I Can Swim in Blessings - Pt 1

You're tuned into Made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Justin Lester is an average guy who refuses to let Mondays control him. Justin is a husband, dad, pastor, student and Jesus follower. He's done a lot, he's learned a lot and he wants to see you at your best. Let's win Mondays. Hey Justin, what's up today?

Welcome to Made for Mondays with Pastor Justin. And let's jump right into it. I want to give us about 10 minutes and we're going to master and hold on to our Mondays as we go into the week. So in the current facility that I pastor, one of the things we have is we're doing a lot of work and it's very expensive work and you can't really see it. Here's why. It's infrastructure work. We are putting beams into towers and renovating towers and renovating doors and codes and alarm systems and things like that. Infrastructure. And if you ever were to look at homes and purchasing a home, the most expensive thing you would do at a home is not the actual aesthetics like the kitchen and all of that that we see on hgtv, it's the infrastructure. Septic tanks are so expensive. But to have a long term sustainable building like the facility that I pasture in is 160 some odd years old. And we're renovating things now because they put more emphasis in the infrastructure that kept the building up because infrastructure is important. And what happens I think is we get too consum that we forget the infrastructure. And so as you go into this week, I want you to consider your infrastructure. Look at your life. What gives your life longevity is not the aesthetics, it's the infrastructure. And too often what kills us is that we live on the frills of success, but we don't challenge and strengthen our infrastructure. So aesthetics, as you go into your workweek, the aesthetics, our workweek are the timing, the clothes, the cars, the job, the name, the place you're going, the right pack of cigarettes, right the right drink you're going to do, the name brand you're wearing, the purse you're carrying, the coat you're wearing, all that stuff. That's, that, that's aesthetics. The statuses, that's aesthetics. And the thing about it, the reason that people, when they go viral don't sustain that nature of viral, that viral nature is because it was the aesthetic. It was one really good post. But there's no infrastructure to sustain it. Because I go viral and I'm dying, but I don't know how to master when I actually become popular and the reason we get swayed is because we're so consumed with aesthetics. Like, for some of you that are listening to this, if you're born in the 70s, you had afro because that was the thing, right? And then 80s, you kept it cut. That was the thing. 90s, it was braids. I don't know what it was about braids, but Iverson just had such an influence on culture. In 2000, it was clean shaven. It was brothers who were clean shaven. And there were certain, like, doo wop, whoop, right, Whoop, whoop styles for women. And then now 2020, I mean, it's anything and everything. Beards and natural this and curly this and long this. It's a little bit everything, but it's all aesthetics. Everything changes. And when we continue into the next decade, more things are changed because we have these. We're so consumed with the aesthetic. But infrastructure. Here's what I want to get to today. Looks at your core values and scriptures that are driving you, the relationships that are keeping you solid, the foundation that's holding you that can support changes. Because watch this. With a strong foundation, you can support changes. There's stories told of trees over in California that have roots that are so strong that they interlock on the bottom so that when storms come, it takes so much to sway because you're not just swaying one tree. You have to sway a whole forest of trees because the roots are interlocked at the bottom because they have a solid infrastructure. So let me challenge your roots today. As you look at your life going into this week, I want you to ask yourself a couple of questions. Number one, what is your core motivation to to be successful this week? What is your core motivation to be successful this week? All right. Number two, what is it about your relationship with God that is driving you? What is it about your relationship with God that is driving you this week? What is the scripture that is going to lead you to make healthy decisions this week? What is the scripture that's going to help you stop making bad decisions this week? Really, those questions combined are, what are the scriptures giving you wisdom this week? So I want to challenge you on your infrastructure. And the reason I'm doing so is I believe for a lot of us, we're going to look at some of our infrastructures. We find some mold and some asbestos and some termites that are jumping into our infrastructure. There's nothing wrong with it because here's the encouragement I want to give you this week. You can swim in blessings this week. Isn't that awesome? You can swim in blessings this week. Here's why history is created daily. History, all is created daily. What was once a joke and wasn't taken serious is now history. And think about the things we see over and over and over that there were some things that at one point were not important, but now they're so important because history is created daily. The challenge we have is actually people who live. The question is, will your history be something worth remembering with what you do today? Be something worth remembering because know this, legacy is not something that happens when you die. Legacy is something that happens while you're still living. You are creating history. God was having a conversation with the people of Amos back in Amos chapter in Amos chapter nine. And this conversation that God was having with Amos, he was challenging them. Listen, you're going to create history. But if you can love and live the prophetic word that God has given to you, that God continues to tell them, listen, I'm going to rebuild the temple. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to let you possess everything your enemies took from you. What's important to you is I want you to understand that I'm going to punish your enemies so severely they won't survive. But if someone survives, it'll be because of their dedication to God that Jesus eventually, according to Amos, would establish a kingdom that was built on one thing and that's salvation. But it takes people in the book of Amos to live history and live daily in salvific ways so that it would honor the coming of Jesus in the future. And I believe God is challenging all of us and that the only reason we read our Bibles and work our faith and pray until we lead others is for salvation. That even the remnant of our enemies, that God is challenging us to create history, to reveal the radical love for Christ we have every single day. And it's not because at one point you want your enemies just to go away. I think we spend too much time on this enemy and cancel culture in our world. But God has a challenge for us to really take who we are and share it into the world. And who we are is someone who is saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So who are the co workers you can share your life with this week? Who are the classmates you can share your life with this week? Watch this. You're going in to make history this week. Who are the people you can share your life with this week that you can swim in your blessings and not leave your blessings at home, but bring your full self into your workplace. God didn't tell the people to live with their enemies, to party with their enemies, to invite them over. God says, bring salvation to them and I'll be the one who will lead you. And I want to. I want to free you this week. What if your next blessing was based upon you telling your worst enemy that God still loves them? What if your next blessing was based upon you telling your enemy that God still loves them? I don't know about you, but I want to swim in blessings. Even if that means I got to tell somebody I can't stand that God loves them. Even if there are times I'm still wrestling with what love is. That's why I love this old hymn that says what a friend we have in Jesus. All our needs and sins to bury. What a privilege it is to carry everything to God in prayer. The chorus says this. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, and needless pains we bear all because we don't carry everything to God in prayer. I want you to carry it all to God in prayer. May this week be the best week you possibly have and can hold on to. Not because you're great or because anything like that, but simply because you'd make the decision to swim in blessings. Even if it means I've got to get uncomfortable and make history every single day. Let me pray for you today that you go into this week mastering it and living into the peace that God wants to give you. God, we honor you. We thank you. We love you today. God, we want to bring into our weeks the salvific power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God, we hold on to that. You're calling us to build something strong and powerful and wise and awesome. And so, God, we go into this week holding on to the blessings you've given us because you blessed us beyond ourselves to see ourselves, to be image bearers of you. So God, today we go into the week of living and loving the realities you called us to create, to live the life you called us to live. God, let us bring salvation to every single place we go into that. Somebody knows when they see us, they see you. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Listen, here's what I want you to do. Own your Mondays. That's what we do every week, right? You win, you conquer it. Do the best thing. Because you were made for this hour. You were made for this moment. You were made to conquer the very world that God put you in. Because God didn't call you to be comfortable. God called you to go and make discomfort that he might be comfortable in the world.

This has been made for Mondays with Justin Lester. Be sure to follow Justin online at MrJ Lester and online at www.jluster.com. see you next week. Go win. You were made for this.