2008-02-25 - Power of Gratitude - Solitary Places When gratitude cause us to rise early to spend time with God - seeing one of the greatest fruits No one says that QT must happen in the morning - it always goes better than the days when trying to work out another time during the day I learned to pray when I sensed that I would come apart at the seams emotionally unless I didn't Three things helped with prayer life:
There is no gratitude without prayer |
2008-04-22 - Falling in Love with God - Listening Whose voice should I listen to? There are many voices:
To deal with these other voice we need to memorize scriptures - to not be swayed and know the correct voice to listen to |
2008-05-29 - Purpose Driven Life - Planned for God's Pleasure You are planned for God's pleasure He chose to create you for his enjoyment Bringing enjoyment to God is the first purpose in life He considers valuable enough to keep you for eternity with him Bringing pleasure to God is called worship Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship to God Worship is a universal urge - if not worshiping God, it will be something Worship is not for your benefit, not "I got a lot out of it" Worship is far more than music Worship music is not limited to a particular style of music - nothing to do with volume or speed of the song Style of the music says more about you than it does God Worship is not a part of your life, it is your life Every activity can be transformed into an act of worship Whether you drink or eat or whatever... do it all for the glory of God- 1 Corinthians 10:31 |
2008-06-05 - Purpose Driven Life - Worship That Pleases God God wants all of you All of your soul, mind, heart, strength God is pleased when... ...our worship is accurate
...our worship is thoughtful
... our worship is practical
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2008-06-08 - Purpose Driven Life - What Matters Most Life is all about love Most important lesson he wants you to learn on earth is how to love (have a lifetime to learn) Learning to love unselfishly is not an easy task - runs counter to our self-centered nature God trains us by giving us "family responsibilities" Love cannot be learned in isolation You have to be around people - irritating, imperfect, frustrating Life without love is really worthless - 1 Corinthians 13:3 God says relationships are what life is all about
Love God and Love People - 2 greatest commandments (Matthew 22:37-40) Busyness is a great enemy of relationships Love will last forever How you treat other people will be the most enduring impact you can leave on earth Final moments - we want people to surround us We will be evaluated on our love Spiritual maturity is measured by the quality of our relationships To love Jesus is to love his family by providing for their needs |
2008-06-21 - Purpose Driven Life - Overcoming Temptation Refuse to be intimidated You will never outgrow temptation Temptation is a sign that Satan hates you Paul says, "WHEN you are tempted..." - 1 Corinthians 10:13 Jesus was tempted, but never sinned - Hebrews 4:15 The closer you grown to God, the more Satan will try to tempt you Recognize your pattern of temptation Know what exactly what trips you up - Stay alert, Satan waits til you are napping - Matthew 26:41
Plan carefully what you do... - Proverbs 4:26-27 Request God's Help Call on God in times of trouble - Psalms 50:15 Jesus is sympathetic; he understands our weakness - Hebrews 4:15 We can be embarrassed to ask God for help after failing over and over again, but let us have confidence when approaching - Hebrews 4:16 |
2008-09-07 - Teach Us To Pray - Honesty and Openness Honest communication is crucial element to any great relationship: God, spouse, children. Consider how ludicrous it is to not be real with God:
Moses:
It is in our openness that we hear our faithlessness and can turn away from it. God wants a relationship with you He wants to know our longings, aspirations, problems, anxieties, doubts, and even our sin |
2008-09-13 - Teach Us To Pray - Sin and Transgression God both forbids and forgives Clearly forbids - Genesis 2:16-17 We must understand that sin hurts God deeply - Jeremiah 8:20-9:3 In his infinite wisdom, he found a way to forgive the unforgivable. Forgiveness is an undeserved gift |
2008-09-18 - Teach Us To Pray - Courage and Boldness Prayer reminds us God is in control It is his battle, I belong to God, and God will make me successful God will not let me be tempted beyond what I can bear - 1 Corinthians 10:13 To pray for boldness and courage:
God's work cannot be done in this world without courage |
2008-12-27 - Raising Awesome Kids - Work Ethic and responsibility Hard work and a sense of responsibility can be trained into a child Laziness is a flaw Sluggard finds nothing at harvest time - Proverbs 20:4 Sluggard says there is a lion road - Proverbs 26:13 Sluggard is a door on hinges - Proverbs 26:14 Stress loving hard work School work is character issue
Instead, make diligence and excellence the issue It helps immensely if the oldest child is well trained Give appropriate jobs and responsibilities around the house
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2009-01-16 - Raising Awesome Kids - Atmosphere (part 2) If we can laugh together, then we like being together, which adds up to unity Idea: have a "joke night" - everyone tell jokes Happy heart makes the face cheerful - Proverbs 15:13 Cheerful heart has a continual feast - Proverbs 15:15 Cheerful look brings joy to the heart - Proverbs 15:30 Cheerful heart is good medicine - Proverbs 17:22 The phyical environment need to be pleasant The environment says, "we don't care", then people stop caring about each other |
2009-02-27 - Promises of God - Standing on Promises For no matter how many promises God has made, they are all "Yes" in Christ - 2 Corinthians 1:20-22 Promises from others and one we have made > can make us highly skeptical about promises They represent efforts to pacify us at the moment; the promiser does not usually have to fulfill the promise immediately Does he promise and not fulfill? - Numbers 23:19 God fulfills his promises - every last one of them God is:
A promise from God is as good as fact |
2009-03-13 - Promises of God - Faith vs Doubt Doubt: God has forgotten about you and does not care Faith: He knows the way you have served - Hebrews 6:10. He knows notices and cares when a sparrow falls - Matthew 10:29 Doubt: He remembers but he remembers others more than you; Doubt fills in the blanks and customizes to your hopes and desires. Faith: God shows no favoritism; He moves at different time for different people; He has given everything we need for life and godliness Doubt calls into question the faithfulness of God Faith tells us it is impossible for God to lie When Doubt comes calling, we must turn away Faith says yes to God's promises |
2009-04-30 - No one like him - Differences from Jesus and the prophets (part 1) 1. His words were from the Father Prophets – “This is what the Lord says…”2. Where to get help Prophets - “Come to the Lord.”3. Fulfillment of scripture Prophets – Prophetic messages |
2009-05-02 - No one like him - His dependence on God (part 1) No one claimed to be able to do what he did He knew the result would be if he completely depended on God – gave confidence Dependency can have negative connotations; those who are dependent sometimes are looked down on. Bible says not to depend on ourselves or other men … but on God.
