Dedicate Series

4 Month Theme: Immerse - yourself into the spiritual realm of life and grow!

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This series is designed to encourage you to grow in your spiritual dimension of life. We should be as Christians viewing things from the realm of the spirit. This realm is very different than the lens you look through in your normal everyday life. We have a handout called “Immerse” which gives you suggested readings, suggested music to listen too (Great Albums - I listened to them this week), suggested Scriptures to read and questions to answer and ponder on various topics related to our series “Dive In.” We have included in this handout a month long reading plan of Scripture verses which we encourage you to read before the next message. We are gently nudging you to answer the questions each week before the next message. We have given you these recommended readings and listening material to help you better understand and apply the content of the message. We have also included a - outline and some outline notes on U-verse for you to follow along with during the message.

Series 1: Dive In

Thesis: Our new series for the church is “Dive in!” I feel the Lord is challenging us as a church to dive in deeper into the spiritual dimension of our life. We need to go deeper in our relationship with Jesus. We need to go deeper in our commitment level for the Kingdom of Heaven. We live in a world which has two views or two perspectives. One is spiritual the other is fleshly. One is a Biblical world view the other a secular world view of things.

Application: So our point with the theme “Diving In” is to compel you to leave this one dimensional world and dive into another world which is rooted in the spiritual dimension of life. Yes, it’s there and it surrounds you everyday - you just may not see it because you are not looking for it- but if you choose to dive in – to immerse yourself in it just like divers do in the ocean then it will appear. Why “Dive In”? Because you will see a whole new world filled with: unusual life, color, amazement, beauty and things you are not use to seeing in this normal everyday world we live in. So come along with us as we dedicate ourselves to spiritual growth for the next 4 months. Dive in with us as we seek to see things in the spiritual world we have never seen before!

It’s an open invitation from us and the Lord -- Are you willing to make this covenant with Jesus – are you willing to make this commitment – are you willing to dedicate yourself to this spiritual task? Are you willing to take the plunge, to go all in, to take a risk, to take that leap of faith?

T.S. - Divers are dedicated to their sport, they train and get certified to dive, then they have to actually jump into the water world – it’s a total commitment you cannot keep half of your body in and half out if you really want to see and experience the sea world. You have to go in and go down deeper into the water and then this amazing world opens up before your eyes.

Sermon 1: Dedicate

Thesis: As Christians we should have dedicated our life to the Lord Jesus. To dedicate ourselves means to give ourselves 100 percent to the Lord and to the work of the Kingdom of Heaven. To be dedicated means you are all in to that which you have committed too. To dedicate ourselves means we are willing to open our hearts up and to allow the Holy Spirit to come dwell in our hearts like God dwelled in the Temple of Solomon.

Introduction:

As a staff we felt it was important to start this spiritual growth journey off with a commitment to the Lord. It’s the idea of dedicating our ministries, our lives and our gifts for God’s use in the Kingdom of Heaven. We recognize that we can do nothing without the help and the anointing of the Lord. He is the one that opens up the spiritual world to us. We must have His intervention in this whole process –of diving in- we must have His presence showing up to teach us and guide us through this wonderful world.

Dedicate means to devote your time and your effort to a particular task or purpose. For us over the next 4 months it will be to go deeper in our spiritual knowledge of God, to go deeper in our relationship with God, to go deeper with our spiritual gifts and to explore the world of the spirit. To see things we have never seen before and to experience things we never experienced before.