Your Next Step
Your Next Step
Matthew 14:22-33 “ Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
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. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Whether you realize it or not, when we became a Christian, we all were given the opportunity to have a fresh start it was a new step as we entered into relationship with Jesus Christ by receiving Him as our Savior. When we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior and then allowed Him to remove our sin in the waters of baptism the Holy Spirit came into us and that’s when we became a new creation that fresh start. But the ever looming question at least for me is what should we do next? What is the next step we are to take now that we are born again? Maybe you don’t know what to do next.
As you know, this fresh start leads to eternal life. We have that eternal life the moment we enter into relationship with Jesus Christ. But to live the full and abundant life that Jesus came to give, is obtained through a series of next steps that make up the journey of life. There is a next step for everyone in this room today no matter where you are on the journey of life. There is a next step you can take as an individual, and there is a next step we can take collectively as a church. But if you and I do nothing, and don’t take that next step, we aren’t going to go anywhere new as an individual, nor collectively as a church. Nothing is going to change.
Maybe you have been a Christian for a while and the His Spirit is prompting you to take a step of faith that the Lord has placed in front of you: Maybe to – teach a Bible class or host a prayer and devotions time in your home. Maybe you feel like you are being prompted to start reaching out more to your neighbors and practice some friendship evangelism, or maybe you feel prompted to study and read more on your own. Or Maybe for you, you feel like God is prompting and challenging you to give more money or time to his cause as your next step. Those steps are meant to take us to a higher level.
I also believe we can be prompted and challenged as a group, as a church to take the next step. I personally feel that we are being prompted to take the next step as a church to more out of our present facility into an area where we can do more good, where there isn’t another church group on every other corner trying to do the same thing we are.
My dad had a saying regarding the success of a business. He use to say that a business will either go up and move forward, or go down and lose money, but it will rarely stay the same. In many ways I believe the same could be said of a church; it’s either going to grow, or lose members, its numbers won’t stay the same very long. And taking no new step to grow or change what’s not working will only lead to a downward spiral.
Whether as an individual, or as a congregation, if we choose not to take the next step, if we don’t do anything different than what we are doing, then we should not expect anything to change. If anything we will become stagnate and maybe even loose what we have.
So what do we need to take the next step on this journey of life so that we can experience the full and abundant life that Christ desires for us? In Matthew 14:22-31 Peter took some amazing steps. I believe we can learn something from this story that will help us take our next step on our journey. In Matt. 14, we read that Jesus had just finished performing the miracle of feeding the 5000. He fed 5000 men, not even including the women and children with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Everyone had finished eating and the disciples picked up 12 basketfuls of leftovers.
After that we read that He sent His disciples on ahead of Him in a boat to the other side of the lake. But later that night we read that He came to them walking on the water. After Jesus identified Himself, we read that Peter got out of the boat and takes an amazing step. Let’s learn from this Scripture what helped Peter take those first steps on water so that we might be able to take our next step in our journey. One of the first things we see is that taking the next step requires courage. In Matthew 14:27 Jesus said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “ When we find ourselves faced with what may be our next step in life, very often we feel a bit unsure and it can even be a bit scary. Maybe it involves a change in your job or even the prospect of starting a new job or career. Maybe it involves the prospect of moving to into a new home, an new church or even to a new area. Maybe it involves changing your life style or even talking to someone about your faith… There are so many new things that we may be prompted to do that can seem quite scary at first.
When faced with some of these things we don’t always know how we are going to make or get thru it. Peter could have thought the same thing but just before he stepped out of the boat but Jesus told them to, “take courage.” In 2 Corinthians 5:7 Paul tells us to “live faith, not by sight.” But notice, He doesn’t just tell them to be courageous. Look at the reason He gives them to have courage. He said, “It is I.” (Ego eimi (ego amee) or ‘I am’ Those are the same words that God used to declare His name, ‘I am.’ Jesus is saying, ‘Take courage because it is Me, God in the flesh. There is no reason to be afraid when you trust in me.’ Now think about this a second. Jesus told them to not be afraid because it was Him, and that He was with them.
