Discover, Develop, Deploy

These are my sermon notes from a weekend retreat that I spoke at for the Grand Canyon University leaders of spiritual life. This is a long post, but it is broken up in to 3 different sermons and I did not write them in a way that they flow as a typical blog does, but instead just put my notes on here.

1) Discover from my Mac dictionary

• find (something or someone) unexpectedly or in the course of a search 
• become aware of (a fact or situation) 

• perceive the attractions of (an activity or subject) for the first time

DISCOVER YOUR PURPOSE: (Or as Canyon advertises, “Find Your Purpose”) 

Today, I want to help you discover your purpose...actually, I’m gonna make it crystal clear, I’m gonna make it dumby proof for you, as to what your purpose is! 

Let me start with the answer and then work backwards from there. I want this to sink in to your heart and mind and soul in such a way that it is etched in you and never to be lost or forgotten:

Our purpose in this life, God created us for this very reason, to: 

DISPLAY THE BEAUTY & WORTH OF CHRIST TO THE WORLD

An individual Christian will be a success or a failure depending upon what he or she thinks of God. It is critically important that we have a knowledge of the Holy One, that we know what God is like. (A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God, 41,42.)

Read Isaiah 61:1-3: (v. 3) that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. (literally in Hebrew: “that He may display His 

beauty) We are trophies made by God, for God...”Look at what God did, look how magnificent God is, look at the beauty of Christ through that trophy...WOW!”

God created us, He is in control whether we live or die, right now, and He can do what He wants with us. To not DISPLAY THE BEAUTY AND WORTH OF CHRIST to the world would be a wasted life. God wants us to display His beauty because He is in it for His name sake! Let me give you some examples from Scripture:

Psalm 23:1-3: The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 

Psalm 31:3: For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; 

Ezek. 36:22: “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name

Matt. 5:9: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

1 John 2:12: I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake. 

God is totally into God. Why is God in it for His name?

Ps. 40:5 - You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! 

Ps. 89:6-9,11: 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, 7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them...11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. 

Isaiah 40:12-15, 18, 28-29: ¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? ¹³ Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? ¹⁴ Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? ¹⁵ Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust....¹⁸To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?....²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Ps. 73:25 - Whom have I in heaven but you?

C.S. Lewis says this in his book Till We Have Faces: “I ended my first book with the words ‘no answer’. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are Yourself the answer. Before your face, questions die away. What other answer would suffice?”

When God makes much of Himself, we receive great enjoyment from Him...What do you think heaven is!! Heaven is a place where God makes much of Himself for our pleasure, joy. If we were to make much of ourselves, we would ruin everybody. 

If I said today, my goal is to make sure that when you leave this place today, I want all of you guys worship me. That would destroy all of you!! 

ADAM and EVE and the serpent telling them to make much of themselves...what happened? Oh, only the fall of all mankind. It doesn’t work well for man to make much of himself. But God...He can’t not make much of Himself!

The Apostle Paul say at the end of his life before He goes to Rome to die:

Acts 20:24: But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 

In other words, Paul says: “I do not consider myself to truly be living or worth anything if I am not displaying the beauty and worth of Jesus to the world.” To testify to the gospel of the grace of God is to display the infinite beauty and worth of Jesus... 

Paul could only say these words because he treasured Jesus. Do you treasure Jesus? Can you say today that you treasure Jesus and your life proves it? Are other people looking at you saying, “that girl treasures Jesus. That dude is no joke, He loves Jesus more than anything.” If not, our life will be wasted, because to treasure Jesus is to display His beauty and worth to the world...our entire purpose in life. 

Overview:

1. God’s in it for Himself and for His name sake and to make Himself look beautiful and infinitely valuable.

1. Jesus is the image and glory of God; so Paul’s life was all about making the image and glory of God (Jesus) look magnificent. Hebrews 1:3a: ³ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. 
2. What does your life’s purpose consist of? It’s time we discover that God’s purpose for our lives is to make Christ look magnificent, to show off His beauty! If your life’s purpose isn’t to display the beauty and worth of Christ, don’t go to bed tonight and don’t stop praying until God has caused you to see Christ as infinitely valuable...

He will do it, this is why the Holy Spirit is given. To sanctify us, to reveal to us the beauty of Christ, to open our eyes and give us new perspective, new faith, new life, new purpose. God is the one who fashions your heart and He will work this purpose into the lives of those who are His. 

