Is the Church for Discipleship or Disinfecting?

I listen to Radical on Moody Radio, and today I heard a message that totally set my thoughts on fire. I began to ponder, listen, tear up and ponder some more.  I just put on a pot of coffee and decided it was time to return to my keyboard for an update on where I have been.
I've been:
Reflecting!
Seeking!
Pondering!
Simplifying!

The devotion I ended 2014 with was all about entering into 2015 with a focus.  The devotion suggested that I seek to determine one word that God would lead me in for the year.  As I read, searched and pondered; the word "Simplify" came to my mind, my thoughts and even in everything I read.  So I posted the word around on sticky notes as a reminder. I even put it in my phone.  I also accepted the challenge to memorize a scripture every two weeks through a blog by Living Proof Ministries. Something that I have never, never, never been able to do, but so far I am two for two.  I have been simplifying my life, which includes saying NO alot more and not filling up my schedule as much.

However, today, I was walking my dog and listening to radio program mentioned above. The message grabbed me and the thoughts just started to run through my mind.

The message was in the Follow Me series, Serve the World, Part 2.  David Platt asked, "Is church a place for discipleship or disinfecting?" I started thinking on that question.  If we are setting ourselves apart to be disinfected from the world, to be disinfected is to KILL living organisms without discriminating good from bad. If we set ourselves apart to avoid looking like the world, we will become sterile. A sterile environment will not allow life of any kind. That just doesn't sound like what God sent His Son to earth to accomplish.

So the question remains: Is the church for discipleship or disinfecting?

God desires us to be set apart to do His work in the world, not to do His work in a sterile church building. I believe we come together as a body of believers to encourage and build up one another, and to spur one another on to works and good deeds. We come together to teach each other, and disciple one another within the walls of the church; but also to disciple as we go about our routine and daily lives, and as we serve the world.

Jesus died to rescue us from sin and death. If you have been saved from eternal death through accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you now need to grow in the knowledge of who He is, learn about His character, His love and then learn His commands. Seek to learn to hear His voice and gentle leading.  Once you have done this, simply OBEY. In doing this, He can then send you out into the world as His witness.

(If you were on trial for your life, would you want your attorney to use credible witnesses for your defense? Would you want them to be reliable and be of good reputation? Or would you be ok with someone who was a known liar, never reliable, and disrespected in the community?) So as Christ sends us out in the world to be His witnesses, we need to be credible witnesses. So that by our lives, others will know and believe He exists based on our testimonies. Based on their observation of our lives, they would desire what we have, become believers (rescued from Hell), and become disciples and credible witnesses for Christ to begin the cycle again.

What if we lived our lives in such a way that we wouldn't have to segregate ourselves from the world. We wouldn't live separately from the world, but we would instead be set apart (sanctified-consecrated) for God's use in the world for the sake of the world. We need to know when the world's corruption is infecting us and when we are affecting the world. As we see the decaying effects the world is having on our lives, we need to turn to the Father, in the name of Jesus and ask Him to fill us, equip us and minister to us. We are able to do all things through Christ. He will give us renewal and strength. He raises us back up and we can soar!

Jesus retreated from the world to have time alone with the Father. So we should do so as well.

He calls us to love Him and love others. Out of the love for Him, we will be prompted to obey Him. Out of that love, we will love others and by our love for the body of Christ, the world will know we belong to Him. Out of our love for the world, we will desire to live our lives in such a way that we are credible witnesses of Christ. As we live our lives NOT discrediting the good news of Jesus by living unholy lives, but instead living reliably, filled with the Holy Spirit; the world may become hungry for the good news, and turn to God for salvation. An entire generation may be saved from Hell just because the universal church decides to no longer live sterile lives (cleaned up like white washed tombs) where no real life exists; but instead lives authentic, biblical, reliable, credible lives where we make disciples who then make disciples.

We are called to make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all Jesus' commands.  --  to clarify: Each one of us in the body of Christ is called to make disciples. We are to teach them who God the Father is, who the Son is and who the Holy Spirit is. As we are immersed in the character of the trinity, we grow in our love for Him. As we grow in our love, we desire to obey Him. Part of that obedience is to love God and love others, obey Him and make disciples.

How simple is that.  It is simple, it is just not easy!

Simplicity of the Gospel

Gospel Simplified!?!?

