Today, we explore the profound truth that you are accepted and loved by God before you do anything. Drawing from Matthew 3:16, we highlight how Jesus received divine affirmation before embarking on His ministry, illustrating that our worth is not contingent on our actions but on our identity in Christ. We discuss the importance of recognizing this acceptance as we navigate daily challenges, reminding ourselves that our value remains constant regardless of external circumstances. Whether engaged in traditional work or other forms of service, we are encouraged to act as ambassadors for Jesus, sharing His love with those around us. Ultimately, I emphasize that we can trust in God's unwavering love and purpose for our lives, knowing we are cherished and well-pleasing to Him.
Takeaways:
In our daily lives, we must remember that we are accepted and loved by God unconditionally, regardless of our actions.
Jesus exemplified acceptance and love by receiving God's approval before performing any miracles or preaching publicly.
Our worth is not defined by our successes or failures but by our identity as beloved children of God.
Engaging in meaningful work, whether seen as conventional or unconventional, is a way to serve Jesus and impact others positively.
Welcome to the Hobo Soul Podcast of Road advised from the Bible and from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's a little further down the road of life.
I'll talk to you every Tuesday and Thursday for about 5-10 minutes, and if you'd like more in depth information on walking with Jesus, you can find that at my www.bible805.com website.
For now, let's get started on our topic for today, which is
Episode number 64 Yyou are accepted and loved before you do anything.
Our verse today comes from Matthew 3:16 where it says, "As Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, this is my son whom I love. With him I'm well pleased."
Jesus began his ministry securing God's love before he performed a miracle or preached a sermon, and long before he died on the cross, he was well pleasing to God.
Remember that acceptance as you go about your day to day life, you are accepted, beloved and eternally secure in your God because you belong to Jesus. You were chosen because of God's sovereign choosing. No matter what earthly circumstances brought you into a relationship with your Savior.
Remember that acceptance when discouragements come, Our value does not change depending upon the reactions of others to how we're living our lives or the seeming success or failure of our projects. If you're part of a Christian ministry, or really any job, it's part of good stewardship to measure tangible results of the work you do.
If your church held a special event, how many people showed up? How did your fellow church members interact with newcomers who came back?
Those are all really valid questions, but at the same time, remember that only in eternity will you have a true sense of how your church or the work that you so diligently do touches people. Until then, do your best in your work. Whatever work you've been given.
It doesn't matter if you're a student or a professor, the head of a company, or hidden away in a cubicle. And if for a multitude of reasons, from parenting to retirement, from choice or not.
If you aren't working a regular 9 to 5 job, and many people aren't today, remember you're always working for Jesus. You'll always have challenges. You decide daily how to do your work and with what attitude you're going to do it in.
You can pray for everyone you encounter, from store clerks to delivery people. You never know what opportunities will come up if you're sensitive. Just yesterday I had a really interesting experience.
I was on a call with the service center from my bank. Now I just had to be setting up some stuff for the Bible 805 ministry. And the. The call went well and we got the business taken care of.
And because I was talking about my ministry, I kind of suspected the lady that I was talking to knew Jesus. And I also felt like she was kind of sad. And after sharing some things with me, I asked her some questions. I prayed for her over the phone.
It meant so much to her. Now that was just a Jesus assignment. And they're all around if we're sensitive to them.
It doesn't really matter what your professional or obvious job is. You can always be his disciple, his ambassador.
Even if you're no longer, quote, unquote, working and perhaps retired, you're never retired from God's work. One of the most exciting things I've heard lately is a retired lady at my church, and she's far from retired.
She's very active in an online outreach ministry run by the Billy Graham Organization. It's called, and you can look it up, it's Search for Jesus again. Search for jesus.net.
Through this, she and many others interact with thousands of people daily all over the world who have questions about Jesus.
They responded to a link on the website, they have a question and they're immediately linked up with people who want to answer, either by email, live voice, whatever it is, literally from all over the world. She's got an extraordinary international ministry.
She doesn't have to raise support or learn a language or get on an airplane now, no matter what you do. So fill your life with a knowledge of God's word, that your words, no matter what setting you're in, will be permeated with his love.
Whether you participate in an online ministry or not, pray that what's inside of you will come out in ways that encourage people and help them come to know Jesus. Your salvation doesn't depend on you sharing in this way or any other. But you'll feel great satisfaction when you do things like that.
And remember, you don't need to worry about the results.
If you do things with God's word just kind of bubbling out of you, whether you quote verses or not, you can rely on his promise where he says, so is my word that goes forth out of my mouth, it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Remember the acceptance Jesus had from his Father that we opened with and that you have from him?
Whenever you feel you aren't worthy, aren't able to share, aren't sure you can live the way God wants you to, you're still accepted. Totally. Jesus had a lot ahead of him when he heard these words of assurance and unconditional acceptance by his Father.
he had no idea how he'd feed:
He simply trusted his Father, rejoiced that the same Father who foresaw every step of his Son knows what's ahead of you and that you are right now well pleasing and well loved by Him. That's all for this podcast, for transcripts, links to related material, and much more to help you learn to know, trust, apply and teach the bible.
Go to www.bible805.com for now, let me end with this benediction and prayer.
May you walk each day surrounded by the gracious love of the Father, guided by the gentle wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and conscious of the astoundingly real presence of Jesus, who will walk with you until you're no more a hobo soul, no more a transient wandering heart, but at home in the kingdom prepared for you with your God forever. Amen.
