Understand specifically what God has called you to do
Know your purpose
If you aim at nothing in particular you'll hit it every time
Be part of someone else's legacy
Be under authority - Luke 7:1-10
Be faithful with someone else's property - Luke 16:10-12
Find a mentor / coach
Follow the leader
Elisha refused to leave Elijah at:
Gilgal - Josh 4:19 - 5:12
First camp after crossing the Jordan
Circumcision - the covenant renewed, reproach rolled away
First Passover in Canaan
First experience of the produce of the land
Bethel
Originally dedicated to God - Gen 28:10-22; Gen 31:10-13
Subsequently defiled - 1Kings 12:25 - 13:6
Later reclaimed under Josiah
Jericho
Originally destroyed and cursed - Josh 6:20-27
Subsequently rebuilt - 1Kings 16:34
Stay with your leader through all the stages of your relationship
New beginnings
Examining defilements in your "house of God"
Examining "resurrected" issues
Eat the meat and spit out the bones
Eli ----> Samuel
Introducing Eli - 1Sam 1:1-3
Eli's Sons - 1Sam 2:10-25
Prophetic Warning - 1Sam 2:27-36; 1Sam 3:1-18
Samuel comes into his own - 1Sam 3:19-21
Prophetic Fulfillment against Eli - 1Sam 4:10-22
Samuel's Sons - 1Sam 8:1-9
Recognize the negative traits that you need to avoid
Pay attention
Elisha had to see Elijah taken up to heaven
Jordan
They crossed the Jordan out of Canaan
Their final moments were on the "wilderness" side of Jordan
Catching the transition
Everyone probably expected Elijah to die
No one expected chariots and horses of fire and a whirlwind
Elijah had a reputation for "disappearing" - 1Kings 18:1-15
Keep your eye on your leader in the wilderness
See and recognize your leader's "promotion"
His/her promotion is your promotion
Don't waste time longing for the "good old days"
Know what's going on in the ministry to which you belong
Know the power of God
River splitting power
Resurrection Power - Eph 1:15-23
Move beyond discouragement - 1Kings 19:1-21
Sulking, pouting, and pampering are not God's will for us
Elijah went "backwards" to Mt. Horeb (Sinai)
"What are you doing here?"
Discouragement distorts your perception - 1Kings 19:10-14
Go back the way you came - 1Kings 19:15
Handle your next assignment - 1Kings 19:15-21
Make the transition to commitment - 1Kings 19:19-21
Don't miss God's invitation
Say goodbye to your old life
Jesus did this at his baptism
Be faithful - 1Kings 19:19-21; 2Kings 2:1-18; 2Kings 3:11
Faithfulness is a lifestyle
Begin with faithfulness
End with faithfulness
No mystery about the intervening years
Work on your stuff
Examine yourself - 1Cor 11:28-32; 2Cor 13:5
Count the cost - Luke 14:28-33
Conquer your fears
Feed on God's Word - Job 23:12; Jer 15:16; Mat 4:4
Pray
Worship
Prostrate yourself
Personally
With your resources
Excel at giving - 2Cor 8:1-9; 2Cor 9:6-7
Examples - Gen 14:17-20; Gen 28:10-22; Prov 3:9-10
Fellowship
Put others ahead of yourself Philip 2:4-5
Glorify God in your everyday life
At school
On your job
Be a faithful worker
Understand the big picture
Solve problems - don't leave them in someone else's lap
Be a Kingdom strategist
Operate strategically
Beware the tyranny of the urgent
Q1 (Important & Urgent); Q2 (Important & Not Urgent)
Q3 (Unimportant & Urgent); Q4 (Unimportant & Not Urgent)
Operate in Quadrant 2
Put the big rocks in first
Make a plan
Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, 5 year, etc.
Follow the plan
Keep it updated
Put God's Kingdom first - Mat 6:19-34
Organize your life around the Kingdom - not "worldly success"
Resist Satan's efforts to make us preoccupied with ourselves and with our own families only.
Our deliberate efforts at unity and connecting to our brothers and sisters help to release God's power - John 17:20-23
Summary
God exists
Key assumptions:
God wants to be known
If he didn't want be known, how could we know him?
We also assume that we are competent to know God - we forget about the impact of original sin on our ability to know God
Win Converts
Acts 8:1-8 - Philip evangelizes in Samaria
God scatters us when we get too complacent
Those who were scattered preached the Word wherever they went - Use your gifts
Give God credit
Pray for and lay hands on people
Let the gifts of the Spirit flow
God is not into "superstars"
Acts 8:9-13 - Simon the Sorcerer
Acts 8:14-25 - The Apostles to the rescue
Acts 8:26-40 - Philip and the Ethiopian
Will you teach your disciples the full gospel?
1Cor 2:1-5 - Not human persuasion, but divine persuasion!
God Expects Fruit
Fruitfulness is rewarded
Parable of the minas - Luke 19:11-27
Parable of the talents - Mat 25:14-30
Fruitlessness is punished
Cursing the fig tree - Mat 21:18-19
When will the fig tree bear fruit? - Luke 13:6-9
Are you gathering with Jesus? - Mat 12:30
Are you drawing people into God's Kingdom?
