Jim Van Gelderen:

So let's look if we could turn please to Matthew 14 and let's just see a couple of things quickly. I don't want to preach the full message. Most of you know the story. Let me just say it.

Here's Peter, and probably going toward—not the middle of the night; it's more toward the morning—Jesus comes walking on the water. Of course, it's a storm. Many of you know this.

And look, if you would please, in verse 25: “And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.”

“But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come.” So all I want you to see—

Cut to the chase here. I've got probably a whole fifteen minutes I could preach up to this point, but we're going to come right to the chase. And here it is. Okay, so Peter says, Lord, if it's you, bid me come on the water.

And Jesus said one word: “Come.” That word is the imperative. It's a command. So at that point, Jesus was commanding Peter to do the absolute impossible.

Now I want you to understand something, young person. When it comes to walking on water, physical strength won't do it. You can work out for years. Listen, some of you guys work out.

You know, maybe some of you. Hey, man. Preacher, I can bench press three hundred pounds. Okay, well, I can bench press the bar, but anyway, okay, so, you know, the point is, uh, we talk about physical strength, but, you know, I don't care how much you can bench press.

You can't walk on water, I can't either. See, it doesn't matter how much you train, how much you build muscles. Physical strength is completely insufficient to walk on water. May I say this?

Physical strength is completely insufficient to live the Christian life. Now, don't get me wrong. You use physical strength in your Christian life. But here's the key.

You don't depend on it. See, often in the Bible we hear the word strength, might, power. And I think we almost just assume it's talking about physical strength, because that's our American culture. We're into physical strength.

But, you know, many times it's not it's not talking about physical strength. It's talking about spiritual strength. How about this one? “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”

Yeah. That's spiritual. Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

That's Christ's strength. That's supernatural. You see, friends, I'm telling you, there's not a thing God asks you to do that you cannot do, but you cannot do it in human strength. No, no.

You need Jesus to supernaturally enable you to do what you could never do unless he enabled you to do it. And that's spiritual strength. You know, sometimes, friend, I'm just telling you that what God calls you to do, he will enable you to do. And I'm going to tell you, if he didn't call you to do it, your natural abilities aren't enough to do it.

We're not talking about physical strength. And I will tell you, friend, what God calls you to do. He will equip you to do. And you've heard me say it before God does not call the equipped.

He equips the called. And for every single one of you, God is saying to you in some way, come. For some of you, perhaps during Pastor Gillmore's session, God began to kindle a fire for the unreached people, and you begin to get a burden for people across the ocean or people that are in foreign lands.

God kindled a fire in my heart when I was your age, but it was for an unreached people group. You know what it's called? American teenagers. I don't know how many teenagers we preach the gospel to here who get saved, who have never heard a clear presentation of the gospel in their entire life.

You see, your unreached people group may be at home, may be next door, it may be across the sea. But God begins to kindle a fire in your heart to do what you know you can't do. But he will enable you to do it in a way that only God can. So understand:

When Jesus said to Peter, “Come,” he was asking Peter to do the impossible—something that physical strength was completely insufficient to do. So understand that physical strength is insufficient, and understand the calling and commands of God:

What God commands you to do, he will enable you to do. Now, what did Peter do when Jesus said, “Come”? Look, if you would please go back. And it says, “And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.” Unbelievable.

Now, I don't know, maybe you don't think this way. When I get to heaven, I'm going to. You know, I feel like Saint Peter. What does it feel like to walk on water?

You know, was it like walking on on bricks? Was it like walking on earth? Was it like walking on a bouncy house? And I know what Peter's going to say.

“What's a bouncy house?” But anyway, the point is, Peter walked on water. It's just, you know, I wonder if he was tentative. Did he—you know, I don't know, but the Bible says he got out of the boat.

Now, here's the point. Did Peter use physical strength to get out of the boat? This is not a trick question. Did he use physical strength to get out of the boat?

And the answer is absolutely. Was he depending on that physical strength to walk on water? And the answer is not at all. That's the Christian life.

Do you use physical strength and muscles to do what God says to do? Yeah, absolutely. But if you're doing it God's way, you don't depend on it at all. Reminds me of the teenage girl who gave us a testimony in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

She said, I haven't been getting nothing out of my devotions. Nothing. She said this week, oh, God, show me why. She said yesterday he did.

I've been trying to get something out of my devotions. She said, yesterday I read my Bible, didn't get anything from it. She said, then God taught me. She said, this morning I got up.

I read the same chapter I read yesterday. I didn't get anything from it yesterday, but she said, oh, today. And she began to cry and tears began to trickle down her cheeks. And she said, oh, today God showed me so many things.

See, 0/100—she was walking on water. Did she use muscles to open her Bible and read the Bible?

Absolutely. Was she depending on them? She wasn't even depending on her brain. She was depending on the Holy Spirit to teach her what she knew she would never be taught unless he would teach her.

You see, that's the Christian life, friends. Sure. You got to get up in the morning. Open your Bible.

Sure. You got to pray. Some of you just spent an hour of prayer. I hope for many of you, in the hour of prayer, something happened that had never happened before.

Maybe, I trust, you began to realize—you began to sense—that God was doing something in your life. See, that's walking on water. I'm talking to teenagers in this room who can have an effective prayer life before you leave high school.

In fact, let me say this: if you're a teenager and a Christian, you ought to have effective prayer life before you leave high school. You ought to meet with God. You say, well, preacher, I've tried. I fall asleep on my knees.

That's because you're depending on yourself. Stop depending on yourself. Get out of the boat and trust Jesus to enable you to have an effective prayer life that you never thought you could have. Because he can.

Sixteen-year-old kids can get ahold of God and see remarkable answers to prayer. Did you know that elementary school kids can have answers to prayer? Many times elementary school kids have answers to prayer. Then they become teenagers and get a little too sophisticated. You know what I'm talking about. Go back to self-dependence and live a life of defeat. So understand, friends, everything about the Christian life is impossible.

And God is simply asking every single one of you to get out of the boat and trust him to enable you to do what you can never do. See, some of you are sitting this week. God's been tearing you up. I'm talking to some of you.

Know what you need to do. You've got to come clean with Mom and dad, and you're sitting here and Satan is lying to you. I have never had a teenager come to me and say, you know, preacher, it was worse than I thought. Never one.

I've had probably hundreds say to me, you know, preacher, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was tough, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. You know why? Friend?

Because when you step out of the boat and trust Jesus to enable you to do what you never do unless he enabled you to do it, he always begins to undertake in supernatural ways.