Going ALL IN

Are you ALL IN?
Are you ALL IN?

Friends, I have to say that I’ve never been more confident that God desires to do something with SeqHim than I have been the past few days.  With relatively little investment on my part, He continues to open doors and make things happen.  I can also say that he is clearly driving the vision.  Why?  Because I feel as if I’m discovering something every day about it.  I understand the difference between creating and discovering, and for the first time in my life I’m creating something that feels so much more like discovery that I have to confess that it actually is discovery.

I’ve never been more confident that God desires to do something with SeqHim than I have been the past few days.

The latest “ah-ha” came just a few minutes ago as the pieces of the SeqHim name, the “core, fringe, and world” concept, and the iterative growth model all snapped into place in a new way for me.  Clearly there has been some intent behind all of these, but honestly I saw them only loosely connected.  Now I see the clearly intentional (though not by me) tight integration.  I’m going to unfold these connections over the next few posts as I attempt to clarify and enrichen this vision that the Lord has given us.

Let’ start with a 80k foot level view.  The name is SeqHim.  Seq is short for “Sequi”, which means “to follow” in latin.  ‘Seq’ is pronounced “seek”, and so that is where we get the two action words in the tag line, “helping on another seek and follow Jesus Christ”.  As it turns out, the “core, fringe, world” concept is a really good way to communicate what I mean by “seek” Jesus Christ.  And, the iterative growth model is a really good way to communicate what I mean by “follow” Jesus Christ.

I’m going to unfold these connections over the next few posts as I attempt to clarify and enrichen this vision that the Lord has given us.

We desire that those in the ‘world’ (those that do not profess Christ) and ‘fringe’ (those that profess Christ but do not seek or follow him) would truely seek Christ, as He is, rather than the pleasures of the world or the benefits of the Christian religion.  We desire that those in the ‘core’ (those who have gone ALL IN for Christ, regardless of their level of maturity) do two things: a) help the ‘world’ and the ‘fringe’ know who Christ really is and what it means to follow him; and b) help one another grow in Christ as they follow him day-by-day.

The iterative growth model is one tool for helping a ‘core’ brother or sister in Christ follow Him more closely.  It helps position maturity as a balance of knowledge, character and behavior.  It balances hearing, believing and obeying activities so that you do not become unbalanced in your maturity.

The iterative growth model is one tool for helping a ‘core’ brother or sister in Christ follow Him more closely. 

In short, the iterative growth model is a way of looking at the adventure that we were all seeking to begin with.  This adventure is to trust the person of Christ so deeply in every circumstance that it is as if he were here among us.  His Spirit becomes so real in His moment to moment guidance that the incremental value of a tangible Christ in this world becomes less.

So, are you ALL IN?  Have you stood up after having pushed all of your chips into the middle of the table and said, “there’s no going back.  I’m doing this, and I’m doing it all the way.  I’m going on the adventure.  It has great risk, and I may get hurt, but I’m doing it anyway because I love my Savior…the one who died for me.” 

Are you ALL IN?

I’m not saying you think you are perfect; I’m asking about your intentions.  Do you desire to go anywhere, say anything and do anything that you Savior desires?  Or, do you desire the combined priviledges of the world and of Christ with none of the cost?  An ALL IN person desires Christ…with all of the cost and all of the priviledge.

If you want to go ALL IN, tell me, then hang around.  There are lots of folks gathering that want to help you with the second phase…following Christ.

John

2 Replies to “Going ALL IN”

  1. Thanks for your insight John. I nice cohesive and practical explanation of our thematic concepts of this discipleship messages. To take the “core, fringe, world” and the intereative growth model examples that you’ve referneced, I also think we can draw some tangible parallels that we can really start to see in practice from Christ’s message to all His followers in his famous Sermon on the Mount… “Go and make disciples of all nations.” He wants us to first be His disciple, to “seek first the kingdom of God,” or as we affectionately refer to it as living by the “Jesus creed”, which is to love God with all you heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then to do the “going” and “making” which will help others to “deny themselves, pick up their cross and follow [Him]”.

    God Bless!
    Rob

  2. I just read my post and realized there were a few typos in there. Sorry about that. I should have proofed it before submitting. Hopefully it still made sense! 🙂

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