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2008-02-28 - Power of Gratitude - Thank God Im a Country Boy
What ever background we have, we can not change it

Cultural heritage - Jesus from Galilee and Nazareth
Job - Jesus was a carpenter son's
Appearance - Jesus "nothing in his appearance that we should desire him" (Isaiah 53:2)
Speech - Disciples "are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?" ( Acts 2:7 )

Why?
"God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise" (1 Corinthians 26-29)

Jesus understands and sympathizes - No one knows more about temptation than he.

Let he happy for how God made us and use it for his glory

2008-03-02 - Power of Gratitude - Making Peace with the Past
Putting the past behind us is very important to maintaining the attitude of gratitude
God is the God of new beginnings
Also also need to put past sucesses behind us - if glory days are in the past, so is our gratitude

Sins in the past - either what someone did to you or what you did to other/God

Dealing with past - goal to find how the past is messing up the present not to live in it

David psalms - he struggled at the beginning of many of the psalms and figured it out at the end during most
Writing feeling to help resolve the past - not new, David did it centuries ago

Forgetting the past was never to be inclusive of past blessings

What were you worry about a year ago? Don't know? God brought us through it!

2008-03-07 - Power of Gratitude - Day-Tight Compartments
Sentence of death is on us and everyone we know

Matthew 6:34 - Focus on today, live in day-tight compartments, rather than worrying about tomorrow

The most important factor in remaining effective and thankful as we get older is to stay busy doing things that matter to God

Women of noble character was busy from dawn to dusk - Proverbs 31
Being happy with our lot in life and our work - Ecclesiastes 5:19-20

Worried about aging and death - No, because I would be ungrateful for all the blessing God has given me
Every good and perfect gift is from above (people in our lives) - James 1:17

What percentage of your thoughts focus of past regrets and future worries?

2008-03-08 - Power of Gratitude - Is This All There Is?
Most of the physical pursuits of life (Ecclesiastes) are substitutes for what we really need - a relationship with God

"Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ" - Philippians 3:7-11

The answer - to be totally immersed in my relationship with God through Christ
To know God in such a way and at such a level that all else pales into comparision
When this level is reached, nothing else will matter:
  • Not position
  • Not recognition
  • Not performance
  • Not respect
Fear of death will lose its hold

"For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain" - Philippians 1:21

Thankful books

Do it just before going to bed every night
God is too good for us not express gratitude
Ideas: come up with 7 areas of gratitude and incorporate one area into your prayers each day
  • Physical blessings
  • Family blessings
  • Spiritual blessings


2008-03-15 - Be Still My Soul - Exciting Personal Bible Study
What happen to the days when you could not wait to learn more from God's word?
When was the last time you regretted having to close your Bible and go on to other activities?

Excuses:
  • Days of excitement are for young Christians
  • Mature means being dead and lifeless
  • See other older Christians not doing well and assume that is our fate
Paul: "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Philippians 3:12-16)

The only way to a deep, growing relationship with God - which includes feeding on His word.
Some are not put forth the effort required to dig deeper; have become lazy
Some are satisfied with what they already know and are content being spoon-fed.

"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity" (Hebrews 5:11-6:3)
We need to train ourselves (1 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 5:14)
"This the one I esteem he who ... trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2)

2008-03-17 - Be Still My Soul - Deciding What to Study

How do we decide what to study?

  • How do I need to grow?
  • What is my greatest spiritual need right now?

Questions to ask yourself:

  • Do I need to see Jesus? - Gospels
  • Do I need to be more spiritual? - Sermon of the Mount
  • Do I need more faith?
  • Do I need to learn to others more? - Jesus, John, Peter, Paul examples
  • Do I need to be more grateful? - Psalms/Topical study
  • Do I need to become more evangelistic?
  • Do I need to know God better? - Abraham or Moses
  • Do I need greater assurance of salvation? Grace topical study
  • Do I need to learn how to lead? - Moses, Joshua, Nehemiah, David, Timothy/Paul, and Titus
  • Do I need to renew and revived as an older disciple? Hebrews
  • Do I need to a greater conviction of sin? - David's sins account, acts of the sinful nature, the cross
  • Do I need to repent of sin? Godly and worldly repentance, Paul's repentance, David's repentance
  • Do I need a deeper prayer life? Jesus, Moses, Ahraham, Nehemiah, and Daniel
  • Do I need help as a husband, wife, or parent? Ephesians 5:21-6:4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Peter 3:1-7
  • Do I need help in dealing with suffering or persecution? Early church's persecution in Acts
  • Do I need inspiration or encouragement?  Joshua, Joseph, Peter, Elijah, Elisha, and Daniel

