At Gateway Church in Austin, we concluded a series called “Legacy.”
Give God more than just Sunday mornings. Dive deeper with these Next Steps which help you apply today’s message to your life. You can find them at www.gatewaychurch.com/nextsteps.
To watch or listen to the message at the McNeil campus, go to www.gatewaychurch.com/podcast.
John Burke shared some of the following ideas at the McNeil Campus:
In 1 John 4:7-11, God defines true love for us. True love means sacrifice.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
No one starts off wanting to be a jerk! Just happens over time – for some more naturally than others.
Love is not effortless but full of effort!
Love starts with God’s example to us. He paid it forward that we may love others as well.
Lisa Herell was a mail carrier who found a misplaced mail package during her deliveries. She went out of her way to deliver the package. She arrived just as a baby fell out of an upstairs window. She caught the baby and became a hero! Her response: I just happened to be at the right place at the right time so God can use me.
If willing, God will lead us to the right place and time to help others in need.
God isn’t concerned with where or what but who. People matter most to God – no matter where we work or what we do for a living. Don’t wait: just look around to find others to serve.
More hospitals and schools and agencies to care for the poor have been created in the name of Jesus than by any other philosophy or religion.
Jesus invested in a few people more than anything else He did.
Jesus had spiritual running partners in Peter, James, and John, and He spent time with the men who became known as the 12 Disciples along with a few women. After serving each other and with each other, Jesus gave His life for us all. Before ascending into heaven, Jesus commissioned His followers to go and disciple others (spiritually invest).
Are you willing to help others?
“Jesus loves you, and I’m working on it.” – Roger from Gateway Branson
You are in the right place at the right time to make a difference. Rather than asking God: “why?” Ask Him: “who?” So how do we do it?
1 Thess 1:5-9 shares with us how to develop others: Live life together and model how to live a life of faith.
The biblical word literally means “mimic.”
Are you aware of who you are imitating? Are you helping others imitate Jesus as they imitate you?
“Follow me as I follow Jesus” needs to become how we live our life.
We need to make sure we are moving deeper in our journey so we can help people a half step behind us. Everyone can develop someone. We cannot become a mature follower of Christ unless we are developing others. Experience God’s “pay it forward love” so we can experience the fullness of life while giving our life away.
1 Thess 2:19-20 – “For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you? Indeed, you are our glory and joy.”
