THE PEOPLE WHO INFLUENCED ME FOR CHRIST AND THE THINGS THEY DID AND DIDN’T DO

Below is a list of things to consider as you prayerfully seek to discern next steps in helping friends move toward Christ.  This list was generated from a question we asked the people of Lifeway, "What did people do for you that helped you warm incrementally to the idea of submitting your life to Christ?" From this question we also discovered what people did not do and who were the most influential people in the lives of those who became Christ-followers.  This is what we learned:

Things people did to help others warm incrementally to the idea of submitting their life to Christ:

·      Took time to get to know me/showed interest in me/listed to me/noticed me*

·      Loved me unconditionally while providing a Christ like example*

·      Invited me to church/took me to church/offered to pick me up for church*

·      Invited me to church outings

·      Invited me to a Bible study

·      A friend answered my questions with Scripture

·      Told me they were praying for me/prayed for me on the spot

·      Asked questions/asked about my day/asked about what was happening in my life

·      Let me disagree with them without getting angry or defensive

·      Spent time with me

·      Believed in me/Believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself

·      Gave me a book to read

·      Shared their story with me/shared their testimony

·      Taught me about forgiveness/helped me forgive myself

·      Cared for me in a crisis/gave support

·      Included me

·      Encouraged me

·      Confronted/challenged my behavior

·      Shared the gospel with me/ shared Jesus with me

Things people did not do that helped others warm incrementally to the idea of submitting their life to Christ:

·      Didn’t judge me

·      Didn’t force or push me

·      Didn’t give up on me*

·      Didn’t turn away because of my mistakes/bad behavior

·      Didn’t treat me like a project

·      Didn’t throw God in my face

·      Didn’t try to change me/make me be good/act like a Christian

People who helped others warm incrementally to the idea of submitting their life to Christ:

·      Parents

·      Pastor

·      Friend*

·      Friend’s parents

·      A relative: grandparents/aunt/cousin

·      Coworkers

·      A Stranger

* Most mentioned response(s) in a category.

Really Living

I recently I sat down with a man who spent some time telling me all the things he is involved in, sports, sports camps, NBA school for his children and on and on.  He was telling me why he couldn't participate in a LifeGroup. I couldn’t help but feel sadness for my friend.  I sat and prayed asking God for wisdom.  How could I help him see God’s greater purpose without raising his defenses, without causing him to think I’m against sports or his love of sports?  I am not.  I just know that if we give our kids the whole world…if we help them become professional athletes and don’t teach them to be rich toward God and live for his purposes we have missed the point of life.  We have given them temporal happiness, but we have not given them the things that matter most.

There is not a doubt in my mind that if I had asked, “Which do you think is the greatest quality to give to your children, “godliness” or “athletic prowess”? that he would have chosen hands down “godliness”.  Yet there is a huge disconnect in what he says and what he does.  Why is that?  I think that answer is in his understanding of godliness.  If I had asked him, “Which do you think is the most important to give your kids, “life” or “athletic prowess”? I have no doubt that to this question he would have raised an eyebrow and given me a look that says, “I don’t understand.”  I think that is true because many equate godliness with “inviting Jesus into your heart”, going to church, being good, and having a good time.  To my friend knowing God and having athletic prowess is what it means to live.

According to Jesus, to live is to give your life away for his purposes. “Life”, in the Biblical sense, it is not just having breadth or a pulse, it is not even how much fun we are having.  We pass out of death into life when we give up our life for God’s greater purposes in the world and by doing so we discover deeper satisfaction, joy, peace and purpose than we have ever known . . . we find life.  In the book of Mark, Mark quotes Jesus as saying it this way, “He who holds on to his life (what he thinks is really living) will lose it, but he that gives up his life for my sake and the gospel’s finds life” (Mark 8:35).

