Thursday Thoughts Week of June 25-July 2-Missional Living

This week we take a look at Missional Living, what does it really mean, how do we do this is in the real world.  We have, over the last month looked at 2 other core values, and without those as our foundation, 1. remembering that Christ is our treasure, He is the Word of Truth, and 2.  that we are encouraged in community to spread the truth, this can go very bad, or get off the intended track God has set forth in His word.  So with that in mind let's examine what it means to live missionally.

Life was never meant to be compartmentalized, yet so many of us walk around in a life filled with areas that rarely bleed over into each other, we have our family box here, and our work box over here, and we keep our Jesus box over there on the mantle.  We however, believe that Christ came to show us that life is meant to be lived intentionally.  That He has made us for a specific end, namely to glorify Him in everything that we say and do.  You see the Bible is clear in Ps. 139:13-16 that God was intentional when He formed us and therefore we should live our lives with that same thought in mind.  He has placed us into specific places in this world; jobs, neighborhoods, gyms, coffee shops, etc.  Life therefore is not random and each place that we are was designed to a place where we are living, serving, walking out our lives in the same way Jesus did, thinking of the Gospel and doing all we can to be a witness to that truth. 

Therefore we believe that we are to be in culture, we are to befriend the unregenerate, to form relationships with those outside the kingdom that we may look for opportunities to share the Gospel, to live lives that point to Christ.  

So may we engage this week, may we seek out the lost and dying and may we, in the name of Jesus, offer them living water.  May we not spend all our time hidden in the Christian subculture and may we be salt and light of the great Gospel, and then leave the rest in the hands of a holy and sovereign God.  

I hope you have a great weekend and can't wait to see you Sunday, this week we will be in Eph. 4 and 1 Cor. 12-13, take some time to read.  Love you guys and see you soon.

LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE 

Brandon 

 

FRIDAY NIGHT DATE NIGHT-June 26

That's right!!!  Just a reminder that this Friday, marks our first Friday Night Date Night, this is a time for you and your spouse to take some time away from the kidZ and enjoy a night just the two of you.  I feel so often if we are not careful and are not intentional we can lose that connection, the intimacy, the communication.  So here is what you do, bring your kidZ and drop them off at the church around 6:30, go get dinner, run errands, see a movie, and relax.  Susie will be here taking care of your kidZ through a Bible lesson designed to engage them and teach them.  Then pick up your little ones anytime before 10:30.  It is our belief that a strong home is made by a strong marriage and we want to do all that we can to help strengthen that area of your lives.  I hope you would take advantage of this time.  RSVP with Susie, susie@fellowshiplubbock.com, We love you and are passionate for families.

Thursday Thoughts-June 11-18-COMMUNITY

This week I want to examine that second element that encompass our Core Values, Community. Community is one of those themes that runs all throughout the Scriptures, beginning with the creation of man and women, and extending into Israel and the First Century church.  It seems that God has place a massive emphasis on men and women growing together and doing life together.  This is a concept and idea that is being challenged in our very individualistic society, my problems are mine to deal with, my life is my life, and in this shift we have learned to rely more on ourselves and our ideas.  While God did create each of us different, with different personalities, and preferences, He did not create us to let those things terminate on us alone, nor did He intend for us to bear those burdens alone.  So often we take our God given individuality and turn it into pride, leading most of us to think that our problems are something that we need to deal with.  This has left our society in shambles, marriages crumbling, because we are too proud to ask for help until it's to late, our children rebelling, because we have lost sight of what is central, depression on the rise.  This was not God's intention from the beginning, for people to live secluded lives apart from any meaning contact, rather He intended a group of people that shared a mutual love and servant's heart for each other.

So that is the fight we face in a world that tell us it's all about you, we must fight to defend what the Bible stands for, a people unified under one cause, seeking to walk out one purpose.  Philippians 2:1-11-lays out the mindset that you and I are to be striving for, the same mind that our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus had.  

Let me ask you a question, where do you turn when the bottom drops out of your life?  Or when you face an issue that is embarrassing, or even scandalous?   

This week I want you to ponder this idea, what would a church be like if it operated in unity and selfless humility, Phil. 2:1-11.  Let us not simply think or dream about it, let's become such a place!!!!!

LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE 

Brandon