You Won’t Grow If You’re Comfortable | Romans 15:14-33 | Crossroads Daily

I feel like God has been putting opportunities for me to lead from the front, not necessarily just grabbing a mic, but just being more vocal, willing to say something when I don't have it fully formulated yet. It's happening right now. Yeah, it is. You're doing it. Look at it. I'm saying I don't have it all together yet. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Welcome to Crossroads Daily. My name is Caleb. I'm Caroline. I'm Chris. I'm Victor. And we are about to finish up the book of Romans together. We're finishing the last half of Romans chapter 15. Paul has some notes for us, some travel plans, some things that he's doing. I was really interested, Paul talks about wanting to build something that no one else has built. He wants to do something that maybe no one else has done before. It's challenging to be first. It's challenging to pioneer. Are there places in your life where you feel like God is pulling you to do that? There's a role. There's an opportunity. There's something that he has perfectly designed you for. Are you stepping into it? Why or why not?

So for me, I'm a writer more than a speaker. So just me being able to talk to you guys is God doing the work in me. But I love to write. And I think God is giving me an opportunity to use that skill a whole lot more through various avenues. And I've avoided it for a long time and the opportunity keeps finding me. So now I'm finally like, okay, God, I'm going to do the thing, right? Because this is who you've made me to be. Pride has kept me from doing it because hiding behind a keyboard isn't the most, you know, it's not the way you get praise from people, right? But God has wired me for words. And so I'm trying to step into that more through disciplines, through work. And I don't know. I don't know how it's going to work out, but we're going to see. That's cool. I think sometimes God puts you in places like with a question like, what's the new thing God's doing for you? You can read Paul's words and be like, well, he's not sending me to a new place where nobody's heard the gospel before, but maybe he's sending me to do a new thing or show up fully as myself in a space where it does feel new. And I think one of the superpowers that God has given me is the ability to speak with very strong candor or honesty in spaces where that's not always been the norm. And so that's something that I am trying to lean into and to do with humility and do from a place of like, no, I want to make this thing better. I want to make the people that I lead better. And so lately, the new thing God's been calling me into is speaking in truth to help develop and grow people. And that's been really, really fun because it's been able to unlock something in me where encouragement, words of affirmation isn't something that I would say is a natural gifting of mine.

I'm not walking around being like, good job, good job, good job. But I have found that I can speak directly to the heart of things in new ways and encourage and spur people on in a way that feels different to me. And so I don't know if that really answers your question, but it is kind of what God's doing in me right now that feels new and unique to me. Awesome. Yeah. I think mine is similar, almost like an in-between where it's not necessarily something new, but it is stepping into places where even believers, specifically Christians, I think we're afraid of talking about something, you know, it could be politics, it could be many other things and being able to engage in a loving conversation where, look, first we're going to respect and honor one another. And then we're going to also try to understand what God is trying to say. This past weekend, my daughter was watching service and she's like, man, like there's so many, there's so many difficult things happening in the world, so much brokenness. And I want guidance on how to think about it as a Christian, what to do. And one, that's personal. And I want to encourage my daughter and we started those conversations, but she's not the only one, you know? And so it is leveraging the experiences, the relationships, the circumstances that God has placed me and be more intentional about. talking about it, whether that is in written form or verbally or small groups, doesn't have to be a big thing. But I think God is saying like, Hey, I've had you enough in this space. I want you to share that and guide others. That's the conviction I'm feeling. Yeah, that's great. I think for me, it's easy to get, uh, trapped in like, okay, well, God has gifted me in this way, so I should stick to that. Um, I think a way that he's gifted me as leading from behind the scenes.

A lot of my work is in the creative field and it's like, I'm going to do the thing that then set someone else up to go on stage or do whatever and talk. And I'm like, awesome. This is a lot of ways it feels safe. And I feel like God has been putting opportunities for me to lead from the front, not necessarily just grabbing a mic, but just being more vocal, uh, willing to say something when I don't have it fully, fully formulated yet. Um, and like, it's happening right now. Yeah, it is. You're doing it. I'm saying I don't have it all together yet. Filling a void where, uh, like leadership is lacking in some way and trusting that like, God is going to be my mouthpiece. Like when he says to Moses, he's like, go do this thing. I got you. And I was like, ah, but you haven't been qualified. It's like, just go, you're fine. And I think that's in some ways what God is, uh, pushing me towards is like, when it's so easy, just be like, well, this is what's safe and this is what I know. And he's like, and it's not just about being this well-rounded person who's great at everything, but it's more about saying yes, where God is prompting you. And I feel like right now that's where he's prompting me. So I'm trying to go. And then maybe in a year, he's like, all right, great. Now go back to this stuff. So, yeah. And we can trust that God has a plan in it, right? Like, uh, his love causes us to grow, puts us in situations that are uncomfortable for that reason, right? Because we can't just stay the way we are, right?

