Advent Devo 11/30

              

Pay close attention to these words from Luke 1. They are Zechariah's words spoken over his new son John. This is the same John who became known as John the Baptist, that is, the one who God sent to prepare the way for Jesus.

As much as these words are about John and what he will accomplish in his life while serving God and preparing the movement for Jesus' ministry, these words are also about God. God has remained faithful to His people. God is sending a deliverer. God is speaking. The times of silence are over. The times of confusion have past. God is speaking... Are we listening?

“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people. He has sent us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David, just as he promised through his holy prophets long ago. Now we will be saved from our enemies and from all who hate us. He has been merciful to our ancestors by remembering his sacred covenant— the covenant he swore with an oath to our ancestor Abraham. We have been rescued from our enemies so we can serve God without fear, in holiness and righteousness for as long as we live. “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.”

-Luke 1:68-79 NLT

Today's other readings:

Psalm 124

Isaiah 54:1-10

Matthew 24:23-35

Advent Devo 11/29

“Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful. For he made this promise to our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever.””

-Luke 1:46-55 NLT

Mary responded to the announcement given by the angel Gabriel with the above song. It is commonly referred to as her Magnificat. Gods message through Gabriel was that God was going to make much of her, that He has picked her. She was chosen. She had been highly favored. God was magnifying her  in a way by choosing her to be the mother of the Christ, Jesus.

What is very telling and truly beautiful about Mary's spirit is that she in turn makes much of God. She worships Him.

             

Mary stands in the Biblical tradition of Jael and Judith, the other two women within Jewish literature to be addressed as "Blessed are you among women." Moreover, her song (the Magnificat), reflects the revolutionary words of Miriam's song (Exo 15), Deborah's (Judges 5), and Hannah's (1 Sam 2). Furthermore, Mary's commission is very similar to the call of Moses (Exo 3:2-6, 10-12) and Gideon (Judges 6:11-24), both who played a major part in God liberating His people.

Protestants have long missed out on looking to Mary as a true role model, both for men and women. Her spirit of submission to God's call upon her life, her willingness to be used by Him in a way that would surely >rob her of her reputation, her strength and dignity that she carried herself with, and everything that went into raising the Savior of the Universe is something to admire and venerate. 

Out of caution to go too far and worship her as some Christians fall into the trap of doing, we can easily go too far and diminish her. This Advent, I pray and hope that you will see Mary for who she was: a true, humble servant of our King. Let us strive to emulate that.

Advent Devo 11/28

Each day there will be some readings, taken from the Revised Common Lectionary. I will also provide some words to accompany one or two passages to focus our thoughts and time each day.

Today we prepare ourselves for the beginning of this journey. Advent is after all a journey, we are pursuing Christ's coming into our world, into our own lives by perusing the Scriptures and allowing those sacred words to mold our thoughts during this time. 

Today we have one passage to meditate on. The angel Gabriel said these words to Zechariah about his son-to-be, John the Baptist. John's words and legacy propelled Jesus' ministry forward. His job was to prepare the people for the coming of Christ. How will you prepare this Advent season? What can you do, what will you do, to meditate upon what the coming of Christ means today?

Advent 2016: Hold On To Hope

What is one thing that you cannot live without?

If we did a survey or even just a simple Google search I am sure we would come up with all the obvious ones, as well as some of the superficial ones.

Your job? Your family?
How about your pets?
The beach?
Your hobbies?
Maybe, for you it is WiFi, or at least it seems that way when you can’t seem to ever get a connection.

We could go down an endless list, but what I don’t think we would find listed anywhere is hope.

I’m not sure anything is more essential to getting out of bed in the morning, and yet it is not something we think of often. In fact, it seems the only time we think about hope is when we feel hope-less.

Hope may not be in the front of our minds, but it certainly seems to be everywhere else. We see it on political signs, Hallmark cards, we name our little girls after it. Fifteen cities in the U.S. are named Hope, four more in Canada, two in the United Kingdom, and one in New Zealand.

Hope is the name of five movies, a TV network, a computer programming language, sixteen ships in the Royal Navy, a Slovakian Political Party, three different colleges and universities, an island, and a railway station.

Hope is everywhere.

Except sometimes… we have the hardest time finding it inside of ourselves.

We all need hope.

The people of the Story, (what I like to refer to the real people who lived thousands of years ago in the Biblical record), needed hope.

And they found it, in the most unlikely of places… and the most unlikely of persons.

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.

We are separated from the people of the Old Testament by more than just time. Sure, time may be the biggest issue, but there are other significant cultural, geographical, worldview, and general mindsets that separate us. The angst of life without the ease and comfort that technology beckons us with was categorically different for the people who lived in the Story of Scripture.

However, something that is true for all people, at all times, and in all places is that we all need hope.

The people of the Story found themselves in a sticky situation. Well, they found themselves there a whole lot. Whereas their situation was deeply spiritual, just like us, they always got caught up with the political, economical, and social issues on top of it all.

These people weren’t experiencing a spiritual exile alone, they were also experiencing a physical exile. Something most of us will never experience.

But just like us today, where it is so easy to be distracted by all the things we think we could not live without… the Story shows us that they felt that way too.

To them it wasn’t an iPhone, it was their land.

They didn’t try keeping up with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, but they were trying to communally keep up with their actual enemies.

They clung for and longed for the realization of their hope, that God would provide for all their needs.

God did not always rescue them from their enemies in the moment. He didn’t split the Red Sea for every situation. Sometimes He let them be dragged away. Sometimes He let the enemy destroy their city, their home, their land… their temple.

Sometimes He let Rome invade and subjugate them. Sometimes He allowed them to be exiled even whilst living in their home.

How often have we felt that God has abandoned us? We aren’t alone.
How often has it seemed that God made a mistake? We aren’t alone thinking that either.

But, we cry out, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel… and we are reminded of His Word:

Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory. 

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine... 

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called:Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!

This first week of Advent we remember that God provides HOPE in the midst of chaos. He will come through and make every Right and Just. He alone brings Peace. He alone is passionate about His commitment to us.

When the storms come… and they come all the time… Our God gave us HOPE to hold on to.

At His word, the storms cease. At His Word we find redemption and at His Word, we find our Hope.

Hold onto that…

We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) 

-Romans 8:23-25 NLT

The Spirit of Advent is the Spirit of Humanity Fully Alive - Advent 2016

For a lot of people, Christmas is not always the “most wonderful time of the year.” Between visiting family, buying presents, sending out Christmas cards, and everything else; what is supposed to be a special time can turn into a hectic and stressful few weeks.

Interference. Inconvenience. And if your family who will gather this year will be talking about the recent election… Well, intolerance too. But the tradition of Advent calls Christians to slow down and think more about what the season was designed for.

So what is Advent? 

Advent is a strange word to us. It sounds incomplete, like someone was trying to say “adventure” or “Adventist” but didn’t finish the word out. What’s up with the strange word and the strange candle lighting thing anyway? Advent, which is the Latin word for “Coming”, is perhaps one of the oldest Christian traditions. Some suggest it was founded even by the Apostles, that once a year Christians would set aside a prolonged period of time and remember the first coming of Christ, the darkness that surrounded the world so tightly until light came. We do this so we might better prepare our minds and hearts for his second coming… a promise that Christmas gives us. There are three meanings of ‘coming’ that Christians describe in Advent. The first, and most thought of, happened about 2000 years ago when Jesus came into the world as a baby to live as a man and die for us. The second can happen now as Jesus comes into our lives to live and reign through His Spirit. And the third will happen in the future when Jesus comes back to the world as King and Judge.

Why Advent? 

The spirit of Advent is the spirit of humanity fully alive. 

We are living in an opportunistic, individualistic, consumer driven culture. The calendar has merged into sales peaks. Black Friday has completely engulfed Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday has become every teen’s favorite day of the year, and now I hear commercials trying to push Small Business Saturday. If we don’t take a more aggressive and even offensive stance, we will always end up getting swallowed up by the deluge of what the culture is purporting.

If one were to go onto any financial website, all one would read right now are the predictions for the spending of this year’s holiday season and to make sure you get your tax break by giving to charity. We’re living in a culture that’s all about consumerism, and it ends up steamrolling the end of the year.

