My mission is to lead people toward connection with God and community with other believers.
The one sentence summary of your purpose: Jesus said to love GOD and love people.
- Loving People is Deep Christianity.
- Loving people is the toughest thing you will ever do.
- God has shown us how to love others.
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
- Loving God is the Ultimate Priority.
- God wants our relationship with Him to remain current.
Learning to live in God’s love is like floating on water. With the water of growth opportunities all around us and God’s hands under us, He says in a calm voice, “Relax, I’m right here, I won’t let you down.” Then, in order for us to learn to float, He removes His hand from our backs, and we begin to struggle. And while we feel very alone and vulnerable—struggling and swallowing gallons of water—He all the while has His hands just inches below our backs, knowing all along He has control of our destiny and safety. It’s when we relax that we can enjoy the water and His presence. The secret to learning how to float is that we have to stop fighting the water and trust our instructor. Some of us today need to let go and let God be the water upon which our lives can float. –Gene Wilkes, “Loving God, Loving Others,” Lifeway.com
Rich Mullins once wrote, “I’ve been in and out of all kinds of things—like self-deprecation, self-interest, ego trips, alcohol, and other addictions. I’ve failed many times to avoid those kinds of temptations. But that’s not what the devil was really interested in. What he was trying to do is make me feel apart from God.”
The Four Corners of the Cross: Fulfilling Our Purpose
- Worship
Psalm 96:1-4 Oh sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth! 2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. 3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! 4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods.
Worship has innumerable forms. The Moslem worships Allah in prayer by turning toward Mecca five times a day and repeating the same prayer. At some time in his life he makes a pilgrimage to Mecca where he will walk around the Kaaba seven times and kiss the sacred black stone. An American Indian may have worshiped by erecting a totem pole, offering up tobacco in the peace pipe, by sacrificing a finger joint or even a human being. All of us would probably be willing to acknowledge that these forms of worship are misguided and erroneous although those who follow these practices do so with great sincerity. Then, of course, there are the pagan forms of worship which we find within civilized America. There are those who worship the sun by taking off their clothes in nudist colonies. There are those who would have us understand that they find it much easier to worship God on the golf course or out on the lake or in the woods on Sunday morning. We should expect considerable confusion in this matter of worship.
2. Study
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Committed Christians base their lives on the Bible. We believe that the Bible is God's Word and that it is therefore authoritative for us in matters of faith and practice. The Bible indicates great truths sharing who God is, how we can relate to him, and how we can understand ourselves and the world. In short, the Bible contains the words of life. Believers use it to guide them in discerning God's will, from the monumental to the mundane. We read it to gain hope as well as to glean truth. It affects our beliefs, attitudes, and behavior. In short, the Bible is our pipeline to heaven: without it, we are adrift, unprotected in a hostile place. One of the curious phenomena of recent times is how Christians have been using the Bible. Rather than recognize that it is a book made up of 66 books, each written to a specific people for a specific reason, we tend to wrench verses right out of their contexts because the words agree with what we already believe.
Part and parcel of this abuse of Scripture is laziness. That is, most people simply don't take the trouble to read the context or to do their homework on the meaning of the Bible. And even when they are confronted with overwhelming evidence that is contrary to their view, they often glibly reply, "That's just your interpretation." This kind of response sounds as if all interpretations are up for grabs, as though all interpretations are equally plausible. Such a view is patently false.
John 5:37-40 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
3. Serve
John 13:3-5 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Developing a lifestyle of service is something we have to do on purpose. It’s a proactive choice we have to make daily. But even though that kind of sacrificial serving is by definition a selfless act, it isn’t without its benefits. Perhaps this is especially true for singles.
Like most cultures, ours includes certain benchmarks that tell us where we stand in life. Two prominent rites of passage are marriage and parenthood. Married people — even young married people — are typically awarded adult status in our society. Likewise, parenting a child is typically viewed as a further step toward maturity and leadership.
Consequently, many singles often feel trapped in a perpetual state of adolescence. Lacking the benchmarks that tell us we’ve arrived at adulthood, we feel stuck in the waiting room of life, never quite growing up into mature Christian adults, hoping God will hurry up and send us a spouse so we can finally set foot in the real world of the living. All the while, we wonder why other adults don’t give us the respect we deserve. They treat us like overgrown teenagers, the not-quite-grownups who aren’t really ready to serve in positions of genuine leadership.
Developing a lifestyle of true Christian service breaks that cycle. Serving others changes your perspective – broadens it, really. The truth is that there are specific biblical guidelines for gauging your level of maturity in Christ, regardless of your cultural or marital status. And one of the most important benchmarks for Christian adulthood is the willingness to lay down your life in the service of others.
4. Share
Acts 1:8-11 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." 9 And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven."
While some Christians are excited by the idea of evangelism, others break into hives at the mere mention of it. Most of us fall in between somewhere. We want to see the people around us – our friends, family members, co-workers – experience a relationship with Jesus, and we hope we can influence them in a way that sheds some light on the path that leads toward Him. Certainly, the kind of lives we lead speak volumes about what we believe, but when it comes to sharing the gospel, the biblical model is to show and tell, not one or the other. (See the entire New Testament.)
Be a friend. Evangelism isn’t “believer against unbeliever.” We aren’t called to be the conquering force that changes everyone’s minds. Rather we can join our friends on their journeys – we can come alongside them and investigate truth with them. Because the spirituality of a postmodern world tends to be vague and confusing, it’s important to give people time to sort spiritual matters through in their hearts and minds. We can be there to talk things out with them and to listen, rather than put pressure on ourselves to “save” them.
Be personal. Rather than getting tangled in theological, scientific, or historical debates with someone, simply share your story with her. Describe the context in which you became a Christian. Talk about what following Jesus looks like in your life, even what it feels like. What does it mean to you? What does He mean to you? No one can argue against your experience – it’s your experience, plain and simple.
An important aspect of communicating Jesus is learning to avoid “insider” language or condescension.
