Encouraging, Empowering & Equipping Ordinary Christians To Live Powerful Missional Lives!
Have you ever thought that there are times when the sight of Christ might bring fear into your life? Even for those who have intentionally decided to join Christ on His mission can have times when seeing Jesus brings fear into their lives.
What this video and hear a true story from the Word of Christ when the sight of Jesus brought fear into the lives of his disciples
There are a few things written in the Bible that Christ says are "MUST" things that need to get done! Today's post talks about one of those things that Jesus says is a must for him and for us.
Watch and be challenged to make sure your priorities include this one "MUST" thing!
Worry is one of the biggest barriers that keep Christians from joining Christ on His mission. And that worry can involve many different things.
Some Christians feel that they just don't know enough about their Christian faith to share the Gospel with others, and as such, they could easily say something that is wrong. The good news is that the Gospel is not complicated and doesn't require you to be a rocket scientist to do it. With some very basic and quick training you can both thoroughly understand the Gospel and share it with others. THIS IS A WORRY THAT IS EASILY REMEDIED!
When you share Jesus with others, will they have questions? Absolutely! But don't allow the worry of not having the right answer keep you from sharing Jesus with others.
There's a true story in the Bible, after Jesus had healed a man from being blind from birth, that the religious leaders (who didn't like Jesus) decided they needed to question the man who had been healed. Take a moment and read about how this man responded to comments about Jesus that he had no answers for:
"A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. 'Give glory to God,' they said. 'We know this man is a sinner.' He replied, 'Whether he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!" Luke 9
You can read the whole story in the Gospel of John, chapter 9. But did you see how the man responded to the comments he had no knowledge of? This man should serve as an example to the rest of us, on how we should respond to people who have questions, sincere or insincere questions! That response should simply be:
"That is something I don't have an answer for but I will search to find the answer for you, but for now let me share with you what I do know!"
Then you share with them what Jesus has done for you since placing your faith in Him. You don't need to have all the answers to everyones questions concerning God and Jesus! You can always go find those answers. But you should use their questions to share more of our story of coming to faith in Christ. People can argue about theology but no one can argue about your testimony in Christ! They may not believe it but they can't argue against it.
That's the worry that Jonah had when God called him to go prophecy against the Great city of Nineveh. He didn't like them and he wanted to full unbridle wrath of God to fall on them. His biggest worry was that they would hear his message and the repent and if God saw their repentance, Jonah knew that God would forgive them.
There might be some people you just don't like, you don't care for and you could care less if they came to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If so, then you have an sinful attitude problem. You need to be so convicted in your heart by the Lord that those whom you care the least for are those that want to come to know Jesus. You need to spend so much time in the presence of the Lord that his desires for these people become your desires as well.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
What's that one "Best Practice" for ridding yourself from the worry and anxiety that plagues your heart. IT'S PRAYER! When we pray God sends His peace into our lives to do two things:
So, if you are worried about joining Christ on His mission I suggest you just STOP IT and start PRAYING ABOUT IT. You know it's God's will for you to join Him on His mission, so just take the time in prayer to receive God's peace and His transformation and then just go join Him and see the great things that God will do in and through you.
While there are other things that will determine how you portray Christ to others, I believe this video will share with you one of, if not the most, factor in how people see Christ in you. To learn more about how to shine the Light of Christ brightly in your part of this dark world, check out this powerful book on living a powerful missional life:
While doing a study of the Gospel of what Jesus actually did to ignite a powerful disciple making movement I found this very important Bible verse.
"Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him." Matthew 4:23-25
Watch this video to learn more about the 3 things Jesus did to ignite a disciple making movement and how to apply them for today.
I am so glad to hear of your interest in The Basic Gospel Sharing Training that The Ordinary Christian has put together. This is a FREE training that you can get to help you become more competent and confident in sharing Christ with others.
When God is ready to do something new, when He is ready to move His mission into a new territory or when God begins to expand his mission to into areas uncharted, He first has to prepare a person to go and do His will! Understand this: God's plan for expanding His mission is always through His people. We who know Christ have been commissioned as His ambassadors to this lost world. So, when God want to do something new in accomplishing His mission he will first prepare one or more of His ambassadors to go.
In Acts chapter 10 we read of such a preparation when God was wanting to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles. He first had to prepare his ambassador, Peter, and then commissioned him to share the message of reconciliation to them. Let's read what Acts 10:9-23 to see what we can learn:
"About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, "Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.' Surely not, Lord!' Peter replied. 'I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.' The voice spoke to him a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon' house was and stopped at the gate. They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Simone, three men are looking for you. So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.' Peter went down and said to the men, 'I'm the one you're looking for. Why have you come?' The men replied, 'We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to have you come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say.' Then Peter invited the men into the house to be his guests. The next day Peter started out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along." (NIV)
When I begin to contemplate this story of Peter's life I see four important things that will help us to be ready to move with God into a new mission field that He wants us to go into. They are:
Isn't it interesting that Peter had been in a time of intense prayer just prior to God calling him into a new mission territory? He had been praying so hard and long that he became hungry. I have often found that during my times of intense prayer I also have become hungry. Prayer isn't a passive activity that requires no energy. On the contrary, prayer can be a very exhausting activity that can cause a person to feel physically tired as well as spiritually and emotionally tired.
