Deal or No Deal

Communion/Intro to The Story

09/04/16–Highland—Meute

Psalm 119: 105-112; II Timothy 3: 14-17; John 1: 1-5, 14-18

Pearl: Congregation committing to join in on The Story

Function: To encourage the congregation to engage in the 31 week journey through the bible using The Story. This is an Introduction to The Story using the game show “Deal or No Deal” as a means of securing commitment.

Last spring at the meeting of the Susquehanna Parish Ministry Group, Kimberly Seacrest-Ashby, pastor of Fallston Presbyterian Church, shared the invitation to other churches to join together in using The Story as a congregational journey this year. In the church I served in Avondale we did The Story, and had an excellent experience with it, so I took it to Session here at Highland. Elder Valerie Matta had also done The Story in a Bible Study group. Because of Highland Presbyterian Church’s desire to “Share God’s Love and Grow Disciples,” the Elders enthusiastically decided that we do this as a congregation this year!

1. The leadership of Highland Presbyterian deeply wants you to experience a life with God. They want everyone to be in a dynamic relationship with Jesus the Christ. Among the exercises/disciplines of a spiritual life is the all-important need for a comfort level and a good overall conception of what is found within the pages of the Bible—Holy Scripture.
2. The Elders want to see everyone in this congregation “take hold of the life that is truly life” (I Tim. 6:19).

 

Many people are intimidated by the Bible. It is full of hard to pronounce names and places which don’t even exist anymore. It has some very foreign ideas and concepts and words that send you running to a dictionary often. Often you need a theological dictionary because the general dictionary won’t do the job.

1. Actually, though, the bible is not a collection of hundreds of unrelated and strange facts and ideas, names and places, but it contains an overall unity of message or “story.” It is “the story of God.”
2. The very first sentence of the bible says “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” You will again read in the last book of the bible, Revelation, “Behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth….” So the question is what on earth happened in between Genesis and Revelation?
3. The purpose of using the chronological bible The Story is to grasp what happened in between Genesis and Revelation so that you can grasp hold of what is really the story of God so that you can fit your stories together with God’s story.
4. The Story is an experience for the entire family. It is meant to be an experience for you individually and as a congregation. Indeed, it so happens that you will experience it with Fallston, Grove, Chestnut Grove, and Good Shepherd Presbyterian Churches, making five churches from the Susquehanna Ministry Group in Harford County!

 

If you ever watched that game show “Deal or No Deal” you remember Howie Mandell accompanied by a number of lovely women standing there opening various briefcases. I am going to use that format to reveal the various ways in which you will experience The Story.

1. (open first folder) PERSONAL READING
   1. All who participate will need access to the chronological bible The Story. Go to the table to pick up your copy today after worship. Many of you have already done this. I believe you can also get it as an E-book. I know some of you have already begun to read. This is fine but please take it a week at a time since this is a congregational journey.
   2. Read one chapter each week. It will only be a few pages. The chapters are short and compact. You might consider writing down your thoughts or questions in a journal.
   3. Interact and reflect upon the week’s chapter. Do it in preparation for the Sunday worship service.
      1. Feel free to send me any of your thoughts and questions so that I might respond in sermons or classes.
   4. “Deal or No Deal?”

 

 

2. (open second folder) FAMILY TIME
   1. The Story is an opportunity to do the reading together with your family. You can do it in a brief span of time. You can then discuss it briefly. Interact with it as a family. Wonderful things may happen.
   2. Don’t parents want more than anything else for kids to follow God after they leave the home? Even if you make every effort to bring your children to worship and Sunday School as they grow up the chance of them lapsing from their life with God after they leave your homes is high. If you actually engage with your children and youth in your homes in spiritual conversations their chances of lapsing in their walk with God decreases greatly.
   3. Don’t be afraid of questions that come up that you can’t answer. When you come to worship some of your questions may be answered or when you get around others who are also on this journey, discussion and reflection together will help you answer some of your questions and help you to be guided into even better questions.
   4. “Deal or No Deal?”
3. (open third folder) SMALL GROUPS
   1. When you experience The Story of God with others it will help you stay with the journey. If you commit to doing something by engaging with others who are trying to do the same thing you are much more likely to succeed.
   2. You are encouraged to hold each other accountable.
   3. Smokers cannot quit smoking on their own. The chances of doing so alone are 0%. Some can do it but they are so few that it amounts to 0%. If you add a tool like a nicotine patch your chances go up to 5%. But when you take a tool and add a community the chances go up to 40 %. So if the smoker joins with a group of others trying to quit smoking there is a much greater likelihood of success.
      1. Your tool will be The Story. The community can be a small group, a Sunday School class (all ages are engaging in this—children through adult). Make plans to meet with another one or two people and talk about the weekly chapter. Form your own Small Group!
      2. Using the “Tool” plus “the community” ensures a much greater likelihood that you will go the distance and make it all the way through the bible and grasp the story of God.
   4. “Deal or No Deal?”
4. (open fourth folder) WORSHIP SERVICES
   1. I will be teaching and preaching my heart out as we go through The Story. I’ve done it once and it went very well.
   2. I am asking you to commit to being here each and every week of The Story. In this way you will capture the whole story of God. There will be a four-week break from The Story around the Christmas holiday. The journey will only be interrupted if the weather gets in the way or if you are sick. If sick, stay home. The Sunday message will be posted on the about-to-be-newly-launched (maybe this week) church website (highland-presbyterian-church.org).
   3. Commit, to the best of your ability, to being here each week!
   4. Deal or No Deal?”
5. (open fifth folder) VOLUNTEER
   1. When you do something with what you learn from God you truly learn it. Consider offering to lead a small group to do The Story. Consider volunteering/serving in some new way. You will be receiving knowledge of God’s plan and of the gospel “good news,” so put that knowledge into service for the Lord. The “Threads of Hope” Clothing Ministry is always in need of volunteers!
   2. Volunteer to serve God in a new way as you absorb God’s story and experience “the life that is really life.”
   3. “Deal or No Deal?”

 

There are other “game shows” which are reality shows. “Survivor,” “Fear Factor,” “The Bachelor,” “The Voice,” “The Apprentice,” “Shark Tank.”

 

In the world that is really real, God is still working on his story. He has work to do in creating the new earth and the new heaven. God is not finished yet. In The Story you will discover how your lives fit into the on-going story of God for real. This is your reality.

In a few weeks you will encounter a man named Joshua who came to a point of decision one day with the people of God. He stood his ground and he said, “Who will be on the Lord’s side?” He put a challenge before the people and asked them to make a choice. He said, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Today, I am asking you as individuals, as families, as a congregation to “take hold of the life that is truly life” by taking part in The Story.

 

Make the choice today; choose to align your life in the next several months with God’s story.

         

“Deal?”