sermon outlines
Thanks for your interest in taking your church on
Week 1: The Cage of Responsibility
the spiritual adventure of chasing the Wild Goose. What follows are
*Text: Luke 9:57-62
suggested preaching outlines for your corporate experience together.
The outlines don’t cover the same material you will find in Chase the
Goose. Rather, they are original material designed to be a catalyst
to introduce the key ideas in Chase the Goose. Those ideas are then
greatly expanded in the Chase the Goose member book and leader kit.
Using these outlines in conjunction with the leader kit and member
book will allow your entire fellowship to go on this journey together.
You can introduce the subject matter at the beginning of the week
during your worship and have it expanded, discussed, and individually
applied in your small groups throughout the week.
These preaching outlines contain the biblical text, the big idea or
major point of emphasis, guiding preaching points, and suggested
illustrations for each sermon. Also included are some specific quotes
from the sermons Mark Batterson preached on the subject of chasing
the Wild Goose. Our hope is that you will use these outlines as a
starting point and make the talk appropriate for your church context,
injecting your own personality and experiences as you prepare.
You will also find video suggestions for some of the weeks. These are
short films that will be great teaching tools for your congregation.
All of these videos, plus additional videos to be shown in the small
groups, are available on the Chase the Goose DVD in the leader kit.
* Big Idea: Our greatest responsibility is seeking Christ.
Introduction Take some time this week at the beginning of your
sermon to introduce this six-week series. In doing so, explain where the
name Chase the Goose came from. This is how author Mark Batterson
began the sermon series at National Community Church that led to Chase
the Goose:
This weekend we start a new series called Chase the Goose. In the
5th century, Christianity made its way into Britain and Scotland and
Ireland. The Celtic Christians had the fascinating name for the Holy
Spirit—they called Him An Geadh-Glas or the Wild Goose. When I first
heard that name, I was intrigued. The more I thought about it, the more
I realized what a great description it is of what it’s like to live a spirit-led
life. You aren’t going to know where you’re going most of the time, and
that produces tremendous anxiety in our lives, but I would also suggest
that it goes by another name—adventure. The thing I love about a
wild goose is that it can’t be tracked or tamed. There is unpredictability
and a hint of mystery, or even danger, that surrounds the Wild Goose.
In a sense, if you take the Holy Spirit out of me, my life is boring. But if
you add Him into the equation of life, you never know who you’ll meet,
where you’ll go, or what you’ll do. All bets are off.
Video Option: Consider showing the short film “Polaroids” found on
the Chase the Goose leader kit DVD in order to introduce the cage of
responsibility.
Then continue the introduction by explaining that each week you
will be discussing different aspects of life that cage us in and keep us
from experiencing the spiritual adventure of chasing the Wild Goose.
Batterson illustrated the point like this:
A couple of years ago, I visited the Galapagos Islands. I saw wild
animals in their natural habitat, marine iguanas, and 200-year-old
Tortugas. I went snorkeling with manta rays and swimming with sea
lions. There were these pelicans that looked like prehistoric pterodactyls
that would circle our boat and dive-bomb into the ocean and come
up with breakfast in their beaks. Two weeks later, after we were home,
we took our kids to the National Zoo. As we were walking through, it
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sermon outlines chase the goose
sermon outlines
just wasn’t the same seeing wild animals caged up. It was too tame,
too safe, and too civilized. I wonder if churches have done to people
what zoos do to animals? In a sense we try to tame them in the name
of Christ, we try to remove the risks, remove the struggles, remove
the danger, and what we end up with are caged Christians. Yes, it’s
safe and comfortable, but I think there’s a primal longing deep down
inside for something else, for something more, and that’s really at the
heart of what the Wild Goose chase is about. It’s about entering into a
relationship with Christ and then chasing after the Wild Goose so we
can live our lives the way God originally intended.
You might consider substituting a personal story that ends with the
same point—that we have domesticated something meant to be
dangerous, caged something meant to be wild.
