This week I want to recap the last message series. Believing the gospel is not enough; we must also be doing the gospel. Doing the gospel involves loving, listening, speaking, and living.

Love is what moves us to people. Love is the motivator behind our actions as believers. Love is the starting point for our behavior. Love causes us to do things that are supernatural. Love is essential to mission.

Before we can talk to someone about who Jesus is and what He did we need to listen to their story. Everyone has a story to tell about his or her life. We don’t listen for the sake of checking listening off the list; we genuinely and prayerfully listen to identify what our friend believes their purpose is (creation), where they think things went wrong (fall), who, or what, will rescue them (redemption), and what their ultimate hope is (restoration).

Once we know their story we can now speak God’s story as His ambassadors. As believers we also believe this pattern is God’s story as well – creation, fall, redemption and restoration. God created us to honor Him and spread His fame; however, Adam (and us as well) had a better idea: live for self and spread my own fame. The fall is where every thing went wrong. But, God provided redemption for all through His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Hero in God’s story. Jesus is the only one who can rescue us from our rebellion against God and recreate us to once again live for God’s glory. God will one day restore all things to the way He originally created it and intended it to exist. We will honor God forever; we will live in peace with one another forever; we will joyfully serve God forever – that is our ultimate hope.

With all of this we must remember that “doing the gospel” words make no sense if they are not backed up by a “doing the gospel” life. Living the gospel is essential if we want people to hear the life-transforming message of the gospel.

This series was meant to encourage all of us to begin praying that God would reveal to us who He is calling us to. What relationship(s) does God want you to begin building? God has sovereignly placed us in families, neighborhoods, jobs and gyms to be missionaries. It may take some time to build a relationship bridge to that person, but with patience and wisdom it will happen. And I would love to hear your story about how God did this.

Grace & Peace,

We’ve all said things we wish we hadn’t said. That’s just an axiom of life. It’s not an excuse to go on saying dumb, hurtful, and self-justifying things; it’s a fact of life because we are human and imperfect. Hopefully we are growing to learn to guard our tongues.

Our words usually hurt those with whom we are closest. This is due to the fact that with these people we are on familiar and comfortable ground and our guard is down. We know they will get over it and forgive us. But then the day comes when they don’t, and we are left with a relational and emotional landscape that looks like the beaches of Normandy in 1944. We are at war! The outcome is not going to be pretty. Even with the right help we will end up approaching that relationship with trepidation because of the verbal landmines that have been left behind.

However, there is hope. The first step we need to take is repentance. That means we are going to search the depths of our hearts and ask God to show us where we have sinned. We are not going to do an inventory of someone else’s heart, only our own. We are going to own up to our sin, agree with God that it is sin against Him and His child, and go in the opposite direction.

The next step is to approach that person with humble admission. We must be willing to accept that we were wrong and hurtful. At this point the intent of our heart should not be to just move on but to get the relationship back on the rails. With the right heart attitude we will communicate a desire to do the hard things and work diligently at removing the landmines one at a time. This will be messy and time consuming, but it will be necessary and, in the end, beautiful.

This is a hard lesson to learn and that is why so much Scripture addresses it. Both the Old and New Testaments deal with it, and so it is imperative that we deal with it as well. Solomon wrote, for the good of the nation of Israel, and ultimately for our benefit as well:

From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the desire of the treacherous is for violence. (Proverbs 13:2)

“…The mouth is a tree that produces fruits that it has to eat. Language is not neutral, not sterile; it initiates a process that will come back to its origin…” (L. Alonso Schökel).

We must learn to be careful what we say because we will end up eating our words.

Grace & Peace,

Mike Higginbotham is home! Now life can get back to “normal” for the Higginbothams…except for Mike. I think we all have to realize that right now, even though this soldier is home, his plate has probably never been more full. Why do I say that?

First, he has to figure out what his next step is: should he go back to school, get a job or both? He and Kacie have a wedding to plan in the next six months: where are they going to live, who is going to wash the dishes, who is going to decorate their home? And he has to try to figure out what to do with all the emotions he’s experienced from the last six years. Mike was on the front lines. He has seen death, anger, and depression (and so much more). These realities and the emotions that come with them have been with him constantly. These are things that most of us have never had to face and probably never will. So what can we do?

Calvary Church is a family, and when a family member comes home we celebrate and support. We need to be praying that God will continue to transform Mike, and that God will heal the emotional and spiritual wounds he suffered while doing two tours of war in Afghanistan. Pray that God would give Kacie and Mike guidance as they prepare to honor God through a biblical marriage. Pray for wisdom about job and schooling decisions. And we need to go one step further and speak words of encouragement and support. Love him and be patient. Take him out to breakfast, lunch or supper (I’m sure he would be available).

And let’s always remember, this is the same Mike who left us six years ago to get a haircut, new clothes and a gun, but he is not the same. He had our love and he has earned our respect. Let’s just be for him. Let him know how thankful you are that he was willing to put his life on hold, and on the line, to protect our freedom.

Welcome Home Mike,