A life lived in this fashion will undo any amount of wasted years. Do not live another day for yourself. It doesn’t work well for people who live for themselves. It doesn’t work well for anybody who seeks to find joy, fulfillment, satisfaction, purpose, meaning, identity outside of Christ. 

Let’s learn from A.W. Tozer as we close: Indeed it may be truthfully said that everything of lasting value in the Christian life is unseen and eternal. Things seen are of little real significance in the light of God's presence. He pays small attention to the beauty of a woman or the strength of a man. With Him the heart is all that matters. The rest of the life comes into notice only because it represents the dwelling place of the eternal being. The solution to life's problems is spiritual because the essence of life is spiritual. It is astonishing how many difficulties clear up without any effort when the inner life gets straightened out... (The Next Chapter After the Last, 82-83)

1. Develop from my Mac dictionary (if you can’t tell, I’m advocating Mac use!)

• grow or cause to grow and become more mature, advanced, or elaborate 
• convert (land) to a new purpose by constructing buildings or making other use of its resources.
• start to exist, experience, or possess 

DEVELOP YOUR PURPOSE:

If our purpose is to DISPLAY THE BEAUTY & WORTH OF CHRIST TO THE WORLD, and the means that Paul went about displaying the beauty and worth of Christ was to testify to the gospel of the grace of God, then we would do well to develop a love and a better understanding of this Gospel.

The Gospel is not just how you get in to the Kingdom, it’s how you change and handle every problem you have in your life. It’s not the ABC’s of life, it’s the A-Z of life. (EXAMPLE of 2 worldviews and how each side is supposed to disdain the other.

Relativistic/Permissive - If there is a God, you have to follow your heart, not the rules, then you will find God. They say “God is all good and will forgive me regardless of what I do.”

Moralistic/Legalist - Find God by obeying His law. God owes you. You better perform or God is going to get you. They say “I’m accepted by God because I have worked my butt off keeping all His commandments.”  

The Gospel affects the heart: Jonathan Edwards - The Nature of True Virtue

Common Virtue: We are honest out of fear or pride (expound). We do good: we help the old lady across the street because we will feel better for doing it...or we do something good because we will get in trouble if we don’t do it. (We all inherently have common virtue. If we didn’t have this, this would be a terrifying world to live in.) The same is true with lies. Fear and pride drives common virtue. This virtue nurtures your self-centeredness. 

People blow it in life and say: “How could I have ever done this wicked or evil thing, I wasn’t raised that way?”...yes you were...you nurtured common virtue your whole life.

True Virtue: We are honest out of a changed heart that only seeks to please God, not man or ourselves. True virtue takes place when we are strongly attracted to the beauty of God. If you understand the Gospel, it destroys pride...it says you’re a sinner...you are self-centered...don’t try to fool anyone. It destroys fear...it says you are so valued and accepted because of what Jesus did, not based on your doing/goodness.

What Jesus does for me is radically transforms the pride that gets all that I can (even righteously) and takes away my fear because of what God has done for me. I am now honest for God’s sake, not for my sake. 

Moralism only lives up to one of those areas: Doing good because of our pride and desire to have a good self mage to others or fear of failing or not living up to expectations. The Gospel deals with this kind of self-centeredness...

A lot of people come to church for their sake, not for God’s sake. That’s common virtue, not true virtue. (Elizabeth Elliott: Story of the disciples carrying rocks...)

How does the Gospel root out our self-centeredness? How does it change the heart? 

It roots out self-centeredness which allows the Lord to rid our hearts of idols which we’ll speak about in the last session. Let’s get into the text for today:

1) GOOD NEWS (past tense) - Mark 1:1-3:

Mark writes about Isaiah prophecying about the Lord who is coming to bring salvation. In v. 3, the word Lord in Hebrew that Isaiah uses is Yahweh, the covenant name of God. Who is John preparing the way for? JESUS! 

Mark is saying that JESUS IS YAHWEH (GOD) breaking into history. So here we see the historical, Good News part of the Gospel, this is news about what Jesus has done...NOT ADVICE ON HOW TO LIVE....

Good news salvation, not good advice salvation. With this Good News salvation, history, what Jesus has done is vitally important.

