Free to Love
Messages Throughout the Free Series:
• “We live within the limitations of what we can believe.”
• “Your success is not determined by what you have but by what
you do with what you have.”
• “God gives you special gifts to excel in your work.”
• “You become free from sin when you give yourself completely
to God!”
• “Everything you need has been put in you by God to
accomplish His will.”
Shifts in the American View of Christianity:
• Only 15% of young adults claim any strong affiliation with
Christianity and/or the Church.
• The U.S. now has more secular, unchurched people than most
nations of the world!
• The 3rd largest mission field is now the English-speaking world.
• Only 6% of adults over age 18 find faith in Christ.
• Only 25% of the adult population claims any strong affiliation
with a local church.
• Practically every denomination is losing attendance at a record
pace, and approximately 200 churches close their doors every
week in America!
• The fastest growing religion in America is social justice.
Churches Grow 2 Ways:
- Transfer Growth
- Conversion Growth
Transfer Growth Causes Many Challenges:
• Pressure to create services that accommodate past church
experiences
• Church doctrines begin to conflict with one another
• Majority of resources given to minister to people within
• Religious attitudes form that come across as condescending to
outsiders
• Cultural walls begin to build and keep unchurched people out
• Church becomes known for experience inside instead of work
outside!
3 Main Challenges with Unchurched World:
- Trust Issues
- Tolerance Issues
- Truth Issues
How the Church Overcomes These Challenges:
- A culture of love instead of religion
JOHN 13:35 MSG
“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same
way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will
recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you
have for each other.”
MATTHEW 9:10-13 MSG
Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his
close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined
them. When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company,
they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is
this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riffraff?” Jesus,
overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick?
Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’M AFTER MERCY, NOT
RELIGION.’ I’M HERE TO INVITE OUTSIDERS, NOT CODDLE
INSIDERS.” - A culture of grace instead of judgment
1 CORINTHIANS 9:19-23 MSG
Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone,
I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a
wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists,
loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I
DIDN’T TAKE ON THEIR WAY OF LIFE. I KEPT MY BEARINGS IN
CHRIST—BUT I ENTERED THEIR WORLD AND TRIED TO
EXPERIENCE THINGS FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW. I’ve become
just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I
meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I
didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it! - A culture of others instead of self
4 Levels of Christianity:
- Informational: knowing about Christ
- Revelational: understanding Christ
- Incarnational: Christ in you
- Transformational: CHRIST THROUGH YOU!
PHILIPPIANS 2:1-4 NIV
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with
Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the
Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete
by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of
one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather,
in humility VALUE OTHERS ABOVE YOURSELVES, not looking to
your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
MATTHEW 9:36-38 NKJV
But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for
them, because they were weary, and scattered, like sheep having no
shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is
plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the
harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”