If you're really aligned with God's heart for the lost - Lift Up Your Eyes
John 4:27-42 - The disciples, Jesus, and the Samaritan woman
John 4:35 - Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe . . .
Literally "lift up your eyes"
Take your eyes off of your immediate vicinity and look up a little
Stop looking at your feet - get your mind off yourself
John 4:37-38 - One sows and another reaps
What we harvest is not necessarily what we've sown.
Give out oranges
Jesus had sent the disciples to buy food that they hadn't grown
Take A Risk
Unravel (destroy) the works of the devil. - 1John 3:8
1Sam 14:1-23 - Jonathan attacks the Philistines
Movie: "The Final Countdown" - Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katherine Ross, James Farentino, Ron O'Neal
U.S.S. Nimitz is sent back in time to Dec 6, 1941 by freak storm
Captain (Kirk Douglas) decides to engage the Japanese because he is a U.S. naval officer
God wants ordinary people to discover his power
"It's gotta be the shoes!" - NO - "It's gotta be the shepherd!"
Good News!
God's not mad.
He's throwing a party.
You're invited!
Our life groups take too long to extend God's love to others
We should be inviting people to coffee, lunch, or dinner frequently
We should be having fellowship events every month
What's stopping us?
We connect with our oikos every day - Invite them to the party!
Connect the unbelievers you know to the saints you know!
Lift up your eyes - John 4
A prelude to action
Mat 17:8 - the disciples lift up their eyes and see only Jesus
Luke 6:20 - Jesus lifts up his eyes and teaches his disciples
Luke 16:23 - in hell the rich man lifts up his eyes and sees Abraham
John 6:5 - Jesus lifts up his eyes, sees the multitude, and feeds them
John 17:1 - Jesus lifts up his eyes to heaven and prays
What happens when you lift up your eyes?
Take your eyes off of yourself
Look at what's immediately around you
Recognize the opportunities (e.g. ripe harvest)
How can I learn to recognize the opportunities?
You have to want to please God. - John 4:31-34
Ask God to show you.
Check with other believers
How should you respond to the opportunities that you recognize?
Build God's house!
Paneled Houses - Hag 1:1-12
Build God's House
God's house is built with people - 1Cor 3:16; 1Pet 2:4-5
Start gathering the harvest
How can I be more effective in gathering the harvest?
Exercise Faith / Be Faithful
Level 1 - showing up
Level 2 - obeying what you've been told
Level 3 - obeying even what you haven't been told
Take The Way Of The Cross - Mat 16:13-28; Mark 8:27 - 9:1; Luke 9:23-25
Kingdom Paradoxes:
The way to receive is to give - Luke 6:38
The way to lead is to serve - Mat 20:25-28
The way to be first is to be last - Mat 19:30
The way up is down - Mat 23:12
You fool - this night your life will be demanded of you - Luke 12:13-34
New Material
Preparation
Main Passage
NIV
Hebrew Study Bible
KJV
The Message
NASB
RSV
Exegetical Idea
Subject
Tools: How, Who, What, When, Where, Why
Complement
Developmental Questions
Explain It: What does this mean?
Prove It: Is it True? Do I believe it?
Apply It: What difference does it make? So What?
Homiletical Idea
Purpose of the Sermon
Make it plain
Use accessible language and modern parables
Make sure people do something with the word God gives you for them.
Lift Up Your Eyes (Part 3)
Jesus is the Center
How can I be more effective in gathering the harvest? (continued)
Get properly motivated
Do God's will and finish his work - John 4:34
What does this mean? How can we pin this down?
Jesus is the center of God's revelation - Heb 1:1-4
We are to offer Jesus to others - 2Cor 5:11 - 6:2
We need to persuade, not attack.
Extend relationship to others
We have a responsibility
You are a watchman - Ezek 3:16-21
We will have to face the Lord after we die.
We will have to account for what we did with the various opportunities we had to expand God's Kingdom.
Jesus and Zacheus - Luke 19:1-10
Parable of the ten minas - Luke 19:11-27
The pattern of the early church - Acts 2:42-47
Jesus is the image of God - Col 1:15-20
Make disciples - Mat 28:18-20
Warnings are for believers
God wants all men to come to be saved - 1Tim 2:1-4
We want to live peaceful and quiet lives
Recent events seem to threaten to hinder our witness
Where sin increased grace increased all the more
Why does the gay marriage issue matter?
