Listening to God: Mystery of Ministry Devo

September 29th, 2019

Devotional

“Listening to God: The Mystery of Ministry”

                                Eph 4: 1-16

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “Worthy of the Calling” -  Eph 4: 1-6

Have you ever noticed that when you are meeting someone for the first time at a party or a friend is introducing you to another friend that the conversations usually go the same way. Where do you live? Who is in your family? And what? What do you do?

  Why do we ask those questions, because they are supposed to speak to our identity - who we are. But the truth is, what we do and who we are - who we truly are, deep down on the inside are not always the same thing. What would it look like instead if we asked questions like what are you passionate about? Or if you could do anything in the world what would it be? Those type of questions really get to the heart of who we are - what our true identity is. 

  For example, Bono is best known for being the lead singer in the band U2, so if you asked him what he did as a job he would probably say musician. But if you asked him what he was passionate about, what he dreamed about at night its something completely different. Its to eliminate poverty around the world, and he has founded non-profit organizations to pursue that dream. 

  What about you? What is the calling that God put in you?

  What call are you sensing from God?

Prayer: Lord God, we are humbled by the thought that despite all of our flaws you still call us. Call us to serve you. Call us to glorify you. Call us to follow you. Lord, help us to lead lives worthy of the calling that we have received. In your name we pray. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Grace” - Eph 4: 7-10

This past year in confirmation class we kept circling back to this theme - God has blessed you to be a blessing. In other words, the gifts you have been blessed with through Jesus Christ aren’t just for you - they are meant to be shared with the body of Christ, to build up the believers and with the world, in order to share the good news of the Gospel. 

  In this morning’s scripture lesson we hear that the Church is the body of Christ, knitted together under the leadership of the Lord.  Sometimes the Church looses its way and losses it memory about who we are and whose we are. When we make it about petty things its evident that we have forgotten who we belong to.  Just whose Lordship we are under. Just who we exist for. 

Instead, Paul reminds the church in Ephesus that we have been given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. In other words, the church isn’t about us, it’s about the one we call Lord. It is by his grace that we are gifted and called. 

What are some of the ways that you are blessed to be a blessing?

Prayer: Lord, help us to recognize the gifts we have. But above all, Precious Lord, let us recognize and affirm who those gifts come from. May we serve you with all we are all and with all we have. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Gifts” - Eph 4: 11-13

What are you called to do? How has God gifted you and how can you use those gifts to share the good news of Jesus Christ?

  Your gifts may not be the same as the gifts as the person next to you or the person down the street, but we are all gifted. We just may not yet know what those gifts are. Its not about comparing ourselves to others, it about encouraging one another to live into who God has created us to be in order to bless other people. 

  I rejoice in the fact that we are all different and have different gifts. I believe God provides within our local body every person and thing we need to reach this county for Jesus Christ. I believe that in the Church Universal we have all the people and things we need to transform the world for Jesus Christ.

I have often churches bemoan and say “if only”. “If only” we had more people, more resources, more money. But if we neglect this body, the body we have been gifted with, by saying that we are not yet good enough or have enough for the mission of Jesus Christ then we are not living up to the call of the Kingdom. And more will not come. 

If you had to list you gifts, what would say that they are?

Prayer: Lord, all too often we try to make excuses about why we are not the one that you call. Forgive us, Lord. Instead, let us listen and respond to the call you have on our life so we can be part of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Amen. 

Thursday: “Grow Up” - Eph 4: 14-16

  Growing up happens when we live into who we were each created to be. It only happens when we seek after the will and way of God. Here’s the thing - when we have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, we all end up having the same familial identity - we are children of God as part of the Boyd of Christ under the Lordship of our head, Jesus Christ. But we all have different calls- or individual purposes. We all have different gifts that we can only discover by being in relationship with God. 

 Paul writes in 1st Corinthians:

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

    nor the human heart conceived,

what God has prepared for those who love him”—

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Cor 2: 9-10)

Paul is talking here about the wisdom of God. But it goes on to say Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. What gifts? Certainly the gift of wisdom and the leading of the Holy Spirit but also our spiritual gifts that play into our callings, things like what are lifted up in Ephesians 4. 

