Where it all began

Introduction: What we truly believe is seen not said

In one phrase, state what you hope to accomplish with your sermon.

I want people to walk away with a glimpse of how Jesus did his ministry and what challenge Jesus would present to them.

I want people to wrestle with which chair they are in.

I want people to walk away with a glimpse of how Jesus did his ministry and what challenge Jesus would present to them.

Give three or four important aspects about the subject matter

Invited people to come and see,

then he invited them to believe in him,

then he helped them sacrificially serve,

then he invited them to help others do the same.

Craft several two-minute stories that illustrate each aspect. The number of stories is determined by the length of your presentation.

Recently there was a friend who sought to

Weave these stories together to make a formal presentation.

Step 1: Select a Story

Does it resonate with me?

Do I like the way it ends?

Step 2: Push through the story

Read the story twice - put it aside and talk it through. Tells you if you like the story or not. Then read it again.

Step 3: Envision the scene with present-day feelings and concerns

Step 4: Tell the story from the view of Someone at the scene

Step 5: Establish the story’s central truth

Step 6: Find a memory hook (“everyone knows dry fry”)

Step 7: Optional - tell a story within a story

Step 8: Plan your first words

Step 9: Know how the story ends - Plan your last words

Extra Steps to take it to the next level.

Step 10: Research the facts

Step 11: Eliminate needless detail

Step 12: Add description to the story (take 1 minute describing one action)

Step 13: Include audience participation

Step 14: Arrange practice audiences

Six Year Old and Shoveled Hearts

Six Year Old and Shoveled Hearts

My six year old eyes are closed in the car. I see a picture of my heart - it was full of this dark dirt. Then I see a shovel begin to chip away at the dirt - slowly, I am being cleansed.

It’s late at night, my dad and i are the only ones awake, and we are in the 10th hour of a 16 hour family roadtrip. He had just finished telling me about how I could accept Jesus into my heart.

My eyes still closed, the shovel is still he dirt shifts into words or visuals of the wrong things I’ve done. As the shovel keeps chipping away at this darkness in me, I am slowly being cleared out. Suddenly, a door appears and I see this this shadowy figure rush into the door and it’s closed.

I open my eyes and eagerly and tell my dad what i saw. My dad tells me that was the Holy Spirit and that I have been saved. Cool, i thought, that was easy!

, I live the next ten years of my life being open to

Eleven years later, i hear my father scream, “Remember that time in the car when you were young!” I am 17 years old, my family and I am in the middle of blaming my father for not taking us to church or teaching us about Jesus.

My dad tells me that was the Holy Spirit. This is a moment my dad is keen to remind me of years later when I had spent the next ten years living as a functional atheist. He said that in that moment he did his part, but by then, when I was 17 years old, his part didn’t seem very big, and I never really understood. live the next ten years of my life being open to

I had just spent the last 11 years of my life as a functional atheist, living with little regard to the God I thought rushed into my heart when I was six. My life didn’t look any different than some other law abiding atheist. I didn’t have much of any relationship with God. In my mind, I learned and believed what I needed to believe, and got me a plane ticket to heaven, but I’d think about that flight later.

I had just spent the last 11 years of my life as a functional atheist, living with little regard to the God I thought came into my heart when I was 6. My looked like any other other law abiding citizen. I didn’t have much of any relationship with God. In my mind, I learned and believed what I needed to believe, and this got me a spiritual plane ticket to heaven, but the board time for that flight was way in the future.

s keen to remind me of years later when I had spent the next ten years living as a functional atheist. He said that in that moment he did his part, but by then, when I was 17 years old, his part didn’t seem very big, and I never really understood. live the next ten years of my life being open to

I had just spent the last 11 years of my life as a functional atheist, living with little regard to the God I thought rushed into my heart when I was six. My life didn’t look any different than some other law abiding atheist. I didn’t have much of any relationship with God. In my mind, I learned and believed what I needed to believe, and got me a plane ticket to heaven, but I’d think about that flight later.

I couldn’t have told you that’s what I believed, but that’s how I lived.

is keen to remind me of years later when I had spent the next ten years living as a functional atheist. He said that in that moment he did his part, but by then, when I was 17 years old, his part didn’t seem very big, and I never really understood. live the next ten years of my life being open to

[SLIDE - Main Truth] What we believe is revealed by our hands, not our mouths. x2 Better even, who we believe is revealed by our hands, not our mouths.