With a blink of an eye all of a sudden, Thanksgiving and Christmas become a blur of craziness. Then we’re left, barely standing, holding a candle at church on Christmas Eve going, “Oh yeah, it really was all about the night when Christ was born.” While the world celebrates Santa Claus, Egg nog, great sales, and high energy festivities, WE reflect on the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians use the four Sundays and weeks of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas. You might be thinking, “We have Charlie Brown for that thank you very much!” And of course by focusing on the true story of Christmas found in Luke 2 we can in fact focus our minds and hearts where they ought to be. But if we are honest, the Christmas season has become less and less about hope, peace, joy, and love and has become more and more about presents, lights, and the color of Starbucks’ cups.

When we recover Advent, we are reminded that this season is about a promise that God is going to do what God has promised He is going to do. And He’s going to do that for every single one of us who has put our hope in Him.

Though Advent is the traditional start of the Church liturgical calendar, this season was eventually placed at the end of the year in our culture’s calendar so that we could invite everyone to remember all the moments that Christ “came” throughout the past year.

And He did come to you.

He came in the same ways He always has. In those moments when we least expected Him, in the most unforeseen ways, and when, whether we realized it or not, when we needed Him most.

This time of the year is a 4 week long moment to remember His faithfulness.

In the hubbub of the rush and the noise this season brings, there is something refreshing, as well as a deep type of connection with our past when we slow down, when we pause in our efforts, and reflect on all the ways Christ has offered Himself, and His presence throughout our year to us and to those around us.

Advent isn’t a celebration, though it can quickly become one. Advent is truly a time of mourning, of angst, as we prepare for the Christmas feast and the honor we bestow upon our King and Redeemer. It is a season where we dig deep into our roots as Christ’s Body on earth and we continue in a practice of humility, repentance, and worship. This tradition is as ancient as the words of our favorite carols. This tradition is as sacred as our opening of presents on Christmas morning. However, this tradition may just be the most important thing you observe this year.

Every day for the next four weeks of the Advent season I will be posting a short devotional to help gear our minds and thoughts on what is the most important aspect of our faith and our day to day life.

Advent is Needed Today 

Advent is a time for a humility check. It’s been a crazy year. We’ve had very pompous people to look up to in the midst of the election that stretched on what felt like forever. We’ve had a lot of fear to behold as the world seems to continue spinning into darker and darker days. We’ve lost people this year. We’ve broken things this year. We’ve experienced shame and moments of depression. We’ve collectively mourned the deaths of innocent lives, of police officers, of soldiers. We have made mistakes. We have hurt people, and we have been hurt. Some of us have had the best year of our lives, and it is so easy to forget how we got to where we are.

As Father Time continues to flip the pages of our calendars this moment is needed to pause and be able to look inside ourselves and understand that none of us have made it to our destination yet. We are all, like Paul, straining towards what’s ahead.

Our world is dark and chaotic. Among all of our happy moments and victories this year, we have also, all of us, experienced heartache and pain. Some of us may be facing Christmas this year with a family one less than last year. Perhaps the year was financially straining. Divorce. Rebellion. Death. Sin. Breakups. Fear. Our world is under a dark shadow of terrorism. Our nation is divided like never before over political partisanship. In the midst of all our darkness we find ourselves singing the chorus of the martyrs, “How long, Oh Lord? Come Lord Jesus!”

So this year, just as a star guided the wise men from the East to the baby King, I want to step back and let an ancient tradition be our guide through this season. For we are all seeking the Presence of our God this Christmas.

“The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine… For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod… For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” –Isaiah 9:2-6 

I hope that the devotionals I will be offering you and the readings I will post each Sunday will act as an anchor for your family through the coming weeks to remember the most important, and the most wonderful news of all: Jesus is Coming.

Redeeming Halloween

In the midst of a divided world it is hard to cling to things that bring us together, there seems to be less and less issues or beliefs that we can grasp at just to hold the facade of unity. This isn't just as members of the Human race but all the way down to our own neighborhoods.

It seems that anything and everything we can argue over or divide over... well, we do. Whether it is the political tension that seems to be growing and growing the closer we approach November 8th, the changes in the economy, the conflicts in the Middle East, whether we should allow power companies to monopolize solar energy (Yes, I'm looking at you Florida!), heck, we are even arguing over which service provider is best for our cell phones at an all time high. Sprint, Verizon... Can you hear ME now?

Perhaps for me to point a spotlight at the newest elephant in the room that seems to slide in every October, I would just be giving us another reason to argue... but alas, I'm going to do it anyway.

Halloween.

I have heard every side to this on how a Christian should respond to this day.

I get it.

Once again we are thrust into this tension of Christian liberty vs Holiness.
We are sucked into the debate about what living in the world vs. being of the world looks like.
We are tossed to-and-fro between the rocking ship of active engagement vs passive protest.

I also understand that for many families, it is a matter of conscience. You don't feel comfortable celebrating a holiday that seems to worship the darkest things of our world... and the Spirit world.

Today -- it's not unusual to see a kid walking down the street with a knife in his head, fake blood all over his costume. You are bound to see a kid dressed as a ghost, fortune tellers, zombies, even the Grim Reaper.


So what should we, as Christians do in response?

Again, I understand the conscience argument and I in no way want to infringe on what you honestly believe God would have you do... but before you make that decision I hope you will come to understand how this holiday came about. From there, I hope we can all come to respect whatever decisions we come to make on this day.


You may be surprised to find out that Halloween was actually begun as a Christian festival.

Over the centuries, Halloween has not been about glorifying death. It's been more about respectfully remembering the dead and honoring that life is "hallowed" -- holy.

Before there was "Halloween", there was "All Hallows' Eve" -- and All Saints Day. For hundreds of years, before jack-o-lanterns and zombies and candy corn, Christians around the world have remembered the dead, the saints, the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us.

Halloween comes from the same root word as "hallowed" or "halo", meaning holy.

It was a time for families and churches to remember those who had passed into eternity that year... many of which because of martyrdom for the faith.

It was a celebration of thanksgiving. Long before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, there was All Hallows Eve. We gave thanks for the harvest and we gave thanks to God for the people He had put into our lives.


Halloween was made to honor people.


The church is in the redeeming business. We are in the redeeming business, because our leader, our King, our husband... Jesus Christ is in the redeeming business. We have always been an agent for change and an agent for good in our world. I don't think that stops because the world has taken hold of one of OUR holidays and made it about gore and demons.

My Jesus can redeem anything. My Jesus wins. My Jesus is sacking and depleting the Kingdom of Satan... and He will not relent until ALL is His again.

Personally, I think that includes All Hallows Eve.

"God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does." -Martin Luther

Church, tonight your neighbors, those people who live mere feet from you, they with all their baggage, all their own joys, all their own hardships, their love of life, as well as their loneliness will traipse up to your door with their little princesses and power rangers and they will ring your doorbell.

Those people who have life, life given to them by the God we serve, the God who loves them. Those people who we never speak to, who are nameless to us, those people who we are called to love... They will come to you.

If you're up for it... Go get some candy. Turn your light on. Have a conversation. You don't have to celebrate. You aren't condoning devil worship. You are actively loving your neighbor.

Love the people right around you. Right. Where. You. Live.

So, because I am in the redeeming business, and because I personally LOVE All Hallows Eve... I have some pretty fantastic stuff planned for tonight -- a place stunningly decorated with spooky fixtures. For my neighborhood kids, I'm firing up a grill in the middle of my driveway tonight and making S'mores and we'll be handing out gobs and gobs of candy.

But rather than revering the heroes of horror like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers, it is a time we can celebrate the people we have admired, lost loved ones and the saints of old. So as we bob for apples, carve pumpkins, and eat lots of candy over the next few days… we'll also go deeper -- let's reclaim the holiday as a holy day.

Around here -- we don't need more gore and blood, and fear is enough of a national obsession. But there is something sweet about the way Halloween gives us permission to laugh at death, and stare fear in the face... after all, we know the dead can rise again.

Oh death, Thou art dead.

Happy Halloween!

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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor in East Orlando, FL. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

Follow him on Twitter:

Nathan's Website

 

Another Election Post

Church, it is time we had a chat.

