{"id":460,"date":"2012-09-27T17:53:27","date_gmt":"2012-09-27T22:53:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/?p=460"},"modified":"2012-11-30T14:46:25","modified_gmt":"2012-11-30T20:46:25","slug":"to-gain-the-world-%e2%80%93-by-losing-our-lives-for-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/?p=460","title":{"rendered":"To Gain the Whole World \u2013 by Losing Our Lives for Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>We would like to invite you to join us in intercession for the upcoming MTC 2012<\/a> gathering in Chicago. \u00a0The MTC prayer team will be preparing weekly prayer guides<\/a> to help us align our hearts. \u00a0Please click here<\/a> for the Week 1 Prayer Guide<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This Week\u2019s Audio Message<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Then he said to them all: \u201cIf anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. \u00a0For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. \u00a0What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? \u00a0If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. \u00a0I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.\u201d \u00a0– Luke 9:23-27<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We ended last week\u2019s message<\/a> with the exhortation to \u201crun after Jesus, and not just after His blessings\u201d.\u00a0 This exhortation was given to me by a very talented entrepreneur from China and I feel that it well encapsulates the heart attitude necessary to steward enormous \u201ckingdom authority\u201d \u2013 the capability, influence, and wealth that can move the \u201c7 mountains\u201d.\u00a0 It is also an outcome of pursuing the road of the cross, of exercising faith and humility, of self-denial and giving up of our \u201crights\u201d.<\/p>\n

For many of us with grand ambitions to make a mark in Christ\u2019s Kingdom with our careers, we can often deem \u201crunning after Jesus\u2019 blessings\u201d as equivalent to \u201crunning after Jesus\u201d. \u00a0In reality, there is a night a day difference between the two.\u00a0 That becomes apparent as we step forward to \u201close our lives for Christ\u201d.<\/p>\n

Over 18 years ago, I heard God\u2019s 10,500 call and readily responded. \u00a0As an ambitious young professional with a burning desire to witness to the world, I was enamored by the enormous kingdom authority associated with this call.\u00a0 I pursued the 10,500 with fiery aspiration and constantly sought to validate my progress by \u201cmeasuring\u201d Jesus\u2019 blessings in my career, finances, company strength, and access to influential people.\u00a0 In using such \u201cblessings\u201d to gauge success, I became confused and frustrated when God finally led me to the road of self-denial as He stripped me of everything connected with kingdom authority. \u00a0This desert season that came full-on a few years ago, began to awaken me to the reality that I was trying to \u201cgain the world\u201d by \u201csaving my life\u201d, by pursuing after Jesus\u2019 blessings over Jesus.<\/p>\n

For many market place believers, one of the most precarious (not precious) places to stand is where our ambitions seem to \u201cline up\u201d with Christ\u2019s Kingdom agenda \u2013 His desire to bless His church with kingdom authority. \u00a0In that place of \u201calignment\u201d, we can blindly rationalize our ambition for \u201cJesus\u2019 blessings\u201d by justifying that it all falls within God\u2019s agenda.\u00a0 God disciplines those He loves.\u00a0 He will prepare His stewards of kingdom authority by bringing them to \u201close their lives for Christ\u201d.\u00a0 That path of the cross will take us to Jesus, without us being blinded by His blessings.<\/p>\n

Perhaps you may be one who has responded to God\u2019s Kingdom call and are going through experiences similar to mine.\u00a0 I am still walking through the desert today not knowing when the next \u201coasis\u201d will show up.\u00a0 Take heart!\u00a0 The greater the call, the greater the \u201closs of ourselves\u201d, so be encouraged!\u00a0 It\u2019s a painful process but God wants the best for us.\u00a0 Ambition is stressful and He wants to give us self-denial to relax our hearts and minds \u2013 fashioning us into containers of greater responsibility, greater kingdom authority.<\/p>\n

Next week, we hope to further strengthen our faith in \u201closing our lives for Christ\u201d through Abraham\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

Market Place Reflection and Prayer<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Many of you have mentioned that you use these messages as weekly studies with your workplace fellowship. \u00a0We encourage you to share your reflections and prayer at the \u201c168prayer.org<\/a>\u201d blog site.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. In what ways has God brought to you \u201close your life for Christ\u201d in your workplace, fellowship, and home?<\/li>\n
  2. In the way you develop your career (or your children\u2019s eventual career), how do you see the differences between pursuing after Jesus versus running after Jesus\u2019 blessings?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Jesus, we want to see the beauty of who You are.\u00a0 We want to become the reflection of You, as you have created us to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We would like to invite you to join us in intercession for the upcoming MTC 2012 gathering in Chicago. \u00a0The MTC prayer team will be preparing weekly prayer guides to help us align our hearts. \u00a0Please click here for the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":463,"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460\/revisions\/463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpc.168prayer.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}