Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

Intro

We haven’t all been together since last year. I haven’t even talked to some of you since last year. All kidding aside, we need to remember something going into 2024. We need to remember to stay focused on God. we need to stand courageous in the sight of God and stand firm in our faith. We need to be bold in our actions and live for Christ. All in all we need to Keep Our Eyes on God. Tonight we will be looking at Matthew 14:22-33

Matthew 14:22–33 (CSB)

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.

23 After dismissing the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. Well into the night, he was there alone.

24 Meanwhile, the boat was already some distance from land, battered by the waves, because the wind was against them.

25 Jesus came toward them walking on the sea very early in the morning.

26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and they cried out in fear.

27 Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.”

29 He said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.

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

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

32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

33 Then those in the boat worshiped him and said, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Have a Bold Faith!

The First thing we need to look at considering the new year and this passage is the disciple’s faith, Peters in particular.

The disciples had been with Jesus they knew that He was who He said He was, but they for got who they were serving.

When they were out on the water and saw Jesus they were terrified. They didn’t know who or what it was.

But then Jesus calls out and says,

Matthew 14:27 CSB

27 Immediately Jesus spoke to them. “Have courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Have courage! He is telling them to be strong. Don’t be afraid, He said.

See right here where He says It is I. He is literally saying I AM! Jesus is telling His disciples who He is. He’s saying I AM meaning that He is God.

The Great I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who called out to Moses from the burning bush, the God of Israel!

The King of all Creation was there and said I’m here, but they still doubted. And Peter says

Matthew 14:28–29 CSB

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter answered him, “command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.

Peter had his faith in Jesus. He was able to walk on water, he was able to do the impossible because he had his eyes on Jesus. He was there in the moment with Jesus, he was entirely focused on Jesus.

You know some times horses will have blinders on, and the blinders will not let them be able to see anything but what is in front of them, that is what it was like for Peter, he was so focused on Jesus.

Then the second he took his eyes off Jesus, he started to sink. It says that Peter saw the strength of the wind, and he was afraid. He was scared.

He called out to Jesus and begged to be saved. He cried out “LORD SAVE ME!”

So immediately Jesus reached out and pulled him up and said, “You of little faith, why do you doubt?”

We are a lot like Peter in this case. We look at the world around us and see depression, sickness, death, hurt, pain, school, work, and get scared and we forget that God is with us.

How cool is that that God is with us? The fact that the Father of Creation is living in our hearts.

God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, The Great I AM came down to die so that we could be free, and we still get lost in our busy lives.

we forget that God is with us and We overload ourselves with struggles and burdens, so much so that the only time that we go to God is when we need something.

Then when we are asking for God to come back he is there immediately, but He says you of little faith, why do you doubt?

HE IS THE GREAT I AM!!! THE ONE WHO NEVER FAILS, THE ONE TO STANDS FOREVER! THE RIGHTEOUS KING OF KINGS, THE WONDROUS LORD OF LORDS!! THE SOVEREIGN RULER AND CREATOR OF ALL CREATION!! SO WHY DO WE STILL DOUBT HIM?!?!?!

Often time many of us will find ourselves to be like Peter staying with God for a little while then seeing hardships and struggles and we forget what God we serve. HE WILL NEVER PUT YOU THROUGH MORE THAN WHAT HE CAN HANDLE! You may not be strong enough but GOD can pull you through!!

When you’re looking at God when you’re down the middle of the worst most scary part of your life and you’re walking on water having your whole faith in Jesus WHY STOP LOOKING?? WHY LOOK AWAY?!?!

There was a story of a goldsmith who was refining gold, when he put it over the fire he had all the extra elements burning out so that it was pure gold. And this goldsmith left the gold over the fire until he could see his reflection in it.

The same applies to our walk with God. He’s going to leave you in the fire until he sees Himself reflected in our lives. Don’t look at the things going on around you, look at the one you’re trying to please!! We need to keep the firm faith. Stay strong in God. Stay focused on Him.

Don’t Forget Who You Serve.

The disciples forgot who it was that they serve. They began to doubt they were in fear. There are times where we do that too. We, as teenagers especially try to serve two masters. Matthew 6:19-24 says

Matthew 6:19–24 CSB

19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness, how deep is that darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

We find ourselves more times than not trying to pursue things.

We find that we either chase relationships, or money, or possessions over God.

So going along with keeping our eyes on God we also need to make sure that we are serving God.

we don’t need to chase after all the things of this world, but rather the things of heavenly significants.

School, work, family, friends, relationships, they should all come second. We can’t serve two things.

We will always put more time and effort in to one rather than the other and a lot of the time we chose the wrong one.

As humans we are always chasing something. what we chose to chase is important. are we going to chose what the flesh wants or are we going to chose what the spirit wants? Thats the question I’m going to leave you with, Who will you serve?