Quiet Times Search

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

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

1. v3 – Called them hypocrites
2. v4 – Put heavy burdens on other but did nothing themselves
3. v5 – Everything was for show
4. v13 – Behavior blocked themselves and others from entering the kingdom
5. v16-22 – Making ridiculous rules about swearing
6. v23-24 – straining about some fine point and neglecting justice, love, faithfulness
7. v25-28 – Outward show and no inward change
8. v29-30 – They had the same attitude as the people who killed the prophets

Mark 2:15-17

Nonconformist

• He challenged popular thinking to inspire them to think again about how they were living.
• Are you willing to rock the boat?
• People of impact won’t accept because we have always have do it this way.
• Every great historic change has been bought by blood or the reputation of non-conformists.
• People who are unwilling to venture out into unfamiliar territory will never men of impact
• More difficult for people who feel they have achieved a great deal

Protector

• Legalism occurs when one values an easy decision over true justice.
• When Jesus gave direction, he assumed responsibility for their actions
• Jesus stood up for his disciples.
• They probably felt very safe around Him (love always protects)
• Without protection, insecurity can be seen more and in the “Me” generation.

Challenger

• To say that Jesus quietly and humbly pointed out their wrongs would be inaccurate
• He didn’t go after their ego, he went straight to the heart.

Disclosure

Mark 4:21-23

• They were to let their beliefs shine brightly around them
• Widening its exposure does not diminish its value (proclaimer does not suffer loss but increase riches)
• Dead Sea – lowest point on earth, nothing flows out of it, smelly and lifeless

Challenge to listen

Mark 4:24-25

• If we are casual about what we hear and do not apply ourselves, we will even lose what understanding we have
• Practice of taking notes shows our heart to understand
• The arrogant sit and smugly, confident of their ability to retain oral information

Mark 6:1-6

Patience

• Son of God spent about ten to fifteen years doing manual labor.
• Flowers bloom at different times; we must wait for our day to bloom
• We must “Carpe diem” - seize the day - When that day comes

Challenger

• “They took offence at him.”
• Jesus was disappointed at their response and he told them so to their faces.
• He didn’t hesitate to speak out.
• Late to bible study – would you be late to pick up a million dollars?

Shepherding

Mark 6:30-44

• Employees must have a reason to look forward to a completion of a project.
• Must pause to experience the thrill of victory otherwise we will squeeze the joy right our of lives
• We will get burned if we do not remind ourselves to rest
• When we are exhausted our performance in all areas of our lives suffer. (point of diminishing returns)

Work Ethic

• Important causes are worthy of extreme levels of effort
• We are to go the extra mile - Matthew 5:41

Crowd Appeal

• Jesus displayed urgency and charisma when he spoke.
• People did not want to miss out on anything he might say or do.

Visible Sincerity

• Meet the crowd’s need for physical and spiritual food - needs of the whole person
• Meet other’s need without asking anything in return
• Concerned with how people fared after this life and not just in this life
• If we are concern more with what we will get ourselves we probably won’t have much of an impact

Firmness and Flexibility

Mark 7:24-30

• Are you able to say “no” to people? Jesus was.
• Some of us are unable to deny anybody anything.
• Others are too inflexible and become unwilling to make any exceptions.
• Jesus was not afraid to change his mind.
• We need to think for ourselves and make the right decisions.
• If we want to make a difference, we must be willing to disappoint some people.

Conducts a search-and-destroy mission for every potential excuse for sin
Jesus drove out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts
Much easier to express indignation at some else’s sin or some points out our sin versus our own

Although God hates sin and not the sinner – still it is the sinner that goes to hell
Nothing focuses the mind like real fear

Through fear, we recognize that sin alienates us from God
We long to restore our fellowship with God
Without the acknowledgement of separation, there is no cause for longing
Fear sounds the alarm, but longing sets the course
No sin can stand against a soul who longs to return to God

1. How does the church represent the “destination of repentance”?
2. How did the early church help sinners to repent? How did it safeguard true repentance from compromise?
3. How did the walls of the early church stand steadfast against the assaults of the world?
4. What does it mean to be of “one mind” with your brothers and sisters?
5. How were early Christians both non-conformists and conformists?
6. Why has church discipline gotten a “bad rap”? Is it warranted?
7. Why do so few churches practice the Biblical mandates to discipline its members?
8. How can a church best practice church discipline?
9. Have you ever been disciplined by your church? Did God’s plan lead you to repentance – why or why not?
10. Over 85% of the Biblical references to repentance address groups rather than individuals. Thus, how can you help your fellowship - at various levels – repent?
11. How can you spark repentance – even revival – in your church and in your community? Are you willing to walk its path of selfless commitment?

• The Test
  •  Could His disciples do a good job without His bodily supervision as they could with it?
  •  Human point of view: Never could be sure that His investment in their lives.
•  Life-sustaining power of the vine was not to be given to endlessly upon lifeless branches
  •  A barren Christian is a contradiction.
  • A tree is known by its fruit
• Principle throughout His ministry
  • Reward of His own sacrifice for the world - John 12:24
  • Distinguishing work of those who did the will of His Father - Matthew 7:16-23
  • Wages given to His disciples for their work in the harvest - John 4:36
  • What was lacking in the Sadducees and Pharisees - Matthew 3:7-8

• Self-centered - woe-is-me
• We shield ourselves from God's grace
• Focused on our own unworthiness

• Qualifies as mourning because the mourner defines it as such
• Brokenness is missing
• God is looking for a broken and contrite heart - Psalms 51:17

• Fears - Matthew 26:36-46
• Disappointment - Matthew 11:14-17
• Anger and Frustration - Matthew 23

What occupies my mind?
What concerns me?
When I think of security, is my focus on God or money?

If we are eager and driven to gain more we will stray from the faith and be pierced with many griefs - 1 Timothy 6:10

Secret to being content, I can do everything through him that gives me strength - Philippians 4:12-13

Judas: example of someone trying to live with 2 masters:

• Expressed concern for a waste of money that could have gone to the poor - John 12:4-6
• The hold money had on Judas' heart eventually led to his betrayal of Jesus

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

• Listening to Christ everyday
• Holding on to his faith in the fiery trails
• Slowly and painfully

• Feminist movement - made some good points - fueled by resentment
• Environmental movement - humans are responsible for our "dominion" - Genesis 1:26; but it is there are more important causes
• Gay rights movement - all humans should not desciminated against - primary a defensive , negative movement ; finding self-justification instead of justification that comes from Jesus
• Political movements - good to voice opinions; but when political allegiances eclipes our Christian allegiance, we are in sin
• Anti-abortion movement - fight to save babies is a great fight - but killing others to do so? does not that make you a murder too?

• Dinner out
• Vacation
• A new ______

Although the voice was kind, the question felt harsh
Do you want to get well? - John 5:6
He thought: why else would I have spent every day for the past 38 seasons lying here?

How long can we sustain desire against continual disappointment?
The man at the well began to lose any virtal heart-connection to what he want - he had abandoned desire

By asking him what he wanted, Jesus took him back into desire
Why? It is where we must go if we are to meet God

Does Christianity condemn desire? Like the Puritans

It is not a matter of desire is good or not - it is what we do with it
Christianity recognizes that desire has gone mad within us but not seeking to fix the problem by killing our desire

Something has gone wrong
God gives us commands for our own good
The point is not the law but joy

Faith on its way to maturity moves from duty to delight
If the goal is to move from delight to duty, we are going backwards and regressing

Prodigal son
Younger son desire get him into trouble
Father's desire for the lost boy is deep
He is grateful just to have his son home again
Older brother lived his entire life under duty and obligation - dealt with his sinful nature by killing desire
THose who kill desire are not the ones who experience God's embrace

In this world, you will have trouble
But take heart! I have overcome the world - John 16:33

Why aren't we encouraged by this?
We are still committed to arranging our life
We are disappointed that there is not a "7 secrets to a great life"

Desire can not live without hope. Hope in what?
Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed - 1 Peter 1:13
for most Christians, heaven is a backup plan

We try to create heaven here
In our heart we say, "I really could be happy here without God"
God must take away the heaven we create or it will become our hell

Grief is the antidote to the incessant possessive demand within

Sow in tear = song of joy - Psalms 126:5

Two spiritual discipline we need

1. Worship - must adore God deliberately and regularly
2. Grief - must allow a time for sorrow to do own personal sowing

Making time to grieve may sound strange
Just because we do not feel it does not mean it is not there
There are thousands of distractions these days
Sometimes it comes out in a song or movie
Sometimes small disappointments can be a door into the room of grief

Beauty and affliction are the only two things that can pierce our hearts
We must have a measure of beauty in our lives proportionate to our afflication

• Difficult to believe God's intentions are eternal life
• Hard to not feel that we are blowing it
• We will accept some awful things as God's will
  
• God is ignoring our problem or just does not care

• People in your life
• Things that bring you joy
• Places that are dear to you

• Jews try to keep the Law
• Buddhist follow the Eightfold Path
• Muslims live by the Five Pillars
• Many Christians attend church and live morally

• Just witnessed 5,000 people being feed
• They were looking for free food but in reality they had to work at it find it
• The bread they needed was to spend time to know about Jesus - the bread of life
• Are you searching for the right kind of bread?
• The search and hunger for God does not end when we are baptized, it only begins
  

• We need to find God like hidden treasure
• God does not change but our viewpoint changes
• Example - Engagement ring to a couple verse the a jewelery store owner

• Money, worries, wasted time choke out our hunger for him
• During the holidays this becomes a bigger issue

• They asked for a miracle but they had already forgotten about the miracle they just saw - feeding the 5,000
• The work is to believe - it takes work to believe
• NOT working to get salvation but we need to work at our salvation

• He created us in his own image - Genesis 1:27
• Satan with sin, drove a wedge between us and God
• Sin destroyed our relationship with God and one another - Isaiah 59:1-2
• He grieved that he had made man - Genesis 6:6

What are you looking for in life?

Acts 17:16-28

• Ever ask yourself: “What on earth am I here for?” You aren’t alone!
• Why did God create you and bring you to this very point and time in your life? So that you would seek him and
  find him in order to have a personal relationship with him.
• Who takes the initiative in seeking this relationship? Because God loves us and desires a relationship with us, he has been actively determining times and places long before we ever thought about seeking him (Psalms 14:2-3).
• Why do so few seem to be seeking today?
  • God is unknown and the image many have of him is distorted v23
  • We have created our own god. We all worship something.
  • To seek God, we must be willing to change our ideas about who God is to match what has been revealed to us in the Bible
• There is nothing more important or exciting in life than to seek and to find our Creator God.

Jeremiah 29:11-14

• We will find God if we seek Him with all our heart.
  
• Have you ever done something with all your heart? What is it?
  
• What will it mean for you to seek God with all your heart?

• Jesus teaches these Jews that intellectual belief is not enough.
  
• He calls them to believe God enough to trust his will for their lives. This trust is demonstrated by the decision to live according to Jesus’ teaching.
  
• True faith is seen in our obedience.
• Notice when we will know the truth, after we obey.
  

• If the Bible is so powerful and helpful, why aren’t more people truly following what it says?
• Bottom line, we can not live according to our own feelings and desires.
  

• What is another hindrance to following God’s word? Tradition
  
• Religious tradition which takes precedence over the Word of God can result in worldly solutions to spiritual issues and make our worship of God empty and pointless.

• The cross is a demonstration of God’s justice in the face of sin.
• God would not be righteous if he simply looked the other way in the face of sin and evil.
  
• The cross is the greatest demonstration of God’s love. Because God loves us, Jesus Christ died for our sins.

• Jesus understood God’s plan for him to give himself as a ransom for us - to die for our sins.
• He could do this only because of his sinless life.

• One account of the crucifixion. As you read and discuss each section, ask the question: “Why did God allow this to happen to Jesus?” Because He loves us! (To better describe the physical torments of the crucifixion, you may also wish to read “The Passion of the Christ from a Medical Point of View” by C. Truman Davis, M.D.)

• Written about 700 years before Jesus, this chapter predicted what the Messiah would do at the cross and why. (Note: In Luke 22:37, Jesus quotes from Isaiah 53 and says it was about him.) Read entire chapter. Points of emphasis:
  
  • Verses 1-3 – despised and rejected
  • Verses 4-6 – pierced for our transgressions; crushed for our iniquities; by his wounds we are healed. Suggestion: read this passage again putting in your own name.
  • Verses 7-9 – like a lamb to the slaughter; for the transgressions of my people he was stricken. You may want to remind the person of the sins he/she described in earlier study.
  • Verses 10-12 – he is a guilt offering; but after the suffering of his soul, satisfaction (resurrection)
    

• Why did Jesus die on the cross for us? So that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.
  
• This is our whole-hearted response to the cross.

• Pilate could have released Jesus but he was more concerned with pleasing people than pleasing God
• Think of all the people that shouted "crucify him". People who he healed, fed, etc. How do you think Jesus felt?
• They released a murderer instead of Jesus (many said they believed he was the son of God but still this)
• Share: Pilate tried to escape responsibility by washing his hands but denying the truth does not remove the sin
• They beat Jesus again, to the point he did not look human - Isaiah 52:14
• Question: Why do you think Jesus was still willing to go through this for you? (Because he loves you). He is not even at the cross yet.

• Jesus was beaten so badly that he couldn't even carry his own cross
• v46 Jesus hung on the cross for hours (slow tortuous death) but yet he screams out loudly 
• Share: Jesus had never been separated God (since the beginning of time they were united)
• Share: Once Jesus took on YOUR sin, he was separated from God (Wall of Sin  = Isaiah 59:1-2)

1. You are saved at the point of rebirth. Afterwards, there is nothing you can do to get more saved.
2. On the other hand, you may posses only a small part of the mind of Christ

1. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved - Mark 16:16
2. Adding to your faith helps make your calling and election sure - 2 Peter 1:5-11

• 2 Corinthians 5:20 - We are therefore Christ's ambassadors,
• Timothy 2:6-7 - Pointed out those who have wandered away
• John 17:18 - As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

• Romans 1:14-16 - Was eager to preach the gospel
  
• 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 - Preached the ministry of reconciliation

• Peter: Remember when walking on water
• Thomas: But you doubted and fell into the water
• Peter: Like you have any room to talk, doubting Thomas
• James: Remember the transfiguration? Yeah, I was one of three disciples there. We saw Moses and Elijah.
• Andrew: Yeah, you seem to miss the whole point when you fixated on getting them shelters
• Matthew: We can take these guys anywhere

• Forgetting to the trash and why I was in the garage
• Forgetting Juniper's shoes on the way to church