**Read Matthew 14:22-36 and Romans 12:6-13
I. Jesus Walks on Water
- Matthew 14:22-36; After feeding 5000 people with just 5 loaves and 2 fish, Jesus went to pray in the mountainside. His disciples were in the boat in the sea when Jesus started walking on water towards them. At first, the disciples thought that He was a ghost but Jesus assured them that it was Him. Peter saw this and asked Jesus to command him to walk on water towards Him. On his way to Jesus, Peter felt the gust of wind and realized that he was walking on water, he panicked and started sinking. Jesus caught him and got him back to the boat.
- Jesus called Peter, "You of little faith". Sometimes we are like Peter in which we start on our journey to Christianity and then adversity comes, maybe in a form of an unanswered prayer, distress, or misfortune. When this happens, we start to doubt God and his plans for us. We started to lose our faith and try to solve our problems ourselves. It is only when all humanly possible solutions were tried when we go back and ask God for help when we should have prayed and asked God the first place. This does not mean that we failed though. When Peter's faith faltered, he still reached out to Jesus because he knew that Jesus was the only one who can help him. When we go through hardships, let's reach out to God, through Jesus Christ and He will help us and bless us.
II. Gifts are Given to Serve Others
- Romans 12:6-13; In verses 6-8, we are reminded that God has blessed everyone with spiritual gifts, and we should use these gifts to serve God and our brothers and sisters. There are 7 gifts that God has given us: prophecy, teaching, ministry, exhortation, giving, leading, and showing mercy. Prophecy is given to those who can communicate revelations of truth from God. These are prophets like Moses, King David, and Elijah. The gift of teaching is what our pastors and bible study leaders have. They have the ability to research and share the Word in a way where we can understand them. Jesus was a great teacher and used different stories and parable for us to understand His message. Ministry is the gift of serving the church and others. We can help the church by being ushers, committee leaders, nursery caregivers, and even grass cutters. People also volunteer at homeless shelters and feed events. Exhortation is a gift of encouragement and reminder. They are the ones who always have the perfect bible verse when we need encouragement in trusting the Lord. They also remind us not to commit sin and keep our walk in faith. The fifth gift is giving. We have many people who have been blessed financially by God and they are sincere and generous that they share their blessings to the church and other people without boasting and glorifying their name. They need to be giving without and personal agenda to gain fame or gain influence. They are the anonymous givers whom God will bless more, as they share. Leading is a way of managing a group. It is either by physically leading or just being an example that people just follow you. They are the managers, organizers, and administrators. They are the overseers who directs different ministries in the church. Finally, some might have the gift of being merciful. Those are the people who have pity and compassionate among the poor, the sick, and all others who are experiencing any hardships. They are the crying shoulders who lend their ears so we can share our problems. They are joyful and cheerful who uses their personality to cheer us up and make us smile during times of distress.
- Each and everyone of us has received one of these 7 spiritual gifts from God. We need to find this gift and ask how we can use it to serve God. Not everyone can be a prophet or a pastor but we can all do our part in helping and serving our church (people) and glorify God.
III. Proverbs for Today/7:24-27
24 Now therefore, listen to me, my children;
Pay attention to the words of my mouth:
25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways,
Do not stray into her paths;
26 For she has cast down many wounded,
And all who were slain by her were strong men.
27 Her house is the way to hell,[a]
Descending to the chambers of death.
IV. Additional Old Testament Reading:
Exodus 23:14-33, Exodus 24-25, and Psalms 30:1-12
