Pastor Lee Jenkins Sermon: Water Walking Faith

0:07 let's pray father in the name of Jesus we thank you that there is power in the name of Jesus so Lord today we pray that you will speak to us through your word speak to our minds speak to our hearts speak to our Spirits change Us From the Inside Out Lord we don't want to be just hearers of you word we want to be doers of your word so father stir our hearts today in Jesus name we pray amen if you have your Bibles turn to the gospel of Matthew or you can look on the bulletin we're going to be hanging out

0:53 in Matthew chap 14: 22 through 33 a very familiar passage a lot of ways I can go with this particular passage but I just want to talk to you today about what Jesus is trying to say to us and a little bit about my life because I've had to live out this particular passage Matthew 14: 22 through 33 I'm reading from The New American Standard Bible and it reads immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side side while he sent the crowds away it was a big crowd by the way he had just

1:39 fed the multitude over 5,000 people verse 23 after he had sent the crowds away he went up on the mountain by himself to pray and when it was evening he was there alone but the boat was already a long distance from the land meaning the boat that the disciples were in battered by the waves for the wind was contrary that means it was coming against them and in the Fourth Watch of the night he came to them about 3:00 a.m. walking on the sea so here you have Jesus walking on the sea in the darkest part of the day of

2:24 the night in verse 26 when Jesus saw him walking on the sea when the disciples rather saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take courage it is I do not be afraid I believe that is the word of the Lord for some of you today you need to take courage and realize it is Jesus do not be afraid verse 28 Peter said to him him Lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water and he said come and

3:10 here's my key verses and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus but seeing the wind he became frightened and beginning to sink he sink he cried out Lord save me immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him you of little faith why did you doubt when they got into the boat the wind stopped and those who were in The Boat worshiped him saying you are certainly God's son I want to speak to you today from the subject water walking Faith water walking

3:58 Faith all of us in here have faith the question is what kind of of Faith do you have some of us have water sinking Faith That means every time it gets rough we start to sink but I want to talk to you today about water walking Faith you see my favorite character in The Bible next to Jesus Christ himself is Peter I love me some Peter Peter was bold he was audacious he was confident he had some tremendous successes yet he had some debilitating defeats this is the man that rebuked

4:44 Jesus after Jesus said he was going to die and rise again after three days Jesus told Peter get behind me Satan now most of us couldn't handle that I mean can you handle God himself calling you Satan but not Peter he blew it but he didn't get so discouraged where he just stopped doing Ministry a lot of us would have given up that's what I like about Peter then in the Garden of Gethsemane uh when they were arresting Jesus it was Peter who took out his sword and cut the Soldier's ear off Jesus was always having to clean up stuff that Peter did then it was Peter who

5:30 emphatically pledged his Allegiance to Jesus he said Jesus I got your back I got your back Jesus I'm I'm I'm I'm not going anywhere and then a little bit later he denied Jesus three times that's the Peter I'm talking about it was Peter who answered the question when Jesus asked who do men say I am what are they saying about me on Twitter what are they saying about me on Facebook what's going on on Instagram he he asked the disciples who who do they say what what what are they saying about me and and all the disciples had these answers and then Peter got a revelation that nobody else had he he said Thou Art the Christ the son of God Jesus said

6:16 flesh and blood has not reveal this to you but this had to be the spirit of God and then of course it was Peter who preached the word and saw thousands get saved in the book of Acts but the things that I admire most about Peter was that he was the only human being that's ever walked on water that he did something so miraculous that nobody else has ever done so today I want to inspire you today I want to encourage you today I want the Holy Spirit to stir

7:02 your heart to let you know that you can do something great for God that you don't have to be an average Christian that you don't have to live a mundane Christian Life and I can guarantee you there's probably something in your life where God is pushing you out into the water and and you're either going to as you'll see in a minute you're either going to have to stay in the boat or you're either going to hold on to the boat or you're going to get out and you're going to walk on water it's your choice I submit to you that in order to do something great for God you have to have water walking faith and Peter had to have water walking Faith so we're going to talk about this what does it mean to have

7:48 water walking Faith the kind of Faith to where where you're just doing something extraordinary for God which by the way I know there is something God has called you to do that's extraordinary I want to give you four attributes of Water Walkers and this is really my testimony especially over the last few years attribute number one is Water Walkers recognize the presence of God Water Walkers recognize God's presence if you want to walk on water you better know who God is and you better recognize his presence I love what verse 28 says in the story it says