Commit passages of scripture to memory



2008-03-23 - Be Still My Soul - Pour Out Your Heart
We can to one of a few things in challenging times:

  • Handle it ourselves
  • Turn to God superficially; mentioning thing to God
  • Turn to God - pouring out our hearts

Pour out your hearts - Psalms 62:8
I pour out my complaint before him  - Psalms 142:2

How can we be close to someone if we have not poured out our hearts

God is all-knowing but unless we tell him our feelings we will never draw close
Everyone has feelings; it may be difficult at first

Jesus: offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears - Hebrews 5:7

Suggestions:
  • Get in the habit of telling God how you feel
  • Be in a private place
  • Take a period of time away
  • Allow yourself to cry - frustration, sorrow, or joy


2008-03-25 - Be Still My Soul - Personal
Moses enjoyed a relationship with God that few have ever known
He was face to face - It was because Moses wanted that way

When Moses was heading to the promised land God said he would not go with him - Exodus 33:2
Moses was appalled, recoils in horror
It was not enough to be forgiven
It was not enough to be successful

Moses wanted to know more of God - Now show me your glory (Exodus 33:18)

How would I react? Would I be fine with the promised land without God?
We can sing, strive to be committed, give money, work hard to share our faith, and even pray
Must be more focused on closeness to God more than on the success of our ministry

2 Corinthians 3 - in Jesus we can have a greater relationship with God than what Moses had the opportunity to have

2008-03-26 - Be Still My Soul - Pointed

We can not be close to God in prayer if we deal only in generalities
God indeed wants to answer our prayers - how will we know what God is doing if we pray in generalities?

Abraham - Genesis 18 - prayed to save the city if there were 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, even 10 righteous people

Our lack of specific praying reveals a distance in our relationship with God

  • More specific in your gratitude - become more grateful
  • More specific in confession - understand the sin you are commiting
  • More specific in your requests for friends and family - see how God will work


2008-03-29 - Be Still My Soul - Praise
Thanksgiving is praise made practical
  • We always thank God - Colossians 1:3
  • Overflowing with thankfulness - Colossians 2:6-7
  • And be thankful - Colossians 3:15
  • Being watchful and thankful - Colossians 4:2
What should we be grateful for?
  • Answered prayer
  • Blessings of family and friends
  • Health
  • Material blessings
  • Church
Our appreciation grows, our anxiety decreases, and our joy abounds
Never known a person who habitually expressive of gratitude to be afflicted with continual discouragement and depression
Good idea to start and keep a gratitude list

2008-03-31 - Falling in Love with God - Intro

Loving God is a journey

Father draws us to himself - John 6:44

Father does not change - James 1:17
Hard to understand God when we are so inconsistent

It is OK for a journey to have highs and lows

Why love God?
Why not just obey him?
Why not just "gut out" our journey with God? Because we are commanded to

What touches you most about God?

  • He never quits
  • Always a refuge
  • Always will take you back
  • He will make sure you know where you are
  • Champion of the truth and the underdog
  • Tender with the weak and brokenhearted
  • Hammer the arrogant and pround
  • Never makes a mistake

Despite all the good qualities of God - our relationship with God still takes work



2008-04-01 - Falling in Love with God - How Bad It Can Get

A mission of Satan is undermine my relationship with our Father

Must ask all the time: How are God and I doing?

Typical doing questions:

  • Am I productive?
  • Have a recently had a victory?
  • How do people around me feel about me?
  • How long has it been since I committed a particular sin?

Relationship questions:

  • Do they feel loved?
  • Are we connected?
  • Have I been sensitive?
  • Am I listening?
  • Will this activity help our relationship?

 When we drift

1. Combative - Psalms 55:20-21
2. Uncaring / Apathy (Harding of our hearts) - Psalms 36:1-4; Esphesians

Presedes sin / sensual gratification

  • "I deserve this"
  • "I am tired"
  • "I am missing out"
  • "I know what I need"

3. Hopeless - Job 3:11-13

Hopelessness is godlessness
If deeply in love with God, whispering to me promise after promise
If walking with him closely, he is meeting my needs for strength and faith



2008-04-03 - Falling in Love with God - Fear

The other emotional response that undermines our love for God

Perfect love drives our fear - 1 John 4:18
Fear greatly affects our ability to love; renders lifeless our love for God

Fear one of the most powerful and universal tools Satan uses for:

  • Keep man from the knowledge of God
  • Experience of God's power
  • Experience grace in our lives
  • Taking our eyes off of God and onto our circumstances and insecurities

There is healthy fear (like fearing God) but unhealthy fear is one that controls us and causes us to turn away from God's direction
Fear is rarely rational

  • Why are you so afraid - Matthew 8:26
  • Don't be afraid - Matthew 14:27
  • Don't be afraid - Matthew 17:7
  • Don't be afraid - Matthew 28:10
  • Don't be afraid - Mark 5:36
  • Don't be afraid - Luke 5:10
  • Don't be afraid - Luke 8:50
  • Don't be afraid - Luke 12:7
  • Don't be afraid - Luke 12:32
  • Don't be afraid - John 6:19-20
  • Don't be afraid - John 12:15
  • Don't be afraid - John 14:27

God understands the destructive nature of fear
He simply commands us to deal with our fears through our relationship with him



2008-04-05 - Falling in Love with God - Faithful Follower
Israel - when in the dessert, they did not need plant to know that God

In the end they were wishing they could be back into slavery

The way back from wandering is not found in activity but pulling out the scrapbook and remembering
When we had the conviction - "God will take care of me"

Remember:
  • Holiness was a simple issue between you and I God; not "having to be open"?
  • When your relationship with God was more private than public?


2008-04-11 - Falling in Love with God - Remembering The Father

It is good to be reminded of who God the Father is:

1. God's love is unconitional

  • Thomas, the douber, was forgiven
  • Peter, who deied the Lord, was forgiven
  • Paul, killer of Christians, was forgiven

The only ones who dail to receive forgiveness are the ones who fail  to ask for it

2. God always comes through

God is faithful, he can not disown himself (2 Timothy 2:13)

3. Nothing is impossible for God

God's power is absolute
He can change anyone and anything
It is never an issue of whether or not God has power, it is if we believe

4. God never makes a mistake

He knows what we can bear - he is always right



2008-04-19 - Falling in Love with God - Intimacy
Dictionary definition of Intimacy:
  1. Marked by close acquaintance
  2. Relating to one's deepest nature
  3. Innermost
  4. Marked by informality
  5. Very personal
Respectful, but must not be formal - personal

"Quiet Times" OR "our time with God" assumes there is formal meeting / impersonal only
Do we treat friends or co-workers this way?

God desires to know who we are at the deepest level

2008-04-22 - Falling in Love with God - Listening
Whose voice should I listen to?

There are many voices:
  • Voice of guilt that reminds me of the past
  • Voice of doubt tries to tell me about the future
  • Voice that says we are weak and can not do it
  • Voice that judges me of wrong doing and bad motivation
Reason for the voices is our own sinful nature

To deal with these other voice we need to memorize scriptures - to not be swayed and know the correct voice to listen to

2008-04-24 - Falling in Love with God - Heaven in Heaven
Earth has nothing I desire besides you - Psalms 73:25

Jesus taught about Heaven and who lives there - GOD

Heaven is full of angels:  Children and churches have angels
We might even entertain angels not even knowing it

From heaven:
  • Father spoke to Jesus - "who he was well pleased" with
  • Father gave him the Holy Spirit in form of a dove
  • Father gave the authority of both Heaven and Earth
  • Jesus wrote the names in the book of life
  • Jesus begging God on our behalf
  • Jesus directs the spreading of the message
  • Jesus saluted the martyr Stephen
  • Jesus sent light to blind Saul


2008-04-30 - Falling in Love with God - God Finding Us

When does seeking really start?

Romans 3:11 - there is no one that seeks God
John 6:44 - No one can come to me unless the Father draws him

Studying the Bible is simply allowing ourselves to be sought by God

If it was our own effort - baptism may seem like the end of the quest

We need to active learners

When we were young, we understood obligation  - "I gotta go to school"
After high school, we may go to college and narrow our focus of learning and become passive learners

  • We listen to the voice of our experience as the final authority
  • We learn mostly from our mistakes
  • We learn when we are forced to out of control - crisis, illness, death

Treasures are for those who will continue to seek forever; not for those who want tips and tricks for being "effective"

If there were ever a moment to be a passive learner, it would be when you walk with Jesus

Luke 11:1-13 - where would we be if the disciples had not asked about praying to the Father? - not know how to address the Father

We need to take responsibilty to get deep and ask questions



2008-05-03 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Rest of the Story
The first person who presents a case - seems right - Proverbs 18:17
  • Marriage counseling - one view, then a different view
  • Forming opinion without all the background information
  • Good leader - realizing he does not know everything about every subject
  • Been hurt by others - assume others are the same way
Good thing to say: "I have seen something which concerns me, but I haven't heard your side yet"

Involving everyone on a decision will help others to feel valued and for you to consistently have good decisions

We have trouble listening to other opinions besides our own

Can you get hurt by other that love you? Yes
 - Double indemnity insurance policy against unresolved issues (Matthew 18:15-17 and Matthew 5:23-24)

2008-05-04 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Buy Now and Pay Later
Many struggle with the route of least resistance - CHARGE IT

Satan invented the mind-set: Sin now and pay later

God is not short-term but long-term
Pay up front and gain big dividends later
Righteousness is an investment of life

Without perseverance through hard time times we will not grow - Romans 5:1-5, James 1:2-4, Hebrews 12:5-14
God does not "zap" change into you:
Change requires:
  • Practice until our character is different - Hebrews 5:14
  • Patience if did not get it right for ___ time
  • Trust God that this change is for our own good - Romans 8:28
We always know what we want, God always knows what we need


2008-05-13 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Power of Negative Thinking
They are stronger than we are; we seem like grasshoppers - Numbers 13:31-33
  • Negativity oftn excites stronger emotions
    • Easily swayed by the negative report
    • Forgot God's amazing miracles and victories
  • Negative thinking is a pervasive tendency
  • Majority of people inevitably practice negative thinking
    • No wonder so many people reacted negatively to Jesus
    • How many were confident that the resurrection would follow? Next to nil
  • Negativism is deceptive to observers - seems normal
  • Negatives are often mixed with positives to sound better
  • Leaders have a responsibility to determine the thinking of the group
  • Negativity is tragic in its results - destroys faith and unity of the group
No one remembers the names of the spies, we do know the name of those who avoided or overcame negativeness

2008-05-15 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Disappointed
Mathew 23:37 - Talks about how Jerusalem killed the prophets and those God has sent to them

Disappointed people are not happy people

Disappointed = depressed or discouraged by the failures of one's hopes
Disappointment in others exposes a basic selfishness; by definition is rather self-focused

Most assume that God often views us with a disappointed heart
Luke 19:41-42 (parallel verse to Matthew 23:37) - If you only had known on this day what would bring you peace

Are you often disappointed in yourself or others?
Humility is needed - Selfishness and pride is the opposite
  • Disappointed often? Selfish often!
  • Frustrated at others often? Selfish often!
  • Angry when others have things against you? Selfish once more!
Look not to your own interest, but the interest of others - Philippians 2:3-4

Disappointment is un-Godlike; Concern is the godly quality which comes from self-denial and agape love

2008-05-18 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Spiritual vs Doctrinal Thinking, part 2

Goal is the be focus on personally knowing God, being changed, and helping others to do the same

Doctrine is important - Must watch it - Timothy 4:15
Must have sound doctrine - 1 Timothy 1:10; 2 Timothy 1:13; Titus 1:19, 13, 2:1
Our study helps us understand the heart of God and imitate it


Doctrine thinking Spiritual thinking
Arrogance
Humility
High blood pressure Inner peace
Division Unity
Leads people to hell Leads people to heaven
Man-centered God-centered
Unspiritual Spiritual


2008-05-21 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Even though
Hebrews 11:8,11,17:20
  • Even though he did not know where he was going
  • Even though he was pass age to have kids
  • Even though he God said to sacrifice his son
  • Abraham reasoned... spiritually
Romans 4:18 - Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed

He was not a blind idealist, he faced the facts: God creates the laws but he not bound by them

We will not be victorious if we sacrifice our faith on the alter of reason, logic or cynicism

It is time to get back to idealism that belongs to faith in God:

  • We can change
  • Our children can change
  • Our marriages can change
  • Our hearts can change
  • We just can't give up

We have the same God who was with Abraham

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