Get Out of the Boat (Mercy in the Storm)

0:00:00 – (Steve Gray): Hey, I met a man. He was praying. We need signs, wonders, miracles in our churches today to get this nation back where it needs to be. And I thought to myself, what are you saying? You’re saying that seeing is believing, But I, in the next podcast, are going to let you know seeing is not believing. It just doesn’t work. On the next More Faith, More Life podcast, you were made for more than the status quo.

0:00:21 – (Steve Gray): I’m Pastor Steve Gray, and this is the More Faith, More Life podcast. This podcast is for Christians with an ambitious heart who want to be more for their family, do more with their career, and see more of God’s promises in their life. I’ve spent many years as a worship artist, minister, nonprofit leader, bold truth speaker, and most importantly, father and spouse. When I was in my early 40s, I was craving more.

0:00:46 – (Steve Gray): More from God and more from life. I’d done everything I was supposed to do. My life was good, but it wasn’t good enough. So I spent the following years diving into the word of God and searching for the biblical principles that would bring me closer to God and help my purpose and life flourish. That’s what I want to share with you. In every episode, you’ll get practical tools based on real life experiences that you can put into action to redefine your faith and ultimately your life.

0:01:18 – (Steve Gray): So if you’re ready to do more, subscribe to More Faith, More Life and hear an unfiltered biblical truth every week. It’s time to be and experience more.

0:01:30 – (Steve Gray): Hello everyone, and welcome to another More Faith, More Life podcast, your voice of revival. Yeah, we’re going to talk about revival today. Maybe we’ll start off with that a little bit. But we’re going to also be talking about when Peter walked on the water and get some lessons out of that and how that happened, what happened, and learn what it can do for us to understand that story. But anyway, I was visiting just a little bit ago with someone about how right now America’s just. It seems like a tennis match almost or ping pong, right? One time you think we’re just getting it together here. And then now this other group says everything’s falling apart and they’re rising up and say, well, maybe they’re going to take over and bring a lot of ideas in and ideologies from other countries.

0:02:21 – (Steve Gray): We’re importing ideas, religions, government ways from other nations that didn’t work in their nation. But you know, sometimes, especially younger ones, sometimes just when they’re not feeling like it’s working now, all they want to do is change and do something different. Like. Like different. Let’s just do something different and not fully study it to make sure that it’s something we need to do. And so I feel like right now politics is obviously leading our nation.

0:02:53 – (Steve Gray): I don’t think there’s any way to get around that. People go to church, people. We’re seeing signs of what some people are saying. We’re seeing signs of revival among especially youth and young adults and some places. But generally speaking, it hasn’t really hit the churches yet. Churches are based basically kind of doing the same thing. And so we have. Our nation is being led obviously by politicians who are being influenced by politicians, being influenced by politics, being influenced by money.

0:03:24 – (Steve Gray): And so what we need is we have to flip this where we have some spiritual leaders in our country that are really hearing from God. We don’t need a religion. We don’t need religion that just says, do you know you’re saved? If you were to die today, would you go to heaven? Well, now you’ve got us. Our thoughts are getting out of here. Rather than fixing what is here. We need people of the Spirit who say, receive Jesus, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and help us fix this nation.

0:03:56 – (Steve Gray): Right? Help us fix the problem. Help us bring spiritual wisdom, spiritual ideas, and just spirituality, life, integrity, honesty, you know, things like that, and get things on track. Then we who are supposed to be walking by the Spirit become an influence to the politicians so then they can do what they do and run the country like that. But right now, we don’t have that voice. In fact, in my opinion, more politicians are sharing Jesus to the nation, even though they’re not in church. But to the nation, whether it be on television or speeches or whatever.

0:04:38 – (Steve Gray): I went to. I visited a political thing and was there with a friend, and candidates were getting up, they’re running for something. They said, I’m running for this and I’m running for that. In the state of Missouri, I think every single one of them mentioned their faith, that their beliefs, prayed and said in the name of Jesus. Some of them, Every single one of them mentioned their faith and their trust in God.

0:05:02 – (Steve Gray): And that’s new. That’s a great sign. But. But who’s. Who’s going to take them to the next level? That’s you. If you’re watching this, that’s probably you. If people that are not in that. I mean, you wouldn’t watch this and listen to me if you weren’t going somewhere or God’s trying to take you somewhere. So anyway, that’s what I’m hoping to see the new book that should come out before long and be available to you, Revival or Ruin

0:05:26 – (Steve Gray): And I think I’m working on my secondary title, America Straining at the Oars. So I’m hurrying on that a lot. So I’m not going to go with my book publisher that I went with. I’m going to do this myself because I can’t let anybody play with it. It’s have to say what it needs to say. So you’ll be hearing about that in a little bit. I want to talk to you today about from Matthew, chapter 14. Yeah, 14, where Jesus comes walking on the water.

0:05:53 – (Steve Gray): And this is not the only time he’s walked on the water in the Bible. Because if you go to the. The Book of Mark, there’s a great, great reference there, I’ve probably taught it here, of Jesus coming walking on the water. They think it’s a ghost. It says Jesus intended to walk past them so they could see, have a demonstration of the power of God and the glory of God and who Jesus really is. Say, wow, they’re in a storm and the storm is frightening them. But the storm in that, in Mark was meant to keep them in place for the show, so to speak, for the demonstration.

0:06:30 – (Steve Gray): Okay? And so the storm was holding them there. And then Jesus is going to walk by and show the glory of God and the presence of God in that, and they’re going to experience it. But it didn’t work. They thought it was a ghost. They got afraid and Jesus had compassion on them and decided, okay, okay, you’re not ready for this yet. You know, all you want is to stop this storm and get out of the boat. Get to the other side and get out of the boat.

0:06:56 – (Steve Gray): So that’s what he does. Okay? So in this story in Matthew, which was written, we were Talking about it 10 to 20 years later, I think probably 20, close to 20 years later, after Mark wrote the story of Jesus walking on the water in there, Matthew. Because he has a different audience. See, the stories don’t change. The audience changes. Emphasize something else and adds a part of the story that we didn’t know about.

0:07:23 – (Steve Gray): And so Jesus comes walking on the water. It’s very similar to it. And they again think it’s a ghost. And then the story all of a sudden changes. And Peter says, well, if it’s really you, then let me come and walk on the water too. And Jesus says, well, come on. And so Peter does. He gets out of the boat and it’s in a storm too. It’s not just, you know, floating along it’s in a storm. And in this storm, Peter gets out of the boat and walks.

0:07:54 – (Steve Gray): Now, we don’t know how many steps he took. It kind of sounds like he didn’t last very long, but we don’t know that. We’re speculating a little bit, but it does say he walked on the water. Only guy I know, other than Jesus, that ever got to even be able to tell the story, to go back home and tell his grandkids or his kids or.

0:08:13 – (Steve Gray): Or his wife.

0:08:14 – (Steve Gray): He was married. His wife. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I walked on water? Well, then the story changes. But he did walk on water. But then it says when he saw the wind and the waves, the faith that got him out of the boat and overrode his fear. Cause, I mean, it had to be scary, right? A big storm rocking the boat. And then there’s Jesus walking on the water. What is going on? But faith overrode his fear.

0:08:41 – (Steve Gray): He gets out of the boat, whatever distance, walks on the water. And then what happens? And then fear overrode his faith, and he begins to sink. And he looks at the wind, the waves, and I guess logic came and what am I doing? What am I thinking? And he begins to sink. But Jesus reaches out and grabs ahold of him and gets him back in the boat. Silences the storm. So a great moment when Peter, if he could have just kept going, he could have walked right to Jesus. Maybe then Jesus would help him back, I don’t know. But he could have walked to Jesus, finished the story and been a great example. But it happens. It happens, right?

0:09:21 – (Steve Gray): And so I like the story on many, many levels. There’s many things I like about this story. What happened? But one of the things that we could discuss for a moment is that he did walk on the water. He did sink. He did get reprimanded a little bit. Where was your faith? Why did you doubt? I think he said, yeah, you have little faith. That’s not a good thing to hear from God or from Jesus. You have little faith.

0:09:47 – (Steve Gray): Why did you doubt? In other words, you’re doing so well. Why did you doubt? And we can understand. Well, I’m kind of afraid of drowning. I thought I was going to sink. I didn’t know if I could do this or not. Why did you doubt? Doubt, okay. And he kind of gets reprimanded. But when he begins to sink, Jesus reaches out, grabs him and saves him. That’s what he says. Save me, Lord, he said, and saves him. And they get in the boat and they silence the storm and kind of we get what we want, right?

