Follower of One : Missions For The Rest Of Us

There's a difference between Godly sorrow and shame. Shame is what I experience when I beat myself up for something I've done or didn't do. I tell myself I'm a loser, or I remind myself that I hate either myself or something about myself. Often, I experience shame when I'm thinking about mistakes I made in the past. I can think of some times when I really messed up. The emotion connected with those things, to me, is shame.

But Paul tells the Corinthians here that when we're sorry and that sorrow is from God, we experience a different result. We will repent without regret and we will be saved. We will experience God's salvation for us. God doesn't condemn those who follow Jesus. We're not under a sentence of judgment. But we can experience sadness over our mistakes and our purposeful missteps. And we can know that sorrow comes from God if it causes us to truly repent, do a 180 and experience God's salvation.

Someone is listening today who probably needs to hear this. Jesus paid for our mistakes and our purposeful selfish choices. All we have to do to experience God's salvation is follow Jesus. When we listen to him and bend our lives to do what he says, he guides us into a joy and purpose we can't fully understand. And that joy and purpose will help us invest in the lives of others around us. This is about Jesus, not about us. Ask God for the sorrow that puts us back right with Jesus. Then we can be free to truly serve the people around us.

I also want to remind you to check out other faith-at-work podcasts. Check out the Awaken Podcast Network and find over 100 different podcasts that will help you integrate your faith and work daily. Go to AwakenPodcastNetwork.com to check it out.

Yesterday, we talked about who we're supposed to love. In my reading this morning, I came across this section of scripture. When we love those who love us, we have our reward. Anyone can love those who love us. We like the most of the people who appreciate us. I think this challenge in the latter part of Matthew 5 doesn't contradict 1 John at all, because, like I said yesterday, I believe the term translated "brother" in that verse means "fellow man." Here Jesus tells us that we must love those who don't love us. Every act demonstrated by the life of Jesus backs up that claim. Scripture calls us to love people who don't love us.

When Jesus washed the disciples feet, notice that Judas was included. Judas didn't leave to betray Jesus until after Jesus washed everyone's feet and gave his lesson. (See John 13:27.) We're clearly called to love people who don't love us. We're called to love people who don't love us. This is one of the key ways Jesus becomes visible in our world. If we content or battle with our enemies all the time, we don't glorify Jesus. We glorify ourselves and our beliefs and our ideas. But when we lay down our ideas and our arguments and serve our enemies, Jesus becomes visible.

Who do you need to serve today? Who do you know that might have something against you. Are you willing to ask Jesus to show you how you can grow your love for them? Remember, we're not talking about the emotion. We're talking about love that seeks the best for the other person. We love them by doing what's best for them. If you can't do anything else, you can pray and ask God to give you ideas of ways to serve them. Act on behalf of someone who is not your first choice today.

Who is your brother? Most commentaries suggest this term translated brother means fellow Christian. So many commentaries suggest it, they're probably correct. But as a possible alternative, let me suggest an idea from my past.

When I graduated from college, I thought I knew everything. And the last place I wanted to go was into the trucking business. My dad worked in that business, and I worked around his truck line all growing up. But I didn't like the people there. I didn't like the work or the dirt. I just didn't like it. So when I graduated from college, that's the last place I wanted to go. 

However, after a couple of straight-commission jobs, I decided to pursue a salary and the trucking business was the best option. I applied for jobs selling in the freight business. I thought for sure I could get a job because I had been trained to sell on commission, and I understood the freight business. But I had over 40 interviews without a single job offer. I think a contributing factor was the fact that, deep down in side, I thought of the trucking business job as beneath me. I didn't want to do it.

Eventually, I ended up there, and went down further. I ended up working for my dad's company. Every day, I wasted another day of my life and I got madder and madder. Dad even asked me why I was so angry all the time. Finally, God used the frustration of that job to bring me to him. But my ministry in the freight business still had issues. I believe it was because I hated those people and that business. It was a few years later when I learned to appreciate and even serve or love people in that industry. That's when my joy and my impact began to change.

Do we do ourselves a disservice by thinking about this passage as only an instruction to fellow Christians. When I became a Christian, I loved fellow Christians. But I still hated the freight business and the people in it. God wanted me to love my brothers - those who are fellow humans. Until I became one of them, I couldn't be much of a marketplace minister to them. 

Today, who do you need to love more? What might God be holding back from you simply because you consider someone to be outside the scope of this command?

In this week's episode of the Follower of One Podcast, Mike speaks with Dr. Svetlana Papazov. Dr. Svetlana is an author, entrepreneur and , Founder and President of Real Life RVA. Her recent book Church for Monday helps us use practical lessons to grow our faith at work. Please welcome her to the community!

