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“God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose.” — John Piper
Life is more than just breathing. It is more than jsut working and even more than just falling in love, raising a family etc… We need to live for today remembering that we are not just flesh and blood but that we serve the Almighty God, the King of Glory and that He has a mission for which He gave His life for. In the everything, no matter how mundane or normal it is, we do we should remember who we are – ambassadors for reconnecting people with God. Life is more than just breathing – it is about living and having adventure! The adventure and satisfaction we are born craving is found in God, in knowing Him and serving Him.
today, little ol’ me on the other side of the world watched the Presidential Inaguration and Parade. i confess i was moved. i’ve always been moved by Obama and his dream and vision. i love seeing the hope rise around the world. i liked his speech. it resonates with me that we ALL have responsibility and a part to play, we all make a difference. we serve and awesome God and he calls us to change the world, wtih his love and grace.
Yes, we can.
by the power of God.
yes, we can.
by the might of the Holy Spirit.
yes we can.
Matthew 22:36-28 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This is one of those verses we can skip over “cos we know it.” you know what i mean eh, verses we read and skim over without thinking about because we may of thought about them 5 years ago… things that are simple and so we’ve worked it all out… i know i am like that, shame on me!
but it is worth taking a look at again and exaiminng our life. does our life reflect these two MAIN THINGS – loving God and loving people? are our priorities influenced and inspired by loving God and loving people? does our time reflect our committment to these commandments?
yesterday our pastors wife (she so rocks) preached about loving our neighbours. and from there i have been thinking of more practical ways that i can love those around me. simple things really. but they might just make someones day, help someone in need, demonstrate the love and grace of God, make someone feel special etc….
our neighbour is not just the person who lives next door…. it is anyone. it isnt just a christian or church member… it is anyone… it isnt just the nice people we call friends… it is anyone… including those we dont “click” with… get me….?
Practical Love In Action:
smile at people (serious!)
open doors
phone someone you might know is feeling a bit lonely
make a meal for someone who is sick or busy or something!
take a friend out for coffee and a chat
babysit for someone
lend a book or cd
pay for a doctors visit
drop off a bag of groceries
pick up someone and take them to church
sit with the person no one sits with at church
do bible study with a new christian
include someone in your circle of friends when you go out (ie invite them)
send an encouraging email
pass on your kids clothes that they have grown out of to a family that needs things like that
mow someones lawns if they cant
pray
….
you get the picture… this is in no way a definiative or exhausted list… how about you add your own ideas here…
The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. –C. S. Lewis
Acts 4:10 “this man standing here complete well because of the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth. You put Jesus to death on a cross but God raised him to life.”
Firstly YAY!
Secondly, lets travel back in time and put ourselves in the religious leaders shoes. They had executed Jesus and the heard rumours of his resurrection and even formulated a cover up story to explain away the empty tomb BUT NOW people were being HEALED in the name of Jesus, in the power of Jesus, the power of a dead criminal that they executed for blasphemy! How it must of felt and looked. Did they wonder at what had happened and what was going on? Or were they so entrenched in their own methods and power and structure and religion that they did not allow themselves to think that perhaps what these two men were saying was the truth. It was all so brand new. People healed in the name of a dead criminal! How preposterous that must of seemed! We are so accustomed to hearing about miracles in Jesus name (be it contemporary or from the bible) that we let the power and newness of that brush over us. We are unaffected by it and should remember how it must have been for the early Christians and “common folk”.
Acts 7:
Stephens message may look like a Jewish history lesson and in a way it so is – it is the history of how God has been personal and drawn near to the Jewish people through calling Abraham and calling him to Canaan, and Moses and the law of God, and Joseph saving the Israelites from famine and extinction, to the tent of the Lord – he concludes by stating that God isn’t interested in a building or a tent but in relationship – he isn’t bound by four walls but is Almighty and Creator and personal. This is the personal God who has related with Israel through history, and then whom Stephen sees in all his heavenly glory as he is being stoned to death. This God is a God of love and mercy and grace and relationship.
Acts 8:2 At that time the church in Jerusalem suffered terribly. All of the Lord’s followers, except the apostles, were scattered everywhere in Judea and Samaria.
What a terrible and wonderful time for the church. It demonstrates how God uses all things for his purpose and glory – the persecution of the church scattered the believers all throughout Israel and Europe and Asia – which ment he Gospel was spread throughout the nations. What the enemy ment for evil – shutting the church down – God used for glory by increasing the church!
Acts 8:4 The Lord’s followers who had been scattered went from place to place telling the good news.
God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible.
William Booth
i read a fabulous quote today that resonated in my heart and challenges me all the way through…. when we die (or if jesus comes back first) we come before God to give an account of our life… and at that point the criteria has nothing to do with orthodoxy – right doctrine – what we believe in, but rather it is all about orthapraxis – right practice – how we live.
the challenging part of this is especially in context of matthew 25 -
God isn’t looking for people of great faith, but for individuals ready to follow Him. Hudson Taylor
The Word became flesh… and moved into the neighbourhood.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 NIV
“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 The Message
This is what Jesus did. John 1 says The Word became flesh and dwelled with man. Jesus cam and lived with normal humans, as a human himself.
Then he left and returned to heaven and sent The Holy Spirit to live within us. So now the Spirit of God dwells in flesh, and our flesh continues to dwell with man. In other words the Holy Spirit moves into us and thus continues to live in the neighbourhood – JUST AS Jesus DID. Yip. We are meant to be ambassadors and representations of Jesus here on earth. We are meant to demonstrate the same love and grace and holiness and truth as Jesus did while he lived on earth.
The Word became flesh first and then passed on the same mission to us.
How will the people around us know about the love and grace and salvation of God unless they hear it and know it through our lives, through what God is doing to us and through us?
We are called to be witnesses to our family, our friends, and complete strangers we meet. God has placed us in our neighbourhood, with The Holy Spirit alive and active and living in us, to give us power to live for Him.
Jesus assosiated wtih fishermen, tax collectors (servants of Rome! outcasts!), lepers, prostitutes, adulterers, relgious men, children, women, servants, soliders, mothers, fathers… He assosiated with people. He loved them and revealed the love of God to them. Can we do the same to those around us???
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