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Searching for "open" in the Quiet Time Archive
Displaying results from "25" to "50". (126 found)

2009-02-03 - Jesus with People - Give or Take?
World seem to be divided into givers and takers
Usually we feel as though we are the givers and everyone else is a taker
We can draw back and become cynical - before long we cling to possessions, our rights or our feelings
At that point we have become takers
We would never admit it - and many of us do not see it

Jesus meet a man that was a taker - Matthew
Matthew was no different than us - he probably had a family with mouths to feed

As he left the office and crept closer toward the crowd surrounding Jesus
He heard the words - You must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow me
Jesus then walked up to Matthew and said "Follow me"
His life changed forever - became a disciple of Jesus

How did Jesus know? do it? Jesus knew that he was sick and need to get well - Mark 2:17

We need to see people as they ready are and what they can become
Is there some in your life you can share with but haven't because you don't think they are open?

2009-02-07 - Jesus with People - Openness

Jesus opened his heart to his friends
It is why John knew Jesus was troubled during the night at the garden - John 13:21

Jesus completely bared his very soul to his three closest friends - Matthew 26:38
He did not retreat to be alone - drew John and others close to him

All the while knowing that they were unworthy of his trust and fell sleep when he needed them the most



2009-02-11 - Jesus with People - Heart Determined to Love
Jesus' strongest and clearest denunciation of the Pharisees came in Matthew 23
  • Was it because his frustration level reached his limit?
  • Was it because he finally had enough?
  • Was it because he was going to have the last word before they killed him?
  • Was it because he had justification for all things them did to him?
No, he was not trying to win an argument or put them in their place
His last and strongest words were spoken to wake them up
He was trying to open their hearts and win them over to God

2009-02-12 - Jesus with People - The Better Choice
Martha and Mary - Luke 18:29-30

Jesus and his disciples were passing through the village when Martha opened her home to them - Luke 10:38

Jesus didn't  stop to correct Martha in her preparation
Martha - Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work myself?

With compassion - Martha, Martha
Explained that Mary's choice was right and a lasting one
What Jesus wanted most was to see her have a single-minded desire to know him and his teachings

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in preparing to server others that we are either too distracted or too exhausted to server them when they arrive

2009-03-15 - Promises of God - Convictions from scriptures
Satan furiously went after Jesus - Matthew 4:1-11

Jesus countered the enemy's temptations with Scripture

The Word must deep into our hearts so we recall the scriptures when needed
We rarely have the opportunity to open the Word when being tempted

Not just "stop that" or "start doing this"

Bring to mind specific scriptures
Hearing ourselves quoting the appropriate scriptures, it brings conviction during the battle of sin

2009-04-12 - Promises of God - God is Still Faithful
You gave into the temptation again, you sinned
It is the same one and you have never been able to completely conquer this one area of your life

What are your options?
  1. Justify your sin and say it's not all that bad
  2. Blame God for not keeping Satan at an appropriate distance
  3. Decide to leave God because this repenting thing is not working out
  4. Decide to be not to be open about your sin
  5. Tell yourself how bad of person you are
  6. Could trust God and his promises
Read the following passage at least 10 times, memorize it, and be ready with it - 1 Corinthians 10:13


2009-06-10 - One Another - Walking in the Light
What does it mean to walk in the light?

1 John 1:7-9
Living our lives with openness and transparency in response to the blood of Christ
Fellowship is both the practice and product of walking in the light

How central are our relationships to following Jesus?
  1. Coupled with loving God
  2. How we show we are disciples
  3. Something to devoted to as we come into Christ
  4. How we fulfill the principle of Christ
  5. How we live a life worthy of the gospel and the Lord
  6. Where walking in the light leads

"I need to get serious about my relationship with God" = Need to get serious with my relationship with other believers

2009-07-04 - A Life of Impact - Amazing Speech

Amazing Speech

Mark 6:1-6

Suspicions and fear can evaporate because of love and openness

1. Deep Conviction

  • Listeners who put his words into practice were wise
  • How convicted are you about what you’ll be saying?
  • Think about what to say instead of how it will come across

2. Passion - If the speaker isn’t moved by the message, how can he expect it to move anyone else?

3. Integrity - Speaker must take plank out of their own eye before one can challenge other on the same topic

4. Person to person

  • Speak at their level mean not “to talk down to” or “to talk up to” an audience.
  • Apologizing without reason, belittles himself
  • Jesus was above us, but he came down to our level

5. Inspirational

  • Conservative and low-key he will have no impact
  • We all want our lives to count for something

6. Practical

  • Message must be practical and applicable
  • He specifically addressed the sins in their lives
  • He gave them direction, and at times He told them exactly what to do

7. Meet the Need - Out of touch with the needs on the audience can actually make things worst then they are.



2009-07-19 - A Life of Impact - Timing

Timing

Mark 8:31-33

  • He did not reveal things prematurely.
  • There is a proper time and procedure for every matter, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him. – Ecc 8:6

Approachability

  • Peter and the other disciples knew that they could say anything to Jesus and he would continue to accept them.
  • A leader must be approachable.
  • Approachability is not the product of timidity.
  • People won’t open up to someone they perceive as being weak and unable to help them.
  • Approachability is the fruit of those who have the ability to listen completely before responding.
  • Confidentiality: Public offenses demand public discipline. (What goes around comes around)


2009-07-22 - A Life of Impact - Retreats

Retreats

Mark 9:30-32

  • Sometimes the only way we can truly give ourselves to the few is by making ourselves unavailable to the many.
  • Retreats are a change in routine to ponder perspective to help in our personal growth.

Openness

  • Jesus was very open with his disciples about difficult challenges and troubles that lay ahead for him.
  • Through his openness, Jesus led the way for his disciples to be open with each other.
  • Hiding produces shallow relationships and weak bonding – leads to dissolution of the group
  • Few are open with troubles to someone who has never been open to them.


2009-07-25 - A Life of Impact - Friend or Foe?

Friend or Foe?

Mark 9:38-41

  • To wrongly oppose an ally is wasteful, and to aid an adversary out of ignorance is embarrassing.
  • Jesus did not recognize anyone as being “neutral” about him.

Hell-Fire Speech

Mark 9:42-50

  • When a person steps into seawater, he becomes acutely aware of open wounds on his feet.
  • Salty speech is good for producing impact.

Teacher

Mark 10:1 – We must good teachers and in teaching mode.



2009-08-04 - A Life of Impact - Higher Plain

Higher Plain

Mark 12:13-17

  • Jesus was not deceived by flattery.
  • He spoke openly about their attempt to trap him.
  • Jesus amazed them by a simple spiritual perspective on religiously complex issues.

Unity

  • Unity is achieved as God’s people strive together to attain God’s thinking on all of life’s issues.
  • People willing to deny themselves accept their Creator’s thinking above their own opinion will achieve the closeness no one has ever seen
  • God’s plan for diversity and unity complement each other.
  • Plurality of denominations exists because men and women have not obeyed the scripture.
  • Common goaled minded people produce unity.

Contentedness

  • People don’t trust someone whom they suspect to be greedy or overindulgent.
  • A greedy man stirs up dissension.


2009-08-13 - A Life of Impact - Open arms

Open arms

Mark 14:27-31

  • We should warn others to be ready for failure – not to discourage them.
  • Failure is unavoidable; defeat comes when we give up!

Giver of life

  • Anyone who discovers a cause for which he would be willing to die has discovered the reason for which he was born.
  • Is your life like: roller coaster ride, merry-go-round, or life a bumper car?
  • Jesus had taken these men out of the amusement park, and they knew it.


2009-08-15 - A Life of Impact - Emotional Transformation (part 2)

Openness

  • Most are either:
    • Stoics – feelings and burdens are locked away deep inside of them.
    • Cathartics – those who dump their feelings on anybody who will listen
  • Jesus practiced complete openness without making others responsible for his feelings.
  • Jesus leaned on his friends, but he did not dump on them.
  • Premeditated openness is a key to fostering deep, meaningful relationships

Deliberation

  • Too many of us would be unwilling to persevere through a long and difficult decision-making process.
  • We must be willing to put in whatever effort is required to reach the best decision.


