Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: Welcome to class. We're starting a We're starting a brand
Speaker 1: new school. I know a lot of kids aren't going
Speaker 1: back to the classroom in August here where we live.
Speaker 1: So I thought today, since I have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: teach the word, go ahead and bring my materials please,
Speaker 1: I'm going to teach you a lesson today. This is
Speaker 1: more than a sermon. This is a class and the
Speaker 1: title of the class. Are you ready? Are you ready?
Speaker 1: Are you ready? I don't think you are. Come on
Speaker 1: in the chat ready now. I can't teach you how
Speaker 1: to cook. I can't teach you how to speak Spanish.
Speaker 1: I can't teach you any of that. I can't teach
Speaker 1: you CrossFit. I can't teach you hot yoga. I can't
Speaker 1: teach you any of that. But today I want to
Speaker 1: teach a class. I want to teach a class, and
Speaker 1: I need to know who's Who's present. Let's have a
Speaker 1: roll call. Puts your name and your city, and the
Speaker 1: chat say present, present, present, present, Get your number two pencils.
Speaker 1: Welcome to water Walking one oh what are you ready? Amen?
Speaker 1: Those of you in the room remain standing water Walking
Speaker 1: one on one. I thought we would get a jump
Speaker 1: on the school year and see what God would teach
Speaker 1: us today about the situations in our life that He
Speaker 1: has placed us over. And I just declare over your
Speaker 1: life today. Give me my camera. I'm looking at You're
Speaker 1: not going under. You're not going under. You are not
Speaker 1: going under. I declar it not going under. And so
Speaker 1: consider this your introductory class water Walking one oh one.
Speaker 1: Our syllabus is from Matthew Chapter fourteen, verses twenty two
Speaker 1: through thirty three. I want you to find that in
Speaker 1: your Bible. This scripture is the first scripture that I
Speaker 1: ever preached on Yesterday I showed some of our staff.
Speaker 1: Or it was earlier this week actually that I showed
Speaker 1: some of our staff. Not yesterday, it was earlier this week.
Speaker 1: I showed some of our staff. The second sermon that
Speaker 1: I ever preached in the Woodmen of the World building Wow, Wow,
Speaker 1: walk on water. And this is the first sermon I
Speaker 1: ever preached at Monk's Corner United Methodist Church for Youth Sunday.
Speaker 1: Shout out to my mom who brought me up in church.
Speaker 1: Shout out to the poor people who endured my first sermon. Now,
Speaker 1: the beauty of the Methodist Church is the sermon is
Speaker 1: only twelve minutes, so if it sucks, it's mercifully short.
Speaker 1: It's not like it is now where I don't even
Speaker 1: have a time clock because there's nobody coming in later.
Speaker 1: I'm just recording the message with a few staff in
Speaker 1: the room who are socially distanced. But the horrible thing
Speaker 1: was I did not know the basics of preaching. Maybe
Speaker 1: you'd say, well that hasn't changed. Well, you may be
Speaker 1: right about that, but back then I didn't even know
Speaker 1: that you should practice or sermon before you preach it.
Speaker 1: And I got up there with like twelve note cards
Speaker 1: and I thought each note card would take a minute.
Speaker 1: My whole sermon was done in two minutes. And I
Speaker 1: cycled back through the cards and said the same stuff again,
Speaker 1: and that that polite home crowd love got me through it.
Speaker 1: It's a wonder I ever did it again. But this
Speaker 1: is the passage that I preached my first sermon from.
Speaker 1: And so sometimes it's good to go back to basics. Okay,
Speaker 1: everybody wants to use basic as a slang term these days,
Speaker 1: you know, and she's basic. It's basic. Well, what's so
Speaker 1: bad about basic? Sometimes I need to go back to
Speaker 1: the basics of faith, and this passage really helps me
Speaker 1: do that for all those who are needing God to
Speaker 1: get you over a situation that you feel like has
Speaker 1: overwhelmed you. The Bible says, immediately Jesus made the disciples
Speaker 1: get into the boat and go on ahead of him
Speaker 1: to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After
Speaker 1: he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountain
Speaker 1: side by himself to pray, and later that night he
Speaker 1: was there alone. We talked about that a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: didn't we We talked about lonely places, and Jesus chose
Speaker 1: the lonely place so that you and I could experience
Speaker 1: him in the loneliest seasons of our life. Now, Jesus
Speaker 1: sent the disciples out into the boat. The Bible says
Speaker 1: it was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by
Speaker 1: the waves because the wind was against it, and shortly
Speaker 1: before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake.
Speaker 1: So here's our instructor for the class. Here comes walking
Speaker 1: on water, just right into your situation. The Bible says
Speaker 1: when the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they
Speaker 1: were terrified. Ghosts, they said, and cried out in fear.
Speaker 1: But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage it is I.
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid. And then Teeter, Jesus star pupil, that
Speaker 1: one kid in the class who always wants to ask
Speaker 1: another question, says Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell
Speaker 1: me to come to you on the water. Come, he said,
Speaker 1: And Peter got down out of the boat walked on
Speaker 1: the water. Wow. Everybody say wow in the chat. Wow. Wow.
Speaker 1: He walked on water and came toward Jesus. But when
Speaker 1: he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink.
Speaker 1: He cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus reached out
Speaker 1: his hand and caught him, You of little faith, He said,
Speaker 1: why did you doubt? And they climbed into the boat.
