Represent Well
Notes
Transcript
Frustration
Frustration
Sara and I are in the process of replacing the windows in our house. The old ones are original to the house, 1984. They leak like sieves. We lose heat in the winter and cool in the summer.
A year ago we replaced the windows in our living room and kitchen. It made a huge difference this winter in how much wood we burned and propane we used.
Now, we are finishing the main floor, a sliding door and windows in our guest rooms and bathrooms.
I needed to pay for them in last year’s budget. So, in December, I went to HD, talked to the window guy there. I told him what I wanted.
2 days later, another guy comes out and sells us the door and windows. On December 11 I paid for them. Last year’s budget.
A few days later, a 3rd guy comes out and measures for the door and windows. W/ his measurements, he ordered what we wanted. Still before Xmas.
A couple of weeks later, we get a call from PHX, the installation dept., the 4th person we’ve talked to, telling us our install date is going to be April 4. 4 months.
Any of you who have done any remodel projects around your house understand, this is just where we are with supply chain issues, supply and demand, the pandemic, and maybe even the phases of the moon. Prices are up and it takes longer.
April 4 comes around, and sure enough, the installer, the 5th person involved in the transaction, shows up to install everything.
There’s a problem. The sliding door and one of the windows don’t fit. He messed around trying to make them fit for so long he didn’t finish that day. He needed to come back the next day to finish.
His truck broke down. He couldn’t come back that day. 3 days later he comes back to finish what he can. He ordered the replacement parts for us.
A few days later, a very nice woman from PHX called to ask how the install went. Are we pleased w/ the service?
Apparently, no one told her what happened. To HD’s credit, their customer service in communication is pretty good. They follow up. Among the problems, the right hand in installation does not know that the left hand measurer was off so the installer couldn’t.
Not communicating among themselves very well.
But, she was not prepared to hear my story. She apologized. She’s the 6th person we talked to.
A couple of weeks later, we get a call from PHX, installation dept., the 7th person we talked to, who happily informs us our replacement products will arrive and be installed on August 23.
Dec. 11 to Aug. 23. I was frustrated. Now, I’m angry.
The whole process. Once everything is installed we then we call Jack and Lisa to come and measure for the blinds. It’s going to be after Labor Day before this project that started in 2021 will be completed.
A couple of weeks ago, I realized the installer took our storm doors down trying to install the door that didn’t fit, and took them with him. Now, we have monsoon season coming and no storm doors so if we get a heavy rain, the carpet gets wet.
We reach out to one of the people we’ve already talked to about this development.
HD sends another guy out, the 8th person we’ve talked to, to calk and seal around the old doors that are going t/b replaced.
Sara, has been reaching out to the mgr of the HD store in Flag hoping to get some help in moving us up so we’re not at the back of the line w/ our replacement parts, the 9th person we’ve talked to.
This week I got a call from someone in PHX, the 10th person we’ve talked to, saying she heard there might be some confusion about when our replacement parts are going to be installed.
I asked her if she knew the story. No. Nothing in the file. I recounted for her, an abbreviated version. Dec. 11, April 4, August 23. There’s no confusion, we’re just mad.
She apologized. I apologized to her. Not her fault. But she asked.
Here’s the deal. I’m not perfect. I don’t expect anyone else to not make a mistake or 2. Just fix the problem. 1 guy made a mistake w/ his measurements.
We didn’t cause the problem. We shouldn’t have to wait till August for the problem t/b resolved. We shouldn’t be the contractor talking to 10 diff ppl.
A couple of these 10 ppl have suggested we can expect some financial relief when it’s all over. I’ll keep you posted.
Sometimes I let my frustration and anger get the best of me and it comes out in the way I talk to ppl like this. My kids call it the “Coach Steve” voice. I can get my diaphragm involved in a split second.
“I’m not yelling! You want me to yell?”
And, of course, I’m just waiting for one of the, in a lull in the convo, to ask me, what I do for a living.
I’m a pastor. I represent the most patient, gracious, understanding, kind, sensitive, self-controlled Savior of the world.
Let’s not be confused. I am not Him. I only rep Him.
Pray for me. Please.
I may be the closest thing to Jesus some of these ppl ever get to. And how I speak to them will go a long way in whether or not they want to get to know Jesus for themselves.
Like it or not, this is a small town, how I treat ppl around here reflects on you, too. And, of course, how you treat ppl reflects on me, the church, and Jesus. Can’t help but. You’re here. PPl know it.
In how we act and how we speak, our priority has to be to represent Jesus well even when things are not going well for us.
This morning I am wrapping up Colossians. These are Paul’s final thoughts and words for this church as he wraps up his letter.
Real quick, a couple of final things.
First...
Pray Hard
Pray Hard
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should.
Pray Hard.
Devote yourself to praying. Be persistent. Stay at it even when it seems like you are not getting the results you want.
Or, you may not be getting anything at all.
Keep in mind, we can’t see everything that is going on. There is a spiritual realm that we are mostly unaware of.
