The Fear of Drowning
Scripture:
Matthew 14:29-31
Introduction
Last week I left you with a thought. Are you expecting trouble or are you expecting Jesus? Some of us have a past faith. We know that he worked in our yesterdays.
We have a future faith, we know that he will work in our tomorrows but we lack a NOW faith. A faith that believes he is walking on the very waves that seem to be overtaking our vessel.
Last July we went on vacation in Gulf Shores and it was Heavenly. However, our second day they threw up a red flag because the waves were much larger than normal and the there were some rip currents present. We would go out a good ways to get on our tubes to ride the waves and it seemed like we were a half of a mile away from our chairs in no time.
One of the guys that was with us couldn’t swim. We were riding the waves when one of the biggest waves of the day came through and plowed into us. He grabbed his float and headed back to the shore with a response of “I Can’t Swim”.
There was a fear that was ignited by his surroundings.
The Holy Ghost began to speak to me through that incident or moment. Many of us desire to get off of the shore, but we revert back to the shore when the waves are overtaking our ability to keep moving.
It brought my mind back to Matthew 14:29-31
Jesus had just fed 5,000 people with a little boys happy meal. He used the disciples to distribute the food and then when he sent the crowd away, he sent the disciples also away by way of a boat. They launched from the sea and they encountered a storm and what did they do, they got fearful.
Though the effects of the storm were like something they had seen before, the scenery was a bit different. They were not fearful by what surrounded them but they began being fearful of who was in front of them. They first said it was a Ghost or a spirit, but as he got closer, Jesus revealed himself to them.
Peter said, “if it is you, bid me come”.
He was expecting an evil spirit but he was not expecting the peace speaker.
Jesus extended the invitation and Peter stepped out of that flat bottom boat and began walking on the waves. The Bible does not emphasize the distance that peter walked but instead it emphasized his fear of his surroundings.
I can’t help but wonder how many times our surroundings dictate the experience that we have with God. Because of the waves, Peter took his eyes off of the one who invited him to overcome them and walk on them. Because of the natural, he failed beneath the waves in the spiritual.
His surroundings birthed fear within him.
What you are going through in the moment is nothing more than a stepping stone that he is using to get to you. Perspective is everything. It isn’t always the devil. It isn’t always an attack from Hell. Sometimes it is an opportunity to see him in a way that we have never seen him before.
I want to talk to some people today who is surrounded by storms on every side. No matter how hard you try, waves just keep coming. You are trying to keep your eyes on Jesus, but you are being tossed from side to side.
You are afraid to continue because of what the next step may bring.
I feel like telling someone in the house today, Jesus is extending an invitation to a victorious life, but the invitation requires us to keep our eyes on him and not on our circumstances.
- The Calm before the Storm
The disciples just experienced one of the greatest miracles. Jesus literally took a sack lunch and fed a multitude. A victorious moment. It was the calm before the storm.
There is one thing I can guarantee today:
You are either in a storm, just coming out of a storm, or about to enter into a storm.
But here is what you need to understand…
A victorious life is not based on how you react in the calm but how you react in the storm.
It is not hard to worship God when you watch him take a little boys sack lunch and feed thousands but it’s different when you get in a boat by yourself and the waves are intense and tossing you on every side and he is nowhere to be found.
It is easy to worship him in the calm, but let them go through a storm and all of the sudden it is like they don’t know who Jesus is or how he will make a way.
When they are going through a calm season, their faith does not require much. But when they get in the middle of the storm and fear is heavy, faith is hard to come by.
I feel like helping someone in the house today
The same Jesus that fed the 5,000 is the same Jesus that is walking on the waves of your storm.
Come on somebody, take 30 seconds and praise him today!
That same Jesus is walking in the midst of your diagnosis. He is walking in the midst of your marital problems. He is walking in the midst of your workplace issues. Walking in the midst of your children, your grandchildren. That same Jesus…
The storm does not have the ability to change his identity.
He sent them away on their own but just because they were in a boat by themselves, did not mean he was too far to hear their cries. Sometimes we go through storms in life and we find ourselves saying “God, where are you?” “God, when are you going to speak peace?”
We seem to forget about his power that was demonstrated in the calm when we enter into a storm.
