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Displaying results from "25" to "50". (143 found)
| 2009-02-03 - Jesus with People - Give or Take? World seem to be divided into givers and takers Usually we feel as though we are the givers and everyone else is a taker We can draw back and become cynical - before long we cling to possessions, our rights or our feelings At that point we have become takers We would never admit it - and many of us do not see it Jesus meet a man that was a taker - Matthew Matthew was no different than us - he probably had a family with mouths to feed As he left the office and crept closer toward the crowd surrounding Jesus He heard the words - You must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me Jesus then walked up to Matthew and said "Follow me" His life changed forever - became a disciple of Jesus How did Jesus know? do it? Jesus knew that he was sick and need to get well - Mark 2:17 We need to see people as they ready are and what they can become Is there some in your life you can share with but haven't because you don't think they are open? |
| 2009-02-26 - Jesus with People - Doubtful Thomas Jesus was not going to stop until Thomas was back, until he had been given an opportunity to put his doubts to death Jesus was all what he said earlier, leave the 99 to look for that 1 - Luke 15:1-7 John 20:24-29 - not necessarily a rebuke, but a reminder When do you find yourself doubting God's love for you? Do you believe God still wants to purse a relationship with us even when we;re not that strong? |
| 2009-03-19 - Promises of God - For your Good In all things God works for the good of those who love him - Romans 8:28 Regardless of what happened, we must be convicted - God is intimately aware and involved in all of it We have two choices: To trust - brings peace To doubt - brings anxious, temptation to take matters in our hands, sin God is conforming us to the image of his Son - Romans 8:29-30 Examples of those in "bad" circumstances:
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| 2009-03-25 - Promises of God - Rest in Gods Comfort Elijah's collapse and recovery - 1 Kings 19 After great victory with God, he fell into physical, emotional, and spiritual burn-out God used a powerful three step plan:
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| 2009-04-09 - Promises of God - What Are We to Give? We are to give ourselves completely to:
Give whatever we have to whomever asks - our hearts, affections, and desires to the benefit to others When do I take care of myself? Trust God to give back to you a hundred times as much in the present age - Matthew 19:29 |
| 2009-04-10 - Promises of God - How We Are to Give? Do not give as the world gives - John 14:27 Give to :
Fear may cause questions:
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| 2009-04-11 - Promises of God - Satan Tries to Create Doubt Satan uses his energy and his demons to break down our trust in God: Eve in the garden - Genesis 3:1-7 Moses at the burning bush - Exodus 3:1-4:17 Tried it will Jesus in the desert - Luke 4:1-13 Do you really think his strategy with us will be any different? Satan will attempt to get us to doubt God so much that we will trust a stranger more than him Problem is not that we do not know how to trust
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| 2009-04-25 - Why We Need Jesus - He Reconciles Us to God HE RECONCILES US TO GOD...
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| 2009-05-10 - No one like him - His Courage Submissive yes, Timid and fearful, no. Submissiveness, not cowardly or silence – gave up self for others Wanted loyalty over their families and friends (Luke 14:25-27) They must give up everything for salvation (Luke 14:28-33) Who can accept it? (John 6:60) Many no longer followed him (John 6:66) 1. Rich young ruler found that Jesus’ message would not change for anyone (Luke 18:18-30) 2. Jesus never held back – Jesus and turning over tables of thieves
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| 2009-06-03 - No one like him - The Empty Tomb (part 2) What it means for us: 1. Jesus can be trusted a. Jesus taught with truth and compassion i. No man can come to except through me c. Gives us a place to stand – embolden the disciples2. Shows the kingdom has come 3. God fully intended to continue Jesus mission a. Jesus was the foundation4. Those who follow him also share in the resurrection a. Died with Christ, now we can live a new life with him – Romans 6:4,5,8 |
| 2009-06-18 - A Life of Impact - Compassion Compassion Mark 1:40-45
Humility
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| 2009-07-26 - A Life of Impact - Taking the Offensive Taking the Offensive Mark 10:2-12
Judgment
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| 2009-07-30 - A Life of Impact - Popularity Popularity Mark 10:46-52
