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?

Ordinary Steps of Faith

Sunshine brightly fills the sanctuary along with a large assembly of worshippers. After the service we will be sharing a chili dinner together as Pastor Brad kicks off his 1500 mile snowmobile adventure/fund raiser.

After beginning by saying "I'm grateful you're here," Brad shared how special this snowmobile trip is as a tool to raise funds and awareness for the faith adventure of building the new facility across the street. God is pleased when we step out. And when we step out, God will be found faithful. For updates on Brad's snowmobile adventure along the way visit the New Frontier Expedition website.

Darlene and Brad led us in worship this morning. The offering followed as we generously demonstrated our appreciation for God's generosity toward us.

A variety of needs were shared and lifted up during our prayer time.

Ordinary Steps of Faith

Wandering in the wilderness was not the endpoint of God's plan for Israel in its exodus from Egypt. They would eventually need to take new steps of faith requiring new levels of courage. The text Brad read from was Joshua 1. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you.

One problem with courage is that we define it incorrectly. We think about extreme sports like those snowboarders doing flips over seven stories high.

God is not talking about that. He's talking about telling the truth. He's talking about the courage of being a single parent. He's taking about the courage required to ask for help with a substance abuse problem. Doing big things for God boils down to how to do the daily little things.

The second thing is that courage is not something you think about, it is something you do. Here are some ways God invites us to risk.

Joshua 1 begins, "After the death of Moses..."

Moses was the quarterback. Moses was the one who took responsibility, the one who did the leadership thing. But once Moses was gone, someone else would have to step up. This was Joshua's responsibility.

I don't think most of us have any confusion about where our responsibilities lie. For most, the problem is our not doing it, not dealing with things that need to be dealt with.

Avoiding responsibility, failing to take initiative, will lead to low self-esteem, insecurity and depression. God created us to take responsibility, to take initiative.

Israel had become accustomed to wandering in the desert. After 40 years this was their "normal" existence. All of a sudden they are being told by God to move into the land and settle there. This was a scary thing because there were other people already living there who didn't want them there.

Change stirs up fears. For Israel it was the Canaanites. But we all have different "giants in the land" that seem bigger than we can tackle because we forget how big is our God.

Sometimes walking away from a situation seems the easiest thing, but the greatest act of courage in many situations is to stay put, to not change.

The closest I came to leaving ministry was when I was in Bloomington, Brad said. He received scars, but stuck it out and learned so much more than he could have imagined. God could do so much through even the smallest acts of everyday courage.

We're also called to courageously take God at His word.

When Israel crossed the Jordan, the first barrier was the walled city of Jericho. God instructed them to march around the city for seven days, which they did. They took God at His word, and He delivered the victory.

The best model of taking God at His word was the first century carpenter Jesus. Jesus practiced this every day, even to the cross. Interestingly, "Jesus" is the Greek version of the name Joshua. And He certainly felt it profoundly when He read those opening words, "As I was with Moses, so will I be with You, Joshua."

Yes, God made a promise to Moses that He would be faithful to His word, the same promise He made to Joshua and to Jesus. And to this day He makes it to you. When we feel weak, God gives us His strength, and the courage to cross that river from wandering to purpose, courage and faith.