Submit to your leaders - Heb 13:17
Recognize the time - Luke 19:41-44
Make disciples - 2Tim 2:2
You have to pull someone in close
They have to be close enough to understand what you have
They have to want what you have
The whole counsel of God - Acts 20:22-27
Be a strategic connector
We must design everything we do so that it advances the great commission - winning and making disciples.
The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord - Isa 11:9
Connect people to the Kingdom
Use any godly means necessary
Evangelize on your own - occasionally works
confrontation compel someone to follow Christ
Invite to Sunday service - occasionally works
Invite to life group - appropriate for some
Join the workforce!
Invite to a life group activity - appropriate for most
Come to the party!
Invite to lunch with one to two brothers/sisters - great strategy
Will we let God use our relationships or will we selfishly keep them to ourselves?
Not human persuasion, but divine persuasion! - 1Cor 2:1-5
Pray first and expect God to produce results - 1Cor 3:1-15
Be an expert builder
Build quality
Don't be someone who escapes through the flames
Summary
Paul's appeal: 2Cor 10:1-18
Authority for building you up - 2Cor 10:8; 2Cor 13
Boasting in the Lord - 2Cor 10:17; Jer 9:23-25
Circumcised only in the flesh - Jer 9:25-26
New Material
Answer some of last week's discussion questions on the tongue.
A Life Of Power
Eph 3:14-21
Mat 13:24-52
Power Defined
The ability to get things done
Know what you're supposed to do
business idea
Know how you're supposed to do it
business plan
Know who you're supposed to work with
Work faithfully
God's creation and man's stewardship - Gen 1:26-29; Gen 2:4-15
Rely on God's power - Philip 2:12-16; Philip 4:13; 2Pet 1:3-4
What We're Supposed to Do - Our Vision
Transform the way church is done
throughout the nation
one life group at a time!
Life Church is a growing community of Christians who:
Know and love God
Know and love each other
Take responsibility for keeping in touch with your life group
Take personal responsibility for the ministry and for your life group
Pray alone and with your prayer partners
Love one another - 1Cor 13; 1Pet 1:22; 1John 4:7 - 5:5
How can you love your brother/sister and not call him/her?
How can you love your brother/sister and not visit him/her?
What you don't do for "the least of these" you don't do for Jesus! - Mat 25:31-46
Has your love run cold? - Luke 24:12
Your brothers and sisters are wrapped presents from God lying under the Christmas tree - open them up!
Fulfill God's mission for our lives
Foundation in Jesus Christ - Mat 16:15-18
We are called to be like the tree of life - Ezek 47:1-12; Rev 22:1-2
We are fruitful - producing souls for Jesus
We heal our communities by offering them genuine community
How We're Supposed To Do It - Our Mission
Develop our relationship with God and one another through:
Meeting together on Sundays for worship and instruction
Meeting weekly in small groups (life groups) for fellowship, support, growth, and evangelism.
Life groups are to the celebration as rooms are to a house
You can't be in my house without being in a room
Basic Christian Community - Acts 2:41-47; Acts 4:31-37
Devoted themselves to:
apostolic teaching
fellowship
all together, everything in common,
selling possessions and goods, giving to meet needs
met every day in the temple courts
breaking of bread
prayer
Praising God
Experienced God's power
awe, wonders, and miraculous signs
favor of the people
daily growth
testified to the resurrection with great power
Living rich and balanced lives together.
Develop mature believers through:
Teaching godly habits.
Transforming godly habits into skills.
Turning skills into ministries.
Develop effective leaders who serve their brothers and sisters in humility.
Leadership - sees the goal clearly and actively helps people reach it.
Effective - succeeds in achieving the goal.
Expand God’s kingdom by winning people in our lives and in our communities to Jesus Christ.
Taking responsibility for the harvest - John 4:34-38
Taking responsibility for expanding your skills
Taking responsibility for working with other believers
Relational Evangelism
Strategic Evangelism
Discussion Questions
Reflect on Eph 3:14-21
Are you rooted and established in love? If not, what would it take for you to be?
In what ways have you grasped how wide, long, high, and deep Christ's love is?
Are you filled to all the measure of the fullness of God? If not, what would it take for you to be?
Considering vs. 20, what have you dared to ask God for so far?
Considering vs. 20, what have you dared to imagine so far?
Do you really believe that God can do immeasurably more than what you can ask or imagine?
Reflect on Mat 13:24-52
Consider vs. 30-34, Mustard seed, yeast in dough
Consider vs. 36-43, in light of the people you know. Which ones will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father? Which ones are headed for the fiery furnace? What are you going to do about it?
Consider vs. 44-46. Jesus is represented by the men who gave up everything to obtain the buried treasure, and the pearl of great value. What have you given up for the Kingdom of God? What are you going to give up?
General Questions
Have you ever led someone to faith in Jesus Christ?
Have you ever helped to train someone in the Christian life?
Has someone that you've trained ever gone on to train others?
Works Activities For This Week's Life Group Meetings
List the people in your sphere of influence.
Go over the people in your list and share with your group the answers to the following questions:
How badly to you want to see this person saved?
How much time have you spent praying for him/her? On your own? With a prayer partner?
What are you willing to do differently to see this person saved?
