Loving God, Loving People, Changing the World

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8 If you call yourself a Christian, this passage is the key through which we interpret our world.

1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Romans 12:1, The Message Make our everyday, ordinary life an offering to God. One scholar refers to that as The Theology of the Ordinary. It’s with that idea in mind that I want to take look at the practice of Fasting.

We can live our lives like Jesus. It won’t be easy, but we can do it. How can we do it? Just like Jesus lived every day of His life, depending on the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit.

68 Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. 69 We believe, and we know You are the Holy One of God.” John 6:68-69

34 Then, calling the crowd to join His disciples, He said, “If any of you wants to be My follower (disciple), you must give up your own way, take up your cross (My way), and follow Me. 35 If you try to hang on to your life (what you want), you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. Mark 8:34-35

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. 3 You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. 5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:1-5

What do you see when you look at the fields of your life, in your neighborhood? Jesus sees PEOPLE who need to know their Savior. Ask Jesus to show you what HE sees in the fields of your life. Then, allow Him to begin the work He wants to do in you.

Our Father in Heaven is not looking for church members. He is looking for sons and daughters.

Is one day enough to recognize everything Father’s do? Of ALL the things a father does, I think the most important job we have is to provide instruction for our children. Fathers provide instruction, teach us how to do things and so much more...

Jesus taught using stories to explain what God’s Kingdom is like. In the stories of the man who bought a field because he found a treasure in it and the man who sold all he had to buy the great pearl, both men discovered something they were willing to give up everything they owned to get. THAT “SOMETHING” IS A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS.