Quiet Times Search
Search Quiet Times via a keyword or stringSearching for "hearts" in the Quiet Time Archive
Displaying results from "50" to "75". (135 found)
| 2010-04-23 - Life to the Full - In His Steps (part 4) Do not fear but set apart Christ as Lord - 1 Peter 3:14-15 Context of the passage is to continue evangelism in time of oppostion There are many fears:
Passages assure us that there is no need to fear When Christ is dwelling in our hearts by faith we overcome fear and the need to fear |
| 2010-05-01 - I am Innocent of the Blood of all Men (part 2) Acts 22:6-21
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| 2010-05-15 - Desire's Journey - The Dilemma of Desire We can not live without yearning, yet the yearning sets us up for disappointment Because of its vulnerable nature, desire begins to feel like our worst enemy Despair is the fate of the desiring soul - Sam Houston Hope deferred make the heart sick - Proverbs 13:12 How awful it feels to open our hearts to joy, only to have grief come in How do we live in a world with desire so deep in us and disappointment lurking behind every corner? Are a few arrows, dare we even desire? Do we refuse to love because we may hurt? possibility of pain? Shutting down our hearts is to die altogether Hope deferred make the heart sick... but when dreams come true, there is life and joy Most of us have chosen to reduce our desire to a more manageable size We allow it only in small doses:
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| 2010-05-19 - Desire's Journey - An Invitation to Desire Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person or a program to get us into a reforming society Christianity begins with an invitation to desire What does Jesus choose to talk about with the women at the well? All you who are thirsty, come to the waters - Isaiah 55:1-2 No wonder Jesus was feared. He came along and started appealing to desire To the lost - Jesus spoke of finding your way Again and again Jesus took them back to their desires What is it that you want? - Would have fallen on deaf ear if his message was unrelateable |
| 2010-05-20 - Desire's Journey - Life to the Fullest I have come so you may have life to the full - John 10:10 Not: "I have come to exhaust you with long list of demands" Not only is eternal life duration but quality In him was life and that life was the light of men - John 1:4 People who aren't very good with keeping with a program are very aware of their soul's deep thirst for Jesus' message They tear off roofs The trample each other to get closer to him Have you seen anyone acting like this in order to join a church committee or to hear a sermon about a set of rules to follow? People act like this when it is a matter of life and death When life is at stake, human desire goes into desperation mode Pharisees missed the boat on this one Hearts were hardened by the very law they claimed would bring them life They killed their souls' thirst with duty and knowledge |
| 2010-05-21 - Desire's Journey - Good News? The promise of life has been lost in the focus of knowledge and performance Pharisee knew more about the Bible than we ever will - and it hardened their hearts There were two trees in the garden of Eden:
Each church has its unspoken list of what you should and should not do We are told this is the good news We don't need more facts We don't need more things to do We need life You have made know to me the path of life - Psalms 16:11 My soul pants for you - Psalms 42:1-2 My soul thirsts for you - Psalms 63:1 Why did Jesus appeal to desire? Because it was essential for life He who has the Son has life - 1 John 5:12 |
| 2010-05-30 - Desire's Journey - Assault on Desire Battle of desire is not something that just takes place with us or even between us - but against us Advirtisers play on our desire of creating an image that everyone who is anyone has the object for sale The evil one has two ploys:
Our addictions are our own worst enemies Like the rich, young ruler - we find we can not give up our treasures even though God has something much better |
| 2010-05-31 - Desire's Journey - Cruel or Kind? Sometimes God seems cruel:
Isn't this the reason we fear to desire in the first place? Unless we understand our desperate hearts and our tenacity to arrange life as we want it - these events seem cruel Eden - we had it all but we threw it away by mistrusting God's heart and taking control of what we wanted Addiction exists whenever persons are internally compelled to give energy to things that are not their true desires Addition becomes our idol - we must give it up |
| 2010-06-22 - Amazing Grace - how fearful the sound Preached on 2003-11-13 There is nothing we can do or not do to change it Psalms 103:8 - Grace is not a new concept for God Luke 9:51-56 - the disciples struggled with grace What fears do we have about grace? 1. Grace - produces lazy Christians We cannot control the freedom of others Acts 4:33 - much grace given and produced committed disciples 2. Grace - produces sinful Christians Grace exposes our hearts and gives us the responsibility to respond Romans 5:15-19 - Regulations is not grace - Grace is a mature concept What has grace produced in you? 3. Grace - produces weak convictions John 6:28-29 - Must believe - Belief is a work you must do Luke 13:2-9 - Repent or perish - Level of repentance and faith may be different for each person but baptism is the same for all. |
| 2010-06-30 - Desire's Journey - Great Restoration (part 1) Spring reminds us that life can return to the dead Our ideas of heaven are sometimes not very desirable We sigh and feel guilty that is we are not more "spritual" Scripture tells us that God has set eternity in our hearts - Ecclesiastes 3:11 |
