The Sanctity of Life | Jan 20, 2013

James 3:9-12

9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. 10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Notes:

1. How we _____________ humans is how we treat God.
2. We should ____________ in God's word and not in man's philosophy.
3. The unborn and aged should be protected not ___________________.

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Putting Feet to Your Faith | Jan 13, 2013

James 1:22-25

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.

Notes:

1. The majority of American Christians have a shallow _______________.
2. Christians need to learn to _________________ themselves.
3. We only ________________ the Word when we don't practice it.

Do you love God and love others more than you did in 2012?

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Finding a Wife | Oct 24, 2010

Genesis 24:1-14

Isaac and Rebekah

 1 Abraham was now very old, and the LORD had blessed him in every way. 2 He said to the senior servant in his household, the one in charge of all that he had, “Put your hand under my thigh. 3 I want you to swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 4 but will go to my country and my own relatives and get a wife for my son Isaac.” 

 5 The servant asked him, “What if the woman is unwilling to come back with me to this land? Shall I then take your son back to the country you came from?” 

 6 “Make sure that you do not take my son back there,” Abraham said. 7 “The LORD, the God of heaven, who brought me out of my father’s household and my native land and who spoke to me and promised me on oath, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land’—he will send his angel before you so that you can get a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to come back with you, then you will be released from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore an oath to him concerning this matter. 

 10 Then the servant left, taking with him ten of his master’s camels loaded with all kinds of good things from his master. He set out for Aram Naharaim and made his way to the town of Nahor. 11 He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water. 

 12 Then he prayed, “LORD, God of my master Abraham, make me successful today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 See, I am standing beside this spring, and the daughters of the townspeople are coming out to draw water. 14 May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’—let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.” 

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Blacksmiths Wanted | Oct 17, 2010

1 Samuel 13:19-22

 19 Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!” 20 So all Israel went down to the Philistines to have their plow points, mattocks, axes and sickles sharpened. 21 The price was two-thirds of a shekel for sharpening plow points and mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening forks and axes and for repointing goads. 

 22 So on the day of the battle not a soldier with Saul and Jonathan had a sword or spear in his hand; only Saul and his son Jonathan had them. 

Notes:

1. The Philistines became _______________ of the Hebrews.
2. The Hebrews invested ______________ in their enemies.
3. The Hebrew warriors lacked ______________ weaponry.

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In a Funk | Oct 10, 2010

Micah 6:8

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. 

   And what does the LORD require of you? 

To act justly and to love mercy 

   and to walk humbly with your God. 

Notes:

1. Depression can be caused by ______________. (act justly)
2. Happiness and contentment come with Holy Spirit ______________. (love mercy)
3. A healthy Christian worldview starts with _______________. (walk humbly with God)

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Bathwater | Oct 3, 2010

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 

   13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 

   14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Notes:

1. All humans are ____________ in the sight of God.
2. Religious and ethnic ____________ can destroy our Christian witness.
3. Humility is rare when Christians _______________ themselves openly.

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Covet | Sep 19, 2010

Exodus 20:17

 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” 

Notes:

1. It is natural to covet the ____________ of others.
2. Coveting _____________ God's move in our lives.
3. Coveting ___________ the enemy to use us.

Practice grace and generosity with those whom God is blessing

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R U Spiritual | Sep 12, 2010

1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Wisdom From the Spirit 

 6We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9However, as it is written: 

   "No eye has seen, 

      no ear has heard, 

   no mind has conceived 

   what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. 

      The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 

 16"For who has known the mind of the Lord 

      that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Notes:

1. Humans Are Either: Natural, Artificial, or _________.
2. All of Humanity is Born _________ Dead to God.
3. The Gospel Message Can _________ Birth a Spirit in Someone Who Believes.
4. True _________ is Foolishness to the Natural or Artificial Mind.

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