Encouraging, Empowering & Equipping Ordinary Christians To Live Powerful Missional Lives!
When planning to use social media to help share Jesus with others and declare God's Glory then there needs to be some serious consideration given to the kinds of posts that you should make. In this video I am going to share with you 3 kinds of post that will help you make most of Christ in your part of this dark world. This is part two in a series called: HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO SHINE THE LIGHT OF CHRIST! To see Part 1 CLICK HERE!
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.
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!
Many of God's people feel inadequate in the obedience to Christ in the making of disciples of all peoples! Why? A lack of competence and confidence! Watch this video to learn the solution to this problem.
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:8-12 (NIV)
"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another ..."
The first place to start when it comes to improving you ability to love is to remember that God first loved you when you were unlovable. God loved us while we were still in the middle of our sinful condition and He demonstrated that love by having Jesus die on the cross to take the punishment that we deserved for our sins. Then God after Christ's resurrection offered forgiveness of sin as a free gift if we would only receive it by faith. How can you pay back that kind of debt? You can't but we can pay it forward by loving others the way Christ loved us.
"Love your neighbor as yourself ..."
The next place to go for improving your ability to love is to remember that the scripture tell us to love others as we love ourselves. Just as you take care of yourself - in the same way you should also take care of others. If you are one who doesn't love yourself very well then do what Christ said. "A new commandment I give unto you that you love one another like I have loved you."
"Love does no harm to a neighbor."
And finally, in order to improve your ability to love others better you should always remember that love does not harm others. When we love people it is our intent to build them up - not to tear them down! It's to heal them - not injure them! Here's a good question to ask yourself before you talk to someone or do something to someone:
"Is what I am about to say or do going to harm this person?"
If the answer is "yes" then don't do it! Why? Because love does no harm!
Now that these suggestions and go out into your part of this dark world and love people liberally! Shine the Light of Christ brightly by doing loving deeds in such a way that God gets the glory for it.
How should we who claim to follow Christ behave and respond to others now that the presidential election in the United States is done and many are confused and frustrated over the election results? This is a good question and one that each of us who love Jesus needs to take seriously, find the answer and obey. After all we are called to be the Light of the world. Where and how do we start in this new age of America? Watch this video and get some helpful insights to answering that question.
In Acts 8:26-40 we have an amazing story about an ordinary christian by the name of Philip who was used by God in an amazing way. From it we learn some powerful principles for shining the Light of Christ brightly in our part of this dark world. Watch and see what you might learn.
Take a few moments and share your thought as a comment.
Today I want to share with you a true story from the Bible that should bring you hope and encouragement. It will make clear to you that Jesus truly does love you and is willing to change your life.
If you are a fully devoted follower of Christ that wants to join Christ on His mission then I highly encourage you to learn this story for yourself and begin to share it with people over and over again.
In order to shine the Light of Christ brightly in our part of this dark world we must learn to forgive one another. Forgiveness is the proof that we really love and love is the proof that we really know Christ! Watch this video and be encourage to forgive those that have hurt you.
Today we are going to learn about God’s Way For Dealing With Anger. Our text is found in Genesis 4:1-15.
"Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[c] a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” But the Lord said to him, “Not so[e]; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
The bad attitude that Cain had was jealousy. He was jealous that his younger brother had his sacrifice accepted by God when his wasn't. There are all kinds of bad attitudes that we can develop but if left unchecked anger will quickly develop from it.
Don't think that your anger goes unnoticed by God! He not only notices it but will also calls us out on it and warn us about it.
Anger is a seed from which sin can be birthed. When we are angry we make Godless choices.
Don't think that you can use your anger as an excuse that God will accept for the sin you committed. Anger is no defense for sinning in the sight of God. Even though you were angry God will hold you accountable for the sin.
Every can learn to manage their anger so that it doesn't control them. How many times have we been in a heated argument with a family member when all of a sudden the phone rings and instead of screaming and yelling when we answer the phone we change our tone and calmly say, "Hello, can I help you?"
You see we do have the ability to control our anger, it's just a matter of if we are willing to or not.
In today's post I want to share with you about our credibility for living a missional life. How will people know that what we are sharing about Jesus, about the Gospel or the forgiveness of sin is accurate and true? The answer comes back to our credibility! Are we credible? Can people believe us? Watch this video and see what God is telling you!
Once you've shared Jesus with every person you personally know who do you share it with next? That is going to be the topic of this post! After all we are not released from sharing the Good News simply because everyone we personally know has already heard. So, who do we tell next?
Who Do You Share The Gospel With Next?
Have you ever asked a question, sincerely wanting an answer, but once the answer was given you really didn't like it? When it comes to why God allows His people to suffer no answer is really comforting. The answer itself actually might be very hard to swallow and accept.
In today's post I am going to lead us to examine one explanation for why God's people suffer. But let me be up front with you from the get go; I don't think it's going to taste very good in your mouth. It's true but hard to accept. And while it may be hard to accept it is also at the same time very challenging and noble. Take a moment and read the verse that I am going to be using as my text.
"For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." 2 Corinthians 4:6-12 (NIV)
I just love how verse 6 starts off. God who made the light shine in darkness also made His light shine in our hearts through the knowledge of God that we see in Christ. GOD MADE HIS LIGHT SHINE IN US! That's just powerful. We didn't discover the Light! We didn't create the Light! We did't even put the Light inside ourselves. The Light of Christ that shines through us is a work of God from start to completion. It was through God's initiative and by His own hand that the Light of Christ lives in us and shines through us. In other words, we are God's chosen vessels, that He is displaying His light through in our part of this spiritually dark world. That's our purpose and our mission. POWERFUL! SIMPLY POWERFUL!
We contain Christ's Light in "Jars of Clay" or in our broken and feeble mortal bodies. Now here it comes. This is the part that can be hard to swallow! God has chosen to display his light in the broken down and beaten up bodies of His saints in order to show the world that the power His saints display are not from them but really from God.
God wants to make sure that the world realizes who is truly the one powerful! God wants to make sure that we, his saints, don't get the credit for what He has done and for the credit that He deserves. And to insure that God's power and Light is manifested to the world in such a way that He alone get's the glory, He (God) allows his saints to experience trials, tribulations, persecutions and all kinds of hardships. In dying with Christ, through persecution, the life of Christ is manifested through us!
Here's why I also call this explanation and this kind of lifestyle noble: It's what the Apostle Paul says at the end of these verses.
"So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."
It's NOBLE because all this suffering and dying is intended for the eternal life to be made available to others who still need to experience it. Nobility isn't define by what you say you believe but through your acts of righteousness out of your beliefs. What better act of righteousness is there than a person willing to suffer and even die so that others can see Jesus and receive eternal life? DON'T YOU THINK IT SOUNDS VERY CHRIST LIKE? ISN'T THAT EXACTLY WHAT CHRIST DID FOR US?
As Followers of Christ we are still here on planet earth for one reason and one reason only! That reason is simply so we can live a powerful missional life that brightly shines the Light of Christ in our part of this dark world. If nothing else is accomplished and we simple shine Jesus in a way that God gets the glory and not us then we've accomplish all that is of real importance. And as we accept our role of being the Light of the World then we need to also accept the very real possibility that suffering will be a part of that shining.
Many of God's people are sensing that Christ's return might be coming more sooner than later! But the question that begs to be answered is: What should God's people concentrate on as they are waiting for Christ's return?
From God's word we can see 4 things we are told should be our aim and priority as we wait. Whether Christ's return is sooner or later these four things should always be what we focus on.
"The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen" 1 Peter 4:7-11 (NIV)
There are two important factors that are vital to help us maintain a steadfastness in praying. They are being "Alert" and "Sober Minded". Being alert means that we are to be aware of what is happening around us both in the physical word and in the spiritual world. How can we pray as we should if we are not noticing what is happening around us.
The second is like the first but also slightly different and that is to be sober minded. We need to keep ourselves from becoming intoxicated by the pleasures and the trappings of this world. Intoxication of this world is probably the biggest hinderance to a powerful and God honoring prayer life.
Peter says two important things when it comes to the love that we need to have for one another. First, he tells us that we need to love each other deeply. Our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ can't be a surface kind of love that is more "talk" than it is a "walk'. Talk cheap love doesn't do anything for anybody accept offer flattery. We need to show deep love for one another because as the day approaches for Christ's return we might actually need to lay down our lives for one another out of love. If you don't have a deep love for each other you won't be willing to die for that person.
Next Peter tells us that love covers a multitude of sins. That means if we really love someone and I mean really love them we will over look their faults and even their sins agains us. We will forgive each other even in the midst of them persecuting us.
Hospitality without grumbling. Attitude is everything. If you do all the right things but do them all with the wrong attitude - it's still wrong and amounts to nothing. Doing something nice for someone but not really wanting to still displeases God. God wants us to desire with all our hearts to express love through good deeds.
God has given you spiritual gifts not for your benefit but for the benefit of His body - the church and for it to be done in such a way that Christ gets the praise! God ministers to His people, through His people, by using their spiritual gifts. You need to use your spiritual gifts, use them liberally and use them to strengthen your church fellowship.
