Quiet Times Search

• He challenged their traditions and hypocrisy
• He warned his disciples to beware of the "yeast" of the Pharisees - Luke 12:1
• He challenged people to obey what he taught - Matthew 23:1-3
• He spoke in parables were surely was going to offend - Matthew 15:12
• He gave them answers to trick questions that left them silent - Matthew 21:23-27

Call me and I'll answer - Psalms 91:14-16

I can help others when I am confident that God is listening to and responding to my prayers

When we lose faith that our prayers will be answered, we lose heart and our relationship with God withers

We may not always give us the answer we want; he always responds for our good

We must see the answers he gives and never doubt that he loves us

One of our greatest test of faith comes when we face the unexpected

We forget Psalms 91 - His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart

We often rely on our own understanding of situations and then ask God what we think we need

It is important to let God give us the answer since he knows what is best for us
Like children, we do not always know what we need

This trouble you're in is not punishment, it's training, the normal experience of children - Hebrews 12:17

1. Knows us better than we ourselves
2. Even as the manufacturer knows his product better than anyone else
3. Knows our weaknesses and our strengths
4. Is the best source to find the answers to such questions as:

a.  Where did I come from?
b.  Why am I here?
c.  Where am I going?
d.  How should I live?

Taking the Offensive

Mark 10:2-12

• Jesus was tested the hostile audience.
• Instead of backing down or becoming apologetic, he answered questions with questions.
• Jesus told them that their hearts were hard. He always backed his answers with scripture (clear and definitive).
• He didn’t care if his answer offended some people.

Judgment

• God is more concerned with the spirit of the law than the letter of the law.
• God searches the heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts.
• What people say and do is secondary importance to the condition of their hearts.

• Explained very practically how they could pray.
• A person can be effective at almost anything by simply mastering the basics.
• Answered prayer will only amaze those who are not themselves faithful in prayer.
• He taught them whatever they lacked; his teachings were very flexible.
  

• Forced them to choose between exposing their heart toward John or their unresponsive hearts toward the Word of God.
• How do you handle confident and aggressive people?
• How would you react to a public put down in front of friends and co-workers?
• Make a decision not to buckle when things get hot.
• Remember those over us (bosses, leaders) are only mere men and women.

Expertise

Mark 12:28-34

• He was prepared to give an answer on any topic that anyone might choose to challenge him.
• We need to know our stuff.
• Good students make the best teachers.
• Good listeners are worth listening to.
• Some of us what to skip over the student phase and jump right into the teacher phase.

• Career
• Belonging
• How well he plays sports
• Yes, even women

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)?

• Consequences for not following up
  • The other choice is for the convert to find solutions to innumerable problems in on their own
  • Haphazard follow-up could mean disaster for their faith
  • Fall ways - come about more often be not getting with them enough
  • There is not substitute for getting with people
• No such thing as assembly line discipleship
• You must be a personal guardian to those you lead.
• It is your job to:
  • Stay with them as much as possible
  • Study the Bible and pray together
  • Answer their questions
  • Clarify the truth
  • Seeking together to help others
• If it took three years to develop His disciples by getting with them, how much more should we get together with those that have not physically have seen Jesus? How much longer will it take (not seeing them all the time)?

• Keep them going
  • All of this is going to require supervision
  • When questions arise, they must be answered while the problem is still in their mind.
  • Setup a schedule of training and keep a record of their growth
  • Exercise patience: Growth is sometimes slow and with many setbacks (while honestly seeking truth)
  • Seldom put them out of our mind
  • They need to be in our prayers and dreams
  • Accept the burden of their immaturity until they can do it for themselves
• We are not living primarily for the present.
• Our satisfaction is in knowing that in generations to come from bearing fruit
• World is desperately seeking someone to follow
  • Someone who is certain
  • Will be a man who knows the way of Christ
  • Or are one who is leading someone into greater darkness?
• Destiny of many hangs on our decision.

• What can I learn from this problem?
• What is your will for my life?
• What can I change that will make his/her life and our marriage better?

• We think we are not worthy
• Our faith is weak
• We don't know what we want - we need to dream

The answer is out there

John 5:16-23

• If this is true then there is nothing else
• Religious are looking for answers. Why?
  • Easier
  • More followers
  • Do not want to look bad

You are in the right place

John 6:68-69

• No where else to go
• What are you looking for?

What are you going to do?

Take the test

50% is better than 0%

Luke 8:11

• Time for testing
• We need to have grit and determination
• You are stronger than you think
• You can get answers (open book test)

Learn from the results

1 Peter 5:5-7

• Older people have taken those same tests
• Deepens our love and faith
• Help you get closer to people
• Helps with compassion toward others

Do better than on your next test

Each test is administored by God

1 Peter 5:8-9

• God wants us to improve
• Do not quit
• Admit where you are weak

Who is winning in you life? God or Satan?

Zealot = a man who aims at overthrows

Jesus mission was to overthrow Satan's ruling government over the earth

1 John 3:7-8
• Jesus came to destroy Satan
• A zealot has a cause
• What was Jesus' cause?
  • Save man from hell
  • Save man from himself
  • Save man from Satan
Matthew 26:50-55
• They saw Jesus as a renigade

Cause worth living for

Luke 9:25
• What good is it?
• What would you write down as things that you are trying to gain?
• Living for Jesus is living life to the full

Luke 10:10
• Sometimes life is not fair
  • Through salvation (Judgement) comes fairness
• We hurt ourselves with the question "WHY?"
  • Like we can demand an answer from God
2 Corinthians 5:14
• Love compels us not out of duty

Preached on 2003-03-16

Bad day? Being at your worse, need someone at their best

What is your reaction to these people?

Romans 5:6-8
Ephesians 2:1-5

God was at His best

John 13:1-38- Apostles betraying

Matthew 26:36-46- Apostles sleeping

Luke 22:47-53 - His own turned against him

Mark 14:53-65 - False witnesses, no answer

Luke 22:54-62 - Peter not standing up for Jesus

Luke 23:26-43 - Killing him, our savation

1 Peter 2:18-25 - Are you have been hurt more than Jesus?

The heart is central
The need to even to be remined of this show how far we have fallen from the life we were meant to have

The heart is addressed in the Bible more than any other topic

Love the Lord your God with all your heart - Deuteronomy 6:5
Man looks at the outward appearance, Lord looks at the heart - 1 Samuel 16:7
Where your teasure is, there your heart will be also - Luke 12:34

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart - Proverbs 3:5
These people honor me from their lips but their hearts are far from me - Matthew 15:8
The Lord weighs the heart - Proverbs 21:2

The heart can be:

• Trouble, wounded, pierced, grieved, even broken
• Cheerful, glad, merry, joyful, rejoicing
• Whole or divided
• Wise or foolish
• Steadfast, true, upright, stout, valiant
• Frightened, faint, cowardly
• Wandering, forgetful, dull, stubborn, proud, hardened

The heart can be unpredictable but it is central to our being

The heart answers a lot of questions:

• Why did my relationship fail? One or both don't have to heart to make it work
• Why are some many struggling with depression and discouragement? They have lost heart
• Why can I not break free from our addiction? We gave our heart away and need to get it back

• by sin
• by others
• by the enemy

• Dorthy seeks the Wizard
• Frodo turns to Gandalf
• Neo has Morpheus
• Curdie is helped by Lady of the Silver Moon
• Jedis look Yodo

• Money
• Relationships
• Control over resources

• God is love but he also just and holy
• There is no sin that can go unpunished
• This the parents dilemma - should I punish or let it go?
• God can not let anything go because of his nature
• We do not have to have all the answers - not our "wisdom" but God's wisdom

• In him all things hold together
• How God can be just and for us to have salvation because of the blood of Jesus
• It all comes through Jesus Christ

1. Age 4 - Going potty
2. Age 12 - Having friends
3. Age 17 - Having a car
4. Age 35, 45, 55, 65 - Having Money
5. Age 75 - Having a car
6. Age 80 - Having friends
7. Age 85 - Go potty

• Deversity in the church
• Strong Marriage
• Unity

• Acceptance
• Future
• What others think

1. In all places, the harvest is plentiful
2. In all places, God hears and answers us

Examples of those seeking God:

Ethiopian eunuch - Acts 8:26-40

• What do we know about this seeker?
  • He is important and therefore certainly busy, but still finds time for God.
  • He reads the Scriptures himself and asks questions about what he is reading.
  • He is humble and sincere enough in his search to ask for help.
    
  • What he learns he acts on right away, as seen with his baptism.
• How did he feel after coming to know God better?
  
• The burning questions he had about God were answered in an afternoon.
  

