Matthew 4:22-32
22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. 25And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. 26But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, "It is a ghost!" and they cried out in fear. 27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid." 28And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." 29He said, "Come." So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me." 31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" 32And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Great Risk Takers of the Bible:
There is a great legacy of risk-takers in the bible. Esther broke the royal law to save her people and said, "If I perish, I perish" (Esther 4:16). Shadrach and his boys refused to bow down to the king's idol and said, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us . . . But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods" (Daniel 3:16-18). And when the Holy Spirit told Paul that in every city imprisonment and afflictions await him, he said, "I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course" (Acts 20:24). David, as he hears the giant Goliath cursing our God, says “suit me up, give me a sling, this dude is going down!!”
In these examples and the many others we see in the scriptures, we see that in order to see great and miraculous things of the Lord, it takes great risk on our part.
Four questions to ask about taking a risk.
What is God speaking to you? (vs28)
And Peter answered him, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." 29He said, "Come."
There are all sorts of ways that we hear the voice of the Lord. It can be through a stirring in our hearts, it can be through our desires, it can be hearing His voice, it can be through the council of others in our lives. There are all sorts of ways we can hear him. The questions is not whether He's speaking, its rather, are we listening to him?
I remember getting this idea in my head about moving to plant this church. Crazy. It started with this small desire as I sat in church on Sunday ad thought to myself, “I could do this one day.” then it became a literal dream that I started to have. Then Beth confirmed it and said that it was something that she felt God might be calling us to do, then it was my pastor affirming it then it was donors. Before long, it was undeniable that this is what God was calling us to do.
What risky thing is God calling you to do?
New business venture.
Ask her to marry you.
Have a baby.
Start a ministry.
Ask her on a date.
Be baptized.
….and its not always fun things, it could be disciplines that God is calling you to.
Get into a community group; be vulnerable.
Expose past hurts so that you can begin to heal.
Take a sabbath. Give a Tithe. Serve.
Break up with him.
Move out of your girls house until you're ready to marry her
I always hear the...but, “I don't know how I'll.....” Example..”How are we gonna plant a church?”
“you be obedient with the what, God will be faithful with the how.”
What is God speaking to you?
Are you scared?
27But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid."
Now fear is not an action, it's a feeling. It's literally not possible to control your feelings, but you can control the actions that the feelings lead you into. For example: If right now a spider fell on my head, That would scare the life out of me. And I wouldn't be able to control that feeling of fear, but I could control how I reacted to that fear.
In my mind, fear is what makes the ride worth it.
Think of a Roller Coaster. The scariest ones always have the longest lines. Because its worth it. You ever been on a roller coaster? For me the scariest ones are the old wooden ones. The ones that click as you go up. The ones that you look at and the wood is all rotting and there's bolts missing. It has the pause at the top so you can look down before it lets you go. You got the weird 15 year old kid with a tie-die shirt, star wars hat and braces on. But the reason we ride them is because it is scary.
Fear is your emotions telling you that if you don't do this, you're gonna miss out. Any typically every God ordained legacy is established when someone overcomes a fear at some level.
What are you most afraid of? Answer that question, and you may be on your way to seeing God move in a huge way in your life.
Would you rather sink or sit?
So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, "Lord, save me."
Peter typically gets a bad rap:
Denied Christ 3 times before after he promised that he'd never do it.
Cut a dude ear off when they arrested Jesus and Jesus had to heal the guy.
Paul had to call him out for being a racist.
And in this case, he gets out of the boat and sinks.......But the dude got out of the boat.
It is so easy to criticize the guy who tried to walk on water when your sitting in a boat.
When all is said and done, I believe that the greatest regrets will not be things that we did and failed at, but rather the God ordained things that we failed to attempt to do. A famous German author wrote: “ Hell begins the day God grants you the vision off all the things you could have done, would have done, and should have done; if you didn't let fear stop you.”
- Would you rather live in total bondage because your too afraid to get help?
- Would you rather live in seclusion because your too afraid to be vulnerable?
- Would you rather miss a miracle because your too afraid to get out of the boat?
What do you have to lose?
31Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him
Peter is a human being. Now, what in the world would posses a human being to stand on the edge of a boat, look down and think to himself “I can walk on that.” Not only that, but it says that it was windy and waves were crashing into the boat. For all intensive purposes, for Peter to even consider taking his legs, lifting them over the ledge and attempting to walk on water, is insane. I honestly don't think I'd do it. I was just on the Norwegian Cruise-line and it was during a hurricane. And I'm telling you now, I wouldn't have done it. And I can promise you that Peter was scared to death. But he didn't let his fear stop him from trying. In the end, what did he have to lose?
The Gospel:
Here is what's so amazing about the gospel. Through Jesus's perfect life in which he walked with perfect obedience to God the father, then his un-just wrath absorbing death on the cross where all of our sin was poured out onto him on the cross and he was punished for our iniquities, then his physical resurrection claiming victory over satan sin and death. We have then what's called the great exchange. In where those who trust in Christ get Christ's perfect life. Because of that, the bible calls us, Children of God, Born again Believers, in which we are sealed with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Adopted into God's family. We are heirs to the King.
Now, as heirs to the King; this is the Kings promise to us.
Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
For the followers of Jesus the final risk is gone. "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). "Neither death nor life . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 3:38-39). "Some of you they will put to death. . . . But not a hair of your head will perish" (Luke 21:16, 18). "Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live" (John 11:25).
