A Walk On The Waves

Karrington: Hey, Porch. Join me as we read God's Word together from the gospel of Matthew, chapter 14, verses 22-33.

"Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, 'It is a ghost!' and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.' And Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.' He said, 'Come.'

So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?' And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'"

Now our sixth message in our series called Disciple.

Kylen Perry: Porch, how are we doing? Are we doing okay tonight? It's always great to be with you. Great to see you. Special shout-out to our Porch.Live locations all over the nation that are tuning in with us tonight. A special shout-out to Porch.Live Fort Worth, Tulsa, and Scottsdale. I love what God is doing there and am grateful we get to be a small part of it.

Earlier this year, I was convinced into attending a George Strait tribute concert. I say "convinced" because it's not that I don't love George Strait. I do love George Strait, and I wasn't sure anyone less than the King of Country would suffice for this concert. You see, I had grown up listening to all of George's music in the back of my granddad's pickup truck, driving through East Texas, singing his music out loud. I'd seen George perform live several years ago at the Houston rodeo, and I had seen just how great he actually was in concert.

So the idea of a cover artist concert really didn't excite me all that much. It left me a little bit reluctant, yet I decided, "You know what? Let's go for it." So, we're at the concert. It's an outdoor venue. We're setting up our lawn chairs. We're getting ourselves accommodated when the emcee comes up. The emcee announces to us the artist who's going to be performing and begins to give us some of the credentials to support the fact that they're really quite the act.

Credentials like they were the #1 international George Strait tribute band in the world, which is quite the claim, because as I've done some study, in the music impersonation business there's a big difference between being a cover artist and a tribute artist. I don't know if you know this. I didn't know it. The differences are these. The cover artist is one who performs a wide variety of music, whereas a tribute artist focuses singularly on the music of one specific artist or band.

So, while a cover artist may perform a song really well, it's the tribute artist who proves they actually know the individual behind the song themselves. Our George Strait tribute artist proved he knew everything about George Strait, because when he came out onstage, he walked like George, he talked like George, he sang like George, he played like George, and he looked like George. I was confronted by the fact that this guy had to have spent several hours studying George Strait.

As I processed it, I wondered to myself, "How long has he sat watching game tape of the way George moves onstage? Or how long has he spent listening to George's music so he can understand all of the unique inflections in Mr. Strait's voice? Or how much money has he spent on the George Strait collection at Cavender's?" This guy is fully invested into the person of George Strait. He had mastered every mannerism of George.

He was the guy who could tip his hat at the appropriate part of the song so the crowd knew he was singing not just to a broad room but to very specific individuals. He would rest his arms on the top of his guitar as he would break into chorus. He would smile that big Texas smile to warm everybody's hearts to him; that way he could thank them for their applause. He was, in that moment in time, in that particular place, with all of those people, George Strait.

By all accounts, he was the closest thing we could get, and many people didn't even realize he wasn't the genuine article. People came up to him at the end of the show, and they were asking for autographs and wanting to get selfies and having him sign merchandise. He would tell them, "I'm not the real guy; I'm just a tribute artist," yet people would go nuts anyway because he was so indistinguishable from the real thing.

You see, he may not have been the King of Country himself, but he sure looked a lot like the king, regardless. Why do I tell you that? Because that's actually a really good picture of discipleship, except instead of looking like George we're supposed to look like Jesus. We should look like Jesus, live like Jesus, love like Jesus, walk like Jesus, talk like Jesus, think like Jesus, and speak like Jesus. We should literally look like Jesus ourselves.

But here's my fear, Porch. I think so many of us are really good cover artists of Christ but really bad tribute artists of Christ. Like, we know some of his hits. We know to love our neighbors, read our Bibles, come to church, help out the elderly, make sure we keep our manners, and give some money whenever the collection plate comes across.

We know some of his hits, yet we also like some of the other hits in the world. We really like the idea of turning it up on the weekends, and we really like that one about pushing some physical boundaries with our boyfriend or girlfriend. We really enjoy making sure we're identifying with our accomplishments or finding validation in how much money we make or what people think of us.

You see, we know some of Jesus' songs, and we even like to play them from time to time, but we prove by the way we live our lives that we don't actually know the artist as well as we think. We prove we're just cover Christians instead of true, genuine tributes to the one and only King. So, how do we change it? Well, that's what we're talking about tonight.

If you have a Bible, you can turn with me to Matthew, chapter 14. That's what Karrington read for us, so that's what we're going to work through over the course of our time together. We've been in a series called Disciple where we've been asking the question…What does it mean to actually follow Jesus Christ?

You see, so many of us in this life want to be connected to something greater than ourselves. We want to live a life of lasting impact. We want to experience really deep joy and have meaningful connections with other people. We want to live in such a way that we ultimately feel fulfilled, where we grow into something greater, are shaped into something significant, and are molded into something meaningful.

Do you want this? I want this. This is what I want in my life. The argument from the Bible is that God wants it too. God wants this for you, and the way he intends to bring you into this sort of experience is he wants to make you like Jesus, because Jesus is the epitome of everything I just described. It's in becoming like Christ…not just behaving like a Christian but actually becoming like Christ…that we find the kind of life all of us want to find.

So tonight, I want to do the hard work of talking to you about what it means to actually become like Jesus. The way we're going to do it is we're going to look at the way Peter interacts with Christ over the course of this passage. We're going to see Peter take a really big step in the process of becoming like Christ, and I think in watching his step we might find a step for ourselves. So, we're going to pick it up in verse 22. This is what it says.

"Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, 'It is a ghost!' and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.'"

So, just a little bit of context that we need before we dive into the rest of this story. Jesus and the disciples have just been feeding the 5,000. What we know is on the heels of this grand feast that they served popular opinion is he is unanimously loved. Everybody who was a part of this giant meal wants to make Jesus king, which is a really reasonable response. You know, he just foot the bill for you and several thousand of your best friends. "I think we'll keep him around."

Yet that's not a part of Jesus' plan whatsoever. That's not what he came to do. So he decides, "Okay. Let me grab my disciples, put them on a boat, and send them across the Sea of Galilee. They will go ahead of me, and I'll settle the crowd down. I'll make sure people come to a place of peace, that I'm not actually going to be made king, and then I'm going to pray, and then I'll depart. I'll catch up to my guys along the way."

While Jesus is doing all of this, we see the disciples. They're sailing across the Sea of Galilee. What we know is they sail directly into a windstorm, which is a really bad idea. It says they're on their way and it's the fourth watch of the night. In the Jewish worldview, there were four watches in the night, the fourth being the last, meaning, they are somewhere between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m.

If you read John's gospel account, you know they're three to four miles en route. Meaning, they have spent a long time rowing into the wind, and they don't have much to show for it. So, how do you think they feel? The same way you feel if you ever try to run up a descending escalator. You feel frustrated. You're weary. You're exhausted. You're tired. You're wondering to yourself, "Why did I even choose to do this?" That's what they're thinking.

They actually have an answer as to why they chose to do this. They chose to do this because Jesus said so. So, they're not just discouraged that this is really difficult. Now they're disappointed, because the guy who's supposed to have their best interests in mind is the one who has led them into the worst possible scenario. So why would Jesus do it? Because he wants to make them like him.

Jesus knows that complicating our lives will cultivate our growth. That's what Jesus does. He will complicate our lives to cultivate our growth. He's not crazy for doing this. We do this all the time. I don't know if you ever went to sports camp growing up or maybe cheer camp or chess camp or band camp. I can't really speak for those. I didn't go to those. When you go to a sports camp, you have to learn a very select set of skills in a very short amount of time, so the goal of your coaches is to help you adopt some specific expertise with very little time to make that thing happen.

I don't know how your coaches did it for you, but I remember going to basketball camp, and my coaches did so very creatively. They decided in order to teach me to dribble with my left hand they would tie my right arm behind my back and put blinders under my eyes so I couldn't see the ball, which made a mess of an experience for me.

I looked ridiculous, sure. The ball was rolling all over the place, of course. Yet do you know what never occurred to me? "My coaches hate me, man. They don't have my best interests in mind." No. That never occurred to me. I knew, "My coach just wants me to learn to use my left hand." And praise God, I did. I learned how to use my left hand. How? Because my coach complicated my life to cultivate my growth. Jesus does the same thing.

Now, to be clear, Jesus does not cause evil. He does not condone sin, but he will occasionally orchestrate our circumstances to promote our individual growth. That's the way he works. If you want to learn more, the first chapter of James, verses 13-17, will give you a really good explanation of how Jesus does this.

Jesus will introduce momentary complications in life to produce a meaningful transformation of life. He wants to make us more like himself, which is a really fascinating idea to think about. "Okay. Cool. He's going to lead me into adversity. He's going to produce some resistance to help me grow." Really fascinating to think about. Really frustrating to live through.

I know so many of you are sitting in a situation the likes of which you can't plausibly understand why you're still struggling within it. You're in the middle of a situation that just doesn't make sense, even on God's own standard. You work harder than everybody else in your department, yet for whatever reason, you're always the one who goes unnoticed, who never gets promoted, who's never afforded a bonus.

Others of you have been faithfully preparing yourself for marriage. You have been pursuing personal purity, yet you're still stuck in your singleness. Others of you are trying so hard to move past whatever it was that took place in your history, yet no matter how hard you try to move on, it seems like the shame, the guilt, and the pain of what transpired back then continue to creep into the here and now.

Some of you are trying to be so consistent in managing your money. You're being a good steward of the resources God has given, yet bills continue to pile up. Some of you are so kind to everybody. It doesn't matter who it is. You're like a Golden Retriever. You'll make a friend out of anyone who's within a six-foot radius of you, yet whenever the weekend rolls around, everyone is someplace that you are not.

I know some of you are struggling with some things I couldn't begin to understand, things that make no sense whatsoever for God to let continue. So then why does he let these things continue? To prove that no matter how high the waves rise, Jesus still walks above them. No matter how high the waves rise in your life, your Jesus, your King, still walks above them.

John 16:33 says, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace." Notice where your peace is found. It's in him. It's not in a job. It's not in a relationship. It's not going to be found in some personal acceptance or your family finally getting their act together. It's not found in anything else but him. "In the world you will have tribulation." Some of your versions say trouble. "But take heart; I have overcome the world."

It's interesting. It isn't until they're a long way from land, they're beaten by the waves, and it's the fourth watch of the night that Jesus finally comes to his disciples. Just think about it. In this moment, the waves couldn't be stronger. The wind couldn't be louder. The night couldn't get darker. "It's in this moment right now that you choose to show up, Jesus? Why did you wait this long? Why didn't you show up sooner? Why have you waited until the worst possible moment?"

Because it's through the strength of the storm that he wants to clarify who he is; namely, that he's more than a ghost. That's actually a really poor identification of who he is. Jesus is going to say something pretty powerful about himself. He does so in this story, because by the end of it he's going to identify himself for the very first time in the eyes of the disciples as the one and only Son of God.

We also know from the other gospels he's trying to declare something significant about himself by walking on the water. This story occurs in three different gospels. If you go and read this story in the gospel of Mark, something fascinating happens. It says that Jesus saw his disciples, yet he meant to pass them by, which feels really inconsiderate. Like, "Come on, man. Don't you see us struggling out here? Why are you trying to move past us?"

Why does he mean to pass them by? Well, if you know your Old Testament, he's alluding to something really significant. He is intending to take his disciples back to these defining moments in the lives of two very special men. He wants to take them back to a defining moment in the life of Moses and in the life of Elijah where the glory of God passed both of them by.

That's what Jesus is wanting to do in walking on this water. He means to pass by his disciples to demonstrate to them, "This isn't just a cool party trick; it's a demonstration of my deity, that I am God. I am the Son of Man, yes, but I am the Son of God as well." He wants to elevate their view. He wants to elevate ours in a way that it has never been before.

Here's the thing. It's because of the storms of life, not despite them, that he's able to do it. So, friends, listen. Maybe your frustration is just an invitation to know him more. Have you thought about that? Maybe the frustration you feel, whatever your hurt or hang-up is… Maybe your situational difficulty is just an invitation from Jesus to know him more, which is really vital in the process of becoming like him.

It's kind of Christ to look at you and me and say, "Hey, before I make you more like myself, I want to show you more of myself. I want you to get a full picture of who I am; that way, you can know just how full of a picture you will become." This is an amazing thing. He's using the storm to prove to us who he is. He will complicate our lives because he ultimately wants to cultivate our growth.

