Get out of the Boat. Delivered at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church January 25, 2009 Written by Dr. J. H. Curry, Jr. Peter Matt.

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1 Get out of the Boat. Delivered at Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church January 25, 2009 Written by Dr. J. H. Curry, Jr. Peter Matt. 14:22 MT 14:22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. MT 14:25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It s a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear. MT 14:27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don t be afraid." MT 14:28 "Lord, if it s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." MT 14:29 "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" MT 14:31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" MT 14:32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." Our Scripture this morning begins where last week s ended. Jesus has fed the people, the disciples have gathered the leftovers, and now, Jesus makes it a solid point to dismiss the people who had gathered, and to also dismiss the disciples back across the lake. It is evening, and although navigation by the stars was common place, on this night those stars were not showing. There was a storm brewing as was very common on the Sea of Galilee. Just about the time the disciples get halfway home, the storm hits with all it s fury. Must have been a powerful one, because it says the disciples were afraid, and these are hardened and experienced fishermen in the boat. Not some lily-livered weak kneed land lubbers. It was no caressing breeze, this was a gale. What is the most boring thing you ever did? Was it fishing? I don t like fish. Getting an old slimy worm and put it on a hook, and then watch and wait for the fish to bite. And if you get it at the right time, and the fish are biting, then you have to get that live fish off the hook. If you get a bass you have to watch the fins that are bony and sharp don t stick you. If you get a catfish you have to watch the points out the side and top don t stick you. If you get anything else you have to watch that the teeth in

2 the gills or the mouth don t get you. If not the fish then you have to watch that the hook when you cast don t catch you. Or for that matter the hook of the person next to you don t catch you. Some like hunting better, they make sure its dead before they get to it. We are captivated by the normal and lost in the abnormal occurrences of life. Most of us are so comfortable in our lives that when trouble comes we are totally lost, loose, and lame. We all need to understand that life is like a bowl of soup. You got some of everything in it. And a lot of times you don t know what it is. But its hot. Its hot going in but it feels good going down. I call it dead. Why is it dead? Because we are still in the boat. A lot of the stuff we do is Boat stuff. The Challenge to our faith is not how well we stay in the boat. We do a good job of staying in the boat. The challenge of our faith are the tests to our faith. What s in the Boat? You got boat nappers-sleep, non-shalant- You got boat yappers- talkers, no action You got boat sappers- drain you of your resources You got boat cappers- keep down mess and distress You got boat rappers- secure in there positions and statuses You got boat snappers- You say anything to them they will snap on you-get mad quick I like Boat to boat members- You got boat zappers- those that make it happen-those that walk on water You got boat Rockers- Rock the boat, make it happen by breaking out of the status quo Imagine what the conversation between the disciples that night. Peter? Yeah? Where you going? I am going to the Lord walking on the water. What? Are you crazy? Are you fanatical? Are you gonna rock the boat? YEAH!!! What s Above and around the Boat? Storms Boisterous Winds waves Thundering lightning Problems People situations What s beyond the boat? Jesus Some of us can t get out of the boat for what s in it. Some can t get out for what s above it. And some can t get out of the boat for what s beyond it. I call them Comfort Zoners. They are relaxed in their zone, free from the fire, remove from the turmoil, lazy from Living, and lax from life. Those that are not willing to bulge, move or put forth an effort. God never blessed anything where there was no effort on the part of the blessee.

