life’s mission

section 1

our mission

i corinthians 10:31  nlt 

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

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matthew 22:36-40  esv 

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

And {Jesus} said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

This is the great and first commandment.

And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

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ephesians 1:11-12  niv84 

In {Christ} we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him Who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory.

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i peter 2:9  csb 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One Who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

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proverbs 4:23  niv84 

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

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luke 9:23-24  esv 

And {Jesus} said to all, "If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

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john 3:30  esv 

{Jesus} must increase, but I must decrease.

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john 12:32  nlt 

And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Myself.

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matthew 28:18-20  csb 

Jesus came near and said to them, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

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galatians 5:6  csb 

  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.

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notes

section 2

worshipping God through truth & love

john 4:24  esv 

God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

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i john 3:18  esv 

  Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

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ii john 3-6  esv 

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father’s Son, in truth and love. I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father.

And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

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section 3

genuine relationships

ii corinthians 6:11-13  niv84 

We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you, but you are withholding yours from us. As a fair exchange--I speak as to my children--open wide your hearts also.

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i john 1:7  esv 

But if we walk in the light, as {God} is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

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john 17:20-21  esv 

"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

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proverbs 28:13  csb 

The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

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james 5:16  esv 

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

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romans 12:10  niv84 

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

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i peter 1:22  niv84 

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

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ii corinthians 7:3  esv 

I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.

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section 4

benefitting others eternally

ephesians 6:19-20  esv 

{pray} also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

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ii corinthians 5:13-6:10  niv84 

If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him Who died for them and was raised again.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.... We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God....

As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain....

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited.

Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

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ephesians 4:15  niv84 

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.

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galatians 6:7-10  esv 

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

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james 2:16-17  esv 

...one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

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matthew 7:12-14  csb 

Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

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ii corinthians 12:15  esv 

I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

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ii corinthians 12:19  niv84 

Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? We have been speaking in the sight of God as those in Christ; and everything we do, dear friends, is for your strengthening.

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i corinthians 9:12, 22  esv 

If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the Gospel of Christ....

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.

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ii timothy 2:10  esv 

Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

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i corinthians 10:24, 32-11:1  niv84 

Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others...

Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God-- even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

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my notes:

section 5

the surpassing greatness of knowing God

i thessalonians 5:14-18  esv 

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

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romans 12:1-2  niv84 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will.

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i timothy 6:6  esv 

...godliness with contentment is great gain...

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ephesians 1:18-19  esv 

...having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His great might...

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colossians 2:2-3  niv84 

My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

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philippians 4:7  esv 

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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i peter 1:8  niv84 

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy...

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ephesians 3:17-21  niv84 

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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my notes:

philippians 3:7-14  niv84 

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ--the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

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my notes: