“And you will be my witnesses.” (Acts 1:8)
Many of us when we were children used to play “house”. Someone would be the daddy, another would be the mommy, and yet another would play the baby (or a doll or stuffed animal would substitute). Each person would have their role to play and together their imagination of how a family is supposed to be and act would come to life. When play time was over, everyone would come back to reality and leave “house” behind.
Often times this is how Christians treat church. We show up in the appropriate clothing, assume a role and pretend to be and do such and such, then when we’re done with the routine we go back home to reality. At some point, playing “church” becomes the sum total of what it’s all about. Wearing the right things; saying the right things; doing the right things–but it’s little more than an act.
Are you tired of playing “church”? Do you want to be a part of what God is actually doing in the world? “Renewing Our Focus” is a series about the thing that Jesus Christ himself left for us to be and do: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” John Wesley famously said, “You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work.” It’s time to let being a witness be the focus of who we are and what we do.
No more games. No more role playing. No more messing around. Let’s either be the church we are called to be or just give it up altogether.
Series Playlist
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The Purpose of Witness
May 26, 2019 • 39:52
Those who encounter the Holy One, whose hearts have been transformed by His grace, have only one thing to do: Hear the call of Jesus and live out their response as witnesses throughout the world. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Renewing Our Focus Scripture: Isaiah 6:1-8
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The Person of Witness
Jun 2, 2019 • 40:16
There is no Christian witness apart from the personal presence of the Holy Spirit. We must look for his presence, listen for his voice, respond to his prompts, and join him in his work. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Renewing Our Focus Scripture: John 14:15-20
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The Power of Witness
Jun 9, 2019 • 37:20
Those who have been touched, healed, and transformed by God are his love message about himself to the world. Once settling the issue of his lordship in their lives, they must then obey his call to be his witness to the world he has placed them in. Speaker: Sean Scribner…
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The Perpetuation of Witness
Jun 16, 2019 • 46:10
The Spirit-filled church is how the sentness and mission of Jesus Christ continues on in the world as he sits in exaltation at the Father’s right hand. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Renewing Our Focus Scripture: John 20:21-22
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The Price of Witness
Jun 23, 2019 • 33:50
The church that resolves to give all of itself over to Jesus and his mission to the lost will manifest the very life of Jesus in its midst, resulting in life that lasts forever for the world around it. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Renewing Our Focus Scripture: I Corinthians 15:30-32
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The Pertinacity of Witness
Jun 30, 2019 • 46:50
Paul makes plain the principle underlying his evangelistic outreach. Whatever he does, he wants to clear the way of unnecessary obstacles that might hinder unbelievers from coming to Christ. Speaker: Jeff Wortman Series: Renewing Our Focus Scripture: I Corinthians 9:19-23
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The Peculiarity of Witness
Jul 7, 2019 • 42:39
Knowing who we are in Christ as God’s special possession must result in a lifestyle of worshipful witness that reveals the goodness of God to the world. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Renewing Our Focus Scripture: I Peter 2:4-10
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The Persecution of Witness
Jul 14, 2019 • 40:41
Those who belong to God must endure and persevere through the inevitable suffering and persecution of life as aliens in a foreign world with the attractive beauty of holiness. Speaker: Sean Scribner Series: Renewing Our Focus Scripture: I Peter 2:11-17
An old adage says, “If God seems far away, guess who moved.” The point being that when God seems absent it must be our fault. But the Book of Job tells a story that breaks from that conventional wisdom. Job is so holy in heart and life that even God says he is blameless and upright. Yet one day a series of unspeakable catastrophes fall on Job. His world is shattered; his grief is unbearable. And worst of all, Job finds that in his time of greatest need, God is nowhere to be found—and Job insists that he is not the one who has moved. 
Dan Burnett is pastor of the 
“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
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