SERMON NOTES
LET US GROW TOGETHER
OBJECT LESSON: Branch removed from bush (blantanly looking dead)
Question: Do you feel like this spiritually?
Point: It cannot survive without the rest of the bush (John 15: 4 & 5)
CALL TO WORSHIP (Lord, I want to Be A Christian)
What is it that you want this morning?
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart.
What is it that the Lord can help you with?
Lord, I want to be more loving in my heart.
OPENING PRAYER
Lord, I want to be a Christian in my heart. Soften my heart to hear how I shall grow. Awaken with me the desire to be more loving and to be more like Jesus.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
SCRIPTURE:
QUESTION: How many years have you been a Christian?
TWO WEEKS AGO: Matthew 22:1 - 9 (Wedding Party: Come as you are - all invited)
LAST WEEK: Matthew 22: 11-12 (to remain at the Party: must receive grace)
kicked out of the wedding for not wearing wedding clothes (metaphor not receiving the grace)
THIS WEEK:
PROBLEM: We Need To Grow
QUESTION: How long (years) have you been a Christian?
GROWTH REQUIRES CHANGE
QUESTION: Who likes change?
IMPLICATION: If I am the one implementing it (my idea). Then change is good
If it is someone else's idea. Then change is bad
SPIRITUAL CHANGE REQUIRES: Good Soil (Puppet Message)
OBSERVATION: To grow good plants
the secret is the soil. (good, rich stinky soil)
fertilize often
POINT: Spiritual growth same way
QUESTION: What kind of soil do people need to become what God intended?
IMPLICATION: Sometimes the most spiritual people have stinky previous lives
NEED: One good reason to OPEN WIDELY THE DOORS
A culture (DNA) allowing stinky lives to enter (my friend)
Requiring: Grace (Come as You Are)
Admitting: No Perfect People Exist
FIRST QUESTION: deep down inside, do you feel that you are all of who
God intended you to be? Fully grown. Fully spiritually mature?
SECOND QUESTIONS:
Do you love like in I Corinthians 13?
Do you serve like the parable of the sheep & goats (Matt 25)?
Do you financial give like David, out of sacrifice and not excess?
Do you give the shirt off your back when asked (Matthew 5)
Do you walk with God like Enoch
Do you have a heart like David?
Do you trust like Esther?
SCRIPTURE: John 10:10b (Jesus said)
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (abundant life)
THIRD QUESTION: is there room for improvement?
IMPLICATION: Cannot improve without change.
POINT: Open Widely the Doors; Come as you are....but don’t stay that way (Mt 22:11)
God loves us, just as we are, as is; but is also looking for us to grow.
SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10:22 - 25
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience … And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another.
POINT: a church of authenticity (Come as you are … but don’t stay that way)
QUESTION: So how are we to change?
IMPLICATION: There’s so much more we can be
God wants us to walk with us in this change
GOAL OF THIS CHANGE: Love
PUPPET MESSAGE
SCRIPTURE: Corinthians 3:6-7
Paul said, “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow
QUESTION: Do you believe it?
SCRIPTURE: John 15: 4 - 5
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful apart from me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.
POINT: remain in relationship (disconnected nothing grows)
Then fruit will appear / Growth will happen
You cannot accomplish or become who he created you to be without him. Without staying connected to him, you can gain the whole world—but lose everything of eternal value and worth in the process!
PURPOSE OF LIFE: Relationship with God
QUESTION: How do we do this?
#1 (How do we "know thyself"?)
#2 (How can we be "feed"?)
- Regular Personal Inventory.
Socrates declared that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 139: 23 - 24 (prayer)
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
REQUIRES: Grace
QUESTION: How do we do this?
ANSWER: Many different ways (important: what works best for you)
A. Asking why you do the things you do
B. Spiritual Discipline checklist
C. Scripture: (Sermon on the Mount, etc.)
D. Prayer: ask God, “what do you want me to work on?
E. Covenant Group (triad)
2. Regular Basis Feeding (Puppet Message: Water & Fertilizer)
A. Worship
B. Small Group
C. Wherever you feel feed by God
CHALLENGE: How much do you want to grow this year? and in what ways?
THEREFORE: Pick one of the above and challenge yourself to work on it.