3 If you want food, you have to ask, buy, work, cook, get- effort If you want to work you got to get up, dress, go-effort If you want to marry you got to commit-effort If you want to be love you got to give love- effort So here they are in boat, in a botched Boisterous, And then, bone tired and fearful for their lives, they look up and see SOMETHING in the foggy night. People simply don t walk on water, so they figured it had to be something unusual. Their first guess is a ghost, and then they recognize Jesus. Still fearful, not completely believing their eyes, soaking wet and waiting for the boat to capsize, they try to make sense of the whole situation. Do you ever wonder why Jesus would have sent the disciples out onto the lake in the first place? It was about 3 a.m. and they saw a man walking on the water. What would you do if you saw a man walking on water at 3 a.m. You would scream or cuss. They were scared to death and so would you be. Yet Jesus said It is I, Don t be afraid When you face the storms in your life, look for the one who walked on water and listen for the one who said It is I don t be afraid. We would say Lord calm the storm in my life yet what we should do, instead of telling God how great the storm is in your life, tell your storm how Great your God is! Ask God to help you find peace in the face of that storm. the storms that my anchor will hold you. Our seasoned fishermen/disciples knew the Sea, were all hardened fishermen. They had seen storms, and survived storms, and would live through storms in the future. But for all their experience, all their nautical knowledge, they needed to experience Christ s rescue of them on a first hand basis. They needed to be scared out of their wits, at the end of their ropes, and then to experience the miraculous rescue by Jesus, SO THAT THEY WOULD HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE TO CARRY THEM THROUGH ALL THE STORMS THAT WOULD COME UP IN THE FUTURE. Of course Christ rescued all of the men in the boat, for they believed in Him, and called upon Him. But here is the difference: ONLY PETER EXPERIENCED A CLOSE, LIFE SAVING ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS ON A FIRST HAND BASIS. FOR ONLY PETER WANTED MORE THAN JUST SITTING IDLY BY IN THE BOAT. PETER MET THE STORM HEAD ON, FOUGHT THE WAVES AND THE WIND AND FELT THE AWESOME EXPERIENCE OF TOUCHING THE VERY HAND OF CHIRST -- BECAUSE PETER WAS THE ONLY ONE WILLING TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT AND RUSH TO JESUS SIDE. IT WAS ONLY PETER WHO WASN T CONTENT TO STAY WHERE HE WAS AT, IN HIS COMFORTABLE SEAT. PETER WANTED MORE AND PETER HAD THE COURAGE TO STEP OUT OF THE BOAT. The real miracle of this Scripture is not that Jesus walked on top of the water. Peter walking on the water was miraculous, but Christ reaching down and pulling Peter up with the strength of a few fingers was a far more noteworthy event. And for Peter it was the revelation of having Christ reach down and touch him personally.

4 As today s disciple, Christ looks down on us, and of course is pleased with our worship, happy that we have come into his house. But until we have the courage to step out of our seats, to want to enlarge our faith, to have such a passionate desire to actually touch Christ and so we are willing to do more than sit in our pews, we will continue to have that comfortable faith. No risks, no growing closer to God, no touching of others because we are burning inside with the excitement of Christ, then we can expect that Christ will continue to wave at us from a distance. As a church, as an individual, as a people of faith, in order to spread the Gospel, to live out a personal relationship with Christ, we have to have the courage to get out of the comfortable boat and try walking among the waves of today s world. There are storms in every life, sometimes they feel like they re drowning us; sometimes they re just a hurdle we have to climb over. But in every storm, Christ is waiting with outstretched arms, to save us. It is up to us to call out to him before the waves overtake us. Do not wait until you are drowning to realize your own strength will never get you through. Jesus did not send the storm. Just as Jesus does not send the storms of life our way today. But Jesus knew what was coming, so why not spare the disciples all this fear and turmoil and danger? Sometimes there are great revelations that come out of our storms. Peter calls out Lord if it is you, tell me to come. Be careful what you ask for you may get it. But here is what we should follow; The Lord says to Peter come, and Peter gets out of the boat. Church we need to get out of the boat, we need to follow Jesus, and we can t do that sitting in the boat. Jesus is not in the boat, he is walking on water, we need to get out of the boat and walk with Jesus daily where He is walking. We need to come alive today, to get out of the boat and come to Jesus. WE NEED TO GET OUT OF THE BOAT, DON T LISTEN TO PEOPLE AND LISTEN TO JESUS. Have people ever let you down? Has God s people ever let you down? Now has Jesus ever let you down? Why listen to people instead of God? Why are you still in the boat? Jesus, God in the Flesh, tells us COME! When you get out of the boat keep your eyes on Jesus. When we take our eyes off Jesus, we are going to go down. When we got our eyes on anything else but Jesus, we have our eyes on things that are going to pull us down. Hebrews 12:2-3 says 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. When we fix our eyes on people, we are going down, fix your eyes on the preacher, you are going down, fix your eyes on Jesus and you can walk on water.

5 If you got your eyes on Jesus, we can face our storms, we can find peace and the storm will come and it will pass us by. I am going to ask only those who want to get out of the boat to have faith. I am going ask only those who want to climb out of the boat to come forward. I am also going to ask if you got out of the boat and took your eyes off Jesus, and you want to fix your eyes on Jesus, I am going to ask you to stand Maybe you got out of the boat, but you took your eyes off Jesus, maybe you never got out of the boat. Today all that can change. Will you get out off the boat? Will you fix your eyes on Jesus? It is in your court now what will you do?