Tag Archives: Missionsbefehl

Love your Neighbor – Find ways to help!

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Love your neighbor find ways to helpLast week we wrote about giftings and how important it is to use them. Today we want to talk about ways to help.

When we look at Jesus we always see how he helped others. It might have been through dinner for a huge crowd or washing the feet of the disciples. Jesus was always about helping others and he always meets a need that was there.

But how can we help our neighbors or our neighborhood? The first thing we have to do is find out what is actually needed. One of the things in our area is dogs. We have more dogs here than children. Many people have dogs and also full-time jobs. So if you are a stay home neighbor you could offer your neighbor to take their dog for a walk during the day. Another one is a cleanup project. A few years ago our DTS students helped to clean up trash from the side of the streets. It’s a great way to help the area, but also you get to meet your neighbors in a positive way.

Help does not always look the same. Spend some time pondering on those questions.

  1. Find out how you can help and also what is needed.
  2. Set a goal and a time by when you want to do it.
  3. Start doing it, and involve your family and neighbors too if possible!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a great week. We finally had some sunshine again which is amazing!! We had so many great times with our neighbors this week. A paella night, A Louisiana gumbo night and then we had a game night at our house. When you spend time together you get to know each other and for us and our neighbor friends that is a total blessing.  Find a night in your week to have some time with your neighbors.

Remember this week that you are amazing and loved by Father God!

Markus and Jen

Love your Neighbor – Use your giftings

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Love your neighbor use your giftingsLast week we talked about things that can hold us back.  This week we want to write about how we can use the gifts that we have to bless our neighbors.

Jesus as the son of God could have walked the earth and let everybody do everything for him, but he didn’t. He served people through his whole life. If it was through healing (The blind man who wanted to see gets healed John 9), conversations (Talking to Nicodemus at night John 3), encouragement (encouraging Mary that she has value by standing for her when they tried to stone her John 8), prophetic words (sharing with Peter about the rooster Matthew 26.34 but also about how he builds his church on him Matthew 16.18) etc. These are just a few examples of how he used the gifting’s he had. He was always generous with all of them and used each one of them with people around Him.

Each one of us has gifts that God has given us. But now the question is, are we hoarding them or are we using them to make an impact in our neighborhood? As an example: I have the gift of encouragement so one of the things I do is encouraging neighbors and people around me. I remember many stories of how people kept feeling encouraged for a long time from just a little word. You could be a good listener and you could bless people through that. Or you could be a baker and bless neighbors through some home-baked specialties. There are so many giftings that people have and it would take books to write them all down, but the point is to use them in your neighborhood!

Do the following this week:

  1. Find out what giftings you have.
    1. Pray and Ask God to show you some of the giftings he placed in you.
    2. Assess the things you are good in and like to do.
    3. Ask your close friends to tell you what giftings they see in you.
  2. Think about ways how you can use them to bless your neighbors and people around you.
  3. Start doing it by the end of the week and then keep doing it

Hey our friend

Rain in San FranciscoWe hope you had a fantastic week. We are still in a rainy season in San Francisco and let me tell you it rains a lot as you can see a bit on the picture out of our window! But besides the rain, we had lots of dinners and events with people from the community. Just to tell you about a few: a German brunch, a dinner with a friend from a coffee shop, a Community night at YWAM. It was wonderful to be a part of all of those.

One thing that really encouraged me in the last week was the super bowl. Neither Jen nor I are really into sports, but this game was inspiring. One of the teams was at one point 25 points behind and everyone was saying that no team ever came back from being behind 10 points so it sounded impossible. But then the team didn’t give up and kept playing the game and guess what, they ended up winning. So no matter how things look like or what people say, don’t give up!! Nothing is impossible with God!!

We want to wish you a blessed week and remember God is on our side!!

Markus and Jen

Love your Neighbor – What holds you back?

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Love your neighbor what holds you backLast week we talked about the importance of being outside and how it helps you to connect. This week we want to talk about a few things that can hold us back.

Jesus had many opportunities to be hold back in his ministry, the reason he wasn’t was his focus. He knew what the father told him and does tell him every day. He says really clear that he does nothing what he doesn’t see his father do. So that helped him not to be sidetracked. He could have done more since he did not reach every single need that was around, but he didn’t, because he knew what the father had called him to do!

All of us have our priorities off at times in our life. That probably happened to each one of us and that is the reason why we have to assess from time to time to see how we are moving towards the goal. One of the big things I heard from many friends is that they don’t have the time to reach out to their neighbor. Work and activities takes up all of their time. Yes that can easily happen with the overload of stuff we can do in today’s time. But again that is another reason to prioritize. We need to put a value on loving our neighbor. Jesus made it the second most important command!

Another problem I heard was the area of fear and insecurity. What do they think of me if I go up to them? What if they don’t like me? The chances that they don’t like you are a lot smaller than the ones that they do!! Every person wants to be loved. Do you know how you overcome this fear? You face it! I am afraid of heights and when I look down I start to not feel good. But one of my big dreams was to skydive. Those 2 don’t go together very well. So about 10 years ago I faced my fear by jumping out of a plane. Did all my fear go away by that experience? No, but I know now that it is possible to overcome!

So you see there are different things that can hold you back, but that doesn’t change the calling. Jesus still called us to love our neighbor despite all the things that hold us back. So let’s take those action steps:

  1. Pray and assess what things hold you back.
  2. Ask God to help you overcome them and then move forward!
  3. By overcoming them you are able to help others to do the same thing!

Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week!!  An old friend of mine came to visit me from Germany this week which made me really happy!! We also had a wonderful time at our brunch and Haeusser Hangout where we made Pizza together. It is so special to connect with neighbors and become friends with them!  Make 2017 the year of community and the year of loving your neighbor well!!

Thank you for praying with us!!Remember this week that you are amazing and loved!!

Have a blessed 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