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Were still going fishing. Today is the second and final Sunday of a two week sermon series called Catch. The Aim of this series is to sharpen our understanding of how to catch people for God. This series came out of a Retreat that our Steering Committee did in September when we examined a video series called catch. Jesus understood fishing 1) 2) 3) Jesus story of telling Peter to go out again At the end of Johnjesus was on the beach cooking fish when peter saw him Jesus recruiting Peter and Andrew

He said I will make you fish for ____________ The churchs main task is to fish for people for Godto get a catch. Last week I shared how Jesus had an Outreach focus. He was relentless in connecting people who were not in the in-religious crowd. We talked about this. We examined what made people in the in-religious crowd in Jesus day become grumpy that Jesus was connecting to the outsiders. I shared that the task of the church is to design our ministries for the outsider. Every time we design and plan were called to be thinking of the people on the outside of our congregation. This is hardits very hard. Its much easier to be a church where we focus on ourselves. We can have this Outreach focus when we take on the heart of Jesushis compassion. This is a culture setting series which means were trying to deepen the sense of who we are at Chain of Lakes. It might have a bit of a Chain of Lakes feel to it. But even if you dont have much of a relationships to this new congregation I believe you will benefit from this sermon. I am going to coach you to have an answer to a very basic question. SLIDE How do I find security in an insecure world?

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Who doesnt feel insecure? Im going to turn 50 next March. I just want you to know that even though my body is turning 50 I have the spirit of a 20 something. Aging makes us feel insecure doesnt it? A week ago Friday, Amy, Hannah and I went to see the movie Lost Vegas. It has some parts that I wouldnt highlight in church. Part of the story is about the aging of four men and the physical problems they encounter in their old age. I would like to live to be a hundredmaybe even a 110. I have that to look forward to in the next 50-60 years. Who doesnt feel insecure? I know our economy is doing better and the unemployment rate is lower, but who feels complete secure in their job? Think with me what would happen if we found out tomorrow that we lost our job or that our Social Security check wasnt going to come. How long could we last until we would have to seriously downsize? Who doesnt feel insecure? We need security Im going to coach you today in finding security in an insecure world. I want to invite everyone to get out this brochure that is in the bulletin. This is one resource to help you find security. I usually write a devotion, but Ive done something different this week. Were going to look at three questions in this sermon. SLIDE Why do people need Jesus? Why do people need the Church? Why do people need Chain of Lakes Church? By the end of the sermon youll have four responses to each question. This resource can help you find security in an insecure world. Im thinking of this resource as your personal playbook.

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SLIDE

A few years ago I played football for the illustrious Carleton Knights football

team. I loved playing football. I played competitively for 12 years. On every team I played I had a playbook. I played defense at Carleton, so I had a defensive playbook. We had all sorts of defensive formations. We had a base 50 defense and an eagle defense and a short yardage defense and a prevent defense. As a linebacker I would line up in all sorts of different places. My responsibilities would vary depending on the defense. I could blitz or play hamburger technique, or shoot a gap, or be responsible for one or two gaps. This is your playbook for finding security in an insecure world. As the pastor Im the coach. My task is to coach you to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ who impact the world. Every coach has to have a uniform, right? Ive pulled out my jersey from my football playing days to be your coach for this sermon. I dont have a whistle. But I have a microphone. Here we go. SLIDE As your coach the first thing I want to invite you to take 20 seconds and

develop a response to this question, Why do I need Jesus? The Bible says quite a lot in response to the question, Why do I need Jesus? The simple answer from the Bible is we need Jesus because Jesus always gives us hope. If you want circle John 9. Its a story of hope. Amy read parts of it. Jesus came across a man who was blind from birth. When the followers of Jesus saw the blind man they wanted to have an intellectual conversation about the meaning of the mans blindness. They asked Jesus why the man was blind, they wanted to know who was responsible. They asked whether this man or someone in his family had sinned and therefore the man had been born blind.

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Often this is how people respond to folks who are suffering. We want to know why someone is suffering, we want to know who is to blame for the suffering, we want to get a clear picture of why this is happening. Suffering disturbs our equilibrium. These conversations can be healthy, but there can be one significant problem with these conversations. If we only talk about suffering it doesnt help the person who is suffering. Jesus was different. He engaged in these conversations, but he was willing to do more than talk. This man wasnt an object to fit into a philosophy. Jesus didnt treat the man as a number who was part of a larger bureaucracy. The man was human; he was suffering; he needed help. Jesus didnt fill out a form to help him; Jesus didnt wait for permission to help him. Jesus entered into the mans suffering. He healed him. Jesus gave him hope. The rest of the story is almost comical. The religious leaders couldnt grasp that Jesus had healed the blind man. They did everything they could to undermine what happened. The healing didnt fit into their philosophy. The leaders questioned whether the man had been really blind. They undermined Jesus in front of the man. They went to the blind mans parents and questioned his story. Whats so delightful about the story is the blind man didnt immediately follow Jesus. He was a skeptic himself. We could learn a lot about our own culture from this blind man. No one had ever helped him, and he was cynical. He admitted that he didnt know much about Jesus. There was one thing that he did know. SLIDE I was blind and now I see.

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The man had hope. Theres always hope. The Scriptures teach us that and as our Coach I believe we need Jesus because he give us hope. At our Retreat in September the Steering Committee had a rich conversation about the question, why do I need Jesus? They said this. Its worth writing down. SLIDE Jesus grace is important to us, along with his unconditional love and forgiveness. Grace, unconditional love and forgiveness. 2ND question SLIDE Why do people need the church?

Take 20 seconds to write down your own response to the question, why do people need the church?. This might be the hardest question of the three. . You have a number of bible passages you can read this week that can help you develop further your own answer to this question. The best Bible passage that shares a response to the question, why do people need the church? is one of which Ive spoken of often. Its the story of the first community and comes from Acts 2:47. Let me briefly coach you from this passage. A group of people had been touched by Peters preaching. They committed themselves to being baptized. About three thousand were baptized. They became a community. They devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. Then one of my favorite words was shared. SLIDE Awe came upon everyone. Awe. Ive coached you before that a three letter synonym for Awe is wow. Wow. Whenever I heard the word, Wow I know the Holy Spirit is near. This group of people were looking around in their own community and saying, Wow.

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They were deeply connected at a spiritual level. Two weeks ago we were blessed to have Tom Bandy with us. He coaches churches. Hes a nationally known consultant. He coached us about the importance of having meaningful spiritual conversations when we are together. At our fellowship time when we see each other our task is not to talk about the weather or how the Vikings are on a winning streak and the Packers are on a losing streak. Our task is to have meaningful spiritual conversations. Thats why we try not to rush out of here. Thats why we dont take down the chairs until noon. We want to be engaged with each other. We want to share with each whats going on in our lives and how God has worked in our life during the week. Were listening to each other and connecting at a spiritual level. Well talk about our own prayer lives. Well certainly share our pain with each other. If someone is hurting well immediately try to help the person. When others get a sense of these spiritual conversations they will say, I want some of that. I want to be a part of a community who has a deep sense of shared life together. The Scriptures teach that a community is more than the sum of its individual parts. God works through communities of people in a way that people will say, wow! When the Steering Committee met we really wrestled over this question, why do people need the church? We all know of people who believe that they can worship God by themselves. People can go for a run or do yoga or do some fine cooking and call that a spiritual experience. They can be spiritual experiences. We know that there is a lot more to being a disciple than having an individual spiritual experience. As a Steering Committee we wrestled with what would we say to a person who believes they can worship and follow God without a community.

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After a lot of wrestling we came up with this: SLIDE each other. We cant become the person God desires for us to be without a community. We cant become complete without being connected to a group. As your coach I have a response to this question, why do I need the church? We need the church because when were part of the church we never have to be alone. One of our insecurities is being alone. When were part of a community we never have to be alone. One of the greatest privileges I have as a pastor is to be with people who are going through difficult times. One of the things I share with people who are going through a difficult time is you dont have to go through this by yourself; were here for you; you never have to be alone. We can find this type of security in other placesin our family or friends or neighborhood. A church is different because the security of a faith community is based on a spiritual foundation. Sometimes our family, or our friends or our neighborhood will fail us. Recently I came across an picture exhibition of homeless folks. The exhibit has large pictures of folks who our homeless. Whats so cool is each picture has a phone number on it. When we call the phone number we learn about the persons story. When I was at this exhibit I called a few phone numbers. The common thread running through these stories was how their family relationships had ruptured. Something significant had happened which caused them to fall away from their families. We need the community because of growth in relationships. With God and with

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They werent connected to a church. When their family disintegrated they didnt have a faith community who would help them. These homeless folks were alone because they didnt have a spiritual community. A while ago I had a conversation with a friend who told me a story about his cousin Tony. The story is true, but al the names are changed. Tony never came to family functions. This man cared for his cousin, Tony and liked Tony and had many fond memories of Tony when they were growing up. Tony was married and had a beautiful daughter. He never saw Tony so they grew apart. Recently my friend got a call that Tony was going through a really bad time. Tony was suffering from depression. His wife had left him. He couldnt work anymore. He was suicidal. I asked my friend if Tony had a faith community. No. My friend said that Tony was involved as a child and youth, but had gradually grown away from the church. Now Tony is going through a crisis. Hes burned some bridges with his family. Hes living with his mom. Hes practically alone. But he didnt have to be alone. He doesnt have a faith community. I dont care how well were doing. We all could be Tony Friends, I dont make many promises as a pastor, but one thing I can promise is if you give yourself to a faith community you will never be alone. When a crisis hits the community will respond. Im seen that happen hundreds of time; Ive seen that happen many times in our short life as Chain of Lakes Church. Why do I believe that we need the church. A primary reason is we never have to be alone. Which leads me to the final question.

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SLIDE

Why do I need Chain of Lakes Church

Take 20 seconds and write your own answer to that question. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Bible doesnt say anything about Chain of Lakes Church. But I believe that God wants our congregation to exist. I believe God wants to see a church in the north Metro that is sold out to our Purpose Statement. I believe God wants to see a community of people who is called to be an authentic, Christian community where strangers become friends, friends become disciples and disciples impact the world. I believe that God wants to see a community of people who are sold out to the values of Hospitality, Gods Church, Relevance, Acceptance, Outward Focus, Investing in Future Generations, Healthy Disagreement and Joyful Love. I really dont mean this to sound like a commercial, but let me have one minute to share what I love about Chain of Lakes. I love that we can be ourselves. Almost every day I have someone come to me and share with me that they love that they can be part of a community where they can be themselves. You dont hve to put on airs, you dont have to act in a way that you think church people are supposed to act. You can be yourselfauthentic. We can share our questions about God, we can share our Yay, God moments, we know that we are not going to be alone when we go through difficult times. When I asked the Steering Committee what message they would give to someone who might need Chain of Lakes they said, SLIDE Authentic community, real, honest, genuine. Is my minute up?

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We want to grow in our numbers, but our focus really isnt on growth. Our focus is helping people become the person God desires for them to be so they can be a blessing to others. Our focus is helping people become the person God desires for them to be so they can be a blessing to others. Thats our Purpose Statement; thats our values. Thats what we have to keep our eyes on. When we keep our eyes on thatwe will grow in numbers. Its a paradox. We want to grow in numbers, but our focus is helping people become the person God desires for them to be so they can be a blessing to others. This has to be our focus. I completely believe God wants a church to do this. Many churches are successful at this. Theres always room for another. When I reflected on the core message of our church I came up with SLIDE real people, real lives, real disciples, people who bless How do I find security in an insecure world? We know we need Jesus because he gives us hope We know we need the church because we never have to walk alone We know we need Chain of Lakes because we can be authentic people who are becoming the people God desires for us to be.