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Mark 11:24 (ESV) Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
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Guest author: Curtis Sergeant
What are you living for? Hopefully it is more than trying to make as much money as possible or gain as much power as possible for the purpose of living a life of hedonism. There is nothing wrong with pleasure and comfort, but you were made for more than that. God has a purpose for your life. It is to glorify Him. There are lots of ways to do this. In fact, most activities and pursuits can be done in such a way that they glorify God (unless they are inherently wrong in and of themselves). Glorifying God can also be called worship. There are some ways in which we should all be glorifying God. First, we should acknowledge Him and commit ourselves to following His instructions and guidance for our lives. We should also encourage others in the pursuit of a life of worship. We should continually grow in our likeness to Jesus Christ’s character. We should serve others and look out for their interests as well as our own. We should seek to draw others into a relationship with God if they don’t already know him. Conveniently, these facets of living a life of worship are gathered into a couple of summary statements in the Bible. One time (Matthew 22:36-40) a Jewish lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” This is referred to as the Great Commandment. Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He gave His disciples their final instructions. This was a crucial event because He knew He would never see them again in the flesh. In Matthew 28:18-20 the Bible says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'” This is referred to as the Great Commission. [My entries in] this blog [are] about the ethos of the "ObeyGC2 Life" which can be summarized as an attempt to help people live out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as effectively as possible. ObeyGC2 is read as “obey GC squared” and by now you might have guessed that GC squared refers to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. ObeyGC2 is an attempt to expand the Kingdom of God by catalyzing a movement of Christ’s followers working together to bring about greater glory to God and doing what they can to see His will done on earth as it is in heaven. [My entries in] this blog will address my take on what that might look like in practical implementation. (Used by permission and adapted from https://metacamp.org/blog/) Matthew 4.17 From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
This is one of the most fundamental messages that Christ brought to the world. Jesus appeared during a time of Roman occupation in Israel, a time that many felt oppressed and abused by the system of rule that was in place. There had been a time in Israel's history, when King David and King Solomon ruled, when Israel had been a sovereign nation, not controlled by any foreign power. But those days were long gone. Now Jesus brings a message that there is a greater power, a greater rule in operation, a greater kingdom operating in the present time, that being the Kingdom of Heaven. In light of this truth, that God himself is the ultimate dispenser of justice and the ultimate sovereign determining the fate of each individual and of whole nations, we should turn away from unrighteous behavior, and seek to serve the Kingdom of Heaven, living under the laws of God's kingdom, without unholy fear of any earthly kingdom. Matthew 28.18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.19 Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
This famous passage is known as the Great Commission, spoken by Jesus just before he was taken up into heaven following his resurrection from the dead. It was one of his last commands to his disciples, and it captured the assignment he gave to them as to how they were to continue to carry out the ministry of Christ after he departed for heaven. It is therefore incumbent upon us as those who seek to follow Christ to obey him, and to obey everything he commanded his disciples. We must pay attention to what Jesus taught his disciples to do, both implicitly and explicitly, and seek not only to do it, but to teach others to do it as well. |
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