Discover Life!
Intro. - How the name change came about
When I was praying about a new name for our church I wanted to find a name that connected to the community so I went to the Chamber of Commerce website. Here is what I found.
Chamber of Commerce website
There’s something inside you that begs for adventure; for something new, something fresh. That’s your pioneer spirit talking...and it takes a city like this to bring it to life.
Welcome to Johnson City, Tennessee. Once a "wild frontier" where Crockett and Boone roamed the wilderness, it’s now a place where Appalachian culture thrives amidst the creature comforts you’d expect in a big city.
Our outdoors are invigorating. Our history is fascinating. Our culture is enchanting. And our music will have your feet tapping long into the mountain night.
So give your soul something to smile about. After all, this isn’t just a place to vacation; it’s a place where your pioneer spirit will thrive.
Wow I don’t know about you but that sounds pretty exciting to me.
I think the chamber of commerce had it right. There is something in us that begs for adventure, for something new, something fresh. They say it’s our pioneer spirit talking… and that a city like this brings it alive. While I love Johnson City, I appreciate the history of the area; I love adventure, as much as anyone else, I must say there is a part of me that Johnson City cannot satisfy. It isn’t my pioneer spirit, it is my spiritual man.
There is a longing in all of us for something more. It is a desire placed in us from birth, a desire to make my life count, a desire to make a difference in the world, and even more than that a desire to know God.
No, many do not realize they are searching to discover a relationship with God, but they are. They search and they search wanting to discover what is missing. They search in the wealth and pleasures of this world, look for it in relationships. They have tried everything they know to try yet they are unfulfilled. They need to discover life!
C. S. Lewis
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
They can find what they are looking for, and God has placed us here to help men in women in the Tri Cities discover life.
John 10:10 NKJV
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Jesus came that you might have not just life but abundant life.
1. There is no doubt the real life, the life we were created to live can only come through Jesus Christ
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
1 John 5:12
He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life
When you discover a relationship with God you will discover that there is a whole new world out there to experience.
A. May I tell you that the greatest stories in history are not found in the historical archives of East Tennessee but they are found in the pages of the word of God
B. The greatest man of man of action and adventure is not Daniel Boone of Davy Crockett but Jesus Christ. Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett may have been able to conquer a grizzly bear but Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave and is alive today. We can discover Life because he is alive!
2. When you Discover Life the Discoveries keep on comin’
a. I believe some of the greatest discoveries lie ahead of us.
i. Salvation is only the beginning.
ii. God is thinking of you, and has a future prepared for you.
Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Video clip “the truth”
b. When you discover life… God wants us to discover vision.
c. Did you know that when you don’t have vision you will discover death rather than discover life?
d. Proverb 29:18 states that where there is no vision the people perish
e. I want you to know this morning that DLC has vision.
i. We want to impact the world for God, and I believe we will, but before we can impact the world we want to impact the tri cities.
ii. We have a vision to be a church God is pleased with.
1. not what’s politically correct but what biblically correct.
2. Not show, sham, or manipulation.
iii. We have a vision to be a church that loves people.
iv. We have a vision of having a church that loves each other.
v. We have a vision of a church that isn’t playing games but is wholeheartedly, and passionately pursuing God.
3. Discovery takes action!
a. Not too many discoveries have been made by someone sitting on their backsides.
b. Discovering more about God and getting to know him takes action.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain
c. Discover Life Church is launching out. How appropriate we have called this a launch day.
d. We are going to launch out into the deep into new territory we have never seen or experienced.
e. Discoveries often involve risk… a ship is safe in the harbor but that’s not it was created for.
i. We are safe in our comfortable church, with a comfortable congregation but that’s not what we were created for
ii. If the is no risk… why would be need God?
4. Finally when you discover life you discover a life that lasts forever.
a. Juan Ponce de León heard of the fountain from the people of Puerto Rico when he conquered the island. Growing dissatisfied with his material wealth, he launched an expedition to locate it, and in the process discovered Florida. Though he was one of the first Europeans to set foot on the American mainland, he never found the Fountain of Youth.
b. We have discovered something better than the fountain of youth we have everlasting life through Christ.\
John 3:16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life
c. There is a scripture in Romans that speaks of life and death.
Ro 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
d. Sin brings death but life is discovered through Jesus.
Henry David Thoreau said, “When it’s time to die, let us not discover we have never lived.”
