Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
A while back, a church I pastored was doing a
fundraising for the church.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
And a bunch of the guys in the congregation they
were heavily involved with aviation, so much so that they
flew sailplanes or glider as we call them.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You know, those are.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Those engined less sky floating planes that get pulled up
in the air by a small cable and then.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
The cable is released and you.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Just are in the air with no engine soaring you hope. Uh.
And these guys they organized, they even organized a glider club.
After church studies did go out, they would ply their
gliders at a local airport. And they suggest, they said, Lani,
if we gave people a glider ride as part of
(01:03):
the fundraiser, it would encourage contributors to be generous. And
they're right or crazy, it was a very creative thank
you for helping the church. It was a remarkable hook
(01:24):
to have. Now they proposes to me, I thought to myself,
this is a sure win of a fundraiser.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
This is nothing but genius.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
My wife Mercedes thought not so much. Okay, she said
something like I remember I almost verbatim, So let me
get this straight. You want to help fund a project,
and you're gonna let someone pull you into the sky,
(02:05):
detach you from the only engine around, and just pray
that this floating piece of tin can find ground again safely.
She wasn't thrilled. She wasn't she can imagine. She really
didn't want me to do it. But I took our son, Lonnie,
(02:28):
that's our picture, okay, And I said, Lonnie, we're gonna
go up on a sailplane. But I told him, I said, now, buddy,
don't tell anybody what we did, honest, don't tell anybody. Well,
(02:50):
guess what the first words were out of his mouth
when we got home, A youngster like a soaring around
in the air.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
I mean, can you imagine what thrill that is for
a kid?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Mom, We just had an amazing time. But I can't
tell you what we did. I can't tell you what
we did. I was busted. I was busted. So what's
the point of the story. When we've been looking at
(03:27):
ships and storms and walking on water, what's the point.
The point is, can you trust the pilot.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Surely where it all goes?
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Now? When you're mid air and in her plane, you've
probably been in a situation like this, and it's bumpy.
That question suddenly becomes real, and the same is true
with life. It is we're all passengers on this massive
(04:11):
sphere that's hurling through space, and it begs the question,
is anybody flying this thing we call planet Earth? And
if so, can that somebody be trusted? That's the core
(04:34):
of the question, and that is exactly where faith comes in.
Can you trust the pilot and connect that with faith?
And faith isn't It's not about believing hard enough. Come on,
it's not about believing hard enough. The reality is faith
(04:58):
always involves risk, no risk, no real faith. Now I
want us to go back to Matthew fourteen. Okay, Jesus,
(05:21):
as Jack you mentioned, since his friends, his disciples across
the lake in a boat and then suddenly a storm
his it's not just a storm. The Bible is very clear.
It is a brutal storm. We're not talking about little ripples.
(05:43):
In fact, if you go to the twenty fourth verse,
it says that the boat was buffeted, and even in
the Greek the word tormented is used. The boat was
tormented by the waves. And not only was there this
tormented storm. You know, you've got some folks on that
(06:03):
boat they've probably been in some pretty rough waters.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
They were professional fishermen.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
And they were frightened. But this storm, everything is out
of control. Have you ever thought everything is out of control?
In your world? Everything's out of control. Then it's shortly
before dawn, the Bible says, in other words, it's still dark.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
There might be a little bit of sudden light, but
the sun.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Is starting to creep up, and they see something walking
on the water towards them. They couldn't quite make it out.
They were frightened, and they thought it must be a ghost.
What is this this approaching us? And then they hear
a familiar voice.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Take courage, it's me.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Don't be afraid. Take courage, it's me. Don't be afraid.
If you're only going to memorize one verse in the Bible,
why don't you memorize that? Take courage, it's me. Don't
(07:26):
be afraid. Now here's where Peter steps up. And the
more I think about this, he says one of the
most outrageous things I suspect that has ever been said
to Jesus.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Here's the outrageous thing Peter said.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Say says, well, Lord, if it's really you, tell me
to come in the water. What a crazy thing to say.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Now, pause for a second.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Most of us would have said, okay, Jesus stopped the storm,
wouldn't we? He says, let me jump in. Now. This
is for our rock and rollers, okay, for our musicians
and the progressive movie a music folk. Remember years ago.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
At the super Bowl halftime show, Prince was the act
and there was a storm.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And they went into Prince's dressing room and they said, well,
should we cancel the super Bowl halftime act?
Speaker 1 (08:40):
What was his response? I hope it storm's worse.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
And now you look at that video on YouTube. It
it's raining over the storm and its one of the.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Most amazing, amazing musical.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Contemporary acts ever at a super Bowl. He wanted it
jump into it even worse. I think he's like Peter,
I really do.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
So okay.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
So Jesus pauses for a second, and he has.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
One response to Peter's request.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
He said, come, okay, come on, and then Peter lifts
one leg over the boat, puts his foot on the water.
He lifts another leg over the boat, puts his foot
on the water. He's probably holding onto it, the boat,
(09:56):
and he lets it go and he's still standing. He turns,
he takes one step, then he takes another step, and
(10:18):
for the first time in history, in the history of
the human race, an ordinary mortal person is walking on
water the first time. And then just for a moment,
just a moment, it's Peter and Jesus. What a moment.
(10:50):
Then Peter notice is something. Maybe it was a class
of thunder. We don't really know. All we do know
is he took his eyes off of Jesus. And when
he broke that connection, and then he started to sink.
He started to sink.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
And when you start to sink, the fear creeps back in.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Now a rhetorical question, now we're in Bible study mode.
The rhetorical question is did Peter.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Fail He started to sink, he was sinking.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Well, somebody say, yeah, technically, I guess he kind of failed.
He lost focus, he got scared, he sank. But I
tell you here's the real truth. The real truth is this,
there were eleven bigger failures in the boat setting.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Quietly, they didn't even try.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
Their failure was safe. It was private. No one noticed.
But Peter, Peter.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Knew the feeling of standing on water.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
Can you imagine that? And he also knew that when
he sank, Jesus didn't hesitate to grab him, not at all.
(12:44):
Only Peter had that experience. The others stayed dry, and
they missed a moment. They missed the moment. Let's talk
about comfort zones. Okay, comfort zones.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I love comfort zones.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Because they're cozy and you can manage your own little
world there in the comfort zone. But comfort zones don't
walk on water. That's the gospel.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Faith doesn't grow. I would also say faith never grows
in comfort.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Growth always means new territory, and new territory always feels scary,
scary like the pole of a thin wire pulling your
(14:05):
glider up in the air and you're wondering what's going
to happen when that towing pilot releases the cable and
releases you to be on your own. Now, some of
us may remember a time when we did step out,
(14:28):
We jumped out of the boat a little bit. Maybe
that was years ago. But now you're comfortable. You're comfortable.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
You know, it's interesting looking at you.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
There was a bit. I don't know, three or four
hundred people who've been a member of our church over
the years, some have passed away, others have moved away.
But looking especially those who who said I'm in.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
For the first year, year and a half, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Those who said this isn't for me, this isn't what
I wanted to sign up for. After we got going,
it was because it got too uncomfortable. Four years at
a movie theater, doesn't God move quick a mortgage for gosh,
I don't know, twenty some years what and it gets uncomfortable.
(15:36):
They say enough or didn't pan out the way, which
is fine, which is fine. But it's interesting those who
were with us saying those first eighteen months, who are
still with us, even if they're not here, they're still
part of this church.
Speaker 1 (15:52):
They're connected, they're with it because it's okay.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
They like to walk on water.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
They're innovators, they're innovators.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
They're innovators. Well, maybe you've built a life inside the boat, okay,
and we built that life inside the boat, and we
know what the boat is figuratively, it's whatever represents safety,
(16:30):
the routine relationships, the safety of self images. But Jesus
is still saying what he said to Peter, come come on,
come out of the boat, and yes you might sink.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
Okay, I'd never say you wouldn't sink.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I'd never say there won't be failure, would say that
we're supposed to be smart, we're supposed to be balanced,
we're supposed to to not be idiots with the texts.
It's what it represents safety for you. So come out
of the boat, and maybe you've you're trying to recover
(17:19):
from the failure. Maybe there was a relational risk you
took or some other way in which you tried to
bring your faith into it and you stepped out and
all of a sudden it just didn't work for you,
and you're sinking, and you're afraid, and fear is there.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
Maybe your faith felt more like fear.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
So here is the thing that I think you need
to do to realize, is that no failure is beyond
his hand. And that's the gospel. None. There is no
failure that can place you beyond the loving care and
(18:03):
the reach of Jesus. Non non. Now get this in
the story as it continues, Peter and Jesus they climbed
back in the boat, and we were told the storm
(18:24):
then stopped, and what happened The Bible says the other
disciples they worshiped, what they were saying, Oh gosh, we're
a bunch of babies. Here, We're a bunch of boat potatoes,
(18:46):
not pew potatoes, boat potatoes. They all connected with Jesus
because of what one person who had the guts to do.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Because one person.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
Steps out in faith, everyone's faith grows. That's what God
will do with your life. It won't just bless you,
it will inspire others. And that is what happens when
the church gets brave. I would submit that the reason
(19:27):
the state of Christianity in the United States, mainline Christianity
has dwindled to what it is today is because the
church stopped being brave and got comfort with the way.
This is the way we do this, this is how
we deal with this is this, and it stopped working
(19:49):
and you keep trying to make it work. Stopped being brave.
We were not meant to live in the boat. We are,
as John Northberg said, would be water walkers.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
We were made God made you for something more. And
deep down I think you feel it too.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Yeah, you know God's onto something with you. That quiet
tug that said there's more for you than playing it safe.
Let us pray Jesus, thank you for calling us out
(20:48):
of the boat. Thank you for not waiting until the
storm calms, but meeting us right in the middle of it.
We confess that fear often holds us back, that we
cling to comfort when you are inviting us into something greater.
(21:16):
Give us the courage to trust you more than we
trust our safety. Teach us to listen for your voice,
for its discernment, to take the first step even if
(21:36):
we're trembling, and when we stumble, because we will remind
us that you are always there, reaching out, never letting go.
Help us still live bold, faith filled lives. We collect
(22:00):
your power and presence in your name. We pray Amen.
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