Extreme Faith,
Getting Out Of The Boat
SHOW VIDEO CLIP –EXTREME SPORTS
Prayer
One afternoon Peter and his friends got into a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. Jesus wanted to be alone (He was off in the hills praying), so they were boating without him. But Peter didn’t mind – he’d been on boats his whole life.
BUT before too long they were no longer just cruising across the lake catching rays – a storm came blowing in – and not just a little one, this storm was big… Matthew says the boat was “buffeted” by the waves. In fact it was so violent that about the only thing the disciples, who were seasoned sailors could do, was to keep the boat upright. And I imagine that as the waves with great force pummeled the boat that they probably wished that the sides of the boat were a little higher and a little thicker…
For over 8 hours these 12 men fought against the sea. Imagine fighting the sea and the wind for 8 straight hours – with no rest, no cabin to down into, no time for food, Dramamine – and after those 8 hours they were still in the middle of the lake – they were getting nowhere… Their arms and legs were without a doubt throbbing with pain… their bodies soaked to the bone – their hopes fading fast – by 3 in the morning I am certain that the disciples were no longer worried about getting to other side – they just wanted to stay alive, to keep this thing afloat.
Then one of the disciples holding his hands above his face to block the wind & water, noticed a shadow moving toward them on the water. Was it just a wave, another boat? As it got closer, it became apparent that it was a person walking on the water.
Take a momnet to let that sink in.
How would you have react if you were them? You exhausted, FOR 8 hours you’ve been fighting the sea non-stop, hoping to stay alive… And then in darkness you see someone walking on the water towards you. “Do you see what I see…yeah, but it can’t be…”
Sure - these guys had spent a lot of hours on a boat, but they had never seen this before – someone walking on water… They were terrified and they cried out in fear.
Now, in hindsight we might wonder how in the world could they not have known who it was… I mean did they know anyone who was able to do extraordinary and supernatural things? Who else could it be… Jesus had just feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish and he had done so many other powerful miracles…that were designed to le them know that nothing is impossible with God.
Now I’ve heard this story – tons of times and so have some of you. BUT in his book, If You Want To Walk On Water You have To get Out Of The Boat… John Otreberg, gives some fresh insight, that I think really adds some awesome color to this water walking event.
SO – just what was Jesus up to, walking around a lake a 3 o’clock in the morning?
Well, we find an awesome clue in Mark’s version of this story. Mark in chapter 6 of his Gospel tells us, that Jesus – “came to them walking on water; and He intended to pass by them.” (NASB) What does that mean? “He intended to pass by them.”
Was Jesus trying to race them – “hey guys I win.” Was he just trying to show them a really neat trick? “Hey guys check this out”
No of course not - but what was he doing?
The answer is found by looking at the Greek word ‘parerchomia’ that is translated (‘to pass by’). You see, this word is a technical term used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to a theophany.
Okay - What’s a theophony? Theophonies were those power moments, those times when Almighty God who is unseen - made a visible appearance into the earthly realm - in order to communicate a message to an individual or a group of people…For example;
God put Moses behind a rock so Moses could see, “while God’s glory passed by” (Ex 33:22)
AND - God told Elijah to stand on the mountain, “for the lord was passing by…” (1 King 19:1)
Understand - there is a pattern to these stories. In each case God had to get people’s attention – through a burning bush, or wind and fire or walking on water. And in each instance God is calling a person to do something extraordinary. Hey you can trust me. You know my character and my competence. You can safely place your destiny in my hand….
In each situation the person that God called felt afraid. BUT every time a person said ’yes’ to their calling, they experienced the power of God in their lives.
Now – before we go any further – I want you to try to put yourself into this story. Picture in your mind just how violent this storm had to be, if it kept seasoned fisherman struggling just avoid being capsized. Imagine the waves, the winds – and the darkness of the night….
AND listen - these are the conditions in which Peter was going to get out of the boat… Now it would be tough enough to get pout of a boat to walk on the water when the sun is shinning and the sea is calm… BUT imagine doing this in waves that are crashing hard against your body, in gale force winds, at three o’clock in the morning, in the pitch dark - when you are exhausted and terrified…
Put yourself in Peter’s place for a moment. You have a sudden insight into what Jesus is doing, the Lord is passing by. He’s inviting you to go on the adventure of your life. But at the same time, you’re scared to death. What would you choose – the water or the boat?
Now, the boat is safe and comfortable. On the other hand, the water is rough. The waves are high. The wind is strong. There’s a storm out there. AND if you get out of the boat – there’s a good chance you might sink. However if you don’t get out of the boat, there’s a guarantee that you will never walk on water. Understand that if you want to walk on water you need to get out of the boat.
Listen – there is someone inside of us – God’s Spirit – and he stirs within each of us telling us that there is more to life than just sitting in the boat. Understand - we were made for much more than simply avoiding failure. The is something inside of us that wants to walk on water – that longs to leave the comfort of routine living – that wants to abandon ourselves to a life of high adventure following God…
BUT – there is just one catch - if we want to walk on water with Jesus – we have to get out of the boat… Now – for Peter it literally was a boat… BUT for you & me – it’s not a physical boat it’s a figurative boat…
Understand your boat is;
Whatever represents safety and security to you apart from God himself.
