Bystander Effect ![]()
Bystander Effect Definition
===============A phenomenon where the greater the number of people present, the less likely people are to help an individual in distress.
It's Not About The Nail
===============What if the story was flipped? What if it was your friend who's an unbeliever? You see the figurative nail in their head, but at what point do you say something about it?
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
==============="Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because Christians are talking where they should be listening."
People are desperate for someone to listen!
===============If we are willing to listen, we will be tapping into a natural resource. If we show respect and courtesy by listening, we find others will begin to listen back. When we win their hearts, we earn the right to be heard. In fact, people will start asking you for your opinion.
James 1:19
===============James 1:19 (NIV)
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My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,
James 1:19 Formula
===============Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.
John 4:7-9
===============John 4:7-9 (NIV)
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When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans. )
Think About It
===============Jesus risked being accused of being ceremonially unclean because he was accepting a drinking cup that was handled by a Samaritan. She even tries to help him out by pointing it out to him. But that didn't stop Jesus from engaging in meaningful conversation. He was willing to overlook even this deep cultural value for the sake of reconciling one person to His Father.
Mark 5:24-35
===============Mark 5:24-35 (NIV)
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So Jesus went with him. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
Application
===============There are stories after stories of Jesus stopping to listen to people. You have to realize that the only way Jesus was able to speak truth in love to people was because he earned the right to be heard. And it started with listening! So remember, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.
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Bystander Effect Definition
===============A phenomenon where the greater the number of people present, the less likely people are to help an individual in distress.
Acts 12:1-19
===============Acts 12:1-19 (NIV)
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It was about this time that King Herod arrested some who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. When he saw that this met with approval among the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread. After arresting him, he put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. The night before Herod was to bring him to trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries stood guard at the entrance. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him up. “Quick, get up!” he said, and the chains fell off Peter’s wrists. Then the angel said to him, “Put on your clothes and sandals.” And Peter did so. “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me,” the angel told him. Peter followed him out of the prison, but he had no idea that what the angel was doing was really happening; he thought he was seeing a vision. They passed the first and second guards and came to the iron gate leading to the city. It opened for them by itself, and they went through it. When they had walked the length of one street, suddenly the angel left him. Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.” When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!” “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison. “Tell James and the other brothers and sisters about this,” he said, and then he left for another place. In the morning, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. After Herod had a thorough search made for him and did not find him, he cross-examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Herod’s Death Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.
King Herod
===============King Herod persecuted and killed Christians for political reasons. The Christian movement was an opportunity for him to have favor from the Jewish people.
What is your prayer life like?
===============What do you pray about?
We seem to be more concerned with... What we will eat, What we will wear, Financial and material goals, For parking spots to be open, To get jobs/raises, Broken marriages/Comfort for loved ones
What if God wants us to pray more?
===============What if God wants us to pray about something bigger? Praying dangerously - Kingdom aligned prayers
Matthew 6:33
===============Matthew 6:33 (NIV)
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But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Search Me
===============There's a saying that says, "Don't ask the question if you're not ready to hear the answer." A "search me" prayer is dangerous because when you ask God to search your heart he will!
Break Me
===============If you want to be set free to follow Christ fully, then it's time to pray a "break me" prayer.
Ecclesiastes 3:3
===============Ecclesiastes 3:3 (NIV)
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a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
Lead Me
===============When you get settled into a house, career, a growing family, or future plans, it's tempting to avoid dangerous "lead me" prayers that "unsettle" your life.
But that's where faith comes in. We need to believe God loves us and wants to lead our life down a better, more God-focused path that we could ever lead ourselves.
Use Me
===============This prayer says, "God, I'm available if you'd like to do something great through me. I'm available if you'd like to touch another life through me." "Use me" prayers are powerful.
They create adventures. You never know what the result of these prayers will be, but they're worth the risk of praying, because when you ask God to use you, he will. And it's wonderful to be used by God.
Bill Hybels
==============="Praying these five dangerous prayers says you mean business with God. When you prayerfully and courageously move out of your comfort zone, your spiritual life will never be the same. 'Search me. Break me. Stretch me. Lead me. Use me." Pray these prayers and watch what God does."
Pray dangerously for others
===============We are surrounded by neighbors who are bound up/chained up by the things of this world.
We cannot convict or convince anyone. It is not our role, it's the Spirit's.
Our job is to pray. Not just pray but wholly lean into God. In prayer hearts are softened, chains are broken, strongholds are released, and people are drawn to Jesus.
John 16:8,13
===============John 16:8-13 (NLT)
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And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged. “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.
What is your prayer life like?
===============Do you pray dangerous prayers?
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