. (75 found)
2008-02-26 - Power of Gratitude - Uncommon Peace
What enables us to have such uncommon peace? - Commonality
- Relationship with God
- Decision to make Jesus Lord of our lives
- Basic mission - to seek and save the lost
If we in a battle together, we are unlikely to attack one another
Stay committed to God with the mission and discipling firmly in place, our unity will remain
Three warning signs, if not doing:
A. Daily diet
- Time in the Word daily - Acts 17:11
- Daily prayer - Luke 11:1-4
- Share our faith daily - Acts 17:17
- Open with our lives daily with one another - Hebrews 3:12
B. Lack of commitment
C. Lack of discipling
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2008-03-22 - Be Still My Soul - The Pattern (Part 2)
Our Father.
- We are longer slave but sons ans daughters
- We can approach him with confidence because of Jesus
In heaven.
- With Jesus as the high priest, we can confidence to enter the into the throne room of God
- Can gain a heavenly perspective
- Praise God that his resources there are limitless
Hallowed be your name.
- Being holy, set apart, above us
- Prayer is not just asking for something but for honoring Him
Your kingdom come.
- Kingdom has not come to every nation and place nor every person
- Pray for God to open doors, speaking boldly, with wisdom
- Pray for those who server and in leading roles
Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
- God wants us to pray about surrendering to his will
- Challenges is our life must not be avoided but have a surrendered life
- Read some command and ask yourself if you are following them
- Jesus never asked for strength to go to the cross but only that he might surrender
- Besides pride and rebellion, unbelief keeps us from doing God's will
Give us today our daily bread.
- Bring specific needs to God
- Must depend on God daily for our spiritual and physical needs
- Pray thorough your todo list and details
- Jesus said we could do nothing apart from God - John 15:5
Forgive us our debts as we have forgiven our debtors.
- Lack of confession results in a hardened heart
- We will not mature if do not do this soul searching
- Be specific; ask others for forgiveness if needed
- Extend forgiveness; can not be forgiven by God otherwise
And lead us not into temptation.
- What are your weaknesses? Have you faced them?
- Draw on God's power before Satan strikes
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
- Return again to praising and glorifying God
- All power rests in his hand
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2008-05-05 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - The Easy Way Out
Taking the easy way out is as normal as breathing.
We love labor saving devices - medicine, cars, wash machine, lawn mower, tools
Not bad for life, but there is button pushing when it comes to overcoming our sinful nature
- Deny self daily
- Repentance - when we don't respond to God's grace - God will find a way to help us to repent
- Through kindness - Romans 2:4
- Through discipline - Hebrews 12:5-11
- Persevering though suffering - James 1:2-4
Greater the gain in spirituality, the larger the price tag
God is determined to raise us up to maturity, despite our wailing and weeping through the rod of discipline
Sooner we cooperate, the sooner our trials may end
Do you want Joy? > Become spiritually mature
Do you want to mature? > Pray for God to help (suffering will most likely be involved)
Reject the temptation to desire the easy way
That way will lead to death - Proverbs 14:12
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2008-06-02 - Purpose Driven Life - The Heart of Worship (Part 2)
What it means to surrender
Surrendering is not for cowards
It is not repressing your personality
Surrendering is best demonstrated in obedience.
To say "no, Lord"- can not call Jesus your Lord
To trust God means doing without knowing where, when, how, or why
Most difficult area to surrender is money
Retirement is not a goal of a surrendered life
Surrender is hard work - Warfare against our self-centered nature
The blessing of surrender
Blessings of surrender
- Peace
- Freedom
- Experience God's power
Surrendered people are the ones God uses
Everyone surrenders to someone or something
You are free to choose but not free from the consequences
Nothing else works - All other approaches lead to frustration
Must make it a daily habit (maybe more than 50 times a day)
May be inconvenient, unpopular, costly, or seem impossible
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2008-06-03 - Purpose Driven Life - Best Friends with God
God wants to be your friend
God's ideal relationship - Adam and Eve (no rituals, ceremonies, or religion)
Moses, Abraham, David, Job, Enoch, and Noah had intimate relationships with God
Most in the OT had just the fear of God
You are not longer servants but friends - John 15:15
Through constant conversations
Make it a habit to have daily devotion time but it more than just that
God wants to be included in every activity in your life (Some think you have to get away)
Key to the friendship is not changing what you do but your attitude toward what you do
Pray all the time - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Pray as often as possible
Help me trust you
You are here with me
I'm depending on you
You are my God
How awesome you are!
Pray as often as possible
Your goal is not a feeling but an awareness of the reality that God is always present
Through continual meditation
Thing about His Word throughout your day - who God is, What he has done, and what he has said
Meditation is simply focused thinking - Worry is a form of meditation
Friends share secrets
God told his secrets to Abraham, Daniel, Paul, his disciples, and others friends
When you read your Bible or hear a sermon - develop a practice of review the truth in your mind
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2008-06-17 - Purpose Driven Life - Transformed by Truth
The truth transforms us
Spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth
Everything around you exists because "God said so"
Job - I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread (Job 23:12)
Must accept the Bible's authority
- Compass to be relyed on
- Counsel to listen to
- Benchmark for evaluating
Unrealiable authorities (at the Garden of Eden as well):
- Culture - "everyone is doing it"
- Tradition - "we' ve always done it"
- Reason - "it seems logical"
- Emotion - "it just feels right"
Must assimilate its truth
Allow yourself to be transformed by the truth
- Receive God's Word - Consider carefully how you listen - Luke 8:18
- Read God's Word - Read it as long as we live - Deuteronomy 17:19
- Research God's Word - Write down insights, ask questions
- Remebering God's Word - Remember what is important to you; memorize; resist tempation
- Reflect on God's Word - Meditate, focused thinking
Must apply it principles
- We can fool ourselves that studying is doing
- Applying the Word is hard work
- Alway good to write down an action step from the result of your studying
- Personal (involves you)
- Practical (can be done)
- Provable (deadline)
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2008-08-24 - 30 Days at the Cross - United Hearts
Unity has an immense impact on our lives
Tower of Babel - God said nothing they planned would be impossible for them - Genesis 11:6
House divided against impossible for them - Mark 3:25
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit - Ephesians 4:3
What are the obstacles to unity?
- Misunderstanding and wrong assumptions (Israelite tribes) - Joshua 22
- Selfish ambition (James and John) - Matthew 20:20-28
- Inferiority and insecurity
- Jealousy and selfishness (brothers of Joesph) - Genesis 37
- Ingratitude and unforgiveness (older brother of the prodical son) - Luke 15
Sin is the ultimate cause of all disunity. Forgiveness is the ultimate cure.
It defies our nature
Reflects a surrender that trusts God's justice
Demonstrates a humility that cares less for one's own rights than for the good of others
Who do you need to totally forgive?
Forgiveness is the key to bing reunited
We need a daily "state of our unions"
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2008-08-28 - Teach Us To Pray - Strength and Shield
The closest solar system is 3.5 light years away or 21 trillion miles
Some galaxies have 10 trillion stars
Countless are the stars but has no trouble
Our visible universe is 15 trillion by 6 trillion miles across
We need to learn to trust God's ability to meet our daily needs:
- He was washed the feet of his betrayer
- His disciples did not suspect Judas because of Jesus' perfect love for him
- He healed the leper with a word
- Fell asleep during a ragging storm from serving the people
- Went out of his way to encourage the disciples that would in a few hours later betray him
- Despite Peter's denial, Jesus left him the keys to the kingdom
- He promised heaven the thief that moments earlier was abusing him
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2008-09-12 - Teach Us To Pray - In Marriage and Family
Unless the Lord builds, its builder labor in vain - Psalms 127:1-2
Solomon probably knew the truth of this passage as much as anyone
He saw incrediable tragedy in his own family from the result of his father's unspiritual leadership
His family stands as a warning to all married disciples of how Satan can destroy the most precious of all human relationships
Powerful benefits of daily prayer with one another:
- Prayer keeps your relationship spiritual focused
- Prayer keeps us going to bed united - Ephesians 4:26-27
- Prayer makes us more grateful
- Prayer gives us focus and direction
Prayer in family life:
- Nightly prayer with children from infancy
- Daily devotionals with younger school children - 15min in the morning
- Taking pray walks with teenage children
- Quiet Times with one another
- Praying as a family about major decisions and challenges
- Praying with children after they are disciplined adds powerfullly to the impact of such training
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2008-09-14 - Teach Us To Pray - Our Daily Bread
Many of us have little concern about having food
Other things can distract us like: finding a job, paying off debt, development of our children
Satan schemes to blind us God
Worry definition:
- to torment oneself
- to fret
- uneasiness or anxiety
What daily worries plague me?
