= = = = = = =
Pastor Rick Warren…“My sheep recognize my voice and follow me.” John
10:27 (NLT) There are three reasons why you should hear directly
from God on a daily basis.
1. It proves you’re in God’s family. When you are
tuned in to God and hear from him, it confirms your relationship. God
talks to all of his kids. He doesn’t just single out the pastors or the
missionaries, or those who have been Christians the longest. He talks
to all believers, whether they are mature or immature.
2. It protects you from mistakes. If you listen to
God, you’ll make fewer mistakes because you’ll hear him warning you in
advance. Proverbs 3:6 says, “Listen for God’s voice in everything you
do, and everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track”
(MSG). I couldn’t count the number of times God has saved me from
wasting time, wasting money and wasting energy because I listened to
him.
3. It produces success in life. This is not the
kind of success the world talks about where you’re famous and filthy
rich. This is God’s definition of success – being exactly who God made
you to be so that your life can have meaning.
“I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.
I will advise you and watch over you” (Psalm 32:8 NLT). God has a
customized pathway for you, and if you follow it you will succeed.
= = = = = = =
God is not finished
with us by Rick Warren..."Being confident of this,
that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6 (NIV)
We humans are great starters but often bad finishers. We leave
unfinished symphonies, unfinished buildings, unfinished books,
unfinished projects. We may not always finish what we start but God
always finishes what He starts.
The Bible says, when Jesus Christ starts working in your life, He will
complete what He started, in spite of the hang-ups, faults, bad
decisions, sins, and circumstances that we face. One day when we get to
heaven we're going to become just like Jesus because we will see Him as
He is.
In the meantime, if we want to enjoy the people in our lives, we need
to be patient with their progress. We must allow for their growth and
development. Paul could say, "I'm not the man I used to be, thank God.
But also, thank God, I'm not the man I'm going to be. I'm growing and
changing."
If you want to enjoy your marriage, you've got to learn to enjoy your
husband or your wife right now while allowing for growth and
development. Otherwise, by the time they meet your conditions, you will
have still another condition for them to meet.
Parents, if you're going to learn to enjoy your kids, you've got to
learn to enjoy them in the process while they're growing, because there
is no such thing as a perfect kid.
And there's no such thing as a perfect adult. If you demand perfection
of the people in your life in order to enjoy them, you're going to be
miserable for the rest of your life. Nobody's perfect.
= = = = = = =
Rick Warren...Good
advice from Ecclesiastes 4:12: "Though one may be
overpowered, two can defend themselves" (NIV). Does anyone have your
back? Is anyone defending you - watching out for
your spiritual welfare? You need a community of people who are saying
to you: "We'll be with you when you're going through the tough times.
We're not going to let you get discouraged or depressed."
Community is God's answer to defeat. Ecclesiastes 4:10 says, "If one
falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and
has no one to help him" (NIV). Remember:
You can try, but you can't live life well on your own. We all
need other people - to walk with us, to work with us, and to watch out
for us.
Do you have a safety net - a group of fellow Christians you know you
can count on in life's toughest times? If not, go out today and begin
building those friendships. The hard times in life are inevitable, and
only a fool would go into them unprepared.
= = = = = = =
Rick Warren...God's Five Purposes===Children, Your Life and for the
Church
LIVE FOR CHRIST
GROW STRONG
SERVE CHRIST
EXPERIENCE FELLOWSHIP
BRING OTHERS TO CHRIST
= = = = = = =
Dr. James Denison...If Jesus is
your Lord, you are part of the largest family in human history. There
may be times when you feel alone and
lonely during the holidays, but you're not. You have a Father in heaven
who loves you and likes you and
thinks your eternal life is worth the death of his Son. Your Savior is
praying for you right now (Romans 8:34); the Holy
Spirit lives in you and is interceding for you before the Father at
this very moment (Rom. 8:27). You are
surrounded by unseen angels whose only purpose is to serve and help you
(Hebrews 1:14). You are the child of God.
And it's all because of Christmas.
= = = = = = =
Dr. Andy McQuitty...A mentor of mine once told me that there are four
things children need to hear from us every day:
“Have a great day.” This is the day the
Lord has made (Psalm 118:24); you have one shot to enjoy it.
“Do your best today” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Not be
the best; do your best.
“Remember whose you are.” It’s a great thing to be
part of this family….
“Remember that I love you.”
- - - - - - -
Discipleship
Dangers - John 12:9ff
1.
Worshiping a Jesus of our
imagination (Believe in Jesus of Revelations not your imagination.)
2. Thinking the praise is for me (we are like a jacket, it's the
indwelling Christ inside that does the work)
3. Assuming the original disciples have an advantage over us
4. Forgetting that the message is for everyone v.26 a.k.a. "Drive by
praying" without involvement
Jesus
DOES let people die (John
11:4-5)
The end of life
on earth is not the end of life for Christ followers.
(Unroll a roll of toilet paper down the sanctuary
floor. A very long strip. The first panel represents our
complete life on earth. The rest of the strip represents our life
in eternity.
Christ-filled
marriage Read
Colossians 3:17-19 and
Ephesians 5:22-33. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve we are
under the life described in Genesis 3:16-17. Marriages often fail
because the woman wants to be in-charge and so does the man.
Roman 8:9 commands us to allow Christ to fill us with His Spirit.
Depend on God, not your spouse. We are to submit to one another
out of reverence for Christ. Voluntarily put yourself under the
other person. We are to surrender to
each other. The husband is to be the lead servant.
Husbands: Submit
(voluntarily)
place her needs above yours, Sacrifice, Serve, Care for wife and Feed
your wife. Wives:
Submit (voluntarily) place his needs above
yours, Seek Jesus, Reciprocate and Respect your husband.
Our Lives
Today Pete
Briscoe...Our relationships today are one-inch deep because they are a
mile
wide. Consider all the circles you belong to with Church, Spouse,
Children, Friends, School, Sports, Hobbies and Work. With all the
commuting required, we live our lives in the car and eat there
too.
Pete categorized our lives as "relational isolation syndrome brought
about by excessive fragmentation". Consider
Acts 2:42-47 to see how the early
church functioned. They 1) Devoted themselves to the right things
(v.42); 2) Functioned in the power of the Spirit (v.43); Lived
together, sharing everything (v.44); 3) Ate together in homes (v.46);
5) Spend time with people (v.46) and 6) saw their community enlarged
(v.47).
Pete gave three suggestions:
1) Follow the Hebrew calendar: 6a-6p be productive, 6p-10p work
on relationships, and 10p-6a rest/sleep.
2) Proximity effect. Proverbs
27:10 'in time of need
it's better to go to a friend nearby than a brother far away'.
3) Painful Delimit --Learn to say NO
better. 1
Corinthians 6:12
Life
style is a contagious disease. Your kids will catch
it. You live on in your
children.
It’s your job to teach your kids. Influence them by the way you live.
Deu 4:9
Influence your kids by the advice you give. Make sure you won it and
empress it. Deu 6:6-9
Make sure you cover it. Income, budgeting, consuming, giving, saving
& investing, debt, routine responsibility and work.
Settling
for More in Your Marriage Genesis
2:19-24
Leave the former life. You give stuff up. Marriage like mashed
potatoes. Peeled, then Boiled, then Smashed. At the end you can’t see
the individual potatoes anymore.
Settling
for More in Parenting Prov 31:1-9
Holy Spirit causes you to love when human love runs out.
Parenting is the most important work in life and continues
forever. Think of spiritual parenting. 1 Cor 13:4-6. Paste it
up. Be a Jesus lover and a glory giver. Be specific—Talk
and live it out.
Settling
for more in our Drive We all have our high
times and low
times, we ebb and flow. So what to do if you don't care
enough? Renew your mind. Read John 3:16-19, John
3:36, Acts 4:12 and Romans 10-13-15. Consider all of that.
It is all in the Bible so it is all true. Remember God doesn't
struggle with not caring enough.
