Calvary Distinctives – Ventures of Faith
Servant
School
June
3, 2021
Introduction
This class is
from chapter twelve of Chuck Smith’s book “Calvary Chapel Distinctives”. This lesson is called “Ventures of Faith”
Charles Ward Smith’s
life was filled with these “Ventures of Faith”.
To put it in another way, he was willing to take risks.
Some of then turned into wonderful works of God.
Some didn’t.
In the book, Chuck talked about some of the Ventures of Faith he took over
the years – buying
the KWVE radio station, buying
the Murrieta Hot Springs property, and starting the Harvest Crusades.
I’d like to share a clip of Chuck sharing how he took the step back in the
early 1960’s, that “Venture of Faith” to leave a prosperous church of three
hundred in Corona and
pastor the little tiny church of 25 in Costa Mesa
called “Calvary Chapel”, long before the Jesus Movement began.
You’re going to hear that it was filled with the same kind of things that
you and I might go through if we were thinking about decisions like this.
Video Clip
from Chuck Smith Man of Impact; around 32:00
Fullerton’s
Ventures of Faith
Though Calvary Chapel of Fullerton is miniscule compared to the things God
did through Chuck, I too had to learn to take a Venture in Faith when we
started.
I was pretty happy and content being an assistant pastor at
Calvary Chapel Anaheim. I got a regular
salary. I had the opportunity to use my
gift of teaching on Sunday nights. My
kids got free tuition in a Christian school.
Yet we faced this nagging thought that it was time to move on.
The idea was pretty well formed in the summer of 1994
and we began to pray about how it would happen.
I thought I had
a great idea of waiting until we could gather a team of 30 people to help us
plant the church – patterning it after David’s Thirty Mighty Men.
But as summer turned into fall, I was feeling convicted – I realized that
the best way to start a church was to take a step of faith.
One verse God used was –
(Hebrews 11:6 NKJV) But without faith it is
impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He
is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
If we wanted our new church to be pleasing, we needed to
exercise faith.
So we decided to set a date to start the church, whether or not we had our thirty mighty men.
I gave my notice at Calvary Anaheim, and we planned on
starting two months later.
It
was kind of interesting to note that when we started, we actually did have 30 families.
If you talk to Caleb,
he will tell you similar stories from his life, and some of the “Ventures of
Faith” he’s taken.
When he and Kim decided to go to the mission field in Hungary, he had to
take a huge step.
He left very successful job leading prosperous Karate studio. Their family was growing. They had purchased their first house.
He was willing to give all that up, and take a job
on the mission field where he would at times wonder where their next paycheck
was coming from.
Here’s a clip from 2009
Show Beller
Hungary 2009 Video clip
Over ten years,
he would see the Bible College in Hungary grow and prosper. And then he’d be willing to give that up and
move back to Fullerton where I would be handing the baton to him as Senior
Pastor.
First mission trip
In 2003 we invited George Bryson to
speak at our church. George was being
used to start Calvary Chapels in Russia, and he asked us to join him on his
next trip.
I was terrified.
After traveling for two days, we
arrived in Kirov.
We fell in love with Russia.
It was on that
first trip that we met a young fellow named Alexi, with whom we would plant a
church seven years later.
It was on that
first trip that Caleb took his first overseas mission trip with Kim (who was
pregnant with Charis).
Alexi now pastors two small groups
in two cities. They are large churches, they are like two home fellowships.
But there is a
healthy work that got started way back with a step of faith.
There were
several principles that Chuck laid out over the chapter. These are the kinds of things that help us
take those scary steps of faith.
1.
God can do anything
The principle
can be seen with Jonathan and his armor-bearer.
He had a correct theology in his understanding of God when it came to
taking on the Philistines.
(1 Samuel 14:6 NKJV) Then Jonathan said to the young man
who bore his armor, “Come, let us go over to the garrison of these
uncircumcised; it may be that the Lord
will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord
from saving by many or by few.”
In reality, if God is real, anything can happen.
2.
Admit your mistakes
It’s important
to realize you may make a mistake.
If you realize you’ve made a mistake, don’t be shy about pulling the plug
and admitting your failure.
Sometimes God will lead us into an adventure, and we need to
persevere through difficult times.
But sometimes we’ve been mistaken and God wasn’t leading us at all.
Don’t try to
keep something alive that has died.
It’s better to have tried and failed, then to
never have tried because of fear.
3.
Take that step of faith
God is looking for people through whom He can work.
(2 Chronicles 16:9 NKJV) For the eyes
of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on
behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.
God is looking to work through someone willing to be open to Him.
If you think that God might be leading you, take your shoe off and put your
toe in the water, and give it a try.
I don’t know if you’ve
watched any of this new streaming TV show, “The Chosen”, or not.
But it’s pretty exciting stuff, and it has gone
viral, being seen by millions of people all around the world.
The director of
the show is named Dallas Jenkins.
He’s a strong evangelical Christian with a background in making movies.
But before he started “the Chosen” series, he went through a dark time,
having failed with one of his movies.
When the idea of this TV series came about, Dallas was afraid to try it.
The other day Dallas posted a clip of what helped him turn the corner, take
the step of faith, and start down the path of developing the series, which has
now had an impact across the world.
Chosen
Video clip
Here’s one last
exhortation.
When I talk
about making a “Venture of Faith”, I’m not saying that God is going to do
something so big that you’ll make headlines.
It’s really
about learning to hear and obey God.
There are many things God wants us to do that might seem small in
comparison to some of the examples I’ve given, but they are all so very
important.
We want to learn to step out in faith.
I hope that
helps