He Says "Come"

Matthew 14:22-32
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Jesus says “Come”.
As I prepared this devotion I thought about my parents.  When you talk about somebody telling you to “Come”, I think about when I was a kid.  You all know this - your parents would say “Come here!” Sometimes we had messed up, sometimes we had got in trouble, and sometimes we had to pay for the trouble that we had got in.  My Dad would say “Boy, come here!” And when he said “Come!” I started moving!  

Dad spoke with authority, and I knew what he could do.  Well, today, the Master says “Come”.
 
Having sent the multitude away after feeding the five thousand, we read in Matthew chapter 14 that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray, and the disciples went out to sea.
 
As it reads in verse 24: …..the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves (NLT).
 
At the fourth watch of the night Jesus came walking on the water to the disciples.  Now in their fishing career these men spent a lot of time out on the Sea of Galilee, but this particular time they see something they’ve never seen before.  They see Jesus coming, walking on the water, and they say “This is a spirit!”   They were terrified and afraid but Jesus let them know “Hey! This is me, be not afraid”.  Now we know that Peter was very outspoken so we see him saying “Lord, if it is you, bid me to come”.  The Lord says “Come”, Peter got out of the ship, and Peter walked on the water.
 
As Peter is walking on the water I can imagine that, about like us, he loses focus.  You know a lot of times when so much is happening around us, sometimes we lose focus.  We can be focused on teaching a message or preaching a message or just sharing something that’s very important, but with all that may be going on we can easily get distracted.
 
As Peter was walking to Jesus, with the waves hitting him and the wind blowing - Peter took his eyes off the Lord.  You know right now brothers there are people struggling.  Talking about Christians, there are people struggling with all kinds of things.  But I want to let you all know that if you’re struggling,  keep your eyes on Him.  Regardless as to how the wind may blow, regardless as to how the storm may rage - keep your eyes on Him.
 
So as Peter was walking on the water and he began to watch what was going on around him, he begins to sink.  As he was sinking he cried out “Lord save me!”  There is somebody right now, brothers, as we are sitting here there may be somebody crying out “Lord save me”.  They may not be on water, they may not even be in physical danger but they know that they need saving; they know they need a Savior.
 
When Peter cried out Jesus reached down and caught him by the hand and they walked back to the ship.  Peter once again is walking on water.  
 
Now looking at Peter, if we study the gospels closely we see Peter knew how to swim. You all remember when Jesus cooked the fish on the shore in the gospel of Matthew. He was cooking the fish and it said that the disciples had fished all night and the scriptures say that when they found out it was Jesus Peter took his coat off, dived in and swam to shore.  
 
Like I said, Peter is a fisherman; he has the swimming ability, so why did he cry out?  Because he was afraid.   Maybe there is somebody right now, this morning, that is afraid; maybe somebody is in a situation where they are terrified and they are crying out for help.  There is surely Somebody who will come to your rescue.
 
When Jesus told Peter “Come” He spoke with authority.  He’s speaking this morning.  Jesus is telling us “Come”.  With Jesus, you will find peace, you will find rest.  With the authority of Jesus’ command Peter walked on a stormy, restless sea. 
 
Are you ready to walk over the troubled waters of your life?  Jesus is ready to help you, to walk with you.  Jesus says: Come.
~J.T.