Connecting

Connecting

Intro

In a world that tears people apart, we are seeking to connect people. (Jesus, each other)

We are growing and in the process of building a new youth room.  It is all very exciting.  But let me tell you something.  We are not in this to build some great Christian monument.  We are not in this to build some sort of mega-Christian club!  We are in this to see the Jesus glorified and the lost saved.  We want to see the lives of a generation that is lost radically changed by the power of God. 

Walking the talk

Forerunner needs to start walking the talk.  I know that Jesus is madly, head-over-heels in love with the Church (the saved, all Christians), but His highest priority remains seeking and saving that which is lost.  Reaching those who don’t know Him.  I want to refocus our efforts a little tonight.  Forerunner is growing fat with blessings.  We have people who have been trained, discipled, and filled with God’s Spirit, but a whole lot more of us need to grow crazy in the area of evangelism (bringing to people to Jesus, sharing the Gospel).  I am praying that God will raise up some radical evangelists in Forerunner.  I know people get certain pictures in their head when you say the word evangelist, but picture this.  Missionaries in baggy jeans, evangelists in platinum Fubu gear!

Awareness

Outreach always begin with awareness.  You have to be willing to look around you. 

In US approx. 190 million unsaved people.

1/3 of Americans never go to church

2/3 of Americans do not regularly go to church

Those who do in most cases experience Christianity without Christ….coke without the fizz.

Not just look to belong, but look to connect other people.

“Hey you go to my church…” 

Risk everything!  Risk friendships, acceptance, comfort, money

Beyond the masks

Jesus always reaches below the surface.  He looked upon the crowds and wasn’t annoyed, but had compassion. 

In John 4 He looks at a woman with multiple divorces and a wrecked life, and doesn’t condemn, shake His head, or turn away quickly to those who He could have a nice religious talk or prayer time with…He has compassion and reaches out with grace and seeks to connect.

At school you see a girl that seems to have it all together, she wears the right boyfriends like accessories, and to top it off she is really smart, but scratch below the surface just a little you will find a girl terribly afraid of not living up to expectations, a girl that wishes her mom would stop picking out all her flaws, and that her dad would just notice her and show some real affection.

Or a guy who knows how to make everyone around him laugh, everyone just seems to love him.  But scratch beneath the surface and you find a lonely guy who can never share the burdens of his heart with anyone cuz that stuff isn’t funny.  A guy who is drifting without purpose, and feels like there is nothing worth living for. 

Or what about the one who has deep problems in their life.  The ones who are abused, neglected, cast off.  The abandoned ones who are just so needy and angry.

The ones who need to experience true love and affection, but because of their baggage are angry at every who tries to reach out.

HURT PEOPLE, HURT PEOPLE.

These are the people you are around everyday, the people that need to see Jesus; the people that if you want to truly serve Jesus you must have compassion for.

Bible repeatedly says how Jesus was “moved with compassion” by those He saw around Him. 

splagchnizomai / splangkh· nid ·zom·ahee / 1 to be moved as to one’s bowels, hence to be moved with compassion, have compassion (for the bowels were thought to be the seat of love and pity).

So that I will be real, no one will think I am painting an unrealistic picture…

Someone with big neon flashing sign that says “Needy” approaches I tend to duck for cover.  I don’t trust my heart.  But I know that Jesus loves them and has compassion, and the LEAST that I can do is pray with them.  What is the alternative?

Summary

Heaven is real.  Hell is real.  We risk people’s eternity’s every time we choose silence over obedience. 

You may say that you don’t know the Bible that well, or you have problems of your own and don’t have anything to give…can you be a friend to someone?

“Friendship is the bridge that the Holy Spirit most often travels.”