Goal

Some thoughts on our primary goal as briefly discussed yesterday. More on other aspects of yesterday's discussion later in the week.

Goal

Our foremost goal is obey Jesus command as seen in Matthew 28: 19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

We want to become like Jesus. We believe that by being fully connected and utterly dependent on God (John 15: 5) in a constant walking by the Spirit (Galatians 5) that out of our yielded Spirit born nature we will act and respond the same way Jesus would if he were we (Galatians 2: 20). This yielding process reflects our transformation to the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3: 18) both individually and corporately (Ephesians 4: 13). Jesus said “the good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart” (Luke 6: 45). What we do flows from who we are.

Make Disciples

Jesus said “make disciples” -- a disciple does what his teacher does. Our teacher is Jesus. As we grow in intimate knowledge (Colossians 1: 9) we will live our lives in ways that please and glorify God (Colossians 1: 9; Ephesians 1: 14). Jesus also said “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” We know that Jesus once summarized the foundation of everything.

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22: 37-40.)

There are two primary elements in this discipleship process. The first is to dearly love and delight in God and believe that there is no limit to His goodness or His good intentions or any limit in His power to carry them out; in short, we believe God is who He says He is and can do what He says He can do. The second is to remove our automatic responses against the kingdom of God and to become free from the old habitual patterns of enslavement and domination.