0:10:15 – (Steve Gray): We’re not. So like today, how many people do you know are really desperate to see a demonstration of the power of God? Like Jesus walking on the water and maybe us doing some things with him on that level would be pretty wonderful, wouldn’t it? But you don’t see the desire for that. Where is everybody locked in? What’s everybody praying about? You know, I’m trying to get people to pray about revival and the presence of God and the glory of God and a realm of his presence that takes over our nation and takes over our churches.

0:10:51 – (Steve Gray): A realm that most have never seen in their lifetime. A presence of God, a revival presence. And if you read histories of revival, these are not just nice meetings where the worship gets better and the service is longer, you know, and then they have an altar call at the end. These are massive moves of God that just happened in among things were happening. God things were happening among the people and it was overwhelming and overtook them.

0:11:21 – (Steve Gray): I got a, you know. You know, from the Smithton outpouring and then the Kansas City revival had a friend from another country, long way away wrote me and we’d been texting back and forth or emailing back and forth. And he all of a sudden said, you know, I came there to Kansas City 25 years ago. And he says, and I was so touched by the power of God, it changed me forever. And he says, and we’re still even closer and changed now than we ever have been in our lives 25 years later.

0:11:50 – (Steve Gray): See, that’s the real revival. Not a three day meeting or something. And then everybody goes back to life as usual. So anyway, but Peter gets out and it’s where people are right. They’re not pursuing God to have a great revival of the glory and presence of God that we historically have seen in revivals. Most people are praying for what? Get rid of the storm. Get me out of this storm. Just like they were in a storm.

0:12:15 – (Steve Gray): Get me out of the storm. Help me. I don’t want to be scared. Help me get out of this. I’m in trouble. It hasn’t gone right or I’m afraid or I’m sick or whatever. And then if he does, then that was it. That’s what we wanted. We just wanted more comfort. We wanted to feel safe and comfortable in our religion, in our lives, in our marriage, with our kids, with our money. And that’s our goal. And so we haven’t stepped into the goal of the real Bible type people that we have like Seek ye first the kingdom of God or seek the Lord while he may be found.

0:12:48 – (Steve Gray): Pursue God. Right. Those who diligently seek them, seek him will get a reward. Those are such wonderful scriptures. But I just don’t get the feeling we have that urgency of seeking the Lord right now yet. Maybe it’ll come. Maybe we’re going in levels here. We’re starting at one level and we’re going to go up because there’s good signs of things happening. But anyway, the good news is since most people, that’s where they are, they just want to stop the storm, right?

0:13:14 – (Steve Gray): They want to stop the wind and the waves and go smooth sailing. So the good news is Jesus reaches out and grabs Peter, right? So there is. This is what I want to tell you now. One thing. There is mercy in a storm. There is mercy in the storm. Maybe he wanted to do. Maybe he wanted Peter to go farther. Maybe he wanted to demonstrate this or want him to see how. Because when he silenced the storm and he gets back in the boat, they said, truly, this is the Son of God.

0:13:42 – (Steve Gray): Okay, that’s good. We’re glad you’re there. But the way you got there was me making you feel better and silencing the storm rather than said, truly, this is the Son of God. He walks on water, he does miracles, he opens blind. You know, so it wasn’t associated with the works of God. It was associated with their comfort, being made more comfortable and less afraid. And that’s how they say you must be the Son of God. Got it.

0:14:07 – (Steve Gray): Okay, good lesson. It’s a good lesson to get. So we see the difference of what direction are we going here? Am I going just for comfort? I want to get rid of my fear. I want to have a better life. I want to have a better job. I want to have a better house. So I want to feel more comfortable. So. And then God does something great for you, and then you go, yeah, truly, you are the Son of God. But I think God wants us to go pursue the Lord, experience the presence of God, walk with God in the cool of the day, experience the.

0:14:33 – (Steve Gray): A overwhelming, overshadowing character of God, such that’s just over. We can’t hardly contain it, right? And then we say, truly, this is the Son of God. But there is mercy in the storm. If that’s where you’re at right now, okay, that’s okay. I get it. That’s where most people are. They just want to get the storm over and sail away, right? But for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord. And for me, I.

0:15:00 – (Steve Gray): I’m Trying to encourage people that have been called to a higher level. Right. Come up higher, that you will begin to pursue God. Not just to pursue comfort or ease. Okay. It’s a good message on that. I think. So anyway, so they saw Jesus walking on the water. And I don’t get the idea that they decided that they’re going to believe their faith level came up because they saw Jesus walking the water. I’m talking about the guys in the boat. Peter did for a little bit and then he stumbled a little bit. Okay. But their faith level was that he silenced the storm. But these are guys that have seen, you know, the loaves and fishes, the feeding of the 5,000, the feeding of the 4,000. Right.

