22R3 - Belong (Church)

Title: How to get the most out of your church.

Problem: We feel stuck in our lives.

Solution: Don’t just attend church, be the church.

Challenge: Growth Track & Meetups

Pastors Update:

Meetups

Pray over Word

I thank you, Father, that your word has the power to change my life. I'm a hearer of the word and a doer of the word and I'll never be the same after today. In Jesus name Amen.

SERIES SETUP

RESET series because no matter where you are in your life you know that there is always more. Deeper relationship with God, family, friends. there another level to the life you should be experiencing?

g2G - You may be here and you killed it in 2021. Life was good but you want to move to great.

Some are just trying to get to good. Some feel like you're stuck in a rut. not happy with the way things are going?

Some times we get to that point where we just need to hit reset.

What if you could hit the RESET button and re-prioritize, reorganize, and revitalize your life? In this series, we talk about what it takes to hit RESET on your life to end 2022 better than you began it.

Fasting

what is fasting

types of fasts

Morning Prayer

Prayer boards

prayer bracelets

PROBLEM

Feel like we are on our own trying to figure life out on our own.

We feel stuck in our own lives.

Have you ever been stuck in the snow or mud? You dig and dig. You attempt everything you can, but you keep spinning your wheels. That’s how it feels to be stuck in a rut.

SIGNS YOU’RE STUCK IN A RUT

You feel like your life is on a negative loop

You end each day feeling tired and rundown – or even start the day that way. Nothing excites you or challenges you. You can’t even remember the last time you felt pure joy.

You’re not excited for the day

When you’re in an emotional rut, you’re feeling down, but you can’t seem to get up off the couch and take action. You feel you have nothing to look forward to.

You stay in your Comfort Zone

Or maybe you have a more subtle rut. You may not feel bad outright, but have a sense that you’re not living up to your full potential.

IDENTIFYING WHY YOU’RE STUCK IN A RUT

There are many ways that we can get stuck in a rut, but there is only one cause:

Humans are wired to avoid pain and seek pleasure.

While you may not feel at your best in your current state, you do feel comfortable. You know what to expect. You know that getting out of a rut is going to involve effort – and maybe even pain and failure.

This fear of failure comes in many forms.

If you’re stuck in a rut in your career, it’s time to take a chance on a new job or even start your own business.

In relationships, we settle for less than we deserve or keep everyone at a distance to keep from getting hurt.

Phil 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

SOLUTION

There is one keystone thing you can do that will affect every other area of your life.

Develop your relationship with your church.

doesn't have to be lwfc (hope so)

you need a place you belong

30 instructions (verses) in scripture that you can't do unless you are connected in a body of believers. (church)

The bible makes an assumption that you will get connected somewhere.

Eph 2:19 (TLB)

Now you are no longer strangers to God and foreigners to heaven, but you are members of God’s very own family, citizens of God’s country, and you belong in God’s household with every other Christian.

We are members of each other.

[address only attenders]

some of you don't contribute to the rest of the body.

don't give, serve, or bring anyone.

can i just rest? there is a time in the beginning?

yes, you are welcome to contribute nothing to all this and just soak it all in. but you can't stay there.

at some point you want to find a place to BELONG.

you get the most out of a relationship when you contribute to the relationship.

[example]

melissa and i had an attender relationship when we were dating. Went on a date and then went back home. we had an attender relationships.

But at some point i put a ring on it! and membership has its privelages :-) If you got the ringy you can do the thingy.

You'll never discover the best of a relationship till you make a commitment to it.

I know some of you are just kicking the tires, thats fine.

God is looking for parts of the body who will contribute to the body they are a part of.

many of us feel like we are in a rut because we are not contributing or using the body we are in.

Don’t just attend a church, be the church.

Have a place you belong.

Develop relationship with Godly friends.

people who inspire you to be more like God when you are around them.

new testament they had weekly services but house ot house ministry

Part of our vision is based upon this scripture in ...

Acts 2:44 (TLB)

And all the believers met together constantly and shared everything with each other,

HOW?

Develop relationships on a team.

Ecc 4:8-9

There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.

a man all alone wasn't happy with all his accomplishment but he says...

Ecc 4:8-9

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:

Living Word Family Church is working great right but we are better with you.

Attend the Growth Track and find where you fit.

Join a meetup.

where you can share.

we all need a place where we are comfortable enough to take the mask off.

Meetups CTA

they have a small group instruction sheet?

Promotes Freedom Groups.

Acts 5:42

Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.

Prov 27:17

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.

CHALLENGE

what would it be like if you really went all in!

more than just fire insurance.

Give me a year and see if your life isn't completely changed at the end of the year.

God will change your life.

Church attendance won't save you. You have to have a relationship. once you do that. you become part of the body.