End Vision-To see the launch of cascading movements to Christ through healthy-on-goingly coached DMM Catalyst Teams (Beyond, beyond-Beyond-ers, local teams) implementing in discerned top 18 UPG Clusters by the end of 2025.
The Wow and the Wonder of Jesus
Job 5:9 declares,
“He (God) performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
miracles that cannot be counted.”
In other words, God gives wonders untold, miracles countless.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the marvel of the God whom we serve. Recently, our grandson exclaimed, “Wow!”, as the norm, while our son pulled him on a sled in the crisp snow fall of Colorado. The wonder of snow caused shivers of cultivated norm for a little guy on a wintry day.
How much more so the WOW of the marvelous untold wonders we walk in daily with Jesus. How matchless the miracles He works among us.
Our lips shall not proclaim that which our hearts do not exclaim. How does then the heart exclaim that which does not resonate in the knowing, loving obedience to all that God the Father asks of our hearts? How does then the heart cling to that which is the only One worthy apart from tethering ourselves to our unchanging God? He is the God who speaks, confides, leads each disciple of Jesus through His unchanging Word. Thus, it can be said that less is less and that to spend fast food drive through time in the Word with Jesus will cause one’s heart to swim in the shallows, all the while we are daily invited into the depths.
“The Truth (God’s Word) is a river where the strong can swim in deep, and the weak and the broken can walk across so easily.”-A Beautiful Mystery
The epicenter of all that transforms us must be the concerted investment of our first fruits of time and energy to sit in a lingering way before the Father, while meditating upon His Word, and while listening to His perfect rhythms of grace as we enjoy His presence. All intercession which reflects the heart of God, is predicated upon time with God and His Word.
During our brief time in our home sending country, I have asked a few ministry leaders to describe some of the challenges of making disciples in America. The consistent observation they have made is that very few in this generation and I dare say, across the generations, are spending significant time rooted in the efficacy of the Word of God. Small tastes, sound bites, quick reads of other’s thoughts on the Word, passive consumer mindsets in worship gatherings, are more the cultivated unchallenged norms. We spend time with Jesus and His Word because He alone is worthy. All else pales in comparison. Period.
We Do What We Do as a Slave to Our Worldview-JK
Indeed, the reality that we do what we do as a slave to our worldview, is the challenge of making Jesus’ disciples who live out the commands of the heart of Jesus, based upon a depth of knowing, loving and obeying Jesus’ words. One other observation which these varied ministry leaders commented on can be paraphrased in the following.
The sheer level of non-biblical worldview which believers have assumed as the norm is shocking. There is a low level of biblical literacy, and that literacy is not for knowledge’s sake but rather to know, love and obey Jesus, all together. This observed low level allegiance to the efficacy of God’s Word and the doing therein is draining this generation of living in light of an eternal perspective kingdom mindset. Our decisions will always be informed by our allegiances. The understanding of the heart of Jesus is to hear His truth, and to love and obey Him as a biblical norm for every disciple of Jesus.
In Disciple Making Movements, the cultivated norm as empowered by the Holy Spirit is to hear the Word, love and obey Jesus in all, no matter the cost. In John 6:42-45, Jesus declares,
“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day. It is written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God. ' Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.
Disciple Making Movements rooted in the Book of Acts article:
Recommended reading of excellent EMQ article by De*rek Si*ep*p on tracing the book of Acts practice of discovering God’s Word from historical research https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?ogbl#search/emq?projector=1
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