by Patrick McCue

Commission Challenge #7-  Keep Going!

I know you are thinking that there were only 6 challenges but now we are onto the 7^th!  The 7^th isn’t really so much a new challenge as a combination of all of the previous ones.  We committed to take the gospel to all the earth, to pray, read the Word, give our time, talent and treasure, spent time in unfamiliar places, be a part of the Church and create relationships with those that don’t know Christ so they can know him. What I am going to challenge you with today is this, KEEP GOING!  Keep doing these things and don’t quit! When the going gets tough, KEEP GOING!  I want to look at a scripture that I believe will encourage you to continue going strong and make you effective for the kingdom!

2 Timothy 2:2     You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ² And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. ³ Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.

The first part of this verse talks about being strong in the Lord and entrusting what you learned about Him to others so that they can entrust it to others. You are not the only one that God loves, He loves everyone and doesn’t want any to perish.  What was God’s plan that they shouldn’t perish? He sent Christ to die for our sin! What was His plan to spread that message? You and I!  We are the ones that He has called to pass the message on! You and I are called to pass the message of life transformation onto others so that they will pass it on some more!  It is a circle, not a line. It isn’t a calling that is complete once you have reached someone with the Gospel, now you disciple them and they reach someone that they disciple! If we all did this we could reach our communities, our schools and our workplaces effectively! What keeps us from effectively doing this? It is often fear of failure and persecution that keeps us from going.  To keep us going Paul gave us verse 3…

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. ⁴ No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs—he wants to please his commanding officer.

We are in a battle and at times we are going to have to keep going! Times will get tough and although we face struggles and afflictions, we need to KEEP GOING!  I think another one of the main reasons that we don’t keep going is that we get tied up in civilian affairs.  Civilian affairs are the things that we do to fit in with society and to bring pleasure to ourselves.  The civilian nature will make you too busy to do the things that God wants you to do! It is really easy to get so caught up in the things of this world and the civilian nature that we fail to fulfill the great commission.  I want to challenge you today to Keep Going! Don’t quit, don’t stop, don’t get discouraged in your faith, but dig in and remember the importance of your calling! Don’t forget that God loved the world enough to entrust you with the gospel message so you can give the world hope!  I think it is time we GET GOING!

by Patrick McCue

Commission Challenge #6-  I will commit to creating relationships with those who do not know Christ and to sharing my faith with them.

God has called us to be a light to the world and to share the Gospel with the lost.  Billy Graham used to get up and preach in stadiums and thousands of people would come forward and get saved, but how you? How are you going to share the Gospel with those that are still searching?  There is a term that many people use called friendship evangelism.  Friendship evangelism is a simple way of becoming friends with people and then sharing the Gospel with them.  Often friendship evangelism works backwards; believers get influenced more by the unbeliever than they do the influencing.  I want to talk today about what kind of friendship a believer should have with an unbeliever.  First of all I want to look at some Scriptures to see how Jesus expects our behavior to be different than that of the people of this world, and how we should view those kinds of relationships.

Jesus – “ I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They do not belong to this world any more than I do. ¹⁷ Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. ¹⁹ And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”  John 17:14-19 NLT

We are called to be “in but not of” the world. Jesus sent us into the world, but His prayer was that we would be protected from the world. We know from the great commission why He sent us into the world, but He knew that the world was going to be a dangerous place.  People in this world are going to try to talk you into a belief system that is far different than the Word of God!

John 17:17 Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.

First of all we need to know the Word of God ourselves! And when we know that truth, it will be our guide and code to live by. So when the world tries to get us to believe something different, we can be reminded of what we truly believe! God didn’t want to take us out of the world; He wanted us to influence the world with His truth!

And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Rom. 12:1-2 NLT

As we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God, we need to be careful that we do not follow the behaviors and customs of this world.  The way that I have seen people fall into following the world’s behaviors and customs the fastest is through having an unprotected heart with unbelievers.  Dating relationships and best friendships often have a greater influence on your faith than you ever imagined. You start out hoping to share the Gospel, but you end up walking away from the Gospel.  Listen to the strong commands that the Bible gives on sharing your heart in relationships with unbelievers…

14 Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? ¹⁵ What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever? ¹⁶ And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:

“I will live in them

and walk among them.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

17      Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,

and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord.

Don’t touch their filthy things,

and I will welcome you.

18      And I will be your Father,

and you will be my sons and daughters,

says the Lord Almighty. ”  2 Cor. 6:14-18 NLT

We are called to live apart from unbelievers in regard to our belief system and actions go.  As far as our location and influence, we are called to have a great impact on our world as we bring the life transforming Gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost. As a bring this lesson to a close I want to be clear, God wants you to develop relationships with unbelievers for the purpose of bringing the Gospel to them and helping them find life transformation. But you need to be careful; God doesn’t want you to entrusting your heart to a best friend or girl/boyfriend that isn’t a believer. We are in this world but not of it. That means we are in it to influence it for the better, don’t let it influence you!

 I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one.

John 17:15

by Patrick McCue

Commission Challenge #5  I will commit myself to being a part of a life-giving community of believers.

Did you ever hear someone say ”I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian”?

I have heard that more times than I want to admit. I know that going to church has nothing to do with salvation, but I don’t believe you can reject the establishment of the Church and claim to be a Christian.  The Bible has way too much to say about the importance of the Body of Christ. If you consider yourself a friend of Christ, but don’t love the Church, that would be like being my friend and not wanting anything to do with my wife. I will tell you right now- if you don’t want anything to do with Rachel, then you don’t want anything to do with me. Why would I compare these two situations? Because the Church is the Bride of Christ!  Christ gave up His life so that you and I could be worthy of being His bride. In our sinful lives our wedding gown is blood stained; but when we give our life to Him, He cleanses our sins of scarlet and makes them as white as snow so that He can present us to Himself as His blameless and spotless bride!

Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him.

For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb,

and his bride has prepared herself.

8  She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear.”

For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.

-Re 19:7-8 NLT

Christ gave up His life so that together we could be His bride, which means when we look at the church we are not only looking at a gathering of believers- we are looking at ourselves!  When we are not working as a part of that community of believers, we harm them and ourselves.   The Bible says that we belong to each other.

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Ro 12:4-5 NLT

As a part of a body we receive all kinds of benefits: support, encouragement, teaching, training and the joy of being a part of a community that loves us.  We also benefit from working together with like-minded people toward the purpose of fulfilling the “Great Commission” and loving one another in a Christian manner. The Church is one of the greatest blessings a believer has.

You might think that the church isn’t necessary for you because it’s boring and you don’t have fun at it.  You may feel like you don’t fit in and that you are not welcome, but let’s take a minute and see what Jesus said about the Church.

“I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

-Mt 16:18 KJV

 Jesus founded the Church and intended it to be the prevailing life-giving community on earth.  The word used for church in the New Testament is “ekklesia”. In its general definition it means a people who are “called out” to “gather or assemble” for a purpose. When Jesus said “I will build my church” He was saying that “My people will be called out from the world and will be a community like no other.” When instructions are given to the church in the New Testament they describe a united body or family that act as one, love unconditionally, serve one another and work together to meet each other’s needs and fulfill the “Great Commission.” You can’t fulfill the “Great Commission” on your own, and you were never intended to stand strong in your faith alone. You were called to be a part of  the live-giving community that Jesus instituted and that He declared would not be overpowered or conquered, but would be the prevailing community that brings the life-giving Gospel message to the hearts and soul of  people in every nation on the earth! The Church is the place where you:

• Worship God together
• Fellowship together
• Serve together
• Learn together
• Belong together
• Pray together
• Do life together

If you haven’t noticed, I love Christ’s Church, not for the sake of the Church, but because it is God’s gift to believers and to the world.

Are you a part of a life-giving community (church)?

If you are not, your growth in Christ will be stunted.  I want to encourage you to get involved! Go, grow, give, learn, and be committed to your local Church.  The local church needs you because it is incomplete if all its members aren’t committed to it. If your Church is weak then make it stronger! Bring life to others in it; make it vibrant; pray for it; encourage your pastors, leaders, teachers, musicians, youth leaders, Sunday school teachers and the whole body! Ask how you can help and follow through with it. Church isn’t only about what you get out of it but what you give to it! Be a part of it, because Jesus loves it and declared that it will prevail!

by Patrick McCue

Hi guys, I hope you found some way last week to serve God with your time, talents and treasure. It is a great joy to give back to the One that gave so generously to us! Ok, on to this week’s challenge!

