Journey Church BG Sermons

In the Bible not all knowing is in our heads. Some knowing is in our hands. God made us to know Him by doing His work. 

Knowing God requires a relationship. The opposite of knowing God isn't ignorance. The opposite of knowing God is rebellion. 

John 10:14-15, “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep." 

The greater the understanding of our sin and the love that Jesus lavished on us the greater the motivation will be for us to live a life not to try to gain favor or acceptance from God but to live a life out of love and gratitude for what He's done for us. It's a much better motivator. Our life stops being about trying to climb a ladder of acceptance from God and everybody and it becomes an offering of thanksgiving. The pressure to perform goes away and it's replaced with the pleasure to live in joy and peace and with purpose for God's glory. 

This is something that we must preach to ourselves everyday. It’s the essence of the Gospel and we tend to slip into performance mode and forget it. We need to keep coming back to it every time we forget it. 

THIS IS EVERYTHING. 
Why is it everything?

• Have we forgotten where we were when Jesus found us? Have we forgotten about being slaves to sin and then Jesus rescuing us? Have we forgotten what He did for us? How He came for us? How He offered us forgiveness and grace? 

• We have a whole community and college that needs to hear about that. They need to hear about the wonderful love of Jesus and the hope that can be had in Him. 

This is our mission as a church. This is the mission for every follower of Christ.

• God sent His only Son, that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. His great commission to the church was to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. In the book of Acts the church was started. They went around proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. Nothing has changed. This is still the mission of every believer and every church. This is why we are here in this community. We are to seek out the one. 

• The Bible says that there’s a celebration in heaven over one lost soul that comes to Christ. I want Journey Church to constantly be the reason parties are happening in heaven. I want the angels in heaven to look at each other and say, "We can't even get finished with one party before the next one begins." 

We have to keep this in front of us because it’s so easy to forget there’s a crowd needing Jesus at the foot of the mountain. 

The gift of grace and forgiveness that Jesus offers through the cross and resurrection, who He is, is worth giving everything else up and going all in. This is how the Kingdom of God works. This is a description of the people of the Kingdom. That Jesus is not only enough. He's more than enough. He's not just more than enough. He's so valuable that those who follow Him, follow Him with all abandon. They give it all up for Him so that the Kingdom of God can expand, so others may know Him and experience His goodness and grace.

Once you are found it's time to go find someone else.

You may just reach one but the one you reach may reach thousands. 

In order to reach one you have to be intentional. 

Who's Your ONE?

Never underestimate what God can do in one person, in one day. 

We have to think outside of the box. We don’t want to be a normal church. We aren't a normal church. We will never be a normal church. We don't have normal church issues. We have unique issues. We have a unique community. And we have a unique opportunity to show our community, to show Bowling Green, the beauty of the Gospel in the lives of people. We can show that when God transforms those far from God who are rich and poor and in the middle, black and white and brown, old and young and college student, English speakers and non-English speakers and brings them together to lift up the name of Jesus and praise Him for what He did on the cross then we show the world what the Gospel does. We have an opportunity to be the church. We have an opportunity to show what Jesus can do in the lives of people. We cannot miss the opportunity. 

The thought coming into each Sunday should be this, "I can't wait to see what God is going to do today and I can't wait to hear what He's done this week."

What comes to your mind when I say the word "Christian?" What about the word "disciple?" The word disciple, is a much clearer description when you think about what you actually become when you choose to believe in Jesus. Matthew 4 we have the calling of the first disciples, and in that you’ll get a glimpse of what a disciple was and how Christians saw themselves and what this means for us. "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

Jesus did not die the death that he died so that we would have a comfortable life. He did not die on a cross so that we could spend our lives on ourselves. He did not die with the weight of our sin on His shoulders so that we could play games while a world around us dies and goes to hell. He died so that we could be forgiven, to be made whole, to be made alive, to be brought into relationship with God, and to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses in the world to the hope we have found in Jesus. God has called us to so much more than our little kingdom, called “life.” He's called us to a new Kingdom. It's a Kingdom where the king is Jesus, not us. It's a Kingdom that is about grace that was bought with Jesus' blood. It's a Kingdom that's about the love of a Savior for the world! As followers of Jesus, we are a part of this Kingdom and we are to be about inviting others into this Kingdom as well. 

How do you truly love a hard to love or unlovable person, even someone that you may say is an enemy? Or, what about a friend that betrays you over and over again?

How do you have true joy? How do you have peace? How can you finally get self-control? 

It all goes back to the Gospel of Jesus. How does the Gospel apply to your life past the moment of salvation? We all want to know the ways to go and the right path to take. We want to know what's right and what's wrong. We beg and search for what will bring our lives purpose. It all goes back to Jesus. Through Galatians 5, John 14, and Matthew 11 you'll see a common thread. God wants to do all of this in you. It only takes one thing to begin to grow this fruit in your life. 

Are you tired? Does life feel too heavy for you? We miss, many times, the truth of God in our lives. We try to relieve the feelings of heaviness and tiredness of our souls with things that just don't work and if they work they don't very long. Jesus actually gives us what we need to find rest for our souls. He gives us what we need to relieve that heavy burden that is weighing us down.

This year we need to become the person that God has in mind knowing that the person he has in mind doesn't need to do anything but come to Him. He brings rest. His yoke is easy and light. "Be still and know that I am God."

This is the Gospel. You can’t do it. You realize you can’t do it. So, you trust Jesus because He did the work for you. What was the purpose of the law? To show people their sins. Does it ever show us our sins. It’s impossible to fulfill. And that’s the point. I'm afraid that there are a lot of people, people who may have even been in church for their entire lives that "believe" in Jesus but they are adding stuff to their faith. They are trusting in their goodness and work when Jesus has done all the work for us. God's standard is too high, too great. The Gospel is trusting in Christ alone, by faith alone.