Outlive Your Life_ You Were Made to Make a Difference - Max Lucado [53]
• Consider focusing on one country with greater needs than your own in your prayers, giving, and relationships. Discover the true needs. Research what is working well. Find out what is not working. Pray intentionally. Eat their food. Celebrate their holidays. It might be possible to use your vacation time to go on a missions trip to that country.
• Research ministries or orphanages dedicated to that country’s needs. Invest resources and build relationships. Make that country a second home in your heart. Over time you will be amazed by what God will do in and through you.
CHAPTER 4: DON’T FORGET THE BREAD
Questions for Discussion
1. Describe a time when you forgot something important.
2. What do the following verses encourage you to value most: Matthew 28:19; John 3:16; John 6:35; John 14:6; Romans 3:23; Romans 10:9; and Ephesians 2:8?
3. On a sheet of paper, make two lists side by side. In the first column, build a list of the most important things to God and the church. In the second column, make a list of the concerns that distract Christians from those most important things. At the bottom write down some practical ways to shift your focus from the second list to the first. Consider how focusing on the first list might also achieve the best concerns from the second list.
4. When has someone given you a second chance as the police officer gave Max? Think of a person who is looking for a second chance from you these days. How could you extend grace to that individual the next time you have the opportunity?
5. Grace gives not just “help for this life but hope for the next.” Which do you find to be more important for people: tangible, physical needs or eternal, spiritual needs? In what situations do you need to meet a physical need first in order to meet a deeper spiritual need? In what situations is the opposite true?
Ideas for Action
• When the people asked Peter, “Whatever could this mean?” it was an opportunity for him to speak about the most important things. If an acquaintance or friend said, “I’ve noticed something different about you—what is it?” it would be a great opportunity for you to do the same. Make a note of how you would answer that question.
• Pray for five friends, relatives, or acquaintances whom you think may be far from God. (If you simply do not know whether God is most important in a person’s life, then he or she could be on this list.) For each of the five names, think of the next time you are likely to see that person. Make a personal commitment to pray daily for your “Five for God” list.
• Start a simple but intentional conversation with people about what is most important to you. Here are some ways to initiate the conversation:
* “Would it be okay for me to tell you what’s happened to me spiritually?”
* “I want to make sure you know something about me—something I hope is true for you as well.”
* “Have I ever told you about the most important thing in my life?”
CHAPTER 5: TEAM UP
Questions for Discussion
1. When have you, as part of a group, faced a challenge so enormous that it caused the group to grow close? With what group of people are you facing a challenge right now, and how could you team up with them to face it?
2. What creative teamwork stories or opportunities have you heard that are like the microfinance story about José in Rio and Thomas in London? Do you know of anyone doing great work like this or responding to other areas of need? How do people get started making such innovative connections?
3. Consider traditional methods of helping people that also require teamwork. Have you ever been involved in these kinds of efforts? What was the impact on those in need? What did you learn from the experience?
4. “Those who suffer belong to all of us.” How can you and the people closest to you lend a helping hand to those who suffer?
Ideas for Action
• “None of us can do what all of us can do.” Become a part of something bigger than