Touching Your Family And Friends – Overflowing Outreach
God wants to give us an overflowing life – an abundant life. For the last two weeks we have talked about how God wants to fill you to overflowing. In John ten – ten it says:
“I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.” John 10:10 (HCSB)
The word picture that the Greek paints for “abundance” actually means – an overflowing abundance. Not that your cup is full – but that it is flowing over the rim. The cup is so full that it is spilling out into the saucer. God wants our lives overflowing with is His love, His joy and His peace. He wants our lives so affected by all the gifts He has to give to us – that it overflows into the lives of other people around us. That’s called outflow.
If you were to picture your influence for Christ as a fountain it would look sometime like a four tiered fountain. God fills us up – that is the first level - the top tier. He fills you so full that you spill over into the next level – the second tier - and you have an influence on those who are closest to you – that would be your family and friends.
Today we want to talk about the people who are closet to you – your family and friends - and look at how you can touch them for Christ.
Now let me say right up front – not all families are alike. Let’s watch a video clip.
(I plan to show a video clip from an old T.V. sit-com “I Love Lucy.” You could use another clip such as “All In The Family” or “Leave It To Beaver”, for example.)
Not all families act and behave the same. Just as people are different - families are different – because families are made up of people.
Not all of us are “I Love Lucy” or “Leave It To Beaver” type of households. In fact many of us are more like the Simpsons – just a little dysfunctional. I heard this statement at one time and I believe it to be true. “All families are dysfunctional – it’s just that some are more dysfunctional then others.” In most families you find that there are members who are believers and there are members who are not.
In the New Testament – you find at least a couple times where a person becomes a Christian and their belief affects their entire family. Read along in Acts sixteen with me:
“A woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was spoken by Paul. After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.” Acts 16:14-15 (HCSB)
Did you notice in this passage that she and her household were baptized. She became a believer first and it affected her entire household.
Or what about in John chapter four where a father goes down to see Jesus, pleading with Jesus to heal his son who is on his death bed? After the man requests Jesus to heal his son, Jesus says:
"Go your way; your son lives." So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, "Your son lives!" Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, "Your son lives." And he himself believed, and his whole household.” John 4:50-53 (NKJV)
Here we have two cases where whole households get saved. But you and I both know that in many cases that whole households don’t get saved. In fact some of you have witnessed to a member of your family for years and they have given you no positive response to the Good News. In some cases your relatives have turned you off and shut you out – they have become more distant in their relationship to you. For whatever reason they just don’t want to hear about Jesus Christ.
Let me give you three lessons which are important when it comes to witnessing – not just to family members – but all people in general.
Lesson one:
1. Understand there are things you CAN’T DO.
A. You can’t undo the PAST.
Folks if you have missed opportunities for sharing the Good News in the past – quite stewing over it. Let it go! Quite thinking about – “could of” and “should of” and look for opportunities to share the Good News now. Lost opportunities are just that – “LOST”. Let them go – but take advantage of the here and now. If there is anyone who can do something about the lost opportunities of the past – it’s God. Ask Him to give you another chance. Ask Him to open another door of opportunity. Do you remember what Matthew chapter seven tells us? It said:
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”
Matthew 7:7-8 (NKJV)
If you have missed an opportunity to talk to your friends and relatives about Jesus ask God to open another opportunity up and see what happens.
Here is another thing you can’t control.
B. You can’t control the FUTURE.
Folks you have no idea – for certain – how someone is going to respond to the Good News until you tell them the Good News. Many times we set the gospel up for failure because we assume no one is going to accept it.
Mark Twain said this: “I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”
Sometimes we approach people with the assumption that they are going to reject what we have to offer. Will people reject the gospel some times – sure they will! Some people rejected Jesus when He was alive. But not everybody! Not every time! We won’t know how a person responds to the Good News until we share the Good News with them and see how they respond.
You may just have the right word at just the right time – but you won’t know it you try. Look at what Proverbs chapter twenty five and verse eleven says:
“A word spoken at the right time is like golden apples on a silver tray.” Proverbs 25:11 (HCSB)
But here is a little deeper fact about the future. Even though the person may not accept the Good News from you today does not mean that your sharing will not have an impact on them tomorrow. Paul wrote about that in first Corinthians chapter three and verse six.
“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV)
God uses God’s people to bring God’s message to people. There are times when it takes several workers to bring in the harvest. Sometimes all you can do is move a person an inch closer to Christ – but at least that is an inch closer than they were before. Remember:
Inch by inch – life’s a cinch. Yard by yard – life is hard.
Ask the question, “What can I do to bring this person closer to Christ today?” Some times it’s just giving them a pat on the back or a warm smile. Treat them like Jesus would and see what happens.
Here is the third thing you can’t do.
C. You can’t make anyone BELIEVE.
We can scream, we can scheme, we can stalk, we can sermonize but we can not make anyone believe. Believing is a matter of individual choice.
Look at the scripture we just read. “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” 1 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV) Who gives the increase? God does! Who saves people? God does! God is in the life changing business! We don’t change lives – we witness for the One who changes lives. We plant – we water – but God gives the increase. Look at what it says in John chapter three.
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6 (KJV)
God who is Spirit brings about spiritual birth – we don’t. We can’t change the past, we can’t control the future, we can’t make anyone believe but there are some things we can do and that is point two:
2. Realize there are things you CAN DO.
A. You can PRAY.
No matter what is going on in the lives of the people you want to reach, prayer is a great way to ask God to reach them. Pray of course – for their salvation. Ask God to touch them – in such a way that they would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Another way you may want to pray for your family members is to ask God to shake up their lives. Ask God to move your family and friends out of their comfort zones. Ask Him to turn their lives inside out and upside down. Ask God to do what ever it takes to get there attention. Do you know what I have found? I have found that whenever I have been placed in a situation outside my comfort zone – my seeking for God increases. I don’t think I am alone in this situation. I think that whenever people find themselves outside their comfort zone they are more willing to seek help from God.
Let me illustrate this point. I remember a time I was standing on a three story wooden tower getting ready to repel off of it for the first time – the wind was blowing and the tower was moving with the wind. There was no railing around the top of the platform. My knees were shaking – my heart was pounding – and do you know what I was doing. I was praying. Why? Because I was not in my comfort zone. I needed God’s presence right then and there. I needed to know that God was with me.
One of the most powerful prayers you can pray is, “God, help me.” When a person finds themselves outside their comfort zone – they are more willing to pray that prayer.
Pray for your family and friends.
Here is something else you can do.
B. You can LISTEN and LOVE.
Listening and loving go together like peaches and cream. If you love people you listen to them. You hear what they have to say. I read a story this past week that illustrates the point.
“A young lady by the name of Lisa was approached by her outreach pastor and asked if she would become part of a new evangelism team. After Lisa considered the request for a moment, her first words out of her mouth were, ‘I’m sorry, I’m no good at evangelism!’ Since that is the response that the outreach pastor received many times he asked her, ‘Wouldn’t it be exciting to help people come to know Jesus?’ ‘Oh,’ replied Lisa with a big smile, ‘I get to do that all the time.’ When the outreach pastor heard that he asked her what she meant. Lisa said, ‘Every few months God sends me a new friend to listen to. Pretty much all I do is tune in to what’s going on in that person’s life and let the person know that I care. Sooner or later, for some reason, most people ask me how to get to know Jesus. When they do, I tell them. And then we pray together to ask the Lord to come into their hearts. I can’t stand the idea of high pressure knocking on doors evangelism thing: it feels too manipulative to me. Listening to people and talking to them heart to heart is something I love to do.’ After a stunned moment the outreach pastor roared with laughter. Then he asked, ‘Just out of curiosity, how many people are we talking about?’ Lisa could not say at the moment, but when she went home that night she started reflecting back, looking up in her personal journals the past seven years. What she found was that she had helped more than 80 people begin a personal relationship with Jesus! All because she would start by listening to them.*
(*From the book “Outflow” by Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping.)
If we can do nothing else – we can listen to people and love them.
Another thing we can do is:
C. You can SHARE and SERVE.
Sharing and serving go together like peanut butter and jelly. When we humbly and unselfishly perform small acts of kindness it makes our families and friends wonder what’s up with us. It’s putting the love of Jesus into action. It connects our witness with our works. James said,
“If (faith) doesn’t have works, it is dead by itself. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith from my works.” James 2:17-18 (HCSB)
Little acts of kindness go a long way. Serving gives our words an “anointing of credibility.” How many of you can complete this phrase?
Action speaks louder than WORDS.
Open a door for someone. Carry a load. Give a hand. Pat someone on the back.
A small act of serving speaks volumes. There are things you can do. You can pray. You can listen and love and you can share and serve.
That brings us to the final point:
3. Leave the results to GOD.
I want to show a video clip at this time.
(This video clip is a woman talking about witnessing to her parents as they were dying. Her mother accepted Christ on her death bed. Her father never gave any indication that he found Christ.)
Folks we need to do our part but most importantly we need to trust God. There are things we can’t do. There are things we can do. But when all is said and done we must have faith in believing that God is in charge.
There are two things God very seldom does: everything at once, and nothing at all. I have to trust Him. When and where God moves is up God - I have no control over Him - but I must have faith that God moves. In John chapter three and verse eight it says:
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8 (NKJV)
God wants His love to flow out to your family and your friends – and He wants you carry His love to them.
Let us pray.
