On Mission today?

The word mission simply means on a mission.

Did you wake up today with the mindset that you are on a mission today, not just any, not your personal ambitions in life, but The Mission, Missio Dei, God’s mission?

Did you wake up thinking I am a missionary and when I leave my house I am going into my mission field?

My neighborhood is my mission field, my job or school is my mission field, my grocery store is my mission field, everywhere I go is my mission field today?

Did you wake up thinking God has something for Me to do today?

And say – God help me to accomplish your mission today!

What ever it is help me to accomplish it.

That is the mind set God calls us to. He said Go, proclaim the gospel and make disciples, this is the primary mission of all true disciples of Christ, there are no exceptions to this calling, sending out.

This is how I want to live my life for now on, every morning to wake up and ask myself those questions.

To wake up and say:

I am a missionary!

I am on mission!

God help me to accomplish your mission today!

Church getting it right as to money! Element Church

The second church that has it right that, that is following the lead of Pastor Francis Chan is a church gathering called Element in Nashville, TN. Their pastor Jared Wilson after hearing the story of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, see yesterdays blog. Pastor Wilson said “it grabbed my heart and wouldn’t let go. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and dreaming it. I was thinking about the ministry buzzword “missional,” and I began to think that, while Element has already been operating and teaching as such that “missional” is not just empty sloganeering for us, it could and should mean more.”

So he went to his board and got them to voted to do the same, so "Element will designate minimum 50% of its budget to missions, and 10% to church planting or to other gospel-driven ministries. This means that for every dollar we receive, 60 cents will go back out the door. Our operating budget will be 40% of our offerings."

Pastor Jared Wilson stated that "We will give to both foreign and local missions, but more will go to local missions, because our idea is not just to write a check (or checks) and wipe our hands of it, but to be giving regularly to local mission agencies that we can actually visit, partner with, and do on-site service projects with.

Here’s what gets me: Jesus said to his followers that whatever they do to the “least of these,” they are doing to him. This means it’s not some nameless, faceless people out there who are shivering and starving and dying. It means it’s Jesus who is shivering and starving and dying. And while it shouldn’t matter if someone is nameless or faceless, while not seeing someone shouldn’t dissuade us from action, we are seeing this as a great way to bless Jesus, to worship Jesus."

Amen, see how one revolutionary can start a fire, as everyone knows California is being ravaged buy wild fires right now. And it is there that God has started a wild fire in one man, one church that has now leaped, like wild fires are know to do, clear across to Nashville. May this spread like the California wild fires through the church all across America, and go up to90% going to God, by giving it to the hurting, poor, starving, dying and missions and only 10% or less to building and salaries, Jesus said when you give to one of them you are giving to Him. Amen!

The United Nations estimates that the cost to end world hunger completely, along with diseases related to hunger and poverty, is about $195 billion a year. And that if the Church in America gave just 50% of its income to fight poverty it would bring an end to poverty, no one would go hungry.

The number one criticism of God is why does He allow poverty, starving children, that a lot of people refuse to accept God on that issue alone, they blame God for it, for not doing something. When the truth is God did do something, He commissioned, commanded His people, His church to do something about it, gave His people, the church the resources to do something, but they have chosen not to, to disobey Him. To spend the money on fancy building, programs and salaried staff.

How much the church would be a living, tangible expression of the love, compassion and mercy of God if they did what He said to do, and that is exactly what it is to be? No one could accuse God of being unloving or uncaring. The church would be the light to the world it is called to be, be the interment of Restoration, Renewal, Reconciliation and Redemption to our world that it is to be, reflect who God is to the world.

May a thousand churches follow Cornerstone and Element this year and more the next tell every church does as they are.

Who is and what is a real Christian? Part 2

Matthew 28:18-20 (known as the Great Commission) is by far the most quoted passage on mission. But it is not the only one, aside from the entirety of scriptures saying that God’s people are a sent people, a people who are to live their whole life on mission, it is their main purpose for living. We have three other passages where Jesus gives the command for us to go, be missionaries, live on mission. Or another way to say it, what Jesus expects from His followers, what He wants His followers to do, to carry on His mission.

1. Commission: “I am sending you.” “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you” (John 20:21).
2. Strategy: Make disciples. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
3. Content: the Gospel. “Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:44-49).
4. Geography: your city, national and international. “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

We read in John 20:21 that Jesus explains that He is sending us as like the Father sent Him. Therefore all true followers of Jesus are sent just as He was sent, we believers are sent out, are to live on mission just as Jesus did, and the first disciples did, as Paul said imitate me just as I inmate Jesus.

Second, Jesus explains the design behind being sent out into the world, which is to make disciples of all nations. How? By conversion and entry into the community of God, baptism, and by teaching followers of Jesus to obey all that He commands.

Third, Jesus explains the content of the message is the Gospel and He is the Gospel, and He wants to go out into, be taken into the ends of the earth, the entire earth. And the Gospel,is based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, it is centered on the person and work of Jesus (biblical Jesus), and it achieved the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to the Father for those who repent and believe in Jesus (biblical Jesus.

So a Christian is someone who is sent, living sent, living on mission, missional, any which way you wish to call it. A Christian is one who is taking the gospel to the world, and that world begins in but not limited to their neighborhood, their city, and goes to the ends of the earth, as long as they are spreading the gospel where ever they are. Baptizing in the name of the trinity and making disciples (and doing so as Jesus showed us to, a daily commitment to their lives, teaching them by example.)

God told Abraham to Go, Mosses to Go, and on and on all through the bible, He is a sending God, and we have Jesus sending everyone, commanding everyone to GO.

I can see no way of describing, defining who and what a Christian is without saying they are someone who is sent and they are living sent, someone taking the gospel to the world,and making disciples. Jesus says that is who a christian is. It has always been the calling of Gods people to live sent, to go to the world.

Scripture reading plan for July

Here’s a suggestion for your personal reading of and meditation on Scripture for the remainder of the month of July:

First, read the Gospels noting specifically the life and person of Christ, Who He was, how He lived, what He spent His life doing and saying.

Second, pray for spiritual illumination to understand and faith to believe who He is, His Deity.

Third, give sustained and prayerful thought on the glory of these great realities so that your heart is lifted up in joyful worship and awe that He is God.

Fourth, preach the truth of these texts to your own heart every morning, afternoon, and evening with abandonment to who He is, God.

Fifth, taking note of how He lived and what He did in His daily life, remember that John said in 1 John:2:6 “walk in the same way in which he walked”, Peter advises in I Pet 1:22, "For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps", that Paul said in I Cor 11:1 “...be imitators of me as I am of Christ”. And most of all that Jesus said "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. John 14:12.

Sixth, take the life of Christ as your blue print for you life, go and do as Christ did, be like Paul and inmate the life of Jesus, be like Him be found daily about your heavenly Fathers business.

Seventh, share the fruit of this spiritual exercise with others within the sphere of your Christian community for their spiritual encouragement

Bad Church Equals bad Fruit

Thursday in my morning reading of the scriptures I read in Mat 8:17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” I witnessed this very clearly on the 4 of July while attending a BBQ get together at a friend of a friends place. They all belong to the same church, about 30 to 35 people, which was the connection for all of them, except for me.

During the course of the night I never heard one person mention Jesus, God or anything about their daily relationship with Jesus nor the word of God. Nothing about what God is doing in their life, nothing about living for God, serving God in any capacity, not one conversation involving the word of God, or Him, nothing in 4+ hours of conversation. I heard nothing that reviled any person who was in love with Jesus, someone who's whole life was centered in Christ, who was in a love relationship, intimately involved with God.

In my past years as part of churches such as Calvary Chapel, The Vineyard, The ROCK, and FCF every encounter with other members, ether at a church gathering or outside of the gathering included at the core of every conversation was God, Jesus and the word. No one could hold a conversation at any length with out talking about Gods involvement in their daily life, what God was doing in them, with them and through them, what they where or where wanting to do for God. They could not hold a conversation with talking about the one they loved, their intimate love relationship with Jesus, without praising Him, loving on Him, talk about their prayer life, their intimate times with Jesus and His love for them.With out talking about the Word of God, what they read that day, what the Spirit taught them trough it, discussing it in detail, how they where applying it to their lives and or life situation.

No one could tell you their life story with out it being filled with God, how and where they have served, how God has worked in every circumstance in their life, directed their life, and interceded in their life. And they could not talk about their future plans with talking about where God is leading them, their passion to serve and accomplish things for God, a calling to be fulfilled, and a passion for the things of God.

