Fellowship Church Channel | Multi-Campus Church – Grapevine, Texas | Pastor Ed Young

it’s great to be here you know my most favorite thing in the world is to fish and I don’t know if you’re watching and you’re like yeah I enjoy fishing as well fishing is a biblical sport I hope you know that many of the disciples were fishermen and Jesus said that were to be fishers of men well a while back I had the opportunity to do some fishing in the Atlantic Ocean and it was a great great day of fishing we had a wonderful time I was fishing with a friend of mine named Bo we’ve been a little 16 foot boat out in the middle of nowhere the Sun was melting into the horizon it was like again we’re by ourselves in the large large vast a Florida Keys area the boat was turning toward the marina oh and I was like okay we’re only about two minutes away from the marina because the marina was right there close we could see it and suddenly my friend Bo over the noise of the engine said yeah somebody is out there swimming behind their boat and again they’re big honking sharks in this area and we looked and sure enough there was a guy out there it looked like he was swimming and then my friend said let’s go check this dude out because he might be in trouble so we motored over to this guy oh we finally got to him his boat was about 100 yards away from him and this man was in the process of drowning and he was like around so we look down in the water and in this guy’s at least 350 pounds he looks about 6 feet 6 inches tall I’m am a bow and I grabbing on how we did it we pulled him into our little boat our boat was taking on water and everything and the guy finally began his composure he started crying thank you thank you if you guys haven’t come by I would have drowned and we were like what happened he said I was fishing he said I fell over and the wind kept pushing my boat away from me I tried to swim and catch the boat I couldn’t I got tired and I was just several minutes away from sinking he comes thank you for rescuing me so we were like wow so we drove over to the guys boat dropped him off when he was okay and then we turned and made our way to the marina and this happened within eyesight of the marina once we got to the marina we saw all of these boats creatively stacked and tied up at the dock and I don’t know if you’ve noticed this anytime you see a marina marinas are always occupied isn’t that weird I mean they’re never empty anyway I saw this beautiful boat at the front of the marina that was tied up it was about a quarter of a million dollar craft a gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous thing and on the front of the boat on the bow stood this guy he was just rip time he had a p90x body and and next to him was I hope it was his wife his wife or girlfriend or whatever and she had on the resemblance of a bikini I’ve seen more caught in an aspirin bottle than she had on anyway as we got closer and closer it was kind of weird both of them smiled and then waved and then the guy whacked her on the bottom and it was it was eerie and I thought to myself man that’s crazy here we just rescued a guy drew it was it was fighting for his life and now we’re seeing this couple standing on a very expensive boat smiling and waving in whacking each other on the bottom then God spoke to me not an audible voice but God spoke to my spirit and said Ed that’s the problem with the church that’s the problem with so many believers they have this marina mentality they’re tied up to the dock smiling and waving and whacking each other on the bottom while drowning people are sinking without Christ to the bottom and facing a crisis eternity and they’re just out of reach they’re right there they’re within sight of the church but we’re so focused on the marina mentality that we miss those people who were drowning don’t ask you something who is drowning in your life who is that person you see each and every day at the coffee shop around the golf course at the gym the neighborhood the boardroom who’s drowning who’s saying no because think about it jesus said the words the powerful words in Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20 he said 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 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you jesus said he did say yo he said go and in the original language it’s as you’re going AAS as you’re going what was Jesus saying he was telling the church get your ass in gear that’s right as you’re working as you’re playing golf as you’re drinking coffee as you’re shooting basketball as you’re traveling as your antiquing make sure you are seeing drowning people and helping with the rescue process because the Bible is an anthology of the rescue we rescued this guy from drowning yet Jesus says hey it’s all about the rescue the ring is the thing who is the ring the ring is Jesus what happened well God saw our situation God saw that that we were drowning God saw our depravity God could have said well see you don’t want to be yeah but he didn’t what did he do God through a life ring to you and me who’s that ring that ring is Jesus we all deserve it God did it because of his irrational one-of-a-kind crazy love his ridiculous love the Bible is all about the rescue rescue rescue rescue rescue so we’ve been rescued once we let