Small Groups | Jason Ramsey, Lead Pastor

and what an awesome report what an awesome report i love that thank you sister macy i don't know where you're at i know you i saw you come in uh but thank you so much littlefinger went up over there i believe she's right on the end there thank you so wave in the hand just because they don't know who you are they just saw you on the screen they have no idea who you are there you are thank you so much for what you did there and for tying missions in with small groups it's just exciting i thank god for our small group ministry thank god for every small group leader and i'm going to talk about that tonight i'm just so excited about our small groups thankful for what god is doing this coming sunday this sunday is our small groups fall semester sign up this is not for the leadership this is for the participant those that want to join a small group this is your sunday to join we're going to have just a great time this coming sunday and i want to talk about small groups this morning but before we get into there this evening but before we get into that sunday morning we're going to have a special service here remembering 9 11. and just ask that you invite friends invite family to just come out and be a part of that service as we remember on this 20th anniversary of september 11th and so just asking you to join with us in prayer and remembrance and then continue to lift up the multitudes that have been displaced and trying to get back home trying to get settled in and don't even know what normal looks like don't even know if they have a home to go back to so just lift them up in prayer and then if you follow the news any you know there's a lot of situations going on with our with evacuees that have taken place we just pray for all involved and um just just keep these things in mind and then the host of needs that we mentioned at the beginning of the service but god is moving in a great way i want to thank you and i know i'm going off script for just a moment here out of my notes i just want to say thank you for serving thank you for being a part of our dream team thank you for making a difference thank you for getting involved the pentecostal of the twin cities because we're impacting the world because of you because if you're volunteering because of your giving because of your time and your efforts and we thank god for you we've got people training tonight we've got dream team new dream team members that are training in various areas in our facility tonight and making it possible so we honor them and thank god for every one of them that are part of this and you know and we need to make it as easy that on-ramp is easy as possible that's what we're trying to do make that on-ramp as easy as possible and then you as a participant that comes in and just sits and soaks and i'm just figuratively speaking here we do more than that but we're sitting and soaking in the presence of god when you see a dream team member you see somebody volunteering somebody running a camera somebody running the sound stop by and and give them a positive you know just uh air high five you're doing a great job thank you for serving thank you for making a difference would you do that and help me as we just honor them and thank them for their serving and everything they do to help make church better amen if they weren't doing it some of us would have to do it right so um it's it's just really encouraging for all of us to get plugged in every one of us to get involved and that's what i want to talk to you about tonight because it's easy especially the larger the church becomes the the greater the crowd becomes it's it becomes very easy to kind of slip in at right at service time or after or right before or whatever and we just kind of sit in the service and just take in but we've got people that are serving in multiple areas throughout the week some of them you will never see on a sunday morning or a wednesday night serving but they're serving throughout the week david thank you so much for uh what you did in the parking lot this past week with david lewis and thanking god for don is she coming out here and pressure washing and a lot of stuff that took place this past week mike harris thank you and i know i'm missing people but it just happens every week somebody's doing something brother joe make sure our yard gets mowed in the back there and everything's taken care of and i thank god for people like this that every week they step up to the plate and they swing as hard as they can swing and they hit it out of the park every time and i thank god for our dream team come on give it up for him one more time i love it i love it big d why don't you stand up right here on the front row on fire for god got a word tonight man he's just on fire brother stay standing for just a second brother dylan and the sister whitney thank god for them brother dylan's our small group director sister whitney is a small group assistant and they're doing a phenomenal job with our small groups doing an amazing job so thank you and what and you can be seated what i want you to do as a church whether you're online or in person when you see them or when you have contact with them let them know how much you appreciate everything they do to make small group ministries success at the church and that we're successful in this and connecting people and and able to get people involved i think it's awesome it's incredible i want to talk about it tonight and but we set a goal and pastor jason said this up front and the very beginning of the service before we went live that we set a goal of 25 small is that right 25 small groups for this semester they blew that out of the water by 32 percent they exceeded their goal by 32 we've had around 33 34 something like that small groups and i may be off by one group there but 33 small groups for this semester and i thank god for that and to all of you that signed up to be leaders thank you for making a difference and this is so important because this is not just a part of potc's dna but it's a you know small groups are biblical it's bible when we talk about small groups we're talking about the word