There's more stuff to be mined out. There's better to be had, right? Yes. It's, it's really interesting too. Like the last half of this chapter, it reminds me that like what I'm reading is a letter, right? You can get like really dense into the theology. And then Paul finishes with like, I can't wait to go see my friends in Spain and Acacia or whatever, you know, like, um, and he, and he finishes this, this chapter by saying he can't wait to see them because they give him joy and refreshment. Right. And I know I'll just self-identify. It's really easy for me to focus on the things that need to be done, right? Like, here are the things that I need to do to follow Jesus. He's calling me to do this new thing or writing and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I can miss out on the joy and refreshment because I'm so hyper-focused on the to-do list. Right. So I want you to think through your life. What is God doing to give you joy and refreshment? Because he also wants that. He doesn't just want stuff from you, right? He maybe does. He doesn't want stuff from you. He wants to do stuff with you, right? Which Paul says earlier in this chapter too. Um, how's God giving you joy and refreshment? And what's that doing for you? It's cool how he's talking about Spain. I mean, Spain is mentioned multiple times here.

And next week I'm going with my wife to Malta and Portugal. So I'm going to go to these areas and I'm, I'm excited to go do it. And I know that's going to be very refreshing, you know, and I know Paul, when he went to these places, like he was flogged, beaten in prison. So it's not like the same experience. At least I hope, um, yeah, but you know, an area that's maybe more consistent because going to these places is expensive that I've been finding a lot of refreshment is I, every other Friday I go to a prison here in Ohio and I'm doing a small group with some guys and quite frankly, I tell a lot of people, like, I feel like I found my, my tribe and it's kind of interesting to say, cause I've never spent a lot of time in prison instead of going in and out the same day. Um, but I love having this conversation with these guys who are hungry, who are funny, who are encouraging, who are vulnerable. And I, I just love that. So that for me and an unusual place, I found a lot of refreshments. So I can't wait for that Friday to come, which for me would be this Friday. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. What about, what about you guys? Joy and refreshment. I mean, not to put you on the spot, but Caleb and I have been meeting together the last few years, been mentoring me and pouring into me. And that's like, when I think of refreshing, like literally last week we were meeting together and I was like, this just feels like, like such a, just a glass of cold water in the midst of any stress or anxiety that can go on in life of like, it's like the way you've poured into and invested in me and been about my growth with Jesus and investing in my interest in my family, like that is just, it is what friendship and discipleship is, is all about.

And that's not common. It's easy just to like, I have a lot of buddies where we just talk about fantasy football. And those are great friendships. Like, and in some ways they're really refreshing, but like it is every week I walk away from our time being like, I wish we had three more hours just to like sit together. You are just such a present person. Doesn't complain. It's so about Jesus. It's so about fun. And I'm just like, I walk away wanting to be more like you. And I'm like, that's just, I feel like I can just go take on the rest of my week in such a better. mindset because of that so I also find relationships are the most filling for me and I think what I'm hearing as a common theme in all of this too is my relationships my friendships where I laugh the hardest and get the most refreshment and joy are the ones that have been tested they've been through some stuff you know I think about my close group of girlfriends like that friendship was forged in crisis you know a couple of us had marriages that were in crisis at a time and now we're like best friends and we laugh the hardest together and we still cry and we still lament but more than anything we just talk and laugh and I think about some of our closest couple friends it's very similar like those relationships where I get the most refreshment and joy are those that have been tested through things in life and I think that's probably why Paul yeah also is like I can't wait to come see my friends because they understand him and so I think there's just a huge piece this all of what we've been talking about here in Romans so much of it is rooted in community and that's how God wants us to live our life he wants us to live rich lives we weren't meant to do it alone and that's when we see him show up is

when we have people around us who are spurring us on we can laugh with we can cry with lament you so absolutely yeah Caroline found the secret answer that I was hopefully leading us to I did not set these guys up for their answers right but she found it is that joy and joy and refreshment come through other people God so often uses yeah community to do that you're not supposed to do life on your own yeah and I understand I heard that I'm like I'm I've heard that in the past and I've been frustrated by that because finding friends is not as easy as a Google search right it definitely takes some work right definitely take some intentionality you got to spend time you got to go through difficulties but it is worth it to get started so if you need some joy and refreshment meaning if you're human you need some community so what do you need to do to find that today maybe you need to text an old friend you haven't heard from in a while maybe you need to reach out to somebody some a mentor type of character and just set up coffee right get the get the girlfriends together and laugh watch it go to the movies I don't know you got to do something to get yourself around other people because on your own you'll be drained but with other people you'll find joy and refreshment it's a great gift from God I'll see you next time