Everyday Courage • Part 1 with Tony Jennings

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Join us each week for a message from one of our fantastic communicators that provide practical ways to grow our faith, challenge ourselves, and to love others more.

And now, this week's message.

Hey.

So um hey, welcome to Chemistry 101.

I am your professor, Mr.

Jennings.

Today you're in chemistry and geophysical um science department.

I think that's what we're going for today.

So um be prepared.

If you failed chemistry here today, don't worry, I probably failed it too.

So guess what?

There's no test at the end of our time.

Um, but I would like to introduce you to our chemist, our lab assistant for today.

Is he here?

Let me see.

Bryce, are you in the room?

No, Bryce is not here today.

So we're gonna call on someone else.

Hey, is Scarlett here?

Scarlet, come on up, make some noise for Scarlet.

Will you stand right here for me?

Thank you, Scarlett.

Um, have you ever taken any sciences before?

Okay, what has been your favorite science class to take?

Biology.

Biology, so not chemistry.

Oh, this is gonna be fun.

Hey, welcome to the class.

Can I put this on for you?

Yes, you're official.

You're official.

Oh my goodness.

Let me turn your mic on for you.

Well, thank you.

So you have not taken chemistry yet?

No, I have, but like high school chemistry.

Uh oh, got you.

Well, this is a high school class, I think.

I filled it, so we don't know yet.

Okay.

Okay, so we don't know where this is going.

So there's this experiment, y'all.

It's called the elephant tooth experiment.

And in chemistry, there's this word called catalyst.

Can you repeat after me?

Say catalyst.

Okay, so stand to the side here, my amazing lab assistant.

A catalyst, a catalyst is a substance that speeds up a chemical reaction, sometimes creates a chemical reaction, but it's not consumed by the reaction.

So we have an experiment today, y'all, and it is the elephant toothpaste experiment.

Now, do you know why they call it the elephant toothpaste experiment?

Yes, because elephants.

That was good.

Well, because well, elephants don't brush their teeth.

Dad joke, that joke, no.

So I gotta work on it.

I gotta work on it.

Okay, so here's the thing.

I have some instructions for you.

They may or may not be right.

My hope is that they're right.

I told you, I failed chemistry.

Okay, and so I'm gonna ask your mom.

She is here today, actually, to read the instructions for you.

Okay, mom, are you ready?

Yeah, yeah, here they go.

Sam is bringing it up.

Sam, can we make some noise for Sam who's out production director?

Okay, Sam, so that she can read it, can we get those lights up just a little bit for us?

All right.

Are you seeing them all?

No.

Oh gosh.

No, I didn't say that.

I would never.

I would never.

Will you stand up for us?

Will you stand up for us?

Okay.

So as she's reading these out, you're gonna do exactly what she says.

Okay.

Okay, y'all, we don't know if this is gonna work, but it's gonna work.

Yes, you can.

Go ahead.

Yes, okay.

Okay, so you have hydrogen peroxide.

So dry yeast, warm water, okay, coloring, and water bottle.

Yes.

You got that?

Okay.

So start with the hydrogen peroxide.

How much?

It just isn't right.

Okay.

You're gonna pour it into the water bottle, I think.

Yes.

Okay, so hydrogen peroxide?

All right, you can start with that.

Okay, so you wanna I'm I can help you.

I'm the I'm the chemist, I think.

Okay, so hydrogen.

Ooh, ooh.

Hydrogen peroxide.

I get the instructions.

There we go.

What color should I have?

What color should I have?

I even put scissors there so that I could help you.

They're not the safety scissors, though.

That's okay.

I don't think I need those.

I don't have anything to start with.

Oh, just you know, you can use the scissors.

Okay, what's the next step?

Oh okay, so um one of the instructions that I forgot to tell you is use all of these.

The hydrogen person.

Pour it all in there.

Keep going.

Keep going.

There we go.

Okay.

I think that's it.

Okay, here we go.

It should something should happen once you pour the And I need to like move back.

We'll see.

This is chunky, by the way.

Should we use the?

Yeah, let's go.

Do it.

Just do it.

Just do it.

Actually, you don't even have to use this.

