Follower of One : Missions For The Rest Of Us

In Mark 9:23, Jesus says, "If you can, all things are possible for one who believes." This is a powerful reminder that anything is possible if we have faith in God. When we believe in Jesus, we are able to tap into His power and accomplish great things. We should go into our workplaces, schools, and other environments with the belief that all things are possible. We should remember that we are called to be God's people in the world and that we have the opportunity to see His glory and accomplish the good things promised in Scripture. Let's go into our environments today and remember that everything is possible for one who believes. Let's believe in Christ and ask Him to inform us and correct our beliefs. Let's be people who believe in Jesus and who are following Jesus. Let's serve others and speak for ourselves in a way that blesses the people around us. We have a miraculous opportunity to live in this world as Christ followers on an eternal clock. All things are possible to the one who believes.

In this podcast, Mike Henry from Follower of One interviews Jason Davis @thefortifiedlife , the founder of Jericho Force Enterprises. Jason shares his journey of moving from a scarcity mindset to a mindset of stewardship and abundance, aligning his financial approach with God's principles. The conversation explores how faith can be integrated into the business world, the importance of taking the next step in sharing one's faith, and the impact of faith in various industries. Jason also discusses his upcoming projects and his podcast, "The Fortified Life," aimed at helping Christian professionals integrate their faith into their work.

In this episode:

(0:27)Starting Jericho Force Enterprises to provide financial coaching and assistance.
(8:10) Writing the book "Fortify: Being Rooted in God's Plan for Work and Business."
(12:51)The Profit Blueprint ebook
(15:03)Upcoming projects, including a devotional book and speaking engagements.
(17:00)Jason's podcast, "The Fortified Life," helping Christian professionals integrate faith into work.
(22:01)The role of Follower of One marketplace mission trips in empowering individuals to engage with their faith in the workplace.

Jericho Force Enterprises: https://www.jerichoforce.com/
The Fortified Life Podcast: https://www.jerichoforce.com/podcast
Jericho Force Enterprises Blog: https://www.jerichoforce.com/blog
Jason Davis Linktree: https://linktr.ee/mrfortify

Do you meet the requirement for entering the Kingdom of God? And Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! “For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Luke 18:24-25 NASB95 In the previous episode, I talked about how the Kingdom of God belongs to children. Today, we find that it is humanly impossible for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. Right after the scene in yesterday's episode, we find Jesus talking with the rich, young ruler.

How can you take possession of the kingdom of God? And they were bringing even their babies to Him so that He would touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they began rebuking them. But Jesus called for them, saying, “Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." Luke 18:15-16 The Jews are coming to Jesus to be near him and to be blessed by him. The disciples told them not to bother the Teacher. But Jesus responded that the children should be allowed to come to him for the kingdom of God belongs to them. What does this mean? Most every modern translation uses the term "belongs." We have access to the Kingdom of God based on innocent trust. At least that's my understanding. In this passage, Jesus says the children have the kingdom of God in verse 16 and that others receive the kingdom like a child in order to enter it. Think about the Kingdom of God as being something a child can possess. Why do they "have it?" They "received [it] like a child [in order to] enter it."

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break.

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry, Sr. Thanks so much for joining me today. I want to finish up this section of Galatians 6. We've been doing a series on this and today we want to do the last two verses of the section that I want to cover. And those are verses 9 and 10.

I'm reading from the English Standard Version

"And let us not grow weary of doing good for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

I love this section of Galatians because it's a great practical guide for how we can interact with the people that we come into contact with every day.

And he's reminding us here not to grow weary. He just used this analogy, we talked about yesterday, or in the previous episode, he used this analogy of sewing, planting, and growing. And he's reminding us too, that it takes time. In due season, we will reap, if we do not give up. Many times, we do what the Spirit tells us to do, and we don't see any results, or we see results that appear to be negative.

In my case, I struggled in my career. For many years, I would ask God to use me, to show me what to do, to get me out of the workplace that I was in and put me to work for him. And what he was doing was he was preparing me. I used to tell people that I was career challenged because I'd had so many jobs and I'd worked for so many different people.

And I was almost never happy in my work. And the times when I was happy, those companies went out of business. I felt like I had the kiss of death from a career perspective. But this verse came back, “if we do not give up." Now after being a Christian for over 30 years, I'm experiencing great joy because I get to help you figure out how to integrate your faith into your daily life.

That's my goal is to help believers integrate their faith, make their faith part of what they do every day. I begin that by praying. I punch in, I want to get on my eternal clock and say, "Here I am God." And then I want to do what I'm told. I don't need to grow weary in doing what I'm told by the Holy Spirit, because in due season, I will reap if I do not give up.

