Random ministry notes typed up!

    Often time’s ministry in America becomes very focused on the numbers.  We seem to forget that Jesus would challenge people to not become Christians because He knew they were not fit for the kingdom and simply poured into a small group of believers.  Another thing is that it has been so romanticized that when we actually get in the midst of practical ministry we want to quit because we find it is actually hard.  Sheep Stink- ministry would be great with out people (no problems!) Often times you will come along and help them and then they will go back to their old ways… It is typically romanticized- glorified like a war- so exciting but when it really comes down to it, it is so hard so we must just keep persevering.  When it gets hard is where the difference between people who were called and people who thought it sounded fun is seen. 

            Our mission is passion and compassion- we are to love God and to love our neighbor.  If our ministry is not about being a laborer of love we should just simply not minister at all.  My life verse has shown me so so so much about my calling! I cannot believe that one verse can reveal so many different and new things to me throughout the years.  His Word is truly living and active.  “ But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and like sheep without a shepherd.  Then He said to His disciples,  “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”  Matthew 9:36-38 Here we see Christ’s compassion and passion for His plentiful harvest and His call to us to pray for God to send out workers! I cannot do it all on my own- it’s God harvest! I feel like in this season of being a missionary in Edmond a lot of what I am to do is to be a learner and to also pray and tell people about this plentiful harvest- about the 2.84 billion people living in unreached people groups or the open doors that are ready to be walked through all around the world! God is doing such a work in the nations.              Ministry must be all about love-everything comes back to love!! Without it- it is nothing! I love this quote about love from mother Teresa: “Love has no meaning if it isn’t shared. Love has to be put into action. You have to love without expectation, do something for love itself, not for what you may receive.” To be true, love must empty itself of self.  Christ was the ultimate minister and sent out one and was basically just pure love walking around on the earth.  If we are sent out by Christ and want our lives to look like His then we will have give everything up and drench ourselves in His limitless love.  “Why go to the ends of the earth if you have nothing to give? The only currency that will cure every culture is ceaseless love… don’t go out to share Him unless you are in love with Him.  When you are in love with Jesus, then all you do will radiate Him.  It is to the degree that you are in love that you radiate Him” – Heidi Baker.  Ministry looks like servanthood manifested through love.  It is us carrying God’s glory by walking, talking… like Jesus and for Jesus only.  To be the very fragrance of Christ, the beauty of Jesus, and the very anointing of Him on earth- that is our job description.  We must give up all that we are to gain all that He is.  The more we minister, the more time we need with Jesus to get filled up so we can pour it back out.  “Missions and ministry are simply about laid-down passion at the foot of the cross, praying, ‘Possess me, Holy Spirit, that I might be conformed into the image of Jesus.  Let me reflect the majesty of who He is.’  Let Jesus love you first so that you can love others as He did.”  If Christ fills us up to the max then when another person meets us, it will be the same as if they were meeting Him.  Ministry is not about where you are or where you go, it is about where Christ is.  When we know God has sent us we will be content and filled with joy no matter where we are or what the circumstances are- we live not for this world!  Ministry is not a competition of misery- we should be the most joyful people in the world.  The point is never the suffering we might come across, but instead it is obedience and wholehearted abandonment to God, whatever the circumstances.  If we want to be miserable we should find another job cause Christ’s love and joy are never ending and are contagious.  “You love until there is pain; you love through the pain, until all that remains is love” – Mother Teresa.

Radical- Intro and Abandonment Notes

“For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.” James 1:11 The American Dream.   Throughout my seventeen years of growing up in the number one suburb in America this term has become an increasingly heartbreaking term to me.  I have watched my family, my friends, and myself get caught up in comforts, materialism, and self-advancement and thus completely deceived by Satan to be useless to God and led blindly down a hell bound race.  We are so caught up in getting to the next step in life that we seem to miss it all.  When Mr. Caldwell suggested I read this book I honestly thought: “oh I already have such a passion for this I don’t need anymore fuel.” But as a have begun to read this book I have realized just how much I still have to learn and so excited to finish this book and live a life in more complete abandonment to Christ.

Abandonment: “I could not help but think that somewhere along the way we had missed what is radical about our faith and replaced it with what is comfortable.  We were settling for a Christianity that revolves around catering to ourselves when the central message of Christianity is actually about abandoning ourselves.”  Jesus makes it clear in the Bible that to follow him means the complete abandonment of everything- our needs, our desires/dreams, and our families.  When we choose to believe in Jesus we are then faced with the next question- will we obey Jesus?  Will we be too lazy, timid, complacent or whatever else it is that might prevent us from following Jesus or will we simply listen and submissively and faithfully obey the words of Jesus: “follow me?”  When we start to really think about Jesus’ radical words they sound very crazy and would have taken a lot of faith to follow.  I say ‘would have’ considering when He first said them, but when we actually begin to meditate on his word’s meanings I think that we as Christians will find it actually very hard to follow also.  We have numbed everything down and made excuses to things Jesus told people to do, (‘what he really meant here was...”) and thus live lives of disobedience.  We are starting to redefine Christianity and are giving into the dangerous temptation of taking the Jesus of the Bible and twisting him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.  We are trying to mold Jesus into our image and thus when we worship we may be instead worshipping ourselves.  How did we get to this place where it is actually tolerable to spend so much time and money on comforts for ourselves when so many are dying destined to a Christless eternity.  When we actually begin to live out the words of Christ for an eternal treasure the world will think we are crazy.  But we know that we are actually not giving up anything but gaining in the end.  Because we have found something worth losing it all for- we abandon it all with joy!!! I want to be proof that people who are naturally drawn to the comforts of the American dream can be converted to a radical faith in a radical Savior.     

Update!

Here’s a little update on what I am doing! I just finished teaching the third grade classes about Asia and it was so interesting to learn about and teach about the 2.48 billion people living in un-reached people groups.  I am preparing for the next continent being Australia.  I am going to have my Australian friend skype in to the class and I am so excited! Over the next week, I will be preparing questions and getting skype on an ancient OCS elementary computer.  Technology has been a huge challenge this year! Haha I am still trying to make more contacts and am about to start the book Radical by David Platt.  I need to start looking into Asian history and religion to better minister to Asians.  Before I go on a mission trip I always study culture and history and such to be able to understand them better.  I am trying to minister to a variety of different nationalities and religions and need to catch up.  Last week I did a thanksgiving dinner for about 20 internationals and almost had a brawl between a Taiwanese and a Chinese.  Jesus brought supernatural peace and all was good.  He is so sovereign! But I need to learn about all the racial and political issues of Asia before trying to throw a bunch together.