Gracepoint Devotions

Submitted by Allen C. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Which of the following areas have I grown in this year? What are the circumstances or what acts of obedience led to growth in this area?

• Sharing God’s heart for the lost
• Creative and effective evangelism here and abroad
• Compassionate service to the needy

Matthew 9:36-38

³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

In this past year, I’ve grown in sharing God’s heart for the lost. As we were preparing to reach out to a new class of college students this Fall quarter, there was a night where we gathered together as a church to pray for the new students who would be arriving on campus and to get equipped for how we might effectively meet them in order to share the gospel with them. Steve gave a short message to remind us why we were doing what we were doing, about how God’s heart is for us to seek and save the lost. One thing that really helped to drive the point home was the imaginary scenario that if his son Micah were missing one day, Steve would drive all over town looking for him and would go to any extent to get his son back. He would not stop searching until he found him, not give himself any rest, because of his great love and concern for his child. And he would hope that those who knew him and cared for him would also have the same heart and concern for his lost son. This illustration helped me see and feel God’s heart for the lost, who are also described as God’s lost children. I was reminded that this is how God views and feels toward those who don’t know Him. They are every bit as precious and valuable to Him as a missing son to a father, and God would go to any extent to find His lost children, even going to the cross to demonstrate His love and provide a way back to Him. And so as school started, this was my heart as I met people and started to build relationships so that I could one day have an opportunity to share the gospel with them so that they can be reconciled with our loving heavenly Father. Evangelism is about meeting people who may be lost, harassed by sin or the lies of Satan, helpless against the temptations of college life, addicted to some destructive behavior, and ultimately separated from their heavenly Father. Whether they’ve never heard of the good news of the gospel, or they’ve been burned by a bad experience at church, or they’ve got reason to be wary of organized religion, they are missing the amazing, unconditional love of God for which they were made. God grieves over them because the reality is that apart from Him, they are lost in their sins and headed toward an eternity apart from Him. So He wants them to experience the gospel, which offers them a chance to be saved from death, forgiven of sin, restored to God, and given eternal life. Remembering the truth about people’s greatest problem (sin) and their greatest need (the gospel) gave me a different perspective during welcome week: that each person was a precious son or daughter of God whom He wanted to save and invite into a personal relationship. And this motivated me to want to reach out to these students so they could have a chance for God to find them and welcome them home.

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Submitted by Jenny C. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

One area I experienced growth in was sharing in God’s heart for the lost, as He taught me to lift up my eyes from the tasks and small dramas of my life and onto the people He wanted me to care about. This would happen when I least expected it, often when I felt stressed about preparing for life group prayer meeting, for course 101 discussion. I’ve gone into a meeting with someone not knowing how they’ll respond to the content I’ve prepared, unsure if they’ll understand the points I want to make, uncertain of how the conversation will go. I’m often feeling nervous and focused on the task at hand, trying to lead that time, and I can only pray that somehow the Holy Spirit will be at work in that person’s heart despite my inadequacy and lack of wisdom. I remember at a life group prayer time in which I was meeting one of the students for the very first time. I was still sick with a cold that had lasted for over a month and feeling weary. I contemplated having one of the other staff take over–after all I wasn’t fully recovered and it was just two students who were planning to come, but in the end decided to push through and make it, though my focus was just on making it through that time. Yet through the course of that prayer time, the person opened up really vulnerably about her past burdens and current struggles and I ended up being able to lift her up in prayer about those issues. God used incidents like this to increase my burden for people, and to realize with new sharpness that there are so many people out there who are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (cf. Matthew 9:36). Though I could hide behind excuses of why I should not be the one ministering to people (i.e. I’m not feeling well, I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t have what it takes, etc.), the reality is that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Rather than just being relieved that the meeting is over, I get hit with a renewed sense that God’s desire is to seek the lost, bring back the strayed, bind up the injured, strengthen the weak (cf. Ezekiel 34:16), and He has somehow brought this person into my life so He can do those things through me.

Another way I’ve grown in sharing God’s heart for the lost is through hearing the stories of lives changed by God. Earlier this year, I had the chance to witness some of our students get baptized at our first Riverside baptism service. Their testimonies of where these brothers were before they met Christ and before they came to our church brought me to tears, as I heard them recount how alone they felt or how they believed they were worthless. Yet God had a purpose to bring them to our church, to bring them to life and salvation in the gospel, and it would leave me wondering–what if we did not start this church plant? What if we had clung to comforts or gave in to fears and never came? It was indeed God’s heart to seek and save the lost that He brought them into our midst and used us, even as the broken, struggling, imperfect people we are, to show these brothers His great love and compassion for them.