Commission Challenge #4 – I will commit to spending time in a place I am unfamiliar with, or with people that are not like me to share the Gospel.

How many of you like being in unfamiliar places? Some people thrive in unfamiliar surroundings and around unfamiliar people while others are anywhere from uncomfortable to terrified. For the evangelist extroverts out there my article today may seem weak, but for those of you in the middle of the road or introverted this is going to seem like an unreasonable challenge.  Let me start by saying this – I am very uncomfortable in unfamiliar places. My wife loves being in unfamiliar place so when we end up in new places I make her talk or order. We went to an Italian Pastry shop last year and I could barely understand the lady behind the counter, I didn’t know the name of any of the items and I was miserable in the store, but when we got in the car with the pastry bag, I was good to go! I am naturally an introvert but Jesus gave me the spiritual conviction that we are all to do the work of evangelism.  The “Great Commission” isn’t for some believers, it’s for all believers!

Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. ²⁰ Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Mt 28:18-20 NLT

If all believers (and not only extroverts) are called to share the gospel, what am I supposed to do?  Relax. Look at verse 20 again- Jesus is going to be with us through it all so it’s not like you have to go out on your own. You will always have Jesus with you and there is no situation that He is unfamiliar with.  Having Jesus with you is better than me having my wife at an Italian pastry shop.  Don’t take all the pressure on yourself; you can get started by just making yourself available.  For many of you school just started which means you are automatically in an unfamiliar place with people that are not like you.  The question isn’t “are you going to be in an unfamiliar place?”, but “are you going to be used by God in an unfamiliar place?” For those of you that are not headed back to school, you may have to work a little harder at finding this unfamiliar setting.  Will you be available to be used? I learned a lot about evangelism from a guy named Ted Sprague. He basically teaches evangelism workshops for non-evangelists. His training is summed up in this one phrase “Ask questions, listen intently and fall in love with a person’s soul. Then be compelled by love and not duty to share the gospel with them, while doing something you love.”  This phrase changed the way I look at evangelism. Instead of being pressured to give a Gospel invitation, I now just start a conversation with the hope that it will lead to the gospel.  It is amazing how many people open up when you ask them personal questions, and once they see that you care about them, they will care what you have to share. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Evangelism needs to be from the heart, not just some duty we check off our commissioned list.

There is a passage of Scripture in the New Testament that really helps me with my evangelism approach. Let’s look at it now.

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.  Acts 17:22-23 NIV

I title this passage “WALK – LOOK – FIND – PROCLAIM.” Paul found himself in an unfamiliar setting with people that believed very different than he did. Before he jumped right up and started preaching at them, he took a walk.  Taking a WALK is the first step to evangelism.  I know for many of you this might seem like way too big of a step, but let me encourage you, when you take a step of faith, God goes with you!  Take a walk around people you don’t know, in place you aren’t used to, if you don’t you will miss the joy of the Gospel!  Ok so now you are taking a walk, don’t cruise past so fast that you miss what is going on. LOOK carefully! Observe what’s happening in people’s lives. If you ask questions you just might begin to care for the souls of lost people.  When you FIND the needs in their lives, the holes in their heart, the void in their life, the unknown gods that they are pursuing and the unsatisfied feelings, then you are ready to share the truth with them.  There is nothing more harmful in evangelism then a carless Christian barking out salvation and not even caring about a person’s heart or soul. Once you find their needs, then you can PROCLAIM the life giving Gospel of Jesus Christ to them.  If you feel like you don’t know the Gospel then I would recommend that you get to know the gospel better.  In order to really have a great understanding of the Gospel you need to know the Bible especially the books in the Bible that we call “The Gospels” which are Matthew, Mark Luke and John. Another great resource book (we gave this out at Regenerate) is “What is the Gospel?” by Greg Gilbert. This is a great book to help you understand the fullness of the Gospel and what it means to be saved. You may say, “I don’t know enough to share the gospel yet.” If you know Jesus, then you should share the gospel! I am in no way saying you should hold your tongue until you read all four Gospels, the whole Bible and Greg Gilberts book. I want you to start sharing the Gospel right away, but I also encourage you to grow in your understanding of the Gospel so that you know the Jesus you are trying to share!

I know this challenge is going to be a stretch for some of you, but just remember that if you start walking, God will walk with you!

by Patrick McCue

Hey Guys, I hope you all spent some good time this week reading the Word! If you did you know how awesome it is and how life transforming it is.  If you didn’t I challenge you to get in it today! You need it “in you” not just on your shelf.  It’s hard to believe that we started this challenge 3 weeks ago.  I would love to hear how it impacted you? Has it helped you in your walk with Christ? Have you begun to be a REAL DISCIPLE because of it? Send me your stories so we can encourage one another in this thing. Ok onto challenge number 3!

3. I will commit to giving my money, time and resources sacrificially to the cause of Christ.

This is where the challenge starts to get personal. You may be saying “Give my money? I need that for myself. Give my time?  I’m busy, school is about to start, I don’t have any extra time. Give my resources? I don’t really have any resources to give.”  I understand the challenge, but I want to begin by saying this, your giving NEEDS to be SACRIFICIAL! You will never have enough extra if you don’t give when you have little.  The other thing that is important to know about giving is that it is not about the portion you give it’s about the PROPORTION!  God expects you to give dependent upon what He has given you.

He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. Matthew 25:15 NLT

God entrusts us as stewards and gives us the responsibility of TIME, TALENT and TREASURE. He gives these gifts according to our abilities, or in proportion to our abilities. This is one of the reasons that people say God will never give you more than you can handle. We are going to look at a parable from Matthew 25:14-30 and let it help us understand why it is so important for us to accept the challenge of giving our time, talents and treasure to the Lord this coming year.

Parable of the Three Servants

14 “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and entrusted his money to them while he was gone. ¹⁵ He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip.

16 “The servant who received the five bags of silver began to invest the money and earned five more. ¹⁷ The servant with two bags of silver also went to work and earned two more. ¹⁸ But the servant who received the one bag of silver dug a hole in the ground and hid the master’s money.

19 “After a long time their master returned from his trip and called them to give an account of how they had used his money. ²⁰ The servant to whom he had entrusted the five bags of silver came forward with five more and said, ‘Master, you gave me five bags of silver to invest, and I have earned five more.’

21 “The master was full of praise. ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

22 “The servant who had received the two bags of silver came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two bags of silver to invest, and I have earned two more.’

23 “The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’

24 “Then the servant with the one bag of silver came and said, ‘Master, I knew you were a harsh man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. ²⁵ I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it in the earth. Look, here is your money back.’

26 “But the master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, ²⁷ why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

28 “Then he ordered, ‘Take the money from this servant, and give it to the one with the ten bags of silver. ²⁹ To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away. ³⁰ Now throw this useless servant into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

In this parable the master is Jesus and he returns to heaven after his resurrection. He leaves us behind and entrusts us with the Gospel and with Time, Talents and Treasure. Two of the servants responded quickly with their time and used their talents to gain more treasure. They saw time as a precious gift so they didn’t hesitate, instead they got right to work. They took their talent (skill and physical ability) and worked at making an increase for their master. In the end both of the first two servants gained double what they started with.

The third servant buried his treasure. He got scared and lazy and decided to lay low. He didn’t have guts to move because he wasn’t willing to risk losing it, instead he buried it so no one could find it or steal it. His sin wasn’t a bad investment, it wasn’t giving it to the wrong person, and it wasn’t even losing it in a risky move. His sin was not using it at all.

The master returns, as he always does, and he checks and judges the work. To the first two he says “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!”

The first two servants discovered that faithfulness increases your capacity to give. They were rewarded with more responsibilities. Let’s see what happens to the one that buried it.

