Quiet Times Search

• Relationship with God
• Decision to make Jesus Lord of our lives
• Basic mission - to seek and save the lost
  

• 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

• We are longer slave but sons ans daughters
• We can approach him with confidence because of Jesus

• 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

• Being holy, set apart, above us
• Prayer is not just asking for something but for honoring Him

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• What are your weaknesses? Have you faced them?
• Draw on God's power before Satan strikes

• Return again to praising and glorifying God
• All power rests in his hand

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

David - "God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course" - Psalms 119:33
Solomon - gave us books of Proverbs filled with practical lessons

Here are some questions to help you remember the lesson God has taught us:

1. Taught us through failure
2. Taught us through a lack of money
3. Taught us through pain and sorrow
4. Taught us through waiting
5. Taught us through illness
6. Taught us through disappointment
7. Taught us through people (family, friends, church, critics)

We can feel pain because God feels pain
By his wounds you have been healed - 1 Peter 2:24

Questions:

• Have you loved someone wholeheartedly and they stopped loving you?
• Has someone take advantage of you?
• Have you ever been neglected, forgotten, or rejected?

Amazing grace cost amazing pain

Don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? - James 4:4-5

How does God feel about:

• Lack of trust?
• Sexual sin?
• Lack of care?
• Being pushed aside because of school or business?

• How do you feel about sin? Do you hate it?
  
• Do you allow sin to stay around?

Voluntary surrender is not easy; never comfortable nor enjoyable
Christ can not be formed in us until we are crucified with him - Galatians 2:20 ; Galatians 4:19

Rebellion comes from man's desire to be God
Satan tried to delute the solution to create powerless religions
Our lives do not change at the deepest level and have the same problems as the world

Only when we are sick of our old nature will we be convinced to totally sell out to God
Death to self seems preferable to life

Most of our cires are designed to produce our surrender
Jesus served through suffering - Hebrews 5:8-9
Can not mature without surrender - Hebrews 12:5-11
Many harships come so we enter heaven - Acts 14:22

So how do we go about taking up our cross?

1. Absolutely commited to the concept - John 12:23-25
2. Be committed to prayer about surrender - "I surrender" and "Help my lack of suddender"
3. Be committed to a relationship with another disciple - Share convictions and be open
4. Be committed to stretching your comfort zone - Do things you can not do without his help
5. Realize that surrender brings about absolute freedom - life through death will cease the puzzling paradox

Reading from 2 Kings 6:15-17

We can relate to Elisha's servant, he lacked faith
When we lack faith, we only see the world around us and the challenges that life is throwing at us
When you wallow in faithlessness, your Bible study lack power and your eyes skim the pages without absorbing the words

As Elisha's servant looked down at the Arameans, he turned in despair to Elisha
He admitted that he needed help
Because of his humility, he found the help that he needed

Do you collapse in a heap of self-pity or discouragement?
Do you go out and get the help you need?
Do you babble like a Pharisee or have you gotten gut-level honest with God about how you are feeling?

Elisha's servant got humble and trusted his leader
As he looked out again, he saw the Arameans surrounded by the army of heaven

Problems always look less daunting when you get God in the picture and decide to be full of faith

• Decisions - Nehemiah 2:5
• Plans  -Nehemiah 4:9-16
  
• Actions - Nehemiah 2:18

• He knows what is in our hearts
• He knows what we are really seeking
• He knows what we need

• He questioned the wisdom of God's choice
• Argued his lack of eloquence
• Says he does not want the responsibility
• He is honest - he gives God something to work with - Exodus 4:13

• Why do you hide yourself in trouble? - Psalms 10:1-2 - logically does not make sense but this is where David was
• Later, he works it out in prayer (v17) - LORD, you have heard the request of the oppressed; you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer.

