PARTNERS IN THE HARVEST...

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2 PARTNERS IN THE HARVEST... is a simplistic approach for Indiana Baptist Churches to unify and mobilize. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest. Luke 10:2 PRAYING - SOWING - GOING Faith is not believing God CAN, it is knowing that He WILL Launch Date: September 16, Emphasis: One More Baptism Than Ever Before CONTENT 1. BIBLICAL PRAYING 2. VISITOR/GUEST FRIENDLY CHURCH 3. AUTHENTIC EVANGELISTIC CHILDREN/YOUTH MINISTRIES 4. START AN EVANGELISTIC MINISTRY 5. PERSONAL COMMUNITY OUTREACH 6. RELATIONAL DISCIPLESHIP PURPOSE Emphasize Biblical praying and authentic evangelism in the life and ministry of the church to impact the Kingdom. NOT US BUT THEM NOT IN BUT OUT NOT FOR BUT WITH COPYRIGHT 2013 STATE CONVENTION OF BAPTISTS IN INDIANA, ALL RESOURCES USED WITH PERMISSION. Page 2

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10 BIBLICAL PRAYING Prayer - Getting Your Church Ready for the Harvest It is harvest time! Just as a field has to be plowed before the seed can be sown, so both the Christian and the unbeliever need to be spiritually prepared to hear the Gospel. Prayer is that key step of preparation. It will make our tools sharp, our people excited about sharing, and the lost person closer to that commitment to Christ. Let us then pray so our Lord s harvest can be gathered in! Pray in the Holy Spirit With every prayer and request pray at all times in the Spirit. Ephesians 6:18 This verse is a command of Scripture, yet how often do we check ourselves and ask, Is this how the Spirit prays? Is this what the Spirit wants done or is it what I want to happen? It is critical that we pray motivated and guided by the Spirit. We must be living in the Word of God, memorizing, meditating, and listening to His voice so our prayers come from His thoughts and His ways and not our own wisdom. Let our prayers be rooted in the desire for God s glory, not in trying to maintain our way of life or to keep from suffering, but: Thy will, not my will. Praying Scripture is a stellar way to keep prayers God-focused. Train the church to listen to God as they read the Bible and apply Scripture to the requests. This process creates God-focused prayer structured around Scripture and takes our focus off of the physical needs we see and onto God. It reveals God s heart and releases His desires into situations. This kind of praying will rejuvenate your church s prayer-life! See resources on the following page and the appendix for more information on this key skill. Pray for Workers for the Field...Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest. Luke 10:2 This is Jesus one prayer request from Scripture. Today s churches are filled with tomorrow s missionaries and church planters. Pray for God to raise them up out of your church. Are you asking God to send your children or grandchildren to the mission field? Are there senior adults with time and energy, young people or college students in your church who you are praying will hear the call to Go into the mission field? We can all pray, Here am I. Send me. Take time as a congregation to ask the Lord for laborers. Jesus entreats us to do so. This could be a regular part of every weekly prayer service or once a year on a Sunday morning. Prepare the Sower: Holiness and Faith Check-up The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful. James 5:16 And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. Matthew 21:22. These verses reveal two prerequisites for effective prayer: holiness and faith. If your church feels their prayers are ineffective, that they aren t seeing God move in response to their requests, it is time for a check-up. During the Shantung revival the missionaries asked each other two questions at every meeting: Are you filled with the Spirit? Have you confessed your sins to date? They knew without these two essentials God would not move. It is the same for the church today. In order to be effective sowers we need holiness and the Spirit. The following resources will help your church with this area as well. Pray Persistently for the Soil, Person by Person But the one sown on the good ground - this is the one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yield: some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown. Matthew13:23 Good soil is essential for the seed of the Gospel to grow. How are the people, the soil, around your church? Has it been plowed with the Scripture-based prayers of the saints, or have the rocks and thorns and hardness of the world taken over? Pray for the stranger, for neighbors, for lost family members. See the next page for resources on prayer walking, Choose 2 praying and developing a Prayer, Care, Share congregation that will help this kind of praying become a lifestyle of your church. Page 10

11 RECOMMENDED RESOURCES Pray, in the Holy Spirit Psalms , 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, Romans 8:26-27 Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire Cymbala What the Spirit is Saying to the Churches Blackaby Experiencing the Spirit Blackaby From Heaven s View Hunt Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough Towns Praying Scripture Prayer Connect Magazine, Issue 3: Solid Foundation available at Praying God s Word notes by Rick Shepherd Preparing the Sower: Pray in Holiness Psalm 5, John 17, Ephesians 5-6, Exodus 33:13, Philippians 2 Returning to Holiness Frizzell Forty Days of Seeking God Frizzell Developing a Powerful Prayer Life Frizzell Releasing the Revival Flood Frizzell Iceberg Dead Ahead Frizzell Consecrate the People King The Mind of Christ Hunt Pray for the Soil, person by person Romans 10; Acts 2:36-41, 8:29-38, 11:34-48 Prayer walking Taking it to the Streets Prayer Walking Made Simple Choose 2 Pray for two people twice a day John 3:16 prayer Houses of Prayer Everywhere Prayer, Care, Share (the Lighthouse Movement) Praying Your Friends to Christ Schofield Paths of Gold: Praying the Way to Christ for Lost Friends and Family Gooding Appendix For instance Ephesians 3:16-21 is an excellent passage to pray for people who are discouraged. One might pray it as follows: Father, strengthen Tom with your Holy Spirit s power in his inner being, in the depths of his soul and spirit. May You dwell in his heart so richly that there is no room for anything but faith. Root him in the soil of your love and help his roots to grow deeply in you. Give him the ability to comprehend the vastness of your love how wide and long and high and deep it is. There is no way he can know the limits of your love! Fill him with all the fullness of God so discouragement and doubt and fear are squeezed out and there is nothing but You filling him. And Master, I know that You are going to do even more things I cannot even ask or think or imagine according to that power You are working in him. I ask this that You and Your church may be glorified through Tom s life, lived for you. Amen Available online at Page 11

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14 BIBLICAL HOSPITALITY Let brotherly love continue. Don t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily. Hebrews 13:1-3 Two Facts To Consider FACT#1: Your church cannot grow without GUESTS FACT#2: Your church cannot grow if your GUESTS DON T COME BACK Since we know these two facts to be true, then the obvious question is: What are you doing every Sunday to make sure your guests return? Getting Ready For Company What is the difference between a GUEST and a VISITOR? It is the difference between never missing another Sunday...and never coming back. It is all about value. On The Outside Did you know? Researchers say that church guests decide whether or not to return to the church they are visiting in the FIRST 10 TO 12 MINUTES upon entering the church campus. So, what happens in the first twelve minutes? A. Your church campus must: - Have DIRECTIONAL signage in parking areas and outside of buildings - Be well LANDSCAPED - Be clean and well maintained - Be inviting cosmetically B. Parking Lot/Guest Parking - Adequate number of guest parking spaces - Easy to IDENTIFY and LOCATE - Must have BEST PARKING SPACES - Must have BEST GREETERS C. Your Greeters... - Should wear name tags - Should be FRIENDLY - Should understand the value of this time - Should escort guests to the welcome/information center - Should introduce guests by name Page 14

15 Transitioning Our Guests Parking lot greeters should escort all guests from the parking lot to the Welcome/Information Center. This time is extremely valuable and should be used to discover the interests and needs which the church can meet. On The Inside The Welcome/Information Center At the Welcome/Information Center, all guests must be welcomed and receive information. What type of information? - Church newsletter - Information on upcoming events for all ages - Information on ALL MINISTRIES - Information about discipleship classes - Information on RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES - Information on the staff and who to call for what - Campus Map - Gifts Parking Lot Greeters then escort the guests to a Sunday School class, nursery, youth area or to the Worship Center. There, they must be introduced to the class greeters, teacher or usher. The Nursery The Nursery area must be CLEAN, BRIGHT, CHEERFUL and SECURE. Acknowledge Guests During The Worship Service How we acknowledge our guests during a worship service can make them feel either welcomed or embarrassed. How To Make Your Guests Feel Valued - Include do not EXCLUDE. Act like every person is a first-time guest. - Everyone who gives an announcement, sings, speaks, etc., must be introduced or introduce themselves. - When you acknowledge your guests, allow them some anonymity. - Teach your people to value your guests. - Provide a RECEPTION for guests following the service so they can personally meet the pastor and staff. Page 15

