Life: How do you like it?

And I confess to you what you just challenged us to think about and what we all sang about is hard for me. I wanna stay in the boat. I wanna stay off the water ’cause usually I’m in the water when I step out of the boat. And maybe Jesus is saying that’s for all of us today. Take steps to go his way, which is different than our way, right?

Would you quietly have a seat right now and would you just please give him your heart for what he’s about to do in you through his word, through the truth that will be shared about your life, about my life, about the way we want to do life. And maybe your way is arguably, safe and predictable and you get the sense that what we’ve just sang about is really out there. It’s scary. It’s something you like to read about in the Gospels, but it’s not something you ever imagine doing in your own life. Peter, get out of the boat.

Would you walk on water is a good question that comes from that story. Would you? No, but God, I wanna talk to you about it right now. Would you do that? Just quietly, just talk to him about you.

You’ve made so much about faith in your word, God. Without faith, we cannot please you. For she or he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he will reward those who diligently seek him. And that has implications for every part of my life. I want to be that person that is willing to walk in faith, but so much of who I am, so much of my DNA struggles with that.

Still you invite me out of the boat to walk with you. And you do the same for every one of us. I pray that as a result of our time with you right now, Lord, more of us would be willing to get out for your glory and for our good. Amen. Amen.

I have a, get the lights on over the side, Kevin, so they can see. I had occasion this last week to be in Denver with some friends and talking to them about where we all come from, all over the country and a couple from international and we were part of some meetings that went on for two or three days in a mission. And soon one of the missionaries will be with us. His name’s Victor Almond Daris and he’s in Honduras. And he is, may I say, a rock star.

He is just an unbelievable guy and you need to be here. We’re going to have him and spend some time just hearing and prepare. I’m just going to prepare you right now. He’s going to tell you something like we’re going to say, hey, what’s God doing down there in Honduras? What’s he doing through you and that sort of thing?

And he’s going to say, you know, it’s been a, maybe you’ll hear words like a challenging year, you know, and you’ll say, well, in what way, he says, well, our goal was to plant 50 new churches and we’ve only planted 40. Did that hit your heart? I mean, it just made me, every time I hear him say something like that, he’s very dismissive of his own value and impact and he just gives glory to God, glory, Adios. Yeah, he just all the time and it’s really a beautiful thing to hear. Anyway, while he’s in Denver, he’s part of the mission.

Mission’s door is what it’s called. I had the occasion to think about our church and who we are. And I know a lot of you personally. I know that we’re a church that’s very diverse. There’s men and women here.

There’s young and old here. There’s all kinds of different personalities and temperaments. Some of you are very quiet and very, very to yourself, I can say, in a positive way and I mean it that way. Others go, hey, when can I sign up to be the leader or the usher? Because you just want to hug and love and shake hands and it’s who you are, it’s your DNA.

And we have a whole lot of that. We have a wide diversity of people. In fact, a friend of mine gave me a book recently called the Enneagrams. Any of you read any of the Enneagrams? It’s quite a word, right?

There’s nine different types and I am absolutely certain we’ve got all nine in our church. You’re tempted, it’s not gospel. Don’t base your life on it. It’s just very interesting and revealing. If you’re not familiar with that, it’s a fairly recent version.

There’s probably the Gary Smalley and John Trent version, which goes back to the four iconic figures. Lion, beaver, otter, golden retriever. Okay, so lions, they roar, don’t they? And you know who you are. So if you’re a lion, roar right now.

You just go ahead. Of course you’re not going to roar. Okay, lions, beavers. What are beavers? What are they known for?

No, they’re not the party people. That’s the otter, right? Beavers are the studious, detailed, we get the job done. Beavers do we have here today. I don’t mean the school down south.

Okay, I get you. And then there’s otters, which if you’re an otter, just stand up and let the world see you right now, sister. There we go. Okay, yes. Okay, I got that.

