New Life UMC

•Wave Pool – I don’t know how familiar you are with waves; but they can be pretty scary and very unpredictable. Since we moved up to the Rockford area we have taken family and friend’s kids to Magic Waters. One trip we had several kids with us, including our nieces and their friends. We were in the wave pool; which is fun and one of my nieces and her friend got out a little too far into the deep end. I could see them struggling as the waves got bigger and see that they were not able to get back to the shallow end. So I swam out to them amidst the waves and took hold of each of them. I’m not a great swimmer, but growing up on two rivers and spending summers by the lake taught me to swim pretty well. That being said, holding on to two panicked pre-teens and fighting growing waves made for one of the more difficult and scary swims of my life. Thankfully we were in a safe environment and they could have turned off the machines if needed; but it was still a little scary. When we are out of our element and in the middle of a storm, things can get out of control really fast.

•Algebra – I always liked math, but in eight grade I started algebra and really struggled with it. I understood addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; but I could not conceptualize how to solve problems with unknowns. Adding letters to my math problems really threw me off. There were just too many possibilities, my mind could rest on the right answer. My teacher saw that I was struggling and sat down with me after class every day to help me. She taught me that those x’s and y’s weren’t limitless possibilities, they were in relationship with the rest of the equation. No matter how much or how little information you had, as long as you had a little you could solve for x. After I figured that out I started to excel in algebra and it’s still one of my favorite subjects. But it’s also relevant to miracles. In our world we tend to view things simply: 2+5=7 for example. But God can always throw an x into the equation. Today we’re going to see what 2+5+X equals.

•Very Superstitious – when you put your faith in false promises they will always fail. The man (and many others) believed that the natural “stirring” of the pool would grant healing to the first one in via an angel who caused the stirring (the actual cause was a natural spring that fed the pool); but no one was ever healed. What do you put your faith in time and time again that always fails? •What superstitions keep you from believing fully in God?o“More money will solve all my problems”o“Getting married/having kids will make me happy”o“A new job would give my life meaning”

John 4:46-5446He returned to Cana in Galilee where he had turned the water into wine. In Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. 47When he heard that Jesus was coming from Judea to Galilee, he went out to meet him and asked Jesus if he would come and heal his son, for his son was about to die. 48Jesus said to him, "Unless you see miraculous signs and wonders, you won’t believe." 49The royal official said to him, "Lord, come before my son dies." 50Jesus replied, "Go home. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and set out for his home. 51While he was on his way, his servants were already coming to meet him. They said, "Your son lives!" 52So he asked them at what time his son had started to get better. And they said, "The fever left him yesterday at about one o’clock in the afternoon." 53Then the father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son lives." And he and his entire household believed in Jesus. 54This was the second miraculous sign Jesus did while going from Judea to Galilee.

John 2:1-101On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and 2Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration. 3When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, "They don’t have any wine." 4Jesus replied, "Woman, what does that have to do with me? My time hasn’t come yet." 5His mother told the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." 6Nearby were six stone water jars used for the Jewish cleansing ritual, each able to hold about twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water," and they filled them to the brim. 8Then he told them, "Now draw some from them and take it to the headwaiter," and they did. 9The headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

•Facebook – it’s hard to love people on Facebook sometimes. I’d like to say social media was a place for intelligent conversation and debate; but I have yet to experience that. I have friends who are passionate about their belief that the earth is 4000 years old and that is biblical truth which has to be defended at all costs. I have friends who believe God isn’t real and continuous try to disprove God whenever they can. Those friends are at odds quite often. It can be difficult to love each other in the midst of an argument. I have friends who believe vaccinations are dangerous and do not vaccinate their children and are passionate about that. I have friends who think those friends are stupid and causing the downfall of modern civilization. They also tend to disagree on Facebook. Make up any debate. We tend to be polarized; form sides and opinions and stick to our guns. We tend to demonize the “others” and elevate ourselves. And it’s not just Facebook is it? It seems to be part of the human condition: disagree and argue; neither of which is that bad but it easily turned to anger and hated. As Christ followers we try to live as Christ commanded, and his commandment was pretty clear: love one another.

•What is Love? – So, what is love? The dictionary defines love as: “a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person.” Isn’t that how many of us view love? Love is a feeling, an emotion or emotional state. We even hear love naysayers point to the fact that the feeling of love can be recreated by eating a large quantity of chocolate. Love is therefore a chemical reaction. I think anyone who has studied the brain and emotions like I have would tell you that love is much more complicated than that. In fact love contains a myriad of emotional states and feelings and produces varied chemical reactions in the brain. In other words, language and science are as confused about love as the general public. But it’s really not the hard to define love at all.

•Get Released – Jesus gathered people around him. He excited them, grounded them, transformed them; but that was not the end. He released them into the world. As we end our series on Finding Fish we are going to see how Jesus released his disciples and how we need to set ourselves loose in the work of finding.

•Changing – to live is to change. If you don’t believe that statement you are living in denial. We grow from infants to adults and as adults are bodies change as we age and ultimately die. In death our bodies decay and break down; and although energy may never be lost, it is often is a state of change. Some people live lives that seem not to change; I can barely fathom a life that isn’t in a constant state of transformation. As an adult, I haven’t lived six months without some major change in my life. So the truth is we are all changing into something; the question is, into what? And for whom?

•Grounded – I had an evangelist stop by once; and being a gracious person I invited him in and got him something to drink. We spoke for a while and he wanted to make sure that I was saved. I asked him what was so important about being saved. He told me that if I wasn’t saved I would suffer forever in the fires of Hell. I told him that didn’t sound like much fun. I asked him how I would go about getting saved and he replied that I had to proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and pray a Sinner’s Prayer. Sounded simple enough. I asked what would happen then. He said I would be saved. I asked what being saved entailed; and he thought for a moment and said that I would need to go out and help more people get saved. I asked if I would be unsaved if I didn’t do that. He thought and said, no, that I was saved if I did what he asked. I asked what good being saved was if it didn’t change anything about me or my life. He bid me good day and sadly I never saw him again. Saving souls is great work; and Jesus Christ accomplished it 2000 years ago. Sometimes we get so excited about certain aspects of our faith that we forget to get our heads out of the clouds and our feet back on the ground. Finding isn’t just about making sure we all get to heaven; it’s about offering people something today. Before we go out to fish we have to make sure we are grounded.