It’s time for us to take a next step. I am all about and want us here at CoJ to be all about helping people take their next step toward Jesus so that they can help someone else take their next step toward Jesus.
The last commission that Jesus gave
us is to MAKE DISCIPLES. Yet we aren’t
doing that very effectively. One thing
that is true about every church that is committed to making disciples, they are
growing and growing and their impact and influence in the world for Jesus is
powerful!
I want to share that with you
today. For a couple of years now, we
have been doing a Tuesday night Bible Study and I have been leading a community
men’s Bible study using the 5 Q method that I have developed. I have seen firsthand how participation in
this process has transformed lives. Made
disciples of Jesus and impacted the lives of each participant in great ways.
I
would love to see ALL of us at CoJ in a 5 Q Circle. Here’s my plan (the gift I was given on
Thursday from the HS) We will begin this
fall to take steps toward the goal of 100% participation in a 5Q Bible Study
Circle…
This
week, I will be asking the Tuesday group to consider who among them God is
calling to lead a new group. I would
like to see the Tuesday group commission two pairs of co-leaders and become 3
groups. By doing that we make room for
some new folks in these 3 groups.
I am suggesting that each Circle begin in the
Gospel of Matthew using the 5 Q Method and in each circle gathering there would
be time at the end to share personal prayer needs and pray together. Confidentiality is a must! Also a part of that prayer time, would be a
time to pray for 2 or 3 unconnected local friends of each circle participant
with the hopes that praying for them might open their eyes and hearts to the
love of Jesus and even the circle.
I would like each group to plan a
group serving outreach a minimum of once a quarter in our community. I would also like each group to include a
fellowship component each week as well as plan quarterly circle and friends
fellowship activities so that to the fellowship and serving activities, circle
members can invite the friends- the very friends the group has been praying
for.
I will plan to meet with all leaders once a month to support and equip
them in their roles.
As circles grow, we will give birth
to new circles by empowering a team of leaders from an existing circle to begin
a new circle. And each circle member
will constantly be on the lookout for unconnected people that they can invite
to join the circle.
I feel strongly that the HS is
nudging us to do this here at CoJ. The
TIME HAS COME to take a step! This process picks up all of the characteristics
that we have explored in the first church that made it so impactful! (See ACTS)
Those characteristics are….The presence of the HS which empowered them to be
witnesses. The centrality of Jesus. The devotion to scripture and circling with
others. Along with generosity and serving as well as outreach and witness.
These circles
are easy to lead and welcoming of all people of varied ages and life
experiences. You don’t have to have ANY bible knowledge to participate and
there is no homework to do before or after the group in order to participate
fully.
I know this
is a bold request! But I also know that
these characteristics that we have explored in the early church are
transferrable to us and can have the same impact on our life together and the community
and world we live in. Further, I am
confident that the Gamiliel principle is at work here too. IF this is of God, it won’t be stopped!
So,
I am asking each of you to prayerfully consider taking that next step toward
Christ – out of these rows and into a transformational circle. Tuesday circle folks, I am asking you to
prayerfully consider if God is calling you to take your next step toward Jesus
by agreeing to become a co-leader of a new circle. I am even asking some of you to consider
opening your homes to such a circle.
Brothers
and sisters, if we want to see God move in our lives and through our lives like
he did in the early church, it’s time to take our next step. If we want to
become a vibrant church that has an empowered witness and growing impact on our
community and world for Jesus, it’s time to take our next step.
Continuing
to do what we have done for the last 14 years
is not going to make us a vibrant church! And be confident of this. If what I am asking you to consider is not of
God, then it won’t happen. But also know that if it is of God, and you
willingly take the necessary steps toward Jesus, we too can become UNSTOPPABLE
like the early church!
I
want to conclude share this story… Author and pastor Neil Cole writes…”My
brother and I were born less than a year apart, and when we were in middle
school, we went on an African safari with our mom. This was the kind of adventure that most
young boys dream about. Our first stop
was a couple of days in a hotel on stilts, called Treetops, overlooking a water
hole. Wild animals would come from miles
to drink at the water hole and tourists like us could observe them from above their
natural habitat.
When
we checked in, we were warned to keep our windows closed so that these curious
tree top dwellers didn’t steal our possessions while we were asleep. One morning, Neil says, I was on the top
platform and saw a gray baboon reach into a woman’s purse and steal her
camera. He was close enough for me to
touch him so I was foolish enough to grab his tail in the hopes he would drop
the camera. But he spun around in an
instant and opened his mouth wide and showed all his teeth and let out a
chilling scream… I froze in fear and immediately let go of his tail and off he
ran with the camera.
From treetops, they then traveled to
a game reserve. The tour guide had heard
of Neil’s baboon encounter and decided to play a joke on him. He told him that
the rhesus monkey were friendly toward tourists. So, Neil found one and tried to approach it
but is shrieked at him and he stepped back… the monkey picked up on Neil’s fear
and aggressively came at him… chasing him around and all of a sudden hundreds
of monkeys fell out of the tree tops and joined the chase.
Later
that night, Neil’s mom and brother went to dinner at the lodge but he stayed
behind saying he wasn’t hungry. Before
they returned he got hungry and decided to go by himself from their hut to the
lodge. It was dark and normally they saw
zebras and other animals grazing in the yard illuminated by the night lights of
the lodge. But not this night. In fact Neil says he could see all the people
in the lodge standing near the window intently watching him… some were
motioning him to hurry to them and others motioning him to go back to the
hut. Neil had no clue what was up but he
sped up and when safely inside the lodge, was told that a leopard was seen in
the grass stalking him.
During
that adventure, Neil says, he saw, cheetahs, lions, giraffes, elephants,
wildebeest and tons of monkeys. He had
ridden in a land rover and chased rhinos.
It was quite the adventure… one he will never forget. But the whole time Neil was having these
adventures, his brother was sitting around reading a novel about adventures in
Africa.
Sisters
and Brothers, There are two kinds of people in life – those who live the
adventure and those who read about others adventures!
It
is time for us to stop reading about the adventures of the early church and
time for us to take that next step toward Jesus in our new adventure. Time to confidently trust that the HS will
empower us to be witnesses. Time to move
out of rows and into circles so that we can grow in our relationship with Jesus
and each other and our unconnected friends.
It
is time for us to become an unstoppable force for Jesus in our community and
world! Who is ready to take that next
step toward Jesus? A new bible study circle is coming to a place near you! Will you open your life to its power? Will you heed the nudging of the HS and commit
your life to a 5 Q circle, so that you can grow as a disciple of Jesus who has
a contagious faith and increases the impact of Jesus’ love here in our
community as we receive his love and give his love and repeat again and again?
Will
you take your next step toward Jesus today?
I believe the HS is calling each of you to get into a transformative
circle. Won’t you make that commitment
today? I believe the HS is calling some
of you to step into leadership roles in a group. Won’t you take that step today? I believe the HS is calling some of you to
open your home to a transformative circle.
Wont you take that next step today.
If
the HS is nudging you. Make a commitment
in your heart to take action today! And
if you don’t feel a nudge, actively seek the HS this week opening your heart
and life to his direction. Sisters and
brothers, where ever you find yourself in your journey toward Jesus, it is time
for you to take your next step toward him… are you willing to do so today?
(let
me also be clear that the newly forming Women’s Bible Study group can be a
Circle and will have all the characteristics of a 5 Q Circle except it won’t use
the 5 Q method but will use The Story as its curriculum)
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