Thoughts On the Outward-Focused Life

John Chapman, aka the legendary “Johnny Appleseed” was a missionary who reached out to native Americans in the Ohio Valley in the early 1800s.

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  •He Had Simple Tools

His primary planting tool was a stick! Do you have a stick? When his current stick wore out he found a new stick. I heard recently through the grapevine that sticks are still easy to find!

The more elaborate we make our plans the more likely it is that we will fail.

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  •He Heard the Invitation.

He picked up on the invitation of the Father to accomplish his lifelong mission, therefore when the going got tough he was able to return to the beginning of it all to when God unmistakably spoke to him to go out in the first place.

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  •He Didn’t Talk About Outreach, He Did Outreach.

Johnny understood it’s about activism, not mere talk, nor continual preparation study, nor the accruing of more cool conference notebooks. He was all about taking risks and getting out there. If he were alive in 2012 his motto would be, “Missional schmissional! Stop the incessant talk, stop being a chicken and just do it for Pete’s sake!”

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  •He Did Small Things.

It doesn’t take much to change the world. A tiny apple seed grows into the largest fruit bearing tree in the plant world that will bear thousands of apples.

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  •He Was Faithful.

He was all in! He burned his bridges. There was no return.

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  •He Saw Potential in the Faith Realm

Some would find it difficult, if not impossible, to do the ministry of Johnny because it was long-term and not immediately fulfilling. He was called by God to do something great but something that not would fully bear fruit in his lifetime.
Each seed was destined to produce an amazing tree that would produce thousands of apples to the glory of God. It takes the kind of faith only God can provide to live from that perspective. We can’t work that up. “God empower us the ability to hear your calling, regardless of the timing.”
With servant evangelism ministry the fruit takes a while to come about, but guaranteed, but when a church remains faithful to strongly serve and show generosity to their surrounding community, astounding results will come about.

Anyone can count the number of seeds in an apple, ?But only God can count the number of apples in a seed.

• ÐRobert H. Schuller

By way of an explanation of my scarce blogs lately, I am in the final stages of writing a book with Thomas Nelson Publishing regarding the lessons I learning connected with my near-death experience. I’ll be done soon and will resume a more consistent blogging schedule then. Thanks for your prayers for clarity and creativity in this!

- Steve

What we fear losing we grasp. What we grasp others tend to grasp as well. Thus we help to create an atmosphere of fear.

Fear is contagious – it moves from person to person quickly. The dynamic of fear is the opposite of the move of the Spirit of God.

It is only natural that ultimately the presence of fear creates a mindset of scarcity – a culture that is difficult to destroy. The scarcity mindset, is by and large, the ubiquitous atmosphere of the Church in America today. Yet God is on the march to change that.

The mark of the Kingdom’s presence is generosity – a willingness to share from an abundance mindset without hesitation – a willingness to give first and ask questions later – a mindset that says, “I am led to give to this cause so I will give. God will take care of the details.”

Do you believe like me? Let’s go and change the world.

The first heresy that came into the Church was launched by a group called the “Palagians” who believed that Jesus was only God and not man at all – that he was only divine and not human. In defense of their thinking they went so far as to say that when Jesus walked he didn’t leave a footprint because he wasn’t physical – he was only an apparition that appeared to be physical.

They rejected all the Scriptures where Jesus called himself the “Son of Man” saying he was a little confused at those points.

Their heresy is probably the most dangerous of all those that ultimately would come into the church world.

If he is only God and not also true Man he is only perfect with no struggle. We can’t relate. Therefore…

1. …we aren’t called to imitate him.
2. …we aren’t called to see his life as the norm we are to aspire to.
3. …we aren’t called to treat people the way he treated them.

…the Poor will stay the Poor and uncared for

…the Lost will always be Lost and unreached

…those captivated by evil will remain prisoners in their minds and souls all their lives

The Palagians didn’t read their Bibles very carefully. Clearly, Jesus is the Son of Man. We have been called to be about the actions of Jesus, to do all he did, all our days as long as we have breath in us.

As much as you like the group you serve, one day you will move on. Others may carry you out feet first, but you will definitely move on from your group.

Are you raising up others to take your place when you leave?

Early on in my life as a Believer a mentor of mine impressed on me the vital importance of replacing myself with others I felt good about leading after my time was up. I’ve led and transitioned with a number of groups since then. Some of those have gone well, others not so much!

Here are some gleanings I’ve picked up.

1. Pray your replacement in. God wants to bring a mentee(s) your way. Ask him to stir it up.
2. Scan the horizon. Someone is always on the way. You won’t notice what God is providing if you aren’t looking.
3. Make yourself available. Be willing to be inconvenienced.
4. Decide to fail a lot. We usually fail when we aspire to not fail. You won’t succeed unless you fail frequently. Take on the counsel of G.K. Chesterton. “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly.”
5. Pray that when they leave you won’t hold it against them for long. What am I saying? It’s common to part ways with a mentee under stress. It happened with Paul and those he coached in the Book of Acts. Don’t be surprised if the same thing happens to you, at least for a time after you part ways.