Series: Jesus Manifesto
Message: Getting Word to the Saints and the Faithful
Preacher: Iki Taimi
Reflection: Japhet De Oliveira
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Lydia Svoboda
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: Colossians 1:1-10 in The Message (MSG). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: In the Message paraphrase the verses are blended together because the late Eugene Petersen’s intent was to reflect more of the style of the original texts rather than mimic the clinical method often used to approach the Bible. This is one of the many reasons I encourage everyone to read the Bible as a whole, in larger sections, more as a story and not rely on only on the parsing, dissecting, micro-analysis of the text. Ideally, you need to do both. You need to see the deep exegetical analysis alongside the larger narrative. Compare it to listening to just four notes being played on a musical instrument. Understanding which song they come from opens up their significance. In the middle of Verses 5-8, this phrase spoke to me:
From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more.
Epaphras excelled in his report on the Colossian church plant. Paul knew this community was hungry for more. He wanted to provide the most challenging menu for them. Their cup would be overflowing. Their table would be so abundant that everything else that might have been on the menu would be naturally ignored and forgotten. When my wife Becky makes trifle there is no other dessert worth being considered. If something truly great is presented, you ignore everything else.
This was the way of Paul. He spent less time talking about errors and more time talking about “the truth of what God is doing.” There is a deep lesson about change dynamics that I believe motivate, shape, and inspire transformation. Focus on the vision—if you agree that the vision is Jesus. Talk about Jesus. Spend time on what Jesus is calling you to do instead of time tearing down others. Spend time on what is beautiful and true instead of what is ugly and broken. Keep your eyes on Jesus—on the water that quenches all thirst (John 4).
Recalibrate: Do you find it easier to criticize or create? Do you lead through creation or criticism? Does Jesus lead you through creation or criticism?
Respond: Pray to be more like Jesus in your interactions with others.
Research: Read John 4.
Remember: “He also told us about the love you have from the Holy Spirit” (Colossians 1:8, ICB).
Japhet De Oliveira is administrative director for the Center for Mission and Culture at Adventist Health in Roseville, California.
Teach your child to give a thumbs up sign. This means everything is OK. Two thumbs up is very OK! Or double thumbs up is doubly good. Use this sign to encourage your child. Ask them if this was a double thumbs up lunch or was this a double thumbs up cartoon? Encourage your child to see what is good and give expression to that. This is what love does. Love looks for the good and encourages it.
Play a game of What I Like About You. Look in the mirror and tell your eyes what you like about them. Look at your ears and tell them what you like about them. Make funny shapes with your mouth and tell your teeth what it is that you like about them. Get really good—even expert—at seeing and saying what it is that you like. Then take this skill and share it around with people you know.
A few weeks ago I was at an event called Faster Pastor at a racetrack in Colorado put on by the Bandimere Speedway. For a few hours one afternoon, the owners provided six souped-up Dodge Challenger cars for any pastor to drive head-to-head down a professional track. The whole thing was legit with the timers and lights and starting blocks. Two pastors at a time, we would go pedal to the metal with our entire bodies pressed back into the seat as we flew down the lane at over 100 miles per hour. While I got only three chances to line up, it took me weeks to forget the exhilaration of going that fast! All I could think when I got out of that car was, “I have got to come back here and do this again soon!”
I have only felt this feeling once before in my life. And that was when I performed my first baptism as a young pastor. Being with another person in the baptismal pool gave me the same rush because I knew that this was the thing I was meant to do. I was called to be a pastor. And no matter what, I had to find a way to get back into the pool and baptize someone else into the Kingdom of God!
When you find the thing you are called to do, it’s the biggest rush. More than the drop from the tallest roller coaster, your heart experiences a high beyond all measure. The Holy Spirit moving in your life is an experience that can’t be missed. And it comes from doing the thing God is calling you to engage in.
What’s your purpose? What do you think God is calling you to be? What’s the thing in your life that gives you the most joy? And what’s keeping you from doing it more often?
God works in each individual, unique life. The stories are endless. The glimpses into His heart are everywhere. Share them! Let others know about “the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven” (Col. 1:5). “And I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself,” said Jesus (John 12:32). Lift Him up and watch Him do the rest.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Lydia Svoboda is a junior theology major at Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.