Series: Called
Message: Essential Gospel
Preacher: Jessyka Albert
Reflection: Jessyka Albert
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Purpose: Jason Calvert
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Romans 1:8-17 in the English Standard Version (ESV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: Yesterday we thought about Paul and his yearning for community with the church of Rome. The English Standard Version indicates that community is important, “that we may be mutually encouraged by each other.”
When I was in college, I had an entire Pinterest board dedicated to inspirational quotes and verses. There’s nothing like moving halfway across the country, starting a new chapter of your life, and being scared to death! You might say I needed some comforting, encouraging, and motivational words in my life. Sometimes I would print them out and post them on my desk, other times I would write them down in a journal or memorize them. For many years, I leaned on these catchy quotes and cute Bible verses that somehow were meant to encourage me and keep me going.
I’ll share a few with you with the disclaimer that they are extremely cheesy and cliché:
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it, it just blooms.”
“Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong.”
“If you focus on results, you’ll never change. If you focus on change, you will get results.”
I’ll stop there before I get on a roll, because my motivational board has over 200 pins of all the encouraging clichés you can think of. Although they canmake me feel really good about getting my life together, not once have I ever thought, “Gee, that motivational quote really was the thing that helped me through [insert difficult situation].”
When I look back at the times in my life when my faith needed motivation or encouragement, I look back at people. People who spoke truth into my life. People who weren’t afraid to be vulnerable and share their stories with me. When we share about our own faith and how it has been molded over the years, we strengthen the faith of others in ways that no quote every could.
Recalibrate: On whom or what do you lean for encouragement?
Respond: Ask God to bring you to someone who can encourage your faith and vice versa.
Research: Take an inventory of the times in your life when you were encouraged. Who or what encouraged you?
Remember: I am not ashamed of the Good News. It is the power God uses to save everyone who believes—to save the Jews first, and then to save the non-Jews. (Romans 1:16, ICB).
Jessyka Albert is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church with a special responsibility for children's ministry. She is a native of Washington State and a graduate of Union College. Jessyka is known for her passion, energy, and fun-loving approach to sharing the gospel in creative ways.
Today is "cheer each other on day!" It’s not official, but it’s a good thing to do. Celebrate the good stuff—after all, every good thing comes from our heavenly father. Say thank you.
Your adventure today is to encourage everyone around you—even yourself. Say "good job" or "well done" when you complete a task. Get in the habit of looking for the great in everyone, even yourself. Thank God for this greatness because He put it there.
If someone handed you a contract guaranteeing a multimillion dollar salary every year for the rest of your life and all you really had to do was be you, what would you do?Basically, this is what happened to kid David. Samuel anoints little kid David to be Israel’s next king. But he wouldn’t be king until many years later. So what does he do now? David does the unthinkable—he goes back to tending sheep! There’s a lesson here. There’s beauty and purpose in thesmall.Remember, while he tended sheep David mastered the very art (stone slinging) that would lead to freedom for his people. Have you ever had huge dreams and goals and then got discouraged when you still had to do homework, chores, and practice? Is it possible God’s called you to do huge things, but the way you’ll accomplish these things is through learning and doing the small? What “small” thing do you need to do now, that God will use for His big plans?