Bring Someone With You
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Good morning. We are in the last week of an exciting six week series called Made for Mission. Over the past five weeks we’ve talked about how all Christians have been called by God to join in His mission to reach the world.
We’ve talked about what we’re supposed to say, who we are supposed to say it and why we should live on mission to begin with.
By a show of hands, how many of you know your grandparents first names? Have many of you know your great grandparents first names? I’ve got some unfortunate news for every person here. You are more likely only a few decades away from being totally forgotten.
By a show of hands, how many of you know your grandparents first names? Have many of you know your great grandparents first names? I’ve got some unfortunate news for every person here. You are more likely only a few decades away from being totally forgotten.
Welcome to Church on the Rock-Abilene You are dismissed.
Now here is the good news. God’s calling on your life is always bigger than your lifetime.
While just about all of us can’t go back three generations in our own family trees, that is not the case with our spiritual family.
Based on how the Bible reads I have a suspicion that in Heaven we will be able to study our spiritual family trees forward and backwards.
Since God is outside time I wonder if we will be able to see how ultimately we became Christ followers and be able to follow up to see the ripples of our life time in impacting those in the future spiritually.
Kind of like ancestor.com but on steroids.
Let me say that If you are brand new to this whole God/Church/Jesus thing and just checking it all out, I’m so glad you’re here.
ou need to know that God’s got something bigger for your life and is inviting you to join Him in his activity where He’s already working. Today we are going to study a scene in the life from a guy named Peter. He’s one of those insert foot open mouth kind of guys. He was always getting into trouble for speaking before thinking. If you’ve ever done that before then you’ll be able to relate to him. If you ever make bonehead mistakes, Peter is your guy.
. You need to know that God’s got something bigger for your life and is inviting you to join Him in his activity where He’s already working. Today we are going to study a scene in the life from a guy named Peter. He’s one of those insert foot open mouth kind of guys. He was always getting into trouble for speaking before thinking. If you’ve ever done that before then you’ll be able to relate to him. If you ever make bonehead mistakes, Peter is your guy.
You need to know that God’s got something bigger for your life and is inviting you to join Him in his activity where He’s already working.
Today we are going to study a scene in the life from a guy named Peter.
He’s one of those insert foot open mouth kind of guys.
He was always getting into trouble for speaking before thinking.
If you’ve ever done that before then you’ll be able to relate to him. If you ever make bonehead mistakes, Peter is your guy.
Today we are going to read two back to back stories found in the book of Luke.
Read (NKJV)
40 So it was, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed Him, for they were all waiting for Him.
A Woman is Healed
;
41 And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. And he fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged Him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.
But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him.
So Jairus meets Jesus and His disciples at the docks.
His description as the synagogue leader was a big deal.
In that culture think city council member or even mayor of that area.
This could be a really big opportunity for this small start up movement led by Jesus.
If a synagogue leader were to become a follower he might influence the whole city and even the surrounding region.
I’ve heard reports that Justin Beiber has become a Christian.
So often the church loves to take advantage of a celebrities influence to spread the gospel but I don’t think that is normally how God chooses to work.
God chooses to work. God loves doing extraordinary things thru very ordinary people.
So I don’t know what Jesus is thinking but I bet the disciples are not blind to the opportunity at hand which meant they better get to Jairus’ house fast before they miss it. Check out what happens next.
(NKJV)
42 for he had an only daughter about twelve years of age, and she was dying.
But as He went, the multitudes thronged Him. 43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ”
But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”
When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”
But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”
It’s almost comical how this scene starts. Massive crowds are surrounding Jesus pressing in to get closer to him yet he stops mid stride to ask, “Who touched me?”
I picture Peter rolling his eyes here, “Ahh Jesus, there are people all around you. Everybody is touching you!”
It would be like crowd surfing at a rock concert and then stopping to ask who touched you. It makes no sense. What also makes no sense is that Jesus stops on his way to a big ministry opportunity to talk to someone that everyone else ignored.
There are a lot of things we can probably guess about this woman.
She’s poor (in another one of the gospels we read that she had spent all her money trying to find a cure but nothing had worked.)
