We're in the middle of a series on the miracles of Christ and last Sunday we looked at the miracle of Christ walking on the water and Peter being called out of the boat to join him and what unfolded there and this morning we're going to be going back to that very same miracle looking at one particular aspect of it that's told at the end of the story. Found in Matthew 14 verses 22 to 33. God's word, here we go. Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds and after he had dismissed the crowds he went up on the mountain side by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be 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 came to Jesus. When he saw the wind and was afraid and beginning to sink he cried out, Lord save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him, oh you of little faith why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat the wind seized and those in the boat worshipped him saying truly you are the son of God this is the word of the Lord father from the beginning of our Bible to the end from Genesis to Revelation we are told that you are God and Revelation reveals to us through the word your son that he is the word and we are taught from Genesis to Revelation the way of salvation is in Christ our Savior where we pray that this morning you would save us that you would restore to us the joy of our salvation that we would be reminded of the great things that you have accomplished in the gospel and that we would respond with hearts full of awe and wonder and joy and hope and anticipation of who you are what you have done and what you still have promised to do bless us this time of the preached word and changes we ask in the name of our Savior amen well Jesus is on the water and Peter is on the water this event told in scripture really happened two men one fully man fully God is walking on the sea the sea that he himself created in the midst of the wind and the waves that he also created and then there's Peter also on the water but only man no God Peter had this experience that no other human being has ever known of walking on the surface we call water and there his Savior sees him coming towards him and Peter begins to stumble he falls he sinks because he has fear as he sees the wind and he experiences the waves this miracle has Peter crying out as he's sinking Lord save me and you see what Jesus does the word tells us immediately he doesn't first say Peter where's your why are you doubting Peter where's your faith he immediately as Peter is going down reaches out his hand and grabs hold of him and he pulls him up he saves him he rescues him our Lord he didn't rescue Peter because Peter was perfect in his faith in fact Jesus knew that there would be another day on another boat where Jesus himself would be on the shoreline cooking fish and out in the distance there would be many of the same men there were in that boat when Jesus walked on water and Peter walked on water and they would recognize and Peter would jump out of the boat he would not walk this time on the water but he would swim to his Savior and when he got to his Savior Jesus asked him three questions one question three times do you love me yes Lord you know that I love you do you love me yes Lord you know that I love you do you love me yes Lord you know all things you know that I love you but Jesus asked Peter three times because on another night three times and the midst of another storm is Jesus was going to the cross going in judgment placed on him by evil man sinful man three people pointed Peter out and said he belongs to Jesus he belongs with Jesus and three times three times Peter said I do not know him I am not with him and then the rooster crowed Peter was sinking again I can't fully comprehend what Peter must have felt as Jesus went to the cross but now on another day on that shoreline Peter sees Jesus once again reaching out saving him that's our Lord that's our God now on this boat in the narrative that we're reading today these men watched this ghost they thought come along the sea these men watched Peter shout out to Jesus if it truly is you Lord tell me to come and then they heard Jesus say come and then these men watched Peter put his leg over the edge of the boat and then the other leg and then stand on the surface of the water just as I am standing here not sinking but standing can you imagine and then they watched Peter take one step and it was solid as he moves to Christ Peter sinks he has faith enough to cry out Lord save me Jesus immediately grabs him where is your faith and then both of them Jesus and Peter end up back in the boat now Jesus with them now Peter with them now picture the scene and what do they do Matthew tells us verse 33 and those in the boat worshiped him those in the boat worshiped him saying truly you are the son of God what else could they do they had just seen with their own eyes and heard with their own ears these words of Christ his feet on the water how has he reached out to save Peter he didn't himself sink and so they worshiped him and their worship consisted of them saying truly you are the son of God they didn't worship Peter there was no worship of a man not even though he had enough faith to get out and go a little ways they worshiped Jesus truly you are the son of God this morning as you hear this story read for you now two weeks in a row a story that most of us have heard at least a hundred times read at least a hundred times does this story which really happened on a real patch of earth which God himself made does this story leave you make you worship could I simply right now say this event really happened Jesus really walked in the water he really reached out and saved Peter they got in the boat and they worshiped him and like them we're going to worship him and close my Bible and say let's worship would it be enough you see this story should lead believers every time we hear it to an awe and wonder at what Christ did every time because what Christ did is amazing it's awesome it defies everything we know and he did it and the same God that did that miracle he reigns as our king he lives to intercede on our behalf and he is spirit is present with us in this sanctuary in every believer right now the very saying God that they worshiped we are called to worship but so often these very familiar stories lack a response that I think is appropriate they lack that awe that wonder how did he do it what did it look like I want to see now it's understandable because there's a great distance between this day and when that happened there's a great distance between this miracle thousands of years have passed and yet it's still the same God the distance that I'm most concerned about isn't the distance of time it's the real distance between us and God that leaves us lacking in the awe and wonder does it make sense the world in which we live so delutes our minds with so many things so much activities so much busyness that when we hear something that's familiar way immediately I've heard that before what more can I learn the point of scripture isn't to make you a smarter Bible beating trivia person the goal of Christianity isn't for you to win a contest it says I can quote that scripture and I can reference that scripture wherever it is scripture is a living and active it moves in us and changes us through the spirit and the response ought to be for all of us one of humility one of awe and wonder that he did this but our worship is so often impacted by this distance of not really being that close to our Lord and what does he do when we confess that when we confess that lack of faith he reaches out he grabs us he holds us because he knows we're going to be fickle he knows we're going to lack faith so in this story I want to focus on one part they worshiped every Sunday we gathered a worship what a privilege what I miss most being unsubbatical was worshiping with this body they worshiped God with awe and wonder we are called to worship God with awe and wonder this Sunday and next I'm going to be preaching on worship I have a very simple outline that is three points this morning I'm going to only deal with the first point and next Sunday the following two here's the three points what is Christ centered preparation for worship the second point next Sunday what is Christ centered participation in worship and third point next Sunday what is Christ centered perseverance in worship here's why the church today in many places of the world is not worshiping God I believe as the Bible it's the Bible clearly teaches us we ought people gather in communities where the Bible is not even taught but people gather in communities where the Bible is taught and it looks as if the people hearing it are dead what we must pray God does is ignites our hearts our minds our eyes our ears are the truth of what this gospel means that our Savior came as a baby he lived on this earth for 33 years those final three years he walked around doing these miracles revealing to people the power that he had so does Father would receive glory and then he goes all the way to Golgotha dying on the cross that people who are known by him would have salvation forever and then he rose from the dead and then he walked up on the earth a little while longer but he ascended to heaven where he is now raining his king and he told us he's coming again and when he does every knee will bound tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and so often people fill pews on a Sunday morning or a Saturday evening or a Sunday afternoon and they hear the same gospel truth and they go through the motions but what they hear they've heard before and it doesn't seem to make that much difference that's what's deeply wrong in the culture and in the church we must ask God to give us new eyes new ears every time we enter the sanctuary so this morning I want to talk about what does it mean to prepare for worship first is this if you were to prepare for the very thing God's called you to do and the very thing you will be doing for eternity you need to understand the priority of worship if you can't go beyond this point that's a good place to start but here it is priority of worship what we are doing right now is a corporate body is the most important thing you are going to do this week you may be in a small group Bible study you may worship in a a women's group or a men's group but gathering together as the church has done throughout history this is the most important thing we do in a given week even the activities within our church though they be many if we had to shut down everything for who knows why but if we had to this hour of gathering for worship would be the very last thing to go even if we had no power no ability to have instruments we would use the main instrument he gave us our voice to sing these great hymns and courses to bring in praise worship is the priority the church is going to do many many things until Christ returns but once Christ returns many of the things that the church is about doing we will do no more for example there will be no board meetings in heaven hallelujah we meet now and and do important things as we consider evangelism and missions and world outreach but in heaven those things accomplished we know we will gather for eternity to worship him right here some of you are going but I don't like the sound of that will you really don't know what you're saying I don't think scripture tells us enough for us to simply say heaven is one long worship service forever I don't know everything that will exist in heaven but I do know this you will never in heaven say I thought it was going to be a little bit better I thought we were going to sing this type of song or perhaps this type of event would happen brothers and sisters we are going to be in the presence of our savior forever and that will be enough it will be beyond what we can imagine right now but as we prepare to worship we must understand that what we do on Sunday mornings matters it's the most important part of your week and if you aren't thinking of it that way stop right there and start considering where it fits the second thing we must understand is that when we come to worship and as we prepare to worship we're entering into a battlefield if this is the great priority for what gods people do as you enter into these doors you're entering into a battlefield a place where Satan is going to do everything he can to keep his people from worshiping God in spirit and in truth he doesn't want his worshiping he doesn't want there to be a fire underneath an inside people that make them express their self in worship he loves it when the church looks dead he loves what happened in Europe he loves what we can see happening in our country he loves it there's a lot of things that we might say our ways in which we could help our country get in the right direction one of them is certainly this come here Sunday after Sunday in the grace of God prepared to worship the one that you know is in control he doesn't want that it's a battlefield what's the battlefield look like open your Bible to Ephesians 6 if you didn't bring one simply turn there to the blue pew Bible in front of you want to read what Paul has written about this battle Ephesians 6 verse 10 this is what Paul says finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil well as you consider coming here to worship we need to be aware that we're entering into a battlefield where the devil has put many schemes in place to keep you from worshiping why listen verse 12 for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers against the authorities against the cosmic powers over this present darkness against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places you see there's a battle and it is here and it's in your homes as you're getting ready to come to worship some of you who have young children or teenage children you know something about this cosmic powers and these rulers and authorities as you go into your child's bedroom and say a little Johnny who's 16 it's time to get ready for church we only have half an hour before we have to leave and Johnny goes right and your husband says how's the little Johnny I don't know if he just spoke in tongues there is a battle that's taking place where the enemy wants to dull the appetite for worship where he wants to distract us by so many things that worship simply becomes one more event that we attend it happens to be on a sunny morning we feel good about it and then we move on we must understand that it's spiritual first we need to be praying for each other for our children for our spouses that we would be so captivated by the joy of worship worshiping the one true God that we enter into this knowing what it is and knowing that our king that we will be worshiping is victorious he is as we think about preparing for worship we must consider some very practical things as well I'm going to put these two in a form of questions that you might ask before you come to worship here's one of them question number one perhaps this is a question you ought to ask on Saturday night are we going to go to worship today many people simply choose not to or they play averages if we go twice a month that's pretty good it's better than so and so that shows you where the priority of worship is you see in preparing for worship what you do on Saturday night impacts the way you worship Sunday morning but what you believe about Sunday morning impacts what you do on Saturday night it impacts what you do as a single person as a young married couple as parents and so often we give no thought to our Sunday worship until we get in the car to leave and come to the church and if you consistently stay up late and give no thought to worship on a Saturday night you will not arrive here in this sanctuary prepared to do what God has called us to do you're simply going to be too tired if you're children high school students I was their pastor for about 20 years in different churches I know what they think about worship and it doesn't matter what church you're in they want to do as little as possible on Sunday morning and as late as possible on Sunday morning there's 300 maybe two hundred three hundred high school kids they go to our Sunday school class at 11 every week but they're not in here how many of them gave a thought last night to what worship would be like they should and as their parents you should help them see that it's important they may say to you I can't follow pastor Davis his voice is so soothing it puts me to sleep well I can speak louder I can shout for those who have those thoughts I wonder how late were they out last night and once they got home how much time do they spend on their computer catching up on Facebook texting the people that they just said goodnight to five minutes before what we do on Saturday night impacts how we worship on Sunday morning how we've used Sunday morning impacts the way we spend Saturday night we must reclaim this time and tell our children and young men and women tell each other hey it's time to go to bed it's time to leave wherever we are let's go and get ready to worship because tomorrow is the most important thing we're going to do during the week so you prepare are we gonna go what time are we gonna get up to go families I know it's hard I have a family there are seven of us my wife and I never fight on the way to church like some of you do do you know why because we never ride together on our sabbatical my sabbatical there were moments when we would be seeking to get ready to go somewhere my wife would simply look at me and say would you please take your own car it's hard why because it's a spiritual battle first it's a spiritual battle it's not just that you're not in the best routine it's not that you don't have everything organized it's a spiritual battle which means that I encourage you pray more get up earlier think about what's going to happen and then get your family moving and then know because it's a spiritual battle that you could have done all of that perfect and you get in the car and your kids start fighting on who's getting shotgun or which song we're listening to in the radio and then dad blows it and says something like all I want to do is go worship God please and then the doors open