And then, not to be forgotten, the most beautiful dog in the world, the golden retriever. The lion said it’s a wolf. No, the golden retriever, right? Loyal. Friendly, patient, you know, all these beautiful things, right?

So Mary, yeah, we can start calling out names. It’s really a great thing. But here’s what I want to do this morning for a moment. Ask you this question, which are you? Lion, beaver, otter, golden retriever.

You can have another animal type, but which are you? And now I want you to look at this. This is the Steve McCracken adventure scale. And we’re not going to go any further until you reach for your bullet in your bulletin and pull out the sermon sheet. ‘Cause you get to do something this morning with what you’re looking at.

So I want you to answer this question this morning, life. How do you like it? And everybody has an answer to that question. We do. On the left, I’m sort of forcing two different possibilities.

On the left are those that are predict, they like life. In a very predictable orderly way, okay? So they are the stables among us. They like stable. They like secure and safe.

These are those who are steady-fready. They don’t waver. They don’t go real high or real low. They just like life in a foreseeable, controlled kind of this is what I’m expecting. And if it varies, if how it turns out is different than that, that’s a prop.

That’s not exactly comfortable for me. You with me? So then there’s the other side, which is mostly the opposite of that. It’s the unpredictables, okay? You’re the one of those people that like life to be surprising, right?

You’re the kind of person that says, wow, that was, I didn’t see that coming. Right? That was unexpected. And that doesn’t cause you to, you know, need volume or go to the hospital or something. It’s just cool to you.

You’re like, whoa, that’s a pride. It caught me off guard. And as a result, you’re comfortable with things like unsure and unclear. I mean, I can see ways in front of me, but not far in front of me. And unforeseen is kind of cool to you.

And wild is the favorite word in your dictionary. You’re like, this is great. And astonishing is a great description. Everybody show me astonished on three. One, two, three.

See, so some of you are okay living over there. I can tell your love. Do you know? All right. Now, would you please describe yourself on your sheet right now?

Do you tend to be on the predictable side? Or do you tend to be on the unpredictable side? Yeah, in between. One or the other for a second. Now, just for fun, how many people tend to be, now you gotta promise me you’re just gonna vote without looking around to see if you’re all alone, okay?

‘Cause you’re not, right? There’s a mix of us. So I want you to, now that you’ve had a little sense of which am I, how do I like life? I want you to decide and show it with your hand. How many of you prefer a predictable?

Is planned out for seeable, steady kind of life, okay? All right? So I’m not gonna make a big deal of the fact that lots more here than over here. I’m just, okay? But they are, okay?

So, and how many people are on this side? And as soon as I say that, some of you are thinking, but I’m gonna change it up right now. I’m gonna come over here. I’m gonna be on this side. All right, so stay with this for a few minutes.

I’m gonna bring that up for a couple of seconds. And my guess is correct. That in fact, most of us like an occasional surprise. Maybe it’s a big birthday you’ve got coming. Or something like that.

I’m so tempted to sing Happy Birthday to my friend this morning who turned 17. (mumbles) Hi, happy birthday. Very good. Anyway, okay, so good. So most people prefer predictable.

They prefer steady and sort of stable. That’s a preferred approach. If life came at you that way, that’d be a pretty sweet life. We wanna see where we’re going and our default as people is that we will in fact take pathways that lead to a predictable outcome. That’s just a priority to us.

Now, enter a complication. You do not have to read far in your Bible at all to get a clear conclusion that’s in your mind about who God is. What’s that? He is anything but predictable. He is anything but.

Now, stay with me. Some of you are going, whoa, whoa, whoa, pastor. You’re getting out there on the limb. Stay with me, okay? I’m arguing he’s anything the more you read your Bible, the more you realize he is, not the God that lives over here hardly ever.

Faithful? I reassured some of you. Absolutely. Predictable, not a chance. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 1, 9, 1 Corinthians 10, 13, 2 Thessalonians 3, 3, 1 Thessalonians 5, 24, 1 John 1, 9.

If we confess our sins, he is what? Faithful. Faithful. That’s all those verses. 1 Corinthians 1, 9.

