Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Nathan Whitley
First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Matthew 14:22-31

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/nathan-whitley--sunday-evening-worship-service-133
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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start making your way back to your seat but you can just remain standing and get your Bibles your devices will go right into the word of the Lord go to the Book of Matthew man what a tremendous word we heard this morning I'm thankful for our pastor I'm thankful for our Bishop thankful for Pastor Anthony these Great Men Who preach the word of the Lord to us every week and I'm so so blessed to be a part of this church and to the saints of God we honor you this evening as well and to all of our leaders we honor you Matthew chapter number 14. I'm going to begin reading at verse number 22 Matthew 14 beginning at verse number 22. in Mark chapter number 6 Jesus tells his disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side of bethsaida verse 22 of Matthew 14 says and straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side while he sent the multitudes away when he had sent the multitudes away he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was to come he was there alone but the ship was now in the midst of the sea someone say see tossed with the waves for the wind was contrary and in the Fourth Watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were troubled saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear but straightway Jesus spake unto them saying be of good Shear it is I be not afraid now look at verse number 28. they were afraid Cried Out In Fear they see Jesus walking on the water and Peter answered him and said Lord if it be thou bid me come unto on the water and he said come and when Peter was come down out of the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus but look at verse number 30. but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink beginning to sink he cried saying Lord save me and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him and said unto him oh thou of little faith wherefore it is thou doubt tonight I would like to speak to you from this text sinking in familiar Waters sinking in familiar Waters why don't you put your Bibles and your devices down and then I'd like for you to lift up your hands and lift up your voice and I want you to pray unto the Lord and ask him to speak to somebody's heart tonight from his word father we thank you for the great Services we've had today the great Worship the Great time of preaching this morning the great time of Fellowship we pray Lord again that your word would go forth and be seed that it would find good ground Lord and I pray that you would speak to somebody tonight oh God and encourage them and refresh them from the word of God and I pray that we would be changed and transformed as we go out the doors of this church tonight and we go into our world let us be an influence o God and to our families and to those we come into contact with in Jesus name we pray and everyone said amen and clap your hands again all ye people now I want you to lift up your voice with a shout of Triumph come on can you do that lift up your voice come on is there any victory in the house is there any Triumph in the house amen you could be seated in the name of the Lord amen thank you for standing sinking in familiar Waters the Sea of Galilee as you'll see behind me the Sea of Galilee is a body of water in Israel it is fed by the Jordan River rainfall and Springs from the northern side of the area it Shores Grace the areas of Bethesda Capernaum and genocera and many other areas familiar that we find in the New Testament although it is called a sea it is more of a lake than a sea it's not like the Mediterranean it's more like a lake because it is just 13 miles long and only seven miles wide at the deepest point the lake is 150 feet deep so as we read in our text from Matthew 14 Jesus had told his disciples to get into a ship and go to bethsaida as they go towards the other side their travels get delayed by a storm in the midst of this Sea of Galilee and as you can see in these areas of bethsaya and Corazon and genocera and Capernaum these areas that surround the Sea of Galilee these were very busy areas of fishing ports and place of trade and it is here that we meet a man by the name of Peter Peter was a fisherman Peter was he was a fisherman by trade and the first time that we meet him Jesus comes to him in Matthew chapter number four and he's at the Sea of Galilee and he saw Simon and his two brothers Andrew and I'm sorry Simon and his brother Andrew and they were casting a net into the sea for they were Fishers years Luke writes in chapter number five that Jesus and the disciples got into a boat that was owned by Simon Peter So Not only was he a fisherman he was a successful fisherman owning his own fishing boat he was in business with James and John who were also fishermen according to John chapter number one in Mark chapter number one Peter was from bethsaida which is this on the coast as we see here on the Sea of Galilee this bethsaida was the place where Jesus healed Peter's mother-in-law of a fever so this sea and this area is very familiar to Peter he grew up here he married a girl from here he was in a fishing business with his friends who were also from there Peter knew all that one could know about his hometown Peter spent so much time on that sea working and catching fish and making a living providing for his family he knew all about this little Lake he knew all about the conditions of the lake he knew where to catch the fish he knew where and when he couldn't catch fish it's possible Peter had heard about all the terrible historic storms from friends and family I'm certain Peter even experienced many great and possibly tragic events on this Sea of Galilee so when Jesus tells Peter and the disciples to go toward bethsaida in his boat in this very familiar water Peter I'm sure jumped at the chance get a chance to go home get a chance to travel on the waters that I'm familiar with travel with my friends I'm familiar with see my family that I'm familiar with everybody likes to go to their hometown I like to go to my hometown in Bloomington Indiana and when I get to go there I hit up all my favorite spots all my favorite spots are food spots I've got a list of a map where I'm going to go every time I'm going to get there I know where I'm going once I'm going into town I stop here and get bread sticks as I go past that I go here and get my pizza and then the next day I know where to get breakfast I know where to get lunch then I've got it all planned out I can tell you what road they're on I can tell you what neighborhood they're in because you love your hometown and as you get a chance maybe you're not from uh maybe you're not from this area and you got to go back to your hometown you like to go back and see all those familiar friends and see all those familiar faces and to experience all of those familiar places and so I can imagine Peter is excited he's he's anticipating another trip home maybe he's been away for a little while with Jesus and all of these followers of his and he's just getting a chance to go back on the same boat on the same Waters to his hometown but as he's heading back to Mercedes with all the disciples Jesus is not in the boat Jesus sends them on their way he's going to go and pray alone for a while look at verse number 24 but the ship was now in the midst of the sea tossed with waves for the wind was contrary and the Fourth Watch of the night Jesus went unto them walking on the sea and when the disciples saw him walking on the sea There Were Trouble saying it is a spirit and they cried out for fear as they're trying to get to the other side they see a storm hit the sea or this Lake and it began to rage winds and waves crashing into the side of Peter's boat Peter had seen many storms on these Waters but they were about to experience something that was of another world here in the Fourth Watch of the night here in the familiar Waters and going towards his familiar Hometown and his familiar boat with his familiar friends he sees and ex experience is something that he has never experienced before and I'm sure he his response would be like our response when you're in the middle of trouble in the middle of storms in the middle of tribulation and trials and you look out and you see something you've never seen before you would be scared and if you've seen something walking on the water you would be scared I'm sure of it I'm sure his response and their response would be like our response we would go out of our minds first of all Jesus is not in the boat who are they going to call who are they going to call on seeing something walking towards them in the middle of a storm on the waters he's scared they're scared they begin to scream they're they're in the fear of their life and they thought it was a ghost have you ever been somewhere and you thought there was a ghost no maybe not I can tell you when I was young we did crazy things I remember when I was just about 21 years old we had some friends in a town north of Bloomington and they said Hey listen we're going to go to the graveyard which first of all why but when you're young and you're dumb you decide you're going to go with everybody to the graveyard and they begin to tell stories that we've seen somebody walking in the graveyard and we thought well let's go check it out for ourselves and we went out there and we went to this little graveyard in the middle of nowhere and it was dark it was a little cool and all of a sudden your mind starts to play tricks on you right and it happened to go we there's a little house in the middle of where we were at I mean just I mean I don't know if they've even had a driveway to get to this house when why would you build a house next to a graveyard and we heard things and we we were very scared and then we thought let's just keep going maybe somebody's asleep they're snoring let's just go and see if we can find a ghost or something and so we go a little further and all of a sudden someone says do you see it oh Lord we see it I have no idea what we've seen but we began to run we ran for our lives I'm 20 something years old I know there are no such things as ghosts but all of a sudden you see somebody in a long white cloak with chains running after you or something like I don't know what you're expecting and you start to run I'm sure that's what Peter and the disciples see they see something on the wall I've been on these Waters all my life I've grown up on these Waters I I've seen everything that there is to see I've