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Unbinding
Martha grace Reese
yourchURch
Steps & Sermons
Sermons by dawn darwin Weaks
Pastor’s GuideReal Life Evangelism Series
Unbinding Your Church
Sermons for the E-vent@Your Church
By Rev. Dawn Darwin Weaks
Formatted for preaching
These sermons are licensed for use, in whole or in part, by purchasers of Unbinding Your Church
(See Licensure Agreement on next page.)
Title/Week Page
Introductory Sermon: “The Baptism Barrier” 4 Week 1: “The Paul Problem” 11 Week 2: “The Prayer Plunge” 18 Week 3: “The Converted Community” 26 Week 4: “Catalytic Conversations” 33 Week 5: “Healing Hospitality” 39 Week 6: “Faith Focus” 45
NOTE: Sermons work best when they FOLLOW the groups' study of each chapter. Pastors - be anchormen & women, don't try to lead the congregation into this material.
Licensing Agreement
The Unbinding the Gospel Series WILL change the way you think and practice evangelism IF you follow the guidelines, steps, and timetable contained in the books. We strongly recommend that you purchase a copy of Unbinding Your Church for:
• each pastor in your congregation • the E-vent Coordinator • the Prayer Team Coordinator • your Small Groups Coordinator
Each of these key participants must have all the tools contained in these books to plan and organize a smooth and effective all-church study.
Purchasers of Unbinding Your Church are licensed to make as many
copies as they need of the introduction and specific chapters of this book for all team members, small group leaders, office staff and musicians for one E-vent in your specific congregation – see chart on p. 41). Copying the book in its entirety is a violation of this agreement.
As a purchaser of this book, you are licensed to download one free
copy of seven complete sample sermons and a full set of organizational forms from www.GraceNet.info. You may use the sermons for your E-vent in any way you wish, including preaching them verbatim. We have made these materials available online so that we could format them in a larger size, add color-coding and keep the price of the book low and accessible to everyone! Your password to access these downloads is printed on page 82.
Introductory Sermon: “The Baptism Barrier”
Acts 8:26-37
Have you ever thought of yourself as an evangelist? You know, an
evangelist. Someone like this deacon named Philip in today's Scripture
reading. Someone who shares the gospel with people who don’t know
about Jesus. Have you thought of yourself as someone who tells others
about Jesus?
I'm betting that shockwaves just went through your body. Very few of
us warm to the word evangelism. It seems to either make us feel guilty
because we're not doing it, or turn us off because there's no way we would
ever want to do it. A very large study has just been done on evangelism in
churches like ours. The conclusive finding was that the vast majority of
people would rather go get a root canal than talk about, much less DO,
evangelism. For the last forty years, most churches have been in decline.
It seems we’ve developed a life-threatening aversion to evangelism! Right
now, at this very minute, you may want to put your fingers in your ears and
sing “la, la, la.” Anything to drown out the “E” word!
Why do so many of us have such a visceral reaction to evangelism?
There are all kinds of reasons why not much evangelism is happening in
most congregations. I'll give you some of my own reasons. I don't want to
be anything close to the stereotype that comes to my mind when I think of
an "evangelist."
I don't want to have fake eyelashes or big hair
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or bilk people out of their money.
Nor do I want to offend people by pressuring them with rhetoric
about where they'll spend eternity.
Besides that, I wonder sometimes what business I have telling people
what they ought to be doing or believing. I have enough trouble in my own
life doing and believing what I should.
I'd rather just do the best I can,
being the best Christian I can be,
and hope that is a good enough witness to others.
After all, St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times.
Use words if necessary.” I do fine talking faith language with you here at
church. But when I’m with people who aren’t churchgoers, words fail. I
flounder. I hope words aren’t necessary.
But what happens when we meet someone who obviously needs to
hear some words about God’s love? Someone like the Ethiopian eunuch.
He is an African man with an important job that came at a high price. Most
likely, he had been castrated at some point in his life so that he could serve
the queen of Ethiopia. That why he's called a "eunuch." He was unable to
be married or have children. Religious law kept him from participating in
worship services. Yet, somehow, he had heard of God and wanted to know
more about God. What do you do when you don't think of yourself as an
evangelist but you come across someone like this man?
Someone who bears deep wounds inflicted by the world . . .
Someone who is not welcomed by traditional religion . . .
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Someone who looks successful but feels empty . . .
Someone who is searching for God,
searching for something besides what he has . . .
Someone who needs to hear about God’s love.
Someone like Rick. Rick was a successful businessman. He came
to one of our sister churches in the “Bible belt” of this country. He came
because he saw an ad they had placed on TV. The minister of the church
had been opposed to putting ads for a church on television. "Only
fundamentalist mega-churches do that," he'd said. "It costs too much
anyway. We should be using that money for caring for the poor. Besides,"
he'd said, "What kind of people pick their church from ads on television?"
But the church did it anyway. They got dozens of visitors who had
never before been to any church in their lives. One of them was Rick. Rick
brought his 8-year-old son, Andy, to church one Sunday. The children's
Sunday school happened to be studying Esther that day, and Andy was
part of the class. Monday morning the minister got a call from Rick. "My
son is so excited about this story he heard at church," he said. "He said the
story is from the 'book of Esther.' Can you tell me where I can get a copy of
that book? I want to read it to him at home. Can I buy it at Barnes and
Noble or somewhere?'" Rick, a college graduate and successful
businessman, had never owned a Bible. He had no idea that Esther is a
book in the Bible.
Does it shock you that you can grow up in this country and not know
that Esther is a book in the Bible? This is increasingly true. In 1910 only
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3% of Americans were growing up with no faith training, but in the 1980s
14.5% were growing up with no faith training. And the number of people
coming to adulthood in the U.S. with no faith training at all continues to
increase. In our own community, in this very zip code where our church is
located, the latest demographic study shows that ________ of our
neighbors have no religious identity. They are not Muslim, Jewish,
Buddhist, or Christian. They are not connected religiously at all.
[You may be able to get this information from www.link2lead, from your
judicatory office, or from a census available through your City Hall or
Chamber of Commerce.]
"What is to prevent me from being baptized?" the Ethiopian man
asked. That’s a good question. For people like Rick, the obstacle to being
baptized, to becoming a Christian, is simply that no one has ever told them
about God. Let me say that again. No one has ever told them about God.
Friends, I wonder if we are preventing people from hearing about God. Are
we keeping people from hearing about God’s love? Are we constructing
barriers between the gospel and the people who desperately need to hear it?
Is our fear of being like a stereotype a barrier?
Is our lack of confidence in ourselves a barrier?
Is our desire to give people their "space"
about religion a barrier?
Could it be that for many people like Rick, we are actually preventing
them from knowing more about God? Are we keeping people from
becoming followers of Jesus Christ?
You know how tight lids on water bottles can be sometimes? These
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grip things help so much. [Hold one up] Can you imagine sitting there
with one of these in your hand, keeping it to yourself, while someone, even
someone you don't know, struggles to get to that water? Of course not!
You would gladly share what you had to make things better for someone
else. You wouldn't just keep it to yourself if someone needed it! But this is
exactly what the church does when we do not share the gospel with those
in need. We sit with the keys to the waters of baptism in our hands.