of god we're talking about how jesus did life and ministry he did it how in small groups right remember he started out with a pretty good sized group of about 12 men right he got together with about 12 guys and he said let's hang out together that's a pretty good size small group he got together but then he separated some he divided those 12 into four groups of three or three groups of four and i can't remember exactly how this all plays out but i do know that there were three that he set aside peter james and john and he took them aside into a tight-knit very small group he brought them in for some tight mentorship to bring them in to invest in them and take them a little farther it was those three that he said i want you to walk with me and pray i want you to pray with me in the garden and so jesus went into the one of the most critical times of his life and ministry he went and prayed in the garden of gethsemane and as he prayed he brought those three with him they fell asleep right because that's what we do and he fell asleep they fell asleep and jesus came back he was in agony and he was struggling with this he was praying and he was wrestling with his will he was wrestling with his thoughts and just wrestling with his desire to not feel pain which sounds pretty reasonable and he's saying let this cup pass from me and he goes back looking for some support in the prayer group and he goes back to his prayer group because they're listed in the small group listing on www.js jesus so i don't know i started i had a really good thought and it just kind of ran and that's the problem when i don't stick to my notes right we get into a big situation here but it was listed on there and they said hey this is great this is wonderful this is awesome and they went to sleep they had the label of prayer warriors they had the title of prayer warriors they were separated for the season they were set apart and they fell asleep they stopped praying they stopped praying jesus came back and he says dude i need you to watch with me i need you to pay attention to what's going on around us now's not the time to sleep the world's in trouble now's not the time to sleep the world is being shaken right now now's not the time to sleep i'm about to go to calvary can you not watch with me one hour and so we spent some time with this small group and so jesus did life in small group and the fact of the matter is for everyone that would say pastor i don't like the concept of small groups i would tell you you're a hypocrite because you live your life in small groups everything you do is in small groups you're board meetings in small groups you're your planning sessions is in small groups it's with groups of people they may be big in number but they're small in the light of the whole thing so it's a small group you hang out with a select few friends that's a small group you sit in the same spot near the same few people every server guess what that is that's a small group the fact is we do life in small groups it's natural to us all the way from the time we first went to school and we started gathering around we went to lunch and back in those days i know some of you kids won't remember this but back in those days we could sit next to each other at school and we could eat lunch together we could take breaks together and back in those days you would sit together with the same group of friends guess what that group that was a small group my point is we've always done small groups it's nothing new it's just a matter of us recognizing that god still uses small groups to change lives so in psalm 68 and verse 6 it says this that god setteth the solitary the lonely the isolated the quarantined he sets them in families he bringeth out those which are bound with chains and there is a two-fold promise that god makes us through small groups number one he says i'm gonna give you a family i'm gonna bring you and put you into a family the solitary the lonely the isolated they're rejected and dejected i'm going to put you into a family i'm going to put you in a small group and then i'm going to i'm going to give you freedom i'm going to bring you out of your bondage i'm going to give you freedom so god says i'm going to give you family and i'm going to give you freedom so we're not trying to push small groups because we're trying to create events at potc this is not about events it has nothing to do with trying to fill a church calendar small groups are not events small groups are steps to take you from here to there it's it's to help you elevate your life one step at a time that's the purpose of small groups small groups help people take their next steps in god pastor jw talked about it just a little bit ago right before the service went live and he says this is for some of you next steps may be baptism for some of you next steps may be getting involved in a small group next steps may be leading a small group next steps may be simply reading your bible every day but every one of us no matter how long we have been living for god we ought to be taking new steps every day the moment we stopped walking somebody was reading this to me the other day they're studying psychology and they're studying some things and they were saying you know what i i've discovered in the study in here that that when a person ceases to move when they reach a certain age that they stop moving they start dying quicker and when they stop connecting relationally they die sooner and so what happens is we isolate ourselves not realizing that we're shortening our lifespan right that's why through covet and everything that's happened there's so many pastors so many so many ministers and and other professionals around the globe that are so concerned and praying and reaching out because if we get comfortable with isolation if we get comfortable being alone we shorten our lifespan we need one another we need interaction we may not need as much of that interaction as our neighbor does but we all need that interaction most of the time when you come home from work and not feeling like interacting it's because you had to interact all day long but we all need it we just need regular doses