Growth Group Week nineteen:
Being a witness of jesus (part 1)
Week 19
Day 1: 1st Timothy 3-4
Day 2: 1st Timothy 5-6
Day 3: 2nd Timothy 1-2
Day 4: 2nd Timothy 3-4
Day 5: Titus 1-2
We now come to the final section of this discipleship program. In section 3 we will discuss what it means to be a “fisher of men.” We have looked at the call to follow Jesus in section 1. In section 2 we saw how Jesus transforms us into his image through his grace in obedience to his word. Now we turn our attention to God's purpose for us in this world. The amazing thing about following Jesus is that God has a plan for our lives. We are not just here by chance and have no purpose. A follower of Jesus should have a clear vision of why he is on this earth. The very phrase “follower of Jesus” means that we are going somewhere. If you are following someone you will go wherever they go (John 12:26). Jesus came to this earth with a clear vision and as we follow Him we will fulfill that vision as He did. In this section we will discover a biblical vision for our life's purpose.
Week 19: Being a witness of Jesus (Part 1)
Memory verse:
Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Focal passage: Acts1:4-8; Matthew 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46–49; John 20:21
These passages are what we call the “Great Commission” passages. What’s really important for us to understand is the context that they are spoken in. These aren't just some general passages in the middle of a sermon or story somewhere. These words are spoken to the disciples after Jesus's resurrection and right before His ascension. These are literally the last words Jesus speaks to His disciples on this earth. It is His commission to His church for them to fulfill until He returns. Luke sums it up well in Acts 1:8 as he records the words of Jesus to His disciples. As Jesus is ascending into heaven, He simply says that we are to be witnesses of Him starting with where we live, and on to the ends of the earth. This is the call of every Christian. This is not a verse just for missionaries but for every disciple of Christ. As we have been learning through these three sections in this discipleship program, if we truly follow Jesus, He will make us into His instruments to go and make disciples of others. This is our calling! This is our life's purpose here on the earth as a follower of Jesus. When you and I live this out, we will experience the fullness of life that God has intended us to experience. And we will actively be preparing ourselves for His kingdom to come. Let's not waste our lives but let's follow Jesus and fulfill His intended purpose for our lives.
As we've already seen, we are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. Simply stated, this means that through our lives we are to reflect the person and character of Jesus to the world around us. This is exactly what John's great commission passage declares in John 20:21b, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” In the same way Jesus was to be a witness of who the Father is to the world, we are to be a witness of who Jesus is to the world. We see this in John's prologue to his gospel. He clearly states the purpose of why he writes the gospel. John declares that Jesus is God and became man (John 1:1; 14) for the purpose of revealing the heart of the Father to the world (John 1:18). Jesus is a witness of the Father in the most complete sense possible. That's why he could say to Philip, “He who has seen Me has seen the father” (John 14:9). In fact, when Jesus prays for His disciples in John 17, He prays almost the identical words that He commissions His disciples after the resurrection. He prays in John 17:18, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” And then He commissions His disciples in John 20:21b, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
So you can see that God's purpose for our lives is to be a witness to the people around us of who He is. This is more than just sharing a message of salvation with someone, but it's Jesus living through us in such a way that those who know us see a difference between us and the world. Living a transformed life is one of the greatest testimonies of who Jesus Christ is. Some would call this a silent witness. As we continue next week we will see that a witness cannot be silent but we are to declare the biblical gospel as we live out the biblical gospel. But with that said, we must live lives that reflect the love of God and the person of Jesus Christ to the world around us. For us to do this we need the power of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus promised to His disciples so that they would receive this power in order to be witnesses of Him (Acts 1:8). To be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must recognize that we do not possess the power to be a witness of Christ in and of ourselves, but through dependency on the Lord and surrender to his will in our lives He will manifest Himself through us. This is what it means to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). To receive this power we simply need to pray and ask God to fill us with His Spirit so that we might be a witness of Him (see Ephesians 5:18; Luke 11:13; Acts 5:32). Make sure to watch the video for more explanation on these verses).
Questions:
Action steps:
Begin to pray about how you my fulfill the great commission in your life. We will talk more about this in the weeks to come but spend some time this week asking God to speak to you and to give you His vision for your life. Ask God to reveal to you ways that you can live your life for eternal things. Don't waste your life on things you'll regret but invest your life into eternity.
Day 1: 1st Timothy 3-4
Day 2: 1st Timothy 5-6
Day 3: 2nd Timothy 1-2
Day 4: 2nd Timothy 3-4
Day 5: Titus 1-2
We now come to the final section of this discipleship program. In section 3 we will discuss what it means to be a “fisher of men.” We have looked at the call to follow Jesus in section 1. In section 2 we saw how Jesus transforms us into his image through his grace in obedience to his word. Now we turn our attention to God's purpose for us in this world. The amazing thing about following Jesus is that God has a plan for our lives. We are not just here by chance and have no purpose. A follower of Jesus should have a clear vision of why he is on this earth. The very phrase “follower of Jesus” means that we are going somewhere. If you are following someone you will go wherever they go (John 12:26). Jesus came to this earth with a clear vision and as we follow Him we will fulfill that vision as He did. In this section we will discover a biblical vision for our life's purpose.
Week 19: Being a witness of Jesus (Part 1)
Memory verse:
Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Focal passage: Acts1:4-8; Matthew 28:18–20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46–49; John 20:21
These passages are what we call the “Great Commission” passages. What’s really important for us to understand is the context that they are spoken in. These aren't just some general passages in the middle of a sermon or story somewhere. These words are spoken to the disciples after Jesus's resurrection and right before His ascension. These are literally the last words Jesus speaks to His disciples on this earth. It is His commission to His church for them to fulfill until He returns. Luke sums it up well in Acts 1:8 as he records the words of Jesus to His disciples. As Jesus is ascending into heaven, He simply says that we are to be witnesses of Him starting with where we live, and on to the ends of the earth. This is the call of every Christian. This is not a verse just for missionaries but for every disciple of Christ. As we have been learning through these three sections in this discipleship program, if we truly follow Jesus, He will make us into His instruments to go and make disciples of others. This is our calling! This is our life's purpose here on the earth as a follower of Jesus. When you and I live this out, we will experience the fullness of life that God has intended us to experience. And we will actively be preparing ourselves for His kingdom to come. Let's not waste our lives but let's follow Jesus and fulfill His intended purpose for our lives.
As we've already seen, we are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ. Simply stated, this means that through our lives we are to reflect the person and character of Jesus to the world around us. This is exactly what John's great commission passage declares in John 20:21b, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” In the same way Jesus was to be a witness of who the Father is to the world, we are to be a witness of who Jesus is to the world. We see this in John's prologue to his gospel. He clearly states the purpose of why he writes the gospel. John declares that Jesus is God and became man (John 1:1; 14) for the purpose of revealing the heart of the Father to the world (John 1:18). Jesus is a witness of the Father in the most complete sense possible. That's why he could say to Philip, “He who has seen Me has seen the father” (John 14:9). In fact, when Jesus prays for His disciples in John 17, He prays almost the identical words that He commissions His disciples after the resurrection. He prays in John 17:18, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.” And then He commissions His disciples in John 20:21b, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
So you can see that God's purpose for our lives is to be a witness to the people around us of who He is. This is more than just sharing a message of salvation with someone, but it's Jesus living through us in such a way that those who know us see a difference between us and the world. Living a transformed life is one of the greatest testimonies of who Jesus Christ is. Some would call this a silent witness. As we continue next week we will see that a witness cannot be silent but we are to declare the biblical gospel as we live out the biblical gospel. But with that said, we must live lives that reflect the love of God and the person of Jesus Christ to the world around us. For us to do this we need the power of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus promised to His disciples so that they would receive this power in order to be witnesses of Him (Acts 1:8). To be a faithful witness of Jesus Christ we must be filled with the Holy Spirit. We must recognize that we do not possess the power to be a witness of Christ in and of ourselves, but through dependency on the Lord and surrender to his will in our lives He will manifest Himself through us. This is what it means to be an ambassador of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18–20). To receive this power we simply need to pray and ask God to fill us with His Spirit so that we might be a witness of Him (see Ephesians 5:18; Luke 11:13; Acts 5:32). Make sure to watch the video for more explanation on these verses).
Questions:
- How does knowing that these are Jesus’ final words before leaving earth change the way you read these Commission passages? If you knew you were leaving the earth, what would you say to your family and how important would those words be?
- Summarize the Great Commission and talk about how that is to be lived out in your life?
- Can you be a silent witness? How important are words? How does the message we carry loose credit when we don’t live like Jesus asks us to? How does the message we carry gain respect when we do live as Jesus calls us to live?
Action steps:
Begin to pray about how you my fulfill the great commission in your life. We will talk more about this in the weeks to come but spend some time this week asking God to speak to you and to give you His vision for your life. Ask God to reveal to you ways that you can live your life for eternal things. Don't waste your life on things you'll regret but invest your life into eternity.