He does this with Peter. He takes Peter to a place where ultimately he is making him more like himself. But he doesn't just take him to a place. He's also going to ask some things of Peter in that place. That's what we see in verse 28. "And Peter answered him, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.' He said, 'Come.' So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus."

I love it. In the face of this storm, Peter is needing to clarify exactly who Jesus is despite the fact that they're boys. They're really close. They're best friends. Peter knows Jesus really well by this moment, yet Jesus is doing something so significant, so category-shattering, Peter is looking out into the wind and the waves, and he's like, "Is it really you?" That's what Jesus is doing here. He is defying the normal expectations the disciples have of him by walking on this water.

So, a little bit more Old Testament trivia. In the Old Testament, the sea was a common symbol for cosmic disorder. It was not a place conducive to things like life and peace and prosperity. None of those things existed within the sea. The sea was full of danger and chaos. It was synonymous, in fact, with the grave. It even represented hell in some instances. It was feared by all accounts, because no one could control the sea. No man could control the sea except for God.

So, here comes Jesus, walking on the water, doing something that no man should be able to do, and in so doing he's declaring something big about himself. That's why Peter can't wrap his mind around what he's seeing. Job 9:8 says the Lord, Yahweh, is the one who tramples on the sea, and here comes Jesus doing the exact same thing in front of Peter.

He is defying all expectation, because he wants Peter to know, "Hey, I'm the God-man. I'm not just a philosopher. I'm not just a teacher. I'm not just a miracle worker. I am those things. Yes, that's a part of who I am, but I am the God-man." Which is wild. God himself, transcendent, became God contained in the person of Christ. That's an amazing thing. That's a wild reality.

What's also wild is that God handpicked this group of guys. He could have picked anybody, yet he chose to pick these guys. Why is that so crazy? Well, in order to understand why it's crazy, you have to know a little bit about the Jewish education system. I'm going to give this to you really simply and very short. The idea within the Jewish education system is there were three stages of learning if you were a Jewish child.

At the age of 6, all Jewish children would go to this thing called Bet Sefer. Bet Sefer was the idea of going to school to learn the Torah. And not just learn the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, but memorize the Torah. All Jewish children would learn the Torah. They would memorize it cover to cover. Then, when they graduated within four years, sometime around the age of 10, they would likely be rolled out from school, and they would go and learn their family trade…carpentry, fishing, tentmaking, or something of that sort.

If you were really distinguished, if you really knew your stuff, they would promote you to the next stage. The next stage would pick up at the age of 10, and you would go to the age of 14. It was called Bet Talmud. Bet Talmud was the idea of not just learning and memorizing the Torah but learning and memorizing the rest of the Hebrew Scripture, which was the Old Testament Bible that's sitting in your lap. They would memorize it completely.

Then, if you were especially distinguished, really good…you knew your stuff and could actually debate on the topic of textual criticism…you would get promoted to the third stage. Now, very few people made it to this stage called Bet Midrash. At this stage, your education would continue not in a classroom but under the tutelage of a rabbi. This is why it's significant for us.

Whenever you would reach this stage (very few kids would make it to this spot), you would be interviewed by your rabbi. They would assess whether you were worthy of walking with them, if you were deserving of following them. So they would interview you. They would do with these kids the same thing you have happen whenever you go in for a job interview. They would ask you questions and check your credentials, and they would take you through a technical portion of the interview to assess just how smart you actually were.

Then, if you impressed the rabbi, the rabbi might invite you to walk with them. They would look upon you and say, "Come and follow me." The idea of following a rabbi was you would not only adopt their scriptural interpretation but you would adopt a personal imitation of the rabbi themselves. You would learn everything they knew, and you would live exactly as they lived.

To bring it into our modern context, you would become a method actor. What's a method actor? Someone who not only learns their lines but really lives the part. On set and off set, onscreen and offscreen, they are fully immersed into becoming the character they're seeking to exhibit. Daniel Day-Lewis was an amazing disciple of Abraham Lincoln. Austin Butler was an amazing disciple of Elvis Presley. Heath Ledger was an amazing disciple of the Joker. You get the idea.

A disciple's goal was to become as much like their rabbi as possible. Now, why does any of this matter? Because Jesus handpicked his disciples. So, what kinds of disciples did he pick? Did he pick guys who were well versed in the Hebrew Scripture? Did he pick guys who were the stuff of rabbinical pride? Did he pick guys who could whip anybody in a textual debate? No. He didn't pick anyone like that.