of it we need controlled doses of it right we need controlled environments where where we're not over over uh work there in our in our in our relationships and things and we need to be able to replenish our energy but god wants everyone to experience freedom here on earth i believe that i don't believe for one moment that god simply is going to wait until we get to heaven and then look at us and say okay now you're free now i believe god intended he created mankind to be able to walk freely there was no restriction in place until they disobeyed god and when they disobeyed god that's when the angel with the flaming sword got put at the gates of the beautiful garden restriction was put in place guidelines were established my point is this god intended for us as human beings to have freedom to have liberty in our life to walk in the glory and the grace of god to walk in the liberty of his presence right if it's god's intention for us to receive the baptism of the holy spirit in our life and where the spirit of the lord is there is liberty guess what if you are full of god's spirit you ought to be walking in liberty right now you ought to be walking in freedom right now you ought to be living the life right now amen but here's the deal to experience freedom here on earth is god's desire and the system that god uses to introduce freedom is people god uses people he uses people like me uses people like you he he uses people to accomplish his mission and goal i like how james put it in james chapter 5 verse 16 confess your faults one to another that's never fun pray for one another i can handle that that you may be healed the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much you see we go to god for forgiveness but there are times when god chooses to use people to bring healing to us we're going to have some pictures up very soon here we made a presentation to one of our professional facilities here in town that are doing amazing work helping people um emotionally and and and mental health and and just it's a beautiful work that they're doing and god has god has blessed that tremendously sometimes god uses avenues like that he uses people that have a gift of compassion a gift of discernment in their life to help others right he said confess your faults that you may be healed pray for one another that you may be healed look after one another situation that you can be healed it's a healing process it's a part of god's divine design it's a part of his divine design that we be made whole that we walk in freedom we like to say here that real life change happens in the context of authentic relationships relationships and not just relationships but authentic relationships because it's important for us to be real with one another even if that reality is not so pretty we need to be real with one another and that's where small groups come in it brings down the walls it breaks down barriers it allows us to feel comfortable talking it allows us to feel comfortable connecting so if we want to get the most from god if we're going to receive god's best for our life then we have to include other people small groups so our small groups provide three things i want to hit these quick number one a place to connect a place to connect connection is so important especially in the hour that we're living in today we're connecting more than we've ever connected before digitally but where the challenge is coming in is there is a generation that doesn't know how to carry on a conversation outside of a computer or a phone we want to help connect with people to communicate with people there's a generation that i that i would struggle to connect with trying to find that common ground my point is this if we don't push ourself out of our comfort zone we will be okay with not communicating with not connecting we have to connect in order to fulfill the purpose the plan the mission of god first corinthians chapter 9 and verse 22 the living bible puts it this way whatever a person is like i try to find common ground with him so that he will let me tell him about christ and let christ save him did you catch that he said i really try to find common ground with everyone doesn't mean you're going to agree with everything it doesn't mean you're gonna see eye to eye with everything that someone believes or someone says or their ideologies but he say in in every aspect of life i look for a way to connect with others because if i can connect with them if i can somehow identify with them in some even small way it brings down a garden allows me to have conversations with them about the one that can change their life does that make sense to you you know we weren't made to do life alone god created us for community i'm going to expound more on that on sunday but we like to say that that it happens within that that authentic relationship so that place to connect that place to come together small groups provide that place where people can get real where they can connect with someone where they can identify with someone where they can get to know each other where they can we can get to know god more secondly not only is it a place to connect but and i want to try to move quickly through this but secondly small groups is a place to protect it's important to understand this and i'm speaking in small groups in general just small groups in general it's important that every small group is a safe place it needs to be a safe place a place to protect it needs to be a place where we can come together and there's no judging there's no there's oh really there is none of that oh i need to step out you will not believe i'm going to tell you right now what just came out in our small group that's not what small groups what and that's not what i'm talking about it needs to be a safe place it needs to be a place when someone opens up and shares something on their heart and they need prayer about something or asking for prayer or need in their life they need to know and feel that they are in a safe trusted place that's what small groups are about that's what small groups about this whole protection idea is this that we are better together we are better together and so we ought to get to that place and that's why so many fall and so many falters because we put up such a wall of what we should be and what you know this this appearance thing that when we struggle with something we're embarrassed to ask for help we're embarrassed to reach out and so we just sit and suffer we sit and suffer but if we'll reach out to others if we'll ex and just reach out and express what we're dealing with and what we're battling with safe place in the small group can help bring healing you know if someone's isolated it's a prime ground for the enemy to attack them and that's why we know their strength and protection in relationships you know the thing about the thing about relationships is you know when you're with someone you're you're interacting with others when you are um when you're connecting with people you know and you're at church you got your best duds on you got your hair done just right some of us you know what i'm saying we we i trimmed before i came to church tonight because i knew you would look at things like that so i mean i got it cleaned up i got it good i'm good to go i missed a spot right here when i was shaving and i thought the mask will cover that right this is the thing this is the thing it needs to be that safe place where someone comes in and says can i be real with you tonight i am struggling with something right now before we before we wet that bait can can i just tell you before we flick the rod can i just tell you that man i've had a week of it this week i just need some prayer right now can we pray together before we do this thing it needs to be a safe place and it needs to be a place that when we when we when we come together we don't run and tell everyone what happened in the group that's our family the beautiful thing about family is when we come here we get all fixed up and we have to be a certain way people expect a certain thing from us but when i'm at home my family knows the real me they know the real me they know the dude that has to have that quiet time set off on the side for just a little bit to just detox for a few minutes right they know that real am i being too real with you you're not in my small group so maybe i am but i trust you and you need to understand that family sees our faults family sees us when we get irritated about things family sees that and that's what small groups are they're family whoo become a place where others don't just know your name but they care about what's happened in your life they want to support you in your spiritual journey that's a small group so we have to include others if we're going to lead a protected and healthy life matthew 18 and 19 again i say unto you that if two of you shall agree on earth that's touching anything that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven it says that there is power in agreement so when we come together and we pray together it says god's going to move big d am i doing okay whoo we're a prey in church here it's a part of us it's our dna it's a part of our foundation right we have a foundation of prayer and we take that to a whole another level in small groups in small groups you're going to experience the power of prayer our small group leaders going to pray for their small group members every day in small group meetings we're going to pray right it's a foundational part of our church it's who we are so not only will you be protected here in the natural but by being involved in small groups there's a protection in the spiritual that you will experience because of the power and protective power of prayer so number three we believe small groups provide you with a place to grow a place to grow you know at potc we are all about taking next steps that's why we exist and we're working on doing better at communicating on every level so that we can encourage you and make you aware of where you can take your next step but as a small group leader that's where you come into this that's where you help us because we can't get to everyone we can't shoot videos every day all day long there has to be that passing on and that connecting from a small group leader to small group members that say hey have you taken your next step yet what does that look like for you and that's this is the thing next steps are why we exist it's we want you to move toward christ to take that next step in the lord we want you to grow in the lord i always heard growing up concerning adulthood and concerning maturity i always heard that if you ever stop growing you start dying right when you stop growing you start dying and while it happens in the natural sense there reaches a point where you stop shooting up you stop growing you stop developing and at that point you're dying you're you're going down you're regressing and the same thing happens in the spiritual life when we ever stop growing the thing about the natural life is we can't change that but in the spiritual life we can always grow right so let me move on here small groups small groups are a place where you can grow with each other and and you can become more like christ proverbs 27 17 as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another i want to highlight a few characteristics of small groups here at the potc number one their market their free market small groups what we mean by that is that we're just asking our leaders to take something that they like to do something they're good at something that they enjoy doing and turn it into a small group if you miss um brother dylan's video that he had on our facebook page you need to go back and watch that i know the the sign up period for leaders has already passed but he did a an incredible job on the video and what he was saying is exactly what i said here and it's it's saying take what you love to do take what you're already going to be doing and invite somebody to come along with you and that relational connection happens best because people gather around things they gather around things they like and that goes back to what i was talking about in first corinthians where paul says whatever a man is like i tried to find common ground so our free market small groups allow people to find