With Super Sunday, we’re kicking off a new Lifegroup Season… It’s been a while! Be sure to take some time to welcome everyone back, and to spend some time catching up.
Super Sunday just happened! I hope everyone had the chance to partner together with us this year in Making the Gospel Relevant. If you didn’t do so yet, take a moment to partner with us right now!
On Sunday, we cast the vision for lighting our world in 2023. This means we will be learning, growing, and becoming evangelists in Gilmer County, and wherever we find ourselves. What did you think of this new year direction?
What does it mean to be an evangelist?
Is evangelism for me? Is it for certain gifted believers, or is it for all followers of Christ?
What should personal evangelism look like?
As Jesus begins to call his first disciples, something really exciting happens…
The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36 As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” 37 When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus.
John 1:35-46 NLT
38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.
They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day.
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus. 41 Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”).
42 Then Andrew brought Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, “Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas” (which means “Peter”).
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come, follow me.” 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.
45 Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the very person Moses and the prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
“Come and see for yourself,” Philip replied.
How far along in their walk with Jesus were Andrew and Philip at this point?
How much evangelism training had they received from Jesus?
How would you describe what Andrew and Philip did?
What was their motivation?
These guys were super pumped about following Jesus. They knew He would change everything, and they just had to bring people they cared about along with them for this incredible ride.
How is this like Christ followers today? How is it unlike Christ followers today? Why are/aren’t we like this?
Should we do something about this? Why or why not?
This season, our book study will be about this very topic. “Anyone But Me” by Ray Comfort is a great read, and we’ll be discussing chapter one NEXT WEEK, so get your copy quickly!
Also, seating is available for the “Conversations” evangelism training right now. Space is very limited, so we are offering it twice. This session isn’t about memorizing an outline, but learning how to leverage your existing conversations for the sake of Christ. Come together with your group!
For your reference, here is the “Light Your World” timeline that I presented (sort of) on Super Sunday… Just so you get the idea of how we are building this year of lighting our world.
Okay.. I also just want to make sure that everyone has one more chance to sign up for our Israel trip this coming June. You can still sign up later, but the trip is now just 19 weeks away… That is a short time for such a big trip. Justin Chadwick is fond of saying that “this trip won’t cost you anything. It is a priceless investment that will pay spiritual dividends for the rest of your life.” Go to Israel with me this summer!