Saturday, February 22, 2014

MISSIONAL LIVING IS A 24/7 PROPOSITION: 3 Things To Remember!


1922490_706318752745895_2130229088_n When it comes to missional living there's no clock for you to punch out to say you're done for the day!  Ordinary Christians who live a life obedient to Christ's mission must be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 52 weeks out of the year.  Even when you're on vacation, you're still on mission!  That's just the way it is. So, with that in mind here are 3 things to remember that will help you as you pursue Christ's mission.

These 3 suggestions are gleaned from a study from the Gospel of John 4:1-10 as Jesus is going through Samaria and meets the woman at the well.  Take a few moments to read the story for yourself out of your own Bible.

 1.  Learn To Minister Even When You're Tired: The first lesson that we gather from this story is through Christ's own example.  When Jesus and his disciples got to the well Jesus is dead-dog tired.  He needed to stop, rest and eat.  So, Jesus sent the disciples on into town to buy some food while he was going to get some time for himself to rest and relax.  But God the Father had other plans for His Son.  While Jesus was resting, a woman from the town came out to draw some water.  Jesus could have chosen to ignore her and not say anything to the woman. After all he was exhausted and who would have blamed him if he took a few moments to himself and chose to say nothing at all.  But that's not the way Jesus worked!  For Jesus, being tired or hungry was never an excuse for not engaging a person to see if the Father was at work in their life and drawing them.

 There are going to plenty of times when we are tired and maybe even downright exhausted to the point we just don't feel like making another visit or sharing another Gospel presentation.  But the example that we have from Jesus is to just suck it up and do it.  People are depending on us to bring the Light into their part of this dark world.  Once they hear the Good News they'll have an opportunity to believe and place their faith in Christ.

 After Jesus had finished his encounter with the woman he no longer felt the weight of being tired or hungry.  Instead he declared that he had food that his disciples did not know about (spiritual food).  The food that Jesus was talking about was to do the will of His Father.  When we join God on His mission, even when we are tired or hungry, the outcome usually is a tremendous sense of satisfaction and contentment that completely outweighs and in many cases eliminates the physical needs that previously haunted us.

 2.  Learn To Minister To The People Who Are Marginalized: This second lesson can be a very difficult one to learn and even more difficult to put into practice.  What do I mean by ministering to people who have been marginalized?  Marginalized people are people who are overlooked, outcast, and in most cases discriminated against.  They are the people we don't feel comfortable around.  In this story the main character, besides Jesus, was the Samaritan woman who came to the well.  She was marginalized for three reasons.

  First, because she was a Samaritan.  The Jews considered Samaritans to be halfbreed dogs.  The prejudice was thick between these two groups.  It had to be a dire emergency for either party (Jew or Samaritan)  to talk to the other, usually only for business purposes and only for a very short period of time.  But here was Jesus striking up a conversation with her and asking her for a favor.

  Second, because she was a woman.  We can get a little glimpse into the life of women back in Bible times by looking at many parts of the Middle East today.  Men just did not talk to women, especially in public.  It just didn't happen.  So, here's Jesus once again breaking the social barriers and engaging, in conversation, with a woman.

  Third, because she was a woman of sordid background.  She had been married 5 times and the man she was with at that present time was not her husband.  She was not a woman who was very well respected in her village because she was considered an adulterer, a sinner and as such no one would want to have any association with her.  But Jesus not only talks to her but is willing to do so in public. Jesus knew that if he was to pursue the Father's mission it meant he would have to encounter and embrace many people that most would never consider to be worthy and in many cases considered outcasts.  We too, need to look past the conditions of others and see the love that Jesus has for them.  We will have to discard our distrust of others who are different so that we will be able to share the love of God to them and lovingly call them to repentance.

 3.  Learn To Be Aware Of Those Divine Appointments: This passage indicates that Jesus "HAD" to go through Samaria.  Why did Jesus have to go that way?  Most of the Jews of that time would intentionally go around that area in order to avoid the Samaritans, so why did Jesus have to go that way?  Could it have been that one of the reason for "having" to go was because his Father had an appointment set up for him to keep?  Could it be that this was the time for an entire village to come to faith in the Son of God? As we go through life on Christ's mission we should expect and look for those Divine Encounters that God has scheduled from His throne of grace.

Looking to see where God is already at work during our daily activities should be as normal to us as breathing; we should do it without even knowing it.  There are some things that only God can do and when we see those activities being displayed it should be a clear indicator that God is busy about His work and calling us to join Him in that work.  Some of our missional activities are intentional and planned activities where we go out to find where God is at work. We accomplish that by doing things like door to door prayer walking. But then there are other times when God's work finds us as we are busy with the work of this present life.

 The question that we need to continually ask ourselves is whether we are willing to deny ourselves, take up our cross and join Christ in His mission on a day to day basis and to join Him in it regardless of how, when, or where the mission opportunity presents itself. Remember you are the Light of the world!
 GO SHINE CHRIST'S LIGHT!
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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

GOD'S KINGDOM COME - GOD'S WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN~





What Do You Think Your Community Would Begin To Look Like If God's Kingdom Started To Come and His Will Was Being Done In Your Community Just Like It Was In Heaven?



NEED SOME WEEKLY ENCOURAGEMENT FOR LIVING A POWERFUL?

MISSIONAL LIFE?



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HE'S GONE TO BE THE GUEST OF SINNER!




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Monday, February 17, 2014

HOW THE 10TH VICTIM OF HILLSIDE STRANGLER (LAUREN WAGNER) CHANGED MY SPIRITUAL LIFE!

In November of 1977 while I was a freshman in college and when my girl friend (now my wife) were at a friends apartment eating dinner and watching TV a special new report broke in and the reporter announced, "This just in Laurene Wagner's body was found making her the 10th victim of the Hillside strangler," and then they put a picture of her up on the television screen.

I don't remember anything that the reporter said because once I heard her name, Laurene Wagner, and saw her picture my mind was immediately transported back to 9 months earlier when I was a Senior in high school and working for Taco Bell.  One of my co-workers was Laurene!  She pretty, funny and full of life and "yes" I was attracted to her!  Once, after getting my courage up, I asked Laurene if she would like to go out on a date sometime.  After her asked her that she just look at me with a little grin on her face and said, "Sure, I'd like to go out with you. But on one condition!"  "One condition", I said.  "And what condition is that?" I asked her.  "On the condition that you never talk to me about that Jesus crap!" Laurene had heard that I was Christian, that I went to church and that my father was a pastor and she didn't want to have anything to do with religion.  It wasn't what she said that impacted me but it was my response back to her that God has seared into my memory and for which came haunting me 9 months later.  For when she said, "Don't ever talk to me about that Jesus crap" I responded back to her with, "I wasn't going to tell you about Him any how!"  And I meant those words.  Though I was a Christian, at that time in my life I was more concern about my image of being popular than I was about people's salvation.

Then 9 months later those words that I said, words I didn't even remember saying until I saw her picture on the TV, came rushing back to me over and over again and the Holy Spirit convicted my soul unlike I have every experience before or since.  After I realized that Lauren had been brutally raped and murdered question started flooding my mind.  Question like: Did anyone tell her about Jesus?  Did she ever give her heart to Christ?  I knew I hadn't and I knew I never intended to!  Now God was convicting me by rebuking me by saying, "How dare you withhold the greatest gift ever given when you had a chance to share it!", "How dare you be more concerned with your image of popularity and you are about the eternal soul of another person!"  How dare you be disobedient with the most important command I have given my people!"  How Dare You!

I became overwhelmed with emotion and just ran out of the apartment without an explanation.  My girl friend came after me asking me what was wrong.  I sat there with my head in arms and through the tear of shame that flooded my heart shared with her all that was going on with me.

But something good did come out of that night.  For it was that night that I made a personal declaration.  On that night I declared "Never again would anyone wonder if I was a fully devoted follower of Christ; never again would I withhold the great gift ever given to mankind; Never again would I refuse to shine the Light of Christ to those who were still lost in the darkness.  Never Again!

Since that time day I have committed myself to improve and become the best witness for Christ that I could possibly be.  Don't misunderstand me, I am not an evangelist but I am a witness for Jesus.  If a person is going to get to me, they will have to get to know Jesus. For you cannot know me without knowing about Jesus.

This is why I have started The Ordinary Christian. It is to empower, encourage and equip ordinary christians to live powerful missional lives that shine the Light of Christ brightly in their part of this dark world.  That is why I produce a free weekly video devotional called Missional Devotionals to encourage God's people to be intentional about sharing Jesus.  You can find out more information about these devotionals at:


So what keeps you from sharing Jesus to others who desperately need to hear of him?
Is it embarrassment? Fear? or Discouragement?  What then?  And what are you going to do about it?

 You are the delivery person of the great gift ever given!  A gift given by God himself and he want us to share with the world!

Let me encourage you to be intentional about sharing Jesus and making fully devoted followers of Christ.  Jesus said, "You Are The Light Of The World". Take that identity seriously and GO SHINE HIS LIGHT!


Thursday, February 6, 2014

NEED ENCOURAGEMENT FOR MISSIONAL LIVING? Then I've Got Good News!


DON'T ALLOW:
  • FEAR
  • DISCOURAGEMENT
  • INTIMIDATION 

KEEP YOU FROM LIVING A POWERFUL 
MISSIONAL LIFE!




As A Follower Of Christ We've Been Called To Shine The Light Of Christ Into Our Part Of This Dark World By Doing Good Deeds and Telling The Good News! 

BUT IN ORDER TO DO IT EFFECTIVELY
WE NEED TO RECEIVE REGULAR ENCOURAGEMENT!

