I’m a visual learner. Always have been. Draw something on a piece of paper and I’ll understand it much better than you telling me with words.
So one of my mentors drew this picture on a piece of paper a few months ago.
The first picture represents the church trying to get people to attend. This is great! I love this, but the second picture totally blew my mind.
What if we looked at the church differently? What if we decided that instead of trying to get people to attend, we instead sent ourselves out to engage with our community?
Releasing ordinary people into their communities to multiply the gospel wherever they go! I love this language!
What if instead of people coming to hear 1 person speak, we had thousands of people going out and speaking to thousands of people in their sphere of influence?
In John 14:12 Jesus was preparing his disciples for his death. In the first part of chapter 14, he says (my interpretation):
Don’t worry. I’m going to die and be raised again. Then I’m going to heaven and will prepare a place for you and come back to take you there. In other words…your eternity is set.
But until that occurs, here’s what I want you to do…
Whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. – John 14:12 (NIV)
This is mind-blowing. Jesus is saying…you will do even GREATER THINGS than me. This is the same guy who raised people from the dead, gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk again and fed thousands with just a few pieces of bread and a few fish.
How is this possible? Because the goal for the disciples and the goal for us (as disciples) is to engage our world, our neighborhood, our friends, our neighbors with our love for Jesus. When His love breaks through, miracles occur. Marriages are healed, people find salvation and their eternity is changed, kids grow up to be leaders, adults serve others less fortunate, the world gets better day after day as more and more ordinary people are released to do even GREATER THINGS for Christ.
Guess what…that means you have an opportunity today, right now..to make a difference for Christ. Take this day and be on the lookout for opportunities to represent Christ well. I guarantee you will have opportunity after opportunity. Step forward with courage and allow God to use you today!
