Ep. 30 : From the Archive #4: MPD Devotional with Jason Ruch

Join Jason Ruch as he goes through a passage in the Bible and shares what God is teaching us about our own character and how God's word can be applied to MPD.

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Michele Davis: 0:18

Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast with Katie Johnson and Michele Davis. We love that the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. We are driven to equip and inspire Christian workers to be Christ centered, fully funded, and financially faithful, so that missionary staff can come alongside all people to help them to know Jesus. This process is more widely known as ministry partner development, or MPD for short.

Katie Johnson: 0:53

Today, we have another archived episode of a devotional that Jason Ruch did at one of our Cru MPD trainings, enjoy.

Jason Ruch: 1:02

Hey everybody applause is that the applause is definitely on Zoom, isn't it, it's just amazing. I don't need applause. It's great to be with you guys this morning. And always encouraged to see the faces of people who have taken this this great step of faith to trust the Lord for further their future. And also to trust him in this thing we call MPD. So great to be with you and it really admire the faith that you're showing. Those of us who've been doing this for a while we've done the MPD thing for a while we do remember what it feels like to kind of show up for the first time and go Alright, what do I do how do I say this? It is it's no small thing and and you know who's on your side you know that you're following the Lord's leading for your life and and we're we're excited to be a part of that with you. So I want to talk ask a couple of questions to start our time here and feel free to help me out in the chat. I would love to see what you guys how you answer the question What are ways that people just in general show that they fear man instead of fearing the Lord so chat it up for me if you would What are ways that people show that they fear man versus fearing the Lord that they worry what people think of them yes people pleasing what else comes to mind? Unable to say no. So you might not set up a boundary that would be healthy to set you might not do the specific thing God asks you to do. Good. Okay, anxious about small things that the Lord has in his hands Yeah, tests hard conversations. asking people for advice and never praying to God so we kind of leave God out of the picture going with what's even easiest, even if it's very good these are totally always that people fear man instead of Lord I'm gonna bring it a little more personally now. It's it's a it's vulnerability time. What are ways that you are prone to fear man versus fearing the Lord Thank you, Michele. Good news is you are but yeah, it's it's still a fear right? I mean what do you think? If you were to be honest about you know, I can be prone to fear the Lord this way? What would you say? Look to important people in your life for advice instead of sitting in the Lord's presence and meditating on his word. Yeah. afraid of offending someone unable to say no and people please. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, some of the similar things here. You know, you're you're sharing in general about what people can fear. But some of that is is you personally, I'm definitely prone to the the people pleasing thing. I am a, you know, we love these assessments in Cru. So I've done Strengths Finder. And one of my top strengths is called Harmony. And that means I like relational peace and harmony. And so that is a good thing. It's a strength right. That's what Strength Finders are But there are, there can be downsides to some of the strengths that we have. And the downside of being a harmonious person is that I might be prone to avoid conflict. So I can I can fear man, because I'm afraid there might be conflict in any given situation. So, we're all we all if we're honest, we can take time. And we can all probably think of something or some things that we can be prone to fear man versus fear the Lord. And there are lots of great biblical examples of the ways that his people feared man instead of instead of feared the Lord. So just some some quick summaries, Jacob, in Genesis, we see that he fears his brother Esau, he fears them so right. He's, he's deceived him. He's, and now he hears that he saw us, you know, looking for him, and he runs. And then when, when it's apparent that he's going to have to have some time connecting with Esau. He sends people ahead of him to sort of soften the blow, and he sends gifts. And so he's on the run, but he's showing that he's fearing the man fearing man versus fearing the Lord. Or how about Moses? He, he's on the run from from Pharaoh, right? That he's, he's, he's been appointed by the Lord. But he shows that he's, he's gonna bolt. Or how about Elijah? in First Kings 19. Again, he's, he's appointed by God, he's seen God show up in some incredible ways. And yet Jezebel is after him, and he is running like crazy. So I always love seeing people in the Bible who show their