A few years ago I had a conversation with a friend about the phrase "Live like you are dying."

"What do you think?" He asked, "Is it good advice?"

I rolled my eyes. "Who could tell any more? It's so cliched that even if you told someone to live that way they wouldn't even really hear you." At the time I had no idea that the YOLO epidemic was on it's way in full force.

"I think it would make me live a little recklessly," He said with a mischievous glint in his eye, "but I don't think it would make me live any more fully."

The point he was making is that on your way to death, you behave a little selfishly. Why shouldn't you? Get in a few thrills before the end, you're on a timeline here. Say your goodbyes, make your peace and then eat whatever you want, jump off of things, run with the bulls and never look back. If your life is on a timeline with death at the end, responsibilities are not important, getting the most out of the only life you know, is.

"YOLO" came along and tried to put a positive spin on the whole idea, but the intent is still clear. You are going to die, so you might as well live while you can. While most people don't take this advice to the extreme, you can still see the evidence of a YOLO mindset all over our culture. We speed past quiet moments and that hint of true joy at 85 Miles per hour (where it's legal) in a relentless pursuit of the grand finale.

When I asked my friend what would inspire him to live more fully he launched into an excited and lengthy speech that I will spare you. The essence of what he said though is that we should live like children. Small ones. The kind that stare unashamedly and ask "why" even after you have given an exhaustive explanation of why, the kind that point at things that interest them and ask yet again "why?" The kind that don't mind having the mess of life all over their hands or running down their chins, who climb into chairs with big smiles and sticky fingers and a strong desire to sit close to daddy and whisper "I love you" and of course "why?"

The more I thought about this, the more hopeful it felt. Jesus wants us to have hearts like children. Jesus teaches us how to live, Jesus teaches us how to learn and grow and ask of our heavenly father "why?" He gave us the freedom to climb into his lap with our sticky lives and whisper close to his ear "I love you." Children aren't thinking about how to get the most out of life, they are simply fascinated with the art of living.

Christ has already ransomed us from death, to eternal life.. So, while life is not to be taken for granted, death is also not to be feared. Hebrews 9:26-28 "...But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgement, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

This is music to me. For those of us born to the kingdom of God, death is not the end of the line, it is not the grand finale, it is only the gateway to our second and true life. To be certain, death has no joy. I've never done it, so I don't know for sure, but it can't be comfortable to have this vessel that God designed ripped apart from the core, my soul. But the good news? I only have to do it once. The best news? When Jesus died, he conquered it, defeated it, broke its rules and made a clear pathway to everlasting life.

The life we have now, is full of joy, sorrow, delights, fears, danger, striving, love, and everything else under the sun. Sometimes it's a party and frequently it's a struggle. There is so much joy in remembering that the common rules of death do not apply to us. It brings a sense of freedom and a truly child like bounce to my step. I don't want to put the focus on death. Death is a bump in the road, a glitch in the original design, and we have been promised everlasting life. Death is inevitable, but it is certainly not a goal.

What lies ahead for us is joy without sorrow, beauty without scars, love without fear. What lies ahead for us is the world as our good Father intended it.

It's January. While you are making lists and setting goals and having such a positive intent toward 2016, maybe add something that forces you to think and feel like a child. I wanted to package up a neat little phrase that you and your friends could say to each other at ironic moments and have a good laugh. What do you think; "Live like children who only have to die once and then the real party starts." It's kind of a mouthful and I don't even know how you would say LLCWOHTDOATTRPS.

Or! With the gospel in mind and an everlasting hope to look forward to, you could say "You Only Die Once." YODO everyone, Happy New Year.
 

-This weeks post is by Ashley Bowie, a member at Redeemer. She pours an excellent cup of coffee, and loves words the way some people love their pets, or children.

The following blog is by Rob Berreth for a blog post posted in 2014. The dates and documents were updated.

As the New Year approaches many of us are thinking about what 2016 will look like and what 2015 was. This time, of the year I like to spend some time thinking about the evidence of God grace in the previous year and also prayerfully seek how God wants me to steward my time and resources this next year. I do this for myself and with my family.