0:15:49 – (Steve Gray): Walking on the water, healing, deliverance. All the people walking that couldn’t walk before, eyes open, they saw all that. And the reason I say that to you is that is deceptive. Because we have a phrase that doesn’t fit the Bible. We have a phrase that says seeing is believing. Well, if that were true, then the disciples would have understood everything. They would have known he’s the son of God and believed in everything without having a storm settled, without having to be more comfortable. They would have had their faith.

0:16:22 – (Steve Gray): Faith is believing, not seeing. Right. Because faith helps us to see what you cannot see. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. So when you do, you think, well, if we, if I could just see it, then I would believe it. No, because it doesn’t work. If that would be the case, then think of the children of Israel. They come out, all the plagues in, you know, the plagues, you know, flies and all the things, frogs and, and then, and, and then they, they.

0:16:51 – (Steve Gray): Pharaoh lets them go and they get out there and the Red Sea’s in front of them, Pharaoh’s in the back of them. All these chariots, they’re going to stomp them, they’re going to run them over, they’re going to chop them up and then the sea’s in front of them. Now they’re going to drown. That’s their only choice. Those two choices. And suddenly the sea opens and they walk across on dry ground. Wow. And then they get in the desert and manna. Food comes down from heaven, water comes out of a rock.

0:17:17 – (Steve Gray): Later, they defeat all their enemies. And you think, okay, these should be the most believing people on the face of the earth because they have seen more than any other people on the face of the earth. But tell yourself seeing is not believing. Because we get off. Like I’ve had people praying for somebody to get delivered, get healed or Whatever. And they would feel like man, can you imagine if God, God would heal this person? How many people would get saved?

0:17:46 – (Steve Gray): How many people would come to the Lord? How many, we would get revived? I go, no, no, no, no, no, no. Jesus said it this way. He said, you know, if they don’t believe the law, which the word of God and the prophets, the prophetic word of God, neither will they believe if someone is raised from the dead. Because in the parable of that, that Jesus was teaching, they say, well, you know, if somebody would get raised from the dead, then we’d believe. My brothers would believe, my family would believe if somebody could.

0:18:21 – (Steve Gray): Can you imagine somebody coming back from the dead? And they were, so they thought Lazarus was his name in the story. And if he would come back from the dead, my family will believe, the neighbors will believe. You know, we think that. And Jesus said, it doesn’t work that way. And we know that it doesn’t work that way. How do you know it doesn’t work that way? Cause somebody already has come back from the dead, right?

0:18:45 – (Steve Gray): Jesus is alive. There’s testimonies to it. There’s people that saw him killed and saw him alive. After he was killed. He came out of the grave, he’s alive and he’s alive. Now there’s people that saw him go up into heaven and say, I will return. Or the angel said, he’ll return. In the same way people saw stuff and it didn’t help them. If it did help, if it does help people, it’s short, short lived because we have to have faith based on the person of Jesus Christ, who he is, before he just makes us more comfortable or before he helps us out. He does help us out. There is mercy in the storm. But the Israelites saw all these things. The disciples saw so much, right?

0:19:27 – (Steve Gray): The Israelites saw it in the wilderness. The disciples saw it in Galilee and they were a part of it. Even remember this, Even Jesus sends them out to go minister, a group go minister. They come back and said, wow, even the demons were subject to us in your name. And they got to see demons leave people based on the name of Jesus. They saw that and then they don’t understand anything. They don’t understand, where are they?

0:19:52 – (Steve Gray): It’s because they’re like, I think they’re just like us. They’re locked into their fears, they’re locked into comfort. They’re locked into, what’s going to happen to me? What does this mean to me? What’s going to, you know, what’s going to happen to my family? What’s going to happen to my income. And so, and then we, and then we put it in the pastoral church realm and we’re saying revival, the presence of God, let an outbreak come that happened in 1857 that spread the prayer revival across the nation or the Great Awakening or, well, where the, or the great revival in Kentucky, you know where the, where it says reporters showed up and said the power of God was so strong it was knocking people over. It looked like a machine gun had mowed them down.

