2011-06-06 - Fearing God - John feared Man is never sufficiently affected by the awareness of his lowly state until he has compared himself with God's majesty When John was in the presence of God, he fell at his feet as though dead - Revelation 1:17 Not the first time this happened to John - Matthew 17:6 We can encounter Him in His Word as the Holy Spirit opens it to our minds and hearts
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2011-07-27 - Mind of Christ - Servant (part III) The nature of a servant (continued): C. His mind is focused on the work and interest of his master
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2011-08-11 - Daughter Needs - Loving Kindness A daughter needs a father's gentleness, protective favor to intercede for her against those who would do her wrong Two tendencies to limit their kindness:
Do you give your daughter far more positive comments then negative? Say something positive, then say "do better" next time? |
2011-10-04 - Genesis 4 - Cain Murders AbelSummaryEve's sons made offerings to God. Only Abel's was acceptable, so Cain killed him. Abel's blood cried out and God sent Cain away. ObservationsGenesis 4:7 - if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door Personal ApplicationI wonder sometimes if I have my "ringer" loud enough for me to hear when God calls. A lot of times I look back on important events in my life and realize that I missed another lesson God was trying to teach me but I was not listening. I feel embarrassed that I was so selfish during that times. I want to listen voice from God more intensely. |
2011-12-02 - Guarding Your Heart (part I) Keeping your heart in good condition is not just an important physical principle, but a spiritual one as well. A bad spiritual heart will cause spiritual sickness and ultimately spiritual death – separate from God. The Bible gives us some great information on how to keep our hearts in good spiritual shape and keep them beating strong and healthy for God until the day we die. We guard our hearts to keep the good and keep away the bad we’re tempted to do
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2011-12-25 - Day 22 - Giving Living ~John 13:1-17
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2012-01-10 - Day 38 - Go and Make Disciples Compare verse 2 of 2 Timothy 2:1-7 with Matthew 28:19-20.
Application: List ways you can be more disciplined in your Bible study and prayer, your evangelism and your use of time. Share it with the person who is teaching you. |
2012-01-31 - Ministry - The Burden of Jesus Matthew 11:25 Jesus calls the weary and burdened to Himself and promises rest for them. The rest that He refers to is not to stop working and be idle. He is calling us to give Him the burdens of our souls. He calls us to take his yoke upon us. What is this yoke? The yoke of caring about others. The yoke of humility. It takes far less energy to be humble that it does to be prideful. It is much easier to be gentle than it is to be terse or gruff. Jesus beckons us to learn from Him. Really the yoke of Christ would finally lead him to the cross. That does not seem easy or light. In fact, our purpose to evangelize the world in this generation is neither easy nor light. The attitude that we are called to have is one of humility and gentleness. Questions/Followup:
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2012-02-04 - Ministry - Pick Up Your Sword Matthew 4:1-11 As Christians we constantly live under spiritual warfare. The battle between Satan and God constantly rages. In this passage we see just a glimpse of one skirmish. Satan attacks with his weapon-temptation, and Jesus responds with his skillfully sharpened sword: the Word of God. In this clash Jesus is able to defeat Satan first because he sees the battle,and second because of his passion to fight it with the scriptures. Question: Do you see the battle? Do you know when you are being tempted, or do the devil's enticements escape you and you easily fall into sin? In these scriptures Jesus teaches us how to fight back. (V.4) When daily temptation and sin come we have to have deep convictions that we need the Bible. (Satan's first temptation was doubt. "If you are the Son of God") Are you tempted to ignore your desperation for God? Are you desperate to be right with God? Are you tempted to skip your quiet times? (V.6-7) Are you tempted to test God? Do you think, "If he doesn't answer this prayer, then I won't pray anymore," or "He didn't do that, so I am leaving." Does bitterness or persecution tempt you? Tempted to doubt the kingdom or the scriptures? Tempted to doubt the only church in the Bible, the salvation of family members, or tempted to ignore certain passages Cling to the truths in the scriptures, they are your most powerful weapons. (V. 8-10) Q: Are you tempted by the world? Tempted by their ease? Their power? Their leisure? Tempted to worship what they do-money, attention, praise, desire? (Ps 73) Write down the temptations you are most susceptible to. Find a scripture passage in your QT that will help you fight back. |
2012-02-10 - Ministry - The Shepherd's Touch John 10:1-18 In verse 11 Jesus calls himself the good shepherd and says that the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. A shepherd is protective of his flock and a love for them. True shepherds do not want to lose even one single sheep. They stand between their sheep and danger. They are more concerned for the welfare of their sheep than they are for themselves. They are willing to go without so that their sheep might have their needs met. The sheep are responsive to their master's voice. They trust him because of his heart for them. The world teaches us to look out for ourselves at the expense of others. It teaches us that we are the most important people and that our comfort and security comes first. Finally, the measure of a shepherd's heart for the sheep will come when danger approaches. That is when the heart of the shepherd is the most exposed. Will the shepherd stay and fight and protect or run and hide and let the sheep fend for themselves? What kind of "protective" phone call, card, or visit can you give to someone to keep them tied into the flock? It doesn't take long to do something like this but the result will be everlasting. |
2012-02-13 - Ministry - Are You Willing to Keep Praying? Luke 18:1-8 Jesus tells this parable to show us something. The scriptures even go so far as to tell us exactly what that something is that we should always pray and not give up. Have you ever decided to pray about a specific situation and not stopped until it has changed? What if it took a year to change? Five years? Ten years? Twenty years? Jesus says to never give up! Too often we get discouraged and want to quit-even on God-because something doesn't change. Maybe we haven't been fruitful for a while or we don't have a dating relationship yet. Maybe things have not changed in our marriage fast enough or our job situation is still not working out. Maybe we are just not changing our hearts the way we should. The answer is not to give up but to keep on praying. Jesus ends the parable questioning whether there would still be faith on earth when he returns. Our lack of prayer is a sign of a lack of faith! To keep praying and not give up is a sign of great faith. Write down three things you have quit praying about and recommit yourself to be faithful in prayer. Decide to trust. God and be in the kingdom for the long haul-no matter how many decades of prayer it takes!! |
2012-10-01 - Prayer of the Righeous - God is Running Prayer starts with the right view of God Our God runs through the field over the hills searching for us with all of his heart He thinks we are worth it - when we understand this, it is much easier to pray Jesus traveled all the way from heaven to come Just to give us a chance to be saved He then arranges the times and places for us to reach out for him - Acts 17:26-27 He is not far from each one of us How did your experiences growing up shape your view of God? How has your view changed of God since your baptism? How did God run after you? |
2013-03-03 - Prayer of the Righeous - More Powerful Than We Can Imagine (part I) The power that raise Jesus from the dead is available for us who believe When we begin to understand how powerful God is, it will revolutionize our prayer lives The Bible resonates with the awesome power of God:
God is nowhere need us as far as this power but on person level he is wants to be right next to us:
Human power is nothing in the face of God's awesome power |
2013-10-10 - Resolve to Lead Your Marriage Do you realize that as the leader of your home? We must take courage and always be willing to make the first move, God has put something into men that longs to be courageous. The idea of 50/50 leadership is a farce that creates two heads and two directions. History is littered with self-centered men who have dominated, belittled, ignored, and abused their wives in the name of male leadership. Jesus, God’s Son was the most powerful leader of all time Lead your wife by serving her well. |
2014-04-04 - Disciplining Your Children (part I) A major part of your role as a father is to disciple your kids Discipling your kids requires discipline on our part Discipline doesn’t feel good, nor should it - Hebrews 12:11 Discipline should be more on the father’s shoulders than the mother’s because of who we represent. Loving discipline prepares our kids to respect and obey their heavenly Father We had earthly fathers to discipline us, for they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good - Hebrews 12:9-10 It is the father’s job is to take the long view, not the short one. Withheld discipline may seem momentarily pleasant to the child and the parent but it takes no skill or courage to be a passive father Not disciplining guarantees that uncorrected sin will follow his child into adulthood and follow his family into the coming generations Its momentary discomfort - knowing that sin will harm a child in far worse ways than even the painful discipline of a loving father. He who loves him disciplines him promptly - Proverbs 13:24 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it - Proverbs 22:6 IT is a lie from the Enemy to believe that rebelling against and dishonoring authority brings more freedom and peace Bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord - Ephesians 6:4
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2015-02-06 - Racing for the Bottom What do you think you are doing, building a beautiful tomb for yourself - Isaiah 22:16 Some have a "do what ever it takes" attitude toward raising up the ranks Shebna discovered the quickest way to the bottom by using his high position to promote himself God gave him everything he needed to become a great servant but he used it for himself God wants to be the center of all your plans, God gave us gifts to exalt him not ourselves |
2015-02-11 - Lead By Example Everyone must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence - Jonah 3:7-8 The biggest enemy of godly leaders is not leading by example Leading by example has always been one of a leader's greatest goals
Jonah warned the Ninevites of God's coming judgement and wrath Their king responded by instructing his people to:
...in hopes that God would change his minds and spare the city The king of the Ninevites humility and leading by example saved his city from judgement and wrath When you do as you say in life, you make it far easier for everyone around you to do the same |
2015-03-04 - Love Like a Man Love your wives like Christ loves the church - Ephesians 5:25-26 God created man to look after his wife, to love her perfectly Love as Jesus loved! Want to know how to love?
