Gaining By Losing, Wk#6
Gaining by Losing, a study based on the book by the same name by J.D. Greear • Sermon • Submitted
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· 63 viewsWe should always we working to help our audience become an army. If we can get people to move beyond the pew for the Gospel, an army will be mobilized and a revival will be immenent.
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And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Plumb Line - We do not need to grow an audience, we need to grow an army.
Plumb Line - We do not need to grow an audience, we need to grow an army.
Plumb Line - A church is not simply a group of people gathered around a leader. It must be making leaders from the gathered group.
Plumb Line - A church is not simply a group of people gathered around a leader. It must be making leaders from the gathered group.
Is your ladder leaning against the wrong building?
Is your ladder leaning against the wrong building?
How awesome would it be to move people from “paying consumer” to “enlisted soldier”?
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 102). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.
John 14:2
Greater works than Jesus did?
Did they really do greater works than Jesus?
Have you? Ever walked on water, raised the dead, or multiplied loaves and fishes?
Preached with greater power or prayed with greater insight?
Yet Jesus said their — and our — works would be greater than his, and they are in at least two ways:
First, our preaching and testifying to Jesus’ finished work lead lost people to the salvation that his miracles only foreshadowed.
Jesus’ miracles were signs pointing to the greatest of all miracles: salvation of the world from the curse of sin. Jesus opened physically blind eyes to illustrate how our preaching opens spiritually blind eyes. Jesus multiplied bread loaves to feed hungry bellies to illustrate how our preaching feeds the bread of life to hungry souls. Think about it:
Which is truly greater — the healing of a temporary limb, or the saving of an eternal life?
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 102). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Second, our works are greater because they reach farther than his did.
Now that his Spirit dwells upon every believer, Jesus can work in more places than when he was bound to a body of flesh.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 103). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
How great must it have been to have Jesus right beside you/us?
In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,
The book of Acts is about what he continued to do and teach — no longer through his incarnated body, but through his Spirit in the church.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 104). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.
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,
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
It’s not about your abilities to do things for God, but about his ability to work through you.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 104). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
As I noted in chapter 1, how we have built our churches turns this principle on its head. We gather throngs of people to bask in the Spirit’s anointing on a few megastars and call that “mission accomplished.”
That’s great, but it’s not what got Jesus most excited.
His (Jesus’) vision for the future was a multitude of ordinary, Spirit-filled believers turning the world upside down with his power, not their talent.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 105). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
The book of Acts has no real end.
Dukes of Hazard anology
Perhaps Luke doesn’t tell us because he wants us to realize that the story continues through us. We’re not continuing to write the Bible — that is complete — but what Jesus “began” to do in his three-year earthly ministry and “continued” through his church in Acts he continues through us today.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 105). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
The church ought therefore to see itself as a leadership factory that stirs up the gifts of God in people, not an auditorium that gathers people behind a leader.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 106). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
J.D. states - “Nor were they men of outstanding character — at least not at first. These future church leaders bumble their way through the Gospels arguing about who will be the greatest, calling down judgment on people they don’t like, turning little kids away, and staring at Jesus like a calf at a new gate. Had there been puppies running around, they probably would have kicked them. They were just not the spiciest Doritos in the bag.”
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 106). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
This ragtag group is empowered by the Spirit and used to turn the world upside down. And we can too!
This ragtag group is empowered by the Spirit and used to turn the world upside down. And we can too!
I believe there are four ways we do this.
I believe there are four ways we do this.
1. WE MUST CHALLENGE OUR PEOPLE TO BE LEADERS.
1. WE MUST CHALLENGE OUR PEOPLE TO BE LEADERS.
Holy huddle
Go be Gospel witnesses!
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 106). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
2. WE MUST EMPOWER OUR PEOPLE TO BE LEADERS.
2. WE MUST EMPOWER OUR PEOPLE TO BE LEADERS.
The greatest ministry ideas are in the minds of our congregation.
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,
It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 107). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
We should expect God’s Spirit to be leading our people the same way he led Philip, Apollos, Barnabas, and Silas — all “laypeople” — in the book of Acts.
I do not need to make little Jason’s, I need to empower the people of God to be what, and who, God has called them to be.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 108). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Aren’t “great” pastors those who empower and serve the leaders in their congregations, not those who merely recruit volunteers to execute their own ideas?
Shouldn’t pastors see themselves as servants of the movement rather than celebrities of the moment?
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 108). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Training leaders is different from recruiting volunteers.
Training leaders is different from recruiting volunteers.
Volunteers primarily serve as cogs in the machine that a leader has built.
Leaders generate their own ideas, and usually want to build their own machines.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 109). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
A church needs both to be effective.
A church needs both to be effective.
Categorizing Ministry to help with developing leaders.
— Ministries we OWN
— Ministries we BLESS
— Ministries we CATALYZE
Do we have a clear process for identifying and training up new leaders in our church, and for helping ordinary congregation members generate good ideas?
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 111). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
$500 dollar grants
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 110). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 110). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
3. WE MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO SEND OUT OUR PEOPLE AS LEADERS.
3. WE MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO SEND OUT OUR PEOPLE AS LEADERS.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 110). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 112). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Honestly, this is one of the hardest things for me to do: finding someone with great potential, developing them, and then watching them leave to establish a ministry somewhere else. Down in your heart you know you ought to be happy about this — but still, they are no longer there benefiting your church.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 112). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
The “natural” reason: Leaders are attracted to places where they can grow to their potential, and sending out when the time is right is part of that process.
The supernatural reason: Just as God promises to multiply our money when we are generous with it, he does the same with the leadership talent we give away for his kingdom.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (pp. 113-114). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (pp. 112-113). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
and one who waters will himself be watered.
You can’t outgive God. Not with money, not with leadership talent, not with anything.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 114). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Let me speak for myself
4. WE NEED A NEW METRIC FOR SUCCESS.
4. WE NEED A NEW METRIC FOR SUCCESS.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 116). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Sending is costly and painful, but the harvest is a thousand times worth it.
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 116). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Plumb Line - We do not need to grow an audience, we need to grow an army.
Plumb Line - We do not need to grow an audience, we need to grow an army.
Jack Welch says, The future belongs to passionate, driven leaders — people who not only have enormous amounts of energy but who can energize those whom they lead. One of the jobs of a leader is to pump confidence into your people. And when you’ve got somebody who’s raring to go and you can smell it and feel it, give ’em that shot.
John Calvin concurs: The more anxious a person is to devote himself to upbuilding, the more highly [he is] to be regarded.
"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." - John Quincy Adams
"The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things." - Ronald Reagan
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 117). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
"The single biggest way to impact an organization is to focus on leadership development. There is almost no limit to the potential of an organization that recruits good people, raises them up as leaders and continually develops them."
-John Maxwell
Greear, J.D.. Gaining By Losing (Exponential Series) (p. 117). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Plumb Line - A church is not simply a group of people gathered around a leader. It must be making leaders from the gathered group.
Plumb Line - A church is not simply a group of people gathered around a leader. It must be making leaders from the gathered group.