2008-03-01 - Power of Gratitude - Don't waste your sin Use the past to encourage others Paul did - chief of sinners - 1 Timothy 1:15-16 Joseph did:
Rejection leads to rebellion, which in turn led to failure We must become thankful rather than resentful or hurt - give the benefit of the doubt Key to a life of acceptance is develop a deep gratitude for what God has done through our challenges
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2008-03-10 - Be Still My Soul - Quiet Time Jesus deeply valued his time alone with God Jesus sought out quiet time Jesus found a quite place Jesus urged alertness How long? until a sense of peace and closeness with God How much time in prayer and study? mix it up; our relationship should not become stale "Remain in me, and I will remain in you" - John 15:4-8 | ||||||||||||||
2008-03-13 - Be Still My Soul - Times of Fasting What is fasting? - voluntary abstinence from food in order to draw near to God Fasting - frequently practiced by those who have walked closely with God:
Jesus warned about the mere appearance of fasting - Matthew 6:16-18 Advice
A "world fast" is an idea to remove yourself from movies, sports, television, newpaper, other outside info Reason to fast:
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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 | ||||||||||||||
2008-03-22 - Be Still My Soul - The Pattern (Part 2) Our Father.
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2008-04-07 - Falling in Love with God - Dashed Hopes We had hoped to become leaders We had hoped not to move again We had hoped that people would understand our needs We had hoped overcome sins We had hoped husband or wife would make changes On the road to Emmaus - they did not see Jesus in their walk until Jesus' lit a fire under them It is not until lost it all - that we will listen to God David (1 Samuel 18-22)
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2008-04-14 - Falling in Love with God - Holy Spirit is everywhere We may suffer more from our neglect of God's Spirit than through any other spiritual problem We need to be aware of the spirit all the time A look through the Bible:
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2008-04-16 - Falling in Love with God - Holy Spirit in our lives Jesus was intimately connected to the Holy Spirit If we are to fall in love with God, it is only be through the Holy Spirit Examples of God's spirit involved with restoration of David:
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2008-05-03 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Rest of the Story The first person who presents a case - seems right - Proverbs 18:17
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) | ||||||||||||||
2008-05-05 - 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
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 | ||||||||||||||
2008-05-09 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Money - Root of All Evil?, part 1 Bible warns the love of money Love of Money can lead to: greed, envy, jealousy, stealing, and ingratitude For some of us, materialism/people who have money = people who have more money than we have Ecclesiastes 5:10-12 - Whoever loves money never has enough Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 - God gives man wealth and possession and enables him to enjoy them Issue not if we have money, but how we view it, obtain it, and use it God uses America churches to fund missions - not based on the level of relationship with God | ||||||||||||||
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
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2008-05-14 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - I was Born this Way Son will not share the guilt of the father - Ezekiel 18:20 Environment or heredity - most likely both Must be slow to judge situations we do not completely understand otherwise may bless us with an understanding in a way we do not want Other extreme - develop a victim mentality regarding ourselves or others Can lead to being angry, use drugs, being immoral, or just about anything else We have difficulty applying this to a murder Answer: despite it being more difficult and having different backgrounds, the standard is still the same He does not ask us to do anything he will not enable us to do Identify the sin > repent of it > start relying on God grace > formulate a plan to overcome sin Psychology can find root causes but it is powerless to find a cure Hezekiah and Josiah were righteous amount a line of kings that were evil The promises of God are far greater than our past and present challenges Pray that we may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way - Colossians 1:10-12 | ||||||||||||||
2008-05-17 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Spiritual vs Doctrinal Thinking, part 1 Can major in the minors and minor in the majors Tendency to be doctrinal focused - 1 Timothy 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 2:14-19; Titus 1:5-11; Titus 3:3-11 Can come from a desire to be leaders, takes focus off our personal lives Numbers 12:1-15
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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
