VBS 2026
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Church we start VBS tonight
In talking with Jess and Darlene about VBS
The Theme is Your Kingdom Come
Centered around how faith is expressed
How for us to fully experienced the fullness of God we must take steps of faith
In reality church we must put action to our own faith if we can expect to experience God like what we read about in scripture
I have watched them practice and what a joy it will be to watch this story of your kingdom come for the next 4 days
To sort of prepare us we need to take steps of faith if we want to experienced God
IF you never take a step of faith then you are always just sitting in comfort watching and waiting for things to get easy and comfortable
Let me tell you they never get easier and they won’t get any more comfortable
This morning we take a break from Acts and look at what it looks like to take a step of faith
Before we get to the faith story we need to know some of the back ground
The Apostles and Jesus are around the Sea of Galilee
They had just recieved news of John the Baptist’s Beheading
Jesus goes off by Himself to pray and grieve
And the people who are following Him continue to press Him
15 When it was evening, the disciples came to Him and said, “This place is desolate and the hour is already late; so send the crowds away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away; you give them something to eat!” 17 They said to Him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.” 18 And He said, “Bring them here to Me.” 19 Ordering the people to sit down on the grass, He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food, and breaking the loaves He gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds, 20 and they all ate and were satisfied. They picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve full baskets.
The apostles are getting a bit nervous because there are so many people
They don’t know how they are going to feed them all
They even talk with Jesus about sending the people away so they can go and rest and get something to eat
Jesus boldly tells them you give them something to eat
You share with them what you have
You and I cannot share with people what we don’t have
You and I cannot share the love and grace and mercy of Jesus if we don’t have them
We only have them through a personal relationship with Christ meaning at some point you have repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus
Anywho
Jesus tells them you feed them
They start to look around and they are looking at everyone’s lunch pales and thinking
we don’t have much
They go back and say all we have are 5 loaves and 2 fish
Not to shabby for a few people maybe
But definitely not this many people
Jesus calls people to sit down in groups
He took the food and blessed it and broke it and started passing it out
Church we have read this story before
We know that there are 5000 men we will read that later
How they fed 5000 men on 5 loaves and 2 fish I will never know except God
Then they all ate and were satisfied they picked up all the left overs
They pick up 12 baskets full of the left overs
You could argue that was 1 for each apostle
They didn’t have so much faith Jesus says have a seat
They end up with a basket of left overs for each apostle
This is just the background of the story
You can start to see Jesus is sort of saying Guys have faith in me
When you have faith you get to experience me on a deeper and fuller level
One more point to make
21 There were about five thousand men who ate, besides women and children.
Church there were well over 5000 if you start to count women and children
That all ate and were satisfied and there was a left over basket full of food for each apostle
Sort of as a souvenir for them to remember what God had done
They could look back and remind themselves of how God was faithful
Because they had seen the faithfulness of God before
I am willing to bet there have been times in your life you could look back and see the faithfulness of God in your life or in the life of someone around you
When you are able to take a step back and see the faithfulness of God that only helps you to have the courage and guts to take the step of faith
22 Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. 23 After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. 24 But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary.
So Jesus says you guys start I am going to spend some alone time with God
He sends them away
My commentary says they are about 600 feet from the shore that at the widest part of the sea of Galilee is about 8 miles wide
A storm starts to pick up and begins to cause them troubles
They were experienced fisherman, meaning they probably spent a lot of time on a boat and in most likely all sorts of weather
They are rowing the boat with their 12 baskets full of left overs
Because they had just experienced the faithfulness of God
25 And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. 26 When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Again they are experienced boatmen at least some of them
And at between 3am to 6am
They see Jesus and some yell out it is a ghost
let me recap
Jesus had just fed some 5000 men and then add women and children to that
He fed them to the point of satisfaction and there was enough leftovers everyone of the apostles get a basket to themselves
He is now coming to them walking on water
They get scared and Jesus Immediately calls them to not be afraid that it is He
What a great comfort that in the midst of panic the voice of God can bring peace that can truly bring peace in your life
Are you starting to see what is happening
Jesus has been evident in their lives
He has been faithful and a constant
He has brought peace in the midst of trouble and turmoil
It is as if they are being prepared for something great
Think in your own life about the faithfulness of God
I can tell you about my own life and God math
God has been faithful to provide for me and my family
We have not gone without, I have seen the faithfulness of God play some many times month after month as I do bills
God has and continues to be faithful
Think about in your own life in the midst of trouble and turmoil
And in the midst of that time in your life
Maybe it was someone spoke the Word of God or you spent time reading the word of God and how that brought such peace in your life
I can’t count the times I have spent reading Gods word and it just calms my spirit like nothing in this world can
Or what we do as a family sometimes is have worship time at the house
We put worships songs on the TV
What peace and calmness that brings to sit there and just worship the Lord
Those times as we will see prepare to be obedient to what God is calling you to do
28 Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” 29 And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.
