Sermon or Lesson (or training seminar material):  Luke 5:27-32 (NIV based)
[Lesson Questions included]

TITLE:  Intentionally Making Connections

PURPOSE:  To motivate believers into consistently taking intentional actions to engage new and unconnected persons in meaningful conversations during church events in order to facilitate drawing them into the Kingdom and the local church.

USAGE:  This lesson can be used to start and add to a Connect Team in your church.  Recruit believers in your church, Sunday School classes, and life-groups to attend the teaching of this material.  At the end of the teaching, pass around a sign-up sheet upon which they can commit to taking this on as a part of their ministry functioning.  Then print out the list and hand it out to all those Connect Team members on the list so they can be praying daily for each other and collaborate with each other during church and ministry events.
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INTRO:  Have you ever went through a time when you were looking for a new church or church group to become involved in, and you went to one of their events to check them out, during which you felt unwelcome because you were ignored and no one showed any interest in engaging you in meaningful conversation?  How did that make you feel?  What was your reaction after leaving that event?  Did that treatment play a significant role in your decision of whether or not to start regularly attending that church or group?
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READ: Luke 5:27-30

[Lesson Question:  What is the setting of this situation and what does it appear Jesus is only doing in verses 29-30?]

SECTION POINT:  Within this common social event of a large reception, Jesus appears to only be eating a meal as the guest of honor.

The setting is:
- - vv.27-28 Jesus has just invited or called Levi (Matthew) to leave his current lifestyle and come be His disciple.
- - v.29 In response, Levi throws a “great banquet” for Jesus at his house - a reception.
- - v.29 A large crowd attends, comprised of “tax collectors” (probably co-worker friends of Levi) “and others” (Jesus’ disciples - Matthew 9:10; and “sinners” who followed Jesus - Mark 2:15).
- - v.29 They all were eating together.
- - v.30 The Pharisees complained and questioned this behavior of Jesus and His disciples eating with sinful people.
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READ: Luke 5:31-32

[Lesson Question:  Besides eating, what else is Jesus doing during this large reception in His honor?]

SECTION POINT:  Within the setting of eating at this large reception in His honor, Jesus is working on accomplishing the purpose of reaching, connecting with, and calling sinners to repentance.

- - vv.31-32 Jesus gives the reason that He is eating with these sinful people: “to call” “sinners to repentance” - this is a specific spiritual purpose Jesus is working to accomplish within this social event that goes beyond everybody only eating a meal together.
- - Jesus is specifically targeting the sinful people to give His attention to, because they are in need of repentance that He is promoting and, by extension, salvation that He is offering.
- - Conversely, Jesus is specifically avoiding or giving little attention to the righteous people, because they are not in need of repentance and salvation.
- - Jesus is here distinguishing and delineating a priority for His ministry purposes and work, between the sinful unsaved people and the righteous saved people.

Some conclusions that can be drawn are:
- - Jesus was personally interacting with the sinful people at this banquet - there is no isolation of the sinful people, and no segregation from the sinful people (which is what the Pharisees wanted).
- - Jesus was intentionally trying to personally connect with the sinful people at this banquet - engaging in meaningful conversation; there is no mention of any group teaching or preaching session during this banquet.
- - Jesus was intentionally targeting the sinful people within the banquet crowd to connect with - He was looking around, monitoring, identifying the sinful people.
- - By implication, Jesus was moving around to work the crowd at the banquet - repeatedly getting up to go sit by and converse with specific sinful people before, during, and after the meal.
- - Jesus was purposefully working to take advantage of this situation for the Kingdom.
- - By implication, this banquet, a ministry event comprised of a mixture of righteous and unrighteous people, is a fertile environment and opportunity to personally connect with sinful people to facilitate drawing them into the Kingdom - i.e. a potentially effective outreach event.
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BIG IDEA:  Specifically, God wants His people to work the crowd at ministry events like Jesus did to personally connect with spiritually lost people in order to facilitate drawing them into the Kingdom.
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APPLICATIONS:

- - Take the initiative to work the crowd in whatever the ministry event or situation is - recognize and seize the opportunity.
- - Specifically identify and target new or isolated or marginal persons attending in the event.
- - Targeting the unsaved people should have serious priority over socializing with your saved friends and ministry co-workers.
- - Intentionally engage the new persons in meaningful conversation - this goes beyond the standard greeting of “Hi, how are you doing?  Glad you’re here.”
- - Ask questions and listen - do very little of the talking.
- - Do not confront or counsel or give a sermonette to the new persons, which probably will turn them off to attending in the future.
- - Tag team with other members who are engaged in making connections.
- - Within every ministry event, normal socializing can and should continue as usual.  But there needs to be an intentional alert ongoing monitoring of all new or unconnected persons, in order to take engagement action that will help prevent isolation situations as appropriate.
- - This activity is an opportunity for each believer to play a vital role in contributing to the growth of their ministry group or church.
- - Ministry leaders should be regularly promoting this philosophy of ministry activity with their workers.
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Works Cited:
Bible. “The Holy Bible: New International Version.” The Bible Library CD‑ROM. Oklahoma City, OK: Ellis Enterprises, 1988.
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Copyrights:
Scriptures taken from Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc®
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Copyright © 2015, 2016 Mel W. Coddington, and permission is hereby granted that this document may be used, copied, and distributed non-commercially to non-profit organizations, individuals, churches, ministries, and schools worldwide, provided the copies are distributed at no charge and retain this sources documentation as supplied herein. This document is not for sale, resale, or for use as a gift or premium to be offered in connection with solicitations or contributions.
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File name: Luke5_27-32-SermonOrLesson(OrTrainingSeminarMaterial).___ (.htm, .doc, .pdf)
Translation used: NIV, quoted or referred to in various places within the lesson
Source: www.BelieverAssist.com
Updated: August 2, 2016