Matthew 14:22-27
Jesus is Bigger Than Your Storm
Following Jesus is not a storm-free life. In Matthew 14:22-27, Jesus sends his disciples across the lake into a storm, prays for them on the mountainside and comes to them on the water in the fourth watch of the night. He turns a crisis into a classroom, and their courage comes from his presence, not from the storm going away.
Message notes
Pastor Pat’s first message back from sabbatical came on a weekend when a storm was hitting Hawaii, and he notes the title had been chosen months earlier. He reads Psalm 93 from the daily reading plan: “Mightier than the thunder of the great waters… the LORD on high is mighty.”
He tells two storm stories. As a teenager in Illinois, a summer storm rolled in so fast the thunder rattled his body. Then, this past July, his family took a Na Pali Coast boat tour across to Niihau. The captain warned them it would be “adventurous” and said that once you’re on the boat, you’re on the boat. The waves towered over the hull. His kids loved it. Pat had to trust the captain.
In Matthew 14, John the Baptist has just been killed and Jesus has fed the 5,000. Then he makes the disciples get in the boat while he dismisses the crowd. Jesus knew the storm was coming, and they were in his will when it hit. Pat says Jesus “takes what feels like a crisis and he turns it into a classroom.”
Jesus goes up the mountainside to pray. Pat points out that Jesus’ power is never separate from his prayer life, and that Jesus now intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand (Romans 8:34). Looking back on ten years as lead pastor, including 2016 and the shutdowns of 2020 to 2022, Pat admits how often he felt alone when he wasn’t.
Jesus doesn’t come until the fourth watch, about 3 to 6 AM. The disciples may have rowed six to nine hours. Jesus is patient, willing to wait until we exhaust our best ideas and surrender. When he comes walking on the water, they think he’s a ghost.
Pat shares a family story: before COVID, his wife sensed God asking her to sell her business. Pat resisted, but they sold it, and the proceeds carried the family through the year she homeschooled their kids. “Jesus is bigger than my budget.”
Jesus says, “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid,” while the storm is still raging. Courage depends on his presence. Pat calls the church to trust Jesus’ leadership by reading the Word daily, praying through 21 days of prayer and fasting, and asking the Holy Spirit to remind them what Jesus said. He closes by inviting listeners to name their storm and to make Jesus Lord.
From the message
Jesus takes what feels like a crisis and he turns it into a classroom.
Even though it didn’t make sense on my balance sheet, Jesus is bigger than my budget, and he was bigger than that storm.
A life of following Jesus is not a storm-free life. It’s just a surrendered life.
I don’t want to treat you like a ghost. I want to treat you like God.
Life Group discussion guide
Jesus is Bigger Than Your Storm, Matthew 14:22-27. August 16, 2026.
Start here
What is the worst weather you have ever been caught in, and what did you do?
Read Matthew 14:22-27
Open your Bibles and read it out loud together before you start.
What does it say?
In Matthew 14:22-23, who decides that the disciples get in the boat, and what does Jesus do once they leave?
When does Jesus come to the disciples in verse 25, and how long might they have been rowing by then?
In verse 27, what three things does Jesus say, and what has not changed about the storm when he says them?
What does it mean?
Pastor Pat noted that the disciples were in the will of God when the storm hit, just as the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness (Matthew 4:1). What does that tell us about storms and obedience?
Romans 8:34 says Jesus is at the right hand of God interceding for us. How would knowing Jesus is praying for you change the way you face a hard season?
Why might exhausted, frightened people take Jesus for a ghost, and what does that show about how storms affect what we see?
What do we do with it?
Pastor Pat’s crisis was his family’s budget when they sold a business God told them to sell. Where in your work, money or family do you need to trust Jesus’ leadership right now?
What “good ideas” are you still trying before you surrender a storm to Jesus?
If Jesus already told you what to do and it has gotten hard, what would it look like to keep obeying in the middle of it this week?
Pray
Name the storm you are facing, even in a whisper. Then pray back what Jesus said: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” Ask him to turn this crisis into a classroom where you see him for who he really is.
New Hope Hawaii Kai. Watch the message and read the notes at newhopehk.org/sermons/jesus-is-bigger-than-your-storm/