iWork4Him PowerThought

You know, I'm not a very good listener. I mean to be a good listener, but I get distracted pretty easily. I find that when I'm not being a very good listener to my wife Martha, she gets frustrated. She would like me to be a good listener all the time. And I would like to be a good listener all the time. I am working on it, but it sure doesn't come easy. Do you know why? Cause I like to TALK! Did you know that being a good listener can be a great gift to somebody? Every day, we work alongside people who are hurting. Some of them are lost and hopeless, too. When we ask them how they're doing, one of the greatest gifts we can give them is to listen to their answer. You can give this gift all year long, but start this week by being a good listener at work. Merry Christmas.

One of the greatest gifts we can give others, is to be present with them. Not give them presents, although everybody loves to get gifts, but to be present with them. So often, we're so busy this time of year; We are too busy for conversations. We're too busy to sit down with people. We spend so much time looking for presents for them that we miss the opportunity to be present with them. Jesus taught us to be present with them. That is the gift they need. Take time to sit down over a cup of coffee, hot chocolate, or, in Jim's case, maybe an eggnog. Being present with people could be one of the greatest Christmas gifts they get this year. Find a way to be present with somebody from work this week, and Merry Christmas.

Christmas is an incredibly influential season in our country. People ramp up and get prepared for Christmas months in advance. But when it comes right down to it, and we're cramming through the malls to do our shopping, people aren't always very kind. As a believer in the workplace, can you be exceptionally kind to those you work with? Not everybody is nice this time of year, but we have everything to be excited about as believers. Christmas represents the beginning of God's rescue plan—sending his son to earth. We have everything to be grateful for and have every reason to be kind to those we work alongside. What does kindness look like in your workplace? Sometimes it's just a smile. It may be an encouraging word or some kind of other action. Be kind to those you work with. It says a lot. Merry Christmas!

This Christmas season, we, as believers in the workplace, need to be a gift to the people around us. Today, I want to talk about Love. It's hard to love everybody, but Jesus told us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. So Jesus knew it was hard to love, but He commanded us to do it anyway. Be a gift to those that you work around by loving on them. Some days, it means you might not like them, but if you pray for them, it'll be much easier for you to love them. Christmas is a celebration of an incredible demonstration of love. The least we can do is love those we work alongside. You shouldn't have to work too hard to find someone to love on at work. Merry Christmas.

Jesus said that our unity would attract others to Christ because our unity would show that Jesus came from our heavenly father. In other words, when we walk as one in the marketplace, our neighborhoods, our communities, and our country, the message is loud and clear: Jesus has transformed the lives of all these people, and they walk as one in love. It's so important that we, as workplace believers, display our love for Jesus in unity, to attract others into conversations and, eventually, a relationship with Him. Our unity is attractive. That was Jesus's idea all along. For the remainder of this year, look for ways to walk in unity with your brothers and sisters in Christ to solve your community's problems and bring Jesus-sized solutions to those who need it.

Almost 2000 years have passed since Jesus returned to heaven. In the last 500 years, denominational segregation has plagued the body of Christ. We all go to different churches on Sunday. We live in a town of about 2000 people with 15 different churches and 15 different denominations. Very little ministry is coordinated for the ministry to this small town by the leaders of those churches. There is hope because marketplace and political leaders are unifying in Christ to bring flourishing to this town. When we are unified as followers of Jesus, outside our denominational hold, we can impact our cities and communities for good. When we face the problems together, we are so much stronger and more powerful. When Christ followers unite, no weapon of the enemy can stand against us. Those weapons may be poverty, drug addiction, broken families, et cetera. Let's unite as Jesus followers and bring good to our cities.

Do you know what's great about believers? We all experience God differently. I know this because we're all different. Not one of us is the same. Jim and I got to sit down with some friends here in our small town in Missouri just the other day. We go to different churches on Sunday, yet we share a sweet fellowship in Christ. They shared some of their traditions surrounding the giving and taking of communion. While their traditions are very different than ours, the commonality is the communion. As believers in Jesus let us work hard at focusing on the things we have in common despite the efforts of denominations to split us, and focus on the things that the Bible teaches us clearly. The power of a unified church cannot be overcome. Let's find unity by celebrating the diversity of how others worship Jesus.

What has amazed me most in the last 11 years is the incredible unity in the body of Christ out in the marketplace. On Sunday, we are the most segregated, separated people on the planet. But on Monday morning, when we go to work, nobody cares about Denominations. All they care about is, "I want to hang out with and do business with people who love Jesus. I don't care that you may show your love for Jesus in a different way than I do or sing different songs on Sunday than I do. All I care is that you love Jesus." Jesus prayed for us in John 17. He prayed that we as believers would be one so that through that oneness, the world would know that God sent Jesus. In the marketplace, I see this unity. For the sake of the people in our communities, let's lay down our denominational swords and walk in Unity as we minister to their needs in the name of Jesus.

Have you ever wondered where all of the denominations in Christianity come from? I mean really, 2000 years ago, there were the Jews and the Gentiles. Today, we have 43,000 "Christian" denominations around the world. What happened? I'll tell you what happened. People. Instead of focusing on the unity Christ talked about in John 17, Christ followers throughout the centuries have focused on differences in traditions and interpretations that broke Christianity into 43,000 pieces. On Sunday morning, the church is segregated and separated. But denominations have no place in the marketplace, so it's easy to unify on the message of Jesus. Don't let your denominational commitment on Sunday get in the way of you forming solid relationships with other believers in the marketplace on Monday.

When the internet was created, the goal was the free-flowing of shared information for the good of humanity; what resulted was much more sinister than that. How do you love the Lord your God with all your strength if you spend too much time on the internet looking and experiencing things that sap your strength? That fills you with filth, that plagues you with guilt and shame. Living in this world makes it impossible to Love God to the fullest. The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy; Jesus came to bring life so we can live it to the fullest. Does your internet surfing lead to life or death? Stop Ignoring the dangers of the internet at work and home and put some digital armor in place like a safe internet VPN with Web filters and anti-virus and protect your strength.