In Your Bible Read This
Matthew 20
Here Is Your Memory Verse
I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm
121.1
Afterwards Talk About
This
Would you risk being an eleventh-hour worker? If God called
you to go
into his vineyard but you did not know where the money
was coming from would you dare to go?
Something To Do Before
Next Time
Write a drama sketch illustrating the full story of Lazarus
and the rich man,
and see if you can rehearse it and present it in the churches.
Put a sting in the tail about Christian beggars.
Written Diploma Work
Talk to different pastors and evangelists and ask them in
confidence to tell you their stories of Gods faithfulness
to them.
Write a two page report.
Meditate Word By Word On
This Verse
Luke 15.31
- Spend
a Minute to Change the World
- Pray For Ethiopia - 53,000,000
Nilotic peoples ruined by famine, wars and Marxism
- One of the oldest
nations, Christian from 4th century, now 58%
-
Be sure to
teach this lesson to others.
-
Always pray
and prepare well adding
-
your own verses and stories to
bring it to life.
1. Why Eleventh Hour
Workers?
In, Matthew 20, 1-15 is the story told by
Jesus about workers who were hired at various times of the day.
Some were hired at dawn, others later in the day and all were
promised their wages. But the workers hired at the 11th hour, the
end of the day were simply told to go and work in the vineyard
with no promise of wages. They had to trust that their master
would be fair, and they were not disappointed.
God Is Generous And Willing
The master says, " I am generous," Matthew 20,15,
reflecting the true nature of our Heavenly Father. In the
parable of the prodigal son, Luke 15, 11-31, when the elder
brother displays such a bitter, mean attitude, verses 28-30,
the father again reveals Gods generous and kind heart,
verse 31.
According to God's prophetic clock it
is 11.55 p.m. and at 12 midnight the Lord Jesus returns. So
many of the eleventh hour workers that God calls to the final
harvest will have no fixed wages either, but no-one will be
disappointed. Don't worry if you don't know what to do. You
can learn from others because many have walked down this 2000
year old road of faith God is very experienced at keeping his
people and what has been done before, will be done again. Ecc.
1.9.
2. How Does An 11th Hour
Worker Live?
It is very expensive to live in today's
world, but living is not the point. Gods standard is that
we have enough for ourselves and a very great deal more to give
to others. 2 Corinthians 9,8-11. It is possible and here are some
of the popular options -
You Can Pursue The Classic Model
Basically this is, " My church provides everything
for me so that I can go." This is the classic western
model of paying church leaders and supporting mission-aries.
Their work has touched more than half the world in the last
200 years and we thank God for the churches who made it
possible.
But there is a big problem because this
model is not possible in most developing world churches. They
have ample manpower for missions but very little money is
coming in to pay their willing evangelists, pastors and
missionaries.
So not everyone can look forward to
being sent out with a salary. In any event there would never
be enough for all the willing men and women who want to serve
the Lord in the developing world. What else can they do?
-
A Popular
Alternative: The Lazarus Model
Lazarus in Luke 16, 19-22 was a beggar
who was covered in hurts and sores and spent every day
watching for a rich man to come out of his door. Now
Lazarus believed in God because when he died he was taken
to Abraham's bosom, but the rich man did not believe and
when he died he went to hell.
What Do Beggars Get?
Sores and wounds from unjust neglect.
They are despised, people avoid eye contact with them. In
any event beggars only ever get a few coins thrown at
them.
Is It Really Worth It?
A lot of pastors especially in the
developing world have also adopted the Lazarus method of
fund raising. They write letters to people in the West
telling a sad story and send photos to add to the arm-twisting.
They portray Christ with his hands out begging instead of
with his arms outstretched to redeem a world of men in
their greater need. Their Jesus can save the world but
cannot afford a meal for his servant.
One Day The Beggar Died
Luke 16.22. If by any chance he is
still alive in your heart, put him back in his grave
where he belongs. Today.
By the way ~ can you spot the deliberate
mistake in this verse from Psalm 121. It is amazing how many
people say it like this -
-
" I lift up my eyes to the hills,
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the West,
the owner of heaven and earth? "
Did you spot the mistake? Our help only
ever comes from the Lord. So it is eyes off the West, and off
anyone else and eyes fixed on Jesus, from where our help will
come from. In any event not one of your stories may move the West
to help, but one word from Jesus will.
3. The Hireling
You can meet this man in John 10, 11-15.
This man takes the job of shepherd, or pastor, for the money and
the title, not because he cares for the sheep. He is a false
shepherd because when the wolf of adversity comes, he runs away
and leaves the sheep to perish. Many good churches have been
ruined by such men.
Join Us And We Will Buy You A Bike!
Some big churches tempt village church pastors to join
them for money. Only hirelings ever take their flock to
another master, so if anyone comes with an offer like that,
tell him that you are not for sale. There is not enough money
in all the world to buy a real man of God.
4. Where Will You Find
The Money?
We will talk about this in detail soon but
here is an important principle to really learn by heart. In John
5,1-9 you will meet a man who had been dis-abled and in-valid for
a long time. When asked, he gave three common reasons to say that
he could not do anything or go anywhere -
-
1. - I have no-one to help
me.
-
2. - I am trying, but
-
3. - Someone else always
gets the blessing ahead of me. (NIV)
It was true for him, and it may be true for
you, and it is true for many more people too, but like him you
also have Jesus speaking to you. He heard the Lord, obeyed, got
up and walked out into a useful life by the grace of God.
Taken from the
Joshua Project Unreached Peoples List
these people have no church and as yet
no cell, church or mission has committed themselves
to prayer, adoption or church planting among this people.
Laos
|
People Name |
Language |
Population
|
Hani |
Hani |
30,000
|
Lor |
Lor |
10,000
|
Pacoh (Bo) |
Pacoh |
21,000
|
Shan (Thai Yai) |
Shan |
24,000
|
Sila |
Sila |
22,000
|
Tai, White (Thai Trang) |
Tai Don |
38,000
|
Thai Nung |
Nung 2 |
47,000
|
See all of the
lessons |