| 2010-07-07 - Desire's Journey - The Grand Affair (part 4) Sexual intimacy is the closest parallel we have to real worship The best impostors succeed because they are nearly indistinguishable from what they are trying to imitate Our hearts live for "an experience of worship that fills our being with a joy that is so deeply in awe that we are barely aware of ourselves Men have a hard time relating to the bridal imagery used in Scripture |
| 2010-07-15 - Desire's Journey - Deeper Desire (part 2) Life is both a battle and journey Life in its fullness has yet to come So we must take serious care of our hearts now How awful to reach the end of life and we find we haven't bought our hearts along with us Two extremes: Life is full of striving and indulgence A long march of duty and obligation When considering the promises of God and nature of the rewards, we see that the Lord finds our desires much too weak We are far too easily pleased We believe that life is not going to offer what we truly want so we have reduced our desire to a more manageable size. Lets be honest and all it what it is: sin |
| 2010-07-16 - Desire's Journey - Deeper Desire (part 3) The first step in the journey of desire is to stop pretending that we would be happy with less Recovering our heart involves facing our deepest disappointments We do not need to fear what we find because our heart is our biggest ally The father of lies takes many people out of the journey for life by keeping them in shallow desire He threatens us from going to the deep waters of desire by telling us that are core desires are evil Makes us thing that every thought and desire is our own I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; remove your heart of stone - Ezekiel 36:26 Our core desires are good: I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts - Jeremiah 31:33 We still struggle with sin with our tendency to kill desire or give our hearts over to false desires |
| 2010-07-17 - Desire's Journey - Deeper Desire (part 4) What is it that we truly desire? The problems is we do not know Our unexamined desire rules you Most of our live far from from our hearts Those living in duty and obligation may need to give all that a rest - so their hearts can come to the surface Pharisees - their religious activities deadened them to the point that they could not recognize God when he stood before them Our deepest treasure becomes our most dutiful burden, it really kills our hearts Those living in indulging desire will need to give it a rest too Going cold turkey - just stay in your desire 15 minutes longer than you usually do When you feel the desire - let the desire just be; let your heart put some honest words to what you are feeling We must learn what is actually being roused The attuned we are to our desire, the less prone we'll be to imposters |
| 2010-07-22 - Desire's Journey - Orchestra like worship You may have heard an orchestra tuning up before a concert Then the violins plays a long C and all the instruments join in The the players become focused, centered, and ready to preform This is what happens with chaos of our desires when we turn our souls to God in worship All the other desires find their place as we give God his place Delight yourself int he Lord and he he will give you the desires of our hearts - Psalms 37:4 Our delighting in God, he heals our false desires as our souls come true in the light of the Maker Worship becomes the means by which we most deeply heal our desire |
| 2010-07-23 - Desire's Journey - The Heart's Healer Worship is the act of the abandoned heart adoring its God It is the union we crave and what we need Worship occurs when we say to God from our hearts, "You are my One whom I desire" In Psalms - no matter where the poet begins, he always ends in worship It is no coincidence, where our journey must lead Our only hope for rest from our craving of our desire is in God and us united with him |
| 2010-07-27 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 4) If we do not give our ache a voice, it does not go away It becomes an undercurrent of our addictions Pleasure becomes necessary in larger and larger doses The paradox of grief is that it is healing - somehow it restores our souls Control is the enemy; grief is our friend When we let go of controlling, something better takes its place - mourning Comfort is in store for those who mourn and healing for the brokenhearted - Isaiah 61 This idea was the center of Jesus' mission None of this makes sense until we admit our brokenheartedness and give our sorrow a voice in mourning Only then will we know His comfort Solomon said that it is better to go to the house of mourning that it is to a house of feasting We need to mourn, it is the only way our hearts can remain both free and alive in this world |
| 2010-07-28 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 5) Grief is the antidote to the incessant possessive demand within Sow in tear = song of joy - Psalms 126:5 Two spiritual discipline we need
Making time to grieve may sound strange Beauty and affliction are the only two things that can pierce our hearts
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| 2010-07-30 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 7) Christ is weeping freely His prayers are marked by loud cries and tears He make it very clear what he desires "Yet not my will, your will be done" He surrenders with desire Making himself poor, he opens up to us the treasures of heaven Buddha abandons his desire Christ surrenders his will It is no small difference True surrender is not an easy way out Surrender comes only after the night of wrestling Only after we open our hearts to care deeply and give over our deepest desires to God Freedom and beauty and rest that follow are among the greatest surprises |
