Aloha I Ke Akua Christian Fellowship
Senior Pastor Paul A. Kaiwi, Jr. MD
Sunday Morning Service 9:30 am
June 9, 2006
Complacency vs. Taking The Risk
Joke: Three psychiatric patients are eager to be released from the hospital, but the doctor has an examination of their judgment skills that must be passed in order for them to go home. One by one he takes them to the edge of a swimming pool without water and tells them to jump in or not. Take the risk or not. He shows them that the pool has no water, but he doesn’t tell them because they must choose on their own.
The first patient looks at the pool and jumps in without hesitation, hurting his ankle. The doctor tells him, “Sir, you failed the examination, and therefore you must stay another year before the next testing.” The patient left very sad.
The second patient walks up to the pool’s edge, thinks about it, then jumps in. He hurts his shoulder. Again the doctor says, “Sir, you failed the exam and must stay another year.” This patient also leaves sad and discouraged.
The third patient walks up to the pool’s edge, thinks for awhile, shakes his head and says, “No ways I’m jumping in.” The doctor jumped up with joy and said, “Sir, you have great judgment skills and therefore you are released from this psychiatric hospital.” The patient jumped for joy in excitement. Then the doctor asked the happy patient, “What made you decide not to jump into the pool?” To which the patient answered, “Oh, that’s easy. I don’t know how to swim!”
Current Statistics:
People may say, "My family is really important to me." Almost everyone would say that. Yet, statistics reveal that the average father in the U.S. spends 5 minutes a day with his children. We have become complacent with our time with family.
We might say, "Our health is really important to us." Yet, do we exercise? "No." Do we eat right? "No." The 2005 report on American obesity shows that 65% of all Americans are obese. Half of that, meaning 33% of all Americans are morbidly obese: morbidly obese means that they could suddenly die without any warning. We have become complacent with our healths.
Are we materialistic? "Oh,no! Everyone else is but we are not." Is our debt load getting bigger? Are we buying things that we cannot afford? Do we have credit card charges that we cannot pay? The 2006 statistics show 76% of Americans are in debt to credit cards alone, not counting car and house loans, and 96% of all Americans will retire in financial hardship (US Dept. of Health & Human Serv). We have become complacent in our finances.
Is God important to us? "Yes! 95% of Americans in the U.S. say, "God is important to me." Yet only 9% of Americans attend church, and only 2% of Americans are involved in any type of ministry. We are much too busy for God. We have become complacent with God.
-We are complacent & comfortable where we are, therefore we are unwilling to move and improve, unwilling to move closer to God.
Definition of Complacency:
A feeling of calm satisfaction with our own abilities or situations, that prevents us from trying harder.
Text: Matthew 14:22-33
Immediately after this, Jesus made his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. 23 Afterward he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. 24 Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. 25 About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came to them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him, they screamed in terror, thinking he was a ghost. 27 But Jesus spoke to them at once. "It’s all right," he said. "I am here! Don’t be afraid." 28 Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water." 29 "All right, come," Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink. "Save me, Lord!" he shouted. 31 Instantly Jesus reached out his hand and grabbed him. "You don’t have much faith," Jesus said. "Why did you doubt me?" 32 And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the disciples worshiped him. "You really are the Son of God!" they exclaimed.
Storm = crises, problems, trials, tribulations…
Boat = complacency, security, unwillingness to step out in faith.
Jesus = answer to every problem.
Hand of Jesus = the church and Christians in the world today…
Illustration: Complacency
One stormy night, as the gigantic battleship plowed through the seas, the captain was on duty on the bridge when off to the distance he spotted a strange light rapidly heading toward his own ship.
Immediately he ordered the signalman to flash the message to the unidentified craft, "Alter your course ten degrees to the south."
Only a moment had passed before the reply came: "You alter your course ten degrees to the north."
Determined that his battleship would take a backseat to no other ship, the captain ordered another signal to be sent: "Alter your course ten degrees--I am the CAPTAIN!"
The response beamed back, "You alter your course ten degrees--I am Seaman Third Class Jones."
Now in full rage, the captain grabbed the signal light with his own hands and fired off: "Alter your course right now, I am a battleship and I am headed straight into you."
The reply came back. "You alter your course, I am a lighthouse, and you are headed straight into the mountain cliffs."
-When we are complacent and we don’t want to move and improve, then we are headed straight into destruction.