I have found that some dedicated time to prayerfully planning the next year has been helpful to grow more in love with Jesus and more in love with His mission for His glory. You may have your way of doing this, and that’s great, but if you are looking for a way to reflect on 2015 and plan for 2016 here’s some helpful ways to do so.

Make Sure To Pray:

Before you do anything humbly ask the Holy Spirit to lead you. You could ask others, like a spouse, your children, your Gospel Community, to be praying for you as well. Times of reflection and planning are much more useful when you are prayerfully dependent.

Preach The Gospel To Yourself:

As you pray, keep telling yourself the Gospel. Your righteousness comes from what Jesus has done, not what you do or don’t do. Your status as a son or daughter is from the Gospel, not your good works. Anything good you have done this year is the result of the Gospel being applied to your life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Gospel saturation like this will guard you against despair where this last year was filled with sin and disappointment and will keep you from pride as you reflect on things that went well and areas of faithfulness.

Evidence Of Grace:

What can I celebrate this past year?
What areas of my life has God been working on?
Who have I helped introduce to Jesus?
How has my love for Jesus increased?
What difficult times has God carried me through?
What are some encouraging things that happened in our church and GC this past year?

These are just a few questions, but you get the idea. I want to spend time praising God by recognizing how faithful He has been to me. As I spend time reflecting on evidence of grace I am encouraged in my faith and directed to adore my King.

In addition, to evidence of grace, I also spend time on growth areas.

Growth Areas:

What things are stealing affection from Jesus in my life?
Where am I out of step with the Gospel on a regular basis? (Look for trends and patterns not one of the occurrences)
What sin(s) do I always struggle with?
Where was I off mission this past year? What was distracting me?
What things were keeping me from being and serving in community?
What areas of my life are not glorifying to Jesus? What areas of my life or attitude are not displaying that Jesus is my Treasure?

After spending time thinking through these questions, and others, I spend some more time planning out the next year using the following categories. There are so many other questions that are helpful to ask in planning, but hopefully, this will get the ball rolling. Each category below has a vital resource that we would encourage you to read in the new year either on your own or with some people in your gospel community.

Disciple (Forward)

Bible Reading Plan
Bible Memorization Goals
Prayer List
Set Devotional Time
Theological Focus (Thematic, Works, Authors, Etc.)
Funding (Bible Translation, Books, Bibles, Resources For Others)
Key Resource: God’s Big Picture This book will help you understand the big storyline of Scripture and how the different parts of the Bible fit together under the theme of the kingdom of God. This will help you read the Bible with confidence and understanding.

Key Resource: New City Catechism NCC is a free, media-interactive (video, text, q&a) resource designed to teach you the essentials of the Christian faith. This resource will work well for individual use or with your family or GC members.

Ambassador (Outward)

Evangelistic Prayer (Who, People Groups, New Plants)
Relational Evangelism (List Of Names)
Specific Mission: (Area, Culture, People group, etc.)
Funding (What will I give above and beyond my local church?)
Key Resource: The Walk If you’ve never discipled anyone, the topics covered in this book will teach you how to disciple others. The Walk is also a great book to read with a non-Christian friend as many at Redeemer have been doing over the last year.

More on Ambassador (Outward)

Serving (Doing Something With My Time both Locally and Globally)
Funding (Doing Something With My Finances both Locally and Globally)
Praying (Locally and Globally)
Key Resource: Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work Ever wonders what’s the point of your job? With deep insight and often surprising advice, Keller shows readers that biblical wisdom is immensely relevant to our questions about our work. In fact, the Christian view of work—that we work to serve others, not ourselves—can provide the foundation of a thriving professional and balanced personal life. Keller shows how excellence, integrity, discipline, creativity, and passion in the workplace can help others and even be considered acts of worship—not just of self-interest.

Key Resource: Generous Justice: Generous Justice will help you develop a biblical understanding of service and justice. The book explores a life of justice empowered by an experience of grace: a generous, gracious justice. This book offers readers a new understanding of modern justice and human rights that will resonate with both the faithful and the skeptical.

