08-11-2020
At the heart of the biblical community is the Great Commission. At the heart of the biblical community is preaching the gospel. For every believer in the body of Christ, reaching out to the lost is our primary purpose and permanent priority. Even Paul, at the end of his life, said, “I have fought well. I have finished the race, and I have been faithful.” (2 Timothy 4:7)
Consider this reality check:
- 1) Is reaching out your first priority in your CG/home fellowship?
- 2) Is sharing the gospel your permanent priority in your CG/home fellowship?
- 3) Are you in a connect group/home fellowship?
Today,
the environment that we are living in suggests that the commission to reach out
together cannot be done in big groups but instead in small groups.
The
Word of God tells that that without the small groups, it will be difficult to
make the Great Commission your first priority. Without a connect group or a
home fellowship, it will be difficult to make the Great Commission your
permanent priority. When we lose sight of our priorities, we lose balance and
we find that we are doing things that are unnecessary. We can look busy on the
outside but not really achieving anything in the kingdom of God. We start to
waste energy in the things that are not really important and it will lead to
things like burn out. And we are in the danger of becoming fruitless—not
bearing fruits in the kingdom of God. That is why we see all around us today a
ripple effect of the imbalance of priority of the kingdom of God which is about
reaching out, saving souls and preaching the gospel results in our home
ministry and our church shrinking instead of growing.
Today’s
encouragement is that the Lord wants to do something great in our midst. And
the Lord wants to do something great in your life. When the Lord wants to do
something great, He starts small. And I pray that He will start something great
in your small group.
If
we were to start small and the Lord is making this shift, and out of the pain
of the pandemic, the restrictions and the lockdowns, the Lord is able to make
something new and bring forth a revelation to His church, the Lord brings us to
His Word. The question is, how small? Is it 6 or 60? What is the ideal number
in being engaged to be effective in the Great Commission? When we look at the Word
of God, we realise that it’s less about the numbers. The question should be,
what is the optimum environment to reach out?
Mark 6:7,12-13
New International Version
Then
Jesus went around teaching from village to village. 7 Calling
the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them
authority over impure spirits.
12 They went out and
preached that people should repent. 13 They drove
out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Luke 10:1-3
New International
Version
10 After this
the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by
two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The
harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest,
therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
We
see that the Lord began to send them out two by two. The definition of reaching
out together is actually two by two. Two by two by definition is the smallest
unit of a group (more than one).
Why
two by two?
a)
Team dynamics takes time
b)
When there is synergy and unity, we can move
with speed when there is less people.
The
Lord’s heart is not to burden us.
Ecclesiastes 4:9
New International Version
9 Two are better than one,
|
Ecclesiastes 4:9 Good News Translation 9 Two are better off
than one, because together they can work more effectively.
|
Ecclesiastes 4:9 New Living Translation 9 Two people are better
off than one, for they can help each other succeed.
|
Two gives that dimension of effectiveness and success.
It gives a higher probability of good and best returns.
Deuteronomy 19:15
New International Version
15 One witness is not
enough… A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
New Living Translation
12 …Three are even better,
for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
Jesus Himself said:
Matthew 18:20
New International Version
20 For where two or three
gather in my name, there am I with them.”
How is this practical for your CG/HF? How can we start
a movement starting small and growing big?
#1 – Set apart those who are called
Mark 6:7
New International Version
7 Calling the Twelve to
him, he began to send them out two by two…
In the Book of Acts, while they were worshiping the
Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for
the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:2)
Recognise the calling upon people’s lives in your
CG/HF.
The perception is that those who are called are
considered the elite. Paul and Barnabas, James and John are big names but the
Scripture actually shows us the concept of how Jesus actually calls. The truth
is, calling comes from Jesus to everyone. And He said, “Follow Me.” The
difference between the one who is chosen and the one who is called is the one
who says, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you.” It is actually your response.
Luke 9:59-62
New Living Translation
59 He said to another
person, “Come,
follow me.”
The
man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.”
60 But Jesus told
him, “Let
the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach
about the Kingdom of God.”
61 Another said, “Yes,
Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.”
62 But Jesus told
him, “Anyone
who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of
God.”
Nobody says no to Jesus. But there is always an
excuse. “Actually this is not my gift” or “Actually this is not my personality”
etc. Jesus calls this kind of attitude not fit for the Kingdom of God.
Which category are you? Are you fit for the Kingdom of
God or not fit for the Kingdom of God?
If you want to be in the movement of God, what can you
do?
Commit to a CG/HF.
And if you are a member of the CG/HF, the way to be
called is to be a volunteer. Do not turn down the call to preach the gospel.
And if you’re a leader, how do you know that someone
has a call in their life? The person who is willing to make a sacrifice whether
big or small, the call is on their life. The Lord doesn’t look for capability;
He looks for availability.
There are two people in your CG/HF who are called. For
leaders, lead by example. That is one of the burdens and responsibilities that
we carry. We go first. We be sent out first. We volunteer first. We do it even
though nobody else will.
#2 – Release them to win souls, two by two
Mark 6: 12
New International Version
12 They went out and
preached that people should repent.
The reality in church is that we prefer to keep people
because if we send them out, we’ll lose manpower.
The Lord is saying, “Send out your best into the
kingdom, not hog your best to serve a system.” Release people into their
calling. Release people into the harvest field. Bless them, set them apart and
release them so that they can preach the gospel and the clear outcome is
actually salvation would be the fruit, not building another organisation or
ministry or forming another committee. Winning souls does not equal coming full
time. Calling upon your life does not equal coming full time.
Jesus was a carpenter. He was not a Pharisee and He
was not in the temple courts.
Nobody can do the preaching of the gospel apart from
the Christian.
When we release them, do not discard them. Continue to
care and support with training and support their needs. Encourage their heart.
Keep that relationship.
Think of someone in your CG/HF or if you’re a leader
in a ministry, think about who you want to raise up. But that person steps
down. Will you cut off or will you maintain a relationship with them? Will you
support their ministry or work even though you’re physically apart or will you
pull out?
There’s so much hurt in the body of Christ. That’s why
people don’t want to go. It’s too painful to leave. But we should encourage and
release but also maintain that relational aspect.
Will you release and advocate their mission or
discourage others to follow suit?
There will be tensions and disagreements but love
covers a multitude of sins. Release with the love of God. Release them into the
calling that God has called them for. That is the concept of loving one another
and serving one another with spiritual gifts. All these components will fall
flat and not really come to life unless we are actually engaged with the Great
Commission that brings out these experiences and the conditions of our hearts.
Now, what about the rest of my CG/HF? What can they
do?
#3 – Disciple towards sending capacity
Luke 10:1-3
New
International Version
10 After this the Lord appointed
seventy-two others and sent them two by two…
Where did the seventy-two come from? Perhaps
they came from the outreach of the Twelve. Or the second possibility is, those
who are not chosen in the Twelve are second-liners. They are those who were not
sent first; those who are still following Jesus but maybe they’re either
younger or their time has not come. But when the timing became right for them,
they began to volunteer and seventy-two of them were sent out two by two.
Everybody has a different growth trajectory.
Jesus allowed that space to grow. He sent out
those who are ready first—the Twelve. Then when the rest are ready, He sent
them out. And you see a multiplication out of that. Jesus didn’t keep the
seventy-two and settle to form a church. He didn’t institutionalise them but He
sent them out; He decentralised them. That is what the Lord is doing with the
church today. To be able to send them out, Jesus equipped them and spent time
with them. He trained them in the gospel and empowered them for healing. He
actually brought the message and the evidence of the message to prove that they
are a true witness. Jesus is the one who commissioned people to reach out two
by two.
CGs/HFs will not move unless they have a leader
that sends them out.
What if there is no one?
#4 – Ask the Lord who He wants to send
Luke 10:2
New
International Version
2…Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into
his harvest field.
Pray that we ourselves would be sent. “Lord, send me.”
Pray for your CG/HF members to be sent out.
We need to believe that anyone can be sent.
Believe that everyone can be sent because each of us
has a unique way of reaching the lost.
#5 – Step out in faith, not fear
Luke 10:3,9
New International
Version
3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has
come near to you.’
We have this faith that the Lord doesn’t want you to
fail. God will never let you fail. Even though it looks scary on the outside,
there is success at the end.
Luke 10:16-17,21
New International Version
16 “Whoever listens to you
listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects
him who sent me.”
17 The
seventy-two returned with joy…
21 …Jesus, full of joy
through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and
revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were
pleased to do.
Conclusion
Jesus draws the contrast between the wise and the
learned, and little children who are the ones who moved out in faith, not fear.
The difference between the wise and the learned is,
when we know too much, we fear so much. But the credit is given to the one who
has faith. In other words, inexperience with experience. The one whom the Lord
rewards is the one without experience because it is the experience that holds
us back. Today is not about the methods that we have or the number of messages
that we all have responded to. It is about the man who actually steps out in
faith and says, “Yes, Lord. Send me, for this is what You are pleased to do,”
So, today, start multiplying. Start sharing the
gospel. We can do this in small groups.
#1 – Set apart those who are called.
#2 – Release them to win souls, two by two.
#3 – Disciple towards sending capacity, not seating
capacity.
#4 – Ask the Lord who He wants to send.
#5 – Step out in faith, not fear.
Two by two is a powerful start, and it works. And I
share this from my own connect group experience. In the beginning, no one
wanted to be sent. We were afraid of growth because it will mean a restructure
and the relationship that is built over time is lost. Finally when we read the
Word of God, we realised that we cannot have this attitude of going our way and
not God’s way anymore. The Lord gave us secrets for the optimum level so that
it is easy for us to be obedient to His command. We agreed not to risk becoming
a social club or a therapy session. We realised that the fruit of discipleship
should be multiplication and the commission is to reach out. The reason why we
came together is to be sent out. The motivation is so that we can be engaged in
the Great Commission.
Reflections:
1. CG/HF Reality check: based on our CG/HF meetings or
activities in the past one year, what would you decode as our CG's/HF's first,
second and third priority?
-Every member writes down individually and reveal
answers at the end. Encourage members to share what and why they have listed
so.
a) Which of the mentioned priorities would you
personally like to maintain or change?
b) For the priorities which you wish to remain as
status quo:
i. Are the rest of the CG/HF members satisfied to
remain?
ii. Is this something God wants?
c) For the priorities which you wish to change:
i. Is this something the collective CG/HF wants?
ii. Is this something God wants?
2. CG testimony: share and list down the collective
CG/HF efforts to reach out and win souls by leaders and/or members within the
past one year (whether done individually or as a group).
-Give thanks to the Lord for his goodness towards this
CG/HF.
3. Start or continue reaching out: what do you think
about reaching out 2 by 2?
Discuss:
a) personal calling
b) desire to be sent
c) support required
d) what us stopping you
e) how would you like God to use you through this
CG/HF?
f) what do you
hope to see in this CG/HF in one year’s time?
RELATED:
Commissioned to Reach Out Together
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