Abnormal Lifestyle

 

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“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the                                                                                     will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”                                                                                          Romans 12:2

Not being conformed, to live differently than the world… Looking at this verse it’s easy to say that I do live differently–I don’t swear, I don’t dress immodestly, I don’t party But what if that isn’t enough? What if God calls us to a higher standard?

This past month or so, we have been going through two different books: Touching Godliness by K.P Yohannan and Crazy Love by Francis Chan. These books have really impacted my view of life. Life is so fragile and short. The Bible says it is like a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. What we do in this little while determines our eternity.

Deuteronomy 10:13  puts everything I have been learning in one paragraph:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?

It sounds simple but when I look at each command more closely, I realize it is so different than the normal Christian life.

 To fear God:  To fear God means to show respect and reverence. How often do we give a hurried prayer asking God to bless our day and then not think of Him again until we are in need of Him? If we took the time to examine and ponder over how great and amazing our God is, it would cause us to come before Him in awe and reverence.

To walk in His ways: How many of us truly live as Christ lived on earth? Do we love the poor and needy as he did? Do we take time to share the gospel with the people around us ? Do we forgive those who wrong us and love those who hurt us? Christ did all these things and He calls us to follow Him.

To serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul: This is taking it a step further. We are not only called to follow Christ, but to do so with a joyful heart. Everything we do as we follow Christ must be done with a genuine heart of love, and not just because we feel obligated to serve. God doesn’t want half-hearted service; He wants all of us or nothing. Jesus said to pick up your cross and follow Him. He certainly didn’t leave room for excuses or halfheartedness.

We are to keep His commandments: Someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” When we are more concerned about things in our lives than the things of God, or God Himself, we break this commandment. How many of us even think about others half as much as we think of ourselves? I know I don’t!

The most encouraging part of this verse is the end of it. God commands these things for our good. God wants us to enjoy life and make the most of it and He knows the only way to do so is by obeying His commands.

As you probably have realized by now, this sure doesn’t sound like the life the world advertises. In my personal life, I find it difficult to stay focused on Christ and the things that will count for eternity. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day, to worry about all the little things that happen. What encourages me and keeps me going is that I don’t have to do it on my own. God has given us the Holy Spirit to help us and gives us the power to live out this abnormal lifestyle.

—School of Discipleship student

School of Discipleship CA

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Abiding In Christ

Abide:  to stay or live somewhere, to remain or continue, to wait for, and to endure without yielding.

 “Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” Jude 21 ESV

School of Discipleship has been so good for my relationship with my Heavenly Father. I am growing in my love for him and learning to abide in Jesus like never before, by the help of the Holy Spirit. I am starting to learn what it is like to abide in Christ and in the love of the Father. It was during my time of solitude that the Lord started showing me a little glimpse of what is means to abide in Christ.

I was sitting outside for solitude on a lovely spring day, waiting on the Lord to direct me where He wanted me to read that it seemed he was directing my attention to a man who was pruning a tree. As I watched him prune away the dead branches the thought came that I should read John 15. This is where an absolutely amazing journey began (which I hope never ends). God started teaching me what it is like to abide in Jesus. I say started, because to abide in Christ and grow in Him takes time; it doesn’t happen overnight.

vs 1. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. vs 2. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. vs 4.  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me… As my Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.”IMG_2296

While reading John 15, I was struck by how many times the words “abide”, “in me” and “remain” show up in the first 11 verses. I think Jesus is trying to tell me something. Jesus was and is trying to drive home a point! I need to abide in him and in his love all the time! When hard times come (which they will) we are to abide in the Lord Jesus. The times of pruning in our lives are when the vinedresser cuts away the dead branches that hinder us from bearing fruit. When they are gone, we can grow and yield lasting fruit that glorifies our Heavenly Father. There may be things in our life that distract us from abiding in Christ and loving Him relentlessly.

This is a wonderful promise from God. As we keep His commandments, we will abide in his love! The Holy Spirit is our helper and guide and He enables us to abide in Jesus. It is hard to share everything that I felt like the Father was revealing to my heart as I watched the man prune the tree and as we read John 15:1-11. I am the branch that has been grafted into Jesus the true vine. The dead branches which are being pruned away from me are the things that take the place of God in my life. I can rest assured knowing that my Father knows what He is doing in and through my life. The fruit that will come from this will bring glory to the Father, which is what truly matters.

—School of Discipleship student

At Gospel for Asia’s School of Discipleship, you have the opportunity to grow in your relationship with Jesus while making it possible for people in Asia to experience His love for the first time! The application deadline for the August 2017 class is coming up fast on May 31.
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To Live as Christ

How am I to live? (This is a question I have often asked myself.)Live-as-Christ_DSC0252

We can sum it up in one sentence…

I am to live as Jesus lived.

So the more important question is how did Jesus live here on earth?

Jesus by His birth, life, and death represented the very definition of humility.

He lived in such a way that no one felt intimidated by Him. Friend or foe approached Him freely. He lived in a way that He had no reputation; if you would have passed Him on the street you probably wouldn’t have recognized Him unless someone pointed Him out to you.

Jesus being fully God and also fully human faced every temptation that we face today. Being fully God He was perfect and did not sin. Jesus as human let Himself be touched by people and He reached out to them too. The children, the lepers, and many others felt the warmth of His hands.

Nothing Jesus did on earth was for His personal gain or selfish ambition. He had many opportunities to use people for His advantage. The crowd that followed Him were ready to make Him king. Jesus could have influenced the rich and intelligent that came to Him in a way that would have pleased them so that they would have willingly helped Him succeed. That is not why He came to earth, He came to redeem mankind.

Jesus was obedient to His father in everything, even in death. He prayed “not my will but Thine be done.” He did only what He saw the Father do.

Now Jesus commands all those who believe in Him to live as He Lived. We must be willing to live in complete humility. As a pilgrim, walking through this life; not working towards fame and fortune. We must be willing to sacrifice our very lives for the sake of the gospel — to take our eyes off of ourselves and focus on the needs of others.

Just as no one was intimidated by Jesus so we should not live in a way that would hinder others from approaching us. Jesus lived a completely transparent life, not hiding any emotions from His followers. We are also called to live in complete transparency, so that the sinner looking on can see Jesus working in us and give glory to the Father. Most of all we are called to love as Jesus loved. The world will know if we are true disciples of Jesus by the love we have for one another.

Looking at life through Jesus’ life style I realize how wrongly my view on life has been. I see now to truly live is, to live as Christ.

—School of Discipleship student

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Life in the Body

I am so blessed to serve with a Body of Believers who are really like the Church in Acts. We are all here for two purposes: to grow closer to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to proclaim His name and His glory to those millions who haven’t heard His name.

10-21-15-life-in-body

The reason I write this post is because I have been struggling with headaches consistently everyday for the past… 7 months? And when I walked down the hallway today, someone stopped me to see how I’m doing. When I mentioned the headache, they stopped what they were doing and prayed for me right then and there. This is not an uncommon occurrence, actually it happens all the time. We are a people who pray together constantly, are transparent with one another as the Body should be, we are there to encourage and give of ourselves (out of the strength of God) to help others, we love others even when its hard to do. The staff here at Gospel for Asia are living out what it means to be the Body of Christ. And I am so encouraged by it.

I’m sure there are other places out there that are similar. But I am so blessed to be a part of this family. 🙂

—School of Discipleship Alumni

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Loving One Another

A couple of weeks ago, we had a time of solitude.  During that time, God directed my attention to the second epistle of John.  In this epistle, John reminds us that it is not a new commandment, to love one another but the original that was from the beginning.  He immediately brings up that this is in opposition to the deceivers who teach that Jesus did not come in the flesh.  What correlation do these two teachings have?  It deserves a closer look.

Let us gather the context first. In the first part of the book John’s excitement for the truth is almost overwhelming.  He uses the word five times in the first four verses.  This culminates in his statement of joy that some of the children of the elect lady were walking in truth.

With this premise of excitement about truth, He naturally flows into the commandment to love one another.  Defining love as walking according to the Father’s commandments, he states that loving one another has always been the commandment even from the beginning.

It came to mind that if this truly is the case I should be able to find it in the books of Moses.  Looking at Genesis we learn that in the beginning God created the earth as a place to put man to dwell in unity with one another.  A place where they could love one another, within the protection of God’s garden.  However, man refused to live in love.

Having rejected the ideal place that had been provided for them, they were without hope. God, however, in the book of Exodus through His servant Moses, demonstrated that would not give up on them.  He, in His mercy, gave them a law to show to everyone what love looks like in daily life.  As I was reading Exodus recently, I noticed everything that is in the law is about either loving God or loving others and what this looks like in practical terms.  Man, sadly, did not have the ability to live in this way of love.

God therefore had to become flesh and demonstrate that the life of love can only be lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now because He rose again, Jesus imparts the Holy Spirit to all who believe on Him.  If He did not come in the flesh and be tempted in every way as we are, He could not give us the power of the Holy Spirit to live this way.  Denying Jesus’ deity, therefore, is not just some random theological point. It is rejecting the means God has given us to live the way we are commanded i.e. through Christ and is thus intrinsically connected to loving one another.

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