Day 38: Becoming a World-Class Christian

This was a difficult chapter for me. This Blog is currently the closest I will get to being a missionary outside of my current town. I am working on becoming less self-centered. My prayers usually center around other people's needs. I'm not perfect, and sometimes I do pray selfish prayers even still. But for the most part, I pray for my friends and people from church who are going through difficult times. I do still find it difficult to bring up Jesus in conversations with total strangers, but I more readily speak about Him with friends who I know already have some faith.

I think I can work on praying for other countries, and for missionaries all over the world. I think that it will probably be years before I could actually go on a mission somewhere, my wife has been wanting to, but with three small kids it's been difficult to figure out all the details. I know that if we both prayed more about it, God would share His wisdom about it. God wants us to go on a mission, He wants all of us to go out into the world and all over the world spreading the Good News.

I am definitely thinking more about the future, but the enemy keeps throwing the here and now in my face. I guess I'm still making excuses though, I know the plans God has for me and that some of these things are tests. I know that when my finances are on track and my household is in order, God will be able to do even more wonderful things with me and my wife. So the time to start working on those things is now. I have my purposes; to worship, to fellowship, to grow like Christ, to serve, and to be on a mission. And to shirk one of them is not giving God absolute control of my life. Missions are big scary things, but with the resources in the book, and some prayerful planning, I know they are possible, even for my single income family of five.

The Bible verse comes from the book of Psalms.

Send us around the world with the news of your saving power and your eternal plan for all mankind.
Ps 67:2 (LB)

What steps can I take to prepare to go on a short term mission experience in the next year? I've got to get all the information, set up a savings fund, and pray daily that God keeps that goal foremost in my mind. And also get a new passport.

Remember: The Great Commission is my Commission

Day 37: Sharing Your Life Message

Everyone has a story to tell. Just Friday evening I heard someone suggest that getting someone to share their story was a great way to get them invested in what you're doing. If you honestly care about someone's story, you can find out how to best reach them with the Good News. I'm looking to do a study one this book in a small men's group. Guys are normally reserved about deep personal stuff, but will readily tell you where they are from, what teams they root for etc. It's in those non personal details that I will be looking for clues on how to best reach them and get them to all open up.

I'll have to share my message with them, that's for sure. I don't want to give it all away, but I've covered a good deal of it here. My story about how I came to know Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior, is a big deal to me. And I'm hoping that it helps others relate and be willing to share. I'm a 'satisfied customer' of the Gospel, not a salesman as the author would say. Through my message, others can maybe see in their own life where Jesus has come in and shown up in big, and not so big ways.

I've given my testimony, I've also share small life lessons here. These are things that each of us learn through trial and error. But like the author says, there are too many things to learn and we're slow learners to try every one. If you can trust me to be honest with you about my failures, then you can take something away from my failures and my successes. These things worked for me, these things hurt. I want you to not make the same mistakes I did. But also, I want to know what worked and didn't work for you, so that I can benefit from your life lessons.

I've got a few passions. Unfortunately, not all of them are Godly. I am pretty sure that God doesn't want me to reach other people by staying on the PS3 playing Modern Warfare all day. But even that did help bring me into a stronger relationship with my half-brother. So again, God will use a vice for His victory. But I think my real Godly passion for writing and for drama will help me reach more people for Him.

The more people I can reach, the more I can tell the Good News to. The Good News that I've been talking about is that Christ died for all mankind God wants all His children returned to Him. If what Jesus suffered was enough for all men, than it wasn't enough for any man. So I'm not special, God didn't come down to earth to die for me and pay the price for my sins. The Good News is that He died for US to pay for OUR SINS!!! In Christ we all can find redemption and salvation!

Our Bible verse comes from the Book of First Peter.

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect
1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)

As I reflect on my personal story, who does God want me to share it with? I've talked before about sharing it with youth who come from broken homes, I've also been reaching out to a believer going through a difficult custody battle and hopefully making a difference there too.

Remember: God wants to say something to the world through me.

Day 36: Made for a Mission

This chapter makes me think of "The Blues Brothers" movie. "We're on a mission from God." The truth is we are. We're on a few different, but interconnected missions from God.

Our missions are critical to God's plan for the salvation of mankind. The first part of our mission is finding our purpose, our SHAPE, and our ministry in the Body of Christ. (the Church family) The other part, is our mission in the world. This doesn't mean that we drop everything we're doing and hop on the next flight to South America, (unless of course, you're discovered purpose is missionary work) God needs you right where he has you!

Our mission in the world is to introduce others to Jesus Christ. It's our job to reach and teach the non believers. And, if you've made it 36 days following along with my writing, you can't say that God can't use you. You know He will use anyone who believes in Him; we've covered all that already. No excuses!

I've had a rough few days. I've even needed to get my own personal 'prayer warriors' out fighting for me. And even though I was ready to walk away from this blog, this book, and everything related to it, their prayers came through for me; they helped me stay focused on my mission. That mission is reaching you. As the author says, and I'm going to adopt it too "One more for Jesus" is why I am here.

Our Bible verse comes from the Gospel of Matthew. It is Jesus' Great Commission for His followers.

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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matt 28:19-20 (NIV)

What fears have kept me from fulfilling the mission God made me to accomplish? What keeps me from telling others the Good News? I sometimes am afraid of people just telling me off, but I am trying to better read people and approach ones that I think are more open to receiving the Good News.

Remember:I was made for a mission

Week 5: You Were Shaped for Serving God

Another week is over, another purpose revealed. And, another chance to discuss, review, and share.

How is 'using your shape to serve others' different from how most people understand 'ministry'? I think most people hear the word 'ministry' and think of Priests, Pastors, or Missionaries. Using your shape is about ministering in your own unique using your own life story.

What do you 'love' to do that you could use to serve others in the family of God? I love to write and move others. I could try writing songs, or just continue blogging. (except, not daily)

Think of a painful situation that you have gone through that God could use to help others who are going through the same kind of situation. I think my story about almost losing my house can be used to help others in financial trouble.

How does comparing ourselves with others keep us from fully developing our unique shape? We can't be who we were meant to be, if we are trying to be who someone else IS. That defeats the "each of us are unique" statement of purpose.

Have you ever seen God's power demonstrated through when you felt weak? Yes, when I gave my testimony on being "Broken", several people were moved closer to God because they could relate.

How can we help every member of our small group or class find a place of ministry? What can our group do to serve our church family? We help each them by helping identify their unique SHAPE. Not having a group (yet) makes it hard to answer the second part.

Day 35: God's Power in Your Weakness

No one likes to admit they are weak. No "real man" would ever be seen crying in front of others. No "real man" would admit he was afraid, or hopelessly lost. And no "real man" needs help with anything personal.

Well, I guess I'm not a real man, because I'm a mess. One of my favorite Bible verses is used in this chapter. Paul says "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:7-9(NIV) Paul openly admitted he had a 'thorn'. He doesn't tell us what this thorn is, it's not important, and it makes it easier for us all to relate to it. Maybe his thorn was a gambling problem, maybe he liked to drink, maybe he like Peter, he just had a short fuse.

There are secrets to unlocking God's power in our weaknesses. The author is kind enough to share these with us. Like I've done before, I want to share all these with you in case you don't have the book to follow along with. These are important things to know. And I'm going to openly share with you my experiences based on them.

Step 1"Admit your weaknesses I get offended easily and have a hard time accepting criticism. It's caused lot's of problems in my life and relationships. It's something I've been working on for so many years and I keep struggling with it. I consider it a 'thorn' of mine.

Step 2: Be content with your weaknesses. This is hard to do with my weakness that I just mentioned. But the author doesn't mean that I should just accept it as fact and let other people deal with it. I have to accept that is a weakness but not use it as an excuse.

Step 3: Honestly share your weaknesses. By sharing with you guys, hopefully you'll see that nobody is perfect, and God will use anyone regardless of your imperfections. As a matter of fact, God seems to thrive on choosing flawed individuals for His biggest tasks. Moses had a fierce temper. He spent weeks in God's presence when he received the Ten Commandments. Do you know the 1st thing he did when he got back to the Israelites and they were worshiping idols; he smashed God's tablets!

