sides
What a great capstone to our Missions Month! Shack really did an outstanding job challenging us. Here is the sermon to download, here it is for iTunes.
My notes from Shack’s sermon:
In order for God to do what He wants to do in us and through us, He needs to know we love Him. He asks questions like “Do you love me” to reveal the answer to US, not Him.
Compassion and humility are essential qualities for those who engage the King’s flock.
Relationship is the key to ongoing “fruitful” involvement…and relationships take TIME.
Engaging means to go beyond providing basic needs and plan for ongoing involvement.
God’s reward for a job well done will likely be more hungry sheep.
Don’t expect anything more from Jesus than the humbling opportunity to show your love for Him in the way He ordains you have the best opportunity to do so.
Paul’s “Something To Think About”
Is your life proof of your willingness to suffer OR evidence of your love for a gracious God? Do you truly love Jesus?
Is your love for Jesus sufficient motive for commitment to engage OR do you need/expect other forms of motivation?
Are you willing to alter your lifestyle to change someone else’s? Is eternity really more important to you than ________ ?
What is the position of your hand - a closed fist or an open palm? What are you holding on to?
Responding to Jesus and engaging the culture means…
Putting your love for Him first
Putting your love for Him in action
Putting in some time.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Wayne // Nov 28, 2005 at 3:56 am
I liked his paraphrase of James 2:17 where he said “without engagement, faith has no point.” The message really pulled a lot of stuff together for me and confirmed some things — lots to chew on.
2 Mile20 // Nov 28, 2005 at 11:31 am
I noted that he highlighted God’s preference for the poor. I hope that he wasn’t our token guy who talks about the poor once per year.
Paul also highlighted what Jesus taught. If you love me, DO what I said (feed my sheep; keep my commandments).
Did he have a squirming a bit? There is a psychological term for this uneasy state. It is called cognitive dissonance. It refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information. In this case, I think it is safe to say that we know and believe in God’s preference for the poor and that he wants us to obey him. The dissoance comes when someone, like Paul, points out that we are not doing it. It will be interesting to watch how we deal with the dissonance. I will have to blog about this some more.
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