Because it makes it easier for people to live in bondage.
People in bondage try to make scripture conform to their experience.
We are called to make our experience conform to scripture.
Rely On God's Power
Kingdom of God come with power - Mat 16:28
Power - Pentecost Sunday
power to make disciples
You already have what you need - like the scarecrow, lion, and tin man
God's power is available for getting his work done - not for building our private empires.
God's power is made perfect in our weakness - 2Cor 12:9
We must obediently recognize Kingdom opportunities and use them to produce Kingdom results - discipled lives
Accept no excuses for withholding the gospel from people.
It's more important for others to embrace Jesus than it is for us to experience maximized fulfillment in interacting with them.
We work the harvest fields and we get to consume some of the crop. In other words, some of the people we win will become especially dear friends, but not all of them.
Use "stranger evangelism" to practice for "relational evangelism".
Recognize the kinds of interactions with unbelievers that keep happening to you.
"People always seem to want to talk to me about . . ."
Learn fruitful ways of responding to questions or statements that you frequently encounter.
Choose responses that invite people to relationship and community rather than responses that win arguments.
"Would you like to meet some people who've dealt with the question you're asking?"
"Would you like to see how some of us handle that situation?"
"If you knew what God was really like you'd want me to pray for you."
When you pray - violate their expectations
Don't be long-winded!
Don't be religious!
Pray simply!
Discussion Questions / Topics
Reflect on Col 1:15-20; Heb 1:1-4
What do these scriptures teach us about Jesus' role in the creation and running of the universe?
What do these scriptures teach us about Jesus' role in God's Kingdom?
How do these scriptures affect your understanding of who Jesus is?
How has your understanding of Jesus changed over time?
Reflect on Ezek 3:16-21; Luke 19:11-27; 2Cor 5:11 - 6:2
What consequence would Ezekiel face for not warning the people?
What consequence did the servant face for not increasing the mina he was given?
What consequence will you face for not multiplying the spiritual life you've been given?
In Luke did the wicked servant have any options other than multiplying his mina by himself?
Do you have any options other than winning people to Jesus by yourself?
In 2 Corinthians what is the message that Paul brings as an ambassador?
How are you doing as an ambassador for Jesus?
Reflect on Mat 28:18-20; Acts 2:42-47
How do you feel about your ability to make disciples? Does this affect your obedience to the Matthew passage?
How would your priorities change if you knew you could be trained to make disciples?
What, if anything, does the Acts passage tell us about the details of the believers' discipleship techniques?
What, if anything, does the Acts passage tell us about their lifestyle?
What do you think will be more important in helping you to win people to Jesus: your discipleship technique or your lifestyle?
What role do your relationships with other believers play in your lifestyle?
Are you working with other believers to win people to Jesus?
Reflect on John 4 (repeated from last week)
Describe the last conversation you had with an unbeliever.
What opportunities do you have to spend more meaningful time with unbelievers?
Who are the people in your life who don't know Jesus? Name names.
Describe the last conversation you had in which someone asked you a question about Christianity.
Is there something simple you could do to include someone from your life group in your relationship with one of the unbelievers in your life?
When will you do it?
In what ways have you ever taken a risk to connect to an unbeliever?
Reflect on Hag 1:1-12; 1Cor 3:16; 1Pet 2:4-5 (repeated from last week)
When did you first realize that God's house was built with people? How has this understanding affected your ministry?
What has your priority been lately - building your own house, or God's?
Who have you connected to God's house lately? Who are you trying to connect?
Works Activities For This Week's Life Group Meetings (repeated from last week)
Review the current prayer partnerships in your life group.
Make sure that everyone has someone to pray with on a weekly basis.
These can be long-term assignments or your can rotate them.
If you rotate them, the assignments should last at least one month.
Review the list of people you are praying for in your life group.
Make sure that everyone knows who to pray for and how to pray for them.
Make sure that the people who need salvation are getting prayed for every day by the members of the group.
Review each person on the list of people you are reaching out to.
Has anyone invited him/her to lunch/dinner or some other informal activity along with at least one other life group member?
Has anyone invited him/her to a life group fun event?
Has anyone invited him/her to a life group meeting?
