04 Feb First Things First | Part 4 “You Are Not Done So Do Your Job”
You Are Not Done So Do Your Job
Key Verse 1 Peter 4 ESV
This is the greatest commandment:
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30 ESV).
Strength in the Greek is ‘ischus’ which means ability. In the Hebrew it is ‘meod’ which means muchness. Put them together: “I MUST LOVE GOD WITH THE MUCHNESS OF MY ABILITY”.
We have the ability to do His work. Some of us say that we don’t have much ability or we feel we are at a lower level than others. Maybe a new Christian would say that they were ‘new to this’. Maybe we think that it is for someone else but not for us. However, God believes in us therefore we need to believe in ourselves.
Q. What are some examples of things that God has called you to do where you doubted because you did not think you had the ability (past or present)?
FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT.
TRUTH: THE PERSON WE ARE MOST FAMILIAR WITH IS OURSELVES.
We know ourselves so well that we talk ourselves out of loving God with our strength due to our insecurities and failures. The bible is full of those who had to be talked into doing something for God; people like Moses, Gideon and Timothy and others.
BIG IDEA: DON’T LET WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT YOU STOP WHAT GOD CAN DO FOR YOU.
1: I DON’T HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD (FOCUS!).
We are not promised tomorrow. The world says live for today that nothing matters. As Christians, we live with the end in mind, the return of Christ. God has promised that Jesus is coming again and He does not want to find us fiddling with things that don’t matter for eternity. We have a job to do until His return to tell people about His grace. We need proper focus. The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) is a great way to gain proper perspective so we can orient our minds around His purposes.
We need to get over littles hurts and offenses. The world will know we are Christians by loving one another. Jesus wants us to love one another.
GOD DOES NOT NEED MY ABILITY, MY NEIGHBOR DOES.
Q. What are some offenses that have kept you from moving forward in the love of Jesus regarding others and why? How could this be avoided in the future?
2: I AM ABLE (3 AREAS):
A. I AM ABLE TO GIVE.
We need each other. The Church (people) is responsible to provide a place where the Word of God is preached. This is why tithing is so important. The people gave and God turned what they gave into a building so people could hear about Jesus. When we tithe, we are telling our children that we are putting God first in our home. God provides the increase in our homes. The tithe is the first tenth (first fruits). If we do not honor God with our first fruits we will lose it anyway.
Q. What are some testimonies regarding the tithe that you can share? How has God blessed your obedience to tithing? (LEADERS: IF THERE ARE SOME RELUCTANT TO TITHE OR HAVE MONEY PROBLEMS, PLEASE DIRECT THEM TO FINANCIAL PEACE OR LET THEM KNOW WE HAVE SOMEONE THAT CAN SIT WITH THEM IF NEEDED).
B. I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.
When you bring people to church to hear the pastor it is like you are preaching. You are telling people to come and hear the word.
Q. What are some testimonies you can share regarding inviting someone to church?
C. I HAVE SOMETHING TO DO.
Every Christian is already gifted. We should be using our gifts to serve others. The gifts God gave us are meant to serve others not ourselves.
Q. What are some testimonies you can share about serving?
3: I MUST GET ACTIVE.
WHOEVER SERVES IS THE ONE WHO SERVES BY THE STRENGTH GOD SUPPLIES.
We need to get over the idea that we are not gifted enough or that you will start serving, giving, tithing later. The race of God is already set up for us so others can learn about Jesus.
Q. What is keeping you from serving?
(LEADERS: The link to fill out a volunteer application is waterschurch.org/next-steps/volunteer. Or they can go to Info Central on the weekend).
Pray for each other, the lost, campuses, nation and leaders.
No Comments