Life on a Mission

            What are we doing with our lives?  This week we were blessed with the opportunity to hear from David Marvin as he talked about devoting our resources, talents, time and treasures to do His will.  We must keep in mind that we are the stewards of the church for our generation.  We have been entrusted the message of eternal life; of the good news of the Gospel.  It is up to us to decide whether we are going to leave the church better or worse than we found it. 

            Often times, we see mission trips as getting on a plane, going over seas or across the country, finding a small colony of people who may or may not have heard the message before… But what we don’t realize is that there are people around us every day that are yearning to hear about the love of God.  You don’t need to go on a mission trip… You’re already on one. 

            One of the greatest evils in today’s world is the dead church.  When a group of people meet together once a week to praise God, but are not living out the word of God on a daily basis, they are not setting a good representation of God, or the life we are called to live as Christians.  It is not that they do not have faith, but they are irregular Christians; not living the way we are called to live- bringing glory and honor to Him. 

            We are called to be athletes, shepherds, warriors, and farmers... not regular church attenders.  We are meant to live LIVES that reflect the love of Christ through seeking His will, not just attend church each week, and put our hands up as an act of worship to God.  Rather, we are called to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1).  We are to do everything in the name of the Lord in order to give all the glory to God.  (Colossians 3:17)  We are called to be ambassadors of God’s kingdom here on earth.  We must represent Him well!  (2 Corinthians 5:20)

            In order to be successful as a bondservant of Christ you must know who you are, be who you are, and like who you are… because that’s all that you are. 

            David Marvin stressed the importance of knowing Jesus’s mission statement in order to follow him as best we can.  We did this by looking at Luke chapter 19; Jesus’s encounter with Zacchaeus.  Zacchaeus was a tax collector.  Culturally, that was almost like treason to his people- the Jews.  Rome had placed a tax on the Jewish people in order to continue practicing Judaism.  However, the Jews would not willing pay a Roman soldier, so they hired Jews willing to cheat their friends and families out of their money in order to support the Roman government that everyone hated.  When Jesus made a point to talk to Zacchaeus and even eat dinner at his house, other people present, specifically Pharisees, began to get angry.  They were jealous that Jesus was spending his time with a man as sinful as Zaccheaus.  In verse 10, Jesus makes known his purpose in this.  He said, “For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”

 In Matthew 9, Jesus explains this further.  He is eating dinner with Matthew and many tax collectors and sinners come in to see him.  The Pharisees begin to questions his motives, asking why he eats with sinners.  Jesus responds in verses 12-13, “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Jesus came to seek and to save those whom are lost.  We are called to be like Jesus.  If this was his purpose, shouldn’t it be ours too? 

An atheistic magician, Penn Jillette of the famous duo Penn & Teller, posted a video expressing his opinion of evangelism.  Although he still claimed he knew there was no God, he did bring some interesting insight into the importance of evangelism… He said, “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe everlasting life is possible and not tell them that?”  It is our mission to seek and save all that are lost.  In the words of my (not so) beloved band director Mr. Peterson, “If not you, then who? If not now, then when?” Why should you expect that it is someone else’s responsibility to share the good news of the gospel with someone around you?  How do you know you’ll be given another chance?  We are not promised any more time on earth.  Something could happen at any point in time that could put us on the judgment seat before we know it.  And when that time comes, what will you tell God?  That you kept meaning to tell your friends/family/co-workers/the girl at Starbucks about Him?  That you were intending to be more open about your faith?  Life is not about good intentions.  It’s about actions. 

            We need to stand up and be all that God needs us to be.  The church is only dead because it isn’t full of those who are alive!  If we can learn to be dead to ourselves and alive in Christ, we will be capable of incredible things.  There is a historical pattern in the United States in which a great revival takes place every 50 years, and it just so happens that the last revival took place almost 50 years ago.  These revivals almost always start with the youth.  It’s our turn to step up and be leaders in the church.  We can’t keep expecting things to happen for us; it’s time to let things happen through us. 

            David Marvin gave us a list of Five C’s to be a man or woman of God:

1.)           Committed to God’s word- In Paul’s final letter, 2 Timothy, he stresses the importance of scripture.  In Mark 2:32-35, Jesus wakes up early to spend time alone with the father.  Scripture is important.  It is the best method we have of hearing what God has to say about our lives. 

2.)           Committed to God’s people- Acts 2:47, we see the early church, the body of believers meeting together day by day to hold each other accountable and go through life together.  (Also, Hebrews 3:12-13)  Life change happens in circles, not in rows.  It’s easier to grow when you can be open with those around you. 

