Week 2 | Step Out in Sacrificial Obedience

So families did something extraordinary. They took out personal loans. Some put second mortgages on their homes. They sacrificed so that Willow Creek could have a permanent place to reach more people with the hope of Jesus. They had no idea what God would do through that incredible step of faith. Yet, over the next few decades, people surrendered their life to Jesus. More than 50,000 people have been baptized at Willow over the past 50 years. I mean, think about that, 50,000 people whose lives, whose eternities have been changed by Jesus because a generation before them was willing to sacrifice for people that they had never met. I mean, that's what happens when God's people are willing to step out in faith. And maybe, maybe that's the reality we face today and why it's so compelling. There's still 6.5 million people across Chicagoland that have no faith affiliation. That's not just a big number. Those are our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, even family members of our own. And here's the startling reality. We're not gaining ground. In 2000, there were roughly 12,000 churches across Chicagoland. Fast forward 20 years. By 2020, that number had fallen to 4,500. The church has lost ground in our city and the suburbs. But we don't believe that's the end of the story. We're believing God for a spiritual renewal all throughout Chicagoland. We believe that Jesus is working through his church and is still the hope of the world. Through his church, Jesus brings healing and hope and new life to people who desperately need him. So we're not going to retreat. We as a church, we're going to step out. That means strengthening the church that God has already entrusted to us.

That means enhancing North Shore and Crystal Lake so that they can reach more people. That means creating permanent homes for South Lake and Wheaton so that these campuses could put down deeper roots, can grow, can reach more people with a gospel. But it also means to step into new communities where Willow isn't present yet, launching new campuses that give more people the opportunity to find and to follow Jesus. And we know this just isn't about Willow. We want to partner with other healthy churches across Chicagoland to strengthen what God is doing and help plant churches in places that need them. Because whether we're strengthening an existing campus or launching a new Willow campus or partnering with another church to plant the goal is the same, more people coming to know Jesus. More churches, more places to belong, more opportunities to hear the gospel, more lives transformed by Jesus. Now we believe that God is already at work all across Chicagoland. The question is whether we're willing to step into what God is already doing. So let me take us back to those families back in the 1970s. They stood in lines at a local bank. They signed their names to loans that they weren't sure that they were going to be able to afford. But they weren't building for themselves. They were building for people that they had not yet met. And here's what I love about that story that you are sitting in what they built. Someone stepped out for you. And so now it's our turn to step out for someone else. Not to build our church, to build his church. And who knows what God will do through our collective faith and sacrifice for people who aren't yet in the room. The will of Greek, let's be the kind of church that builds his church. All right, good morning, great to have everybody with us. Do you want to welcome those of you joining us online?

Welcome to all of our willow campuses, and as always a big shout out to our brothers who join us at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Always great to have you guys with us. We are in week two of this series we're calling step out. I hope that you showed up expecting today. Like I hope you showed up excited, like expected that God is going to move in and through us as a church. Do you believe that? Like fundamentally. Like do you believe it deep inside? I have never been more convinced about where God is leading us as a church. I've never been more excited to take the steps that I think that God is calling us to. And I am pumped that we are now in this series taking this journey together. Now if you were here last week, you got a book that looks a little bit like this, and if you weren't here last week, no worries. We've got some of these. I'd love to get this in your hands before you leave today. It's got fantastic devotionals. The devotionals were amazing this week. I mean, really spoke to me in meaningful ways, group content in there. And so if you don't yet have a book, make sure you get a book. If you've got it with you. that if you wanna take notes in today's message, it gives you the opportunity to do just that. But also in this book, you'll see a commitment card, and we just ask that you put that somewhere that you reminded of it, you see it, it gives you something to pray about, 'cause in week six of this series, we collectively are gonna have the opportunities at church