He’s faithful. 1 Corinthians 10, 13. You got a big temptation? Don’t sweat it. Walk with God because he’s faithful and he’ll help you find a way through temptation.

2 Thessalonians 3, 3. But the Lord is faithful and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. Am I making my point? So I’m all about God and the Bible says, this obvious emphatic point about God that he is faithful. But he’s anything but predictable, which means quite by design.

God will often put us in situations that are uncomfortable, that are awkward, that are difficult, that are situations where we in the moment find ourselves starting to feel that word form in our lips impossible. And in just that moment, God says, I’ve got this. Just when you think, you know what? I do better over here, God. This is me.

Can we just stay over here? I want to be that God. I love you, God. I want to walk with you, God. But I really want to stay over where it’s safe and steady and secure and predictable.

Let’s see where I’m going. And God says, you know what? I know you’re tempted to say your situation is impossible, but I want you to know something. I’ve got this. Looking for a mic.

All right. All right. I’ve got a verse I want you to look at. Two verses. Would you turn to Isaiah chapter 55 verses eight and nine?

Okay. And if you don’t want to turn there, I’m going to, I’m going to let you hear it from my lips. Isaiah wrote these words, not as a creation of his own, but he’s actually quoting God. Okay. And Isaiah is actually telling something about this God that I’m arguing today is very much on the right column.

In a sweeping description of God and people. All people. In Isaiah’s day, 28 centuries ago. And in our day as well. Isaiah the prophet quotes God for my thoughts are not your thoughts.

You see in this, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways. My ways. Declares the Lord as the heavens. How different are we?

He answers it as the heavens are higher than the earth. And as the heavens are higher than the earth, your thoughts and my thoughts are that different. They’re that far apart and our ways are that different. So this morning, I browse through the Bible in preparation for today and I was stunned, honestly, at how often God let people encounter encounter impossible. Only to have God do the amazing.

And the astonishing. Let me give you a, this will move so quickly. Let’s just kind of make notes of this and you can read and further study it and explore it for yourself this coming week. But the first time comes from the first book of the Bible, Genesis. And it’s way back, actually early on in Genesis the 12th chapter, he says to this man named Abram.

Hey, Abram, I’ve got big plans for you, you know, and it includes making many nations, vast number of descendants from you. And then he repeats himself. If you flash forward, what’d that be about? Five chapters, you come to chapter 17. And chapter 17, verse four, God makes this really crazy announcement.

He says again to him, I’m going to make a great nation. And then he announces that a short time later, still in the same chapter, Sarah, your wife of many, many, many decades is actually going to have a baby. I don’t know if you make lists like this, but I love chapter 18, verse 11 and a simple, I call this my understatements in the Bible list. It says of Sarah, who is going to bring forth a son and was 90 years old when God said, all right, it’s time to move forward with the plan. The understatement is this, Sarah was past childbearing.

Are you with me? Okay, let me just be very personal and tender for a minute. My mother is an amazing woman. She does not know I planned this. My mother can do anything.

That’s been true for as long as I know mom. She was a career banker. She brought lots of money home. That didn’t work out so well, did it? So anyway, you know, mom was a great banker.

She was a great wife. A pastor’s wife. She was a great mother to three kids, two of them very rowdy and myself, and then she mom did it all. Mom can pay bills. She can fix things.

She’s resourceful, like no other person I know, but I’m pretty sure. My mother, mother, who’s less than 90, could not have a baby today. You with me? There you go, there you go. But can I just, everybody’s laughing.

Feel free to laugh because here’s the deal. So did Sarah. You win. Probably threw her back out thinking about it. Really?

Me? And I can only guess on the guy side of it. Really God, how’s this really supposed to work? There’s a whole bunch of inadequacy here. Leave it at that.

Okay, so. Wow, I got warm all of a sudden. All right. So, so in the on their lips was impossible, right? And God said, I’ve got this.

You don’t have to go very far. Let’s move quickly to Joshua. The children of Israel had wandered. They were led to out of captivity and they began a 40 year journey in the wilderness because of their own disobedience. They zig and they zag all over this really barren wilderness, much of it.

And at the end of that, 40 or four decades of doing that, God brought the people around to the east side of the Jordan River. And he said, guys, it’s time to go west into the land, flowing with milk and honey. The land I promised you a long time ago, that day has now come. And the water parted, it made it passable through the Jordan and lots of water. And lots of people went to the other side.

And they camped on the other side and God calls attention to what was visible to them. There is a formidable city filled with bad guys. It’s called Jericho and God says, I’ve got that. And he says, here’s what I want you to do. And he introduces to the people a military strategy that has never been tried before or since.

I’ve conferred with military people and they go, that’s ridiculous. That’s not how you take a city, Jericho. But he advises his people to circle the city once a day for six days. And then on the seventh day, circle it seven times and the priesthood will blow trumpets. And when they do, stand by and watch as the walls cave in and the city is leveled and your problem is solved.

Not a shot was fired. Nothing. Let’s fast go to the New Testament. In Mark’s Gospel, chapter nine, there’s somebody I relate to, a desperate dad. And he has a child that’s very sick, a son.

And he did what every dad and mom would do. They went everywhere. They went to the Mayo Clinic. They went far and wide to every place they knew. To get help, including the disciples.

And they came to the disciples and said, look, look, he’s hard to get an appointment with. So can we ask you, you’ve been hanging with Jesus? You know, our son is, my son is demonized. Whatever that means, it’s bad. The devil’s messing with his boy.

And he’s really, really doing a number on him. Can you do something for me? And they tried, and I’m not sure what they tried, because it’s not recorded there, but it didn’t work. And then about then Jesus walks up and he enters the scene and the man, the father repeats to now Jesus and says, you know, I got this son and this is terrible and I’m desperate. And the dad says this, a three word question.

If you can, would you show me your hand? Have you ever gotten pressed to that point? I have. I know good theology, of course God can. He created the world.

I know that. But in that moment, this dad didn’t know that. At a soul level, he’s like, God, those are words from a desperate man who sees his son’s situation as impossible. And then, then Jesus comes through and heals him. For a while now, I’ve spent time journeying with Jeremiah the prophet.

He was a prophet for 40 years. I’ve been a pastor for 37. He came to the assignment after the North had fallen already. The nation was divided long before. And when the North fell, they were taken captive by this guy named Soneckerib up in Assyria, northeast of Israel.

And they were wiped out. And the South was all that was left standing of the original United Kingdom of Israel. The South was called Judah and their capital was Jerusalem. And Jeremiah is a prophet for 40 years during which time the last five kings sat on the throne as the decline of the moral and spiritual compass of the South. Continued at an ever-increasing pace.

And you know what? You know when he retired, you know the day he retired? Was when a guy named Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, due east, invaded his city. And in invading it, he burned the temple. And as the people were fleeing the city, “Jeremiah, here’s from God your retired man.

You did the job.” Most people today, if you know his credentials, would say he was a fail. Because no one, no one, no one turned back to God. It just went like this. And I tell you that, to have you reach back about 20 years chapters in his story that covers 52 chapters.

By the way, no wonder he’s called though, you know his nickname? Weeping prophet was not easy to be him at that time. But in chapter 32, verse 17, somehow in the midst of all this, he says, “Ah, sovereign Lord.” He’s in an impossible situation. Ah, sovereign Lord, Jeremiah 32, 17.

Maker of heaven and earth. I know who you are, God, and I know what you can do. Buy your outstretched hand and mighty on. Nothing is too difficult for you, is what Jeremiah said. I’m tempted to go a lot of other directions to illustrate the point I’m trying to make.

We could think of Joe by the second chapter of his 42-chapter story. Second chapter, he lost everything. Everything. For 36 chapters, God was silent. And he had to endure the torturous bad counsel from three friends.

