RE-CENTERED: Lessons I’ve Learned from Walking With Jesus

·33 min·3 clips

A pastor reveals why his child's question about greatness exposes the uncomfortable truth about walking with Jesus.

The episode opens with a reading of Matthew 14:22-33, the account of Jesus walking on water and Peter's attempt to join him. Pastor Eric Mason frames the sermon around lessons learned from walking with Jesus. He begins by discussing commitment, using a personal story about his children believing they can be great without work to argue that greatness requires time and effort. Mason states that commitment assumes disappointment, distraction, fear, and failure, but these remind the committed person they haven't given up. He transitions to the first lesson: walking with Jesus isn't always comfortable, explaining that the new life in Christ is at war with the old life, referencing Romans and Galatians. Mason then analyzes the Matthew 14 context, noting Jesus fed 5,000 before sending disciples ahead while he prayed after John the Baptist's death. He describes the disciples battling wind and waves, emphasizing that Jesus told them to go yet they faced resistance, paralleling biblical figures like Joseph and Daniel who were in God's will despite hardship. The second lesson is that circumstances can make it feel like Jesus isn't there. Mason examines Peter's request to walk on water, his initial success, and his sinking when he saw the waves. He uses an anecdote about his five-year-old daughter Nyla hesitating to jump off a diving board despite safety measures to illustrate how perceived risk causes doubt. Mason highlights that Jesus immediately saved Peter, contrasting human vindictiveness with God's grace. He interprets Peter's doubt as practical hesitation, not intellectual unbelief, and notes Jesus overrides lack of faith. The sermon concludes by asserting God's unchanging nature, using the hymn 'Hold to His Hand' to encourage listeners to trust God through unpredictable life.

As heard by us

A Matthew 14 sermon about meeting resistance without assuming God has redirected the path.

This single-episode review follows a sermon on Matthew 14, with the disciples straining against wind and waves as Jesus comes toward them. The message draws a steady pastoral point from that scene: hardship is not, by itself, evidence that someone has stepped outside God's…

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When the wind is against you, this sermon gives you a reason to keep rowing with Jesus.

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