TopPodcast.com
Menu
  • Home
  • Top Charts
  • Top Networks
  • Top Apps
  • Top Independents
  • Top Podfluencers
  • Top Picks
    • Top Business Podcasts
    • Top True Crime Podcasts
    • Top Finance Podcasts
    • Top Comedy Podcasts
    • Top Music Podcasts
    • Top Womens Podcasts
    • Top Kids Podcasts
    • Top Sports Podcasts
    • Top News Podcasts
    • Top Tech Podcasts
    • Top Crypto Podcasts
    • Top Entrepreneurial Podcasts
    • Top Fantasy Sports Podcasts
    • Top Political Podcasts
    • Top Science Podcasts
    • Top Self Help Podcasts
    • Top Sports Betting Podcasts
    • Top Stocks Podcasts
  • Podcast News
  • About Us
  • Podcast Advertising
  • Contact
Not in our directory?
Add Show Here
Podcast Equipment
Center

toppodcastlogoOur TOPPODCAST Picks

  • Comedy
  • Crypto
  • Sports
  • News
  • Politics
  • True Crime
  • Business
  • Finance

Follow Us

toppodcastlogoStay Connected

    View Top 200 Chart
    Back to Rankings Page
    Christianity

    Follower of One : Missions For The Rest Of Us

    Move from spectator to participant. Join Jesus as he works in our world.

    This is a show for marketplace Christians to energize and encourage you to live out your faith every day, right where you are. Begin your day with Christ-centered ideas to share your joy with those around you. Add in weekly interviews with other like-minded Christians so you can share in their joy and learn how they make Jesus visible in their workplace every day.”

    Advertise

    Copyright: © Follower of One

    • Apple Podcasts
    • Google Play
    • Spotify

    Latest Episodes:
    Encore - 991-Live the God-Life - 2 Peter 1:4 Aug 10, 2023
    Show notes

    Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry, and today we continue our conversation about 2 Peter chapter 1. Today we're in verse 4, "For by these, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." Maintaining consistency, that's the New American Standard, and the reason why I'm continuing in this translation, it's natural to me. It's the translation I've been reading for a long time. This particular passage is a little bit difficult in that verse, in that translation. In the CSB, it says "By these He has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire." I think that's a little more natural language for speaking how this passage- what this passage means. "By these" is a reference to the previous episode. It's by the power of God. It says, "through true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." I think the "by these" is to His glory and excellence, although it also refers to His power in that verse. So that's the "by these" of 2 Peter 1:4. By these, He has granted us His promises. He gives us the promises, and then He grants them. And that way we get to, it says "become partakers of the divine nature." In the CSB it says "that we may share in the divine nature." That divine nature is really- it's the God-life. We get to share in the life and the character of God. We get to take part in that, because we've escaped the corruption that is in our world because of the evil desire of us, people. Our sin corrupted our world. We get to escape that corruption through our relationship with God, and through His promises. We get to escape the corruption. I want to ask you today to escape the corruption in our world, to enjoy and take part in the God-life, because as we join God in His life, and we escape this corruption, that's where we get the power to do the things that we'll be talking about in the next few verses as well. We get God's life and His strength and His power, and we can make a difference in the lives of the people that we interact with every day. Just simply because we've chosen to enter the God-life, we've been given this access. He talks about in these first four verses of 2 Peter, God gives us this access. And because we have it, we can choose to step into the God-nature and escape the corruption. That calls us to live this God-life in the presence of our peers and our friends. We're part of God's marketing plan. We're part of His idea to help us live His life in the presence of our friends, so that they might want a piece of that too. They might want to join Him and experience the same life and the joy and the peace that we experience. So today, I want to challenge us. Can we live a life of joy and peace? Can we celebrate in our own heart, His precious and magnificent promises? And that way, we get to enjoy the God-life and escape the corruption in our world. This is all part of His divine plan. We get to take part in that today, by focusing on Him and joining Him in His life. I want to ask you today to make it a purposeful, intentional act that you want to join God in His life at your workplace. God's life enters your workplace when you do, and that way, you become a marketplace minister. Ministry is nothing but helping other people move one notch closer to Jesus. When we live His God-life, we make Him visible in the lives of our friends and our family. Thank you for being a marketplace minister, and thank you for making a difference in your job and wherever you are today. And you can check us out and you can join us and find a community of people who are trying to concentrate on living this God-life on a consistent basis. Our website is followerofone.org. Thanks very much.


