The Deep End

So here we are, everybody, week number three, week number three of our series that we're calling In God we trust. And week one, I preached a message called The struggle is real. Last week, Pastor Kerry preached a message called first and best, and this week, I'm going to preach a message called the deep end. Somebody say the deep end. So as I stated, Week Number one, we do believe that the struggle financially is absolutely real. I shared several statistics that support that claim, and I also mentioned that most churches don't actually address finances or financial situation, us included. So we're going to change that because, because, because, and I gave you statistics on this as well the abide the Bible actually addresses it a lot. Often the Bible addresses it, and most believers often miss that. While the Bible does actually address it, we miss it because we try to discern it with our natural wisdom, rather than spiritual wisdom, we try to wrap our natural minds around it, rather than allowing our spirit to get wrapped around it, or the Spirit of God to invite us in. Scripture is very, very clear everybody that while we are living in a natural world, we are fighting a spiritual battle, and in order for us to live out the things of God that God has for us, we've got to, number one, recognize this. Number two, accept it, and number three, aim to deepen our understanding of this as God leads us. Just a couple of scriptures for you that I want to have on your radar, Ephesians, chapter six, verses 12 and 13, for we're not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of an unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in heavenly places. Therefore put on every piece of God's armor so that you'll be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle, you'll be standing firm. And some of y'all might be saying, pastor man, over finances. Yes, over finances. Because if you have not seen this yet, we want you to understand that your finances and where they go and what you do with them is an indicator of where your heart truly is. You can look at your bank account. You can look at your register and tell where is my heart. We're fighting a spiritual battle. Second Corinthians, chapter 10, verses three through five, says this, we're human, but we don't wage war as humans do? We don't wage war as humans do. We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down strongholds of human reasoning, to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud every proud obstacle you ever thought, well, I can do that on my own. That's a proud obstacle. Well, I was trained in school. That's a proud obstacle. We knock down, destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture those rebellious thoughts and we teach them to be obedient to Christ. This is the goal everybody to obey Christ. Okay, it's to obey Christ in everything that we do, in everything that we are, in every decision that we make, in every every step that we take to obey Christ. And that's what we want to talk about, is obeying Christ. And if we're truly going to deepen our understanding of the principles of God, we're going to have to deepen our dependence on God and our finances. My friends are no exception the last couple of weeks, and today we've got them available too, but you should have received a card and on one side as an invite to join us for a dinner that we're hosting on October 4, and on the other side is access to a gift from us, your church to help you with your daily budgeting, to help you with your finances and. To help you understand what it looks like to get those things in order, so that you don't have to live paycheck to paycheck or just kind of shooting from the hip. Does that make sense? Everybody? So if you did not receive one of those yet, we want that free gift to get to each and every one of you. Our ushers will have those available on the way out from all of our locations, we think that'll be fantastic. But this morning, I want to preach this message. I'm feeling it. Y'all feeling it, come on. I know Seward's feeling it. Let's go. Got 25 minutes and six seconds. We're about to go. Let me say we're about to go. Father, we love you. We are so grateful for the wonderful opportunity we have this morning to be in your presence. We don't take it lightly, God, it is a big deal. So we pray today that by the power of your Spirit, you would lead us in God, as you show us Jesus like we never seen him before. Because we know it's upon revelation of Jesus that you build and establish your church. So God, we ask that you build, that you establish your church on our lives, because it's not about a building and it's not about an organization. It's not about a church name. It's about the kingdom of heaven. We are Kingdom people. It's about your people coming together to advance your kingdom. Lord, we love you, we bless you in Jesus name amen, amen, amen. Come on, everybody, let's give Jesus a big hand clap. Somebody say the deep end? Anybody grow up going to the public pool? Anybody grow up going to public pool? I know some of y'all think that's nasty, but that's just the neighborhood I grew up in. You know what I'm saying? We went to the public pool. I mean, it was a thing like the public pool opened and we were there. My brothers and I, we would ride our bikes and get there early. Anybody, anybody? Man, sometimes we beat the lifeguards there, and we were like, we were there, you know. And then we would have to, you know, we'd have to hurry home after, you know, about the time my mom was getting off work and pretend like we had been working on cleaning the house all day, but it was just the task was so overwhelming that it was just impossible to complete. Anybody else, anybody? Okay, okay, I'm a part of a handful of bad kids. Apparently everybody else follows the rules, whatever. Anyway, so we had this pool. It's called Aqua court and Hastings. And, man, we ride over to Aqua court. We would just spend the day at Aqua court, and it was me and a couple of my friends. And then I had to carry my little brothers with me, because you just can't leave your little brothers at home, I guess. And so we would bring them with and I don't know if y'all know this, but in Aqua court, I don't know how your pool was, but Aqua court, back in the day, had a high dive, and it was awesome. I mean, it was a little bit like, you know, I'm scared of heights a little bit, and so I would get to the end of the high dive and pee my pants just a little bit. But it was no big deal because you're jumping in the pool, right? No big deal because you're jumping in the pool. So anyway, so my friends and I would jump off this high dive all the time, and the goal was to create the biggest splash that you possibly could. Because, you know, in hopes that you would be able to impress one of the little girls. Okay, now, there was no Wendy peppercorn there. It was some guy named, it was the lifeguard. Was some guy named Bruce, or something like that. I don't know, you know, anyway, anyway so, but the goal was, you know, cannonball, you know, like, you know, do the can opener and all the stuff, and just try to do the stuff. And but my little brother was like, hey, I want to go on the high dive. And I'm like, bro, you can't go on the high dive. You don't know how to swim. And he said, but I want to go on the high dive. I want to go on the high dive. I want to go on the high dive. Anybody else have an annoying little brother? Until one time I just said, Okay, you can go on the high dive. And my friends were like, What are you doing? Let your brother go on the high dive. I said, Hey, man, you know I heard this quote that says the necessity of, y'all know the quote, this necessity of lack is the invent is the mother of invention. So he couldn't swim. He needed to come to the top of the pool. It would invent him a way to learn how to swim. Okay, anyway, I didn't know that quote back then. I just learned it later, but I just went with it anyway. So I said, Okay, man, you can, you can come on the high dive. I said, but here's the plan, okay, I'm gonna go off the high dive first. I'm gonna let everybody Ooh and awe over, you know, my cannonball, and then when I get out of the pool to the ladder out of the pool, then you go, and he's like, okay, cool, no problem. Well, as you know, you start climbing to the top of the high dive, and your legs start to shake a little bit, your palms start to sweat a little bit, and you start pee your pants just a little bit, right? And so here I am, man, and I go off the high dive, and I'm, you know, water everywhere. People are shouting and cheering, like, oh yeah, that's the man. I'm like, Yeah, feeling myself, you know, backstroke into the i. To the high dive, and all of a sudden I hear that a gasp, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, what's going on, man. So I get to the ladder quick and and I and I jump out, and I'm looking up for my little brother to go. Well, he had already gone, and he was not coming back up, he sunk like a rock. Man, I was like, What are you doing, you know, and so, you know, if you ever seen anybody underwater, he was flailing his arms and kicking his feet and trying to do everything he could to get to the top, but he didn't know how to swim. So he's looking, looking, looking. And through the water, we made eye contact, and I was like, I hope you're gonna be okay. I froze. Man, I was just a little bit nervous, and so all of a sudden, like, I jumped back into the pool, and I'm trying to swim over to get him, but he is not coming up. And all of a sudden, thank God, the lifeguard, Bruce, just comes out of nowhere and just scoops him up and brings him to the top of the water, and he helps him swim over to the ladder. And we got out of the pool, and I said, Oh, that wasn't part of the plan. What are you doing? He didn't want anything to do with me. He only wanted to hang out with Bruce. Him and Bruce became best friends that summer, man, best friends that summer. But you know, as I was thinking about that story, I was thinking about you and I in our pursuit of Jesus, I was thinking about the fact that, you know, God wants us to live our lives. He wants us to have a desire to be in the deep end. In fact, he will push us to places where we go into the deep end. And it's important for us to understand, though, that while the struggle in life is real, there is an order that God does things. And the reason that God has an order is not because he's a rules God, it's because he's a relationship God. See, I wasn't trying to put rules on my brother because I didn't want him to enjoy the deep end. I was trying to put rules on him because I knew he didn't know how to swim, and I wanted to make sure that he kept his life and God is much the same way in our relationship with Him. See, people often think we hear a message like last week, and we're like, Oh, you came from the money message. Oh, man, I can't believe the money message. You came from the money message. But here's what we have to understand. Is that God wants to bless your life, but God can't bless your life outside of the boundaries that he's established. It's not rules, it's boundaries. I like to say it like this, that blessing always comes within boundaries. All healthy relationships have boundaries. Think about it in your marriages. I hope you have boundaries in