Jesus’ Mighty Power – Do You Trust Him?
Shared on April 28, 2024
Do you trust in Jesus’ mighty power? Join Pastor McCrary for this week’s Sunday School lesson as Peter tries to walk on water with Christ. Pastor McCrary shows us through this story why we should never doubt that the Lord is always near to us.
Introduction
Miracle after miracle has shown Jesus’ power and authority- His deity. When the religious leaders tried to show their authority over the law, Jesus showed His higher authority. Jesus, we must always remember, was God in the flesh as He walked the earth. Jesus is sovereign as all authority in heaven and earth is with Him. For that very reason you and I should put our hope and trust in Him.
Do you trust Christ? Do you trust the Lord? Our lesson will turn our attention to trusting in the Lord’s power. With faith – trust and obedience – all things are possible. Without faith, what should one expect? So, today’s lesson is to encourage you to keep your focus on Christ and trust in Him.
Do You Trust Christ?
Our lesson opens up after the miracle of Jesus feeding five thousand (Matt. 14:13-21). After He had fed the five thousand, John’s gospel tells us that the people desired to force Jesus to be king (John 6:15). This is the reason why Jesus made the disciples get into a boat to go without Him back to Capernaum (Matt. 14:22; John 6:16-17). Somehow, some way, He was able to send the multitude away before He went up the mountain to be alone and pray (Matt. 14:23).
The people, after seeing Jesus’ power, desired Him to be a king that would destroy their oppressors. At that point in time, Judea, Jerusalem, was a province of Rome. As we know, Jesus was not manifested in the world to be some kind of war general. Jesus did come to defeat an oppressor but that oppressor was sin and not Rome.
Now, there is another question that’s brought up from the opening of our lesson. Why did Jesus send the disciples away? You would think that it would have made more sense for the disciples to remain to help clear out the crowd. There was a reason and a purpose for Jesus sending the disciples away which we will see here shortly.
The impressive power of Jesus
As Jesus was in the mountain praying, the disciples were in the middle of the sea being tossed by the wind (Matt. 14:24). In the “fourth watch of the night”, Jesus had finished praying and began to make His way to the disciples. The “fourth watch” puts the time between 3AM to sunrise.
How Jesus chose to make His way to the disciples is of great interest. Of even more interest to me is how Jesus “found” them. You see, Jesus didn’t take a boat to go to the disciples, He walked on the sea (Matt. 14:25). Jesus knew they were going to Capernaum, but we are told He came to them in the middle of the sea. Talk about a demonstration of power and authority!
I think most folks are blown away with the power to walk on water. However, to me, the most impressive part about this is Jesus going to the disciples exact location on sea! With how many people that get lost at sea and the world’s best military struggle to find them, this was impressive! How did Jesus “find” them? Well, He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent!
I say it all the time that there is nowhere you can go that the Lord won’t be able to find you. We may struggle to find a needle in a haystack but God knows its exact location. You can go out to one of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn and the Lord will know you’re there. You can go off into a different galaxy and God will be right there with you. Don’t you ever limit the Almighty!
Peter’s Test of Faith
When the disciples saw Jesus approaching them on water, they couldn’t recognize Him. They initially thought it was a ghost and they cried out in fear (Matt. 14:26). Honestly, this thought makes a lot of sense because how many of us has ever seen someone walk on water? These were men that lived their lives on the sea as fishermen and they had never seen anything like this.
Jesus calmed the disciples by saying to them, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid (Matt. 14:27).” Still second guessing whether or not he was really speaking with Jesus, Peter commanded Jesus to beckon him to come. Peter said, “if it is You, command me to come to You on the water (Matt. 14:28).” I don’t know if you have ever paid attention to this before, but Peter was still under the impression it was a ghost. Notice that Peter said, “if it is You”.
So, to get rid of Peter’s doubt and fear, Jesus tells Peter to come (Matt. 14:29). This is a moment that represents so much about our faith in the Lord. You see, Jesus sent the disciples away on the boat with this teaching moment in mind. I believe this was a moment to prepare the disciples for what was ahead of them.
Like us, the disciples would have to live life without physically being able to see Jesus after His death and resurrection. We often go through storms in our life and we forget to turn to the Lord during those storms. In fact, the Lord could be moving in the midst of the storm, but many of us won’t even recognize it. We will often question where the Lord is when we are suffering. We will often question why the Lord is allowing us to suffer in the first place.
So, Peter stepped down out of the boat, and we are told that He did not sink. In fact, Peter actually walked on the water to go to Jesus. However, this moment was short lived because Peter saw that the wind was boisterous. Rather than keep his attention on God and what he was doing, Peter started lost focus. In this moment, he became afraid and began to sink (Matt. 14:30).
This was a test of Peter’s faith. Now, I want to be clear that Jesus didn’t force a test on Peter. Peter was the one that thought Jesus was a ghost and decided to put Jesus to the test! The Lord is faithful and will never mislead you. However, we can put ourselves in some precarious situations when we aren’t trusting the Lord. Does this mean that the Lord will allow us to be overcome in such situations?
Well, when Peter began to sink, he cried out, and Jesus caught him (Matt. 14:30-31). If you find yourself in trouble, where your faith may be lacking, do as Peter did and cry out for help. I asked in a sermon I preached a month ago, why do so many believers refuse to cry out to God for help? Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28).” Why don’t we do that?
Our faith must continually grow. No matter how strong your faith may be, we must learn to trust God more and more. Don’t let your own ego and pride block you from crying out to God. Don’t ever think that you’re bothering God and don’t ever doubt that God is listening for your call.
Jesus said to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt (Matt. 14:31)?” I wonder how often the Lord says that about us, especially when we are struggling. We need to call on God more and more each day of our lives.
Faith in the Mighty Power of Jesus
As soon as Jesus and Peter got into the boat, the wind suddenly ceased (Matt. 14:32). Those disciples who were still in the boat, said to Jesus, “Truly You are the Son of God (Matt. 14:33).” Jesus was in control. In the midst of the storm you may be going through, trust Him because He is in control.
When they made land in Capernaum, they went to the land of Gennesaret. John 6:22-70 records an interesting occasion that happened prior to Jesus’ arriving to Gennesaret. Many of those that had been fed by Jesus found Him in Capernaum. After teaching them about the bread of life, many of those that followed Him turned away.
The arrival to Gennesaret shows a different picture. We are told that when the people recognized Jesus, they sent word throughout the region about His presence. All the sick in the land were brought to Jesus and the people begged to touch Him. They shared a similar belief as the woman who had an issue of blood (Matt. 14:36). She believed all she needed to do was touch the hem of Jesus’ garment to be healed (Matt. 9:20-21).
Now, is it the touch that heals or is it faith that heals? We discussed in the lesson that covered the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. The answer is that it’s faith that heals and not the touch. Scripture tells us, “as many as touched [the hem of His garment] were made perfectly well.” These were true believers being healed by Christ in Gennesaret.
As we saw Jesus say to the father with the demon possessed son, “if you can believe, all things are possible (Mark 9:23).” I want you to understand today that even in the midst of a storm, if you can believe, you will make it through. Trust in the Lord- believe in His awesome power. Such trust will help you to overcome all things you face in life.