Where's My Ministry?

Scripture: 

Philippians 2:1-11
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Observations:

This past week, we have been at Movement Conference, for which the theme was "We Are ONE."  During that time, we became the church-- the way God intended it to be.  We became on in surrender, sacrifice, praise, prayer, faith, and mission.  Lord God, help us to continue in that unity!  But look at all of the different ways that this verse describes that concept of "oneness":

• united (vs. 1)
• common (vs. 1)
• sharing (vs. 1)
• like-minded (vs. 2)
• same (vs. 2)
• one (in spirit) (vs. 2)
• one (of mind) (vs. 2)

This verse is jam-packed with "We are one!"  And now, look at what this passage says is going to happen out of our oneness: We can have the same mind-set as Christ Jesus (vs. 5):

• love (vs. 1 & 2)
• tenderness (vs. 1)
• compassion (vs. 1)
• humility (vs. 3 & 8)
• servant (vs. 7)
• obedient (vs. 8)

Those are the attributes of people that are going to make an eternal impact!  Those are the ones who are going to stand out.  Those are the students are going to bring Jesus into their schools. Those are the ones who are going to make a difference.  Because Christ Jesus' mindset was focused on the eternal.  Every move he made was decided through the filter of this question, 

"What is going to bring the most glory to God in this moment?"

What if we made that question our filter?  Verses 9-11 tell us what would happen.  All our friends would be confessing Jesus' name as savior!  And God would get every last drop of the glory from our daily lives!  

Application:

This week at Movement, three of our Blount guys surrendered to a call to ministry!  Praise the Lord!  I can't help but wonder if a few others may have felt God urging them towards that call.  I remember being in middle school at a youth conference and wondering if maybe I was hearing God's call on my life too.  But I was afraid to answer… and I was afraid to mention it to anyone.  I was immediately flooded with excuses.  "I'm too young… I'm a girl… I don't know enough…"

As I got older, I continued ignoring it.  And the list of reasons not to surrender just got longer.  "I've got too many issues… If I really was really supposed to do ministry, I wouldn't have messed up like this?…"

And even as an adult, and even after I started volunteer ministry at FP, I could hear voices in my head, holding me back from my full potential, from surrender. "I'm too busy with my family… with teaching… with class… with my book… God probably wants to use someone who has more time to do full-time ministry."

But guess what, FpStudents?  It's been a year and the Lord hasn't shown us who our full-time youth minister is yet.  But you know what he has done instead?  He's taken those people in our church who are in vocational ministry, Matt and Carmen and Miles and Michelle, and he's expanded their potential to minister just like Jesus multiplied the fish and loaves.  He's taken Lanny and I, who both felt a calling to something more, and placed us somewhere that he could use us for more than we imagined we could be used for.  He's used our small group leaders as pastors in a capacity beyond what they had been before.  He's called some of our students to ministry and they've began serving and ministering to their peers through internships and volunteer positions and just quiet acts of service that no one sees.

All those excuses I have heard for years, those are voices from the enemy!  God's voice says, "I can use you RIGHT NOW!  I have immeasurably more than you can imagine in mind!  Just do whatever is going to bring me the most glory right now… Keep your focus on the eternal… and I, in my infinite power, will move through you."

Guys, maybe the Lord is calling you to vocational ministry down the road.  If so, I pray that you wouldn't hesitate to surrender to that calling.  But the Lord is calling ALL of us to a mindset like Jesus right now… to a life of service.  So if you are like me and let the voice of the enemy hold you back for way too long… surrender.  He has a purpose and a ministry for ALL of us!  Right now!  Ask him what yours is.  Maybe your ministry is service to your family… maybe its service in your school… maybe its service on your team… maybe its service at church…maybe its something else.  But ask him… and then surrender to it!

When we surrender to a "Galatians 2:20" life...

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me…"

That's when we see our "Ephesians 3:30" life come into focus.

Thriving

Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Observations:

Application:

Rejoice, pray, give thanks… This is the recipe for a purpose-driven life according to 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.  But I don't think I understood the full intended meaning of each of those words.  

Rejoice always!  Be exceedingly glad!  Thrive in this life!  Don't just exist in it.  Is every moment of my life about thriving?  No.  Too often I am just living, or waiting, or existing-- but we all called to rejoice!  We are called to a life of thriving!

Pray continually!  Live in a constant spirit of prayer!  This is closely linked to rejoicing because if we are in constant connection to the one who gives us joy, we will be rejoicing!  We will be thriving!

Give thanks in all circumstances!  Be grateful no matter what happens!  Trust that what is happening is within God's control and that we will make good purpose out of it.  And therefore, we can be thankful! And again, we can rejoice!  We can thrive in him!

Why do we do all these things?  Because it is "God's will."  This translates as "thelema," meaning "the purpose of God to bless mankind through Christ."  God wants to bless us!  That's his goal in telling us to rejoice, pray, and give thanks!  Through those three things, he blesses us.  Through those three things, our life becomes less about existing and more about thriving!

Prayer:

God, you are amazing!  I desperately desire a life of thriving!  Please constantly remind me to rejoice, pray, and give thanks, so that you can accomplish your purpose in me.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!

The Purpose of Freedom

Scripture: Galatians 5:13-14

NIV: You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Message: It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.

Observations:

Application:
Today is Independence Day-- the day that we as a country celebrate freedom.  We, as Americans, are given the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  We are given freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and religion.  I am so thankful for those rights.  It's because of those that I can share my faith of the internet like this.  I have no idea why God saw fit to put me right here-- in the U.S., in Maryville, TN, in Faith Promise Church, in my sweet family.  I am so thankful for all of that... but its hard for me to look at the world and wonder why I have so many freedoms when others do not.  I don't understand why my blessings look so much different from other people's.  But what I do know is that God "marked out [our] appointed times in history and the boundaries of [our] lands" (Acts 17:27).  In other words, he has me right here, right now for a purpose.  So what is that purpose?

Galatians 5:13-14 tells us that we are called to freedom.  Although we as Americans, have certain freedoms, we as Christ-followers define that freedom differently.  We are called to a higher standard.  Our freedom is not to do or say whatever we want.  Instead, our freedom is the freedom to show love in everything we do.  In this verse, Paul writes that everything else is summed up in that: love.  That is the freedom Christ modeled in his life and the freedom that He died to show us.  If we are followers of Christ, the purpose of our freedom is to show love to other people through humble service.

Prayer:
God, you are amazing!  Your plan for humanity is just amazing!  Thank you so much loving us so much!  Thank you for freedom.  I pray that you would help me use that freedom that I have to humbly serve others and show your love.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!

Soft Reboot

Scripture:
Psalm 1:2-3
But whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.

Observation:

Two years ago in June was when I really got planted.  I started having a regular quiet time, I started delighting in His law, and I started meditating on what he had to say.  But for the past couple of weeks, something has happened that has taken me by surprise.  I thought this time was set, almost as if it was within me.  I thought my delight was such that my time with the Lord was an appointment within my soul and not a discipline established by my alarm clock.  But then the summer slide happened.

When it started, I was going through a rough time emotionally, and I just thought I needed to spend more time in prayer.  I didn't feel emotionally equipped to dig into the word or especially to share what I was learning.  So I spent several days of my quiet time just praying.  But slowly those prayers got shorter and then I wasn't reserving any time at all for the Lord.  I was just tossing up a couple pleas for help throughout the day.  And although I know the Lord delights in our cries for help in times of brokenness, my soul needs to be plugged in to the source of its strength during that brokenness.  In just a couple of weeks, I went from planted to withering.

Application:

Today, I had to set my alarm because I have to work.  And so as I always do during the school year, I set it for two hours before I have to be somewhere (one hour with Jesus and one hour to get ready and get there.)  When I opened by Bible Reading Plan, I saw that today is the day that Psalms starts over.  Today is a perfect day for a restart of my quiet time.

In the technology world, there are two ways to restart a machine… a hard reboot or a soft reboot.  A hard reboot means you have to completely unplug from the power source so that the machine initiates all over again.  A soft reboot doesn't require you to unplug from the power source.  Today, I need a soft reboot of my quiet time.  I need to start all over on my end, but no matter what happens, I am NEVER disconnected from my power source.  No matter how far I go, that power source won't let go of me.  If you know Jesus, there are no more hard restarts!  

Does anyone else need to reboot today?  Maybe you have gotten out of your routine because of summer.  Maybe you got distracted by hard times.  Maybe things were going so great that you became apathetic.  Maybe your quiet time has been going great this summer but you just want to recommit to that focus this morning.  If so, please join me in this reboot prayer.

Prayer:

Dear Lord, you are so awesome!  Thank you that you are always there even when I am distracted or rebellious or apathetic.  God, I am sorry that I let this time with you go.  I am so thirsty.  I so badly want to be replanted by your streams.  I want my power to be in you.  So today I start over.  Today, I need a reboot from you.  In Jesus' name!  Amen!