Speaker 1: Good morning to you, cal.
Speaker 1: How are y'all?
Speaker 1: It's good to see you guys this morning.
Speaker 1: We're continuing our series on At the Movies and I want to thank Pastor Larry two weeks ago for talking about Wakanda Forever and relationships and the prioritization of relationships, and last week, pastor Josh did a great job coming talking about the Spider-Man multiverse.
Speaker 1: But this week I think we feel the need for speed.
Speaker 1: What about you guys?
Speaker 1: I feel the need for speed this week.
Speaker 1: Now I can't preach with this because it's real dark, but for a fact, I thought I'd start it off with that, but we're going to talk about Top Gun Maverick this morning.
Speaker 1: How many people saw Top Gun Maverick in the theater and how many 80s babies are here?
Speaker 1: Remember in 1986, when the original Top Gun came out?
Speaker 1: Oh Lord, it's a whole bunch of them.
Speaker 1: So I know I have to do this justice today.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: So it was the much anticipated sequel that was 30 years into making to Top Gun and it did not disappoint.
Speaker 1: It grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide.
Speaker 1: It was the number one movie in the US in 2022 with the same name as our beloved basketball team.
Speaker 1: Amen, amen.
Speaker 1: Right here in Dallas.
Speaker 1: Maverick explores what it means to sometimes trust your gut and live out what you believe without fear.
Speaker 1: What is your gut?
Speaker 1: The gut is a metaphor for the heart and we've talked about this before this concept of the heart being the seed of the will and the emotions, where your will determines what you want, what you will to do, and the emotions are the ups and down fluctuations you go through, fulfilling whatever it is you pursue or live out the vicissitudes of life, the ups and downs.
Speaker 1: The best place for the gut is with the Lord.
Speaker 1: Although I don't all agree with all of Maverick's decisions in the movies, I believe his character exemplifies fearless pursuit of what a person can accomplish and an undeniable belief in self that we can all learn from amen.
Speaker 1: In the book your God is Too Safe, pastor Mark Buchanan explores this concept that many of us serve God from a safe distance.
Speaker 1: But the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob is unpredictable.
Speaker 1: Just when we're feeling comfortable, he might suddenly say arise and go to Nineveh, or come, take up your cross and follow me, or tell Pharaoh to let my people go.
Speaker 1: And we want a church body where each we have individuals.
Speaker 1: When the Spirit of the Lord speaks to you, that you don't hesitate, that you're willing to be obedient, especially a young people that is willing to move when the Spirit of God tells you to move.
Speaker 1: The sermon and movie are for people who hear the whisper of God saying stop playing it, so safe that you don't fully walk in obedience to what it is I'm telling you to do.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: The theme of my sermon is a poem of an unknown artist.
Speaker 1: Check this out, I want you all to hear it.
Speaker 1: It's called Opportunities Missed.
Speaker 1: There was a very cautious man who never laughed or played, he never risked, he never tried, he never sang or prayed.
Speaker 1: And when he one day passed away, his insurance was denied.
Speaker 1: For since he never really lived, they claimed he never died.
Speaker 1: And what a sad thing it is to have lived and have never done what.
Speaker 1: You believe that the Lord laid on your heart.
Speaker 1: To do my prayers at the end of this sermon.
Speaker 1: You and I will live a life of occasional risk and make the most of the opportunities God presents before us, amen.
Speaker 1: So the question and the concept that I would have to present to you today is what will you do when the maverick moment presents itself in your life?
Speaker 1: Will you dare to believe or will you play it safe?
Speaker 1: First point I'd like to share with you guys today.
Speaker 1: What I would want you to know is no risk it, no biscuit.
Speaker 1: Life lived without fear will appear reckless to some.
Speaker 1: No risk it, no biscuit.
Speaker 1: Some people know where that comes from.
Speaker 1: Our movie begins with Maverick as a test pilot for the Navy.
Speaker 1: Now I must highlight that he was a very brave man.
Speaker 1: He was a good man for the Navy.
Speaker 1: Now I must highlight that he would have been at flag rank or an admiral.
