Week 15: 1 Timothy 4:16

Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.

1 Timothy 4:16

Hello fellow movers!  Wow, I just have to say, WOW!  What a Holy Spirit shot of adrenalin I received yesterday!  Dayspring church in Bowling Green, Ohio was very blessed to have Jim Wilkes preach yesterday.  And when I say preach, I mean PREACH!  For those of you following this blog who don't attend Dayspring, I will make sure to upload the video of the sermon as soon as it's available so you can watch it.  If you don't want to wait for me, check Dayspring's Vimeo page: https://vimeo.com/dayspringbg

Now on to the promise!

The promise this week comes from 1 Timothy 4:16.  The main reason I bring up the message yesterday from Jim Wilkes is because he talked a lot about radical obedience to God. The sermon series at Dayspring the past two weeks and moving forward is called "Unstoppable", and that is exactly what this promise is all about; making our message unstoppable.

Our most important task as Christ followers is to make disciples of all of the nations.  We need to, to quote Mr. Wilkes, "export people from the kingdom of darkness and import them into the Kingdom of Light".  So what if I were to tell you there is a way to make sure you are "unstoppable" at this?  Would you be interested?  I sure would be!

In this verse from 1 Timothy, Paul gives us a promise from God that "will ensure salvation both for yourself and those who hear you."  What an absolutely incredible promise!

"So meat and potatoes here, Jeremy." You say, "What do I have to do to save everyone who hears my message?"  Well I am so glad you asked!  Paul tells us in verses 9-15 what we must do:

It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers. Prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all.

So here's the breakdown:

1. Put your hope in Jesus Christ, the Living God and Savior of all men,
2. Believe and teach the Gospel of said Christ.
3. Make sure that your life is an example of Christ Who lives in you - in your speech, conduct, love faith and purity.
4. Give attention - time, effort - to public reading of Scripture, to urging on your brothers and sisters in Christ and to teaching.
5. Make sure to cultivate your spiritual gift the Lord has blessed you with.
6. And finally...take pains in these things!  Don't just treat this as a check-list.  "Yeah, I guess I kinda did this one" is not going to cut it!  Paul says to "be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all."  You have to live it, breathe it, eat it, sleep it!

This is the stuff that makes your message unstoppable!  This is the stuff that ensures salvation...not just for you, but for all who hear about Jesus Christ!  This is the stuff that changes the world!  Jesus is the One who changed our world!

Let's go change the world promise movers!  Let's show the world the God who changed ours!

Week 13: John 12:26

"If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him."

John 12:26

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!  A little late I know...but Christ is still risen, so technically every day is Easter!  I hope you all had a blessed time moving on the promise from last week.  I want to take a quick moment before I get into the new promise to remind everyone of the old promises.  Not trying to be a jerk or anything...it's more of a reminder because I have really struggled with it.  The point of moving on these promises is so that it makes changes in us permanently.

I realized this a few weeks ago, but I have not been doing very well at abiding in Christ the way I did when those were the promises we were moving on.  So just a friendly reminder...don't stop moving on the old promises!  Keep abiding, keep humbling, keep meditating, keep finding people to pray with.

Now on to the new promise!  I read a book a few years ago called Experiencing God by Henry and Richard Blackaby.  The book completely changed my life...I would highly suggest giving it a read if you haven't yet. 

One of the things they talked about in the book was how we approach going about God's work in our lives.  So many people, and I am one of them, constantly pray that God send them a task.  The Blackabys offered a new way to look at it, and John 12:26 mimics that.  Instead of praying that God send a laundry list of tasks for us to accomplish, we should instead pray that He reveal where He is already working in our lives.

This isn't to say that God doesn't or won't give us to-do lists.  I'm not suggesting that God doesn't give us specific tasks and ask us to follow Him to go accomplish what He has set out to do.  That's the first part of Jesus' promise here, "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me."  Many times we miss the second part though, and I believe that is what the Blackabys were trying to point out.  "where I am, there My servant will be also."  So it's not just about being specifically sent out by God.  Every single day we wake up and put our feet to the ground, God is sending us out.  When we don't have something specific from Him it doesn't mean we get the day off from being a Christian.

God is going to use YOU!  That is what this promise is all about.  God wants you to follow Him.  Jesus is asking you to be where He is.  If He's not telling you to go somewhere, then ask Him where He is currently working in your life.  There may be a co-worker whose heart He has been "tenderizing" to receive the Gospel.  If you're waiting for Jesus to lead you somewhere else, you'll miss the fact that He's working right in front of you.

