Molded

Intro

Welcome to your first night of camp! What a blessing it is to be here with you all as we dive into God’s word over the next couple of days.

I didn’t go to camp too much growing up and the times I did go I certainly didn’t take advantage of my time at it.

You are going to have a ton of fun and hopefully take what you have learned here and take it down the mountain with you.

A little about me. Believer in Jesus Christ, Husband, Father and Pastor. My wife’s name is Krystal and we have 3 kids. We co-parent with two of them and have rae rae who is our own.

Your theme for camp this year is “The Potter and the Clay” based on Isaiah 64:8 Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.

We will be looking at many stories of people who are considered heroes of the faith, but many of them had many struggles. Many of them struggled with sin issues just like you and I, but God, the great potter molded them into the people he created them to be.

How many of you have ever made something?

Story of making pottery in Berkley

The guy was very passionate about his craft

He walked us step by step, but I kept messing up. Although we had a lot of fun, it was extremely difficult to trust in what the potter was having us do. He made it look so easy.

But the most fascinating part of it all was the process of how pottery comes to be.

Prepare

Mold

Fire

Finish

This is a perfect picture of our life as Christians. God prepares us, he molds us into his likeness, we experience the refining fire and through our faith in christ we get to spend eternal life with Christ.

Tonight we are going to look at one many who we see constantly being Molded by Jesus, before sending him out to the nations to proclaim the good news of the gospel.

We look now to Matthew 14:22-36 in this story we see some crazy things going on. Jesus has just found out that John the Baptist has been beheaded and then he goes on to feed 5000+ people. This leads us right into the story of Jesus walking on water.

Matthew 14:22–36 NIV

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from 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 cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s 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 God.” When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Peter was a man who was molded by Jesus to be one of the most influential leaders in the early church. He was given “the keys” to the kingdom.

Jesus calls Peter and he leaves his nets and runs after him.

Peter doubts like the story we just read

Peter rebukes Jesus’ claim about needing to suffer

Peter says he would never deny christ and does

Peter even cuts the ear off

Peter was a broken dude who didn’t fully understand who he was and who Christ was until he saw Jesus rise from the dead.

When we think about being molded and we look at this story of walking on water, we see one of the first instances where Christ is molding him to be a leader.

Our first point tonight is to Be READY for Christ

THINK about it. Jesus is in the stages of preparing and Molding Peter. Matthew 14:25-29

Matthew 14:25–29 (NIV)

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 cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Imagine seeing someone walk on water and still needing confirmation that it is God. I can be a very sarcastic person and I feel as though I would be the person that is like, “REally peter? do you really need more confirmation of who it is?”

But Jesus doesn’t hinder Peter in this moment of doubt. He says, “COME”.

What a beautiful picture of Christ’s love for his disciples. He doesn’t condemn him, he doesn’t criticize him and react with sarcasm he says, “come”.

Story about my dad asking me to come with him to mow lawns.

When we place our faith in Jesus we are all called to follow and trust in him.

You see Peter had a lot of faith and trust. He doesn’t say if its you come closer, he says if its you, let me come out on the water. But Peter messes up.

This leads to our second point Stay Focussed on Christ

Matthew 14:29–32 NIV

“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.

Peter was in a place where he had God in the flesh say come out on the water and what did he do? He was confident, but then got scared.

How often do we lose our focus of Christ in our daily lives? One minute we have a great relationship and feel close to God and the next we struggle with things over and over again.

Peter was a prime example of continually being molded by Christ. He jumped in and then fell away, he jumped in and fell away. But Christ remained faithful to ministering to him and encouraging him along the way.

Climbing the gate at my sisters game story

When we lose focus things tend to not go well. When we lose focus we can get hurt, we can hurt someone else and we can become complacent in our lives.

But this leads to our final point for the night

Be Molded by Christ

What a shock right? Our series is about the potter and the clay. That is what the potter does. He molds things to the way he desires them to be. Each peace unique in its own right.

Just as Christ molded Peter in this moment to remind him of who to keep his eyes on, we are molded by the holy spirit.

John 16:13–14 NIV

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.

The Holy Spirit guides us. The Holy Spirit empowers us. The Holy Spirit sustains us in the best and most challenging times of our lives. The Holy Spirit sanctifies us.

Story of being Molded by Christ

Allowing Christ to mold us can be a scary thing. When we think about the potter and the clay, there are many times where I’m the lump of clay that just kinda wishes I can sit there and not doing anything.

But when I look back in my own life and the lives of every believer that I know, they continually point out the joy they find in knowing that Christ is molding them

For my own life, I am eternally grateful that the Lord chose to save me. He rescued me out of the pit of sin.