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| 2009-08-24 - Wild at Heart - A battle to fight Christ draws the enemy out, exposes him for what he is, shames him in front of everyone Nice guy? Egyptians – plagues … Samson – killed a lion with bear hands, stripped thirty Philistines, killed 1,000 men Every man is from a victorious stock He is an original Who are you? Are you bored by him? What impact does he have on others? Are you too nice? Jesus was one with out fear – Did not shrink back but faced things head on - John 18:4-8 Jesus was no paled faced alter boy He commanded the loyalty of dockworkers Will return on a white horse There is something fierce in the heart of God |
| 2009-09-01 - Wild at Heart - The wound (part 1) There comes a time when we simply have to face the challenges in our lives and stop backing down Men rarely praise each other directly - by way of accomplishments (“you are a wild man”, “what is up stud” The question – Do I have what it takes? Am I powerful? Until a man knows he’s a man he will forever be trying to prove he is one, while at the same time shrink from anything that might reveal he is not Boy learns who is he and what he’s got from a man
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| 2009-09-07 - Wild at Heart - The enemy fears you If you ever really got your heart back, lived from it with courage, you would be a huge problem to him Many men have not been shown how to fight from the heart. Failure of fathers and left men without direction If you want the wound healed and your strength restored and to find your true name, you re going to have to fight for it. Notice your reaction at these words. Does another come in and caution you to stop We need to know who we are and if we have what it takes A man’s core question does not go away We search for the answer of validation
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| 2009-09-11 - Wild at Heart - False self (part 2) Enemy always tempts us to take back control and to recover and rebuild false self We must remember that it is out of love God stops our imposter God disciplines those he loves, do not lose heart - Hebrews 12:5-6 We must walk away from the false self Simply accept the invitation to leave all that we’ve relied on and venture out with God No clue to what your false self may be?
If you dominate meetings - sense of worth Do you face fears head on? Losing false self is painful Like losing a close friend Journey has pain but is toward freedom, healing, and authenticity |
| 2009-09-13 - Wild at Heart - False self (part 4) A masculine journey always takes a man away from the women, come back to with his question answered A man does not go to a woman to get his strength; he goes to her to offer it. Addiction comes when we have taken our soul to her for validation. What else are we looking for? God Adam had God God gave Adam Eve out of His humility Eve eventually took the place of God Adam was not deceived Time where Eve had fallen but Adam had not Adam choose Eve over God Men without his true love, God, will try to find another Why do you remain thirsty after you have had a drink… it is the wrong well In God will only find the true healing of the wound |
| 2009-10-10 - Wild at Heart - The Strategy (part 3) 2. Intimidation Our condition may become normal to use after a while - depression If you pray and fight against – It will get worse. Once the Enemy is discovered, he usually does not just roll over and die. Jesus says get tough and resist the onslaught Next level Satan tries intimidation and fear He wants you to agree with intimidation because he fears you Fighting back, he will lose – Resist the devil and he will flee – James 4:7 Why do so many pastor’s kids go off the deep end? Evil One is trying to an old tactic – strike first and maybe the opposition will run He can’t win, you know God is with us “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you” – Joshua 1:5 The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name – Exodus 15:3 How did Jesus win the battle against Satan? God was with him Doesn’t simply mean that he’ll be around - he will fight for us Satan is trying to appeal to the traitor’s commitment to self-preservation when he uses fear and intimidation. So as long as we are back in the old story of saving our skin, looking out for Number One, those tactics will work. Become a warrior The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death. All men die, few men ever really live. |
| 2009-10-11 - Wild at Heart - The Strategy (part 4) 3. Cutting a deal When did king David fall? When David was not a warrior He sent other to the fighting for him Weapons of war If you saw your life as a great battle and you knew you needed time with God for your survival, you would have “quite times” It’s about connecting with God Whatever brings you back to you heart and the heart of God If you do not have God and have him deeply, you will turn to other lovers Men devote hours to finances to retire Rigorous training for a marathon How much do we strive to for our relationship with God? The body is built to endure hardship Put on the armor of God everyday We walk in the authority of Christ Do not attack in anger and do not swagger forth in pride Do not even think about going into battle alone Don’t make that a lifestyle of isolation |
| 2009-10-12 - Wild at Heart - The Strategy (part 5) We don’t need accountability groups we need fellow warriors, someone to fight alone side, someone to watch our back We don’t need a meeting of the Really Nice Guys Never a more devoted group of men than those who have fought alongside one another You will be wounded To lose a leg is nothing compared to losing heart Enemy knows the wounds of your past and he will try to wound you again in the same place It is an honor to be wounded in the service of the Lord Boys are proud of their scars, they are badges of honor Kingdom forcefully advances and forceful men take hold of it - Matthew 11:12 Jesus says it is going to take every ounce of passion and forcefulness you’ve got |
| 2009-11-16 - Repentance - Holy Spirit Convicts Us Exposure is a gift from God Women at the well – John 4:10 Elegcho – The gate of repentance Means to show someone his sin and to summon him to repentance; bring light, expose set forthThe truth demands repentance Purpose of Elegcho? It’s a loving summons to godly sorrow Is repentance a gift or a command? We often confront the idea of repentance in the form if a command or an activity As a gift…
Questions
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| 2009-11-17 - Repentance - The Church Reorients Us (part 1) There is no church without repentance There is no repentance without the church. How did the early church help seeker to repent? Aligning themselves to the new community The church, by definition, is counter-culture World says, “Conform, get back in line” Church says, “Repent, come out be different” What do we think of when we think of counter-culture? Skinheads, etc Not rebellion for the sake of rebellion but for selfless-love, sexual purity, generosity, purposeful living, revolutionary zeal, humility, joy beyond understanding The world hate holiness – hates holy saints Discipline Practice largely disappeared during the second half of the century We live in the customer’s always right culture Not expelling members but the church meets my needs, what feels right, sin/repentance not your business |
2009-12-02 - Master Plan - Learning to Obey
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2009-12-08 - Master Plan - Demonstration (part 2)
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2009-12-20 - Master Plan - The Plan (part 3)
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| 2009-12-24 - First the Kingdom - Key to everything else The first beatitude is the key to whole sermon on the mount By ourselves we can not live out the sermon - we need help from God
Does this describe you? Would God describe you this way? |
| 2010-01-17 - Kingdom First - Not Kidding His challenge to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors His message totally defies world standards Consider the alternative: responding like the world We become enslaved by how other treat us Regardless how much we love the brotherhood of believers, if we hold any bitterness or resentment - we are simply reduced to the level of the world No matter how unjust or painful the treatment, God's grace is sufficient - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 He expects us to have Because he call to a life of righteousness which will produce enemies Are we willing to go all the way and suffer for him - Philippians 1:29 He expects us to love and actively pray for the people who oppose us How much do we persevere with people? Do we answer back kindly when spoken to unjustly? |
| 2010-04-12 - Life to the Full - Macho Mist (part 2) Spiritual adultery - How easy it is to flirt with the world if we fail to guard our hearts - Proverbs 4:23 In Jewish law, adultery is grounds for divorce The Spirit cause to live within us envies intensely - James 3:5 The nature of God: He will tolerate no rivals for his love God is a jealous God - Exodus 34:14 One of the quoted OT verse in the the NT is about pride - Proverbs 3:34 Much of the pride mention in the NT is bad: Pride goes before the fall - Proverbs 16:18 Pride mentioned in the NT is usually good: I take great pride in you - 2 Corinthians 7:4 It depends on where the pride is rooted and the attitude behind it If you feel ineffective, frustrated, unproductive, opposed - it might be because God is opposing you because of your pride He is trying to get your attention so you will turn back to him |
