Welcome to class. We're starting a brand-new school. I know a lot of kids aren't going back to
the classroom in August here where we live, so I thought today, since I have the opportunity
to teach the Word, I'm going to teach you a lesson today. This is more than a sermon; this is a class. I can't teach you how to cook. I can't teach you how to speak Spanish. I can't teach you CrossFit. I can't teach you hot yoga. I can't teach you any of that. But today I want to teach a class, and I need
to know who's present. Let's have a roll call. Put your name and your city in the chat. Say, "Present." Get your #2 pencil. Welcome to Water Walking 101. I thought we would get a jump on the school
year and see what God would teach us today about the situations in our lives that he
has placed us over. I just declare over your life today: you're
not going under. You are not going under! I declare it! So, consider this your introductory class:
Water Walking 101. Our syllabus is from Matthew 14:22-33. I want you to find that in your Bible. This Scripture is the first Scripture I ever
preached on. Earlier this week, I showed some of our staff
the second sermon I ever preached in the Woodmen of the World building. WOW. Walk on water. This is the first sermon I ever preached at
Moncks Corner United Methodist Church for Youth Sunday. Shout-out to my mom who brought me up in church. Shout-out to the poor people who endured my
first sermon. The beauty of the Methodist church is the
sermon is only 12 minutes, so if it sucks, it's mercifully short. It's not like it is now where I don't even
have a time clock because there's nobody coming in later. I'm just recording the message with a few
staff in the room who are socially distanced. The horrible thing was I did not know the
basics of preaching. Maybe you would say, "Well, that hasn't changed." You may be right about that, but back then,
I didn't even know you should practice your sermon before you preach it. I got up there with, like, 12 note cards,
and I thought each note card would take a minute. My whole sermon was done in two minutes. I cycled back through the cards and said the
same stuff again, and that polite home crowd love got me through it. It's a wonder I ever did it again. But this is the passage I preached my first
sermon from. Sometimes it's good to go back to basics. Everybody wants to use basic as a slang term
these days. "Man, she's basic. It's basic." Well, what's so bad about basic? Sometimes I need to go back to the basics
of faith, and this passage really helps me do that for all of those who are needing God
to get you over a situation you feel like has overwhelmed you. The Bible says, "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…" We talked about that a few weeks ago. We talked about lonely places. Jesus chose the lonely place so you and I
could experience him in the loneliest seasons of our lives. Now Jesus sent the disciples out into the
boat. "…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." Here's our instructor for the class. Here comes walking on water, right into your
situation. The Bible says, "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.'" Then Peter, Jesus' star pupil, that one kid
in the class who always wants to ask another question… "'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. 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.'" Lord, we thank you for your Word today, and
we thank you that it transcends time, space, and geography. We ask you now, Lord, that in this moment
in our lives our hearts would be still in your presence so we can hear your Word and
move toward your purpose. I thank you for each person you brought to
this sermon today. I believe they're here for a reason. I believe you're calling and drawing. I thank you that you are on the scene and
help is on the way. Bring forth your Word in our hearts. May it bud and flourish, prosper, and do what
you sent it to do. In Jesus' name, amen. In my life I've read this text so many times,
but I fear that sometimes we skim what God wants us to plunge into. In our syllabus today, there are a few details. You're not going to believe this. I actually have real points to this sermon. Every note-taker who has ever been frustrated
by my abstract mode of teaching is going to be in heaven today, because I at least have
six thoughts from this passage. Water Walking 101. I might put in a seventh for extra credit
if God blesses us with the time. I've noticed that, a lot of times, when we
get into a situation like these disciples were in, and maybe like you're in right now
with your job or maybe like you're in right now trying to figure out what to do with your
family, those kids… Your quiver is full right now. How many of y'all, your quiver is full and,
to be quite honest, your quiver is quivering? When we find ourselves in these situations,
there is a tendency to blame. The disciples liked to fight and argue with
one another any chance they got, yet the storm brought them together in a unique way in Matthew,
chapter 14. Trials sometimes tighten our focus. One thing we don't see in this storm is Peter
and John going back and forth or Andrew and Bartholomew talking about who's rowing the
hardest. They just need to make it through the storm. What really got my attention was a detail
I must have skimmed over, like I mentioned. Today, since we're in class, I want to study
