EXPRESSIONS
“Staying Together Accepting Yeshua's
Inspirational Nurture Graciously" (S.T.A.Y.I.N.G)
Ramesh C. Reddy
Editor in Chief
Hi
everyone :)
May
you know the Lord loves you and wants to spend time with you and wants you to
spend time in community with His people that you may go out and spread His love
later! May the Lord bless
you and guide you! Amen!
My Quiet
Times for September 24,02: (Psalm 114, Proverbs 24, and Mark 6)
“When you enter a house, stay
there until you leave that town.” (Mark 6:10)
I learned from Mark 6 that Jesus sent out the disciples
two by two to do ministry. They were not to take much of anything with them.
What stuck out to me in Mark 6 was v.10. The disciples
left to do ministry and needed a place to stay. Jesus told them when they
entered a house they are to remain there until they leave that town.
I found that very significant because Jesus did not want
them to be involved in multiple places while they were in town. Rather, he
wanted them to commit to staying in one place while they did ministry in that
town.
I pondered that commandment and
asked myself why would Jesus say that?
Things started popping up in my mind such as could it
be because
- Jesus wanted them to be
committed to the mission at hand w/o getting burned out?
- Jesus wanted them to be a
witness in the place they were staying?
As I thought about it, those reasons made sense to me
so I decided to look into them deeper.
Point 1: Being committed to the mission at hand w/o
getting spiritually burned out.
It is possible the more places they were involved in,
the busier they could have been. That would initiate the spiritually burn-out
stage. Rather Jesus wanted them to depend on Him and focus on staying in one
place in that particular town and become ready to do ministry. Not having to be
involved with more than one house, I believe they would free themselves to be
able to focus more on the mission Jesus gave them. Each night and day they would
not have to worry about what place they were to stay but remain in that same
house in town. This would help them a lot.
Point 2: Being a witness in the place they were staying
As long as they were in one house, they could focus on
people in that household. It is very possible that people who would have housed
them may not have been necessarily followers of Jesus but seekers of Jesus. This
would give them a serious opportunity to witness to that household but if they
were there only few days and went to different houses to stay, the relationships
would have been superficial too suffering because of the lack of time invested.
By staying in one house they could focus on those that were there w/o
spreading themselves thin. This would also give the disciples the opportunity to
be involved in discipleship making. They could have the opportunity to reach out
to those that were there and then possibly give them the vision and excitement
to do the same as long as they were in that town.
While in the town they get down to business as v.13
reveals:
“They went out and preached that
people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people
with oil and healed them.” (Mark 6:13)
I saw important implications for my own life as I
pondered on v.10 and an analogy came to my mind.
For me the HOUSE represented FELLOWSHIP.
For me the TOWN represented UNIVERSITY.
Through my time at Pitt before joining IV staff, I
would not whole heartedly stay in one fellowship. Even then occasionally, I
would go to multiple fellowships and be involved in different areas of ministry.
Naturally, I did get spiritually burned out. Not only that it did not give me
the opportunity to build lasting friendships because I would not be in one group
but spread myself thin. In the process, I also did not have the opportunity to
disciple and mentor faithfully those in one group because I wanted to be there
for everyone. It only hurt me and the groups I was in at times. Being involved
in more than one also did not give me opportunity for evangelism as I would have
wanted to have.
The flip side of it is that I also did not give that
fellowship the opportunity to minister to me and disciple me because I spread
myself thin. That was not good in the long run.
Why am I telling you all this?
To let you know what I learned is that even in ministry
though all fellowships were good, it did not help me because I spread myself
thin. I felt Jesus telling me through this devotional time the importance of
commitment to one fellowship as long as I am on campus w/o fellowship hopping.
Doing staff work with IV for years, I stuck to that principle but there were
times I did not and it did affect a lot of things. The main point I learned is
commitment in where I am rather than doing things superficially.
I ask you now dear friends, where
are you staying?
Dear friends, I do not know what fellowship you all are
staying at or even if you all are involved in a fellowship on campus. If you are
I learned there is so much value and benefit in being involved in just one
fellowship and giving it your all. At the same time knowing that fellowship can
be there to minister to you too. You can develop lasting friendships and
fellowship while you are at college as you stick to one group. Not only that but
you will be encouraged, equipped, and enabled to do ministry for those on campus
from what the fellowship can offer you. You won’t be spreading yourself thin but
giving yourself space not to be burned out. It is possible that through you new
members can be discipled and mentored and then they would be excited to minister
to others on campus because they would feel equipped too.
