The Gospel in four minutes

Giving Thanks with a Grateful Heart

In Jesus Christ God gives us our identity, our purpose and our meaning in this life and in the life to come.1 Peter1:1-12

●"The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, strengths and a unique personality with different experiences. Helping people with the puzzle and putting the pieces together so we each can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world and finish our lives well and leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."​

●Looking for opportunities to help Individuals, Foundations & Christian non profits leverage Passion, Need and Resources to accomplish strategic goals for the Kingdom.

●Helping people identify their God-given Passions, Spiritual Gifts, Talents,Strengths & Abilities so they can become person God made them to be in order to better communicate God's love to a hurting world by word & deed.

●Discovering the story God implanted in my soul when He created me & seeing how that fits into His larger story.​

 A few of my favorite non profits!

• Perspectives On The World Christian Movement
• Go Send Movement 
• The Traveling Team 
• The Joshuaproject
• frontierventures.org/ 
• The Salvation Army
• Samaritan's Purse
• World Medical Missions
• Chapin Living Waters
• Double Harvest
• Billy Graham Rapid Response Team
• ECHO
• Foundation For His Ministry
• JL, Patt & Friends
• Life Wind
• Neighborhood Transformation
• Partners Worldwide

●Some of my favorite books besides The Bible are:


Perspectives On The World Christian Movement . a Reader-Ralph Winter & Steven Hawthorne
Perspectives. The Study Guide
Passion For The Heart of God-John Willis Zumwalt
The Eternity Portfolio Illuminated-Alan Gotthardt
Finishing Well - Bob Buford
One minute After You Die-Erwin W. Lutzer
Counter Culture -David Platt
The Hole in Our Gospel - Richard Stearns
Outlive Your Life - Max Lucado
GOOD TO GREAT And The Social Sectors. -Jim Collins.
To Transform a City-Eric Swanson
Multiplying Light and Truth - Stan Rowland
Money, Possessions and Eternity - Randy Alcorn

My Twitter "Tweets" 

Linkedin profile 

Making a difference in the lives of millions of children around the world!

● In Jesus Christ God gives us our identity, our purpose and our meaning in this life and in the life to come.1 Peter1:1-12

● In Jesus Christ God gives us our identity, our purpose and our meaning in this life and in the life to come.1 Peter1:1-12

"For in him we live and move and have our being..." Acts 17:28


Just a few of my thoughts, reflections and questions:

What does it mean to be a "New Community"? 

What does it mean to be a Christian, live out our lives in complete commitment of everything to Jesus  and His Kingdom and live a life of love to our sisters and brothers?

What does it mean to be a gathered and dispersed community?

We are committed to the Gospel and each other.  Is that the Church and the "New Community"?


We are a gathered people on Sunday morning...called out of the world...dispersed to minister to the world. Is that what a "New Community" is?

The Church as "community"
The Faithful "community"
The Sharing "community"

Also our Eastbrook Church as "Community".

We should also be 
Discerning
Discipling

Also, we are all or most of us
Volunteers in ministry
Should be organized
Worshiping

Also, nonconforming to the world
Witnessing to the world

 1st Peter 2:9
 New Living Translation
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.


So maybe we need a rebirth?

Bottom line:
What is God calling us to and for what purpose?

 A word from The Call by Os Guinness

"Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service" P. 29

So...what is God calling us to do?

More commentary on this later... 
 ________________________________

A good book on "Community" Found  this picture on my phone...can't find where I put the book!
 Check it out on Amazon

Good Prayer by Max Lucado

Which leads us to:

What do we do?

Why?

Where?

How?

__________________________________

  Picked up a new book at the library today...I always check out the "New Books" rack. Called for Life   How Loving Our Neighbor Led Us into the Heart of the Ebola Epidemic.

Life story of Kent and Amber Brantly. The doctor who served in Liberia with World Medical Missions during the Ebola Epidemic.


 The Last chapter in the book. "The Call Continues".

"Our calling is to be faithful wherever we are, to be good stewards of opportunities, to be responsible with what we have been given, to try to do good, and to serve those whose paths we cross."

  "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain."

 Our belief is the same.
 
 Check out the book here.

 
 See my posts on Twitter
 Richard Dassow ‏@RichardDassow 

● In Jesus Christ God gives us our identity, our purpose and our meaning in this life and in the life to come …

Making the most of every opportunity the Lord exposes us to.

Making the most of every opportunity!

.

Seizing opportunities is directly tied to the spiritual gift of discernment. When we see what looks like an opportunity, we have to discern whether we are seeing a true opening or just our own wishful-thinking or a random idea. 

Just because an opportunity arises does not mean that we should take it. An opportunity is just a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. We still have the hard work of determining whether it is something WE SHOULD DO!

Opportunities are doorways that God opens. It is divine leading, even though we may not be able to predict what lies beyond. 

God also directs us with closed doors!  Don't be discouraged!

Ability to see with the eyes of God, think with the mind of Christ, and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit! 

A good prayer!

See my Latest TWEETS 

Our work and our calling

Sunday and Monday...any connection?

Our work: How important is it to us?

Are we worshiping our work and working at our worship? 

We are called to God first and then to our secondary calling…which may be our job, business or what we do in “retirement”.

 A word from The Call by Os Guinness

"Calling is the truth that God calls us to himself so decisively that everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have is invested with a special devotion, dynamism, and direction lived out as a response to his summons and service" P. 29

 Description of a class I facilitated awhile back at our church.

The Lord created each of us individually with different Spiritual Gifts, Passions, Abilities, Strengths and a unique Personality with different Experiences. When we know what they are and how they work together then we can be most effective in our families, church, community and the world.  When we serve according to our SHAPE, we leave a legacy that gives glory to the LORD so when we stand before Him one day, we will hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." 

Read a good book recently:

 Answering the Call: The Doctor Who Made Africa His Life.

From “The One-Talent People.” Christian Herald. Sept 1949. P. 64  

“Always keep your eyes open for the little task, because it is the little task that is important to Jesus Christ.  The future of the Kingdom of God does not depend on the enthusiasm of this or that powerful person; those great ones are necessary too, but it is equally necessary to have a great number of little people who will do a little thing in the service of Christ.” 

            “The great flowing rivers represent only a small part of all the water that is necessary to nourish and sustain the earth. Beside the flowing river there is the water in the earth-the subterranean water-and there are the little streams which continually enter the river and feed it and prevent it from sinking into the earth. Without these other waters-the silent hidden subterranean waters and the trickling streams-the great river could no longer flow. Thus it is with the little tasks to be fulfilled by us all.” 

Some excerpts from:  God’s Best for My Life by Lloyd John Ogilvie 

“What are we daring to attempt which could not be accomplished without His strength and intervention? So often we plan our lives around what we could do without Him on our own.  A sure sign that we are in communion with the Lord is that we are attempting what only He can do? Can you identify that in your life?”

      Just a few questions you may want to ask yourself:

What is God calling me to do?  Have I asked Him?
How am I doing at "work" on Monday?

What is my passion?  My Spouse’s

Where do the world’s needs and my passion intersect?

Have I taken the Strengthsfinder 2.0 Assessment to see what my “strengths” are?

http://amzn.to/1GolKdD

My BLOG on "Strengths"  
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