A powerful missional life just doesn't happen by chance. It comes about because Christians make choices that lead them into that kind of lifestyle. These choices are not always easy to make and if the truth be told they are often extremely difficult.
As we look at Moses we can see 3 choices that he had to make that allow him to powerfully join God on His mission. These same 3 choices still face Christians today! To make the choice the way God would have you will lead to greater effectiveness in shining the Light of Christ but to make the choice contrary to God will cause you to become impotent and ineffective in missional living.
To choice God's way is not easy and will require you to have faith in God. The outcome of your choices may not always be clear but your conviction to follow Christ is not only clear but firm and your trust that God will work all things out for good is steady. Without faith you cannot please God - you cannot make the choices the way God would have you to make.
The Bible verse to help us navigate in understanding these choice is found in Hebrews 11:24-26.
"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." (NIV)
"By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter" (Vs. 24 NIV)
We all know the story of Moses of how Pharaoh, out of fear of having the Hebrew slaves grow so large in numbers that they might overthrow him, ordered that all the male children under a certain age be killed. We remember how Moses' mother hid Moses until he was to big to hide any longer but then out of faith put baby Moses in a basket and floated him downstream. We've heard about how Pharaoh's daughter found the basket and fell in love with baby Moses and decided to raise him herself thereby making him a Prince of Egypt. And in the palace of Pharaoh Moses was raised in the wealthiest country in the world. He had pleasure, prestige, power and property. He was living in the lap of luxury.
That was until he was all grown up and decided to no longer live in the lap of luxury while his people were living as slaves. He wanted to help his people. He wanted to find a way to ease their suffering. MOSES GAVE UP THAT IDENTITY OF BEING A PRINCE OF EGYPT TO BE KNOWN AS A HEBREW SLAVE.
As we intentionally set out to live a life on mission with Christ we too will be asked by God to exercise our faith to abandon our identity with the world and instead, be known as a Child of God. We will be asked by God to stop considering ourselves as a member of this world but instead to consider ourselves as ambassador for the Kingdom of God.
When we make this choice most of the people in the world will not understand why we would do that. Many people will ridicule us - make fun of us - and even malign our character for choosing it. They will consider us foolish and even traitors.
But we also need to keep in mind that how we view our identity will have a powerful effect on how we go about God's mission and how effective we will be in accomplishing His will.
"He chose to be mistreated along with people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." (v.25 NIV)
Did you see that? Moses chose to be mistreated! That's amazing! Instead, of living in the lap of luxury with everything your heart could ever want. Moses gave it all up just to follow God and be obedient to him. That requires a growing faith to make that kind of Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
.And it's not just about giving up the pleasures of the world (Egypt) but more importantly to give them up in favor to being mistreated by others who don't believe in God. Moses could have enjoyed all the sinful pleasures that a wealthy life as a Prince of Egypt could offer. But he chose not to. Why? Partly because Moses realized that sin, though pleasurable, is only temporary but in like fashion he also realized that that the mistreatment he would experience was also only temporary.
In missional living we will experience the mistreatment from the people of this world. By choosing Christ and obedience to His mission we become an enemy to the world and the rulers of this world. We could experience all the pleasures of the sinful lifestyle this world has to offer. We could easily drown ourselves in debauchery and party until to our hearts content. But we are willing to give it up! Why? Because we know that with Christ's return comes the end of all of the pleasure of sin.
But it's going to require faith for you to make that choice! We can see sin and the pleasures that people get from their participation in it but we don't see Christ and all that he has offer yet. We have to believe and trust that Christ will be true to his word. THAT'S FAITH.
"He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward." (v. 26)
This is a choice of what's of most value to you! Moses felt that being disgraced and dishonored by those of the world was of more value than all the riches in Egypt. All the hate, all the name calling, all the beatings and even death was of worth more than all the treasures the world could gather together.
Jesus express the same sentiments on the Sermon On The Mount in what we call the Beatitudes. Read what he says:
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11,12 (NIV)
According to Jesus we are "BLESSED" when we are insulted, persecuted and lied about all because Jesus. We are to rejoice when these things happen because our reward in Heaven because of it.
I'm not sure what you think but Jesus believed that our reward in Heaven is going to be far more valuable than all of the treasures of earth.
You know, when suffer for Christ we are in really company. Moses suffered, all of the prophets of the Old Testament suffered and even Jesus' own disciples died because of their choice to follow Christ. and not submit to the opinions and attitudes of the world.
3 Choices! Making these 3 choices will greatly enhance your missional living. It will help shine the Light of Christ brighter than you ever thought possible.
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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