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18 EVANGELISTIC VBS EXAMPLE Although about 25% of all Southern Baptist baptisms each year can be attributed to Vacation Bible School, Indiana s percentage has been declining. VBS is not just an event on the church calendar, but an opportunity for authentic evangelism. As part of the church s overall evangelistic strategy, the pastor needs to be involved so the church can catch the vision for what God can do through VBS to reach children, youth and adults with the Good News of Jesus! Here are some ideas to organize for a successful evangelistic VBS. 1 Enlist a Prayer Team All authentic evangelism begins and ends with prayer. Enlisting those who will consistently pray is the first step. The team will pray for the teachers, workers, students and all who are involved by name. Pray! Pray! Pray! 2 Recruit VBS Workers There are many reasons people hesitate to volunteer - insecurity about working with children, time constraints and more. Many may not realize the great potential for evangelism during and following the week of VBS. Here are some ideas to help begin the recruiting process: Promote VBS to reach the lost. Most important is getting your church excited about what God can do through a church committed to having an authentic evangelistic VBS. Have a VBS Sunday in March. Example: On a Sunday in March, an Indiana pastor preached on the importance of reaching children for Christ, the children sang Yes to VBS! and the VBS director had tables with sign-up sheets, donation envelopes and information about the many ways to be involved. By April, the VBS director had many volunteers, donations to cover expenses and the men s group volunteered to build the VBS theme set for the stage! Allow for different levels of commitment. The lead teacher needs to make a high level commitment. The assistant teacher may be someone who feels insecure about teaching, but willing to gain some experience. A prayer team member may be unable to attend VBS but will prioritize prayer. Volunteers who may not work well with children can help with promotion and follow-up with families after VBS. Donations to VBS is another way church members can be involved. Recruit your leaders face to face. This is not a you all come philosophy. Committed leaders are needed. Train your teachers! Once your VBS team is recruited, encourage them to attend your associational VBS clinic. Teach a class on how to lead a child to Christ. 3 Promote Inside and Outside the Church Build excitement in your church. Provide times for workers and students who attended last year s VBS to share testimonies. Encourage church members to invite their neighbors and friends. Word of mouth and personal invitation is the best way to get more lost people to bring their children to VBS. Post yard signs, send out postcards, place door hangers. Page 18

19 Invite the community. Train church members to prayerwalk their neighborhoods and hang door hangers as they go. This is also a great opportunity to personally invite those that you see as you prayerwalk. Is there a festival, parade, or carnival in your community that you could participate in by handing out water or popsicles and invitations for VBS too? Have a Block party the Saturday before to kick off your VBS with a bang and invite the community. 4 Follow-up with Decisions and Prospects Establish follow-up strategy plan before VBS begins. Planning for follow-up is strategic. Follow-up is one of the most important aspects of VBS and our planning and delegation of resources needs to reflect that. When God brings the lost to VBS, He has opened an opportunity to talk to the parents, invite them to your church and even lead them to Christ. Recruit a follow-up director. This is just as important as having a VBS director. This person will organize volunteers from Sunday School classes or small groups to visit, send letters and invitations to follow-up events. Follow-up should begin within the first week after VBS. This may be the only time a church member is invited into the home of a lost family. Follow-up depends on gathering information. During the week of VBS, accurate and sufficient information on every VBS participant needs to be gathered. Let them know you want the information to contact them after VBS. Each name represents a family that needs to know Jesus. Make evangelism and follow-up the responsibility of every VBS team member. The pastor cannot conduct VBS alone and shouldn t be expected to conduct follow-up alone. Enlist every VBS worker with the knowledge that participation in follow-up activities is expected. Get your Sunday School teachers involved in follow-up by connecting all family members of VBS attendees to a Sunday School class. If a family begins attending Sunday School or a small group, they are more likely to continue attending church. Provide training for those doing follow-up. While Christians have the greatest news of all, many do not know how to share it. Many training curriculum are available. One of these is LifeWay s Share Jesus Without Fear. Create a plan to make contacts. Continue to make contacts over a three to six month period. Track visits to homes, asking follow-up teams to report back in a timely manner. Plan post-vbs events and invite your lost prospects. Celebrate follow-up successes with the congregation. This will begin to give momentum and excitement for post-vbs events and the following year s VBS. Link up with another congregation. Look for opportunities to involve your trained leaders in assisting a church plant or a smaller congregation with their VBS. Page 19

