We had a sweet performance by the children in Redemption Kids last Sunday, and everyone who was able to attend was blessed by their song, “How Great is Our God.” The kids, ages 2-11, worked on it weeks in advance, and we hope you will enjoy this video of their performance.
Worshiping God in our actions is well known idea amongst Christians. Though, just because it’s a common idea doesn’t mean it’s well understood.
A primary verse for worshiping God in action is Colossians 3:17 where Paul writes:
"Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father."
The answer is straightforward. As described in Hebrews 11:6, it’s "impossible to please God without faith" (Hebrews 11:6a). All faith responds in action, whether it’s song, prayer, etc - yet what we’re looking at now is, what does it look like in the normal actions of life?
Hebrews 11 has many great examples of “heroes of faith” such as Abel, Abraham, Moses, and others. The common thread is that they acted in faith towards who God is and what He told them to do.
I trust that God has spoken to you. In fact, I know He has. If you have sought to hear from God, He promises that He will speak to you. I don’t guarantee that He will open the heavens and speak audibly to you, I don’t even assume that you have “felt” God saying something specific to you. However, God’s Word has many things to say about how God desires us to live. It tells us how He desires us to love others, to encourage others, to flee sin, to repent when we sin, etc. There are many things God has asked us to do, and when we act on these things in faith, we are worshiping God in our actions.
Look at it this way, you can wake up and pray out of duty, or even a good habit, OR you can choose to pray because you have faith that what God has said about prayer is true. That because of your faith in Jesus, God desires to hear from you and desires to be a part of your every moment.
We can give to the church we attend or help out the homeless person on the street, but Hebrews 11 tells us that all of these things are not worshipful to God unless they’re done through the eyes of faith. Faith that believes that God has called us to do something that will have impact because He is working through us.
Now, you can be sure that God will be working through you no matter what. We see God using people throughout the Bible who had no intention of seeking God, or obeying Him. However, although your actions are used by God regardlessly, it has to be your choice to have your actions be based in faith towards God, and therefore, done in worship to Him.
Worship is an internal decision with outward consequences. So the question remains yours to answer: why do you do what you do? Is it because God has told you to and you desire to please Him, or is it because it’s “how you were raised” or “it’s just the right thing to do”? The answer to this question will determine how much of your life is wasted effort and how much is truly worship to God.
It’s a lifetime process, but I hope we can all answer these questions more and more with:
"I do ___________ because of what God has done for me, and what He promises to continue to do."
In Part 1 of this series, we talked about how using mealtimes as an opportunity to encourage someone is something we can all do! In the following post, you can read about several important ways that the Bible helps us view even our meals as opportunities for the gospel and discipleship.
Community is a real need that we all have. Having been made in the image of our triune God, we can see that God designed us to need one another and to meet this need through His people. We were made for community!
Relationships with people do not develop without time and effort. Welcoming a person into our day, listening and sharing experiences—each of these things build on each other to create a friendship. Jesus did not only teach his disciples from messages—he traveled with them, ate with them, and shared experiences with them. Jesus is our perfect example of how we can use every opportunity to demonstrate the love and truth of God.
Building friendship and establishing a sense of community will happen one step at a time. Even if it feels awkward in the beginning, every relationship has this stage of establishing common interests, getting to know the other person better, and finally feeling a sense of community and comfort with one another.
Remember that when we give our time, we show people that we love them. When a person feels loved by you, they will be much more open to allowing you to speak into their lives, and this will open doors for ministry to take place where it may not have before.
Meals force us to be people oriented rather than task oriented. Sitting and eating with one another is an opportunity that we have to be still and have conversation. When we can no longer hide behind a project or busyness, we expose who we are in our conversation. We know that out of the heart, the mouth speaks which allows us to really get to know people through conversation.
God can use our conversations to help demonstrate His heart for people and encourage them. Proverbs 16:24 says, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” So, consider meals as an opportunity to love people with your words. Speak about the goodness of God. Bring up the promises of the Bible. Mention how you are seeing God at work in your own life. We are bombarded constantly with the lies and half-truths the world offers; we need to be hearing the truth of God more!
So, remember to pray beforehand, that God will prepare you to speak His words during your time together! Once you begin to view meals as a way to be used by Jesus, you will be much more intentional about doing it! Look for Part 3 of this series for a few more ways to view mealtimes as opportunities for ministry.
-Pastor Daniel
At Redemption Church, our mission is to Pursue & Proclaim Jesus. We accomplish this through our four main focuses: Sunday Mornings, Community Groups, Leadership Development, and Outreach. Everything we do as a church comes from one of these main sections. We desire to gather together on Sundays to worship and hear the public proclamation of God’s Word, we gather together in Community Groups to encourage, and pray for each other, while also living life together through each other’s joys and struggles. We also desire to specifically build up people in the church who are called lead in larger capacity at Redemption Church by focusing on Leadership Development. Each of these three things are meant to build up and encourage the current Christians that gather together at Redemption Church Delray Beach.
However, God has called us to not only build up each other, but to reach outside our four walls and show the love of Jesus to our local community and all those we come into contact with. We do this through Outreach. Sometimes this means that we host a booth during a city event, other times we run shoe drives, or help the local food kitchen, but it’s not limited to organized group events. Outreach is also a daily activity that every Christian should be engaging in. Paul teaches that we are ambassadors for Christ in our everyday life, and therefore, we never “clock out” of our Christian life (2 Corinthians 5:20).
One way we, as a church, will be equipping ourselves to show the love of Christ to people throughout our day is through our new “Love On Display” cards.
As a Christian, we should be living lives that cause people to ask: “Why?”. People should wonder why we would desire to help them when they can’t pay for their groceries or why we would comfort them when they are obviously having a hard day or why we would go out of our way to help them when their car is on the side of the road. However, sometimes, we can’t always find the words to share why we do what we do, or maybe there’s no time to. We want to help reach out to our community through our actions of love, and we want them to know why.
These cards simply say that Jesus has come to give us life, and life abundantly. The back of the card tells the reader that your act of love towards them was to remind them that Jesus loves them, that He has a great plan for their life, and that He desires them to know HIm. The cards also direct readers to visit "www.redemptiondb.com/love”. This webpage explains the Gospel and invites them to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.
We desire for Delray Beach to be one of the most well loved cities in the world because we are a people who have been saved and redeemed by Jesus, Who first loved us, and we want the people of Delray Beach to have the opportunity to know Him as well.
So please, keep some cards on you and be looking for opportunities to love the people around you. God has prepared good works for you in advance that you might walk in them, so enjoy the supernatural opportunities God provides for you to love people in your very normal, daily situations.
-Pastor Travis
We'd felt a restlessness, a desire for change. So we prayed and sought direction and been frustrated and prayed some more until God pointed us in a new direction. And suddenly it felt like we were pointed in a new direction and then left to drift. We saw what could happen if this new direction didn't work out and it was scary ...And nothing happened. It didn't seem like God was going to come through. Maybe we had heard wrong...
So we waited. And we felt crazy. And we looked unwise. And we were misunderstood, I'm sure.
And we doubted frequently. And we tried to head different directions. And we tried to plan ahead. And we tried to jump off the path God had laid before us. And we tried to "go" in any area we could while still technically waiting…
But God kept saying, "Wait". So each time we tried to abandon ship or turn the rudder in a different direction, within a day or two we had to repent and tie our rudder back down to the course God had set for us. And simply wait...And that was painful.
From our perspective, it looked like God was sending us straight into the rocks and to certain doom. But the more we prayed and tried different things, the more He confirmed the direction He had pointed us in...and the more sure we were that He was saying, "Wait."
We didn't know how it would work out. We needed a miracle. We were scared of waiting and potentially crashing. But we were more afraid of disobeying...
