Peter Sinks on the Water

As you can see, I have a tub of water and several other things with me this morning. Some of the items that I have with me will float in water and some of them will sink. I am going to show you an item and ask you to vote as to whether you think it will float or sink. Then we will put it in the water to see if you were right or not. Are you ready?

Here is a wooden building block. How many of you think it will float in the water? How many think it will sink? Let's try it and see. Great! Most of you were right. The block is floating in the water.

Here is the second item. A metal spoon. How many of you think it will float? How many think it will sink? Well, let's try it and see. You were right again! It sank!

Here is the another item. A piece of heavy duty foil. How many of you think it will float? How many think it will sink? Okay, let's see. You were right again! It floats!

Here is another piece of foil. It is exactly the same as the other one. (Wad it up into a ball.) Now how many of you think it will still float? How many think it will sink? Right again! It still floats.

Are you a floater or a sinker? Don't worry, I'm not going to throw you into a tub of water to find out, but I think we can find the answer in the Bible. Do you remember the story in the Bible when Jesus fed five thousand people with just five loaves of bread and two fish? After he had finished feeding the five thousand, Jesus told his disciples to get into their boat and go to the other side of the lake while he went up into the mountains to be alone and to pray.

While the disciples were going to the other side of the lake in their boat, the wind came up and the water began to get rough. The disciples became afraid that their boat would sink and they would be drowned. Then they looked, and they saw Jesus coming toward them and he was walking on the water. When Peter saw Jesus, he became excited and he said to him, "Lord, if that's really you, let me walk to you on the water. Jesus answered Peter and said, "Come."

Well Peter climbed over the side of the boat and started walking on the water to Jesus. Then he began to look around, he felt the strong winds and saw the waves and he became afraid and started to sink. He cried out to Jesus, "Help, save me!" Jesus reached out his hand and saved Peter and he said to him, "Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

As long as Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, he was walking on the water, but when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink. As we go through life, there will be some storms. We will encounter some pretty rough water. As long as we keep our eyes upon Jesus and put our trust in him, we will be okay. But when we take our eyes off of Jesus and put our confidence in our own ability, we will surely sink!

Dear Jesus, when the storms of life come against us, help us to keep our eyes on you and to put our trust in you. Amen.