Red, Yellow & Green Light

REVIEW:

The Vision of God

From the rising of the sun

to the setting of the same

among all people

and in all places

The Lords name

will be made great

The Four Fields

Mark 4:26–29 CSB

26 “The kingdom of God is like this,” he said. “A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day; the seed sprouts and grows, although he doesn’t know how. 28 The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the head, and then the full grain on the head. 29 As soon as the crop is ready, he sends for the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Here’s what it looked like.

The first field is empty

This is known as Entry

entry into a new and empty field

The second field is where the seeds are sown

Evangelism

The third field is where the soil produces the crop

Discipleship

The fourth field is where the crops are ready for harvest

The crops are gathered together

this is the church

The center is where the leaders begin to rise up from the churches

This is church formation and leadership development

Six S’s

What are the things which we see that are necessary for Kingdom Growth

Sower - A laborer in God’s Kingdom

every believer in Jesus Christ

Seed - the gospel

Romans 1:16 CSB

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.

The gospel has the power of life

Soil - the hearts of men

Season - it takes time to make disciples

just as it takes time for crops to grow

Spirit - God is the one causing the growth

preparing people’s hearts

granting the grace of repentance

giving them the heart t o believe

saving them and giving them new birth in Jesus Christ

Sickle - gathering the harvest of new believers together into new churches

just as the harvest is bundled in the field

New believers need community with other believers

5 Parts of Abiding

Knowing God’s Word - John 15:7

John 15:7 CSB

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

Draw a big heart to represent the heart of God

We need Jesus’ words to be in us.

We can put God’s Word in our heart by

listening, reading, meditating upon, and memorizing scripture.

The symbol for God’s Word is the Bible.

Prayer: John 15:7

John 15:7 CSB

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

If we know God’s Word

We can pray according to His will.

We cannot force God to act,

But we can trust His promise that He wants to move according to His Word.

Prayer is both spending time talking to God (up arrow)

And listening to God (down arrow in the heart)

Rest in His Love: John 15:9

John 15:9 CSB

“As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.

We must remain in the Father’s love.

It is by faith in Jesus that we are saved.

We do not need to earn His love.

We need to trust what God has done for us.

Jesus tells us that just as the Father has loved Him

He has loved us.

The symbol for remaining in His love is the heart.

Obey His Commands: John 15:10

John 15:10 CSB

If you keep my commands you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

To obey Jesus from our hearts

we must FIRST believe in His love

And then we obey His commands.

Our obedience does not earn our salvation;

Through faith in Him we are given the Holy Spirit

And are adopted into His family.

When we rest in His love,

Our hearts are transformed,

And we desire to obey His commandments.

The symbol for obeying His commandments

Is the arrow coming from Resting in His love.

Confess Sin / Walk in the Light: 1 John 1:5-9

Draw out the full picture of Abiding.

Abiding Diagram

Prayer Walking Strategy - Luke 10:1-10

To Do

Go

in Pairs 2x2

Pray for Laborers

Heal the Sick

Proclaim the Kingdom, the Gospel

Look for the Person of Peace

Stay in the House of Peace

Eat / Drink what is provided

Declare “Peace”

Not do

Don’t take any provision

HE wants them to depend on the harvest.

we should go out relying on the harvest

relying on the person of peace to take care of their needs.

Don’t Greet People on the Road

The principle here is don’t be distracted from the mission

Do Keep Going from House to House

Once we find the person of peace

don’t keep going from house to house

we need to treat that person of peace as the plan

for whom God wants to use to reach that community.

Stay there and focus on them.

3 Circles

3 Circles Graphics

S.H.R.E.K.S.

S - Small Talk

Get acquainted by saying anything

H - Homeland

R - Religious Similarities

Oh, you’re a Muslim? Buddhist? Hindu? Catholic, Christian?

I think that many of the religions have similarities

For one: God is good, people not so much.

E & K - Evil Deeds Before the King

We have all done shameful things

But God is perfect

Will you have enough good deeds to tip the scales?

How’s that working for you?

Do you perfectly fast and pray?

Even if you live beter, are you sure your sin/shame would be forgiven

even if you are able to live a better life between then and now?

No one wants a Savior unless they believe they need one

S - Sacrifice Stories

Mostly for Muslim believers

What I believe is different from that.

You are probably a much better person that I

but I believe I am going to heaven because

I am following Allah’s plan

He has made a way for our honor before God to be restored

for our sins to be forgiven and I’m following that plan

It started this way.

AIM YAHOO (3 Sacrifices and OT Sacrifices)

Adam and Hawa (Eve)

One sin brought severe punishment from God

although they had done many good deeds

THe Tuarat says there was a good relationship between God and man

There was only one rule.

Shaitan/Ibis tempted them to disobedience

Then they experienced SHAME

How many good things do you think Adam and Hawa performed?

But it took only ONE sin for them to be thrown out of Jannat/Eden

Animal skins given by God showed that an innocent animal died to cover their shame

Ibrahim (Abraham)

Remember the story of Ibrahim?

the knife was raised

He was told to stop

there, caught in the bush was an animal

Instead of Ibrahim’s child being the dha/korbani (sacrfice)

Allah provided the animal as a substitute

Musa (Moses)

They must take a perfect animal and perform adha/ korbani

Once the people followed Alaah’s way,

their sins were forgiven

Yahya (John the Baptist)

“Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.

Ask: Why do you think that Yahya would call him a lamb?

Isa (Jesus)

Because it was Allah’s plan for Isa to honorably give his life

to remove the people’s bad deeds

to restore their honor before God

Isa told his followers three times

that He would give his life as an adha/korbani.

What he did was honorable

Yes it was shameful for him to be killed

but it was out shame that he bore.

Does this make sense to you?

that God has made a way to take our sins away?

Some of what I just shared was in the Qur’an

but most was in the Taurat (Torah), Zabur (Psalms) and Injil (Gospels)

Would you like to study those books some time?

Four Fields Strategy

So we’ve shared the gospel

and we’ve asked the question

and based on their response

we move to the Red, Yellow Green

Red, Yellow, Green - Acts 17:32-34

Here’s the backstory

Paul was preaching in Athens, Greece

He did his usual and went to the synagogue to share

and then he went to the marketplace

While in the market

some of the epicurean philosphers heard him

and they were so interested they brought him to the Areopagus

Paul uses a strategy to contextualize the gospel

he doesn’t change the message,

he changes the method.

He used the Shreks method.

He skips the small talk and the homeland intro

he already knew where these people are from

and they had pulled him in to talk about religion

so he speaks about religion

but he ties it into their worship of idols.

He begins talking about the unknown God

and takes them through the whole of creation.

He even uses some of their own poets writings to make his point.

He then goes for the ask

Acts 17:32–34 CSB

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.” 33 So Paul left their presence. 34 However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

The Red Light

After they hear the gospel

or if they become argumentative about the gospel

it’s time to move on.

We have their name, usually

so we can pray for them.

We can also circle back to them, but not usually.

Why?

Remember, our job is to find the person of peace.

Our job is to stay on the mission.

By trying to argue with someone about the gospel

it does a few things

First, it has the potential to turn into an argument rather than evangelism.

A person who begins to argue is essentially not listening

and is now in defensive mode.

This has the possibility of getting us into defensive mode.

Our job is not to defend the gospel

our job is to share the gospel

and allow the Holy Spirit to convict.

Second, the Bible is clear about the gospel

and about people who are not believers understanding about the gospel.

1 Corinthians 1:27 CSB

27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

So any intellectual thought we may have

is completely unnecessary to someone getting saved.

If God is going to use the foolish to shame the wise

it is up to the conviction of the Holy Spirit to do the convicting.

Also it says in 1 Corinthians 2:14

1 Corinthians 2:14 CSB

14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

So to try to argue things about the Bible

and our beliefs about God is somewhat futile

because they are unable to understand the deeper things of God

without the Spirit in them.

There’s a difference between argumentative and questioning.

One is defensive

one is genuinely seeking answers

and questioning their own convictions.

We should be able to tell the difference.

Lastly, the best thing to do is to leave the red light alone

because you may actually push people away from the gospel

by vigorously trying to defend the gospel.

Yellow Light

Acts 17:32 CSB

32 When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to ridicule him, but others said, “We’d like to hear from you again about this.”

The yellow light is someone who may be skeptical

and they choose to delay.

They may need more time to process what they’ve heard.

It’s the question of

“if everything you believed was a lie, would you want to know?

When confronted with the truth

and convicted by the Spirit

it’s really ok to allow them to process.

This may fly in the face of the urgency of the gospel

but it’s also submitting to God’s sovereignty

and allowing Him to do the work He needs to do.

Believe me, if they fall under conviction, you’ll get a phone call.

Notice what Paul did in both cases

Acts 17:33 CSB

33 So Paul left their presence.

He left the presence of the Red light

so he didn’t waste their time or theirs

and understood that an argument becomes just that

and argument.

He left the presence of those that requested to hear more

the yellow light

so that they could marinate on it a while

and so that he wasn’t pushing to a red light.

and it left an opportunity to come back and follow up.

The Green Light

Acts 17:34 CSB

34 However, some people joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

There were those that joined him

and there were those that believed.

This includes acceptance, conversion, and community.

Who were part of this group?

Dionysius - an Areopagite

He was a member of the Areopagus Council

Paul put his name first in the list.

Why? Because he had his name

He was a member of the same place that Paul shared with

with the statue of the unknown God

filled with pagan leaders.

This should be a reminder to us that

just because they may be a leader of some other religion

God still has the ability to save them.

Paul never shirked an opportunity to share the gospel

it didn’t matter if it was a pagan leader,

or Caesar himself.

Don’t even count out God.

The only other mentioned by name was Damaris

Why would Luke mention Damaris?

Well she was an Athenian Woman

Because she was mentioned by name

it would imply she was a woman with some social standing

that anyone who read this would recognize.

Again we have

someone of intellectual capacity

and social position who,

amid the philosophical skepticism of Athens,

chose to embrace the Christian message.

This is why when we find a red light person

we know they are arguing not to understand

but to be heard and often to rile up.

A lot of times in today’s culture

people aren’t sharing what they are convicted about

they are sharing what they have been spoon fed by someone else.

So when you try to have an intellectual discussion with them

the discussion often turns sour or circular.

Hence, the red light.

Someone becomes a green light when

they want to not only hear more

but are wanting to get together to hear more

and even wanting to accept Jesus.

When we are given the chance to share the gospel

or represent Christ

we should always be ready to ask

do you want to hear more?