to make a two-year financial commitment, to take this dream that God has given us and to bring it to reality, and we're excited about that. Now, a couple things with that, we mentioned this last week, we'll mention it every week. If you are brand new around Willow, maybe for some of you, this is your very first weekend, we are ecstatic that you are here, and I want you to feel zero pressure when it comes to the financial commitment. You are our guests, we're excited you're here. I hope in this series, you really lean into what God's trying to do in us as a church, and through us as a church. I hope as you see where we're headed that you go, "Man, that's the kind of church that I want to be a part of, but please feel absolutely no pressure or obligation to participate." But for those of us who've been a part of this church, and this is our church home, this is not a have to, this is a get to. I mean, how cool is it that the God of the universe chooses to partner with this people in the greatest mission on planet earth? I mean, what a privilege it is that we get to step out and step into what God is calling us to as a church, and so we just ask, would you pray about what that could look like for you? Would you be open to whatever it is

and how God might lead? And we're anticipating a powerful moment as we get to step out together on November the 8th. But this week we're following, we're continuing to follow the journey of Peter in the Bible. And we're gonna rewind the clock from last week's narrative. And we're gonna go back to that narrative where Jesus calls Peter to become a follower of his. It's a great text, so meet me in Luke chapter five, as we're gonna be today. Luke chapter five, if you've got a Bible, you can go there, you can pull it up on the Bible app. It's also gonna show up on the screen together. It's such a cool narrative of what God does in his life that I think the same God wants to do in your life as well. But here it is. Luke chapter five, we're gonna start at verse one. It says this. "The one day as Jesus was standing by the lake of Ganesirat." Now, the lake of Ganesirat is just another name for the Sea of Galilee. So this is the exact same body of water that we talked about last week. This story is before what we talked about last week. And so you stand by the Sea of Galilee, the people were crowding around Jesus, listening to the word of God. He saw at the water's edge two boats left there by fishermen who were now washing their nets. He got into one of the boats,

that one belonging to Simon. Now, this part in Peter's story, he still goes by the name that his mama gave him, which was Simon, Jesus renames him Peter a little bit later, but it's the same guy. But Jesus gets into that boat that was belonging to Simon Peter, and he asked him to put it out a little bit from shore. And then he sat down and he taught the people from the boat. And so here's the scene. We're at the Sea of Galilee. If you've ever been there to kind of an amazing place, I've had the opportunity to stand on the shores of Capernaum, which is likely where they were at, because Peter grew up in the town called Capernaum. And so I've stood on those shores. What I can tell you about it is it's full, like it's completely surrounded by this hillside landscape. It creates the perfect amphitheater for Jesus to be able to teach a large crowd of people, because the acoustics are kind of built in naturally. He doesn't need a microphone. He can teach a large crowd. But I assume that the crowd became so large that they were kind of pressing on in him, and he needed to step back so he could project it a little bit more so he looks down, and he sees a couple of empty fishing boats. Says the fishermen were washing their nets. That's what you did when you were completely done

for the night. They had been all night fishing. They hadn't caught anything. They hadn't caught a lick. And they weren't washing their nets, because it's the last thing you did before you went home. And so it's the first century version of putting up your computer and turning the lights off, 'cause you're out, like peace, I'm out. And Jesus sees this as an opportunity. And so he steps into Peter's boat. He didn't ask for permission. He just stepped into Peter's boat. They pushed it back, and he begins to use the boat as a platform to communicate God's word to the people. Now, we need to understand a little bit about where Jesus' relationship was with Peter at the moment. They had a couple of encounters with one another, but Peter was not yet a full-fledged follower of Jesus. He would become one of Jesus' closest friends and disciples. Again, I said last week that he was like Jesus in many ways, like he was kind of the head of the class, if you will. But when we meet him in Luke chapter five, they had just had a couple of different encounters with one another. It was just a chapter before that Jesus went into Peter's home and healed Peter's mother-in-law. So he had seen Jesus do a miracle. He saw him as somebody that was worthy of respect.

