God is in Control.
Notes
Transcript
As a believer in Jesus Christ are there things or circumstances that come up in your life that ever catch you off guard? Of course there is. Life and pain can so often catch us off guard. When we are left to our own thinking doubts and questions can often come up when life gets crazy and out of control. Doubt can be so discouraging can’t it? The devil often comes after us with doubt because doubt can detour us from what we believe about God.
So, let me just say this, in times of doubt and worry, if we all would take our questions to the Lord in prayer, we would see how our faith would increase. Now, this does not mean that we would still go through difficult times but what we would begin to see is how God goes with us and remains in control. I was reading this week about a young mother who had some doubts about God because of something difficult going on with one of her children. Doubts should drive us back to God’s promises, not cause us to wonder away from Him. As believers we can say, I don’t know exactly what God is doing here, but I know that He is still in control. This is evidence that we are still trusting Him.
As Believers what do we need to understand about God’s Sovereignty?
But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
1. Look for the Lord.
1. Look for the Lord.
And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea.
But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
How many times in your life have you been overwhelmed with the crazy storms of life? Relationships, finances, a big test can cause us to have fear and doubt. We doubt God or wonder if He is listening because of the overwhelming experiences in this life. And how often do we run to other stuff and people to help us instead of running to God and looking to Him? Here in our text we see that the disciples were dealing with a difficult situation. They were on the sea and a storm came up. The major thing that sticks out to me is that they just got done seeing Jesus do this huge miracle of feeding the 5,000. They all had spent countless hours with Christ, so why did they not recognize Jesus when He came to them??? Why did they think that He was some type of Ghost??? The reason was, they were not looking for Him. If they had been waiting on Him in faith, they would have known who He was immediately. How many times do we do the same thing? We don’t wait on the Lord patiently. Some of us are not expecting the Lord to even answer us or help us with our doubts and fears. The disciples all thought that He must be some type of ghost. It is hard for fear and faith to go together. Why? Because fear blinds us from seeing Jesus and that ultimately He is in control. Please hear me today church, Jesus is here and He is still in control even in the biggest of storms.
2. Watch out for the waves of doubt.
2. Watch out for the waves of doubt.
And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.”
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
Sometime in the very early morning hours the disciples get caught in the middle of this storm. A lot of these men who were on the boat were fisherman so this was not their first rodeo, but what we do find out is that these men were fearful. They were fearful they were going to go under and they were fearful of this ghost that they all see. So, Jesus speaks to them about their doubt and tells them to take heart and not to be afraid.
Peter may be a little excited or happy to see Jesus so he immediately asks the Lord to come walk on the water. Peter gets out of the boat and begins to walk toward Jesus, but when he sees the wind he becomes afraid and begins to sink.
What we see happen here is that Peter started off well. He was focused on the Lord, but after a short time he takes his eyes off of Jesus. Has this ever happened to you? When your eyes were on the Lord, everything was going good around you. But the moment you got focused on the wind and waves, you started to sink? The doubts and fears and regrets are the waves and wind that can draw our attention away from the Lord. So often, Satan will do everything he can to draw us away from the Lord and cause us to doubt the Wonderful Promise Keeper. My challenge for you this morning is too stay focused on the Lord and watch out for doubt!!!
3. Live by faith.
3. Live by faith.
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
I don’t want to just make a quick blanket statement here and say that as Christians we all need to just live by faith and trust God, because that is not always easy to do. Living by faith requires that we trust God in the unseen and what will come even though we can’t see how everything will play out. So, yes living by faith is extremely tough, and not always easy. The word we are dealing with is right here. “DIRTY DOUBT” Jesus points right to the problem and it is doubt. Of course Peter noticed the wind and the waves and had some fear, but the bigger issue here was doubt. Peter doubted that the Lord could help his faith remain strong. The Christian life is a life of faith and trusting God even in the storms of this life. We could all say that it is easy to trust God when things are going well, but what happens when the storm hits? We must say that we will continue to trust God and believe that His promises are true. God right now I don’t understand what you are doing or why, but I trust that you are in charge and have a plan. As believers we can continue to walk by faith as we wait for God to work.
4. Trust in God’s sovereignty, not your own understanding.
4. Trust in God’s sovereignty, not your own understanding.
And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Jesus is in control of everything. This means that He is completely sovereign. He is in control of the wind and the waves and the sea. He can cause a storm to happen and in a snap of a finger He can cause a storm to cease. He knows what is happening in this great big world and also in the smaller personal matters like our own individual lives.
-God is in control of the universe. (Acts 17:24-25) Here in Acts 17 Paul is preaching to some philosophers in Athens, Greece. He tells them that God doesn’t just live in church buildings, He is everywhere. He has made this great big universe and manages every part of it.
-God is in control over humanity. (Acts 17) Every breath, every heartbeat is a gift of God. Verse 26 tells us that God made from one man (Adam) every nation of mankind. God is present with us. He is able to listen to all of our prayers at the same time because He is sovereign. God is in control of mankind and knows what He is doing.
-God is in control over our rebellion. (Jonah) Jonah rebelled and headed down the opposite path that God had for him. Eventually he headed back to Ninevah because God was in control of his steps and God had a plan for him there in that city.
-God is in control over sin. (Joseph and his brothers) Josephs’s brothers sinned by hating their brother so much that they sold him off in slavery to Egypt. Eventually God used a famine in the land to bring his family back to Egypt and Joesph was reunited with his family. Joseph tells his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “You meant evil against me, but God used it for good.
-God is in control over world events. (Queen Esther) Even though there was a wicked plan by Haman to get rid of all the Jews God used Queen Esther and Mordecai to save the Jewish people. In Esther 4:14 Mordecai tells Esther, “And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this. God had brought Esther to this place in history and God knew what He was doing.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Even though we have all heard this verse sometimes it is hard to live by it everyday. When we choose to trust in the Lord with all of our heart we are also choosing not to listen to the doubt around us. We are walking by faith. But, we also see here that we are not to lean unto our own understanding. How many times do we lean on our own understanding during the crisis? This is when things can get really bad and dark. We try and place our confidence in our own ability to get out of the tight spots. I have done this many times in my own life. I can fix this, I have been through some rough patches and I can do this on my own, I don’t need any help. This type of thinking always winds up getting me into trouble. It never turns out good for me. Don’t lean unto your own understanding. If your trust in God is limited by your understanding of His ways, you will always have a limited trust. If we doubt God and His Word and lean on only what we can see than we are not going any where good. So, what can we do? In all of our ways we acknowledge Christ. Put God first, seek Him first, run to Him first and know that He is there and has a plan. God knows our situation, he knows what we are dealing with and He will guide and direct our paths.
Close in Prayer: God your word tells us in Ephesians 3:20 that you are able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think. You are able to do that because you are sovereign and in control. God help us this morning to believe in your promises and not let the evil sidetrack us with doubt. Thank you that you are at work in our lives and in this great big world. We believe that you are in control. Amen.
(Lead into Communion)