GETTING OUT OF A RUT

GETTING OUT OF A RUT

What is a rut? A grave with both ends kicked out!

Yet throughout the Bible God uses ruts in our lives…

Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Israel, Paul…

Reveal motives, test hearts, train for battle, break stubbornness...

UNSTUCK Series Scriptures

Micah 6:8 (NKJV) He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 28:18–20 (NKJV) And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

1 Timothy 4:12–16 (NKJV) Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. ¹³ Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the eldership. ¹⁵ Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all. ¹⁶ Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Let's look today to see how common, ordinary people got moving again...

First, an example from the Old Testament...

Ezra 4:1-3 (NKJV) Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the LORD God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers’ houses, and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel said to them, “You may do nothing with us to build a house for our God; but we alone will build to the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Ezra 4:4–5 (NKJV) Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, ⁵ and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Ezra 4:24 (NKJV) Thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (16 years)

Ezra 5:1 (NKJV) Then the prophet Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophets, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.

Ezra 5:2 (NKJV) So Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them, helping them.

Ezra 6:14 (NKJV) So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

Key point: Everyone needs a man of God in their life!

Look at some of the things the prophets told them…

Now from the New Testament...

John 5:1–8 (NKJV) After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. ³ In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. ⁵ Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” ⁷ The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.”

Key point: Your provision is not in a process but a person, Jesus!

We need to stay in process because the process will lead us to the person!

What is Jesus telling you?

Now from everyday life...

Howard Conatser…

HOW’S IT GOING? Part 2

HOW’S IT GOING? Part 2

Matthew 28:16-20

Getting unstuck by obeying The Great Commission.

MAKE DISCIPLES

CONNECT

I remember the night I got saved…

Wanted to witness to everyone in Roosevelt Park!

TEXT

Matthew 28:16-20 (NKJV) Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Explain the Text

This is the verb, the action word, in this passage. It is a command…

Make disciples! This is the commission Jesus gave us!

This is our purpose in life!

DEFINITION

What does it mean to “make disciples”?

A disciple is simply a follower of Christ. The word means to be a learner. 

Illustration

A disciple is not someone who has it all together. Just look at Jesus’ twelve disciples. TD Jakes says, “One was doubting, one was stealing the money, two were arguing over who was the greatest, one was cutting off ears and cussing. Most of them never did anything, never wrote anything; we never hear from them again. And that was with Jesus as their pastor!”

Illustration

If you are disappointed and discouraged, get out and find someone to minister to!

You don’t have to have it all together to share your life with someone. 

SCOPE

All nations!

Do you have a heart for the nations? Ethnos… ethnicities… Gentiles… pagans…?

Bible Verse

Revelation 7:9-10 (NKJV) After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

STATISTICS

David Platt…

Over a billion have never heard the name of Jesus. 

Over two billion Muslims…

Over one billion Hindus…

500 million Buddhists…

Over one billion secularists, atheists, and ‘nones’…

3. TWO COMPONENTS OF DISCIPLE MAKING

BAPTIZING

        Leading people to Christ.

        Leading them to church.

SCRIPTURE

Acts 14:21 (NKJV) And when they had preached the gospel to that city (Derbe) and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,

DISCUSSION

Gospel means “Good News”!  When we preach the Gospel, we are sharing the Good News about what Jesus did, does, and will do for us!

Illustration

The most powerful weapon you have is your testimony!

        What’s your story?

        Be able to give it in 2 minutes or less. 

BAPTISM

Synonymous with church membership..,

Public profession of faith…

TEACHING

Teaching what? All things Jesus commanded… And is commanding…

        What has Jesus said to you? What is He saying to you?

        This is what you teach!

Illustration

A good friend of mine used to ask me, and everyone else, when he saw us, “What is God doing in your life right now?”

Or, “What is the last thing God said to you?”

Bring our testimony up to date!

Application

Now let’s put it all together so you can go out this week and live it. 

        1.  Don’t be afraid. Jesus is with you  

        2.  As you go, be aware of those the devil is working on.

        3.  Make disciples by sharing the Good News with those you encounter.

        4.  Lead them to church.

        5.  Help them walk like you walk.

INSPIRATION

Disciple making is a fulfillment of God’s pattern of multiplication. We reproduce after our kind.

Adam and Eve: Be fruitful and multiply…

Noah: Be fruitful and multiply…

Thirteen times in Old Testament: Be fruitful and multiply…

Jesus: My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit…

Bible Verse

John 15:1–8 (NKJV) “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

John 15:16 (NKJV) You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.

A PROMISE

Jesus says “I am with you! Doing the work!”

Mark 16:19-20 (NKJV) So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.