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Searching for "place" in the Quiet Time Archive
Displaying results from "25" to "50". (161 found)

2009-01-23 - Jesus with People - Touching the Untouchable

Jesus had compassion and healed the man with leprosy - Luke 5:12-18
Jesus is filled with compassion - Mark 1:41

Jesus was different:

  • He hurt for those whose lives were devastated by illness
  • He went to great lengths to be with them
  • Helped and encouraged them
  • Made himself available to them and spent many hours with them - Mark 1:32-34

What Jesus did we can also do (beside healing):

  • Include those who are sick when you can
  • Find ways to serve
  • Help and encourage

Society shrinks back - hospitals are not our favorite place
Jesus reached out his hand and touched
The sick need real involvement in their lives

Somehow, we think that the person is responsible for his or her condition
In some cases yes, but we can not oversimplify God's working in our world

Job "friends" did not understand what God was doing
How unsearchale his judgement and his paths beyond tracing out - Romans 11:33

How can I imitate Jesus by "reaching out" in compassion to the sick?



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

2009-04-06 - Promises of God - Abrahams Faith
By faith Abraham, called to place even through he did not know where is was going - Hebrews 11:8

Obedience to God is the only thing that makes sense

Ludicrous to think that our limited and mortal minds can out smart an omnipotent and omnipresent God

We will never find the blessing of God if we constantly question the wisdom of God

How do you feel about the word of obey?

2009-05-05 - No one like him - Dependence In Prayer
Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed (Luke 5:15-16)

Gave up a night - All night praying (Luke 6:12-13)

Lord teach us to pray (Luke 11) – some disciples were taught to pray from infancy

Prayer was more important than eating or sleeping – Jesus could no go without it

Jesus called God, Father, what perceptions of a father-son relationship are correct and incorrect?

We have a perception that Jesus had a great advantage over of us but Jesus needed the Father like we do.

2009-05-07 - No one like him - His servant heart (part 2)
Many ways to set our mind
  • Career
  • Car
  • House
Jesus set his mind on serving – “What can I give?”
Not looking for comfort
Not about the way he looked

Jesus saw himself as a servant, leading others to be servants

How would this thinking change – marriage, family, church, workplace, neighborhood?
Jesus was about meeting needs
  1. Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
  2. Living Bread (John 6:51)
  3. Great Physician (Matthew 9:12)
Most precious thing to Jesus was his relationship with the Father – but did not hold on that either for our sake

2009-06-03 - No one like him - The Empty Tomb (part 2)
What it means for us:

1. Jesus can be trusted
a. Jesus taught with truth and compassion
b. Backup his teachings with his life
i. No man can come to except through me
ii. Do good to those who hate you
iii. Find your life by loosing it
c. Gives us a place to stand – embolden the disciples
2. Shows the kingdom has come

3. God fully intended to continue Jesus mission
a. Jesus was the foundation
b. Story did not end in Palestine
4. Those who follow him also share in the resurrection
a. Died with Christ, now we can live a new life with him – Romans 6:4,5,8


2009-07-30 - A Life of Impact - Popularity
Popularity

Mark 10:46-52
  • To be laid back is lazy and selfish.
  • Being out of one’s self is a much more vulnerable position, and it takes much more energy.
  • When you feel like you are acting like a lunatic, you are probably just beginning to get out of yourself.
Impressed by desperation
  • Desperate people got people’s attention.
  • Jesus encouraged intensity of any kind. · He hated complacency; he rewarded persistent determination.


2009-08-01 - A Life of Impact - Anger
Anger

Mark 11:11-19
  • He was furious about the fruitfulness of another “tree” that he had planted, watered, weeded, fertilized.
  • Jesus cleared the temple at the beginning of His ministry and also here at the end of His of His ministry
  • There was no fear of God.
Restraint
  • Jesus knew the right place and the right time the do the things needed.
  • He was disciplined and self-controlled for just the right time.
Relentlessness
  • What made Jesus angry was the stubborn refusal of most to change.
  • A willingness to change is a precious and seemingly rare behavioral characteristic.
  • Become exceedingly insecure and defensive when we are awakened to the existence of personal deficiencies.
  • We must also get angry about obstinacy in our own lives and other people’s lives.
Fearsomeness
  • Why didn’t anyone try to stop Jesus as he was taking over the temple? (Only one person and many of them)
  • They knew that they were in the wrong.
  • Teachers of the law and chief priests feared Jesus
  • If people consider you a “nice guy” and are not in awe of you, you probably won’t have much impact.


2009-08-07 - A Life of Impact - A Champion

A Champion

Mark 12:35-37

  • Winning isn’t everything but for the man or woman who desires to make an impact, it is extremely important
  • Few people rush to associate themselves with a loser.
  • Fight fair and do your best.
  • Second-place finishers are all but ignored in the championship celebration

Reprobation

Mark 12:38-44

  • He knew that he had gained the upper hand.
  • Yet he also knew that popular opinion would turn.


2009-08-19 - Wild at Heart - Intro (part 1)
Eve was created with the lush beauty of Eden’s garden
Adam was created outside the garden – wild from the beginning
    Men have an insatiable longing to explore
    When most men come alive
    Discover it when they first cross the street or when they first ride their bikes to the store
Adventure – all the danger and wildness (longing into the soul of men)
Man needs a place where it is not prefabricated
    Moses – in the desert of Sinai
    Jacob – wrestling with God (somewhere east of Jabbok)
    Elijah recovered his strength in the wild
    So did John the Baptist and Jesus



2009-09-01 - Wild at Heart - The wound (part 1)
There comes a time when we simply have to face the challenges in our lives and stop backing down Men rarely praise each other directly - by way of accomplishments (“you are a wild man”, “what is up stud”

The question – Do I have what it takes? Am I powerful? Until a man knows he’s a man he will forever be trying to prove he is one, while at the same time shrink from anything that might reveal he is not

Boy learns who is he and what he’s got from a man
  • can not learn it from any other place
  • can not learn it from other boys
  • can not learn it from women


2009-09-05 - Wild at Heart - Battle for a mans heart (part 1)
Jesus told us to turn the other cheek. We can not turn a cheek we do not have. Church full of such men
Many have their soul hanging in the balance because no one invited them to be dangerous and to know their own strength or to discover they have what it takes
I feel like I have to ask for permission
Nearly every blow ends up falling in the same place - against our strength
Life takes one vertebra at a time until he has no spine at all

Boy are 3-4 times more likely to be diagnosed as suffering from ADD
Society teaches to be a nice guy -– to be soft
Women are often attracted to wilder men, but once have caught him they settle down to task of domesticating him

How do I get my husband to come alive? Invite him to be dangerous
Women don’t start wars
Violent crimes aren’t really committed by women.
Our prisons aren’t filled with women

2009-09-08 - Wild at Heart - The fathers voice (part 1)
A man needs to know his name - He needs to know he has got what It takes
Can not know who we are until we know God
Adam knew Eve intimately - this how we need to know God.

Deep knowledge comes from a process of initiation. You have to know where you come from.
Some try to get their identity from others – girlfriend/wife, friends, job, and hobbies
Who can we turn to for this need?

God could take him on that journey, provide what is missing

Who will give your name and mean something? God!
There is a terrible assault

Adam was created for adventure and battles; he created us for a unique place in his history
Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel, and Saul becomes Paul

2009-09-10 - Wild at Heart - False self (part 1)
Place of our woundedness we construct a false self
People can shutdown their heart and focus on what they are good at - Spock like
Can become a perfectionist
An impostor - don’t ever be your real self anymore because nobody likes you as you are
As a defense against pain
It becomes OUR plan for salvation - will fail time and time again until we give up

God must take it away
Those plans to protect and save us will actually destroy us - leads to death  - Proverbs 16:25
Seems right to shield ourselves from pain and to save a little love

There is a critical point in every man’s life
True test of a man is when he starts to longer rely on what he’s used all his life
Not women want a man that just exists

2009-09-13 - Wild at Heart - False self (part 4)
A masculine journey always takes a man away from the women, come back to with his question answered
A man does not go to a woman to get his strength; he goes to her to offer it.
Addiction comes when we have taken our soul to her for validation.

What else are we looking for? God
Adam had God
God gave Adam Eve out of His humility
Eve eventually took the place of God

Adam was not deceived
Time where Eve had fallen but Adam had not
Adam choose Eve over God
Men without his true love, God, will try to find another

Why do you remain thirsty after you have had a drink… it is the wrong well
In God will only find the true healing of the wound

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.

2009-09-19 - Wild at Heart - Healing the wound (part 5)
Until we are broken, our life will be self-centered, self-reliant, our strength will be our own.
So long as you think you are really something in and of yourself, what will you need God for?
Think of the poser you know – are they the kind of man you would call 2am, when life is collapsing around you?

Where a man’s wound is, that is where his genius will be.
Because the wound was given in the place of your true strength
Out of your brokenness that you discover what you have to offer the community
When we begin to offer not merely our gifts but our true selves, that is when we become powerful
That is when we are ready for battle

2009-09-20 - Wild at Heart - The Enemy (part 1)
Any castles? Any great battles? Are there any great dragons? A man needs a battle to fight
Early death of a man’s warriors keeps the boy in him from growing up
If we can reawaken that fierce quality in a man – higher purpose, release the warrior within, then the boy can grow up
and become truly masculine
Every man is a warrior inside but the choice to fight is his own
A man must have a battle to fight, a great mission to his life that involves and yet transcends even home and family.
He must have a cause to which he is devoted even unto death – in the fabric of our being
That is why God created you.
Your whole life is in preparation for
The lie from the enemy is that your role is insignificant
No other man can replace you
You are the hero in your own story - the main man

A warrior has a vision
Root of all our woes and false self was this: We are seeking to save our life and we lost it
“Who ever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” – Mark 8:35
For years all my daily energy was spent trying to beat the trails in my life and arrange for a little pleasure.
Mercenary fights for pay, for his own benefit, his life is devoted to himself

2009-09-23 - Wild at Heart - The Enemy (part 4)
The world is a carnival of counterfeits, counterfeit battles. Counterfeit adventures, counterfeit beauties
Men should think of it as a corruption of their strength
Battle your way to the top says the world and you will be a man

World give a false sense of security
  • Where does your sense of power come from?
  • Is it your position?
Look to be the servant of all
Want to know how the world really feels about you – start living out your true strength
Say what you think, stand for the underdog, challenge foolish polices
Many of us have actually been afraid to let our strength show up because the world doesn’t have a place for it

2009-10-12 - Wild at Heart - The Strategy (part 5)
We don’t need accountability groups we need fellow warriors, someone to fight alone side, someone to watch our back

We don’t need a meeting of the Really Nice Guys

Never a more devoted group of men than those who have fought alongside one another

You will be wounded
To lose a leg is nothing compared to losing heart
Enemy knows the wounds of your past and he will try to wound you again in the same place
It is an honor to be wounded in the service of the Lord
Boys are proud of their scars, they are badges of honor
Kingdom forcefully advances and forceful men take hold of it - Matthew 11:12

Jesus says it is going to take every ounce of passion and forcefulness you’ve got

2009-11-10 - Repentance - Transfigure Our Minds (part 3)
Issue with Lust
  • Old Way: “Treat … younger women as sister, with absolute purity”
  • New Way: “…strength to comprehend with all the saint what is the breadth and length and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge”
Difference: metanoia!
  • Understands that he a citizen of the kingdom of heaven
  • Jesus is Lord of the kingdom
  • Jesus delivered him into the kingdom through his blood
  • His sins placed him in Satan’s domain
  • Live gratefully for Jesus rather than self
  • Should anticipates the King’s glorious return
  • Want no one to perish
  • Should no fear man
  • Only agenda is God’s agenda

Apply spiritual disciplines with dramatically different results

How would Jesus think?
Once you see the world through God’s eyes your mind and heart become so transformed that you “automatically” respond to every situation differently

Questions
  1. What influences have shaped your worldview?
  2. How has the world tried to squeeze your mind into its mold?
  3. How can you resist – even reverse – this persistent pressure from the world?
  4. Why should you “gird the loins of your mind”?
  5. When and how did Saul/Paul repent?
  6. What is the difference between a fleshly mind and a spiritual mind?
  7. At a popular level, what is the difference between WWJD and WWJT?
  8. Why are spiritual disciplines more effective after one has experienced the paradigm shift of metanoia?


2009-11-20 - Repentance - Its Time To Go Home (part 2)
Where are you on this path?

Are you part of “all people, everywhere”?
Good, you quality for the command to repent – Acts 17:26-27; 30-31

Ignorance of Jesus perpetuates a self-focused paradigm
Jesus is Lord – changes our heart, mind-set, allegiances, purpose, and agenda

Subsequent repentance has lesser fan fare (like 2nd to the moon or Mt. Everest

Satan doesn’t want you to know that he created your dilemma
His scheme:
  1. Try this
  2. You are damaged goods
  3. Doing it again will not make you more unclean
  4. They don’t/won’t understand
  5. Never tell them about this

Shame is the greatest obstacle to post-baptismal repentance
How to escape? You already have – Trust god’s grace
Light is not a place of condemnation

2010-01-16 - Kingdom First - Above and Beyond (part 2)
If someone forces you to go one mile; go two - Matthew 5:41-42

3. Addressed going to the extra mile

Roman law said you were required to carry a certain amount of baggage to another place
Such a law and its frequent use of it cause great resentment among the Jews
Jesus said we should go beyond what our authorities required
Message condemns any resentment we may feel against a legitimate authority

If reform seems necessary, we should seek it - 1 Corinthians 7:21-23
Should be done with lawful means

God demonstrates his own love for us
He gave up revenge, rights, and his energy for us
While we were sinners, Christ died for us - Romans 5:6-7

2010-02-12 - First the Kingdom - Expectations
1. Jesus promised to judge us at the last day by his words - John 12:48
Ignorance is anything but bliss
Reliance on the teaching of the religious is dangerous

2. Jesus intends for us to act on his words once we have heard them
Knowing without doing is worse than not knowing in the first place - Luke 12:47-48
To hear the Word without obey is to be self-deceived - James 1:22-25

3. Storms of life are a reality
Disciples will in one way will have more storms because the persecution they face

4. The type of value system we have will be revealed
It will be revealed via the storms we face - our foundation (faith) will be tested - 1 Corinthians 3:11

2010-02-14 - One Another - Bearing With Another (part 1)
How are we to bear with someone sin?
  1. Action should be done with prayer
  2. Listen and understand as fully as possible - Proverbs 18:13
  3. Relate to them, gently - described as a surgeon realigning a broken bone
  4. Point to scripture, scripture needs to train, not you - 2 Timothy 3:17
  5. Help them evaluate their heart with Godly sorrow - 2 Corinthians 7:8-11
  6. Ask them what they see in needed to demonstrate repentance
  7. Take them all the way to the cross - to the place where sin dies, only way to be free
  8. Assure them of your support then give it to them


2010-03-02 - To Live is Christ - Partners in the Gospel
Philippians 1:16

Philippi was named for Philip of Macedon
It was a roman colony - not actually a place one would expect the message of Jesus to take hold
A roman jail is where you would expect Paul and Silas to be

