Peter Got Out of the Boat

Shirley Stahl

Description

Peter left the boat but what motivated him to do so? Can it be possible to find answers to that question? Scripture provides clues that give understanding for Peter's actions and make the miracle walk on water possible.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 16 novembre 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781937520366
• Langue: English

Extrait

Peter Got Out of the Boat
By: Shirley Stahl
ISBN 978-1-937520-36-6
Published by First Edition Design eBook Publishing
November 2011
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com


ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Copyright © 2010 by Shirley Stahl

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to New Book Publishing and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table Of Contents


Introduction
Peter, Peter What Are You Doing?
Locked Into Place
Power, Promise, And Purpose
A Chain Of Events
Setting A Table For Many
Trouble Came
Do You Know The Lord?
A Time And Place For Courage
Attention Please
Speak Up
One Last Hurdle
Because You Said
On The Way To Jesus
Love, The Deciding Factor
Peter Breaks Free
A Trick Of The Eye
They Worshiped
The Making Of The Person
About The Author
INTRODUCTION
Peter climbed out of a boat one night and walked upon the surface of the wind-driven Sea of Galilee while eleven of his peers were hanging onto the boat for dear life. This is fact, not fiction. Peter did walk on water, but was walking on water his primary objective? Did he have some greater goal? What goal could be greater than the miracle of walking on water?
Any inquiring mind might ask, “Why did Peter want to carry out this supernatural undertaking? What did Peter see, what did he know and what did he feel that was different from anyone else on that boat? Who was this man Peter that he would even dare to believe he could participate with Jesus in so great a miracle? Are there answers to these questions?
Within the unfolding of Peter’s story are clues that point to reasons why Peter climbed over the side of a heaving boat on a wind-driven sea. But Peter’s story doesn’t begin on the Sea of Galilee; rather the trail of clues will take the investigative person back in time to the desert region of Judea, where a man called John the Baptist was preaching and baptizing people. Follow the clues to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus walked and called two fishermen saying, “Come here, come and join up with me and I will make you to become fishers of men”
More clues are found when the twelve disciples are sent on their first missionary trips and bring back good reports. Follow the miracle of feeding five thousand and find yet more clues as the disciples miss their opportunity and fail the test Jesus gave them.
Skimming through scripture without considering what might lie below the surface is no way to uncover clues. Jesus once said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a haul,” (Luke 5:4), after Peter had fished all night and found no fish. But he followed those instructions and brought up more fish than the net could contain. That is what scripture holds for the person who is willing to search below the surface .
PETER GOT OUT OF THE BOAT
Matthew 14:25-29 (Amplified) And in the fourth watch (between three and six o’clock) of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, it is a ghost! And they screamed out with fright. But instantly He spoke to them, saying, take courage! I AM; stop being afraid! And Peter answered Him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. He said, Come! So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water, and he came to Jesus;
PETER, PETER WHAT ARE YOU DOING?


What made him do it? What was the incentive that caused Peter to disregard logic? The circumstances were overwhelmingly against him; the storm was violent, yet he climbed over the side of the boat, stepped upon the turbulent water and began walking on top of the water toward Jesus. Was Peter’s motivation and his bold display of extraordinary courage simply done out of rash, impetuous behavior? Or was there something deeper that triggered his quick decision?
If a person were to closely examine scripture and look at the facts, he would discover clues that that would shed light on Peter’s actions and what he may have been thinking? If one chooses to search for clues, he must look not only to the events immediately preceding Peter’s exodus from the boat, but begin earlier in Peter’s history, to the time when Jesus first called Peter.
Learning about Peter may challenge a person to look at himself while taking a deeper look into the events leading up to participation in this miracle of walking on water. It is possible this event in Peter’s life will help a person see more clearly the value Jesus places on each person’s call and how each believer is being prepared for the position he or she was chosen by God to occupy.
LOCKED INTO PLACE


Peter was on the boat with eleven of his peers. They ate, slept, talked, laughed and learned together. Each had the same goal of following Jesus, but there were differences in the way each responded to situations. If Peter had reacted as did the other disciples in this boat incident and closed his mind to any other possibility but to stay in the boat and await the arrival of Jesus from across the water, he would not have participated in this breathtaking miracle. Peter’s mind was in full action mode as the events unfolded.
The mind is a fascinating organ, the seat of intellectual activity where memory, understanding, opinion, thoughts, knowledge, reasoning and more take place. This beehive of activity is, among other things, a storage house where the gleanings of intellectual pursuits obtained by observation, experience and teaching are kept, reserved to be recalled when needed for a time of use.
This complex organ has room for more knowledge and more information, as long as a person is open and willing to receive more. Who would not want to grow in knowledge and build on understanding already obtained? The answer to that is a person with a closed mind or one whose mind is locked into place. Are there people like this? The answer is yes; there are many. But those who have an open mind have unlimited opportunities for more learning and more experiences.
Jesus’ taught by parables designed to unravel traditions that had become the set values of the day. He used parables as bridges to lead people from earthly facts into heavenly realities. The Pharisees used traditions and commandments of men that were in opposition to Jesus’ teachings. They were particularly against any change in the rules they had established, being certain they knew the Old Testament. But they were wrong. For example, they didn’t understand the Messiah was to save them from sin. Their minds were set or locked into place. Believing they had the right answers, they saw no need for change. They refused to even think about anything different from their beliefs because of their mind sets. They thought they knew God’s Word, His will and His ways, but they were wrong and they were spiritually blind.
Jesus’ teachings go on living, year after year, generation after generation. The scriptures live and breathe new disclosures to hungry, seeking people. Take this walking on water event in Peter’s life. A person can read about what happened multiple times, but never see anything different. Then, reading it one more time can open a whole new perspective and reveal things never seen before. This is because the Holy Spirit reveals truth as the thoughts of the heart become more open to learning.
To prove the point: two disciples were walking along a road toward a village called Emmaus (Luke 24), talking and reasoning about the events in Jerusalem, where Jesus had been crucified. It was now three days since the crucifixion. Jesus himself joined them, but withheld His identity. The disciples told this “stranger” what they knew and understood of the Jerusalem events. Then Jesus replied:

Luke 24:25 (KJV) O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
(Moffatt) O foolish men, with hearts so slow to believe, after all the prophets have declared!
(Amphlied) … sluggish in mind, dull of perception, slow of heart to
adhere to and trust in and rely on everything that the prophets
have spoken!

Jesus used a sentence of indictment against his two disciples, indicating they were without understanding and were not applying their minds to what the prophets had told about the Messiah. Jesus called these two sorrowful disciples fools, but not in the ordinary sense of how one perceives a fool today. The word “fool” as used here implies that they saw but reached wrong conclusions of what they saw, because of their dullness of insight. They had read that which the prophets had spoken, but failed to perceive its application to Christ.
Not only did Jesus rebuke them as to their understanding, but he also went deeper, looking into their hearts, saying they were slow of hearts or dull in heart, even hardened of heart, not to grasp the testimonies of their own prophets (see Mark 16:14).
These men were looking, but missing the impact of everything the prophets had declared from the time of Moses to the present. They had glimpses of truth, but did not see the whole. Then Jesus interpreted to them the passages referring to Himself throughout the scriptures.
Jesus unlocked their understanding as He revealed truth that these two disciples had not seen before that time. He broadened their knowledge of the purpose of the Jerusalem events and His death. They couldn’t get enough of His teaching as