The theme for 2024 is:

“Lose your life“

Jesus prepared me well for the theme this year. He has had me teed up for this my whole Christianity. This morning, I asked Him, “What do You want me to hone in on in 2024?” He responded “Lose your life.” I smiled.

This is real Christianity.

Here is my burning heart message basically my whole life with Jesus. What you are about to read might sound strong and HOT but it’s really just normal Christianity. The way the early church lived in the book of Acts should be our floor but it’s still our ceiling in many ways. I see glimpses in modern Christianity of what I read in Acts, but not the fullness.

I want the fullness.

The modern day missions movement (MMM), as I call it, is really all about how to save your life. This is a cumulation of 21 years of being in missions and hearing “you can’t do street evangelism here…you can’t start with Jesus in your convo…can’t share the gospel…it’s illegal to share”….so no specific person, but a general fear based movement I have called the ‘modern missions movement.’

And I’ve never bought into those lies. I’m still moving with the OG movement started with Jesus, Stephen, Paul, all the disciples who were never concerned with their reputation, fame, keeping their organization in the country, their safety, and even their own lives.

The context of the theme for this year “Lose your life” is from Matthew 16:25 when Jesus says “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Key phrase is losing your life for Him. But if you read the context of what Jesus is talking about right before that, He is telling his disciples that He must go and suffer many things, be killed and on the third day raise again.

Peter immediatley responds with how many Christians respond today REBUKING Jesus and saying “This shall not happen to You.” It’s the modern mission movement’s origin. Ultimately, save your life. It comes from well meaning people who think they are presenting with love but it’s actually fear. And Jesus’ response to such reactions is “Get behind me satan. You are a HINDERANCE to Me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God but on the things of man.”

tip: never a good idea to rebuke anything Jesus’ says hence this whole blog on the dichotomy between what He said in His word and what we actually live out.

Some of us are unknowingly pulling Jesus aside and rebuking Him all day long in how we view the risks we shouldn’t take in missions for His name sake. One thing I’d never like to hear Jesus say to me is “Get behind me satan. You are a hinderance to Me.”

The modern mission’s movement criticizes the ones who lay down their lives for the gospel, and call it wisdom. Like John Allen Chau….when his blood is still crying out from the ground, is getting critiqued left and right from believers. I’m amazed people have the guts to talk about the martyrs that are currently under the altar. Just dumb….founded they could say these people were “unwise” or “shouldn’t have shared the gospel like that to get all our missionaries kicked out of the country.”

I’m like “Fam….are we reading the same Bible?”

“I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.” ~John while on the island of Patmos for the Word of God and his testimony.

MMM call their views “using wisdom” when it’s actually “fear buttered up in fine sounding arguments.” And TT isn’t drinking the kool-aid, hasn’t drank the kool-aid and won’t drink the kool-aid. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I can tell the difference with those mission teams who are bold and those who are scared. Team bold is outward focused, full of joy, unified, preaching their guts out, loving each other, raw and vulnerable and seeing fruit. Team scared is high high security, everyone is listening to them on some recording in the walls, “you can’t…” starts many sentences laced with “it’s wisdom” and not being “zealous.” Team scared usually is inward focused, not unified, low key depressed, people are wanting to leave the field and usually very little passion, excitement, joy or salvations. But “Praise God we are still in the country after 53 years.” Am I’m like????

You will hear things in this modern missions movement from Christians like “It’s illegal to share the gospel to….” And I’m like one eye squinted head tilted like “Wha?!?!!??! are. you. talking. about? Are we from the same Kingdom? Last time I checked our King ordered us to preach the gospel with no disclaimers….so actually it would be illegal to NOT preach the gospel. YA HURD MEH?”

We are called to live bold lives for Jesus that might cost us greatly, but we don’t view it as a cost because we already died to ourselves. So dead people can’t be entitled. We already lost our life. He owes us nothing. Our lives got hidden in Christ and found in Him.

2024 Promise: For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ~Jesus. This is a promise you can hold onto.

Catch me trying to lose my life all 2024 long.

I long to live full throttle for Jesus. More than the book of Acts.

For my Bible reading plan in my quiet time, I will meditate on Acts all year long and ask myself “How can I lose my life more?” I want to set my mind on the things of God and not on the things of man. May I be a help to Jesus and not a hinderance.