Kid Quest Sunday | Jesus is worthy to be followed, trusted, and worshipped.

Thanks for checking out this podcast from Carterville Christian Church.

We're so glad you're here.

Our hope is that through these messages you'll grow deeper in your faith and experience the life-changing hope of Jesus.

Now let's jump into this week's teaching.

Well, good morning, everyone.

You can have a seat.

It's good to see you all today.

Welcome to this very special Sunday, KidQuy.

As you can tell, we're pretty excited about what's going to happen here this week.

Are you guys excited about what's going to happen?

Go ahead and give a high five.

Person next to you.

Let them know that you're glad that they are here.

So Miss Gwen kind of gave you a bit of an introduction about what's going to happen this week, and I don't want to give too much away, but basically, our kids are going to be stepping into a video game, and they're going to be unlocking some important truths about God throughout the week.

Now I'm not much of a gamer.

I wasn't much of a gamer even when I was a kid, but I do distinctly remember my eighth grade year, 1986.

I know that makes me very old, right?

Makes me somewhat old.

1986.

It's the year the New York Mets won the World Series.

That's why I remember it.

There was only one thing that I wanted for Christmas.

So if you asked me what I wanted for Christmas that year, I was singularly focused on this one particular gift.

It was a Nintendo Entertainment System.

I'm talking about the OG.

I'm talking about the original Nintendo game system.

How many of you are there with me?

You remember this?

Okay, I thank you.

I appreciate it.

So that's that was it.

That's all I wanted.

That year for Christmas.

That's what I asked for.

And, you know, sure enough, Christmas morning comes along and uh rush into the living room, open up all the presents, and one after another, no Nintendo.

So I tried, you know, I don't want to be ungrateful.

I didn't want to show them my, I don't want to be selfish.

I didn't want to show that to them.

So I tried to tried to hide it, but deep inside I was so disappointed.

But then my parents pulled the Christmas story classic move, you know.

Good one, mom and dad.

My dad says, hey, Damien, I think there's maybe one more present in the closet.

You should go check it out.

You know, really good one.

So I rushed into their closet, and sure enough, there it is, Nintendo Entertainment System.

Came with Super Mario Brothers.

That was standard issue, but it also came with Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

Does anybody remember this game?

Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

Man, I was all about it.

For those of you who are not familiar with Mike Tyson's Punch Out, you are little Mac.

You take on the character of Little Mac in this video game, a 17-year-old lightweight from the Bronx, and your goal is to take on one boxer after another in an effort to take on the ultimate undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Iron Mike Tyson.

I was fully immersed.

I was little Mac.

I dreamed of the day that I would take on Mike Tyson.

But it was a process, it was a journey, a quest, if you will.

It all started with Glass Joe.

You see what they did there?

Glass Jaw, right?

You get it?

He was easy.

He was a lightweight.

That was just warm-up.

And then you moved on to Von Kaiser, the stern-faced German boxer.

And then it was Piston Honda, a Japanese powerhouse.

Things are starting to get a little bit more difficult.

And then Don Flamenko, he looks kind of scrawny, but don't underestimate Don Flamenco.

He's got this kind of whirly bird, wicked uppercut.

But once you got past Don Flamenco, then you were taking on the big boys, King Hippo, Great Tiger, and then Bald Bull.

Intimidating.

And then you have to repeat.

You kind of fight them all over again, and somehow miraculously they all got better from the first time you fought them.

And now they're significantly better.

But you you work through the next round of boxers as you make your way to Mr.

Sandman, and then the last boss before the final boss, Super Macho Man.

And then finally, you are ready after beating Super Macho Man to take on Iron Mike Tyson.

It was a quest, and I was all about it.

Well, our kids this week, they're gonna go on a journey, and it's all about Jesus.

And what they're gonna learn this week is important for us to learn this morning.

We do this every summer.

For those of you who are new to C3, we do this every summer.