Prayer prepares the Christ's Ambassador to be open and receptive to what God wants to share with them. Prayer removes the spiritual blinders and chains that can hold us back from joining God where He is moving.
We find in Acts 13 that while some of the prophets and teachers at the church in Antioch were in a time of intense worship, fasting and prayer that God called for Barnabas and Saul to be set apart for the work that he was calling them into. This was to be the beginning of the 3 missionary journey's of Paul. And it was during a time of prayer, worship and fasting that God called for his servants to be set apart.
When people share with me that they never sense God's call to be used, I often wonder how intentional they are in prayer and how submissive are they in their prayers. For if we are praying and have a submissive heart that says, "where ever you lead I'll go" I am confident that God will employ that servant into His service.
How intentional and consistent are you being in your prayer life? How submissive are you being as you pray? Are you trying to tell God what you want and need for him to do? Or, are you asking God what He wants to be done? Yes, we are to pray for God to meet our needs but, as we learn from Jesus' example, we should be in the attitude that says, "Not my will - but thy will be done!"
Next we see God beginning to speak to Peter while he was in a trance. This experience wasn't confusing to Peter. It was like normal dream people have while they are asleep. This was different. This was a God encounter and Peter recognized it as such. Peter wasn't confused about if it was God speaking to him - Peter knew it was God speaking to Him.
You see when God speaks, God makes it clear it is Him who is speaking. When you look in the Bible to those whom God spoke to, you never find a person wondering if it was God speaking to Him or not. No! they knew it was God and more importantly they knew exactly what God was telling them.
God doesn't want His people confused about if it is really Him talking to them! God wants us to know for certain that He is the one talking to us and for us to know clearly what He is saying. If there is ever a time when we are unsure if what we are sensing is of God or not we have a wonderful promise in the Bible found in James 1:5,
"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. Than man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
What a beautiful and reassuring promise! If you are uncertain that what you are sensing needs to happen or if it is from God or not, just ask him to confirm it to you and he promises he will. All we have to do is "Ask & Believe".
Have you come to the place in your relationship with Christ that you can recognize the voice of God and discern what He is telling you? Being able to recognize God's voice and understanding what He is saying is ESSENTIAL for joining God in those new mission fields where He is moving. Why should God call you to join Him if you're unable to discern when He is talking to you and what He is saying?
Moving into a new mission territories most likely will stretch you greatly in your comfort and your values.
Before this encounter with God Peter was both uncomfortable at the thought of going into the home of a gentile. It was against every value he had been brought up to believe. It was against the establish religious convictions that he had been brought up with. There was no way he would go into the house of a gentile unless God had first prepared him. And that's exactly what God did.
Peter wasn't convinced on the first God encounter or even the second God encounter. It took three different encounters with God and hearing the same message from God before Peter understood that God was serious about what he was saying and before God could send him with those men to go into the house of a gentile. If God hadn't taken the time to prepare Peter, Peter probably never would have accepted their invitation to come.
Are you being challenged about what will be required to join God in the new mission field that you sense He is leading you into? Are some of your church traditions, values and perspectives being called into question and you're not sure how to respond. Then good, because God is shaping you and fashioning you into the kind of servant that will follow Him where ever He leads.
Is Peter unique? Or, are we a lot like Peter? I think that we, like Peter, also need to have those God encounters that prepare us to go and join Him in those new mission fields! To be willing to leave the comforts of what is familiar and the treasured established relationships and to go to a place that is unknown has to have a God preparation take place. That doesn't mean it is going to be instant preparation or even an easy transition. It just means it is necessary to happen.
It wasn't instant or even pleasant for Jonah to be prepared and willing to go on his mission assignment! He had to be swallowed by a whale! How quick and how easy that transition to following God depends on how submissive the one being called is. Our openness to moving in a new direction will depend on how much our will has been broken, so that only God's will is left.
How open are you to joining God in the new mission fields He is opening up? How much of your own will have you crucified on the cross and how much of God's will is directing you? These are the question that only you can answer for yourself! No one can answer then for you.
When we begin to join Christ on His mission and become intentional about making reproducing disciple makers, we can rest assured that we will run into times of trials and tribulations! Difficult times is something we can guarantee will happen and is something we will need to learn to deal with.
In Luke 9:23 we hear Jesus telling people what is expected of anyone who wishes to be one of his disciples,
"Then he said to them all, 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily, and follow me."