8:36 that Peter said to himl if it is you command me to come to you on the water now in the original Greek that word if really means sense it's translated sense so therefore this is an expression by Peter of fat not doubt it could read like this uh Lord sense it is you command me to walk on the water or Lord uh since it is you enable me to do the same thing that you are doing by the way Jesus says we will do Greater Works than he could do Peter

9:22 wanted to do what Jesus was doing he he sensed God's presence you see Jesus recognized I'm sorry Peter recognized Jesus in a storm and that's the problem with most of us most of us don't really recognize Jesus when we're in the midst of a storm as you'll see in a minute all the other disciples were scared they had no recognition of what was going on Peter was the only one that recognized Jesus it takes the eyes of Faith to recognize Jesus in the storm sometimes when the storms come in our life we blame them on blame it on

10:07 the devil and and sometimes it could be spiritual warfare but you see but when you just blame everything on the devil you fail to recognize to see God's hand in the storm because there are two types of storms there's a storm of Correction storms that God brings into our life to correct us to discipline us then there is the storm of perfection storms that God allowed to come in our life to perfect us to make us better to make us stronger to prepare us storms of life hit everybody some of you are going through financial storms right now you're wondering how you're

10:53 going to be able to get out of debt you're wondering why your business hadn't taken off or or you're wondering you know when are you going to get that promotion or when or or every time you take a step forward you take two steps backwards it seems like financially or maybe you've lost your job or your business is down a financial storm is not fun to be in some of you are in a health storm some of you are in a marital storm some of you are in a relationship storm but but here's the question I have for you today is can you see Jesus in your storm can you sense the presence of God in your

11:41 storm do you recognize God's presence so here's the question you should ask when you find yourself in a storm and it is this Lord what do you want me to learn from this situation Lord what do you want me to learn from this situation I just just got laid off and I can't find a job but what do you want me to learn from this situation Lord my kids are acting crazy and and it doesn't seem like they're obeying me and they don't listen to a thing I say but what do you want me to learn from this situation Lord my business is really suffering but what do you want me to learn from this situation Lord my spouse and I aren't getting along but what do

12:30 you want me to learn from this situation God uses the storms of life to get us to trust him at a deeper level so if you're in a storm right now let me tell you that God does some of his best work in a storm so here Peter was he was in a storm and everybody else as you will see was was scared but Peter is looking is that Jesus I if it is you Lord I want to come out to you nobody else saw Jesus but Peter and often times that's the very time where God's presence will show up it's when you're in a storm so if you want to walk on

13:16 water you got to recognize the presence of God number two Water Walkers sense a call from God they have a deep sense that God is calling them and and beckoning them to do something great stirring something in their heart in other words they don't want to be average they don't want to just come to church and go home and go to work and and and and do little stuff with their kids and their family a mundane life they feel like they were put here for a purpose and for a reason and they want to live that thing out going to talk to you in a minute about kind of what I went through in this area a few years ago but let's look at verse 28 and the first part of verse

14:05 29 Peter said to him Lord if it is you command me to come to you on the water and he said meaning Jesus said come now notice what Peter said he said command me in other words Lord tell me what to do the King James version says bid me to come this phrase in the Greek means the command of a king in other words you're the King Jesus you command me and you tell me what to do and I will do it now that's the ultimate faith when you trust Jesus that much that you will say Lord

14:50 you just tell me what to do and I'll do it I submit to you that a lot of us say we trust Jesus a lot of us talk about trusting Jesus a lot of us saying about trust in Jesus but will you really put yourself in a position on purpose where you have to say Lord I'm all yours you tell me what to do Lord and I'll do it most of us don't put oursel in that position and most of us don't even want to be in that position so we have to we have to allow Jesus to talk to us so so this was a sign of Peter's surrender to God and His total obedience

15:37 to God so he tells them to come to him on the water he says he says Jesus I want to come to you on the water well isn't it interesting that the water was Peter's problem so the very thing that he was scared of and everybody else was scared of Peter is saying well I'm going to walk to you on the very thing that everybody else is scared of which is the water maybe Jesus is calling you to walk on water but you're looking at the waters and and you are just scared you're just scared you see God doesn't only want you to recognize his presence and sense his

16:22 call but but the true test of whether you are a water Walker is is is the next part of this verse and that is whether or not you get get out of the boat that that is the true test cuz you can sing about it and pray about walking on the water all you want to you can talk about doing stuff great but if you're going to stay in the boat if you're going to remain a boat potato that means that's a person who just stays in the boat then you can't walk on water stuck in your boat which brings me to point number three and this is my testimony right here Water Walkers leave their comfort zone in order to fulfill their

17:09 Destiny so in other words you got to get out of the familiar in order to do something great for God often times God will push you out of what is comfortable to you to get you to do something that is effective for his kingdom look at verse 29 in the B Clause it says um and and Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus so before he could walk on the water he had to what get out of the boat so let me ask you an important question Oak Cliff what is your boat what is your boat your boat is anything that represents Safety and

17:59 Security to you apart from God your boat is whatever is keeping you so comfortable that you don't want to give it up even if it is keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves so in other words all of us have a boat and that boat is that thing that you don't want to leave that boat is that that thing that you're holding on to your boat is that thing that makes you feel comfortable but Jesus is saying in whatever area he's saying this to you and I guarantee you there is an area that if you're building a relationship a dynamic relationship with Christ he's going to continually call you out on the water and you're going to have to make a decision whether you're going to hold on

18:44 to the side of the boat and stay comfortable with everybody else by the way the other disciples were in there or if you're going to step out on the water I told you I would share a little bit about my life I went to the University of Tennessee and my lifelong dream took place my senior year at Tennessee I was drafted by the New York Giants in the NFL and spent one year with the Giants and shortly thereafter I got into the investment business trained on Wall Street worked in the World Trade Center for a little while came back to my hometown in Atlanta to start my investment advisory practice for 25 years God prospered me used me in the

19:30 business business world use me in the church World written a couple of books going around speaking all the time had a lot of the material success that went along with that big house all that stuff kind of couple of zeros uh you know behind the numbers in my bank account and then around 2005 I started getting this empty feeling in my life now this is everything is going great I mean everybody kind of thought my life was was clicking I was the guy a lot of people kind of wanted to be like you know and and and but deep on the inside I can sense the spirit of God calling me out of my boat so you see my boat was that 25y year career as an investment advisor I

20:17 knew how to make money I was a mover and Shaker I've been in magazines on the newspaper everybody knew me as the money guy around the nation and C certainly in Atlanta I mean I was the man I was comfortable and I said I could live Lord the rest of my life like this God said no that's not what I want you to do so in 2005 I began to wrestle and and and and uh uh and and I talked to some of my friends about it said man you're just going through a midlife crisis that's all but I knew it was more than a midlife crisis but but and I knew God was calling me to step out on the water to be a pastor I knew he was calling me because he really called me at 22 years old to do do that and I think he allowed me to have this

21:03 business success and he says now I'm calling you to do what your ultimate call and I resisted so I was determined I said well I'm G to make so much money God will leave me alone don't ever say that to God because shortly thereafter in 2008 we had that financial crisis and my boat which was my security the stuff I I felt good about went away or the majority of it did so the very thing that I had taken a lot of pride in the very thing that that I was going to show God how he needed to

21:48 use me he snatched away so from 2008 2009 and 2010 were the worst business years of my life everything I touch went down I couldn't do anything anything right and all the while I could hear the spirit of God saying come on out on the water come on out in the water let that boat go and I was just determined to hold on to that boat but the boat I was in was sinking so here I was in a situation in a sinking boat what am I going to do hold on to a sinking boat or you going to walk on water either way it was a big risk for me even I'm going to drown I'm going to drown e either in this boat or I'm going to drown trying to walk on water but Jesus was the one telling me to walk on the

22:34 water so in 2010 I said okay Lord I give up we sold our big house I started divesting and trying to get back healthy financially and I just like Lord I'm broken I'm embarrassed I'm humiliated I'm the financial guy I'm I'm the guy who teaches the stuff Lord and now I'm going through the same thing thing that I've been teaching people about I'm not supposed to be in this situation for the first time God had me and I was like Lord whatever you want me to do I'll do it now I had said that before but I didn't mean

