NOTES FROM NOBLE:
* Ministry is the toughest job on the planet
* How many times have you gone home and said “I love Jesus, I don’t love the people that love Jesus”
* We are called by God- Jesus wanted you
* Are you doing what you’re doing because you’re called?
* Too many church planters start churches not because they’re called, but because they’re pissed off at the pastor and want to do it theirself.
* John 3:13
* “We don’t volunteer for this stuff. We are called. If we’re volunteering, we’re stupid.”
* We have to understand our priorities. We have a tendency to forget them.
* John 3:14 – He called them to be with Him,
* The first calling on our life is that we would be WITH Jesus.
* If ministry ever takes away from our time with God, we have been conforming to the ideas of others and not what’s most important.
* If we would spend more time with Jesus and less time on what others are doing, we would see significant growth take place.
* Way too much imitation and not enough revelation in the church
* We are called to go out to preach (John 3:14)
* God is not green, Kermit is. We can save the planet and people on it could go to hell.
* “It will be a cold day in hell when I preach a message on recycling and neglect to preach about Jesus Christ.”
* He called them to have authority (John 3:15)
* The time has come for us to stop walking in fear but to walk in the authority that God has given us.
* “Do you really wanna be a prostitute for the rest of your life, or do you want to serve Jesus the way that He called you to?”
* Do what God tells you to do and let Him handle the results
* You have to understand the temptation.
* If you’re a pastor, there is no bigger target in your church than on your back.
* John 3:19 – Judas walked closer to Jesus than most of us will ever know, but he didn’t finish because he fell into temptation.
* Satan desires to have you. How are you gonna protect yourself?
NOTES FROM BURKE:
* The main problem of man is that we want to be God.
* How many years have we spent telling people about a spirital product that we haven’t been taking in ourselves
* Christianity is scandalously simply, yet difficult for adults to live.
* The goal is relationships.
* All human problems are relational.
* “Apart from me, you can do nothing.” This tells us that what he was saying must be important.
* Stay connected, fruit happens.
* We have to think hard and strategize about how to make community happen
* Galatians 5 – Walk in the Spirit, moment by moment, and everything else will follow
* All of us already know these things. We just don’t do them that well.
* The reason that Christianity has such a negative connotation in society is because we’re not doing what Jesus did. Jesus Himself said that He had to do what the Father did.
* It is freeing when you realize that God causes the growth and we that our goal is simply creating the environment.
* We have to learn to have “ears to ear” and teach others to respond in faith when those God thoughts enter our minds.
* BIG IDEA- Stay Connected
NOTES FROM DEVER:
* He opened by saying “I bring you greetings from the tucked in generation”
* The Church WILL win. It’s not in doubt.
* The Big Idea: God has put himself on display for the world to see through the Church
* In creation, he made more than one human. The trinity reflects community.
* Faith comes from hearing the Word. God speaks through the church and teaching people God’s word.
* A sermon as a monologue even reflects how salvation is from God alone.
* As we preach God’s word, he will draw people to Himself and to God’s church.
* Reading the culture and understanding the culture means that you have you realize the culture typically stands against God.
* The Church needs to be shaped by God’s Word. It needs to be a bowl that captures the fruit of God and displays it to the world.
* It is important to have a concept of church membership.
* Make your life congregationally centered.
* Members are running around wearing their Jesus jersey and displaying it through our franchise.
* If members aren’t living as they should and resist to change, they should be excommunicated from church.
* God set up the Church deliberately to make it distinct from the world.
* Perhaps God cares more about the corporate whole than the individual?
* Don’t think of your main gathering as an event. Think of it as a community that is being cultivated.
* God probably wants to laugh at us when we discover something that “works.”
NOTES FROM PATRICK:
* Romans 1:18-25
* How people change and how to turn from idols in our life.
* Sin is when we exchange the object of our worship. We stop worshiping God and start worshiping creation instead of creator.
* You were made to be captivated by something greater than yourself.
* 1 John 5:21 (summation of 1 John)- Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.
* The way to serve other people, to love God? Stop serving idols.
* What is an idol? Anything other than God that I put in the place of God.
* An idol is something you look to for meaning. It can even be your ministry.
* Sin happens because we treasure our idols more than we treasure God.
* If we break commandments 3-10, it is because we have broken commandments 1 and 2.