it a little more deeply. Blame doesn't get you through a storm. The detail I noticed in verse 22… It said, "Jesus made the disciples get into
the boat." You know how people say, "The Devil made me
do it"? Jesus made the disciples get into the boat. He didn't ask them. He didn't recommend. He didn't suggest. It would be one thing if he didn't know, but
he's the Son of God with all wisdom. So, how did the one with all wisdom send them
into something that threatened their lives? The first point is: certain storms are unavoidable. I just need you to know that certain storms… You know what I mean by storm, right? It's not always physical. Sometimes there can be an emotional storm. Sometimes there can be a psychological storm. Sometimes there can be a relational storm. Sometimes we are so busy trying to figure
out how to get out of these storms we get into that we expend all the energy we could
have spent trying to learn what God wants us to learn through the storm. There are two ways to get through the storm,
and one is as a survivor. How many know it's good just to celebrate
that you're still here? In case you had a bad week, I'm going to give
you 15 unscripted seconds to praise God for the storms you have survived. You can sit there cute if it has been sunny
in your neighborhood, but if you survived some depression and if you thought you were
going down but you made it safe, give him praise. To survive the storm is a miracle. To survive abuse is a miracle. To survive an economy that is falling apart
but God provided is a miracle. God says you can be a survivor, but then,
if you want to, there are certain people who decide "I'm not just going to be a survivor;
I'm going to be a student of the storm. I am learning to learn from the storm." The thing about it is there are certain things
I can only learn in storms. The second thing I want to point out to you
in the text is that God's timing is designed to teach you to trust. When Jesus, who made the disciples get into
the boat… The Bible says that when he decided to reveal
himself to them was just before dawn. If the goal God has is to comfort us, then
this is a late appearance, but if God's goal is sometimes to change us, then it makes sense
that he would show up late. Once upon a time, I taught a sermon called
Trusting God's Timing, and the idea behind it is that when we're experiencing something
and it's very intense, we just want relief. I get that. I'd be lying if I didn't tell you there were
times I just wanted God to make stuff stop. I just want to check with you real quick. Have you ever just wanted God to make it stop? "Just make it stop. God, I'll do anything. Just make it stop. God, I'm sorry about that thing I did when
I was in seventh grade. Just make it stop." It can be a heartbreak. It can be, a lot of times, a loss in your
life, and you just feel like you're hemorrhaging and hurting. "God, just make it stop." In the King James Version of Matthew, chapter
14, it says it was the fourth watch of the night when Jesus came to them. That's the very last one. That's 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m., the fourth
watch. Yet interestingly enough, the Bible says,
he went on a mountain to pray. I've actually been to this site, and when
our guide took us to show us the mountain Jesus might have prayed on… Do you remember how he left us up there for
a moment? He really tricked us, because when he left
us up there, he was designing to show us that the sea the disciples were straining in was
visible to Jesus from his prayer station the whole time. He said, "Just because they didn't see Jesus
didn't mean Jesus didn't see them." Point 2, part B. This won't be on the test. Just because I don't see him doesn't mean
he's not watching me. The guide when we went to Israel left us up
there on the mountain for an hour, and I cried about the times in my life where I thought
he had left me. The fourth watch. The first watch isn't so bad. Second watch, third watch… I feel like we're in a moment right now, at
least in our nation… I don't know exactly what it's like in your
country. It feels kind of like the fourth watch right
now…for a lot of us, not for all of us. The novelty has worn off of everything. When we first started going into quarantine,
I was like, "Well, this is kind of cool. Life is slowing down a little bit. We'll have a little more family time." My quiver is full now. I've had enough family time to last me until
my daughter is 40, and she's 9 right now. I love my kids. But how about fourth watch faith? See, I've seen a lot of people with first
watch faith, second watch faith, third watch faith. But God's timing is not designed to give us
relief. So, if it's not designed to give you relief,
what's it designed to give you? Revelation. I'm going to run a lap. I'll be right back. I know y'all can't see me, but if you can
hear me, shout. Just because you can't see him doesn't mean
he left you! His eye was on the boat the whole time. He's watching you. He's guiding me. He's leading me. It's interesting that God's timing… You know, our timing is usually allocated
around when we think God should do things. The longer it goes… This is just in my life. Please send me a critical email if you've
found God to be different and your experience contradicts what I'm saying. I've found that the longer I wait, the louder