In which of the above areas do I want to experience growth in this coming year?

I want to engage more creatively in reaching out to people. This year, more than ever, I feel a greater hurdle in relating to younger people in my ministry. I think this has to do in large part with me becoming a mom, as it seems to take more to relate to the college freshmen who only a year ago were in high school, and who don’t really know what it takes to raise a child, the demands as a parent. Also as I get older, I feel more removed from what it’s like to be in college. Yet in 1 Corinthians 9, Apostle Paul says he becomes all things to all people for the sake of the gospel, so he can share with people in its blessings. In my context, this means I need to get into the mindset of being a college freshmen again – to revisit the days when I lived in the dorms, what kind of concerns I had, what my relational world was like, what my motivations were. Rather than sticking to things I’ve done before and assume what’s worked will work again, I want to try new things in order to meet them where they’re at. This means I have to devote more of my time to thinking about each person with care and intentionality, just as a good shepherd would take care to examine each of the sheep in his care.

Another area I want to grow in this coming year is being a person who will be able to teach and raise up others. 2 Timothy 2:2 says “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful menwho will be able to teach others also.” I still see many ways in which I still need to mature so that I can become this faithful person who can pass down gospel truths so it will shape people who come after me. This is particularly true as I think about our current upperclassmen, who will graduate in a couple years, and some of whom may join our team at that time. I have this responsibility over them and I owe it to them to grow and mature myself so I can properly teach and train them. This means that I have to step up the ownership I have over our ministry and over my own spiritual life. I cannot defer decisions to my leaders, or expect things to happen because my leaders are there to make them happen. It means not shielding myself from the hard things in ministry–taking risks with people to speak truths to them; being intentional to think through and anticipate each person’s issues; being mindful of our students’ view of our church. It means being proactive in my relationships and myself first living out our core values (connecting with God, living it out, giving it all, getting close, etc.) with greater intensity and conviction before I can pass down the values of our church to this next generation. The way I live my life is what our students are looking to for the example of how to live as an Acts 2 church–and thinking about this brings to me a heightened sense of the enormity of this task.

Submitted by Henry C. from Gracepoint Austin Church

Which of the following areas have I grown in this year? What are the circumstances or what acts of obedience led to growth in this area?

• Doing life together in all its ups and downs
• Having open homes and open lives
• Relating to each other in love, commitment and honesty
• Creating and sharing memorable moments

In our society, what you often see is that one is accepted to the extent that they are adding value. In many places, it is even more merciless because not only does the person need to be making a positive contribution, they need to be worth more than the cost of keeping them in their position. If there is someone could replace that person and do a better job, then that person will likely be gone at the next opportunity. This happens all the time, both in the workplace as well as in peoples’ personal relationships.

Thankfully, the church does not operate this way. The church was never supposed to be an organization made up of interchangeable, expendable human resources. Instead, we are “one body in Christ (Romans 12:5).”  We are each a member of one body and therefore members of one another. It’s not possible to switch out one part of your body for a different one just because it is underperforming. The only reason that anyone would ever amputate a part of his body would be if it were cancerous. But short of that, people learn to live with what they have. If one part is weak, then the other parts work to compensate. Of course ideally, the weak part would be rehabilitated and eventually be able to do what it was created to do so that the other parts of the body can do what they were created to do. But in short, giving up on or cutting off a member of the body is just not an option.

This past year has been one of the toughest years in my walk with God. It’s been a year of taking time off my typical ministry schedule to really rebuild my relationship with God. Throughout this time, I’ve often felt guilty that I was not serving at the same capacity as others around me. I felt insecure because I wondered whether others should just give up on me and focus their energies on other people who could yield more “return on their investment.”

Throughout this time, I found hope to know that Christ actually commands us to “bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).” It assured me that I’m not banking on my merit or even on others’ big heartedness, but I am banking on the fact that God commands the members of the body of Christ to stay committed to one another.

It is through being in this position that I have come to more deeply appreciate that we really are a church committed to doing life together through all its ups and downs. My leaders did not give up on me, but continued to minister to me and guide me back to God’s heart. Others in the ministry took on the responsibilities that I had so that I could focus on my relationship with God. My peers continued to be committed to me, prayed for me, and encouraged me through timely conversations. In the end, I was able to get closer in many of my relationships as I saw how unconditionally committed they were to me.

In which of the above areas do I want to experience growth in this coming year?

