One of the things that can often end up tearing you apart is, on the one hand the desire to follow Jesus with all your heart but on the other, inertia or the resistance you face swimming against the tide, and make no mistake about it when you follow Jesus you will run into resistance.

I'm not sure whether you've ever thought about this but in the three and a half years of Jesus public ministry back there in the first century AD Jesus Himself faced rather a lot of resistance. The beginning of that ministry was marked by His baptism in the Jordan River but immediately after that, we're told, the Holy Spirit picked him up and threw Him out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for forty days and forty nights while He starved almost to the point of death.

When that didn't work the devil withdrew to wait for a more opportune time. Straight off the back of that He goes back to His home town Nazareth to preach and they tried to throw Him off a cliff. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were pretty soon on His case plotting to kill Him, something they eventually succeeded at. But not before people left Him in droves, John chapter 6, verse 66 because they didn't like what He was saying.

And when it did come to His crucifixion every last one of His friends and family deserted Him, yeah following Jesus is going to mean resistance, a lot of it. Jesus Himself said:

Enter through the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life and there are few who find it.

I think sometimes we imagine that when we set our lives on a course to follow Jesus, when we step out of that boat in the middle of the storm as Peter did on the Sea of Tiberias it's going to be easy, God is going to smooth a path out for us and it all should be predictable and safe and easy. Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, that's simply not what Jesus promised, ever. John chapter 15 verses 20 and 21:

Remember the word I said to you 'servants are not greater than their master, if they persecuted me they'll persecute you, if they kept my word they will keep yours also but they will do all these things to you on account of my name because they do not know Him who sent me.

And so you can want to follow Jesus, you can want to honour Him with all that you are but when you're swimming against the tide you get tired, it's hard, people lose heart and on top of that when those storms hit you, you focus on the opposition, you take your eyes off Jesus and then, then you get that sinking feeling.

Remember that story we've been looking at so far in this series, the story of the storm, Jesus walking on the water and then Peter getting out of the boat. Let’s just look at Matthew chapter 14 verses 28 to 30:

Peter answered him and said, 'Lord if it's you command me to come to you on the water'. Jesus said, 'come'. So Peter gets out of the boat, starts walking on the water and comes towards Jesus but when he notices the strong wind he gets scared and he starts to sink, he cries out 'Lord save me.

It's so hard, it's so disheartening to fail Jesus, it really is, I can tell you that first hand. If you're someone who wants to live your life for Him you know it too, it's so disheartening particularly when, like Peter, you can feel yourself sinking and losing and failing but while you and I will fail, while you and I will be unfaithful, listen to me, Jesus will never ever fail you, He will never ever let you down, He will never let you sink.

Lord if it's you command me to come out on the water, Jesus said, "come" so Peter gets out of the boat, starts walking on the water, comes towards Jesus but he notices the strong wind and he becomes frightened and beginning to sink he cries out, "Lord save me". What does Jesus do? Jesus immediately, immediately reached out His hand and caught him saying to him, 'you of little faith, why did you doubt?

When they got into the boat the wind ceased and those in the boat worshipped Him saying 'truly you are the Son of God.

And that's why you and I need never be afraid to step out of the boat onto the stormy ocean if it's Jesus calling us out to do it. You can't do it in your own strength, Peter knew that, that's why he said, "Lord if it is you command me to come out onto the water", he wasn't stupid right? It had to be Jesus calling him before he stepped out of the boat.

But when Jesus does call you He's faithful, He provides all you need, He gives you all the power you need. That's an absolute given from His standpoint. That's why He said to Peter, "you of little faith, why did you doubt?" There was absolutely no reason to doubt from Jesus’ standpoint. It's me you're talking about here right? Do you get it, says Jesus?

I know, I know, we so often want to play it safe but here's the thing, you don't get to experience the miracle working power of God in your safety zone, it's out there on the stormy ocean that we discover who Jesus really is. You don't discover His faithfulness or His power stuck back in your comfort zone, in fact Jesus Himself said, Luke chapter 14 verse 27:

Whoever doesn't carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

So let's talk about you for a moment, are you in with all that you are, are you prepared to lay everything, EVERYTHING on the line for Jesus or are you holding something back?

Let's go back to that picture of Peter stepping out of that boat, he was prepared to put his life on the line to live out his faith in Jesus and as we know Peter fails a few times along the way but that doesn't seem to bother Jesus that much in the scheme of things. Too many people die wondering, "I wonder what would have happened if I'd had stepped out of the boat when Jesus called me, what if I'd have gone overboard for Jesus, what if, what if?"

Are you living out a life of 'what ifs', missing the opportunities, missing the calls? Well I'll tell you, anyone who has heard Jesus’ call overboard will know what Peter knew in his own experience. Jesus is always faithful, He just is.

I remember the day I resigned from the consulting firm that I was working for. It used to be my company but I'd sold it and the new owners were only too happy to keep me on. Our finances weren't all that crash hot at the time, it was a big leap of faith. Back in the IT consulting game things were safe, life was good, the money was regular and I'd have to say the money was pretty good.

I went through months of struggling this way and that way. Jesus is calling me, should I step out of the boat? It was Jesus calling me out of the boat, it seemed safe back there in the boat, it seemed scary out there on the ocean with Him, always does let me tell you. For me it never gets any easier because the steps of faith He asks me to take just seem to get bigger and harder and scarier.

I don't think it was ever meant to be easy. It's like the first time I jumped off a high tower into the water below on an obstacle course in the army, for me it was scary. The next thing they asked me to do was to rappel out of a helicopter from a few hundred feet up in the air and on and on it went from there.

It's been well, well over a decade since I took that step of faith, leaving behind the security and the reputation of the IT consulting career and stepping into a struggling ailing little ministry of ChristianityWorks as it was back then. And I'm no longer wondering 'what if', I'm so glad I made that step because as tough as it's been along the way, there's been a lot of setbacks and disappointments and doubtless there are many challenges that lie ahead, I know that when I'm sinking Jesus will reach out and grab me.

I know because He does it over and over and over again. In fact as far as I'm concerned it's the only place to be, overboard with Jesus. So let me ask you about your comfort zone and your life, has Jesus been calling you into something and you've been struggling and resisting and it just looks too scary? Let me tell you, take that step, take that step of faith, step out of the boat onto the stormy ocean with Jesus and that's the place where you will discover His faithfulness and His power. You can't do that in your comfort zone.