Category: First Steps

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First Steps – July 23, 2018

Last Monday, I asked you what does baptism mean?  However we define it, part of the definition is linked to mission.  Another part of baptism’s definition is a COMMITMENT to faith mentoring.  In the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20), Jesus said, “Teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  Therefore, “as we go” we teach, witnessing to our faith in our daily lives.

Jesus also used the words “obey everything.”  The real challenge is not merely helping new disciples to understand all the commands of Jesus, but helping them to put his teaching into practice.  The perennial challenge facing discipleship isn’t knowing what we should do; it is doing what we already know we should do. The challenge is obedience. It is about a way of life that is marked by joyful obedience, flowing from the heart of our new identity as children of God.

 

 

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – Matthew 3
  • Tuesday – Matthew 4
  • Wednesday – Matthew 5
  • Thursday – Matthew 6
  • ​Friday – Matthew 7

Please Pray for:

  • ​Our nation and our leaders.
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
  • Upcoming activities and studies planned for this fall.
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First Steps – July 16, 2018

What do you believe about baptism?  Baptism is a commitment to mission.  It does not make sense apart from the practice of evangelism, conversion to Jesus, initiation into the kingdom of God, and the life of discipleship.  When Jesus gave the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20), he used the word “Go.” It is in the present continuous tense that could be translated, “As you are going… .” It doesn’t mean exclusively going overseas on long or short-term mission projects.  Nor does it mean staying to do the same kinds of projects with needy people at home. Rather, it implies that the business of making disciples is something that emerges organically as we go through everyday life and among the networks of relationships we make along the way.

This is what Jesus did. Wherever we might live, the mission field is on the doorstep of our everyday lives. For some of us, going where Jesus sends will mean leaving home and living with a doorstep that opens onto a very unfamiliar world.  But for all of us, going where Jesus sends means crossing the threshold as ordinary missionaries into the world around us that needs to hear the gospel.

 

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 2 Corinthians 11
  • Tuesday – 2 Corinthians 12
  • Wednesday – 2 Corinthians 13
  • Thursday – Matthew 1
  • ​Friday – Matthew 2

Please Pray for:

  • ​Our nation and our leaders.
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
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First Steps – July 9, 2018

Someone once told me our gifts and spiritual abilities are not given to us fully developed. We must grow into our gifts.  When we receive the gifts, however, they already have all the power or energy to fulfill God’s purposes.  Yet, we must discover the nature and scope of our gifts.  We must grow into our gifts and allow them to fully develop by using them.  The more we use them, study them, talk about them, and even experiment with them, the more effective they are.  The key is for us to have the courage to use what God has already given us.  Even if it is uncomfortable or you think you can’t do it, use them.  Trust what God is doing in you and in the world.

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 2 Corinthians 6
  • Tuesday – 2 Corinthians 7
  • Wednesday – 2 Corinthians 8
  • Thursday – 2 Corinthians 9
  • ​Friday – 2 Corinthians 10

Please Pray for:

  • ​Our nation and our leaders.
  • ​St. Paul Church family.​
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • ​Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
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First Steps – July 2, 2018

This week’s First Steps comes with a task—The Fourth of July is about freedom – liberty. Yet, it’s something we take for granted.  So, make a list of 15 things you are grateful for, AND then give thanks to God for the freedom you have.  How fortunate we are to be living at a time like this and in a country like this.

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This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 2 Corinthians 1
  • Tuesday – 2 Corinthians 2
  • Wednesday – 2 Corinthians 3
  • Thursday – 2 Corinthians 4
  • ​Friday – 2 Corinthians 5

 

Please Pray for:

  • ​Our nation and our leaders.
  • ​St. Paul Church family.​
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
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First Steps – June 25, 2018

An old saint once said:

“Doctors sometimes learn about a person’s health by looking at the tongue.  The tongue can also be a guide to diagnosing the condition of the soul.  Our hand quickly moves to the location of pain, and our tongue goes for what we like.  If we are truly in love with God, we will speak frequently of him in ordinary conversation.  ‘The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and the tongue he speaks with is just’ (Psalm 37:30).”

What does your tongue reveal about the condition of your soul?  Is it pleasing? Is it embarrassing? Maybe a little of both.

In the end, if we want to change our tongue, we have to change our heart.  Focus this week on a changed heart.  Invite God into your desires.  Allow the Holy Spirit to work within you.

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 1 Corinthians 12
  • Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 13
  • Wednesday – 1 Corinthians 14
  • Thursday – 1 Corinthians 15
  • ​Friday – 1 Corinthians 16

Please Pray for:

  • Leaders and participants of St. Paul summer activities.
  • The Ukraine Mission Team as they travel to Ukraine and abroad. (Click this link to get a list of needs.)
  • ​Unwillingly absent members.
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our new mayor and city leaders.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.
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First Steps – June 18, 2018

From the Book:  Which Way, Lord?

“When a storm raged on the Atlantic one night, John Wesley’s English companions screamed and cowered; surely Wesley felt fearful himself. But he marveled at a group of German Christians called Moravians who worshiped and calmly sang hymns while the storm raged. What accounted for their composure? One Moravian explained to Wesley that the group was “not afraid to die” – strange words to a man who believed he had to be sanctified, that he had to live a holy life, before God would accept him.

Like Paul’s moment of reckoning on the road to Damascus, the episode began a lengthy period of discernment for Wesley that led him to learn more from the Moravians. Upon his arrival in Georgia, he sought out a Moravian pastor who posed the question: “Do you know Jesus Christ?”

“I paused,” Wesley wrote in his journal, recounting the conversation, “and said, ‘I know He is the Saviour of the world.’ ‘True,’ replied he, ‘but do you know He has saved you?’ ”

Wesley wrestled with this question even as he struggled to bring people to Christ. Two years later he departed Georgia, depressed and defeated. “I who went to America to convert others,” he wrote, “was never myself converted to God.”  Imagine his desperation at this point. How many times do you think he was driven to pray, in so many words, Which way, Lord?…

Wesley realized he didn’t have to earn God’s acceptance. He’d found the starting point to a new, God-inspired direction. His purpose grew from God’s love, and he lived out that purpose by taking the message of this boundless love to his parishioners. Eventually, Wesleyan theology would spread throughout the world.”

I like the last paragraph!  He realized he didn’t have to earn God’s acceptance.  How about you?  Do you know you don’t have to earn God’s acceptance—you have it in Jesus Christ.  Now, go and live knowing that you are accepted into the beloved.

 

 

This week’s reading:

  • Monday – 1 Corinthians 7
  • Tuesday – 1 Corinthians 8
  • Wednesday – 1 Corinthians 9
  • Thursday – 1 Corinthians 10
  • ​Friday – 1 Corinthians 11

Please Pray for:

  • Leaders and participants of St. Paul summer activities.
  • The Ukraine Mission Team as they travel to Ukraine and abroad. (Click this link to get a list of needs.)
  • ​Unwillingly absent members.
  • Those grieving the loss of loved ones.
  • Our new mayor and city leaders.
  • Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
  • Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction of New Youth Building and rear parking.

 

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