Speaker 1: He would have been higher, but it was his repeated and subordination that kept from achieving leadership.
Speaker 1: A lesson for us all is learning to achieve and the parameters of the game is important, but there are sometimes that we will be challenged to function outside of the barrier to achieve greatness.
Speaker 1: Maverick has always been the one who was willing to step out there, would consider doing.
Speaker 1: I feel the need for speed.
Speaker 1: Don't think, just do.
Speaker 1: It can appear absolutely reckless to many, but what is it really all about?
Speaker 1: It's about living life where periodically we challenge ourselves to step outside of what's easy to do, what many won't do.
Speaker 1: He has given the task of training a team of young top guns on an impossible mission, the impossible mission.
Speaker 1: What is your impossible mission?
Speaker 1: What is the thing that God has laid on your heart to do?
Speaker 1: And for those watching online, is it getting an extra degree that God has laid on your heart?
Speaker 1: Traveling outside the country for the first time, learning another language, starting a new career later in life?
Speaker 1: In Corinthians 5 and 7 challenges us, it says, for we walk by faith and not by sight.
Speaker 1: To live a life of faith is to live a life prompted by God's spirit leading, guiding and directing us.
Speaker 1: And when we live by faith, we give opportunity for the spirit of God to work through us to do things outside of what's normal for us.
Speaker 1: No risk it, no biscuit is a phrase that was started by coach Bruce Arians, who was the football coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who, at 67, he wins the Super Bowl with Tom Brady as his quarterback.
Speaker 1: He had a conversation with a guy at a bar.
Speaker 1: Okay, we're in church, but we're talking about a bar, right, okay, it's okay.
Speaker 1: But the guy, the old man at the bar, challenged him to not be safe all the time and take a few calculated risks.
Speaker 1: And he came up with this term no risk it, no biscuit.
Speaker 1: And I think for us.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we have to think that way because sometimes we can play it so safe that we don't give God an opportunity to move in our life.
Speaker 1: In Luke 5, 4, jesus challenges the disciples to launch out into the deep to cast their nets on the other side of the boat to reap a great harvest of fish.
Speaker 1: If you don't launch, you don't give yourself a chance to get the great harvest of fish.
Speaker 1: You will miss every shot that you don't take.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: The number two point let it go.
Speaker 1: The past can be a hindrance if not understood in the eyes of faith.
Speaker 1: Maverick has a complicated past that consisted of his best friend dying and there were those who blamed him for it and he even in some way blamed himself.
Speaker 1: His best friend's son partially blamed him and he wasn't probably there for him the way he should have been because he was dealing with the anguish for so many years.
Speaker 1: How many of us realize that our past can create for us a perspective that can limit how we live, moving forward?
Speaker 1: Paul says that we should have this mindset.
Speaker 1: Philippians 3, 13 and 14 says brother, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do I forget those things which are behind and I reach forward to those things which are ahead.
Speaker 1: I press toward the goal for the prize of the upper call of God in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: I press towards the mark, toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the mark, the standard of God's perfectionism in his holiness.
Speaker 1: I press forward Even though I'm not there yet.
Speaker 1: I press forward.
Speaker 1: I press to live in such a way that I'm honoring God the most and giving him a chance to work in and through my life, and I really challenge the young people.
Speaker 1: I love the fact of how excited you guys were at Camp Fuego and it takes me back to college days when I was in campus ministry, because that's where it was about just reckless abandon and just trusting God at a younger age and being able to get to know him through obedience at a young age.
Speaker 1: Don't wait until you're older, do it now.
Speaker 1: Heard a pastor one time who was baptized in an older lady and she was 60 years old and she was giving her life to Jesus and I shared this story once before but I'm going to share it again because I think it's relevant.
Speaker 1: And he says I'm so excited to baptize you and he stepped out into the crowd and he said I'm excited that she's giving her life to Christ.
Speaker 1: But he said I'm going to tell the young people don't eat all the red of the watermelon and give God the rind.
Speaker 1: You're going to eat all the sweet, red, juicy meat for yourself, but then you give God the white part because you're 60.