Meanwhile, neighbors around us are desperately thirsty to know that God
loves them through Jesus Christ. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
Maybe that is easier said than done. It certainly seems that Philip
had it easier than we do. After all, the Spirit of God seemingly transported
him to the Ethiopian man's side and compelled him to share the gospel! It
seems like all Philip did was show up and God did the rest. If we were to
be evangelists, do you think it would it be like that for us? How could we
partner with God? How could we be authentic to who we are, not trying to
be some stereotype or push something over on someone? How would the
Spirit work with us? Where would the Spirit of God send us?
Who would be on our pathway?
Friends, I invite you to come on a spiritual adventure with me. What
would it look like for us to be evangelists? This is what we'll be exploring
together as a church for 6 weeks, starting _____________. [Give
specifics of your E-vent here] You are invited to pray, to study, to
question, and to think about how God might be sending us out to share the
gospel of Jesus Christ. As a church, we will be reading the short book,
Unbinding Your Heart. It came out of the study I mentioned earlier. Today
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in your bulletin there are sign-up sheets for the small groups that are
forming now. We will use these groups for prayer and discussion. You will
be spiritually encouraged and intellectually stimulated in these groups. You
can even participate in an online group! Together, we will be inviting God
to show us what it would look like for us to become evangelists. What
would it be like for us to share God’s love in our own unique way?
A family told me about one of the most memorable Christmases they
ever had. It was the last Christmas they spent at their grandparents' house.
The grandfather had Parkinson's disease. Soon, they would move to an
assisted living center. It had been their family's tradition to gather around
the Christmas tree and listen to the granddad read the Christmas story from
Luke. This year, when Granddad tried to read, he could barely move his
Parkinson’s-locked jaws. He just couldn’t manage to speak the words
aloud. The family sat there and watched him struggle. No one seemed to
know what to do. Should they say something? Would it hurt his pride if
someone helped him?
No one did anything for what seemed to be a very long time. But
Emily, the 6-year-old granddaughter, had just learned to read. She knew
exactly what to do. She quietly tiptoed over to his chair and plopped herself
beside him. Then, taking his finger into her hand, she helped him point to
each word, saying them out loud with him as they read along together:
“Unto you
is born this day
a Savior,
which is Christ the Lord.”
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"Do you know what you're reading?" Philip asked the Ethiopian
eunuch. The man nearly begged, "How can I unless someone guides me?"
So Phillip went
and sat beside him.
Who will God lead you to sit beside?
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Sermon #1 “The Paul Problem”
Acts 9:1-19
I have always been jealous of people who have a dramatic
conversion story. Some people, like the apostle Paul, have a clear "before
and after" testimony of how Jesus Christ has made a difference in their
lives. The apostle Paul, known as Saul in this story, did not start out as a
fan of Jesus. He thought Jesus and his followers were heretics that needed
to be run out of town. But after Jesus appeared to Paul, everything
changed. When Ananias put his hands on Paul’s eyes, a whole new world
opened for Paul. Suddenly,
Paul saw grace.
He saw freedom.
He saw forgiveness.
He saw a whole world of people who needed the gospel.
Paul’s new faith in Christ sent his life in a brand new direction.
Instead of being an enemy of Jesus, he was an envoy for Jesus. He told
crowds of people about the gospel. He wrote most of our New Testament.
He was a new man. Paul knew what a difference it made in his life to be a
Christian.
It's not necessarily so clear to most of us who grew up in church.
Asking us what difference being a Christian makes in our lives is like asking
us what it means to us to be able to eat three meals a day. Christian faith
is that natural to us. Trying to talk about it is difficult because there's not a
definitive before and after. It's been with us all our lives. Most of us can't
remember the first time we knew God loved us. We can't recall the first
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time we heard about Jesus. We've always known about baby Jesus in the
manger. The smell of Easter lilies isn't just a beautiful smell in the florist
shop. It's the holy smell of Easter morning, our hands tucked into our Dad's
hands, grinning up at Mom in her beautiful new dress. It’s hard to articulate
what we've always been, what we've always known.
Those of us who have grown up in church may feel somewhat inferior
to people like Paul who have a dramatic testimony to tell. It makes sense
that we rarely share what our faith means to us. We don't know what we
would say! We have the “Paul Problem.”
We think that we have to have a story like Paul’s to have a “real”
testimony. We think to be able to tell someone about our faith, we need a
riveting “I was lost, but now I’m found” kind of tale to tell. Since we don’t
have a powerful before and after story, we think we don’t have a faith story
at all!
So we clam up about our faith.
We don’t say anything.
Even pastors have a hard time with this. In Unbinding your Heart,
Martha Grace Reese writes about a group of pastors she took on a retreat.
She asked these pastors what difference being a Christian made to them.
She says it was extremely, painfully quiet for a l-o-n-g time. Just silence for
a very l-o-n-g time. Finally, one pastor said, hesitantly,
"Because it makes me a better person ???" -
Surely there’s more we can say than that! But putting words to our
faith is hard for many of us. Unbinding Your Church, Sermons formatted for Preaching 12 2008, GraceNet, Inc., all rights reserved Sermon No. 1 – “The Paul Problem” Page 2 of 7
Would you use your imagination with me? Imagine that you do not go
to church on Sundays. Ever. Imagine that you do not know any hymns or
Christian songs.
Imagine that you do not know any Scripture.
You don’t know even the simplest Bible stories.
Imagine that you are not sure if God hears you when you pray,
or what words you should use to pray.
Imagine that you don’t know whom to call to pray for you.
Imagine that you don't know how God feels towards you.
What if you didn’t have a church family?
What if you didn’t even know that God exists?
Imagine.
Now I ask you, What does being a Christian mean to you?
(Name of “Show and Tell”) agreed to tell you his/her answer to that
question. [Do “Show and Tell” here.]
Once we get clear about what being a Christian means to us, it's
more natural to share our faith with others. We can tell our friends who
don’t go to church about our faith because we know what it means to us.
Think of our motivation for sharing our faith like filling up a pitcher. [Get
out a bowl or pitcher of water, an empty pitcher, and a water cup.]
Many Christians are highly motivated to share their faith because they
believe you must be a Christian to go to heaven. But surely this isn’t the
only motivation for sharing our faith! Going to heaven is a big motivation for
being a Christian, but it does not have to be our only one. As one new Unbinding Your Church, Sermons formatted for Preaching 13 2008, GraceNet, Inc., all rights reserved Sermon No. 1 – “The Paul Problem” Page 3 of 7
Christian said, "Okay, my soul is saved for when I die, but what do I do
about my life now?"
You’ve just heard some pretty powerful motivations to share your faith
from our interview. And maybe you’re aware of some of your own
motivations. Motivations like, "I have comfort from my church." [Fill up
pitcher a little.] "I feel a purpose in my life.” [Fill it up a little more.]
"I get direction from the Bible." [Fill up more.] "I don't ever feel alone."
[Fill up a little more.] "I have hope that everything will turn out alright one
day." [Fill up again.] “I am a part of God’s work in the world.” [Fill up to
the top.] All of these fill us up so that we are overflowing. We are
motivated to share with others because we know what a difference Jesus
Christ makes in our own lives, right here and right now!
There are a whole lot of people living in various kinds of hell right
here on earth. People like Saul, who had just lost his eyesight. He had
been sitting in total darkness for three days. He is so distraught he can't
eat or drink. He's probably wondering if God was about to zap him for
rejecting Jesus and his followers. Meanwhile, Jesus is working on a guy
named Ananias. Ananias was a reluctant evangelist if there ever was one.