"We don't have to know how it is going work out in order to obey God." Pastor Daniel Williams
So we waited and prayed and waited and prayed and kept working hard at the things God had set before us.
Then, about a month ago, we began to sense God telling us to "go" in one area. But it was an area that seemed to move us toward those looming rocks even faster, instead of steering us away from them.
So we prayed hard. And we talked about it often. And we prayed together and on our own and reminded each other to pray and set a timeline.
Then we began to tell people. Just a few. And we prayed that if this step really was what God wanted that He would allow the authority in our lives to support it.
A week later God opened one door we didn't think was possible, and another that we didn't know existed. It was as if He began to open up a path in the middle of the rocks just big enough for our ship to squeeze through.
And the first thought I had when the opportunities were presented was, "Why did I have so little faith?”
"Why did I doubt God's provision when He said to wait?""Why didn't I jump faster when He said to go and it made no sense?""Why do I struggle to believe God when He's proven Himself over and over?”
I'm so thankful that we obeyed even when it didn't make sense. And although there are more rocks ahead, my faith is stronger and I'm trusting that the path will open when we get there. He's never let us crash before.
And whether God is telling you to "go" or telling you to "wait", and no matter how crazy the direction He's asking you to take…obey.
Because..."Obedience precedes understanding." Pastor Daniel Williams
We didn't understand. And I know we won't understand again in the future...maybe even the very near future, but I'm more afraid of being outside God's will then I am of "crashing" while inside of His will.
We don’t often think about prayer being in worship to God, but that’s because we so easily forget the true meaning of worship which is an “expression of reverence”. Think of it this way: By praying to God, we are telling ourselves, and those around us, that God is Someone we need. Someone we desire. Someone we revere with great honor, and respect.
However, by God’s design, our prayers represent something even greater than the words we speak: they symbolize the aroma of incense around God’s throne.
Psalm 141:2 says: "May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering."
Our prayers represent the incense that was ordained by God to fill the temple and be both a sacrifice to God and also to set the mood for us. The temple is a holy, special place, where there is peace, calm, and God Himself. This is the environment our prayers are meant to create.
When God ordained how the incense would be prepared and taken care of on a daily basis, He said: "There shall be perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.” (Exodus 30:8)
Just as God’s holiness and presence never cease, neither was the incense to end. It was to represent the presence of God to the people.
And similar to incense, we have found this same calling in prayer.
Prayer is to fill our lives as our bodies are now the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). By having prayer fill our lives, we are not simply asking for God’s power to work, but we are filling our lives with the reality of God’s presence just as incense filled the temple.
Our prayers are meant to be ceaseless (1 Thessalonians 5:17), meaning that we are to have prayer be our 1st response to every situation in life - good, and bad. This embodies the entire purpose of God’s plan of redemption for all people: to have a personal, and constant relationship with God Himself.
In the days of the temple, only the priests had the privilege of lighting incense and giving sacrifices. However, now we are all made priests and have the privilege of praying directly to God and enjoying His presence. Even better than extending that privilege to all people, God has also allowed this to be done in all places! We see in Acts that disciples would praise and pray to God in all circumstances and locations - and God would be present.
This doesn’t mean that setting aside a special place or time is not useful. Although God has made Himself available in all places and times, we, as people, aren't well suited to enjoy meaningful prayer in all circumstances. It is wise for us, as people, to set aside the time, and place to pray to God, as well as have prayer be our first response in everyday life. We see this example in Acts when the it says that “They [Christians] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42). “The prayers” refer to the standard daily times of prayer that the Jews had. There is nothing wrong with having time set aside to pray, this discipline is actually of great benefit to us.
So take this privilege of prayer and enjoy it! We get to speak to the God of all creation. The One Who created us, and knows everything about us. The God Who is above everything and yet still cares for us. The God Who not only knows our present, but desires to work in our lives today! Let’s not take this for granted, but enjoy it to the fullest.
For when we pray, we are giving reverence, honor, glory, and worship to God.