23:22 it but this time I meant it I said Lord I will do I will do whatever you want me to do and he said I want you to Shepherd I want you to start a church I want you to walk away from the business World let go of that boat so I talked to my wife about it she was all on board I remember calling my mom she said my mom said I've always known you were a pastor you know and I I remember I talked to a few of my close friends and then I made a fleece with God and I have never done this before because usually God speaks to me it's either do or don't I mean I God doesn't deal with me in Gray areas okay and I think it's because I'm a businessman at heart it's like I I very rarely wrestle with God I either do it or I don't but

24:07 this time I was I was vacillating a little bit I said okay Lord I know what you want me to do it's been confirmed through my wife and and my spirit and my but but I need you to speak to Dr Tony Evans about this so I called Sylvia his assistant on the phone I said Sylvia I I know Dr Evans is busy but I need to see him with in the next week can I just come down and spend 30 minutes with him next thing I know a week later I'm on a flight coming to see Dr Evans we meet at the Hilton Garden Inn and Duncanville for breakfast he didn't have any idea what he was meeting with me about I hadn't told him anything I said Lord if Dr Evans tells me that this is

24:54 crazy then I'm not doing it in other words okay can I be honest with y'all I prayed that Dr Evans would tell me that this was crazy cuz I didn't want to start a church so I said Lord if drct Evans looks at me like this is crazy and tells him it's crazy I'm out that's going to be my son that this thing was not real so I sit down for breakfast and look at Dr Evans didn't give him any history I said Dr Evans God is calling me to pastor and to start a church what do you think and then I shut up and he looked at me he had a big smile on his face and he says I've always seen that in you he I've always seen that and he

25:39 he just began to confirm it he began to encourage me he said man God is going to use you and and I start to make up excuses I said hey do you know I'm 50 years old I was 50 years old I said do don't you know that nobody starts a church and walks away from their business career at 50 years old to start a church from scratch he said well God's going to use all that wisdom he's given you all these years I mean everything I threw at him he had a Reon and I knew it was God speaking to him got back on the plane back to Atlanta and I said you know what I'm going to do this thing I'm going to walk on water so I let all the people in the investment industry know that I was selling my investment practice getting out of the business and a real big firm

26:26 heard about me getting out of the business and they were determined to to hire me and change my mind so they called me and asked me to go out to dinner and and I told the guy go go you there nothing you can say to get me to change my mind but I will come and eat some of this expensive food that you're offer me I I will do that so I'm sitting down here in the restaurant and there's like Lee you know I I know you said God wants you to do this but but but if you will join our firm he said right now I mean we will have 500,000 watch ired to your account in a bonus if you would just join our firm I said what you talking about Willis I said maybe God didn't speak to

27:12 Dr Evans maybe Dr Evans is not the man of God I thought he was cuz that 500,000 was talking to me boy and I was like man man and and and I went home I told my wife I said babe babe I just got offered a half a million dollar bonus and man when I needed her to be carnal when I needed her to be a gold digger she let me down I thought God told you I said I know Bae I know what I'm supposed to do I know what I'm supposed to do so the bottom

27:59 line is I walked away from a loose lucrative career where there were some months where I made over $100,000 some months and I said Lord if you want me to live in a one-bedroom apartment I'd rather be in a little bitty old house and in your will hallelujah oh than there being a big mansion out of your will so we started that church with 25 folks and it's over now 500 people three years later Amen to that 500 great people and it is growing prodigiously and I am having the time of my life I was like Lord why didn't you call me to

28:44 do this when I was 30 you know or 25 I mean I'm having a time of my life but but you never know why God is calling you out on the water he he didn't show me what was going to happen he just said come on out on the water so so here's my question to you today oakcliffe your boat is your comfort zone so my question to you what is your boat what is your boat I is there something in your life that that you just said this is the way I want it to be this is how I want to live this is how I want it to be and and by God I'm going to hold on to this and is there something in your life that you're holding on to so much and missing God

29:30 and missing what God really wants to do it could even be your image I didn't realize how much of my self-esteem was tied up in my business success I didn't realize that so God had to strip all of that that's one of the reasons he allowed me to go through the storm because he had to strip all of that crap and all of that Pride out of me he had to strip it because he has to strip you before he can really use you so what is your boat and then what is your water your water is is the thing that will thrust you into your destiny it's a thing that it it looks a little scary and you don't even know what's underneath it it it it

30:17 might it might be a a dark water where you don't even know how deep it is you might think it's shallow but to the bottom line God is saying come on out come on out come on out so Water Walkers leave their comfort zone in order to fulfill their Destiny that's what he's calling you to do today in some areas lastly Water Walkers realize that failure is not final failure is not final Hallelujah to that amen failure is not final let's see what the word says in verse 30 and

31:04 31 so when Jesus I'm sorry when Peter got out of the boat he walked on water he came to Jesus but look at what happened in verse 30 but seeing the wind he became frightened and beginning to sink he cried out Lord save me immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him and said to him you of little faith why why did you doubt now I've heard a lot of sermons about this and I think we all know why Peter sunk and it was simply because he took his eyes off of Jesus it was simply because he started to look at the circumstances what he saw with his eyes what he heard with his ears ears what he

31:50 felt with his body in other words what was going on around him became more of his Focus than Jesus and that's one of the tricks of the enemy God did me the same I mean Satan did me the same way tried to get my mind off of God now it would have been different if the Lord would have called me to Pastor in 2000 because everything was booming in 2000 or if he would have called me to do it and which he really did in 2005 I just didn't do it but when the Lord calls you to do something and then you look at your circumstances and what God has called

32:37 you to do doesn't make any sense as a matter of fact if you do it you just might sink matter of fact there is probably based on a circumstances uh circumstance a greater chance that you might sink than swim so you have to make a decision am I going to follow God or am I going to trust in myself am I going to going to trust my own feelings or am I going to trust the holy spirit so what did Peter do he took his eyes off God he began to sink and he cried out so a lot of people preach this sermon and teach this as if Peter was a failure I submit to you I don't I don't believe he was a failure first of all he

33:23 still walked on water he did something that nobody else has ever done I'll tell you who the the failures were they were the other disciples still holding on to the boat so so so I would rather you go out and do something great and attempt to do it following Jesus and sink and have to say help me Lord than to be stuck in the boat holding on to the side of the boat still scared still frightened expecting God to do something but you're not doing anything there are three kinds of people there are those that are on the shore they don't even come and follow Jesus maybe you're out there today and you're still

34:12 on the shore you haven't decided to even get in the boat you're just on the shore coming to church every now and then hearing a message every now and then and but you're not getting intimately or actively involved in relationships or in a church or most most importantly you really haven't put Christ first in your life I spent a lot of years on the shore until I was 18 years old when I really committed my life to Christ and prior to that young people I was in church every Sunday but as you know being in church doesn't make you a follower of Christ it doesn't make you a Christian you have to have a relationship with Christ so maybe you're on the shore right now we want to invite you to come

34:58 off the shore but then there's a second type of person that's in the boat and by the way that's where most people are they're in the boat yeah they've taken the step off the shore they've taken a little bit of risk they have uh affiliated with Jesus publicly and they're considered a Jesus follower but but but Jesus don't tell me to get out of my comfort zone this is how I want things to be this is my plan so so so Jesus just I'm I'm following you now I love you now but but leave me alone don't be messing with me don't mess with my money don't mess with my faith don't mess with don't mess with my f just just let me live a good old normal Christian life but then there are the third group there are those are the Water

35:45 Walkers those are the people who who who come off the shore to get in the boat and they still want more of Jesus they're not satisfied I don't care if they're 50 years old like I was 60 years old 70 years old they never get too old to want to step out on the water and follow Jesus so maybe you're in one of those three groups maybe God is calling you to walk on water verse 32 and 33 says when they got into the boat the wind stopped and those who were in The Boat worshiped him saying you are certainly God's son failure is not

36:34 final failure is not final Water Walkers realize that failure is not final what I want to do as I close is I want to challenge those of you because I believe I'm talking to some people today who God is stirring your heart about some things maybe you've been in your boat and you've been comfortable but like me in a time where you least expected it God is calling you out of your boat it could be a career decision it could be a relationship it could simply be your discipleship to Christ I know some people God is calling them out of their boat in terms of how they how they how they relate to to to Jesus Christ

37:20 how they relate to his church how they handle their money I mean just just in other words you know that there's something greater for you you know that you're supposed to be doing something greater but but and and and you have a sense of what that is but but God hadn't given you all the answers yet so you're either going to stay in the boat and wait on God to give you all the answers so he can give you step one step two step