Exodus 3:10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
We are called upon to speak freedom to people in slavery, just as Moses did for the children of Israel. But, what does slavery mean in our world today? Continue reading “Living Sent – Day 5”
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Let’s say you were SENT to a new grocery store to buy dinner. How would you know exactly what to buy? How to get there? How to get back? Or how to pay for it? To know all these answers, you would have to ASK the person who sent you, and you would need to LISTEN for the answers. It’s the same when God sends you anywhere. You have to pray about where, when, what, who, and how He wants you to serve. You also need to listen. It may be hard to trust God when going somewhere new or meeting someone for the first time and sharing the Gospel with them. But no matter what, it is important to remember that God has a specific plan for you. Continue reading “Living Sent – Day 4”
John 17:18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
Living sent. We go because Jesus was sent and we follow in His steps.
When I think about being sent, I get a real sense of anxiety. What even is living sent? How can I fit yet another thing on my to do list? When I hear big “churchy” phrases like living sent and going out into the world, I find the phrases to sound confusing and full of hard work. Continue reading “Living Sent – Day 3”
Matthew 20:28 “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
When I ponder on this verse, one thing that comes to mind is “choice vs right.” Christ had the “right” to rule on earth with His sovereign power. Similarly, we have the “right” to many of the luxuries of this life. However, Christ came to this earth as a helpless baby and spent his life humbling himself and serving the most hated or marginalized sectors of his community. We in turn must take his example and choose to humble ourselves before the Lord of host first and then walk humbly with the Lord as we encounter this world. Continue reading “Living Sent – Day 2”
Jeremiah 29:7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
God sent the Israelites into exile (banished them) to a city in which they did not want to be. God instructs them to seek the welfare of the city into which they’d been sent. This meant praying for and working for the good of the city in which they were held captive. I’m sure
that if I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t want the city that was holding me captive to prosper… in fact, I’d probably be wishing the worst upon them. But Jeremiah shares God’s words with his people, … if it prospers, you too will prosper. Continue reading “Living Sent – Day 1”
15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these? ” “Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.” “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him. 16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.” “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said. 17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep. 18 ”I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”
20 Peter turned around and saw behind them the disciple Jesus loved-the one who had leaned over to Jesus during supper and asked, “Lord, who will betray you?” 21 Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord?” 22 Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.” 23 So the rumor spread among the community of believers that this disciple wouldn’t die. But that isn’t what Jesus said at all. He only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?” 24 This disciple is the one who testifies to these events and has recorded them here. And we know that his account of these things is accurate. 25 Jesus also did many other things. If they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written. John 21:15-24 Continue reading “20/20 Mission Clarity – Day 21 – February 1, 2020”
“24 Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”” John 20:24-29
Continue reading “20/20 Mission Clarity – Day 20 – January 31, 2020”
11 Mary stood outside the grave crying. As she cried, she got down and looked inside the grave. 12 She saw two angels dressed in white clothes. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had lain. One angel was where His head had lain and one angel was where His feet had lain. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord. I do not know where they have put Him.” 14 After saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 He said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” She thought He was the man who cared for the garden. She said to Him, “Sir, if you have taken Jesus from here, tell me where you have put Him. I will take Him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned around and said to Him, “Teacher!” 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to Me. I have not yet gone up to My Father. But go to My brothers. Tell them that I will go up to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God!” 18 Mary Magdalene went and told the followers that she had seen the Lord. She told them the things He had said to her. John 20:11-18
Continue reading “20/20 Mission Clarity – Day 19 – January 30, 2020”
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep’s Gate, a pool which is called Bethesda. Here a great number of disabled persons used to lie-the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in that condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir”, the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said, “Take up your mat and walk”. At once the man was cured. John 5:1-16 Continue reading “20/20 Mission Clarity – Day 18 – January 29, 2020”
17 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:1-26
Continue reading “20/20 Mission Clarity – Day 17 – January 28, 2020”
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting 