Breaking Barriers Series

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ME

I love New Years – love talking future.

I want to make a difference.

I really want this world to be better for me having passed through it.

I want to raise good kids.

I want to be a great husband.

Even further, I want to live so that the Kingdom of Jesus is closer to coming on this Earth because of how He used me.

I want to participate with Jesus in the redemption of all things.

“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.”

― Mahatma Gandhi

But sometimes I find myself with this big disconnect between what I want to accomplish, and what I’m actually doing.

My to-do list doesn’t always look like my “make a difference list.”

My “make a difference list” is grand and glorious, while my “to-do list” is completely unrelated to the difference I want to make.

I want to change the world, but right now I have to go change my baby’s diaper.

Or worse: I want to change the world, but right now I think I’ll just go on Facebook… or watch TV.

YOU

I bet I’m not the only one.

At least in your finer moments, you really want to make a difference.

But I find this big gap between what we say we want and what we actually DO.

I see people all the time whose MOUTH says

“I want to make a difference”

But whose ACTIONS say

“I want to just be comfortable for a long time and then die.”

Their MOUTH says: “I want to impact people.”

Their ACTIONS say “I want to keep a roof over my head, watch TV when I want, eat good food, have a few people care about me, and die happy.”

Their MOUTH says, “I want to follow Jesus.”

Their ACTIONS say, “I want to follow money.”

What I’m talking about is barriers.

A barrier in your spiritual life is something that is between you and what God wants for your life.

It can be a person, a relationship, a fear, a doubt, disobedience & sin…

It can be a mental road block, a misunderstanding…

It can be a desire for the things of the world…

It can be just sheer busyness with “my stuff.”

It can just be fear… fear that if I obey God, it won’t work out.

Fear that I can’t trust Him…

What is it that is between you and God? What is it between you and what God wants you to do, or become?

GOD

First, let’s talk about what God says he wants you to be: God gives us some really good direction, here.

Our church has adopted a mission statement that covers the big three things that God wants for your life: ‘

Here’s how our church mission statement puts it:

LOVE GOD, LOVE OTHERS, SERVE THE WORLD

I’d like to illustrate it visually like this:

(available in Resource Download)

Love God...

Mark 12:29-30 "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'

Barriers:

I don’t really ____know______ God.

I don’t ______Understand _____ God’s _____Word______.

YOUR NEXT STEP: SALVATION and GROWTH HABITS – Love God 101

DATE: January 25th, 6-9 PM

Love Others…

Mark 12:31 The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Barriers:

I don’t really ____connect________ with other people at church.

I’m afraid of what people will think when they ___get to know me_____.

Your Next Step: Join a ________Connection Group_________.

Serve the World…

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Somebody is saying, “Well, I don’t think I can really make any difference in the world.”

ILLUS: Did you hear about the fly who rode on the elephant’s ear? When the elephant crossed the bridge, the fly said to the elephant, “Did you feel how we shook that bridge?”