Sermon Detail

The time has come for some change around here.
· 21 years into the life of this church it’s time to enter the next phase of our journey as a community. It is time for the “New Grace” to be launched.
o the New Grace will be one in which our faith will be stretched in new ways to achieve our core purpose:
§ to love people to Jesus and launch them into the mission of God – to become a community rich in character and calling.
o the New Grace will be one that, Lord willing, will be compromised by multiple campuses
o …with each campus hosting a Care Center that meets the needs of the broken and marginalized of our community

· you’ve heard about those things but for the next 4 months I want to introduce another of the sweeping changes coming to this church
o the New Grace will be a church characterized by a highly infectious, powerful invitational culture.

“Invitational Culture” = A welcoming, alluring, provocative, enticing, hospitable community

- An invitational culture is one in which strangers are welcomed
- An invitational culture is one in which those on the periphery of our lives come inside
- An invitational culture is one in which the non-churched and under churched find community in our lives and within these walls
- An invitational culture is one in which those far from Jesus are invited to follow the one who has revolutionized our lives.

Who are the pace setters in an invitational culture:
Ø the pace setters in an invitational culture are people who are hospitable
Ø the pace setters in an invitational culture are people who are committed to knowing the people in their spheres of influence
Ø the pace setters in an invitational culture are active in spending time with those same people
Ø the pace setters in an invitational culture are people love their church and can’t imagine why anyone wouldn’t flourish here
Ø the pace setters in an invitational culture are so changed by the love of God they want others to experience that joy
Ø the pace setters in an invitational culture are convinced of the need for every human being to know and follow Jesus
Ø the pace setters in an invitational culture are people who no longer hide from the people in our lives but aggressively seek them

The time has come for some change around here…for this church to undergo a resurgence of invitation and engagement with the people of central Indiana

It is time for us to transform from people who hide into people who seek.

· This week – I want to tell you why this is so important
· The 3 remaining weeks I’m going to tell you how we’re going to get this done.

Grace Church: Hide or Seek?
Week 1 – Why is an invitational culture so crucial today?
Week 2 – How to invite the people around you into your life.
Week 3 – How to invite the people around you into this church community.
Week 4 – How to invite the people around you to follow Jesus

Let’s begin with a bit of historical, biblical research:
Acts 2
We’ll get some help by first understanding …We’re not the first church who has gone through this transformation….

1:13 – hiding in an upper room
2:47 – enjoying the favor of all the people and daily those being added

What happened to them?

3 factors that helped the first church transform into an invitational culture:

1. They realized of the state of people around them
· 2:40 – corrupt generation
§ corrupt = crooked, lean and bent / our word skeleton derived
§ generation = age

2. They embraced the mandate Jesus gave them
· 1:18 – witnesses (the whole world)
§ Matt 28:19-20 – make disciples (every nation)
§ They were overwhelmed with ability to speak diverse languages
· God – “I’m serious about this witness business”

3. They were swept up in a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit
· God man-handled them
o an invitational culture happened to them
o they did not create a new evangelistic program or project
· They received a supernatural virus – they got sick on the holy spirit
When the Spirit comes upon us we immediately begin to do something we can’t do naturally. Jim Cymbala, Spirit Rising
The result - they became a highly infectious, powerful invitational culture that changed the world…
o enjoyed the favor of the people
o 1000s added to their number
Here’s my big idea based on this biblical, historical research…this should be normative for all communities of believers. This should be one of the defining characteristics of all churches…and in particular the New Grace.

Let me ask this of us…of you…
1. Are you moved by the state of your neighbors?
· moved = concerned, motivated, worked up
· neighbors = your sphere of influence
o get out your mini-calendars and write the names of the people you’ll encounter – they are your neighbors.
Let’s talk about them – my commentary based on research and observation:
The emotional state of our neighbors - Chronic Anxiety
· our neighbors are emotionally exhausted
· our neighbors are stressed out with limited psychological resources to adjust.
· our neighbors are moving so quickly they don’t have time to process.
· our neighbors are “morphing into hyperactive people constantly shuttling between where they think they have to be and where they think they should be”
The relational state of our neighbors – Isolation
· our neighbors are experiencing a “dynamic polygamy” (high rates of relationship formation & dissolution.
· our neighbors are pursuing “their personal heaven on earth at the end of their driveway”
· our neighbors are only seeking relationships that benefit them
· our neighbors crave intimacy but seem to avoid the trouble and pain of it

The mental state of our neighbors – Distracted

· our neighbors are brains are being changed and reshaped by technology and information overload
· our neighbors are losing their long term memory
· our neighbors are experiencing the stress of continuous partial attention
The religious state of our neighbors – Aimless

· our neighbors are lost
o 32% say they are non-religious
o > 50% seldom attend church
o only 44% have any confidence in organized religion (from 68% in 1975 - Gallup’s’ Confidence in institution measurement) \

· your average neighbor is an aimless casual Christian – the majority of Americans
· our neighbors believe happiness is more important than holiness
· our neighbors believe religion is a private matter
· our neighbors believe in a particular kind of God: one who exists, created the world, and defines our general moral order, but not one who is particularly personally involved in one's affairs--especially affairs in which one would prefer not to have God involved. Most of the time, the God of our neighbors keeps a safe distance.
· our neighbors have a hope that their future is more or less going to be OK – Good people go to heaven when they die.
The future state of our neighbors – Judgment
· our neighbors by and large do not believe this about themselves but we do as we understand the Scriptures:
We will all stand before God's judgment seat. Romans 14:10
God commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. Acts 17:30-31
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. Revelation 20:12
That is the state of your neighbors…chronically anxious, isolated, distracted, and aimless, with a very uncertain eternal future (and I haven’t even mentioned their physical and financial state)
Now, How do you feel about the state of your neighbors?
Does it move you? If we are not moved by the state of our neighbors then an invitational culture will never happen here.
IL – the Cure for Cancer
· would you withhold the cure for cancer?
· would you withhold the cure for chronic anxiety, isolation, distraction,
· would you withhold the hope out of aimlessness and an uncertain eternal future?
The state of our neighbors must move us. but… we also must be moved by our mandate…our mission…our calling…
The fully expected role of every Christ follower since the 1^st Century has been:
1. to be witnesses
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8
2. to be ambassadors
God reconciled us to himself through Christ and he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
How do you feel about that?
· we do not have the permission to hide
· we don’t have the luxury of ignoring this mandate
Our culture, your neighbors, are in an emotional, relational, spiritual free fall.
Call me an alarmist if you want but I maintain that the only hope for your neighbors is found in being invited into your life, invited into God’s church and invited to follow Jesus.
Finally…even if we get worked up about the state of our neighbors, and even if we soldier up on our mission and mandate… nothing of significance will occur around here unless we are moved by a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit.
· Something crazy needs to happen to us.
· Something wildly discomforting and out of the blue must come upon us.
· Something supernatural…from another world must visit us.
When the Spirit comes upon us we immediately begin to do something we can’t do naturally. Jim Cymbala, Spirit Rising
Our Lord Jesus Christ never intended that his church operate without visitations and blessings from the living Spirit of God” Jim Cymbala, Spirit Rising
So…how do we see that happen?
· we wait and pray … just like the first church did.
· but…hold on to your hat if He answers those prayers – “Katie, un-bar the doors !”
If the Holy spirit comes upon us friends…we will not have an invitational culture…we’ll have an infectious culture.
If the Holy Spirit comes upon your neighbors will find:
Joy to replace their chronic anxiety
Community to replace their isolation
Clarity to replace their distraction
Healing to replace their brokenness
Redemption to replace their lostness
That is if the Holy Spirit comes.