Week 9 - WHY?
CONNECT
What are you thankful for?
What challenge are you facing?
Have there been any answers to prayer?
Pray for each other.
How did living a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle, especially with Your 3, go this week?
Did anything stand out to you from last week’s follow-up Bible readings?
How did your “I will …” statement from last week go?
How did your sharing goal from last week go?
PRACTICE
How’s your memory work coming along?
John 15:5 (NIV)
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Have each person share their story (15 Second Testimony).
Have each person share Jesus’ Story (a passage or presentation).
DISCOVER
Let’s start with a review.
Our mission is to Join Jesus in making disciples of those around us by living a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle.
JOIN JESUS
Jesus calls us to partner with Him in the mission of making disciples.
JESUS-JOINED
Only as we remain in Jesus can we bear the fruit of making disciples.
WHERE?
Look around you to see your ripe-for-harvest mission field.
PRAYER
Pray for others to encounter Jesus.
CARE
Care for others’ needs.
SHARE
Share each others’ stories and Jesus’ Story.
DARE
Dare others to be disciples of Jesus.
And now …
WHY?
Today we’re going to ask the question WHY? Why do we Join Jesus in making disciples of those around us? Why do we pursue a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle?
Ask God to speak to you as you read His Word.
1. Jesus Says So
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
18 Jesus came to [his disciples] and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Mark 16:15 (NIV)
[Jesus] said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
According to these passages, why are we to share the Good News and make disciples of Jesus?
2. The Wrath of God Is Real
John 3:36 (NIV)
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.
Romans 1:8 (NIV)
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
Romans 2:5-6 (NIV)
5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. 6 God “will repay each person according to what they have done.”
According to these passages, why are we to share the Good News and make disciples of Jesus?
3. The Love of God Is Revealed
John 3:16 (NIV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 5:8-9 (NIV)
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!
1 John 4:9-10
9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a wrath-removing-sacrifice for our sins.
According to these passages, why are we to share the Good News and make disciples of Jesus?
4. There’s Only One Way
Matthew 7:13-14 (NET)
13 Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it!
John 14:6 (NIV)
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:11-12 (NIV)
11 Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.” 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
According to these passages, why are we to share the Good News and make disciples of Jesus?
5. There Are Only Two Destinations
Luke 12:4-5 (NIV)
4 I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5 But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 (NIV)
7 This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.
Hebrews 9:27-28 (NIV)
27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
According to these passages, why are we to share the Good News and make disciples of Jesus?
6. It’s Who We Are Now
Acts 1:8 (NIV)
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NIV-1984)
5 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (she) is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Watch this video …
According to these passages and this video, why do we Join Jesus in making disciples of those around us? Why do we pursue a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle?
Response
What’s your reaction to these 6 reasons for sharing the Good News and making disciples of Jesus?
Jesus Says So
The Wrath of God Is Real
The Love of God Is Revealed
There’s Only One Way
There Are Only Two Destinations
It’s Who We Are Now
Can you think of another reason?
Which of the 6 reasons convicts you the most right now? Why?
What do you believe God is saying to you personally through this conviction?
Spend time in prayer.
Maybe you need to thank God for saving you from His wrath through the sacrifice of Jesus.
Maybe you need to receive God’s love through faith in Jesus and so be saved from God’s wrath against your sin.
Maybe you need to repent of your lack of passion for sharing the Good News of Jesus.
Maybe you need to ask God to convict you and light a fire again for sharing your faith.
Maybe you need to pray for those you are witnessing to so they will turn to Jesus in repentance and faith.
Maybe … OTHER?
Mission Assignment
Continue to Join Jesus in making disciples of those around us through a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle, especially Your 3.
LIVE
What truth have you discovered from today’s Bible passage(s) and conversation?
What would stop you from believing and obeying this truth?
How will you live out this truth this coming week? Finish this statement: “I will ….”
Who else needs to hear this truth? How could you share it with them?
NEXT STEPS
1. Fruit
Congratulations on finishing FRUIT. But keep in mind, we’re never actually finished bearing fruit. This is our lifelong calling. Stay relationally connected to Jesus so you can keep living a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle. So …
Who are you praying for?
Who are you caring for?
Who are you sharing the Good News with?
Who are you daring to be a disciple?
2. Contact4Impact
How about joining others in living a Prayer > Care > Share > Dare lifestyle where you live, learn, work and play? Contact4Impact can help you share the vision and encourage others to Join Jesus in mission with you to your circle of influence.
3. Filling
The next part of Follow The Way is called FILLING.
Just as Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit and lived a naturally supernatural life, so can we. In these 7-weeks, you’ll discover how to say yes to the Spirit and how to use your spiritual gifts for God’s Kingdom. The life of a disciple isn’t meant to be lived in our own strength. We can walk in the power of the Spirit.
Fruit and Filling make up Follow The Way’s GO Set.
When will we meet again?
Who will facilitate that meeting?
Pray for God’s help as you seek to follow Jesus this coming week.
FOLLOW-UP BIBLE READINGS
Here are the Bible passages you are encouraged to read this coming week:
BUDDY SYSTEM
Connect with your buddy this week and ask each other these questions:
How are your readings going?
How’s your “I will …” statement coming along?
How’s your sharing goal coming along?
How can I pray for you?