Called Out of Our Comfort Zone - Miguel Sanchez

In today's sermon we have the honor of hearing from Miguel Sanchez! He talks about the story of Peter walking on water and challenges us to follow Peter's example as he boldly stepped out in faith for Jesus.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to the Brick by Brick podcast from Renovation Church, where faith gets built one truth at a time. In this sermon episode, you'll listen to our most recent Sunday morning message. So whether you're new to faith or have been walking with Jesus for years, there's something here for you. Kickback, hit play, let's build this thing together.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to Renovation. How are you guys doing today? Awesome. My name is Miguel Sanchez. Not to be confused with Miguel Sanchez in the crowd. My dad actually came today, so. Hi dad. Um. So those that you don't know me, like I said, I am Miguel Sanchez. Um I'm not a pastor, although Nate's been calling me Pastor Miguel this week. Um more of a deliverer of the message today. Um, though I have helped out with Pastor Steve with the youth group for about two years now. Um, and I have beaten Pastor Petrovsky in pickleball, so thank you, thank you. At least once, at least once. It wasn't a one-on-one game. It wasn't a one-on-one game. Um, my wife and I, Annie, issues just up here with the kids. Uh, we actually came here for our first date. We sat in the back row and we heard Pastor Craig speech. Um, so that was our first date. That was before it was renovation when it was still Portage Free Methodist, but I'm not here to talk to you guys about that. Instead, I'm here to talk to you about Family Worship Sunday. Um, if you're visiting us for the first time, this is not normally how we do Sunday services. Um you know, we do we do this Family Worship Sunday a couple of times throughout the year just to kind of bridge that gap, but also to give a break to some of the Sunday school teachers, which they do a great job. So thank you, Sunday school teachers. Um, today we're gonna be worshiping. I'm gonna be giving a message instead of Pachowski, which is weird. Um and we're gonna get the kids involved up on stage here in a little bit, and we're gonna talk about Peter walking on water with Jesus. Um, as you can see, we have the cushions up here for the kids. Like Nate said, there are plenty of coloring books uh for adults and kids. There's musical instruments. Feel free to grab those. And when we're worshiping, go ahead and sing out loud. Sing really loud, in fact. Grab a musical instrument and do something that might make you a little uncomfortable. You know, because that's really what God calls us to do. Something a little uncomfortable, something against the norm, right? The Bible is full of stories of people doing things a little uncomfortable, a little improbable, sometimes completely impossible. And if you're a fan of the Prince's Bride, inconceivable. Right? So, kids, I'm sure you've heard of David and Goliath, right? David, just a little guy, how did he take on Goliath? That's improbable, right? And he grew up and became king, and his dad wasn't king, and he was the youngest of his brothers. That's not even possible. And I don't really have an example of inconceivable, you know, because the story of Mary, she did conceive. Um thank you. Glad somebody got it. Um so, yes, we can go through Jonah, we can go through Noah, we can go through Esther. And I think we're going back to Esther next week. So, but every person in the Bible, almost everybody, was put in that uncomfortable position, but Jesus helped them through it. And today we're gonna focus on Peter in an uncomfortable situation when he walked with Jesus. So, as we're continuing our family worship Sunday, I just want you to remember that we're called to do impossible things. So, be the impossibility, be the improbability, sing loudly, even if it's off key. Bang a tambourine, please keep it on time. But if you're off time, that's okay too. Alright, so I came unprepared. I left my Bible over there, so I gotta go grab that. But if you are a teen that I talked to earlier today, like this guy, that girl, come up to the stage. Oh, thank you so much. So, teens that I had already talked to earlier today. If you are a teen and I talk to you and I'm looking at you, come up to the stage. Okay, awesome. So, this is gonna be our interactive portion of today's lesson. So, if you girls, if you could grab the boat, boys, if you could grab the tarp, those of you that are tarp grabbers, the other two of you, you can stand by the drums. Perfect. Alright, so like I said, we're gonna talk about Peter and Jesus walking on water. So, if you have your Bibles, you can go ahead and turn to Matthew chapter 14. We're gonna start in verse 22. Um, and while you guys are doing that, I'm gonna give you a little bit of context before we bring up some of the kids to be disciples. Guys, you can bring the tarp right in front of the boat. That'd be perfect. Alright. Now, to set the stage. This is right after Jesus just found out that John the Baptist was killed. So he goes to a desolate place, right? So a desert type area, and the crowds find him. So he docks his boat, he gets there, and it says that he heals the people, and then it becomes nighttime. If you could crouch down just a little. So I get perfect. There you go. Yeah, you guys are gonna want to be low. Um, so the people find him, the disciples then say, Hey, it's nighttime. Jesus, we should kick these people out of here so they can go get some food. And Jesus says, No, you feed them something. Now, this is one of those impossible tasks, right? Because there were 5,000 people, and that's not including women and children, and they only had five loaves of bread and two fish. But Jesus blesses the food and he feeds them. So here's what I need. I need 11 disciples that are well fed. If you are a kid and would like to come up and be in the boat, come on up. Come on up. I got one, I got two, I got three, I got four. There were eleven disciples. Five, six, there's seven. Alright, now we're gonna have Simon be our Peter because that makes sense. Simon, who is called Peter. And I'm gonna read this, and Kardate is going to be our Jesus. Alright, so immediately he made the disciples get into the boat. So go ahead, make the disciples get in the boat.

unknown 7:09

Get in the boat.

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Boom! Good job. There you go. I knew you could do it. Simon, you're a disciple. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there you go. You gotta get in the boat. Alright. And go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. You guys are the crowd, but don't dismiss yet. But go ahead and dismiss him.

unknown 7:29

You guys are dismissed.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

He went up on the mountain by himself to pray. That's a perfect mountain right there. When evening came, he was alone. But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. There you go. Look at that. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. In the fourth hour of the night, if anybody's wondering, that's like 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. That's what my Bible says. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified. Can you guys show me terrified? And said, It is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take heart.

unknown 8:27

Take heart.

SPEAKER_01 8:27

It is I. Do not be afraid.

unknown 8:30

Do not be afraid.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

Great delivery. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. Yeah. Lord. Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you. To come to you on the water. And Jesus said, Come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. You should start on the other side. And he walked to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid. And he started to sink. Sorry, that was such a good reaction. And he started to sink and he cried out, Lord, save me. And Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying, Oh, you have little faith.

unknown 9:31

Oh, you have little faith.

SPEAKER_01 9:32

Why did you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Oh, the wind was supposed to be going that whole time, guys. Cease the wind. Got in the boat, the weed says. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, Truly, you are the son of God. Truly, you are the son of God. Alright, give it up for everybody up on stage. Alright, kids, go ahead, go back to your seats. So, as you guys saw, Peter kind of reacted differently than everybody else did, right? Everybody else was afraid. Immediately they thought that it was a ghost. But Peter thought, if that's Jesus, then I should be able to go out there and join him. Now, this is the same Peter that kind of reacts emotionally. Yeah, no, where are you going? There you go. So Peter's kind of the guy that reacts emotionally, right? He's the guy that denied Peter uh denied Peter, denied Jesus three times. Uh at one point he, I think it says that he cut off the guard's ear, right? So he kind of reacts emotionally, and that's kind of an emotional response that Peter has there. Jesus, if that is you, let me join you. Right? Because, like I said, the first part, sometimes we're called to do things that are uncomfortable. But in this sense, Jesus didn't call Peter to walk on water. Peter asked Jesus to join him. Alright, so this is the last time I'm coming up here, guys, so don't worry, we're getting close to the end. I know you're probably wanting to get outside and barbecue nice weather. Um, as you guys saw, the story that the kids acted out, the disciples were afraid when they saw Jesus. And Peter called out to him. And you guys notice though that he didn't start to sink until he lost his focus on Jesus. Right? He walked out on the water and he was focused on Jesus. He was looking at Jesus, but the minute he started to be concerned about the wind, that's when he started to sink. And like I said before, this wasn't a call to action by Jesus. You know, there's a lot of things that we're called to do. I'm called to be a father, called to be a good son, called to be a good neighbor. But there are certain things that you can ask God to join in. And if, because God's gonna do what God's gonna do, his good and perfect will. And if we ask him to join that will, he'll let us. So my challenge to you is to ask God to join in. Whatever that might look for you. It may be asking a friend to church. It might be praying with a stranger in a grocery aisle. It might be getting baptized. Maybe you've been coming to church here for a while, and maybe it's just getting more involved in the church, like helping out in nursery, or running a game during VBS or family worship Sunday. Sometimes those things might seem a little uncomfortable. They might seem impossible, but Jesus is there to make sure that you won't sink. So I'm gonna invite the band to come up. And again, I challenge you to take that step. And when you take that step, keep your focus on Jesus. Don't be like Peter in that way where you're worried about the storm or the wind or the waves raging up. Don't be concerned about what people may think of you, or if you eat a burrito before you do your lesson and spill burrito on your shirt. That's what happened to me today, sorry. Just keep your eyes on Jesus and walk on water. Alright, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, Lord. Thank you for this moment with my church family. Lord, I can't count the blessings, and I can't thank you enough for them. But Lord, I pray that we don't squander our opportunities and our blessings that you give us, Lord. And when we ask to join you, that you say yes. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Thanks for tuning in to the Brick by Brick Podcast. We're so glad you've joined us on our journey to build faith one truth at a time. Be sure to follow us so you never miss another episode. We've got plenty more coming your way.