He had every right to be. Saul was the last person he would have ever tried
to tell about Jesus. Saul had been a part of the killing of the first Christian
martyr. Christians were running scared because "Saul was breathing
threats against them." Saul was an unlikely candidate for evangelism.
So were the prostitutes that loitered on the corner of First Church in
Florida. Most people in the congregation were upper-middle class,
African-Americans who had been in church all their lives. They were not
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happy that the neighborhood was changing. They were really not happy
about the prostitution that was creeping into their parking lot. They
grumbled over the cigarette butts by the sanctuary steps. They worried
about the "bad P.R." the church was getting.
It never would have occurred to anyone that the women hanging out
on the corners were candidates for evangelism. Candidates for jail, yes,
but not candidates for evangelism! Not in their beloved church!
But one day, a faithful church member, a retired school teacher, left
choir practice on a Wednesday. She saw one of the prostitutes, leaning
against a lamppost. Singing. Right by the member’s parked Camry. She
felt pushed by the Spirit she couldn’t find other words for it to go talk
to this woman in the pink leather hot pants.
“Hi. My name is Mary. I was just singing with my choir in there. You
have a beautiful voice.”
“Yeah, I love singin’,” the young woman mumbled. “I’m Sheena.”
“Sheena, you ought to be singing for the Lord you want to come to
sing with me in my choir?” That sweet church member almost fainted as
she heard the words come out of her mouth! But Sheena finally said yes.
She showed up on the corner the next Wednesday before choir practice.
Mary took her in. Sheena did have a beautiful voice.
With the encouragement of the church,
with tutoring from Mary, her dear new, retired school teacher friend,
Sheena got her GED.
She went to college!
She finished medical school.
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Now, that former prostitute runs a medical clinic. Out of her church.
What motivated Mary to talk to Sheena? What possessed her to go
into that prostitute's personal hell and walk her out? Maybe it was what
motivated Ananias to go talk to Saul. We don’t know anything about
Ananias’ conversion story. Maybe he led a pretty ordinary existence up to
this point. Maybe, like us, he didn’t have a dramatic story to tell about his
faith. At least, not until now! The Lord Jesus appears to Ananias in a vision
and tells him to go visit Saul. This is a powerful moment of truth for
Ananias. Will he go talk to Paul? Why would he? Look at the ninth chapter
of Acts, the 15th verse.
Why does Ananias go talk to Paul about Jesus? First, Jesus told him
to go. Obedience to Christ is a major motivation. Yet, I hate to admit it, I
sometimes need more than that. Just because I know I should do
something doesn’t mean I will. Look at the 15th verse again. Jesus gives
Ananias another motivation. Something besides “because I said so.”
Jesus says, "Saul is an instrument I have chosen." Jesus had plans for
Saul. Jesus needed Saul for the ministry of God. And Jesus needed
Ananias to reach Saul.
Ananias gets to be a part of what God is doing in the world. He is a
key player in God’s plan to get the gospel out.
He gets to be the domino that tips another person into God’s love.
He gets to be the hands of God that heal someone’s pain.
He gets to be the light that shines on Saul’s dim path.
He gets to do something for God that only he can do.
He gets to be a part of God’s redemption of the world.
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Now, that’s some motivation!
Not guilt . . .
Not, “because I should” . . .
Not, “because it makes me a better person ???” Not some begrudging obedience . . .
Just a sheer, passionate desire to be a part of what God wants to do
in the world. Ananias had the opportunity to make a difference in the world
by going where God sent him. Verse 17 tells us, "So Ananias went."
The Paul Problem has an Ananias Answer. No extraordinary story
needed. All you need is an ordinary willingness to see what God can do
through you.
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Sermon #2
“The Prayer Plunge” Luke 5:1-10
The Spirit of God is moving in our church. A lot of you have told me
stories of the Spirit working as you talk about what’s happening with your
small groups, your prayer exercises, and reading the book Unbinding Your
Heart. If you're a guest today, you have come into a church that is on an
exciting adventure with God. We just started the E-vent! We're spending 6
weeks together inviting God to change us in any way that God wants to.
Do you want to join us? Anyone—we invite you to join a small group.
You can still sign up by filling out the form in your bulletin and putting it in
the offering plate. And hop into the on-line discussions, too!
In the last two weeks we've acknowledged that mainline Christians
are rapidly declining in number and influence in our country. We've
admitted our own reluctance to bring new people into Christian faith. We've
explored why it makes a difference in our lives that we are Christians. We
considered what our motivations might be for sharing the Christian faith
with people who don't have a faith.
This week, we're going to look at what makes faith sharing effective.
Ready?
We church people work hard. We’re masters at hard work! We do
CROP walks and Habitat projects. If you’ve been around churches for a
while, you’d never be surprised to hear a story of a small church putting on
a garage sale that raises four or five thousand dollars for missions. We
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publicize the sale, we clear out our closets, haul them over to church, sort
them, label them, display them, etc., etc., etc.
Then we drag ourselves home, exhausted! And again the next day.
And the next day! We know church people. We know we’re determined,
committed, hard workers for the Lord. Churches sure aren’t shrinking
because we’re lazy!
Not that you'd know it from many pastors' sermons! I’m cringing here,
as I think about all the times I’ve preached at you about commitment,
about rising to the challenge,
about trying harder for Jesus.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry because many of you are already hiking and climbing
as hard and fast as you can. And I’ve just helped load up your backpack of
guilt with a few more stones! And you keep toiling up that hill, carrying
even more weight! I will try not to do it again!
I wonder if that heavy, guilty, backpack feel is what Simon Peter and
the other disciples felt when Jesus gave one of my work-harder-work-
harder!! sermons. Jesus said, "Put out into the deep water and let out your
nets (again!)" And Simon groaned, "We’ve already been fishing. We didn’t
catch anything! But if you say so . . ." So they pulled up the anchor and
headed back out to the deep water, this time with Jesus as a fishing partner.
Into the deep waters . . . into the deep waters with Jesus. That’s
scary if we don’t know how. A friend of mine said that learning to scuba
dive was one of the scariest things she’d ever done. You have to jump off
the boat and into really deep water. She said it was terrifying. Every Unbinding Your Church, Sermons formatted for Preaching 19 2008, GraceNet, Inc., all rights reserved Sermon No. 2 – “The Prayer Plunge” Page 2 of 8
muscle tensed, her jaw clenched and she is sure that she burned up a
candy bar’s worth of calories every time she tried it! You waste a lot of
energy as you learn. And then the switch flipped! She discovered — All you
have to do is relax, breathe, and trust the water to buoy you up! All the
frantic kicking and thrashing around, all the trying so hard, all the
conscientious striving doesn’t get us as far as relaxing. As trusting.
Trusting the water to hold you up is a little like learning to fish with
Jesus. We are working hard at doing a lot of good things.
But are we doing the God-things?
Are we experiencing the peace and trust God intends for us,
or are we just tensing up and kicking too hard?
How’s our fishing going so far?
Jesus wants these men to join him in his work for God. He’ll soon
invite them to become “fishers of people.” But before he signs them up for
employment with God, it seems that he wants to be sure they “get”
something. He wants them to know that if they’re going to be effective in
this new work, they will have to follow his guidance. They will have to have
him along. When St. Luke wrote this story down, it was for a church that
was working very hard to pass the gospel on to the next generation.
Maybe, in just a few decades after Jesus’ physical presence, the church
had started getting tired with all the work they were doing. Maybe their
efforts weren’t producing like they once did. St. Luke gives them, and us,
this story to remind us. Hard work alone doesn’t cut it. Only going to the
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deep waters with Jesus will be effective. Only trusting Christ’s guidance
will produce real results for the church.
Prayer is one way to go into the deep waters with Jesus. Prayer is
the most effective way I know to hear and heed Christ’s guidance. Now, it’s
not that we don’t pray as a church. But I suspect we work a lot more than
we pray. We pray before our church meetings. But how many times do we
meet to pray? How many times has the church council spent all of its
meeting time praying? The elders? The deacons? What could God do
through us if we spent half of our meeting times in prayer? I’m starting to
get nervous just standing up here saying those words. I can feel myself
tensing up. I’m going to start kicking too hard and hyperventilating into the
mouthpiece that connects me to my air tank!
What wouldn’t get done if we prayed more?
What could God get done through us if we prayed more?
In the book we're reading together, Martha Grace Reese tells about a
church that tried prayer as the meetings rather than just before meetings.
Three high-energy, go-getter women were the new evangelism committee
for Benton Street Church. They were fired up to do great things for God
that year. They brought in Reese as a consultant to get some direction
about what they could do first. A calling campaign? A bring-a-friend
Sunday? Maybe direct mail marketing? No, the consultant said. Not that.
Not yet. She told them to pray for three months before they did a thing!!!
The evangelism committee at Benton Street was looking for activity,
for hard work, for something to do! But instead, Reese told them to stand
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still and pray. Stand still for three months!!! Prayer is a different kind of
hard work, of course. Most of us don't know how to do it, at least not for
very- long. But this evangelism committee learned. They prayed together
for one hour every week. At board meeting, when it was their turn to report,
they would say, "We're still praying. She’s making us do it. We’re just
praying." People giggled. Then board members started giving them prayer
requests. After three months of "doing nothing but praying," interest in
evangelism had skyrocketed. By the end of the year, 65 people were helping
with evangelism. New visitors came in droves. Twice as many people were
baptized as the year before, twice as many babies were dedicated.
Sounds like what our Scripture text says. Look at the fifth chapter of
Luke, verse 6: "When they had done what Jesus commanded, they caught
so many fish that their nets were beginning to break!" Apparently, going
back into the deep waters with Jesus makes a difference. Prayer
expresses our willingness to do what Jesus wants us to do. Prayer
prepares us to be effective in whatever work we do for Jesus. Prayer helps
make room for the Holy Spirit in our lives. The Spirit, instead of our
flustered kicking, provides the power!
So let's try it. Some of you already have prayer as a part of your daily
life. Many of us do not. But we can all grow in prayer. And so can our
church.
For the next month, let's pray as a church
like we’ve never prayed before.
Will you pray with us for this next month? You are already using the
"40 Days of Prayer" guide if you are in one of our small groups. If not, join
one! You can get your copy of Unbinding Your Heart, which includes the
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prayer journal, right outside the sanctuary. See the E-vent Small Group
Schedule and Sign-up Sheet in ________
[specifics of how to join a group here]
We're also going to pray right now, as a congregation. Yes, right here
in the middle of a sermon. Let’s put our money where our mouths are.
Let’s pray, not just talk about thinking about maybe drifting towards
praying . . . sometime pretty soon.
Since you've been praying with Unbinding your Heart for a couple of
weeks, this will be easy! First, fish the Post-ItTM note out of your bulletin.
Got it? I want you to hold it while you pray. I’m going to explain this first,
then we’ll all pray together. Okay? Hold your Post-ItTM note. First we’ll sit
quietly and breathe slowly. First, ask God whom to pray for. This is
important because many of us have our own agendas when we pray. This
time, ask God for whom to pray. As soon as God gives you a person or a
situation, imagine them shrunk down so they’ll fit into your hands, right in
the middle of your Post-ItTM note. Hold whomever God puts into your
hands and pray for them. I’ll say Amen at the end. All right? Any questions?
Everyone got it?
Okay, gently breathe and let's start. [Pause for two minutes.] Amen.
How was that? Thank you for your willingness. What an amazing
church to try something out of the ordinary like that! Now write the initials of
the person you were led to pray for on this Post-it stone. Right outside the
sanctuary is a prayer wall. Our youth made it! The kids will be there after
worship to help you put your post-it up on the wall. Maybe you’ll want to
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add some other notes, or update this one, next week, and the week after.
What’s most important is that you keep praying for whomever, or whatever,
God has asked you to pray.
You know, a lot of us know we should be praying more but we don't.
We think we don't have the time. We think there are other important things
that must be done. We want to be responsible and get the "to do " list
done before we take the luxury of prayer. Today, I'm giving you permission.
Let’s be less responsible to the world and more responsive to God. I
don't mind if all the Stuff doesn’t get done during this month. Things can
slide a little as long as you're spending time praying instead. You heard
me. The church's grass may not get mowed. As long as you're praying
instead, for one month, that is okay by me! Let’s agree among ourselves.
We are going to make prayer our priority for four more weeks. Then we’ll
see what God has done with us
. . . and through us.
I believe God will start doing some amazing things with us during this time.
I don't know what it will be . . .
Maybe new visitors . . .
maybe a new unity . . .
maybe old wounds healed.
Most likely it will be something we never imagined. I believe making room
for prayer always brings new blessing.
But here’s the catch: If we're anything like those totally human
disciples of the New Testament, we may not be ready for big blessings! Unbinding Your Church, Sermons formatted for Preaching 24 2008, GraceNet, Inc., all rights reserved Sermon No. 2 – “The Prayer Plunge” Page 7 of 8
Like them, our response to whatever great thing God does will be, "We're
not worthy!" After Simon sees what success Jesus has given him, he falls
to his knees. He says to Jesus, "Go away, Lord! I don't deserve this!" If
we go deep with Jesus, we might find ourselves in deep water! We may
have the same reaction. We might feel ourselves resisting the blessings
God wants to bring us. We might want to bury our heads and ask God to
go away.
Maybe we're not sure God should do something in our lives. We
don't feel worthy for God to use us.
Maybe we’re afraid of the change in our lives if God did do something
in us. How’s your future mapped out?
Peter went from fisherman to traveling preacher.
Maybe some of us don’t really believe God can do anything new.
Let’s face it. Staying on the familiar treadmill is a lot less scary than going
deep with Jesus.
But Jesus says to Simon, "Fear not. From now on, we'll be catching
people for God." Then these hard working fishermen
parked their boats
and their fish
and their nets right there on the shore.
They left their work and followed him.
In this next month, let’s leave our work and pray like we’ve never
prayed before. Let’s go back into the deep waters with Jesus.
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Sermon #3 “The Converted Community”
Acts 2:14, 32-39
I am so proud of the way our church is living out our commitment to
God through this E-vent. Wow! If you're a guest today, you have come to a
church that is on an incredible journey with God. We're asking how God
wants to transform us spiritually to be a growing community of faith. Today,
we're exploring together the three relationships that must be healthy for our
church to be all God wants us to be.
The story of Pentecost boggles our minds to this day. As the Bible
tells the story in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes and touches all of the
disciples. They suddenly are able to speak in different languages. Many
people, 3000 the text says, get baptized and start following Jesus that day.
