Episode 5
Week 5: A clean heart is an essential part of preparing for church communications work
A clean heart is an essential part of preparing for church communications work, and that's the crux of today's discussion. We dive into the insights from 2nd Chronicles 29:11, where King Hezekiah encourages the priests to purify themselves and the temple before engaging in worship. Just like the priests had to confront their internal and external challenges, we also need to reflect on what might be holding us back in our roles as church communicators. Whether it’s letting go of negative attitudes or ensuring we’re using our tools ethically, the journey to purification is crucial. By addressing these areas, we can approach our work with renewed joy and purpose, ready to serve effectively.
Takeaways:
- A clean heart is essential for effective church communication, as highlighted by 2nd Chronicles 29:11.
- Before we can serve effectively, we must purify ourselves and our tools for ministry.
- Confessing our shortcomings allows us to function better in our callings, both personally and professionally.
- Just like the priests, we need to examine our hearts to ensure we are not holding onto negativity.
- Purifying our digital workspace is just as important as our spiritual readiness in church communications.
- Each week, this podcast aims to encourage and equip church communicators with practical insights and prayers.
Transcript
Good morning. I'm Yvon Prehn and I'd like to welcome you to Monday Devotions for Church Communicators.
This podcast will start your week with prayer and a challenge from God's Word.
It's week #5 of our Devotions for Church Communicators and the topic for today is
nd Chronicles:"My sons, do not be negligent now, for the Lord has chosen you to stand before him and serve him, to minister before him and to burn incense."
In this verse, King Hezekiah challenges the priests in their service before God.
Things had not been going well for the priests before this time. Hezekiah's father, the former king, had turned away from God. The temple had been closed and desecrated, but when Hezekiah became king, the temple was reopened.
However, before the public worship of God could take place, two things had to happen. First, the priests had to reconsecrate themselves, and second, they had to purify the temple.
They accomplished both tasks and the result was great joy in the renewed worship of God.
The lessons for us in our work today:
1) Challenges of Purificatio-- what do we need to get rid of, both internally and externally, so we can best function in our calling as church communicators? We may not have a temple, but we have a computer.
It may not be defiled with idol worship, but we must be cautious not to use software images or files of any kind that are illegally copied.
Years ago, and this was a long time ago when typefaces cost hundreds of dollars each, I was offered a pirated version of the entire Adobe Type Library. I had very little money and I was trying to get a Christian design business started and I wanted that typeface library very, very badly.
But doing desktop publishing for the Lord with pirated software would not have been right, and I had to say no, even though it really was hard for me to do that. Today I have more typefaces junking up my hard drive than I could have imagined years ago.
It seems like a little thing now, but it was a difficult battle at the time for me. It's been a good lesson to remember that some things I think I can't do without right now aren't worth the price of compromising my values.
Like the priests, though, we must also purify ourselves. Each of us knows the garbage inside that keeps us from functioning at our best.
Sometimes it's a complaining or fault finding spirit, sometimes it's envy or anger. Sometimes it's the cowardice of not trusting God.
When we know we need to say no to a project, whatever it is, we can confess our shortcomings to the Lord and he will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. With the external and internal housekeeping done like the priests of Hezekiah's time, we can then do our church communication duties with joy.
Let me pray for you now as you start the week.
Lord, I want this prayer to be a little bit different today in that I want all of us to take a minute and to look inside our hearts.
Lord, I pray that you would help each person listening to examine their heart, their mind, their motives, the reasons that they do what they do in church communications, and to really see if there is anything there that isn't pleasing to you.
Lord, I pray that you would shine your gentle light on that and that whatever it is that each of us would realize that you want to get rid of the things that mess us up because you love us, not because you want to beat up on us.
Lord, I pray that we would all take time to confess our sins before you, that is to name them and to trust that when we do that that you will forgive us and you will cleanse us from any everything that's impure inside. Lord, help us to do that with our hardware. If there's anything that we have that we shouldn't, either on our computers or with our hardware.
Whatever it is, Lord, just make us clean vessels that you can do a great work through to reach your people for the kingdom of God. In Jesus name, Amen.
For links to lots more materials to encourage you and help you be a better church communicator, go to the website to www.effectivechurchcom.com. the book that the devotions are from is available on Amazon and it is entitled Devotions for Church Communicators.
Hopefully that's kind of easy to remember and I would encourage you to keep listening each week for more encouragement and prayers for you as you do your incredibly important work.