She’s probably all alone.
We sure don’t hear of anyone else with her in this scene.
She’s also probably been seriously shamed in this city.
The religious leaders taught that diseases were a punishment from God and thus people you should stay away from.
Still with all that baggage she takes a massive risk.
Based on Old Testament Law the people would believe that this woman’s disease would permanently make her unclean and anything she touched would become unclean as well.
People know about this woman.
She has a reputation.
As she pushed her way through the crowd to get to Jesus what did she most likely have to endure?
“What are YOU doing here?”
“Go home where you belong!”
She was shoved to the side and given dirty looks.
Yet in all this, the woman is relentless to get to Jesus.
. It pays off and her whole life is changed in a moment.
It pays off and her whole life is changed in a moment.
You have no idea when God wants to use you.
You’re greatest impact will probably come at a time you’re least expecting it.
For the woman she has been suffering with this disease for 12 years. She’d prayed for God to remove it from her multiple times a day for over a decade.
If you walked in here and you’ve been carrying around a prayer request for what seems like forever, learn the lesson from this woman.
Don’t give up. Run to Jesus. There is always hope and He can do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime.
Don’t give up. Run to Jesus.
There is always hope and He can do more in a moment than we can do in a lifetime.
While He was still speaking, someone came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the Teacher.”
But when Jesus heard it, He answered him, saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well.” When He came into the house, He permitted no one to go in except Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the girl. Now all wept and mourned for her; but He said, “Do not weep; she is not dead, but sleeping.” And they ridiculed Him, knowing that she was dead.
But He put them all outside, took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately. And He commanded that she be given something to eat. And her parents were astonished, but He charged them to tell no one what had happened.
So they get to Jairus’ place and his daughter is already dead. I can picture some of the disciples slyly shaking their heads.
“If we didn’t have that stop along the way I bet we would have made it.” Jesus grabs a couple of the guys and the girl’s parents and goes up to see the dead girl.
He says to them, “she’s just sleeping.” Probably out of pain the parents, his disciples and others close to the family nervously laugh.
Jesus ignores the apparent lack of faith, grabs the girls hand and raises her from the dead.
Think about this girl’s life, what a story for her to share. Think about the parents.
The Synagogue leader of the area just became a Jesus follower. How old was this girl? 12 years old. How long did the woman suffer from bleeding?
12 years. How cool is it to think that God had been waiting for this amazing day for 12 years. How many of your prayer requests has God already picked the day when He is going to answer it and eagerly waiting to see the look on your face.
I’ve read these two stories before but to be honest I think I missed the most impactful part.
While Jesus healing the bleeding woman and raising the pre teen from the dead were huge, I don’t think they were the most impacting. Here it is… “When Jesus arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother
Why Peter? He had just questioned Jesus in public a minute and a half ago. Shouldn’t he by this point have learned to stop talking back to Jesus?
Then Jesus brings him along to Jairus’ house and he laughs when Jesus remarks that the girl is sleeping.
God’s calling on your life is bigger than your lifetime.
That’s not true automatically but if you join God in his mission it will be. So, how do I do that?
That’s kind of been the whole point of this series but I want to end with one more huge truth.
Bring someone with you.
As you go live the mission you were made for, don’t go alone.
Bring someone along for the ride.
This may be the single greatest leadership lesson we learn from the life of Jesus.
You could make a strong case that Jesus is the greatest leader of all time. He never wrote any books.
He never held a public office. He never went outside one small area of the world. He was only on the public scene for a little over three years and then died at age 33.
Yet here we are 2,000 years later and there are over 2 billion people following him from all corners of the earth in hundreds of different languages.
The movement he started is growing faster now worldwide than ever before.
That’s so pretty good leadership.
Bring someone with you. You know how many times it says
Jesus took his disciples and they went somewhere?
Me neither.
I started counting through the Gospels and lost track because just about every time he went somewhere he intentionally brought people with him.
There are examples when he got alone. Probably went the bathroom alone.
The evidence is abundantly clear that with incredible intentionality Jesus brought people with him. Listen to the last words of Jesus.
Read .
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Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
In the Greek the literal translation is “As you go” make disciples.
Think about the different applications to this command.
One is definitely that as you go through your life intentionally share Jesus with the people you meet and then disciple them in their faith.
The other application I’ve never heard someone say but it’s obvious from watching Jesus’ life.
Don’t just disciple the people you meet along the way but also bring people along with you and disciple them while you go through your day to day responsibilities.
Jesus ends with promising that he will be with us always, to the very end of the age. If he’s truly in the driver’s seat of your life than it’s not so much you bringing him with you but instead he’s bringing you with him.
What he did for the disciples 2000 years ago,
Jesus still wants to do in our lives today. As he disciples us now He invites us to do the same with others.
Let me give you some Practical examples.
Parents, bring your kids with you.
Share a way your family intentionally has involved your kids in the ministry to help disciple them. Parents, bring your kids friends with you too. Three words--Saturday night sleepovers. Obviously talk to their parents first before you bring them to church but your family may be the closest to Jesus that your kids friends ever get.
Share a way your family intentionally has involved your kids in the ministry to help disciple them.
Parents, bring your kids friends with you too. Three words--Saturday night sleepovers.
Obviously talk to their parents first before you bring them to church but your family may be the closest to Jesus that your kids friends ever get.
As you serve in a ministry, invite someone to serve with you. Would you like to try being an usher or greeter with me one time. Bring someone with you.
With friends and family, bring them with you as you try to live out your faith. Invite them to church. Invite them to help with a service project or to coach your kids soccer team together.
Share some other ways from your life when you’ve intentionally brought someone with you with the goal of helping disciple them. Here is an example.
talk about outreaches at the Rock
My guess is that none of this is surprising. Still, several studies have shown that that average church goer in North American brings on average 0 lost people with them to church in a given year. (the number is so low that they have to round down to nobody)
I think the the reasons why we normally don’t bring someone with us are the same reasons Jesus would have had with Peter.
-It’s just easier to just do it on my own. You never know what’s going to come out of loudmouth Peter. -I just don’t think they could handle it. Just a minute before Peter totally had blown it so why do we think he going to do better this time.
Really there are just two possible outcomes if you bring someone with.
1) Your assessment of them might be wrong. You invite someone to come with you on mission and you think they can’t handle it but actually there was way more in them then you thought.
2) Or, it could be that your right, but God is going to use their failure to grow them. Anybody here ever grew through a failure before? That’s actually the primary way we all grow anyways. For example, parents—your job is not to protect your kids from ever failing, your job is to raise them up to trust God.
So what happens with Peter?
I think he got it! Jesus can raise the dead. Even death is not an insurmountable barrier when it comes to Jesus.
What if Jesus didn’t bring him? Then Peter wouldn’t have learned that lesson and this future scene probably wouldn’t have ever happened.
At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. And since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. But Peter put them all out, and knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. Then he gave her his hand and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed on the Lord. So it was that he stayed many days in Joppa with Simon, a tanner.
Peter heals Tabitha in an eerily similar way that Jesus had healed Jairus’s daughter.
Many people came to believe in Jesus all throughout Joppa simply because Jesus took
Peter with him years earlier. God is a “connecting the dots.” Kind of God. We have no idea what God wants to do through us and when He wants to do it.
God’s calling on your life is bigger than your lifetime.
There is only one thing will last.
The stuff you are stressing about now won’t. It probably will be no big deal in a couple years and your own great grand kids that wouldn’t even exist if it were not for you won’t even know your name.
BUT—if you bring someone w/ you, that will be celebrated for all eternity.
What is God calling you to? Who can you bring with? Who in your life does not know God, but as you seek to pursue after God yourself who will you invite to pursue after him with you.
They may laugh?
Don’t worry, you’ll be in good company.
I want to introduce you to a phrase that is the perfect response to what we’ve been talking about for the past 6 weeks. Will you put your “Yes on the Table?”
When it comes to God will you’re answer be “YES”
before you even know what the question is? God, I don’t know where, how, when, who or when but “My Yes is on the Table!”