Leap of Faith Week 2

Matthew chapter 14, this is week two of a collection message we just called leap of faith. And we started this last week and just kind of looking at where we are in our faith walk. And maybe what are some things that God's kind of called us to jump into or jump towards and take a leap. And today, listen to me, I think I come into maybe moments of ministry moments like this with sometimes different, I don't know, attitude or maybe a different launching point if you want to do it that way. Today, I'm coming from this place. I just want to be an encouragement to you today. Can you just be open to being encouraged today by the word of the Lord? And we were going to do a series, we went a meeting a few weeks ago, we were talking about some different things that the Lord wanted us to share over the coming weeks and months. And one of the series we were talking about doing, we said, let's just do a whole series just called You Can Do It. And right now, that's not a planned series, but I just want to tell you today, hey, you can do it. Okay, you can do this thing. You can do this thing called Christianity, and you can do it at a level that is beyond your own strength. You can do it because God is with you, and God might want to use you more than you think He does. Come on. And so you can do it, and I just want to be an encouragement to you, let's go to the word of God. I think maybe the word of God will bring some encouragement

as well, Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14 verses, let's start with verse 22. And it says this in Matthew 14, "Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat," don't forget about that. "Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to the other side while He dismissed the crowd. And after He dismissed them, He went up on a mountain side by Himself to pray." Let me hit pause real quick, this does not count as part of my message, this is extra. But when I read in the gospels that Jesus goes up by Himself and spends a long time all night in prayer, it baffles me how I think I'm going to get by without prayer. Why do I think I can get by? Why do we think we can get by without prayer when we see this modeled by Jesus? And so let's be people of prayer. Okay, He went up on a mountain side by Himself to pray. Later that night He was there alone, and the boat was now a considerable distance from land buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn now, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake, and when the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, "Take courage, it is I, don't be afraid." Lord, if it's you, this is Peter talking now. Simon Peter says, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you out on the water."

And look what Jesus just simply answers, "Come," He said. And then Peter got down out of the boat, took a leap of faith, I added that part, amen. Peter got down out of the boat, took a leap of faith, walked on water and came towards Jesus. And when he saw the wind, he was terrified. And beginning to sink, now he cries out, "Lord, save me." And immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught Him. You of little faith, He said, "Why did you doubt when they climbed back into the boat?" That's when the wind died down. And then those who were sitting in the boat worshiped Him saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God." I'm gonna preach today just a message within this series called "Get to Steppin." Get to Steppin. Let's pray, Lord, thank you for your word. And I pray you'd help me, empower me, Holy Spirit, to bring this word and empower us all to hear this word and to put it into practice. That would be the goal of our heart and our life is not to just hear this, but to do this and make this a part of our who we are and part of our spiritual DNA. And we thank you for this word today in Jesus' name. And everybody said, amen, amen, leap of faith. Part two and I was, for some reason, thinking about this week, my one and only BMX race, I mean, you don't know this, but your pastor was a former BMX bicycle racer. To say I was professional, I was 12 or 13,

but I might as well have been professional. I sent off and got registered with the, whatever the national organization was, I don't remember what it was called, the American Bicycle Association or something like that. And you would go and fill out this stuff and mail it in and you'd get the mail back. And they sent me my actual number for official racing. So like, some kids would have little bikes with little numbers on their front. I'd be like, how cute. That's not an official. the neighborhood went up several notches when I put that on the front of my BMX bicycle. And I was, man, I want to do a race, I want to do like a real BMX race. And so I thought there was going to be the start of a serious career in this and it ended up being my first race, it ended up being my last race ever. And I want to tell you though about my first race in that very first race ever, really the only race I ever did in BMX. I came in third place. I thought that would be impressive to some of you, I'm sorry, I guess you all are like first place or nothing, sorry. I came in third, I mean that's not that bad, especially if you don't consider how many riders were in that race. And I don't think it even matters that much as part of the story, I don't think it's worth even saying that there were only three riders in that race that I came in. It's not even, it's not an important part of what was going on there. I came in third, some call it last place, I call it third place, amen. And I got to this one part of the track and I knew it was coming because I had been around the track, they let you do a couple of practice runs, and I knew there was one spot and there was a double jump.

