Acting on God's Power: Flipping the Switch

God's power is already available to us, but we need to activate our faith to access it. Like Peter walking on water, we must step out of our comfort zones when Jesus calls us. Many of us know about God's power but get distracted by worldly substitutes like wealth, status, or social validation. Our connection to God's power works like electricity—always present but requiring us to flip the switch. When we activate our faith, we not only transform our own lives but inspire others to connect to God's power as well.

Transcript

All right, so we just talked a little bit about Youth Force, and I know that you guys kind of know the gist of what Youth Force is that we are sending young people and adults to go work on homes of folks who need restoration in their lives, folks who can't do the work on their homes anymore or can't afford to have the work done. And it was an awesome week of work in Tulsa. But this year was a little bit different for me personally, because I usually get to spend a whole week on a roof. I love doing roofing with students. It's always a lot of fun.

It's always a lot of sunburn time and banged up thumbs, but we usually have a great time. But this year I wasn't on a roof every single day because I was the camp preacher. So I got to speak at camp every night.

But I did in fact get to spend almost two full days on a roof and then another day driving around picking up all the garbage on all the sites with the help of some of the high school boys and got to take Stacy Rushing's trailer and dump everything in dumpsters. So I was trashman for a day and then got to be a roofer for a couple days. But since we were at camp all last week, I figured that I would like to share with you guys just a kind of a glimpse of what your students get to learn about when we go to camp. What I love specifically about Youth Force is that it's a type of camp that not very many other churches or conferences get to fully participate in, because we not only do hands on mission work, but your students get to learn about Jesus. So it's kind of this combination of church camp and mission trip all in one.

So I figured since I was the camp speaker, I would just kind of adapt one of my sermons that I preached during the week and bring it home so you guys can kind of see it. So I want to share with you the theme of our camp this week. So the theme was power. Everybody say power. All right, so we're going to read the scripture that it comes from.

It comes from Second Peter, chapter one, verse three. You can follow along on the screen. It is this. It says, his divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. And on the first night of camp, we talked about what it means to plug into God's power.

How God's strength is already available to us, is just waiting on us to connect into it, to tap into the Holy Spirit to access Christ's promised power. We also focused on making sure that we know the difference between God's power and other sources of power that seek to steal our attention. Maybe things like wealth or fame or status or relationships or social media likes. All of those things steal our attention from the power that Christ offers us. So this morning we're going to be talking about what it looks like when God's power that he has offered to us sits unused.

So let me start by asking you something. How many of you have ever just sat in kind of a room and as the sun goes down, it gets dark? Maybe you're resting on the couch, maybe you're reading a book, but you just find yourself too lazy to get up and go turn on a light? Has that ever happened to you guys? Yes, a number of us.

You know, I do a lot of reading for class now and I get to the point where I have a very special seat on the couch. I have this kind of a U shaped couch and I like to kind of stretch out on the left part of the U. It's just what I've done since I started seminary. I enjoy that particular spot. And oftentimes if I'm reading in the evening as the sun starts to go down, I just.

I can't even just be bothered to go turn a light on. So it gets to the point where I give up on my reading and I switch over to my phone or I turn on the TV and my attention is totally drawn away. Now, any one of us could get up and go flip on the light switch, but we don't. Some of us have young people in our homes, children, who, by the way, the only reason for having children is so they can do things like this for us. Can I get an amen?

Hey, Levi, go turn on the light. Okay.

Yeah. That's the point where we're at now, right? But there are times where we get to the spot in our lives where it gets too dark for us to do something and we just don't have the strength or the willingness to get up and go make the effort to turn the lights on. Now, when we moved to our new house, I made sure that we did get some smart light switches. And so all we have to say is, Alexa, let there be light.

And so we have light in our living room. But it's clear that I've kind of gotten a little bit lazier in my old age.

But I want to just remind you, electrical power, that the lights need to function is already there. It's been wired into the walls in almost every single room you've ever been in. There are wires run throughout the walls, drop down from the ceiling, or run up from the foundation that connects every single outlet, every single light switch in a home. Any building you've ever been in that's been electrified has these things already in the infrastructure. That power stands ready for us to flood the room with light.

And all we have to do is just flip the switch. But until we activate it, we sit in the dark. Faith kind of works in that same way. Some of us have spent too long knowing about God's power, but never tapping into it by flipping the switch. So this morning, we're going to focus on flipping the switch so that we can access the power that God has already promised us in his word.

I'm going to read this to you. It comes from the book of First Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 4 through 11. Here's what it says. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.

There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone, it is the same God at work. Now, to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one, there is given through the spirit, a message of wisdom. To another, a message of knowledge by means of the same spirit to another, faith by the same spirit to another, gift of healing by that one spirit to another, miraculous powers to another, prophecy to another, distinguishing between spirits to another, speaking in different kinds of tongues to another, the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same spirit.

