Ephesians

Today I looked back over Ephesians, which I studied this year at Furman and God gave me a verse to claim for this season of my life. If you know me, you know that I don't love change, lean towards self reliance, and wrestle with perfectionism.

Eph 2:10 says, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do."

That's powerful! If youre a Christian, you are Gods 'work of art', have an identity IN Christ, and God is using you, is going to use you, and He decides how!

That is how I feel about ministering on the campus of Furman- that God has really called me here specifically. I've learned more and grown more in the past year than I have in my entire life. So, not only is He using me to advance the Kingdom on the college campus, He is using this time to grow me and change me. This summer, I am claiming that verse for me and for these students that are leading the project!! Pray for us! John Piper talks about what it means to be a great leader maker in one of my favorite sermons- "Barnabas the Maker of a great Leader". Listen to it here- Barnabas: The Maker of a Great Leader :: Desiring God Christian Resource Library

Anyway, pray Pipers marks of a great leader for our staff and students this summer:

1. That we would be risk takers- for the Kingdom and on behalf of other potential leaders (Barnabas really took a risk in standing up for Paul, Acts (9:26-27)

2. That we would have good eyes and a glad heart for the potential of grace- that we would look for ways that God is working, have faith for others and ourselves, and not be critical/judgemental

3. Humble and self -effacing- that we would have the ability to fade into the background, to not make much of ourselves, to really serve others,

4. Patient with the failure of others- patient with those who are younger spiritually, older spiritually, and with our own growth, also that we would trust God to change us and others.

5. free from materialism- that we would love GOD and love PEOPLE!! not money and things

and I will add another to this list that I am learning alot about- that we would be men and women of PRAYER. Ephesians says pray in the Spirit on all occasions.....please pray that we would do this.

I have to close by pasting what Piper closes his sermon with..Do we want to be leaders?

If you want to be a biblical leader-maker, ask yourself this: when my mind is free to dream, do I dream of clothes or cars or houses or lake property or sports or profits or stereos or videos or computers or vacations or food or movies or investments . . . ? In other words, am I materialistic in the moments when I dream about what I would like to do and to have? Does my mind naturally fill up with possessions?

That is not what fills the mind of a biblical leader-maker.

When leader-makers lie awake at night, their minds turn to people—people potentials and people strategies. They dream about how to maximize their influence on people for the sake of Christ.

• I could invite that 11 year old boy to spend the night in the International House . . .
  
• We could get behind that 14 year old missionary with our 20:20 group . . .
  
• We could ask that student over for Thanksgiving dinner . . .
  
• We could give an anonymous gift to that struggling seminary student . . .
  
• We could pay her way to Urbana . . .
  
• I could send him a note of thanks for that pastoral prayer . . .
  
• I could read my children a series of missionary biographies . . .
  
• I could write that short-termer a letter of encouragement . . .
  

The list is endless for biblical leader-makers—people who are free from the heart-deadening mentality of materialism.