Sinking Feeling

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STL Car Wash

June 10th 11-3:30

Come ready to wash some cars!

HW Burning Bonfire

June 10th 7:00pm

Bring all your HW to burn!

Grad Sunday

Game:

QOTW

Have you ever scared someone very badly? What happened?

Opening Prayer

Prayer thoughts: Thank God for the opportunity to meet to discuss the Bible. Express appreciation because His Word is true and alive for us today. Ask Him to be with each group member even when fear tries to defeat them. Ask for the Holy Spirit to reveal His truth about fear to the students.

Group Activity: Fear Factor

You Will Need

Brown paper bags, one per item from the list below

Something squishy - Toy Ball, Slime

Something slimy - Egg, Meat

Something smelly - Sardines, Cat Food

Paper towels or wet wipes

We’re going to play a game that deals with fear. Let’s see who is fearless in our group today.

You’ll prove you’re fearless by coming up and sticking your hand in these bags with unknown things inside.

Play Game

Thanks for overcoming your fears.

While there are no winners or losers in this game, (to volunteers) you were braver than everyone one else in the group!

Thanks for showing everyone how to keep fear from preventing us from doing things in our life, even sticking our hand in a bag with something unknown inside. Thanks for volunteering.

Fear can sometimes make us feel unsure or insecure.

But when Jesus comes into the picture and we partner with Him, we start to be comfortable and can push through life’s challenges that make us afraid.

Today we’ll look at a story in the New Testament Book of Matthew.

This story involves Jesus and His closest followers, called the disciples.

Just before this story begins, Jesus had performed a miracle of feeding way over five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two small fish.

As a result, the disciples became more aware of who Jesus is and His ability to do amazing things.

We’ll start reading right after everyone had finished eating, and Jesus is about to send His disciples ahead of Him. Little did the disciples know what they were about to witness on the Sea of Galilee.

The Disciples Don’t Recognize Jesus

Matthew 14:22–27 (NIV)

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

The disciples were having a very long night.

A heavy storm hit, and they found themselves in trouble.

Imagine how tired and afraid they were.

Tell story of getting lost with cousins in the woods

Cold, wet, angry, overwhelmed, stressed, and frustrated could all describe what they were feeling.

They may have been wondering why Jesus had left them alone, where He was, or even if they would ever see Him again. Then something unusual happened.

It’s amazing how emotions can make you think all kinds of things.

explain how people in horror movies make dumb choices

But this is a good reminder of how even these biblical people we read about were just normal people with normal emotions.

They probably felt a lot like we would have.

It was dark, the disciples were afraid, and they saw what they thought was a ghost.

Fear can cause us to imagine all sorts of things, and most of it usually turns out not to be true.

Sometimes, the more we go down the road of fear, the more afraid we become.

Tell story of basement at old house

Peter Calls Out to Jesus

Matthew 14:28–29 (NIV)

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

Imagine how Peter felt when Jesus answered him and told Peter to come to Him.

All the intense feelings of fear may have subsided when Jesus reassured Peter of His presence.

Peter asked Jesus to call him to come and walk on the water, and Jesus called out to Peter.

Peter could have been testing to see if He really was the Lord.

He may have wanted to see what it was like to walk on water. He may have thought he had more faith than he really did. Or he might not have thought ahead much at all.

If the disciples were so afraid due to the storm, what was it about Jesus showing up that gave Peter the courage to step out of the boat to walk on the water?

Peter was a pretty bold and courageous disciple.

He wasn’t afraid to take big steps of faith. Sometimes we criticize Peter for sinking in the water, but he was the only one bold enough to get out of the boat and take this step of faith.

We see this courageous attitude in Peter’s life through other stories in the Bible as well.

Peter Gives In to Fear

Matthew 14:30–33 (NIV)

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

While Peter may have taken his eyes off Jesus, he knew who to call out to when he was in trouble.

He didn’t call to his friends in the boat. He knew only the Lord had the power to help.

Jesus likely wasn’t upset with Peter’s lack of faith.

But He challenged Peter by saying that he only had a little and asking why Peter doubted.

Sometimes, in those questions and challenges, we learn where we’re at on our faith journey with Jesus.

We can learn to trust by recognizing when we’ve doubted. Jesus wanted Peter to succeed, and He wants the same for us.

Earlier in the day, they had seen Him feed more than five thousand people with just a little food.

Then they had watched Jesus overcome nature by walking on top of the water.

The more they spent time with Jesus, the more they had the opportunity to grow in their faith and love for Him.

Like Peter, all of us need to keep our eyes on Jesus.

This is true in the easy times and the difficult times.

Staying focused on our relationship with Jesus helps us to trust in Him.

Don’t let fear keep you from trusting Jesus.

Peter’s encounter with Jesus gives us hope when fear tries to take over.

Peter’s journey shows us that we can trust Jesus when fear comes our way.

We saw that Jesus came to the rescue of all the disciples in their time of need. We can trust that Jesus will do the same for us.

The disciples were afraid of Jesus when He first showed up, thinking He was a ghost.

But then Peter recognized Jesus’ voice and had enough faith, confidence, and trust to go to Jesus.

Incredibly, Peter walked on the water. We can have the same reassurance when fear is overwhelming us.

Listening to Jesus’ voice in our time of fear may seem hard to do, but as we get to know and trust Him, we can run to Jesus before letting fear take over.

Conclusion

We saw a glimpse of Peter’s growing relationship with Jesus during this story. Peter was known for being bold. But in this story, we see that even people who seem the most courageous can also struggle with fear. Jesus reached out to Peter in his fear. Jesus will be there for us during our fears, too. He wants to remind us that our focus needs to be on Him. We can trust that He will help us through our fear.

Salvation Opportunity

Having a relationship with Jesus starts with knowing that God sent Jesus to save us.

Just as Jesus came to the rescue of the disciples in that storm and to help Peter when he was sinking, Jesus can save you and me from our sins.

He values having a relationship with us.

Is anyone here that we can pray for who doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus or wants to renew their relationship with Him?

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for always coming to our rescue when we need You most. Sometimes fear can creep in. When it does, remind us that we can trust You. I also pray for those who are living in fear right now. Reach out to them with Your love and power. Help them see You in the midst of their storms. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.