You can just use it.

Just do it.

Thank you.

You can go ahead and you can keep the laptop.

And then there's a mic.

I got you.

Yeah, we don't want to we don't want you to say anything that you wouldn't want to.

There we go.

All right, here we go.

So, one more time, can y'all make some noise for Scarlet Gary?

All right, so you know what's interesting about this word, the catalyst.

Catalyst.

Do you know what's an essential catalyst for our lives?

It's this word.

It is courage.

Courage is often the catalyst in our lives, but our brain chemistry kind of works against it.

Um there's there's this research that shows that um for whatever reason, our brain, uh, our brain sort of um it uses about maybe 20% of its energy, but it it only weighs about 2% of our body weight.

Isn't that kind of amazing?

So you know what that means for us?

That means for our brains, just kind of resort back to what's what's familiar.

It prefers the what's from familiar, it prefers routines, it prefers sort of the behaviors that are consistent with what we actually prefer.

So this word comfort.

Comfort is often the catalyst for our lives.

But our brain sometimes works against it.

And here's what this this leads me to believe is that energy basically is is expensive.

So our bodies, our minds, our brains, it will do everything it can to conserve energy.

And if comfort, if comfort often gets in the way, being catalyst for our lives, if comfort is the primary filter for our decisions, we find ourselves saying no to the journey that Jesus is inviting us on.

And here's the thing, when you seriously, and I mean seriously follow Jesus, he is rarely, if ever, calling you to comfort.

And for followers of Jesus, y'all know how true this is.

Because of rejection, right, will cause a little bit of discomfort, right?

Sometimes we choose not to share our faith.

And our faith is good news, and think about it.

You you easily share something that your kid did that was exciting, that was good.

You easily share your favorite restaurant, you easily share some of your favorite places to shop.

But when it comes to sharing your faith, because of the discomfort it may cause, you opt not to do it.

We often decide to protect our reputation, right, instead of spending time with those in need, because it will cause us discomfort.

And instead of asking God, hey God, will will you make me stronger?

Because that may cause a little bit of discomfort, we we ask God, hey God, will you make our paths easier?

He knows it relates to comfort in our lives.

Often many of our decisions are based on whether or not things, the decisions that we make will impact our comfort.

Think about it for those of you who travel, um, you'll often try to get first class if you can without even paying for it.

You'll hope that no one is sitting in front of you or like, oh, I hope no one gets that seat because, well, it will probably be more comfortable.

And not just move, not just because movies are expensive, um, but we'll opt to maybe watch movies at home because it will feel a little bit more comfortable watching them at home.

Or or maybe, maybe we'll decide not to try nothing, something new, because well, guess what?

It will make us a little uncomfortable.

Something a little more serious, maybe for for many of you, um we'll stay at a job that we really don't like.

They don't show us any appreciation for for years of working as hard as we've ever worked, and we'll decide to stay there, to take on the mistreatment that we feel because, well, maybe starting a new job will be and cause discomfort.

And here's what's so interesting about comfort comfort will have you believing that safety equals faithfulness.

And I wholeheartedly believe that we are in a season of our lives where we can experience the sh extraordinary life that Jesus has for us.

But it's going to require us to find the courage to let go of the comfort of staying where we are.

And if we were to read throughout scripture, we'd see moments and stories and narratives where so many people decided to leave what was comfortable in order to take a step of courage out to where God was calling them to go.

So we see it with David and Goliath.

We see it with Moses and Pharaoh, we we see it with Esther and Ruth.

But today, for the rest of our time today, we're gonna look at a narrative, this extraordinary moment between Peter and Jesus.

So in Matthew's gospel, that's where we find this story.

And the reason we call it gospel is because it is following the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

And there are four Gospels there: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

And we see in this moment that we're we'll look at here in a second, this moment where Jesus just found out that John the Baptist was killed by King Herod.

And I won't don't want to share too much of that because I'd love for you to go and read a little bit more for yourself.

Um, but he found this out.

And as a result, he wanted to go retreat, he wanted to get away, he wanted to get away to pray, to be alone with his heavenly father, to be alone with God.

But what happened was Jesus had already started performing miracles.

