Overcome Fears Holding You Back: Realize Your Full Potential
You are a special creation with a unique gift to share. Don’t allow fears to hold you back:
We live in a consumer-driven society, and it’s very easy for us to see the church as something that serves us. We already have our hardware store, our grocery store or maybe a farmer’s market, an appliance store, a place we buy clothes. We decide what we might need and go looking for that. Unfortunately, we approach a church exactly like that.
I’m going to turn that on its head because I firmly believe that every Christian should have a ministry. God speaks of us as a holy nation, a royal priesthood for his own possession. Yes, we should attend a church that has a great doctrinal stance, but its a place we can reach out to others.
Romans 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,
Did you notice that God doesn’t want us to get proud or self-centered? Instead, he wants us to focus on what we can give to the body.He gave every believer a spiritual gift and God wants us to use that right where we are. We are an essential part of the church body as a whole. We aren’t the whole body, but if we don’t function, the body would be handicapped, just like you’d be if you lost an eye or a foot. Your gift is essential and brings a needed skill to the body of Christ that only you can give. What a great prescription for emotional health. Valuable but not the most important!
Cynthia Cavanaugh wrote Unlocked: 5 Myths Holding Your Influence Captive. She’s going to share how we can find our ministry.
2:00 What are you trying to address in this book?
3:20 How did Rahab manage to lead from a place of uncertainty?
Dr. James Dobson wrote a book called, Parenting isn’t for Cowards. What a true statement. What an incredible feeling to hold your first baby in your arms. It’s a miracle! You examine all the fingers and fingernails. And the sweet little feet. I was a registered nurse and I checked all their reflexes. Such an experience. I had five children and I found it overwhelming each time. But I also felt the weight of reasonability. You know that your choices will profoundly impact the baby’s future.
I took psychology classes as part of my nursing, and it was impossible not to notice how many things get blamed on parents. There’s so much to think about.
I can recall wanting the very best for each baby, but I was taken aback by how different each child was. With my first two children, I said I had opposites, and then as I kept having children, they were different too. How many opposites are there? They have different needs and respond differently to every situation. I was intensely aware that I needed godly guidance. I had a disabled child, and after all the experience I had, I needed the Lord’s help.
Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
What a command! That verse is enough to make you nervous.
Melissa Spoelstra wrote a book called T0tal Family Makeover, and she’s here to share with us.
Prepare for the New Year: Make Your Life Count For God:
Have you ever thought about the end of your life? When you look back over all you’ve done, how will you view your choices? After I married, my husband talked about that a lot. At first, it seemed grim. After all, we were in our twenties. Over time, however, I changed my mind. Psalm 92 says, “Teach us to number our days that we may have a heart of wisdom.” Such good advice!
As we enter a new year, this is a great time to consider our purpose in life. Consider Romans 12:3: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
This verse commands us to have sober judgment, which means to think clearly about ourselves. I find it easy to be self-centered and to feel as if life revolves around me, but that’s not true. In fact, this passage tells us to acknowledge the measure of faith God has given us. If you keep reading Romans 12, you’ll discover Paul moves into spiritual gifts. He describes the church as a body and individuals as members. When you come to Christ, He gives you a spiritual gift. That’s the measure of faith Paul speaks of. When you think correctly, you realize your value in relationship to the rest of the body of Christ. The head needs the hands to do its bidding and feet for movement and balance. The body of Christ doesn’t have useless parts. You have a special gifting for your time that no one else can fill like you can. You aren’t the whole body, but a valuable part of the whole. (What a great recipe for self-esteem: doing God’s will.)
So how do you find your purpose, your gifting? Poppy Smith is my guest. She wrote: Go For It! Make Your Life Count For God. She helps women uncover their gifts and live up to their potential.
3:00 How can we live on purpose?
5:00 How does God prepare us to be used?
7:05 His shaping.
7:40 How can we learn what we are best suited for?
