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: Josh Sakis //  Who am I Rooted in?

 

 

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Who am I Rooted in?

Mission Discovery Mission Trips with Josh Sakis

 

Josh Sakis is Student Pastor at CIL Church in Hendersonville Tennessee.  He is a good friend to Mission Discovery and its goals.  He shares with us today, some of his story and has some good questions for you to think about.

 

Hey my name is Josh Sakis. I am filming from inside my home which is here in Gallatin or Hendersonville, we’re kind of right on the line here.  Some people from Gallatin tell us we’re not from Gallatin and we’re in Hendersonville and others in Hendersonville tell us you’re in Gallatin. So I really don’t know where we live. But we’ve been here about a year and a half. So glad to be here. Really glad to be bringing this devotional to you today.

I know of Mission Discovery through Jimmy Rivera who goes to our church and I’m on staff at CIL Church here in Hendersonville. And so I got to know Jimmy. We sat down last year and we just sat down for a long time. We talked about the goal of Mission Discovery and his heart for missions and his heart for people, more importantly. And it was just a blessing and we enjoyed that time together.

That is how I know of Mission Discovery and I’m honored today to do everything I can to encourage the body, encourage you guys, so let’s do it together. A little bit more about me just see you know, more importantly than anything, more important than me being a pastor is that I am a husband and I am a father. So we’re you know we’re still learning, we’re young.

I’m 27 years older our son is only, he’s almost 2, he’s he’s a month away from being two years old. My wife and I’ve been married for almost five years, so we’re getting there. We definitely don’t know all the answers but we’re we’re happy to try to figure them out and seek the Lord for them together. So man, this morning we’re going to be in the book of Colossians. So if you want to turn there we’re going to be in chapter 1 and we’re going to read, we’re going to skip a teeny bit, but we’re going to read the latter part of verse 5 through 6 and then we’re going to read verse 9 through 12 as well.

This is a short devotional that is really something the Lord has been teaching me within the last couple of weeks something that I very much so needed. And it means more to me when I get to share with people what the Lord is doing in me personally than me try to get something to bring to someone. I think there’s more done in that way as a body of believers and so I’m excited to do that with you today. And if I can just encourage you,

before we even start which is really is what we’re talking about. But, man I needed this, within the last couple of weeks and just had a lot of tumultuous thoughts and stressors going on. And I can tell you that he really is, God really is the one to run to. He’s the one to go to, because in him is everything. In him is all we need. And I believe that today, I believe that this morning and I’ll believe it tomorrow.

And so I just want to encourage you with that. Go ahead and pick up in the second half of verse five, chapter one verse five. And I’ll tell you when we’re going to skip ahead.

“You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the Gospel, that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace. For this reason also, ”

sorry we skipped ahead verse nine, so verse nine:

“For this reason also since the day we heard this, we haven’t stopped praying for you. We are asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom in spiritual understanding so that you may walk, worthy of the Lord. Fully pleasing to Him.  Bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God.  Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. So that you may have great endurance and patience joyfully giving thanks to the father who has enabled you to share in the Saints’ inheritance in the light.”

Hey, man that is a great scripture, I absolutely love it. And it leads me to tell you a little bit about this story. As a young kid I just had a very special relationship with both my parents. But more importantly I had a very special relationship with my father.

To this day I have referred to him as many things. He’s not just my dad, he’s a coach, he’s a mentor, he’s a teacher, he’s a friend.   He’s many things to me, it is, it is a very special relationship. And a long story made short, I just had so much respect for my father. And one thing I learned is as that respect grew and that relationship grew,

I believed as I moved throughout school, as I moved throughout practices, in athletics and all these things, that whatever I did I was actually representing my father.  I was representing the Sakis, it’s my last name,  I was representing the Sakis name. And so I wanted to do it with honor, I wanted to do with integrity, I wanted to do it, by being honest, living a life that was honoring of people.  That would,

I guess would look well on my family and look well on my father because I respected him. And so I definitely wasn’t the perfect kid. Definitely not the perfect kid, but through closeness with my father, through relationship with him, I wanted to represent his name, the Sakis name well. And so that is the story I wanted to share with you briefly and that if we can just eek

that over into our reading. I want to let you know this, Colossians, the major theme in Colossians is the supremacy of Christ, the supremacy of God. The name of God the importance of who he is. And much like my walk as a younger kid was a representation of my relationship with my father. Our walk in this world, our walk of faith is a representation of our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

I believe that today, I believe it, and that’s why we’re talking about it. I love how Paul says this, he says, “the gospel is bearing fruit in you since you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace.” Right, since you heard it, so as soon as you hear the Gospel, as soon as you recognize God’s grace and your need for his grace, the Gospel begins to work in you the power of the Gospel begins to work in your life.

