PLAN B – an alternative option
WE ARE JESUS’ PLAN A
Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8
Plan A is that Jesus’ followers would go, make disciples, baptize, teach everywhere, teach everything, wait appropriately, be filled with power, witness!
“This is one of the reasons the church has historically taken a leading role in fighting poverty, illiteracy, hunger, illness and injustice and providing a way for new beginnings for those in need.
– Jason Yates
People in crisis need a shoulder to cry on, a word of encouragement, someone to pray with and a reminder that there’s always hope.
When Jesus gave instructions to look after “the least” among us and the oppressed, he wasn’t just talking to the mayor, the attorney general, the housing and urban development secretary or even the president. He was talking to the church — to you and to me.“
“Many churches today struggle to relate to the first century church, the ecclesia established by Jesus Christ. Similarly, Christ’s original mandate to “make disciples” is hardly recognizable in modern church culture.
– Compassion International
Yet this command to make disciples is the core mission of the church, the single strategy given by Christ to bring the kingdom of God to our broken world.”
WHEN PLAN A ISN’T WORKING
– Failure to evangelize
– Self-focus
– Disunity
– Neglect of God’s Word
– Forgetting God’s power
Playing it safe – 1 Kings 19:21
Life is not a dress rehearsal!
Our attempts at instant discipleship
There is no such thing as powdered or instant disciples. Disciples are raised, slowly and intentionally. Discipleship is about starting, training, trying, suffering and dying. And that’s not an all-inclusive list!
“I am your shepherd and I am not here to feed you. It’s not my calling to feed you. I am a shepherd. I am going to lead you to green pastures. And I’m going to show you how to feed yourself. But you’re going to feed yourself. In my family everybody feeds themselves. And the only people we feed are the babies. And we feed them baby food.”
– Jerry Lawson
Spiritual warfare
We don’t enter the battle for our communities unencumbered!
What can we do about it? Get unencumbered!
2 Corinthians 10:4, Genesis 1:2
Chains fall – Fear bow – Here, now – Jesus, you change everything
Lives healed – Hope found – Here, now – Jesus, you change everything
lyrics to “Holy Ground,” Passion, 2019
Church 29:11 