COTR CG Leaders - Week 2 Devotional

AUDIO VERSION

Hello Group Community Leaders!

Thanks for joining me as we begin at the beginning…. in Genesis!

You might be asking….How can reading in Genesis bring growth in our relationship with Christ? How can OT truths and gospel fore-shadowing help me walk more passionately with Jesus in 2018?

Here is part of the answer: we share a SIN bond with our first human parents, Adam and Eve, that taints us with rebellious tendencies, inbred moral heart failure, and the propensity to listen to a scheming, hateful liar… We need to learn from the failures of our first parents as they listened to the lies and twisted half-truths of Satan rather than trusting  and obeying God, so that WE better recognize our own leanings toward self-reliance, rebellion and  believing Satan- our soul’s enemy.  God himself calls us to know his truth SO THAT we are not “outwitted” by Satan and his schemes:

 “…that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

2Cor. 2:11:

And knowing how Satan works we then:

 “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”

Ephesians 6:11

And, as important as it is to defensively stand against Satan’s lies and our own sin tendencies, we need, even more, to be captivated by this God that loves us with an unrelenting, fierce passion, tender merciful grace and Holiness beyond our human comprehension… There is NO GOD that can compare to OUR “Yahweh Elohim”!

We start in Genesis to understand the ”players” in our ancestral drama… God, ourselves and Satan.

We start in Genesis to see God’s grand, gracious plan to rescue man from himself and the immense weight of sin, rebellion and alienation.

We start in Genesis because the seeds of the Gospel of Grace- our future salvation are sown in the Garden of Eden.  In Genesis 3:15 we encounter “Protoevangelium”- the first messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. Call it the gracious, merciful seed of the Gospel planted in anticipation of GLORY and Salvation!

It is this Gospel of grace seed that bears much fruit in human history. Starting in Genesis and flowing continuously throughout man’s journey,  this Gospel seed “works” to save and to sanctify us by its continual outpouring of grace on man’s life and relationship with God.

We could approach “discipleship” with a list of spiritual disciplines to put diligently into practice: bible-study, prayer, meditation, fasting, stewardship, fellowship (all good things!) or an extensive list of sins to be avoided- (again, not a bad thing!) But, if we are honest, sometimes just adding “good” disciplines or avoiding “bad” sin is not ALL the help our hearts need. We need to see ourselves in the EYES of the ONE who created us and was willing to die to bring us back to a restored relationship with Himself. We desperately need to SEE HOW BIG THIS GOD IS and how VAST and HOLY HIS LOVE burns for his beloved- Us. WE need to be captivated by someone much bigger and holier than ourselves. 

So, I ask you, How BIG is your GOD? I’m guessing, not big enough.

We need to see that God is far more loving, holy, relentless and fiercely, personally interested in knowing and redeeming his “beloved” ones than we understand. 

As we study the intensely personal creation account in Genesis 3- let’s be willing to get “unsettled” a bit from how we’ve maybe too easily and too glibly viewed how we “know” GOD… Too careless, too thoughtless or too indifferent in how we worship Him and pray to him. 

I pray that we have our minds and hearts stretched beyond where we stand now-

I pray that we are willing to allow God to “take us apart” in order to put us together again with fervent devotion born of a heart captivated by the ONE who loves us best and most.

I pray this for us as we go-

Ephesians 3:16-19

“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; AND that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.’

Psalm 34:8

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in HIM.”

Read Genesis 1-3?- read several times if you can- especially chapter 3-

We start in chapter 3 this time next week!

Be ready to begin to “savor” the Lord and His Great love and mercy!

Your sister in Jesus,

Mary Kaye

  

CG Leaders - Introduction to your Shepherd

AUDIO VERSION

Hello brothers and sisters in Jesus!

Thank you for being willing to serve Jesus and our COTR family as Community Group Leaders!

When you meet as a small community within our larger body, you are actively “doing” the Gospel together- you are making “Life. Community. Purpose. ” a living reality!

Thank you for opening your heart and homes to Jesus for the purpose of developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ! He WILL bless your gathering!

I want to reintroduce myself to you- I am Mary Kaye Abbott- I am part of the Community Group Team headed by Joe Richter and under Pastor Kevin. My role on the team is as the Community Group Leaders’ “Shepherd”- I pour into you and your own individual walks with Jesus, as you pour into the folks in your community groups.  

