SESSION SUMMARY

God adds people to church bodies for a reason. He wants to use your life to make a positive difference among the people where He has placed you. You must be sensitive to the Spirit as He leads you to serve Him in your church. As you respond to the Holy Spirit, you'll find He uses you to bless the people in your congregation and to help your church become what God intends it to be.

Throughout history, when God sought to accomplish a great work, He often did it through a businessperson. The marketplace is where people spend much of their time, and that is where God will go to encounter people and to meet their spiritual needs. He wants to work through Christian businesspeople in the marketplace to bring others into a saving relationship with Him. Christians must be alert to what God intends to do through their lives each day as they go to work.

So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with those who worshiped God, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. (Acts 17:17)

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• Has the Holy Spirit alerted you to someone in your church who is struggling or in need? What might God want to do through you to minister to that person or family?
• When you attend church, are you alert to people who may need encouragement? If God has led you to some specific people, what have you done in response?
• If you are not aware of people in your church to whom you could minister, why do you think that is? How could you be more spiritually prepared the next time you go to church?
• If you are presently involved in the marketplace, what have you seen God doing where you work? How have you been joining in that activity?
• What skills, experiences, contacts, and resources has God given you that He wants to use for building His kingdom?
• How does the way you live reflect the fact you believe God is Lord of your career and over your company?

EXPERIENCING GOD TODAY

Recall how God guided you to join the church in which you are a member. How did you know that was where God wanted you? Review the ways God has ministered to you through your church and consider how God has used your life to bless others.

If you are a business person or a professional, take time to reflect on why God led you to your present place of employment. Think about the clients and colleagues you encounter each day. Has God placed you in a spiritually needy mission field? Ask the Lord to reveal how He wants to impact the people around you through your life.

*This content is a condensed and consolidated version ends of chapters 23 and 24. This is in no way original content to Fellowship Greenville. This content is from the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby, Richard Blackaby, and Claude King (copyright 2008). We are thankful for the use of the content and the impact it has had.