29-07-2018
Matthew 14:25-33 New King James Version (NKJV)
25 Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking
on the sea. 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.
27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, [a]“Be of good cheer! [b]It is I; do not be afraid.”
28 And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”
29 So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw [c]that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
33 Then those who were in the boat [d]came and worshiped Him, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.”
You are entering into the fourth watch of the night.
You are entering into a season of supernatural changes in God's favour.
Prepare your hearts to prepare for these changes.
Your heart must be willing to change.
Change or die.
When your hearts welcome these changes, you will see God's glory.
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Jesus came to His disciples to change their paradigm.
The world is changing. Paradigm has changed so much since 9-11.
How is it that the church is slower to change?
The church is eternal.
We have the Holy Spirit who is like the wind.
Always aim for transformation, and not improvement.
Aim for the sun!
Aim for transformation!
Come to church to seek God.
When you pray, seek Jesus.
You have lowered the bar.
You must not be half-hearted.
Even if Peter swam in the storm, it would be miraculous enough already.
Jesus wanted him to walk on water.
Our paradigm has been shaped by past experiences.
Mirror ourselves on Christ and His Word.
The disciples feared. They freaked out. They bowed to the spirit of fear.
The spirit of fear paralyses us.
People who are fearful to draw near to God, fearful to forgive and fearful to love always make bad decisions.
Your spiritual eyesight would be blurred.
Humans are naturally negative thinkers instead of suspicious of the good things.
Spirit-filled people would not be scared easily.
Where is your faith?
That's why we hardly could receive anything from God.
That's why humans cower at the unknown. We struggle to trust God with the things that we are unfamiliar with.
When God takes you into things you have not seen, you think it is a ghost.
It takes courage to be led into the unknown.
Jesus immediately said to them, "Take courage. It is me."
Why do you always give credit to satan?
Some changes are quicker than your brain can process.
Supernatural changes always begin with faith to accept new things and courage to be led into the unknown and unfamiliar.
Take courage to apologise.
We need to be humble enough to say we were wrong.
Welcome change into the way we do things and we do church.
As Christians, we do things differently.
Go for virgin lands, lands untouched and roads less traveled.
Invest in God's people.
Invest in young people.
When you are slow to change, you'll be left behind.
We need to be prayerful about our direction.
As long as it is Jesus, embrace the unfamiliar and be ready for new things.
Your heart should work on change.
Be youthful on the inside.
Be a trendsetter.
Why did only Peter who responded to Jesus and spoke up?
The rest of the disciples had the boat Christian mentality.
Anything that God does, we think He is speaking to someone else. Anything that satan does, we think it's us.
We are always personal with the negative and always impersonal with the positive.
Only Peter had the ocean mentality.
Even though he was doubting in the process, Jesus was actually encouraging him.
Peter is huge in God's eyes.
Peter got down from the boat.
When you get down, you would not be the same person again when you get up again.
His faith would have been stretched.
The rest were playing it safe.
Only Peter was crazy enough to almost drown and he got out of the boat!
He is a history maker.
Do you want to be like Peter who tried and almost failed?
Be the foolish person for Jesus as long as you're not a fool in sin.
If you have a boat mentality, you should join an ocean mentality church.
You'd be challenged to get out of your comfort zone.
We are here because we have a higher purpose.
If you are an ocean mentality Christian, you should also be under a boat mentality leader.
Tell me the me I never know.
You better walk on water before you teach others.
Leaders need to be Spirit-filled.
You know something that they do not know.
If you make decisions out of survey, you're no different than others.
We don't need a celebrity up there. We need a leader.
Don't be a leader if you do not know better.
Fathers as well. Tell your children what the future is about. Prepare them for the dangers out there.
We all need a heart that is teachable and sensitive to the Lord.
I'm not a donkey. I'm an heir.
Some people are not worthy of leading.
And some leaders are not worthy of following.
Train a child in the way he should go and he'll never leave you.
We are not a lullaby church.
Church should be filled with Silas, and not Eutychus who fell from a windowsill out of the three story building.
Be a church full of transformed people.
Peter walked on the water and came towards Jesus.
People would begin to ask: "You did whaaattt?!"
When you have an ocean mentality, you will be a shock to many and a blessing to many more.
Peter began to sink and said, "Lord, save me."
Do not be afraid of making mistakes. Just do not make mistakes twice.
So Peter said, "Lord, save me!"
His feet touched the water already.
He probably couldn't finish his sentence.
God knows that we are learning.
When Peter was drowning, there's a Father's hand under his feet slow-motioning his drowning.
God has mercy for those who drown.
In Jesus, we can fail. Even if we failed, we will succeed in coming out.
He has taken from us the reason to fear. He will not let us drown.
Are you ready for all the good changes?
Jesus is our changer.
It's boat mentality not bold mentality
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the disciples had the bold Christian mentality. Referring to this line."Boat" & not "bold"
ReplyDeleteEdited. Thank you for highlighting. God bless.
DeletePl clarify . Jesus wanted Peter to be bold and get into the water whereas the disciples all sat tight
ReplyDeleteShalom! Pr Philip used the analogy of boat and ocean to inspire someone who's stuck in their comfort zone or are resistant to change to embrace the unfamiliar and be ready for new things that God is going to do in this season.
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