A Mission of Glorious Beauty

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." - Albert Einstein

What captures your imagination will most drive your living.

How true does this ring for you?

“What captures your imagination will most drive your living.

Our Mission

Our Mission

Our Mission

A mission statement:

“A formal summary of the aims and values of a company, organization, community or individual.”

The mission statement of SouthSide Community Church:

WE EXIST TO MAKE ​WHOLE-HEARTED DISCIPLES OF JESUS, FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.

What do you exist for?

What do you exist for?

The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness. -Friedrich Nietzsche

We exist to make whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, for the glory of God.

We all need purpose. What is yours?

We exist to make whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, for the glory of God.

There is a process… a journey… a story we are all a part of. We are not static principles of existence. We all are on a journey. There is a process of being and becoming we are all a part of. We are all forming. The question is what are we forming into?

We exist to make whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, for the glory of God.

A disciple is an ordered-learner… an intentional follower of another and of a way of life. But it is possible to become one who carries on a set of behaviors in emulating another, without ever truly giving over to the heart of that one you are emulating. And it is possible to give your heart over to the one you are emulating while struggling with many habbits and reactions and compulsions which are erratic and not in line with the one you most desire to emulate.

We would rather be Peter than Judas. Judas saved face well and generally didn’t seemed awkward in his following of Jesus. He was never generally stepping out and making messes. Peter on the other hand was impulsive, passionate and dynamic - very up and down. He loved Jesus so much… so much eros… so much passion… so much desire… and such a mess… so inconsistent. He ran when things got rough.... but then ran back to Jesus. He talked a big game, and then couldn’t live up to it… but his heart was for Jesus… so he kept coming back. He denied Jesus, then was reinstated. Then he spoke a sermon and 3,000 believed. God eventually revealed to him that God’s heart was for the Gentiles to be saved not just the Jews… so Peter took the heat going and telling his fellow believers this and starting to open his heart to non-jews (who they were not supposed to even eat with). Eventually while on mission to the gentiles, he started falling back into racism, pulling away from eating with non-jews as he noticed fellow Jews watching him, and Paul had to call him out. And he repented again. And life went on like this for him till he died I would guess.

Our goal is not first to behave right for God as disciples… because this will never really stick. Our goal is to give our hearts over to God, and be patient as He walks us through lining our behaviors up with Jesus. If Jesus has your heart, eventually the rest of you will follow. Because of this we focus on the heart in our discipleship.

Matthew 15:15–19 NLT

Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the parable that says people aren’t defiled by what they eat.” “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

Matthew 15:19 NLT

For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

Do you see Jesus’ thinking vs. Peter’s here?

Peter: What matters is your outer actions - a focus on law and behaviorism.

Jesus: What matters is your heart - your inner life of desires, thoughts, beliefs, trusts and emotions - a focus on relationship and eros - passion/heart.

Paul shows that he was converted to the mindset of Jesus when he wrote . Consider this:

Gal 5:16-

Galatians 5:16–18 NLT

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses.

We exist to make whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, for the glory of God.

So who is it that we are allowing to form our eros - our deep desires… our passion… our purpose… our emotional states…our beliefs… our trusts?

Our greatest obsession was always meant to be God himself. And there is no- one we see God better through than Jesus Christ.

We have been called, saved from a life ruled by lies and dead-ends to a life full of Truth and Hope and Light — a life that knows God as He TRULY is.

There is a discipleship series that I love called “The Apprentice Series” and its a series of 3 books and the first is called “The Good and Beautiful God” and the tagline is “Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows.”

Jesus lived to reconcile us to God. No one knew God the way Jesus did. No one ever could. And Jesus shows us who God is in a way no one else ever could.

John 1:18 NLT

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Remember all that talk about the power of seeing? Seeing things changes us. Read those words again from “No one has ever seen God” and the whole point is that Jesus has… from eternity he has not just seen but been in the unveiled presence of the Glory of God - and even shared in His divinity as a person in the God-head. And it says, “He has revealed God to us.”

Colossians 1:15–22 NLT

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

Colossians 1:15–19 NLT

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

Col 1:15-

If you want to gaze on God, in the purest form you can see from here, look at Jesus… gaze on Him. That’s what He came for - to save you and show you God.

If you want to gaze on God, the purest

We are not called to follow a nice morality… to follow spirituality… to have simply warm fuzzy experiences in our body… WE WERE CALLED TO FOLLOW JESUS - to be accepted in the grace of Jesus… not because of what we do for him, or because he gives us a current experience we wanted today… we follow him because He showed us God and proved he was the King of the Universe and no one else is.

Plenty of other religious teachers have had persuasive arguments, more impressive philosophies than I can come up with or even discern with my own wisdom… but Jesus showed that he ruled the things that no one else could touch — the seas, the possessed, the paralysed, and most of all the DEAD themselves. I don’t follow anyone else because no one else, absolutely NO ONE has ever or will ever do what Jesus did.

We follow him. Not perfectly, but we follow Him, and we trust Him to save us - not because we are more moral than other people… we are probably less impressive than many religious people… but we follow him, because there’s no one like him… and He promised to save us if we follow him with simple faith like the little, weak, child-like people we are. There’s no one else who has the words and the power of life. We follow him, because He HIMSELF is the living way to God.

We exist to make whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, for the glory of God.

And all of this is for the Glory of God.

noun (plural glories) 1 high renown or honor won by notable achievements: to fight and die for the glory of one's nation. 2 magnificence or great beauty: the train has been restored to all its former glory. • (often glories) a thing that is beautiful or distinctive; a special cause for pride, respect, or delight: the glories of Paris. • the splendor and bliss of heaven: with the saints in glory. 3 praise, worship, and thanksgiving offered to a deity.

1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT

But for us, There is one God, the Father, by whom all things were created, and for whom we live. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created, and through whom we live.

1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT

So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness. -Friedrich Nietzsche

Revelation 21:10–22:5 NLT

So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel). The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. No longer will there be a curse upon anything. For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him. And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads. And there will be no night there—no need for lamps or sun—for the Lord God will shine on them. And they will reign forever and ever.

2 Corinthians 4:6 NLT

For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.

John 15:5 NLT

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

Acts 1:4–5 NLT

Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 1:7–8 NLT

He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:8 NLT

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Acts 1:6 NLT

So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?”

Acts 1:8 NLT

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

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Acts 7:55 NLT

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

NEXT IS OPTIONAL - HAS MORE OF THE CONTEXT AFTER

Acts 7:

Acts 7:55

Acts 7:55–59 NLT

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed steadily into heaven and saw the glory of God, and he saw Jesus standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand. And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God’s right hand!” Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

“The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness.” -Friedrich Nietzsche

The mother of excess is not joy but joylessness. -Friedrich Nietzsche

We exist to make whole-hearted disciples of Jesus, for the glory of God.