Challenge of the church – The church is a table where people come to be fed
The Ultimate Food demands the ultimate presentation
Invest & Invite
talk to the chairs – mature believer, baby believer, and spiritual seeker
beautiful process
we hand out samples of the bread of life everyday
We must push away from the table and serve.
That's the call to the church – ultimate food, ultimate presentation
A LOST WORLD
Researchers indicate as many as 200 million men, women, and children are among the lost. To make it more real to us, as many as
7 out of 10 of the people we know are living outside, away from God.
“God is patient, because he wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.” 2 Peter 3:9
Let's look over history's big picture and we see this theme of God's proactive intervention to rescue the lost. Whenever the people He created wandered deeper into the darkness, He didn't wait for them to come to their senses and return. He sent people out to bring His children back.
We see this reflected in Abraham when he rescued his nephew Lot from Sodom and Gomarrah. - in Moses when he returned to Egypt to bring the people of Israel out from bondage. We see it in the book of Judges as God sent rescuers again and again to deliver His people from the consequences of their sin and disobedience. We see it in David, and Daniel, and Nehemiah, and on and on...
Jesus is the ultimate illustration of God's redemptive love in action.
God sent His Son, as a human, knowing He would have to die, to reach out to the sin-darkened world. He determined this sacrifice was the price to pay for bringing us home to the Father. And none of us had to clean up our act 1st or attain some righteous standards.
Just believe.
The parables Jesus told in Luke 15 reinforce this theme of active, redemptive love. The woman sweeping her whole house and searching everywhere until she finds her 1 lost coin – which represents God's search for us – So does the shepherd, willing to leave the warm, safe fold with the 99 sheep in order to search the cold, dark, dangerous wilderness for one lost lamb.
God said, “He wants everyone to turn from sin and no one to be lost.”
But this theme of God's proactive intervention to rescue the lost doesn't end with Christ – it continues... it continues through all of us.
Committed Christ-followers are the primary instruments God uses to find lost people in our world. The local church, the people of God, are His 1st and foremost rescue squad. Now these that are lost aren't going to be found if we, the church, stay in some sort of holy huddle and hope they're found .
We must GO where they are and find them.
Look at what Luke 10 says,
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out..." Luke 10:1-3
We have, I have and you have been appointed by Christ to GO out
and find them – to invest and invite.
WE ARE GOD'S RESCUE SQUAD
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8
1st let's clarify something that confuses many believers. God doesn't call all believers to be evangelists. Evangelism is a spiritual gift. There's a pretty big difference between the spiritual gift of evangelism and simply sharing your faith.
Billy Graham has the spiritual gift of evangelism. He has been so effective with so many people b/c it's the Holy Spirit at work through his spiritual gift.
While most of us are not called to a gifted ministry of evangelism, all believers are called to be witnesses for Christ.
The role of every Christ-follower is to learn how to live it out.
Scripture is clear, look at 1 Peter 3:15,
“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
We are to be a Voice of Hope
We are all called to be witnesses for Jesus. Witnessing is the method God uses to reach people in an everyday way. HOW?
Through those who we have some relational contact with. Those we work with, socialize with, hang out with, that we are related to, that we recently met.
We are all called to be witnesses, to share our story.
It's the call on each of our lives
How do we live out that call:
1st skill – nurture and develop your own relationship w/ God
If we aren't growing spiritually ourselves, we probably don't have anything worth sharing, nothing of eternal value w/ our spiritual seeking friends or family.
If we aren't spiritually healthy ourselves, we probably won't share – b/c we may even be embarrassed at how little positive influence Jesus is having in our own lives.
How do we nurture and develop our own relationship w/ God?
Pray, read, meditate, worship, fast, submit, serve...
2nd skill – get a grasp of culture
Communicating & living in a highly secular culture raises all kinds of boundaries between believers and non-believers. If we were sending you overseas to another culture as a missionary, you might get 2 yrs.
of language and culture training before you began ministry. Our situation here is no different. We must know what is going on around us to effectively communicate to lost people.
3rd skill – Build effective relationships
This is absolutely crucial. We must be able to spend time with and develop a trusting friendship with those that do not know Christ personally. HOW?
Hang out, be real, be transparent, have fun, care about, encourage, learn from, be selfless... (past messages, 'Live Beyond Myself' series; 'The Jedi Council' Star Wars series; book: 'Be A People Person' by John Maxwell)
4th skill – Share your faith
In developing friendships w/ seekers opportunities will arise to share your faith, your belief in God. We need to be able to do that. There will also come times when you 1st meet an individual, maybe at someone's b-day party, a work or school function, and in just a few moments of meeting them an opportunity may arise for you to share about the love of Christ. 1 Peter 3:15
Here's an EZ format to remember:
Share your story
- life before Christ
- how you came to know Christ
- life after Christ
Share God's story
- life w/out Christ
- life in Christ
5th skill – Nurture new believers
Just as a new parent has to learn how to care for and nurture their own child, we as believers need to learn how to nurture the spiritual growth and development of new followers of Christ.
This takes time, it takes patience, it takes a willingness to place that other persons needs above our own.
Hang out, talk about what God is doing in their lives, let them share, you listen, give help if needed, encourage...
This is the call each of us has – we are called to be witnesses – to share our faith, to share the love of Christ, to be a voice of hope.
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