* “An idol is anything in my life that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone.” “Lord I trust you, but I have to have _____.” “When I get this…then I’ll be happy.”
* Most of the time, we’re clueless about our idols, but we can see others.
* You usually only see your idols when they’re threatened or disturbed.
* Who am I if I’m not a pastor? It doesn’t matter!
* Invite the Holy Spirit to expose the things you’re trusting in other than God.
* How to discern idols in our heart: What do you worry about the most? What if I failed or lost it, it would cause me to fell like I didn’t want to live? What do I rely on when things get difficult? What do I do to feel better? What do I think most easily about? Where does my mind go when it’s free? What preoccupies me? What do I daydream about? What makes me feel the most self worth? What do I want to be known for? What prayer unanswered would make me seriously think about turning away from God? What do I really want or expect out of life? What is my hope for the future? What truths from the Bible do I continually resist? What are the clear patterns of disobedience in my life?
* Idols tend to hide deep in our hearts. It is root sin. It is our motivations.
* Our motivations are the root sin. People can have different motivations for doing what they do.
* Four motivations in people (Alfred Adler): power, comfort, approval, or control
*Repentance is seeing your sin, owning your sin, turning from sin. It shows us the Root of our sin. You find that I am a bigger sinner than I thought.
* Faith is that Jesus lived for me, died for me, God sees me in Jesus, and Jesus lives in me. You find that He is a bigger Savior than I thought.
* God forgive us for inviting people to a gospel that we are not really living.
NOTES FROM STEVENS:
* Used Desperate Housewives clip from last month. (Great clips)
* Reality #1- Churches are not making an impact. In a lot of cases, churches are the problem.
* Reasons people are turned off by churches (from UnChristian and Barna): hypocritical, too focused on getting converts, homophobic, sheltered, too political, and judgmental. Perceive church life as irrelevant, have bad memories of bad personal experiences with churches, feel unwelcome.
* We’re doing great with the churched, but we are not getting the job done with unchurched and dechurched.
* Reality #2 Spiritual interest is growing in culture.
* People recognize need to develop inner life, but they don’t see the church as able to help it.
* As a church, a lot of times we are asking questions that no one is asking.
* John 1:14 “Christ became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood.” (MSG)
* Christ used the signs and symbols of day to reach people.
* Christ would watch our movies, surf internet, use pop culture, use music lyrics, to reach people today
* How can we leverage the culture in church to reach people?
* What’s an example of a biblical basis for using culture to impact people? Acts 17:10-33
* Paul used the culture around him to teach them about Christ!
* He quoted two different poets, an idol in the town,
* BIG IDEA: Leverage the culture or risk losing your impact.
* Celebrate what God is doing in the community in the here and now, rather than constantly talking about the past.
* Too often we don’t like asking questions. Typically, our churches aren’t a place to answer questions most of the time. We focus too much on just providing answers.
NOTES FROM ANTONUCCI:
* When he started reading the Bible, he saw that there was a time and place mentioned when Jesus was talked about, so there was a lot of evidence of Christ.
* Vince’s father was on America’s Most Wanted!
* MAIN QUESTION: How’s it possible that he lived 20 years in America and never hear about Jesus?
* There are churches all across America exploding with growth, but they’re growing by adding people that are already Christians.
* If we’re honest, we are reaching people…we’re not reaching lost people!
* Challenge: You would seek and save God’s lost children. You will do whatever it takes and do anything outside of sin to accomplish this. That is where God’s heart is.
* Told story of his son being
Jeremiah 4- God shows his heart for the lost. Verse 19- Oh, my anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain. Oh, the agony of my heart! My heart pounds within me, I cannot keep silent. Verse 22: My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children.
* Matthew 11- Come to me all who are weary and burdened.
* Jesus’ heart beats for the same
* Matthew 9- Jesus saw the crowds and had compassion on them. “Compassion” basically means his heart was ripped out. He was compassionate because they were like children without a father. He wanted to send workers.
* We have the honor of being the answer to Jesus’ prayer that
* We are often content with seeking and “saving” the saved.
* Romans 15:20-21
* Does it make your heart beat fast to seek the lost?
* What breaks your heart?
* Are you going to the places lost people go?
* Are you using the kind of bait attracts them?
* Are you making sure you have the right hook to keep them?
* Do the most messed up people in your town want to hang out with you?
* If we’re not close to people, we’re far from God.
