The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, At-Home Service for August 1st

One word that may have been used more than any other in that passage read from Matthew (14:22-33) was fear. Even though life is very different for us now than it was for Peter and the other disciples in the first century, fear remains. It is something common to all human experience.

One evening during the first week that my family lived in Florida Tonya and I were putting things away and getting settled when we heard a sustained, blood-curdling scream. We went running toward the sound and found our youngest daughter in the bathroom. She had gone to take a shower, had stepped into the tub, pulled the shower curtain behind her, and turned around to see a palmetto bug in the corner opposite from her. What native Floridians would dismiss as a palmetto bug is what we would recognize as a two-inch cockroach. My daughter was so traumatized that every evening for the next two years someone had to check the bathroom for bugs before she would take a shower. And, even with that precaution, it was a considerable amount of time before she was willing to shower without her sister or mother remaining in the bathroom with her. She was afraid of what might happen.

Click here to view the at-home version of the service.

There are other situations in which our fears rise from past failures. We fear what punishment awaits us as a result of the things we’ve done. Both of these kinds of fears were evident in the passage from Matthew.

When the disciples in the boat saw Jesus walking toward them on the water they were afraid. Their reaction almost reminds one of what we heard last week concerning old King Herod (Matthew 14:1-12). Herod was afraid when he heard about Jesus because he thought that the powers at work in John the Baptist were present in Jesus to haunt him for all of his wickedness. The disciples in the boat who saw Jesus walking toward them on the water thought he was a ghost and they were terrified.

Click here to read Pastor Rike’s sermon.


Video Options

Follow along with the service on video led by Pastor Rike, with music performed by Randy Broker.

The Tenth Sunday After Pentecost Service for August 1st includes:
Intro 
Hymn- Eternal Father, Strong to Save performed by the Rike Family
First Reading- 1 Kings 19:9-18
Gospel- Matthew 14:22-33
Sermon by Pastor David Rike
Hymn- Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me performed by the Rike Family
Prayers
Blessing