How do we move forward as a church? Continuing the sermon series, A Momentous Move, from last week, Pastor Michael Acock teaches this morning on what it looks like for our church to move forward, to grow.
Pastor Mike starts the sermon with some history about Christian Fellowship, and then he moves to encourage us and inspire us in our building project. But first, it's important that we know who we are.
We are not called to do church but to be the church. We are called out the world and given a new identity and then we follow Christ and go back in the world to change it. Who we are in God is not determined by what we do! Who we are in God determines what we do. We must know who God has called us to be. We will never step into the life God has for us trying to live out someone else's calling. As Jesus told Peter in John 21:20, we are to follow him. What is it to us what Jesus has called others to do.
There are 7 steps or progressions in moving forward:
1. A deep internal sense that in this present moment the past will not and cannot define the future life.
2. A dynamic vision of what the future could be.
3. A single act of obedience to yes to what could be.
4. A season of preparation in light of where you are and what you see as the future.
5. An active step toward the future.
6. A de-romanticized expectation of the journey.
7. A relentless seizing of the opportunity to create a future that does not currently exist.
What does this look like? Pastor Mike explains some of these points in more detail, and he ends with the explanation of Matthew 9: 14-17. We need God to give us new wine and new wineskins. If we try to do something new with what we have now, it won't work, but we need God to give us new wineskins to expand where God would have us go.
In closing, Mike exhorts us to fall in love with the mission God has given us and not the method. Systems and processes will change, but who God is will never change. Our fuel is God himself, not the vision.
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