A Faith That Works.Com

A ministry partner of SinglesOfFaith.Com / SinglesOfFaith.Org

Welcome!

Three questions:

(1) If Jesus flew into town tomorrow with a 36-hour layover before His next departing flight, what would He do with those 36 hours?  Where would He go?  What would He do?  Who would He visit? ( why this is important )

(2) What kind of a lifestyle would I as a Christian have to live such that unbelievers would want to learn more about following Jesus merely by watching me?

    (Or, ... If I were mute -- unable to speak,-- how would I
    have to live so that unbelievers would be drawn to the
    Master?) ( why this is important )

(3) If Jesus were born into the United States here in 2007, even into our town, what kind of a lifestyle would He be leading at age 30?( why this is important )

These three questions are related. Before reading further, can you determine the relationship between them?

IF JESUS FLEW INTO TOWN TOMORROW WITH A 36-HOUR LAYOVER BEFORE HIS NEXT DEPARTING FLIGHT, WHAT WOULD HE DO WITH THOSE 36 HOURS?   Would He hang out at the airport? Drive to a restaurant? Head for a sports bar? A Church? A WalMart? Where would He go?

We think that if He had a 36-HOUR layover He'd go to exactly the same places He went when He had a 36-MONTH layover 1,975 years ago. He'd seek out the downtrodden here in town, the lost, the hurting, the outcast. The homeless, the hungry, the imprisoned, the homebound, the lonely and the infirm. And He'd GET ON HIS KNEES to serve them. Wherever He found them.

Why? Because redemptive history has taught us that our God is a God of servanthood. Ever since the Garden He has been "all about" no-strings-attached-giving. That is His nature. And He is looking for people who share His "worldview" to spend eternity with.

In AD 30 Jesus  Invited People into  a Faith That Works

1,975 years ago God (in the person of His Son Jesus) issued the invitation, " Walk with me. Teach with me. Feed others with me. Wash feet with me. Also feed me. Give me water. Clothe me. Visit me." Follow Me! He commanded. Acts of faith. No thoughts of faith. No feelings of faith. No commands to intense sincerity / intense convictions of faith (by themselves.) It appears that God is not "into" a faith that sits in a pew. He is "into" a faith that acts, a faith that works, not a "faith" that just thinks or feels, no matter how strongly or sincerely. (That kind may be reserved for the demons and those they disburse it to in James 217.) God is only interested in a faith SO AUTHENTIC that "it works." We think of the half- facetious challenge, "If it became illegal to follow the Christ in America sometime later this year, and you and I were dragged into court and put on the witness stand to determine our fate, would there be enough evidence to convict us?"

In AD 2007 Nothing Has Changed

Today our God continues to be a God of action, not (merely) conviction or feelings. He is at work. (To be sure, strong convictions and feelings characterize the man or woman of genuine faith, but those feelings and convictions are merely the invisible foundation for what really matters to God ... a faith that works, that proves itself out, that obeys, that follows, that shows itself in self-sacrificial giving for the best interest of another - love on legs.) God doesn't sit around loving people (love as a noun, like infatuation between teenagers.) He loves people by acting (love as a verb, like a wise couple committed to serving each other through daily acts of love.)

"So ... If Jesus flew into town and had a 36-hour layover before His next departing flight, what would He do with those 36 hours?"

He'd likely not sit around.
Might He walk the streets in your town seeking whom He might serve?
Might He visit hospitals or rest homes or prisons?
Might He feed the hungry?
Might He clothe the homeless?
Might He offer to pray for strangers in your town?
Might He mentor youth?
Might He frequent bars serving / ministering to the lonely?
Might He go door-to-door offering to pray for strangers with no strings attached?

Avoid the Emptiness of 'Pop Evangelicalism:' Serve!

Much of what passes for evangelicalism today all too often invites people to "ask Jesus into their heart" as if doing so would secure some kind of point-in-time reservation in Heaven. God is likely not fooled. He's likely not interested in "heaven insurance conversions." Too many "pastors/preachers" ask parishioners (or, more often, visitors) to "give their hearts to Jesus." Well, God never did that when HE was here in AD 30. Should we? He's not interested in merely populating Heaven, we'd propose. (He could have done that without spending so much time on His knees AD 30-33.) God is interested in men and women who share His heart, His passion, His love, His priorities. Is much of "evangelicalism" "so heavenly minded it's no earthly good?" The Kingdom of God is not "out there" somewhere, a million miles across the universe years from now once we die. No. "The Kingdom of God is at hand." Our experience of the Kingdom of Heaven begins once we drop our nets and choose to follow the Master in His heart's desires.

