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The Lake Effect
Series Big Idea / July 12 – August 4, 2015
Series Big Idea: Much of Jesus’ ministry before His crucifixion and resurrection took
place on the shores of Lake Gennesaret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. In this
series, we’ll look at several key encounters between Christ and His followers during His
“ministry years” that show us what Jesus was about and what He intended a
relationship with Him to look like. We’ll help people encounter Jesus and challenge one
another to respond to Him the way He wants us to.
Week 1 | July 12 | Go Fish!
Matthew 4:18-22, Matthew 10:37-39, Luke 5:1-11
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called
Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were
fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for
people.”20 At once they left their nets and followed him.21 Going on from there, he saw
two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat
with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, 22 and immediately
they left the boat and their father and followed him. --Matthew 4:18-22
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone
who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does
not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds their life will
lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. --Matthew 10:37-39
Message Big Idea
Jesus’ call to “follow me” is an invitation to a relationship that changes our whole lives.
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Message Focus
In his book Jesus With Dirty Feet, Don Everts says: “‘Follow me’ was not a call to
change the belief part of your life and start believing certain things OR to change the
behavior part of your life to start doing certain things. ‘Follow me’ was a call to follow
with their whole lives, and Jesus issues the same call to you and me today: ‘Follow me.’
In this message we’ll challenge people to go beyond the label ‘Christian’ to truly being
‘Christ-followers.’ Whole-life following is marked by:

Laying Down Our Nets. Leaving behind those things we relied on for our identity
and security. Putting Jesus before anything and anyone (Matthew 10:37-39).

Redirecting Our Passions. To be a Christ-follower, we need to care about the
things Jesus cared about..people! (Luke 5:1-11 “fishers of men”)

Taking Action. Jesus is always on the move. Following him means going where
he says to go, doing what he says to do.
Challenge: Commit to following Jesus. (Possible baptism Sunday)
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Week 2 | July 19 | Weather the Storms
Mark 4:35-41
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other
side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.
There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves
broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping
on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we
drown?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then
the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40 He said to his disciples, “Why are
you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the
waves obey him!” --Mark 4:35-41
Message Big Idea
The Jesus who calls us to follow Him with our whole lives is also the Jesus who can
help us face any and every storm that comes our way.
Message Focus
The same disciples who had left everything to follow Him still had a long way to go in
understanding who Jesus really was. When Jesus calmed the storm on Lake
Gennesaret, it was a faith-expanding experience for them as they learned more about
who they were following and that they can trust him to get them through the storm “to
the other side.”
This message will be centered around the 4 questions in the text:
1. “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” When the storms hit, we are challenged
to not just believe intellectually that God cares, but to believe it wholeheartedly.
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2. “Why are you so afraid?” When the storms hit, are we placing our trust in
ourselves (a fearful proposition) or in the one who is never afraid?
3. “Do you still have no faith?” When the storms hit, we need to remember all the
ways God has come through in the past.
4. “Who is this?” Storms give us an opportunity to discover who we are really
following...one who can command the wind and the waves.
Challenge
Trust Jesus in the middle of the storms.
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Week 3 | July 26 | How To Walk On Water
Matthew 14:22-33
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. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went
up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and
the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because
the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the
lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a
ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take
courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to
you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on
the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and,
beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his
hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said,“why did you doubt?” 32 And when
they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat
worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” --Matthew 14:22-33
Message Big Idea
Wholeheartedly following Jesus means having the courage to step out of our comfort
zones to join him where he is and in what he is doing.
Message Focus
This is one of the most famous stories from the Gospels, but one thing often gets
overlooked in the story: Whose idea it was to walk on the water in the first place? It
wasn’t Jesus’ idea, it was Peter’s. When he saw what Jesus was doing, he ASKED if he
could do it with Him. Why did Peter want to walk on the water? Some write this off as
Peter’s impulsiveness, but it was probably more than that. Peter saw the power and
significance of Jesus’ life in His sovereignty over even the elements of nature, and he
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wanted to experience it, too. He wanted to join Jesus in doing what only Jesus could
do.
For Christ-followers, this story tells us something about the Christian life: when we are
truly following Jesus, we see what He does and is doing and we want to do those
things, too. It’s not just about believing in Him and knowing Him and having a personal
relationship with Him. It’s about following Him in everything and having the courage to
go where we would never go without Him in the lead. This takes faith to a new level, a
level of risk that calls for courage and a willingness to step out in faith. Like the old
saying goes, “if you want to walk on water, you’ve gotta get out of the boat.”
In this message we’ll challenge people to “own” the dream they have of doing
something with and for Jesus. What is that thing you would attempt to do if you knew
you wouldn’t fail? We’ll challenge people to:

