Connections

Read the book of Acts. Chapter 6 and 7 specificly and then Read Hebrews Chapter 9.

Join us this Sunday night 5:30 as we look at How to Get Stoned.



Jesus is the best and only way to cleanse or conscience from acts that lead to death.

Vision Night

Mystery Will Be hosting a Vision Night In August. It will be a chance for you to know what we are about, Where we are going and if it might be something God is callinng you to be a part of. We will have printed information and a Q&A time as well. More info coming soon.



Steev

Gospel • Culture • Church

I Highly recommend thinking through this image. Also reading Leslie Newbigin's "The Open Secret". See the link in my recommended reading section to the right.

Safety

"The Ship is safest when it's in port. But that is not what ships were made for."
Paulo Coelho

Following Christ is a call to set sale. To live how you were made to live. To love how you wish you were loved. To Experience and Express the person God has made you to be.

It is beautifully dangerous.

It is wonderfully frightening.

It is time for us as Christians to push out to deeper waters, to live dangerously once again. To subvert the worlds ways of thinking, to encourage revolution, to invest and invite without promiss of success. To live out blatantly exposed who Jesus hass called us to be. A ship...His ship...the focus of His love...His glorious bride.

"Come sail away, come sail away with me." - Styx

DNA

Mystery will be a church that plants churches. We desire to be part of a multiplying movement of Christ in the communities we are called to. We desire to see whole people groups and cultures redeemed for Jesus by the Holy Spirit. This church will plant multiple and diverse churches as people are called by God to reach out and express the Gospel to all tribes and nations. Church planting is our DNA. It is who we are and who we must be to be effective for Christ in his mission.


We have already started a savings acount for the next church we will help plant. With the little money we have raised I felt lead to step out in Faith and practice what I preach. 10% of EVERYTHING we have raised utnil this point was taken out of our general fund and put into our new planting fund. Right off the top. If we truely want to live out mission we will step out faithfully and obediantly and begin from the start to build who we are and who we shall become.

When you support Mystery you not simply supporting one church, but the next ones as well. Exciting? I think so.

Plant Churches & EnJoy Jesus

Steev

REVEAL • LIVE • LOVE • LEAVE • ENJOY

>The Mission of Mystery<



Mystery Exists to Make Jesus Known as we:
Reveal • Live • Love • Leave • Enjoy

Reveal Jesus
(The Gospel)
Mystery- The Gospel- the Man and The Message, The church. The Mission
Majesty- The risen and exalted Christ

Mysteries of Old Made New Again. New parables for new times.

Eph 3:3-6, 8-10, 5:24-32, Col 1:26-27, 2:2, Duet 29:29, 1 Pet 1:10-12, 1 Cor 2:14

Live Like Jesus Lived
Model- Power and Vision (picture)
Mission- Purpose and Plan

1 John 2:6, John 13:32, Phil 2:5, Mark 1:17, Matt 28:19, Mark 1:38, John 34-38, 1 John 2:6, John 20:21

Love Jesus & Love Like Jesus
Love Him- Spirit Filled Worship of God
Love Like Him- Commitment to Serve People

John 13:34-35, 15:17, 1 John 3:16, 18, 4:10-11, 19

Leave what Jesus Left Behind
The Holy Spirit
Disciples- Mature, Missional Followers of the Way
A Legacy- Stewardship, Inheritance, Obediance

Matt 28:19, 2 Tim 2:2, Acts 1:8, Acts

Enjoy Jesus
God’s Grace- God is both Holy and Loving
God’s Blessings- Common grace given for our enjoyment and satisfaction
Food, Drink, Work, Pleasure, People

Nehemiah 8:10, Ps 37:3, Ecc 2:24-25,5:18-20, 11:8,9, 1 Tim 6:17

Support

Its tough raising money. It's even tougher asking for it. But the Bible says we do not have cause we do not ask. We treat God like a coke machine all the while not bothering to speak with our friends and family about needs. Some people are just moochers. They should go hungry-the Apostle Paul said that not me. Some people are affriad which inn itself is a sin I think if you are called by God to do something. Somme people need to be challenged and your askinng them moves them forward in faith. I know lots of people who do not get the "big picture". You could share your heart, your vision annd your calling and they still dont "get it". THats faith. We do not always get it, but we step out in it annd in obediance and trust learn. I understand its hard to see. I pray for peace when people dont agree or support ouur efforts and thats where my faaith is challanged. Faith that Jesus will provide, faith that Mystery will move forward and that people (probably the unlikely) will provide at the right time.
We have a goal of raising $25K personally (outside any additonal church support raised) to get us through the end of the year. So far we have raised roughly $5K. If you would like to give to the effort of planting a new church to reach new people here in Joplin, MO would would surely appreciate it.
To those of you who have given or pledged to give I say thank you. And to those who have not, or even refused to support this movement...I say thank you for teaching me more about Jesus.

Steev

Revolutionary

"One of the greatest injustices we do to our young people is to ask them to be conservative.
Christianity is not conservative, but revolutionary. To be conservative today is to miss the whole point, for conservatism means to stand in the flow of the status quo, and the status quo no longer belongs to us...If we want to be fair, we must teach the young to be revolutionaries, revolutionaries against the status quo."
­Francis Schaeffer, 1970

Texas

Met with some local pastors here in Joplin last week. Beginning some new relationships, which i hope will bare much fruit for the Mystery and the community in the future. Good stuff. Have more meetings scheduled for next week. Please be in prayer for these.

Loaded up the van Wed. morning after a meeting and headed south. Spent the later half of last week in Texas. It was good. Family is all still down there for another week, but i returned and am hard at work. So much to do. Traveled to Lewisville, Grand Priarie and Austin all in three short days. Met with freinds, family and churches. Ate good food, raised awareness for Mystery, shared my heart and vision and came back with a sense of direction again. I wont kid it was a hard week last week. Spent like $300 annd raised about $250...haha. People are emotionallly draining, but for all the discouragement and frustration it was wonderful to have the support of friends and encourgament of trusted men in my life.


If you aspire to plant a church you aspire to a long and painful road. Make your calling sure. Run the race, suffer well and be obediant. There is not much more though that I have seen God work so challenging and lovingly in though. I think planting is definately in his plans for reaching the lost.

Grace and Peace

Steev

Faith

"Until we move beyond superficial faith, we will not experience supernatural living." - Ed Stetzer

“Scepticism is the beginning of Faith.”- Oscar Wilde

“Faith isn't faith until it's all you're holding on to”- Unknown

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”- Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.”- Unknown

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” - Saint Augustine

This is faith (trust)...being sure of what we hope for and certian of what we do not see. (Heb 11:1)

“I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much.” - Mother Teresa

Amen