| 2010-08-01 - Desire's Journey - Keeping Heart (part 2) The NT scriptures do not differ from the old testament about forgetfulness Bread and the cup was give to us in rememberence of him Paul was shock that the Galatians were turning away so soon from God - Galatians 1:6 He sent Timothy to the Corinthians to remind them to share the eternal life he gives through Christ - 1 Corinthians 4:17 Peter, who knew firsthand the grief that comes with forgetting writes to keep firm the grip on faith - 1 Peter 5:10 Life is a journey of the heart that requires the mind The heart is the center of life Desire is always where the action is We must bring the truth into our hearts to guard and to guide our desires - this is the other half of the mission Popular phrases that do not work: Follow your heart, Trust your soul We must cling to the truth for dear life - both heart and mind together |
| 2010-08-03 - Desire's Journey - Treasures for the Heart Mary when Jesus was born: treasured up all these things and ponder them in her heart - Luke 2:19 Mary when Jesus was in the temple: his mother treasured all these things in her heart - Luke 2:51 At her darkest hour, she does not lose heart - this is maybe why A way of seizing what God is speaking to you = journaling Journals chronicle journeys Some examples of these treasures from the author:
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| 2010-08-08 - Waking Dead - At War (part 3) Until we come to terms with war, we will not understand life We will misinterpret most of what is happening around us:
We have to realize we are part of a story and the situation we are in right now will change We won't understand our life until we see it as a battle - warring against your heart The issue is: we can not see things as clearly as we ought to - but we need to The attack on our hearts weighs down our lives and glory is being held back We don't see clearly because we don't see with the eyes of our heart |
| 2010-08-09 - Waking Dead - The Heart's Eyes Do not lose heart, fix our eyes on what is unseen - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 We are losing heart, all of us, daily Someone was trying to shutdown Paul during his ministry - 2 Corinthians 11:23-27 Life is an illustion - there is a way of looking at life and be able to live from the heart no matter what Jesus spoke in parables to our hearts:
Jesus spoke in a way that will get past all intellectual defenses When you tell a story, you speak to the heart |
| 2010-08-11 - Waking Dead - Myths (part 2) Myth tell us three truths, the second is: 2. There is a great struggle or quest or battle that is well under way Christianity isn't about:
As good as those things might be, this is a world at war Reason we love these is because it is telling us that this is our most desperate hour
Without this buring in our hearts, we lose the meaning of our days Notice that those who have tried to wake up to this reality were ususally killed
Has it occured to you that someone is trying to shut them up?
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| 2010-08-14 - Waking Dead - Heart is Central The heart is central The heart is addressed in the Bible more than any other topic Love the Lord your God with all your heart - Deuteronomy 6:5 Trust in the Lord with all of your heart - Proverbs 3:5 The heart can be:
The heart can be unpredictable but it is central to our being The heart answers a lot of questions:
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| 2010-08-16 - Waking Dead - Motives Those who live from the mind shed few tears There are the stated reasons for what we do and then there is the real reasons = motives On the day of judgment, the Lord will expose the motive of men's hearts - 1 Corinthians 4:5 The Pharisees prayed to impress men with their spirituality and gave to impress with their generosity God looks at the heart The law is written on our hearts and consciences - Romans 2:15 It is why it is so important to not to harden our hearts The heart is where we do our deepest thinking Jesus knows what the we are thinking in our hearts Solomon asked for a wise and discerning heart - 1 Kings 3:9 The modern mistake is to think that the mind equals reason and the heart equals emotion |
| 2010-08-17 - Waking Dead - Thoughts and Courage of the Heart Our deepest thoughts are held in our hearts Our behavior is driven by our heart Scripture judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart - Hebrews 4:12 Not the feelings of the heart but the thoughts It is with your heart you believe and are justified - Romans 10:10 They hear with their ears and understand with their hearts - Matthew 13:!5 The heart is the dwelling place of our true beliefs It takes courage to love and takes courage to follow Jesus Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid - John 14:27 Courage > Old French cuer > Latin cor = heart The battle for the heart is going to take all the courage you can muster |
| 2010-08-26 - Waking Dead - Glory (part 3) You are going to the need your whole heart - so you will need every ounce of courage and faith as well James and John, sons of Zebedee did hide what they thought
He can see clearly who they really are We many times spend our time hiding through false selfs Like Adam and Eve did with fig leaves We make up a glory because we are convinced we have none of our own Must ask: God, who am I? What do you think of me? What is my real name? The deeper reason we fear our own glory is that once we let others see the truest us - aka nakedness It is awkward when everyone else is veiled Living from your glory is the only way to live You cannot love another person from a false self You can not help others if you are in captivity yourself Our deepest fear of all - we will have to live from our hearts Means we do not know the next thing God will ask of us |
| 2010-08-31 - Waking Dead - Our Story (part 1) Our life is a story We need someone to walk with us God has given us the Counselor - the Spirit of truth - John 14:16-17 We need someone that makes thing clear and true Not just an annual checkup but all the time The purpose of the Christian life is that our hearts might be restored and set free That is what Jesus came to do All sorts of damage has been done to your heart
