Pursue Jesus. Love People. Transform the World.

Pursue Jesus. Love People. Transform the world.

God has this amazing plan for the world, a plan He has had from the beginning of time. The plan only began with Jesus. It continues through us to completion. How cool that we get to play a part, and no small one at that.

Throughout His 33 years, Jesus went around sparking interest and teaching people how to teach about Him and live like him. He went about loving people from every region and place.

“Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.”

Matthew 4:23-25 NIV

He never planned to be a one man show though. Because of and through His great love, He attracted followers, people who would emulate all that He was. People followed and pursued Him at all costs. They left family and fortune and tradition, all for the cause of Christ. Jesus set up churches filled with individuals carrying the flame of His Holy Spirit with the purpose of spreading the truth of His existence and how it impacts the world by word of mouth, person to person, individual to individual through relationship.

The hope of the world is the local church, the family that it is.

The Bible tells us in Matthew 28:19-20 that we are to make disciples (followers and family members of Jesus) of all men.

“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. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

Matthew 28:19-20 NIV

So how do we make disciples? What does that look like? It looks like talking the talk and walking the walk. It looks like opening our mouth and living our lives in such a way that it attracts people to Jesus, just like Jesus did. Then, it means teaching them to do the same.

“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””

Romans 10:13-15 NIV

So what attracts people to something? Meeting a need! True religion! Relationship! LOVE!

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

James 1:27 NIV

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

Matthew 25:35-40 NIV

After Jesus showed the ultimate act of love by sacrificing His very life, ascending to the Father and sending His Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us, He then asked us live a life that looked like His. He asked us to pursue Him, to love people and to transform the world by His love shown through us.

His plan is relationship, both with Him and with others. His plan is love, to be loved by Him and to love others.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

John 14:12, 16-18 NIV