Developing a Heart to Share Jesus: Partnership and Power

Prayer

Sometimes a witness can overestimate the need for a particular approach when the heart of a witness has far more impact!

Nothing prepares the heart to witness more than regular prayer.

In prayer, we find the heart of God.

Why does God want people to be saved?

For his own glory

To redeem fallen man

To accomplish his purposes

To show his Power

Rom. 9:15-17 I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Rom. 10:14-15 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

What do you most commonly pray about?

Your physical and financial needs

Your family friends, and church

Your spiritual needs

Witnessing opportunities

Salvation for the lost

Workers in the harvest of lost people

We must pray according to God’s Heart .

What has been a helpful prayer strategy in your pursuit of gospel living and evangelism?

Partnership

1. We are partners with one another for the sake of the gospel

This is at the heart of the Great Commission

This is at the heart of the Church (Member is our way of saying partner on a church level)

We see this in the illustrations of the church

Body

Family

Flock

Bond-servants Together - Co-laborers

A true partnership requires trust and commitment .

A worthwhile partnership requires consistency and courage , responsibility and dependability .

2. We are participants with God in his saving work.

Even God’s people are often excuse makers when it comes to this act of participation.

Gideon exemplifies the excuse-making response of a fearful child of God. Judg. 6:11- 27

What excuses do we see from Gideon’s response to God’s call?

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What modern day excuses could be similar to Gideon’s response?

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We must partner with the Lord as we actively live our our faith where he has called us.

How does the terminology “partnering with the Lord” help us think differently about sharing our faith than “winning people to Christ?”

Acts 1:8; John 15:5; Phil. 4:13

Power

The prescription for easing our fear involves 2 ingredients: obedience and power.

Are you being obedient to:

Live the Christian Life?

Share the Gospel?

Trust God with the Results?

If we are “in Christ” than his power is in us. You can know the power of God.

Acts 1:7-8; Phil 3:10; John 14:12-13; Acts 2:28

You are never alone

The Holy Spirit is with us and works through us.

If god can redeem what is evil and use it for his purposes, he can certainly use our efforts and tailor them for his glory.

You cannot fail if you are faithful to do what God has asked you to do.

We should spend less time worrying about failure and more times concerned with disobedience and a numbness to the leading of God.

How long has it been since you felt God leading you to do something? How did you respond?

Cecil Pines

Conversation with 2 men at Church

The more of God’s power we see, the less fear has a hold on our lives.

The resurrection and the course of the disciples faith is evidence of this truth.

Have you ever experience the HS working through you as you were witnessing? How did you know? Describe your experience.

We must trust that God will keep his word when we need his wisdom and power.

Sharing your faith is based on the belief that your mission will not be accomplished by your own power, but by God’s presence providing the power.

John 4; Zech 4:6

Assignments:

Practical: Do you have family members who need to surrender to the work of Jesus? Write their names down this week and pray for them.

Spiritual: Pray every day for the lost family in your life and those connected to our church family members.

Contemplative: Consider what is your greatest fear or hindrance in sharing Jesus; how can surrender and obedience with the power of God combat this shortcoming in your life?