And I knew what I needed to do in that double jump, I was working up the courage, I'm like when I get here and the adrenaline is flowing, I'm going to go up the first jump and clear it all and just land on the second jump. This is what a double jump looks like right here and this is actually me at age 12, jumping the double jump, just kidding, that's AI, okay that's not me. You're like did they have color photos back when you were a kid, yes they did, okay. But that's a double jump right there. And so I knew what I needed to do, I needed to come up one side and clear the whole thing and come down the other side, amateurs, scaredy cats, they just stay on the ground during that part and I knew what I needed to do and I got to that point in the race and I was neck and neck with the other two riders and I got to that double jump and I'm like here we go, we're going to do it and it was like something took over in my life, not in a good way. And I just stayed on the ground all the way through that double jump and while I was staying on the ground during the double jump I watched those other two riders fly over my head and take the lead in the race and that lack of a leap, that lack of courage to take a leap really caused me the success in that moment and I think the reason why that came to me this week and the reason why I share that is because some of us, we have fooled ourselves into thinking that you can do Christianity without any leaps of faith. Can I tell you that like there is no version of Christianity that the Bible talks about where you just constantly play it safe, where you never take any risk, where you never take any chances, where you never step out? No, really Christianity is woven into faith as a matter of Hebrews 11 says without faith it is impossible to please God. And so our walk with Christ is going to come with opportunities to step out and step out by faith and try things and see what God can do to us to attempt things that we cannot do in and of our own strength. That is the joy and the reward of Christianity and we really can't do Christianity without it. So I just kind of want to have two questions today that I really want us to think about

I want them to resonate in you. I want you to ponder on them today as we look into the Word. I want you to come up with answers like as if there was a test before you and you had to write something down. I get it that when I'm in moments like this and I can say everybody think of this and you can like I'm not going to think of it, I don't have to, you're not going to know. I want you to just try to come up with answers as if you had to write these down and my first question is this, what's one thing? What's one thing that you could do today, this week? What's one thing you could do that would get you closer to Jesus? And before we even start to think about that, I want you know, listen, there's an answer for everybody. There is nobody here that can say, well actually I'm so close to Jesus, there's nothing more I could do. I mean I'm as close to Jesus as a human can get and so there's no steps left for me to take. None of us can say that. So what's the one step that you can take to get closer to Jesus? We just read in this story about the disciples being in this boat and they've been in there for a while and they're far off land and Jesus comes walking out to them on the water. You heard that correctly, he's walking on the water and in that moment there is a step that Simon Peter can take to get him closer to Jesus. And so in verse 29 it says, "Peter gets down out of the boat and walks on the water and look at this and he comes towards Jesus." So what's the next step you can take to get you closer? it's really a discipleship question. That's kind of what discipleship is. You hear people talk about discipleship maybe in settings like in churches and in classes and different things and discipleship is that it's just getting closer

and closer to Jesus all the time. And Peter is on this boat and he steps out of this boat to get closer to Jesus. I want you to understand, Peter is not a brand new Christian in this moment. Peter has not just, he's not just started here. He didn't just meet Jesus yesterday. Last week we talked about Peter's initial calling and his initial like I'm leaving everything and following Jesus. Well that happened about a year to a year and a half before the narrative that we read today. So he has been with Jesus. He has walked with Jesus. He has seen Jesus perform miracles. He's gone out and done some things. Peter has, he's gone through starting point at this point. He's done journey of faith at this point. He's launched up a connect group, okay. He's done some stuff. He went on a mission trip. He's been in church, he's kind of done some things and yet he doesn't settle into where he is. Even though this isn't new to him he still decides but I still want to be closer to Jesus. That's a good picture of discipleship. And we would stay in discipleship. Discipleship isn't a class that we take. Although there are discipleship classes. No discipleship is this process where I just am continuing