If the enemy can get us to be preoccupied, it destroys our effectiveness as disciples
He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom - Isaiah 40:28-31
Our Father is the God of the universe; nothing is too great for him
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2008-09-29 - Man of Prayer - Pattern
Lord's prayer in Matthew 6 and Luke 11
- Our Father in heaven (Matthew 6:9) - Getting Started
- Hallowed be your name (Matthew 6:9) - Getting Focused
- Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10) - Experiencing Divine Intervention
- Give us today our daily bread (Matthew 6:11) - Praying for Provisions
- Forgive our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us (Matthew 6:13) - Experiencing Forgiveness
- And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one (Matthew 6:13) - Developing Spiritual Protection
- For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glry forever. Amen. (later manuscripts of Matthew) - Final Issues
Each will be addressed in detail in later chapters
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2008-10-24 - Man of Prayer - Praying for Provision (part 1)
By nature, fathers are designed to be providers
Jesus instructed the disciples to pray "Give us this day our daily bread"
Father knows our needs already - Matthew 6:32
Preoccupation with our needs reveas a lack of trust in God as provider - Matthew 6:25-32
Our priority is God's kingdom - Matthew 6:33
First phrases of the prayer all point to God:
- Hallowed be your name
- Your kingdom come
- Your will be done
Then topics having to do with us:
- Give us this day
- Forgive us
- Lead us
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2008-10-26 - Man of Prayer - Principles of Provision
It is important to understand certain principles apply to receiving our daily bread
If we meet God's conditions, we can have confidence that He will provide
- Need to have a proper relationship with God - Become a Christian
- Fellowship with Christ - authentic spiritual communion with Christ
- Obedience and faithfulness to God's commands
Haggai 1 - we need to consider our ways
- Planted much, but harvested little
- Eat, but never have enough
- Drink, but still thirsty
- Put clothes on, but never warn
- Earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it
Because of there repentance, they were rewarded:
- I am with you - Haggai 1:13
- I will bless you - Haggai 2:19
- I will provide for you - Haggai 2:15-19
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2008-10-28 - Man of Prayer - Experiencing Forgiveness
Being a Christian is a no-lose proposition
Athlete - performance dictated opportunity to participate
Student - achievement is based off of grades and advanced degrees
Every area in which we perform we are eventually bound to fail
We become a Christian on the basis of my failure and Jesus' performance
By grace we have been saved - Ephesians 2:8
Much more than just an initial experience of grace but a transformation of justification - we need daily bread (grace)
Jesus taught his disciples to confess their sins - Luke 11:4
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2008-11-01 - Man of Prayer - Getting Honest
On a daily basis we need to allow the Holy Spirit to show us areas of our life to be brought to confession
Psalms 139:23-24
- Search me
- Know my heart
- Test me
- Know my anxious thoughts
- See if there is any offensive way
- Lead me to the way of everlasting
Psalms 19:12-13
- God can discern our errors
- Forgive our faults
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2009-01-03 - Raising Awesome Kids - Foundations of a Spiritual Family
Spiritual = to be on the inside what we trying to do one the outside: to be genuine, not to live a pretense of religious performance but to function out of a sincere relationship with God
A spiritual family is where:
- God is honored
- God's presence is sought and experienced in daily life
- Prayer is an ongoing reality
- The Bible faithfully read and obeyed
- There is love for God's church and is fully involved in its fellowship and ministry
- There is times of worship, praise, and study
- The children have their own times of personal Bible study
- The parents spend regular times with each child to disciple them to Christ
- A group that is dedicated to helping other become disciples of Jesus
Much more than being good, nice, or church-going family - be those things and not be spiritual
We can not take our families where we have not gone
Children can spot a fake
We must be:
- Genuine in our love for God
- Consistent in our walk with him
- Wholehearted in our dedication
Six areas to be discussed:
- Prayer
- Discipling times
- Family devotionals
- Devotion to Church
- Evangelistic lifestyle
- Children's Quiet Times
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2009-02-16 - Jesus with People - Widows Emotional Sacrifice
Be careful for your hearts will be weighed down with anxieties of life and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap - Luke 21:34
Sacrifice requires that we take control of the anxieties of our lives
It is a daily struggle
In order to change our character weaknesses, true emotional sacrifice is needed
- We must admit that we are sinful
- We must realize Jesus has called us to follow him and be righteous
- Humbly commit to change
- We must change
The solutions are simple, emotional sacrifice is not
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2009-02-17 - Jesus with People - Widows Physical Sacrifice
Physical sacrifice is central to our commitment to Jesus
Physically, priorities must be set, reexamined and set again
God will help us discern what we can give physically
God is capable of giving his strength when ours is failing
Paul learned to rely on the Lord through physical suffering - 2 Corinthians 1:3-9
God grace is sufficient
Each of us, with the help of God must live physically sacrificial lives daily - Philippians 2:12
Sacrifice is our act of worship - Romans 12:1
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2009-09-20 - Wild at Heart - The Enemy (part 1)
Any castles? Any great battles? Are there any great dragons? A man needs a battle to fight
Early death of a man’s warriors keeps the boy in him from growing up
If we can reawaken that fierce quality in a man – higher purpose, release the warrior within, then the boy can grow up
and become truly masculine
Every man is a warrior inside but the choice to fight is his own
A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family.
He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death – in the fabric of our being
That is why God created you.
Your whole life is in preparation for
The lie from the enemy is that your role is insignificant
No other man can replace you
You are the hero in your own story - the main man
A warrior has a vision
Root of all our woes and false self was this: We are seeking to save our life and we lost it
“Who ever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” – Mark 8:35
For years all my daily energy was spent trying to beat the trails in my life and arrange for a little pleasure.
Mercenary fights for pay, for his own benefit, his life is devoted to himself
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2009-12-19 - Master Plan - The Plan (part 2)
- Giving an explanation will not suffice.
- World must have a demonstration of what to believe – “Follow me, I know the way!”
- We must seek them. We must win them. We must pray for them.
- Practicals
- Begin with a few
- Stay together – see us on what they need to become
- See how the message relates to daily experiences
- Becomes intimately practical.
- Give them time – they can be with us while we are doing other things
- Arrange special times of:
- Study the Bible
- Pray
- General sharing of deepest burdens and desires
- Expect results from them gradually
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2010-01-21 - Kingdom First - Handle Prayerfully (part 3)
Lord's Prayer: A brief overview:
- Our Father in heaven - Set our minds on personal and intimate relationship we have with our God
- Hallowed be your name - Praise and honor him
- Your Kingdom come - Pray for his church, disciples, leaders, people whom the gospel has not reached
- Your will be done - Pray for a submissive heart toward will of God in our lives
- Give us this day our daily bread - Pray through today's schedule, needs, relying on God
- Forgive us our debts - Confess specific sin
- As we also have forgiven our debtors - Commit before God to resolve conflict, hurts, concerns in all relationships
- Lead us not into temptation - Wrestle with God to be submissive and repentant in areas of weakness
- Deliver us from the evil one - Pray that God to stop Satan and than God for victories in him
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2010-01-26 - Kingdom First - Self Titled
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all these things will be given you - Matthew 6:33
Kingdom First:
- Everything must be re-examined
- Everything must be reconsidered
- Every desire, dream, use of money and time
- Now everything must have a kingdom-first focus
How to tell when you are not seeking first his kingdom:
- When you don't have daily times with God in the Bible and prayer
- Responsibilities to the church are a burden
- Not happy or consistent in giving
- Personal comfort, desires direct life's decisions
- Can't find the time to share your faith
- Gain greater feelings of accomplishment and satisfaction serving another "kingdom"
- You have greater regard and protection of your schedule
- Discipleship times, family devotionals not deep or consistent
- Gaining one more than is greater than gaining one more soul
- Dreams center more in this world than in the kingdom
Are you seeking first his kingdom?
The kingdom consists of people who volunteer in a battle between good and evil
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2010-01-28 - Kingdom First - Personal Responsibility (part 2)
When talking about removing the plank from our eye so we can remove the speck from someone else, there are two extremes:
- Becoming inwardly focused, see only our problems
- Trying to help other straighten out their lives without being open to the same help ourselves
How do I get a sober estimate of myself?
A. Look daily into the mirror of God's word
Foolish to just look at the word of God and not let it transform you - James 1:22-25
B. Pray fervently for God to open your eyes and give you insight into your heart and life
An incredible prayer about searching our heart - Psalms 139:23-24
C. Be open with those in your life
Be quick to confess sin - James 5:16
D. Have a humble attitude toward challenge in your life
Let this be our goal - Psalms 141:5
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2010-02-07 - First the Kingdom - One-Lane Road (part 2)
When have been given a second chance to walk the narrow road
Finding the narrow does not guarantee we will go through the final gate
Must make daily decisions:
- Decision to stay humble - Luke 18:17
- Decision against materialism - Luke 18:24-25
- Decision to persevere through hardships - Acts 14:22
- Decision to stand firm in our convictions - Luke 21:12-19
- Decision to believe and obey God whatever the circumstances - Hebrews 3:5-19
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2010-04-18 - Life to the Full - In His Steps (part 1)
Paraphasing: Since salvation is so awesome, get you heart right! - 1 Peter 2:1-2
Are you craving pure spiritual milk?
- Daily time in Bible study and prayer
- Read the entire Bible?
- How quickly can you shake off the grogginess when you think about God and your mission?
- Do you take notes during sermons?
- Does your enthusiasm rub off on others? Non-Christians take your walk with God seriously?
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