Many days I reap right then. I experience the joy of walking with Jesus. I experience the satisfaction of knowing that, even what happened to me today does not end up resulting in negative things; that God uses it all and causes good to come from all of it. So then as we have opportunities, let's listen to the Holy Spirit and do what he says.

We can do good to everyone, especially to those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's find a way today to share God's love with others through our actions. It begins with prayer. He will give you ideas. He will give you questions, and he will make suggestions that might sound a little crazy. But if you can do them, then he will give you more.

Let's practice today following Jesus in our workplace. Because in due season, we will reap, if we do not give up. Look for a way to bless someone that you work with today, someone that you interact with today. Some little thing that pops into your head is an idea given to you by God, to bless someone else. Try it out and see what happens.

Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for investing your life in trying to find Jesus and trying to reap the eternal life that he talks about. You will experience joy doing good and if you don't, reach out to me, I'd love to communicate with you.

You can shoot me a note at [email protected]. Or you can check us out in our online community, https://community.followerofone.org. You can find all of that on our website at https://followerofone.org. Thanks so much for being a marketplace minister. And thank you. In advance I want to thank you for the difference that you're going to make at work today.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break.

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry, Sr. Thanks for joining me today. I'd like to continue our conversation. in Galatians 6. Today I want to read verses 7 and 8 from the English Standard Version.

"Do not be deceived: God is not mocked for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

I titled this podcast "Begin With the End in Mind." And that's from Stephen Covey's book,The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. But the idea originates here in scripture, and I think it might even predate this. The apostle Paul though is reminding us that whatever we sow we also reap. This is a farming analogy.

Our point is that if you put a seed in the ground, that's, what's going to grow whatever seed you put in there. That's what's going to grow. So, if you want a particular crop, you have to plant that crop. Well in our lives, we only have two choices. I don't know if you notice here, but this is very limiting.

There are only two choices. Either we sow to the Spirit, or we sow to the flesh. Everything that's not us asking God for direction, everything that's not us looking to God for guidance, it's our flesh. It's what we want. There are only two gods on this planet, the God of the universe and me. And if I'm God, this whole thing doesn't work.

But if he's God, then we get from the Spirit what we sow. We get eternal life. Also, the word's eternal life here in this translation and in others, remind me of a great book by John OrtbergEternity Is Now In Session. We actually experience our eternal life. When we walk with Jesus when we go through our day with him. When we're sowing to the Spirit, we experience the eternal life now. Those of us who trust Jesus, we have the opportunity to live in our eternal life or to live in the temporal life.

In 2 Corinthians 4:18, it says that the things that are unseen are eternal, but the things that are seen are temporal. That's not an exact quote, but my point is, if I can see it, if it's something that's going on, it's not eternal. If it's all the things that we can see and touch and feel they'll burn up. But all the things that we do because we listened to the Spirit, those things last forever.

So, what's the application for us today? Today, I want to challenge you as you go to work, whoever you interact with today, remember to pray for them before you start. Remember to ask God to show you how he would have you interact with them.

Ask him to give you ideas for questions to ask. The Lord will give us questions. He will guide us to ask things that will cause other people to share information with us so that we might appreciate them more and express that appreciation and help them feel appreciated. And we may also find ways to serve them.

Those are our action items. And then, because we practiced being able to explain that Jesus is the motive behind everything that we do, we can also speak when someone asks. These are our daily activities that we talk about in Follower of One. It all begins with prayer. We can't sow to the Spirit unless we know the Spirit, unless we're chasing after Jesus and listening to God. Today, let's sow to the Spirit and watch him transform our lives.

We will reap eternal life, not at some point in the future, but even today, you may experience some.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break.

Welcome to the Follower of One podcast. I'm Mike Henry, Sr. and our mission at Follower of One is to help every marketplace Christian see themselves as a full-time minister, as someone who's available to serve the people around them. We're currently going through Galatians 6 and we're on verses 5 and 6 today. I'm reading from the New American Standard.

"For each one will bear his own load. The one who is taught the word is to share all good things with the one who teaches him."

I purposely put these two verses together. In your translation, I would be willing to bet there's a paragraph break in between verses 5 and 6, that 6 begins a new paragraph. But I'm not sure that it does. I wonder if Paul wasn't continuing his thought. The thought was, we begin 1 and 2 by bearing other’s burdens. And then three, four, and five are about us not being prideful or arrogant about that, but being humble, not boasting in regard to anyone, but what we do ourselves.

We can't compare ourselves to anyone else. And then five and six, I think tie together because Paul's reminding us that we are all taught. We are all students. We are all learning our faith and learning how to grow it and learning how to deliver it into the world. And then each one of us has to learn individually.

