Summary
Pastor Safrit shares a sermon from the Sea of Galilee, emphasizing God's sovereignty over life's storms, referencing Matthew 14:22-33. He highlights how Jesus' presence calms our fears and encourages believers to keep their eyes fixed on Him, even amidst chaos. The message calls for faith in Christ, reminding the congregation that God is always ready to deliver us from our troubles, just as He did for the Israelites.
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We are so excited to be here in the Sea of Galilee. I know this is the second week we haven't had service together. But again, I'm so thankful that we have technology to be able to come together virtually like this.
And I want to come today to just give you sort of a sermon from the Sea of Galilee. You can't really see it from me right now behind me, but I'm standing in Tiberias. The Sea of Galilee is behind me. You'll see pictures tomorrow of this.
I'll be sharing it online. But one of the things in the Sea of Galilee, Tiberias specifically where we're at, is the city that Jesus said the city on a hill cannot be hid.
And we're the light of the world from that city. And so it's awesome that I get to stay here. Last time I was here, I didn't get to stay in Tiberias. And so I'm excited about that.
But today, as I was traveling in, I had some thoughts that came to my mind that I want to share with you from the Sea of Galilee. Oftentimes, we know the Sea of Galilee as a famous story that we're going to talk about.
But we're going to look at some Old Testament here for just a moment to sort of look at how this whole story happened and why it's important. When storms happen, we often feel helpless.
We feel completely helpless. Like, well, there's nothing we can do. Right now, we're in the middle of a snowstorm. And life can feel just uneasy. We're stuck at home. We can't go anywhere.
My wife this past week, she told me, she said, James, I'm getting stir crazy. I've got to get out. I've got to go do something. Because being at home in a storm, life can feel crazy. Difficulties happen. You battle illnesses. You battle spiritual depression. These are waves that come on us.
And as we sort of reflect at the water behind us, the Sea of Galilee, I want you to remember something that's very important.
The same God that was in the Old Testament, the same God that's in the New Testament, is the same God today that can help us in our trials, in our tribulations, and as we go through things.
And so I want to help us by understanding that God is sovereign over the waters. One of the things I studied and I found and I came across was the idea that Jesus walking on water was actually a fulfillment of prophecy.
God's Power Over Nature
I never thought of that. I came across a study today this past week where this was shared with me. But in Job chapter 9, verse 8, the Bible says this, He alone stretches out the heaven and walks on the waves of the sea.
Think about that for a moment. God literally walking on water, the same water that was life-threatening, the same water that was uncontrollable, was under His feet that He had control over.
And so as we go through that, this was a fulfillment of God fulfilling prophecy. Psalm 77 says something similar.
Your ways was through the sea. Your path was through the mighty waters. Yet your footprints were unseen.
Have you ever seen the chaos around us? And yet we know God is in control. We know God is there for us. He cares about us. He loves us. His love is real. And we know that He's there for us, just like He was there on the Sea of Galilee.
I want to share one more passage with you. Jeremiah 37.
Jeremiah 37 in the Old Testament. This was a group of people, the Israelites, who were troubled. They were surrounded by their enemies. They felt helpless. They didn't know what was going to happen and what was going to go on in their life. And yet God promised them deliverance.
He was coming and He is still coming again to redeem us.
They didn't see Him walk on water yet, but He was preparing His people for what He was going to do. It leads us to Matthew chapter 14, verses 22 through 33.
I hope you read this passage with your family today. Maybe take a time where you open up your scripture and you just look at this wonderful story that happened with Jesus and His disciples. And as we get to this point, we know it so well, right?
Jesus walks out on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were terrified. Is this a ghost? Is this a spirit? What is this? What's going on? They've been fighting the winds. They've been fighting the waves. They were exhausted.
We're exhausted. I'm recording this after we just flew for 30 hours. We're exhausted, right? Life is going on. And suddenly they see Jesus walking on water.
Jesus says something that is so powerful in this moment. I want you to really hone in on this verse. He says, take courage.
It is I. The phrase that He says here, it is I, is the same Greek phrase translated into Hebrew that says, do not be afraid. It is I. I am.
In the middle of the storm, His words pierce through the darkness and the chaoticness of the storm by saying, it is I, don't be afraid.
We can take comfort in knowing that and knowing that when the waves are raging, when the storm is raging in our life, when the winds are coming against us, when everything seems to be danger all around us,
Jesus' Presence in Chaos
Jesus simply says, it is I. I am the one on the water. I am the one here with you when life is crazy, when life is all just chaotic around us.
This isn't about necessarily storm, calming the storm on the outside, but it's about calming the storm on the inside of our life. And God is showing His power over the impossible. God is a God of impossibilities.
He is a God who delivers us from our things that we don't even see possible. But yet He steps into our life and delivers us from our sin. He delivers us from our depravity.
And He saves us so that we can live with Him. But then there's this next character that we see. Peter is out here on the water, right? Peter is a picture of us. He's a picture of the church. He noticed what he does here.
He steps out of the boat. He walks on the water toward Jesus. Can you imagine it? Think about it. Step by step, he's doing the impossible. He's literally walking on the top of the waves.
Then he notices something crazy. He notices the wind. He notices the life that's around him, the chaotic storms that are around him. And suddenly fear takes over. He begins to sink. And he cries out three simple words.
The three words that we should have on our lips every day of our life. Lord, save me. And what does Jesus do?
He doesn't look at him and say, Peter, I need you to get right all of a sudden. I need you to figure out life before I can come and help you. No.
Jesus immediately reaches out his hand and immediately saves him in this moment. It's a picture that Jesus is calling us to walk by faith.
He's telling us to step out when life is impossible, when we don't understand how it's going to happen. When life is difficult in our mind and yet the storm is coming in our life.
We can step out into the impossible and let God take over from there. The moment we do that, the moment we begin to trust God, God begins to work a mighty thing in our life. But what does Peter do? Peter steps out on water and he doesn't focus on Jesus.
He begins to focus on the life that's around him and immediately he begins to sink. How often is it in our life that we take our eyes off of Jesus and our life begins to spiral out into chaos? Trust me, church.
We can do the impossible if we trust in Christ. If we keep our eyes fixed on him. A couple of lessons I want us to look at for just briefly.
Inevitability of Storms
How can we take from this? As I'm standing here in front of the Sea of Galilee, as we're looking out, I'm going to be out on the water tomorrow. One thing that I noticed was the storms are inevitable. Storms are going to happen in our life. But Christ is constant.
Christ is always there. He is a consistent factor. He's going to bring, the life is going to bring chaos. The winds are going to crash in our life. The waves are going to howl upon us. And yet Christ is going to walk on the water. He is sovereign over all.
Faith keeps your eyes on Jesus. Church, we have got to fix our eyes on Jesus. I preached this whole message on Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 a couple of years ago on fixing our eyes on Jesus so we don't drift, so we don't step away from the water.
And we must be keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus no matter what happens. Call on to Jesus.
When you're sinking, when life seems crazy, when you don't have the answers to the problems of your life, you don't have to have the answers. Because Christ has the answers and we can reach out to him.
The moment Peter reached out to Jesus and called out to him, Jesus reached out to him and saved him in that moment. He'll do the same thing for us right now. God's deliverance is always possible.
So, last thing, just like he delivered Israel in Jeremiah 37, just like he delivered Israel through the Red Sea, just like he part of the Red Sea, just like he delivered us from our sin, he is here to deliver us as well. And he is always in the delivering business.
Tonight, this evening, church, as you gather with your families at home and you sit in your rooms, I want you to sort of take a time where you look at the waves and the winds and the storms that
are in your life. Think about the disciples. Think about Peter. Think about the courage that it must have taken Peter to step out into the water, to step out where Jesus was at. The same sea that terrified him was under his feet as well.
The same waves that frightened him may be frightening you as well. But take heart in knowing that Jesus is in the storm with us. Take heart in knowing that when we face the storm, we're not alone. Jesus is there. The disciples, they only noticed Jesus when they wanted to notice him.
The storms were crashing and the waves were going crazy, and then they noticed Jesus. He was there all along. They just needed to look and fix their eyes on him. Oftentimes, we need to step out by faith and trust in him that we won't sink and he'll take care of us.
Letting Go and Trusting God
And oftentimes, we must get to the point where we can simply just say, God, I'm going to let go of my control and put everything into your control. Church, I don't know what you're going through right now.
I thank you for allowing me to come and be in Israel for a couple of days. I thank you for letting me be a part of this wonderful city.
And I hope that many of you can go with me one day in the future. Several have already reached out and said they'd love to come back one day. And maybe that may happen in a couple of years.
But while I'm here, I hope that you can see what I get to see through the pictures and you enjoy where I'm at. And I hope it's an encouragement to you and that you grow in your faith as well.
Thank you for being a part of this. I'm going to pray for us to close the service out and take this time, these last two Sundays, and intentionally disciple your families. Love on your families. Grow in love with the word of God so that you can see the impossibility happen. Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for what you've done. Help us, Father, to keep our eyes fixed on you. Help us to know that through everything that's going on, that you are still in control. You are still sovereign over all things and that you are the maker of all things. God, we love you.
We thank you for what you've done for us. Be with the many prayer requests that our church has today. And, Lord, thank you for the safety of bringing me to Israel and being able to stand in front of this wonderful backdrop of the Sea of Galilee.
Lord, keep us safe as we travel from place to place this week. Help our church, Lord, as we're in this storm of the snow that's come in. And I pray, God, that you would just have your will and way. We love you. In your name we pray. Amen.
God bless you, church family. Thank you for tuning in today. And if you ever need anything, feel free to reach out to me. My phone's on the whole time I'm here. And your deacons are there as well. You can reach out to them. And hopefully on Sunday we'll see you.
And until then, we love you. And God bless you.
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