Joseph Prince - The Secret to Walking on Water Still Works (01/20/2026)
Pastor Joseph Prince emphasizes that the church was God’s eternal plan, even before Adam’s fall, and that grace means receiving good we don’t deserve because Jesus took the bad we deserved. He draws from Luke 5 and Matthew 14, showing through Peter’s experiences how God’s goodness leads to repentance and how keeping our eyes on Jesus enables us to walk above life’s storms, with Jesus always ready to rescue and bless us.
The Church: God’s Eternal Plan
Another exciting time in the Word of God. How are you all doing? Every time the Lord is with us, something good happens. But you might say, «Oh, Pastor Prince, the Lord is always with us». Yes, but when his people come together, there’s a corporate anointing, amen? There is a stronger manifestation of his presence, so much so to the point that sicknesses can be healed, bondages can be broken. You know, God’s greatest idea long before Adam fell, in the secret of God’s mind, was his Son and his bride. The Son’s bride. The church was in God’s idea, in God’s heart, in God’s mind even before Adam fell. The church didn’t come about because Israel rejected the Lord Jesus as the Messiah.
And then the Father says, «You know what? I’ll comfort my Son and I’ll come up with this idea of a church». No, the church was in God’s heart. And the apostle Paul says that it was a secret, a mystery hidden from the ages. And here you are. Look at you. Praise the Lord. The church of Jesus Christ, alive and well. And the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church, amen? Again, don’t have the impression the gates are attacking you. No enemy attack with gates. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church means we are attacking the gates of hell, amen? To set the captives free, amen. To liberate them, and the gates cannot hold up to the onslaught of the church.
The church of Jesus Christ marches on. Our weapons are not material, amen. Our weapons are not physical weapons. We speak and we preach and we teach and lives are transformed. So as preachers, we should endeavor to put our people under grace, amen. We should unveil to the world, the world understands do good, get good, do bad, get bad. The world understands that, amen. Every philosophy of man teaches that. The world doesn’t understand that we can receive good we don’t deserve because another received the bad that he didn’t deserve. That’s grace. Grace is not basic. Grace is the gospel.
Peter and the Miraculous Catch of Fish (Luke 5)
I want to talk to you about Peter. He was one day by the Lake of Galilee and he was washing his nets, and the Bible says the multitude pressed upon Jesus. I love that. They pressed to hear the Word of God. That was amazing. And in that instant, they didn’t press to get healed. They pressed to hear the Word of God. I believe where the Word of God is preached, people are pressing. You know, the other day I was with my wife at a certain, it’s not exactly a restaurant, it’s a food stall. And it serves really good food. And I told my wife, «Honestly, honestly, if people want to start a food, you know, a food joint or whatever, make the food really good. And you don’t have to worry about advertisement. People will advertise for you», amen.
Pastors and leaders, we must serve good food. And good food is not man’s idea. Good food is all in the Word of God, amen. Jesus is good food, the bread of life, he says. What do you do with bread? You don’t put it somewhere, admire it. You eat it! Just eat it! Eat it! Dee, dee, doo, doo. Eat it! That’s how you nourish. Bread outside won’t help you. Bread inside is gonna help you, strengthen you, amen? Jesus says, «I’m the bread of life». In other words, «Feed on me, » amen?
It’s very touching, how you get bread. You have to crush it, you have to pound it, you have to break it, you have to pound it again before it becomes, then you’ve got to burn it. All a picture of Jesus’s sufferings and the cross, before he becomes the bread of life to the world, amen? Because no man can eat him raw. He’s trice-holy. He has to be broken, carrying our sins for us to come very near. And we’re about to see this happen. So they press on Jesus, and Jesus looked behind, and it’s the Lake of Galilee. Many of you have been there. They press on Jesus. Jesus looked behind, and there were two boats there, the Bible says.
Remember, say «two». He could have gone in either one of them. But the Bible says, Jesus stepped into the one that belonged to Simon… Everything has a purpose. When Jesus comes to you and asks you for a favor, he’s not asking a favor because he needs it as much as you need it. He’s setting you up. Don’t think for one moment if the Lord tells you to give anything, give your time, give your money, give your words of wisdom to someone or whatever, that you’re going to lose it. No, he’s setting you up to bless you. He can do things without us. We cannot do anything without him. So it is a privilege and an honor to be used by the Lord, amen?
