After the Message: I'm On It

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To learn more about Celebration Church here in Orlando, you can follow us on social media under the handle at CelebrationORL or visit our website at celebrationorl.org.

Alright, let's get this thing rolling.

Hello everyone.

Welcome to After the Message.

Uh if you are stumbling upon this podcast, you have stumbled upon the Celebration Orlando, our church here on Celebration Church here in Orlando, our podcast, and this is a segment that we like to call After the Message.

We talk about the previous Sunday's sermon and we just have a conversation about it.

And today I'm joined by Pastor Becca Westcott.

How are you?

I am well.

How are you, Nate?

I'm doing well.

My espresso is kicking in, so that's always good.

That afternoon espresso is really important.

Yeah, we had a we had a team night last night with people who serve at our church or who are interested in serving at our church.

And it was good, but I was up running around later than normal.

So feeling it this morning, but it was good to see everyone and hang out for sure.

Yeah, it was fun.

Um we uh we have some leftover sodas in the fridge that I was tempted to grab.

You know, it's just not worth it.

I grabbed one and it I didn't even finish it.

It was yep.

So instead I hopped over and got a latte and doing well.

It is wisdom.

Well, we had the privilege of hearing from Pastor Mike again, Pastor Mike Southhouse.

Pastor Mike.

The Pastor Mike.

That's his Instagram.

No, it's not.

I don't know if it is, but he he loves to bring it, bring the word.

And this this Sunday he was talking about uh I'm on it.

And basically um talking about the importance of faith and what faith looks like, especially in difficulties.

And um he started out by saying that the anti the antithesis is that right?

That was correct.

Good.

Because I was sweating over that one to faith is fear.

And uh he said that fear has been the grand marshal of 2020.

I mean, that's the truth, yeah.

And it's kind of it's kind of taken the lead of over faith, I feel like there's been more fear than there has faith.

Yes.

Um and so I kind of wanted to start out with an interesting question is what are some of your biggest fears?

My biggest fears.

Yes.

Gosh.

I don't know.

I'm not one of those people who has like a fear of snakes or insects or something or heights or something like that.

So, you know, everybody always goes straight into that.

Hmm.

So I think this is interesting.

I think I heard a pastor one time say that the opposite of faith isn't fear, it's uncertainty.

And I feel like for me, these unprecedented times is bingo essentially one of my fears because I I do really like to know what's gonna happen.

So um I guess if I had to like pinpoint an actual fear, it's at it's more so those moments of complete uncomfortability as an introvert walking into a social environment and not knowing what to expect.

So I I'm not sure if that's as much of a fear as just something that makes me super uncomfortable that I dread.

Um, but if I had to get to something, it would be that would be the closest.

Yeah.

That's a good one.

Yeah.

Minus snakes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's a common one, man.

Snakes is one of them.

I think for me they kind of go hand in hand.

Uh well, so I fear like um being deceived or like thinking one thing is one thing when it's really not.

And I think you know that stems from uh family history of like seeing my parents get divorced, which you obviously think that your parents' marriage is one thing and then come to find out it's not, you know what I mean?

So looking at something and thinking it is a a way for so many years and then uh it ends up not.

So I think that's for me is is definitely a a big thing.

And it kind of it's kind of how this year is, you know, like we went into 2020 and we had all these aspirations of what it could be.

Yep.

And it's not.

So yeah, everybody coming in, clear vision 2020.

Screech.

Yeah, and it hasn't it's been one of the most unclear times, I think, that I've ever experienced.

Yeah, lots of uncertainty.

Yeah.

But Pastor Mike was using the he was using the story in the Bible of Peter walking on water.

Mm-hmm.

One of my favorites.

It's a popular one for sure, and there's I've heard multiple messages on it.

But it kind of struck me in a different way.

I was listening to the message again this morning, it was like, what the grandiose like picture of a man walking on water, like what is the point of that, you know, and and why?

It's almost like Jesus is stunting, you know what I mean?

Like, but there's there's obviously some meaning there to it.

And I don't know if you've ever thought about like well, I get healing.

I get that.

Sure, yeah.

Like it's compassion for others, you know.

But this thing of just like, here's water, I'm gonna show you that I can walk on it.

Yeah.

You know, what do you think?

So I'm gonna go a story back.

Okay.

You know, so before Jesus walked on water, he was there was a story where he was in the boat with the disciples and there was a storm and he was napping on the boat, like while everybody was freaking out.

They come and get you know, for sure.

If there's one thing that you can walk away, just nap through 2020, Jesus did it.

That's so good.

Thanks.

If you have any questions, email after the message at celebrationorl.org.

We'll see you next week.