Speaker 1: He's like why don't you give your life to Christ at 18?
Speaker 1: So then you give God a lot of years he can work with.
Speaker 1: And so we're challenging us to let it go.
Speaker 1: If we're going to have what God has for us, we must forget it all to move forward.
Speaker 1: The good, the bad and the ugly must be forgotten to move forward.
Speaker 1: The good can sometimes move us towards stagnation, the bad can move us to depression and the ugly can move us into irrational views.
Speaker 1: It is best to follow Paul's advice Prepare for each new race in life continually.
Speaker 1: When I win, that's good, but how do I maintain?
Speaker 1: When I lose, how can I learn from it?
Speaker 1: How can I improve?
Speaker 1: And when it's ugly, forgive myself, if need be, and move forward, amen.
Speaker 1: Number three is game day, baby.
Speaker 1: The ultimate challenge requires skilled determination and faith.
Speaker 1: Maverick had to lead the young fighters on this near impossible mission.
Speaker 1: The mission requires skill.
Speaker 1: You need skill what are you good at and what are you trained at?
Speaker 1: Determination At some point you must be determined to reach your goal and to have a little bit of faith.
Speaker 1: That can go a very long way.
Speaker 1: Skill, determination and faith led to Maverick achieving his goal and will also help us In pharmacy school.
Speaker 1: I remember when it's time for exams I used to say it's game day, baby, it's game day, and it came from nine years of playing football.
Speaker 1: I played three in the University of Houston, played in high school, and I remember I looked back on it I don't think I'd have got through pharmacy school if I wasn't an athlete, because I took the mentality of athletics and applied it to a very intense curriculum.
Speaker 1: What do I mean by that?
Speaker 1: Practice was akin to studying.
Speaker 1: So studying intensely, very intensely.
Speaker 1: I remember there was one year I literally was in a library all the time.
Speaker 1: I only came out to watch the Cowboys, amen, amen.
Speaker 1: I came out to watch my boys you know it's a slide looking at me, you know the eagle swing, but I only came out to watch the Cowboys go to church, amen, and worship and serve.
Speaker 1: That was it.
Speaker 1: Other than that, I was studying and the practice time was so much and it needed to be so much, and the study time was so much because I had to become intimate with the material.
Speaker 1: I had to know the plays in and out.
Speaker 1: See, the beautiful thing is about a great team is when they understand the plays in and out, they can do different variations of the plays, they can switch them up because they're intimate with the playbook.
Speaker 1: That's the same thing.
Speaker 1: That's true in academics.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm trying to get my kids to learn amen, amen.
Speaker 1: You know the material, you can manipulate it, you can work with it.
Speaker 1: You understand numbers, you understand knowledge.
Speaker 1: So by the time I got to test day, it was game day and I would literally walk in there like it's game day, baby, like I'm hype, like it's game day For exams.
Speaker 1: I'm like Courtney, you're crazy.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, it's better than being worried and you know, and all that other stuff, right.
Speaker 1: But that was the attitude that I got through it with and in school the test at that time would be.
Speaker 1: Here's the examples of how the test answers would be you could choose A or B or C.
Speaker 1: You could do A and C, but not B.
Speaker 1: You could do C and B and not A or C only.
Speaker 1: And then lastly, none of the above.
Speaker 1: Then sometimes all of the above.
Speaker 1: Anybody have exams like that, oh, amen, yeah.
Speaker 1: So in order to answer a question that way, you had to be intimately close to the knowledge that they were trying to get you to be tested for.
Speaker 1: The thing is, the exam is like game day.
Speaker 1: It's changed the way you view test day.
Speaker 1: How will you and I perform on game day?
Speaker 1: It will be commiserate to our preparation and dependency on Jesus.
Speaker 1: So I want to show a list of what we talked about so far.
Speaker 1: The first three points no risk it, no biscuit, let it go in this game day.
Speaker 1: And now we want to go to a list of instructives.
Speaker 1: What are we to do?
Speaker 1: What do we take from Maverick and to apply to our own lives?
Speaker 1: Number one thing is pursue the danger zone.