I realize that I will not make many friends by sharing this, but that’s ok in my book. Something has been brewing in my mind for some time now and I know that I am not alone.

It boils down to this idol of nationalism that we have all bowed down to for far too long. Now don’t get me wrong, I love my country. I take pride in being an American citizen and I have the utmost respect for those who have defended her and promoted our 240 year experiment.

But we have a problem.

The elephant (and donkey) in the room have gone unspoken about for too long.

Yes, this is another election post.

I can’t go on any social media forum anymore without seeing some post from another Christian saying that we’re all doomed if so-and-so is elected. I understand that politics is an emotionally charged topic. It is a powerful topic. Politics has the power pull out the deepest philosophies and values we hold most dear as humans, as Americans, and as Christians.

It also has the power to divide us instead of bring us together.

Both sides think the absolute worst will happen if the other side wins. There is absolutely no way to have any consensus. Gone are the days where the losing side took the loss in stride and went back to work for the people who elected them. Now? An election loss only fuels the bludgeoning and finger pointing.

It is now impossible to have an opinion on something without being thrown under the bus by others who feel they must comment. A Republican who points out the flaws of their candidate in a matter of seconds can get run over by a train of insults and charges of supporting the Democrats.

A Democrat who points out the flaws of their candidate is immediately outed as helping to elect a “demagogue” and is forced to hide from the ensuing witch hunt.

This isn’t CNN. This is Facebook.

This isn’t a banter between politicians. These are comments from Christians.

Most of American Christianity have tied their convictions into the political system. Making political power their hope and now God is smashing that idol before us while laying bare the blatant compromise.

Let’s just be clear, neither of these candidates are our savior. Donald Trump did not die on a cross for you. He cannot, he will not, fix the broken fabric of our humanity. Hillary Clinton cannot fix the deepest longings in your heart. She cannot, she will not, give you meaning or purpose to your life.
On November 8th, millions of Americans will go to the polls to cast their votes. Thousands of Christians will vote for one believing that God told them to do so, and thousands of Christians will vote for the other believing that God told them to do so.

NEWSFLASH:

God is not conflicted. He isn’t torn apart over this and he isn’t confused. He knows who will be the next President, and there is nothing you or I can do to surprise Him.

God isn’t on YOUR side either. He isn’t interested in being a Republican or a Democrat.

When I realized this I was reminded of a passage in the Old Testament.
God had given Joshua the command and the charge to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. Through Moses, Joshua was commissioned take the land and settle it. Joshua knew His mission, He knew God was behind it, and He knew that God would lead them to victory. Yet, when facing Jericho, Joshua halted. That’s when the LORD appeared to him:

When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, “Are you friend or foe?”
“Neither one,” he replied. “I am the commander of the LORD’s army.”

-Joshua 5:13-14 NLT

In other words, Joshua is asking this man, “Whose side are you on? My side? Or their side?” And he is given the reply, “Neither, I know who I am. The question is, who are you?”

Joshua then falls to his knees and submits to this Man.

Joshua needed his mind reoriented. This was never about him. This wasn’t even about Israel. It has always been about what God is doing in His universe. God does not HAVE a candidate. God is who He is. It isn’t about picking a side for Him. He is concerned only with His Glory, and He is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.

The hunch I get though is that the Church is not satisfied in Him much at all.

We’re preoccupied with little things that in comparison to the mission that God has given us are microscopic.

• The state of the economy is but a blip on the majesty of the mission, because Christ is our perfect and constant provider.


• The balance of the Supreme Court is but a fragment on the scales of justice in God’s Kingdom, because Christ is our righteous Judge.


• The rise of ISIS is but a thorn in the side when it comes to our witness or our safety, because Christ is our defender.

Church, stop being afraid of worldly powers. Your God is in perfect control.

Viewing political power as the solution to the world's problems is a devious form of worldliness to which Christians have been blind.

— Joshua Harris (@HarrisJosh) October 8, 2016

Weigh in!



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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor in East Orlando, FL. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

Follow him on Twitter:

Nathan's Website

 

Eeyore

I think it is high time the church began to look more and more like the friends of the hundred acre wood. Depression is a serious issue, one that we have neglected to teach on. And the answer is not to try and "fix people", but just love people... The way Jesus loved people.

