How Do We Live By The Bible - Calling: Our Role In Equipping

Proverbs 14:23 NIV

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty

The book of Proverbs is full of wisdom, and one subject it goes back to over and over again is work.  In fact the Bible constantly returns to the theme that work is good & laziness is bad.  We know practically that people who work hard are rewarded while lazy people miss opportunities.  But how does this relate to finding our calling?

You may have thought about work & laziness in terms of a profession.  I know that’s where my head goes first.  Usually the people who work hard & hustle are the ones rewarded by more work, responsibility, & money.  This concept is described in the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25, where the good stewards are rewarded.  But what about the stewardship in your spiritual life?  Do you invest your time in order to grow in spiritual maturity?

1 Corinthians 3:2-3

I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh

Maybe you’ve never thought about investing in your own spiritual maturity.  In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul talks about addressing them as infants in Christ, giving them milk because they weren’t ready for solid food.  I think many Christians aren’t equipped for a bigger calling because they are still ‘drinking milk’ spiritually.  God calls His people to a deeper relationship with Him, & that time spent in prayer, fellowship, & the Word is really an investment.  One way we see a return on this investment is by God calling us to much more.

Let me be clear that I am not talking about skills & abilities here. Hebrews 13:21 assures us that God will equip us for whatever he calls us to.  The mechanisms God uses for equipping are the Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17) & teaching (Ephesians 4:11-12).  Nearly every person in the Bible who pursued their calling lacked outward qualifications. But what is true is that the most successful people in the Bible in relation to their calling were the people who had invested most in their relationship with God.

Isaiah 64:8 says we are the clay and God is the potter.  Each week we have 168 hours. A mere 30 minutes of preaching on Sunday is actually only 0.3% of a week. That leaves 99.7% of the week for something else to mold & shape you.  As the potter, God was able to mold His vessels, but how can He mold clay that continues to stay on the shelf?

So what is the alternative to investing in your relationship with the Lord and on spiritual things?  Is there anything that could provide the return that the Bible promises now and into the future?  So as Proverbs 6:6 says, consider the ant & its work ethic…don’t be lazy.  There is so much more waiting for you.

Prayer Requests: October 27th

Mike: Passes his 1st actuarial exam
Shelli: Bryan's healing & good council from his doctors & relief/answers from headaches
Kellie: Protection for Shayley & team as they travel to Dallas for soccer
Rainy: Repaired relationship between her family & her parents

Praises
Pastors are all back safe

Please pray for these requests during the week and let us know of any progress

How Do We Live By The Bible - Calling?

One of the great questions for each one of us is, what is God calling us to do with our lives?  Do we have a grand, overarching purpose for our life or are we called to something much smaller.   Either way, how can we understand what God wants to do with us anyway?

Commit to the Lord

·         Psalm 37:4-5,7 NIV

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes

·         The first step should be to commit to the Lord

o   Once we are under his guidance, we can be molded & shaped

o   Because of our free will, we can reject Him & His ways

o   But that leads to a life of futility

** Like a rebellious child **

·         ‘God has structured reality so that when he is honored first and foremost, satisfaction comes as a byproduct’

Understand your gifts

·         1 Corinthians 12: 7-11

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues

·         Our gifts are for the common good

o   We are all uniquely gifted

o   We have a role to play in God’s grand design

o   Do you know yourself?

§  DISC: http://disc.genesismetro.org/

§  Spiritual Gifts Inventory:
 http://www.lifeway.com/lwc/files/lwcF_MYCS_030526_Spiritual_Gifts_Survey.pdf

·         Gifts are irrevocable

o   Romans 11:29

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable

Know there are seasons

·         Philippians 4:11-14

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me

·         We are to be content no matter the season

o   A lack of contentment is an indicator that you are falling away from God

·         His calling for us will be predicated by our maturity

o   1 Corinthians 3:1-3

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?

o   How can you lead people farther than you’ve been yourself?

·         The two work hand and hand

o   Our calling right now is heavily based on both our season of life & our maturity

·         So most of us won’t have an overarching calling

o   ** Missionaries Example **

How Do We Live By The Bible - Joy: Is there a difference between joy and happiness?

A dictionary definition of happiness is “a state of well-being, a pleasurable or satisfying experience.” The definition of the word “rejoice,” from which our word “joy” comes, is “to feel great delight, to welcome or to be glad.” Depending on the translation, the Bible uses the words “happy” and “happiness” about 30 times, while “joy” and “rejoice” appear over 300 times. If we look at some verses it will help us understand why joy is different from happiness.

Genesis 30:1-13 tells the story of two sisters, Rachel and Leah, and their rivalry over their husband, Jacob. Each woman tries to have more male children in order to please him, even using their handmaidens to conceive more offspring. Leah’s handmaiden, Zilpah, bore Jacob a second son, and verse 13 says, “Then Leah said, ‘Happy am I! For women have called me happy.’ So she named him Asher.” Thus the word "happy" comes from the Hebrew root word ashar and means "to set right or be blessed." We also find the word "happiness" in Deuteronomy 24:5, which says, “When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out with the army nor be charged with any duty; he shall be free at home one year and shall give happiness to his wife whom he has taken.”

The word “joy” comes from the Greek root word chara and means "to be exceedingly glad." James 1:2 says, “Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials.” How could we ever consider going through difficulties and trials a reason to feel joy? James 1:3-4 gives us a clue when it says, “Knowing that the testing of our faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” The deep, abiding joy comes as we persevere through trials, with God’s help, and our faith matures and is strengthened. So happiness tends to be fleeting and depends upon temporal factors like circumstances or other people. Joy, on the other hand, is true contentment that comes from internal factors like our faith in the Lord. True joy is everlasting and not dependent upon circumstances. The book of Philippians is a great study in the difference between joy and happiness. Written by the Apostle Paul while imprisoned in Rome, this book uses the words “joy,” “rejoice,” and “joyful” 16 times and teaches us how to have true contentment in Jesus Christ, despite our circumstances. In chains and aware that his life was coming to an end, Paul talks about his faith and trust in Christ and how it had changed his whole perspective on suffering. In Philippians 1:12-24, Paul says that because of his two-year imprisonment (Acts 28:30), the whole Roman guard heard the gospel from him, and it had even spread throughout all of Rome. In verse 18 Paul says, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and I will rejoice.” Paul goes on to encourage others to have peace knowing that God strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) and “supplies all our needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).

So the Bible teaches that happiness is fleeting because it often depends on things outside of ourselves, but true joy is eternal because it is based on our relationship with Jesus Christ, which is itself an everlasting source of joy.

Reprinted from: http://www.gotquestions.org/joy-happiness.html

Prayer Requests: October 20th

Shelli: Hired permanently at Prosper Baker; Mom (Jo) going on mission trip...to be refreshed; Father's (Jack) dementia & Bryan taking care of him
Swanson's: Find an affordable rent house
Pastor's safety on their adventure in the woods

Praises:
Women's Retreat
Mike: Mom's sister's cancer not genetic
Andy - 2nd surgery relieved pain

Please pray for these requests during the week and let us know of any progress

How Do We Live By The Bible - Joy

Those who are saved are called to live by the Word of God.  But what does this life lived out look like?  Since we know we will still have hardships & we know that we will stumble & fail, how do we know we are following the right path?  One of the indicators the Bible speaks of is joy.  But what is joy & what does joy look like in our life?

Fullness of joy

·         Joy defined

o   Joy is a state of mind and an orientation of the heart. It is a settled state of contentment, confidence and hope

o   It appears 93 times in the OT (simchah); 59 times in the NT (chara)

·         John 15:10-11

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full

·         1 John 1:4

And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete

·         The Bible says joy comes from the God’s Word

o   Why?

§  I can do all things in Christ (Phil 4:13)

§  Ask whatever you wish (John 15:7)

§  Do not worry (Luke 12:22)

§  Why else?

·         Joy outside of God is fleeting

o   Job 20:4-5

Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed on earth, that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless but for a moment

** My kid on the swings **

·         Christ was anointed with the ‘oil of joy’

o   Hebrews 1:9, Psalms 45:7

o   He was joy fully realized

·         Joy is not an emotion that can be forced, fabricated, or faked

Occupied with joy

·         Ecclesiastes 5:20

For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart

·         Being filled with joy means being empty of other things

o   What can occupy us?

o   Is there anything that God cannot overcome in our lives?

o   Being filled with joy means being empty of other things

** Example of being occupied by joy **

·         Why we fellowship

o   Acts 2:46

o   They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord's Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity

Know the path of life

·         Psalm 16:11

·         You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore

·         What’s the opposite of joy?

o   Uneasiness

o   Double minded & unstable (James 1:8)

o   Tossed to & fro by the cunning of man (Ephesians 4:14)

o   The right answer won’t contradict the Word

·         We should look like people who have been freed from something

o   Repentance allows us not bogged down with guilt

1 Peter 1:8
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory

How Do You Read The Bible: Breaking down 2 Timothy 3:14–17

Here is a example of advanced Bible study you can do, breaking down the meaning of each word in context.

You can see other examples here: http://www.desiringgod.org/labs