It’s whatever you are tempted to put your trust in, especially when life gets a little stormy. It’s whatever keeps you so comfortable that you don’t want to give it up even if it’s keeping you from joining Jesus on the waves.
Listen - your boat is whatever pulls you away from the high adventure of extreme faith & discipleship…
AND understand that the call to an extreme faith is a call that God is making even now, to each of us…. You see, God wants all of us to join him of the seas of great adventure,,,
In fact – the only call that God makes is the call of an extreme faith – the German theologian Deitrich Bonhoeffer, who executed by the Nazis because of his faith, understood this, he made the following statement: “When Christ calls a man – he bids him to die…”
Listen – God has called you and he has called me to a life of extreme faith….
NOW – the word extreme is everywhere today – extreme sports is the rage… taking things to right to edge and over… para sailing, bungie jumping, snow boarding.. AND - though I didn’t go to CIY this year I understand that having an extreme faith – one of reckless abandon was one of the main themes.
AND at PK in Nashville they too talked about an Extreme faith.
BUT I want you to understand something – the call to an Extreme Faith, the call to radical discipleship and a life of high adventure and great exploits for God - is NOT a modern phenomena, it is not something some contemporary Christian leader came up with…NO, it has been around for thousands of years… in fact, it is the only call that Jesus makes…
Listen to these words…
“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” Mt 10:37,38
Luke 9:57-62
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” Gal 2:20
Question – does an extreme faith comes easily? NO – it doesn’t. Understand that walking on water does not come without risks… There will be winds – there will be waves there will be opposition… You see, satan does not want you to walk on water… he wants you do stay in the boat…
In fact, he is terrified of people and churches who dare to walk out on the water – who dare to believe that with God all things are possible…
Question – how does stepping out of the boat into extreme faith make you feel…?
SURE – if you step up to the plate you may strike out… BUT if you don’t you’ll never know the glory of hitting a homerun…you’ll feel the emotion of rounding those bases…
Of the 12 disciples only one knew what it was like to walk on water. ONLY Peter knew what it was like to attempt to do what he was incapable of doing on his own, and only Peter knew the feeling, the euphoria of being empower by God to actually do it….
Listen - the Lord was passing by – He was inviting Peter to go on an adventure with him… He was inviting him to step out into the realm of extreme faith, so that he could do something extraordinary… “Peter you can trust me – when I call you to do something – if you follow me – it’s a done deal…”
Man, it had to be sooo awesome – to walk on water – think about it. Jesus called – Peter answered – and it was awesome…
You know in way though, Peter was not the first man to walk on water – you see he was not the first person to step out in faith – he was not the first person to answer God’s call – he wasn’t the first person to do something extraordinary for God…
Understand - God has extended that invitation many times…. The pages of scripture are full of people who were given the opportunity to in faith step out and do the impossible.
Moses despite his own insecurities and the greatness of the Egyptian Empire – step out into the realm of extreme faith, and God’s people were delivered from a 400 year bondage and the Red Sea was parted…
Joshua despite the winds and the waves that beat against him – despite his own fear of filling the shoes of Moses - stepped out of his boat as well – and the river of Jordan parted – and the walls of Jericho came crashing down…
And God passed by – and asked Gideon, a man who when God called him was hiding in a winepress – God Almighty said, “hey Gideon do you want to step out into the realm of extreme faith…are you ready to go on a wild adventure with me.” And Gideon stepped out of his boat as he took on 135,000 well armed enemy soldiers, with a mere 300 men armed only with clay pots and torches….
A young man stared down into the valley and heard the taunts of a 10 foot giant… While an entire army was sitting in a boat. They were not about to step out on to those waves. Then God invites David to go on an adventure with him, into the waters of extreme faith – and listen David got to do did something, that he was incapable of doing on his own – and the 10 foot giant fell…and God’s enemies were defeated, as an entire army could only wonder what it was like…
A Jewish orphan who had become the Queen of Persia – was asked to step out in faith and risk it all in order to save her people from annihilation… And despite the winds and the waves… Esther got out of the boat and her people were delivered…
A man with a good career was ask to leave it all and go back to his homeland and rebuild walls that had laid in ruins for over 100 years, and Nehemiah stepped out into the realm extreme faith…and those walls were rebuild in 54 days….
Yes the pages of scripture are full of water walkers…of people who said, “God if you are in this thing so am I – Let’s go for it!” – in fact there is a whole chapter dedicate to them (Heb 11)
Understand - the only thing keeping us, keeping you from walking on water is our boat. Question - what is it that is keeping you from stepping out into a life of extreme faith…?
Maybe it’s fear – a fear of not being able to give up some the things you’ve been holding on to for so long OR the fear that if you really put him first in your life that somehow you’ll get ripped off…
Maybe it’s pride – you’ve been spending years convincing yourself and others that you are already out there on the water… and to step out means to admit you are not where you are pretending to be…
Maybe it’s a career, or a relationship, or some sin you don’t want to leave behind, maybe it’s your fear of people finding out about some sin, you live in secrecy in constant fear of being exposed…maybe it’s self doubt and insecurity, maybe your just afraid that you won’t like walking on water…
Many things could be holding you back…
BUT - listen – the Lord is passing by and he is inviting us to go on an adventure with him, He is saying let’s do some extreme stuff – what do you say we do immeasurable more than
You could even imagine or dream of….
WHY stay in the boat when you can walk on water….
AND – do know what church - God Almighty is passing by… AND he wants us to step out of the boat – and join Him on a great adventure for his kingdom… God is giving us the opportunity as a body to walk the waters of an Extreme faith. He wants us to step out of the boat and attempt something great for His kingdom – something that without him would be a guarantee sinking…
AS I said a couple of weeks ago in our message remember the titans, we are on the threshold of something awesome here…
Talk about where we have come in the last 3 ½ years…
It is just that simple we cannot grow beyond what we are without expanding our building…
AND as you know, plans are well on the way to do just that…
DESCRIBE – things involved in the expansion…
AND listen - as our physical building expands our spiritual one will explode…
Here is how I figure it… If 3 ½ years ago there was about 80 or so of us and in those 3 ½ years 150 people in faith & repentance were baptized into Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit… THEN – in the next 3 ½ years if we are starting now with 240 of us (3 times as many) – THEN we should bring at least 3 times as many people to Christ – or about 450 people in 4 years…
BY 2006 we could be a church of 600-700 giving about $ 100,000 a year to missions with a bunch of ministries to the community…
In my check it out class, I teach a section on our vision as a church I conclude with these words;
At Central what we want to do is GO into all the world and make Disciples ... And a disciple is a follower of Christ. A disciple imitates Christ - does what He did.
And if It was necessary Christ to come in the flesh for us to really understand God - AND it is also necessary for Christians to be Christ in the flesh, in order for the world to see & understand Christ
AND our dream at Central - is to live out the awesome plans God has for us...
A dream for Central to be the church that the Lord wants her to be, a dream for us to be His chosen bride in all her glory.
To be a church where Jesus Christ is lifted up. To be a place where lives are touched, bondage’s are broken and hearts are mended... To be a place full of people who love God - love people and reach out to the world...
To be a church where we encourage one another, accept one another, honor one another, serve one another, bear with one another, forgive one another,. carry one another burdens, build each other up, confess our sins and pray for one another, AND love one another deeply from the heart...
To be a church that is radically on fire for Jesus Christ....
To be a church full of people who are; real, alive, sold out, transformed, light bearing, soul saving, hope giving, life changing, prayer believing, bible toting, scripture quoting, truth sharing, love living, marriage restoring, family building, sin hating, God loving, Jesus lifting, satan crushing - believers....
We want to be a church that when the world sees us, they know that there is something different here -- that something is going on that cannot be explained by human reasoning or effort.
To be a church where God adds to our number Daily those who are being saved.
Question - DOES that sound pretty awesome or what?
CAN you imagine how awesome it will be?
Do you think that all these things are something God would approve of?
So, how does all this sound to you?
Does it pump you up?
Does it stoke your fire?
Does it make you want to say like Peter did on that stormy sea – “Lord if it is you tell me to come…” Does it make you despite the winds and the waves want to step out and feel the water underneath your feet?
AND to expand our facilities so that God can start adding to our number daily will only cost us about $ 900,000…
Do you feel the wind?
Has your eyes shifted from Jesus and walking on the waters of an extreme faith to the waves?
Let me ask you a question - What if Moses, Joshua Gideon, David, Esther or Nehemiah would have the winds & waves – the opposition stop them…?
God’s people would have remained in bondage.
The Red Sea would not have parted
The walls of Jericho would not have come down
Goliath would have continue his taunting
The Jewish people would have been destroyed AND the walls would not have been rebuilt…
History would have been so different if they would have stayed in the boat…
SO do you think we should step out of the boat?
Will it be easy? NO…
Will satan try to scare and stop us? YES
Will he win? NO - we will pray that bad boy right out of here…
Listen the worst failure is not to sink in the waves the worst is to not get out of the boat…
You know I love those stories of water walkers – David – Nehemiah..etc, I love to read about people saying yes to the Lord when he says come on lets do something awesome….BUT do you know what there were also times when God’s people said no to the offer of extreme faith..times where the boat was just too comfortable and the waves too intimidating…
Numbers 13 – a whole nation says no to God and the never get to live in the promise land…
[just like the 11 disciples didn’t know what it was like to walk on water an entire nation never knew what it was like not to live in the land of promise…]
Friends – let’s not get to the end of our lives and regret all the things we could of done for God
AND let’s not as a church look back and say I wonder what could have been IF we stepped obeyed God’s call…
READ Page 27 of book….
