Posts with the category “lovewell-a-theology”

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” John 3:8One day at Andrews University, I passed by the football field on the way to the cafeteria for supper. Stopping to watch some of my friends in an intramural game, I noticed the girl I liked was there watching, too. Caryl Lynn and I hadn’t dated yet. But we were on the same...  Read More

WEEK 5 OF 5       End Statement #5: Crosswalk will be a community that exemplifies servant leadership.INTRODUCTIONThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENThink about and share a time when your true self (authentic self) was revealed. What happened and what was...  Read More

Romans 12:1515 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep.Did you know that research has shown us that the most important leadership skill is actually Empathy?Empathy really contributes to positive outcomes in the workplace and in places where servant leadership is required. Here are some interesting ways in which empathy helped create positive outcomes.Innovation. When people...  Read More

1 Peter 4:1010 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.This text reminds us that we have all been given gifts to steward for God. As servant leaders we are given these gifts in order to be able to serve those who we find ourselves in proximity to. That means, we have to steward these gifts for the good of the kingdom of God. St...  Read More

Hebrews 12:1-212 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. 2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.Because of the joy awaiting him, he endu...  Read More

Philippians 4:12-1312 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.I love these texts, and I quote them often. I think one of the reasons why I like them so much is that they are showing a characterist...  Read More

Colossians 3:1212 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.Humility is the second characteristic of a servant leader. A leader with humility is” not someone who thinks less of himself/herself, rather it is someone who thinks of themselves less”–C.S. Lewis. I love this quote because it makes...  Read More

Proverbs 21:3The Lord is more pleased when we do what is right and just than when we offer him sacrifices.End Statement #5: Crosswalk will be a community that exemplifies servantLeadership.This week, I want to do something a little different. Since servant leadership is the key to this End Statement, I want to talk about 6 qualities of a servant leader. So we will begin by talking about one qualit...  Read More

Week 4 of 8      James 1:27; Matthew 19:21; Matthew 25:40; Mark 12:40; Luke 12:33; Romans 12:20INTRODUCTIONThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENHave you ever spent time in a different country or done any missionary work? Share a story from that time/experie...  Read More

Romans 12:2020 Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.This last text of the week actually goes further than the previous texts. Rather than just taking care of the less fortunate than us, it is actually telling us that we need to take care of our enemies. If they are in ne...  Read More

Luke 12:3333 “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it.I love the book of Luke. If you haven’t read it in a while, you need to again soon. This text comes after Jesus has been teaching on money and possessions a...  Read More

Mark 12:4040 Yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and then pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public. Because of this, they will be more severely punished.”Well, this has taken a darker turn! I included this text in the week because I want to make sure we understand the importance of never allowing ourselves to forget what our job as a faith community and as a people ...  Read More

Matthew 2540 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’Oh man! I want you to go back and read this whole chapter. If you only have time to do this today and not read what I have written, then DO IT! Nothing I can say will be more important than what Jesus has said in these verses, so read those firs...  Read More

Matthew 19:2121 Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”Do you have anyone in your life who is kind of an aesthetic? Someone who just doesn’t seem that interested in material things. Someone who doesn’t need that new cell phone, they couldn't really care about getting a ...  Read More

James 1:2727 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.End Statement #4-Crosswalk will be a community that lives beyond herself by caring and advocating for the powerless, oppressed and abandoned.This quote from James should probably be read by every Christian a few times each week to rem...  Read More

Week 3 of 8       End Statement #3: Crosswalk will be relevant in living out the ways of Jesus in our place and time.INTRODUCTIONThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENHave you ever had the opportunity to volunteer at a local non-profit, or take a mission tri...  Read More

Acts 17:27-3127 “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’ 29 And since this is true, we shouldn’t think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.30 “God overlooked peop...  Read More

Acts 17:22-2622 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: “Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about. 24 “He is the God who made the world and everyt...  Read More

1 Corinthians 13:113 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.The heading for this section is “love is the greatest.” 1 Corinthians 13 is the famous chapter on love. It goes on to tell us what love is and what love is not. Of course, we have heard this text at weddings forever. In fact, as a pastor, I actua...  Read More

Matthew 4:18-2018 One day as Jesus was walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers—Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew—throwing a net into the water, for they fished for a living. 19 Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!” 20 And they left their nets at once and followed him.What a great story of transformation. It is also a ...  Read More

Revelation 7:9-109 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10 And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”This is one of my favorite texts. N...  Read More

Acts 1:88 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”End Statement #3: Crosswalk will be relevant in living out the ways of Jesus in our place and time.The gospel is relevant, and we have been called to preach that gospel, to be those witnesses from o...  Read More

Week 2 of 5      Mark 10:21; John 13:34; John 17:23; John 3:16-17; John 6:44; 1 Samuel 16:7INTRODUCTIONThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENThink about and share a time when your true self (authentic self) was revealed. What happened and what was that exper...  Read More

1 Samuel 16:7“But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart’” This is perhaps why God can have such amazing and authentic relationships with us, because he knows even more than what we know about ourselves. We know what our heads kn...  Read More

John 6:4444 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up.What is the drawing power of an authentic relationship? In this text, we see that Jesus is reminding people that even their attraction to him is the work of the Father. We call this prevenient grace, or grace before grace. I have spoken and written about this before. What ...  Read More

John 3:16-1716 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.From this text, we see that it seems that authentic relationships are twofold; 1) they are sacrificial, and 2) they are non-judgmental. Let's talk ...  Read More

John 17:2323 I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.This is the idea of intimacy. It is really more than intimacy, it is so close to being almost as one. In theological circles we would say that it is a perichoretic relationship. If you have been around Crosswalk for a while, you...  Read More

John 13:3434 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.What does authentic love look like to you? A discipling relationship with God and other people is a relationship where we are honest with one another, we cherish one another, and we speak words of truth over one another and into each other’s lives. Without this kind of hones...  Read More

Mark 10:2121 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.End Statement #2“Crosswalk will be a community where people learn and grow in an authentic relationship with God.”Jesus made disciples. I don’t think h...  Read More

Week 1 of 5     End Statement #1 - Crosswalk will be a community of belonging.INTRODUCTIONThe following is a guide to help facilitate discussion. Feel free to add or subtract or change questions to fit the conversation, and pray for the Spirit to lead in all things.OPENOutside of your family, what is a space or a group that you truly felt like you belonged, and what was it about that space or grou...  Read More

Romans 12:515 So it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.1 Corinthians 12:15-1615 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body?I believe that we hav...  Read More

Genesis 2:18Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”God never wanted us to be alone. As stated before, one of his greatest values is that of community. So much is this a value of God’s that God lives in a community and has forever. We call this community the Godhead, or the community of God. When God created the world, there ...  Read More

Colossians 2:2020 You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as... Now, I don’t love using a text that seems to be bifurcated right in the middle. I hope you understand that. However, this text really puts an exclamation point on what we have been talking about. In fact, the language of dy...  Read More

John 15:1919 The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.Who do you belong to? Because the text above seems to indicate that if you are one who loves Jesus, then the world can’t be what you belong to. However, this also means that the world doesn’t really understand you either. In f...  Read More

John 8:47Anyone who belongs to God listens gladly to the words of God. But you don’t listen because you don’t belong to God.What does it mean to belong to God?This text seems to note that if you belong to God, you actually listen to the words God says. The text itself is an indictment of those who were accusing Jesus of having a demon possessing him. Jesus wasn’t having it, and reminded them that ...  Read More

Matthew 19:1414 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”Mark 9:4141 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.You belong to God.If you want to talk about a community of belonging, we should start by talking about t...  Read More

Lovewell. It is a word, a theology, a mission and vision statement, and looks good on a t-shirt. But for those of us in the Crosswalk universe of churches, it means so much more. It is a way of looking at the world, looking at God, seeing what we are supposed to be doing and finding a way to live in this world that we often find so lacking in love. It is the way we wake up in the morning, the way ...  Read More