Speaker 1: The wind died down, and then those who were in
Speaker 1: the boat worshiped him, saying, truly you are the son
Speaker 1: of God. Lord. We thank you for your word today,
Speaker 1: and we thank you that it transcends time, space and geography.
Speaker 1: We ask you, now, Lord, that in this moment in
Speaker 1: our life, that our hearts would be still in your
Speaker 1: presence so that we can hear your word and move
Speaker 1: toward your purpose. I thank you for each person that
Speaker 1: you brought to this sermon today. I believe they're here
Speaker 1: for a reason. I believe you're calling and drawing. I
Speaker 1: thank you that you are on the scene and help
Speaker 1: us on the way. Bring forth your word in our hearts.
Speaker 1: May it bud and flourish, prosper and do what you
Speaker 1: sent it to do in Jesus' name. Hey man, come on,
Speaker 1: let's clap our hands and thank God for his word.
Speaker 1: Those of you in the room be seated. I worked
Speaker 1: up a thirst. Can you thank you? Holli holiferdic everybody, Chris.
Speaker 1: But this is about the only way I know how
Speaker 1: to walk on water that works. The simple stuff works.
Speaker 1: Simple stuff works in my life. I've read this text
Speaker 1: so many times, but I fear that sometimes we skim
Speaker 1: what God wants us to plunge into. And in our
Speaker 1: syllabus today there are a few details, you're not going
Speaker 1: to believe this. I actually have real points to dis sermon.
Speaker 1: So every note taker who has ever been frustrated by
Speaker 1: my abstract mode of teaching is going to be in
Speaker 1: heaven today because I at least have six thoughts from
Speaker 1: this passage water walk one oh one, and I might
Speaker 1: put in a seventh for extra credit if God blesses
Speaker 1: us with the time. But I noticed that a lot
Speaker 1: of times, when we get in a situation like these
Speaker 1: disciples were in, and maybe like you're in right now
Speaker 1: with your job, or maybe like you're in right now
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what to do with your family,
Speaker 1: those kids, your quiver is full right now, how many
Speaker 1: of y'all? Your quiver is full, and your quiver is
Speaker 1: of to be quite honest, your quiver is quivering, little
Speaker 1: Bible humor there quivering. And when we find ourselves in
Speaker 1: these situations, there is a tendency to blame. You know.
Speaker 1: The disciples like to fight and like to argue with
Speaker 1: one another any chance they got. But yet the storm
Speaker 1: brought them together in a unique way. In Matthew chapter fourteen,
Speaker 1: trials sometimes tighten our focus, and so one thing we
Speaker 1: I don't see in this storm is Peter and John
Speaker 1: going back and forth, or Andrew and Bartholomew talking about
Speaker 1: who's rowing the hardest. They just need to make it
Speaker 1: through the storm. But what really got my attention was
Speaker 1: a detail that I must have skimmed over. Like I mentioned,
Speaker 1: and today since we're in class, I want to study
Speaker 1: it a little more deeply, is that blame doesn't get
Speaker 1: you through a storm. And the detail I noticed in
Speaker 1: verse twenty two presented on the screen for me again,
Speaker 1: it said that Jesus made the disciples get into the boat.
Speaker 1: Jesus made the disciples get into the boat. You know
Speaker 1: how people say the devil made me do it. Jesus
Speaker 1: made the disciples get into the boat. He didn't ask them,
Speaker 1: he didn't recommend, he didn't suggest, And now it would
Speaker 1: be one thing if he didn't know. But he's of
Speaker 1: God with all wisdom. So how did the one with
Speaker 1: all wisdom send them into something that threatened their life?
Speaker 1: I want you to write down point number one in
Speaker 1: the class and put it in the chat. Certain storms
Speaker 1: are unavoidable. I just need you to know that certain storms.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean by storm, right, It's not
Speaker 1: always physical. Sometimes there can be an emotional storm. Sometimes
Speaker 1: there can be a psychological storm. Sometimes there can be
Speaker 1: a relational storm. You know, these storms we get into
Speaker 1: sometimes we are so busy trying to figure out how
Speaker 1: to get out of them that we expend all the
Speaker 1: energy that we could have spent trying to learn what
Speaker 1: God wants us to learn through the storm. There's two
Speaker 1: ways to get through the storm, and one is as
Speaker 1: a survivor. And how many know iss good? Just to
Speaker 1: celebrate that you're still here in case you had a
Speaker 1: bad week, I'm gonna give you fifteen unscripted seconds to
Speaker 1: praise God for the storms that you have survived. And
Speaker 1: you can sit there cute if it's been sunny in
Speaker 1: your neighborhood. But if you survived some depression, and if
Speaker 1: you thought you were going down but you made it,
Speaker 1: say given praise. To survive the storm is a miracle.
Speaker 1: To survive abuse is a miracle. To survive an economy
Speaker 1: that is falling apart, but God provided is a miracle.
Speaker 1: But then God God says you can be a survivor.
Speaker 1: But then if you want to, there are certain people
Speaker 1: that they decide I'm not just gonna be a survivor.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be a student of the storm. I am
Speaker 1: learning to learn from the storm. I am learning to
Speaker 1: learn from the storm. The thing about it is there
Speaker 1: are certain things that I can only learn in storms.
Speaker 1: And the second thing that I want to point out
Speaker 1: to you in the text is that God's timing is
Speaker 1: designed to teach you to trust. When Jesus, who made
Speaker 1: the disciples, get into the boat, the Bible says that
Speaker 1: when he decided to reveal himself to them was just
Speaker 1: before dawn. If the goal that God has is to
Speaker 1: comfort us, then this is a late appearance. But if
Speaker 1: God's goal is sometimes to change us, then it makes
Speaker 1: sense that he would show up late. Once one a time,
Speaker 1: I taught a sermon called Trusting God's Timing, and the
Speaker 1: idea behind it is that when we're experiencing something and
Speaker 1: it's very intense, we just want relief. And I get that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'd be lying if I didn't tell you
Speaker 1: that there were times that I just wanted God to
Speaker 1: make stuff stop. And I just want to check with
Speaker 1: you real quick. Have you ever just wanted God to
Speaker 1: make it stop? Just make it stop. Just make it stop, God.
Speaker 1: I'll do anything, Just make it stop. God, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: about that thing I did when I was in seventh grade.
Speaker 1: Just make it stop. And I mean, it can be
Speaker 1: a heartbreak, it can be a lot of times a
Speaker 1: loss in your life and you just feel like you're
Speaker 1: hemorrhaging and hurting God. Just make it stop. In the
Speaker 1: King James version of Matthew chapter fourteen, it says that
Speaker 1: it was the fourth watch of the night when Jesus
Speaker 1: came to them. That's the very last one. That's three
Speaker 1: am to six am, the fourth watch. And yet, interestingly enough,
Speaker 1: the Bible says he went on a mountain to pray.
Speaker 1: I've actually been to this site. And when our guide
Speaker 1: took us to show us the mountain that Jesus might
Speaker 1: have prayed on, do you remember how he left us
Speaker 1: up there for a moment. And he really tricked us
Speaker 1: because when he left us up there, he was designing
Speaker 1: to show us that the seed that the disciples were
Speaker 1: straining in was visible to Jesus from his prayer station
Speaker 1: the whole time. And he said, just because they didn't
Speaker 1: see Jesus didn't mean Jesus didn't see them. Zero point two,
Speaker 1: Part B. This won't be on the test just because
Speaker 1: I don't see him doesn't mean he's not watching me.
Speaker 1: And he left us up there on the mountain. He
Speaker 1: left us up there for an hour. The guy we
Speaker 1: went to Israel, and I cried about the times of
Speaker 1: my life where I thought he had left me. The
Speaker 1: Fourth Watch, the fourth Watch. The first Watch isn't so bad,
Speaker 1: Second Watch, third Watch. I feel like we're in a
Speaker 1: moment right now, at least in our nation. I don't
Speaker 1: know exactly what it's like in your country. It feels
Speaker 1: kind of like the Fourth Watch right now for a
Speaker 1: lot of us, not for all of us. The novelty
Speaker 1: has worn off of everything. Oh when we first started
Speaker 1: going into quarantine, I was like, well, this is kind
Speaker 1: of cool. You know, life's slowing down a little bit.
Speaker 1: We have a little more family time. Yeah, my quiver
Speaker 1: is full now. I've had enough family time to last
Speaker 1: me till my daughter is forty and she's nine right now,
Speaker 1: and I love my kids. Well, how about fourth watch? Faith? See,
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of people with first Watch faith,
Speaker 1: second Watch faith, Third Watch faith. But God's timing is
Speaker 1: not designed to give us relief. So if it's not
Speaker 1: designed to give you relief, what's it designed to give you?
Speaker 1: Revelation curse. I'm a run a lad. I'll be right back. Hey,
Speaker 1: I know y'all can't see me, but if you can
Speaker 1: hear me, shout that just because you can't see him
Speaker 1: doesn't mean he left you. Come on, I what's on
Speaker 1: the book? The whole time, he's watching you. He's watching you,
Speaker 1: he's watching you, He's guiding me, he's leading me. So
Speaker 1: it's interesting that God's timing. You know, our timing is
Speaker 1: usually allocated around when we think God should do things,
Speaker 1: and then we start. The longer it goes, this is
Speaker 1: just in my life. Okay, So you know, please send
Speaker 1: me a critical email if you found God to be
Speaker 1: different in your experience contradicts what I'm saying. I found
Speaker 1: that the longer I wait, the louder my what ifs get.
Speaker 1: But the third thing I wanted to tell you in
Speaker 1: water Walking one O one? Are you enjoying the class
Speaker 1: so far? Now? This is the point in the semester
Speaker 1: where you need to cancel if you want to drop
Speaker 1: the class. This is the last point to cancel. Okay,
Speaker 1: if you're still in, say i'm in, I'm in, I'm in,
Speaker 1: I'm in. I want to teach you something very powerful.
Speaker 1: And this is what I really want to teach you about.
Speaker 1: What if works both ways. The wind was against them,
Speaker 1: the word was for them, and what if works both ways.
Speaker 1: So when we get into hypothetical situations, the longer that
Speaker 1: we wait on God to change certain situations. And once again,
Speaker 1: how many are there right now? And maybe you even
Speaker 1: feel like you're drowning in what you don't know and
Speaker 1: you've analyzed it and there's a certain element of it
Speaker 1: you can't control. Because the devil didn't start this storm.
Speaker 1: Jesus sent them directly into it. So a lot of
Speaker 1: us we would turn around at this point and say, well,
Speaker 1: maybe we didn't hear him right, But they pressed to
Speaker 1: the other side because watch this are you are you awake?
Speaker 1: What if there's something on the other side that is
Speaker 1: worth going through the storm for it? Ah, I feel
Speaker 1: the spirit of God. Is it just me? Or or
Speaker 1: or or? Or? Is it harder sometimes for us to
Speaker 1: give faith to the what if than it is to
Speaker 1: give fear to the what if? And just like the
Speaker 1: wind blows, you know, the wind can blow in either direction,
Speaker 1: so can the what ifs. And a lot of times
Speaker 1: in my life I've learned that fear is just faith
Speaker 1: in the wrong. What if so watch this? What if
Speaker 1: we fail? What if we don't. We're here with a
Speaker 1: lot of our staff. We had some training, and I
Speaker 1: asked them to stay around and help me preach to you.
Speaker 1: And we told some of the stories, but we didn't
Speaker 1: tell all the stories about when we started the church.
Speaker 1: Hollywood was reminding me of one the other day where
Speaker 1: just as soon as we went to start the church,
Speaker 1: the resources that were supposed to be given for our
Speaker 1: salary were pulled back. And then somebody else was going
Speaker 1: to pay our insurance and that got pulled back. Now,
Speaker 1: if my faith in God was contingent upon the conditions,
Speaker 1: I would have taken that as a sign that God
Speaker 1: didn't speak to me to start the church. But if
Speaker 1: the wind is proof that what's on the other side
Speaker 1: is so significant that you have to push through to
Speaker 1: get there, a lot of us we interpret the wind
Speaker 1: as an indication that we should turn back around and
Speaker 1: head home. But in this particular situation, Jesus said, I
Speaker 1: want you to go to the other side. Now Here
Speaker 1: comes the wind. That represents resistance for you, That may
Speaker 1: represent depression for you, that might represent anxiety. We all
Speaker 1: go through different storms, and as I've talked from this
Speaker 1: pulpit before, comparing the size of your storm to my storm,
Speaker 1: and the significance of my storm to your storm, storm
Speaker 1: serves no purpose. The greatest thing about the passage is
Speaker 1: that Peter didn't even really express faith. He just considered possibility.
Speaker 1: And I'm going to show you this. He didn't say, Lord,
Speaker 1: I know it's you tell me to come. He said, Lord,
Speaker 1: if if, if? If? What if? What if works both ways?
Speaker 1: What if can make you give up? What if can
Speaker 1: make you freak out? Or what if can make you
Speaker 1: step forward? And yet I want you to notice something
Speaker 1: Jesus did. Are you ready? This is where it gets good.
Speaker 1: This is where it gets good. He said, if this,
Speaker 1: you give me a word. And Jesus took him really literally.
Speaker 1: He gave him one word, one word, one word, one word.
Speaker 1: Did you see it in the text? Come? Yo? I
Speaker 1: had at chihuahua. That's how we talk to the dog.
Speaker 1: Jesus talked to Peter like I talked to yo yo.
Speaker 1: That that was the dog's name, Yo Yo. This is
Speaker 1: a confession. I had a chihuahua named Yoga yo Yo
Speaker 1: Yogo yo yo Yo Yo yo we would say, come, stay,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. Jesus talked to Peter like I talked
Speaker 1: to yo yo. And here's why I think, all right,
Speaker 1: you don't know what this makes me think that sometimes
Speaker 1: the deepest things that God speaks will also be the simplest,
Speaker 1: because sometimes we can we can confuse deep with confusing.
Speaker 1: And I noticed a lot of times I would rather
Speaker 1: learn something new than practice something old. Some of the
Speaker 1: deepest things that God will speak will be so simple,
Speaker 1: like come, okay, Well, Jesus, I was expecting a little more.
Speaker 1: I never walked on water before. You're gonna give me
Speaker 1: any pointers? Yeah, anymore, like a little bit of coaching,
Speaker 1: like should I go? Should I put all my weight
Speaker 1: on one foot? And you gotta remember, we read these
Speaker 1: Bible stories and we just compare walking on water to
Speaker 1: pay in our bills. He was walking on water. We
Speaker 1: making mean whenever we want changing a tire, walking on water, right,
Speaker 1: Peter is transcending the laws of buoyancy. And yet Jesus
Speaker 1: does not give him details, just direction. So if God
Speaker 1: hasn't given you details right now, ask him for direction instead.
Speaker 1: Some of the biggest words God ever spoke to me
Speaker 1: in my life were just directions impressions in my spirit.
Speaker 1: Can I share one with you? Here's one. Sometimes God
Speaker 1: will speak to me and they tell me go say
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Like, well, Lord, I I would rather do
Speaker 1: a Bible study on forgiveness. You see how sometimes we
Speaker 1: want something deep so we don't have to do anything
Speaker 1: with it. I've been guilty in seasons of my life
Speaker 1: at highlighting my Bible right, But at the same time
Speaker 1: I was highlighting my Bible, I wasn't even willing to
Speaker 1: embrace the simplest habits like gratitude. I know in my
Speaker 1: life that being grateful is the greatest way for me
Speaker 1: to have joy. So why is it the hardest thing
Speaker 1: to do? Because it's so simple? See right now in
Speaker 1: this season, maybe we need to simplify what God is
Speaker 1: speaking to us to understand everything. Some of us have
Speaker 1: so complicated what we need from God to move forward
Speaker 1: in faith. But all he said was come. Sometimes all
Speaker 1: he'll say to you is is peace. Sometimes all he'll
Speaker 1: say to you is law. Sometimes all he'll say to
Speaker 1: you is forgive. And I found out that sometimes God
Speaker 1: will not give the details, He'll simply set the direction. Wow,
Speaker 1: all right, come, Wow, you really took me literally there
Speaker 1: if this youth tell me to come, come. Oh man,
Speaker 1: God was speaking to me studying this. He said, you
Speaker 1: know how you want confirmation to obey me sometimes? You know,
Speaker 1: like God, I'll do it if you give me a sign,
Speaker 1: give me a sign that I'm supposed to do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know you're supposed to do it to something
Speaker 1: you know you're supposed to do anyway, God, give me
Speaker 1: a sign and i'll tie. Give me a sign, and
Speaker 1: you know you're always supposed to do it. You know
Speaker 1: you're to do it. God said, the command is the confirmation. Well, God,
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can. I wouldn't have told
Speaker 1: you to come if you couldn't let me bring this home.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have made you his father if I wouldn't
Speaker 1: enable you to raise him. So, when I don't feel
Speaker 1: like i'm enough, I realize if God gave it to me,
Speaker 1: he put it in me. He put it in me.
Speaker 1: So when he said come, when he gave the command,
Speaker 1: he also supplied the strength for me to step on
Speaker 1: step out. Yes, Lord, I can do it, Yes Lord,
Speaker 1: I can make it. You wouldn't have told me to
Speaker 1: preach if you wouldn't enable me to preach. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: have told me. The same voice that told him to
Speaker 1: come would be the same word that would enable him
Speaker 1: to do it. So I don't need any more confirmation
Speaker 1: but that he told me to Wow. But Lord, are
Speaker 1: there any sub points like come? Come? Is the Roman
Speaker 1: numeral one? Right, there's a class, right, all right? So
Speaker 1: come left foot first, right, Well, show me how to
Speaker 1: do it. Come, and Peter did, which is what makes
Speaker 1: the next part really weird. I mean really weird. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna lose some of y'all here because it's really weird.
Speaker 1: How many disciples y'all answered so slow, like it was
Speaker 1: a trick, like I was gonna go deep on you. Well, actually,
Speaker 1: we're all disciples of the Lord, so as actually are
Speaker 1: more than twelve. It's twelve in the boat that day.
Speaker 1: How many disciples? Twelve disciples? Let's don't put Judas in
Speaker 1: eleven disciples that didn't suck. Eleven sincere disciples and Judas
Speaker 1: all going to the other side. Now there's an assignment
Speaker 1: on the other side. Everybody say, there's an assignment on
Speaker 1: the other side. Come on, say it right now. In
Speaker 1: the chat, there's an assignment on the other side. There's
Speaker 1: an assignment on the other side. There's an assignment on
Speaker 1: the other side. But God is weird because he gives
Speaker 1: the test before the lesson. They don't even know what's
Speaker 1: on the other side, and neither do you. Neither to you,
Speaker 1: none of us do what's on the other side of
Speaker 1: what we're currently going through. I told our staff today
Speaker 1: our new church logo. It used to be one of these.
Speaker 1: Now it's a question mark. That's our new church logo,
Speaker 1: were we're gonna open all the buildings a question mark.
Speaker 1: And yet at the same time, I love how Peter
Speaker 1: of all the eleven and Judice Peter was on I
Speaker 1: had the faith to step out, and I get with
Speaker 1: that because you know, do it big, you know, do
Speaker 1: it big. You're gonna do it? Do you know? Go big?
Speaker 1: Peter this year, tell me come come. So he makes
Speaker 1: this big move and the Bible doesn't say how long
Speaker 1: he walked on the water. He must have made it
Speaker 1: pretty far. And I'm gonna tell you why I think
Speaker 1: this consider with me. They couldn't see Jesus up close
Speaker 1: enough to know whether it was a ghost or really Jesus.
Speaker 1: He needed to hear him to know. The only way
Speaker 1: that they heard the word was the wind carried it.
Speaker 1: The wind that was against the disciples carried the voice
Speaker 1: of Jesus. Some of the things that are against you
Speaker 1: will enable you to hear God more clearly. But the
Speaker 1: other thing is when Peter fell. The Bible says a
Speaker 1: word that started the passage as well, and you can
Speaker 1: look this up. In verse twenty two. It says immediately
Speaker 1: Jesus made them get in the boat to the other side.
Speaker 1: And then it says that when Peter got out of
Speaker 1: the boat, everybody say, big move Immediately when he started
Speaker 1: to sink, Jesus grabbed me. It doesn't say he fell immediately.
Speaker 1: It says that as soon as he started to fall,
Speaker 1: Jesus called him. Now, when Peter fell, and Jesus called
Speaker 1: him immediately. The next thing Jesus said is something that
Speaker 1: he said a few times in scripture. He said, you
Speaker 1: of little faith. That offended me. If anybody deserves to
Speaker 1: be called little faith, it's Judas. You're going to single
Speaker 1: out Peter. And that bothered me that he called that
Speaker 1: little faith. I mean, if you think it's little faith,
Speaker 1: you go do it. When someone says, ah, that sermon's
Speaker 1: pretty good, it wasn't your best. I'm like, will you
Speaker 1: preach one, I'll go listen to yours. I'll go listen
Speaker 1: to your best one. Preach your best one. You do it,
Speaker 1: you know. I just think you need to be more
Speaker 1: patient with your kids. Good. I'll send them over to
Speaker 1: you and you can give them the patience I haven't
Speaker 1: been giving them lately. You do it, That's what I
Speaker 1: was thinking. So I sat with it because last week
Speaker 1: I preached about little did you hear that sermon? Take
Speaker 1: the lid off a little? And the whole phrase got me,
Speaker 1: You of little faith, and I thought, well, we're all
Speaker 1: doomed if he thinks that's little I mean, it's all
Speaker 1: I can do to get in a five minute prayer
Speaker 1: time right now and not get distracted and start checking
Speaker 1: my phone. So if that's what he thinks is little faith,
Speaker 1: I'm definitely not making it to heaven if that's little faith.
Speaker 1: But the phrase you of little faith doesn't necessarily refer
Speaker 1: to quantity. It refers to quality. So it's not how
Speaker 1: much faith, it's how far faith. Little faith it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that it wasn't strong. It means that it wasn't sustained.
Speaker 1: So I want to show you something now, and I
Speaker 1: want you to lean into this because I thought, well, Jesus,
Speaker 1: if that's little faith, then what is big faith? And boom,
Speaker 1: it hit me a scripture that I read about one
Speaker 1: of the two times that Jesus was actual amazed. There
Speaker 1: are only two times in the New Testament that the
Speaker 1: Bible says Jesus was amazed. One time was in his
Speaker 1: hometown where they had no faith in him because they
Speaker 1: were too familiar with him. That's a whole sermon that
Speaker 1: we don't have time for in this class. That's familiarity
Speaker 1: one oh one, and we'll do that class on another day.
Speaker 1: How familiarity can be the enemy of faith, how you
Speaker 1: can start just getting so comfortable in your life that
Speaker 1: you're afraid to do anything else. So that's one time
Speaker 1: that he was amazed that they're lack of faith. But
Speaker 1: what I want to show you is in Matthew chapter eight.
Speaker 1: And if you go with me to Matthew chapter eight,
Speaker 1: we're going to see one of the times that Jesus
Speaker 1: was amazed. The Bible says that there was a centurion,
Speaker 1: a military official who had a sick servant. He had
Speaker 1: an issue. His storm was not a hurricane, or wasn't
Speaker 1: rain and thunder and lightning. His particular need revolved around
Speaker 1: the sickness of someone that he cared about. And when
Speaker 1: Jesus Matthew chapter eight, verse five, had entered Capernaum, a
Speaker 1: centurion came to him. Now listen, this word is right
Speaker 1: for you. The spirit of God gave me this passage
Speaker 1: because I couldn't figure out if that's little faith, then
Speaker 1: what's great faith? And he asked Jesus. This centurion he
Speaker 1: asked Jesus for help. Lord. He said, my servant lies
Speaker 1: at home paralyzed, suffering terribly. And Jesus said to him,
Speaker 1: shall I come and heal him? Now, let's contrast. Peter said,
Speaker 1: if it's you, tell me to come. Jesus asked the centurion,
Speaker 1: well should I come? And what I saw next blew
Speaker 1: my mind. I never saw it before. I've been preaching
Speaker 1: since sixteen I never saw this before in the scripture.
Speaker 1: I never saw it. The centurion reply, Lord, I do
Speaker 1: not deserve to have you come under my roof, but
Speaker 1: just say the word and my servant will be healed.
Speaker 1: For I myself am a man under authority with soldiers
Speaker 1: under me. I tell this one go and he goes,
Speaker 1: and that one come and he comes. I say to
Speaker 1: my servant, do this, and he does it. And when
Speaker 1: Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He was blown away.
Speaker 1: He was poor Emoji. He was amazed. And he said
Speaker 1: to those following him, truly, I tell you, I have
Speaker 1: not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. And
Speaker 1: the Lord spoke to me this. One disciple said, Lord,
Speaker 1: if it's you tell me to come, Jesus said, that's
Speaker 1: little faith. One man said, Jesus, I know who you are.
Speaker 1: You can stay. And the Lord said, sometimes it takes
Speaker 1: greater faith to stay. Stay you will keep him in
Speaker 1: perfect peace. Whose mind is stayed on me. I hear
Speaker 1: the Lord saying you can come, And that's fine. That's
Speaker 1: little faith. But sometimes the greatest faith is when you
Speaker 1: stay because you trust that the one who spoke the
Speaker 1: word has authority over every situation. And see, right now
Speaker 1: we're in a storm where we don't really have anywhere
Speaker 1: to go, and there's really only so much we can do,
Speaker 1: and I don't really have a whole lot of options.
Speaker 1: And God said, when I see you staying in praise
Speaker 1: and staying grateful and staying encouraged, and staying on the job,
Speaker 1: and staying in the ministry and just staying staying. That's
Speaker 1: great faith. It's great when you say you can come
Speaker 1: if you want to. But Jesus said, great faith, it's
Speaker 1: when you know that if I said, let's go to
Speaker 1: the other side, there's no storm in Galilee, there's so
Speaker 1: defin in Hell. They's so virus in the world. So
Speaker 1: number five is big moves don't always prove great faith.
Speaker 1: I'm preaching to somebody right now who you're walking on water,
Speaker 1: but you're doing it in little steps. I mean, some
Speaker 1: of these people they walk on water fancy, but you're
Speaker 1: just like, uh. God said, that's great, that's great, that's great,
Speaker 1: that's great, great faith, he said. He said, I don't
Speaker 1: even need you to come. I don't need you to come.
Speaker 1: Peter said, if it's you tell me to come, come,
Speaker 1: he said, I don't even need you to come. I
Speaker 1: don't even need all that. I don't even need a film.
Speaker 1: I don't even need a confirmation. The command is a confirmation.
Speaker 1: If you said you never leave me or forsake me,
Speaker 1: you made that promise, you gave the guarantee. That's good
Speaker 1: with me. I know what authority looks like because Jesus said,
Speaker 1: that's great faith. It's great faith. Sometimes we think people
Speaker 1: have faith when they're really just freaking out, really just
Speaker 1: doing stuff. Oh wow, man, that SuDS great faith. This
Speaker 1: man said, I don't even need a dramatic sign for
Speaker 1: you to do it. God doesn't always need drama to
Speaker 1: do it. Such a simple word, such a deep expression
Speaker 1: of faith. And yet that's really not the message, is it.
Speaker 1: Because he still fell. No, this encouraged me. He failed
Speaker 1: the test, but he still got the lesson. I said,
Speaker 1: everybody who wasn't a real good student, this is your
Speaker 1: part to shout on. He failed the test. Everybody who's
Speaker 1: nervous about home school and your kid, this is your
Speaker 1: point to shout on. He failed the test, but he
Speaker 1: got the lesson because it really wasn't a lesson about water.
Speaker 1: It was a lesson about worship. Truly, you're the son
Speaker 1: of God. And they begin to worship him, and the
Speaker 1: wind died down when he got in the boat. Now, Holly,
Speaker 1: will you come. The essence of salvation is this, by grace,
Speaker 1: through faith, you are saved. Everybody say, by grace, through
Speaker 1: faith you are saved. This not of yourselves is the
Speaker 1: gift of God out of work, so that no one
Speaker 1: can boast Ephesians to eight and nine. So I never
Speaker 1: saw this as a picture of salvation because I was
Speaker 1: so focused on the storm. And you know, sometimes we
Speaker 1: go through things that we get so consumed by the
Speaker 1: test that we don't even get the lesson. But I
Speaker 1: want to show you in the text that Peter beginning
Speaker 1: to sink, I don't know who this is for. It
Speaker 1: might not even be for anybody who's in this room.
Speaker 1: But Peter's faith was not in his ability to make
Speaker 1: it to Jesus. The Bible says that when he started
Speaker 1: to go down, immediately he reached out his hand and
Speaker 1: caught him. Reach out and catch my hand. You can't
Speaker 1: unless I'm close. So my faith isn't in how far
Speaker 1: I can walk. Do you remember when Graham started playing
Speaker 1: at catcher and he got pretty good at catcher. I
Speaker 1: was so proud that my kid was good at a
Speaker 1: position on baseball, just like me. I was a catcher
Speaker 1: when I was a kid. I was proud. And the
Speaker 1: league that they were in, usually they wouldn't even try
Speaker 1: to make a play at home because all the catchers
Speaker 1: sucked except ours. Oka our kid was the only good catcher,
Speaker 1: and the coach trying to get the third baseman to
Speaker 1: make the throw at home, but he wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: And I remember one time that the coach was yelling
Speaker 1: at the kid playing thirty, was like, make the throw
Speaker 1: at home when he's when he's going home, you throw
Speaker 1: him out. He said, I can't make the throw. The
Speaker 1: coach said, that's all right, you got a good catcher.
Speaker 1: That's something in my mind brought me back to remind
Speaker 1: you today in waterwalk in one oh one that you
Speaker 1: got a good catcher. You got a good catcher. Put
Speaker 1: it in the chat right now. I got a good catcher.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I can make the throw. I
Speaker 1: got little faith, but I'm gonna go ahead and throw
Speaker 1: it out there because not because I'm gonna make it
Speaker 1: all the way, not because i can predict the past,
Speaker 1: not because I know how this ends, not because I
Speaker 1: Winsteyn down, not because I'm so good at walking on water.
Speaker 1: I'm trembling in. My legs are weak, and I don't
Speaker 1: really know, but he's close enough for child point number six.
Speaker 1: Grace and faith go hand in hand. They go hand
Speaker 1: in hand when you don't really believe in the grace
Speaker 1: of God. You don't have faith in God because until
Speaker 1: you really believe he's close enough to catch you, you
Speaker 1: will always stumble. Peter's faith was not in his feet.
Speaker 1: It was in Jesus' hand. And it is by grace
Speaker 1: through faith that God is going to get you through
Speaker 1: this storm. And I need you to praise him right
Speaker 1: now for little faith. Watch this. I got little faith,
Speaker 1: but I got great grace. Oh God, great grace. AH
Speaker 1: got a big God. I gotta good God. He's gotten
Speaker 1: me and he won't let go. Come on, throw up
Speaker 1: your hands and give him worship. Give it worship, Give
Speaker 1: it worship, given worship. So I found out how to
Speaker 1: walk on water. I don't walk on water with my feet.
Speaker 1: I walk on water with a word. He said, Lord,
Speaker 1: any crazy that when Peter's legs failed in his mouth
Speaker 1: saved him. He cried out, Lord, save me. And immediately
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, if you reach for grace right now now,
Speaker 1: my confidence is not in the fact that I'm able
Speaker 1: to walk so perfectly. My confidence is in the fact
Speaker 1: that He's close enough to catch me. And so my
Speaker 1: message today, my message today is that sometimes the way
Speaker 1: you go to deeper faith is to just fall in
Speaker 1: the right place. This concludes water walking. If you know
Speaker 1: that he's the one who can make the wind die
Speaker 1: down with one word from his mouth, give him praise
Speaker 1: right where you are. Give him praise and honor. Come on,
Speaker 1: I got a good catcher. I'm a lobbly walker, but
Speaker 1: I got a good catcher, So I'm going farmer. I'm
Speaker 1: not going under. And you know what. That wind is tricky.