We block off, we set aside two or three weeks during the summer months to focus on the things that our students are learning.

Because we feel like if it's important for them to learn these lessons, then it's important for us to learn these lessons.

And so next week we're gonna be hearing from our youth minister, Danny.

He's gonna be talking about uh the lessons that our students learned at CIY Move a few weeks ago, and I get to talk about what our students are gonna learn at KidQuest this week.

And as I said earlier, it's all about Jesus.

There are three lessons in particular that they're going to learn and that we are going to learn this morning.

Lesson number one: Jesus is worthy to be followed.

Everybody say that out loud.

Jesus is worthy to be followed.

He doesn't just invite us to become Christians, but he also invites us to enter into a lifetime of following him, of being his disciple.

In the Greek language, it's the word mathetes, which means learner.

It means that you're literally sitting at the feet of the master.

He's worthy to be followed.

Now the story on night one will come from Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11.

Luke 5:1–11

Luke chapter 5, verses 1 through 11.

Luke 5:1–11

And I'm gonna ask my good friend Amic now to join me on the stage.

Would you welcome onto the stage, Mr.

Mr.

Amic?

Let's give it up for Amic.

What's up, Amic?

Thanks for joining me.

Come right on up here.

All right, Mr.

Amic, I know you like a lot of things.

You're very passionate about the things that you like.

I know that about you.

So I know that when you were little, you loved trucks.

Do you still love trucks?

Do you have a favorite truck that you that you like still?

No, not really.

You just like them all.

All right.

But lately I know that you are a big fan of Star Wars, is that right?

Do you have a favorite character?

Uh no.

No?

All the characters?

Yeah.

And also, uh, what what grade are you going into, by the way?

Fourth.

Fourth grade.

You had to think about that for a moment.

Summertime.

You don't want to think about school, do you?

No.

And you do you have a mother?

Yes.

Oh, okay, that's good.

And is today a special day?

Yes, it's her birthday.

It's her birthday.

And you told me she's gonna be how old?

No, don't say that.

Don't say that.

I'm kidding.

I'm kidding.

Uh yeah.

Almost 40, though, right?

Yeah, just kidding.

Just kidding, Chris.

So, yeah, it's her birthday.

Everybody say happy birthday.

She's right over here.

Oh, that's fun.

That's fun.

Okay, uh, what about fishing?

Do you like to fish?

No.

No, why not?

Because I don't catch any fish.

Right on, yeah.

Yeah.

Do you know my son Hudson?

You know Hudson, he's up there actually.

So you can wave to him.

Yeah.

He loves to fish.

One time he and his brother-in-law, Cooper, they got up really early in the morning and they went fishing.

And he came home late at night.

And I said, What'd you do today?

And he said, We went fishing.

We just went from one pond to another pond to another pond, fishing all day long.

Does that sound fun to you?

No.

No, I know.

All day long they went fishing.

And I said, Well, did you catch anything?

And do you know what he said?

No.

No, not one thing.

I didn't catch one thing.

And I said, Did you have fun?

And he said, No.

Yes.

He said, Yes.

It was great.

It was so much fun.

I said, you didn't catch anything?

He said, no.

And you had fun?

He said, yes.

Isn't that weird?

I don't get it.

Well, in our story, you've read our story that we're gonna look at here in just a little bit.

Did Simon catch anything?

No.

No, he fished all night long, didn't he?

All night long.

Because that's how they did it back then.

They fished in the nighttime.

And it wasn't just like for fun, it was like their business to take care of their family.

So, how do you think Simon felt after fishing all night long but not catching anything?

Very disappointed.

Very disappointed, I would agree.

But something pretty amazing happened, didn't it?

Yeah, so let's let's go ahead and read what happened.

So go ahead and open up your Bible.

There you go, Amic.

So we're gonna be in Luke chapter 5.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

I'll read the first four verses.

I'll let you get there, and then you can read verses five to eleven.