weakness like this, it makes me feel a little bit better about myself. But I think we've got some great examples like this is just very common for us as as people as humans, to fear man, instead of fearing the Lord, even when we've, we've potentially had encounters with God that have bolstered our faith. It doesn't always have to take very long for us to forget that stuff. And then to fear him. And I think it's interesting in each of those cases, with Jacob, Moses and Elijah, how God showed himself that he was with these people, God pursued Jacob, as they wrestled together, right? He he, he He showed His presence and His care and concern for Jacob that he wanted to be hip to Jacob to, to trust him. As they wrestled together, God appeared to Moses in a bush. Right? So this is this is an encounter unlike any that any of us have experienced? Probably. And and Moses has has this, the presence of God come to him. And for Elijah, God fed him when he was, he was destitute, and you needed food. He whispered to Elijah, he, so there's these moments of reassurance for Jacob, for Moses, for Elijah. But even in spite of that stuff, they could be prone to fear, fear man versus fear the Lord. There's a book that's been pretty formative to me, in addition to the Bible, and it's because there's lots of biblical examples in it. And it's called when people are big, and God is small. And it's written by a man named Ed Welch. I commend it to many. And I think it's a great I think this whole concept in MPD is just, it's just right there, right? It's just under the surface for us to be ready, and may be primed to fear man versus fear of the Lord. So this book has been helpful for me in MPD, but also just in in life and leadership. So one of the Bible's dominant questions is, who will you fear or need or be controlled by? And one of the the follow up question, then is will I fear God or for fear people? And whilst talks about Scripture giving us three basic reasons why we fear other people, he says, We fear people, because they can expose or humiliate us. So that's one thing that we fear. We fear people because they can reject, ridicule or despise us. And then his third reason is we fear people because they can attack a press or threaten us. Drop us in there so you can see those. So these are three key reasons that Scripture gives for people to fear that we fear people instead of God. Now, I don't think it's a stretch for us to say that that third one is probably not going to happen in MPD. So right Rest assured, you are almost certainly not going to be attacked, oppressed, or threatened in your MPD efforts. I've never experienced anything not that harsh. But that doesn't mean there's not there's never occasion for us to again be prone to fear man. So but my question is of these three fears which one do you identify with? Most easily? Go ahead and put that in the chat to the to rejection ridicule, there's a couple ones out there. Yeah. Exposure expert exposing or being humiliated. Absolutely. Listen, there's I think your your fellow trainers here this weekend, will will be honest with you, I'm going to be honest with you. You'll probably blow it on occasion. It's okay. I did. I did numerous times. I can I can remember trying to follow up. Somebody and I was let's see, how did this go. I was I was trying to connect with somebody who had given me a check. And for some reason, it wasn't showing up in my account. And so I was like, I've been trained to reach back out and follow up and, and see if they're willing to write another cancel that check in right another checking, I left this voice message with this guy. And on the voice message, I just I sounded nervous. And I felt nervous. And I just stumbled over all my stuff. And and I blew it. I just there was a worst voice message I've ever left. I think of another one. This again, this is voicemail. Now I know not a lot of people listen to voicemails anymore. But this was what I experienced. Where it was a similar situation the person had said they sent a check in it didn't show up. This doesn't happen a lot. By the way. He's like the only two times it's ever happened to me in 20 years. But my callback to this person, I left a message I said, so if you're able to send the check back and send it another check into crew, you can cancel your other one. That'd be I'd really appreciate that. And then to close the voicemail, I said, in Jesus name, amen. But then I caught myself. I'm like, I'm sorry, I maybe I've just been praying a lot lately. I'm sorry. Goodbye, you know, and I and then that's it. So I was so afraid of them thinking I was a complete doofus because I pray that I made it worse by trying to explain why I just did it. So in any case, there's lots of ways that we're gonna blow it and MPD and say kind of silly things. But rest assured, people are gracious, these are these are people who you're approaching, especially initiate initially, that they they love you, they know you, they're excited about you've heard from them, they're excited about what you're doing. They want to hear from you. And, and so I think you're you know, you don't