Purpose

August 28, 2016 from River Run Church on Vimeo.

Wake up!

The events of the last few weeks from Orlando to Istanbul, North Korea to Louisiana, Baghdad to the Carolinas, Nairobi to Washington DC; the racism, the hatred, the pain and distress... People acting as if they are above the law, people for whom the law doesn't protect, people for whom the law directly opposes and ostracizes...

It all goes to show one thing very clearly: Our World is Broken 

And all that we are doing; our institutions, our nonprofits, our attempts at peace... they just aren't working. 

The battle truly begins not with legislation, but in the hearts of men.

The prophet Jeremiah said of our condition this:

"The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
    and desperately wicked.
    Who really knows how bad it is?"

Answer: Only God. For He is the one who searches hearts and minds. He examines our secret motives and He gives us exactly what we deserve.

But God never intended to leave us in that place of despair. So many of us walk around as if that is the ultimate truth, that mankind is wicked, beyond any kind of repair or redemption.

But God sent Himself to come and redeem ALL of that which was broken... and there is only One who came to re-create the heart. 

• He taught us that loving our neighbors and loving our enemies would bring peace.
• He taught us that hurt is not something we "get over", but something we can stand up on top of, something that we can conquer.
• He taught us that revenge doesn't heal the hurt or the longing but that redemption does.
• He taught us that real love is self-sacrificial, not selfish.
• He taught us that wealth and power fades, money is fickle, but that holiness stores up endless dividends. 
• He taught us that all life matters to God, ESPECIALLY the lives of the poor, oppressed, despondent, and ostracized.
• He taught us that the Kingdoms of this world will always fail at giving humanity its deepest longing.
• He taught us to pray with true expectant hope.
• He taught us to take care of each other and look out not for our own interests but also the interests of others.
• He taught us that loving God means loving others.

Church, the world won't wake up to the notion that Jesus' way is better until WE start living like we truly believe His ways are better.

The world needs Jesus. They need His salvation. They need His peace. They need His way of life.

They need Eden restored.

We aren't called to live like this to earn salvation. 

We are called to live like this so that salvation can truly work within us and through us, to change us.

1.) We live differently, because the world needs us to.

The object of our denying of self is to call a dying world back to our lifesource. It is to live the Gospel of Christ out in our every breath. It is so that WE as a people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God can show others a better way, the way of Christ.

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

“Once you had no identity as a people;
    now you are God’s people.
Once you received no mercy;
    now you have received God’s mercy.”

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

- 1 Peter 2:9-12 NLT

2.) We live differently because we grow from it too.

The goal of the Christian is to become conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Spiritual formation is the process of being conformed to the image of Christ for the sake of others. When we intentionally live on mission and mirroring what we see Christ doing more and more it becomes habitual. We become better. Our hearts are more malleable to the call of God. We hear God's Spirit more clearly. 

We are justified by faith... but we become holy not by thinking right thoughts, but by living out what God calls us to.

Jesus wasn't a theologian locked in a library, he was a practitioner... and He calls us to the same.

It is living in cruciformity, for our betterment.

So, how can you start, today? 

• Say hi to your next door neighbor. Get to know their name and their story.
  Buy coffee for a stranger.
  By all means, pray. Pray for wisdom and for guidance. Pray that God melts your heart for the people who He loves. 
• Read the Bible. Start with a Gospel (Matthew is a good one!) Put into practice what you read about.
• Show kindness to the girl at work who gets under your skin.
• Sit with the kid that no one likes.
• Buy lunch for a homeless man.

Those are suggestions for starting points, what would you add?

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Nathan Bryant

is a pastor at River Run Church in East Orlando, FL. As a student at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri he majored in Biblical Leadership, New Testament Studies, and Missiology.  In 2014 he attended the Leadership Institute in Phoenix, AZ where he continued his education from other pastors and educators at one of the fastest growing churches in the United States. He loves the outdoors, whether it is camping in the mountains or jumping through the waves at the beach, nothing is better than enjoying God’s creation. Nathan longs for unity and commitment to Jesus to be a defining element in the global church of his generation.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our causes.

Christ's Kingdom is bigger than our boundaries.

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