Building a Community of Faith

Building a Community of Faith

The way I normally like start a message is by reading a passage of scripture before anything else. Today we’re mostly going to be walking through Matthew 14:22-33, it’s a passage a lot of people know pretty well. Feel free to follow long on the screen, in your bible, or on your phone.

Read Matthew 14:22-33

Jesus Walks on Water

22 Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while he sent the people home. 23 After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone.

24 Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. 25 About three o’clock in the morning[a] Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!”

27 But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here![b]”

28 Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.”

29 “Yes, come,” Jesus said.

So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong[c] wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted.

31 Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

32 When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the disciples worshiped him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

Tell the story about ranching over the summer with Rich

I had the most incredible experience over last summer when…

I decided to take my three daughters out to Oklahoma to visit their cousins

My sister lives in western Oklahoma with her husband, Rich and their four children. They live on an 11,000-acre ranch owned by a prominent business owner in that part of the country. Sara, my sister, works as a flight nurse and Rich works as a cowboy on the ranch

They’ve lived out there for a few years now, but we’ve never been able to make the trek to visit until this past year

Planning for the trip, I knew at the very least, my daughters would be doing some horse riding. My youngest daughter, Piper, is an up-and-coming barrel racer here in Ohio, my middle daughter, Audrey, is an experienced pleasure rider, and our oldest Izzi at least knows her way around a horse. I didn’t know exactly what I would be doing and we didn’t make any concrete plans, so I came ready for anything to happen

When we arrived in Oklahoma I was hanging out with the kids while Sara and Rich were finishing up work. Rich came home and while we were catching up he asked me if I’d like to go out to the ranch the next morning. Not wanting to turn down this opportunity, I decided it would be an interesting experience at the very least

The next morning, Rich and I walk out to the barn and he gives me a halter. Now I grew up in 4-H and took market lambs to the Greene County Fair, so I knew what to do with halter. I was just caught off-guard when Rich said, “Go on out in the holding pen and grab Poncho. That’ll be your horse for the day.”

Grab “your” horse? I thought…I’ll go grab “the” horse…but I don’t know about “your” or “my” horse…

So I go get Poncho the horse, bring him to the trailer and get him loaded up. For reference, Poncho is the horse who, the day before, had bucked up and threw off my two older daughters while they were riding him. This is supposed to be, “my horse.”

It’s about a 20-minute drive to where we are going to be working and we happen to be moving cattle from one fenced in pasture to the another

We arrive and Rich had already tacked up Poncho back at the barn. I lead him out of the trailer and we meet up with Morgan, who is another ranch hand.

Let’s cut to the chase…In the back of my mind, I think I knew that I was going to be riding a horse this day, but it hadn’t really set in until this moment

I look at Rich and I’m like, “what am I supposed to do?” And he says, “Just go ahead and mount your horse and follow me out. He’s got the same commands you’re used to, so just do what you’d normally do.”

“Well, I’m positive this isn’t the best time to tell you this, but I’ve never ridden a horse before.”

“Oh, well…just don’t cross your reins and he’ll just follow me. Kick him with your heels to get him to go, pull down and back on the reins to get him to stop, pull from side-to-side to get him to turn. Whatever you do, don’t drop the reins.”

So, on working ranch during a day when we are moving cattle from pasture to pasture, I’m riding a horse for the first time in my life and I literally have no idea what we’re going to be doing for the entire day

We ride down to the gate and it looks to me like most of the cattle understand what’s happening on this day. They are waiting to be let over into the new pasture and Rich instructs me to stay out of the way and to make I’m counting the cattle by threes as they pass through. I’m told there are about 1,400 of them and we need an accurate tally of how many get through the gate.

So the gate swings open, and like clockwork, you can see the cattle that are the leaders. They bolt through and head out into the fresh pasture. More follow behind them and I’m counting

3…6…9…12…15…18…21…24…27…30…33…36…and I get up to bout 117 and lose it. I’m trying to keep up pointing with my finger and I the things that enters my mind at this time is, “Why are we counting by threes? There has got to be an easier number to count these cattle by

The cattle stop coming and I head say, “1321,” I hear Morgan say, “1322.” Rich looks at me and says, “What’d you get, Seth?”

I look at him and say, “I got about that…”

Rich says, “Were you counting by threes?”

“Well…I tried.”