your marriage, otherwise, your marriage is probably unhealthy your friendships. I hope there's boundaries, because if you don't, it's probably not healthy. All healthy relationships have boundaries in your relationship. Of God is no different. God helps establish boundaries so that we know how to operate and what to operate within, and when we do, he's able to bless our lives. The blessings of God are only released through the boundaries that he establishes. Again. God doesn't really do rules. He does relationship. He does relationship. And it's so important for us to understand that if we're going to follow Jesus, we've got to dive in to relationship. God wants our lives to be blessed. He wants us to live in the deep end. He wants us to experience the fullness and the fun and the life that He has for us. But there are boundaries to be established. I think this is really pictured well in Scripture, in this portion of Matthew chapter 14, verses 22 through 33 imma, get if you didn't get your Bible reading, and I got you covered this weekend, we're going to read 11 verses everybody, and we already read four more. So like, so you guys, boom, got you somebody say, Thank you, Pastor Matt. If you didn't read this week, it's good. Hey, the goal isn't for you not to read, though. It's like, let's let's keep going, alright, but I got you covered on the weekend. You're welcome. Angelique, immediately after this, Jesus insisted his disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. It's important to note that Jesus, oh, here we go. There we go. Jesus insisted that his disciples get back in the boat and cross the other side of the lake. It's important for us to note that Jesus insisted 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, and 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 water, and when the disciples saw him walking on the water, they were terrified. In fear. They cried out, it's a ghost. But Jesus spoke to them at once. He said, Don't be afraid. Take courage, for I am here. Then Peter called to him, Lord, if it's really you and you're not a ghost. See, this is where many of us stop when we get terrified. We go and we do our own thing, rather than saying, Lord, if it's really you, no, I think that it's a ghost, or I think that it's bad, or I think that they're out the way. I think that they're talking crazy. No, no, Lord, if it's really you, if it's really you talking to me at Mercy city, about bringing the tithe, if it's really you talking to me about inviting me into inviting you into my finances, if it's really you, would you call to me? Would you call to me? So Jesus says, yes, come so Peter went over the side of the boat. He walked in the water toward Jesus. Peter, oftentime gets a bad rap because of what happens next. But how many of y'all know that he was the one that got out of the boat? Why did he get out of the boat? Why did he get into the deep end? Because he asked Jesus, if it's you, would you call to me? When's the last time you got fearful or you didn't know if something was right or something was unsettling in your spirit, and you just assumed and you didn't call like Jesus? If that's you call to me, if it's you call to me, if it's not him, he won't call to you if you're talking to Jesus, the devil's not going to show up, Lord, if that's you, devil's not. He does not have authority to show up if you're calling out to Jesus. But when he saw so, he walked toward Jesus, and when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink, save me, Lord, he shouted, and Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him, and he said, you have such little faith. Why'd you doubt me? I called to you, brother, you knew it was me. And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped, and then the disciples worshiped him. You really are the Son of God. They exclaimed, you really are the Son of God, they exclaim. So let me, let's answer this question, why the deep end? Why the deep end? I'm just, I'm loving life over here in the kiddie pool. But there was something deep down on the inside of my brother that was like, hey, when you get to a certain age, there's something that you must supposed to be able to do that I'm not yet doing. I'm hanging out in the kiddie pool, but I want to be with the big kids. I want to jump off the high dive in the deep end. There's something along the lines that as we mature and as we grow, there should become a desire on the inside of us to go further and to experience more. There's got to be some untapped potential that I have not yet leaned into. What does that look like? Why the deep end? Because God wants us to live in the deep end. You know why? Because the deep end requires dependence on him. That's why the deep end. So here are three thoughts on why the deep end? Why the deep end? Three thoughts on why the deep end. Jesus will send us into the deep end. Jesus will send us into the deep end because he wants us in the deep end, because he knows that it's in the deep end that we have to depend on him. In the kiddie pool, in the three foot area. I can chill. I can, you know, get my little feet wet and go lay out and get a little sun. And it's just fantastic. I don't have to. I can rely on my own strength. I can rely on my own wisdom. I can rely on my own stuff. But then you're always looking across the pool thinking, Ah, those guys over there are experiencing a little bit more. Jesus will send us into the deep end. Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that his disciples get into the boat and cross the other side of the lake while he sent the people home. It seems backwards, doesn't it? Like Jesus should have went across the lake in the boat if he knew the storm was coming, and he should have had the disciples, who were less experienced, send the people home, because anybody could have sent the people home, but Jesus, like, I'm going to send the people home, you get in the boat, he knew he was sending them into a storm. You know what that storm that you're in the middle of, Jesus might just have known that you were going to be in the middle of it. And so instead of jumping in the bow of the boat and hunkering down and just riding it out, why don't you recognize or why can't we recognize that Jesus maybe, just maybe. Sent me in the middle of this situation. Maybe I made a bad decision. I can't pin it all on Jesus, but I do understand that Jesus will meet me in the middle of a tough situation. We gotta realize that Jesus will meet us in the situations that he sends us. He sent you there, he'll show up for you there. God, I thought you said I knew I was supposed to get married to this person. I knew that I was supposed to start doing this. I knew that I was supposed to take this job. You told me, If he sent you there, then he'll meet you there. He'll show up for you right there. If he insisted it, he'll show up for you there. And here's why, here's why he does that. The second thought on the deep end is the deep end develops dependence. He knows that the deep end develops dependence. Then Peter called to him, Lord, if it's really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water. Jesus said, yes, come so Peter went over the side of the boat, and he walked toward him on the water, but when he saw the strong winds and waves, he was terrified. He began to sink. Save me. Lord. He shouted, save me. Lord, save me. Lord. Jesus will send us into the deep end. Always, always. If you're still in the shallow end and you've been saved and living for God, you are missing something that God has for you. If you're still depending on your own two feet, touching the bottom of the pool, then you're missing out on something that God has for you. If you're not yet moving forward into some things that kind of water starts hitting you your chest up to your neck, you know what I'm talking you stand on your little tippy toes. Anybody, everybody, we're just going to walk and see how far we can make it in the pool, right? But if you're not getting out there yet, if you're not thinking, what are we doing? What's going on? Am I going to be able to tough? You're not thinking that yet, then you're probably not following the voice of God. He said, Come. He said, Come. Here's what. Here's what. Jesus needed Peter to know. Jesus needed Peter to know that people can't actually walk on water. You can't walk on water. I can't walk on water. See, we're not trying to walk on water anymore, because you and I know that we can't walk on water. But you you want to know what Jesus wants you to know. You can't walk on your success. You can't walk on your marriage. You can't walk on your finance. You cannot walk on your 401, you can't walk on those things. You can't walk you can't walk on that stuff.And so Jesus insists for you to get out in a place where you start to say what's going on, where you start to question him, you start to wonder a little bit. You might even have a little worry strike you, but it's our responsibility then to cry out to Him and say, Jesus, if that's you, tell me to come. You can't walk on water. You can't walk on your bank accounts. You can't walk on your marriage. You can't walk on your house, you can't walk on your car, you can't walk on any of that stuff. But you know what you can walk on? You can walk on the Word of God. Can always walk on the Word of God. What do you say to Peter? He said, Come. He didn't walk on the water. He walked on the word. He walked on the C, O, M, E, word of God. When God calls you to come, when God calls you to himself, you can walk on that word and that word will sustain you. That's what Jesus needs us to know. Jesus needs us to know. He needs us to know that the deep end develops dependence on him. The reality is so many of us miss the mark because we're just not dependent on him. We're dependent on ourselves. We're dependent on our strengths. We're dependent on our word. We're dependent on our income. We're dependent on our you fill in the blank whatever it is that you find yourself dependent on, but I'm telling you, every single one of you, we're to be honest, when we're dependent on those things, those things will always come up short and will always leave feeling empty. Jesus insists on sending us to the deep end so that we can develop dependence on him. Third. Then final thought on why the deep end is because dependence is trust on display. Trust on display. You guys may not have thought about this when you walked into the auditorium today, but you sat in those chairs y'all sat in the chairs that you're sitting in, and as you sat down, your trust in the chair was put on display. The fact that you were dependent on that chair was put on display. I trust that I'm not going to fall to the floor. I trust that I'm not going down. I trust what'd you do? You put your full weight on that thing. See, a lot of us in the room, we would say, I am dependent on Jesus. However, you will not put your full weight on him. We've got more trust in the chairs that somebody set up than we have in the God of the universe who created our lives. None of y'all, even, at least I've never gotten the report. None of y'all have ever requested a user manual for our chairs. I've never heard of it. Maybe you have. Robin will tell me after service. I'm sure. If you do want the user manual, forget about it. Google it. Take a picture. You can reverse search, reverse