Sunday 3:21:10

Pointing UP Grander Vision Living The longer the average person has been a Christian, typically, the fewer non-believers he knows and fewer opportunities he has to share His faith. But if you would be willing to leave your comfort zone, you could be used by God to point someone to Him. How do you get the opportunity to point people toward God? 1. Develop friendships 2. Discover their stories 3. Discern next steps How do you move from shallow conversations to really making a significant difference in people’s lives? • Be with them. Last week: God’s story: Our sin has separated us from God. We try to reach Him, but we can never be good enough to overcome the chasm. God bridged the gap for us by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. If we trust in Christ, He will take away our sin and guide us for the rest of our lives. Your story: I was once… but now I’m… What God has done in your life, the grace and love He’s shown you, He wants you to share that with others. Luke 5:1-11 (1-3, 4-7, 8-11) Jesus gave Peter and his friends the motivation for the only mission in life that is worth pursuing – the mission of finding the lost, serving the needy, loving the forgotten. That’s “Grander Vision Living.” You have only one life to give. Are you going to spend it pursuing small fish, or will you risk tossing your nets out there in anticipation of catching people? “I work for company whatever, but my mission is from Christ.” Grander Vision Living doesn’t take much. Just an intentional shift in focus. From my needs and wants to those of others. From my agenda to the Spirit’s prompting. From myopic lesser vision living to the stimulating, abundant life that Christ came and died for. –Bill Hybels Grander Vision Living ask God, “What’s next God? What do you have for me to do? Who will you put in my path today? To whom can I show your love, compassion, and acceptance?” There is only one thing in the room, at your work, in your home, in your neighborhood that is not temporary. There is only one thing that you can take with you into the next world. When you get to the end of your life and take in your last breath, what do you want your life to have been about? It really is all about people. Our mission while we’re here is to seek people out and point them toward faith in God. The question is not whether or not you have a contribution to make. Every single one of you has an astounding contribution to make. The real issue is whether or not you’re investing yourself in activities that spur people toward heaven. The issue is whether or not you are leveraging your creative energies, marketing skills, and problem-solving abilities for the sake of landing more people in heaven. The issue is whether or not you prize people enough to share the good news with them in creative and alluring ways. –Bill Hybels There really is a heaven and a hell. They really are eternal places – destinations of real people living real lives just next door, just across the street, two offices down, across the locker room. Real people who need your salt and light in their lives. Will you be the one to reach them? Will you be the one present in a church service someday when your once-wayward buddy finally stands in a baptism tank, sopping wet and ready to walk in new life? Ask God to open your eyes to the lost around you. Ask Him to bring them into your path. Ask Him for help to know what to do and say. Irreducible Ingredients God loves you – He has compassion, love, and forgiveness no matter how far you’ve drifted. Christ paid your price – He did for you what you could not do for yourself; paid for your sins. You have a decision to make – You must decide what you’re going to do about it. Abandon your lesser visions in favor of living life the way God intended … with one eye on him, one eye on the people he loves, and a heart that beats fast for kingdom-building activity. Live in light of the reality that the only thing you can take to heaven are the people whose lives you touch! Throw your one and only life — all of your energies, your resources, your passion — into making a difference with people, and you will one day say, “Now that was a life well-lived!” –Bill Hybels The stakes are high. The implications are eternal. And you may be only one conversation away from pointing someone to faith— if you will take a risk, make a friend, spend some time, share your story.