To chase the Wild Goose we must start breaking out of our self-made
cages, and today’s cage is the cage of responsibility. All of us have
responsibilities. We all have to walk the dog, pay our taxes, and take
out the trash. We should be responsible with those responsibilities. But
if we’re not careful, those responsibilities can form bars on our lives
and start preventing us from the greatest responsibility we have been
given. Turn with me to Luke 9:57-62, and let’s find out more about how
to break out from the cage of responsibility.
BODY Then move into the body of the sermon. The following are the
guiding points to focus on.
1) Following Jesus can be costly (Luke 9:57).
a. We want to follow Jesus on our own terms, but Christ demands
that we give ourselves fully to His agenda.
b. There are always going to be elements of life keeping us from
following Christ, and many of them are good.
c. Many times we must choose between what is good and what is
great.
Illustration: Use this or a personal illustration to make the point
about abandoning what is good for what is great.
Jesus encountered a lot of people who had this problem. We know of at
least one of them, and we call him the rich, young ruler. He had lots of
good things in his life—money, authority, power—but something was
missing. That’s why he approached Jesus asking questions about eternal
life. Jesus invited him out of the good into the great, but the rich young
ruler left the conversation sad because he couldn’t make himself leave
what was good. He chose the good over the great.
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2) Following Jesus trumps material responsibilities
(Luke 9:58).
a. Here we see Jesus not promising prosperity for those who follow
Him.
b. The biblical record is full of people who were failures in the eyes
of the world because they chose to follow Christ.
c. Jesus does not promise home, money, or comfort—what He
promises is significance.
3) Following Jesus trumps cultural responsibilities
(Luke 9:59-60).
a. It was an extremely important responsibility to bury the dead of
the immediate family in the Jewish culture.
b. Our culture, too, has certain expectations about what is required to
live a “successful” life.
c. Jesus demands allegiance to Him over allegiance to cultural
responsibilities.
4) Following Jesus trumps time responsibilities (Luke 9:61-62).
a. This simple request was another way of saying, “Not now.”
b. O
bedience is doing what you’re asked to do when you’re asked to
do it.
c. The greatest priority of your life is following Christ.
Conclusion Consider concluding the talk by re-emphasizing the
big idea of the sermon. A possible conclusion might be something
like this:
Here we have three people, all with responsibilities that kept them from the spiritual adventure of following Jesus. We all have similar ones. We have responsibilities in our culture, with our time,
and with our careers. And beyond that, we have responsibilities to our
families, our friends, and even our churches. The problem is that many
of us choose to use our responsibilities as excuses. We hide behind
them because the adventure is uncertain. It’s uncomfortable. It’s even
a little scary.
But the greatest responsibility we have is to follow Christ wherever
and whenever He is leading. When we do that, we come to realize that
the other responsibilities in our lives either go away because they’re
unimportant, or they’re fulfilled in a better and more satisfying way.
In either case, the call of Christ is to count the cost and follow Him.
Regardless.
sermon outlines chase the goose
sermon outlines
Week 2: The Cage of Routine
* Text: Luke 19:1-10
* Big Idea: goose-chasers are tree-climbers.
Video Option: Consider showing the short film “Lab Rats” found on the
Chase the Goose leader kit DVD in order to introduce the cage of routine.
Introduction As you plan an introduction, remind your
congregation of the concept of chasing the Wild Goose and the cage you
covered last week. Then consider using the following introduction from
Mark Batterson or a personal one that illustrates a similar point:
Right now you have no sense of motion. But you are sitting on a
planet spinning around its axis at approximately one thousand
miles per hour. Not only that, but you are hurtling through space at
approximately sixty-seven thousand miles per hour. Before the day
is done, you will have traveled 1.3 million miles in your annual trek
around the sun. God does all this, and yet we aren’t overwhelmed
with awe because we take constants for granted. Over time, we
adapt to the little miracles around us. Awareness fades and the
constants in our environment become invisible. Psychologists call this
“inattentional blindnesss.”
It’s easy to lose the joy of living. Few things compare to the joy
experienced by a bride and groom on their wedding day. Take
romance out of the equation and the relationship becomes routine.
The birth of a child is an awe-inspiring miracle, but start changing
dirty diapers in the middle of the night, and some of the joy goes
away. Eventually the sacred becomes routine. To chase the Wild
Goose, we have to break out of the cage of routine. Today we want
to look at a man who took a chance, broke out of his routine, did
something a little crazy, and experienced a radical change in his life.
BODY Then move into the body of the sermon. The following are the
guiding points to focus on.
1) “Zaccheus was a wee little man” with a wee little routine (Luke 19:1-3).
a. Zaccheus had a comfortable life as a chief tax collector.
b. He collected money for taxes, always taking a little off the top for
himself, and was known to be dishonest in the community.
c. Yet there was something missing in his life. When we settle
into a routine of the mundane we miss the work of God in the
ordinary.
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d. Zaccheus recognized a divine opportunity when it presented itself.
Likewise, we must develop the intuition to spot divine opportunity.
2)“He climbed up in a sycamore tree” and disrupted his
routine (Luke 19:4).
a. A treetop is not a place for a rich, distinguished man.
b. To encounter Jesus, we must embrace risk and break out of
the ordinary.
Illustration: Use this or a personal illustration to make the point
about “thin places,” like treetops in Palestine.
The Celtic Christians, the same ones who called the Holy Spirit the Wild
Goose, had a unique term in their vocabulary to describe times when
they would encounter a place where heaven and earth seemed to
connect, and the divine became more visible. They’re ordinary places
that have been invaded by the extraordinary. These Christians called
them “thin places.” The thin place could be a mountain top, a retreat
center, or your car. The thin place might even be a sycamore tree in
Palestine. We miss thin places most of the time because we don’t believe
God can actually meet us there.
c. Zaccheus was willing to look foolish and take a chance that he
might actually see Jesus from his vantage point.
d. To break out of this cage, we must disrupt our routines in an effort
to reconnect with Jesus.
3)“When the Savior passed that way” He changed Zaccheus’
life (Luke 19:5-10).
a. Zaccheus demonstrated his willingness to seek out Jesus, and Jesus
honored his efforts.
b. J esus strongly desires greater fellowship and intimacy with ones
willing to seek Him out.
c. Zaccheus’ life changed from routine to remarkable as a result of his
tree-climbing.
Conclusion Consider concluding the talk by re-emphasizing the
big idea of the sermon. A possible conclusion might be something
like this:
Maybe we need to climb some trees. Most of us go about our lives in
virtually the same way each day. We settle into our routines, and the
sacred becomes ordinary. God is willing to meet us in a fresh, new way,
but we are bound by the cage of routine we’ve created for ourselves.
What tree do you need to climb? What’s the thin place in your life
waiting to be discovered? There’s a chance you’ll look foolish and have
to change some things up, but Jesus will meet you there and honor
your efforts.
sermon outlines chase the goose
sermon outlines
Week 3: The Cage of Assumptions
* Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
* Big Idea: A faith devoid of wonder is no faith
at all.
Introduction As you plan an introduction, remind your
congregation of the concept of chasing the Wild Goose and review the
cages you have covered. Then consider using the following introduction
from Mark Batterson or a personal one that illustrates a similar point:
Doron Nof, a foremost expert in oceanography and limnology,
suggested in a recent article that over the past several millennia a rare
combination of atmospheric conditions may have caused patches of ice
to float on the Sea of Galilee. Though Nof calculated that the chances
of this floating-ice phenomenon happening is less than once every
thousand years, he wondered if Jesus was really walking on water or
floating on a piece of ice.
As a naturalist, Nof does not have a cognitive category for the
supernatural. So he did what many of us do when something doesn’t
fit within our preexisting cognitive categories: explain away what we
cannot explain. Instead of embracing the mystery, we come up with
human explanations for supernatural phenomena. Instead of living in
wonderment, we try to make the Omniscient One fit within the logical
limits of our left brain. That doesn’t make us smart; it makes us smallminded. And it proves that we live in the cage of assumptions about
God. Assumptions take all the mystery and majesty out of life. But God
challenges what we assume to be true. He wants us to break out of the
cage of assumptions.
BODY Then move into the body of the sermon. The following are the
guiding points to focus on.
