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2008-03-04 - Power of Gratitude - It is so Hard and but I Love it

Marriage - hardest year of a good marriage is the first one and the hardest year of a bad marriage is the last one

God brings opposites together - rigid and let it go types
Because God is trying to work off the rough edges

If we are to grow through trials, we must learn to view them correctly
First comes hurt, then can come anger or try to ignore it
Other turn to "grin and bear it" or "this too must past" - blocks us from growth

Garden of Gethsemance - Jesus expressed and dealt with emotional pain with prayer - Hebrews 5:7-10
If Jesus had to suffer, how much will we need to be perfected - Colossians 1:24
Trial both mature us and attract others at the same time
Rejoice in the sufferings - 1 Peter 4:13

Must have heaven's perspective in every situation
Even when can not figure out what God is doing - requires a child-like response

Why me? > Why not me?

2008-03-06 - Power of Gratitude - Here I Raise My Ebenezer

Miraculous storm, allowing the Israelites to rout the Philistines (erecting the monument - Ebenezer) - 1 Samuel 4:1
Crossing the Jordan and God had them setup a memorial of twelve stones - Joshua 4:21-22

We all need those landmarks etched in our memories to remind us of what God has done in our lives
Disciples need reminders:

Albums of pictures - when God poured out his love
Printed memorabilia
Special events - birthdays, weddings, graduations, baptisms

Good idea to keep a calendar of past events - for more details thanksgiving to God

Job's understood life was short:

My days are swifter that a weaver's shuttle - Job 7:6
My days are swifter than a runner - Job 9:25
Man born of woman is of few days - Job 14:1

Life is too short to not make memories and then to regularly reflect on them with thankful hearts

2008-03-14 - Be Still My Soul - All the Time

To be real, a relationship with God must be all-the-time
If not, you are compartmentalizing your walk with God

"I am with you always" - Matthew 28:20
""Pray continually" - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Nehemiah prayed, wept,and fasted for days before talking wit King Artaxerxes then he prayed again right before talking to him just before opening his mouth - Nehemiah 2:4b

Your relationship with God does not depend how you have a quiet time
We should learn to pray short prayers throughout the day
If we don't remember God throughout the day, can become legalistic about our quiet times

Both are needed - a quiet time can never replace all-the-time

2008-03-21 - Be Still My Soul - The Pattern (Part 1)

What are we to pray about and in what order?
God has not left such crucial issues to guesswork

Matthew 6:9-13 - Above all other scripture on prayer - understand this one

Things to remember:

Pattern, not a formula - not meant to be recited, rebuked by Jesus
May seem awkward at first - stick with it
Be prepared to spend more time in prayer when you use this prayer - wider range of subjects
The structure reveals the genius of God - Begin looking to God; then deal with ourselves; once again focus on God
Notice the use of "us" - personal, but not self-centered

2008-03-28 - Be Still My Soul - Postures

Prayer is not only for our minds and hearts, but our bodies

Types of prayer postures:

Kneeling

Elijah - with his face between his knees (1 Kings 18:42)
Daniel - knelt in prayer three times a day (Daniel 6:10)
Peter - knelt in prayer for the life of Tabitha (Acts 9:40)

Standing - Jesus gave instructions and standing in prayer (Mark 11:25)

Prostrate

Moses - for 40 days (Deuteronomy 9:18, 25)
Daniel - fell prostrate before the angel Gabriel (Daniel 8:17)
Jesus - fell on his face in prayer at Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36)

Lifting and spreading out hands

David - Psalms 28:2, 63:4, 88:9, 119:48, 143:6
Ezra - Ezra 9:5
Moses - Exodus 9:29
Solomon - 1 Kings 8:22

Gazing upward - Jesus looking up to heaven (Matthew 14:19, Mark 6:41, 7:34)

Out loud and silently - Esther 4:1, Hebrews 5:7, James 4:7-9 / 1 Samuel 1:13

If prayers are not offered from a variety of postures then we are not praying as we ought
We can not separate our bodies from our hearts

Author has developed the ability to pray with great concentration and intimacy while running