‘You wicked and lazy servant! If you knew I harvested crops I didn’t plant and gathered crops I didn’t cultivate, ²⁷ why didn’t you deposit my money in the bank? At least I could have gotten some interest on it.’

God wants to use those who are willing to be used, but those that refuse to be used will lose their chances. How much time do we have? I don’t know how long you have, but I know you will be held accountable for the time you do have. How much can your talents produce? We are all gifted in different areas and with different skills, so God only expects you to produce according to your ability, not someone else’s.  So don’t try to be someone else, be the you God wants you to be.

If Jesus came back today, would He say “Well Done” or would He say “you wicked Lazy servant?”

Regardless of how much or how little you have, God wants you to give (according to your ability) to His Kingdom and for His Glory.

Remember it is not the portion you accomplish but the proportion. According to your ability!

• And faithfulness increases capacity.
• The sooner you are faithful, the more you will do!
• The question is – are you willing to be used by God?
• Will you make yourself available to Him?
• Will you take your proportioned abilities and use them for His Kingdom?
• Your prayer should be “God use me” and your action should be “go do it!”

by Patrick McCue 

Hey guys, how is it going?  I hope you had a great prayer life this past week and slowed down enough to spend time with God in prayer.  As our Commissioned Challenge continues make sure you spend time every day in prayer, meeting with God and praying for yourself, your community (church and local unbelievers), and for the world. Today I want to take a look at the second challenge we have committed to.

2. I will commit to reading the Bible, God’s Word all the way through.

This is a big challenge, but it is one that will pay off big time!  If you don’t know what the Bible says then how can you believe it? How can you trust it? How can you do what it says to do? You can’t! Many of us live off of second hand knowledge of the Word of God. We know Scriptures that we have heard preached, Scriptures that people quote or Scriptures that are popular in church but we really don’t know the Scripture for ourselves.  If we don’t really know the Scriptures personally then we are missing out on the fullness of life that Christ offers. Simon Peter, one of Jesus twelve disciples said it this way “…You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” John 6:68-69.  It is critical that we know the Words of God.  I want to take a look at the life of Jesus and see how important it was that He knew the scriptures.  Right before He began His public ministry He went into the wilderness and was tempted by the Devil. Let’s take a look.

The Temptation of Jesus – Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. ² For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

³ During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

⁴ But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, ⁶ and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.

And they will hold you up with their hands

so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’ ”

⁷ Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’ ”

⁸ Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

¹⁰ “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God

and serve only him.’ ”

¹¹ Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

I love this portion of the Bible because it teaches us that even Jesus read the Scripture and used it to stand strong in the face of temptation.  The Devil would come at Jesus with a temptation and Jesus would answer “No! The Scriptures say…” How cool is that?  It’s awesome but the thing about it is this, if you want to pull off ninja Bible moves like that, then you need to read and memorize Scripture verses!

Here is another favorite Scripture of mine, because it describes how the Word of God helps you.

2 Ti 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The Word of God teaches, rebukes, corrects, and trains in righteousness.  God’s word doesn’t have limited function; rather it has verses that specialize in helping us in every area of our life.  If you need peace you can look at   Romans 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.  If we need forgiveness we can look to 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If you are weary you can find strength in Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”  Regardless of where you are in life, the Word of God is your answer; it has your help, your hope, your forgiveness, your encouragement, your instructions and much more.  It will teach you, rebuke you, correct your and train you so that you are ready for anything.

So this brings up the question, how am I supposed to get the Bible in me?  You may think that it is so big that it will take forever to read.  If you commit one year to reading the Bible every day, and you read 3.25 chapters a day, then you can do it! If you have a smart phone you can download the YouVersion Bible and pick a reading plan to track your progress. You can also use their web based plans.  www.youversion.com  Another way that I would recommend is to just start reading it. I would recommend you start in the New Testament and read 3-4 chapters a day. When you finish the New Testament then go to the beginning of the Bible and start the Old Testament.  You will get the Word in you and it will begin to change the way you act, because when temptations and traps come your way you will respond like Jesus did “No! The Scriptures say…”

***Download the Regenerate Commissioned Commitment Card here.

Dear Fellow Commissioned Disciples of Christ,

I hope you all enjoyed Regenerate as much as I did! What an awesome event! The thing that excites me the most is the part where you committed to the “Commissioned 1-Year Experience!” We want to help you in that, so here is some coaching on the first part of the challenge experience!

