The Faith Experiment Week 1

 

Matthew 14:22-32

 

1-Can you relate at all to Peter and how have you tried and taken a step of faith in your life? 

2-When have you ever seen that big step of faith succeed? 

 

3-When have you ever faced a time when you felt like your faith had failed…or you knew you fell short in it?

 

4-What do you think led to success in one situation and maybe failure in another?

 

5-And if you’re diving into the conversation with a group of people and you’re midway through the week, what learnings have you gleaned from this week? What successes or failures have you faced as you’ve experimented this week…in the Faith Experiment?

 

 

Bonus Reflections from the Biblical Text for Discussion 

(I also used excerpts from the same story in Mark 6:48-52)

  

–       Jesus spent time in prayer before he faced the storm. (v.23)

–       Sometimes the winds of life are against us. (Mark 6:48) We are all either entering a storm, we are in the middle of a storm or we have finished the storm and are in-between storms. (Storms can be emotional, financial, moral or of physical health).

–       Storms are often encountered in obedience to God and come from divine appointment because they teach us. Jesus told the disciples to get into the boat and go. (v.22) They did exactly what he told them to do and they still hit a storm!  People question marriages, vocation, etc because they falsely believe that they are not in God’s will because they are in midst of a storm. (Sin can cause a self-inflicted storm, but sometimes storms just happen.)

–       Storms test our faith in the promises of God. Jesus said go to the other side and “we’ll meet there.” (v. 22) Jesus said that they will be meeting so it was affirmation that they were going to be OK. No storm can take us out if God has determined that there is still more work for us to do. How will the winds of the storm remind you of the promises of God?

–       Could the disciples see Jesus when he was still on the mountain? No.  (Mark 6:48) But even when we cannot see Jesus…Jesus can still see us.

–       When things seem the most hopeless, Jesus comes at the right time. He came at the darkest period of the evening (v. 25)

–       Our fears may cause us not to be able to identify Jesus in the midst of the storm. (v. 26) Jesus was coming out to them, and they were afraid of him and did not recognize him because of their fear.

–       The water that threatens to be over your head is under Jesus’ feet. Jesus was walking “on top of” the very thing that was trying to kill him and the others. He was totally in control.

–       God made us with storms in mind. We are made in his image and built to with stand the storms of life.