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Reading today in Romans 10 verse 1 Paul writes: “ Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. ” I recently read a story and the writer described the call of Christians to evangelism as an “awkward chore”, feeling that we were called as believers to “market” Christ to the world. I have to confess that many times I too have felt this way. As I read this passage the Holy Spirit began to open to me truth. In this passage I see three things things that are involved in evangelism. One is the goal is salvation. Two is that the desire for people to be saved comes from our heart. And three we go to God and ask Him for people. Starting with salvation, I believe that we have a wrong understanding of salvation. We think of people as outside of the kingdom and we share an illustration and then the step inside the kingdom. 1 Peter 2:2, 2 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, If salvation is being out and then coming in and we are saved when we “get in” then the question is how can you grow in that? You are either in or you are out, how do you grow. The scriptures are full of verse that use the word, perfect or complete (Colossians 1:28, James 1:4 to name a few). The meaning is we are brought to the point we were created for. A jet ski is not completed when it is sitting on a trailer in your garage. It achieves its purpose when it is cruising across the water, jumping waves. We were not created to “get in”, we were created to be like Christ. What is Christ like? He is love, perfect love. We are being conformed into the image of Christ, who demonstrated His love- that means He didn’t just talk, but He showed us His love- while we were sinners, spitting in His face, He died for us. Imagine a world where everyone loved everyone else more than themselves, pure perfect love. Void of fear, void of anxiety, void of hate, void of violence, image pure love. God created us for such a life and it happens when we are complete, filled with God’s love and loving others unconditionally. Our goal for people is for them to be like Christ, perfect in love. The second thing we see in Romans 10 is that evangelism is not a chore, but rather it should be our heart’s desire. God is love and as believers above all things we should be growing in our love. 2 Peter chapter 1 verses 5-7 show the progression of Christian growth. We begin with faith. We come to know Christ and to our faith we add moral excellence, ie we start being better people. Then we supply to our faith and our better morality, knowledge, knowledge of Jesus and who He is. As we grow in knowledge we grow in self-control, fighting the urges of the flesh and surrendering to the call of the Spirit in our hearts. And we stay at it, we persevere. As we preserve, staying strong in our faith, our morals, our knowledge and self-control we begin looking more like Christ, we become more godly. Continuing, we learn to love, Phileo love, brotherly love, a very emotionally based love. Good love, but still a love that is dependent on others loving us back. But the point I want to make is that eventually the purpose of our growth is to reach the point to where we love, agape love, unconditional love. That is what we were created for, but sin has put all of creation into frustration. Romans 8 says that all of creation groans, longing for the day when we are redeemed and reach a salvation of pure agape love. Paul understood that evangelism was not marketing, it was not a chore, if was the cry of his heart for people that he loved. Evangelism must come from the heart. If your heart is not there, add to your faith, moral excellence, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness and eventually love. The third thing to see from Romans 10 is that Paul had a heart for Israel and he went to his knees for them. We do not save people, salvation is the job of the Holy Spirit. In John 14:6 Jesus: “ I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me .” The return to the true life we were created for, to completion, comes through Jesus. Only through Jesus can we know love, only through Jesus can we love. In John 6:44 Jesus teaches us: No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him To draw means to impel or to draw by inward power. We are ambassadors (See 2 Corinthians 5) used by God. Romans 10 teaches we are called to proclaim the gospel, but we do not convert people. They are converted as God draws them from the inner man to Himself. Evangelism will result or arise when we grow in our faith and love for God and for others. And our first step in our evangelism is to seek God, to get on our knees and beg Him for the people that we love and for the people that we don’t love.

Reading today in Isaiah 2, verses 2-3. (note: this prophecy is also repeated in Micah 4) Isaiah 2:2 Now it will come about that In the last days The mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains, And will be raised above the hills; And all the nations will stream to it. 3 And many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. The Hebrew word translated as house literally means “dwelling habitation” The place where the Lord dwells. As far as I can tell the Mountain of the House of the Lord is Christ. He is the head and we are His body. 1 Peter 2:5 says that we are being built into a spiritual house or dwelling place. It goes on to say that the foundational stone, the cornerstone that shapes and holds together the whole house is Jesus. Ephesians 2:19-22 says Jesus is the cornerstone in whom the whole house is being fitted together and that we are God’s house and we are being built into a dwelling for God. Ephesians uses a different Greek word but it means habitation. We are God’s people and we are being built into a dwelling of the Spirit. Verse three in Isaiah says that the people will say, “Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord.” What struck me was the purpose for going to God’s house, His dwelling. It was so that He may teach us and so that we may walk or live our lives in accordance with His word. Two things to notice: First we must seek the Lord’s instruction and second, we must obey. Jesus teaches us this same principle in John 14:21, “ He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. First you have to have or know the Word of God. And then we must keep it or do it. Do you know the Word of God ? Do you seek His instruction every day? Do you get into His Word and allow Him to teach you? For those of you like me who know the Word, do you keep it ? Do you live your life according to the Word of God? I know the Word; my struggle is applying it to my life. I am seeking today to come to the Lord and to obey as He instructs me.

Jeremiah 1 We have been looking at Vision and Calling. As I was getting ready for tonight, I felt like we needed to go to Jeremiah 1 and take a look at the calling of Jeremiah and see what we can learn about vision and calling. Jeremiah 1:4-19 4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then I said, “Alas, Lord GOD ! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.” 7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, `I am a youth,’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. 8 “Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD. 9 Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. 10 “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant Let’s look at this passage. Where does the vision come from? (the word of the Lord came to me) Why is that important? (I can do all things through Christ Phil 4:13, apart from me you can do nothing . Jn 15) I was disciple by several Navigators. One of the things that first drew me to these men was that they didn’t teach their opinions (ala Joel Olsen), but they taught from the Word of God. There is power in the Word of God. We can do all things in the power of God, apart from Christ we can do nothing. So the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and what is the first thing that God says to Jeremiah? 4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” (before I formed you…I knew you) The Lord is calling Jeremiah and He is calling him to a life that is going to cost Jeremiah everything. At one point Jeremiah was thrown into a well and left there to die. Jeremiah’s call was so hard that in Jeremiah chapter 20 Jeremiah says, “7 O LORD, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me. 8 For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted In reproach and derision all day long. 9 But if I say, “I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.” Jeremiah says God this is killing me, but I can’t quit, I have to fulfill your calling on my life. I believe there are several reason why God begins Jeremiah’s call this way, but I believe above all things God begins Jeremiah’s call this way because God loves Jeremiah. Before I formed you…..I knew you. And as He calls us we can know like Jeremiah that God loves us. (John 3:16). God created us to be His children in a relationship with Him and He begins this conversation with Jeremiah letting him know that God formed him, that God had Jeremiah in the palm of His hand. God has called us to make disciples of all nations. He has called us to be an army on the march. Jesus ends the Great Commission with this promise, “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Eph 1: 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, Eph 2 “4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 1 and 2 tell us that God chose us before the foundation of the world to be his children and because of God’s great love for us, even when we were opposed to God and were dead in our transgressions, Christ died for us so that we might live forever with Him. As we look at our calling and our vision I want you to remember, that just as Jeremiah, God formed you. You were not a result of your mom and dad’s passion or love or mistakes or whatever. God formed you. Even before He formed you, He knew that He would form you. (If you need more read Psalm 139) God formed Jeremiah and then what does God say? (I consecrated you and appointed you) 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” The Hebrew word is kaw-dash’ to prepare and set aside. God had a call on Jeremiah’s life before he was ever born, from the foundation of the world. God knew just what He wanted Jeremiah to do and He equipped Jeremiah just for that purpose. Now the question, does God have a call for your life? Yes Look at Eph 2:10, “10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Look at Act 20:24 24 “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God. A little side note, how can you know God’s call for you? Get into His word and ask. Jer 33:3, “Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Romans 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, His good and perfect will.” John 8:31-32 “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Joshua 1:8, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. Then you will make you way prosperous, then you will have success.” Some of you are sitting there thinking, man, what is this dude saying to me. Does he think that God has called me to make disciples? I can’t do that, I’m just a student, I don’t know how, I……” That’s what Jeremiah said. 6 Then I said, “Alas, Lord GOD ! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.” Jeremiah said Lord, I am just a kid, how can I go to the nations, I don’t know what to say, or how to say it, I am just a young man. I love this, what is God’s response to Jeremiah? 7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, `I am a youth,’ In other words, don’t give me any excuses. 7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, `I am a youth, Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. 8 “Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD. 9 Then the LORD stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. God assures Jeremiah that it is not Jeremiah doing the work, it is God. When you think of what God is or might call you to do, how does this make you feel? As you think about our calling and vision, there is something you need to understand. Why does God say, “Do not be afraid of them…”? When we do God’s work we are going to face trials. 1 Peter 4:12-13, “12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; 13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, `A slave is not greater than is master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you;” We should not have these disillusions that God calls us and we will live the “American Dream”. God has not called us to the American dream but He has called us to abundant life. If we follow Him we will face trials, it could cost our life. But Jesus says that only when we are willing to lose our life can we save it. (Matt 16:25) I want us to close with one last verse, look at Acts 17: “24 The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;” God has a plan for the Life on Life at UGA. He has called us to fulfill His Great Commission. You are not here by chance. He determined your appointed time and the boundary of your habitation, before He formed you in your mother’s womb, He appointed you to be here. My job is to train an army on the march an army that will reach the nations. Acts 1:8, “you shall be my witness in both Jerusalem and Judah and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Starting here in Athens, and to the remotest part of the world. God is calling you guys to the world. God is calling you to move from an audience that wants to be entertained to an army on the march. We are not here to build a comfy little holy huddle, youth group. We are here to love each other, to serve each other and encourage each other to go into the world and make disciples in our dorm and in our classes and in our groups and activities. We are to build a church that is an army on the march, getting to know Christ and to making Him know to the nations.

Proverbs 29:18 says, “where there is no vision the people perish.” I was meeting with Gene the man who disciples me this week. Gene is struggling because his organization is constantly asking their people to fill out forms and to define goals and mission statements, develop plans. Gene said something that I really liked. Gene said, I don’t have time for this business stuff. Whatever happened to reaching the lost and discipling the saints? Gene said we must always remember to keep the main thing the main thing. What’s this Life on Life bunch about? What do they do? I want to talk to you about THE VISION and MY CALL to the campus, which translates into our call as LOL here at UGA; our main thing. Vision Matthew 28:16-20 16 But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” This passage is referred to as The Great Commission. We are not going to spend a lot of time here, but I want us to look at what is the actual commission and look at how important Jesus this commission is to Christ. To whom does Jesus give this commission? He gives it to the 11 (Judas is gone). Why is that important? What is His relationship with these guys? In Matthew 12, Jesus is with His disciples and they come to Him and tell Him that His mother and brothers are outside waiting to see Him. He looks at the 12 and says, these are My mother and brothers. Jesus paid the penalty for the sins of all men and His plan to reach the world rests on the shoulders of these 11. These are the guys He has poured His life into, whom He has shown the Father and to whom He is sending into the world. Jesus came to pay the penalty for the sins of the world so that the relationship between the Father and His children can be restored. 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ died for sins, once for all, the Just for the unjust in order to bring us to God.” 1 John 3:2, Beloved, now we are children of God, And His plan to reach the world was through these men. Let’s look at the context. Turn to Matthew 29. There is no Matthew 29. This is Jesus’ last time with these guys. Jesus is going back to the Father and this is His last time with these guys that He loves and has trained. Look at verse 18, He says all authority has been given to Me. The Greek word is Exousia and it actually means, power of choice, liberty of doing as one pleases, authority. Jesus has the choice and authority to ask or command His disciples to do whatever He wants. This is His last time with these guys, He’s not talking ‘bout them dawgs’. Jesus is sharing with these guys what is on His heart, what is of utmost importance. He has all authority, He can ask or command them anything so what does He say? He says, “19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Looking at verse 19-20 there are four verbs in this passage, what is the primary command? (Make disciples). Jesus primary command is that we make disciples. This is His desire; this is what we are to be about. Jesus made disciples of the Eleven and commanded them to do the same. So what is the process of making disciples? What are we to do first? We are to go. The Greek word translated Go does not mean go to China or Africa, though He may specifically call you to that. But the word means journey. What Jesus is saying is this, “Hey guys, I have invested my life in you, now you go. Go home, go where you go and live your lives and as you live your lives, make disciples. If you work for IBM, make disciples. If you are a ditch digger, as you dig ditches make disciples. As you go to English 1001, make disciples. While you are eating in the dining hall, make disciples. On your hall in Russell, or in your condo in Riverside Pkwy, make disciples. Christ’s primary commission for you and for me is to be about making disciples as we live our lives. If we are to then be making disciples as we live our lives, how do we make disciples? Jesus gives us three steps. First, we are to baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In other words, our job is to introduce people to Christ. Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born of water (physical birth) and of Spirit (spiritual birth). John the Baptist in all four gospels says that he baptizes with water, but that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit. The first step in disciplemaking is introducing your friends to Christ and when they by faith receive Him as Lord, the Holy Spirit comes to live in them and they are born again. W As Life on Lifers our first goal is to introduce our friends, workmates, classmates, family, etc. to Christ. But Jesus didn’t stop there. He said then to “teach them to observe all that I commanded you.” What we are about here at Life on Life is introducing people to Christ and then getting them rooted and established in Christ:; getting them into His word, studying it, memorizing it, applying it to their life. As they become established we then equip them to do ministry. And our goal for you is that at the end of your four +/- years here in Athens is that when you leave that you will be an equipped disciple maker, going into the world and making disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that He commanded you; That is our commission and that is what we are about. We are not about ski trips and warm fuzzy little mission trips, we are here to make disciples. Calling In the fall of 1999 my wife Kim and I were working with churches in the Navigator’s Church Discipleship Ministries. We were committed to equipping churches to become disciple making churches. As we worked with pastors and elders we were continually made aware of some real failings in many if not most of our churches here in the US. According to George Barna, only 1% of church growth comes from non-believers. 99% of church growth is people transferring from little churches to big mega churches. And nobody is upset about that. (So much for reaching the lost, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.) Divorce rates and teen pregnancy rates in the church is the same as out of the church. Churches were and are continually moving from being people oriented to program oriented. (I don’t have time to invest in people, give me a program.) Church has become an event, not a body. Think about it! Church is not your family, it is where you go. Bill Hull says in the preface of his book, “Jesus Christ Disciple-Maker” “The failure of the church to make Christ’s primary mandate the primary mandate of the church has resulted in an audience that wants to be entertained rather that an army on the march.” When I look at the scripture, God didn’t call us to be an audience. He says: “Go therefore and make disciples,” Matthew 28 “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be My witnesses” Acts 1:8 “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” Matthew 4:19 “Let you light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven”. Matthew 5:16 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom that we may present every man complete. For this purpose I labor, striving according to His power which mightily works within me.” Colossians 1:28-29 There are some disciple-making churches out there, but honestly, most are amassing audiences that want to be entertained. I pictured it like this massive boat. Not some little runabout, but this large aircraft carrier and it is heading in the wrong direction and I began praying Lord, how do we turn this boat around? A little speed boat, you just whip the wheel around and you change direction. But the USS Enterprise, it takes a lot to get that thing going in a different direction. About this same time God began putting college students on my heart. Over a period of 6 months, a longing in my spirit kept growing and when I discussed it with my wife; she confirmed that God was doing the same thing in her heart. I started asking God if He wanted me to go to the campus and He kept giving me signs that this was what I was supposed to do. But He never gave me a verse. I kept asking God to give me a verse so that I knew for sure that He was calling me to the campus. As a good Navigator I wanted a verse, a promise from God. But He just kept giving me signs I finally reached a point where I sat down with God and said, Lord, this is where I think You are calling me. I want to see the church changed, I want to see that big boat turn around. Lord, I want the Church to become an army not an audience. And I said Lord, You keep putting college students on my heart, but You have not given me a verse. Lord, You have given me so many signs that I feel like this is Your desire for me and if I didn’t move on this now I believe that I would be disobedient. So I told God that I was going to go into the college ministry and if that wasn’t really from Him to close the door and I would stay right where I was. As I finished praying I opened up to Psalm 22. Verses 30-31 say, “30 Posterity will serve Him; It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation. 31 They will come and will declare His righteousness To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.” God said, “Mark if you want to see the church become an army, go to the campus and reach students, they will serve Me, they will declare My name to your grandchildren and to your great-grandchildren. And so we came to UGA. God has a call for all of us you and me to be involved with Him reaching those who are in our sphere of influence, making disciples of all nations. Be sure to read the next blog, Jeremiah’s Commission.