So focus on serving Jesus this week.  Listen to Him.  If He tells you to follow Him somewhere, then go!  MOVE!  If He tells you to sit still and rest in Him, then stay!  DON'T MOVE!  If He doesn't tell you to move or stay, then ask Him where He is currently moving in your life.  Ask Him to show you where He is and get there.

When you do, He promises that His Father, our Father, will honor us!  It doesn't get better than that!  Ok, enough reading...get moving!

Week 11: Psalm 73

"Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you."

Psalm 73:25

Hey everybody!  This week we will move on Psalm 73.  It's a little different than most of the other promises that we have moved on thus far, so let me explain how I see this going.

The beginning of Psalm 73 is a little depressing.  It talks about the universal truth in life that "nice guys finish last".  I'm paraphrasing...that quote isn't from the Bible (the Christian one anyway).  Verses 1-15 talk about how those who are wicked always seem to be getting the best life has to offer, while those who do their best to live righteously fall flat on their face.  The author sums it up in verse 16, "When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me".  That seems to be a common theme when we try to understand the happenings of this broken world. 

The author gives us some great insight on what we should do when we start feeling this way though, "till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny."  When we enter into the presence of God it changes our perspective on everything.  We go from looking at things from a material, worldly, limited view, to an eternal perspective.  Upset about how "unfair" life is?  Enter the sanctuary of God (and by sanctuary I mean anywhere His presence dwells, could be church, your living room, the city park) and see if it doesn't change your mind about the very concept of "fair".

But I digress...there are many promises in this chapter:

1. God is always with us (Verse 23)
2. God holds us in his right hand (23)
3. God guides us with His counsel (24)
4. God takes us into His glory (24)
5. Where flesh and heart fail, God is our strength and portion forever (26)

Verse 28 ends the Psalm and says, "But as for me, it is good to be near God.  I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of all your deeds."  I really like this verse/promise because I have really been praying a lot, asking the Lord for more boldness to share my testimony with those around me.  Being near God and making Him our refuge makes it easy for us to share our testimony and His deeds with those we come in contact with.

The key to the promise stands in verse 25 though.  "Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you."  What do you desire on earth besides the Lord?  God brought this down on me like a hammer when I was praying about which promise to move on this week.  God lays all of these promises down at our feet - ours for the taking - but we cannot collect on them if our priorities aren't right.  It makes sense too.  Until I can honestly say, "Lord, earth has nothing I desire besides you." why would He give me more "things" to get in the way...more "things" for me to put before Him.

Jana and I have been talking about fasting to draw deeper into God.  I think this is the perfect opportunity for us to do this, and I ask that you prayerfully consider joining us.

DISCLAIMER:  I say prayerfully consider because you absolutely, 100% have to pray about this before you do it!  Jana and I have prayed about it and the Lord wants us to do this.  If the Lord does not want you to do this, you won't get anything out of it.  I have fasted without God and can tell you it's worthless...it just leaves you hungry and no fun to be around.  There is no shame in not doing this with us if you don't feel led to, just cling to the promises we have mentioned and make God all that you desire.

Jana and I have decided that we are going to do a technology fast, specifically our smart phones.  We have gotten way too comfortable spending too much time checking Twitter, Facebook, playing games, checking the weather, scores of sporting events, our e-mail...whatever else these amazing things can do now.  This alone isn't a problem...I see my smart phone and all this technology as one of the best ways I can spread the Word of God, but when some of these things start getting in the way of our quiet time with God, we have a problem.

There have been mornings that I have skipped my prayer time with God to write this blog.  Unacceptable.  There have been mornings I have thought, I'll check Facebook to see if any of my friends need prayer...and we all know how that ends.  Unacceptable.  It doesn't matter what it is, if there is anything that gets in the way of your relationship with God, it must be put in check.  This fast is a great way to set your priorities right.  Even if there are things that haven't elevated themselves in priority above God, but they are just getting too close for comfort, get them in check before they become a problem.

So ask God what He would have you do.  If He wants you to fast technology, do it!  Maybe He wants you to go traditional and fast food (not McDonalds and Burger King, but fast from food), maybe not even for a whole day or the whole week, but perhaps He wants you to fast through lunches this week, or fast on Tuesday and Thursday.  Maybe He wants you to start a month long fast or maybe He doesn't want you to fast at all.  You have to ask Him what He wants.

Then whatever He tells you, obey, move on it and watch the promises come to life!