Being involved in one fellowship gives you the benefit
of their training events, retreats, and so on that can develop your Christian
maturity as a supplement to your personal time with the Lord through prayer and
study of His Word. As a group, you can break out two-by-two’s and as the Lord
leads reach out to the campus with the love of Christ.
There are wonderful fellowships on campus and you may
feel that you want to be part of all of them because each offers something
different. That is true but you will be spreading yourself thin and
relationships could become superficial too. Also, if you
are involved in every Christian fellowship on campus, where does that give you
time for spending with your non-Christian friends?
The question becomes would you
even have non-believers as friends because you spend most of your time hanging
out with Christians?
I have made a lot of changes in my life and am happy
because that gives me time to spend a lot of time with non-believers too and not
just be in my Christian shell.
You can make such an impact by being involved in just
one fellowship. But before you get involved, there is nothing wrong to check
different fellowships out and see which one the Lord is leading you to be at.
Once you know where you ought to be, then it is important to stay there. There
are always exceptions but by not fellowship hopping, you allow yourself to be
committed to one thing and fulfill the mission you are called to.
Friend that is exciting to know that the Lord can use
us where we are and He does not want us to become spiritually burned out and
spreading ourselves thin. He will be happy to let you reach out to others as you
are faithful, available, and teachable. There are times that the Lord could also
ask you to move to another fellowship where He wants to use you there but until
then, it is important to stick with where the Lord placed you. You cannot be
worried about what other people will think if you are not there at their group.
If anything you will be setting an example for them about commitment. The same
principles apply to church involvement. It is important to be involved in one
church rather than church hopping unless you are still looking.
I would like to give you the times of certain
fellowships that meet for you to check them out if you are not involved in a
group. These are groups I have been to and am more familiar with and would not
mind taking my friends too. Some are specific issue oriented.
1. Gathering of
Athletes at Pitt (Meets on Thursday night at 8:30 p.m. in Trees Hall) It is
specifically a fellowship geared for athlethes.
2. InterVarsity
Christian Fellowship Mark Manuscript Bible Study (Meets on Thursday night at
8:30 p.m. at New Hope Christian Community on North Dithridge St opposite to St.
Paul's Cathedral)
3. Chi Alpha
Ministries (Meets on Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m at Benedum Hall, 11th Floor)
4. Ambassadors
for Christ (Meets on Thursday nights at 8:30 p.m. in the William Pitt Union)
5. Cornerstone
Christian Fellowship (Meets on Wednesday night at 8:30 p.m in Bellfield church
opposite to the Book Center)
6. Christian
Student Fellowship (Meets on Friday nights at 7:30 p.m at New Hope)
7. Asian
Christian Fellowship (Meets on Friday nights at 7:30 p.m. at New Hope)
8. University
Christian Outreach (Meets on Wednesday nights at 8:30 p.m in the William Pitt
Union)
There are other fellowships out there too that I don't
know much about or have not been involved in to mention it here. It would be a
good idea to check them out too to see where the Lord wants you to be at.
May you stay where the Lord has called you to and allow
Him to work in your life and the lives of others through you! Amen!
Staying Together, Accepting Yeshua's
Inspirational Nurture Graciously! (S.T.A.Y.I.N.G)/”Where
are you staying?”
Prayer:
Dear Lord Jesus, thank you that
you do not want us to get spiritually burned out. I pray Oh Lord that you will
guard our hearts and help us to be focused on you and depend on you where you
place us. Help us to be the witness you want us to be and also we pray that you
would let us be mentored and grow in the fellowship and church we are part of.
Forgive us Lord when we have not committed ourselves and superficially gone to
everything. We are sorry Lord and ask you for your help. Show us what you would
want us to do Lord and make it clear for us for we are surrounded by enemies
that like to turn us the wrong way. Help us to listen to your Spirit and follow
you. I thank you Jesus for dying for our sins and coming back to life to save
us. Thank you for shedding your blood for me and cleansing me. Thank you we can
give our lives to you and you answer us. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
Love in Christ,
Ramesh
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