Journey Team Leader Retreat Difference Maker Seminar Audio... · Web viewThe Journey exists to give the people of Metro New York City . the best opportunity to become fully . developing

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Journey University Seminar:

The Difference Maker(Manuscript)

©Nelson Searcy 2018 www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com 1

Journey Purpose Statement

The Journey exists to give the people of Metro New York City the best opportunity to become fully

developing followers of Jesus by

Inviting them to an intimate relationship with God,

Connecting them in healthy relationships with other Christians,

Guiding them toward an authentic commitment to God,

Involving them in life-changing ministry and mission in our city andthe world that they may

Honor God completely.__________

At The Journey we fulfill the Purpose Statement through 2 types of meetings:

Large Group (Sunday Service) Small Group (Growth Group)

"(They met) day after day, in the Temple courts and from house to house."

– Acts 5:42

*We believe Journey University enhances the Sunday Service and Growth Groups.

**Talk about how we mature as believers**

More Information + No Application = More Immaturity


More Information + More Application = More Maturity

The Difference Maker Seminar

GOALS FOR THIS SEMINAR:

We want you to walk away from this seminar with…

An urgency to help others come to Christ

The confidence to share your faith without fear

The ability to write and share your personal testimony

Practical and proven methods for talking with someone about Jesus

ADDITIONAL PERSONAL GOALS:

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_____________________________________________________©Nelson Searcy 2018 www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com 3


WHY GOD WANTS YOU TO BE A DIFFERENCE MAKER:

22.2 Million People live in Metro NYC.

8 Million People live in NYC.

83% Unaffiliated with some religion.

6% are Evangelical Christian.

**The people in our city may never know about God unless we tell them. Being a difference maker starts with understanding that God has called us to be missionaries to our city.

**Talk about our sphere of influence.**Must have a shift of mindset

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout

Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” - Acts 1:8

I AM A MISSIONARY

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SHARE MY FAITH?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

- Romans 6:23


**Sin separates us from God and Jesus is our only way to new life. Knowing this, think of your friends, family members and people in your life who don’t know Christ. They are all on a path that will lead to death and eternal separation from God and their only hope is choosing to follow Christ. Look at Romans 10 -

“But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they

hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, ‘How

beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” – Romans 10:14-15

**Ultimately, that’s what being a difference maker is all about. Allowing God to use you to share His good news with others so that they can cross over from death to life. And we must have an urgency knowing what is at stake for our friends and family.

**Penn Video

More bible verses about sharing your faith…

“Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him -- but some of them still doubted! Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given complete authority

in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach

these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’"

- Matthew 28:16-20

“We are Christ's ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, ‘Be reconciled to God!’"

- 2 Corinthians 5:20

“For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes…”

- Romans 1:16


“Now stand up! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and my witness. You are to tell the world about this experience and about other times I

will appear to you.”– Acts 26:16

WARNING: We don’t do the SAVING, Jesus does!

“Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

- John 14:6

**Our job isn’t to save people. We are simply the vessels that God uses to share His good news with the people in our lives.


THE EASIEST WAY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Invite The People In My Life To Church

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News

about the wonderful grace of God. - Acts 20:24

One simple question with incredible implications: Will you come to church with me?

**INSERT VIDEO – Bad Invites**

How many of you came because someone invited you?**This simple invitation can often be the hardest one to extend. It can be scary and intimidating and we have a fear of being rejected. But contrary to this thinking, it doesn’t have to be intimidating as studies show that those you invite will likely have a positive response to your invitation. Look at these statistics -

50% of those you invite will join you the first time you ask.

75% will come when offered a second or third invitation.

100% will at least appreciate the thought even if they decline.

** Let’s look at an example of a powerful invitation from the life of Jesus©Nelson Searcy 2018 www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com 8

TWO INVITATIONS THAT CHANGED HISTORY “Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said

and then followed Jesus. Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means “Christ”). Then Andrew brought

Simon to meet Jesus. Looking intently at Simon, Jesus said, ‘Your name is Simon, son of John—but you will be called Cephas’ (which means “Peter”). The next day

Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Come, follow me.’ Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown. Philip went to look for Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the very person Moses and the

prophets wrote about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ ‘Nazareth!’ exclaimed Nathanael. ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’

‘Come and see for yourself,’ Philip replied. As they approached, Jesus said, ‘Now here is a genuine son of Israel—a man of complete integrity.’

‘How do you know about me?’ Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, ‘I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.’ Then Nathanael exclaimed ‘Rabbi, you

are the Son of God—the King of Israel!’” - John 1:40-49

**And with that, the course of history was changed.

Four Keys To A Powerful Invitation

1. Believe that Jesus can change lives (Jesus changed your life so you know this first hand)

2. Recognize that God wants to use me (How cool is it that the creator of the universe chooses to use us in His mission!)

3. Identify the people God wants me to invite to church ( So, who are the people in my sphere of influence. Know this – you aren’t here by accident. So if you aren’t here by accident, then it’s not a coincidence that the people in your life are there. They are there for a divine reason. And in all your relationships, know that they aren’t by chance and God has a purpose for them.)

4. Care enough to extend an invitation ©Nelson Searcy 2018 www.ChurchLeaderInsights.com 9

The Best Time For An Invitation

1. Easter

2. A Big Day (Hit on Experiencing God kick-off)

3. Topic Specific Messages

“Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.”

- Colossians 4:5

THREE TOOLS FOR SHARING YOUR FAITH

1. The Romans Road

** The Romans Road is a series of verses that when used together serve as a great way to tell someone about the Gospel and show what we need to do to be saved

The Road To Salvation - Five Guideposts

Guidepost One – Romans 3:23

“For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

**We have all sinned and we all fall short. No matter what we do in life, we can never live up to God’s standard on our own. Really explain what sin is.


Guidepost Two – Romans 6:23


** This verse starts with the pain – the consequence of our sin is death. And if we don’t know Christ, that death results in an eternity spent away from God in heaven. But we get good news in the second half of the verse – through Jesus, we get the free gift of eternal life.

Guidepost Three – Romans 5:8

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

**God loved us enough to send His son to die while we were still sinners. He knew we couldn’t do it on our own so He sent His son to die in our place. Take time here on how powerful it is that God was willing to send His Son knowing full well that we fall short and will continue to fall short. That is true love.

Guidepost Four – Romans 10:9-10

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you

are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

**This verse show us that we don’t have to earn it. All we have to do is believe that Jesus is God’s son and confess that belief and we are saved. It’s that simple.

Guidepost Five – Romans 10:13

“For everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.”


**Nobody is beyond God’s reach. No matter what you’ve done, God’s promise is true for you. If you call on Him, you will be saved.

2. Personal Testimony

** We all have a story to tell and that’s what your testimony is. It’s simply the story of how you came to acknowledge and follow Christ. What was the series of events that lead to you surrendering your life to Christ?

**SHARE MY PERSONAL TESTIMONY HERE

Three Essential Elements of Storytelling

1. Confirm Your Story

“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you

are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”

Romans 10:9-10

**I want to pause here for a moment and just address this with everyone. I don’t want to assume that because you are here, you’ve made a decision to follow Christ. Give people an opportunity to make a decision.

2. Complete Your Story

** I want to take some time here and have you write out your story. We’ve provided you with a sheet of paper for you to write on. And remember, we all have a story to tell. So I want to walk through some steps that will help you craft your story and then we will take a few minutes to give you some time to write it down, and once you are finished, I am going to have you share it with a few people around you.


As you begin to write out your testimony, remember:

1. Be concise and simple in wording.

2. Avoid religious clichés or God-talk.

3. Be direct and to the point.

4. 2 to 4 minutes is preferred. 3 minutes is ideal.

5. Emphasize aspects of your story that will relate to your friend.


My life before becoming a Christian:*What was your life like before you met Christ?*What was most important to you?*What substitute for God did you use to find meaning in your life?

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How I Became a Christian:*What significant steps led up to your conversion?*How did God get your attention?*What motivated you? *Where did it happen? Be specific.

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My Life After Becoming a Christian:*How did your life begin to change after you received Christ? *What benefits have you experienced or felt? *How has Jesus helped you change for the better? Give a current example

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_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________**Have them share their story with a few people around them. Give a few people the opportunity to share in front of the group.

3. Commit Your Story To God

**God has given you your story, now commit it to Him. Your story isn’t meant to be kept only for yourself, it’s meant to be used as a part of other people’s story. So commit it to God. Pray and ask Him to use your story to help share the good news of Christ’s love with others. In fact, let’s say a quick prayer for our stories right now.

“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.”

- 1 Peter 3:15

3. The Bridge

**For the final tool, I wanted to come back to another creative way for you to share your faith with others. We call this the Bridge Illustration.Have everyone read this out loud


- Romans 6:23


So, I want you to draw…

Let’s start with the word wages – put it on the left side of the diagram.

WAGES (on left cliff inside) - So we know what a wage is, a wage is something you earn for work that you do. The bible says there is a wage we earn because of our sin. This is a wage that we don’t want to earn!