common ground gives you an opportunity to to do something that you enjoy doing brother roy um brother roy myers has blessed us um every year with some muscadines well my family has developed a love for muscadines now because of that investment that you made in us my my son my youngest son braden went out in the yard yesterday i think it was and the boy has found some muscadine vines somewhere what i'm praying and hoping is that they're safe because he began to consume out there in the field i said you probably really need to call brother roy myers and he says they tasted good dad i said well you probably need to just see him at church tonight that's what i said and so he had went out earlier this afternoon and or this evening sometime and he was telling him about it he said dad man those things are really good he said i picked every one i could reach and i said well what'd you do with them bring them in he said well i ate them i said you ate them out in the yard he said yeah i just ate them out there they were good but that was an investment that one generation made to another and that can happen in small group settings a small group setting and when you get together in small groups people reveal their passion and god reveals his power our small groups have three semesters we run small groups and semesters similar to the school calendar so it's easy it's easy to kind of keep up with life flows and seasons right and so we want to make it easy for people to be in small groups and and during different seasons so we have a winter spring semester that's about 13 weeks or so a six week semester in the summer and then we do another 13 weeks uh roughly in the in the uh fall another characteristic of our small groups is everyone can join and i love that you don't have to meet a certain list of criteria you can be a part of a small group at the pentecost of the twin cities and and we hope that every individual every single person at potc connects to meaningful community through a small group and with so many groups to choose from and you'll see on sunday but so many groups to choose from we're confident there's a group that is the right fit for you baby am i doing okay thank you all right now that i've told you a little bit about small groups i've got about 10 minutes to talk to the leaders okay and i want to talk to those of you that already signed up in the future we'll be kind of doing some training that'll be separate from a service but because of there's some in the services that have never signed up for a small group you really don't know what it's about you don't know what the leader uh the leading role of a small group entails i want to just kind of walk you through some of our expectations and opportunities that you have to grow in this area of your life is that good so this sunday after service is going to be our small group fair right out in you know in the lobby and you want to sign up there's going to be tables places where you can just sign up so whether you're leading or attending the group the most important thing is that you're involved that you're involved in small groups at the church and if you do that you will find that you'll develop lifelong friendships over a process of time right over the process of of time you'll grow in your walk with god and more you'll grow more than you ever thought or ever imagined you could grow by simply being involved in a small group and now that i've told you a bit about that let's let's do let's do some of this training here right so as small group leaders we have a fantastic opportunity if you signed up to be a small group leader just slip your hand up and i know we don't have everybody here tonight but if you signed up raise your hand if you signed up to be a small group leader we got hands all across the building some of them are broken but we got them up here halfway at least okay so we got them up thank you for signing up thank you so much for being a part of that thank you for giving of your time your resources and your ability i'm proud to lead a group i'm excited about leading my group i thank god for my group i connected even today with some of my group members just just reaching out wanting to know what's going on in their life what's happening and it's it's just so important that we do this but in the process of connecting with others things are going to come up questions are going to get asked and those of you that never led a group before or maybe perhaps never led in a church period i want to give you some points i want to give you some things that i feel like are very important to bring that confidence as a leader in any situation that you encounter okay so you want to jot this down by the way this will not only work in your small group setting but this will work at home this will work at the office this will work at school it is a universal biblical truth as we help people and point them to god we adopted this acronym it's not original with us perhaps you've heard of it's called espn we adopted the acronym and it's a method or a formula that you can use to help navigate the semester with your small group members the e and espn stands for encourage it's so important that every small group meeting that you have that you walk in with a good attitude with an upbeat mindset with a positive outlook they need to come into your group with you encouraging them saying thank you for being here man i'm excited what's going on in your week what's happening don't host a group and and just start out with you would not believe the week i've had kick yourself before you get in the meeting so you can kick yourself happy or something right because they're coming here following you and you want to make sure that you lead them with encouragement and we we ought to bring the hope of jesus and let them know that jesus can make a positive difference in their life right and so and that's in every small group and so we hate we have the winning formula what's the winning formula his name is jesus that's the winning formula if we have nothing else we have enough with jesus and so you've got what it takes to to lead that group you have what it takes to succeed we've got