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22 OPERATION IN-AS-MUCH Getting Outside the Walls of the Church When we put good deeds with Good News, it... Creates good will in the community Enhances the image of the church Offers hope to the hopeless Loves people into the Kingdom In order to do this the church has to get outside its four walls where lost people are. Consider this... Serving: Demonstrates authenticity Is a witness by itself Creates a natural setting for sharing the Gospel How did Jesus win people? He served them. He met their needs and they followed Him. In Luke 4 Jesus tells why He came: to proclaim Good News to the poor and to meet the needs of the blind, the oppressed, etc. In other words He came to put good deeds with Good News. The church is called to do the same and it turns out this is the most effective way to win people to Christ in the 21st Century! Many are the churches who know that, but they don t do it because they don t know how to go about it. How can they get started? Are there models that will help churches and individual believers win people by serving them? YES! Churches can conduct an Inasmuch Day. 1 - What It Is An Inasmuch Day is one great day of ministry by a church to people in need in the church s community. It is a proven model of community ministry developed by the ministry Operation Inasmuch, Inc., of Knoxville, Tennessee. It began in a Baptist church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, in 1995 and has been used by about 1,800 churches in 21 states and 3 foreign countries. 2 - What It Does The genius of the Inasmuch model is that it involves so many people by providing a simple, low-cost way for them to engage their neighbors. An Inasmuch Day mobilizes 50 75% of a church s average attendance as the hands and feet of Jesus. It builds fellowship among the members, raises awareness of local needs, enhances the church s image in the community, and creates natural opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the lost. One church leader in Navarre, FL, said: I ve never seen a church so excited! Page 22

23 In 2012, 813 churches in 20 states reported conducting Inasmuch Day events mobilizing almost 39,000 volunteers and serving more than 161,000 people in need providing more than $5,000,000 in ministry. Hundreds of people came to faith in Christ as a result of these ministry events. In 2008, 2010 and 2012 Baptists in North Carolina conducted over 1,000 Inasmuch Day events in every county of the state. And here s the best news 242 people came to faith in Christ as a direct result of these ministry events!! An Inasmuch Day has been described as a top-of-the-funnel type of activity in that it offers people who have never served people in need or shared Christ with anyone an easy way to do so. Serving opens people to hear the Gospel and the more people who serve, the more sharing that takes place. Would you like to see your church become part of this Compassion Revolution? 3 - How to implement an Inasmuch Day In cooperation with the North American Mission Board and the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, the Inasmuch ministry is pleased to offer resources and training to help SBC churches conduct an Inasmuch Day in 2014 or sooner to fulfill the Serving Across America mandate of God s Plan for Sharing for that year. The following are resources by which to learn how to implement an Inasmuch Day: Operation Inasmuch: Mobilizing Believers Beyond the Walls of the Church (book)* Inasmuch Day Training Kit (books, training video and other printed materials)* On-site training** (by a certified Inasmuch trainer) covering: - Developing a vision for your Inasmuch Day - Developing a time line - Procuring projects and project leaders - Tracking involvement and celebrating results - Developing a communication strategy - How to use Inasmuch as a tool of evangelism - Keys to success Resources *Available at **Available for scheduling through John Rogers at jrogers@scbi.org Page 23