Speaker 1: Kenny Loggan's song Highway to the Danger Zone was so very popular.
Speaker 1: It's based on this song, which was so perfect, and it was repeated in Top Gun Maverick.
Speaker 1: It was actually introduced in the first movie back in the 80s.
Speaker 1: But the danger zone is the place where we push ourselves into, the greatest place of challenge, where we would need God in order to fulfill what we're trying to accomplish.
Speaker 1: Reven up your engine.
Speaker 1: Listen to a howling roar.
Speaker 1: Okay, dustin, don't get too excited.
Speaker 1: You might scream.
Speaker 1: You might start running around here.
Speaker 1: You know metal under tension begging you to touch and go.
Speaker 1: Highway to the danger zone.
Speaker 1: Ride into the danger zone.
Speaker 1: People of God, he's looking for those of us who will ride into the danger zone, the place where he is our source and he is all we need.
Speaker 1: Will you go or will you play it safe?
Speaker 1: Second Chronicles, chapter 16, verse 9 in A.
Speaker 1: It says For the eyes of the Lord, go to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to him.
Speaker 1: The first requirement is that we are to have a heart that's loyal to him.
Speaker 1: The first requirement is that we are to have a heart that's loyal to him and then we give him the opportunity to show himself strong in and through us.
Speaker 1: Amen, loving him, church, in a way that's beyond being just a churchgoer, loving him in a way that propels you to what he has in store for you.
Speaker 1: He wants to show himself strong through people that believe this way and it eases the pressure off of us to know that what God wants to work through me to do ultimately accomplishes his will.
Speaker 1: It's his strength doing it through us.
Speaker 1: Amen, it's not about us, it's all about him.
Speaker 1: At that point, learn and know the Word of God.
Speaker 1: Faith over fear is an everyday decision.
Speaker 1: Romans 10.17 says so.
Speaker 1: Then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Speaker 1: You and I will only grow as we prioritize God's Word into our every life Read it, learn it, grow in it.
Speaker 1: God's Word hidden in our hearts gives us confidence to live a life of faith over fear.
Speaker 1: Remember, we're talking about stepping out there, having our maverick moments.
Speaker 1: What is the maverick moment?
Speaker 1: The moment is when that challenge or when that whisper comes and says for us to do something that's outside of what's normal for us, for us to be obedient to what God is calling us to do, because that's how the church is going to make an impact in this generation.
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: You and I will only grow as we prioritize God's Word into our everyday life, reading it, learning it, growing it, memorizing it.
Speaker 1: God's Word hidden in our hearts gives us confidence to walk in faith over fear.
Speaker 1: When I was in college, it was a gentleman named Roland DeLapp.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget him.
Speaker 1: He went all over the country talking to youth ministries.
Speaker 1: His whole thing was memorizing the Word of God, memorized to evangelize.
Speaker 1: He used to give you these little booklets and had these little cards.
Speaker 1: By hiding the Word of God in your hearts, it might not sin against thee.
Speaker 1: He would challenge.
Speaker 1: This man knew the Bible.
Speaker 1: He was like Jack Van Impen that you see on TV One of them guys that could just.
Speaker 1: I'd never seen anything like it in my life.
Speaker 1: Some of the scripture memory that I started back then was because of Roland DeLapp.
Speaker 1: When the time of challenge comes, you've got something that God can bring back to your memories.
Speaker 1: You're in this place of doubt.
Speaker 1: Man, can I do this?
Speaker 1: I can do all things through Christ's strength.
Speaker 1: You know Greatest things in me, that he's in this world.
Speaker 1: No weapon from him against me shall prosper.
Speaker 1: When you're feeling that doubt, what is it that comes to your heart and your mind in that moment?
Speaker 1: Maverick was on his own, but we don't have to be on our own.
Speaker 1: We take it and we apply the Word of God to our lives.
Speaker 1: So we live a life of faith over fear.
Speaker 1: John 1 14 says and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.
Speaker 1: The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Speaker 1: The Word of God gives us an opportunity to know him in an intimate way.
Speaker 1: Knowing the Lord is what gives us confidence and what he asks us to do.
Speaker 1: We have it better than Maverick, because knowing the Lord leads to obedience.
Speaker 1: My last point is obedience is everything.
Speaker 1: God will require you and I to sometimes be obedient to get his best in our lives.
Speaker 1: Well, we should be obedient all the time, but he's going to require it sometimes to get his best.
Speaker 1: True story when I met my wife, there were many things about her that aligned to what I wanted, and I remember very clearly when the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart.
Speaker 1: It says you better move and pursue her or you're going to lose her.
Speaker 1: I remember it like yesterday because now I look at my life and I'm saying, okay, I can look back at certain choices and we were all a part of a ministry at that period of time and I was praying about, okay, next steps and I figured marriage was pretty soon.
Speaker 1: But I remember I'd met her months beforehand and I remember at clearest day we had this white get together for the singles, a white party, as they call it.
Speaker 1: Right, we were all dressed in white, we were clean, look good.
Speaker 1: And she was there.
Speaker 1: She was there that evening and my neighbor was the DJ for the party that night and I remember I helped him put his DJ equipment and he mentioned my wife to me.
Speaker 1: Like he said there was a young lady who served me.
Speaker 1: He said she's awesome.
Speaker 1: I was like and I thought to myself, yeah, she is awesome.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been checking out, I've been watching her and I remember in prayer that night the Lord was like hey, you better pursue her, you better pursue her, that's the one for you to pursue.
Speaker 1: And that was a small example.
Speaker 1: And I remember after we got together and after we got engaged, some guys even came up to me.
Speaker 1: I was like man, I was going to holler.
Speaker 1: I was like no, you wouldn't play.
Speaker 1: No, you were.
Speaker 1: Do you see?
Speaker 1: I could have missed my blessing if I was, if I was disobedient.
Speaker 1: How many of us do that when the Lord says move, we hesitate and you miss your Maverick moment because of fear and playing it safe.
Speaker 1: But we need to be a church that when God tells us to move, we're obedient, because how many of us want what God has for us, amen.
Speaker 1: How many of us want what God has for us to make an impact in this community?
Speaker 1: Amen.
Speaker 1: How many of us wanna make an impact in our families, on our jobs?
Speaker 1: The church is to be impactful and we can only be truly impactful through obedience Amen.
Speaker 1: He wants us to be a church that lives without limits, no limits on God and no limit to what he can do through our life to impact the world for his glory.
Speaker 1: There is a maverick in all of us, that part of us that steps out into the water like Peter did.
Speaker 1: The act of faith was about Jesus, it wasn't about Peter.
Speaker 1: Peter said Jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: Matthew, chapter 14, verse 27a, says and Peter answered him and said Lord, if it be thou, bid me to come.
Speaker 1: Remember Jesus was with the disciples and he tells them to get into the boat to go to the other side.
Speaker 1: Before I get to that part, think about it for yourself.
Speaker 1: Should I start this business, jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: Should I start a family, jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: Should I major in medicine, jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: Should I be an engineer?
Speaker 1: Jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: Should I start a real estate business?
Speaker 1: Jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: Should I be a leader in my community?
Speaker 1: Jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: The thing is, when it's Jesus, you and I will not sink.
Speaker 1: His power holds us up in our Maverick moment.
Speaker 1: And, what's most interesting, if you go back and study that scripture, jesus set the whole thing up.
Speaker 1: Go to Matthew, chapter 14, verse 22.
Speaker 1: It says immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away.
Speaker 1: He sent the multitudes away, sent the disciples across the lake and sets a storm up.
Speaker 1: Y'all see that.
Speaker 1: Jesus set the whole thing up.
Speaker 1: Then he walks on the water through the storm and they look and see him and Peter was the only one that said Jesus, if it's you, bid me come.
Speaker 1: And he gets out of the boat and he's walking on water.
Speaker 1: In your life, god will set you up to trust him.
Speaker 1: It's ultimately about him working through us to accomplish his will.
Speaker 1: So I know that there's some who discern and saying what if I don't succeed?
Speaker 1: What if?
