OCTOBER 9 – TEACHING IS VITAL

 Go and replicate yourselves in the other nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them how to follow in all that I taught you. And listen, I am with you every day; all the time, until the completion of this age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

                   Does your plan for your people include ongoing teaching? Is teaching imbedded in your processes? Is it a responsibility of each leader to be teaching and growing others whom they lead? Repetition is important. Recognize that new people enter the groups you lead and relate to, and that someone must be charged with teaching them as well.

                  Jesus left His followers here with three clear, direct mandates; replicate, baptize, and teach. Replication is the product of transformation. Baptism is the clear communication of the changed life. This includes both the intentional act of the transformed person to say, “I have been changed, “and the public witness he or she gives to that transformation. Teaching brings maturity, forming the new life that grows each day when it is nurtured. God has chosen to do the work of teaching and nurturing partly through His people just as people share in helping others come to faith in Christ. He intends for you to include your people in this work of teaching and nurturing too.

                   Embrace the opportunity that Christ has given you to teach and provide for ongoing instruction of His people. It is vital to His work and yours.

OCTOBER 8 – BOLD PERSEVERENCE

 But Christ was faithful as the Son over the House of God, His Father. We are His house if we persevere boldly to bring glory to Him with our firm hope always to the end. (Hebrews 3:6)

                  Are there times you don’t feel like celebrating God’s goodness? Have you experienced the place where the work you have done and the processes you have initiated to follow Him seem to be yielding nothing? Were you tempted to use your mind, and the proven ways of the world to turn it around? You should never choose the world’s way.

                  The writer observes, “Jesus was faithful.” He did what God wanted Him to do – period. Then he says, “If you are His house (where He lives)” – in other words – “If Jesus really is your Lord and lives in you,” then you will do the same thing. You will persevere boldly through difficult times if Jesus lives in you. He includes strong adverbs for emphasis. He says to persevere always, every day to the end. Be bold in speaking truth even to those who don’t want to hear. Do the work because you have hope (believe) in God’s power to accomplish His will and purposes in the world. Living this way means you never stop celebrating God; never give up on Him and just do what other people would do.

                  Persevere boldly, with great hope in the Lord God alone, and do it firmly to the end when He completes His work in you.

OCTOBER 7 – ROUTINES ARE CRITICAL

 And everything; whatever you do and every word, action, and all your work – do it in the name of the Lord, Jesus. And, in all of it, give thanks to Father God through Jesus who gives us this life. (Colossians 3:17)

                  What are the daily routines of your community? Have you thought about the customary, default activity and reasoning process of your people? Routines are important tools in the formation of a culture. The decisions your people make should be tested against the vision and values you have communicated and defined. Processes to care for people must be part of your routines if your community is to be connected and prospering. Each of your routines should be measured against God’s vision and values for your people.

                  Paul stresses that everything matters to Jesus. He says a lot in this short statement. Everything that you do that you call work and everything you say, are done in Jesus’ name as you live your life in the Spirit. As you move toward that desired reality, you begin to form personal habits of attentiveness to Christ. These are your routines. They are vital to your Spiritual growth. Similarly, as you recognize the patterns, you can establish processes – ways of being and ways of doing things – for your people to follow. These “ways of being and doing” will be vital to the growth of the people in your community.    

   Routines aren’t routine. They are the mark of excellence. They become the way for your people.

OCTOBER 6 – CELEBRATE – GROW HOPE

 Let this new song be sung; everywhere – to the ends of His earth. Go to the sea, take it to the islands and all their people. Even out in the far wilderness, and from the tops of the mountains they will sing, shouting praises. They will all give glory to the Lord God singing His praises in all the islands. (Isaiah 42:10-12)

                   Are your words full of hope? Or, do you sometimes forget from where your hope comes? Do you speak in ways that convey your fears to your people? Each celebration is an opportunity to show and inspire a hope that sustains confidence in the future. To say, “God loves,” is what enables you to love (1 John 4:19); not just to love Him, but also to love His people. In like manner, celebrating God’s work enables hope for those who are gripped by fear.

                   Isaiah delivers God’s promise that the songs that praise His work on earth will connect to the future. This means, if you sing His songs everywhere, always, to the ends of His earth, then others will inhabit this new life! In still other words, if you are faithful in praising the Lord, God, His earth will be filled with hope-giving celebration and praise.

                   So, speak optimistically, as God leads you. Be careful that your words are filled with His hope rather than with fear.

OCTOBER 5–CELEBRATE–GROW PARTICIPATION

The Holy Spirit of the Father, the Lord God, is covering me; my life. The purpose; the reason He placed that Spirit in my life is to tell the great news to the poor. The captives are now free, those who have been stumbling around blind can now see, and I bring real liberty to the oppressed and enslaved. (Luke 4:18-19)

                  Do some of your people need re-charging? You don’t celebrate just to introduce and invite new people to respond and join the effort. Celebration also promotes and grows participation for those already engaged. Remember that what you talk about as the leader is what your people will do. Your words will have a desire-shaping focus. If you stop talking about vision and values, and you stop telling and celebrating the stories of what God is doing, they will notice. Your actions and words, or your inaction and silence are watched very carefully.

                  Jesus said the Spirit was placed upon Him; “covering His life (completely),” so that He would be constantly telling and celebrating the good news. Every day brought an opportunity to shape focus on God, encourage participation, and grow people together in community. His whole business, and yours, is to replicate workers who will in turn bring more transformation.

                  Let your life be covered with the Spirit. Keep on telling the good news. See the transformation God promises as you allow Him to work through you every day.

OCTOBER 4 – CELEBRATE – GROW COMMUNITY

 When God’s people talk with each other about all He has done, the Lord, God listens. Even He makes note of how they have worked and what has been done through their work because they honor Him and put all their hope in Him. (Malachi 3:16)

                  Do your people have time and opportunity to simply be “us” together? Have you established, in your times of celebration, opportunities to focus on and celebrate the “we?” When you make room for time to appreciate what has happened because God brought you and your people together, it encourages unity. This time of celebration provides opportunity to grow in understanding the common vision and to care for and encourage each other.

                  Malachi urges, “Even He notices” when there is such community. Talking with each other about what God is doing, and seeing the work as His, is the beginning of faith. People become open and receptive to God’s provision and care. Think of all the Israelite feasts. Each one had a purpose, and common to all was that each was a reminder of God’s work in them as a people. Altars and pillars of stone dot the Israeli countryside from times that leaders memorialized God’s great works.

                  Leave your peoples’ memorials as you celebrate what God has done for “us,” the work He has done through “us.” Build a united community where the pronoun is “we.”

OCTOBER 3 – CELEBRATE – GROW OWNERSHIP

 Come, listen – if you want to know what God has done, so I can tell you what He has done for me! (Psalm 66:16)

                   Have you given your people opportunity to listen to God’s vision for you and for them, and to the values He has given you to teach? That work is very important, but it is also important for them to hear the stories of how the vision and values look when they are lived. As people hear how God has used others in their community for His purposes, they will begin to see themselves in those stories. They will understand how to show integrity in living the values and pursuing the community’s shared vision, rather than just talking about them as ideals.

                   Again, the writer focuses on what God has done. It is important that this topic dominate your words, too. When your people listen to – and celebrate - the stories, and they hear, “this is how you have lived,” and “this is how you have participated in pursuing God’s purpose,” they will begin to take ownership. The vision becomes “our vision,” rather than simply the words you have spoken. As the importance of the values become evident, they will be adopted too.

                   Speak in ways that will help your people to hear what God is doing and to embrace that work as their own.