Hybels redirects Christians to 'the forgotten way'

|PIC1|"We're going to ... ask ourselves the question 'why did His way of living ever get substituted for something else along the way? What wisdom became so attractive and maybe so cheap that entire cultures abandoned Jesus' way for alternate paths?'" Hybels told Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.

"The Forgotten Way" series was born out of a desire to respond to the 20,000 prayer requests received last Easter. Many of them dealt with pace of life issues, human sexuality, conflict resolution and money.

Over the course of four weeks, Hybels is hoping to take the teachings of Jesus from 2,000 years ago and focus them on the needs of the congregation today while also contrasting the teachings with the conventional wisdom of today's culture.

"There's two kinds of paths," he said in a promotional video. "There's a broad path that you can take in life. You can make all kinds of choices, follow anybody you want to. But Jesus said it often leads to destruction.

"There's a second kind of path that Jesus talked about. And he said it's a narrower path. In fact, it only follows one leader. It follows one way. It follows one set of teachings. But it leads to life."

In his sermon to kick off the series, the megachurch pastor talked about the right pace of life. He challenged Christians to slow down and stop running after or chasing after things like what to eat and what to wear. A high-paced life, he said, could kill relationships not only with family members and friends but also with God because oftentimes, it was time spent with God that gets squeezed out.

"A lot of us say ... my life is just so full ... I can't fit everything in," Hybels said. "If your life is so full ... you had better be very clear [about] what you're going to leave out of it because something or someone is going to get left out."

He urged Christ followers to reprioritise their lives so that time with God and family never gets squeezed out.

"I'm here to say it in as simple and direct way as I can. If you allow the concerns and pace of your life to squeeze your communal time with God out of it, the unintended consequences of that are going to be very high," he cautioned.

Along with personal time with God, even going to church and worshipping together is a critical non-negotiable, he noted. "This is part of discipleship," he stressed.

He wasn't preaching "health, wealth and happiness" or promoting "immunity from trials and tragedies" – which are teachings he opposes – but Hybels stressed that by being seek first people, Christians could receive blessings from a God who would meet their basic needs and possibly go even beyond meeting those basic needs.

Alluding to the New Testament passage to seek first His kingdom, Hybels urged, "Be seek first people centred on God who can be trusted, whose families flourish, ... whose churches prevail, ... whose careers soar."