Walking on water….
In two passages of the scripture Jesus deals with the forces of nature. In this case the wind and sea. I find that in many ways God has on many occasions tried to relay the ultimate truth about Himself and nature. And in a way,about our nature too! In Matthew 8:23 “Now when He got into a boast His disciples followed Him. Matthew 8:24 And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Matthew 8:25 Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him saying “Lord,save us! We are perishing! Matthew 8:26 But He said to them”why are you fearful,O you of little faith?”Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm. Matthew 8:27 So the men marvelled,saying who can this be that even the winds and the sea obey Him?
The second passage is in Matthew also. Matthew 14:22- And it says Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side,while He sent the multitudes away. Matthew 14:23 And when He had sent the multitudes away He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came Jesus was alone there. Matthew 14:24 But the boat was now in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves for the wind was contrary. Matthew 14:25. Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them walking on the sea. Matthew 14:26 And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea they were troubled saying “it is a ghost!”And they cried out for fear. Matthew 14:27. But immediately Jesus spoke to them saying. ”Be of good cheer! It is I ,do not be afraid” . Matthew 14:28. And Peter answered Him and said “Lord,if it is You command me to come to You on the water” Matthew 14:29. So He said,”Come”. And when Peter had come down out of the boat he walked on the water to go to Jesus. Matthew 14:30 But when he saw that the wind was boisterous he was afraid:and beginning to sink he cried out,saying “Lord,save me!” Matthew 14:31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him and said to him”O you of little faith why did you doubt? Matthew 14;32. And when they got into the boat,the wind ceased. Matthew 14:33 Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him saying “Truly You are the Son of God.
THERE ARE A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT BLEW ME away here. . but I would mention as many as the Spirit leads me to do. Holy Spirit guide our thinking now as you lay your insight and power on us,in Jesus Name. As I started at the beginning. Why did Jesus let us see this side of Him? You better believe it was not by accident. Two incidents that occurred one after the other. A man of God preached this online,and I went wow! There are many things that have blown my mind in the scripture and this is one of them. You better believe that there are mysteries in this world and universe. The choice for us is to decide how we learn about them. There would always be questions about the truth to these stories but ask yourself-What kind of mind could concoct these elaborate stories that have been collaborated by many many historical writers over centuries? The core of the stories are true-And for me,the bible is the WORD of GOD to us.
Firstly,for our emotional comfort,we should notice the word IMMEDIATELY in the two scriptures I laid out above. Each time,there was a panic from the disciples-it SAYS and Jesus immediately…. !What does it tell us? Well that God cares emotionally about us. I can write that again,so it sinks in…God cares emotionally about all of us. Now,you can ask “why did Peter feel fear”? Surely,God could have prevented him from feeling it in the first place. Don’t look at me like that!We all ask this type of questions. Why is there hunger? Why do babies die early? And so on…I am here to tell you that God cares. There is something about experience that God wants us to share. When we get to heaven we would understand fully. But ask yourself another question:was God bored when He created man?Wow! Mind blowing question. Yes,it has occurred to me. He loves His experience of the universe He created that he wants us to share in the experience. But knowledge is hindering us. So I believe he demonstrates His knowledge and power in incidents like the one I shared above. He could have concocted a way to avoid them seeing his supremacy over nature. In fact no one else saw that demonstrations except the disciples. Have you asked why? After the first incident in Matthew 8,the disciples found themselves asking “who is this guy”?After the second incident in Matthew14,they found themselves saying”You are definitely God”. Does it puzzle you that He would have wanted that response? He wants the same response from you. Satan’s job is to distract you from coming to that conclusion. Satan wants you to delay your reaction to that fact till it is too late. Is he succeeding? What are the consequences of addressing the AWESOME love of God? In our minds,we think it means painful discipline and punishments. I did too! But It is the opposite. Remember Jesus calmed the wind because the disciples were afraid of dying. And when it was calm? What emotion did they feel? You guessed it! They were relieved. Is that not a good feeling? Now,why would a God who does that,want to hurt you? Jesus I thank you for that revelation. I REALLY DO! Receive it In Jesus Name! Peter walked on water before his doubt( I believe) and after his doubt. Imagine that…! When he was not sure of what he was doing,he walked on water. When he realised the insane nature of what he was doing- Peter still walked on water. Can you imagine the impact of that on his mind? Again,we are living in a spiritual world,so thinking about the mind is limiting. But just imagine it! I want to invite you to live on this level. It is not a level that God wants to experience alone. Believe me! He would not have introduced us and Peter to it,if He did not want us touching that experience. But listen to me,Pride and ego do not come into this:God just wants you to learn to worship him in truth. And share the experiences that He is offering. Is that so bad? Have a nice EASTER
