2009-03-13 - Promises of God - Faith vs Doubt Doubt: God has forgotten about you and does not care Faith: He knows the way you have served - Hebrews 6:10. He knows notices and cares when a sparrow falls - Matthew 10:29 Doubt: He remembers but he remembers others more than you; Doubt fills in the blanks and customizes to your hopes and desires. Faith: God shows no favoritism; He moves at different time for different people; He has given everything we need for life and godliness Doubt calls into question the faithfulness of God Faith tells us it is impossible for God to lie When Doubt comes calling, we must turn away Faith says yes to God's promises |
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 |
2009-05-07 - No one like him - His servant heart (part 2) Many ways to set our mind
Not looking for comfort Not about the way he looked Jesus saw himself as a servant, leading others to be servants How would this thinking change – marriage, family, church, workplace, neighborhood? Jesus was about meeting needs
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2009-05-19 - No one like him - Church the Kingdom? Luke 17:20-21 - Kingdom does not come through carefully observation Kingdom is a state of mind/heart Kingdom forcefully advancing from John the Baptist until now (Matthew 11:11-12) Preaching the good news of the kingdom (Matthew 4:23) Mark 9:1 - will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God Matthew 16:15-20 - only scripture with both kingdom and church How does this all fit? Kingdom can not be put in a box, mentioned:
All in the church PART of the kingdom? YES |
2009-06-01 - No one like him - Words from the Cross 1. Forgive them a. Choose to pray for other first2. Here is your mother a. He wanted to make sure other were taken care of before he left3. Be with me in paradise a. Show he was generous with the undeserving4. Why have you forsaken me? a. Felt his need for God and separation from him5. I am thirsty a. Jesus was aware of his limitation6. It is finished a. Foundation of his work was finished7. Into your hands I commit my spirit a. Conforms Jesus unswerving commitment |
2009-06-20 - A Life of Impact - Selfless Authority Abandon Mark 2:6-12
Selfless Authority
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2009-06-26 - A Life of Impact - Discipliner Discipliner Mark 3:31-35
Discernment
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2009-06-30 - A Life of Impact - Dream Shared Dream Shared Mark 4:26-32
Choice words Mark 4:33-34
Actions speak louder
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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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2009-08-27 - Wild at Heart - Question that haunts every man (part 1) Men look in their hearts but they don’t discover something valiant and dangerous Find fear, lust, and anger "All men die, few men really ever live" Women - Many have given up hope for a true man. Real life of the average man seems a universe away from the desire of his heart
Why are men addicted to sports? - biggest adventure many will ever taste Careers? Same reason Trading stock – taste of excitement and risk Guys have been told to be responsible |
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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2009-10-03 - One Another - Responsibility for one another Two extremes:
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2009-10-19 - Wild at Heart - An adventure to live (part 2) Most spend the energy of their lives trying to eliminate risk Their children hear “no” far more than they hear “yes” If a man succeeds in securing his life against all risk, he will wind up in a cocoon of self-protection and wonder why he is suffocating Seizing upon some sort of competence and rejecting anything that cannot be controlled This a refusal to trust God and reach out for control – runs deep in every man False self’s desire is to have power over experience – to control events and consequences - Mark 8:36 Too may men forsake their dreams because they aren’t willing to risk or fear they aren’t up to the challenge or are never told that those desire of the heart are good Soul of a man isn’t made for controlling things His job is charter to explore, build, conquer, and care for all creation If you had permission to do what you really wanted to do, what would you do? "How" is a faithless question – How is God’s department… Ask "what" What is written on your heart? What make you come alive? Don’t ask yourself what does the world need. Ask yourself what make you come alive and go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive I’ve met men who’ve used advice like it was permission They are deceived about what they really want Goal of Christian discipleship is the transformed heart We move from boy who needs the Law to the man who is able to live by the Spirit of the Law Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit then you won’t feed on compulsion or selfishness |
2009-10-22 - Repentance - What Happened (part 1) What ever happened to repentance? Millions claim Jesus as their Savior, but neglect to make him Lord – want forgiveness without repentance Most spend a considerable amount of time of pondering change While we pursue change, we demand change on our own terms Examples – self-help, self-improvement Today’s seekers of Christianity – “shopping” for a church Do we truly love if we neglect to call the unrepentant to repentance? In an effort to “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative” we have treated sin and repentance as the embarrassing uncle Why am I an uncommitted believer?
