• Do we know the names of any of our neighbors?
• Have we done anything at all to make them think they matter to us?
• When was the last time you did something totally for someone else who wasn’t in your family?
• How about this – do we say hi and smile at people just because we can?
• Finally, what message do our lives deliver to the people around us?
  
  

The Bible tells us that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. At Oak Hill we believe Jesus came for us and the rest of the world as well. Since that is the case, we are to involve ourselves in seeking and saving the lost just as Jesus did. The primary theme running through all of Scripture is God’s salvation plan coming to fruition. God loves humanity and is willing to come to us so that we are set free from our prisons of sin and death.
 
Now we are sent out into our communities to connect and enter the lives of people that Jesus loves. Our God expects us to interact with the people around us. We are not expected to remove ourselves from our contexts, but to be God’s representative in those contexts. We are empowered by the Spirit of God to show what a life filled with meaning and joy looks like. Since we are united with Jesus, we can bring God’s peace and identity with us to share in a world chasing these elusive elements.
 
The Church tends to make this more complicated than it really is. We are told to be followers of Jesus. We are commanded to love people, share truth and live our lives in thankfulness for God’s gifts.

• It is not so much that we need a program as we need to just know our God and His heart.
• It isn’t so much that we need just the right words in each situation as it is that we love people in the situations God places us.
• It isn’t so much that Christians hold specific positions in our world to deliver God’s power and truth; it is that we bring grace and truth to each position God places us.
  
  

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view… 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.                                                                  II Corinthians 5
 
You matter to God and to the people in your world. Engage them and love them because you can. It also will make your life much more interesting and enjoyable!
 
In Christ,
Pastor Nick

​What areas in your life does God have interest?
What parts of your life can God bless?
Which roles in your life can proclaim the Gospel?
 
Leonard and Emma were an elderly couple that hadn’t had many breaks in life. They had been farmers, but weather issues, a weak economy, mediocre soil and Leonard’s health drove them off the farm. Therefore, they moved to the city to work as a janitor and housekeeper. This was somewhat dangerous based on where their jobs were located. Leonard was mugged and beaten badly one night. From there they took on a full-time calling or vocation of overseeing a house and the kids living there.
 
This is where I enter the scene. I was one of the three kids the elderly couple would look after. Leonard and Emma would garden, mow, clean and raise me on Bible stories. They would play Candyland, baseball and tell me about God. Leonard and Emma faithfully and skillfully took on the vocation God had given them - to be my grandparents. Because of this particular vocation in their lives, I have stories of being loved and the love of God from as far back as I can remember.
 
Several years later a man named Steve Spark took on a vocation of working for Deluxe Corporation. He was a winsome man with a big smile who rose through the ranks. He was honest, hard working and a tremendous leader. Steve became my capable and caring boss in 1992. I was immediately drawn to his leadership style and I trusted him implicitly. Little did I know that one of his God given vocations would send me into an entirely unexpected vocation of my own.
 
Without going into detail, Steve confronted me one day as an older brother in Christ. I still remember the discomfort I felt as he said, “Nick, does it bother you that we have been working together for a year and it wasn’t until today that I learned you were a Christian?” That loving confrontation was instrumental in changing the direction of my life. It was a wake-up call to the fact that I was dangerously close to abandoning my faith in Christ. It was a painful and necessary aspect of my journey that ignited a passion to follow Jesus.
 
This Sunday we are going to consider the vocations in your life that God has given you. God’s calling on your life has to do with your job, your family, your citizenship and so many other areas as well. As you have read in my previous words; God can use it all, including the tough stuff. God can bring purpose, significance and joy into all facets of your life. Will you let Him?
 
Colossians 3 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
 
In Christ,
Pastor Nick