Pressing On By Knowing God’s Mission

Missional Living Has No Place For Personal Favoritism!

"My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called?

      If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT COMMIT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment." James 2:1-13

Showing Personal Favoritism In 

Christian Living Shows:

1.  You Have Evil Motives

More often than not our motivation of showing preferential treatment for one person over another person is simply for personal gain.  We exalt one person and belittle another because the one we are exalting we feel can help us in some way.  THIS IS A WRONG MOTIVE IN ALL THINGS BUT ESPECIALLY FOR MISSIONAL LIVING!

2.  You Have Dishonored The Poor Whom God Has Chosen To Bless

Did you catch this point in the Bible verse above?  God has chosen the poor, the outcast, or the lonely to bless them!  We we choose to exclude them or down play their participation we are dishonoring them and thereby dishonoring God.  

3. You Have Sinned And Broken The Law of Love

James, the writer of this book, doesn't hesitate in the least to call the attitude of personal favoritism SIN!  When you value one person above another; when you minister to one person above another IT IS A SIN!

4.  You Deserve To Be Judged Without Mercy

This Bible verse is very clear what a person who shows personal favoritism, especially in the church and in missional living deserves!  They deserved to be judged without shown mercy.

NOW THAT'S WHAT IS DESERVED BUT NOT NECESSARILY WHAT THEY'LL GET!  The Bible also says in 1 John 1:9,

"If we confess our sins He is faithful and just, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  

Sincere repentance and confession from this sin of personal favoritism will bring about God's forgiveness.  

When it comes to living a powerful Missional Life there is absolutely no room for personal favoritism.  Just like the picture above says we need to be going out and sharing the Gospel with those that others have given up on!  Other people may have given up on them but God still loves them and Christ still died for them.  

One last thought to remember!  The truth is that we all were once people that have been given up on.  If it wasn't for Christ's death, burial and resurrection none of us would be saved from our sins.  But praise be to God our Father that He does love us and through Christ provided away for our sins to be removed.

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Gaining Wisdom For Missional Living

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Missional Living Is Not Envious

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Missional Living Is Kind

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Missional Living Is All About Loving Others

Missional Living Neighborhood Challenge Video #4

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Missional Living Neighborhood Challenge Video #1

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MISSIONAL LIVING DEVOTIONAL: I AM RESOLVED

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Counting On Christ's Power And Presence For Missional Living

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Missional Living Is Knowing What It's Like To Live In Spiritual Darkness?

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2 Important Things To Do To Make Disciples For Jesus In Missional Living

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Missional Living Testimony Challenge

3 Parts To The Great Commission As A Sandwhich

Now that's an interesting title for a blog! What on earth would I mean by, "The Great Commission As A Sandwich"?  It is just a visual way for you to comprehend all of the components that make up the commission Jesus gave us before He ascended back into Heaven.  

Every good sandwich consists of three parts.  

1. First, you have the top piece of the bread, 
2. then you have the bottom piece of bread 
3. and finally you have the meat in the center.  

The two ends of the bread hold the meat together and thereby makes a perfectly formed meal.  The Great Commission if found in Matthew 28:18-20.

THE TOP PIECE OF THE BREAD FOR THE GREAT COMMISSION!

"All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to me ..."

The top piece of The Great Commission Sandwich is CHRIST'S AUTHORITY! How much authority does Christ have?  All authority!  Where does Christ have authority? Everywhere, in both Heaven and earth.

This is important to understand because Jesus is about to give out some orders or commands that He expects his disciples to follow and he wanted us to know that He really does have the authority to issue out those commands.  In other words, it is as if Jesus is saying to us, 

"Listen up and pay careful attention because I am about to give you some orders to obey while I am away and by the way I do have the authority to give you these commands, so you better obey them."

Jesus does have the authority to command us to do whatever he choses, so this Great Commission is not a option - it's a command!

THE BOTTOM PIECE OF THE BREAD FOR THE GREAT COMMISSION!

"... and low I am with you always, even to the ends of the age."

The bottom piece of The Great Commission Sandwich is Christ's continual PRESENCE!  As Christ is sending us out on this mission he is wanting to reassure us that we will not be going at it alone! Christ is wanting to remind us that His presence through the working of the Holy Spirit will be our consistent companion for His power and presence, even in the midst of the most adverse situations.  He reminds us of his presence to reassure us that we can do this mission because He is with us do ing it through us. 

THE MEAT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION!

"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."

There are 3 parts to the meat section of The Great Commission Sandwich;

1. Make Disciples Of Christ:  We are to go share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and lead others to faith in Christ so they too can become His faithful disciples also.  Making more disciples is the command. The other two parts are to support this primary activity.  You are not being obedient to the Great Commission if you are not sharing Jesus with others and how they too can be saved. 

2.  Baptize Them:  This is peoples way for people to publicly declare their allegiance to Christ.  They may not be mature followers of Christ when they are baptized but the are sure they want to follow Christ.

