Stepping Out In Faith

What right now would you do in your life if you weren't afraid? Is there something in your life that you wanna do? You know God wants you to do it, but you're too afraid to do it. Where in your life are you allowing fear to make the decision for you? One of the most common commands in the Bible is fear not. Do not be afraid. Take courage, derivatives of that. Over and over and over again, the Bible teaches that if we're going to follow God, if we're going to live the life that he's called us to, it's going to require courage. If you brought your Bible, we're in Matthew chapter 14. We're gonna look at one of the most famous accounts in all of Scripture. So spoiler alert, I'm gonna tell you what we're about to read, and then we'll read it together. This is the account where Jesus and Peter walk on the water. How many of you have heard this account before in the Bible, just a show of hands? Yeah, it's pretty famous. And so I'll kind of break it down for you. Jesus comes out in the middle of the night. The disciples are out in the boat. Jesus comes out walking on the water. It's amazing. They think he's a spirit, he's a ghost, and they're afraid and terrified.

And Peter says, you know, hey, if it's you, call me to come on out. And Jesus says, come on, and Peter walks on the water to Jesus. But then you keep reading. Peter starts looking around at the waves and the wind, and he takes his eyes off of Jesus, and he starts to sink. And Jesus says, come on, Peter, why did you doubt? Why did you have such little faith? Now, I gotta tell you, for years and years, because I grew up in Sunday school as a kid, I thought that entire story is about Peter not having enough faith. Like Peter was the loser in that story. But then I went to college, and I was going to this university in Bolivar, Missouri, smaller school, and I had a job in Springfield, so it was about 25 minutes away. And I didn't have a car, but I would borrow my roommate's car. And so I would go to this job three days a week and worked it out with my roommate so I could use the car. And every time I went, at the time that I would make that drive, there was this pastor that would come on the radio who I loved, African-American pastor. And I'll never forget, he was teaching this passage of Scripture. And he said, you know, everybody, when they read this,

they think Peter is a failure. But then he said, but in all of history, only two have walked on the water, Jesus and Peter. And he said the failures were sitting in the boat watching it happen. And he called them, this is what he called them, boat potatoes. It was so good. He said, like all the armchair quarterbacks, like all the couch potatoes, these 11 guys are watching Peter experience a miracle. And then he started to do this run, and here's the line. Because he was asking, you know, what's your boat? What will you not get out of? Where are you being lazy? Where are you being too comfortable? Because Jesus is out on the water, and he's out on the water. And then here was the line. He would say it, and if you wanna walk on water, you gotta get out of the boat. I'm gonna say it like he said it. If you wanna walk on water, you gotta get out of the boat. I'm only gonna do that once because it's irritating to people, but there you go. In fact, I'm gonna ask that several times in our time together,

and I'd like some audience participation in all locations, you ready? I'm gonna say, if you wanna walk on water, and you guys are gonna say, you gotta get out of the boat. Let's practice, you ready? If you wanna walk on water, you gotta get out of the boat. You gotta get out of the boat. Let's read the passage of Scripture. Matthew 14, beginning in verse 22, as we start this brand new series called Take Heart. The Bible says, immediately, 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 had dismissed them, Jesus went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. And I have been to the Sea of Galilee. I've been to the mountainside where it's believed he prayed on this particular night. It says, later that night, Jesus was there alone. And the boat was already. a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves, because the wind was against it. Now let me make you aware of something here real quick. So the disciples were fishermen, but they were Jewish fishermen. Jewish people are not seafaring people. I mean, just think about it. It's Israel, it's the desert.

And even fishermen, they would usually not go to the middle of the Sea of Galilee. They would stay on the edges and fish. And the reason that is, is they had a superstition, they had a belief that the underworld, that evil things would come out of deep water. And so they're in the middle of the Sea of Galilee, most likely not because they paddled out there, it's because in the storm they were pushed out there. And so again, all these superstitions, all of these stories that these guys would have grew up with about evil things being in the deep water. Verse 25, shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake, which is so cool. I mean, just, so Jesus was like praying, and then he looked out, could probably see the boat way out there. And he thought, yeah, I think I will. That's cool. And he walks out to them. Verse 26, 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. Another way to say that is take heart. Take courage, it is I, don't be afraid. Now my favorite disciple is John. John, from what we understand, was Jesus's closest friend. And when you read the gospel of John,

or 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John, he just seems to have this depth, in my opinion, that the others don't have. Especially when it comes to relational theology. He's my favorite disciple. But Peter is the guy that I relate the most to. Because Peter is impulsive, he's reckless, he's constantly sticking his foot in his mouth. And I'm like, yeah, I can relate. So Jesus says, take courage, it's I, don't be afraid. But then Peter sees an opportunity. Lord, verse 28, Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. Come, Jesus said. And then Peter got down on the boat, out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. Which is amazing. But when Peter saw the wind, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Which, by the way, is a really effective, powerful prayer. Lord, save me. And immediately, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped Jesus, saying, truly, you are the Son of God. Where in your life are you letting fear make the decision for you? Fear can actually be a healthy thing. It keeps us safe.

It keeps us from doing really crazy, impulsive, wild stuff. Fear is actually a gift that God has given us instinctively. There's been moments when I've been in the woods, and all of a sudden, a hair on the back of my neck stands up. Anybody had a moment like that? That's instinct going, something scarier than me is watching me. It's time to leave, right? So there's an aspect of fear that's good. Here's what we're talking about today and over the next few weeks. But fear that is in control, that's not good. Fear that keeps you from obeying God, that's not good. Fear that keeps you from experiencing God, that's not good. Because God is out on the water, and you and I in fear tend to stay in the boat. But if you wanna walk on water, what do you gotta do? You gotta get out of the boat. What's your boat? What is it? Because there's all kinds. I was talking to a woman in our church not too long ago. a very successful woman. She has a prestigious job. She loves her husband. She's a good mom. And she was sharing with me that she hates her job. And I was like, but you don't hate that fat paycheck now, do you, right?

She's like, no, no. She said, the only reason I did this is because my dad wanted me to. And I wanted to make my dad happy. And so I went to school and I got the extra degrees and now I've been doing this for years. She said, I hate it and I wanna leave it. And I go, well, did it make your dad happy? She said, no. I said, is your dad ever happy? She said, no. And I said, okay, so wait a second. You won't, you took the job to make him happy. You won't leave the job because you don't wanna make him unhappy, but he's unhappy anyway, right? And she kind of smiled at me. She said, yeah. Her boat's approval. And it could be that that's your boat. And there's somebody you're looking for their approval and it could be, you're never gonna fully get it. You're chasing something that cannot be caught. And approval could be your boat. Just talked to a man not too long ago in our church. And years ago, he really believed that God wanted him to be in full-time ministry. Now, here's the thing. If you've given your life to Jesus, whatever it is you do for a living, that's your ministry.

If you're a stay-at-home mom, that's your ministry. Followers of Jesus are in ministry, period. So wherever we go, that's the way we see things, all right? But this specifically, he felt like God wanted him to leave the business world and work in the local church. And so you fast forward a decade plus, he's actually very successful. And he and I were talking and he said, I've been convicted about this for years. I still feel like I'm supposed to leave my job and be in a local church. And I'm like, well, why don't you do that? Like I know a guy who could probably help you out with that. And then we started talking money. And there's no way a church job's gonna touch what he's making. And he's hanging on to it, afraid to take that step. And he knows who he is right now, and yeah, I'm talking about you. And that's his boat. He's been convicted about it, Jesus is out there, but he cannot let it go. I was talking to a young man not too long ago, his boat is pornography. And he hadn't talked to anybody about it. The only two people that know are him and me. And now all of you. But I'm like, man, you gotta deal with it. And he was like, I don't think it's affecting anybody. And I said, it's affecting you,

which means everybody you know, it's going to affect them. And if you want a relationship in the future that is honoring to your wife, you're gonna have to deal with this. And so I wanna encourage you to go to celebrate recovery, I wanna encourage you to confess it, I wanna encourage you to deal with it. And he's afraid. His boat's a pirate ship. It's robbing him blind. He just can't fully see it yet. What's your boat? It could be you're a single adult. And you're in a relationship right now that you know is not gonna work. You're in a relationship right now that you know is not honoring to God. You even know that you're settling. But you're afraid because you're thinking this might be the last train coming out of the station. It's not a good train. It's not the best train. And you're hanging on to it. I'm gonna give one more. For some of us, it could be alcohol. I don't know who that's for. But the way that you handle anxiety is through liquid courage. And it's a problem. And you've wondered to yourself, is this a problem?

