Follower of One : Missions For The Rest Of Us

In this week's episode of the Follower of One podcast, Mike talks with Calvin and Camille Hanson. Calvin is a graphic and web design developer and Camille currently runs a YouTube page called "Learn English with Camille". Please welcome both Calvin and Camille to our community! 

1:00 - Meet Calvin and Camille Hanson

2:10 - Camille's Youtube Channel on Teaching English

5:10 - Calvin and Camille's Story to Christ

7:20 - Mission Trip Experiences for Calvin and Camille

10:15 - Lessons from Mission Trips that help with Everyday Faith

15:40 - Calvin's Graphic and Web Design Business

19:40 - Connections That Open with God

22:40 - Encouraging Others to Integrate Faith at Work

25:25 - Connect with Camille and Calvin

Answers on Your Faith

One of the hardest things we face in our faith is scrutiny from other people about our beliefs. It is not always bad and sometimes is simply inquisitive but when we don't have answers for people that ask us, it might help us reflect on our own beliefs and how much we don't know about God. Calvin and Camille began their journey on integrating faith deeper into their lives when a non-believer asked them questions about being a Christian. This probably has happened to you in one instance or another and it is important to know what you believe. A part of our Marketplace Mission Trip is knowing what you believe. Once we know what we believe, we then can look for answers to what God is telling us. Do you have answers about your Faith? If someone were to ask you about the Bible and its teachings, do you know what to say? This can be hard so let us know how you accomplished this in the comments! 

Understanding Other Cultures

Everyone in America lives in an American bubble. We have our own traditions, culture, and ways of doing things. What about the rest of the world? What Calvin and Camille learned on their Mission Trips overseas, was that not everyone in the world operates the same way we do. This helped open new ideas and lessons to be learned about how to live their faith back in America. Understanding other cultures can be really important and eye-opening but not all of us have that opportunity. Luckily we have the internet to help us. If you are looking for new and inspiring ways to live your faith in the marketplace try looking at different cultures and the way they conduct their lives. No one lives perfectly but we can strive to bring everyone we meet one step closer to Christ! 

Interview Quote

" Everyone needs hope and faith but many people don't have even one person to provide encouragement while sharing the gospel and living your Fatih out everyday" 

Connect with Calvin and Camille

Camille's YouTube "Learn English with Camille" 

Calvin and Camille's Blog

Calvin's Website

Calvin's LinkedIn 

Shalom Spaces (airbnb)

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! 

In the times of Paul and Jesus, employees were bondservants or slaves. That's how we translate the words that begin this sentence in the Greek. Paul is speaking to people who worked for someone else. Some were voluntary and some were involuntary. If you couldn't pay your bills, you ran up debt and then sold yourself into a relationship with an employer. This Greek word means someone who works for someone else, whether voluntarily or involuntarily. 

Notice how Paul begins this section. It goes all the way back to 5:21 which we talked about yesterday. From verse 21 to here, Paul points out how we can submit ourselves to others in whatever position we're in. However in modern times, some of the statements by Paul have been called into question. We don't want to submit. We want to all be equals. We want to be the boss, call the shots. We're not under or less than anyone else. So why would Paul say things like this? Why didn't he tell all the slave owners to free all their slaves? Why didn't Paul and Jesus make everything right.

Many people ask that question. We spend so much time talking to bosses, but notice how Paul talks to the slaves first. In fact, I believe he talks to the person in the position to submit first all the way through this section - wives then husbands, children then fathers, now slaves and masters.

For us, today, this means following Christ is very practical. Paul doesn't focus on the ideal. Our world is broken. And we don't have the power to fix it today. It won't fix today. So what can we do today, submit. Respect those in authority over us because we trust God. Can we trust God to that extent today? Jesus asks us to trust him with everything every day. When we do, he becomes visible. We plant a seed. And we never know what he will do.

We have one more day to sign up for the November Marketplace Mission Trip. Learn more and sign up at www.MarketplaceMissionTrip.com. Thank you for being a marketplace missionary.

The verse states, "and be subject to one another in the fear of the Lord." What made Paul make that statement? Do you ever wonder why certain ideas occur at particular times? How did Paul's mind come to submission to one another. Mike believes Paul continues his thoughts about what life looks like when we are filled with the Holy Spirit with these words. 

The verb translated "subject" is a compound Greek word that means to put oneself under. We subordinate our will that that of others. Paul will spend the next chapter and a half talking about what it looks like for different people to subject themselves to others. In the NASB, there's an unfortunate header that separates this verse from the one that follows. Mike thinks Paul is continuing his thought, not rambling, but intentional, just as he opened this passage. We must be careful how we walk, not as unwise but as wise making the most of the opportunity.