my "What ifs" get. The third thing I wanted to tell you in Water
Walking 101… Are you enjoying the class so far? This is the point in the semester where you
need to cancel if you want to drop the class. This is the last point to cancel. I want to teach you something very powerful. This is what I really want to teach about:
"What if…?" works both ways. The wind was against them, the Word was for
them, and "What if…?" works both ways. When we get into hypothetical situations,
the longer we wait on God to change certain situations… Once again, how many are there right now? Maybe you even feel like you're drowning in
what you don't know. You've analyzed it, and there's a certain
element of it you can't control. The Devil didn't start this storm; Jesus sent
them directly into it. A lot of us would turn around at this point
and say, "Well, maybe we didn't hear him right," but they pressed to the other side. Watch this. What if there's something on the other side
that is worth going through the storm for? Or is it harder sometimes for us to give faith
to the "What if…?" than it is to give fear to the "What if…?" Just like the wind blows… The wind can blow in either direction. So can the "What ifs." A lot of times in my life I've learned that
fear is just faith in the wrong "What if…?" "What if we fail?" What if we don't? We're here with a lot of our staff. We had some training, and I asked them to
stay around and help me preach to you. We told some of the stories, but we didn't
tell all of the stories about when we started the church. Holly was reminding me of one the other day
where, just as soon as we went to start the church, the resources that were supposed to
be given for our salary were pulled back. Then somebody else was going to pay our insurance,
and that got pulled back. Now, if my faith in God was contingent upon
the conditions, I would have taken that as a sign that God didn't speak to me to start
the church, but what if the wind is proof that what's on the other side is so significant
you have to push through to get there? A lot of us interpret the wind as an indication
that we should turn back around and head home. In this particular situation, Jesus said,
"I want you to go to the other side." Now here comes the wind. That represents resistance. For you, that may represent depression. For you, that might represent anxiety. We all go through different storms, and as
I've taught from this pulpit before, comparing the size of your storm to my storm and the
significance of my storm to your storm serves no purpose. The greatest thing about the passage is that
Peter didn't even really express faith; he just considered possibility. I'm going to show you this. He didn't say, "Lord, I know it's you. Tell me to come." He said, "Lord, if…" What if? "What if…?" works both ways. "What if…?" can make you give up, "What
if…?" can make you freak out, or "What if…?" can make you step forward. I want you to notice something Jesus did. Are you ready? This is where it gets good. He said, "If it's you, give me a word," and
Jesus took him really literally. He gave him one word. Did you see it in the text? "Come." Y'all, I had a Chihuahua. That's how we talked to the dog. Jesus talked to Peter like I talked to Yoyo
(24:01). That was the dog's name. This is a confession. I had a Chihuahua named Yoyo. We would say, "Come," "Stay," stuff like that. Jesus talked to Peter like I talked to Yoyo. Here's why, I think. Do you want to know what this makes me think? That sometimes the deepest things God speaks
will also be the simplest. Sometimes we can confuse deep with confusing. I've noticed a lot of times I would rather
learn something new than practice something old. Some of the deepest things God will speak
will be so simple, like "Come." "Okay. Well, Jesus, I was expecting a little more. I've never walked on water before. Are you going to give me any pointers? Like, a little bit of coaching? Like, should I put all my weight on one foot?" You have to remember. We read these Bible stories and we just compare
walking on water to paying our bills. He was walking on water! We make it mean whatever we want…changing
a tire, walking on water. Right? Peter is transcending the laws of buoyancy,
yet Jesus does not give him details, just direction. So, if God isn't giving you details right
now, ask him for direction instead. Some of the biggest words God ever spoke to
me in my life were just directions, impressions in my spirit. Can I share one with you? Here's one. Sometimes God will speak to me, and he'll
tell me, "Go say, 'I'm sorry.'" "Well, Lord, I would rather do a Bible study
on forgiveness." Do you see how sometimes we want something
deep so we don't have to do anything with it? I've been guilty in seasons of my life at
highlighting my Bible, but at the same time I was highlighting my Bible I wasn't even
willing to embrace the simplest habits, like gratitude. I know in my life that being grateful is the
greatest way for me to have joy, so why is it the hardest thing to do? Because it's so simple. See, right now in this season, maybe we need
to simplify what God is speaking to us. We don't have to understand everything. Some of us have so complicated what we need