Just so you know, if you ever wonder if it's a problem, look at me. It's a problem. But you don't really wanna look at it. And you don't wanna pray or talk to God about it. Because you're so comfortable in that boat. What's your boat? There's so many things in life. friends that require courage, that require grit, that require us to live by what's right instead of how we feel in the moment. And Jesus is out on the water. And if you wanna walk on water, what do you gotta do? You gotta get out of the boat. Let me give you four things. Talking about courage, getting out of the boat. Number one, accept that fear is always a part of growth. Fear is always a part of growth. If you're taking notes, you can write this to the side. Fear will never go away. You will always be afraid about something. It's part of what it means to be human. But fear is also part of growth. Anything you wanna change, it means you have to change. And for you to change, it's gonna require you to move, to get uncomfortable, and that requires courage. If you're taking notes, you can write this down. To be risk-adverse is to be success-adverse. To be risk-adverse is to be success-adverse. So let's say that you want to grow

in your marriage this year. That means you have to risk uncomfortable conversations. And you have to deal with the elephant in the room that you've been ignoring for a long, long time. That requires courage. Let's say that you want a promotion at work. And you're looking around and you've thought about it, you've prayed about it, you know, you've sought some wisdom and you're like, yeah, I think I deserve this. I think I'm ready for this. You have to have the courage to have the conversation. To be risk-adverse is to be success-adverse. I was talking to some teenage boys at my house the other day and my youngest son is 17. And so I got all these dudes at the house and they were like, some of them call me Mr. Chad, some of them call me Pastor Chad, but they were like, Mr. Chad, can you help us with something? I'm like, what? They were like, we want to learn how to talk to girls. I'm like, boys, have a seat. I was like, here's how you learn to talk to girls. Are you ready? They were like, yeah. I said, here's what you do, you ready? You just start talking to girls. And then this one kid, he was so cute. He's like, Mr. Chad, I can't spit no game. And I said, well, stop trying because nobody wants to see you spit.

And stop trying to have game, right? And just be kind, calm, cool, nice, and don't overthink it. They're like, I don't know, I don't know. I'm like, you gotta risk it, you gotta risk it. I was like, dudes, do you guys realize how rare it is for your generation if you were to actually walk up to a girl and ask them on a date, not text, not social media, but you just look them in the eye and ask them? I'm like, you're a man right then in this day and time. But, you know, no risk it, no biscuit, right? Now what the football coach said? Risk adverse, success adverse. I wrote this down. To be risk adverse is to be life adverse. Everything is risky. I was reading this past week. There's a guy that did a big study on risk management. His name is Larry Loudon, a philosopher of science, and he spent a decade studying risk management. And he writes of how we live in a society that's so fear-driven that we suffer from what he calls risk lock. It's a condition which, like gridlock, leaves us unable to do anything or go anywhere. And he summarizes literature on risk management in 19 principles. I'm only gonna give you one. The first principle is the simplest, and here it is. Everything is risky.

If you're looking for absolute safety, you chose the wrong species. Welcome to humanity, welcome to the human race. He says you can stay at home in bed, but that may make you one of the half million, so 500,000, but that may make you one of the 500,000 Americans who require emergency room treatment each year for injuries sustained while falling out of bed. Sleep tight. You can cover your windows, but that may make you one of the 10 people each year who accidentally hang themselves on the cords of their Venetian blinds. You can hide your money in a mattress, but that may make you one of the tens of thousands of the people who go to the emergency room each year because of wounds caused by handling money. Everything from paper cuts to hernias." And I thought, hernias? I'm one of the wealthy people carrying the big bags of money. You know, if you never step up to the plate, then that means, yeah, you won't strike out. But if you never step up to the plate, you also will never know the joy of hitting a home run. All growth in life will involve some fear. But if you want to walk on water, what do you got to do? You got to get out of the boat. Number two, choose growth over comfort. Choose growth over comfort. Our society is addicted to comfort, more so than we even realize. I wrote this down if you want to write it down.

You were made for more than lounging in a Lazy Boy. We do not grow sitting on the couch, binge watching Netflix and eating pizza. Life is not found there. Life is found when you engage it. And if you're going to grow and if you're going to experience life, you cannot be addicted to comfort. There's something all of us have to learn. If you're younger, let me be your big brother or your dad or however old you are here. All successful people have something called grit. Here's what grit is. It's you do the right thing even when you don't feel like it. It's something I talk to my boys about all the time. My oldest is 23. My youngest is 17. And on a regular basis for years, I've looked at them and I said, guys, we do hard things. Because that's what successful people do. They do hard things. The reason most people are successful, there's a couple of exceptions. Sometimes people, right place, right time, they got lucky. But most successful people are successful because they've taught themselves grit. They can do hard things. And the people who are addicted to comfort and the people who will not face their fears and grow, look at the successful person and they say, oh, they shouldn't be paid that much. Oh, they shouldn't. They earned it. They did what you would not do. They faced their fears and they broke through it and they worked hard when they didn't feel like it. And they sacrificed and they made their way there.

They had grit. Grit is more important than talent. Perseverance is what pushes you through once the talent wears off. Character matters more than giftedness because character keeps you in it for the long haul. And the longer you're in it, the more successful you will be. Our society needs people of grit. So I mentioned my two boys. When my youngest, Jackson, he's always been really smart. He was a thinker when he was a little kid and he would always say things that would shock me and make me laugh. But when Jackson was like six years old, he had a real problem with whining. And I got to tell you, one of the things that irritates me most in life is when people are, guess what? Whining. And Jackson was a whiner. Later, I figured out he was watching a cartoon where the kid on the cartoon whined all the time. And I'm like, oh, he's picking this up from that, from that cartoon. But he was in a season where he was whining all the time, whining all the time. So one day, you know, he and I have a meeting. And so I grab him by his little six-year-old hand and we walk into his bedroom and I pull up a chair and he sits on the bed and I'm like, look at me, bro. I'm like, you are whining way too much. And I'm tired of it and nobody likes it. And so today's the day. Today's the day it ends. No more whining. I said, I'm going to give you a one pass because it's a habit for you. I'm going to catch you whining. I'm going to get on to you.

But from that moment on, if you whine, you're going to get in trouble. I said, what did we just talk about? He said, no whining. I said, that's right. Any questions? No, dad. I said, we good? We good. Five. No more whining. That afternoon, his older brother, who is 12, comes over with some of his friends and the big boys are upstairs wrestling. Right and there's stuff being moved around and you know bang there on the floor and all this kind of stuff and Jackson decides He wants to be with the big boys. Well a little bit of time passes and guess what I can hear upstairs whining so like an excellent parent I yell up the stairs Because that's just a good parenting Jackson No whining whining stops Sometimes passes boom. I'm hearing things moving around. I hear whining again Jackson don't make me come up there Whining stops a little more time whining again. I've had enough So I go up the stairs. I'm like big boys leave Jackson, let me talk to you Sit on the bed. I pull up the chair. I lean forward. I said what we talked about this morning He said no whining. I said, did you choose to wrestle with the big boys? Yes And I go then why are you whining? He goes dad. I'm six That's all I got And I realized that's his signature move

When he can't get out of it, he just whines and they let go Now, let me ask you this question as an adult. How often do you whine? I Mean for real Like how often you just gripe about life instead of living it How often do you whine about that frog that you don't want to swallow Because it's gonna be difficult and hard by the way, it's a southern thing Here's the saying if you gotta swallow a frog, you don't want to look at it too long You just get it done and get it over with you'll remember that won't you that's a deep theology right there But is there an area of your life where you're whining? Or instead of moving on that you got to embrace the pain you got to feel the pain, right But then then you got to press through There's a difference between embracing the pain and dealing with it and just wallowing and staying there and I'm concerned that we have a culture of whiners and People who are addicted to comfort and every old person says that about young people, you know this generation They've been saying that for thousands of years But grit is a very important element of real life and we must choose growth Overcomfort because if you want to walk on water, what do you got to do you got a Number three make friends with failure and learn to fail forward Make friends with failure and learn to fail forward every successful person. I know has failed a lot Because that's what it took for them to learn I'm gonna just tell you my little thought I don't fail at anything. I Just learn lessons. And so if I'm gonna try something new, I always call it an experiment You can rip that off if you want That way I didn't fail at it. I just learned something Does this make sense because truth is I'm gonna fail over and over and over and over again to really grow you must embrace a willingness to look stupid and if you're not making mistakes, you're not growing and If you're not failing you're not changing and if you want anything in your life to change It means you you got to change which means there's going to be some failure. So you embrace it

