Have you ever...?

How is your witness?

Were you ever discipled by anyone?

Could you/Have you discipled another?

God commands that we be disciples of Jesus Christ and go to the nation in order to MAKE disciples.

You see, we are not simply to speak Christ's name into our hearts and become convinced our work is over.

Quite the opposite.

We are to recognize our sin and become so disgusted and utterly repulsed that we enter into a cleansing called Salvation. We're so humbled and amazed at the actions that took place on the cross that we choose to do the unthinkable...

We ask another (Christ) to take over our lives. We completely surrender control of our future in exchange for cleansing (forgiveness) and eternal life.

A Christian disciple is a follower of Christ, but one thing you must know is, the cost of following Jesus Christ is your life.

It will cost you everything.

It's at this point that our work begins.

Matthew 28:19, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..."

Luke 9:23 also talks about us full out denying ourselves to follow Christ.

We're CHOOSING to follow Jesus and no one else.

We're CHOOSING to give up our old life.

We're CHOOSING to stop in our tracks, turn around and never look back.

We're CHOOSING a harder life in hopes of saving lives.

No one ever said this was going to be easy.

But the Bible does say time and time again that the world will HATE US for His name's sake.

It says we will be persecuted.

It says that we will have to be joyful in our long suffering.

It says for us to worship in our time of lament.

It says to witness and speak His name even if that means certain death.

So where does that leave many of us in our walk? Where are we, as individuals, in terms of getting the gospel to the nations? In the years that we've been saved, how many people have we lead to salvation by our witness or testimony?

10, 300, 1...none?

I'm guilty of this myself. There was this women I had met a few years back who literally made me question if I loved God as much as I thought I did.

We'd be having regular "girl chat" conversations about the weather, school, weekend plans, football, boyfriends, etc. But her conversational language was much different than mine. Her language oozed her love for Christ. She spoke His name in almost every sentence - and it was never to the point of boasting or doing it to make a point. There was such humility and gentleness in her speech that she made me wholeheartedly desire the love that she had.

She knew Christ differently than I knew Him. She had such an intimate relationship with Him and she mentored me to have the same. She taught me, encouraged me and prayed for me. She cultivated in me the heart of a disciple.

Let's make this a little more interesting.

What if I told you that you would have to endure part of the Tribulation?

What if Christians would be here when the Anti-Christ came to power?

Would our witness and discipling be strong enough to win the hardened hearts of the unsaved during the Tribulation?

Would you even know where to begin because you've never actually had the intense urgency to save someone from eternal damnation by simply talking about the only One you're commanded to love with all of your heart, soul and mind?

Like the book of James, I'm going to impress a call to action. We need to get the scripture to the streets, NOW!

Start a new ministry, make a new friend, talk to the people in the waiting room at the doctors office, talk to the doctor! EVERYONE needs Jesus Christ. Everyone needs to be saved from an eternity of torture and separation from God.

Now let me ask you a question.

Why does no one care anymore?

I know what you're thinking...I do care! We all care!

Then why aren't you screaming His name from the rooftops? Why aren't you telling absolutely every single person you meet how unspeakably in love with Jesus you are? Why can't you name one person you've witnessed to in the last 6 months? Why can't you name one person that you've ever lead to His presence?

Where's the urgency?

The problem is...we think we have time...

-Written by: Kayla Greer

Original Source

Please Help Persecuted Christians in Iraq & Syria

The Great Commission: Mark 16:15-18

Teachings on the Holy Spirit

Vlog

We are R.E.A.C.H.

Picture Credit

 We are R.E.A.C.H.
We have been convicted by the New Testament writings in Acts about how the first century church looked and functioned, and therefore, R.E.A.C.H. was born.
We desire a purer teaching of scripture based solely on the word of God, and not the confines of a covering.
We seek more direct missions and outreach by rolling our sleeves up and doing it ourselves.
We empower and equip people to be powerful leaders in their own rights in order to efficiently reach a world so desperate for the truth of Jesus Christ.

Below is a list of why we chose a home-based church ministry and the correlating verses.
This is the website where we received much of this information.

1. Churches typically met in homes.  (Acts 2:46-47; 5:42; 8:3; 12:12; 16:40; 20:7-8; 20:20; Rom.16:3-5; 1Cor.16:19; Col.4:15; Philemon 2; 2Jn.9-11)

2. When the number of believers outgrew a home, a new church was formed. (Rom.16:3-5; 14-15; Acts 2:41-47)

3. There were no denominations; instead there was one church in each city, meeting in various homes. (Acts 8:1; 11:26; 18:22; Rom.16:1; 1Cor.1:2; Rev.2:1; Col.4:16; 1Thess.1:1; Rev.2:12; 3:7; 3:1; 2:8; 2:18)

4. Elders were local brothers who arose from within a local church where their life and character were known. (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5)

5. Church meetings were participatory and interactive – every member had a function and contribution to make. (1Cor.12:4-27; 14:26; Eph.4:15-16; Rom.12:3-8; 1Pet.4:10-11; Heb.10:23-25; Rom.12:15; 1Cor.12:26)

6. Church meetings were characterized by informality, flexibility, and spontaneity. (Acts 20:7-12; 1Cor.14:26-31)

7. The goal of the meeting was mutual edification. (1Cor.14:3,4,5,12,17,26; Eph.4:11-12,16; Heb.10:24-25)

8. The church was led by a plurality of co-equal Elders. (Acts 14:23; 20:28; Phil.1:1; 1Tim.4:17; Heb.10:17; James 5:14; 1Pet.5:1-2)

9. The church was cared for by a team of pastors who were accountable to each other and the church; they were also known as elders or overseers. No one elder functioned as the head of the church. (Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-7; 1Pet.5:1-2)

10. Some elders might be financially supported, but they were usually bi-vocational (1Tim.5:17-18; Acts 20:33-35)

11. There was no clergy/laity distinction in the church – all the members comprised a fully functioning priesthood. (Heb.13:15-16; 1Pet.2:5,9; Rev.1:6)

12. The Lord’s Supper was observed as often as the church regularly gathered and was the stated purpose for their meetings. (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.11:18-20,33)

13. The Lord’s Supper was observed as a full meal. (Acts 2:42,46; 1Cor.11:20-21; Jude 12)

14. The Lord’s Supper was observed with glad and sincere hearts as the church not only reflected on Christ’s death, but also on the future marriage supper of the Lamb which it depicted. The believer’s horizontal relationship with other believers was emphasized. (Acts 2:46; Luke 22:15-18,30; 1Cor.11:26; Acts 2:42; 1Cor.10:16)

15. New believers were baptized as soon as it was humanly possible. (Acts 2:37-41; 8:12; 8:36-38; 9:17-18; 10:45-48; 16:31-34; 19:5)

16. Baptism was performed by any Christian. (Jn.4:2; Acts 8:12; 8:36-39; 9:18; 22:16; 1Cor.1:17)

17. The church was not always present when someone was baptized. (Acts 8:12; 8:36-39; 16:31-34)

18.Various brothers taught the church, and allowed the congregation the opportunity to question them and/or add their own insights. (Acts 20:7; 1Cor.14:29-35)

19. The church gave primarily to relieve the poor and assist Christian workers, often beyond their means; they had very little if any administrative expenses. (Acts 2:44-45; Gal.6:9-10; 1Jn.3:17; 1Tim.5:17-18; 1Cor.9:6-14; 2Cor.8:3; Phil.4:15-18; Lk.12:33-34; Eph.4:28; James 1:27)

20. Believers gave voluntarily as God had blessed them and they had purposed in their heart; tithing was not carried over into the NT church. (2Cor.8:3-4; 9:7)

April 19th, 2015

Last week my family and I took a much-needed vacation to Florida. The best part of it...?

Our dedicated and devoted church family met in our absence, and had an AMAZING time of fellowship. They had a chance to connect one-on-one and Rick Frederick lead out in the teaching.

This morning we had a subtly divine worship service.

Once again, we added yet another beautiful family to our fellowship time and it was an incredible morning.

My wife recently became friendly with our newest neighbors, and it turns out they are a ministry family searching for a building to start their own church. They were receptive to our church family, and we are certain they will be life long friends.

God gave both our families a vision of having 'church' in the middle of our cove!
It was wonderful to share dreams and visions...and we're so excited to see what God is going to do with our hunger.

This morning we discussed our focus. We ought to focus on Loving God and Loving His people. If we are true to these two commandments, all other areas of struggle will fall into place.

Other members brought up different aspects of love and how we need to humble ourselves in order to reach more. We talked about different facets of outreach and how to volunteer and mentor to make disciples.

Our morning was supernatural, edifying, exciting and FULL of love! Our members are excited to come together, and even more excited to go out!

God has been so good to us, and we're humbled.

Pray for increase. Pray for able, willing and teachable hearts. Pray for the impossible.

We love Florida too!

#LoveGodLovePeople