Dear E-Flash Friends;
Over and over again, in the gospels, Jesus talks about the call for His followers to live under his reign and His rule. We call this: living in God’s kingdom. When Jesus elaborates on what it means to live for Him—in His kingdom—we discover that His way involves what could honestly be described as a “strange and unique” manner of living.
Jesus actually says things like this:
Give up your life for my sake.
Take up YOUR cross.
It’s practically impossible to be saved. [paraphrase]
Be perfect.
In order to be great, you have to be the least.
If you hate someone, it’s the same as killing him.
If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.
Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you.
If someone slaps you, turn and let them slap the other cheek.
Don’t ever worry.
Always be really, really nice to Dan. He’s a terrific guy.
[Okay, Jesus didn’t say that last line, but He did say the others.]
Indeed, this is strange and unique living, huh? Sometimes, we forget about the revolutionary nature of the teachings of Jesus. His teachings about how to live upset people during His physical time on earth many years ago and, truthfully, his teachings about how to live are still revolutionary and upsetting to some people today.
But followers of Jesus proceed with the heartfelt conviction that He is right and He does know how to live. It is important for those of us who want to live for Him that we sincerely try to understand His teachings and that we take Him seriously in these matters in which He tells us how to live.
That’s what we will be doing for the next 5 weeks, as we launch into our Fall Kick-Off series, this Sunday, September 12th. The series is titled: “The Strange & Unique Call To Life In God’s Kingdom”.
I’ve been working on the first message in the series, “Wait A Minute, Did You Say MY Cross?” And I must admit that I got myself all excited for a few minutes and I was actually standing up in my office preaching a portion of the message.
…Then I took an offering, had a closing prayer, and went out into the lobby of the church and greeted myself. Boy, was it an inspiring time!
Will you, please, consider doing these 3 things? 1) Pray for our Fall Kick-Off; 2) Pray about who God might lead you to invite; and 3) Take that risk of making an invitation.
Thank you. I’m looking forward to seeing you Sunday!
Blessings,
Dan
P.S. If you just can’t wait till Sunday, I understand, I feel the same way. So, do this, come tonight, Sept. 8th, Next Step, 7pm. I’ll be teaching on the subject of “Spiritual Growth” and I’m excited about that, too! (Yes, it’s true, I’m easily excited, but what can I say? I’d rather be a person who is easily excitable than someone who never gets excited, at all, right?)
*NOTE: If you would like to have the E-Flash From Dan sent to your e-mail--whether you attend the Church of God in Oak Lawn, or not--simply send a message to: cog111st@aol.com ;
And write: “Send me the E-Flash” in the “subject” field.
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