25 Woods Lake Road, Building 8, Greenville, SC
God never intended for us to keep 100% of what He gives us, but rather to invest some of it back into His mission on this earth. As you think about your time, talents, treasures, truth, and relationships, which area of your life are you managing well? Which area is God pinpointing that needs to be managed better? Is there anything you are holding onto that God wants you to release for His use?
God never meant for you to be an “ornamental” Christian (remember the plastic couch?) Rather He wants to use you and has called you to a life of serving Him and others. The Scriptures are clear: You are gifted… You are a vital part of the Body of Christ… and You have a work to do in this world. His call to action involves using You to accomplish His purposes in the lives of those both inside and outside the body of Christ.
Far too many people who get married and have children, try to build their family on the shaky, cracked foundations of their past. But just as no building can stand tall and strong if built on a broken foundation, so no marriage will ever stand strong if problems from your past are not first dealt with. The Bible says if we hide our sins we will not prosper, but if we confess and forsake them, we will find mercy. Are there any areas of “rust” in your past that you have chosen to just paint over instead of dealing with? Rust will always eventually show through the paint! God calls us to deal with our past so that we can build a strong family on a clean, solid foundation.
The Bible says that the heart of man, if left to its own devices, is deceitful and desperately wicked. For the most part, we live the vast majority of our life with our heart focused on our own needs, instead of being concerned about the needs of others. That’s why God wants us to have a “dislocated” heart — a heart that is more concerned with God’s agenda than with our own agenda. Have you left your comfort zone recently to meet someone else’s need and share the love of Christ with them? Do the things that break God’s heart break yours, too, even if they are outside your own personal world? If not, maybe you need to ask God to give you a dislocated heart!
What is it that you get the most excited to talk about… your team winning the ballgame last night? Your new car? That exciting vacation? The believers in the early church were so excited about Jesus, that even when they were threatened and warned to stop speaking in His name, they replied, “We cannot help speaking about Jesus.” Basically, they were saying, “Beat us, torture us, even kill us… it doesn’t matter because we cannot stop talking about our Lord!” They were literally unstoppable! No wonder they were a church on fire!
It’s easy to devote ourselves to something, whether it’s to our marriage, our family, or to the Lord, but then realize over time that our devotion has faded. The believers in Acts 2 not only devoted themselves to the Lord’s work, but they were “continually devoting” themselves to it. What area of your life were you once devoted to, but now you’re miles off course because you have not been “continually devoting” yourself to it?
An estimated 97% of the entire world has heard of Coca-Cola. That means roughly only 3% of the earth’s population has never heard of Coke. Yet, the sad news is that more than 25% of the people on earth have never heard the name of Jesus. The last words Jesus spoke before He ascended to heaven (Acts 1:8) were for His followers to go and spread the Good News about Him to the ends of the earth. There is still a great harvest to bring in. Are we doing our part?
God called the children of Israel out of Egypt for a specific mission — to go and possess the Land of Canaan. But because of their disobedience, they ended up wandering in circles for 40 years, missing the target. It is so easy for the church today to be caught up in busy work, thinking we’re making progress, but not really making any real progress at all because we’re not going where God wants us to go. Is there any “land” that God wants us to possess for His kingdom that we are failing to possess?
Even with 20/20 vision, it is still possible to not “see” people like we really need to see them. How would it change our lives, our churches, and our communities if we could truly see people through the eyes of Jesus and have compassion for them like He did? This message challenges us to have eyes that see, a heart that breaks, and hands that reach.
Just before Princess Margaret walked to the microphone to make her first speech as a young girl, her mother, Queen Elizabeth, leaned over and said, “You are a princess. Walk like one!” In Eph. 4:1, the apostle Paul issues a similar challenge to us as believers. He urges us to live up to the high calling we have received in Christ. Are you walking in a manner worthy of the King you represent?
Paul closes Ephesians chapter 3 with some of the most powerful words ever written. He prays that we will all come to know two critical things: 1) How much God loves us, and 2) How much God wants to do through us. If we only knew those two things and lived like they were true, what a difference it would make in our lives!
If Christ can bring us from death to life, then there is absolutely no situation we will ever face that God cannot conquer. Is there something in your life right now that is keeping you chained down? You can’t fix it, but God can!
