Do Not Be Afraid: Walking on Stormy Waters

Aug 09, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Take Me Deeper into the Storm’s Purpose

Jesus withdrew to grieve John’s death, yet crowds still demanded miracles. He fed thousands with scraps, then forced disciples into a boat while he climbed a hill to pray. Storms brew when we resist shallow faith. True depth comes not from avoiding chaos, but letting God repurpose our pain. The same waves that drown distractions become stepping stones for divine focus. [46:01]

And he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. (Matthew 14:23, ESV)

Reflection: What storm in your life feels overwhelming? How might God be using it to deepen your reliance on Him rather than remove the struggle?

Day 2: Exchanging Wishes on the Grieving Hill

Prayer isn’t reciting requests but exchanging desires. Jesus’ Greek "ekomai" reveals raw bargaining with God atop that hill – grief for John mingling with resolve to keep liberating the oppressed. Like Christ, we bring our anguished “what ifs” to the Father, trusting He’ll align our wishes with holy necessity. [47:06]

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. (Matthew 14:13, ESV)

Reflection: When have your personal desires clashed with God’s call? How might lament become the bridge between your wants and His will?

Day 3: Walking Purposefully on Salty Losses

Peter didn’t stumble because the sea raged, but because he stopped focusing on Christ’s purposeful stride. The Greek "parapateo" means walking with philosophical resolve – not avoiding pain, but traversing it. Our tears salt the waters; our faith makes them navigable. Keep your eyes on the One who walks loss like pavement. [55:29]

And he said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” (Matthew 14:29-30, ESV)

Reflection: What “impossible” situation requires you to step out? Where might fear be distorting your view of Christ’s nearness?

Day 4: The Eye of the Storm is a Boat’s Embrace

When Jesus entered the disciples’ boat, the storm stilled. Not because tempests vanish, but because His presence reorients reality. The church isn’t a storm shelter but a lifeboat – creaking, crowded, yet carrying calm in chaos. Our unity amid turbulence testifies: the Prince of Peace rows with us. [01:02:27]

And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:32-33, ESV)

Reflection: Who in your circle needs the steadying weight of your Christ-centered presence? How can you embody peace without denying the storm?

Day 5: Resurrection Walks on Water’s Edge

John’s beheading seemed final, but Jesus’ water-walk foreshadowed resurrection. Every step defied death’s logic. Our hardest losses become liquid altars where we practice buoyant faith. What Herod meant for shame, God makes a runway – because resurrection isn’t a one-time event but a way of walking. [01:01:27]

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26, ESV)

Reflection: What dead dream or relationship needs resurrection faith? How might trusting Christ’s “I AM” change your approach to impossibility?

Sermon Summary

Matthew 14 starts in a nasty political room, with John the Baptist’s head on a silver platter because Herod was a clout chaser. The text names a king who reaches into the depths of immorality because the daughter of Herodias asked for it and because power is always scared of a voice it cannot control. John was Jesus’ cousin, the precursor, the wild desert prophet eating locusts and honey, the one announcing what was coming. Jesus hears that John has been cut down, and Jesus wants to be alone.

Jesus’ grief matters here. Jesus is not acting like a machine of miracles. Jesus is human, tired, watched, pressed, and followed. Jesus tries to withdraw, but the crowd keeps coming. Matthew keeps showing Jesus as the second Moses, the liberator who feeds the people with the word of God. The bread is broken, blessed, passed around, and there is more than enough. The word feeds the people until hunger loses its power.

Jesus then forces distance. Anakazo means something is about to go down. Jesus sends the disciples into the boat, sends the crowd away, and finally climbs the hill to pray. That prayer is not cheap religious language. Ekomai means an exchange of wishes. Jesus is grieving John, feeling the mantle pass, and maybe even looking down the road toward the cross. Jesus is up on the hill exchanging wishes with God while the sea starts acting like the inside of his heart.