2 Corinthians 5:21: ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus gets what I deserve so that I get what Jesus deserves....Whoa!!!

GOOD NEWS: Jesus Christ lived the life you couldn’t lived and died the death you should’ve died, as your substitute in your place, so that God can receive you not for your record and for your sake, but for Jesus’ record and for Jesus’ sake.

2) IDENTITY (sons and daughters) - Mark 1:9-11: 

What’s happening here? Did Jesus need to be affirmed that He was God’s son and that He was well pleased? I don’t believe that’s why this happens. Jesus was experiencing His sonship; and we are witnesses of it...and we are witnessing what it’s like for us too!

Thomas Goodwin: Story of a dad and a son walking through a park. 

The Holy Spirit does this for us. He bears witness that we are God’s children. He gives us our identity:

Romans 8:15-16: ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 

When we realize this, we are uprooted out of the moralistic older brother syndrome and serve God because of Him, not for ourselves, we really want to be with Him, closer to Him, loved by Him alone, etc....

IDENTITY: The Gospel is a status you receive now, not just a reward you receive later. We can be sure now. We don’t have to doubt our position, ever. But we are saved by grace, therefore our position as son or daughter is secure because of Jesus!

3) THE KINGDOM (be weak to be strong) - (Mark 1:16-20) - Look who Jesus calls: fishermen, tax collectors, zealots, no religious leaders, hmm) THE REVERSAL OF VALUES. The word Kingdom means SYSTEM. When a new ruler comes in he brings a whole new system. 

A new coach brings a different system in which the whole team must play or you don’t play (Phil Jackson and the Lakers) Jesus brings a new system. The world says you can’t get in unless you have something of value or something to offer. The kingdom of God says.... 

The new Kingdom values say: “Unless you have nothing to give or offer, you can’t get in. Only those who know they’re weak and incapable get in.” The world is completely different than this...We must get this!!

Mark 2:17: Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. 

Mark 8:35: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

Mark 9:35b: If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.

Mark 10: 43-45: But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴ and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵ For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” 

KINGDOM: The way up is down. The way to real power is to give up power and serve others. The way to become rich is to become poor. The way to be great is to be the slave of all!

These are not 3 parts of the Gospel, each one is a way of seeing the whole Gospel, but they all need to be held together.

OVERVIEW: 1) Jesus’ life saves us (good news, already happened); 2) therefore we are secure of our sonship/position before God (identity); because it all hinges on Jesus, 3)then there is less of me, and we experience more of Him because we are not getting in His way (the kingdom) This is why Paul could say: Acts 20:24: But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. 

3) Deploy from my Mac dictionary

• move (troops) into position for military action 
• move into position for such action 
• bring into effective action; utilize 

DEPLOY YOUR PURPOSE: (LIVE OUT THE GOSPEL IN YOUR COMMUNITY)

One of the best pictures of a man being deployed by God is Gideon (we want God to deploy us, we don’t want to deploy ourselves) 

Here’s what’s going on in this passage: 

- Israel is doing what’s evil in the sight of the Lord.  

- So God gave them into the hands of Midian for 7 years. 

- Midian oppressed Israel so severely, that Israel made for themselves dens that 

  are in the mountains and caves and strongholds. 

- Whenever Israel planted crops, the Midianites and Amalekites and the people from the East would come against  

  them. 

- They devoured all they could with a vast multitude of livestock and camels (beyond counting) and lay waste the 

   land and brought Israel very low. 

- So here is Gideon beating out wheat in the winepress (down low at the bottom of a hill where grape juice would flow  

  down into to gather to make wine...he’s hiding out to survive)

God reveals Himself: Judges 6:14, 16 / God calls to destroy idols: Judges 6:25 / God calls Gideon to treasure and worship Him: Judges 6:26 / God destroys Gideons plan: Judges 7:1-8 / Now God deploys: Judges 7:9

This is our lot as believers: God has revealed Himself to us. He has empowered us and called us to destroy our idols. He calls us to treasure and worship Him alone, He wrecks our plans and then sends us out to do His will. 

Malachi 1:11: For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.

So here is my MAIN FOCUS: That when we go back down this mountain, we care more deeply for lost people than we did when we came. We understand that God will accomplish His plans. That God wants you to be a part of His plan. May our hearts break for the sheep without a shepherd. With this promise from God we still don’t testify to the Gospel of the grace of God nearly like we should.