2008-04-04 - Falling in Love with God - Doing vs Being

Remembering the height from which you have fallen - Revelation 2:1-7
Doing the right works does not mean you are doing good

Not a substitute for dealing with our heart

Satan's plan: Damage our relationship with God, then damage our faith about our ability to change

Ephesians

Are Hardworking
Have Persevered
Are Intolerant of Evil
Endured persecution

We can not draw near to God by activity

2008-05-01 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Forgiveness, part 1

Jesus calls for unlimited forgiveness - disciples plea to increase their faith

If on-goning relationship difficulties - maybe one or both are too concerned about who sinned the most rather than focusing on reconciliation

With a willingness to forgive, we cannot be forgiven by God - Matthew 6:14; Matthew 18:23-35

We must forgive in the way that God forgives - Colossians 3:13
He forgives quickly, completely, and repeatedly - and then forgets the sin - Hebrews 8:12

2008-05-03 - Power of Spiritual Thinking - Rest of the Story

The first person who presents a case - seems right - Proverbs 18:17

Marriage counseling - one view, then a different view
Forming opinion without all the background information
Good leader - realizing he does not know everything about every subject
Been hurt by others - assume others are the same way

Good thing to say: "I have seen something which concerns me, but I haven't heard your side yet"

Involving everyone on a decision will help others to feel valued and for you to consistently have good decisions

We have trouble listening to other opinions besides our own

Can you get hurt by other that love you? Yes
- Double indemnity insurance policy against unresolved issues (Matthew 18:15-17 and Matthew 5:23-24)

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

Must be based on the truth (Not Idols)
John 4:23 - Based on Spirit and Truth

... our worship is authentic

With ALL of your heart and soul
God sees the attitudes of the heart
Biggest distraction in worship is yourself
Best style of worship is the one that most authentically represents your love

...our worship is thoughtful

Be different - think about the meaning
Be specific - I love you, praise you (why?)
Make a list of names for God
Avoid repetition, cliches
Be sensitive to unbelievers

... our worship is practical

Offer your bodies - Romans 12:1
God says "Give me all you got"
"I'll be with you in spirit" - Body and spirit can not separate until death
Real worship costs - cost us of our self-centeredness

2008-06-11 - Purpose Driven Life - Experiencing Life Together

Life is meant to be shared

Fellowship - now refers to casual conversation, socializing, food, and fun
Jesus knew that 12 was the maximum size for a group for everyone to participate

In real fellowship people experience...

... Authenticity

Honest with who you are - otherwise we are just fooling ourselves - 1 John 1:7-8
Requires courage and humility
We only grow by taking risks - being honest is a major risk

... Mutuality (Romans 1:12)

Depending on each other
Sharing responsibility
Mutual accountability

... Sympathy

Sharing pain of others (Colossians 3:12)
Meet needs of being understood and the validation of our feelings
Self-Pity dries up sympathy for others
Times of crisis, grief, doubt when we need each other the most

... Mercy

Can't have fellowship without forgiveness
Bitterness and resentment always destroys fellowship
Never be asked to forgive someone more than God has forgiven you
Energy for retaliation or resolution?
Forgiveness immediate; Trust takes time

2008-07-04 - Purpose Driven Life - Thinking Like a Servant (part 2)

Servants think about their work, not what others are doing

They do not compare, criticize, or compete with other servants; same goal and same team
When you are busy serving, you don't have time to be critical
Our job is not to evaluate - Lord will determine the sucessfulness of his servant - Romans 14:4

If you serve like Jesus, expect to be criticized
The service of the sinful (pouring perfume on Jesus) was though to be a waste but just though of it as significant - Matthew 26:10

Servants base their identity in Christ

They are loved and accepted by grace, servants don't have to prove their worth
Jesus washing feet - Jesus understood his worth and the task did not threathen his self-image - John 13:3-4

Insecure people are always worrying about how they appear; want others to serve them instead
Only God's approval counts - 2 Corinthians 10:18

Servants think of ministry as an opportunity, not an obligation

Serve the Lord with gladness - Psalms 100:2
The Father rewards anyone who serves him - John 12:26
He will not forget how hard you have worked - Hebrews 6:10

