Becoming a Life Saver Rescuing the Lost

Jesus is the Way To be able to point people to the Way you need to be discipled To become a disciple you need to be absolutely surrendered Then you need the tools to grow These tools are: Knowing how to pray Knowing the word Participating in praise and worship Celebrating communion

Tools (Continued) Possessing the power of the Holy Spirit to anoint your witness And fellowship with other believers When you witness to people you will be asked questions that you must have answers for These answers are called apologetics You can defend your faith Answers are found in the scriptures and in your personal story

Who are the lost? They are members of your family, people you work with, your neighbors, your friends, and even fellow church members They are lost in their sins without God, without Christ and without hope They are rushing merrily off to Hell completely oblivious of their fate

Where are they? They are all around you. You encounter them everyday They are in the marketplace You may or may not have a close relationship with them Most of them are hurting

What are the problems they have? They have messed up children They have problems with fellow employees They are up to their eyeballs in debt They have medical problems They have sexual problems They have been physically abused as children They were sexually abused as children

Problems continued They have never been loved They do not know how to love They have had abortions They have had miscarriages They have been in cults They have practiced witchcraft They are demon possessed

Problems continued They have bad marriages They have been divorced They are homosexual They are addicted to pornography They are alcoholic They are addicted to drugs The are facing the end of their life

Problems summarized Most people do not have goals or plans for their life They do not have a destination or a road map to take them there if they have one They do not have coping mechanisms to deal with life’s problems They cannot deal with stress and crisis They do not have futurology

Can we sum this all up in a few words? Yes we can, for they suffer from the consequences of living life. Since they cannot do anything about their problems they will despair. These are the despairs they suffer from The despair of meaning The despair of morality They despair of death

We have an answer!! Jesus is the answer for the world today Above him there's no other, Jesus is the way If you have some questions in the corners of your mind And traces of discouragement and peace you can not find Reflections of the old past, They seem to face you every day There's one thing I know for sure that Jesus is the way

We have an answer!! I know you got mountains that you think you can not climb I know that your skies have been dark, You think the sun won't shine In case you don't know, I'm here to tell you that the Word of God is true, yeah. And everything that He's promised, I tell you he would do it for you Let me tell you that (Chorus)

The Way The Way is a personal relationship with the living God With this relationship we are empowered to live life to the fullest We have a place where we can lay our cares down and come into God’s rest

The Way We have a resource to meet all our needs— not our wants We have a guide to right living We also can grow in our relationship We have the knowledge to help others develop a relationship with God We have a manufacturer’s handbook to guide us We have the power to live according to the commandments Jesus gave us

What are Jesus’ Commandments Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all our being Second to it was to love our neighbors as ourselves And then we are to love one another as he has loved us

Jesus’ commandments Then we are to show love by Giving water to the thirsty Food to the hungry Clothes to the naked Visiting the sick and prisoners Taking strangers in our homes And going into all the world and making disciples!!!!

Who is to obey these commandments? Not just the twelve he had chosen to follow him initially (Luke 9:1-6) Not just the 72 he sent out (Luke 10:1-12) Not just the people who saw him in the flesh Not just theologically educated followers NO! They were addressed to all of us!!!!

If we have accepted him as Lord and Master We are to be obedient (John 14:15-21) Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. (John 14:23,24)

Into all the World? Why did Jesus want us to go into all the world? Because he wanted all men to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3,4) Therefore, it is incumbent on us all to make disciples. We want to because we love the Lord and want to be obedient servants

How can this be carried out? The answer is that we need a right relationship with Jesus We need to be totally surrendered to him Then we are we receive The power of the Holy Spirit The words to tell people about him being The Way A sense of cleanliness inside and out And understand truths we have not understood before

Wonder working power It is the POWER that make the difference in the lives of those who want to see the lost saved God anoints our words and his truth is revealed to the person who needs salvation

Do you have power? After last Sunday you do if you asked him for more of his Spirit. Most other Christians do not. Even though they may be born again they have either quenched the Holy Spirit or grieved him We quench the Spirit if we are not in regular communication with God We grieve the Spirit when we sin Since we all sin we do not have power We do not confess and repent of our sins so he is grieved

Power is essential Paul told the Corinthians that he did not come to them with fancy words, but instead he came with demonstrations of God’s power “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God's power.” (1 Corinthians 2:4,5)

How do you get it? As I told you earlier it is by absolutely surrendering to him It does not take much of a person to be an authentic Christian but it takes all of you that there is!!!! You must be willing to go where he wants you to go and do what he wants you to do!

True discipleship This is what God wants for all of us He wants us completely surrendered Filled with the Spirit With rivers of living water flowing from us Obedient to death as he was And a loyal friend

Why? So we can go into all the world to make disciples! In the subsequent sessions I am going to tell you how the church makes disciples and what your role is to be