Notice

Each time I've geared up to purchase a car, I began to pay attention to other cars on the road.  I noticed styles and colors and noted the features incorporated in various vehicles which would be helpful to my needs.

The next step usually involves taking a closer look to see if it's going to really be a good fit - - am I comfortable in the driver's seat?  ...do the features I'm considering measure up? (...this one was my all time favorite so far!)  You get the idea!

How is it that we become aware of something or someone?  

First, we notice!

When I follow Jesus through the Gospels, especially early on, he frequently says "Repent, the kingdom of God is near,"  Jesus is helping those around him notice the the kingdom of God.

Jesus taught the disciples they ways in which they could help people notice and experience the kingdom of God.  As the disciples are doing the very things Jesus taught them, others were noticing, which got them in a lot of trouble, but their reply was consistently: 

"For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

ACTS 4:20

There are times I'm eager to share what I've seen, heard or experienced: a restaurant where I've had a fantastic meal, a good movie, a good book, blogs that feed my soul.  For you, there will be other things that make your heart sing and are eager to share with others - a climbing spot, an excellent mechanic, a special fishing hole, a field where the geese are landing... you fill in the blank.

In what ways are you noticing the things of the Lord that you are eager to share with others?  When I consider creation, not just earth, but the universe, my mind floods with thoughts...
expansive, complex, orderly, amazing, detailed...  

To think of the formation of a human baby - - two cells, merely two cells which come together and contain all of the elements that grow into a human being!  I am in awe when I consider the mystery and miracle taking place as these two cells become one and multiply.

Have the incredible and miraculous things of life become
so matter of fact that we fail to NOTICE the wonder of it all?

Mission, Jesus style seems to be about helping people become aware of the Lord's activity around them.  My prayer is that this blog helps you NOTICE the LORD of the universe who dearly loves his creation and all that is in it, including you!

Paul writes to Timothy:
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time.  

1 TIMOTHY 2:1-7

The great missiologist David Bosch describes God's activity this way:

The mission of God is alert all people everywhere 

to the universal  reign of God through Christ. 

Begin to notice the ways in which you see God's activity around you,
then help others notice also!

The Goal of Faith

On Saturday I joined a group from one of the urban churches on a prayer walk in their community.  We gathered in the sanctuary to review the plan and pray before departing.  

Our goal was to share God's love with the people in the community by listening to their cares and bringing those concerns to God in prayer on their behalf.  


We walked in small groups throughout the community.  Each group had an assigned side of a street.  For some, this was their first experience doing such a thing.  We weren't promoting the church or evangelizing, just caring for people through prayer.


My group approached 20 homes and we were able to speak with people at 6 of them.  Only 4 gave us something specific to pray about.  We prayed for the people in each home, whether we spoke with them or not.  The Lord knows their concerns. 

Our presence Allowed one woman to ask a question that had been burdening her: "Do all people have a purpose?"  And, "are they supposed to fulfill it before they die?"  Essentially, she was asking, "what is the goal of life?

Surely, the goal of this life is not merely to pass through safely to the end?

In the book of Ecclesiastes, the writer explores life and determines it meaningless when lived as an end to itself.  The concept is that our lives are like a vapor, transitory and unsatisfactory, unless lived with a broader context. Life has tasks, knowledge, seasons, relationships, hardships...  

What's the point?

Mission, Jesus style is knowing that life isn't meaningless.  It is living with confidence that the Lord who created everything that exists has unending love for humanity.  You and I are not whirling through life without purpose.  The Lord is constantly inviting us to 

take hold of the life that is truly life!

On Sunday, I joined another urban congregation for worship.  The message was based on Jesus' teaching about the cost of being a disciple from Luke 14:25-33.  It is clear from all the teachings of Jesus on being a disciple that the goal is more than merely making it safely through this life to heaven!  

The pastor summarized the twofold goal of faith this way:

1. To be WITH Him, receiving the fullness of his love, and 
2. To be LIKE Him, sharing His love with others.

This is "life that is truly life"!

Mission, Jesus style invites us to know God, to love God, and to love others in the same way.  When we are in relationship with the Creator and aim to live for the good of another, it's ultimate teamwork, where 
Together
Everyone 
Achieves
More

...not merely in what is achieved or accumulated in life, rather in the health of our relationships, where each person would know how dearly and truly loved they are by the Lord, and where they too can be WITH Him and LIKE Him!

Sunrise... Sunset...

I awoke just before the dawn.  The morning sky had not yet begun to unveil her majesty... so I waited.  The air was cool and clear, so I knew it would be glorious!

I waited... listening to the rhythm of the ocean, crickets chirping, birds beginning to sing.  I wonder...are we trudging through life blind to the miracle that happens every day?

A few minutes before 6:00 a.m. the first hues began to appear.  The dark sky is lined in pink and blues, the water calm yet rhythmic.

When I consider your heavens,

    the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

    which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

    human beings that you care for them?

Psalm 8:3-4

The water is calm and the small waves lap only at the shoreline. Porpoises are feeding on schools of fish.  The sea has its own pattern for the day, unseen to those above its surface.