Family (Inward)

Gospel Community (Specific Role, Prayer, Level Of Engagement)
Local Church (Specific Service, Level Of Engagement)
Funding (Sacrificial, Regular, Proportional, Worshipful, Grace Responding)
Key Resource: Gospel-Centered Parenting In twelve concise chapters, Gospel-Centered Family takes us through the major Bible principles for family life, challenging us to give up our 'respectable' middle-class idols, and to become the distinctively different people that God, through His gospel, calls us to be. Short but impactful read.

Key Resource: Total Church In Total Church, Chester, and Timmis first outline the biblical case for making gospel and community central and then apply this dual focus to evangelism, social involvement, church planting, world missions, discipleship, pastoral care, spirituality, theology, apologetics, youth and children's work. This book will help you love your church and serve the church well.

For those who like to strategize and get specific, here are a few additional tools from GO, our leader and church multiplication initiative:

Pre-Assessment & Example PDP

• Join An EQUIP Year Group: Do you desire to be intentionally discipled in the four major areas of Redeemer's Identities (Worshipper, Disciple, Ambassador & Family)? Join an EQUIP year group. Put simply, the aim for EQUIP is to cultivate your love for Jesus and equip you to be an effective disciple-making disciple. 
• Get Into a GC If you aren't in a GC, you are missing out. Gospel Communities (GCs) are really about a group of disciples growing as disciples while making disciples in their particular neighborhood as a family of believers serving Christ by serving others, learning as humble truth-seekers, and sent as witnesses of the Gospel to all people. Email info@redeemernw.org to get connected.

I hope that some of this will serve you as you set out to make the best use of the time as a missionary for Jesus. May God give you direction and wisdom. May the Gospel deepen your love for God this year and train you and grow you in godliness. May this coming year be filled with many evidences of grace, a lot of growth, and joy that is grounded in Jesus, which never fades.

The new year is coming upon us and with the new year comes new resolutions that everyone wants to accomplish. For most of us we seem to struggle to accomplish these  resolutions that we make. Thankfully here are a few different blog posts that we found helpful that might give you some helpful tips to reflect, plan, and execute these resolutions in 2014. Enjoy!

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It's A Good Time To Remember, Reflect, and Resolve: Most of us can probably use a good dose of “considering our ways.” If you’re anything like me, you get overloaded and feel a persistent strain on your time, attention, and devotion to God. This strain can numb us and lead us to drift. And as D.A. Carson says, “we do not drift toward holiness.” If we don’t regularly take time to evaluate our heart, we can, often unknowingly, drift into sinful or sluggish patterns. To fight against this deadly drifting, it’s wise to draw near to Jesus and consider our ways. And while there’s nothing magical about doing this at the turn of the year, it does provide a natural opportunity to intentionally remember, reflect, and resolve with hopes that we will grow in deeper devotion to Christ.

Read The Whole Bible in 2014: Do you want to read the whole Bible? The average person reads 200 to 250 words per minute; there are about 775,000 words in the Bible; therefore it takes less than 10 minutes a day to read the whole Bible in a year.

Your Most Courageous Resolution for 2014: Resolutions are good things. They’re biblical: “may [God] fulfill every resolve for good” (2 Thessalonians 1:11). And I think developing New Year’s resolutions is a very good idea. A year is a defined timeframe long enough to make progress on difficult things and short enough to provide some incentive to keep moving. A resolve is not a vague intention, like “one of these days I’m going to get that garage cleaned” or “I’m going to read the Bible through this year,” but without any clear plan to do it. Resolves are intentions with strategies attached to them. You don’t just hope something is going to happen; you are planning to make it happen. To be resolved is to be determined.

Remember 2013 and Plan for 2014: Welcome to the day after Christmas! Each year between Christmas and New Years I walk through a simple exercise to help me think through the past year and plan for the coming year.  I originally learned this exercise from David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, and have customized it over the years. My wife and I both walk through it, and I use it with those I coach as well. Allocating an hour or two over the next week to walk through this exercise will help you to start the new year well.

The Empty Shelf Challenge: Empty a shelf in your house somewhere. Every book you read from now until December 31, 2014 goes on the shelf. (Waiting until January 1st to do something awesome is stupid and fake.) At the end of the year, I guarantee you will have read more than you did in 2013. Best of all, you’re scientifically more likely to accomplish something when you have people working on it with you.

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