Recent News:
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 unseen. They proclaim their faith mightily and boldly. Please don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with anything they believe, but I do think that if Christians would be just as bold in their faith in Jesus Christ as the Muslims are in their faith of Allah, there would be a worldwide revival tomorrow that nothing could stop!
Let’s talk about the risk takers. It seems that the world has its share of risk-takers, the seemingly unafraid to try anything and everything. Have you noticed those who are not afraid to tackle new skills. Those who just charge ahead into uncertain territories. The world has its share of those who will climb Haleakala just because it is there. Or swim the Kaiwi Channel just because it is a challenge. There are those who appear to move without fear at any number of tasks and they make the hardest tasks seem simple.
-They make the impossible, easy; and the complicated, elementary.
-And when we look at them we admire them as the world’s risk-takers.
-For without them our world would be dull.
-Risk-takers expand our horizon, they expand the boundaries of what is and what can be done.
Risk-takers shatter our ideas and our old, pre-conceived thoughts. Thank God for the risk-takers who bring fresh-air to the old and stagnant, and bring brand new visions to the old dreams.
-We admire their strength. We admire their tenacity.
-We admire their courage; their willingness to run ahead without a cleared-out path.
-We admire them.
Often these risk-takers are not appreciated. Often they are misunderstood. They are called foolish and impractical. We love them and yet we don’t like them at the same time, because as soon as we get used to something they come along and tell us that there is something new…something else that we must do.
-As soon as we get comfortable and complacent these risk-takers come along and shake us up.
-As soon as we learn how to do something they come along & show us there is still yet more to learn.
-They make us realize that we still need to do more. That it’s not over.
Illustration: We thought we had it made with our big and bad, brand new computer. Thought we had the best computer when we got our 286; then they come out with the 386 and we turn around and now there is a 486…Pentium 1, 2, 3, 4, Celeron, Sempron. Soon as we got our Word Perfect 5.0, then there came 5.1 and Word Perfect 6.1, then Microsoft word and Microsoft office. Soon as we got our Microsoft office they came along with Windows 95 and 98, now we’re into Office 2000 XP. What are these risk-takers going to do next?
Thank God for risk takers like Papa Alfred Castro and Mama Kalani, etc.
Church Family I am here today to tell you that God wants us to move out of complacency and take risks for Him. And here are four simple steps in taking risks for the Lord that we find in this mornings text.
1. Call on the Lord – Verse 28, Then Peter called to him, "Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you by walking on water."
-Let us call on the name that is above all names, Jesus Christ.
-In the midst of storms, problems, crises, death, financial hardships, sickness, disease, marriage problems, family problems, teenage problems, addictions, lust…
-Who do we call? Jesus Christ.
-Peter knew that he had to call on the Lord to get through this storm.
-He couldn’t call on his brother, Andrew, or James and John.
-You see they were on the boat and at the mercy of the storm as well.
-For some storms of life, we cannot call on man.
-We must call upon the creator of man, the creator of the waves and the winds, and all things, Jesus Christ.
Like my cousin Lei shared once we must, “Stop telling God how big our problems are, and start telling our problems how big our God is.”
Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV
’Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’
Romans 10:13
"whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Peter knew who he had to call. Let us be sure here today, that in the midst of strong winds and heavy waves, financial problems, marriage and family problems, people gossiping about you, persecution, addiction to drugs, etc…
-In the midst of these problems and any other problem, who you gonna call?
-Call on Jesus Christ, because He is the answer.
2. Listen for His answer – Verse 29, "All right, come," Jesus said.
-Not only do we need to call on Him, but we must also listen for his answer…
-Listen for His answer.
-Listen for His voice.
-Listen for His plan.
-Listen for His instructions.
-Listen for His next step.
Romans 10:17 Faith comes by listening, listening to the word of God.
-Many of us call on the Lord, and when the Lord answers, we say,
-OK I don’t want to do that.
-Or that’s not what I had in mind.
-Or that’s not what I wanted to hear.
I encourage you all to call on Him and then listen for His answer and instructions.
3. Step-Out in Faith – Verse 29, So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus.
I want to encourage us all to be risk takers for the Lord, to take a step of faith, and get out of the boat.
I want to encourage us to be like Peter and walk on water as we keep our eyes on Jesus Christ.
-I don’t know about you, but I don’t know when was the last time I walked on water…Never.
-We need to get out of that boat of complacency and comfort, and step out in Faith for God.
James 1:22 We need to be doers of the Word and not hearers only.