What does it mean to grow up in Christ?

Prayer: Lord, you love us to much to leave us where you found us. So instead you invite us to follow you and to grow in faith. Lord, may it be so, each and every day. Amen. 

Friday: “The Head - Christ” - Eph 4: 1-16

  Another part of maturing is making sure that Jesus is in the right place in your life - right at the center. Have you ever noticed that when Jesus isn’t the center of your attention and focus that you can often become side tracked by other things? That you are more prone to slip into the sins that can rip apart a church, like pride and gossip? When we don’t have Christ as our center, we often think that the Church is about us - meeting our needs instead of reaching out to those who don’t yet know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But when Christ is in that right place in our lives, all of our focus comes around serving God and glorifying the name of Jesus.

  What do you think mature faith looks like?

Prayer: Lord, help us to mature in our faith. We know that at times it seems easier to act like children, focusing on our own wants and desires instead of focusing on you. Free us from our childish ways and lead us to be more like you. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Listening to God: The Mystery of Miracles” - 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 5

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

Scripture of the Week: Eph 4: 11-13

From the Sermon:

According to the grace given to you, will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s _____________ in the world?

In order to enter into that mystery of _________ we need to have one ear to the ground to hear the rumble of opportunity and one ear to heaven to respond to the call of God on our lives.

None of those gifts or callings are more _________ than another.

Paul tells the followers in Ephesus that they are to live a life worthy of their calling.

Baptism is the ordination of the ______.

Reflection Questions:

How often do we slow down enough to listen to what God is saying?

Where does our call come from?

How are you listening for and responding to the call of God on your life?

Prayer:

Lord, we confess that sometimes we want to pretend like other people are called and we are not in order to let ourselves off of the hook. But, O Lord, we can no longer run from the truth that you are calling us for such a time as this. Open our hearts to hear your voice and to respond in a mighty way, we pray. Amen. 

Listening to God: The Mystery of Silence and Prayers - James 4:8, Matthew 6: 5-15

    One of the most painful periods in my life was also one that yielded the most fruit in hindsight. While studying abroad my senior year of college I hit a roadblock in my prayer life. Perhaps a better way to state it is that I had just come off of wonderful mountaintop experiences as I served as an intern at my home church. Then in a new country, away from home, I yearned for those mountain top experiences to return.

   Instead, I found myself in a dry place.

   A place where I kept on praying, but just didn't feel the same spiritual connection that I had before on the mountaintop.

   The problem with our current understanding of prayer is that we think if we aren't getting the answers we want there must be something wrong. Something wrong with us. Something wrong with God. Something unconfessed in our life.

   But that wasn't the case. Instead, it was simply a season of silence. And silence led me to trust. Even if I didn't have the same feeling that I had on the mountaintop it did not mean that God was absent. Instead, God was drawing close in new ways. Ways that would lead me to a call in ministry.

   How can we re-learn what it means to pray in the dry places as well as the mountaintops during our faith journey?

Listening to God: The Mystery of Silence and Prayers Devo

Septemner 22nd, 2019

Devotional

“Listening to God: The Mystery of Silence and Prayers”

                                James 4:8

Matthew 6: 5-15 

Keep the sermon topic and Biblical text preaching all week by following Pastor Michelle on twitter @tinypastor and reading her sermon blog www.revmichelle.blogspot.com

Monday: “When You Pray” -  Matthew 6:5-6

At the center of our life of devotion to God is prayer. It’s our chief way of communicating with the Holy One. The key word being communication. But sometimes, sadly, our prayer lives don’t look anything like a healthy living relationship. Take a moment to think about your prayer life in terms of how you talk with your friends and family. When I talk with folks there is a lot of talking back and forth, but it doesn’t always feel that way when I’m communicating with God. Instead it is me. Talking. A lot. 

