A15 Series and Transits
List of the Online Lessons: A B C D E F G H
A15 Series and Transits
Attending four or five interesting Discovery meetings will shift some people’s view of Jesus significantly. But for an ordinary Czech, it is usually not enough to accept Him personally and follow Him. When a friend made a decision for Jesus after the third meeting, we were very encouraged. We hope that as people in general hear more of God’s word, about the Lord Jesus, and about the lives transformed by God’s word, the average number of Discovery encounters required for conversion will decrease rapidly. Of course, some will not choose the Lord Jesus at all…
There was a time when we were doing Discovery as long-term „transit stations“. That is, as an unlimited continuation for many months. Some friends were coming gladly, others occasionally showed up, and some sooner or later disappeared. At vast majority of meetings, there used to be someone who had not yet accepted Jesus; so we saw hope. However, in some we did not see the slightest spiritual shift even after a year and half! Not growing interest in Jesus, let alone the attempt to personally invite Jesus into their life. We were just a pleasant community for them; and there are not many like that out there.
By developing contact with other people without Jesus, we realized that we did not have time and mental capacity for those who might want to go to Jesus more purposefully. Some are waiting for us to show them the way. And we didn’t have space for them because of those who didn’t move on.
Till now, we sometimes struggle with the dilemma: on the one hand, we want to serve people regardless of their immediate response to our challenge; on the other hand, we need to go mainly to those who seek and have „prepared soil“ in their hearts. I assure you, there are many. I guess you have them on your relational map as well. And we don’t know many yet – we need to find them and connect with them where they are.
Experts who currently see a real movement in various parts of the world remind us that Jesus sent his disciples to find so-called „people of peace“. – Those who receive them, be open for their message, and even will share Jesus with others. A biblical example of a „person of peace“ could be Samaritan woman who, after meeting Jesus, summons an entire village to Him (John 4), or the jailer in Philippi with whom his entire household receives Jesus (Acts 16), also Lydia, who opened her house (Acts 16), certainly Cornelius (Acts 10) and others…
That is why today we invite our friends to shorter closed series.
As I briefly told my personal story of how I invited Jesus into my life before the last meeting of the first series, my buddy says, „Thanks Pavel, a small illustration helped me make a similar decision to invite Jesus to life.“ He grabs a piece of paper and a pencil, „At the beginning God and man talked together normally…“ And the gap illustration follows that I will show you in one of the coming lessons.
If we see a spiritual shift in someone, we would be happy to invite them to the second series of Discovery. At the same time, we make it clear that „learning“ is important, but not enough of what Jesus offers to us. He calls us to „make a decision“ for Him, to follow Him.
If someone doesn’t decide even after the second series, the question is: Is he missing more information? Most of the time not. Maybe, he just hasn’t matured to make a decision for Jesus, yet, and we don’t know at the moment how to help him more. That’s why we „left“ them for a while. Occasionally we invited them to a wider meeting or barbecue.
Your relational map contains a number of people who have no idea what it is like to live with Jesus. And some are happy to find out! So invite others to your next first series.
Please open our eyes, Lord Jesus, to recognize the people you are already preparing who are already looking for You.