seen the largest catch I've seen the largest storm but I've never seen a storm like this and I've never seen anything like I'm seeing right now it looks like there's somebody walking on the water and they're scared they begin to cry out and Jesus says Don't Fear be of good cheer you want to go from Fear to cheer Lord that seems impossible but when they realized it was Jesus walking on the water when they realized that everything that they were they were they were so familiar with all of us because all of a sudden became unfamiliar Peter said hey Lord is that you is that you on the water hey if that's you Lord Jesus I don't want to stay in the boat I don't want to stay in the familiar you know what we need we need to get a mentality of saying well I'm tired of the from the other familiar I'm tired of being comfortable in church I'm ready to see somebody get healed of cancer I'm ready to see the dead Rays I'm ready to see blind eyes open I'm ready to see drug addicts say come on I don't want to be so familiar in church that when Jesus shows up I'm afraid come on I don't want to be afraid when Jesus shows up in my familiar situation I want to say Lord if that's you I want to go out there where you are I want to be where you are is that you is that really you I mean think about it from Fear to cheer yeah it's me Peter can I come out there is it all right if I go out there can you imagine what James and John said Peter it would be better for you to stay in this boat you know we've been on this boat for a long time together and we've been on this water for a long time together you know this is just what we do we don't get out of the boat while we're in the water I'm not sure if you understand how this all works Peter you see you see we don't sink in the water because we're in the boat because the boat doesn't sink and so if you get outside of the boat you know it'd be better for you know brother I love church but I I'm just I'd rather us have our three to four songs in our offering and a little sermon I really don't want somebody to come in here and get their life put back together and I'm not so sure I really want somebody to come in here who's sick on a death bed and get raised from the dead I wonder if somebody would get tired of the familiar and I think that's what God did in 2020 he got out of the boat and I wonder if somebody said let's get out of the boat with him I want to get online I want to have church every night I want to pray I want to give I want to do something different come on we gotta shake ourselves of familiarity in his presence we gotta shake ourselves and be uncomfortable going through the motions of church I don't want to just have church I want to be the church I want to be the church if anybody believes that if anybody wants that you should cut your hands but you're gonna have to get out of the boat you're going to have to get out of the boat you're going to have to get out of your Pew you're going to have to get out of your comfort zone [Applause] my Lord have mercy what would happen if you woke up on Saturday morning or Saturday night in the middle of the night and you all of a sudden said you know what I can't wait to get to church I can't wait to get in his presence I can't wait until they sing I can't wait until Bishop preaches why because I'm expecting something different I'm expecting something miraculous I'm except I'm expecting the amazing we're gonna change our expectations is that you is that you Lord It's Me hmm that looks pretty cool can I come out there and Jesus says come on come on anybody else want to gather no we're good we're all right we'll let Peter try it out first you know that's what we're doing in church sometimes that's what we're doing in church sometimes you start to feel it you start to worship starts to well up inside of you but something holds you back and you just wait maybe they'll sing it one more time maybe Michael will run one more time maybe somebody else will do it y'all just let him see if they'll do it I wonder if somebody will be a Peter and say I'm not a waiting for somebody else to move let me get out of the boat let me get out of my comfort zone I'll run I'll jump I'll sing loud I'll teach a Bible study I'll teach a Sunday school class I'll get out of my comfort zone come on is there somebody who'll do it right now and say I'm not waiting for an altar call I'm not waiting for the choir I'm getting out of my comfort zone I'm I want to get out there where he is I want to see him do something awesome let it start with me let it start with me come on let it star with somebody who's tired of the familiar I want to get out there with Jesus I want to get out there I just put my I'll dip my toe in oh that's not Peter he said give me the ladder boys I'm getting out there I'm ready to do something crazy for Jesus I'm ready for Revival [Applause] somebody say Amen familiar someone say familiar oh I want to get out there where he's familiar can I come out there Jesus comes out walking on the water and Peter says I can do that I'll do it I've went from Fear to cheer to Faith from Fear to cheer to Faith faith is not a Feeling faith is knowing and when for the Holy Ghost when Peter heard that familiar voice is that you it's me all right we can do anything I'll do anything why because I know what he can do and if I get out there he'll catch me if I get out there he'll Empower me if I'll get out there he'll touch me if I get out there something could happen you can go from Fear to cheer to Faith in a moment why because the word of the Lord is spoken familiar familiar Peter knew that bush you can't have faith in him until you spend time with him [Applause] I'll say it again you can't have faith in him until you have spent time with him Peter was a part of that inner circle Peter James and John anywhere Jesus went and he would go a little bit further he said Peter James and John come with me let's go heal somebody Peter James and John let's go up there's a mountain and they're going to see something and it was Peter on top of that mountain when Jesus is transfigured before them and Moses and Elijah show up representing the law and the prophets Peter pipes up and goes hey it's good for us to be here let's build a tabernacle for all three of you and Jesus goes no we got to go back down the mountain because somebody's got a devil we got to deal with oh my Lord you see there are sometimes he takes us to the Mountaintop so we can get a revelation of who he is so we can go down in the valley and cast out devils and we can cast out [Music] but you can't call yeah you can't have faith in him until you have spent time with him come on I have seen him transfigured before me when I've gotten in his presence and he has spoken to me and touched me and empowered me I can face hell I can face a bad day I can face what's coming my way why because I've spent time with him it was Peter Jesus says who do men say that I am some say you're John the Baptist some say you're Elijah who do you say that I am you see you can't know him until you spent time with him who do you say that I am and Peter said you are the Christ the son of God and Jesus said flesh and blood has not revealed this unto you but my Father which is in heaven hath revealed this unto you and Peter I I tell you this upon this Revelation Upon This Rock I will build my church and the Gates of Hell shall not Prevail you know what we need we need a revelation of who he is we need a revelation of that he is the Son of God that he is God manifest In the Flesh come to dwell Among Us that's what God is going to build his church upon and the gates of hell [Applause] will not prevail that's that Peter it's also the same Peter where Jesus says there are going to be some who betray me and the son of man will be given over to them and he will die and Peter goes absolutely not not going to happen under my watch and Jesus spins around who he had just called him the rock turns around and says Satan get behind me he went from a rock to a devil real quick you know that's a lot how we are in church sometimes Christians can go from I'm a rock solid Christian to all of a sudden questioning the will of God for our lives get the behind that is that Peter so when Jesus says come it's familiar to him he knows that voice he knows that presence and so he has nothing to fear so I'm gonna get it now this is important that he would step from inside the bone by himself you know faith is lonely sometimes there are going to be some people who think you're crazy can I speak to some folks in the room they're going to be some folks who think you're crazy to move your family from another state to an East Tennessee simply so you can put your kids in a Christian School why would you do that it's faith it's come on somebody sometimes faith is lonely but you're going to have to realize I don't have to have support from people inside the boat to get out there with Jesus as long as he's out there you can stay in the boat I'm going where he is come on don't be looking for supporters because they might not be any but get out there with Jesus and if you're out there with Jesus that makes two and if there's two of you they say where two or three are gathered together in my name there I will be in the midst of them somebody say Amen familiar Waters familiar presence everything's familiar oh Peter here we go what can we do next look it says Lord if it be thou bid me to come unto the water and he said come and when Peter was come down on the ship he walked on the water to go to Jesus but look at verse 30. but when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid from Fear to cheer to Faith to fear he took his eyes off what got him out of the boat and began to look at the circumstance around him don't don't forget it was the voice it was the presence that assured him that got his mind off of the storm the storm didn't stop when Jesus showed up he didn't remove the storm he showed up in the storm [Applause] oh Peter forgot about the storm when he got out of the boat but when he started walking on the water all of a sudden the storm let me tell you something the storm will always continue but you got to keep walking towards the voice he's not going to remove this and he's not he may not remove the storm but don't get your eyes off of him while he's in the store [Music] and he saw the wind boisterous and was afraid he went from Faith to fear just like that now look at the next verse look the next the next couple of words here and beginning to sink it doesn't say that he sank it does not say that he drowned and that one word changes everything beginning to sink it's the start of something it's the precipice of something here in the familiar Waters in The Familiar presence p ter is beginning to sink how could this be this is