Live Free with Josh Howerton - You are God's Masterpiece | Ep. 215 | Friday, December 1, 2023

Episode Date: December 1, 2023

God wants to put you on display. He wants to showcase the miraculous works He has done in your heart. People are watching you even in the mundane, everyday tasks of life. Let His work shine through. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's daily drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. This Christmas, we want to invite you and your family to join us for our candlelight services on December 22nd through 24th at any of our six locations or for church online. For more information, visit latepoint.combe.combe. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, happy Friday, everybody.

So glad to hang with you for a few minutes today. My name is Bro, and we've been talking about channeling our inner NFL referee and going to the replay monitor and asking God to take a closer look at our character to allow him to get his loving eyes on us and ask him after further review. What do you see that I need to work on? And the replay monitor we've been using is from Galatians chapter 5, verse 22 and 23, is commonly known as the list of the fruit of the spirit. It says when the Holy Spirit controls our lives,

he will produce this kind of fruit in us, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. and the one we've been focused on this week is gentleness. I told you that God threw a flag on me for unnecessary roughness. Again, not because of abusiveness or any kind of violence, not even being hot-tempered. But I could be sarcastic and harsh and sharp and blunt with a negative attitude and some really bad body language. I had to let him go to work on that stuff in me. And the good news is, he's not done.

Philippians 1-6 tells us that the God who started the good work in you and me will keep on working on us. We've been seeing the Holy Spirit as this master craftsman who wants to plane our disposition and take a router to our rage and continually sand out all of our bitterness. And as we allow God's Spirit to do all that kind of work in us, like any project you're proud of, he wants to then put you and me on display. I can remember that little bookshelf I made in the seventh grade shop class, man. I cut the wood and after the planar and after the router and after the belt sander and all that stuff. I took a semi-glossed furnish and I put it on this mahogany wood piece that I made. Man, I wanted to show it off to anybody who would look at that thing. And God wants to put this soft glow finish on you and me

and put us on display to show the world what he can do with reclaimed lumber from the junkyard pile. Jesus of Nazareth is still a master carpenter. I mean, HGTV can't touch him. He has exhibited such incredible craftsmanship with so many. many of us, and look what he had to work with. I'm telling you, Jesus has built more fine homes than all the other builders combined. He specializes in remodeling, especially homes that are absolutely falling apart, and now you know what he wants to do? He wants to have an open house and let other people see what he's capable of doing in anybody's life. Remember we just read,

let your gentleness be evident to all. He wants to put us on display. Gang, we're on display. with the cells associate at the mall. We're on display with the person behind the 7-11 counter. We're on display in the stands of a high school basketball game. We're on display in a parking lot. We're on display with a waiter or waitress at our local restaurant. You know, I always thought how sad it is that restaurant workers dread,

yes, dread that just got out of church crowd. I've talked to many of them and they'll tell you, a lot of people who walk straight in out of church are grouchy, demanding, whiny, rude, impatient complainers who tip very little. And you know what, gang, that's embarrassing to God. It ought to be the exact opposite. My prayer has always been that because of the people in the churches that I get to serve, that the restaurant workers in the area would say,

oh, man, I can't wait. Church is almost over. I can't wait for those Jesus people to walk in here because they are the best. Man, they are so fun, they're kind, they're patient, they're gentle. They don't gripe, and they leave very generous tips. I love working weekends. You see, God is an incredible craftsman. And he loves to take raw material, reclaim people like you and me, I'm talking, rude, obnoxious, cynical, harsh, angry, unforgiving, self-centered people like me, like us, and draw us back to himself, and restore a relationship with us to the death, burial, and resurrection of his son, Jesus, on our behalf, then move into our lives through His Holy Spirit and put us on the shop table, planing, chiseling, routing, sanding, all of our rough edges, and then applying the finishing,

soft glow touch of gentleness so that he's proud the places on display for the world to see his incredible workmanship. So let me sum up this week. If after further review, you feel like God's been flagging you for unnecessary roughness, here's what you do. Agree with him. He's never blown a call and then start cooperating with the Holy Spirit. Invite him into your day to watch your reactions and your tone, in your body language. And then live in the awareness of his presence throughout your day. Stick some of these scriptures in your heart. A gentle answer turns away wrath. A gentle answer, turns away wrath. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other. Make an allowance for each other's faults. Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other. Rejoice in the Lord. Let your gentleness be

evident to all. Stick them in your heart. And why don't you humbly say today, God, you know what? You're right. I need a dose of gentleness in my life. I need to surrender my life to Jesus Christ and embrace this power in my life. I need your spirit to soften my rough edges to keep my power under your control. Hey, we have a very special guest next week on the Daily Drive, so make sure that you don't miss a day. Then I'll be back to take us through the Christmas season and through the end of the year. Grateful for you all, and I pray for you every day. Have a great weekend.

Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out?

For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint.compt.com.