We'll we'll figure out some t-shirts, you know, nap through 2020, Jesus did.

Um but yeah, so he was on the boat, he was napping during a storm, and the disciples were freaking out, and he got up and said, Peace be still, and the storm settled.

So now we fast forward to this instance where they're actually alone on the boat.

They don't have Jesus with them, with them.

But because I'm a theology nerd, um, a few years back I was studying this, and one of the things about the Sea of Galilee is that you can view it from from the hilltops where Jesus would have been spending his time because he he removed himself from the disciples in order to spend time with God.

So he would have been able to see the storm happening.

And so I think from from my perspective, Jesus knew that his disciples were gonna be freaking out.

He could see that the storm was happening.

And so I I don't think it was like a a flex moment.

I think it was more of him being like, I know that these people I care about are in a moment of of concern and I know where where they're at because I've seen them there before.

So I'm gonna go out to them.

I think I I like that about who Jesus is and about his character and one of his attributes is how much he goes and seeks after people.

And so um I think that's my perspective on why is Jesus walking on water, it's because he knew that they were gonna need him because Stutton like history showed that they would, you know.

Yeah.

Sorry, I'm thinking about oh man.

Oh, the Rich Mullen song.

I'm so sorry.

For those of you who have a history in in church, we uh as a staff decided to pull out some oldie but goodies, and so Awesome God came out.

Awesome God came out.

And if you haven't looked at the lyrics of that in a while, man, the 90s.

They uh they were thriving with good lyrics.

So good.

Oh man, I'm gonna try to can control this and bring it back in.

All right, so Pastor Mike uh brought up three things.

His acronym for faith or this story in particular was invitation, uh Jesus inviting Peter, expectation Peter's uh Peter's expectation of Jesus, and then the demonstration as well.

So what was your invitation to Jesus like?

Interesting.

Like personally from him.

Well, here's the thing.

I think that um we get an invitation all the time.

I I think we continually get an invitation to come to him.

So I think my initial invitation, I was really young, you know, like five, four, uh super, super young.

And then um when I was like a preteen, it that's when the invitation was like, okay, come have a a relationship with me, like spend time with me.

Yeah, but I think the thing I love about this story in particular is that Jesus is giving Peter another invitation, like he's given Peter an invitation to come follow him.

Yeah, this time Peter goes, If this is you, Lord, like call me out to you.

And Jesus says, Okay, come.

And I think what we see here is that he invites us to do things that we wouldn't typically do that are really difficult to do.

And um yeah, the invitation never stops.

He gives us multiple invitations.

And he he can he continues to do so as well because you know, you even think about like post-resurrection, Jesus is on the they're always by the water, but Jesus is on the shore, and he says, you know, he asks Peter, like, do you love me?

And he asks him like three times.

Right.

And he says, Well then feed my lambs, feed my sheep, like tend to the flock, basically.

So and this is after Peter has denied him.

Right.

And still some people even call it like Peter's reinstation reinst he reinstated Peter in that moment to like his position, you know.

Um so even after massive hiccup, Jesus still invites him.

Yeah, that's good.

Um I think for someone like myself who similar to you have been around I want to say I'll I'll say been around church for a while because I don't know how long I've actually been around Jesus.

Oh interesting.

I've been around church for a long time.

And so for me, it's hard to at times distinguish the two in my mind.

So I think for me, what I have to what I have to constantly focus on is uh is this God's voice or not?

Yeah, you know what I mean, or is this just like a great one-liner or whatever it is, is this God's voice for to me?

Does that make sense?

For sure.

Um, and I think that's really important for everybody as as we try our best to to follow Jesus is to try and familiarize ourselves with with the way that he speaks to us.

Yeah.

Well, and I think that's part of the interesting thing about this story in particular is that Peter recognized Jesus before the other disciples.

You know, and nobody else was asking to get out of the boat.

And you know, Mike touched on that too.

But it is part of that personal relationship.

Like Peter was pretty close to Jesus.

He he seems to be the one, uh, the disciple who brought the most questions to Jesus, you know, and so I think uh we can find comfort in that.

The fact that the disciple who brought the most questions to Jesus is the one who recognized him first.

You know what I mean?

And so to your point of sometimes I don't recogn I can't differentiate between church and Jesus, I think when we take our questions to Jesus, it builds our faith in order to say, hey, am I supposed to get off this boat?

You know what I mean?

Yeah, interesting.

Yeah.

Who is there is there a disciple that you identify with the most?

Yes.

John.

Okay.

Because I I really identify with his the fact that he refers to himself in his entire book as the one Jesus loved.

And I I know that that sounds crazy, but I just I really get that.

Like because I feel so loved by Jesus.

And so if I had to pick a disciple, it would be John.

The neck the next thing that that he touched on was the expectation.

Jesus can meet every need.

I think what this year has has done for me is shown me like the areas in my life where I have need and also the areas that are so fragile, you know what I mean, or vulnerable areas of my life.

And um just being able just being able to see how God has provided in the past for those things.

And maybe there's those fragile things or those vulnerable things have, you know, kind of kind of reared themselves to the forefront of of my life, like how much I still need to depend on that, you know?

I don't know.

Sometimes I feel like I have pretty low expectations.

Yeah.

Uh where I've just like, yeah, I'm good, I'm good with life, like how it is, you know.

So um of the best advice I ever got was somebody told me to learn how to temper my expectations without losing my expectancy.

And that was one of those things that people like drop on you and then you have to think about it for a really long time.

But I I recognize that when we put our expectations into something specific where we actually end up boxing in what could what could happen.

And so I think when we have a sense of expectancy, um, it gives us a a lot more room to have faith.

A lot more room to have faith in what God is gonna do.

Yeah, sort of a a freedom to accept like whatever God puts in front of you.

Is that what you're saying?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's good.

Instead of just saying like my expectation it looks like this, yes, meet that.

Exactly.

Yeah, exactly.

That makes sense.

And then the final thing was was demonstration.

One thing you said was I might look crazy, but I'm gonna take a step.

You know, just get out of the boat.

I think for a lot of us, that's obviously the hardest part.

Like I can I can be great, okay, with the invitation, like man, that's so awesome.

And I can expect Jesus to to do things in my life.

But then when it's my turn, yeah, you know, um, that's I think what takes the most faith.

It's so true.

It's so true.

I think something that brings me comfort in the demonstration part, you know, and actually stepping out on the water, you know, God invites us to do things and we can expect it to go well, you know, but the demonstration part is hard.

But what I love about this passage in particular is Peter starts to see the waves and he starts to fall and it like the scripture says, immediately Jesus reached out his hand.

And so when we do accept that invitation and we step out of the boat into the unknown and into the uncomfortable spaces, we keep our eyes on Jesus knowing that if we start to fail, he's gonna pull us up immediately.

He's not gonna let us fall fall flat.

Um and so the confidence can be in in Jesus and not in the situation he's calling us into.

Yeah, that's good.

We can't just say we Mike, you know, Pastor Mike said we can no longer just say that we're Christians, we have to actually be them.

Yep.

Which was like, dang, Mike.

Come on.

That's such a micism, too.

It is.

And the other the other micism is um man, I wrote it down.

Oh, you don't have to trouble trouble for trouble to trouble you or something like that?

Yep.

So I've heard that one before.

But what um what do you think 2021 will after experiencing 2020, what do you think that you're gonna try and take into the next year that will that will help you things that you've learned through faith this year?

I think um one of the things I'm trying to learn in 2020 is where am I putting my hope?

And so I even hear so much, you know, 2021 is gonna be better.

And it's like y'all know that there's 24 hours like 24 hours between the two.

You know, not even, you know, it it's just it's just a day into a day.

And so for me, this year has been about where am I putting my hope?

Am I putting my hope in situations in the in the known, um, in things that I can typically expect to go well, or am I putting my hope in God?

Am I putting my hope in the fact that Jesus is um the author and the finisher of my faith?

That when I put my faith in him, he's going to lead and guide me.

Um, and so my hope is that this this year I I can take what I've learned this year um and really honestly what I am in the process of learning and continue to grow in it in 2021.

Yeah.

Do you have ways that you you try and record?

Do you do you write or do you is it more like mental?

Okay.

Um and part of that is because I am the kind of person that tends to look at how far I have left to go instead of how far I've come.

And so I like to go back to my journals a lot because it shows me the pattern of um, man, I remember when I was going through this and God was teaching me this, and that that feels so elementary to me now because it's something that I walk in naturally.

But in that moment, it was something really difficult.

And so just looking at me where he has me right now in five years, this will feel elementary because I will be more comfortable in walking in faith and walking in what he has for me.

So I I journal because of that.

Yeah, that's good.

Um journaling journaling for me is like hit or miss because sometimes I sometimes I feel like, well, I already told you that.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Or or if I'll pray and then try and journal, it's like, well, I just said that in prayer.

Like, do I need to write it down?

But I think a lot of times it's just good, like you said, to be able to look back, but also there's something about putting it on paper.

Yep.

Instead of just I mean, obviously God hears our prayers, but instead of just saying words in the air, like putting it on paper and making it more like concrete is super helpful for me.

Yep, I agree.

Another thing that I got into the habit of a few years back that just recently um was super helpful for me, uh, when I'm reading in my Bible and I something just really hits hard, you know, and I put a date by it.

