Quiet Times Search

a. Jesus taught with truth and compassion
b. Backup his teachings with his life

i. No man can come to except through me
ii. Do good to those who hate you
iii. Find your life by loosing it

c. Gives us a place to stand – embolden the disciples

a. Jesus was the foundation
b. Story did not end in Palestine

a. Died with Christ, now we can live a new life with him – Romans 6:4,5,8

Expectation

Mark 1:1

• He expected a lot out of Himself
• He knew he was born to save the world
• Wallow in self-pity, to cower in fear, or simply giving up is inappropriate behavior

Mark 1:2-8 - People consistently live up to the perceptions others have of them

Encouragement

Mark 1:9-11

• He told him that he was special
• God is a god who initiates love
• How would we change if we realized the amount of love God has for us

Power

Mark 5:1-17

• What expectations do you have of your prayer life
• Do we believe the power that can be unleashed through your prayer life?
• We need to pray for God’s power to be clearly demonstrated – we desperately need the fear of the Lord.

Fearlessness

• Making the decision not give into fear is essential ingredient for the man or woman impact
• Two fears: fear of public speaking and the fear of failure

Spectacular Deeds

• Made front-page news.
• Jesus responded by valuing freeing a man over another property
• Jesus was willing to do something outrageous and controversial for the sake of a needy person

Time Management

Mark 8:27-30

• Jesus lived a very busy life.
• Jesus often accomplished several things at once.
• Jesus knew time was limited.

Reputation

• We also need to find out how others perceive us.
• We shouldn’t fear their disapproval.

Timing

Mark 8:31-33

• He did not reveal things prematurely.
• There is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. – Ecc 8:6

Approachability

• Peter and the other disciples knew that they could say anything to Jesus and he would continue to accept them.
• A leader must be approachable.
• Approachability is not the product of timidity.
• People won’t open up to someone they perceive as being weak and unable to help them.
• Approachability is the fruit of those who have the ability to listen completely before responding.
• Confidentiality: Public offenses demand public discipline. (What goes around comes around)

• He was furious about the fruitfulness of another “tree” that he had planted, watered, weeded, fertilized.
• Jesus cleared the temple at the beginning of His ministry and also here at the end of His of His ministry
• There was no fear of God.
  

• Jesus knew the right place and the right time the do the things needed.
• He was disciplined and self-controlled for just the right time.
  

• What made Jesus angry was the stubborn refusal of most to change.
• A willingness to change is a precious and seemingly rare behavioral characteristic.
• Become exceedingly insecure and defensive when we are awakened to the existence of personal deficiencies.
• We must also get angry about obstinacy in our own lives and other people’s lives.

• Why didn’t anyone try to stop Jesus as he was taking over the temple? (Only one person and many of them)
• They knew that they were in the wrong.
• Teachers of the law and chief priests feared Jesus
  
• If people consider you a “nice guy” and are not in awe of you, you probably won’t have much impact.

A Champion

Mark 12:35-37

• Winning isn’t everything but for the man or woman who desires to make an impact, it is extremely important
• Few people rush to associate themselves with a loser.
• Fight fair and do your best.
• Second-place finishers are all but ignored in the championship celebration

Reprobation

Mark 12:38-44

• He knew that he had gained the upper hand.
• Yet he also knew that popular opinion would turn.

Unconditional Love

Mark 14:17-26

• Jesus knew yet did not treat Judas any different than he treated the other eleven.
• Conditional love puts an unbearable strain on relationships
• Unconditional gives security, wipes away fear, builds confidence, adds hope, teaches perseverance, and erases discouragement and doubt.
• The key is not to love if or because of, but to love in spite of. In-spite-of love cannot fail to make a lasting impact.

The Memorial

• Jesus died for us as individuals
• It is the forgiveness of sins, my sins.
• People need frequent reminders
• We soon forget what is important.
• The activities of life so easily distract us and we so quickly lose our convictions.

Open arms

Mark 14:27-31

• We should warn others to be ready for failure – not to discourage them.
• Failure is unavoidable; defeat comes when we give up!

