UNLEASH- Main Session #1
Perry opened Main Session #1 by inviting us to turn to Luke 15. Instead of focusing on the story of the younger brother, the prodigal son, Perry looked at the last part of the story and spent all his time talking about the older brother.
Here are some of the great thoughts he shared.
“The one thing I’m praying for is that an alarm will go off in your life.”
“Sometimes I think God wants to say, ‘If you’re not going to use the church, I’m just going to take it back and give it someone else who will act with urgency and use it for my glory!’”
What is it that God wants to do in my church?
“The older son was so busy working for the Father that he didn’t know what his father’s heart was.”
“God is not a vegetarian. If you happen to be, that’s great…that’s more meat for me!”
“You’re only going to know what God wants to do when you spend uninterrupted time with Him.”
“You’ve got to do what God call you to do and be who God called you to be.”
“Once God shows you and I what to do in the church, we’ve got to go all out. We’ve got to get rid of the singers who can’t sing. They sound like cows dying in hailstorms. You say, ‘But there heart is good.’ Well, I’m not listening to their heart. I’m listening to their voice and it’s terrible.”
“God wants our very best effort.”
“If you’re going to reach this world for Christ, you’re going to have to spend some money. You’re going to have to especially spend money on children and on youth. You ask, ‘Why should we spend so much money on children?’ Because Nickelodeon does.”
“It takes time and effort.”
What are the barriers that stand in our way?
1. Refusal to Change- “Some churches never grow because they let their personal preferences get in the way.”
2. Jealousy- “God is bigger than one church. And if you can’t celebrate what God is doing in another church, then God can’t trust you.”
3. A Lack of Understanding- “I think some of the reasons churches hit a wall is they have no idea what they’ve gotten themselves into.”
What do we want to celebrate?
“We want to celebrate people meeting Jesus.”