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2008-03-11 - Be Still My Soul - Time Away

Jesus often withdrew

  • Jesus often withdrew - Luke 5:16
  • Spent the night praying - Luke 6:12
  • Jesus was praying in private - Luke 9:18
  • Jesus... took Peter, John, and James .. to a mountain to pray - Luke 9:28
  • Withdrew to mountain by himself - John 6:15

When was the last time you withdrew an entire night, day, or week?
We wonder why we are stale, unmotivated, joyless, and weary and have not grown
It takes awhile to detact from the world

A retreat can be unforgetable, life-changing time
You have to plan it to make it happen, Satan will try to stop you



2008-03-12 - Be Still My Soul - Time Outdoors

Do you realize that nearly all of the people we read about in the Bible spent most of their time outside?

  • Star-studded evening would tell how many descendants Abraham would have - Genesis 15:5
  • Looking at God's creation - humbled Job's pride - Job 38:4-7

FInd park, trails, and open spaces.
Open your eyes, listen, breath the realivily clear air

When is the last time you:

  • Took in a sunrise or sunset
  • Watched the changing cloud formations
  • Listen to the songs of the birds
  • Strolled through the leaves of fall
  • Listen to the snow fall as they gently fell to earth
  • Took a good look at the flowers of spring
  • Stopped to watch the a powerful thunderstorm
  • Stood in awe of the sparkling  stars

Psalms 19:1-4; Psalms 65:8-13

Time outside with God is just what many of us need and nothing else will suffice



2008-03-15 - Be Still My Soul - Exciting Personal Bible Study
What happen to the days when you could not wait to learn more from God's word?
When was the last time you regretted having to close your Bible and go on to other activities?

Excuses:
  • Days of excitement are for young Christians
  • Mature means being dead and lifeless
  • See other older Christians not doing well and assume that is our fate
Paul: "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Philippians 3:12-16)

The only way to a deep, growing relationship with God - which includes feeding on His word.
Some are not put forth the effort required to dig deeper; have become lazy
Some are satisfied with what they already know and are content being spoon-fed.

"Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity" (Hebrews 5:11-6:3)
We need to train ourselves (1 Timothy 4:7; Hebrews 5:14)
"This the one I esteem he who ... trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2)

2008-05-23 - Purpose Driven Life - You Are Not an Accident

God planned:

  • Where you would be born
  • When you would be born (waiting patiently for Juniper)
  • How long you will live
  • Who your parents would need to be for you to come the way you came

God was thinking of you even before he made the world, that is why he created the world

God's purpose even took in account sin and human error.

If there was no god, we would all be accidents

The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us - Romans 12:3



2008-06-23 - Purpose Driven Life - Dont Get In A Hurry
Believe God is working in your life - Expect gradual improvement

Keep a notebook or journal of lessons learned
  • Write down insights God teaches you
  • Reason we must relearn lessons is forget them
  • Keep a firm grip on what you have heard - so you don't drift - Hebrews 2:1
Be patient with God and your self

There are many examples where God goes through the process of maturing
It took over eighty years to mature Moses
Don't try to get out of anything prematurely - James 1:4

Don't get discouraged

Things God plans don't always happen right away, just be patient - Habakkuk 2:3
A delay is not denial from God

2008-07-25 - 30 Days at the Cross - Always Remembering

Passover - it meant freedom for the Jews (from Egypt)
Jesus choose Passover to bring freedom to all through his death

It was a new relationship with God and man
God loved mankind but man hurt God with his sin

Jesus: with my life and death, you have a new relationship, now remember this
It will be forgotten in our lives if we don't make plans to remember

In the midst of our activities and pressure of life, we forget:

  • How much he went through for us
  • That we can be forgiven and start over again and again
  • Why we are doing things we are doing

He took bread and gave thanks for this very reason - Luke 22:19

Give thanks and examine yourself - 1 Corinthians 11:28
Don't forget that in Christ there is no condemnation - Romans 8:1



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


2008-12-05 - Raising Awesome Kids - Love with your touch

Jesus took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them - Mark 10:15-16

Jesus could have blessed the children from afar
His way was closeness and affection

Unaffectionate families are cool, aloof and distant
Children raised in such an atmosphere develop into hard, nasty edge of anger and meanness

Examples:

Prodigal son - Luke 15:20
Greeted with a holy kiss - Romans 16:16
Paul and church leaders in Ephesus embraced and kissed - Acts 20:37

 



2009-02-15 - Jesus with People - Widows Financial Sacrifice
Mark 12:41-44

Without ever speaking to her, he made her gift he biblical standard for financial sacrifice

She gave all she had to live on - Luke 21:4
Being a widow at that time, she likely had no income
Probably hungry and surely without financial hope
He faith in God was evident in her action

Bible does not tell us what happened to her - we can know that GOd took care of her needs - Matthew 6:25-26



2009-05-31 - No one like him - Even Death on the Cross
All during Jesus life, his brutal death was on his mind; he struggled and submitted to it (John 12:27)

At Gethsemane, did not try to do it alone but asked for help from his friends (Mark 14:32-34); Peter and Judas did not ask for help

One of the most important words in the Bible, Jesus – not as I will, but as you will (Mark 14:35-36)

The image of the cross was so gruesome that it took 500 years to appear in art

2009-07-03 - A Life of Impact - Assertiveness

Assertiveness

Mark 5:35-43

  • He took charge of the situation and his surrounds
  • Why have we not acted as Jesus did?

Fear Sensitivity

  • Jesus didn’t say a word to those who doubted
  • Assertiveness without sensitivity can be offensive and counterproductive

A Simple charge

  • “Don’t be afraid, just believe”
  • He didn’t burden him with lots of words
  • Excessive amount of teaching may cloud the main issue

Privileging

  • Peter, James, and John were closest to Jesus
  • Jesus narrowed his focus to help the build leaders to their full potential.

Consideration

  • A little consideration can go a long ways
  • Ideas: buy someone lunch, remember people’s birthdays
  • Be alert to meeting other people’s needs


2009-07-05 - A Life of Impact - Patience and Challenger

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?


2009-07-10 - A Life of Impact - Sounding the Alarm

Sounding the Alarm

Mark 7:1-13

  • Living by traditions = living in vain, a waste of time.
  • Jesus was not afraid to rebuke people, to “lay it out” when it was necessary.
  • When stirring up things, some people wake up to discover a true relationship with God or they will become furious
  • People of impact do not hesitate to raise their voices in order to shake people out of their slumber.
  • They are not afraid on how people react when they are disturbed from their sleep.
  • It is wrong to be silent and leave people comfortable in their false sense of security

Protectiveness

  • He stood up for his followers.
  • Jesus took responsibility for his disciple’s actions
  • When a leader stands up for and protects his followers, a strong loyalty is forged


2009-08-25 - Wild at Heart - God loves wilderness (part 1)
Most of the earth is not safe, but it is good.
God called it good in the beginning
He prefers adventure, danger, risk, and the element of surprise
Most of us try to reduce the element of surprise
God took a risk with Adam and Eve – they had the chance to disobey him

Example of no-perfect situations:
  • Shadach, Meshach, and Abednego
  • Pharaoh and his army
  • David and Goliath Gideon’s army 
God loves to come through
He loves to show that he has what it takes
It is not God’s nature to limit risks or cover all the bases
Let the odds stack up against him!

He starts with most unlikely:
  • Prostitutes
  • Fisherman
  • Tax collector


2009-09-02 - Wild at Heart - The wound (part 2)
Adam receives his name from God
Abraham names Issac
Jesus needed to hear those words

God renames Jacob and Paul

Racheal names son “son of my sorrow”. Jacob renames him “son of my right hand”
It took intervention by the man, it always does

A boy is brought into the world by his mother
There comes a time for the shift when he begins to seek out his father’s affection – Hard for a mother

Dad coming home is biggest event in a boy’s day
Women try to fill void that an absent father has left
Father calls his son “tiger”

Turns to mom for comfort and dad for adventure
If a mother will not allow her son to become dangerous, if she does not let the father take him away, she will emasculate him.

