The Voyage ~ Surviving Storms

As we continue in our series of looking at both our lives and our spiritual lives like an ocean voyage we are going to consider what our 3 sea faring travelers – Noah, Jonah and Peter – have to teach us about not just surviving storms but maybe even thriving through them. As we think about storms today we need to remember that not all storms are bad - some storms are good. Many parts of the nation right now could use some storms to help alleviate severe drought conditions and a few weeks ago parts of Colorado would have welcomed some storms to help put out their wildfires. So some storms are good, and then some storms are just minor frustrations because they disrupt our plans.


Our youth group returns from Impact today and Impact is a youth retreat that started because of these kinds of storms. It was 1995 and 3 youth groups had plans to camp together at the Creation Music Festival but the week before Creation central PA was inundated with rain. The storms weren’t serious, but they were steady and so at the last minute the Creation Festival was cancelled because the grounds were flooded. I was the pastor at 2nd Ave. in Altoona and we were one of the groups who was all ready to camp at Creation. Literally, we were all set, we had all our food cooked, frozen and ready to go, the youth had brought their sleeping bags, tents and clothes to the church and we were ready to leave the next morning - and then the call came. Creation was cancelled. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was a frustration and huge disappointment.

After a few phone calls we decided to get the groups together at Greene Hills Camp and have our own mini creation that we called Impact. I lined up a local Christian Band, we planned some morning worship services, we asked some people to speak and share their testimonies and in 24 hours we were set to go. The weekend was so good and God moved in such powerful ways that we decided to keep the event going and for 17 years Impact has grown to what it is today – reaching close to 1,000 youth every year with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What’s interesting is that as I was working on this message on Thursday, Impact was getting a storm that was a frustration. It didn’t cause major damage but it did disrupt the event and made them cancel Thursday night’s activities, but for our group the set back was an opportunity to be see God’s hand at work. They found a church to sleep in for the night and were able to see God provide in times of need. When a storm is just an frustration and causes disappointment because our plans have to change, we are faced with a choice, we can allow our disappointments to make us upset, angry and bitter or we can find God’s purpose and plan in the storm. Our youth made the right choice. They didn’t get angry or bitter, they found God’s plan and were blessed through the storms. These are the kinds of choices we face often because life is full of disappointments and frustrations. I don’t know if you have noticed, but very few things go exactly as we have them planned, so when minor storms come up we need to learn how to rejoice in what we have, look for the opportunities that God is giving us and give thanks in all circumstances.

Now more serious storms face all of us at times and that’s what we are going to look at in the stories of Noah, Jonah and Peter. They each faced very different storms and we learn different truths from their survival stories. The storm Noah faced was the storm of all storms. If you remember from last week, God was angry with the condition of the world and the corruption and violence he saw in the hearts and actions of the people so God decides to destroy humanity with a storm that would flood the earth. As God is making this decision, however, his eyes fall on Noah, who is righteous and faithful, so God instructs Noah to build an ark which will save Noah, his family and all the animals of the world.

What Noah teaches us is that we survive storms by staying in the boat. What’s important to understand is that in the early church, the boat was a symbol of the church and even today the main part of a sanctuary that leads to the altar is called a nave which is the Latin word for ship and where we get the word navy. So boats are symbols of the church, which means that Noah teaches that we survive storms by being part of the church. The church can be a place of protection and peace in the midst of life’s storms and we find this protection and peace not in the physical structure but in the people and in our times of worship and fellowship.

One of the reasons we encourage people to be part of worship on a regular basis is because when we come together for worship we hear God’s truth and the promises God makes to us and one of those promises is that in the midst of the storms God is here to be our rock and refuge. Listen to these psalms…

Psalm 18:2-3
Psalm 31:2-3
Psalm 62:1-8
Psalm 71:1-3

Whether it is through God’s word or the songs that we sing or times of prayer – worship reminds us that God is here to help us through the storms and that we can depend on him for support. But the protection and peace we find in the church doesn’t just come in worship it comes from the people as well. The relationships we build with one another and the love and encouragement we can find here also provides the support we need. When we are part of the church we are surrounded by others who sometimes are going through the same storm we are, or they have been through similar storms so can give us hope, guidance and encouragement.

Now while Noah survives by being in the boat, Jonah survives by being thrown out of the boat. To go back, Jonah was a prophet in the 6th century BC who was called by God to go and preach to the people of Ninevah (map 1). Jonah didn’t want to do this because he did not like the people of Ninevah and he knew God was gracious and would forgive them and Jonah would prefer God wipe them out so Jonah says, No God, I’m not going, and to make his point clear he boards a ship to Tarshish, which is in the exact opposite direction (map 2). While we can run from God, we can’t hide, so God knows where Jonah is and knows where he is going so God sends a storm - not to punish Jonah but to save him. The storm that comes up while Jonah is on his way across the sea is to help Jonah stop what he is doing and bring him back to God’s purpose and plan. Let’s look at Jonah 1:4-11.

Now what Jonah should have said here was, “turn the ship around and drop me off on dry ground so I can do what God has asked me to do”, but he doesn’t. Look at what Jonah says, Jonah 1:12. Jonah would rather die than do what God has asked of him. Now the sailors don’t want to do this, they pray and ask God to help them because they don’t want to throw Jonah into the sea, but the storm continues so they pick Jonah up and throw him overboard. At this point Jonah must be thinking that he has had the final say, but God will not be had so quickly. God sends a giant fish to swallow Jonah. Suddenly the physical storm has ended but Jonah’s problems have increased, at least I can’t image anything much worse than sitting in the dark of a fish’s belly among decaying fish and gastric juices. And can’t you picture Jonah sitting there at first saying, “no way God. I don’t care, I’ll sit here forever if I need to, but I’m still not going”. But God is patient, and God can wait us out. It only takes Jonah 3 days to realize that he needs to give in to God and once Jonah agrees (Jonah 2:10) God commands the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. You have to love the ways of God.

Now one of the things Jonah’s survival story teaches us is that some storms in life are of our own making. The storm Jonah survives came because he made the choice to run away from God and what we need to remember is that there are consequences to our disobedience and unfaithfulness. Storms can come up one after another when we turn from God and sometimes it takes hitting rock bottom before we can see the hand of God is there to help us. Jonah refused God over and over again and rock bottom came in the belly of a fish – but once he got there, once things couldn’t get any lower – he cried out for God to save him Look at Jonah 2:2-6.

For Jonah the storm helped save him because the storm helped him stop moving away from God and see his need to turn to God. Being thrown out of the boat helped Jonah begin to take stock of his life and the decisions he had made and being swallowed by the great fish helped Jonah see his need to start moving in a different direction. When we find ourselves going through storms we need to ask ourselves how we might be contributing to the problems. Are there things we can do to calm the wind and the seas? Are we trusting in God and being faithful to God or is our rebellion and sin part of the problem? Storms and trials in life can help us get in line with God’s will and desire if we are willing to ask God for help.