2009-09-09 - Wild at Heart - The fathers voice (part 2)
When we see Jesus, Joseph is out of the picture – true father God – he had to learn who he really was and made of.
Initiation involves a journey and a series of tests.
We try to make our lives easier.

What are you trying to teach me here?
What issues in my heart are you trying to rise through this?
What is it you want me to see?
What are you asking me to let go of?

Men are taught that a wound that stops you from playing is a girlish wound.
No wonder we walk with our guts hanging out
Most men minimize their wound
David did not act like this at all - openly - “my heart is wounded within me” - Psalms 109:22
Suck it up, as the saying goes

God is fiercely committed to you
Wound that goes unacknowledged and unwept is a wound that cannot heal
You’ve embraced and deserve is a would that cannot heal
Whatever is denied cannot heal
Certainly denial that it’s shaping the way they live today.

2009-09-28 - One Another - Differences (part 1)
Judgement or Apathy

Two extremes:
  • Judgement - hardline, judgemental rejection of anything not like us
  • Apathy - "open minded", anything goes

Accused or Excused

  • Excused tend to think everything is someone else's fault
  • Accused walk around feeling guilty all the time
  • Must learn to accept as he is acceping - of others or even ourself

 

 



2009-10-15 - Wild at Heart - Offering our Strength (part 1)
Man come to offer his strength, woman invites the man into herself
Requires courage and vulnerability and selflessness for both of them
Man must rise to the occasion, must move, women opens herself in stunning vulnerability
Man spills himself - sweet is the death
Life is created
When a man withholds himself from his woman, he leaves her without the life only he can bring
She is made for and craves words from him - Proverbs 18:21

If a man refuses to offer himself, then his wife will remain empty and barren
Silent man starves his wife
A man who leaves - he sacrifices them (wife and children) rather than for them
Examples:
  • Maximus
  • William Wallace
  • Life of Joseph, husband of Mary – was heroism
Cost him his reputation

2009-10-24 - Repentance - What It Is (part 1)
What is repentance?

Repentance is the first word of the gospel

Na,,ham = most often used of God’s repentance
Shu, b = a physical turning or returning of an object
epostrepho = a Greek work similar to Shu, b

metanoia = used as the first word in the gospel (change in mind and attitude)
  • meta = after, change, implies there was a before
  • noia = denotes the faculty of physical and intellectual perception, then also the power to arrive at moral judgments

“he came to his senses” – Luke 15:17
“he opened their minds” – Luke 24:45
“open their eyes” – Acts 26:18
“set their minds on things above” – Romans 8:5

2009-11-19 - Repentance - Its Time To Go Home (part 1)
Psalms 51 – has become an anthem of repentance for generations

David worldly sorrow:
2 Samuel 12:
V9 – why have you despised the word of the lord?
V10 – you have despised me [God]
V12 – You did it secretly
V14 – You have utterly scorned the Lord

How to repent? – Consider what God does
Establishes foundation of grace and kindness – 2 Samuel 12:7-8
Provides role models – 2 Samuel 11:11
Sends prophets – 2 Samuel 12:1
Creativity opens our eyes – 2 Samuel 12:5-6
Exposes and Convicts – 2 Samuel 12:7

2009-12-27 - First the Kingdom - Ease of Meekness
Generally, being meek is not appealing
Meek is equated with weak - but this is not true

Greek word for "meek" - used to describe a stallion once it had been broken and had become teachable
We can be become meek if we confront our sin and experience godly sorrow

In the Bible, meekness is associated with humility and gentleness
This meekness has no relation to a timid or retiring character
It is: I need God and am totally open to whatever

Moses was said to be very meek - Numbers 12:3

Jesus himself was said to be meek - 2 Corinthians 10:1

2009-12-28 - First the Kingdom - At Ease
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth - Matthew 5:5
But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace - Psalms 37:11

Meekness is strength under the control of God
Being meek is being at ease before God and man
One looks outside himself for the power of life
Totally open with God, God will work in all things for his good

To be meek is not to be afraid...