Did you find it?

Are you ready?

All right.

I'm gonna start.

Verses one through four, then you'll do five if you do left.

Chapter five, verse one.

As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God's word, he was standing by Lake Genneseret, which is a fancy way of saying the Sea of Galilee.

It's the same place.

He saw two boats on the edge of the lake.

The fishermen had left them there and were washing their nets.

He got into, Jesus got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and he asked him to put out just a little bit from the land.

Then Jesus sat down and he was teaching the crowds from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.

You ready?

Master Simon replied, We've worked hard all night long and caught nothing but if you say so, I'll let down the nets.

When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear.

So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them.

They came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

Then Simon Peter saw this.

He fell at Jesus' knees and said, Go away from me because I am a sinful man, Lord.

For he and those with him were amazed at the catch of the fish they had taken.

And so were James and John Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners.

Don't be afraid, Jesus told Simon.

From now you will be catching people.

Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.

Yeah, so pretty amazing story, isn't it?

So they don't catch anything all night long.

And then what did Jesus tell them to do?

Throw their nets on the other side.

Throw the nets on the other side, put out into the deep water.

And Simon at first was like, No.

No, that's I've been fishing all night long.

But because you're asking me to do it, I'll do it.

And when they did it, what happens?

Their nets overflow.

Overflowing with fish, right?

We call this a miraculous catch of fish.

And then Simon and not just Simon, but also two other guys named James and John are so amazed at what has just happened, they leave everything to do what?

Do you remember what it says at the very end?

To follow Jesus.

To follow Jesus.

And that's the invitation that he gives to you, and that's the invitation it gives to me, and that's the invitation it gives to all of us, isn't it?

To follow him every single day of our life.

Would you guys give it up or Mr.

Amor?

Thank you, Amir.

You can walk right over here.

Yeah, that's the lesson.

Jesus is worthy to be followed.

And following him doesn't end at our baptism, right?

Our baptism, whenever somebody makes that decision to give their life to Jesus, to put their faith in Jesus.

That's not the finish line, that's the starting line.

That's when our life of following Jesus really begins.

And so I want to encourage you to really evaluate your life even now, to evaluate your relationships, your marriage, your work, your situation at work, whenever you're tempted, whenever you're alone, what difference would it make in your life if you had that kind of mentality?

A mentality that says, not only am I a Christian, but I'm a follower of Jesus.

I'm actively following him in everything that I do.

What difference would that make in your life?

That's lesson number one.

Jesus is worthy to be followed.

All right, Tuesday night.

Lesson number two, Jesus is worthy to be trusted.

Everybody say out loud, Jesus is worthy to be trusted.

Our second story also takes place on the Sea of Galilee.

It's found in Matthew chapter 14, verses 25 through 33, Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14:25–33 Matthew 14 · chapter mention

To help me with this story, would you welcome onto the stage Miss Samantha?

Everybody welcome Miss Samantha onto the stage.

Miss Samantha, come right on up here.

Thank you for helping us and joining us today.

What grade are you going into?

Fourth grade.

Fourth grade.

Are you excited about KidQuest?

Yes.

Yes?

What are you excited about?

Hanging out with friends.

Hanging out with friends.

Most kids say snacks.

Are you excited about snacks also?

Yeah.

Yeah, they're gonna be pretty, they're gonna be pretty great, I'm pretty sure of that.

Well, Miss Samantha, thank you so much for helping us.

This is a really cool story.

You've read the story ahead of time, right?

That's what I was told.

So great.

Do you do you have it open in your Bibles?

We should probably go ahead and get there, you know, ahead of time.

Yeah, so there we are.

So we're back on the Sea of Galilee.

I don't know if you heard the story that Mr.

Amic kind of read to us, but it was on the Sea of Galilee.

So is this one.

So I want you, Miss Mantha, would you turn around and look up on the screen there?

So that is actually the Sea of Galilee.

