March 7, 2010 - Go Fish #6:

Don't Muddy Up the Water! (1 Corinthians 15:1-7; Romans 6:1-7)

Kernel Message:

• Don't Muddy the Water - We often make sharing Jesus way too complicated and complex. There are a few things people need to know about Jesus and a couple of things they need to do, but the Gospel is really simple and we can learn to share it.

Practical Emphasis of the Message:

• Work on one of several ways to share the story of Jesus with others and look for opportunities to do that as part of your prayer time for boldness, gentleness, and respect of others.

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)
• The message of God's love for us in Jesus is not intuitive: it is a life lived in history, so people are not going to discover it on their own so we have to tell that story, we have to share Jesus in word and deed for people to really know Jesus.
• Whether we want to admit it or not, we often don't share Jesus because of our fear - so we must pray for boldness and also a sense of timing!
• Part of the thing that makes us hard to share Jesus, and also a key reason we fear sharing Jesus, is that we try to do it by ourself! But God gave us our church, our community, our friends, to help us share Jesus with others!
• But have to admit that sometimes we've made fishing for people too complicated. Let me show you something
  1. take foil, fish hook, rubber bands, twist tie
  2. haul out all this fishing tackle
• But the Gospel isn't complicated. No matter where someone comes from ... everybody gets in the same way ... they enter through Jesus Christ. That was his own claim: John 14:6

You can call it what you want to ... receiving Christ, believing in Jesus, being baptized, being born again, being born of water and the Spirit ... but bottom line, the message is very very simple ... there are a bunch of ways to share it ... but at the very bottom of things ... it's still the same core way ... we enter into salvation with Jesus. There is no other way in ... no other name by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12)

• Preachers and religious folks have made it way too complicated -- using all sorts of fancy in group terminology -- eschatology, soteriology, ecclesiology, missional, substitutionary atonement. Those are all good things to know about. But the one crucial thing you have to know, that you and I need to know to come to God is extraordinarily simple. There are a few things you need to know and a few things you need to do!
  1. 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 & Romans 6:1-7
  2. What we need to know & What we need to do
• You can see this emphasized in a bunch different places and with slightly different words, but the movement is always the same (John 3:16):
  What we need to know ...
  • God so loved
  • That he gave

What we need to do ...

• Whoever believes in
• Has eternal life

You will be given several ways to share this message, but they all pretty much lead back to this same place.

• So today, if you have never responded to God's incredible gift, then we want to get out of the way and not muddy up the water for you.

Key Focus:

• So what's the point?
• Glad you asked!
  1. Learn a way to share the story of Jesus and how to respond to it!
  2. And if you know your own story, then God will use these two simple ways to share Jesus to bless the people around you ... forever!

• John 3:16-21
• Matthew 28:18-20

Drama, Media, & Connecting Pieces:

• Pre-video:
• Key Video: (Let's see what folks think about this short video for use!)
  • Forty
• Testimony:
  • Get an elder to share his testimony?

• Scripture Reading:

• John 20:21-22; 1 Corinthians 10:15-17
  

Daybreak Planning Team: Marilyn Trabold

Refresh Planning Team: Not Assigned

Sundown: From Max Lucado's Traveling Light

1. Theme: A Heavenly Exchange:  Get Over Yourself: The Burden of Arrogance – Psalm 23:3 - “For His name’s sake…”
2. Speaker: Danny Minton
3. Worship Leader: Wade Huggins