The sea becomes the vulnerable place. Mesos is not just the middle, but the heart of the sea, the place where everything can get pierced. The disciples are there, rocked and tossed, with no control over the waves. Then Jesus comes to them, not casually, not tiptoeing, but purposefully walking on the water. Peripateo means Jesus is moving with intention, disputing the wind, walking across grief, anxiety, and impossibility.

Peter also walks purposefully until the storm gets more attention than Jesus. Oligopistoi names that little faith, that too little trust. The real fight is not only with the oligarchy, the too few who rule, but with the oligopistoi, the too little faith that cannot do what is right. Jesus reaches out, rescues Peter, and gets in the boat. The storm is everywhere Jesus is not. The boat becomes the place of safety, love, affirmation, gifts, and room for more room.

Key Takeaways

1. Grief needs holy exchange Jesus goes up the hill because grief cannot be outrun by more public usefulness. Prayer becomes an exchange of wishes, not a performance of strength. The human Jesus shows that sorrow can be brought into God’s presence before it gets turned into rescue for somebody else. [46:44]
2. The Word feeds real hunger The bread in Matthew’s hands is more than food. Jesus, as the second Moses, feeds a crowd as a sign of liberation, because the word of God nourishes people in places where scarcity seems to be the only fact. Leftovers become evidence that God’s provision is not measured by what the disciples first counted. [41:27]
3. Power fears liberating voices John’s death is not random tragedy. The text shows power acting out of fear, vanity, and the need to keep control over voices that call people toward freedom. Jesus receives that grief with the knowledge that the mantle of liberation is still moving. [49:00]
4. Purposeful faith walks through storms Jesus does not wander across the water. The word for walking carries intention, a steady movement through chaos rather than denial of it. Peter’s sinking begins when the storm becomes larger in his sight than the one who called him out of the boat. [54:49]
5. The boat still has room Jesus does not leave his friends in the vulnerable heart of the sea. Jesus enters the boat, and the place of fear becomes a place of safety, love, affirmation, and room. The image presses the church to become that kind of boat in a world full of gales.

## [62:27]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[30:28] - Take Me Deeper and Introduction
[31:44] - Do Not Be Afraid
[35:26] - John the Baptist and Herod’s Clout
[39:01] - Jesus Receives Grief and Seeks Solitude
[40:31] - Feeding the Crowd with the Word
[45:07] - Anakazo: Jesus Forces Distance
[46:44] - Prayer as Exchanging Wishes
[52:45] - The Storm in the Vulnerable Sea
[54:49] - Purposeful Walking on Water
[56:40] - Peter’s Courage and Distraction
[57:21] - Little Faith and the Oligopistoi
[59:01] - Walking on Salty Water
[60:25] - Do Not Be Afraid, I Am
[62:27] - The Boat Has Plenty Room

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. [45:07]
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, [46:44]
but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. [52:45]
And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. [54:49]
But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. [54:49]
But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” [31:44]
And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” [56:40]
He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. [56:40]
But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” [57:21]
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” [57:21]
And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. [01:02:27]

Matthew 14:1-12
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” [35:26]
For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, [35:26]
because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” [35:26]
And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. [49:00]
But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod, [35:26]
so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. [35:26]
Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” [35:26]
And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given. [35:26]
He sent and had John beheaded in the prison, [35:26]
and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. [35:26]
And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus. [39:01]

Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. [40:31]
But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. [40:31]
When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. [40:31]
Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” [41:27]
But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” [41:27]
They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” [41:27]
And he said, “Bring them here to me.” [41:27]
Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. [41:27]
And they all ate and were satisfied. [43:26]
And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. [41:27]
And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. [41:27]

Observation questions

What events happen in Matthew 14 before Jesus walks on the water, and how do those earlier scenes build the mood of the chapter? [39:01]
In the feeding of the crowd, what do the disciples say they have, what does Jesus do with it, and what is left at the end? [41:27]
What does Jesus do immediately after feeding the crowd, and who does he send away before going up the mountain alone? [45:07]
What changes in Peter’s actions between the moment he gets out of the boat and the moment he begins to sink? [56:40]

