Mark Johnston

Anyone You Find

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity (Colossians 4:5 - NIV).

This past Sunday at The Journey, our series “*By Invitation Only” continued.

We talked about the significance of the physical steps we take every day (over 5000 for most of us). Where are they leading us? Are we taking steps on mission? Are we walking in the direction of people who don’t know Jesus Christ?

The challenge issued was startlingly simple. Invest. Invite.

Who should we invite to a gathering at The Journey? Anyone we find.

So, have you?

In a week and a half, on Easter Sunday, we’re launching “The Resumé.” The point of the series is simple: none of us are good enough for God; and God is good enough to save us anyway. It’s a message everyone needs to hear. You. Me. The people we live near, work with, are related to, and are friends with.

I’m committed to inviting at least five people to “The Resumé” this week. I believe God is going to come down, and I want there to be A LOT of people at his party when he does.

How about you? Who should you invite to a gathering at The Journey? Anyone you find.

It’s not too late. Take a few steps today in the direction of someone who doesn’t know Christ. Open your life. Open your mouth. Invest. Invite.

Come Down

Part your heavens, O LORD, and come down… (Psalm 144:5 – NIV)

Three weeks.

In three weeks, people will buckle their kids into their SUV’s and go somewhere they rarely go to do something they rarely do.

Easter Sunday is three weeks away. Traditionally, there will be more people in a worship gathering across America on Easter Sunday than on nearly any other Sunday of the year.

Will they come back the following week?

At The Journey, we’re hoping they will. In fact, we’re not just aimlessly hoping (anyone can do that; and sadly, that may be all many Christians do this Easter) – we’re going to do something about it. We’re going to pray and fast for the next three weeks for God to come down in the community we live in and the community of faith we do life with. And in the middle of that, we’re going to invite everybody with ears to come check out what’s happening here. We’re going to invest in the lives of our neighbors, coworkers, family members and friends and invite them to The Journey this Easter. And on Easter Sunday, we’re going to launch a brand new series with one simple purpose: making it clear that none of us are good enough for God, but that God is more than good enough to save us anyway.

That’s a message everybody needs to hear. Whether or not they will is up to you and me.

You can hear all about the spiritual part God wants us to play via the attached audio clip, recorded at the end of the second gathering this past Sunday morning.

Click HERE to listen to the audio clip.

It’s a God thing.

Come down, O LORD.

Ask

Ask the LORD for rain (Zechariah 10:1 – NKJV).

I’m sitting in a waiting room at Christiana Hospital as my wife prepares to go under the knife. She was quiet on the drive here; thinking, readying herself.

Last fall, her physician sent her for a test and the test revealed something in her body that shouldn’t be there. A couple of months later, another test; another something, this one scarier than the first (more “complex,” her physician said).

We prayed. We believed. Yesterday, there was one last test. The scarier thing was gone – completely. It vanished. The technician performing the test was thrilled. Not nearly as thrilled as Susan and I were. Thank God.

The less scary thing was still there. So her surgery goes forward in just a few minutes.

In the waiting room, I opened my Bible and read these words in Zechariah 10: “Ask the LORD for rain.”

Do you hear the heart of God? In the midst of the threat of judgment, the urging for repentance, the uncompromising stance against his people’s sins, God says, “ask me for rain.”

“The LORD will make flashing clouds;” the prophet writes. “He will give showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.”

Oh God, I am asking you for rain. A rain of grace. A downpour of blessing. A thick, driving flood of your provision, covering and soaking my beautiful girl, blessing my family.

And while I’m at it, I’m asking for rain for the community of believers I do life among. Many of us will be meeting in groups tonight. Send rain to The Journey, Lord. Give showers of rain to those who have lost their jobs; to those who are struggling to hold on to their hope. Let there be grass in the field for everyone. Saturate the lives of new believers who are taking steps toward the Son of God; making sacrifices; dying so they can live. Pour down on those of us who have been following you a long time as well – let us spring up, the brilliant green of growth replacing the brownness in our lives.

Ask the LORD for rain.

I am asking, Lord.

Young

There are a lot of young adults attending and joining The Journey these days.

It’s an answer to prayer and the fruit of intentional planning. God is leveraging The Journey to influence the people we sat down nearly two years ago as leaders and said we felt compelled to reach.

If you’re a young adult who’s been taking steps toward Christ here, that’s pretty cool – you're not alone. If you’re in your 30’s or 40’s or 50’s or beyond and you’re taking steps toward Christ here, you’re part of the mission; and you have a unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the next generation. Be involved. Connect with and help shape young adults. Mentor the future.

Craig Groeschel, author and pastor at lifechurch.tv, recently articulated six differences between the generation now emerging into adulthood and the one that preceded it. I’ve tweaked them a little and included them below:

1) Your world is smaller and your perspective is broader. The 20-somethings of 2009 have grown up in a global village. Technology has obliterated the mystery of “distant lands” – and introduced philosophies of every stripe into your everyday experiences.

2) Your concept of “friends” is looser. A friend used to be one of four or five people we bowled with on Tuesdays and camped with in July; now it’s one of 685 people you’re linked to on Facebook.

3) Materialism is losing its grip on this generation; while the grip of experience-ism is strengthening. Those of us born in the 60’s and 70’s tend to be into accumulating stuff; those of us born in the 80’s and 90’s tend to be into accumulating experiences. “Where have you been;” “what have you done;” and “what are you learning” are now more important questions than “what do you own.”

4) Many of you are under-challenged. You've encountered less financial struggle than your parents (although this may be rapidly changing). You wrestle with feelings of entitlement; but you also know you were meant for more. You have more potential than you (or we) realize.

5) Your world is gray. Relativism isn’t just a fad a few free-thinkers embrace anymore; it’s the predominant philosophy of this culture.

6) You're searching for a cause. This generation is straining to discover something worth living for; something to let your bottled up passion loose upon.

If this generation is different than the previous one, it makes sense that you crave different things, and are open (and closed) to different approaches to life and ministry. Craig’s advice to churches is to be conversational, missional, and generational in our ministry to young adults; to give you a chance to talk (and listen to you, instead of climbing aboard our steamrollers and flattening your ideas); invite you to do what we do as Jesus-followers (not just believe what we believe); and invest heavily in your spiritual success.

In a week, The Journey will launch our spring semester of Life Groups. If you’re a young adult, we’re going to do exactly what Craig describes. You’re going to have a chance to talk. You’re going to have an opportunity to do mission. And we’re going to invest in your growth. If you’re not a young adult (I hang on by a thread these days), you’re not just a spectator. You’re part of the solution to the problem of a lost generation. Listen. Love. Roll up your sleeves and prove that your faith is real. And go the extra mile to help someone younger than you take more steps toward Jesus.

1 John 2:14
I write to you, fathers,
because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one (NIV).