Chapter 38, God breaks the silence. And for the next five chapters, four chapters, he sits Joe down and says, “Here, let me, let’s get a few things straight about who I am.” And then Joe, quite near the end of his story in chapter 42, it’s the last chapter, verse two. He tells us something of a profound understanding that he had gained. “Now I know that you can do all things,” he said.

“And no plan of yours can be for it.” We don’t have time to go into, probably if I asked you what’s your, for you, most amazing story in the Bible. I would guess some of us, maybe many of us, would have the story of a teenage girl, a virgin teenager, who is asked to carry and birth God the Son, Jesus Christ. No wonder so many angels were involved in the explanation of that impossible situation. So surprising, so unforeseen.

Can’t imagine being a teenager and a girl at that and being told, you’re going to have a son and you’ll never, you will not know a man. This will not be normal. It just blows the circuits. There’s one more story in the Bible that bears mentioning. Both, because it was incredibly unexplainable, unexpected.

I don’t know if that’s still up there. Anyway, the side that was full of uncertain, unexpected, incredibly unexpected, and it’s the most popular miracle in the Bible. Talked about by more Bible writers than any other miracle. I’m talking about, of course, the Exodus and in particular, the parting of the sea. So just for a second, let’s re-imagine the scene.

By the way, it’s told in Exodus 14. Okay, just read it today and you’ll just go, holy cow. But what had happened is there were 10 plagues, finally after 10 plagues, to plead for the freedom of God’s people, Moses each time going to Pharaoh and being turned away. Pharaoh finally lets the Jews go. And he let them go after a particularly horrific plague, which claimed the firstborn male of every every family in Egypt that did not have the blood of an innocent lamb on the doorpost.

Is that an image of Jesus or what? Okay, but here’s the deal. Country was rocked. Every firstborn male dead. And Pharaoh says, “Get out!”

And they took off due east. And as they made their way due east, it wasn’t very long before and in fear created Pharaoh, probably calculating the loss. Who knows all the reasons why, but he, he changes his mind yet again. This time he gives chase and he heads due east. He could see from the footprints of two million Hebrews where they went.

And he gives chase. And he is, I’d use a stronger word that we use today. He is torqued, furious with fear. And he comes upon the people, these two million Hebrews, as they stood before looking east, an ocean. It’s known as the Red Sea.

They’re now trapped. Now put yourself there. I mean, actually imagine, stand there with them. So take it in. There is a vicious, vengeful, Egyptian army that you could not only see, but hear.

And there’s lots of them and lots of chariots and horses. And these people are mean dogs. And they’ve been pushed to the edge and beyond because of the loss in their community and their country. And they’re going for broke. And you see them and hear them and you turn and look this way instinctively thinking we gotta find way out.

And you now face with two million of your friends, brothers, sisters and family, this, this water. And I know this much about you and me. We share in common the fact that we don’t like the prospects of dying by a sword or drowning in the ocean. Anybody in exemption to that? I don’t think so.

Either way you’re dead, right? It’s a terrible spot. And I’m just going to let you imagine this with me. I don’t know that it’s true, but it probably some version of this happened. They quickly gathered their smartest brains and said we’ve got to find a way to escape.

And so the first suggestion perhaps or second, it doesn’t matter, is we can build a pedestrian bridge. And people looked and maybe, I doubt that they were laughing, but they looked at him and went back of the line for you. Okay, just get out of here. Okay? And the next one says, crazy, but if we start going and move quickly, we can go down south and we’re not quite sure how long this ocean is, but we can get down and around it.

How many would die in calculable? How many would drown? How many would be overcome by the pursuing Egyptians? It’s all in Exodus 14. And so that’s an idea that doesn’t get any traction.

And there’s really only one possibility left. Let’s tunnel. That’s what we could do. Under this thing, as bad as a bridge, right? And then God says, you forgot one more preposition, one more approach.