So Noah survived the storm by staying in the boat and Jonah survived by being tossed out of the boat but Peter survives and thrives by stepping out of the boat and walking on the water. It was the end of a long day for Jesus so he sends his disciples out in a boat to begin their voyage across the Sea of Galilee while he stayed behind for some solitude. During the night a storm comes up on the sea and the disciples are straining at the oars to keep the boat moving and Jesus either sees their situation or just has the divine ability to know what is going on and goes to help, but without a boat, Jesus walks to them on the water. When he gets close to the disciples their fear escalates because they assume what is coming toward them is some kind of ghost. In response to their cries for help, Jesus says, take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.

Now there are two important things we need to learn from this story, the first is that some storms just come up in life. In the Noah story, God sent the storm as part of his plan to start over and in Jonah’s story God sent that storm to save Jonah by helping him go in a different direction – but this storm just happens. Storms come up quickly on the Sea of Galilee, they just appear and many of the storms and trials we face in life just appear. Too many people want to attribute every problem and trial in life to God, but this story shows us that not every storm comes from God, some storms just happen. We live in a broken world where people get sick and accidents and bad things happen. It is not God’s will for people to get cancer and die when they are young, it’s not God’s will that innocent people die in accidents and movie theater shootings, but they do and what we see here is that when bad things happen – God is there to help. Jesus knew the disciples were in trouble so he comes to them, and God comes to be with us during the storms.

The second thing to notice here is that as soon as Jesus appears, the storm is NOT silenced. Let’s look at the story in Matt 14:22-32. When the disciples cry out in fear, Jesus doesn’t instantly calm storm, but he does come to be with them. The storms don’t end the moment Jesus arrives and the reason is that sometimes God wants us to grow through the storms by learning how to trust in him. Can I say that again! God wants us to grow through the storms by learning how to trust him. This is exactly what we see in Peter.

Once Jesus identifies himself and tells them not to be afraid Peter wants to walk with Jesus on the water and Jesus says, come on. So in the middle of the storm Peter gets out of the boat and walks to Jesus on the water. By trusting in Jesus, Peter does something he never thought possible and this is to be a model for our faith and lives. As followers of Jesus we are supposed to get out of the safety of the boat and walk through the storm. We are supposed to leave the safety and comfort of the church at times and go out into the chaos of the world and face the problems with the power and grace and love of God. It’s not easy and there will be times that like Peter we will sink, but Jesus will be there to rescue us and do you know what Jesus will do with us at those times? He will put us back into the boat – that’s what he did with Peter.

In Peter we find the model of how we are to live out our faith during the storms. We step out in faith to take on the problems and then when we need to, we return to the safety, security and support of the church to get strong again and it is this process strengthens our faith. Storms can make or break us. If we choose to step out in faith – we can grow. If we risk it all, if we take bold actions, if we trust completely in God – we will grow and thrive and experience the power of God even in the midst of the storm.

As we close today I want us to think for a moment about how we survive some of the most powerful storms in life, those category 5 hurricanes that maybe only come once in a lifetime.  How do we survive major life problems like the death of a child, the loss of a marriage or financial ruin? How will we survive the major storm we are all facing today in our own community? The situation at Penn State has the potential to be a Category 5 storm. We could lose the financial stability of our community for years. In many ways, life as we know it has already been changed, and more change, more instability and problems could be coming – so how can we not only survive but thrive through this storm?

We survive by learning how to help and support one another. If you talk to people who have gone through major life tragedies they will tell you that the support, love and care of others has helped them, and it’s not because of what we say, it’s because we are simply there. I have been with many people as they have dealt with the pain of losing a parent or spouse or worse yet a child and I have to tell you, there are no magic words that make things better, in fact, nothing we say can make anything better – what helps is simply being there. As we go through what I’ll call this Penn State storm – we need to figure out what it looks like to be there for one another.

We were talking this week in a staff meeting about planning some events for the fall and of course we all know that in the fall we can’t plan anything on PSU football weekends, but someone said, well maybe this year it doesn’t matter, and I thought to myself, no more than any other year, this year does matter because we need to be there for people. We need to support local businesses, we need to support the fans who will come to our community, we need to support the players who had absolutely no part in the problem and have made the difficult choice to stay and walk though the storm. So what does it looks like for us to survive this storm together?

One simple thing might be to go out to dinner on a football weekend, or any other weekend and support local restaurants and then just let them know we are there because we want to support them. We could send a note to coaches or players, if you have PSU tickets, go to the games and cheer as loud as you can and then we keep praying for all those who have been victims of abuse.

And then we need to trust God. We need to radically and intentionally trust God. Even if everything were to collapse underneath us in our community, we need to hear once again the truth that God is our rock and our redeemer not any sport or institution or business or person in this world – it is God and God alone. Listen again to Psalm 62:5-8.

Jonah reminds us that sometimes it is when we hit the bottom that we see just how strong and loving and powerful God is. So as we go through this Penn State Storm we need to support one another in our community and we need to return to and trust in God.



Next Steps: The Voyage ~ Surviving Storms

1. We Survive Storms by staying in the boat.
Commit you and your family to regular church connection.
• Commit yourself to regular worship attendance.
• Commit to starting Sunday School now or this fall.
• Plan to attend the Church Picnic on August 19th.
• Stop by the connection table to sign up for one of our fall Small Groups.

2. We Survive Storms when we stop running from God.
• Are any storms in your life today from your own doing?
• What sin or rebellion needs to be honestly confessed to God?
• Read and reflect on Jonah’s prayer (Jonah 2:2-10).

3. We can Grow through Storms when we step out in faith.
• Acknowledge that God is with you during the storm (remember - Jesus didn’t calm the storm immediately, but he was with the disciples!).
• What will it look like for you to step out in faith during the storm? What bold and courageous act can you take today?
• When failure comes (and it often does), get back in the boat (see #1 above).

Making it through the Penn State Storm together.*
• Keep church activities a regular part of your life to help maintain the right perspective and balance in all of life.
• Find ways to support local businesses and the Penn State community (students, families, faculty and staff) this fall. (Some ideas: visit the creamery, go out for dinner, attend any sporting event and cheer on the student athletes, share supportive ideas and activities with others.)

The Voyage ~ Our Captain

While I grew up in a beach house in CT that sat directly on the waters of Long Island sound and our family owned 3 boats at different points in time, I am not much of a sailor. I got seasick fishing with my Dad when I was young and the memories of that voyage have not only made it impossible for me to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to this day, but they have also made me feel much more comfortable keeping my feet on the ground, but for the next four weeks we are going to talk about our spiritual life as a sea voyage and use three nautical stories from the Bible to learn how to make the most of our life’s voyage.


