Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign Series

If we really become a church where no one stands alone, you’ll be surprised who’s here.

Most churches display the sign, “Our roof isn’t strong enough.”

But a church where no one stands alone has a visible sign that says…

YOU MATTER TO GOD

No matter who you are – where you have been – what you’ve done. The roof won’t cave in if you show up. How do we know this?

John 3:16-17 from The Message

This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.

So we proudly display a sign that says, “You matter to God.” He’s crazy about you!

TRANSITION: Sign, sign everywhere a sign…

CONCLUSION

After continually running into rude signs, the protester who sang those words stumbles across a more comforting message near the end of the song…. (Start 2:32 - “Everybody welcome. Come in kneel down and pray.” – Fade back slightly)

“Everybody welcome. Come in kneel down and pray.” And then having no money for the collection plate, he decides to make up a little sign of his own….

(Bring back to full volume)

“Thank you, Lord, for thinking about me. I’m alive and doing fine.” (Fade out)

What will we look like when we’re really the church God wants us to be? What will be the word on the street?

My guess is that it will be something like this…

Becky Pippert, is a Christian author from Naperville.

While doing campus ministry she met a student named Bill on a college campus in Portland, Oregon. Bill was brilliant, and always looked like he was pondering something deep. He had messy hair, and the entire time she knew him, she never saw him wear a pair of shoes. Rain, sleet or snow, Bill was always barefoot. While he was attending college, he had become a Christian.

At this time, a well-dressed, middle-class church across the street from the campus wanted to develop more of a ministry to the students. They weren’t sure how to go about it, but they tried to make them feel welcome. One day Bill decided to worship there. He walked into this church wearing his blue jeans, T-shirt and of course no shoes.

People looked a bit uncomfortable, but no one said anything. So Bill began walking down the aisle looking for a seat. The church was quite crowded that Sunday, so as he got down to the front pew and realized there were no seats, he just squatted on the carpet – perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, but perhaps unnerving for a buttoned down church congregation. The tension in the air became so thick one could slice it.

Suddenly an elderly man began walking down the aisle toward the boy. Was he going to scold Bill? Becky’s friends who saw him approaching said they thought, You can’t blame him. He’d never guess Bill is a Christian. And his world is too distant from Bill’s to understand. You can’t blame him for what he’s going to do.