Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24but the boat was already a considerable distance[a]from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.26When 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."

"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. 30But 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. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God." - Matthew 14:22-36

You ever feel like you’re drowning? I know I have. There have been countless times where I’ve felt like the prophet Isaiah, “Woe is me! I am ruined!” Sometimes the trials and struggles of every day life can overwhelm us to the point of depression. I remember reading the scripture above one night during a particularly tough time in my life. I got to the part where Peter begins to sink and he cries out, “Lord, save me!”, and I realized that I was Peter. And I was drowning.

Difficult times in life can cause us to fear the worst in things. “Oh this will never happen” or “I’ll never do this” become the slogans ingrained in us. Fears lead to doubts and doubts lead to depression. The cycle starts all over again the next time a storm comes around in our life. Sometimes we just want some assurance that everything will be alright.

Notice in the text how Peter asks Jesus for that assurance. The disciples are terrified when they see their master walking on the water. Jesus tells them not to fear, and then Peter asks for confirmation that it’s really Him out there on the water. Jesus responds by giving Peter his word that it is truly Him on those waves. We open our bibles and read over God’s word to let it strengthen and reassure us. And for a while we, like Peter, have the courage to step out on the waves.

So Peter steps out of the boat onto the waves. He’s overcome the initial fear of seeing Jesus walking on water by the reassurance Jesus gave him with his word. So Peter presses on toward Jesus, but then he sees the wind. How he ‘saw’ the wind, I don’t know. Maybe the wind picked up right then and he saw and felt its effects. Maybe Jesus purposely enhanced the wind to test Peter; I don’t know. But Peter began to sink nonetheless. He was overcome by something he couldn’t see.

Usually what we can’t see is what we call the “unknown”. We tend to fear what we don’t know more than what we do. When we know things, we make plans and take action; when we don’t know, we are paralyzed. Peter lost his faith when he felt the effects of the unknown and he began to sink. But there was Jesus, ready to save him. There was Jesus, keeping Peter from drowning.

So don’t be afraid of the storms in life, such things will come. Let God’s word be the spark of reassurance to move you forward onto the waves. Don’t fear the unknown, because even if you do, Jesus will always be there to keep you from drowning. Be willing to cross land and sea to get to Jesus knowing he will be there to pull you up when you start to sink.

1- Just one God

2- Put nuthin' before God

3- Watch yer mouth

4- Git yerself to Sunday meetin'

5- Honor Ma & Pa

6- No killin'

7- No foolin' 'round with another man's gal

8- Don't take what aint yers

9- No tellin' tales or gossipin'

10- No hankerin' fer yer buddy's stuff.

The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with his love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Jesus delights in you. But far too often you forget this. Far too often you listen to the lies of Satan and society. Far too often you tell yourself lies about who you are. But still He delights in you. Far too often culture tells you that you re not good enough, you re not pretty enough, you re not smart enough, you re not strong enough, you re not handsome enough, you re not thin enough, you re not rich enough, and you re not cool enough. They tell you that you re too fat, too poor, too ugly, too dumb, too weird, and too weak. And far too often you believe them. But still He delights in you. Far too often you go astray; far too often you desire other things besides Him.  But still He delights in you. Far too often you doubt His plans for you and far too often you doubt His power to save you.  But still He delights in you. Far too often you mess up and sin in ways that you can only imagine being forgiven.  But still He forgives you.  And still He delights in you.  Far too often you settle for feelings of depression and anger and bitterness when all you have to do is reach out for Him, fight to take hold of Him, and find your delight in Him. You settle for playing in the sandbox when you could have the beach instead! But even still Jesus delights in you. And because He delights in you, you too can delight in Him. Keep fighting; He s right there for the taking.  And He delights in you.


He reached down from on high and took hold of me; 
he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy, 
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster, 
but the LORD was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place; 
he rescued me because he delighted in me.
Psalm 18:16-19

35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” – Mark 4:35-41


Ever feel like you’re in a storm you just can’t get out of?  You feel like a house during a hurricane, constantly pelted by debris.  You fail an important test.  Then your iPod breaks.  Then that guy/girl you like rejects you. T hen you get into a fight with your best friend.  That’s followed by a fight with your parents.  In fact, it seems like all you ever do is fight with your parents. One thing piles up after another in an endless stream of tough breaks. Life sometimes can seem like the storm the disciples came across.  That storm was so furious that the disciples thought their boat was going to sink and they were going to drown to death. Sometimes our problems overwhelm us to the point where we think we’re going to drown too.   We think things will never get better; we think things will never be right.   So what do we do?  We do what the disciples did, we cry out to Jesus.   How do we cry out?  With faith that He will hear us and calm the raging storm around us. He has the power to fix every problem of ours.   He has the power to heal every broken friendship. He has the power to conquer those pesky sins of ours that won’t seem to go away. He heals the sick. He provides for the poor.   He does it all.   All He is asks for from us is for a little mustard seed-sized faith.   So when life throws a hurricane of problems your way, don’t be afraid to cry out to Jesus.   He’s the one who calms the raging seas around us.