-Let us not be shame, let us step out in Faith
Illustration:
The African impala (antelope family) can jump to a height of over 10 feet and cover a distance of greater than 30 feet. Yet these magnificent creatures can be caged-up in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot plywood wall, because these animals will not jump if they cannot see where their feet will land. Now, Faith is the opposite of that. Faith is the ability to trust when we cannot see, and jump when we don’t know about where we’ll land. With faith we are freed from the enclosures of life that will try to trap us.
-We must take the leap out of our comfort zone, and let Jesus worry about where we will land.
If God calls us to do something, no matter how radical it may seem, do it. If we don’t, the Bible states that we will be guilty of sinning against the very one who is calling us out of the boat.
James 4:17, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”
-If we know that we need to do something for the Lord, then we are held accountable for doing it.
-God may be calling us to do something that seems humanly impossible. Guess what gang? It is.
-It wouldn’t require faith to do something that our flesh could do on our own.
-It doesn’t take faith to stay in bed and pull the cover over our heads.
-It does take faith to step out of the boat and step into the will of God, and that is exactly how Christians are called to live.
For the Christian every step we take in life is an act of faith, not in ourselves or in our own abilities, or in our own goodness, but in our God.
It may mean that we have to go where we have never been, try things we have never done, see what others cannot see, lift those things that others have been unable to lift, open doors that have been closed for generations.
-God is calling us to take that leap of Faith out of the boat.
4. Focus on Jesus – Verse 30, But when he looked around at the high waves, he was terrified and began to sink.
-Peter took his eyes off of Jesus. We need to always keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, because the second we take our eyes off of Jesus, I guarantee this, we will sink.
-We will sink in our problems, sins, storms, marriage, family, health, addictions, trials, tribulations…
Joke: Distraction
The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom & Gomorrah and turned into a pillar of salt.
Then little Jimmy interrupted. "My Mommy also looked back, once while she was DRIVING me to school, but she didn’t turn into pillar of salt, she turned into a telephone pole!”
-When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we will fail…We cannot afford to be distracted.
True Story: Distraction The U.S. Women’s Softball team won medal in Atlanta 1996 Olympic games. They lost only one game. In the fifth inning against Australia, Danielle Tyler hit a home run over the center-field fence. When she was greeted by a crowd of well-wishing teammates at home plate she let the excitement distract her focus and she did not STEP ON home plate. When all of the cheering quieted down, the Australian team appealed to the umpire who then called Tyler out. Rather than scoring a run, Tyler’s blast over the fence gave her team an out. As it ended up, had she stepped on home plate, her team would have won 1-0. Instead, after seven innings of regulation play, the game was tied at 0-0. In extra innings, Australia got the victory with a 2-1 win and the U.S. team took their only loss of the Olympics. It’s not enough to hit a homerun; you have to touch all of the bases as well.
-Distraction! We cannot afford to lose our focus on Jesus Christ, and be distracted.
-When we take our eyes off of Jesus, we will surely fail. We will surely lose.
-But when we keep our eyes on Jesus and remain focused on Him, He will lead us into victory.
-He will cause us to walk on water. He will cause us to go through our problems and storms.
-It doesn’t matter if the waves are big or the winds are strong, He will take us through them.
-Let us remain focused on Jesus. Conclusion We have seen four simple biblical steps in moving from complacency into taking risks for the Lord.
1. Call on the Lord
2. Listen for His answer
3. Step-Out in Faith
4. Focus on Jesus
Illustration: The Richest Place On Earth
“The richest place on the earth is not the diamond mines of South Africa or the gold caves of Ecuador. It is not the oil fields of Saudi Arabia, or the uranium excavations of the Balkans. Neither is it in the mineral deposits of the Dead Sea. No, the richest plot of land on this planet is in your very own neighborhood. You may have even passed it this morning. It’s the cemetery.
That’s right! The graveyard is the wealthiest place in all of creation.
Beneath those rectangular pieces of dirt and heavy tombstones lie countless unsung melodies and unwritten poems. The grassy plots overflow with brilliant ideas that could have changed and transformed entire communities, could have rehabilitated the lost, and could have given hope to the weak and weary. Our burial grounds are filled with unattained successes and unfulfilled dreams.”
The cemetery is the richest place on earth. Are we going to add to the riches in the cemetery? Or are we going to take risks for our God, Jesus Christ? The world is out there waiting for us to make a difference.
In closing, please church family, I want to encourage each and everyone of us here today to get out of our boats of complacency and take the risk for God.