his presence his spirit living inside of us we have his word that we can refer to we have the power of relationships that he has gifted us to be able to make right we believe nothing is ever too far gone for god's grace right amen i thank god for that and as leaders we need to get that down deep inside of us because when we encounter situations or things that come up in our small groups we have to be a voice of encouragement just strengthen them so it's going to stretch us out on our faith a bit but i promise you when we point people to god it does something for them and it'll do something for you in the in the same time and then the s in espn is the scripture the scripture is powerful i'm telling you the word of god is powerful there's life in the word of god and so we need to bring god's word into any situation every group meeting every gathering and i'm not just talking about the spiritual emphasis groups every group needs to have a spiritual emphasis every group needs to have that encouragement and the scriptural application somewhere in there it doesn't matter if you're going to the range to shoot the head off of a target somewhere a paper target it's really important it's really important that you bring in that word of encouragement and that you bring in a scripture just a verse it doesn't need to be a bible study it doesn't need to be a devotion that's 10 minutes long just 60 seconds i thank god for what he said in his word he told us to go forth and and you know to disciple and so we just we just bring that up and then we have a time of prayer has any anybody got a need in the place anybody got a situation yeah you know i just my trigger finger's been hurting i don't want it to mess me up on my shots today well great let's pray for you you see what i'm saying just something simple bringing in that scripture bringing in the word of god there's power in the word of god and then the p in espn is prayer pray prayer is the foundation of everything we do at the potc it's our secret sauce as i call it and there's really no secret to us but it is the secret sauce to an outsider somebody that's not familiar with our church it's prayer that makes the difference it's our saturday night sacrifice coming together at six o'clock every saturday night being consistent in our prayer life and consistent in our walk with god when there's other things we could or you know sometimes think we should be doing we're coming together and praying and every saturday that you do that you're putting your flesh under subjection and you're coming together and saying god i'm giving you the first of my week i'm giving you that saturday and then sunday when i come in that first day of the week on sunday i'm giving you praise sunday is not the beginning or monday's not the beginning of the week it starts on sunday right that's the beginning of our week so we give god praise we want to give him the last of the week and the first of the week that saturday closing it out and that sunday starting at god i'm giving it to you i praise you and i'm gonna sacrifice to be here i'm gonna sacrifice to pray i'm gonna make sure that i give you at least the one hour at the end of my week i'm going to give you praise at the end of my week and i'm going to spend the one hour at the beginning of my week to make sure you know that you are first and foremost in my life that's good pastoring right there that's a good word right there that's a good word but it needs to be the foundation of our small groups right right it i'm not throwing darts tonight i'm trying to help you what i'm trying to do is tighten some some places in our life where we get kind of lacks and loose a little bit you right we're human we're natural we struggle with things as a leader you have the opportunity to bring prayer to every part of your small group so i want us as leaders to commit to praying daily how often daily commit to praying daily by name for every small group member in your group and tell them you're praying for them don't just pray for them and then when they get around to it and they ask you man i need some prayer and then he said well by the way i've been praying for you now sometimes they just need that word of encouragement sometimes they just need that little boost right sometimes they just need to hear from you and say hey i just want to let you know i prayed for you today i prayed for you today there's an individual that texts me every day letting me know he's praying for me every day i receive a text from this individual doesn't go to church here doesn't no no direct benefit nothing just every day he says i know you carry a load as a pastor and i'm praying for you every day it could be something as simple as writing their name down on a 3x5 card and keeping it in a prominent place so that you see it every day to remind you to pray for them it can be something as simple as that what happens is that as you pray for them you gain insight and you even i believe gain a little discernment as you're praying and it can provide god some space when we come together and we're praying in our groups it's not about your voice being heard you need to lead them and how to pray let them take the lead let them step out that's discipleship that's how we grow one another that's how we encourage but it can provide a moment where we can talk about issues and talk about struggles and connect on a deeper level relationally and so secondly pray in your group don't just pray for your group but pray in your group if something comes up be willing to hit the pause button on your group meeting just hit the pause button be willing to do that and say you know what guys i had plans for this meeting but we're going to stop right here for just a moment because so and so just brought up the situation that they're struggling with and they need us to pray and then maybe take a minute for that situation doesn't mean you have to cancel your whole group meeting but just take a minute for that let them know that their group their family is going to pray for them and you don't have to shoulder it alone you don't have to carry that by yourself develop leaders within the group develop people