1. Is at ease with God

Someone who worries and has anxiety reduces them to practical atheists

A child is at ease with their father/mother (in most cases)
I have stilled and quieted my soul; child with mother is my soul within me - Psalms 131:2

2. Is at ease with himself
Jesus knew exactly what authority he had been he had been given by God - John 13:3

3. Is at ease with others
Neither inferior nor superior
No longer deceived by pride, he is free to learn from anyone
At ease with God and himself - has nothing to prove and nothing to fear



2010-01-04 - Kingdom First - Making Peace with Others
Having peace with God - story is not over
We are in a world to wage peace just as God does

Jesus is our example
Courage and honesty destroy barriers
Openly expressing his thoughts and feelings pulls down superficiality and distrust

Jesus expressed his:
  • Fears - Matthew 26:36-46
  • Disappointment - Matthew 11:14-17
  • Anger and Frustration - Matthew 23
He wanted people to be totally united, regardless of differences

If you want real peace, don't avoid conflict
Do whatever is required to settle matters quickly

2010-01-09 - Kingdom First - Light Drives Satan Away
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all - 1 John 1:5

Satan can not be where there is light
When the light comes, sin is exposed

The light will bring a reaction:
  • Some will run from it
  • Other will try to put it out
  • Still others will be drawn to it
Everyone does evil hates the light; whoever lives by the truth comes into the light - John 3:19-21

The light takes away Satan's power
The more we open ourselves to God's light, the more his light shines through us

2010-01-12 - Kingdom First - Radical Righteousness
Jesus says to just throw your Christian checklists away - Matthew 5:27-30
We can pass many of our checks and be far away from God

Boundaries and lists without the heart make a hollow shell

Continual sin such as impurity is used by Satan to destroy our spiritual appetite
We are filled with guilt and our faith to overcome is damaged - compounding the problem by hiding the sin
We are robbed of the victory that Jesus wants us to have

How do we gorge out sin?
  • Understand that Jesus wants us to be perfectly pure
  • Be desperate enough to do anything to overcome the sin
  • Examine yourself and the sin
  • Need to be open about the sin


2010-01-28 - Kingdom First - Personal Responsibility (part 2)
When talking about removing the plank from our eye so we can remove the speck from someone else, there are two extremes:
  1. Becoming inwardly focused, see only our problems
  2. Trying to help other straighten out their lives without being open to the same help ourselves
How do I get a sober estimate of myself?

A. Look daily into the mirror of God's word
Foolish to just look at the word of God and not let it transform you - James 1:22-25

B. Pray fervently for God to open your eyes and give you insight into your heart and life
An incredible prayer about searching our heart - Psalms 139:23-24

C. Be open with those in your life
Be quick to confess sin - James 5:16

D. Have a humble attitude toward challenge in your life
Let this be our goal - Psalms 141:5

2010-01-31 - One Another - Confession Questions (part 1)
While someone is confessing a sin, what if repentance is not in a person's heart?

a. Confession is never done from humility if it does not involve repentance
Confession without repentance is the same as faith without action - useless

b. Confession is self-focused and not God-focused if it does not seek to please him

Without repentance, confession is being done for a self-serving reason:
  • Gain sympathy
  • Appear open
  • Avoid a charge of hypocrisy
c. Confession of sin must involve forsaking sin

The opposite of concealing sin is confession AND forsaking sin
The one who covers his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses them and forsakes them will find mercy - Proverbs 28:13

2010-02-03 - One Another - Confession Questions (part 4)
How do we grow in our confession?

a. Be open even at the temptation level
We will get used to talking what we are thinking and going through
We will nip many things in the bud before they progress to sin

b. Start over-correcting
Start confessing everything
You can always tone it down so it does not become annoying :)

c. Ask some else what they think of your confession:

Do you find me to be a confessing person?
What is my confession level?
  • Seldom confess
  • Confess only when there is a "big" sin
  • Consistently confess sin
  • Am open even about temptations


2010-02-15 - One Another - Bearing With Another (part 2)
When helping each other likely not going to happen:
  • When relationships are superficial - deeper and consistent basis
  • When we feel our own burdens are quite enough - not hard for anyone to feel this
When will bearing with each other happen?