Our spiritual life and walk with God should be a voyage – I’m not talking about a boat trip on the water, but an adventure, a lifetime journey that gets our blood pumping and our hearts racing and our passions stirred, and yet for many of us, I’m not sure that’s how we see our life or our faith. For too many of us, our walk with God has become predictable and routine. We go through the motions week after week and yet nothing changes. We worship, we might pray and read the Bible but nothing in our families, at our jobs or in our lives really changes. This isn’t how it is supposed to be. Jesus said he came so that we would have an abundant life and God has promised to fill our lives with power and purpose which should fill each and every moment with passion, but for many of us, this is not what we experience.

In his book, Dangerous Wonder, Mike Yaconelli says that the most critical issue we face today is dullness. We have lost our ability to be astonished and amazed by the adventure of our faith and the passion of our savior. Christianity, he says, is no longer life changing. What happened to the kind of Christians whose hearts were on fire, who had no fear, who spoke the truth no matter the consequences, who made the world uncomfortable and who were willing to follow Jesus wherever he went? What happened to the kind of Christians who were filled with passion and gratitude and who every day were unable to get over the grace of God? We have lost the sparkle in our eyes, the passion in our marriages, the meaning in our work and the joy in our faith.

Does any of that sound familiar to you? I have to say that it does for me. At times we all struggle with how to keep the passion of our faith alive and sometimes just understanding that we need to recapture that passion is a good place to start. So if you want to experience a life-changing faith, then I want to invite you to join me on this voyage that can begin to turn things around.

Today as we set sail we are going to be asking 3 critical questions:
1. Who is your captain?
2. Are you a passenger or a member of the crew?
3. Are you going to stay in port or head out into deep water?

Who is your captain? The Christian life begins by making a decision, who is going to be the captain of my life? The reality is that someone is in charge of our lives. It might be you, it might be someone else, it might be God, but someone is in charge and the question we need to ask ourselves is who is it? Who is the captain? Who is the one in control? For most of us, we want to be in control. We want to set the course, make the decisions and be the one at the helm of the ship, but becoming a Christian means that we let go of the ship’s wheel and allow God to take control. To call Jesus lord means we allow Jesus to direct our lives.

Allowing Jesus to be our captain is where the real adventure of faith begins because being a Christian isn’t just about God forgiving our sins so we can go to heaven, it is that, but it so much more – it is about God giving us life. Listen to how the apostle Paul talks about the Christian life in Romans 8:10-11,15 (from the Message).

If the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he’ll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bring you alive to Him! When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ’s! … This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid grave tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike, “What’s next, DAD?”

When we allow Jesus to be our captain he doesn’t direct us from the outside, he brings his passion and power - his life - to us on the inside and that is what brings transformation. That’s when the adventure starts. Now the decision to make Jesus the captain of our lives is not made once, it is a decision we need to make daily. Every day we need to wake up and ask Jesus to be our captain because the temptation we face every day is to take over the helm.

John Wesley, one of the founders of Methodism, gave us a great prayer that we can use every day to make sure that we keep Jesus as our captain. We have given this to you in the next steps and I encourage you to pray this prayer every day this week. Put it on your bathroom mirror, refrigerator door or steering wheel of your car, or someplace where you will stop and use it as means of asking Jesus to be your captain, the prayer says:

Jesus, I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
So Be It. AMEN

So who is in control of your life? Is it you or is it God? Do you know what is best, do you make the decisions and set the course or have you allowed Jesus to be your captain? There are three men in the Bible who are faced with this very question and it is their stories and their voyages on the water that we are going to look at during this series and they are Noah, Jonah and Peter.

Let’s start with Noah. His voyage began when God looked at the earth and what he saw troubled him – Genesis 6:5-6. The way people treated one another pained God so much that he was sorry that he even made human beings and so his solution was to simply flood the earth and start over again, but then God saw Noah. Noah was a righteous man. It says, Noah walked with God. Noah had made the decision to allow God to lead and direct his life. God was his captain and God wasn’t going to give up on Noah, so God told Noah of his plans to flood the earth and his decision to start over with him and his family. God told Noah to build and ark and then gather 2 of every animal and place them into the ark. And look at Noah’s response – Geneses 6:22.

In Noah we see what it looks like to have God be the captain of our lives. Is this what our lives looks like? Would we, are we, willing to do what Noah did? Noah put everything in his life on hold, he faced the ridicule of friends and neighbors and he had to work hard at a seemingly impossible task in order to be faithful and obedient to God. Would we be willing to do this or would our response look more like Jonah?

Jonah is the second story we are going to look at in our series and just like with Noah, the world was evil and violent in the days of Jonah and God called Jonah to do something about it. He wasn’t to build an ark, he was to speak out against this evil - Jonah 1:2. God called Jonah to go to the people of Nineveh who were wicked and evil and tell them to repent of their ways and turn back to God. Jonah did not want to do this because Jonah did not like the people of Nineveh. They were the enemy and honestly, Jonah didn’t want them to repent – he would have rather God send a flood and wipe them out, so while Noah said Yes to God, Jonah said No. No way God, I am not going to do it. I am not going to those people; I’m not going to tell them to repent. I’m not going. And to make his point clear, Jonah decided to run away from God.

The people who first heard the story of Jonah would have caught the humor here and we can too if we look at this on a map. Jonah is here and God asks him to go to the people of Nineveh who live here and Jonah says no and gets on a ship that is going here.

Ever feel like doing that? Ever feel like running away from God? Ever feel like just turning around and going in the exact opposite direction? We’ll look at this more in later weeks, but while we can run from God, we can’t hide and Jonah couldn’t hide. For now what we need to see in Jonah is that God wasn’t the captain of his life at this point and he wasn’t sure he wanted God to be the captain of his life at any point, so he turned and ran- and many times we feel the same.

Making Jesus the captain of our lives means there will be those times when we sense God leading us and asking us to do difficult things and the temptation is to take control of our lives once again. It might have to do with a relationship, a job, decisions about how we spend our time or money or even like Jonah – a mission God wants us to radically give ourselves to – and the struggle is to say yes to God. There have been times in my life when I have said no to God and tried to run in the other direction and yet what I want to do is respond like Noah and do everything God asks me to do without whining or complaining, but the truth is I am somewhere in between – which leads us to Peter and our third nautical story.

Peter was a fisherman, the only one of the three men who knew anything about the water by the way, and Peter had been fishing all night without catching anything so he was now on the shore with his partners mending their nets. Jesus had been teaching along the banks of the lake and he gathered such a huge crowd that he was being crushed by their presence and unable to really speak in a way to be heard, so when Jesus comes upon Peter and his boats, he asks Peter if he would allow him to use his boat as a kind of floating stage – and Peter agrees. So Jesus gets in the boat and they push out into the shallow water a few feet from the shore where Jesus speaks to the crowds.

When Jesus is done he asks Peter to go out into deeper water and let down his nets. Suddenly Jesus is acting like the captain of the ship telling Peter where to go and what to do and Peter is somewhat skeptical and reluctant. After all, what does Jesus know about boats and fishing? Jesus grew up the son of a carpenter not a fisherman. He knows about wood and nails not waves and nets and why would Jesus want them to put their nets down now – it would be a waste of time because Peter knows there are no fish here, they had been fishing that part of the lake all night long with no results. None of this makes sense and Peter pretty much tells Jesus this – Luke 5:5a.

Peter has not yet become a follower of Jesus, but he is beginning to experience what it will mean to follow him – it will mean doing what Jesus asks even when it doesn’t make much sense. And this is Peter’s response – Luke 5:5b.

Because you say so, I will go. I don’t want to, I’m tired, I don’t think it makes any sense at all but because you say so, I’ll go. This is often the response that I give to God. I push back when God asks me to do something, I find excuses not to, I try to state my case – try to exert my control. In the end I hope I do what God wants me to do, I just wish I could do it without all the whining, complaining and questioning. I wish I wasn’t so skeptical and reluctant. I wish I could be more like Noah and just go and do whatever God asks, but I’m not there yet. I’m glad I’m not Jonah running in the other direction - I’m just more like Peter – struggling to give control of my life to Jesus - struggling to make Jesus the captain. Who is your captain? Who is in control of your life? The Christian life and the voyage of a lifetime begins by making the decision to let Jesus be the captain and I hope you will do that today and every day.

Now the next two questions we need to look at quickly. As you set sail on this journey are you a passenger or a member of the crew? A passenger has everything done for them. A passenger is waited on hand and foot and never has to do anything – those of you who have been on a cruise know something about what this might be like and while for many of us that may sound wonderful and it may be nice for a while, the real action and adventure in life isn’t found when we are being served as a passenger but when we serve as part of the crew. Crew members get involved. Crew members give and sacrifice in real ways and when they do they find more satisfaction and power and joy then they ever thought possible.

Think about Peter in the boat with Jesus. Do you know what happened when he followed Jesus’ command and put his nets down into the water? Look at Luke 5:6-7. Now think about what Peter would have missed if he had just sat back and told Jesus, no – you cast the nets over into the water. Peter never would have been part of hauling in the largest catch of fish anyone had ever seen. He would have missed the adventure, the excitement and the passion of the moment. If all we ever do is remain a passenger – life will get dull, but once we join the crew – life becomes an adventure.

The truth is that we are all in the process of going from passenger to crew. If you are new to following Jesus, or new to the church, it’s ok to sit back and be served, in fact we want people to climb on board this ship we call Faith Church and just experience life with God with us, but at some point we want you to know the full power of Jesus which we believe comes when we become part of the crew. When and how that happens God will make clear to you, just be willing to make that transition.

And then the last question is are we going to stay in port or head out into deep waters. The truth is that sitting in port is safe. There are no storms, there is no seasickness, there is no risk… but once again, there is also no adventure and there is no life. The thrill of life is found in deep waters when we take risks and push our faith and trust in God to the limit. The deep water might be big life-changing decisions, or they might be our simple daily routines done at the direction of God. Think about Peter, going out into deep water was really just part of his job, but he did it this time for Jesus. Maybe God is asking you to just pray for someone at work, or reach out and visit a neighbor who has recently experienced a loss. These may not seem like big things but they can move us out of our comfort zone and it's when we move to those places that we begin to experience the passion and the power of God. Now the deep water might also be something big, like exploring a new job, moving to a new community or maybe thinking about helping in a new mission and ministry in the life of the church. These things might seem risky and scary and you know what – they are, but God will be there to turn the fear into a faith and the anxiety into an adventure.

It’s sad to say this, but most of us never leave the safety of the port. We listen to the fear and make excuses instead of acting boldly in faith and the result is that we never experience the fullness of what God has for us. That kind of faith is dull, and that is not what Jesus calls us to. When he is our captain, he will steer us into deep waters where as part of his crew we will experience the power of God. So make Jesus your captain and experience the voyage of a lifetime.



Next Steps
The Voyage ~ Our Captain

Make Jesus Your Captain
• If you haven’t already, make the decision today to give control of your life to God.
• Ask Jesus to be your captain every day by using this prayer:

Jesus, I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
AMEN

Become part of the Crew
Find 1 way you can serve this week instead of being served:
• Commit to praying for the people on the prayer list.
• Sign-up to help with this week’s Appreciation Dinner.
• Commit to purchasing a net to help end malaria.

Leave the port and head out to deep waters.
Take 5 minutes to listen for the Captain’s voice every day and be willing to trust and obey its authority, direction and commands. Rev. Adam Hamilton says, “Do you want a great adventure? It’s not likely to come as one huge task. It’s going to come in small ways, in listening every day for the Captain’s voice, and doing what he calls you to do.”

Sun, Stand Still ~ Praying for the (im)POSSIBLE

For the past six weeks we have been studying what is maybe the most familiar prayer of our faith, the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer given to us by Jesus, but today I want us to consider a much more obscure and unknown prayer, a very short prayer given to us by Joshua. It’s a bold and courageous prayer of just 3 words – 3 impossible words. In Joshua 10:12 it says …Sun, stand still. Joshua asked God to do the impossible and make the sun stand still in the sky and as we read on in Joshua 10:13 we see that the sun stood still. God answered Joshua’s prayer and did the impossible. God kept the sun from setting. Now let’s look at the context of this prayer and see why Joshua asked God to do this.


The people of Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, had recently crossed the Jordan River and were beginning to settle into the Promised Land. The problem was that the land was already inhabited by many different nations and tribes which meant that Joshua and the Israelites had to fight these people to live there. The first city that had to be conquered was Jericho. It was a strong and fortified city with high rock walls and instead of going up against them in combat, God told Joshua to have the people march around the city with the priests blowing ram’s horns once a day for six days. On the seventh day the marched around the city 7 times and on their last trip around they all shouted, the Lord has given us the city and as they did the walls of the city fell down and the Israelites rushed in and took the city.

The defeat of Jericho and then the later defeat of the city of Ai caused such a stir among the tribes and nations in the area that some people simply surrendered to Joshua, but others banded together to fight. 5 Amorite kings in the region pooled all their fighting men to go up against Israel and at first it looked like they might win, but then Joshua arrived with all his men and they began to overtake the Amorite Kings and their soldiers. The problem was that it was late in the day and at sundown everyone would have to stop fighting and if they stopped fighting, Joshua and the people of Israel would lose their momentum and maybe lose the battle – so Joshua prayed for the sun to stand still so they could win the battle and God made the sun stand still which gave Joshua and the people of Israel the opportunity to completely defeated their enemy. At the end of the battle the people realized that they didn’t win because of their superior strength or combat strategy – they were victorious because God listened to the prayer of Joshua and fought for his people.

When Joshua faced an impossible situation – he cried out to God to do what most people would have thought was impossible – he asked God to make the sun stand still. Joshua was bold and courageous and faithful and God responded. I believe God is just waiting for us to be bold and courageous and faithful in our prayers and I believe God wants us to pray for that which many might think is impossible but we pray it anyway because we know that with God all things are possible. That is the theme of our VBS this week, that all things are possible with God which means that there is no impossible prayer. God doesn’t want us to pray for the impossible he wants us to pray with conviction and faith for that which we know can be possible with Him.

Jesus said that if we faith the size of a mustard seed that nothing will be impossible, and in Philippians 4:13 it says I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Knowing that all things are possible with God, what are the seemingly impossible situations that God wants you to pray for with boldness and courage? What impossible situation in your life is God just waiting for you to pray about so he can amaze you with his power and grace and goodness? Is it a relationship that needs to be healed or a financial problem that needs to be fixed? Is the impossible or possible situation a spiritual transformation in your life or in the life of someone you know or love? Is it a prayer for physical or emotional healing, the power to overcome temptation or achieve a certain goal that has eluded you for a lifetime? What is the impossible situation in your life that God wants to make possible? Can you name it – write it down and start getting specific with God about what you want? God is waiting for us to be bold and courageous in our prayers – so what is the impossible prayer (or possible prayer) you need to pray today?

Now… what will take for you to pray this prayer with boldness, faith and confidence? What will it take for you to pray like Joshua knowing that God can make it happen? What does it take for us to ask God to do that which is possible? The first thing it takes is A Vision of God’s Power. We need to actually see that with God all things are possible. The reason Joshua could ask God to do the impossible was because Joshua had already seen God do the impossible not once or twice but many times during his life. Think of everything Joshua had seen God do during his lifetime. Joshua was born a slave in Egypt so he was there to see the power of God in all 10 plagues. He saw God turn the waters to blood and then he saw the infestation of gnats and flies and frogs. Joshua had seen the plague of darkness which meant that he had seen God do something impossible with the sun in the sky (maybe that was why Joshua could later pray for God to do something impossible in the sky).

Joshua was there when the Red Sea parted and he was there when the Manna covered the ground every morning for 40 years. Joshua was there when water came from a rock, when the rocks of the Jordan river where exposed and when the rock walls of Jericho came tumbling down without the people lifting a finger. Joshua had a clear vision of God doing the impossible on earth and in the sky so it wasn’t outrageous for him to ask God to do one more seemingly impossible thing.

For us to ask God to do that which many may think is impossible we need to have a clear vision of God’s power at work in the world and in our lives, so where have you seen the power of God at work? How have you personally experienced the power of God or the grace of God in difficult situations? I’d like to share a situation where we all were able to see God’s power at work right here just a few weeks ago. As you know, the church was broken into 2 weeks ago and while there was some damage that needed to be cleaned up, the power of God was clear for us to see. The man who broke in never entered the sanctuary – God’s hand protected the doors and kept this space sacred. The man never entered any of the classrooms we use for our children’s ministry or for our daycare or playschool, which meant that those rooms remained safe and secure. God was watching out over our children and their safety even when none of us were here. The only room that had any damage that needed to be addressed was a staff lounge that had a tile floor that could be easily cleaned and nothing of value was taken or destroyed. God did what some might think is impossible – God guided a very drunk man through the church so that there was minimal damage.

Seeing God at work in this situation tells us that we can pray for God to guide and protect us in other difficult situations. Having a vision of God’s hand guiding and leading and protecting us in the past helps us pray for God’s hand to guide and lead and protect us in the future, even in impossible situations. So if we are going to pray for that which seems impossible we need to have a vision of God’s power that tells us that with God all things are possible.

The second thing we need in order to pray for that which is impossible is An Understanding of God’s Love. We need to know that it is not just God’s will but it is God’s desire to provide for us. Joshua had seen God’s love for the people of Israel through his entire life as he watched God patiently lead his people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. When we understand that God truly loves us – then we will have the boldness to ask God for what we need, even if it seems impossible. Look at Luke 11:11-13

 

Jesus reminds us here that God, as our heavenly Father, knows what it is we need and even what we want, and as a good and loving father he desires to give us those things that are right and good for us and so it is ok for us to ask. It’s ok to ask God for what seems impossible because if it is in line with His will he desires to give it. That’s why Jesus tells us to ask with boldness and confidence and with assurance that as loving father God will provide.

The third thing it takes to ask God for the impossible is to be In Sync with God’s Word. We need to use the stories and teachings of the Bible when we pray for the impossible not because we need to remind God of what He has said or done in the past and what he can do in our future, but to remind ourselves. When we see that what we are asking God to do is in line with how God has moved in the past and is in line with the teaching of God’s word, it gives us boldness and confidence and faith when we pray. For example, the impossible situation we might be facing today is finding a sense of meaning and direction in life. If we go back to Genesis and the call of Abraham we see that God promised Abraham that he would lead him to a good and prosperous land. God made a promise to lead Abraham and so we can claim that promise in our lives as well because God has said the same thing to us in Jeremiah 29:11. If the impossible situation we face is having a sense of God’s direction in life, then we need to get in sync with God’s word and claim God’s word and promises to strengthen our faith as we pray.

The Bible is full of many impossible situations that can help us in our prayers. Hannah believed she would never have children, but she prayed and asked God for a child and God granted her a child. Elijah asked God for food during a drought and God provided him with food. The lepers, blind, lame and deaf asked Jesus for healing and God healed. The demon possessed asked Jesus to cast out their demons and restore them into their right mind and Jesus brought them peace. The Bible is full of stories of people asking God for impossible things that God provided and we need to claim these stories and use them in prayers. These stories and teachings don’t remind God of what he can do, God knows all things are possible; it reminds us of what God can do which gives us faith and trust when we pray, which makes our prayers more powerful and effective.

And then the last thing we need to do when we ask God to do that which seems impossible is to Humble Ourselves in the Presence of God. Usually when we ask God to do something impossible it is because we have finally figured out that we don’t have the strength to do it on our own. Joshua and all the people had come to their end of their strength – they couldn’t do anymore. If the sun set that day then they were through; they needed God to act. Sun stand still is a real prayer of faith because they needed God to do this for them because they couldn’t do this on their own. As long as we pray for things that are in our control – or things we can accomplish in our own strength and power, we really don’t need God to act – but when we ask God to do that which we can’t do on our own then it is a real prayer of faith. Joshua knew that he couldn’t make the sun stand still. His arms weren’t long enough to grab hold of the sun and make it stop moving. His power wasn’t strong enough to intervene in the natural order – he couldn’t do this and so he didn’t even try – he asked – and that’s the key.

Praying for the impossible means we stop trying to do it ourselves and start asking God. Whether it’s in relationships, finances, health, our jobs, our community or finding our place in the church or in our world, when we finally stop trying to do it on our own and start asking God to do it for us, God can finally step in and do it.

So what it takes to pray for that which seems impossible is

• A vision of God’s Power
• An understanding of God’s love
• Bbeing in sync with God’s word
• Humbling ourselves in the Presence of God.

That’s what it takes to pray for the impossible – all that’s left now is to actually pray.

 

One final thought, while Joshua prayed his prayer once and God did it, that prayer only came after a lifetime of Joshua praying and walking with God. God may not answer our prayers the moment we pray them, it may take patience and perseverance and persistence in prayer until God answers – so don’t pray once and then give up when the sun sets. Pray every day until God moves in your situation or moves in your heart and life.

 

 

 

Next Steps: Sun, Stand Still ~ Praying for the (im)possible

 

 1. What are the (im)possible situations you are facing today?

 Broken relationships
 Desire for relationship
 Financial problems
 Employment problems
 Spiritual transformation and revival for you
 Spiritual transformation and revival in others
 Physical or emotional healing
 Struggle to forgive others
 Struggle with specific temptations
 Finding God’s purpose for your life

 Other:

 

Write out a BOLD prayer asking God to move in this specific situation:

  

 2. Name three specific ways you have seen God move in your past:

  

 3. Identify Biblical stories or teachings that back up your (im)possible prayer:

 

4. Using your vision of God (#2 above) & the word of God (#3 above) – pray your BOLD prayer at least once every day – as long as necessary.

 

The Lord's Prayer ~ For Thine Is The Kingdom

As we come to the end our series on the Lord’s Prayer, this video reminds us that its core, the Lord’s Prayer is not a personal prayer. While we pray it individually it really is a prayer of God’s people. We are our praying to Our Father, not my Father, and we ask for our bread, not my bread. We ask God to forgive our sins not my sins and we ask God to lead and deliver us, not me. So this is a prayer of the people and while it shapes our individual lives and the choices we make, it also shapes our life together as a church.


Since we have been studying this prayer, as a church and community God has given us many opportunities to live it out in very practical ways. When we got to the line, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, we were in the midst of the Sandusky verdict which forced us to not be too quick to pass judgment on someone else because we are all sinners who stand in need of God’s grace. And then this past week we have had the opportunity for God to lead us in our response to the church break-in. According to the Lord’s Prayer, we have asked God to lead us away from the temptation to seek revenge and think instead about what real justice tempered with mercy looks like, but we also asked God to lead us away from the temptation to think that certain people or situations just can’t change. God has led us away from hard and cynical hearts so that we have remained open to the power of his transforming love and grace. Our study of the Lord’s Prayer has been timely and relevant and it has been a prayer that has led us and shaped us as a church over these past 6 weeks. I don’t know about you, but I have found it a fascinating and humbling experience.

Today, as we come to the end of the prayer, we find a phrase that we don’t think was included when Jesus first taught his disciples. The Lord’s Prayer is recorded in both Luke 11 and Matthew 6 and in neither place do we find this final phrase, which is really a doxology or a prayer which gives glory, In Latin doxo means to give praise so doxology is to give praise to God. So where did this part of the prayer come from? In most Bibles, when you look at Matthew 6:13 you will find a footnote which says, other ancient manuscripts add, in some form, “for the kingdom, and the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.”

To understand what is happening here we need to understand how the Bible got to us. When the Bible was first printed in 1611 the most ancient manuscripts scholars had to use as source material for the gospel of Matthew were from the 4th and 5th century. These writings included the doxology for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, AMEN, so it was included in those early Bibles and therefore became part of the tradition of the church when they said and taught the Lord’s Prayer. As earlier manuscripts of Matthew’s gospel were discovered and studied they found that they didn’t include this doxology but just ended with the line, deliver us from evil. So in later translations of the Bible, like the ones we have today, the line was omitted from the text and placed in a footnote.

What some people think happened is that as scribes were copying the every early manuscripts they may have added the doxology as a comment on the prayer into the margins of the scrolls, and then later scribes simply added the words into the text itself. So we think that the earliest gospels of Matthew didn’t have this doxology, which would seem to go along with how the prayer is recorded in Luke which doesn’t have it at all. But just because this line may not have been part of Jesus teaching at this moment, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray it.

First of all, it’s important for us to remember that Jesus never told us to repeat this prayer in its exact form; he gave us the prayer as a model of how we should pray in general. In Matthew 6:9a Jesus says, This then is how you should pray. Jesus never says repeat these exact words. What Jesus wanted to give his disciples was an authentic, humble pattern for prayer that reflected the most important things. Jesus wanted to us acknowledge who God is, what God does for us and what our response to God and others should be. So it’s ok to add our own voice to the prayer as long as it maintains the integrity of Jesus message, and in many ways this doxology does just that.

In fact, there are many who believe that Jesus would have used this very doxology – or a form of it – himself because it is based on a doxology that comes from the lips of King David. Look at 1 Chronicles 29:10-11. David prays this near the end of his life and it would make sense that Jesus, a leader in the line of David, would have been familiar with this prayer and perhaps even prayed it himself. Did you hear the last line of our Lord’s Prayer tucked into this prayer? Listen again, Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, forever and ever. Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. It’s clear that the doxology of the Lord’s Prayer is similar to the doxology used by King David near the end of his life that would have been known to and most likely used by Jesus. So it makes complete sense for us to keep this powerful ending of the prayer right where it is and to use it as our own prayer of praise to God.

But there is another important reason for us to keep this doxology where it is and pray it every time we pray this prayer and that is because it helps us understand every other part of the Lord’s prayer. You see, the only reason the rest of the prayer makes any sense is because the kingdom, power and glory all belong to God. The reason we call God Our Father is because we are children living in his kingdom. The reason we can ask God for bread is because God is the one who has the power to give bread and feed the world. The reason we ask God to forgive us and help us forgive others is because God is the only one who has the power to forgive and the reason we ask God to lead us and deliver us from evil is because God is the only one who has the power to lead us into life. So the only reason the rest of the prayer makes any sense is because the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God, forever.

But as we pray this and think about God’s kingdom and power and glory, we need to remember that these things are not what we might think they are. When we think of kingdom and power and glory we usually think of wealth and fame and physical strength – but this is not what these things look like for God. In fact, Jesus rejected this kind of power and glory and he rejected the kingdoms of this world at the very beginning of his ministry. After Jesus’ baptism he was led into the wilderness where he was tempted by the Evil One. Look at Matthew 4:1-10.