from God to move forward in faith, but all he said was "Come." Sometimes all he'll say to you is "Peace." Sometimes all he'll say to you is "Love." Sometimes all he'll say to you is "Forgive." I found out that sometimes God will not give
the details; he'll simply set the direction. "Come." "Wow. You really took me literally there. 'If it's you, tell me to come.' 'Come.'" Oh man. God was speaking to me studying this. He said, "You know how you want confirmation
to obey me sometimes?" Like, "God, I'll do it if you give me a sign. Give me a sign that I'm supposed to do it." You know you're supposed to do it. It's something you know you're supposed to
do anyway. "God, give me a sign and I'll tithe." You already know you're supposed to do it. God said, "The command is the confirmation." "Well, God, I don't know if I can." "I wouldn't have told you to come if you couldn't." Let me bring this home. "I wouldn't have made you his father if I
wouldn't enable you to raise him." So, when I don't feel like I'm enough, I don't
realize if God gave it to me, he put it in me. When he said, "Come," when he gave the command,
he also supplied the strength for me to step on, step out. "Yes, Lord. I can do it. Yes, Lord. I can make it. You wouldn't have told me to preach if you
wouldn't enable me to preach." The same voice that told him to come would
be the same word that would enable him to do it. I don't need any more confirmation but that
he told me to. "But, Lord, are there any subpoints? Like, 'Come' is Roman numeral I." This is a class. Right? "All right. So, left foot first? Show me how to do it." "Come." And Peter did, which is what makes the next
part really weird. I mean, really weird. I'm going to lose some of y'all here, because
it's really weird. How many disciples
were in the boat that day? Twelve disciples. Let's not put Judas in. Eleven disciples who didn't suck. Eleven sincere disciples and Judas all going
to the other side. There's an
assignment on the other side, but God is weird, because he gives the test before the lesson. They don't even know what's on the other side,
and neither do you. None of us know what's on the other side of
what we're currently going through. I told our staff today our new church logo… It used to be one of these. Now it's a question mark. That's our new church logo. "When are we going to open all of the buildings
again?" Question mark. Yet at the same time, I love how Peter… Of all of the Eleven and Judas, Peter was
the one who had the faith to step out. I get with that, because… Do it big. You know? If you're going to do it, go big, Peter. "If it's you, tell me to come." "Come." So, he makes his big move. The Bible doesn't say how long he walked on
the water. He must have made it pretty far. I'm going to tell you why I think this. Consider with me. They couldn't see Jesus up close enough to
know whether it was a ghost or really Jesus. They needed to hear him to know. The only way they heard the word was the wind
carried it. The wind that was against the disciples carried
the voice of Jesus. Some of the things that are against you will
enable you to hear God more clearly. The other thing is when Peter fell, the Bible
says a word that started the passage as well, and you can look this up in verse 22. It says, "Immediately Jesus made them get
into the boat to the other side." Then it says that when Peter got out of the
boat… Immediately, when he started to sink, Jesus
grabbed him. It doesn't say he fell immediately. It says that as soon as he started to fall
Jesus caught him. Now, when Peter fell and Jesus caught him
immediately, the next thing Jesus said is something he said a few times in Scripture. He said, "You of little faith." That offended me. If anybody deserves to be called little faith,
it's Judas. You're going to single out Peter? That bothered me that he called that little
faith. I mean, if you think it's little faith, you
go do it. When someone says, "That sermon was pretty
good. It wasn't your best," I'm like, "Well, you
preach one. I'll go listen to yours. I'll go listen to your best one. Preach your best one. You do it." "I just think you need to be more patient
with your kids." "Good. I'll send them over to you and you can give
them the patience I haven't been giving them lately. You do it." That's what I was thinking. So I sat with it, because last week I preached
about little. Did you hear that sermon? Take the Lid Off a Little. The whole phrase got me. "You of little faith." I thought, "Well, we're all doomed if he thinks
that's little. I mean, it's all I can do to get in a five-minute
prayer time right now and not get distracted and start checking my phone. If that's what he thinks is little faith,
I'm definitely not making it to heaven." But
the phrase "You of little faith" doesn't necessarily refer to quantity; it refers to quality. It's not how much faith; it's how far faith. Little faith. It doesn't mean it wasn't strong; it means
it wasn't sustained. I want to show you something now, and I want
you to lean into this. I thought, "Well, Jesus, if that's little
faith, then what is big faith?" And it hit me…a Scripture I read about one
of the two times Jesus was actually amazed. There are only two times in the New Testament
that the Bible says Jesus was amazed. One time was in his hometown where they had
no faith in him because they were too familiar with him. That's a whole sermon that we don't have time
for in this class. That's Familiarity 101, and we'll do that
class on another day…how familiarity can be the enemy of faith, how you can start getting
so comfortable in your life you're afraid to do anything else. So, that's one time that he was amazed at
their lack of faith, but what I want to show you is in Matthew, chapter 8. If you go with me to Matthew, chapter 8, we're
going to see one of the times Jesus was amazed. The Bible says there was a centurion, a military
official, who had a sick servant. He had an issue. His storm was not a hurricane or rain and
thunder and lightning. His particular need revolved around the sickness
of someone he cared about. Matthew 8:5: "When Jesus had entered Capernaum,
a centurion came to him…" Listen. This word is right for you. The Spirit of God gave me this passage, because
I couldn't figure out, "If that's little faith, then what's great faith?" This centurion asked Jesus for help. "'Lord,' he said, 'my servant lies at home
paralyzed, suffering terribly.' Jesus said to him, 'Shall I come and heal
him?'" Now let's contrast. Peter said, "If it's you, tell me to come." Jesus asked the centurion, "Should I come?" What I saw next blew my mind. I never saw it before. I've been preaching since 16. I never saw this before in the Scripture. "The centurion replied, 'Lord, I do not deserve
to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will
be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with
soldiers under me. I tell this one, "Go," and he goes; and that
one, "Come," and he comes. I say to my servant, "Do this," and he does
it.' When Jesus heard this, he was amazed…" He was blown away. He was exploding head emoji. "…he was amazed
and said to those following him, 'Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel
with such great faith.'" The Lord spoke to me this. One disciple said, "Lord, if it's you, tell
me to come." Jesus said, "That's little faith." One man said, "Jesus, I know who you are. You can stay." The Lord said, "Sometimes it takes greater
faith to stay." "You will keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on thee." I hear the Lord saying, "You can come, and
that's fine. That's little faith. But sometimes the greatest faith is when you
stay because you trust that the one who spoke the word has authority over every situation." See, right now, we're in a storm where we
don't really have anywhere to go and there's really only so much we can do, and I don't
really have a whole lot of options. God said, "When I see you staying in praise,
staying grateful, staying encouraged, staying on the job, and staying in the ministry, just
staying, that's great faith." It's great when you stay. You can come if you want to, but Jesus said,
"Great faith is when you know that if I said, 'Let's go to the other side,' there's no storm
in Galilee, there's no Devil in hell, there's no virus in the world…" So, the fifth point is big moves don't always
prove great faith. I'm preaching to somebody right now. You're walking on water, but you're doing
it in little steps. I mean, some of these people walk on water
fancy, but you're just like, "Uh…" God said, "That's great." Great faith. He said, "I don't even need you to come." Peter said, "If it's you, tell me to come." He said, "I don't even need you to come. I don't even need all that. I don't even need a feeling. I don't even need a confirmation. The command is the confirmation. If you said you'd never leave me or forsake
me, if you made that promise, you gave the guarantee, that's good with me. I know what authority looks like." Jesus said, "That's great faith." It's great faith. Sometimes we think people have faith when
they're really just freaking out, really just doing stuff. "Wow, man. That's great faith." This man said, "I don't even need a dramatic
sign for you to do it." God doesn't always need drama to do it. Such a simple word, such a deep expression
of faith, yet that's really not the message, is it? Because he still fell. This encouraged me. He failed the test, but he still got the lesson. Everybody who wasn't a really good student,
this is your part to shout on. Everybody who's nervous about homeschooling
your kid, this is your point to shout on. He failed the test, but he got the lesson,
because it really wasn't a lesson about water; it was a lesson about worship. "Truly you're the Son of God." And they began to worship him, and the wind
died down when he got in the boat. The essence of salvation is this: by grace
through faith you are saved. "And this not of yourselves; it is the gift
of God, not of works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). I never saw this as a picture of salvation
because I was so focused on the storm. Sometimes we go through things that we get
so consumed by the test we don't even get the lesson. I want to show you in the text that Peter,
beginning to sink… I don't know who this is for. It might not even be for anybody who's in
this room, but Peter's faith was not in his ability to make it to Jesus. The Bible says that when he started to go
down, immediately he reached out his hand and caught him. Reach out and catch my hand. You can't unless I'm close. My faith isn't in how far I can walk. Do you remember when Graham started playing
at catcher? He got pretty good at catcher. I was so proud that my kid was good at a position
