Mission Minded: Clear Calling…Called to Faith
Daily Devotions based the Sermon from January 17, 2021
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: A Mission-Minded Person Is Clear in Their Calling!
To be chosen is an affirming reality…whether it is being chosen to play on your middle school basketball team, given your first job or elected to a political position.
Being chosen says to our psyche that we matter, we are wanted, and someone trusts us enough to add value to them or to their team.
Perhaps there are time we expect to be chosen because we are qualified, have a needed experience or know the person who is selecting the team. However, when we aren’t qualified, don’t have the needed experience or don’t have a personal relationship with the one choosing…yet we are chosen anyway, leaves us flattered yet humbled.
This is the reality of God’s choice of us to be part of his family and part of his kingdom work.
We aren’t qualified…we fall short of the standard of perfection God demands.
We don’t have the needed experience…we had none.
We didn’t have a personal relationship with the one choosing…we were enemies of God and hostile to him.
Yet…
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This call to faith is an amazing statement of God’s goodness and grace. From the beginning God chose you to believe as he connected you to the message of the Gospel and the converting work of his Spirit. The result? You believed the truth of Jesus. The benefit? We might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When we think about why are we here on this earth, a key truth to understand is we are here to connect with the saving power of the Gospel. We are here to connect to God’s plan for us to hear the message of Jesus and have his Spirit change our unqualified, no experience, no relationship status to one that is qualified…because we have been given Jesus’ perfect record…to one that has experience as one who has been connected God’s eternal plan and one who has a relationship with the Lord.
Our call to faith is a gift of grace.
Our call to believe is foundational for life.
Our call to trust is what sets the stage for the call to follow.
Tomorrow we’ll delve into that, but today enjoy the gift of grace that God has called you to faith!
Apply: Who did God use in your life to connect you to his saving Gospel message? Send them a note of thanks for God using them in calling you to faith. Thank God for them too!
Prayer: Lord thank you for orchestrating a plan in eternity to include me in your plan of salvation! AMEN.
Mission Minded: Your Identity: Pleasing to God!
Daily Devotions based the Sermon from January 10, 2021
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: A Mission-Minded Person Is Secure in Their Identity!
Many of us are people-pleasers.
We want people to like us and so we do things that we think will lead to that result.
The problem is, people don’t always like us.
Eventually we are going to do something that someone doesn’t like because not everybody likes the same thing. For a people pleaser…this can be crushing.
When people are not pleased with us, it leads us to question our value, worth and significance.
It doesn’t have to.
When we find our identity in pleasing other imperfect people, we will often be questioning our identity.
Psychologists encourage us to have “self-worth and self-appreciation.” However, I believe that is hard to always drum up internally when externally I am being dumped on.
So where do we turn?
You guessed it. Back to our baptism and what God has to say about us.
At Jesus’ baptism, the Father said of his Son, “This is my son, whom I love, with him I am well-pleased.”
Our heavenly Father, says the same of you, “with you I am well-pleased.” Why can he say this? Because in our baptism we have been connected to the pleasing work of his Son Jesus!
Our baptism covers us in forgiveness…so we are always pleasing to God.
Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.
Our baptism gives us a new life that enables us to please God.
Romans 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Our baptism begins the transformational work of God’s Spirit to understand what pleases God.
Romans 12: 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Our baptism changes our focus from pleasing people to pleasing God.
Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Sure, we all need affirmation from people once in a while. It is also healthy to evaluate how our actions and words are affecting others. However, if you are looking for a foundational, identity reality, go back to how God thinks of you…with you he is well-pleased.
Apply: Take the three phrases from this week and put them on your mirror. Use them as a daily reminder and affirmation of who you are:
- I am a child of God!
- I am loved by God!
- I am pleasing to God!
Prayer: Thank you for the new identity I have because of my baptism. Grant me your Spirit every day to live this identity as a loved, pleasing, child of God! Amen.
Thank you for praying the following with us at Cross & Crown:
Day 5 – Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”
God, open our minds and hearts to Your vision for Your Church that endures for all generations. Help us to not be limited by our own fears or doubts. Unify us in Your love and allow us to dream Your dreams for our community.
Mission Minded: Your Identity: Loved by God!
Daily Devotions based the Sermon from January 10, 2021
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: A Mission-Minded Person Is Secure in Their Identity!
Second only to physical needs on Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, is the need to be loved. God has made us with a need to be loved by someone else and to find satisfaction in expressing love to others. It’s part of the reason why he created Eve for Adam on day six of creation. Humans were made to love others.
But we don’t always do that so well.
Unfortunately our sinful nature leads us to love ourselves much better than we love others. People become a means for us to use to accomplish what we desire. We can easily take physically and emotionally from others to satisfy our longings and needs.
Human love is imperfect love. It’s why we find ourselves longing to be loved…truly loved.
That’s why we need God’s love.
How others love or don’t love us can affect our perception of ourselves. When someone we care about no longer cares for us we can easily feel, “I am not loved.” Or “I am not lovable.” The lack of human love leaves our heart empty.
That’s why we need God’s love.
At our baptism, God doesn’t just say, “You are my child,” he also says, “I love you.” How? He loved you by accepting you into his family.
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
He loved you by connecting you to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:3-4 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
He loved you by going to the cross for you:
John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
The list of ways God loves you/us can go on. Take some time to make it!
Human love can come and go. The love of God is constant.
Romans 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You are loved by God…this isn’t just a reality, it’s your identity!
Apply: Situations and interactions can affect how we feel about ourselves and our identity. What difference does it make, no matter how people react to you, that you are loved by God?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the love that you have lavished on us that we should be your children and be the recipients of your love! AMEN.
