Thoughts from Dan Kimball

I lifted this from Dan's blog: http://www.dankimball.com/vintage_faith/ because I thought it was a good word for all of us. Just a reminder that you don't have to travel to the far corners of the world to stretch yourself out of your comfort zone and be a beautiful reflection of Christ to those you meet in your community.

My main thrust was showing from the Scriptures that the very first thing Jesus said to His disciples in Matthew 4:18-19 was "Come, follow Me and I will send you out to fish for people." He didn't say "Come follow Me, and I will keep you huddled with other Christians singing songs feeling safe together" or "Come follow Me, so you can hang out with primarily Christians and complain about how terrible the world is getting. or "Come follow Me so you can have nice theological discussion with other Christians and deconstruct the church". From the very first time we see Jesus talking to and calling His disciples, it was all about being be sent out (not inward) to make new disciples. So the first impression He gave His disciples was emphasizing that following Him meant being focused on other people who didn't know Him yet.

I also shared that the very last words of Jesus to His disciples was focused on the same exact thing - being in the world making new disciples. I walked through His last words in Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 1:8-9. So His first words to his disciples were about being others focused on mission and His last words to them were about being others focused on mission.