Your Growth Group #3, Discover Guidance

One of my favorite stories in the New Testament is Acts 9:26-30. In it, the apostle Paul is a young believer, having been miraculously converted on the road to Damascus. One problem Paul ran into as a new Christian was that the Christians in Damascus were afraid of him. The reason is obvious, he had been hunting down Christians until his sudden conversion to Christ. Believers were hesitant to believe he was really a changed man. His conversion could have been a trick to lure them out of hiding.

When Paul came to Jerusalem to join with the disciples, he ran into the same problem. The Christians did not believe he was a changed man. Paul was stuck. Yet, God brought a person into his life to help him past the obstacles he faced. Barnabas was a generous and godly believer from Cyprus who was well respected in the Jerusalem church. God led him to advocate for Paul. 

Barnabas took Paul under his wing, encouraged him in his young faith, and lent him credibility. Ultimately, Barnabas introduced Paul to the apostles (Galatians 1:18). The result of Barnabas's actions was that Paul became accepted and trusted and the stage was set for Paul's missionary work.

We all need someone like Barnabas (whose name means son of encouragement) who can guide us through our next steps as followers of Jesus. It can be frustrating to navigate the Christian walk on our own. Churches can be tough to figure out without someone showing us the ropes. What we need is someone to take us under his/her wing and to help us learn to obey Jesus and walk with our church family. 

Who should we look to as our Barnabas? The first person to call on is your growth group leader. This person deeply desires to see you grow in your faith in Jesus Christ. He or she is going to teach you the Word of God, be your encourager, and guide you through important steps in your faith.

Your growth group leader is your guide for: 

  • Understanding and living out the Bible
  • Becoming a believer if you are not one already
  • Preparing for baptism
  • Becoming a church member
  • Finding a ministry team to serve on
  • Caring for other growth group members
  • Working through life challenges
Our growth group leaders are special people who love the Lord. They really want to see you thrive. Please call on them and give them the opportunity to serve you.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Your Growth Group #5, Discover Prayer

Image
Imagine this: Crisis strikes your family. You are unsure how things will turn out, but one thing you do know is that you need the Lord's help. Who do you call for prayer? For some, this may be an easy question. For others, this question draws a blank because you don't have a lot of praying friends or family.  This scenario is one of the reasons why it is so important for you to be engaged in a growth group. Growth groups provide an opportunity for Christian community, and this involves praying for one another. You will know if you are in a good group if the members take prayer seriously and regularly and fervently pray for one other (and not just during emergencies). Prayer is talking with God. Prayer is expressing faith. When we pray for each other, we are talking to God for one another. E.M. Bounds says, " Talking to men  for  God  is a great thing, but  talking to God  for  men  is greater still."  When we pray for one another, we show we love one another because w
Read more

What Happens to My Tithes and Offerings After I Give?

Image
I am always inspired by the generosity of our church membership! It amazes me that so many people would give so much because they want to see the kingdom of Christ advanced. We want to see our gifts contribute to the spread of the gospel and the fulfillment of the Great Commission. We want to see people trust Jesus as Savior and Lord as we have! To all of our members who give faithfully, thank you for giving to the Lord.  For many of us, we are glad to give, but if we're honest, we have little idea what happens to these gifts after we give them. In this post, I want to demystify the process by which our gifts turn into resources for ministry. Today, I just want to talk only about giving which is applied to the annual budget (a.k.a., undesignated giving). As I've mentioned in other posts, our church is an autonomous and self-governing church. In part, this means church members decide how to apply their gifts toward the ministry of their church. The way that the membership does t
Read more

The Weekend Plan, September 18, 2022

Image
 Hey Church Family,  This is going to be a beautiful weekend with a lot of sunshine! I hope you have plans to get outside and enjoy it! I'd like to share with you a few items about First Baptist Harrah's Weekend Plan.  Discipleship Coach Training- This Saturday at 8 AM in M01 our discipleship ministry will host a refresher training for discipleship coaches who will soon be leading starter discipleship groups. If you would like training to know how to teach new believers how to know and follow Jesus. We will only meet for 45 minutes. Any ladies can stick around and be first in line for the women's ministry breakfast which begins at 9 AM. Edna McMillan State Missions Offering, Church-wide Goal: $500- As Baptists, we value partnering for missions. This month, the missions ministry is challenging our people to give above and beyond the tithe toward the Oklahoma State Missions Offering. These funds go to support our many Baptist ministries in Oklahoma ( What ministries does t
Read more