August 28 2016 Let There Be Life

Let There Be Life

Memory Verse: Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder."

I. WHAT THIS COMMAND IS NOT ABOUT:

1. It is not prohibiting killing animals

Genesis 9:3 "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."

2. It is not prohibiting capital punishment

Leviticus 24:17-18 (GN)"Anyone who commits murder shall be put to death ... the principle is a life for a life."

Romans 13:4 (JB) "The government is there to serve God for your benefit...they carry out God's revenge by punishing wrongdoers."

3. It is not prohibiting going to war

Ecclesiastes 3:8 "...There is a time for war..."

II. HOW THIS COMMAND APPLIES TO THE FAMILY

1. God says NO to suicide

Romans 14:7 "We are not our own bosses to live and die as we ourselves might choose."

Job 14:5 (GN) "The length of a man's life is decided beforehand - the number of months he will live. You (God) have settled it..."

2. God says NO to mercy killing

Job 12:10 (GN) "It is God who directs the lives of His creatures; everyman's life is in His power."

3. God says NO to abortion

Psalm 139:13-16 (GN) "You (God) created every part of me; You put me together in my mother's womb... When my bones were being formed ... when I was growing there in secret, You knew I was there - You saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me were all recorded in Your book before any of them ever began."

April 24 2016 Your Inadequacy And God's Advice

YOUR INADEQUACY AND GOD’S ADVICE

1 Corinthians 2:3 - I came to you in weakness, timid and trembling.

2 Timothy 1:7 - For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

1.  Decide to be a good example.

1 Timothy 4:12 - Do not let anyone treat you as if you are unimportant because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, in purity.

Your words: The way you talk.

Your life: The way you act.

Your love: The way you run your relationships.

Your faith: You keep believing.

Your example: You lead a pure life.

2 Corinthians 11:1 - And you should follow my example, just as I follow Christ’s.

2.  Depend on God.

2 Corinthians 3:5 - Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.

Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ, because He gives me strength.

3.  Use God’s gifts.

2 Timothy 1:6 - I remind you to keep using the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you, now let it grow, as a small flame grows into a fire.

1 Timothy 4:14 - Do not neglect your gift.

1 Peter 4:10 - Each one would use whatever gift he has received to serve others.

4.  Decide to grow.

2 Peter 3:18 - Grow in spiritual strength and become better acquainted with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 4:15 - Cultivate these things.  Immerse yourself in them.  The people will see you mature right before their eyes.

Ephesians 3:20 - With God’s power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine.

October 18 2015 Wise Up

Wise Up!

Proverbs 4:7-8 (GN) "Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do. Whatever else you get, get insight! Love wisdom and she will make you great!

1. What is it?
Wisdom: Seeing and responding to life from GOD’S PERSPECTIVE

Proverbs 14:12 "There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death. 

2. What will it do for me?
 
Proverbs 3:14-18 (NCV) Wisdom is worth more than silver; it brings more profit than gold.  Wisdom is more precious than rubies;  nothing you could want is equal to it. With her right hand wisdom offers you a long life,  and with her left hand she gives you riches and honor.  Wisdom will make your life pleasant and will bring you peace. As a tree produces fruit, wisdom gives life to those who use it,  and everyone who uses it will be happy.

Six Benefits

1. LONGER LIFE
2. WEALTH
3. HONOR
4. PLEASURE
5. SECURITY
6. HAPPINESS

3. How can I get it?

• READ GOD’S WORD

Proverbs 1:2 (LB) "(Solomon) wrote these Proverbs to teach his people how to live - how to act in every circumstance. "

Proverbs 1:3 (GN) "They can teach you how to live intelligently  

• DO WHAT IT SAYS

Proverbs 7:1-2 (GN)  Never forget what I tell you to do. Do what I say  and you will live.  Be careful to follow it. . . "

• GET TO KNOW GOD

Proverbs 1:7 (LB)"How does a person become wise? Ae first step is to trust and revere the Lord "

Proverbs 9:10 (LB)"For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom.  Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding.  