This is not a contradiction about bearing one another's burdens in verse two. We bear our own load when it comes to how we learn the faith and how we live it out in the world. That's up to us. Much of what we learn though comes from others. And therefore, we should share all good things with the one who teaches us.

Often, I learn some great lessons from people that I don't like or from people who are not believers. I've learned much about how to live my faith on a daily basis from challenging work environments. I was taught much by many people simply because I was looking and searching.

I was also taught by pastors. I've sat at the feet of pastors. I've been in church for my entire career as a follower of Jesus. I'm regularly in a church on Sunday. And that's because we have to be taught the word of Christ. We don't get to learn this on our own. Our job is to be a learner, to follow Jesus, and to be open to input from other people.

This is a command I believe to humility. To remembering that we didn't invent our faith and that we didn't just get it from God like Moses, we got it through the holy spirit, but through friends and people that were around or people that we're listening to. And so, the challenge for us today, I believe is to be humble.

To remember that what we know about the faith and where we are in our spiritual walk, it all came to us from other people. Therefore, we should share all good things with the one who teaches us. Let's be humble today. Let's go into our workplace with an attitude of being a learner.

God can teach us much through the people that we interact with, whether they're believers or not. And then we have a humble spirit, we will learn more and we will grow more. And Jesus will use us more. This humility, I think is part of us bearing our own load. You have a ministry in your workplace. Your ministry is how your faith becomes visible to every person that you interact with every day. We bear our own load and therefore we're in a position to share with others when we are taught. Let's be humble along those lines. Today, I want to challenge us. I can always hear another story or a lesson on humility. There's always more humility for me. And I expect there is for you. Let's ask God to show us where we can be humble, where we can be taught, what we can learn in our environments today.

Let's be sharers, so that we make a difference, and our faith makes a difference in our daily life.

Thank you for being a marketplace minister. Thank you for remembering that every action you take because you follow Jesus Christ matters. And how we show up in the lives of the people that we interact with daily, that matters too. Thanks very much for being a minister and for making a difference in your workplace.

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break.

Welcome back to the Follower of one podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry. Thanks for joining us again today. We're in part two of Honest Self Evaluation from Galatians 6:3-5. And today I'd like to read that passage in the Christian Standard Bible.

“For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else. For each person will have to carry his own load." Yesterday. I read this from the New American Standard, and you can tell there are differences in translation.

We talked a little bit about not comparing ourselves to others or not thinking that we are something when we're nothing. So, we have to be careful what we compare ourselves to because in verse four, he says, we need to examine our own work. We need to be objective about how we live and then we can take pride in our self alone, but we can't compare ourselves to other people.

Comparison is a trap. Comparison is what we use to make ourselves feel superior to others. Oftentimes I'll use comparison to make myself feel inferior to others. I feel like I don't measure up and I beat myself up about something. Then I always try and find someone who's better off than me to compare myself to. When I want to feel good about myself, then I try and find someone who's not as well off as me.

In every case that's a lie. These feelings that we have when we compare ourselves to others, they're false. They're a lie. It's us and Jesus. There's no one else to compare ourselves to. We're each on our own plan. And that's one of the things that we'd like to talk about here at Follower of One. I want to encourage you: our first daily activity is to pray. We try and remind ourselves about five daily activities on a regular basis. 1) Pray, 2) Appreciate others, 3) Know what you believe, 4) Serve others, and 5) Speak for yourself. Those are the five daily activities. Prayer is first because this is between us and Jesus. How you show up is a mix of who you are, what Jesus has called you to, all of your experiences and all of your history, and the environment that you're in, and the people that you're around.

You shouldn't do exactly the same thing as any other believer, most of the time. Most of our time, my prayers will look a little different than yours. My actions will look a little different than yours. My calling and my relationship with the people that I work with will look different than your calling and your relationship and the people that you work with.

So, let's not compare ourselves to one another. Rather let's compare ourselves, let's evaluate our relationship to Jesus. Are we doing what he said? If we're doing what he said, then we're examining our own work. We can take pride in what we've done, because we did what Jesus told us to do. Each person will have to carry his own load.

I'm not going to win any awards for something someone else did. My job is to listen to Jesus and do what he says. And I'm blessed when I do that, I experienced the peace and the joy of trusting Jesus and walking with him.

There've been many years when I really thought I was out in left field. And I might've been. I didn't seem to fit in the church.

We've actually talked in our community about how many of us feel underutilized in the church. And it's because our gifting doesn't line up with many of the jobs that the church has for us. And that's, what's so cool about Follower of One. We want to invite you to talk with Jesus and let Jesus put you to work.

And this way we will examine our own work, and not compare ourselves with others for each person will carry his own load. Jesus one day will ask you, "what did you do with what I gave you"?

Today let's follow Jesus. Today, let's ask him what he would have us do. And then as long as it lines up with scripture and it isn't illegal, then let's try and figure out how to do it. Let's solve for how. Our goal is to make Jesus visible in our world. When we obey him, we start that process. We begin to make that happen. Let's trust Jesus and live like we follow him, and he will put us to work.

And I promise you won't feel underutilized. Jesus will put you to work in your workplace and in a big way. Thank you for being a marketplace minister. And thank you for making a difference with your faith. Everything you do because you follow Jesus matters. So today let Jesus invade your workplace and put you to work.

In this podcast, Steve Irby from Stillwater Designs shares his journey from starting a speaker company to integrating his faith into his business. He talks about how his faith influenced his decisions, particularly in how he treated people, even in a competitive business environment. Steve emphasizes the importance of trusting God in business decisions rather than relying solely on quick, profit-driven choices. He also highlights the significance of seeking God's guidance and finding peace in decision-making.

Steve's story showcases the intersection of faith and work, demonstrating that following Jesus can have a positive impact on how we conduct ourselves in the business world. It's a testament to how faith can shape one's values and decisions in both personal and professional life.

Follow Steve Irby

Connect onLinkedIn

Connect With Kicker

Website:www.kicker.com

Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.ph/kickeraudio/

X/ Twitter:https://twitter.com/KICKERaudio

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/kicker-audio/about/

Connect With Follower Of One

Join us over in our Online Community, get social with us; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn and subscribe to our YouTube channel. Listen to our podcast on your way to work and subscribe using your favorite podcast app!

https://www.facebook.com/followerofone

https://instagram.com/followerofone1

https://twitter.com/followerofone1

https://www.linkedin.com/company/follower-of-one

https://plinkhq.com/i/1482955686

This is an Encore episode of the Follower of One podcast from our archives. We are on a short break.

Welcome back to the Follower of One podcast. I'm your host, Mike Henry Sr. I'm grateful to have you here today. We've been talking a little bit through Galatians 6, and today we're on verses 3-5: "For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself, but each one must examine his own work, and then he will have a reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load." That's from the New American Standard Bible.

I could probably talk about verse three for the entire time today. "If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself."

This is a definition of me. I feel like I'm often wrong, but seldom in doubt. I often think I'm something, but I have to be reminded regularly by God that I'm nothing.

I'm not nothing because he died on the cross for me. But I believe that Paul is making a comparison here. When it comes to saving ourselves - and he will talk about this and the next two verses, and this is how I believe he completes this meaning of this word, "nothing" here. We deceive ourselves when we believe that something we do matters for our own salvation.

There's nothing about us that's a good. We do good things because God calls us to, and we make those choices and those are great things. But overall, when it comes to saving ourselves, we're nothing. We're destined to destruction.

"If we think ourselves something, when we're not, we deceive ourselves." And the different translations also talk about this. I noticed in the CSB, it says. "If anyone considers himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." In the New Living Translation. It says, "If you think you are too important to help someone, you are only fooling yourself. You're not that important." The Message says, "If you think you're too good for that, you're badly deceived." And the message is a little more discussional, but the point here is our job is to bear one another's burdens. We're not above bearing other people's burdens. And if we think we are above that, we deceive ourselves.

"Each one must examine his own work," it says in verse four, "and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone and not in regard to another." Again, the New American Standard is a little forced in the translation here because it tries to get a very accurate translation of each word. I believe what we're being told is we're not better off than the people we need to bear burdens for. Our job is to bear the burdens of others. And we're not better off.

Today, let's not think better of ourselves than we ought to. Let's not deceive ourselves. I want to stop right here because there's much to be talked about with regard to this word boasting and how each one of us will bear our own load.

So, we'll pick that up in the next episode. Today, let's remember, what we think of ourselves doesn't matter necessarily. We don't want to deceive ourselves. We want to think accurately and examine our own work objectively, not compare ourselves to others. Our job is to look out for the people around us, to look for opportunities to bear other people's burdens and not think of ourselves as above or better than that situation.

Today in your workplace, I'm praying that you find an opportunity where you can bear someone else's burdens, where you can learn more about them and be in a position to help them.

Let's pay attention to the people around us so that we can make a difference in their life. We can have the opportunity to bear their burdens today. Let's not think ourselves something when we are nothing. Today let's trust Jesus and do what he says. Thanks for being a marketplace minister.

And thank you for listening to this podcast. Please share this with one friend today, or if you didn't think this was that great of an episode, let us know what you think. Tell us what you would like us to talk about. I'll be going through Galatians 6 for a few more days. Thanks very much for your ministry.