Gateway Church Austin and 20+ other churches in Austin are teaming together for an initiative to tear down the walls that hold us back from our best. These walls pit people against each other, keep neighbors distant, keep churches from working together or from serving our city. We all face walls. We all get stuck, but we don’t have to stay stuck.
John Burke spoke at the McNeil campus, and I spoke at the South campus. We shared some of the following insights:
“There’s so much in life that is good and beautiful and loving, and yet Life is full of hurts, wounds, mistakes, and so many people live in prisons. We let our mistakes and the mistakes of others limit our future.
It takes courage to confront our walls of fear, or walls of insecurity, or walls of rebellion, guilt, anger, resentment, unforgiveness, rejection, isolation, addiction because they probably formed as a way to run from or hide from pain in the past, to protect ourselves, or to prove ourselves. We’ve counted on them for safety, but we need to be willing to unhook from them and trust God to keep us safe
Jesus said: ‘Don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot touch your soul. Fear only God, who can destroy both soul and body in hell. What is the price of two sparrows—one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.’ – Matthew 10:28-31
Identify the lies that hold up the walls, let the truth knock them down.
Jesus said: ‘You are truly my disciples [followers] if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ John 8:31-32
The way we find freedom from our walls that build up from a false reality, is to know God’s reality—to know what God says is true that leads to freedom.
If you don’t know what God says is true, if you don’t read the scriptures, if you don’t study the life and teachings of Jesus—you’ll probably think these Walls are supposed to be there.
There’s a tremendous difference in a truth observed and a truth applied. Tens of thousands of people probably noticed that an apple fell straight down out of an apple tree, but Sir Isaac Newton was the first to apply this truth and explain gravity. Understanding gravity has allowed us to figure out how to create airplanes and even put a man on the moon. We will be amazed at what we can accomplish when we apply the truth to our lives!
One of the women in our Walls small group on Tuesday night is a therapist, and she mentioned this past week: ‘I can easily see the patterns of wrong-thinking and bad decision-making in the lives of others, but it is hard to see the patterns in my own life.’
The Scriptures can be a mirror, and the people in our family, in our small group, and in our community can be the mirror we need to see the invisible walls in our lives.
‘It is never too late to be what you might have been.’ – George Eliot”
To watch or listen to this message, go to www.gatewaychurch.com/podcast.
For a list of small groups in Austin and small group materials, go to www.gatewaychurch.com/walls.
