Love

Jesus Christ told his disciples in John 13:34-35 that the world would know that they were his disciples by their love for one another. One of the greatest ways that we can show Jesus to the lost and dying world is to love each other. More specifically, to have each other's back, to serve one another, to consider each other better than ourselves, to confess sins to one another, to pray for each other, to provide for one another when in need, to spur one another on toward love and good deeds, to challenge and confront each other when needed, etc.

Mark Dever writes in his book the Deliberate Church that "Showing distinctively Christian love for one another, then, is a critical evangelistic tool for the spread of the Gospel and growth of the church". As a community of saints, our corporate witness to non-believers hinges a great deal upon our love for each other. Furthermore, our vocal witness will be annulled unless we take Christ's words in John 13 seriously and begin biblically loving each other through the working power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Once this corporate love comes to fruition, the proclamation of the Gospel that flows from our lips will be consistent with the way we treat each other and love the brethren.

And that my friends is very powerful.

The Precious Gospel

Over the past 2 months I have taken a break from classes at Liberty in lieu of my desire to finnish my MDIV through Southeastern Seminary. As of late, I spend most of my time with my wonderful family, preparing sermons and reading. I have finished up some quality books such as The Pursuit of God by AW Tozer, Jesus Among Other Gods by Ravi Zacharias, and The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhaffer. Reading books that challenge my mind and my soul cause me to think.....all the time.

Lately, I have been thinking about the Gopel. As a child of God, I have the distinct privilage and opportunity to allow God to use me to ADVANCE His gospel. That is special! Further, Christ has commanded me to promote and live out His gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit working inside of me. I'm sad to say that so many times I stay in my own little "comfort zone" and WASTE MY LIFE! I firmly believe that if I am not available for God to use me to advance His Gospel, then I am simply wasting my life here on earth. Christ has given me a task and I have not been created to merely sit on the sidelines.

As one team with one purpose, may we do whatever it takes to advance the precious gospel of Jesus. Life is too short to waste time participating in wordly and self indulgent activity. When I stop and meditate upon God's Word, it becomes crystal clear that there is so much more to life than working a 9-5, earning a nice pay check, and watching episodes of Lost and American Idol. In comparison to the precious gospel, those "luxuries" are filthy trash and count for nothing. Let's not waste our life. Let's allow God to use us to advance His Gospel. Not to us but to His Name be the glory!

-My next post will include practical ways we can advance the Gospel as a team. We are praying for you.

Happy Birthday, Erica!

As a High School student I began praying for my wife. I vividly remember taking the cd player out of my car and replacing the time I would normally spend listening to Plus One(Christian Boy Band, don't hate me) or other music artists with praying for my future wife. In fact, I remember praying specifically for a Proverbs 31 woman who was passionately in love with God and committed to reaching the world with the Gospel. Well, come to find out, God heard my prayer and answered my request.

This post is devoted exclusively to my beautiful, God fearing wife, Erica! You are my best friend and forever will be treasured in my heart. I see the God in you shine so bright on a consistent daily basis. In no particular order, I thank you for your love, wisdom, humility, modesty, patience, cooking skills, and virtuous character. I recognize today that every good and perfect gift is from above-James 1:17. I praise God for you, Erica Lindsy Hahn.

I love you. Happy Birthday!

Title or Towel?

A wise man at Liberty University once told me in a deep and authoritative voice, "Leadership is not about a title, but rather about a towel." Who would have thought that this simple but profound statement would be ringing throughout my heart and mind 6 years after hearing it?

As a husband to a Proverbs 31 wife and a father to a precious 5 month old daughter, I long to be known as a Man who serves and who isn't only satisfied with the title "husband" or "father". My leadership as the head of my household will hold no influence or impact whatsoever unless I am known and visibly seen as a servant. In fact, Jesus Christ himself, one who possessed impeccable character and was in essence God incarnate said that "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." If Jesus lived out this principal how much more should we?

The preparation stages are coming closer and closer to an end for us as a team. Before we know it we will launch as a church to the public. That sure is exciting! My prayer today is that we will unequivocally, with no reservations, be known not for our titles but for our towels.

Radical or Biblical?

I've been thinking a lot lately and I have come to the conclusion that many American Christians(including myself) misunderstand what a Biblical Christian really looks like. I feel as if certain acts of devotion such as stopping on the side of the road to give food to a homeless man, or sharing the gospel with a waiter or waitress, or giving away one's possessions, or blessing those who persecute you, or praising God in the midst of a severe trial, or suffering intense persecution because of one's faith, or giving one's life to overseas missions, or falling upon your knees at a church service while others are standing, or how about this one....martyrdom(this list could go on and on), are viewed as "radical Christianity". These acts of devotion and service are in essence extremely biblical, not necessarily radical. Now don't get me wrong, to the world, are lifestyle of sacrfice and surrender will appear "radical" or odd, this should be expected (1 Corinthians 2:14). However, as believers we must start viewing these type of actions as biblical.

In today's postmodern feel good culture that we live in, many so called followers of Christ exalt biblical acts of obedience to be "radical" or "out there" acts of devotion toward God. So many people(including myself) have succumbed to comfortable Christianity and are failing to be true zealots for Jesus Christ. I am ready to get back to biblical christian living. I think we need to call a spade a spade and start taking the Word of God at face value and obeying it, no matter who thinks it is "radical" or not. As a team, let's live biblical christian lifestyles through the power of the Holy Spirit to make God's name famous all across the world!

Update on our Family

Hi Team,

We wanted to give you a brief update on our family. Our precious little one, Abigail Grace, is growing rapidly and is approaching 20 pounds! Erica measured her a few days ago to be 27 inches long. Needless to say, we have been blessed with a healthy and extremely happy baby. Abigail Grace smiles so much and makes us laugh all the time. Please be praying for God to prepare Abigail Grace for His salvation.

On another note, we are trying to get things together in preparation for our move to the area some time this summer. Please keep praying that God will increase our faith and that He will provide for us. One of my mentor's, a local Pastor in Lynchburg, Pastor Mike Smith, recently said "Christians trust God with their eternal destiny but have a difficult time trusting him with their finances, relationships, etc.". This fact spoke directly to my heart and convicted me. I don't know about you, but I have a difficult time trusting God with the little things. After all, He is God and I am not. He is big and I am small. He is the creator and I am the created. He has proven Himself faithful throughout my entire life and He wont' stop now. Hallelujah!

We have a busy couple of weeks in front of us as a family. Erica and Abigail are traveling to Seattle to visit Erica's family. I will deeply miss them! I am starting a new semester of classes and am preaching next week and Easter Sunday at a Youth/College Service at a near by local church. Please be praying for safe travel for my two princess's and for time management on my behalf as I balance school work and sermon prep over the next two weeks. Rejoice this week in the sacred truth that "God made him who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that in Him we could become the righteousness of God."-2 Corinthians 5:21

To God be the glory great things he has done! Here are some recent pictures of our sweet baby and my beautiful wife!

The Prerequisite to Biblical Community

We have heard testimonies over the past few weeks of how God is working within the church planting team. These testimonies and praise reports bring joy to our hearts and encourage us deeply. During this preparation stage, God is equipping our team to be effective. Erica, Abigail, and I, are waiting in anticipation to be a part of what God has started.

On another note, I currently am working as an Academic Advisor for Liberty's University's Distance Learning Program. As an advisor, we are held responsible for placing student's in to the correct classes according to their specific program. For example, before Religion student's can take upper level Bible classes, they must take the lower level prerequisites in order to prepare for the upper level classes. Without the fundamental knowledge gleaned from lower level prerequisite classes, students are not able to successfully complete upper level courses. That just makes sense.

As a team, I long for us to live in biblical community. However, in order for us to experience the Biblical community that God desires for us to experience, we must individually meet the prerequisite. So you ask: What is the prerequisite? 1 John 1:7 says "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another." Before we can live in harmony with each other, love each other, spur one another on toward love and good deeds(Hebrews 10:24), consider each other better than ourself (Philippians 2:3), we must individually"walk in the light". In other words, we must be right vertically before we are right horizontally. If I am living in sin and not "walking in the light", it affects the entire team's unity. Our personal relationship with Jesus must be pure and growing in order for our team to experience the beauty of biblical community. Let us all make the choice to resist sin and live holy and pure lives before God through the power of the Holy Spirit, EVEN WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING. As a team, let's do this together for the honor of God and beautiful biblical community will be the overflow.