Giver of life

• Anyone who discovers a cause for which he would be willing to die has discovered the reason for which he was born.
• Is your life like: roller coaster ride, merry-go-round, or life a bumper car?
• Jesus had taken these men out of the amusement park, and they knew it.

• Jesus had more of an impact dead then alive.
• Are we dead to ourselves?
  
• If any of Jesus’ rebukes had a particularly lasting impact on their lives, this was the one
• Disciples were probably convicted by just the sight of Jesus

• What would your last words be? – Say them today!!!! 
• “Repent and believe the good news.” – These were both the first and the last words from Jesus.

• physical contact
• sandpaper of my whiskers
• to test their fathers

1. world
2. flesh
3. devil

1. Have you made a recent decision to change something in your life?
2. Why is it more comfortable to make changes on your own terms? What changes do you seek to make?
3. How well do you respond to reproof – from the Bible and from fellow Christians?
4. Have you ever changed a fellowship, that is, church membership, to avoid a call to repentance?

• from French word, repentir – to feel regret for sins or crimes
• from Latin word, penitire – to regret

• “Change your life” – The message
• “Change your hearts and lives” – New Century Version
• “Turn away from your sins” – Good News Translation
• “Turn from your sins and turn to God” – New Living Translation
• “Reform…” – Young’s Literal Translation

• Paradigm - describes the way that scientists work within a model for making sense of the world through observed data
• Shift/meta – changing one’s thoughts of the world
• Since paradigm shifts represents drastic changes to the rules of game – it is rarely done by scientists

• Man/earth was the center of the universe.
• As we found for planets, it was more complex to think the earth was the center
• Copernicus (1530) put the sun in the center – leading astronomers rejected the new paradigm

• We can not change what we can not see
• When was the last time you said the words, “I am wrong”?
• Ask someone close, “Am I blinded in any way by pride?”
• It was through pride, that the devil became the devil
• It is the complete anti-God state of mind.
• Why is Jesus so tough on Spiritual Blindness? It prevents us from seeing the good news.

• Survey of modern sermons would be salvation
• Jesus’ preaching was about the kingdom of God

• Students – pass/fail
• Employees – promotions\get fired
• Calories – lose/gain weight

• None of delight in a highlight reel of our personal sinfulness (especially avoid reference to specific sins)
• Whenever we expose our sins in the light of fellowship – able to see our sin more clearly

1. How can grace compel repentance?
2. How can you assess your debt to Jesus?
3. How can you be assured of the forgiveness of that debt?
4. Who is to blame for Christ’s death on the Cross?
5. How does one’s good confession - “Jesus is Lord!” - express one’s repentance?
6. Why is sharing the good news of Jesus Christ a clear indication of one’s repentance?

• Old Way: “Treat … younger women as sister, with absolute purity”
• New Way: “…strength to comprehend with all the saint what is the breadth and length and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge”

• Understands that he a citizen of the kingdom of heaven
• Jesus is Lord of the kingdom
• Jesus delivered him into the kingdom through his blood
• His sins placed him in Satan’s domain
• Live gratefully for Jesus rather than self
• Should anticipates the King’s glorious return
• Want no one to perish
• Should no fear man
• Only agenda is God’s agenda

1. What influences have shaped your worldview?
2. How has the world tried to squeeze your mind into its mold?
3. How can you resist – even reverse – this persistent pressure from the world?
4. Why should you “gird the loins of your mind”?
5. When and how did Saul/Paul repent?
6. What is the difference between a fleshly mind and a spiritual mind?
7. At a popular level, what is the difference between WWJD and WWJT?
8. Why are spiritual disciplines more effective after one has experienced the paradigm shift of metanoia?