For some reason so many of us refuse to listen to God. We either quickly run through our list of requests just to throw them out there and make sure God knows what they are because, well, we’re just too busy for anything else. Or we take prayer and reduce it to a model, such as the ACTS method – making sure to have adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication (or requests) in our daily prayers. Once again pause and think about how this compares with your other relationships throughout the day. Are your friends and family feeling cared about if you don’t listen to them? Or don’t follow the line of the present conversation because you have a set method you want to follow or are afraid that what you deem needs to be said will be forgotten.

  How would you describe your prayer life? Is it mostly talking or listening?

Prayer: Lord, we confess that sometimes it feels like we talk a lot more at you, tell you what we want, then with you, listening to your responses. Remind us that pray is about a deep and meaningful relationship with you.  Re-teach us how to pray. Amen. 

Tuesday: “Do Not” - Matthew 6: 7-8

Even not listening, as detrimental as this is, isn’t as overwhelming among Christians today as not believing God will answer prayers. Are we believing God for so little that we do not even come to God in prayer? Are we putting the breaks down on our prayer life because we are afraid to ask God for big things? Do we only pray for those things that we will expect God to answer, or don’t care if he doesn’t answer. Or worse when we pray for something big do we expect God not to answer at all? And friends, that is a tragedy is the words of John Wesley are true when he said, “It seems that God is limited by our prayer life, that he can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks him.”

Do you come to God in prayer for all things, big and small? Why or why not?

Prayer: Lord, sometimes we feel like giving up on prayer. We look around and feel like prayer hasn’t worked for us in the past, because we haven’t received what we asked for. Or we start to doubt that we are worthy of praying to you at all. Lord, refresh our relationship with you through prayer, and allow the floodgates to open, we pray. Amen. 

Wednesday: “Hallowed” - Matthew 6: 9

Jesus was teaching his disciple to pray a very big prayer.

“Our Father, who are it Heaven, Hallowed be your name.” Even in teaching his disciples how to pray Jesus is being controversial as well as teaching a radical lesson. Jewish culture lesson, God’s name was considered to be so holy that it wasn’t even to be spoken out loud, yet here Jesus is taking the name that wasn’t to be spoken and adding this intimate twist to it, by addressing the Most High God as Father. He made God approachable.

When I think of this statement I immediately think back to the book of Exodus. In Exodus 3:5 God told Moses to take off his sandals because he is standing on Holy Ground. As Moses goes on in verse 13 to ask what God’s name is, God responds, “I am who I am. That is what you are to tell the Israelites, I AM has sent me.” Here God’s holiness was perceived as a boundary between himself and the Israelites. He was so Holy that he didn’t even have a recognizable name. Yet, in the Lord’s prayer, we find that we can have a deep, close relationship with God, and it doesn’t diminish his holiness as the Israelites had feared for so many years. What does it mean to you to pray “hallowed be your name”?

Prayer: Lord, there are so many ways of describing you and your Kingdom - but Jesus reminds us that above all you are holy. You, O Lord, deserve all the honor, glory and praise that we can give you and more. Lord, when draw close to you in prayer, make it be a holy time and place, where your name is lifted up above all names. Amen. 

Thursday: “Your Kingdom” - Matthew 6: 10

  “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.” When you read the Gospels you see that there is a tension in Jesus’ talk about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is present and not yet. All too often we get caught up in the future, and just passively wait for Christ’s return and for him to fix everything. But if are agents of God’s will, we recognize that we have a place in his present kingdom. 

In the book of Jeremiah, God speaks through the prophet saying “I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness, in the earth for the things I delight in.” If this is the way God loves and if this is what brings him honor, then we should act as he does, pursing justice, righteousness, and mercy fervently. The Church, as the bride of Christ, exists to bring honor to God both now and in the future.

What is the Kingdom of God?

Prayer: Lord, you have dominion over earth and heaven. Sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking that we are in charge, but the truth is that we are your servants. Lord, speak, for we are listening and eagerly await working to honor your Kingdom. Amen. 