20 years ago 20% of believers were said to have had the gift of evangelism, 5 years ago, there were only 4%. Today, only 1%. (Barna 2009) 

We are talking ourselves out of sharing the Gospel.  It’s not a gift, it’s a call. It’s an ambition (Rom. 15) Nobody wants the gift of evangelism, but God has called us all to the work of an evangelist.

Some would say: “Well...evangelism has a bad reputation!” “ Guess what!! Jesus has a bad reputation!” “The cross has a bad reputation.” If you love the Gospel, you love evangelism. 

C.H. Spurgeon: Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter. Our churches and society have produced more imposters than missionaries.

Luke 24:45-48: 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

Jesus ties the proclamation of the Gospel to the nature of the Gospel. If you love the Gospel, you have to love evangelism.

Do you want to be known as a campus where people meet Jesus, because they meet people who know Jesus? When you lead with Jesus, and you plant the Gospel in word and deed, it shapes a Gospel-centered, cross-focused, spirit-empowered community, that leads a whole body of people on mission for Jesus, not your ministry! We want people to die for Jesus, not our agenda.

Application: What does this mean to us, today, here in Lost Canyon August 18th, 2010; GCU leaders? It means we must be an Acts 2:42 kind of people!

1) We must devote ourselves to the Word of God. “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching...” We need to understand the truth of the Gospel and what it means and does to us and in us. We can talk about the need to proclaim the Gospel all we want, but if don’t understand why, how or believe the power of the Gospel for that matter, then all of our words are in vain. 

This will take effort on your part. We study for tests, learn all the tricks to a video game, search the web, study the financial market, learn the ins and outs of a new job, but we want this Christian thing to just “HAPPEN” and all this understanding and knowledge is instantly downloaded supernaturally. The supernatural download begins as you give yourself to the Word. To those who love the Word, they receive supernatural insight. Love the Word, believe the Word, read the Word, pray over the Word. 

The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. (Psalm 12:6)

For the word of the Lord is upright... (Psalm 33:4) 

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. (Romans 10:17)

(Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4; 2 Sam. 22:31; Prov. 30:5; Eph. 25-26; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12; I John 2:14)

Devote yourself to the Word.

2) We must devote ourselves to prayer. “...and the prayers…” At Kineo, we believe that the most essential way we connect to God and have access to His power is through prayer (Mark 9:28-29). We must devote ourselves to be a people who are committed to prayer for the sake of building up the body of Christ and for the sake of saving, healing, restoring and delivering lost souls for the glory of God. Prayer unlocks the power of the cross. Our depths of our belief in God and His power over our lives can be seen by your discipline to pray to Him. Much prayer=much power...Little prayer=little power. 

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.... (John 15:5)

13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:13-16)

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. (Hebrews 5:7)

Pray without ceasing... (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. (Romans 12:12)

(2 Chronicles 7:14; Rom. 8:26; Phil. 4:6)

Devote yourself to prayer.  

3) We must devote ourselves to community. “...and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread...”  The fellowship in the larger sense (Solomon’s Colonade) and breaking bread in the smaller sense (In each other’s homes). Communion was a part of it, but was not what was meant when Luke wrote “to the breaking of bread...”

The Bible teaches a great deal about the nature and extent of Christian community (family). Community is a gift from God and it is essential for our growth as individuals and our growth as a church. As we see in the book of Acts, the early church devoted themselves to living life together as a family, and through that, evangelism happened. 

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” (Genesis 2:18)

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:9)

As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. (John 17:18)

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22)

5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing....8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.... 12 This is my commandment (or “This is what is means to bear fruit”), that you love one another as I have loved you. (John 15:5,8,12) (2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 1:1-4; Matt. 18:20; Romans 15:1-7; Romans 15:14 & 21)

In the New Testament alone there are 58 statements of how Christians should interact with one another in community. We are to “love one another”, “encourage one another”, “bear one another’s burdens”, “admonish one another”, and “not forsake meeting together”. 

Devote yourself to community.

The results of devoting themselves to the Word of God, community, and prayer:

“...and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” 

(Acts 2:47b) 

What or who are you devoting yourself to? What or who do you want to be devoted to? 

Devote yourself to the Word of God. Devote yourself to prayer. Devote yourself to community. These things will lead you to a life devoted to God. 

