How to find purpose in the midst of feeling unfruitful
An awesome sermon clip from Pastor Steven Furtick
Our lives are overwhelmed with possibilities. And we’d like to think that priorities and productivity go hand in hand. But how do we remain faithful through our frustrations, when the work we’re putting in, isn’t yielding the results we’re hoping for?
Let Your Light go forth and shine so that all may know You, O God of redemption.
We will praise You, O Lord, our Rock, Our Shield, our Hightower;
We will tell of You, Lord, of Your mightiness.
We will rejoice and be glad in You, Lord, Our Redeemer, our Salvation, our Light;
We will sing praise to Your grace and enduring love.
Order our hearts, minds, and our bodies for Your purpose, O God.
Let Your favor go before us for Your glory, O God of all righteousness.
We will look to You, O Lord to prepare our hearts for Grace-full leadership;
We will yield our hearts to You, Lord, we are Yours.
We will draw upon Your divine wisdom, Lord, to guide our hearts;
We will look to You to fill us with Your strength.
Keep our hearts close to Your bosom, O God.
Let Your Spirit flow…
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Be That Guy
Humble yourselves . . . under the mighty hand of God
so that at the proper time he may exalt you—1 Peter 5:6
Building community in the social context—in the context of our friendships—means reworking existing friendships into authentic friendships. It means dismantling false images, the ones we’ve worked so hard to construct. It means humbling ourselves in front of our friends by showing them our undisguised, unguarded brokenness—our flaws and failures, our mistakes and fears. Hard stuff, no question. What’s even harder, though, is that doing this often requires that we go first. You see, authenticity is counterculture. Look around. Few people live in authentic friendship. And so, when and if we choose to, we’re likely to be out in front, all alone . . . for a time, at least.
So why then? Why would we do it? Well, it’s only through authenticity that transformation-to-Christlikeness happens. It certainly doesn’t happen when we’re hiding, impersonating, posturing. It just doesn’t. It’s the way we come into the character of Jesus Christ. And, it’s the way we help our friends to, as well. You see, while very few of us men are willing to go first, most of us will follow those who do: “If he can do it . . .” So, when one of us steels himself and humbles himself, others follow. Going first is, therefore, both holy and heroic. Going first puts us squarely at the front of God’s offensive: healing the brokenhearted and setting the captives free (Luke 4:18).
Okay, so what do we do?
Someone must go first. Somebody always does. Be courageous. Pray boldly, brother: “If someone must, let it be me.” Among your group of friends, be that guy. It’ll be scary, sure. It might not go really well. But, that’s okay. We men are built for this kind of stuff. We’d wither without opposition. And it’s all worth it. This can be some of the most important work we’ll ever do.
The Bible says in Luke 5:4-5, “When [Jesus] had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets’” (NIV).
Think about how hard it must have been for Simon Peter to admit failure to Jesus. He was a professional fisherman, and he was good at it. It was how he made his living. But sometimes even the pros fish all night and catch nothing.
These are good guys, and they’re doing their best. But sometimes our best is not good enough, and sometimes there are situations that are out of our control. You can’t control the economy. You can’t control the weather. You can’t control a lot of things in life that will affect your life. You may have tried so hard but it just doesn’t seem to make any difference and you don’t have much to show for it.
What do you need to do? First, you need to get Jesus in your boat. In other words, let him be the center of your job. Second, you admit that your way isn’t working. The Bible calls it confession, and it can be tough.
Why is it so hard for us to admit our way isn’t working?
Pride. You don’t want anybody to think you can’t handle it. You’re in charge. You’ve got it all together. You think you can handle everything by yourself, even if it means working 12 hours a day.
Stubbornness. You’re unwilling to change the way you’re doing things. Did you know the greatest enemy of tomorrow’s success is yesterday’s success?
Fear. You can’t admit you’ve fished all night and caught nothing. You’re afraid that people will think less of you. You’re afraid to get Jesus into your boat because he’ll steer it in a direction you don’t want to go.
You may be doing your best in your job but just don’t seem to have much to show for it. You need to let go of your pride, stubbornness, and fear so that Jesus can take your boat and fill it to overflowing.
You’re Made for Adventure
. . . how long will they not believe in me,
in spite of all the signs that I have done?—Numbers 14:11
The Heavenly Father designed us for adventures . . . for his adventures. Listen for his call. Imagine a boy awakened early by his father: “Hey, buddy . . . up for an adventure today?” Trust him. Imagine the son, nervous with anticipation of what the day might hold: “Yeah, dad. Totally.” Go with him. Imagine the father and son gearing-up together, maybe for fishing, or hunting, or backpacking, and heading off into the wild. Now, imagine if the boy instead replied, “Nah, dad. Gonna stay home today. Just too risky.” Or, “I’ve got more important things to do today. Thanks for asking. Maybe next time.”