In order to get close, we have to relate to each other in love, commitment and honesty. As I get older and my life gets more complicated, there are different barriers that I have to overcome in order to relate in this way. As my life gets busier, I am tempted to operate out of a desire to go through my checklist of tasks as opposed to focus on genuinely connecting with the people whom God has placed before me to love. As my obligations and responsibilities grow, I am tempted to feel overwhelmed and excuse myself from committing my time and energy to others’ needs as they present themselves. Finally, as I am now one of the older ones in the ministry, there is the temptation to keep up the perception that I have it all together instead of being completely honest with where I am at.

The trend in society is that guys my age slowly become more and more isolated and lose their close relationships, no doubt partly due to the factors above. I pray that I can fight against each of these things that destroy relationships, and instead to relate to the people God has placed in my life with love, commitment, and honesty.

Submitted by Debbie F. from Gracepoint Austin Church

Which of the following areas have I grown in this year? What are the circumstances or what acts of obedience led to growth in this area?

• Living a passionate and sacrificial life
• Generosity in giving time, money, talent and energy
• Working hard and doing our best

One area I’ve grown is in a passionate and sacrificial life. I’ve found myself in the very obvious position of needing to mature, to get out of myself, to give of myself for others, to expand my scope of concern as several older staff left to help serve in our other churches, ministering to a fairly sizable life group with people of diverse needs and the start of our new Praxis ministry.

This past year was filled with challenges from the Word of God, from Jeremiah’s complete giving of himself to live out and preach God’s message, to DTs and Bible studies through Apostle Paul’s epistles demonstrating his passion and heart, that were always so timely for me.  The DT that stood out for me the most, and that continues to bring me back to my identity is 2 Corinthians 5, the amazing fact that God gave me—lazy, selfish, grumpy, full of failures me—the ministry of reconciliation, entrusted me the message of reconciliation, and has me as an ambassador for Christ, God making his appeal through me.  That was the motivational speech of the year, a “What on earth–” moment.  I saw how in every way, God has incomprehensibly entrusted me with such lofty roles and responsibilities, and I just couldn’t understand why.

Yet, as I reflected over it, I saw this as actually not so surprising when I looked at just who God is.  He’s demonstrated His love and grace in that while I was a sinner, Christ died for me.  He’s a God of grace, and He’s the one who does it all, and calls me to go along with Him, to follow Him.  How can I not respond with humility, gratitude and passion?  When I see all that God has entrusted to me–this precious ministry, the people in my live, I desire so much rise up to the task for which He has called me, to grow up, to give more of myself.  In response to this message, I’ve found myself becoming a lot more passionate about people, thinking not only of their immediate issues that they may present to me, but often being unable to sleep, thinking about how better to minister to them, take them to the next step in their walk with Christ, pull some out of the mud and mire in which they’re stuck, be a lot more proactive as I claimed greater ownership (as I should’ve from way back when) over this ministry group.

And if anything, I’ve come to realize that by God’s grace and power working within me, I have way more capacity than I thought I had, and in the coming year, I hope to find the same once again.

In which of the above areas do I want to experience growth in this coming year?

The area in which I need to grow is in the area of working hard and doing my best.  Though in the area of ministry, with the people entrusted to me, whom I’ve been called to love, serve and disciple, I’ve grown in understanding my identity, my role in their lives, and have come to realize that there’s still way more room in my life to give of myself in love, Acts 20:34-35 speaks of Apostle Paul’s total blamelessness in all that he does, striving in every way to be a blessing and not a burden to those around him.  He worked hard, not only in “spiritual” ministry, but the scope of his ministry was such that, in every way, his life would bless others.  He supported himself financially, so as not to burden or potentially stumble the church, even though he had every right to be supported by the churches he founded and led.  The fact that he can say, not only in this text but in other text as well, “You know me,” reveals how he never saw “downtime” for himself, but every moment was a ministering moment, a chance to be a blessing, to serve the Lord Christ.

And this is where I need to mature.  This past year, I’ve come to realize, with much shame, that, as CS Lewis had described in Problem of Pain, “They wanted some corner in the universe of which they could say to God, ‘This is our business, not yours.’ But there is no such corner,” there still existed those corners in my life where I did not serve the Lord Christ, but myself.  Those corners which I called “my room” or “my downtime,” where I chose to do was personally comfortable, rather than what would be befitting as a servant of Christ.  I am not my own, I was bought at a price, and I’m to honor God with my body, heart, mind, soul, strength.  Even when Jesus took time to rest, he invited interruptions out of his compassion for others and his clear identity of what He was here for.  My identity has been given me by God.  I’m a servant of God, He’s made me a minister of reconciliation, His ambassador, one through whom He makes His appeal, one who’s been called to love and He’s loved me, called to serve as He’s served me, obedient even to death on a cross.

