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If You Don’t Believe Me, Just Watch – Dr. Jamal H. Bryant – Sunday, October 19

Written on . Posted in Sermon Notes.

Series: Make It Make Cents — Investing and increasing using kingdom principles
Scripture: Matthew 14:26–28

“When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. ‘It’s a ghost,’ they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, ‘Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.’ ‘Lord, if it’s you,’ Peter replied, ‘tell me to come to you on the water.’”

Big Idea

Faith is impossible without risk. Jesus is not found in the safety of the boat; He is found in the risk of stepping onto the water. Do not just watch others walk in the miraculous—ask, act, and walk.

Opening Setup

  • Congregational posture of faith: “You are more than able.”

  • Text frames fear vs. courage: disciples terrified; Peter alone asks for permission to step out.

  • Message aim: move listeners from spectators to participants in God’s supernatural outcomes.

Exegetical Observations (Matthew 14:22–33, focus vv. 26–28)

  1. Perception: Storm plus a supernatural sighting produces fear.

  2. Assurance: Jesus identifies Himself and commands courage.

  3. Petition: Peter asks for a personal word: “Tell me to come.”

  4. Action: Jesus’ invitation “Come” turns risk into obedience.

  5. Failure and Rescue: Loss of focus leads to sinking; prayer triggers immediate help.

  6. Witness: The eleven see going and returning, yet never try.

Major Movements & Illustrations

1) Faith Requires Risk

  • Quoted by Dr. Bryant: “C. S. Lewis once said, ‘Without risk, faith is an impossibility.’”

  • Madam C. J. Walker: from poverty and illness to America’s first female self-made millionaire; employed thousands (Dr. Bryant cited 200,000).

  • Challenge: Many saw her model but never replicated it. Once you see it can be done, why aren’t you doing it?

Application: Stop watching; wash and repeat. Move from inspiration to imitation.

2) Watching vs. Walking

  • All disciples saw Jesus; only Peter asked to walk. Eleven watched a miracle and stayed in the boat.

  • Correction: Stop envying people you should be following. If God did it for them, ask and act.

Call-and-Response Cue: “If you don’t believe me, just watch.”

3) Why We Stay on the Boat

  • Risk aversion (Margie Warrell, Brave): humans default to status quo.

  • Loss aversion (Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow): we magnify potential loss and minimize potential gain.

  • Fred Price: “Not making a decision is a decision.”

Reframe: Stop catastrophizing and start expecting.
Daily Confession: “What’s the best that can happen? How good is it going to get?” (repeat over ideas, goals, applications; cf. Romans 8:28)

4) Jesus Is In the Risk, Not in the Safety

  • Jesus is not on the boat; He is on the water.

  • Pursue assignments so large that if God does not intervene, they fail.

Action Verbs: try, go after, invest, launch, apply.

5) Keep Jumping: The Two Frogs

  • One quit and died; the other kept jumping and escaped, misreading discouragement as encouragement.

  • Takeaway: Be deaf to doubt. Keep jumping.

Momentum Cue: Corporate declaration and physical “jump into your future.”

6) When You Slip, Prayer Keeps You From Drowning

  • Peter walked, then sank; the boat saw the slip but not the prayer.

  • Secret of survivors: “Lord, save me.” You only fall as low as your knees.

  • Jesus grabs him and walks him back; the eleven still never try.

Pastoral Exhortation: Develop a prayer life before you jump, or you will regret the jump.

Gospel Invitation and Church Response

  • Get into God’s hands: salvation, church home, relationship.

  • Affirmations used in service:

    • You’re in the right place.

    • At the right time.

    • Joining the right church.

    • Serving the only God.

Declarations

  • “If you don’t believe me, just watch.”

  • “What’s the best that can happen? How good is it going to get?”

  • “I will bless the Lord” in advance of results.

Life Application (This Week)

  1. Ask Big: Pray Peter’s prayer—“Lord, if it’s You, tell me to come”—about one specific, risky assignment. Write it down.

  2. One Risky Step: Take one concrete action in 48 hours (apply, pitch, enroll, invest time, schedule the meeting).

  3. Speak Expectation Daily: Morning and night, declare: “What’s the best that can happen? How good is it going to get?”

  4. Boat Check: Identify the “eleven” voices around you. Replace a discouraging voice with an accountability partner who pushes you to step out.

  5. Knees Before Water: Schedule a daily prayer window to keep you from drowning when focus slips.

  6. Testimony Pipeline: Record one “water-walk” testimony to encourage others to move from watching to walking.

Small Group / Huddle Questions

  1. Where have you been a spectator when Jesus has already said “Come”?

  2. What is your biggest fear if you step out—and what truth from Scripture counters it?

  3. Who is a living example you should imitate rather than envy, and what is your next step to follow their model?

  4. Share one “keep jumping” story from your life. What kept you moving?

  5. What daily practices will help you only fall as low as your knees?

Prayer Points

  • Courage to hear and obey Jesus’ invitation.

  • Deliverance from loss aversion, fear, and catastrophizing.

  • Focus and prayer discipline in the middle of the step.

  • Divine opportunities that make no natural sense and set new standards for families and communities.

  • A harvest of salvations and planted members who take leaps of faith.