[SLIDE - Main Truth Two] Our beliefs are not spoken, they are lived. We see our beliefs in life, we don’t say them.

We see our beliefs in life, we don’t say them.

Then as the dirt is My first memory of Jesus was when I was 5 or 6 years old. I was asking my dad about who this Jesus guy was. I was in the car when my dad told me

TRANSITION: Today, on the day of our official launch, we are opening our doors and letting everyone know that we want, not just to know the right things to say about Jesus, but we want to live like Jesus. Really, LIVE, like him.

Today we will be exploring

Really - LIVE, like him.

We are only looking at one verse - - please turn there with me on page 1,302 of your pew bible.

[SLIDE - Verse] Whoever claims to abide in him, they must walk in the same manner in which he walked (ESV).

[SLIDE - Verse] If anyone claims to be in him, they must live the life that Jesus lived. (NIV).

[SLIDE - Verse] If anyone claims to be in him, they must live the life that Jesus lived. (NIV).

So our call Christian, is to live they life Jesus lived.

BUT I truly didn’t know how what I learned as a child should affect how I live.

After knowing the salvation formula, I did very little if anything at all to try and follow him. What I was sold, unintentionally, by my Father, is a commercialized easy version of Christianity that is more knowledge download than life upload. Knowledge downloaded and stored somewhere in the computer of my mind to find it when i need rather than uploading the whole of my life into the world of God so as to live in and form Him. `

Transition: Regardless, What my father had taught me when I was 6 would prepare me to become someone very open to God and faith later in life.

God is light, therefore the Christian life is “walking in the light.”

[slide] Jesus and his Four Challenges

Today we are what it looks like to live LIKE JESUS. This series has a lot of different people in mind. If you are just curious or you aren’t sure if you really believe in all this religious stuff, or if you agree with the teachings of the church you grew up with, this will be a great series to see what living LIKE JESUS looks like.

For those who have been going to church for a long-time and you’re ready for something new, I believe this series will challenge you and empower you to live LIKE JESUS.

We believe that Jesus’ teachings were not just helpful little tips, but he actually provided a method, a process for what sort of lives he wants us to live.

Whoever says they abide in Jesus they ought to walk in the same way he walked.

[slide] The 4 Chairs (6min)

We think that one helpful way of understanding HOW Jesus did ministry is to look at it through 4 chairs. We believe Jesus gave 4 challenges that are represented in these 4 chairs.

[Slide - Chair 1] Come and See - the first Chair is the person who open and desiring to learn. They are seeking truth and they are willing to explore. This is the seeker who is seeing what Jesus is about. The challenge for this chair from Jesus can be seen from the following story:

The first Chair is the person who open and desiring to learn. They are seeking truth and they are willing to explore. This is the seeker who is seeing what Jesus is about. The challenge for this chair from Jesus can be seen from the following story:

Bible Story:

- “Come and see” is said twice over to the disciples.

For example, in the Gospel according to John, chapter 1, two young men followed after Jesus because their other teacher, John the Baptist, told them Jesus was the real deal. As these two men followed behind Jesus, they were nervous and wondering how to break the ice. Jesus turned around and asked them “What are you seeking?” Both desiring to seize the opportunity to spend extended time with Jesus they asked, “Where are you staying?” Jesus doesn’t say, come to my next teaching service, there will might be food, or go to his healing service on Lake Shore Drive in East Galilee. Jesus doesn’t get philosophical off the bat and say, “Which home, the one in heaven or on earth?”

Instead he simply says, “Come and you will see.”

” Instead he says, “Come and you will see.”

In the Gospel According to John, two young men would follow after Jesus early in chapter one, and Jesus would ask them, “What are you seeking.” They responded, “where are you staying?” Jesus would then say, “Come and you will see.”

This is the invitation of

This is the most personal, relational way Jesus could answer this question. In other words, Jesus says, come be with me - knowing full well that these guys were going to follow him to the ends of the earth.

In the New Testament, despite the famous stories of Jesus teaching and healing the masses, there are just as many stories about Jesus engaging people one-on-one or in small groups. Jesus was committed to relational ministry.

STORY OF CHAIR 1 FOR ME: Chair 1 story – my best friend liked this really cute girl – but she was pretty religious. He thought going to church would be the best way to start the relationship. So he asks me to go with him for some moral support. He also knew I believed in God and was generally a moral person – so that helped.

[slide - Kempton] After the service, the youth pastor, named Kempton Turner [PICTURE] notices me and engages me.

After a little small talk he asks if we could meet one on one [SIT IN THE CHAIR]. When we meet he gauges what I know about Jesus and asks me some life questions, and then he invites me to go through the Bible with him to come and see what the life of Jesus is about.

I didn’t realize it then, but that was my come and see invitation. I was curious and I wanted to learn. I was a seeker – I thought I knew what I believed but I really didn’t – and I was excited to learn from Kempton.

I could have eventually flaked on my meetings with him, gotten busy or caught up in my life with my girl friend at the moment, or I could have slowly ghosted him (which means not replying to him), or stopped reaching out to him.

We would meet for several months twice a week to learn about Jesus and each other. I am firmly in chair 1.

TRANSITION: But what about chair two?

[slide - chair 2] The second chair is when the person comes, sees, and says - Yes, you are worth following, believing, and giving my life.

The second chair is when the person comes, sees, and says - Yes, you are worth following, believing, and giving my life.

This is the person who has true faith and belief in Jesus. They go from hanging around Jesus to actually following Jesus in his ways and life.

Bible story:

As Jesus is teaching hundreds of people at the side of a lake, they start to press in on him. So Jesus jumps on a boat and starts to teach from there. All the people in the crowd are seekers, checking Jesus out and see if he’s interesting. The fishermen, after having a really hard day fishing Jesus tells these guys to go out into the deep and let your nets down. Simon lets him know they’ve tried all day with nothing, but they’ll do what he says. When they obeyed, they caught so many fish that their net began to break. Simon is astonished at what just happened and he doesn’t think he’s worthy to be before Jesus.

But Jesus says: “Do not be afraid, You were a fisherman, but now I will make you a fisher of men.” Then Simon would leave everything he had and would follow Jesus.

Simon would let go of himself being the center of his world and he’d get his life uploaded into Jesus’ life.

The challenge of Jesus in chair 2 - Follow Me.

Transition: How did I go from seeking to knowing I was truly following Jesus?

Their life slowly starts to look more and more like Jesus and they are desire to learn and grow in this new life. The challenge of Jesus in chair two is: Follow Me.

MY CHAIR 2 Story: Generations of abuse. My grandfather to his children. My father to his daughter. His daughter to me. The pain of realizing everything you thought was okay begins to fall apart. I begin to question - GOD, THIS ISN’T RIGHT. THIS ISN’T FAIR. HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN? DID YOU JUST WATCH?

For me, to follow Jesus meant that He wanted me to actually trust in in every part of my life. I had to actually trust that God was still good in the midst of so much bad. That’s when God invited me to trust Him and follow Him in my most vulnerable place. It was in this pain that the truths I learned actually carried weight, and instead of turning away, I gave up trying to run my life and I chose to truly trust him.

As I met with Kempton I started to see that Jesus wanted more than just my intellectual agreement – he wants my life to be lived for his sake and glory. He wanted me to do more than just come and see, but Jesus wanted me to actually trust in in every part of my life.

TRANSITION: Chair 2 is a beautiful thing - it’s the hour you first believed. It’s receiving and diving into the endless learning and practicing of the grace of God. Chair 3 is when you start to give grace back.

As I met with Kempton I started to see that Jesus wanted more than just my intellectual agreement – he wants my life to be lived for his sake and glory. He wanted me to do more than just come and see, but to actually leave my old patterns of sinful life behind and follow him.

That trust would have to come when I would be faced with the pain and confusion of my family falling apart, generational abuse. I had to actually trust that God was still good in the midst of so much bad. That’s when God invited me to trust Him in my most vulnerable place. He wanted me to follow Him, even there.

[slide - chair 3] The third chair is the laborers chair. The disciple who is applying what they’ve learned, serving and laboring in harvest with Jesus.

Chair two folks are purely learners while chair three folks are ready to suffer for Jesus and give more and more of their life. They are ready to jump in and start giving back and using their spiritual gifts. In chair three you’re inviting others to come and see and you are learning what it means to serve sacrificially while still growing in the truths you learned in chair 2.

