What do you want to accomplish with your life? What is your dream? What is your destiny? If you're a student... you can't wait to graduate, to get that degree, to pay off student loans. We're praying for you to reach your goals! But dream bigger!
If you're a young adult, you're thinking about meeting someone special, settling down, establishing a career, getting married, getting the "house with the white picket fence," starting a family. This is American Dream! May God bless you. But dream bigger!
If you're older you're probably still thinking of some of these things. You want to pay off your mortgage, become debt free, save for retirement, stay healthy, provide a future for your kids and grandkids. In the Bible God says, "I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you, to give you hope and a future." Listen, God wants you to have a very good life, and your kids and grandkids too. But dream bigger!
There are dreams, but then there are God-sized, Kingdom dreams. An example of a Kingdom Dream is helping as many people as possible Find God. This was Billy Graham's dream. He envisioned launching crusades in which entire sports arena's would be filled with people seeking hard after God. His God-sized, Kingdom dream changed tens of millions of lives. What if God could use you to help people Find God? How fulfilling would it be for you to see people coming to faith because of your efforts?
My first ministry was in a dying church, that had been in slow decline for over a century. The people were just kind of hanging on, they were discouraged and content to keep the doors open and bills paid. In the center of the sanctuary was an old rusty baptistery that was welded together from the recycled steel of a combine, during WWII. An Elder explained how the church hadn't had a single conversion for years. The church rarely had visitors.
I was a young Bible College student. I'd never led a person to God, I didn't know anything about baptizing anybody. But in faith, I looked that Elder in the eye and said, "We're going to be filling that baptistery." Then I got down on my knees and pleaded with God to make is so. Person after person got baptized in that old rusty baptistery. And it didn't stop. Today the church thrives. Hundreds have found God there.
Do you have a God-sized, Kingdom dream for helping people Find God? What if your kids, grandkids and everyone you know had everything they ever dreamed but never found God? Would you be able to rest in peace if everyone you knew and loved had a good, but godless life?
Let me tell you. People are coming to Lakeside in droves to Find God... and your love for God, expressed in worship, in this place, is a game-changer. God uses our fire to ignite the cold embers of people far from God. Your worship matters. Your love, your testimony, your being here every week, your generosity, your touch, the way you welcome guests... you make a real difference. Pray 550 at 5:50pm. Walk with 1 for 1yr.
Another God-sized Kingdom dream is helping as many people as possible, follow Jesus as deeply as possible. Church growth is exciting. There are churches literally filling stadiums and arenas every week helping people Find God. It's sensational. Its inspiring. Jesus could build a crowd as good as anyone, and he did. But being a part of the crowd isn't the same as being a part of God's Kingdom. Being in attendance isn't the same as being a follower of Jesus. A church can have "breadth" of impact but lack real depth. 1 John 2:6 says, "Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked."
Jesus would preach to the crowds, but then he would call a few to be with him, to go offline, to go deeper. A few years after relocation, we had 40-50 people complete a study of the entire New Testament. We broke into teams, and made assignments, and we asked everyone to investigate what it looks like to "walk like Jesus." When the dust settled, teams came up with over 4000 indicators of transformation.
Don't be overwhelmed! I'll make it simple. We discovered that relationships are the essence of discipleship.
First comes our relationship with Jesus. Jesus repeatedly said, "Believe in me." "Believe in the one who sent me." What does it look like to put absolute confidence in Jesus? To abide in God's love, to know his grace, to receive his forgiveness. What would it look like for us to exercise the kind of faith that moves mountains, or that enabled Peter to walk on water? Courageous faith ought be norm not the exception!
Second comes our relationship with the Holy Spirit. When we give ourselves to God, he gives himself to us by his Spirit. God's Spirit enables us to become fully like Jesus, from the inside-out. We walk like Jesus, not by our power and might, but by the Spirit of God. Think about it. We have the Spirit of the Living God. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the grave lives within us. The Holy Spirit is powerful to make us "whole" and "holy."
Third comes our relationship with the Kingdom of God. Jesus promised, "I will build my church, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it." God is building us into a new community. He's inviting us out of the crowd to be a family, to love one another, serve one another, pray for one another, admonish one another, bear one another's burdens, encourage one another.
Fourth comes our relationship with God's world. Some people try to ignore the world. Some people try to conform to the world. But Jesus invites us to live transformed lives in the world. He prayed that though being "in" the world, we wouldn't be "of" the world. Nothing blesses people more than holding out the words of life while also doing the good works God's prepared us to do.
To walk Like Jesus means more deeply believing in Jesus, becoming like Jesus thru the power of the Spirit, building up Christ's body the church, and blessing the world.
To walk like Jesus is to live life at the highest octane imaginable. There is tremendous potency in asking daily... (1) What's it look like to more fully believe in Jesus in all that I'm facing today? (2) What's it look like to become more fully like Jesus, to keep in step with the Spirit of the living God? (3) What's it look like to lend greater strength to the Kingdom of God by pouring myself out? (4) What's it look like for God's glory to shine a little brighter today in the world?
Our God-sized, Kingdom dream is to get over 200 people into groups this fall. That includes students and adults. In fact, this past summer, we trained over 40 leaders to lead groups. Our staff also went through special training. A group consists of 10 or more people who gather outside of worship to more deeply follow Jesus. Our Fall groups will start September 13th. This Fall is going to be unlike any other! We're stoked.
Allow me to give you a quick overview. We want you to choose a level of commitment this fall. LEVEL #1 involves attending all twelve weeks of our Walk Like Jesus sermon series and inviting a friend. That series begins September 13th, the same week groups begin! Your worship is a game-changer for you, and people far from God.
LEVEL #2 involves joining a group or a class and completing a short study guide every week consisting of 5-6 questions. The questions, and the message, will be discussed during group time. Groups are the best way we know to deepen faith, experience life transformation, truly build up one another, and mobilize our church to impact our community.
LEVEL #3 involves buying the $10 study guide, "Walk as Jesus Walked." This study guide requires 5 days of personal study, that can take 10-20 minutes per day. Some do a little each day. Some set aside a few hours and do it all at once. Our Elders, our entire staff, and over 40 leaders completed this study this summer! This study will be a GAME-CHANGER in your walk with Jesus.
I spent most of my life just being an attender at Church, not really knowing my Bible, not really knowing Jesus. It wasn't until I went to Bible College that I seriously studied the claims of Jesus and came to deeper place of faith. You don't have to go to Bible College to deepen your faith. Starting September 13th, we're inviting you to begin a 10 week journey to know/follow Jesus more deeply. You don't have to do this study to be in a group. But if you do the study, our group leaders will help track your progress and encourage you along the way.
When you worship regularly, it's a game-changer. Invite a friend to this series! When you get in a group or class to discuss what you are learning and apply it to your life, it's a game-changer. When you invest in a study guide and go on this 10-Week Spiritual Journey of walking like Jesus, it'll be a game-changer for you spiritually.
Would you pray? Not just for 550 @ 550, but we'd more deeply follow Jesus?
Another God-sized, Kingdom dream is helping as many people as possible Flourish as Leaders & Disciplemakers. A church only grows according to the capacity of its leaders. I mentioned that we trained forty small group leaders this summer. Some of them are leading groups this fall for the first time. Some are apprenticing this fall. Please pray for them. Some of them might lead a group next year. Please be prayer. The strength of Lakeside is what happens in our groups and classes. Not just in the breadth of Lakeside's impact, but in the depth of our impact. If you are interested in being an apprentice, visit with Jay Brooks or Daniel Thompson.