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26 PERSONAL COMMUNITY OUTREACH What is My Hope with Billy Graham? 1. My Hope is a massive, nationwide effort to train and mobilize thousands of churches and Christians to pray for, befriend, and witness to unsaved people in the context of their relationships and homes. This effort follows the example of Matthew. Jesus called Matthew, who invited his friends to a comfortable meeting in his home, and Jesus gave His message to them. Billy Graham is looking for modern day Matthews who will do the same. 2. My Hope with Billy Graham will culminate in what is expected to be Billy Graham s final call to America to turn to God, using various media platforms (TV, videos, downloadable programs, etc.), in conjunction with his 95th birthday, November In a nutshell, My Hope is relationship evangelism, but done on a large scale. 3. A comparison of results is very motivating: - After 50 years of mobilizing churches in cities to fill stadiums for Billy Graham crusades of Gospel preaching, there are reports of 3.5 million individuals making a decision for Christ. - In the past 10 years, My Hope has mobilized churches across entire nations to fill living rooms to watch a Billy Graham presentation of the Gospel. In that 10 year period, nearly 10 million have decided to follow Christ. This exponential increase has been accompanied by a much more effective follow-up, because guests who make decisions to follow Christ are already connected to believers in whose homes they made their commitment. Then the new believers are brought into local churches. The results have been tremendous in 57 countries. 4. Christians will be mobilized and trained by their local pastors or ministry leaders; pastors and ministry leaders will have been prepared by BGEA-trained staff and volunteers, using BGEA materials and videos specially prepared for My Hope in the US; training will also be available on the Internet, with features to encourage Matthews to follow through on their commitment to reach friends, family, neighbors, work and school associates for Christ. 5. Invite... your friends and neighbors who do not know Jesus Christ to your home for a meal or dessert. Watch... the special program featuring popular music, real-life stories and a short message from Billy Graham. Share... briefly how Jesus gave you hope. Then share with them what He is doing in your life today. Ask... your friends if they would like to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then pray with them. 6. Millions of people have done it. So can you! Look Inward... should not all of us look inward to ask the Lord to remove any unclean or impure thought/part of our own hearts so we can be empty of ourselves and then focus on others as He wants us to? Look Around... and identify your friends, neighbors, co-workers and family who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Write their names on a list. Look Up... and pray every day for each person you have listed. Look Out... for opportunities to build your relationship with these people. Look Forward... to preparing your home and inviting every person on your list to attend. Look After... those who give their lives to Jesus Christ and help them grow in their faith, and continue your relationship with the others. Page 26

27 A letter to pastors Dear Pastor and Ministry Leader, Our nation is facing many serious challenges as we begin The media has focused on the fiscal cliff that our politicians have wrangled over. However, there is another cliff that is far more dangerous. Franklin Graham recently wrote, Our country s financial problems, however, are nothing compared to the spiritual and moral cliff that is far more destructive to our nation than any economic concerns. He goes on to say, My hope and prayer is that the Lord will once again move in our land. It can happen, and we are trusting that a fire of revival will ignite as tens of thousands of homes are opened up this year to share the Gospel through My Hope with Billy Graham. It will be a tremendous outreach across our country, the most extensive we have conducted in the history of this ministry... My prayer, like Franklin Graham s, is that God would once again move upon America! This is why Marlena and I have committed to praying daily for spiritual awakening and revival of God s people in Indiana. If you need more information about My Hope, please go to this link: My Hope with Billy Graham is more than just another nice program. This outreach can change your church and impact your community. One of the reasons many pastors are embracing My Hope is the grassroots approach to RELATIONSHIP EVANGELISM. This outreach has been done in 57 nations with nearly 10,000,000 people opening their hearts to Christ over the last 10 years and I believe we will be able to significantly impact our communities and our nation. Pastor, we would love to partner with you to help reach your community. I will do everything I can to help equip and resource you in mobilizing your church to reach out with the message of HOPE so many desperately need. We are scheduling Orientation-Training events for leaders all across the region over the next few months. If you are part of a ministerial fellowship, I would love to come and share the vision of My Hope with your group. I am also available to speak about My Hope in churches as well. Yours and His, Brother John Resources My Hope with Billy Graham (BGEA) Billy Graham Evangelism Association - Facebook.com/MyHopeWithBillyGraham - 4-minute video on My Hope Explained at Page 27

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30 BE INVOLVED IN AN INTENTIONAL DISCIPLESHIP JOURNEY Go and make disciples (Matthew 28:19). Jesus gave us this command, this expectation as one of His last mandates for us, His church. What does that mean; what is His expectation of us? The early church grew because people shared the Gospel with other people. Because the Gospel was shared and people came to Christ, these new followers (the church) had to be taught the meaning of being a follower of Jesus. In Acts 2 we learn that over 3,000 people were saved, which must have raised the question, What do we do with these people? In the early days of the church, they spent time over meals, at the synagogue, in homes and as they went through their daily lives, teaching these new believers from the Pentateuch, from the prophets, from Jesus teachings and from the real life experiences of the apostles. We have the same calling today. As new believers come to know Jesus as their Savior, we are called to teach them how to follow Jesus. It is our opportunity to help them understand the Scripture, to learn how to pray, how to fellowship with other believers, how to tell the lost how they can receive Jesus as Savior and how to make Jesus the center point of their new life in Christ. Make Jesus THE Priority Jesus said in Luke 9:23, if anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow Me. Jesus also said in Matthew 6:33 to seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be provided. A true disciple puts Jesus as their first priority. Make Understanding the Scripture a Daily Practice The greatest need for any new believer is to begin learning about who God is and what it means to follow Jesus. We primarily learn that from reading the Bible. There are many reading plans to help someone as they journey through the rich pages of Scripture. One plan says to begin by reading one chapter every day in the Gospel of John. Read five chapters in Psalms and one chapter in Proverbs each day (read the Proverbs chapter that relates to the day of the month). There are chronological Bibles that take the reader through the entire Bible in a year. Online reading plans exist as well as mobile devise applications to help you read God s Word daily. That is the key: whatever plan you choose, spend time with God daily to get to know Him and to hear from Him. A second discipline that relates to God s Word is the value that the disciple gains when His Word is put to memory. Psalm 119:11 tells us that I have treasured Your word in my heart so that I may not sin against You. Putting God s Word to memory places its spiritual power at your fingertips. Spend Time with God in Prayer A person can only sustain a healthy relationship with another person by talking with them. Marriages fail, parent-child relationships diminish and friendships fade when people stop talking. This is also true in our relationship with our Savior and Friend, Jesus. We must spend time talking with Him. How often or when you might ask? 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, Pray constantly. Another translation says, Pray without ceasing. I think you get the point, that our daily life, as we are going, should be a life where we are constantly talking to our best Friend, our God and Savior. We should be talking with Him about tough decisions. We should be talking to Him first when great things happen in our lives. We should be talking to Him as we would our best friend. How do you do this? Get a notebook or journal or just a piece of paper and begin to write down prayers with the date. This will help you focus your prayers on God. Then later add the date and how you believe God responded to your prayer. Keep this journal or notebook and add to it as the Lord puts a need or praise on your heart. Page 30

31 Build Healthy Relationships with People One of the two commands that Jesus gave us in the Great Commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:39). It should be the trademark of Christians that we have healthy, functional, loving relationships with the people in our lives. Jesus taught us, These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. (John 15:11-14 NASB) This one area could be the primary measuring rod of a disciple s life. Love one another! How do you do this? A great place to start is to pray about any broken relationships that you might have with people in your life and begin to pray for that person by name. Pray that God would give you the ability to love this person and to forgive them if that is necessary. Pray about people that God might want you to call or to send an to, so that you can be an encouragement to them. Go Tell Others Another result of someone who has been transformed in their life is to tell other people about how they have been changed. It is no accident that someone who is newly converted to Christ is joyously telling others about their new found faith in Christ. They can t wait to tell a friend about their sins being forgiven and that they are now confident they are going to heaven when they die. This is as it should be in the life of a disciple. We should be joyously telling people around us that we have been forgiven of our sins and that our life has been changed. How can we do this? First, start a daily prayer list of people that, as far as you know, do not know Jesus as their Savior. Second, start to develop your relationship with them. Sincerely get to know them and what is going on in their life. Third, pray for an opportunity to talk to them about spiritual things and ultimately talk to them about their relationship with Jesus. Fourth, share your story with them about how you came to know Jesus as your Savior. Being a disciple of Jesus is a challenge. It is a great and high calling. Following Jesus is demanding. Remember that being a disciple of Jesus is putting Him first, praying without ceasing, being in God s Word daily, building relationships with people and telling people about how Jesus changed your life. This kind of disciple will encounter spiritual warfare. But do not be discouraged. Continue on and remember that we are only in this life for a brief time and the main reason we are here is to help others discover the life-changing relationship with Jesus that you have now discovered and that you are living. Be a Reproducing Disciple The ultimate outcome of being a disciple of Jesus Christ, is when you reproduce yourself as a follower of Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:2 teaches us what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. True discipleship takes place when we help someone else on their spiritual journey of following Jesus. True discipleship reproduces itself. Pray for someone that you can spend time with in a spiritual walk of becoming like Jesus. Resources Call to Joy Billy Hanks Real Life Discipleship Jim Putman Masterlife Avery Willis A Guidebook to Discipleship Doug Hartman & Doug Southerland The Complete Disciple Paul Powell Disciples are Made Not Born Walter Henrichsen The Lost Art of Disciple Making LeRoy Eims The Disicple-Making Church Bill Hull Transformational Discipleship Barry Sneed & Roy Edgemon Page 31

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