He was a person of authority. And so I would say this is where Peter's at He's just not yet fully surrendered. Maybe some of us find ourselves in the very same place. And so here's how the story continues. Is this that when he had finished speaking, meaning Jesus, he said to Simon, put out into the deep water. Let down the nets for a catch. Simon answered, master. Hold on to what Simon refers to Jesus as, master. Put that in your pocket, we're going to bring that back out in just a little bit. But Simon answered, master, we've worked hard all night. We haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. And so here's what's happening. You have Peter, who is an expert fisherman. It's the trade he grew up into. He knows how to fish. And all of a sudden in this moment, Peter is getting fishing advice from a carpenter. Imagine what that would have felt like. Have you ever received unsolicited advice from somebody on how to do your job, when you know how to do your job? Like it feels almost offensive. It's like, do you think I'm dumb? I know how to do this thing. And that offense is likely what he felt. I had this moment a number of years ago, Lindsey and I were teaching at this marriage conference

together. And we hadn't done a lot of teaching together at that particular point. And so we showed up. And I felt like it was my job just to make sure that Lindsey felt really comfortable, that she was ready to go, that she was really confident for what we were going to get to do together. And so we were at the sound check. And the sound guy gave us two hand-held microphones. Now I've been in enough speaking engagements when somebody who has not used a microphone as much is a little less experience. They get a little nervous and they take the microphone and they hold it as far away from their mouth as humanly possible. And the whole audience is straining to hear them. And so I didn't want that to happen to Lindsey. And so out of the kindness, loving, pastoral, grace-filled husband that I am, I instructed my wife on how to use a hand-held microphone. And I said, baby, what you do is you just take it and you just put it on your chin. And it feels a little uncomfortable, but the sound guys will love it, and it's just like right there on your chin. And my wife looked at me and she didn't have to say any words. And I knew that what I was saying was basically communicating that I didn't think that she was very intelligent. And guys, those of you who are married or have been married

or maybe you're in a significant relationship, you know the look, right? Like to look that they don't have to say a word, but you realize that you are the dumbest species that's ever walked the planet Earth. That's what I felt in the moment. Because what I failed to acknowledge at the time is my wife was running her own business at the time. She was up in front of groups of people likely more than I am, and she was using a hand-held microphone every time. I don't even use a hand-held microphone. I use one that looks like this. And so she actually probably knew more about it than I did. And so when I tell my wife how to do something that she already knows how to do, it's a little offensive. And so that moment has not left our marriage. It is still like the inside joke between the two of us that if either one of us says some unsolicited advice to the other about very common novels that they already know, we don't say anything. We just go-- it's all that's needed. I'm proud to tell you I used it yesterday in the car. And I was really proud of that moment, right? Because nobody wants to get unsolicited advice for something they already know how to do. That's where Peter's at. He's been fishing. He's been out all night. He knows how to do his job. And then this carpenter comes along and tells a fisherman

how to do the job. And you can almost hear it in Peter's response. He's like, I've been fishing all night. We didn't catch a thing. You can almost hear his voice. He doesn't say it, but he's like-- and it doesn't make sense to fish during the day. Because fish can see the nets during the day. Do you actually fish at night when the fish can't see the nets? It will never work during the day. And it was not that Peter ignored the facts in any way, but the shift that takes place in the narrative is the five words that come on Peter's lips. He says this, but because you say so. In other words, he knew the facts. He knew how to fish. He'd just been out all night. The fish weren't biting at all. They didn't catch a single thing. It doesn't make sense to fish during the day time. But Jesus, you're somebody of authority. You're somebody's a little bit different. You're telling me to do something that's actually pretty illogical. But because you-- I'll throw down the nets in the place that you tell me to throw them. I think this is kind of a central piece of all of our faith journey and experience. Because sometimes it's actually God telling us to do things

that don't actually make a ton of sense, but I will say this about faith. Faith isn't pretending that the facts aren't true. Faith is deciding that Jesus is trustworthy even when it doesn't fully make sense. And I tell you, if you follow Jesus long enough, He will tell you things to do that don't logically make sense. And the question becomes, are we gonna be the kind of people that say, I don't fully get it? But because you say so, I'll do it. That I'll forgive them. Even though they don't deserve it, because you say so. That I'll serve, even when I don't have a lot of time on my hands, because you say so. That I'll stay in the game, I'll refuse to quit even when everything in me wants to throw in the towel, but I refuse to do that. Why? Because you say so. I'll give because you say so. I'll step out because you say so. Faith isn't pretending that the facts aren't true. Faith is deciding that Jesus is trustworthy even when it doesn't fully make sense. Here's what it says next. I said that when they had done so many, when they threw their nets out, they cut such a large number of fish that their nets begin to break.

So they signaled their partners and other boats to come and help them. And they came and they filled both boats so full that they began to sink. I mean, what an amazing, amazing, miraculous moment that they get to take part in, because they trusted God in a time that it didn't really make sense. Now, do you remember in the text where Jesus told them to put the nets? Do you remember? He says, throw your nets where? Into the deep. I actually don't think that that's by accident. Because I think the miracles of God are most often experienced in the deep. Here's what's true about a lot of us and sometimes myself included. My life gravitates to the shallows. Because in the shallows it's safe, it's comfortable, it's easy. I can stand up. I can take care of it all on my own. I don't have to trust anybody other myself than when I'm in the shallows. And sometimes if I'm not careful, I want to live life in the shallows because the shallows are way more safe and way more predictable. The deep is different.

'Cause the deep is unknown. It's a little bit more unpredictable. For me to come to the deep, that's outside of my comfort zone. I can no longer trust on what I know. I have to actually trust somebody outside of myself. The deep is a little more risky. Here's why this matters. I think there are so many Christians that lived their entire lives and they never leave the shallows. Because think about it. I can show up on the outside and do all the right spiritual things. I can show up to church every week. I can pray consistently. I can sing every lyric of every song. I can read scripture. I can believe all the right things. And none of that ever requires me to actually trust anybody outside of myself. And so many Christians actually never leave the shallows. They never leave their own comfort. And therefore they never experience the faith thrill of what it's like to actually trust the one who's calling us to throw our nets into the deep. What's interesting is this is not just true of spiritual things. This is true in every arena of life. That you can only learn so much from information

or sitting in a classroom or somebody giving you coaching and telling you what to do. When it comes to anything that you've never done before, the only way to actually learn it is to do it. Let me give you an example. Over the last few months, Lindsey and I have been teaching our 17 year old, oh he's 16, now about to be 17. We've been teaching him how to drive. Now for any parent in the room or anybody who's ever taught somebody how to drive, it is not for the faint of heart, right? God bless anybody who's ever attempted this feat. And so we did probably what you did. We started in a parking lot. Eventually we made it to residential streets. Eventually we went to more main thoroughfares. But if you want to talk about the deep when you're talking about training somebody how to drive, what do you do? It's a little come to Jesus moment for you. Because you can have all the training in the classroom. You can know all the right answers from a textbook. You can have a little experience in other places. But you will never learn the fullness of driving until you put your rear in the driver's seat and get yourself on the interstate. And so I remember the time. And Lindsey and I both worked to help our kids learn to drive.

But I always draw the short straw when it comes to the interstate. And so I taught our oldest son how to do it. Now, my oldest son and my younger son, they actually have very different perspectives. My oldest son was way overconfident. I was trying to slow him down. I was trying to make sure that he was actually paying attention because he was just so confident. My younger son was quite the opposite. We've always tried to encourage confidence. Like, hit that pedal on the right. Like, give it some gas, right? And we've encouraged you to become a little bit more decisive. You've got to make those decisions. You've got to go with it because if not, you're hung out to dry in the slow lane, right? And so often, we've been working to build his confidence. And so I knew trying to teach him to go in the interstate. Like, he's going to have to take this step. And he's got to make it happen. So what I decided to do was I was going to put myself in the driver's seat first. And I was going to get on and off the interstate a couple of times and I was going to walk you through everything that I was thinking so that he can kind of hear me process it out loud because those are the decisions that he's going to have to make. So I talked to him about getting your car up to speed on the ramp, finding out if there's any traffic

