Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone! Keep Your Eyes on Jesus!

Verse 22-23

Jesus tells his disciples to get into the ship and go to the other side of the lake/sea and sends the 5,000 plus multitude home (5,000 men in addition to women and children).

Verses 24-25

Jesus went up into the hills to pray and probably to recuperate from ministering to a large crowd. Understandably so, He need some private time....being the Son of God although he was God manifested in the flesh, He shows us the need and the importance of prayer and spending time alone with God. While spending hours alone in prayer and solitude, his disciples at 3 o’clock in the morning run into trouble. They were trying to get to the other-side, they were trying to do what Jesus instructed them to do but they met some resistance, they ran into trouble.

While in transit, they ran into a storm and the winds began to pickup, the waves on the sea began to intensify. In Matthew ch.8 they were in a similar situation but Jesus was on-board the ship during this storm. This time, they were alone by-themselves and Jesus was not onboard and they probably thought within themselves “The Master is not onboard to bail us out of this one”. However, Jesus knew that they were in trouble and began to make his way to his beloved disciples. Even when it seems as if you are alone, when it seems as if you are trouble, and you have no one to bail you out, you must believe that Jesus will come to see about you! Jesus is on His way......and when Jesus comes.....He’s going to save!

(Verse 27)

So now, the disciples are fighting to keep the water out of the ship, they are fighting to maintain control of the ship, fighting to keep the ship from capsizing (flipping over) and in the midst of their fight Jesus shows up.....walking on the water! Defying the laws of nature, doing something that seems impossible to do (Jesus has that kind of power). The disciples see what appears to be a shadowy figure, walking on water and in their mind think that no human has this ability so it has to be a ghost. They now conclude that because they see a ghost that it is a bad omen and that they are doomed to die at sea....but while they are in the midst of panicking, Jesus speaks to them and says “Don’t be afraid, take courage, I am here”.

(Verse 28)

Peter recognizes the voice of Jesus but he is still unsure. He says, Lord, if it is really you then permit me to come to you out on the water. Jesus says “Come”, it took faith in order for Peter to say that, because he knew that only the Lord could keep him if he got out of that ship. So now Peter trusts the words of Jesus and he gets out of the ship and starts walking on the water!

IF YOU KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS HE WILL BRING YOU THROUGH THE STORM!

IF YOU KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS HE WILL KEEP YOU FROM SINKING IN DESPAIR!

But while he was walking, he started to get concerned about what was going on around him.

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF SINKING IN DESPAIR, IF YOU FIND YOURSELF SINKING IN CONFUSION, IF YOU FIND YOURSELF SINKING EVEN IN SIN, IF YOU CALL ON JESUS HE WILL SAVE YOU!!! HE WILL LIFT YOU ABOVE THE FORCES THAT TRY TO PULL YOU DOWN!

Peter hollered out “Lord, save me!” and the Lord reached his hand out, grabbed Peter while he was sinking. The Lord said “You have so little faith, why did you doubt me”.

Then Jesus lifted him out of the water, and helped him get back in the ship and when Jesus stepped into the boat, the winds and the waves ceased.

So Pastor....why are you preaching this again? Didn’t we hear this not to long ago? Well, didn’t the disciples find themselves in another storm and the Lord had to save them? Didn’t the Lord just finish performing a miracle of feeding 5,000 and they still didn’t realize the power that Jesus had? Consider all of the miracles that Jesus performed, yet after He died, the disciples were discouraged, distraught, and afraid.

The Lord had to show Peter (as well as the other disciples) on many occasions the power that He had before Peter finally got it.

It wasn’t until after Peter received the Holy Ghost that he finally understood the power that the Lord had.

On another occasion, Jesus, prior to him being crucified, was on his way with the disciples to Jerusalem and they saw a fig tree. When they went to get fruit from the fig-tree and saw that it bared no fruit, the scriptures says that Jesus cursed the fig-tree. At the time Peter thought nothing of the fact that Jesus had cursed the fig-tree.....noticed the Bible says cursed, not cursed at. So a few days had expired and Jesus and the disciples were leaving Jerusalem to go back to Bethany and Peter noticed that the same fig-tree that Jesus had cursed had noticed that the tree had withered from the roots up and died. To Peter this was astonishing, it was unheard of but Jesus looked at Peter and gave him some encouraging words......HAVE FAITH IN GOD!

In order for the Lord to use Peter, Peter not only needed to come out of his comfort zone, but Peter needed to keep his eyes on Jesus:

When we consider the life of Peter, he was able to accomplish so much for the kingdom of God, but first Jesus had to teach him how to come out of his comfort zone and to also teach him how to keep his focus on him.

If Peter stayed in his comfort zone, if Peter had taken his eyes off the Lord he wouldn’t have been able to (along with John) heal a crippled man at the Temple (Acts 3).

Peter wouldn’t have been able to be bold and continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ after meeting adversity (Acts 4&5).

Peter wouldn’t had been able to lay hands on the Samaritians and pray that they would receive the Holy Ghost (Acts 8).

He wouldn’t have been able to bring Dorcas back to life after she’d died (Acts 9)

He wouldn’t have been able to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to a gentile family, resulting in them being filled with the Holy Ghost while he was yet preaching (Acts 10)

He would not have been delivered from prison by an angel before Herod had the chance to execute him (Acts 12).

He wouldn’t have been able to write two books of the New Testament as well as influence and give Mark the material to pen the Gospel of Mark.

I said all that to say, you may not have an impressive resume like Peter but if we “Keep Our Eyes on Jesus” He will bring us through anything!