So my church is doing this sermon/small group/devotional series called “Doin’ the Stuff.” And Lauren, James, and I decided that our small group will do the study that goes with the sermon series. Also they pass out a devotional with passages to go through and questions to think about. I decided that personally I would like to do this devotional since I had been reading straight through the new testament and could use a break from that. Sometimes it is nice to do a topic study that bounces around a little more. And this is going to cover some Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and a couple other letters from Paul. Now that could be a reason not to do this study because I just finished reading all of Paul’s letters, but I decided that I didn’t get as much as I could of from that because I felt like after a while they started to drag on, and it should be refreshing to read parts of them, or chunks of them and reflect on that. So I am going to blog my answers to the response questions so that I know I’m answering them every day. Also, I’m creating a new category in my blog called “devotions” so if you want to just read those for some reason you can just click on that category. And I am going to put the passage that I read so that if you want to skip over those you can, because I’ll probably still post normal stuff, but those will be titled something silly or pretentiously thoughtful.
So without further rambling I will post the question and my answer.
Q: How do you think God might want to extend Jesus’ ministry through you this week?
A: I usually think that just working at my “friendship evangelism” with the people I have met and have started to build any type of relationships with. But lately I’ve been led more to try to bring more people into my small group. I have a lot of friends that are already Christians, and not as many that aren’t, or are on the fringe trying to decide if they believe or are interested or what. Those are the people that I need to meet more of and establish relationships with. I feel like most of my “friendship evangelism” is more of “friends growing as disciples” which is good, but I think God wants me to move outside of that. I would like to know how I’m gonna have time to meet anyone and actually spend time with them since my homework load is huge this semester.
But I’m gonna call that quits now. I think that is how this is gonna go for the next seven weeks. Feel free to leave any thoughts or comments about this.
-Ben
Jason says
That is a tough question. I rarely make much interaction with people on a daily basis. I suppose there are issues that God is working on in me to become more interactive. I can say how I would like to be used by God to extend Jesus’ Ministry. I would like to be able to be bold and loving yet humble. I would love to be able to pray for people on the spot and interject Jesus in situations and such. But I suppose one way I can extend Jesus’ ministry in the meantime, before I become a super-Christian, would be being pleasent and not tormenting my wife. That always seems like a what would Jesus do moment. Should I say what I know would get a rise out of her or just shut my trap. WWJD? Sometimes I confuse that with Jesus would say this…more times than not it is satan. So I will extend Jesus ministry by not tormenting my wife.
Janine says
Boy oh Boy. That’s a toughie. I think that God would want to use me through the week by being a better positive example. I struggle with being negative, and I know that normally just brings myself or others down. I think I will also second Jason’s thoughts on the marriage area (or any relationship I have) would God want me to say that certain thing… will that uplift them?
I would think that ministering or helping others when they need an ear – Or just giving my hubby alone time when he needs it – is a good beginning for me.
Plus, being postive over negative..
(btw, i got a great hubby!)