Outlive Your Life Part 12

2. In what situations do you hear offensive labeling? Have you found yourself inadvertently following suit? How can you be a leader of change in this environment?

3. Recall a time when you were in a situation similar to that of Peter in Acts 10. When have the customs or behaviors of another culture or race felt uncomfortable or even offensive to you? What would be your reaction if G.o.d called you to take up the habits and practices of others so you could reach out to them?

4. Why did Cornelius not look the part even though he was a Christ follower? What surface judgments do people use today to measure spirituality?

5. How could you make time for some marginalized Christians in your life?

Ideas for Action * Make a new rule for the next two months: No one sits alone. When you enter any room, resist the urge to sit where you always sit and with the people you always join. First, scan the lunchroom or the boardroom, the stands or the sanctuary, the cafeteria or the theater, and find someone who is sitting alone. Then choose to sit with the marginalized. After two months you might consider making the rule permanent.

* Attend a worship service in a church with a predominantly different ethnicity or culture than your own. Adapt to that environment-do what they are doing as much as possible. Take note of what you admire about their worship and church life. Consider how it feels to be the odd man out. See what happens when, like Peter, you experience G.o.d within a different cultural setting.

CHAPTER 15: PRAY FIRST; PRAY MOST.

Questions for Discussion 1. How would you describe the way Moses prayed to G.o.d in Exodus 32? In your own words, recount how Max describes the way his Brazilian church leader prayed. In what ways are your prayer times different from these descriptions? What could you do to become more fervent (pa.s.sionate) in prayer?

2. What typical tactics does Satan use to keep you from prayer? How can you counter these with your own prayer strategies?

3. What is the role of prayer in the life of your church? How could you adjust your approach to prayer in your church to make it more meaningful?

4. Tell about a time when your prayer life seemed richer than it is now. What was different then?

5. What could you do to reenergize your prayer times? What postures could you take? What lists could you use? What prayer activities could you try? What scriptures could you use as prayers? Who could join you for prayer as an inspiration?

Ideas for Action.

* Do a study this week on Jesus and prayer. Use the following verses from this chapter and other examples of Jesus praying or teaching about prayer to guide you: Matthew 5:44; 6:613; 14:13, 23; 19:13; 21:1213; 21:22; 24:20 Mark 1:35; 6:46; 9:2829.

Luke 6:1216; 9:1820; 18:18; 18:914; 22:3946; 23:3334 John 11:41; 17:1, 9, 20.

* You may already pray before every meal and at the start of every day, but this week pray before you do these other things as well: before you start your car.

before you exercise before you do the first thing you always do at work before you turn on your computer.

before you pick up the phone.

before you go into a meeting before you walk back into your home at the end of the day before you turn on the television before you open a book.

before you go to sleep before you _____________________.

CHAPTER 16: THAT'S JESUS PLAYING THAT FIDDLE.

Questions for Discussion.

1. What various motivations move people to act compa.s.sionately?

2. For Christians, what is the key motivator to compa.s.sionate action?

3. On the Day of Judgment, how will Jesus separate the righteous from the unrighteous, according to Matthew 25:3146? Why is this pa.s.sage so hard to take at face value?

4. Which group was surprised at Jesus' choice in Matthew 25? Was it the sheep, the goats, or both? Why would they be surprised?

5. How are you trying to outlive your life now in ways you were not six months ago?

Ideas for Action * Go back through this book in the next few days, and note the verses or quotes that most gripped your heart. On a separate sheet of paper or a few cards, write down these words and put them in a place that will keep the truths in front of you. Place them on your bathroom mirror, in your car, on your desk, in your purse, in your wallet, or on your door. Don't forget the message and mission you have taken from Outlive Your Life.

* Finalize your personal action plan with the goal of outliving your life. Determine how your gifts, pa.s.sion, and opportunities best fit into G.o.d's plan to serve your neighborhood, community, and world. Overlay that template on your personal calendar to put your plan into action.

Notes.

Chapter 1: Our Once-in-History Opportunity.

1. UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health, www.unicef.org/sowc09/report/report.php.

2. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, The State of Food Insecurity in the World: Economic Crises-Impacts and Lessons Learned, 2, ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i0876e/i0876e.pdf.

3. UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2007: Women and Children; The Double Dividend of Gender Equality, 5, www.unicef.org/sowc07/docs/sowc07.pdf.

4. That equals approximately 25,000 per day. Anup Shah, "Today, Over 25,000 Children Died Around the World," Global Issues, www.globalissues.org/article/715/today-over-25000-children-died-around-the-world.

5. Peter Greer and Phil Smith, The Poor Will Be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World out of Poverty (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 26.

6. Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger: Moving from Affluence to Generosity (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005), 10.

7. Ibid., 35.

8. UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2009, 133.

9. The percentage of Christians in the United States is 76.8 percent, and the population of the United States in 2009 was approximately 307,212,000, according to the CIA, The World Factbook, 2009, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html.

10. UNAIDS and World Health Organization, AIDS Epidemic Update: November 2009, 21, http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2009/JC1700_Epi_Update_2009_en.pdf.

Chapter 2: Calling Mr. Pot Roast.

1. "Nicholas Winton, the Power of Good," Gelman Educational Foundation, www.powerofgood.net/story.php, and Patrick D. Odum, "Grat.i.tude That Costs Us Something," Heartlight, www.heartlight.org/cgi/simplify.cgi?20090922_grat.i.tude.html.

Chapter 3: Let G.o.d Unsh.e.l.l You.

1. Hilary Le Cornu with Joseph Shulam, A Commentary on the Jewish Roots of Acts (Jerusalem: Netivyah Bible Instruction Ministry, 2003), 144.

2. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, unabr. ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1993), 812.

3. M. Paul Lewis, ed., Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th ed. (Dallas: SIL International, 2009), www.ethnologue.com.

4. If you want to explore in detail your "you-niqueness" and how to discern it, see my book Cure for the Common Life: Living in Your Sweet Spot (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005).

5. Telephone interview with Jo Anne Lyon, conducted by David Drury, June 23, 2009.

Chapters 5: Team Up.

1. For an excellent summary of microfinance, see Peter Greer and Phil Smith, The Poor Will Be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World out of Poverty (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009).

2. Sam Nunn, "Intellectual Honesty, Moral and Ethical Behavior; We Must Decide What Is Important" (speech, National Prayer Breakfast, Washington, D.C., February 1, 1996).

Chapter 6: Open Your Door; Open Your Heart.

1. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Poverty: 2007 and 2008; American Community Surveys, 2, www.census.gov/prod/2009pubs/acsbr08-1.pdf.

2. Mark Nord, Margaret Andrews, Steven Carlson, Household Food Security in the United States, 2008, United States Department of Agriculture, iii, www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/ERR83/ERR83.pdf.

3. National and Community Service, "White House, USDA, National Service Agency, Launch Targeted Initiative to Address Hunger," www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/releases_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=1579.

Chapter 7: See the Need; Touch the Hurt.

1. UNICEF, The State of the World's Children 2009: Maternal and Newborn Health, www.unicef.org/sowc09/report/report.php.

2. James Strong, New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996), s.v. "Compa.s.sion."

3. Bill Gates Sr. with Mary Ann Mackin, Showing Up for Life: Thoughts on the Gifts of a Lifetime (New York: Broadway Books, 2009), 155.

Chapter 8: Persecution: Prepare for It; Resist It.

1. CIA, The World Factbook, 2009, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html.

2. Malatya: The Story of the First Martyrs of the Modern Turkish Church, www.malatyafilm.org.

3. CIA, The World Factbook, 2009, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html.

4. dc Talk and the Voice of the Martyrs, Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood for Jesus; The Ultimate Jesus Freaks (Tulsa, OK: Albury Publishing, 1999), 2089.

Chapter 10: Stand Up for the Have-Nots.

1. Richard Stearns, The Hole in Our Gospel (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2008), 11.

2. The Expositor's Bible Commentary with the New International Version of the Holy Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), 2:63335.

3. Walter Bruggeman, "Isaiah and the Mission of the Church" (sermon, Mars Hill Bible Church, Grand Rapids, MI, July 13, 2008).

4. United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2007/2008: Fighting Climate Change; Human Solidarity in a Divided World, 2007, 25, http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_EN_Complete.pdf.

5. "Closer to the Music," U2.com, July 30, 2003, www.u2.com/news/article/682.