KICKSTART DEVOTIONAL
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On every Mission Discovery mission trip, we begin the morning together in God’s word. One speaker is chosen to give the word of the day so that everyone else can meditate on the Scripture. Our hope is that volunteers engage in group discussions throughout the day and in their small groups.
Since the way ministry is being done has shifted, our goal is to serve by creating resources that will help others focus on God throughout the day, and influence family and small group discussion.
Join us every weekday as we explore God’s word together. We will have speakers from all over the US and the world. Here is today’s Kickstart Devotional.
Video: Beckie Hinze // House Arrest
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House Arrest
Mission Discovery Mission Trips with Beckie Hinze
Beckie Hinze has served on many short term mission trips with Mission Discovery. As a nurse who started her own non-profit, she brought teams of doctors and nurses to Swaziland, Haiti, and even Arizona. Any international mission trip, or mission trip to the United States could include both youth and adults, however, Beckie focused on bringing professionals to places of great need over a period of time. Her mission organization utilized Mission Discovery to bring medical missions to Haiti. Today, she brings a different kind of mission. She is inspiring us all through Scripture as we kickstart our morning together. Here’s Beckie Hinze.
Hey. Mission Discovery friends and family. I’m so happy to be here with you. Thanks for asking me to share just a little bit to kickstart you this morning. My name is Beckie Hinze and I have been taking teams with Mission Discovery since 2009 to lots and lots of places watching God work all over the world, and just getting to be a learner and getting to be a part of that.
I live in Fort Worth, Texas with my quarantine partner Rick Hinze. We have been married for a really long time. And so here we are. We are so proud and happy to have been a part of the Mission Discovery family. I had the honor of being on the board for several years and I’m just so proud to have been a part of this great ministry.
And so, thank you for all that you are doing. I plan to take another team to Bulembu in July. So we’re praying about that and trusting God that his will be done in the midst of all that.
Today I wanted to look at Philippians 1:3-11. I glanced at that last week as it was part of a Lenten reading and it just struck me.
Wow. Paul was in house arrest when he wrote this letter to the Philippians and I feel like that’s where we are y’all. We’re on house arrest. We are in quarantine. From what I understand, Paul was pretty much imprisoned in a place for over a couple of years and we know that Paul was not a stranger to prison.
And actually, the scholars think that he was in Rome while he wrote this letter. But think about it. The Philippine jailer came to Christ. He and his whole family because of the type of prisoner that Paul was. So he took his chains very seriously.
I was raised with a lot of prison talk around me. I have a picture of my papa that I want to show you guys. He was such an interesting boisterous fun joyful man and he had the interesting job of being a superintendent for the construction team of the prison in Huntsville, Texas, which is quite a famous place.
And he did that many many years ago. And so, even though he was joyful and full of fun for all of us grandkids, we did not joke around about what happened in prisons and the horror that was there. So while we may think we’re in prison, we are just experiencing a little tiny bit of isolation. So let me read the passage.
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”
You know, this passage is really familiar to some of us and I think that one of the reasons is we’ve used it kind of flippantly. Like if you look at verse three, we put that in on stationary and in letters at the ends of emails. Those kinds of things.
But this greeting from Paul was in no way flippant at all. I think there are three things, you know this is a kickstart. And every time I’ve been involved in one of those whether it was Haiti or Swaziland or Arizona, we all have our gear and we’re ready to go. So I don’t want to take up a lot of your time.
But there are just three things out of this passage that I thought are super helpful for me as I move forward in my week. The first thing is that Philippians is the book of joy now. And again, how does Paul do that when he is when he’s in prison?
Well he is. So I looked the statistic up. Joy and rejoicing is mentioned 16 times in this very short letter. It’s just four chapters long. And so he was focused on Joy. We don’t know what was going on with them. And that is for a much longer study than a kick start.
But Joy was super important and he says here I always pray with joy. So in the midst of his house arrest, in the midst of suffering and his prayers were with joy. And that’s in verse 4.
And the second thing that jumps out at me in these few verses is in verse 6 – he who began a good work on you if you will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Well you know for me I came to Christ as a little girl and I’ve been walking with him for a really long time. He has had a lot of work to do and it’s very interesting to me that in these later years my kids are grown and I have grandchildren. He continues to work in me so that I can be complete, when I see him face to face.
We are going to end this quarantine time, all of us transformed differently. I think a lot of that choice is up to us. It’s how we respond and how we allow God to do that good work in us.
So Paul, in his own house arrest is encouraging people to be joyful as he is joyful. He is reminding them that God has begun a good work in them. And then the very last thing – he prays for them. He says and this is my prayer, in verse 9, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight.
I think it’s interesting. This is not a fluffy kind of love. This is not a superficial love or an immature love.
The love that he is praying for these people in Philippi is a mature love. It’s a love that abounds more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. How those two things relate, I think unfolds through the rest of this book. So I’d really encourage you, if you don’t have any plans for the week leading up to Easter, that you spend some time in this chapter.
It’s full of joy. It’s full of calling us to Jesus. In chapter Four, I believe it is, we have such a beautiful picture of who Christ is short. I just encourage you to do that. Thanks for letting me talk to you today.
I would leave you with this question as you think about your week. What great work has God begun in you since our lives have been turned upside down?
We’re looking at less work less finances to deal with. We are definitely on the throws of retirement and God’s speaking to us to trust Him and not our finances for our future. Maybe you’ve lost your job completely. Or maybe your health is not good. There are some real concerns about that. I know our friends in Nashville, maybe you’ve been affected by the tornado and then right behind that comes the coronavirus.
If you are a first responder and you’re watching this anytime of the day, maybe when you get home at night, thank you. Thanks for what you’re doing. I’m a nurse and I am so proud to be part of that profession especially during this time. But, take that question with you.
What good work has God begun in you? Have a wonderful week as this day has been kickstarted for you by Mission Discovery.
