Have you ever felt insignificant? Almost like you weren’t good at anything and that all you were doing was just taking up space?

Been there. Done that. Bought that t-shirt and sold it on e-bay (as one of my favorite pastors would always say).

God has blessed us with uniqueness. In Jeremiah, God says that He knew us while we were still in our mother’s womb. Here is a God who has knit us together, knows the hairs on our head, and has equipped us with so much. . . and we don’t even realize it.

Or if we do realize it, we don’t acknowledge it because “it’s not that great.”

Gifts

God has given each of us gifts according to our abilities. What we do with those gifts is up to us. Some of us would not use our abilities, but would rather toss them aside and think nothing of them.

Romans 12:6-8 says…

“We all have different gifts, each of which came because of the grace God gave us. The person who has the gift of prophecy should use that git in agreement with the faith. Anyone who has the gift of serving should serve. Anyone who has the gift of teaching should teach. Whoever has the gift to encourage others should do so. Whoever has the gift of giving to others should give freely. Anyone who has the gift of being a leader should try hard when he leads. Whoever has the gift of showing mercy to others should do so with joy.”

There are various gifts that we can receive and they come by the grace, not by works or other actions, but by the grace that God has given us.

Think of it like this. You have a birthday party and your parents invite all your friends over and they all get you gifts. Your friends have known you for quite a while and they know what you like, what  you are good at, etc., so they get you gifts that will suit your traits. I like working out, so if someone got me some lifting gloves or some dumbbells, it would be senseless of me to toss those things aside. Much in the same way, if God thinks so much of you to endow you with a special gift, you should use it accordingly.

Talents

There’s a story in the first book of the New Testament where Jesus tells a story about three servants…

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. 15 And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. 16 Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17 And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. 18 But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. 19 After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

20 “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ 21 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 22 He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ 23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

24 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

26 “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. 27 So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

29 ‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:14-30, NKJV)

Let’s break this passage down and see what Jesus is saying here. First, there is a master who is rather wealthy and gives his servants talents to manage according to however way they want. 1 talent was $29,085.00, so to the servant he gave 5 talents equalled to $145,425.00. The one he gave two talents to equalled $58,170.00. And the other servant got just the one.

Each received according to his ability.

Time passed and the servants worked the talents that their master had given them, preparing for when their master would return. When the master gets back from his vacation to the Bahamas, he expects to hear good things, which does…for a few minutes.

To the one that had been given 5 talents, he had doubled his masters money to $290,850.00. Money in da’ bank!!

To the one who had been given 2 talents, he, too, had doubled his masters money to $116,340.00. More ca-ching! for the master.

However, to the one who had been given just the one talent, that servant had nothing to show. He went and dug a hole and put the money in the hole. His excuse?

“He knew his master was a hard man.”

This servant actually accuses his master! Talk about guts! He makes this claim against his master so that he will actually excuse his own slothfulness. The Greek word for slothfulness is nothros, which translates into “lazy.” While the other servants were working hard to make sure the master would not be disappointed with them, this guy was around the corner smoking a pack of cigarettes and was checking out new sets of wheels in the latest issue of Jewish Caravan.

The master then gives scenarios that the servant could have at least put the money in the bank and let it draw interest if he wanted to be lazy, but the servant couldn’t even do that. So, the master takes the talent away and gives it to the one who has 10 and casts the servant out into the darkness where the Bible says there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

However, the other servants got to expand their responsibilities (which probably meant a nice pay raise) and “entered into the joy of their lord.”

Our ability

I know that the word “talent” was referring to a sum of money in the above passage, but part of me thinks that the word was coupled with the word “ability” and taking on a different meaning.

He gave talents to the servants according to their ability.

The two faithful servants were made rulers from what they did with their master’s money. Imagine what God would do for us if were “faithful over a few things.”

Use the talent you have been given for the kingdom of heaven. No digging is necessary for this task.

-§c

John doesn’t give us the Last Supper/institution of the Lord’s Supper but he does give us the “rest of the story.” It was not uncommon in their day to enter a home for a meal and expect to have your feet washed by someone in the lowest position, usually a slave. The point was, doing that was for someone of a lower status. To take it upon yourself would be like going into a 5 star restaurant today, asking the waiter to sit in your seat, which tables he is serving and then pay for his meal while handling his tables. We just don’t typically think like that. In reading John 13 you wonder if the question on the minds of the disciples upon entering the upper room was “who is going to lower himself and do the feet washing here?” (Not an intended parallel by John as John doesn’t even mention the upper room but still kind of ironic). They all came to the same unspoken and yet very real conclusion, “Not me!” Jesus was going to show them something about who he was that would point them one step closer to what the cross itself was all about.

