Sermon for 2/9/2003
Luke 5:4
Launch Out into the Deep
Introduction:
A. Tuesday February 4, 2003- As a bell tolled seven times, America’s space community wept over the loss of the seven Columbia astronauts at a memorial service on Tuesday in which President Bush vowed the exploration of space would go on.
"The loss was sudden and terrible, and for their families, the grief is heavy. Our nation shares in your sorrow and in your pride," Bush said in an address that paid tribute to each of the astronauts.
Many of them wiping tears from their eyes, thousands of NASA space workers -- scientists, engineers, astronauts -- and the families of those who died last Saturday, were gathered in a sunny courtyard of Johnson Space Center for a funeral-like memorial service of hymns and tearful speeches.
B. Scheduled to land 16 minutes later in Florida, the shuttle instead broke apart about 40 miles up going at 12,500 miles per hour, sprinkling burning fragments of the spacecraft down to the Texas plains far below.
C. The disaster has raised important questions about the future of the shuttle program, such as whether the government had done enough to make the shuttle fleet safe. Columbia was the second shuttle to end in disaster, after the Challenger exploded on liftoff in 1986.
At the service, Bush noted that David Brown had been asked by his brother several weeks ago what would happen if something went wrong on the Columbia mission, and replied "This program will go on."
"Capt. Brown was correct. America’s space program will go on," Bush said
D. “Their mission was almost complete, and we lost them so close to home," Bush said as he began his remarks in a plaza outside Mission Control at Johnson Space Center.
"Our whole nation was blessed to have such men and women serving in our space program," Bush said.
"This cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose; it is a desire written in the human heart. We find the best among us, send them forth into unmapped darkness, and pray they will return. They go in peace for all mankind, and all mankind is in their debt.
WBTU:
A. This cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose; it is a desire written in the human heart. I believe so.
B. I believe that this desire is in every human heart. Some have pushed this desire away because of fears or because of other pressing concerns, but I believe that it is there.
C. To explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life and civilizations,
to boldly go where no one has gone before.
D. I believe that this desire is alive and well in this country. I believe that as pioneering Americans we need something to explore, something to discover for that has been our history.
E. Why did Christopher Columbus try to find a new route to the Indies? Oh yes, for trade, but there had to be an inborn desire to explore. Some were scared but Christopher went. What is out there?
F. Magellan sailed around the world, why, because he had in inborn desire to explore. What is out there?
G. All of the other explorers who came to this land. What is there? Some looked for the fountain of youth, some looked for gold, but they all came trying to discover.
H. Why did the colonists come? Yes, some had to come, but they all had an inborn desire to discover and explore and to see what they could become. If they didn’t they stayed at home. Some who threw off their fears and reached for the new worlds.
I. The pioneers. Why didn’t they stay at the coasts? They were looking for something more, some elbow room, but they really wanted to explore and discover.
J. Why do people go to the top of Mount Everest? To see it for themselves, to explore, to discover.
K. The country was founded by pioneers, adventurers. If we leave out the sea, space is the final frontier. To explore the moon, to explore Mars excites us.
L. Why do people leave what they know and reach for things that they do not know and are unsure about? To explore, to discover, to be more, to see more. To live life to it fullest!
M. (John 10:10 NIV) I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
The Christian life is a life of adventure or it should be! The Great Adventure
Started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last
I opened up the Bible and I read about me
Said I’d been a prisoner and God’s grace had set me free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say let’s go!
Saddle up your horses we’ve got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God’s amazing grace
Let’s follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other... this is the Great Adventure!
Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for
Saddle up...
N. From a non-Christian point of view, who would put "adventure" and "Christianity" together? What could be adventurous about sitting in a church, singing songs written 200 years ago, and listening to a boring sermon from the Bible? If this is all your Christianity is, then, yes, it is very boring.
O. One of the complaints from the non-Christians is that Christianity is boring and dull. If all we see are worship services (some are better than others) then, yes, it is boring.
P. What does the word "Christian" mean to you?
1. To some it means a stiff, upright, inflexible way of life that is colorless and unbending.
2. To another it means an exciting, surprise filled life of excitement and challenges.
Illustration
Sir Ernest Shackleton was a British explorer. He was born in Ireland on Feb. 15, 1874. He was educated at Dulwich College and served in the merchant marines. He was also a lieutenant in the Royal Navy. But he is known primarily for his expeditions to Antarctica. He established all kinds of records in exploring this continent at the bottom of the earth.
On one occasion while he was there, he ascended Mount Erebus, a mountain covered with ice, 13,120 feet high. On January 16, 1909, he determined the position of the south magnetic pole.
On another expedition his ship, The Endurance, got caught in the ice pack and sank. He had to leave 22 men behind. And with 5 companions he made a 1200 mile journey in a 22 foot whale boat through the stormiest ocean in the world to South Georgia, an island off the coast of Argentina, for help. After four attempts, the stranded men who had been left behind were rescued more than ten months later.
On his return trip to the Antarctic, Shackleton had a sudden heart attack and died at sea. His life was a life of exploration, of pioneering, of adventure, and of challenge.
Before taking one of his trips to the Antarctic, he assembled his crew by putting the following ad in a London newspaper.
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages; bitter cold; long months of complete darkness; constant danger; safe return doubtful; honor and recognition in case of success."
The ad was signed - "Shackleton"
Hundreds responded instantly to the call. They were ready to sacrifice all for the elation of adventure and uncertain honor.
Q. This is what Jesus is doing here in Luke 5.
R. He comes to Peter and says in KJV, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. Peter obviously was an adventurous type, so he did what the Lord said and he saw a miraculous catch of fish.
S. Then the Lord called them to be pioneers, to be explorers, to discover great things and to do great things for the Kingdom. And they left all to follow Him. The first explorers for the Kingdom. The first astronauts who launched out into the great unknown.
T. When we launch out we are looking for something, usually a land.
U. But this morning I want to fill you, if I can, with a real desire for adventure- adventure that will take you into little known lands- yet you will not have to leave this city.
Thesis: When we launch out with Jesus, may we explore the following:
For instances:
1. The Land of Worship
A. When I was a young Christian, I was taught how to worship personally. How to connect with Jesus on a daily basis.
B. Prayer and Bible study. Our personal time with the Lord gives us power to live on.
C. The Land of Believing Prayer. Why do we pray on Wednesday nights? (Mat 18:19 NIV) "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. (Mat 18:20 NIV) For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
D. In my prayer group at Vinton- Prayed for Carl McGee and Johnny Miller. They became Christians.
E. It is a wondrous land filled with the Lord’s answers to prayer.
F. The Land of Treasure, the land of jewels. Like Treasure Island. (Mat 13:52 NIV) He said to them, "Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old."
G. The Land of Quiet Meditation with God. Col. Ilan Ramon, 48, son of a Holocaust survivor and Israel’s first space traveler, spoke of the quiet of space and was quoted by Bush as saying, "I only hope that the quiet can one day spread to my country."
2. The Land of Service
A. Most people are too selfish to enter this land; therefore, it remains unexplored. Many of the wonders and joys of this “selfless land” will never be known.
B. I’ll tell you where the great adventure is it is in service.
C. To sit like Danny with 2, 3 and 4 year old, now this is the great adventure. If this is too boring for you, get involved in some way.
D. Can’t think of anything here, get involved in the community and take Jesus to them.
E. (Eph 2:10 NIV) For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
3. The Land of Obedience
A. The land of uprightness, really the land of the free.
B. (Rom 6:22 NIV) But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
C. God has told us how to live in His Word because he loves us and doesn’t want us to be slaves to sin or because he does not want us to suffer from our own actions.
4. The Land of Fellowship
A. (Heb 2:11 NIV) Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
B. I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. When we asunder part, it gives us inward pain. But we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again.
C. Fellowship- Sharing what we have in common.
D. Unlike our family, blood relationships, our spiritual family- our relationship to other believers- will continue throughout eternity. It is a much stronger union, a more permanent bond. On earth, it is called fellowship.
5. The Land of the Lost.
A. 88% of people under the age of 25 do not attend church anywhere!
B. 50% of 18 year olds, leave church and never come back!
C. D.J. Kennedy, “The world is multiplying, and the church is adding.”
D. In the 5th century, When Patrick was sixteen the villa where he lived in Britain was attacked by pirates from Ireland. The boy and many others were enslaved and carried back to Ireland. He was sold as a slave to a tribal chieftain who put him to work herding pigs. Patrick remembered his father’s teaching about Christ and was converted in this foreign land. He came to be known as “Holy Boy” because of his devotion to God. After six years of slavery, he escaped and made his way back home. Several years later God put it into Patrick’s heart to return to Ireland. By the end of his 30 year ministry in Ireland, Patrick had seen 100,000 converts and the establishment of many churches.
E. Like Patrick’s story, may we capture many souls through the gospel and take them away from the land of the lost.
F. Jude- snatch others from the fire and save them;
G. However, these people will not come against their will. (2 Cor 10:5 NIV) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
H. We must win them to the gospel so that they will come.
Conclusion:
A. I have never been to any of these lands.
B. Must go to the land of salvation.
C. Remember Jesus.
D. Enter into the land of plenty; the land of victory; the land of the free; the land of peace; the land of contentment.
E. Let us reach for the stars.