Who do you need to submit to? Go ahead and ask God. If God brings something or someone to mind, please act. Please move when God says move. Please do what he challenges you to do. Practice following him and doing what he says. Being subject to one another in the fear of the Lord is one of the ways we make Jesus visible. 

And please sign up for the Marketplace Mission Trip today. When you take part, you will become more aware of how your circumstances and your work situation wrestle with you every day. Your will is to follow Jesus. Our work world wants to operate without God. Your life matters forever when you walk with Jesus at work. Learn more and sign up at www.MarketplaceMissionTrip.com.

Paul has some long sentences. Most of the original Greek has little in the way of punctuation. Like Paul, Mike got started taking about God's purpose for us and how Mike saw some of that purpose in this passage. He completes that thought here. 

First, what does this have to do with getting drunk with wine? Mike believes Paul makes an illustration. Rather than being controlled by alcohol, let's take in all of the Holy Spirit we can and let him guide us. When he guides us, we won't sound lile we're drunk with alcohol, but we will sound like God's people, worshipping him and, giving thanks, and submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.

In fact, Mike believes the rest of this letter continues on the point Paul started about being careful how we live. That was how Mike came to this passage in the first place. We can be subject, we can submit to others, because we're filled with the Holy Spirit. 

What does that say to you, as you head to work today? Mike even said that he has trouble submitting to others. But this is an area where God continues to work on Mike. Does God work on submitting to others with you, too? Do you see how putting others ahead of ourselves, or submitting to them, is part of God's purpose for us? It's how we make him visible. 

Why not decide today to join us on the next Marketplace Mission Trip and put some of this into practice. Like riding a bike, we can't learn to follow Jesus by reading only. We must do it to get better at it. Our last Marketplace Mission Trip for 2020 begins Sunday. Learn more and sign up at www.MarketplaceMissionTrip.com

We spoke in the previous episode (Episode 266) about being intentional, or purposeful in how we live. Paul goes on to use a sharp word as the opposite of living with intention: foolishness. If we blow our life, living for ourself instead of being careful, and intentional in how we walk, we are foolish. Many people, myself included search for God's will for their life. We want to know if it's God's will that we take a particular job. 

Paul says we can avoid being foolish by understanding God's will. Have you ever struggled with that question? First, why is that important? We know that when something is created, the one who created it had a purpose. There was an intent. You were created for a reason. It sounds a little circular, but some of that reason is to have a relationship with God. He wants us to know him and understand him. Following what we do know is the first part of that purpose. 

Don't forget this is the last week to sign up for the Marketplace Mission Trip. This is a free 2-week exercise to practice living our faith full-time, in our regular daily life and circumstances. There's not cost to try it out. Learn more and sign up at www.MarketplaceMissionTrip.com.

Sometimes we can draw the wrong idea from the choice of words we make. You've seen some of the jokes about how commas are important, like "Let's eat, John." The word careful can be one of those words. To be careful means to be intentional, cautious. Sometimes we hear be careful as a warning to not do something. But in this passage, Paul says we all walk. We should walk with care. Be intentional. 

And the way we exercise intentionality in our walking is that we make the most of our time because the days are evil. The word translated time is the Greek word kairos rather than the word chronos. Chronos means minutes, or time as it passes. Kairos means moments, periods, or eras. When someone says this is our time, that's kairos not chronos. Paul is saying, make the most of your time here on earth. Make the most of your moments. Make the most of your life. 

We make the most of our time, of our life, by living with intention. We all walk. Walking is life. Be careful how we walk means that we live on purpose, with intention. We make the most of our time. We live in a fallen world, but we can maximize our live by being intentional to walk with Jesus. Paul talks about this more in teh verses below. 

One way to make the most of your time is to begin each day with the marketplace missionary prayer. "Here I am Lord." That's the first prayer we talk about on our Marketplace Mission Trip. Have you ever thought about taking a mission trip to your own place of business? Why not join us. We're doing another one next week. You can learn more and sign up at www.MarketplaceMissionTrip.com.

In this weeks episode of the Follower of One podcast, Mike speaks with Felicity Skelton. Felicity is a senior marketing veteran, primarily working in the insurance space, and currently teaches Yoga while also using God as a focal point during the sessions! Please welcome her to the podcast. 

 Episode Breakdown

1:00 - Meet Felicity 

4:10 - How Felicity Found God

7:10 - Certified Holy Yoga Instructor 

8:50 - Felicity's Takeaways on the Market Place Mission Trip

14:10 - Felicity's hope for God within Faith at Work

16:35 - Tips for taking the Marketplace Mission Trip

Community

One of the most important things that Felicity talks about with Mike is the community. Community is a feeling of fellowship, and it so happens to be one of the most important human things we can have with each other. We build each other up, rely on one another, and within the right circumstances - like following Jesus, we bring the best out of everyone in the community. Felicity talks about how even a timid approach to joining the Follower of One community can inspire actions to make a difference each day in our lives. What do you see in your community? Is your community inspiring you to make a difference? Let us know in the comments!