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

2009-10-18 - Wild at Heart - An adventure to live (part 1)
A man just won’t be happy until he’s got adventure in his work, in love and in his spiritual life
God is intimately personal with us and he speaks in ways that are peculiar to our own quirky hearts – not just through
the Bible, but through the whole creation

Don’t ask yourself what does the world need. Ask yourself what make you come alive and go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive
I realized I was living a script written for me by someone else
To go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current happens to be running the strongest

What would have happened if Moses had listed to his mother’s advice, “never play with matches”?
Paul didn’t leave his familiar group of Pharisees?
God took a big risk in making the world

2009-11-29 - Master Plan - Church is the continuing fellowship (part 2)
  • Consequences for not following up
    • The other choice is for the convert to find solutions to innumerable problems in on their own
    • Haphazard follow-up could mean disaster for their faith
    • Fall ways - come about more often be not getting with them enough
    • There is not substitute for getting with people
  • No such thing as assembly line discipleship
  • You must be a personal guardian to those you lead.
  • It is your job to:
    • Stay with them as much as possible
    • Study the Bible and pray together
    • Answer their questions
    • Clarify the truth
    • Seeking together to help others
  • If it took three years to develop His disciples by getting with them, how much more should we get together with those that have not physically have seen Jesus? How much longer will it take (not seeing them all the time)?


2009-12-23 - First the Kingdom - The Only Door (part 2)
More examples of spiritual beggars:

Mary
  • Why was she picked to give birth to the Savior?
  • She already knew how much she needed God as her savior
  • Already in a humble state before him - Luke 1:46-55
Paul
  • Took a jolt on the way to Damascus
  • He finally came to see his poverty of spirit
    • Nothing good lives in me - Romans 7:18
    • I am the least of the apostles - 1 Corinthians 15:9-10
    • Confessed his poverty to the very end - 1 Timothy 1:12-15


2010-05-18 - Desire's Journey - Dare We Desire?

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

 

 



2010-05-19 - Desire's Journey - An Invitation to Desire

Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person or a program to get us into a reforming society

Christianity begins with an invitation to desire

What do you want me to do for you? - Luke 18:41
Jesus continually took people into their hearts - to their deepest desires

What does Jesus choose to talk about with the women at the well?
Her immorality? No
He speaks to her about thirst - John 4:10
Lets talk about your heart's thirst since the life you've chosen isn't working

All you who are thirsty, come to the waters - Isaiah 55:1-2
Message had gotten lost by the time Jesus' showed up
Jew of the day were practicing soul-killing, lifeless religion of duty and obligation

No wonder Jesus was feared. He came along and started appealing to desire

To the lost - Jesus spoke of finding your way
To the weary - Jesus speaks of rest

Again and again Jesus took them back to their desires
Ask and it will be given to you - Matthew 7:7

What is it that you want? - Would have fallen on deaf ear if his message was unrelateable



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

2010-11-05 - Contagious Christian - The Paul Approach
Paul certainly confronted people but his main approach was logical and reasonable presentation of the gospel

Romans - best example of how Paul lays out a sound explanation of the central truths about God nature, sin, and Christ's solution

Paul was a highly educated man and learned under one of the finest teachers of the time

Was there a better person to philosophers in Athens in Acts 17?
His presentation took them from their unknown God all the way to the one true living God
Philosophers would have related to Peter's direct approach
No "you will just have to accept it on faith" = "Leap before you look. Are you lucky?"

Who in your life enjoys working with ideas and evidence?
Many seekers need to hear the gospel not only declared but also defined and defended

2010-12-02 - Mission - Taking Up the Cross
Two questions to ask ourselves:
Is the power of the cross producing real changes in my life?
Are lost souls being radically converted as I preach?

The message of the cross will seem foolish to those we are teaching if they do not see the daily demonstration of its power for us who are being saved

Christians described in Romans 6
  • v4 - new life
  • v7 - freed from sin
  • v11 - dead to sin but alive in Christ
Taking up our cross must be each and every day
Our days are composed of countless choices and decisions
Each step that Jesus took towards the cross he took willingly

It takes 1000s of bricks to build a house, it takes 1000s of righteous choices to build a Christ-like character
Our hearts - lost world needs to know how we feel towards our Father
Our conversation - we should never get tired of telling our conversation story
Our example - Our daily temptations and victories should be only shared

2010-12-07 - Mission - Cannot Help Proclaiming (part I)
We can help speaking about what we have seen and heard - Acts 4:20
Have you ever been so committed to something that you were unable to stop?
What would it take to stop you from sharing your faith?
What does it take to motivate you to share your faith?
Does it take accountability it invite people?

What compelled Peter and John?

1. We are overflowing with Jesus
The authorities took note that the disciples had been with Jesus - Acts 4:13
His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in - Jeremiah 20:9
Do we feel that we will burst if we don't open our moths

2. We need to be filled with gratitude
We so easily forget what God's grace has done for us
David says over and over again to tell and celebrate God's glory
Are we overflowing with gratitude for the wonders of God?

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