in that right-hand lane. If there is, you've got to make the decision. Am I going to go in front of them or behind them? Or do I have to give it some gas or let off? You know, all those types of things. You know, how to merge on and then how to get back off. Now, I took him out a little bit west of town because I was hoping that we wouldn't face as much traffic. And that was true. And so I got on and off the interstate a few times. There was never anybody in that right lane. So I thought, we're good to go. And so we pulled over, I put him in the driver's seat, it was ready. I'm saying a couple of prayers like, we're ready, you know, to make this thing happen. And so he, you know, gets to the ramp and I've talked to him about, okay, you got to get it up to speed. You got to get it up to speed. And so he starts doing that and we look over to the right lane and sure enough, there's a semi in the right lane. Like full on 18-wheeler semi, I noticed that there's a lane open to the left of the semi. So I think to myself, surely he's going to move over and create the space for us to get on the interstate. He did not. And so as the ramp is running out of room, I'm trying to convince Austin, you got to make a decision. Are you either got to gun it to get in front of this guy?

Are you going to slam with the brakes to get behind the guy? Austin panics. And he does neither. And so we're coming to the very end of the ramp and we are right next to the semi. I did what every good father pastor would do. I yelled at my kid with everything that I had. I'm like, get to the shoulder or get to the shoulder, like stop the car. So we literally stopped the car on the interstate, on the shoulder next to this concrete median wire. Cars are just flying past. My heart is racing at a rate that I don't think it has ever raced before. Austin, I'm trying to calm him down as well. And so we end up switching seats. I end up getting us off the interstate. We just found this parking lot that we could just like take a breather. Like, I almost saw Jesus face to face that day. Like, it was a pretty scary moment. But here's what I loved. Here's what I love about my kid. It took about 10 minutes. But he said, all right, dad, I'm ready to try it again. And I loved it because everything inside of us would have told us, let's just call it a day. Let's just go home. We'll try it again a different day. But he's like, no.

The only way to learn this thing is if I do it. It's with Austin's credit. He jumped back in the driver's seat. And the Austin's credit, he successfully did it. I don't know, three, four times that day. I was super proud of him. Because you cannot learn it without jumping into the deep. It's where you're actually formed. And so I would say this about faith. Faith gets built in the moments when your feet can't touch the ground. And that was Austin's experience. Can I brag on my kid for just a minute? He passed his driver's test yesterday. And so he's officially going to get his license. So everybody watch out. He's the slow car in the right lane because he's with him. But there's just something so powerful. You just can't learn it outside of taking the journey in the deep. The same is true spiritually. My friends, I refuse to live my life in the safe lane of spiritual work. I refuse to live my life that's just so comfortable and it's so safe but doesn't make a difference in anybody else's life. I refuse to lead our church in a way. This is just a country club type of church. No, we're an aircraft. to make a difference in this world.

I refuse to play it safe, 'cause God's calling us to something so much more. Why do we want to take these steps out and throw our nets in the deep? It's because our God is too big to stay in the shallows. That the mission is too critical for the shallows. That there are too many people who don't yet know about the love of God that's made available in Jesus. And so I cannot grab ahold of safety at the expense of somebody experiencing eternity. That I look at in our culture is so many people face food insecurity and they don't have the ability to put food on their table every single day. I cannot live a life that is safe and comfortable at the expense of others not having their basic needs met. I cannot live a life without pouring myself into young people in the next generation and the young adults to step into their God-given future and calling, we will not play it safe. We will throw our nets into the deep because we will meet God there. It's in the deep that you experience God's faithfulness. It's in the deep that you experience God's miracles. It's in the deep that God does His best work in forming your heart, in forming mine. Now let me tell you this is real practical and I know anytime that somebody talks around money and finances to church people get nervous. It's not about the money. It's all about what happens in our heart