He had already started doing so many extraordinary things that thousands of people followed him.

And scripture then tells us that Jesus, he had compassion for them.

So he stopped.

And Jesus began to heal the sick.

And he took two fish and five loaves of bread, and he fed thousands of people.

And after that, he and his disciples, Jesus tells them, hey, just just just kind of go away.

Just just go away.

I'll meet you there.

He's gonna go away and pray.

And this is where we pick up in the story.

Okay, so if you have your Bibles, turn to Matthew 14.

Uh we're gonna begin at verse 24.

If you have your phones, pull them out.

I'd love for you to re read along with me.

And if you have neither, that's okay.

It'll be on both screens.

And for those of you who've been here for a while, you've heard me probably say that a thousand times.

It's because what I love about our church, y'all, is that we have people who've been following Jesus for a long time, people who are new to faith, and people who've never read the Bible before.

And that is the exciting part about our church.

So that's why every Sunday you'll hear me say those words.

All right, so let's pick up at Matthew 14 and 24.

Let's jump in.

So they're on the boat.

The boat was already a considerable distance from land.

It was buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

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

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

It's a ghost, they said, and they cried out in fear.

Now, if you're reading that for the first time, you're probably thinking, okay, what happened?

Is this story some bit of AI?

Like, what's what's really going on here?

Did Jesus do this?

What uh you probably have a ton of questions.

If you're reading scripture for the very first time, the question I want you to consider is this one.

What does it mean?

What does this story mean?

Here's what it means.

Part of the story is that, well, the disciples, they were terrified.

They were terrified in the middle of this storm.

The winds and waves are crashing against their boat, and they're like, hey, what do we do?

How do we do it?

How do we navigate this?

And then this person in Jesus is walking on water and they are terrified.

And it is in the middle of the storm that they can't recognize Jesus.

Isn't that the case for many of us?

That when we're in the middle of our own storms, and I mean for these disciples, they had just saw Jesus perform a miracle.

They were with him.

And yet, as he's walking across the water in the middle of the storm, they can't recognize who he is.

For us, when we're in the middle of our storms, storms that could could feel could feel like you're navigating the depth and the weight of anxiety and depression, or maybe you're in a season of your life where your parents who are also parenting parents while also parenting your kids.

Or maybe you're in the storm of life where you've taken on this role as a guardian for your family, for someone in your family, and it can feel like the waves and the winds are crashing around you.

Or maybe you're in this season of financial instability with everything that's happening in our economy.

You're thinking, okay, whoa, how am I going to provide for my family?

As a matter of fact, how am I going to provide for myself?

Maybe the person that you love the most, you just found out that there is something that's about to happen in their lives, and they're they're not going to be able to navigate the the challenges of sickness and disease or whatever it could be.

And you're feeling the wind, and you're feeling the waves, and you're feeling just this crashing in the middle of the storm.

Here's the thing we all have this tendency to come become so captivated by the storm that we fail to recognize the Savior walking through it.

And the tragedy isn't that the storm is too big, but but the tragedy is that our view of Jesus becomes too small.

And it causes us to miss the one who has authority over it all.

So back to the boat.

When Jesus was getting close to them, he could have condemned them, right?

He could have said that, hey, y'all were with me during this whole process.

Y'all saw me do this miracle, and yet you're choosing, you're choosing not to trust me.

No, Jesus didn't say any of those things.

He didn't even sort of um tell them that they can't be his disciples anymore.

He didn't do any of that.

What he does is this.

But Jesus immediately said to them, Take courage.

It is I.

Don't be afraid.

Jesus reminds him in this very moment of who he is.

And he tells them, hey, take courage.

Don't be afraid.

Now I want to be clear when I say this, so I love to have your eyes for just a moment, your eyes and your ears.

The opposite of fear is not courage, it's trust.

And courage is what trust looks like in the middle of a storm.

And I know that it's easy for many of us as we think about the storms of life that we're facing, to go, okay, how am I going to get through this?

How in the world is this storm ever going to come?

Is there any way that I can get any kind of life support to help me navigate all of the complexities of fighting through the storm, of getting through the storm?