So right before this you get the feeling like ok things are a bit normal
I mean as normal as can be since the Son of God is walking on water and yet for me that seems normal
And then Peter
Oh Peter
I love his excitement here
Peter shouts out that if that is your Lord command me to come to you
The Lord says ok Come Peter
The Lord is calling Peter out of the boat
Peter had just experienced the feeding of the 5000 men and recieved a basket of leftovers
Peter has just experienced the calming of the Word
So it sort of makes sense that ok Peter Come to me
Put yourself in Peters shows you are a in a boat and the Lord has called you out of the boat
Maybe your heart is beating faster and faster
You start to breath quicker and quicker
You grab the side of the boat
Pause in just grabbing the side of the boat I would bet he has done that before and not walked on the water
I bet there were times being a fisherman he has jumped in the water from the boat
To do that you grab the side and jump
Here he is grabbing the boat and he puts one foot on the water and it doesn’t sink
Peter then put the second step and is not sinking
He is standing and walking towards Jesus
I can imagine the other 11 in the boat yelling at him Peter be carful
Peter come back
Yelling at him whatever
Church let me clear this morning
There are times God calls you to get out of the boat
It requires steps of faith believing that God has called you to do something you might not be comfortable with
To do something that has never been done before
And yet church you have a choice to make
Get out of the boat or remain in the boat
If you don’t get out of the boat you can’t get wet, you can’t sink, and you don’t get to experienced God in such a might way
But if you do get out of the boat
You will get wet
You may sink
You may be scared and it might not make sense and yet in the midst of all that you also get to experience God in such a mighty way that will only grow your faith in Jesus Christ
Jesus had prepared Peter to take the step of faith
You all have been prepared to take a step of faith
Lets just ask it how many of you this morning would get out of the boat in Christ called
Here is the thing
You getting out of the boat is probably not going half way around the world to tell someone about Jesus, it might be
It might not be surrending to ministry
Church your getting out of the boat might very well be talking to the one person God has called you to speak to at work
It might be being more bold in your faith at work
It might be giving more and not being so dependent on your own account
It might be serving in an area of ministry that is new or old for you
It might be finding someone who will disciple you
Or it might be finding someone you can disciple
None of those are easy or comfortable and yet all require you to get out of the boat
Those steps of faith are a bit easier if you understand you have been prepared to do just that get out of the boat and take steps of faith
This morning as you dwell on getting out of the boat begin to look back and see how God has been faithful in your life
Look back and see how God has brought calmness and peace to your life
And then church as you pray about where God is calling you
When he calls you to get out of the boat grab the side and begin to take steps of faith
You will begin to experience God is such a way that will grow your relationship with God
30 But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!”
So Peter gets out and begins to walk towards the Lord
He begins to get frieghtened remember there are some waves going on
He starts to think
We know what happened right
As he is walking towards Jesus the other 11 in the boat are probably calling out to him and he is also seeing the waves
He is getting distracted
When we get distracted we take our eyes off Jesus
We start to focus on what others are thinking of us or what we are doing rather than what God thinks
We start to listen to the wrong voices going on that might very well be wordly well intentioned
LIke he be careful for that wave peter
Peter starts listening to those types of voices and gets distracted and starts to sink and what does he do
He calls out Lord save ME
Yes Peter begins to sink and the Lord saves HIm and the Lord sort of gets on to him
You of little faith why did you doubt
Probably all of them
And yet Peter is sopping wet and they all get back into the boat
The winds stop
Think of what Peter experienced church yes he sinks a bit
He is wet
But Church he was obedient to the word of God and walked on water
He experienced God in a way no other apostle had before or since that I know of
Because he got out and took steps of faith
Those steps of faith are not without difficulty but church as you read and understand this they are so very much worth it
Church as we come to a close this morning
What steps of faith is God calling you to take
Where is he calling you to get out of the boat
Maybe you are here this morning you need to spend sometime in pray about that
The altar is open
Or maybe you are here today and do not know Jesus personally
There will be someone down here who would love to talk to you have salvation
Maybe there is another decision you need to make this morning
Would you be obedient and take steps of faith this morning
