BEYOND Sermon Series
We’re kicking off 2010 with a sermon series called BEYOND that is the theme for this year’s North American Christian Convention, a yearly gathering of independent Christian Churches/Churches of Christ from around the world. It’s a great opportunity to learn about what God is doing among our churches. We’ll be joining with two churches in Johnson City (Grandview CC and Buffalo Creek CC) as well as hundreds of churches around the country in preaching through this 6-week series together! Pretty cool, huh?!
If you are hungry to follow Jesus with courage and faith, then let’s go:
- BEYOND the Old Life (Mark 1:14-20) – Daring to follow Jesus past the edges of the way things are–even when you know it means leaving treasured things behind–so he can lead you to a new place. You need to drop some nets, because the life you are living right now is the Old Life. In so many ways, Jesus is calling you BEYOND.
- BEYOND the Great Omission (Matthew 28:18-20) – Making more and better disciples–with Jesus-like passion for both and letting God stir in us an equal passion for reaching the lost and growing up disciples.
- BEYOND Words (Matthew 4:23) – Being Jesus in word and deed through holistic global impact–that makes our mission more than just talk. When the Word becomes flesh, faith becomes action.
- BEYOND Racial Zones (Galatians 3:28) – Moving past our self-segregating ways to the way Christ’s church looks in Acts. When we realize this issue is close to God’s heart we’ll move beyond racism… to gracism.
- BEYOND The Walls (Matthew 5) – Reaching beyond our buildings into our community with uncommon love and service. We need to stop going to church. It’s time to be the church.
- BEYOND Me (Numbers 13-14) – Living today with an eye on eternity will help me make an impact, and finish well. The biggest obstacle to going BEYOND is… me.
On the shores of Galilee, Jesus called out to some friends one day with words that would change their lives forever. “Follow me.” When they dropped their nets and followed Jesus it changed everything. Those first disciples found themselves going BEYOND what they knew to new worlds of trust, love, courage, and powerful action. That’s what it meant to follow Jesus back then.
It still does. In days like these, those who truly follow Jesus are being led BEYOND where we’ve been as disciples. BEYOND where our comfortable Christian lives are these days. BEYOND where our churches are right now. BEYOND the horizons of our expectations, and BEYOND the limits of our comfort zone.
The world is in trouble without Christ. Our culture is adrift. More and more people are hurting and misguided–so many aimless sheep without a shepherd. The colossal problems we see in our families, our communities, our cities, and our nation are overwhelming. It’s truly BEYOND us.
What’s worse, the Christian church in America is losing ground–big time. Many congregations seem invisible. Most have lost their impact. Too many Christians are seen as irrelevant, often missing the issues people–and Jesus–care about. In the world’s eyes, the reputation of Christians is bleak: we are bigoted, marginal, irrelevant, weak.
And inside the church we sometimes wonder if we’re really getting the job done–are we truly making real disciples, transforming lives, changing the world the way Jesus intends?
This is no time for business as usual. We need the Power and the Presence that will take our lives BEYOND where we are now and lead us BEYOND. It’s time for our ministries to go BEYOND our current ways of “doing church.” We need believers with guts and leaders with faith who will drop the old nets and follow Jesus–wherever he leads–even if it means changing everything. Ready to go BEYOND?!
