#3- M. Hitch- May 25- 2023

Well it's a beautiful day and welcome to the third JIGGIN podcast and if this is the first time you're listening we want to tell you what JIGGIN stands for J-I-G-N stands for Jesus is the Good News and with that in mind I wanted to share with you from Romans chapter 5 verse 8 today and here's what Paul wrote there. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us and that is the good news Jesus Christ died for us despite the fact that we were still sinners and not only that but JIGGIN also is another word that's used for fishing or you might have a fishing jig and just like to remind us that you know when Jesus first called the twelve he said follow me and I will make you fishers of men and again that is a part of our hopes with this podcast and this is Nate Bryan I'm the preacher at Rochedale Christian Church and we are putting one of these together each week and today I'm happy to have our administrative assistant Megan Hitch on the podcast so welcome Megan. Thank you, hello. So Megan to start off and really a part of what we want to do is get the congregation to know us better to get to know our leaders to get to know many people we're gonna have many people of different positions in the church around we've had elders on we'll have deacons on we'll have other ministry leaders from the pantries the food and hygiene pantries and time and children's ministries and hopefully you know we'll just see what the good Lord plans for this each week but that's just part of our plan so with that in mind of getting to know us better I want to ask you this question just tell us about your faith background and how you came to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Yeah so I have been raised in church my whole life it's really the only thing I've ever known I came to the faith pretty young as life's gone on like it does we tend to stray sometimes and that's a little bit of my story I met my husband Derek in my later 20s and he kind of was being called and knew that he wanted to get things right in his life and that kind of veered me back on the right track a little bit and so together we both have been coming to Rochedale and I like I said I grew up here I went to Rochedale when I was a young kid and came back later on in life obviously here I am and anyway our family comes here and yeah we love it so and it's amazing how we know God uses people in our life too and Derek has been big for you guys have been big for each other I know in your faith and it's been cool to sit back and for to get to see that and you're not alone and you know we've all had myself included times where where we we straight off the path maybe in early adulthood and by God's grace he pulled us back in and so we're thankful for that and you know the cool thing too and this is where you know you and I would have been in preschool here I can remember our moms you know Debbie and my mom Lisa being involved with the preschool so we're talking you know going on 25 years ago so probably so comes full circle certainly and that's a cool thing again where roots run deep so yeah that's cool so let's let's go to the next question here and really I guess I sort of jumped ahead on you a little bit but tell us a little bit more about that what ultimately brought you to Rochdale Christian Church yeah so like you said mom taught my mom Debbie Haven she taught preschool here for a few years and so I went to preschool here and this was always just kind of church I grew up we did change churches but I did attend youth group here middle school and then like I said later on mom and dad came back and I kind of ended up joining them yeah yeah no it's cool again things come in full circle and having roots here as a child and then coming back you know in time and and how God works in just different ways and yeah that's cool so let's go on then let's talk about a little bit of scripture and so the first question I have for you on that is what is just maybe your favorite part of scripture maybe your favorite verse or if you have a couple favorite verses you'd like to share so I have two that I kind of always refer to this the first one has always popped up in various times of life and it's just it's amazing how God works with that and so my first one is Romans 8 28 and it's and we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them and then my second one it's kind of one that I came across actually and actually getting on after I got hired on here and so I think it's pretty fitting it's something I refer back to often and it's Colossians 3 23 and it's work willingly at whatever you do as though you were working for the Lord rather than for the people and so just kind of helps remind me that we're here to do God's work every day and I love it yeah absolutely and that that's a good you know it for us in the ministry setting it is a cool one for us to remember but I think that's one that for anyone that might be listening to this podcast that are in various lines of work yeah to just think back to what that ultimately says their work willingly and whatever you do as though you're working for the Lord and I that can be encouraging yeah doesn't matter if you're a farmer or you're a banker or you're a doctor that that is something that we could all certainly you know take into account and anyhow and then then I again I said I also love Romans 8 28 and when I I remember when I was a big so when I was in high school Tim Tebow was a big you know the big start Florida University won the Heisman and whatever but he was a man buried about his faith and still a leader in the faith and I always remember hearing him and him often referencing to that and and even as I watched him in his professional career and he got cut many different times he wasn't going to be the quarterback of this team or that team and ended up out of the NFL but for him to oftentimes in interviews he would go back and reference Romans 828 and it's one of those that can pull us out that just we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who who love God and are called according to his purpose and anyway it's just a great reminder and that's you know Tim Tebow on the largest stage a professional athlete but someone who again got cut got fired quite literally you know and but how often we in our own lives can be in similar types of situations low points where things don't work out how we thought or something bad happens to us and it's hard for us to see the positive but to know that God can work and will work those things to work for the good of those who love him yeah so now that's good stuff so moving on from there then let's just talk for a moment about what is your maybe favorite book I know that's a hard one there's so many different as we read we study whatever else but if you're gonna say hey here's here's one of my favorites even what where would you sort of land on that right so I know we talked about this a little bit and so I've landed on Ephesians because that is what we're studying right now in Bible study and we dove in pretty deep on it and I really am enjoying that because I am one I tend to hop around a lot but Ephesians is where I am now and I'm really enjoying getting to study it more in depth yeah and to just dive in I mean here Paul is writing to the church in Ephesus and so many takeaways for the church but for us as individual Christians obviously also and we had kind of talked there's so many places we could jump in you know I love Ephesians 6 where Paul gets to talking about putting on the the full armor of God and what that entails and that's just one that sort of popped into my head and just just an important one you know something that I think of and I know something that we've talked a lot about here in the office but as you're involved with the children's ministry and stuff here too I just wanted to read real quickly from Ephesians 6 verse 4 and this is really a charge to fathers that Paul gives here but just for us as parents it's a good reminder here's what he said here in Ephesians 6 verse 4 fathers do not exasperate your children instead bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord and again we've had a lot of that discussion of our roles as parents but but just with our children's ministry we want to encourage parents so we know that that's what we're called to do obviously I think back to Deuteronomy 6 and the charge that's ultimately given there too but you get so much I mean Ephesians is so full of good stuff and anyhow that's just certainly like I said a favorite and then he goes into the armor of God shortly thereafter and then we talked about looking also here I mean Ephesians chapter 4 if we were going to talk about maybe a chapter to dive into for the church but again for us as individuals and in verses 14 through 16 are just some that are really jam-packed and I'll read those real quick because I think there's so much we can take away from it but in Ephesians 4 starting with verse 14 then we will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people and their deceitful scheming instead speaking the truth in love we will grow to become in every respect a mature body of him who is the head that is Christ from him the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work and really just looking at this it Paul is writing here to the Ephesians and he's he's talking about how he has the gifts he has given the church and how we are to grow into maturity he's talking about becoming mature and then that's when he goes into talking immediately in verse 14 about will no longer be infants tossed back and forth by the waves what just as we think about that as we I know we've talked that can be such and our culture we can be tossed back and forth by the waves I think when when we aren't mature in the faith when we aren't spending as much time maybe in the word obviously absolutely yeah and then you know I think back then though where Paul writes in Romans 12 about not conforming to the patterns of this world but being transformed by the renewing of our mind which is going to come through the scriptures and it comes from us maturing in the faith and so again it is interesting because we know again we will be infants in the faith are ones who will be tossed back and forth and and we've all been there I'm sure and hopefully are continuing to try and mature each each day as we study the scriptures and grow it you know closer to Christ but I just think about that visual that he gives tossed back and forth by the waves blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people people on their deceitful scheming and we see that all across our culture right on every wind of teaching you know there are so many false teachers in the world today there are so many people with misunderstandings or lack of understanding of scripture and you know and then I like how he continues from there in verse 15 and this is maybe one of the toughest things to do but it's just it's so important he says instead so he says instead of that when we become mature he's saying instead speaking the truth and love will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head that is Christ and speaking the truth and love is and and you know I've always heard it and I know I know it's true that that you can't you know you're not truly speaking in love if you're not speaking the truth right and on the other hand of that if we're speaking the truth harshly yes then there's the lack of love and without one or the other we're not but but lovingly we have to speak the truth to each other within the body of Christ here we're talking about we have to share the love of God but but also the truth because it is not truly love if there is no truth right and then that's so hard when we've all we've all got our own struggles we live in a world that wants to condone what the Bible calls sin in so many regards but for us to stand firm which you know we especially specifically I mentioned earlier Ephesians 6 but as you continue to read here what Paul says and and I just think back to where he talked about the armor of God in Ephesians 6 10 and he says finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes and he just continues talking about our struggles not against flesh and blood but it's against authorities powers of this dark world against the spiritual forces of evil and then he says put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand stand firm then and then he talks about the armor but all this ties together throughout this whole book of Ephesians and it's a it's a cool cool study and and so he continues back to those verses we're talking about verses 14 through 16 then you know he talked about speaking the truth in love and then verse 16 from him the whole body talking about the body of Christ the church the people God's people the the whole body joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work and so you know and that's again an interesting part as we look at how how the whole body all of us the body of Christ the church you know we're joined and held together we're supporting all the supporting ligaments all the different parts you think of our human bodies you know and we had that some of this talk last night about how you know we've we've got arms and legs and hearts and feet and toe you know and we've all every everyone's got a little bit different part but we've been given gifts we've been given talents to put to work for forgot to bring glory to him and I just I love the challenge that's in that and it builds itself up in love as each part does its work and you know I think it's something for us to always wrestle with is are we doing our work you know are we putting our talents to work for God in his church are we using what he's given us to bring him glory yeah which I know we talked a little bit about this like you said last night and Wednesday night Bible study but you know it says Ephesians 4 7 that he you know however he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ yeah and you know last night I know a few people pointed out some really good points about we may not always know what our gifts are sometimes it takes people pointing them out to us or what we some things that we do every day we may not consider as gifts I know it's taken me a minute and just in my role to think of that as a gift but it really is I mean God has a totally blessed me with yep I wouldn't be here you know today if I wasn't if I didn't have the gifts that I have and so I it just it's taking a moment for me to step back and look through the path of life and jobs I've had in the past and that's truly led me to here I know you mentioned a little bit of that last night yeah no I think it's so true and yeah we recognize how you know and again back to verse 7 you got the NLT and I've got the NIV but it's the same message here but but to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it and to think about that but yeah and then think about those gifts those talents of things he's given us how over time God that helps us helps us he develops those within us in different ways we talked about you had prior to coming here and serving in this capacity you had had worked in administrative roles yeah you know with with a dentist office for several years prior and and developed a lot of skills that where you were able to hit the ground running and just really help and you're I think you know I hope you know so appreciated here and I know there's just again God use different things in your life to prepare you for this where you're not truly serving him yeah and and that and then I you know even just not that I like to talk about myself but I I can now see that I had a never dreamed that I would be in a role of ministry but I was a teacher and again so he had put me in position doing some other things that have helped me gain some skills and some abilities that have helped me and in some capacity and so and so many of us we can all probably look back on our past and say man God was really working there even when I didn't see it you know yeah because I would have never dreamed I'd be where I'm at and and and again we can all I'm sure that's true for all of us so so yeah that's good that's just a snippet of all the various things we could talk about out of Ephesians but we'll have to talk more about that at another time last question here Megan for the congregation for those that are listening if they call in most likely they're going to speak to you if they stop in the office they're going to speak to you on Sunday mornings they're likely to see you out greeting and doing different things and in the hallways but what do you want the people you know maybe people show up here maybe they don't really know you but the congregation Rochdale Christian Church what do you want them to know about you as their administrator as ultimately I guess our administrative assistant but but as you know what do you want them to know about you yeah so I you know I never saw myself doing what I'm doing I'm but I'm beyond blessed and thankful to be doing what I'm doing now like I said it kind of ties into what we're just talking about I'm looking back on life now I see how God was preparing me to be in the role I am and I'm incredibly blessed to be have given the opportunity to do what I'm doing and I love to serve it's one of the gifts he has given me and I'm always happy to help in any way I can always feel free to ask and I'm here to help with even the simplest of things it's what I love to do well we are again so thankful for you and all that you do here truthfully and we've all seen that servant heart and you and then are thankful for that and you know the one thing I'll say is she said she's always here for you but just remember if you do have complaints you can just fill out a paper if you got complaints about the bulletin or anything else and drop that paper in the door in the front of the office and we might or might not read those complaints they'll be somewhere around here but no we appreciate you Megan and I appreciate you coming on the jigging podcast and as we close here today I just want to encourage everyone to go out and do some jigging of your own go out and share the good news go share the gospel with someone tell people about Jesus and how he came and ultimately died on the cross for our sins and that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life he is the only way everybody have a blessed day we'll see you next week on the jigging podcast