Bereans - Acts 17:10-12

• What was it about these Berean seekers that made Luke refer to them as having “noble character”?
  • Enthusiastic
  • Great Eagerness - explain
    
  • Examined the scriptures daily
    
• Why was it important for them to “examine the Scriptures every day” for themselves?
• What was the result of this eager yet diligent attitude?
  
• As with prayer, reading the Bible is vitally important to knowing God.

• Everyone wants to know “How can I really live?”
  
• This passage spells out two fundamental ways to answer this question. The world’s wisdom or God’s wisdom.
  
• How does man in his wisdom view God’s wisdom (the cross)?
  
• How does God view man’s wisdom? Can we have it both ways?
• If you think I am a fool and I think you are a fool, what will our relationship be like?
  
• Establish the wide gulf in the two ways of viewing and living life.
  

• Why does Paul say “Do not deceive yourselves?”
  
• There is something about the world’s wisdom that is deceiving.
  
• It is easy to convince ourselves that what we want to believe, what is comfortable, what is familiar, is right.
  

• What kind of man was Peter? Was he religious?
  
• He certainly gets a right answer here.
• According to Jesus, where does this answer come from?
  

• What does “Peter rebuked him” mean?
  
• Peter thought he was seeing things God’s way, but in reality he was still on the side of the world’s wisdom.
  
• We can know the right answers and still be living according to the wisdom of the world. What was Jesus’ response?
  
• Where does the world’s wisdom really come from? From Satan. No wonder it is the opposite of God’s wisdom.

John 13:34-35

• What will disciples of Jesus will be known for? Their love.
• “As I have loved you”: What kind of love did Jesus demonstrate for us?

Matthew 28:18-20

• The Great Commission: God’s plan to save the world.
• Disciples make disciples by baptizing people from all nations in his name and teaching them to become mature, obedient
  followers of Jesus.
• Efforts to reach the world with the gospel are multiplied when every disciple embraces Jesus’ final charge.
• Are you willing to answer the call to be a disciple of Jesus?

Mark 10:28-31

• What did Peter and the others give up in order to follow Jesus? Is it possible to “outgive” God?
• What does Jesus promise to those who have committed their lives to following him?
• Being a Christian is not always easy, but it is the life we were created for.
• It is the best life now, and the best life for eternity!

1. 2 Timothy 2:15 - We will be well equipped
2. 2 Timothy 3:17 - Workman who is not ashamed
3. 1 Peter 3:15 - Equipped for evangelism; able to answer questions.
4. 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 - We will have the mind of Christ (ie. Able to handle difficult situations as Christ would handle them. )
5. Matthew 4:4-10 - We will be able to fight off temptation and Satan.

1. 2 Timothy 2:15 - We will be well equipped
2. 2 Timothy 3:17 - Workman who is not ashamed
3. 1 Peter 3:15 - Equipped for evangelism; able to answer questions.
4. 1 Corinthians 2:15-16 - We will have the mind of Christ (ie. Able to handle difficult situations as Christ would handle them. )
5. Matthew 4:4-10 - We will be able to fight off temptation and Satan.

1. 1 Peter 4:7 - Be clear-minded and self-controlled
2. Luke 18:1-8 - Be persistent
3. James 5:16-18 - Personal righteousness
4. Matthew 21:21-22 - Believe and do not doubt
5. Psalms 5:3 - Pray daily and expect prayers to be answered

1. God can and will do the impossible through prayer
2. Prayer is vital to a dynamic walk with God.
3. God is looking for people who will devote themselves to be close to Him. - Jeremiah 30:21

• Question: What do you understand these scriptures as saying to you?
• Question: Who would be the most challenging relationship for you to keep God above?
• Question: What if your (spouse, kids, parent) did not want to be a disciple (or left) what would you do?
• Satan will use relationships closest to you to try to pull you away.
• Don't think these things will never happen to you - never underestimate the devil
• v26 - Even his own life
  • What will you need to overcome?

• Even when you sin after you are baptized then the blood of Jesus will continue to purify you from all sin if we stay in the light
• We should confess our sins and having discipling relationship helps us to take care of one another
• Question: If someone approaches you and talks about how many changes they have seen in you. What should you tell them (role play)

Proverbs 18:9 - One who is slack in his work is brother to one who destroys

A three (3) toed sloth is one of the ugliest creatures in the world.