The miraculous stuff of this story steals the show. It's usually what
we focus on when we think of this story. But there's something more
ordinary going on that we need to see. In the midst of all the hubbub, in
the middle of the bold signs of God's presence, something is quietly
happening that is essential to the story. Look closely.
The wind, the flames, the speaking in tongues bewilder the crowds
gathered. Wouldn't you be? This stuff might scare us more than thrill us.
Peter overhears some of the crowd talking. He realizes that they don't
understand what is happening.
So he stood up to explain. That is no longer remarkable to those of
us who have grown up in the church because we have read this text so Unbinding Your Church, Sermons formatted for Preaching 26 2008, GraceNet, Inc., all rights reserved Sermon No. 3 – “The Converted Community” Page 1 of 7
many times. But there is something extraordinary happening here. Have
you ever wondered: how could Peter stand there and preach like that after
what he had done? What nerve! What gall!
How could he stand? Just before Jesus was killed, Peter promised to
stick with Jesus through thick and thin. But as soon as Jesus was arrested,
he told people he didn’t even know Jesus! Then Peter totally abandoned
Jesus at the cross. In the back of our minds, you and I might have the story
at the end of John's gospel where Jesus restores Peter by telling him to
feed his sheep. But that is not the way Luke tells the story. Remember, the
author Luke wrote both the gospel and the book of Acts. Luke ends his
gospel with no reinstatement of Peter. There is no specific moment of
forgiveness between him & Jesus. So in the gospel of Luke the question
hangs in the air: how will Peter respond to Christ's death and resurrection?
What will Peter do now that the crucifixion is over and Christ has been
raised?
In Unbinding Your Heart, Martha Grace Reese introduces us to the
"Trinity of Relationships." After studying 150 mainline churches that are
really alive and growing, she discovered something. All of these vibrant
churches had a set of three relationships that were very real and healthy:
(1) relationships with God (2) relationships with people outside the church,
and (3) relationships with each other.
When Peter stands up to explain things to the crowd, something
remarkable is happening in the Trinity of Relationships in his life. We'll
briefly talk about the first two relationships. Then I want to focus on the
third.
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First, something remarkable happened in Peter’s relationship with
God. Imagine being Peter, knowing how miserably you had failed Jesus.
When Pentecost Day dawns, and the Holy Spirit comes upon all of the
believers, Peter is included. He receives the power of the Spirit of the
Risen Christ. Imagine his relief! Imagine his joy at the new start he
receives from God!
The denial . . .
The abandonment . . .
The broken promises . . .
they are all water under the bridge in Peter’s relationship with God. They
are washed away, removed as far as the East from the West. Peter
accepts the clean slate God gives him. How can Peter stand? He is living
out his forgiveness. He is bearing the fruit of a spiritual reality. This is what
a person freed by God’s love looks like:
Standing boldly,
Proclaiming freely,
Sharing generously
The love of God.
Peter is experiencing a whole new, fresh start given to him by God.
He is living out a moment of forgiveness. Literally, the last words that the
author Luke has Peter say in Luke 23 are, "I do not know who Jesus is."
But the words Peter say now are: "Let me tell you who Jesus is!" Peter's
relationship with God has been renewed. He is living in bold joy due to the
forgiveness he's received. Only if our relationship with God is renewed like
this everyday will we be able to stand up and speak up when we hear
confusion in someone's life.
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At Pentecost, something remarkable happened in Peter’s relationship
with God.
Second, something remarkable happened in Peter's relationship with
people outside the circle of believers. Peter is moved to his core by these
people who don't know that God has sent Jesus for them. Verse 40 says
Peter "pleaded with them." When you've received forgiveness like Peter,
when you've gotten that kind of relief, you want to share it. This won't be
the last time Peter is compelled to share the gospel. In a couple of
chapters, he gets in real trouble by taking the news of Jesus to a non-Jew!
This Pentecost day catapults Peter into no-holds-barred compassion for
people who don't know Christ.
Third, something remarkable is happening to Peter's relationships
with his fellow disciples. This is where I want to focus with you. When
Peter does stand, notice Peter does not stand alone. The second chapter
of Acts, the fourteenth verse says: "Then Peter stood up with the eleven
and addressed the crowd." When he rises to speak the other disciples get
up to stand with him. They stand together. Yes, the other disciples know
that Peter has a big mouth that gets him into trouble. They know that Peter
promised Jesus more than he could deliver. They know that Peter bragged
about how faithful he would be and then failed. But they also know their
own sins against Jesus. They could have just pointed the finger at Peter.
They could have said, "Here he goes again, talking the big talk." But they
didn't. In humility, they got up to support him by standing alongside him.
They are a vibrant picture of forgiven people forgiving each other.
They are tangible evidence of the reality of the mercy of God.
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They are the most believable witness to the grace of Jesus Christ.
Together, they are a community of the redeemed.
All of the aspects of the Trinity of Relationships are essential for us to
grow us a church. We need real and vibrant relationships with God, with
people outside the church, and with each other. But right now I want to ask
you about our relationships with each other.
Are we real with each other?
Are we forgiving each other?
Are we standing with each other,
as Peter and the disciples stood together?
I wonder what the community sees when they look at this community
of believers, when they look at our church? Do they see a community of
redemption, a place where people are genuinely merciful to and supportive
of one another?
In your bulletin is a drawing of the "Trinity of Relationships." [You
can copy this out of the book.] Please consider prayerfully which of these
three essential relationships needs your attention this week. Let’s take a
moment right now. This is just between you and God. Let me strongly
encourage you to especially consider the relationships you have with other
church members. Is there is something that is not right in your relationship
with someone here? Be real with God and with yourself about the need for
reconciliation. Take a deep, gentle breath. Exhale slowly. Close your
eyes. Simply ask God, “Where do you want to work in my relationships?”
Just listen for a moment. Ask God for help to make things right again.
[Pause for one minute]
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Has God put someone on your heart in our church? By our prayer
wall, there is a place set up for you to wash the hands or feet of someone
you want to serve. Jesus gave us this act of kindness at the Last Supper
when he washed the disciples’ feet. Maybe you could invite someone over
to that area today. I’ll be inviting someone myself. This is one way we
could begin anew in a relationship that needs a fresh start.
One of my colleagues pastors a church that has been growing a lot.
They had been adding several members a month but that suddenly
stopped. Visitors came but they wouldn't join. The pastor finally asked a
visitor to tell him what was keeping them from becoming a part of the
church. They confessed, "We like the church, but . . . it's cold!" And they
were right. The church members talked about being a friendly church, but
the crossed arms said otherwise. Visitors didn't have to know all the
details. They could sense people were tense. They could tell members
were angry with each other. They could feel that forgiveness was being
withheld. Members' energy was not going to new people because
members were wrapped up in the conflict of the church. The pastor
realized his own lack of forgiveness was contributing to the big chill. He
and another leader in the church had a conflict that was causing ill feelings.
It was one of those heads-butting, arms-crossed tensions. The pastor
mustered his courage, prayed, and called on the man he was at odds with.
The pastor did his part in resolving the issue. In the following weeks, 2
people joined the church, and 4 more the next week. The visitors who had
complained about the coldness of the church were two of the new
members. When the pastor asked why they joined, they said, "It felt right
all of a sudden."
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When we stand in God's love, when we stand together, and when we
stand for people who need to know Jesus Christ, it's Pentecost all over
again. It IS right all of a sudden. It is all that is required, and everything
that is needed, for the Spirit to work through us.
