Ordinary to Extraordinary

Preamble: Before I begin the message God has laid on my heart for today - I first want to thank all of you for the opportunities I have had here to serve. It has been a bit of wild - unexpected and yet incredible 3 years. We have absolutely come to feel at home here at Hope and here in Hanover. We have been blessed with incredible friends and we have seen God do amazing things here. The church has grown, people have grown, Hope has been the hands and feet of Jesus. We have seen salvations, baptisms, new life in so many ways. I am so excited about what more God has planned for this church, for this town- for all of you- for all of us! Pastor Isaac has been given dreams and ideas, vision and excitement for where God plans to take Hope and how God plans to use this no longer “little” body of believers to reach this community. To reach the lost! I am so blessed to have been apart of it and so blessed to move into this new phase and be able to still call this my home.

NEW TIMES

These are new times! Things will be different in the world and that means that the church also will be different - needs to be different to find new ways to connect and reach the lost.

But God is into making things NEW in the most unexpected ways! He does things that make no sense - he put a jewish baby boy named Moses in a river - to have him found and raised by the Egyptian King - so that he could become the man God would use to free the Jews from those very Egyptians. He is a God who allowed a young man named Joseph to be thrown in a well so he would become a prisoner, so that he would be in the house of Potiphar, so that he could interpret a dream, become the governor and save the nation from starvation. He uses a virgin to birth a savior; Jesus, who would live to serve, who would heal the broken, raise the dead, calm the seas, walk on water, use fishermen to build a kingdom. Die and be raised from the grave - He would pay for the sins of the world and then go to Heaven to wait for us, to prepare a home for us - His beloved family. God is into making all things NEW!

PRAY

Before we go any further - lets stop and pray

We will be hanging out in the book of Matthew a fair bit today if you have your bibles and want to turn there.

I just mentioned but a few of the amazing things God does with people, I wanted to show you that WE have a God who does Extravagant things.

Extravagant-means Exceeding the limits of reason or extraordinary- Here is the problem friends...

We are human and our minds have limits - not only that but our minds have this nack for remembering all our failures, all our hurts, all our human limitations, all the limits the world and others put on us and all of the negative words ever spoken to us. These memories limit our courage, they limit our faith, they stop us from doing great things - things we had no idea we could do - Extravagant things.

God used a little Scottish lady to teach me about how I limit him... SWEATER STORY. $100 - to get a whole wardrobe essentially - to look like a pastor!...

I had to learn that I could not limit God - I had to learn that He could take an ordinary person, a person who was a broken, wounded, abused, an uneducated nobody and He could do things with people that are beyond reason, beyond what we think we can do or even dare to dream of. But don’t take my word for it...

PETER

Lets look at the Life of Peter-in the book of Matthew Chapter 4.

Matthew 4:18–20 NLT

One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” And they left their nets at once and followed him.

Here we see Peter was originally called Simon and he was a fishermen - a very ordinary guy. It said that his name was Simon - I have to skip over to the book of John really quickly to explain this... it says inJohn 1:42

“Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas”

Cephas when translated to Greek, is Peter[a]). Both mean rock.

At this point Peter could not have understood why Jesus was calling him the “Rock”. He gives no more information here - It is no different than Pastor Isaac giving me a nick name - like “Broken and Beautiful” - really at first glance it just doesn’t make sense.

Even though he may not understand it, Simon - who is now Peter seems to take it all in stride. He doesn’t even seem ruffled about being told he was going to become a “fisher of men” something they surely knew nothing about at the time. He just goes, he follows Jesus everywhere and is in his inner circle. He hears him preach, sees him do miracles and coasts along feeling pretty secure.

FEAR

But when things get a little testy - we do see another side of Peter - he is not quite so chill. Peter has moments of fear. We are going to pick up in Matthew 14 v 22

Matthew 14:22–31 NLT

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. After sending them home, he went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while he was there alone. Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” he said. “Take courage. I am here!” Then Peter called to him, “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said. So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt me?”

He did it, he got out of the boat, he walked on the water its amazing, but i think when Jesus stands before you- you will do anything....and then the wind came just whirled around him and waves rose - can you imagine standing there and this storm just picks up around you and suddenly you realize you are standing on water - you are doing something impossible and the waves start rocking you - immediately he felt fear, not just fear - but terrified, and then right then as his fear welled up he began to sink. But even in that storm he could see Jesus and even though he was sinking his faith was still there and he yelled Lord, save me!

Did he doubt Jesus or was it the circumstances around him that overwhelmed him and caused fear? Like the voices coming at you from the outside saying this is nuts, you can’t do it, who are you to walk on water - or to even get out of the boat? You’re not good enough.

Peter may have been overcome with fear but he also knew where to turn. You see he knew and believed Jesus was who he said he was. He had watched him do miracles, he saw Jesus feed crowds, He knew this man and who he was...Flip forward to Matthew 16:13-19 :

Matthew 16:13–19 NLT

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.”

BELIEVE

Believing in Jesus as the Son of God - knowing what that meant is what enabled Peter to turn to Jesus when he needed help. It was an automatic response.

Here is what is interesting about this verse...In this scripture Jesus acknowledges that Simon is right - He is the the Christ, the Son of the living God and then immediately he tells Simon that he is Peter - (which means rock) and goes on to say on this rock I will build my church …I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven...

You need to know and believe. 1 - Who Jesus is and and then he will tell you who you are! As you grow in knowing Jesus - you will growing in knowing who you are in Christ.

NOT QUITE THERE YET

JESUS might have told Peter who he is but I am not sure Peter gets it quite yet...Right here Peter is in that place where Jesus has just told him that he has plans for him - that he is going to do things he doesn’t even understand and can’t fathom like Loosing and binding...