Serve your Neighbor on your Own / with your Family

If Gods' strategy for the evangelism of humans is "no-strings-attached-giving," (as opposed to the 21st-century traditional "try to beat them / CONVINCE them into the Kingdom verbally,") how about if we adopt it, too? Idea: Go to each of our neighbors with a pie or plate of cookies or fresh fruit or a main dish (or whatever) and say, "Hi! God is into no-strings-attached giving. So are we :)   We love to pray for our friends and neighbors. Is there one thing we could pray for you or your family?"

Or Serve your Neighbor With Us

What this website and ministry is all about. Email us here to find out when our next Servant Workday will be here in town.

Please Don't Misunderstand Us

    • Works will never transport anyone into the Kingdom of God. (Remember the Pharisees?)
    • Adding works to an existing "faith" (trying to "beef up" or somehow enhance our belief /
      so-called "faith") will not please God. (Legalism / "works righteousness.")
    • The only thing that will please God ... faith. What kind of faith? A faith that works.

If you or I are not seeing in our lives the proof of a faith that is alive -- the proof being works of faith -- the solution is NOT to run around trying to score points with Him by working/serving. That would be fruitless concentrating on the symptom / the result (like stapling apples to a tree in order to make it an apple tree.) The solution is to drop to our knees and allow our hearts to marinate in His presence daily (the Word, prayer, fellowship, teaching, ...) in such a way that we begin to take on His heart ... (fertilizing the tree such that it bears fruit) ... our heart begins to look like His, to reflect His. THEN, once we begin to share His love of serving, we can be confident that the Holy Spirit is transforming our heart. .

Q: So, ... "If Jesus were a pastor here in town, what would the lives of His members look like? What would the neighbors of those members think about them? What role would works of faith likely play in the lives of His Congregation?"

A: The lead role, the supporting role, and, we'd propose, every other role.   And that brings us to what we're about ...

Who We Are

We are catalysts, (initially single Christians from www.SinglesOfFaith.Com, but now also inviting couples and families) ... men and women on a "missionary journey" in the 21st Century. We're traveling from town to town throughout the U.S., inviting men and women, believers and unbelievers alike, to follow Jesus into the Kingdom today,

Return to Top

What We Do

We:

    •  Email ahead to the cities we'll be visiting within the next thirty days ... emailing :
       (1) SinglesOfFaith.Com members with the opportunity to Meet, Become and Serve2, and
       (2) Pastors with the opportunity to lead their members into following Christ to their knees3
    •  We visit those pastors who respond, then ask THE QUESTION4 re: their town in particular
    •  We coordinate with the service organizations gleaned from above for a volunteer surge
    •  We serve the men and women targeted by those ministry / service organizations
    •  We identify local volunteer (or paid5) leaders who surface from that servant workday
    •  We equip the growing national team of community servant leaders with online
       communication, training, encouragement, etc. via blog, email and conference calls
    •  We pursue hard after God's heart together to "serve a hurting world into His Kingdom" 3
    •  We move on to the next town 

Return to Top

Why We Do It

It is our understanding from pondering God's word that God is "in the business" of serving. That is what "lights Him up." That is what brings Him joy. We sense God created a universe with a "secret" :   joy and peace lives inside of serving (following Him by faith.) We sense that Heaven may be all about "addicts" (in the great sense of the word :) unstoppably "mining for" / searching for opportunities to serve one another. We sense that God started serving us humans when He created the earth and its inhabitants -- us -- so He'd have more folks to lovingly serve. And we sense that if we don't find ourselves serving we may have missed the whole purpose of faith ... to live the life God designed for us. He seemed to flesh that out 1,975 years ago when He visited this planet. Jesus was "servanthood on legs." Every single day He sought out hurting men and women that He might love with God's love. (And for that reason thousands and thousands also followed Him! Hmmm ...)

We'd propose that God is trying to reveal a secret to His universe: Joy inhabits servanthood. Joy lives inside of a faith that follows Him daily, serving others.

