What Is God Teaching You? 5 Powerful Lessons About Faith, Trusting God, and Living for Jesus
Sometimes the most meaningful lessons about faith come from ordinary people who are willing to share what God is doing in their lives. They aren't necessarily standing on a stage every Sunday or delivering sermons to large audiences. They're parents, professionals, volunteers, friends, and neighbors who are learning to follow Jesus through the everyday challenges and opportunities of life.
At Abundant Life Church in Wilmington, Massachusetts, we recently held a special Sunday service featuring five communicators, each given five minutes to answer one question: What has God been teaching you?
The result was five distinct messages that spoke to some of the most important challenges we face as followers of Jesus. We heard about trusting God through uncertainty, surrendering our children to Him, overcoming the temptation to compare ourselves with others, sharing our faith when it's uncomfortable, and recognizing that our ordinary lives can have an extraordinary impact.
Each message came from a different perspective, but together they offered a powerful reminder that God is continually working in our lives. He's teaching us through Scripture, shaping our character through difficult seasons, and giving us opportunities to demonstrate His love to the people around us.
Here are five lessons from our 5 Communicators Sunday, along with each speaker's message.
Trusting God When Life Feels Like the Wilderness | James Ward
Primary Scriptures: Exodus 12–14; John 14:2
There are seasons when life feels uncertain, and no matter how much we pray or plan, we still don't know what comes next. We may feel as though we're moving forward without a clear destination, wondering whether God is leading us or whether we've somehow wandered off course.
James Ward shared how studying the book of Exodus has helped him understand those seasons differently.
In Exodus, the Israelites experience God's miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt. God leads them through the Red Sea, freeing them from Pharaoh's army and opening the way toward the land He has promised. Yet after such an extraordinary beginning, they find themselves wandering through the wilderness, facing uncertainty, hardship, and repeated opportunities to trust God.
James explained that he has sometimes felt as though he's living in his own wilderness season, unsure of what God has planned for his future.
As he studied Exodus, he began recognizing parallels between Israel's journey and the Christian life. Just as God delivered Israel from slavery, Jesus offers freedom from the power of sin. And just as the Israelites passed through the waters of the Red Sea into a new chapter, baptism represents a believer's identification with Christ and a new life of following Him.
But freedom doesn't mean the journey will always be easy.
The Israelites still had to learn to trust God's direction, even when their circumstances were difficult and the destination wasn't visible. Their struggles offer a reminder that experiencing uncertainty doesn't necessarily mean God has abandoned us.
James also pointed to the hope Jesus gives His followers in John 14:2, where He speaks about preparing a place for them in His Father's house.
Our ultimate hope isn't found in having every detail of our earthly lives figured out. It's found in knowing that Jesus has made a way for us to be with Him.
For anyone experiencing a season of waiting, uncertainty, or disappointment, James's message offers an encouraging perspective. We may not understand every turn in the journey, but we can continue seeking God's direction and trusting His faithfulness.
The lesson: When life feels like the wilderness, don't assume God has stopped leading you. Continue following Him, even when you cannot see the entire path.
Christian Parenting Begins With Surrender | Crystal Thomas
Primary Scriptures: Exodus 2; Psalm 127:3
Parenting brings an incredible amount of joy, but it can also introduce fears we never knew existed. Suddenly, there's another person's safety, future, and well-being to consider, and the responsibility can feel overwhelming.
Crystal Thomas, our Kids Director at Abundant Life Church, shared how God has been teaching her to approach parenting through faith rather than fear.
As a young mother, Crystal struggled with anxiety about her children's safety. She worried about what might happen to them and even wondered how they would manage if something happened to her. Those fears affected her peace and made it difficult to be fully present in everyday moments.
Over time, God began teaching her an important truth: her children ultimately belonged to Him.
Psalm 127:3 reminds us that children are a gift from the Lord. Parents are entrusted with the responsibility to love, protect, teach, and guide them, but that responsibility doesn't mean we can control every part of their lives.
Crystal connected this truth to the story of Jochebed, the mother of Moses, in Exodus 2.
When Pharaoh ordered the deaths of Hebrew baby boys, Jochebed protected her son for as long as she could. Eventually, she placed Moses in a basket among the reeds of the Nile River, entrusting him to God's care.
She had done everything within her ability to protect him, but there came a moment when she had to release what she could no longer control.
Crystal shared a much more ordinary experience that helped her understand this principle. When her seventeen-year-old son received his driver's license, he eventually asked to drive to get food with friends.
Like many parents, Crystal and her husband, Kevin, were nervous about handing over the keys. After he left, they called him, but he didn't answer immediately.
When he called back, he explained that he hadn't answered because he was driving. He had pulled over before returning their call, exactly as his parents had taught him.
That moment helped Crystal recognize something important. They had prepared him, taught him, and established expectations. Now they needed to trust him and continue trusting God.
