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Ministry 101

By Delbert Teachout Leave a Comment

Have you ever heard anyone say that twenty percent of the people in a church do eighty percent of the work? Could it be that some of those who are not working don’t understand that they have a ministry?  The Bible tells us that, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph 2:10) In other words, everyone has a ministry. However, not everyone has a good understanding of their ministry. Not everyone knows to keep God the focus. Nor does everyone know how to perform their ministry in a meaningful way.

Understanding Ministry     

The word ministry isn’t merely Christian jargon. Ministry can be defined by three Greek words: leitourgos, which means a servant; huperetes, a personal attendant carrying out the desires and orders of another; and diakono, a minister of the gospel. Therefore, ministry means to serve, or the act of ministering, either in public, to a private individual, or in a church. The New Testament gives examples of all three types (Romans 15:16, Luke 4:20, and Galatians 2:17 respectively) although most people in the church think of diakono when they think of ministry.     

Within any church there are numerous jobs to be done and numerous opportunities for ministry. Yet, only one in five “born again” believers in America attend church once every six months. Only thirty-five percent attend church once a week. I wonder how God’s work is getting done if people are not in church using their gifts. If you want to enjoy using your gift for ministry, regular attendance at a church is important.     

“We have different gifts, according to the grace given to us.” (Rom. 12: 6) It is our duty to submit to God and determine what our gift is with an open mind and an obedient heart. Dwight L. Moody said, “The Lord must teach us what our work shall be.” For some people it is easy, especially if they are gifted in music or singing. But if a person is not using his or her gift there is a void in that area. Sometimes a person can see a need and volunteer to fill it. Sometimes others will ask the person to fill the void.     

What I have learned is that when we discover our gift, we will already be using it. One church I belonged to asked each first time visitor to fill out a visitor card. Then sometime within a week someone from the church would go to that person’s home to answer any questions about the church and encourage the person to come again. The first time I ever went to a person’s home, my knees sounded like a snare drum because I was so nervous. Within a few months after making home visits, church leaders told me it was my gift. I was selected as the visitation outreach director of the entire church. I didn’t know I had that gift until I started using it.     

The gifts of ministry in the church could be any number of things, from working in the nursery to cleaning the church sanctuary. It could be a greeter at the door or pushing the lawn mower. It could be driving the van to playing kick the can with the kids. If you can walk, talk, or use either hand, there is a ministry for you. Your job is to be faithful to do whatever is needed. I’ve been in churches where volunteers cleaned the church and mowed the grass because they could not afford a custodian. Wherever there is a need there is a ministry. Some ministries are so basic they require no gift except to be willing to work. Most people can push a lawn mower or shovel snow, or sweep a sidewalk, or operate a vacuum cleaner. People who have these ministry gifts are a vital part of the church because they make it function more efficiently.     

“Ministry is not shouting ‘Hallelujah’ at a football game when your team scores.”

The church in America is struggling because people either don’t attend church or aren’t involved. Studies by The Barna Group in 2005 indicate that there were about thirteen million unchurched “Christians” in our country, with the number expected to double in the next twenty years. It’s impossible to use your ministry gift in church if you do not attend. I believe that every Christian man and woman should regularly exercise his or her ministry gift. This is not only in accordance with Biblical teaching, but it is also vitally important for the church and the believer. The believer needs that time of corporate worship, Bible teaching, and fellowship with other believers. These three keep us strong in our faith and without them our faith tends to erode.     

In the fall of 2007, Enrichment Magazine reported a survey of why people attended church. The highest reason reported at twenty-three percent was for spiritual growth. Other reasons were: to worship God, being brought up in church, for fellowship, belief in God, and to remain grounded in their faith. Not one reason was to perform a person’s ministry. The emphasis was on serving oneself instead of serving God. Performing our ministry ought to be high on our list of why we attend church.

Keep God the Focus     

“You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God,“ (Acts 8:21). The first way to keep God the focus (keep our hearts right) of our ministry is to keep God as a priority in our lives. Regular church attendance is one way we do this. It is not the one sermon that suddenly strikes a nerve that makes a difference, it’s the steady and regular Word of God being heard week after week that makes the real significant difference. When I was a Sunday school superintendent I had teachers tell me they were having trouble completing the entire lesson in the time they had. I told them they had to remember they were teaching children, not teaching lessons. The most important thing was that the child was there, heard part of a Bible story, and wanted to come back the next week. It is the week after week lessons that build up and change a person – they are making God their first priority.     

