Truth

Sex is a gift from God.
Not just for procreation. Read Song of Solomon.

God uses us the way He needs.

Lord help me honor you by honoring the gift. Honor God with our body heart mind and soul.

Less guilt more freedom
Ecclesiastes 3:1,2-8,11
Luke 2:49-52
2 Corinthians 4:17-18
Hebrews 12:1-2

Ages 12-30 nothing in the bible about Jesus’ life

Lean into the seasons of life … take advantage of the season

Right now is the right time to follow God

Enjoy being single

All seasons start and end

Most important in this season is the spiritual formation of our children … don’t wish the seasons away

Don’t get caught up in the drama of your children’s lives … but be a foundation for them

Pray that I can trust His with my children

Primary goal of GG is to do life not just to look at the bible.

We set expectations on our lifestyle or allow others to set expectations on us that are not Godly.

If expectations are not from God they are from the evil one

There is no more condemnation

Prescriptive or descriptive
God discribes the nature flow in Ecc. 3:2-8

Not if your going to die but when.

If you bail on God in the valley you will not see the next mountain.

We are no less spiritual when we are in pain.

It is okay to grieve and be honest with God and others. We must share each others burdens … you must share you burdens vocal before others can share spiritually.

Do I trust God with the season He has put me in.

Matthew 7

Let me start by saying how wonderful it is to read what my savior spoke so many years ago.  Everything uttered from his mouth is relevant to my spiritual growth.

This chapter starts off with a command and then defines the repercussions for disobeying.  Do not judge, or you will be judged by the same measure you used to judge in the first place. Instead of focusing on others faults, focus on your own faults. If we would spend a tenth of our time working on the areas God wants to grow us instead of always focusing on the negatives of others, our spiritual lives would grow by leaps and bounds.

Once we are able to identify these faults we must ask God to show us how to correct them. Jesus even states, “Ask and it will be given to you”.  Our heavenly Father want to help you out of the oppressions you have placed on yourself, but first you must ask.

Verses 13 and 14 talk about two gates, one to life and one that leads to destruction. I think we sometimes forget the gates are a choice and no choice is really a choice to destruction. We have to choose the narrow gate. We have to make a conscious decision to choose the road less traveled. The scripture says few find this narrow gate.  Have you found it? What is stopping you from choosing the right gate?

The world will recognize you by the fruit you bear. Good trees do not produce bad fruit.  The scripture even goes as far as to say good trees cannot bear bad fruit.  Cannot = unable to.  So why do we produce bad fruit?  Is it because we have not given ourselves completely to the one who loves us so dearly?  It is not enough to do good deeds.  you have to personally know Jesus. If you do not know Jesus you will never know the will of God. Jesus says that only those who do the will of God will enter the Kingdom of heaven.

Finally Jesus tells us that we not only need to hear His words, but actually put them into practice. What area in your life are you not putting Jesus’ words into practice? Would Jesus tell you today “I never knew you”? Are you bearing good fruit? Are you choosing the narrow gate? Are you asking your Heavenly Father for the things you need? Are you cleaning up your faults?

Genesis 1:1-5, 2:1-3
Matthew 6:25-27, 8:24, 11:28
John 16:33
Exodus 23:12

Balance in life is impossible and not biblical.
God does not want us to live balanced lives.

God works for 6 days then He stops to rest.
We do not seem to know how to rest
Gods creation account is more about eb and flow. Each day God focus on one task and does it to completion
Life in rhythm is about focusing on one thing at a time

When you are at work give your all to work … remember you are doing this for Him.

It is not about balance it is about focus.
Huge challenge.

Fully home when we are home.
Fully work when at work.
You will be worn out, but satisfied.
To relieve the worn out rest on the 7th day

God wants to set us free from man made stresses. Jesus offers us rest in Matthew 11:28

Rhythm is relational.
Rhythm and pace are trust issues.

Quit trying to be and do everything.

Matthew 5

In this chapter, Jesus starts off teaching us about secrecy.  Secretly giving to the poor, praying in secrecy and fasting in secrecy. Why do we want to do this, other than our Savior told us to? By doing these things in secrecy we ensure we are doing it for the right reasons.  We do not want to do any of these things to honor men or get praise from men.  The honor and praise for such tasks should be focused on God.  This type behavior makes me think about people who question God about “good” people going to Hell.  Everyone has the ability to do good deeds.  It is the why behind the what that separates believers from non-believers.

If you are always telling others of your good deeds, you may want to evaluate who you are doing the good deeds for.  We should announce to men the saving grace that was given to us by the death of Christ, but the things we do for Him should be done in secret.

By secretly doing things for Him we are storing up treasures in Heaven, which is the next topic Christ talks about.  He talks more specifically about treasures that are being stored up here on earth.  He focuses on the financial aspect of storing up. So with the “doing in secret” concept in mind.  Shouldn’t we be using our money for Him.  If you are storing up money is it for your wealth or for His work?

I had a taste of this last night as my wife prayed for us.  I am currently reading a book about investing and it excites me to talk about the topic with my wife.  I talked about the potential “store house” we would have in the investments.  Her prayer was asking God for His will in the investments, but the beauty of her prayer was when she asked Him to use the investment so that we could serve Him better. These were not  her exact words, but this was the jest of what she was saying.  I was humbled.

This leads to the last part of this chapter.  Jesus tells us not to worry about the things we need.  God knows what we need and He will provide it.  Do not worry, because worrying gets you nowhere.  God is in control of all things and He will provide as He sees fit.  I am thankful to God that He has provided for my family.  I just hope I can use what He has give us to honor Him and His Kingdom.  I can’t tell you how though… it’s a secret!

My heart aches for those in the Haiti.  Please join us in prayer for this great tragedy.

Colossians 1:7-14

I am challenged and in awe of the commitment and dedication of Paul in this section of scripture. Look at Paul’s words, “We have not stopped praying for you”.  Is that how you pray for people?  I do believe the prayer Paul takes to God is the very best we can ask for anyone on our prayer list.

Look at the list  he is asking for:

- Complete knowledge of God’s will
- Spiritual wisdom and understanding
- Strength from God’s power
- Endurance and Patience
- Filled with Joy

I don’t know about you, but I think those things would be a true blessing in my life.  I am praying this for everyone I know right now. Friends and enemies, family and acquaintances … EVERYONE I can think of.  I think all could use this blessing in there life.  Will you join me in the prayer?  Will you continue the prayer as long as you can?

“We have not stopped”!

Paul has some great reminder at the end of this reading passage.  God  has rescued us from the dark kingdom and placed us in the Kingdom of His Son.  This rescuing was not free, it was purchased with the blood of Christ.  He gave up His life so that we could have forgiveness.

Matthew 5

This chapter is filled to the rim with great spiritual teachings.  Though all of it deserves our time and effort to study it, I will focus on the things that stand out to me today.  Please read the entire passage. Jesus’ message to you today maybe different than how He needs to speak to me today.

The second half of this chapter Jesus spends clearing up the misconceptions of the law.  We see that what the law “allows” for and what we as Christians should strive for are sometimes very different.  The areas that stand out to me the most are the ones about anger and how we should treat our enemies.  We are subject to judgement if we are angry with someone and if we curse them we are  in danger of the fires of Gehenna (hell).

So then how should we treat our enemies and those who mistreat us? Love them!  We already know we are to have constant contact with God in our daily lives.  In this constant contact we should be praying for those who hate us or persecute us.  It is God who holds the judgement for all people.  As the scripture states, God gives His sunlight and rain to the evil and the good people.

I am challenged today to love ALL, friend and enemy.  I will start this day praying for those I do not necessarily agree with or who do not agree with me.  He is in charge and today I will let Him. Not that He needs my permission, but He wants my submission to His will.

Deut 4:9
1 Cor 1:31
Luke 5:31-32
Romans 15:20
Hebrews 10:23
1 Cor 15:58

Do not forget where we have come from.
Remember what God has done for us.
Success leads to self sufficiency leads to sin leads to separation from God.

We are not celebrating our church … we are celebrating what God has done.
Tenacity – Holding fast you someone or something.

Watching for evidence of God in people.

Remember and celebrate the way we and others server

Changing the way people think about Jesus

Sinner who need repentance … the church

Romans 15:20 Australia comes to mind.

Serve God by serving others.

Matthew 4

This chapter starts off with Jesus’ temptation in the desert.  What I find interesting is He was lead there by the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit led Him there to be tempted. Through this trial He was tested and in essence made stronger.  How amazing it would be if we were as successful in dealing with our temptations.

Continuing we see yet another example of prophecy being fulfilled. I love that the first “sermon” of Christ, our Lord and savior, is the thing we tend to have greatest problem dealing with.  He jumps right in and states the only thing keeping us from the best relationship with our Heavenly Father. “Repent”  yes I know I left the rest out, because that is the action word.  It is what we need to do. We have gotten so far from what God intended that He has to tell us to turn around and go the other way. Look at it this way … We should have never been headed in this direction at all.  We should have been going in the direction established by God long ago.  Jesus has to let us know that the Kingdom is near, DON’T wait repent NOW and turn from your own agenda and start following me in the right direction.

The ending of this Chapter we see a great command from Jesus. “Follow me”.  This is not the amazing part. The amazing part is the people listened. They followed Him.  I would venture to say that in everyones daily life, if we get quite enough and listen.  We will hear in our souls those wonderful words, “Come, follow me”

Are you following?