Engaging All: Faith, Experience, and Community in Christ

Devotional

Day 1: The Burden of Comfortable Coziness

The comfort and coziness of our lives can often blind us to the needs of those around us. We must pray for a burden that will not allow us to be satisfied with just doing church, but pushes us to be the church, personally and relationally changing the reality of those who are far from God. [31:11]

Bible Passage: James 2:15-17 - "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Reflection: How can you move from just doing church to being the church in your daily life?

Day 2: The Vanity of Worldly Achievements

The pursuit of status and material possessions often leads to disappointment and pain, as they never truly satisfy. Solomon's life teaches us that without God at the center of our lives, everything else is vanity, empty and void. [32:50]

Bible Passage: Ecclesiastes 2:11 - "When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun."

Reflection: How can you shift your focus from worldly achievements to having God at the center of your life?

Day 3: The Discipline of Delayed Gratification

In a culture of instant gratification, delaying our desires can remind us that material possessions won't satisfy. This discipline can help us combat the lies that the world throws at us daily. [33:54]

Bible Passage: Hebrews 12:11 - "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

Reflection: What is one area in your life where you can practice the discipline of delayed gratification?

Day 4: The Importance of Fellowship and Community

Meaningful community and fellowship are just as important as the sermon. Giving space in our schedules to have conversations and build relationships can help us be a welcoming presence of God. [24:09]

Bible Passage: Acts 2:42 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

Reflection: How can you create more space in your schedule for fellowship and community?

Day 5: The Direction of Faith

Faith is not a destination, but a direction. Even as followers of Jesus, our purpose can drift and Jesus can go from being the core of our lives to an optional attachment. We must constantly realign our purpose with God. [25:12]

Bible Passage: Proverbs 4:26-27 - "Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil."

Reflection: How can you ensure that your faith is moving in the right direction and that Jesus remains the core of your life?

Sermon Summary

In this sermon, I discussed the importance of understanding and reaching out to different categories of people in the church: the faithful followers of Jesus (the Saints), the skeptics, and the prodigals. I emphasized the need to shift our focus from primarily addressing the Saints to also engaging the skeptics and prodigals. This approach, I believe, helps to build common ground with those who may not believe in the Bible or are attending church as a favor to someone else. I also stressed the importance of creating an environment that encourages people to get on board with the message of Christ, even if it means accomplishing less in terms of content.

In the second part of the sermon, I highlighted the significance of personal experiences with Jesus in our discipleship journey. I discouraged the idea of coming to church like a battery to be charged once a week, but rather encouraged a continuous relationship with God. I urged the congregation to pray for a burden for the church, emphasizing that being the church means that people who are close to us and far from God are never an acceptable reality. I also discussed the dangers of placing status and stuff above God, using Solomon's life as an example of how these things can bring sorrow when God is not at the center of our lives.

Key Takeaways

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Sermon Clips

1. "We're building every talk in the series so that if somebody just dropped in, you could follow wherever you dropped in. If you have a friend that can't make it to all of them or can't make it for a couple weeks or whatever, bring them anyway. There's going to be plenty for you guys to talk about and who knows what the Lord will do in that conversation." - 38:13

2. "We live in a culture of instant gratification and delaying our gratification is often a vehicle to remind us that that stuff won't satisfy because we're not even trying to have it satisfy. What does it look like for me to have purpose? I think some of what it means to know what purpose is, is to be able to see all the lies that are coming for us on any given day that we might be able to combat them." - 33:10

3. "We really do have a purpose, that purpose is to be in relationship with God now and forever and that's enough. Everything else can be sideways in our life but if we have that, that's the north star to our forever reality with God. When our purpose is something else and we try to use Jesus or our faith as kind of a bolt-on to that other primary purpose, we will always be disappointed. When Jesus is that purpose, when living out that identity in who he is, is my everyday priority, well then, if your job changes, that's okay, your identity hasn't." - 15:35

4. "Taking Jesus at his word and deciding what role his relationship, our relationship with him will plan our life is a really big deal. We live in a world of cultural pluralism or tolerance which is everybody should be able to believe what they want to believe and that belief or understanding should not be excluded from society. But where I think we get in trouble is metaphysical pluralism. If cultural pluralism says you have the right to believe that, metaphysical pluralism says you believing that makes it right." - 18:09

5. "The only thing in our life that can last forever is the relationship that lasts forever. There's a purpose that's bigger and when you go back to the thing you're gonna put on your shelf, to the thing that you're going to upgrade, to the thing that you're going to achieve this week, I just wanted to put a bug in your ear that that thing as awesome as it is, is losing relevancy the moment you achieve it." - 18:09

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