Be Amazed This CHRISTmas

That is the sermon series that we will start this coming Sunday. How unamazed have we become at the story of the Incarnation? Other things amaze us; technology, athletes, entertainers, etc. But how do these things compare with the amazing story of God putting on flesh and dwelling among us? They don't, but we do forget the fact that CHRISTmas is amazing. We will begin with: Bring Back the Wonder a Look at the Incarnation Matthew 1:23.

Then the proconsul believed when he saw what had happened, being amazed at the teaching of the Lord. Acts 13:12 (NASB95)

Great Day at Faith

We had a great day today at Faith. No announcements, no wasted time it was great. The Praise Team did a fantastic job, at 10:45 they started right in to worship, I hope to be able to put a sample on the web soon! Then we worship through Word, we have started seeing the whole service as worship(worship through music, through Word, through prayer, commitment and worship through giving) with no order of service. It is very liberating to consider everything we do worship. That way it allows us to do away with somethings that just don't matter. Our text was Ezra 9:1-5 and 10:1-3. The theme was being a true God-follower. In Ezra the Hebrews had been led back home, were unified in purpose, and had the foundations of God's Word given to them. Now when it had come to light that they had disobeyed God by intermarrying (its not a color thing its a belief thing) what would they do? I see the Church itself in this state, what will we do? The Hebrews gave up their wives and children to be obedient to God? So we asked ourselves today is God worth our obedience? Will we give up those things that keep us from being obedient.? Many times no we rely on the compassion and love of God to cover our disobedience. The reason? We have made Jesus a slot machine instead of King. If we recognize Jesus as King we will obey Him with reverence and awe and love, not for what He can get us. After the service we ate and then sang. A great day at Faith!

Think of Me

The reason Francis Chan and Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley decided not to build a multi-million $ facility. Makes me think of what I have squandered that could have made an eternal difference.

QUOTE ON PRAYER

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 in our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more desire to be conformed of Christ.
Richard Foster "Celebration of Discipline"
Acts 6:4 (ESV) "But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”

Lord teach me to pray!

Life Lesson3 from Ezra Part 3

Tomorrow we will continue to look into the book of Ezra. Tomorrow's sermon will be from chapter 7 verses 6-10. And we will discus what it was that made, "the hand of the LORD his God rest upon him (Ezra)". The answer is, because Ezra had determined in his heart to study the law of the Lord, obey [it], and teach [its] statutes and ordinances in Israel. Ezra 7:10 (HCSB)
We will be discussing being people of the book. I am trying not to have 3 points to focus on but instead have one focus point with applications to the focus point. Too many times I have great points but stung together I miss teaching what the Scripture actually says. Andy Stanley's book Communicating for Change has had me thinking about this for the past year. I believe it will make a greater impact on our people because while we have the most knowledgeable church members around we often lack application of that knowledge and sharing of that knowledge. And I am guilty more than anyone!

For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." Romans 10:11 (NASB95)

Questions Answered

A few months ago I asked the question, "Why is Sampson in Hebrew 11?". It is nothing earth shaking or faith breaking, I would just like to know. So last night for our adult bible study I with the help of the class went through and tried to answer this question. There are around 30 or so adults in this class so I was worried about how it would go over. I have done many different things on Sunday and Wednesday night but nothing like this. On Wednesday nights we have been going over the daily devotional times of people in the bible. So this would be a good hands on approach on how to study the Bible. for far to long my DQT's end up being read a few verses read a paragraph on what Oswald Chambers thinks about it and pray. But is that really spending time with God? Not always. So we read from 6 different bible translations, two commentaries/sermons and talked the aspects of the story out. It was extremely interesting and helpful because it took delving into the Word on a different level. Asking questions, reading before after and during, looking at background and times. Yes it was very rich. The answer is ............... I had it written down but I don't want to take the blessing of reading the Word from you. See Hebrews 11 and Judges 13-16 for answers, ENJOY!
This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me. Psalms 119:50 (NASB95)

Life Lessons in Ezra

We finished our second sermon on Ezra yesterday. Ezra ia a rich book about renewal and to go through it properly would take forever. But instead I am going over 4 practical applications from it. here are the first 2.
Week 1 Ezra 1- Who God Uses
If God will us a King who thinks he is god, can't God use us?
Week 2 Ezra 3- Unity
Unity in Purpose
Unity in Work
Unity in Courage
Unity in Worship
I will fill you in on the next 2 later this week. Hope you all have a blessed day!

Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away. Ezra 3:12-13 (NASB95)