the search, whatever, and you can look at it there. We're not going to give it to you, but you just blindly come in and sit in the chair, put my full weight on the chair. But when God says something like, bring the tithe, when the Bible says something like, Hey, let us lift our hands and worship, when the Bible says something like, Let's shout with the voice of triumph. Well, explain that, Tony, explain it to me a little bit. We say we're dependent on God until it comes to doing something that we're not comfortable with. Now, Imma stay in the shallow end. I'm going to I'm going to stay in the shallow end. God's calling you beyond the shallow end. He's calling you into the deep end. He's calling you into a place of dependence so that you can experience the fullness of life that He has for you. So what are the areas which you would say, Yeah, of course, I trust the Lord. But then you realize God is slow to respond, or I'm selective in my response. I'll say yes to this, but I won't say yes to that. I'll say yes this, but I won't say yes to that. Or maybe you're yet to respond. You might say my dependence is on God, but your actions would say something else. Come on, imagine, imagine being the person that stands during the whole service. Brother, why are you standing? Do you not trust the chair? Yeah, I trust the chair. I totally trust the chair. I just, I just want to stand here. No, you don't. No, you don't. I trust God, but I'm just going to do my own little thing. Whoa. Hold on hold on hold on can I tell you just, can I just tell you some church stuff that maybe a lot of pastors wouldn't tell you. Is that okay when you say you believe something, but then you don't act on it, it makes you look weird. I've been there before too. In fact, I'm there often because God's always, always, always insisting that I go to a deeper place. And every time I go to a deeper place, I have to decide, do I trust you or not? And I have to decide, am I going to talk like I trust you, or am I going to act like I trust you? And I found it most beneficial that my actions shouldn't match up with my words. Otherwise, people are something doesn't add up. Something isn't quite computer. Does that make sense everybody? I think there's a common misconception in the church when it comes to faith and trust in Jesus that says if my clothes are dry, it means that I'm dependent on Jesus. But I don't think so. I think your clothes are dry. It just says that you haven't tried to be dependent on Jesus yet. Wow, he's a great man of faith. He doesn't have wet clothes, he doesn't have any scars, he doesn't have any bumps, he doesn't have any bruises, he doesn't have. Any failures, and I think it just says that he hasn't tried. I think it just says that we haven't yet gotten our feet off the bottom of the pool. I think that it just says that maybe we're still stuck in our cynicism or our control or operating in our own wisdom. Today, I believe that God's calling his sons and daughters to come to him into the deep end, to develop a true dependence where your feet can't touch, and where you'll be required to develop something fresh and something new. God's calling you into the deep end. God's calling you into a place where you've never been before. Pastor, man, I'm kind of confused. Does this message have anything to do with biblical finance? Absolutely. Because one of the primary areas where we're like, you know what I'm gonna I'm gonna hang on to my own wisdom, is in the place of finance. And why is that? Why is that? Why is that? Don't store up your treasure here on Earth, where moss eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moss and rust cannot destroy and thieves do not break in and steal, for Wherever your treasure is there, the desires of your heart will also be. You want to get the desires of your heart into the place where God wants them. Then put your treasure in the places where God is moving and where God is showing himself. I grew up with nothing. Naturally. I am scared to give anything, because I was always taught if I it's hard to get money back. It's hard to get it back. Only it's not, it's a lie of the enemy. And there's nothing more powerful that I can do than give because it's saying, God, my heart's aligned to you. My dependence is fully on you. I'm not depending on my job. I'm not depending on, you know, my retirement. I'm not depending on this investment. I'm not depending on all that stuff's great, all that stuff's great. But my dependence is on you, and I'm going to align my heart right there. Come on, if you would say, God, I want my dependence to be on you. I'm going to put my full weight on you that you might have the desires of my heart. If that's you, would you stand up on your feet today in all of our rooms, all of our rooms, all of our rooms, all of our rooms, all of our rooms. And if that's you, don't wait for your friend. Just put both hands in head to heaven. Surrender your heart to God. This is a simple sign of surrender. We worship this way because we want God to know we surrender. Come on, let's pray Father in Jesus name we're calling on you new levels of dependence, new levels of trust. God take us into the deep end. Let us not be people who talk one way but act another way. God, let us see you for who you are. You have initiated. In fact, you have insisted that we go to this deep place you have initiated, and you have insisted that we push out into the storm? But God, we know that the places that you set us are the places that you'll show up for us. So as we show up. Oh God, we know that you want to do something new. We know that you're not finished. We trust you with all that are in Jesus. Name Amen. Amen. Thanks