1. When relationships are real, open, and deep
When we know people, walk with them, feel with them, and pray with them - we will know when they are leaving the path
We need to care for them

2. When we feel our burdens, but live with a servant heart
Should look to the interest of others - Philippians 2:4-5

3. When we understand that we are responsible for one another and accept it

2010-02-27 - One Another - One Another In Groups (part 1)
Small groups were in the center of Jesus' ministry - spent much of his time with the 12

Principles of small groups

Focus on belonging and being devoted - Romans 12:5

 All belong to one another - members of one another
These who have been united with Christ - this is your spiritual family

Be a giver, not just a taker
Always need great listeners (not just being quite) - ask questions, draw people out
Do your part to make the group warm, loving, supportive, open, etc
"I'm not getting much out from this group" - check your heart and actions

Appreciate, affirm, and encourage the different gifts - 1 Corinthians 12
God has given our brothers and sisters for our enjoyment
Give special focus to those who may feel marginalized by illness/disability

2010-03-20 - To Live is Christ - Enemies of the Cross
The acceptance of Jesus leads to joy and not to be naive - Philippians 3:17-21
Be thankful but still have our eyes wide open

The cross stands as a constant reminder of the battle between good and evil
Jesus did not just hang out at the cross - HE DIED there because of his enemies
And the war goes on

To act as though we do could do enough to earn salvation - undermines Jesus' sacrifice
To act as though grace is a license for sin - undermines the purpose of the cross - Romans 6:17

Enemies of the cross = people with minds on earthly things

Philippians had a unique blessing of having Roman citizenship outside of Rome
Our real home country is heaven and our loyalty is to the King of Kings

2010-04-10 - Life to the Full - Two Wisdoms (part 4)
There are two sorts of wisdom: earthly and heavenly

Do you have God's wisdom? - James 3:17-18
  • pure - not mixed with anything else - in thought, word or deed?
  • peace-loving - never to be soft on sin and not follow ways of violence
  • considerate - do we really put others first?
  • submissive - "obedient, compliant", open to persuasion
  • full of mercy and good - God is looking for changes and results
  • impartial - not taking the side of the unjust
  • sincere - "unhypocritical"
Wisdom in the Bible is more about moral quality than intellectual quality
Is why the wise may turn out to be fools and the "foolish" may the wisest of all


2010-05-01 - I am Innocent of the Blood of all Men (part 2)
Acts 22:6-21
  • Paul had an encounter with Jesus
    • Encounters with Jesus are significant
    • Paul understood he was living in opposition to Jesus - killing Christians (people following Christ)
    • Don't want to be on the opposite side of the battle from God
    • Where are you at today? Do you know?
    • Share
      • Grow up religious - Every Sunday - through High School
      • Ask to come to church, study the Bible
      • Saw life and heart wasn't matching; my sin was in opposition to God
      • Tried to make it personal - mean and angry (Hoping the standard would changed)
      • They were there to help
  • Paul had the humility to ask "What shall I do?" - v10
    • Paul had a heart of humility to be taught - Bible
    • Could have brought up his religiousness or accomplishments
    • Opened himself up to anything, Not "I'm sorry, won't do that again"
  • Paul was religious all this life and had the heart to immediately obey and be baptized - v16
    • Perhaps, God uses the life of Paul to prepare our hearts for surrender
    • What have you been holding on to instead of Jesus? What is stopping you?
We/your friend would like to share "the whole will of God".

2010-05-03 - Renewing Your Spiritual Passion for God (part 2)

1 Kings 19:1

  • Travels 150 miles to get way from Jezebel
    • It is amazing how far we get away
  • Lost gratitude
  • God doesn't give up
    • He sends angels
  • How to get back our spiritual compassion?
    • Go back!
    • Don't run from your fear
    • Don't just go through the motions
    • We are to face ourselves
Renewing your spiritual passion for each other

1 Thessalonians 2:17-20

2 Corinthians 7:2-13

  • Challenges are need
  • They produce more reliance and faith in God


Renew Your Spiritual Passion for the Lost

Mark 5:6-11

  • Jesus saw their pain and their lostness
    • Broken marriages
    • Cannot control their children
  • We need to get into their lives
  • The will open up with your help


2010-05-09 - World Hates Jesus (part 1)

Preached by Richard Dixon - 1999-09-19

John 15:18-25

  • They didn't want to obey
  • 90% of what they said about Jesus was negative
  • What did they not like? His teachings

    Luke 9:23 Deny self
    Luke 13:5 Repent!
    Luke 14:25-26 Love more than anyone
    Luke 9:57-62 Leave everything
    Luke 6:27-31 Love your enemies
    Luke 12:13-31 Do not worry
    Luke 8:24 Faithlessness as evil

  • American Dream - living for me.
  • Not total commitment then we are not totally convince.
  • Challenges our very self
  • Showing someone the truth will either:
    • They will love you
    • They will hate you

John 3:19-21

  • The way you respond shows your love for God
  • It is not natural to be open.


2010-05-10 - World Hates Jesus (part 2)

Ephesians 5:1-13

  • Being open pleases God
  • Sin enslaves us.
Hebrews 10:26-31

  • Our sins killed Jesus
  • Not oops...Deliberate!
  • Two ways to look at it
    • Bad Bad = Guilty/No change
    • Good Bad = Repentence/Change
  • Only 72 left to follow Jesus when he ascended
  • Today:
    • God is the same.
    • People change.

John 6:60-71

  • Jesus' message offended people
  • They my have said:
    • You are going to lose some members
    • You are not going to be popular
    • This might start a controversy

Matthew 10:34-38

  • The message is going to cause friction
Matthew 7:13-14
  • The road is narrow:
    • Hard to get on
    • Not easy
    • Few will be on it
  • Are you on the narrow road?


2010-05-15 - Desire's Journey - The Dilemma of Desire
We can not live without yearning, yet the yearning sets us up for disappointment
Because of its vulnerable nature, desire begins to feel like our worst enemy

Despair is the fate of the desiring soul - Sam Houston
Hope deferred make the heart sick - Proverbs 13:12

How awful it feels to open our hearts to joy, only to have grief come in
How do we live in a world with desire so deep in us and disappointment lurking behind every corner?
Are a few arrows, dare we even desire?
Do we refuse to love because we may hurt? possibility of pain?

Shutting down our hearts is to die altogether
Hope deferred make the heart sick... but when dreams come true, there is life and joy

Most of us have chosen to reduce our desire to a more manageable size
We allow it only in small doses:
  • Dinner out
  • Vacation
  • A new ______


2010-05-17 - Desire's Journey - The Beast Within
Years of living in an indifferent hostile world creates a deep sense of unsettledness with in us

Battle of good and evil within us - Romans 7:20-23
Sinful desires are contrary to the Spirit
They conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want - Galatians 5:17

There is a nagging awareness warning us not to feel our hunger too deeply or it will undo us
We wouldn't want to do anything crazy or desperate

We want what our unmet desire wants but our sinful nature wants what is contrary

We try everything - TV, sex, relationships, drugs, etc - going one to another
We don't know what we want because we're so unacquaninted with our desire

We try to keep a safe distance between our daily lives and our heart's desire - because it causes us too much trouble

Do we really want to open Pandora's box?

Dare we awaken our hears to their true desires?
Is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all?

Our dilemma is this: we can't seem to live with desire, and we can't live without it



2010-06-03 - Desire's Journey - Hardest Lesson to Learn

God promises evern man futility and failure
God guarantees every woman relational heartache and loneliness

We spend much of our time attempting to end these curses
We say, "I can make it work" and "I won't do what they did, I will overcome"

It can not be done
No matter how hard we try or have a clever plan - we can not arrange the life we desire

Will life ever be what I so deeply want it to be?

We must have life - we can not arrange for it

People avoid the lesson:

  • Changing jobs
  • Changing mates
  • Changing direction in life

...rather than facing the truth - Isaiah 57:10

Some have seen that this will not work, yet they have faded into resignation, bitterness or dispair
They take their revenge on God by killing their desire

How do we accept that it can't be done with an open heart?
How do we sustain desire in the face of failure and loneilness.... Hope



2010-06-06 - Take the test (part 1)
By Curt Simmons in 2002

Test Time

Tests are given in many of life's situations:

  • driving test
  • drug test
  • citizen test
  • emission test
  • products test
  • work test
We need tests to see where we are.

 

Deuteronomy 8:1-2 - what is really in your heart?


