The Mosaic: June 2012

The third talk was about "THIRD CULTURE"

We have a different home.

We have a different

community.

We have a different culture.

Culture: the customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group

Third Culture: unique blend of two cultures resulting in one culture entirely different than the other two.

Jesus calls us to a third culture.

1 Timothy 4 - Setting an example by the way you live. Immersing yourself in a new way of life.

Ephesians 4:17-24 - New life, new person.

¹⁷So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

¹⁹Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

²⁰That, however, is not the way of life you learned

²¹when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.

²²You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;

²³to be made new in the attitude of your minds;

²⁴and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Our Fourth and final talk was about “Hello and Goodbye”

Figure out how many times have you moved...

5, 10, 20? I think our highest count was around 24 times! How many times have YOU moved?

AJ was the brave one to reach into a box. She didn't know what was inside the box. It could be nastiness or some candy... she had to take the first step... the RISK first.

It turned out to be... nothing inside. But she was willing to first put her hand in.

It is very similar to when you move to a new place. You must take the first plunge to reach out your hand and make friends when you know its very likely you will have to move again.

Paul leaves Ephesus Acts 20:25 and might NEVER see those people again.

Paul knows that hardships and imprisonments await him wherever he goes because the Spirit tells him so.

How can he say good-bye?

How can he say hello, walking into a new city knowing that it will mean pain and hardship?

In our coming and our going, we live for the Good News of Jesus.

We are all not home yet... we will all eventually be called to Eternity. A home that we will never have to leave or say goodbye to!

Acts 20:24

²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me —the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.