to get closer to Jesus. Let that be the mark of your life. I like how Dallas Willard defines discipleship. Dallas Willard says discipleship is the process of becoming who Jesus would be if he were in your shoes. Isn't that cool to think about like who would Jesus be if he was in your shoes? Who would Jesus be if he worked at your job? Who would Jesus be if he sat in your class? Who would Jesus be if he was in your home and doing life kind of through you? And so it's more than wearing a bracelet that says what would Jesus do? No discipleship is trying to live that out of what would Jesus do if he was in my shoes. And if we take that definition of discipleship then look what Peter did. He sees Jesus walking on the water and he goes what would Jesus do if he was in my? Probably sandals for Peter, not shoes. What would he do if he was in my sandals? And so Peter says okay he's walking on water. Jesus will you bid me to come to you on the water? And he does. What's one step you could take? I'd be thinking about that. That it would get you closer to Jesus. How important is this? I mean is this something that we should be thinking about? Yes.

Like there's plenty of, let me pull a couple of scriptures out of the New Testament that just talk about us in our journey of discipleship. Philippians chapter two, verse 12, look what it says, it says, "Therefore my dear friends, as you have always obeyed not only my presence but now much more in my absence." Look at this. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Not with, not with even a, well if it happens it happens. So with fear and trembling we're continuing to work out. And look at what second Peter, chapter three says, second Peter, chapter three says, "Therefore dear friends, since you have been forewarned be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and follow away." So he's saying, "Don't fall away from your secure position." Look at the next, verse 18. But grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Don't fall away, no, instead of that grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. That verse and second Peter kind of illustrates that it's kind of either progress we're making, grow in the grace and knowledge Jesus or regress. Don't fall away.

And if we're being honest, isn't that the truth? Haven't some of you been Christians long enough to know that it's kind of one or the other? That it's kind of like I'm either kind of growing in God or I'm kind of like falling away from God a little bit. I can remember being at probably 16 or 17. I lived in Kansas City, Missouri at the time. And when we would drive in the roads, we had these things called hills in Missouri, okay? Not mountains, but hills. And all of us that drive in Florida, we don't know we forget what it's like to drive on hills. So we had hills and then we also had something else we don't have here, we had ice. And so there was one time it was a snowy icy storm that comes and so you mix driving on hills with driving on icy hills and it is a wild ride, okay? And so I was on my way in my car and right when I left the house there was a pretty big hill hill and as I was going up that hill the thought hits me that I don't think I have the momentum that I'm going to be able to make it up this hill and I had never been that experienced before but I just had this this inward sense that once I stop going forward I don't think I'm gonna be able to just stop and stay right there I just had this sense that I knew what was gonna happen I'm like I'm gonna go forward as long as I can go forward and then I'm probably gonna start sliding backwards and that's exactly what happened I slid down into a ditch and and and found it had more momentum if I had more momentum going forward I probably could have got over the hill can I just remind you something in your walk with Jesus momentum is mandatory okay momentum is mandatory in my walk with God I want to be moving forward I want to be leaning into what God's

doing this idea that I'm just gonna stay kind of right here where I'm at no discipleship says I'm gonna get momentum and move into what God is doing and so for Peter that momentum forward that leap of faith for him it was stepping out of a boat well let's do this let's say the boat represents church a little bit well the first step that they all took all the disciples Peter as well they all stepped into the boat that's the first step they took okay Jesus remember he made them get into the boat to go on to the other side while he dismissed the crowd so their first step was into the boat so let's say church is the boat for some of you the step you need to take might be into the boat because for some of us are our time even in these types of settings are so hit and miss they're so sporadic they're so like well if I find the time I'll show up and if I don't I won't and so the one step you could take to get closer to Jesus let's just be honest it might be just committing to the house all right it might just be kind of showing up every week and showing up with an attitude that says I'm ready to receive from God expecting God to do something I just ran into somebody at the mall yesterday it was funny and it was a lady that has has attended here for a while and then she hasn't been in a while and so when we were when we saw I checked she waved and she was kind of glad to see me but then there was also this thing of like she started into this I know I haven't I haven't been in a little while and I'm so sorry I'm gonna I'm gonna come I want to come back whatever and I just thought man what a life I live that just my presence just ushers guilt on a people's heart like I'm not trying to bring any condemnation on anybody just starts losing up so I'm coming back I'm gonna it's like well that's awesome you should I'll see you tomorrow okay now for some of us that might be the step we can take is just to get into the boat and be in the house and even and when you come maybe it's even just how you come into church come into church expecting maybe come into church not as just a consumer but as a contributor and what can I do what can I bring into this environment what kind of faith can I bring into this environment so for some of us the boat it might our step our leap might be just to get into the boat

