Landmark Class

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This Landmark series, it’s a tool. It’s a tool to help you become all that God has called you to be. It’s a tool to help you reach your God potential. You reach that God potential when you complete the cycle. Bring ‘em in, Build ‘em up, Send ‘em out. Bring ‘em in, Build ‘em up, Send ‘em out. That’s our goal.

We have a great church and I heard it once said that a great church is not determined by its seating capacity. It is determined by it’s sending capacity. My heart as your pastor is to guide you to the place where you will cross the line of faith in Christ, to bring you to the place where you will commit to this church. My heart is to help you to develop your spiritual maturity and learn how to function within the Body of Christ and more importantly to inspire you to go into all the world and make disciples so that we may baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. That we may teach them the heart of Christ and watch God use them to do incredible things.

These are the Landmarks of our Faith Journey that are so important to eternity. In our personal travels, landmarks pass in a moment of time, but in our journey with Christ…these landmarks become a constant part of the landscape of your life.

What would your life look like if you were to reach these landmarks? What would happen if our church would not settle for spiritual mediocrity and push forward to the landmarks that lie in front of us? Just imagine!

Landmark I

Landmark I boils down to one word...Commitment. A Commitment to belong. God created you to belong. God created you to be a part of His family. A Christian without a church family is like a person who says "I want to play NFL football but I don't want to be a part of any team" or "I want to fly a plane for the United States Air Force but I don’t want to be in the Military" or "I want to be a bee but I don't want to be a part of the hive." The fact is, we need each other to be strong in our Christian faith.

What's the difference between being a Christian and being a member of a church family. The difference is the word "commitment". I become a Christian by committing my life to Christ. I become a member of a church by committing myself to other Christians. I say, "That's going to be my church home where I'm going to give and be given to, where I'm going to serve and be served, where I'll love and be loved."

Part of that first landmark of our faith journey is being part of a healing place that makes a difference. We want to help you understand how that begins and why it is so important. We need to be in relationship with Christ. We need to be part of a church family. You can find that out in Landmark I.

Landmark II

Landmark II also boils down to one word…Development. I believe with all my heart that you will never be all that you can be unless you first seek to develop your walk with Christ. We begin our walk with Christ, but that walk doesn’t include just one step. It’s a journey toward maturity.

It is His will that you grow up. Look at Ephesians 4:14-15, “Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his
body, the church.”

We will no longer be immature, but we will grow in every way more like Christ. That’s the second landmark. It’s growing in our faith. It’s developing spiritual maturity. Once you're born into God's family, God wants you to grow up. What does it mean to be born again? It means to be born into God's family. Just like you've got a physical birth that gave you the desire to grow physically, you've had a spiritual birth and God wants you to grow spiritually. There are a lot of immature Christians, but God says He wants you to grow up.

How can we grow? What do we need to grow? It takes replacing some of our old habits with some new ones. In Landmark II we’re going to talk about what it really means to be spiritually mature. We’re going to look at the process of spiritual maturity and even a few of the struggles that lie within. We're going to focus on four basic habits that every Christian needs to develop in order to grow to spiritual maturity. This class will equip you with the skills you need to begin these habits and will explain the tools you will need to continue these habits.

As you learn these things, you will be well on your way to becoming all that God wants you to be.

Landmark III

Just like the other Landmark I and II, Landmark III boils down to one word…Function. Look at verse 16. It says that the body fits together perfectly and each part does its own special work. Look at your own body. What does your hand do? It holds things. It does detailed work. What about your feet? They help you balance, they help you move. Can you pick things up with your feet?  Maybe a few things, but your not very good at it. Can you walk on your hands? I know some people that can, but not all the time or not very good. Can your lungs think? Can your Kidneys breath? God designed our body parts with a specific function and each part has it’s purpose.

The church is no different. 1 Corinthians 12: 14-22, “Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how  would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.”

You have a calling and a purpose. God wants you to do something in this body. He wants you to serve. He wants you to minister. And you know what…we need you. You are necessary. Reaching your God potential has a lot to do with discovering what God created you to do in this world…it’s your ministry.

Our church isn’t what it could be without people who greet or people who play instruments. Our church is not what it could be without people who teach or care for others. Our church is not what it could be without people to set up this equipment or tear it down each and every week. We all have our role, we all have our place and every single one of us together make Skyline all that it is and all that it could be. You are needed in this church.

Your service in ministry will help you to grow even further in your journey. It will propel you to your next Landmark, but even more than that, it will help others to reach their landmarks as well. Again look at verse 16, “As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

This is a year of spiritual growth for our church, but again, I can’t make that happen by myself. It takes every one of us together, as one body, in one vision to grow to our God potential.

Landmark IV

Landmark IV is where the cycle starts all over again and that landmark is IMPACT. As we commit to Christ, as we commit to His church, as we develop our spiritual maturity, and as we learn to function within the body of Christ…our love will compel us to go into all the world and make more and more disciples.

We will fulfill our mission as a church as we impact our families, our communities and our world. Our mission is both simple and complex at the same time. That mission is the same as that of Christ. That mission is to seek and save that which was lost.

That’s the mission of the church and as we commit ourselves to growing in this way, we will make an impact and Christ’s love through Skyline Church will go VIRAL. It will spread and spread and spread. John 17:18, “Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.”

He’s sending us out and in Landmark IV and we will take a deeper look into what that means.