Friday: “This Day” - Matthew 6: 11-15

  “Give us this day our daily bread.” God has created us with basic needs. We need food, water, and oxygen. And he sustains us by giving us these things. And this little line should take us back, once again to Exodus, causing us to remember God’s provision as the Israelites wondered in the wilderness for 40 years. He reigned down Mana, a bread like substance, from Heaven and the Israelites were to collect what they communally needed to sustain them for one day. We’ve become such a self-centered society. We hoard food and don’t think about the needs of our neighbors. But notice that the word “our” is used in this phrase instead of “my”, therefore, we should be praying for the provision and sustaining of our neighbors as a way to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

“And forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors.” The power behind this statement is two fold. First it serves as a reminder that we must daily ask God to help us examine our hearts and point out our sins. And we must trust in his forgiveness. For some reasons we tend to cling to guilt of stains that Christ’s blood has long washed away. This examination of our heart also lets us fully give our sins over to Christ and be absolved of them.

How does the Lord’s prayer help us to look to God to provide?

How does the Lord’s prayer invite us to examine our hearts?

Prayer: Lord, you do not leave us alone. You do not let us be the same today as we were yesterday. Use our relationship to you, through prayer, change our hearts and lives, we pray. Amen. 

Saturday: Preparing for the Word

You are invited to read and pray this week’s text and topic: “Listening: The Mystery of Miracles” - 1 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 5

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

Scripture of the Week: James 4:8

                        Matthew 6: 5-15

From the Sermon:

 We don’t talk about the __________ of God enough.

Our human _______ are going to fall short of describing all of God.

The reality is we don’t spend the totality of our lives on the ________________. We travel through the mundane and the every day.

Jesus is telling his disciples that they need to learn how to pray in the midst of the ______________ of life.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray he told them to pray that God’s ______ be done.

Part of prayer that we often disregard is waiting in ___________.

Reflection Questions:

Have you ever had a time in your life when you felt like you weren’t as close to God as you would like to be?

Have you ever had a dry season along your spiritual journey? What was that experience like for you?

When and where we fail to listen? Where are the places where we have a tight grip on what we desire and refuse to surrender to God? 

Prayer:

Lord God, teach us anew this week what it means to pray. To pray no matter what. To pray for your will and not ours. To pray like you taught your disciples to pray so long ago. Teach us the mystery of prayer. Amen. 

Luke 15: 1-10 - The Kingdom is Like This

    One day, I was driving down the road and found myself lost in thought about what seems to be lacking in our society at times – compassion, tenderness, love for our neighbor.

       I was pondering all of this as I hit spot after spot of construction, until I found myself situated behind a large tracker trailer truck. Right in front of me was a large sticker on one of his back doors that read “We don’t do business or bring any comfort to the enemy.” Ironically right above this large sticker was a smaller one that said, “Jesus loves you.” 

     What a profound statement about something being lost – the heart of the entire gospel message. Love your neighbors, including your enemies, and love the Lord your God. This truck was claiming two different realities that couldn’t fit together – one was the message of Love, the heart of Jesus’ life, teachings, death, and resurrection. 

     Which was the problem the religious leaders found themselves having in this text as well. They were acting more like the gate keepers to the Kingdom then the servants of God. 

     What are the things we say and do that fail to proclaim God's message about saving the lost? How can our lives proclaim more and more what the Kingdom of God is like? 

Mission: The Kingdom of God is Like Devo

September 8th, 2019

Mission: The Kingdom of God is Like

We love to hear stories about people coming to know Jesus Christ and love him as their Lord and Savior. Once we have committed our lives to Christ, we are part of that mission as well. For the next three weeks our devotionals are going to combine the study of scripture with reflection and action - the act of sharing our faith. 

Scripture - Luke 15: 1-10

 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

8 “Or what woman having ten silver coins,[a] if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Questions for reflection:

• What are some of the things that keep you from pointing others to God?
• Who is Jesus to you? Why is your faith in Jesus important to you?
• Do you desire to reach others with the Good News at this point in your life? Why or why not?

