@stickyJesus. Toni Birdsong

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СКАЧАТЬ factors can be attributed to why social media hit overdrive in the past several years, including cheaper broadband, a fire to innovate, and the global economy shift. As unprecedented economic, political, and social factors continue to fragment continents, cities, and even homes, words such as connection, community, and relationship increasingly dominate the conversation.

      The evolution of globalization is the progress of ideas. It's the anticipated economic equalizer brought on by relatively inexpensive Internet, browsers, and the fact that no one owns the Internet (yet). All of this has linked us all closer than anyone could have imagined just a few decades ago. This moment in time is the perfect communications storm—a global shift, economically and socially, that has leading thinkers today rendering the world more flat than round and shrinking by the moment.

      Connectivity, content, and community—the three Cs—are changing the very shape of the planet. To be heard from this point forward, individuals, companies, organizations, and governments with essential (and profitable) messages to communicate must develop strategies that fit the global realities, or as Bloomberg.com warns: "catch up...or catch you later."³

      it's sticky

      As a follower of Christ, you have an imperative message from Him. The message is as sticky as it gets. It's a message that holds fast; it adheres and clings to the heart of every generation. Sticky content is independent of time, change, and cyberspace. The Apostle Paul, no doubt a thought leader of his day, knew the message was unlike anything else the world had ever known, and he wrote,

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       "We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots ofour ordinary lives."

      ...................2 Corinthians 4:7b, THE MESSAGE ...................

      Adapting to technology does not mean you change the message to fit the culture. The Word of God stands and does not need to be spiced up or watered down to fit the taste buds of any culture or generation. The Word is as alive and active as it was when God spoke it into existence. The only thing that must change is your mind-set about how you must now relate to the culture around you.

      Paul got that. When he was with Jews, he kept Jewish laws, customs, and covenants. When he went to the Gentile part of town, he shape-shifted his communication style so as to appeal to the Gentiles. Was he a hypocrite? No. No more than a president who quietly thanks God before a meal in Thailand where Buddha hovers over the dining room and then respectfully joins his host in bowing his head for a Buddhist blessing. If anything, Paul was simply appropriate. Paul respected and adapted to the culture in which he found himself. Why? Because he was mission-centric; intent that he might "save some." Can you hear Paul thinking? Hmmmm...should I eat kosher chicken today...or should I watch the guy across from me burn in a pit of sulfur and be separated from God for all eternity? Say, Levi, pass me that chicken!

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       "When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings."

      .......................1 Corinthians 9:22-23, NLT .........................

      Writer and theologian Francis Schaeffer said that "each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting."⁴ It's easy—and even comforting at times—to grumble about the head-spinning rate of change and the acute pain that comes with it. But as a believer, you have to realize that it's time to dig down into the core human need creating the demand for connection and respond to the mission field at your fingertips. It's time to care more deeply and communicate better to the world without conforming to it...just like Jesus did.

      Connection is about joining and fastening things together. Relationship is about creating a sense of belonging.

      The world is wired for 24/7 connection, but you've secured the most coveted connection—Jesus Christ. And while the world oozes multiplicity in its motives for relationship building online, be assured that just one motive moved God to connect to you in genuine relationship. That motive was love. Love compelled God to send His only Son—the Holy One—to establish relationship with us, the unholy. That same determined love allowed Jesus to suffer on the cross in your place.

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      "For God so loved the world tha the gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ........................................" John 3:16, NIV.........................................

      Yes, love is an exceedingly odd word to throw into the digital conversation. But you must. It's in your Christ-filled DNA that you know and effectively communicate His story (the gospel) to others. Christ's life reflected the value He placed on love as the core of His relationships—even toward those who hated Him. The world came to know Him through love, and it's still through love that today's digital residents will come to know Him (through you).

      wired to follow

      We are thankful that God designed His plan to be replicated. Jesus came so that you could see and learn how to be just like Him. Because of His example, you're poised to do what He did.

      Jesus maintained a primary connection with the Father, and that connection shaped everything He did. He knew who He was and whose He was. That clarity grounded and shaped His perspective. One of the things Jesus' baptism announced was His intention to follow God's will and His recognition that He belonged to God alone. Jesus knew how to live only in a state of obedience.

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       "Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?' But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he allowed Him."

      ..................................Matthew3:13-1S, NKJV ..................................

      When Satan tempted Jesus in the desert, Jesus clearly demonstrated whose He was (and is). He held tightly to the Word of God and countered every temptation that Satan dished up. He emerged from the wilderness victorious and overcame forty days of intense testing and torment (see Matthew 4). He showed us it's possible to overcome any temptation in our paths.

      When communicating in a Web-based world, it's critical to choose the authority of your life before you engage in meaningful conversations with others. Be assured, this new mission field is ripe with land mines, some with your very name on them. Remember, for all the lip service the Israelites gave the "Lord" of their lives as they fled the slavery of Egypt, it wasn't long before they were whipping out the golden calf for some home-style worship. They didn't fully realize who or whose they were and soon returned to their old ways.

      You СКАЧАТЬ