By the way, can you think of a more effective evangelism strategy? In a day of spectacular evangelistic ineffectiveness nationwide, when so-called "Christians" are vilified in the media (often with good reason) because their "faith" has been reduced to Kingdom-ineffective issue-oriented national opinionating, what would Jesus likely be doing? Issue-oriented opinionating? No. Serving.

So, what's the faith God wants?   A faith that works. (A faith that serves.)   Why? Because that's what God's up to in this universe. He's "into" action, not words. He's "into" serving. He is all about giving of Himself to enrich the lives of those He has created. And He has invited those of us who want to serve with Him to join Him, to follow Him. Forever. Starting now.

Return to Top

Summary?

When God visited this planet, He didn't campaign for as many cerebral or emotional conversions as He could secure. He got on His knees daily and served His dying world. He served wedding guests, paralytics, widows, children, prisoners, the poor and outcast, the diseased. He demonstrated what the Kingdom is all about, and He invited us to follow Him into that Kingdom. Those who dislike serving would hate Heaven anyway. We don't get to pick and choose how we want to follow Him and still balance our busy 21st Century schedules. We either follow Him on His terms or we don't. "Churchianity" may anesthetize us into a false "eternal security," but following the Master to our knees in service to His lost sheep prepares us for an eternity of grace, serving with the King.

Join Us

If you'd like us to visit your town soon, or if you're crazy enough to join the team as we travel the United States, please contact us! This is exciting and we're meeting tons of folks we'll be spending eternity with :)   Please ... Let us serve you and the men and women God wants to serve and give life to in your community!

Return to Top

Contact Us

If you have any questions about what we're doing or how you can join us or how we might enhance the ministry, how we might more clearly hear God's voice and respond to His heart, or just to say, 'HI,' please [ contact us ] and we'd love to dialog !

Return to Top

Synopsis:

"If Jesus flew into town with a 36-hour layover before His next departing flight, what would He do with those few hours?" That question prevents many of us from anesthetizing ourselves into a false sense of the "eternal-security / get-me-a-ticket-into-heaven- then-leave-me-alone theology" so prevalent in western evangelicalism today. God apparently came to this planet 1,975 years ago NOT to get as many 20th-century "paper conversions" as possible (He could have gotten lots) but rather to SERVE BACK INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD as many of us humans as would accept the invitation. To be sure, He took care of some extraordinarily important theological business, but the instructions He issued to those who wanted to follow Him into an eternity in the Kingdom of God dealt with exactly one thing: those who call Him "Lord, Lord" (almost everybody) had better back up those words with a life that reflects them, else the words will fall on deaf ears ... The King will declare that He never knew us (Matt 25:32ff.)

We are a group of nearly 100,000 single adult Christians nationwide (and growing) called to be servant catalysts ... inviting believers and unbelievers alike to join the Master in the inner cities of America on a monthly basis nationwide, in rest home and hospital visitation, homeless feeding, clothing drives for the homeless, neighborhood cleanup and rehab, yardwork and minor home repairs for the infirm, door-to-door assistance and evangelism, ... exactly the places and activities we sense He'd choose if He came back for 36 hours ...

Will you join us?

Overview / Summary

  1. Although it's roots are well-intentioned zeal rather than biblical exegesis, we'd propose that most "Christians" today are unfortunately (and unintentionally, unmaliciously) taught a non-biblical, non-saving "faith" that is purely western -- thinking & feeling only. (Why? Probably the "heaven-insurance" mentality so prevalent in America today.)
  2. Jesus, on the other hand, invited men and women to follow, to move, to act, to obey, to serve ... not to sit ... (action/activity, not passivity.) Why? Because servant action is at the very heart of God. It's one reason He created humans ... to have additional creatures to serve and to teach the joys of servanthood.
  3. The question that can drive home the passion and motivation (and thoughts) of God: "If Jesus flew into town and had 36 hours before His next departing flight, what would He do with those 36 hours? How would He invest in the people in our town?"
  4. History says He'd head immediately to His knees. He'd search out folks to serve. He'd heal, teach, visit, feed, quench, encourage, invite, challenge, lead, empower, commission, ...
  5. Since this seems to be central to the heart of God, His primary motivation, we are travelling town to town throughout the U.S. (1) to seek out and to serve the same people Jesus would be serving and (2) to catalyze servant teams in those towns to carry on the mission of the Master until He returns.
Return to Top

Answers to, "Why Is This Important?"

  1. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? (WHAT JESUS WOULD DO WITH HIS LAYOVER)   Because the Gospel can be summed up in two words: "Follow Me!" We're not invited anywhere in the Word to "pray the sinners' prayer" or to "ask Jesus into our heart," like we are by all sorts of well-intentioned folks today ... We are invited to FOLLOW. He created Adam and Eve to follow Him in the Garden. He invited their descendants to follow Him after their garden expulsion. He invited the Israelites to follow Him. He invited the Kings and the Judges to follow Him. And when He showed up for 36 months of ministry 1,975 years ago, He invited us to do exactly one thing ... FOLLOW HIM. (Mt 4:19, Mr 2:14, Lu 5:27, Joh 1:43, Mt 8:22, Mr 10:21, Joh 10:27, Mt 9:9, Joh 12:26, Mt 16:24, Joh 21:22, Mt 19:21)   We MAY become theologically knowledgeable.   We MAY become examples of "a good life" (Churchianity / Morality, etc.)   We MAY have good intentions.   We MAY talk to our co-workers about Christ.   We MAY love our neighbor (and had better do so.)   But we MUST follow the Master. THAT is what He required the first twelve disciples to do. And THAT is what He requires us to do. When Jesus next flies into town (either on a commercial airline or on a trumpet,) we had best follow. And therein is grace! All we have to do is follow Him. Every moment. Every decision. Everything else will fall into place when we follow. The walk of faith is so simple :) [ Not EASY, but SIMPLE :) ]   Where would He go? That's where we are called to go. What would He do? That's what we are called to do do. Who would He visit? That's who we are called to visit. And to deny those calls, those invitations, ... is to deny the King, the Christ, the Master Himself.
  2. Jesus, on the other hand, invited men and women to follow, to move, to act, to obey, to serve ... not to sit ... (action/activity, not passivity.) Why? Because servant action is at the very heart of God. It's one reason He created humans ... to have additional creatures to serve and to teach the joys of servanthood.
  3. The question that can drive home the passion and motivation (and thoughts) of God: "If Jesus flew into town and had 36 hours before His next departing flight, what would He do with those 36 hours? How would He invest in the people in our town?"
  4. History says He'd head immediately to His knees. He'd search out folks to serve. He'd heal, teach, visit, feed, quench, encourage, invite, challenge, lead, empower, commission, ...
  5. Since this seems to be central to the heart of God, His primary motivation, we are travelling town to town throughout the U.S. (1) to seek out and to serve the same people Jesus would be serving and (2) to catalyze servant teams in those towns to carry on the mission of the Master until He returns.
Return to Top

 

 

Footnotes

* "A faith that works" is a "play on words" with multiple meanings :
    (1) A faith that works means a faith that is EFFECTIVE (in getting us into the Kingdom: it
          WORKS by successfully getting us there) and
    (2) A faith that works meaning that a faith that is NOT accompanied by works is not a genuine,
          saving faith. A genuine faith WORKS itself out ... it is, by definition, accompanied by
          visible, non-artificially-generated acts of servanthood ("works.")   If my faith is real (and
          therefore different than the faith of the demons in Jas. 217,) I will be "working the works of
          God" for which I was created (Eph. 210)

1 Jesus apparently was not interested in a 20th / 21st-century kind of "faith" that exists only in a persons' head (their seat of thinking) or in their heart (their seat of feeling.)   Jesus made it clear that He was interested in men and women whose faith "leaked out" into their lives, their actions, their behaviors: God's call throughout history has been to change human lives, not just minds or hearts.

2 SinglesOfFaith.Com proposes that God's three highest priorities for His unmarried men and women are these (not in this order :) ... (1) Meet the person He has for us to meet, (2) Become the person He has for us to become, and (3) Serve the people He has for us to serve.

3 We'd propose that servanthood is absolutely central to God's heart (and therefore His strategy) to serve the Lost into the Kingdom of the Heavens (the Kingdom of God.) He so loves serving that He created a new planet to populate with beings He could serve. And we'd propose that only those of us who love (following Him into) serving will love (following Him into) Heaven.

4 "If Jesus flew into our town and had exactly seven days before His next departing flight, what would He do with those seven days?"

5 For those leaders who also want to spearhead ongoing workdays, workshops and events for local single or married Christians, full-time and part-time paid positions exist.