But in this moment we see someone, and if you've ever read any of the New Testament gospels here, you know that this person that speaks out, you're probably not surprised about it.

Um it's Peter.

So Peter says, Well, Lord, if it's you, Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water.

And Jesus says to him, Come.

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

Here's what I need you to know about courage.

It takes courage to leave comfort.

It does.

And here's the thing about comfort that I really want to lean in with.

Sometimes our storms can become comfortable.

Sometimes the abusive relationship, the storm of that abusive relationship, can become comfortable.

Sometimes the addiction can become comfortable.

Sometimes the work and the feeling devalued can become a sense of comfort.

But there are so many more comfortable places that maybe many of you have already experienced in your life.

Maybe it's as simple as attending a church and choosing not to engage.

Maybe the comfortable place for you is for followers of Jesus opening scripture, but then not actually living out what scripture teaches us.

Maybe for you, it's it can feel like, okay, I'm a part of this community, but not really because I don't want accountability.

I don't want any type of care really.

I kind of want to stay at arm's distance because if I let someone in too close to me, they might find out some things that will turn them to way.

So turn them away.

So here's what I'll do.

I'll just stay in my comfortable and in my predictable place.

But here's the thing, y'all.

If we can take anything from Peter, from Peter's example of this, is that the greatest enemy of courage is comfort.

Because comfort convinces us to stay where Jesus is calling us to step.

So maybe for many of us who are here today, the question isn't just, will I take a step in his direction or will I take a step, period.

The question for you may be, well, what might this step set in motion?

Because as we see Peter, he could have simply stayed on the boat.

Peter could have stayed exactly where he was.

It would have been comfortable for him to stay with the other disciples, to experience the winds and the waves, that probably would have been more comfortable for him than to get out of the boat and attempt to walk towards Jesus.

But he doesn't.

And because of this, Peter was able to experience something that the other disciples never did.

So, really quick, back to the experiment.

The catalyst of that experiment was able to create a reaction.

And for Peter, I want you to think about this.

That moment when Peter decides to find the courage to take a step into the water was the moment that set up the rest of his life.

It was the catalyst for the rest of his life.

I want you to think about it.

For those of you who've been following Jesus, and maybe for those of you who haven't made the decision just yet, you've probably heard of two people, Peter and Paul.

Get this, we're still talking.

About Peter, 2,000 years later.

And it's largely due to that one moment when he found the courage to take a step.

And after this moment, it set up Peter's, it set up the rest of Peter's life.

I mean, after this, Peter declared boldly that Jesus was the Messiah.

And y'all, that was a big deal because during that time, he could have been killed.

Peter ends up preaching one of the most influential and important sermons ever and saw thousands of people discover faith for the very first time and be baptized.

And Peter is one of the leaders.

He's one of the leaders of the early church creating this movement that we are a part of today.

That's Peter.

And so maybe for you you're thinking, well, I'm waiting for the perfect time.

I'll do this thing.

I'll take a step in his direction.

I'll take a step, the step that he's calling me to, once I have the perfect time.

I'm waiting for the perfect moment.

You're probably saying to yourself, Well, you know what, Tony?

If I have a little more time, guess what?

I'll serve.

If I make a little bit more money, guess what?

I'll probably be a little more generous.

If life ever decides to slow down just a little bit, and my retirees in the room will tell you that may never happen.

Then I'll surrender that area to my life.

Of my life to God.

That's what I'll do.

Here's the thing there there will always be more money to make, or you'll always try to go after more money.

And if you're waiting for life to not get as busy, guess what?

Life may become busier.

So I'm gonna say this as bold as I know how to say this.

The perfect time is now.

So the question I have for you, whether you're a follower of Jesus or not, the question I have for you is what's your one step?

We all have it.

There's something that maybe God has been pricking at your heart.

And I know this is true because maybe, maybe for you, when we started this conversation today, you started to think about it.

Maybe you turned a little bit in your seat because it got a little uncomfortable because it's been pressing on your heart for so long.

It's been pressing on your heart for days and days that maybe you're considering following Jesus and you're thinking, okay, um, if I wait for the perfect time, I can do it.

The perfect time is now.