Then, there’s the question of are we even praying for the right thing. My kids would ask for ice cream for dinner all the time. They never got it. It’s not good for them. So, if we are asking God for something He knows is not good for us, He won’t do it.
Nor is ice cream for dinner consistent w/ the character of Sara. Don’t bother asking.
How often do we ask God to do things that are inconsistent w/ who He is. He’s not Santa Claus. He’s not subject to us.
Then, we may get frustrated b/c we’re not getting what we want. What if we are asking for the right things, still not getting them? Then, the question becomes, how bad do you want it?
We’ve been praying for Rick. How bad do you want Rick to have relief? How many times have you prayed for him?
Gail has asked on FB for us to pray. I send out updates to our prayer warriors to pray.
Do you pray. Do stop what you’re doing and approach Jesus humbly, respectfully, confidently, on behalf of Rick?
It’s easy to read those things and just keep scrolling.
Or, toss up a half-hearted aside to what I’m already working on. Right in the middle of the Depp defamation trial...
Or, are you intentional? Where that one thing is the focus of what you are asking God for? How many times?
In Luke 18 Jesus tells a parable about a widow who persistently asked an unjust judge for justice. She asked over and over and over. Finally, the judge in Jesus’s story relents and decides for the widow.
This is Jesus’s teaching for the disciples:
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?
How bad do you want it?
Rick either needs complete healing, or at least relief and the ability to manage the discomfort he is in. How bad do you want that for him?
How many times do you stop and pray that way for him?
If we want something bad, then we must be devoted, committed, stick-with-it even though it seems like nothing good is happening.
Sometimes we don’t get what we ask for b/c God is developing something in us.
The Lord visited Abraham and told him he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Their lifestyle was horribly ungodly.
Abe knew his nephew Lot and his family lived there. So, it appears he argued with the Lord about destroying everyone there.
In a city of 100s what if there are 50 good ones, righteous ppl? Will you destroy everyone if there are 50 good?
What about 45? 30? 20? 10?
It may seem like Abraham is changing the Lord’s mind.
But, The Lord knew how many righteous were in the city. He knows everything. And we don’t know that He wasn’t already planning to get Lot and his family out of town anyway.
Maybe, getting Abraham to argue, and ask, persist, be devoted to stick w/ praying for the righteous ppl in Sodom, the Lord developed Abraham’s heart to be gracious w/ the few even when the majority are bad.
By devoting yourself to prayer, and praying for the things repeatedly that God wants anyway, He will develop you and grow his grace in your heart for ppl who need it.
Paul said pray and be watchful. That is, be watchful against drowsiness and apathy.
When Jesus went into the garden to pray the night he was to be arrested tried, He left Peter, James, and John to pray while he went farther in to agonize in prayer himself.
When he came back to them, he found the asleep.
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
In their defense, they didn’t understand. But they were not as devoted as they should have been.
Have you ever been in a convo w/ someone who fell asleep on you?
What did that communicate to you? Were they committed you and what you were talking about?
They ask a question and fall asleep and miss the answer.
In Col. 4 Paul also said be thankful when you pray.
One of the lost points of etiquette in our kids is thank-you notes. Sara spent hours writing Thank-yous to ppl for our wedding gifts.
We send wedding gifts to our friends’ kids and never hear if they ever rec’d them. How does that make you feel when you don’t get thanked for something you did for someone?
Do you thank God on a regular basis for all the good things He does for you?
Then Paul said pray for doors to open for his ministry. He was in prison and in chains as he wrote this, and asked them to pray that doors would open.
He knew about both times an angel let Peter out of prison. And, once when he and Silas were in prison, an earthquake knocked the doors of their cell off its hinges and their chains fell off.
Is that what he’s asking for here? Maybe, but probably not.
The doors he prayed would open were in the hearts of the people he came in contact w/ in prison, including the guards.
He was chained to a guard while locked in his cell. To say Paul had a captive audience would be an understatement.
When we were in Minot, ND, we had a friend who was quite successful in Amway. Amway is a multi-level marketing business where you can sell home cleaning products, among other things. And, you can recruit ppl to sell them and you’d get a percentage of their sales commissions too.
There’s a big Air Force base in Minot. And the guy that recruited our friend into Amway recruited a number of Air Force personnel into it, under him, as well. When they were transferred by the Air Force, they took their Amway bsns w/ them. Their recruiter continued to get his share of their sales even tho’ they had moved.
Some of these Air Force ppl took Amway to Japan. It took off.
When you live on an over-populated island where there is little room for brick and mortar stores, pre-internet, you are looking for creative ways to run a bsns, service customers, meet needs, and make a living.
Amway was perfect for the Japanese at that time. The guy back in Minot quickly became a millionaire.
These are the doors Paul is asking them to pray open. Not for Amway. But, the gospel. When a guard heard the gospel from Paul, came to faith in Jesus, was transferred to another part of the Roman Empire, he took his faith w/ him and the church spread throughout.
They put Paul in prison hoping to rein in his missionary work. But all it did was multiply it exponentially. More Xian guards went to more places planting more churches than Paul ever could have on his own.