And he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

So this morning I want to take you to a moment where Peter, one of Jesus closest friends and disciples, had to flip the switch and choose to actively step into the power that God had promised. The story comes to us from the Book of Matthew, chapter 1422 through 33. You'll recognize it, but let's read it together. It says this immediately. Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, where he dismissed the crowd.

After he dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. And later that night, he was alone. And the boat was already a considerable distance from the land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.

It's a ghost, they said. And they Cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, take courage, it is I. Don't be afraid, Lord. If it is you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water.

Come, he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. Cried out, lord, save me. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.

You of little faith, he said, why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, you are the son of.

So this story comes to us right after Jesus had finished feeding the 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. Another story where I think we kind of all know. But after they were done picking up all the scraps and putting them in 12 baskets, like just the plethora, the overabundance that Jesus provided, they picked up and were able to redistribute. Jesus hangs back and says, you guys go on ahead, going to recharge. And so Jesus goes up on the mountainside and begins to pray alone.

And the disciples go out in a boat. They're crossing the lake to go to a different region to share the good news of God with people on the other side of the lake. And it's late. The disciples are exhausted from being out in the heat and working and walking all day. Back's probably sore from picking up all the leftover pieces of bread and fish.

And suddenly a storm rolls in and waves begin crashing against the boat. The winds are howling across the water and the disciples are struggling in this moment just to keep the boat afloat. And they begin to panic, right? Have you ever been on a boat during a storm? First of all, I don't do boats out in the ocean.

It doesn't have to be storming, but three or four foot waves. And I just apparently start vomiting. Just. That's just my response. But I used to be a fisherman who fished tournaments every week.

So lakes in Oklahoma, not a problem for me unless there's a storm.

Did you guys know that I used to own a boat before I had kids? Because once you have kids, you sell the boat, right? That's just your wife makes you do it. You have no choice. But it was March, and it was the third week of March.

It was the very first fishing tournament of the season. And we were fishing Lake Hudson. If you've ever fished Lake Hudson, there's a huge cliff that's by the dam and the winds were howling it was 48 degrees outside. It was pretty cold. So we're all bundled up, long sleeves and pants and, you know, your hiking boots.

So you want to be warm during a fishing tournament because you're usually out on the water and it's windy. Well, it just so happened that by the huge cliff, the wind was kind of being channeled. And I had a great depth finder on my boat. I'm trying to see how deep the fish are. I'm just trolling my boat three miles an hour, no big deal.

And all of a sudden, the wind is making the water really rough. And you're coming up and you're coming down, you're coming up and you're coming down. And I speared a wave, no big deal. Water comes over the bow of the boat. I stopped the boat and I had a hot foot throttle because, you know, I didn't want to do this.

I want to drive it like a car, right? So I stop the boat, I flip on the bilge pump, and it starts pumping out the water, no big deal. I step on the gas again, go up over another big wave, and come down, smash. And water just dumps over the side of the boat. So much water that I'm sitting all the way up to my chest at the steering wheel of the boat.

All my stuff in the front, my lunchbox, my ice chest, my lures, all my rods were ripped off the side of the wall. They were all velcroed together. But there was so much force in that wave that it ripped everything off the side of the boat and it rolled all the way over the back of the boat and somehow killed the motor. And so I'm on the edge of Hudson, freezing up to my belly button in water, and I panic. Motor's not starting.

I had to jump up out of this pool of water. And I run to the front of the boat and I throw the trolling motor in the water and I'm heading straight for the shore. And I'm screaming, help me, Jesus, Help me, Jesus. Help me, Jesus the whole way. So I can relate really well to what the disciples are saying here.

So it's 48 degrees outside. It was 43 degrees in the water. And of course, the wind doesn't stop blowing whenever I'm, you know, up to my belly button in wetness. And a wave came up over the backside of the boat. Just enough added pressure to turn the boat over.

And so all of my lures, my fishing rods are now sitting at the bottom of Lake Hudson. And I'm in A hoodie. And I'm in one of the deepest parts of the lake and the wind is pushing my upside down boat toward a cliff. And I have to save my boat. And so now the trolling motor that was on high heading to take me to the bank is on high, right above my head.

So I grab the trolling motor and I'm swimming my boat with one hand toward the bank, slowly making progress. And I finally am able to tie it up.

I saved my boat, but it was a pretty big mess. I was afraid in a way that I've never been afraid. So I can understand. We don't know what's under the water. I don't know if I'm going to make it to shore.

But for the disciples, they're panicking, trying to row and sails and other boaty things. And Jesus is walking to them on water. And not only are they worried about the storm, now they're worried about a ghost compounding the issues, right? So what do they do? They panic.

Oh, there's a ghost. What are we gonna do? Jesus says, hang on, guys, it's just me, Relax. And then Peter, Good old Peter. How do I know it's you?

Is it really you, Jesus? If so, I trust you enough to call me out to walk on the water with you. You ready? Do that and then I'll believe you. And Jesus says one word.

Come. And so Peter steps down out of the boat.

He had a choice. He could say, okay, all right, I trust you now, Jesus, I get it, I believe you. I'll just stay here. But instead, he takes a second and he activates the faith in Jesus that he been with Jesus for the last three years, watching him perform miracles and change lives, restoring the sight to the blind, raising people from the dead. And he had just moments before in scripture, watched Jesus do the miracle of feeding 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish.

Jesus taught with spiritual authority and power, and Peter got to witness it. And he changed the lives of thousands of people around Judea. But now, here in this moment, Peter has to live in to the faith that he has. He has to activate it by flipping the switch. He has to say yes to Jesus.

So what does he do? It says, Peter got down from the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink. Cried out, lord, say Jesus, save me. Right?

Peter flipped the switch. He was already. He was already a faithful follower of Jesus.

But here, in this moment, he took his faith and trust in Jesus so seriously. That he got down out of the boat and then he panicked and he started to sink. He took his eyes off Jesus and instead focused on the things that were happening around him. And he saw the storm. He started strong.

But fear made him disconnect from the power that was holding him up.

Right now, this room has a lot of electricity flowing in it. You probably don't see it because there's a lot of power cords that we have run through the ceiling. We painted them all black to match. And that power was plumbed into this building decades ago. And we were able to make some adjustments to that power.

And while you don't get to see the cords, there are always extension cords strung throughout here. And that power makes its way all the way to every individual light, to every light switch.

And all we have to do to access that power is just acting until we come in in the morning on Sundays and flip the switches in the back. It is dark in this room always.

For Peter, he had a faith available to him, but unless he walked in, it wouldn't do anything for him.

God is calling all of us to step forward, but the choice is ours. You have to be the one to flip the switch. You've got to be the one that activates the faith that we say we have. Jesus, we have to be as bold as Peter so that we can activate the faith that God has given us. So do you know what a Tesla coil is?

You ever seen one in real life? Some people yes. Some people know. So I have one back here. This is called a Tesla coil.

It's named after the inventor, Nikola Tesla. And it works in this two coil system. So it's got a primary coil and a secondary coil that are wrapped tightly around this kind of center shaft. And it receives power from a high voltage source. And it continually builds up electricity through that tight coil winding.

And when the energy is released, it creates this electromagnetic field that we can actually see. What you're looking at here, friends, is. Is dunk that down. This is the same stuff as lightning.

Okay. Is that a fat joke? Like, what are we. Okay, so this, friends, is a Tesla coil. And this one is pretty neato because it can do some cool stuff like this.

So the power in this thing, you can actually use electricity to change the frequency by projecting a Bluetooth connection to it. And the only thing playing this music right now is electricity.

And also, yes, it's creed. So you're welcome.

So let's pause this before everybody starts singing along the power. Let's keep the lights down for a Minute, because the power is already here in this room. But oftentimes we don't see it unless we're focused on it. So here's the cool thing. Jesus offers us a power that if we're not willing to step into it, it goes unused.

This is us, right? And the thing is, once we flip our faith on, once we activate our faith, the closer we come to the source of that power, it begins to change us, and then we can begin to change others, right? And the crazy thing is, the further we get away from the source, our light begins to diminish, right?

And you can tell that our light looks very different at different times, right?

Every one of us has a different unique light about us that Christ is calling us to activate, to turn on so that we can light up the darkness in the world. But if we don't choose to say yes to Jesus, this is us, friends. And the only source of power that we can access has to be Jesus.

I know this is just a silly example, but I like fun, stupid things, right?

So, friends, I'm going to set these down here so nobody steps on them and we don't die. Also, these things can give you a pretty terrible shock if you're not ready for it.

But we have to flip the switch. In our faith, sometimes flipping the switch, taking that first step might be really hard for us. The first time I turn on this Tesla coil, I'm, like, covering myself. Like, I didn't want to, and I had to, like, flip it very carefully. I didn't know what was going to happen, right?

Just like when God calls you to act, you don't know what's going to happen. And sometimes saying yes, that first time is scary. We don't know what to expect when we say yes, when we flip the switch, when we take that first step.

But it's clear we have to remain close to the source of power.

As a reminder, once we flip that switch, activating our faith, once we say yes to Jesus, we can only perform our best when we remain close to the source.

Friends, what are ways that each one of us can flip the switch to use the power that Christ has given us? What are ways that we can say yes to Jesus today that maybe we weren't willing to say yes to yesterday? How do we get to step out of the boat?

We have to be people that are willing to change the world for this coming generation. Because here's the truth. When we step out in faith, it doesn't just affect us. Our light is needed in the world. And when other people see us acting boldly on behalf of Jesus.

In turn, it activates their light, too.

So this morning, I don't want you to leave worship still spiritually sitting in the boat, wondering if we should step out. Because the answer is, yes, we should. Christ is already calling us to come. But faith isn't always about feeling ready first. It's about choosing to move forward.

Even in the times when we're fearful. Even in times when we're afraid. So here's the question I want you to ask yourself before you leave this morning. What's the thing that you need to activate in your own faith? What's your next step?

Are you willing to flip the switch? Are you willing to step out of the boat? Friends, let's pray.