Even our laughter is out of heartache - Proverbs 14:13 We are told to trust in the Lord (Proverb 3:5) - it is second nature to worry We are told to love one another deeply (1 Peter 1:22) - that is very rare The answers lie deeply in our heart The heart of a man is deep waters, but a man of understanding draws him out - Proverbs 20:5 |
| 2010-09-07 - Waking Dead - Deep Restoration (part 4) We need time in the presence of the Lord - Pslam 86:11-12
We declare the authority of Jesus over our hearts - he made our hearts - Psalms 33:15 He has redeemed our hearts - Romans 2:29 Sometimes he will take us back to a memory, a time and place where a shattering blow was given Anytime someone says, "I feel like there's this part of me..." we need to listen - somewhere in the heart Hidden many times because of a false comfort |
| 2010-09-08 - Waking Dead - Deep Restoration (part 5) Our sin give the enemy a certain claim to our lives - Romans 6:16 As we renounce any sin, we also renounce any claim we've given to Satan in our lives This often comes in the form of "agreements" - Satan has suggested something to us and we have said yes.
As long as we have unhealed places in our hearts, it is next to impossible to live in freedom and victory No matter how much discipline we apply to it Our enemy knows them well and trying undermine us and uses it against us with a disabling effect |
| 2010-09-09 - Waking Dead - Spiritual Warfare (part 1) The heart of our enemy: determined to hinder and harm and ruin God's image bearers God is serious about life - Isaiah 45:2-3
What if we looked at the passage through the eyes of the heart? We are in an epic battle - things are not what they seem This is God personal mission - Isaiah 61:1
What is the hidden treasure? Our hearts |
| 2010-09-19 - Waking Dead - Setting the Heart Free All spiritual warfare follows a simple pattern - James 4:7 Submit and resist Submit ourselves to Christ and resist whatever has come against us or those we love Their needs to "dailyness" to our walk 1. We have to choose to abide in Christ Consecrate our whole body:
Take our place under the headship of Christ The faith of centurion, he understood authority - Matthew 8:10 Most sins fall under:
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| 2010-09-26 - Waking Dead - Heart of Treasure Above all else, guard your heart - Proverbs 4:23 Having so long believed our hearts are evil, we assume the warning is to keep us out of trouble So we lock up our hearts and throw away the key and try to get on with our living It does say guard your heart because it is criminal but because it is the wellspring of of life It is treasure - everything else depends on it Above all else? We don't even do it once in a while - we careless with our hearts What if we were careful? Faith would be must deeper Relationships so much better We live completely backwards "All else" is above our hearts What do you do on a monthly basis to take care of your heart? God intends that we treat our hearts as treasures They were ransomed at a tremendous cost |
| 2010-09-27 - Waking Dead - Storing Up The good man brings good things out of the good stored in his heart Out of the overflow of the heart, his mouth speaks - Luke 6:45 Jesus from the fullness of grace we have all received one blessing after another - John 1:16 Paul: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you - Ephesians 3:16 Caring for our hearts isn't selfish - it is how we begin love We care for our hearts for the sake of others What will you bring to others to others if your heart is empty? You can not love without your heart, you can not love well unless your heart is well How you handle your heart is how you will handles theirs Love others as you love yourself - Mark 12:31 If you dismiss your heart, you will end up dismissing others Perfection of your heart will raise that same standard for them Caring for your heart is also how you protect your relationship with God Your heart is where that life flows into you - John 7:37-38 We love ourselves for God's sake - he considers our hearts the treasures of the kingdom |
| 2010-09-28 - Waking Dead - Devotion and War Caring for your heart is also how you protect your relationship with God Your heart is where life flows Whoever believes in me - streams of living water will flow from within him - John 7:27-38 God's friends care for their heart because they matter to Him What does your heart need? Some needs are common to all hearts like silence and solitude Very early Jesus went away to a solitary place - Mark 1:35 We need to make time to get away - our entire lives are ruled by the expectation of others and the heart is the first to go The enemy will tell you this is foolish "You have many more important things to do with your time" Caring for your heart is an act of obedience, faith and an act of war The first wave of any strike against us is to rob us of the heart to fight it Hyenas cannot bring down a lion in its prime - they run it, taunt it, and wear it down to the point of exhaustion The strategy of our Enemy in the age we live is busyness and drivenness Most will say when asked how they are doing is "really busy" That we way we are going to get burned out and lose touch with our hearts The empty heart is more vulnerable to temptation |
| 2010-10-06 - Contagious Christian - Impacting Your World (part 2) You are the light of the world - Matthew 5:14 What does the light do? Makes things visible and helps us see them for what they really are God made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of knowledge of the glory of God We must not cover or obscure the light in any way - Matthew 5:15-16 The Clear Communication (CC - in the formula) must consist of and understanding of:
Make an honest assessment about your evangelism Which are you?
