Growing in faith requires walking by faith

1. Matthew 14:22-23
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. When evening came, he was
there alone,
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2. Matthew 14:24-25
but the boat was already a considerable distance
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.
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3. Matthew 14:26-27
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.’
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4. Matthew 14:28-30
‘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!’
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5. Matthew 14:31-33
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.’
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6. We want BENEFITS without paying
the cost.
Growing in faith requires WALKING by faith.
Give me the faith that I may step out in trust, but God
says step out in trust that I may give you the faith.

7. We seldom consider the Jesus that
SENDS us into the storm.
The prophet Jonah encountered a storm because he
ran from God, the disciples because they OBEYED
Some storms are meant to correct us, others to
PERFECT us.

8. You are here, but Jesus wants you
to go THERE. Where is your there?
When God tells us to change from here to there we
CONJURE up our own mental storms.
Some benefits only emerge by ROWING through the
storm rather than avoiding it.

9. When the time is right, Jesus
COMES to them.
Easy to forget YESTERDAY’S miracles
and provision in TODAY’S storms.
Rather than speaking to the storm, Jesus speaks to
their HEARTS.
Peter had a STORY of faith because he took a STEP of
faith.
God wants you to step out not to say, “look what God
did” but that you may more fully KNOW Him.

10. Please take a moment to fill out your
Communication Card
My Next Step Today is to:
( ) Do the home life help (in bulletin)
( ) Reflect on what God may be trying to teach me.
( ) Ask God where is the “there” He wants to send me?
( ) Take time (and listen) for Jesus to speak into my heart
( ) Commit to taking a step of faith.
( ) Other________________________