all but for a lot of us we're in the boat and the boat represented for Peter safety the boat represented for Peter familiarity he's a professional fisherman and this is where I can handle this storm this is where I can handle these winds and waves this boat was engineered to float I understand how to work inside of a boat and so for Peter to step out of the boat out of the safety there are some of us our step is not going to be in this environment no our step is gonna be out of this environment because some of us are way better Christians in here than we are out there some of us are way more filled with faith in here than we are out there some of us are way more spiritually minded oh then we are out there and so for some of us it would be to take some of these same principles like the way you just worshiped God at every location what if you worship God like that tomorrow in your house all by yourself I mean the way where some of us are out taking notes right now in this message what if when you open the Bible tomorrow you expected God to speak to you like you expected God to speak to you today as I go into God's word and you had some notes ready to go I mean your step of faith might be outside of this boat what's the one step you can take maybe it's maybe it's doing something beyond just a weekly service like this maybe it is another another step in the organization maybe it is a a grow class or a connector or stepping into leadership and teaching a class or leading leading a group and if God's been speaking that to you then that is a step you can take that will ultimately get you closer to God what's God calling you to do and I love that the answer is different for everybody but what's the one step that you can take that'll get you closer to Jesus I want you to have an answer for that question then the The second question is this, here's the second one. What's keeping you from taking that step? Now the second question might require more honesty than the first First one maybe it's tough for some of us. The second one's gonna be tough for most of us. What is keeping me from it? And so Peter takes one step towards Jesus, and we see very clearly wind waves

Storm begins to keep him from taking the next step So verse 30 says when he sees the wind He was afraid and he begins to sink and he cries out Lord save me. I Know for most of us. We'd rather our story would end on verse 29 We read verse 20 on a moment ago 29 was Jesus said come and so Peter steps out of the boat Walks on water and heads towards Jesus and we're like can we just stop the story right there? Look at all the good things happening for Peter. I mean he steps out of the boat He's walking on the water, and he's moving towards Jesus Why couldn't the story in there because the story doesn't usually in there? Like why do we then see some resistance happening? It's like when Peter steps out of the boat You would think that maybe Jesus. I don't know if I was Peter I'd be like hey if I step out can we deal with this storm about the moment my foot hits the water or can you calm this storm? I've seen Peter might have said I thinking I've seen you calm the storm before can you calm it? And then I'll step out on the water, but no even though Peter is taking a step of faith There is still some resistance To the progress and that's not how we want it. No, we want it to be smooth sailing We want God if I'm gonna step out I need I need a clear path if I'm gonna step out I need all my enemies to fall before me if I'm gonna step out I need all of the distractions to go if I'm gonna step out I need the storm to stop and so what we do is we wait for the perfect scenario to ever step out Like things have to be perfect for me to step out and try anything like I'm waiting for the perfect Environment the perfect weather the perfect scenario some is where we you know like when we were thinking about getting married and we're like Oh, I'm just I'm waiting we're waiting for the perfect person It's got to be the perfect person and then you go through about 27 persons and you're like I'm not sure if there is a perfect person then there's not But we're trying to have the perfect timing and the perfect while we got to both be out of debt And then pretty soon you're like a little bit of that's okay Like you just start to figure stuff out because you fight out. It's not gonna be a perfect Moment every time and so is to the same thing. We want to be perfect Like we want to have perfect character before we step out and do anything for God

Like I just passed I mean I would I would take a step I would come to a prayer meeting, but I just feel like I'm not there yet pastor I would I would lead in in in maybe a ministry, but I'm just my character isn't there yet I I would step out and and maybe attend a class, but I'm not sure if mine I'm not sure if I'm there yet in my in my walk with God I just want to remind you first of all that the president of obstacles doesn't have power to stop you in your fake journey Okay, so just because there's obstacles does not mean it's gonna stop you when you take a step Towards what God wants to do in your life, but more than that sometimes the very presence of those obstacles It's working out a character in you that wouldn't come any other way What's keeping you from taking that step? Well, I mean one of the things for the disciples in this boat was just was just complications Things had just gotten complicated I mean there was exhaustion There was confusion There was there was storms and problems Exhaustion they'd been there all night The thing that Jesus comes walking out somewhere between three and six a.m. So we're talking about hours and hours They've been out on this boat just rowing and they're exhausted Jesus shows up. They don't even think it's Jesus. They can think it's a ghost. There's confusion and Then this this storm that they've been fighting all this while is just created problems problems exhaustion confusion I've just described some of your week this week like they're like that's exactly my week this week a lot of exhaustion confusion and problems Well, those things man if we're not careful those things will keep us from taking the step that God has called us to take What complications are causing you? What what are you what are you waiting for? What what conditions have to be? Cleared out of the way for us to have this perfect moment

Sometimes that the actual Complications and the storms like even And even in our walk... There are storms of correction and storms of perfection. Sometimes we are in the middle of a storm because we have caused it and we have kind of blown it and so there is just correction happening because we are the one that created this storm and now I have got it with God's help and still got to navigate out of this storm that I have created but sometimes there are storms of perfection where you are doing what God told you to do and stepping out where God called you to step out and there is still a storm. What is that? That is perfecting you. That is not bad. And so the presence of storm, the presence of resistance doesn't have to keep you from taking a step. What is keeping you from taking a step? Maybe it is fear. Peter sees the wind in the waves and he gets afraid. They see Jesus from a distance. They are terrified. Obviously fear was keeping a hold on their life. I wonder why Peter wasn't afraid to step out of the boat. I wonder why it was the wind and the waves, not the water. He is not afraid here but he is afraid when this starts to happen. Well the reason why he is not afraid here is because he said Jesus bid me to come. Jesus said come so he is acting on God's word which then brings this amount of faith in his life. He is not afraid because he is acting in God's word and yet the wind comes and watches even when I am living according to the word I can still be tempted to worry. I say that one more time that even when I am living according to the word I can still

be tempted to worry so I know what it is like to let fear creep in. I always like to step into a moment like this and be afraid that I don't steward this moment of ministry well enough. I always like to be fearful that I won't be the leader that I need to be. You know what it is like to let fear creep in when the enemy whispers and says you are not a good enough wife, you are not a good enough husband, you are not a good enough parent, your kids are going to turn out crazy because it is going to be your fault. We know what it is like to allow fear to creep in and then what fear does is fear begins to paralyze us and I got to remind you this about fear. We are only born with two innate fears. Only two that you are born with, the fear of loud noises and the fear of falling, those come hardwired in. You take a little infant, you make a loud noise, the infant is going to jump. You take a little infant and you don't drop it all the way. That is not what I am suggesting. Just a little, little, little, they are going to startle. Those fears are built in all the other fears in your life. You learn them. And I am saying this, if you learn those fears with God's help, you can unlearn those fears. If I can take courage and not let fear, what am I afraid of anyway? Fear of some sort of failure or fear of some sort of rejection, if I step out and do something and what if it doesn't go right? What if I take a risk and it doesn't work out? It is okay. It didn't, I mean it didn't work out that great for Peter, he takes the risk and he starts to sink. You are like, that's true. This message is supposed to encourage me and I don't want to take a step even more now because I see it didn't work for him. No, he took the risk but he was close to the rescuer and so Jesus reaches out and lifts

him up and that's okay. Don't let fear keep you from doing the one thing that you can do. Maybe it was complacency for us. Certainly for them, there was some complacency. Complacency says, I'm fine, what are we getting all worked up about pursuing Jesus and passion and all, like I'm here, I'm in church, I'm a Christian, I work pretty hard, I'm treating my family okay, I'm doing kind of good enough, I'm pretty careful of maybe how I say things. Here's my question, but are you growing in the grace and knowledge? Are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling? Are you becoming more like Jesus? Are you doing what Jesus would do if he was in your shoes? I love this that Peter develops even though he's in the boat, he develops this holy dissatisfaction with the distance between him and Jesus. Now here's the thing about complacency, I want you to watch this. Sometimes people preach this passage and they maybe would talk about Peter with this big leap of faith and the disciples missed it man and they were a failure because they stayed in the boat, listen to me, they were in the boat because Jesus told them to get into the boat. Can I just, can we just accept that they're in the will of the Lord okay, they're there because Jesus told them to be there, the problem is sometimes we can be in the will over the Lord and then... So I can be in the will of God, but then I still need to be in a want for more of God. Those are kind of two different things. And so for Peter, he decides, I'm in where Jesus told me to be, but I see Jesus on the move. So I want to go where he is. I want to move closer to him. And there wasn't a big line of the disciples

that got up to jump out there with him. No, 'cause they, I mean, we have to, I guess, assume that maybe there was some complacency. Maybe there was some of this where fine, where we are. And there's a difference between holding on to God's assignment and what God told you to do. There's a difference between that and being hungry for God's presence. You, right now, you have as much of God as you want. I have as much of God on my life as I want. We can make all the excuses in the world. Oh, I'm so busy. No, you have as much of God as you want, because he comes where he's desired. And I'll say this, you can have more of God today. You can. But what complacency will do, complacency will make you think, I don't know if I need to. Complacency will say stuff like this. I mean, I'm open to God. I'm open to, well, if God wants to do something in my life, there is a difference between being open to God and being passionately hungry and desperate for God. Those are two different things. Oh, I'm open to what God's doing. Promise being open to God doesn't take and frame any leaps of faith. No desperation takes leaps of faith. Amen. (audience applauding)

Let me just leave you with this. Peter gets characterized sometimes as a loose cannon, as a reckless individual. And when I jumped out of that plane about a month ago, and we kind of showed the results of that last week, right, in the message, I was tethered to a guy, a guy who was, I mean, I was tied close to him. And whatever little instruction I did get from him, I was all ears for it. I joke last week that there wasn't much and there wasn't. But whatever was being said, I was all ears and trying to focus. I wanted to do this thing right, and do exactly what he told me to do. And I was telling somebody about it a little while ago, and it was another guy, and he said, oh, you were like, you were like tied to some other dude? And I'm like, yeah, I was tied to some other dude. They're like, oh man, I wouldn't want to be like, all tied close to some other dude. And I was sitting there thinking, oh, I was so glad that I was tied to some other dude. Like, this guy jumped, so I have like five times a day, six days a week. He joked with me the day of. He said, this is my second day on the job, but I think it should be fine. I said, don't joke like that. You don't know me like that, don't joke like that.

I was so glad to be tethered to another dude who knew what he was doing, because now my success was not just on me. I saw some lunatic jumping out of the plane by themselves. I saw some of them over there, like doing their own, packing their own parachute. I saw that, I said, no thank you. I will not be packing my own parachute. Do not put that kind of pressure on me. I will get something wrong. I know it. No, I love the fact that I had somebody else. Now, I probably could have messed it up, but I had somebody else there making sure that this thing was gonna be a success. Can I just remind you that this is not a call today? Like this message is not some call to recklessness. This is not some call to just go crazy and just try something and sell everything and just try to launch this and try to do that and move to this and go to, like that's not what this is and that's not what it was for Peter. Oh, Peter gets characterized like that. But look at what happened. Peter said, if it's you, Jesus, bid me to come. Peter did not jump out of the boat and say, Jesus, you better get some over here 'cause I jumped out 'cause I just thought this might be good.

No, he says, if it's you, Jesus, if you're in this, then I'll take a leap. If you're in this, I'll try something that may not make sense to me. If you're in this, I'll do this. And that's when Jesus said, come. This is not a call to recklessness. This is a call to say, Jesus, what would you have me do so that I could be closer to you and what is in the way of me taking that leap and give me the strength?