DEVOTE YOURSELF TO JESUS AND YOU WILL LEAD WITH JESUS. (you always lead with what you are devoted to)

Kineo's Purpose & Vision

Let me give you the answer to what our purpose and vision at Kineo are first, then I’ll give you the reasons why we believe this way and how we believe our purpose and vision plays out in our daily lives:

Purpose: To display the beauty of Jesus to the world and find our joy and comfort in God alone.

Isaiah 61:1-3: 1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. (the Hebrew literally says, “that he may display His beauty.”) God wants to display His beauty through us!

Vision: To be a people who, driven by our purpose in life, love God with ALL of who we are and with ALL of what we have; and with the same intensity, we love people so that the world will know that we are Jesus’ people.

From the beginning of our church, we had 2 things that God’s Word caused us to put out in the fore front of who we are, what we do, how we live, how we preach, etc:

Mark 12:28-31: 28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" 29 Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31 The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

The 2 most important things in the universe are God and people. Jesus was only about loving God the Father, and loving people. So, by default, we are purposed to love God and love people. The whole scroll, the whole Law and the Prophets, the whole history of redemption and all of God’s plans and acts hang on these two great sovereign purposes of God—that he be loved by his people, and that his people love each other.

Why? Why is it that these are the 2 great purposes (commandments) that Jesus gives us and that sum up all that God wants to say to us in a nutshell? Let me give you a few passages of Scripture that I think tell us why (not the only “why”, but the central “why”):

Psalm 89:6-7: 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord, 7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?….Psalm 145:20: The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

John 13:35: By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another....John 15:8: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

No one can compare to the Lord. He rules over everything. He is awesome!! And oh by the way, He preserves all who love Him, and He destroys those who do not. That’s a big reason in and of itself for us to be convinced to love God. Then Jesus says to His disciples the night before He gives Himself up to be crucified something like this:

“The world will know that you are my passionate followers by the way you love each other...so love each other. This is what glorifies the Father and to glorify Him is your highest purpose. I came to obey the Father, thus glorifying Him, and you should be about the same things.”

With this thought, we believe at Kineo, that our main purpose in life is to display the beauty of Jesus to the world because He is our savior, the radiance of God's glory, the exact imprint of His nature (Hebrews 1:3); therefore, our vision is to love God and to love people just as Jesus did. We believe that Jesus is made to look magnificent in the most glorious way when His people are madly in love with God and who pursue Him with everything they are, and with everything they have. And the implications of loving God in this radical way is that we love people so that they may experience the goodness of this awesome God that we treasure above everything else.

What does this look like? Well, to begin to paint a picture for us, let’s turn to a Psalm of David and see what it looked like for Him to love God with everything He was and had:

Psalm 63:1-8: 1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

1. Earnestly seek Him (v. 1)

1. With a heart that is utterly unsatisfied without Him
2. With the desperation of your body failing out without Him

1. Meet with Him in your prayer closet and with other believers (v. 2)
2. Find ALL your satisfaction and joy in Him and no other (v. 5)
3. Praise Him with your lips and with your hands lifted up to Him (vv.4-5, 7)

1. Praise Him because He has utterly satisfied you (v. 5)
2. Sing for joy because He is has helped you (v. 7)
3. With lips because you are not ashamed of Him or of proclaiming Him (v. 5, 7)
4. With your hands lifted to Him because you receive from Him alone (v. 4)

1. Remember all He has done for you...do not forget His provisions/grace (v. 6a)
2. Meditate on Him in the word and in prayer (v. 6b)
3. Cling to Him everyday because He alone upholds you (v. 7)

To love God with everything you are and with everything you have means to find Him as your supreme treasure in your life and to seek after Him daily, to meet with Him daily, to be satisfied with Him daily, to praise Him daily, to remember His deeds towards you daily, to meditate on His word daily, to desperately cling to Him daily! This should seem impossible to you as you sit here and listen to me list off what it looks like to love God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, strength! This is the point.

