Scripture: John 21:15-19
TITLE SLIDE:
Does your PC not seem to run as well as it once did? Wait –
you thought I meant Personal Computer – NO – Presence of Christ. Is the presence
of Christ not what it once was? Are you like the first church mentioned in the
book of Revelation – the church of Ephesus? Rev 2:2-5 I know your deeds,
your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked
men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have
found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name,
and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first
love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things
you did at first.
You have gone
to church for many years and you serve in several areas but you feel burnt out
– spiritually lethargic – uninspired? Well, sounds like a case of a lost first
love. We will come back to this text in a little bit to find a solution to our
situation.
There are not a lot of examples in
the NT of a reboot because it does not cover enough time, though there are
some. The OT is full of reboots. Adam
and Eve sinned, they had to reboot in a new location outside of paradise. Cain
killed able, God gave Adam and Eve Seth and other children. God hated how His
creation was living and he killed them all except his Noah reboot team. God’s
people were enslaved in Egypt and God gave them a reboot right through the Red
sea across the Jordan River and into the Promised land. When the people
offended God, He was always raising up a remnant to reboot the Hebrew people to
be in right relationship with Him. While the Jews were in Exile, Jerusalem was
in shambles and God used Nehemiah to reboot the city, and restore the word of
God.
The best reboot example in the NT
is Peter. As predicted by Jesus, he denied even knowing Jesus - 3 times. After
the resurrection, during breakfast on the beach Jesus reboots a discouraged
failed Simon Peter. John 21:15-19 (Not this text on a slide)
When they had finished eating,
Jesus: "Simon son of
John, do you truly love me more than these?"
Peter: "Yes,
Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus: "Feed my
lambs." "Simon son of John, do you
truly love me?"
Peter: "Yes,
Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus: "Take care of
my sheep." "Simon son of John, do you
love me?"
Peter: (hurt Jesus asked him the third time)
"Lord, you know all things; you know that I
love you."
Jesus: "Feed my
sheep. " (3 times denied – 3 times rebooted) Jesus accentuated the
reboot by using the exact same two words he had used to call Jesus in the
beginning): "Follow me!"
Sometimes long term Social
Networks (relationships) need a reboot. The only way they get rebooted is when
you do something different – not when you wait for someone else to do something
different.
Computer
Reboot may refer to any of the following:
A reboot is the process of
restarting a working computer using hardware (e.g.
a power button) instead
of software. Rebooting is
sometimes necessary after installing a software program, installing operating system
updates, to recover from an error, or to
re-initialize drivers or
hardware devices.
A HARD reboot vs. a SOFT reboot
A reboot may be a cold or hard
reboot, which means the power was physically shut off and then turned back on.
It can also be a warm or soft reboot, which means the system
restarted without loss of power.
Note: Users should only perform
a hard reboot if the computer is completely frozen, as it may damage hardware
components.
Spiritually
speaking we only need a hard reboot one time. God started us up and we used our
own intelligence to determine how our life should be and we were not living by
God’s way – we lived without faith in Christ. In that case, we need a complete shutdown
to allow the bad stuff to go away (that is called forgiveness and cleansing).
Then we are restarted or rebooted with everything aligned for a fresh start. To
not get sluggish again this may require a change of friends, location, external
situations.
Or maybe you are just a bit distant
and need a soft reboot requiring a change of thoughts, attitudes and
perspectives. This is the person in the church who has been a Christian for
awhile and the Christian life has simply become routine. Church attendance,
worship, financial giving, bible reading, prayer time, fellowship, are less
than they were at first. Inviting people to New Life in Christ or even inviting
people to church has taken a distant back seat. If any of those are true – it
is time for a soft reboot – you don’t need unplugged or completed shut down,
because your hardware is working fine – it is your software that needs rebooted
– your thoughts, attitudes, perspective – it is time to regain your first love
with the passion you had at first.
Over time
churches can get tired, lethargic and distant from God and may require a hard
reboot (like FBC Jerome) or a soft reboot where some reorganization is needed.
Every church
will need some kind of reboot at least every 10 years, if not sooner. 10 years ago, Ashland Church rebooted by
making a major change in location, and now we are ready for another reboot
which is why we are going through the church Unique process. Insanity is to
keep doing the same things in the same way and expect different results.
In his book "Crazy Love",
Francis Chan put it this way: people who
truly follow Jesus care about the Kingdom, live lives that connect with the
poor, do things that don't make sense in terms of worldly success or wealth,
will seek humility not recognition, take joy in loving people, will be known as
givers, not takers, will orient their lives around eternity; and will be
characterized by committed, settled, passionate love for God.
Isn't choosing to be changed an
absolute necessity of entering into God's Kingdom? Cardinal Newman once said:
"to live is to change, and to live
well is to change often." In other words, if we always do what we've
always done, we will always get what we've always gotten.
The culture around us is not
changing to make church growth and evangelism easy – in fact it is always
working to make it harder. As the culture changes – our methods and systems and
procedures must ALWAYS be changing founded on the unchanging Word of God and
Jesus who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has
gone, the new is here!
3 REBOOT STORIES [FOCUS ON JESUS]
1
James & John (Salome) Sit at your right and
left hand in heaven.
2
Peter walk on water
3
Thomas needs to see nail holes in Jesus’ hands
Jesus said (SLIDE) “Follow Me”
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