(Don't forget we'll meet at KARM at 5:00 for the tour. The address is 418 North Broadway. If you aren't planning to go to KARM, we'll start as usual at the BCM around 6:30.)
We kicked off our Outflow study this past week. I really wish it was called Overflow because that would obviously fit better for us, but the concepts still apply all the same. I'm so pumped about this study because it'll further help our core group discover what it means to truly be The Overflow Church.
Even though we had several of our regular core group members not with us, God blessed us with 6 first time people! Tyler Patterson led our worship and the band sounded amazing. Please keep Tyler in your prayers as he's praying about taking the position of Worship and Creative Arts Pastor. I shared some brief thoughts as a summary from the readings during the week and then we spent the rest of the night in discussion groups.
Week 1 of Outflow focused on "A Life Overflowing!" One of our core groups members said it best when she said, "You can't flow God if you're not focused on God!" Here is the summary I gave to our group in response to the weekly readings.
1. We were created to live a life that's overflowing! John 4:13-14
The church isn't supposed to settle for a life of routine and tradition. We need to embrace the power and fullness of life with Christ!
2. Look-Pray-Respond. James 2:14-17
One of the worst enemies in the church is "Somebody." "Somebody" shows up when people start looking around and saying, "Somebody needs to do something about that." Within The Overflow Church, we believe that if God opens your eyes to a need, chances are He wants you to experience the blessing that will come from meeting that need. Don't come to me or someone else and say "Somebody needs to do to something." Just pray that God will give you direction on how you can meet that need yourself. After all, God put it on your heart first! This church is focused on empowering each person to allow God's love to overflow from their life, not just the lives of the leaders!
3. God is capable of exceeding our expectations. Ephesians 3:20-21
I sometimes feel convicted that I'm only asking God to allow us to reach 500 people in 5 years. Does that seem small to anyone else? Whatever dreams we may have for The Overflow, God's dreams are bigger. That should excite us, but at the same time, it should bring us to our knees as we prepare for "The Overflow" of His power upon our church and city!
4. God is more anxious to bless us than we are to receive His blessing. Matthew 7:7, 11
As a dad, I can't wait to make Kaden laugh and smile each day. Nothing makes me day better than to see him smile. However, he isn't always in the mood to smile and play around. I think this is often how it is with us and God. He wants to pour out His love upon us and build His church through us, but do we truly want that? Are we honestly craving this type of movement from God in our lives?
5. We are fighting a fight that's supernatural in nature. Ephesians 6:12
As a church, we can't fall into the trap that causes us to think that people are the problem. We can't get frustrated when people make mistakes or act differently. The truth is that none of us have it together perfectly, so instead of condemning and judging everyone, let's remember that our fight is against the devil. This fight is supernatural! We are to love people unconditionally just as Jesus did, but we are to fight against the devil through the power of Christ. At the same time, we must guard ourselves because the devil will look to get his foot inside The Overflow at some point. He may come after you or he may come after me, so we must be prayed up and ready to fight!
Our discussion times focused around these concepts...
Sharing our faith should be natural. However, many of the ways we've been "trained" to share our faith (using tracts, methods, preplanned discussions, etc) are not only unnatural but they are uncomfortable to us as believers. If they are uncomfortable to us, can you imagine how uncomfortable they are to those we are trying to reach?
People usually don't come to Christ as a result of one conversation. Someone's choice to surrender to Christ is often the result of a process that involves multiple experiences with several people. Even though we may not be the "one" to lead the person to Christ, we all have a part to play, and we must seek to take advantage of every "Overflow Opportunity" God brings across our path.
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