Secondly, we need to remember true ministry is about using God’s gift to serve others. In his book, Whose Love Is It Anyway, Judson Cornwall said that loving God isn’t all praise and worship but it also involves love given to others. Worship isn’t always through music. True worship of God is serving Him by serving His people. Our motives for ministry must be to meet the needs of others, leading to their salvation or spiritual growth, and to bring glory to God. Anything less than that and the motive becomes pride, which God will not respect. Author of The Ministry, Charles Slattery, reminds us that “there is no end of the ways in which a [human] can serve God.””     

When a person is advancing in their spiritual maturity, they will begin to minister. Slattery says they help anyone in any way they can. They will spread their seed, the seed of love, everywhere they go. If they help few, few will be saved. If they help many, many will be saved. They could choose to reap thirty-fold, or a hundred-fold depending on their fervency and love for the Lord.     

A third way to keep God the focus of your ministry is to perform it regularly and faithfully. “The priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry out their ministry.” (Heb 9:6) The faithful person will perform his or her ministry regularly. People will count on them. Sales people know that the way to make sales is personal contact on a regular basis. The same principle applies to ministry. Ministry is a personal involvement in the life of another. Regular performance of our ministries will produce the results of salvation or edification. When performed regularly, we can keep our focus on God. If we lose our focus we also lose our faithfulness and reduce the results.

Where To Start Serving     

The ministry of the kingdom of God goes beyond the walls of the church. It is in the highways and byways wherever there are people. Slattery said, “What we want is personal contact with them.” Did Jesus sit in the synagogue and help only those in attendance or did he go to where the people were? Did he give them a passing glance or did he stop to help them? I have some terribly distressing news but we are not saved to ride through life in our own little bubble passing by the world as we travel.     

Even though God gifted us to serve the church, sometimes our ministry takes us out of the church. People live in neighborhoods, work in businesses, and shop in shopping centers. Where there are people, there is the kingdom work. There is where God wants us. He wants us to grow the church.       

Neighborhood Bible studies need leaders and administrators, and homes to meet in, and food to eat, and games to play. We could do bus or van ministries, or minister to people who cannot get out of their home, teach Bible classes to people in jail or nursing homes where there are people who would love a visit. Prison groups, outreach visitation, adopt-a-block, and similar activities all need workers. There is more work to do than there are people to do it!  God’s work is with the homeless alcoholics who cannot overcome their addiction long enough to obtain employment or secure housing. God’s work is in soup kitchens, hospitals, nurseries, nursing homes, jails and prisons, on our streets and in our homes.

How To Perform Ministry          

We participate in what God is doing in the world. That’s the bottom-line. There are seventy-six million people in America who do not ever attend a church service. If you want God to say to you, “Well done good and faithful servant,” (Matt 25:23) then get out of the church and go where the people are. That does not mean going to a football game on Sunday and shouting “Hallelujah” when your favorite team scores a touchdown.  God’s work is small things like helping the person in front of you at the grocery store who suddenly comes up a little short to pay for the groceries, volunteering at shelters or locations where others are hurting, and even taking people shopping who do not have transportation of their own.     

Real ministry is serving others. Sometimes we don’t enjoy what serving involves but we do it anyway. I am reminded of a time when a man so intoxicated he could hardly stand came into the rescue mission where I worked. He was smelly and his clothing was soiled. Two men who were staying at the mission took this man to the showers. They cleaned him up and gave him clean clothes to wear. They are the epitome of what it means to minister.     

What about overdoing it? Bible heroes gave their lives in ministry. Look at Jesus, Moses, Joshua, the twelve disciples, and through history all the martyrs left along the way. Unless a person has gone to the cross for someone to see that person saved, there is no such thing as overdoing it. We were made to serve.

From Zero to Extremes     

Some will say they don’t have to minister. They might even quote the scripture, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast,” (Eph 2:8). These folks make up the large group of Christians who do nothing. They are a part of the thirty-eight percent who attend church once a month or less. Some boast that they don’t have to work, forgetting that God calls everyone for a preordained purpose.     

On the other hand, there are people who are always working, fueled by James 2:14, “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?” Some boast about their work, forgetting it was God who called, gifted, and provided opportunities for ministry. They will tell you that there is always something else to do, to write, to teach, another person to visit, another person without food, and the list is endless. They can somehow become so involved with the ministry they forget the purpose of the ministry. They always strive to improve “their” results. If they work for a non-profit agency and depend on donations for support, they must keep the emphasis on the numbers in order to be funded. If not careful the numbers can become more important than the reason for the ministry: souls won to the Lord.     

The truth is somewhere in the middle. Yes we are saved by grace but we will be judged by what we did. Our works done by faith can lead to a heavenly reward, unless the work leads to forgetting who we are working for or why we are working.     

We need to thank God, praise God, and perform our ministry. We need to understand our ministry, keep the focus on God, and serve in a meaningful way.

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New Identity | Exploring Faith
We're happy to announce that the Fall/Winter 2020 We're happy to announce that the Fall/Winter 2020 Issue is out today! There are some great articles inside that we hope you'll love! Enjoy! 🤗 #linkinbio⁠
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Prayer isn’t about making the things we selfishl Prayer isn’t about making the things we selfishly want happen; it’s about making us want what God wants.⁠
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✍🏽: @sarahjoysly in "Prayer - The Alignment of Our Souls With God"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” – Haldir⁠
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In Lothlorien, Haldir is encouraging a downcast Fellowship with a glimpse of the larger story in which they find themselves. His words reflect the apostle Paul’s encouragement to the church, that we “do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). For there is a form of grief from which there is no recovery – one in which there is no resurrection of the dead. If death is the final word, then we must suffer grief without hope, grief that diminishes our love for life because of the crushing weight of the loss we’ve experienced. But Tolkien believed that death was not the end; therefore, we may experience the beautiful juxtaposition in our own lives of deep sorrow mixed with rivers of joy. Instead of crippling us, our grief may actually help to cultivate in our character the virtues of faith, hope, and love that are necessary to continue to carry our heaviest burdens. ⁠
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The Bible stresses that despite our differences we The Bible stresses that despite our differences we are called to love each other above our political positions. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Colossians 3:12-14). You may feel like how politics and religion intersect in the public sphere communicate the exact opposite of this, and you’d be right. Media outlets report drama and conflict. Gracious and loving political opponents are not newsworthy.⁠
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✍🏽: Matthew Hamilton in "Our Identity In Christ Is Always Greater"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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#politics #voting #love #loveyourneighbor #loveyourneighbornotmattertheirpolitics
The trees, with their bark, the skin of the forest The trees, with their bark, the skin of the forest, with its scars and wrinkles, lean toward me, and brush me with their limbs. The leaves beg me to examine their veins. “Have you seen this?” Each different, but each spectacular. The infinite busy creatures. The carpet of green, the dome of blue.⁠
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A few moments later, I feel like an amazing creature in a world amazingly made. I feel the astounding power of God, where the smallest thing around me, a leaf, an ant, is more complicated, and alive and amazing than anything humanity has ever thought of.⁠
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Really, there is nothing like it. The author C.S. Lewis noted that the best place to take a non-believing scientist or a real thinker is nature.  Eventually the noise of God in nature is deafening.⁠
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Once you’re in that place, just a few minutes into your walk, your mouth will hardly be able to keep from pouring out praise to God. It becomes so easy. Connecting to God like that, in praise, as a consequence of observing nature, is so freeing and so empowering that you will return to your office balanced and ready, clear headed and encouraged.⁠
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The prayer that most blesses God, most blesses the one who prays it. And there is almost no easier way than from within the sanctuary of nature, which itself raises up its branches to him in prayer with every sunrise.⁠
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✍🏽: Tom Koel in "Muting The Noise of the World - Deconstructing The Prayer Hike for City Dwellers"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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Each person comes to a Bible passage with his own Each person comes to a Bible passage with his own culture, language, and historical understanding. Sometimes we use these to interpret the Bible, but the hard work of bible study requires that you get rid of those things and interpret the passage by allowing it to speak for itself in its own language, cultural context, and historical background. In other words, interpretation is hard work because you are trying to to discover what the passage meant to its (original) audience 2000 years ago (even though we are reading it today). ⁠
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✍🏽: @the_christopherscott in "How Anyone Can Study The Bible"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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Everything we do should be done for the ultimate e Everything we do should be done for the ultimate enjoyment of God. For instance, our enjoyment of a loving relationship with our spouse is a reflection of our relationship with God, and is therefore something God uses in order for us to better understand his love and how we can love him better.⁠
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This entails that God has given us the Bible as a means to an end. The point of reading the Bible is to come to enjoy God better and more fully. It might seem odd, or even a little sacrilege to think of the Bible as a means to an end. This is because we rightly think of the Bible as holy or sacred. But, it is not God. It is holy and sacred insofar as it is the word of God, given to us so we can better understand who God is. ⁠
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By reading Scripture we learn more about God, his work in the world, his plan for us, and his expectations for us. This is one of the means God has provided for us to enjoy him more. In fact, St. Augustine of Hippo believed that if a Christian could hypothetically enjoy God perfectly in this life, that they would no longer need to read the Bible. Of course because we will not come to love God perfectly in this life, reading, meditating on, and yes, memorizing scripture, will regularly be a source of knowledge that help us to love God more. However, Augustine wants his readers to remember, that knowledge is not the goal for reading the Bible.⁠
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✍🏽: Jeffery Porter in "How A Roman Bishop Changed The Way I Read The Bible"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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People with unbelieving hearts only seek after wha People with unbelieving hearts only seek after what prospers them. Apart from Jesus, we set in motion lives filled with harm, with no hope and no future. A person can only have hope and a future when life is lived out for Christ. We get light through reading the Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other Christians. This light of life can be obtained through an open line of communication with the one who gives it—Jesus. Apart from him, life can appear meaningless. Our purpose in life is to glorify God with who we are and what we have. –Steven Butwell⁠
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"No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced, but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others." –Psalm 25:3 NLT⁠
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What’s your favorite article in the new issue? F What’s your favorite article in the new issue? Follow the link in our bio to read it online or download it free to your tablet. ⁠
Even as God demonstrated love by sending Jesus to Even as God demonstrated love by sending Jesus to die on the cross to take punishment for our sins, God reminded people of the importance of fearing him. God is not only our savior, comforter, and friend who promises to be with us always (Hebrews 13:5; Matthew 28:20), but also the most powerful being in the universe. There is a place for the right kind of fear—the reverential awe and respect—in our lives.⁠
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✍🏽: Délice Williams in "Fear The Lord?" Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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Like the Psalmist, John describes Jesus as God’s Like the Psalmist, John describes Jesus as God’s Word who brings light and life to the darkness. Jesus is God’s Word that comes to us, to those who are dwelling in darkness. In fact, this is exactly what Jesus declares his mission to be in John 12:46: “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” This Light and Darkness imagery pervades the gospel of John. People love darkness because they don’t want their actions, thoughts, motives to be exposed by the light. But the truth is that deep down we need (and want) to be seen. We want to be loved despite our dirtiest deeds and foulest feelings. We need to restore the relationship that Adam and Eve once had with God–complete openness, and deep love–but we can’t do it on our own. Only God can (and did through Jesus) bring that relationship back.⁠
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✍🏽: Brandon Hurlbert in "The Light of God's Love"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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In John 15:1 Jesus says that God is the gardener a In John 15:1 Jesus says that God is the gardener and he prunes every branch that does not produce fruit. A person stuck in his or her ways of sin is like a prickly shrub growing a lot of branches with no fruit. These branches must be removed so good fruit can grow. In the same way as a bush is unable to prune itself, a person who is living in sin is unable to remove all the unfruitful branches in life. Paul described this condition in chapter seven of Romans when he called himself a wretched man and realized only Jesus can change him.⁠
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Jesus provides the essential elements for growth; he gives us his Word (the Bible) for fertilizer, other believers for sunshine, and the Holy Spirit for water. When our roots begin to receive this new water, sunshine, and fertilizer, new branches begin to grow. This time the branches are not prickly bushes, but beautiful new branches adorned with the fruit of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control,” (Galatians 5:22). Our old acquaintances will marvel at who we have become. When we allow God to be the gardener, he will shape us into his design.⁠
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✍🏽: Delbert Teachout in "God The Gardener"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
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As new creations, those who have been forgiven by As new creations, those who have been forgiven by and reconciled to Jesus, we now have the task of being reconciled to each other. As Christians, we are not just called to forgive others in our hearts but keep them at an arm’s length away. No, we are called to be of one heart and one mind (Acts 4:32) with our brothers and sisters—we are called to be reconciled.⁠
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✍🏽: Brandon Hurlbert in "Repairing Broken Bridges"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
We are faced with a challenge: to make God the cen We are faced with a challenge: to make God the center and purpose of our lives in a world of demands. God asks us to listen for his voice, and it’s no wonder why he chose to speak to Elijah in a “still, small voice” in 1 Kings 19:12-13. He doesn’t always shout at us because he wants us to choose to listen, to put other things aside so that all of our focus is towards discerning his will in the specifics of our lives. We have his will for us in general, as communicated in the Bible, which is to make disciples of all nations, to glorify the one true God, to serve no other gods, to love our neighbors as ourselves, etc., but sometimes we need to figure out how those general plans fit the specifics of our lives. Hearing God’s voice is part of how we relate to him, but in those moments of uncertainty, quieting ourselves becomes even more important.⁠
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✍🏽: @sarahjoysly in "Listening For A Whisper"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
📷: Photo by Jara from Pexels⁠
Imagine if every Christian started praying to God Imagine if every Christian started praying to God and asking for him to bless us with gifts of encouragement for the sake of the world around us. The Church would make an immediate impact on the lives of people.⁠
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✍🏽: @lukegeraty in "The Gift of Encouragement from the Great Encourager"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
📷: Photo by Lum3n from Pexels⁠
Everything sad will come untrue because we are not Everything sad will come untrue because we are not doomed to be forever parted with those we love, nor will our souls simply turn to dust and fade with the memory of those we leave behind.⁠
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✍🏽: @slimkeman in "Memorable Middle Earth - Why I'm Always Tolkien In Movie Quotes"  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com⁠ by visiting the link in our bio and tapping on the image.⁠
📷: Photo by Dirk Förster from Flickr
"Remembering God's promises and his faithfulness a "Remembering God's promises and his faithfulness as a community will help us to endure our sorrows for the night, for joy comes in the morning." @slimkeman from his article The Beauty of Community & The Beast of Isolation 🌤 Can you name some of God's promises that keep you encouraged and grounded? We'd love to hear in the comments below - and just maybe it might be the hope someone else is needing right now! 🤗⁠
“Every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors “Every night I lie in bed, the brightest colors fill my head. A million dreams are keepin’ me awake. I think of what the world could be, a vision of the one I see. A million dreams is all it’s gonna take. A million dreams for the world we’re gonna make.” ⁠
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As P.T. Barnum sings these words to Charity in the beautiful montage of their young lives, we are captivated by the hope that they share, the possibilities of their bright future, and the chance of their love overcoming the wall between privilege and poverty that keeps them apart. The Greatest Showman asks us to wrestle with the quest for the holy grail of our modern world: success and happiness. ⁠
What is the good life? If a million of our wildest dreams came true, would we truly be happy?⁠
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In Jesus, we find a man who invites us into his presence with these words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He is the only one who can fill “the infinite abyss” of desire in our souls. When you have fully devoted yourself and your dreams to your Creator, you will discover that “everything you ever want” and “everything you ever need” is “right here in front of you” in Christ Jesus.⁠
{Steve Limekman}⁠
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✍🏼: by @slimkeman in “The Greatest Showman”  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com by clicking on the link in our bio ⁠
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📸: from newidentitymagazine
Every day in sub-Saharan Africa, one child in ten Every day in sub-Saharan Africa, one child in ten under the age of five dies of a preventable cause, and nearly every day in America eight in ten adults consume coffee. What do these numbers have to do with each other? A lot, according to the One Cup Project, which is using America’s love for coffee to reduce the number of children dying in Africa by converting coffee profits into life-saving aid.⁠
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The One Cup Project started in 2010, when Christian Kar, the founder of an award-winning Seattle-based coffee company, partnered with the Christian humanitarian aid organization, World Vision.Remarkably, every dollar spent on One Cup Coffee generates a dollar of aid for Africa.⁠
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Buy some coffee, put up a post on your Facebook page, ask your church, local café, or workplace to change their coffee, or run a One Cup Fundraiser. In doing so, you just may help hurting people find healing, hope, and life. Change the world for the better, one cup at a time.⁠
{Thame Fuller}⁠
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✍🏼: @thamefuller in “One Cup Project”  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com by clicking on the link in our bio or click on this link to take you directly to the One Cup website: https://onecup.org/our-story/⁠
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📸: by @AftaPuta from Pexels
When someone accepts Jesus, they leave their old p When someone accepts Jesus, they leave their old priorities behind and make Jesus the center of their life. Jesus calls each of us to share the good news with the world. He came to give living water to a thirsty world, and we have the honor and privilege of sharing his message by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39).⁠
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The most important thing you can do is enter each conversation with a posture of prayer. Pray for the person you’re sharing with, that God would open their heart to accept him. Pray that God would give you the words to say. And a loving way to say them.⁠
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Expect God to work in your relationship and use you to share Jesus through your friendship in his own timing. No matter how long you have been a believer, you can share Jesus with the confidence that he is with you and that he will use you for his glory.⁠
{Eric Gulley}⁠
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✍🏼: Eric Gulley in “Sharing Your Faith”  Continue reading at newidentitymagazine.com by clicking on the link in our bio ⁠
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📸: by @OliverSjostrom from Pexels
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