Thank you for praying the following with us at Cross & Crown:
Day 4 – John 3:16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
We believe these words sum up the central message of the Gospel. We want to proclaim it clearly and with Your power. We also know that the people in our community will connect with this message in different ways. Give us wisdom to communicate it by the power of the Holy Spirit in ways that people will hear and receive. May many lives be transformed by Your love.
Mission Minded: Your Identity: Child of God!
Daily Devotions based the Sermon from January 10, 2021
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: A Mission-Minded Person Is Secure in Their Identity!
If you were not an only child, I am sure at some point you either told one of you siblings, “You’re adopted.” Or one of your siblings told you, “You’re not part of our family.”
The point they wanted to make? You really don’t belong to this family.
To be clear, these were not kind words. They usually sent your sibling or you with a tear in your eye to your parents seeking affirmation that you WERE their child.
With calm, mom gave you a hug and said, “Yes, you are our child. Don’t let _____ tell you differently.”
We all want a family to which to belong. Adopted or natural born, we all desire and appreciate a loving, nurturing relationship with a mom and dad who chose to put their name on you and make you part of their family.
Family has impact on identity…good and bad. How we see ourselves, is greatly influenced by our upbringing. Your experience may have great affirmations to your identity. Your experiences as a child perhaps have realities that challenge how you see yourself today.
No earthly family is perfect. So if we look for our identity solely in our earthly family, it will be insufficient.
So God gives us a new family and a new identity.
In our baptism, God put his name on us. He adopted us into his family of grace. Satan loves to be the ugly sibling that keeps trying to convince us that we are not children of God and don’t belong in his family. He gets us to believe lies that God won’t love us. He gets us to think that life in God’s family isn’t all that great.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. You are a child of God. Paul wanted to assure the readers of Romans of this very truth:
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
This is a foundational identity the Lord desires you embrace. It is deeper and more stable than any other identity we find in the world around us. You ARE a child of God…who is a mother, who is a father, who is a teacher, who is a student, who is a grandparent, etc.
The Almighty, powerful, perfect, Father in heaven is YOUR father!
Martin Luther put it this way with a brief commentary on the Lord’s Prayer:
With these words (“Our Father in heaven,”) God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.
Don’t let Satan convince you otherwise. By God’s love and grace…YOU are a child of God!
Apply: Begin to shift your thinking as you go about your day. Instead of your identity resting in your vocation and what you do during the day, remind yourself as you start your day, “I AM a child of God…who gets to ____________ (be a mom, go to work, be a student, etc.).” Note how it changes your outlook and perspective on your day.
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the new identity you give me in my baptism. Lead me to embrace and live this gift and reality of being YOUR child each and every day!
Thank you for praying the following with us at Cross & Crown:
Day 3 – Jeremiah 33:3 “Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.”
Lord, we know You know all things. Lead and guide our process, and teach us what we do not know or do not practice well. May this ministry be Your ministry. May we simply keep in step with You, relying on your wisdom.
Mission Minded: Given a New Identity!
Daily Devotions based the Sermon from January 10, 2021
Full Sunday message: CONTEMPORARY or TRADITIONAL
THIS WEEK: A Mission-Minded Person Is Secure in Their Identity!
Who am I?
The question has been asked for ages. Philosophers have debated profusely. Individuals have wrestled for years. Personally you may find yourself asking the question.
How do you answer the question, “Who am I?”
“I am a mom.” “I am a dad.” “I am an American.” “I am a Democrat.” “I am a Republican.” “I am a fire-fighter.” “I am a real estate agent.” The list goes on.
We look for identity in what we do. We look for identity in how we interact with others. We look for identity in our belief systems. However, all of these can challenge us because many, if not all of them, can change. When they do we are left asking again, “Who am I?”
Who we are can very much affect what we do. If you identify as mom…you will do mom things. If you identify as a dad…you will do dad things. If you do not identify as a real estate agent, you won’t do real estate agent things.
I’m getting a little philosophical, I know.
However, having a clear answer to this question is crucial to understanding yourself and your life’s purpose and direction. The reality is, if we find our ultimate identity in a person, occupation, or persuasion of this world, it will lead to our identity being shaken. If we find our purpose in what others think of us or think we should do, we will always be lacking.
To solve the identity question, we must go back to the one who made us and really is the one who gives us a glorious and unchanging way to look at and see ourselves.
I invite you to return to your baptism. (If you have not been baptized and this sparks curiosity, please email me at pastor@crossandcrowntx.com and let’s talk!)
In baptism, God put his name on you as you were baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” This simple, short activity wasn’t just a “tradition of the church,” this was your spiritual birthday! It has as much if not more significance to your physical birthday! It was not just a “symbolic act” just like your physical birthday isn’t a “symbol” of life – it was the day you were GIVEN life! In the same way, your baptism isn’t a symbol of God putting his name on you and claiming YOU as HIS own, it was the day he DID claim you as his own. Your baptism day wasn’t a day you showed God you were his child, it was the day God showed you, you ARE his child!
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,…
Titus 3:4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
It was the day you were given a new identity: A child of God.
Apply: Do you know your baptism day? Take time to look it up. Put it on your calendar and enjoy celebrating every year another year of being part of God’s family!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for making me your child through the waters of baptism. Lead me to understand, appreciate and live this new identity every day of my life. AMEN.
Thank you for praying the following with us at Cross & Crown:
Day 2 – Ephesians 6:10-11 “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.”
Thank you, God, that our strength and power rests in You. We pray for protection for our leadership team, for our church and for our community, and that the enemy’s strategies will not advance. Bring unity, grace, power and renewal to the ministry you have called us to.