Summary:

For the past week the pastors at Austin New Church have been writing blogs that ultimately lead to one conclusion – live outside of yourself until it hurts!

In Brandon Hatmaker’s blog a couple days ago he used a phrase that speaks to this issue with complete clarity, “It’s about giving until it hurts!”  Can you imagine what that may look like for you on a personal level?  Can you imagine what that may look like for your Restore Community?  What if that meant that your Restore Community stopped serving once a month…ONLY!  What if for 2010, God really called you to begin to give more of yourself, your time, your ability, our presence, your _____________ (you fill in the blank) until it began to cost you?  What if.  What if, our lives began to be literal windows into the Kingdom of God?  What if the Kingdom of God stopped being this story we told, but began to be actualized in our lives to those around us?  What if people could say, “Do you want to know what the kingdom looks like in action?  Just look at his/her/their life?”

In the gospels, John was the one preparing the way for Jesus, he was like a herald announcing the inbreaking of this kingdom.  No, a lot of the Jews of that day were hoping for a ethnically sovereign political or military power to break in and politically defeat the Roman empire.  I don’t think John thought that, but we don’t have enough time to get into that.  However, we do know that John expected there to be some sort of immediate benefit to him.  At one point, John was arrested for the purpose of execution.  At this point John began to doubt, and began to wonder if this Jesus truly was the one.  He began to wonder if the kingdom was truly breaking in.  Would this not at least free him from the impending death?  In fact, while in prison, John began to doubt so much, that he sent a messenger to the very one he had previously said of, “behold this is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (which was much more than a moral statement).  John was now needing a bit more proof, and thus sent a messenger to find out if he was truly the Christ, the coming King, the lamb of God.  When the messenger reached Jesus he relayed John’s message to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?”  John was once certain, now, he was not so much.  Then Jesus responds with proof that he, was in fact the Christ, the coming King.  But Jesus’ statement of proof is not what many would have or still do expect.  Jesus said, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

Did you get that?  The proof that the kingdom was breaking through was not material safety, security, or success…in fact John died at the hands of the executioner.  The sign was not a big church.  The sign was not a charismatic leader.  The sign of the in breaking of the kingdom was the blind receiving sight, the lame walking, the lepers being cleansed, the deaf hearing, the dead being raised, the poor having the GOOD news preached to them!

What if? What if in one area of the City our Restore Communities began to ‘give till it hurts’?  What if our Restore Communities began to saturate one area of our city with the proof of the Kingdom?  Not that we can build the kingdom, it is already being built and advanced.  But what if we saturated this one area of the city with lives that were windows into the Kingdom?  What if, because we were willing to give in ways that cost us our time, money, abilities, emotions, and presence to saturate this one area of town, people literally began to see the kingdom break through among them.   So, what would this look like on a practical level?  I think it would look like not just one, but several people being committed weekly, several Restore Communities being committed once, twice, or even three times a month literally pouring themselves out in the following ways:

• 10-15 men and women committing to one hour a week for one year to mentor a young boy or girl at Zavala Elementary or Martin Middle School
• 2-3 Restore Communities partnered with CIS and the Austin Housing Authority to be committed to the Smart Kids Program in the Santa Rita Projects every other week.
• Some dedicated business men who can train life skills; dedicated caring women who can help train, love, and support single mothers
• Working together with Communities in Schools and the local public schools to plan special events for the parents and children in that area.
• 1-2 Restore Communities on a monthly rotation to spend time renovating the Soli Deo Gloria Building while other members of the Restore Communities spent time building relationships in the Santa Rita Projects.

What is this?  This is giving till it hurts?  This type of giving will cost us.  This is leaving the idea of just getting a single event calendared, checked off, and then move on…This is Kingdom Saturation!  I realize we have been spending a week praying about how we can begin to give in such a way that it hurts, on an individual level.  BUT what about our Restore Communities, how can we begin to give till it hurts.  I think this is it!  Let’s do it!  Let’s pour our lives out in this area in such a way, that if a messenger were to come to the residents of this area of town and ask, “Are you sure the kingdom is breaking through?  And if so how do you know?“  They could say, “The proof is that hope is coming to the hopeless, the homeless are becoming self-sustaining, the children are learning how to end the cycle of poverty, the hungry are being fed, and the gospel is being shared and lived out among them!” This my friends is KINGDOM SATURATION!