Now you can receive that encouragement by subscribing to MISSIONAL DEVOTIONALS!  Missional Devotionals are weekly devotionals in a video format that are emailed out to empower, encourage and equip Ordinary Christians to live powerful missional lives where the Light of Christ shines through them and into their part of this dark world.  They are 4 to 6 minutes in length and are designed to help people to focus their week to join Christ on His mission.


Take A Few Minutes To Watch This Video To See Why I'm So Passionate About Encouraging Christians To Be On Mission With Christ:


 

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Wednesday, February 5, 2014

A GUIDE FOR ORDINARY CHRISTIANS HELPING WITH HOSPITAL VISITATION!

Keys to an Effective Hospital Visit


by Dr. Terry Dorsett.

(Dr. Dorsett is our guest blogger and is an experienced minister and trainer.  You can find more from him at: http://thoughtsfromdrt.blogspot.com)

When people are in the hospital, they are often scared, lonely, and in need of encouragement. When they receive a well timed spiritually based visit in that time of difficulty, not only does it meet their spiritual need, but a growing body of evidence also suggests that they also recover faster physically. Therefore learning how to make a good hospital visit is important for lay people who want to help their church become more effective in caring for its members.

Many lay people hesitate to make such visits because they are not sure what to say or do. By following these simple points, a visit with a hospital patient can be joyful and encouraging.

1. Do not wear cologne. Cologne can gag even healthy people and those in the hospital may be extra sensitive to smells because of the medicines they are taking.

2. Leave the gum at home. No one likes to listen to people chew and smack gum.

3. Always check with the nurse before bringing food to a patient, even if the patient asks for it. It might be a detriment to the patient’s condition if his or her diet has been restricted for medical reasons.

4. If a gift of food is taken, it is extremely rude for the person bringing the gift to eat it. Remember, it was brought for the patient and he and she cannot get any more of it once it is gone. Never eat the patient’s food from his or her tray, as the nurse may be monitoring how much has been eaten.

5. When greeting the patient, if it is physically feasible, take his or her hand gently. When people do not feel well, they often do not want to be hugged, especially if they have had surgery.

6. Be polite and stand if there are not enough chairs. Remember, the visit will only last a short time.

7. Never sit on the bed; it cramps the patient. If there is a second bed in the room, do not sit on it, even if it is not being used. The staff may have it ready for a new patient and may not have time to freshen it up before a new patient needs it.

8. Talk audibly, not too softly or too loudly. Increase volume if the patient does not seem to be able to hear while remaining mindful of other patients in the room. Sometimes, when people are sick, their minds are a bit fuzzy from pills and pain, so their hearing may be less sharp than normal.

9. Only stay a few minutes. The point of the visit is to wish the patient well, not to spend a long period of time with him or her. Extended visits often tire a patient more than he or she realizes.

10. If a gift is taken, make sure the gift is appropriate for the situation. For example, if the patient has just had eye surgery, then he or she will not be able to read a book.

11. Only talk about happy situations, not about bad news. Never talk about one’s own past illnesses or operations.

12. If there are relatives present, say a quick hello, leave your gift, wish the patient a speedy recovery, and then leave. The relatives will want quality time and privacy with the patient. Sometimes they come from quite a distance and may not be able to come back soon, but a local person from church can always return at a later time.

13. If either the nurse or doctor enters the room to do something for the patient, be polite and leave the room while they are attending the patient. Do this even if the patient says it is okay for you stay.

14. If the patient wants to go for a walk, check with the nurse first. The same would be true if the patient asks for assistance in getting out of bed or in using the bathroom.

15. If the visitor does not know how to respond to something the patient says, sometimes it is better to say nothing at all. Just express concern, offer a prayer, and graciously make a polite departure.

16. Remember that patients are in the hospital because they are sick. Use common sense, smile, and be positive during the visit. If the visitor becomes upset, they should excuse themselves until they can regain control of their own emotions. Be aware that conversations in the hall can be overheard. The whole point of visiting patients in the hospital is to cheer them up. So do not do anything to make the situation tenser than it already is.

17. Every hospital has guidelines they ask visitors to follow. Those guidelines have been put in place for safety reasons. Please be respectful of them.

18. Remember to maintain the confidentiality of those who have been visited. Do not share details of their situation without permission. Do not speculate about their future with others at church.

By following these simply guidelines, lay people can make a positive spiritually based visit to someone in the church. Such a visit can be a great encouragement to a person in the hospital.
____________________________
These ideas have been adapted from a chapter in the book, Developing Leadership Teams in the 
Bivocational Church


Living a missional life can get discouraging at times.  The Ordinary Christian Group has provide a new & FREE resource to provide weekly encouragement to people intentionally living a missional life.  This resource is a video devotional designed to provide encouragement to God's people. They emailed out each monday and are only 3 to 6 minutes in length.  TAKE A FEW MOMENTS TO CLAIM YOUR FREE SUBSCRIPTION TO MISSIONAL DEVOTIONALS.


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Monday, February 3, 2014

Missional Principle: GO WHERE JESUS IS GOING!





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