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2009-11-05 - Repentance - Jesus Opens Our Eyes (part 3) The Purpose of Parables
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2009-11-13 - Repentance - Godly Sorrow (part 1) Are you content with four out of seven, even five out of seven? Spoude – Dispatched Diligence
Literally means “same” – “homo” = word; “logos” = reasoning |
2010-02-15 - One Another - Bearing With Another (part 2) When helping each other likely not going to happen:
1. When relationships are real, open, and deep When we know people, walk with them, feel with them, and pray with them - we will know when they are leaving the path We need to care for them 2. When we feel our burdens, but live with a servant heart Should look to the interest of others - Philippians 2:4-5 3. When we understand that we are responsible for one another and accept it |
2010-03-02 - To Live is Christ - Partners in the Gospel Philippians 1:16 Philippi was named for Philip of Macedon It was a roman colony - not actually a place one would expect the message of Jesus to take hold A roman jail is where you would expect Paul and Silas to be Paul made a career of being with other and influencing their lives - reduced to visits from the guards Through many hard times he had learned to overcome the most challenging of circumstances Five lines into the letter, Paul remembers his relationship with God and other disciples:
Only when we have been in the trenches with others will we have relationships that are full of life |
2010-03-16 - To Live is Christ - Profit to Loss If anyone want to talk about 'confidence in the flesh', Paul was ready to take them on - Philippians 3:4-7 Paul used the events in his life to show just how empty all human achievements in before God Heredity reasons (how Paul was more than others but counted them a loss)
If anyone had a right to glory in the flesh, Paul did, but he clearly saw that no one has that right |
2010-03-25 - To Live is Christ - Learned to be Content The secret of being content in any situations is to remember - I can do everything through him who gives me strength - Philippians 4:10-13 Content = Greek word autarkeia = self-sufficiency or not needing a thing Secret he learned was not because he choose not to care He learned it by:
At one point - bad circumstances led him to despair of life itself - 2 Corinthians 1:8 What circumstances are in your life right now that could lead to a lack of contentment? |
2010-03-30 - Life to the Full - Crown not Frown (part 4) True freedom is not political freedom but spiritual freedom - James 1:25 Remember how the Jew sought political freedom? Religion without self-control is useless - James 1:26 Worldly speech includes gossip, slander, cursing, swearing, deceit, etc Lack of social concern is a sure sign that a person is a false Christian Worldly values and social apathy go hand in hand Do we really care about the widows and orphans and widows - James 1:27 |
2010-04-27 - 7 Habits of Highly Effective Children Preached by Dan Rice (2005-06-26) Mark 10:13 - We must have a child like heart to make it to heaven Children Want to Grow Children Change Fast - 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 Children Take Risk - Care less about what people think about them. John 12:42-43 Children are quick to trust Children are Idealist - they dream; it is better than synical Children are faithful - John 3:16 - They did not many reasons like we do. |
2010-05-26 - Desire's Journey - Faith as Desire First two servant doubled their investment and were rewarded When we bury our desires, we saying to God = 'I don't dare desire because I fear you; I think you are hard-hearted" Is our obedience more out of love or out of carefulness? Persistent widow - won he case because she refused to let up When Jesus returns, will he find faith? - Luke 18 To live with desire means:
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2010-06-12 - Why Jesus Came (part 1) Preached 1998-07-05
Jesus came to...Save the lost Luke 19:10 Acknowledge the Father John 14:9 |
2010-07-15 - Desire's Journey - Deeper Desire (part 2) Life is both a battle and journey Life in its fullness has yet to come So we must take serious care of our hearts now How awful to reach the end of life and we find we haven't bought our hearts along with us Two extremes: Life is full of striving and indulgence A long march of duty and obligation When considering the promises of God and nature of the rewards, we see that the Lord finds our desires much too weak We are far too easily pleased We believe that life is not going to offer what we truly want so we have reduced our desire to a more manageable size. Lets be honest and all it what it is: sin |
2010-07-19 - Desire's Journey - Deeper Desire (part 6) From the section about Jesus' trial in the dessert 2. Trail comes after we determine not to take matters into our own hands By refusing to turn stones into bread, Jesus choose to trust God Satan tries to attack our sense of God's heart toward us If our thoughts are: "Do I really have to wait that long? Do you care me, God?" - Satan will jump all over this Jesus came to answer once and for all our question: "Do you love me?" We can stand firm on the ground of the cross against the doubt We don't need for God to prove his love for us - he has at the cross |
2010-07-29 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 6) With beauty, we need not fear indulging here Beauty is the closest thing we have to fullness without possessing on this side of eternity Two kinds of losses in life:
Spiritual surrender is not resignation It is surrender with desire |
