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Theme: Immerse (fall 2013 Christian Hills Church)

Series: Dive In

Show Handout and highlight:

This series is designed to encourage you to grow in your spiritual dimension of life. We should be as Christians viewing things from the realm of the spirit. This realm is very different than the lens you look through in your normal everyday life. We have a handout called “Immerse” which gives you suggested readings, suggested music to listen too (Great Albums - I listened to them this week), suggested Scriptures to read and questions to answer and ponder on various topics related to our series “Dive In.” We have included in this handout a month long reading plan of Scripture verses which we encourage you to read before the next message. We are gently nudging you to answer the questions each week before the next message. We have given you these recommended readings and listening material to help you better understand and apply the content of the message. We have also included a - outline and some outline notes on U-verse for you to follow along with during the message.

Application: So our point with the theme “Diving In” is to compel you to leave this one dimensional world and dive into another world which is rooted in the spiritual dimension of life. Yes, it’s there and it surrounds you everyday - you just may not see it because you are not looking for it- but if you choose to dive in – to immerse yourself in it just like divers do in the ocean then it will appear. Why “Dive In”? Because you will see a whole new world filled with: unusual life, color, amazement, beauty and things you are not use to seeing in this normal everyday world we live in. So come along with us as we dedicate ourselves to spiritual growth for the next 4 months. Dive in with us as we seek to see things in the spiritual world we have never seen before!

Sermon 1: Dedicate --- Summary

Scripture: 2 Chronicles 6 -7

Thesis: As Christians we should have dedicated our life to the Lord Jesus. To dedicate ourselves means to give ourselves 100 percent to the Lord and to the work of the Kingdom of Heaven. To be dedicated means you are all in to that which you have committed too. To dedicate ourselves means we are willing to open our hearts up and to allow the Holy Spirit to come dwell in our hearts like God dwelled in the Temple of Solomon.

Questions to ponder from the handout:

1. What does it mean to dedicate something to the Lord?

a. It means to give something to God for His use and for His purpose. It is committing this item to God! As they did this newly built temple!

2. You may be thinking: What are things you can dedicate to the Lord?

a. Your Life is the most important thing you can dedicate to the Lord.

b. Other things – really just about anything can be dedicated to God?

3. Can you think of something you should dedicate to the Lord?

a. Did God speak to you last week or throughout this week of something you need to dedicate to him?

Sermon 2: Follow

Introduction:

We have been talking about “Diving In” and exploring another world like the ocean but we have to be reminded that this underwater world is a dangerous world. This is why divers are to do the buddy system and less experienced divers need to dive with master divers that they follow in this underwater world. The danger’s in the water are real – listen to this story:

Ian tells his story of an accident he had while diving: Ian McCormack and The Lazarus Phenomenon

CBN.com – In 1982, Ian McCormack of the film The Lazarus Phenomenonwas an adventurous 26-year-old. He was diving for lobster on the island of Mauritius (in the southwest Indian Ocean) one evening and was stung by five box jellyfish – one of the most venomous creatures in the world. Its poison can kill a person in four minutes. When an ambulance came, his body was completely paralyzed, and necrosis had started to set into his bone marrow. On the way to the hospital, McCormack began to see his life flash before him. He knew he was near death. He was an atheist and didn’t know whether or not there was an afterlife. As he lay dying, he saw a vision of his mother, who was the only Christian in his family, praying for him. She encouraged McCormack to cry out to God from his heart and God would hear him and forgive him. He didn’t know what to pray, so he cried out that if God was real, God would help him pray. Instantly, God showed McCormack the Lord’s Prayer.