The Rock And The Hard Place Part 6 Series

The Rock And The Hard Place – Part 6

When We Fall – Get Back Up

Scripture: Matthew 17:14-21; Romans 12:3

Introduction:

In my message last week I told you that we have all had times when we have failed in our faith. We have all experienced situations where we “thought” we had everything under control as it related to our faith only to find out that our faith was not where we thought it was. How we respond to those situations determines if our faith will grow or if we will stay where we are currently. I told you in that message that if we default to “It’s someone else’s faith that failed, it was on them” or “God’s in control and it must have been His will” then we do not recognize failure as it relates to our faith. We must understand that this is a subtle attack of Satan. He wants us to think and then believe that where we “believe” we are in our faith walk is where we are. That is pride talking! I know I am pushing hard on this one, but we have got to do better in recognizing where we are in our faith walk.

This morning I want to offer all of us some encouragement. You see, I know that the first five parts of this series have been difficult to hear, but we all needed to hear it. Believe me when I tell you that since I had to prepare it, review it, and re-review it before it was delivered to you, I have heard them several times and each time it stung. Maybe for some of you my words have gone in one ear and out the other and you are choosing to stay on the path you are currently on with your faith. Maybe for others of you it has energized you to begin evaluating your faith walk and you are now building on what you previously had and are getting stronger. Regardless of where you are in how you are receiving this series, you are still a child of God and answers only to Him. You are not responsible to me for where you are with your faith walk – it’s personal between you and God. As I have told you many times before, my job is to deliver the truth as best as I can and what you do with it is your decision. That has not changed. You are accountable to God for what you have heard. If you’re not taking these messages seriously then I truly pray that you will after today. Believe me when I tell you – God is taking this very seriously!

When my brother and I started this series (yes my brother Barry has played a great role in this series) it came from the awareness that we (he and I and others in the Body of Christ) are all missing the boat at times with our understanding of faith – I will discuss this in more depth shortly. The focus of this series is to help us get us to a point where we land in the boat more often than not as it relates to our faith. To accomplish this requires that we have some serious, hard, and loving discussions with one another. These discussions are for our growth, not our destruction.

Let me paint a mental picture for you so you can visualize what I will reference from this point forward as it relates the boat and the pier. I have never been on a cruise where you travel for several days by choice. I have been on several dinner cruises that last a few hours. Most recently Nikki and I went on one while we were on vacation. As we arrived at the pier, there all sizes of small to medium size ships docked along the pier. There was this long walkway that took you out over the water to take you where the ships were docked. Nikki and I walked along this pier looking at the ships while we waited to board ours. Although the pier was probably ten to fifteen feet wide I had this strange feeling that I needed to walk down the middle so that I would not fall into the water. I knew that I would not fall in, but it was just something in my head about walking down a sidewalk of wooden planks with water on both sides of you – deep water! Can you see this pier?

If you have never boarded a ship off a pier, think of what you may have seen in a movie or on television. Think of the pier as your current situation. It’s where you are right now. It’s what you’re dealing with. Think of the boat as your destination - where you desire to be. This is where you are going. Can you see this? Let’s put this another way. Think of the pier as your current relationship with God. As your relationship grows with God - getting closer and closer to the boat – your faith grows. See the analogy? The more our faith grows the closer we get to where God wants us to be in our relationship with Him just as the more steps we take along a pier brings us closer to the boat that we hope to board.