Luke 10:1-3  +  Part 2 of the series Invite Your One

“How long will you delay what’s important to you just so that you can handle the next urgent thing in front of you?” (James Clear)

Evangelism means “good message.”

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Luke 10:1,2).

You are the Lord’s worker. 

What if we talked about Jesus as much as we talk about the weather?

“Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.” (Luke 10:3)

SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

• Evangelism means “good news.” It is the gospel of Jesus Christ with divine power to save (Romans 1:16). Who shared it with you when you first believed in or learned about Jesus? 
• Whom will you invite? Use an Invite Your One card. Fill it out and bring it back next Sunday for our prayer team. 

Discussion Questions

1. Follow through with one of the next steps above. Involve a friend or your group for prayer, accountability and encouragement. Work on it together. Build a faith habit.
2. Evangelism means “good news.” It is the gospel of Jesus Christ with divine power to save (Romans 1:16). Who shared it with you when you first believed in or learned about Jesus?
3. What makes inviting people to church urgent? What makes it also important? What’s the difference? Who will you invite?
4. When is the best time for evangelism? Read 2 Corinthians 6:2. Are there some times, moments or seasons when it is better to invite someone to church?
5. Who is your “one?” Take an Invite Your One card. Fill it out and bring it back next Sunday for our prayer team. Make a list of “ones” in your LifeGroup and pray for the inviting.

John 14-10-14  +  Part 1 of the series Invite Your One

1,000 new people at CrossLife Church!

Inviting people to church and Jesus. Is it God’s work or our work?

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” (John 14:10)

God is at work in your words.

“Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:11,12)

Because we are physically present and Jesus is not, we are greater at connecting with people in ways he no longer does.

“I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” (John 14:13,14)

How many of us believe in Jesus because some person—friend, teacher, parent, group leader or pastor—told us about Jesus or taught us about Jesus?

SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

• God is at work in your words! Inviting is doing something greater than Jesus does it. How is that true? Do you believe it?
• Who is your “one?” Take an Invite Your One card. Fill it out and bring it back next Sunday for our prayer team. Make a list of “ones” in your LifeGroup and pray for the inviting.
• Make a list of what to pray for as you prepare to invite. Jesus says, “Ask me, and I will do it” (John 14:13,14).

Discussion Questions

1. Follow through with one of the next steps above. Involve a friend or your group for prayer, accountability and encouragement. Work on it together. Build a faith habit.
2. God is at work in your words! Inviting is doing something greater than Jesus does it. How is that true? Do you believe it?
3. Who is your “one?” Take an Invite Your One card. Fill it out and bring it back next Sunday for our prayer team. Make a list of “ones” in your LifeGroup and pray for the inviting.
4. Study the words of the Nicene Creed. In how many places does it teach the biblical theology that the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son?
5. Make a list of what to pray for as you prepare to invite. Jesus says, “Ask me, and I will do it” (John 14:13,14).

Joshua 4:1-3,9  +  Part 3 of the series What Denomination Is CrossLife?

After a miracle of God, the people memorialized the experience by setting up stones. (Joshua 4)

Look more closely at HIStory, and you’ll see more clearly God’s handprint in your story today, tomorrow and forever.

Would you risk death for a bunch of books?

“Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.” (Deuteronomy 4:2)

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.” (Revelation 22:18,19)

“It is the promises of God that make the church, and not the church that makes the promise of God. For the Word of God is incomparably superior to the church” (Luther’s Works, 36:107).

Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. (Joshua 4:9)

SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

• Believe—Read Romans 15:4-6. How have you been encouraged by this series? What new appreciation or insight do you have for our “one mind and one voice” as WELS Christians?
• Serve—Carry the legacy of Luther’s bold witness. “Invite Your One” begins next Sunday.
• Live—Watch Martin Luther: A Return to Grace on Amazon Prime. Celebrate the Reformation in your home or LifeGroup.
• Grow—Come back this afternoon for our WELS history watch party (Part 2 of 2) and potluck at 4:30pm.

Discussion Questions

1. Follow through with one of the next steps above. Involve a friend or your group for prayer, accountability and encouragement. Work on it together. Build a faith habit.
2. Read Romans 15:4-6. How have you been encouraged by this series? What new appreciation or insight do you have for our “one mind and one voice” as WELS Christians?
3. Martin Luther once prayed, “I will gladly remain silent and be a child
   and learner … Therefore, dear God … I will gladly forsake my point of view and understanding and let you rule alone through your Word. Amen” (Luther’s Prayers, p. 91,92). True or False: A bold witness of faith to others doesn’t happen without deep humility.
4. Watch Martin Luther: A Return to Grace on Amazon Prime. Celebrate the Reformation in your home or LifeGroup.
5. If you have attended the watch party, share with your group what you learned about WELS history and God’s surprising grace.

2 Corinthians 5:14-21  +  Part 2 of the series What Denomination Is CrossLife?

For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14,15)

Justification is the cause of our salvation. 

Ongoing Christian living is called sanctification. 

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here. (2 Corinthians 5:16,17)

What I see in myself and others is cheap grace. 

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:18,19)

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. (2 Corinthians 5:19,20)

SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

• Believe—Read 2 Corinthians 5:21. Which part of the verse is justification? Which part is sanctification?
• Serve—In what ways are justification and sanctification similar or different? How does this theology help you improve as “Christ’s ambassador?”
• Live—Cheap grace is not the true biblical grace of God. Why not? Share experiences where you have seen cheap grace and what happened.
• Grow—Come back this afternoon for our WELS history watch party (Part 1 of 2) and potluck at 4:30pm.

Discussion Questions

1. Follow through with one of the next steps above. Involve a friend or your group for prayer, accountability and encouragement. Work on it together. Build a faith habit.
2. Read 2 Corinthians 5:21. Which part of the verse is justification? Which part is sanctification?
3. In what ways are justification and sanctification similar or different? How does this theology help you improve as “Christ’s ambassador?”
4. Cheap grace is not the true biblical grace of God. Why not? Share experiences where you have seen cheap grace and what happened.
5. If you have attended the watch party, share with your group what you learned about WELS history and God’s surprising grace.

Romans 5:8-11  +  Part 1 of the series What Denomination Is CrossLife?

Let’s celebrate our Lutheran identity and voice in this world, with thanks and praise to God above all! 

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him. (Romans 5:8,9)

We don’t have it in ourselves to save ourselves. 

Lutherans believe in the Bible teaching of justification.

Consumerism. Individualism. Polarization.

For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life. (Romans 5:10)

When we are at our worst, Jesus Christ saves us with no conditions or demands.

We … boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:10)

SUMMARY AND NEXT STEPS

• Believe—God is my Savior because …
• Serve—We don’t need to (and can’t) save ourselves. How does this actually help us do more good in this world?
• Live—Make plans to attend our watch parties and potlucks on Sundays, October 19 and 26 for a historical presentation. 
• Grow—Study Romans 5:1-5. It explains why the teaching of justification helps us through hardships. 

Discussion Questions

1. Follow through with one of the next steps above. Involve a friend or your group for prayer, accountability and encouragement. Work on it together. Build a faith habit.
2. Finish this statement best on the teaching of justification in the Bible: “God is my Savior because …”
3. We don’t need to (and can’t) save ourselves. How does this actually help us do more good in this world? Can you think of a person in the Bible who was trying to save himself or herself, then believed in “Christ for us” and starting doing more good
4. Study Romans 5:1-5. It explains why the teaching of justification helps us through hardships. How?
5. Make plans to attend our watch parties and potlucks on Sundays, October 19 and 26 for a historical presentation.