Faith even in the Storm
8/8/2010
Matthew 14:22-33
Some people are afraid when a storm comes. I personally am not one of them. My cats though will hide under the bed when a bad storm arises.
I heard about a little boy who when he heard the storm outside so he called to his mother and asked if he could come in her bed and sleep with her. The mom simply replies, “No baby, mommy has to sleep with daddy”. The little boy pulls the covers up over his head and mutters under his breath, “Big sissy”.
While I am not afraid of storms, I like many others do not like them. And in our life we face many storms that are not weather related. Life is full of problems. And when you enter into a personal relationship with Christ, it doesn't get any better. The bible teaches us that WHEN not IF you have problems. We all have storms that come into our lives.
It could be in the form of our finances. It could be a storm in our marriages; Maybe the storm of a wayward child. In could be a storm in the church. We all face storms. Today I want to share with you how to have faith in them.
Open your Bibles to Matthew 14. A little background before we begin. In the beginning of Chapter 14 we read that Jesus had just received the news about the beheading of His good friend, John the Baptist. Talk about a storm! Can you imagine hearing the news of one of your closest friends being killed? So Jesus went to go away to be alone, but the crowds followed Him by foot. When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them and begins healing their sick people.
As evening approaches, His disciples came to Him and told Him that it was getting late and He needed to send the crowds away to go get something to eat. He responds with Matthew 14:16 But Jesus said to them, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
They look at what they had, which was five loaves and two fish. Not much in the appearance of quantity to feed 5000 men not to mention the woman and children. But little is much when God is in it. So He has them to seat the multitude and not only is everyone filled, but there was 12 baskets left over.
Now we get to our text and my first point.
The TRAIL of Faith
Matthew 14:22-27 Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, "It is a ghost!" And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."
Jesus had sent the multitudes away and He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. This is what if you remember what He sought to do in the first place.
So here we find the disciples doing just as Jesus had asked them to do, Going to the other side. Notice that they were in the will of God and that didn't stop the storm from coming.
And the same thing holds true for us as well. You can be doing exactly what God has for you to do and that does not mean that life will be happily ever after.
John 16:33 These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Notice it doesn't say that you can have tribulation, it says you WILL have! You can be doing the will of God and I can guarantee you that you WILL have problems.
Now we read that in previous chapters when the storms came, He simply spoke the words and calmed the storms. This time He appeared to not be there when the storms came. But God is always there in the storms in our lives.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
He will never leave us. Hebrews 13:5 "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
I can remember getting ready to scrap, (get into a fight) in my younger stupid days and I would have a lot of people around me. But I soon found out, that they were not there to fight, because the majority of them when they found out that it was going to cause some action on their part would take flight. They were out of there.
There was a time when there was mistaken identity. Some angry husband thought I was messing around with his wife. As I was leaving a party, this guy who was right on my tail. And when me and my best friend pulled over to see what this guys problem was, this guy who I had never seen before was coming at me with something in his hand behind his back.
Now it was obvious that this guy was not heading towards me to shake my hand, so I prepared to defend myself. I thought maybe he had a knife behind his back so my plan was to dodge his swing then knock his block off. The problem was that instead of a knife, he had a pipe. I underestimated the length of safe distance in order to dodge the blow. So he came around and clocked me right over my head. All this time, my best friend all this time was sitting in my car. I wondered where is Chris and why is he just setting there? Thank God after the third hit he stepped out of my car and tossed me an ax handle that I kept in my car. You never can tell when you may break one while chopping wood.
The point I am trying to make is that sometimes in our storms we wonder, “Where is God in my time of trouble? Why is He allowing me to go through this? Where is God when our storms come?”
Let me give you the answer before we go on. He (God) is in the same place He was when His Son suffered and died. He is not one bit surprised when the storm comes into our life. He knows. Some times it may be for our correction to get us where we belong. Some times it may be just because. He does not sit on the throne and look down and think, “Who can I sap today?”
Remember if not for the storms in our lives; we would never see the beauty of the rainbows!
Then we have
The TEST of Faith
Remember when they had seen Jesus walking on the water, they didn't recognize Him and they thought He was a ghost. It was not till they heard His word that they knew it was Him. And sometimes we need to get into His word when we don't recognize why we are going through our storms.
So when storms come into our life and we go to God and we ask Him to fix it. And we don't see immediate results...remember we have to pray as Jesus did; “Not my will but yours”. We need to be saying, “God if you won't take me out of this storm...what would you have me to learn in this storm!”
Matthew 14:28-29 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." So He said, "Come." And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.
When they found out that is was Jesus; it was Peter who tested his faith. He said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water." Now you have to understand, this was not Peters first time on the boat. Remember he was a fisherman. He had probably been in a storm or two. He was familiar with water. He knew you can't walk on water. But he also knew that with the Lord's help, he could do anything.
Most of the times we ask God to calm the storm before we get out of the boat. But what God is looking for is someone to take that step of faith and get out of our boats. We need to test our faith and say, God I think this the direction you are leading. And I don't know why or how but by faith I am stepping out. And if I am out of your will please slam the door in my face.
Then we have...
The LACK of Faith
Matthew 14:30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
Hey before you think I am slamming Peter, at least HE GOT OUT. The rest of the disciples just sit in the boat. But it was Peter who took that step of faith. He, other than Jesus, is the only one who could say that he walked on water. Peter didn't ask Jesus to stop the storm; he just asked that He be with him in the storm.
Now I have heard it said that when Peter took his eyes off Jesus, that is when he began to sink. Peter was fine till he began to look at his circumstances; the wind blowing...the big waves.
We often do the same thing. We think we can't do something because of our circumstances. I can't teach that class. Those kids are wild. I can't witness to that person. I have to work with them everyday and I don't want it to be uncomfortable.
Now you would think that he would have learned from what he had previously just experienced. Remember when the disciples had told Him to send the crowd away. They looked at the circumstances of the 5 loaves and the 2 fish and thought there is no way that they could begin to feed this many people with what they had.
But after He sat them down and had the disciples feed them, they all ate till they were filled. And do you remember how many baskets of food were left over? Twelve. The same number as the disciples. The Lord will always take care of the server and when you serve God, even in the storms, God will take care of you as well.
Next we have...
The CRY of Faith
Matthew 14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
He had cried out in the previous verse. “Lord save me”. And IMMEDIATELY it states Jesus reached out and saved him. And that's the way He is. He wants to save you as well.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
Not only does He want to save you, He is the only one who can. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. It's not about being good. It is not about what we do, it is all about what He did!
If you are here this morning and you have never entered into a personal relationship with Christ, He loves you and He is reaching out to you. Why don't you accept Him today!
You see when you begin to exercise your faith, even in the storms of life; you will see God for who He truly is. Matthew 14:32-33 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, "Truly You are the Son of God."
Just as He never let Peter go under, He when you are in His will, while you are doing His work. He will not let you go under as well.
