Invested 2022 Big Ideas: · 2 God given institutions of family and church (education?) · How do I partner with these two influences to make Christ known? · Catalyst Invested Vision Picture of Orange Lampstand | Yellow | Church (institution) “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose.” -C. S. Lewis Matthew 5:14-16 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. The church is not called to illuminate everything. Its light should be about pointing people to Christ. Many have moved the lampstand from being centered on the Gospel to other things, causing the church to lose influence. Family (Red) is the Petri dish (institution) God put in place to reveal himself. God desires for the family to nurture the hearts of children. This should be the first place the church is lived out. (Discipleship begins in the home) If you lose your family nothing else matters. · Christ is to be the center for the church and the family. Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. Show image of discipleship funnel Deuteronomy 6:1-9 “this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Ephesians 6:4 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Acts 2:42-47 (ESV) 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Picture of bullseye. Calculate the number of hours the average American kid spends on activities Sleep-2959 hours a year Eating-428 hours a year Driving-506 hours a year Work-2000+ hours a year Surfing the internet- 377 a year Tv- 1073 hours a year School-900-1000 hours per year in school. (Kids K-12) Church attendance- 40 hours per year The average church in America has 40 hours per year with each child. 40 Hours a year is not enough to pass Jesus to the next generation. What if you only applied 40 hours a year towards other important areas of your lives? Work Spouse Family This is not a message about church attendance, but just the opposite. At Catalyst Church, we desire to partner our influence with families to know Christ and make Him known. (Orange) When 2 different bodies of combined influence are moving in the same direction complimenting one another. “There are two powerful influences on the planet-the church and the home. They both exist because God initiated them. They both exist because God desires to use them to demonstrate His plan of redemption and restoration. If they work together they can potentially make a greater impact than if they work alone. They need each other. Too much is at stake for either one to fail. Their primary task is to build God's kingdom in the hearts of men and women, sons and daughters.” -Reggie Joiner | Think Orange What are we giving up when we lose influence in our families? Research has revealed over the past few years this: anywhere from 52% all the way up to 63% of freshmen who identify as a born-again believer after 4 years of college will completely reject their faith. It may come as no surprise that the influence of Christianity in the United States is waning. Rates of church attendance, religious affiliation, belief in God, prayer and Bible-reading have been dropping for decades. … Enter Generation Z: Born between 1999 and 2015, they are the first truly “post-Christian” generation. Judges 2:7 So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. Judges 2:10-13 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.11 Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 12 and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. Healthy Biblical Stewardship If I came to you today as a financial advisor and offered you two scenarios, which one would you choose? · Option 1 gives you a less than 25% return on your investment. ($250/$1000) · Option 2 gives you a 75% return on your investment. ($750/$1000) Childhood is when most people find Jesus · 2/3 of Christians came to faith before the age of 18. · 43% came to Christ before the age of 12. · Less than 25% of current believers came to Christ after the age of 21. He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he can never lose. -Jim Elliot Sometimes we don’t see the immediate consequence of our sin or bad choices, so we ignore truth. Other times we don’t see the immediate fruit of our sacrificial labor, and this causes us to invest in things that produce short term, fleshly, and immediate results. This ignores the deep eternal fruit that comes with longevity, patience, and waiting for Gods timing and purpose to be fulfilled. 1 Corinthians 4:1-2 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. (Or trustworthy.) Time, treasure, and talent are not evil. They are God given tools that He requires us to steward with a kingdom perspective. However, they can become idols that blind us from the reason God gave them to us. Steward- A person who manages the affairs or financial property of another. One who administers anything as the agent of another. The Greek word for “steward” is oikonomos and means a manager, treasurer, overseer, or guardian. Stewardship · “Jesus devoted roughly 25 percent of his words in the Gospels to the resources God has entrusted to our stewardship. This includes some twenty-eight passages. · In the Old and New Testaments combined, there are over eight hundred verses on the subject, addressing topics ranging from planning and budgeting to saving and investing, to debt and tithing. · Furthermore, money, wealth, and possessions are the greatest idols in our culture. There is simply no way to be a disciple of Jesus and not learn to worship God with stewardship. · Jesus stressed that we either worship our wealth or worship with our wealth. Matthew 6:24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Matthew 6:33 (ESV) 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Joshua 24:14-15 14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Take Away Questions: 1. Am I illuminating Christ or making it harder for people to see Christ? 2. Have I personalized the vision of Catalyst Church to know Christ and make Him known? 3. Do I see the significance of leveraging the influence of the Church and the family? What practical steps will I choose to do my part? 4. How have you allowed the world to set your family’s life and tempo? In what ways do you need to change to implement what God has for your family? 5. In what ways can you begin to allow Christ to use your family in a greater way to show the world His story of redemption and restoration? Ask: WIll you prayerfully consider investing financially in our Invested fundraiser? Will you prayerfully consider investing in our family ministry by serving in some capacity?