Jesus Called Go Deep 3/5/17 -Series: Jesus Called: He wants His Church back -Chapter 8 in this book is highly important to the life of the church. -Ray Johnston opens the chapter by saying this: There is a new idol in America. It s not one of the usual suspects sex, drugs, or materialism. This new idol is so powerful and pervasive that it can dominate your decisions and determine your destiny. People who cave in to it see their dreams discarded, their hearts shrunken, their faith diminished, and their growth stunted. Its victims live with shriveled souls. What is this idol? The idol of safety. -I think he s right. -Over the last several years we have taken safety to a new level: -We are the most: -seat belted, bike helmeted, kneepad wearing, private schooled, gluten freed, -hand sanitized, sunscreen wearing, overly medicated, password protected, -security-systemed, homeschooled, gated community living -Generation in history. -And we live in constant fear because we value and esteem safety. -And because of that, we pray safe prayers all the time, Lord, keep my family safe. -Listen, safety is not necessarily a bad thing in the physical world. -Often times it is a good thing. -When it becomes detrimental is when that thinking is applied to the spiritual world. -When did Jesus ever call someone to play it safe? -He harshly judged the man with the talents left to him because he buried it instead of investing it like the others. -The man played it safe and Jesus didn t like it. -Yet when the opportunity comes to -Serve in the nursery It s not safe. -Start tithing It s not safe. -Go on a mission s trip It s not safe. -Share our faith It s not safe. -Or attempt great things for God It s not safe. -Think about Jesus for one second. -Did Jesus play it safe? -Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT) Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal s death on a cross. -Jesus left the safety of Heaven and embraced the depravity of Earth. -Turn to any passage where God calls anyone to play it safe. It s not there. -Hebrews 11:32-40 (NLT) How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. 39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. -And yet, hardly any of our lives look like this. ----------------------------------------------------------- -3 Things about safety as it relates to God. (1) God Will Confront Your Safety -Dr. Paul Tournier: Swiss physician, author and pastoral counselor says, All of us have vast reservoirs of full potential, but the roads that lead to those reservoirs are guarded by the dragon of fear. -Account between Jesus and Peter: -Luke 5:1-4 (NLT) One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish. -For Peter, this was not a matter of safety but surrender. -But I m using this passage to show you that Jesus will call you into deeper water. -He s not going to call you to stay on the safety of the beach. -No, He s going to call you into water that is way over your head. (1) Leave everything and go on the mission field. (2) Sell everything you own (3) Surrender to the call of full-time ministry
(4) Begin giving heaps of your income away or just start tithing. (5) Go on a short-term mission trip overseas. (6) Forgive someone who really hurt you. (7) Let your wife stay at home and raise the kids and you live on one income. (8) Moms, releasing your children to the safety of Jesus, the care of Jesus, the call of Jesus on their lives. -Sex Trafficking story p. 99-102 (2) Your Spiritual Growth Is Determined By How You Respond -Luke 5:5-7 (NLT) Master, Simon replied, we worked hard all last night and didn t catch a thing. But if you say so, I ll let the nets down again. 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking. -Peter says something like this, Umm, Jesus. We worked really hard last night, you know the time you are supposed to catch fish? Yeah, and we didn t catch a thing. Umm, we are professionals and really tired. So, if you don t mind -I wonder how long that stare lasted between Jesus and Peter? -We know that Jesus wins because Peter says, But if you say so -Story about Bob p110-112 -Look at everything Peter would have missed out on had he said, No to Jesus invitation to go into deeper water. -They cast their nets and so many fish came in that their nets began to tear. -It was enough fish to sink 2 full boats. -Your spiritual growth, your front row seat to God s power and God s adventure is just waiting for you to say Yes to God s call of leaving the comforts of safety. - But, Pastor Matt, that sounds so scary. Can you give me any assurance that things will work out okay? -No. But I can give you the greatest assurance. (3) God Will Be With You! -Luke 5:8-9 (NLT) When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, Oh, Lord, please leave me I m such a sinful man. 9 For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. -What did Peter realize? -It wasn t just any man in his boat. -This was God in his boat. -What God calls you into, God will go with you. -What God initiates, He sustains