• Comes up with creative targets – upbringing, genetic makeup, society
• Excuses are the clearest indicators of worldly sorrow
• Excuses come right after the apology – I am sorry for forgetting our anniversary, it has been crazy at work
• Where there is an excuse, there is persistent sin
• Excuses rob us of the indignation that energizes our turn from self to Jesus

A repentant Christian embraces absolutions, even moral absolutes

Repentance is no fragile state of mind that we barely notice entering and exiting

1. What is wrong with defining repentance as “being sorry for your sins, so sorry that you stop them”?
2. What is the root cause of worldly sorrow?
3. In what ways have you exercised “damage control” rather than true repentance?
4. What damage has your sin caused?
5. Have you ever confused the tears of self pity for true repentance? What is the danger of this confusion?
6. Why does the author assert that “excuses are the clearest indicators of worldly sorrow?” Would you rather have your excuses accepted or your sins forgiven?
7. What’s the difference between cognitive dissonance and repentance? Why doesn’t cognitive dissonance prompt us to preach the good news to others?
8. Have you been selective in your repentance? What does that indicate about your repentance?
9. Why doesn’t metanoia accommodate the repetition of sin?

1. How can you make the same journey as David – from repulsive to repentant?
2. How does repentance differ between the lost turning to God and the saved re-turning to Him? How is it the same?
3. How do qualify for God’s love and grace (see page 201)?
4. If you have not yet repented, why are you without excuse before God?
5. What will specifically change in your life when you proclaim, “Jesus is Lord!”?
6. If you have repented, have you also been forgiven of your sins – if not, what are you waiting for (see Acts 22:16)?
7. What can make post-baptismal repentance more difficult than your initial repentance?
8. What role does shame play in obstructing your repentance?
9. What is fellowship in the light vs. fellowship in the darkness? Which have you most often experienced in your church?
10. Finally, to the “confused”: take time to consider and answer the questions on pages 207 and 208. How can you thwart Satan’s attempts to undermine your path to true repentance?
11. Who can you encourage today with the good news of your repentance?
12. Who can you reach for Jesus by “telling how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you” (Mark 5: 19)?

• Little more than 500 after the resurrection - 1 Corinthians 15:6
• 120 received baptism at the day of Pentecost - Acts 1:15

• Why not an army?
• He needed leaders to lead the ministry after He left. Not all followers. It takes energy to produce a leader.
• Not trying to impress the crowd but the usher in a Kingdom
• Mass are like helpless sheep wandering aimlessly without a shepherds
• Masses willing to follow anyone that came along with some promise for their welfare
• Jesus was a realist. He knew he could not meet all the needs on His own.

• We are not even keeping with the growing population
• We in an age where more rapid communication is now being seen than ever before
• Must not be frantic to try to change the pattern overnight
• Do like Jesus – start with a few lowly disciples and do as it was done by Jesus
  • Slow, tedious, painful, and probably unnoticed at first
  • Not spiritual “junk-food” revivals
• Which generation are you living for?

• Jesus required and expected obedience
• They were disciples, learners, pupils (“Christian”) did not even come until later - Acts 11:26
• Being smart was not a requirement for His students, but loyalty was.
• No statement of faith made at the beginning but they believed that he was the Messiah (Luke 1:41, 45, 49; 5:8)
• Jesus was obedient to His Word and expected others to do the same.
• People do not follow hypocrites – Jesus lived it
• Way of the Cross
  • Meant more than a joyful precession: it meant a surrender of one’ whole life and of His sovereignty.
  • God or Money - Luke 16:13
  • Do not conform to the world = new life - Matthew 5:1-7:29
  • Love was found in obedience (John 14:21)
  • Cross – willingness to die to self so that other may live
• Strong Teachings
  • Not many followed (many left) - John 6:66
  • Jesus did not go running after them to get them to stay
  • Must be willing to pay the price

• When Jesus spoke about obedience, they had the ultimate example in front of them.
• Jesus found joy in doing the work of His Father
  • He expected nothing from His disciples – Luke 17:6-10, 8:21, Mark 3:35; Matthew 12:50
• Development of character is by living and seeing it each day. (Father teaches and expects them to be like him)
• Jesus knew what they were up against
  • Half-hearted evangelism = not effective
  • Required absolute obedience to the Master’s will, with a complete abandonment of their own
• We are engaged in a spiritual war – no missing around with God’s commands
• A day we are indifferent with to our responsibility = day lost to the cause of Christ
• Lack of zeal in church is a lack of obedience
• The need of the hour is not despair but action.

• Jesus considered their ability and taught them with patience
• At first, Jesus did not say anything about evangelizing the world
  • Showed them how to have a relationship with God
  • Showed them how He worked
  • Their need to follow
• He did not discourage spontaneous acts of faith
• Duties performed by His disciples
  • Baptized some - John 4:2
  • Food arrangements
• Jesus kept the vision in front of them
• Little evangelism was done on their own at the beginning
  • We should be patient with new disciples
• First evangelist mission with the 12
  • Began with Jesus’ third tour through Galilee
  • Sent them forth - Mark 6:7

• Why was she picked to give birth to the Savior?
• She already knew how much she needed God as her savior
• Already in a humble state before him - Luke 1:46-55

• Took a jolt on the way to Damascus
• He finally came to see his poverty of spirit
  • Nothing good lives in me - Romans 7:18
    
  • I am the least of the apostles - 1 Corinthians 15:9-10
  • Confessed his poverty to the very end - 1 Timothy 1:12-15

• Prayed for the power to heal and to change others - Mark 9:29
• In prayer in order to be at peace with God's will - Matthew 26:36-46
• Struggled in prayer to be wholehearted submissive to his Father - Hebrews 5:7-8
• Prayed by himself - Matthew 14:23
• Prayed before others - John 11:41-43
• Prayed with his face to the ground - Matthew 26:39
• Prayed looking up to heaven - John 17:1
• Prayed standing up - Mark 11:25
• Prayed kneeling down - Luke 22:41
• Prayed in early in the morning - Mark 1:35
• Prayed throughout the night - Luke 6:12

• If you pray
• Please, I beg you to pray
• I command you to pray

• His Pharisaic crust was broken
• His independence had melted
• He recognized and braced the true Lord

• He called his own sheep by name - John 10:3
• He laid down his life for them - John 10:11
• He knew his sheep - John 10:14

• Show the life of Christ in his life
• Tell others the good news
• Mature those who were disciples

• Delivered from prison
• Delivered from his life and struggles
• Delivered from his loneliness and anxiety

• He looked out for the interest of others
• He lived out the message
• He knew what it meant to go to the cross
• He was convinced that he was more alive when he was dead
• He discipleship was a matter of practice
• He had no trouble seeing the mission of Jesus
• He did not run aimlessly but purposeful, selfless, and dedicated servant of Jesus

• They study to become like this
• They are discipled to become like this
• They do whatever it takes

• Three days of fasting and prayer? - Acts 9:9
• After 3 years of personal training? - Galatians 1:11-24
• After a visit to the 3 heaven? - 2 Corinthians 12:1-6

• Give when you are tired
• Pray when you do not want to
• Stand your ground against emotions and thoughts
• Overcome fear and to love in practical, unselfish way

• Pray about adopting a child
• Visit a nursing home
• When the homeless ask for spare change, do not be stingy, give to them - Luke 6:30-38
• On your next vacation, go to a 3rd world country
• See what you can sell to help the poor - Luke 12:33
  
• Get to know a homeless person and have them into your home - Matthew 25:35
• Read the news - follow up with the victims of accidents, fires, robberies

• Christ-centered - we preach Jesus Christ as Lord - 2 Corinthians 4:5
• Well-prepared - must know what we are talking about - 2 Timothy 2:15
• Be yourself / Be real - eloquence is not a requirement - 1 Corinthians 2:12
• Be gentle and respectful - No place for self-righteousness
• Non-retaliating - We will be opposed; If we retaliate, we lose; Turn the other cheek - Matthew 5:39
• Unhypocritical - People will be eager to change when they see the good news supported by your life

Preached by John Lusk (2005-01-30)

How passionate are you about maturing?

• Being a new Christian, it was easiler because everything was new. Now what?
• We must have the correct motivation if we are to continue maturing in the long run.

