Quiet Times Search

• What are some barriers to your faith in Christ?
• What characteristics of Christ do you admire?
• Pick one of those and focus on emulating it today in your own life.

• Pray about everything before you do it: pray about decisions, hopes and plans. God will bless it.
• Get advice about the plans you are making.
• Relax and enjoy your relationship with God, enjoy reaching out to people, enjoy your purpose.
  
• Don't try to prove anything to anyone, except that you love being a Christian.

1. Pray through my dream list at least twice a week
2. Learn to stop trying to be perfect and be grateful for his grace

1. When I feel like I am failing, I have to ask, "What is God trying to teach and show me through this?" and also get input from other disciples.
2. I need to study out how people in the Bible dealt with challenges and failures that are similar to the ones I'm experiencing.
3. I need to build the faith of others who are in the midst of challenges by openly sharing about my failures, what I learned from them, and how God helped me overcome.

• Pride
• Complacency
• Self pity
• Desiring comfort
• Fear

1. Decide never to quit being a disciple.
2. Decide to admit your weaknesses every day.
3. Decide to obey the Bible when you get knocked down.

Two different responses to God's power:

1. Moses doubted God's power to feed the 600,000 men
God asked His arm was too short - Numbers 11:21-23

2. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego faced the furnace
The were convicenced God would save them from it - Daniel 3:17-18
They saw Jesus' glory and he spoke about him - John 12:41

John the Baptist described God's power and man's insignifiance - Matthew 3:3

• We are like grass that withers before the eternal God - Isaiah 40:7-8
• We are a mist - James 4:14
• The nations are drop in the bucket - Isaiah 40:14

Imagine trying to asking a clerk compensate for dust when weighing an item for purchase - it would be absurd

How do you current view God?

We need to choose to let go of childishness and foolishness
When I became a man, I did away with childish things - 1 Corinthians 13:11

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

Continuing the “heart hindrances” that will push your chidren away.

6. Favoritism.
   • Less favored children become resentful.
   • It led Rachel and Leah to fight and Joseph’s brothers to hate him
7. Hypocrisy.
   • It will kill trust between you and your children
   • Identify hypocrisy in you, be quick to repent
8. Hurting their mother.
   • They will tend to take up offense for the woman who loves them
   • If you teach them to dishonor her, they will eventually dishonor you
9. Misunderstanding.
   • Is tied to kids feeling misunderstood and not listened to by their parents
   • If a matter is important to them, it should be important to you
10. Unrealistic expectations.
    • Kids will quickly be discouraged if they believe their parents have set them up to fail
    • Avoid comparing their weaknesses with another child’s strengths
    • Your child believes he can’t please you, he’ll eventually quit trying

You must keep your radar up to sense if you have your children’s hearts

Questions to continously ask:

• Have I ever wounded you and not made it right?
• Have I said one thing and done another?
• Have I made promises and not kept them?
• Is there anything you’re angry with me about? Is there anything you’re not telling me because you’re afraid?

Too many men foolishly refuse to apologize because they’re trying to save face and don’t want to look bad.

Summary

Sarah died in Kiriath-arba and Abraham asked the Hittites for a burial site. He bought a cave at full price from Ephron and buried Sarah there.

Observations

Genesis 23:6 - Listen, my lord, you are an honored prince
Abraham's reputation was above reproach. Those who invest their time and money in serving God often earn a good return on their investment - a good reputation and the respect of others. He was in front of the elders of the land to witness this as a legit transaction (v16). No one could say Abraham stole and cheated someone in this first recorded real estate transaction. He simply waited on God to fulfill his promise in his own timing. Unlike Jesus' disciples, Abraham did not have a battle plan on how He would take the land. [Matthew 26:52]

Genesis 23:15 - Land is worth 400 pieces of silver, but what is that between friends?
Abraham paid the initial price even after refusing the land as a gift time and time again. He was not trying to take anything he didn’t deserve. Even though God had promised the land to Abraham, he was did come with a attitude that he owned the place. Instead, he waited for God's timing and will to fulfill his promise. Like David, he did not want to take what was someone else's and give it the Lord. [1 Chronicles 21:24]

Application

What kind of reputation do I have at work, at home, and at church? What do others say about me? How has that helped or hindered me?