Step 4: Glory in your weaknesses Just before the passage I quoted above Paul he would only boast about his weaknesses. I won't boast about being easily offended, but I will boast about weak. God will use me despite my flaws. Admitting that I have them will make me approachable and easier to relate to.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Cor 12:9

Am I limiting God's power in my life by trying to hide my weaknesses? What do I need to be honest about in order to help others? Yes, I do limit God's power when I don't open up to people about where I am weak.

Remember:God works best when I admit my weakness.

Day 34: Thinking Like a Servant

This is the blog post that almost never happened. Today I've been thinking a lot. Thinking too much even. This whole chapter convicts me. I don't know that I have been thinking like a servant as much as I should.

There were a couple of hard hitting lines in this chapter. I already knew that it wasn't thinking less of myself, but thinking of myself less. That I haven't been doing. I keep thinking about my blog. I pour over my blog posts, I check my e-mails several times a day, It's not right.

There's five attitudes that a servant should have and I don't think I have any of them.

Servants think more about others than themselves I've been thinking about you readers, but more because I want to be the one that helps draw you closer to Christ. That's not right.

Servants think like stewards, not owners Even 34 days into this blog, I call it my blog. That's not how a steward should talk. This is about a relationship not about me. Plus this is the section that convicts me because my own finances aren't in order yet. I'm still serving two masters.

Servants think about their work, not what others are doing. Ok, maybe here because I obsess over this blog, I'm not concerned with what others are doing. But I also don't know anyone else doing a blog like this, so that helps, but it doesn't make me a better servant.

Servants base their identity in Christ I'm too insecure, I don't value myself enough. I am too focused on me and my own self worth.

Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation. I did think that way at first, but then I began to feel obligated to this blog.

In the Book of Philippians, Paul tells us:

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus
Phil 2:5 (NIV)

Am I usually more concerned about being served, or finding ways to serve others. I think I want to serve others, I've just been doing it for the wrong reasons.

Remember: To be a servant, I must think like a servant.

I apologize, this was a rough chapter for me. I need to do a whole lot better with my attitude.

Day 33: How Real Servants Act

I'll admit that I like when people do things for me. My wife does things for me all the time. I've got kids that I can send to check the mail and fetch stuff for me so that I don't have to get up, etc. But I should be serving others more than I am being served. Jesus modeled service for us. He was the Son of God and He led the Apostles, but on the night of the last supper, He washed their feet.

I know that there is room for improvement in how well, and how often I serve others. I don't always make myself available to serve. I serve on Sundays, but Monday through Saturday I work night shift and don't spend a lot of time in service to others. When I see a need, I still tend to weigh it against what I am doing and what my work/sleep schedule looks like. Just yesterday, I miss a chance to serve when I saw a guy whose truck was broken down. I was on my way to work so I didn't stop to help.

I'll also admit that there are some ways that I enjoy serving, and some ways are things I wouldn't enjoy. I tend to stay away from those. But God is telling me that all service is a way to please Him. That may mean serving in the nursery and changing diapers or burping babies. And, I admit that some Sundays, I just don't want to get up early. My schedule lends itself to sleeping in, I don't have to be at work till 4 on most days; noon on the overtime days. So when Sunday comes, it's hard to be at church at 8:30am to help set up.

Just like when I started my blog, I wanted to know that people are benefiting from my service. Which is funny, because in church I serve in set up and break down, and running the sound board. Those things happen before and after people get there, and from the very back of the church. So, I don't know who is going to consider that what I did was serving them. Still, who doesn't want to hear "good job" or "thank you"?

This chapter made me examine how I was serving in a different way than the previous two days did. Not what I am doing, but if I am doing it the way God wants me to. I'd give myself a B-/C+ for my service. There is much room for improvement. I'm glad that I've had this time to reflect on my service, because I want to do better. When I serve others, even children, I'm serving God.

Matthew tells us in his Gospel that Jesus said He would reward us for service. and I don't know about you, but a reward from God trumps any "thank you", plaque, or gold watch in my book.

And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.
Matt 10:42

Which of the six characteristics of real servants offers the greatest challenge to me?I talked about a few areas that I struggle in, but the 'greatest' challenge is making myself available to serve outside of Sunday.

Remember: I serve God by serving others