It was not unusual for the disciples to jokey for honor and position. They had once argued over who was the greatest when the greatest was in their midst. Now they get their feet washed by a king. His foot washing was the outward expression of the inward feelings we learned about a few verses earlier, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” Jesus took on the role of a servant and washed all 24 feet in the room. 4 of those feet belonged to people who would either betray or deny him in just a matter of hours but he washed those too. Jesus was not in this to bring honor to himself or to uphold a lofty position in this world. He knew true honor came from being a servant.

In the last verses of the foot washing story Jesus leaves them with a warning and a blessing.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” – John 13:12-17

If you flip that around Jesus is saying, if you refuse to do this for others you are claiming to be greater than I am. No one would be willing to say such a thing but if we refuse humility that is exactly our prideful declaration to the world. So the implication is we better let the foot washing commence! Obviously we don’t need to have our feet washed today like those did who walked dirty roads in sandals. But the concept is paralleled in other ways today. In what ways should we lower ourselves to meet the needs of others? How do we see people in a way that is devoid of status, power, prestige, and all the other things that blind us to what is really important and valuable about another person?

Does Jesus really want us to wash feet? In a way he does. He wants us to live out parallel acts, in whatever form necessary, that lower ourselves and recognize the worth of those around us. Notice the last thing he says in verse 17. Blessings will result. I cannot remember a single time I have served another person that I wish I had stayed home. Service results in blessing. How have you seen Christians humble themselves through acts of loving service?

Many congregations have a thriving women’s ministry but often the men go unattended. I would like to share a few thoughts about this area but I first wanted to ask you what is your experience in church with reaching out to men. A few questions:

1. What have you seen work?
2. What have you seen fail?
3. Which subjects are most relevant to the men in any given congregation?
4. How have you seen leaders intentionally developed in a congregation?
5. What have you seen done to effectively outreach to men in the community?
6. What questions should I have included that you would like to see answered by those reading this?

Workshop tools are basic equipping every workshop. Both owners of professional workshops and DIY enthusiasts are using them. A lot such tools are often found in private flats where serve for carrying different jobs out. Workshop tools being in professional and industrial workshops in the full assortment guarantee a wide range of services for recipients. Amongst tools of this type workshop manual, air tools are being singled out with accessories, electric with accessories and abrasive and intended for processing tools. Tools are produced by reputed domestic and foreign producers. They are made from best under the quality reason of material chromic-vanadium steel is which. Thanks to that they have the best quality and they can be used by the long term. Screwdrivers of different kind, pliers, a pair of pliers, handsaws, blades, files, sets of keys belong to essential tools appearing in every workshop, dynamometrical. The workshop cannot do handmade tools without in the form of instruments, the pincers, chisels, crosscut chisels, vices, bearing ribbings, crowbars, pickaxes.  There tools are also different with the help of which a machining is possible. Many equipped workshops are into pneumatic tools, so as guns of the painting, compressors, compressors. In their equipment different power tools which enable the machining, the grinding, rolling, the drilling, carving have bigger workshops millings. Milling machines, grinders are being ranked among electrical appliances of this type, turner’s, planers, drills, fretsaws and a lot of different. Workshop tools are a different kind measuring, so as tapes, levels, levels, laser rangefinders, probes, testing machines.

So many of us want to pray or read the Bible more often but it feels like another obligation alongside a list of other obligations in our lives. But the spiritual disciplines are not meant to be an end in themselves but a way to open us up to God for the purpose of the mission he has for us.

No one needs to tell Kobe Bryant of the world champion Los Angeles Lakers that he needs to exercise. While it us true, he needs exercise like the rest of us, he would not even be able to function on the basketball court without being in shape. He cannot afford to sit around putting down double-doubles at In-n-out and not exercising if he wants to win another NBA championship. The mission of winning a championship will necessitate him being in shape. Exercise is something he will do because of what he is trying to accomplish. Exercise is not the end but for Kobe a means to an end.

Spiritual disciplines are a means to an end. How would a verse like, “pray without ceasing”(I Thess. 5:17) make any sense if prayer was the goal? To accomplish that as an end in a of itself we would have to quit our jobs and leave everything so we could pray. Unless Paul is talking about praying while we are living our lives. We are to depend on God through prayer while we are living our ordinary lives.

I believe so many of us struggle spending time with the Lord in prayer or reading his Word because we don’t put ourselves in situations where we need it. Most of our lives are just fine without God or at least that is what we perceive. How much of our life really requires God to be a part of it otherwise it would fail? I know how much the Bible says but practically how much of your life would just go on like it is just fine without God. Most of us in the church are not on a mission that requires that kind of dependence on God.

God calls us to be a people that LIVE by faith. When you are living by faith spending time with God and practicing spiritual disciplines is a necessity not an option. The disciplines put us in a place where we can be fueled by God for the mission. Without making ourselves available to God through the disciplines our life of faith would fail. Unless of course, we are not people of faith, then the spiritual disciplines are something I must do out of obligation.

What are you doing today that requires faith? What are you doing today, this week, that without God showing up would fail?

“…man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 8:3

“The FresHope Place” Women’s Center

www.freshope.org

130 North Florida Avenue

Inverness, Fl. 34453

352) 419-4871

Tim Smith announces Re:Sound’s new podcast. It looks like a great resource for anyone planning and leading gathered worship.

New Free Podcast

When we launched Re:Sound last spring I had in mind a larger audience and more polished recording projects. However, at Mars Hill Church we have been giving away free downloads of live music from our worship gatherings for years. As a way to share more of what God is doing among the musicians of Mars Hill, we are launching a new podcast.

The Mars Hill Church: Worship podcast will highlight worship leaders and songwriters from across the church as well as brief insights into the theology of worship and why we respond to God the way we do at Mars Hill Church. There will also be new songs with every installment. Join me for the first episode, which includes an interview and new song from Cam Huxford of Mars Hill Downtown Seattle and another song from my band Ex Nihilo.

Download and Subscribe

Download the Mars Hill: Worship podcast here and subscribe to the feed to get all future content. I hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think on Twitter at twitter.com/pastortimsmith.

You can also subscribe to the Mars Hill Worship podcast on iTunes.

TODAY’S VERSE
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”
II Timothy 3:16-17

TODAY’S THOUGHT
How often do we pray for direction? How many times do we just long to hear God’s voice? How many times a week do we cry out for wisdom? The good news is that God has created a way to speak to us, give us wisdom and guide us. It is through His written word, the Bible. Paul was telling Timothy how important the Bible was. He shared that the Bible is inspired by God for the purpose of teaching us, convicting us, correcting us and equipping us for His service. There is no other source that God uses to communicate to us more effectively. Through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit, God is able to speak to us in a personal and intimate way. It is easy to get busy and a day goes by, then two, pretty soon a week, then a month. Before you know it, you are not spending any time getting to know God or His word. We were not meant to live life without the word of God. It is like going through life with a hole in your heart. Instead, let God fill the emptiness. Get a Bible today and put it near your favorite chair. And then each day start spending a few minutes letting God teach you. He will. He longs to fellowship with you and teach you His word, but you have to make the first move. Why not start today?

TODAY’S PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for the Bible. I know that it was written to give me wisdom and guidance. Help me to read it, learn it and use it in my everyday experience. Teach me Father to love Your word that I might live for You.
AMEN

______________________________________________________________

CLICK HERE to send this to a friend

 CLICK HERE to go to our BLOG Walking the Talk, and find out ways to help others.  

 Do You Know What Your Spiritual Gifts Are?
Now You Can. CLICK HERE to Get your FREE Spiritual GIfts Test and Workbook  

Do you want to know how to be a Child of God? CLICK HERE to find out how

The audio and video for Lead09 is being uploaded this week, here. God is advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ through his Church, scattered throughout New England!

Lead ‘09 begins today! And I can’t wait for the first session to start!

Together, men and women from Maine, New England and beyond will be exploring the themes of Gospel, Community and Mission.   This two-day conference is a call to each of us and our churches to take Jesus seriously–to radically reshape our lives around the gospel word so that we can truly be his gospel community on God’s mission.

Please pray that God will use this conference to exalt Jesus in the lives of all who attend and in the churches they represent. May God bring a great awakening of gospel renewal in New England!

Here’s Friday’s schedule…

Friday – October 9

* 12:30 : Welcome

* 12:40 : Gathered Worship

* 01:00 : Tim Chester – Session #1 Making God’s people the heart of God’s mission – Is our gospel too small? Too individualistic? The Bible’s story of salvation puts community at the heart of God’s mission. The church is part of our identity as Christians.

* 03:00 : Tim Chester -  Session #2 Community as lifestyle – How can we live as a community – sharing lives, sharing decisions, sharing struggles?

* 05:00 : Jonathan Dodson. Session #3 What is the Gospel? The Three Dimensions – this will be a biblical-theological examination of the Doctrinal, Personal, & Social dimensions of the Gospel.