Speaker 1: What if I fail?
Speaker 1: I think verse 30 tells you what this is all about.
Speaker 1: Peter began to look at the winds and wave and he began to sink.
Speaker 1: So what does that tell you?
Speaker 1: And I that in our Maverick moment, and we're on the water and we're walking, and we're going towards Jesus and we take our eyes off Jesus and we start to look at the wind and the wave, and then he started to sink.
Speaker 1: And when he started to sink the beautiful thing about Jesus, it says he started to sink and he cried out Lord, save me.
Speaker 1: How many of us know we serve God?
Speaker 1: Who's able to save the day?
Speaker 1: And when he started to save him, he said oh Peter, why did you doubt what happened to your faith?
Speaker 1: And the same thing he says to Peter, I believe he says to us Courtney, why'd you doubt?
Speaker 1: Why did you not trust me?
Speaker 1: We need a church.
Speaker 1: See, I remember growing up them folk believe God.
Speaker 1: My grandmother believe God.
Speaker 1: That's why I talk about it all the time.
Speaker 1: She was the most awesome woman ever Because she believed God.
Speaker 1: She I mean I was just like he's awesome the way you talk about him and live for him.
Speaker 1: Y'all remember that.
Speaker 1: Y'all remember people like they didn't play.
Speaker 1: It was like it was for real.
Speaker 1: But now we live in a time where we're so distracted we got technology, we got all this stuff that it's the wind and it's the waves and we see ourselves sinking.
Speaker 1: But we serve a God.
Speaker 1: Then we say Lord, save me, he will save us.
Speaker 1: You're not, you're not alone in your maverick moment.
Speaker 1: He's with us.
Speaker 1: A man.
Speaker 1: Luke 18 8b says nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he really find faith in the earth?
Speaker 1: That scripture always gets me because, just like he said, why did you doubt?
Speaker 1: He says to us Well, I really find people that believe.
Speaker 1: Will I really have a church that believes, or will it be lip service?
Speaker 1: Or will we get caught up in our own things?
Speaker 1: Or will we really be about promoting the gospel of Jesus Christ and going and making impact in this world for him?
Speaker 1: Little faith sometimes connects to little word.
Speaker 1: That stored up.
Speaker 1: We don't.
Speaker 1: We spend so little time in God's word.
Speaker 1: We don't know what we have.
Speaker 1: When we know Jesus's resume, it encourages us when we step out.
Speaker 1: I had a wonderful conversation with two neighbors a couple weeks ago who were telling me they were in the transition of church and I pray that they're able to come.
Speaker 1: I invited them to come here today but the thing that they said, that stood out, they were older Caucasian couple.
Speaker 1: You, my favorite world Caucasian.
Speaker 1: I know you hate it, doesn't hate it.
Speaker 1: When I say Caucasian, I said well, from the mountain of the Caucasus, you know.
Speaker 1: So you know it's a very nice way to say.
Speaker 1: It was older Caucasian couple and they said to me in my neighborhood they said that they left their church because They've gotten into the word of God and there were things that they never knew, that they know now that they're loving God in a different way because they've gotten into the word.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking to myself that is so awesome, but my prayers that the young people would know that now that we serve a great God.
Speaker 1: On the way here today I had to go back to some old Kurt Karr God, great God.
Speaker 1: I was listening to that this morning.
Speaker 1: Nobody greater, greater than our God.
Speaker 1: When you have a confidence in who God is like, that, he will propel you To do what he's called you to do.
Speaker 1: It has been said that it takes a special-breed, a person, to become a fighter pilot.
Speaker 1: You must be determined, persistent, physically, elite.
Speaker 1: Not only that, but you must also have possessed an aptitude for aviation, physics and flight discipline.
Speaker 1: The kingdom of heaven could use a special breed of believer that stands on the authority of scripture and trust God to do exceedingly Abundantly.
Speaker 1: Above all, he could ask or think he wants you.
Speaker 1: Will you enlist Last part of my sermon?
Speaker 1: I want to share an excerpt From the lion the witch in the wardrobe of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Speaker 1: How many have read it and watch the movie?
