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In this episode of the Salty Saints Podcast, Randy and I dive deep into the third commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." We kick off the discussion by exploring various translations of this commandment, noting the differences in wording and what they reveal about its meaning. I share my preference for the King James Version and the New American Standard, which emphasize the idea of "carrying" God's name rather than simply "taking" it. As we unpack the commandment, we highlight a common misconception that it merely prohibits using God's name as a curse word. While that is certainly one aspect, we stress that the commandment encompasses much more. We delve into the Hebrew words used in the commandment, particularly focusing on "nisa," which means to carry or bear, and "shawe," which refers to emptiness or vanity. This leads us to discuss the implications of misrepresenting God's name and how it reflects on our identity as His followers. We also touch on the significance of God's name in the Old Testament, referencing passages that illustrate how His name is tied to His presence and authority. I share insights from Isaiah and the book of Exodus, emphasizing the relational aspect of knowing God's name and how it shapes our actions and thoughts. Throughout the episode, we draw connections between the commandment and broader themes in Scripture, including the importance of representing God well in our actions and the consequences of failing to do so. We discuss how our behavior can either honor or tarnish God's name, affecting how others perceive Him. As we wrap up, we reflect on the idea that bearing God's name is intrinsically linked to being His image bearers. We encourage listeners to consider how they can better represent God in their daily lives, emphasizing that knowing Him personally is key to living out this commandment authentically. Join us for this thought-provoking conversation as we explore the depth of the third commandment and its relevance in our lives today. Don't forget to check out our website, SaltySaintsPodcast.com, and explore other great podcasts at Life Audio. Until next time, stay salty! Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Today's Bible Verse: " David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied." 1 Samuel 17:45 Want to listen without ads? Become a BibleStudyTools.com PLUS Member today: https://www.biblestudytools.com/subscribe/ MEET OUR HOSTS at https://www.lifeaudio.com/your-daily-bible-verse/ Full Transcript Below: Hello, thank you for listening to your daily bible verse, the podcast that examines one verse each day to learn more about God and His will for us. I'm your host Grace fox, and I am so glad you're here. I'm also excited to tell you about my new book Names of God living unafraid. If you've ever struggled with fear, then you will want to explore these seven names of God. They help us understand his character better, and by doing so help us rise above fear. The books available wherever Christian books are sold, I invite you to visit my website and subscribe to my updates to receive a printable of prayers based on the seven names in the book. You'll find me at Gracefox.com. And now, after this short word from our sponsor, we'll dive into today's Bible verse, 1 Samuel 17:45.  Today's Bible verse is 1 Samuel 17:45. "David said to the Philistine, you come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied."  I love watching movies or reading stories where the main character faces a challenge that seems insurmountable and wins. It does my heart good to see the little guy defeat the giant. Maybe that's why I enjoy the Bible story of David and Goliath so much. The little guy in this story was only a teenager, the youngest brother relegated to the despicable task of caring for his father's clocks. One day at his father's bidding, he took food to his brothers who were soldiers in Israel's army. That's when he witnessed a nine foot tall giant in the enemy army, intimidate his brothers and the others fighting in the same forces. The Goliath giant strutted towards the troops and hurled insults and threats, and the entire army ran away in fear. He did this twice a day for 40 days. But things changed when David showed up. Humanly speaking, David didn't stand a chance against Goliath. Like I said a moment ago the giant tower and more than nine feet tall. He was also fully armored. 1 Samuel 17:5-7 says "he wore a bronze helmet and his bronze coat of male weighed 125 pounds. He also wore bronze leg armor and he carried a bronze Javelin on his shoulder. The shaft of his spear was as heavy and thick as a weaver's beam, tipped with an iron spearhead that weighed 15 pounds. His armor bearer walked ahead of him carrying a shield."  This guy seemed impenetrable. It's no wonder he intimidated the Israelite army. Unlike Goliath, whose bronze jacket probably weighed as much or more than David. The teenager wore no battle protection whatsoever. No helmet, no leg coverings no coat to cover his body. David carried no javelin and he certainly had no armor bearer walking ahead of him carrying a protective shield. from a human perspective. His defeat was a guarantee. But here's the thing. David face the giant with no fear. He not only stood his ground, he ran towards a giant in strength and courage because he had a weapon more powerful than a bronze javelin and body armor. He entered the battle in the power of the name of the Lord Almighty. The name Lord Almighty is translated from the compound Hebrew name. Yahweh Saba Oat. Yawei refers to the Lord creator and King over heaven and earth, who desires relationship with us. Saba means host or armies and implies the amassing of forces, sometimes within a military context. As I did research for my new book Names of God living unafraid, I found that scripture suggests three possible applications for this name. First, God is Commander in Chief of the armies of man second And he is Chief over angelic beings both good and evil. And third, he is supreme over all the heavenly hosts, sun, moon stars and planets. Theologians agree on these applications and they also agree that we needn't choose one over the other because God is God. Over all. Different Bible versions translate the name Yahweh Sabaoh in different ways. The New International Version says Lord Almighty, the New Living Translation says the Lord of Heaven's armies. The New American Standard, says, The Lord of Armies and the English Standard Version says the Lord of hosts, regardless of the translation, your way Saba Oh tells us that God is invincible in battle. He is Commander in Chief and nothing stands in his way. Nothing stops him from accomplishing His purposes. David understood this aspect of God's character. And this understanding was the weapon with which David faced the giant. We face giants to don't we not the nine foot tall type, but giants concerning our health or the health of a loved one. We face the giant of addictions, a prodigal child, a difficult marriage, a financial setback or disappointment over a detour on which life has taken us. The Giants we face don't look like Goliath, but they cast a shadow of fear across our way.  We feel outsized, and fear says we're out done. Our human bent was to turn around and run. But there's hope, my friend, when fear of uncertainty or failure or inadequacy looms before us and Tom says, Let's not let it intimidate us into running the other way. Instead, let's remember who God is. The Lord Almighty the Lord of hosts, the Lord of Heaven's Armies, Commander in Chief for whom nothing is impossible. He's invincible in battle, and he is on our side, giving us the courage and strength we need to face our giants. I love that God's given us stories about characters like David stories about little guys who faced giants and won because they trusted the Lord Almighty, and refused to succumb to fear. I also love that God gave us the ultimate example of his power to overcome giants, through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus. My friend, the power of Yahweh Saba Oat, the Lord Almighty, raised Jesus from the dead. In doing so he conquered mankind's worst enemy once and for all, who plays faith in Jesus for salvation. This is the power of Yahweh said I thought, and this is the power at your disposal.   The apostle Paul wrote about it in his letter to the believers in Ephesus. We find his words in Ephesians 1:19-20, where he wrote, "I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms."  We might feel like the little guy when we face our giant, whatever he looks like, fear might make our heart quake and our knees knock. But like David, let's remember that we don't fight our battles in human strength or wisdom. We fight in the name of Yahweh the Lord Almighty, the Lord of the heavens armies, and he is invincible.  May I pray for you? Heavenly Father, thank You for manifesting your character to us through your Hebrew names. Thank you for revealing yourself as the Lord of Heaven's army's commander in chief for whom nothing is impossible. When we feel afraid, remind us of this aspect of your nature and help us walk in its truth. As Paul prayed, help us understand the incredible greatness of your power for us who believe you In Jesus mighty name, amen. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break. Welcome to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry, Sr. and our mission at Follower of One is to help every marketplace Christian see themselves as a full-time minister, as someone who's available to serve the people around them. We're currently going through Galatians 6 and we're on verses 5 and 6 today. I'm reading from the New American Standard. "For each one will bear his own load. The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him." I purposely put these two verses together. In your translation, I would be willing to bet there's a paragraph break in between verses 5 and 6, that 6 begins a new paragraph. But I'm not sure that it does. I wonder if Paul wasn't continuing his thought. The thought was, we begin 1 and 2 by bearing other's burdens. And then three, four, and five are about us not being prideful or arrogant about that, but being humble, not boasting in regard to anyone, but what we do ourselves. We can't compare ourselves to anyone else. And then five and six, I think tie together because Paul's reminding us that we are all taught. We are all students. We are all learning our faith and learning how to grow it and learning how to deliver it into the world. And then each one of us has to learn individually. This is not a contradiction about bearing one another's burdens in verse two. We bear our own load when it comes to how we learn the faith and how we live it out in the world. That's up to us. Much of what we learn though comes from others. And therefore, we should share all good things with the one who teaches us. Often, I learn some great lessons from people that I don't like or from people who are not believers. I've learned much about how to live my faith on a daily basis from challenging work environments. I was taught much by many people simply because I was looking and searching. I was also taught by pastors. I've sat at the feet of pastors. I've been in church for my entire career as a follower of Jesus. I'm regularly in a church on Sunday. And that's because we have to be taught the word of Christ. We don't get to learn this on our own. Our job is to be a learner, to follow Jesus, and to be open to input from other people. This is a command I believe to humility. To remembering that we didn't invent our faith and that we didn't just get it from God like Moses, we got it through the holy spirit, but through friends and people that were around or people that we're listening to. And so, the challenge for us today, I believe is to be humble. To remember that what we know about the faith and where we are in our spiritual walk, it all came to us from other people. Therefore, we should share all good things with the one who teaches us. Let's be humble today. Let's go into our workplace with an attitude of being a learner. God can teach us much through the people that we interact with, whether they're believers or not. And then we have a humble spirit, we will learn more and we will grow more. And Jesus will use us more. This humility, I think is part of us bearing our own load. You have a ministry in your workplace. Your ministry is how your faith becomes visible to every person that you interact with every day. We bear our own load and therefore we're in a position to share with others when we are taught. Let's be humble along those lines. Today, I want to challenge us. I can always hear another story or a lesson on humility. There's always more humility for me. And I expect there is for you. Let's ask God to show us where we can be humble, where we can be taught, what we can learn in our environments today. Let's be sharers, so that we make a difference, and our faith makes a difference in our daily life. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for remembering that every action you take because you follow Jesus Christ matters. And how we show up in the lives of the people that we interact with daily, that matters too. Thanks very much for being a minister and for making a difference in your workplace.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break. Welcome back to the Follower of one podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry. Thanks for joining us again today. We're in part two of Honest Self Evaluation from Galatians 6:3-5. And today I'd like to read that passage in the Christian Standard Bible. “For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load." Yesterday. I read this from the New American Standard, and you can tell there are differences in translation. We talked a little bit about not comparing ourselves to others or not thinking that we are something when we're nothing. So, we have to be careful what we compare ourselves to because in verse four, he says, we need to examine our own work. We need to be objective about how we live and then we can take pride in our self alone, but we can't compare ourselves to other people. Comparison is a trap. Comparison is what we use to make ourselves feel superior to others. Oftentimes I'll use comparison to make myself feel inferior to others. I feel like I don't measure up and I beat myself up about something. Then I always try and find someone who's better off than me to compare myself to. When I want to feel good about myself, then I try and find someone who's not as well off as me. In every case that's a lie. These feelings that we have when we compare ourselves to others, they're false. They're a lie.  It's us and Jesus. There's no one else to compare ourselves to. We're each on our own plan. And that's one of the things that we'd like to talk about here at Follower of One. I want to encourage you: our first daily activity is to pray. We try and remind ourselves about five daily activities on a regular basis. 1) Pray, 2) Appreciate others, 3) Know what you believe, 4) Serve others, and 5) Speak for yourself. Those are the five daily activities. Prayer is first because this is between us and Jesus. How you show up is a mix of who you are, what Jesus has called you to, all of your experiences and all of your history, and the environment that you're in, and the people that you're around. You shouldn't do exactly the same thing as any other believer, most of the time. Most of our time, my prayers will look a little different than yours. My actions will look a little different than yours. My calling and my relationship with the people that I work with will look different than your calling and your relationship and the people that you work with. So, let's not compare ourselves to one another. Rather let's compare ourselves, let's evaluate our relationship to Jesus. Are we doing what he said? If we're doing what he said, then we're examining our own work. We can take pride in what we've done, because we did what Jesus told us to do. Each person will have to carry his own load. I'm not going to win any awards for something someone else did. My job is to listen to Jesus and do what he says. And I'm blessed when I do that, I experienced the peace and the joy of trusting Jesus and walking with him. There've been many years when I really thought I was out in left field. And I might've been. I didn't seem to fit in the church. We've actually talked in our community about how many of us feel underutilized in the church. And it's because our gifting doesn't line up with many of the jobs that the church has for us. And that's, what's so cool about Follower of One. We want to invite you to talk with Jesus and let Jesus put you to work. And this way we will examine our own work, and not compare ourselves with others for each person will carry his own load. Jesus one day will ask you, "what did you do with what I gave you"? Today let's follow Jesus. Today, let's ask him what he would have us do. And then as long as it lines up with scripture and it isn't illegal, then let's try and figure out how to do it. Let's solve for how. Our goal is to make Jesus visible in our world. When we obey him, we start that process. We begin to make that happen. Let's trust Jesus and live like we follow him, and he will put us to work. And I promise you won't feel underutilized. Jesus will put you to work in your workplace and in a big way. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for making a difference with your faith. Everything you do because you follow Jesus matters. So today let Jesus invade your workplace and put you to work.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break. Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry Sr. I'm grateful to have you here today. We've been talking a little bit through Galatians 6, and today we're on verses 3-5: "For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself, but each one must examine his own work, and then he will have a reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load." That's from the New American Standard Bible. I could probably talk about verse three for the entire time today. "If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." This is a definition of me. I feel like I'm often wrong, but seldom in doubt. I often think I'm something, but I have to be reminded regularly by God that I'm nothing. I'm not nothing because he died on the cross for me. But I believe that Paul is making a comparison here. When it comes to saving ourselves - and he will talk about this and the next two verses, and this is how I believe he completes this meaning of this word, "nothing" here. We deceive ourselves when we believe that something we do matters for our own salvation. There's nothing about us that's a good. We do good things because God calls us to, and we make those choices and those are great things. But overall, when it comes to saving ourselves, we're nothing. We're destined to destruction. "If we think ourselves something, when we're not, we deceive ourselves." And the different translations also talk about this. I noticed in the CSB, it says. "If anyone considers himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself."  In the New Living Translation. It says, "If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You're not that important." The Message says, "If you think you're too good for that, you're badly deceived." And the message is a little more discussional, but the point here is our job is to bear one another's burdens. We're not above bearing other people's burdens. And if we think we are above that, we deceive ourselves. "Each one must examine his own work," it says in verse four, "and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone and not in regard to another." Again, the New American Standard is a little forced in the translation here because it tries to get a very accurate translation of each word. I believe what we're being told is we're not better off than the people we need to bear burdens for. Our job is to bear the burdens of others. And we're not better off. Today, let's not think better of ourselves than we ought to. Let's not deceive ourselves. I want to stop right here because there's much to be talked about with regard to this word boasting and how each one of us will bear our own load. So, we'll pick that up in the next episode. Today, let's remember, what we think of ourselves doesn't matter necessarily. We don't want to deceive ourselves. We want to think accurately and examine our own work objectively, not compare ourselves to others. Our job is to look out for the people around us, to look for opportunities to bear other people's burdens and not think of ourselves as above or better than that situation. Today in your workplace, I'm praying that you find an opportunity where you can bear someone else's burdens, where you can learn more about them and be in a position to help them. Let's pay attention to the people around us so that we can make a difference in their life. We can have the opportunity to bear their burdens today. Let's not think ourselves something when we are nothing.  Today let's trust Jesus and do what he says. Thanks for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for listening to this podcast. Please share this with one friend today, or if you didn't think this was that great of an episode, let us know what you think. Tell us what you would like us to talk about. I'll be going through Galatians 6 for a few more days. Thanks very much for your ministry.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break. Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry senior. And today I want to talk about Galatians 6:1-2. I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "Brothers. If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself. Lest you are too. Be tempted, bear one another's burdens. And so, fulfill the law of Christ." This book and this verse, this passage, verses one and two of chapter six are aimed at believers. The "brothers" comment there translated in the CSB as "brothers and sisters,” in the New American Standard, it's translated as "brethren." It's basically saying "you who are believers in Jesus, you're our brothers and sisters. And then it says, "if anyone is caught in any transgression." When I was first taught this verse, my initial understanding, I'm not sure it was even the fault of the teachers, but my initial understanding was "if anyone" referred to those brothers, in other words, this passage applied to Christians interacting between Christians. Now studying the verse, a little more and praying about this, and I still may be wrong. I believe that "anyone" here, "brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression," I believe that anyone means anyone. I believe it's very general and it's not limited to just other believers. In other words, "brothers, if any brother is caught in any transgression," would be different than "brothers if anyone is caught in any transgression." I believe this is a command to us as believers to be peacemakers in the world, to be those who build one another up and who bear one another's burdens. We're challenged in this passage that for anyone who falls short, who has an error, "who's caught in any trespass," one translation says. Another one says, "is caught in any sin" or "is overtaken in any wrongdoing." Anybody screws up, we who are spiritual should restore that person in a spirit of gentleness. What does that mean? Well, it doesn't mean that we hold a grudge. Often in our workplaces, we keep score. We keep track of how other people have dropped the ball or how someone failed in the past. Here I believe he's challenging us to create restoration, to help put things back. To help things get back to being right. Not just being to where the damage is controlled but being as right as it can be. And we want to restore that person in a spirit of gentleness, which means that we don't do this complaining or sighing, which I'm famous for having done.  I would make faces or go, "Oh, whatever!" I don't think that was biblical. I don't think that was in accordance with this passage.  I need to have a spirit of gentleness. I want to bring a spirit of gentleness to the situation because I might be tempted. Now, I don't know exactly what temptation he's talking about here, but some of the temptations that I faced where I would be tempted to think better of myself than the other person, or I would be tempted to think that I was immune from the kind of mistake that they made. I want to challenge us. If anyone drops the ball, comes up short, fails in their work, let's be the people who restore that person with a spirit of gentleness. Let's keep watch over the others around us and ourselves so that we're not tempted to think better of ourselves. Today our challenge: watch for people around you. When people fumble or drop the ball, don't let them beat themselves up. Help restore them in a spirit of gentleness. This is what we try and do. We encourage one another through our online community, at Follower of One. And I want to encourage you with this podcast. These commands that were given all throughout scripture to be difference makers in our workplaces, these commands apply to every one of us. This is not just for the super spiritual. This is a choice that we can all make every day in our job to bring a spirit of gentleness and to look for people to restore. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people around you. Join us as we work to get better at this in the online community, https://community.followerofone.org. You can join us there and take part in the next Marketplace Mission Trip, where we practice these things on a daily basis. Thanks very much.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break. Hey, it's Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Welcome back to our podcast and today's devotional. I want to dig back into the Old Testament again. This has to do with my daily reading, and I was reading in 2 Chronicles 25:9. I'll read you the whole verse, but we're going to just focus on the very end. "And Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?" The man of God answered, "The Lord is able to give you much more than this."  The kingdom of Israel was split. You remember there were 12 tribes, 10 went to the Northern kingdom after Solomon passed away. Ten went to the Northern kingdom and were called Israel. And the two remained in the Southern kingdom, Judah and Benjamin, and they were called the kingdom of Judah. It also happens that all the Kings of the Northern kingdom were not God-followers and some of the Kings of the Southern kingdom were good guys. They were trying to follow God. And this fellow who was the king was named Amaziah. And Amaziah was planning to go to war with another kingdom, but he was afraid he didn't have enough of an army. And back then you needed a lot of people to win a battle. You needed God to be on your side too. Amaziah paid a chunk of change to the king of Israel to get an extra a hundred thousand men to fight with him. And this man of God came to him in verse seven, it says, and he says, "Do not let the army of Israel go with you for the Lord is not with Israel, nor is he with any of the sons of Ephraim." That's anyone in the Northern kingdom. "But if you do go do it, be strong for the battle and God will bring you before the enemy." He says he will bring you down before the enemy because God has the power to help. And he has the power to bring down. And Amaziah, said, "But what shall we do? We've invested a hundred talents." This is a hundred year wages. I've got this sunk cost. My challenge for us today is to not sell God short. Let's not take the things that we've done and stick with them when we believe we're convicted by God to trust him. Here, the man of God is challenging this king. "Trust God. And he will give you this win." Now, Amaziah let go of the troops of Israel and, and they even created some more trouble for him. But Amaziah trusted God in this particular case and was victorious in this battle. Where are we not trusting God today? That's my challenge for us. Where am I not trusting him? I can think of one place in particular. And so as I record this, I'm challenging myself to follow through on this need to trust God. I want to trust God. I don't want to worry about the money that's already been invested or any sunk costs or any sunk effort. "The Lord has much more to give you than this." It says New American Standard and in the English Standard, it says, "The Lord is able to give you much more than this." God has everything and he owns everything. When we listen to him, and when we trust him and obey him, that's when we get to see him work. We get to see him make a difference in the world, through us or near us. We get to take part in it. I want to challenge us today. Trust God, ask him, "Where am I not trusting you?" Should I trust you to go into battle with what I have or should I, bend my commitments? Should I cut corners, or should I take shortcuts?" I believe that if we can trust God and do what he calls us to do, that he will become visible and he will work great miracles in our presence if we will trust him. Today in your workplace. Let's challenge ourselves, ask God where he would have us trust him, and then do it. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for investing some of your energy and your time and your effort to making a difference for the kingdom of God in your daily job. It matters. Practice the five daily activities. Check our online community out at https://community.followerofone.org, where you can join us for free and take part in the next Marketplace Mission Trip. Thanks very much.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break. Hey, welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry Sr. Today, I want to talk about 2 Chronicles 15:1-2. We don't often do a lot from the Old Testament, but this is a challenging passage that I happened to read the other day and I wanted to pass it along. The verse reads like this, "Now the spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, Listen to me Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The Lord is with you when you're with him. And if you seek him, he will let you find him. But if you forsake him, he will forsake you."  Now I read that from the New American Standard. That word "forsake," that's like "abandon." If we abandon God, he will abandon us.  This is a challenging word from the Lord. This prophet has been challenged to go talk to the king and to remind him that if you we are with God, if we seek him, if we pursue God, then he will let us find him. But if we abandon him, he will abandon us. Let's remember who we seek. Let's remember where we want to point our heart and our desires and our ambitions. For me, it's so easy to get wrapped up in the things of work, to try and get the next promotion to try and pursue the next shiny object or the next thing we want to buy. It's so hard to follow after God. But if we can follow after God and remind ourselves to seek him, then we have this promise and many more that God will be with us when we are with him. And if we seek him, he will let us find him. Our relationship with God is so far outside of our control, it's hard to fathom. And yet God has given us this ability that if we truly turn toward him, he will let us find him. But if we're joking with ourselves or if we're lying to ourselves or if we just choose not to have anything to do with God, he'll let us go that way too. The key to our life is learning to live it pointed towards God. In the Follower of One community, we try to encourage each other to be intentional in the way that we live our daily life. Today. I want to challenge you. Let's ask ourselves, are we seeking God? Or are we seeking something else? And what has to change? We can change with a prayer. We can punch in and tell God, "Here I am." And then we can also pray and ask him to bless the people around us. We can get on this eternal clock by punching-in with God and letting him use our life to matter forever. That's our job. We can follow Jesus and stick with him like we're following the bumper of a friend in a town where we're lost, where we don't know where we are. Let's stay close to Jesus and not let the shiny objects of career and material possessions take us off track. When we focus on God, he will challenge us to pay attention to the people around us, and the people that we work with. Let's follow hard after him today and let him direct our actions and use us for his glory. You never know, your life may change so much that someone will come up to you today and go, why are you different? Or why did you just do this for me? Why did you go outside of your way to help me when you didn't have to? And that gives you an opportunity to share how Jesus transformed your life. That's part of the excitement that we get by following Jesus every day. If you want to take part more in this type of a spiritual life and this life with Jesus, where our life matters as we interact with others, it matters for eternity. If you'd like to take part in that life, join us at https://followerofone.org. You can check out our online community there. You can see our videos and different things that we offer. And by joining the online community, you can also take part in our next Marketplace Mission Trip, which is a two-week exercise to help us learn how to practice following Jesus carefully at work. Thanks for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for wanting to integrate your faith into your daily life. Ask God to help you, and he will make it happen. I promise. Thanks very much.

Today's passage, Hebrews 10, verses 19–25, tell us three things that we as Christians should do: let us draw near – verse 22, let us hold fast – verse 23, and let us consider others – verse 24.We just heard those verses. We can see ‘em plainly here in the text: verses 22, 23, & 24 give us a pretty straightforward 1-2-3 of what we as Christians should do. Which means this passage is an easy passage to preach. In fact, true story: I have preached this passage before: when I was 20-years-old, in a small church service, in the country of Slovenia, with a translator, and I don't think I knew a thing about preaching — I just figured that this passage was clear enough that as long as I said what the text says, I'd be okay. And I'll be honest with you, that's all I'm trying to do today — I wanna say what the text says — but because the passage is so straightforward, I'm gonna try to explain what's going on here by reversing the order of the argument. I think this will help us to let the passage sink in for us. The writer of Hebrews is making a logical argument, and as readers, our goal is to understand his argument. We want to know what he means:He starts in verses 19–21 and says, clearly, therefore, since, let us do 1-2-3 (in verses 22–25). That's the order of the text. But what I'd like to do is to start with what we should do (the 1-2-3), and then end on: we do these things because of verses 19–21.So it's the same logic, just restated (and I think this will help it sink in). And right away, notice that each of these verses — 22, 23, and 24 — start the same way: let us, let us, let us. These verbs are for the whole church, including the writer, and they're aspirational. (This is in the original grammar.) We want to do these things. That's the mood here. There's a team, community spirit of “C'mon y'all! Let's go! This is how we wanna live!”1) Verse 22: C'mon y'all, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.“Draw near” is the main verb and it means what it says: Come close. Approach. Move towards. And it's been a few months since we've been in Hebrews, so you may not remember this, but we've heard this language before: Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace…” Hebrews 7:19, “(for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.” Hebrews 7:25, “Consequently, he [Jesus] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” This same idea of drawing near is repeated here in Chapter 10. It's a major theme in Hebrews. We are called to draw near to God, and that's something we always do. Once we are in Christ, we are forever, increasingly moving further up and further in. And the Book of Leviticus is our blue-print for this. As the people of God, remember, we live in an Edenic movement! We are moving life-ward. And we move in this direction, closer to God, “with [verse 22] a true heart in full assurance of faith.” Does anybody in here have one of those hearts? How do we know if we have a “true heart in full assurance of faith”? Our New Covenant RealityWell, the question is: have you experienced God's promise of the new covenant? Because that's what this is referring to, Ezekiel 36:26, God promises: “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.” This is what the writer is thinking about. And he's thinking the same thing when he says in verse 22: “with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” The writer of Hebrews has the new covenant in mind, which he just explained to us in Chapter 8, and most likely he's thinking about Ezekiel 36 in particular. In the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, right before God promises to give members of the new covenant a new heart, God says, Ezekiel 36:25, “I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean.” So the repeated rituals of man cleansing himself are over. God has done that now. He has washed us with pure water.Basically, the call in verse 22, is: C'mon, y'all, let us draw near to God with the promises of the new covenant as our reality, which means our hearts are made new and true and clean.That's the first thing Christians should do. Here's the second:2) Verse 23: C'mon, y'all, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.The verb “to hold fast” is another theme in the Book of Hebrews. We've also heard this one before, back in Chapter 4, verse 14, “Let us hold fast our confession.” Here in Chapter 10 it's the “confession of our hope,” but it's the same idea. Confession or hope or confession of our hope — the writer is talking about what we look forward to as Christians. This is our future. It's what God has promised to do, which is what we embrace now.One good example of this is the way the apostle Paul talks about hope in Romans Chapter 8. In the Romans 8 — the Great Eight — Paul describes the future glory of all creation. He says that all creation, this entire world, will be set free from its bondage to decay, and that we ourselves, in Christ, will receive the final and complete redemption of our bodies. He is talking about the final resurrection when our mortal bodies will put on immortality — no more disease or cancer or headaches or men's retreat basketball aches and pains. Our bodies will be fully redeemed — and Paul says, Romans 8:24, “For in this hope we were saved.”Listen: our hope is not in what Jesus gets us now. Paul says in another place, “If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied” (1 Corinthians 15:19). So we don't hope in Jesus for present-day perks. This is the problem of Mr. By-Ends in Pilgrim's Progress. Jesus never meant to be your ticket to win friends and influence people. Jesus died to save all of you for all time. He died to save your life and your afterlife and that's our hope. C'mon y'all, let's hold fast to our hope without wavering.Why We Can Hold FastAnd here's the reason why: “for he who promised is faithful.”We can hold fast to the hope of our future because the promiser of our future is faithful — which means he always does what he says. And in fact, all the blessings of our life in Christ now started as promises in the past. Get this: Our present blessings were once the future of past promises, and if God was faithful to fulfill those promises, he will be faithful to fulfill promises still here today. He's not done yet. This is really important. Because sometimes we can doubt this. Let's be honest. Is Jesus really coming back? — because from our perspective, in how we think about time —which is different than how God thinks — but to us it's been a while. We think 1,993 years is forever.And what happens is we think: it is taking God so long to fulfill his promise I don't think he will.And the writer of Hebrews would say: “Of course he will. ‘See Old Testament'.” The apostle Paul actually tells us that one of the purposes of the Old Testament is to give us instruction and examples and encouragement for our hope — Hebrews 11 (see Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11). We just have to look at the Book. He who promised is faithful. If he's done it before, he'll do it again. C'mon y'all, let's hold fast the confession of our hope.3) Verse 24: C'mon, y'all, let us consider one another, to spur us on.Now most English translations say this a few different ways: The English Standard Version says “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” The New American Standard says stimulate. Other translations use words like motivate or provoke or to spur on. They're all getting at the same idea, but the word that we need to really consider is the word “consider.” That's the main verb here. In the original, it's “Let us consider one another, to spur on, stir up, etc. …” And this idea of “consider” doesn't mean to put it off and get to it later. “Dad, can I have your credit card and go to the mall all day Saturday with some friends of a friend you don't know?” … “I'll consider it.”That's not what it means here. This word means “to think about something carefully.” It means to direct the mind towards something with concern. Really mull this over. The word is actually used one other time in Hebrews, in Hebrews 3:1, which goes: “Holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.” So first, in Chapter 3, the writer tells us to consider, to think carefully about Jesus; and now here in Chapter 10 he tells us to think carefully about one another. Focus on this. Focus on one another to spur on one another to love and good works. Our Words for One AnotherAnd now this has all kinds of relevance for what it means to be a church community. Notice in verse 25 that in order for these Christians to consider one another to spur on one another they have to get together. Imagine that! The writer spells this out: he says don't neglect to meet together as is the habit of some, but meet together, “encouraging one another.”Now this is interesting, because that word for “encouraging” could also be translated “exhorting.” In fact, it's the same word the writer uses in Chapter 13, verse 33, when he says that he's written to them a “word of exhortation.” In that verse, he's talking about a sermon. (We mentioned this at the start this year. Most scholars agree that the Book of Hebrews is most likely an actual sermon from the early church. You could read the whole thing in 45-minutes). So there is “exhorting one another,” which we're all called to do everyday, but especially when we meet together (see Hebrews 3:13). And there's a “word of exhortation” that refers to a sermon. And both of these happen when the church gathers — which means: one of the most important actions that take place on Sunday mornings is the words that we speak to one another. There is this formal word of exhortation/encouragement, but then there are the hundreds of words we say before and after this time, and those words are a big reason why we do this. It's mutual encouragement.Foreshadowing a Greater GatheringAnd the writer says, we should gather and encourage one another all the more as, verse 25, “you see the Day drawing near.”He's talking about the Day when Jesus returns, and we might think: How'd he get there? How'd he go from talking about Sunday church services to talking about Jesus's return?Well, there's a connection: It's that when the church gathers for worship and mutual encouragement — what we're doing now — this gathering is actually anticipating the final gathering of God's people in the New Jerusalem. The writer of Hebrews is saying, Church, keep gathering together, encouraging one another, especially as we get closer to heaven every day when there we gather with the universal church across all time and place. Our gathering here is a little foreshadowing of that gathering then. I think he's also saying: If you don't like getting together with other Christians now … we need more practice. C'mon y'all, let us consider one another, to spur us on to love and good works.Faith, Hope, and LoveAnd there you go, those are the three things these verses tell us to do. As Christians, we are called to: draw near, hold fast, consider one another. And you might be wondering, is there any design to these callings? Are these three callings related at all?This is fascinating to me. (I didn't know this when I was 20, among other things) Listen to these callings again:Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope.Let us consider one another, to spur us on to love.Did you hear it? These three verses echo the “cardinal graces” of the Christian life: faith, hope, and love. Remember Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” Well, guess what? From verse 25 and onward, the rest of this book is the application of considering one another to spur us on to love.Hebrews 10:19–25 is a hinge passage in the Book of Hebrews. It marks the ending of one section and sets up the beginning of a new one, and this new section is all about exhortation. It's the church's application of love for one another. The Theological Heart of the BookThe reason we had heard some of this language before in Hebrews — the draw near and hold fast and Jesus as our high priest — we've heard it before because Chapter 10:19–21 is basically repeating Chapter 4:14–16, because those two passages, 4 and 10, are two bookends to one major section. And that major section, from 5 through 10:18, is the central theological argument of this entire book. And what is that? What is the main point that the central theological argument of Hebrews is making?Well, that's actually what Hebrews 10:19–21 summarizes for us. Remember we reversed the order. We started with verses 22–25, with what we should do, but it's verses 19–21 that tells us why we should do these things. Verses 19–21 give us the because — and “the because” is a three-verse summary of the theological heart of the Book of Hebrews. These verses pull together all the main themes from Chapter 5 through Chapter 10. Listen to these three verses, and see if you can pick them up. Hebrews 10, verse 19: “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God… [now here's the 1-2-3 of what we do — let us, let us, let us.]” It all comes back to the central theme here that Jesus Christ, by his high priestly sacrifice and current ministry, gives us access into the presence of God.Notice there are two things that we have in verses 19 and 21:Verse 19: We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.Verse 21: We have a great priest. These are the two things that have been explained to us more than anything else in Chapters 5–10: the sacrificial death of Jesus and the high priestly ministry of Jesus. And these are not separate things, but they're two aspects of the same thing. And I hope that if there's only one lasting change in us from the Book of Hebrews — I hope it's that we always think about the death of Jesus with him as our high priest. That's verse 21 here.Jesus, Our Great Priest“We have a great priest over the house of God.”This is not something that Jesus “can do.” It's not a side-gig. This is his office.Jesus is our great high priest. And so everything he does, he does as our high priest. And that means, as Chapters 5 and 7 tell us, Jesus knows what it's like to be you. He can sympathize with you and your weakness and all the things that make life in this world hard. He knows it and he's going to save you anyway, all the way. Jesus plays for keeps, and his promise to save you, to bring you home, to finish what he started — that promise is as indestructible as his life. Because Jesus is our high priest, as long as Jesus is alive, we will be saved completely. Everything that has to do with our salvation is now bound up in the realness and aliveness of Jesus. He is who he is right now, and he will be that tomorrow and the next day and the next and forever. He's not going anywhere; he's not changing; he doesn't quit. And that is why we will see him one day. We have a great priest.By the Blood of JesusAnd he made a great sacrifice. That's what the writer is talking about in verses 19 and 20. You can see that he mentions blood in verse 19. Y'all see that in verse 19?He says in verse 19, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus…” He's talking about the sacrifice of Jesus, and he expands what he means in the next sentence in verse 20. He says, “by the blood of Jesus” and he implies: When I say by blood of Jesus, I mean “by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.”Here he's telling us what the blood of Jesus accomplished. And it's levitical. We can't really understand any of this without the Old Testament Book of Leviticus. So let's think back to Leviticus and temple (or think back to Hebrews Chapter 9 because the writer explains the temple to us there). The temple was the center of Jewish life, and in the temple, there were two sections, the Holy Place and then the Most Holy Place. That was the place where the direct, terrifying, awesome presence of God dwelled. And what separated that Most Holy Place from the rest was a curtain. It was so holy behind the curtain, in the Most Holy Place, that nobody could go there. Nobody could be that close to God — except for only the high priest, who went there only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. He was the only one who could go behind the curtain.But now, by his blood, by his death, Jesus has opened that curtain. When Jesus died, the curtain died. That's the point here. The curtain has been done away with. It's no more. And that's what is loaded into this phrase, verse 19, in the very first verse: “we have confidence to enter the holy places.” (Now the ESV translates that as “holy places” but the Greek word is just “the holies.” The NIV translates this “the Most Holy Place” and that's right. That's what the writer of Hebrews is talking about.)By the blood of Jesus, by his sacrificial death that got rid of the curtain, “we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place.”And that's a simple sentence … but this is actually one of the most radical truths in the whole Bible. This truth would have absolutely shocked a Jewish believer.And a lot of it has to do with that word “confidence.” This is a great word in the New Testament. It has a range of meanings. It's already been used in Hebrews 4:16, but we need to be sure we get the meaning here in 10:19.I asked the kids at dinner this past week, “What does the word ‘confidence' mean?” And right away, one of the boys said, “It means to believe in yourself.” And I said, Yeah, that's what we typically think, but that is not what the meaning is in Hebrew 10:19.In Hebrews 10:19, when the writer says “we have confidence” another way to translate that is to say “we have access.” Confidence here is objective, not subjective. It's fact, not feeling. The writer doesn't say “We feel confident.” He says, “We have confidence.” We possess this. So scholars have said we could translate this as “we have freedom” or access or freedom of access or authorization. I like the word authorization. Because that nails the idea. The writer says we have authorization to the Most Holy Place.He means we have authorization to be in the direct and awesome presence of God. Which is not in an earthly physical temple anymore. That was only a shadow. The real temple is the heavenly temple. Heaven is where God is, and we have access there, to him.We Have AuthorizationSo I've got this friend (who I won't name), and one of things I love about hanging out with him is that he knows all the best spots. He always knows the coolest restaurants and the places to go. And this one time we were hanging out in a city (which I also won't name), and sure enough, he says, “I know a place.” There was a new rooftop restaurant that just opened and it was supposed to have the best views of the city, all that — but the only thing was that it was connected to a hotel and the only people who have access to this rooftop are hotel guests. But he's like: It's fine, follow me. So I do, and somehow, we wind up on an elevator crowded with hotel guests, and we're just riding this thing crossing our fingers that somebody with a hotel key is going to the rooftop. Sure enough we get there. Doors open. And it's amazing. Incredible spot. Best views. And we spend a couple hours hanging out, but I can't say I was having a great time because I kept thinking “I'm not supposed to be here.” My conscience is about as tender as ketchup. I felt like an imposter. I was there, but I didn't belong there.Christian, you should never feel that way about the presence of God. You can go there — we can enter God's presence, and one day, physically, we will enter God's presence, direct and awesome, we will be with him, because we have authorization. We have access. We belong behind the curtain.But why? How? How do we have that right? How do we have the authorization to be close to God in his direct and awesome presence that nobody like us could ever experience before? How is that so?The blood. Our high priest who lives forever and even right now, he has applied the blood for us, and the blood he has applied is his own. He has gone before us. And everywhere Jesus can go, we can go. And he waves the key of his sacrificial death: They belong here. They're with me.We have … we have … we have authorization to be with God. …That's the theological heart of this book.Therefore, let us, let us, let us … faith, hope, and love.That's what brings us to the Table. The TableWhen we eat this bread and drink this cup, we remember the death of Jesus for us. That Nothing can for sin atone: nothing but the blood of Jesus.That Naught of good that I have done: nothing but the blood of Jesus.This is all my hope and peace! This is all my righteousness!Nothing but the blood of Jesus. If the blood of Jesus is your hope and peace and righteousness this morning, if you trust in Jesus, we invite you to eat and drink with us.

Hey, welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry Sr. and I'm glad to be here. If you're in the U.S. and hearing this on-air date, I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm recording this message to be aired on Thanksgiving Day. And today our passage is 1 Thessalonians 5:18, "In everything give thanks for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." That's from the New American Standard. In everything we want to give thanks. We're talking now about expressing gratitude to God. We talked about expressing gratitude to others a little bit yesterday as well but expressing gratitude to God is worship.   And here Paul is exhorting us to give thanks to God for everything that happens "for this," and that word, "this" is not specific. Whatever's happening in our lives. What's going on in our lives. It's the will of God, for us. Notice that we give thanks in everything.   When good things happen, it's easy to give thanks. But when not-so-good things happen. Well, that's a different story. At least it is for me, I'm quick to complain when the not-so-good things happen. If I can break that habit and be grateful when those not-so-good things happen, I demonstrate my faith. Others will be prompted to ask because I'm acting so differently than I typically do.   Then I get an opportunity to explain how Jesus is the source of my ability to respond to everything with gratitude. Today, it's easy to think about being grateful, but I hope you can. Some days, some holidays are difficult for some of us as well. But I want to encourage each of us to express our gratitude to God today, for whatever our circumstances are.   Because of this grateful life puts us in touch with God. It's the avenue to receiving his peace and his joy, even in difficult circumstances. I hope that we can live as a way where others can see us as grateful to God and then they can know that he is the source of the good he's the source of the not-so-good too, but he makes everything right.   I want to challenge us today. Enjoy your day, wherever you are. I pray that you have a great holiday or a great workday if you're working in another country. But ask God to help you be more genuine in your gratitude to him, even in the things that you don't appreciate. He will do that. He will help us to be more grateful because it glorifies him.   Life is hard and we broke the world as humans. But God gives us the ability to cling to him, partly through being thankful and being grateful. We get to join him and experience his joy. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for making a difference with your faith. I pray that you have a great day and that you make a difference in the lives of others today.   Thank you very much.

Thanks for joining us on the Follower of One podcast again today. I'm Mike Henry, your host. And today I'm talking about 2 Timothy 2:2, "The things which you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also." This is a great verse about discipleship and that translation that I read was the New American Standard version.   This is a great passage about discipleship, as I said, because it's challenging us to think about four (4) generations. If you see it here, we see Paul passing this on to Timothy, who is to entrust these to faithful men, that's generation three, who will be able to teach others also generation four. So it's like four degrees of separation from the apostle Paul to people who are teaching others about the scripture.   We want to be people who ship grace. I mentioned this yesterday. He challenges us to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. I believe we're all like little warehouses and God gives us his grace, not so that we would hang onto it, but so that we would distribute it to other people, to the people that we come in contact with.   I believe Jesus puts his people in every company, in every workplace situation, and in every life situation so that others can see what a Jesus follower does in that circumstance. And us having grace that's strong, that's available to be present and delivered to others that we can teach to others about the grace of Jesus Christ.   When we have that grace, we make a difference in the lives of the people that we interact with.  Today, let's ship the grace that we have received. What we have learned about Jesus Christ and his grace is what we pass along to others.   Yes, this is a verse about teaching, but it can also be a verse about showing. The things which we have heard from the people who taught us, let's trust those to faithful people. Let's deliver those things. We want to deliver those in speech to people who want to hear them, but we live them in action.   We put them to work. Let's put our faith to work by shipping this grace into the lives of the people around us today. We want to think about generation and generation and generation. Challenge a friend to be the kind of Christ follower that others might want to emulate. And let's pass that on to the people that we meet and the people that we know.   Yes, we're going to teach people that, but we need to teach with our lives too. So, let's not just be talkers. Let's entrust these things. Let's pass them along with our life, with our lifestyle and with the way that we speak and act. I'm guilty of this as much as anyone. There are times when I don't live like a good Christian, or I don't act like a good Christian.   So, I have to remind myself to be strong in the grace. That's the verse above this. To remember my relationship with Jesus Christ and the grace that he's given me, and then live according to that grace. Join us in this marketplace ministry that you have by taking the grace that you've been given and delivering that to the people around you. The faithful ones will be able to learn and teach others also.   Let's pass this along. Let's think about the four degrees of connection that we each have and take our faith and make a difference with it in our world today. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for sharing this podcast with your friends. Invite people to join us at https://community.followerofone.org, where you can join other marketplace Christians and take place in the next Marketplace Mission Trip. Thanks very much.

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry Sr., and we do a devotional each workday where we challenge ourselves to live our faith in some way that makes Jesus visible in our workplaces.    Today, I want to talk about Acts 10:3, and I'm stealing this from Mark Batterson in his book, Draw the Circle.   I would like to encourage you to consider getting that book. It's a great book. It's based on the Circle Maker, which is another book that he wrote both about praying circles around our problems until God does something with them. We pray until something happens. Pray as long as it takes.    On day 13 of Draw the Circle, he actually talks about one day. Acts chapter 10, verse 3 from the New American Standard, says, "About the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God who had just come in and said to him, Cornelius."   Cornelius was a centurion, of the Italian cohort. So, he was based in Rome. He was a devout man. He feared God. It says in verse two and he prayed to God continually, but on some odd day, one day at about three o'clock in the afternoon, he clearly got a vision. An angel of God had just come and said to him, "Cornelius." He'd called his name.   What's happening here is that Cornelius will send some people to Peter. Peter will also experience a vision. And this is the way that the gospel was first given to the Gentiles rather miraculous event, or rather miraculous series of events. Actually, that took place just one day at three o'clock in the afternoon, about the ninth hour of the day, Cornelius got this vision.    Maybe there's something that you've been praying for about your work or a relationship with Jesus, or about how you interact with the people in your workplace. And you've been praying about that for a long time. I want to encourage you to pray one more day. We never know which day it is.   We never know what day and what time God will do what God is going to do. And I'm speaking to myself as I often do. As I pray for things around Follower of One or about, other activities going on in our family and in the lives of our kids and grandkids and my relatives and other people that I know.   I never know when it's the one day. I never know when it's time. God keeps it that way. This isn't about us knowing what God's going to do. It isn't about us, being there at the right moment. This is about us being followers of Jesus, constantly asking, seeking, and knocking. It says here that he was praying.   Cornelius was praying to God continually in verse two. We need to be searching for God, continually. And today I want to encourage you in your workplace search for God continually. Don't give up. Go one more day. We can all go one more day. We can all make one more prayer. We can all purpose in our hearts to wait a little longer, to be patient a little better.   Everyone who knows me knows that I am not the guy saying this to you. I'm saying this to me. This is for me. I want to learn to wait. I want to trust God, because one day at about three o'clock in the afternoon, he will do what he will do. In the meantime, it doesn't mean that we keep doing the same things over and over again, expecting our actions to bring about a different result. It does mean that we continue pursuing God; chasing after him, listening to his ideas and his suggestions, the things that he prompts into our mind that put us on his mission.   And I want to challenge you today. Let God direct you and let's be patient. Let's ask one more day. Let's wait a little longer. And let's trust God a little more.

Welcome to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry Sr. and we've been doing these daily devotionals on business days or workdays for now over a year and a half, almost two years. This is our 543rd episode. Thank you so much for listening to these. Today, I want to talk about Isaiah chapter 43 verses 18 and 19.   "Do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert." This is from the New American Standard. Again, I typically use that translation. It's the one I'm most familiar with and I memorized this verse in the New American Standard.   I enjoy this verse. I love to come back to this. "Behold, I will do something new," verse 19 begins. This is Isaiah prophesying to the Jews before the captivity, telling them about how he will punish the people who take them into captivity. And he will bring Israel back. Israel is the only nation that I'm aware of that went into captivity and stayed a nation.   It's amazing to me. I'm sure there were others. I'm confident that's not the only one. But it's amazing to me how Jesus has managed to keep his people together; how he's managed to keep the people of Israel together. The line of Jesus, if you will, the way that God brought about our salvation, he keeps all of this intact, and here he's promising these people in advance, decades in advance of what will happen.   Don't worry about the past. Don't think about the past. "Behold, I will do something new now it will spring forth. Will you not be aware of it?"  I remember being convicted one time because I felt like I was the only Christian in my workplace. And God reminded me that our overnight delivery driver who came to our office twice a day, was also a believer and he, and I would share prayer requests when we saw each other. And it was like, God reminding me, "I can do anything I want, and I will get you what you need. You just do the job that I've given you to do."    Today, you have an opportunity to honor God, by the way, you live your life in the presence of everyone you're around.   Even if you're in a bad job situation, even if you're in a negative work environment or around toxic people, no matter your circumstance; if it's, if it's painful or illegal, get out of it, do what you can to get out of it. But if you're just in a toxic work environment, if you're just in a negative circumstance in your workplace or in your relationship, be the person who trusts Jesus. Do we trust God? He's able at any time to do something new and he will. He promises it here to the Israelites. But he is the God who did it for them.   And he can do it for us. He always gives us the opportunity of something new. Now I will flip this a little bit. It is the definition of insanity to believe that you can do the same thing over and over and over again and expect a different result. God also challenges us to live in such a way that we are growing in him.   And so I don't believe that any of us are to the point to where God would tell us, "No, you're good. You don't have to, you don't have to improve any, you don't have to change." And so there's nothing he's telling us that we need to leave the same. But at the same time, we can trust him in the circumstances we find ourselves.   I want to encourage you today in your work, you are a marketplace minister. You serve others. Serve the people around you so that Jesus might become visible. That's what ministry is. It's helping the people around us have the opportunity to move one notch closer to Jesus. We can do that simply by the way we live.   And if you do that today, I'm grateful for you. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for making a difference. Wherever it is you work or spend your time, turn your heart to God and let Jesus and the Holy Spirit direct you in how you live today and ask him to give you an opportunity to help other people move one notch, closer to him.

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry Sr., the founder of Follower of One. And I like to talk a little bit about the Bible every day and challenge us to go to work as people who make a difference in the lives of the people that we interact with. Today, we're wrapping up the series on second Peter, one, one through eight. I want to finish by reading second, Peter eight today. "For these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord. Jesus Christ. "I read from the New American Standard translation of the Bible. Those words "useless" and "unfruitful" are translated slightly differently in different texts. But the general idea is these eight qualities that we've just been talking about beginning with faith, moral excellence, knowledge self-control perseverance, godliness, brotherly, kindness, and love. These qualities are this process. I believe that Peter is talking about. In this process, God gives us the faith. Then we add moral excellence and knowledge and self-control and perseverance. We add these things. I always feel like the before picture, I've been a Christ-follower for a long time, but I still often feel underdeveloped. I feel like I should have more faith or I should be able to trust God more. I should walk more in my ability to trust him and to obey him and to do what he says. And I don't often measure up. And that is a problem for me. I work on that regularly. Maybe you feel that way. I think what we need to do is give ourselves a little bit of a pass because what we learn here is we iterate through this process. Faith, moral excellence, knowledge. All of these qualities are a process and we grow in them. We make another lap around the track. I would consider this a lap around the track. So we exercise our moral excellence and our knowledge and our self-control and our perseverance through a series of activities that occur over a period of time in our lives. And at the end by adding brotherly, kindness and love. We grow in our faith. Our faith grows. God gave us the faith, but he didn't give us a fully developed faith. It's still our responsibility to grow it. That's the challenge that Peter gives us here with the phrase "increasing". We need to be increasing. We need to be growing our faith. And that requires that we grow our moral excellence and our knowledge all the way through to love. We want to continue to grow and those things are ours to do. In fact, I think what I'll do is I'll add one more episode to this and talk about verse nine tomorrow. To continue growing, eventually we grow to reduce the uselessness or the unfruitfulness of our knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ. If you remember back in verse two, it talks about the knowledge of God and in verse three, the knowledge of God results in us, getting everything pertaining to life and godliness, Peter's helping us grow in our knowledge. I want to help you grow in your knowledge, but it's not through any teaching of mine. Let's read the scripture and let's trust the Lord. Let's spend some time obeying him today. Ask him, go ahead and pray. That's our first daily activity. Punch in, get on the clock and ask God to show you where you need to grow today. What can you bring today? Is it godliness or is it brotherly kindness or is it love? Let's bring some more of these qualities to our workplace. Eventually, God guides us through this process. Our faith grows and we become more useful and more fruitful. In the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's my prayer for us today. My prayer is that we become more useful and more fruitful, right where we are in our workplaces, however, we spend our time each day. We become more useful and fruitful. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for growing in your faith. Thank you for actually investing a little energy every day, to try and continue to increase these qualities and become more useful and fruitful. The difference that you make matters. Over time, this changes and God uses us in the lives of people. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. And also thank you for checking out https://followerofone.org. That's our website. Go there, check out our online community and also sign up for the next Marketplace Mission Trip, where you get to practice these things a little more every day. Thanks very much.

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry Sr., and we've been talking through the first chapter of 2 Peter. We're in verse 5 today. "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge". The title of today's post is about “Why is faith first?” What we're talking about here is growing into the God-life. I mentioned the God-life in the previous episode, where it says that we become partakers of the divine nature in the New American Standard. We actually get to start living the God-life. That's our salvation.    And it's God's divine power in verse 3 that grants us everything pertaining to life and godliness. We get everything pertaining to life and godliness through the knowledge of God. That's in verse 2. And all of this begins with faith. In verse 1, Simon Peter says, "to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours." We get the faith first.   Faith is the down payment. It's what God gives us when He gives us the Holy Spirit, and He gives us faith, and as we exercise that faith, we grow into this God-life. And that's what I think this whole exercise - these next four verses - are about. They're about how we grow into the God-life. I want to put it on like a jacket, or I want to grow into it.   I want to learn how to use the professional tools instead of just the amateur tools or the kids' tools. I want to grow up in my faith. I want my faith to be something that is applicable and makes a difference in the lives of my family and myself and the people around me. And so I have to grow up in my faith.   We come to our faith in the Lord from death. Remember in Ephesians, it says we were dead in our trespasses and sins. And what we've done is we've come to the life. We've come to this new God-life through faith. Faith is first. And he says that he begins this verse, "Now for this very reason, also". He's tying together those first four verses.   And then he challenges us to apply all diligence. Diligence is "persevere with careful or painstaking attention and effort." This is hard. We broke the world, and restoring these- this God-life, rejoining the God-life requires effort and work. God summoned us. He's given us this responsibility. He brought us to this challenge.   Our work is to grow into it. And that's where we supply moral excellence. That's the first thing that we apply to our faith. We get our life right. We get morally excellent. We live as if we believe God. Moral excellence is this idea that I abstain from certain things. I do other things that I might not do if I were not a follower of Jesus.    In doing these things, we start to grow up. It's like doing practice. When you start, when you first begin to golf or when you first begin to take part in any sport, you take the baby steps first. You do the small things first. The small things first are moral excellence.   Moral excellence is where we are called to line our lives up with God and with His life. We want to live according to what we know about God. I want to talk about this more in the next episode. So we'll continue in 2 Peter, 1:5. We'll continue in that verse tomorrow, as we go through these different characteristics that we bring to this God-life and grow up in the God-life.    Today I want to challenge us as followers of Jesus. Let's ask God to show us where our own life doesn't line up with the things that God wants in us.    Let's supply moral excellence by lining our lives up with what we believe about God. Ask Him to show you where your life doesn't line up with what you know is consistent with your beliefs, and then do something about it. Take some action, and do something about it. Let's not let another day go without pursuing moral excellence, because it's the first step in growing into the God-life.    Thank you for being a marketplace minister, and thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people that you interact with every day. Our job as ministers is to help other people move one notch closer to Jesus.   I'm excited that you listened to this podcast, and that you consider how you might be able to help other people move one notch closer to Jesus. Your actions make a difference in our world. And I'm grateful for that. Thank you very much.

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry, and today we continue our conversation about 2 Peter chapter 1. Today we're in verse 4, “For by these, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” Maintaining consistency, that's the New American Standard, and the reason why I'm continuing in this translation, it's natural to me. It's the translation I've been reading for a long time.    This particular passage is a little bit difficult in that verse, in that translation. In the CSB, it says "By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire." I think that's a little more natural language for speaking how this passage- what this passage means.   “By these” is a reference to the previous episode. It's by the power of God. It says, “through true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” I think the "by these" is to His glory and excellence, although it also refers to His power in that verse. So that's the "by these" of 2 Peter 1:4. By these, He has granted us His promises. He gives us the promises, and then He grants them.   And that way we get to, it says "become partakers of the divine nature." In the CSB it says "that we may share in the divine nature." That divine nature is really- it's the God-life. We get to share in the life and the character of God. We get to take part in that, because we've escaped the corruption that is in our world because of the evil desire of us, people. Our sin corrupted our world.   We get to escape that corruption through our relationship with God, and through His promises. We get to escape the corruption. I want to ask you today to escape the corruption in our world, to enjoy and take part in the God-life, because as we join God in His life, and we escape this corruption, that's where we get the power to do the things that we'll be talking about in the next few verses as well.   We get God's life and His strength and His power, and we can make a difference in the lives of the people that we interact with every day. Just simply because we've chosen to enter the God-life, we've been given this access. He talks about in these first four verses of 2 Peter, God gives us this access. And because we have it, we can choose to step into the God-nature and escape the corruption. That calls us to live this God-life in the presence of our peers and our friends.   We're part of God's marketing plan. We're part of His idea to help us live His life in the presence of our friends, so that they might want a piece of that too. They might want to join Him and experience the same life and the joy and the peace that we experience. So today, I want to challenge us. Can we live a life of joy and peace?   Can we celebrate in our own heart, His precious and magnificent promises? And that way, we get to enjoy the God-life and escape the corruption in our world. This is all part of His divine plan. We get to take part in that today, by focusing on Him and joining Him in His life. I want to ask you today to make it a purposeful, intentional act that you want to join God in His life at your workplace.   God's life enters your workplace when you do, and that way, you become a marketplace minister. Ministry is nothing but helping other people move one notch closer to Jesus. When we live His God-life, we make Him visible in the lives of our friends and our family. Thank you for being a marketplace minister, and thank you for making a difference in your job and wherever you are today.   And you can check us out and you can join us and find a community of people who are trying to concentrate on living this God-life on a consistent basis. Our website is followerofone.org. Thanks very much.

Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Today, and for the next few episodes, I'm going to go through 2 Peter chapter 1, at least the first few verses of it. I so love this passage of scripture, and I've been focusing more on self control, even though I'm not winning the battle, and we'll come to that in verse 6.   But today, 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 1 and 2, I'm just going to go ahead and read verses 1 and 2. “Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord...” Again, that's from the New American Standard. For those of you who listen to this podcast, you know, I generally read from that translation. It's just something that I've been in the habit of doing. Today, I want to talk about how we are called to multiply grace and peace. The model that we're given is Jesus.   Jesus came and brought us this idea that we can be distributors of grace and peace, and Peter's expounding on that idea today. Peter's saying, I want you to have grace and peace multiplied to you. Different translations say it's lavished, or in abundance. This multiplication of grace and peace is the idea that we would get more than we need, and it would be multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord.   In other words, as we know God, and as we know Jesus, grace and peace are multiplied to us. The gateway for this comes further on. We'll break this apart, and I'm not too sure I have it all mapped together, but my challenge for us: I want to make sure that we have a challenge every day as we go into the workplace. I have a friend whose target word idea for this year is “multiplication”, “multiplying”. And I like the fact that the word is used here.    Let's be people who multiply grace and peace in the world around us because we know God and we know Jesus, our Lord. We know them and we are associated with them. We follow Jesus, and that gives us the ability to take the grace and peace that are multiplied to us, and distribute that. We can share that with every person that we're with. Simply living with grace and peace makes a difference in the world around us. Sharing that and multiplying that to others makes a difference.   We have the power to do this, because we have the knowledge of God and Jesus. We received it. We received the faith of the same kind he mentions in verse one. Having received this faith, we get this knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord, and therefore grace and peace are multiplied to us.    If you're living without grace, if you're living without peace, I can tend to live without peace. I can get all wrapped up in what's going on in my world. I can feel like I don't have extra to give away. I always feel like I need to give more than I feel comfortable doing, but I believe that comes from me focusing on things that are not God and Jesus, our Lord.   When I focus on what I know about God and Jesus, our Lord, I realize that I have grace and peace to spare. I have grace and peace and the ability to make a difference in the lives of the people that I work with today. And that's what I'd like to challenge us to do today. Find a way to ship some extra grace.   I believe if you ship it, you will find that you have more and more. And so let's ship some extra grace and peace into the lives of the people that we interact with today. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for making a difference in the world around you. Let's be intentional in our relationship with Jesus and ship this grace and peace to our friends.   And if you want to join a community of people who are trying to do the same thing, check out followerofone.org. Thanks very much.

“‘Nothing Without a Parable’ – Hearing Jesus Outside Voice,” conclusion Matthew 5:17-20 New American Standard 17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter […]

Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. In episode 199 of our podcast (https://followerofone.org/who-is-greatest-luke-22-27/), we talked about Luke 22:27, but today I want to talk about Luke 22:28. And the verse simply says “You are those who have stood by me in my trials.” Jesus is speaking to the disciples and He's actually calling them out a little bit, because they're having an argument about which one of them is greatest in the kingdom.   And this is the last night or so of Jesus's life. So here they are, arguing about which one of them is greatest, and Jesus interrupts them and He reminds them the story about who's greater. That's what episode 199 is about. But this episode, which I think is 522 of our podcast - thank you for being a listener - this is about the next phrase. You are those who have stood by me in my trials.   We get the choice as followers of Jesus to go with Jesus and stand by Him in His trials, to follow Him daily, or we can choose not to follow Him. I can choose to not follow Him in the next few minutes. Choose to watch something that takes me away from Him or do something that separates me from Him.   I can concentrate on myself. There are so many millions of ways that we can leave Jesus. It's this constant struggle. And I think one of the goals of at least my Christian life has been learning to trust Jesus to keep me drawn to Him, and to keep me connected to Him. And today what I wanted to do is challenge us a little bit.   I wanted to ask the question: How are you? No matter where you are, do you know that if you made a long series of choices to not follow Jesus, the next choice, you can choose to follow Him. You can choose to do what He says again. I don't... I can't get into the “Once saved, always saved” or any of those kinds of arguments.   I just know I want to do the next right thing. I want to choose in my next choice to follow Jesus and obey Him. That's why our prayer that we like to talk about at Follower of One, “Here I am, send me” is a profound, powerful prayer, especially when followed with the question “Okay Jesus, what do you want me to do today? What would you have me do next?”   When we focus on following Jesus in our circumstances, one choice at a time, we get another chance to remain with Him in His trials, just like He says here. We are those who have stood by Him in His trials. “You are those who have stood by me in my trials” Luke 22:28, from the New American Standard.   Let's choose today to stand by Jesus. The difficulties and the temptations and the distractions to separate ourselves from Him, to not stand by Him and to not follow Him, those stay. They remain. We will always be challenged by these temptations to separate ourselves from following Jesus. We can't avoid the difficulty, but we can gain the joy and peace and love of following Jesus by simply choosing.   Here I am. Would you please put me to work? How can you use me in the lives of the people that I will interact with next? Show me what you would have me do today, Jesus, and I will do it.   Try that prayer today and watch Jesus start to transform your life. The more often I believe we can remind ourselves that we're on the clock for Jesus Christ, the more joy filled we will be, the more different we will live, and the more others will ask about why it is that we're doing the things that we do. That's also why we have to practice knowing what we believe in saying what we believe, but start it, begin it all today with here I am. You can begin right now.   Thanks for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for making a difference in your world and in your workplace. The joy that Jesus gives us when we join Him, can transform our world. Jesus is in the process of doing that right now. Let's join Him and take part.    Thanks for listening to this podcast or this audio, wherever you're getting it. Thank you for listening to it. Please share it with someone else. Invite them to join you and me over at followerofone.org. Thanks very much.

What does it mean to be faithful to Jesus?   “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." Luke 16:10 ESV   I memorized this verse or made a mental note of this verse without considering its context. When I look at what Jesus said right before this and right after it, my eyes are opened a bit more.   He's been talking about a dishonest steward. The guy was clearly dishonest. In the ESV and many translations it uses the word dishonest. In the New American Standard strain of translations, it uses the word unrighteous. The guy was misusing the master's resources.   But as we'll see in the next verse, I believe Jesus is challenging us to use the wealth we've been given in this life to make an eternal difference. If we hold it for ourselves or if we fail to do with it what the master wanted, then we've become dishonest, unrighteous. Jesus isn't telling us to steal. He's telling us to do what our master wants us to do with what we have.   That's why I think it's helpful that the ESV contrasts the words faithful and dishonest. Are we doing what God wants us to do with his riches?   So what will you do today? Why not give something away. Ask God what he would have you do with the things he has given you. Then you'll get to watch him work. Please join us in our online community and share any ideas. Head over to https://community.followerofone.org and create a free profile.

“‘Nothing Without a Parable' – Hearing Jesus' Outside Voice,” pt 6   Luke 18:18-27   The New American Standard   18 A ruler questioned Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments, ‘Do […]

This has been a contemporary Christian Science Bible lesson sermon. From the New American Standard version of the Bible, copyrighted by Lockman Foundation and from 21 Century Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, a Modern version of Mary Baker Eddy's Science and Health Copyrighted by Cheryl Petersen *** http://healingsciencetoday.com *** http://anchor.fm/cheryl-petersen
 *** https://21stcenturyscience.wordpress.com/ *** http://www.christ-scientist.com/

Welcome back to the show! The Demonology series continues with Part 6! In this episode, we look at figures and names throughout the Hebrew, Christian bible and even in the Apocrypha and Dead Sea scrolls that have been offered up as ‘the Adversary' or antithesis to God. We also discuss a bonus topic at the end, so stay tuned for that!Special thank you to Bishop Bryan Ouellette, as well as JJ from Southern Demonology!Be sure to like us on Facebook @ Cookeville Ghost HuntersFind us on Pateron @ Cookeville Ghost HuntersSubscribe to our YouTube channel @ Cookeville Ghost HuntersWe also have a TikTok @ CkvlghosthuntersFind Bishop Bryan Ouellette on TikTok @ ExorcistBishopSources:"Demystifying the Devil" Youtube video by EyeoftheSeer"Origins of Satan" Youtube video by ReligionForBreakfast“The Origins of the Antichrist” YouTube video by ReligionForBreakfast"The Name of the Devil parts 1&2" Podcast episode by Southern Demonologyhttps://www.deliriumsrealm.com/belial/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/11/23/views-on-the-afterlife/https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/3/12/21169715/daniel-peterson-biblical-texts-dead-sea-scrolls-old-testament-sectarian-literature-qumran?_amp=truehttps://www.1517.org/articles/the-devil-in-the-details-of-the-old-testament-is-satan-in-the-hebrew-biblehttps://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/satan-the-adversary/amp/Verses (In chronological order):-1 Kings 11:7-Leviticus 18:21-1 Kings 18:20-40-2 Kings 1:1-18-Mark 3:22-29-Job 16:9-14-1 Samuel 29:4-Zachariah 3:1-Tobit 6:14-15-1 Enoch 10:1-16-Jubilees 10:8-Jubilees 49:2-Matthew 12:27-Isaiah 14:12-Revelations 22:16-1 John 2:18-1 John 2:22-2 Thessalonians 2:3-Revelations 13:18Bible versions:-English Standard-New International-King James -New Living Translation-New King James-New Century-American Standard-1890 Darby Bible-God's Word Translation-Holman Christian Standard-New Revised Standard- Lexham English Bible-New International Reader's-New American Standard (1995 Update)Support the show

If you had to describe God, how would you do it? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast, I want to take a few days and just enjoy God and just spend some time thinking about him. I hope to do five posts in Psalm 139. Today. I want to read verses one and two.  "Oh Lord. You have searched me and known me. You know, when I sit down and when I rise up; you understand my thought from afar." And that's from the New American Standard translation.  When we want to appreciate God and understand God and think about him, first we have to think about who he is.  This is a Psalm of David. So David is reminding us at the very beginning that God has searched us. He knows us. He knows when we sit down and when we rise up, he understands every thought that we have, different translations reference, this only slightly differently. It says in The Message, "God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I'm an open book to you; even from a distance, you know what I'm thinking." God knows what we think. And he knows what we do.  It's impossible for us to imagine God in much accuracy beyond what he has taught us in his word, because he's infinite and we're not. I mean, the one thing I know when I get to see God is that I will not say something stupid, like, "Oh, I thought you were bigger." I believe that my imagination doesn't measure up to the God of the universe. The God of the universe is almighty and all powerful. And we'll talk about that a little bit more in the coming days. But today I wanted to challenge us to remember. God knows what's going on. He knows what's in our brain. He knows all of these things about us; more even than we are conscious of at any given moment for ourselves. God knows you. And he knows me. And we'll talk a little bit more as we go through the series, but God knows us. He knows what we'll do, and yet we're still free to choose and to create blessing or consequences and to then have to deal with those blessings or consequences as well. That's the challenge of being a follower of Christ. Once we realize where we fit in this grand reality, that begins and ends with the God of the universe, and we realize that we have an opportunity to take a role. We're not passive. We're not spectators. We're participants. Any time you want, God can put you in the game. All you have to do is pray for the people around you. It begins with a simple prayer, like "Here I am!"  This acknowledgement that God searches us and knows us, and he knows what we think. "God, would you take my mind and point it toward what you want it to do today." And he will do that. That's what our "Here I am" prayer is. Our first daily habit is to pray. When we pray "here I am," we clock in and we tell God that we want to do what he wants us to do today. And so for the next five days, let's go through Psalm 1 39 and let's examine God and let's see what he wants us to know about him so that we can live for him in our current day and time.  Thanks for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for making a difference with your faith. Look around. Any idea that you get while you're praying or talking to Jesus, it may have come from him. If it does make a point to do it. Act on the promptings that you get from the Holy Spirit, and watch him work in your world. Take a moment and join us in the online community that is Follower of One. You can go to https://community.followerofone.org and join us. We want to help one another live our faith on a daily basis. Thanks very much.

Why?: Most of us have a favorite Bible translation. Which one is best for studying and teaching? What?: With all the English translations available, which should you use for study and for teaching? That's really two questions so let me address teaching first. This is actually the harder of the two questions. Let me say that, with the assumption that you teach in a church that teaches and preaches the Bible faithfully and that understands that the Bible is the very word of God, you should choose a translation that is consistent with your church's theological leanings. The translation you teach from should be understandable by most or all of your learners. If they can't understand the words, they can't be transformed by reading or hearing them. The easier question is which translation to use in your study. The answer starts with your favorite translation. Know where it falls on the spectrum that ranges from word-for-word or "formal equivalence" to thought-for-thought or "dynamic equivalence." Then, pick another translation that comes from the same place on the spectrum and at least two translations that are from other places on the spectrum. I do not recommend using paraphrased Bibles such as the Message or the Living Bible except as devotional reading. For study, use actual translations from the original languages. With those caveats, here's my method: These days I teach from the English Standard Version, which is balanced, but tends toward the word-for-word end of the spectrum. Then, for study, I add the Christian Standard Bible, which is balanced between the two extremes. Then, I use the New American Standard, which is one of the most reliable word-for-word translations and the New Living Translation, which is one of the most reliable thought-for-thought translations. So What?: Looking at multiple translations from across the spectrum, the similarities in translation can give you confidence that you understand what the original writers meant for you to understand. When you see differences between translations, you know to be a bit more cautious in your interpretation. Try to understand why translation choices were made and what differences in the original languages those translators were addressing. So What Now?: Before you study anything else for your lesson, you need to study the Bible. If you are reading English translations, use more than one and use translations from across the spectrum of word-for-word to thought-for-thought. Then you can know what other study aids might be helpful in preparing your lesson so that your learners may hear and be transformed by the Word of God.

Have you ever given so much, you thought it was too much?  Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. With Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast. Welcome to episode 757. Today, we're talking about the extravagant grace of God and we're using Ephesians chapter one verses six through eight as our reference. I'm actually going to start reading though at the end of verse four. "In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight." The "he's" and "him's" in here were talking about Jesus. And this passage is from the English Standard Version. I read part of this from the New American Standard yesterday's passage. Today, we're talking about God and we're talking about how he has blessed us. And he first blessed us by choosing us. We spoke about that yesterday. And then what he does is he gives us this grace. He predestined us for this adoption. And then once we're adopted, he gives us his glorious grace. It says, "to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." The "beloved" being Jesus, having looked at other translations.  In Christ we are blessed with this grace, this glorious grace that Paul is talking about. Grace is unmerited favor. It's like winning the lottery except better. It's getting what you dreamed about and better even than what you dreamed about without having asked, or maybe without having even thought of it. This grace is unbelievable. And the fact that Jesus would die on the cross for our sins so that we could experience this relationship with God is just a tremendous miracle. So Paul is appreciating the grace of God that we've been given. And we have this redemption we've been redeemed through Christ's blood.  And the forgiveness of our sins is according to the riches of God's grace. In other words, it's not out of the riches of God's grace. It's not some fraction, but it's in accordance with. God's forgiveness is unlimited and his grace is unlimited. These things are unbelievably special to us and God, the apostle Paul says, lavishes, this grace upon us. He uses this word, that means he extravagantly gave us this. He's blowing it out. And this blowing it out is for us.  I can go into great detail about this, and I'm not even a biblical scholar. And I also don't want to state things that are in error, but when we concentrate on the unmerited favor of God, his grace, we can be so blessed that we want to give things away and enjoy God as well. And that's, I think our challenge for today. Let's live in such a way that God's grace to us is visible to the people around us. Let's be people who can give the benefit of the doubt. Let's be people who can let others cut in front of us or go first. I'm talking to myself because I almost never do. I'm one of these people that's always in a hurry. So today, can I be graceful in the relationships that I have? I believe that's one of the ways that God calls us to make a difference in our world. We can bring the grace of God into every interaction. We're grace distributors. That's our job is to take God's grace and deliver it into the world and "he has lavished it upon us, in his wisdom and insight." We'll talk about this a little more as we go on through the rest of Ephesians chapter one, but today let's make a difference in the lives of the people around us, by finding ways to deliver a little bit of God's grace in every interaction and in every relationship that we have.     

Do you ever catch yourself thinking that you have God figured out? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. With Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast. Today, I want to pick up where we left off in the previous episode. We're in Ephesians chapter one. This is a great passage about thinking about God and the blessings that he provides, but it also brings us to some challenging passages  and some potentially controversial topics. And so today we're reading verses four and five from chapter one of Ephesians. And I'm reading from the New American Standard simply because it's most familiar to me. "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will." We're learning about God a little bit through Paul in this passage. I skipped verse three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Paul is celebrating our salvation, our relationship to God and how wonderful God is, who saved us. And then he goes into this description of these cool things about God. "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." Predestination, which is a word used in the next verse is a somewhat touchy topic in Christian circles, because it's actually two parts of what we have to do. There's this predestination of God, but also there's still the need for us to believe. And we'll talk about that, when we get to verse 13 of this section. We're just examining the magnitude and the massiveness of God in our relationship with him. And Paul is celebrating here because these things are true. "God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him in love." God decided that you would follow him. I don't understand how that is. I don't understand how we still have free will, how it's up to us to choose Christ, to believe in him. I don't understand how both those things seem to be true at the same time. But I can trust that what these passages say about God are true. "He predestined us to adoption as sons." He has made arrangement for us and he will go on in the next verses. And I will talk about those  in subsequent episodes. He's gone on to bless us wonderfully. But simply choosing us is our point for today. God chose you. If you're following Jesus Christ, God chose you. He was not surprised by this fact. He planned it and therefore he has a job for us. He created us for our purpose. It says in Ephesians 2:10  "we were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them." Even the works that we've been called to do have been chosen. Our time and our place have been chosen. God is driving, not us. He's in charge. And this even lines up with other passages that say the same things like Romans 8:28-30, say similar things that God chose us. What difference does this make? God is God and I'm not. And today I don't need to know everything. I want to remember that he's in charge and that I report to him. And that's why I know that part of my calling is to make disciples, according to Matthew 28:18-20. Jesus gave me a job to do my status isn't in question. The only question is will I grow up in Christ and live following him. And so today I want to challenge us as marketplace Christians. We've been chosen. Let's step into the role that we've been given and experience the joy and the blessing that God has for us. We'll talk more about the blessings that God has provided for us as a result of this choice in the next episode. But today let's remember that we can punch in. "God, here I am. I want to do what you have for me to do today." And God will put you to work in the lives of the people within your sphere of influence. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for considering how your faith can make a difference in your everyday life. What we do because we follow Jesus matters. Thanks very much for being a minister in your marketplace.  

Do you consider yourself a hopeful person?   Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast. I'm grateful that you're here.   We're talking through a series in Romans 12. We're talking about the interactions we have with other people. And in this section of Romans 12, Paul gives us this rapid fire succession of things that we can do in our interactions with others that glorify God. And we're in Romans 12:12 today. The passage reads from the English Standard Version, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."   I think it's interesting how Paul contrasts hope and tribulation, or affliction as it states in some of the other translations. We can rejoice when we have a positive idea about what's happening or about to happen. But we sometimes can get discouraged if we're undergoing any kind of difficulty or trouble.   So it's like Paul is saying, if you're hopeful, great! Experience your joy. But if you're facing trouble, be patient. The New American Standard says "persevere." We have to push through or hang on or persevere through our trouble, our tribulation. When we're experiencing good times, enjoy them. But when we are facing trouble, let's be patient and persevere.   And in all of these situations, in good times and bad, let's be constant in prayer. I think that to me is the greatest challenge from this verse. It's easy for me to rejoice about hope. It's a challenge to be patient in trouble. I often get urgent, or whiny, or complain to God when I'm facing difficulties and troubles.   But if I can be patient in those, the answer to my situation (both good or bad) is always to be constant in prayer. In good times and in bad, when I'm consistently praying, I see God work. He makes a difference in the lives of the people that I interact with every day.   When I'm constant in prayer, God changes me. He makes me fit for the circumstances. He puts me to work in everything that I do, and he will do that for you as well.   So today I want to challenge us as marketplace Christians. Let's enjoy the positive times. Let's persevere through the difficult times, and let's be constant in praying to God through all times.   That's this reminder for us today. We become a marketplace minister when we let the Bible inform us. And here in this one compact little verse, we have this easy to memorize: "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." Let's practice those things today and see how God uses us in our workplace.   Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for making a difference with your faith. I would like to encourage you to check out our online community at https://community.followerofone.org. If you're already a member there, please share this podcast with a friend. Share it with someone else. Through our online community, our goal is to help every marketplace Christian see themselves as a full-time minister. And ministry is nothing but helping other people move one notch closer to Jesus.   Why not join us? Go check out https://community.followerofone.org. If you want to make a donation, you can make a donation on our homepage, which is https://followerofone.org. Thanks very much.   Connect With Follower Of OneGet social with us; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Listen to our podcast on your way to work and subscribe using your favorite podcast app. Join us on our next Marketplace Mission Trip.  

Are there times when you just go through the motions?   Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. This is episode 750 for us. So thank you for this little milestone. I'm grateful for you listening to our podcast. We're in a series on Romans 12:10-15, and today I'm going to read from the New American Standard. I'm going to read Romans 12:11: "Not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord."   There are different words used in different translations for this passage. In the Christian Standard Bible it says, "Do not lack diligence in zeal. Be fervent in the spirit, serve the Lord." What we're hearing from Paul here is we shouldn't be bringing up the rear. There are times when I'm tempted to go through the motions and just check the boxes, just do the things that are asked of me. But I believe as Christians, what Paul's saying here is we are called to be people who go the extra mile by default.   We're people who come and bring extra energy. And we do things that we do every day with intentionality and with purpose, not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. Similar to Colossians 3:23 we're being challenged here to remember that everything that we do is done for the Lord.   Therefore let's do it with energy, with zeal, as some of the translations say. Never lag in zeal, the Amplified Bible says. Our earnest effort, our intentional purpose is to do our best. So today let's check ourselves. Can we examine the things that we're going through the motions about and ask God, "Is there a way where we can find new energy?" God can give us the energy to do even menial jobs with power and love and energy. He can energize us to bring our best effort simply because we serve the Lord.   Colossians 3:23 says "Whatever you do, do your work hardily as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you'll receive the reward of the inheritance. It's the Lord Christ whom you serve." We serve Jesus. So whatever we're doing today, let's do it with diligence, with energy and with intention and purpose. The way that we do our job matters. So bring energy and passion and zeal to everything you do. That's our challenge. We don't lag in diligence. Today when you go into your workplace, ask God to show you where you can be more diligent, where you can bring more energy and where you can deliver excellent work.   That's one of our reminders from the Marketplace Mission Trip. We want to challenge ourselves to do the best job possible because everything that we do reflects the one to whom we serve and we serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when we do that well, it reflects on our kingdom and it reflects on our faith. But more than anything, Jesus uses our life to make a difference in the lives of others.   So today let's not lag behind in diligence. Let's bring energy and passion and zeal to doing a great job, whatever we have to do today that glorifies God. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for trying to figure out how to live your faith in such a way that God can use you every day of the week.   He has a job and a purpose and a calling for each of us. And I'm grateful for you addressing your daily life and looking for ways to serve Jesus more in the lives of the people that you interact with every day.   Thanks for joining us on this podcast. Please share this with a friend and also join our online community. Go to www.community.FollowerOfOne.org and check out the online community there, where we encourage and help one another to glorify God every day in our workplaces. Thanks very much.   Connect With Follower Of OneGet social with us; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Listen to our podcast on your way to work and subscribe using your favorite podcast app. Join us on our next Marketplace Mission Trip.  

Would you say you're devoted to others in brotherly love?   Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr., with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast, I've often spoken about verses from Romans 11, and there's a section of verses in Romans 11 that I've not talked about before and that's verses 10 through 15.   So I want to do a few part series on these verses because they're right in the middle of a really cool section of this chapter where we are directed on how we interact with one another. And I believe it begins by talking to Christians about how we interact with other believers.   And that's what I think this verse is about. But I do believe that the apostle Paul applies this to our relationships with other people as well. And we'll talk about that in some of the later chapters and the later verses. Today's verse is "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Give preference to one another in honor." That's Romans 12:10 and that was from the New American Standard. In the English Standard Version it says, "Love one another with brotherly affection outdo one another in showing honor."   We are called to love other people like they're are brothers, especially those inside the church. And do we do that? Do you catch yourself doing that? This one of the summary verses of this section. It actually talks about our humility and how we're to be humble in verse 16.   And I've spoken about that before in episode 33. It was a long time ago in our podcast, so it was one of the very early episodes. But humility's one of those things that I want to talk about every 10 years or so. Actually, no - I need to talk about it more than that. I have a problem with arrogance.   And so that's one of those things I'm constantly on myself about. That's part of the reason why I keep coming back to this section of scripture. When I can put others ahead of myself, when I can be devoted to them in brotherly love, when I can give preference to them in honor, I can try and outdo each other by showing honor to others.   When I am able to love them and out do them and showing honor to them, this is a challenge. It's a practical challenge for us as marketplace Christians. Every day as we go into our workplace, this one verse is plenty to do.   We can be devoted to one another in brotherly love. We can show mutual love, It says in the net Bible. Or brotherly affection as it says in the ESV, or brotherly love in the other chapters. It's talking about phileo. It's talking about this mutual affection that we have for others. It requires us to give it first. As Christ followers we give that love first. Almost always we respond to people loving us with love.   But almost never do we give it first. And Christians, I believe, are called to give that love first. That way we get to go into our workplaces today and look for opportunities to give away the love of Christ, to appreciate people and show them that we appreciate them. Help them feel appreciated. It's not how we act as much as it is how they feel.   And so that's our challenge for today. Today. I want to challenge us as marketplace Christians: Let's go into our workplaces today and if we know other Christ followers in the workplace, then let's especially be preferential towards them. Let's do things to show this honor and brotherly love towards believers. But, let's also do that with our coworkers.   These people are giving away their lives in their job at the same rate we are giving away our life in our jobs. So let's go invest our lives because our lives as Christ followers will last forever. So we can give away what we have now, so that these other people that we know might move a little closer to Jesus.   That's our goal. That's our ministry - to help other people move one notch closer to Jesus. So today please be devoted to one another in brotherly love and watch what God does in your workplace. Thank you for being a marketplace minister, and thank you for making a difference with your faith. Share this podcast with a friend and remember we're a donor supported podcast.   So you can go to follower of FollowerOfOne.org and make a contribution to help us grow this podcast. Thanks very much.   Connect With Follower Of One. Get social with us; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Listen to our podcast on your way to work and subscribe using your favorite podcast app. Join us on our next Marketplace Mission Trip.  

