What a weekend! Ok, it was a weekend for sports for us. SEC football is back! Excitement filled the air with each touchdown. The Gators dominated (okay, our defense needs to work a little harder) Ole Miss, by winning 51 to 35. The Tampa Bay Lightning almost clutched the win in game 5 for the Stanley Cup. Who’s ready for Monday night? Hopefully it will be the final night for this NHL season! The Tampa Bay Rays are heading to the playoffs! The Bucs are playing today. Will there be another Tampa Bay Area/Florida team heading to greatness this season? This could be a year of sports celebrations for my home state.
Passion for sports are as evident as the 2020 elections. Yet, do sports or politics define us? Nope. God defines you.
This morning, while listening to my pastor passionately bring God’s word to us, I was reminded that THAT is what we need to be truly passionate about…sharing The Good News.
His focus scriptures were 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12. Brother Brian shared bullet points with us, and although I was listening and soaking up The Son through Pastor Stowe’s preaching, I jotted down some bullet points on my own.
When I glance back at them, it reads like a list on Keys to Living:
- God gives you bold courage.
- Please God, not people.
- Be real.
- Share your heart.
- Work hard.
- Be devout, honest, and faultless.
- Live in a way God would consider worthy.
Please read these verses for yourself. The underlined emphasis is mine:
You yourselves know, dear brothers and sisters, that our visit to you was not a failure. You know how badly we had been treated at Philippi just before we came to you and how much we suffered there. Yet our God gave us the courage to declare his Good News to you boldly, in spite of great opposition. So you can see we were not preaching with any deceit or impure motives or trickery. For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts. Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be your friends just to get your money! As for human praise, we have never sought it from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we certainly had a right to make some demands of you, but instead we were like children among you. Or we were like a mother feeding and caring for her own children. We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God’s Good News but our own lives, too. Don’t you remember, dear brothers and sisters, how hard we worked among you? Night and day we toiled to earn a living so that we would not be a burden to any of you as we preached God’s Good News to you. You yourselves are our witnesses—and so is God—that we were devout and honest and faultless toward all of you believers. And you know that we treated each of you as a father treats his own children. We pleaded with you, encouraged you, and urged you to live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy. For he called you to share in his Kingdom and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12 NLT
Glance back at the bullet points, and here’s my brief insight:
- God gives you courage, bold courage, to share The Good News. Oftentimes we think we don’t know what to say or do to share Jesus with others, but I’m here to tell you…if you ask God to give you courage, words, and actions to share Him with others, He sure will! Remember, you can do anything…THROUGH CHRIST. It’s not on your own strength, but the Lord’s.
- We can get so entangled in life by trying to please others. That can be exhausting and leave you with a sense of dissatisfaction in the end, even may appear happily satisfied for a moment. When you choose to please God alone, you will be filled with an everlasting JOY.
- Being fake and hypocritical is, to me, the one of the worst things a Christian can do. Be REAL! Another thing I’ve learned is that when we do as the scriptures say and put God first in all we do and say (seek Him with all your heart), people will notice a natural and infectious love and joy about you. Be honest. Be real!
- It is tough for us to open up to others. There are personal areas in our lives that we want to keep that way. Just be aware of the Holy Spirit prompting you to share your story when needed. We go through troubles and trials in life so that we can learn from them and be able to share empathy and genuine concern with others when they are going through a similar situation.
- Being a Christian doesn’t mean you have an easy road ahead of you. It actually can be a tough one (remember…you can do all things through Christ!). Sharing the Good News wasn’t all Paul did in Thessalonica. He worked hard as a tent maker so he wouldn’t be a burden to anyone. I want to encourage you to not be lazy, get motivated, work hard, earn a good living.
- Let’s look at some synonyms for being devout, honest, and faultless: sincerely believing, devoted, faithful, passionate, zealous, truthful, trustworthy, genuine, clean, blameless, and exquisite. Aren’t these the qualities we would like for others to see in us? Well, Jesus lived this way, and we should strive to live like Him.
- Live your lives in a way that God would consider worthy… Live a delightful life in Christ.
I’d like to encourage you to go watch and listen to Pastor Brian’s sermon today (he begins around the 29:26 mark of the live recording: https://www.facebook.com/FirstBaptistPlantCity/videos/338955527316630/.
I pray that you will be encouraged and be an encourager to others. Live passionately and real for God. He has called you.
Blessings to you and yours,
Stephanie
(With Tim’s permission, I had to use the above photo. It cracks me up, makes me smile, and reminds me that if we can be this excited about a sports team, we can be more excited about Jesus.)