Not only does God want you to love Him in this way, He is the one who will enable you to love Him in this way even though we fail at it daily. Luke 18:27: "What is impossible with men is possible with God." You see, God not only saves you, He also sustains you, but He asks that you play your part in this process and earnestly seek Him with ALL you have. This devotion to Him is generated through the Holy Spirit and is kept and added to by the Holy Spirit as well. He preserves His people (1 Peter 1:3-5), and His people will love Him more and more as they journey with Him. Not only that, but it is this very pursuit of loving God in this way that is essential if we are indeed, going to love people as He desires us to. 

The 1st commandment is the grounds for fulfilling the 2nd. To go about the other way is to short change the people that you are trying to love. The greatest love you can offer others is the love of God, and one cannot know the love of God if one does not know and love God (1 John 4:7-8).

Loving God is the very thing that the Spirit uses to sustain us to love people. What can motivate us to love people who are enemies of God and who abuse us and persecute us, etc...? Only the heart that finds its joy and hope and safety and love and meaning and identity in God, can truly love people in a way that brings glory to God and not man. 

Loving God with all of who we are and have sustains us through all the pain and trials and confusion and rejection and heartbreak and hopelessness that loving people brings upon us. 

To love people means that we are placing ourselves in the middle of people’s mess and becoming vulnerable to being hurt by people. To love people means that we are sacrificing much. No lover is a good lover if he/she doesn’t sacrifice much for their lover. Love is costly. When loving people begins to kill our spirits, we fall back on God’s grace being sufficient for us, which is the basis of our love for God (1 John 4:9-10).

When we are loving God with ALL of who we are, we don’t run from loving "much" out of fear of pain. We run towards loving much because we have been loved much and because we are secure in our position before God; what can man do to me? If God is for us (and if we really believe it!!), then we can lose our lives for His people, for His glory, and for our good! As we close, my prayer is that we may we be able to agree with David in Psalm 16 and say with him:

Psalm 16:5-11: 5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. 7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Amen.

God is Gracious and Kind! by Hank Schepemaker

Matthew 20:1-16

vs. 3: "at 9am the Landowner was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them..." vs 6-7: "at 5pm that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around not working. He said, 'Why haven't you been working today?' They replid, 'No one hired us' The Landowner told them, 'Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.'
If you read this passage you'll learn that the Landowner ended up paying all the workers a full days wage. Even those who started at 5pm! The Landowner is God the Father!
The thing that impressed me about this parable Jesus told about Heaven is that his Father is gracious and kind to those who don't deserve it. I can see that Jesus wants to highlight 3 things in this story:1. What really matters in our lives is that we need to get to know God personally so we can be invited to work in his fields. 2. To encourage us in how we need to live our lives by getting to work for God and stop standing around doing nothing and 3. To come to accept the way God does things on his terms...even if it doesn't make sense. Ultimately, this means we are going to get to see a lot of people in heaven who lived their whole lives in the world, but at the last minute put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

 The bottom line of this parable in Matthew 20 is that God is gracious and kind not wanting anyone to perish in eternal damnation because of their sins. He is so willing to pay you a full days wage even if you have worked for him for only 2 hours!  You ask how can he afford that? He can afford it because his son's blood is the most precious thing in all of the universe, and by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross for our sins God has payed everyone's required labor in advance and as a result he can give all the opportunity to be with him in paradise forever if they receive his free gift. You can receive the gift of salvation for free by being thankful and humble and by accepting that you are not required to work it out. The only "work" you have to do is receive it by believing Jesus died for your sins and that his death is enough. Think about these next verses:

 1: "Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood & without the shedding of blood there is no forgivness of sins." Hebrews 9:22 2: Jesus said, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins...." Matthew 26:28, 3: You should know then, that through Jesus Christ's shed blood, that the forgiveness of your sins is proclaimed to you, & if you believe in Him He will free you from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses." Acts 13: 38,39 & 4: "For God so loved (Put your name in here), that he gave his only Son for you, that if you believe in Him you will not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

 When you realize God's kindness in this act of love the only thing you can really do is repent and turn away from your self and fall into the loving arms of God.

To read more from Hank, you can follow him at: http://unitingthedivided.blogspot.com/

Tyranny of the Urgent

All too often, we, in the church or ministry, in the name of Jesus, do great things at the expense of our families. We take phone calls during family time. We plan trips and missions for church and are not able to bring our families. We neglect issues with our kids or spouse because another issue came up with someone you’re discipling. We cast vision for our ministry. All the while, our family is sitting by watching, and the kids are learning what God is like through the parent in ministry; and this is not a proper picture of what God is like. If we lack vision for our ministry, someone else will step in and begin casting vision or stay on you to do so. But if you lack vision for your family, others won;’t know or at least they won;t step in and they, “hey man, you’re lacking a vision for your family. Let’s get on it.