According to Jesus there are three things that are essential if someone truly wants to become one of His disciples.
They Must Deny Themselves: A life of a disciple of Christ is a life of self-denial. To be His disciples means to no longer have your own ambitions, your own goals or your own desires. Instead, your life is for Christ and Him alone. You surrender your will for the will of Christ and your desire is to accomplish God's will.
As we all clearly know Jesus knew what it meant to pick up a cross and carry it! It meant to suffer and then die to accomplish the work set before Him. Even Jesus didn't relish the thought of going to the cross and would have preferred a different solution if possible. In Matthew 26:39 we get the rare opportunity to listen in on a prayer by Jesus to His Heavenly Father. It was a prayer concerning the cross. Listen to what Jesus asks:
"Going a little farther, He felled with His face to the ground and prayed, 'My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will but as you will."
Jesus didn't like the idea of going to the cross. He understood clearly the pain and suffering that was going to come with it. He referenced it as a "cup". This was an Old Testament imagery that was a reference to the Cup of "God's Wrath" being poured out as judgement. Jesus understood that going to the cross meant that he would be experiencing the full unbridled wrath of His Father. This was not a pleasant thought at all.
There's no written record of the Father's answer but we do know what it was by the actions of Jesus and His resolve to go to the cross and die. The Father's answer was simple,
"Son, you must go to the cross if people's sins are to be forgiven."
And out of love for us Jesus endured the cross.
Just like Jesus was to take up His cross, Jesus tells us that we are to pickup our cross daily and follow him. He is telling us that on a day by day basis we are to have a heart willing to suffer and possibly die in order to join Him on his mission of redeeming the world. We must be willing to deny our self interests and desires in order that others, still lost in sin, can hear the Good News and be saved. We must be willing to die, if need be, so others can be born again.
But how do you do that? How do we endure the pain and suffering that comes with being on mission with Christ so others can be saved? Again, we find our answer in the example of Jesus.
In Hebrews 12:2 we find our answer through Jesus' example.
" ... For the joy set before Him he endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the Thrown of God."
How did Jesus endure the cross? Not by focusing on the cross but look past it and focusing on the joy that would come after the cross.
That's how we endure daily picking up our cross with all the pain associated with it! We focus, not on the trial or tribulation but on all those who will receive Jesus by faith because of our faithfulness; by focusing on hearing Jesus words spoken to us, "Well done good and faithful servant"; by focusing on the "JOY" that will come when Christ returns and finds us faithful to the call.
THAT'S HOW YOU ENDURE!
In Philippians 3:13-15 we read hear the Apostle Paul admonishing us to press on, never give up, never stop but strain and push your way to the finish line. Read for yourself how Paul puts it:
"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things ...."
When it comes to living a powerful missional life that brightly shines the Light of Christ this should be our marching verse! KEEP ON PRESSING ON! Being on mission with Christ is not like a sprint race but more like a marathon race. To finish the part of God's mission He has given to us to do will take years, along with lots of pain, sorrow and heart ache. The temptation to quit will at times will be almost hard to overcome if we are not mentally and spiritually prepared to go the distance.
This video is the first of 3 messages I brought for Agape Baptist Church in Tucson, AZ during their 3 day retreat with the theme of PRESSING ON! I share it with you because this is a Word from our Lord not just for a few but for all of us who confess Jesus as Lord and have committed ourselves to follow Him. As you watch it be encouraged but also be challenged for the work that our Lord has called us to is the greatest work in all of creation. Don't allow the temporal things of this world blind you or fool you to think that the work that Christ has called us to is of little significance! For it's not! THE WORK WE DO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT WORK YOU WILL EVER UNDERTAKE! I pray that Christ will speak to you!
Do you know what they are? No! Then watch this training and start working in the fields God has assigned you!
In todays training we are going to look at the 4 places that define your mission field. This is going to answer the question "Who Am I Responsible For In Sharing The Gospel?" By answer this question you will know where to begin to share the Gospel of Christ and where to begin in making disciples for Christ.
Even in the life of Jesus there were stumbling blocks that tried to hinder him from accomplishing the mission that God the Father had sent him into the world to accomplish. Watch this video to learn about 1 major stumbling block that Jesus encountered and how he dealt with it.
Did you find this video helpful? Then please share it with your Christian family and friends of Facebook and Twitter!
Also, please take a few moments and leave us a comment on your thoughts about this subject!
Social Media is a major part of the our lives! We use it everyday. We stay connected with people through it. Therefore, it has become a major tool that needs to be used wisely to shine the Light of Christ brightly in our part of this dark world.
I am going to do a series of posts to help Followers of Christ use social media wisely and Biblically in order to share Christ to a world that desperately needs him. Check out this first video and see what you think.
As the Apostle Paul was writing his letter to the church at Colosse he tells the Christians there about a prayer that he offers up to God on their behalf. This prayer contains some important information about knowing God's Will. Read what it says,
"For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through spiritual wisdom and understanding ..." Colossians 1:9 (NIV)
In this one verse we can learn 3 important facts about knowing God's will. They are:
Did you notice as you read the verse about that Paul said this this prayer is a prayer that he is praying for them daily? For the Apostle Paul making sure that new believers in Christ were fully grounded in Christ was essential and if he was to accomplish that goal it was of the utmost importance that the new believers knew the will of God!
Paul knew that being fully matured in Christ would require new believer to know what God's will is. It would be impossible for them to be strong in their faith and not know God's will. That's why he prayed daily for those coming to faith. That's why his prayers contained petitions that those new believers would know and understand God's will.
How Important And Essential Is Knowing God's Will To You?
How often do you pray for the new believers that you know about? That they would know God's will?
Did you notice in that verse that Paul was asking God to fill them with the knowledge of His will? Who's doing the filling? God is! Who's the container being filled? We are!
Why is this important? Simply because, you don't discover God's will - no instead it is God who reveals His will to us. If we are going to understand what God's will is - it is because God has opened our eyes to see the truth of His will. If God doesn't enlighten us we could never understand His will.
Finally Paul states in his prayer that he is asking God to fill us with his will through spiritual wisdom and understanding. Not human wisdom and understanding but spiritual wisdom and understanding. The wisdom of this world does not and cannot comprehend the will of God. To the world the will of God sounds like foolishness. Understanding God's will requires us to have spiritual wisdom and understanding that come from God.
The word for "wisdom" means the ability to understand what God is doing and the word for "understanding" means the ability to apply what they understand. You see not only does God want us to understand His will is but He also wants us to know how to apply His will to our everyday life. God doesn't just tell you what His will is to keep you informed - God shares his will with you because he wants you to join Him in what He is doing.
Please leave a comment sharing what you think and share this post with your social media of Facebook and Twitter.
Pastor Billy and His Family!
This Saturday, June 3rd I will be in Glens Ferry, Idaho at First Baptist Church with Pastor Billy to lead his congregation in the Gospel Conversation Training. It is his desire to see his church raised up, trained up and unleashed to go share the Gospel to every person in their ministry field until there's no place left to share.
In this video you will get to hear Steve Addison interview Daniel Reece on how God reached out to him and then has been using him to ignite a powerful movement here in North America. WATCH & BE ENCOURAGED!
Recently I read this quote by Rick Warren the Pastor of Saddleback Church and I thought it had a lot to say to us who claim to be Christ's followers and what it means to be successful. Here's what it says:
“Being successful and fulfilling your life's purpose are not at all the same thing; You can reach all your personal goals, become a raving success by the worlds standard and still miss your purpose in this life.” ― Rick Warren
As I read this I started asking myself some questions:
As I pondered these questions 2 thoughts came to mind that I believe are so very important to remember:
THOUGHT #1:
How horrible it would be to stand before God on the Last Day (Judgement Day) and begin to share with Christ how I had accomplished so many great and different goals only to hear Jesus reply with, "But that's not what I had ask you to do or accomplish!" Wouldn't it be terrible to have placed your ladder of success and ascended it - only to have realized once you got to the top that you had place it on the wrong wall! I want to hear the words of my Lord say to me, "Well done good and faithful servant."
God's plan and ministry for us is to be His ambassador to this spiritually dark world by making God's appeal for people to be reconciled to Him as if it was God Himself making the appeal through us. Therefore, we are to be His ambassadors that intentionally engages in the ministry of reconciliation. That is accomplished through disciple making. So, the question bids an answer: How successful are we at making disciples for Christ?
THOUGHT #2:
Success from God's perspective is very different from success in the world's perspective! The world says you are successful if you accomplish great results but the Bible says we are successful when we are obedient to what He has commanded of us.
Over and over again we hear the Bible teach that obedience is better than sacrifice; or for us to be doers of the word and not hearers only, and to teach new believers to obey all that Christ commanded. Jesus even shared that being obedient to Him is an expression of our love for Him.
We work and train to do our best at what Christ commanded but in the end success isn't defined by the results but by our willingness and faithfulness to do what He said. The results are in God's hands but our obedience is in our hands.
So, in the final analysis as Followers of Christ we need to intentionally pursue the role of being Christ Ambassadors, to sharing the Gospel to those still lost in spiritual darkness and to obeying all that Christ has commanded. If we can do that then we are successful!
We believe that ordinary christians are God primary choice for doing His extraordinary work. Throughout scripture we see God choosing to use everyday people to join Him on His mission of raising up, training up and unleashing them to become rapidly reproducing disciple makers. The Ordinary Christians intends to join God in that pursuit.
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