Speaker 1: But this is really gonna be for the readers, those who read the Chronicles of Narnia, and this comes from a conversation that Lucy has with the beavers.
Speaker 1: Remember the beavers?
Speaker 1: Beavers were preachers in the Chronicles of Narnia.
Speaker 1: They used to preach.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: I want you guys to listen to this conversation is?
Speaker 1: Is he a man, asked Lucy.
Speaker 1: She's talking about aslan.
Speaker 1: Aslan the man, said mr Beaver sternly.
Speaker 1: Certainly not.
Speaker 1: I tell you.
Speaker 1: He is the king of the wood and the son of the great emperor beyond the sea.
Speaker 1: Don't you know who is the king of beasts?
Speaker 1: Aslan is a lion, the lion and great lion.
Speaker 1: Oh, oh, said Susan.
Speaker 1: I thought he was a man.
Speaker 1: Is he quite safe?
Speaker 1: I Shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion that you will dearie.
Speaker 1: And no mistake, said mr Beaver, if there's anyone who can appear before aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly.
Speaker 1: Lucy says, then he isn't safe.
Speaker 1: Safe, said mr Beaver.
Speaker 1: Don't you hear what miss beaver tells you?
Speaker 1: Who said anything about safe?
Speaker 1: Course, he isn't safe, but he's good, he's the king, I tell you.
Speaker 1: She said buddy's good.
Speaker 1: God is gonna call us.
Speaker 1: He's gonna call you and I to do things outside of what's normal.
Speaker 1: It's not about safety, it's about the fact that he's good.
Speaker 1: So it brings in the context when people say God is good all the time and all the time God is good.
Speaker 1: And because he's good, that means you and I can trust him.
Speaker 1: So, church, when he calls you to your maverick moment, it's not about him being safe, it's about the fact that he's good.
Speaker 1: And the fact that he's good means I can trust him.
Speaker 1: And if he says he'll heal, he can heal.
Speaker 1: If he says he'll provide, he'll provide, don't know how he'll do it.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask the Faith Point team to come up front, and there's some of you right now.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to this sermon and you know what your Maverick moment is and some of you are on the verge and you've been fearful and you've been afraid.
Speaker 1: We're gonna ask you to come up here and our Faith Point team is gonna pray for you.
Speaker 1: But it is time, church, that we move forward in the fact that we serve a good God.
Speaker 1: Y'all know why people like Top Gun so much, and like Maverick, you know, and the kind of the crazy women that just screamed because Tom Cruise, I guess he look eyed.
Speaker 1: I guess he look eyed.
Speaker 1: It's like you know, we can't give dudes too much credit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: There's something about the person that lives outside of the box.
Speaker 1: It's very attractive, isn't it?
Speaker 1: Because you know it's unpredictable and there's a funness to that.
Speaker 1: Guess what.
Speaker 1: God puts a seed of that in all of us.
Speaker 1: But when we've learned to live life based on fear, not faith, we limit ourselves, we limit what God can do in and through us.
Speaker 1: But I'm challenging you guys.
Speaker 1: There's dreams in you that God has given you that he will empower you to fulfill, but you gotta step out on obedience.
Speaker 1: Let's say a word of prayer and then I'm gonna ask you guys to come up and allow the Faith Point team to pray for you.
Speaker 1: Father, I thank you for the time that we've had in your word today to discuss the Maverick Moment and for every person here, lord, they know what that is.
Speaker 1: Every person watching online, they know what their Maverick Moment is.
Speaker 1: Father, I pray that, lord, you give them the courage and the confidence to step out, to step out in faith, to see you do exceedingly a bunny above all that could be asked or thought, because of your power working in and through them.
Speaker 1: Jesus, we love you and we thank you that you're good, that it's not about you being safe.
Speaker 1: Your word declares and talks about the fact that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, but the violent take it by force.
Speaker 1: You're a great God, you're mighty in battle and, lord, we can trust in you.
Speaker 1: Father, may we move forward with a new confidence, today as never before.
Speaker 1: It's in Jesus' name, amen.