And it's so interesting because and part of this is that I have a a good memory and so uh I can look at a date and know exactly what I was going through in that moment.

But um I even recently was reading through Philippians and I saw a uh a date by a scripture and so then I was able to go back and look at my journal and just revisit it.

Yeah, revisit the the memory and what God started teaching me in that season that I didn't realize was going to impact so much of my future.

And so I I'm a huge proponent for just jotting notes in my Bible too.

Yeah.

What would you say to someone who uh is struggling with keeping the faith, so to speak?

Um someone who maybe their expectations haven't been met in their eyes.

Um someone who is like, well, I mean, I'm doing the best I can, but X, Y, and Z is still happening.

Yeah.

I think I would start by telling that person they're not alone.

I think a lot of times it's easy to think that just because you're struggling in your faith that you're like ostracized for it.

And all of us have moments of struggling with our faith, and all of us have moments where we say, God, like, where are you in this situation?

But don't lose don't lose hope.

Like, even when your faith is struggling, don't lose hope.

Because our hope can be found, like our hope is found in eternity and not the situations.

Um, and so I feel like faith is so required on this side of eternity, even more so because uh we don't see we don't see the end result, we don't see the the full map of where God is taking us.

But um He's always working on our behalf.

Yeah.

And at the end of the day, uh just recognizing that you might be going through hell in so many different ways.

And I I have had so many conversations with people that are going through hard, hard things in this season.

Um and look for Jesus walking with you because even when you feel like you are losing faith, Jesus is still walking with you.

Just because you're losing faith even in what he what you think he should be doing, it doesn't mean that he goes, Well, see ya.

Like he he walks with you through it because he loves you and he he will go and walk into the storm to rescue you from it because that's the kind of God we serve.

So that's awesome.

You and I were talking earlier.

I wish we were recording at that time because I thought it was good, but uh just about for me personally, the faith that I have doesn't always manifest itself in mood, you know?

Yeah.

So I start questioning myself, like, do I not have faith?

Like because my I don't have the greatest, I'm not in the mood that I think that I should be because of that.

Right.

Um, but when I really examine it, it's like, no, I still believe God is good and I still believe God is with me.

Um, even if that belief is small, you know, Lord help my unbelief.

Yeah.

Um I think sometimes we just we're we're obviously human and we experience those emotions and those moods that maybe don't line up with where we think we should be.

And so even the expectations of ourselves, you know, like we need to have grace for ourselves at the end of the day.

100%.

So I think that's something that I'm I'm definitely still trying to to work through is is how to how to how to continue to have faith, but how to still realize that I'm a human being.

Yeah, you know, and and being able to to accept that.

So yeah.

Well, and it's I think it's easier to add grace to ourselves when we recognize that God's not asking us to be perfect, we're at we're trying to expect that of ourselves.

And so that for me is a moment of man, there's nothing I can do in this this day that will make God love me anymore, and there's nothing I can do in this day that will make him love me any less.

I'm putting these expectations on myself.

And funny enough, like those expectations can that we're putting on ourselves can actually put a wedge between us and God because we're so like in our own brain space of what we're not doing.

And so I for me recognizing those moments helps me refocus on where my faith should really be.

Yeah.

Is that whenever you do experience that wedge, is that just what you do is to recognize that you're in the wedge in the first place?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

I like to I I don't like to give the enemy too much credit, but I like to know his tactics in order to get ahead of them.

So I think that's one of them.

And uh in the parable of the sower, when Jesus was breaking it down for his disciples, he said the worries of life, you know, two plants grew.

The worries of life kept one of them from producing fruit.

So for me, whenever I get in those cycles of worry, I recognize, okay, this is probably the enemy trying to keep me from producing fruit.

And so then those wedges um are pretty easy for me to identify and and push past.

Yeah.

Um I think, like you said, I I don't like to give the enemy too much credit as well, because I think we can do that.

But flat tire, that was the enemy.

Yeah, that was the enemy because I had a flat tire.

But no, that was just because you didn't replace your tires in time.

But at the same time, I think I I think I definitely give myself too much credit for um for that same reason, you know, just like I just like I do the enemy when I don't know God's God's telling me that like you said that I can't earn any more love and I can't take it away as well.

So appreciate you coming on.

Absolutely.

Talking about this.

And uh if you're out there and you have any questions about what we talked about today or anything at all, you can email atm at celebrationorl.org.

That stands for after the message at celebrationorl.org.

We'll catch you next time.

Thank you for joining us for after the message.

To learn more about celebration church here in Orlando, you can follow us on social media under the handle at celebrationorl or visit our website at celebrationorl.org.