Heirs of God

Jesus was so focused on his mission that he wasn’t ever stopped by human opinion or offense. Jesus wasn’t easily offendable because he knew who he was and what he came to do. He knew he was the Son of God, and he came to give us eternal life. If you stand firm in your identity and keep your eyes focused on your mission, you will not be moved. In order to get to this place, we must know the truth so deeply that lies are completely ludicrous when we hear them. If we know that we are chosen, we will scoff at anyone who tries to tell us otherwise. If we know that we are loved, we will pay no mind to someone who tries to convince us we are not. If we stay focused on the mission, we will ignore anything that tries to derail us. Followers of Jesus are marked by their focus on Jesus. If we focus on the light, everything outside of Jesus will grow dark. The enemy will try to derail us from the mission of loving people one at a time and making disciples by distracting us with human opinions and filling us with doubt about who Jesus says we are. If we can distrust our identity, we will drop the mission. If we drop the mission, we will cease to bear fruit.  But God gave us everything we need in order to accomplish his mission on earth. He gave us Jesus who made us new. He gave us a new identity. He calls us his sons and daughters. Jesus calls us his friends. God then gives us everything we need to accomplish his mission of growing his Kingdom. If we can remind ourselves of who God says we are, what he has given us to do, and how his power can equip us, we will be unshakeable. Reflection/Discussion Questions: If you find yourself easily offended, what are you struggling to believe God says about you? If not, what has God done in your life to give you freedom from what people think or say?

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are in perfect unity in their mission. They’re always at work, reconciling God’s people back to himself. As the people of God, united with the Trinity, we get to join the mission. This means that when we see injustice, we rise up to bring justice. When we see people marginalized or mistreated, we unite together to do all that we can to bring hope and healing. We won’t stand to see people hurting and broken because we know that we can bring them exactly what they need by the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. At our unified table, we have access to accountability and help. We have people who will point us back to Jesus when we stray away and we have help when we fall down. We go to battle with and for one another in prayer. We engage in the spiritual battle as a united army fighting for the winning side.  At the table of God, everyone is needed, everyone belongs, everyone matters, and it’s all about Jesus. We aren’t united for the sake of being united, we are united to do the work of God here on earth. As a united front, we bring love, hope, healing, restoration, redemption, forgiveness, reconciliation, and freedom. We cannot stand by in indifference and watch God’s creation suffer. We use our gifts and the ways God has wired us differently and meet each broken person with exactly what they need. This is what we were made to do. This is who we were made to be. Jesus prayed for complete unity so that the world would see the real Jesus through the way that we live. Instead of living a “just me and Jesus life” we are called to live so intertwined with one another that it’s hard to tell where one of us ends and the other begins. We were made for more than the life we are settling for and the world is suffering because of it. What will you do to fight for unity? Reflection/Discussion Question: What will you do to fight for the kind of unity we were made for?

I started helping an organization by volunteering to help with there quarterly camp out as this is my second quarter to assist. It is a group that focuses on veterans and suicide prevention and I believe I have grown to enjoy laboring with my co volunteers we are a small group but are striving to leave a large impact