    Encore - 990-How to Gain Everything Needed for Life and Godliness - 2 Peter 1:3 Aug 09, 2023
    Show notes

    Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry with Follower of One, and today, we're talking about 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3, "seeing that His divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." The reason why this is pulling this one verse out of a sentence fragment, I spoke in the previous episode about grace and peace being multiplied to us, how we multiply grace and peace. And we're able to do that because of the knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord, but here in this passage, I want to notice something. This is something I want to remember all the time. His divine power, Jesus' divine power, has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness. I don't live like I have everything pertaining to life and godliness. I'm constantly buying something else, or eating some sweets, or doing something that basically sends the message that I really don't believe that I live as if I have been granted everything pertaining to life and godliness. And I want to challenge us a little bit. I think our ability to multiply grace and peace, our ability to be these people who bring grace and peace into every circumstance comes from this true knowledge of the fact that we have everything pertaining to life and godliness. Do you believe that? Do you believe what Peter's saying here? Do we have everything pertaining to life and godliness? The only two answers I can realize from this are if I think I don't have them, then I'm questioning God and His word. And if I think I do have them, then why don't I live trusting that? Why am I worried about finances? Why am I struggling to do different things or pressing to get things done in a particular timeframe? Why am I sensing pressure if I have been granted everything pertaining to life and godliness? I think this verse also explains to us part of the gap, "through the true knowledge of Him who called us." The gaps are my knowledge where I come up short that may equal exactly the gap in my own knowledge. I'm not trusting Jesus and I don't know Him well enough, and that's where these gaps show up. But as I know Him better, then I experience everything pertaining to life and godliness. I will be praying about this verse for both you and me. I pray that we can live knowing Christ more and experiencing more and more everything pertaining to life and godliness. We'll talk about this some more in the next verses too. The whole reason why I want to go through at least verse 8 is because this passage is this great example of how we can be grace and peace multipliers. We remember, first of all, that we are being granted everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Jesus. I want to challenge us today. Let's sharpen our knowledge of Jesus and live like we know that we have been granted everything pertaining to life and godliness. Those places where we sense the gap, those may directly correlate to someplace where our knowledge comes up short where we don't know enough about God and we don't trust enough about God to see Him working through everything that's happening in our life. I hope that your faith makes a difference in the lives of the people that you work with. I hope that you can intentionally walk with Jesus today and ask Him to show you how His divine power has granted us everything we need pertaining to life and godliness. Thanks for being a marketplace minister, and thank you for making a difference in the lives of the people that you interact with every day. One moment at a time, we can choose to follow Jesus and watch Him put us to work in the lives of the people that we interact with. Thanks very much.


    Encore - 989-Multiply Grace - 2 Peter 1:2 Aug 08, 2023
    Show notes

    Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Today, and for the next few episodes, I'm going to go through 2 Peter chapter 1, at least the first few verses of it. I so love this passage of scripture, and I've been focusing more on self control, even though I'm not winning the battle, and we'll come to that in verse 6. But today, 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 1 and 2, I'm just going to go ahead and read verses 1 and 2. "Simon Peter, a bond servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and savior, Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord..." Again, that's from the New American Standard. For those of you who listen to this podcast, you know, I generally read from that translation. It's just something that I've been in the habit of doing. Today, I want to talk about how we are called to multiply grace and peace. The model that we're given is Jesus. Jesus came and brought us this idea that we can be distributors of grace and peace, and Peter's expounding on that idea today. Peter's saying, I want you to have grace and peace multiplied to you. Different translations say it's lavished, or in abundance. This multiplication of grace and peace is the idea that we would get more than we need, and it would be multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and of Jesus, our Lord. In other words, as we know God, and as we know Jesus, grace and peace are multiplied to us. The gateway for this comes further on. We'll break this apart, and I'm not too sure I have it all mapped together, but my challenge for us: I want to make sure that we have a challenge every day as we go into the workplace. I have a friend whose target word idea for this year is "multiplication", "multiplying". And I like the fact that the word is used here. Let's be people who multiply grace and peace in the world around us because we know God and we know Jesus, our Lord. We know them and we are associated with them. We follow Jesus, and that gives us the ability to take the grace and peace that are multiplied to us, and distribute that. We can share that with every person that we're with. Simply living with grace and peace makes a difference in the world around us. Sharing that and multiplying that to others makes a difference. We have the power to do this, because we have the knowledge of God and Jesus. We received it. We received the faith of the same kind he mentions in verse one. Having received this faith, we get this knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord, and therefore grace and peace are multiplied to us. If you're living without grace, if you're living without peace, I can tend to live without peace. I can get all wrapped up in what's going on in my world. I can feel like I don't have extra to give away. I always feel like I need to give more than I feel comfortable doing, but I believe that comes from me focusing on things that are not God and Jesus, our Lord. When I focus on what I know about God and Jesus, our Lord, I realize that I have grace and peace to spare. I have grace and peace and the ability to make a difference in the lives of the people that I work with today. And that's what I'd like to challenge us to do today. Find a way to ship some extra grace. I believe if you ship it, you will find that you have more and more. And so let's ship some extra grace and peace into the lives of the people that we interact with today. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and thank you for making a difference in the world around you. Let's be intentional in our relationship with Jesus and ship this grace and peace to our friends. And if you want to join a community of people who are trying to do the same thing, check out followerofone.org. Thanks very much.


    Creating Marketplace Impact with Jim Lapinski and Tom Nohelty, Ep #155 Aug 08, 2023
    Show notes

    Jim Lapinski and Tom Nohelty are two men who sought to share their faith in their workplace, both seeking to make an impact for God's kingdom by completely surrendering. Their obedience led to the creation of Marketplace Impact.

    Jim and Tom join me in this episode of Follower of One to share more about their global ministry and how they're working to equip Christians to share their faith every day of their lives. Their like-minded approach to ministry is one of the reasons their course is becoming part of the Follower of One resource library. Don't miss it!

    You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...
    • Learn how Jim and Tom connected [0:49]
    • The mission of Marketplace Impact: Living on Purpose [4:12]
    • Creating marketplace impact by being obedient [9:18]
    • Making "Foundations" easily accessible worldwide [11:31]
    • What's next for Marketplace Impact? [18:29]
    Resources & People Mentioned
    • Marketplace Impact
    • Marketplace Impact on LinkedIn
    • Friend on Facebook
    Connect with Jim Lapinksi and Tom Nohelty
    • Connect with Jim on LinkedIn
    • Connect with Tom on LinkedIn

    Subscribe to Follower of One: A Faith at Work Podcast

    Audio Production and Show Notes by - PODCAST FAST TRACK


    Encore - 988-Does Faith Produce Obedience? - John 3:36 Aug 07, 2023
    Show notes

    Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Today I've chosen a passage from John chapter 3, verse 36. "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." This is from the New American Standard Bible, as I typically do, but there are several translations of this that either say "does not obey"; some say "do not believe." "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." This word is translated, "obey", or "does not obey" is "disobedient" in some translations. And I believe that's the accurate rendering because that word is translated most often as disobedience throughout the remainder of the New Testament. John the Baptist is speaking here, and he's the last Old Testament prophet. And he's explaining about Jesus to his followers, to his disciples. And this is the last thing that he says about Jesus. He actually says before this, "The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. He who believes in the son..." Now he's talking about us. He's talking about those of us who believe in Jesus. We believe in the Son, we have eternal life. These are present tense. He who believes, has; they're linked together. This alternate version though says "does not", "but he who does not obey". He's talking about the opposite and this is why I think belief and obedience are tightly linked. When we- Jesus is here to do a job. The Holy Spirit is here on earth, doing a job. He's calling all people to Him. He's redeeming us and challenging us to choose to follow Him. Following Him isn't just mentally deciding that He's right, or mentally acknowledging that He's in charge, as I did for the first 30 years of my life. I believe that God created all this, but He left me alone and I left Him alone, and I felt like we were fine, but I didn't understand the scripture, and I wasn't reading the Bible. As I start reading the Bible, I see that the Son and the Holy Spirit are actively involved in the lives of every person on the planet, calling us to follow Jesus. And following Jesus grants us eternal life, and I believe based on this sentence, that eternal life produces obedience. It produces us doing what Jesus would have us do, and that's the challenge I have for us today in the workplace. When was the last time you asked Jesus "Okay God, what do you want me to do?" Here I am. That's our kickoff prayer. We punch in, "Here I am Jesus. What do you want me to do today?" If I do not obey the son, then I will not see life. The wrath of God will abide on me. But I want to obey Jesus. That's my bent. That's something that the Holy Spirit has been growing in me since the day I first trusted Him. And I want to continue to grow, and I get more responsibility by doing more. We'll talk about that in another episode. Today, I want to challenge us. Ask Jesus what he would have us do, but then solve for how. Solve for how you can do what Jesus challenges you to do. If you get a wild idea while you're praying that you should give somebody an exorbitant tip, or that you should stay after work and help someone today, figure out how to make that happen. Don't question the challenge, solve for how. I want to challenge us today. Let's link. Let's keep our belief in Jesus and our obeying Jesus tightly coupled, because this verse does the same, John the Baptist challenges us. Because we believe, we obey. That's the proof. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for paying attention to your relationship with the Holy Spirit and your relationship with your coworkers so that you can take part in Jesus's work in your world. I challenge you also, check out our website at followerofone.org. Join a community of us who are working together to try and help one another do a better job of believing and obeying and making a difference in the lives of people around us. Thanks very much.


    Encore - 987 - How Grace Responds To Pressure -2 Kings 6:23 Aug 04, 2023
    Show notes

    Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Today I want to talk about 2 Kings chapter 6 verse 23. "So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Aramaeans did not come again into the land of Israel." I talked about this a little bit on the episode proceeding, this. This army of men came to capture Elisha who had been telling the king of Israel about everything that the king of Aram was planning. And so they sent this army of people there. And the chariots of fire were presented to Elisha's helper. That's what we talked about in the previous episode. And then Elisha spoke. He prayed and asked, and God blinded these- this whole army. And he directed them. He guided them to Israel. All the way down to Samaria, actually in verse 20, it says. And when they had come to Samaria, Elisha said, "Lord open the eyes of these men that they may see." So what Elisha did was he took this entire army of people down into the middle of the enemy camp and handed them over to the king of Israel. The king of Israel thought, "Well, should I kill these guys? They're the enemy." But Elisha said, "No, don't kill them." He suggested that they bless them. That they set bread and water before them and let them eat and drink and then go home. And verse 23, they prepared this great feast and fed these men who came to kill Elisha. I think it's important to note and the point that I want to make today is the grace that we have as followers of Jesus should show up, even when people are trying to do us harm. That grace may not prompt you to do what these people did, but notice how the Israelites were feeding these people, and blessing them, and sending them away filled. They had grace for these people. They didn't kill them even though these people came to take Elisha captive. I want to challenge us today as followers of Jesus. And this may be a little bit of a stretch from this passage, but we know what elsewhere in scripture. Where can we bring grace? Where can we go beyond what is expected of us and deliver this grace so that other people might see Jesus? This question, "How can I ship grace into this environment?" Is a good question for us every day. How can we ship grace to the people that we interact with? Even people who would be our enemy. Today on your marketplace mission trip, as you go into your own workplace, I want to encourage you to be a missionary, to take some extra grace, to build some time into your schedule and pray for the people around you. And then, let God give you the ideas of how to treat other people, so that they might see Him, not us. The Israelites prepared a feast for their enemy, and we can prepare a feast for the people that we work for as well. Let's be grace distributors in our workplace today. Let's help the people around us move one notch closer to Jesus. Thank you for being a marketplace minister, and thank you for making a difference, making your faith applicable and relevant in our daily lives. Your movement, your effort as a follower of Jesus Christ matters forever, and I'm grateful for you. If you want to join a community of people who are also trying to make their faith matter on a daily basis, check us out at followerofone.org. Thanks very much.


    Encore - 986 - Those With Us - 2 Kings 6:16 Aug 03, 2023
    Show notes

    Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. In today's podcast, I want you to just think for a moment about those with us. "Those with us" is a phrase that comes from 2 Kings 6:16. "So he answered, 'Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.'" That's from the New American Standard Bible. If you remember this story, or if you don't, quickly, what happened was this king north of Israel is contesting Israel. He's at war with Israel, the king of Aram. And he's mad, because Elijah is constantly telling the king of Israel everything that's going on. He thought there was a spy, but there wasn't a spy. It was just the prophet, Elijah, who was being told all of this information and passing it along to the king of Israel. And so the king of Aram gets angry about that. He sends an army of people to go down to Israel, to kidnap Elijah, and the attendant of Elijah's comes to him and says, "Look at these Lord, look at all these horses and chariots circling the city." He's very worried; and this is the famous chariots of fire story. Elijah prayed after he said this verse 16, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Elijah prayed and asked the Lord to show his attendant the army that was around them, and all over the mountain was this- was full. The mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elijah. Our lesson for today, our thought for today, is about the situations that we face at work. There were days in my career when I would be almost absorbed or overwhelmed with a broken situation, a support mess with a client. I remember one time a vendor and I got into a wrestling match, and we were sent a massive bill that it looked like my company might be responsible to have to pay because I had shot off my mouth. There are these problems that we face in our workplaces on a regular basis, and maybe you're facing one of those today. And so this message for you and for me is "Look around. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Bad things still happen. I'm not saying that the bad things stop happening, that when we come to Jesus, everything just works out. Bad things happen, but those who are with us are more than those who are with them, with the enemy. Our enemy will not win. We may suffer harm, we may suffer loss, but our enemy will not win. And it gives us this perspective that can look beyond our circumstances, and be a peacemaker and one who blesses others; someone who ships grace. We can ship grace into the lives of the people around us. That's our call as marketplace ministers, to be the kind of people who remember that those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Today, I want you to appropriate the chariots of fire. Think about God, protecting you. His resources are at your disposal and you want to live your life and glorify Him the way I want to. If we want to do that, then we will expect God to provide the resources so that His honor is maintained and that He is glorified. Let's not mix up our own personal circumstances with everything else, but let's trust to God in them, and let His peace transcend all understanding as it says in Philippians 4. His peace transforms us. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for looking for ways to bring His peace and His joy into our workplaces. That's what makes you a minister of Jesus Christ. Ministry is nothing but helping other people move one notch closer to Jesus. Thank you for being a marketplace minister and check us out at followerofone.org, where you can find a community of us who are working to make God present, make Him visible in our world. He's already present to make Him visible in our world every day. Thanks very much.


    Encore - 985 - Who Must Increase? - John 3:30 Aug 02, 2023
    Show notes

    Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One again. Today I want to talk about a passage from John chapter 3, verse 30. John the Baptist is speaking, and he says "He must increase, but I must decrease." I think about this passage in several ways. One way to think about it is to remember that this is John the Baptist talking. John the Baptist isn't really part of the church. He's actually the last Old Testament prophet. He's outside of the church in some degree. He's still the body of Christ, because he, like the rest of us, are saved, but he's a prophet. He's been ordained by God to speak for God, and he's clarifying for his own friends and his own listeners that this is about Jesus getting bigger. Jesus increases. He takes over. This is His show. The world is operated for Him, and He is on the stage. And the old model of the Hebrew life, the prophet's system, is going away. It's gone. And what's new is this "bridegroom and the bride". He actually mentions in the verse right proceeding this "He who has the bride is the bridegroom." John's making this clear that all of everything that God is doing in the world is summed up in Jesus. He will increase. This is His show, His plan, and He's taking over, and I will decrease. This model will decrease. This also applies to us in the workplace. It applies to us everywhere. I think our sin nature is really, at its core, the idea that we get to call our own shots. I want to be my own king. I make my own decisions. I choose what I eat, and I choose how I spend my time. I want to run my life. I don't want Jesus running it. I don't want anybody else running it. The "no one else running it" is all part of the great lie. We either serve God or we serve sin, we serve the enemy. And when we think we run our lives, what we do is we separate ourselves from Jesus and we become part of the enemy. Satan, his people, the world, the flesh, and the devil. Those are the three groups of things that take us away from God. And so the world, our flesh, and our enemy, the devil, are all pulling on us, and the big deception, the big trick is we're in control. We get to choose. I get to call my own shots. When I follow Jesus - and this is part of the reason why we call this organization Follower of One - when I follow Jesus, then my life works. Then everything about my life fits in eternity. I'm not outside of Christ's plan, I'm part of it. I get to take part as a member of His church, His bridegroom. I get to join Him as He increases. This world is His, and He will run one day. Every knee will bow. Jesus will be running the show, and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. If we can remember that He must increase and we decrease, then we put ourselves in a proper position to join Him as He works in the lives of the people that we come in contact with every day. That's part of the reason why our first daily activity is to pray, and the first prayer that I like to talk about is "Here I am." Lord Jesus. Here I am. I want to follow you today. Would you please, as we used to do this when I was in the trucking business, they would give us a stack of freight bills and say, "here, go load this truck." And we would go take each bill in that stack and go load the truck. Lord Jesus, today, would you give me my stack of bills and tell me what I'm doing? I want to do what you want me to do today. And I get to take part, then, in your work in the world. Let's join Jesus in His effort today, and let Him use us, so that we get to see Him glorified. He will increase. We will get to see that if we join Him and follow Him. Check us out at followerofone.org. We're an online community where we try to help one another. Remember, Jesus is in charge and we follow Him. Thanks very much.


    Encore - 984 - God's Will: Sanctification - 1 Thessalonians 4:3 Aug 01, 2023
    Show notes

    Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. Today I want to talk about God's will for us. What is God's will for us? One of the places where the Bible tells us God's will is in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, and that verse begins "For this is the will of God, your sanctification..." I confess this was kind of a "duh" moment when I first heard this verse. When I first remember paying attention to this verse, I had been wondering about God's will for my life in my work, and how I would spend my time, and whether or not I should stay in the job I was in, or how I would find a new job. I actually think I was self-employed and considering job transition the first time I really paid attention to this verse. And my challenge came in the area of what follows this verse. He talks about how we're called to avoid sexual immorality, how we're to learn, to possess our own vessel in honor, and not in lustful passion as the Gentiles do. Paul is challenging us with the will of God. He's saying God's will is clear. I want you to be sanctified. What does sanctified mean? Well, sanctified means that we're set apart. We're designated for a specific purpose. My being sanctified means I dedicate more of my life to doing what Jesus would have me do, then I spend my energy trying to do what I want to do. The energy of my life needs to be pointed toward obeying Jesus and doing what He says, instead of trying to do what I want, do just what I want, which might be participating in sexual fornication or overeating. That's one of the ways where I don't possess my own body in honor. I eat too much. It's one of my challenges, and it's one of those places where you can pray for me. Whatever our addictions are, whatever our challenges are, these are the places where we're consistently reminded that there's more of our life to give over to Jesus. There's more of our time, our thought processes, more of our effort and our energy that can be given over to Jesus. God's will is that we grow up in sanctification; that we work out our salvation, as it says in Philippians. That we turn ourselves to following Jesus, instead of just following our own flesh, chasing after what we seem to want, or what we think we want, whether that was another drink, or another hamburger, or another foray into pornography on a website or anything like that. We are called to deny ourselves and pursue Jesus, to follow Him. That's what this passage in 1 Thessalonians is telling us. Let's be sanctified. Today, I want to challenge you: Ask God to give you the energy and the strength and the desire to follow Him and to do exactly what He says. When He gives you clear direction, do it. If He doesn't give you clear direction, then do the next right thing. We always can do the next, most godly thing in every circumstance, in every situation, in our work, in our daily jobs, in the ways that we interact with people. The next right thing is what God calls us to do when we don't have any other clear direction. I want to challenge you today to trust God, ask Him for wisdom and guidance and then go do the next right thing. Thank you very much for being a marketplace minister and thank you for following Jesus and for making a difference in your marketplace. If you'd like to join us and learn more about Follower of One, head over to followerofone.org, you can learn more about our ministry there. Join our online community and take the next Marketplace Mission Trip. Thanks very much.