3.)           Creative expression of the Gospel- 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 Paul speaks of the different ways he relates to people in order to best explain the Gospel of Christ to them.   We are called to dream big in the name of Jesus in order that we might win some over to his name. 

4.)           Committed to the uncommitted- Acts 2:37-39 God’s promise was made not only for you, but also for everyone around you.  Our goal is to reach people, and if we have to ruffle some feathers to do so, so be it.   We are following God’s will- to seek and save what is lost. 

5.)           Contribute time, talents, and treasures- what can we contribute to the kingdom?  1 peter 4:10 clearly states that we are to use the gifts that we have been given in order to be good stewards of God’s grace. 

This week has been one of my favorites so far this year.  It is such a good reminder of our true calling as Christ followers. 

Tomorrow, our class leaves for Northern Ireland for the entire month of February.  Prayers are much appreciated for safe travels and also for good health as there has been a pretty nasty virus spreading around campus.  I’ll be sure to post some highlights and pictures when I have a spare minute!! 

“Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” – Ephesians 6:19-20

An Excellent Wife....

Every week here at link year is unique in it’s own way.  This week, we were split up boys and girls all week.  The boys had ‘Manhood Week’ where they blew stuff up and smelled bad….ya know, basic man stuff.  Meanwhile, we women dove deep in to the word and learned what it means to be a biblical woman.  We studied Proverbs 31:10-31 and analyzed the character of the ‘Proverbs 31 Woman’.  In doing this, we were privileged to hear from several speakers about different aspects of biblical womanhood. 

On Tuesday, Angie Daniels talked about how our character can enhance or taint our name.  When we have a strong reputation attached to our name, whether it is good or bad, what can really make or break us is our character.  When you have already developed a negative name for yourself, and you feed that reputation by maintaining a bad character, everyone knows that you are evil.  When you have a good reputation, and you counteract that with bad character, people will see you as a hypocrite.  When you have a good name attached to a bad character is deceptive.  However, when you have a good reputation, and you follow that up with good character, there is much value to your life.  People will look up to you and respect you and give Glory to our Father in Heaven.  (Matt. 5:16) (Proverbs 22:1, 1 Corinthians 15:33)  How are you representing your name?

Wednesday, we had the honor of hearing from one of the wisest women I have ever known.  Jennifer (Reno) Farley came to talk to us about relationships.  She led a bible study over the book of Esther this summer when I worked at Kamp, and it was one of the most incredible studies I have ever done.  She is so full of wisdom.  Anyways… Relationships.  Relationships are formed by God and manipulated by the world.  He designed them.  In fact, he created us to have them.  However, the world is notorious for re-defining them. 

Our most important relationship is between us and God.  Every relationship we enter into will reflect our relationship with God.  There are four reasons we know we are built for relationships. 

1.     He built us with a capacity to be in a relationship with him.  (Genesis 1:26-27)  We are made in his image, so that we can be in a relationship with him. 

2.     He gives us life; a purpose and meaning.  (John 6:51, 10:10, 15:4)  True life is found in eternal life.  We are simply branches, and he is a tree.  We cannot survive if we aren’t rooted in Him. 

3.     He asks us to extend our relationships to others.  (1 John 1:7) He shows himself through our worldly relationships.  When we involve Him, he is faithful and supplies all that we need and more.  We get our basis from him in order to pour it out into our other relationships.

4.     He redeems us.  He has given us salvation.   Sometimes we feel like Satan is winning. He’s not.  Genesis 3:15 is God’s curse on the serpent just after Adam and Eve sin against Him.  In man’s darkest moment, God tells Satan that he is going to redeem us.  He made up his mind without a moment’s hesitation.  He knew that he was going to save us, because he loves us THAT much. 

True and good relationships bring life, and life to the fullest.  True relationships point to true life.  TO GOD.

Satan is tempting, but he only wants one thing for us.  DEATH.  Yes, it’s true.  There is a 100% death rate here on Earth.  There’s really no avoiding that one… However, when one is in Christ, to die is only to be reunited with Christ.  The real death comes when we experience separation from God.  He wants to remove us from our relationship with Christ.  That’s his only goal.  That’s why he tempts us with so many different distractions and idols in our lives.  God has our best interest in mind; Satan does not. Satan doesn’t care what lie you believe as long as it is not the truth.  God lets it happen so you can see his power and learn about him. 

Relationships affect us in one of two ways: They give us life, or lead us to death.  As Christians, we are called to radiate life into all of our relationships.  (Romans 11:33-36)  Often times, our problems in our earthly relationships come from our unbelief in the attributes of God we know to be true.  Friendships can lead to death when they define you, or when they are centered on destructive things.  Exclusive friendships show a lack of dependency on God.  Never let an earthly relationship trump that which should be reserved for the King. Keep in mind; YOU are your greatest enemy.  If you can get rid of yourself and fill up on God, you will live a fruitful life. 

Today, we heard from Chantelle Mack.  She taught us the difference between what we are called to be in Proverbs 31 and the woman of folly in Proverbs 9.   The woman of folly is loud, seductive, dumb, a schemer, a liar, and has low standards.  A Proverbs 31 woman is trustworthy, faithful, strong, diligent, willing to serve, confident, giving, well kept, and tactful.  Even though these are the qualities described of an excellent wife, we are called to live this way now in preparation of the day when we will become a wife.  We can’t just expect to live frivolously now and expect to grow up all of a sudden when we get married.  It’s important to set goals now because our character now will overflow later in our lives. 

Girls struggle with this because they let their emotions win the best of them.  It’s a matter of our hearts.  We are emotional beings, but we can’t let our lives be ruled by our hearts.  We can control our hearts, but we must first learn what challenges our hearts.  This may be gossip, romances, music, fashion, music; anything. 

Being a Proverbs 31 woman is about glorifying the Lord by living for his righteousness.  This means we can’t be ruled by our hearts.  The world says it’s okay to freak out every once in a while; they give us excuses to let our emotions get the best of us.  WE CANNOT LET OUR LIVES BE RULED BY OUR HEARTS. 

We have a higher standard than the norm of the world.   We live for a greater purpose.  We are called to submit everything to the Lord.  We are not living to learn; we are learning to live.  Putting these things in to action at this stage of life will help us to grow into Godly women later on down the road. 

“Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” –Ephesians 6:19-20

Young and in Love

           This week, we had the amazing opportunity to hear from a pastor known world wide for his outstanding advice as a marriage and family counselor.  Ted Cunningham, pastor of Woodland Hills Family Church here in Branson shared with us a small glimpse of his vision for young relationships.  He was gracious enough to give us all the gift of one of his novels, “Young and in Love”.  Although I have not yet started reading it, after hearing a little Ted’s wisdom this week, it is definitely a read I am looking forward to. 

            Ted began by reading through several different passages in Ecclesiastes that helped us to see the overall picture of this book.  It’s about our lives as humans; it’s a grind.  Life is hard, and then you die.  That’s all there really is to it.  God has given us marriage to enjoy in the midst of the grind.  However, sometimes marriages can even get stuck in the midst of the grind.  Ted proposed 8 different symptoms of a marriage that is stuck in the grind of life:

1)   You become co-dependent; we are meant to depend wholly on Christ, not another person.  We can’t expect to receive the satisfaction we can only get from God through another person.  It just doesn’t work that way.

2)   You begin to question your compatibility; but remember, character trumps chemistry.  You don’t need a new mate to have fun again. 

3)   You repeat mistakes and develop patterns; like conflict resolution.  If you are consistently brushing conflict under the rug, you will never really solve any conflict.  Here’s a suggestion- TRY SOMETHING NEW. 

4)   You begin to rush decisions; basing bid decisions on what just happened.  Giving in to impulse.   Slow down and take time to evaluate your emotions.   

5)   You close your heart; it’s okay to guard you heart, but don’t close it off completely.  Especially to your spouse.  Think through the messages written on your heart- the things that have been engraved into your head from hearing them over and over again.  You are 100% responsible for the way you think and feel.  Don’t blame it on someone else!

6)   You isolate from others; you don’t want anyone to see that you are maybe having some problems.  Lean on a biblical community.  There will be SOMEONE who understands what you’re going through.  You are not alone.

7)   You begin to look for other options; you doubt your commitment.  Commitment is making THE choice to give up all choices.  What does commitment mean to you? 

Everyone falls in love with the front end of a puppy…but remember- every puppy has a back end.  Where you think the grass looks greener, there’s probably a septic leak.  Stay home and water your own lawn before giving up on it for something that looks easier. 

Next, he talked to us about parenting.  (You’re probably thinking “why would someone come in to talk to a bunch of 17-20 year-olds about marriage and parenting for a week?” I’m not exactly sure either... but I’m sure it will be a wonderful lesson to apply later in life!) Most problems in parenting come because as children grow up and become adults, two things happen.  Parents accelerate childhood milestones, and prolong adolescence.  We are given too much privilege and not enough responsibility.  In doing so, we delay adulthood.

 There are seven different types of problems in parenting amongst ‘trophy parents’ or parents who take a little too much pride in their children:

1)   Vanity parenting: using your child to impress others.  This is just a desire to show that you have control over your child. 

2)   Perfection parenting: wanting your kids to achieve highly in all areas of their lives.  This will often cause slothfulness or rebellion among children.

3)   Competitive parenting:  comparing your child to others.  Especially in comparing their strengths to other kids’ weaknesses.  This can often times occur amongst siblings. 

4)   ROI parenting: return on investment; starting kids on activities at a young age and expecting them to stick to it.  Kids resent the things they are forced in to. 

5)   Rescue parenting: constantly wanting to bail the child out of any bad situations; trying to help them avoid all loss, hurt, failure, or disappointment in life.  These struggles are what help us to grow!  (James 1)

6)   “Gifted” parenting: the idea that God has gifted your child in some way that no other child is gifted in.  All children bear the image of God.  Don’t believe that they are any different than any other child of God.

7)   Companion parenting:  giving everything to the child instead of to your spouse.  The child cannot take the place of your spouse. 

American culture as a whole has made it easier and easier to delay adulthood milestones.  Things like leaving home, finishing school, getting a job, getting married, and starting a family are taking place later and later in the lives of adults today.  We decide to stay home to work or make money.  We never finish school because a higher level of education will secure us a better job.  We never get a job because we never have a high enough education.  We don’t get married because w have taken independence and turned it in to an acceptable way to be selfish, and we can’t commit enough to start a family. 

In order to make things a little more currently relevant to us as young adults, Ted talked about the different levels of communications involved in relationships.  There are six different levels to intimate communication. 

1)   Small talk- conversations you could have with any random stranger.  There is a risk level of ZERO at this point.  Well, if arguments happen within small talk, there is a much deeper issue in someone’s life. 

2)    Facts- exchanging information.  This is where men and women differ; men want to know enough to solve the issue, women want every detail regardless of its relevancy. 

3)   Opinions- the source of all escalated argument.  It’s okay to have differing opinions, but you must know how to deal with these differences in a healthy way. 

This is where conversations become intimate. Up until now, conversation has been head to head.  Now, it becomes heart to heart. 

4)   Feelings and emotions- learning to communicate emotionally; recognizing what makes us tick, and WHY. 

5)   Desires and needs- learning the difference between what we want and what we need.  

6)   Beliefs- where all of your feelings come from, and where all intimacy takes place.  This is the true understanding of why people value the things they do.  Maintain a sense of curiosity and fascination, and don’t let duty and responsibility get in the way. 

It’s okay to pace yourself; you don’t have to get to level six right away.  Let it run its course.  It will come easily once trust has been developed.  There are two different ways to get to this ‘level six’ communication:

1)   L.U.V. talk: Listen, Understand, and Validate.  Listening fully, asking questions to understand, and just showing your support of their feelings through validation. 

2)   “Drive thru listening”: going back and forth until you truly understand what it is they are trying to say.  Show them you are trying to understand what they want to communicate to you. 

In today’s culture, we have one major stumbling block that inhibits our ability to communicate, and that is social media.  Our constant connectedness to the Internet has put a major barrier in our relationships with other people.  Ted shared with us seven positive and negative affects of social media on relationships:

1)   Self Definition: we define ourselves by how good we look on the Internet; how many friends or followers we have.  We can make ourselves look as good as we want. 

2)   Connection: this makes things easier for the more reserved person to be more open.  We can keep in contact with people we may not have otherwise kept up with.

3)   Disconnected: it decreases our social skills.  We are less likely to meet face to face.  It decreases our empathy.  We can confront issues through a screen rather than actually having to face our problems. 

4)   Distracted: we are distracted by social networking every three and a half minutes.  We are always checking Facebook, instagram, twitter, or other sites on our phones.  Studies have proven that it takes another 25 minutes to re-engage in what is going on around us. 

5)   Obsession: we become Internet stalkers.  We know too much about people without actually taking time to get to know them personally. 

6)   Exhaustion: we waste too much time.  We are draining ourselves physically, emotionally, and sometimes even spiritually.  We need to unplug. 

7)   ADDICTION.  We are addicted to wasting time on the Internet.  It takes precedence over things that are more important, like intimate relationships with others, and GOD. 

In order to overcome these inevitable affects, we need to know who we are in Christ.  Not according to the Internet.  We need accountability to know that we are not wasting our times, or creating a false sense of self.  Also, we need to make a conscious effort to unplug ourselves every once in a while to keep social media from becoming an idol in our lives. 

This week has taught me a lot about what a healthy relationship will look like somewhere down the road.  Hopefully you can make sense of my random ramblings!  Thanks for reading! 

 “Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” –Ephesians 6:19-20