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February 7, 2010 - Go Fish #2:
Why Fish! (Acts 4:1-22)
Message Kernel:
- Why Fish? - The message of Jesus is not intuitive: we wouldn't come up with it on our own. The story of Jesus isn't common sense. The story of Jesus is and event in history that has to be told for people to know. Someone told it to us, and now we are placed in the lives of people to share it with them.
Practical Go Do of the Message:
- Write a thank you note to the person who influenced you to come to Christ or come back to Christ.
Core Ideas:
- Jesus called his followers to come follow him and he would make them something they weren't ... something they had never really wanted to be ... something that they had never thought of becoming ... something that would change their lives and the lives of many others. That's why Jesus said, "Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people." (Luke 5:10)
- A couple of hard questions:
- Why must the Christian message, the message of Jesus, be told? Why is it so important that we share Jesus with others? This is the Issue!
- Second, we need to be real about something: some folks, maybe lots of folks, don't like to fish. Some folks are afraid of fish or afraid of fishing. Some folks don't like the water. Some folks worry about mosquitos, snakes, and falling out of the boat. Some folks worry about getting dirty and sweaty and handling yucky situations and stuff they don't want to be around. Why not just let the fishermen fish and let us landlubbers and inside folks do what we like to do?
- And why is fishing necessary? Can't we let folks find their own way to God? Can't folks discover Jesus on their own? What right do I have to try to change people's spiritual point of view? Why should I try to convince other people about who Jesus is?
- These are good questions. These are real questions. Not just about physical fishing, but even more about spiritual fishing.
Acts 4:18-20 -- Peter & John had been proclaiming in the Temple that Jesus was Christ and Lord. They had done this after a lame man had been healed and everyone came to learn what in the world was going on with these Jesus followers. Peter had started fishing right there. He told them about Jesus and how their life needed to be turned around to follow him. If they followed, God's refreshing Spirit would come to them. But this angered those who had crucified Jesus. They wanted Peter and John and the other believers to quit speaking about Jesus. So they threatened them and warned them to not speak again in the name of Jesus. Notice the response from Peter and John.
- You've got to decide for yourself, before God, whether we should listen to God or to you.
- "We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard!"
Notice that second point. Because we can't do anything about the first point. We can't change how people see us or view us -- whether they like us or Jesus. But the second point is the crucial one.
- We are not telling you about a theory. We are not sharing some new spiritual insight. We are not talking about some religious teaching. We are talking about something we have seen and heard.
- The Christian message is not about wisdom that wise folks can get in a room and meditate and read philosophy and come up with -- it is not a "tack on plan" to some other religion or something that can be mixed in as an added ingredient into our religious soup of ideas and make what we already believe a little better.
- Go read 1 Corinthians 1 & 2 and notice that the story of Jesus, from the perspective of philosophy, is foolishness. But there is something in sharing the story of Jesus, the real Jesus who lived and died and rose again, that turns loose the power of God in people's hearts.
- This is why it is so important that we share the story of Jesus and not tack on a bunch of pieces about church and our religious biases. The Gospel is about Jesus and making a decision to let Him be Lord of our life and have God's Kingdom come to life in us.
Being a believer in Jesus is about making a decision about a real historical event, involving a real historical person, who did certain things and taught certain things as God walking among us. It stands or falls on this one crucial point.
- 1 John 1:1-4 And when we know the story of Jesus, we realize that Jesus gives us no middle ground. He is not another teacher or philosopher. He comes and basically says, look at my life and decide about who I am.
Liar or Lord
Misguided or Messiah
Self-serving or Savior
- Notice, Peter and John recognize this and even say this to these Jewish religious leaders. Acts 4:12
* Please notice that these are devoutly religious people thinking they are protecting their own religion
* They worship the same God as Peter and John do
* They share the same religious foundation in the Old Testament
* But hear what is being said!
- When Jesus had said, "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6), they took Jesus seriously.
- When Jesus said, "You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you possess eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." (John 5:39-40) they took Jesus seriously -- they wanted to kill Him!
- Peter would say much the same thing when he talked to Cornelius, a generous, compassionate, God-believing Gentile man who was not saved until he came to faith in Jesus (Acts 10-11). But without Jesus, Cornelius was lost!
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved."
- That's why we must fish! Somebody, and we are that somebody, must tell the story of Jesus so folks know how to respond to Him and find life.
And, it's not just about what Jesus did then as God among us, but it is also about what Jesus has done in us here and now.
We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard
-- we've got to tell Jesus' story and our story as it intersects Jesus' story!
The historical story of Jesus when He was here on earth as God with us
The personal story of Jesus as He is at work in our lives through the Holy Spirit today
We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard
People are not going to be able to make a decision on the Christian faith without knowing the story of Jesus!
It is not about about accepting a religion as a way of life, but about believing Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, is Lord.
And while our lives must be lived in a way that is consistent with the message of Jesus, people are not going to know Jesus without someone sharing the story of Jesus and knowing that that story makes a difference in how people live today.
That's why folks who don't know Jesus' story and don't know what He does in people's lives today need us to fish. That's why we have to fish!
We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard
1. The historical story of Jesus when He was here on earth as God with us
2. The personal story of Jesus as He is at work in our lives through the Holy Spirit today
So the leaders of our church family, led by the Eldership, began last year with a passion on their heart that we continue our works of compassion and concern for the people of Abilene and around the world, but that we also learn how to fish for people -- that we learn how to share Jesus with others in word and deed. And the specific ways this happens is for us to live for Jesus in our daily lives and love people enough to share Jesus and His story.
We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard
- Here is what the story of Jesus means: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved."
- It's a unique claim.
- And you can't get to that point unless you are introduced to Jesus, unless someone tells you the story. That this holy God loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to touch down on planet earth, to live among us, die for us, and be raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God. And the truth of the matter is that good people don't go to heaven to be with God, forgiven people go to heaven to be with God. And Jesus is the only key that unlocks that door of grace and frees us from trying to earn our way there and living lives of guilt and religious slavery.
- Why fish?
- People will never know that story or have that hope or meet that Jesus if we don't share this story and the story of what Jesus is doing in our lives!
- And there is something that stirs in our hearts when we hear that story of Jesus ... some even feel that stirring right now ...
Key Focus:
- Everyone is being challenged, in particular, anyone going on a mission trip supported by Southern Hills will be required, to be able to ...
- Share a simple way for others to know and respond to the story of Jesus
- Share their own story of what Jesus means to their life
- We have to fish because the message of salvation is not ...
... the message of salvation is not an intuitive message
... the message of salvation is grounded in history and not experience
... the message of salvation is not a message you can go and sit under a tree and come to on your own
- You might get half the way there on their on your own, but left to yourself, you can get to the place where every other religion and every great religious leader gets to:
There is a god.
He's a good god.
He's surrounded by good people who long to connect with him.
So you had better be good if you want to be around god.
You can try to be good by any standard you want ... OT, Koran, Book of Mormon ... but ...
... we fail by those standards ... we don't fully measure up ... and inside us, when we look at the mirror, we realize that we don't measure up to our own standards of what we should be ... and we can't fix it!
- Somewhere in our heart of our hearts, we know we need a savior -- not a law, not a religion, not a set of beliefs, but a savior!
Key Scriptures:
Drama, Media, & Connecting Pieces:
Daybreak Planning Team: Martha Renfro & Ed Greenlee
Refresh Planning Team: Amanda Pittman, Sam Souder, Phil Ware
Sundown: From Max Lucado's Traveling Light
- Theme: Whaddifs & Howells
- Speaker: Vann Conwell
- Worship Leader: Wade Huggins
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