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2010-10-12 - Dealing With Your Heart (Part I)
QUESTIONS
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| 2010-11-18 - Contagious Christian - Making the Message Clear (part III) The Bridge Illustration
Other times God has prepared their hearts through someone else We need to give them this freedom |
| 2010-12-02 - Mission - Taking Up the Cross Two questions to ask ourselves: Is the power of the cross producing real changes in my life? Are lost souls being radically converted as I preach? The message of the cross will seem foolish to those we are teaching if they do not see the daily demonstration of its power for us who are being saved Christians described in Romans 6
Our days are composed of countless choices and decisions Each step that Jesus took towards the cross he took willingly It takes 1000s of bricks to build a house, it takes 1000s of righteous choices to build a Christ-like character Our hearts - lost world needs to know how we feel towards our Father Our conversation - we should never get tired of telling our conversation story Our example - Our daily temptations and victories should be only shared |
| 2010-12-21 - Sin (part I) 1 Peter 2:9-10
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| 2011-01-11 - Followup - Bible Study Application How should we use God’s Word?
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| 2011-01-18 - Followup - Balanced Attitude and Application Attitude How we should view God’s Word
How should we use God’s Word?
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| 2011-03-05 - Jesus is God (part II) Examples showing the deity of Jesus:
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| 2011-05-26 - Fearing God - Slave or Son Two types of fear:
He went out and hid his talent in the ground - Matthew 25:24-25 The devil is the author of servile fear - he uses it to haunt and disturb Christians to make our lives uncomfortable Filial fear is loving fear of a child toward his father A mixture of reference, pleasure, joy, and awe which fills our hearts when we realize who God is and what He has done for us There are 150 references to the fear of God, most in the Old Testament Ones in the New Testament convince us that fearing God is an attitude of the heart |
| 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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| 2011-06-27 - Mind of Christ - Helping People (part II) The following attitudes can help bring about a heart of compassion:
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| 2011-09-01 - Fearing God - Requirements for growth (part I) The first requirement of growing in fear is having an undivided heart Give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name - Psalms 86:11 It dentoes singleness of purpose, aim, and affections Second requirement is regular, consistent exposure of our minds and hearts to His Word:
Saul fell down in fear before Christ
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| 2011-09-22 - Proverbs on Pride (part II) PRIDE #1. Pride kills our relationship with God & others (Proverbs 16:5)
Ultimate example is Satan (Revelation 12:7-9, 13:4-9)
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2011-10-09 - Genesis 9 - The Rainbow & Capital Punishment SummaryGod blessed Noah and set the rainbow as a sign that he would never flood the earth again. Noah got drunk and cursed Ham's son Canaan. ObservationsGenesis 9:3 - Everything ... will be food for you; I now give you everything Personal ApplicationI don't grow very well in the good times. It is the times of trials and difficulty when I forced by God's discipline to change. I want to change and grow while not under all circumstances. What does it show God when I move toward him only when pushed? |
| 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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| 2012-01-08 - Day 36 - A Hope and a Future Do you worry about your future? What are your hopes and what are your fears? Jeremiah 29:11-13
Psalms 16:5-8 - Do you feel this way about your life? Why? 1 Timothy 6:6-10
Application: If you see anxiety or discontentment in your life, confess it as a lack of faith, and memorize one of these scriptures to remind yourself of God's faithfulness. |
2012-01-13 - Genesis 20 - Abraham lies about Serah at GerarSummaryIn Gerar Abraham said, "Sarah is my sister." King Abimelech took her but God warned him in a dream. He restored Sarah to Abraham. ObservationsGenesis 20:3 - You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken Personal ApplicationI usually don't have an issue with knowing right from wrong. It is usually that I am not aware of what I am doing. I am either not paying attention or not focused. I need to watch my life closely so I will be righteous in God's eyes and so others can be saved because of it [1 Timothy 4:16]. |