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2009-08-21 - Wild at Heart - Intro (part 3) What makes a man come alive? 1. Need a battle to fight
2. Needs an adventure to live
3. Needs a beauty to rescue
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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
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 |
2009-10-08 - Wild at Heart - The Strategy (part 1) 1. I am not here Satan says, “ I am not here, it just you” You cannot fight a battle that you don’t think exists Satan prowls around like a roaring lion - 1 Peter 5:8-9 Assume you are under spiritual attack When you ignore the enemy, he wins He simply loves to put everything on us Get us to feel hurt, misunderstood, suspicious and resentful Before an effective military strike, must take our the lines of communication Marriage is a living example – Satan loves to divide and conquer Sends a message – you are blowing it – “I thought you were disappointed with me” They did not send this message Most of all the Enemy tries to jam communication with Headquarters Commit yourself to prayer every morning for two weeks and just watch what happens Satan tries to make our mind wonder and cause interferences |
2009-10-10 - Wild at Heart - The Strategy (part 3) 2. Intimidation Our condition may become normal to use after a while - depression If you pray and fight against – It will get worse. Once the Enemy is discovered, he usually does not just roll over and die. Jesus says get tough and resist the onslaught Next level Satan tries intimidation and fear He wants you to agree with intimidation because he fears you Fighting back, he will lose – Resist the devil and he will flee – James 4:7 Why do so many pastor’s kids go off the deep end? Evil One is trying to an old tactic – strike first and maybe the opposition will run He can’t win, you know God is with us “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you” – Joshua 1:5 The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name – Exodus 15:3 How did Jesus win the battle against Satan? God was with him Doesn’t simply mean that he’ll be around - he will fight for us Satan is trying to appeal to the traitor’s commitment to self-preservation when he uses fear and intimidation. So as long as we are back in the old story of saving our skin, looking out for Number One, those tactics will work. Become a warrior The most dangerous man on earth is the man who has reckoned with his own death. All men die, few men ever really live. |
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 |
2009-10-14 - Wild at Heart - Eve's Wound Question for her is: Am I lovely? She needs to know that she is exquisite and exotic and chosen. This is core to her identity, the way she bears the image of God Will you purse me? Do you delight in me? Will you fight for me? Wound says - No, you are not beautiful and no one will really fight for you Wound usually always comes from the hand of her father He has the power to cripple or to bless is just as powerful to her as to the son Her heart is violated and the message is driven father in – you are not desired, you will not be protected, no one will fight for you. If the father is passive, a little girl will suffer a silent abandonment – not noticed or pursued Like so many unloved young women, they will to turn to boys to hear what she never heard from her father When a woman never hears she’s worth fighting for, she comes to believe that is the sort of treatment she deserves A hesitant man is the last thing in the world a woman needs. She needs a lover and a warrior, not a nice guy Number one problem between men and women is that we men, when asked to truly fight for her, hesitate We are still seeking to save ourselves, we have forgotten the deep pleasure of spilling our life for another |
2009-11-17 - Repentance - The Church Reorients Us (part 1) There is no church without repentance There is no repentance without the church. How did the early church help seeker to repent? Aligning themselves to the new community The church, by definition, is counter-culture World says, “Conform, get back in line” Church says, “Repent, come out be different” What do we think of when we think of counter-culture? Skinheads, etc Not rebellion for the sake of rebellion but for selfless-love, sexual purity, generosity, purposeful living, revolutionary zeal, humility, joy beyond understanding The world hate holiness – hates holy saints Discipline Practice largely disappeared during the second half of the century We live in the customer’s always right culture Not expelling members but the church meets my needs, what feels right, sin/repentance not your business |
2009-11-18 - Repentance - The Church Reorients Us (part 2) Bible says if your brother sins again you – go and point out his sin Must repentance as a whole Church repentance – 41 times Individual repentance – 11 times Not usual in the world Football team at half-time Company changes due to market conditions All churches sin; not all repent Some spin their shortcoming, craft reasonable explanations, minimize damage to reputation, issue statements Questions
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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?
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2010-02-06 - First the Kingdom - One-Lane Road (part 1) Seemingly contradictory statements: God wants all men be saved - 1 Timothy 2:3-4 Road to God is narrow and only a few will find it - Matthew 7:13-14 Both are true God shows he wants all me to be saved He sent his son who spoke clearly and plainly about what it takes The broad road says - I know better than God what life and eternity are all about On the broad road - so many people and so many standards Bible warns those on the broad road will face terrors and traps of many kinds - Proverbs 4:10-19 Many agree that the narrow road teaching Jesus describes is one of the most difficult Can not be faithful to Jesus' message and teach anything but the narrow road Only a few find = fact is that only a few search Everyone who seeks finds - Matthew 7:7-8 |