The third message in the Lent: The Life of Surrender message series was about building your life on the firm foundation of God’s Word. When we are filled with the Word, we are able to build up not only the Body of Christ but share the love of God to those who are far from him due to not knowing or no longer wanting to know the Truth of who he is and how he loves us.
In order to stand firm in God’s Word, we must recognize life cannot revolve around our own desires. In the famous book, The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren starts off with:
The message was focused on the following passage from Luke:
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
Luke 10:1-3 NIV
God promises us that our work in the field, meaning our day to day spreading of his love and mercy, will reap an abundant harvest. For this to come into fruition, we must be willing to do the work and trust God throughout the journey not allowing discouragement to consume us until we give up. We must persevere in the calling God has given each of us! We are given spiritual gifts to build up the Body. Sometimes that means we will become tired, but that is when we seek the strength of the Lord and he will renew us.
There is a word of caution in the passage above speaking to how the world will respond to us sharing our faith. The world wants to see Christians fail. We, as Christians, have become the underdog that people just push out of their mind. If they only knew the blessings that come from being in relationship with Jesus!
Timothy warns:
Don’t be naive. There are difficult times ahead. As the end approaches, people are going to be self-absorbed, money-hungry, self-promoting, stuck-up, profane, contemptuous of parents, crude, coarse, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers, impulsively wild, savage, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags, addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They’ll make a show of religion, but behind the scenes they’re animals. Stay clear of these people.
-2 Timothy 3:1-5 (MSG)
We must turn away from our thoughts and fix our minds on what God has for us. We have a choice as stated in Romans,
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
-Romans 8:6
Giving up on learning cannot be an option for us if we are to build up and grow The Body. We must make a commitment to work toward edification:
the improvement of the mind and understanding, especially by learning.
A post from Mike Frost entitled, Evangelism – the Lost Art of Telling Three Stories, Not One was brought up in the message and really had me thinking about the three different stories as they relate to speading the Good News. You can read the full article here
3 Stories of Evangelism
1. The Story of God
-how God created everything we know and love
-how he never left us no matter how much we messed up
-how he made a way for us to be forgiven by sacrifices of pure animals until the time was right to send his ONLY Son to be the ULTIMATE sacrifice for us
-how Jesus came down to live among the people teaching those who accepted the call to follow him
-how Jesus was despised by religious leaders of the time then suffered from betrayal and beatings
-how by taking our sins upon himself, Jesus paid the price of death when he was nailed to the Cross making a new way for us to be saved through him.
-how the story didn’t just end there but three days later Jesus rose from the dead, rolled the stone away, and shared the joy of resurrection with his followers
-how Jesus eventually went back into Heaven to be with his Father and sent the Holy Spirit to live inside each and every person who believes in him so that we are never truly alone and may have peace.
2. My Story
My story is still being written by the BEST Author there ever will be, God! I like to believe that writing this blog is a great way to share how Jesus is working in my life in the big and small ways that all add up to reasons to be grateful and moments to find joy in! Even though I was only 8 when I accepted Jesus into my heart, he was working in my life beforehand. Each moment led me to this point. God has been shaping me and repairing my cracks my whole life. All I want is to be his vessel to bring hope and love to others.
3. Their Story
As someone who studied mental health and was a counselor for children and teens, I had to learn to listen to the whole story of what a person wanted to share with me. A part of the education for therapists is to ask clarifying questions that allow the client to express themselves further in order for the therapist to get a better grasp on the situation at hand. I will admit, as a wife, friend, family member, and mentor, I have fallen short on listening completely to what someone is trying to tell me. I jump to conclusions, try to fill in the blanks, and misinterpret what is being said more often then I would like to admit. Listening to others is so important in being able to help them see the love of God working in and through you and in their lives when they don’t even realize it yet. Ask questions for understanding, allow them to express themselves without fear of judgment, and make yourself a safe person to come to with questions or problems.
When you are able to share these stories and act accordingly, God will help you produce a harvest so plentiful that it will be hard to believe yourself.
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