Scripture Reference: – Acts 1:8 – John 20:21b
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
“So Jesus said to them again, Peace be to you; As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
If you are a professing believer in Christ Jesus, then God has called you to be a difference maker in our world today. This verse, and many others throughout the Biele, clearly indicate we have a responsibility to impact our world for Christ. To be difference makers, first and foremost we have to understand and believe that the power to make a difference isn't found in us; it's found in God. He makes a difference in us as we read His Word and apply it to our lives. Scripture has unique power because it communicates God's thoughts to us.
God can make a difference in our lives by changing our hearts. And as God changes our hearts, He begins to work powerfully in our lives. Notice that in both steps, God is the One who does the heavy lifting. He has been making a difference through all of history. He desires to change the world more than you ever will. The good news is that He uses us to make a difference.
God uses His people to bring His will “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). We’re here to tell others about Jesus and to lead the people around us to see the incalculable worth of our God. That task seems huge! How do we do it? It happens as we connect with God and live according to His purpose.
Advancing The Kingdom
Jesus’s parables are diverse in length and content. Some last for several paragraphs; others are mere one-liners. Whatever the length or topic, He used the metaphors of each parable to drive home the truth of God’s Word. Today’s devotional includes one of those shorter word pictures used to describe God’s kingdom.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field” (Matthew 13:31).
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus constantly shows us what His kingdom looks like and what it doesn’t. The upside-down kingdom functions in ways that are uncharacteristic of this world. God’s kingdom is great and powerful, and we’d expect a more appropriately sized seed to represent it instead of the smallest of them all. Yet Jesus uses the imagery of the mustard seed to show us what His kingdom looks like. It starts small, Jesus says, but it continues to grow and grow.
Since the days of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), God’s kingdom has expanded exponentially. Just as He charged Peter and company to make disciples, Jesus calls us to share in His kingdom work and participate in its growth. Kingdom work is not exclusive to those with official church titles; it is the privilege of all believers. What a diverse—unified, but diverse—group of people we are. We all have different gifts that God uses to promote growth and harmony in the Church body (Ephesians 4:16).
When we share the gifts that God has given us with each other and with the world, we allow His power to work in us, transforming all. It isn’t our efforts or inner genius that produce results. It is all God, working through us to share the good news of the kingdom in various ways, powered by His Spirit.
Kingdom work doesn’t equate to easy work. We are kingdom people, but our bodies and minds remain tethered to this earth. That means sin, with all its devastation and brokenness, is still present and active. In the midst of this brokenness God calls us to grow together and bring His example to the world (1 Peter 2:11-12). No, kingdom work isn’t easy work. But as one preacher Ijust listened to said, – it “is worth-it work.”
What gifts has God given us? None are too small, none too insignificant—like the mustard seed. Let’s continue to ask the Lord for insight into how we can encourage and challenge each other as we grow and work together in His kingdom.
As we move into the world to make a difference, how do we stay connected to this history-shaping, world-changing God? The answer is so simple that it may surprise you: read the Bible. The God who changed our hearts continues to change our hearts through His Word.
God Has Provided Everything We Need: His Word
God has given His Scriptures to His people so that they can KNOW Him. The Bible is a perfect testimony of who God is and what He’s like. It “is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). Through His Word God has given us “everything required for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). Some of the psalms are devoted to expressing the value of God’s Word: Let’s look at the blessings of Psalm 19:7-11.
“The instruction of the Lord is perfect, renewing one’s life; the testimony of the Lord is trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise. The precepts of the Lord are right, making the heart glad; the command of the Lord is radiant, making the eyes light up. The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the ordinances of the Lord are reliable and altogether righteous. They are more desirable than gold—than an abundance of pure gold; and sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb. In addition, your servant is warned by them, and in keeping them there is an abundant reward.”
Psalm 19 begins by describing ways God has revealed Himself in creation (see vv. 1-6). However, in verse 7 the psalmist shifted from creation to God’s decrees and commands in Scripture. When the psalmist used words like instruction, testimony, precepts, command, and ordinances, he was referring to the words of Scripture. Although creation is sufficient to give us an awareness of God, we need Scripture to tell us who He is.
The psalmist believed the Bible is “perfect” (v. 7), “trustworthy” (v. 7), “radiant” (v. 8), “pure” (v. 9), and “reliable” (v. 9). He believed Scripture was “more desirable than gold” (v. 10) and “sweeter than honey” (v. 10). Scripture wasn’t an added detail to his life but something he returned to again and again to refine and redirect his heart. We don’t read the Bible as merely a religious exercise. We read the Bible because we believe it will change our lives.
To be difference makers, first and foremost we have to understand and believe that the power to make a difference isn’t found in us; it’s found in God. He makes a difference in us as we read His Word and apply it to our lives. Scripture has unique power because it communicates God’s thoughts to us. It tells us who He is, what He’s like, and how we’re to relate to Him.
Scripture has an authority we don’t have. Going to the Bible puts us in contact with God. When we read the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, encourages us in our pursuit of the Lord, and changes us from the inside out. If we don’t listen to God through His Word, we won’t be the kind of people who make a difference.
Planting God’s Word in Your Heart
There’s nothing magical about setting a time and a place, but it’s essential to make time for the priorities that are important to us. If we want to know God better, we need to make time to listen to Him through His Word. In our attempts to leave a history-changing, difference-making, life-giving, Spirit-empowered legacy, we must start here. If we don’t have the Word of God, we have nothing, and our attempts to make a difference will end in failure because we’ll be striving in our own strength instead of being transformed by God’s work in our lives. Transformation happens as we read God’s Word and commit to doing what it says.
We should read God’s Word. We should submit to it. We should believe it. We should memorize it. We should meditate on it. We should come to know it so well that it permeates our hearts and minds, finds its way into our conversations, and forms the content of our prayers. We should start with the Word and pray to the Lord, “Father, confirm Your Word with Your Holy Spirit. Confirm Your word with Your people. Give us wise counsel from Your Word to move out in ministry. “Help us, through Your Word, to be difference makers.”.
When you look at the needs in the world around you, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. But you were created for more than watching. You have a history-changing, difference-making, life-giving, Spirit-empowered legacy to leave. As He works through you, you will learn to pray, go, and give of yourself to make an eternal difference.
Final Thought
By living as those who have been redeemed, we bear witness to the kingdom. We help to reveal it to those around us. We testify to it through word and deed. In a certain sense–and with some qualifications–I’d even be comfortable saying that we participate with God in bringing the kingdom to bear within our various spheres of life and culture.
So, this night, I ask you a simple question. Are you a kingdom builder? Do you consider yourself sold out for the sake of the gospel, or in reality, do you leave gospel work to those who are in full time ministry; those who seem to have the “gift” of evangelism.
There are few things worse than the sin of idleness, of doing nothing. Satan delights in this, and if he can keep you in this state, he sees this as a great victory; one more professing Christian who lives for themselves rather than for the Lord. All God wants is our availability, and He can and will use us in a mighty way. What small steps could you take this week to be a more faithful servant of Christ Jesus.
From: Fight the Good Fight of Faith / Life Journal: By Gregg Harris
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