2010-07-30 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 7) Christ is weeping freely His prayers are marked by loud cries and tears He make it very clear what he desires "Yet not my will, your will be done" He surrenders with desire Making himself poor, he opens up to us the treasures of heaven Buddha abandons his desire Christ surrenders his will It is no small difference True surrender is not an easy way out Surrender comes only after the night of wrestling Only after we open our hearts to care deeply and give over our deepest desires to God Freedom and beauty and rest that follow are among the greatest surprises |
2010-07-31 - Desire's Journey - Keeping Heart (part 1) We have similar path we follow
Forgetfulness does not come against us like an enemy in battle formation It comes unnoticed We are warned about forgetfulness in the scriptures The pattern so predictable, we have come to expect it:
Be careful and watch yourself closely so that you don't forget the things your eyes have seen - Deuteronomy 4:9 |
2010-08-04 - Waking Dead - Arm Yourselves (part 1) What are God's intentions toward me? What is it I've come to believe? Heard that God cares and has some glowing promises given to us in Scripture The glory of God is man fully alive Jesus says he came to give life I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full - John 10:10 Whoever believes in me - streams of living water will flow from within him - John 7:38 Life is all over the scriptures: You have made known to me the path of life - Psalms 16:11 In him was life and that life was the light of men - John 1:4 Come to me to have life - John 5:40 Tell the people the full message of this new life - Acts 5:20 |
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 |
2010-08-19 - Waking Dead - Restored The deepest and most wonderful of all mythic truths reveiled in the Beauty and the Beast The transformation: a creature that no one could bear the sight of is transformed into a handsome prince
It is the secret of Christianity You must be born again - John 3:7 Not about keeping laws or rules Counts whether we have really have been changed into new and different people - Galatians 6:15 Is this not the message of the gospel?
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2010-09-12 - Waking Dead - Spiritual Warfare (part 4) Heads up. Satan can give us actions and words to say:
Some trying to "work through" things are simply have agreements with the Enemy Satan uses your wounds and unresolved emotional issues to pin your heart down under a spiritual stronghold We must be careful not to make agreements with Satan to increase his dominion |
2010-09-18 - Waking Dead - Spiritual Warfare (part 6) We must be careful that the religious does not turn discipleship into a soul-killing exercise Counseling "medicine" for the sick patients can cause an endless cycle of always relying on the meds instead of focusing on a solution Hope deferred makes the heart sick - Proverbs 13:12 So the wounds of the heart are never healed A religious spirit makes it next to impossible foe a person to break free by spreading the belief there is no war
If it does not restore the image of God and rejoice in the heart, it is not Christianity |
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 |
2010-09-26 - 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 |
2010-09-27 - Waking Dead - Storing Up The good man brings good things out of the good stored in his heart Out of the overflow of the heart, his mouth speaks - Luke 6:45 Jesus from the fullness of grace we have all received one blessing after another - John 1:16 Paul: I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you - Ephesians 3:16 Caring for our hearts isn't selfish - it is how we begin love We care for our hearts for the sake of others What will you bring to others to others if your heart is empty? You can not love without your heart, you can not love well unless your heart is well How you handle your heart is how you will handles theirs Love others as you love yourself - Mark 12:31 If you dismiss your heart, you will end up dismissing others Perfection of your heart will raise that same standard for them Caring for your heart is also how you protect your relationship with God Your heart is where that life flows into you - John 7:37-38 We love ourselves for God's sake - he considers our hearts the treasures of the kingdom |
2010-09-28 - Waking Dead - Devotion and War Caring for your heart is also how you protect your relationship with God Your heart is where life flows Whoever believes in me - streams of living water will flow from within him - John 7:27-38 God's friends care for their heart because they matter to Him What does your heart need? Some needs are common to all hearts like silence and solitude Very early Jesus went away to a solitary place - Mark 1:35 We need to make time to get away - our entire lives are ruled by the expectation of others and the heart is the first to go The enemy will tell you this is foolish "You have many more important things to do with your time" Caring for your heart is an act of obedience, faith and an act of war The first wave of any strike against us is to rob us of the heart to fight it Hyenas cannot bring down a lion in its prime - they run it, taunt it, and wear it down to the point of exhaustion The strategy of our Enemy in the age we live is busyness and drivenness Most will say when asked how they are doing is "really busy" That we way we are going to get burned out and lose touch with our hearts The empty heart is more vulnerable to temptation |
2010-09-30 - Contagious Christian - People Matter (part 2) Jesus focused on a search for the Lost and so they could be Found The Lost Coin - vital to the woman's survival Each one - Something of great value was missing, something that really mattered It also make Jesus so upset the religious leaders were discussing who matters to God who does not When we realize how much God cares about people, we helps us to care for them too It is worth the effort - what is missing was important enough to warrant an all-out search Retrievals results in rejoicing The woman found the coin and threw a party In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents - Luke 15:10
