Pastor Justin R. Lester (FNBC) records a short follow-up to the previous day’s sermon (12/18/22), reflecting on the sermon theme of "reactions" and how believers should respond—with authority, a wide view of God, and a healthy view of self. He encourages the congregation to let the gospel reframe responses, then leads a pastoral prayer focused on workplaces, grading/finals, leadership decisions, holiday interactions, favor, peace, and safety for the holiday week.
Chapters
Hey, FNBC Pastor Justin here. I pray you're having an amazing Monday. I want to take some moment, actually, to follow up to yesterday's sermon and then just pray with you as you jump into this week as we get ready for the Christmas holiday season and everything that is yet to come for us. Yesterday's service was absolutely amazing in my estimation. I thought praise and worship was wonderful. Our. Our time of honoring was wonderful. And I thought just everything went very, very well for us as a congregation. And I'm grateful that you are part of FNBC in the season of the life of our church. And the sermon was I tried to get to all four of our points and we couldn't get to all four. And I'm grateful that God has a way of just selecting moments to show up and do amazing things to really grab ahold of where we are and what God needs us to do. And I was talking about reactions. You know, reactions, I believe, set the foundation for what's next. Right. We're talking about a year of new life and the ways that we react to things set the foundation for what's yet to come. So when something happens to me, good or bad or indifferent, the way I respond to it establishes the foundation, the pillars, the cement that lays the foundation for what I'm building. And so that's why we wanted to get into the sermon yesterday about reactions. And we got caught in that second point that really, really engage with how God was using your anointing and the gospel to turn your world upside down. That your reactions by responding with authority, you respond to the good and bad things in your life with authority, that because of Jesus, I can turn my world upside down. Here's the last two things I wanted to challenge you with as you go into your week this week and get to do it intimately like this. And feel free to respond to this email if you want to. But number number three. What I wanted to get to number three really quickly was your reactions give you a wider view of God. Your reactions speak of a wider view of God, that when you respond, I want you to respond because the gospel turns it upside down. So now that your world is turned upside down, no insecurities and pain and pride don't drive you. How big is your God? Are you trying to handle things that God's already handled? I want you to consider this week how big God is as you respond to things. Right. Where do you not trust God's authority in your life? Trust it. And then lastly, wise reactions give you a healthy view of yourself. Mary spoke well of herself. Do you speak well of yourself? What are your thoughts about you? What are the negative thoughts as well as the positive thoughts? Reactions are a healthy, wise reactions at the foot of the cross with the gospel, with a wide view of God, have a healthy view of yourself. When God gives you favor, do you have a healthy view of who you are? When God gives you peace, do you have a healthy view of who you are? All that being said, church, I want you to have good reactions. I want you to react well this week. React with God's vision of yourself. React with a healthy view of yourself. And react knowing that God has graced you with the gospel and the gospel turns your world upside down. And everything will submit at the name of Jesus because God's given you the gospel and he trusts us to carry it into the world. Have a wonderful, amazing week. Allow me to pray for you. I want to pray especially for your workspaces and I want to pray for your workspaces today. Father, we just agree today with great weeks at work, God, while we, a lot of us have short weeks and some of us, God, feel like we have long weeks. God, I pray for every review. I pray for every paper that a teacher has to grade. I pray God for every grade that'll be submitted. Pray God for every final that's been taken, every paper that we have to submit to professors. God, I pray for every professor who has to read the paper. I pray God for grading season. I pray God for every, every, every leader, every boss who has to make decisions financially for their organizations. God, I pray for wise decisions and wise reactions of God as they make decisions. They don't even know the person that God, they are making decisions and making wise decisions and that we make wise decisions over your people. God, I pray now for favor. I pray God for peace. I pray God for blessings over all of your people. I pray God that workspaces are safe, that holiday parties are fun. I gotta come against any place, anything that the devil will get a foothold in our holiday parties or among others that would cause us to mar the image that we have of you that we painted on our job. God, I pray that you use our holiday parties, you use our travel, you use our time with you and time with our co workers and our loved ones to show you mighty. Allow us, God, to see that workplace is the first place of our second place of ministry. And so, God, as you take us from our homes of ministry to our workplaces of ministry, that you utilize these moments. God, that we will show you mighty in everywhere that we go, especially where we work. We honor you, we glorify you, we give you glory and we love you. Today, God, I pray for blessed powerful weeks. Anything that my language God has not been able to communicate. I pray that your people receive my heart for them as an intercessor. That they will run forward and know that you are already in it. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Why don't you have an amazing week? Have a God driven week and know this, this will be your best week. God bless you.
