"let Me Show You The Door" Series

I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW

“Let me Show you the Door”

2nd Corinthians 6:3-11

I titled our current preaching series “I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW.” My hope in this group of messages has been that all of us will see more clearly the vision God has for Eagle’s Landing. To help us get there one of the things I have hoped to communicate to you is that the church must grow in 5 areas. We said that 1st, the church grows stronger through worship. It is our first priority as believers and it is the place where we go to get strength to do the ministry God has called us to.

2nd I said that we grow warmer through fellowship. In the 97 ideas you submitted for consideration for new ministries in our church, we saw that one of the top items that you wanted was more opportunity to fellowship together. Apparently you guys love each other. That’s good.

3rd I said that the church grows broader through ministry. Are now preparing to launch a brand new ministry in November that we believe will be life changing for our church and community. It is called Celebrate Recovery and you will hear much more about it in the weeks to come. Ministry helps us grow broader.

4th I said that the church grows larger through evangelism. As we invite people to know the Lord, as we invite them to engage with our church and our people the church will grow in numbers. It is God’s will that His church should grow; that His lost children be found.

5th I said that the church grows deeper through discipleship. People are not attracted to shallow Christians. They are not attracted to a church that has a shallow faith. They are attracted to a church where lives are being changed.

If you have ever flown in an airplane and I am sure most of us have, then you know that one of the things they do is have the flight attendant give a few basic instructions. I don’t really fly that often but I will admit that when I do I don’t pay much attention to what the flight attendants are saying. I’ve already heard it.

My brother’s wife is a flight attendant and works out of the airport in Charlotte NC. You may have seen her if you watch Wheel of Fortune … she was on there a few years ago. She actually won the big prize for the night … about $50,000. I have asked my brother to consider becoming a tither to our church. But anyway she is a flight attendant.

I am told that when people are seated on the plane that the flight attendants are actually looking for responsible people to sit in certain places. If you are going to sit in an exit row there are actually 3 requirements and if you pay attention to what the flight attendant has to say it goes something like this….. If you are seated near an exit door you have 3 responsibilities. If for any reason you feel you cannot carry out these responsibilities then we ask that you move to another area. (1) You must be able to understand the instructions concerning the exit door. (2) You must be able to physically open the door. (3) You must then be able to verbally guide someone through the door.

Those are the 3 requirements for that person. Now let me ask you a question this morning, what are the requirements to be a disciple? Really the same thing. (1) you must understand the instructions. This is His instruction book. (2) you must be able to point people to the door to open it and get started in their walk with the Lord and (3) you must be able to verbally guide others through the door.

Most of us would say that we could definitely accomplish the first two. We understand the instructions (Bible) in fact as I heard someone say, it’s not the part in there I don’t understand that bothers me. It’s the part I do understand. It’s clear. It’s convicting. But some of us need to be reminded that we don’t follow instructions very well. Did you ever get one of those red marks in grade school that say “does not follow instructions?” We understand the instructions but we don’t always follow them. Most of us then can get the door open but all of us are not completely sure how we could actually convince someone to go with us on the journey.

All of us must understand that in order to be a true disciple and to go deeper as a disciple in the Christian life, we MUST be able to do all 3. Now this is where the difficulty begins in going deeper in our faith. Doing all 3 is very hard for many of us because all of us are not natural born leaders are we? In fact I’m not sure anyone is. I believe it is something that we must learn. We are not born leaders. We become leaders. And we are not born disciples. We have to be reborn actually. Now this brings me to the BIG TRUTH I want to convey to you today. Here it is.