The word “walk” in the Bible often symbolizes the way in which we live; the way we act; and the way we conduct ourselves. It often depicts life as a journey, and it shows that Christians are people who travel around to other places.
To ‘walk by faith’ is actually to live in the ’confident expectation of things yet to come’ your way. The people of this world are influenced by things they can see. They live for wealth, power, possessions, and for the things this world can offer them. But the Christian looks beyond this world with a conviction that believes there is a better place waiting for us.
And so, to walk by faith requires that we become familiar with the promises of God. The bible is filled with His promises, and for those who believe, nothing is more encouraging to our faith than reading His promises. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. Faith is to believe in what you cannot see.
We all know that Jesus walked on the water. Have you ever thought how it would feel if you could do the same thing? Soon, you will be able to do just that – well, almost. See, there is a company that is planning on building a bridge in the Sea of Galilee, near Capernaum. You heard me right; they are going to build it ‘in’ the water.
They plan on building that bridge about 2 inches under the surface, so that tourists can walk out on it, and have their picture taken so it will look like they are walking on water. I think that is kind of cheesy, but I am sure somebody will get rich from it.
Everybody wants to be a risk taker, don’t they; even when it only looks like they are taking a risk. I have often considered myself to be somewhat of a risk taker in my life, and I am not making light of taking risks. Actually, taking risks is a very necessary part of life. Without taking risks, nobody would ever leave their homes to go to work.
Without taking risks, no young man would ever put his entire ego on the line to ask a young lady out – just to be told ‘NO’ the majority of the time. (Or, was that just me?)
Of course, like anything else, there are many people who take it to the extreme.
A lady by the name of Anna Taylor was a major risk taker. She was the first person to ever go over Niagara Falls. Well, she was the first one to ever do it and live, that is. (How does a human ever come up with thoughts like that in the first place is beyond me.)
Speaking of risk takers; do you know what the last words of many risk takers were? “HEY GUYS, WATCH THIS!”
There is a story of a woman who was walking down a city street and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she heard a voice in her ear say, “STOP!” Startled, she stopped, and as soon as she did, a brick falling from a roof hit the sidewalk right in front of her. Had she not stopped, she would have been hit in the head and probably killed.
A few days later, she was downtown and was preparing to cross a busy street and again, that same voice told her to “STOP!” She did, and a car came whizzing by and missed her by only six inches. The voice saved her life twice.
Recovering from the fear, she asked the voice who he was. The voice said he was her guardian angel, and was sent to keep her safe. Angrily, she said, “Well, where were you when I got married?”
There is another story of a risk taker. Willie talked a little about this story last week. It is found in MATTHEW 14:22-29.
“22- Immediately, Jesus told His followers to get into the boat and go ahead of Him across the lake. He stayed there to send the people home. 23- After he had sent them away, he went by Himself up into the hills to pray. It was late, and Jesus was there alone. 24- By this time, the boat was already far away from land. It was being hit by waves, because the wind was blowing against it. 25- Between three and six o’clock in the morning, Jesus came to them, walking on the water. 26- When His followers saw Him walking on the water, they were afraid. They said, “It’s a ghost!” and cried out in fear. 27- But Jesus quickly spoke to them, “Have courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” 28- Peter said, “Lord, if it is really You, then command me to come to You on the water.” 29- Jesus said, “Come.” And Peter left the boat and walked on the water to Jesus”.
Talk about taking a risk! Here they were in a boat, and the winds were making the crossing very dangerous. In the dark of night, they see somebody walking across the water! No wonder they were scared; I think we would be, too!
But what happened? Peter had the courage and the faith to actually step out of the boat and start walking on the water to go to Jesus. Peter didn’t do that because he had ’knowledge’ that he could do it. He did it because he had the ’faith’ that he could do it.
I know that we have some very brave people in this church, and if asked, some might even say they were heroes, but I really don’t think there is anyone in here that is brave enough to go out in a boat during a storm, at night, and then get out of the boat and start walking across the water.
That takes a child-like belief in something that our natural senses say is impossible. It takes pure and honest faith. That is something that too many of us lack today, isn’t it?
Peter took His eyes off Jesus for just a moment and focused on the storm around him and what happened? He started sinking. But Jesus reached down anyway and saved Peter.
When we are in our life’s storms and feel like we are being tossed around like that boat was, do we keep our focus on the Lord, or do we take it away and look at our problems?
When we start to go through a valley, do we remember that God has promised to go through it with us? God does not let us go down to the valley while He sits on the other side yelling for us to hurry and get through it. No, God walks beside us and keeps us from falling by putting His righteous right hand around us to hold us upright.
The reason we have so many devastating circumstances in our storms, is because we do the same thing that Peter did. We take our eyes off Jesus, and the very moment we do that, our faith starts to falter and we pay the price.
Peter stepped out in faith and took a risk. The rest of the disciples stayed in the boat, and took none. Most of the time, aren’t we like the rest of the disciples? Don’t we tend to stay in our comfort zones rather than take risks? What would happen to us if we started taking more risks for the Lord? Better yet, what would happen to the Christian church if we all decided to take more risks for God?
Back in the 1970’s, I rode motorcycles. I remember once, I went into a motorcycle shop in Dayton, Ohio. I was looking at new Harleys. Actually, I was not looking at them, it was more like drooling over them. I wanted a new Harley so bad I could taste it.
The salesman came over and started telling me how powerful it was and how sleek it looked and what it could do. I was sold, but I still couldn’t afford to buy it, so I got on my Honda 750 and rode home, albeit somewhat dejected.
A few years ago, I was in Sears in Arizona. I went there to buy a lawn mower. The salesman told me how powerful that model was and how good it looked, etc. He was telling me basically the same thing about the mower that the other guy told me about the motorcycle.
Now, let’s look at these two items. You can ride both of them, but which one is the bigger risk? The bigger risk is the motorcycle, isn’t it?
Now, which one is the most fulfilling? Having ridden both, I would certainly say that the motorcycle is the most fulfilling – by a long shot! What I am trying to point out is that the amount of fulfillment we receive in life is directly related to the amount of risks that we are willing to take. Let me give you an example.
Throughout history, the only times the Christian church had any substantial growth is during the times that it actively reached out to others by obeying the Great Commission, which is found in MATTHEW 28:19-20.
Every time the Christian church has gotten away from the relative safety of their comfort zones and has actually taken risks, the church has flourished.
Today, the fastest growing religion in the world is Islam. If you pay attention to the nightly newscasts and read the papers, you will see that the Muslims do not remain in the shadows and try their best to be obscure. They proclaim their faith mightily and boldly.
Now, I do not agree with anything they believe, but I do think that if Christians would be just as bold in their faith of Jesus as the Muslims are in their faith of Allah, there would be a worldwide revival tomorrow that nothing could stop!
There was a time when our churches challenged her members to reach out for Christ. Today, we all but sit here waiting for them to come to us. Most of you are fishermen, so you will relate to this story.
A fisherman spent half a day picking out just the right campsite by the river. He spent the remainder of that day setting up his tent, grill and other equipment. Early the next morning, he found a nice rock to sit on down by the river bank and he began to cast his line to catch some fish. About two hours went by and he hadn’t had a nibble, but he did notice that the fish were jumping like crazy several hundred yards upstream.
Now, let me ask you a question. If you were that fisherman, what would you do? Would you demand that those fish move on down to where you were so you could catch them, or would you pack everything up and go to where the fish were biting?
Jesus never once said that the lost should go to church. He did say, however, that His church should go to where the lost are. Again, which choice would you make?
Another man wrote a book on how to catch fish. The book was an instant best seller. In a matter of weeks, the man was scheduled to talk about fishing on all the talk shows, and he was kept constantly busy with personal appearances and book signings. Over the next few years, he had taught just about everyone how to fish, but the sad part is that he never actually went fishing; all he did was talk about going fishing.
Many churches spend a lot of time talking about how to reach the lost too; but in too many cases, those same churches do not seem willing to change what they have always done in the past so they can actually reach new people and grow His kingdom today.
They do not understand how the younger generation could worship to certain kinds of music, or they do not understand that today’s generation has a ’sight and sound’ lifestyle and will not go to a church that does not offer what they are used to.
Most people in churches today are like the disciples that stayed in the boat. The disciples waited for Jesus to come to them, and today’s churches wait for the lost to come to them.
We need to start taking risks for Jesus Christ. If you are content to stay home, lock the front door and just watch TV, you are not doing anything for God. And, God will not reward people who do nothing for Him. He only rewards those that are willing to take a risk for Him.
As we go into our time of invitation, may we have the Victory Singers come back on stage?
This morning, I talked about walking down a road that forked into two roads going in two different directions. You are at that fork in the road in your life today. Knowing that you cannot walk both roads at once, you need to make a viable decision as to what you want your life to be.
Do you take the Christian road, or do you take the worldly road? You know all the facts, but do you realize the consequences? Do you want to keep the safety of your lawnmower, or are you willing to have more fulfillment by riding your motorcycle and taking a risk for our Lord?
INVITATION