Judges 2:20-FF

  • Your character needs to be tested
  • "I want to be molded"
2 Chronicles 29:14-17
  • Tested in how you give
  • Test in what makes you happy
Proverbs 17:3 - The Lord tests the heart

1 Peter 1:3-6

  • Prove to you and him that your faith genuine
  • We need to stop fighting God
  • We will have challenges with:
    • character
    • commitment
    • hurt
    • weakness in the church
    • close friends leaves
    • persecution
    • death
    • illness
    • finances
    • relationships
    • dating
    • family not open
    • spouse
    • happiness
    • children
    • friends


2010-06-09 - Take the test (part 4)

Take the test

50% is better than 0%

Luke 8:11

  • Time for testing
  • We need to have grit and determination
  • You are stronger than you think
  • You can get answers (open book test)

 

Learn from the results

 

1 Peter 5:5-7

  • Older people have taken those same tests
  • Deepens our love and faith
  • Help you get closer to people
  • Helps with compassion toward others

 

Do better than on your next test

 

Each test is administored by God

1 Peter 5:8-9

  • God wants us to improve
  • Do not quit
  • Admit where you are weak


Who is winning in you life? God or Satan?



2010-06-19 - All or Nothing (part 2)

New Testament

Romans 11:17-21 - You can get arrogant

1 Corinthians 10:1-10 - Do repeat the same misakes of those in the OT

Galatians 6:7-10 - We reap what we sow, do not become weary of doing good

Jude 3-4 - Grace of God is not a license to sin

1 John 4 - Can not love God without loving your brother

2 Timothy 4 - We need to check to see if we have sound doctrine

Hebrew 5 - Teachers can become arrogance

Revelation 2-3 = Churches can loose focus

  1. Read and Pray Daily to God
  2. We need others in our lives
  3. We need meetings of the body
  4. Giving to God
  5. Complete Openness
  6. People are going to heaven or hell
  7. Reaching out to others


2010-07-24 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 1)
The more comfortable we are with mystrery in our journey, the more rest we will know along the way

Paul's quests - 2 Corinthians 6:10
  • Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing
  • Poor, yet making many rich
  • Having nothing, yet possessing everything
If we remain open to sorrow, we can know joy

Somehow being empty allows us to make others rich

Some believe in the church that being a Christian somehow satisfies our every desire
Augustine: "The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing"

Being content is not the same as being full

2010-07-30 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 7)
Christ is weeping freely
His prayers are marked by loud cries and tears
He make it very clear what he desires

"Yet not my will, your will be done"
He surrenders with desire
Making himself poor, he opens up to us the treasures of heaven

Buddha abandons his desire
Christ surrenders his will
It is no small difference

True surrender is not an easy way out
Surrender comes only after the night of wrestling
Only after we open our hearts to care deeply and give over our deepest desires to God

Freedom and beauty and rest that follow are among the greatest surprises


2010-08-24 - Waking Dead - Glory (part 1)
Our destiny is to come fully alive
To explain sin, some have gone to the point of saying "I am just a sinner, saved by grace" or "there sure isn't anything good in me"
But this is unbibical

They point to: "For I know that nothing good lives in me" - Romans 7:18
Notice he says " in my flesh" - there is a difference between the flesh (old heart) and the true you

Yes, we battle sin and crucify the flesh but we choose to live from the new heart
That sinful nature you battle is not who you are

"it is no longer I myself who do it"  X 2 - Romans 7:17-18; 20, 22
Paul opens the letter with "Paul, an apostle" not as a sinner

You should shine like stars - Philippians 2:15-16
Let your light shine before men - Matthew 5:16

Shame says - "I am nothing to look at. I am not capable of goodness"
Humility say - "I bear a glory for sure, but it is a reflected glory"

2010-09-02 - Waking Dead - Ask God
  • Peter was one of Jesus' best friends
  • Went to see the Transfiguration (with James and John)
  • He came along to see Christ raise Jarorus' daughter from the dead
  • Jesus went to Peter in the garden of Gethsemane for strength (but failed)
Peter had a special place in Jesus' heart
When Christ arose, he did not let Peter sweep the whole matter under the rug - John 21:15-17
It would have haunted the old fisherman for the rest of his life