As children grow, our ability to control their circumstances decreases. But our opportunity to pray for them, encourage them, and point them toward Jesus continues.
Surrender doesn't mean we stop caring. It means recognizing that we were never meant to carry the weight of controlling everything.
And that principle extends beyond parenting. Many of us are holding tightly to situations, relationships, and outcomes that we cannot fully control.
Faith invites us to do what God has entrusted to us and release the rest into His hands.
The lesson: Faithful parenting isn't about raising children whose every decision we can control. It's about helping them develop a relationship with the God they can trust.
God Measures Faithfulness, Not Comparison | Matt Lemos
Primary Scripture: 1 Corinthians 3:5–7
Comparison has a way of making us question whether we're doing enough. We look at someone else's career, family, ministry, finances, or accomplishments and wonder why our lives don't seem to be producing the same results.
Matt Lemos shared how God has been challenging him to rethink the way he measures success.
He began with a picture of two farmers planting the same kind of fruit tree. One plants near a tropical rainforest, where the conditions are ideal and the tree produces an abundance of fruit. The other plants in a small oasis surrounded by desert, where the conditions are far more difficult and the harvest is considerably smaller.
Which farmer has been more successful?
Our first instinct might be to choose the farmer with the larger harvest. But Matt challenged us to consider whether that's the right measurement.
In 1 Corinthians 3:6–7, Paul writes:
"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth."
Paul understood that he and Apollos had different responsibilities in God's work. Their calling was to be faithful with the opportunities and assignments God had given them. The growth itself belonged to God.
Matt explained how easily we can forget that distinction.
We compare our results with people who may have entirely different circumstances, opportunities, resources, and responsibilities. We evaluate our careers according to someone else's income or professional achievements. We measure our families against what we see on social media. Even in ministry, we can begin treating attendance, influence, or visible results as the ultimate measure of success.
But comparison overlooks something important: we don't know everything about the conditions in which another person is working.
The farmer in the desert shouldn't be judged according to the harvest of someone farming in a rainforest. Their circumstances are different, and the results don't tell the entire story of their faithfulness.
Matt connected this principle to Abraham and Sarah, who received God's promise of a son despite circumstances that made its fulfillment seem impossible. Their story demonstrates that God isn't limited by what appears possible from a human perspective.
The same God who brought life through an impossible situation is able to work through our circumstances, even when our resources or opportunities seem limited.
This doesn't mean our effort doesn't matter. We are still called to work diligently, obey God, and faithfully steward what He's given us. But it does mean we can stop carrying the pressure of manufacturing results that ultimately belong to Him.
The lesson: Don't measure your faithfulness by someone else's results. Be faithful with what God has entrusted to you, and trust Him with the growth.
Sharing Your Faith Starts With the Person in Front of You | Chris Ducharme
Primary Scripture: 1 Peter 2:12
Many Christians want to share their faith but feel uncertain about how to begin. We worry about saying the wrong thing, making someone uncomfortable, or not knowing how to answer a difficult question.
Chris Ducharme shared how God has been teaching him that witnessing doesn't always require a carefully planned conversation or the perfect words. Sometimes it begins by recognizing the person God has placed directly in front of us.
In 1 Peter 2:12, Christians are encouraged to live in such a way that others can see their good deeds and ultimately glorify God.
Peter was writing to believers living among people who didn't necessarily share their faith. Rather than encouraging them to withdraw from the world, he challenged them to live differently within it.
Our conduct matters because people notice how we speak, how we treat others, and how we respond when circumstances become difficult.
Chris shared an experience from his work in law enforcement that brought this principle into focus.
A young woman had been taken into custody after committing a serious crime. She had been in trouble before, and her circumstances suggested she was heading down a dangerous path.
Chris could have simply completed his professional responsibilities and moved on. But as he considered the young woman standing before him, he began thinking about more than the crime she had committed. He thought about her life, her future, and the possibility that God was giving him an opportunity to offer encouragement.
He spoke with her about God's forgiveness, encouraged her to invite God into her life, and suggested that she find a church in her community.
As they talked, she began crying and explained that she prayed to God every day for help.
Chris didn't know what would ultimately happen in her life, but the encounter reminded him that his responsibility wasn't to control the outcome. It was to be faithful with the opportunity God had placed before him.
That experience raises an important question for all of us. How many opportunities to demonstrate God's love do we overlook because we're uncomfortable, distracted, or uncertain about what to say?
The person God wants us to encourage may not share our beliefs, background, or lifestyle. They may be someone we'd normally overlook or someone whose choices are very different from our own.
But those differences don't place them beyond God's love.
Sharing our faith begins with being attentive to the people around us. It involves demonstrating compassion, living with integrity, and being willing to speak about Jesus when an appropriate opportunity arises.
We don't need to manufacture spiritual conversations or pressure people into responding. We can simply remain available, recognizing that God may use an ordinary interaction to make an extraordinary difference.
The lesson: Don't allow discomfort to keep you from being a witness for Jesus. Pay attention to the people God places in your life, and be willing to share His hope when the opportunity comes.Conclusion: Trust God With Your Next Step
Throughout our Walking in Wisdom series, we've explored how God's wisdom influences the way we speak, work, manage money, build relationships, receive correction, and raise our families.
Fix Your Eyes on Jesus in Everyday Life | Kayleigh Hardin
Primary Scriptures: Hebrews 11–12; Matthew 5:16
It's easy to read the Bible and admire people like Noah, Abraham, and Moses while assuming their lives were fundamentally different from ours.
They demonstrated remarkable faith, obeyed God through difficult circumstances, and became part of extraordinary moments in biblical history. We read their stories and sometimes wonder whether our own lives could ever have that kind of significance.
Kayleigh Hardin shared how God has been challenging that assumption through Hebrews 11 and 12.
Hebrews 11 is often described as the Bible's Hall of Faith. It recounts the lives of people who trusted God and responded obediently, even when they couldn't see the outcome of their decisions.
But the author doesn't simply tell those stories so we can admire the people who came before us.
Hebrews 12:1–2 encourages believers to run with perseverance the race set before them, fixing their eyes on Jesus.
Kayleigh emphasized that this invitation isn't reserved for extraordinary individuals with unusual influence or impressive accomplishments. It's an invitation for every follower of Jesus.
Most of the people we admire in Scripture began their lives doing ordinary things. They worked, cared for their families, and navigated the responsibilities of daily life. Their significance came from their willingness to trust God and respond when He called them.
The same is true for us.
We may not stand before Pharaoh like Moses or build an ark like Noah, but every day presents opportunities to reflect the character of Jesus.
Those opportunities often appear in ordinary interactions. We can respond patiently when a coworker frustrates us, speak kindly when we're tempted to criticize, or demonstrate grace when someone makes a mistake.
Kayleigh acknowledged that this isn't always easy. There are moments when we complain, respond in anger, or say things we later regret. Living like Jesus requires intentionality, practice, and a willingness to keep growing.
That's why the image of running a race is so meaningful.
A runner develops endurance through consistent effort. In a similar way, spiritual maturity develops as we repeatedly choose to follow Jesus in the situations we encounter.
Matthew 5:16 reminds us that our good works can point others toward our heavenly Father.
We may never know how much influence a simple act of kindness, a thoughtful conversation, or a faithful decision might have on another person's life.
But every interaction gives us an opportunity to demonstrate that there is something different about a life centered on Christ.
The lesson: You don't need an extraordinary platform to make a difference for Jesus. Fix your eyes on Him and use the ordinary opportunities in front of you to reflect His love.
Five Different Messages, One Invitation to Grow in Faith
What made our 5 Communicators Sunday meaningful wasn't simply hearing five people share their perspectives. It was recognizing how God was working in different ways through the lives of people within our church family.
James reminded us that God remains faithful when life feels uncertain. Crystal encouraged us to surrender the people and situations we cannot control. Matt challenged us to stop comparing our results with others and focus on faithfulness. Chris reminded us to recognize opportunities to share Jesus, while Kayleigh encouraged us to see the spiritual significance of ordinary life.
These lessons connect because they all point toward a deeper relationship with Jesus.
Trusting God requires us to release the expectation that we'll always know what comes next. Surrendering control means recognizing that His love and wisdom are greater than ours. Living faithfully involves serving Him without allowing comparison to define our worth. Sharing our faith requires compassion and courage, while keeping our eyes on Jesus helps us recognize opportunities to reflect His character throughout the day.
None of those things requires us to have a perfect life or every spiritual question answered. They require a willingness to listen, learn, and respond to what God is doing.
And that's what made the question behind this special Sunday so important.
What is God teaching you?
Perhaps He's teaching you to trust Him through a difficult season. Maybe He's challenging you to release something you've been holding too tightly or reminding you that your faithfulness matters even when the results aren't obvious.
He may be placing someone in your life who needs encouragement, or helping you recognize that the ordinary responsibilities of your day can become opportunities to demonstrate His love.
Whatever He's teaching you, the next step is to respond.
God isn't finished working in your life, and your story may be exactly what someone else needs to hear.
Experience Abundant Life Church in Wilmington, MA
At Abundant Life Church, we believe that following Jesus is more than attending a Sunday service. It's about growing in faith, finding meaningful community, discovering God's purpose for our lives, and making a difference in the world around us.
Our 5 Communicators Sunday was a reminder that God is working throughout our church family, not just through the people who regularly stand on the platform. Every believer has a story, and every person has opportunities to encourage others through what God is teaching them.
Whether you're exploring faith for the first time or looking for a church community where you can grow, we'd love to welcome you.
Visit Abundant Life Church to learn more about our Sunday services, small groups, and ways to get connected.
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