Made for a Mission

What tribe are you with?

We are all identified by something.  I mean you see those guys that love nascar with all the gear on and you know what they are all about.  You see somebody with the OU car flag and you know what team that guy roots for.  What about the ruff and tough guys with the Harley Davidson motorcycles that you see riding around on the weekends in these huge packs? They are definitely a different breed of cat, but you know what those guys are all about.  These people all have a unique way about them, they are identified by what they love and what they believe in.

  So my question is, what made people call the first believers Christians?  What did the first believers do that made them so different that people wanted to differentiate them as Christians?  These people were so unique, that they were being singled out from the crowd as being different.  They were still Jews, their appearance didn't change they still looked like the same people they did before, but the things that they were doing and the things they were saying made them so different that people singled them out as a new tribe that was called Christians.

  I will tell you why they were singled out. They were called Christians because nobody had ever seen anything like them before.  They were  Compassionate, Humble,  Accepting,  Giving,  Dangerous,  Risk Takers, Adventurous, Creative, Inventive, Imaginative, and Adaptable. They were nothing this world has ever seen before.  They were even Persecuted, Beaten, Jailed, and all they had to do was just be quite, but they knew the calling of Jesus and who He was so they continued to be identified as Christians.

  So if someone were to meet you would they know what you believe in or what your all about?  I believe that Jesus has called us to be relentless in our pursuit to be identified by Him. This is my life's mission, is to be relentless in my pursuit of identification in the Jesus tribe.

All for Him

    I used to love to go to the movies, it was a place where you could go for a couple of hours and just get away from reality.  I used to be absolutely consumed with football, especially the Oklahoma Sooners.  It was so bad that my whole life revolved around what was going on with the team, how are we going to beat the team we are playing this week, where am I going to watch the game, or am I going to get to go to the game and be apart of the excitement. 

  I have come to find out that being a follower of Jesus gives me all of those things and more.  I have found that consuming myself with God instead of the things of this world, that I can get more excitement, more joy, more fulfillment than any football game or movie could ever give me.

I feel as if I have been sitting on the sidelines of life just watching it go by.  I feel as though I have been watching life happen instead of living it.  I have found that following Jesus is more than just believing in Him, it is a calling to be something more and to do something greater than you can imagine if we are willing to hear that calling.

  I think of the apostles when Jesus gave them their mission in life in Acts 1:8 just before ascending into heaven. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere-in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth".

  I believe that instead of consuming my life with things that don't matter I will consume myself with the things that do.  The apostles knew that the things of this world did not matter, but what did matter was Jesus, and they lived their lives for Him and surrendered their lives to the calling of Jesus Christ.  I wonder what kind of impact the church today would have if instead of just believing in Jesus, that we heard the call of Jesus and we consumed our lives with Him and began to show His love and His compassion and His purpose.

  I believe that by pouring all my energy into the one that truly is life, that all these other things that seem to consume my time and energy will fall to the way side.  I will begin to serve others instead of trying to serve myself.  Instead of trying to surrender to all my wants I will surrender myself to the King of Kings.  It will be "all for Him" instead of "all for me".

  I will end on a quote from Helen Roseveare "Are you willing for your life to be used as a platform for God to display His glory?"

Does God use ordinary people?

I wonder these days as I feel God tugging at my heart to be a missionary, can an ordinary guy like me really make a differance in this world?  As I ponder on this, I think of so many people in the Bible that God has used in a mighty way and they were just ordinary men and women just like myself.  Look at Noah an ordinary family man saved his family from a world wide flood. Moses, a runaway, leads an entire nation to freedom. David, Joshua, Danial, Joseph...the list goes on and on.

So yes, God can use us in extroardinary ways if we will let him.  We have to be willing to let God unleash our passion. Let go of all of the worldly possessions that we have come to think are so important.  We have to be willing to go.  God is waiting for us to step out for him and do extroadinary things.

That's why I am so excited that on September 1st I have been given the oppurtunity to travel to Kazakhstan with The Hanna project.  We will be meeting the needs and changing lives in a remote area halfway around the world.  We will be installing 3 play sets in 3 strategic areas in the city that will allow hope for the children of that region. The Hanna project will be the hands and feet of Jesus for CrossPointe Church showing his love to the children of Khazakhstan.   

Why do Missions?

John 13:34-35  So now I am giving you a new commandment!  Love each other.  Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.  Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are may disciples.

Jesus came to serve not to be served.  Jesus calls us to love one another as he loved us.  As Christ followers the one thing that sets us apart is love. One way of showing others God's love is by doing an act of love for someone else.  By doing small acts of love we begin to see the impact it has on others, we begin to be the hands and feet of Jesus, others will see His love and want it for themselves.

At CrossPointe, my prayer is that we will hear the call of Jesus and extend that love that he has shown us beyond our church and into our community and throughout the world. Your pointegroups are the perfect setting to answer that call.

Pointe Missions

As fully devoted followers of Christ, missions isn’t just something we do, it is who we are…it is a lifestyle. At CrossPointe, we want to build relationships by impacting people, serve others by committing our time, and transform lives by showing God’s love.

Way's that we can get involved

Go. Find a Mission trip that you'd like to participate in and GO!

Pray. Pray for the teams going in mission, pray for the people who will be served, pray for the missionaries at the mission sites, pray for God to change and transform lives.

Give. Give to Missions over and above your tithe. Make a commitment to give something each month that will be used for missionary and mission partner support, and scholarships for those who feel called but can't afford to pay the full cost of a mission experience.

These are just a few ways that CrossPointe Church can impact not only the lives of the people in our own community, but the lives in people around the world.