We can say this about people who hold jobs that aren’t in the ministry too. We all fit in to this category to some extent. Thus we have, the tyranny of the urgent. The important falls to the wayside while the urgent is constantly pounding on your door. While you make plans for everything else other than your family, the enemy is implementing his plans in your family. Let me throw some stats out there for you to chew on. This specific poll was taken among professing Christians by the Barna Group regarding the disengagement of 20 somethings in 2004:

      -43% of American Christians make their commitment to Christ by age 13. Only 23% of Christians in the US became     

       believers after age 21. 

      -Of those who make a commitment before their teen years, 50% were led to Christ by their parents and another 20% by  

       a friend or other relative. Only 7% by a pastor. 

     -61% of today’s young adults - had been churched at one point during their teen years but they are now spiritually 

      disengaged (i.e., not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying). 

     -Only one-fifth of 20 somethings (20%) have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school 

      experiences. 

    -Another one-fifth of teens (19%) were never significantly reached by a Christian community of faith during their teens 

     and have remained disconnected from the Christian faith. (Barna, 2004)

     Ongoing research by The Barna Group on these matters consistently demonstrates the powerful impact a person’s 

     worldview has on their life. Their studies have also pointed out that a person’s worldview is primarily shaped and is 

     firmly in place by the time someone reaches the age of 13; it is refined through experience during the teen and early 

     adult years; and then it is passed on to others during their adult life. Such studies underscore the necessity of parents 

     and other influencers being intentional in how they help develop the worldview of children.

     George Barna, who has directed this tracking research since the early Nineties, pointed out, “There are a several 

     troubling patterns to take notice. First, although most Americans consider themselves to be Christian and say they 

     know the content of the Bible, less than one out of ten Americans demonstrate such knowledge through their 

     actions. Second, the generational pattern suggests that parents are not focused on guiding their children to have 

     a biblical worldview. One of the challenges for parents, though, is that you cannot give what you do not have, and 

     most parents do not possess such a perspective on life. ” 

If these stats aren’t alarming to us, then I don’t know what else will get us to the point of seeing that it is imperative that parents begin taking serious their role of building faith at home and living out the Gospel. Cut out the urgent, unless it is what’s really important! If you are awakened and are saying: “I’m on board, what do I need to do to get started?” Here’s what I say to do based out of Deut. 6:4-9:

1. V. 4: You need to believe that it is God alone who brings life, and in Him that we live, that we move, that we breathe, and that we have our very being, not anything else!! Acts 17:28 (paraphrased) If you haven’t already put your trust in Jesus, do so today, for your sake and your family’s sake.
2. Vv. 5-6: Then, press on to to know the Lord. Let your life look the same as what you tell your kids. In Hosea 6:3 it says: “Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; His going out is sure as the dawn; He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Oh that we would press on to know the Lord. It says in Acts 1:14 that: “All these (all that were in the upper room) with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer...” They were pressing on together! 
3. V. 7-9: Pass it on to your family. Have a vision for your family. Other’s will have vision about church, work, school, hobbies, etc...No one’s gonna come by in the near future saying: “You know what, I was thinking the other day that this would be good for your family...here’s a vision!” For a lack of vision, the people perish...so do families. (Mark 10:16) Bless your kids!! Trust in God alone to bring life to you, press on to know Him more, and pass it on to your kids. Learn to sift through the urgent so you don’t pass over what’s most important. Love God. Live It. Share it!
4. Lastly, get a good understanding of the Gospel and let it not just be the foundation of your family, but the walls, the insulation, the windows, the roofing, the trusses, etc...you get the point. Teach your kids about Jesus. Trust in Jesus. Read His word. Pray often (as a family too). This is how your teaching will match your living. Until the Gospel in transferred from your head to your heart, you won’t be able to live what you teach with any conviction.

For the love of God, and the good of your family; love God first and your family second. The people in your family are your first priority disciples. Ministry will always happen in and out of the church, but not in your family. It’s up to you. Don’t let the important things in life get squeezed out by the everyday urgent.