Listen, I know the waves are crashing on every side. I know that the clouds are getting dark. I know that the wind speeds are picking up.
But I know enough to know that even when I don’t see a way, he’s gonna make a way. I know enough to know that he is never late but always on time. I know enough to know that he can speak peace to storms and the waves and the winds obey.
I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow, but I have seen what he has done in my yesterdays, and I trust that he is going to make a way for me in my tomorrow.
I know the storms are rough. I don’t need a meteorologist to tell me a classification of the storm. I am in the middle of the storm, I know how bad it is. What I need is someone who can bring peace in the midst of my storm.
Peter sank because he lost sight of him.
We must never allow our storms to cause our view of Jesus to change.
He was a miracle worker before the storm and he’s still a miracle worker in the storm. He was a way maker before the storm, and he’s a way maker in the storm. He was my provider before the storm, and he’s my provider in the storm.
I wish somebody in the house today would open your eyes and look past your issue and see him walking to you in the midst of your affliction.
He was my healer before the storm, and he is my healer in the storm. He was my peacemaker before the storm, and he is my peacemaker in the storm.
Who we was to us in the calm is who he still is in the storm.
The waves do not change his identity. The winds do not decrease his power. He was Jesus in the calm, and he is Jesus in the storm.
Lift your hands and give him some praise for who he is.
- The Invitation to Victory
After being tossed from side to side all through the night. Probably sleep deprived, no rest. They see what they think is a ghost. They mistook his identity because of their fear of the natural.
However, as he got closer…Peter got a revelation of who he was.
When you go through a storm, you will gain a deeper revelation of who he is.
When Peter got a revelation of who he was, he asked him for an invitation to join him. Just a few minutes before, he was full of fear and lying inside the boat wondering where Jesus was and now he is asking for Jesus to invite him to walk on the very things that he was seeking shelter from.
The shelter from the storm is not found in the bottom of a boat but in the presence of the peace speaker.
Peter thought to himself..I can stay in this boat or I can go to him. So he said if it’s really you Lord, ask me to come to you. And Jesus responded and said “Come”.
When he said that one word, he invited Peter to leave a life of fear and enter into a life of victory. He invited him to leave the natural and experience the supernatural.
The boat may be comfortable, but comfortability only produces complacency.
If your faith is going to be increased, you have got to get out of the comfort zone and into the faith zone.
You cannot live a victorious life while pursuing a comfortability. If you are going to be victorious you have to walk in victory and not anchor in comfortably.
Jesus did not call Peter to comfortability but to victory. Do not settle for comfortability in the storm when you can have victory over the storm.
- Rescue
Many people point their fingers at Peter because he fell beneath the waves but let us not overlook that there were others who never dared to step out from complacency and comfortability.
Did he fall beneath the waves, yes. But he accepted the invitation that was given to him by Jesus and he walked on the water. He did not fall until he shifted his focus.
When we value our fear more than we trust in the Lord, we embrace the fall rather than walking in victory.
What did Peter fear? Drowning.
He feared falling victim to the waves that were trying to overtake him while he was in the boat.
There are many who will step out of the boat but many will also sink because of what is going on around them.
Look at your neighbor and say Stay Focused.
As long as Jesus is calling you to greater, he will never let you fall victim of the storm that is around you. When Peter fell beneath the waves, it was Jesus who lifted him up and led him back to safety.
You will never know what God has in-store for you if you enjoy the safety of the boat more than you trust the safety in his hand.
God is calling you to walking the midst of things that is trying to destroy your character, your destiny, and your integrity. Do not fear the waves, the wind, or the noise they bring…but stay focused on WHO is in front of you instead of the atmosphere around you.
Philippians 1:6 says “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ”
He’s the God who cannot and will not fail you, but he will complete you! Stay Focused on who is in front of you and not what is around you!
Although Peter sank, Jesus remained.
I feel like telling someone today who is going through a storm, he is still walking in the midst of your storms. He is still walking on the waves.
What intimidates you and initiates fear within you…does not intimidate him but instead it demonstrates his power when he speaks peace in the midst of your storm.
Stay focused, even when you are sinking because he is still calling you to a life of victory and not a life of defeat.