2020 LIFE & CHURCH REIMAGINED - Part 3
20/20 LIFE & CHURCH REIMAGINED
2020 will bring vision and clarity! Decades ago, futurists predicted what the world would look like in this milestone-year in human history. They said we would have self-driving cars, vote electronically from home, depression would be a primary disease, people would live on mars, and that we would work 26 hours a week. Some predictions were spot-on, while others have alluded us. Some of us dreamed of “Jetson’s” lifestyles with robot-maids and travel by spaceships. What will be your 2020 predictions for marriage, parenting, business, and church? Will you be happy this year? Where will you be by the end of this decade? Will the derailing compulsions, addictions and unhealthy patterns still haunt you? As a church, what will be the future? Will we reimagine God’s kingdom in church community? Will we find peace, joy and fulfillment? Will we see ourselves with a futuristic clarity? This year will be the beginning of something special!
TODAY’S MESSAGE
WHAT you think about
WHEN you think about
GOD, LIFE and CHURCH
will DEFINE EVERYTHING else
ABOUT YOU!
WHAT SHOULD WE THINK OF
WHEN YOU THINK OF
GOD, LIFE AND CHURCH?
LOOK FIRST AT JESUS!
LUKE 4:16–21 TPT When JESUS came to the front to read the Scriptures, they handed him the scroll of the PROPHET ISAIAH. He… read where it is written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has ANOINTED me to be HOPE for the POOR, FREEDOM for the BROKENHEARTED, and NEW EYES for the BLIND, and to preach to PRISONERS, ‘You are set FREE!’ … I have come to share the message of JUBILEE (the YEAR of the Lord), for THE TIME of God’s great acceptance has begun.” …Then he added, “These Scriptures CAME TRUE TODAY in front of you.”
ISAIAH 61:3, 7 TPT 3 …to STRENGTHEN those CRUSHED BY DESPAIR who MOURN … to give them a BEAUTIFUL BOUQUET in the place of ASHES, the OIL OF BLISS instead of TEARS, and the mantle of JOYOUS PRAISE instead of the spirit of HEAVINESS. …7 Because you received a DOUBLE DOSE OF SHAME AND DISHONOR, you will inherit a DOUBLE PORTION OF ENDLESS JOY AND EVERLASTING BLISS!
WHAT IS THE MOST FAMOUS SCRIPTURE TEXT OF ALL TIME?
JOHN 3:16-17 NKJV [Jesus said] For God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES in Him should NOT PERISH but have EVERLASTING LIFE. 17 For GOD DID NOT send His Son into the world to CONDEMN the world, but that the world through Him might be SAVED.
BEFORE JOHN 3:16 – THE CONTEXT
JOHN 3:1-7 NKJV There was a man of the Pharisees named NICODEMUS, a ruler of the Jews… 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is BORN AGAIN, he CANNOT SEE the KINGDOM OF GOD." …7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN.'”
WHAT “BORN AGAIN” REALLY MEANS
1. BORN AGAIN IS RADICAL
2. BORN AGAIN IS DISORIENTING
3. BORN AGAIN IS A GIFT OF GRACE
YOU CAN’T CREATE
BORN AGAIN MOMENTS,
BUT YOU CAN FACILITATE THEM!
JOHN 3:14-17 NKJV [Jesus said] 14 And AS MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT in the wilderness, EVEN SO must the SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP, 15 that WHOEVER BELIEVES in Him should NOT PERISH but have ETERNAL LIFE. 16 FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE. 17 For God DID NOT send His Son into the world to CONDEMN the world, but that the world through Him might be SAVED.
NUMBERS 21:4-9 NKJV Then they [God’s people] journeyed … and the soul of the people became VERY DISCOURAGED on the way. 5 And the people SPOKE AGAINST GOD and AGAINST MOSES: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt TO DIE in the wilderness? For [there is] NO FOOD and NO WATER, and our SOUL LOATHES this worthless bread." 6 So the LORD SENT [PERMITTED] FIERY SERPENTS among the people, and they bit the people; and MANY of the people of Israel DIED. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the LORD said to Moses, "MAKE A FIERY [SERPENT], and SET IT ON A POLE; and it shall be that EVERYONE WHO IS BITTEN, when HE LOOKS AT IT, SHALL LIVE." 9 So Moses made a BRONZE SERPENT, and put it on a POLE; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, HE LIVED.
WHY DID JESUS USE THIS STORY OF FIERY SNAKES?
1. FACE YOUR DEMONS - Acknowledgment that we have been poisoned
2. FEEL GOD’S COMPASSION - God is against the poison and for our health
3. SEE YOUR REDEEMER - Jesus exchanged our pain for his health
4. PROCESS THE WOUND - We must face our griefs to become whole
ISAIAH 53:3-5, 7, 10-11 NKJV [Prophecy of Jesus Coming] He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of SORROWS and acquainted with GRIEF. … He was DESPISED, and we DID NOT ESTEEM Him. 4 Surely He has BORNE OUR GRIEFS and CARRIED OUR SORROWS; …5 But He [was] WOUNDED for OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, [He was] BRUISED for OUR INIQUITIES; The CHASTISEMENT for our PEACE [was] upon Him, And by HIS STRIPES (WOUNDS) WE ARE HEALED. ... 7 He was OPPRESSED and He was AFFLICTED, ... 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to BRUISE Him; He has put [Him] to GRIEF. When You make HIS SOUL an offering for sin, … 11 He shall see the LABOR OF HIS SOUL, [and] be SATISFIED. …He shall BEAR THEIR INIQUITIES.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:21 NKJV … For He made Him who knew no sin [to be] sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
1 PETER 2:24 NKJV …who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes you were healed.
HOW TO PROCESS THE WOUND
1. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF
2. GO TO GOD WITH TRANSPARENCY
3. GET IN A PROCESS GROUP
4. GROW IN TRAINING AND TOOLS
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF
WHEN YOU THINK OF
GOD, LIFE AND CHURCH?
GOD, LIFE & CHURCH IS ABOUT HEALING!
1. PROCESS RELATIONSHIPS [SUNDAYS, GROUPS]
2. GROWTH TOOLS [GROUPS, WORKSHOPS]
3. SERVING PRACTICUMS [WORKSHOPS, TEAMS]
4. GOD’S OUTWARD HEART [TEAMS, INVITATIONS]
5. FULL SURRENDER [SUNDAYS, FIREPITS]
LP VISION - THIS ALL EMBODIES OUR PASSION
Intro to Real Jesus power of Redemption
RED – Redemption / INK / REVIVAL
WHAT IF YOU COMMITTED TO…
SUNDAYS
GROUPS
WORKSHOPS
TEAMS