when we choose to post yourselves in such a way for God to move. It's actually why the spiritual rhythm and discipline of giving actually matters. It's one of the few spiritual disciplines that if you practice it in a way that the Bible describes it will force you to the deep. It postures your life in a trusting type of way. In other words, when the Bible talks about giving as priority, I mean that's what we do first. And in portion meaning we give, Bible describes 10% like a tithe. If we give first and we give a significant portion, here's what that postures our life to do. That we do that before we pay our mortgage. Before we pay our electric bill, before we know how much is left over, what happens? It postures our life to trust that God's saying God, I'm putting this in your hands first and now I'm trusting that you will take care of me the rest of the way. And that's why the spiritual rhythm of giving matters so much, not because of the dollars, it's because what's attached to it, which is my heart and God wants to form your heart and he wants to form mine too. It's the reason why I'm so excited about this step out opportunity, about what God's gonna form collectively in us as a church. Now a couple of things I want you to know,

I actually asked our leadership to make their commitments first and they've already done it. And so our elders have already made their commitment. Our pastoral staff have all made their commitment and they have all made a commitment. 100% have already done it. And I want you to know that it is a faith filled nuts in the deep type of commitment. We are posturing our lives for God to move in a powerful way. I will tell you, you would be really, really proud of your leaders of Willow Creek Community Church. I'm really proud of it. (audience applauding) It's really important to me that leaders go first. I also want you to know it's important for me for you to know that me in the role that I play, it's very, very important to me that I model it for a church. I will never ask you to do something that I'm not willing to do. It's very important that I walk the walk and talk the talk, right? And so just to share with you a little bit about Lindsay and I's process, I have known this was coming longer than you have. And so we've been talking about it, praying about it as a couple for literally months. We've been praying about it.

We've each prayed about it individually. We come back together, we talk collectively. Currently we're on our third number of what we think God's calling us to do. I say I think because something could change between now and November 8th. But let me tell you about where we're at right now. What Lindsay and I decided to do is we took a look over our 22 year marriage and we found the year that was our, the year that we gave the most money away to God's work through the local church. And we took that number and what we decided to do was to double that number and choose to give that number in year one and then choose to give that number in year two. Now I don't tell you that to pat myself on the back in any way. I tell you that 'cause I just want you to know I'm gonna throw our nets into the deep. We're gonna trust God in some big ways. Now I'm a spreadsheet guy. I like to have a little bit of a plan. And so it's a fairly sizable number. And so we got a spreadsheet like how are we gonna go about this? Now we, we already give 10% of our, the stuff that God's entrusted us with. We already give that back to God. And so part of what we're gonna consider is how do we increase what we give out of our income?

Now candidly, I'm not able to increase it enough to fulfill our entire commitment. We got a couple of kids that are about to be both college And so though we will increase the giving that we're going to give out of our income, we can't get all the way there. So the next thing we looked at is we've got some savings and we put some savings aside for some things that we want to do as a family. And so we started having the conversation, what if we delayed those things? Or maybe even not do those things. Because what if we sacrificed the temporary for that which is eternal? For us, it's actually a fairly easy trade. The third bucket we looked at is some investments. And we don't have a lot of investments. I don't get equity stake in the church, right? And so we don't have a lot of investments, but we have some. And so we thought it's currently not liquid, but what if we made some of it liquid and what if we trusted God in that way? And so we added up the additional money we give through income, some savings, some investments. And we almost got to the number, there's still a little bit of a gap, and I loved that the gap still exists. You know why? Because that's where the faith is going to be built in these next two years. And if God's going to call us to this commitment, and through my faithfulness and sacrifice and obedience that gets me here, I cannot wait to see how God's going to show up in these next couple years. This is going to be this faith building season. I'm telling you, life is not lived in the shallows, life is lived in the deep. And so we're going to throw our nets in the deep, and I would invite you to come join us in the deep. Let's keep moving on. Here's what the text says next. It says, "When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me." What? Lord, I'm a sinful man. For he and all of his companions were astonished at the catch of the fish they had taken, and so were James and John's in the son of Zebedee, Simon's partners.

Look what Simon Peter called Jesus. In verse five he called him what? Master. In verse eight he calls him what? Lord. There's actually a transformation that's taken place in Peter's heart. That he's more faith-filled at the end of the story than he was a couple hours earlier. Master's a statement that you would say to somebody that you respect, somebody of authority, somebody you recognize. Lord was a term that was reserved for somebody who's holy. Somebody who's divine. It's not surprising. That's why Peter hits his knees. He starts saying things like the Old Testament figure said when they would get in the very presence of God. Peter's a changed person. It actually was never about the fish. It was never about the miracle that he would experience. It was about the miracle that was happening in his own heart. I would say this. The miracle didn't show Peter what Jesus could do for him. The miracle showed Peter who Jesus is. My friends, there's two ways to pursue God. You can pursue God to get what you want from God. The blessing. The miracles. The provision. Or you can pursue God for who God is. And that's my prayer for all of us. As we throw our nests in the deep that we would actually get to encounter the very presence

of God. I want you to be somebody that when you look at Jesus, you see a God of power. You see a God of wonder. You see a God who cares for the lost. You see a God of abundance who owns everything. We see a God of miracles. We see a God who's willing to take the very little that we have that we put in his hands and he uses it to rescue people. I hope you open your eyes and you see the amazing God that you and I get to serve. Because Jesus isn't primarily trying to get something from Peter. Jesus is trying to make something of Peter. The transformation is what actually matters. Jesus doesn't need Peter's boat. He doesn't need his nets. He doesn't need his money. Jesus wants Peter. The same is true for your life and my life. All that a gift does it opens our hearts to connect to the one who wants to be in relationship with us. It's actually never about the gift. It's always about our heart. Here's how the story concludes. It says, "Then Jesus said to Simon, 'Don't be afraid.' From now on, you'll fish for people." I love that statement. It's a very prophetic line that on this day, Jesus filled Peter's boat with fish very soon. God's going to start using Peter to fill heaven with people. It says, "So they pulled their boats up on shore and look what it says. They left everything and they followed him." I mean, that statement, I've read a lot of times, I've never had it hit me the way it

hit me this week. They left everything and followed him. Here's the research that I did this week. I was asking the question, I was looking for the scholarly work around, how many fish would it take to sink two boats in the ancient world? That was a lot of fish. So there's some work done around, you know, that the that it would take to sink a boat, you know how much weight it would have taken? About 30,000 pounds of fish for each boat. 60,000 pounds of fish. Now, candidly, in my selfish moments, the first thing that I'm looking at with 60,000 pounds of fish is chutching. If he would have taken that fish that day, taken it to market and sold all that fish, it would have generated 25 years' worth of wages for all four fishermen. They could have retired, bought themselves a lake house, hung out in the shallows for the rest of their life. They didn't need anything else. That's why it's astonishing to me that the text says that they immediately left everything to follow him. Why? Because they knew that Jesus had more value than anything tied to their boat. The greatest miracle in the story isn't that Jesus filled their boats. The greatest miracle is that Peter was willing to leave them, to walk away from them.

It's what happens when we get a clear view of Jesus. When we see him for who he really is, when we see his mission for what it could really mean for our lives, that we're willing to trade so much for just the opportunity to encounter Jesus in the deep. Now, Peter's not necessarily the only one to ever make this kind of decision. Literally countless others have followed him over the generations. People right here at Willow have made the same kinds of decisions. And I'm constantly moved by those who are really, really faithful around Willow who've done this kind of thing and taking steps out in faith literally for 50 years of our history. One of those people is this amazing woman named Jan Traeger. Here's Jan's story. - I am fortunate enough to be a founder of Willow Creek Community Church. So we formed a church, we rented a theater and this theater had a large lobby and a beautiful large stage, so our programming. We could show multimedia, it was wonderful. Our services were alive, they were relevant, they were creative. We had reached crossroads when we were growing so much from week to week. Our landlord in the theater would either threaten that we would be evicted or raise the rent. We had no plan B.

