Greetings,
Acts 2:42-47 ~ "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
I have been praying since the foundation of this fellowship that we would be a congregation of believers unified in following Christ and owning our responsibilities as disciples. I know that we need to teach what discipleship means and I know that we need to facilitate opportunities to grow in discipleship and we are currently working on that. But there is a personal responsibility that each of us has to be disciples that are faithful in word and deed, devoted to the apostles' teaching. We are called, each of us, to show love to all, to gather together and utilize our gifting to serve others. We are charged with the ministry of the gospel and we are the only option for the world to see what it looks like to be at total peace with God and man. We are God’s plan A and there is no plan B.
Becoming a “better” disciple is not a act or something we do for a time. Discipleship is not a performance but a realization. When we realize what God did by rescuing us from the dependence on this world and on the craving of our eyes, the lust of the flesh and the bragging about what we have and what we do, we see the depth of His love, mercy and grace. When that eye opening experience of believing that Jesus conquered sin by his death on the cross, conquered death and shame by resurrecting from the grave and giving us hope and assurance of eternal life with Him by ascending into heaven. He not only saved us from sin and gave us hope, He also gave us power over Satan.
A disciple is someone that never stops looking to grow. Growth may not come easily or quickly, but growth is going to happen when you focus on Jesus. I am so thankful that the Jesus is building this fellowship and I am believing that as long as we continue to grow in our personal discipleship that we will continue to see amazing things happening within the lives of all who call Way of Life their home.
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." ~1 Peter 1:3
What a promise! Through the unmitigated mercy of God, he has given to us a free gift. We have been given a new birth. We were dead spiritually and now we are alive in Christ. Our entire worldview has been changed from decaying doubt to a living hope. A living hope, a real and present and life giving truth that Jesus is who he says he is and will do what he said he would in transforming our lives and granting us hope. A hope that makes no sense. God has granted us this assurance through Jesus’ resurrection. Not through his death, although Jesus’ death was necessary. It was his victory over death that has gifted us a priceless inheritance. A inheritance as his children. A inheritance that will never, ever, ever fade or spoil or end!
I hope that you have this kind of living hope. The Lord is doing something amazing with all of us. He is showing us that we can live in a place of hope right now that will glorify his name. I can’t wait to see what God does through all of us as we grow closer to each other and closer to him.
Love ya,
Chris
Greetings,
There's a Spanish story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper. The ad read: "Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father." On Saturday, 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.
So many people are without a good -- or any -- father figure. I bet if you placed any name in a article saying what Paco's dad said, you would get a similar result. Dads are so important and so needed. Godly dads are in short supply.
We have a great amount of really great fathers at Way of Life. I enjoy watching the interactions between dads and their kids. I see the discipline and the love coming from our dads and it is inspiring. I see dads with young babies and dads with grown kids all parenting out of a place of sincerity and love. My hope is that we as dads don’t ever get too proud to tell our kids how much they mean to us or how much we love them. Showing them with our actions is a great thing to do, but telling them, out loud, with words, from your mouth, is just as necessary.
In the same vein, there is always room to ask for forgiveness and offer forgiveness. No matter what the offense, the Lord wants us to be humble, to forgive and seek forgiveness. “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” ~Matthew 6:12. That goes for children and adults alike. I know that if the men of the church acted according to this principal of humbling ourselves and living at peace with everyone around us, especially our children, there would be a generation of strong, healthy, humble believers to lead the world in hope, peace and love. The most loving thing we can do is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39). Showing our families that we hold this level of love and reverence for God is going to do wonders for the health of our families, individually and collectively as a fellowship.
When we all operate out of the unity, humility and love that Jesus demonstrated for us, amazing and beautiful things will happen. Jesus gifted us the Holy Spirit to help us in this endeavor, but we all need help at some point, and we want to be a church that supports each other. If you find yourself in need of mentoring or guidance, please do not hesitate to ask!
Please do not allow disunity in your home to linger for any length of time. Seek help from someone that you know and trust. We all must work together for the good of all of those in this body. God is doing something really great here. Let's keep growing closer together as we grow closer to the Lord!
Love ya,
Chris