Speaker 1: You know Peter came toward Jesus, but he looked at
Speaker 1: the wind, and right now in your life, listen to me.
Speaker 1: Listen to me. I want to say this like I
Speaker 1: would say it to one of my kids. What you
Speaker 1: have to learn to ignore is just as important as
Speaker 1: what you have to learn to walk toward. Some of
Speaker 1: us are walking toward the right thing, but we are
Speaker 1: not ignoring the others. You gotta get your eyes on
Speaker 1: the grace of God. You gotta get your mind on
Speaker 1: the goodness of God. You gotta get your thoughts on
Speaker 1: the possibility. I mean, what if he doesn't What if
Speaker 1: he's guiding you? I know you even thinking what if
Speaker 1: I fall? What if he catches you? What if you worship?
Speaker 1: What if you put your worry in reverse. Oh Lord,
Speaker 1: I believe that all things are working together for my good.
Speaker 1: And I don't know who this class is for, but
Speaker 1: it's just basic faith. Man, that my faith is not
Speaker 1: in my faith, it's in the grace of God. So listen.
Speaker 1: I hear him saying, come, the same thing he told Peter.
Speaker 1: I hear him saying to me. I hear him saying
Speaker 1: to you in this season, and that means something different
Speaker 1: right now for each of us. For you, maybe that
Speaker 1: means to draw near to God in this season because
Speaker 1: you haven't been hearing his word. You've just been blown
Speaker 1: by the wind. For some of you, that may mean
Speaker 1: that you stopped walking toward what God gave you to
Speaker 1: do because of what was against you. But remember, the
Speaker 1: wind can carry his word into your heart. And for
Speaker 1: a lot of us, it means that in this moment,
Speaker 1: I just need to stop and say, Lord, I'm drowning.
Speaker 1: Oh God, I can't. I can't stay out here by myself.
Speaker 1: Would you save me? Would you help me out? Would
Speaker 1: you show me how to do it? Just say the word,
Speaker 1: the centurion said, my servant will be healed. Lord. I
Speaker 1: thank you for the privileged to minister your word today.
Speaker 1: Your word is powerful, Your word is eternal, Your word
Speaker 1: is living. We put our hand in your hand right now.
Speaker 1: We put our faith in your grace. Hallelujah, Thank you Jesus.
Speaker 1: We open our mouths to say that truly you are
Speaker 1: the son of God. It's the fourth watch of the
Speaker 1: night for somebody, and literally they've been wondering, am I
Speaker 1: going down? And is this? It? Is there even another side?
Speaker 1: I don't know it anymore. I thank you that your
Speaker 1: eye is upon them now. You sent your word today
Speaker 1: to speak right to that situation. After all, we can't
Speaker 1: really walk on water, but we can walk on your word.
Speaker 1: Say the word, speak it to their heart right now.
Speaker 1: You know what they need to hear, calling them closer
Speaker 1: and telling them to come, upholding them with your righteous
Speaker 1: right hand. I speak your word today over every city,
Speaker 1: over every country, over every child of God who's joined
Speaker 1: up with this ministry in this moment, Send your word
Speaker 1: and heal them. The centurion said, I don't even need
Speaker 1: you to come, if you'll just send the word to
Speaker 1: my house. Send your word to their house. God, send
Speaker 1: your word to their house. Send your word to their house.
Speaker 1: Send it with power and authority and glory and break
Speaker 1: strongholds and speak peace by the power of your word
Speaker 1: in Jesus's name. In Jesus' name, Come on, let's clap
Speaker 1: our hands and thank God for us. Come on, clap
Speaker 1: those pass This is how this is how you are.
Speaker 1: This is how you watch him. This is how you
Speaker 1: watch him. Thank you Lord, come on, give him great
Speaker 1: praise on a thank you Lord. I wish I had
Speaker 1: a certificate to give you for water walking one oh one.
Speaker 1: Did you enjoy the class? Hey, you know, even beyond
Speaker 1: just enjoying it. You know, the word doesn't work until
Speaker 1: we work it. And so I'm just praying that you
Speaker 1: would act on something simple from God this week. And
Speaker 1: it can be the littlest things that make the biggest difference.
Speaker 1: We talked about that last week. It's kind of a theme,
Speaker 1: and I believe God's going to give you the strength
Speaker 1: to get through the storm, and not only to survive it,
Speaker 1: to be stronger because of it. I know that sounds
Speaker 1: like a cliche, but I'm believing it for your life
Speaker 1: by faith. Hey, thank you for being a part of
Speaker 1: our ministry. We don't take it for granted, Holly, and
Speaker 1: I love you. Our team is so grateful for the
Speaker 1: privileged to minister to you. Don't forget to subscribe, but
Speaker 1: also share. Get the word to somebody. If you know
Speaker 1: somebody who's going through a storm right now, maybe this
Speaker 1: message will help them to get their eyes on Jesus
Speaker 1: and keep moving toward God's purpose. You're going to walk
Speaker 1: on water, one foot in front of the other. I'll
Speaker 1: see you next time. I love you.