Why I Am On Mission Series

Notice He doesn’t say serve and sacrifice for others so that God will give you spiritual brownie points. Instead He says, “you’ll be BLESSED if you do them.” Meaning, you’re the fortunate one.

I think there are two main reasons he says we will be blessed.

1) The more you serve and sacrifice out of an overflowing cup, the more you are like Christ.

2) The more you serve and sacrifice the more you are with Christ. The deeper you go down the more you get immersed in God’s love.

It’s only here that you truly learn that Jesus is enough. If you have Him you have all that you need.

The challenge for us today-

Pour out all your stuff to Jesus and then allow Him to pour himself back into you.

Some of you might think it’s too late for that, and if that’s you, I would say this-

Don’t give up on a God who has never given up on you.

Let that soak for a minute

Satan is the one that might be whispering in your ear right now “you can’t do it. Don’t stretch yourself. You’ll fail”.

You need to say- Shut up devil.

God pours in His whispers---I still believe in you. I’m not done with you. The best is still to come.

1 Corinthians 2:9 New International Version (NIV)

“What no eye has seen,

what no ear has heard,

and what no human mind has conceived”[a]—

the things God has prepared for those who love him—

You have no idea what is behind the curtain of complete surrender to God.

Just trust God and His word.

Get back up. Give Him one more day. Let God be strong in your weakness. The omnipotent ruler of all creation has got you.

You’re not alone.

One final thought and we will be done.

For all of you who think that God can’t use you because you’ve messed up way too much in life.

Did you know the Gospel of Mark is Peter’s testimony of Jesus.

Mark was the author, but many believe that he dictated it from Peter.

You know what is so cool about that. It was written about 64 AD, 30 years after the events it records.

What we see 30 years later is that Peter’s identity in Christ is so sure that he includes all his mistakes.

Can’t you just picture Peter---“oh and that’s when I really messed up and cut the dudes ear off, and that’s when I fell asleep, that’s when I denied Jesus to His face and that’s when I took my eyes off Jesus and started sinking.”

Peter had learned that God can even work through our weakness, our mistakes, and even our sin. God wants it all.

What would happen if we trusted God in everything?

Even with our mistakes and empty all that before HIM, so that Jesus can fill us up with HIS identity, His nature, His power, and His presence?

Who knows—if you could be transparent about your worst moments, God may use it to help others when they feel like they are failing.

The Foundation of Peter’s Mission flowed from His Identity in Christ and the same must be true for you as well.

Let’s pray.