• It spends most of its time hanging from a tree
• It’s as slow as molasses in winter (ultimate example of laziness)

The sluggard is the spiritual three (3) toed sloth. The Bible has nothing good to say about the sloth.

Laziness comes in little spurts.

• Little amounts of unproductiveness
• Spurts of lost time adds up to a lot of lost time (time that can never be regained)

Proverbs 26:14 - As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed

A sluggard has a difficult time getting out of bed, and loves the snooze button. It caters (snooze button) to those that can’t begin the day on time.

Proverbs 26:15 - The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth

Here is another picturesque description of the sluggard. His is so lazy that he needs someone to spoon him his meal. This description should warn us of how disgusting laziness is to God.

Proverbs 26:16 - The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who answer discreetly

One of the saddest things about a sluggard is that most of the time he doesn’t even realize how lazy he really is.

• He looks at his unproductive day and actually believes he had no control over his lack of productivity.
• He blames it on other things (parent’s, kids, spouse, work, weather, health, etc.)

Summary

Eve's sons made offerings to God. Only Abel's was acceptable, so Cain killed him. Abel's blood cried out and God sent Cain away.

Observations

Genesis 4:7 - if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door
The sins of omission are very related to the sins of commission. If you are sitting on the sidelines, you have time (maybe considered laziness) and you will give Satan time to put all sorts of temptations in your head. A lazy person bring is a good friend to the evil one and is considered a brother [Proverbs 18:9].

Genesis 4:9 - Am I my brother's keeper?
The Christian walk is more than God and us. It is also the people around us. We learn about relationships from others. We learn about ourselves and get feedback on how we are doing - and give it as well.  Without others we would have been pointed the way to God and we could not reach  others with the gospel.

Genesis 4:12 - You will be a restless wanderer on the earth
Without God in our lives, we are a restless wander. Our thoughts, emotions, and desires become our direction and we walk aimlessly - not knowing where we are, where we came from, or where we are going.

Genesis 4:26 - At that time men began to call on the name of the LORD
Since the beginning of time men began call for for God. It is built into the nature of our being. Time after time he has answered no matter how far away we go. But when he calls for us, will be answer? Will we let it go to voicemail? Are we screening our calls from Him and only answer the calls that are easy to take?

Personal Application

I wonder sometimes if I have my "ringer" loud enough for me to hear when God calls. A lot of times I look back on important events in my life and realize that I missed another lesson God was trying to teach me but I was not listening. I feel embarrassed  that I was so selfish during that times. I want to listen voice from God more intensely.

Be “unreasonably,” “illogically” joyful because your name is written in heaven.

It seems you have more to do than you can get done but your name is written in heaven.

Your prayers didn’t get answered the way you thought they would but your name is written in heaven.

You are having “one of those days” but your name is written in heaven.

You didn’t do everything right but your name is written in heaven.

Luke 10:18-20 - Rejoice that your names stand written in heaven

1. Why does prayer need to be learned? Who are you learning from?
2. (vs. 2-4) How can you praise God's name? Do you pray for God's kingdom (church) to increase?
   
3. Do you pray for daily needs and for forgiveness for yourself and to also forgive others?
   
4. Do you pray for help and protection from temptations?
5. What else does Jesus want us to understand about prayer from verses 5-13?

• What does God want you to pray about?
• What are some worries you can pray about today?
• Do you feel at peace when you pray to God? Trust he will answer!

1. What was David feeling as he prayed to God? Why?
2. How has the Lord treated you with undeserved honor and blessings?
3. How did God bless Israel?
4. How has he done even greater things for his people today?
5. What attitude toward God does this prayer express?

1. Why do you think the Lord answers this prayer so quickly?
2. The servant's prayer was simple, but he had great faith. How can you tell?
3. What was the servant's first response to the answered prayer?
4. Are you remembering to thank God for every answered prayer?

1. What makes prayer powerful and effective?
2. Do you pray eagerly and earnestly?
3. Do you pray with great faith? Have you been righteous this week?

• Do not focus on who you are not. Focus on who Christ is.
• What must you abandon in your life so that Christ can shine through you more?
• Express your gratitude to God for his Son who has changed your life.

• Examine your heart and actions based on Jesus' example the next time you get angry.
• Are you God-focused? Did you bring healing?
• Did you care enough to control your anger and turn it into a victory for God by bringing teaching and discipling to the situation?
  
• What could you have done differently to have Jesus' heart?