3.  Teach Them To Obey Christ's Command:  Teaching people to know what Christ commanded isn't enough. We must teach them to obey Christ. The Bible says that to obey is better than sacrifice. We are to be doers of the word and not hearers only.  Obedience is the proof of true discipleship. Jesus said, "why do you call me Lord but do what I say?"  To claim to be a disciple of Christ but not to obey Him is an oxymoron! 

SO, LET'S GO PUT THE GREAT COMMISSION SANDWICH TOGETHER AND GO FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION.

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:

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MISSIONAL DEVOTIONALS

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!

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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 & 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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ARE YOU PURSUING THE RIGHT MISSION?

That's an interesting question but an important question especially for those who are Followers of Christ!  Are you pursuing the right mission? Are you pursuing Christ's mission? Do you even understand what the mission is? If you can't answer these questions then how do you know that you are being obedient to what our Lord Jesus has left us here to do?

Here Are Some People Idea's Of What The Mission Is:

• Some feel that the Christian's mission is just to do good deeds!
• Some feel it is to invite people to come to church with them!
• Some people think it's just to live a good and moral life!

Now while each of these things have a place in a Christians life are they in and of themselves or combined together make up what Christ's mission that each of us should be pursuing?

Let's take a few moments and look at what the Bible says about this very important subject.  In Matthew 28:16-20 we find a part in the Bible come to be known as the Great Commission.  The reason why it is called Great Commission is because it describes most clearly what the Christ's mission is.  Read with a clear mind what the words of Christ actually says:

"All authority in Heaven and on earth have given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And low I am with you always, even to the end of the age."   

From this verse we learn that there is really only one mission!  That mission is to "Go Make Disciple".  That phrase is the only part that is written in the imperative mood thereby, making it a command.  The baptizing and teaching for obedience is only to support and help bring about the command of making disciples.

THE MISSION IS TO MAKE MORE DISCIPLES FOR CHRIST!

We can discuss more extensively in a different post on what exactly is a disciple buut for the purpose of this post let's just say that a disciple is a FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.  Not a halfhearted follower of Christ and not a Sunday only follower of Christ but a Fully Devoted Follower!

Here's how two of the guys I mentored define a Disciple of Christ:

• Ed Villareal says "They are Hard Core Followers of Christ."  
• Larry Munguia says, "They Are Jesus Freaks"

Though we use different phrase all three of us are basically saying that Jesus' Disciples are people who love Him more than they love anyone or anything else and they are crazy for Him.

Now is that the mission you've been pursuing?  You can't make disciples for Christ like that unless you are like that! Helping others become disciples is more caught than taught!  It's infectious!  In order for you to help someone become fully devoted to Christ, you have to be fully devoted to Christ.  That's just the way it works!  You can't teach it in a classroom. You infect others with it because you are infected with it.

If you are just trying to get people to attend a church service with you or just doing good things for people but not helping people fall desperately in love with Jesus and fully committed to Him, you're pursuing the wrong mission.  So I want to end with the same admonishment as that of Jesus.

GO MAKE DISCIPLES FOR JESUS!

MAKE FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF JESUS!

HELP PEOPLE BECOME HARD CORE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST!

MAKE IT YOUR MISSION TO RAISE UP A MOB OF JESUS FREAKS!

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THE ORDINARY CHRISTIAN

WHO ARE THE FIRST PEOPLE YOU SHOULD SHARE JESUS WITH?

This is really a great question!  Out of all the people we come into contact with the week, hundreds or maybe even thousands, who should we focus on in sharing our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  This video will train you on who to focus on in telling people about Jesus.

Take a few moment and watch this video and receive the training you need!

To help encourage you on a weekly basis to share Jesus and shine His Light in the dark world I invite to subscribe for a FREE WEEKLY MISSIONAL DEVOTIONAL.  Get yours now at:

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MISSIONAL DEVOTIONALS HERE!

MISSIONAL LIVING TRAINING!

Missional Living For Ordinary Christians

A NEW BOOK: THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE: A Journey Into Missional Living

From a modern day parable of two Little Brave Lights, as they venture out of the safety of their well lit mansion to shine their light in the dark world to minister to the Unlit Wicks that live out there and from the gleanings of 5 Biblical principles from Jesus' Sermon On The Mount, the reader will learn about the 3 essential skills necessary for living Missional Life and will be led through a simple process that will help the reader to create their own personal strategy for being on mission with Christ.

Pastor Ron Barker from First Baptist Church of Tehachapi, Ca gives This Little Light Of Mine a 5 STAR REVIEW.  And has this to say about the book,

"Jay has written a book that is, first and foremost, a very practical approach to misssional living. He has Biblical background and has applied it very well in my opinion. The work of taking the Gospel to a lost and dying world has always rested in the 'everyman'. Anyone who will take the time to read this book and apply the timeless principles will find themselves following the way of the Master. Well done Jay!"

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE: A Journey Into Missional Living is now available on Amazon in both paperback and kindle.  

ORDER YOUR COPY HERE & NOW!

ARE YOU LIVING A MISSIONAL LIFE BUT COULD USE SOME ENCOURAGEMENT?

THEN I HAVE A FREE GIFT FOR YOU TO ENCOURAGE YOU!

CLAIM YOUR FREE GIFT NOW!