2011-12-30 - Day 27 - Learning to be Loyal What does loyalty mean to you? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
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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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2013-03-17 - Prayer of the Righeous - God is Preparing a Place (part I) Jesus wanted his disciples to remember where they were headed When Jesus prayed, heaven was in his mind We are being transformed into Jesus' likeness - 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 Pictures of the fellowship of heaven, not like being there:
In this world we get to be with ones we love and respect, in heaven it will be great fellowship and unending |
2013-09-11 - Men Leave Childhood Behind We need to choose to let go of childishness and foolishness Clinging to childhood while growing into manhood is like trying to run in opposite directions at the same time aka the “Peter Pan Syndrome” Teen years are often wasted and fathers have become silent. Rather than initiating serious conversations with wiser men, they goof off with fools in sports bars Too many men want the freedoms, rewards, and privileges of manhood but only the responsibilities of boyhood Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ - Ephesians 4:14-15 Do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature - 1 Corinthians 14:20 The noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands - Isaiah 32:8 |
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. |
2014-03-17 - Teach Them to Fear the Lord (part I) If you and your wife had two children and trained them to faithfully live for Christ, and both of them raised two more children to faithfully live for Christ as well, then those same ten generations could produce 1,024 faithful believers. Teach the Word “diligently” to your children “when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” - Deuteronomy 6:7 Instruct “to fear the LORD your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments” - Deuteronomy 6:2 Love, truth, and respectful fear go hand in hand. Fearing the Lord transforms our thinking. |
2015-02-15 - Our Source of Joy Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation - Habakkuk 3:17-18 What we think about and focus on really does affect our attiutde - The Power of Positive Thinking Habakkuk fortold:
Habakkuk grieved over the coming destruction but he did sink into despair Joy in God was a choice, Babylonians or no Babylonians To maintain his joy, he counted two truths
His loving God was the one constant in his life
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2015-08-26 - Right Reasons May your money be destroyed with you for thinking God's gift can be bought - Acts 8:20 Intense self-examination is needed to know if we are doing things for the right reasons Simon the Sorcerer had a big problem with inappropriate motivation:
He had some very real power - people called him "the Great One - the Power of God" - Acts 8:10 Simon approached Peter and offered him money in exchange for the power to lay hands on people and give them the Holy Spirit He appeared to want God's power to make a profit Peter scolded him for believing money had anything to do with God power
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2015-09-26 - In It Together Then they stood on each side of Moses holding up his hands until sunset - Exodus 17:12 Moses' part of the battle was to provide spiritual support for his army The hold up his staff represented Israel's dependence on God:
Israel ran into problems when Moses became tired Quick thinking from Aaron and Hur - held his hands up The problem was solved through cooperation |
2015-10-27 - Life of Separation Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daugther and instead to share the oppression of God's people - Hebrews 11:24-25 He left his life of ease under Pharaoh and indentified himself with the suffering of his own people Mose was born to a poor Hebrew mother, but he was raised in a world of privilege He left Pharaoh's family and inheritance for being a descendant of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob When you identify yourself with Christ you leave your old ways and thinking. |
2015-11-01 - Secure in Love I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God's love - Romans 8:38 Through difficult times we are tempted to think God must really hate me Some have the misguided idea of the relationship between difficulties and God's love Paul opposed such thinking through his suffering that most of us can not imagine He never saw his suffering as an occasion to doubt God's love for him Can anything ever separate us?
No! Despite these things overwhelming victory is ours through Christ - Romans 8:37 |
2015-12-22 - Frame of Reference This happened so the power of God could be seen in him - John 9:3 Jesus' disciples believed bad things happen to bad people Jesus quickly corrected their faulty thinking by denying the man's blindness had anything to do with anyone's sin This blindness was to be one day used to bring the people's attention to Jesus' devine power and authority When blind man obeyed Jesus, he was able to see for the first time in his life Jesus' miracle changed the disciples' notions about God and how he works through human circumstances |