home court advantage everything is going his way he is unfamiliar Waters near a familiar boat near his familiar friends he's walking towards a familiar voice and he's beginning to sink there's a difference brothers and sisters from sinking and drowning to beginning when he got his eyes off of Christ he began sink it's the beginning stages what was once under his feet was now slowly creeping up to his ankles to his calves to his knees to his waist to his torso and slowly to his neck and head please hear me this evening I believe there are people in this room who are in familiar Waters in a familiar presence perhaps you have been in church all of your life many of you have been the presence of God so many times that it has become familiar church has become familiar to you being in the presence of Jesus has become familiar to you you're no longer in all the power that is in the church no longer are you amazed at the glory of God but not only are you in a familiar place in a familiar presence there are some right here right now who have begun to take their eyes off of Jesus and onto something else and you're beginning to sink you're not drowning you're not dead yet but there is something slowly starting to take your attention off of Jesus and you're beginning to sink the worst place you could go to hell from is the church pew the worst place you could go to hell from is the church pew something takes your attention off of Jesus you started off so well you were doing so good but now you're realizing what was once under your feet is beginning to rise over your feet you started well you were doing good but you're sinking in familiar something do you think somebody backslides overnight it's when they begin to take their focus off of Jesus and on to something else that they begin who've had faith you have had great courage in Christ and you got out of the boat when everybody else was in the boat but one moment you began to take your eyes off of him and what was once under your feet begins to creep up over you I'm afraid there are some who know how to be Pentecostal and they know how to look the part act apart but they're beginning to sink it's easy to come to church and begin to sink it's easy listen to me now it's easy to hide behind an instrument or in the choir or behind a camera or at the door somewhere in sync you can be courageous you got out you tried it you started you've been here you're committed to it but all of a sudden something took your focus maybe you're sinking in the familiar Waters of bad relationships maybe you're sinking in the familiar Waters of bad habits and choices maybe you're sinking in the familiar Waters of negative self-talk maybe you're sinking in the familiar Waters of family vices and dysfunction please hear me maybe you're beginning to sink in things that you used to have victory over maybe you're beginning to sink in anger and jealousy and lust and greed backsliding doesn't happen overnight it's the slow sink come on it's the slow sink I'm all right it's okay I'm not dead yet I'm not drowning yet I'm just beginning to sing come on musicians it's the beginning to sink that is the deception that you think you're okay now I want to tell you something here I'm gonna tell you a testimony two stories I was like six years old and um I went with my my aunt and uncle and my two cousins they lived in a county over and they decided to take us to the community pool one day and I had never I don't think I'd ever been to a community pool let alone a real pull before you know I had like one of those He-Man pools you know you don't talk about you know those little small ones you know that you can just pull up and pour out you know and so I see my two cousins run and jump in the pool me never having done that before thought I can do that and I ran and I jumped in the pool beginning to sink my cousin she pulled me up out of the water she says can you swim I said apparently not here it is fear gripped me for the for the rest of my life scared me out to death Second Story seventh grade being just in a public school is pressure enough but not knowing how to swim in gym class first of all having my gym class in elementary school consisted of us playing kickball that's it seventh grade you're changing and having to get in the pool with a bunch of boys you've never met before I am freaking out it's a it's not one of those like here's three foot over here and then it goes to like six foot it went from three foot to like 50 foot like and there was like a slope like it just went like straight down into the abyss well they had a basketball court thing set up hoop set up there on this on the on the shallow end where I was holding onto the wall and the ball went out just a little bit further and I had to go get it and everybody's playing everybody's doing their thing nobody's watching there's no lifeguard because it's public because public education you fend for yourself and I slipped and I am up and under Up and Under I am panicking and I can't do much about it because I don't know how to swim and if I tell somebody I am going to be the laughing stock of the seventh grade for the less for the rest of my life so I'm I'm panicking I'm all all this is happening and this this Boys in my class pulled me up he said hey can you not swim apparently not I took an F in freshman high school gym class for a six weeks because it was swimming in the Olympic pool and I was not about to have my whole high school life be ruined by drowning can you just hold on no he can't mean this hey just hey can you just well they call you know just tread water tread what is that the bottom did I do that at the very bottom because I'm I swear I'm going to go I want to die Peter beginning to see stand with me three words Lord save me Lord three words it wasn't some long Psalm 51 prayer there's no time for that I'm sinking Lord save me here's something that happened to me this year I decided that I was going to break through my fear of water I have said it for a long time I don't I have a chemical imbalance in me that does not allow me to float I'm good to play if you'd like I have a chemical imbalance that does not allow me to float well I decided I'm gonna try something because a lot of the issue was that fear that first time when I was six years old five years old the water going up my nose that that completely scared me to death feel like you're choking I thought what if I cover my nose with something so I put these goggles on that covered my nose and I thought let's see what happens so I decided to put these goggles these big gigantic goggles you know over this bald head and I thought this is let's just go under and when I did I floated up I thought well that's a new thing that's interesting never done that before this must been something new in my 40s that I have developed gills of some sort [Music] and so I thought okay let's try something else let me try to get out there a little bit you know just I mean unorthodox you know Easton was there and she was like Daddy you can swim I'm about to cut loose right there I'm about to have a holy ghost fit you know what I decided I'm gonna do something out of my comfort zone and I've been swimming this this summer I've been swimming I sent a video to my two best friends that have known me my whole life they know that I hold on to the side of the pool my whole life I send them a video of me swimming and they about to cut rug through a text thread I'm 43 years old and I'm swimming get out here let's go let's go snorkeling I don't care let's go do something that's but Peter three words Lord and Jesus it says immediately Jesus didn't delay well you know what you need to get your act together Peter you know you should have never got out the boat in the first place you know I'm Jesus you're Peter you shouldn't have done he didn't do that the Bible says immediately [Music] maybe you feel like you're beginning to sink maybe you just feel like the thing that you used to have victory over is beginning to creep up over your feet and over your legs and you feel like fear is coming back into your life maybe it's a storm maybe it's a trial maybe it's a tribulation maybe some circumstance that you're going through and you feel like it's going to overtake you I want you to know all you have to say is Lord save would you lift up your hands right now maybe there's some young person maybe there's some young adult you've been in church your whole life maybe there's some Elder who's been here your whole life and it's been a while since you prayed maybe it's been a while since you've gotten to his presence and spoke with other tongues maybe it's been a while since you felt confident in his presence I wonder if somebody who will be confident enough and who has enough Faith who's not afraid of what people will think about them they'll say Lord save me save me from my anger save me from my temper save me from my jealousy save me from my bad habits save me from my negative self-talk save me oh God come on is there somebody who's like save me he will touch you he will pull you up out of the water come on young person come on young person is there somebody who have enough Faith to say that's me I feel like I'm sick and I'm not dead I'm not drowning yet but I'm beginning to see come on is there somebody in a familiar presence in some familiar Waters he'll pick you up he'll pull you out [Music] take me back [Music] dear Lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] dear Lord where I first believe me I'm gonna feel I am so come on he's here to pick you up tonight come on he's gonna pick you up [Music] maybe it's time to have some courage to say I want to do something different come on I'm getting out of my comfort zone I want to do something for him the memories [Music] [Applause] [Music] my joys [Music] [Music] take me back [Music] oh take me back [Music] to the boat his presence is his powers here but still I hear you calling me those simple things the memories [Music] [Applause] [Music] and getting myself is fine I renewed my faith [Music] oh and try my weekly knife [Music] take me take me back take me back dear Lord to the place [Music] take me back dear Lord to the place [Music] [Applause] [Music] take me back [Music] take me back dear Lord to the place where I first received you take me back again take me back dear Lord where I [Applause] [Music] take me back [Music] to where I first received you take me back [Music] would you lift your hands and love Jesus would you thank him that he reaches down when you say Jesus save me he's gonna answer he's going to reach for you he's gonna pull you out you gotta step out of the boat sometimes you gotta be in those familiar Waters as you walk and sometimes you're gonna see but he's there to lift you up hallelujah hallelujah