Jesus On Teams Series

“Jesus on Teams”

(Luke 6:12-16)

R Files Video opens…

TRANS: That’s the story of how one person has been changed by Jesus! Yes, Dennis has an R File (show file and give to Dennis) … his life has been changed by the resurrection and he will forevermore be a different man.

You know, Dennis, you are now on Jesus’ team! And it is God’s intention that you now extend your arms and be an ambassador for him? That’s right –you are now “on mission”… “on assignment” … on God’s team! And you are to be intricately involved in God’s plan to make more disciples!

You see, this is how God intends for his kingdom to be spread – spiritual reproduction! This is how God increases his family. His plan is for changed people to tell other people. That’s right – his team must tell!

This is exactly what he initiated in Luke 6 – the birth of his first team…the beginning of his plan for impact! And this mini-series, The R Files, [show slide] is a look at the biblical characters who, because of the resurrection, were changed and constituted his first team, and also a glimpse at some current FFC-ers who have been changed by the resurrection and are on God’s team. You’ll enjoy this extended look at this text, which culminates on Easter weekend with our production of The R Files.

Turn there, would you? And let’s look and see what Jesus had to say about teamwork as he initiated his global plan.

[READ TEXT and COMMENT]

6:12 – This is the only recorded time in the Bible that Jesus prayed all night! This action takes team selection to a whole new level, eh?

6:13 – Apparently there were more than 12 (i.e., “disciples”), but, after much prayer with God, he initially selected 12 to lead the others. [This concept fits well with John 6.]

6:13 – These were also designated “apostles,” and they became the foundation of the church in Acts. FFC owes it to these 12 for the work they did, amen?

6:14-16 – These 12 are always listed in 3 groups of four…check out the other times they are listed and you’ll see they were a group of 12 with subgroups of 4. And these subgroups always seemed to have a leader (the one listed first usually…DYK Peter leads all the lists?). Even Jesus believed in the large group/small group strategy.

So what can we take from this about Jesus’ strategy of teamwork? What can we learn about how he expects teams and leaders to have impact?

1. Prayer is the foundation of biblical teams.

Circle the words “praying to God.” This was the foundation for his decision making, and it was critically important as he selected his team.

Now let’s be honest – we’re approaching a huge topic here! Books have been written on this one word, so understand we’ll only scratch the surface about this topic. But let me address one aspect I think is important that ties in with our text – prayer lays the best groundwork for God’s work. Truly, prayer is our surest foundation when entering the spiritual world of warfare!

For example…

Acts 6 – the whole reason deacons were selected was so that the apostles could remain focused on the ministry of the word and PRAYER. Other wise, they’d have to leave that arena of discipleship and handle the widows’ needs…and the church would stop growing! The first church kept prayer as a foundational priority and simply created additional teams to handle the additional load. So must we at FFC!

Ephesians 6 – Paul used the word prayer more often than any other word as he laid out our plan for defeating the enemy, Satan. WOW!

You see, this is what separates us from all other clubs, civic groups, and community organizations: WE ENGAGE THE SUPERNATUAL! That’s right, prayer interacts with the Trinity, and that’s something no other “group” can lay claim to! WOW! The church should be impacting like no other organization because of prayer! As teams pray, we stay in touch with the coach…there’s the key. Staying on the same game plan as God!

When FFC was first being formed in early 2004, do you know what we did first? We prayed! About 20-25 of us were on the church plant team at that time being sent out by Grace West, and every Sunday morning from 10:30-11:30 we gathered and prayed! Remember that Bob? In light of our text today, not a bad way to start, eh?

Now let’s be honest – we don’t pray enough. And neither do you! However, I want to humbly report to you some prayer notes about FFC as a way to encourage you to pray more with the people you interact with…