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

• Lacked confidence - 2 Timothy 1:8
  
• Could lose motivation - 2 Timothy 1:6-7
• Got ill frequently - 1 Timothy 5:23
• Tended to be lazy - 1 Timothy 4:13-15
• Need someone to believe in him

It starts with 'No'
Sometimes we excuse it by saying, "Well, you'rejust tired"
Shows lack of willpower and fear - compromising ways by raising an isecure, definant, spoiled brat

The key is to break their defiance with crushing their spirit
Be lovingly firm and we can never let them wear us down
Make sure they know it is in their best interest to obey

Be consistent - put up a fence and leave it there

Parents must always be unified - never argue in fron of the kids - otherwise they will play you against each other

Make a definite plan - have a family meeting and talk about your expectations

Walk on the narrow/middle road of parenting - not child abuse; not a lack of discipline either

When the paralyzed man came down through the roof - damaged the house of Peter and Andrew - how would you respond?

Jesus demonstrated his love for people in the way he deals with the crowds

Everywhere he went, Jesus drew a crowd
He spoke with authority, conviction because he deeply cared about people

We need to care enough to gather a crowd - People need to be our focus
They need to be in our homes, in our Saturday plans, and focus of our lunch hour

Jesus with the Religious
Their slavery to legalistic minutiae angered him - Matthew 23:23-24
Their stubborn hearts distressed him - Mark 3:1-5
Jesus desire was for them to be saved

Jesus with the Faithful
Jesus gets the greatest joy from interacting with people who believe
Centurion - the faith he was looking for - Luke 18:8
What fires Jesus up? Faith

If we follow Jesus, the smallest seed of faith that we see in others should encourage and excite us.

Who big is your crowd?
Do you see the faith of others?
Is Jesus amazed by your faith or your lack of it?

Luke 7:11-17 - He said, "Don't cry", Jesus chose to be vulnerable to everyone's pain:

• His heart ached for a woman whom he had never meet
• Immediately felt her pain
• Was not oblivious to other's pain
• He gave her reason to rejoice - through his death

Jesus compassion knows no bounds
How wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ - Ephesians 3:18

Are you praying to stretch the capacity of your heart to feel deeply with many others?

Is your lack of openness (rooted in fear of the sin of pride) blocking your passion and compassion?

Luke 18:22-24
Wouldn't all Christians love to meet someone who comes across as this man does initially?

Most of us would say, "can we study the Bible?"
Jesus had a very different responce because he knew his heart

Sell everything and follow him = It's not what you do but who you are
For him to have a heart set fully on following Jesus - it meant a willingness to seel all
Following the exchange, it became clear - the man was out of touch with himself and God

Jesus did challenge him but he also loved him
He pointed the man to the narrow way
At the same time he drew him close want to give him strength, faith, and hope

Jesus does not get into a lengthy theological debate
He saw weaknesses the man had to deal with if he was going to enter the kingdom of God

Each of us lacks that "one thing" deep down that we must give up and following Jesus
Something we don't know what it is but God will reveal it - Hebrews 4:12-13

• Strengthen the weak
• Take the strong higher
• Humble the proud
• Exalt the humble
• Take a manger scene and make it the gateway of eternal salvation
• Take a gruesome cross and make it a beacon pointing to heaven
• Make the first last and last first
• Make the rich poor
• Make the intelligent frustrated
  

1. A sound concept of repentance - God's kindness leads to repentance - Romans 2:4
   
2. Understanding of the purposes of God's gifts - point of the blessing is the blessing themselves but the ultimate outcome of our lives
   
3. Understanding of God's timetable - God's goal is always our repentance - 2 Peter 3:9

Initiative

Mark 1:21

• Jesus was a self-starter
• How many great plans fail / talents wasted because of a lack of initiative.
• What are you pursuing most?

Authority

Mark 1:22-28

• Jesus allowed people decide for themselves whether they would obey him or not.
• Not authority structures can be chaotic and can be full of crippling bad attitudes and unresolved conflicts
• We can allow the misuse of authority by others to hinder or eliminate our proper use of it

Second effort

Mark 8:22-26

• Jesus was not afraid to show affection to people in public.
• Jesus is the kind of friend who would take us by the hand.
• Jesus didn’t allow unsuccessful first try to discourage him from trying again.
• He did not doubt himself but figure that the problem lied in the blind man’s lack of faith

Warmth

Mark 9:36-37

• Often children are terrified of bold, assertive adults.
• He was tough, yet not lacking tenderness.
• He was forceful and fun at the same time.
• The reaction of children to any particular adult can be a very good barometer how you appear to people in general.