I have a memory trace as a child, playing around my mother’s knees. I looked up as she was embroidering. I remember her saying “pretty.” Looking up at it from the bottom, I saw only knots and threads going off in all directions without apparent rhyme or reason. When she turned it around, so I could see it from the top, a colorful design greeted my eyes. I repeated back to her, “pretty.” It was one of the first words I learned to say after dada, mama, no, and mine.

By faith, I believe, we can rise above circumstances and view them from the top. What was confused and chaotic can now be discerned as having plan and purpose. Our angle of observation is all important.

I am told that in India, rugs are hung vertically and woven from the backside. Only the master craftsman can see the pattern developing. He instructs the workmen how to weave. What if they make a mistake and sow the wrong color or stitch? Does he have the mistake pulled out of the pattern? I am told that if he is truly a master craftsman he can leave in the error and direct the workers to weave around it so that the finished beauty of the carpet will be enhanced by the mistake.

This does not give us an excuse to mess up. But it does comfort us to realize that when we make serious errors in judgment and behavior our God is great enough to use them to beautify our lives with his grace and mercy. Let’s try to see this from the top. From the Master Craftsman’s perspective, nothing is chaos and confusion, running off in all directions without plan or purpose, rather, everything is according to a divine design.

If you were unable to attend the assessment report meeting yesterday, you can listen to the audio here.

Listen to The Assessment Report

The Last Days

A Picture of Life

May 6, 2012

John 21:1-22

Sermon Outline Notes

Jesus outlines his expectations for his followers:

Continue to _GROW__!

            Desire God’s pure word as newborn babies desire milk. Then you will grow in your salvation. Certainly you have tasted that the Lord is good!

1 Peter 2:2-3 (God’s Word)

Share _YOUR_ _LIFE_!

            Preach the word of God. Be persistent, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.

2 Timothy 4:2 (NLT)

Stay _FOCUSED_!

            I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.

Philippians 3:12-14 (Message)

In spite of following orders from headquarters, they were caught up in a storm and in danger of sinking. So, my dear brother or sister in Christ, as you are bailing frantically to survive adversity, don’t think it’s because you have turned your back on God and lost your way.  You might be, like the disciples, right where God wants you to be, doing just what he wants you to do.  After all, God has not promised us always smooth sailing, but he has promised us a safe arrival on the other shore.

Matthew’s account of this same event records impetuous Peter getting out of the boat, to meet Jesus walking on the water towards them.  The amazing thing is, Peter took a few steps but was then distracted by his perilous predicament.  Taking his eyes off Jesus he began to sink.  He cried out in desperation, “Lord save me” and a miraculous power lifted him up and restored him to the boat.

What lessons can we learn from this story which is both an historical event and a parable of life?  For one we can draw comfort from the fact that what is over our heads is under his feet.  No matter how deep the water, he is always above the circumstances.  For another, it is impossible to predict what we can do, when we keep our eyes on Jesus and make him the focus of our undivided attention. What a lesson on faith.  God miraculously supports us in that area where the feet of faith touch down on the waters of life.

Another source of comfort is the realization that Jesus knows our situation.  Mark’s account says: “he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind” (Mark 6:48).  He couldn’t have seen them with his physical vision because they were three miles out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee on a storm darkened night.  Nevertheless he saw them with the eyes of his heart and came to them on the water.  “His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me.”

If Jesus sees, knows and cares for his disciples then we can endure anything that life may bring! We can view the worst of times not as something strange and foreign but as a normal part of the Christian walk, which will eventually bring us safely to the other side of time which is eternity.

Written by Marshall Hoffman

FCCC Upwords Author