RADICAL
Taking back your faith from the American Dream.
Review: Radical Abandonment to Radical Jesus / Radical Word / Radical Power / His Grace & Glory to the Globe / Radical Multiplication / Radical Giving / Radical Plan
PRAY!
· RADICAL:
o of, relating to, or proceeding from a root;
o of or relating to the origin:fundamental
o very different from the usual or traditional:extreme
RADICAL Devotion
The challenge is to start planning now on how to live a radically devoted life in 2014 based on the principals that we’ve explored in this book. That by making a one year commitment (long term devotion) we are expectant of great benefits in our personal walk with God and with fruit in our radical investments.
1. Pray for the entire world.
2. Read through the entire Word.
3. Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.
4. Spend time in another context.
5. Commit your life to a multiplying community.
Pray for the entire world.
· Pray it out.
o John 17:1-26 – After Jesus said this, he looked toward heavenand prayed:
“Father, the hour has come.Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.2For you granted him authority over all peoplethat he might give eternal lifeto all those you have given him.3Now this is eternal life: that they know you,the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.4I have brought you gloryon earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.5And now, Father, glorify mein your presence with the glory I had with youbefore the world began.
6“I have revealed youto those whom you gave meout of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.8For I gave them the words you gave meand they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you,and they believed that you sent me.9I pray for them.I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me,for they are yours.10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.And glory has come to me through them.11I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world,and I am coming to you.Holy Father, protect them by the power ofyour name, the name you gave me, so that they may be oneas we are one.12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c]that name you gave me. None has been lostexcept the one doomed to destructionso that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13“I am coming to you now,but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joywithin them.14I have given them your word and the world has hated them,for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.17Sanctify them bythe truth; your word is truth.18As you sent me into the world,I have sent them into the world.19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
20“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one,Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.22I have given them the glory that you gave me,that they may be one as we are one—23I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent meand have loved themeven as you have loved me.
24“Father, I want those you have given meto be with me where I am,and to see my glory,the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
25“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you,I know you, and they know that you have sent me.26I have made you[e]known to them,and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in themand that I myself may be in them.”
· Pray for people to go.
o Matthew 9:35-38 – 35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them,because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.37Then he said to his disciples,“The harvestis plentiful but the workers are few.38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
· Pray in confidence.
o 1 John 5:14 – This is the confidencewe have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
Read through the entire Word.
· Know God
o John 1:1-18 – In the beginning was the Word,and the Word was with God,and the Word was God.2He was with God in the beginning.3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.4In him was life,and that life was the lightof all mankind.5The light shines in the darkness,and the darkness has not overcomeit.
6There was a man sent from God whose name was John.7He came as a witness to testifyconcerning that light, so that through him all might believe.8He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
9The true lightthat gives light to everyonewas coming into the world.10He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,the world did not recognize him.11He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.12Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believedin his name,he gave the right to become children of God—13children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
14The Word became fleshand made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of graceand truth.
15(John testifiedconcerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)16Out of his fullnesswe have all received gracein place of grace already given.17For the law was given through Moses;grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.18No one has ever seen God,but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
· Know you
o Because the Bible is the inspired witness to God’s revelations, it is authoritative in matters of orthodoxy (Christian beliefs) and orthopraxis (Christian practice).
Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose.
· Beyond ability.
o 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 – And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.2In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.3For I testify that they gave as much as they were able,and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own,4they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharingin this serviceto the Lord’s people.5And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.
· To the Need
o Matthew 25:31-46 – 31“When the Son of Man comesin his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separatethe people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdomprepared for you since the creation of the world.35For 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,36I needed clothes and you clothed me,I was sick and you looked after me,I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40“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.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me,you who are cursed, into the eternal fireprepared for the devil and his angels.42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Spend time in another context.
· From Here to There
o Acts 1:6-8 – 6Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restorethe kingdom to Israel?” 7He said to them:“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.8But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you;and you will be my witnessesin Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,and to the ends of the earth.”
o Home -> Neighborhood -> City -> County -> State -> Country -> Continent -> World!!!!
(Hospitals, Prisons, Schools, Assisted Living, City Gates Ministry, Guatemala 2015)
Commit your life to a multiplying community.
“It is a glorious privilege to be a part of the universal body of Christ, united with brothers and sisters across the world and across history in a heavenly community. But it is also the New Testament pattern for us to be a part of a local body of Christ, a gathering of brothers and sisters in a particular location where our Christianity comes to life in commitment to one another. By the design of God, the local church affects every facet of our Christian lives.” – David Platt
· Participation in Community
o Acts 2:42-47 – 42They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachingand to fellowship, to the breaking of breadand to prayer.43Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.44All the believers were together and had everything in common.45They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.They broke breadin their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.And the Lord added to their numberdaily those who were being saved.