Also, make sure you tell your parents and youth leaders about the commitment you made! If you are not connected to a youth group let me know and I will connect you to one in your area!

1. I will commit to pray for myself, my community and my world! 

I am so excited that you have committed to this commissioned one year experience and I want to help you get started by thinking through it and giving you a little coaching in the different steps of this commitment.  The first thing on our list was prayer! Prayer is an essential part of a Christian’s life.  Through prayer we communicate with God, we worship Him for His goodness, we tell Him our needs; we lift up other people’s needs, we pray for the lost, hurting sick, and much more. Prayer is an important part of what a Christian does. In this first challenge of prayer we are committing to pray for ourselves, our communities and our world.

How do I pray for myself?  (Isn’t it selfish to pray for myself..?) Actually it isn’t or shouldn’t be selfish to pray for yourself.  Jesus actually taught us how to pray for ourselves in the Lord’s Prayer. It is actually wrong to not pray for yourself because if you think that you can take care of yourself or get by on your own, you have taken your dependence off of God and placed it on yourself and that is a much more dangerous place to be than asking God for help.  Let’s look at the Lord’s Prayer:

7 “When you pray, don’t babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! ⁹ Pray like this:

Our Father in heaven,

may your name be kept holy.

10      May your Kingdom come soon.

May your will be done on earth,

as it is in heaven.

11      Give us today the food we need,

12      and forgive us our sins,

as we have forgiven those who sin against us.

13      And don’t let us yield to temptation,

but rescue us from the evil one. 

Mt 6:7-13 NLT

Prayer starts out by recognizing that God is our personal heavenly Father and that our objective is to recognize the greatness of His name and protecting its holiness! Then prayer moves to thinking about God’s Kingdom, desiring all glory and reward to go to Him and giving Him great fame on earth and in heaven. Then the prayer shifts toward us, while still recognizing that all help and good things will come from Him. Give us today the food we need is recognizing God’s provision and our need.  We lift up our needs to Him and recognize that He is the provider of all of them. Forgive us our sins…don’t let us yield to temptation…rescue us from the evil one.  These prayers not only recognizing the struggles and battles that we face, but they are recognizing that with God’s help we can be victorious, so please…pretty please… PRAY FOR YOURSELF!!!!

How do I pray for my community?  I look at this as a twofold prayer, praying for your Christian community and for the unsaved local community.  When I think of praying for the Christian community I think of this prayer that the Apostle Paul always prayed…

9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. ¹⁰ Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, ¹² always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, ¹⁴ who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.  Col 1:9-14 NLT

I often read this scripture word for word when I pray over my Church and Christian friends and would recommend you do the same until you capture the spirit of it.

You can slightly modify this prayer to make it apply to the unbelieving community or just simply pray as God leads you, but make sure you ask that your community would be saved by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. .

How do I pray for my world?  I think this is a huge deal.  It is so important that we pray for the whole world to come to know Christ. It is great to pray for the issues nations face such as poverty, aids, injustice etc. but make sure you also pray that missionaries are sent to all nations and that God would touch people’s hearts so they would be saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

Acts 1:8 NLT

Maybe you are called to be one of these missionaries? Some are missionaries in their home town, some in the region, and some in faraway places, but all of us are called to share the message of the gospel to the lost and to pray that people will receive it!

Lastly, prayer is more than verbal communication. Pray is also about proximity. God wants us go get quiet before Him so he can silently fellowship with us and share His spirit with us.  Listen to this wonderful quote from a missionary in Egypt.

Silence your body to listen to your words.

Silence your tongue to listen to your thoughts.

Silence your thoughts to listen to your heart beat.

Silence your heart to listen to your spirit.

Silence your spirit to listen to His Spirit.

In silence we leave many to be with the One.

~ Mama Maggie Gobran

God Bless you as you seek and serve God!

Patrick McCue
NE CT Youth Network Coordinator

***Download the Regenerate Commissioned Commitment Card here.