Isn't that cool?

Yeah, it's pretty neat.

So just look at it for a moment.

And um what do you notice?

What are some things that you notice?

The what did you notice?

The big mountains.

Yeah, the big mountains there.

It's kind of like big hills surrounding the Sea of Galilee.

So a really interesting thing is because of those mountains that surround the Sea of Galilee, whenever there were storm clouds that would form off in the distance, sometimes you wouldn't be able to see them.

And then they would come up over those mountains, those hills, and they drop down on the Sea of Galilee, which would make it kind of surprising whenever there was a storm.

Did they have the weather channel back then?

No.

No, did they have like news reports on the television?

No.

Dude, we're kind of obsessed about those things, aren't we?

Yeah, yeah, but they didn't have any of that kind of stuff, did they?

No.

So that's why it would be so surprising that these experienced fishermen who were out on the Sea of Galilee all of the time would be caught in a storm.

Because it was so surprising when over those clouds would come over the mountains.

It's pretty interesting, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

All right, so let's take a look at our story.

So Matthew chapter 14, verses 25 through 33, something really amazing is gonna happen.

Matthew 14:25–33

So I'll read verses 22 through 24, and then you'll start with verse 25.

Do you see where you'll be?

Okay, here we go.

Verse 22.

Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd.

Do you remember reading why there was a crowd?

Do you remember what they were gathered for?

I'm putting you on the spot with this one.

Jesus did another miracle.

Do you remember what that miracle was?

Did you see it?

Jesus feeds four thousand people.

Yeah, these crowds of people, and Jesus fed this large crowd of people with just a few fish and a few loaves of bread.

And so they're all gathered together for that, and they're pretty excited.

But Jesus dismisses them.

After he dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside.

You remember the mountainside we looked at, right, in the picture?

He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.

Later that night, he was there alone, and the boat that the disciples were in was already a considerable distance from the land, being buffeted, being knocked back and forth by the waves, because the wind was against it.

Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake.

When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified.

It's a ghost, they said.

They cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them, Take courage, it is I, don't be afraid.

Lord, if it's if it is you, Peter replied, Tell me to come to you on the water.

Come, he said.

Then Peter got down and out of the boat and walked on the water and came toward Jesus.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink.

Cried out, Lord, save me.

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.

You of little faith, he said.

And why do you why did you die?

And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down.

Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God.

That's a pretty amazing story, isn't it?

So there's this big storm, and the disciples are on the boat, and they're probably really afraid, and they had been fighting the storm all night long.

And then what does Jesus do?

He walks on water.

He walks on water towards them, and they're afraid.

Why are they afraid?

Because they think he's a what?

A stranger.

He's a stranger, like a strange ghost or something walking towards them.

And then what does Peter do?

Jesus invites Peter to do something pretty amazing.

Um Jesus invited Peter to walk on the water.

Yeah, and does he do it?

Yes.

Yeah.

So when Peter walks on water, can you, Samantha, imagine what that would have been like?

He's in the boat, and to lift his leg up over the edge of the boat, right?

And to put that first step down on the water.

That's pretty incredible, isn't it?

Yeah.

What did Peter have whenever he took that first step onto the water?

Faith.

He had faith.

He was trusting Jesus' word, wasn't he?

Like if Jesus says I can do this, I'm gonna do it.

So he takes that first step, and then he takes another step, and then how many steps does he take after that?

Not many.

I don't know.

It doesn't seem like very many, does it?

Because all of a sudden he looks around and what does he begin to see instead of Jesus?

The wind.

The wind and the waves, and the probably feels the water on his leg.

And so he had faith, but now what does he have?

He had fear and doubt.

He had fear and doubt because he took his eyes off Jesus and he focused on the storm and he goes down into the water.

And then what does Jesus do?

He helps him get back up.

He helps him get back up, lifts, reaches down into the water, and lifts him up out of the water and rescues him.

It's an amazing story, isn't it?

Yeah, it is.

You give it up for Miss Samantha.

Thank you, Miss Samantha.

So in college, I had a um professor who used to define faith as trust based on sufficient evidence.

I've always loved that definition.

It's not blind, it's not empty, it's not irrational, it's based on something.

It's based on sufficient evidence.

And oftentimes the sufficient evidence that we have is past experience.

The time that we've spent with the Lord, the ways that we've seen him answer our prayers, the ways that we've seen him move in other people's lives, the things that we've seen him do in Scripture.

And we know that the Lord is faithful and he's worthy of our trust, he's worthy of our faith.

We have sufficient evidence to believe this.

For example, let me just illustrate it this way.

I came across this video, so I'm gonna turn your attention to the screens here in just a moment.

So I want you to count how many, we'll watch it again from the beginning.

I want you to count how many times uh these gentlemen who are warming up for some pickup game or some rec league game, how many times they actually make a shot.

Okay, so you gotta focus.

I want you to count up how many times they actually make a shot.

Here we go, thirty-eight-second video.

So we have intramurals at Ozark Christian College, like student, and there's a faculty and staff team that plays against these students.

That's the warm-up right there.

That's what it looks like.

Right there.

Okay, 16 shots.

I've counted.

16 shots were taken.

How many of them were made?

Zero, that's right.

Zero shots made.

So there's one more.

You can see the ball.

It's midair, right?

This is the 17th shot.

How much trust, how much faith do you have based on past evidence that this shot, the 17th shot, is gonna go in?

You think it's gonna go in?

Raise your hand.

You think it's gonna miss it?

Raise your hand.

Okay, let's see what happens.

Doesn't even hit the neck.

Doesn't even hit the rib.

Total airball.

It's actually pretty impressive to put up that many shots and not make a single one.

The evidence is not there to trust that the next shot will be taken.

Every day, every day we live by faith.

You may not realize it, you may not think about it consciously, but every day we live by faith.

For example, you're here.

I assume you drove here, most of you, if not all of you.

That means somebody drove you here.

Somebody drove you in a car to this location.

You put your faith in that person.

Go ahead and look at the person who drove you here.

Go ahead and take a look at them.

Are they worthy of your trust?

I don't know.

I don't know.

But you by faith got in that car, you trusted that they knew what they were doing, and it all worked out.

As far as I know, as far as I know, it all worked out.

Every day we live by faith.

We make decisions that require trust based on sufficient evidence, past experiences.

Um, last a couple weeks ago, our family went on a family vacation out west to California, and we all flew on a plane.

Talk about trust.

We got on that plane.

I didn't, I didn't meet the pilot.

I didn't interview that pilot.

I didn't ask him questions.

I didn't ask him about his experience in flight school, what grade he made in flight.

I hope it was an A.

I don't know.

I didn't inspect the plane.

I didn't say to the to the uh airline, hey, before I get on this plane, I need to check the wings.

Like I didn't do anything like that.

I just got on the plane.

I don't really, I'm just gonna be admit to you, I don't even understand how flight works.

I don't get it.

I don't understand how it's a pretty amazing thing.

I don't totally get the science behind it all.

But based on sufficient evidence, that is, my past experiences flying, the experiences of millions of others who have taken to flight, we boarded the plane and we traveled by faith.

Even the act of sitting in the chair that you're sitting on right now, go ahead and hold the side of your chair right now.

You didn't think about it, but when you sat down in that chair, by faith, you sat in that chair because you've sat in chairs hundreds of thousands of times before, and chairs that look a lot like these have held you up.

And so, based on that past experience, that's your sufficient evidence, you trusted that the chair would once again hold you up.

Jesus is saying to Peter, you have sufficient evidence to trust me.

You saw me feed thousands of people with a few loaves of bread and a few fish.

You just saw my authority, you just saw my power, you you experienced it for yourself.

