Win The Day (5)
Win The Day • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsThere comes a time in our lives when we need to "cut the rope"... To take a risk... To stop "playing it safe", and trust God with our lives, our dreams, our future... Even Jesus had to "cut the rope" on this world... Will we follow His example? Will we choose to live within His Love, His Grace, His Power, and His Authority?
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Cut The Rope
Cut The Rope
I want to tell you the story of Elisha Otis…
Elisha Otis was an inventor in the late 1800’s…
He invented the elevator safety brake. BUT… He did not have any success marketing it until the 1st world fair in New York city in 1853.
Otis “stole the show” at the newly built Crystal Palace!
He did it by building a “platform” elevator above the venue… attached to a single rope…
An axe man was positioned above the platform, and when Otis commanded “cut the rope!”
He did!
The crowds gasped as the platform fell several feet… but then it stopped!
At which time, Otis appeared and reassured the crowd the “All is well!”
Needless to say, His pitch worked!
Before Elisha Otis cut the rope, there were only a few buildings in New York City that were taller than five floors.
Why? No one wanted to take the stairs!
By 1908, New York City boasted 538 skyscrapers!
Fast forward a hundred years. According to the Otis Elevator Company, the equivalent of the world’s population rides an Otis elevator, every three days.
What would have happened if Otis had “played it safe” and “stayed in his lane”, never leaving his comfort zone, never taking a risk?
Elisha Otis turned the world upside down. How?
He “Cut The Rope”!
There comes a moment in life when you have to cut the rope!
I hope you hear what I’m about to say: playing it safe is risky.
The greatest risk in our lives is taking no risks.
Why?
It leads to inaction regrets.
At the end of our lives 84% of our regrets will be the things we would have, could have, and should have done but did not do.
Did you hear that?!?!
It’s not the mistakes we made!
It’s the opportunities we miss.
Cutting the rope is about taking risks…
Yes, you will experience a few fails, a few falls. But …
We cannot reach success… We cannot see our dreams fulfilled… We cannot “Win The Day” without taking risks!
22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
In other words, “Take a risk! Trust God! Obey His word! Do — what — He — says!”
Turn with me to Mark 4.
While your getting there…
In his book Deep Work, Cal Newport calls “cutting the rope” “the grand gesture”.
It can be a romantic gesture, like getting down on one knee and proposing marriage.
It can be a physical gesture, like taking a before picture when starting a diet or exercise routine.
It can be a creative gesture, like the missionaries in the early 1900’s…
They would pack their belongings into a coffin instead of suitcases because they knew they would never return.
You see, they knew that their old lives were dead… that they were dying to them… so they put them in a coffin, literally!!!
A grand gesture is a defining decision, a calculated risk, a selfless sacrifice that becomes a defining moment in your life.
These are the moments that truly change our lives!!!
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted ninety-five theses on the doors of the Castle Church.
On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus.
On May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy said we would land a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth by the end of the decade.
The genesis of the Protestant Reformation, the Civil Rights movement, and the space race were grand gestures.
Grand gestures are the point of no return.
They are the point in which there is no turning back… no alternative plan…
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is full of grand gestures.
Noah builds a really big boat.
Abraham puts Isaac on the altar.
The Israelites circle Jericho for seven days.
Benaiah chases a lion into a pit.
Esther goes to the King.
Elisha burns his plowing equipment.
Ezekiel lays on his left-side for 390 days.
James and John drop their nets.
Peter gets out of the boat.
Zacchaeus climbs a sycamore tree.
Paul shaves his head at Cenchrea.
The Ephesians build a bonfire and burn their scrolls.
That’s the tip of the iceberg!
Each one of them, in their own unique way, cut the rope.
For some, it was a huge moment. For others, the pain of staying the same was greater than the pain of change.
One way or the other, there comes a moment when you need to cut the rope.
Have you made it to Mark?
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”
Let me set the scene.
This is the day that Jesus has spent teaching the people from Peter’s boat on the shore of Galilee…
The Sea of Galilee is 13 miles long, 8 miles wide. And scripture says they set out as the sun sets. That’s not insignificant.
Why? Being on the open sea at night is scary!!!
It’s dark… you can’t see well… not to mention the FACT that the Sea of Galilee was prone to sudden violent storms…
Scripture says that evening came and Jesus said to them “Let’s go to the other side.”
So they did!!!
Verse 36.
Mark 4:36 (NIV)
36 Leaving the crowd behind, …
A little sermon within a sermon.
Sometimes you need to leave the crowd behind.
What does that mean?
Almost all of us are suffering from information overload.... We are bombarded with news and fake news every minute of every hour of every day.
Targeted advertising vies for our attention.
Social media algorithms target us based on likes and follows and search history.
(cell phone)
Everyone has one of these, right? We have computers… tablets… iPads…
How much time do you spend on this? On Facebook… Youtube… twitter… tiktok… whatever… everyday?!?!
Consuming social media is like eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It’s just as bad for us!!!
We were not designed with the capacity to know everything about everything, all the time!
Now… I’m not suggesting that we bury our head in the sand.
We need to be praying about the news, not just watching it.
Karl Barth said it this way: “Take your Bible and take your newspaper and read both. But interpret newspapers from your Bible.”
Too often, we get this backwards, amen?
We filter the Bible through the news… and through our culture’s perspective, and our theology begins to conform to our reality.
In other words, We begin to shape our thinking about scripture around our accepted cultural practices.
Which is a form of idolatry!
