watch the water!

a barefoot disciples bible study!

by @jamespoulter, january 2014

! Core Passage:! !

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terried. Its a ghost, they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: Take courage! It is I. Dont be afraid. Lord, if its you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me! Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, Truly you are the Son of God. (Matthew 14:22-33 NIV)!

! ! Introduction! ! ! ! !

Staying on task is difcult for all of us at times. We live in a evermore distracted world - and staying focused can be difcult. It's easy to become distracted by new opportunities, new things to have or own, new people to be around or spend time with."! This restlessness, or attention decit can creep into the way we pray. Into what we ask God for. We spend a lot of time in Church talking about God doing "a new thing" (If you have time - pause now and watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ppisOulgG0)."! But as we see here, Peter was already fully equipped to do the miracle, to walk on water - but half way through he falters. He loses sight of where Jesus is calling him.! There has been a lot written and said about this passage over the years, the tendency is to give Peter a pretty hard time. But reading this again, and as we work through the points to ponder below, we will see that actually it is really easy to take our eyes off of the thing we are being called into.!

! WATCH! ! !

Doing anything at 3AM is difcult, add to that the conditions that Peter nds himself in (surrounded by some dumbfounded disciples and I am sure he was less than pleased.! We can often become restless just because we have been in the thick of something for a long time. Bill Hybels the leader of Willow Creek Church, one of the largest in the world, talks about how the hardest time for a leader to keep a team inspired in a mission is the middle. In the middle we don't have the excitement of rst fruits, or the sight of the nish line to spur us on.!

SIDEBAR: ! Jewish people actually divided the night into four sections in order to break the time span that someone would stand guard into more reasonable periods. This is the last watch of the night. In today's time, this would come from about 3am until day break.!

Making key decisions about what to do next is often not best done when we are still in the middle!!

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Point To Ponder:!" Think about something in your life at the moment that you are in the middle of, or a time when you have been in the middle of something that is a way off. How did you feel in that time? What did you do to stay on track?!

WAVES!

Peter wasn't walking across the pond here - he was battling some pretty dicey conditions when he tried to cross this water to Jesus. We know that even though Jesus had already blessed him with the ability to cross the water to him, that a 20ft wave to contend with would distract even the most hardy of sherman.!

! ! !
The Storm on The Sea Of Galilee Rembrant, 1633"

We too get distracted - not often by massive literal waves full of grit and tuna sh - but by all manner of things that can stop us focusing on God's plan for our lives. In the West these tend to be things that often look nice, that the world holds up as good - or simply things we don't notice.! Here's just a short list from the top of the dome (and yes these are more revealing about my life than anything else - except numbers 1, 6 and 10)."! Celebrity websites, TV Boxsets, Netix, Amazon browsing, Starbucks, Gossip (not the band - unless you have an unhealthy attraction to them), Xbox, Music, Overworking, Wikipedia/Googling stuff you don't understand.!

Point To Ponder"

! Take a second to pray through these questions or share them with someone in the group:! ! ! WATER! ! !

What voices do you have in your life right now that distract you from spending time pursuing your assignment from God?! What habits have you formed, or behaviours can you think of that may stop you from taking the next step in that journey?! How often are you coming to God to question what he wants you to do next?!

I changed jobs a lot since leaving University 6 years ago - and a lot of those choices to move on were not because I hated where I was there and then, but because the allure of where I could go next was greater.! We are easily drawn away from places God has called us into, purely because other options may seem more attractive to us. Some of us have fallen into the trap of believing that because God has anointed us as sons and daughters that is he going to change our activity. Our job, education, location etc. But we need to wake up to the fact that whilst God cares about what job we do day to day, he has greater vision for our lives that. He cares less about out activity - and a lot more about our assignment."!

We may want to be striding out on the Atlantic, or bobbing around in the Med, but God may just be calling you to walk out on the water right in front of you, and that might be a muddy pond with a few old shopping trollies in it for now - because if we honour him in our activities, we will bear much greater fruit for him in our assignments.!

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Point To Ponder:! Are you distracted by options around you right now? When was the last time you prayed for God to keep you right where you are?!

Things for the week ahead:

! Listen To:"! ! ! Read:"! ! ! ! ! ! !

Oceans by Hillsong United! "You call me out upon the water. The great unknown, where feet may fail."!

Water ! by James Poulter:! Have you looked out there lately! Understood the waves that! Carry us into questioning greatly! Our options for safe passage! Tranquil waters now disrupt! Our easy days with questions! How simply they corrupt! Our determination to be busy.! I stretch out an uncertain nger! And toe to feel or grasp a cool! Release. Attempting to linger! Long enough to change.! The temperature is different now! Much more luke warm! Than I had hoped. And how! Did I not see that coming.! Once we set out upon your! Water with all its promise! Bound up in waves. My oar! Now dips no longer.!

! Watch:! !

Stephen Furtick, Elevation Church - Sticks and Stones Week 1! http://elevationchurch.org/sermons/sticks-and-stones!