Spirit/e—The Purpose Driven Life
Christmas Outreach: Show Caring, Consistent Love
by e-bluespirit
2009. 12. 6.
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Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, 'Friend, I forgive your sins.' Luke 5:18-20
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Seven ways a small group can reach people for Jesus
#1 - Give caring, consistent love to those who don't know Jesus.
Like the four friends who helped the paralytic, sometimes it takes something radical to lead someone to Jesus!
And sometimes it just takes the caring, consistent love of a small group of Christians. As we enter the holiday season, I want to encourage you to plan with your small group to reach out to friends and neighbors who do not know Jesus
The reason God used the four friends mentioned in Luke 5 is because they cared for the paralytic. Just like those four, your life mission should start with love - caring for those around you and caring enough about those who do not know Jesus that you reach out to them during this holiday season. The number one reason Christians don't share Christ with others is that they are too preoccupied with themselves.
Before you can care about others, you must become aware of them. When your small group meets, try to identify the people you know who need to know Jesus.
And start praying for them, that God will give you an opportunity to share your faith in a non-threatening way. Pray that God will soften their hearts and soften your heart.
Then, make a plan for how you can reach out to these people as a small group.
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Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, 'Friend, I forgive your sins.' Luke 5:18-20
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# 2 -- Your small group must believe God can work through you to reach people for Jesus.
No one is hopeless. When the four friends looked at the paralytic's condition, they could have responded in doubt: What could Jesus do? Instead, they believed God could heal him -- they had faith. The Bible said the paralytic's sins were forgiven when Jesus saw the faith of the four friends.
There are people paralyzed in our world, who aren't necessarily physically paralyzed, but who have a paralyzed faith. Whether they're paralyzed by doubts, loneliness, fear or anything else, the result is the same -- they need the faith of the others.
In a sense, they don't have enough faith to believe, so your faith is going to have to bring them to Jesus. The Apostle Paul asked for prayer, so "that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ ..." (Colossians 4:3)
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Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, 'Friend, I forgive your sins.' Luke 5:18-20
#3 -- Your small group must make a plan.
Although faith and prayer are important ingredients to bringing others to Jesus, you also need to do something! You need a plan. When the four friends saw that access to Jesus was blocked, they came up with a plan to get the paraplegic to Jesus.
Your small group needs a plan to bring people to Jesus. Without it, you'll never bring anyone to the Savior.
The Bible tells us that God has a plan: "... The God of our ancestors has handpicked you to be briefed on his plan of action." (Acts 22:14)
God's plan of action is summed up in the Great Commission: "Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20)
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Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, 'Friend, I forgive your sins.' Luke 5:18-20
#4 -- Your small group must overcome difficulties.
When the four friends saw the path to Jesus blocked, they had every reason to feel discouraged, but they didn't give up. They looked for another way to bring the man to Jesus.
Everybody gets discouraged at times. But in order to share Jesus with our friends, we must persist through those difficulties. I remember a small group at Saddleback who prayed for a lost friend for two years before that person made a commitment to Jesus. I know that man is glad the small group didn't give up after a year and a half of prayer.
Jesus told a parable about seeds falling to the ground. Some of the seeds never developed deep roots and so they fell away once they encountered problems. (Matthew 13:21) But Jesus wants us to deepen our faith in him so we can "produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!" (Matthew 13:23) |
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Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, 'Friend, I forgive your sins.' Luke 5:18-20
#5 -- Your small group needs the courage to do something different.
When faced with a discouraging situation, these four friends decided to do something different to get their friend to Jesus -- they went through the roof!
Sometimes we have to do something different to get people to Jesus as well.
Although you might not crawl through a roof to get someone to Jesus, you might host a party. For a small group in a San Diego church that meant buying season tickets to see professional football games. Besides buying their own tickets, the couples bought one extra ticket -- for someone who didn't know Jesus. That group brought 13 couples to Christ through that experience.
We can have courage as we tell others about Jesus because the Holy Spirit is working through us. It doesn't matter how well we talk or how educated we are because God inhabits our abilities: "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13) |
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Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, 'Friend, I forgive your sins.' Luke 5:18-20
#6 -- Your small group must work together to get the job done.
Have you ever tried to carry someone on a stretcher with only three people? It doesn't work. If all four of the friends hadn't helped, the paralytic would have fallen off the stretcher.
Some people will only come to Jesus through a group effort. Studies have shown that people come to Christ faster when they come through a supportive environment!
That's why small groups are so essential in bringing people to Christ.
When you talk to someone at work and it's just you and that person, you're the only witness. If you're able to bring them to a group event -- particularly one that is fun -- they'll go, "Wow, these people aren't goofy. They aren't religious nuts. They're normal people."
Jesus says that "where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20) This means when we reach out to others, we're "working together with one mind and purpose." (Philippians 2:2)
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Some men arrived carrying a paraplegic on a stretcher. They were looking for a way to get into the house and set him before Jesus. When they couldn't find a way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof, removed some tiles, and let him down in the middle of everyone, right in front of Jesus. Impressed by their bold belief, he said, 'Friend, I forgive your sins.' Luke 5:18-20
#7 -- Your small group must be willing to pay the cost to bring someone to Jesus.
These four men wouldn't have made a hole in the roof unless they were willing to fix it. They had to pay the cost of bringing their friend to Jesus.
Bringing a friend to Jesus always requires sacrifice. For many small groups that means sacrificing their own comfort within the group. Many people have become so comfortable within their small groups that they are afraid of adding new people and messing up the group dynamics.
Before our friends will come to Jesus, they need to see us get out of our comfort zones. But we know that reaching others for Jesus is of eternal significance - it is the most important thing we can do for God while we are here on earth.
Therefore, this Christmas season, "pray that the Master's Word will simply take off and race through the country to a groundswell of response, just as it did among you." (2 Thessalonians 3:1)
And then be an instrument of that prayer, doing the work required to bring others to Jesus.
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PurposeDriven.com by Rick Warren