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2010-10-09 - Contagious Christian - Attractiveness of Authenticity (part 3) Living by Genuine Conviction There is something about someone who stands up for what they believe in People take notice
Seekers are not impressed with spinelessness Seekers are trying to make up their own minds about what to do with the claims of Christ When a believer speaks up, they are forces to deal with the implication for their lives A Roman centurion watched as Jesus
The soldier's heart was eventually moved and said - "Surely this man was the Son of God!" Nothing short of Jesus' laying down his life would have brought this cynical soldier to his knees |
2010-10-10 - Contagious Christian - Pull of Compassion Caring for the tangible needs of others is at the core of Christianity Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless - look at orphans and widows in their distress - James 1:27 Compassion is echoed throughout the Bible:
Clear and consistent demonstration of Christ-like love is a powerful magnet that pulls people toward Him Not about who you are or what you did It is about how you care, being a neighbor - Luke 10:36-37 In Luke 10 - when the wounded man awoke, he must have wondered, "Who did this? Why would they do help me in such a great way?" It is when people start asking, "Why didn't he not turn away like everyone else?" As I have loved you, so you must love one another - John 13:34-35 All men will know that you are my disciples |
2010-10-24 - Christian Responsibilities
QUESTIONS
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2010-10-25 - Contagious Christian - Compassion Busters Where you live May be living in a defeating home or work environment Contempt breeds contempt, anger produces more anger, hatred feeds hatred How you live When we try to maintain an unhealthy pace of life Good Samaritan - priest and Levite were, at heart, kind and compassionate people But they were too busy to have time or energy to tune into people's needs How you give Few reach this problem but some are effected but excessive care-giving They give and give to the point they start to feel resentment toward someone they are caring for Many never learned that caring for others has to be balanced with caring for yourself To prevent burn-out, Jesus often withdrew to recop There is a time for giving and a time to take care of ourself - Ecclesiastes 3 |
2010-10-31 - Contagious Christian - Barriers to Relationships (part II) 1 Corinthians 15:33 - Bad company corrupts good character
Jesus not only risked his reputation but ruined it He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard - Luke 7:34 Tells you want kind of people He was around Jesus said that He associated with sinners because they are sick people that need a doctor - Matthew 9:12-13 The danger was that the doctor may be mistaken as one of His patients The religious people mutter how inappropriate it was for Him to associate with such disreputable people Jesus cared much about the lost than his reputation |
2010-11-08 - Contagious Christian - Matthew's Interpersonal Approach After accepting Jesus' call, Matthew did whatever he could to bring along as many of his friends as possible He put on big banquet for his tax collector buddies in our for them to meet Jesus - Luke 5:29 He did not confront, debate, or tell them what happened to him He relied on the relationships he'd built with them and he sought to further develop their friendship He genuinely cared about them and wanted to influence them toward considering Christ People who specialize in this approach, tend to be warm and people-centered Some people will never be reached until someone takes the time to build that kind of intimacy with them Interpersonal evangelist enjoy:
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2010-12-01 - Mission - Forgiveness The message to Preach 2. Forgiveness of sins Without this, there would be nothing else God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us - Romans 5:8 We first need to clearly teach people why forgiveness is possible Happens only in the name of Jesus It is only because God loves us and not because of anything we have done or will do We must also make it clear that is when one is baptized in the name of Jesus that one is saved - Acts 2:38 As we preach, we must be careful, but not cautious Be sensitive but not sentimental We must preach the cross so powerfully that it cuts No one will ever repent until they are brought to Godly sorrow - 2 Corinthians 7 |
2010-12-16 - Word of God (part I) 2 Timothy 3:16-17
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2011-02-11 - Fearing God - Parable of Awe Marine Corp example Solider learned to respect autority promptly and correctly by carrying out commands / seeing pure fear and humilation as punishment Later he realizes how much the general cares for him by putting his life on the line for the solider Jesus often spoke in parables, fictional stories that as if they really happened Awe is defined as:
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2011-02-25 - Counting the Cost (part I) Purpose: We want to review things with you to answer any questions or help with situations that could occur. Luke 14:25-27
1 John 1:5-10
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2011-02-28 - Servant of God (part II) The last will be first Mark 9:33-35
What ways should you be serving? It will take faith:
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