Joining Jesus – 20th May 2019

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4. Repent
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:1-7
It is possible that over the time that you have been a Christian, the love for Jesus and His Mission that you had at the beginning has waned. Perhaps it is true of you, just like the church at Ephesus that: You have forsaken the love you had at first.
If this is the case the you do not need to despair, but you do need to do something rather than just ‘accepting this situation’.
The church at Ephesus was told to:
Consider how far you have fallen!
The best way to ‘consider’ is to take time to reflect on how things were. If you keep (or kept) a journal, then look back at the time when you know that you had a deep love for Jesus and read the things that you have written down. If not, I suggest you grab hold of a pen and a notebook and spend some time writing down some of the things that you remember about the time(s) when your love for Jesus was real and then, once you have written down what you can remember, read through what you have written.
As you read and reflect upon the words you have written you will, I believe, be prompted by the Holy Spirit to ask God to do something in your life that will cause you, once again, to have a deep love for Jesus.
This leads on to the second thing that the church at Ephesus, and you, have been told you must do:
Repent and do the things you did at first.
It is important that your time with God doesn’t end with you just wishing you could go back to how things were. The truth is that you need a fresh and present tense encounter with God. This will follow repentance!
The word repentance, in the context of this letter, means something like ‘turn around and get back on track’. Your life may have been going in an increasingly ‘non-Jesus-centred’ direction for months, years or even decades. You may have become increasingly focused on things that have little or nothing to do with being a follower of Jesus. All of these things have somehow pushed out, or covered over, the love that you felt for Jesus – so!
Stop going in the direction that you are heading in, turn around and then begin to do the things that you did in that time (those times) when your love for Jesus was real.
This week, I strongly encourage you to make some time to CONSIDER ‘how far you have fallen’ and then to REPENT!
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Joining Jesus Pastors coaching.

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Dennis Pethers, The Rooftop International Pioneer recently completed the first online session of ‘Joining Jesus’ with pastors from across Northern Kentucky in the United States.
‘Joining Jesus’ is an online coaching process for pastors who want to be equipped to make disciples who make disciples.
Dennis comments:
As I travel across the world, I meet so many pastors who are honest with me and admit that they have never been equipped to make disciples of people who are beyond the walls of the church. This is a real problem because, in a time when fewer and fewer people are coming to church, it is essential that Christians are equipped to be ‘disciple-makers’. To equip others, it is necessary for the pastors to be equipped! This is at the heart of the Joining Jesus coaching process.
The Joining Jesus coaching process is beginning to be used by pastors across the US and the continent of Africa.
For more information about how to join a group please email joiningjesus@therooftop.org

Joining Jesus – 13th May 2019

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3. Have you lost your first love?

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

At the heart of this letter which includes many positive comments about the good things that the church in Ephesus is doing there is an enormously critical and challenging comment. It is just a few words but these words are enormous in their implications:

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen!

The accusation against this hard working and seemingly committed group of people was that they were doing many of the right things but that they had forgotten why they were doing them.
Does that ring any bells with you?
Just a few days ago, I was sitting in a coffee bar with Phil, a good friend that I have known for years. Among other things, we were talking about the disappointment that we both often experience at the lack of passion that there seems to be among so many people in the church. During our conversation, he said to me:
“How does it happen? Even as I reflect on my own life, I can remember a time when I was so passionate to be reaching people and God’s presence was so real! Over a period of time, this passion for people and awareness of God’s presence with me seemed, somehow, to be replaced by just conforming to church life and going through the motions! How does this happen?
I am pleased to say that Phil has now rediscovered, in an even deeper way, the passion for reaching people and a real awareness of God’s presence with him not just when he is in a church building but wherever he is.
But Phil is not the only person that I have had a similar discussion with. The truth is that I have met hundreds of people, all over the world, who have shared a similar story with me. The deep love for Jesus and His Mission wanes and is replaced by becoming busy with ‘church stuff’ and, over time, we can easily forget why we are doing the things that we are doing. We do them because that is what we do!
As I think about so many people that have shared this kind of story with me, I have concluded that every one of them never set out to lose their first love. That was not their aim or desire, it ‘just happened’ because somehow, being part of a church, which was busy doing what it does, seemed to change their focus from Jesus and His Mission, to the church and its activities.
It is interesting that this letter is not to an individual but to a church, the whole community!
If each of us is to rediscover our first love, there is a deep and profound need for the church to rediscover the ‘love that it had at first’.
This week take some time to reflect upon what this would mean for you and for the part of His church that you belong to. You may find these words from the prophet Jeremiah helpful as you engage in reflection:
The word of the LORD came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
“This is what the LORD says:
“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
through a land not sown. Jeremiah 2:1-2

Joining Jesus – 8th May 2019

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2. A Great Church!?
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:1-7
These opening verses of Revelation 2 seem, in many ways, to be the opening of a letter to a church that many of us may want to join. The people who make up the church at Ephesus are not afraid of hard work, they are not, it seems, like many churches where most of the people are happy to leave most of the work to a few of the people!
As well as being hard working, the people are not the kind who give up easily, they are known for their perseverance, for carrying on and being faithful even when it is tough. This perseverance has not been easy, they have had to deal with ‘wicked people’ and some who falsely claimed to be apostles. Through these, and many other challenges and hardships, the church at Ephesus has not given up – it has persevered – what a church!
As I think about the church at Ephesus that received this letter, I find myself reflecting upon numerous churches that I have worked with all around the world. So many of these churches are similar, in so many ways, to this church. They consist of hardworking people who, often against many challenges, never give up but ‘keep things going’.
I am not sure how this compares to the church that you are part of or how it may compare to the church that you wish you were part of.
There is though a deep question that needs to be asked about this church and the question is something like:
“In spite of all the hard work and commitment to the church, is this church joining Jesus in His Mission?”
Clearly, they were doing many things ‘right’ but is it possible that they were missing out on the most fundamental purpose of their existence as a church?
It certainly seems that this was the case because in spite of all of these admirable qualities, the message of this letter is not to affirm the church but to challenge them to the very core.
We will look at this challenge next time but I encourage you, this week, to reflect upon the church that you are part of and consider ways in which the things that you are doing may be a help or a hindrance to joining Jesus in His Mission.

Joining Jesus – 8th April 2019

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3. Look Up

The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:
“LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
“Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
I was cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah 1:1-11
When we give up to self and realize that we cannot do what needs to be done to fulfil the mission of Jesus we are then able to look up and see God as He really is!
After Nehemiah had finished his period of mourning, fasting and praying, He was able to speak to God in remarkable way. His words reveal the fact that He had begun to see who God really is and what God wants to, and can, DO.
He begins by referring to God as the great and awesome God. As Nehemiah ‘looked up’ he saw that God is not an impotent being who is incapable of changing what seem to be ‘lost causes’. He is great and awesome, words that describe a being who is capable of achieving what we would think of as impossible. While Nehemiah focuses on the problem, he realizes that he cannot change it but when he looks up and sees God, he realizes that God is more than capable, He is GREAT and He is AWESOME. God has no equal, nothing is impossible for Him and, when we see Him for who He is we realize that ‘our God is an awesome God’ and ‘impossible’ situations can be changed.
But then, Nehemiah continues speaking with God and the next words that he uses reveal another great truth that demonstrates that God is not only able to do ‘the impossible’ He is also willing.
Nehemiah says: ‘who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments’.
The great and awesome God is also a loving God who makes Himself small enough to be concerned about people, because He loves them.
When Nehemiah looked up and saw a new vision of a God who can do, and who is passionately willing to do, his response is to ASK.
In his prayer, Nehemiah confesses his weakness and failings! It is clear from the words of his prayer that the things that have led to the tremendous suffering of the people in exile was the result of the failure of God’s people to live as He intended. Nehemiah could not seek to gain God’s help by arguing that he, or the people of God had somehow earned God’s favour. On the contrary, seeing a vision of who God is led him to being absolutely honest and transparent about all of their failings. He acknowledges that the people have been wicked and disobedient, deserving of all the bad things that had happened to them. Nehemiah cannot bargain with God, he can only appeal to Him and His mercy. The tremendous grace of God that would restore his people regardless of how far they had wandered.
As we think about the world that we live in today, we are in the same position as Nehemiah. We cannot seek to persuade God to bless it, we must, like Nehemiah, repent of our own sin and ask him to act not because we deserve it, but because of His great grace!
This week, I encourage you to spend time on your knees!

Joining Jesus – 29th March 2019

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2. Give up!

The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:

“LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.

“Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’

“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

I was cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah 1:1-11

Do you ever look at all the things that are happening in the world and think about how it could be reached with the good news? If you do, how do you feel as you think about ways that this might happen? Do you feel a deep sense of optimism, or a crushing sense of pessimism? Does the task seem impossible?

When Nehemiah heard about the things that were happening in his world, he ‘gave up’, but not perhaps in the way we might think:

When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

The things he heard could have filled him with despair, he was told that:

“Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

What a mess! How on earth could such a situation be improved!

So, Nehemiah GAVE UP to SELF. Rather than focusing on his inability to do something about what seemed an impossible situation, he focused on God, the God who we know, as Christians, is able to do far more abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.

Nehemiah realized something that many us fail to see, ‘With God nothing is impossible’ and if the mess is ever to sorted out there is no sense us relying on our ability to solve it because we can’t BUT God can!

Nehemiah put himself into a place where He could see things from God’s perspective, not his own. To do this, he wept, mourned, fasted and prayed!