in baseball. Just like me. I was a catcher when I was a kid. I was proud. The league they were in… Usually, they wouldn't even try to make a
play at home, because all of the catchers sucked except ours. Our kid was the only good catcher in the whole
league. The coach kept trying to get the third baseman
to make the throw at home, but he wouldn't do it. I remember one time the coach was yelling
at the kid playing third. He was like, "Make the throw at home! When he's going home, you throw him out!" He said, "I can't make the throw." The coach said, "That's all right. You've got a good catcher." Something in my mind brought me back to remind
you today in Water Walking 101 that you have a good catcher. I don't know if I can make the throw. I have little faith. But I'm going to go ahead and throw it out
there. Not because I'm going to make it all the way,
not because I know how this ends, not because the wind is dying down, not because I'm so
good at walking on water. I'm trembling, and my legs are weak, and I
don't really know, but he's close enough… My sixth point is grace and faith go hand
in hand. When you don't really believe in the grace
of God, you don't have faith in God, because until you really believe he's close enough
to catch you, you will always stumble. Peter's faith was not in his feet; it was
in Jesus' hand. It is by grace through faith that God is going
to get you through this storm. I need you to praise him right now for little
faith. Watch this. I have little faith, but I have great grace. Oh, I have great grace! I have a big God! I have a good God! He's got me and he won't let go! Throw up your hands and give him worship. I found out how to walk on water. I don't walk on water with my feet; I walk
on water with the Word. He said, "Lord…" Isn't it crazy that when Peter's legs failed
him his mouth saved him? He cried out, "Lord, save me." And immediately… I'm telling you, if you reach for grace right
now… My confidence is not in the fact that I'm
able to walk so perfectly; my confidence is in the fact that he's close enough to catch
me. My message today is that sometimes the way
you go to deeper faith is to just fall in the right place. This concludes Water Walking 101. If you know he's the one who can make the
wind die down with one word from his mouth, give him praise right where you are. Give him praise and honor. I have a good catcher. I'm a wobbly walker, but I have a good catcher. So I'm going forward! I'm not going under! You know what? That wind is tricky. Peter came toward Jesus, but he looked at
the wind. Right now, in your life… Listen to me. I want to say this like I would say it to
one of my kids. What you have to learn to ignore is just as
important as what you have to learn to walk toward. Some of us are walking toward the right thing,
but we are not ignoring the others. You have to get your eyes on the grace of
God. You have to get your mind on the goodness
of God. You have to get your thoughts on the possibility. I mean, what if he does it? What if he's guiding you? I know you've been thinking, "What if I fall?" What if he catches you? What if you worship? What if you put your worry in reverse? "O Lord, I believe that all things are working
together for my good." I don't know who this class is for, but it's
just basic faith. My faith is not in my faith; it's in the grace
of God. Listen. I hear him saying, "Come," the same thing
he told Peter. I hear him saying to me, I hear him saying
to you in this season, and that means something different right now for each of us. For you, maybe that means to draw near to
God in this season because you haven't been hearing his word. You've just been blown by the wind. For some of you, that may mean you stopped
walking toward what God gave you to do because of what was against you, but remember, the
wind can carry his word into your heart. For a lot of us, it means that in this moment
I just need to stop and say, "Lord, I'm drowning. O God, I can't stay out here by myself. Would you save me? Would you help me up? Would you show me how to do it?" "Just say the word," the centurion said, "and
my servant will be healed." Lord, I thank you for the privilege to minister
your Word today. Your Word is powerful. Your Word is eternal. Your Word is living. We put our hands in your hand right now. We put our faith in your grace. We open our mouths to say that truly you are
the Son of God. It's the fourth watch of the night for somebody. Literally, they've been wondering, "Am I going
down and is this it? Is there even another side? I don't know it anymore." I thank you that your eye is upon them and
that you sent your word today to speak right to that situation. After all, we can't really walk on water,
but we can walk on your word. Say the word, Lord. Speak it to their heart right now. You know what they need to hear. Calling them closer and telling them to come,
upholding them with your righteous right hand. I speak your word today over every city, over
every country, over every child of God who has joined up with this ministry in this moment. Send your word and heal them. The centurion said, "I don't even need you
to come. If you'll just send the word to my house…" Send your word to their house, God. Send it with power and authority and glory
and break strongholds and speak peace by the power of your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
