One thing that has always impressed me about professional athletes is their ability to shake off embarrassing moments (Ex. look up Jose Canseco ball hits head on YouTube). From early on, they are somehow able to shrug off these cringe-worthy incidents and press on to achieve their ultimate dream of competing at the highest level. I believe one main reason for this is because they possess a confidence and belief in themselves that overrides any fear of failure or shame.
When we think about what keeps us from sharing the gospel, it always has to do with our own limitations and fears. We get hit with things such as fear of rejection or that we don’t have enough knowledge of scripture, etc. When we do this, our attention is inward-focused, and it becomes about us rather than Christ. We’re putting our confidence (or lack of it) in the wrong place. When it comes to Jesus, I want to be so focused on Him and His love for the lost world around me that He compels me to push past any obstacle the enemy may be throwing in my way. I want to put my confidence in Christ, not in my own limitations. If God is prompting me to share the gospel with someone, He’ll give me everything I need to do it.
Father, we ask that you would call to our minds someone that you’ve been prompting us to reach out to. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for helping us as we push through our own hindrances to act in obedience to your call. We trust you with the outcomes, Lord, whether seeds are planted, or someone makes the wonderful decision to follow you. All glory to you, God!
After reading the apostle Paul’s letters, no one would ever say he lacked zeal!
From my earliest days at Cypress, one of the most notable things I experienced was sincere, authentic encouragement in my faith. In the safety of community, we learn and grow together, we celebrate and mourn together, we pray and meet needs together, and so much more. In all of it, our faith is the common thread that binds us. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” As our love for God and each other grows, we long for others to know Him all the more. Enthusiasm is contagious! It’s in our nature to share when we’ve found a good thing…a restaurant, a movie, a great deal…how much more when the treasure we’ve found carries such deep joy, peace, and eternal significance.
Father, we ask that You would continually stir our hearts with compassion, longing, and eagerness to see those around us come to know the great news of the gospel of Jesus our Lord.
Being so deeply loved by God and called to His purposes can be hard to comprehend. We can tend to look behind at our past a bit too much instead of at our present and future with Him. When I feel God calling me into something new, my past mistakes and failures are there to quickly assure me that I’m not capable of going where God’s leading me. And I find myself at a threshold with a decision to make…stay put (in my comfort zone where I feel safe)…OR trust and follow Him.
This past week, as the ice storm was ravaging our beautiful hill country, I took a walk down our road. All around me, I could hear and see a constant symphony of cracks, pops, and thunderous whooshing as limbs and trees collapsed under the weight of the ice. When it was over, most everyone had been affected, and some were hit hard with damage to vehicles, homes, and power outages. This is the broken world we live in, and our lives have similarly been devastated at times either by sinful choices we have made or circumstances that we find ourselves in through no fault of our own.
As saints of God, Paul reminds us of two benefits we have under the weight of any circumstance — divine grace and peace. Grace upon grace that covers any poor choice we’ve ever made or will make. If God graces me — who am I to withhold it from myself or others? And peace — the peace that is unexplainable given the circumstance, and the peace that gives us the confidence to take a step where we know God is leading us, despite our past. Just as our community is cleaning and restoring the beautiful hill country from the ravages of this week’s storm…God is redeeming and restoring the very things in our lives that the enemy intended to destroy us with.
Father, help us to grasp more and more how wide, how high, and how deep your love is for us. May we choose today to receive your immeasurable grace over our past, our present, and our future. And we thank you for the peace that you blanket us with in every season.
Have you ever started on a project and as you get further into it, you begin to think, “What did I get myself into?” — that happens often at our house. We are constantly starting new projects around our home, and I’ve realized over the years that my husband, Larry, thrives on that. And while we are in the middle of something, it’s on our minds a lot. We’re thinking things through, imagining, discussing, shaping, and designing. But as we get going, somewhere along the way, one of us will usually question the wisdom of what we’ve taken on. We once made the decision to put in a very small fish pond — that project grew into two ponds with a stream in between! It turned out beautiful, but the work in process was far from it!
Sometimes our walk with Christ can feel like that. When we said yes to Him as Savior, we were really unaware of all that would lead to in our lives. And yet, that “yes” was just the beginning of discovering what we ourselves are called to and what being set apart for the gospel of God looks like. Paul knew his calling through years of walking with God. There are times where God is working on an area in our lives that is uncomfortable, and we want to resist. But we begin to learn through our walk with Him that we can trust what He is doing. He takes us places we never thought we’d be, and in those new seasons and uncharted waters, we learn just how faithful He is. While you may be in a season of quiet with God, you can rest assured that you are on His mind. And when we find ourselves in the unfamiliar waters of change, let’s lean in and discover more about Him and about ourselves. He’s the Master Designer and Creator. What has God called you, a servant of Christ, to?
When Jesus came into the world, God gave His beloved Son in order for mankind to be set free from the kingdom of darkness.
