Welcome!
Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Today: Lord, if it’s you!
Passage: Mt 14:28-30 NIV
28“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29“Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Peter is a very interesting character, in the Bible
He would take risks-try the “impossible”, which others would not dare to do
When Jesus caught Peter in His “net”, this is how it happened:
Peter was working all night, catching no fish at all
In the morning, Jesus came to him and asked for his boat to preach from it
Peter allowed. After the preaching, Jesus asked Peter to go into the deep and throw the net
Peter obeyed , even though it did not make any sense for him to do that when the sun was right up there
Peter got a big catch! Peter was “in”, that day
In the scripture above, we see Peter trying to walk on water
As he found that it was Jesus walking on water, Peter makes two profound statements:
1. “Lord, if it’s you”
2. “tell me to come to you on the water”
Finally, he makes another statement/request
3. “Lord, save me”
Jesus confirmed that it was Jesus himself and not a ghost!
Peter was not ready to jump into the water, if it was anyone other than Jesus. Peter knew Jesus
These days, we see so many people jumping after people, just because they saw some “miracle” or magic
The Bible clearly warns that in the end times, satan will manifest with counterfeit signs, wonders and miracles!
So once Peter made sure it was Jesus, here is his second demand:
“tell me to come to you on the water”
Again, I have seen people who “jumped out” to do things like “full time ministry” and then, after years telling everyone, “I made a mistake”
“Why then did you then jump out of your boat in the first place”?
They will come up with so many reasons
Peter did not want to regret. He wanted clear instruction from the Lord
He did not ask Jesus, “Lord, do you think I will sink”?
Or, “Jesus, do you know what is the viscosity of water?”
May sound funny, but those are some of the kind of questions some of these modern theologians ask
Now, Peter got out of the boat and stepped on the water
He did not keep one foot in the boat and the other in the water, to see if the water can hold him!
Few moments later, he started to worry about himself, and he started to sink
But he took the right action, which saved him
He called, “Lord, save me”
His ego or pride did not show up. He was willing to admit that Jesus alone can save him, at that point
He did not call on his friends in the boat, who looked more “stable” than Jesus, who was still standing on the water
Think about it. In our times of trouble, what do we do? Call upon people or Jesus? Grab on to those things that look more “stable” to us, than God?
Once again, ponder on these three statements/requests of Peter
1. “Lord, if it’s you”
2. “tell me to come to you on the water”
3. “Lord, save me”
If you will take some time to study the great statements that Peter made in relation to Jesus at various times (not just these three mentioned here), you will be amazed. Very meaningful, profound, theologically relevant statements!
God bless
BG
God is asking, “Can I help you?”
We are like: “No Lord; If you help me, then I won’t get the credit”
Jesus is more than willing to help us in our crisis, whether it be a personal, family, job or church issue
Our ego is so big that we hesitate to ask, seek or knock
1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city, The watchmen stand guard in vain.