Centered. Commited. Confident.

Introduction

Hey friends, and welcome to those of you that are new with us, and welcome back to all of you returning. Before we say or do anything else…let’s pray.

***PRAY***

Alright, here’s what tonight is going to look like during our time here in the word. Tonight is an introduction, not just into our new series, but an introduction of who we are and what we do here.

It’s a quick summary of what you can expect and the culture we want to create together.

Let’s start big picture, and get more narrow as we go.

Thursday nights - This is YOUR night. Prayerfully, it’s going to be the best night of your week. It’s a place, specifically designed for people like you to come…worship God together, be in his word together, and be in community with one another.

This is the place to meet new people, or reconnect with old friends. It’s the place to ask questions. It’s the place to be challenged, convicted, and encouraged by God’s word and through God’s spirit.

It’s also...the top of our funnel. What do I mean by that?…I mean…think of a funnel. It’s starts wide at the top…and narrow at the bottom…and I want you to think of Thursday nights at the top of that funnel when it comes to terms of personal commitment, involvement, and depth of discipleship.

You can come as you like, it’s easy to get in, it’s easy to invite others in…and all around, it’s a good place to start.

But, it’s not the end goal right? Just like a funnel, the end goal is not simply that the material gets into it, whether water or oil or whatever…the end goal is where that material is going.

That is…it’s going deeper, it’s going more focused, there’s less of that material in that point of the funnel, and overall it’s not as accessible as the top of the funnel.

If Thursday nights are the top of our funnel of discipleship depth…then C-Groups are the bottom of that funnel of discipleship depth.

Now for all of you…this is a brand new term…we’ve never done this before…let me explain.

A C-Group is for those of you that are serious about your faith…now I know all of you want to be considered someone who is serious about their faith, no one wants to be told they aren’t serious about their faith…but listen. C-Groups aren’t for people who just have a feeling of being serious…C-Groups are for those who are serious about making a commitment to grow in their faith. A commitment to show up, do the work, and seek the Lord no matter the busyness of life, school, or work. No matter what appointments happen, or holidays occur, or exams there are.

C-Groups are where the mess happens. Where accountability happens. Where the deepest discipleship in our ministry happens.

They aren’t bible studies, they aren’t hangouts, they aren’t open doors where anybody can be invited. They are essentially a small group of people, gathering together, entering into a relationship with one another, to commit to help one another become more like Christ.

If that sounds like you…and you’re ready to take your discipleship to the next level…then hold on for the next week or two and we will begin rolling out how you can get involved with one. But for now, I want to put it on your radar as I’m beginning to tell you about the culture of our ministry.

So…we’ve got the top of the funnel (Thursday Nights) — anyone is invited, easy to come and go, a place for large community and invitation... and we’ve got the end goal, the bottom of the funnel (C-Groups) — the deep personal discipleship, invite only, small groups of people committing themselves to discipleship and to each other…and throughout the year we will have things that are in the middle of that funnel. Things that are a little more intimate that Thursday nights, but things that anybody is still invited to. Like hangouts and leader’s houses, events we will do together, conferences…stuff like that.

So..that’s how this ministry runs…but now it’s time to get to the heartbeat of the ministry…What this ministry believes. Our aim as an entire extension of this church…and that is..our Three C’s.

Centered. Committed. Confident.

You’re going to hear it a lot, see it a lot, and prayerfully…live it a lot.

Our church’s entire mission…to glorify God by making disciples.

Our ministries specific way of fulfilling that mission? To glorify God by making disciples who’s lives are Centered on Christ. Committed to Discipleship. and Confident in the word of God.

That’s what we want for you.

We want your life to be changed, transformed, and overall just radically different because of your relationship with Jesus.

We want to help you center your life on Christ, commit yourself to discipleship, and become more confident in the Word of God.

That’s why you’ll hear it all the time here on Thursday nights.

That’s why our C-Groups are called C Groups. It doesn’t stand for community group, or church group or anything like that. The C in C-Group stands for the three C’s. Because the goal of that group is to work the three C’s out in your life.

We want this for you so much that we are even creating a brand new podcast. For those of you that have been following along this summer, we’ve had the summer in the Psalms podcast…that podcast is going to transition back to our message podcast. And a new one is going to be created starting next week called Centered. Committed. Confident. A weekly podcast that focuses on giving you resources and helping do those three things.

Stick around here this year, and you’ll come to see how much we focus on the Three C’s.

Which leads me into the last point for tonight...

Our new teaching series.

Every fall we go through something in the NT. And every spring something in the OT.

This fall, we are going through the Gospel of Luke. Now, not all of it…but the first 12 chapters.

And here’s how we are going to do it…by focusing on one section in each chapter that teaches us something about Jesus. That gives us a deeper understanding of our teacher, our savior, our Lord, our king.

If we are going to center our lives on Christ, we need to better understand him. If we are going to commit ourselves to discipleship, we need to see how he did so and why, if we are going to become more confident in the Word of God…we need to spend time diving deep into it and seeing what it reveals...

And so tonight, I want to start with just an introduction into Luke. This will be unlike our normal messages where we dive into specific verses and go line by line…it’s different…but it’s just as important.

So if you have a bible on you, just turn to the beginning of Luke. Chapter 1, Verse 1.

As you turn there, I want to show you how the Gospel of Luke is shaped and created by this concept of the Three C’s.

Now…I AM NOT SAYING that Luke had these words in mind when he wrote this gospel. I’m not saying that his purpose in writing this was to fit the cute little branding of Centered. Committed. Confident.

But what I am saying…is that Luke’s reason for writing this gospel was propelled by these three concepts.

So follow along with me in Luke. Chapter 1.

Luke 1:1–4 ESV

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

So what is Luke saying here? Let’s word it in a modern way that we might receive a letter.

Because that’s what Luke is…a letter/narrative written to someone specific.

Dear Most excellent Theophilus,

Many have taken to compiling a story of all that Jesus did among us, I feel it’s good for me as well to write an orderly account for you, since I’ve studied these things closely for a long time and have heard from eyewitnesses. I’m doing this so that you may have confidence in the things you’ve been taught.

That’s what Luke is saying here.

Now, I told you that I was going to show you how the Three C’s are located in the purpose of Luke writing this gospel. So let’s start with our first C.

Centered on Christ. When we say centered, we mean focused on, rotating around, emphasizing, keeping in sight at all times, making the most important thing…all those definitions are wrapped up in the word “Centered”.

And Luke here, is saying that this gospel is going to be centered on one thing…Christ. That’s what he’s referring to when he says “the things that have been accomplished among us”. When he calls someone an eyewitness, what is he referring to that they’ve seen…Christ. What is Luke saying that he has followed closely for some time?? Christ. Christ’s work. Christ’s deeds. Christ himself.

Luke is setting up the fact that everything he is about to write will be Centered on Christ himself. Therefore showing us that the Gospel of Luke will most certainly be Centered on Christ. Our first C.

Second C.

Committed to Discipleship.

Who was Luke writing to in this passage? Most excellent Theophilus.

A term which here means a beloved and cherished person.

Now, there’s some debate of Theophilus. It could have been a real person, or it could have been a name to a group of people…as the name Theophilus means lover/friend of God.

Either way…here’s what we know. Luke was writing this gospel…through the discipleship relationship. He knew Theophilus, he loved them, he cared for them, he respected them…and as we are about to see, he wanted nothing more than for them to grow in their confidence in Christ.

This Gospel is being written through the means of discipleship. Luke himself was commited to discipling Theophilus..and as such, wrote an entire Gospel…as well as the book of Acts to make it happen.

The commitment to discipleship, our second C, was a driving force behind Luke’s reason to write this gospel account.

And out third C.

Confident in the word of God.

This one is going to be pretty obvious…look at verse 4 again. Luke says he is writing…why?

Luke 1:4 ESV

that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

So that, Theophilus, would be certain in the things of God. The things that in our lives, God has revealed through his word.

Luke is very explicit here…he is writing these things that Theophilus…and by extension us....would be confident in the word of God.

The Three C’s…at the heart of this purpose for the Gospel.

Luke made that statement that this Gospel would be centered on Christ. He wrote it through the means of discipleship. And he stated it was all to bring about a confidence in what has been taught.

The Gospel of Luke will most certainly further us in our commitment to the Three C’s this year. It will most certainly encourage us in those things…and it can and will most certainly bring about life change.

So, i’ve showed you how the Gospel of Luke is propelled by these concepts of the Three Cs.

But those of you that know me…know that I don’t want to be up here without giving some point of application, or a challenge.

And here it is for tonight...

Things are starting new right now.

Classes are starting, summer is ending, ministries are kicking off, the weather is changing…and these things in our culture create a culmination of the sense of something new happening...

And I want to stand here now…and exhort you…don’t miss this opportunity. The opportunity to center your life on Christ. To reaffirm your commitment to discipleship. To spend the next 9-10 becoming more confident in the word of God.

You see, 8 months or so from now…we will have our last Thursday night of the ministry year. And we are going to reflect on all that God has done.

The relationships he’s built, the life he has brought, the things he has broken down in our lives....we are going to celebrate.

But you know, there’s a good chance that several of you won’t be with us.

You’ll have gotten too busy to commit yourself to a C Group. In the midst of busyness, or emotional distress, or some other reason…you’ll have stopped coming to Thursday nights…and you’ll only show up to big events if they meet your preference....

Now not all of you…but some of you. Not because you’re an awful person or less of a disciple…but because the temptation to sluff of disciplehsip and depth is real. The temptation to find excuse after excuse as to why you can’t be known by your local church, and a comitted group of fellow believers, is real.

So here’s my point of application.

Don’t do that. Spend this week in prayer, commiting to identifying where the temptations will be for that in your life.