Anyways…we’ve got about 75 cattle we need to track down. So we head out into the previous pasture and this is where it gets interesting. I’ve just been sitting on this horse for about 40 minutes, standing there counting cattle. I’ve got my reins in my hands and we’re about 500 yards out trying to round up these cattle when Rich and his horse head up pretty steep hill. Trying to keep up, Poncho takes off into a full gallop, which, by the way, is the fastest of all the horse gaits. And at this point, I’m am just trying not to fall off. I drop my reins, grab the horn of the saddle and hold on for dear life. The last thing I want is to fall off of this horse. We head up the hill and Rich is stopped up there and Poncho stops, looks back, and winnys almost like he’s laughing at me.

Rich goes, “Everything okay?”

Yeah…of course. Totally fine. Things couldn’t be better.

Rich tells me it’s probably a better idea for me to stay at the top of the hill as he goes down into a thicket to drive these cattle around and back towards the gate. So for quite awhile I’m sitting still on Poncho and I can’t see Rich or Morgan. Finally, about, I don’t know a quarter mile awhile, I see both of them emerge on top of a ridge and they are driving the cattle down through a valley on a path towards the gate. Poncho is stomping and causing a scene until I build up the courage to start a slow walk towards the guys.

As I’m coming down into the valley, Rich is coming towards me and he yells over to me, “Come towards me, but don’t cut the cattle off or they’ll stop moving.”

Sounds like a good idea, but Poncho hears and sees Rich and he decides we’re to do exactly what Rich just told us not. So I’m pulling a hard left on Poncho and he’s just completely ignoring me. And this when I inadvertently turn this western horse into a dressage horse. I mean I’m getting great lateral movement here. Shoulder-in, a nice plié. And absolutely none of it is on purpose. We cut right in front of gravy train of cattle and they stop on a dime. But we make it and we’re beside Rich…which is where Poncho wanted to be.

All the cattle make it through the gate. We head back towards the trailer and dismount the horses. It’s been bout 6 hours at this point and Rich tells me we need to get back on and head out to help the cattle find water. But guys… I’d had enough. I tell Rich I’m going to load Poncho up and hang out at the truck for the rest of the time. And that was the end of my career as a ranch hand.

Jesus walks on water

Here’s a little context for our bible passage today:

Leading up to the story in Matthew 14, Jesus learns of the death of his cousin, John the Baptist. Grieving, he decides to get away, going off alone in a boat for a little while. But, as they normally do, the crowds find him and he sees them as he’s coming back on shore. He steps off the boat, feels compassion even in his own grief, and starts healing the sick people who have sought him out. The day passes and the disciples approach Jesus and want him to send the crowds back into the towns so they can eat. Jesus tells them to do otherwise and we get the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000.

So he’s grieving the death of the cousin, he’s healing people all day, and then he performs the miracle of feeding thousands of people with a few fish and a few loaves of bread. One can only imagine his exhaustion in the late hours of the day.

After this, Jesus asks the disciples to get on a boat and head out into the sea, hoping they can make it to the other side, while he deals with the crowds and gets them to go back to their homes. He does this and decides he’s going to take some time to himself and head into the hills so he can pray.

Depending on your perspective, It’s either very early or very late when all this is happening. It’s 3 in the morning.

And then a storm hits. The wind whips down over the hills and causes the waves to kick up. The disciples are still out on the boat and they are in trouble. Jesus must have heard their cries for help, so he goes out to help them in only a way the Lord can…by walking on the water out to their location in the sea

The disciples see him, but they don’t recognize him…they, understandably so, are terrified. And they think what they see is a ghost

But what Jesus says to them is, “Do not be afraid. Take courage. I am here.”

The commentaries agree that when Jesus says, “I AM here” what he’s saying and what they disciples would’ve heard him say is, “THE I AM IS HERE”

This is a way Jesus refers to himself when he claims to be God in the flesh

THE I AM IS HERE…

And this is when Peter puts one foot on the edge of the boat, leans out into the darkness, and says, “If it really is you, Lord, have me come out to you on the water.”

Bold. Maybe a little impulsive. The other disciples must’ve looked at him like he was insane. But Jesus calls back to him and says “Go ahead…come on out.”

Peter’s boldness seemingly creates a solid mass of liquid and he walks on the water. Maybe he takes a few steps, maybe he gets about 10 or 15 yards…then he realizes the storm is still there. He sees the waves and feels the strong wind and becomes terrified again

He starts sinking into the sea and cries out to Jesus, “Save me, Lord!”

Jesus does, of course, and as he pulls Peter up out of the sea, he says to him, “You have so little faith. Why did you doubt me?”

They climb into the boat, the wind stops, and the other disciples see this and say, “you really are the son of God.”

Do you believe in miracles?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a miracle. I don’t have a story I can tell that seems miraculous in any way. I have heard a few stories of miracles over the past couple of months from others that I absolutely believe to be true

I’ve heard these stories and I also know about the miracles that occur in the bible. The ones Jesus performs are the one that stick out the most. The common thing among all these miracles is the faith of the person asking the miraculous thing of Jesus. It seems to me that when people come to him and ask him to do miraculous things, they believe he can do them.

This story has been told a million times. And for good reason. But I’ve been coming at it from a little different perspective because the Lord has been teaching me a lot recently about community. What could it look like if a community of believers decided to act in boldness together? I can’t help but think about what the people inside the boat saw unfold before their very eyes and how that might have helped them to understand what it was going to take to build this community Jesus commonly referred to. A man, whom they know pretty well, just had the boldness of faith to ask the Lord to help him walk on water. And it happened.

Here’s what I’m really trying to say:

I have often been tricked by thinking that in order to do God-sized kingdom things I needed to be the type of person who has an enormous amount of faith. However, I think it’s a great trick of the evil one that makes us think we can’t possibly live out our calling, and even our everyday lives, because we don’t have enough faith

We can’t forget about Jesus’s parable about the mustard seed. A tiny amount of faith is all that is required to move mountains

Yes, I believe the Lord does great things when we choose boldness, but the mustard seed story reigns true

I had never ridden a horse before. I could’ve chosen the easy way out that day. No one would’ve thought anything of it if I would’ve sat on the tailgate of the truck that day and watched the clouds roll by overhead. But the leap I took that day showed me something that I had forgotten about myself. And in light of this story about Peter being bold enough to take those few steps out of the boat, I see my entire cowboy-for-a-day story turn into a metaphor for God’s community.

What does a church community look like?

Psalms 118:19

Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the Lord

Like being the person who swings open the gate for the cattle to cross over, we need people ready to assume the critical task of opening the doors for others so they can hear and receive the message of Christ

Isaiah 40:3, talking about John the Baptist, as referenced in Matthew 3:3

A voice cries: 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God

Like the cattle that are pushed up are the gate, ready to lead the way into the pasture, the gates to heaven have been opened through Jesus. We have the opportunity to live like we are in heaven right here on earth, right now. We need trailblazers willing to step out in faith and carve a path through the wilderness for others. Strong, prophetic believers who are in sync with the Lord’s calling on their lives

Isaiah 63:10

Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.

Behind the trailblazers, we need those willing to build the road. Maybe you’re a qualified guide. One of those people in our community who is called to walk alongside people and make the road a bit smoother and more manageable

And finally, once everyone who is prepared to get through the gate makes it through, we need those who are called to venture back out through the gates to minister and pastor to those the world has forgotten.

Matthew 18:12-14

“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others on the hills and go out to search for the one that is lost? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t wander away! In the same way, it is not my heavenly Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish.

This is where I found myself that day. That horse had taken me, rather unwillingly so, I might add, on a bumpy ride up a fairly steep hill. And when I got to the top and was able to get him somewhat under control, I looked out across the western Oklahoma landscape and God reminded me of my calling to be a light for the lost and to serve those living in the margins

What’s next?

I’ve been on a 5-year break from my ministry career. An extended sabbatical, if you will. But 2024 was the most challenging, while also the most spiritually fulfilling year of my life. I’ve seen the Lord move. And if I take my own advice, I cannot listen to poisonous lies telling me I can’t do things for the Lord because I don’t have enough faith. Are you with me?

But what I can do is act boldly and get closer to God through obedience by practicing some core spiritual disciplines

Through lots of prayer, reading, and seeking understanding from some close friends out there living out their own callings, I decided to revisit the spiritual disciplines taught by Jesus and my spirit has been renewed by regularly practicing these three:

Prayer

Generosity

And Hospitality

Now I’m done for today, but I’ve got more stories to share with you all about how the Lord has been working in my life regarding these spiritual disciplines. My hope is that you are inspired to act boldly with me, but also to become more grounded in your walk with your Jesus as we do this together.

I am beyond grateful to be here with you and I’m really looking forward to what’s next.

Let’s pray

Lord, we love you and we praise you. We are so thankful for your word and it’s effect on our lives. Be with us as we venture out this week. Amen.