Lord, may my standards in every area of my life be raised to honor you in greater and greater measures.  May my house be kept as the Levites meticulously kept the tabernacle, that whoever enters through my doors may experience Christ without distraction.  May every minute of my time be a ministering moment, be it with those I lead, my co-laborers, my leaders, my husband and child, or the random encounter.  It is more blessed to give than to receive, and I want to be a blessing to others, a blessing to you.

Reflect on one verse that particularly hit you.

2 Timothy 4:6-7

⁶ For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

These are words that I want to be able to say, confidently that I have fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith!  The way I live is still too much like how I was running the 10K last year– run, walk, run, walk, walk, walk, fast sprint the last few yards.  The way I fight is not on the frontlines, but hiding behind others hoping I don’t get hit.  I don’t want to be a coward; I want to fight hard, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus, pleasing my commanding officer.  I want to run as one running to win the prize.  I want to keep the faith that has been given and entrusted to me.  So that when my time of departure comes, I may stand, able to say to my Lord, “I did my very best,” and be able to hear from my Lord, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

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Submitted by Sarah S. from Gracepoint Austin Church

Which of the following areas have I grown in this year? What are the circumstances or what acts of obedience led to growth in this area?

• Living a passionate and sacrificial life

Looking back at this year, I see that there has been growth in this area of living passionately and sacrificially.  As I get older and life gets more complicated, there is that desire to not do as much or give of myself as much.  As I think of this past year, there were times when I felt that desire to just settle or slow down.  However, I think God knew my default desire to want comfort and ease and placed those boundaries for me so that I wouldn’t give into that temptation.  This year has been a growing year, involving growth in areas that I never felt that confident in such as leading groups on my own or leading a younger staff and growing pains of trying to embrace my role as a spiritual mentor and one of the older staff here in Austin.  After some older staff moved to help out at different ministries, I knew the choice was either for me to retreat and fall into that “little ol’ me” mindset, or to push through my feelings of inadequacy and insecurity and obey God in embracing this role.  Now, without someone older right above me, there is a much greater urgency to take complete ownership over those I’m ministering to.  Yet, even though as the pressure got higher, more responsibilities were placed upon me, and the realization of the gap where I am in my character and where I ought to be has widened, I see that my passion has grown.  It’s not just about tasks and getting things done or just trying to show like I’m doing ok.  I’ve learned this past year that there is too much at stake to operate in this way.  I don’t want to just operate as if I’m a “good staff”, though that strain of performance-orientedness is still within me, but I see that more than that is this deeper drive and motivation of wanting to see people saved by this gospel b/c I know as I’ve been ministering to people especially this year that sin is real, death is real, and the gospel is the only hope we have to give. I think another circumstance that has helped me to grow in my passion and in living a sacrificial life is as I’ve been helping some people go through more serious sin issues this past year, I’m more convicted that there can only be true hope in the cross of Jesus.  This world is so broken as I hear of people who are scarred from the past, from recurring sins, or just finding worth and security in this world as many of the seniors are looking towards graduation.  Although it’s been harder emotionally and often feeling at a loss in how to help people, but the fact has become clearer the only source of hope, of finding healing and renewal is in Jesus.

In which of the above areas do I want to experience growth in this coming year?

• I want to work on experiencing more growth in continuing to live a passionate and sacrificial life.  I feel like the other two areas are encompassed in living a passionate and sacrificial life, and I would only increase in becoming generous with my resources and work hard and do my best as my passion and zeal and sacrifice for the gospel increases.  Although, I know that growing in passion and sacrifice is directly related to how much I’m willing to surrender my own life and preferences and embrace even more suffering.  I don’t know what this new year has in store, but I want to pray and recommit myself to dig deeper in my convictions and guard myself from wanting to settle down especially when it feels harder.

Reflect on one verse that particularly hit you.

I’m hit by Apostle Paul’s description of his life in 2 Corinthians 11:23-29.  Reading this always brings me back to proper perspective about my life, what suffering really is, and challenging me of the standard to which I’m called to live a sacrificial life.  Apostle Paul never shied away from embracing suffering and giving himself to spread this gospel.  I think about the coming year and spring semester, and although I will never have to face the kinds of obstacles that Apostle Paul did, but it hits me again how God gives me a new year in which I can strive to give it my all again.  Yes, there are regrets of having given into my laziness or fears and passivity, I have been given a new year in which I can try to live wholly giving myself to God, just as Apostle Paul did, and not shy away from the opportunities of suffering that God may place in my life.