within the group that can help you lead that group and when there's a need in there share that with them if you're able to do that share that with them and say help me pray about such and such help me pray for a miracle i can't tell you the name but i can tell you that they need a miracle in this particular area of their life and so whatever the situation is you don't have to carry it alone always ask them ask the individual that's got a need in their life just ask them this what are you believing god for what do you believe believing god for what are you believing him to do there's a purpose to that let them speak it don't just walk in there with your gift of discernment and say well i'm going to tell you what you need let them speak that you know i've prayed for someone i prayed for someone that this is embarrassing but i'm gonna just be real with you i was praying for someone that came came to a particular service and this was overseas so i'll just say that because there was a language barrier that makes me feel better about being so stupid but then thank you for not laughing but they they came up and i thought i understood the translator to say they had a tumor and they needed deliverance come to find out they were pregnant and wanted a blessing on the baby but anyway i was rebuking the tumor i mean i was casting it out and thank god he didn't deliver her right then you know i mean it would have been a little too soon but they were wanting to bless him well they circled back around and i wondered why they were looking that way but you know i just misunderstood the translator my point is even in times like that you don't want to miss it i went back and i did pray for the individual and and we got we got it squared away and i thank god for that my point is when you walk into your meeting in your gift of discernment you may miss it you may completely miss it and that's okay but it's important for them to speak it because not only are you you have a better chance of not missing it but it's going to help build their faith and give them some guidance on how to agree in prayer with them what does the bible say about agree and if two or that's a small group you know what why didn't he just say if you would agree because we need each other we need our small group and so anyway he said if we'll agree with someone if we'll agree with another someone if we will agree in our small group we can make a difference we can make a difference and so this will help you tremendously as a leader and if and it would help if you relax some don't stress out over it don't say man as a small group leader they never said anything about me having to lead in prayer good night i can't do that just relax if you're a little uncomfortable praying out loud or doing what i've suggested so far tonight just ask god for some confidence before you get to the meeting ask god for confidence god help me to have a little boldness today you know i don't want to get preachy with it but lord just help me lead them in prayer right now you know i mentioned scripture earlier but let me also encourage you to pray scripture pray the scripture you ought to create a little list that you can just keep on you're on your phone i've got scriptures that i can pull up when somebody calls and they need prayer about things you say well you're a preacher you've got the whole bible memorized no i don't no no i i have scriptures that i've i've put into my notes and many of them i can quote in many scriptures i can i can i can just spit them out there but there's specific scriptures that are geared for specific things and when somebody calls me and they're struggling with that specific thing i want to make sure i hit those scriptures because those scriptures deal with that and so i'll put them on speaker phones sometimes and man i will pray the fire down i'll pray god's presence down as best i can and i'll read those scriptures and i'll pray it why because there's power in the written word and the spoken word of god and the word of god is forever settled which means he can't go back on his word it's already written and if it's written it's mine to claim and so i claim it in jesus name i claim it for you and i claim it for your family and i claim it for those that i'm praying for and i claim it for those that are watching online why because it's ours to claim it's our right we have a right to that i need to move on here it's important for us to pray the scripture secondly pray in your group um and then psalm psalm 32 in verse 10 the lord's unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him say pastor i don't know what to pray that's always a good scripture for any situation that's that's a scripture that works in any situation lord's unfailing love surrounds those who trust in him proverbs 3 5 and 6 trust in the lord with all thine heart lean not to thine own understanding in all thy ways acknowledge him or submit to him in this particular version and he will make your path straight acknowledge him and he will direct thy path just acknowledge him that means bring him into every area of your life matthew 6 33 but seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness and then everything else will be added to you there's no mention of subtraction and there's really no mention of multiplication it's just addition in other words it may not come in a mass form it may not come in a bulk blessing but one by one god's just gonna heap it up just little by little i mean little by little just little by little just a little by little a refund here refund there and overage there just little by little just a blessing come on somebody whoo i'm telling you god will do it because it's his word it's his word it's his word and so our role as a leader is to guide our group members in into a new way of living and maybe strengthen some areas that they hope to grow in it's important that you have them speak that because you want to know what area they need to grow in that they feel like they want to grow in then you can help them in that you can help them in that don't go in there with expectations of where you see them you start with where they see themselves and where they