Walking on Water.m4v

Jesus said to his disciples, "Okay, you go across the lake. I'll follow you later." And then he went to all the people and he said, "Thank you for coming.

Thank you for coming. You can go home.

Thank you for coming. You can go home." And all the people left. And pretty soon, when all the people were gone, Jesus said, "Oh good, now I can pray." And so he climbed up the side of the mountain and he found a nice little quiet place where he could pray. And he knelt down, and it says in the Bible that as evening came in, Jesus was praying. And he prayed and he asked God. Do you remember what he wanted to talk to God about all the way back at the beginning of the day? John, his cousin.

Why?

Why did that happen to John? And so he prayed and he cried and he cried and he prayed and he talked to his Father until finally he felt good. He felt like, "I understand now that it was God's will and God has a plan. I don't know what his plan is yet in that, but I know that I trust God." And then he stood up and he stretched. And guess what time it was? It was like 8 hours later. He had been praying for 8 hours. It was almost morning time, but it was really dark still, and Jesus made his way back down the side of the mountain, and he got to the edge of the water where the disciples' boat used to be and that had gone across the water, and he looked out across the water and he could see the boat way out there. It was a storm, big storm. The waves were going like this and the wind was whew, blowing, and Jesus could see the disciples, 'cause he could see a long ways, 'cause he had the gift of prophecy. And He could see the disciples out there struggling at the oars, and He saw the waves. And then He looked this way and He saw a nice smooth beach, and He thought, "Hmm, I could walk on the beach like all the people did to get here. I could walk on the beach to get back to where the disciples are going, or I could walk on the water. That sounds like fun." And so Jesus started to walk on the water. And you know, it wasn't a really calm night. I remember a picture in my mind from when I was a little kid, and I think it's in a Bible storybook somewhere of a beautiful smooth ocean and a big moonbeam coming across the ocean, 'cause the moon is shining and there's this moonbeam and the water's perfectly clear and Jesus is walking on the moonbeam. Well, that wasn't this night because it says there was a storm and the waves were going like this and the wind was blowing like that and Jesus was climbing up the waves 'cause they were huge like mountains. He's climbing up one side of the wave and he's skiing down the other side of the wave and he's climbing up the next side of the wave And he's barefoot skiing, or maybe sandalfoot skiing, 'cause he had sandals, sandalfoot skiing down the other side. And he's climbing up the next wave, and he's going up and down, and up and down, and out in the middle of the lake, the disciples in the boat are going up and down, but they're getting a little bit, oh, sick. And they're bailing the water out of the boat, trying to keep the boat floating, and they're rowing, trying to get back on course. And then one of the disciples says, "I saw something." And they said, "What?" He said, "I saw something out here in the water." What'd you see?

I don't know, I saw something over there, I saw something over there.

I said, what was it?

I don't know, I don't know. Oh, there it is again, there it is again.

And what he saw was, as the boat went up and Jesus was going up, he saw Jesus's head come up over a wave and disappear.

I saw a head, I saw a head in the water.

And they said, you saw— you can't see a head in the water, there's— you can't just be a head.

It's over there.

And then Jesus went, and then another wave up head and shoulders and stomach and then back down.

I saw it too. Another disciple saw it. Oh, I saw it too, I saw it too. It's a ghost. It says in the Bible the disciples said, it's a ghost, it's a ghost, it's a ghost. What are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? And they got really scared.

And Jesus, he sees them in the boat. He can hear them screaming, and he thinks to himself, I better go help them, they're scared. And so he walks towards the boat. Now he was walking towards the shore where he was going to meet them, but now he walks towards the boat to help the disciples, and he says Hey guys, don't worry, it's only me. And they say, what? You sound like Jesus. That's right, it is, it's me, it's Jesus. I was just walking across the water. You were what? I was just walking across the water to go to the other side.

What? You can walk on water?

I guess I can. And Peter got this really good idea because some of the disciples were saying quietly in the boat, I don't think it's really Jesus.

I think it's a ghost.

I really think it is. I think it's a ghost, and I think he's trying to trick us because he could— so he can get closer to the boat. And so Jesus said, guys, it really is me. And Peter came up with this really good idea. I know how to find out if it's really Jesus. I've got a way to find out. So he said, Jesus, if it is you, then call me and let me walk on the water to you. Because he knew in his mind, Jesus could make me walk on water if he can walk on water, but If it isn't Jesus, the ghost can't make me walk on water. And they didn't even realize there aren't even such things as ghosts.

But they were scared. And so Peter, he steps out of the boat, and what do you think happens?

He steps over the side, and he just believes. Must be Jesus. Because when he steps over the side, guess what it sounds like? Have you ever stepped on water? It goes, "Pwee!" Not this time. It goes, That doesn't sound like any water I've ever stepped on before. Takes his other foot out of the boat. And Jesus says, come, Peter, come.

And so he's walking towards Jesus, and Jesus is looking at him like, come, Peter, come. And he's walking towards Jesus.

