Imagine: You’re Part of Something Bigger 4

Introduction 

• PULL OUT THE COMMITMENT CARD
• PEOPLE WHO ALREADY GAVE
• OUTLINE OF NEXT WEEK

Review 

• Jeremiah 17:5 (ESV): 5 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  
• Jeremiah 17:6 (ESV): 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.  
• Jeremiah 17:7 (ESV): 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. 
• Jeremiah 17:8 (ESV): 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 
• Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV): 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?  
• Jeremiah 17:10 (ESV):10 “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”  
• Genesis 4:25–26 (ESV): 25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 To Seth also a son was born, and he called his name Enosh. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. 

Abraham 

• Hebrews 11:17–19 (ESV): 17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 
• Romans 4:19–21 (ESV): 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 

• Genesis 18:14 (ESV): 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” 
• Matthew 19:26 (ESV): 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 
• Genesis 12:1–3 (ESV): 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 
• Genesis 15:5 (ESV): 5 And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 

Nimrod 

Genesis 10:8–12 (ESV): 8 Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore, it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” 10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and 12 Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 

• Genesis 11:4 (ESV): 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 
• Genesis 11:5–6 (KJV 1900): 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 

Knowing Who We’re Called to Serve 

• 1 Corinthians 9:20–22 (ESV): 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

The Disney Example 

• “I felt that there should be something built where the parents and the children could have fun together. So that’s how Disneyland started. . . .from a daddy with two daughters, wondering where he could take them where he could have a little fun with them, too.”–The Quotable Disney (51)
• “I don’t want the public to see the world they live in while they’re in [Disneyland]. I want them to feel they’re in another world.”–The Quotable Disney (59)

Zoe’s Target Audience  

• 1 Corinthians 1:19–21 (ESV): 19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. . . . .29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. . . .31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Imagine 

• Imagine that we are back gathering in our main sanctuary for worship.
• Imagine that the rest of our campus is renovated, upgraded, and expanded with the same spirit of innovation that is in the sanctuary. 

Imagine: You’re Part of Something Bigger.