This really brought this scripture to life for me on the 4^th, "a bad tree cannot bear good fruit", I really saw as that scripture says that a bad tree (church in this case) cannot produce good fruit. If the church leadership is not passionate about God, nether will its body. If it is not Christ centered in all its teaching, nether will its people be. If it is not passionate about the word of God, does not teach word for word, encourage by example love for the word of God, nether will its people be. If the leadership is not in love with Jesus, in a intimate, personal, passionate relationship with the Real Biblical Jesus, than it will not saturate their teaching, an nether will the people be in love with the Real Biblical Jesus, in a intimate, personal, passionate relationship with Jesus, and it will not saturate their lives and conversations. If the pastor’s sermon is not filled with the word of God and passion for Jesus, gospel centered, then the people will not be. If the church is spiritual dead, so will the people. A bad tree / church leadership can not produce good fruit.

Who is and what is a real Christian?

With 81% of Americans claiming to be a Christian, with over 3000 different Christian denominations in the US and 39,000 world wide, one is left to ask themselves, who is and what is a real Christian.

There are a estimated 39,000 different denominations, and really a denomination is a different set of beliefs, so that is 39,000 different Jesus, different versions of who God is, 39,000 different ways to be a Christian, and 39,000 interpretations of want the bible teaches, that makes Christianity second to Hindus in number of god’s they worship. Before you say all Christian denominations have the same God, you need to look at the facts, understand that they all do not, they have a different belief, some very different version of who God is, who Jesus is and what He said, what the gospel is, what salvation is, how one gets salvation, and that makes them have different gods. Resulting in different definitions of what a Christian is, they each have a definition based on what they believe about the scriptures, salvation, who Jesus is, the gospel and ultimately who God is, His mission on earth, Missio Dei.

For example Rob Bell's definition of repentance is "repentance is not turning from sin" "anyone who tells you that you need to repent is not talking about Christianity." And a survey done of pastors in the US reveled that over 50% of them did not believe in Hell, even though Jesus spoke more on it than heaven, so obviously they have a different Jesus than the one in scripture. Over 50% say they do not believe the bible is the word of God, so apparently they have a different Jesus, because Jesus said He was the word and they say they do not believe in it. See the difference on just these two things. And a very popular pastor just last year made the statement “It does not matter what version of Jesus you believe in, only that you believe in some form of Jesus.

As for me I only know of one, the one reviled in scriptures, the one that I have meet and is my Lord, the one who is God come in the flesh.

Joel Osteen and a host of others tells us that being a Christian is all about: “Living a life of joy, peace, fulfillment” That “Jesus was executed for the purpose of making us rich and happy” They convey the idea of a Santa Clause God who will give people what they want, and that the mark of a true Christian is "you are rich and never sick", and get anything and everything you pray for. What they are saying in essences is that the creator of the universe became a man to suffer and die in order to become our servant, our genie in a lamp to grant our every wish, to put us on the throne to rule over Him.

The vast majority of the time you hear Christians ask people “do you know you are going to heaven?” Why? Because their theology is that being a Christian is all about getting a "ticket to heaven" only, that was the sole goal of Jesus’ life and death, the goal of the gospel. It’s totally a personal thing about you getting your ticket, once that happens, Jesus’ life and His death have served there only purpose, the gospel has accomplished it's mission. Then you just bide your time here tell you get there. The said thing is they have not even read the scriptures well enough to know that it not all about getting to heaven. The focus of salvation is not about moving to heaven when we die, because we only return with Christ to inhabit the new earth (Rev 21), the focus of salvation is ones immediate relationship with God and others in the here and now and His mission on earth here and now, and yes our eternal destination too, but that’s not the only purpose.

Salvation is about returning to fellowship with God, about entering life with God, with Christ now and right here, it is about Restoration, Renewal, Reconciliation and Redemption of all of creation. It's is about admitting our sinfulness and alienation from God, and accepting God sacrificial death in our place and receiving His free gift of forgiveness, salvation. It is about stopping to be my own God and my own lord and savior and making God my God and savior. It is about being transformed, born again into a new creation, in the image of Christ. And joining God in His mission to bring Restoration, Renewal, Reconciliation and Redemption to the whole earth. About dying, not living for self and living for God and the good of others. About incarnating the life of Christ, imitating the life of Christ.

The scriptures and Jesus tells me a much different explanation of who and what a Christian is. Jesus describes the Christian life much differently than Osteen and so many other do.

And "Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." Mark 1:17, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them......." Mat 28:19, "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation" Mark 16:15. That sounds like a purpose other than getting a ticked to heaven, being rich, fat and happy, or just biding time tell you get there. He did not say, I will make you rich, happy or successful but He did say" But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake" Luke 21:12, that sure does not sound like the happy and rich life so many describe the Christian life being about.

I read the apostle Paul saying "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" I Cor 11:1, but yet the life I read Paul living and the others in scriptures is not the one taught by Osteen or taught by most pastors today or seen being lived out, demonstrated by "church going Christians", with there being more different brands of church and versions of Christianity than there are McDonald's, this leaves many confused.

So far here we have Jesus and Paul saying a Christian is one:

Who fishes for men
Who Goes into the world
Who proclaims the gospel
Who will suffer persecution
Who imitates the life of Paul
Who imitates the life of Jesus

Part 1

Christ-Like, really?

As Christians, those in our midst interpret everything about us, what we do, how we speak with an intense scrutiny. And these messages that we emit "cues." Cues are things that others recognize and interpret as a character trait, intention, subtle message or passed judgment. We rarely think of every action as a "cue" left for others to interpret, and because of that in-attention, we leave ourselves open to mis-interpretation. Cues require that we must be very self-aware of every aspect of our lives, our words and deeds or lack of them.

As Christians we are particularly susceptible to cues, being the title comes from a Greek word meaning Christ-like, that was given to followers of Christ because they imitated the life of Christ right down to being crucified for living like Him. A simple act of neglect such as doing nothing to help the poor can may be perceived by others as an indication that Jesus cares nothing for them. After all your are claming to be Christ-like, therefore everything you do is suppose to be what He did, what He cares about. Not being a forgiving person gives the impression that God is not forgiving, after all your actions are an imitation of His. Not loving other, particularly the poor, needy, orphaned and sinners, if you are Christ-like then you are saying Christ does not love them, so how can you preach the gospel, claim John 3:16 is true when you being like Him do not love them as they are, you are a contradiction to them.

The way you speak to everyone, how you teat others, is processed with scrutiny, who you chose to talk with, be with, love, help, befriend. Cues can quickly ruin a Christian’s reputation and ultimately their witness, but most of all it tarnishes God’s, teaches others things about Him that are not true, makes the scriptures a book of lies, after all if you are Christ like, an imitation of who He is, and it does not match what the scriptures say, one of you is untrue, one is a lie, and the world is left confused and dismayed with God and Christianity.

But cues are managed by self-awareness, by truly becoming Christ-like, loosing your life in Him, exchanging you life for His, after all that is the biblical definition of who a Christian is, one who imitates the person and life of Jesus.

Doing what Jesus would do. hanging with Marilyn Manson

In a resent interview Newsboys' guitarist Paul Colman was asked which mainstream artist he would like to tour with, he answered Marilyn Manson, not the answer the typical Christian would have expected, or an acceptable answer the American Church would want from a Christina artist.

But he had it right, that is an answer that every Christ-Like person should both expected and applauded, Paul has it right, that is the typical answer Jesus would have given. Because He hung out with the worst of the sinners. That is who He came to reach, every Christ-Like person should want access to people like Marilyn Manson and his followers, the chance to take the light of hope into their world of darkness. To expose them to the gospel and person of Jesus Christ, take the Kingdom of God near them to see and touch and experience in real time, real life, Jesus and the Gospel in us lived out before them, experience the love, mercy and forgiveness of God. To take God’s reconciliation and restoration to them in a tangible way, a real person transformed by the Gospel, love, forgiveness and mercy of God.

Paul Colman has it right, going to and being among the sinners is where we should live, be found daily, hanging out with prostitutes, drug uses and dealers, thieves, hanging out in the pubs having a beer with the prodigals, with the downtrodden, the oppressed and the outcast, taking the gospel, the light into the darkest of places.

That is doing what Jesus would do.