see themselves going and then as a leader help them get there help them get there and then the next the last the last key there is in pastor josh if you'll come on up and just remind me i'm closing in his next steps next steps right and it's simply helping point people to what is their next step their next step you know often we get a little bit of a breakthrough and then we sit idle and i think that's a mistake i do i believe that's a mistake as a leader what we can do is help them with the breakthrough and then help them take steps so they avoid falling back into that same situation again talk with them about it talk talk about it with the group what would some next steps be for for you i didn't have it in my notes but one thing that's popping in my mind right now is go into your group meeting with a plan be prepared take some time this week before everyone signs up take some time this week to develop a plan for your group map it out how's the holidays gonna look for you how's the season going to look for you as people shift and change do you have a plan for your meeting you say well man we're just getting out there swinging swinging golf clubs have a plan what time are you meeting where are you meeting what are you going to do in between the meeting you know at the meeting after it's over do you have a plan are you just showing up and expecting people that have other things to do to just come along and follow you nowhere right have a plan just say hey have a plan and i'm not picking on our golfers here i'm just using that for an illustration just have a plan small groups are never about the leader right all we are is facilitators it's not about establishing a name for ourselves it's not who's got the greatest group no it's a facilitator we our role is to guide them into that new life that god wants them bottom line is let's be engaged and realize that when we step into the space that god has given us to work in even if it's a little uncomfortable for us god is going to show up so we encourage people to share god's word to pray and clearly identify next steps if you forget everything that i said tonight as a leader and you totally miss everything else i'm gonna go back and repeat that one statement again because you need to grasp that every meeting encourage people to share by sharing god's word encourage them by sharing god's word and then encourage them through praying together pray for them pray with them in the group and then encourage them to pray if at the end of the semester there's not a person in your group that has led prayer you may be missing that you haven't helped them take their next steps all you've done is created an event you understand what i'm saying do you understand the importance of a leader is to help them take next steps and grow you say pastor jay this sounds a lot like discipleship yes it does that's what it's about it's doing life jesus went fishing with the disciples he camped out with the disciples he went to some scary places with the disciples he did life with the disciples right and if we do that as we stand if we do that we're going to be successful at leading and we're going to see god move powerfully in situations for every small group leader that's in this building and for those that are watching online i want to pray specifically for you because i'm so proud of you in what you've committed to do this semester it's just a semester if you don't like it when you're done you can bail out and do whatever but i believe over this next semester there's going to be something birthed within you that's going to cause new life to develop because what you're doing as a small group leader is making a difference you are investing in souls you are investing in souls you are changing lives as a small group leader you are taking time out of your schedule to love on somebody to pray for them they're people that will be in your small group this semester that have never heard anyone outside of a ministry team tell them they were praying for them they've never received a text message outside of anyone that's connected to church leadership to let them know they were prayed for that day but i believe at the end of this semester the text messages the phone calls the notes the the letters in the mail the emails the gifts that are going to be sent just random acts of kindness we have the most loving church and what i want to do is help connect you with the ministry that can channel that toward people that need it so badly they want it so badly father we pray right now for every leader there's some that had to join us because of their work schedules they're joining us online right now and i pray for them i pray for these that are in the building right now that have already signed up and registered their groups and i know there are many more right now that wish they would have signed up already but that time will come in the meantime i pray lord help them get plugged into a group and support somebody to come alongside another group leader and say listen if you need anything if i can help you in any way if you need me to to sweep the floor if you need me to stay after the group and and vacuum if you need me to help send out an email to our group once a week whatever you need me to do i want to make a difference brother dylan sister whitney if if you need me to help you in any way let me know i'll never resent that phone call i'll never resent the emails i'll never resent the text messages because we're making a difference in the kingdom of god we're making a difference in our world i pray lord that you would anoint and bless and minister to every leader and those who are going to sign up to be a part of the small groups on sunday i pray lord you have blessed them in a mighty way in the name of jesus we give you praise we give you glory and we give you honor in jesus name come on somebody give him praise god bless our online campus we love you and appreciate you those that are in the building if you have an opportunity you

Channel: POTC Online.Church

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Length: 53min 18sec (3198 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 09 2021