SIN (in the lower middle) - Write sin in the middle with a big I – The problem with sin is that I have chosen to go against God. Sin means missing the mark. Missing God’s standard.

DEATH (on left cliff inside)- the wage that I earn is death. Now, this isn’t death as we just understand it. This is the eternal separation. So this passage is concerned with what happens AFTER you die.

HELL - If I die separated from God because of my sin, I will spend an eternity separated from God in Hell. So, think about Hell for a minute. Hell is eternal separation from God. It’s a real place.

When you bring up the topic of hell, people will ask “how can a loving God send someone to hell” – but the truth is, God has never sent anyone to Hell. God has done everything possible to keep us from going there. The reality is, we condemn ourselves to Hell. Because “I” choose to turn my back on Gods best and I condemn myself. It’s my own choice.

Obviously, I don’t want this. Nobody want this. So, if the wages of sin is death and Hell, how can I avoid that? How can I get to Heaven?

Well, let’s think about it this way


DRAW STICK FIGURE ON TOP OF LEFT CLIFF – I’m over here because I have chosen the wages of sin and death, I have failed but then we have God over here

WRITE GOD ON RIGHT SIDE

So, how do I bridge this gap that that exists between where I am and where God is.

Most people, when they think about how to get to heaven, they think about getting there by doing good works. You know – If I do a good thing, I build this bridge

DRAW BRIDGE ACROSS

Then I do something else good and I build a little more.

And yeah, I may do a little bad that may set me back but as long as I do more good than bad then that should be enough. But let’s be clear, you don’t get to heaven based on doing more “good” than “bad.”. That’s not how it works. We can never do enough “good” to get there on our own.

So how do I get there? Back in our verse – the wages of sin is death. Thankfully, the verse doesn’t end there! It continues on But the free gift…

WRITE FREE GIFT ON RIGHT INSIDE

So, there is a wage of sin but there is also a free gift that God wants to give you. And a gift is the opposite of a wage. A wage is something that we must earn but a gift is something that is given freely.

So God gives us this free gift of eternal life.

WRITE ETERNAL LIFE UNDERNEATH GIFT


Yes, we deserve death because of our sin but God wants to give us this free gift of eternal life in heaven! This is what we call GRACE.

But, as you see here, there’s still a gap. How do we bridge this gap so that we can receive this free gift that God wants to give us.

Well, here’s what this free gift looks like. It looks like the cross of Jesus

DRAW CROSS IN BETWEEN - WRITE JESUS IN MIDDLE OF CROSS

So, we see here that Jesus is the bridge between us receiving the wages of our sin and receiving God’s free gift. But how can we cross that bridge?

Well, the key is in this final word - LORD

We must make Jesus the Lord of our life. Lord is defined - someone or something having power, authority, or influence; a master or ruler.

To make Jesus Lord of our life, we have to turn from our sin, turn from doing life our own way, and surrender to Him. Then we trust Him to be our Savior and allow Him to fully lead every area of our life and when we do that, we are able to cross over from death to Eternal life.


Conclusion

Will You Answer The Call?

“Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?’ I said, ‘Here I am. Send me.’”

-Isaiah 6:8

**As we close, I want you to take a moment a reflect on what we’ve talked about. Remember what we said earlier, More info + no application equals less maturity. We’ve given you the info and tools you need but now it’s on you to put it into action.

We all have people in our lives who need to know Christ. Friends who if they died tonight would spend eternity separated from God. I know that sounds heavy but it’s the harsh reality. And if you truly love them, there is no way that you want them to experience eternity in hell. That’s why sharing your faith is so urgent.

So here is what I want to do. In your notes I’ve given you a space to write down some names. I’ve broken it up into a few sections to help you better identify

Family Members who don’t have relationship with Jesus:


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Co-workers who don’t have relationship with Jesus:

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Friends who don’t have relationship with Jesus:

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Who else do I see every day who may not know Jesus?(Starbucks, Gym, Commute, etc.)

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“For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others.”

- 2 Corinthians 5:10-11

**We will all stand before God one day and when we do, we won’t be judged on the job promotion we pushed for, the bigger salary, etc… We will be judged on whether or not we answered the call and allowed God to use us to help share His good news. My prayer for each of us is that we will all stand before God and hear Him say “well done my good and faithful servant.”

**Take time to close in prayer and pray for all the names on the list. Give people the opportunity to pray out loud for their individual list.


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Journey Team Leader Retreat Difference Maker Seminar Audio... · Web viewThe Journey exists to give the people of Metro New York City . the best opportunity to become fully . developing