Outline: Through God’s grace: 1. We can change. 2. We can worship. 3. We can witness.

Content:

1. How real witness works: We receive grace, incredible, overflowing, unbelievable, mind-blowing grace. When grace experience really sinks into our hearts, it flows out of us in what we say and do, and in how we relate to each other.

2. Our response to grace is in worship toward God and in our witness.

3. Real worship and real witness can only begin when grace opens our eyes to see our true sinful condition.

4. There is nothing you can possibly do—ever—to deserve forgiveness, or earn it, or somehow persuade God to forgive you.

5. Jesus has us covered—He died our death. If we follow and trust Him, He has set us free.

6. In the name of Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

7. When we follow Jesus into freedom, joy pours out of us in worship toward God who has saved us, and keeps on saving us every day.

8. We are blessed to be a blessing to others. Grace received must always flow out in grace given.

9. When you stop extending grace to those around you, you stop being able to experience the grace of God that He is constantly pouring out on you.

10. Serving others is hard work. It is demanding work, but there is real joy in it. One of many examples is the flow of what Jesus is doing at the Bridge to create for Himself a serving, loving, witnessing people in the midst of those who do not know Jesus. Grace is flowing all around.

11. Grace—poured out in love and service—becomes irrefutable witness.

12. Experiencing grace is where true worship begins and it rises up from within you.

13. God gives absolutely scandalous amazing grace. John 8:1-11. The woman did not repent nor asked for forgiveness, yet Jesus completely forgave her.

14. Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable.

Aim:

With the scandalous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we begin to worship, and in that grace, we begin to witness. Our response to God’s grace is through our worship toward Him and witness toward the world around us.

Application Questions:

1. How causally do you take your sinful life?

2. When you are looking into Jesus’s eyes, what do you see?

3. How does your life reflect “We are saved by grace but we are living by the sweat of our brow?”

4. How does your life reflect grace?

5. Explain “Grace is one-way love.”

6. As you read the Bible, who do you identify with?

7. Are there any “sin cycles” in your life that you take advantage of and what would God say about that?

Outline

I. Get your toes wet

II. A credible witness - An EVENT happened

III. A credible witness - An EXPERIENCE

IV. A credible witness - An EXPLANATION given

Content

1. Society’s attitude promotes tolerance and thinks lowly of the church today. Jesus still has a positive connotation, but his followers can leave a bitter taste.

2. Just take a step. No need to be a Great Crusader, a Billy Graham-esque evangelist, a Gospel Gossiper. Just say something about what Jesus means to you.

3. Where we start is crucial. Gone are the days of, “Well the Bible says…” If people don’t believe the Bible, they don’t care what it says.

4. We worry about saying “the right thing,” so we stay silent. Can I Get a Witness?

5. Back when “Christianity” started, it was a bunch of nobody Jewish people who shared their experiences with Jesus to other Jews. Eventually, non-Jews were hearing about it and sharing the news.

6. The story they shared back then was about God, who made everything and sent His son, Jesus, to die on a cross to save us from sin and death, and whose resurrection proved that His death was sufficient to cover our sins; it’s the same story we share today.

7. But they didn’t have power or influence, no sophistcated technology, no Bible tracts, no Bridge to God (God on one side, man on the other, the Cross bridging the gap), no Sinner’s Prayer, no Twitter, no Facebook. They had their story.

8. Sometimes we don’t say anything because we think we’ll look stupid or we’ll be rejected.

9. Two kinds of witnesses: Eyewitness or hearsay witness. Hearsay, passing of information from one person to the next, isn’t bad, but it’s not as powerful or credible as an eyewitness, a first-person account from someone who experienced it.

10. An EVENT happened (1 John 1:1) - “…which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and touched with our hands…”

11. Luke 2:1-5 - These are real people and real places that existed and even currently exist.

12. But it just can’t be something that happened. There has to be an EXPERIENCE - a personal intersection, an encounter; the EVENT affects you in a personal way.

13. Difference between TRAGEDY and TRAUMA - TRAGEDY happens to someone else. TRAUMA happens to you.

14. It involves your senses. Not just a passing glance, but up close and personal: feel it, touch it, hear it, see it.

15. So something happend and someone was there to experience it. It’s a good report, but it’s not quite a witness, at least in the Biblical sense. One more component is needed…

16. The testimony comes with an EXPLANATION - an insight or understanding. “…this is what we proclaim conerning the Word of Life.”

17. A witness does more than just explain about how an event affects someone personally. It points back to the One who made Himself known through it. It puts the focus on God, His Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.

18. What starts as an impersonal, undefined event, becomes a personal experience with a divine explanation. EVENT + EXPERIENCE + EXPLANATION = WITNESS

19. But this isn’t just John’s witness: “WE proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…” There is more than one person who can give the same witness as John. And it was shared so we can connect and walk with God, who makes Himself known through it. (1 John 1:3-4)

20. Sharing this witness will bring, and complete, your joy.

21. John 4:29-30, 39, 41-42 A woman shares what Jesus has done for her, others go find and experience Jesus themselves, and they believe, not just by this woman’s testimony (her words), but that her testimony led them to experience Jesus.

22. Can we say something? If faith comes by hearing, and a statement is generally regarded as fact when two or three witnesses confirm it, then don’t hesitate. It takes time and patience, but you can plant a mustard seed and help it grow. You could be the link in the chain that leads to faith.

Aim

We don’t have to have all the right words to say in order to be an effective witness for the Gospel. We just have to say something, share our story, give our account of how God has shown his love to us. Through that story, the focus is placed on God and faith can begin.

Application Questions

- Were you brought to faith when someone decided to “say something” to you? How has that been a part of your witness?

- What events have you experienced in your life that can only be explained by God’s impact on them? How do you “Know It’s Real?”

- Is there anything you feel or believe is keeping you from being a witness? If so, bring it before God and allow Him to reveal the truth where a lie/lies may have taken root.

We know no person or church is self-made but is the product of the Grace of God and other people. We are thankful and praise God for all who make Heritage what it is: pastors, missionaries, workers in all areas, past and present attenders who participate in growing our church in Christ.

People bring so many problems and issues to our church. Our neighborhood, cities and world are so full of difficult situations.

This leads us to the First Big Question: How can we turn thousands of people into faithful disciples of Jesus?

Persecutions against Christians are increasing. Christians face losses and difficulties, as “promised” in John 16:33 (…In this world you will have trouble…) and James 1:2 (Consider it pure joy…whenever you face trials…)

This leads us to the Second Big Question: How can we prepare people to keep their faith in the face of trials and persecution?

The Third Big Question: Will the church continue to grow and thrive long after the generation that founded this church passes from the scene?

Judges 2:6-7;10 reminds us that the Israelites were bad at this. Doing church is a relay race in which God’s people need to hand off the baton to the next generation. Many churches and denominations that used to be serving God are now gone.

The BIG ANSWER to these questions is Loving Jesus more than anything else.

In Luke 5:5, Peter answers Jesus’ directions to him about what to do after an unsuccessful night of fishing. Even though it makes no sense to Peter, he says “…But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” He said this because he loved Jesus more than anything else.

We need to say, “because you say so, I will.” We must be willing to do things for Him that we wouldn’t do for anyone else. Examples are reconcile with family when we’ve been hurt, joining with others when we don’t feel like it, going to counseling, abstaining from sex before marriage and serving God on the mission field.

Jesus is asking each of us, “Do you love me?” (See Revelation 2:2-4). It is not enough to be involved in social justice, maintain Christian orthodoxy, or be morally accountable. We need white hot love for Jesus.

First smaller answer: Having Jesus is better than your greatest fantasy without Jesus. He is the pearl of great price in Matthew 13:45-46.

Second smaller answer: Losing Jesus is worse than any disaster that could ever happen to you.

Third smaller answer: Staying connected to Jesus will create a church of dangerous dreamers. Jesus can energize people at any age to keep them from becoming complacent. John Piper was quoted as saying, “Senior citizen discounts on airlines are for short term missions.”

We, Heritage, need to compare ourselves to the right things. If we compare ourselves to other churches we might look pretty good. But we need to compare ourselves to the heart of Jesus for Central Ohio, and His heart for the world, and then we realize that we have so much more to do.

Continue being a church that dreams dangerous dreams. Keep pushing out, planting, giving, sharing Jesus. Keep going.

Aim

On Heritage’s 25th anniversary, Jesus is saying to us, “Love me more than you love anything else. Value me more than you value anything else.”

Application Questions

1. How do you know if you love Jesus more than anything else? How will others know?

2. How can you love Jesus more than anything?

3. How has your faith been tested? How have you kept your faith in the face of trials and persecutions?

4. What is your view of success in life? What is God’s view of success in life?

What is your view of retirement? What is God’s view?

5. Share your experience with these statements: Having Jesus is better than anything. Losing Jesus is worse than anything.

6. What is Jesus asking you to do? How do you know? What will you do?

What makes a person a “dangerous dreamer?”