So here, the Bible says Jesus stepped into the boat and Jesus says to Simon, «Launch out into the deep. Let’s go to the deep». And by the way, they work all night already and they caught nothing. And Jesus says, «Go down, go in the deep, Simon. Let’s go, and drop down your nets, » plural, «for a big catch». And Peter was watching, «Master, we work all night. We caught nothing»! He needed a greater revelation of Jesus, you know? And he went with Jesus because he said this: «Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net, » singular.
So you can say he obeyed. Yeah, he obeyed, but not completely full. Jesus says, «Let down the nets, » plural. A lot of nets. He says, «All right, we’ll go and we’ll let down the net». And the Bible says they enclosed so much fish that they cannot take the fish into the boat. They had to call for help from their partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. John, the beloved disciple. They call for help. And that’s how much blessings will come when you know Jesus loves you. And he’s not gonna just say, «Follow me, » without taking care of your needs.
The Bible says the net began to break. You ever wonder why the net began to break? Because there’s only one net. The supply was greater than the means to contain it. So God always thinks bigger than you. You think of a job, God thinks of a position. You think of family, just get married to this woman. God thinks of generations. God always thinks bigger, exceedingly, abundantly, above all we can ask or think. And the Bible says when the partners came to carry, you know, that heavy, swollen net into the boat, the boat began to sink… And the Bible says, «At this point, Simon fell at Jesus’s feet, at his knees».
The Bible tells you where. And grabbed his knees and said, «Depart from me! I’m a sinful man»! And I don’t know why Hollywood wants to change God’s Word, you know, but he said, «Depart from me». Something happened to him. Church, it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. You see, he didn’t repent first and then Jesus gave him the catch of fish. Jesus blessed him first, and that drove him to repentance. You must understand: Under the Old Testament, under law, you have to change before God can bless you. But under grace, God blesses you first, and you change. The goodness of God will lead you to repentance, amen?
So remember, we preach repentance, but we preach repentance under the New Covenant, amen. But he didn’t know the Lord that well yet. He realized all of a sudden who was in the boat. «This man is no ordinary man. He is the Son of God». See, he was introduced by Andrew as the Messiah, but now he sees him as the Son of God. «Oh my goodness, I’m in the presence of God in the flesh». And that’s why he fell at his knees and said, «Depart from me. I’m a sinful man». It was a sense of his holiness, grabbed Jesus in the… it’s a funny thing. You grab Jesus’s knees, right? You say, «Depart from me. I’m a sinful man». It’s a contradiction of actions. It is like «I know I can’t be in your presence because I’m so dirty, I’m sinful, yet I cannot live without you».
The Bible says… I believe Jesus had a smile. He says, «Fear not, from now on, you’ll catch men». Hollywood says, «We’re going to change the world». But honestly, I prefer this: «Don’t be afraid. From now on, you’ll catch men, » amen? We need to finish this to let you go. But I just wanna show you how he loves us, how he loves us.
Jesus Feeds the Multitude and Walks on Water (Matthew 14 / John 6)
Now, the Bible tells us another instance, his heart and his hand is sin. At first when he saw the multitudes, and this prior to the feeding of the 5000, he look at them and the Bible says, and I believe that it happened at the Mount Arbel area where the slope comes down, okay? I know one gospel says «belonging to Bethsaida». One day I read that and someone says it’s over at Bethsaida area, but it doesn’t say Bethsaida. It says «belonging to Bethsaida». In other words, during Jesus’s time, Bethsaida, it was farther away, had an area where they cultivated barley, or whatever it is. That area belongs to Bethsaida. And it’s a Mount Arbel area.
Many of you have seen that mountain by the Lake of Galilee. So Jesus saw the multitudes, and it was Jesus, not the disciples. Jesus says, «Where can we find food to feed all this»? He was testing the disciples, and the disciples said, «Lord, just tell them, 'Go back, go wherever, nearby, you know, Tiberias or whatever and get food.'» They didn’t have the heart. Jesus had the heart. Jesus says, «You give them food». You know what happened, right? Five loaves, two fish in his hands multiplied to feed, actually, five thousand men, but women and children, more than ten thousand, with twelve basketful left over.
And the Bible says that people wanted to make him a king. And Jesus left them. It’s so cool. He didn’t come to promote himself. He came, all right, to save man, not for just for their adulation based on the flesh, but he wants them… if they worship him, they worship him because they see who he really is. But they wanted a king like David to oust the Roman, you know, control and hold on their land. «Let’s make him the king». And the Bible says Jesus… now, it’s not recorded for us how he did it. He sent them away. He sent all of them away.
First of all, he sent his disciples down first. Mount Arbel, he sent them to go across the lake. He tells them he’ll meet them on the other side, all right? I assume that happened or else they would not leave. So Jesus sent them first, the disciples, took care of the disciples, took care of the crowd. That was daytime. He went up the mountain after that, that’s Mount Arbel, went up, after the disciples left, quite some time already, dismissed the multitude. That’s amazing by itself. And he went to pray.
Now he’s on an elevation. This is a picture of where Jesus is right now. Everything in the Bible, Peter is not Peter, you know? Peter represents you and I… The living stones. Whatever happened to him is how Jesus will take care of you, how he will love you, how he will challenge you, how he will cultivate you until you become a pillar. Can I have a good amen? And the story of Jesus going up the mountain, it’s like today. Jesus is at the Father’s right hand, the mountain. And the Bible says, when night time came, at the fourth watch, which is the darkest time, they say darkest before dawn, that’s the fourth watch. Fourth watch is 3 a.m., the last third, 3 a.m. to 6 a.m., the darkest.
The Bible says from the mountain Jesus looked down. He was praying, don’t forget. He looked down and he saw his disciples, they were still rowing. Nine hours have passed. They were still rowing. And the Bible gives us the distance they rowed. They only rowed 3 miles. The destination to Capernaum to which they were going to was 10 miles from where they were. After nine hours, they were not nearer. They were only 3 miles after nine hours. You know why? The winds were strong. The winds were blowing against where they were going… Progress is hard without Jesus. It’s like three steps forward, two steps backwards all the time. It’s slow, you know, when you don’t have Jesus in your boat.
So the boat is a picture of the church, amen. And Jesus on the mountain is where he is right now. Does he still have the same eyes, the same heart, the same hand of power? Does he care? In the darkest period, he looked down; he saw them. Those eyes, like the eyes of doves, saw his disciples rowing against the wind, the Bible says. After nine hours, only 3 miles out of 10. And the Bible says a strong wind was blowing, boisterous, and Jesus came walking on the water! How cool is that? Wind blowing, his hair fluttering in the wind, his clothes. And it was in the darkest time! Lake of Galilee is the lowest lake in the whole world, okay? Six hundred feet below sea level.
And many a times the funnel, the Via Maris, where the Mount of Arbel is, all right, because it’s low, winds will go through this like a funnel. It will come suddenly. You can’t even tell, even experienced fishermen. My pastors and me got caught one time. We cannot go any further. The fisherman’s boat, the fisherman who was on board, they gave us that business that night because people don’t travel at night. We are crazy. I told the pastors, «Let’s do the boat ride at night».
And there was… we love doing things like this, but there was one night we cannot go any further because the winds were choppy. Imagine, rushing through. The waves suddenly developed, all right? They were caught, and Jesus came. The Lord is above the storm, the Bible says. The psalmist says, «The Lord rides the floods, » amen? And then the Bible says the disciples look out. Don’t forget, it’s very dark, and they say, «WHOA, WHAT’S THAT? IT’S A GHOST»! It all depends which generation, all right? If it’s a girl in the boat, they’ll say, «It’s a vampire. He must be handsome, » you know? But if it’s a teenager, it’ll be like, «Is it Incredible Hulk? Is it Iron Man»?
No, friends, it’s the God Man. And Jesus’s answer was, in the Greek, «I Am». That’s the name of God. «Don’t be afraid. I Am». I love it. When Moses asked, «What’s your name, O God? If you’re sending me to the people of Israel, I’ll need to tell them your name». «I am that I am». And now the I Am is in the flesh. He says, «I am». And straight away Peter… who else? Peter reminds me of all of us, impulsive, boisterous, engage the mouth before you engage the brain. I know some of you, you are self-righteous, you say, «I know someone who’s like that». No, no, this is about you and me, amen? And he says, «Lord, if that is you, bid me come»! Jesus says, «Cool man, come».
Okay, he says, «Come». And the Bible says Peter looked at Jesus and began to do what Jesus did: walking on the water. As long as your eye is on Jesus, you can do amazing things. People, as long as your eye is on Jesus. Do you all know what happened? It’s a famous story. When he saw the… he was walking on the water. When he saw the winds, boisterous! Means what? «He took his eyes when he saw the winds» means what? He took his eyes, come on, off Jesus.
You see, you forget that your supernatural ability does not come by doing more, fasting more, praying more, praying by casting out, casting in, swinging here, being still, you know? It comes by looking at Jesus. It comes by looking away from self with all its good and its bad, with its depression and all its exhilaration. You can be up here… Before the day is over, you are down there… Look away from self. There is no satisfaction in self. We think that God wants us to be consciously holy. No, God, in fact, when you are consciously holy, you are satisfied with yourself. God wants you consciously weak and satisfied with Christ, putting everything in Christ. And the Bible says he looked at the winds and he began to sink! You see?
People say, «Well, Pastor Prince, I don’t understand. Your sermon’s all about Jesus». All about Jesus because we are building a supernatural people. We are building people who can walk on storms, hm? You think that this is not a practical message, a message that unveils Jesus? It is the New Covenant message. It produces right believing, obedience of right believing. As long as his eye was on Jesus, he was doing what Jesus did, above the storm, above the trouble, above the vicissitudes of life.
You see, as long as he put Jesus between him and the circumstance, he put Jesus, he’s okay. And you’ll be okay as long as you put whatever you are beset with right now, sickness in your family, financial downturn, a bad habit, addiction. As long as you put that thing, all right, not between you and Jesus, but put Jesus between you and the thing, you’ll be okay. You will conquer the thing. But as long as you put that thing between you and Jesus, and that thing becomes bigger and bigger, you don’t see Jesus, you are going to sink. He sank. He began to sink, all right? And Jesus got hold of him.
Now, friend, listen. Peter was too slow to reach Jesus. But Jesus was not too slow to reach him in plenty of time, hm? He was quite a distance. How did he make it? He does it for everyone that’s sinking. You’ll feel a strong hand holding you. Yes, he will teach you the lessons of walking in the Spirit, but when you fall, he doesn’t abandon you, he’s gonna hold you. And being held on by his strong arms of love is better than holding on to him with your weak hands. And Jesus, the Bible says, went back to the boat. Now, in the other accounts, it says, «Immediately, when he stepped into the boat, the wind ceased».
John 6:21 is amazing. You must see this. John 6:21, «Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land». Three, four miles, bang, he stepped in, the wind ceased, they were on land, the mist cleared, they say, «What is this? We are in Capernaum». And the world is talking about teleporting. You’ll make progress when Jesus is in your boat. You’ll make progress when he is in your marriage. You’ll make progress when he is in your school, in your career, all right? Whatever you’re doing it’s the presence of the Lord, who is there to love you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He will teach you lessons, but when you fail, he doesn’t abandon you. He’s there in plenty of time, amen?
Closing Benediction
Lift your hands all across this place and everywhere that’s watching this right now. This coming week, my friend, the Lord is alive. And he is our High Priest at the Father’s right hand. One of these days, he’s coming, splitting the clouds and coming for you and I. And this is what I see the Lord doing: stretching his hands over you and your families, saying to you, «The Lord bless you with the blessings of Abraham, the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. And the Lord keep you. The Lord preserve you and your loved ones throughout this week from dangers, from accidents, from sickness and disease, from sudden death, from all the powers of darkness, from all the power of the evil one. The Lord make his face shine on you, be favorable to you. The Lord lift up his countenance and grant to you and your loved ones his shalom peace, » in Jesus’s name. And all the people said amen, amen, amen.