1) God is bigger than “the box” (1 Corinthians 1:18-21).
a. The nature of our faith is foolishness, and it seems foolish to those
who don’t believe.
b. God isn’t meant to be “figured out;” He’s meant to be experienced.
c. The gospel story, from birth to death, contradicts everything the
world assumes to be true about God.
2) God is bigger than intellect (1 Corinthians 1:22-25).
a. Intellect can serve as a hindrance in a deepening relationship
with God.
b. God never ceases to work in surprising ways for His own glory.
c. Mystery is a means to draw us into greater depths of worship.
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3) God is bigger than pride (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).
a. Mystery necessitates that we come to God in humility.
b. Those who have it all figured out don’t have it all figured out.
c. Only the humble truly experience the wonder of God.
d. The source of assumption is pride.
Illustration: Use this or a personal illustration to make the point
about moving into uncharted territory.
On the edge of medieval maps, cartographers used to inscribe the Latin
phrase terra incognita. Naysayers and doomsdayers believed that if you
ventured too far into unknown territory, you would either fall off the edge
of the flat earth or run into two-headed dragons. But that didn’t keep a
few brave souls from venturing into uncharted waters.
Christopher Columbus was actually trying to find a westward route
to the Indies, something many experts assumed was impossible. But
Columbus challenged the assumption and embarked on a Wild Goose
chase. Columbus was no saint, but he was also aware that it wasn’t
intelligence, mathematics, or maps that made his voyage a success. He
credited the Holy Spirit with the idea: “It was the Lord who put it into my
mind, (I could feel His hand upon me), the fact that it would be possible
to sail from here to the Indies. All who heard of my project rejected it
with laughter, ridiculing me. There is no question that the inspiration
was from the Holy Spirit, because He comforted me with rays of
marvelous inspiration from the Holy Spirit.”
The Wild Goose is always calling us into terra incognita.
Conclusion Consider concluding the talk by re-emphasizing the
big idea of the sermon. A possible conclusion might be something
like this:
We make far too many assumptions about what is and is not possible in
the physical and the spiritual universe. Those assumptions become the
ceilings that limit our lives and our relationship with the Wild Goose.
The smartest people in the world aren’t the people who know the
most. The smartest people in the world are those who know how much
they don’t know. Or to put it another way, the smartest people are the
people who make the fewest assumptions. Chasing the Wild Goose
is about realizing the mysterious and wondrous nature of God. The
greatest proof we have of this is the gospel, the story that breaks all the
assumptions.
sermon outlines chase the goose
sermon outlines
Week 4: The Cage of Guilt
* Text: Philippians 3:12-16
* Big Idea: Chasing the Wild Goose means looking
forward, not looking back.
Introduction As you plan an introduction, remind your
congregation of the concept of chasing the Wild Goose and review the
cages you have covered. Then consider using the following illustration from
Mark Batterson or a personal one that illustrates a similar point:
The Russian psychologist and physician named Ivan Pavlov once performed
some experiments that won him a Nobel Prize. Dogs naturally salivate for
food, but Pavlov wanted to see if salivation could be caused by another
stimulus. He conditioned dogs by ringing a bell before feeding them.
Eventually, ringing the bell even without presenting food was enough in
itself to cause salivation. Pavlov referred to this learned relationship as a
conditioned reflex.
To one degree or another, all of us are Pavlovian. We have been
consciously and subconsciously conditioned our entire lives. And much of
our behavior is dictated by those conditioned reflexes. When we sin, guilt
is a healthy and holy reflex. It drives us to repentance. Once we repent, that
sin is forgiven and forgotten. However, we have been conditioned to live
in psychological straitjackets that immobilize us emotionally, relationally,
and spiritually. We can forgive, but we don’t let ourselves forget. We will
never be able to chase the Wild Goose as long as we’re bound by these
feelings of guilt. Jesus wants to recondition our guilt reflex.
BODY Then move into the body of the sermon. The following are the
guiding points to focus on.