    Encore - 983 - Dealing With Difficulty - 1 Peter 4:12-13 Jul 31, 2023
    Show notes

    Hey, it's Mike Henry with Follower of One. This is another one of those episodes where I'm mostly talking to me. I hope you enjoy it. 1 Peter 4:12 & 13, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exaltation." So I study and contemplate and think about joy. I enjoy the joy that God has given me as I've learned to integrate more of my life, my daily work life and my daily living with Jesus. I wish I had done a better job of that when I was younger and when my faith was newer, and that's part of the reason why I'm involved with Follower of One at all. I want to help us integrate our faith in our work so that we may rejoice with exaltation as he says here at the end of this verse. But he's giving us tips for dealing with difficulty. Tip number one: do not be surprised at the difficulties that you face. He says "the fiery ordeal among you", that difficulty comes upon you for your testing. God is using this to strengthen us. You know as well as I do that we get stronger at anything by lifting above our weight, by trying to do more than we are equipped to do, our muscles get torn down, and then they heal back stronger. We're working out our faith in the same way by facing the fiery ordeals that come upon us for our testing. But when I look at it like it's some strange thing that was happening to me, my expectation is I'm living the good life. My expectation is this should be easy. It should take less time. I always seem to plan for the ideal situation, and then I'm surprised, as though some strange thing were happening to me, as he says in this verse. And he's reminding us if we can create in ourselves this attitude that comes from Jesus, but if we can create it and say "This comes upon me for my testing, it's not a strange thing. It's part of God's plan", then to the degree that I can share the sufferings of Jesus, I get to rejoice, so that I can see His glory through my life. When I see His glory through my life, I experience His joy. I enjoy doing these daily devotionals. I don't do them as often as I'd like, but I just don't want you to go nuts listening to my voice all the time. I hope that these are helpful, because I struggle with this whole idea of following Jesus in the difficult times. I really want the easy job, I want the easy shift. But it's in the difficulty that I get to rejoice, because His glory is revealed. When I do what Jesus would have me do in my workplace, in the difficulties of my daily life, Jesus is glorified. People go, "Well, why are you doing this?" And I get to tell them about my relationship with Jesus. I get to glorify God, and then I can rejoice with exaltation. I can enjoy watching God work through me when I am not surprised by the difficulties that face me. I'm preaching to me again, please remember, but maybe this will help you too. Let's look at our circumstances today as the weight Jesus is loading on the bar for us, and it's ours to push. It's ours to lift. Let's not look as though some strange thing were happening to us, but let's face our difficulties with joy and trust Jesus. Now, maybe you need some help with that. And you can reach out to me at followerofone.org, you can reach out to mike@followerofone.org. I'd be happy to help you to pray for you to do whatever we can. We probably need to create a page where we can share prayer requests. But I want to encourage you if you need prayer, let me know. And people from our team will pray for you, And so will I. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for looking for ways to integrate your life and Jesus' in such a way that He becomes visible. And any way you want to do that, we can help you. We're trying to help people do this better all the time at followerofone.org. You can check it out over there. Thanks very much for being a minister in your marketplace.


    Previous 1 15 16 17 18 19 31 Next

    Related Podcasts

    Joel Osteen Podcast

    1

    Joel Osteen Podcast Christianity
    Joel Osteen Podcast

    2

    Joel Osteen Podcast Christianity
    The Bible For Normal People

    3

    The Bible For Normal People Christianity
    The Liturgists Podcast

    4

    The Liturgists Podcast Christianity
    Firestarters

    5

    Firestarters Christianity
    Elevation with Steven Furtick

    6

    Elevation with Steven Furtick Christianity
    footer-logo

    Contact Us

    Toll Free: 844-670-7747

    Links

    • Home
    • Top Charts
    • Networks
    • Apps
    • Independents Podcasts
    • Podcast Advertising
    • Podcast News
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Analytics & Insights

    Stay Connected

      Privacy, Terms of Use & Our Code of Ethics Protecting Content Creators Copyrights