How's Your Faith?

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Endurance is so important in our faith.  God’s word does NOT say, it's going to be an easy journey. Sometimes it includes suffering and chains.

I started a workout plan one time recently.  I stayed on it for three days.  I was feeling good!  I took a break on day four, I said, I pick it back up on day five.  Day five was a Sunday...I bet you can guess, I didn’t pick it back up.  I had built a little bit of endurance and then found myself giving up.

I know many people who start ministry and give up.  For numerous reason, they start out strong, but find themselves burnt out, burned by someone or just looking for a different vocation.  Ministry is tough.  We must have endurance in the word of God.

Paul is encouraging a young pastor in 2 Timothy.  He is encouraging you and me the same way.

Our goal is sharing what we already know, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Why?  So that others will obtain their salvation.  Talk about important.  That’s our call as believers in Jesus Christ.  Keep pushing forward and telling others about Jesus.  

May we encourage one another.  Present ourselves today, fresh and approved to share God’s word.  Unashamedly share the love of Christ and what He has done for you and me.  With wisdom, accurately handle God’s word, conveying His love, grace and forgiveness for all who hear it, believe it and proclaim it.

Let’s build our endurance for Him and press forward in the faith.

Why We Press On

“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. The saying is trustworthy, for:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he also will deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

for he cannot deny himself.

Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Endurance is so important in our faith.  God’s word does NOT say, it's going to be an easy journey. Sometimes it includes suffering and chains.

Have you started a workout plan? I started a workout plan recently.  It lasted three days.  I was feeling good!  Than I took a break on day four, I said, "I pick it back up on day five."  Day five was a Sunday...I bet you can guess, I didn’t pick it back up.  I had built a little bit of endurance and then found myself giving up.

I know many people who start ministry and give up.  For numerous reason, they start out strong, but find themselves burnt out, burned by someone or just looking for a different vocation.  Ministry is tough.  We must have endurance in the word of God.

Paul is encouraging a young pastor in 2 Timothy.  He is encouraging you and me the same way.

Our goal is sharing what we already know, the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Why?  So that others will obtain their salvation.  Talk about important.  That’s our call as believers in Jesus Christ.  Keep pushing forward and telling others about Jesus.  

May we encourage one another.  Present ourselves today, fresh and approved to share God’s word.  Unashamedly share the love of Christ and what He has done for you and me.  With wisdom, accurately handle God’s word, conveying His love, grace and forgiveness for all who hear it, believe it and proclaim it.

Let’s build our endurance for Him and press forward in the faith.

Wise Decisions

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” Ephesians‬ ‭5:15-16‬

How are you and I walking today?  Life is busy. We might be a little sore.  We might be a little tired.  That happens when we put our walking shoes on and start walking for Him.

God has called us to walk wisely in Him.  We need to continue to walk in Him, even if we are sore and tired.  Live out His word - love Him with all of you and love others.  That is how God called us to walk wisely.  When we love Him and love others, that wise living help you and me share the Good News of Christ to those around us.

We need to focus on our words.  James‬ ‭3:10‬, “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing...”  In our time here on the island, we can use it wisely or unwisely.  May we take every opportunity to speak life into someone as we go about His work today.

Consider our time we have life, some people say, “time flies when you are having fun.”  We have experienced it before.  You will likely experience it on this mission trip.  We get so busy doing this and that - life, that sometimes we forgot how valuable our time is and how little of it we really have.

We have 24 hours in a day. We spend about 8 hours sleeping. Another 8 hours working. Possibly 2 hours commuting to work. How do we spend the last 6 hours of our day?

Let us walk wisely, use our time wise and accurately share Christ love today.

Looking to Jesus

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2

As an athlete in track, Coach Winn helped me become a better runner.  The first part of becoming better at track included daily practice.  We would run long distances and short distances.  We would practice our hand-off’s to one another.  We would race against one another.  All of these helped us get ready and even improved our endurance.

If we would have jumped into our first track meet without training, we would have likely failed.  Following Christ is a long distance race.  We need to have the endurance to keep on keepin’ on.  It takes willingness to keep pushing forward and willingness to not give up.  Not only is this important for you and me to understand about our own walk, but it is important to understand how we can encourage others to keep pushing forward.  Getting into the word daily, fellowshipping with believers and spending time praying helps build our endurance.  It draws us closer to Him.

Another area Coach Winn encouraged me to do was pick a point at the end of the track above the finish line.  Once I picked the point, he said, “don’t take your eyes off it.”  Coach Winn wanted me to focus on that point so I might have better running form; it would keep my eyes on the goal and head in a static position.  If I didn’t pick a point focus, my head would bobble around aimlessly and decrease my running speed.

We need to maintain our focus on Christ on our journey.  As I mentioned before, it requires endurance and it as requires focus.  This focus on Christ, our Savior, helps you and me push forward in our faith.  If we aren’t focused on Christ, we might find ourself aimless in our faith.  Christ wants you and me to remain focused on Him; fixing our eyes on Him.  He is Lord and sits at the right hand of the Father.

We need to build our own endurance.  We need to help build other people’s endurance. We need to focus on Christ.  We need to encourage others to focus on Christ.  

May we press on in our faith and fix our eyes on Christ today.

Ambassador for Christ

“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

Have you considered yourself to be an ambassador for Christ? We are called to be His ambassadors.  An ambassador represents someone.  The United States has ambassadors all over the world.  While in country, their job as ambassadors is to speak for the nation.

Because of what Christ has done for the world:  born a virgin birth, lived a sinless life, taught you and me how to live, died on the cross for the whole world, but didn’t stay dead, and now sits at the right hand of the Father; we are called to be Christ’s ambassador or representative wherever we go.

God has called His people, who believe in Him and proclaim it, to go.

In John 20:21, “Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Wherever we are: home, work, local store, an international airport, or wherever; our job as believers is to represent Him on all fronts.  Words, actions, countenance, and love should all reflect Christ to anyone we come in contact with. Galatians 5:22-23 comes to mind, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

May we begin by understand that it is a high calling to be Christ’s ambassador - wherever and whenever we go.  Reflecting Him to a world that desperately needs His grace and love, should be our primary objective.