Outline:

Jesus is our uplifting “servant on a stick.”

1. Looking to the Servant requires faith in the cure.

2. Looking to the Servant requires sacrifice.

3. Looking to the Servant requires repositioning ourselves.

4. Looking to the Servant requires living through the pain.

Content:

1. The Israelites began to mistake God’s provision for normalcy. Numbers 21: 4 – 9. The Israelites were sinning, grumbling and complaining. So God sent venomous snakes. The Israelites realized their sins against Moses and the Lord and prayed for the snakes to go away, remove them from their lives. God’s interesting plan was to tell Moses to make a bronze snake on stick so when anyone is bitten by a snake and looks to the bronze snake, he or she lives.

2. The snakes were still there, only the bite could not kill them.

3. What have you been asking God to remove from your life? Robin Vanzant shared her family’s living with Huntington’s disease (Huntington’s disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that affects muscle coordination and leads to cognitive decline and behavioral symptoms.)

4. God has been faithful to fill the brokenness in Robin’s life. God is faithful to help us stay the course.

5.God doesn’t take away the source of the pain. Roman 8:28. He is with you through the pain and the problems.

6. God had a purpose for everyone’s life, even in the midst of disease and pain.

7. God provides hope and freedom from life’s troubles. John 3:13–16

8. John 3:14-15 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”

9. God doesn’t remove our “snakes” or pain; God is with us through the pain or problems.

10. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He is our focal point. We need to position ourselves to see Christ every day, throughout the week.

Aim:

The remedy for Israel was to look for the uplifted serpent on a stick.

Jesus is our uplifted servant on a stick (cross).

Application Questions:

1. Who or what are the “snakes” in your life?

2. How has your prayer changed?

3. Where has God been moving in your situations?

4. Have you found hope in the midst of the messiness? Explain.

5. How and/or where do you see God’s provision in your life?

Outline

I. Serving is a practical aspect of moving toward God. Romans 12:1

II. Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world. Romans 12:2

III. Examples of different gifts used for serving. Romans 12:6-8

IV. Serving reveals how to love well. Romans 12:9-13

Content

1. Heritage needs servers, not for Jim, but for God.

2. Keep moving in a God-ward direction because of His amazing mercy. (Rom.12:1, 5:9, 5:17, 8:18, 8:28)

3. Serving is a practical aspect of moving toward God. (Rom.12:1)

4. Christianity is a ‘physical’ religion, unlike Judaism, Islamism, Buddhism Hinduism. (Christmas, Easter)

5. NT Wright teaches Christianity is a physical religion; God cares about what we do with our bodies.

6. Surrender self (our bodies) to God.(I Cor. 6:20)

7. Only a surrendered self is a true servant; sacrificed…not forced.

8. Conforming to the pattern of this world is giving in to the sense of independence, individualism. (Rom.12:2)

9. Lonliness and isolation are epidemic in our society.

10. Un-churched Christians are at an all time high.

11. Clear thinking starts at the cross. (Rom.12:3)

12. Fact: all are in need of grace, and are members of one another. (Rom.12:3-5)

13. Serving requires a change in thinking.

14. God has given different gifts to his people to serve His body with.(Ex.: Rom.12:6-8)

15. THe point of receiving a gift is opening it and using it. (1 Peter 4:10)

16. Serving requires more than time, it implies relationship. (Rom.12:9-13)

17. Express a different kind of love, make it real. (Rom.12:9)

18. Decide to put others first; listening to them, not trumping their stories.

19. Keep your commitment strong, prepare to give yourself away. (Rom.12:11)

20. Be vulnerable as you endure hardship with grace. (Rom.12:12)

21. Extend generosity, practice hospitality. (Rom. 12:13)

Aim

Serving allows a relationship to be built between ourselves and God as well as between our selves and the Body of Christ.

Application Questions:

Will I give God my body?

Am I willing to step?

Will I decide to put others first?

Outline

1. Only the Church reveals the truth about who we are. v. 11-13

2. Only the Church reveals the truth about what Jesus did for us. v. 14-17

3. Only the Church reveals the truth about who we can become. v. 18-22

Content

1. Last week we rolled out a strategic vision for the next six years called Connect 2020. We defined it as: an intentional emphasis to move us toward each other, toward Christ and toward the world. We included three supporting words:

Now - impacting the generations

Next - following God’s call

Always - strengthening our witness

2. Connect 2020 isn’t just about the next six years; it’s also about our sense of identity, of belonging, of being a part of something greater than ourselves, greater than anything we could create. It’s about connecting us to something God is doing, engaging the Church, which is the first step.