Most of us try to "put things behind us"
  • Guilt would have made it had to pray
  • Made it more difficult to tell others about Jesus
He want truth in our inter most being - so he has to take us to our inter most being

Jesus was asked would he feed his sheep times - for each betrayal
Lessons that have been laid down in pain can be accessed only by pain
Christ must open the wound not just bandage it over

Instead of burying the pain, ask God what he is wanting to speak to you

2010-09-18 - Waking Dead - Spiritual Warfare (part 6)
We must be careful that the religious does not turn discipleship into a soul-killing exercise
Counseling "medicine" for the sick patients can cause an endless cycle of always relying on the meds instead of focusing on a solution
Hope deferred makes the heart sick - Proverbs 13:12
So the wounds of the heart are never healed

A religious spirit makes it next to impossible foe a person to break free by spreading the belief there is no war
  • What group did Jesus tangle with the most?
  • Who start the rumors about Jesus to discredit him?
  • Where did the open opposition to Christ come from?
  • Who paid the 30 pieces of silver for Jesus' capture
  • Who got the crowd to start yelling Barabbas when Pilot was ready to let Jesus go?
If it does not bring freedom and life, then it is not Christianity
If it does not restore the image of God and rejoice in the heart, it is not Christianity

2010-09-20 - Waking Dead - Christ's Great Works
Son's three great works on our behalf

1. Cross accomplished many thing
Forgiveness and the power to overcomes the constant attacks from the enemy

2. Resurrection
Having put off the old self, we are to put on the new - Ephesians 4:24
It is life we were promised and it is life we need

3. Ascension
All authority was given to Christ
By the grace of God, we share that with him
It was Adam who gave it away and it was Christ who won it back

Lord of the Rings, Two Towers - Theoden (a king) who is reluctant to go to war
Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not - Aragorn

The primary reason most people do not know the freedom and life Christ promised is that they won't fight for it



2010-10-08 - Contagious Christian - Attractiveness of Authenticity (part 2)
Authentic Emotional life
Expressing sadness or hurt or grief are not signs of low faith or shallow character

There are two negative consequences when a person outlaws certain feelings
  • He loses the ability to experience feeling altogether and is left with apathy and disorientation
  • Have emotional inauthenticity because they have been lying to themselves for so long
Seeker just shake their heads
Remember what Jesus did when His friend Lazarus died? He wept

Authentic Confession
How Christian deal with their foul-ups and failures
The thinking here is that our moral missteps will drive people away

But actually, It is a powerful witness to the transforming power of Christ
Zacchaeus' household was converted because he was very open with what he did wrong

Today authentic confession cause a seeker in today's non-fault society to realize that only the living God would prompt a person to say "it is my fault and I am sorry"

2010-10-10 - Contagious Christian - Pull of Compassion
Caring for the tangible needs of others is at the core of Christianity
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless - look at orphans and widows in their distress - James 1:27

Compassion is echoed throughout the Bible:
  • Be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor - Deuteronomy 15:11
  • Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me - Matthew 25:40
  • All I ask is that you remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do - Galatians 2:10
Uncaring Christianity does not attract inquirers
Clear and consistent demonstration of Christ-like love is a powerful magnet that pulls people toward Him

Not about who you are or what you did
It is about how you care, being a neighbor - Luke 10:36-37
In Luke 10 - when the wounded man awoke, he must have wondered, "Who did this? Why would they do help me in such a great way?"
It is when people start asking, "Why didn't he not turn away like everyone else?"

As I have loved you, so you must love one another - John 13:34-35
All men will know that you are my disciples

2010-10-27 - Contagious Christian - Strength of Sacrifice (part II)
Second major way to sacrifice is money
The person on the receiving end of help always knows better what effect giving on other's lives

Sometimes the lack of things we need shows us the way to Christ
  • Humbles us because we have receive from others
  • Shows us the true disciples of Christ
It is truly more blessed to give then receive
What might happen if you loosened your grip on your material possessions?

  • Whose heart might open?
  • Whose attitude might soften
  • Who might get curious and start asking spiritual questions?
Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth - 1 John 3:18

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