Here are the 7 Ships:
Relationship,
Friendship,
Fellowship,
Discipleship, Stewardship, Partnership and Leadership. We use these 7 Ships to navigate the waters of life. We are going to explore these 7 Ships in Jesus’s life to illustrate Jesus’ redeeming love for all humanity. We will compare how the world uses them and focus on and looking to Holy Spirit for a greater insight into what they mean to us, and for us, on a personal and spiritual level.
The goal is to help you understand these 7 Ships. We approach this with openness, making room for the Holy Spirit to show the way, thus producing a greater return. We only know in part. In order to know more, we need the Holy Spirit to reveal and guide us to the solutions, opportunities and wisdom.
DEFINITIONS OF THE 7 SHIPS
Fellowship: a member of a group having common characteristics, goals and worldview, known to share the challenges of life with nothing hidden, often over a meal.
Relationship: connecting or binding participants in a relationship, where both parties benefit from the union, but not always equally.
Friendship: one attached to another by affection or esteem, sharing their best to make sure the other is well; someone to lean on in time of change; someone with whom you share a life, nothing hidden, all is exposed.
Discipleship: one who accepts and assists in spreading the doctrines of another, to the point that they adopt the mind of the teacher, speaking in the same manner as the teacher.
Stewardship: one who actively directs affairs for themselves or another for the benefit of the owner or themselves; a good manager.
Partnership: person with whom one shares an intimate relationship, with
the sole purpose to build, create or produce something of value so that both parties can benefit from the proceeds.
Leadership: providing direction or guidance through giving of one’s time, mind and energy to ensure that the follower is well cared for so they can develop fully, lacking nothing, sometimes to the discomfort of the leader, for example, Jesus or a good parent.
OUR DESIGN
As we explore Christ’s journey to and off the cross, we will see what God truly intended for humanity.
Due to our lack of knowledge and understanding of spiritual things, we have become world thinkers, five sense seekers and not world changers. We have become a light of the world and not the light in the world. We believe the lies of the world; that we are limited to the things of this world. Heaven is the Kingdom and God is the King, and we are His children. We can do what our Father says and not what we learned from living in a falling world.
The ground on which we plant our feet is to be sovereign territory. We take it for the King, not by force, but with love and kindness, just as God in Heaven is sovereign and is love. We are not held by the limitations of this world, but we are to demonstrate the love of the Father to the world.
THE INNOCENT PAID IT ALL FOR THE GUILTY
Heaven is not the reward, but I offer the view that it is the training ground where we learn the ways of the Father.
We read in the Bible that at the end of time there will be a new heaven and a new Earth. (See Revelations 21). Why would we need a new Earth, if Heaven were the goal or the reward? We will reign with Jesus for a thousand years on this Earth (See Revelation 20:6), then this earth will pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth will come down, and Jesus will be King. That is the way God, the Father, intended from the beginning with Jesus being the King, and us in direct connection with Him for eternity as sons and daughters.
WE CANNOT SAVE OR REDEEM ANYONE
When Jesus returns, He is coming back for His bride; those who took the journey of walking with Him and being a light in the world as a reflection of the redeeming power of the cross. God is not coming to save our flesh. The flesh can never please God. He is coming for our souls. Our souls are comprised of our mind, our will, and our emotions. He wants to redeem our soul and in the process of our redemption, He is asking us to help redeem others by displaying His love to our fellow man. Despite our attempts, we cannot save or redeem anyone. I repeat, we cannot save or redeem the soul of anyone. We can only point them to the One who can save and redeem them; Jesus the Christ.
We are required to point others to Jesus with love and kindness. Jesus did not come to punish, but to save. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. I believe it is the Lord’s will that we live a full life, not a life of despair, fear, shame, and guilt.
