What are you declaring today?

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?

Well, hey, everyone. Welcome to Made for Mondays. And I pray that you have an amazing Monday as you jump into this week and whatever God might be sharing with you and engaging with you to see with yourself and see with others. And I pray that these last couple lessons have really been impactful for you the way they've been impactful for me to tape them as well. And so I want to. I want to talk today and spend some time today talking about passion, right? Talking about passion. And I want to bring up a couple of things to challenge you to think about. What are books that you read in the past two weeks that you remember some principles from that you can apply this week? What you think about any of those books, any of those podcasts, any of those blogs, any of those quick, witty statements that we might have taken and shared on Instagram or taken and shared on Facebook or taken and shared on Twitter but didn't completely apply to our lives? What are some of those statements and some of those things that you can take and apply to your life today? You can apply to your week today? I want you to own the passions inside of you. What is it about the particular quote that woke up something inside of you? What is it about the particular quote that challenged something inside of you? One of the things I'm noticing is in moments of discomfort and moments of tension in my life that I began to remember the quotes that had the most impact remember the quotes that had the most gave me the most amount of challenges in my life. So therefore, in moments like conflict and discomfort, I began to remember things like Howard Thurman and Ronald Heifetz because I love reading their work. I began to remember Greg McKeown. I began to remember Liz Wiseman. But then there's some things I just don't remember. For those of us who are people of faith, what scriptures come to your mind in moments of discomfort? What scriptures come to your mind as you think about the last two weeks? How can you apply those scriptures this week? So as you go in a people of passion based upon those foundations, those foundational scriptures, those things that you have, those things that you're running with, I want you to know this then. That light always attracts bugs because it's warm. Passion in scripture is something that is same Greek word is used for fire. Light is going to attract warm things. If you are on fire with passion on fire, burning to move forward, to be impacted, to have impact. You're going to attract people, attract those around you because you have fire. What are you on fire for this week? What are you on fire for this week? What will you win? What will you defeat this week? Let me tell you this. You never have to pursue what you have the power to attract. And too often I think we're rejecting what we attract because we're in pursuit of something we don't attract. You never have to pursue what you have the power to attract. If people don't like you, they'll help you fail. I want that to sink in. If people don't like you, they will help you fail. Who are you attracting? Who are you bringing closer to you that you can have impact on? This week, I want to challenge you to meet people where they are, where they're not, and bring people to where you are. Meet people to where they're not, and bring people to where you are. Because you can give direction, but you've got to know where you are, your location. And I want you to grab a hold of your passion today because people can be impressed by your success, but they're always going to be impacted by your failure. So I want you to be intentional about grabbing holds, your passion. So what can I tell you about passion today? So, number one, passion is not transferable. Passion is influential. Passion is not transferable. Your passion is influential. If you burn, you will ignite others. That's the beautiful thing we see about revival. It's a beautiful thing we see in scripture about revival. The revival literally takes this picture of one person being on fire, tongues of fire coming from the Holy Spirit, leaving from Pentecost and going and igniting a whole community and burning an entire community and lighting a whole world on fire. Passion is not transferable, but it has influence. It will ignite other people. You will ignite. You will set others on fire. You set a community on fire. So I want to challenge you this week to grab a hold of the things you stand firm on and go out and ignite other people. Who are the people around you that can use a little bit of fire, not fire under them to get them to do something, but use a little bit of fire for them to be themselves and have a desire to do the very things that you're calling them to do. Passion. Passion. I really want you to Grab a hold of your passion. Second thing I want you to know today is people join a vision, join a like vision or they join like a common enemy, right? They join a vision together or they'll join to be enemies against a vision. I want you to be intentional about what you're standing on. If you don't have anything worth standing on or fighting for, then why do you need an army? It's very easy to create enemies when you're not standing for working towards anything. But I want you to stand on the vision that God gave you, the passions that God's put inside of you. I want to challenge you to be really intentional to stand on who you are and fight for it. Because if not, you don't need an army. You don't need an army if you're not going into battle. You don't need an army if you're not going to do something. You don't need a wide group of people. If you're not going to be some, go someplace. And it's very easy to create enemies, but it's also very easy to create people around vision. So all the leaders that are listening on here, I want to challenge you to be really intentional to make sure that your visions are clear to your, to your context, to your congregations, to your community, to your, to your, to your, to people you work with, to your co workers. Be very clear about it. Have vision meetings, have people recite their vision statements. Be very intentional to, to make sure that what we are going to, where we are headed is so important. Because let me tell you, that means no matter what changes in the world, you'll be able to be successful. The last thing I'll give you today is that change is inevitable, but growth is an option. Change is inevitable, but growth is an option. I'm challenging you to be intentional about making sure that if anything changes around you, you're able to adapt quickly. Because growth is something that can happen in any season. But it just matters how much you're going to adapt to make sure that growth happens. My wife has plants that we have inside of our house and she'll water those plants inside the house because we can still water and grow the plants inside the house regardless of the season outside of our house. But then when we have a seasons outside where the ground is great and fertile, we can then plant and water and grow our plants outside the house. Change is inevitable. Seasons are going to change. But growth, growth is, growth is your option. And you have that opportunity to ensure that growth happens in any season. One of the major things that happened just in the world recently is that our congregation is currently in the plans of how we transition our church online and what we'll do in the midst of the coronavirus. COVID19 and as we challenge and saw and we talk to our team about how we transition online, what we noticed is our goal is not just to give church on a screen, but it was to ensure we communicate our culture, communicate our vision and mission. Because change is inevitable, but growth is an option. I believe that right now for the local church, for me as a pastor, that growth is something we can maximize in this moment because it's an opportunity for us to engage online, to listen to people, to get people's story, to utilize every avenue of communication that's possible. To us, change is going to happen. The church will never be the same. Businesses will never be the same. Schools will never be the same. After COVID 19 the growth is going to be the option we have to maximize. Listen. Bread attracts fish that weren't there before. So I want you to look at the places you have to be different in this week and cast your bread before you cast your net. Cast your bread before you cast your net. I want to challenge you to do so. Here's why. Here's the last piece I'll give you. Today, well lived takes care of tomorrow. Today, well lived takes care of tomorrow. Today, well lived takes care of tomorrow. And I want to keep saying it to grab a hold of you, to challenge you today to live into who you are. If you need to take a moment and write down what you stand on, what you're firm in, do that today. Because here's why heaven's declaring the glory of God. What are you declaring today? Are you declaring the glory of God? Are you declaring the glory of God? In agreeance with the purpose that God has put inside of you? Stick with who God has called you to be. It's impossible to exist without being in some sort of season. But as you live in the seasons you're in, your change is inevitable. But y', all, growth is an option for you. Live well today and let tomorrow take care of us. Let me pray with you. God, we thank you for another day. Thank you, God, for passions. Thank you for what you're declaring. Thank you, God, that your glory is still effervescent. Thank you, God, that you've called us, selected us to be the people you've called us to be. God, I pray for the passions of my friends today and I pray that their passions are unearthed, their passions are strong. Their passions are great. Their passions. God will solidify them with you. I pray God, as they go forward today, as they live into the realities of whatever is ahead of them, I pray that you go before them. Make ways, make streets clear, make pathways clear. Let your great work be done in them, to them, for them, for your glory and for the good of them. They're called to serve God. I honor you. I love you. Today. Do your best work with my friends. I pray God that they're they you go before them and make ways. I pray God that your glory shines all around them. And I pray God that they are adaptable leaders. Adaptable leaders, God, in a world that needs adaptability. I pray that growth, God, happens all around them and that they're able to do the work you called them to do, to be the people you've called them to be and change the world you're creating. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Listen, you're made for this. Now. Go win today. God bless you.

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