So, how do you leave the crowd behind?
For starters, realize the average person spends 142 minutes/day on social media.
That represents 15% of our waking hours!
Is this how you want to spend 15% of your life?!
When was the last time you did a day off from the phone and social media?
We need to turn down the white noise, and turn up the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.
We’ve got to make sure the still small voice is the loudest voice in our lives!
Okay… back to our passage…
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.
Now listen to this…
Mark 4:38 (NIV)
38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.
I’m just gonna say this… “We should have a mandated nap time.”
Whether you nap or not is up to you, but I think we would be a kinder, gentler, happier, healthier people if we had a mandated nap time.
Seriously, sleep is a stewardship issue.
A NASA study found that a 26-minute nap increases productivity 34%.
Think about that…
Let's say your productivity happens before noon. If you take a short nap. You’ll get two windows of creativity, two windows of productivity.
Long story short, Jesus napped. SOOO.....
Anyway… Back to the story at hand…
The storm has risen… the disciples are terrified… and Jesus is sleeping!!!
Mark 4:38 (NIV)
The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
I find this fascinating. (expound)
Jesus is sleeping, so obviously he doesn’t care, right?
We are awfully quick to assign blame.
We are awfully quick to attribute wrong motives. Am I right?
In stressful situations, our natural tendency is to play the blame game. That’s what the disciples do.
Just look at the news, everyone is blaming everyone else for everything that is happening.
We don’t need to play the “blame game”.
We need to stay humble and stay hungry.
We need to stay calm and carry on.
We need to stay in our lane and stay the course.
Let me ask you.
How much of what you’re saying is a regurgitation of the news channel you watch or the social media accounts you follow?
How much of what you’re saying is a recitation of the revelation you are getting from God’s Word?
Mark 4:39 (NIV)
39 He got up, ...
Then Jesus got up, and grabbed an oar, and started rowing like crazy!!! No!
Then Jesus got up, and started bailing the water out of the boat. No!!!
What did Jesus do?
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.
Why is that important?!?!
What does this have to do with “cutting the rope”?!?!
Listen…
We suffer from hindsight bias.
We know how every story ends, so we lose the element of surprise.
We lose the shock and awe.
Jesus stands up and rebukes the wind and waves. Why?
Because He has the authority to do so!
Three little words: “Peace — be — still.”
And the storm stopped!!!
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We have been given spiritual authority, in a spirit of humility, to rebuke the wind and the waves.
We have the authority to stand in the gap as peacemakers, grace givers, and tone setters.
We are in a spiritual battle!
But listen, our weapons are not carnal. Our weapons have the divine power to demolish strongholds!
We don’t fight fire with fire.
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
We defeat them by shifting the atmosphere.
We rebuke hate with love.
We rebuke pride with humility.
We rebuke cursing with blessing.
We rebuke lies with truth.
We rebuke injustice with righteousness.
We rebuke judgment with grace — the same grace that we were given!!!
We have the authority to move mountains.
We have authority over evil spirits. For some people that sounds spooky and weird, but we are wrestling against powers and principalities.
We have been given authority over death and disease.
BUT…
We underestimate our authority in Christ… because we fail to understand our identity in Christ.
We are children of God! Co-heirs with Christ! We have been given the authority to “Win The Day”!
18 “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
We need to reclaim our authority over this world through Christ!
We need to “Cut The Rope.”
We need to say “enough is enough”!
It’s now or never.
Like David, we need to fight Goliath.
Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego we need to refuse to bow to the statue of a godless king.
We Need Revival!!!!
14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
We need to humble ourselves and pray and seek God first… We need to turn from our wicked ways.
Revival always starts with repentance.
It’s repenting of our personal sin… and lamenting our corporate sin.
It starts with the people of God… on their knees… completely broken before God — cutting the rope that holds us to this world!
Even Jesus had to cut that rope!
In the Garden of Gethsemane… it tells us that Jesus literally sweat blood… as He struggled with the anxiety and stress of what He was meant to face.... He had a choice to make… He had to choose to cut the rope of wordly self-preservation, for our sake!
What did He choose?
“Not my will, but yours be done!”
Is that what we choose?
We have to choose to cut the rope of worldly self-preservation…
We have to choose God’s purpose for our lives over financial and social safety in this world…
We have to choose revival…
It starts with us!
Rodney “Gypsy” Smith was born on the outskirts of London in 1860.
He never received a formal education, yet he lectured at Harvard.
And, he was invited by two sitting United States presidents to the White House.
Gypsy crisscrossed the Atlantic Ocean forty-five times, preaching the gospel to millions of people, and he never preached without someone surrendering their life to Christ.
Gypsy was powerfully used by God.
Everywhere he went, it seemed like revival was right on his heels.
But it wasn’t his preaching that brought revival.
Gypsy revealed his secret to a delegation of revivalists who sought an audience with him. They wanted to know how they could make a difference with their lives the way he had with his.
Listen to what he told them:
“Go home. Lock yourself in your room. Kneel down in the middle of the floor, and with a piece of chalk draw a circle around yourself. There, on your knees, pray fervently and brokenly that God would start a revival within that chalk circle.“
Prayer is the difference between us fighting for God and God fighting for us.
It is time for us to…
— Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death.
— Quit living as if the only thing that matters is our little circle.
It is time for us to get on our knees and pray for God to pour out revival right here… right now… in our little circle!
13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jesus publicly went to the cross for you… Will you publicly come to the cross for Him?
Let’s pray together.