Quiet Times Search

Tough love

Mark 10:17-31

• This young man was secure in his own material goods.
• Are we willing to lay such tough, “make or break” challenges before people? Even when it puts your relationship on the line?
• Are you willing to let people walk away? · Allow people to make their own decisions?
• If we compromise our standards, our standards are meaningless.

Reassurance - Leaders need to first overcome his own negative thoughts and feelings in order to help his followers avoid becoming discouraged.

Romantic

Mark 14:3-11

• We have love and passion and gratitude all bottled up and safely stored away. – Need to break the alabaster jars.
• Spontaneity, extravagance and apparently unreasonable actions are the trademarks of passionate love.

Accepting Praise Graciously

• We don’t want people to know how much we crave the compliment, so we pretend that it means nothing to us.
• They way a person responds to a compliment is a clear indication of the condition of his or her self-image.

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.

Openness

• Most are either:
  • Stoics – feelings and burdens are locked away deep inside of them.
  • Cathartics – those who dump their feelings on anybody who will listen
• Jesus practiced complete openness without making others responsible for his feelings.
• Jesus leaned on his friends, but he did not dump on them.
• Premeditated openness is a key to fostering deep, meaningful relationships

Deliberation

• Too many of us would be unwilling to persevere through a long and difficult decision-making process.
• We must be willing to put in whatever effort is required to reach the best decision.

1. No battle to fight
   
2. No swords and castles
3. Without a great battle in which a man live and die - fierce part goes underground

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

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

• What is my effect on you?
• What am I like to with?
• What don’t you feel free to bring up with me?

• We know in our guts that it won’t be good enough
• No matter how much you pour into her she will never be filled

• Refuse to give what they have
• Keep pouring and pouring until we feel like a failure

• 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

• Fear clears our mind, reorients our will
• Fruit from fear is not fruit that will last

• Our failures to repent only sadden him
• Hear the loving calls of the prophets – they have likely risk their own lives to serve

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)?

• Reasons for departures:
  • Oppositions from Pharisees
  • Hostility of Herod
  • Jesus wanted to be with disciples without distractions
• In Gethsemane, disciples were only a stone’s throw away - Luke 22:41
• Family: near each other in a time of departure
• Every minute cherished because the growing realization of He would be with them no more
• He spent more time with His disciples than with everyone else put together.
  • Ate with them
  • Slept with them
  • Talked with them
  • Walked with them
  • Prayed with them
  • Worshiped with them
• Ministering to the mass – disciples learned the lessons and then got an explanation afterwards
• Jesus had little time to call His own
• Only exceptions was when He kept to His own personal devotions with interruptions - Mark 46-48
• He wanted to be with them
• They were His spiritual children

• Those who did not go all the way fell by the wayside
  • Can not make excuses - Matthew 8:21-22
  • Greed will try to take us away (Judas) - Mark 14:10
  • Turn loose of the world - Matthew 27:3-10
  • Leave comforts of this world - Matthew 8:19
  • Those who want to turn are not fit to serve - Luke 9:62
  • Must love God above all else - Luke 14
• Few want to pay the price
  • Jesus had only a few followers = Are you going to leave too? …Where shall we go? - John 6:68

• Disciples realized that they were responding to Jesus who was willing to give of Himself for them
• Examples of Jesus giving himself away
  • Gave away what the Father gave to Him - John 15:15
  • He gave them peace - John 16:33
  • He gave them despite pain and suffering - John 15:11
• Love is not love until it is given away
• Jesus – God gave away His most precious possession
• No greater love than to lay down our live for others
• Jesus impressed the deep compulsion of His eternal purpose
• It was clear that the Master considered no service too small or sacrifice too great.
• Jesus denied Himself many of the comforts and pleasure of the world and became a servant
• He continually gave His life “for their sakes”
• Disciples learned not in theory but in practice (painful and hard to accept)
• Jesus life was the measure by which they were to regard their own service.
  • To give freely as they had received – Matthew 10:8
  • Love one another as He loved them - John 13:34
  • Calvary love was the standard

• Love is the only way to win the free response of men
• Work of the Holy Spirit
  • Must be born again
  • Christ began His ministry by being baptized - John 3:3-9
  • Made clean through the Word and set apart to God for Holy Service - John 15:3
  • Only the Spirit can carry on the redemptive mission of evangelism
  • Jesus was God in revelation but the Spirit was God in operation
  • Evangelism was not a human undertaking but a divine project.
• With Him they felt that everything was possible
• The superhuman work to which they were called demanded superhuman help.
• Through confession of their deep-seated pride and enmity in utterly surrender of themselves to Christ
• It is not who we are but Who He us that makes the difference
• Only those who followed Jesus all the way came to know the glory of this experience
• Jesus was deliberately investing all He had in these few men so that they could be properly prepared to do His work.
• We cannot give something away which we do not possess ourselves.
• The very ability to give to give away our life in Christ is proof of its possession.