0:20:34 – (Steve Gray): Well, you talk like that to a pastor like, whoa, hold it here, I’m not comfortable with this. So exchange the power and presence of God that we need in our country now to override the wickedness and the evil and the demonic spirits that are coming into our country and, and planning to take over. I just read in the news that there’s a politician that’s calling for revolution and they want to take over with foreign spirits, imported ideas and so.

0:21:05 – (Steve Gray): But we’re afraid. They’re not afraid of that power. They’re not afraid of that power. That’s anti God, anti-Israel. They’re not afraid of that. But Christians then afraid. Pastors are afraid. I can’t do that. I mean what would happen to my church? I, what would happen to my income? What would happen? People might leave, I have to pay for this building. And so we’re choosing, in my opinion, what we could have is available on a new and glorious level that could change our nation and maybe the world.

0:21:34 – (Steve Gray): But we’re afraid. We’re afraid we’re going to sink, right? We’re afraid we’re going to sink. Like Peter, help, I’m sinking. He’s afraid he’s going to sink. And Jesus comes in, but he doesn’t do what needed to be done in the heart. What he does is make them more comfortable, feel safe and smooth things. He silences the storm that’s scaring them, that frightening them. And they know he’s not a ghost. And I think that’s where most churches are pastors are.

0:22:04 – (Steve Gray): People are that believe in Jesus, but they really want a comfortable Jesus, a commercialized Jesus that cares about my needs, takes care of me, tries to keep me from feeling afraid, comfortable and confident in the future. That’s good stuff. But that’s not what America needs. That’s not what our politicians needs. That’s not what those who are opposing anti God, anti-Israel, anti-government. They need the power of God. They need to experience something.

0:22:37 – (Steve Gray): They don’t need to see something because if they see it, we’d say, well they’ll believe Then maybe for a while. But these spirits are strong that we’re up against. So we need more than just them seeing a miracle or seeing the power or seeing a one-time event. Right? We need a people that rise up in the light of the world and let them show the presence and power of God. Ordinary people are experiencing something, a visitation from heaven that cannot be explained.

0:23:05 – (Steve Gray): That cannot be explained away. It’s changing people forever. It’s. It cannot be explained away. During the great revivals, reporters came. We had them come to our. In Smithton. We had them come to Kansas City and they reported. We had cameras all the time from other places trying to figure out what’s going on. And that doesn’t mean they approved of every, you know, they didn’t say, oh, this is the greatest thing that ever hit the world.

0:23:28 – (Steve Gray): But they couldn’t deny something was happening to people’s lives. Well, that happened to the other great revivals that happened in history. Newspapers would come and they didn’t really like what they saw. All this, all this, what they thought was emotionalism and you know, all the things. They didn’t like what they saw particularly. But after a while, they changed what they were reporting because they could not deny lives were changed and the country was changing due to these great revivals and these great moves of God.

0:23:55 – (Steve Gray): So I’m calling you, I hope to think about this, calling you out saying, could it be that you might be next in line? We’re looking for leaders. We’re not looking for, you know, people that just want to be comfortable. We’re looking for leaders that will lead us out of our comfort zone and into the spiritual zone so that we’re walking by the spirit, so that we don’t gratify the lust of the flesh, but we’re full of the spirit overflowing. To be an example then to override powers and principalities and powers that are coming to change our nation.

0:24:24 – (Steve Gray): I think that’s the plan. We’re not there yet, but let’s pray it is in the name of Jesus. Right. Well, be sure and go to https://stevegrayministries.com keep watching for that book. Other books, tell your friends. I don’t know if you’re getting these kind of. I don’t know if other people are getting these kind of messages. Other, other places. We’re, we’re getting a lot of, A lot of people were getting political messages where people say we have to change. Even politicians, we have to have the spirit. Even politicians using the word demons.

0:24:51 – (Steve Gray): Even the politicians are saying evil and they’re saying it, but then where’s the spiritual leadership? I went to one pastor pastor thing and they had pastors get up and speak. I just wandered in. I wasn’t invited to speak. I just wandered in. It wasn’t a huge group. Every pastor that got up actually repeated what our president was saying. We need Border, we need this, we need that. And I thought, okay, but that’s not your department.

0:25:22 – (Steve Gray): Your department is spiritual. Not one pastor, not one spiritual leader said anything spiritual. So that’s our job. And you might be next. You might be next. God might be calling you to a higher level. So now you have to pay the price. Dig in, dig in. Get out of the boat and walk on the water towards the spirit of God Seeking God and he will be found. Right. Till next time, bye-bye.