Once you have known the love and mercy of Jesus in your life, there is no greater joy than sharing His love with someone. Jesus commands us to go into all the world and make disciples, and nothing brings greater fulfillment than stepping out and helping a person grow in their relationship with Jesus. (Matthew 28:18-20, John 20:21) I want nothing more than to obey my Savior and tell someone else about how much He loves them and what God has already done for them! But have you ever found yourself feeling ill-equipped or maybe you just don’t know where to start when it comes to discipling someone or even sharing Jesus?
When my family came to Florida to start a church, we did not know anyone. We had no team, no church to invite people to, and wanted a way to form relationships and share Jesus with people who so desperately need Him. We had always loved having people over to our house to eat, and we decided to continue using this approach to building relationships and see what God would do through it!
Jesus used meals as an opportunity for ministry throughout His life. Robert Karris said, "In Luke's Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”
Luke 7:34-35 says, “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by all her children.”
God is constantly using the everyday world around us to show us things about who He is. So, it makes sense that Jesus used every opportunity to teach those around Him, including meal times. It is amazing to note the number of times we hear some of the greatest teachings of Jesus come from a time sitting around a dinner table.
The act of inviting someone into our home is becoming more rare as people are busier and connecting more and more through social media and texting rather than face to face. We have had many people tell us that our home was the first “real home” they had been to in years! Tim Chester wrote a book on this subject called “A Meal with Jesus.” “Few acts are more expressive of companionship than the shared meal….someone with whom we share food is likely to be our friend, or well on the way to becoming one.”
It is a reasonable and attainable goal to plan out 1-2 of these meal times each week to connect with someone for the sake of discipleship! In a natural setting, eating a meal is an intimate and comfortable environment for real conversation.
So be encouraged that this is something you can do! Sometimes we may feel like what we are doing is not enough, or we feel at a loss in how we can better pour into someone’s life. This is a great starting point. Just as Jesus used meal times to pour into those around Him, we can begin to look for ordinary opportunities to do the same!
Be blessed,
Pastor Daniel
Recommended Reading: “A Meal with Jesus” by Tim Chester
Listen to a message I taught at Redemption Church on this subject: “Be On Mission with Meals”
“In order for God to do miracles in our lives, we have to be in a place where we need a miracle."Pastor Daniel Williams
We all want to live by faith, but no one wants to feel completely overwhelmed and unsure of how things could possibly work out.
We all want to step out for God and do whatever He asks, but no one wants to obey when God only shows them the first step down a long and scary path.
We all want a miracle, but no one wants to be in the place of desperate need that necessitates a miracle.
We all want to see miracles. But no one wants to be in the place that makes a miracle possible.
Because you can’t have a miracle without the need for one. Because miracles aren’t normal or expected or natural or easy.
So if you are finding yourself in a hard place today, a desperate place, an overwhelmed place, or a seemingly hopeless place, remember...you are in a place where a miracle can happen. And we serve a God of power. We serve a God of miracles.
It won’t be easy. It won’t be normal. It won’t be expected. It won’t be planned. It won’t be on your time schedule. It won’t be in your control. It won’t be the way you thought it would be. But God can work miracles in your hopeless situation.
Sometimes His miracles may look incredibly natural, like using people to help provide for you. Sometimes His miracles may be very intangible, like giving you salvation. Sometimes His miracles may not seem like miracles, like stripping away things you think you need. Sometimes His miracles won’t come when you need them, because the real miracle is happening on the other side of the tragedy.
But I believe in a God of miracles. So let’s not be afraid of the hard places, the scary places, the places where we don’t have control of what happens. But let’s begin to look at those places as opportunities for God to show His power...for Him to do a miracle.
Let's reset our perspectives with the truth that God can show up in the midst of our desperate situations. Let's remind ourselves that He is powerful and that He desires to show Himself strong in our weaknesses. Let's preach the power of the Almighty God to our frightened and anxious hearts remembering that He is a God of miracles.