Called to action:

All Christians are called and given the gifts to share the gospel, but that doesn’t mean that it is always easy for us. Sometimes we get discouraged, especially when we forget why we are sharing the Good News in the first place - its always about the mission from Christ. 

Try this week sharing your faith with one person. There aren’t wrong ways to share your faith - its about what feels natural for you. It could be with a family member, a friend, or a stranger. Pray that God will give you the opportunity to plant a seed this week.

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

Scripture of the Week: Luke 15: 1-10

From the Sermon:

Jesus was associating on a level marked by __________ and _________ with people that others labeled the enemy.

Jesus was saying, yes, I seek out the ______. 

Something we didn’t even notice was ______.

Reflection Questions:

Are you willing to run to God and seek it out, as fervently as the shepherd sought the lost lamb and the woman fixed her mind to only seek what was precious to her?

What does this teaching mean in your life today?

Prayer:

Lord, sometimes we are so caught up in our own lives, we have forgotten the point of your Kingdom - to seek and save the lost. Sometimes, we block people from coming to know you. Sometimes we are hindrances to your message and transformative grace. Renew us and restore us, O Lord, and remind us of the way of your Kingdom, we pray. Amen. 

Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20 - Mission: Sending the 70

Christ calls the disciples. He sends them. But do you notice what happens near the end of this particular passage? The disciples also return to Christ. Return to one another.

Christ lists that which he has given the disciples to do after they returned, as a reminder that they represented Christ while they were on their journeys. They had a purpose behind what they were doing. They only had a message to share because Christ gave it to them, trusting them to be his representatives. 

 Christ has given us as his disciples his song to sing. It is not our own words that are we are carrying to others, but the total representation of Christ to a person who may not know of his grace and mercy. It’s a bit scary, isn’t it? In teaching about the Kingdom, we cannot run away from our identity as Christ’s because we need to shine Christ’s light. I know that I can fail horribly at this sometimes, but the fear of failure is not an excuse to avoid sharing the message.

What stops you from hearing the call and from going? What is Christ just waiting for you to respond to this day?

Mission: The Mission of the 70 Devo

September 1st, 2019

Mission: The Mission of the 70

We love to hear stories about people coming to know Jesus Christ and love him as their Lord and Savior. Once we have committed our lives to Christ, we are part of that mission as well. For the next three weeks our devotionals are going to combine the study of scripture with reflection and action - the act of sharing our faith. 

Scripture - Luke 10: 1-11,16-20

After this the Lord appointed seventy[a] others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’[b] 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.

16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

17 The seventy[a] returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. 20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Questions for reflection:

• God often leads us and sends us to serve through nudges. What are some of the nudges you have received from God throughout your life?
• What practices to do you have in your life to listen to God?
• How are you listening to the needs of others in your life?

Called to action:

Evangelism is often thought of as a scary word. But at its heart, evangelism is sharing our faith in Jesus. But we cannot do this without being tuned into the leading of the Holy Spirit. Spend this week praying that God makes you ever more aware of to the mission field around you, by listening to God and giving you an open heart to others. 

Sabbath. Study. Serve.

Sabbath, Study, Serve 

Taking the Sermon Into Our Week 

Scripture of the Week: Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20

From the Sermon:

The Kingdom of God is about ______________.

______ are also stronger than ________.

Community can _____ and _______ you during times that are difficult, dangerous, and depressing.

Jesus sent the disciples________ to where he intended to go himself.

Jesus sent the disciples in order to help them _________ what they had and help them ___ with what they’ve got.

Jesus was forcing the disciples to get comfortable with their own ______, their own identity.

Reflection Questions:

How do you hear the prompting of the Holy Spirit?

What did Christ teach was our part in proclaiming the Kingdom of God?

What could Jesus’s reasoning be for sending the disciples out in pairs?

Prayer:

God, may you send us, as you sent your disciples so long ago. Send us out two by two, depending on you to use us for your Kingdom. Equip us. Send us. Use us, we pray! Amen.