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Sermon #4 “Catalytic Conversations”
John 4:7-10, 16-29
“Jesus transforms us so that we can help change the world!” This is
how the vision statement begins at a church that is growing and baptizing
increasing numbers of adults into Christian faith. Their pastor asks for only
one report at every meeting. He asks one question at staff meeting, board
meeting, and any other kind of meeting. The question is: tell me one life
that has been changed this week because of our ministry. Remember how
you and I have given each other permission to put prayer above other
priorities during this series? At that particular church, their priority is
transformed lives. They believe the main message of the gospel is that
Jesus Christ changes lives. It's what they are all about.
Jesus certainly changed the life of the woman at the well. She came
to the well at the hottest time of day, when no one else would have been
there. Many have speculated about why she came at such a lonely time.
Maybe she had a bad reputation for being divorced 5 times. Maybe all of
those husbands had died. Maybe it was grief. Maybe it was shame. But
something kept her isolated that day. Who knows what? All we know for
sure is she was alone that day. She would not have expected to have
company at the well at that hour.
But Jesus was there when she got there. And he talked to her. Not
just a simple "hello" as he passed by. It was the longest of any of Jesus’
conversations recorded in the gospels. Jesus started out by making small
talk. He merely asked the woman for a drink of water. But that one request
broke down barriers that had existed for centuries. Just a few simple words
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between a Jewish man and a Samaritan woman violated social and
religious rules about interactions between men and women and ethnic
groups. Once the barriers were down, the floodwaters of conversation
flowed.
Jesus and the woman talked.
They talked about spiritual thirst.
They discussed her marriages.
They talked politics and religion.
By the time the conversation ended, Jesus told her he was the Messiah.
The woman was so moved by their conversation, she ran off. She
went to tell her whole village about Jesus. She even left her water jug! She
forgot her original purpose in coming to the well. She left with a new
purpose. Jesus changed her life. This woman once isolated herself from
others. Now she went searching for people. She wanted to tell the world
about what Jesus had done for her. What had Jesus done for her? In other
gospel stories, Jesus did some pretty amazing stuff for people.
He healed diseases.
He gave people sight.
He raised the dead.
All he did here was talk to a woman.
He reached out across cultural barriers to have a conversation. In
that conversation, both Jesus and the woman revealed something about
themselves to each other. In this, somehow, the woman was deeply
transformed. "He knows everything about me!" she exclaimed to her
neighbors.
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A self-proclaimed liberal church held a class on World Religions.
Their goal was to study the major religions of the world and compare them
to Christianity. Someone in the class had a co-worker who was a Muslim
man. She asked if the class would like her co-worker to come when they
talked about Islam. Everyone enthusiastically agreed. They thought it
would be very helpful to have a firsthand expression of that faith. One class
member summed up the class' feelings by saying, "Please invite him. Tell
him we don't want to convert him, we want to learn from him."
Kamal, the Muslim man, did come to the class. He spoke for a while
about his faith. Then class members asked him questions. Soon, he was
asking class members questions about faith. They hadn't planned on that!
By the time class was over, they had discussed many things. They talked
about traditional Muslim dress. They talked about arranged marriages.
They talked about why Christians pray "in Jesus' name." They talked about
how Kamal felt when people treated him with suspicion. No one seemed to
want the time to end. Then a class member said, "Could we have a prayer
together?" They all agreed. The class circled, held hands, and prayed.
When the prayer was finished, Kamal had tears in his eyes. He told the
class:
"I have never felt God's love this strongly before. I cannot wait to tell my
friends about this. We didn't know there were Christians like you."
It was just conversation. But it changed his life. It changed the lives
of everyone in that classroom. Just conversation! God's power can make
genuine conversation into a life-changing experience.
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In the book we're all reading together, Unbinding your Heart, the
author's research shows what brings people to church and what makes
them stay. What do you think brings people to church for the first time?
Great sermons, good ads, beautiful buildings? Nope. It's you. Almost 60%
of people who join a church came because someone invited them. 60
percent! People come to church because someone asks them to come.
And what makes them come back? What makes them want to come
again?
Surely it's the pastor's fabulous sermons or the music program or the updated children's wing.
No. It's you. The number one reason people say they return to a
church is because they received a warm welcome from the people there.
Those others things are important, but they are not the main thing. The
main thing is whether or not someone said hello to them, or remembered
their children’s names, or went out of their way to get them a bulletin. New
people can tell if the congregation actually cares about them.
Do you think this was the miraculous thing Jesus did for the woman at
the well? Just conversation? Just caring? Yes, God's power can make
genuine conversation into a life-changing experience.
Marta came to church because a couple she knew invited her. She
had been cleaning their house for about a year. One day, the couple struck
up a conversation with her. They asked her if she had any family in town.
She told them she had moved here to escape an abusive husband. She
was raising her two boys on her own. Her own parents had died years ago.
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On impulse, the couple invited her to their church. At first, she demurred.
She said she didn't have the proper clothes. "Oh, come casual!" the couple
said, "We do! We’ll meet you at church about 10:30. Then we’ll take you
and your boys to lunch afterwards."
They looked for her the following Sunday. Sure enough, she slipped
in just after the service started. She had her boys in tow. They joined her
on the back row. The sermon that Sunday was on the woman at the well.
Marta sat at attention through the whole service. The couple that had
invited her kept her boys busy with crayons and bulletin airplanes. Marta
was entranced. When the sermon was over, she turned to the couple and
said, "That story was for me. That woman at the well is me! I have been so
alone!" As people greeted Marta warmly after the service, she beamed at
the attention. Afterward, she commented to the couple who had invited her,
"This is like a family!"
You know someone like Marta. You know people who need Jesus
and this church in their lives. You know someone who needs a changed
life. In your bulletin is an invitation to the all-church party we'll have in 2
weeks. [or whatever upcoming event would be a comfortable entrée for
guests] We could put it in the newspapers. But that wouldn't be nearly as
effective as giving it to you. All you need to do is pray over it and wait for
God to compel you to give it to someone. Just hand it to someone. Ask,
"Would you like to come to my church with me this Sunday? I’ll pick you up
and then we can go out for lunch together afterwards." It's really terrifying
for people who don't go to a church to go in those doors with all the weird,
holy people. They're scared to death. How would you feel walking into an
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AA meeting? Ever done that? It's about the same degree of threat. Your
invitation to be with them makes it so much less scary. This invitation and a
little conversation is your ticket to changing someone's life.
After Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman, he preached to his
disciples. He said to them, "Look around you! People are so ready for the
gospel! All you have to do is bring them in." Look around you. Who are
you going to invite to church next Sunday? Will you go and pick them up?
Take them to lunch afterwards? Introduce them to a group of friends?
This week, talk to someone you’ve never talked to before. Or, talk to
someone you chat with all the time, but this time, talk about your faith. You
could start a conversation that will change someone’s life.
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Sermon #5 "Healing Hospitality"
Mark 2:1-12
I don't think of Jesus as having a home, do you? I think of him as
wandering around with "nowhere to lay his head" as the eighth chapter of
Matthew puts it. But here, in Mark chapter 2, the story goes that Jesus
came home to Capernaum for a couple of days. It even makes it sound like
the house he's at might have been his house! Of course he had an abode
before he began his traveling ministry, so why not? Could be! The place
might've been a little dusty after all of that away time. But the word spreads
that Jesus is home. People start to gather outside his door. Pretty soon
there's a whole crowd.
