Serve Your Best

Together (in Christ) we can defeat the giants of this world, but it will not happen if we leave it up for somebody else.  There’s just to much to do. We’ve got to work together. We all struggle with our confidence but remember - You are Good Enough, and we can all get better!

Five Essentials for You to Serve Your Best
1. Passion: Be passionate about your service.
2. Focus: Keep your eyes on Christ and His work.
3. Strategy: Be clear in what you are trying to accomplish.
4. Team: Build community and trust.
5. Training: Take every opportunity to learn and get better at what God's calling you to do. 

What do you need to work on the most?

How can working with someone help you achieve your goals?

Grow in the work God has given you, and serve Him with all you have. He deserves our best. 

Amen?

Being Good

We should always give Jesus our best, but don't let the feeling that you don't have much to give stop you from serving.

“If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done” (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT).

That perfectly describes many believers and churches today. It creates a church of passive spectators.

The “good enough” principle, allows more people to get involved.

•It simplify things and accept less than perfect performance

•It doesn’t have to be perfect for God to use and bless it.

•Average people doing average activities in order to get extraordinary results.

 It boils down to this: “Ordinary people doing what Jesus did, wherever they are.”

Always know that you are good enough to share Christ. You can do it! Amen?

Upside Down

If you are ridiculed for what you believe remember you are in good company Jesus said in John 15:18, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." I think about how much Christ went through for me, and it makes me very humble. There is nothing in my life that seems so bad in comparison, but sometimes in ministry you can start to feel defeated. You work hard for the cause of Christ, and sacrifice so much. When you examine your results in numbers you become discouraged.

I had an older Pastor friend once tell me this great truth. " Jesus was the greatest leader, preacher, prophet, miracle worker, healer, and wisest person that ever walked on this planet, Yet even after all of that, plus returning from the dead, and ascending in to heaven His church still numbered only 120!"

It's not how big your church is, but what is your church doing for the Kingdom. That church of 120 from Pentecost forward turned the world upside down! 

It's the same message - let's share it boldly. Amen?

Step Through

God opens doors of opportunity for us all the time. It usually requires faith to step through them. Paul had that chance, and he wrote the church about it. For the present, I'm staying right here in Ephesus. A huge door of opportunity for good work has opened up here. (There is also mushrooming opposition.) - 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 (The Message)

I find it interesting that in the same breath he spoke of opportunity he mentions the opposition. Just because god opens the door doesn’t mean we shouldn’t expect trouble from the world. (Remember they are against Him.) Even though the Adversary is against God’s work – His people should be more the willing to step up and through these God moments.

God is already there and wants us to be there working with Him! It will be a chance to use our spiritual gifts and show our obedience.

Always step through any door God opens. Amen?

Clarity

Life is full of decisions. We face choices every day. We do it our way or God’s way. We can live in darkness or the light.

 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. – John 3:19-21

Living in the light brings clarity to everything. When are deeds are exposed we ask God to forgive us, and He will. 1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Remember to always shine the Light on all areas of your life. It will keep you on the "right path". Amen?

Reality – National Day of Prayer

Truth is truth. How we feel about it doesn't change its reality. There is one way to heaven. There is one bridge that can take us from our sinful state to eternity with God – the cross of Christ. Though man has tried to devise his own way - they all fall short. Praise God for showing His love through Jesus – The Way, Truth, and Life!

 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. John 3:16-18

Everyone makes a choice. The world, all of us, can be saved through Christ.

Choose Jesus today and always - Come join us at the Ripley County Courthouse in Versailles at Noon and 6:00 to pray and worship as we celebrate together the National Day of Prayer.

Taking It

Three truths about Gathering (also known as fellowship and worship):

1. We were wired for fellowship and worship.

Revelation 4:11; “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” 

This is God’s plan from the beginning till the end of time.

Revelation 7:9; After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

2. God’s will is for us to gather together.

Hebrews 10:24–25 - And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Stop making excuses! If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll make you busy!

3. Fellowship and Worship are action verbs.

Romans 12:1 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as if you were working for the Lord and not for a person.”

Romans 12:1 in the Message, “… Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering (an act of worship).”

Take from your “gatherings” and be involved in your church and community. Amen?