He was still in prison but his message was free to spread and grow.
He wrote, pray that I may proclaim Christ clearly. What he means is, beyond words, also his actions, when he’s frustrated and angry that his freedoms have been taken away, all his Pharisee former friends were still wealthy and w/ their families; pray that he would represent Christ well even though things were not going well for him personally.
His actions toward his guards could have ruined his influence w/ them.
At first glance, it appears Paul is terribly unsuccessful. Certainly not a role model for Xian behavior. He’s in jail.
No big house. No big church w/ a big budget. No big SUV. No 2 camels in the garage. Not many friends on FB or followers on Twitter. He’d probably be in twitter jail w/ all the other Xian twits.
Nobody is reading his blog. Well, we’re reading his email, or letters.
He absolutely blew up the mold on what it looks like to be successful in ministry. And what it means to be a success in life in God’s eyes.
Pray for me.
Pray that I can lead all these HD employees closer to Christ, not away. For Paul, for me, for all of us; pray that we proclaim Christ clearly in what we say, how we say it, and what we do.
MP is a small town. PPL talk. They know I’m the pastor and you come to this church. We clean up nicely on Sunday.
How clean is your language and behavior on Friday? Or Monday thru Saturday?
Prayer is not an add-on option for our spiritual lives. It is essential.
Be intentional. Stop everything else you’re doing. Pray for what you know is w/in the character of God to do.
Pray frequently, as badly as you want these things to happen.
Watch for answers. Don’t sleep thru them. Be thankful when you get them.
Pray that we rep X well even when things are not going well for us.
Pray that our actions as well as our words lead ppl closer to Christ, not away.
That’s where he goes next.
Outsiders are Watching
Outsiders are Watching
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
Has there been enough grace and salt in my words w/ the HD ppl?
Probably could be a little more.
When Paul wrote “Make the most of every opportunity”, what he meant is this.
Remember when the pandemic started and there was a toilet paper shortage. Imagine going to Sams one day and there’s none on the shelf. Panic sets in.
Then, the next week, you back and there are 10 bulk packages of TP.
What do you do? Buy them all up.
Way more than you will ever use in a year. But, don’t let the opportunity go by w/out grabbing every available one.
In a world short on opportunities to tell your story about Jesus, when you get one, take it. Do not let the opportunity go by w/out at least trying.
Even when ppl make you mad, they don’t deserve to be talked to nicely. But when you do, that’s gracious.
Salt preserves food. Saves it. Salty conversation, not necessarily salty like a sailor, but salty like a preservative, can save a person’s life.
The gospel, the good news about who Jesus is and what he offers, if accepted and used for its intended purpose, will save ppl.
In your conversations, no matter the context nor circumstances surrounding them, lead the person on the other end a little closer to Jesus than they were before you started talking.
It may be the words you use. I may just be in the attitude you have. Be nice. Be gracious.
Then, as you pray, and study God, you will continue to grow and learn. You will have more answers to their tough questions.
IDK works for a while. Eventually, the ppl who ask you will want an answer.
God makes Himself known to you. We have the bible. We have the HS. And, we have ea other to help us all learn more about the character of God.
What we should expect of Him. And, what He expects of us.
How we talk to God and how we talk to ppl in this community and around matter.
Our priority, shouldn’t be our comfort and what we want, unless it’s what God wants for us.
I’m not sure God has a position on my door and windows. He wants me to be a good steward of my money, and a good steward of His story.
Even if things are not going as I want them to go, I can do better in how I treat ppl I come in contact w/.
Let’s work on that together.
Applications
Applications
Prayer Warrior
Prayer Warrior
Be a prayer warrior. Fight for what’s right.
Be devoted. Join our list of ppl who are praying for the things our friends are fighting against.
Want it bad. Communicate that by how often and how intense you pray.
Humbly but boldly approach the throne of grace with the things you believe God wants done.
Be Salty
Be Salty
Not like a sailor.
Keep in mind every convo you have moves the person you are talking to either toward Jesus or away.
I might be a waitress, installation rep w/ HD in PHX, a neighbor in MP. In what you say and how you say it, do more to move them closer to Jesus.
Proclaim what you believe clearly. Behave like you believe Jesus can save the person you’re talking to and they need Him to.
Opportunity
Opportunity
Take advantage of every opportunity you get.
Stock up on TP. Don’t shy away from telling your story about how Jesus is changing you for the better.
I didn’t have a lot of good examples of what a good marriage looked like growing up. Jesus showed me and changed me into a good husband and father.
I didn’t have a purpose for my life in high school or even early into college. When I found out Jesus created me for this and gave me the ability to teach I discovered a purpose for my life. I have a reason to get up every day and go to work.
I just took advantage of this opp to tell you 2 of my stories.
You have stories just like this.
When you get the opp, buy them all up.
Like it or not, this is a small town, how I treat ppl around here reflects on you, too. And, of course, how you treat ppl reflects on me, the church, and Jesus. Can’t help but. You’re here. PPl know it.
In how we act and how we speak, our priority has to be to represent Jesus well even when things are not going well for us.