According to the scripture, I am in right standing with God because I believe Him and accept what He says.  He is the creator, He made the rules, and He knows how His creation operates.  So if I believe Him, then I will obey Him by following His commands.  When I  follow His commands, I will be purified.  As I obey, I grow up, I mature in my spirit, and I love other believers; so that by that love, the world will know that I follow Christ.  As the body, we are joined together to become a place for the Lord to dwell in His Holy Temple.  This is true individually also.  We are able to go to war against the enemy of our soul.  We can even take our own thoughts captive and make those thoughts line up with what Christ says in the word.  We dress ourselves up in Christ with the full armor for our battle against the evil in this world, and we put on our shoes of peace so we can GO into the world that sees who we belong to by our love for each other, and draw them out of darkness(world) into the light(love/peace).  We then teach and immerse them in all that God is.  We teach them the commands and encourage them to obey them.  Then as they grow up in their faith, they will GO and draw others out of darkness to light and so on and so on….

See all the scriptures referenced below.

Belief >> Righteousness:  God decided to accept Abraham's belief as his righteousness. (Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Gen 15:6; Gal 3:6)

Belief >>  Salvation:  God decided even though we don't deserve it, to save us because we believe.  (We are saved by grace through faith. Eph 2:8)

• How can I let the word dwell in me?  By reading it. By obeying it, and obeying it is doing what it says. (Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. Col 3:16a; Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says. Jas 1:22 If you Love me, you will obey me.  Jn 14:15)

Obedience >> Purification: We are able to be purified when we obey the truth/word.  Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere...

When we obey the truth we will love one another.  ... Love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart...   We get rid of all the things that can hinder our purification.  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.   And we are to grow up in our salvation.  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.  1Peter 1:22-23; 2:1-2

The world will be able to see we belong to Christ by our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.  Jn 13:35

Christ is like the mortar that holds all the living stones together in a bond of unity.  In him, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.  Eph 2:21-22

Remember that the weapons are spiritual.  We are able to conquer our thoughts that pretend to be bigger than God by making our thoughts line up with the what Christ says.  We need to make our thoughts obey Christ.  For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.  2 Cor 10:3-5

Scripture tells us to put on love, put on Christ and put on armor of God etc. If we just deal with getting rid of our sinful behavior, yet do not take the time to put on all we are commanded, we will stand naked before our enemy and be very vulnerable. Therefore put on the full armor of God... with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Eph 6:13-17

As our feet are fitted and ready, we go to the world with our good news not just on our lips, but also demonstrated in our actions.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you... Matt 28:19-20

Organized and Ready to Go

As mentioned in previous blogs, I have been spending time organizing my house and my life.  As I do this, I have established a lot more margin in my life.  I didn't realize just how much I was in need of that.  It has made me a much more pleasant person.

It was quite a process and in the midst of it, I wondered how one family could have accumulated so much stuff.  I began to make piles in areas of the house.  I had a pile to go straight to the garbage, a pile to donate immediately, and a pile for ebay.  I categorized all items in the last two piles, but with the last pile I also took pictures and started the bidding at what seemed to be the average for the items. 

I started this before Christmas and with my girls approval, sold a good bit of toys as Christmas gifts.  I would love to say it went smoothly but it didn't.  Most went off without a hitch, but some snafus occurred.  Over-all, the experience has been really profitable and smooth.  My home has less clutter, but I am still hanging onto a great deal of memorabilia.  Some times you just want to know what will be meaningful to keep, and what is just taking up space.

I am a sentimental old fool.  Memories can get tapped in me by the oddest of items.  I kept some of my granny's dresses she gave me and a few my mom always wore.  Just seeing them takes me back to  wonderful memories.

So needless to say I have items around the house that mean nothing to anyone but me and I think that is ok. 

There comes a point where I have figure out how to manage all these random memories, and usually it comes in the form of storage. 

After all the remodeling efforts of our home thru about 5 phases, my storage area had gotten so out of control.  So during the Christmas holidays while most of the Christmas decorations and containers were out of the area, I decided I would not put the decorations back up until the area was organized and decluttered.

I am proud to say that I was able to put the decorations from Christmas away after the New Year. Oh what a great feeling.

Once that was complete it was on to the freezers. I organized my pantry, refrigerator/freezers.  I also found a website emeals.com that has been helping me plan meals for dinner.  It is amazing to discover what you have when you take time to organize it.  The organization of the freezer helped me plan my trips to the grocery store better as well.

All it took was time and determination.  I can tell you it gave me a great deal of peace.