Motivation of Maturing

1. To regain your identify

Genesis 1:26-27

• We need to realize who we are suppose to be
• Duck example
  • First thing it sees when it is born it assumes is its mother and will follow it around
  • If the baby duck follows something other than another duck, it will get frustrated because it can only do what duck do
• Human example
  • We were made to be like God
  • We see other things and try to follow the world
  • We also get frustrated because worldly persuits are not what were designed for

2. To remian in Jesus

1 John 2:3-4 - This is a expectation from God

3. To be effective and productive

2 Peter 1:4-8

• Must make every effort
• It would be sad to find out in the end we were ineffective and unproductive
• Others need you to grow!
• Your growth rate will determine how much you are effective, not where you are right now

4. Secure salvation

2 Peter 1:8-11 - We have been given a new start

Wrong motivation - Pleasing people, selfish ambition

Preached by Richard Dixson (1997-05-18)

1 Samuel 16:7

• Worldly things look more appealing
• The people saw the others with better things
  • Most important thing:
    • Everyone spends time to get ready
    • Do you spend more time getting ready for the outside appearance than your inward?
    • The heart is most important

Psalms 51:4-9

• Being true to one's self
• When our conscience violated things are not fun
• Renew the steadfast spirit

Special Place for a special for a special friend

Psalms 63:2-4 - Remember God's Power

Psalms 63:6-7 - The night bed and protection from God

Psalms 91:4 - We are being attacked all the time

Psalms 63:8 - Confidence - God holds us up

1 Kings 19:1

• Travels 150 miles to get way from Jezebel
  • It is amazing how far we get away
• Lost gratitude
• God doesn't give up
  • He sends angels
• How to get back our spiritual compassion?
  • Go back!
  • Don't run from your fear
  • Don't just go through the motions
  • We are to face ourselves

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20

2 Corinthians 7:2-13

• Challenges are need
• They produce more reliance and faith in God

Renew Your Spiritual Passion for the Lost

Mark 5:6-11

• Jesus saw their pain and their lostness
  • Broken marriages
  • Cannot control their children
• We need to get into their lives
• The will open up with your help

Preached by Richard Dixion on 1997-09-09

The people were amazed by Jesus

Mark 1:22, 27

• Teachings amazed them
• Why were they new?
  • Taught from the heart
• Above treating others like they do you - Love your enemies
• Caught in adultery vs. even thing about a girl lustfully

• Change/Repent = idleness is not godliness
• Not feel-good messages all the time

• vs. 20 Not of talk but of power
• Jesus amazed the people by his power

• Revealed the power of God
• Difference: his healing was attributed to God

Preached by Richard Dixion - 1999-07-18

Understanding the bad news

Romans 1:18-32

• To understand the good news - we must be convicted about the bad news
  • Conviction in US law - proven
  • We need to be shown where we are wrong
• Spirit convicts us about sin - John 16:7-8
• Questions we could ask:
  • Wrong: Why would a loving God send anyone to hell?
  • Right: Why would a just God save anyone?

John 3:19-21

2 Timothy 3:1-5

• Having a form of godliness...is ungodly
• Describes people:
  • People then and now
    • "Church-goers" - who do you know who is like this?
    • Are you like this?

• Dinner out
• Vacation
• A new ______

• Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
• Tree of Life

New Testament

Romans 11:17-21 - You can get arrogant

1 Corinthians 10:1-10 - Do repeat the same misakes of those in the OT

Galatians 6:7-10 - We reap what we sow, do not become weary of doing good

Jude 3-4 - Grace of God is not a license to sin

1 John 4 - Can not love God without loving your brother

2 Timothy 4 - We need to check to see if we have sound doctrine

Hebrew 5 - Teachers can become arrogance

Revelation 2-3 = Churches can loose focus

1. Read and Pray Daily to God
2. We need others in our lives
3. We need meetings of the body
4. Giving to God
5. Complete Openness
6. People are going to heaven or hell
7. Reaching out to others

Restoration of the world is play out each spring and summer
Jesus preached more than sin management and forgiveness

He annouced the coming of the kingdom of God

• Preaching the good news of the kingdom - Matthew 4:23
• Repent and believe the good news - Mark 1:15
• Proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God - Luke 8:1
• He appeared to them for 40 days and spokr about the kingdom of God - Acts 1:3

God's kingdom - his will is done "on earth as it is in heaven"
In heaven, everything is as it was meant to be
Isn't every one of our sorrows on earth the result of things not being as they were meant to be?