He picked fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, and thieves. He picked common, ordinary, really unimpressive and uneducated people to follow him. In the eyes of the world, Jesus' disciples had no business walking with a rabbi, yet in the eyes of Jesus, he wouldn't pick anyone else. These were the people he wanted to walk with him. He wanted them to do what every good disciple was meant to do: become covered in the dust of their rabbi, to follow him so closely they would be covered in the dust of every place he walked that they might live exactly as he lived.

You see, Jesus doesn't just want us to learn from him; he wants us to live like him, become like him, and he is picking anyone and everyone who's wanting. You don't need to be impressive. You don't need to be approvable. You just need to be wanting for it, willing to say, "I'll go with you, Jesus. I will walk where you walk. I will do what you do. I will speak what you speak. I want to follow after you even if it means walking on the water." That's our second point.

Jesus will call us on the water to make us like himself. Have you ever thought about this? Jesus never asks us to do anything that's easy. Jesus is calling us to walk on the water. That's unbelievable. Everything Jesus asks us to do feels really unbelievable. "Sell everything and give it to the poor." That's tough. "Take up your cross and follow me." That's going to hurt. "Die to yourself." Ouch! "Love your enemies as yourself." "Do I have to, Jesus?" He continually asks us to do things that feel so unbelievable.

I don't know about you, but every command is not remotely simple, and every time I read them I'm often filled with, like, "God, why do you expect so much of me?" Yet here's the catch. It's not that God expects so much of us; it's that he believes so much in us, because he believes we can be just like him. Isn't that amazing? He thinks, "Hey, I see you, and I believe you, like a good disciple, have the potential to become like me, so I'm going to ask you to do some things that I am willing to do."

"But that's so unbelievably hard."

"I know, but I believe you can do the unbelievable."

That's the heart of Christ toward us as we walk with him. So, let me ask you… What's he asking you to do? What water is he asking you to walk on? Is he asking you to end a relationship because it's really unhealthy, like, move out because the nature of your relationship is really ungodly? Is he asking you to put in your two weeks' because the things your boss asks you to do are really unethical, truly immoral? Is he asking you to finally share with a friend the way you're hurting yourself and seek some help?

Is he asking you to confess to someone you genuinely envy and have slandered and seek their forgiveness? Is he asking you to give some of the money you have to support someone else who's in need? Is he asking you to leave the corporate career and jump into a life of full-time ministry? Is he asking you to leave America and go overseas to reach the nations? What is Jesus asking you to do? What water is he asking you to walk on?

Listen. He's asking you to walk on it because in walking on it you will become more like him. That's the nature of what he does. Peter didn't move until Jesus commanded him, but the minute Jesus called him on the water, he bolted. He went overboard. He jumped out of that boat and started walking toward Jesus. He was fully obedient even when it didn't make sense.

To the world, walking on water is impossible, but with God, walking on water is inevitable. We're going to do things that people look at and say, "That doesn't make sense. That is totally crazy. They must be outside their mind." We're going to go places no one else will. We're going to do things no one else can, because that's what Jesus did.

Jesus went someplace no one else would. He moved from heaven to earth to do what no one else could, to die for the sins of the world. That's your Jesus. He is willing to do the unbelievable, to do the imperceivable, to go where no one is willing to, and he's saying, "I want to make you like that." Do you want that? That's what he's trying to build into you. That's what he's trying to mold out of you. He wants to make you like himself.

Here's the thing, Porch. Doing stuff like this is never easy. It's always hard. It wouldn't be unbelievable if it wasn't. Just think about Peter. I wasn't there, but I guarantee you the hardest step in that moment had to have been the first one. Can you imagine sitting on the edge of the boat and being like, "I don't know about this. I don't think I'm going to be able to stand. This is wet, God." Yet he's willing to put his foot down and make a move because Jesus called him out.

It's better to be brave on the waves with Jesus than safe in the ship without him. So, Jesus is calling some of us out of the boat. The question is…Will we follow? Deuteronomy 31:6 says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

Now, does that mean we'll never falter as we follow? No. Look at verse 30. "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, 'Lord, save me.' Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, 'O you of little faith…'" In the Greek, those five words, "O you of little faith," is actually one word, and it's like a nickname. "Little Faith." Jesus looks at him and says, "Little Faith, why do you doubt?"

"And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God.'" It's the first time they ever identify him as such. You see, Peter is walking on the water, but he breaks his focus from Jesus. The minute he stops seeing his Savior and starts seeing his circumstances, he sinks.

I remember when my wife and I moved to Houston, Texas, which is where we were prior to moving here to Dallas. I went into that move with so much anticipation, because I was stepping into a job I had been expecting and wanting for so long. I was finally getting the opportunity to lead a ministry and teach the Bible and develop teams and help people. I was so eager for it.

So, we finally make the move, and with the opportunity I have all of these expectations of what's going to happen. It's what I've been wanting for so long. It's what I thought God had gifted me for and was specifically calling me into. So, when I made my way to Houston, I came in fully ready to kick butt and take names, except the only butt kicked and name taken was my own. Year one for me in Houston, Texas, in my prior job, was arguably the hardest year of my life.

I encountered some things I didn't expect. I suffered in some ways I didn't predict. I was circumstantially depressed for the very first time. For all intents and purposes, it felt like I was sinking really, really fast. One evening, after we had another gathering, a program we had produced, I had another one of those, like, "What in the world?" kind of moments.

I remember driving home at 3:00 in the morning, and I was just processing what I was living through. I remember banging my steering wheel and crying out to God, like, "God, I don't know what we're doing here. Why is this so hard? I thought this was going to be so good, yet, God, I've stepped into a situation that I can't do anymore. I can't do this anymore, so you're the one who's going to have to do it for me."

In that moment, it clicked for the very first time that I had actually been trying to do everything on my own. I had not realized I wasn't walking with Jesus any longer; I was working by myself. I was trying to teach the Bible, I was trying to help people, I was trying to organize ministry and build big structures and systems, I was trying to make a difference and change the world, and I was doing it all on my own. Because I was doing it all by myself, I was drowning until the moment I finally came to my senses and cried out.

It was in that moment that everything changed, because Jesus will catch us if we will only cry out. The Bible is convinced of this. Psalm 18:6 says, "In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears." Psalm 34:17: "When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles."

Psalm 40:1-2: "I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure." Psalm 116:1-2: "I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live." Psalm 145:19: "He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them."

You see, the issue is not that God never hears our cries. The issue is that we seldom realize we actually need to cry out. That's the issue. We don't understand that God is often waiting for us to cry out, "God, we need you." We feel like we have to put on a strong face, we have to keep up a good front, we have to be strong for the sake of those who are under our charge, yet God is saying, "No. You're not supposed to do anything on your own strength. You're supposed to do it with me. Don't work for me; walk with me."

It took me a year before I realized I was drowning in my job, because that's how it works. I love the way this passage reads it. It says Peter began to sink. I'd always pictured Peter walking on the water one minute and then falling through a trapdoor in the Sea of Galilee the next. It felt really sudden, really abrupt, like it came out of nowhere, yet that's not what it says. It says Peter began to sink. It was a gradual process.

It's the same as you walking from the shallow end of the pool to the deep end of the pool. You can feel the water rising. That's what happened to Peter. The signs of danger were all around. Some of you know what this feels like. Some of you have been sinking in your circumstances for a really long time. You've been pulled under because your full focus is on fixing your family or finding the one or making a difference or living with security or being approved of, yet as you focus on these things and you forget about Jesus, you're consistently sinking.

I think God has brought so many of you here tonight because he wants to ask you the question, "What are you afraid of?" What are you actually afraid of? Because here's the case, Porch. You will either walk in faith on the waves or you will sink in fear beneath them, and what you fear will ultimately determine the outcome.

I think God desperately wants some of you to know that whatever is trying to sink your life is still under the feet of Jesus. No matter how great the storm in your story feels, Jesus still walks upon it. He's still the one who considers the water as concrete. He moves through it without any difficulty. He is completely at ease in the face of your hardship.

He wants you to know, "I stand upon that which seeks to drown you, and you can stand upon it too if only you'll replace your fear with faith in me." That's what he's calling of us. James 1:2-4 tells us, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

I read that to you because I don't want you to be mistaken that Jesus is just going to fix your problem, that the minute you cry out he's just going to resolve the issue, he's just going to solve your storm. No. We know the road to maturity is paved with adversity. That's what James is saying right here, and that's what we should know as well. He wants to make you like himself, and the way he's going to make you like himself is he's going to test your faith, not bend to your will.

