2008-02-25 - Power of Gratitude - Solitary Places When gratitude cause us to rise early to spend time with God - seeing one of the greatest fruits No one says that QT must happen in the morning - it always goes better than the days when trying to work out another time during the day I learned to pray when I sensed that I would come apart at the seams emotionally unless I didn't Three things helped with prayer life:
There is no gratitude without prayer |
2008-03-17 - Be Still My Soul - Deciding What to Study How do we decide what to study?
Questions to ask yourself:
Commit passages of scripture to memory |
2008-05-12 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Don't cry over split milk Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead - Philippians 3:12-14 Much of our challenge is in accepting failures without feeling like failures Peter and Judas were both betrayers Mistakes are part of the growing process
Gospel allows us to start over and over again Shock > denial > anger > depression, apathy, or peace (grace of God) BIG PICTURE - being right with God, growing in our relationship with him, and helping others |
2008-05-30 - Purpose Driven Life - What Makes God Smile? (Part 1) "Noah was a pleasure to God" - Ephesians 5:10 Noah was an example of making God smile:
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2008-06-08 - Purpose Driven Life - What Matters Most Life is all about love Most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love (have a lifetime to learn) Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task - runs counter to our self-centered nature God trains us by giving us "family responsibilities" Love cannot be learned in isolation You have to be around people - irritating, imperfect, frustrating Life without love is really worthless - 1 Corinthians 13:3 God says relationships are what life is all about
Love God and Love People - 2 greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40) Busyness is a great enemy of relationships Love will last forever How you treat other people will be the most enduring impact you can leave on earth Final moments - we want people to surround us We will be evaluated on our love Spiritual maturity is measured by the quality of our relationships To love Jesus is to love his family by providing for their needs |
2008-06-09 - Purpose Driven Life - The Value of Time The importance of things can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them Your time is your life Greatest gift you can give someone is your time Words alone are worthless - 1 John 3:18 Most desired gift of love is focused attention Give without loving, but you can not love without giving - God gave everything (John 3:16) Make the most of every opportunity Other and you are not guaranteed tomorrow Who do you need to spend more time with? What do you need to cut out of your day? |
2008-06-29 - Purpose Driven Life - Using Personality and Experiences Personality You are very unique 102,400,000,000 in DNA terms It is obvious that God loves variety It is easier to work with the grain than against it Experiences
Greatest ministry comes from our most likely come from your greatest pain When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the comfort God has given us - 2 Corinthians 1:4 Paual was honest with his bouts of depression If Paul kept his experience to himslef, millions of people would have never benefitted from it Don't waste your pain, us it to help others
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2008-07-24 - 30 Days at the Cross - Freedom of Forgiveness True forgiveness - made possible by God Jesus forgave when it was most difficult by: Facing the truth Jesus didn't expect life to be fair He expected God to be fair He accepted everything from God without question (in the end) Judas only received kindness from Jesus Taught forgiving your brother should be limitless - Luke 17:1-5 Feeling the pain Jesus was totally honest with his feeling both God and man Greatest test was at the garden of Gethsemane Freeing his heart He trusted his Father and focused on him rather than on his own pain He yielded to God's sense of justice in the most unjust situation 1 Peter 2:23
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2008-08-09 - 30 Days at the Cross - If the King is a Servant What Jesus rightly deserved and what he received while here on earth were quite different Jesus didn't resent or resist his role He had a desire and compassion to help others Greatest of humility and suffering for him to subject himself to the cruelest of deaths - Philippians 2:8 People who have a major impact are the ones who serve Nothing moves the human heart more than someone who puts the needs of another above his own need It is a rare and precious expression of love Jesus has called you and me to be like him and take on his attitude toward serving others Jesus' serving was not limited to his friends (but also his enemies) His people will do the simple acts of service for the "least" among us Easier to serve someone on a schedule; more difficult if unexpected or interrupting my schedule |
2008-08-18 - 30 Days at the Cross - Turning the Tables Jesus came to turn the tables on Satan
When he died, almost everyone thought evil won Satan pulled out all the stops. 7 moves to turn the tables:
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2008-11-07 - Man of Prayer - Deliverance from evil Literally - Deliverance from the evil or the evil one - Matthew 6:13 First law of spiritual warfare - Satan hates you and has a diabolical plan for your life Jesus has given us the authority in prayer for overcoming the schemes and attacks One of the greatest privileges and responcablities we have |
2008-11-17 - Raising Awesome Kids - First Things First (part 2) When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength - Mark 12:30 Committed to God vs committed to a person Deeply loves God vs being religious
Were we one time zealous - before we got married and had kids? Where am I today? Have I allowed "life's worries, riches, and pleasures" to choke my relationship with God? - Mark 4:19 |
