Tag Archives: Community

Love your Neighbor – Your Motives

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love-your-neighbor-what-is-your-motiveWhat are our motives to love our neighbor? Is it coming out of a feeling we have to do it to be good Christians or to do the right thing? Is it coming from getting benefits out for ourselves? These are just 2 examples, but there could be many reasons that motivate us, good and bad.

It is important to assess the reason why we want to do something, because through it we can see more of our heart and true motivations. Of course, we all would find something that we don’t necessarily like in us. When we look at the life time of Jesus we notice as well that people had motivations to do certain things. That is one reason why he was upset with the strict religious group of that time who put many rules and regulations on everyone which in the process made the people do things out of fear and not out of love. When we look at Jesus on the other side we notice that the things He did came out of love and relationship. He had a true relationship with his disciples and also a true love for them. He did not try to sell them something or manipulate them into a certain direction. The disciples wanted to follow Him and be friends because He was real and they felt inspired to live the way Jesus does. Of course, His heart was always that people truly find the truth and the Father, but He didn’t push it. That truth is the same for when you connect with your neighbors. Become a true friend with them. Don’t build a friendship just to evangelize. Build a friendship because you really care about them and want to get to know them better. True friendships open the door for honest conversation and ways to share your faith, but the friendship has to be honest first!!

So here are a few things to ponder on:

  1. What is your motivation?
  2. Do you have a love for your neighbors? if not ask God to give you love for them!!
  3. What does it mean to you being a true friend? Discuss this with 2 other people you know. Doesn’t have to be Christian friends.

Hey our friend

We hope your new year is going really great so far!! Today (Monday) the north beach DTS Students will officially start working with us. The first week can be sometimes challenging since everything is new and different.  Pray for a good start in the neighborhood for them and time of growth to get a heart for their own communities. This Friday we will also have the first Haeusser Hangout for the New Year which is awesome!! We really look forward to connect with everyone from that wonderful group! Haeusser is our name but also the German word for houses, and since it is multiple ones you should start one at your house too!!

Have a wonderful week and remember that God placed amazing gifts in you!!

Markus and Jen

 

Love your Neighbor 2017

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lynFor the year 2017 we plan to write a lot on this blog, how you can show the love of God in your community and neighborhood through the way you live your life. So get ready for it!!

We want to make this also interactive so we need to hear back from you about which areas we should talk about. We touched this topic before in the last few years, but we believe that it is key for seeing changes in our communities. What about if each Christian lives the great commission by showing to neighbors and coworkers the love of God trough their own life! It will create a change and it will give people a true picture of who God really is. It will also empower you to grow in your faith since you live your life more intentional. We want to look at all of this through the life of Jesus and through different sermons he preached. Next week we will start with what motivates you. So get ready!!

  1. Ask yourself the question how you can start living more intentional.
  2. Look at your life and see where you are a good example and which areas need improvement!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful start into this new week. Today (Monday) our new DTS Students are arriving. They will have an introduction week and will start working with us in North Beach next week. Pray for a good start for them as well as wisdom in choosing with which ministry to work with for their school. Thank you for being on our team also in this new year through Prayer and your financial support!! You are a blessing!

Have a wonderful week

Markus and Jen

 

Thank you

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Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things. Philippians 4.8

thank-youEach year this special holiday comes around which in its name encourages us to be thankful. It is so easy to look at things in our life or the world that would make us upset and makes us ungrateful. But when you are ungrateful it can really affect your life in a negative way. In the moment you focus on the bad things in your life it starts to affect every part of you. But the opposite is true as well. When you look at the good in life and start being thankful for it, it affects you in a positive way. When you look at the verse above in Philippians it gives you a guide on what you should put your focus on.

I remember a time in our life where we started every day by saying 5 things we are thankful for. It was amazing to look at it and see how it affected my attitude and the way we looked at things. It was little things like being thankful for the parrots that are really loud and joyful in front of our window or that we are able to worship God freely. Thankfulness did not just affect us, it affected other people in our life as well. When we saw people they noticed that we were happier and in a way that was contagious and helped them to be happier too. As well it opened the door to share about how thankfulness can really change you.

SO we want to encourage you to make a change in your life in this thanksgiving week!

  1. Find 5 things daily in your life that you are thankful for and speak them out.
  2. Say thank you to someone that did not expect it maybe in a store or restaurant or at work?
  3. Start to focus more on things like it says in Philippians 4. Instead of reading just negative news, read things on what god is doing in this world.

Remember this week He is faithful like no one else ever will be and that is a huge reason to be thankful!!

Hey our friend

Thanksgiving week is here!!  Have you thought about inviting someone who doesn’t have family to go to, to your Thanksgiving Celebration? Maybe one of your neighbors?

