Take Nothing

Take Nothing

Mark 6:6-13
Then Jesus went around teaching from village to village. ⁷ Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits.
⁸ These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. ⁹ Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. ¹⁰ Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. ¹¹ And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”
¹² They went out and preached that people should repent. ¹³ They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Ironic, isn't it?  Here Jesus is calling out to the 12 most important people in his life, giving them instructions that are somewhat counter cultural to what we might think.  If these twelve were going to follow the king of Kings, you would think that there would be a host of servants, food, livestock and more offered to them as they would travel from place to place following Jesus.  You would think that they would dine at the most lavish places in town and stay at the best homes provided for them.  

On the contrary!  Jesus says, TAKE NOTHING...except the bear essentials.  Do not even take food with you, only the clothes on your back and the sandals on your feet.  NOTHING ELSE.  He even told them that they were going to be rejected by some, and when this happens, keep going to the next place, and the next place.

What was Jesus showing His disciples as he was asking them to follow Him?  ALL YOU NEED IS ME!  Do not worry about the other things that you might value as important; leave it all behind and follow me and here is the most important thing - TRUST ME and I will provide all your needs.  When this happens, many lives will be changed, and we see the twelve preach boldly, driving out demons and anointing the sick and people were healed.

Application today, for me, is Jesus wants me to follow Him and trust Him, not stuff.  He is not asking me to bring my talents, my money, my whatever...no, He is asking me to bring my life to Him and allow Him to use me for His good pleasure.  Wow, Lord teach me how to do this! 

Identity

I began listening to Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Washington, podcast this week.  He has devoted his last 5 years of study to the book of Ephesians, and I heard his first message covering our identity.  (If you are looking for a great podcast, subscribe to his!) 

The truth of his message stopped me in my tracks to think about "Who am I?".  What is my identity?  I think this is a fair and honest question all of us ask ourselves all of the time.  The wrong question to ask is. "Who do people say I am" or "Who do I want to be".  The better question to ask is "Who am I".  I am a man, an American, married with 3 kids... and so on.  This is who I am, and from the beginning of time, we notice that we are who we are because of WHOSE we are.  We are created in the very image of God (Gen 1:26).  We reflect God and are like Him, so we are His.

If you are like me, we can become lost with our identity of who we are.  Why?  I believe it is because we loose our focus of who our creator is and who we are to be like.  I believe we become more concerned about what others think of us and what our culture thinks of us more that what we think God thinks of us.  Is this not true?  We are called to be salt and light from Matthew 5, to be a light that shine in the darkness.  So how can we let the light of Christ shine in our lives and not be hidden?  How can we come to an understanding that I am who I am for a purpose?  How can we become all that Christ wants us to be and fulfill His purpose in our lives? 

Begin by:
STOPPING - stop the madness of pleasing and catering to the world around you and recognize you are not God
IDENTIFY - realize you are not your own, but you are made in the image of God and your identity is found in Him
SURRENDER - surrender your life to Christ
SEEK - seek the things of God and not of the culture we live in

Challenge - identify ONE way we begin to place our identity in Christ today and ONE thing we can do to surrender to Him today.

Keith

Doubt vs. Trust

Matthew 28:16-20¹⁶ Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Jesus appears to his disciples after His resurrection, and when they saw Him, what was the first thing they did?  Worshiped Him.  Interestingly enough, even then, some doubted Him.  There will always be doubters in the crowd of followers.  So how do you move from being a doubter to being a believer?  By placing your total trust and faith in the One who said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."  Until you individually come to a place of realizing you are not God and that you are lost with no hope without a Savior, then you will continue to doubt in this life.  Trust Him today and relinquish all of who you are to Him today.  

All authority is in Him, and Him alone.  And the promise Jesus gives us in verse twenty is life-changing, "And surely I am with you ALWAYS, to the very end of the age."  By placing your hope and trust in Jesus today, He will be with you ALWAYS!  I need that in my life, don't you?

So, if you doubt today, I encourage you to turn your doubt of unbelief into a faith that will always be with you.  Trust Jesus today.

Following Jesus

Matthew 9:35-38
The Workers Are Few
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

What is there to learn from Jesus in this monumental passage from Matthew?  First, is the verb in the first sentence - Jesus WENT.  We watch Jesus GO from towns, villages, church to church, telling, proclaiming the good news.  The second thing we see is his purpose for going; to meet the needs of the people.  Jesus desire was to serve and is heart of compassion compelled him to GO and SHARE a message of healing and hope to a world that was in need.  Thirdly, people are lost without the message of Jesus.  By going and sharing, Jesus was showing them the way to deal with life.  And finally, he was mentoring his followers to do the same and to GO by giving the illustration of the harvest.