In that crowd, there are four people. They have a friend who can't
walk. They want to get him to Jesus to see if Jesus can do anything for
him. But when they reach the house, it's too crowded to get in. So, they
have to find another way.
Now, this story doesn't tell how these people decided to carry this guy
to Jesus' house. It doesn't say if they felt awkward bringing him to Jesus. It
just says that they did. In Unbinding Your Heart, we've read together about
two kinds of barriers we might have to overcome to bring our friends to
Jesus. They are internal barriers and external barriers. First, internal, or
personal, barriers, are the barriers inside our heads. When we think about
talking to someone about our faith, we can get stuck before the words even
come out of our mouth. Usually it's because we don't want to lose a
friendship. We worry:
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What happens if I invite my neighbor to church and then they say no?
What if I make my friend feel awkward?
What if someone thinks I’m pressuring them?
What if I come across as judgmental?
What if . . . ?
So most of the time, we don't talk to our unchurched friends about our
faith. Then maybe we feel a little guilty about not doing it. And guilt rarely
is helpful to keep us motivated. These inner barriers can keep us from ever
mentioning faith to our friends.
Jeff was going through a difficult time in his life. He had been laid off
from work just before his wife was diagnosed with cancer. The financial
and spiritual struggles were nearly debilitating. Fortunately, Jeff and his
wife had some dear friends. Two couples that they had known for some
time stuck by them. They came by to see them regularly and brought over
meals occasionally. When Jeff's wife died, they were there to comfort him.
These were good friends. After some time had passed, Jeff began to
consider returning to church. He hadn't gone to church anywhere since he
was a teenager. But there was something about church that sort of kept
bugging him. He decided to try the church in his neighborhood first. When
he walked into the sanctuary, there were his friends! Both couples had
been going to that church for years. They had also been friends with Jeff
for years. But they had never talked about their faith, even through his
ordeals. It just hadn't come up. They were flabbergasted, and very glad, to
see each other there.
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The research behind the Unbinding your Heart study shows that
these internal barriers that keep us from talking about our faith never fully
go away. Even people who eventually get really good at evangelism still
have resistance to sharing their faith. Even pastors who head the most
statistically successful churches say they still worry about losing a
friendship or pressuring people. But they work around that barrier. They let
those fears make them sensitive to others, but not shut off from others.
One woman interviewed in the study said that a new definition of
evangelism had helped her. She thinks of evangelism as sharing
something she enjoys with someone she likes. For her, this takes away the
fear she has of being overbearing. Sharing something you enjoy with
someone you like. That can be evangelism. For the four in today's gospel
story, it was a matter of sharing something they thought might help with
someone in need. That can be evangelism too.
Sharing something you need with someone else who needs it . . .
Sharing something that makes you smile with someone
who could use a smile . . .
Sharing something that gives you peace with someone in chaos . . .
Sharing something you enjoy with someone you like -
That’s evangelism.
Somehow, the four friends in this story had the courage to bring this
man in need to Jesus. Somehow, they had overcome whatever internal
barriers there might have been in their heads. But then, they had to get him
to Jesus. And that was another barrier entirely. Remember, there are two
kinds of barriers that might keep us from bringing people to Jesus. Internal
barriers in our own minds might be overcome. But still, external barriers
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must be dismantled. When the four people got there with the man on the
stretcher, the physical entrance was crowded. People were not letting them
by. I wonder how long they tried to push their way through before they
decided to try another way.
External barriers can be very daunting. Do you remember how
vulnerable you felt the first time you visited a church? Or maybe you recall
going to some other organization for the first time. A friend shared with me
about the first time he went to a neighborhood association meeting. He
didn't see anyone there he knew, so he just sat in the back during the
meeting. When it was over, he signed up on one of the volunteer lists they
had posted. He really wanted to help out with organizing a neighborhood
clean-up day. That's where he put his name and his phone number down.
But no one ever called him. It was not a major slight, of course. But
afterwards he wondered to me, "I sure hope people don't feel like this when
they come to my church."
"They could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowds," verse 4
says. We need to ask ourselves and the Holy Spirit this very searching
question: Are there any barriers that are keeping people from getting to
Jesus in our church?
Well, you may say, it's not the crowds! But no matter our numbers, a
church can feel crowded. Just because spaces are empty doesn't mean
they're open. In your mind's eye, join me in a virtual tour of our church.
First, our parking lot.
Where do guests park?
Do they know where to come in?
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Do they have to "dig through the roof" so to speak, like the paralyzed man's
friends did?
When they get to the entrance and come inside, are they greeted
immediately?
Are there signs to show them where the restrooms are?
When a new parent comes with a baby, do they find a sparkling clean
nursery with two ready attendants?
When a guest comes into worship,
do they find ample room in the back pews?
We don’t know for sure whether or not this house described in Mark’s
gospel was Jesus' house. But where is Jesus’ house? Chapter three of
Ephesians says we are the very dwelling place of God, with Jesus Christ
himself as our cornerstone. This is Jesus' house. As we took our mental
tour through the church building, did you see any barriers to Jesus' house?
Anything that would keep people from coming in and finding him here?
Anything that says “Keep out!” instead of “Please, come in!”
In your bulletin there is a little cloth that looks like a mat. Please, take
a moment now to write down an area of our church that needs Jesus' touch.
Or an area that needs our touch! Where are we needing to be more ready
for guests? If you are new to our church, particularly if today is your first
time here, we especially invite you to do this! Your insight is the most
valuable we can receive. What has welcomed you? Or not welcomed
you? Please, help us do better. Where is there an external barrier to
Jesus’ house? Take a moment right now to write it down. [Have pianist
play "Bless this house, O Lord, we pray, make it safe by night and day . . ."
as people write.]
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A church had a Vacation Bible School outdoors. They had a kind of
marketplace set up so that it felt like a New Testament street scene. Adult
volunteers in the church portrayed different characters from the Gospel.
They even had a Jesus. The kids loved it. Especially Elizabeth. After
VBS was over for the day, Elizabeth was at home when she somehow got a
scratch on her leg. She showed it to her mother, who gave the required
kiss. She even put on the boo-boo cream and the Dora the Explorer
bandaid. But that wasn't enough for the little girl. "I have to show it to
Jesus," she insisted. "He can make it better." The child's insistence grew.
The mom tried to explain that Jesus didn't really live at the church, that it
was a man in a costume, but this made it worse. "He does!" she cried. At a
loss, the mother loaded her kids in the car and headed for the church. Of
course she expected no one to be there at this evening hour. But as they
drove up, they saw some people milling about, taking down the outdoor
decorations. The man who had been portraying Jesus was there, sitting on
the church's front porch. He wasn't in costume, just in his usual clothes.
But the little girl didn't seem to notice. "There he is!” she shouted, and ran
to him. The man seemed surprised, but held out his hands to greet her.
The child told him all about her scratch. He listened. Together, the mother,
two children, and "Jesus" said a prayer. Then, like the man on the mat, the
family got up and went home.
Would you bring your mat from your bulletin forward? [During
communion, the invitation hymn, whatever is appropriate to your setting]
Imagine that you are bringing this area of our church forward for Jesus'
healing touch. Ask God to bless this house. Let's pray together that every
guest meets Jesus here, from the front porch on.
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Sermon #6 “Faith Focus”
Matthew 14:22-33
Have you ever seen someone you know very well but not recognized
him? A couple told me about a surprise they had while traveling in Europe.