I am sure that everyone here can relate to that feeling - when someone believes in you and you doubt you can do it or when Jesus shows you that He wants you to do something. If you are anything like me - when God revealed to me that He wanted us to sell everything and go help churches - I froze in fear and then proceeded to argue all the reasons that that idea would not work - and quite frankly was a little nuts in my own rather limitted mind.

Peter though seems to take it all in stride - maybe he is freaking out inside but he keeps going, believing, trusting, waiting to see what would happen. Feeling like all is well and it should keep going this way - he even tells Jesus just a few verses later that Jesus could not be killed - he would not accept that Jesus was saying he needed to die - no way - Jesus responds by saying “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me: you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of Men.”

The man Jesus declared as the rock - the one he would build his kingdom on was now being called satan because he was only caring about his feelings - the flesh, he told him he need to have in mind the things of God - In our family we would call this a “whisterpoop” it means as swift smack upside the head - Jesus is like - peter what are you thinking - stop it. My ways are not your ways and it is time for you to follow my ways!

We think that Peter has taken this in and is learning as we read in ch 26 v 33...

Matthew 26:33 NLT

Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.”

Peter says He will never sway, he will never deny Jesus or turn away no matter how tough it gets.

Lets just put a bookmark there for a minute.

This tests me...I would like to think that I will follow Jesus anywhere, anytime no matter how hard. I hear of persectution and hope that I would withstand it, I believe I would never sway

And that is probably exactly where most of you are who are sitting here today. You believe you will never sway, even more than that many of you are sitting here feeling secure and like very little can rock your boat. You have to be pretty tight with Jesus, living life real close to Him to not be rocked.

I think that some of you are sitting here - knowing Jesus has some kind of plan for you but not only do you not understand what that means but you barely acknowledge it. You go on coasting in your comfort watching Jesus do his thing but maybe some of you right now are barely participating, you may be like the guys in the boat who didn’t even consider saying “Jesus tell me to come”. Sometimes in our lives we are just spectators and sometimes we are way too comfortable in that place. And in that place I have to wonder how close you are to Jesus and how would you handle the waves.

The problem with living like this is that the less we experience the the power of God in and through our lives the less our soul ( which is made up of our mind, will and emotions) the less our soul can stand against lifes temptations, can stand strong against fear, can endure and follow Jesus through the storms. The less we step out of the boat, the less we take His hand, the greater the chance we will run when things get scary, and the more we will follow our ways rather than His ways.

In James 1:2-4

James 1:12 NLT

God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

And the more we persevere the more we can do...

James 2:17 NLT

So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.

The plan never was to just get us saved - just to believe in Jesus and go live with him, to sit and coast - the plan was always bigger…bigger for Peter and its bigger for you. The plan is to be a doer not just a believer. The plan always is to get out of the boat - of course all our boats look very different.

I know - There are so many things in life that hold us back...

Peter went on in Matthew 26 to deny Jesus three times - the exact thing he said he would never do! Maybe you are in that place today where your faith is being tested by something big - maybe sickness, maybe a loss, maybe by temptation, maybe by lust, maybe fear - but I know this - no matter how rough things feel, no matter how deep you fall, no matter how still and stagnant your faith seems - if we follow the example of Peter, God will still use you. He has a plan for your pain.

BROKENESS

Matthew 26:75 ESV

And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

“and he went outside and wept bitterly.”

In that moment Peter was broken, in that moment he was faced with his own fear, his own weaknesses, his own doubts. In that moment Peter wept over those things, TURNED FROM THEM and made a decision.

He decided To believe He had been given an assignment and he would live it out.

LIVE IT

And he did...

Acts 1: 15 tells us that Peter stood up among the believers (about 120) and he led them in making decisions. In Acts 2 after the Holy Spirit comes upon the believers in verse 14 Peter begins to address the crowd and he tells them about Christ, about the Father and the Holy Spirit and the need to repent and be baptized.

In verse 41 it finishes with “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”

3000! He first addressed 120 people. But on the day of pentecost 3000 were added to the church because a fisherman who was named Simon decided somewhere along the road, in the midst of his doubts and fears, in the midst of challenging the plan, even falling asleep at times, in the midst of such terror that he ran the other way, in the midst of facing who he was, he decided who he did not want to be and in that Peter did the one thing that would forever change his life - he decided to live out God’s plan, to take Jesus’s hand and believe that an extravagant God had dreams that were bigger than any human could ever imagine for his life and that God could use his broken life to do the extraordinary.

DIED FOR YOUR FREEDOM/SINS AGAINST YOU

Jesus absolutely died for our sins. He took them to the grave so that we could be saved if we choose to receive his forgiveness and if you are sitting here today and you have not done that yet then i encourage you to take a moment and pray, just a simple prayer saying here I am Jesus I want your forgiveness, I want your love. But today I also want to challenge those of you who are sitting here today and you already have chosen to receive The forgiveness of a heavenly father, i want to challenge you today to think about the fact that Jesus did not just die for your sins, he also died for your freedom. You see many of us sit here believing we are not good enough - we sit here in the wounds of peoples words and abuse, we sit here broken and afraid but Jesus died to take everyones sins to the grave, including the sins committed against you. Including the lies you believe about yourself because you have lived with broken people in a broken world. God did not plan for your life to stand still after you got to know Him - he planned that those wounds would go to the grave too - He planned to heal you. His plan is to fill you with the Holy Spirit so that you can live the life He created you for. Maybe it will be to touch 10 lives, maybe 100, maybe 3000! I don’t know but I do know that when we stop looking back, when we bury the past and begin doing the things God tasks us with, He also empowers us and He also does way more with your life then you can ever imagine. God does not have limits! He loves to do NEW things in us and through us. Right here and even right now - God is doing something NEW, something EXTRAVAGENT.

COMMUNION - PASTOR Isaac