The first temptation Jesus faced was to use his power to turn stones to bread and feed himself as well as the rest of the world. Jesus had the power to do this, to use his power for his own benefit in this world, but he refused. The second temptation was to throw himself off the highest point in the city of Jerusalem and allow God’s angels to rescue him – this would reveal to the world the glory of God in a spectacular fashion – but Jesus rejected this kind of earthy glory and willingly embraced God’s glory which came through sacrificial love and the cross. And then the last temptation was for Jesus to take hold of all the kingdoms of this world and receive their wealth and power and glory, but he refused.

Jesus understood that the kingdoms of this world and all they have to offer are nothing compared to the kingdom and power and glory of God. Everything in this world is weak and ineffective and if we trust in the power and glory of this world, we will be let down and disappointed every time. This world doesn’t have bread that satisfies the hunger of our hearts and souls. This world can’t offer a forgiveness that frees us and sets us in a right relationship with God and others, and this world can’t lead us in the ways of God and deliver us from evil because evil is and always will be a part of this world until Christ returns. During his own time of temptation Jesus understood that he couldn’t take hold of the kingdom and power and glory of this world – he had to trust God, and so do we.

When we pray this last line of the Lord’s Prayer, we aren’t just saying that we know all power and glory are God’s, we are also saying that we won’t trust in the kingdom of this world and the power and glory it offers, but that we will trust in God alone. That’s what Jesus did when he was tempted, he looked to God. He trusted God. His response to Satan was that we need to live by the word of God and follow the will of God and worship and serve only God. With every temptation – Jesus looked to God and in every prayer we prayer and in every choice we make we need to look to God – why? Because the kingdom and the power and the glory are God’s forever and ever. AMEN?

AMEN. So we come to the last word, but it doesn’t mean the end. AMEN means, so be it. It means this is what we believe and this is what we trust and this is what we will give ourselves to. When we pray AMEN at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, it shouldn’t be a whisper – it should be a shout - a shout of praise, a shout of commitment and a shout of witness to the world letting them know that this prayer defines who we are and will guide how we live. The AMEN needs to bold and confident not because we can follow this prayer on our own, but because the kingdom and the power and the glory are God’s forever and ever. AMEN?

AMEN

Once again, let us pray together this timeless and powerful prayer, trust in God to help us live it out.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN



Next Steps:
For Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory forever. AMEN

1. Reread the story of Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4:1-10.
In what ways was Jesus tempted to take hold of this world’s kingdoms and power and glory both in the wilderness and throughout his ministry? What would have happened if he did?

In what ways are we tempted to take hold of this kingdom’s power and glory instead of God? What happens when we do?


2. When you are feeling weak in body, mind or spirit – where do you seek power? Are they from things in this kingdom or the power of God?

What can you do this week to draw upon God’s power more than your own power or the power of the world?


3. If glorify means seeking fame, recognition or good standing, in what ways do you seek to glorify yourself?
• At home?
• At work?
• In the community?

What would it mean to glorify God instead?



4. Use the Lord’s Prayer everyday as a means of trusting in God’s kingdom and power and glory more than the worlds.

The Lord's Prayer ~ Lead Us

As we come to this phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, lead us not into temptation, the question many people ask is if God ever leads us into temptation. After all, if we are asking God to not lead us into temptation it almost implies that God at times might or would lead us there and for many of us that simply goes against our understanding and experience of God. Well, let me put your mind at ease and state clearly that God does not lead us into temptation. In fact, the letter of James addresses this very issue. It’s almost as if James writes part of his letter to address this question raised by the Lord’s Prayer. Let’s look at James 1:13. So God tempts no one. God is not the one who leads us into temptation, so where does temptation come from? Well, let’s keep reading - James 1:14-15. So it’s not God who leads us into temptation – we do that all on our own. It’s our own desire or evil thoughts that lures us to places or thoughts that we know are wrong.


When I was growing up we had a miniature dachshund named Mouse. Mouse was a very good dog and seldom got into trouble but one Saturday morning after my Mom and Dad finished breakfast they went outside and as was her custom, my Mom stood and watched my Dad drive off to work. After just a few minutes she came back into the house and found our little dog on top of the dining room table where she had just eaten four sweet rolls and was now working on lapping up a pitcher of milk. When Mouse saw my Mom, or more likely when she heard her voice, she wasn’t able to move, not because she was scared but because she was bloated. She literally couldn’t move. What really perplexed my Mom was how a miniature dachshund with legs about 3 inches high could have gotten up onto the dining room table in the first place. What she discovered was that a chair hadn’t been pushed in all the way which gave Mouse the opportunity to jump onto the chair and then from the chair onto the table. Even though she had never done this before, the smell of the sweet rolls and her desire to eat them lured her to a place she had never been and an activity she knew was wrong. My parents didn’t lead Mouse into temptation, she was enticed into it all her own and the truth is that God doesn’t lead us into temptation because we do a good job of that all our own.

Temptation to say and do things we know aren’t right or healthy is a universal problem that has been with us from the very beginning, literally, the very beginning. When God created Adam and Eve he placed them in a garden full of trees and plants that were all good to eat. God’s only instruction was don’t eat from this one tree, the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve knew what they were supposed to do and not do, they had heard God’s voice clearly but from the very beginning there was another voice they heard and it was a voice that enticed them to go a different direction and walk away from God. That voice called them to question what God said. Did God really say you couldn’t eat from that tree? The voice led them to places they shouldn’t have gone – it led them directly to the tree that they weren’t supposed to eat from. It says that they saw how good the fruit was and that it was a delight to the eyes. The voice led them to the tree and it was in that place that they started thinking about how good that fruit would taste. The voice told them to think about themselves and what was good for them and how much they would enjoy eating the fruit. They listened to that voice, and then after a while they followed that voice.

Now the story of Adam and Eve is our story. We all hear those same two voices and we all wrestle with temptation. We hear the voice of God tell us what is right and healthy, but we also hear that voice of temptation that tells us that we don’t need to listen to God and that it’s ok to do what we want to do and take hold of what we want in life. Now we all wrestle with different temptations. For some it may be in how we spend our time or our money. The temptation may come in unhealthy relationships or unhealthy activities, the temptation might be seek revenge and lash out in anger when someone breaks into our home or church. The truth is we all hear the voice of God calling us to go in one direction and we all hear a voice that works hard to lead us in the opposite direction and like Adam and Eve, without God leading us away from temptation – it is our nature to give in to it. I look at it this way; we all need God to push in the chair so we don’t jump up onto the table because on our own we will go for those sweet rolls! Jesus knows the power of temptation and evil are real and he knows that we are weak and prone to give in to it which is why he first tells us to pray for God to lead us away from temptation and it is also why Jesus prays for us. Look at John 17:15.

