Sunday, August 23, 2009 - Northeast & Northwest Regions

 

Announcements -- Ron Drabot

Middle Schoolers are sitting with parents during service due to a lack of respect shown to God (texting, talking, etc.).   Parents, please instruct your children how they should behave in church. 
Next Saturday -- Red Cross Blood Drive at the church office
Missions Contribution -- Sept 27

 

Communion -- Keith Currie
Mat 16:21-27
New teaching -- that Jesus would suffer and die
if you want to be great in God's eyes, you have to die
These are not the dreams of the world.  
Jesus' dream was to die and be raised to life
If you're a follower of Jesus -- what does that mean for me?  
Where is the scripture that supports Peter's point of view?    no scriptures say this, they say he will die
When you see Peter later in Acts & the book of Peter - he says "scripture says"   He learned that he has to use scripture to support what he said
We need to do the same thing
we all need correction
Luke 13:31-32   he will reach his goal

 

Bruno
Sam & Bruno did HOPE Youth Corp in N. Philly this summer - they oversaw 70 kids at a camp
The International Campus Ministry Conference was held --1200 total students there, 30 from here

 

Matt 14:22-33  Jesus walks on the water
Jesus fed 5,000 people
now the apostles are in a boat and they're terrified by the storm & Jesus appearing as a ghost
Peter just wanted to be with Jesus no matter what
Is that how you feel about Jesus?  Do you want to be with him more than anything else?
The boat is dry, solid, secure - do you want to say you lived your life in the boat?    If you stay in the boat, you will not taste failure.
How many of us want to say we never took a risk in life?    That we played it safe for Jesus?  
We want to be daring and adventurous,  live on the edge
Bruno has been reading the book:   "If You Want to Walk on Water, You've Got to Get Out of the Boat" for about 2 weeks now (by John Ortberg)
There's more to us than avoiding failure.   What's your boat?   Your safety and security apart from God. Your boat is whatever pulls you away from extreme discipleship.   To find out, think about what makes us fearful to leave the boat.

 

Some of our boats have been sitting in the dock for too long.   Barnacles on them, moldy.   What will it take for you to step out of the boat?

 

1)   Ask God for anything, and make it difficult
Is 7:1-16 (read 9-14)
vs. 11  ask the Lord
If you don't stand firm in your faith, you don't stand at all
We may have great love for God, great knowledge of the scriptures, but a weak faith
We mask our faithlessness by not asking for a sign from God, thinking we're being spiritual
We need to ask God for impossible things
We need to have strong, faithful legs to support us
If we believe and have faith
1 John 5   if we pray, and it's in God's will, it will happen
!s 7:4  stop being in fear and worrying--  what if he steps out and trusts God and fails?
We get afraid to step out in faith because we don't want to fail
We need to align our heart with God's will - God can give us faith in the blink of an eye

 

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -- there was a big gap, he needs to go from here to there.   There's an invisible bridge.   He took the 1st step, so much easier to believe and keep walking.  
How has your worry and fear kept you from stepping out of the boat? 
Is it worth it to live that way? 
As Jesus asked the paralytic:   "do you want to get well?  do you want to change?"

 

Do we believe God has the ability?  Does my life show that?   Would people say I am faithful?

 

David lived this way
1 Sam 17:32-37; 45-49

 

2)  Run to the Battle Lines
40 lessons on this chapter at the campus conference, Bruno didn't think you could get that many lessons from 1 chapter

 

David & Goliath
The Israelites came to the battle line every day, but didn't do anything
We don't draw battle lines of faith, or they're soft lines we doubt
We don't want soft battle lines in our church
We don't have faith because God hasn't given us what we want when we want it
Phil 3:20   God can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine
are our prayers faith oriented or results oriented? 
David ran towards the battle line even though the odds were against him
He had total faith that the battle was his (his iPod had the Rocky theme song playing in his ears and urging him on)
So simple yet so difficult
At times we focus on the negative consequences
What if?   What if I try and fail?  What if Big Foot comes and destroys my house?
What if I grow tremendously?   What if I grow and God is glorified? 

 

3)  What do I need to do?    Failure is not an option
Back to Peter in Matt 14
Did Peter fail?
Failure is not an event but the judgment of an event
Jonas Salk failed 200 times to find a vaccine for polio   "I found 200 ways not to vaccinate polio" 
Peter might have thought of it as a time for a quick swim
Failure does not shape you, the way you respond to failure does
Does your faith allow you to think of taking risks as an opportunity to grow? 

 

Matt 16:16 - 19
Acts 2: 14
Acts 5:15-16
Peter's life -- he grew
Peter took a step, not a cannon ball -- small steps and then kept walking
Failure is not an option
We need a church taking baby steps, a church that faces adversity with a smile
You only fail when you quit
Will it be worth it?
only you will know

 

Challenge:  
Do something that challenges your faith

 

Pray with nondisciples;  share with someone who intimidates you;  do something out of your comfort zone

 

If we allow scriptures to move in our hearts, then we will have strong legs of faith

 

NOTE:   Acronym  "ARF"   (Ask, Run, Failure --- still working on the acronyms)