A sailboat doesn’t get movement without the wind. Therefore, the wind is the most important element in sailing. If you have no wind, you have no movement, and you aren’t going anywhere. The same is true with a movement of God. No movement can happen without the wind of the Holy Spirit. But something else is also true. If there is plenty of wind, but our sails aren’t up, we aren’t going sailing. If we want to go sailing, we not only need the wind, we need to raise the sails. We cannot control the wind of the Holy Spirit, but we can control whether our sails are raised to catch the wind.
How do we raise the sails at Catalyst?
“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going; ” -John 3:8a MEV
(1) CASTING VISION: sunday, MAY 24th
I dream, you dream, we all dream. If you are excited about something that’s yet to be, then you are a visionary. As it turns out, God is also a visionary. He has dreams for both you and his church.
What is God’s visionary dream, his better future, for Catalyst and how do we get there? Perhaps we need to raise our sails and catch the wind.
“Suddenly they heard the sound of a violent blast of wind rushing into the house from out of the heavenly realm, the roar of the wind was so over powering it was all anyone could bear.”
-Acts 2: 2 TPT
(2) FOCUSING ON GOD’S WORD: Sunday, MAY 31ST
The voice that spoke the cosmos into existence is the same voice that parted the Red Sea and made the sun stand still in the noon day sky. One day this voice will make all things new, but that same voice is still speaking to us now! Focusing on God’s Word requires us to develop a regular pattern of reading, obeying, and sharing God’s Story and his words to us recorded in Scripture.
Do you focus on hearing and obeying God’s Word or do you just read and study it? The difference can be knowing God versus knowing about him.
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” – Matthew 7:24 NIV
Focusing On God’s Word Message Notes
(3) MULTIPLYING PRAYER: sunday, JUNE 7TH
Prayer movements precede God’s movements on the earth. Prayer is the lifeblood of all of his movements. In order to see God move there is one constant theme – much prayer. If we desire to see the wind of the Holy Spirit empower us to do his work we must commit ourselves to ever increasing, persistent and extraordinary prayer.
Then He (Jesus) said to his disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
-Matthew 9: 37-38 MEV
Multiplying Prayer Message Notes
(4) ENGAGING THE LOST: sunday, JUNE 14th
There can be no movement unless lost people are becoming disciples of Jesus. Therefore, we are called to go out among the “lost”, those who are separated from God, in order to gain access to their lives and see movements start. We must see individuals as doorways to families and gateways to communities in order to “win” as the Paul the Apostle stated, “as many as possible.”
“For the Son of Man (Jesus) came to seek and save those who are lost.” -Luke 19:10 NLT
Engaging the Lost Message Notes
(5) FINDING PERSONS OF PEACE: sunday, JUNE 21ST
When we go out among the “lost”, our ultimate goal is to engage with the “persons of peace” that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 10 and in Luke 10. These are receptive people, whose hearts God has already prepared to receive the gospel and become bridges to provide us with access to their families and their community.
“Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you.” -Luke 10:5-6 CSB
Finding Persons of Peace Message Notes
(6) STARTING DISCOVERY GROUPS: Sunday, June 28th
When Jesus launched the first century church at Pentecost he used a disciple making strategy that reached every corner of the Roman Empire by AD 100. The early church started with a strategy to focus on small gatherings of devoted followers who met daily in fellowship. These disciples were mutually linked together as they shared meals with great joy and generosity. Their gatherings promoted both group processing and accountability in order to discover God’s truths and obey his words, resulting in transformed lives and growing numbers.
“Every believer was faithfully devoted to following the teachings (skilled instruction and training) of the apostles. Their hearts were mutually linked to one another, sharing communion (breaking bread )and coming together regularly for (all kinds of) prayer. … They were continually filled with praises to God, enjoying the favor of all people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were coming to life (being saved).” -Acts 2:42&47
Starting Discovery Groups Message Notes
(7) MAKING DISCIPLES: Sunday, July 5th
The prayer Jesus taught his disciples in his Sermon on the Mount lays out his visionary purpose in a simple phrase “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The Father sent Jesus from heaven not to rescue us from the earth, but rather to bring the rule of God from heaven to earth. Later, at the end of his stay, he gathered his closest followers together and gave them his final marching orders. He instructed them “as you go” make disciples. But he was instructing them to do more than cause people to mature in their spiritual journeys. He called these first century followers to make disciple-making disciples.
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe (obey) everything I commanded you.” -Matthew 28:19-20a
Making Disciples Message Notes
(8) MULTIPLYING LEADERSHIP: Sunday, July 12th
Leadership multiplication was the method that Jesus modeled with his disciples and that was practiced by the early church. In Luke 5, Jesus chose 12 disciples. In Luke 9, he sent them out, and though it does not say it in this passage, we learn later that his pattern was to send them out 2-by-2 (6 pairs x 12 = 72 disciples). In the next chapter, Luke 10, Jesus sent out 72 (36 pairs x 2 = 72 + 72 = 516 disciples) which resulted in the 500 plus reported by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:6. Once Jesus ascended to heaven these 500 disciples multiplied again (250 pairs x 12 = 3,000 disciples) the number reported as being saved on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:41. From the sage advice that Moses got from his father-in-law in Exodus 18, to Jesus, to Paul, over and over again reproducing and empowering other leaders is the pattern we see in the Scriptures.
“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” -2 Timothy 2:1-2
Multiplying Leadership Message Notes