Challenge for us as followers of Jesus:  Are we going, sharing, needing Jesus as our Savior and following His example?  Might we use these verses to spur us into action to be more like Jesus in 2013.  Will you join me?

Gratitude Versus Ingratitude

Thanksgiving Outreach at CCBC

This Sunday, our ministry, the Worship & Arts Ministry, was able to team up with City Church and provide 33 Thanksgiving Meals to our city and families that are in need.  We collected money from our church members and provided a turkey and all the fixings for a Thanksgiving meal.  What an amazing opportunity we had to share the love of Christ.

I was privileged to deliver 3 meals yesterday.  My entire family went with me to make these deliveries.  I was touched to hear my kids voice a prayer over these families as we gave them a free dinner.  One sweet lady accepted the turkey and said with tears in her eyes, "I did not think we were going to have a Turkey this year!"  God continues to provide!  What a blessing to serve Him.

I continue to be challenged by God in my spiritual life.  So many times I neglect to live my life with a heart of gratitude.  I become self seeking with thoughts centered around me instead of thoughts placed of God and how I can serve others.  I was listening to a devotional this morning about generosity.  Chip Ingram was sharing how our society can become so consumed with life and looking inward instead of outward to help and serve others that we become depressed because of our need to be so consumed with materialism.  The cure?  Serve others!  Think of others!  Once we take our focus off of ourselves and place them on God and serving others, the depression and self gratification of our needs all passes away!

Read the following from Nancy Leigh DeMoss


Gratitude Versus Ingratitude

• Consider with me some of the contrasts between a grateful heart and an ungrateful heart.
• Grateful people are humble; ungrateful people are proud.
• A thankful person is conscious of God and others; an un-thankful person is self- conscious and self-centered.
• A grateful heart is a full heart; an ungrateful heart is an empty one. People with thankful hearts are easily contented; un-thankful people are subject to bitterness and discontent.
• A grateful heart will be revealed and expressed by thankful words; an ungrateful heart will manifest itself in murmuring and complaining.
• Thankful people are refreshing, life-giving springs; un-thankful people pull others down with them into the stagnant pools of their selfish, demanding ways.

So,  this Thanksgiving, take an inventory and live your day with a thankful heart!

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanks Be To Our God

Thanks Be To Our God.

As I was preparing for the Thanksgiving season and planning a couple of worship services, God brought a song to me that really made me stop and reflect on the heart of God and helped me focus my attention on true thanksgiving.  Read these words from this song by Travis Cottrell...

For the road that leads from darkness into light,
For the hope that rescues us from endless night,
For the grace covers sin, at the the door where life begins,
For salvation reaching in to guide us through,
Thanks be to our God.

For the healing that no mortal can explain,
For deliverance that breaks the sinner's chains,
For the strength to carry on, and forgiveness great and strong,
And the promise of Your mercies ever new,
Thanks be to our God.

Hallelujah! Everlasting songs will rise
For all You've done.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Thanks be to our God!

For the emptiness that cries out to be filled,
For the promise that Your word is deeper still,
For the longing and the need, to have more of You in me,
Because nothing satisfies the way You do,
Thanks be to our God!

For the mysteries beyond the veil of death,
For the peace that opens with our closing breath,
When our struggles pass away, and we finally see Your face,
And a greater glory rises into You.
Thanks be to our God!

For all God presents to us in our life - the good, bad, great, ugly, joy, heartache...Thanks Be To Our God.  Why can we say this?  How can we praise God in all circumstances?  Because we understand God Loves Us!  He has a perfect plan for us that is filled with gratefulness and love.  On this Thanksgiving, might our hearts turn to God with a heart of true gratefulness and we can respond and say, "Thanks Be To Our God".

1 Corinthians 15:56-58  "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."

Making a Difference

How can we make a difference for Jesus today?

 I am flooded with emotion through reading the scriptures this morning.  I am challenged by the words of Jesus from Matthew 5, where he begins sharing the famous Beatitudes then works his way down to pulling up a chair in front of me and challenging me to make a difference in my world today by being salt and light.  Here is how Jim Denison shared this passage..."Until he returns, our nation needs us to be the "salt of the earth" (Matthew 5:13), leaving the safety of the saltshaker to stand for Christ with bold courage; and the "light of the world" (Matthew 5:14-16), going wherever the night is darkest."

I love the imagery here of "going wherever the night is darkest", and this is where I am struggling in my nice little neat Christian world.  What am I going to do to be salt and light today?  What area of my world is dark and needs the light of Jesus shown on it?  How can God direct me and allow me the opportunity to share his light with someone today.

I truly believe in order for me to make a difference for Jesus today, I must think of others before myself and be willing to follow Jesus to the dark areas of this world to share His light, but Lord, I need your guidance to know how to do this.

Join me in making a difference today - share Jesus with someone today.