Full Circle (Week 4)

Warm Up: Double-Roll Race

In a large open space, use masking tape to mark off a starting and ending line for your race course.

Recruit four to eight players for this activity, depending on your space restrictions.

Pair players up with a partner. Instruct each set of partners to lie stretched out on the floor, with their feet touching at the starting line.

The players must then roll the designated distance over the floor with their feet in permanent contact.

(Assign an adult judge to each pair of players to keep everyone honest about staying in contact.)

The aim of this game is for both partners to communicate with each other so they can remain touching while rolling quickly to the finish line.

If they lose physical contact, they must go back and begin again.

The point of the activity is to demonstrate that communicating out loud, with words, will yield better results than just hoping the other person will “get” what they’re supposed to be doing through body language, hints, or inference.

Award a small prize to the winners.

For those of you who competed, what challenges did your assignment present you and your partner?

What was easy and what was hard about this activity?

For those of you who were spectators, do you have any observations about why the winners were able to finish first?

Communicating clearly, out loud, with words, tends to work better than relying on inferences, hints, or assumptions, doesn’t it?

This communication principle is true in games, in relationships, and in life.

It’s also true when sharing the Gospel.

Which brings us to the final week of our series about THE Cause Circle—Share.

For the past few weeks we’ve been learning about THE Cause Circle of Prayer, Care, and Share.

But before we dig into the Share component of the Circle, does anyone have a story about what they did (or tried to do) to demonstrate care for someone in their Cause Circle since we met last time?

PRAY

The Big Idea: Share the Gospel-out loud, with words.

Fuel UP

We’ve been using the story in Luke 5 about Jesus healing the paralyzed man to get a snapshot of how He modeled Prayer, Care, and Share in His life and ministry.

So this week, let’s bring a different lens to these verses and look for how He’s sharing the core of His Gospel message here with the people He’s interacting with.

Could I please have a volunteer read Luke 5:18-24 aloud for us?

Luke 5:18–24 ESV

18 And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, 19 but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. 20 And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.”

Last week we talked about the “care” demonstrated in this situation, but this week let’s focus on how Jesus shared the truth of His message out loud, with words.

What did Jesus say that got the Pharisees-the religious teachers of that day-so worked up?

How do you think Jesus knew what they were thinking? (The Spirit revealed it to Him)

Why do you think Jesus chose to bring their silent, simmering questions and skeptical thoughts out into the open to talk about them out loud?

What main point is Jesus trying to get across to them here?

How does His main point relate to the core message of the Gospel?

So we see Jesus moving beyond Prayer and Care to Share.

He’s sharing the truth of His message with those who didn’t believe He was the Son of God, with the power to forgive sins.

Jesus infused some serious theology and spiritual clarity into the conversation, didn’t He?

And that’s really the essence of what the Share part of THE Cause Circle is all about.

We too are called to carry this message of who Jesus is and why He came to our unreached friends in a clear, compelling, caring way.

Could someone please read 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 out loud for us?

2 Corinthians 5:18–21 (ESV)

18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

When you stop and really think about it, nothing else in this world compares to this hope the Gospel message brings—this message that you and I as Christians are called to carry to others.

The truth is that sharing Jesus’s message is the most impactful thing you’ll ever do, because the Gospel can change someone’s life at the deepest level—both now and for all eternity.

Nothing else you could ever offer your friends could be more powerful and permanent than that!

And that’s why it’s so important that we learn what to share.

What’s the core of the message of the Gospel?

If someone asked you, how would you answer the following question: Since the Bible’s such a big book, can you just give me a summary of what its main message is?

Has fear about not knowing what to say ever kept you from sharing your faith with others?

Being able to explain the Gospel to someone in a simple, clear, concise way is so foundational that we’re going spend some time now reviewing how to do it by watching a short video called A 4-Minute Crash Course in Sharing Your Faith.