The Heavenly Father whispered (through Moses) to twelve men in the Wilderness of Paran: “spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel” (Numbers 13:2). The men did, and they saw good land . . . but they also saw large foes, whom they’d have to defeat. Ten of them took the “just too risky” tack: “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” (Numbers 13:31). They felt like “grasshoppers,” they said, compared to the huge men of Canaan. (Numbers 13:33). Only two—Joshua and Caleb—mustered courage and trusted in God’s adventure. Only they were willing to go:
“. . . he will bring us into this land and give it to us . . . And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them” (Numbers 14:7-9).
[Translation: “Yeah, dad. Totally.”]
Okay, so what do we do?
When God invites you into an adventure it’s a special moment, a divine moment . . . an eternal moment. You won’t get many. So, be prepared. Be ready with a quick, “Yeah, dad, Totally”
It’s been two years now that I can look back and never thought in all my wildest dreams; I will be where I am today. Since becoming Senior Pastor of my wonderful church, God has been really speaking to me and asking me to do things that, I thought, would be impossible. God and I have had many conversations over and over again and every time, He made many great points. I decided to do a LIFE Group campus in a near city where we hold our worship services. It took everything that was within me to have enough faith to step out and dive in to the deep.
I’m reminded in bible school where the anointed, educated theologian Dr. Jan Paron said something that I will never forget. I was sitting in “Leading a multi-diverse church” class and she said …”We need to take the gospel, outside of our four walls”. I have heard it many times, but this time, I light came on, I stepped into the clue bus, I had a revelation. Wow! That was powerful and deep. I literally vision my church family in our worship service and the four walls of the church building folding back to the ground as if God had a box cutter and cut the corners of our box/concrete building, and each wall just folded back like cardboard. I knew what God wanted me to do.
So here I go, some 17 weeks later, and we are up to 20 people who are in our first Life Group. I wish I could tell you that I showed up and everyone was their waiting to get feed, but that is not the case. At times it was a few, and I got disappointed, but God said do it, continue on, I will never leave you nor forsake you, I got your back, this is the process that you have to go through. He said your Sun Stand Still prayer will come to pass.
Because I obeyed, because I was humbled, because I was willing to listen and reposition myself to proceed and move within His purpose, Our church family has grown and I can see God’s hand in my life.
I don’t want to stand in the sidelines or at the bench watching everything happen, I want to be smack in the middle of the move of God.
If you are reading this, the prayers that you prayed, will come to pass, just hang in there, DON’T give up, He’s not through with YOU yet. The dreams that you once had, shall be revived and refreshed. The carreer you thought you lost, you’ll get back. Your finances might be low, but He is still Jehova Jireh “My Provider”. If you got bad news from the doctor, you shall be healed. The prayers that you’ve prayed, the answers on its way.
Awesome Ten Leadership Traits
Jan Paron, PhD | November 5, 2021
Over the last year, I researched six bridging the gap actions for biblical unity in different multicultural churches from urban regions across the country. The actions involved intentionality, openness, adaptability, calling, and impartiality/inclusion and communication.[1] My goal was to uncover trends and practices of thriving, heterogeneous multicultural churches that had experienced renewal or turnaround. Along the way, I noticed patterns in leadership qualities emerge from pastors of these churches. These traits supported the fifth bridging the gap action, the call to the all, ministering to the all of society.[2] In all, ten initial qualities emerged that distinguished leaders of uncommon character. Pastoring a multicultural church comes with challenges and successes, said and unsaid in current writings. Even though these findings represent preliminary research, they give insight for further research in multicultural church turnaround and discussion for training program development of future leaders…
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We are always looking for something. There is a drive in us to seek out and search for true meaning in our lives. When I was in high school, I had a lot of questions:
When I leave high school, what will I be doing?
College?
But what about after college?
Will I defeat the feelings of being alone or insecure?
Will I have a happy life?
Will I be successful?
Will I ever pass my math class?
Will I ever get over that girl?
Why do my parents misunderstand me?
Why am I so hungry for food right now?
I definitely was searching when I was in high school. Seeking and searching was what one did in high school. I had multiple friends. I never did have a best friend. My 9th grade year I hung out with a senior who was a neighborhood friend.
Entering my 10-grade…
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Pastor Sergio Lopez's Blog 