-What God prompts and starts, He supplies. -What God asks of you, He provides. -GOD WILL BE WITH YOU! -Matthew 10:29-31 (NLT) What is the price of two sparrows one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. 30 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. 31 So don t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows. - Don t be afraid. God is with you and God cares deeply about you. -Closing: -Author and Speaker, Francis Chan delivered a sermon on this very issue and gave this analogy using a balance beam as a prop. -He had everyone imagine that they are at the Olympics on the balance beam performing a routine. -But instead of doing a risk-filled routine, he imagined someone just laying down on the beam and hugging it real tight with their arms and legs. -And then after a while they carefully crawl off the beam and dismount with their arms held high like they ve just performed an incredibly difficult routine. -If you were the judge, what kind of score would you give? What would you say if you saw someone do that for their routine during the Olympics? - Find a different sport. -And yet we boil our Christian life down to going to church on Sundays, maybe giving 2% and maybe lifting a few chairs or serving once or twice in the nursery. -You do this your whole life and then pray, God, let me die in my sleep so I won t even feel it and then I ll go up to Heaven. -And you dismount, with your arms held high. -What s God supposed to say? -Do you know what we should fear? -Getting to Heaven with empty hands -Getting to Heaven and God showing us a giant warehouse filled with unopened gifts and untapped potential and unlived adventures and unchanged lives. -And God looking at us and saying, All of this had your name on it. All of this was for you. But because you didn t trust Me, I gave it all to someone else who would. -What a tragedy. -What s God calling you to step out in and obey Him? -What courageous things do you need to begin praying about? -What safe zone in your heart do you need to give God the keys to? -What s God whispering to your heart?
-Pray -------------------------------------------------------------------- Vision Sunday Order (1) Introduce Vision Sunday "To keep the congregation informed on what has taken place in our church and what is going to take place in the days ahead." (2) Introduce our Elders and what it means to be an Elder Led Church -Myself, Allen our Executive Pastor, Paul Prachar, Sean Worthington, Jay Lanham and Tim Mark. -As Jesus leads us, we lead you. We lead you by prayer and we lead you by listening to the Holy Spirit. The staff makes the day to day decisions for the church through the Leadership Team that has been established. The Elders serve as guardrails to make sure the church is running in the right direction at all times, and it is our privilege to do so. (3) Looking Back over 2016 -God has done some wonderful things this past year. -We saw 49 people follow Jesus in believer s baptism. -We saw God add well over 100 people to our average attendance with 70 of those going through our New Member Class. -We saw God bring us some new pastoral faces. -Allen Smith as our Executive Pastor -Natalie Eeg who works in our front office. -Sam Merriman who works with our students alongside Aaron Miller. -We launched a second service and saw God fill it up. -We reconfigured our office space to allow more room for Bible studies and various ministries to meet. -And those spaces are being used. -We saw God bring over 1,500 people to our Christmas Eve Eve service this past year. -God has surely given us favor and what He is doing is marvelous in our eyes. (4) Looking Now -2017 Budget presented by Allen Smith -Commend you on your faithful giving. -So many of you get it and are stepping out in faith and God is supplying your every need. (5) Looking Ahead -Elder Rotation so that God can equip more leaders to faithfully lead His church. -Missions Focus in a few weeks, we are going to be revealing to you what the leadership of this church has been working on for the last 7 or 8 months regarding our specific global mission focus and we are so excited about it. -April 9, the weekend before Easter. You will not want to miss that.
-Easter is April 16 -Look for opportunities to invite people -It will be right here in the gym -Believer s baptism in between the two services -If you ve yet to do so -Our church is growing and we are experiencing the presence of God. -Continue to be faithful to give and attend and connect and serve and invite. -As we allow Jesus to sit in the head seat and lead us where He wants us to go. -We believe Jesus will open up clear doors that He wants us to walk through. -We believe that as we obey Him in these areas, God will pour out His blessings upon us like no other time. -Be excited, God is doing some amazing things! (6) Closing Prayer by Allen -Bridge Group Questions: (1) What stood out to you about this week s message? (2) Do you gravitate towards safety in your physical life? In what ways? (3) Do you gravitate towards safety in your spiritual life? Explain. (4) God will confront your safety, Your spiritual growth is determined by how you respond, and God will be with you. Which one of these 3 points by Pastor Matt speaks to you the most and why? (5) Last question, what does your balance beam routine look for God right now? Is it filled with spiritual risk and adventure or are you hugging the beam? Explain. -Read Chapter 8 and be blessed!