So I was cleaning up my email inbox, while listening to Pr. B's sermon, and came across this gem. It is a direct pull from this site but I was impressed by the Spirit to share it. I can relate to Philippians 4:6-7 the most. How about you?
Q2 SS-2012 Lesson 9: Releasing into Ministry: (read Lesson 9)
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isa 6:8. This week focuses on releasing members into ministry and explores the following key areas.
I will present this week's Sabbath School summary using tweets from @metrosda. 1st up:
“And how shall they preach unless they are sent?..." Romans 10:15 Here I am Lord #SendMe and I will #go
— Metro Church (@metrosda) June 1, 2012
Read more of Metro's Sabbath School tweet summary.
Q2 SS-2012 Lesson 7: Corporate Evangelism & Witnessing: (read Lesson 7)
Key Text: “The things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2, NKJV).
1. Why is it that churches that are so busy fighting among themselves rarely do outreach?
2. What assurance can we gain from Psalm 37 in relation to the success of witnessing and evangelism activities?
3. How do we know when our planning is led by the Holy Spirit rather than by merely human preparation?
4. This week’s study addresses “corporate unity” in the Church. What does this mean—and not mean—in every day terms?
Q2 SS-2012 Lesson 3: Spiritual Gifts for Evangelism and Witnessing (read Lesson 3)
…. the one that is given to you by the Holy Spirit. That amazed me. Let’s explore it from the text.
“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11-12, NKJV).
Two things that stood out in my study were firstly, gifts are given and secondly, they are given by a specific being: the Holy Spirit. Apparently, gifts are not something that we are born with - they are not talents, right? Interesting! So we can actually have talented church leaders who may not have received the gift for that ministry. I always wondered how a once presumptuous sinner like myself (emphasis on “presumptuous”) could have still led out in church appointed positions. Reminds me about that sermon Pastor Johns preached on Bar-Jesus - "Behind Enemy Lines".
Q2 SS-2012 Lesson 2: Every Member Ministry (read Lesson 2)
A CNBC Originals documentary, “Cruise Inc.: Big Money on the High Seas” (2009), took us inside the $30 billion cruise industry. The cruise ship documented was the Norwegian Pearl, a 15-story tall, 965 ft long, 93,000 ton “money making machine”. They called it a “floating city” that employs 1100 crew members to cater to 2200 passengers eating 12,000 meals per day. One could only imagine that all hands are always on deck to serve and entertain the passengers.
Imagine Peter the disciple being alive today and swearing (before he was saved, of course) at the cruise industry. He’d probably be thinking - what sense does it make for a multi-million dollar sea vessel to be burning through millions of dollars just to entertain? They don’t even catch any fish!!
Q2 SS-2012 Lesson 1: Defining Evangelism and Witnessing (read Lesson 1)
So it’s your first “real” job and you are really excited or at least thankful - maybe about the benefits you’ll be offered or the location or prestige of the company. For some, it may be what you will be doing that is most important and exciting. But for most, you are probably just glad to be getting a paycheck. But what does your job really entail? What is your job description?