| 2010-05-03 - Renewing Your Spiritual Passion for God (part 2) 1 Kings 19:1
1 Thessalonians 2:17-20 2 Corinthians 7:2-13
Mark 5:6-11
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| 2010-05-18 - Desire's Journey - Dare We Desire? Although the voice was kind, the question felt harsh How long can we sustain desire against continual disappointment? By asking him what he wanted, Jesus took him back into desire
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| 2010-05-19 - Desire's Journey - An Invitation to Desire Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person or a program to get us into a reforming society Christianity begins with an invitation to desire What does Jesus choose to talk about with the women at the well? All you who are thirsty, come to the waters - Isaiah 55:1-2 No wonder Jesus was feared. He came along and started appealing to desire To the lost - Jesus spoke of finding your way Again and again Jesus took them back to their desires What is it that you want? - Would have fallen on deaf ear if his message was unrelateable |
| 2010-05-22 - Desire's Journey - Goodness Does Christianity condemn desire? Like the Puritans It is not a matter of desire is good or not - it is what we do with it Something has gone wrong Faith on its way to maturity moves from duty to delight Prodigal son |
| 2010-06-04 - Desire's Journey - Misplaced Hope In this world, you will have trouble Why aren't we encouraged by this? Desire can not live without hope. Hope in what? We try to create heaven here |
2010-06-21 - Building the temple (part 2)Consencate yourself1 Chronicles 29:5
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| 2010-07-03 - Desire's Journey - Great Restoration (part 4) Too many of us have placed eternity somewhere out there I will create new heavens and a new earth - Revelation 21:1 Won't the whole earth be destroyed? Noah's day of the Lord |
| 2010-08-07 - Waking Dead - At War (part 2) The theme of does not end with the Old Testament The birth of Christ was an act of war
Not just a theme of the Bible but the backdrop for the whole story What is he fighting for? Our freedom and restoration |
| 2010-08-08 - Waking Dead - At War (part 3) Until we come to terms with war, we will not understand life We will misinterpret most of what is happening around us:
We have to realize we are part of a story and the situation we are in right now will change We won't understand our life until we see it as a battle - warring against your heart The issue is: we can not see things as clearly as we ought to - but we need to The attack on our hearts weighs down our lives and glory is being held back We don't see clearly because we don't see with the eyes of our heart |
| 2010-08-14 - Waking Dead - Heart is Central The heart is central The heart is addressed in the Bible more than any other topic Love the Lord your God with all your heart - Deuteronomy 6:5 Trust in the Lord with all of your heart - Proverbs 3:5 The heart can be:
The heart can be unpredictable but it is central to our being The heart answers a lot of questions:
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| 2010-08-25 - Waking Dead - Glory (part 2) Your story does not begin with sin but with glory Bible does not start in Genesis 3 but Genesis 1 God is glorious You are his offspring, his child You bear his image When he made all His creation before man he said "it was good" Only after did he make humans did he say "it is very good" - Genesis 1:31 Your glory is greater than everything else made - oceans, mountains, stars, the universe Saints in the land are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight - Psalms 16:3 Those he justified, he also glorified - Romans 8:30 The fact that you don't see your good heart and glory is proof has effective the assault has been Lion King example It is time for the true king to come back and take over But Simba does not believe who he is His father was murdered and the enemy blamed it on him After years of loosing heart, Simba's father appears to him in a vision: you are more than what you have become The one who is in you is greater than the one in the world - 1 John 4:4 |
| 2010-08-28 - Waking Dead - Wisdom and Heart Our heart has been made good by work of Christ but we haven't learned how to live from it Launching out with an untrained heart can bring disaster We can easily be shamed into sin management and think our heart is bad The church choose those who had both wisdom and the Spirit - Acts 6:3 We need both Wisdom is crying out
Solomon was so sharp because he had a wise and discerning heart - 1 Kings 3:9 But wisdom is not enough
The common sense life can be the enemy of the supernatural life |
| 2010-09-06 - Waking Dead - Deep Restoration (part 3) Chris came not only to pardon us but to heal us Jesus can and wants to heal your heart. What does that rouse in you?
The heart is God's dwelling place If you ignore your heart, it is like looking for him everywhere but at home It might be a surprise to you that Christ ask our permission to come in and heal Behold, I stand at the door and knock - Revelation 3:20 He does not force his way in There are sometimes rooms we have kept locked up We must give him permission to come in there - ask Jesus for your whole heart back |
| 2010-09-07 - Waking Dead - Deep Restoration (part 4) We need time in the presence of the Lord - Pslam 86:11-12
We declare the authority of Jesus over our hearts - he made our hearts - Psalms 33:15 He has redeemed our hearts - Romans 2:29 Sometimes he will take us back to a memory, a time and place where a shattering blow was given Anytime someone says, "I feel like there's this part of me..." we need to listen - somewhere in the heart Hidden many times because of a false comfort |
| 2010-09-20 - Waking Dead - Christ's Great Works Son's three great works on our behalf 1. Cross accomplished many thing Forgiveness and the power to overcomes the constant attacks from the enemy 2. Resurrection Having put off the old self, we are to put on the new - Ephesians 4:24 It is life we were promised and it is life we need 3. Ascension All authority was given to Christ By the grace of God, we share that with him It was Adam who gave it away and it was Christ who won it back Lord of the Rings, Two Towers - Theoden (a king) who is reluctant to go to war Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not - Aragorn The primary reason most people do not know the freedom and life Christ promised is that they won't fight for it |
| 2010-09-21 - Waking Dead - Fellowship of the Heart The first Christians were called "followers of the Way" - Acts 9:2 They found the Way of Life and had given themselves over to it:
A fellowship must protect you:
A family bound together in a single fate Each one has a role |
| 2010-09-22 - Waking Dead - It Must Be Small Jesus did not march around backed by hundreds of followers He had a band of brothers - the Twelve Through we are part of a great company, we are meant to live a little platoons Groups small enough for each of the members to know one another as friends and allies Who's heart will you fight for? Who will fight for your heart? He spoke to the masses but lived with his closest twelve His followers took his example and lived this way too
Anytime an army goes to war or expedition, they break down into platoons and squads You can not be devoted to a mass of people Devotion takes place in small units like a family |
| 2010-09-25 - Waking Dead - Fight For Each Other True community is something you'll have to fight for Fight to get one and fight to keep it afloat You want this to work and you''ll need this thing to work This is the church - this all you have Without it, you'll go down Small house fellowships thrive in other countries - they need each other Suddenly one another scriptures make sense Knowing full well that we all are facing battles of our own Check regularly with one another, not out of paranoia but out of a desire to watch over one another's heart If you bring your every need to it, it will collapse Community is no substitute for God Community can not live without solitude Even monasteries have remote cells for alone time with God We first go to God, alone, so that we have something to bring back to the community |
| 2010-09-26 - Waking Dead - Heart of Treasure Above all else, guard your heart - Proverbs 4:23 Having so long believed our hearts are evil, we assume the warning is to keep us out of trouble So we lock up our hearts and throw away the key and try to get on with our living It does say guard your heart because it is criminal but because it is the wellspring of of life It is treasure - everything else depends on it Above all else? We don't even do it once in a while - we careless with our hearts What if we were careful? Faith would be must deeper Relationships so much better We live completely backwards "All else" is above our hearts What do you do on a monthly basis to take care of your heart? God intends that we treat our hearts as treasures They were ransomed at a tremendous cost |
| 2010-10-01 - Contagious Christian - Benefits (part 1) Ever had an idea only to find your enthusiasm fading when you realize the effort it would take? The goal may be noble, the intentions sincere, the plan in place but we still do not take action What is holding us back? We must be convinced that it is worth the effort and expense Business managers understand this and have developed process called cost/benefit analysis to help them see the whole picture In Christianity, this is called counting the cost - Luke 14 While reaching out to irreligious people may sound great, it is the actual effort that will entail significant personal expense Personal Benefits
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| 2010-10-05 - Contagious Christian - Impacting Your World (part 1) There are expectations everywhere, to have:
Many times the "ought to" comes through louder than the "how to" We need to focus on the important steps to have maximum impact We are the salt of the world - Matthew 5:13
Which did Jesus have in mind? We don't know |