Make Wisdom a Life Goal!

July 26 2015 The Work Of Prayer In Renewal

THE WORK OF PRAYER IN RENEWAL

2 Chronicles 14 & 15

INTRODUCTION:

“Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray.”  (C.H. Spurgeon)

Asa teaches us about life.

2 Chronicles 14: 1-10

1. A time when things are easy.

2 Chronicles 14: 1-8

2. Times when living becomes difficult.

2 Chronicles 14: 9-10

When God is going to do something wonderful, He begins with a difficulty.  When God is going to something very wonderful, He begins with an impossibility.

Asa teaches us about prayer when things got bad.

2 Chronicles 14:11

Successful prayer means you:

1. Recognize God as your only source of strength.

2. Understand our own personal weakness.

3. Total trust in God.

4. Make God’s cause your own.

If you make God’s cause yours, He will make your cause His.

Asa teaches us about renewal.

2 Chronicles 15

1. Renewal hands us a challenge.

2 Chronicles 15: 1-7

2. Renewal gives us a choice.

2 Chronicles 15:8

3. Prayer causes us to change.

To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The more we pray, the more we come to the heartbeat of God. Prayer starts the communication process between ourselves and God. All the options of life fall before us. At that point we will either forsake our prayer life and cease to grow, or we will pursue our prayer life and let Him change us. Either option is painful. To not grow in His likeness is to not enjoy His fullness. When this happens a haunting voice continues to ask us, what could I have become in Him if I would have been a man of prayer? When this happens the priorities of this world begin to fade away. Some of our friends do not understand the change in our life.

November 23 2014 Building A Life Of Purpose

Building A Life Of Purpose

IF I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

• Life Seems useless.

Ecclesiastes 1:2-4 – Life is useless, all useless.  You spend your life working, but what do you have to show for it?  The world just stays the same.

• Life Seems tiresome.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-8 – The sun rises and goes down, the wind blows round and round and back again.  Every river flows into the sea, then the water returns to where the river began and starts all over again.  Everything leads to weariness.

• Life Seems unfulfilling.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-10 – No matter how much we see, we’re never satisfied; no matter how much we hear, we’re not content.  History merely repeats itself.

• Life Seems insignificant.

Ecclesiastes 1:11 – No one remembers what has happened in the past, and no one in days to come will remember what happens between now and then.

• Life Seems uncontrollable.

Ecclesiastes 1:15 – You can’t straighten out what is crooked; you can’t count things that aren’t there!

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE?

• Life is a preparation for eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – He has planted eternity in the human heart.

WHAT IS GOD’S PURPOSE?

I. First God made you to know Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 1:4-5 – Before the world was made, God had already decided that through Jesus Christ, He would bring us to Himself as His children that was His pleasure and purpose.

HOW TO KNOW GOD

1. Remember God first reached out to you.

1 John 4:10 – This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

2. Respond to His love.

John 5:24 – I tell you the truth, whoever hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.

II. Secondly, God made you to be like Him.

Romans 8:28-29 – We know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans. For from the beginning God decided that those who come to Him should be like His Son.

HOW TO BE LIKE HIM

1. Make Christ your very life.

John 12:34 – I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat fall to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed, but if it dies it produces seed.

2. Allow every circumstance to mold you.

Romans 8:28 – We know that in all thing God works for the good of those who love Him.

III. Thirdly, God made us to serve Him.

Acts 13:36 – For David served God’s purpose in his generation and then he died.

HOW DO I SERVE?

1. It’s a choice.

Romans 12:1-2 – Offer yourselves to God, dedicated to His service, then you will be able to know the will of God, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

2. Serve God where you’re at.

1 Corinthians 15:58 – Nothing you do in the Lord’s service is ever useless.

IV. God made us to use our treasure in view of eternity.

1 Timothy 6:18-19 – Use your money to do good, always being ready to share whatever God has given you.  By doing this you will be storing up real treasure for yourself in heaven.

Luke 16:9 – Use worldly wealth to make friends who will welcome you into eternal dwellings.