https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/LessonsFromPetersWalkOnTheWater.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\tText: Matthew 14:22-33\n
<\/p>\nI. The events here immediately follow the miraculous feeding of a great multitude of people\n(5000 men, plus women and children).\n
A. Jesus sends his disciples in a boat to the other shore while he dismissed the crowd.<\/p>\n
B. Jesus then climbs a nearby mountain to pray into the evening.<\/p>\n
C. Meanwhile the disciples ran into a storm.<\/p>\n
1. The wind was against them and the boat was being battered by the waves.<\/p>\n 2. The boat had traveled 3 to 4 miles out into the sea (John 6:19). (In other\nwords, it wasn’t close to shore, so turning around to make for shore wasn’t\nan option.)\n D. After allowing the disciples to struggle all night, Jesus walks out to them on the\nwater during the fourth watch (between 3 and 6 am)\n E. When the disciples see Jesus walking on the water, they cried out in fear,\nsupposing a ghost was approaching them. However, Jesus called to them to take\ncourage that it was he and there was no need to be afraid.\n
II. The brash Peter replied,”Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”<\/p>\n A. Peter knew that all he needed was the beckoning of the Lord, and His will would\nbe done.\n
B. Here is the basis of faith: a “thus saith the Lord.”<\/p>\n 1. We can do whatever the Lord commands and we dare not do anything that\nthe Lord has not authorized.\n
2. Faith comes by hearing the words of Christ – Romans 10:17<\/p>\n
3. We walk by faith – II Corinthians 5:7<\/p>\n
4. Whatever we do, do it with the authority of Jesus – Colossians 3:17<\/p>\n
a. Not saying that Jesus will authorize whatever I chose to do<\/p>\n b. But that I must chose to only do only the things Jesus has\nauthorized.\n
C. Jesus gave Peter the command that Peter wanted – “Come”<\/p>\nIII. Peter steps out of the boat and walks on the water, but he did not get far before he began\nto sink.\n
A. Why did Peter sink?<\/p>\n 1. Was it because he couldn’t walk on water? No, he did walk for a short\nwhile.\n 2. Was it because he lacked interest or effort? No, he asked for permission\nand he was in the process of walking\n B. Peter started to sink because he began to doubt that he could accomplish what\nChrist had commanded.\n
1. If we doubt the words of Jesus, then we also doubt Him.<\/p>\n
2. Jesus speaks the words of God – John 12:48-49<\/p>\n
3. II John 9<\/p>\n
C. So, why did Peter doubt?<\/p>\n
1. Verse 30 tells us it started when Peter saw the strength of the wind.<\/p>\n 2. Peter would not have noticed the wind and the waves if he had been\nfocusing on Jesus. – Hebrews 12:1-3\n a. When we begin to focus on our problems – temptations, worldly\ninfluences, ungodliness, and daily battles – it isn’t hard to lose heart\n
b. This is not to say that if we ignore these things they will go away.<\/p>\n c. We must be aware of them and careful not to let them trap us. \nHowever, we must be careful as to how we allow our awareness of\nthese things affect us.\n d. Peter’s problem was not so much that he was aware of the wind\nand the waves as he focused on them and allowed his awareness to\nbecome fear, which in turn overcame his faith.\n e. In that moment of doubt, he forgot which was more powerful – the\nwind and the waves, or the creator of all things.\n
3. This is why Jesus scolded Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”<\/p>\n
a. Poem by William Blake<\/p>\n This life’s dim windows of the soul\n Distort the heavens from pole to pole\n And lead you to believe a lie,\n When you see with, and not through, the eye.\n
b. We tend to see things as they appear to our carnal senses.<\/p>\n (1) We see our enemies as the Israelites saw the armies of\nCanaan – Numbers 13:32-14:3\n
(2) God promised them the land. It was theirs for the taking.<\/p>\n
(3) Joshua and Caleb had faith – Numbers 13:30<\/p>\n
(4) The other ten spies had doubts – Numbers 13:31<\/p>\n (5) They were deceived into thinking they could not win. And\nthey were right, because their faith was overcome by fear\ndue to their perception of the situation.\n
IV. Have we allowed doubt to overcome our faith?<\/p>\n
A. If God commands us to be holy – can we be holy? – I Peter 1:16<\/p>\n
B. If God tells us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, can we?<\/p>\n
1. Titus 2:11-12<\/p>\n
2. The one who practices righteousness is righteous.<\/p>\n
C. Some are saying, “No, I can’t. I can’t leave my sins behind.” – O ye of little faith!<\/p>\n D. When we attempt to fight our own battles with our own strength and schemes,\nturning to human devised ploys to bring in crowds or to do the work of the church\n– we demonstrate our lack of faith in the Gospel and its author.\n E. We cannot defeat the waves of false teaching, worldliness, apathy, or doubt by\ncompromising or pretending they don’t exist.\n 1. Peter’s walk on the water was not dependent on him ignoring the wind and\nthe waves, but upon his trusting and obeying Jesus Christ despite the wind\nand the waves.\n F. We need to learn to trust in Jesus and his way completely. We need to use the\nability and strength that he provides – Ephesians 6:10-18\n
V. Peter walked on the water. Yet, when he began to sink he cried out “Lord, save me.”<\/p>\n
A. If we stumble, the Lord is there to save us – I John 1:9<\/p>\n
B. Colossians 2:5-7 – You can do it!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Matthew 14:22-33 I. The events here immediately follow the miraculous feeding of a great multitude of people (5000 men, plus women and children). A. Jesus sends his disciples in a boat to the other shore while he dismissed the crowd. B. Jesus then climbs a nearby mountain to pray into the evening.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-45019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","tag-faith"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":87798,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-hebrews-on-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":45019,"position":0},"title":"The Book of Hebrews on Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel Download Audio","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92879,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jesus-die-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":45019,"position":1},"title":"Why Did Jesus Die? (Warfel)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel Download Audio","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":91352,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/disciples-seek-to-follow-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":45019,"position":2},"title":"Disciples Seek to Follow Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeremy DeHut Download Audio Acts of Disciples","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44290,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-is-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":45019,"position":3},"title":"Who Is Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/joy-in-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":45019,"position":4},"title":"Joy in Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel Download Audio","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66069,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-the-only-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":45019,"position":5},"title":"Jesus, the Only Way","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Raymond Warfel","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45019\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}