Episode Breakdown

1:00 - Meet Dr. Svetlana Papazov

2:50 - Svetlana's Background

8:00 - Seamless Faith

10:30 - Secular Divide 

12:15 - Church For Monday 

15:20 - Dr. Svetlana's Story to Ministry

20:25 - Real Life Church

26:05 - Advice on Faith at Work

30:40 - Mindset Changes

Faith Like Breathing

There is a common misconnect between our faith in church and our faith outside of those walls. Dr. Svetlana talks about how our faith should be like our breath. If we think about this, we breathe without thinking. It is a natural human function. Our goal should be to have our faith be seamless between everything that we do. Seamless faith means that just as we breathe, we believe. With every breath we take, it is another opportunity to liv our faith. Don't stop after you leave church!

Passion is a Key Component 

Living your faith everyday at all times is a difficult task and we are not perfect humans. Passion should be apart of your faith, without the passion, we lose the fire that can fuel us to stay focused on God. We talk about faith at work and in this sense the reason we love to go to work is because we are passionate about what we do. In order to love living our faith everyday, we need that catalyst. In a world where our brains tend to focus on the negative, we need to practice challenging ourselves to find  the light of God in every problem!

Interview Quote

"The way we breathe should be the way we practice our faith." - Dr. Svetlana Papazov

Connect with Dr. Svetlana Papazov

Church For Monday

Real Life Church

Real Life RVA

Dr. Svetlana's Website

Dr. Svetlana's LinkedIn

Connect With Follower Of One

Join us over in our Online Community, get social with us; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Listen to our podcast on your way to work and subscribe using your favorite podcast app. Be a part of our next Marketplace Mission Trip!

Are believers free to sin? We talked yesterday about the freedom we have in Jesus. He freed us because his grace gave us the path to eternal life. Jesus is the Way to eternal life. When we follow him, we find eternal life. The closer we get to him, the more we enjoy our eternal life. Is that life easy? In a way. But it also requires that we obey. The freedom Jesus bought for us is the freedom to obey God. 

So the author asks, should we continue in our sin. Can we live any way we want now that we follow Jesus? And his response is bold and definite. No! We can't understand fully the idea of our salvation. When we follow Jesus, we experience his eternal life. We join his kingdom. But when we decide to sin, or simply neglect our relationship with him, we let him down. When we ask the question, can I sin and still get to heaven, we ask the wrong question. Another great question might be, when I sin, do I go back to being dead? In Genesis 1, God warned Adam that the day he ate of the fruit of the tree, he would surely die. 

Sin separates us from God. Jesus forgives our sin, giving us the path to heaven. but if we keep on sinning, we still miss out on the relationship with Jesus now. Enjoy your salvation. Choose to do what Jesus says. We experience so much joy when we obey Jesus, why do we continue to choose otherwise? Because we're powerless and lost. Our world, our flesh and our enemy are all lined up to take us away from the joy of being rightly related to Jesus. 

Today, let's choose to obey him. If you hear this on the way to work, take a few more minutes and ask God to show you how you need to obey him today. He will tell you. Ask God to give you an idea and then, today, watch for some idea you get to serve someone or make a sacrifice so someone else might move closer to Jesus. Ask him and he will do it. What have you got to lose?

Where sin increased, grace increased more. Some translations say grace multiplied. Grace is our ride. When we trust Jesus, we get to live in his grace. We don't have to wait to die to receive it either. We get it right now. The Kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17). It's available to us now. Grace makes God's kingdom available to us. 

Grace reigns through righteousness. Jesus was righteous, and he made the way for grace. We've been freely forgiven. Now we're free to walk with Jesus and do what he says. Grace brings us the eternal life in Jesus. So how will your eternal life show up today? Will it pray for others? Will it serve others? Will we give something away? Can we sacrifice something because we follow Jesus?

You live in a freedom that can't be easily explained. Your freedom was given to you without you doing anything to justify it. You simply trust Jesus and it's yours. Will you do something with it? What are you free to do? 

Mike said we're free to serve. Because we don't have to look out for ourselves any more, we can give our lives away. Do you ever consider how you can give more to others so they might see Jesus? Why not ask Jesus today to put you to work in his kingdom? Ask him to let you carry some of his grace to your coworkers, customers and vendors.

The obedience of one person provides a way back to God for all of us. While this may sound simple, don't underestimate the depth of our fall. Before we trust Jesus, we are (were) creatures of wrath. We were sentenced to God's anger. Our doom was sure. But Jesus came, lived, and died to pay for our sin. 

He modeled obedience for us. He obeyed to the point of death on a cross. A vile, painful, embarrassing death. He suffered to make a way for you to be able to receive the payment he made for our selfishness; yours and mine. God has provided unmerited favor for us. Grace means favor that we didn't deserve. We didn't do anything to earn it. We simply receive it. Nothing we do can earn us the grace of having our sins paid for.

Through Jesus' obedience we were made right with God. The grace we receive when we trust Jesus is our doorway to a restored relationship with Jesus.

As a recipient of that grace, what kind of person might we be? Today, our first daily activity is to pray. Pray down your calendar again today and ask God how he would have you respond? Maybe you need to be more obedient. Or maybe you need to make a greater sacrifice for someone. Ask God and let him put you to work. 

And don't forget to check out the Marketplace Mission Trip. That's where we practice 5 daily activities that put us on-mission with Jesus at our workplace. Head over the MarketplaceMissionTrip.com to learn more and sign up.

What is a steadfast mind? Almost every translation uses "steadfast" to translate the Hebrew word. When our mind is steadfast, it is trained to listen to and watch for God. We don't give up. We look for him in everything we do. We persist in obeying his commands. What do you need to do to be steadfast in your mind today? Where do you let your mind move from trusting God to trusting yourself?

One place Mike does that in in areas where he is confident. Do you get confident in your own abilities and then switch off your relationship with Jesus? "I've got this. I can do it on my own." Do you catch yourself operating in that kind of mindset.

To be steadfast of mind means our mind is fixed on something. Isaiah suggests that our mind is steadfast in trusting God. God isn't subject to our definition of him or our idea of him. When we trust in God, we learn about him and grow in our knowledge of him. He defines reality, not the other way around. We become steadfast in mind when we can trust in God for the long haul. The moment we think we don't need him, we falter.

Today, let's renew our commitment to do what God tells us first and foremost. That may require that you spend more time reading the Bible than you usually do. Ask God how you can be more steadfast of mind and then do what he says. If he tells you to read the Bible more, or to pray more, you can trust him. That's consistent with scripture. But if you think he's telling you to relax, take it easy, it may be your lazy flesh talking to you. Listen carefully and then do what God says.

Also, check out the Marketplace Mission Trip at www.MarketplaceMissionTrip.com. Our next trip begins April 12. Why not plan now to join us so you can practice living your faith every day. Head over to the site and check it out.

I've been thinking about how our ministry at work is based on who God is. Every way and every thought of God's is greater, higher than mine. What does that mean to you? 

Could it mean that we can't bend the truth? What about how much energy we exert doing a good job? Can we hold back, or go through the motions? Can we rest on our experience rather than humbling ourselves. What about our attitude toward our peers? Is it really murder to get angry at someone else? Are we really cheating on our spouses if we desire to be with someone else? 

If God's ways are higher than ours, what do we need to change today? Can you think of someone who needs a prayer or a kind word? Maybe you need to send a thank you note or make a call? How can you show you agree that God's ways are higher than our ways? How will that impact your work performance? 

Ask God to show you how you can be a better servant right where you are. You're a minister. Ministry is just helping others move one notch closer to Jesus. Let's respect others and appreciate them and look for ways we can humbly help them see that Jesus loves and cares for them. Let God stretch your mind today. 

Speaking of a stretched minds, we started doing a 2-week exercise called the Marketplace Mission Trip. This is a 2-week exercise to practice living your faith at work. It will stretch your mind, but also give you practical actions to get on-mission with Jesus in any job. Check it out at MarketplaceMissionTrip.com. 

In this week's episode of the Follower of One Podcast, Mike talks with Jordan Dollar. Jordan is the Leadership Coach for Biblical Business Training (BBT). BBT provides Biblical leadership development and curriculum to small-group Bible study leaders, helping them grow in their relationship with Christ and equipping them to pour into the lives of others. Please welcome him to the community!

Episode Breakdown

0:45 - Meet Jordan Dollar

1:10 - Biblical Business Training

4:20 - Jordan's Story with BBT

9:30 - BBT's Method for the Workplace

12:45 - BBT's Curriculum 

21:25 - Setting Up Your Own Study Now

Focus On God and Not Your Differences 

There are a lot of different denominations in the Christian world and many of them differ, yet the core belief in God is steady. Jordan and Mike talk about BBT's purpose and how their goal is to not answer theological questions. You need a home church/ pastor to be able to help you along your spiritual journey, however, one of the biggest things missing is the support to take your gospel into the workplace. Focusing on the right things is very important in this case. Instead of worrying about how and when we need to focus on what God is calling us to do. When we train our minds to see what God is calling us to do, then we can take action rather than getting into arguments over our differences. We all believe in Him, let's work together! 

Hear Your Calling

At the core of BBT, being able to read the word and hear our calling is key to accomplishing our goal of spreading the Gospel at work. Have you heard a calling yet? What did God tell you to do? Maybe some of us have never taken the time to listen, or maybe what we hear scares us. This is all apart of the plan. At some point, we need to trust in Him and let everything else fall away from focus. Let us know in the comments a story of your calling in recent months, we would love to hear them! 

Connect with Jordan

Jordan's LinkedIn

Biblical Business Training Website

BBT's Curriculum Page

BBT's Facebook

Connect With Follower Of One

Join us over in our Online Community, get social with us; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Listen to our podcast on your way to work and subscribe using your favorite podcast app. Be a part of our next Marketplace Mission Trip!