Love God Love People Prove It

Patrick Cannon

Description

An impoverished neighborhood teaches our impoverished souls what it means to stop dabbling in Jesus and start following Him.
Do you want to experience God realities in your life? Pastor, author, and entrepreneur Pat Cannon unpacks an often overlooked truth regarding our relationship with God. Words are cheap. Unless you back them up with action, they don't mean much. Love God Love People Prove It will teach you how to shift from dabbling in Jesus to following Him. Is it easy? No. Is it worth it? Absolutely!

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Christian Living
• Inspirational
• Philosophie et théologie
• Love People
• Prove It!

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 21 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664284166
• Langue: English

Extrait

LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE PROVE IT
How to stop dabbling in Jesus and start following





PATRICK CANNON






Copyright © 2022 Patrick Cannon.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.



WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
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Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-6642-8415-9 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8416-6 (e)



WestBow Press rev. date: 11/21/2022












Scriptures marked as NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.



CONTENTS
Dedication
Preface
Acknowledgement

An Atheist Perspective
Love God Love People Prove It
Jesus Dabblers
Let’s Make A Deal
When I’m Ready
Waffling
Prove It By Living Sent
Prove It By Discipling Someone
Someone Who Is Invited By God
Into A Loving Relationship With Jesus
In Order To Become Like Jesus
While Living Sent For Jesus
Prove It By What Consumes You
Prove It By Resurrendering



DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my wife, Kelly, who helps me stay focused and has taught me repeatedly what it means to live a sent life. Secondly, to my team, they have taken our core values seriously over the past 13 years by loving people, taking risks and obeying God’s whispers no matter what.
Finally, this book is dedicated to all who have partnered with us through the years. You have become part of the redemptive story God is writing in North Toledo. You are my heroes!



PREFACE
I lie in bed, waiting for our first “real” snowstorm; Ohioans bring up the “blizzard of 78” I guess it was pretty bad. Drifts up to the roofs of homes, and everything shut down for almost a week. I grew up in North Dakota, where we had a “blizzard of 78” nearly every winter. We had a long driveway that took my three brothers and me hours to shovel. We would repeatedly brainstorm on how to make the job easier. Right or wrong, we were consumed with figuring out how to free ourselves from snow removal. I remember when we had the great idea of tying our ping-pong table to the front of my brother’s car and using it as a snowplow. Did we ask permission? Of course not; we were on a mission! Why clog the pipes with the bureaucracy of parental consent? We gathered as much rope as possible and tied it around my brother’s car. We were laser-focused! Once satisfied with our expert engineering, we all got into the car, bragging about how smart we were. My brother started the engine and plowed into the snow. In less than five minutes, the table smashed into splinters. Go figure. We got out of the car and stared at the splintered mess that used to be our ping pong table. Let’s just say when our parents found out, our snow removal duty increased.
My brothers and I were on a mission for a short time. We worked together, tried to figure out potential problems, and were unified in our resolve. Even though there was no possible positive outcome, we still experienced the exhilaration of living life at that moment with purpose. No one was going to interfere with our quest to master snow removal! Now in my sixties, snow removal doesn’t have the draw it once did. I’ll take a snow blower over a shovel any day!
Living on Mission
Having a mission or calling to complete creates a sense of purpose. You choose to do or not do certain things to help you fulfill that mission. You spend money, time, and energy fulfilling the mission. You continue plowing ahead when facing obstacles because you know what could happen if even part of your mission is realized.
I think about some of the experiences that have taken place since my wife, Kelly, and I decided to follow God’s call to North Toledo. The call or mission we have decided to immerse ourselves in is far from easy, consistently overwhelming, and incredibly messy.
We used to only have a Saturday night service at 7 pm. We didn’t do Sunday morning because no one from our neighborhood would get up. Many are partying until 4 am, or getting high, or both. That means that I had the opportunity to speak at other churches on Sundays about our ministry. Over the past 13-plus years, I have spoken at churches in many different denominations. Although I’m there to communicate what’s happening at That Neighborhood Church, I take the opportunity to challenge them to want more of God. Nine times out of ten, after the service, someone comes up and says something like, “Wow, that’s amazing what you guys are doing in North Toledo. I don’t think I could do something like that.” I’ve even had missionaries on the field for 20 and 30 years tell me they don’t think they could do what we do.
Planting a church in one of the most impoverished neighborhoods of Ohio and Southeast Michigan was the farthest thing on my radar. In my second book, Rooster in the Hood , I unpack the whole story. I thought I would retire doing the same ministry I had done for over 25 years. However, God had other plans.
Let’s not pretend that embracing God’s invitation to follow His call is easy. How people hear from God and their journey to follow His whispers are different and unique. But there is one thing that anyone who decides to follow God has in common. This one thing drives a person into the unknown and enables them to live a life filled with purpose and hope, even when it’s overwhelming. It’s not reserved for only those we consider “religious professionals.” I still wonder what a “religious professional” means! It took place inside my soul before Kelly and I decided to plant That Neighborhood Church (TNC). It’s more than following a call or mission. It’s the one thing that causes us to want to be on a mission or follow God’s call. It should define who we are once we place our faith in Jesus as our Savior and last until we take our final breath. It’s not limited to our occupation, family dynamics, education, financial status, past, present, or future. It’s a mindset that shapes how we choose to live our lives. I believe we have drifted away from this mindset in our Christian culture.
The Drift
“Mission Drift unfolds slowly. Like a current, it carries organizations away from their core purpose and identity.”
From the book Mission Drift by Peter Greer and Christ Horst
As our country has been reeling and recovering from the COVID pandemic, churches have been experiencing a mission drift. Aside from mask mandates, many churchgoers didn’t see the need to attend church because of online services. Just watching services online will never create the kind of community needed in the life of a Christ-follower. Even after the pandemic has stopped, church attendance is anemic. Not only has an institutional mission drift occurred, but there has been an individual mission drift in the lives of those who claim to follow Jesus. The drift takes many forms.
The past political season has inflamed Christian Nationalism into an unhealthy irrational movement drenched in emotional outbursts. Deconstruction conversations fill the social media channels as if it’s a new concept. It’s funny how we use new words to describe something people have been doing for years. In 1978 I first heard the gospel while watching the film More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell. I grew up going to church every Sunday and went to a private Catholic school for a couple of years while living in Lancaster, New York. I had lots of religious training until I heard the fundamental, raw true gospel. I knew I was an experienced sinner and that Jesus died on the cross for me. But what shocked me was that if I were the only one on the planet, Jesus would have died for me! My eternity wasn’t based on what I did but on what Jesus did. God wanted to have a relationship with me. I felt like I was taught the complete opposite in my religious upbringing.
So I did some “deconstructing” of my own. That mean