Don't let armchair quarterbacks shape your life Because when you try something new and you decide to go for something and you decide to grow people are gonna criticize you so let me just All right, everybody lean in here for a second. So This is just you and me talking. I Stand in front of thousands of people every week, which means I get criticized a lot That's okay, it's part part of the job But here's what I've learned in years and years and years of standing in front of people and being the leader I Don't think I've ever had anybody criticize me. That's doing more than me Let that sink in The people that are doing more than me encourage me the people that are ahead of me cheer me on The people that sit around and do nothing Talk to me about how I could do it better Usually the people that criticize you are doing less than you keep Going to the glory of God and the good of people. I Love this quote from Theodore Roosevelt. I keep this in my desk. Here's what he said. It's not the critic who counts Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst? "'If he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, "'so that his place shall never be "'with those cold and timid souls "'who know neither victory nor defeat.'" Live your life. And if you're gonna walk through the door of your God-given destiny, you will have to walk through a hallway of critics. But walk through the hallway of haters and go through the door. It's God's will for you.

You've got one life. Live with no regrets and be a child of God who walks in courage. Because if you're gonna walk on water, what do you gotta do, what do you gotta do? You gotta? Get up. Here's the last one, number four, grow with God. Grow with God. Fear is a part of walking by faith. Fear and faith go together like peanut butter and jelly and macaroni and cheese. It's just part of it. Anytime God's ever asked me to do anything, I was afraid to do it. Even now, I'll get a little whisper, you know, in a grocery store or something to go up and, you know, I want you to go over and ask if you can pray for that person. And I'm like, really? And I start talking myself out of it and giving God all the reasons why I can't do that. That, friends, that never changes. But when you grow with God, it becomes a habit with God. And courage is a habit. And the more little steps of courage you make, the more courageous you will be. Wimping out is a habit. The more you wimp out, the more wimping out you will do. Make courage a habit and grow with God

because he's out on the water. Let go of the boat and move. What if I stumble and fall? You will, get up and keep going. What if I stumble and fall again? You will, get up and keep going. Because if you wanna walk on water, what do you gotta do, what do you gotta do? You gotta get out of it. So get out of it. And here's my hope for you today. I don't want you to be inspired. I don't want you to be motivated. I want you to be obedient. Just do what God's telling you to do. Because the miracle is on the other side of saying yes to Jesus. Let's say it one more time. If you wanna walk on water, what do you gotta do? You gotta get out of the boat. Let's pray together. Would you pray with me? And it could be you're here today and you've never said yes to Jesus. And I just fell led just now to lead you in this prayer. If you wanna give your life to Jesus today, and it could be you've been thinking about it for a while, let's do that right now. I'm gonna pray with you and I'll guide you. In your own heart and mind, just say, Jesus, I need you.

I'm a sinner. And I ask you to cover my sin for all time. And I ask you to be the leader of my life from this day forward. And so Jesus, take control. I choose to be your follower. I trust you as Savior and Lord of my life. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Listen, if that was you right after the service, all locations, just come to the front. We're gonna have a little moment. We call it first step. And we wanna give you a Bible and help you get started on the journey. I felt led to do that. Let me just pray for all of us now. Can we pray? Father, give us wisdom of these things and teach us. And may we be people not of fear, but of faith. I pray for all of us this weekend. We would at least just bust through something. We would at least just take a step that we know you've been talking to us about. And I pray that we would not be people of talk, but people who walk with you. Because if we wanna walk with you, we gotta get out of the boat. We gotta get uncomfortable. So teach us, we pray.

Over the next few weeks, change us as we go on this journey. In Jesus' name and for his glory, we pray, amen.