Opportunities are Abundant 

Even in this pandemic, we are pushing through, one door closes, another opens. It is really hard to see these openings under the circumstances but if there is anything we have learned from God, it is that he has the master plan and we need to trust in the process! Felicity talks about how even though she fell on harder times due to the pandemic, because of the Marketplace Mission Trip she was able to take immediate action to make a difference in the other work she was doing. Do you give up on hope after the first difficulty you see? I know we might all be guilty of this but staying headstrong is key to our success in both our faith and work. 

Interview Quote

" I continued to read the emails.. even though I wasn't at the forefront because it was actual, and actionable resources so that I could quickly make a difference" - Felicity 

Connect with Felicity

Felicity'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! 

Do your works show that you believe in Jesus? Or do your actions deny him? Just a few verses before, Paul quotes another famous person who said that people from Crete were always liars and lazy gluttons. And Paul agrees! How would you like it if your pastor started by reminding you that you come from a bad neighborhood?

But then, Paul writes this whole letter to challenge Titus to instruct the people of Crete to be involved in good works. And he says here that people who profess to be Christ-followers deny God by their actions. How do we deny God with our actions? When we act the way everyone else does? Whenever we act like God doesn't exist, or when we act like obeying him is optional, we deny him. Think about it.

So what will you do? Can we honestly ask God to give us an idea of how we deny him so that we can change our behavior today? Mike said he didn't want to deny God. What about us? Can we say that we don't want to deny God? What do we need to change?

Our next Marketplace Mission Trip begins in a week. This is a 2-week exercise to practice living our faith at work. Sign-ups cut off in the evening of October 31, and the first call of the 2-week mission trip is November 1 at 3 PM. Learn more and join us at MarketplaceMissionTrip.com.

What does it mean to be strong? Mike talks about the challenge we have in this passage. One way to be strong is to work out. We do more than is required so that we can build our muscles. We use the way our body heals to take time to tear it down a bit each day so that it will grow back stronger. 

Another way to be strong is to simply choose courage. There are a number of passages in the Old Testament where we hear people or the Lord telling us to be strong and courageous. This is what my dad used to call intestinal fortitude, his key word for "guts." There is a strength that comes from simply choosing. We choose to trust God and to act according to what we believe about him. 

Mike talks about how even the second way to be strong is something we grow. Do you believe your fears or what God tells you? Do you believe God's promises or what our flesh and the media tell us? We can't even believe our own eyes some times. In 2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul says the things that are not seen are eternal. And Jesus told Thomas that we are blessed if we believe without seeing John 20:29. We grow in the Lord by choosing to trust him and acting accordingly. We strengthen our faith by actively trusting God.

So can you be strong in the Lord today? Ask God what you need to do, and then do it. Make the effort to do whatever God puts in your mind. Chances are you'll be a little scared. Mike believes God is calling him into some uncomfortable space. Why shouldn't we expect Jesus to do that with each of us?

One way you can do that is to sign up for the next Marketplace Mission Trip. You will get a little uncomfortable on a Marketplace Mission Trip, that's for sure. Learn more and sign up at MarketplaceMissionTrip.com.

Here's a true and sure statement that you can rest your future and your life on, Christ came into the world to save sinners. And among those, I am the worst. 

Can you imagine Paul saying that? Would you say it? Does your life back it up. Do you spend your time trying to prove that you're the worst of sinners, or do you focus on the fact that Jesus came into this world to save us? Think for a moment about What Christ laid aside. In Philippians 2 we get some prompting. He laid aside his rights and his power as God and came to be a common human, even a baby to a poor family. Consider the sacrifice he made for a minute just to enter our world. 

Then, he put up with us for over 30 years. He let his parents and the Jewish leaders teach him. He submitted to them even to the authorities, the very people who put him to death. His entire effort was either a terrible tragedy or an exquisite plan.

What does your life say about the life of Jesus? Does your life say that you believe it was a divine plan, brilliantly conceived and executed? Or does your life say you think it was a terrible tragedy? I can't have simply been an accident. Either Jesus is who he claimed to be, and this is all part of a magnificent plan, or his life and death was a tremendous failure, and the saddest story of all time. 

If we believe in the divine plan, let's live accordingly. Check out the Marketplace Mission Trip. This is our 2-week boot-camp to practice living like we know Jesus' life and death was part of a divine plan. Let's remember we're just as bad a sinner as the worst of them, but then we can live in the freedom and responsibility purchased for us by the Son of God. Check out MarketplaceMissionTrip.com to learn more and sign up.