• Some will run from it
• Other will try to put it out
• Still others will be drawn to it

• Understand that Jesus wants us to be perfectly pure
• Be desperate enough to do anything to overcome the sin
• Examine yourself and the sin
• Need to be open about the sin

No fruit means a bad tree too

A fruitless tree in a useless tree - Matthew 3:10, Matthew 13:22, Luke 13:6-9, Luke 19:11-27, John 15:2, 6, Hebrews 6:8

Jesus warned the Pharisees the kingdom of God would be taken away from people who will not produce - Matthew 21:43

In the Christian life there is no neutrality of example
Either we bear good fruit OR not bearing fruit which shows the condition of our heart - sterile and barren
Bearing no fruit = faithless Christianity

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire - Matthew 7:19

• There must a real involvement in each other's lives - we need each other
  
• We fail to realize the strength of discouragement and its ability to gradually eat away at our conviction and faith
• There is a strong sense of spiritual obligation
• See to it - not hope it happens
• Make sure it happens - Who? you

• Meeting together is not only benefiting us but it is also helping others
• Does not exclusively refer to services of the church

• v20 - I have not hesitated to preach
• v21 - Declared that everyone must turn to God in repentance
• v23 - Faced hardships
• v24 - Meant everything to testify to the "gospel of grace"
• v26, 27 - I am innocent of the blood of all men

• Because he proclaimed the whole will of God
• Did not hesitate
• Ezekiel 33:6 - But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person's death.

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

• Been there, done that
• Life sucks, then you die
• How is it going? "Same old thing"

• Friendship
• Marriage
• Children
• Holidays

• Drain life and beauty away from the church
• Bury Christians in duty
• Nobody will want to take a closer look

Sometimes God seems cruel:

• Unemployed
• Search for spouse

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
Adam and Eve set into motion what we now call addiction

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
Anything can become an idol, even "good" things: work, hobbies, etc

In this world, you will have trouble
But take heart! I have overcome the world - John 16:33

Why aren't we encouraged by this?
We are still committed to arranging our life
We are disappointed that there is not a "7 secrets to a great life"

Desire can not live without hope. Hope in what?
Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed - 1 Peter 1:13
for most Christians, heaven is a backup plan

We try to create heaven here
In our heart we say, "I really could be happy here without God"
God must take away the heaven we create or it will become our hell

Causes of Sickness:

Break Down of System

Our spiritual immune system can break down:

1. Time with God isn't exciting...less time spent
2. Dynamic prayer becomes nonexistant
3. Desire to go to Church decreases
4. Becomes critical toward the church, people, even God

• I didn't become a disciple to be here and then fall away
• Sin gives birth to death...maybe slow maybe fast.

You must be prepared:

1 Peter 4:1-11

• Because we are not prepared
• Wolves are all around us.

Ephesians 5:10-18

• Comes when we make excuses.
• Like shotting ourselves in the foot.

Will you let him?

As a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert - Jeremiah 2:2-3

If you're writing a romanc, love is the goal - you must allow for the possiblity of betrayal
This is what God call us our turning away from him

Hebrews thought God would be satisfied with some religious rituals and rule keeping

You said, "I will not serve you!" - Jeremiah 2:20
You have forgotten me and trusted in false gods - Jeremiah 13:25-27

True love never fails
God will fight for his beloved

I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her - Hosea 2:14

• To neglect it is foolishness
• To kill it is suicide
• To allow it to wander aimlessly is disaster

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

Preached by Richard Dixion on 1999-05-04

Psalms 25:10

• Gratefulness: no arguments, no frustration, no complaining

Psalms 145:13

• All he made - Did God make you?
• We live in an unloving world
  • God is not like use
• We make limits to our love
  • God does not stop
• We all need unconditional love

Hebrews 12:4-10

• God love is tough
• Two kinds of discipline
  • Action - stops for the short-term
  • Heart - God way, deals with sin
• Discipline - creates - discipline and gratefulness
• Running away or running toward discipline?
• He wants us to be holy, righteousness
• Wrong thinking: I won't because I might get disciplined
• Right thinking: I will, and I will be molded

Romans 12:1-2

• What transforms you?
• How are different than a year ago?
• Living sacrifices?

2 Corinthians 5:3

• How would you look if God transformed your life?
• Do you know who are?
• What would Jesus do different in your life?
• God loves us the way we are
  • He refuses to leave us that way

• He loses the ability to experience feeling altogether and is left with apathy and disorientation
• Have emotional inauthenticity because they have been lying to themselves for so long