Yesterday, I had a conversation with Chuck Grimm, who directs Pathfinders, a local ministry reaching marginalized youth in Reno. This includes many homeless youth and victimized youth. Both of us are older and came to this conversation with many years of combined ministry experience. As you can imagine, each of us have seen many movements and trends come and go in the Church. There are many ideas of how people change and why. How churches can initiate cultural change; and on and on.
Chuck asked me frankly, "what is the core of ministry for you at this juncture of your life." Without hesitation, I replied, "just Jesus."
The Apostle Paul said as much in 1 Corinthians 2:2, imploring the Corinthians to "preach Christ and Christ crucified." Beyond the trends and contemporary rhetoric lies a simple truth; Jesus saves. This is important to remember as we head into this present series, "Living the Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others."
We would be helped to remember that Jesus is the answer to your dilemmas. You can learn principles to make your life work better, to be strengthened personally, but the foundation for all of that must be Jesus. He alone has the power to change the human heart.
What Chuck and I realize, after years of ministry, is that calling people to follow Jesus out of a vibrant love for the savior is really more important than anything else. Nothing else really matters, nothing. Gain wisdom, wealth, health, without Jesus, it is all in vain. This is why the Jesus Creed is so important; a lifetime spent Loving God and Loving Others; fill your life with that and you will not go wrong.
Pastor John
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