| 2012-01-14 - Ministry - Driven By Zeal for God John 2:12-17; Romans 12:11; Numbers 25:6-13 Jesus faced many challenging situations in the ministry. He faced the overwhelming needs of the sick, the poor, the faithless and the empty but antagonizing religious leaders. He also faced an overwhelming sinful scene at the temple one day. Seeing that the temple worship had become simply a place to make money from others as they were sacrificing animals, Jesus decided to take action! After making a whip, he drove everyone from the temple area, overturning tables and scattering money everywhere! With many rebukes and challenges laid out to the religious crowd, the disciples thought of one word, "zeal." God blesses us when we take action against sin with our hearts full of zeal! Jesus was not afraid to be driven by zeal! Jesus was not holding back when challenged by sinful situations! He did not ignore, forget, and walk away thinking "tomorrow" or cowardly crumble with fear! Questions
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| 2012-01-15 - Ministry - The Generator of Power John 15:1-7; Mt 7:7-12; Luke 18:1-8 Prayer generates the power in a disciple's life. Without prayer, there is no power, no relationship with God, and no expectation of miracles. Prayer connects us to God's heart and reveals to us God's will. We can be afraid to pray because we think God will test us by not answering our prayers. James chapter 1 tells us that trials test our faith not unanswered prayer. We begin to pray with unbelief in our hearts and no expectation of answered prayer in our minds. God does not always answer when WE want Him to but He will answer. It is up to us to persevere and mature long enough to receive the answer. God desires to give us whatever we wish as long as we remain in relationship with Him. God is a merciful and loving God. He wants to bless us and encourage us. Generations of powerful men and women have walked before us in real relationship with God. They witnessed incredible answers to prayer. God has not changed since then. He is willing to answer; are you willing to pray? Pray with Passion Pray with Expectation Pray with Specificity Pray with Boldness Pray with Perseverance What three things will you pray about until they are answered, no matter how long it takes? |
| 2012-01-21 - Ministry - Faith in God Moves Mountains Mark 11:22-24 Jesus makes a very simple short powerful statement; "Have faith in God." Believe in ME and you will be able to move mountains. Jesus had the faith to move mountains. Jesus calls each of us to have a faith that can move mountains.Each of us has mountains or obstacles in our lives. These obstacles take on many different forms. They may be character sins that never seem to change, family situations that seem to continue month after month, and financial debt that never seems to go away. These obstacles sometimes seem as large and permanent as mountains. But Jesus tells us to "Have faith in God", to believe in our hearts, and the mountains can be thrown into the sea. It is a very simple, but powerful statement, "Have faith in God." What mountain is secretly holding back your faith? How much have you put it before God? Decide today to lay it out before God and really believe that He can change it. Fight against cynicism and unbelief. |
| 2012-01-23 - Ministry - Unless You Change Matthew 18:2-4 Deeply rooted in the mature of adults is a strong sense of resistance to change. Even when we feel deeply discontent with our lives, we are more willing to stay in the familiarity of our misery than to venture into the untested waters of change. Fortunately, Jesus, in his desire to put us out of our misery, makes it clear that for a Christian to make it to heaven we must keep on changing. We must choose to grow even if it is challenging, difficult, tiring, confusing or scary. Why this strong direction? Because there is just so much about our hearts, character, habits, lives that the Lord wants to change! Too many souls will be lost if we stop growing. Jesus gives us the secret to change in the same verse - humble yourself. Thank God we live in a kingdom where the Lord rushes to help the humble. He will send the word, wise advice from a disciple, a protecting angel, and a physical blessing, all to the humble. It seems that we have two choices: Be humbled or get humbled. Questions:
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| 2012-02-01 - Ministry - Intimidated or Inspired? Matthew 23:1-7 The austere lifestyles of the Pharisees were not ones that Christ wanted us to imitate. They said all the right things and lived in all the wrong ways. People felt burdened around the Pharisees because they knew they could not match up to that kind of lifestyle. The Pharisees were not just legalists; they were separatists, which is what the word Pharisee means. They were men preaching a life too big for them to live. They did not readily inspire the average Jew to follow them. People were afraid of them. They lead by intimidation rather than by inspiration. In vs. 5, Jesus chastises them for doing everything for men to see. In vs.6 he condemns their obsession with position and again in vs. 7, Jesus rebukes their love of role. They did not attract the kind of following that Jesus did and this made them bitter and envious. They did not really have the hearts of the people because they had only a heart for themselves. Do you call attention to yourself? Do you focus on your position or your role and get angry when it is not what you want? A person focused on men, role, or position will not want to serve and therefore will not inspire, only intimidate. Find some way, even small way, in which you can serve or encourage someone today. This will be an inspiration to them and to you. |