3. The (universal, worldwide) Church is so much more than human structure or shortcomings. It is our mother; it birthed Jesus’ followers, preserves His Word, and advances His kingdom.

4. Paul’s goal in Ephesians was to give a deeper understanding of the Church He’s called us to be a part of. There’s more to it than what we can see.

5. The Church is the only place that reveals the truth about us, that we’re sinners and our hearts are sick. Sin separates us from God and imprisons our souls.

6. We want to be liked and are enslaved to what people think of us. Sometimes we live a double life and present ourselves to be someone we’re not. Yet we can’t build much of a life on lies.

7. The Church tells us the real problem: how far we’ve drifted from God. In humility and honesty we need to know this truth and admit it with openness and transparency.

8. Even though we’re separated from Christ, we’re not condemned, but are liberated through Him.

9. Jesus can bring peace, which gives us a release of tension from conflicts we feel.

10. Discord and estrangement flow from hurt.

11. The cross offers a way of peace in two ways: it deals with the wrongs we do because Jesus takes them; it provides a way of peace toward others when we realize that people who’ve offended us aren’t that different from us. The cross levels the playing field; we’re all guilty, undeserving and in need of restoration.

12. No other organization has the potential for unity and solidarity that the Church has. Everyone has access to the Father.

13. We can each be a vital part of the whole — the Church.

14. Ways to engage at Heritage:

A. Get in — to the Church. Hear the truth about yourself and understand what Christ did for you. Repent and make Him Lord of your life.

B. Get informed — find out what’s going on. Some ways to do this are social media, bulletin, church website.

C. Get involved — group life for different ages and life stages, serving, etc.

D. Get known — meet people at weekend services and other activities.

Aim

We can’t truly follow Jesus without engaging in the Church, which is Jesus’ body. When the kingdom of God breaks in, when God’s will is done on earth, it involves the Church, and that’s what we need to be a part of.

Application Questions

1. What are some reasons you go to church (or reasons you’ve had in the past)? What are reasons you’ve given for not going to church?

2. What are some ways people pretend to be someone they’re not? How can we be open and transparent and live a ‘real’ life?

3. Has there been a time you’ve been estranged from someone because one of you hurt the other? Describe. How did you reconcile with this person, or did you?

4. What are some ways you can engage and get off the sidelines?

5. Do you feel like you fit in the Church? Why or why not? What are some things that help you fit in, belong? What could you do to help you fit in more?

1. We live in a very disposable society; we throw away many things we use.

2. One thing we had better not throw away: confidence. (Hebrews 10:35) That’s an important word for the world we live in today.

3. No matter what comes our way, what we face every day, we can have confidence because Jesus lives in us.

4. Jeremiah says he has hope when he thinks about the bitterness and gall, what he’s been through, what’s been going wrong.

5. Things were going badly for Israel and God tells Jeremiah that things will get worse.

6. To the degree we get stronger, more weight is applied. But we have a spotter, Someone beside us Who will help us; we’re not alone.

How we can have confidence and hope in the midst of despair:

1. We have not been consumed. We are survivors in spite of all the bad things we’ve been through; they didn’t kill us.

2. His compassions don’t fail. We serve a compassionate God and He will never put on us more than we’re able to bear.

3. God is consistent; His compassions are new every morning. When we wake up we can realize that we have brand new mercy, grace, strength, faith and confidence. We don’t have to live today on yesterday’s blessings, power, strength, etc.

Aim

Don’t throw away your confidence. Remember that Jesus lives in you and that you serve a compassionate, consistent God Who will give you the power and strength you need to make it through the difficulties you encounter.

Application Questions

1. At the Saturday service Bishop Clarke talked about how we can have confidence when it seems like God is working slowly, like He’s slow to answer prayer. If you were there then, share and discuss what he said.

2. How do you react when God doesn’t answer your prayers when and how you’d like to see the answer? What have been some situations when He didn’t answer quickly? Some situations when He did give you the answer you wanted quickly?

3. What situations have you been in that seemed to get worse even though you prayed about them, lived right, served, etc.?

4. Have there been times when it seems like ungodly people are better off than the righteous?

5. What do you remember in your life that “hurt like the dickens”?

6. Have you ever been in a situation so bad that you gave up, abandoned ship? Describe it. Have you seen other people give up?

7. Describe a situation when you felt like giving up but didn’t.

8. Describe a situation when you reached the breaking point, felt like you couldn’t go another step.

9. How do you greet every morning?