go of these poor flotation devices power and possessions and pleasure and grasp the life ring we’re rescued what was Jesus saying in Matthew 28 he was saying the radically rescued rescue radically are you a part of the rescue because in a believers life the ring is the thing Jesus came from the top to the bottom to bring us from the bottom to the top but not only is the ring the thing the hope is the rope I mean this disrobe is tethered to the ring you throw a life ring out and and you’ve got to be a part of the rope it’s got to be tethered to something what is the Rope tether to the only institution that Jesus ever built the local church that is the rescue society I was doing some research a while back I discovered that a lot of the Yacht Club’s started off as rescue societies they started off with people who were into it people who were jumping these little boats and face the wind and the waves and the water just to rescue people but inevitably after a while people got tired of rescuing tired of being sunburned tired of seasickness so they started Yacht Club just sipping champagne and eating caviar just just tying their boats to the marina the marina mentality the church is not a marina the church is a rescue society the ring is the thing the hope is the rope and we better pull so the house will be full are you a part of the pole are you engaged are you involved in the local church because the church is a fellowship best the name of our church fellowship church what’s a fellowship a bunch of men and women rowing the ship Jesus is the captain oh and when we’re rowing ship towards Jesus he always takes us by a bunch of drowning people and when we’re rowing the ship together we don’t have time to rock the boat don’t tip the boat over rock the boat we don’t have time to complain we’re gonna have time to whine we are a part the pull the ring is the thing the hope is a rope pull so the house will be full are you a part of the pool I discover something because I’ve grown up in a pastor’s home and if passed it for 20 years now pretty much everybody wants to reach people until you start reaching people I’m said again everybody wants to reach people until you start reaching people because we start reaching people you got to work and if I’m the enemy which I’m not the enemy wants to come in and give us some rescue TSA’s get it rescues as I made the word up excuses about why we shouldn’t be involved in this process and I’ve written some down one is the sheeple rescues yeah yeah a lot of churches these days just shuffle sheeple from one church to another from this church to that church hot not not hot and that is not reaching people who are far away from God another excuse the depth excuse well I just I just I just want to go deep deep all rescues are in the deep there’s no such thing it’s a shallow water rescue and suddenly low babies are splashing around in the shallows with their floaties on babies have no concept of the deep you want to go deep you begin to say you know what the ring is the thing you begin to say wow the hope is the rope Wow I’m going to be a part of the pull you begin to get outside of yourself and share I’m telling you all heaven will break loose in your life here’s another excuse the god in the Box excuse Oh we’ll just put God in a box they’re gods in a box the Elector the elect and that’s the way the deal is well I believe in election is in the Bible I also believe in choice you’re telling me you figured out you know where election begins in choice ends or where choice begins an election ends say what say what god has gotten out of every box I’ve ever tried to put him in so here’s what I do I keep nominating them and God keeps on electing them the god in the box no no no no how about the no far away from God friends excuse the bible calls us to be what salt and light and 11 the bible calls us to penetrate a darkened world we all like to do certain things I know for example Marcus enjoys playing golf I enjoy fishing what do you enjoy it could be designing it could be building it could be woodworking it could be I don’t know what what do you like to do God smiles when we’re doing that stuff he wants us to have fun but I challenge you to do what you’d like to do around people who are far away from God it’ll change it what you pray it’ll change it where you preach it’ll change the way you read the scriptures do what you do with people who are far away from God just recently I was fishing with the guy who’s totally far away from God and I’ve been praying for him for a long time this guy had never been to church in his life and one day in the middle of the ocean he said Ed what is Christianity all about well what is it I knew the stakes were sky high and I said grace he said what’s grace he said what in the bleep is grace to quote him but he used to work and I explained it and then I challenged him i said you know have you ever responded to it I just felt God leading me and through my stumblings and fumblings the guy prayed the prayer to commit his life to Christ right there in the middle of the ocean with tears streaming down his face he’d never been in church in his life here I was enjoying what I like to do fishing so let’s see the ring is the thing the hope is the Rope pull so the house will be full and it will change your life