IGo-day 4-even more on the command of Jesus

It would seem ridiculous if you took a random person off the street, put him in a major baseball uniform and tell him he is starting for the New York Yankees later that night. When he asks if he gets any instruction or practice, you just tell him to show up 15 minutes before the first pitch. When he gets there, you have him watch a 5 minute tutorial on how to "look good" when batting and fielding. By the time the game is over, he struck out three times and caused 2 fielding errors, but he did look good doing it.

This could never happen in baseball, but it does seem to happen in the church occasionally. We help unbelievers hear the call of Christ for salvation, bring them into the body life of the church through membership and baptism, and leave them on their to own to figure out the rest. This is why The command of Jesus is not just to make converts who belong to the church, but rather to make disciples who get involved in church AND who know what they believe and why they believe it.

Jesus said, " teaching them to obey everything I have commanded..." Part of making disciples is mentoring or "discipling" this person. When Jesus spoke this to His disciples  the Bible didn't yet exist, so He was telling His disciples to invest deeply in the lives of others. The disciples would have to tell the stories, recall all the teachings, and share of their faith personally.

In our context, this brings us back to the idea of making a LONG-TERM investment in the lives of others. Jesus doesn't call us just to get people to accept His gospel message, He calls us to invest in the lives of unbelievers so that they become true followers of Jesus. 

Looking back in my own life, I am thankful for those who invested deeply in my life when I was in high school and college. My worship pastor, Allen Cade had the most profound influence in my life. Allen invested countless hours into my life and is the main reason I lead worship today. Some of the parents in our small church, Darlene Espy, Danny Loe, Lamar Nelson and others made a hug impact as well. And then there were the teenagers...Laura Wright Anderson, Jeff Word, Bart Magowan, Rob Storey, Mark Carder, Alicia Espy Swift, Bill Espy...all of these teenagers and others made me feel like I belonged at their church and, in one way or another, encouraged me in my faith. I would not be in ministry today if it weren't for these and others "teaching me to obey everything..."

Today the process continues...I am blessed to serve with Pastor Ron who is a quiet but very encouraging mentor in my life..and, of course, my amazing wife Kelley has walked with me every step of my ministry life. She is my greatest encourager and a perfect partner in ministry.

Who makes your list of those who invested in your life? Where would you be without them? Take some time this weekend and thank them for their investment.

An even better question...who would list us as one of their biggest investors? Who do we need to spend more time with?

Dear God, today I am thankful for those who invested in my life. Give me the courage and strength to invest that same love into others that they may grow into maturity in You! In Jesus name, amen.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

In 1621, the pilgrims and native Americans shared the first Thanksgiving meal together to celebrate the first successful harvest of corn. The feast lasted for three days but didn't include any cakes or pies because they had no ovens and the supply of sugar brought over on the Mayflower was running low. Instead, the pilgrims had to rely on Native American spices and cooking methods to complete the meal.

As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nation-wide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God". 

Thanksgiving in the United States was observed on various dates throughout history. From the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln, the date Thanksgiving was observed varied from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century. 

Thanksgiving was first celebrated on the same date by all states in 1863 by a presidential proclamation of Abraham Lincoln . Influenced by the campaigning of author Sarah Hale who wrote letters to politicians for around 40 years trying to make it an official holiday, Lincoln proclaimed the date to be the final Thursday in November in an attempt to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states.  

On December 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday. Two years earlier, Roosevelt had used a presidential proclamation to try to achieve this change, reasoning that earlier celebration of the holiday would give the country an economic boost.

So today, on this fourth Thursday in November, we will gather with friends and family to give thanks to God for all of our many blessings. The Bible commands us to give thanks to God... 

Priase the Lord.Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Psalm 106:1 NIV

For me, I am thankful for a wonderful wife, seven healthy amazing children, food to eat, a warm home, good friends and so much more. I am also thankful for God leading our family to Pennsylvania for me to pastor at Downtown Fellowship. Each week, I can sense God moving and I am thankful to serve a congregation that listens to the Spirit of God. Let us continue to pray for God to work miracles that we could never take credit for!

I truly count it a privilege to be your pastor and friend. Happy Thanksgiving!

Pastor Mark

iGo -Day 3-more on the Command of Jesus

The command of Jesus in the Great Commission is three-fold.  First, as we discovered yesterday, is the command to make disciples. We looked at what that means in terms of the relationships we build with unbelievers.

The second part of making disciples is this command to baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. By the way, this is the one place in the scriptures where all three parts of the trinity are mentioned together. Our modern picture of baptism does not match up completely with the ancient practice. In ancient times, one would be mentored for the better part of a year by followers who were strong in their faith. Then, usually at Easter, the person would be presented to the church upon the testimony of these mentors as a candidate for baptism. 

But what does baptism really signify? In the early days of the church, it was a sign of identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Consider Romans 6:3-4...

Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 

In this context, baptism is a public profession of a private decision person has made to follow Jesus. It is a way to identify oneself with Jesus and with the church. In other words, it is a way to declare that not only do you believe, you also BELONG to Christ and His church.

This was part of the command of Jesus...not just to make converts, but to call the lost to belief in Jesus AND to find life by belonging to the local church. It is highly doubtful that a person will ever become everything God created them to be without the encouragement that comes from being a part of the body of Christ. This is why it is so important that our church be a place of love and acceptance and grace...a place where God works miracles we could never take credit for.

Dear God, as I obey your call to go out and make disciples, help me remember that it Your desire to see others commit to You AND Your church. Help me be a part of a life-giving church that that helps grow others to be everything You created them to be. In Jesus name, Amen.

iGo-Day 2-the Command of Jesus

When we look closely at the Great Commission, we understand that the assumption of Jesus was that His disciples would be going out to continue His message. The command contained in this passage is, having gone out into the world, to MAKE DISCIPLES.

