Here are the extended notes from the second part of our series, INTERVENTION.
Guerrilla Lovers
INTERVENTION - Part 2
2 Kings 6-7 contain a story with incredible parallels to our personal lives… The story unfolds in about 850 B.C. during the ministry of the prophet Elisha, though He is not a player in the story.
2 Kings 6:24 (NLT), Some time later, however, King Ben-hadad of Aram mobilized his entire army and besieged Samaria.
The city of Samaria had been sealed off not simply for a matter of days or weeks, but for a period of MONTHS… And since no one could enter or leave the city, eventually there was a severe shortage of food.
2 Kings 6:25a (MSG), This brought on a terrible famine, so bad that food prices soared astronomically.
2 Kings 6:25b (NCV), It was so bad that a donkey’s head sold for about two pounds of silver, and half of a pint of dove’s dung sold for about two ounces of silver.
2 Kings 6:26-30 (NLT), One day as the king of Israel [probably King Jehoram] was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!”
27 “If the LORD doesn’t help you, what can I do?” he retorted. “I have neither food nor wine to give you.” 28But then the king asked, “What is the matter?”
She replied, “This woman proposed that we eat my son one day and her son the next. 29So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,’ but she had hidden him.”
30 When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair.
2 Kings 7:3 (NLT), Now there were FOUR MEN with LEPROSY sitting at the entrance of the city gates. “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” they asked each other.
2 Kings 7:4 (MSG), “If we enter the famine-struck city we’ll die; if we stay here we’ll die. So let’s take our chances in the camp of Aram and throw ourselves on their mercy. If they receive us we’ll live, if they kill us we’ll die. We’ve GOT NOTHING TO LOSE.”
2 Kings 7:5-7 (NLT), So that evening they went out to the camp of the Arameans, but no one was there! 6For the Lord had caused the whole army of Aram to hear the clatter of speeding chariots and the galloping of horses and the sounds of a great army approaching. “The king of Israel has hired the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us!” they cried out. 7So they panicked and fled into the night, abandoning their tents, horses, donkeys, and everything else, and they fled for their lives.
2 Kings 7:8 (NLT), When the lepers arrived at the edge of the camp, they went into one tent after another, eating, drinking wine, and carrying out silver and gold and clothing and hiding it.
2 Kings 7:9 (NLT), Finally, they said to each other, “This is NOT RIGHT. This is wonderful news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone!”
I love the way The Message reads…
2 Kings 7:9 (MSG), Finally they said to one another, “We shouldn’t be doing this! This is a day of good news and we’re making it into a private party!”
2 Kings 7:9-10 (NLT), Finally, they said to each other, “This is NOT RIGHT. This is wonderful news, and we aren’t sharing it with anyone! We’re making it into a PRIVATE PARTY! If we wait until morning, some terrible calamity will certainly fall upon us.
2 Kings 7:9c-10 (NLT), Come on, LET’S GO BACK and tell the people at the palace.”
10 So THEY WENT BACK to the city and told the gatekeepers what had happened…
The parallels should be OBVIOUS…
If we’re not careful, our tendency will be to FORGET TO GO BACK… If we’re not careful, those of us who "STUMBLED INTO GRACE," will get so preoccupied with the extravagance of God’s grace to us that we’ll forget to GO BACK…
Why reach out? What motivates me to share?
1. Reality Check: God’s Been Incredibly Good To Me.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (ESV), Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Psalm 23:5 (NLT), You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies. You welcome me as a guest, anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings.
Psalm 34:8 (NLT), Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
2. Eternal Perspective: There’s More To Life Than This.
Why share? Why reach out? Because HELL IS REAL and REAL PEOPLE GO THERE FOR ALL ETERNITY.
3. Big Deal: The Honor of Being an Agent of God.
Mark 1:17 (NLT), “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” 18At once they left their nets and followed him.
Acts 1:8, …you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses…
2 Corinthians 5:18, 20 (NLT), And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him… 20 So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!"
We are God’s ambassadors in this world. We are PLAN A in God’s strategy of how He is going to win this world to Himself… God’s plan is to use IMPERFECT, MESSED UP PEOPLE like you and me to accomplish His purpose and plan on this planet.
The Revolution Begins…
• Invest
(1) Love People Authentically
In his book, Guerrilla Lovers, pastor and author Vince Antonucci writes:
"I am not an expert on warfare, but it seems to me there are two basic ways to engage in a modern-day war. One is shock and awe. This is when the balance of power is on your side, so you move in the troops, roll in the tanks, and drop bombs from above. The goal is to rapidly destroy your enemies and force them into quick submission…"
Then he writes: "I wonder if, as Christians, we’ve relied on ‘shock and awe’ tactics too much. We’ve tried to attract people to Christianity through our big church buildings, slick presentations, cool music, and quality programs.
The other way is guerrilla warfare. Guerrilla warfare is a method employed when you’re outnumbered by the opposing force. Guerrilla warfare relies on intelligence. You must outthink your enemy.
It also relies on espionage. You must know your opponents, being able to discern where they are, how they think, and what they’ll do next.
Guerrilla warfare features strategic surprise attacks. You must hit your opponents when they’re not expecting it. These ambushes are usually low-intensity, close-proximity confrontations. You don’t have the firepower to blast away from a distance, so you sneak up close, hit ‘em quick, and get out of there."
Antonucci concludes by saying, “I admit this metaphor breaks down quickly because those we’re trying to reach are not our opponents or enemies. They are the people Jesus loves, and we’re bringing his love to them. But you get the point. Jesus didn’t call us to use shock and awe; he called us to use guerrilla tactics.
It’s time to do the kingdom of God the way Jesus taught… It’s a guerrilla revolution. And it’s a love revolution… The way to attract people is through the way we live and love.
We are guerrilla lovers…"
Here's how Antonucci goes on to describe his ministry:
“Our church has always…practiced guerrilla warfare. At one point we decided to try something to spark people who perhaps hadn’t caught on yet. We handed everyone a sealed envelope on their way in to our service several Sundays in a row. At the end of each week’s service we explained that these were guerrilla lover assignments for them to complete in the next seven days. This led to an outbreak of people ordering pizzas for their neighbors, dropping cookies off at fire departments, mowing lawns for old ladies in the neighborhood, buying lunch for the person behind them in the drive-through, cleaning the bathrooms at their office, tipping the dishwasher in the restaurant, and much more…”
Here are three books / websites that will help you explore how to become a "guerrilla lover" in the Kingdom of God.
Guerrilla Lovers by Vince Antonucci
www.guerrillalovers.com
Conspiracy of Kindness by Steve Sjogren
www.conspiracyofkindness.com
Servolution by Dino Rizzo
www.servolution.org/ideas
(2) Pray for People Relentlessly
• Invite
4. Ultimate Thrill: The Reward of Leading Someone To Jesus.
Daniel 12:3 (NLT), Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like stars forever.
Intervention: to involve yourself in a situation so as to alter an outcome.
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