Do you catch yourself thinking about the future often? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. “Today” is a key word. And I try and use “today” often in the podcast because our work is focused on today. Our ministry to our coworkers is a “today” ministry. Today, I'm going to read a passage in Hebrews 3:7. “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked me as in the day of trial in the wilderness.” That's Hebrews 3:7-8 from the New American Standard.  In this passage in Hebrews, actually twice in chapter 3 and again in chapter 4, the author of Hebrews talks about the importance of today. We're to encourage one another, as long as it's still called today. In Hebrews 4:7, it quotes this passage again, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (that's from Psalm 95). The key of “today” I think is important for us because daily we have this opportunity to walk with Jesus as we live and demonstrate that we believe that Christ makes a difference, Christ has transformed us, The Holy Spirit is living in us, and as the Holy Spirit lives in us, He makes a difference in our lives. Each day, we get another shot at glorifying Him, of making Him visible, at living like we know He exists and He's there and He loves us.  I'm fascinated at this because even if we screwed up yesterday, even if you've already screwed up today, you get another shot. We all get another shot. We can live like we follow Jesus any moment in time and that's why we use the word “today'' in our podcasts. I believe I've probably used that word in every single podcast because our goal is to encourage other believers today.  Today, we have a job to do. Today, you are powerful enough to change your own behavior and act in such a way that you believe that Jesus is Lord. And when you do that, we join Him in His work in our world. He's busy drawing all people to himself and we join Him when we do that. And so, today, I want to challenge you. Begin with the prayer. “Okay. Jesus. Here I am. What would you have me do today?”, and then Jesus will put you to work. It's His job from that prayer on, He will put you to work in the lives of people. Let's listen to His speaking to us through the Holy Spirit. Let's listen to His challenges. We will get opportunities to appreciate people and to serve people. We will have these chances. Here in Hebrews, we are reminded that today is the day. If we haven't followed Jesus yet, we can choose to follow him. If we make the choice to move one notch closer to Jesus today, we can help someone else move one notch closer to Jesus today. And that's my challenge for us today. Let's help the people around us move one notch closer to Jesus. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for sharing these podcasts. We're a donor supported ministry. If you are blessed by our podcasts or the Marketplace Mission Trips or anything that we do in our online community, consider making a donation to help support our ministry. You can make a donation one time or a recurring donation using the donate button on our website. Go to FollowerofOne.org, make a donation, and check out our online community. Thanks very much.

How do you train yourself to make good choices?  Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. For the last few episodes, we've been talking a little bit about compartmentalization and our choices are a function of that problem for our passage today, we're reading from the book of Joshua 24:15. Joshua was the person that took over for Moses, and led the people into the promised land, and this verse 15 reads and I'm reading from the New American Standard. "If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. Whether the gods, which your father served, which were beyond the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord."  You've probably heard parts of that verse in the past. That's a very famous claim that Joshua makes. "As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord." Our point today is about making choices, and so Joshua is challenging the people of Israel to choose for themselves today whom they will serve. Bob Dylan even said famously in a song that we all serve somebody, their default choices. Our will is what we do. In the My utmost on July, the eighth Oswald Chambers talks about this topic. He says we can't help but make a choice. Being alive means we choose. Simply being alive means we operate according to our own will, even when we choose to obey or cooperate with someone else. Our will is engaged in our relationship with God, and so we must either choose to serve Him or not. But how do we train ourselves to serve Jesus? Well, it's one choice at a time, one decision at a time. When we give ourselves an excuse, which I often do. I often give myself an excuse "well, just this once." When we give ourselves this excuse, I think we miss out on the promises of God. We miss out on His joy. We miss out on the fellowship of doing what He would have us do and being what he would have us be. We miss out on this joy and pleasure of walking with Him because in my case, my body, my flesh, and my mind are telling me "oh, I don't want to do that. I want to do what I want."  Compartmentalization is making Jesus or our faith one of the things we do, one of the choices. Sometimes I watch TV. Sometimes I work. Sometimes I golf. Other times I spend with Jesus, but I wonder what we miss because we don't spend our TV, our work, and our golf time with Jesus or whatever your hobby is. Notice again today, I'm talking to me. This is my challenge. I wanna be challenged by what I miss out on when I'm not walking with the Lord. I want the Lord to help me to be less compartmentalized, but I must remember that my will is always engaged as long as I'm alive. So one of my prayers is to ask God to help train my will. I want to give more of my will to Jesus every day. Every choice I make needs to have Jesus at the center. He's not necessarily on one side or the other, but I want to include him in every choice, and how will that change our lives? How would it change your life if you asked Jesus to take domain over more and more of your choices and to guide you to make more and better choices?  Today, let's ask Jesus to help us choose to include Him in every choice that we make today in every decision that we make. I want to glorify Him, and I believe you do too because when we glorify Jesus, that's when we experience joy. We get to see Him work in our lives. We get to see Him work in our world. That's what we're here for. I became a Christ follower because I believed it was true, but I remain a Christ follower because the Holy Spirit's living in me and I want to continue to make these choices over and over and over to grow my relationship with Jesus. Why not join us? This is a donor-supported ministry.  Thank you for listening to our podcast. Please share it with someone else and share this content and what we talk about with others. Let's live like Jesus' followers in every relationship that we have so that he becomes visible in our world.  Thanks very much.  

Do you struggle with compartmentalization while living a segmented life? Or do you just kind of go along with it?  Hey, this is Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Welcome to episode 741. We've been talking a little bit about com compartmentalization and today our verse is Deuteronomy 6:5, I'm reading from the New American Standard. "You shall love the Lord, your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might."  This is a key verse and a key passage in the Old Testament law. Moses is reminding the people of Israel that we are to have God first in our lives, and Jesus quoted this passage when he was asked what is the greatest commandment. The greatest commandment was two commandments in fact, "loving the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself." When Jesus quoted this passage in Greek, in one of the gospels, it uses heart, mind, soul, and strength, and in another one of the passages, it uses heart and soul, and mind. So the words are slightly different, but the basic meaning is, is that we love God with everything we have and everything we are.  In other words, Jesus isn't part of my life. He's all of it. Jesus created everything. He owns everything. So why do we then say we're too busy to do what he tells us to do? Integrity, you know, doesn't mean honesty. Integrity means that we're integrated, we're whole we're pure. We're not divided. I'm talking a little bit about the integrity of following Jesus today. To have integrity as a Jesus follower means there are not two of us. That was my struggle. I didn't want to live a different way at church than I lived at work, and yet when I went to my workplace, I battled regularly for a long time with my flesh and with the ways that I had done things. I became a Christian. I was already 30 years old, so I had 30 years of habits to break, but I've developed many new ones since then, too. I don't want to act like everything got better that day. We all struggle, I believe a little bit, with being compartmentalized. With segmenting pieces of our lives and saying, well, I have to do what I have to do here, but then when I get back to church, God will forgive me. We know that God forgives us Christ paid for that forgiveness for us, and yet still what happens I believe when we compartmentalize is we miss out on the joy of walking with Jesus and doing everything that we do with Him.  I wanted to be a good manager of software developers. I wanted to develop good software applications that were helpful and useful. I wanted to lead teams of people who ran, worked in shipping, and did other things. We did customer support and we did,  different kinds of work in my career. Each time when I could do those with God, I experienced more joy in what I was doing, and then when I got off on my thinking that I had to come up with my solutions, I experienced less joy and I had low points in my career. I wanna challenge us today to think about being integrated and being whole. Today, let's remember the words all in this verse. "You show love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." All means all. Let's try and give God more and more of our life, and we need His help to do that, which is part of the reason why for each of this daily kinds of messages, I've suggested that we remember the prayer "here I am." When we punch in and ask God to accomplish His will in and through us, we experienced that joy more. We are cooperating with God and asking Him to interrupt us. It's up to us to catch that split second in every action when we can choose to follow God and often catching that split second comes from being around people who do that as well, which is why we also encourage people to join our online community. Follower of One is an online community for marketplace Christians who want to live their faith every day. Why not join us? You can go to https://community.followerofone.org and join us there. You can also simply join us by punching in and telling God here I am and letting God direct you through your day. Then you become part of the team of people that are working towards the same goal that we are, which is what Jesus is doing in our universe. Thanks for being a Marketplace Minister, and thanks for following Jesus.

Are you holy? Do you consider yourself holy? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. We touched on Hebrews 12:14 yesterday, but I want to touch on it a little more today because I think I'll probably step on some toes. Let's read this passage from the English Standard Version. "Strive for peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord."  I talk about how we make Jesus visible, and what we learn in this verse is that our holiness does that. But maybe you don't consider yourself holy. Maybe you're not looking forward to being holy. I thought about a couple of things related to holiness as I started yesterday's podcast and came to this verse and I felt like we might want to talk about it a little more today. First, we need to strive for peace with everyone. This is the first caution the author of Hebrews gives us. We strive for peace with everyone and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. We need to have peace with everyone first. Peace is what we're going for, and also this holiness is an interesting word. In the New American Standard, it says sanctification. These are both big words for being something that is used by God. When something is set apart for God's use, it is considered holy and we are called to be holy. In Leviticus, the Jews were challenged to be holy because God was holy. He said, "I am holy, you should be holy because I am holy." And first Peter even quotes the same passage. This was a key passage for the nation of Israel.  Our call is to be holy, to be dedicated to God's purpose. God is working towards God's purpose and we are called to work towards God's purpose, that's what holiness and sanctification are. When we're doing what God has for us to do, we're holy. That doesn't mean that we wear robes, I talked about this in the previous episode. This is not about having something that's only used on Sundays in the church necessarily, but that's kind of the way that it became interpreted in the church when I was growing up. Holy things were those things that were special and only used on Sunday and they were only used in the church.  We are people of God. And when we do God's work, we're holy and if we strive for peace with everyone and we are listening to and obeying God, then we are this holiness that the author of Hebrews talks about in this verse.  Therefore the people around us see the Lord. I keep using the phrase. I wanna make Jesus visible. I don't have the power to make Jesus visible. However, he shows up when I obey Him and other people see my life being different when I obey Him, and I believe that's the calling that we have in the workplace. When we live as instruments of God in the marketplace or in the workplace or wherever we are every day, other people get to see Jesus. People will see the Lord when we're doing what Jesus would have us do. That's his strategy and his plan. That's the whole reason why I believe we're still here. Otherwise, why wouldn't God just save us and take us to heaven? I believe He saves us and He leaves us here so that we can strive for peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. That's our calling.  Today, I want to challenge us. Let's listen to God and do what He says. Often we tell ourselves that we don't have time. I can only do some of these things because I also have to work. Well, the way that I work is another effort at holiness. Maybe that's even another podcast today. Let's go into our marketplaces listening to God, doing what He would have us do in our workplace so that He might become visible to the people that we interact with every day.  Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for making a difference with your faith in the world. Simply obeying God and being His weapon in the world makes us holy and therefore we can become part of His strategy so that the world might see Him. If you wanna be part of a community that considers this regularly, check out https://followerofone.org. You can join our community at https://community.Followerofone.org.  Thanks very much.  

Does your freedom advance God's kingdom or cause others to stumble?   Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. We've been spending some time in 1st Corinthians 8. Today. I want to talk about verse nine, we've jumped a few verses and I'll explain, but let's read verse nine. "But take care that this Liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the week." Again, that's from the New American Standard.   So Paul goes into a conversation. He begins talking about how knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. And then he goes into this little side story about the whole process of eating meat sacrificed to idols. This is not a common problem in our day, so it requires us to extrapolate this a little bit to our common day, but the question is, does our freedom or our liberty cause others to stumble? Here's the verse that says "but take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the week."   The only example I could think of this in the modern day was how we deal with things like alcohol. We are free as believers in Christ to mess up. That's the advantage that we have in the world. People who don't trust Jesus mess up and people who do trust Jesus mess up, but those people who follow Jesus, their sins are forgiven. That's been applied to us. I believe that the only thing keeping us from going to heaven is whether or not we trust Jesus.   So our sins are not hanging us in the balance, and that I believe is this freedom that Paul is talking about here. Trying to get to the point. I want to challenge us as believers to live in such a way that our freedom doesn't cause other people to stumble. If I'm free to consume alcohol, I might cause other people to consume alcohol thinking they can handle it, and they're not equipped to handle it. I am free to consume alcohol, but I do not consume it. I joke with people that I drank so much in college that now all I need is a little water to activate everything, but the real point here is I don't drink because it takes me out of a position to serve other people.   My job as a believer in Christ is to help other people move one notch closer to Jesus. So I don't drink because drinking makes me selfish. It turns me into somebody who can only consider what's going on with myself. But again, these are my choices. I want to take care that my Liberty does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. Please understand. I'm not telling you how to live. I wanna challenge us as followers of Jesus Christ to read this passage and consider it and study it. What does our freedom potentially cause other people to stumble doing? Maybe it's the way we spend our time at work. Maybe it's the way we drive our cars or the way that we speak.   There could be anything that we operate in as just a matter of habit. We do something as a matter of habit, and it might cause other people to be pulled away from a relationship with Jesus. Our job is to help everyone we meet move one notch closer to Jesus, not move away from Him, and therefore I want to take care that my Liberty and my freedom do not somehow become a stumbling block to the week.   Today, I would like to thank you just for listening to this podcast. I hope you become a little bit more of a Marketplace Minister, someone who serves other people so they might see Jesus. That's our job, and we experience great joy just knowing that we got to take part in that. I can't even imagine the joy we will experience when we see Him fully, as it says in first Corinthians 13 when we're no longer partially visible. When we no longer partially see Jesus, we fully see Him. Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister. Thank you for listening to this podcast and for considering how your faith can make a difference in the lives of the people that you interact with every day. Our actions matter and what you do because you follow Jesus, it matters. So let's take care that our liberty draws other people to Jesus and doesn't move them away.   Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister, and thanks for listening to this podcast. I appreciate it.

Can you know what you don't know?  Let's have a little fun with this today. Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. You're listening to episode 727, and I am grateful. Thank you very much.  We talked last time about 1st Corinthians 8, and today I want to talk about chapter eight verses two and three, I'm reading from the New American Standard. "If anyone supposes that he knows anything, he has not yet known as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by Him." This is a little confusing because of the way the apostle Paul wrote this letter and often in Greek, he and the him get a little complicated. We were talking about being things sacrificed to idols, and this is actually calling us, this whole passage, this whole chapter, and the next are challenging us on how we use the freedom that we have in Jesus.  In the last episode, we talked about things sacrificed to idols, but it wasn't so much that as it was knowledge and how knowledge makes us arrogant, but love draws us to other people. "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone supposes, he knows anything. He has not yet known as he ought to know, but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him."  This challenge for me is I often think I have the answer. Do you? Do you ever catch yourself thinking you have the answer to a particular problem? The world is bigger than we can imagine, and God is more powerful than we can imagine.  So this verse challenges me and calls me up a little short because whenever I think I know something, I'm reminded that I don't yet know as I ought to. There is still some gap in our understanding. In 1st Corinthians 13, just a few chapters after this, he talks about how we now can only see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face, at some point in time when we get to heaven, we will know, as we have been fully known. You see, God sees us, but we only see what He allows us to see of Him. He's blocked and masked. We see Jesus. He's the version of God that we get, and we can see Him through His Word, we can see the Holy Spirit working in our lives. We see God in nature. We have this very limited understanding of God, and Paul's reminding us here that even though knowledge would make us arrogant, knowledge would puff us up. Love builds us up, it builds others up, and therefore let's pass on the knowledge and go straight for the love. I want to remember that I don't know what I think I know. Often, I'm so certain. How about you? Today, can we be a little less certain? Today, can we be quicker to love and slower to judge? Today, can we be quicker to do things for others instead of comparing their perspective to ours? Can we be quicker to serve other people and call ourselves out of our own little comfort zone of being right all the time? That's my challenge. I don't wanna be puffed up. I want to be someone who builds others up and I believe that our calling as Christians is to be those who build up our world. Our world needs to be built up badly, so please consider joining us in that today. I wanna challenge you as a follower of Jesus, to find someone to build up today. Love someone instead of criticizing them and let's see how far that goes and what difference it makes in our world.  Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for considering how your life can make a difference in the modern workplace. Our lives and our interactions with other people matter as part of Jesus' plan to save the world. So join us, consider sharing this podcast or check us at https://community.followerofone.org.  Thanks very much.  

Since you started following Jesus, are you outside of the law now? Let's talk about that today.   Hey, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. I'm excited that you have joined us for this podcast. Today. I want to talk a little bit about Romans 3:19, "now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed and that all the world may become accountable to God." That's from the New American Standard. As you know, if you listen to this podcast often, many times I'm talking to myself. In my early life as a Christian, and I've been a Christian for a long time now, but my early life was like everything up until yesterday.   In my early life as a Christian, I tried to tell God what to do. I spent several years telling Him what I thought He should do. I spent several other years asking Him to do what I wanted him to do, but this law, this whole phrase about the law, brings some new testimony. It's a new idea to us about God, and I want to challenge us with this today if you're like me.   It says, "we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God." You see, God's in charge. This is God's world. He runs everything and we are all accountable to Him, and the law exists to show us that we're outside of God's rule, and God's order, and God's direction, that the world is all about Him, it's not about us. In fact, let's look at the next verse. It says "because the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin." So both these verses together are basically telling us the rules are there to help us understand that we're not in charge.   No one gets to God through the law. The law is simply there to show us that being right on our own is out of our reach. Why is that important to us in the workplace? If we're broken like everyone else, then we're in need of help. We're in need of a savior., Like everyone else. Just because we follow Jesus, doesn't make us any less in need of a savior, than the others with us, because we cannot attain to the law. We can't operate according to God's rules. We won't measure up. In Romans 3:23, which it's building to, it says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."   I think this is all to remind us that we're all in need of a savior. This is not about the law. It's not about telling other people how they should live. We try to live according to the law simply because we follow Jesus, but we will never measure up. I don't believe you can be sinless. I do believe that God makes us sinless and that we will eventually be sinless in another life, but not in our flesh. And as a result, I wanna challenge us as we go into our workplaces today.   Today, let's go into our workplaces humbly. I need practice and reminders about this more than anyone else. Let's go into our workplace with humility and let's help other people see that we can't measure up. We're just doing the best we can, and we all get in under the credit of Jesus Christ. It's by following Jesus that we get to live our eternal life with God. There's no other way. We won't be justified through the law. We're only justified because Jesus paid for our sins.   Thanks so much for being a Marketplace Minister. Let's go humbly to our workplaces today and be a blessing to other people because we follow Jesus. We have nothing to lose because of what he's done for us. Thanks for being a Marketplace Minister, and thanks for considering how you can be a blessing to others. Everything we do because we follow Jesus matters.   Thanks very much.

What comes first trust or commitment?  Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. We've been talking through Psalm 37, partly because of the use of the word fret and my challenge this year to trust Jesus. My word for this year is trust, and so we're on verse five, "Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He will do it." That's from the New American Standard.  There are not a wide variety of translations for this passage. The word translated commit is a specific word that almost every translation puts as commit. "Commit your way to the Lord trust also in Him, and He will do it." I think it's interesting that commitment comes before trust.  Commitment comes before trust. That's a challenge to me. I often want to trust first. I often want to see Jesus do His thing first before I commit.  I don't want to make a decision and remove all my other obstacles. A friend many years ago told me that to make a decision that the word decide is like homicide, you kill all the other options. The word commit also means to roll in the Hebrew. It means to get rid of your other options, to choose. Once we have only one option, then we trust also in Him and He will do it.  Jesus is our only "best option." when we have another plan, that means we don't trust. "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He will do it." Where do you need to commit to God? For me, it's in several places. It's in how I choose to spend my time. It's in what I choose to eat. I tend to give myself a pass and I eat too much. I want to commit my way to the Lord. I want to say no and burn the other options and commit my way to the Lord, and, then I get to trust also in Him and He will do it.  I want Jesus to be my only option, and I want to calculate with Jesus in view in everything that I do, and that requires me to burn my ships, as you know, in an expression, I want to get rid of all of my other options. Today, I commit my way to the Lord. I choose to follow Him. I'm recording this podcast and I'm doing the things necessary to try and grow my own ministry in the lives of other people. What about you? What can you do today to commit your way to the Lord and then experience the trust, the relaxation, and the companionship of following Jesus and watching Him do what he's gonna do? Can you do that today? Let's choose to commit our way to the Lord. Take a moment today and invest a few minutes in a coworker. Pray for people around you. Take some of your time and give it away in service to Jesus and see what He does. That's one way we can commit our way to the Lord. We can also do it with our money. Maybe you need to make a donation to some ministry, or to some other organization, or spend some money on someone, give something away. Let's commit our way to the Lord, trust also in Him and He will do it. We'll talk a little bit more about this passage in the next episode as well about the next verses in this section in Psalm 37. I want to challenge you, though, to consider joining the community Follower of One. https://community.followerofone.org. Join that community, put yourself deliberately around other people who are intentionally trying to live as ministers, trusting God and committing our way to Him. When we live as a minister to Jesus, that means we serve others so that they might see Him. Join us, check it out at https://community.Followerofone.org.  Thanks very much.    

Do you trust that God has a particular purpose for you? Let's talk about that today. Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. I just decided a couple of days ago to start talking about trust, and all of a sudden I stumble across all these verses that prompt me to think more about trusting God and doing what He says. Today's passage, I wanna read Philippians 3:12, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version. "Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus has made me His own."   I don't believe this is a typical verse for trust, but so much of what's going on right now in my own life is this desire to trust God and to trust that He's called me, and He's aimed me in a particular direction, and I need to keep doing what He says instead of looking at my circumstances and judging my behavior by what appear to be the results. Maybe that's something that applies to you as well.   I believe God has called us in this passage, in the New American Standard, it says "so that I may lay hold of that for which I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." It's a little bit of a complex twist in words that Paul's making here, but He's challenging us to step into the calling that God has given us.   God selected us. I was reading a devotional today that brought this all up, and that's how I remembered as I'm recording this. This devotional said God chose us. We didn't choose Him. Often, we get to believing that we chose to do a particular thing for God. And then it's up to us to do it. This is my major kind of challenge.   I think that I chose to do something that God has prompted me to do it. And then I believe I have to bring the resources and I have to make it successful. If God chose me for something, then even if I fail, that was part of His plan. It's really hard to grasp. And often we can be seen as passively kind of dumping everything off on God, but there's this counterbalance that's going on in Philippians 2:12-13. Paul talks about how we have to work out our salvation. He talks about salvation being from God, it's God's action. But then we have to work it out. We have to make it real because God is working in us. Our work goes along with God's work, and it's hard to do that work if we don't trust God if we don't trust His calling if we don't trust that He got us into this.   I often have to remind myself that the ministry is God's, my business is God's, the way that I do my job, that's God's. If He wanted somebody to do it differently, He should have got someone else, but He didn't, He chose me to do certain things and He's chosen you to do them as well.   In fact, today's challenge is a question. Do we trust God has put us where we are for his purpose? Are you in the job you're in because God has a purpose for you there? Are you doing the work that you do because God has a purpose for you there? We can punch in with God. We can say here I am and go to work for Him today again.   Simply trusting that God has a strategy for us today. He has something for us to do today that will bring Him glory. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for considering that by trusting God to call you and to put you where He wants you to be, that there's work for you to do today.   There's a role for you today in the lives of the people that you interact with. Look for opportunities to make God known. And you will experience the joy of being a Christ follower regardless of your job, regardless of your financial situation, regardless of your status. Take the opportunity now to ask God to put you to work in your own workplace.   Thanks for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for listening to and sharing this podcast. This podcast is listener support. Please consider going to followerofone.org/podcast to listen to the episodes and in the upper right-hand corner there's a little donate button. Make a contribution to help cover the cost of this and keep it free for the next guy.   Thanks very much for being a marketplace minister and thank you for listening and sharing.

Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Today is episode 712, and I'm grateful that you're here. Thanks for listening. We've been talking about the abundant love of God from Ephesians 3:17-19. I'll read that today from the 1995 New American Standard. "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height in depth. And to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God."   Often we get cautious and you may be wondering, am I doing some name it, claim it, gospel, where we claim these riches of God and then He makes us wealthy. This is not about wealth in this world. When we're filled up to all the fullness of God, it comes from this love of Christ. In fact, this love of Christ "surpasses knowledge," that's the piece of this that I wanna focus on today.   "The love of Christ surpasses knowledge and understanding ." Here, paul is praying that we would comprehend this love, and yet it surpasses knowledge. We just want to comprehend a little more of it. Our understanding of the love of God sets the limit to how much of it we share. If we believe that we have to hang on to everything that we get from God, then we don't share it. And when we fail to share God's love, we miss out on God's blessing. It's the giving away and sharing of God's love and grace and mercy, His character and His attributes, that make such a difference in the lives of others.   That's how God has caused all of us to work. As Christ people, we exist in this world to make a difference in the lives of others so that they might come to know Him. That's our goal. Knowing Christ is the solution to the problems of the world. We can't solve the problems of the world short of the knowledge of God. We just can't do it. We're the ones who broke the world. Our knowledge is what got us into this broken situation. But when we move to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, it sounds a little frustrating, but Paul is calling us into this pursuit of God. We are following Him.   We continue to follow Jesus every day. That's our organization's name, Follower of One. We wanna follow Him every day and let Him direct us and guide us. That's part of the reason why our first prayer is here I am punching in. I want to go with God wherever he wants me to go today. I wanna serve the people that He brings across my path. They may work in the cube next to me. My job is to live and give away the love that God has given me. And it's in giving that love that I am blessed. I am filled up to all the fullness of God, but it isn't necessarily a joy that I experience in this world. I can trust God with everything because of this feeling.   As I get ready to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, I can understand that I am being filled up to all the fullness of God. I can trust God and give away what He's given me. Today, I wanna challenge us as marketplace Christians, let's go give away Christ's love.   As we give away His love, others might ask. Ask Jesus to give you ideas of ways that you can serve the people around you because that's our calling as marketplace Christians. And when we do that, people might ask. No matter what your job is today, maybe you're looking for work, or maybe you are in a situation where you don't like your job at all, it becomes a little better when you start looking for ways to report to Jesus, ask him what he would have you do, and then go give away some of His love. Because it surpasses knowledge. It's bigger and wider and longer and higher than anything we can understand. So give away His love and make a difference in lives of others.   Thanks for being a Marketplace Minister, and thanks for following Jesus. Take a moment and share this podcast with a friend. Thanks very much.

Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast, we're talking about the abundant love of God from Ephesians 3:17-19, and this is actually part two. Today, I'm reading from the New International Version beginning in verse 17 of Ephesians 3, "so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord's holy people. To grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. And to know this love, that surpasses knowledge that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."   Yesterday, we talked a little bit about how we are "rooted and established," it says in the New International, it says rooted and grounded in some of the other translations. We get this love from God and it's the foundation. It's the life of us, and it's the standard. It's the foundation from which we launch every day. You go into the workplace beginning with enjoying and living on the love of God and taking it then with you into your job or to your daily life. I want to challenge us as believers that this love is unbelievable. It's greater even than we can imagine, which is where Paul is going in verses 20 and 21.   The abundance here is greater than we can imagine. I've said before on this podcast, I know. I will never say to God "oh, I thought you were bigger." God is almighty and He's greater than what we can ask or imagine, and this love is higher and wider and longer and deeper than we can imagine.   Paul praised that we would embrace this love that we would grasp it, that we would know it, many of the translation say that you would "comprehend or understand with all the saints." "What is this breadth and length and height in-depth" is what the New American Standard says. We want to understand God's love in a greater degree, we will never understand it all. But as we continue to understand it in a greater degree, we're freer to give away more and more of it.   God's love is what attracts people to him. God is love. Love is the source of everything. The great command is that we would love God and love people. We're working our way into God's presence by loving others. We do what we can by giving away things and by serving others and putting them first. Everything about our faith challenges us to consider others more important than ourselves, it says in Philippians 2.   So let's challenge ourselves to imagine that no matter what idea comes to our mind, it's not bigger or longer or higher or deeper than whatever God might ask us to do because His love is greater even than we can imagine. His love we hope shows up in our lives and in our world. Let's be people who love the people around us so that they might ask, "Hey, why are you doing this? Why would you do this for me?" Because that kind of love gives us the opportunity to talk about our relationship with Christ. We want to live in such a way that our relationship with Christ is necessary to explain our behavior. And I wanna challenge you to do that today.   Thank you for being a Marketplace Minister. Go into your job or your workplace today, make a difference in someone's life, simply because you want to understand and grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ really is. Tomorrow, we'll even talk about how it surpasses knowledge.   Today also I want to challenge you to consider joining us in. Follower of One. If this podcast is beneficial to you, We do this on a regular basis because of this organization called Follower of One. It's a donor-supported ministry. Would encourage you to go to https://followerofone.org and consider making a contribution. Give some of your money to cement the fact that you wanna be a follower of Christ and make a difference. You can give it to us, or you can give it to another ministry. I just wanted to remind people that we're a donor-supported ministry and the actions that we take as believers of Jesus Christ matter. And so your actions matter, give some love away today.   Thanks very much.

When you become a slave to Jesus or a slave to righteousness, where does that end up? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. And today we're continuing our dialogue on Romans chapter six. And I want to continue talking about being a slave to sin or a slave to righteousness. That's what the section seems to be about. Today, I want to read verse 22. "But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you drive your benefit, resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life." And that's from the 1995 New American Standard translation of Romans 6:22.   Paul has been talking about this, , slavery to sin or slavery to righteousness. I don't believe there's a spot where we can be freed from being a slave to sin and not be a slave to God, or be a slave to Jesus, or to righteousness. I acquaint the phrase, slave to righteousness as working for Jesus. I want to be an employee of Jesus's and I want to do what he wants. And that's my mental model for being a slave to righteousness.   So now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit resulting in sanctification. And the outcome is eternal life. When I'm freed from sin, I'm immediately in slave to God. I'm not sure there's a spot where I can be freed from sin and not be a slave to God. I believe we're going to be slaves of something. We were created for a relationship with God. And when we know him, the better we know him, we realize that we're not just buds, that he is the God of the universe. He's the most powerful thing. He's more powerful than anything we can even imagine.   And therefore we are either a slave to sin, which is our own flesh and the world and the devil. Or we're a slave to God. And when we choose to become slaves to God, then it results in sanctification. What does that mean? While sanctification is the process of being dedicated, being committed to a particular thing, my sanctification is that more and more of my life becomes what Jesus would have it be.   I listened to him better. I take direction from him better. I transform myself a little bit with his help and the holy spirit living in us. He transforms me and makes me something dedicated for his will and his glory. That's our job as Christ followers is to be people who reflect Jesus to the world. We help others see what life following Jesus really looks like. And the outcome of all of this is eternal life. Eternal life is not something I believe we get when we die. I believe we get the rest of it when we die, but we can experience eternal life now. We can become the church. We can relate to other believers. You experienced joy in worship or in following Jesus, or even just spending time with your family. And these are glimpses of the eternal life that we get to live full time when we leave this life.   But we don't have to wait until then to experience it. We can turn from sin, assign ourselves to God and we derive our benefit. We become sanctified and we experience this eternal life. Part of the reason why we do these podcasts is to help marketplace Christians realize that our participation in that eternal life on a daily basis is part of Jesus's plan.   It's his goal to make us into the people that will help him be visible to the world. People see him when we live our lives obeying him. And to me, that's the greatest goal of being a follower of Jesus is learning how to be his vessel, his tool, his resource in every area of my life. Would you join us?   You can join a community of us who are chasing this very goal by joining https://community.followerofone.org. Today, let's pray for the people around us. Let's be more and more of Jesus's people, slaves of righteousness, and let him put us to work in the world.   Thanks for being a marketplace minister. And thanks for listening to this podcast. I'm grateful.

The Bible says we get to rest in Jesus. Do you take part in that rest? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. I was reading this morning in my quiet time, Hebrews 4:1-2 jumped out at me. And I there's a phrase in verse two "United by faith." Let's take a look at this. " Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering his rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed. We have had good news preached to us just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard."  I'm concentrating on the phrase "united by faith." And this translation that I just read is the 1995 New American Standard. The phrase "United by faith" rings a bell in my life because I've heard a lot of preaching over the years. I've been a Christian over 30 years. And I hear the good news preach to me, but there are oftentimes when I operate outside of what I would consider the rest of trusting in Jesus. This particular passage, I believe he's talking about salvation. There's a believers rest. There's a rest, we're not working for our salvation anymore, but there's also a rest that I need. I need to trust my savior every day. I need to trust him as I live my life. And I can only trust him if I hear the word. And then it is united into my life by my faith. It's woven into the way I live. This word does not profit me when I don't unite it by my faith. And that's my comment and my thought for today,.  I want to unite what I know about Christ with my daily life and my daily actions. And I do that by trusting him. By acting like what he said is true, by believing what he said, and then acting according to what he said. These are my challenges as a marketplace Christian every single day. Do I trust him and give a little more? Do I trust him and go the extra mile? Do I trust him and invest a few moments in the person next to me in the grocery store or at work or in the next cube? Can I take a few minutes and rest in my own relationship with Christ such that I'm able to be a grace giver to the people that I interact with every day. You see, I believe that's our calling as Christ followers. We unite what we've heard by faith and it becomes woven into our lives. And that changed life becomes something that other people see. When we unite what we know by faith into our own lives, others get to experience Christ and they get to see that life following Jesus is different then every other form of life. Life following Jesus should make us different in everything that we do. And that's why I believe Jesus has called someone in just about every life situation.  I have a friend who has cancer. I have friends who are undergoing difficult challenges. There are friends with financial problems and friends who have family issues going on. Each of us, we are not exempted from our situation, but we get to take what we know and unite it by faith into our lives and into our circumstances, and God puts us to work. Today, unite what you know by faith in Jesus Christ, weave it into your every day and let the rest of Jesus be seen by the people around you. That's our job as marketplace ministers. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for taking action today. Act by uniting your faith with your understanding of our faith, our relationship with Jesus, and make a difference in the lives of someone around you today. Thank you for what you do. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. And if you'd like to be part of a community that wants to practice this on a daily basis, check us out at https://community.followerofone.org. Thanks very much.

How sincerely do you love other people? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Today, I'd like to read Romans 12:9, and I'm reading from the ESV at first. "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good." And I want to focus on the first part of this passage in the new American standard. It actually says, "let love be without hypocrisy," but you also notice in the New American Standard that the words let and be are in italics, which means they're inserted for readability. The text actually says love without hypocrisy. That's our title of our post today. Our challenge begins at the very beginning of today's message. Love without hypocrisy. What does that mean? Deep down inside, I tend to judge other people. And as we've talked about before, sometimes you learn more about me than you may be wanting to know, but I think we all do this a little bit. I think we tend to criticize other people in our brains or judge them or measure them or compare ourselves to them. None of those things are love. When we are called to love others, that love is an active willingness to put them ahead of ourselves. And Paul here, or the author of Romans here, is challenging us to love without hypocrisy. "Let our love be genuine" the ESV says. Other translations talk about loving without hypocrisy or with sincerity. Be sincere in our love. We want to be genuine and pure. We want our love not to just have the appearance of love and be something else on the inside. Our love needs to be genuinely focused on creating what's best for the other person. I don't know about you, but that doesn't come naturally to me. And I will have to work on it. In fact, I have to remember who I am and what Christ did for me in order for me to be effective at coming up with ways to work, to actively do what's best for others. Today, our calling is to love without hypocrisy. What does that look like in our workplaces? First of all, I would also like to point out that there's some idea that this is talking about brotherly love, that this passage is to brothers, to people who follow Jesus, but we're challenged to love in other places in the scripture. And so our command here, I think, applies to everyone. We need to find ways to think about what's best for other people. Philippians two says that we should consider others more important than ourselves. I believe this verse is calling us to act as if others are more important than ourselves. So we have to not only just force ourselves to think they're more important, or to force ourselves to consider them as more important, but we need to take some action that demonstrates that we consider other people more important than ourselves. What will that be for you today? Why not give a huge tip today or why not do something for someone else, even though they can never repay it. Let's look for ways today to love without hypocrisy. I believe everything we do along this line matters forever. And I want to talk a little bit more about the rest of this first in our next post, but this is a great action item for us today. Let's find a way to love sincerely. Would you please ask God to show you who and how you can love someone else sincerely today. That puts you on mission with Jesus Christ, that makes us a marketplace minister, and I'm grateful that you are a marketplace minister. Thank you for considering how your faith can transform your everyday. That's what we try and do in our online community, too. You're welcome to join us at https://community.Followerofone.org and see what's involved in trying to live this Christian life on a daily basis. Can we let our faith invade what we do every day? Join us in the challenge. Thanks very much for being a marketplace minister. And thanks for listening to this podcast and sharing it with someone I'm grateful for you.  

Have you ever been surprised at what you can endure? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. This is our prompting every day to help us go into our jobs as full-time marketplace ministers. We started talking yesterday about Hebrews 12:1-2, and I read from the English Standard Version yesterday. But today I'd like to read from the New American Standard. "Therefore, since we have so great, a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin was so easily entangles us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Yesterday, we talked to her a little bit about what we can get rid of, what's not essential, removing the non-essentials. Today, I want to talk about how we can focus beyond our problems. Our focus can get us past our trials. When we fix our eyes on Jesus, when we look beyond whatever we have to endure, we get new strength. We can move into what we're aiming for. And he uses Jesus as an example, "for the joy set before him, he endured the cross." He focused on the joy to endure the cross. When we focus on Jesus, we can endure our situations. And not only that become more than conquerors, we can be a difference maker and a blesser of others. We can help people in ways that they can't even understand because our eyes are focused and fixed on Jesus Christ. He's the author, the starter and the completer of our faith. He started our faith and he finished it. And he did for the joy set before him. He endured the cross. We can for the joy set before us, for the savior given to us, for the freedom that we have in Christ, we can fix our eyes on Jesus to get through the things that happened to us in this world. We can focus beyond our trials. My challenge to us today in this brief podcast is to encourage you to ask God where you need to focus beyond what's going on. Let's not focus just on today, but rather let's focus on Jesus. Let's focus on where we're going with. Let's listen to him in such a way that he encourages us and he guides us and he shows us what to do. When we fix our eyes on him, or when we focus on him to the exclusion of everything else, we gain the strength to endure. We gain the strength to do the things necessary to glorify him and make him visible in our world. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for considering how you can live your faith every day in your workplace. Every day, your job is not to just stay out of trouble until Sunday. Our job is to be difference makers in our environment, to show the world what it looks like to follow Jesus. When we fix our eyes on him, that becomes more and more possible. We also need a community of people to help us do that. And Follower of One would like to be that community. We would encourage you to join us at https://community.followerofone.org. It's an online community where you can meet other people who are in a similar occupation to you, or maybe a similar life situation. And you can help one another fix your eyes on Jesus and focus beyond your trials so that you can glorify Christ in the marketplace. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for making a difference with your life, our actions matter. And I'm grateful that you listened to our podcast and are working on this with Jesus in your life. Thanks very much.  

Do you ever feel like you're carrying too many things or trying to do too much? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. Today and tomorrow, I'd like to talk about Hebrews 12:1-2. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." I like this challenge in scripture. It's a challenge to us who follow Jesus. To consider exactly what we're doing. Sometimes I treat my life much more like a vacation than a calling from the Lord. I think that I can sit around and waste my time and blow things and just take it easy. I'm trying to engineer my life in such a way that it benefits me. Paul's reminding us here that we operate for our Lord. We're working for him. And we let these witnesses that he mentioned in chapter 11, be our inspiration. And then he challenges us to lay aside every weight. I was reading from the English Standard Version. In the New American Standard it said "lay aside every encumbrance." Our efforts and what we have to carry, the stuff that we carry with us clings to us. The sin, which clings to us closely. He's challenging us to cast those things off. Let's get rid of the things that are not God. Do you spend much time talking to God and asking him what you should or shouldn't do? There are parts of my life where I've never really invited Jesus in as far as I probably should have. How do I spend my time? How do I invest my energy in other people? How do I do my job? Those are all opportunities for me to give up those things I might be holding on to, to grasp more of Jesus, to find out more of what he would have. We have to let go of the things that cling to us and the weights that we carry around so that we're in a position to be able to run with endurance the race that is set before us. The race is this calling God has given us. The life that we have, it's our one opportunity to bless other people, to help other people move one notch closer to Jesus. I believe that's the primary reason why Jesus leaves us here after he saved us. Yes, he's fixing us. And yes, he's doing things to glorify himself through us. And that's our purpose is to be Jesus bearer. To show other people would a Christ follower looks like in every circumstance and every situation. Today, I want to challenge us. Let's run with endurance the race that is set before us. And the best way to do that is to let go of the non-essentials. Whatever is happening in your life, that is a problem for you. And I'm not talking about things that are essential. Our family, our relationship with Christ, our relationship with people, the quality of work we do. Our job. Please don't hear me is telling you to upset your entire life. Rather let's lay aside every weight and the sin which clings so closely. So that we may run with endurance the race that is set before us. That's our challenge today. Take a moment and ask Jesus to show you what to concentrate on and what to let go of and then find a way to do it. And if you would like to be part of a community, that's constantly trying to follow Jesus better in our workplace. Check out https://followerofone.org. Join our online community at https://community.Followerofone.org and join us on the next marketplace mission trip. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for making a difference with your faith every day. Your actions matter. Thanks very much.  

How would you feel if I told you that the job of every Christian is to serve other people? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me today on the Follower of One podcast. I was surprised when I realized that I hadn't spoken about this passage before on the podcast. Ephesians 4:11-12 "and he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ." That's Ephesians 4:11-12 from the English Standard Version. I actually memorized that passage in the 1995 version of the New American Standard, which uses a slightly different word there. Often this passage is. , interpreted in the times that I've heard it talked about or in the commentaries that I've read, I see people and I hear people talking about how this passage is about the structure of the church. The apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers are the leaders in the church. Those are the people whose job it is to equip the saints, that's the rest of us, us chosen ones, us, people who are called to follow Jesus. Those people equip the saints for the work of ministry for building up the body of Christ. In my years, as a Christ follower, I've heard this passage explained a variety of different ways. So the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers being the staff of the church are equipping the rest of us for the work of ministry. And I've heard people talk about that as being I'm supposed to serve in the church in the 1995 New American Standard, It even says the work of service it's equipping us for the work of service. And so I've had people tell me that I need to serve in the church. I need to serve on Sundays or work in the nursery or teach a Sunday school class or do something associated with my church organization, with my local church. And that's been what I was told to do because I'm building up the body of Christ. I'm building up the whole local church. I'm not sure that's exactly what this passage means. In fact, the local church was a kind of a different organization back when Paul wrote this letter. It was a community of believers in the same general vicinity. So it was a local church, but I think it was a little less of an organization that we make it to be. I wonder if we don't take this a little too simply and keep it in the context of church when we ought to apply it to where we are and what we do every day, or you would think that I would come up with that kind of a conclusion just based on what you might know about Follower of One. Our job, I believe is to help other people move one notch closer to Jesus. And I believe the way God created us to do that is to serve others. I think that's his strategy. In Mark 10:45 Jesus says "even the son of man didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give his life, a ransom for many." And the word translated ministry in verse 12 is actually the same Greek word that is often translated service. You see our job isn't ministry, our job is service. That's the work we're supposed to be doing. The job a pastor or an apostle or a prophet does is they equip the saints. The job that the saints do is serve other people. We serve them and when we serve them well, and when we serve them, because we follow Jesus. Then they're prompted to ask, Hey, why are you doing this? Why would you do something like that? And then we get to tell them about our faith in Jesus and when they become Christ followers, when they become disciples that builds up the body of Christ. I wonder if it's not that simple, I've gone a little long today. Thank you for considering this idea. Let's talk a little bit more about the ministry of saints on tomorrow's episode is. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One podcast. If you want to be part of a community committed to growing as servers of people so that Jesus might become visible, then check us out at https://followerofone.org. Thanks very much.  

Would you consider yourself a person of hope? Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thank you for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast. This is our 668 episode, and we're in the middle of a Marketplace Mission Trip right now, and our challenge on the first day of the second week of the Marketplace Mission Trip is to go. Is to be ready to go into the world. The point of us going into the world is to be the presence of God in our world, to show people the answer to this problem that we've all struggled with since the beginning of time. Today's passage is Colossians 1:27 and I'm reading from the 1995 New American Standard "to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of mystery, among the Gentiles which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" this is the end of a pretty long sentence that Paul has strung together, but I want to focus on "Christ in us, the hope of glory." You see, that's the mystery. The Jews spent centuries trying to figure out how to follow God, how, how to do what He wants. And it was all to make the point that we can't, we all fall short. It says in Romans 3:23. None of us will measure up to God's standard. However, God has made this way, this mystery that we wrestled with, that the Jews wrestled with and human beings have wrestled with since the fall, since the beginning of time. This mystery is how in the world we can be part of the restoration of our relationship with God once we messed it up. And that mystery is the answer God had to our problem, which isn't us following rules. I think I mentioned before several times that up until I was 30 years old, I thought the way you got into heaven was you did enough good things. And good things were miserable and bad things were fun. And so I didn't want to do any more good things than I had to do. But this mystery that Paul's talking about here is that it isn't what we do. It's what we have in us. It's Christ in us because we follow him. We get Christ in us when we follow him and he becomes the answer. He's the answer to our problems. And that is the hope of our glory. When you look at the movies in our world today, and you look at TV shows and things that are going on, much of our world doesn't have much hope. But Christ in us is God's answer for that problem. Our job is to be the distribution system. Our job is to carry this mystery in the world. The mystery is Christ in us. When we live following Jesus, the world has no other explanation. We want our lives to be something that can only be explained when you factor in Jesus. That's our challenge today as believers in Jesus Christ, are we going into our world today to live in such a way that you can't explain it unless you factor in Jesus? That's Christ in us. And it's the hope of glory. It's the hope of surviving this grand colossal screw up that we've all made by breaking our world, by not obeying God. I'm so excited. I love the fact that God saved me. And that God called me to do something about it. And he called you to do something about it too. And so I want to ask you today, as we go into our workplaces, as we go into our world, remember Christ is in you. And he's the hope of glory for the whole world. Our job is to take him wherever we go so that the world might see him. And they must discover him. It's harder for the world to recognize him when we're talking about him all the time. It's much easier for the world to see him when they discover him, because our behavior doesn't line up with theirs. That's what the Marketplace Mission Trip is all about. In fact, if you'd like to live a life that can't be explained any other way than when you factor in Jesus, join us at Follower of One. Our job is to practice living life following Jesus on a daily basis. We would love to have you. Go to https://community.followerofone.org and create a profile and you can join us on the next Marketplace Mission Trip. Thanks very much for being a marketplace minister and for taking Christ in you to the world. Thanks very much.

Hey, it's Mike Henry Sr. with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast. We've been talking about a life worthy of the gospel from Philippians one verses 27 and 28. Today. I want to read from the original New International Version. So from 1984, something like that. "Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man, for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved- and that by God." We've talked a little bit about what it means to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. That means that we "stand firm in one spirit," and we "contend as one man, for the faith of the gospel," using this translation. The word "contending" here was the word "striving" in a couple of the other translations. Today. I want to focus on verse 28, "without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved- and that by God." I think this translation is a little sharp in that regard. This once again is the 1984 New International Version. In the 1995, New American Standard it says. " In no way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you and that too, from God." I don't want to be alarmed by my opponents. When I run into people who disagree or whenever difficult situations occur, my initial action is to be alarmed. There are bad things happening in the world, right now. There are major problems going on. As I record this, the Ukraine has been attacked by Russia for what seems to be no apparent reason to most of us in the West. And many people are dying and suffering as a result of that. This challenge about us being not alarmed or concerned or worried or fearful of our opponents comes from this confidence that God is in control. I confess I don't have the confidence that God is in control sometimes, when I think about, life-threatening situations, wars or accidents. I can create some pretty stiff anxiety in myself when I think about being closed in a small place. I can be alarmed by a number of things, but Paul's challenging us here to have this confidence in God. He's in charge of everything. And when we have confidence in him, we're not alarmed by the situations that we find ourselves in. We're not agonized by those things or scared or fearful. And that becomes a sign of destruction for them because our confidence is in God. It's our salvation because he gives us the peace and the joy.  I want to challenge us today to find the verses, look in the Bible. We can trust our God to pull us through. Maybe not even in this life. "In no way alarm by our opponents," today for us, I think means that we relax. We trust God, our situation isn't as bad as we think. Even if we lose our jobs, even if certain things happened to us, let's turn to God and trust him and not be alarmed. That trust and peace that we get from God is the difference maker. It's a sign of salvation for us, and it proves that people who don't have that peace don't have that God. I think that's what this whole reference to destruction means. Let's trust God today and follow him and do what he says. And he should give us peace because we won't be alarmed by our opponents. And it will be obvious to everyone else that we're connected to something bigger than what's happening to us right now. When we conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, we look different to the world. And that's part of our job. Our job is to take life following Jesus and stick it in the world. Ministry is nothing but helping other people move one notch closer to Jesus, and that begins with us living life, following him. Why don't you choose to follow Jesus today? Ask him how he would have you show up at work and then do what he says. Thanks very much for being a marketplace minister. If you want to be part of a community, that's also interested in helping one another live this way on a daily basis, check out our community at https://followerofone.org. You can just go to https://followerofone.org and click on the community links to learn more. Thanks very much.  

Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today on the Follower of One Podcast. Today, we're continuing our study of Philippians 1 27 and 28. And I want to read that today from the English Standard Version. "Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation and that from God." Again, that's Philippians 1 27 and 28 from the English Standard Version. We've been talking about a life worthy of the gospel. And we've talked about that in the previous two episodes. Today, we're talking about the second characteristic of a life worthy of the gospel that we are with one mind striving side by side, for the faith of the gospel. It's translated slightly differently in the other translations that I've used; the Christian Standard two days ago and the New American Standard yesterday. Striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel, I think is part of this example that Paul's making. When we live worthy of the gospel of Christ, we are locked in on the Holy Spirit. We do what God tells us to do. We're listening to him and obeying what we know and doing the things that he's called us to do. And with one mind striving side by side, for the faith of the gospel, we live that way together. One of the challenges that I see in the world today, especially and our new kind of social media world is that it's easy for us to criticize other people. And many of us criticize other Christians. People may be critical of my own teaching about the scripture here. I don't consider myself a teacher. I'm a challenger. I want to challenge us to live our faith. I want to challenge you to ask the Holy Spirit what he would have you do. "One mind striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel," doesn't necessarily mean that we all do the same things or that we all have the same beliefs. We don't all vote for the same candidates. We don't all show up on the same side of every single issue. I don't believe it's that way at all. "One mind striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel," means that I give grace to the people around me. Jesus called me to be a server of other people. That's what ministry is. I need to be a servant. When I see another believer and they do things slightly differently than me, I need to give them grace. I need to serve them and help them and assist them. I want to lay down my life for one another, for other people, I need to figure out ways to follow the holy spirit and be a blessing to the people around me. Whether I necessarily agree with them or not. We're called to serve other people, whether they follow Jesus or they don't. And so "With one mind striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel," to me means that I'm taking my orders from the Holy Spirit and I'm doing my best to serve everyone that I know. In Mark 10:45, Jesus said, "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve." That's part of that verse, but I believe that's the universal part of it. Jesus came to serve. Our job is to serve. Today, if you're doing that, I'm grateful for you. I'm thankful that God has called you to follow him and to serve other people. Daily activity number four is that we would serve others. Today. I want to challenge you ask the Holy Spirit where he would have you serve others, and I believe that will make you be part of this answer, "striving side by side, for the faith of the gospel." We give away our faith, by the way we live. Thank you for being a follower of Jesus. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for asking God, how he would have you make a difference in the world today because you follow him. Thanks very much.