2008-11-18 - Raising Awesome Kids - Second Thing Second Assuming God is first, who is next on our list? Our spouse Devotion to our lifetime companion must be the greatest earthly love of all Kids are our flesh and blood, but we are one flesh with our spouse Some make up for the affection by pouring all their love into their children Makes them arrogant and/or insecure Bag the excuses, example: too busy, take an honest look at your marriage Little eyes and ears are fine-tuned to our frequency and they know They love it when we love each other - it gives them a sense of peace, happiness, and security Much of the anger and rebellion issues in kids can be traced back to marriage problem |
2009-01-19 - Jesus with People - Through the Roof When the paralyzed man came down through the roof - damaged the house of Peter and Andrew - how would you respond? If we follow Jesus, the smallest seed of faith that we see in others should encourage and excite us. Who big is your crowd? |
2009-01-30 - Jesus with People - Greatest in th Kingdom I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven - Matthew 18:1-4 Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost - Matthew 18:12-14 We need to become like children in a very specific way Our human nature wants to be first and to have control Matthew 18 were driven by the same desire - they asked Jesus "Who is the greatest?" When become like little children, we become like Jesus Paraphrase - Because of your power-hungry pride you guys are not even in the kingdom of God, and nothing will change this fact unless you start imitating this child After Jesus' sacrifice, all his teachings made sense Having a child's humility is impossible until we understand the cross Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends - John 15:13 Must see other brothers and sisters in Christ as God's little spiritual children who must be cared for God's heart is that not a single person be lost Do we feel the personal responsibility for others? Who do you know who is struggling spiritually? What can you do to help them? |
2009-02-24 - Jesus with People - Walking with Jesus We must respond to Jesus' pursuit of us with our pursuit of him Even with the testimony of woman, the disciples doubted When Jesus stood in front of them, they thought he was a ghost - What hid their understanding? Jesus was dead, yet lived afain How long was your Emmaus road? |
2009-03-07 - Promises of God - Lord of the Unexpected 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 This trouble you're in is not punishment, it's training, the normal experience of children - Hebrews 12:17
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2009-04-08 - Promises of God - Tireless Labor Satan works quickly to wear us down Fatigue and discouragement are his greatest tools Do you realize God can give you energy? Luke 17:7-10 and Galatians 6:9 -> gives energy to never quit Focusing on how hard something is will never product the desired fruit Focusing on God and letting others help us product tireless labor Moses needed Aaron and Hur to hold up his hands Ester needed Mordecai to carry out the plan to save the Israelities Jesus needed Simon to carry his cross God provides helps when we labor tirelessly for him |
2009-06-04 - No one like him - Count Cost (part 1) Not a question of how hard or difficult but if it is true Not all struggling is bad Jesus calls us to:
Jesus was not out of touch – Matthew 9:36 Jesus had a clear view of love and generosity – John 10:33 Kingdom now in the present age Fix our eyes on Jesus We need to deal with OUR heart Jesus did not just come to amaze He came to call people to change their lives He was upfront with commitment level Must deny self |
2009-06-11 - One Another - Correction Needed There were a lot of relationship issues that needed to be corrected in first book of Corinthians:
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2009-07-09 - A Life of Impact - Toughness and Excellence Toughness Mark 6:45-46
Unwavering Excellence Mark 6:47-56
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2009-07-16 - A Life of Impact - Scout Scout Mark 8:14-21
Rebuke
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2009-10-20 - Wild at Heart - An adventure to live (part 3) We pay attention to our desire. Often the clues are in our past, in the moments when we found ourselves loving what we were doing To recover his heart’s desire a man needs to get away When a man thinks that what will really make him come alive is something unholy – ask what is the desire beneath this desire? The greatest obstacle to realizing our dreams is the false self’s hatred of mystery Most important aspects of any man’s world – his relationship with his God and with the people in his life, his calling, the spiritual battles he’ll face To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways There are no formulas with God God is a person and not a doctrine Joshua blowing trumpets for a week – only did it once Gideon’s plan of attack 32000 to 300 and torches and water pots Jesus healing not the same way twice |
2009-11-09 - Repentance - Transfigure Our Minds (part 2) Laziness is the greatest enemy to a girded mind. Need to wrestle in prayer – only after I’m certain that I’ve prepared my mind for action, do I conclude my time with God God only delays the coming Day of the Lord in order for more people to come to repentance Mind of Flesh Old self with a mind of flesh requires more and more sensation, wanting to “feel” alive, to overcome its callousness
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2009-11-20 - Repentance - Its Time To Go Home (part 2) Where are you on this path? Are you part of “all people, everywhere”? Good, you quality for the command to repent – Acts 17:26-27; 30-31 Ignorance of Jesus perpetuates a self-focused paradigm Jesus is Lord – changes our heart, mind-set, allegiances, purpose, and agenda Subsequent repentance has lesser fan fare (like 2nd to the moon or Mt. Everest Satan doesn’t want you to know that he created your dilemma His scheme:
Shame is the greatest obstacle to post-baptismal repentance How to escape? You already have – Trust god’s grace Light is not a place of condemnation |