Do I become impatient in waiting for God's promises? Do I try to fulfill God's promises for him?

Do we avoid giving when it really costs us something?

Prayer

Lord, help me to have the faith to wait on your promises and to always be ambassador of yours no matter where I am.

Why are you trying to do all this alone? - Exodus 18:14

A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Nobody lives long enough to make them all himself.

Moses filled hs plate to overflowing - working from dawn to dusk

This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself - Exodus 18:17-18

Jethro's advice: Slow down and let someone who feared and loved God do a part of the work

As a priest of Midian and successful businessman, Jethro had a lot of wisdom to share

Your mistakes can be put to good use by encouraging others to not repeat them

Phinehas has turned my anger away from the Isrealites by being as zealous among them as I was - Numbers 25:10

Phinehas had seen the immorality going on around him and could not stand idly by and allow his people tp defile themselves

Neither could he allow God judgement to continue without trying to bring it to an end

His last straw momenet was when he witnessed his Hebrew brother shamelessly taking a Midianite into his tent

Phinehas' zeal kicked in and passionately executed the man

From then on, he showed his willingness to take a stand and the people of Israel were spared and decendants received God's blessings - Numbers 25:12-13

When you are enthusiastic about your relationship with God, you are bound to affect the people around you 

Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath or is it a day for doing evil? - Mark 3:4

Nothing gets the attention of a religous old guard faster than trying something new and different

Example: Jesus on earth with the Jewish leaders with so many rules and regulations

No one could keep all the rules and certainly not while joyfully serving God

Jesus' wisdom steered people back toward the spirit of the law - root in the love for God and neighbor

He healed a man in need and the leaders called it working therefore wrong

Are you legalist or do you enjoy the freedom Jesus came to give you?

Surely you wouldn't do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked - Genesis 18:25

Abraham's heart sank when God announced he would destroy Sodom:

• Lot and his family lived there
• Possiblity have friends there

He couldn't just stand there without trying to intercede on their behalf

Abramham trusted God's assessment of Sodom and he to be just and righteous

God said he would not destory the city if there were 50, 30, 20, 10 righteous left - Genesis 18:32

Are you a man of persistent, passionate prayer?

Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple - John 2:15

Jesus became angry times when he saw authorities have a lack of love and true faith in his heavenly father

He espcially got angry this time with the money changers who were greedy in their dealing with those pilgrims trying to purshase sacrificial animals

Jesus always directed his anger at things that stood in the way of God's purposes for mankind

Do you express your anger over the same kind of issues that angered Jesus?

When you become angry, ask yourself:

• Is it for the right reason?
• Is it for the right people?
• Is it at the right moment?

No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words - Job 2:13

Many men struggle with just listening - why God gave us two ears and only one mouth

At first Job's friends were the exactly the kind of friends he needed

After Job had spoken, they began speaking but instead of comforting him they tried to fix his problems - which made things worst

Sometimes it is best to just listen instead of trying to fix things

I have fought the good fight, I  have finished the race - 2 Timothy 4:7

Paul contemplated his own end, he knew:

• The futility of trying to earn God's favor
• Faithful service would prepare him for God's staggering blessings
• He had remained faithful to his calling
• What lay ahead of him beyond the executioner's sword

He felt at peace with his imminent death and did not see his life as his own - 2 Timthoy 4:6

Nothing in this life can compare with what awaits you in heaven as a follower of Jesus Christ

The king has sent me on a private matter - 1 Samuel 21:2

We can overcome our fear of what men do to us by clinging to our faith and remembering God superintends everything that comes our way

David was on the run from King Saul because he was trying to kill him when he met Ahimelech

David lied to Ahimelech - The king has sent me on a private matter 

It's not hard to figure out why David lied, he feared Saul more than he trusted God

When you fear men, do you focus on the fear or trust in God who already has your future mapped out

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