Our first campaign in 1977, we gathered together, we'd cast the vision, the theme was a ship is safe and a harbor, but that is not what ships were built for. We didn't have much in savings. A local bank had offered to loan people a thousand dollars. It was to be paid back over two years at 12.9% interest, which equated to us $48.25 a month. We just didn't ask, should we, could we? The question all of us asked was how much can we give? We our goal was $600,000. We achieved 425,000. We were devastated. We didn't know what had gone wrong. Did we miss God's vision? Do we not hear correctly? And the woman who was selling the property would not budge on her dollar commitment. She wanted cash, so the deal fell through. Within weeks, we heard that the Lake County or the state had come in and declared the property as unbuildable because they wanted to use it for forest preserves. We would have been tied up for years with all of our money in there. We found out another piece of property adjacent right kitty corner from that original property that where that owner was willing to sell us for $600,000, the same size piece of property or equivalent to it, let us put our huge down payment down of the $425,000 and take the rest in a land contract

over the time. So our faith exponentially grew and are listening to God's story, not our story or what we wanted. Every time I walk in this building and see something cool happening, my heart just soars. I know I had a part in it in each of those. We knew God had a sense of humor. When he put young adults in charge of an incredibly radical vision about how church could change 50 years ago. And this same thing is what I see in a step-out vision. It is a God-sized vision that unless all of us participate in it, it's not gonna happen. In God's writing a story that's incredible, it's for our next 50 years. Know that you have made an investment, that only when you get to the other side of heaven are you going to see all the people that were marked by what my investment made. No matter whether it was big or small, it was faithful. [applause] It was a couple months ago when I was talking to Jan about that story and she, alongside of dozens of others, she stood in those bank lines and took out loans for the sake of people that they had never met. And who would have ever thought that through that amazing step of faith when they put their nets in the deep,

that over the course of the next few decades, that God would bring tens of thousands of people to come to know Him. That almost 50,000 people have been baptized at Willow Creek since they stood in that line. So I was having that conversation with her on a Saturday, that next Sunday morning she brought me this piece of paper. It's a carbon copy of that original loan document. As she goes, "Shawn, do you know what a carbon copy is?" And I said, "Of course I know what a carbon copy is." Here's the beautiful thing, this is not a financial document. It's a faith document. And I've kept this with me now for about six to seven months. And I've kept it in place and I'm praying, God, what does faith look like for me some 50 years later? And what does it look like for me to trust you in the way that so many people have trusted you around this place? And God, how would you move through us in the way that you've moved through those who've been so faithful to you for so many years? And I just want you to know as a church, I've been praying for you for literally months because I'm praying that God would do something special in us. I just want to see a church that's filled with passion to see people rescued. I want to see a church that's hungry to be used by God. I want to see a church that experiences miracle after miracle after miracle. I want to see a church that's filled with courage and boldness. I want to see a church that hears the voice of Jesus and is willing to take a step out. I want to see a church that God fills with His Holy Spirit

to see Chicagoland reach with the good news of Jesus, my friends. When it comes to us stepping out, the goal of step out is not that Willow gets more. The goal is that we become more. That we become more surrendered. We become more trusting. We become more like the one who we're following to the deep. May we as a church not just play in the shallows, but to trust an almighty God of the universe as we throw our nets in the deep. God, that's our prayer. God, we just want to be a people that we just refuse to just play it safe and be comfortable. God, we want to be the kind of church that doesn't take a step without you telling us to take the step first. God, I don't want to be a church that's foolish. I want to be a church that's faithful. So, God, speak to us. God, move in us. God, prompt us. God, get us out of our comfort zone. God, get us to the place that we're willing to throw our nets in the deep because, God, we believe that you're there. Because, God, that's where our faith gets formed. That's where we get boldness. That's where we get courage. That's where we become the people that you've called us to be. God, shape us. God, form us. God, mold us. God, use us. We pray that the name of the mighty name of your Son, Jesus. Amen.