I wait...thirty-four minutes as the sky brightens, eagerly anticipating the sun's morning debut.  At last, at 6:33 a.m. she began to peek over the horizon and within a span of two minutes she was up!

The sun has risen!

My heart sings: the SON has risen...He has risen indeed!

The camera just fails to capture the fullness of the rays that filled the sky and bounced off the water in those early moments... 

...bright pink like a stargazer lily, but shining forth the color rather than reflecting it!

I'm reminded of a Christ Tomlin song, Indescribable! 

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
   Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the 
   fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
   All exclaiming

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and 
   You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees 
   as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

Seeing the sun shining so brightly in the sky and the bright glistening reflection off the water brings to mind the glimpse of heaven that John reveals in the book of Revelation:

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. REVELATION 22:5

The sun shines so brightly that we are unable to look at it without damaging our eyes.  If an element of creation has such energy, I cannot begin to imagine what it will be like to be in the presence of the creator!

Have we lost the magnificence of creation in the ordinary?  

We live on a planet that spins on its axis at approximately 1,070 miles per hour at the equator, as it makes a full rotation each day.  The earth hurls through space in its annual trek around the sun at 67,000 miles per hour.  

These things happen without fail!  God is faithful.

The sun rises and sets on time each and every day!  As the sun lights the sky, be reminded that it is the Lord who gives source to its light.  

In the morning...give thanks!

At the close of this glorious day, an equally beautiful sunset graced the sky, providing a set of bookends to remember his faithfulness.

Knowing that the Lord has given us amazing provision 

each and every day...give thanks!

Clouds

A few days ago I awoke to a gloomy morning sky.  Layers of clouds provided a barrier to the morning sunrise over the ocean.  In time,some of the layers dissipated and small glimpses of a promising sunny day began to peek through.

Clouds

...a visible mass of condensed vapor particles.

Within an hour, more light was coming through and you can even see a small section reaching the water.  Just because the clouds are blocking the sun, doesn't mean the sun isn't shining.  

How often are the trials we face just like clouds?  They make our world dark and gloomy and create a barrier that blocks us from seeing God.  All the while, He is shining brightly and trying to burn away the things that are separating us from Him.  







Before long, more sections of light began to appear.  The beams that reached the water expanded, and hope for a promising day appeared!

When you are in the midst of a trial, let the clouds be a reminder that even though you may not be able to see it, God's love for you is shining behind the darkness, working to make its way to you! 










And before too long, the clouds may be just intermittent obstacles, instead of a complete barrier.  







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.  2 CORINTHIANS 4:5-7

"As"... a little word with a big meaning!

I've had this small, two-letter, word in my mind for days now!  Curious about its definition, I looked it up this morning.  This little word packs a BIG punch!!!

As = to the same degree or amount. 

Two scriptures on forgiveness came to mind.  The first is one of the petitions in the Lord's prayer, followed by an instruction from Paul.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  MATTHEW 6:12

Forgive as the Lord forgave you. COLOSSIANS 3:13

Something I've learned to appreciate is - - the more I do what the Lord asks me to do, the better I understand and appreciate what He did for me!  Taking steps in faith, beyond what I could ever do on my own, allows me to know how able the Lord is!

This passage that Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus rings in my mind:
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  EPHESIANS 3:14-21

As I was writing Faith is a Gift that takes practice, I was recalling how Jesus trained those first disciples.  They journeyed with Jesus and learned as they spent time alongside Him.  As they watched Him and as they practiced what He taught, they began to understand.  

We learn a new skill most effectively when we can apply it immediately.  In America we've formalized learning in many ways where instruction happens in environments that are separated from where the skill will ultimately be applied.  This is why trades have apprenticeships and professions have internships - - to enable students to apply what they have learned before they are certified.

Interns are students.  They are in the internship to learn and gain new skills as they get the opportunity to practice under the instruction and supervision of someone more skilled.  Usually, they have been provided instruction, so there has been a transfer of knowledge, but the goal of the internship is to apply and begin to master the skills on which they have been instructed.

Disciples are much like interns.  It is one thing to have knowledge, however it is totally different to have mastered what has been taught through practice.  

Discipleship is a life-long internship!

Mission, Jesus style calls each who knows the Lord to truly follow as those we read about in scripture.  We're not all called to drop everything like the disciples, although some may be.  However, I believe that the Lord calls His disciples to live with focus and purposefulness to help others know who He is, what He has done, and how eager He is to be in relationship with each person.  

As you read the Scriptures, what skills might you need practice or instruction to master?  Throughout my journey, I've sought out people who had more knowledge and experience in the areas where I desired growth.  Each of these people has been a true blessing!  So now, I find myself being also a student and a teacher.  Seeking out teachers to help me grow in some areas, and being a teacher in the areas where I feel equipped.  

Where is the Lord calling you to grow?

Prayer - - Study of Scripture - - Exercising your Gifting - - Growing in your ability to communicate?

The promise in Ephesians is that we will have power through the Spirit.  It also tells us that God's love surpasses knowledge.  As we step out in faith, interning as a disciple, and begin to practice what the Lord teaches us in His Word, we will be more fully able to truly understand the ways of God and how he has provided for you and me to live that out!
  

What step of faith is God calling you to make today?