Bible Story:

The challenge of Jesus in chair 3 is “I will make you fisher of men” (). Not only are you going to follow me, but I am going to send you out and find others. I am going to send you to call more people into this life.

In Simon Peter left his boat and would start to follow Jesus and learn more and more about his power and glory. I think Simon Peter and his other disciples start living into chair 3 in where Jesus gathers his main 12 disciples and gives them authority and power to heal diseases and sends them out to preach the good news and heal people. It’s at this point that Jesus is sending his followers to go ahead of him and preach the gospel everywhere. The time had come, he sends them into the harvest.

TRANSITION: When did I feel like I was truly sent into the harvest as a laborer? Kempton and many others in college enabled me to labor in chair 3, but the most significant time came after college.

[slide Jeremiah] My Chair 3 Story: Young adult ministries are my favorite. After college i struggled getting involved at a church. It wasn’t until I joined a young adult small group that I really started thriving.

My small group leader told me about this thing called the discipleship house - which was an intensive discipleship program where you’d move into a house of 3-4 other committed disciples. We’d go to 2 classes at 6:30am every week, do weekly confessions with our housemates and we would serve over 10 hours in the community every week.

It was in this house that i gained sobriety from struggles with lust and temptation. It was in this house that I got to do outreach in the LGBT community and serve as an officer in local civic associations. It was in this period that I got to start preaching in Sunday School classes. I started laboring in the harvest - and it was so much fun.

Let’s live the life Jesus lived

THERE IS NOTHING MORE LIFE GIVING THAT GIVING YOUR LIFE AWAY.

TRANSITION: Laboring isn’t easy - it’s suffering and pain, but still a joy. Eventually Jesus brings us to another level of discipleship. When we look at the life of Jesus he would teach these laborers how to multiply other laborers.

[slide - chair 4] The fourth chair are disciples making disciples.

The fourth chair person doesn’t have been to given opportunities to serve, they are finding new opportunities and asking others to serve. They are disciples who make disciples. They are helping others break down the barriers between chairs and live fully the life Jesus lived.

Bible Story: Now there’s 72, then 120 in , now 2.4B today.

You know how Jesus sent Simon Peter and the other disciples in ? Just one chapter later, in we will see Jesus not just sending 12, but sending how many? Anyone know? 72. These disciples who were sent in came back with 6 disciples EACH! These 12 disciples along with these 72 would grow in Acts chapter 1 to about 120, and this would be the core from which the most powerful church planting movement would begin, now reaching over 2.4 billion people today.

Transition: As the year in the discipleship house came to an end, my mentor Jeremiah asked if I would consider being the anchor member of the next house as he was struggling to fill the guys house. Megan Stidham would end up joining the discipleship house in this second year.

My Chair 4 Story: So I start riding the bus to work everyday - and getting to know more and more neighbors. I start going door to door and inviting neighbors to Thirsty Thursday, a new monthly block party that had over 30 random people some weeks. The women from the discipleship house would come with food and I’d provide the entertainment. There were many nights that would end with Hayden my neighbor and I having deep conversations about God, crying over the pains of loneliness and depression.

From this group we started a bible study for people who didn’t believe in Jesus and I asked other people to help me lead it.

I had transitioned from filling volunteer roles to creating volunteer opportunities for others.

Jesus’ challenge: go and bear more fruit

Chair 4 disciples can’t help it. They can’t tell you how - it’s just the love of God that brings out a new gear within them.

CAVEATS - I understand my story might make this all sound nice, tidy, and linear. But in life this is far more like musical chairs, but we believe this is the method Jesus modeled for growth - and these chairs keep moving.

TRANSITION: Now as you hear my story it might make this all sound nice, tidy, and step by step. But this is far more like musical chairs than step by step, but we believe these chairs represent a helpful picture of the live that Jesus helped others live. It’s Jesus’ growth model.

And so we ask:

CAVEATS - I understand my story might make this all sound nice, tidy, and linear. But in life this is far more like musical chairs, but we believe this is the method Jesus modeled for growth - and these chairs keep moving.

What chair are you in?

This isn’t to shame you for not being in chair 4. Many of us may be in Chairs 1-2 or moving in and out of chairs 3 or 4.

No matter what chair you’re in - there’s more to live like Jesus.

Everything that’s healthy moves - it’s when we’re stagnant that we stop growing. We want people moving through these chairs because movement is part of growth and maturity.

TRANSITION: So how can you grow and experience movement here at Calvary Oak Lawn?

[Slide - List] What is the church about?

Growing in the likeness of Jesus

Connect Groups

Women’s, Men’s, Family, Young Adult, Youth Gatherings

. . .

What’s in 3? This is to be determined. it’s the beauty of a grand opening and a new beginning. It’s less who we are, but who we are becoming and who we will be based on the people who God brings here.

[Slide - Who we are becoming] Be the Bridge group. - Marcie Uelmann - racial reconciliation. It’s happening.

Marcie is on the journey to become a chair 4 Christian. She was likely a chair 2 Christian until she found something work laboring for - a part of the Kingdom of God that she thought was worth fighting for.

TRANSITION: So who are we? Wrong question - who are we becoming? Let’s find out together.

Closing Story: Kempton moves and moves me

Kempton was moving. I was scared. I was months removed from the heated argument that I had with my father. I was losing my mentor after 2 years of adventure and after months of family turmoil. As his final act as a minister in Houston, he gathered 3 young men in his home. The men he had poured into over the last 6 years of his life. He spoke wisdom over all of us. He spoke over me - saying that I will always live my life ZEALOUS for what is good. He then looked me in the eye and said - some of you are destined for full-time ministry and you should seriously consider it.

At that time, though I was flattered, I didn’t want to be poor, so I passed on that and went headlong into the business world.

Fast forward 2 years, life happens and you keep going - I hadn’t spoken to Kempton in months, maybe even a year - But one night I received a text message from Kempton. He said, “If the only reason I was in Houston was to disciple you, then it would have all been worth it.”

I nearly cried when I read this text.

I would go on to work for JPMORGAN CHASE and train for 3 months in Chicago in 2011. For those three months I joined a young adult ministry at Moody Church.

Fast forward 8 years and it’s July of 2019. Megan and i are on a date night for her birthday in downtown chicago. I hear my name being screamed.

It’s Sarah Ann - a young adult I knew from Moody church a while back. She stops her car, and jumps out and gives me and megan a hug. The first thing she says to me, “What are you doing here?”, “Are you a pastor yet?” Remember - the last time we spoke was 8 years ago when i was TRAINING FOR BANKING.

Where ever you are, we want to help you grow. We believe the challenges of Jesus are for you, and we want to journey with you.

Kempton Turner and Sarah Ann saw something in me that I didn’t see.

Who do i want this church to be?

TRANSITION: Where ever you are, we want to help you grow. We want to see something in you that you might not see in yourself. We want you to live in Jesus, and we want to journey with you.

We want people

Where ever you are, we want to help you grow. We believe the challenges of Jesus are for you, and we want to journey with you.

[Closing SLIDE] You’re invited to join us as we learn how to live the life Jesus lived.

You’re invited to join us in this series to see Jesus transform lives.

Where ever you are, we want to help you grow. We believe the challenges of Jesus are for you, and we want to journey with you.

Invitations:

Invitations:

Invitations:

If anyone claims to reside in him, they must live the life that he lived.

---

Chair

Even though I

Tell my story of how it all began for me (what it was like).

God is light, therefore the Christian life is “walking in the light.”

So if we claim to be IN Jesus Christ, to ABIDE in him, then, we will walk in light. If we don’t

We want our community to experience these four chairs.

this is what Jesus did, and this is, in some sense, we are all either comfortably or uncomfortably sitting in one of these chairs.

Calvary’s Vision - joining with Jesus to transform lives, if anyone claims to be in him, - ESV - Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

This isn’t to shame you, this is an invitation to a deeper life. If you claim to make your home with Jesus, if you claim to be found in Jesus. If you claim to be identified

Story explaining of how someone can be in someone else.

If anyone claims to reside in him, they must live the life that he lived.

Calvary’s Vision - joining with Jesus to transform lives, if anyone claims to be in him,

Does it resonate with me?

Jesus’ story?

Do I like the way it ends?

Discipleship?

Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

asd

What chair do you think you’re in?

Hard sell at the end.