kenmurphy.org

First Place in Everything

This past year, I worked with our staff leadership team as we prayed through and discerned the mission God had for us to lead through Stonecreek Church. Through hours of discussion, sharing stories, dreaming, praying and searching scripture, the heart of our mission took form in written words. It was the answer to our questions, "Why does Stonecreek Church exist? What is our particular role to play in the Kingdom?" Here is fruit of our season of discerning God's direction:

Stonecreek Church exists to lead people to pursue life in Jesus as their greatest passion.

I love this mission! More than an organizational slogan, it is a mission I can align my life with. It serves as a reminder to me that Ken Murphy exists to lead people to pursue life in Jesus as their greatest passion. It is not only a collective mission for Stonecreek, it is an individual mission. You exist to lead people to pursue life in Jesus as their greatest passion.

Colossians 1:18 says, "He (Jesus) is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything." (emphasis mine)

What is my greatest passion? What (or who) do I permit to take first place in my life, relationships, ministry or career? When any of these are given first place over Jesus, it requires exhausting effort to try to "hold all things together." When Jesus is my greatest passion, when I am surrendered to Him being "first," He "holds all things together" (Colossians 1:17). And in that place of surrender, I find great satisfaction, authentic joy and the life I long for.

 

Stiff Knuckles and Sore Hands

So long as there is some thought of personal advantage, some idea of acquiring the praise and commendation of men, some aim at self-aggrandisement, it will be simply impossible to find out God's purpose concerning us. - F.B. Meyer, The Secret of Guidance, 1896

Lord, there is so much yet to be yielded to You. My grip is so tight that my knuckles are stiff and my hands are sore. My thoughts of myself and what I imagine of myself are elevated above my thoughts of You. My aim is misguided and my eyes are on the wrong prize. Lord, You are beautiful. Your face is all I seek. I yield. Be glorified in this moment of surrender. May my aim be to carry Your Presence and not my presence to the hearts of people as I follow... You.

Who Am I?

"The more we get what we now call 'ourselves' out of the way and let Him take us over, the more truly ourselves we become. The more I resist Him and try to live on my own, the more I become dominated by my own heredity and upbringing and surroundings and natural desires. In fact what I so proudly call 'Myself' becomes merely the meeting place for trains of events which I never started and which I cannot stop." - C.S. Lewis

Prayer: Lord, help me desire you more than anything else. May you become my greatest passion, my natural instinct, my true identity.

Colossians 3:9-11 (The Message)
"Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire. Now you're dressed in a new wardrobe. Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it. All the old fashions are now obsolete. Words like Jewish and non-Jewish, religious and irreligious, insider and outsider, uncivilized and uncouth, slave and free, mean nothing. From now on everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ."