A dear loved one has just received terrible news, experienced a sudden loss, a diagnosis, a betrayal – and they turn to you for help. How do you comfort a person in those first critical moments of a crisis? In the previous two episodes, we talked about leaning on your Experience and practicing Empathy to support and comfort your loved one in crisis. Today, we’ll talk about the Equipment you have at your disposal: What resources do you have available to share with your loved one in crisis?

What is this person feeling right now, and how can I comfort them in this difficult moment in their lives? Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person.

How do we help the people closest to us when a sudden crisis arises in their lives? What do you say? What do you do? How can you help a loved one during their first painful moments of a crisis in their lives? Your three main resources for supporting your loved ones in their moment of crisis are going to be your Experience, Empathy, and Equipment. Today, we’ll focus on your Experience.

I want you and me to understand that our status in eternity fundamentally changed when God adopted us into His family! Your identity changed, your name changed, your inheritance & future & rights all changed! Somehow, in some heavenly way, your spiritual birth certificate was updated to show Almighty God as your adopted Father! And in that moment, it was decreed in the courts of heaven that you are now a child of God – an heir of God – and a co-heir with Christ.

I want you to think about prayer with me in a different kind of way today: Prayer is disruptive. Prayer is how we bring Jesus into our world. In a way, it is an arrival of the Spirit of Christ into the moment in which the prayer is taking place. Prayer is disruptive, in the best kinds of ways!

Every mighty movement of God started with a call for His people to pray.  Prayer revives the hearts of God’s people as it prepares our communities for God’s love, grace, and Word to be spread. Prayer-walking involves us personally taking our prayers to the very places where we desire to see God’s Presence manifested and our prayers answered.

More than 75 percent of individuals who come to know Christ have experienced salvation as a result of a direct relationship. Oikos is a Greek word that is found many times in the New Testament that can provide tremendous insight and revelation to our prayers and evangelism. Oikos defines an individual’s primary base of relationships and their relational sphere of influence. This includes one’s family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, and most frequent contacts.

Resurrection is God’s specialty – He brings dead things to life. It's who He is. It's what He does! The Resurrection of Jesus changed everything. It represents THE pivot point of history – everything swivels – everything swings into a new direction when the Living Jesus stands up and walks out of the grave, victorious over death...

We often talk about Jesus in the past tense – maybe because we read about His mortal life on earth in the history of the Bible. But because of the Resurrection, Jesus lives today.  Have you ever considered what that really, logistically means? Jesus is a current, living person. Jesus is a present reality – in the world, and in our lives. Jesus was – yes. But also – Jesus is! And that is because of the Resurrection...

Do you remember the use of the  word "non-essential" from covid times?  Many people in 2020 were informed – by email, or phone, or in-person – that they were considered “non-essential.”

Friends, you and I are not what we do.  Our worth is not rooted in our jobs.  Our value lies in Something far deeper and more eternal than our occupations...