He's looking at Simon, Peter, he's saying, You can trust me.

And I don't know, maybe that's the word that you need to hear this morning, whatever it is that you're dealing with at work, at home, in your marriage, in your life.

Maybe that's the word that you need to hear from Jesus.

You can trust me.

He is worthy to be followed, and he is worthy to be trusted.

Which brings us to the last lesson our kids are gonna learn this week, perhaps the most important one.

Lesson number three.

Jesus is worthy to be worshipped.

Let's go ahead and say those words out loud.

Jesus is worthy to be worshipped.

Why is that?

Well, I mentioned going on a family vacation a couple of weeks ago.

We were in California.

We went to uh what's called a mission out in the desert.

It's called San Luis Rey Mission, a beautiful place.

It was once an oasis in the desert, a refuge for travelers, for soldiers, for laborers.

It's been there for over 200 years.

It was founded in the late 1700s.

It started as a Spanish mission, then a Mexican one, and now ultimately a U.S.

mission.

And right in the middle of this beautiful property is an ornate church.

And on the walls of this church, lining the sides of this church, are portraits of Jesus that depict various scenes from the Passion Week.

Pictures of Jesus being arrested, beaten, crucified, and ultimately resurrected.

In the Catholic tradition, they call it the stations of the cross.

Visual reminders of what Jesus did for us, why he ultimately is to be followed and trusted and worshiped.

Well, our kids this week, they're gonna spend some time looking at these stations of the cross, these pictures of the cross.

They're gonna spend time in Luke chapters 23 and 24 learning about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

Luke 23 · chapter mention

They're gonna be looking at verses like verses 2 through 4 of chapter 23, where they will learn that Jesus was unjustly accused and condemned to die.

And then they're gonna spend time in verses 44 through 46, where Jesus is on the cross and he cries out in a loud voice, Into your hands I commit my spirit.

And then they're gonna turn the page and they're gonna look at chapter 24, where the angels declare, Why do you look for the living among the dead?

He is not here, he has risen.

Remember how he told you while he was still with you in Galilee, the Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified, and on the third day be raised again.

Then they remembered his words.

We want them, we we want to even now remember his words.

We want to remember why Jesus did all of this for us.

Peter tells us the same Peter who experienced a miraculous catch of fish, the same Peter who walked on water before being rescued and delivered by Jesus.

Peter reminds us in his letter, he himself bore our sins in his body on the cross so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.

Here's the good news this morning.

Maybe this is the good news you need to respond to today.

By his wounds, you have been healed.

So I'm sure you would agree, I'm sure you would agree that our kids, what they're learning this week, it's important for us to learn and to remember as well.

He's worthy to be followed, he's worthy to be trusted, and he's worthy to be worshipped.

And so as we continue our worship this morning, we want to take some time to remember all of this.

And we do that in a very simple way.

Every week, as we gather together in the first day of the week, we just take time in our worship to slow down, to still ourselves, to gather as a family, to come to the tables that have been set up before you here down in the front and also in the balcony.

We take the bread, we take the juice, simple little emblems, simple reminders of the body and the blood of Jesus.

And as we take these emblems, we remember that he's worthy to be followed, he's worthy to be trusted, he's worthy to be worshipped.

Not just today, but every day of our lives.

Let me pray, and then you're invited to come to the tables.

Dear Lord, I thank you for these students that we get to minister to, that we get to live among, worship with.

Lord, help us to have childlike hearts that remember you well, that trust you, that follow you, that worship you.

And Lord, we thank you for what you've done for us in your death, in your burial, and of course in your resurrection.

Help us to remember that well.

During this time, we pray.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thanks again for listening to the Carterville Christian Church podcast.

Our prayer is that today's message has encouraged you and drawn you closer to Jesus.

To learn more or get connected with our church family, visit Carterville Christian.com.

We'd love to walk alongside you in your journey of faith.