Series: Lord’s Prayer – Intro

 Sermon Series: “Connecting with God” – Introduction

Message Aim: The starting point on the road to reawakening and renewal in a walk with God.

 Sermon Title:  “You’ve Got to Get Connected”

 Scripture:  Genesis 2:18-22

¹⁸ The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” ¹⁹ Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

 Message Synopsis:

 The world has never been more connected.  But in spite of the fact that the world is getting more and more connected I talk to people all the time who feel more and more disconnected.  The Bible tells us very clearly that you were created for connections.  The Bible says God is love and in order to love you’ve got to have somebody to love.  We try to substitute all kinds of things for it. But nothing can take the place of connecting to God and connecting to each other.

That’s what I want to talk about as we begin this new series.  I’m going to talk about getting connected spiritually.  You’ve got to connect emotionally with other people and you’ve got to connect spiritually.  Not just with God but with other people.  Today’s message is kind of a little introduction before we dig in to all the details in the weeks ahead.

I want us to look at four metaphors out of the Bible.  The Bible gives us four different metaphors in the New Testament about what it means to be spiritually connected.  So what does it mean to get spiritually connected? It means four things.

1. To be spiritually connected means it’s like being built into a building.

Ephesians 2:22 says, “In Christ you are built together.  [You’re built together spiritually] into a dwelling place for God.” It’s a temple for God. The most important thing about a building is this: the parts have to fit.  It only works if all the parts fit.

2. The second thing the Bible compares it to is it’s like being joined into a body.

One of the most common descriptions of the church in the Bible is the body of Christ.  We are the body of Christ.  What Jesus Christ did when he was here in his physical body – walking around and doing all those things – he wants us to continue to do today. We are the body of Christ on the earth.

3. A third metaphor is a vegetable or tree metaphor. It’s like being attached to a vine. 

Jesus says that being spiritually connected, it’s like being attached to a vine, like a grapevine. In John 14, 15, 16  Jesus says.  “Live in me and I will live in you.  A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself.  It has to stay attached to the vine.  In the same way you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me.”  He’s saying this is so important.

4. Being spiritually connected is like being born into a family.

There are only two ways to get into a family.  You can either be born into it or you can be adopted into it.  In the Bible God does both for you.  It’s called being born again and it’s called being adopted into the family of God.  God does them both.  1 Timothy 3:15 “I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church.”  Church is not something you go to.  Church is something you belong to.

Here’s what life’s all about: getting to know God, learning to relate to God and to other people in his family, growing in God, serving God and sharing God.  That’s what it’s all about.