As your shepherd, I hope that we will spend the next year (or more!) getting to know each other while encouraging one another to love and obey Jesus more deeply-

I will be sending out a weekly devotional to encourage and challenge our hearts to love and respond to JESUS, THE ONE who loves us best and most! I can’t think of a better way to serve my COTR family than by pouring into you dear people who are pouring into your community groups, one person at a time. 

I don’t know about you, but I can get shortsighted as I walk in life? Life is busy, challenging, often difficult and frequently painful- my focus is easily lost and distracted….I need to continually “reset” and refocus on what’s truly important and needful. So, as I’ve prayed for our discipleship journey together, I asked Jesus to clarify… to “reset” my mind and heart to see what’s essential- in HIS eyes… As I waited and listened, Jesus continually brought me back to the Garden of Eden-where God first breathed His Gospel Grace into human history.  He reminded me that just as His merciful grace saved me from being rightly condemned as the sinner I was/am, that same grace “birthed” me into new life and a permanent relationship as HIS daughter where I am loved, known and welcomed!  How awesome and magnificent is this LORD GOD who chooses to love so lavishly!  This Savior who took all my sin, guilt, rebellion and shame unto Himself- bore and paid all so that He could restore a broken relationship with me??  How can I NOT steadfastly love Him in return? Serve HIM whole heartedly?!

Well, unfortunately, my heart wanders easily despite being loved by this gracious King and SaviorL

My “ self-directed” heart constantly needs realigning and refining….I was saved by Jesus’ marvelous grace and I am to walk by it- but how often I try to follow JESUS in my own strength and wisdom rather than HIS! I need to be reminded of  WHOSE I am, and WHY I am His- the gospel of JESUS CHRIST reminds me both of my need for salvation/true life in Christ and IS the provision for that need! Despite knowing and believing this truth, I can gloss over the MAGNITUDE of His grace thereby diminishing its effectiveness in my daily walk …That’s  why I need to be reminded of “the big overall picture” of God’s grace via the gospel every day- I am very easily distracted.  All humans are.  Once “saved” or “rebirthed” by the Holy Spirit, we are a constant work in progress! But, praise Jesus! He says that what HE starts, HE brings to completion! (Phil.1:6) 

The Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 1:12:

“So, I will always remind you of these things even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have…”

Paul was reminding the early believers (primarily Gentiles in Galatia, Pontus, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (regions north of the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor/part of the Roman empire- Now, present-day Turkey) that they’ve been saved by the Gospel of Jesus through faith in Him by grace, and that they are to be daily transformed to reflect the Christ they believe in, have life in, and follow.  Jesus’ new life, imparted to them via His Holy Spirit, brings the fruit of a changed life….not by their own “doing”, but by HIS LIFE working in them so that they each respond and surrender to Him and He empowers them to live by grace through His Holy Spirit.  

What was good for the early disciples is STILL true and good for us “modern” disciples. 

So, for that reason we will weave the gospel message into everything we think about.  Indeed, as Pastor Jack Miller of Westminster Theological Seminary said…”Preach the gospel to yourself every day.” You might not know who Jack Miller was, but the brother was right on!

If not for that amazing grace, we’d still be dead in our sin… We’d have no access to God’s power to change.  We’d be hopeless, clueless, lost and alone…Fatherless, sinful, sad orphans chained to a very nasty sin-filled world.

SO! Because of HIS AMAZING GRACE, we will celebrate Jesus and HIS gospel message by preaching it to ourselves daily!

It is my hope that you will take the time each week to read, pray over and engage with the devotional and learn to see by the Holy Spirit’s power, how MUCH JESUS Christ who is the ONE TRUE GOD loves you, desires to transform you and bring to you HIS fullness of JOY!!

My heart’s prayer is that we will see and taste HOW GOOD the LORD GOD is, HOW DEEP AND WIDE HIS LOVE FOR US IS… and that we respond to Him and grow in our appetite for HIM….

I close with these verses I carry on my heart for you all- please pray it for me as well?

Ephesians 3:16-19

“..that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; AND that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.’

Psalm 34:8

“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in HIM.”

To Him be the glory!

See you next week.  We start in Genesis!

Your sister in JESUS,

Mary Kaye Abbott