{"id":1352,"date":"2019-12-13T14:54:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T19:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/?p=1352"},"modified":"2019-12-13T15:40:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T20:40:35","slug":"why-are-we-still-here-guest-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/2019\/12\/13\/why-are-we-still-here-guest-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Are We Still Here? (Guest post)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is a guest post by Caleb Dueck<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve been a part of Ethnos360 my whole life. I was born while my parents were in training. When I was two years old, we packed our things and went to serve in Guinea. Spending the first part of my life overseas, I certainly viewed overseas missions as something necessary, but I didn\u2019t tie it in with my worldview. It was just part of my life not to be in America like other kids, and I knew my parents were doing the right thing. But the need didn\u2019t pierce my heart. The thought of a lost world really didn\u2019t affect my heart that much. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I came to Ethnos360 Bible Institute, what really impacted my heart was learning Scripture and, specifically, seeing God\u2019s heart for the world. A true understanding of God\u2019s master plan for humanity reveals a deeper meaning and conviction in my personal day to day life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two things…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Being able to spend\ntwo years watching the Biblical account unfold, I noticed two things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. God wants a relationship with His people, and<\/li>
  2. He uses people with whom He has a\nrelationship to tell others about Him.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Sometime while studying the New Testament, a question (and answer) began to take root in my mind that changed how I see life. That question was \u2026  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWhy are we still here?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Think about that for\na second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you are a\nbeliever in Christ, you understand that your eternal future is in Heaven with\nGod. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So, why aren\u2019t you\nthere right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Explore training like this in person…for free!<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The Opportunity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    God has provided you\nthe opportunity through Christ for restored fellowship. You\u2019ve accepted that\nopportunity, changing the trajectory of your eternal future, and now you\u2019re\nwaiting on complete restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why is God waiting\nto bring you to Heaven? Why do you still have to deal with sin nature and the\ndifficulties of this world instead of being with God without all those things?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They\u2019re simple\nquestions, but we sometimes fail to even think about them because we accept the\nenvironment we\u2019re in, even if that\u2019s the church (or, in my case, the mission\nfield).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The answer is just\nas simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Answer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The main reason\nwe\u2019re still here is because God wants us to reach others with the news of\nChrist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It may not be the\nonly reason, but it\u2019s a big one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When I realized\nthat, it reinvigorated my sense of purpose. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sure, I was saved as\na kid, and sure, I knew that I should share Christ with others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, having an\nunderstanding of God\u2019s story and how He\u2019s chosen to reach His people\nfundamentally changed how I thought about missions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Not everyone is\ncalled specifically to overseas missions, but everyone is called to share\nChrist with the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Learning God\u2019s story\nin-depth changed how I viewed God\u2019s people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    God\u2019s plan is to\ninvolve us in reaching the world. Studying the Bible for two years made that as\nplain as day, even if it had been right in front of me my whole life. It\nredefines my purpose and forces me to focus on Jesus\u2019 final words as a call to\naction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    After all, Jesus\ndidn\u2019t ask us to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    He commanded.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Take Your Next Step. Sign Up for a free discover day event<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This is a guest post by Caleb Dueck I\u2019ve been a part of Ethnos360 my whole life. I was born while my parents were in training. When I was two years old, we packed our things and went to serve in Guinea. Spending the first part of my life overseas, I certainly viewed overseas missions […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[83382],"tags":[117913,112257,5,2619],"class_list":{"0":"post-1352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-guest-post","8":"tag-bible-education","9":"tag-ethnos360-bible-institute","10":"tag-missions","11":"tag-the-big-picture","12":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/joel-potter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}