A Disciple is a person who chooses to place their trust in Jesus, repent of their sinful lifestylle, and follow HIm no matter the cost. This is in contrast to simply making converts...which is the obsession of some forms of American Christianity. To often have I offered and even participated In programs that offered the cheap grace of "all you need to do is pray this prayer and your place in heaven is assured." 

The problem with this approach is that it seems to be the opposite of what Jesus required. It seems to me that Jesus would have said, "All you need to do is repent of your sins, surrender your heart and life to Me, and follow Me at any cost." In scripture, He put to this way in Luke 9:23...

Then He said to them all: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me." 

This seems to be a much more serious commitment than just praying a prayer or walking an aisle during the invitation, especially if emotional manipulation or coercion is used. 

This is the commitment that we are called honor in the Great Commission. The command of Jesus is build long-term relationships with unbelievers living out a life of faith that causes them to wonder what this "Jesus stuff" is all about. Believing that only God can save someone, we give them all the time they need to consider the call of Jesus for salvation. Instead of them being our project, they are actually our friends. When they do finally surrender their lives to Christ, it is a decision that is made with much thought and prayer.

This is the call of Jesus in the Great Commission, to share our faith and help others embrace the miracle of salvation that Jesus offers. But this is only the beginning of the process which is life-long in the life of a every believer. In churchy words, this is called justification. The next part of the process, growing to be like Jesus, is called sanctification.

Dear God, I truly want to follow Your command to share my faith with those who don't yet know You. This week, open my eyes to opportunities all around me to share my faith, even with my own family. Give me a heart that rejoices as You rejoice with those who surrender their hearts to You! In Jesus name, amen.

iGo-Day 1-the Assumption of Jesus

Yesterday we completed our iLife series with the final message iGo. There is a natural progression in our walk with Jesus toward maturity and faithfulness. Once we believe, we can worship; from worship comes the desire to follow; once we claim to follow Jesus, we commit to grow in Him; once we start to grow, we wil desire to surrender and give all to HIm; once we give all to Him, we can discover our SHAPE for ministry; once we discover our place of service, it naturally follows that we will go out and share the hope we have in Jesus

This pattern seems to be the same pattern that the disciples followed in the journey with Jesus...belief, worship following, growing giving, serving, and the finally being sent out. Obviously, it wasn't always quite in this order, but we see this progression in the life of the disciples.

Take a moment and reread the Great Commission...

Matthew 28:18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 

In this passage, we find a hidden assumption of Jesus when He says, "Therefore go..." The actual literal translation here is "...having gone..." Jesus wasn't commanding the disciples to go out as much as He was assuming that it would be a natural part of their DNA to be out bringing healing and hope in a dark world.

The command is to make disciples WHILE they were going out into the lost world.

In our modern day with all of our programs and church buildings, is is easy to lose sight of this assumption of Jesus that we would naturally go out and share our faith. It is a good reminder to us that it is supposed to be part of who we are to be out in the world sharing the hope that we have in Jesus. The lost world is out there outside of our church buildings and it is our call to be out in that world bringing hope.

Ask yourself this question: when is the last time I spent time with someone who does not follow Jesus?  

It is so easy to fall into the trap of believing that going means going to Africa or South America. The truth is we enter our mission field every time we walk out of the door of our church.

Dear God, give me the courage today to take your hope into a lost and dying a world. Help me to be faithful today to your call to go and make disciples. In Jesus name, amen.

iServe-Day 6-My experiences complete my shape

Experiences complete the final piece of our SHAPE. Every aspect of our SHAPE-spiritual gifts, heart, abilities, personality, and experiences-work together to empower us for ministry. 

Together they tell us the what, where, how, and why of our ministry service in the church. The last one, our experiences, gives us the flavoring for our ministry with God's people.

As we grow older and more mature in our faith, God will open more doors of ministry for us based on our life experiences.

If we have experienced tragedy and loss, we will be able to minister to those in the midst of loss. Divorce, addictions, suicide, adoption, death, financial crisis, and more-these are the realities that we face every day. Those going through tough times don't want to hear glib cliches from people who seemingly have perfect lives. Being able to say "I've been there", opens the door for trust and healing.

Take a few moments today to write down your experiences both good and bad. It may be that God may give you an opportunity to invest in lives based on a common shared experience. That's part of the human experience.

Dear God, today I am thankful for my life experiences. I surrender these experiences to you. Lead me to people who are need of your love and encouragement in difficult times. In Jesus name, amen.

iServe-Day 5-P is for personality

Read Psalm 139

As we continue our discovery of our God-given SHAPE, we must always celebrate the fact that God created us uniquely. Scripture clearly teaches us that God shaped us in the womb and that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made". We are God's workmanship not just in some ways, but in every way!

When it comes to our personality, some of us are very outgoing, others of us are very reserved. Some of us feed on being around people while some of us prefer to be alone. Still other of us are very task-focused working from a list each day while others are spontaneous and just want to invest in people.

None of these personality styles are better than another, they are just different. Yet, our personality style will dictate how and where you will serve in the body of Christ. Paul wrote that we are all part of one body and when we serve together, the body is at it's highest function.

Think about your personality...do you like to be up front or behind the scenes? Do you like to make lists or go with the flow? Do you love to be around people or more by yourself?

Spend some time praying today about God's unique design of your life. Commit to serving according to that design!

Dear God, I thank you that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Thank you for my personality...I know it is a gift from you. Give me the courage today to move toward serving in your church. In Jesus name, amen.