Interpretation questions

Jesus withdraws after hearing about John’s death, yet the crowds keep following him. What does that suggest about the tension between grief and public responsibility in the life of faith? [48:27]
The bread is broken, blessed, and shared until everybody is satisfied. In this chapter, how does that meal point beyond food to the deeper way Jesus feeds people? [43:26]
Jesus comes toward the disciples in the heart of the storm rather than calling them to figure it out alone. What does that reveal about the way Jesus meets people in vulnerable places? [53:44]
Jesus calls Peter “one of little faith” after rescuing him. Does “little faith” here sound more like total unbelief, or like distracted trust that loses focus under pressure? [57:21]

Application questions

Jesus made space to be alone with God after devastating news. When grief, anger, or exhaustion hits, what usually happens first in your life: holy exchange with God, or trying to stay useful for everybody else? What would it look like to choose prayer before performance? [46:44]
Power often fears voices it cannot control. Have there been moments when speaking truth cost you something, or when fear kept you quiet? What helps a person stay faithful when the pressure to play it safe is strong? [49:00]
Peter walked purposefully until the storm got more attention than Jesus. What storm has been taking up too much space in your vision lately: money, health, family strain, anxiety, grief, or something else? How can you notice when the wind has become louder than the voice of Christ? [56:59]
“Little faith” can show up not only as fear, but as hesitation to do what is right. Where in your life do you sense a call to act with courage, but keep shrinking back? What would one faithful next step look like this week? [58:01]
Jesus walked across sorrow and came to his friends. When someone around you is being tossed by waves, what does it look like for you to reach toward them instead of waiting for them to get steady first? [59:31]
The boat becomes a place of safety, love, affirmation, and room. In what ways does your group, church, or home already feel like that kind of boat? In what ways is there still work to do so more people can know, “there is room for me here”? [01:02:27]
Sometimes faith means sending some things away so there can be space to pray, think, and breathe. What do you need to push back from for a little while so your soul can become quiet enough to hear God again? [01:01:58]

Sermon Clips

65s

#WalkOnSaltyWater

“God asks us to walk on the salty water of what we've been through. The losses, the unusual losses. Walk on that water purposefully. Walk on that water lifting people who forget why they're on the water. What's happening on the sea? We are the representatives of Christ in that moment. Jesus is asking us to do what he did, which is to go through it all. In the end, he chose his friends. He didn't leave them out there to die. He came out, he helped them. He walked on his sadness, the loss of his cousin, and came to this people to save them and got in the boat with them. It's as though the storm was everywhere he wasn't.”

75s

#BeTheCalm

“And strangely, I think Jesus is asking the same of us. With all of the anxiety that is outside these walls, how can we bring the calm that reassures people, that reminds them who they are and whose they are. We have to be that force in the storm, in the gales. That's who we are as Christ's ambassadors. Don't be afraid. It is I. When Moses, the first one, said to g to to God, I wanna see you, show me you. You he's like, I can't. But God did identify himself. Tell them that I am since you. When Jesus says it is I, it's a reinvocation of what God said. I am. Don't be afraid because I am is with you.”

46s

#EyesOnJesus

“Resurrection. You too, like Jesus, can experience newness of life after what what people believed might have been death. Resurrection is possible because of Jesus. Resurrection is possible when we don't take our eyes off of Jesus because of everything else that's going on. Resurrection is possible. Walking on water is possible only when you stop believing what the world has limited you.”

65s

#WhenPowerFearsTruth

“Jesus was grieving. It would be like if you were first cousins with Martin Luther King. Imagine what that would be like. Imagine if you were first cousins with JFK. Imagine being that kind of person, And all of a sudden, they were cut off because people with power were really afraid of what they would say, of what they reflected and represented in the world. They were telling people to do things that the rest of the world thought was weird and and aberrant. And so authority struck them down and pursued them with all their might. The bible may be a dated document, but it's really right on time.”

