Viral Hope: Good News from the Urbs and the Burbs (and everything in between)
“ViralHope is a bold call to reject any and all reductions of the Gospel that minimize it to ‘cosmic fire insurance’ on the one hand, or on the other, to reduce it to ‘social action.’ This is a full Gospel and a vision that our world desperately needs to hear.”
– Jim Belcher, Deep Church: A Third Way Beyond Emergent and Traditional Church
Check out the helpful interview between Stetzer and Vanderstelt regarding the upcoming MissionSHIFT conference. Jeff will be leading a lab at the missionSHIFT Conference titled, “Transitioning a Church to Missional.” An excerpt from the interview gives us a glimpse into the “real time” mission going on in Jeff’s live. He’s not just a theorist; he’s on mission:
This looks like meals together with believers and unbelievers 2-4 times a week; cleaning up the yard of our widowed neighbor next store; serving at the elementary’s auctions, community events and after school programs; going through “The Story of God” 1-2 times a year with unbelievers to introduce them to the Gospel; sharing our house for others to live with us and join us on the mission; having an “open door” policy to our neighbors and friends; throwing parties regularly to meet more people who we hope will also come to faith in Jesus; etc… We focus on demonstrating the change the Gospel makes in our lives through tangible expressions of serving and declaring the reason why we live this way by sharing the Gospel.
On Sunday, I shared how we can consistently see through our sin to our “identity of the moment” (Know your Sin), put that false identity to death (Fight your Sin), and turn to Christ for life and joy (Trust your Savior).  Here are three easy steps to fight for true joy in Christ!
1. Know Your Sin: Look for the sinful patterns in your life and trace them to “identity of the moment” that you are looking to for worth, meaning (good pastor, faithful parent, creative person, successful entrepreneur). For instance, your sin could be sulking and your false identity could be victim. Acts 29 has recently posted some helpful “X-ray Questions” from David Powlison, which help us see through our sin to our misplaced sense of identity.
2. Fight Your Sin. Once you know your sin/identity issue, you can begin to fight it. There are two primary ways God calls us to fight our sin. First, confess your sin to God and ask for his forgiveness for your God-belittling desires and decisions (1 John 1:9). Follow your confession to God with confession to community so you can experience healing and encouragement of the church (James 5:16). Second, encourage one another to take sin seriously, to “put sin to death†(Rom 8:13; Col 3:5). Don’t let identity-twisting sin just roll off your back. Get tenacious about glorifying and enjoying God!
3. Trust Your Savior. Trusting our Savior for gospel identity instead of an identity-of-the-moment is the most difficult and important part of being a disciple. Robert Murray McCheyene said: “For every look at sin, look ten times at Christ.†How does Christ offer you a better identity than the false identity? My sin was sulking and my identity was victim. 2 Peter 1:3 reminds me that my identity is godly, a partaker of the divine nature. I was sulking in ungodliness because I thought I deserved better circumstances. I felt weak. Peter reminds us that we have “divine power granted to us for life and godliness.†This scripture reminded me of my identity—godly—but it does not stop there. It also offers us a Savior to trust, a counter-promise of divine power necessary to live a godly life, not a sulking life. What a relief! Our identity is godly, and our promise is divine power!
We’ve outlined these basic principles are in Fight Clubs: Gospel-centered Discipleship, a community-based, gospel-centered approach to following Jesus. Pick up a copy, find some friends, and start fighting for true joy!
Myanmar is a nation of contrasts. In many places children live and grow up without any opportunity to receive an education whatsoever. It is ironic that if you go into any market it is not difficult to find people selling produce who have studied to degree level but they can’t find well paid jobs with qualifications.
Add to this reality that many of the peoples of Burma have been run out of their country, persecuted, and forced to flee into neighboring countries like Thailand. Sadly degrees obtained in Myanmar are not accepted anywhere else but in Myanmar. Refugees from Burma often can’t obtain a work permit. Well educated and trained people are forced into subsistence living. As you can imagine, they find very little hope! – (adapted from a missionary who works in Burma and Thailand)
FYI: We have Burmese refugees right in the city of Austin. You can do something about this now, here! They need old computers.
To subscribe to regular prayer updates contact pray4burma@bigfoot.com
Read more about the Shan peoples of Burma here.