I believe that the key to…

·         …a great marriage

·         …raising successful children

·         …running successful businesses

·         …experiencing genuine happiness

·         …finding ultimate fulfillment

·         …walking in the peace that surpasses comprehension

…is to give up the delusion that we can find life apart from giving ourselves fully for God’s purposes – giving up our lives for His sake and the gospel’s.  I couldn’t help but think what this man’s life would be like, and I couldn’t help but challenge him to think what it would be like, if he took his passion for sports and began to leverage it for Jesus’ sake the gospel’s.  I could see God giving this man more opportunities in sports than he could ever imagine.  I could God giving him what he is really looking for – life to the full, life overflowing.

With this understanding it makes perfect sense why the same Jesus who said, “I came that they might have life”, promised to teach his followers only one thing, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”  Taking our natural passions, skills, training and life experiences and leveraging them to help others find and follow Christ is where we find what it means to really live.

The Awaken Fast Day 12

 Long before you woke up this morning and long after you go to sleep tonight, the Spirit of God was interceding for you with wordless groans.  He has been praying you since the day you were conceived and He’ll pray for you till the day you die. 

Mark Batterson wrote, "He is praying hard for you with ultrasonic groans that cannot be formulated into words and those unutterable intercessions should fill you with an unspeakable confidence."  God isn’t just for you in some passive sense.  God is for you in the most active sense imaginable: intercession.

 “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.” Romans 8:26

Some times our prayers sound hollow to us and maybe they are, but not once the Holy Spirit get's finished translating them for the Father on your behalf.  Your prayers are his prayers and they are Spirit breathed, groaned, to the Father.

Don't give up.  Keep praying.  Your prayers are powerful.

Awakening Fast Day 6

Why Fast

Someone observed and asked: 

“In OT times, people fasted in times of deep spiritual need or in times of mourning. As a corporate body of believers, why are we fasting for twenty one days?”

Here are a few reasons for our 21 day fast: 

1.  We want to follow the model set by Jesus.  

Before beginning his ministry he was led by the Spirit to fast (Matthew 4 and Luke 4).  As we come into a new year and plan to have a major impact for the cause of Christ it seemed wise to fast personally and to challenge all Christ followers at Lifeway to do the same.  We desperately need to hear from God if we plan to have an impact for Christ in our community.  I fully expect a similar experience as Jesus had. The Bible said, "He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit", and after his forty day fast, "He came out of the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit."  I fully believe God has led us into this 21 day fast and will lead us out in power.

2. To obey the command of Christ.

When Jesus was questioned as to why his disciples do not fast he answered, "You cannot make the attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? But the days will come; and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days." Luke 5:34-35 (NASB) 

It is clear that fasting wasn't something that was done before Christ only, but after Christ also. Jesus fully expected his followers would fast and pray.  Because fasting was practiced before Christ there is much we can learn and apply to our own lives. Like...

3. Fasting adds divine power to our ministry. 

Remember the boy who was demon possessed and Jesus’ disciples asked why they were unable to cast out the demon?  Jesus' answer was clear, “This kind does not come out but by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). 

4. We fast as an act of worship.    

"I urge you, therefore, brethren, to present your bodies as living holy sacrifices to God, which is your spiritual service of worship" (Romans 12:1)

5. We fast to know God’s will.   

Two examples of people who fasted to know God's will are Daniel and the disciples (Daniel 9; 10; Acts 13:2).  Daniel was burdened by what he read in the Scriptures and did not understand; therefore, he set his mind not to eat until God revealed to him the meaning.  On the 21^st day of the fast an angel showed up and told him, "From the first day you humbled yourself God sent me to answer you..."  As the disciples fasted God spoke to them and said, "Set apart Paul and Barnabas for my ministry to the Gentiles..."  God opens doors for ministry that we did not know even existed when we humble ourselves in obedience to worship him with fasting.

There are many other reason and benefits for fasting you can find in the Scriptures.  For the longest list read Isaiah 58.  Have you signed up for the fast yet? Click here and sign up today.