Jesus is our perfect example of love in action |
2015-03-31 - Eyes Have It I have made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman - Job 31:1 Sexual temptation burns many men simply because they are careless Job took some time for self-examination He knew that
Those who have no interest in pleasing the Lord will say, "Hey, there's no harm in looking" but the man commited to God knows better Job's advice if you want to keep your body and mind pure: Don't even look
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2015-06-30 - Risk Assessment Many people talk about the terrible things this man has done to the believers - Acts 9:13-14 God had geiven Ananias an assignmen that mad him very uncomfortable Saul's sole purpose in coming to Damascus had been to persecute him and the other believers Ananias remined God of the terrible things Saul had done but God did not relent He intended for Saul to take his message of salvation to both Gentiles and Jews - Acts 9:15 Ananias weighed the risks and knew that the benefits of obedience far outwieghted anything he feared Because he obeyed, he was able to play a supporting role in God's plan to spread the gospel throughout the world |
2015-08-07 - Bonds of Friendship My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death - Mark 14:33-34 Jesus had 12 disciples but among them he had 3 who he called friends and had a special bond with Jesus - Peter, James, and John The trio only was present at:
It later had a far reaching effect:
Peter, James, and John enjoyed a special relationship with Jesus and it helped make the biggest impact for Christ in the world |
2015-08-13 - He Got It He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west - Psalm 103:12 Men who follow Jesus Christ wholeheartedly often see more clearly how they have been forgiven David had plenty in his life for which he needed forgiveness He knew when he failed God, God's love would never fail him David did not choose his words randomly If get in a plane and head east and unlimited fuel you never stop heading east - endless love |
2015-08-17 - Build the Future We've given up everything to follow you - Matthew 19:27 Those who give up current comfort and status will receive in the years to come and in eternity far more than they gave up Peter never had riches but gave up everything he had:
He couldn't help but wonder what we would get in return Everyone who had given up house or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life - Matthew 19:29 Sound like a good trade-off! |
2015-10-18 - Consequenes of Greed Joel and Abijah were not like their father, for they were greedy for money - 1 Samuel 8:1-3 Samuel's sons showed the far reaching consequences of loving money more than God They were appointed judges but were corupt and greedy men who "accepted bribes and perverted justice" Their evil behavior hastened the end of era of judges and Israel's step toward nation rebellion The Hebrew people demanded a earthly king rule over them instead of relying on their heavenly king When Joel and Abijah chose greed over contentment, they failed God and his people Does contentemnt or greed dominate in your life? |
2015-10-20 - Dependability He swore to follow Abraham's instructions - Genesis 24:9 Most of us have hard time finding the right girl for ourselves much less the finding someone for someelse far away Eliezer accepted his assignment and wisely enlisted the help of the Lord - Genesis 24:10 He had barely finished his prayer when alsong came Rebekah, the future Mrs. Isaac. What is your first repsonse when accepting a hugh task? |
2015-11-24 - God's Approval May the Lord our God show us his approval and make our efforts successful - Psalms 90:1 The formula for failure is trying to please everyone Lasting blessing comes when you make pleasing God and seeking his approval your focus In Psalms 90, Moses wrote while in the wilderness, plainly about the consequences of their stubbornness and disobedience Most of those who left Egypt would never see the Promise Land but still found hope understanding the connection between willing obedience and divine blessing Life is far too short and God's blessing to wonderful to miss anything he wants to give you |
2015-12-29 - Strong Finish He turned his heart to worship other gos instead of being completely faithful to the Lord - 1 KIngs 11:4 Solomon was the proverbial riddle wrapped in an enigma He was the wisest man who ever lived but he turned away from God and toward pagan idols This turn led to the loss of everything he have accomplished - 1 KIngs 11:11-13 Despite God appearing to him twice and blessing him in every way, Solomon still turned to idols Solomon's poor choices tained his service and led to big problems for the kingdom of Israel It is far more important to perserve focus on the eternal prize God has for those who finish strong - 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 |
2018-01-29 - Reason for His Study (part II) James lived under the same roof and did not understand him Paul lived far from him but understood him completely Understand a character - akin to the deepest tendencies and aspirations It is impossible to become too familiar with the way He is the express image of the Father's person The more we study him, the richer is our knowledge of the heart of God We fix our minds on him - how he looked at things, felt toward things, how things affected him |