"Impact Through Relationships" ~Bishop George Davis

~October 09,2011
[Week 3 of 40 Days of Impact]


--> Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission) 
     - You have accepted the responsibility of fulfilling your part of the Great Commission the moment you became a born-again believer..


*impossible to have this type of impact on people (teaching/ discipling) without having relationships!


-->john 1:34- 
         "Leadership is influence" --> *in order to have influence on an individual's life, you must have relationship! 


--> Luke 14:23-33 (The Cost of Discipleship)
Compel--> to necessitate; constrain; to bring by force or threat


-for last, longterm change in people's lives= relationship. Over time, God will use you to minister and reach people 
*In order to be effective in Evangelizing, you must be effective in relationship! You can't evangelize if you don't know people. Meaning, you must be willing to open yourself up to meet and interact with people you don't know. We must be willing to expand our horizon of who we consider our friends


--> Matthew11:28
                                 ~ 2 methodologies  Jesus uses in ministry~
1) he met "felt" (human) needs
        - Matthew 11:28
-people are more willing to listen to you if you touch a place in their hearts that is hurting; relate to them. 
* "You'll never know until you try, how accessible men are, but we must approach each man a different way" ~ William Beacher


Question: What are "felt" needs? 
         - answers to Q's about life problems. --> when people recognize the wisdom of God in you, they will come to you and ask you questions! [so don't be aggravated when people always want to talk to you about issues, etc] You can't be easily irritated by those people are who you are trying to reach! 
         -info about things that interest people -> *so many Christians only know how to talk about the bible! We have to be well-rounded (i.e. able to talk about common interest like volleyball, football, etc) so that you don't turn people away.. and eventually, once you build that relationship, you CAN talk to them about what you really want to talk to them about, which is the love of God. 


-->Luke 4:18-
   * Question: how will we ever be like Christ and use the anointing we have to heal the hurts of people, if we never know the people around us are hurting? 


*you don't have to be rich, but it's selfish to only want enough for you and your family because then you can't be used by God to bless others! He has raised you up to get a word so that you can give a word! 
-->john 1:35
"come and see" 
-come= He had enough time, they're worthy of his time. (we have to slow down enough to spend time with them) 
-see= he was being transparent with them! 


--> Matthew 5:13-
"we are salt.." --> *The only reason total hell and condemnation hasn't completely take =n over this world is because the body of Christ is here
                  -salt = a preservative. (used in mid. eastern countries without refrigerators to preserve food) 
*we have to take the salt and light out  of the church and into the community where the people are. 


-we need to get to a place where we don't condemn the sinners, but at  the same time we can still reach out to them.
    **their temptations are not beneath us! It's just that we've come to a place where we're not tempted to/by it
--> Luke 19:
-you don't have to shove that person's past sins in their face, or quote 100 scriptures for why what they're doing is wrong! 
*acceptance builds trust--> trust builds relationships--> relationships lead to people being comfortable enough with you through relationship that they are willing, maybe even eager to hear what you have to say