how we choose to live …

…………………………Have Fun!
……………………………………………….Listen, Love, Live!
…………………………………………………………………………………..Together, Fill the Earth!

Have Fun – Our desire is God’s deeper delight. Enjoy Him Forever! In the beginning was God’s delight, in the end is God’s deeper delight and in the middle we live in an amazing story. We know real life rests in delighting in the Lord. Our journey together in this story is an adventure in Kingdom Life and God’s deeper delight.

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Ps 37:4 (NIV)

Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands. Ps 112:1 (NIV)

Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight. Ps 43:4 (NIV)

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph 3:17 (NIV)

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; Rom 7:21-22 (NIV)

Listen and Obey – Our direction is from God. It is true that He cares more about the fulfillment of the Great Commission than we ever could. Further, He is the expert on incarnation. We learn from Him. Therefore, prayer (especially the listening part) is the starting place and the foundation for everything we do as a community of Christ-followers.

So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing. John 5:19-20 (THE MESSAGE)

The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. John 14:25-27 (THE MESSAGE)

Love – Our motivation. We have learned that for us, to be motivated solely by a task or even a vision will only lead to burn out and unmet expectations. Rather, we choose to be motivated by our love for God and for one another. This is what we hope to look like to the world.

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples — when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35 (THE MESSAGE)

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.” Matt 22:37-40 (THE MESSAGE)

Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another. I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind. Don’t do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. And look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own. Phil 2:1-5 (TEV)

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 1 Peter 1:22 (NIV)

Keep on loving each other as brothers. Hebrews 13:1 (NIV)

Live –We are all pursuing a simple life in Christ that is lived to the fullest! Our heart is to revel in the fullest expression of Life in Christ.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Phil 1:21 (NIV)

I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of. John 10:10b (THE MESSAGE)

Together (In Community) – The Christian life can’t be lived out in isolation. The “one-another’s” of scripture give us the basis for our interaction with each other. This is how we live out the journey with each other. From this flows Oikos, the household of faith.

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10

Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Romans 12:16

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. Galatians 5:13

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thes. 5:11

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching. Heb 10:24-25 (NIV)

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:43-47 (NIV)

Fill the earth – In the beginning God told Adam and Eve to fill the earth with children. He told them to care for His creation and tend to it. He also revealed through the prophets that the His glory, the revelation of His nature (His Love) would fill the Earth! So we together, want to see the earth filled with His Children and His Glory.

God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” Gen 1:28 (THE MESSAGE)

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Hab 2:14 (NIV)

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth. Ps 57:5 (NIV)

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Ps 46:10 (NIV)