Lord show us ...your mind today.We are not perfect but your will in us...is perfect.In Jesus Name.I am glad to bring you this sermon from 2Ch 24:8 -11.The young king of Judah was inspired to repair the house of God.And as we know, money is required to perform this task.I have been improving my understanding of monetary issues of late.And one thing I have found fascinating is the principle that underlays everything to do with money.Trust.Right from the time of the kings of Judah and Isreal, a medium of exchange has been in existence.And throughout that period till the days of Jesus Christ on earth-money was central to every day thinking.In this passage it kind of holds a central theme.But it does not feel quite mysterious.I mean, today,the mere mention of money raises some emotions of awe.And,to be honest with you...I have never quite understood that reaction.Why does money solicit this kind of reaction?Some say without money you cannot do anything-that is why!Yeah,but,without energy you cannot do anything either?You don’t hear or see people worshipping energy?Do you..?In fact, many spend their energy getting money.And when they get the money, they have no energy to spend it.It makes you wonder”which one is more important”?The King wanted to repair the temple but the government had no money.The previous government(Queen)had emptied the treasury.Sound familiar?We tend to think that the affairs and conditions we see today, are new and original issues.There is nothing new under the sun,Solomon wrote.There is one who has seen it all.Are we ready to take lessons from HIM?The king told the Levites to make a chest and put it outside the house of the lord.And then made a proclamation that the people bring their contributions to the house.And note that this was started during the time of Moses.What was this instruction?It was the formation of the early forms of an economy.Today,we think of money as being outside the realm of God.The two do not go together.God help us.What?I do not know how to explain how ridiculous the idea sounds to me.What if God decreed that your breath was separate from you.And to earn your breath, you had to truly serve Him, first?How many of us would be alive today?None.What is my point?Everything belongs to God-the man, and the money made by man.You do realise that money was not created by the devil?Let us continue...So,the children of Judah brought their contributions.And they rejoiced while they did it!Why would they rejoice?Because at the time, money had not grown into this monster idea of power and mystery.It was simply a means of exchange.It was a storage of value.It was a means of account.It did not have the social value interpretation it has today.But this did not start today!During the Roman times, wealthy people had incredible influence.The people of Judah rejoiced because they knew they were obeying their God.They also knew the importance of having a house of God.In addition they all knew that their contributions made society effective for everyone.Trust.Money was not the beginning or last of things!Do you know what was...?Ultimately God.But people knew that their collective trust in each other preserved their collective lives.God showed them how to survive, and they obeyed HIS instructions.It is why they were rejoicing.They knew they were going to survive.And more importantly, survive the way God wanted them to survive.Is there a better way to survive?Of course not..But the problem today,is that we don’t think there is a definite way to survive designed by God.A holy way!We think that God has left us to our own devices.Interesting that He did not leave breathing to our self determination.If God left breathing to enterprise and industry-a lot of us would still be slaves.The passage says that there was abundance of money by the time they had finished.How do you think the people got what they contributed?By working hard?Yes!And now the king (and Moses)decided to take it off their hands?How manipulative?No?Everything belongs to God.Say that in your mind and spirit,now.HE knows best how you can use it,today.Say that in your mind and spirit,now.Lord teach us how to use money.Teach us to understand that Money and God are not separate entities.Just like man and God are not separate entities.Lord teach us how to view the universe the way that you created it.Teach us to use it,the way that you designed us to use it.Teach us how to be fulfilled in life.And teach us to understand that everything lives and has its being in you,in Jesus Christ name,Amen.Thank you for partaking in this sermon.Until next time, remain blessed.
Thank you lord.. for this wonderful opportunity to speak or write to your people.Someone is going to read this,,,and gain strength ,grace and wisdom to continue living a godly and spiritual life.In JESUS name we pray!Thank you JESUS.Now,we want to look at the death of Athaliah. We would not go into the back history of the Kings of Judah.We would start at the reign of her son,Ahaziah.King Ahaziah gained access to the throne because Arabians had killed his elder brothers.2 chronicles 1.He was 42yrs when he became King.So this made Athaliah the queen mother.I think that is what they call them.She had influence over Ahaziah reign because the bible says that he did wickedly in the eyes of the lord.He followed the example of Ahab.And it also adds that his mother had given him advice.I can imagine that he was not expecting to be king.So,I presume he would have hardly, trained himself for the job.And some of us can relate to his predicament.Sometimes,life thrusts us with situations that we did not quite anticipate or prepare to experience.But that is exactly what the christain journey is all about.Faith.Are you prepared?With what are you preparing yourself with...?It is not a secret that life is very unpredictable. Ahaziah was not prepared for the biggest role of his life.And it cost him.In a natural way,we have got to sympathise with him?Dont we..?He was not next in line.He was either going to have to kill his brothers to be king or be satisfied with being prince till he dies ?And,I think he knew,he did not have that streak in him.I would not have been surprised if he was satisfied with being, third or fourth in line.But fate had other ideas.I know many of you have no idea what fate has in store for you.I do not know what fate has in store for me,either.I did not know I would not be married with kids at the age of 49.But,it has happened.The uncertainty of life keeps a lot of people stressed.King Ahaziah made a choice when the unexpected happened.What did he do?He did what a lot of us would have done.In fact,some of you would still argue that it is the right course of action, even after reading this sermon.The bible says Ahaziah took advice!He took advice from his mother.Wow!What a moron?Aha!It does not sound appropriate to say that about someone taking advice from their mother(or even father)The commandments tell us to honour our mothers and fathers.So,why would you question their intentions for you?In this particular case Athaliah was wicked in her ways.And she advices Ahaziah to follow suit.It did not go well for him.In fact,it did not go well for her,either.It is why I started with the death of Athaliah.Let us look at what happened to her.She advices her son to follow the wicked ways.It gets her son killed.So,she snatches the throne for herself by killing all the surviving heirs except one.2chronicles 22:10-12.I find myself asking whether she killed any of her grandchildren?Who were the heirs?It could not be anyone that she was not related to..right?But,she mercilessly massacred them.And she did this to get the throne that had become vacant as a result of her son’s death.She reigned a while in her wicked ways.But,her time was already destined to come.Where do we place our trust because of the uncertain nature of life?You would be stressed.It is a certain outcome for all of us.But,what do you strengthen yourself with...Advice from a friend?Do you look for the answer from social media?Or do you go to family?All of these are not wrong in themselves.But,you have got to know that your first point of request is God.Do you have a personal relationship with HIM?Because it would be much more difficult to ask and trust HIM,if you do not have a connection.I do not know what tommorrow holds.But I am confident that I can rely upon his advice.I am confident that I should not fret about my future because it is in GOD’s hands!And the other important thing,is that we have got to ask ourselves,”what do you understand as the future”?It is not a trick question.Unfortunately for many of us,the future is defined as the “time we would get what we want or deserve”.It is not what the future means...Queen Athaliah was thinking along those lines,when she killed her relatives.She was hoping to get”what she wanted”when her son became king.But fate took that out of her hand.What are you thinking right now,that you deserve?I command you in the name of JESUS to change your way of thinking!Start thinking that your future is...whatever GOD says it is,now.I know,I know it may not make sense to some of you.There is a prayer that I learned recently.Hopefully this would give you an idea of the crux of living.It goes like this:LORD give me time to learn and be good at SOMETHING.And give me time,to ENJOY being good at that SOMETHING.There is no...definition of what that something is,or should be.why?I cannot even make a good judgement on it,myself(if I was given the sole choice)So,why mess up my life.Instead,I give it up to HIM-And trust he has brilliant things in store.When you make a judgement of what you would enjoy-you make a big mistake.Athaliah thought she knew exactly what was good for her.But,she was wrong.She chased and chased,till she found herself crying treason!treason!And life was taken away from her,with a bitter after taste.Do not be like her.Put all your worries in God’s hands.And praise HIM for each second of your breath.In Jesus name,we pray!Thank you lord for delivering something for your children.I trust that you produce something new every single time.You are worthy,Lord,Thank you again!People ..this is it for now-Live righteously ,it is possible.It starts with giving up defining what that means...!Tell HIM to show you HIS pleasure.And you would automatically want to fulfil it,and enjoy it.Be blessed!