41s

#HuntedAndFeared

“Because this text sounds like so many of us. If you are an immigrant and have been hunted by this government, if you are a member of the trans community and you've been disappointed by this government, if you are a black person and you care about history in this country, You've been let down by this government. You've been hunted by this government. You've been targeted by this government. And the scripture says, they target you because they fear you.”

66s

#WalkByFaithNotFear

“Exchanging wishes. Maybe I don't wanna do this, God. But I'll do what you tell me, you God. Purposefully walking. It wasn't just meandering. And they see him. And what's interesting is the word for walk that they use with Peter is the same word. So when Peter got the courage to get up out the boat, he purposefully walked on the water until until got distracted. He got worried about what the world looked like. He got worried about how things felt and seemed. That's different. And when he did, he began to sink into the water, and Jesus had to come and rescue him, giving him his hand.”

79s

#SeeTheHumanJesus

“I'm gonna ask you again, why do you think Jesus needed to pray right now? Anybody? I I like you. Because Jesus was human. We have waged wars and battles over the identity of who Jesus was. Was he God? Was he person? Was he both? In this text, we can see a really human Jesus despite the the part that comes next. He's really human. And that's what I had to see when I was reading this text this time, was to slow down past my mechanized training of theological reinforcement and societal whatever. I had to stop and see a human story.”

67s

#PrayerAsExchange

“Jesus forces them to leave. He tells them, get away. Go away from me. I wanna be by myself. And he sends the disciples in boats out to the water, and he disperses the crowds, and they go back home where they belong with the rest of their family. And now, Jesus finally is alone. And they say that Jesus climbed one of those hills. And as he climbed the hill, it said that he had but one desire. Next word. His desire was to ekomai. Say ekomai. a Greek word. We translate it as pray. He wanted to wanted to go up to the hill to pray. But what the real literal translation of ekoma means, he went to the top of the hill to exchange wishes.”

64s

#FeedWithTheWord

“What is the symbol of the word of God? Well, that's one. But what in this context was the symbol of the word? The bread. Broken. The bread, the word given to the people will feed the people. There will be so much feeding that they won't be hungry anymore. So the first lesson from today, before we get to today's pericope from this part of the text, we learn, feed the people the word, and they won't be hungry. So we see then God working through Jesus, this miracle, in the midst of Jesus wanting to be alone.”

44s

#PurposefulWalking

“This is interesting for me. What they say is that Jesus walked on the water, but they didn't use the word. What's the next word? Erkomai, to come or go. What's the next word? Purumai, to travel, to journey or mark. Those are not the words they used. Even the next word, regular pateo, to tread, trample, or crush. Those were not the words they used. The word that was used was parapateo, which literally could be in implied to purposefully walk.”

54s

#WalkAndWitness

“Not casually, purposefully. So it's not just saying, you know, kind of tiptoed on the water, eating his way. No. Purposeful. In fact, there's a group of philosophers called the peripatetics. Greek philosophers were known to walk from two ephro talking with the wind, calling out their philosophies, their beliefs, their understandings to the wind. And they would walk to and fro, and they were called the peripatetics, the same word. So Jesus is out disputing the wind from what we saw earlier, exchanging wishes.”

52s

#TiredOfBeingWatched

“How many of you have felt like that? How many of you have gotten bad news when you're out amongst people? And you got to keep going on just because people are watching you. Yes. Sometimes you're in a church like that where you just have to keep going, and it feels fruitless and feels hopeless, but people are watching. are you gonna do? Jesus was tired of being watched in this moment in the Bible. And at every step, he tries to get away, but people just keep following him.”

61s

#MantlePassed

“Jesus on the top of this hill is sitting there in his grief, but recognizing that the mantle has passed. At the time of Jesus' living, John the Baptist was well known. He was the rock star of desert preachers. John, when he passed okay. Let me just ask you. If you were king and you were killed, who would be the next king? Your son. So we do that based off of bloodlines. if a religious leader, let's say, the head of the country of Iran gets killed, who became the leader? Okay. Now, John the Baptist, they don't say he had any sons.”