Maybe it actually is being more generous.

Maybe it is finding time to volunteer.

Maybe it is reconciling that broken relationship.

Maybe it is going after men or women who can hold you accountable to following Jesus and to help you break that addiction.

Or maybe it actually is making the decision today, whether it makes sense in your mind or not, making the decision to follow Jesus.

Or maybe it's for you, like Sage, where you take your next step in making your faith public, regardless of what people think about you.

Maybe that's your one step.

And y'all, that's the invitation.

Y'all, Jesus' invitation is that it to follow him leads to an extraordinary life.

And I want you to think about this.

Imagine, imagine for just a moment what your life could look like, what your family's life could look like if you made the decision.

If you made the decision to move past comfort and have the courage to step out.

And hey, guess what?

If you're worried that your one step will lead to your failure or rejection, um, I want you to overcome that fear and worry by placing your ordinary faith in the hands of our extraordinary King and Savior.

Because if you're worried about failure or rejection, hey, uh the rest of this story is that Peter was sinking.

And here's what Jesus did.

But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to seek, to sink and cried out, Lord, save me.

And immediately, not later, not months later, not years later, no.

It says immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.

So that should encourage every single one of us, whether we're followers of Jesus or not.

That following Jesus, this invitation to move past comfort and find the courage to take a step, doesn't mean that failure won't happen.

It doesn't mean that you won't stumble.

But here's what it does mean: it does guarantee that you won't face your failures alone.

It guarantees that you won't stumble alone.

It guarantees, y'all, that failure isn't final.

It guarantees that Jesus won't let you down, he won't let you drown, that he will be with you.

It guarantees that he is for you and he loves you unconditionally.

That's what it guarantees.

And here's the thing, y'all, taking one step, guess what?

You may fail, you may stumble, but you won't go at it alone.

And here's what we all know, we all know to be true, that taking a step is going to be a little bit uncomfortable.

It's going to cause some discomfort.

But if we ever want to experience the extraordinary life Jesus has for us, the adventure he is inviting us to, we've got to be okay with saying yes in spite of discomfort.

And here's the thing: the boat's gonna be comfortable.

There is gonna be the predictable place, the comfortable place, y'all.

But staying on the boat won't guarantee that you will experience the transformation Jesus has for you.

And yes, the waters may be uncertain, but that's exactly, y'all, that's exactly where you can experience his faithfulness, his power, and his presence that Jesus has for you.

Y'all, I can get emotionals talking about this, but because I desperately want you to experience the extraordinary life Jesus has for you.

That there's no accident that you're sitting in these seats today.

That there's no accidents that you have been facing some of the storms that you are facing, but I want to encourage you to look past your failures, to overcome your fear, to overcome your worry and experience the transformation that Jesus has for you, the extraordinary life.

Y'all, that He invites you on.

And know that because you're a part of this church, that you're a part of this community, you won't be alone in it.

That we are willing to walk shoulder to shoulder, lock arms with you and go, hey, let's follow Jesus together.

It is going to get ugly at times, it's gonna be uncomfortable at times, but we are with you because he is with you and he is for you.

I want you to experience the extraordinary life that he has for you.

So the question I have for you today so what's your one step?

What is it?

Our band is going to come back out and they're gonna sing this song, and it's called Same God.

And I know for some of you, music is not your jam.

Um when you come, you really prefer the message and a little bit of community, and you just you're ready to go.

But while they're singing this song, I would love for you to think about that one step.

And you don't have to don't worry about getting up to stand.

If there's a moment in the song where you want to, that's great.

But I want you to really think about okay, what's my one step?

Because as they're singing this song, same God, the same God that reached for Peter.

Y'all, that's the same God that reaches for you today.

Scripture reminds us that He is the same God yesterday, today, and forevermore.

That He is the same God when you're sick, He's the same God when you're healthy, it is He is the same God when you feel lost, He is the same God when you feel found.

He is the same God when you feel as if you found direction.

He is the same God when you feel like you have all of the community you need, he is the same God when you feel alone, he is the same God, and he is reaching for you today.

So if he's reaching for you, why not grab his hand and reach back for him?