Lifelines Outreach

2015

June

Mail Donat ions to 3225 Knobdale Road, Nashvi l le TN 37214

Lifelines Outreach shares the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus

Christ and by making disciples in the greater Nashville area. Sharing

includes feeding the hungry and loving our neighbors.

For more information about these ministry opportunities please contact Richard Gay at 838-0367 or

by email at lifelinesoutreach@gmail.com or Shahe Nahler by email at shaheatlifelines@gmail.com

We started this Swahili group a few weeks ago at Woodmont Baptist Church. Pastor

Memba has a great group of people who are learning how to be disciples and how to make

disciples. Tom Dooley and Linda White are leading the group. Tom and Linda were both

trained at Judson Baptist Church. They are now learning to teach the material and how to

lead a group. Tom and Linda will go on to train others and start new groups as God leads

them to the places that have receptive people willing to know Jesus and willing to become

disciples of Jesus. One of the class members acts as an interpreter. Some of those attend-

ing the class do not speak English.

In the Nepali group we are winding down on our last few lessons. We have covered

their testimony, how to witness, assurance of salvation, prayer, daily devotions, nature of

the church, Fatherhood of God, and how to study the Bible. Pastor Gaius will continue to

meet with me over the summer training more disciples in the making of more disciples.

I am meeting with a new guy named Dave Howell. He is also going through the Timo-

thy Initiative material. We have been covering how to witness using the Share Jesus With-

out Fear book by William Fey. He just called me and said that he was so impressed after

finishing the book that he went out and bought twelve copies and handed them out to his

friends. That was music to my ears. Someone excited about sharing his faith and wanting

others to learn.

The Tennessee Baptist Convention is now using the Timothy Initiative training material

in their 1-5-1 program. The goals of the 1-5-1 initiative is for churches to start no less than

one group plant outside of the walls of their church. The second part of the strategy is to

see five people accept Christ and be baptized in the group plant. The last part is for the

newly formed group is to plant at least one other group. This strategy represents the name

“1-5-1”. The purpose is to reach more people where they live who would not attend a tradi-

tional church and to train them as disciples who can make other disciples.

The food ministry is continuing to see multiple decisions for Christ each week. I attrib-

ute this to the fact that our counselors are the best! Thank you Mama Lou Heath, Johnie

Arrowood, JP Kirkham, Monica Frost, and Vincent Vejarona for having a heart to see the

lost come to Christ. We experience the white harvest field each week that Jesus talked

about in the Bible. We found out that people are ready to know Jesus.

We want to thank you again for supporting this ministry and for praying for us. We ap-

preciate all that you do! Remember to pray and to read your Bible every day! -Richard

Since God Knows Everything, Why Should We Pray? By Adrian Rogers (Love Worth Finding)

Prayer, Part 1 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests

be made known unto God.” Philippians 4:6

Prayer is our greatest Christian privilege but—we may as well admit—our greatest Christian failure. All of us

need to learn to pray more and to pray better. But one of the reasons we don’t pray better than we do, or any

more than we do, is that we have questions about prayer. These questions cause us uncertainty. Then our uncer-

tainty sometimes neutralizes us and we become hesitant about prayer.

We will look more closely in the coming weeks about the vital subject of prayer. As we begin this new year,

what more important commitment could we make than to commit ourselves more to prayer? If we’re going to

impact our families, our nation, and our world in these critical days, prayer is where it begins.

What was the first thing the Early Church did after Jesus’ ascension? “They returned to Jerusalem…to an up-

per room” and “continued with one accord in prayer and supplication…” (Acts 1:12-14).

Even a casual reading of the book of Acts confirms how totally the disciples depended upon prayer—how they

dared not make a move without committing to prayer, seeking God for His guidance and deliverance through

prayer.

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in

prayers” (Acts 2:42).

“Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer…” (Acts 3:1).

“But we will give ourselves continually to prayer…” (Acts 6:4).

“…prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God…” (Acts 12:5).

If those who walked alongside our Lord for three years were dependent upon prayer, how much more so are

we? What a grave mistake we make if we are casual about our prayer life.

One of the questions most often asked about prayer is: Why should we pray when God already knows our

needs? Why tell God what He already knows or ask Him to do what He already wants to do? Thank God we don’t have to understand prayer in order to pray. Yet, there are some consistent, valid questions

people have concerning prayer. Even so, these must not hinder us from praying.

First, here are two wrong motivations for praying:

We don’t pray to impress God. We’re not heard for our

“much-speaking.” You don’t have to use poetic language or be an amateur Shakespeare. If an earthly child can

speak to an earthly father, you can speak to your Heavenly Father. We’re told to cry out to Him as our “Abba”

Father—literally translated, “Daddy.” (Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:6). We’re not praying to impress Him.

We don’t pray to inform God. You can’t tell God anything He doesn’t know.

So if we don’t pray to impress or inform God, why then do we pray?

WE PRAY TO INVITE GOD It’s very important to understand this: we are inviting God into our lives when we pray.

When we pray, we experience—

¨ Fellowship. We become “workers together with Him” (2 Corinthians 6:1). When we pray, God gives

us the joy and privilege of administrating His kingdom, His affairs—working together with Him. He could do it

without us. We could not do it without Him. But what a glory that God allows us the privilege of doing

it with Him!

¨ Development. When we pray, God is growing us. Have you ever prayed and didn’t receive immedi-

ately what you asked for? What did you do? You kept on praying, but you also began to search your heart and

life to see if something was hindering God’s answer. Many times there is. God uses prayer to grow us.

¨ Dependency. God never wants us to live lives independent of Him. If God just did everything for us

and we never had to pray, soon we would begin to take things for granted. We would cease to depend upon

God.

PRAYER BINDS US TO GOD

That’s why we tell God what He already knows. He knows what we have need of before we ask, but we’re defi-

nitely, specifically, unqualifiedly told to pray and to ask—not to impress or inform God, but to invite God, so

that we might have that fellowship with Him, so that we might grow, and we would learn to depend upon Him.

What is it all right to pray for? Does God answer the prayers of the unsaved? Next time, we’ll answer those

questions.

Ministry Photos

For more information about these ministry opportunities please contact Richard Gay at 838-0367 or

by email at lifelinesoutreach@gmail.com or Shahe Nahler by email at shaheatlifelines@gmail.com