1) Moving forward means embracing reality
(Philippians 3:12-13).
a. None of us have “arrived.”
b. The Christian life is about moving forward, regardless of the past.
c. Paul had a lot to be forgiven for; so do we.
d. Moving forward doesn’t mean acting like the past never happened.
e. We can’t appreciate the fullness of God’s grace until we appreciate
the fullness of our own sin.
2) Moving forward means embracing hope
(Philippians 3:14-15).
a. We can count on the promises of God in Christ more than we can
count on ourselves.
b. God’s promises are sealed by the cross.
c. A mark of maturity is moving forward with God.
d. G
od can take our past experiences and redeem them for His
glory and our good.
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Illustration: Use this or a personal illustration to make the point about
redemption.
Several years ago, a close friend of mine found himself in prison for some
crimes he had the courage to confess to. Prison life definitely took its toll.
He served nearly seven years of his sentence during which a Wild Goose
chase developed.
While in prison, we exchanged letters and I marveled at his refusal to feel
sorry for himself. He didn’t blame God for the mistakes he made. And
although his body was imprisoned, his spirit was set free because of the
grace of God. My friend actually had the audacity to refer to prison as an
opportunity in disguise. He earned his GED. He led chapel services. And he
found countless opportunities to share his faith with other inmates.
My friend could have hardened his heart and lived the rest of his life in the
cage of guilt. His mistakes could have filled him with unending regret and
remorse. But he didn’t step into that cage. I know very few people who
have a deeper appreciation for the grace of God.
3) Moving forward means embracing security
(Philippians 3:16).
a. We aren’t living to earn something; we live because Christ earned
something for us.
b. Trying to prove ourselves worthy dishonors the cross.
c. Moving forward displays great confidence in the work of Christ.
Conclusion Consider concluding the talk by re-emphasizing the
big idea of the sermon. A possible conclusion might be something
like this:
Through His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus destroyed all the evidence
against us in the court of judgment. But He went even further than that. Not
only does our sin get paid for out of His account, but all of His righteousness
gets credited to our account. It’s as if Jesus says, “You give Me all of your sin,
I’ll give you all of My righteousness, and we’ll call it even.”
Nothing could be more amazing. Somehow our spiritual debits are
transferred to Christ’s account and His credits are transferred to ours. What a
deal! There is no greater moment and no greater feeling than all of our guilt
meeting all of God’s grace.
We can choose to live in the cage of guilt, but God has provided the way out.
His grace is the key to escape. Think of it like this:
Sin – Grace = Guilt
Sin + Grace = Gratitude
The grace of God is the difference between drowning in guilt and swimming
in gratitude. Grace frees you from the cage of guilt and enables you to chase
the Wild Goose.
sermon outlines chase the goose
sermon outlines
Week 5: The Cage of Failure
BODY Then move into the body of the sermon. The following are the
guiding points to focus on.
* Text: Acts 2:22-36
* Big Idea: Sometimes our plans have to fail in
order for God’s plans to succeed.
Introduction As you plan an introduction, remind your
congregation of the concept of chasing the Wild Goose and review the
cages you’ve covered. Then consider using the following introduction
from Mark Batterson or a personal one that illustrates a similar point:
Thomas Edison is remembered for his brilliant mind and his industrious
spirit. He was, after all, responsible for harnessing the power of
electricity in the form of a light bulb. Because of his lasting success, we
are quick to forget the failure that came along with it.
See, Edison was a failure for a long time. When the light bulb didn’t
work the first time, Edison made a note of exactly what he’d done and
what components he had used. Then he made an adjustment to the
experiment and tried again. And when that failed, he made a note,
readjusted, and tried again. He learned from every experiment. He
learned all the ways it wouldn’t work. He discovered all the chemicals
and elements that wouldn’t work. And each time he found a way that
wouldn’t work, he knew he was closer to finding a way that would. In
the face of all that failure, Edison said: “I am not discouraged, because
every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”
It took Edison approximately 10,000 experiments to invent the perfect
setup for the electric light bulb. There was a huge learning curve.
Nobody had done it before. He couldn’t read a book about it. He simply
had to plug away, failing and learning, until he worked out the right
way to do it. In this, Edison was a model of perseverance. He later said,
“Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were
to success when they gave up.”
