Being Bold

Our services have returned to a 10:30 a.m. starting time. It was thrilling to see that we were short on space in the parking lot. Sunday school started up again, 9:00 a.m.

Announcements
--Darlene shared that Sunday October 8 after church there will be a meeting to discuss ideas for our Christmas program.
--Joanne Winship indicated that Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. there will be a planning meeting for future Family Nights. And Youth Group will be meeting at 6:30 p.m.
--Saturday, October 14 there is a Fish Fry & Silent Auction fund raiser planned.
--The church has hired Chris Hagameyer as church administrator. There will at some point church office hours established, but for now Tuesday and Thursday will be times to call the church.
--The Emotionally Healthy Church is the book that has been selected for study this year.

Chuck opened the service reading the story from the New Testament in which Jesus calmed the storm as a lead in to what he said was his favorite song, Master of the Wind. "He can calm the storm and make the sun shine again. I know the Master of the wind."

After an uplifting time of singing, we greeted one another for an extended time before taking an offering while singing a lively "I Saw the Light."

There were numerous needs shared during our time of prayer.

Being Bold

Today's message is based on the passage from Matthew 14 in which Jesus walked on the water.

Pastor Terry began by asking "How many of you here see yourselves as Bold? How many of you are the opposite of this? Some boldness is just the way we are. That is, it's our nature. Sometimes caution is the right attitude though, too. How do we know when boldness is safe and when it's not?

The full story in Matthew 14 is quite striking. It tells how the situation came about in which Jesus walked on the water, and invited Peter to join Him.

* * * *

At one point Pastor Terry talked about Mark Zuckerberg's comment that was in the news this week, "Why (after all these years) are we still dealing with racism?" Terry noted that the Bible answers this. The heart is desperately wicked. But humanism believes humanity is essentially good and simply needs to be educated. Truth be told, cruelty, racism, man's inhumanity to man should not shock us.

What's amazing though is not how bad the storms are. Rather, what's astounding is how resilient people are.

So Jesus invited Peter to step over the railing of the boat, to walk on the water. Peter responded by ignoring his rational thinking and took several steps in faith.

There are moments where we step out boldly and the payoff isn't there because it wasn't Jesus' voice telling us to step out. This is where being part of a community of faith is helpful. If something seems outrageous, we can get a confirmation of sorts.

Homework: How are we going to listen to God this week? Who do we need to forgive this week? Who do we need to go to lunch with? What would be the bold thing you could do this week? How much do we give up our time to help another?

What does God have for you this week?