2021 Team Devotional #1

Galatians 5:22-23a But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

Philippians 4:8-9 Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you.

More Than Happy Chapter 15 Quote: Grandpa picked the wettest spot in the yard because that was the best place for a plum tree, and God picked our lives because that is the best place for God’s fruit tree.

Why did God pick us? Go back to the two previous scriptures to see why. God didn’t pick us because we are perfect. He picked us because He knew we would carry out His mission. Will we stray? Will we wander off? Will we do our own thing? Yes! But God didn’t die on the cross for us because we are perfect. He died on the cross for us because He wanted to spend eternity with us but the only way He could do this was to cover us in His sacrifice and the only sacrifice that could cover us all was and is Himself.

What is your word for the year? Mine is: Focus the Love

Who/What is your mission for the year? Mine is:  Run after the lost and focus God’s love on them

Who/What is the lion you need to kill this year? Mine is: Fear of Rejection - Opening my heart up to people that could potentially hurt me either knowingly or unknowingly

Our job is to love at all times. Our job is to shine light into the darkness, to show what the darkness truly is and then show the world what our light can do to that darkness and our light is Jesus Christ Amen!!!

Does living boldly for Jesus look weird? Sometimes

Does living boldly for Jesus make sense to this world? Not at All

Is living boldly for Jesus dangerous? You Bet It Is

Is your life very comfortable right now? If so you need to get up and get uncomfortable because we can rest when we get to Heaven, right now this world needs Jesus.

So how can this team be used to reach Jesus? Every area can be used but 1st we have to settle ourselves. Look back to Galatians 5:22-23a. “Notice the order of God’s fruit. The first 3 are for our benefit, or more importantly, they are foundational: love, joy, peace. These are the big 3. If we don’t have these, we can’t support the other 6 because everything that will come after will be for the good of others, but these 3 support us personally. The 1st one mentioned is love. Love is the catalyst for all that God is going to do in us. He first loved us, then He gave His life for us. Love is the only reason God has anything to do with us at all. We can’t and won’t serve or care for others without love” (More than Happy Chapter 15) and the first person we need to learn to love is Jesus and the next one following very closely behind is ourselves. Matthew 22:37-39 says Jesus replied “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the greatest commandment and the 2nd is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Now then I want us to look around this room, if you’re here it’s because you’re a leader. You may not think you are but that’s no matter, I know you are, God knows you are, and someday you will see it too, but the 1st qualification to be a leader on this team is to love God. The 2nd is to love ourselves, and the 3rd is to love others.

My question to you? Do you want to be a leader on this team? If so these 3 qualifications are what we all have to follow. Will we mess up? Will we fall apart? Will we have times we are selfish? Will we have times we want to quit and give up? Yes to all of these but that is why God gave us these commands not so that we will always follow them 100% of the time but so that when we get off track, we can go back to them to get back on track.

The Team's Word or Phrase for the Year: Focus Our Love

What is The Team’s Mission: Run after the lost and focus God’s/Our love on them

Who/What is the lion this Team needs to kill this year: Every voice in us that is not Jesus

Week 1 Homework:

What is your word or phrase for the year?

Who/What is your mission for the year?

Who/What is the lion you need to kill this year?

Please spend some time in prayer before answering these questions 

We will talk about these at our next meeting.

2021 Lead Team Devotional Week 2

Focus the Love on God

GO OVER HOMEWORK FIRST

So how do we Focus the Love? 1st you have to know what love is. Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always hopes, always perseveres, love never fails.”

Read Galatians 5:22-23a “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Read Philippians 4:8-9 “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things. Whatever you have learned or heard from me or seen in me put it into practice and the God of peace will be with you.”

So what do we do once we have Focused the Love?

Read Matthew 22:37-39 says “Jesus replied, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. This is the greatest commandment and the 2nd is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Read Matthew 5:16 “Let your light shine before all mankind that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.”

1st we must love God

2nd we must love ourselves

3rd we must love everyone else

Once you know who your God is you will find out who and whose you are and once you find out who and whose you are, you will begin to see who everyone else is and who they belong to. That is life changing and will change the world.

Homework Assignment:

Who is your God?

Whose are you?

Do you love your God? Why?

Does He love you? Why?

Please answer these questions and back them up with scripture.

Week 3 we will begin the session with looking over our homework

Yawl have a great week.

2021 Lead Team Devotional Week 3

Focus the Love on Me

GO OVER HOMEWORK FIRST

So now that we have focused the Love on Jesus, let's now focus the love on us. But how do we do that? We do it the same way we focus the love on Jesus, we just aim it at ourselves. The same way we love Jesus is the same way we need to love ourselves. There is just one difference and that is we don’t just have ourselves loving us, we have Jesus loving us as well and now we know it. When we realize that Jesus loves us, we can begin to love ourselves the same way He loves us. So how does Jesus love us?

Read 1 John 3:16 says: By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers

Read John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not die but have eternal life.

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always hopes, always perseveres, love never fails.”

Read Galatians 5:22-23a “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Jesus is where we get the fruit of the Spirit. If you notice the fruits of the Spirit looks exactly like what love is.

So how does Jesus love us?

Jesus is Loving to us. Jesus is Joyful with us. Jesus is Peaceful with us.

Jesus is Patient with us. Jesus is Kind to us. Jesus is Good to us.

Jesus is Faithful to us. Jesus is Gentle with us. Jesus is Forgiving with us.

Jesus is Hopeful with us. Jesus keeps No records of wrongs with us.

Jesus is Truthful with us. Jesus Protects us. Jesus Perseveres for us.

Jesus is not Rude to us. Jesus is not Angry with us.

And how do we love ourselves?

We are Loving to ourselves. We are Joyful with ourselves. We are Peaceful with ourselves.

We are Patient with ourselves. We are Kind to ourselves. We are Good to ourselves.

We are Faithful to ourselves. We are Gentle to ourselves. We are Forgiving to ourselves.

We are Hopeful to ourselves. We keep No records of wrong with ourselves.

We are Truthful with ourselves. We Protect ourselves. We Persevere for ourselves.

We are not Rude to ourselves. We are not Angry with ourselves.

Read Psalms 63:1 says: As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.

Read Matthew 5:3-11 says: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Lets reread this and change it to first person.

Matthew 5:3-11 says: Blessed am I the poor in spirit, for me is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed am I who mourns for I will be comforted. Blessed am I the meek, for I will inherit the earth. Blessed am I who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for I will be filled. Blessed am I the merciful, for I will be shown mercy. Blessed am I the pure in heart, for I will see God. Blessed am I the peacemaker, for I will be called a son of God. Blessed am I who is persecuted because of righteousness, for me is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed am I when people insult me, persecute me and falsely say all kinds of evil against me because of Jesus. Rejoice and be glad, because great is my reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before me.

Read Isaiah 40:31 says: those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Read Exodus 23:29-30 I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

Read James 1:2-4 says: Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything.

Read Psalm 139:14-16 says: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

One of the worst things we can ever believe is that we are not lovable. That we are ugly. That we are stupid. Ect. When we believe this about ourselves, we have taken our focus off of God. If we keep believing this about ourselves, we begin to believe that Jesus feels this way about us, we begin to believe that others believe this about us, and then we begin to believe this about others and in turn there is no love going anywhere. I am going to rip the bandage off and go really dark right now and I’m gonna  talk about some very heavy stuff. 

The first one is relationships. So when we believe this about ourselves and believe everyone else is like this too, what kind of person are you then going to be drawn to date to marry to have kids with, etc? It's not gonna be someone who is loving, kind, forgiving, faithful, gentle, patient, etc, it's gonna be someone that is the total opposite. You’re gonna end up with someone who doesn’t care about you at all, only cares about themselves, and most of the time only wants sex and once their done with you, they will move on to the next person. This in turn makes you believe this lie even more and now you begin to believe that this is the only kind of person you’re ever gonna get. When we are in this rut of thinking, this hole of thinking, there is no way for us to get out by ourselves. The only way we’re gonna get out is with the help of Jesus because He is not only going to have to pull us out of this hole of thinking but His gonna have to change our minds and hearts. His gonna have to turn our worlds upside down to show us that what we believe to be true is actually a lie.

The second one is suicide. When we continue to believe this about ourselves, continue to do things, to be with and around people who believe this about us, we believe this about them, and we believe Jesus believes this about us, we are gonna eventually run out of hope and love. Why, because we have taken our eyes off of our 1st and 2nd loves which are Jesus and ourselves. Most people believe that when someone gets in this line of thinking there is no hope especially when you get deeper into it. My friends, that is not true. That is a lie from the pits of hell from satan himself. IT'S NOT TRUE!!!!!!! Why have I chosen to talk about this because I have been through it, I've been there and as of last year I have had to talk to several people and talk them down so this doesn’t and wouldn’t happen to them. Guys their is hope. You are a child God. That means hope lives in you. Guys you are loved. You are a child of God. That means love lives in you. Guys Jesus is real. You are a child of God. That means Jesus lives in you. Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus has seen all, is in all, and is above all. Don’t you think that if Jesus has overcome the world. Died on the cross. Risen from the dead. Created this earth. Created this universe. Created mankind. Created every single detail on a dandelion, don’t you think He can overcome you? Of course He can and He has. He did that when He died on the cross for our sins and rose from the grave on the 3rd day. Our God, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is not a pansy and He is not scared to walk into the darkest places of our lives and souls and shine His light and love into it, and force us to see that what we are looking at is not real at all. It's a lie, it's not real, and you can walk right through it. Its as easy to move as it is to move a curtain out of the way, but when we don’t have Jesus with us, it looks real, it looks scary, it looks hopeless, but guys it takes one second to turn to Jesus and He will come running and He will fight that battle and win why because He already has! Don’t believe the lie that you have to turn and come to Him first before He will intervene in your life, THAT’S NOT TRUE!!! He didn’t wait for you to come to Him before He died on the cross for you, He did it because He loves you. So if you or someone else you know is in this line of thinking. Speak life into them. Speak life into yourself. Get around people who love God. Get around people who will pray with and for you. Get in your bible. Don’t believe the lie that no one understands, that's not true, we’re all adults and we’ve all been here before to some degree. 

Ephesians 5:10-18 says: Finally be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.Therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

I love you guys so much and I am so thankful for you guys. I pray yawl always know you can come to me about any and everything anytime of the day or night. I’m always here. 

Let’s Pray!

Homework Read Galatians, Ephesians, Philillippians, Colossians

Underline your power verses & be ready to share some.

*What do you need to forgive yourself of?

*What do you need to let go of?

*Who do you need to let go of?

*What do you need to be patient with yourself for?

*What do you need to tell yourself you're proud of yourself for?

*Do you tell yourself you're beautiful or handsome? Do it!

*Do you tell yourself your fat or ugly stop it! You’re not!

*When someone gives you a compliment, say: Thankyou & STOP TALKING! Don’t say things like this: this old thing, whatever, really!? no i’m not, ect, ladies when your husband gives you a compliment, he means it, he is not just saying that to try to get you, he’s already got you, believe him!

*When you get paid a little extra, take some of that extra out for you, before you spend it all on everyone else.

*What is something you need or want to do but you are holding yourself back because of fear?

I am not going to ask you to share these things but I do want you to answer them, write them down & keep them until we get through the last Devotional because we’re gonna do something with them. 

Read your bible first, pray first, & then dive into these questions. If you need me as you walk through this let me. I’ll see yawl next week love yawl!

2021 Lead Team Devotional Week 4

Focus the Love on Others

GO OVER HOMEWORK FIRST

So now that we have focused the Love on Jesus and on us, let's now focus the love on others. How do we do that? We do it the same way we focus the love on Jesus and ourselves, we just aim it at others. The same way Jesus loves us, the same way we love Jesus, the same way we love ourselves is the same way we need to be loving others. 

So for this Devotional, we are going to take everything we have learned and compile it into one big devotional.

All the bible verses you have. Use them on others. The lists we have of how God loves us and we love ourselves, use that same list to love others.

The same questions we asked ourselves in last week’s homework we’re gonna ask this time in our homework but it will be regarding others. Again we don’t have to share them, but what I do want is for us to write this stuff down in a notebook & keep it.

Homework:

Homework Read 1 & 2 Corinthians

Underline your power verses & be ready to share some.

*Who do you need to forgive?

*Who do you need to be patient with?

*Who do you need to tell you're proud of them?

*Who do you need to tell their beautiful or handsome? 

*Who is someone you need to let back in your life no matter how hard of conversation it might be?

*Who is someone you need to pick up the phone and say hi to?

*Who is someone you need to compliment?

Next week will be our last devotional and we will be doing the Lord’s Supper together at the church. Please bring everything you have written folded up and placed in a sealed envelope.

Love Yawl See Yawl Next Week!!!

2021 Lead Team Devotional Week 5

The Lord’s Supper

Well welcome to Week 5 our final night of our Leadership Devotional. I hope and pray that this devotional has encouraged you, built you up, set you free, and allowed you to face some of the fears in your life and you have begun to overcome that fear and walk right through it.  Today we are going to be observing the Lord’s Supper and I am so thankful that I am getting to do that with you guys. Yawl are not only leaders on the team I lead, and you are not just my friends, you are my family and I mean with that with all my heart and soul. We have been called to serve Jesus together and that means that until God leads us in a different direction we walk side by side doing this life together, making mistakes together, learning together, crying together, being mad together, bringing others to Jesus together, etc etc.

So today we are going to take everything that we have written down and placed in envelopes and nail those bad boys to the cross. Then we’ll partake in the Lord’s Supper and finally, we’ll take someone else’s envelope from the cross outside and burn it to the ground. No one will be able to see what we have written, but what this is going to do is to show us that all our burdens, all our cares, they are not meant to be carried alone. We need help with them. That is why God sent His Son to this earth to die for us and why we have each other.

John 3:16 says: For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son so that whoever believes in Him will not die but live forever.

1 Peter 5:7 says: Cast all your cares on the Lord because He cares for you.

Matthew 18:19-20 says: I also tell you this: If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask, my father in heaven will do it for you.

Someone Pray:

Nail Envelopes to the Cross:

Look at 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

27 So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. 29 For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we were more discerning with regard to ourselves, we would not come under such judgment. 32 Nevertheless, when we are judged in this way by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be finally condemned with the world.

 

Someone Pray:

 

Partake in Lord’s Supper:

 

Amen!!!!

 

Go & get someone else’s envelope & go out to burn pit

 

Someone Pray:

 

Burn them to the ground:

 

I pray and dismiss: