Chosen

1 Peter 2:4-12

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A4-12&version=NIV;MSG

  

What defines you? What is your identity? Is it your career or what you do such as being a parent a student or an athlete? Is it where you live? Is it some great accomplishment; or something shameful that you did? Is it a physical trait like the shape of your body or how attractive you are?

 

Whatever it is, one thing is for sure; your identity sets the course of your life. It gives direction to your attitudes, your beliefs, and your decisions.

 

In Peter’s letter, he wrote to believers that were living in a precarious time. Followers of Christ were being persecuted daily, sometimes at the cost of their lives. Peter speaks to the core of their condition… their identity. Their identity will define them because it will determine how they respond and live their lives of faith.

 

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.     NIV

 

^9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.           MSG

 

These two translations of the same verses give you insights into who you are as a believer; into what, or who defines you.

 

You have been chosen by God to tell others about the difference that God has made in your life.

       You have been chosen not because you are holy, but to be holy through God’s mercy.

        You have been chosen to be a part of the people of God; not a lone ranger.

         You have been chosen because God has a plan and a purpose for your life.

 

You are a child of God, chosen by Him to serve and to love Him. That is your identity. That is what defines you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whom Shall I Send?

Matthew 28:16-20

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2028%3A16-20&version=NIV;GNT

  

Do you remember where you were on September 11, 2001? I do. I was in a meeting when one of the members got word of a plane flying into the World Trade Center. According to the History Channel website, President George W Bush spoke to America that night from the Oval Office declaring:

 

“Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve.”

 

Later, in a reference to the eventual U.S. military response he declared, “We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them.”

 

As a result, the United States military was sent to oust the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and destroy Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network. With the authority of President Bush, our men and women engaged in this mission.

 

¹⁸ Jesus drew near and said to them, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. ¹⁹ Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.     GNT

 

With these words, Jesus sent his disciples into action; into battle really. He could do this because all authority had been given to him. It was with that authority, that the disciples turned the world upside down.

 

Being “sent” is a very familiar concept in the Bible. God sent Abraham to a land he had never seen. God sent Moses to Egypt to lead His people. The prophets were sent to speak God’s word. God sent Jesus to bring salvation. In turn, Jesus sent his disciples to make disciples. And now, God sends you and me.

 

He sends us to our work place; to our neighborhood; to our church; to our community; and to our family. Wherever we are, there we have been sent to make disciples with the promise that Jesus will be with us always.

 

⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”                       Isaiah 6:8 NIV

 

 

It’s time for us to go now. For we have been sent.

 

 

 

 

 

YOUR Call to Action

Luke 5:1-11

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%205%3A1-11&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

Coach Steward was a big man. He stood about 6 feet 8 inches and probably weighed close to 300 pounds. He was an assistant coach for my high school football team – the St. Louis Sharks of St. Louis, Michigan – the Middle of the Mitten.

 

It was half time of a game that we were obviously losing. First the head coach yelled at us. Then it was Coach Steward’s turn.

 

We sat silently with our eyes fully focused on him as he held a clip board in one hand and began. As he paced the floor, his volume increased. He began to beat on the clipboard with his other hand. When his tirade had reached its climax, he pounded on the clipboard one final time, breaking it in half.

 

Coach Steward had our attention and we were ready to go into battle; to walk through walls for him; to do the impossible. He had called us to action, and we responded.

 

In Luke 5, even though it made no sense, Jesus called Peter to go back out and throw his nets into the deep water. It was a ridiculous request. Peter was the experienced fisherman. He’d been out all night working hard. Jesus was a carpenter and an itinerant preacher. He didn’t know anything about fishing. But Jesus had called Peter

to action, and Peter responded.

 

This was not the first time Peter had interacted with Jesus, and it wouldn’t be the last. John 21 describes a strikingly similar story.

 

Without their Lord, following his death and resurrection, Peter and a few other disciples fished all night in the Sea of Galilee, once again, without catching anything. Jesus appeared on the shore and told them to cast their nets one more time. They did, and the net was filled with “153 large fish”.

 

Following breakfast on the beach, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me”. We know that Peter was hard headed. He lived by the premise of “ready, fire, aim”. He didn’t always think before acting. But the Lord saw something special in Peter. He saw a man who could lead others while following him. That morning, Jesus once again called Peter to action, and he responded.

 

I think that the Lord is still working in your life and mine in the same way as he did with Peter. He keeps showing up in our lives; he keeps speaking to us; he keeps pursuing us; he keeps calling us to action.

 

What has Jesus called you to do? What desire has he given you? What sermon have you heard, or book have you read, where he has spoken to you? Listen closely for his still small voice. Don’t miss it; don’t make excuses; don’t rule it out because it doesn’t make any sense. Just follow him wherever he leads you.

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this blog, please feel free to share it with others.)

http://lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com/