PETER WALKS ON WATER

Matthew 14:22-33

Jesus had just received new that Herod had murdered his friend and cousin, John the Baptist.  We don’t think much about Jesus having bad days, but this certainly was one.

Jesus was a very loving and compassionate man and He really does know how we feel, even now.  Hearing the bad news, one of the first things He did was to go and spend some time with the Father.  But a huge crowd followed Him, so instead of having some time alone, He sacrificed His own agenda and ministered unto them.

After the crowd was fed, they went home, the disciples went out in the boat and a storm came up.  During the storm Peter became only the second man to walk on water…  Everything was going well until Peter took his eyes off of Jesus!  Peter went down into the water and cried out the shortest prayer recorded in the bible, “Lord save me!”  And of course, Jesus did…

Some questions for you to ponder from this story:

Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer....

Questions:

1.    If Jesus, who already had all the answers and all the power, needed to spend this kind of time in prayer, how much more do we?

Jeremiah 29:11 says: “I know the plans that I have for you……plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

2.   If God knows all of the plans He has for us, why is it that we are sometimes afraid when we see Jesus doing something in our lives?

Because we are afraid of what He might if we do give Him full control of our lives.

So Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, shortly, and ran into trouble by looking at the wind and went under.  Those in the boat might have said, “Man, that Peter is crazy!”  But Peter ignored them, got out of the comfort of the boat and had the stroll of his life with Jesus.

3.   Do you think Peter was really crazy for getting out of the boat?

No…..Peter wanted to be where Jesus was.  Sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zones to be where Jesus is.

***Staying in the boat, causes you to be a spectator, not a participant.***

One last thing to note:

4.   What happened when Jesus got into the boat?

The wind stopped, yes…but…the important thing was that “they  worshipped Him”. 

The end result in all our “life’s adventures”

should be that God is worshipped!!