How do we be missional?

How do we be missional? Here is a collaborated list of thoughts on how to be missional.

1. Think Missio Dei. God is a missionary God. As God the Father sent Jesus, Jesus sent us, and empowered us by the Spirit. Isaiah 61:1-2 is God’s manifesto; it is what Jesus gives as his first sermon in his hometown. He opens the Isaiah scroll and read what is to be his manifesto also, and it is mine also, Isaiah 61:1-2 is the goal if missio Dei. As God sent His Son with His manifesto, mission, so Jesus sends His people, His bride the church with the same manifesto, mission.
2. Think biblically. Be a student of the word of God, Jesus was. Be someone who studies them day and night, who thinks, eats and breathes the scriptures.
3. Be a Missionalest. If you aren’t, what’s the purpose of you life? Everything in your life should be directed toward participation in God’s mission, accomplishing God’s mission in the world, the restoring, renewal, redemption and reconciliation of all creation. (i.e. “Missio Dei is central in all that we say and do in life.”)
4. Be a Gospelists. The Gospel must be the very “heartbeat” in the soul of every believer, his worldview it molded by the Gospel, what he thinks about and meditates on is filtered through the Gospel. So then being gospel-centered means the gospel is functional central to your life, at the core of your being, what defines you. (i.e. “The gospel is central in all that we say and do in life.”)
5. Have a functional gospel-centered identity. Being gospel-centered means the gospel is functional central to your life, at the core of your being, what defines you. It is at the core of your identity, who you are.
6. Think contextually. If it was good enough for the apostle Paul, it’s good enough for me (1 Cor. 9:19-23). One-size never fits all. The Gospel never changes, but how we communicate it does.
7. Think culturally, act biblically. We live, breathe, and swim in culture. What's more, it's impossible to be a Jesus-follower in a non-cultural context. If we are serious about being missional, we need to understand the culture and subcultures surrounding us.
8. Practice incarnational principles. Incarnational living brings the living embodiment of the gospel to our neighbors, manifesting the reign of Jesus to our neighbors, and therefore liberates their suffering. We should consider how we can live in a way that makes the gospel most accessible to the people around us, that is see it at work in your life and Jesus tangible to them be cause you are the living image of Him.
9. Practice love. As in love God with all that you are, and love your neighbor with the same kind of love you show yourself.
10. Practice caring for those in need. Give loaves of bread and fish to those without, physically touch today’s lepers, and if you have more than one of something someone needs, give it to them.
11. Practice compassion. Bringing the same love that Jesus would bring to the broken and the lost.
12. Practice mercy. Bringing the same love that Jesus would bring to the broken and the lost.
13. Practice grace and forgiveness. Most people will need to see the gospel in action before they can adopt and practice it. Give grace, give forgiveness. Even if you think it will kill you.
14. It is about justice. Standing alongside the neglected, the falsely accused, and the abused.
15. Actively engage in restoration. In God’s mission of restoration, actively working to restore al of creation to wholeness. Not to condemn others who are in a fallen state, but on the mission or restoring them to wholeness and a right relationship with God.
16. Live in and build authentic community. Jesus was about intentional community, communities engaged in the restoration of each other and the world.
17. Practicing missional discipleship. Actively teaching one on one others to duplicate the life of Christ by imitating your example of dong it, by your life being about restoring, renewal, redemption and the reconciliation of all creation lived out right before them to see how it is done.
18. Practice the Great Commission. Share your faith in word and deed. Engage in doable evangelism. Don't discriminate. Instead, share the gospel with everyone regardless of ethnicity, religion, economic or social status.

I intend to make these my non-negotiable way of living a missional lifestyle.

Gospel Centered Life part 2

I heard a message a month ago on preaching the Gospel to yourself daily, and for the last month I have been doing that very thing, preaching the Gospel to myself daily. And what a difference it has made, as the scriptures really do point out that the Gospel is not just a message for the unbeliever to hear, but something we must preach to ourselves continually, it must be come the heart, foundation of who we are and the why we do what we do in our daily lives. God did not give us His gospel just so we could embrace it and be converted. He offers it to us every day as a gift that keeps on giving to us everything we need for life and godliness.

I underwent an amazing change with in just the first few days, in my thought life, the way I conducted myself, related to and interacted with others, my relationship with God and my motives for everything I did or did not do.

On the days when I forgot to or was too busy to, what a difference it made, I could feel myself digress back into carnal ways and thought life, and my relationship with God was greatly reduced on those days. By Two weeks into doing it I found myself become a different person in so many ways, priority changing in a dynamic way.

So this is my new way to be, preaching the Gospel to myself daily, and I recommend it to every true believer.

Gospel Centered Life part 1

Each of our lives is centered on something. What’s at the center of yours? Think about it for a moment. What’s really the main thing in your life? Only one thing can truly be in first place, priority one; so what’s at the top of your list, second to none?

What do you love to talk about? What do you think about most when your mind is free? What are you most passionate about? What thoughts fills your thoughts most of the day?

What is it that defines who you are? A relationship? Is it your career? Maybe it’s your family, your church or a ministry. It could be some cause or some political affiliation. Or perhaps your main thing is a hobby or a talent you have, your intellect or even what you perceive as wisdom above everyone else or even your possessions or maybe yourself, you are the center of the universe and everything revolves around you, even God, because you decide what is right and wrong in life, the Word of God and even for God Himself.

Here is how Paul answers that question for us: “Now I would remind you, brothers ,of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.” 1 Cor 15:1-3 And “For I determined not to know anything among you, except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 1 Cor 2:2” First importance. Paul is pointing us to the one transcendent truth that should define our lives. In the midst of our various responsibilities and many possible areas of service in the kingdom of God, one overarching truth should motivate all our work and affect every part of who we are: Christ died for our sins.

If there’s anything in life we should be passionate about first and above all else, it’s the gospel. Everything we do, think and say should first filter through the gospel. I mean passionate in thinking about the gospel, reflecting upon it, rejoicing in it, allowing it to color the way we look at the world and all of life.

The center of who we are and our lives should be, must be the Gospel first importance, it should be the main thing. What we are most passionate about? What we love to talk about? What we think about most when our mind is free? What thoughts our mind is set upon, what fills our thoughts most of the day? We can choose to navigating life with a functional gospel-centered identity, coloring who we are and all we do in life, but we must choose to do so and preach the Gospel to ourselves daily, meditate on it daily tell it is who we are and what we are about.