We can go through it. You can be delivered through the ocean. I urge you right now, don’t scrub this story clean. You’ve heard it a lot if you’ve been in church a long time. I say that because it’s your story.

It’s my story. It’s our story. You don’t like options like I described any more than I do. I want safe and I want predictable. Things.

God, we’re going to stay here. It would be my bias. We’ll stay right here until you do something. Terrible moment. But God’s ways favor something other than safe and secure and stable.

His ways favor surprise. Remember the other side. Unexpected. Wild. Risky.

Completely unpredictable. I wouldn’t have been the only one going through that going, my gosh. What if they fall? What if they come down? I mean, all that goes with that.

It’s just impossible to even, but I’ve tried to push myself to be there. People, I’ll take a high ropes adventure course for fun any day. But don’t make that my daily way to live. Last thought. One of the many Bible writers, remember I told you most talked about miracle in the Bible.

One of the many that just never could get over that. He lived long after it happened. His name was Asif and he was a worship leader in the temple. And he wrote several Psalms and Psalm 77 was one of them. And in verse 19, Asif said of the scene I had you imagine.

Led through the sea. Your pathway through the mighty waters. Listen now. A pathway no one knew was there. Not one of us would have said.

I saw that coming. That’s God’s way people to lead you. To lead me and our church. Through mighty waters. On a pathway none of us knew was there.

But don’t forget. God isn’t predictable. Neither is his plan or his path. But double don’t forget. He is faithful.

You can close your Bibles now and tuck away your notes. I hope you’ll come back to this this week. With this in mind, I want us to pray and we’re going to take communion together. Pray about unsure. Wait till the rustling stops for a sex.

So you can really get this and really pray. This. I want us to pray about the unsure and unclear things in our lives. It’s uncomfortable. It’s stuff you wish was different, but they are.

They’re unsure and they’re unclear. Maybe they’re true of your life. In general, maybe they’re true of your job. Your family. Your health.

But God says even though I’m not going to make the pathway obvious and clear, you can count on me to be on that pathway with you. Will you pray to him right now? Will you just humbly submit the situation that is scary outside of your control? I say, God, I’m so tempted to say this is impossible. Please, by faith, help me to hear you say, I’ve got this.

Greatest and previously unsolved predicament people have ever faced is the reality that they are sinners, all of us. We’re born that way and we just get better and better at it. We need a solution. And probably the most surprising solution God could have ever come up with. Was to not beat it out of us, not take a pound of flesh from us, but to take his son’s life for us.

If you’ve never met Jesus, communion is about to be brought your way. And we’re going to sing a couple of more songs and finish our morning. It’s impossible for you to know God personally. It’s impossible for you to have a place in heaven someday with him. If it does not involve his son, Jesus.

Jesus in his own words, not concerned about political correctness at all said, I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life. No one, man, woman, young, old, goes to the of the Father in heaven someday, except through me. That’s the gospel. We talk about it a lot.

You’ve heard it from my lips on told numbers of times. But if you’ve, to this point, not settled, who is your savior? What did he do on the cross for you to address impossible? A sinful person to spend eternity with a holy God can’t happen. And then Jesus stepped into it and said, I will take Steve sin.

I’m not done. And I will put my righteousness on him. When I heard that and understood that for the first time, I was an eighth grader. It changed everything. And it’s still true today.

So the bread and the cup, they represent Jesus of naturally. And they call attention to the reality of his sacrifice for your sin in mind. But it’s personal. Invite him into your life as I did as an eighth grader. And it all changes.

He makes you new. And it begins to reassure you that yes, I can do impossible. And in fact, I’ve got this. I love you, Lord. We love you.

It’s an imperfect love. We don’t quite get fully what you’ve done. For us, but we want it to show in our worship now. And how we walk with you when we leave here. And what we say about you without fear, friends and family that need you to.

So we draw close to you in the bread and cup, the communion that represents you, Jesus. And you’re worthy and wonderful name we pray. Amen..

Transcript machine-generated from the sermon audio, so it may contain errors. 5,436 words.