need to worry that most of your conversations are going to go like that. But we can feel very exposed, we can feel like we're going to be ridiculed, because you said something silly. But the three reasons that we fear people because they expose or humiliated us they or they can reject, ridicule, despise, or attack, oppress or threaten have one thing in common. And they that is that they see people as bigger or more powerful and significant than God. And out of that fear in us, we give the people the power and right to tell us what to think, feel and do. So here's some questions that you can ask yourself when you're confronted with fear, and I will put these in the chat as well. The questions would be what and who am I afraid of? And why? Again, these are good process questions, good things to ask before the Lord, where is my worth? Because we're prone to link our worth to others opinions of us. And where am I with the Lord? Do I have a healthy fear of him? Am I cultivating a healthy fear of him proverbs one seven says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of of knowledge, fools despise wisdom and instruction. So let me quickly just talk through a few steps to take to experience freedom from the fear of man. And I'm going to drop each of these in the chat. One would be to understand and grow in the fear of the Lord one isn't the person who fears God will fear nothing else he's made us to fear but fear the right thing. So understand and grow in the fear of the Lord. So that might mean studying it in His Word. It might mean talking to saints who've gone before to talk about how have you cultivated a healthy fear of the Lord it might be a study on his, his holiness. These are these are ways that we can and cultivate this this healthy fear. Second thing is, examine where your desires have been too big. When we fear man, when we fear people, then people become big, our desires are bigger, and God becomes smaller. So ask maybe asking these questions of yourself could be helpful too. Let me let me put these in how would you answer the question I need blank to be happy or fulfilled. It's easy to believe that we need multiple things like love, respect, significance, those kinds of things to be happy and fulfilled. But ultimately, we need, we need Jesus. And he's the one right I mean, he, that's this is the third one. That is, rejoice that God's covered your shame, through through Jesus Christ, that he's protected you from danger, he's accepted you he's filled you with His love. This is Jesus words. And Matthew 10, he says, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father, but even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. So Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me, for men, I will also deny that for my father's who is in heaven, so there is a healthy fear of the Lord to see that Jesus has us that he sees us as more valuable than than sparrows and birds, that he he loves us and wants us to fear him, above all things. And then finally need others less and love people more? Now the body of Christ is there for a reason we need each other. It's crucial to our growth in Christ is crucial to being able to to persevere in our faith, we need the body of Christ. But let's let's strive and work to and cultivate a healthy fear of the Lord over all things even more than I need others and close friends or, or spouse or whatever it might be. And so, I just want to leave you with this last question for you. The pray, even to meditate on how have you encountered the Lord and experienced the holy fear? Or have you if you haven't, pray, pray, Lord, help me to grow, to know and to grow in my fear of you. Let me pray for you now that you get back into trading. Lord, Your word says, Be gracious to me. Oh God for man tramples on me all day long attacker oppresses me. My enemies trample on me all day long. For many attack me proudly. When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God whose word I praise in God, I trust I shall not be afraid. So Lord, I pray for these men and women now. When would they? When they are afraid? Would they put their trust in you? Would you help them to be aware of ways that they fear man? And ask you Lord to help them cultivate a healthy growing fear view as they jump into the NPD process and initiate with people and receive feedback from people? Would you encourage them? Even when people are unable to join their team prayerfully or financially? Would you reassure them that they are more value than sparrows? And would you lead them to the next the next action step and help them to trust you in the process? Pray for them in Jesus name. Amen.

Michele Davis: 19:12

Thanks for listening to the Cru MPD podcast. Please help others find our show by liking, sharing and readiness on Apple iTunes and wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find us on social media by searching for The Cru MPD podcast. Check out the show notes for more information including the various resources we mentioned in this episode. Till next time, we encourage you to be faithful and full of faith in all things, especially in NPD