AgapePoint

"They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request.

"Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus." (John 12:21, NIV)

AgapePoint, pointing people towards

deeper loving relationships in Jesus Christ.

Welcome to Agapepoint!  I hope your visit here will be both a blessing and profitable.  The goal of Agapepoint is to "point people towards deeper loving relationships in Jesus Christ."  It does not matter who you are, where you have been or what you have done; there is still hope and promise for you in the Kingdom of God!  This hope come from the teaching of the Scriptures that indicate just how much God loves all of us.

In the Bible we read these words, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NIV).  If God's devotion to us is so great that he would set his Son upon the cross to die for our sins that we might be free from such sin, then we might take hope in his love.  The apostle Paul said, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8, NIV).  Paul is simply stating the fact that even though our lives are messed up and full of sin, God loved us enough to have his Son Jesus die for us that we might be saved.  Not only this, but that Jesus had the same spirit. Jesus speaking about the giving his life for us said, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." (John 10:18a, NIV).  What an incredible thought!  We who have sinned, who have done wrong, can be made right because of God's love for us.  Because of Jesus' death for us, we can live. 

But it gets even better than this!  At the beginning of the Bible we read, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Genesis 1:1, NIV).  Keeping this in mind, let's see what the Apostle John has to say.  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made." (John 1:1-3, NIV).  Now, we might at this point ask ourselves, "Who is this "Word"?  John will go on to answer that question saying, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14, NIV).  The description that John gives is that of Jesus!  What we discover here is that it was Jesus who was the Creator of everything that exists.  Jesus created the entire universe; Jesus created you and me.  Keeping all this in mind let's listen to what Peter has to say: "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God." (1 Peter 1:18-21, NIV).  Here we learn that we are saved by the blood of Christ.  We also learn that he was chosen before the creation of the world to die for our sins.  We also learn that God raised Jesus from the dead and so we can place our faith and hope in him.

Now, let's stop for a minute and think about this.  In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Jesus was the Word that was there at the beginning.  Everything that had been made, the universe, the earth and all of mankind, have all been made by the Word, who is Jesus.  And Jesus made all this stuff a very long time ago.  But!  Before he made all this stuff, the universe, the earth, you and me, we read he was chosen to die.  As Peter said, "He was chosen before the creation of the world."   This means that Jesus made the world knowing full well in advance that he would have to die for the world!  And even knowing that he would have to die for the world that he would create, he created it anyway!  Jesus knew before he created you and me that he would have to die for us.  Now that, my friend, is love!

And it is this love, the love of God that is the driving force behind our ministry.  Our purpose is found in "pointing people towards deeper loving relationships in Jesus Christ."  Whether the relationship be that of friends, family members, the community or the church, the word of God and the Spirit of Christ are the ultimate source of hope in developing stronger loving, longer lasting relationships.

If our purpose is pointing people towards deeper loving relationships in Jesus Christ, our means of doing so are primarily through developing genuine relationships with those we would disciple.  Such is the case of Jesus and all those with whom he has a saving relationship.  Jesus himself, shares with us that knowledge alone is not enough.  He said, "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life." (John 5:39-40).  Jesus himself informs us that knowledge alone does not save, but a relationship with him does!  Jesus is not diminishing the teaching and studying of the Scriptures, for such is the word of God.  And it is the word of God that leads us to a saving relationship with Jesus.  True Christianity is not legalistic, it is relational.  And all the saved have one common denominator -- Jesus Christ!

For those of us who are presently in Christ that desire to see our friends, family members, neighbors and communities put on Christ; we must not so much invite people to church, but more importantly introduce our friends to Jesus.  Nearly two-thousand years ago men came to Philip and said, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus" (John 12:21, NIV).  The same is true today!

I meet people everywhere in the city, in the suburbs and in our rural areas, and the one great common voice I hear is "show me Jesus."  When will we begin to listen both to the Master's voice and the call of the lost, to "show Jesus?"  We must cease advertising the church and begin to show people Jesus!  The church does not save people, Jesus does!  The church is not the ultimate source of comfort and encouragement, the Spirit of Christ is.  We must cease thinking that our wisdom, power, dollars and vision save.  We must cease thinking that we alone have all the answers.  That honor belongs to Jesus.  The job of the church is not to invite people to church, it is to invite people to come, see, know and walk with Jesus.

The next time you meet someone new, don't tell them about church, simply show them Jesus.  And we will discover once again that the questions, cares and concerns upon their hearts (and ours) can only be adequately answered by Jesus. 

Walking with Jesus,

Keith

AgapePoint Ministries

5076 Durant

St. Louis, MO 63115

Phone (573)366-9524

keith.c.brown@agapepoint.org

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