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:
Relationship questions:
When we drift 1. Combative - Psalms 55:20-21 Presedes sin / sensual gratification
3. Hopeless - Job 3:11-13 Hopelessness is godlessness |
2008-05-11 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Escaping the Performance Trap Performance trap - termed as perfectionism (not measuring up = sin) Guilt and imagined guilt come from performance based - must learn to understand God's grace Good thing to do our best but when mixed with pride is a wrong turn Rejection (or fear of) - is the root of most of our insecurities Performance-oriented tries to conceal insecurities with a superimage of self Unless we are open about our negative points we will never reallty feel loved Paul opened up his life: 2 Corinthians 6:11-13
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2008-06-10 - Purpose Driven Life - A Place to Belong You are called to belong Relationship with Christ is personal but not private Your organs are connected to other organs to fulfill a purpose Organ severed from the body will shrivel and die Christ loved the church and gave his life for it - Ephesians 5:25 Church is Christ's bride Can't say to Christ "I love you but I do not love your wife Why you need a Church Family? 1. Identifies you as a genuine believer 2. Move you out of self-centered isolation Lab for practicing unselfishness Learn to care about others If one part suffers, all suffer - 1 Corinthians 12:16 We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers - 1 John 3:16 3. Helps develop spiritual muscle Isolation breeds deceitfulness 4. Body Needs you 5. Share in Christ's mission - He works through us 6. Church family will help you from backsliding "Mind your own business" - not a Christian phrase It is your responsibility to help those who need help Difference between a church attender and a church member is commitment |
2008-07-04 - Purpose Driven Life - Thinking Like a Servant (part 2) Servants think about their work, not what others are doing They do not compare, criticize, or compete with other servants; same goal and same team If you serve like Jesus, expect to be criticized Servants base their identity in Christ They are loved and accepted by grace, servants don't have to prove their worth Insecure people are always worrying about how they appear; want others to serve them instead Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation Serve the Lord with gladness - Psalms 100:2 The only really happy people are those who have learned to serve |
2008-07-16 - Purpose Driven Life - Becoming a World-Class Christian (part 2) Shift from self-centered thinking to other-centered thinking Stop thinking like children (thinking like only of self), and like like mature people (grown ups) - 1 Corinthians 14:20 Most advertising encourages selfish thinking To make the paradigm switch to mature thinking - need to dependence of God God has given us his Spirit so we don't think like the world thinks - 1 Corinthians 2:12 Shift from local thinking to global thinking God so loved the world... - John 3:16 God made all the nations and where they would be, so we would look for him - Acts 17:26-27 The world already thinks globally: business, competition, and news If you ask me, I will give you the nations - Psalms 2:8 What should we pray for?
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2008-07-20 - Purpose Driven Life - Lifes 5 Greatest Questions
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2008-07-21 - 30 Days at the Cross - Unconditional Love Feels good to feel loved - insecurities come from not being sure or for some reason other than unconditional love In our worst shape, God demonstrated his love for us - Romans 5:8 Love you enough to have his son killed for you - while you (and me) were enemies of God If God loves us this much, we should as love this way - 1 John 4:11 Paul - Christ came to save sinners and I am the worst - 1 Timothy 1:15
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2008-07-22 - 30 Days at the Cross - Hating Sin We can feel pain because God feels pain Questions:
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:
Imagine that you can home from work and you found a dog that just kill your child We killed Jesus with our sin, how should we be treated?
Resist the devil and he will flee; Come near to God and he will near to you - James 4:7-10 |
2008-07-25 - 30 Days at the Cross - Always Remembering Passover - it meant freedom for the Jews (from Egypt) It was a new relationship with God and man Jesus: with my life and death, you have a new relationship, now remember this In the midst of our activities and pressure of life, we forget:
He took bread and gave thanks for this very reason - Luke 22:19 Give thanks and examine yourself - 1 Corinthians 11:28 |
2008-08-17 - 30 Days at the Cross - Do not Come Down! Jesus was tempted with the words, "save yourself, come down from the cross If they understood the eternal significance of the moment, they would have cried "No, Jesus! Do not come down!" Jesus was tempted:
Our mission is the same (Luke 9:23) - must deny self and lose our life for others We must quit looking for some new,easy approach and decide to love The world is screaming out: "Save yourself! Come down from the cross!" Jesus cries: "Do not come down!" |
2008-11-19 - Raising Awesome Kids - Husband and Father Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her - Ephesians 5:25-6:4 Our relationship with our father is, in many ways, the defining relationship in all of our lives Our response to authority and our self-confidence comes from our father Responsibility of training children squarely upon the father Fathers...bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord - Ephesians 6:4 |
2008-11-30 - Raising Awesome Kids - Have Fun, Be Hip What is wrong with having fun? Nothing! Jesus was a fun person:
If we are fun people, our kids will have fun If we let them have fun they will love our leadership You need to be hip to what is happening We show love when we are interested in someone else's world Be coming all things to all men - 1 Corinthians 9:22 Take a look at the current youth scene and not ridicule it Confront the sin but accept the style |
2008-12-01 - Raising Awesome Kids - Love Love is of first importance. All else is secondary. Above all we should have love - 1 Peter 4:8 Lack of love, we are nothing - 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 We may lavish upon our children the finest things but if we do not make them feel loved, it is all to no avail If there is closeness and love between us and our kids, we have a place to stand and start for the battle of their hearts Build our families on love and our kids will be strong Kids are born with the capacity to love, but not all learn how |
2008-12-03 - Raising Awesome Kids - Love Your Children For some, children are a burden Some, kill the unborn Withholding your love is killing them from the inside Many children their parents problems simply because they do not feel loved To those who are failing to love their children - now is the time to repent Otherwise you will ruin your children, wreck your life, and lose your chance of going to heaven Whoever welcomes a little child welcome me (Jesus) Whoever causes one of them to them to sin - better to a large millstone around your neck and drown in the sea - Matthew 18:5-6 |
2008-12-24 - Raising Awesome Kids - Gods Training Plan (part 2) Deuteronomy 6:4-9 These Commandment (v. 6) Bible is the underlaying basis for all training
Paul said of Timothy - from infancy you have know the holy scriptures - 2 Timothy 3:!5 Love the Lord your God (v. 5) Training flows from a relationshop of love with the personal God |
2009-01-22 - Jesus with People - Finding Faith Jesus was in ahuge crowd and suddenly a Roman centurion walks up to Jesus - Matthew 8:5-10 NT centurions are often mentioned with honor:
Lord, my servant lays paralyzed and in terrible suffering - Matthew 8:5-6 Jesus was moved by the man's heart - I will go and heal him Lord, I don't deserve to have you under my roof - Matthew 8:8 Say the word and he will be healed - Matthew 8:8 Jesus did not find anyone in Israel with such faith |
2009-01-27 - Jesus with People - Rich Young Ruler Luke 18:22-24 Sell everything and follow him = It's not what you do but who you are Jesus did challenge him but he also loved him Jesus does not get into a lengthy theological debate Each of us lacks that "one thing" deep down that we must give up and following Jesus |
2009-02-05 - Jesus with People - Realness When it comes to friendship, Jesus again sets the standard Jesus knew John:
Incredible thing about John is that it would seem that he never doubted Jesus' love He refered to himself 5 times as the "disciple that Jesus loved" |
2009-03-10 - Promises of God - God is Merciful God is merciful - Deuteronomy 4:29-31 Even when you have sinned greatly and even when you think - This time I have really blown it God promises if from there you seek him, even from a deep dark hole of shame, disappointment and failure - you will find him Must be with all of your heart We are not the best judge for our own repentance Our loved should know and should be asked It is from the deepest darkest hole that that God promises are the most truest For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you - Deuteronomy 4:31 |
2009-08-26 - Wild at Heart - God loves wilderness (part 2) God’s relationship with us is risky We are unpredictable; there is the likelihood to get hurt (ultimate risk anyone ever takes is to love) God give love all the time (and gets hurt all the time) Music, wine, poetry, sunset – all his inventions God is romantic at heart Heart of man is drawn from God – strong and courageous love Have you noticed the most often word used with boys is 'don’t' –God’s design 'Yes' Sexes show different sides of God’s heart Heart of a woman – deep hearted, seductive more than fierce Wants to be loved Why don’t you choose Me? 'Seek and you will find me…with all of your heart' – Jeremiah 29:13 God wants to be wanted Why does God does not answer prayer right away? – he wants us to talk to him God has beauty to be unveiled Each stage of creation is better than before All Adam can say is “WOW” Women wants he beauty unveiled Do you delight in me? God wants to be worshiped |
2009-09-17 - Wild at Heart - Healing the wound (part 3) Wound unfelt is wound unhealed Door may be your anger – perhaps from a girl, failure The way to God is stopping the false self It may a simple prayer – Jesus, take me into my wound Jesus never seems to heal the same way twice There are no formulas with God Insists on working personally Masculinity is bestowed by masculinity Healing never happens outside of intimacy with Christ It begins with surrender; until you have given yourself to him you will not have a real self …to set you free – What? Your heart So take him at his word – ask him in to heal all the broken places within you But you can’t do this at a distance I simply allow myself to say that the loss of my father mattered Important for us to grieve our wound Grieving we admit the truth, we hurt by someone we loved Few men are ever so vulnerable as to simply let themselves be loved by God Why don’t you just let God love you? The imitate union with Jesus and with his Father is the source of all healing and all our strength Unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others – Ephesians 4:31, Hebrews 12:15 Forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and then discovering the prisoner was you. |
2009-09-30 - One Another - Greet One Another Greeting seems to be pretty important aspect of relationships in the NT:
Need to show each other they are welcomed, loved and accepted - not just saying "I accept you" roboticly Challenge for all of us is to really communicate the heart of love and acceptance Identify 2 or 3 people that you have a hard time "accepting" Will you be comfortable saying "God judge me just as I judge them"? |
2009-10-14 - Wild at Heart - Eve's Wound Question for her is: Am I lovely? She needs to know that she is exquisite and exotic and chosen. This is core to her identity, the way she bears the image of God Will you purse me? Do you delight in me? Will you fight for me? Wound says - No, you are not beautiful and no one will really fight for you Wound usually always comes from the hand of her father He has the power to cripple or to bless is just as powerful to her as to the son Her heart is violated and the message is driven father in – you are not desired, you will not be protected, no one will fight for you. If the father is passive, a little girl will suffer a silent abandonment – not noticed or pursued Like so many unloved young women, they will to turn to boys to hear what she never heard from her father When a woman never hears she’s worth fighting for, she comes to believe that is the sort of treatment she deserves A hesitant man is the last thing in the world a woman needs. She needs a lover and a warrior, not a nice guy Number one problem between men and women is that we men, when asked to truly fight for her, hesitate We are still seeking to save ourselves, we have forgotten the deep pleasure of spilling our life for another |
2009-11-21 - Repentance - Its Time To Go Home (part 3) There is no perfect repentance, but wholehearted repentance David – search me (Psalms 139) Spirit’s conviction Good – overcome blinding pride Bad – Satan will try to stop you Sometimes easier to see our sin than think about loved ones salvation (passed away) What would they want you to do? Questions
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2009-12-05 - Master Plan - Jesus gave himself away (part 1)
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