As you consider the great challenge of seeing your street, city, or nation changed, I encourage you, like Nehemiah, to GIVE UP! Not by focusing on your inability and therefore doing nothing but by putting yourself in a place where you will see what Nehemiah saw:

“LORD, the God of heaven, the GREAT and AWESOME God…………

Joining Jesus – 18th March 2019

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1. Listen up!
The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said:
“LORD, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
“Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’

“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”

I was cupbearer to the king. Nehemiah 1:1-11

Nehemiah was cupbearer to the king, not a priest or a prophet or, as we might say today, somebody in ‘full time ministry’. The time is around 444 BC, the place is Suza, a city in Persia and the King is Artaxerxes.
The book of Nehemiah records the story of God using a man ‘in the marketplace’ and shows what can happen if a believer submits themselves to God.

Nehemiah was living in Persia because the Jewish people were in exile from Jerusalem. Some had begun to return and one day, when Nehemiah was visited by Hanani from Judah, he heard some news that would change his life:

In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.

As a Jew living in exile, Nehemiah was keen to find out how things were in Jerusalem. He had a highly prestigious job and was doing very well for himself and, as such, it would have been easy for him to forget all about Jerusalem and just enjoy his privileged life. However, he chose to ask!

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”

As Nehemiah listened to what was happening in Jerusalem something stirred deep within him. This stirring would lead to action!
Let me ask you a question. If you were to ask people in your community how things are, what would they say? Would they describe a community where people are living for God and where His will is being done on earth as in heaven? Or would they describe something very different?

As you listened to what these people might say, how would you respond? You may be willing to do what is necessary for things to change or, you may think first of the privileged position that you have and not be willing to lose this by doing what is required.

We all have a choice, we can remain oblivious to what is going on in our community, put our fingers in our ears, and just focus on our own life and career. Alternatively, we can remove the fingers from our ears and LISTEN UP to what is happening and then seek God as to how he can use us to do what is necessary to bring transformation.

This week I encourage you to open your ears and listen to the voices in your community and to the voice of God!

Joining Jesus – 4th March 2019

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3. God loves sinners!
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14,15
God loves sinners! This simple statement is so easy to make but it is so important that we grasp the full implications of the truth that lies behind these words if we are to passionately join Jesus in His Mission.
It is clear that as Jesus brought ‘The Kingdom of God near’ it was ‘sinners’ that He went to.
Luke writes:
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:1-2
As I read these verses, they create a picture in my mind, and the picture I see exposes a deep contrast into the way that people understood the mission of Jesus. The ‘Tax collectors and sinners’ were all gathering round Jesus because they wanted to hear him speak about the Kingdom of God that he was welcoming them into ‘even though they were sinners’. I visualize the faces of these sinners as they hear the Good News and I see the filled with joy and wonder at the most remarkable truth that they can be welcomed in!
But then comes the stark contrast! ‘The Pharisees and teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them”. Again, I see a picture in my mind, I see these religious leaders ‘muttering’. The word mutter means: ‘say something in a low or barely audible voice, especially in dissatisfaction or irritation’.
I see these religious leaders, dressed in their religious clothing and, as they witnessed Jesus bringing Good News to the sinners, did not have faces filled with joy and wonder. They did not rejoice in the Good News that Jesus shared, they put their hand over their mouths and muttered their dissatisfaction to one another. It is interesting that the title Pharisee means ‘separated one’. The pharisees did not want to associate with sinners, they stayed away from them because they thought that by making contact with them it would result in them being tarnished.
For the Pharisees, the message that Jesus lived and preached was unthinkable, in their view, sinners should be condemned and avoided, not be the recipients of Good News!
As I reflect upon the picture that I see in my mind as I look at these verses, I find myself thinking about the sad reality that, in so many churches all around the world, this attitude exists! It is so easy, as a person who spends a great deal of time with other Christians, engaging frequently in church related activities, to become like the Pharisees, to consider ourselves as ‘separated’ from ‘the sinners’ and, like the pharisees, to try to stay away from them and even disapprove of Christians who try to reach them!
Such an attitude is the opposite of what Jesus commands His followers to have, we, like Him, should be taking ‘Good News’ close to the sinners because, as the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst”. 1 Timothy 1:15
Paul’s grasp of the purpose of Jesus Mission is perhaps most clearly understood by him because he had experienced such a deep transformation. He had been a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee, yet, because he had encountered Jesus, he knew that it was because Christ Jesus came to the world to save sinners, that he could know God, not because of his own self-righteousness or goodness.
Do you, like me, find that the same view that the Pharisees expressed in their mutterings can be a view that you have to? Do you sometimes forget that the Good News is that God loves sinners and find yourself wanting the church to be a place where the good people go because there we can separate ourselves from the sinners?
If so, this week, I urge you, as you seek to join Jesus in His Mission, to open your heart to God about the views that you have, perhaps in secret, and ask Him to transform you so that, like Paul, you can rejoice in the fact that the Good News is for sinners. When we truly know this, we can join Jesus in His Mission!
Dennis

Joining Jesus – 25th February 2019

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SPECIAL NOTE
On 1st April 2019, I will be beginning the ‘Joining Jesus’ Podcast and be launching a new ‘Joining Jesus’ discipleship process that will be available at The Rooftop Academy www.therooftop.org

As such, to avoid having too many, and possibly confusing ‘titles’ I thought it would be best for the weekly email that I send to have the same title. Therefore, ‘Stay On Mission’ from now onwards will be titled ‘Joining Jesus’.