Say it out loud. Maybe if we say it out loud as Peter did, we might hear Jesus
say, “Come.”

Get out of the boat. Action leads to faith as much as faith leads to action.
Everyone needs to decide whether you are going to be a water-walker or a boatsitter.

Be willing to fail. Remember...Jesus will never let you go.
Challenge
Say it out loud. Get out of the boat. Be willing to fail. (Possible response card giving
people the opportunity to “say it out loud”)
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Week 4 | Aug 2 | Don’t Miss the Boat
Matthew 16:1-12
16 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show
them a sign from heaven.2 He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair
weather, for the sky is red,’3 and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is
red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot
interpret the signs of the times. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign,
but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.
5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,”
Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and
Sadducees.” 7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t
bring any bread.” 8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are
you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand?
Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you
gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you
gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread?
But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they
understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but
against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
--Matthew 16:1-12
Message Big Idea
As Christ-followers, we need to resist the human tendency to focus on our own
performance and goodness and instead build our lives on the foundation of God’s
grace.
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Message Focus
The foundation of the Christ-follower’s life is God’s grace, but we all struggle with what
Jesus called the “yeast” or “leaven” of the Pharisees and Sadducees, which is the
human tendency to focus on our own works and performance and goodness instead.
Before Jesus came into their lives, Christ’s first followers had only known one way to
approach God and live life: by trying hard to earn God’s approval and favor through their
own efforts. In a word, all’s they had ever known was RELIGION: man’s attempt to earn
God’s blessing. But Jesus introduced them to something they’d never heard of before,
a RELATIONSHIP with God based on grace. As Scott Peck writes in his book Gifts for
the Journey, “Grace is the gift unearned, the wonderful present unexpected, the
blessing undeserved. It is sunshine in a place where there is usually only darkness. It
is the bursting of love at a time when we have the right only to expect condemnation
and emptiness and aloneness.” Jesus’ teaching about the love and grace of God was a
radical departure from all they had ever known about how to relate to God and to live
life. And He knew that their tendency would be to slip back into it. Old habits die
hard. And when we slip back from relationship with God into religion, we really “miss
the boat”.
Jesus wanted to make sure His followers would truly follow Him in the ways of grace
and not retreat into religious rules and performance-based righteousness.
So many of us are Christ-followers who understand grace intellectually and doctrinally,
but live our lives based on the performance principle. Grace is our talk but not our walk.
And the result of grace not penetrating our entire lives is that we often live joyless lives
of fretting and worrying and resentment and stress, because down deep, everything is
still about being good at being good, about earning whatever we get and having to
deserve anything and everything we get.
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In this service that wraps up the series, we’ll focus on the grace of God as the basis of
our whole lives, and help people experience God’s mercy and blessing wherever they
need it: so they can find their way back to God in Jesus, so they can be relieved of guilt
and fear and shame, so they can forgive others, so they can experience joy in new and
fresh ways in their lives. The goal is to help us all have the Good News of Jesus, the
gospel of grace, penetrate and permeate our lives like never before.
Challenge
Embrace grace as the basis of our whole lives.
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