Who Are the People in the Neighborhood?
Vision Venture Sermon #3
October 3, 2004 Pastor Tim
Review
God’s Vision calls on us to deliver God’s love and deliver invitations to people in need
We deliver God’s love when we
touch people’s lives with grace
· Outrageous, shocking, undeserved blessing
· Grace at least gets their attention
· At best, takes their breath away.
· Think of it this way: bless them into the Kingdom
Delivering/gracing people is hard to do!
· Consistently
· Courageously
· With focus
Focus: which people, what needs?
Requires discernment – listening to the voice of Jesus to get direction.
Today:
· What focus can look like
· Suggestions for finding or improving your focus
Text – Jesus and Levi demonstrate focus
Jesus
· Routinely focused on fringe, outcasts, common people, “sinners” (sick who need “the doctor”) In a word, people in need.
· Eg. Levi
· Leadership. Levi became one of the twelve and wrote one of the four gospels.
Levi also gives an example of focus
· First focus: Jesus. Left everything & followed
· Gave a banquet for him
· Party: draws people like him, his immediate circle of friends and co-workers, quite literally “the people in the neighborhood”
· People the next layer further out on the fringe – “within arm’s reach”
For us – how to answer “which people, what needs?
- How to get a sense of focus?
- How to sharpen your focus if you’re already at work where God wants you to be.
Three Strategies
1.
Start where you are. Sure, the Vision could be calling you to do
something different, something you’ve never done before, to stop doing one
thing and start doing another. But it may only be calling you to do what you
already do differently. Sometimes, getting focused on God’s mission
isn’t a matter of doing something different or new. Sometimes it’s just a
matter of doing what you already do differently. Two examples:
a. Levi threw a party. Probably not his first or his last. But this party was for Jesus. I know that was different! A really different reason to party. And this party became a meeting place for where people who really needed faith could come into contact with people who actually had faith – like Jesus and his disciples. Not just mixing drinks – mixing people.
· The same thing
· done a different way
· for a different reason
·
changes the outcome: people get
drawn into contact with Jesus, and one step closer to life in the Kingdom.
b. Kisten takes Becca to speech therapy.
· The same thing
· done a different way
· for a different reason
·
changes the outcome: people get
drawn into contact with Jesus, and one step closer to life in the Kingdom.
So ask yourself these questions:
a.
Are there things you are doing,
that if you did them differently, would be more likely to connect people
to Jesus?
b.
In the things that you already do,
can you think of any way that you could bless people, or bless them more
outrageously?
c.
In the things you do that already
bless and serve others, what could you do to make sure that they know
it’s God’s love that they are getting from you? Do they know for
sure that it’s not just a reflection of how nice and kind and generous you
are?
2. Look around. If you want to figure out “which people, what needs?” a great strategy is to look at the people right around you and find out what their needs are. Are there people “within arm’s reach” that God may call you to focus on?
· You can ask that question as an individual, and we can ask it as a congregation – “Who’s within arm’s reach and what do they need?”
· In fact, that’s exactly what we are doing tomorrow night at the Community Needs Forum…. Please come.
· Even if it doesn’t shed any light on where God wants you to be working for him, it’s a great way to learn about our neighbors and honor the five guests who are coming to speak with us.
· The point is – by learning more about other people’s needs you may discover that there’s something for you to do there that’s more important than one of the things you’re currently doing – and that could be God’s call to you.
·
Or, you may learn that even though
their needs aren’t so pressing, there’s such an incredible opportunity
there to connect people to Jesus, that you’ll stop doing something so you can
be a part of grabbing that opportunity.
3.
Check your inventory. If someone plopped you down in the middle of a room,
gave you no instructions whatsoever, and said as they were leaving; “You go
ahead and get started – I’ll check back in an hour and see how you’re doing.”
What would be your first strategy? Look around the room and see what’s there.
Check your “inventory” so to speak. Got paint and a brush? Maybe start
painting the walls. Windex and paper towels? Probably start cleaning the
windows.
Now, for a lot of people, that pretty well describes their life! Sort of
plopped down in the middle of the world with no instructions, a vague sense that
they are supposed to do something, and a feeling that sooner or later someone’s
going to come and see how they are doing. Well, here’s a great strategy –
check your inventory.
I mean, check your personal inventory. What are your spiritual gifts?
What are your blessings?
The more you know about how God has made you and what God has entrusted to you,
the easier it is to see clearly what he wants you to focus on.
Understanding gifts and blessings is where we’re headed next. Three sermons on
Kisten about gifts, then three on blessings from me. And best of all, gifts
and blessings is exactly what the small group discussions will focus on when
they get launched at the connection event on Tuesday the 12th.
All of us need direction from Jesus, guidance on who to serve, how to serve, when to serve and when to rest and so on. Even if you were right where he wanted you yesterday, today the world is different. He may need you to serve him somewhere else, or maybe just differently today.
So look at what you’re doing – and listen for his voice.
Look at who’s around you – and listen for his voice.
Look at what you’ve got and who you are – and listen for his voice.
There are a lot of people in the neighborhood, and they need you to deliver.
Amen