We are called to produce fruit. It’s very clear in Scripture we are called to produce fruit. But many of us know this, it is not fruit in and of ourselves. It is not something that we can do on our own. It is the power of the spirit of God alive in us. The gospel is alive and it is alive in you and it is continuing to work in your life and and just root out things that don’t belong there and to work on you and sanctify you.

What even allows us to begin bearing this kind of fruit in the first place though? What allows us to do it?  You know Paul says it’s bearing fruit in you. So what what allows us to do that? What gives me the strength to do it, if it’s not me? And it says, recognizing our desperate need for the grace of God. It’s right there, it says, you bearing fruit since the moment you heard it and came to truly appreciate God’s grace.

So when you can truly realize that you are in desperate need of God’s grace, then you begin that moment you start to produce fruit in your life.  Whether it’s working, or whether you’re producing it right away, right? So we need to see that we are filled with his wisdom and understanding, another thing Paul says in this,

“may you be filled with his knowledge, his wisdom and his understanding.”

We are able to walk, because of those things, worthy of the Lord in the way that pleases him.  Worthy of the Lord, in the way that pleases him. That is not something we love to say, because I think it makes a lot of us nervous that we’re we’re trying to do, in order to please. But the reality is that, He loved us first.  We love him and in response our life looks a certain way and it is pleasing to Him. It is pleasing to Him. A life that bears fruit in every good work is pleasing to God. There’s so much more in this and I’m like itching to just kind of blurt it out.  But I want to focus on just a little thing before we finish together. As I say Colossians is all about the supremacy of Christ. The power and the lordship and God as the head.

God is the authority in our lives. One might say that Colossians points to our need, our desperate need to be rooted in Christ. To be rooted in Christ, because here is what we all know and I think we would all agree on this, that in order for there to be fruit there must be a root.  In order for there to be fruit there must be a root.  There has to be a root somewhere, if you see fruit.  There just has to be.  It’s right and natural, that’s how life works, we just get it.

Wherever your mission field is today. Whether it’s Nashville. Whether it’s Texas. Whether it’s South Dakota. Whether it’s Mexico or Haiti or maybe it’s Uganda. Maybe it’s not a place today, maybe it’s a structure, maybe it’s a concept, maybe it’s your marriage, maybe it’s your parenting of your children, maybe it’s a friendship, a co-worker relationship, maybe it’s your in-laws. I don’t know.  Wherever your mission field is today, I have one question for you and it is this. What am I rooted in? That is a question for you to ask yourself and it’s a question that I’m asking myself.  What am I rooted in?  Because if we are rooted in ourselves, then we produce things that can only come from ourselves.   Which is bitterness, its jealousy, rage, lust.

Many, many things, come from us.   But what we’re rooted in, we want to be rooted in Christ, because if we’re rooted in Christ, we’ll produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.

These are all things that the spirit produces in our lives and this is why as believers we’ve been called to produce not just fruit, but good fruit.  And fruit that will last, not fruit that will fade away, but fruit that will last. And its impact through eternity.  So take a look at the fruit in your life and don’t let yourself if you see bad fruit in your life, don’t get so focused on the fruit that you go, “How can I change it, how can I change my fruit?   Because bad fruit, just points to the need for a new root. That’s all it does. That’s all it does. So who, more than what am I rooted in, who am I rooted in? Is it me. Is it my problems?  Or is it Christ in me.  Is it Christ alive. The hope of glory, right. So he wants to work in you. He’s moving in your life. The gospel is alive and active in you. And we become more like him every day in Christ Jesus. Amen.

I hope you guys have a blessed day. Bye