70s

#LiberationLineage

“So, naturally, most people would assume that it's one of his close family members that would pick up his mantle, his disciples. And if you don't believe me, go to the chapter right before this, in chapter 13. John sent some of his disciples to Jesus from prison and says, are you the one we've been waiting for? And Jesus basically confirms. And what I'm saying here is that Jesus acknowledged he was a part of the same spiritual movement. Reza Aslan, in his book Zealot, says that John the Baptist was a renegade fighter. And that Jesus, when he became baptized publicly by him, assumed the same cause, which was to liberate his people from perverse occupations. Like the the eagle that was flying in there, that was sitting there inside the temple. It was an abomination to the Jews.”

86s

#MiracleOfTheLoaves

“And so when Jesus tries to escape, first he goes on the hills outside of Galilee. what happens there? The flock comes to him, and they stay so long they got hungry. I got family like that. And the disciples said, Jesus, Jesus. Do you see all 5,000 plus of these people? We don't got enough money to fill them. Need to let them go home. Please, let them go home. Jesus says, We can do this. Jesus, we got five loaves and two fish. And he said, that's enough. Put them in some baskets. I'm a bless it. You go out there and see what happens. so everybody sat down and Jesus passes. He blesses and they pass and they keep passing. They keep passing. They keep passing. And at the very end, there were 12 baskets full of scraps. Leftovers is what we call them.”

70s

#TheyFollowedHim

“5,000 Most of them probably had wives, so that's another 5,000. And most of them probably had multiple kids. So we're talking about fifteen, twenty, 25,000, and there might have been some widows there whose husbands had died and they showed we're talking about twenty five thousand people out on the hills. That's a miracle. And so Jesus, after he miraculously feeds him, feeds them, and everybody saw it. What do you think happened? After they ate, what do you think they did? They followed Jesus. Wherever Jesus would go, they would go, like little little lost puppies. Oh, Jesus. So Jesus tries to walk to another set of hills there in Galilee, crosses by the water, and the people keep bothering him, following him.”

80s

#FaithOverOligarchy

“O ye of little faith. O ye of little faith. You see at the beginning of that word oligo? What does it look like? What's another word that that that sounds like? We're contending with them every day. oligarchy. That's right. The oligarchy. Means those two people of little faith or those with too little trust. The oligarchy is too few who rule. We spend our days worrying about the oligarchy, the too few who rule, when what we really need to be contending with is the oligopistoi, those who don't have enough faith to do what's right. faith to do what was right was to walk on the water purposefully, even though it was human impossibility. It's the same thing as this church would have been forty years ago. it's impossible. can't have a service to themselves. They don't belong in church. And look now. Still here.”

52s

#MiddleOfTheStorm

“And while you are out in the most vulnerable part is when the waves started to rock the ship. That is what's happening in the text right now. So out in the middle of the stormy sea in the most vulnerable critical part, The waves are tossing and crashing against the boat of the disciples, and they have no idea what they're going to do. And in the middle of all of that chaos, they look out that a ghost? I have to be imagining some. Is that Jesus?”

52s

#HeartOfTheStorm

“And then the next word is mesos. It's out in the midst, out in but it really means, what's the difference between the center and the heart? This is a linguistic lesson here. What's the difference between the center and the heart? That's a good part of it. What I would say is is that think about the heart as in if somebody stabs you in the heart, what happens to you? You're vulnerable. when it uses this word mesos, when you're out in the middle, you are in the most vulnerable part of the sea.”

53s

#StormsMirrorSorrow

“Let's fast forward. We're now here. You get the point. So we're now here at this point. Jesus is up on the mountain, on the hills, praying by himself, worrying about what has happened, fretting about what is about to come, thinking about what what freedom he is about to lose, maybe even anticipating the cross. And just like any Greek tragedy, The story starts to unfold in a way is congruent with the way Jesus is feeling. A storm comes out of nowhere. The waves are rocked and tossed. You could put that word talos up.”

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