I am grateful that through the absolute abandonment of His will and passionate love for His Heavenly Father, He rescued me and demonstrated how I can also be liberated from my ego which continually tries to lure me away from my fellowship with God.
There are an infinite number of ways that my self-centered nature seeks to be gratified, none of which is capable of giving me anything more than fleeting impulses of pleasure.
On the other hand, through Jesus, God has given me one simple way to find lasting enjoyment and satisfaction; by absolute surrender to His will. When distractions attempt to captivate and ensnare me, I pray that He will help me realize quickly how futile it is to find lasting pleasure in anything or anyone other than the Lord.
For many years I thought that I was capable of accomplishing the work that only God can do. I believed that all I needed to do was discover certain formulas, follow successful role models, set the right goals and develop the right methods to produce the results He wanted from me.
Now I realize that there is nothing I can do, contrive, improvise or achieve in my own strength.
I can imitate and pretend some things but I am only deceiving myself. It is all an illusion.
I am absolutely dependent on Him for everything. His strength is made perfect in my weakness.
I am powerless and incapable of doing anything without Him. I thank God for the privilege and freedom He has given me to walk with Him and abide in Christ.
I pray that He will always keep me mindful of how needful I am of His mercy and grace to be the person He wants me to be.
An ambassador is an authorized representative or messenger. We represent God, and our message is the good news that the human race has been forgiven, once for all, of every sin that has ever been committed. Through the cross God’s justice has been satisfied and He makes it possible for even the most vile person to become a follower of Jesus.
If we are going to be God’s representatives then we must see people through His eyes. He loves everyone and wants them to accept His gift of salvation. God has given us the ability to see hope for people even when it seems impossible. No matter how depraved, discouraged or despairing a person may be, Jesus atonement is freely given as a means of escape from their darkness.
We have the authority to forgive people as long as we have been forgiven. To be forgiven, all we have to do is come into agreement with God about our own depravity and forgive ourselves, just as Jesus has. The evidence that we have forgiven ourselves is found in our ability to forgive others and be one of His ambassadors.
In the teachings of Jesus Christ, there are two animals that He uses to contrast people of all different backgrounds. Those who are ruled by the Kingdom of Darkness are referred to as goats, and the people in His Kingdom are identified with sheep. He refers to Himself on numerous occasions as a shepherd and is identified as the Good Shepherd in John 10, and in Hebrews 13, Jesus is called the great Shepherd.
When God sent His Son into the world, He did not come to condemn it. He came to save it, and at the cross He paid the price for redemption. His death was the only event that has ever happened in the history of the world that can enable God to offer forgiveness to everyone. However, God requires that we do two things in order for that forgiveness to be effective in our lives. First, we have to believe that Jesus Christ died for us individually. Second, He requires that we forgive everyone just as He has. Failure to do that means that we retain baggage that will weigh us down and keep us from experiencing the abundant life that He freely offers.
I reenlisted in the Navy two months before I started following Jesus. I loved the Navy and was going to make it my career. However, a few months later, I made a decision to get my high school diploma and take college courses so that when my enlistment was complete, I could pursue an education to become a minister. I remained in the same pay grade for the next six years while I spent as much time as possible studying and growing in my relationship with the Lord. Just as Peter and Andrew left their nets to follow Jesus, I left the Navy to follow Jesus and become one of His shepherds.
In September of 1970, I was discharged and moved my family to San Antonio to attend Bible College for the next three years. During my second year of school, the Lord opened a door for me to pastor a small country church in Lake Hills, Texas, about forty miles northwest of San Antonio. I’m very grateful for that opportunity because it gave me a place where I could practice what I was learning in school. Less than a year after I graduated from the college, I was invited to come back and work on staff as a teacher and become the Men’s Dean.
No matter where I have been since I started following Jesus, I have always found the greatest joy in working with and training others to be shepherds of the Lord’s flock.
There are many nations, governments, and people groups throughout the world, but there are only two kingdoms: The Kingdom of Darkness, ruled by Satan, and the Kingdom of Light, ruled by our Lord Jesus Christ. All of us are born into the Kingdom ruled by Satan, and we are held in slavery by our fear of not being in control of our life. This was what Jesus faced when He came to earth and lived an obedient life by overcoming the evil around Him through surrendering completely to His heavenly Father. Our ego will sacrifice just about anything to be in control, but the one thing it will not give up is absolute surrender to God.
People from all generations throughout history have been harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, came to earth to be the Great Shepherd of our souls. However, for that to happen, we must stop going our own way and start following Jesus. That’s the invitation given to those He tried to help. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said over and over again. The apostle Paul said it a bit differently when he encouraged people to “…follow him as he followed Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1). You see, ministry is really that simple. We hang out with people, get to know them, and invite them to follow us as we follow Jesus. To the degree that we are following our great Shepherd, to that degree we can lead other people to follow Him, also.