We had a wonderful week in San Francisco. We hosted a small group at our house which was a lot of fun. It was all about spending time in God’s presence. On Saturday we were invited to a bingo event at the boys and girls club which was a great way to connect with more people from our neighborhood! It is actually a really great way to meet people in your community by going to events that are hosted in your area like police meetings or fairs etc.

Pray this week with us for increased thankfulness in our and your own lives as well as the lives of people that are connected with you and us! Also pray that each person will have a place to go for thanksgiving and let us be the family that open our homes to people that don’t have a chance to go home or might not even have a family or place to call home.

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Markus and Jen

Star Wars or how to let His love shine in a sincere way

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We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did.
1. Thessalonians 2.7-8 The Message

star warsYesterday we met with a girl who is part of a missions group who came to San Francisco to learn about the city. As we were sharing our hearts the verse above came up and the significance of how we live as Christians. When Paul shared these words with the Thessalonians he was sincere. He and all of his friends truly loved them and didn’t just want to pass on the things they had to say, no they really wanted relationship. They really cared about the people.

Star WarsI believe that is the key of bringing the full gospel to people. We can’t just come in share and go, no we have to be there so people can see our faith in action. We have to go in with a heart that really cares and never gives up even if it seems hopeless. Recently we watched Star Wars and the scene were Luke tells his father Darth Vader that He sees the good in him. He did not give up on the good even if it would cost him his life and his father saw that, which then lead him to destroy the evil one. But again he saw the good in his son, his attitude of never giving up and that brought him to a place of change. People need to see that love in our life that never gives up, always believes the best from the famous chapter in 1. Corinthians 13.

Each one of us is called to the people around them, remember love your neighbor! So let us do that, but not just to our church family but also our neighbors and the people we get in touch with!

  1. Ask God to give you a love for the neighbors and people you get in touch with. Let him show you the way He sees them.
  2. Show your faith in Action, and if you need some tips how read the Blog series on this topic by clicking on this link. You can always go to the next one by clicking on the bottom of each blog on the link for the next one.

Hey our friend

We had a wonderful German night at our house this week and it was amazing. It is always so nice speaking your mother tongue and also hear your wife learn how to speak it too. We also prayer walked our neighborhood with a friend. I feel every time we do that we get a deeper understanding of Gods heart but also see more of the need. It can be hard to see the need with your eyes in a middle upper class neighborhood, but it is there as much as in a poor neighborhood it just looks different. Gods heart for His children there is the same as anywhere else.

Thank you for keep praying with us for a friend from the neighborhood who faces eviction from his apartment. He is 81 years old and it will be a challenge for him to find a new place, but pray for Gods favor for him to find an apartment that he can afford (the average one bedroom goes for 3500 dollars and studios are on average 2500 dollars).

Ask God this week to give you a love like in 1. Corinthians 13 for the neighbors around you and people you get in touch with!

Have a great week!
Markus and Jen

Run on His strength and help others to do that too

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I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Philippians 4.13

Run on his strengthWhen I read this verse I feel inspired. Paul a man who wrote half of the new testament, a man who pushed a mission movement forward that changed the world, a man who went through really hard seasons and persecution  and didn’t give up tells us how he was able to do it. It was not on his own strength, but it was in the strength of Christ that he was able to succeed. He never walked through life alone, but he put his trust in Jesus. How did he do it? He realized that if he trusts just in his own abilities he would never been able to fulfill the great things God has planned for his life.

After he had an encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus it flipped his life upside down. Many would say it was this moment that transformed his life and made him state that he can do all things through him. I think it was this moment, but more important all the moments that followed after when he felt the body of Christ around him encouraging him and helping him, the man who used to be there enemy. I think that is what made that encounter with Jesus even more real, when he saw how Jesus power helped people that he was out to kill, to help him and accept him as one of their own.

I believe that this is a key for believers and new believers to trust that they can do all things through Christ, when they had an encounter with Jesus and then see how Christ works through others and when they start to encourage them that they can do it too!

I want to challenge us today to really believe what Paul is saying: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! But not just believe it, but live with that knowledge and walk it out. And when we do that encourage others along the way with the things God did through us and how He can do things through them as well!

Hey our friend

Wow what a week here in San Francisco. We had  a wonderful brunch with neighbors. We also had a great time at our encouragement group. It’s a wonderful community that we started 2 years ago and which meets once a week and brings hope to the people that come. I’m amazed how much courage it brings to people that come. If you would like to know more on how the group works and how you can start one, email us!

Remember this week to run on his strength and not your own and help others to do that too.

Have a great week!
Markus and Jen