We fail and we abandon. We become discouraged. And we stop trying.
But spiritually, failure is often the means God uses to get us where He
wants us to go. Sometimes our plans have to fail in order for God’s
plans to succeed. But we have to keep going, breaking out of the
discouraging cage of failure.
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1) To break out of failure, remember the sovereignty of God (Acts 2:22-28).
a. The cross seemed to be the moment of God’s greatest failure.
b. The cross contradicted what Peter and others believed was the
destiny of Jesus.
c. Those plans had to fail in order for God’s plan to succeed.
d. The death of Christ was according to the plan of God, who turns
seeming failures into great victories.
e. There is nothing in your life outside the sovereignty of God.
2) To break out of failure, remember past victories
(Acts 2:29-31).
a. God had been planning the death of Christ since the beginning
of time.
b. He had been orchestrating the events of the past in order to
accomplish the seeming failure of the cross.
c. Remembering our own past and how God redeemed our failures
helps us to break out of our current failure.
d. What God has done He will do again.
3) To break out of failure, remember Sunday morning
(Acts 2:32-36).
a. The disciples lived in their seeming failure for three days after
Good Friday.
b. Peter especially, who preached this sermon, lived with
his own failure.
c. God brought the greatest victory in the universe out of the
most horrific failure in the universe—He can redeem our
circumstances, too.
Illustration: Use this or a personal illustration to make the point about
how what we deem as failures might just be the road to God’s success.
Jim Elliot arrived in Ecuador on February 21, 1952, with the purpose of
evangelizing Ecuador’s Auca Indians. He first stayed in Quito studying
Spanish, and then moved to the jungle. He and his team took up
permanent residence at the Shandia mission station.
sermon outlines chase the goose
sermon outlines
Elliot and four other missionaries, Ed McCully, Roger Youderian, Pete
Fleming, and their pilot, Nate Saint, made contact from their airplane
with the Huaorani Indians using a loudspeaker and a basket to pass
down gifts. After several months, the men decided to build a base a
short distance from the Indian village, along the Curaray River. There
they were approached one time by a small group of Huaorani Indians
and even gave an airplane ride to one curious Huaorani whom they
called “George” (his real name was Naenkiwi). Encouraged by these
friendly encounters, the missionaries made plans to visit the Huaorani,
without knowing that George had lied to the others about the
missionaries’ intentions. Their plans were preempted by the arrival of
a larger group of 10 Huaorani warriors, who killed Elliot and his four
companions in a sudden and brutal attack on January 8, 1956. Elliot’s
mutilated body was found downstream, along with those of the other
men, except that of Ed McCully.
Conclusion Consider concluding the talk by re-emphasizing the
big idea of the sermon. A possible conclusion might be something
like this:
We all will fail. It’s inevitable. It’s a fact of life. What happens after that
failure is what separates those who chase the Wild Goose from those
who don’t. The story of Jesus isn’t a tragedy; it’s a triumph. God knew
what He was doing all along, and no circumstance in our lives takes
Him by surprise.
God was moving and working in the circumstances surrounding the
crucifixion, but Good Friday had to happen for there to be an Easter.
When we find ourselves in the midst of failure, we can be confident that
the same God is with us and for us. He’s moving and working in our
difficulties, and He can use them for victory.
What a failure! The men were tragically killed without winning a
single soul to Christ. What an incredible waste. Or was it? Elliot and
his friends became instantly known worldwide as martyrs, and Life
Magazine published a ten-page article on their mission and death.
They are credited with sparking an interest in Christian missions among
the youth of their time and are still considered an encouragement
to Christian missionaries working throughout the world. After her
husband’s death, Elisabeth Elliot and other missionaries began working
among the Auca Indians, where they had a profound impact and
helped bring many people to Christ.
In 2002, a documentary based on the story was released entitled
Beyond the Gates of Splendor. In 2006, a theatrical movie was
released called End of the Spear, based on the story of the pilot, Nate
Saint, and the return trip of Saint’s son attempting to reach the natives
of Ecuador. The point is that God has the ability to turn failure into
redemption, tragedy into grace.