| 2012-02-03 - Ministry - A Righteous Response Mark 11:15-17, John 2:15,16 How does Jesus deal with anger? I know many of us, consider Jesus' response to the temple being used for a marketplace as an example of righteous anger. However, I studied eight different translations and the scriptures never state "Jesus got angry. John records that Jesus "made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area. It is hard to imagine myself doing this without harshness and anger but I did not conclude that Jesus was harsh or mean. In Mark 11:17 it simply says that he next "taught them". In John, the disciples saw his actions as "zeal" and when confronted by the Pharisees he answered their questions with profound teaching. This was not a man out of control while responding to mistreatment of his Father's house. Jesus was very God-focused in the way he dealt with the emotion of anger. In Mark 3:5,6 the scripture points out that Jesus was angry "at their stubborn hearts" because they could not respond to his questions due to evil intentions in their hearts. Jesus was angry. How did he deal with it? Further study indicates Jesus combined anger with being/feeling: "deeply distressed. His next response was to heal a man with a shriveled hand and to teach us all an amazing lesson about how deeply God cares for us. WOW! I'm not like Jesus when I get angry, how about you? Challenge:
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| 2012-02-06 - Ministry - Compassion: The Heart of Jesus John 11:33-35 In a world so full of pain, hardship and suffering the compassion of Jesus lights the world. It is a comfort to know that "our God is full of compassion". Psalms 116:5 Jesus was deeply moved by people's suffering. Jesus sincerely cared and invested his heart in others. Does the hardship of others cause us to invest our hearts or harden them? Do we imitate Jesus' heart? We can learn to be compassionate only when we have allowed Jesus to comfort us. 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
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| 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!! |
| 2012-02-26 - Fear of Failure - God is in Control by Amy Kim - Ministry Intern: San Francisco Church of Christ Hebrews 3:7-19 Failure is just a time of testing. We harden our hearts, rebel and give up or we can have faith, be humble and move on. When I fail the first thing that happens is my pride gets hurt because I always think that I am in control or that I can do it. But God allows me to experience failure to remind me that I can't do it all. God is the only one who can. The question is whether I am as happy and excited about life when I fail as when I am successful. The only way I can do that is trust that God is in control. All I need is to do is trust him to do it, be willing to humble out and be surrendered, acknowledging that I can't do it at all. Decisions:
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| 2012-03-01 - Fear of Failure - Heart Failure by Kent Burke - Ministry Intern: San Francisco Church of Christ Numbers 11 When I see all of the problems in my life and I hear all of the complaints of the people around me, I can quickly lose heart. I do not have the strength to sustain people's hearts. Moses felt the same way when he was faced with all the complaints of the Israelites while wandering in the desert. But when Moses stopped to pray, God took care of all the complaints. We must learn to rely on God's power when we face trials in our lives. Practicals:
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| 2012-03-14 - Blessings In Christ (part X) Continue studying through the blessing of Jesus: 48. A promise given to be able to resist temptation - 1 Corinthians 10:13 49. We are made kings - Revelation 1:6 50. We became saints - 1 Corinthians 1:2 51. We have been delivered from the power of darkness - Colossians 1:12-13 52. Our hearts are unblamable - 1 Thessalonians 3:13 53. We get the power of a sound mind - 2 Timothy 1:7 |
| 2012-10-30 - Losing Heart (part I) Life of the heart is a place of great mystery:
Without the heart, life is not worth living - it is the wellspring of life To lose heart is to lose everything We need to return to a child-like heart where not everything can be explained |
| 2012-11-01 - Centrality of the Heart (part I) The heart does not respond to principles and programs It does not seek efficiency but passion Jesus so often taught and related to people by telling parables and asking questions Something calls to us through our experiences It awakes a yearning for intimacy, beauty, and adventure It fuels our search for meaning, for wholeness, for a sense of being truly alive Our heart of hearts is the passion of our life We can not hear his voice if we have lost touch with our heart The true story of each person is the journey of his or her heart Jesus spoke his strongest warnings about people who had a loss of heart (mostly about the religious people) For many of us, our faith is more lie a series of problem that need to be solved We see a problem and tinker with our outer lives We ask what are we suppose to be doing? - Luke 10:25 Jesus did not respond with a set of instructions |
| 2012-11-02 - Centrality of the Heart (part II) The Christian life is a love affair of the heart It can not be lived primarily as a set of principles What must we do? Love the Lord your God with all of your heart - Luke 10:26 The truth of the gospel is intended to free us to love God If we ignore our heart and only try to live out our religion solely as correct doctrine or ethics, our passion is crippled What God cares about is the inner life, the life of the heart - Matthew 23:25-28 Our heart is the key to the Christian life - Isaiah 29:13 Paul - the hardness of the heart is behind all the addictions and evils of the human race - Romans 1:21-25 Above all we are to guard our heart It was from the longing of our hearts that most of us first responded to Jesus What changed? It is possible to recover from the lost life of the heart - we must leave what is familiar and comfortable Change our heart and go back to when we lived with our heart, a heart of a child - Mark 10:15 |
| 2012-11-05 - Unknown Romance Other than the official channels, he also speak to us through what happens to us Our inner story is audible early in the morning and the middle of the night - when the inner editor is off duty Our heart is captured by mystery - it was one of the great things about being a child As adults, we have learned to tell ourselves that it is naive, we need to move to more reasonable things He think we have outgrown it and it was just foolishness of a child Contemporary Christianity teaches us to mistrust this New Age heresy In all of our hearts there lies a longing for a Sacred Romance It will not away in spite of our years of ignoring it Romance couched in mystery is set deep within us We desire to be part of something larger than ourselves We have two deep desires:
It is the core of our spiritual journey Any religion that ignores it survives only as guilt-induced legalism, a set of propositions to be memorized and rules to be obeyed What does these desires have to do with God? Hasn't God left us with them to draw us closer to him? |
| 2013-03-21 - Prayer of the Righeous - Knowing God through His Word (part II) Bible Study Disciplines Mark up your Bible in to different themes: Example subjects:
Might circle references to God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit Read the whole Bible every year Foucused study on indivdual books and passages are good but it also important to have the broad picture of God's revelation ingrained in our hearts Read the Bible everyday Jesus lived on every word that came from the mouth of God - Matthew 4:4 Memorize key verses Memorizing scripture helps us to talk to God using quoted scripture (God's language) and keeps us pursuing righteousness
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| 2013-04-24 - The Sincerity of Jesus (part II) It was the belief of Jesus that a man's word ought to be as good as his oath Oath were created because the evil one has corrupted many hearts and rendered ordinary speech unreliable |
| 2013-08-27 - Hurtful Examples and Lies For some, hurtful things your father did and said to you over the years The question is whether or not you will allow it to hinder you or help you. We are to forgive like God forgives, completely - Ephesians 4:32 If you believe the same lies your father believed, you will also be bound by them. Truth doesn’t set you free if you only hear it and mentally understand it. Consider memorizing verses that stand against any lies you have believed. |
| 2013-09-24 - A Man Recognizes His Accountability Having no accountability always leads to irresponsibility One day we will stand before God one day and be held accountable for how we lived Our actions not only have immediate consequences but eternal ones as well:
This is wired into our consciences and confirmed throughout His Word Everything in a man’s thinking changes when he realizes that he is only one heartbeat from standing before the Lord Do you know for certain where you will spend eternity after you die? Preparing for that day is why we should become accountable to one another Here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man - Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 Accountability dynamically helps make us into men - humble, wise, responsible, faithful men. |
| 2014-01-25 - Bless Your Children We need to boldly redefined success for them = “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” - Deuteronomy 6:5 1. God’s Word must “be on your heart.” Must always tell them how God is moving:
Every day gives you fresh, new material for making your life with Christ a front-row experience 2. Training your children to love God must occur within the context of close relationships. Talk about God is informal time:
Making disciples of all nations begins with your own children - it all starts with their hearts.
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| 2014-01-27 - The Heart of a Child You can be the greatest explainer of truth. But if the very heart of your son or daughter does not believe ‘my daddy loves me,’ they will walk away. Restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers - Malachi 4:6 You can tell when a father doesn’t have his kids’ hearts. You sense the disrespect and anger, the bitterness and emotional distance. Jesus and His Father hearts were always in sync. When Jesus felt separation from the Father, it was the worst pain he could feel. |
| 2014-02-11 - Loss of Heart Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger - Ephesians 6:4 If we lose their hearts, we lose everything. |
