October 2017 Update

Made For Mission

October 16, 2017

To know God...and make Him known.

Made for Mission

Aloha ,

I was struck by a very profound thought this morning.

From the very beginning of time until now, human beings were designed to bear witness to all of creation that God is real. Yes, all of creation declares the glory of God, but humans in particular scream it. In the Genesis account of creation, we see that everything God made leading up to humans was good. But once God creates humans he says, “very good.” Not only are humans very good…we’re the only living, created thing, made in the image of God. Genesis 1:27 says:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

What’s so interesting about this is that no matter if a person believes in God or not, they still bear witness, to creation, that God is real and declare His glory.

Human beings were made for a mission.

Again, we see in the Genesis account that not only were we made in God’s image, he delegated authority over creation to us. He gave us the wisdom and knowledge to exercise that responsibility. We were given a purpose (or you could say a mission) in this world to declare God’s glory by ruling and reigning the way that God would. This call to care for all God created would be about serving not receiving.

We know the story.

God gave real freedom to humans but designed us for obedience and dependence on Him. In the garden, humanity chose independence and reliance on self. Sin brought confusion to our purpose and our true mission in life. We began to rule and reign our way rather than God's way. Francis Schaeffer wrote, “The evidence of a glorious and noble creation, made in the image of God, is still present, but they are fallen and corrupted, only a shadow of what they were made to be.”

We have a hope.

Jesus is our hope and he has restored to us our mission in life. It is to declare his glory and lead the charge in bringing reconciliation to all things. I love the prayer in Ephesians 1:17-23. It puts our hope and the power to bring reconciliation into the right perspective.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

The hope that we have as believers is a hope that rises above all the crises we see in our world. As my friend Andy Byrd has said it, “When our hope grows larger than the crisis…volunteers arise!” We’ve seen hope-filled volunteerism in history with the World Wars, et al. We can see this again in a worldwide missions movement. We have only to realize that our hope has already grown larger than all of our crises. Our hope is Jesus! He is above all things! His power resides in us, in his body (the Church), which is the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

The time is now.

It’s time to rise up in our love for God and our love for others. It’s time to step into our God-given mission and voluntarily give our lives to Christ in every way. God has chosen us as ambassadors, it’s time to obey all that Jesus taught. He is the way, he is truth, and he is life. Everything else is counterfeit. Any other way of living is in opposition to the life that is truly life. We were made for a mission, it’s time to choose the right mission.

Norway, Kona, Maui

It seems God wants me to be a part of all that is happening in the country of Norway. There are developing partnerships and collaboration between Norway and Kona in music and it is exciting to see what God wants to do with that. After being in Bergen and Molde, it has become increasingly clear that I’m supposed to pour into those specific places in any way possible. One of those ways is to help encourage the church to move into the fullness of it’s calling. There is such a hunger for Jesus and a hunger to live in obedience to his way of life…a life filled with the presence of God. It is truly exciting.

The day after I arrived home from Norway we drove back to the airport to drop Liz off. She had the opportunity to partner with some local churches here in Kona in helping with a Woman’s Conference held in Maui. She was there from Thursday to Saturday. She served and prayed for women who are earnestly seeking after Jesus. It was a great time for Liz! It was also a great opportunity for me to appreciate how hard she works when I leave on trips like my most recent one. Let's just say I may have washed the clothes with dish soap on accident while she was gone…

This mega quarter is in full swing now! We are two weeks in and it’s been wild, busy, and so full of life! Pray that we do all we are called to do with joy, patience, and only God’s strength. In addition to all our Pastoral Care duties, corporate worship work, music track teaching, and recording studio stuff, I will be teaching in the School of Worship this week. Pray that I communicate clearly God’s heart for worship and leadership.

Final Remarks

We are so grateful for all of you and for the ways you all sow into the kingdom of God by supporting us financially and through prayer. Without you, we couldn’t fully grab onto God’s dream for us to help raise up a generation that will take God at his word and go to every nation to preach the good news of Jesus with courage, boldness, power, and true humility.

May we all live a life worthy of the calling we have received. May we uphold the values of being completely humble, gentle, and patient, bearing with one another in love. Let us make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. In Jesus name. Amen.