The only really happy people are those who have learned to serve

2008-07-08 - Purpose Driven Life - Gods Power in My Weakness (part 4)

We are naturally drawn to humble people

If people see your strengths but not your weakness, they can not relate

Strengths: Nice that he can do that but I can not
Weaknesses: I am not sure how he can do that but if he can then I can with God's power

Decide wheather you want to impress people or influence people

Glory in your weakness

When Satan points out your weakness, agree with him and praise Jesus - 2 Corinthians 12:5
Jesus understans our weakness - Hebrews 4:1
The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness - Romans 8:26

"If you want to be blessed by God and use you greatly, you must learn to walk with a limp" - Joacb

2008-08-23 - 30 Days at the Cross - Consumed with Reconciliation

Bible makes it clear: God is consumed with reconciliation
At the cross: it reconciles us to God, then reconciles us to each other

There must be humility on both sides:

God humility (did not need to go the human level but he did for our sake) - Philippians 2:5-8

Made himself nothing
Took the very nature of a servant
Was made in human likeness
In the appearance of a man
Obedient to death

Man problems with humility

Consumed with finiding fault with God
Reject God rather than questioning ourselves
Thinks he could do a better ob

Only with humility from both God (yes) and man (sometimes) can reconciliation occur.

Do you want to resolve a conflict in a relationship?
Do it Gods way:

Start with a fresh look at the cross
Remind yourself of the humility shown by Christ
Want reconciliation more than anything
Confess your sin first

2008-08-27 - Teach Us To Pray - Savior and Redeemer

The Cross is enough, then, now, and always

Hebrews 7:25-27

He is able to completely save
- Never too short
- Never too weak
- Never worn out
He always lives - Prepared to recuse me until the day I die
Once for all - One death sufficient for all my sins, for all time

God wants his children to be abolutely confident that we can draw near to him with freedom and assurance

Without seeing the cross, David understood his Savior and Redeemer - Psalms 69:13

2008-09-05 - Teach Us To Pray - Eager to Act

Nehemiah 4:6-9 - Nehemiah prayed to for the walls of Jerusalem to be rebuilt

Nehemiah turned his theology into biography
He prayed to a powerful God, but it did not end there; he was ready and eager to act
Many times we pray (talk) and then sit back (no walk) waiting for a miracle to happend

Nehemiah prayed often and spontaneously - 1:4, 4:4, 5:19, 6:9, 13:14, 22, 29, 31
He is prayers were followed by:

Decisions - Nehemiah 2:5
Plans -Nehemiah 4:9-16
Actions - Nehemiah 2:18

What closes God's ear to our prayers is not the depth of our sin bu the lack of our eagerness to act upon his Word

2008-09-20 - Teach Us To Pray - Power for our weakness

Weakness include:

Physical sickness - Philippians 2:26
Weak faith - Romans 14:1-2
Weak conscience - 1 Corinthians 8:11-12

If you are not aware of your weaknesses, then God can not make you strong

Prayer is simply the key that unlocks the door to God's free reign in our lives
He reigns whether we like it or not, but he will not take away our free will - we have to surrender it
Getting rid of weakness is not the point - it to humbly submit yourself to God, depend on his power, and to rely on his strength

2008-10-03 - Man of Prayer - Relationship

After asking for help from the Holy Spirit, then focus on the relationship with
Prayer is primarily a vehicle of relationship

Pater (greek) = father
Abba (aramaic) = intimacy and endearment = daddy

Holy Spirit in our lives is a spirit of adoption by which God give us our spiritual birthright (Romans 8:16; Galatians 4:6)

He delights when we come to Him as our Father, Abaa, Daddy:

Mr. Bentson - wrong
Mr. Benson - contact
Benson - co-worker
Chad - friend
Dad - daughter
Honey - wife

The closer you are, the better responce you will get
He delights in your desire to spend time with Him

This relationship is critical to a healthy and vitaul prayer life
His fatherhood becomes real in my life
Bridge the gap between what I know in my head and what I experience in my life

2008-10-04 - Man of Prayer - Authentic Encounter

Must be an authentic encounter, not just a religious experience
Imagine a small Aramaic child calling for his daddy
Imagine Jesus holding you

We live in a noisy culture
Noise becomes background noise and without it, we can feel lost or anxious
No wonder we do not allow God to speak to us

When the disciples prayed, Hallowed be your name, it was to focus on God above all else

Second section of prayer taught by Jesus in Luke 11, starts tomorrow

2008-10-15 - Man of Prayer - Understanding the Kingdom

In the New Testament, kingdom is used from the Greek word basileai
Refers to "realm" of a king
Westerners think "kingdom speaks of geography

Biblical times emphasized "reign" or "dominion" = wherever the king reigns

The kingdom is within you - Luke 17:21
Seek first His kingdom (not a piece of real estate) - Matthew 6:33

God ultimately reigns over the entire universe but for the moment God does not reign everywhere on earth
Until then we must pray to advance God's kingdom everywhere

2008-10-23 - Man of Prayer - Praying for the world

The is an infinite number of needs in the world we can pray for

Decide on a series of issues and people you will pray for

Three things to pray for:

World hunger
World peace
World Evangelism
1. Faithfulness
2. Power
3. Effectiveness

Jesus told the disciples that the would be preachedd in all the world and then the end would come - Matthew 24:14

2008-10-24 - Man of Prayer - Praying for Provision (part 1)

By nature, fathers are designed to be providers

Jesus instructed the disciples to pray "Give us this day our daily bread"

Father knows our needs already - Matthew 6:32
Preoccupation with our needs reveas a lack of trust in God as provider - Matthew 6:25-32
Our priority is God's kingdom - Matthew 6:33

First phrases of the prayer all point to God:

Hallowed be your name
Your kingdom come
Your will be done

Then topics having to do with us:

Give us this day
Forgive us
Lead us

2008-10-26 - Man of Prayer - Principles of Provision

It is important to understand certain principles apply to receiving our daily bread
If we meet God's conditions, we can have confidence that He will provide

Need to have a proper relationship with God - Become a Christian
Fellowship with Christ - authentic spiritual communion with Christ
Obedience and faithfulness to God's commands

Haggai 1 - we need to consider our ways

Planted much, but harvested little
Eat, but never have enough
Drink, but still thirsty
Put clothes on, but never warn
Earn wages only to put them in a purse with holes in it

Because of there repentance, they were rewarded:

I am with you - Haggai 1:13
I will bless you - Haggai 2:19
I will provide for you - Haggai 2:15-19

2008-11-02 - Man of Prayer - Sinning against each other

Part of prayer needs to be focused on remembering who has offended us and then making a conscious decision to forgive them

When our sin has caused emotional, spiritual, or physical damage to another - we need restitution - asking forgiveness

Forgiveness:

Brings into our experience not only love and grace of God but transforming power
Provides us with the guidance, motivation, enabling power to reconcile our relationships with God and others
Enables us to live with the experience of inner cleaning and the peace of God

2008-11-10 - Man of Prayer - Final Issues

If there was a medicine that could:

change your life for the better
put you in a state of relaxed serenity
help you overcome the nagging undercurrent of guilt
give you new insight
let you meet life's challenges with confidence and courage

Of course our answer would be yes - that is prayer
It still takes work and self-discipline - Pain = Gain

We must translate our desire into action

Exercise 3 days a week = too easy to make excuses
Exercise 5 days a week = develop a habit
5 days can then become 7 days more easily because it is so ingrained

Prayer needs to be everyday

2008-12-04 - Raising Awesome Kids - Love each one with your time

Love each one

We cannot play favorites with suffering the consequences
Fatal error of Isaac (Genesis 37:4) and Rebekah - Genesis 25:28

Love with your time

It takes time - kids look at time we give them as the most direct expression of our love
Find ourselves always saying, "Not now, I am busy" - then we are too busy
When disciple fought the "Intrusion" of the little ones, Jesus became indignant - Mark 10:13-14
Exclusive time with mom and dad is needed

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