CURRENT TEACHING SERIES
You were made for a mission. God wants you to share his love with other people — your friends, family, and the people you work with — who are not in his family.
Why does he want you to do that? Because God wants everybody in his family. God has never made a person he didn’t love and have a purpose for. God has never made a person that Jesus Christ didn’t die for. So God wants us to share that Good News.
But you’re not alone! God wants you to go on mission with other people. Philippians 1:27 says, “You are standing side by side with one strong purpose — to tell the Good News” (TLB).
How do you share with your friends that God loves them? And how do you do it in partnership with other people? You do it through your small group.
First, you pray together. You ask your small group to pray for your friends who don’t have a relationship with God. You can’t force anybody to love God, but you can pray for them. Your friends may reject your arguments or refuse to listen to your logic. But they are powerless against your prayers. It goes straight to their heart!
The Bible says in Colossians 4:3, “Pray for us that God will give us an opportunity to tell people his message” (NCV).
As you pray for opportunities, you know what happens? You start seeing them everywhere! Prayer makes you aware. When you start praying for your family, then you start seeing the needs of your family. When you start praying for your co-workers, you start getting concerned about your co-workers.
And, as you get to know the people around you better, you can start appealing to their common interests and create opportunities to share the Gospel with them.
Before you can share the Good News with others, you have to establish a relationship with them. What are your common experiences, interests, and needs? Talk with people in your small group about things you like to do, and then ask, “Who do we know who also enjoys that who isn’t yet a believer? Who can we invite to join us?”
At Saddleback Church, there is a small group whose members are all San Diego Chargers fans. Everybody in the group bought season tickets to the Charger games. Then they all pitched in and bought two extra season tickets. Every time they go to a game, they take two new people with them. They go and have a good time at the game, and then at the end they say, “Did you enjoy this? This same group meets on Thursday nights over at Bob’s house. Would you like to join us?”
God will provide all kinds of opportunities and ideas like this. Start praying about it with your small group, and open your eyes to the people around you who you can serve together.
PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>
Talk It Over:
- What are the benefits to doing evangelism as a group?
- How might people react differently when you invite them to church or your small group when you are in a setting that is familiar and comforting to them?
- For whom in your family or among your friends or co-workers is God leading you to pray? How can you get to know that person or those people better by appealing to your common interests?
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