Paul made a career of being with other and influencing their lives - reduced to visits from the guards
Through many hard times he had learned to overcome the most challenging of circumstances

Five lines into the letter, Paul remembers his relationship with God and other disciples:
  • First converts - Lydia and her household
  • The jailer and his house hold
  • God using an earthquake to bring unlikely people into the kingdom of God - Acts 16:22
Christianity is a personal experience but not a private one

Only when we have been in the trenches with others will we have relationships that are full of life

2010-04-24 - Life to the Full - In His Steps (part 5)
According to Peter, evangelism must be:
  • Christ-centered - we preach Jesus Christ as Lord - 2 Corinthians 4:5
  • Well-prepared - must know what we are talking about - 2 Timothy 2:15
  • Be yourself / Be real - eloquence is not a requirement - 1 Corinthians 2:12
  • Be gentle and respectful - No place for self-righteousness
  • Non-retaliating - We will be opposed; If we retaliate, we lose; Turn the other cheek - Matthew 5:39
  • Unhypocritical - People will be eager to change when they see the good news supported by your life


2010-05-02 - Renewing Your Spiritual Passion for God (part 1)

Preached by Richard Dixson (1997-05-18)

1 Samuel 16:7

  • Worldly things look more appealing
  • The people saw the others with better things
    • Most important thing:
      • Everyone spends time to get ready
      • Do you spend more time getting ready for the outside appearance than your inward?
      • The heart is most important

Psalms 51:4-9

  • Being true to one's self
  • When our conscience violated things are not fun
  • Renew the steadfast spirit


Special Place for a special for a special friend

Psalms 63:2-4 - Remember God's Power

Psalms 63:6-7 - The night bed and protection from God

Psalms 91:4 - We are being attacked all the time

Psalms 63:8 - Confidence - God holds us up



2010-05-11 - World Hates Jesus (part 3)

The answer is out there

John 5:16-23

  • If this is true then there is nothing else
  • Religious are looking for answers. Why?
    • Easier
    • More followers
    • Do not want to look bad

You are in the right place

John 6:68-69

  • No where else to go
  • What are you looking for?
Jesus says those who obey are his disciples - John 8:31-32

What are you going to do?



2010-05-30 - Desire's Journey - Assault on Desire

Battle of desire is not something that just takes place with us or even between us - but against us

Advirtisers play on our desire of creating an image that everyone who is anyone has the object for sale

The evil one has two ploys:

  • Kill our hearts and bury our desires
  • Seduce our desire into a trap

Our addictions are our own worst enemies

Like the rich, young ruler - we find we can not give up our treasures even though God has something much better



2010-05-31 - Desire's Journey - Cruel or Kind?

Sometimes God seems cruel:

  • Unemployed
  • Search for spouse

Isn't this the reason we fear to desire in the first place?

Unless we understand our desperate hearts and our tenacity to arrange life as we want it - these events seem cruel

Eden - we had it all but we threw it away by mistrusting God's heart and taking control of what we wanted
Adam and Eve set into motion what we now call addiction

Addiction exists whenever persons are internally compelled to give energy to things that are not their true desires

Addition becomes our idol - we must give it up
Anything can become an idol, even "good" things: work, hobbies, etc



2010-07-03 - Desire's Journey - Great Restoration (part 4)

Too many of us have placed eternity somewhere out there
We seem to forget that we will get the earth back as well

I will create new heavens and a new earth - Revelation 21:1
When he says he is making all things new, he includes the earth

Won't the whole earth be destroyed?
That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat - 2 Peter 3:12

Noah's day of the Lord
By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed - 2 Peter 3:6
World was destroyed in the sense that all wickedness and corruption of mankind - Genesis 6-7
Fire is also used for cleansing throughout the Scriptures



2010-07-06 - Desire's Journey - The Grand Affair (part 3)

On that day, Jesus appears and announces himself as the Bridegroom - Matthew 9:15

Jesus makes his proposal: I will prepare a place for you - John 14:2-3
Culture of the day - these very words would be used by a young man to his fiancee
He would return to his father's house and build the additonal room to be the bride suite

We have become betrothed to the Bidegroom
The bride belongs to the bridegroom - John 3:29
We are in the time of waiting for the Bridegroom to return

The whole life of the good Christian is a holy longing - Augustine



2010-07-11 - Desire's Journey - The Adventure Begins (part 3)
You would expect:
  • The daughter/son of Einstein to be smart
  • The daughter/son of Lance Armstrong to be fast
  • The daughter/son of Micheal Jordan to be good at basketball
We expect greatness from the offspring of the great
More often than not we think of godliness only in moral terms

We are made like God because we are to be like God on earth - Genesis 1:26

We humans beings are never happier than when we are expressing the deepest gifts that are truly us

The opportunity reveals the our creative nature
All we want is to be released to be who we are

God has created us and our gifts for a place of his choosing

Our creative nature is essential to who we are as image bearers
It brings us great joy to live it out with freedom and skill

2010-07-13 - Desire's Journey - The Adventure Begins (part 5)
Creation awaits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed - Romans 8:19

The kingdom of God prepared for you since the creation of the world - Matthew 25:31-34

He will put the faithful and wise servant in charge of all his possessions - Matthew 24:47

They will reign forever and ever - Revelation 22:5

We will take the position for which we have uniquely made and will rule with him
Much of the activity of God in our lives brings us to the place where we can be entrusted

To each their own
Each person will live out the passion of their heart - given by God

The kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it - Revelation 21:24

Hard to believe that we can add anything to the splendor of God
That is exactly what we are designed for and what our future involves


2010-07-22 - Desire's Journey - Orchestra like worship
You may have heard an orchestra tuning up before a concert
Then the violins plays a long C and all the instruments join in

The the players become focused, centered, and ready to preform
This is what happens with chaos of our desires when we turn our souls to God in worship
All the other desires find their place as we give God his place

Delight yourself int he Lord and he he will give you the desires of our hearts - Psalms 37:4

Our delighting in God, he heals our false desires as our souls come true in the light of the Maker
Worship becomes the means by which we most deeply heal our desire

2010-07-27 - Desire's Journey - Letting Go (part 4)
If we do not give our ache a voice, it does not go away
It becomes an undercurrent of our addictions

Pleasure becomes necessary in larger and larger doses

The paradox of grief is that it is healing - somehow it restores our souls
Control is the enemy; grief is our friend
When we let go of controlling, something better takes its place - mourning

Comfort is in store for those who mourn and healing for the brokenhearted - Isaiah 61
This idea was the center of Jesus' mission
None of this makes sense until we admit our brokenheartedness and give our sorrow a voice in mourning
Only then will we know His comfort

Solomon said that it is better to go to the house of mourning that it is to a house of feasting
We need to mourn, it is the only way our hearts can remain both free and alive in this world


2010-08-10 - Waking Dead - Myths (part 1)

Myth - sometimes thought of as not factual true
But a myth is a story which confront us with something transcendent and eternal; a way of seeing and knowing
A kind of story that wakes you up and you suddenly say - this is what my life is really about

Myth tell us three truths, this first one is:

1. Things are not what they seem

Examples of movies that show us this include: Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, the Matrix

Jacob saw earth in a whole new way in his dream - Genesis 28:12
He awakes more awake then ever, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it" - Genesis 28:16

Two followers of Christ did not even recongized Jesus as he talked with him after his resurrection - Luke 24:17-21
They were slow in heart to believe



2010-08-13 - Waking Dead - Heart of All Things

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life - Proverbs 4:23

Tin man had once been a real man

  • Wicked witch cause the man injury
  • One by one the man replaced his limbs with artificial ones
  • Seems like an advantage at first - Witch can not hurt him
  • Lost his heart in the process

After a series of blows, his humanity was reduced to efficiency
He did not even notice

If we can disable or deaden your heart, then we have effectively foiled the plan of God
Plan of creating a world where love reigns
By taking your heart out, the enemy takes you out



2010-08-17 - Waking Dead - Thoughts and Courage of the Heart
Our deepest thoughts are held in our hearts
Our behavior is driven by our heart

Scripture judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart - Hebrews 4:12
Not the feelings of the heart but the thoughts

It is with your heart you believe and are justified - Romans 10:10

They hear with their ears and understand with their hearts - Matthew 13:!5
The heart is the dwelling place of our true beliefs

It takes courage to love and takes courage to follow Jesus
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid - John 14:27

Courage  > Old French cuer > Latin cor = heart
The battle for the heart is going to take all the courage you can muster

2010-08-18 - Waking Dead - Point of all Living
Everything you love is what makes a life worth living

Action: Set down the book and make a list of all the things you love
  • People in your life
  • Things that bring you joy
  • Places that are dear to you
A life filled with loving is a life most like the one that God live - Ephesians 5:1-2

Jesus was asked what was most important
He boiled it down to loving God and loving others - everything else will fall into place

The heart is the connecting point; can not love without it
If we can truly love, be loved, and never lose love - we would be finally truly happy

If we worship efficiency, we can not grow in our love
Some try to master all sort of principles and and never know God intimately, heart to heart.
If do all sorts of Christian things without knowing God, he will say "I never knew you" - Matthew 7:22-23
The point is not the activity but intimacy with God

Taking a course on anatomy won't help you love you spouse
Taking a religion class will not help you love God
You will find God when you seek him with all of your heart - Jeremiah 29:13


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

2010-09-06 - Waking Dead - Deep Restoration (part 3)
Chris came not only to pardon us but to heal us

Jesus can and wants to heal your heart.

What does that rouse in you?
  • Hope?
  • Cynicism?
  • Pride?
Without your heart you cannot hope to find God
The heart is God's dwelling place
If you ignore your heart, it is like looking for him everywhere but at home

It might be a surprise to you that Christ ask our permission to come in and heal

Behold, I stand at the door and knock - Revelation 3:20
He does not force his way in

There are sometimes rooms we have kept locked up
We must give him permission to come in there - ask Jesus for your whole heart back

2010-09-07 - Waking Dead - Deep Restoration (part 4)
We need time in the presence of the Lord - Pslam 86:11-12
  • Teach me your way
  • I will walk in your truth
  • Give me an undivided heart
  • I will fear your name
  • I will praise you
  • With all of my heart
  • I will glory you
Remove yourself from distractions - will be able to hear more clearly

We declare the authority of Jesus over our hearts - he made our hearts - Psalms 33:15
He has redeemed our hearts - Romans 2:29

Sometimes he will take us back to a memory, a time and place where a shattering blow was given
Anytime someone says, "I feel like there's this part of me..." we need to listen - somewhere in the heart
Hidden many times because of a false comfort

2010-09-08 - Waking Dead - Deep Restoration (part 5)
Our sin give the enemy a certain claim to our lives - Romans 6:16

As we renounce any sin, we also renounce any claim we've given to Satan in our lives
This often comes in the form of  "agreements" - Satan has suggested something to us and we have said yes.
  • "Don't ever trust anyone"
  • "Your heart is bad, never show it to anyone"
  • "You are dirty and will never get free"
We command our enemy to flee - James 4:7

As long as we have unhealed places in our hearts, it is next to impossible to live in freedom and victory
No matter how much discipline we apply to it

Our enemy knows them well and trying undermine us and uses it against us with a disabling effect

2010-09-19 - Waking Dead - Setting the Heart Free
All spiritual warfare follows a simple pattern - James 4:7

Submit and resist
Submit ourselves to Christ and resist whatever has come against us or those we love
Their needs to "dailyness" to our walk

1. We have to choose to abide in Christ
Consecrate our whole body:
  • Body - Romans 12:1
  • Soul - Luke 10:27
  • Spirit - 1 Corinthians 6:17
2. Then we need to cleanse our lives with the blood of Christ
Take our place under the headship of Christ
The faith of centurion, he understood authority - Matthew 8:10

Most sins fall under:
  • Pride - independence from God
  • Idolatry - Giving our devotion, fear, or any part of our heart to something other than God
We need to ask God to search our hearts so we might confess sin and agreements we have made

2010-09-22 - Waking Dead - It Must Be Small
Jesus did not march around backed by hundreds of followers
He had a band of brothers - the Twelve
Through we are part of a great company, we are meant to live a little platoons
Groups small enough for each of the members to know one another as friends and allies
Who's heart will you fight for? Who will fight for your heart?

He spoke to the masses but lived with his closest twelve

His followers took his example and lived this way too
  • Broke bread in their homes and ate together - Acts 2:46
  • The church meet in houses - 1 Corinthians 16:19
  • House church at Nymph's house - Colossians 4:15
The little fellowships of the heart are outpost of the kingdom
Anytime an army goes to war or expedition, they break down into platoons and squads

You can not be devoted to a mass of people
Devotion takes place in small units like a family

2010-09-28 - Waking Dead - Devotion and War
Caring for your heart is also how you protect your relationship with God

Your heart is where life flows
Whoever believes in me - streams of living water will flow from within him - John 7:27-38

God's friends care for their heart because they matter to Him
What does your heart need?

Some needs are common to all hearts like silence and solitude
Very early Jesus went away to a solitary place - Mark 1:35
We need to make time to get away - our entire lives are ruled by the expectation of others and the heart is the first to go

The enemy will tell you this is foolish
"You have many more important things to do with your time"
Caring for your heart is an act of obedience, faith and an act of war

The first wave of any strike against us is to rob us of the heart to fight it
Hyenas cannot bring down a lion in its prime - they run it, taunt it, and wear it down to the point of exhaustion

The strategy of our Enemy in the age we live is busyness and drivenness
Most will say when asked how they are doing is "really busy"
That we way we are going to get burned out and lose touch with our hearts
The empty heart is more vulnerable to temptation

2010-10-01 - Contagious Christian - Benefits (part 1)
Ever had an idea only to find your enthusiasm fading when you realize the effort it would take?
The goal may be noble, the intentions sincere, the plan in place but we still do not take action
What is holding us back?
We must be convinced that it is worth the effort and expense

Business managers understand this and have developed process called cost/benefit analysis to help them see the whole picture
In Christianity, this is called counting the cost - Luke 14
While reaching out to irreligious people may sound great, it is the actual effort that will entail significant personal expense

Personal Benefits
  1. Adventure
  2. Purpose
  3. Fulfillment
  4. Spiritual Growth
  5. Spiritual Confidence
  6. Enduring Investments
  7. Honor of being God's Agent


2010-10-31 - Contagious Christian - Barriers to Relationships (part II)
1 Corinthians 15:33 - Bad company corrupts good character
  • In context, Paul was specifically warning against those who deny the resurrection of Jesus
  • In other situations, we need to make sure we are the one whose influence is prevailing
  • Should be on the offense rather than defense
  • Take captive of every thought and make it obedient to Christ - 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
If I spend time with non-Christians in public places, will my reputation be at risk?

Jesus not only risked his reputation but ruined it
He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard - Luke 7:34
Tells you want kind of people He was around

Jesus said that He associated with sinners because they are sick people that need a doctor - Matthew 9:12-13
The danger was that the doctor may be mistaken as one of His patients

The religious people mutter how inappropriate it was for Him to associate with such disreputable people
Jesus cared much about the lost than his reputation

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