A few years ago, some dear friends of mine and Brooke's lived through the devastation of a miscarriage. It was especially devastating because it was their first time ever being pregnant. I remember being so blown away by the way they navigated this particular storm, because instead of grumbling against God and raging against the heavens, demanding he provide a solution and fix all of their problems, they responded in a way that looked so much like Jesus.

They chose to trust in the character of a God who had proven so many times in the past that he loved them, that he was for them. All of their belief in this God ultimately led them to become like this God and make a decision that was so characteristic of Christ. They named their daughter Eden, which means paradise, because they wanted to use her story and tell the tale of her short life that the world may know life is not just found in the here and now. Paradise is ahead forever and always.

This is what it means to face the storm, to stand in it, not apart from God but with God. It looks like crying out and trusting him to catch you. That's what Peter does. He cries out for help in this moment, and immediately, Jesus reaches for him. I love that. Jesus is waiting, and he reaches as fast as possible.

Here's the thing. Jesus immediately reaches for him. He doesn't immediately resolve the problem. He doesn't immediately solve the storm. Some of us just want that. We just want a quick fix. We just want God to give us what we want and get out of the way. Jesus is not saying that's what he'll do. What he is saying is he will stand in the storm with you. He will reach for you, and he will pull you out. That's what he does to Peter.

What you notice is the storm doesn't resolve until they get back to the boat. Meaning, Peter comes back up out of the deep, yet the storm is still raging around. There is chaos abounding, yet there's total peace within. Why? Because he stood with Jesus. I love this. We don't know that this is true. This is a total inference, yet how do you think Peter got back to the boat? Again, this is just my belief, but I think once Jesus reached and pulled him to his feet, they walked back to the boat together, disciple and master side by side, walking through the waves, one becoming like the other.

I don't know what the storms of your life look like, but what I know is that Jesus will use them to make us like himself. He will complicate your life, he'll call you onto the water, and he will catch you when you're drowning, because he loves you too much to leave you as you are. The reason I know that is because he was willing to become like us to make all of this happen. That's the story of the gospel.

Jesus complicated his own life to cultivate our growth. He left heaven and came to earth, and he endured all the trouble of mankind. He endured all the iniquity of our sin upon the cross. He complicated his life infinitely because he wanted you to grow. He wanted you to have life. He walked on the water. Jesus walked over all of the disorder and all of the chaos in our lives to ultimately make us like himself.

He went to the cross. He absorbed the consequence of our sin. He endured our shame that we might be with him in glory. What we know is Jesus will catch us if only we'll cry out. He rose from the grave that any who call on the name of the Lord may be saved. Listen, Porch. You cannot become like Jesus until you come to Jesus. I believe that for some of you, he's telling you to come tonight. Let me pray for us.

God, we love you. I thank you that it's in your heart to make us like yourself, not because you're insecure and egotistical and you need a bunch of little "yous" running around but because, God, you know the best thing for us is to be as much like Jesus as possible.

We know that in walking like Christ, in loving like Christ, in serving like Christ, in living like Christ, we find all of the joy, all of the meaning, all of the purpose, all of the depth, all of the fullness, and all of the satisfaction we so desperately long for. I thank you, God, that you're willing to do whatever it takes, even lead us into uncomfortable spaces, upon difficult waters, and possibly into the depths of our own drowning to make it possible.

Porch, look at me. I think there are a few responses here for us on the basis of these three points. First, Jesus has complicated some of your lives, yet he's trying to cultivate your growth. If that's you, I think the response is just a prayer of consent. "I consent, God. I yield. I surrender. I lie down. Have your way. Do in me what you want to do."

For others of us, what we need to know is he will call us on the waters because he wants to make us like him. For some of you, it's not consent; the response is to come. It's to move into the difficulty, into the unbelievability of whatever he's asking you, to make the difficult decision that you might ultimately arrive in his likeness. Others of you are drowning in difficulty. You are sinking in your circumstance, and what you need to do tonight is cry out and say, "God, save me. Save me," because he will reach for you immediately.

We believe it, God, and we respond to you now. Have your way in this space. Move amongst us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.