Walter and Jean settled in at their quaint table at a restaurant in Paris,
France. Suddenly, a man was waving frantically to them from across the
room. He got up and headed towards them. “Walter! Jean! Good to see
you!” Walter and Jean could’ve sworn they’d never seen this man before in
their lives! They looked at each other for help but neither one recognized
him. Then it occurred to them. He was Walter’s cousin! They saw him at
least twice a year. And here he was, traveling in Paris at the exact same
time they were, eating at the same place! They just weren’t expecting to
see him in Paris. So it took a while for their brains to register that it was
him! “Well, hello, cousin,” Walter said. “What are you doing in Paris?”
The disciples have that kind of experience with Jesus. Jesus sent
them off in a boat while he took some time to pray. He planned to meet
them on the other side of the lake. “Go on ahead,” he might’ve said. “I’ll
catch up with you later.” Everything seemed fine and dandy. But a windy
storm came up on the water. The disciples’ boat was taking some pretty
good hits from the waves. They were afraid. So Jesus walked out on the
water to reassure them. When the disciples saw Jesus coming, they
thought it was someone else. Maybe even a ghost! They didn’t recognize
him. No one expects to see their cousin from Peoria in Paris. They
weren’t expecting Jesus!
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St. Matthew included this story in his gospel because he knew there
would 3 times when the church felt like Jesus was far away. Probably his
little congregation already had struggled with tough waves and blustery
winds. Every congregation does. Growing pains, conflict, and just plain
distractions can batter this ship of ours. If we’re really on a journey with
Jesus, it’s going to be exciting, and a little bumpy from time to time. We
even can count on some moments of seasickness! Anything really good,
really worth doing, is hard occasionally. What St. Matthew wants us to
know, what Jesus wants us to know, is that we are never out on the high
seas alone.
Matthew really drives this point home. It’s his gospel that ends with
the Great Commission. The last verse he leaves us with is Jesus saying, “I
am with you always, to the very end.” We are completely assured of Jesus’
presence with us. Always. The question is not, “Is Jesus with us?” The
question is, “Are we expecting him?”
If you’ve heard this story before, you know that usually the point you
hear with the story is that Peter failed at walking on the water. We assume
that the moral of the story is “Have faith! Get out of the boat!” Something
like that. But I don’t think Jesus intended for Peter to walk on the water.
The whole thing was Peter’s idea, not Jesus’. Look at the thirty-first verse.
When Peter begins to falter, Jesus says, “You of little faith, why did you
doubt?” Jesus is not asking Peter why he doubted his own ability to walk
on water. Jesus is not saying, “Why didn’t you believe in yourself, that you
could do this?” Jesus is asking Peter, and all the disciples: Why did you
doubt it was me? Why didn’t you know I would be coming to rescue you on
the water? Weren’t you expecting me?
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Friends, I need to ask you a crucial question. Are we expecting Jesus
to show up in this church? Do we believe he knows about us, cares about
us, and is here with us? Do we believe he can get this ship through any
storm that may come? If we are going to continue this journey in God’s
Spirit, we will have to find ways to keep expecting Jesus to show up.
Unbinding your Heart gives us the two things that must be in place if we are
to effectively share faith with others. One, our own spiritual lives must be
well-tended. We must be alert to God’s presence in our own lives every
day. Two, our eyes must be open and receptive to what God would have
us do next. As individuals and as a congregation, we must expect God to
use us in unexpected ways. If we want to do effective ministry, we have to
expect Jesus to show up.
Jesus has shown up all over the place in this 6-week E-vent journey.
Where have you seen him? Let’s hear about where some of you saw
Jesus. [Show and Tell here]
Jesus is with us always! The question is not, “Is Jesus with us?” The
question is, “Are we expecting him?” How can we keep our eyes open to
seeing Jesus? The tiniest change, consistently implemented over time, can
make a big difference in our ability to expect Jesus. If we can get in the
habit of looking for him, we will see him. One small change can refocus our
eyes to recognize Christ with us.
A small church declined nearly to the point of closing their doors.
They had been through several pastors in just a few years’ time. Finally a
layman in the congregation offered to preach for a while since they were
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without a minister. He mostly just told stories from the Bible. One Sunday
he realized that they no longer had a time in the worship service where
people could join the church. They used to have a moment before
communion when people could come forward and make a commitment to
Christ. But over the years, as fewer and fewer people joined, that moment
had slipped away in the service. So, this lay preacher decided it should be
added back in. People thought it was really silly. “It’s just us!” they said.
“We’re not evangelicals! Do you want us to rededicate our lives each
Sunday?” But he just said, “You never know who God might bring.” One
Sunday, a young couple started visiting the small church. They came back
the next Sunday. And the next. And the fourth Sunday they came to
church, they came up to the altar at that invitation moment. They said they
had never been baptized and they would like to be. The congregation was
thrilled, but also horrified.
The baptistery area was being used for storage!
It hadn’t been cleaned out in years. But they didn’t want to put the
young couple off longer than necessary. So they scheduled the baptism for
the following Sunday. And they were busy little bees for the next few days,
moving boxes, cleaning, painting, and fixing it up. That baptistery was
visited by two new Christians come Sunday morning. And there was no
doubt in anyone’s mind that Jesus was there too.
Seeing Jesus is not a casual happenstance. It’s a cultivated habit! A
little change, consistently implemented, can keep our eyes expecting
Jesus. A moment, in every worship service, to invite someone to join the
church.
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Jesus is with us always!
A prayer, prayed before every meeting.
Jesus is with us always!
A candle lit to remind us of Jesus’ presence.
Jesus is with us always!
A time each day to wait silently for God’s direction.
Jesus is with us always!
A little change, consistently implemented, can keep our eyes and
hearts expecting Jesus. Seeing Jesus is not a happenstance. It’s a habit.
I have seen a painting depicting this story of Peter walking on the
water. You've probably seen it, too, or a similar one. It's a picture of Jesus,
standing firmly on the water, his face calm and serene. Meanwhile, Peter's
face is full of fear as he sinks below the waters, feeling the waves lapping
up against him. Jesus' hand is extended to Peter, and Peter is about to
take his hand. What a reassuring image! But there is so much more here.
Consider what happened after Jesus pulled Peter up from the water.
Can you see it in your mind’s eye? Peter's face is full of relief. Jesus is
smiling and has his hand in the middle of Peter's back. They're very close
to the boat. If you look closely, you can see that Jesus is pointing Peter
back to the boat. He and Peter are about to get in the boat together. All of
the disciples are gathered around. Thomas has his hand out to help Jesus
over the side. Some of the disciples are already kneeling in worship.
Others are shouting, “It is the Lord!”
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Can you see the picture? Open your eyes, friends. And see Jesus
here. Jesus Christ is in this church boat with us. Jesus is with us always.
When Jesus rides with us, he takes us to places we’ve never been before.
He took the disciples to a new place for their ministry. In the boat together,
they were back off into the wild blue yonder. They were sailing free again,
to another place and more people who didn’t yet know God’s love. When
they arrived, people in need of Jesus' touch stood in line just to get near
him. Many were healed. And the disciples were along for the ride.
He’ll be taking us someplace new too. We’re sailing with him to new
places and new people who need him. Are you up for the ride? Let us trust
in him with all of our hearts, and not forget his teachings. Let’s ride the
waves with him at the helm of this ship. Let's see where he leads us next!
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