It’s really easy to worry about the future, but Christians know the end of the story. Several years ago on a Saturday morning, my husband slid into the floor and had a grand mal seizure. Wow! What a catastrophic event. In an adult, a seizure is a medical emergency. We suddenly went from normal living to crisis mode. A sense of unreality came over me as I discovered my husband’s illness was very serious. For the first few days, I stood by his bed and watched as doctors tried to treat his complex problem. Ultimately his full recovery took four years, and those years unsettled us all. In the same way, we live in a rapidly changing world. Events come at us so fast. These unbelievable events seemed impossible a few years ago. If anyone disagrees or questions, that person receives a nasty label. Intolerant. Bigot. Hater. I keep reminding myself that I live in America where we are supposed to have freedom of religion and freedom of speech. Many in the church are rattled and frightened. This election season had passed in a similar fashion. Americans are angry because no one listens to them in Washington.
I cannot imagine facing any of this without God. During that time when my husband was ill, the Lord sent me to the book of Daniel while I taught a class. There the Lord revealed that Daniel’s greatest dream was for his people to return to the land with a restored relationship with the father. However, God knew that wouldn’t happen in Daniel’s lifetime, so God allowed Daniel a peek into the future. Daniels greatest longing would come true, but not while he lived.
As Christians, we don’t wield control, but we can be assured that God does. The book of Revelation reveals God’s plan for the future, and we can be confident, regardless of what we see going on. God will accomplish his purpose.
My guest is Dr. Ken J. Burge, Sr. He has written Revelation on Fire a Bible study on the last book of the Bible.
2:15 Not everyone in the church believes like you do about the future. Can you give reasons why hold your position on future things?
5:00 Describe your Bible study method
9:15 Revelation said these things will ‘shortly take place.” That was written over 2000 years ago. What does that phrase mean?
11:00 What does the text mean when it says people will be blessed seven times?
12:00 Can you give reasons why you believe in the rapture of the church?
14:00 Who were the people in chapter 3 who are praising the lamb for redemption?
Learn more about Dr. Burge here. Find his book here.
[tweetthis]Believers shouldn’t fear the future [/tweetthis]
When I was a little girl, I played with several chums in my neighborhood. If one of us did something inappropriate, the mothers talked and meted out punishment. In school, I recall hearing the Bible read. Everyone understood they should work hard in school and treat others with kindness. We shared a consensus on right and wrong.
Our country changed.
I saw billboards that said, “God is Dead.”
I recall a political campaign a number of years ago. The press kept saying character doesn’t matter.
Then there was: What is the meaning of the word ‘is’?
The new atheists today ridicule Christians. Believing in God is equivalent to believing in the Easter bunny.
I’m saddened when I see Christians portrayed with disdain and disgust on movies and the media.
Freedom of speech is not subject to Political correctness.
The Bible says, “Be ready to give an answer to anyone who asked the reason for the hope within you.”
Leslie Williams is my guest. She’s going to talk about living with wisdom and savvy in a crazy world anything goes. When Anything Goes is the name of her newest book.
1:55 What is post-Christian?
3:30 The difference between those who wear the label ‘Christian’ and those who are.
5:00 What is faith?
6:25 What is the god of the gaps?
9:05 How can we live as a Christian, and why is that still a good choice?
13:20 Are we addicted to meaning? What do you mean by that statement?
[tweetthis]Faith in Jesus isn’t a leap in the dark[/tweetthis]
In the OT, the tabernacle was the place where God dwelt with man. The Lord gave very specific instructions about the way his house was to be built and decorated. Later, the Israelites built the temple Solomon’s temple and then Herod’s temple.Today, however, the Bible teaches that our bodies are the temple of God. The place we meet is just a building. Notice the wording in I Corinthians:
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. This addresses immorality, but most scholars have used this verse to say we should take care of our bodies since the Holy Spirit dwells in us.
Abusing out body isn’t appropriate either. Note the Apostle’s words in Colossians: “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
On the other hand, we have Epaphroditus, who nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me. (Philippians 2) This verse confuses us because the Apostle Paul commends his friend for his commitment and service to the Lord. Does that mean we can overlook caring for ourselves in order to minister to someone? If that is true, many of us should and will ignore our physical health in order to serve God.
Practical Help:
So, what level of self-care is acceptable? Sue Badeau will guide us on this topic. She’s the mother of twenty-two children, and she knows about how to care for yourself. You may learn more about Sue here.
