This past week Julie, Ryan and
I were able to spend some time with our family in Oklahoma. In fact it was a very special time as my dad
got married on Saturday. What an honor to
officiate at the wedding and to watch my dad and Ann enjoy life together. I hope to share more from this past week a
little later.
As we were driving home today we listened to a sermon from Dino
Rizzo. Dino has influenced my life and
work for a long time because of his book Servolution
and his work at the church he started, Healing Place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
This man always inspires me to think more about how we impact the people
we encounter on a daily basis. His
stories bring ideas to my mind. His
sharing of Scripture always sheds light on things that God says. Once again, today’s message that he preached
our daughter’s church in Tennessee was a similar and a powerful word.
Dino shared four ways that we connect with and where God reveals
Himself. I thought I needed to pass
these on to you and remind myself of this. Good stuff.
First, God is revealed to us when we connect with him through PRAYER.
Psalm
42:8 NLT
But
each day the Lord pours
his unfailing love upon me, and through each night I sing his songs, praying to God who
gives me life.
Second, God is revealed to us when we serve others.
Ephesians
2:8-10 NLT
God
saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this;
it is a gift from God. Salvation is
not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about
it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He
has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned
for us long ago.
Third, God is revealed to us when we love.
1
Peter 2:17 NASB
Honor
all people, love the
brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
And fourth, God reveals Himself to us as we give ourselves away.
Matthew
16:25 NASB
For
whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for
My sake will find it.
The context of the message was about dealing with God in the context of
struggling with life. No one’s life is
perfect. It would be nice if it was, but
we need perspective.
Life isn’t always packed full of joy.
We will have joy. But get through
the trials and the tests that purifies our lives.
1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy
ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will
show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies
gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith
remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and
honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
This was a powerful message, and I hope that some of this inspires you!
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