and everybody looks perfect what are you doing so good to see praise the Lord it's a spiritual battle children those who are here help your parents help your parents help you know it's important but show grace to one another you're gonna have days like that many men you're gonna come to worship having battled lust all week you may pray against it and all of a sudden you enter into the station where and your mind goes quickly somewhere it shouldn't pray quickly for God's forgiveness you see the enemy wants to put you in shame how can you worship God if you're thinking those thoughts women you're gonna have envy run through your blood by the look of another woman or the fact that she seems like she has her family all together pray quickly ask for forgiveness remember who you're worshiping the person your worshiping is the one who gives this grace third question are we gonna go what time do we get up third question what's our password you ever thought about that what's our password to come and worship there is one there's a dress code also some of you are new to my church this church his church and you're saying what does that mean you know password we use them all the time our bank accounts or some other service that you're using online and you have to put in a password it's never the same password how many of you have multiple passwords and how many of you forget what they are and then you have to ask them to send you an email to remind you of what the password is and they send you a question like what's your mother's maiden name or what was your high school mascot and you type it in and maybe you were successful there is a password to come and worship and it's the same for all of us it is spelled J-E-S-U-S Jesus we cannot worship God without access to that throne through the person of Jesus it's impossible therefore our password is Jesus for every one of us your password is not how many quiet times did you have this week how much money did you give to the church how many missions did you go on it's Jesus and on good days and on bad days that password gains you access the hint if you forget it is this the Sunday school answer Jesus is the Sunday school answer and actually because we say something like that we're not overwhelmed we're not in awe we're not in wonder of all the things our children are learning downstairs where they're learning that Jesus is the answer we've lost our wonder stories like Jesus walking on the water don't blow our mind stories like Christ causing a blind man to see our feeling power leave his body when a bleeding woman touches him and her bleeding stops we've lost our awe we've lost our wonder so Jesus is the password to read his government through worship worship is his gift to us we're in a church that can produce beautiful music we're in a church where the elders will make sure the gospels being preached from this pulpit but there's something very dangerous and it's this that as you enter into this sanctuary onto this battlefield the enemy has convinced you that you are the audience and as a participant in worship you fail to see your role you see you are not the audience ever ever the choir is not performing for you ever no matter what Jay Marty and Colin and all the others put together it's never a performance unless it's a concert and it's never a concert on Sunday morning there's only one audience it's God and you and I have the privilege of being the participant the participants the ones who play the ones in the game and it delights him when his people pause before the event happens and they ready themselves by his grace not their performance and suddenly you get it and you realize this is what we are practicing to do forever yes yes that's it and there's not a person in here who would walk out today saying I worship well all the time every Sunday if everyone would worship like me this church would be amazing because it's a battlefield and we get dull and we get distracted but we have this password and it's Jesus every one of us every Sunday we come should think ahead of time about the condition of our soul and the desperate need we have for a savior and then we should ask that savior to help us sing in a way that honors him help us to pray in a way that honors him help us to listen in a way that honors him I think of that great hymn it says help us thy name to sing help us thy praise to bring we can't do it without him every one of us should consider those things before we come in and then when we leave we actually shouldn't rush to be the first people at a restaurant we shouldn't rush home to make sure everything's perfect for the meal as people are coming prepare well you must do those things but we should leave considering by his grace by his grace did I worship him with zeal in freedom because of who I am in Christ or was I more concerned with the people around me and what they thought of me in heaven in heaven and you're gonna love this you will never look to your right or left and be afraid of what someone's thinking about the way you sing about whether you raise your hands or don't or whether you just collapse on your knees and pray during a part of the service it's all okay it's all okay we have a time before forever we but we wish worshiping him in that freedom between now and then we practice and we need each other in that practice if you were paying attention to the club you noted that I got in a pulpit much earlier it wasn't so I could preach a longer sermon so that we could end our service in a different way we're going to stand and sing a number of hymns there hymns of response and things giving to this Jesus who is holy perfect and worthy of the very best worship his people can bring our best efforts this side of heaven will always always fall short but that's why he covers us so brothers and sisters during this time stand and rejoice in what we're singing and ask him to transform you and me even now that we might care less about what those around us think and more about what our Savior thinks and what he has done to make it possible for us to do the very thing we are about to do