Follower of One : Missions For The Rest Of Us

I saw something terrible on January 6. I watched in amazement as free Americans stormed the offices of our government. I was blown away.

Many people who claim to support soon-to-be former President Trump claim to be Christians. And maybe they are. We are all capable of some pretty bad things. But I wonder if we need a new name for the people who follow Jesus. Because of my own temper, I know people who follow Jesus can react in anger. I know we can do some pretty stupid things. But as followers of Jesus, I hope we can follow Jesus more and the crowd less. Anger is contagious. But those of us who claim to follow Jesus have the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to go against the grain.

In addition, each person in a civil republic has expectations. We can't expect things of others that we don't expect of ourselves. We tolerate much in a nation that defends free speech. Free speech means we are free to say what we think. We are free to protest, But free speech ends when we damage property or cause physical harm to others.

Followers of Jesus know the command that we love one another. I saw little that looked like love yesterday, except in the response of the capital police. It is love that creates order. In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul tells us that Jesus existed in the form of God, but he did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. He humbled himself to be born as a baby to a poor family, subjected himself to our world and even the Roman government and was crucified on a cross for us.

As Americans, we have a responsibility. Ours is the first government formed to be of, by and for the people. But as citizens of Heaven, we have a greater responsibility, to represent God's kingdom in our world. If you follow Jesus, please pray and ask God to show you if or how you might have contributed to this escalation. Then ask God to change the hearts of those of us who follow him, so we can show that Jesus is the answer to our world's problems, not violence or bickering. Where do we need to trust God more? Where do we need to model the life of Jesus, who, laid down his life for us? Ask God to show you where you can demonstrate humility. Our job isn't to change the election results. Our job is to make Jesus visible in the world. Let's be people who provide a peaceful, orderly alternative to the anger and hate we see. We can't fight disorder, and unrest with more disorder and unrest.

God challenges the Jews to call to him. He promises to tell great and incomprehensible things that you do not know. God makes us aware of things. But everything he does is outside of our normal realm of thought. Our minds aren't capable of grabbing God on our own. Do you believe God's promise in this area? Or do you take your faith for granted?

Jeremiah is in prison. The nation is about to be polished off by the Babylonians for a second and final time. Yet in the last chapter or two, God has been encouraging the Jews. They will return. Can you even imagine? I can't imagine being taken into captivity, being made a servant of someone else in another country, and being "encouraged" by being told that the nation will return. I won't return. I won't last 70 years. My kids or my grand kids might. I can't imagine.

But God reminds us we can call on him. We can ask him for direction. We can ask for a word from him. He has our best interests at heart all the time. He was faithful to the Jews. He will be faithful to those who follow him too.

What about today? Are you in a bad job situation, or unemployed? Call to him. Talk to fellow Christians. Are you in a good place? Call on God today. Listen to him. Let's all call to God and ask him to put us to work. Find someone to help. If you have a job and resources and health, go beyond your comfort zone and help those who do not. Listen to the people at work. Check on friends who you no longer see in the course of your day. Ask God and he will bring those people to mind and then reach out.

God tells Jeremiah, "I AM. Is anything too difficult for me?" I need to memorize this verse. Jeremiah is in prison. The 2nd siege of Jerusalem is at hand. Babylon is about to wipe way the Jews, but not really. In fact God just had Jeremiah buy some land! Let that sink in. Jeremiah is in prison! The city is under siege. Nations disappeared back in this time. During their lives, they had seen other nations get absorbed by a conquering nation and the name and the people were gone. But God tells Jeremiah to buy some land.

What does this tell you today? Because of who you are and who you belong to, you can step into any problem. You can look for ways to serve others in any situation. Is anything too difficult for God? Where do we need to go beyond our comfort zone? Where do we need to give more than we think we can? Can you give more than you're asked? Can you go an extra mile? Can you give more than seems reasonable? As Mike recorded this, he even talked about his own conviction. Let's let God move us into an area where our actions seem extreme but God gets the glory.

Is it too difficult for God to give you the time to practice being a missionary in your workplace? Why not join us on the next Marketplace Mission Trip. You will invest a few minutes every morning and evening for 2 weeks to trust God with your actions and your work life. You'll practice the 5 daily activities and you will see God at work through you. Learn more and sign up at MarketplaceMissionTrip.com. 

As the Jews are going into exile, God instructs Jeremiah to send this note to them. In the note, he tells them they'll be in captivity 70 years (vs. 10) and then he tells them this. Often, we hear people us this as a promise for prosperity for us today. 

I think of this as a promise for all time. Unfortunately, the hardship has to come first. Often, we want to bypass the 70 years of hardship. Can I trust God when all else looks bleak? Can we trust God when difficult things happen?

God plans for our good, our welfare. But our circumstances are not outside of his control, either. God clearly uses Babylon to punish the Jews. Yet he also tells them he plans for their good. When we talk about a particular difficulty, I'm not qualified to respond. However I know however bad things get, God plans for my good. To the degree that I am able, I want to do good in response because I have a vision of the end, and I trust the One making the promise.

Do you practice doing good in response to the bad going on? Can you say you look beyond even this life, or this 70 years to when God will deliver on his promise for our welfare? Can we help you? Why not check out our online community at https://community.followerofone.org and learn more?

In the New Year, as people who follow Jesus, how are we to approach our jobs? Is our job just backdrop for our ministry, or should we treat our work as service to Jesus? 

This passage is at the beginning of a few chapters of encouragement that God is giving the Jews. They've just been taken into captivity to Babylon. Some say these passages don't apply to Christians today, and maybe they're correct. I believe they do apply. This is not our home. We belong somewhere else. However today, we're ambassadors. We represent Jesus. And just like the Jews of that day, I believe these words are for us.

We should seek the welfare of the city where we are assigned, and pray to the Lord on its behalf. You know when someone else is with you. We realize when we're more committed to the success of an effort than our team members, and vice versa. If we long to get back out to our friends at church, more than we long to be part of the success of those we work with, we send a signal. We tell them they're not as important to us. 

Do you pray for your city or your employer? Do you work for the best of those in your workplace or community? Do we look like tourists, or are we part of the place where we work? 

In this week's episode of the Follower of One Podcast, Mike speaks with Kris Castro. Kris has over 20 years of experience coaching, training & mentoring individuals towards their personal and professional goals. Her business Shift, Inc. specializes in helping individuals and companies produce more consistent results and increase their effectiveness so their businesses, organizations, departments, and personal lives thrive. Please welcome her to the community! 

Episode Breakdown

1:00 - Meet Kris Castro

1:40 - Kris' Book and Story

5:45 - Kris and Celebrate Recovery

10:45 - Shift, Inc.

13:20 - Kris' work process with Clients

14:45 - Tips from Kris on Faith at Work 

16:25 - Listening to God Story

19:50 - Connect with Kris

Let God Take the Helm

Sometimes the hardest lessons to learn are the ones where we have no control. These are the hardest because we are imperfect beings and that is okay! We as humans can only control so much and learning to leave God at the helm of our lives is an important task. Kris talks about her journey through CR (Celebrate Recovery) and how at one point she set out to travel across the country with no solid plan. Why would someone do that? Kris let God take the proverbial wheel. The story has a happy ending (listen to the interview!) but it all started with letting God take control of what was next in her life. When you wake in the morning, do you ask God what the plan is for today? 

Be Still and Listen

If we let God take the "reins", how do we know what direction to take? The answer is we can't unless we learn to listen to him as well! There are a plethora of opportunities beckoning just out of our reach and the more we listen, the more we can act on those opportunities. Kris talks with Mike about one of her realizations on this very topic and how it transformed her everyday life not just in work but outside of work as well. When you hear God, what does He tell you? Are you still enough to listen? We all have goals and aspirations to accomplish and even in a world that has been shaken recently, we must make time for stillness so that we don't miss what God planned for us next. 

Interview Quote

"God speaks all the time, you just have to be still enough to listen. You have to take a faith risk to do what he says in that moment"

Connect with Kris

Kris' LinkedIn

Shift, Inc. 

Kris' Book - "Crazy" Might Be A Blessing In Disguise! 

Kris' Facebook

Kris' Twitter

Kris' Testimony

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Connect With Follower Of One

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In Jesus time, the first born had all the special rites. He was the leader of the next generation. He received 2 times what any other sibling received from the parents. He continued the family name and tradition. Everything about the family rested on the firstborn.

On New Year's Day, Let's remember who we follow. Our job is to obey him. Listening to him is so hard. Often doing what he says seems harder. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus reminds us that his yoke is easy. He doesn't leave us alone. He provides the energy and the resources. We work alongside him and he will not fail, fall short, or lose. 

But if you don't hear anything from him, do your job well. We have that command in scripture, too. Whatever you job is, know that your job is part of his plan. You're a minister as an accountant, as a business analyst, speech therapist, Realtor, or in job transition.

Let the promise of his glory give you hope this year. He has overcome and he will accomplish his work. Our job? Let's remember he is first. Let's listen to what he says and focus on what we can do rather than what we can't do. Obey Jesus and trust him today. As we follow him, he will accomplish his will in our marketplace every day.

On this last day of the year, let's remember we've been freed from the kingdom of Satan or the domain of darkness. Notice too, that we're in the kingdom of Jesus now. This is not a future promise, but a past reality. We don't have to hang out in the domain of darkness any more. We are members of the kingdom of Jesus. 

Not only is it now, but it's not dark. I notice many movies and books today project a dark, dim future. Our world has less and less hope. Maybe one of the best things about 2020 is that it has us looking to the future again. Today, rather than reflecting on the bad, reflect on the good. God saved you from the authority, the kingdom of Satan. He gave you a permanent, non-refundable membership in his kingdom. And as Oswald Chambers says, our job is to live in such a way that others see our King, and his kingdom. They don't need to see us. Our life and joy don't come from who we are as much as they come from who we belong to. We're Christ's people. Let's enjoy him, and the power of his kingdom here, now, while we live and work with others. 

I hope you can take some time to reflect on all that Jesus has done for you. It can be a rich time. Then, tomorrow, let's get to work on the next one. We can also enjoy the hope we have for the next day and year, too!

Walking worthy of the Lord means that we begin with being filled with his knowledge so that we please him in all respects, bearing fruit, and growing our knowledge. As we do those things, we are strengthened with God's power, and that power doesn't come out of our strength but we receive it in accordance with his power. The power is supernatural and so is the portion.

But the power doesn't produce the result we might consider. We can't fix most of the bad things that happen in our workplaces or our world. The power helps us become steadfast and patient, so that no matter what our circumstances are we are joyful and thankful to God. 

Notice how our steadfastness and patience result in joy and thankfulness. Then each further makes God visible. I never think of power resulting in patience. I always think of power resulting in change. But our knowledge of God helps us be with him, and experience his power and joy so that we become steadfast and patient. I realize power is at work. The work is hard and long. But God is doing his thing, so I learn how to wait with joy. 

And my realization of God prompts me to thanks. When I'm thankful in any circumstance, God becomes visible. 

What does it mean to "walk worthy of the Lord," from this verse? Some translations have "live a life worthy of the Lord." What is a life worthy of the Lord? 

We please God. We bear fruit, and we increase in the knowledge of God. Notice the cycle. Your ministry to coworkers is part of the divine plan to restore all of creation to a correct relationship with God. When we are filled with the knowledge of God's will, we walk in a manner worthy of God. We please him in all respects, we bear fruit and we increase in the knowledge of God. Paul even takes another lap until we all give God thanks again in verse 12. 

Your ministry is part of God's plan to restore all of creation. When our knowledge of God results in joy that others can see, we bear fruit. We help others move one notch closer to God. I would say that's our job, but we also receive great joy from being close to God. When we can get close to God in the middle of a messy meeting, or a difficult work situation, our God becomes visible. It's not work to walk in a manner worthy of God's calling. It's joy!

Will you join God in this New Year? Will you pray for your coworkers like Paul prayed for the Christians at Colossae? Why not make plans now to make 2021 the year you step into your role as a full-time ministry right where you work. This is an opportunity to experience God's joy daily. It's not more work, it's more joy. Try it out at MarketplaceMissionTrip.com and see.