So the most important part of this phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is the first two words, Lead Us. Because evil and temptation are real and strong, we need God to lead us - not into temptation where we can go so easily on our own, but away from temptation and evil. The question I have been asking myself the last 24 hours is how God wants to lead us in the situation we find ourselves in. How does God want to lead us in showing our community and a troubled young man what forgiveness is all about? How does God want to lead us in calling for justice and accountability which can bring about real change and yet temper it with mercy which can bring about the transforming power of God’s love?

I said last week that when it comes to forgiveness we need to get it right – and now God is giving us a chance to do just that – will we allow him to lead us in getting it right? God is giving us the opportunity to be a living example and witness to the Lord’s Prayer in a very practical way. Will we allow God to lead us not into temptation – the temptation to seek revenge and act out of anger but into a place of real forgiveness? Will we allow God to teach us and lead us into forgiving someone who has trespassed (literally – criminal trespass) against us? Someone shared this message with me last night, what a blessing to see how God loves and trusts Faith Church to do what is right and to lead your community right now. He is truly at work in you and around you. God truly is at work in us and I believe God wants to work through and he wants to do that by leading us not into the temptation to seed revenge or the temptation to hide our head in the sand and do nothing but to lead us to a place of real forgiveness.

As we wrestle with what this means and what it looks like the larger question we need to ask ourselves is how does God lead us at all? How does God lead us, not just during times of temptation or trials, but at all times? Before we answer this, we need to understand that the word lead here implies relationship which means that God isn’t going to lead us by walking out in front and yelling directions over his shoulder from a distance. God leads us by walking with us. When we think of God leading us we need to think about Psalm 23:1-3. God leads us a shepherd leads his sheep and a shepherd is not detached and far away, a shepherd is right there in the midst of the sheep. A shepherd leads by getting their hands and feet dirty. They walk right in the center of the sheep so the sheep can hear his voice, feel his touch and find courage in his presence to go in the right direction and do the right thing, and this is how God leads us. God doesn’t lead us from a safe and secure seat in heaven – God leads us by coming to us and walking with us. God leads us by getting involved in our lives and even dwelling among us and inside of us. This is how God has always led his people.

God led the people of Israel through the wilderness by a fire at night and with a cloud during the day which meant that God in all his power was right there with his people. God could be seen and heard among his people. God then led his people through his word. The 10 commandments and the law were to given to help shape not just people’s minds and actions but their hearts. The word wasn’t just to be read, the people were to fix God’s word in their heart and have it lead them into right attitudes and actions.

But God wanted to lead us his people in an even deeper relationship so he became flesh and blood in Jesus and literally walked with us in this world. Jesus led the disciples by showing them what it looked like to follow God; he led by example and he led through encouragement. But God wasn’t content to just walk along side of his people so God sent the Holy Spirit to literally dwell inside of them. God now has the ability to lead us from the inside – by speaking to our hearts and then giving us the power and courage to follow the voice we hear.

So throughout the Bible we see that God has led his people through his Spirit, through his word and the word made flesh in Jesus, and that is still how God leads us today. If we are going to pray, lead us, in the Lord’s Prayer, then we need to allow God to do just that and lead us through the power of his Spirit, through the power of his word and then through the power of a relationship with Jesus.

So let’s look at those for a moment. If God is going to lead us through his Spirit, then we need to learn how to listen to that Spirit and we need to learn how to really hear the voice of God. In the Old Testament there is the story of a young boy named Samuel. The spirit of God spoke to Samuel but Samuel didn’t know it was God until his mentor, Eli, said to him, “When you hear that voice again say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. God did speak again and Samuel started to listen and God then led Samuel throughout his life.

What a great prayer for us to pray if we want to hear God’s voice and be led by God’s spirit – speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Speak, Holy Spirit, because we are listening and we need your voice to lead us in life and in faith. Through His Spirit, God is still speaking to us and God desperately wants to lead us – the question is if we are willing to listen to that voice and then follow where it leads us? Will we quiet our lives enough to hear God? Will we obey what we hear and allow God to lead us to new places? .

How has the Holy Spirit been speaking to you recently? Has God been leading you away from certain places or behaviors that aren’t healthy? Has God been leading you to new places where you can serve him or grow in your faith? You see, it’s the Holy Spirit that tells us we should sign up for VBS even if we have never worked with children. It’s the Holy Spirit that calls us to serve at the FaithCentre or go on the next mission trip or visit a friend who is sick. It is the Holy Spirit who tells us to get involved in a Sunday School class, or pray for the people of our community. It is the Holy Spirit who is speaking to us as a church asking us if we are really committed to a life of forgiveness and grace. Every time we hear that voice and follow it, we learn to hear God more clearly the next time. There is a great book called the power of a whisper by Bill Hybles that helps us understand how important it is for us to learn how to listen to God’s Holy Spirit and that we learn by acting on what we hear.

God not only leads us through the Holy Spirit whispering to our hearts and minds, but God still speaks to us through his word. The Bible says God’s word is living and active and then in Psalm 119:105 it says God’s word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. In other words, God’s word, the Bible, can direct us in the way we should go. God’s word can lead us away from temptation and it can lead us into life but only if we will read it and allow it guide us. Will we commit ourselves to that this week? Will we take some time and read a psalm or a story about Jesus and find a verse or two we can use as a guide for our day or for our week. The more we allow God’s word to lead us, the more God’s word, both written and spoken through the Holy Spirit, will lead us.

God also leads us through a relationship we can have with Jesus. Not only can look at how Jesus lived his life and use it as an example, but we can also reach out to Jesus himself and ask him to lead us. Jesus said, I will be with you always, and in many different ways we can build a relationship with Jesus through which he will lead us. I believe Jesus wants to lead us today; he is just waiting for us to ask.

So in the Lord’s Prayer we ask God to lead us, not into temptation because can do that all on our own, but away from the temptation and away from evil. To pray this is one thing, to allow God to actually lead us – is something else. May it be our desire and the passion of our prayer today to truly have God lead us? Not just in our own lives, but in our life as Faith Church, may it be our desire to have God really lead us. If you want God to lead you in life, then I invite you to join me in the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN
 
 
 
Next Steps:  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.


Identify the temptations are you struggle with today?
Do these temptations threaten your health? Finances? Marriage? Family relationships? Spiritual growth?
Do you see any patterns in your life that need to be addressed?

To begin to overcome these temptations:
1. Allow God to lead you this week through His Word.
Commit 10 minutes each day to reading a passage of the Bible and try to identify one verse which can guide your thoughts, words and actions through the day.


2. Allow God to lead you this week by His Holy Spirit.
Commit 10 minutes each day to prayer and listen for the whispers of God. Follow the nudging of God and do what the spirit prompts you to do.


3. Allow God to lead you this week through the support of others.
As you feel comfortable, share your temptations with trusted followers of Jesus who can support you in your walk of faith.