You know (or maybe you don't know) how you can read a portion of the Bible and it means something one time, then out of the blue, you discovered something you completely missed because you were so concentrating on what you (or everyone else) thought that passage meant?
Last Sunday as our disciplining group was talking about what Matthew 25:14-30 meant to each of us, we came across many "moonwalking bears". What I mean by this can be best explained by viewing this one minute Youtube clip. The conclusion is this: It's easy to miss something you're not looking for.
This passage of scripture sometimes is referred to as the Parable of the Three Servants. Many think this parable and the one before it about the Ten Bridesmaids refer to the end-time judgment. After Jim, our discussion leader, showed the clip he asked us what other "take-aways" we saw as we read these two parables as it relates to being a "missional" disciple.
We discovered some moonwalking bears:
1) One thing important to a disciple is to do the will of the Father. In Matthew 12:50 Jesus says we are part of His family if we do His father’s will. If we are part of the family, we should have the same characteristics of Jesus and seek to be more like Him. Matthew 7:21-23 implies that we need to “do” the will of God which implies actions and not just words. We need to be obedient to the call to “go and make” disciples and not rely on “ministerial success” as the standard by which one judges their relationship with Christ.
2) God gives each of us talents and abilities. He gives some more than others. What’s important is not how many talents we have but what we do with them to advance the Kingdom.The first two who doubled their talents received the same praise from their Master. The last one who was given one talent and hid his, received a harsh reprimand from the Master. All three made a choice of how much they were willing to risk. The first two were rewarded a 100 fold in their investment whereas the third who hid his talent was afraid to take any risk and earned zero percent. We learned that one must be willing to take risks if one wants to advance God’s Kingdom.
Like I said before, we all make choices on how we use our talents represented by our abilities, our time, our resources and our opportunities and how we use them to advance the Kingdom this side of heaven. In the short time we have we need to ask ourselves what are our priorities. Do we seek His Kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33) or do we seek the things of the world. Do we pray for “desperate” people to come into our lives? Do we make time and develop relationships with these desperate people by doing life with them on a weekly basis? Take time and allow God to demonstrate His kingdom power by sharing the love of Christ through our actions not just by our words. Let us be missional disciples for Him.
Last Sunday as our disciplining group was talking about what Matthew 25:14-30 meant to each of us, we came across many "moonwalking bears". What I mean by this can be best explained by viewing this one minute Youtube clip. The conclusion is this: It's easy to miss something you're not looking for.
This passage of scripture sometimes is referred to as the Parable of the Three Servants. Many think this parable and the one before it about the Ten Bridesmaids refer to the end-time judgment. After Jim, our discussion leader, showed the clip he asked us what other "take-aways" we saw as we read these two parables as it relates to being a "missional" disciple.
We discovered some moonwalking bears:
1) One thing important to a disciple is to do the will of the Father. In Matthew 12:50 Jesus says we are part of His family if we do His father’s will. If we are part of the family, we should have the same characteristics of Jesus and seek to be more like Him. Matthew 7:21-23 implies that we need to “do” the will of God which implies actions and not just words. We need to be obedient to the call to “go and make” disciples and not rely on “ministerial success” as the standard by which one judges their relationship with Christ.
2) God gives each of us talents and abilities. He gives some more than others. What’s important is not how many talents we have but what we do with them to advance the Kingdom.The first two who doubled their talents received the same praise from their Master. The last one who was given one talent and hid his, received a harsh reprimand from the Master. All three made a choice of how much they were willing to risk. The first two were rewarded a 100 fold in their investment whereas the third who hid his talent was afraid to take any risk and earned zero percent. We learned that one must be willing to take risks if one wants to advance God’s Kingdom.
Like I said before, we all make choices on how we use our talents represented by our abilities, our time, our resources and our opportunities and how we use them to advance the Kingdom this side of heaven. In the short time we have we need to ask ourselves what are our priorities. Do we seek His Kingdom and righteousness (Matthew 6:33) or do we seek the things of the world. Do we pray for “desperate” people to come into our lives? Do we make time and develop relationships with these desperate people by doing life with them on a weekly basis? Take time and allow God to demonstrate His kingdom power by sharing the love of Christ through our actions not just by our words. Let us be missional disciples for Him.
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