Next Steps

‘The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ Luke 10:27.

If you are going to break the ice effectively you have to live in 3D. Your friend’s next step could be a book, or a sermon CD, or the next step could be just keep quiet and be friendly; don’t talk about Jesus. And when your relationship has grown and deeply rooted, the next step may be to ask them directly to give their lives to Jesus. But you do not start by asking the person to give his/her life to Jesus. You start by developing friendship, then discovering stories, and then discerning the next steps. The people that live in 3D develop friendships, discover stories, and they discern next steps. Take those three names that you have of people that are close to you and far from God and look at them in 3D. Where are you in friendship with them? Have you discovered their stories? Can you discern their next steps? When you live in 3D, you will see that introducing people to Jesus [evangelism] would be easy. As this week ends and the new one unfolds, you must choose to either invest in things that glorify and satisfy you or invest in things that glorify and satisfy God. What will your answer be – you or God? God, I hope. What that would mean would be that you would deliberately develop friendships this weekend and grow them in the new week. Those that you are already friends with, deliberately discover their stories. And for those that you have already discovered their stories, be deliberate in discerning their next steps. And then take the next steps to break the ice.

We have to commit, beginning from today, to live in 3D. For you, your next step is to ask the Holy Spirit to lead you. And if you choose to obey God’s leading you will think back at this season and you will confirm that it was time well spent. The reason why people are depressed is because they are not doing the things that bring life. The things that bring life are develop friendships, discover stories, and discern next steps. Help people connect to God. The joy of seeing somebody turn to Christ is unspeakable. It crushes every form of depression. It puts you on a high.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, lead me to invest in the things that glorify and satisfy God, in Jesus Name.