If you are being helped by these emails, from 1st March, please feel free to find out more about the podcast and discipleship process.
Here is this weeks article.

1. Take it ‘near’ to people.
After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:14,15

Often as I travel, I preach in churches in many different parts of the world. The places where I have the opportunity to preach are so varied, from large churches in cities of the developed world to small gatherings of people in villages and slums in the developing world. One thing that I have discovered is that wherever in the world I am and whoever it is that I am with, the gospel has power to change lives!

One of the advantages of preaching to a different church gathering each week is that I don’t have to prepare a new sermon every week. This allows me to preach, for a season, the same message in each place that I visit. Over the past few months, the message that I have been sharing has been based upon the amazing words that Jesus said to announce His ministry:

“The Kingdom of God has come near”.

I find these words to be such a great inspiration as I seek to join Jesus in His Mission because these few words provide such a simple but profound insight into what His mission was, and is!

Jesus didn’t come to the world, build a building, call it a church and ask people to come to it. He went to the people, where they were and as they were. He went to the broken, the hopeless, the fallen and the failures and He told them that there is GOOD NEWS! That is because ‘The Kingdom of God has come near’. Jesus was telling these people, who felt so far from God, that He was bringing God to them, right where they were! They could see it, feel it, touch it because He was the Kingdom and He was among them!

This ‘mission’ is so different from the way that many churches understand it. So many are running programmes and activities inside the walls of their buildings and waiting for people to come and join in. Jesus didn’t do it that way – He took the Good News of the Kingdom to the people.

Recently, I was speaking to a gathering of people in La Union, El Salvador. As I preached, I moved away from the pulpit and walked among the people. I frequently stopped and fist bumped a person and said something like ‘it doesn’t matter who you are or what you have done, you may feel worthless and hopeless, but there is Good News – the Kingdom of God is near, it is within grasping distance’. One of the people that I had fist bumped and said this to was a young man. After the gathering he came to me and said that He wanted to follow Jesus! For all of his life he thought that he wasn’t good enough for God and for church. When he realized that Jesus came to Him ‘as he was’ and had the power to change him, everything fell into place.
Our church buildings are surrounded by people who don’t think they are good enough to attend our meetings. If we are to join Jesus in His Mission it is time for us to stop waiting for them to come to us and instead, like Jesus, go close to them and let them see in our lives and hear from our lips, the remarkable truth that ‘The Kingdom of God has come near’.
This week, I encourage you, to take the Good News of the Kingdom to somebody that you know who thinks of themselves as being far from God, but is close to you

Dennis

Joining Jesus – 19th February 2019

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After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”  Mark 1:14,15

1.      GOOD NEWS.

If we are to join Jesus in His Mission, it is vital that we understand what His mission was and is.  I think this is so important because there is a great deal of misunderstanding about Jesus’ mission both inside and outside of the church.

Many people inside of the church see ‘mission’ as being focused on the ‘church building’, a place where we engage in activities and run programmes with the expectation that if people are going to hear the gospel, they will join in with what we are doing.  Put simply, we are ‘doing what we do and waiting for people to come to us!’

Many people outside of the church know nothing about why Jesus came.  All they have is a vague impression that the church is for ‘religious people’ who frequently consider themselves to be morally superior to those outside.   This leads many to believe that church is a place for people who think they are good. 

The tragic result of this misunderstanding on both sides is that in a world where less and less people are attending church, more and more people have no idea that Jesus came to the world to announce, and to be, GOOD NEWS!

The reality is that there are millions upon millions of people around the world who have no intention of attending church but, without even knowing it, they are waiting for us to go to them!  This is because God, the Holy Spirit, is active in the world and in the lives of people who are not coming to church.

As the scripture says:

After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

Please note the two simple words from this sentence ‘Jesus went’.  He did not ‘wait’ He ‘went’!

Over the next few sessions I will focus more on what this ‘Good News’ is and how we can Join Jesus in His Mission by imitating Him. But, as we begin this short series, I want to encourage you to consider a significant question:

‘In what ways are you bringing GOOD NEWS to people that are close to you but far from God?’

Take some time this week to think about people that you know who have not heard the GOOD NEWS and ask God to help you to be willing to go!