This podcast covers Lesson 10 of Healthy Living Bible Study by Melanie Newton.
Overcome the “Holy Huddle” Infection
Jesus commissions us with a purpose.
Jesus Christ calls you to a new life, clothes you with Himself, commissions you with a purpose, and empowers you to fulfill that purpose. It’s a two-fold purpose: to follow Him as His disciple and to live for Him as a disciple-maker.
- To follow Jesus as His disciple means that you make the choice to learn from Jesus through what is taught in the Bible and, in dependent obedience, apply those teachings to your life. We call that discipleship. Inward-focused. Discipleship is incomplete without disciple-making.
- In disciple-making, you trust in Christ and choose to follow Him as His disciple. The difference is that while you are growing in your own faith, you are also reaching new people for Christ, building them up in their faith, and helping them reach their peers. Outward-focused.
- Disciple-making is intentional and relational. To be intentional means to be deliberate and strategic. You know what relational means—to be together, spending time to listen, talk, know and be known.
- You know you’ve caught the “Holy Huddle” infection when you hang out with other Christians so much that you lose connection with those who don’t know Jesus and even avoid them.
Jesus shows us how to overcome the “Holy Huddle” infection
- Reaching out to nonbelievers takes courage. Jesus demonstrated for us how to be intentional in building relationships with others and introducing them to Him.
- Jesus engaged people who needed to know Him throughout his 3½ years of ministry. He did this by intentionally going to where the people were who needed to know Him. Wherever He went, He built relationships with those who were interested, even those with bad reputations. He invited people to follow Him — some to travel with Him, others to go back home and share about Him. His love for people motivated Him to do this.
- Just like Jesus, we need to build intentional relationships with those who do not know Christ or do not know Him well. To get beyond feelings of inadequacy or fear of rejection, we need to work at preparing ourselves to share about the Lord in daily conversation. Start by asking Jesus to show us how to love the non-Christians in our lives while He works in their hearts.
Pray and Love the unchurched women in your life.
- Pray for each one the Lord brings to your mind whenever you think about her, asking the Holy Spirit to work in her heart to draw her to Jesus so she will trust in Him.
- Ask Jesus to give you His love for her and to help you understand what she is feeling and needing from Him. His living through you.
- Commit to make the most of any connection you have to build a relationship with her and show Jesus’ love and compassion to her.
- Trust in the Lord to show you how He can use you in her life to introduce her to Jesus.
Only the Holy Spirit can open the eyes of unbelievers to the truth of the gospel and convert their hearts. But, Jesus has given us the job to communicate the gospel. We can do our part by praying for them and loving them. We can also be ready to share how Jesus has impacted our lives.
Shape Your Faith Story using 3 Words
- You can shape a short one using just 3 words. Choose any three words to represent your life: one for before knowing Jesus, one for how you came to believe in him, and one for your life as a believer since. Using your three words, create 1-2 sentences for each word—just a brief explanation of how each word relates to your story.
- You can interject your 3-word story into a conversation or ask another woman what 3 words might define her life.
Consider Conversation Transitions
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. (Colossians 4:5-6)
- Think through common topics of casual conversation you might have with another woman that could lead to sharing some part of your story.
- Consider how you might identify with her and what God has done in your life to make a difference for you.
Know How to Share the Gospel Facts
Choose a simple presentation of the gospel to memorize and have ready to use. Speak it aloud to yourself several times so you know it well without having to think about it. Ask the Spirit to give you boldness and opportunity to share this with someone soon.
Jesus Empowers Us to Accomplish Our Purpose as Disciple-Makers.
- You and I can be a disciple-maker because Jesus is the one who makes us able. We are simply to obey Him and trust His Spirit to work through us. Being scared is a good thing because we’ll rely on him more. How do you trust him? Just say, “Lord, I can’t, but you can do this in me.” Then, watch what He does.
- All of these preparations are interwoven into the Bible study called Live Out His Love. You can find it on my website, com, as well as other disciple-making resources.
A spiritual infection takes you captive to something other than Christ. The “Holy Huddle” infection is bad. Knowing the truth that you’ve been commissioned with a purpose and empowered to accomplish that purpose gives you an immune system that overcomes this spiritual infection.
Let Jesus satisfy your heart needs with His truth and His love so you can get well and stay well.
Joyful Walk Bible Studies by Melanie Newton are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.