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sermon outlines chase the goose
sermon outlines
Week 6: The Cage of Fear
* Text: Joshua 1:1-9
*Big Idea: Chasing the Wild Goose means playing
offense with your life.
Video Option: Consider showing the short film “Fear Protection”
found on the Chase the Goose leader kit DVD in order to introduce
the cage of fear.
Introduction As you plan an introduction, remind your
congregation of the concept of chasing the Wild Goose, and review the
cages you’ve covered. Then consider using the following introduction
from Mark Batterson or a personal one that illustrates a similar point:
A pair of psychologists from University of Michigan conducted a
fascinating study that sheds light on the fear of loss. Volunteers donned
caps containing electrodes, and while they engaged in a computersimulated game, researchers analyzed their brains’ electrical activity in
response to winning and losing.
What intrigued the researchers was that with a loss in the game, the rise
in medial frontal negativity was larger than the rise in medial frontal
positivity after a win. The conclusion was simple: losses loom larger than
gains. We fear loss more than we love gain.
Maybe that helps explain why so many people live their lives defensively.
Maybe that’s why we fixate on sins of commission instead of sins of
omission. And maybe that’s why many of us approach the will of God with
a better-safe-than-sorry mentality. Instead of chasing the Wild Goose, we
get trapped in the cage of fear, failing to pursue God passionately and find
out what kind of adventure He has for us. Problem is, God never intended
for us to play defense with our lives.
BODY Then move into the body of the sermon. The following are the
guiding points to focus on.
1) Courageous living recognizes the battle before you
(Joshua 1:1-5).
a. Joshua had been living in the shadow of Moses for years—those are
big shoes to fill!
b. Though God had given him the land, there were still battles to be
fought in overtaking it.
c. God has promised the world to Christ-followers, but He has left us the
task of taking it.
d. No ground is gained by staying in comfort and safety.
Illustration: Use this or a personal illustration to make the point about
leaving comfort and safety as the will of God.
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There is nothing remotely passive about being part of the kingdom of God.
Faithfulness is not holding the fort; it’s storming the gates of hell.
A group of early 20th-century missionaries became known as “one-way
missionaries” because they packed all their earthly belongings into coffins
and purchased one-way tickets when they departed for the mission field.
They knew they’d never return home. One such missionary was named
A.W. Milne. He felt called to a tribe of headhunters in the New Hebrides. All
the other missionaries to this tribe had been martyred, but that didn’t keep
Milne from chasing the Wild Goose. He lived among the tribe for thirty-five
years and never returned home. When the tribe buried him, they wrote on
his tombstone: “When he came there was no light. When he left there was
no darkness.”
When did we start believing that God wants to send us to safe places
to do easy things? God wants to send us to dangerous places to do
difficult things. And if you chase the Wild Goose, He will lead you into the
shadowlands, where light and darkness clash.
2) Courageous living depends on God’s promises (Joshua 1:6-8).
a. God’s Word calls us to be on the offensive.
b. Those who want to play offense with their lives must remember
what God has done for His people in the past.
c. Courage is bolstered by consistently meditating on the Word of God.
3) Courageous living is fueled by the presence of God
(Joshua 1:9).
a. Neither we, nor Joshua, are naturally courageous.
b. God’s presence for us is the source of true courage.
c. There is no such thing as “failure” if we are following Christ.
d. Passive living is disobedient living.
Conclusion Consider concluding the talk by re-emphasizing the
big idea of the sermon. A possible conclusion might be something
like this:
Most of us are far too tentative when it comes to the will of God. We let our
fears dictate our decisions. We are so afraid of making the wrong decision
that we make no decision. But it is our indecision, not our bad decisions,
that keeps us in the cage. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
What is most lacking in the church of Jesus Christ is not education or
resources. Though we should keep doing both, we are the most resourced
church in the most resourced country the world has ever known. You know
what is most lacking? Good, old-fashioned guts.
We need people who are more afraid of missing opportunities than
making mistakes; people who are more afraid of lifelong regrets than
temporary failure; people who dare to dream the unthinkable and attempt
the impossible. That’s what chasing the Wild Goose is all about.
sermon outlines chase the goose