Dynamic Christianity
Matt 14:25-33 NIV
• The activity in a Christians life should be active not passive.
Many Christians have enough religion to make them decent but not enough to make them dynamic.
• Many follow only wanting to be blessed.
• Christianity should be a blessing to any that we come across in life.
ILL. Made to stretch
God created man something on the order of a rubber band. A rubber band is made to stretch. When it is not being stretched, it is small and relaxed; but as long as it remains in that shape, it is not doing what it was made to do. When it stretches, it is enlarged; it becomes tense and dynamic, and it does what it was made to do. God created you to stretch.
Problem: Many have a selective hearing of God’s word. (Only what we choose to remember)
• Matt 11:29 NIV ( Rest, comfort, peace )
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
• Matt 7:7-8 NIV (Give me, Give me, Give me, )
7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
A man with Dynamic Faith: Peter Matt 14:25-33 NIV
25 During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It’s a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid."
28 "Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."
29 "Come," he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
Commentary
How many would think to get out of the boat like Peter and try to walk on the water.
The fact is many ask why didn’t Peter have more faith. He was a great man of faith.
He took steps that many wouldn’t even think about.
His step are still making a difference today.
In reality
• We put things off we don’t want to do.
• We forget the things we don’t want to remember.
• We only do what we absolutely have to do.
• Many follow Christ only for their own need, instead of the needs of others.
• Excuses are easier to us than faith.
Luke 9:57-62 NIV
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."
58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
59 He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family."
62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."
Dynamic Christianity takes steps of faith
Dynamic Christianity moves past a comfort zone.
What would have happened if:
Noah was to occupied with his life and didn’t build the ark
Moses didn’t have time in his schedule to obtain the freedom of Israel and then lead them.
Paul refused the call upon his life.
The person who led you to Christ, didn’t.
Your faith was passive and not active, what difference would it make.
How to have a dynamic Ministry
(Personal acquaintance with Christ necessarily precedes a dynamic witness to others.)
Before he entered the ministry, and while a practicing attorney, Charles Finney attended services where the minister consistently taught opposing doctrines. In the same sermon he would urge people to repent, then say that repentance came only from the Holy Spirit. Or he would say that sinners could not be saved until they believed, then add that they could not believe until the Holy Spirit changed them.
In private conversations Finney found the pastor mystified by his own sermons. Little wonder he confused others; he confessed he had never resolved the differences in his own mind. He preached only what he had heard others say, not what he had concluded personally.
Personal acquaintance with Christ necessarily precedes a dynamic witness to others.
All those charged with teaching the gospel, in whatever capacity, need to clarify for themselves areas of doctrine still incomplete from neglect or indecision.
Sharply-focused messengers communicate sharply-defined messages.
Ill. Dynamic Power
In a cemetery in Hanover, Germany, is a grave on which were placed huge slabs of granite and marble cemented together and fastened with heavy steel clasps. It belongs to a woman who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Yet strangely, she directed in her will that her grave be made so secure that if there were a resurrection, it could not reach her. On the marker were inscribed these words: "This burial place must never be opened."
In time, a seed, covered over by the stones, began to grow. Slowly it pushed its way through the soil and out from beneath them. As the trunk enlarged, the great slabs were gradually shifted so that the steel clasps were wrenched from their sockets. A tiny seed had become a tree that had pushed aside the stones.
The dynamic life force contained in that little seed is a faint reflection of the tremendous power of God that works through our lives.
• If we have a dynamic faith the size of a mustard seed, not only can we move a mountain, we can build God’s church.
