Part 2
Our Care group is going through a study right now that is called “The Tangible Kingdom Primer.” The Jonah study and the Tangible Kingdom study have complimented each other so well. Both studies talk about personal and worldly resistance when taking hard steps in obedience, about unexpected opportunities that are really Divine interventions and the love of God that is for all. On a personal level, both studies challenge me to be willing to listen and follow through with what I am hearing. They speak of the need to abandon those parts of my selfish nature that inhibit my willingness to follow God.
The focus of the TK study in a nutshell is to build lifelong habits of being the hands and feet of Jesus in our neighbourhoods, in our community. We have been challenged to take missional steps – to do things as small as meeting someone across the street we don't know or going out to “check the mail” when your neighbour is outside to start up a conversation. Taking these small steps on a daily basis changes your world. Following through with this challenge has caused me to be looking for opportunities and to not see them as interruptions. It is softening my heart towards others and creating a willingness obey in the moment.
The authors of the TK study, Hugh Halter and Matt Smay say that one of purposes for the primer “is to be a field guide for starting mission together.”
In the previous Mission Post I shared the passage from Isaiah that I have been working through.
The New Testament echo to this is found in Matthew 25: 34b – 40
“Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
The the righteous will answer him,
“Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invited you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”
The King will reply,
' I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers, you did for me.'
According to this passage, following the call of God won't be easy. If it were everyone would receive their inheritance. It means seeking God and His purposes – to know and see and hear the needs around us. The Word does show however, that the reward is great both for our earthly time and humanity and for eternity.
In a book called “Radical” by David Platt, he says there is risk involved in non-discipleship. If we don't respond to Jesus with our lives the world will suffer and we will not experience the significance of knowing and living for the only person who can fulfil our deepest longings; our Creator God.
In talking about the parable from Matthew 13:44-46 he says,
“Yes, you are abandoning everything you have, but you are also gaining more than you could have in any other way. So with joy— with joy!—you sell it all, you abandon it all. Why? Because you have found something worth losing everything else for.”
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