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2008-05-24 - Purpose Driven Life - What Drives Your Life? What shouldn't drive our life (will miss God's purposes for your life): People are driven by guilt Allows the past to control their future God turned a murder (Moses and Paul) into a leader and a coward into a hero God specializes in giving people a fresh start People are driven by resentment and anger - Resentment always hurts you more than it does the other person People are driven by fear - from unrealistic expectations and high-control situations People are driven by materialism - Your value is not determined by your valuables People are driven by the need for approval - those who follow the crowd usually get lost in it Living a purpose driven life, knowing your purpose:
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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
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 | ||||||||||||||
2008-06-14 - Purpose Driven Life - Protecting Your Church It is your job to protect the unity of the church Supreme model for unity is the Trinity Jesus' final moment was thinking and praying about the church's unity Make every effort to keep the unity - Ephesians 4:3 Focus on what we have in common We share the same life, salvation, and same future Conflict - focused on "disputable matters" Be realistic in your expectations People become disillusioned with church Should not be surprised - made up of sinners, including ourselves - 1 Corinthians 1:10 Reconciliation - not running away - road to stronger character and deeper fellowship If the church must be perfect to satisfy you, that same perfection will exclude you Choose to encourage rather than criticize It is always easier to stand on the sidelines than get involved Judge another believer:
Satan is the accuser of our brothers Other Christians are not the real enemy Any time spent for comparing and criticizing should be used for building others up Refuse to listen to gossip People who gossip to you will also gossip about you Great wounds usually come from other sheep, not wolves Practice God's method for conflict resolution Go to the person you are having issues with - Matthew 18 Takes a man of courage to speak the truth in love Support your pastor and leaders - Hebrews 13:17 No perfect leaders They are accountable but so are you You will give an account on how you obeyed your leaders | ||||||||||||||
2008-07-01 - Purpose Driven Life - Real Servants (part 1) We server God by serving others How can you know if you have the heart of Jesus? Real Servants make themselves available to serve Like a soldier, always by for duty - 2 Timothy 2:4
Real servants pay attention to needs Always looking out for ways to help others Real servants do their best with what they have Servant never make excuses, procratinate, wait for better circumstances | ||||||||||||||
2008-07-02 - Purpose Driven Life - Real Servants (part 2) Real servants do every task with equal dedication Whatever you do, do it with all your heart - Colossians 3:23
Small taks often show a big heart Real servants are faithful to their ministry Servants finish tasks, fullfill their responsibilities, and complete their commitments Real Servants maintain a low profile Put on the apron of humility, to serve one another - 1 Peter 5:5 Servants are content with quietly serving in the shadows Be confident that nothing you do for God is a waste of time or effort - 1 Corinthians 15:58 | ||||||||||||||
2008-08-20 - 30 Days at the Cross - I Am Not Alone Stress, word for the modern world, everyone has too much of it Synonymical cousins: worry, frustration, and impatience Vacation sometimes causes it Sociologists and Psychologist make a lot of money because of it Jesus never was described as stressed Jesus was tempted in every way as we are - Hebrews 4:15 How did he conquer stress? He was not alone - John 16:31-32 Allowing stress to overwhelm us is sin - focus on ourselves It tempts us to let our emotions lead over our convictions Worry - always be thousands of reasons to worry - still sin Frustration - thing don't go the way we think it should - we need faith We too can overcome stress - we too are not alone | ||||||||||||||
2008-09-02 - Teach Us To Pray - Full Of Faith Reading from 2 Kings 6:15-17 We can relate to Elisha's servant, he lacked faith As Elisha's servant looked down at the Arameans, he turned in despair to Elisha Do you collapse in a heap of self-pity or discouragement? Elisha's servant got humble and trusted his leader Problems always look less daunting when you get God in the picture and decide to be full of faith | ||||||||||||||
2008-09-12 - Teach Us To Pray - In Marriage and Family Unless the Lord builds, its builder labor in vain - Psalms 127:1-2 Powerful benefits of daily prayer with one another:
Prayer in family life:
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2008-09-16 - Teach Us To Pray - The Church of Jesus Disciples must have a deep commitment to pray for the needs of the church:
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2008-09-19 - Teach Us To Pray - Direction for Decisions Most difficult decision are not so much a question of right and wrong but rather what is good, better, and best When ask according to God's will, he hears us - 1 John 5:14-15 God give wisdom in prayer (James 1:5) and through his Word (Hebrews 5:14) He will give us wisdom to discern what is best God also gives wisdom to men and women in his kingdom It is would be foolish and arrogant to not actively seek out wisdom God has made available Should imitate leaders faith - Hebrews 13:7 |