption. So Lord, as we worship you, would you stir in us? May we know, maybe know what it means to love you. It's your name we pray. Amen. So church, we're going to respond. We respond by bringing our ties and offerings. We respond by kneeling and praying and begging the Lord to not only call us to courageous things, but then to give us the courage to do them. And we respond by singing. So church, let's respond together.