* 06:30 : Dinner

* 08:00 : Breakout Sessions –

1. Too Busy for Mission?: Tim Chester
2. Becoming a Missional Leader: Jonathan Dodson
3. Gospel, Community, Mission & Orphan? Bill Legere
   
4. The Shift: Our experience in re-churching the church: Mark Gedicks

Here’s the full schedule. Hope to see you there!

Let’s look at how these insights play a part in the bigger picture. The more we understand the better we can be at coming up with good solutions that “break through” as opposed to just offering band-aids.

“People don’t know where to look to find the answers they need… and many times don’t know who to talk to.  We, as people, need tangible tools to be proactive… to make healthy and responsible decisions…”

This can go for any struggle we have… health, housing, food, relationships, job, family issues, addictions, etc.

Say you’ve lost a job. Where do you turn? What do you do? How long has it been since you’ve done the job search process? Do you locate the newest newspaper and consult the local help wanted section? Is your resume in order? Do you have a resume? Do you know how to write a resume? Do you even know what you want to do? Are you in survival mode?

I could go on with these questions… there are a slew to ask.  Many of you may know that now-a-days looking for a job is so much more than looking in the help wanted section, searching Craigslist, or scouting the neighborhood for signs in the windows. It’s about “creating your brand”. What do you have to offer… what are you bringing to the table… what is your expertise? How do you present yourself in person, on paper, on the internet, through business cards/stationary? Touch, smell, sight, and sound.

Let me ask you this… how would you know that you needed to create a “brand” – the brand known as you, if you were never introduced to the concept? Where would you go to hear about it… where would you be introduced to such a concept? It’s becoming more main stream… but, I didn’t hear about it until I started actively participating in a job networking group. I wouldn’t have known. Sure, the networking group was readily available… but, if someone doesn’t know it exists, how would they know that’s where they’ll learn this?

Let’s also take into consideration people who may be starting from scratch. There are many people trying to figure out how to summarize their entire work history on a couple pieces of paper. Who may not know the language to use, what’s most important to include, they may not have much to include or it’s all over the place – what do you do with that?

There are people who may have never used the internet (or may not have access to a computer). If they have access, they may not be equipped on how to use it for locating a job, and certainly may not have any inclination of what Linked In is.

What about the people who need just to have a job, and have taken any job to survive to put food on the table and clothes on their backs. Or, the people that don’t have a work history, what do they do?

One of the things that gets people in trouble when it comes to evangelism is trying to subert people rather than convert them. The word subvert comes from a combination of the words sub – from beneath and the Latin vertere – to turn. The word convert is similar but rather than turning from beneath it is to turn with. This is an important distinction. We are here to walk alongside people and not just undermine their current belief system and leave them out to dry. In every single conversion story in  the Bible you have someone who was willing to walk alongside someone to show them a better way. Even Paul’s conversion had Jesus doing that, although in quite a different way from the rest of the conversions in Acts.

If more Christians would engaged in conversion – to turn with someone rather than merely upset someone’s belief applecart we would have much more success in carrying out Christ’s mission. Too often we get caught up in the trap of proving ourselves right and them wrong, which only results in turning against someone rather than turning with them.

How do you turn with someone? Here are a couple of ideas. I would love to hear what ideas you have as well:

1. Listen – people don’t care what you have to say if you don’t care what they have to say.
2. Understand – Don’t just listen as in “uh huh, uh huh…well, I think that you are wrong because…” That doesn’t show them you have even attempted to understand what they are saying. Listening is more than appearances. We listen because they are valuable and because we want to understand where they are coming from so we can best help them get where they need to go. Andy Stanley told a story about a guy he sat next to on a plane who was trying to convert him. Don’t you think if the guy would have listen and tries to learn a little about who Andy was there would be no way he would have tried that! Clearly he didn’t care what Andy had to say.
3. Don’t expect them to get it down perfect. Walking with someone is through ups and downs…they may disappoint you but we still walk alongside them and help them through their difficulties.
4. Win the soul, not the battle. Speaks for itself.
5. Discuss, don’t argue. Arguing builds walls, discussion tears them down.
6. Have empathy toward any bitter feelings toward Christianity or God. They have their own story of why they feel that way. Instead of letting it slap you in the face personally let them know you can understand how they might feel that way and work with it rather than let it build walls.
7. Be in prayer for them.
8. Don’t topple their belief system and leave them out to dry…show how God fills the gaps so they have a fuller understanding of God rather than a belief system shot full of holes with no way to mend them.
9. Be the first to admit your own weaknesses and shortcomings. If people think you think you are perfect – door closed.
10. If you stumble in front of them, model how a Christian makes things right again both with God and others.
11. Have more grace than judgment