Tag: Great commission

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Five

The Harvest is Plentiful

Heller Estates, Vineyard

Week 63 | Section 70a

Heller Estates, VineyardLegacy planning is a term many are familiar with but there are none that have proven better than Jesus’. The success is in part due to His master plan and God’s very nature which was instilled within humanity. In today’s study we find our selves peering pack onto the eve of a movement that transformed the world forever.  It was late summer, for two-and-a-half years they had followed Jesus, then become his disciples, and in the spring Jesus had selected them to be his Apostles – yet there was more to do together than relish each moment with the Lord.

Scripture:

[one_half last=”no”]Matthew 9:35-38
35 Jesus went1 about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.2 36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered,3 like sheep without a shepherd.4    37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest indeed is plentiful,5 but the laborers are few.6 38 Pray7 therefore that the Lord of the harvest8 will send out laborers into his harvest.”. 9¯10[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]Mark 6:6b
6b He went around the villages teaching.[/one_half]

Group Dialog:

  1. How would you define the needs and sentiments of your neighborhood, community, and the surrounding towns?
  2. How is the Lord’s command at this time in the life of Jesus and the Apostles, differ from his command after his resurrection (Matt 28:19-20) and Paul’s instruction in Eph 4:12-14?
  3. In Ephesians 6:12 Paul writes, “our battle is not against flesh and blood”. What then should we understand about Jesus’ command for prayer and labor?
  4. As a disciple yourself, how are you personally responding to this command of Christ?
  5. How ought the church unite and serve? Under whom are we to unite (who is the leader)? What is the common cause (read: 2Cor 5:11-21)? What purpose does our diversity of ministries and vocations, and strength serve to fulfill this common cause?
  6. How is being part of Jesus’ movement different that becoming a member of a church?

Learning Objectives:

Prayer is essential, we must engage in the ministry of reconciliation, diversity of ministries, vocation, spiritual gifts, strengths, common cause, unity of the Church, work of the Church, evangelism, service,

Photo: Heller Estates winery in Monterey County, CA. 2014 Harvest. Heller Estates is an organic winery high up on the hillside within the Carmel Valley Appellation.

Study Notes:

Categories
Five

We Want a Sign

We Want a Sign

Week 53 | Section 62

We Want a SignThe pharisees remain antagonistic, doubting the signs they have already seen and the testimony of Jesus and John the Baptist. While they wished to have him tried and killed, they would have to sway the masses. But Jesus continued to win the hearts of the people, not by any campaign but by living with integrity as the Messiah, the Lord who saves.

Scripture:

Matthew 12:38-45
38 Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”1¯2¯3 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign,4 but no sign5will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet.6 40  For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.7 41  The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah;8¯9 and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here.10¯11 42  The queen of the south12 will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth13 to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here. 43  When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn’t find it. 44  Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45  Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”14¯15¯16¯17

Group Dialog:

  1. What do you want/require before obeying God?
  2. How was Jesus confirmed and approved for ministry? Did he require the blessing of the Pharisees?
  3. How have you heard God speak to you? (In the Word, in prayer, through another person).
  4. How can your current situation affect your response time when convicted?
  5. Have you made yourself available to God? What evidence is there in your calendar that your relationship with God and his Kingdom purposes are your priority?
  6. In what ways are you still trying to live by your own power, by your own rules, your own methods? What aspects of your thoughts, your life , your ministry have you not yet yielded to the Holy Spirit’s control?

Learning Objectives:

Jesus’ substitutionary sacrifice, admonishment, Great commission, sin, repentance, change of heart, worship,

Study Notes: