Have A Plan
David Wildman
Director of Family and Discipleship at The Rock Community Church. Spending my life helping make disciples who make disciples.
There's a quote, I'm sure many of us have heard, "Preparation is the key to success." During my time as Director of 2nd Mile Adventures, we would take guys on a week-long bikepacking adventure along the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR). Prior to the trip, we would spend time one-on-one training, preparing our gear, and talking through logistics and questions the new rider had. Preparation would take from March up until the trip left in mid-July/early August.
It was amazing to me to see the vast difference in preparation while on the trip. Some ran very minimal (as little gear as needed), while others brought everything including the kitchen sink (even after you advised them not to take those items). But, "to each their own" I would say. Along the journey, we would learn lessons about our preparation. Did this work or not and why. We would carry packs for guys that were struggling to pedal, share food with one another, and laugh as another guy would find a large boulder in his pack at the end of the day! haha!
It was servant leadership at its best. Discipleship being practiced and joy of fellowship experienced.
The one thing we could not prepare for was mother nature. You can plan and plan for the weather but in the end, she will do as she pleases and when you're on a bike in the mountains you're just along for the ride!
The simplicity of removing oneself from their natural habitat and placing them in an environment to only focus on what they need for that day builds principles for life.
Proverbs 24:27 ESV teaches us, “Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.”
Expositor's Bible Commentary for Proverbs 24:27 tells us that Solomon is teaching on Financial Stability… get yourself in a place where you can manage your affairs and provide for your family before marriage. It’s not about things or showing ourselves to be of wealth.
Stable means baseline - Able to begin managing oneself. In life, we need to be able to manage ourselves before we begin to care for another. It's wrong of us to entwine our lives if we're not “stable” (both physically and spiritually).
The principle found in Proverbs 24:27 can be applied in ministry. The gentlemen that we assigned the "new rider" to was one who had experienced the trip. They had a basic understanding established. Their wisdom was leading them towards building a solid "adventure house."
Proverbs 24:3 ESV teaches us, "By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established."
Let's take a couple minutes and breakout Proverbs 24:27.
"Prepare your work outside..."
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.” - Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV
Although our landscape (world) may look bleak - we turn on the news and all we hear is people pointing the finger or open our social media to see division and hate being uttered to one another or get an email update, “buy now before prices go up.”
We must stop.
Turn off the TV, unfollow the social media that utter hate and start filling our feed with Good News - gospel spreading accounts, and delete the email that is trying to capitalize on a tough time.
Preparing your work outside starts with feeding the inside - heart, soul, and mind (Deut. 6). My parents would always tell me… “What you put in is what will come out.” That statement is more true today.
Matthew Henry's commentary for Hab. 3:17-19 “We shall be successful in our spiritual enterprises: He will make me to walk upon my high places; that is, I shall gain my point, shall be restored unto my own land, and tread upon the high places of the enemy; Deut. 32:13;33:29.”
What are your spiritual enterprises? Do our worldly enterprises exceed our spiritual enterprises? What are the things you do day in and out to build or prepare, for the work outside?
Yes. It’s a war out there but scripture tells us that we are soldiers for the Lord (Ephesians 6:10-20). We are to be His hands and feet. We are to put on the whole armor of God and fight the good fight!!
Read, Reflect on and Respond to Nehemiah 4
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"Get everything ready for yourself in the field..."
We’re no good to anyone if we are still walking in our old ways
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” - Proverbs 16:9 ESV
Are we willing to release our plans and follow in his footsteps? Why or why not?
Remember… God wants us to intimately desire Him. What is keeping you from choosing to be in His presence?
Take time to make a shortlist of things you feel are hindering you from this relationship.
Be honest. If it enters your mind and is heavy on your heart write it down.
"And after that build your house."
Preparing oneself for ministry but never ministering to anyone is like building a house but never living in it/filling it.
"Discipleship is not a "thing" that some Christians are called to do. As followers of Christ, we are all called to sacrificially devout our lives to advancing His mission."
“Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” - Haggai 1:4-6 ESV
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.” - Haggai 1:7-8 ESV
How are we going to stay the course and build our ministry house - a house that will welcome all into a relationship with Jesus, to grow in their relationship with Jesus i.e. be changed by Jesus, and commit to the mission of Jesus?
"You don't experience God; you get to know him. You submit to him. You enjoy him. He is, after all, a person. Consequently, a praying life isn't something you accomplish in a year. It's a journey of a lifetime." - Paul E. Miller
Tell your salvation story - Know and be effective in telling your story of Christ redeeming you. Read Acts 26:12-32 for a biblical approach of how to tell your salvation story.
"Practical Christianity mandated by 'the word of truth,' and characterized by both truly 'hearing' and then resolutely 'doing' the truth. Obedience is the hallmark of the true child of God." ESV Study Notes on James 1:22
Final Encouragement
“Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts,” - Haggai 2:4 ESV
Read, Reflect on and Respond to Psalm 61; Proverbs 16; Isaiah 41:1-21; Deuteronomy 11
Final Final Note
Not sharing the gospel with one another is the cruelest thing we can do. Don’t hesitate or wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Tomorrow is the difference between committing oneself to the Lord and living with Him for eternity or living in eternal torment. Don’t let tomorrow be eternal torment. Let this motivate you to share the good news with those who are lost, searching, or who have walked away.