Here'a my Sermon:


November 23, 2008


(Main Slide) Good Morning Everyone. I am Bill Ellingson for those that do not know me. I am a director, and operations manager for Journey Church. My wife Sara leads our Little Stars Nursery and our Rising Stars Sunday school area.


I was listening to a program one morning on the way to my old job, called Grace to You with pastor John MacArthur. He cited a Pew Research study that stated that 60 percent of people attending churches are not saved;. Meaning they have not dedicated themselves to Christ. This blew my mind. Let's break this down. There are 100,000 people in Rochester, of that 35,000 people attend some sort of weekly church service. That means if we apply the 60% non-belief to that, That means there are only 14,000 real believers in Rochester.


I cannot imagine sitting in church week after week and not believing in what I am hearing. I think occasionally we help this. As a modern church operating in a post-Religious world, we sometime make the story of Jesus and death for our sins seem very warm and fuzzy. It is not as important to make a self-sacrificing decision for Christ, but it is more important for you to try and feel good about coming to church. If we are doing this, then we are failing miserably.


I want to share with you another frightening statistic. 66% of people who are affiliated with a mainline Protestant denomination, believe that there is more than one way to Heaven. How can you sit in church and thing this is correct? Do we think this is ok? In the book of John, Jesus addresses this situation directly. The situation today is really not that different than from any other time in history. There have always been those that reject God, but I do not believe that there have been so many attending church that don't believe as there are now.


(Slide John 14:6)

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me."


Does this make you angry? It makes lots of people upset to hear this verse.

They say, " How can a merciful God say there is only one way to heaven?

What about the people who do not know?"


(Slide Romans 1:18 - 20 NIV)

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.



This verse from Romans clearly identifies that God has revealed himself to all people. No one is without knowledge of the one true God.


A lot of modern churches market themselves more like country clubs. They have a program for everything and everyone kinda talks about this God thing once in a while, just like a country club is really for people to say they belong to something and occasionally talk about golf. Churches are not like country clubs. We are a group for an entirely different reason. We are charged with making disciples for Christ. This is called the Great Commission:


(Slide Matt 28:16 - 20)

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."


(Slide) We are called to love people like Christ loves us.


(Slide John 3:16) For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.


Most people say that this is impossible. I would agree. there is only one person in history that was without out sin. There was only one person in history that was capable of always loving the people who mocked and ridiculed them. There is only one. We are not Christ, but we should strive to be Christ-like. What does that mean? Some people say, "We don't know what Christ was like though! We weren't there!" This is true, but we have an entire book that shows us what it should look like. Here's a great example from the Bible. This is from the Book of 1st John.


(4 Slides.... 1 John 4:7 - 20)

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.

God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their Christian brothers and sisters.

(SLIDE) We are called to develop relationships


Back to the country club thing for a moment. I like the people that come to this church, but as a church we are not called just to like the people that come. We are not charged with growing the membership just for the sake of adding more bodies in seats. We are to hold our brothers and sisters in faith accountable for there actions and help them through their struggles.


(Slide Galations 6:1 through 3)

Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You are not that important.


Let me clarify what this means. People get really scared when they hear the word accountability. They don't think of being helped, they think of being looked down on. I will give you an example of good accountability. I remember when I was struggling with some incorrect choices in my life. This was about 2001. Rachel Strouf called me one day and we were talking about life. Then she asked me a question that cut me to the core. She asked me, " So, Bill, how is your walk with God?" Now this was holding me accountable. She knew full well where my life was at. I hadn't been to church in at least half a year, and I was in a destructive relationship that had just ended. I had no clue where to even look for my Bible. She could have been judgmental instead in this situation. She could have called me and and said something like, " You Heathen. You have forsaken God completely, and I can no longer talk to you." This would have sent me reeling and I probably would not have ever tried to re-establish my relationship with God. She was willing to be my friend and help me through this. The Bible make it very clear that we are not to judge.


(SLIDE) We are called to be accountable with each other.


I think this is where we fail most of the time. People in church do not care enough to hold each other accountable or to help people get back on the correct path. There is only one correct path. Just agreeing to this basic truth is a big sticking point for most churches. In modern day churches, open thought has seeped into our basic teachings. The thought goes, "God did not really give us direction regarding sinful activities, we can believe whatever we want as long as we all agree." This is complete garbage!

One of the biggest myths of the modern age is faith is a private thing. We are only to share it on Sundays and only at a certain level. How sad! We can drive around touting our political affiliation on our cars, bash other people for disagreeing with out political views, but we can't talk about what really matters? People are going to hell. That's right I will saying again, people are going to hell. Your friends, neighbors, loved ones, and most of us don't care. We figure it's not our job to inflict our faith on someone else. The problem is we are looking at it wrong. If you and I talk politics, and we disagree, it is ok. I don't really care who you vote for. But, if you have rejected God I do care. You are going to HELL!! This is the most important thing. Why do we treat it like it doesn't matter?


(SLIDE) We are called to Love Non-believers


(Slide Rev 20:15)

And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

God wants us to be talking about faith with our friends, co-workers, relatives, and anyone else we come across. I found that this was actually easier than I thought once I started. It all depends on how you go about it. I started talking about co-workers about church stuff. I would say things like, " It was a great weekend, Saturday I went on a motorcycle ride, and on Sunday i went to church." This seems dumb, but it works. Once people know that you have some faith reference they will eventually start asking you questions about God, or start talking to you about it. We interact everyday with hundreds of people. Lots of these interactions are non-verbal ones. Once you identify yourself as a Christ Follower, people will watch your every move. You screw something up, drop an F-Bomb or something, and they will let you know. Praying for your friends and co-workers is another great way to open a door. Most people will not refuse to have a situation prayed for. Now, just to be clear, it is not ok to only care about them to the extent that they are a "project". I hate this term and the idea. If you don't want to be real friends with people then you don't really care, and you might as well let them continue down the path of destruction. Some of the time people you talk to will come at you with contempt. The story of Jesus and what it stand for is offensive. It is an offense to our sinful nature. People that spread the Good News in the Bible were, beaten and killed for their faith. This concept is foreign to most of us. We live in a free country where we can talk about faith as we please. We do not understand the persecution.


(SLIDE) Picture Dan and Patty over map of China?

My relatives Patty and Dan are M's over in China. They are called M's because if they are found out they will be sent back. The Chinese government hates missionaries and religion in general. They can only say certain things on the phone and in emails. They are very regulated in what they can and cannot say. Yet the church in China is the fastest growing church in the world. Can you relate to this? You say you probably cannot, but think about it. We are keeping our faith in a bottle because we are afraid of what people will think about us or what they will say to us. This is cultural persecution.


We need to be sold out Christ followers. We need to be able to say that we believe that the Bible is the word of God. We need to be in total agreement that when Jesus says in John 14:6, (SLIDE) “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me." is truth. If you do not agree with that statement then you are not a Christ follower and you are not following the correct path. Ultimately, the path of non-belief leads to Hell. You can be the best person in the world, but if you do not believe that Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life, then you are still heading down the Highway. I know that this message is not a fun one. But it has been burning in my heart for months. I am very happy to be able to open this dialogue with you today. I pray that no one in this room that is listening will leave without seriously thinking about where they are at in their faith. If you need help with the next step, we are here to help you. If you are visiting, I pray that you find a local church family where you live to walk with you in your faith. Above all I hope that you see that there is only one way to Heaven and to the father, and you choose to follow that path.



Main Slide



Prayer