Jesus healed every disease and sickness among the people - Matthew 4:23
He spoke and the kingdom of God and healed those who needed healing - Luke 9:11 

The kingdom of God brings restoration
Life is resotred to what it was meant to be

Eden was exactly as God meant for it to be
Jesus came to make all things new - Revelation 21:5
He does not say he is make all new things, rather, the things that been broken will be restored
Not new glass or crutches but new eyes and legs

Jesus called himself the Son of man to state clearly that he was what man was suppose to be
What happens to him when he dies? He is resurrected as himself, not some else - only healed and very much alive
Creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed - Romans 8:19

Too many of us have placed eternity somewhere out there
We seem to forget that we will get the earth back as well

I will create new heavens and a new earth - Revelation 21:1
When he says he is making all things new, he includes the earth

Won't the whole earth be destroyed?
That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat - 2 Peter 3:12

Noah's day of the Lord
By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed - 2 Peter 3:6
World was destroyed in the sense that all wickedness and corruption of mankind - Genesis 6-7
Fire is also used for cleansing throughout the Scriptures

• Thunderclouds gather over the prairies
• Plant grow or start to grow and lift heavenward
• Maple leaves are woven
• New stars are born every day
• There is always a sunset and sunrise somewhere on the Earth

The theme of does not end with the Old Testament
I have come to bring peace but the sword - Matthew 10:34

The birth of Christ was an act of war
The enemy knew it and tried to kill him - Matthew 2:13

The whole life of Christ is marked by battle and confrontation

• Kick out demons with a stern command
• Rebukes fever and it leaves
• Rebukes a storm and it resides
• Confronts the Pharisees numberous times
• He wakes Lazarus from the dead
• Decends into hell and leads a train of captives free - Ephesians 4:8-9

Not just a theme of the Bible but the backdrop for the whole story

What is he fighting for? Our freedom and restoration
The glory of God is man fully alive

Myth - sometimes thought of as not factual true
But a myth is a story which confront us with something transcendent and eternal; a way of seeing and knowing
A kind of story that wakes you up and you suddenly say - this is what my life is really about

Myth tell us three truths, this first one is:

1. Things are not what they seem

Examples of movies that show us this include: Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, the Matrix

Jacob saw earth in a whole new way in his dream - Genesis 28:12
He awakes more awake then ever, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it" - Genesis 28:16

Two followers of Christ did not even recongized Jesus as he talked with him after his resurrection - Luke 24:17-21
They were slow in heart to believe

• People in your life
• Things that bring you joy
• Places that are dear to you

• Cinderella rises from from supression to become queen
• The ugly duckling becomes a beautiful swan
• Pinocchio becomes a real boy
• Frog becomes a prince
• Scrooge becomes a good friend to all
• Cowardly lion, Scarecrow, Tinman all get what they are missing

• Zacchaeus the trickster becomes Zaccheaus the honest
• Mary the sinful becomes Mary the faithful
• Paul the self-righteous murder becomes Paul the humble apostle

• Become a member
• Take a course on doctrine
• Faithfully attend the Sunday morning service and small group fellowship
• Complete a course on Christian growth
• Live a life of Christian growth
• Complete a course on evangelism
• Consistently look for opportunities to evangelize
• Complete a course on finances, marriage, and parenting
• Complete a course on leadership
• Complete a course on hermeneutics
• Complete a course on spiritual gifts
• Complete a course on missions
• Complete a course on biblical counseling
• Carry a significant local church ministry load

Ephesians 1:11-14

• We eat to get energy
• We need to eat to healthy spiritually too
• What are we feeding the spirit?
  • What is your spiritual diet?
  • Are you eating junk food?
• Do not forget the Holy Spirit! - get to know him better
• We will die if we continue to gratify the sinful nature

Ephesians 3:14-19

• We desire to be filled
• Fullness = satisfied (not looks for more)

Ephesians 4:11-13

• Leaders help us
• Let other into your life

Ephesians 4:17-29

• All these sins are poisonous to our health
• Put on new self - start a new diet

General healthy spiritual food items

1. Obedience
2. Prayer
3. Bible Study
4. Singing
5. Encouraging Others
6. Serving
7. Contribution
8. Graduated
9. Fasting
10. Confessing Sin
11. Discipling