And then, you know, when I was a little boy, there was a man in our church who was such a good storyteller that I remember him telling this story. But something had happened to him when he was a little boy. He was playing on the monkey bars. He was climbing up really high on the monkey bars, and he got up right up to the top, and he was walking on the top of them or something, like he wasn't wasn't supposed to be, and he slipped and fell and hit his chin. But his tongue was sticking out, and he hit his chin on the bar and bit his tongue off. And they took him to the hospital, and the hospital back then, just— they didn't have all this tiny little surgery they could do now where they can connect everything. They just took his tongue and sewed it back on. And so when he talked He couldn't use his tongue properly because he'd bit his tongue off. And so he would be telling us stories, and he sounded like Sylvester the Cat from cartoons.

And he would say, "Hey kids, who wants to have a story today?" And we go, "Yeah!" And he'd be spitting all over us, and we didn't care because he was such a good storyteller.

And so we would all come to the front, and we would sit there, and he would tell the story. And I remember him saying, "And so Peter's looking at Jesus, and he's walking on the water, and Peter's thinking to himself, Hey, who's walking on the water here? And so Peter stops and he looks back at his friends, at the disciples, and he says, hey guys, who's walking on water here? It's just Jesus and me. But do you know what? That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says— because that would be pride that made Peter sink, that he got proud of himself— the Bible says that Peter saw something that's impossible. It says Peter saw the wind. What is wind? It's air, isn't it? Can you see air? There's a lot of it right here. I can't see it. So if you say somebody saw the wind, what do you think Peter actually saw? He saw what the wind was doing. The wind was making big waves. The wind was making whitecaps. And so there was just this mist blowing everywhere, and the waves were capping.

And Peter realized There's a big wave and it's right there and it's going to get me and it's going to pound me.

And so Peter got ready. He didn't mean to take his eyes off Jesus. He just saw the problem. And so he stopped and he looked at the problem and he said, okay, this wave is really, really big. And if it comes in really high, I'm just going to bang my way through it like this. And if it comes in low, I'm going to jump up and land on whatever I'm standing on on this side. And he was ready and he was watching the wave. And then Peter's problems started to get deeper. Because what happened?

He started to sink. And Peter started to sink, and he realized what he'd done wrong.

And so he looked back at Jesus and he said, "Jesus, teach me how to swim!" Is that what he said? It's not. But you know what? Sometimes we do that. We have a really big problem, and then we try everything, and then we say, "Jesus, you teach me what I should do." But you know, Peter knew what Jesus was about. Jesus is not a swimming instructor. Jesus is a lifeguard. And so Peter looks back at Jesus and he says, Jesus, save me. And it says in the Bible, immediately Jesus reached out his hand and he pulled Peter in. And he said just what you said, why did you doubt me, Peter? And then they got back in the boat and the wind died and the storm died down and it was perfectly calm. And what do you think all the disciples did? They did this. They worshiped Jesus because they had seen so much that day. They had seen so many things happen that they said, Jesus is amazing. Jesus is a miracle worker. Jesus can feed 5,000 men plus women and children with one little boy's lunch. Jesus can stop a storm. Jesus can walk on water. Jesus can make other people walk on water. Jesus can save people from the big problems in their life. Do you know, God, a long time ago, He started time. And if He can start time, He can stop it. And you know, I imagine God up in heaven, and He looks down, and He sees you. He sees you standing on the sea of life, and He sees all these big waves all around you, and all the problems.

And He says, "Stop!" And everything stops.

And He looks around, He finds an angel, He says, "Come over here. Do you see my daughter down there on the sea of life? Do you see that big wave about to pound her?" And the angel says, "Yes, I see." "Well, can you go save her?" "Yes, I can." "Okay, well, when I start time, how long will it take you?" "Oh, 30 seconds." "Too long." And so God looks around and He sees another angel, Gabriel, the number one angel. Pulls him over. "Gabriel, see my Son down there on the sea of light? Do you see those huge waves about to pound Him?" And Gabriel says, "Yes, I do." He says, "Well, can you go save Him?" "Yes, Father, I'll do it." "Well, how long will it take you?" "Oh, you've given me 6 wings. I can fly at the speed of light. I'll be there in 15 seconds." "Oh, that's too long." And then the Father looks around and He sees His Son Jesus sitting on the throne next to Him, and he says, "Jesus, do You see our child down there on the sea of life?" And Jesus says, "Yes, Father, I do." He says, "Well, when I start time, can You go and save him?" "Oh yes, Father, I can." "Well, well, well, how long will it take You to get there?" And Jesus says this, "I'm already there, Father. I'm already there." Do you know Jesus is never far away from you or you or you or you? He's never far away from any of us. He's right in front of us. And if we just say, "Jesus, save me. Jesus, help me." Do you know what He'll do? He'll help us. Can you guys fold your hands and close your eyes? We're going to have a prayer together. Dear Jesus, we thank you for this awesome day that we got to look at in your life. Help us to remember that you can do miracles and you can save us from any problem because you love us so much. Help us to always turn to you and to ask for your help. In your name, amen. Amen.