Making Room in the Church: Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Because of his heart for people, Jesus was willing to be interrupted by Bartimaeus, Zacchaeus, and so many others. They believed in him, and he offered healing and forgiveness and changed their life into a testimony to the goodness of God. Jesus still seeks the lost today. Therefore, we must make room for more people in our church. Recorded on Sep 15, 2024, on Luke 18:35-19:10 by Pastor David Parks.

Make Room is a three-part sermon series considering the need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and 3) for more people in our church. Why? Because more people need good news! More people need the life and love, the freedom and forgiveness, and so much more that is only found in Christ. Our prayer is that in the coming years, many more people will experience the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sermon Transcript

Well, today, we’re finishing up our mini sermon series called Make Room to talk about some of the Biblical foundations of our 2030 Vision. We said that this series and our 2030 Vision plan are the result of a process our elder board spent months on — listening, learning, praying, and talking together about who we are as a church, where God is bearing fruit, and where we believe God is leading us in the next 5-7 years. We also said that one of the things that became clear is that for this next season of life, we do not believe that God is leading us in a dramatically new direction. We don’t need to reinvent our mission, vision, or values. Instead, the phrase that kept coming up in this process was “make room.” So, for the last few weeks, we’ve been talking about our need to make room 1) for more of God in our lives, 2) for more people in our lives, and today, 3) for more people in our church. This is what our 2030 Vision is all about. But this vision isn’t something that might happen months or years from now. We’re actually starting to see parts of our 2030 Vision happening this month as we multiply our community groups, serving opportunities on our ministry teams, worship services, and more. Down the road, if it’s God’s will, we’ll see expansion in kid’s and student ministry, pastoral staffing, building facilities, and perhaps another church plant; who knows! But first, today, we need to count the cost. When Jesus invited men and women to follow him, he challenged them to count the cost. Would they still be willing to follow him even if they had to give up everything? Now, I’m not saying we might have to give up everything to accomplish our 2030 Vision. But the truth is that change can be painful/uncomfortable. Even change for the best can still be hard. All the things I just mentioned will make room for more, but they will also bring changes around here. So today, we’ll consider why we need to make room for more people in our church — why we need to go through the potential pain of change. Will we be willing to pay the cost? If you have your Bible/app, please open it to Luke 18:35. We’ll unpack this text as we go.

Luke 18:35–38 (NIV), “35 As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. 36 When he heard the crowd going by, he asked what was happening. 37 They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth is passing by. 38 He called out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The book of Luke was written by a man who most likely became a Christian through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Luke was a physician who did a careful investigation into the life and ministry of Jesus Christ and then wrote a history of the early church. These works are both in the NT as the book of Luke and Acts. Luke was alive during the time of the Apostles and interviewed eyewitnesses who saw/heard/experienced the person and work of Jesus. Our account today has lots of potential witnesses. Luke writes that Jesus was approaching Jericho with a whole crowd of people.