Being Others Centered

“Being Others-Centered”

Acts 1:8

“But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere – in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

The Holy Spirit was not given to us to help us enjoy life more or to have better church services. It was given to us to help us serve others.

We have to be others-centered. All to often we allow our focus to go to our needs, and ourselves and we ignore the needs of those around us.

God uses those who he chooses to bless to bless others; we can even look back to Abraham and the founding of the nation of Israel.

"I will cause you to become the father of a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and I will make you a blessing to others." Gen 12:2

Every day people go to heaven, and people go to Hell. The choices we make affect the eternal destinies of people. We must be responsible with the time and resources God has given to us.

How can we be more others-centered? There are three things that we can do to renew our focus.

First we must be in prayer for others, we must intercede for those who we minister to.

Prayer opens our spiritual eyes to the needs of others. As we take time to pray for the lost, God softens our hearts and helps us love them like Christ loves them.

In addition to that prayer walking is an awesome way to get our selves in touch with the lost of our city. It helps us to touch, see, smell, and feel our community. It makes us get out of our little world and want to serve others.

Second we must always be learning.

Being under God-gifted teaching in our small groups and in other areas helps us learn how to minister to people.

Being under people who have talent and a passion for reaching others will almost infect you.

"As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend." Proverbs 27:17

That is why it is important that we involve ourselves with small groups and with people who have a like passion to reach out. We learn from each other and build each other up.

Events can also build us up in this same way. Look for opportunities to learn from someone who has done it already. Pastor’s School coming up at the Dream Center is a good example of this. I challenge you to go to Pastor’s School, and I will guarantee you that will come back inspired to reach out to the people of your city.

Third we must do.

Getting into someone else’s world and introducing them to the love and the life-giving power of Jesus will build you up and encourage you to continue loving other people.

The first two equip you, and shape your heart so that this can seal the deal. If we try to do, without praying and being equipped by others, we will become discouraged and burn out.

When we go and do, equipped and prayed up, God can use us to do awesome things, and as we do more and more our heart will be changed and be more like Christ’s where we put others before ourselves.

We must understand that our church does not exist for itself. Our church exists for those who don’t know Christ.

Our goal is to be others centered. By praying, learning, and doing we allow Jesus to mold our hearts to be more like Him. Which of course is our ultimate goal.