Sunday, December 15, 2019

Raise your expectations

Matthew 9:27-30 (NLT)
27 After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”
28 They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?”
“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”
29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” 30 Then their eyes were opened, and they could see! Jesus sternly warned them, “Don’t tell anyone about this.”




The blind men brought their expectations to Jesus.  According to your expectations, Jesus heals us.  We must raise our expectations.  When we do, we raise the ability of God to bless us.

Peace in the storm

Peace is not the absence of the storm.  It is the understanding that I'm not alone in the storm.  

Saturday, November 30, 2019

WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN THINGS DON’T GO YOUR WAY


Ch. 1Jonah Rebelling & Running From God

Ch. 2Jonah Repenting & Running Back To God

Ch. 3Jonah Restarting & Running With God

Ch. 4Jonah Regretting & Resenting God



5 MISTAKES THAT MADE JONAH MISERABLE
These make us miserable too


1. Jonah thought he could ignore his Mission. He ran from God.

2. Jonah was prejudiced against people God created & loved.

3. Jonah cared more about his politics than people’s salvation.

4. Jonah was only interested in his nation, not God’s world.

5. Jonah reluctantly fulfilled his Mission, but with a bad attitude.



2 MORE MISTAKES: JONAH 4:1-11

1.  
Resenting God's plan when it doesn't fit my plans.  

“When God saw that the people of Nineveh had put a stop to their evil ways, he had mercy on them and he cancelled the destruction he had threatened. This CHANGE OF PLANS upset Jonah, and he became furious. So Jonah complained to the Lord about it . . .”Jonah 3:10-4:2 

o  
Frustration
“This change of plans upset Jonah”

o  
Anger
“He became furious”

o  
Self pity
“He complained to the Lord”

“Now I ask you, Lord, please kill me. For it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:3 (NCV)   

o  
despair
“It is better for me to die than live”

o  
Suicidal thoughts
“Lord, please kill me!”



2.  
Resenting God's goodness and mercy to others.  

“Then Jonah complained, ‘Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I KNEW that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for punishing these people.’”Jonah 4:2 (NLT)   


WHAT TO REMEMBER WHEN THINGS DON’T GO MY WAY

1. REMEMBER  

God can see things that I can't.  

“Then God asked Jonah: ‘ What right do you have to be angry over what I’ve done?” Jonah 4:4   

“The Lord said to Job, ‘Who are you to question my wisdom?. . . Where were you when I made the world?”’ Job 38:2-3 (TEV)   

“Then Jonah left the city and found a place east of the city to sit down, There he tried to make a temporary shelter to sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city.”Jonah 4:5   



2. REMEMBER  

God is good to me even when I am cranky.  

“Then God arranged for broad leafed plant to spring up quickly and provide shade for Jonah from the hot sun and to relieve his discomfort. This made Jonah very happy and comfortable!’Jonah 4:6   



3. REMEMBER  

God is in control of ever detail of my life.  

“But at dawn the next day God arranged for a small worm to chew through the stem of that large shade plant so that it withered and died! Then, when the sun rose, God arranged a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed so hot on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said again, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live!’”Jonah 4:7-8  


God uses big things in my life and small things to direct me.  

“Then God asked Jonah again, ‘What right do you have to be angry that the shade plant withered and died?’ Jonah said. ‘I have every right to be angry and I’m angry enough to die!’”Jonah 4:9  



4. REMEMBER  

To focus on what's going to last.  

“Then the Lord said, ‘Jonah, You’re more concerned about a plant that died even though you didn’t plant it, water it ,it or make it grow. (I did that) And plants are short-lived. They spring up quickly then die. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people who don’t know their right hand from their left, not to mention all the animals. Should I not be concerned about that great city?’”Jonah 4:10-11 

“We fix our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever.”2 Corinthians 4:18 (NCV)  

Who's missing

If we are not moved by the unaccounted for, why would God bring us more?  (Luke 15)  


How about the ones who were here? 


Shepherd's would count their sheep before thy got any rest.  That's how counting sheep to get rest came from.  They would worry that one of their sheep just might be missing. 


Let's ask... 
1. Who needs to have an encounter with Jesus? 
2. Who was here?  Why have they gone missing?  How can we find them? 
3.  What next steps do the people who are here need to take?  

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Steps to Revival

1. Humble yourself. 
2. Fast.
3. Pray urgently. 
4. Turn from evil. 
5. Stop violence.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Who am we?

We buy things that we don't need to create an identity for ourselves because we don't know who we are. Our cars are not only for transformation, but for identity formation.   

Holey Bags?

God won't put resources in a bag in with holes in it.  We must be good stewards.  

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Tell your budget where to go



A budget is telling your money where to go.  Instead of always wondering where it went. Tell it where to go.

Saturday, October 5, 2019

No Where to Hide?

How do you run from someone who is everywhere?  


Bronson Moore, Church of the Highlands 



Psalm 139 (ESV)


 A Psalm of David.

139 Lord, you have searched me and known me!
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lordyou know it altogether.
You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.
Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
    I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!
    men of blood, depart from me!
20 They speak against you with malicious intent;
    your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
    And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
    I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts!
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!

Mine enemy

 The enemy of the future is the present.