Sermon Outline July 13, 2008 Evening Service

Topic: Fishers of Men—Not Aquarium Keepers  

Text:        Luke 5:1-11    

Introduction 

I.         Tonight we want to talk about a church that closed its doors.

II.        We understand that as Christians, we have God’s love and God’s favour.

A.       When you think about a church where the doors are now closed, and there is no life, you wonder why God would let that happen.

B.       God expects his body to be living and active, as He is living and active.

C.       Our God is not a God of low expectations.

III.       There was a church that was once influential and effective.

A.       Yet they forgot their purpose, and ultimately they were forgotten by most.

B.       It was the church in Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6).

Text

I.         What are the symptoms of a church that has forgotten its mission?

A.       A Dying Church Is Only Alive In Memory.

B.       A Dying Church Has Soiled Their Garments.

C.       A Dying Church Doesn’t Worry About Growing.

II.        We need to ensure that we don’t become like Sardis by remembering who we are and what our purpose is (Luke 5:1-11).

A.       God wants us to do things that require faith (Luke 5:1-5).

B.       To be a thriving church, we’ve got to do things as a family (Luke 5:5-10).

C.       A healthy church has got to remain focused on saving the lost (Luke 5:10b-11).

Conclusion

I.         The Greek word that we translate as ‘gospel’ means “good news”.

A.       If good news comes too late it isn’t good news anymore (have you ever found out about a sale the day after it ended?).

B.       If good news comes too late it can actually become bad news.

1.       What about your friends and family who still need to become Christians?

a.       Right now, you have good news for them.

b.       But if we don’t ever tell them the good news, on the day they stand before God, they’ll know beyond all doubt what they needed to know, but it’ll be too late.

2.       If the good news of salvation doesn’t arrive on time, it isn’t good news anymore.

II.        God doesn’t want us to forget our mission.

A.       Let’s never be deceived into thinking that our past service excuses us from continuing to do good right now.

1.       Let’s not turn back to sin, after we’ve been washed and forgiven.

2.       Let’s be determined to grow and strengthen.

3.       Let’s not just to maintain the status quo.

4.       Let’s do things that require faith.

5.       Let’s remember that we are in this together, let’s not forget that there are lost people who urgently need the message we carry.

B.       Let’s be fishers of men…not just keepers of the aquarium.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes,

smart enough to profit from them,

and strong enough to correct them.