1. Weak - poison = no, good food = no, eats little
2. Sick - poison = some, worldly, impure
3. Dying - not eating much, lots of poison
4. Strong - lots of food, consistent, wide variety

1. Scheduled meals
2. Decide what meals should go
3. Decide what to start eating

• Scripture reading becomes I have to read it to understand the gospel for others
• Talking to God suddenly takes on a new purpose - passionate pleas for friends
• Our desire to worship grows as your gratitude grows
• Helps maintain a high standard of purity

• God's nature
• Their sinfulness
• Christ's payment
• Steps that must be taken to receive forgiveness
• The new life he offers

• High potency, low proximity = remaining isolated from those you need to be with
• Low potency, high proximity = just being part of the world
• High potency, High proximity, No communication = hoping the gospel will just rub off

1. The Blessing of Giving - Acts 20:33-35
   1. Paul did not desire anyone else's money or possessions.
   2. He worked hard and sacrificed to help the weak.
   3. He knew that giving brought more joy than receiving.
2. Living for Eternal Possessions - Matthew 6:19-21; Hebrews 10:32-34
   1. When our treasure is in heaven not on earth, our hearts will be in heaven also.
   2. As disciples, we will look foolish to the world because our hearts and our treasures (money) are in heaven not on earth.
3. All Things For Our Enjoyment - 1 Timothy 6:17-18
   1. It is very easy for us who have wealth to put our hope and trust in money/things rather than God.
   2. As disciples we are commanded to be generous and willing to share.
   3. When we follow God"s plan we can feel great about enjoying the blessings God has given us.

1. Which do I desire more, to give or to receive?
2. How can I put all my treasure in heaven so that all my heart will be there also?
3. How am I being generous and willing to share on a daily basis?
4. Am I enjoying God's blessings or do I feel guilty about the things I have?

1. The Old Testament Precedent - Leviticus 27:30; Malachi 1:13-14
   1. The Israelites were commanded to give a tenth (tithe) of all their income to the Lord
   2. The Israelites had many other kinds of sacrifices (e.g. burnt, sin, grain, fellowship offerings) in addition to the tithe. The Israelites actually gave up to 33% of their income to God.
   3. The sacrifices were to be the best available. God will not accept a second rate sacrifice.
2. New Testament Examples
   1. The Widow - Mark 12:41-44
      She was commended not for what she gave, but her giving heart. She was totally dependent on God.
   2. Barnabas - Acts 4:36-37
      He sold his property and gave all the proceeds from the sale to meet the needs of the church.
   3. The Macedonians - 2 Corinthians 8:1-3
      They gave beyond their ability even though they were extremely poor
3. True Sacrifice Costs Something - 2 Samuel 24:21-25
   1. David refused to sacrifice to God something that cost him nothing.

1. Am I giving my best to God in my weekly giving? Do I give to God first out of my pay or out of what is left over?
2. What percentage of my income am I giving in my weekly contribution?
3. What am I willing to sell or sacrifice for the special contribution?

1. Why Get Out of Debt?
   1. It hinders us from being able to give generously. When we are paying 18%+ interest on top of the principal, it is difficult to have anything left to share with others.
   2. It is wasteful. The exorbitant interest we pay on our credit cards is totally wasted.
   3. The balance is probably there because you were not following God's plan for your finances.
2. How to Get Out
   1. You must be radical (Matthew 5:29-30)
      1. Cut up all your credit cards (if you have outstanding balances that you have not been able to pay off for 3 months or more).
      2. Call your credit card companies and cancel the accounts.
      3. Work out your budget with the goal of removing your debt. Do not buy anything that is not necessary. Cut all unnecessary expenditures out of your budget (e.g. cable TV, newspaper).
      4. Get input (Proverbs 15:22)
      5. Commit your plan to the Lord (Psalms 127:1-2)
   2. Finish the job (Luke 14:28-30)
      1. Let godly sorrow lead you to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10-11). You must take responsibility for your debt.

1. Am I in sinful/foolish debt? If so, why?
2. Am I willing to apply the principles set forth to get out of debt?
3. What will be the hardest thing for me to change to get out of debt?
4. Who do I know that will be able to help me with my plan?