You may feel uneasy or afraid to take that next step… you may need more courage, the kind of courage that can come when someone else encouragesyou.
We can do amazing things when we believe that there is someone watching our back, rooting for us, and willing to give us the support we need if we need it. And when we believe and know that it is God prompting us to take that next step it will give us the extra measure of courage to take that step.
(Illustration: My daughter Hannah kissed her frightened daughter hand and told her to hold them close to her cheek if she got scared on her first bus ride to school. It gave her courage because she carried mom’s kiss was with her.)
Peter needed that encouragement, and when he got it, it was all that he needed to take that first step. There are times when we all need some extra courage, and even our church needs courage to take the next step. We have to believe that God had a plan and that Jesus has our back. But we need more than just courage to take the next step. It also requires obedience, actually stepping out and doing, or taking action.
Year ago I preached a sermon, and I have to admit, I don’t remember the name of the sermon or even what it was about, but one thing I do remember is an acronym I used in the lesson. It was the letters JDI, and those letters stood for, ‘Just Do It.’ I believe it was in reference to those Bible Characters who walked by faith. God prompted them and the JUST DID IT.
There come a point after you know what lies before you, and you have the courage to step out, where you just have to do it, no matter how hard it may seem, no matter what anyone else says. If you believe what lies before you is from God, it’s something that is good and will please Him, there comes a point you just have to have to stop putting it off and step out of the boat and take the first step like Peter.
Now there are some things you my be prompted to do that are not from God. You have to be very careful when it comes to those things. Obeying God is always the safe way to go. Notice something else here in this text. Peter steps our out the boat and begins to walks on the water, but then he begins to sink. Why, because he takes his eyes off Jesus and begins to focused on what was going on around him. His faith waivered and he began to sink. Notice a couple of things here: Peter was not walking on water by his own power. That would have been impossible. Rather Peter’s ability to walk on water was totally dependent on his faith in obeying Jesus.
I don’t think it took a super amount of faith to do what he did. Rather, at that moment in time, when Jesus said come, he simply had to take courage, trust Him, and then he had to just do it. But the more he thought about the water, and the waves, and what He was doing, that’s when he got in trouble.
I think that happens to us. Our next step is plainly clear to us, but then all of a sudden we start looking at everything else going on around us We start to over think what could happen if… and before we know it we take our eyes off Jesus and we begin to sink, or worst yet we don’t take a step in the first place.
But the story doesn’t end there. We read that the Lord was not willing to just let Peter sink and drown. He likewise can rescues us and give us more opportunities. Peter cried out, “Lord, Save me.” and Jesus did. Jesus only gave him a little rebuke by saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” I wonder how often He says that to us? ‘Ben with my help you could have done this.’ ‘Church don’t you know that I had your back?’
Even though Peter did not persevere and hang in there that day, I believe he learned a lesson and went on to become a great leader who persevered in extreme situations because he learned to keep his eyes on Jesus. I believe God is interested in doing some amazing things in you and thru you, individually, and with us collectively as a church. What is the next step that the Lord has placed in front of you? In front of us? I believe that when the Lord has placed a step in front of you, or in front of us as a church it is impossible to move forward in our faith without first taking that step. Maybe that first step is trusting Him to give up some sin or bad habit you have in your life. Living according to His directives is really the best way to live.
Perhaps it is a step of faith to take on a new personal ministry, or maybe to start tithing or helping support a needy widow or even a missionary. Or maybe visiting other members or inviting them or others into your home for a meal. If the Lord has been laying something on your heart to take a step by serving Him, don’t get caught up in trying to over think it, JDI, just do it.
Maybe today you are feeling weak and weary and truly unable to take that next step. Ask the Lord for the courage to follow Him. Ask Him for the strength to be obedient. I don’t believe the Lord is going to give you anymore than you can handle. He’s not a slave driver, He is a God who is trying to encourage you to rise above your trials and burdens and even yourself so that you can serve Him in a way that will give you real joy and purpose. So are you ready to take the next step? Are we as a congregation ready to take the next step? Then we need to take courage and draw our strength from Him, like Peter, and JDI, Just Do It.
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